Story: Maid in China. Part 4.

It's been well over a year, but here it is finally, the much anticipated follow-up to Maid in China!

by Barefoot Servant
           

Maddie balanced the serving tray on her left hand and summoned her courage. Inhale and she knocked on the bedroom door.

“Yes,” the two occupants—Jenny and Skye—answered in unison.

“Um,” Maddie stuttered, never previously having to ask permission to enter her friend’s room. Calm down Maddie. Just put yourself in Rosario’s shoes—or lack thereof. Do what she would do. Say what she would say. “I have breakfast. May I come in?”

“Of course, Maddie, come on in.” This time it was only Jenny’s voice.

Maddie reached for the door knob. The serving tray tottered, but did not fall. Maddie sighed relief and cautiously entered the room.

Jenny and Skye were sitting upright in the bed, backs against the headboard, whispering and giggling about something to which Maddie was not privy.

Maddie forced herself to smile. “Good morning ladies.”

“Good morning Maddie,” the two answered in unison.

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapters 11-12.

by Noëlle Lague

(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

XI - A suitable haircut

Drowning in humiliation Maddie was dragged by Heather toward the big entrance of the house. Jenny, Skye and Graham stood waiting, waving with beaming smiles at the door. Maddie curtsied in front of them.

”Oh Pudgy, is that Chanel or Armani? Can´t wait to see your new hairstyle,” Skye taunted.

A shamefaced Maddie followed Heather out the door, the clacking of Heather´s heels accompanying the strong rustling noise produced by Maddie´s rainwear.

Heather parked right outside the beauty parlor. Looking at the sign she snickered: ”Beauty parlor”. Probably not an appropriate name in relation to what was going to take place in there today, she thought, smiling to herself. 

Linda, the hairdresser, who had been prepared for Maddie´s visit, greeted Heather with a hug before turning towards Maddie.

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapter 10.

by Noëlle Lague
(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

X - Disciplined at the Kim´s 

The next day was going to be filled to the brim with duties for Maddie. She had to wake up at five o´clock and was immediately told by Rosario to get dressed in her cleaning uniform, the pink smock in thick nylon that she had been using cleaning up after the guests. It made the serving uniform seem light and airy. Just like the day before, she was to wear only the smock, without bra and panties. The fact that it was worn without apron, for some reason, gave the outfit an even more restrictive impression. Maddie felt her nipples attacked with every movement, the stiff fabric was merciless. Rosario instructed her to put the large white hairband in her hair to keep the it away from her face. Maddie saw her reflection in a full-length mirror and groaned audibly.

”Yes Maddie, that´s how Miss Heather wanted you to look for your cleaning chores today, that is, for the moment. She wanted me to tell you that you later today have a hairdresser`s appointment. You will be given a more appropriate haircut for the maid you are, the lowest in rank.”

Maddie squirmed feeling tears of anger welling up in her eyes.

”But….Mrs. Dalaga….I….don´t want to cut my…..”, she complained but was cut off by Rosario.

”Enough of your whining.”

She seized Maddie´s arm and held it with a firm hand.

”Ow, you´re hurting me….”

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapter 9.

by Noëlle Lague

(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

IX - Exposure

 “Good evening. May I…..,” Maddie started, looking up at a tall unknown man.

”You must be Maddie, the new maid?”

”Er…yes…I…”

Maddie perceived somebody behind the man, she wasn´t sure, but she thought she could see a pair of pink rubber boots.

”Go fetch Mrs. Kim for me, will you?”

”Yes…Mr….”

”Bronstein.”

”Yes Mr. Bronstein, right away. Please come in.”

As she held the door for Mr. Bronstein the person wearing rain boots became unveiled.

“Mom….wha…..why are you ….”

”Just go fetch Mrs. Kim for me, and hurry up,” Mr. Bronstein snapped her.”

”Yes Mr. Bronstein, I´m sorry.”

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapter 8.

by Noëlle Lague

(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

VIII - Under Heather´s thumb

What followed was a whirlwind of activity for the two maids. Rosario told Maddie that she was expected to do all of the cleaning, the hard work, the coming day. Rosario sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. Maddie emptied the dishwasher and quickly learned that even that task was not as simple as it was in her own home. As Maddie removed each item, Rosario instructed her to hand dry it, then hand wash any residual soap film, then hand dry it again.

