Happy Ladies Book 01

"How much older are you?" I said.

"About fifty years," George said. "Melissa, I'm not going to hurt her. I consider a younger woman to be one in her fifties or sixties so Regina doesn't even show up on my sexual radar. But if she feels I have something to give her I'm going to try. I know for a fact that I can be a better friend to her than Rita was."

"Rita," I said. "Rita was a disaster."

"Exactly," George said, and took another sip of beer.

"So you're saying that I don't show up on your radar either?" I said. "I don't know if I believe that; I've seen you look at me."

"Appreciating feminine pulchritude is not the same as needing to bed a woman," George said. "You have a beautiful body and I enjoy admiring every part of your physique. But, for various reasons, I can easily restrain myself from jumping your bones."

"You ought to be a writer," I said. "All those big words you use."

"I am, sort of," he said.

"You're kidding," I said. "What have you written?"

"I'm a poet," George said. "I've got several books out. You can find them if you look hard enough."

"Why are you here then," I said, "if you've published books?"

He looked at me as if I'd started speaking Greek.

"Well," he said, "for two reasons. First of all, although I've published five books to date, they don't make any money. I'm poor. And what I make here supplements my Social Security. The second reason is that I love women. I love being around women. I love being around naked women such as yourself."

"Oh George," I said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put you on the spot."

"It's okay, Melissa," George said. "Although I don't sell a lot of books I do have an ardent following among people whose judgement I respect. And working here has given me a new lease on life; I've even started writing again. So I'm a happy man."

"That's wonderful, George," I said. "This place seems to be changing a lot of people's lives."

"I've seen that too," George said.

"I want to apologize for coming on so strong at first," I said.

"Apology accepted," George said. "And not really needed. I know you were concerned about Regina. I am too."

"You're a sweet man," I said. "I'm starting to like you a lot." I gave him a quick kiss. "I may even want you to jump my bones someday."

"I'd be honored," he said. "Although I have to warn you I'm not exactly anyone's idea of a stud."

"It'll be what it is," I said. After giving him another quick kiss I got into line, picked up a plate, and filled it. After getting another half glass of wine I went into the living room. Ethel was sitting on the couch; she beckoned me over.

"I saw George talking to you," she said. "I saw him talking to that young girl too."

"Regina," I said.

"What an old goat," she said, "going for the ones barely out of the egg."

"She went to him," I said. "I did too."

"I don't believe it," Ethel said.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"He's a poet," I said. "He's published books."

"I don't care if he wrote the Bible," Ethel said. "That's no excuse for abusing young girls."

"He didn't abuse either of us, Ethel," I said.

"I don't believe it," Ethel said.

I shrugged my shoulders again, walked away, and sat down in an armchair to eat my food. Garth was fucking one of the new women on the swing.

"What do you think of the new addition?" I said to him.

"It's great," he said, "a lot easier on my back than the orgy room."

"I'm Melissa," I said to the woman.

"I'm Debra," she said. "It feels weird to be introduced to someone while having sex. And everyone keeps coming up and talking to this man."

"Garth is one of the original roosters," I said. "He has quite a following among the happy ladies. I'm sorry if I've made you feel uncomfortable."

"I'm okay," Debra said. "It just takes some getting used to."

"I understand," I said.

After I'd eaten, still feeling groggy from my nap, I decided to go home.

CHAPTER TEN

I kept a low profile for the next few days; I was becoming familiar with post-party lassitude. I felt good, quietly energized, but my need for social interaction was diminished. Going to work every day was almost too much.

I did get an email from Dorothy, one she'd sent to all the board members, which made me curious. She said that there was the possibility of a major announcement at the next board meeting and she wanted to give us a heads up.

I talked with Ellie on Wednesday. We spent some time reminiscing about our encounters with both Michael and Brandon.

"I've really enjoyed sharing a guy with you," Ellie said. "Having you there makes it different somehow. I love watching you being pleasured."

"I feel the same way," I said. "But I don't really see us getting all hot and heavy when it's just you and me. I guess a guy is kind of a catalyst."

"I agree," Ellie said. "I want to keep doing guys with you. It's a lot of fun."

