It was the early afternoon and the shop I owned was doing intermittent business. I put this down to the weather. It had been drizzling rain all day and that was the best part of the forecast. The worst of the forecast was for severe thunderstorms. You know the sort of thing, lightning, thunder, heavy rain, hail, even heavier rain. The sort of storm that tells you it's time to pitch camp in the middle of a desert. Still, with a bit of luck the main storm would hold off for a few hours and the shop would be closed and I'd be at home.
Next thing I know the front of the shop lit up as lightning flashed nearby and there was a tremendous clap of thunder, the bass note within it making you feel it in your bones.
Now the shop I rented was in a mall, which was probably the only reason I had any customers that day. Every so often someone doing serious shopping would stop by my place and browse around. I was very close to an entrance so I got a lot of passing by custom. It also meant that when the heavens descended with flash and fury just outside the entrance everyone in my shop got the full benefit of it.
With that flash and great roll of thunder came a terrified scream. I was out of the back-room like a shot, wanting to know who was hurt and how badly. If they got hurt in my shop I could be sued, even if the accident wasn't my fault. Hell, some people would sue you if they got hit by lightning while on your property.
The only person in the shop was Anne, my assistant. Quite a good one, too. She's a pretty young thing of about twenty and a born saleswoman. I'm a good salesman but I freely admit she's better. She was just standing in the middle of the shop, white as a ghost, and trembling.
I'm all, "What happened?" and she was just looking scared and standing there.
"Listen, Anne, whatever the problem, would you like to knock off now and go home? I can manage the shop for the rest of the day."
She promptly grabbed hold of me and held me tight, her hands tangled in my shirt.
"Leave the shop and go out into that?" she nearly screamed. "Are you mad? Will you look at that weather?"
I didn't need to look. I could hear the rain thundering down and was glad my car was under shelter. No hailstone damage for me.
"Um, OK, point taken, but I'm a little lost here. Help me out. What happened?"
The answer came with another flash of lightning and peal of thunder. Anne screamed again and just about jumped onto me. Riiiight, I thought. Scared of thunder.
"Um, worrying about the weather won't make it any better," I told her and got a scornful look in reply.
"I know that," she told me. "I just can't help it. I was standing near a tree once that got hit by lightning and the tree just disintegrated. I've been scared of storms ever since. I know it's silly seeing I'm inside but I just can't help it."
"Fair enough, I guess, but I can't have you screaming the place down when there are customers here. You'll drive them away and they'll send security to speak to me, claiming I'm beating you. We need a way to distract you from the weather."
Anne nodded agreement but shrugged at the idea of suggesting anything. Didn't I think she'd have found something long ago if she could? I mused, had one idea, laughed and dismissed it.
She was fast on the uptake. She knew I'd thought of something and was demanding to know what it was.
"Nothing really," I said quickly, shaking my head.
It's no use not telling a woman something. She fixed gimlet eyes on me and asked me again what had I thought of.
"It was just a thought that you could be distracted about fretting about the weather by having to fret about something else, something harmless in itself that you could control."
"That's not all," she protested. "You thought of something."
"Well, if you really want to know," I said with an evil smile, "I was thinking that you should take your panties off."
Her eyes opened wide with shock and I continued before she could say anything.
"You'll be aware that you don't have any panties and you do have a bouncy skirt. You'll especially be aware of those facts when a customer comes in and will be taking great care that you don't flash then. If it's a case of maintaining your decorum, or screaming and jumping about when the lightning flashes, I'm betting on the decorum."
"You can't seriously expect me to do that," she said.
"Well no," I admitted. "That's why I laughed and dismissed the idea. The only other thing I can think of is for you to take a deep breath whenever you see the lightning and hold it."
She sighed and got on with her job, casting nervous glances at the window as she worked. I also sighed and returned to my back room, ready to rush out if I heard her scream. The thunder seemed to have dies away. Perhaps what had happened had only been the forewarning with the main storm hours away.
Next time I was in the front of the shop Anne was talking to a customer. Maybe she'd just managed to ignore that last clap of thunder. Even as I thought that there was some more, rumbling away into the distance. I saw Anne give a little jump and then go dead still. She took a breath and went on chatting to the customer. So, OK, it seemed taking a breath helped her out.
There wasn't much more thunder for the rest of the afternoon. I heard a couple of minor squeaks from Anne, but no screams. Maybe talking about it was all she really needed. I hoped so, for her sake. I suspected that the main storm was still heading in our direction. Oh well, as long as she got home before it struck she'd probably just bury herself in her bed with loud music to drown out any other noise.
Closing time came and I went out to help Anne close up the shop. We quickly tidied up and while I was finishing that Anne went and pulled down the security shutters. She must have forgotten that I was behind her as she bent low while closing the shutters. Forget the deep breathing. It appeared that it was the other suggestion I had made that had worked.
Earlier that day when Anne had been doing some restocking she'd bent over and I'd caught a flash of green panties. I wasn't perving, and it was just a flash. I'd effectively ignored it. Now she was bending over and it wasn't a pair of green panties I was observing.
The security shutters were opaque and now that they were down we were completely private. This didn't mean that I was going to try to take unfair advantage of Anne. Still, I couldn't resist teasing her a little.
"I noticed that you managed to stop screaming during the storm," I said. "It seems my suggestion worked."