“This seems an awful lot of work, Mrs. Dalaga”, Maddie complained.

“Have you ever seen a soap spot on any of our glasses when you came to visit as Miss Jennifer’s friend?”

“No, Mrs. Dalaga but….”

”The word but will not come out of your mouth again Maddie”.

”I´m sorry, Mrs. Dalaga”.

Maddie started carefully to dry a glass.

“Do I have to call her Miss Jennifer too, Mrs. Dalaga?”

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapter 7.

by Noëlle Lague

(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

VII - Maid Maddie

Maddie awoke to her phone’s melodious alarm. 7:30. The first day of summer—I should be sleeping in. Maddie rolled out of bed and stumbled bleary-eyed to the bathroom. After showering and brushing her teeth, Maddie was happy to be able to dress in a pair of cargo shorts, her favorite Dr. Pepper ringer tee, and a pair of comfortable running shoes. 

Her nightmare was maybe over, she thought, before passing the hallway. Maddie was instantly and sadly reminded of her new status as she nervously cast a glimpse at the hangers; her rainwear, that her aunt had told her to neatly put up there, the pink and the blue sets, were on ostentatious display. She frowned, quickly grabbing Jenny’s birthday present and continued out of the house.

The walk to Jenny’s house was a pleasant one. The girls lived only two subdivisions, one mile, apart. It was sunny, but not yet as hot as the day promised to be.

Maddie was greeted at the front door by the barefoot, uniformed Rosario. 

“Oh Maddie, come in,” the maid said in her accented English.”

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapter 6.

by Noëlle Lague

(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

VI - The bullying goes on 

Maddie spent her last day before vacation at the Unit. A dreadful day, full of cleaning exercises, but also a day of counting, supervised by Sandra. Both subjects proved to be monotonous and exhausting.  

All the calculation examples seemed familiar to her, but Sandra´s presence for some reason made it difficult to concentrate and Maddie ended up unable to give correct answers to any of them. Sandra kept going backwards in difficulty as Maddie gradually failed to solve the problems. Shortly before recess, a blushing Maddie was made to read aloud; `Mrs. King donated 7 teddy bears to the nursery school. Now the nursery school has a total of 31 teddy bears. How many teddy bears did the nursery school have before the donation?` 

Staring at her squirming pupil, unable to sort out the teddy bear mystery, Sandra finally sent Maddie out for recess, in her rainwear although the sun was shining and no other student at the Unit had to put it on. She was given a plastic bucket and a spade and sent out to discover a surprising novelty for recess activities at the Unit. At Heather´s initiative a sandbox had been installed, right in front of the schoolyard, facing the main building and it was going to be inaugurated by Maddie.  Aurelia directed her, she was to build a sand castle, a task that turned out to be difficult although not impossible; the sandbox had been filled with quite a lot of water, transforming it into a mud puddle. 

As Maddie obediently struggled to dig in the sand, she noticed a group of students in the schoolyard, not too far from her. She couldn´t see who it was until a couple of them slowly made their way toward the Unit. A shiver ran down her spine as she identified them, it was Skye and Graham. Aurelia was standing close to the sandbox as Maddie´s object of love and his new girlfriend approached it.

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapter 5.

by Noëlle Lague

(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

V - Suffering at school

The school year continued as usual for Jenny while Maddie experienced a perpetual hell at the Unit. Friday was always a relief for Maddie, she would finally be able to take off her hideous clothes and get some peace. But this Friday brought outstandingly painful humiliations for poor Maddie before she could find any relief. Sarah had prepared Catherine for the moment when Maddie, in front of her classmates, was to confess her guilt about hiding a sleazy porn magazine in her desk, fully clothed in her recess attire.

Mrs. Lockwood had made Maddie repeat exactly what to say. At the end of the afternoon Maddie waddled over the schoolyard with Heather, who had gotten permission by Catherine to take care of Maddie. The prospect of having to confess something she wasn´t guilty of, was excruciating for Maddie. Heather on the contrary, knowing about Skye´s cruel setup, was delighted.