"And when you add Barb to the mix," I said.

Ellie laughed. "She's a card, isn't she?"

"Barb the card," I said. "So, what do you know about this big secret Dorothy's got?"

"Nothing," Ellie said. "I've been at the house every day this week but nobody's saying a word. Derek's been around a lot though and he and Dorothy disappear."

"Could be just fucking," I said.

"Could be," Ellie said. "But it doesn't seem like that."

"Guess we'll just have to wait for the board meeting," I said.

"Guess so," Ellie said.

There was a sense of tension when the board met on Friday evening.

"Does anyone know what the big announcement is about?" Cynthia said. She was almost whispering.

"Nope," Charlotte said, "everything has been hush hush."

"I think it has something to do with Derek," Patricia said. "He and Dorothy have been together almost constantly. I know they went to meet with people several times this week."

"Okay ladies," Dorothy said, bustling in with an air of suppressed exuberance. "I'm sorry to be so mysterious but Derek and I have been in the middle of some delicate negotiations. The upshot of which is that I believe we've found our rooster house."

The room erupted with exclamations, cheers, and questions.

"The day after Derek told us he wasn't having much luck, he found it," Dorothy said. "It happened to be the next building on his list. He called me while he was still on site and insisted I come down at take a look. I did and I had to agree that the place has tremendous potential."

"When can we see it?" Samantha said.

"I've scheduled an inspection tour tomorrow for as many of you as can make it," Dorothy said. "Let me know if you can't make it and I'll set up a separate appointment. Meanwhile, if you want to drive by and take a look the address is 2475 Kraus Avenue."

"You mentioned negotiations," Cynthia said. "What have those been about?"

"We've been talking to a representative of the owner," Dorothy said, "to get some idea what our purchase or leasing options might be. We've also been talking to potential backers to determine what kind of financial resources we'll have to work with. And we'll definitely need those resources because the building is going to require extensive remodeling. Here, let me show you some pictures."

She opened one of the new laptops, turned it on, and inserted a flash drive. She clicked on the first picture. I recognized the building as one that Ellie and I had noted in our search a little more than a month ago.

"I was thinking we could use the building adjacent to the main building for the restaurant," Dorothy said. "It's all the same property."

Dorothy clicked on the next picture which showed a cavernous room. "This is in the main building," she said.

"It's fucking huge," Cynthia said.

"It is," Dorothy said. "Plenty of room for expansion plus here are more rooms," she clicked through more pictures.

"Can we really handle this?" Charlotte said.

"I think we can," Dorothy said. "I know it's scary but think of how many women have contacted us already. I believe it's only a fraction of the demand that's out there. Plus we're getting a better deal than you may realize; because of the economy that building has been sitting empty for over two years. It also helps that the owner is a woman who, Derek and I believe, has progressive ideas about sex. Her representative looks like he just bit a lemon when he talks with us but since he isn't the one who makes the final decisions we're getting the impression the owner supports what we're doing."

"When will you lay out the financial plan for us?" Charlotte said.

"One step at a time," Dorothy said. "First the board has to inspect the property. If we agree that it will suit our purposes the serious negotiations will start. Once we've hammered out a package and received pledges from backers the board will vote whether or not to move forward."

"Okay," Charlotte said.

The rest of the meeting involved more mundane matters. After we'd adjourned Dorothy gave us the details for the inspection tour the next day.

As soon as I got home I called Ellie to tell her the news.

"That sounds exciting," Ellie said. "And so cool it's one of the properties you and I picked out. It's amazing to think how far we've come in less than a year."

"Yes, it is," I said. "I'll let you know what happens tomorrow."

"Great," Ellie said.

It turned out that all the board members were able to make it to the inspection. We gathered around Dorothy who was standing at the gate in the chain link fence that surrounded the property. We were a bit awestruck by the size of the building. Once we were all there Dorothy unlocked the padlock and led us inside the fence.

"This can be part of the parking lot," she said, pointing to an area in front of both buildings. Using another key she opened a large door in the main building. "I don't foresee us ever using this door," she said. "It's much too public for my taste."

