A Time to Every Season

by Tigger
Copyright 2002, All Rights Reserved

 

Part I

 

Chapter 7: The Naming

The late afternoon sun was pleasantly warm as the two young women strolled down the flagstone path that led to Jane's stable. Darla was half-tempted to keep up a stream of chatter in order to try to put a smile on the taller girl's face, but decided to let the silence stand. *For a while longer, anyway,* she thought to herself. *Time enough to draw her out once we get to the stables. I have yet to see the heart that Jane's Garters and Teddi can't soften.*

As for Rocky, she was trying to sort her way through the deluge of strange new experiences Jane Thompson had unleashed upon her. So many strange feelings and if she were honest with herself, not all of them were unpleasant. Uncomfortable, perhaps, because she had all but convinced herself that feminine fripperies like silky undies were not for Rocky Rockwell, future Olympic Open Pentathlon Champion, but not unpleasant.

And then there was this Darla who said she wanted the two of them to be girlfriends. *What the hell am I going to do about that?* Rocky asked herself, but could find no answer. Not yet, anyway.

"Has your aunt really disciplined you before?" Rocky asked, her curiosity on that score finally getting the better of her.

Hiding a smile at the question, Darla shrugged. "She's a tough lady, and she believes in a certain code of behavior. So, she tries to make any failures to comply with that code. . . memorable. I try not to slip up too badly or too often."

Something in Darla's tone caught Rocky's attention. "She doesn't hurt you or anything, does she?"

Darla laughed. "Oh, nothing so crude. She simply makes you do something you do not like to do, all the while knowing that you wouldn't be doing it if you had followed the rules."

"Aren't you old enough to tell her to forget it?"

"I wish," Darla said ruefully, "But she has me by the same hook that she sank into you."

"Oh? What is that?"

"My word of honor," Darla said simply. "When I first came here, I said I would comply with her program and her rules. Besides, I love her and I know she loves me."

"I'm sorry, but I am finding her rather unlovable right now."

Darla shrugged. "That's okay. She's an acquired taste. She's tough and she demands your best," and then her voice became very serious, "but she also saved my life, and I mean that quite literally. Maybe one day I will tell you that story, but not now."

"I see. If you knew that you might be punished for not knocking at her door, why did you just come in like you did? Knocking first seems a simple enough thing to do to avoid something you don't want."

A mischievous grin crossed Darla's face. "I had promised to be there for you, but she had already started testing you and might very well have told me to come back later. I couldn't take the chance and keep my promise to you."

"You don't like her punishments?"

An honest shudder ran down Darla's spine. "She has the most amazing ability to hit you with precisely what will make you shrivel up and want to hide from yourself."

"And you still came?" Rocky asked again, disbelief in every syllable.

"I promised," Darla said again. "Besides, I have been a particularly good little girl lately, so I figured she would cut me a little slack. I will have to be careful for the next week or so, though. Aunt Jane has a pretty long memory."

"I can believe that. Anyway. . Thanks - for the help and for trying to be there during the test."

"No problem. Like I said, that is what friends do for each other."

Rocky was silent again, and then shrugged. "Guess you'd know more about that than I would, but I am grateful, nonetheless."

"Glad to do it," Darla said and then began twirling about, letting her skirts dance in the breeze. "Isn't it just a wonderful afternoon? Smell the fall leaves?"

"Is that what that scent is?"

"Well, since that building ahead is the stable, it might have more than a bit of horse manure added to the aroma. C'mon, I will introduce you to Garters and Teddi - Aunt Jane's favorite horses."

~-------------~

*Amazing,* Darla thought for the third time in as many minutes, *I never would have expected this!* She just stood there, staring as Rocky stroked the face of Jane's favorite mare while making cooing baby-talk to the big saddle-bred. *She loves them, and this is the first time I have seen her let go like that since I laid eyes on her on the train.*

"What's this big love's name, Darla?" Rocky asked, her eyes still fixed on the horse's own.

"Ummm. . . .Garters," Darla managed. "Her name is really Jane's Stars and Garters, but we just call her Garters."

"What a strange name," Rocky replied, pressing her face to the horse's silky neck.

*If only you knew,* Darla thought. "Well, if you look at her legs, she has socks like many horses do, but there are two stripes moving up from them, that sort of look like. . .well, garters."

Rocky hunkered down to take a look and came up with a huge grin. "You're right! How neat. Where's the other horse?"

"Over here," Darla told her as she led the way down the aisle. She stopped in front of a big chestnut thoroughbred that imperiously butted Darla in the chest with her nose. Darla chuckled with evident pleasure and reached up to stroke the strong neck. "This is Teddi. She is technically my horse, but as you can no doubt see, she believes that our relationship is reversed and I am, in fact, HER human."

"Oh, aren't you GORgeous," Rocky purred in a voice that almost gave Darla whiplash from the double take. "Of course she knows she's the boss. Just LOOK at her! Queen of all she surveys."

"That's Teddi, all right," Darla managed to agree.

"Why do I suspect that 'Teddi' is not short for Theodora?"

"'Cause you are smart. Well, we better get going. I want to show you the gardens before we head in to get cleaned up for dinner. The gardens are really lovely this time of year and a good place to go to . . .well. . . to get away for a few moments of solitude when Aunt Jane gets to be a bit more than you can handle."

"She will get that way, will she?"

"Guaranteed, but you have to understand that beneath it all, she does it because she cares so much. It's just that. . . well, . . sometimes, it can be a real bitch to remember that 'tough love' is still really love."

"I hear that, Darla," Rocky agreed and then began rummaging in the purse Jane had given her to carry. "Almost forgot. . ."

~-------------~

Later, Darla and Rocky were walking back toward the main house. Darla could report to Jane that Rocky was good with horses and more, that the girl loved the animals. *Imagine, Rocky slipping those apples to the horses before we left. She must have taken them from Marie's fruit bowl after she heard Jane mention the stable.*

"So, do you think your Aunt is serious about helping me train?" Rocky asked, as off-handedly as she could manage which wasn't much. The answer was just too important for such games.

"She said she would if you give her your best. Jane's word is gold and she expects the same from us. If you don't feel the same, you'd better tell her now. She only gives you one chance when it comes to giving her your word."

"I keep my word," Rocky said with quiet forcefulness.

"Fair enough, but I would have negotiated something a lot more fun than beating myself to bits exercising."

Rocky gave the petite girl a dark look. "Well, all I can say is one of three things: you have been blessed with a totally unfair genetic advantage, or you are suffering some sort of eating disorder or you are a closet exerciser. Since I don't want to believe in the first, and I have seen enough of your Aunt to know the second wouldn't get past her, I think your aversion to sweating is just one of those "See, I really am a girly-girl" affectations."

"Oh, I didn't say I wouldn't sweat, I just said I don't LIKE to do it. Just like I don't like to submit to Aunt Jane's little punishments."

"So, what do you do for exercise?"

"Aerobic dance mostly, with a day or two of weight-work each week."

"Aerobic DANCE? Hopping about in tights to bad music? Oh come on now, can't you find a more efficient and effective exercise than that?"

The utter distaste in Rocky's voice made Darla want to laugh out loud. "Oh, I can see right now that I am going to have to get Aunt Jane to send you to my health club. We'll have your tongue hanging out and your butt dragging before we get ten minutes past the warm-up."

"Bull!"

"We'll see, girlfriend, we'll see," Darla said, a teasing threat in her voice.

Rocky stopped short and fixed Darla with a hard look. "Why are you so determined to call me 'girlfriend' when we aren't?" she asked, her voice suddenly cold and suspicious. "Because your Aunt told you to make friends with me? Maybe you are supposed to report to her on when I do my lessons and when I slip up."

"Goodness no! I promise you, that I am NOT trying to get on your good side to betray you and get you into trouble with Aunt Jane." Darla gave a sour smile. "Trust me, just like me, you will make enough errors around her for her to know when you are trying and when you are dogging it."

"So why the girlfriend thing? Why not just call me by name. Even your aunt calls me 'Miss Rockwell'."

Darla sighed. "It's just that YOU don't like Chastity and SHE doesn't like Rocky, and *I* don't like calling people I DO want to be friends with by their last names. It sounds so. . .well, unfriendly, you know?"

"Really?"

"Really. And just to prove it to you, I promise that until you agree with me that we ARE friends, I'll try to find something else to call you that won't offend anyone's sensibilities," then Darla gave that little giggle of hers, "least of all Jane's because I really DON'T care for her little disciplinary reminders."

"Wimp," Rocky said without too much heat.