In her pink bib pants and mitts, blue raincoat, rain boots and sou´wester, Maddie entered an expectantly quiet classroom, greeted by a smiling Sarah.

Maddie glanced at Graham. It was awful, he looked disgusted. Maddie then, fuming with restrained anger, and before presenting her homework, spotted Skye who destroyed her with a triumphant smile.

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapter 4.

by Noëlle Lague

(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

IV - End of Protection

Maddie was, long before she was placed at the Special Unit, having a hard time with her self-confidence, her appearance and attitude certainly giving her no help. She had always been ashamed of her physical characteristics; generous but perky breasts, large hips and protruding lips were all things she hated. She was, despite her young age, verging on what you'd call "full-figured." Maddie had what it usually takes to become a perfect bully victim, but she somehow managed to avoid it, partially with the help of a couple of close friends who protected her. Jenny had been one of them.

However, Maddie couldn´t escape completely, she was occasionally being tackled in the hallways and called names. The worst she thought, was to be called Pudgy. She was happy that Jenny wanted to stay friends with her, especially after having been put into the Special Unit, retaking a year. Her loss of status among her classmates was otherwise clearly sensible. The fact that Maddie was going to change class, her classmates not going to be her classmates next year, was awful enough. But coming to know that she was going to be put in Heather´s class, made her shiver. Heather, Jenny´s younger sister, had always been picking on Maddie when she was at the Kim´s house. The prospect of becoming her classmate was excruciating, she could be so mean. What Maddie didn´t know was that Jenny actually had shared more than one good laugh with Skye and some other classmates when they found out about her placement in the SU.

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapter 3.

by Noëlle Lague

(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

III - Welcome to the Unit

Outside the Unit Sarah told Maddie and Melanie to wait while she would get hold of a staff member. They were to stand along the wall, facing the sun. It was boiling hot. Sarah met the headmistress in her office, Mrs. Catherine Lockwood, a staggering beauty around 30, with all her upper-class manners intact. Her weakness for designer clothing was well known, even the more casual apparel she used working at the Unit, beamed class. Strictness and accuracy, decisive properties in her function, characterized her leadership at the Unit. She exercised her profession with an ease that made her entourage envious and, infant, among the teachers only Sarah could compete with her in verbal brilliance. 

After an utterly painful quarter of an hour, Sarah came back.

”Get up here, chop-chop.”

Melanie and Maddie promptly waddled up the few steps to the main entrance and followed Sarah into the building. They were directed into the headmistress office, a large room in the middle of the building. The headmistress was sitting behind her desk.

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapter 2.

by Noëlle Lague

(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

II - Dressing Down

At five to eight o´clock the next morning Melanie and Maddie arrived at Mrs. Bronstein´s office. Entering the waiting room Melanie noticed that he chairs she remembered from the day before now curiously were gone. As they stopped standing in the middle of the room, both quiet, the clock passed eight, approaching five past. A sudden buzz broke the silence and a green light flashed near the handle of the door. With another clicking sound the door automatically opened.

”Come here,” Sarah called out in a shrill voice.

Maddie followed behind Melanie who, with small steps, entered the office. Here too, the small chair from yesterday was now gone, replaced by nothing.

”Come, stand in front of my desk, girls.”

The intimidation made Melanie blush immediately.

”Good morning, Mrs. Bronstein,” Maddie heard her mother say with a weak voice, noticing Melanie´s discrete curtsy.

Maddie imitated her mother with a stupefied expression. 

”Has your mother told you what is going to happen today Maddie?” 

”Er…I…… yes… mum said I will go with you to the Special Unit I think,” Maddie answered. 

”You will be introduced to the staff and the students at the Special Unit, that´s what´s going to happen Maddie, isn´t it?” 

Story: Maddie Made Maid. Chapter 1.

by Noëlle Lague

(Freely based on "Maid in China" by Barefoot Servant)

I - The drop

“Hey, do you want to go to China with me this summer?”

The question caught Maddie Akers completely off-guard. It really probably shouldn’t have. Her friend Jenny Kim’s parents were from China after all, and Maddie knew they visited every summer. The girls were classmates, Jenny being the queen of their class, along with another girl, Skyler Branham. Both paraded with the best scores on tests, challenging each other in sports. When Skye, as she was called, got the gold medal, you could be sure to see Jenny take possession of the silver, and vice versa. In addition to their intellectual and athletic success they proved to be notorious heartbreakers, and in terms of overall popularity none of them ever lost an occasion to place themselves at the head of the pack.

