CONTROVERSY
The next several weeks at DDE were interesting, to say the least. And by "interesting" I mean "crazy." Anna's mom kept returning to the tower demanding to see her daughter until Barbara had company lawyers obtain a restraining order against her to keep her away from both Anna and me as well as DDE headquarters.
In retaliation, Anna's mom went to the local media claiming that her sweet, virginal teenage daughter was being brainwashed by DDE and that she herself had been physically assaulted by a nude mailgirl while attempting to see Anna and talk with her. The original controversy over the Mailgirls program had been dying down prior that but the tale that Anna's mom was spinning was too salacious to ignore and it soon went national. It provided plenty of fodder for television talking heads and late night comedians while also uniting activists from both feminist and conservative Christian groups as strange bedfellows on the same side of the issue. It didn't take long for them to ramp up their outrage machinery to organize protests and boycotts against DDE. This, of course, helped spur the sales of the recently released "Gangsta 4" to even higher levels as it became a massive hit.
Barbara, as both the head of the Mailgirls program and VP of Public Relations, was kept busy during this time putting out fires. In response to the accusations by Anna's mom, Barbara released a pixilated version of the security tape showing her sucker punching me and dragging Anna down the corridor against her will and this seemed to cool some of the public support for the mom. Both Anna and I had lots of requests from the media for interviews but my contract forbid it without prior permission from the company and neither of us wanted any part of the media circus anyway. We were just trying to keep our heads low until things cooled down. Barbara, though, remained as cool, unflappable, and in control as ever and appeared frequently on news programs to defend the Mailgirls program. The woman has ice water running through her veins, I decided. She was in no hurry to turn Anna loose on her own as a mailgirl while all of this was going on so she continued to train with me.
Also during this time some investigators from a state government agency came to DDE to check out work conditions for mailgirls so Kelly, Anna, and I met with them in a conference room on the ninth floor. When I asked Barbara if we should dress for the meeting her response was "No, we have nothing to hide." In our case this was literally true as we entered the meeting in our mailgirls uniforms and kneeled on the floor to the wide-eyed astonishment of the investigators. We were grilled for about ninety minutes - Anna in particular since she was at the heart of the media firestorm - but by the end they were apparently satisfied that no laws or regulations were being broken.
For her part, Anna was terrified through all of this that Barbara would either fire her or the company would shut down the Mailgirls program forcing her to return to her old life with her mom. I tried to reassure her by telling her she could stay with me as long as she needed and I'd help her find another job if that happened, but she was discovering that she loved being a mailgirl and didn't want to do anything else. While Kelly saw the mandatory nudity and submissiveness required in being a mailgirl as a type of legalized slavery enforced by contract, Anna saw being a mailgirl as freedom - freedom from her mother, freedom from her inhibitions, and the freedom to become an adult woman instead of a scared little girl. She was desperate to keep the job.
Anna and I were spending virtually twenty-four hours a day together during this time and the more I got to know her the greater my endearment for her grew. Besides the stubborn resilience I'd discovered early on, I also found that she had a keen intelligence and a quirky sense of humor. I also learned that because of her mother's domination and control Anna was a lonely girl with few friends. She was starved for affection and at night as we watched TV in the nude together Anna would huddle next to me with her head on my shoulders. And every morning when I woke up I found Anna snuggled against me with an arm draped around my waist.
I wanted to think of Anna as the little sister I never had, but I have to admit that the touch of her skin against mine had me fighting an overwhelming urge to begin kissing her passionately as my hands explored every inch of her body. While I'd "experimented" with other girls a few times in college I'd always considered myself straight, but Anna was so sweet and beautiful I felt myself very physically attracted to her.
I'd immediately feel guilty about those thoughts, though, and would try to force them out of my head. She's a damaged girl who needs my protection and guidance not sexual advances, I told myself. I decided I would be like a big sister to her, although every time I felt her touch that resolve was put to the test.