"ooooOOOOO. . Feeling feisty, are you? Well, you can call me a wimp after YOU'VE gone through one of Aunt Jane's punishments."

"Count on it, wimp." Rocky growled, feeling suddenly carefree and not a little mischievous, which was an odd experience for her with another girl.

"Oh, watch your step, or I might just go back on my better nature and see if I CAN trip you up and get us both onto her dark lists," Darla teased, "JUST to give you the opportunity to see if you still feel like calling ME a wimp - after you've been through one of Aunt Jane's learning experiences."

"Just remember that payback is a bitch, babe," Rocky retorted, still grinning.

"Just like me, girl, just like me," Darla laughed. Then she became alert. "Oh look! There is Old Tom over in the rose garden. C'mon! You'll like Tom. He is a great old guy."

~----------------~

Jane watched from her window as the two girls headed back to the house from their short conversation with Tom. Chastity was striding out again, although not quite so much as before. The heels she still wore and the grass were enough to restrict her stride to some extent, but it was clear that she was upset. *Guess the naming did not go as well as Darla had hoped.*

~---------------~

"I'm sorry, okay? I forgot we hadn't resolved the name thing we talked about and didn't have anyway to ask what name to use once we were with Tom." Jane heard Darla cajole as she came down from her room to the foyer to meet the two girls.

"I guess," the older student fumed, "but why did you pick THAT name?"

"Well, gee, I guess it is because you remind me of someone by that name."

*Chastity does not sound too upset. More baffled, I think. Darla's rationalization has defused much of the anger I saw as they approached the house.* "What is the problem, Darla?" Jane said sternly. "If you have been teasing Miss Rockwell, you will find yourself regretting it in very short order!"

Rocky spun to look up the stairs at the descending Jane. "Oh no, Ms Thompson, she just caught me by surprise. We met your groundskeeper and Darla introduced me as Audrey. I have never thought of myself as an 'Audrey' before this."

*AUDREY?!? I would have expected a Roxanne or a Raquel - something that would have permitted the girl to react to a name that sounds like one she is used to applying to herself. Where does Darla come up with these names?* "I see. Well, that does pose a bit of a problem since Tom is around here a great deal. If we were to start calling you by a different name, it might call unwanted attention to you. Since you refuse to answer to your given name, and since you DID agree to allow me to use a feminine name for you socially, would you mind very much if we continued to use Audrey?"

Rocky thought about that for a few moments. Actually, Audrey wasn't all that bad. She couldn't think of any reason not to accept it. Well, she could live with it - until she left here, anyway. "All right. That would be all right, ma'am."

"Very well, Audrey. Welcome to my home."

"Thank you, Ms. Thompson."

"And I managed to reach Mr. Smith while you were out. He will meet you down by the stable at six a.m. tomorrow."

"SIX A.M.?!?" Darla squeaked, thinking that she would have to be up before five a.m. to change to Darryl and be at the meeting place before Roc. . . . errr. . . .Audrey left the house. She swallowed hard. "Well, girlfriend, better you than me." she managed weakly. *And Jane is up there on the steps, grinning down at me like a Cheshire Cat. Well, that puts her one up on me, but I will get mine back, just you wait, Momma-Jane!*

"Of course. I need . . AUDREY back here, showered and properly dressed and made up for our normal 8:30 breakfast.

Audrey felt an urge to hug her teacher, but repressed it. "Thank you," she said, and then added, "May I go lay down before dinner, please? I am afraid I did not sleep very well last night."

"Of course, Audrey. I will have Marie call you half an hour before dinnertime."

~-------------------~

"So, where did 'Audrey' come from?" Art asked as he creamed away the last remnants of 'Diana' from his face.

"Apparently, our son has decided that the composite picture of Chast. . I mean, Audrey looks like Audrey Hepburn in the movie "Gigi". When you asked Darla if she had come up with a name for our GG, by which you meant, 'genetic girl', the image of the film character flashed into her mind."

Art thought about that for a moment and then nodded. "Huge eyes, short, shiny black hair and a lovely smile when she forgets and accidentally uses it. Yeah, I can see that."

"Well, I couldn't," Jane huffed as she sat down at the foot of their bed. "At least, not until Darla showed me that composite picture again."

"Well, at least Audrey seems to like the name," Art offered.

"True enough. All in all, after a rough start, it was a rather productive day. Her response to the horses was unexpected, but something we can definitely use to help her, I think."

"That girl wants for love, Jane. . .and she seems almost afraid to give or accept it right now." At Jane's stern look, Art raised his hands in surrender. "That is just a snap judgement, I know, and based on less than one day of observation. Still. . "

"Well, you are too professional to let that 'snap judgment' to color your other observations," Jane yawned and stretched. "Lord, but I am tired. Stress, I think."

"Perhaps, and perhaps not, my love." Art rose and went over to stand in front of his seated wife. "You have been naughty again, haven't you, Jane? You confessed that you were thoughtlessly unfair to your student today. Do you still think so?" Art asked, his voice level but stern.

Jane had to look up to see into Art's eyes, but she nodded. "She is no better prepared to behave and dress like a young woman than my boys were, which I should have known from my conversations with her Mother. However, I still had unreasonably high expectations and dealt with her accordingly by which I mean, too harshly."

"Have you forgiven yourself by now?" Art asked, his tones gentler.

"Not really, but I will get over it."

Art brought his hands up in front of Jane's face and flexed them slowly. *Now why does he still have Diana's long nails on?*

"Then I will have to punish you!" Like a striking snake, Art had Jane on her back and his long nails questing for those secret places where his love's single great weakness lay hidden.

Jane Thompson-Philips was terribly (hideously) ticklish.

"ART," she squealed as those agile fingers with their sharp, delicate tips unerringly found those treacherous nerve endings, "NOOOOOOOooooo. . ." only to lose control of her voice as a bubble of giggling laughter burst from her mouth.

"I think, my love, that you should be able to forgive yourself for your human frailty after, oh. . . let's see, fifteen minutes of enforced loss of self control. Don't you?"

Jane was too out of control to answer just then and Art was too busy holding her down and avoiding her flailing knees to ask again, but then again, she wasn't thinking clearly enough to retaliate effectively. Satisfied with that, Art applied tongue and lips to the task of supporting the work his fingers were doing in driving his wife insane.

~-----------------~

"Bastard," Jane said lovingly much, much later. "I never should have told you about that damned sorority initiation."

"Well, it does come in handy when my Type Super A, control freak wife is beating herself up needlessly. NO, don't start again," Art ordered when he felt her stiffen, "or I will be forced to assume that you have not yet forgiven yourself. You made a mistake, saw it yourself, fixed it yourself and now you won't make it again. That's enough."

Jane thought about that for a few moments and then realized Art was right. With a wicked glint in her dark green eyes, said, "Yes, dear." in so absurdly submissive a tone it might as well have been "Yes, Master."

"Yeah, right. Pull the other one, Jane." and both of them dissolved into more laughter.

It was a very nice way to fall asleep.

Chapter 8: When Darryl Met Audrey

Darryl groaned when his alarm went off at 4:45, but he managed to drag himself out of bed and into the shower. Ten minutes later he was sitting in front of Darla's vanity applying the false eyebrows that Jane had acquired for him using an adhesive guaranteed not to loosen until the solvent was applied.

With the wig off, the brows on and his face scrubbed ruthlessly clean of Darla's cosmetic artistry, Darryl again looked like a relatively short and slender young man, but a young man none the less.

He began pulling on his running outfit. He'd selected these 'garments' with an eye towards looking just a bit grungy. Darryl thought that looking sloppy and unkempt would further assist his disguise. No one who did not know Darryl AND Darla very well would ever connect the scruffy-haired boy with the cutoff shorts, ripped muscle shirt and ragged running shoes with the prissy, fashion-conscious Darla.

As he laced up the running shoes, he thought again about his biggest worry - his, or rather, Darla's nails. Knowing he might be called on to play both roles, Darla was wearing her nails much shorter and more blunt than she had for other students. If asked why so fashion-crazy a girl as Darla did not wear her nails longer or have sculptured tips, Darla would use the excuse of needing them short for the piano. *Have to remember to practice a few times over the next couple of days when Roc. . I mean, Audrey is around.*

He took one last quick look in his mirror and cursed. His hands shot to his ears to remove Darla's sparkling earrings and then covered the hole with a dab of makeup that he blended into his lobes. "Guys may wear earrings, but not the dangling, sparkling kind," he growled to his reflection. "Okay, one last check - anything else?"