Maddie was maybe not their absolute opposite in every respect, but still, she was a rather insignificant girl at school, the girls in her class thought she was buttoned up, if, at all, they noticed her. She did excel though, in some sense, those who ever had any contact with Maddie quickly noted her characteristics; docile, servile and helplessly gullible. Maddie´s grades were in the best case moderate, though in most subjects below average, and yet in some moving toward the intolerable, not the least in the eyes of her parents. Maddie´s mother Melanie was a snob, she had insisted on putting Maddie in a private school were most kids came from wealthy families. The Kim family was no exception, Jenny´s father was a successful businessman. The Akers, in glaring contrast, were constrained to spend a huge part of their modest salaries to be able to pay what it cost.

Story: Maid in China. Part 3.

by Barefoot Servant

Lightning bolts struck Maddie’s ears… over and over again. “What’s that noise?” she mumbled to no one in particular. Maddie pulled the pillow, too thin to be her own, and blanket, thinner still, over her head. They provided little protection. Only then did she realize that she did not enjoy the comfort and security of her own bed. “What’s going on? Where am I?”

“Alarm,” someone—Rosario—answered, “and you’re in bed when you shouldn’t be. We’ve got work to do.” The answers were punctuated by two sharp jabs to Maddie’s ribs, courtesy, she knew, of Rosario’s chubby brown index finger. At least the blaring of the alarm had ceased.

Maddie stretched. Arms and toes extended, she easily exceeded the length of the small bed. I hope my bed in China is more comfortable than this. Her eyes stung and her whole body ached, especially her feet. “What time is it anyway?”

Maid in China

With Barefoot Servant still working on the next installment of Maid in China, here is a piece of art inspired by the story that one of his friends created. Do I see a comic in the making here?

Story: Maid in China. Part 2.

By Barefoot Servant

With Mrs. Kim’s permission, Rosario retreated to the kitchen to set out lunch for the family and guests. Maddie was, by default, left to hand out presents. She had attended enough of Jenny’s birthday parties—seen Rosario do it often enough—that she was familiar with Jenny’s preferred protocol. Maddie carried one present at a time from the table where they had all been stacked to Jenny, read the tag indicating who it was from, and handed it to Jenny.

Jenny opened the presents at a perfectly humiliating pace, quickly enough to keep Maddie’s servant bells really jingling, slowly enough to savor the moment.

Lunch service, to Maddie’s surprise, provided something of a breather—and a break from the dreadful bells tied around her ankles. Lunch—cheeseburgers with sides like chips and dip, potato salad, baked beans, pasta salad, and, of course, Rosario’s vegetable tray—was served buffet style. The guests assembled their own burgers, and Maddie and Rosario had only stand behind the buffet to dish out the side items. There was hardly any jingling at all.

That all changed, of course, once everyone had been served. Rosario stayed behind the buffet to serve anyone who returned for seconds; and Maddie was again dispatched on drink duty.

Story: Maid in China

By Barefoot Servant

“Hey, do you want to go to China with me this summer?” The question caught Maddie Akers completely off-guard. It really probably shouldn’t have. Her friend Jenny Kim’s parents were from China after all, and they visited every summer.

“What? Are you serious?” Maddie shifted to a sitting position. She had been lying across Jenny’s bed. Jenny sat up too, cross-legged, mirroring Maddie’s movement.

“Yeah, totally, I’d love to,” Maddie squealed in excitement. Jenny grabbed her hands and squealed too.

A knock at the bedroom door interrupted the girls’ excitement. An accented voice followed. “Ladies, is everything okay? Can I get you something to drink, maybe a snack?” Maddie had visited Jenny’s house often enough to recognize the voice as belonging to Rosario, Jenny’s family’s Filipina maid.

“You want anything Maddie, maybe a lemonade?” Jenny asked.

“Yeah, sure,” Maddie nodded.

Jenny yelled toward the door, “Rosario, go make us some lemonade, okay.” It wasn’t a request.