We entered the first large room we'd seen in the picture. Our footsteps echoed hollowly against the far walls.

"Derek's working on some rough plans for dividing up this space," Dorothy said, her voice distorted by the size of the chamber. "He's thinking we should partition most of this room off and expand into it as need be."

"I'd say we have enough space for private rooms," Donna said.

"No kidding," Anne said. "And a few orgy rooms as well."

"And a couple of basketball courts," Cynthia said.

"Orgy rooms with different themes," I said. "We could have a tropical island room. And a room with caves."

"Caves?" Cynthia said. "You're weird."

"Well, Garth's our caveman, right?" I said. "He needs a home."

"Ah, you have a point," Cynthia said.

"I like the idea of caves," Samantha said, "sounds cozy."

"We might need to hand out GPS units to members so they can find their way around," Patricia said.

Dorothy led us across the open area and into another part of the building that consisted of a warren of smaller rooms.

"More private spaces," Donna said.

"And offices," Dorothy said. "I won't take you through all the rooms unless you insist. There are nineteen rooms all together, most of them fairly large. And then there's the basement."

"Jesus," Cynthia said. "You really think we'll use all this space?"

"Eventually," Dorothy said. "Women have fertile imaginations so I believe they'll be generating lots of fantasies that require some kind of stage setting. The basement only runs under part of the building but it's still pretty big. It was used to house the heating equipment and for storage. There's no electricity so I can't show it to you unless you want to go down with flashlights."

"I don't need to see it," Nicole said.

The rest of us concurred.

"Then let's go take a look at what I think should be the restaurant," Dorothy said. She led us out the way we'd come, locked the big door, and headed toward the smaller building. "A long time ago this was a cafeteria for the factory so it's laid out in a way that makes it easy to remodel into a restaurant. And we could put a nice patio in this area," she said as we approached the front doors.

Once we were inside it was easy to see what she meant about the building lending itself to being a restaurant.

"I don't know about anyone else," Patricia said, "but I think this property would be perfect for the rooster house. The only concern I have is that it might be too big but if Dorothy thinks we can make use of all the space over time I'll go with her judgement. She's been right about everything so far."

"Well, not everything," Dorothy said. "I sure didn't foresee how strong the response would be to the rooster concept."

"But that's an error in underestimating rather than overestimating," Charlotte said, "which means that if you're wrong in this instance we'll fill up the space faster than you believe we can. That's a good thing."

"And there's a crowning touch," Dorothy said. "You won't believe this."

She led us down a hallway, down a flight of stairs, and opened a door. In front of us stretched another hallway.

"This is underground, isn't it?" Cynthia said.

"Yup," Dorothy said.

She led us along the hallway until we came to a flight of stairs. We went up the stairs till we arrived at another door. "Are you ready?" She said. She opened the door. We found ourselves looking into one of the rooms we'd just toured in the main building.

"Wow," Patricia said.

"Yeah," Dorothy said. "A woman enters a public restaurant, modest as you please, goes down the stairs and through this tunnel to get laid and then, sometime later, emerges from the restaurant as if all she'd done was have dinner."

"Eventually people will know what's going on here," Cynthia said. "It's not like we've been keeping it all that secret. Barb's been blasting the rooster concept all over the Internet."

"True," Dorothy said. "But if we're discreet it'll lessen the chance of someone who doesn't like what we're doing having something to squawk about. If all they can see is a busy restaurant and a large building without identification or signs of activity it will be hard for them to get a hook in. And one of the beauties of this property is that this is just one of the reasonably private entrances."

"We'll need to monitor all the entrances," Patricia said. "We'll be checking memberships and collecting one-time fees."

"That won't stop an enterprising journalist," Cynthia said. "They'll just pay the fee, take a good look around, and write a story."

"We can only hope that she, because it will have to be a woman, unless a male journalist is willing to go through all the hoops required to become a rooster." Dorothy said. We all had a good laugh at the idea of such a dedicated man. "That she gets into the spirit of what we're doing. And if she doesn't we'll just have to deal with the consequences. And let's acknowledge the truth; we are in some danger here. A woman's unfettered sexuality is a threat to a certain type of person. For a group of women to shake off their fetters is an even bigger threat. From our point of view it's harmless fun and liberation but there are those who see what we do as an attack on what they view as fundamental values. Values often couched in the language of religion with the sanction of a jealous God."