Nothing that he could see, and then he slipped out his door and down the stairs. As he went to the back door, he thought it might be smart to move a few things to the apartment next to Diana's workout room above the stable where he had hidden the first day Audrey had arrived. Then, he could slip in and out of the house as Darla. Having Audrey see Darryl in the house would have serious repercussions.

~--------------~

At precisely 5:45, Audrey came power walking down the trail. *She WOULD be early,* Darryl thought. *Just as well that I forced myself to get an early start.*

He was able to watch her for some distance before stepping out of the shadows to greet her. She was wearing tight gray cotton stretch shorts that fit her powerfully built thighs down to just above her knees. She had white, terry cloth sweat bands about her forehead and wrists, but it was the t-shirt that almost had him howling with laughter.

It was a beige colored shirt, with a series of pictures relating to each of the events of the modern pentathlon. The shirt's caption declared that "Pentathletes do it Five Ways!"

*Jane will have a cow if she sees that. Just hope I am around to see her reaction!* Then he stepped forward. "Hi, I am Darryl. Are you Ms. Thompson's new student, Chastity?"

The hated name brought Rocky up short, and she was about to lay into the fellow when she remembered that Ms. Thompson hadn't known her 'new' name when she'd called this guy. *So, do I ask him to call me Rocky or give him my new name?* She thought for a moment, and then decided she did not want to find out the hard way that the Thompson woman might feel that continuing to use Rocky outside of her home was a violation of their agreement. She held out her hand to the boy. "I prefer to be called Audrey, if you don't mind."

"No, not at all," Darryl chirped. "In fact, you look more like an Audrey than a Chastity, anyway. Hey, haven't we met?" Darryl had thought hard and long about asking that. For one thing, his hair was much shorter now because he'd been forced to cut it when the decision that Darla would be brunette was made. All that hair under a wig was a pain, but it also made Darryl look less like Darla, so that was to their advantage.

Nonplused by what most girls would consider to be a poor pickup line, Audrey stared at the boy for a moment. "I'm not sure," she finally said. "You almost look familiar, but. . "

"I know! You were on the train to Kingston. I asked if you needed help with your bag!"

Audrey blushed as she too remembered that encounter. "I'm sorry about that, but strangers who just approach me make me edgy. And I am sorry I didn't recognize you."

"Oh, no problem. I understand that women have to be careful in this day and age, particularly ones like you. As for me, well, I was in my college student grunge-mode then. Had to get a haircut and clean up my act again once I got home and my mom got an eyeful of me," he gave her his best 'male browbeaten by alpha female' war-weary grin and then continued. "So, you want to go for a run? How far, how fast? The terrain's not all that challenging around here - a little too flat for real cross-country work, but we have enough trails that we won't get bored running laps."

Audrey thought about it for a moment. She had promised to be back and dressed in time for breakfast at 8:30. That meant she needed to be back at the house no later than eight, which meant her cool-down had to be finished by 7:45. "Can we try for 12 miles in ninety minutes?"

"That's a pretty fast pace," Darryl demurred, thinking that he hadn't been on that long a run in couple of weeks. That's sub-8- minute miles. Let's start out a bit slower and if after a half an hour or so, we're both okay, we can pick up the pace."

"That's reasonable," Audrey replied. "Are you warmed up?" At Darryl's nod, she smiled broadly. "Then let's DO it! I am dying to burn off some of this adrenaline."

~---------------~

Running with Audrey, Darryl decided, was a lot like running with Diana. Both had longer legs than he did and both tended to want to burn the first mile or so and then settle into a loping stride that just ate up mileage. *I have to take five strides for every four of hers,* he fumed to himself. It had been a real effort to keep up with her and he had been forced to come from behind twice. *Of course, that isn't all bad. The lady has a really great pair of legs and a super butt!*

~--------------~

Running with Darryl, Audrey decided, was a bit of surprise. She had thought, particularly when she had first seen him, that there was NO WAY that short fellow would keep up with her. She had decided to try to discourage him quickly when he'd suggested a slower run than she had, especially when she had already given him a break by suggesting a whole ninety minutes for the run. He had needed to struggle those first couple of miles to match the pace she'd set, but then he'd settled in and kept up, right at her shoulder. *Just as well, Roc. . .no, have to think of myself as Audrey here. . .Anyway, how would you have known where to run if you'd left him figuratively and literally in your dust?* A touch on her shoulder broke through her endorphin-hazed thoughts and she saw Darryl pointing to the right trail at an upcoming fork. She nodded, wondering why his smile made her feel like smiling.

~---------------~

At 8:15 A.M., Jane buzzed Darla's room and was told her son/daughter was decent. She slipped in just in time to see Darryl/Darla (both were actually present somehow in this transitional moment) muttering dark imprecations to himself as he slowly peeled one of the false eyebrows from his face. "Damned solvent is only about half as good as the stickum," she heard and had to laugh.

"It is NOT funny!" He growled, spinning on Darla's makeup stool to face his mother.

"Oh god, but it is, sweetheart. Heavens, but if you did not pull off that second brow, and only made up half your face you could easily get work in a circus as the half man/half woman." She managed to stifle her laughter when she saw the frown on Darryl's face deepen.

"What do you WANT, Momma-Jane," he asked in a soft, controlled voice that told her just how close he was to losing his temper.

"Did things go badly on the run?" she asked, all solicitude now as she moved over to sit on the edge of Darla's bed.

"Besides the fact that she nearly ran me into the ground? It was all I could do not to beg for mercy. And worst of all? I think she took it easy on me the last two miles!"

His indignance was trenchant and Jane choked back another chuckle. "She is a nationally ranked athlete, dear."

"I know, but I did finish in the top ten in the Ivy League Cross Country Championships that one year, and I *thought* I was still in pretty good shape. Guess I will have to work to keep up with her."

"Well, are you in too bad a mood to help me today? If you are, I need to know right now so I can delay the exercise I have planned until later. I cannot take the chance that you might lose your temper in the middle of this little drama. That could set us back weeks."

Darryl turned back to the vanity and began brushing the solvent onto the remaining brow. "Tell me what you want to do and I will tell you how I feel." Then he stopped and flexed his aching muscles. "I am afraid, however, that whatever it is you have planned, it better not be too active."

"Oh, trust me, what I have planned for you will definitely not be active."

Chapter 9: Audrey Meets Shirley Temple

Audrey stood behind her chair, her eyes glancing back and forth between her teacher and the mantle clock behind Ms. Thompson. The grandfather clock in the foyer Westminster chime sounded 8:45. *Where is Darla?* she wondered as her nose twitched at the lovely smells escaping from Marie's kitchen.

"Audrey, I do not wish to wait any longer. Would you please go up and see what is keeping Darla?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Audrey replied and quickly left the room.

*If she were one of my boys, I would have stopped her and ordered to her to curtsy,* Jane thought as she waited for the next act in this little drama to be played out. *But she isn't. In many ways, I am trying to teach her much as I tried to teach Michelle after Michael's attempted suicide. I want her to leave my keeping a real lady, and I want her to be happy about being a real lady. Nothing like giving yourself a challenge, Jane,* she thought with a sigh.

A few minutes later, a frazzled looking Darla rushed into the dining room ahead of a bemused Audrey. "Sorry, Aunt Jane, but my alarm did not go off or something. . ."

"Or something. If I went upstairs right now, miss, I wonder if I would even find your clock set for the correct time?"

"Aunt Jane. . "

"Never mind. . for now. I am quite famished." Jane pressed the call button and smiled when Marie opened the door to the kitchen. "Please serve, Marie."

Breakfast was fresh fruit, egg-white omelets and fresh bran muffins. Shortly after they had all been served, Marie slipped back into the dining room and handed something to Jane. She nodded and then smiled at her newest charge. "You will find, Audrey, that there are several things I expect of my students. First, I expect you to be conversant in the news of the day - national, world and fashion - so it will behoove you to get into the habit of reading the newspapers and periodicals I have delivered here for that purpose. Second, you will always present yourself in the public rooms of my home wearing cosmetics suitable to the occasion. For example, the light color you are currently wearing is completely acceptable for the breakfast table, although you might wish to find a nice complimentary lipstick to go with it. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Ms. Thompson."

"Excellent. Perhaps you will be a more diligent and satisfying student than THIS scamp!" Jane said piercing stare at Darla. "How many times must I tell you, Darla, that such . . . vivid colors are not suited to a breakfast en famille?"

Darla managed to swallow her bite of muffin. "Sorry, Aunt Jane."