Anna and I had just begun our third week together when the two of us arrived back at my apartment one night after a long day. It was twilight as I pulled into the parking lot since we'd stayed after our shift to serve cocktails in the executive lounge on the tenth floor. Or I should say I served cocktails while Anna waited patiently in the nude for me near the bar. You see, since she wasn't twenty-one yet the law forbid her from serving alcoholic beverages. Anna and I both thought that being old enough to legally run around the building naked all day but not old enough to deliver cocktails was absurdly hilarious and we joked about it on the ride home.
My apartment complex is the type where all entrances to the apartments are on the exterior of the building and we were approaching the door to my ground floor apartment when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. As I turned I was startled to see Anna's mom walking towards us! Somehow she'd found out where I lived or maybe had followed us as we drove home from DDE.
I placed myself between her and Anna. "You can't be here," I said to her. "There's a restraining order!"
"I just want to talk to my daughter," she said. There was desperation in her eyes and for a moment I almost felt sorry for her. As she got closer, though, I could smell the alcohol on her breath.
"I don't want to talk to you mom!" Anna told her. "Not until you quit drinking and learn to let me live my life!"
"This is how you want to live your life? As a slutty little naked mailgirl? You're obviously not ready to be making any decisions with your life!"
"I'm not a slut and I'm eighteen now so go fuck yourself!" Anna hissed at her. "You don't have any authority over me!" I think that was the first time I'd ever heard a curse word come out of her mouth.
I remained between Anna and her mother as this exchange took place and could see the anger rising in the woman's face. "You're the one who's brainwashing my daughter you filthy little whore!" she shouted at me.
I reached into my purse to get the pepper spray I'd bought for protection after Anna moved in with me. The woman saw what I was doing and knocked the purse out of my hand, then grabbed me by the hair and slammed me against the door. "I'm going to fucking kill you!" she screamed as she threw the full weight of her body against mine, pinning me against the door.
Anna shrieked and jumped on her mother's back and started punching her as Anna's mother pressed her arm against my throat. Behind her I saw my next door neighbor emerge from his apartment to see what was going on. "Help us, Rick!" I gasped. He wrapped both of his arms around the mother and dragged her off of me as she screamed bloody murder. I grabbed the purse where it had fallen, took out the pepper spray and hit Anna's mother with a shot of it in the face as she struggled with Rick. She was squealing in pain as my shaking hands fumbled with the keys before I finally managed to get the door open. I grabbed Anna's hand and pulled her inside, then slammed the door shut behind us.
While all of this was going on someone had called 911. It seemed like just about everyone from the apartment complex was outside watching us as Rick, Anna, and I gave our statements to the police. By the time they hauled Anna's mom off in handcuffs it was getting late.
"Are you hungry?" I asked Anna when we were finally alone. She shook her head. I realized I wasn't hungry either even though I'd only had a couple of power bars in the afternoon since lunch. "Do you want to talk about things?" I asked.
"No," she said.
"How about a glass of wine?" We hadn't had any since that first night but I really needed something to help me unwind right now.
Anna shook her head, then walked up and wrapped her arms around me burying her head on my shoulder. I held her tight and felt her warmth. "It's okay to cry if you need to," I told her, but no tears came. Instead she looked up and began hungrily kissing my lips. I pulled away in shock.
"Anna, what are you doing?"
Anna didn't answer. Instead she began removing her clothes, never taking her eyes off of my face as she did. When she was completely nude she grasped a handful of cloth from my dress in each hand and lifted it over my head and dropped it to the floor. Wordlessly she wrapped her arms around me, pressing her body against mine and began kissing me again. Once again I pulled away.
"Anna we can't...we shouldn't. You're like a little sister to me!"
"No," she said shaking her head. "I don't want a big sister. I want a lover. I want someone to teach me."
"Have you ever...."
"No," she interrupted. "I've never done anything! I want to. I want to with you."
She was trembling as she spoke and I felt torn. I wanted her desperately too, but she seemed so sweet and innocent that I already felt like a corrupting influence on her. "It's been a crazy day and you're upset, Anna. Let's get some sleep and talk about this tomorrow."