We were all sobered by Dorothy's little speech.

"Whew," Patricia said. "I'd never thought of it that way but I think you're right."

"I don't mean to scare anyone," Dorothy said, "but we do have to be aware of what I believe is the reality. The bottom line, however, is that I think we have to refuse to let the pleasure killers and life deniers win. We must simply be prepared to gird our loins, hoist our shields, and lift our swords if those who are threatened threaten us."

We gave her a round of applause. She laughed and bowed.

"Okay," she said, "enough of that. Let's go back out in the sunlight and make a decision." A short time later we were standing in a circle in front of the two buildings.

"The decision we have to make right now," Dorothy said, "is whether or not to pursue the purchase or possibly a lease on this property. We aren't incurring a debt at this time. That decision will be made later."

A motion was made and carried unanimously. The only one of us to express some trepidation was Charlotte but since it wasn't a decision on the final deal she went along.

"We've moving ahead," I said to Ellie awhile later. "It's an incredible property." I went on to describe what I'd seen.

"Sounds like you're totally for this," Ellie said.

"Oh, I am," I said. "It would solve all the problems we're having with the parties."

"And that tunnel between the restaurant and the main building seems too good to be true," Ellie said.

"Dorothy said later that Derek suggested that it was a way for the factory workers to go to the cafeteria without having to go around the outside," I said.

"I've never heard of a factory like that," Ellie said.

"This was sometime during the 1940s, I guess," I said. "Apparently they did things differently then."

"Sure works for us," Ellie said.

"Yup," I said.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I missed the sixth party. No special reason. But with the possibilities of the new property swirling around in my head the idea of going back into what now felt like the cramped spaces of Dorothy's house didn't appeal to me. And several of the other board members told me they felt the same way. From all the reports I heard I didn't miss anything earthshaking although it was, apparently, a good party and, once again, the new invitation system had worked to draw in the right number of newbies.

Dorothy had said that the next board meeting would be focused on brainstorming so I spent the time that Saturday night thinking about all the erotic uses we could make of the open spaces I'd seen a week ago. I got a pen and a legal pad and began writing down ideas. It was almost as fun as fucking.

Swings were the first thing that came to my mind. Derek's swing had turned out to be very popular so why not a room full of swings? And for those more modest there should be private rooms with swings instead of beds.

The Sybian, another popular item, came next with the same basic set up; a room where women could ride them communally and then Sybians in private rooms for the more inhibited.

After that I wrote down my off the cuff concepts for themed orgy rooms. I added a fake fire to my cave idea.

I indulged in some pleasant fantasies about each one of these notions but didn't conjure up anything else to add to my list.

"We're getting very close to making a deal on the property," Dorothy said after opening the board meeting. "I'll probably have the details the next time we meet so we can vote on whether or not to move ahead. But we have a more immediate problem. A lot more women are making inquiries than are able to experience the parties."

"Yes," Patricia said. "I'm getting emails from some very frustrated women who want to at least get a peek at what we're doing. They feel they're missing out."

"And I'm afraid that if we leave them hanging for too long we'll lose them and lose momentum," Dorothy said.

"So I'd suggest we start having the parties weekly," I said. "And, assuming the deal goes through, set up a temporary rooster house on the new property as soon as possible."

"That's pretty much what I was thinking," Dorothy said.

A motion was made and carried to hold weekly parties.

"Now," Dorothy said, "since it really does look like the deal is going to go through I believe it's important that we start the planning process. As Melissa suggested, I think we should decide what we'll need for a temporary rooster house so that Derek and his crew can begin construction the moment the deal closes."

"How detailed do these plans have to be?" Anne said. "Are we talking about making blueprints or something?"

"No, no," Dorothy said. "What we need to do is develop a list of the types of areas we want. For instance for the temporary rooster house I'd say we want a room where people can mix and socialize, a food and drink area, an orgy room, private rooms, an area for swings, let's see, anything else?"