"So you shall be, Miss." Jane held up a key for Darla's inspection. Audrey was surprised to see the other girl's face crumple.

"Please, Aunt Jane, I will do better. You don't have to. ."

Jane held up a silencing hand. "Your armoire is already locked and your outfit for the day laid out upon your bed. Marie will complete your makeup and your hair. Since you cannot seem to find it in yourself to behave as the young lady I have endeavored to make of you, I shall allow you to dress and act as the silly child you seem to prefer. Do I make myself clear, Miss?"

"But Aunt Jane. ."

"Do I make myself clear? Or would you prefer to increase your disciplinary time?"

"You have made yourself clear, Aunt Jane. Ummm. . How long?"

Jane set down her fork and dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. "I really don't know, Darla. Until you show me you are ready to grow up and behave like a lady. Audrey, I shall ask you to watch over this scamp's activities." She rose from her chair. "We shall all meet in the downstairs sitting room in thirty minutes. I shall explain more fully at that time."

Audrey started to ask Darla what was going on, but watched in stunned silence as the other girl rushed from the room, obviously upset. She looked at Diana who simply smiled. "Darla knows the rules and she knows better than to flaunt them when there is another student in the house. Don't worry too much. Jane is simply getting her attention again. Finish your breakfast. I suspect you will have a long day and need the fuel."

~---------------~

*Precisely* thirty minutes later, the five members of the household, including the housekeeper Audrey noted, had gathered in Ms. Thompson's downstairs office. Audrey was sure that the room was the height of interior design, and could without doubt be a showplace in one of those house interior design magazines, but it was also without doubt the most bloody uncomfortable room she had ever laid eyes or buttocks upon. Audrey had, in fact, tried each apparently available seating surface in the room only to find each more unforgiving than the previous one. Before Jane herself had arrived, of course. Ultimately, she had not been offered any choice in the matter because she was immediately directed to one of the two particularly un-sit-able chairs stationed across from the huge antique desk that dominated the room.

The woman called Diana and the housekeeper Marie had followed Jane into the room. Each had also immediately seated themselves - Diana and Marie upon the settee that Audrey recalled was the best of a bad lot - and Ms. Thompson in the huge leather throne behind her desk. She thoughtfully fingered the desk accessories for a moment and then called out, "You may enter, Darla-Anne."

Audrey nearly fell out of her seat when she first beheld the vision that skipped - literally SKIPPED - just like in the old Shirley Temple movies she remembered from her very young childhood - into the room.

Darla knew she made quite the picture, and had a very difficult time not giggling at Audrey's stunned gawking. *Just a walking, talking Raggedy Annie doll,* she thought with some amusement. *But Aunt Jane did want to bring out the big guns early with this one. I think Momma-Jane thoroughly understood the concepts of strategic deterrence during the bad old days of the Cold War.*

For herself, Darla was not at all bothered by her outfit. She had become quite enured to its supposedly humiliating effects early on - well before her graduation from Jane's program, in fact. It was simply another disguise that served a purpose.

Oh, but what a disguise. The dress was an overly ornate white- lace-on-white dress that would have gone about to mid-calf length were it not for the many-layered petticoat that lifted the skirt up like a huge parody of a ballerina's tutu. *May have overdone this just a bit, Momma-Jane,* Darla thought as she approached her seat. *I sort of had to scrunch the skirt to get through the bloody door!*

The hem and the many flounces were trimmed in bright pink piping as were the high collar and the cuffs at Darla's wrists. She wore a white tights and bright pink Mary jane flats that matched the piping. Her hair had been done up in what Darla privately thought of as "Wednesday Addams" braided pigtails with HUGE pink satin bows at the tips of each tail. Marie had applied a heavy rouge to her cheeks ("To give you color suited to being embarrassed, you silly hussy.") and then had used an eyebrow pencil to splash pseudo-freckles all over her cheeks and nose. The final touch had been to use a lipstick brush to paint on the silly angel-bowed lips often seen on china dolls.

*My God,* Audrey thought, *She looks awful, and so embarrassed. She can't even lift her head! THIS is what this woman does for PUNISHMENT?*

"You may be seated, Darla-Anne," Jane said after the girl had stood in front of the desk for several moments.

Audrey watched as Darla carefully gathered the many petticoats and sat very gingerly on the very edge-tip of the seat. *Doesn't want to wrinkle the monstrous dress, I suppose,* Audrey mused as Darla carefully folded her hands in her lap.

"You have been walking a fine line towards this for a while now, Darla-Anne. Tell us why you are being punished," Jane demanded.

"I wath impolite and immature, Auntie Jane," Darla said in a singsong, lisping voice that had Audrey's head snapping about in surprise. "I forgot to knock on your door, overthlept and missed breakfast and did not thet a good ladylike example for your new thtudent."

"And while that is enough to warrant discipline, that is only in the past two days, is it not?" Jane asked sternly.

"Yeth, Auntie Jane," was the barely audible reply.

Jane now turned to Audrey. "My niece knows that she has a responsibility to help you, as my new student, acclimate to this new environment. Since she has demonstrated that she cannot or perhaps will not carry out these responsibilities, I have reduced her to a situation where she has no such onerous duties. If she wishes to behave like a stereotypical spoiled brat, then we show her precisely what that is like. While this punishment is invoked, she will behave, speak and interact like a preschooler. In the interests of modesty, she is allowed to use the facilities on her own, but she must ask first. Any adult behaviors will be cause to extend her punishment so she must be observed constantly, except in the bathroom, by someone seeing that she behaves. I have decided that you are to be her babysitter until she has completed her punishment."

"Me??!"

"There are several reasons for that, not the least of which is that I have other business that I must attend to today. However, there are other benefits to assigning you this task."

Jane stopped and waited for the question she knew was burning in Audrey's mind, but the girl again showed remarkable discipline and waited for Jane to continue. "The benefits to you, Audrey, are at least three fold. First, this responsibility integrates you into the family. You are now responsible for your little sister, an experience you likely never had since you were, I believe, an only child. Is that not correct?"

The woman's tone of voice clearly told Audrey that there was no doubt in Jane Thompson's mind, but that she still expected an answer. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Excellent. The second benefit is that you will see first-hand the means by which I mete out corrections in my household. I hope you will come to see that you need never fear any type of abuse, but equally as important, that I will make the punishment fit the crime. Do you understand how this discipline is appropriate to her misbehavior?" *Please say yes,* Jane thought. *If you fight me on this point we are in for a great deal of difficulty in the coming days.*

Audrey looked at the girl sitting rigidly next to her. Her head was down and her eyes were shut tightly. Audrey thought she could see just a touch of moisture at those absurdly long lashes as if Darla was barely controlling her tears. *I don't think she will do whatever set Ms. Thompson off again, and while she is obviously embarrassed given the way she is blushing, her punishment is only in the family and not really hurtful.*

"Do you or do you not agree?" Jane asked again, her tone becoming impatient.

"If she stays within the house and only with people who know her and like her," Audrey said carefully, "I can see where the punishment is not abusive."

*Interesting caveats,* Jane thought. "Why the qualifications, Miss Rockwell?" Jane demanded sternly. "And why did you leave out 'inappropriate'?"

"Darla has told me she loves you, and that she knows you love her, Ms. Thompson," Audrey said quietly. "Other people who do not love her, or for whom she does not hold that same degree of confidence and trust might use knowledge of this punishment to tease her or really humiliate her. In that case, the punishment would continue for much longer than was appropriate, and in my view, might constitute abuse."

Jane glanced at Diana and saw that her mate had become suddenly very alert. Nodding her understanding, Jane turned back to Audrey. "Just so. That is why she is grounded for the duration of her punishment and will not be permitted any guests or visitors. Which will be over the weekend. If she is a good little girl, she may grow up again Monday morning. AFTER breakfast. In the meantime, I think it is sufficient that WE see her reduced to this state and that she knows WE are disappointed that she made this necessary."

"Thank you, Auntie Jane," Darla said in her little girl's voice and lisp.

"You are welcome, Darla Anne. Now, Audrey, as to whether or not you think the punishment is appropriate to the crime?"

"I don't know about that, Ms. Thompson. It is outside of my experience, and I don't think I would find it. . . helpful."

"I see," Jane said quietly disappointed. *I suppose it was too much to hope that she'd see the punishment as just. And yet, the time will come when I will have to enforce similar fates upon her.* "Then you must endeavor not to need such correction, because if I decide it is warranted, I will impose such disciplines on you."

Audrey thought about that, and something occurred to her. Jane saw the smooth forehead suddenly wrinkle. "Yes, Audrey? What is bothering you?"

