This is a follow up story from Studying Servitude: An Article.
...it's probably worth reading that before this.
~o0o~
It's half term and
Charles is busy following his daily rota and pottering around the
house. His mother is at work. His big sister Emily stayed over at one
of her friends and isn't expected back until the afternoon, and
eleven year old Samantha is playing on her games console. Charles
only had to make one packed lunch whilst he prepared the family
breakfast, and the mornings aren't quite so much of a rush since he
doesn't have to leave for school this week... but on the downside, no
school means he has to wear his corset beneath his housekeeping
uniform as well as a full face of make-up.
As usual, he quickly
vacuums the landing and runs the hoover around his bedroom, his
mother's bedroom and his sister's rooms. In spite of the fact his
elder sister's not even been in the house since yesterday, her
bedding still needs straightening and she's left her tights tangled
up in her underwear again. After a quick tidy round, he pushes the
hoover to Samantha's room where he knocks and enters. “Aren't you
dressed yet?” he asked, finding her slumped on her bed in her
pyjamas and fully focussed on her hand-held console.
“You haven't put
anything out for me yet.” she replied with raising her eyes from
the screen.
“It's the holidays...
I only put your clothes out on a school day.” he reminded her. But
knowing that Samantha would spend all day in her pyjamas if she
could, he opened her closet and asked if she wanted jeans or
leggings. Following her instructions he put out some leggings, some
underwear, a pair of socks and a T-shirt for her, before quickly
running the vacuum cleaner around. She tutted at the noise, and
tutted again when he asked her to move so he could straighten her
bedding.
After quickly cleaning
the family bathroom and the en-suite in his mother's bedroom, Charles
carried the vacuum cleaner downstairs and parked it in the hallway.
He grabbed a stiff brush from the cleaning cupboard and proceeded to
sweep the stairs from top to bottom. Perched on his knees, he quickly
and briskly swept every step, letting the dust fall on to the next
one down. Samantha emerged from her room, fully clothed and carrying
her console. “So... you got any plans today?” he asked.
“Not really.” she
replied. “Apart from this.” she added, raising the games console
which these days is seemingly glued to her hand.
“You could give me a
hand if you fancy.” Charles suggested
“Nah.” she bluntly
replied. “Housework's for boys.” she said as she went on her way.