"You said, Ms. Thompson, that you saw three benefits to having me be the babysitter. I only recall you telling me two of them."

"Ah, just so. Well, ordinarily, Darla-Anne would be restricted to her preschooler behaviors until I determined that she had served her full penance. However, I will permit her to speak with you in an adult fashion for up to half an hour today to discuss this facet of my program so that any questions you have might be addressed. I feel that is necessary since, by giving me your word yesterday, you made yourself subject to such disciplines and punishments. The time and place for this discussion will be at your discretion, Audrey. Merely tell our little girl "Time out, Darla" and she will be permitted to speak as an adult, although none of the other restrictions on adult behaviors or dress will be vacated. Is that understood? Audrey?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Darla-Anne?"

"Yeth, Auntie Jane."

"Very well. Audrey, you may have our baby address you as you wish. Simply tell her by what title you wish to be called. Now, I think Darla-Anne will take you to the nursery. If she is a particularly good girl, you may read her a bedtime story before her afternoon nap. A suitable selection of books are in the nursery." Then Jane rose from her desk. "Now, you must excuse me as I have an overseas conference call with some executives from Siemens International in an hour and must prepare for it."

Audrey and Darla both rose. Audrey turned to the door, but stopped when her hand was grabbed. Spinning she turned to see Darla looking up at her with mischievous pseudo-innocence in her light blue eyes. "You're th'POTHED to hold my hand, Mith Audwey." She said with childlike reprimand.

The older girl glanced back at Jane who merely nodded. Shrugging, the somewhat off-balance teen allowed her 'charge' to lead her from the room and up the main stairs. Three adults smiled behind the departing pair.

Chapter 10 - Interlude - Jane and Diana

An hour later, her business concerns finally dealt with, Jane stuck her head into the kitchen and smiled at Marie. "Anything much going on up there?" she asked, nodding to the monitor speaker Marie was listening to.

"Not much. I don't think Audrey is at all sure what she is supposed to be doing with our little girl, and is therefore doing as little as absolutely necessary. Most of what has happened up there so far has been at Darla's instigation."

"Diana thought that it might go that way," Jane said with a sigh. "I really want to know how she feels and reacts to this sort of game before I order her to do anything even remotely similar. With the boys, their stunned disbelief that anyone would DARE do such a thing to them, combined with the intentionally sharp stabs to their overblown masculine egos was usually enough to keep even the worst of them from reacting too violently. Besides, I have enough experience with boys that I could see an emotional eruption coming in time to squelch such outbursts before anyone could be hurt. With this one. . . I just don't know. . ."

Marie listened as Darla kept up a steady monologue of almost nonsensical chatter, obviously playing with one of the many dolls that lived in Jane's special nursery. "On the positive side, Darla has managed to inveigle Audrey into having a tea party for lunch. I'll be taking a tray up to the nursery so don't expect the children at table."

"Good. But other than that concession, Audrey hasn't gotten into the spirit of this thing at all? No baby-talking to dollies or teasing Darla?" Jane asked.

"No, not really. Like I said, she's being very careful. Darla even asked her if she wanted to "be my Auntie Audwey," and here Marie fell into a deadly imitation of Darla's baby-talk voice, "but all Audrey did was tell her that wasn't necessary and to just keep calling her Audrey. Darla acted very distressed, but Audrey held firm and even our hardheaded child finally had to give in. As for your other question, well, I don't think that this one is much for teasing. Why I feel that way I don't precisely know, but even when Darla gave her unwilling babysitter several obvious openings for some of that nonsense, Audrey did not react at all. It is like she has no idea how to play."

"That's one possibility," Jane noted. "But I have seen students who could not bear to tease one another because they'd had very bad experiences as the butt of others teasing them. Well, if they will not be at table, bring me a tray in my upstairs study. I will monitor them from there and you can have a few hours off."

"Lunch is soup and sandwiches with fruit for dessert," Marie added, her eyes laughing, "Said sandwiches to be cut into finger- sized quarters WITH the crust cut off, thankyouverymuch, as ordered by little Miss Darla-Anne."

"Suitable for a tea-party, eh? Sounds like our daughter is having fun, anyway."

~---------------~

Jane and Diana took their lunch in Jane's upstairs study where they could both watch the goings-on in the nursery over the closed-circuit television. Darla had created as nearly perfect a Norman Rockwell-type children's tea party as Jane had ever seen outside the pages of the Saturday Evening Post. The small table was set to perfection with numerous dolls, from full fashion mini-mannequins to diapered wetting dolls to multicolored stuffed animals, crowding about. There was barely room for the two human guests to seat themselves in the undersized chairs.

"Well, there's another of those benefits to your little exercise, dearheart," Diana said as Darla poured tea for her guests. "Audrey is learning how to serve tea and behave at one of your brutally-correct society high teas. That is the second time Darla has gently corrected some aspect of her manners."

Jane sighed. "I saw that, too, but I am not sure it is going to be entirely beneficial. I hope Audrey doesn't come to the conclusion such social niceties are punishment or merely the silly play of children."

"Well, simply have a high tea some time after Darla is restored to full maturity and serve the tea yourself. That one misses nothing and if you do exactly as our child is doing now, Audrey will see the connection and assume, rightly, that Darla was trying to help her with that game," Diana turned back to the screen. "You say she hasn't yet done that 'time out' you told her she could have?"

"No, she hasn't, and that both surprises and worries me. What if she doesn't care enough to want to know the answers? She has to care, Diana. We cannot help her unless we get her interest. This is why I hate taking on students who know that I am under a hard deadline. If she can convince herself that nothing I do really matters in the long run because she will leave it all behind her, then nothing I do WILL really matter."

Diana nodded. "I don't think that will be a problem, dear. She cares about her training, and that gives you a wedge."

"One I don't want to use in a negative sense. Denying her training is not the punishment I want to use with her, for a variety of reasons."

"Wait and see, my love. Wait and see."

Chapter 11: Babysitting

Audrey watched as Darla served the final course - fresh strawberries with a light cream topping. Each doll and stuffed toy was given a small portion of the treat although the bulk of it was carefully reserved and then shared by the two girls. *I just don't get this. Is she really into this silliness? I mean, I have already all but told her directly that I am not going to press the issue. What do I have to do? Tell her I am not going to go telling on her to Ms. Thompson?*

"Darla? Time out."

"Yeth, Mith Audwey."

"Could you please cut that out? At least for the next half-hour? Your Aunt said you could talk like a real person and that stupid Elmer Fudd imitation of yours is really getting on my nerves."

"Well, don't blow your cool over it," Darla said seriously. "Or you might join me in pantaloons, petticoats and pinafores talking baby-talk. If it really begins to bother you, go talk to Aunt Jane."

"Like that will help," Audrey said sarcastically.

"Oh, but it would," Darla said, spooning up a particularly luscious-looking berry. She savored the bite, looking like a woman in ecstasy before turning back to Audrey. "She wants you to learn to deal civilly with issues that upset you, so discussing things that bother you that much and seeking a solution ahead of time will impress her."

"Why are you telling me that?" Audrey demanded, suspicion dripping from every word.

Darla shrugged. "Because I like you, and because you gave fair warning that something was beginning to get to you. That's unusual in one of Aunt Jane's students. They usually have to do something wrong along those lines and be punished for it before they figure out there might be another, better way to deal with such things. Like talking them out first."

Audrey thought that she would have to mull that insight over for a while. "Why are you putting up with this crap? You're old enough, big enough that you could tell her to go pack sand instead of acting the fool like this just because she tells you to do it."

"You yourself said it. . how did you put it? Oh yes, wasn't inappropriate and wasn't abusive," Darla pointed out.

"I said it MIGHT not be abusive and I wasn't sure about inappropriate, but I may be changing my mind," Audrey muttered. "Your inane chatter is starting to make ME feel abused. And I'm the only one here. Why are you putting on a show for me when I don't care?"

A grin lit Darla's doll-like features. "Partly because you're SUPPOSED to care, but mostly because I never know when Jane is going to stick her head in here. When she does, I had better be doing something appropriate to my designated age or she will assume I have not kept my promise and extend my punishment accordingly. Though there are a few other reasons, as well."

"And they are?" Audrey asked.

"Because, like I told you before, I said I would. Aunt Jane took me in and cared for me, taught me a lot of important things. Like you, I told her I would accept her directions."

"I still don't get it."

"Would you go back on your word?" Darla challenged sharply.

"NO!" Audrey reacted before she could catch herself.

"Neither would I. Neither will I, in fact." Darla replied, more gently this time.

"You said there were other reasons."

"Yep," the gamine grin was back. "'Cause it annoyed the heck out of you and it was fun watching you try to keep from snarling."

"Bitch," Audrey replied without heat before a matching grin formed on her own lips.

"Aren't we all?" Darla asked rhetorically. "And I guess the final reason is that it gives me an excuse to play with the dolls and the stuffies again," she said, giving a nearby pink and purple teddy bear a fond caress. "When I am Darla, Lady- Daughter-of-the-House, I am supposed to be too mature for such play, but as Darla-Anne, such behavior is acceptable, even required. I have an excuse to do something I might feel really embarrassed about if I were caught doing it as Princess Darla."

"And you aren't embarrassed now?"

"Not really," was Darla's unexpected answer. At Audrey's look of disbelief, she simply smiled. "Oh, the clothes are a pain to get into and out of, but as you pointed out earlier to Jane, the only people who see me are those who love me. Jane will send a few verbal barbs my way over the weekend and a couple will likely strike home because she is good at finding the chinks in your armor and she knows me very well, but really, Audrey, what do I truly have to be embarrassed about?"

"Yeah," Audrey said thoughtfully, "I can see that, but you acted so. . .I don't know, humiliated and repentant in Ms. Thompson's office earlier."

~-------------~

In Jane's office, Diana turned up the volume on the speaker and both women crowded a bit closer to the tiny monitor screen.

The increase in volume was in time to catch clearly the giggle that bubbled up from Darla's throat. "Hey, I keep my word, babe, but I'm not stupid, either! If my dear aunt didn't think there were certain negative aspects to this experience for me, she'd soon find another way to punish me and that would, in all likelihood, be something I really wouldn't like doing. Like mucking out Teddi's stalls in boy's work clothes. Yuck."

"Tell you what. If she ever does that, I will take your punishment if you will take any of mine that end up here," Audrey's voice sounded over the speaker.

Jane looked at Diana. "I think I should make an appearance now," she said quietly, and rose to leave the room.

~--------------~

"Oh, don't think we'd get that choice," Darla said. "She's too clever by half, that sneaky, devious aunt of mine. She'd know you prefer the physical effort of clearing the stalls. Besides, now that you know what this is all about, wouldn't you like a few hours of playing with these lovely dollies? Just to remember the 'good old times'?"

"What good old times? I never played with dolls," Audrey said flatly. "Never had any to play with."

The door opened just as Darla's shocked voice sputtered out "No Dolls? None? Didn't you like dolls?" Jane hung outside the cracked open door.

"Never had any, least ways, any I can remember. Might have had some early on, but none that I recall."

"Not even a stuffed animal? A teddy bear or calico bunny rabbit? Even a velvety boa constrictor like Max here?" Darla held up a long green snake with a ridiculous face and a forked tongue made of felt. "Something to cuddle when the dark got scary?" Jane knew by her child's tone that Darla was truly upset.

Audrey shrugged, trying to appear unconcerned. "I just had to grow up faster than most kids, I guess." Then she saw the real distress in her almost-friend's eyes and added very softly. "You don't miss what you never had, Darla. Don't worry about it."

Jane's entry broke the eye contact between the two teens. "I assume this is the time out I authorized, Audrey? Since Miss Darla-Anne was just speaking in adult language?"

"Yes, Ms. Thompson," Audrey replied after a visible attempt to collect herself. "We have a few minutes left, but we are mostly done."

"Your questions have been addressed to your satisfaction?" Jane asked, her eyes watching the girl's face very closely.

"Yes, ma'am."

*I wish you had answered my question more fully or that I had asked it more carefully. Well, nothing to it but to be direct.* "And if, Miss Rockwell, I determined that your behavior would improve should I place you into this or some similar situation, would you comply with my program?"

Audrey thought about Darla's justifications for accepting this woman's direction and how she felt or might feel. *At worst, I feel silly for a few days, but then, I often feel that way when I am not among other athletes.* She gave a barely perceptible lift of her shoulders. "I promised you that I would comply with your directions, Ms. Thompson. For that reason alone, I will keep my word to you," and then thought of something else. "Particularly if you keep your word to me."

*Diana had warned me not to expect more from her so early in the program.* "All right. Then there is no reason for the time out to continue?" At Audrey's headshake, "Then, Darla-Anne will resume her full punishment."

"Ms. Thompson," Audrey cut in. "Could we please dispense with the Looney Toons voice-overs? If I have to spend the day translating f's back to th's and th's back to s's, I will be Looney Toons by the end of the day and Miss Darla Anne may be gagged with one of my sweat socks by the end of the weekend."

"You consider that threat an appropriate way to deal with this?" Jane demanded, suddenly rounding on the girl.

"No, but it's really starting to irritate me and if it keeps up, at some point I'll probably do something that we will both regret," Jane's brows rose sharply and Audrey evidently realized what her last statement must have sounded like to the older woman because she rushed to continue. "I don't mean that as a threat at all, but that's part of why I'm here, right? I mean. . . because I do that sometimes - lose my cool? Maybe this game of yours shouldn't bother me that much, but it does, and I don't think it's fair to set me up for something that, well, that I guess I'm just not ready to deal with yet. Can't we work something else out? Maybe go in shifts with you, the others, and me each taking turns - or maybe just say that Elvira Fudd here can talk like a real person, but act like a child."

*Now there's a reaction that would never have occurred to one of the boys, but she's right. If it really is bothering her - and her snapping at Darla when my daughter forgot to slip out of role at the beginning of the time out indicates that it is - then asking me for help in dealing with her irritation is the adult thing to do on her part. But blast it all, I was planning on using precisely the outburst she has just forced me to help deflect as justification for her first disciplinary punishment. Oh, well.*

"Very well," Jane said heavily. "Darla? Speak adult when Miss Rockwell is with you, but don't let me catch you slipping up anywhere else or I will keep you in the nursery for an extra day for each offense!"

"Yes, Aunt Jane," Darla said with exaggerated meekness, her eyes twinkling in amusement.

"I will see you both at dinner," Jane said. "I have had Marie get out the high chair for our toddler here. In the meantime, it is time for her nap. You may read her a story, Audrey and then clear away the remnants of this small party."

"Yes, Ms. Thompson," Audrey replied.

Chapter 12: "Once upon a time. . ."

A thoughtful Jane Thompson sat back into her study, her eyes fixated on the room monitor. "She is doing an absolutely horrible job of reading that story," Jane said with some disgust.

"Nooooo . . . that's not the problem," the psychologist replied, her tones thoughtful. "What she is doing is not reading it like a children's story. Listen more carefully, Jane."

Jane did listen, her brow furrowing in concentration. "Yes, I think I understand what you mean. You can hear the formal punctuation, the rising tone on questions, the pauses for every comma, but she's not infusing any emotion into the story - none at all. It's as though . . . hmmm . . . the best example I can give is when someone reads from the Bible in church. They want to convey to the congregation the written words as correctly as possible, with nothing of themselves in the reading."

"Exactly!" Diana approved. "She's not giving voice to the characters so they all sound like her. We need to find a way to make her put her own heart into the story."

"Either she is simply doing as she was told," Jane said, "and only what she was told, or . . . "

"Or she really doesn't know how to read to a child?"

"Just as she claims she doesn't know how to play with toys and dolls?"

"Then that would say some pretty harsh things about that sorority sister of yours, sweetheart," Diana told her. "No dolls in her memory? Not knowing how to tell a story would imply none were ever read to her as a child."

Jane thought she saw Darla start to say something to Audrey during the story, but nothing came out. *Maybe she is afraid to find out that Audrey isn't playing and knows I am likely listening in. What a strange child this one is. And yet, Darla said she fell in love with the horses.*

Once Darla was 'asleep', Audrey saw to the chore of cleaning up. Once the dishes were collected and back on the tray, she began to put up the many dolls and stuffed toys Darla had invited to her party.

Sighing, Jane stood up and stretched. Then she stopped short, her eyes fixed on the monitor. "Damn this small screen!" she cursed. *Did I see that, or was it wishful thinking?* "Did you see that?" She asked Diana.

"See what?" asked Jane's startled mate.

Audrey had already moved out of the field of view of the camera, evidently intent on bringing the tray down to Marie in the kitchen. "Never mind," Jane sighed. "Probably just wishful thinking."

~-------------~

A bare silvery thread of moonlight sneaking through the heavily draped curtains was all that lit the way from door to bed. Long experience with the vagaries of the old Victorian mansion's floors had the shadowy figure carefully setting each foot, avoiding creaking floorboards in favor of the more solidly affixed ones. The young woman in the bed never so much as moved throughout the entire episode, not even when the uninvited guest completed her mission.

The sleeping girl looked so peaceful, laying there at rest. If only she could be helped to find that same peace during the daytime hours.

With that thought, the intruder slipped back out the way she'd come, silently closing the heavy oak door behind her.

~-----------------~

Darla crawled out from under the heavy silk comforter and eyed the shrieking alarm clock balefully. *It simply can NOT be 4:45 already.* Unfortunately, it not only could be, but was. Growling to herself, Darla stomped off to her bathroom for a wake-up shower before she began transforming herself into Darryl for another dawn appointment down by the stable.

*We'll have to finish earlier, today,* she thought. *My Shirley Temple makeover will require the extra time if I am not to be late for breakfast and give Jane a reason to extend Darla's punishment.*

~-----------------~

Still feeling very 'rocky', Audrey brought her hand down hard upon the snooze button of her clock radio. She was still tired, and sleep weighed heavy on her eyelids, but discipline and a long-held goal won out.

Forcing her eyes open, she started to move when the sight of something strange caught her eye. She blinked several times to focus, and then she shook her head to clear it.

"Where did you come from?" she asked even as she reached out a tentative finger.

The gaudily colored purple and pink teddy bear simply stared back at her from its perch on her night stand, its eyes huge, its nose round and black, and its sewn-on grin a vivid red that clashed violently with both principal colors.

The snooze-button-delayed alarm sounded again, interrupting her sleep-fogged mind's attempt to answer to her question. If Audrey didn't hurry, she'd be late which meant she would not be able to complete her workout. If Darla's experience had taught her anything, being late for breakfast was currently very high on Audrey's list of things to avoid.

~-----------------~

"Wind sprints?" Darryl asked Audrey. "You want to do wind sprints this morning?"

"Well, it is the day for my speed and cardio-work," Audrey said. "Normally, I will do half an hour or so on a stair climber, too, but since that isn't available, I need to do something like sprints and intervals."

*Diana's gym is a possibility. I will bring it up with Jane and see what she says.* "Well, if you want to climb stairs . . "

"Not real stairs, Dare," Audrey said, tolerant amusement in her voice. "Going down stairs is rough on the knees, particularly when I need to go as fast as I can."

"Oh, I think I can arrange that, too. Here," and he tossed her a pair of heavy gloves. "Put those on and follow me." he directed as he slipped an identical pair onto his own hands.

He led her into the stable to a stone stair that lead up to the high loft. "Wait here." he ordered and then ran up the stairs.

Audrey was about to follow him anyway when a heavy ::thud:: behind her had her spinning about. A thick manila hemp rope now hung down from the loft into one of the open stalls, a couple of coils haphazardly into a tall pile of straw. Moments later, Darryl climbed down the rope, jumping the last few feet and letting the straw absorb some of the shock of his fall. "Up the stairs and down the rope," he said with a challenging air. "Forty minutes and then ten sprints up and down the driveway. How's that?"

Audrey's only answer was a huge smile, just before she tore off up the stairs. Darryl waited for her to complete the first rope climb, wanting to assure himself that she could safely handle that, before following her on the second 'lap.'

"By the way," he called from the loft as she again landed on the ground floor. "Where did you get the neon-pink shoelaces and the fuzzy pompoms on your sneaks?"

"WHAT?!?"

Chapter 13:

"You did WHAT?!?" Jane squealed as she helped Darla arrange her wig at 8:15 that morning.

"We ran steps in the stable and used a rope to get down - to protect our knees, you know." Darla said as she brushed on the brightly colored blusher.

"What about protecting your bloody necks?!?!"

"I made sure she was okay with it, Momma-Jane. I was going to just take her up to Diana's gym, and let her use the equipment up there, but I couldn't think of a good reason why a mere boy acquaintance would know about that, let alone have a key to the place."

"I could give her the key," Jane mused, "but how to have the subject come up without it seeming too. . .convenient. We don't want her thinking that Darryl is TOO familiar with this place."

"Maybe you could have Diana mention she needs a workout during breakfast?" Darla asked.

Jane shook her head. "Too obvious, I think. How about if you ask her about her workout at breakfast? Maybe tease her a little about Darryl - you know. . .second date, getting serious? And then ask her what they did?"

"Suppose she doesn't tell you, or doesn't tell you the truth? It is not like you could call her on it because there is no reason you should know what we did," Darla pointed out as she checked her 'freckles' closely in the mirror.

"I rather suspect she'll simply tell us what happened. Thus far, she has been very cautious and I don't think she would want to get caught in anything I might conclude was a lie and therefore, deserving of discipline."

"True enough," Darla giggled. "I don't think getting her into little girl clothes is going to be an easy task. She was rather appalled by me yesterday."

"Yes, I saw that. I also think we can take it as given that if we ask her why she did it, she'll probably say because she didn't have a stair climber. She's very matter of fact that way. Then I can act worried about her safety, which in fact I am, and tell her I will let her have the key to the gym in the future."

"Hah!" Darla snorted. "Not like you need to be all that worried. She's strong, fast, agile and highly coordinated. And I *DID* make sure there was plenty of loose hay in the stalls."

Darla thought for a few moments and then looked up at her mother. "You could still use the rope thing as an opportunity to punish her," she pointed out. "Might be better to get that first one out of the way early on with her like you do with the boys. While she is still trying to figure you out."

"I could," Jane mused as Darla stood up and went to get her 'Alice in Wonderland' little girl's robe. "But I don't think I want to do that, just yet."

"Why not?" Darla asked, curiosity in her voice.

"Because, at the moment, she really is trying, and since I am still groping in the dark as to how to deal with a real girl, I have to ensure that anything I do is scrupulously fair. My gut reaction is that this is one of those times when a quietly worded reprimand, heavy on concern for her safety might be more useful."

Darla thought about it. "I suppose you're right. She is attentive. Very different from any boy I have ever seen here. Maybe if you indicate that you might discipline her and then decide not to do that THIS time?"

After considering that for a few seconds, Jane shook her head. "No, I think the reprimand will be enough. When I do discipline her, I want the reason to be some unfeminine behavior or action when she knows better. After all, I did say she could exercise, didn't I?"

"Yes, Momma-Jane," Darla said, going up on tiptoe to kiss the taller woman's cheek. "Lord, but I do miss my heels when I am forced to play little girl. I feel so . . .little - particularly around her since you have HER in heels."

"You are only little where it really doesn't count, my love," Jane said with a warm smile and a hug for her child. "Now, let's go down stairs and play our n this little scheme. It ought to work nicely, and after breakfast I will have Diana walk her down and show her the facilities. I have been trying to figure out a way to give Diana some time alone with Audrey away from the strictures of the house, anyway. That should work."

Jane tugged teasingly at the huge bows on the end of Darla's ponytails and smiled. "And now you, young miss, had better hurry down to breakfast, unless you want to stay in Shirley-mode for a few more days."

The alacrity with which Darla scampered out of the room made Jane smile and nearly laugh. *Doesn't get to her anymore, indeed,* she told herself. *SUUURRRE it doesn't, Darla. Sure it doesn't.*

~-------------~

Audrey let herself into the nursery immediately following her post-midday meal walk with Diana. Darla looked up from the doll display she had set up in preparation for Audrey's return. *Good thing Jane buzzed me when Audrey and Diana got back. It would not have done for Audrey to find me reading that biochemistry textbook!*

"So, what did you think of Diana's little gym?" Darla asked.

Jane and Diana were again seated at the desk in her study, eyes glued to the small security monitor. They could see Darla sitting in the nursery rocking chair, bottle feeding a diaper- wetting baby-doll, but could not see Audrey.

"She must be sitting directly beneath the camera," Diana said, "otherwise that wide-angle lens would pick her up. "Wonder if she's spotted the surveillance camera?"

"That's all we need," Jane said disgustedly.

"It is very nice," Audrey replied, stepping out into the room and taking a seat on the small settee next to the rocker. "Top- drawer equipment. I don't think I have ever seen that model of Nautilus rig outside of a commercial gym. And Diana says that Darryl has all the same equipment at his school, so he knows how to operate all of it and will be able to spot me when I use it."

Darla grinned and shifted the doll to her shoulder and began to burp it. "Good. That should keep you on schedule."

Audrey frowned. "Why are you doing that?"

"What?" Darla asked, her forehead wrinkling into a frown. "Oh, playing with the doll? Because Jane told me to, and that's a bone I have to pick with you, babe!"

"With me? What for?"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to remember to act like a four year old when you are using adult language? I live in fear that Aunt Jane will slip in here unannounced and condemn me to another day or two of this pinafore-prison."

"That's JUST what I mean!" Audrey cut in. "Based on what you told me the other day, I figure you have to be at least eighteen, for all you look two or three years younger. . "

*Oops,* Jane thought, *I missed that connection when they talked about Darla's history, but Audrey evidently remembered and did the addition. Now what?*

Darla considered trying to misdirect her way out of this but concluded that would only put Audrey hotter on her trail. *Better a little truth now than the whole truth too soon,* she thought. "True enough. I look younger than I am and Aunt Jane felt that you'd be more comfortable with me if you thought I was younger."

"So this punishment is a game?"

"Oh, it's quite real. I live here and so I am subject to Aunt Jane's rules, even as you are."

"But you are eighteen. You could leave and dispense with this crap!"

"And go where?" Darla asked as she rose to put her 'baby' to bed. "This is home. This is my family. I love them and they love me."

"But couldn't you use that to pressure her to dispense with this. . this foolishness?"

Darla frowned thoughtfully, and was secretly glad she'd anticipated this question. It was not one she'd ever had to answer with one of Aunt Jane's terrorized boys.

"It's not really foolishness, you know. Oh, it's silly all right," Darla said quickly as Audrey prepared to argue, "but it's not foolish. The whole point is that I was not behaving as a young woman should, so I am being 'indulged' in my own refusal to grow up. That. . . I mean, growing up. . . takes more than clothes. After a while everyone just sort of forgets what they're wearing, unless it gets in the way or something hurts. It isn't punishment if it doesn't have certain penalties that constantly remind me of the downside of refusing to act appropriately for my age."

"And this works? For you, I mean?" Audrey's tone was dubious.

Darla sighed and said, "And it works. For me and for any number of other stuck up, immature brats Aunt Jane has taken in over the years. Truth to tell, Audrey, I'm really tired of all this, but I know the lesson will stick with me a lot more effectively than a nagging lecture, or, well, whatever other parents do."

Then a very impish grin lit up the childishly made up face. "Besides, it's a small price to pay for keeping her . . AND me. . .on our toes. Heck, girl, without me, Aunt Jane would go all prim and proper - Lord, she might even become an old maid!"

"OLD MAID?!?!" Jane spluttered before leveling a fulminating glance on her spouse as Diana tried manfully to keep from guffawing in a MOST unladylike manner. "Just wait until I get that little minx alone!"

"That little minx knows you're listening and if you react, dear-heart, she'll have won. Besides, she's trying to distract Audrey, and it seems to be working."

"She is just so sly," Jane grumbled. "Lucky for her I love her."

"Lucky for us that she loves us, too." Diana replied.

"Well, it's almost time for my nap," Darla said.

"Oops," Diana said with a grin as she rose and headed for the door. "That's my cue! Later, darling."

Chapter 14: SETUP!!

Diana entered the room as Audrey supervised Darla's pre-nap toilette. "I have been asked to read the story," she said by way of explanation, when Audrey gave her a quizzical look. "Seems you don't do it very well and little Miss Priss here has decided you need to learn."

"This one, Auntie Diana," Darla ordered, carrying over a large, brightly colored book with a very strange creature holding an even stranger platter of food.

Audrey started to slip out of the room only to be stopped by Darla's call from the oversized trundle bed. "NO! You have to STAY so you can learn how to read stories, too!"

"Jane's orders, dear," Diana said as she tucked Darla in.

Audrey shrugged and returned to her seat on the settee as Diana settled herself into the antique rocker. She opened the book, and in a very oddly pitched and squeaky voice read, "Sam I am!"

~---------------~

"I am NOT going to make up silly voices and make funny sounds when I read you a story!" Audrey growled at the stony-faced girl seated across from her at the second stuffed toy and doll tea party she had ever attended.

"Oh yes you are!" Darla growled right back. "You have to read stories to me and you are going to read them right!"

"Or else what?" Audrey said, standing over the table and putting her face nose to nose with Darla's.

Darla couldn't help herself. Her eyes were drawn to the sharp kink in Audrey's nose, now so close before her, and she just knew they crossed as she looked at it. It embarrassed Audrey - and unfortunately since that problem couldn't be fixed with ladylike manners - it was not supposed to be part of the program. The last thing Audrey needed was to be reminded of things that couldn't be 'fixed' by Jane's program.

The pretend-child was trying to think of some way to apologize, without making Audrey's broken nose even more of an issue, when the taller girl blew past her embarrassment and returned to the issue at hand. "Or else what?" Audrey demanded again, but moving back a few centimeters from the other girl's space. "You'll tell your Aunty Jane?" she asked with sneer in her voice.

"Oh, lighten up!" Darla said, feeling relief she couldn't express as she sat heavily back into her chair. "Of course I won't tell Aunt Jane, but then, I won't have to tell her because she'll find out on her own. But I will staht tahking babytahk again, Auntie Audwey, until you tell da stowies wight or I dwive you cwazy!"

Audrey's mouth fell open in disbelief. *the moment of truth,* Jane told herself, her fisted hands digging her nails into tightly clenched palms.

*Lord,* Darla thought, *but she reminds me of Kenneth when he first got here. All that control and discipline, but where he never really lost his cool nor hurt anyone, this one has. I have got to get her to unwind!*

"I am NOT a child!" Audrey reiterated. "And blast it, neither are you!"

"So pretend one of the dollies is your own daughter and read to her." Darla saw the still mutinous look on the other girl's face and felt her own control begin to slip. "Okay! Fine!" she spat out, throwing her arms into the air. "Read the damned story as if you were giving a dedication speech to the Daughters of the American Revolution. Read War and bloody Peace for all I care. Jane will find out and be it on your own stupid head when she decides to discipline you. YOU'RE the one who made an agreement with her!"

"Nothing in my agreement," Audrey snarled back through clenched teeth, "says anything about this. . . this. . .stupid, senseless indignity!"

"So," a new voice said sternly from the doorway, "This lacks dignity, does it? It is beneath your station?" Jane entered the room, lightning flashing in her dark eyes. "So, you refuse to sacrifice your precious self-image just a small amount in order to help a little girl?"

"She's NOT a little girl!" Audrey shot back, whirling to face Jane, fury etched on every feature.

"In this case, she is," Jane retorted, her face inches from Audrey's. Worried, Darla moved to put herself in grabbing range of the older student in case she lost control of her temper. "Part of her punishment was to have you treat her as such while part of YOUR training - to which you HAVE agreed - was to learn some nurturing skills. Against my better judgment, I relaxed her punishment so that she was allowed to converse in adult language and usages at YOUR request. And yet, you balk at your end of the bargain at every turn! What have you to say for yourself, Miss Rockwell?"

The tension between the two grew, and Darla grew more anxious until, just before she would have physically separated the pair, Audrey retreated. "Well?" Jane demanded again, her tone belying the relief she herself was feeling.

"It is stupid and needlessly humiliating," she said, her eyes down.

"Very well, if your precious self image and dignity are so important to you," Jane hissed, her voice becoming soft and dark, "then I shall see that you get a belly-full of it, girl. You will remain here with Darla until Marie or I summon you to your room." With that, Jane spun on her heel and swept out of the room."

"Oh, Audrey, I'm so sorry."

"What for?"

"If I'd have known Jane was going to go into her 'quiet' voice, I wouldn't have pushed so hard on reading the book correctly, at least not right away."

"'Quiet voice'?"

"Yeah. When she gets like that, she is really, truly pissed. Look, you can do what you think is best, but I'm telling you this for your own good. You're treading on really thin ice right now. Whatever punishment she has in mind, I suggest you just nod and accept it. It will be 'fair' in terms of whatever point she's trying to make, and if you argue any further, you'll probably end up on the next train out of here. I don't know exactly why you've been sent here, but for most of Jane's students, the alternative is a lot worse than any of her punishments."

Darla sighed and plucked at the hem of her own petticoat, "Even if it doesn't always seem like that at the time."

"It's the principle of the thing," Audrey replied, wishing she felt as certain of that as she might have ten minutes earlier.

"Right," Darla said with a smirk before becoming serious again. "Just consider your alternatives carefully is all I'm suggesting."

Audrey considered that for a few moments before sighing gustily. If Jane Thompson gave up on her that meant that she could write off her still minimal chance of competing in the men's open pentathlon. "Oh, all right."

 

 

 

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