Three J's and an S Go to Mardi Gras

*****

Sara gets a chance to really strut her stuff on Bourbon Street

A friend of one of The Three J's boyfriends has a plan to impress his father and show him that he has the vision to take over "The Three Jacks" club on Bourbon Street. The Three J's and an S agree to help him in his plan which involves them walking down Bourbon Street on five consecutive nights dressed in more and more daring costumes. .

You don't need to have read "Three J's and an S go Skiing" to understand this story. It stands by itself. I do not like writing sequels because they often go down dead ends and wind up being disappointing. I am therefore treating this as fresh story and will make no significant references to the original.

This is a pretty tame story and centers primarily around female exhibitionism, which is pretty rampant during the final weeks of Mardi Gras. If you are looking for more than that, go to one of my other stories.

This story is also very long and starts kind of slow. I know that I should have probably broken it up into at least three chapters, but there is no place where the storyline truly breaks. To those of you who complain that some of my posts are too long, I apologize. To those who complain that all of my posts are too short, you should be very happy with this.

*****

Sara walked out of the kitchen where she was doing her final cleanup for the evening and shouted down the hallway of the condo, "J's, it's almost time. I have the computer set up in the TV room. Ron said he was calling at ten o'clock"

The Three J's walked quickly down the hallway to the TV room. The laptop had been set up on the coffee table, which had been pulled a little farther away from the couch than normal. That way everyone could see the screen, and the webcam in the lid of the laptop would pick up everyone on the couch.

Judy sat in the middle of the couch because it was her computer, and it was her boyfriend, Ron, who had texted her earlier in the day asking if the Three J's and an S could be available for a conference call tonight. He said that a friend of his had a proposition about spring break that they might be interested to hear.

Because it was her boyfriend who would be calling, Judy was wearing her favorite nightwear. It was a light blue, baby doll nightie that was almost totally transparent. It was also one of Ron's favorites, and if this were a private call between just her and Ron, she would have left off the bra and panties that were a part of the set, but since this was a conference call and Kevin would most likely also be present, she was a little more covered up.

Julie sat to Judy's left. Kevin was Julie's boyfriend and a classmate of Ron's. Both young men were pre-med students which The Three J's and an S had met the winter before during a very interesting skiing vacation. Julie was also wearing a nightie, but it was nowhere near as transparent as the one Judy was wearing, and the bra and panties were satin and much closer to the size of a more modest bikini than the wisps of fabric that barely covered Judy's breasts and pubic area. In fact, the bottoms were practically granny panties.

Joan sat on the other side of Judy and was also wearing some of her favorite nightwear - a long T-shirt style nightgown. It had a rainbow and an image of a winged, white unicorn on it and looked like it came from the little girls department... unless you looked closely at the saddle on the unicorn. It was rather strangely shaped and black, with a pink ridge that ran most of the length of the saddle at the very top. In very ornate rainbow lettering beneath the unicorn it said, "Soar with Sybian," a reference to the female masturbation machine that was the vibrator of all vibrators.

Joan had purchased a Sybian for Sara following their ski trip last winter. It was "an engagement gift." During their ski vacation, Joan and Sara had finally discovered and admitted to themselves and the world what almost everyone around them had already recognized for a long time, that Joan and Sara were very much attracted to each other in a loving D/s relationship.

Joan, Judy and Julie had been friends since they were born. Their parents were friends and business partners in many different endeavors. Judy's family was "old money," and her father spent his time managing the family fortune, which meant keeping on top of a wide mix of companies and parent companies in which he was majority stockholder. Julie's family was "not-quite-so-old money," and her father was the CEO of one of the parent companies. Joan's family was still considered "new money" even though it had been her great-grandfather who had started the family legal dynasty. Her father was Chief Legal Counsel for the parent company that Julie's father ran, as well as several other companies. This was in addition to his private practice which was extensive, but mostly handled by other lawyers in his offices.

The trill of the computer brought The Three J's attention to the screen. Judy reached forward and tapped a key and Ron's face appeared on the screen. "Everybody there?" he asked.

"We're all here," answered Judy. "Sara is still futzing around in the kitchen, but she can hear us."

As if to prove that, a voice came from the kitchen, "Hi Ron."

Ron laughed and said, "Hi Sara." Then he coughed slightly and said, "I know that we had talked about going down Florida for spring break, but Ace here has a proposition that I think you might want to hear."

"Ace?" responded all three J's at the same time.

"Alowishus Carlton Eastland," answered Ron. Then a deep voice from alongside him added, "The fourth."

After a quick laugh, the voice added, "But my friends call me 'Ace,'"

"His dad runs a business in... I'll let him explain."

Ron stepped out of the image and a very handsome, very large, very black man took his place.

He looked out from the screen at The Three J's and said, "I can see that I surprised you. I often have that effect on people. When you hear 'Alowishus Carlton Eastland' you expect some white, British dude."

"Let me explain myself. My great-great-grandfather was part of the first Jamacian slave rebellion in 1832. He was just a kid, but after the British troops finally restored order, he would have been executed with the rest of them except that two Baptist missionaries took him away with them to New Orleans."

He pronounced it "Nawlins," which indicated that he was probably from there, or near there.

"The two missionaries had been preaching abolition, so they couldn't go back to the island and they stayed on for a while in New Orleans. While they were there, they registered him as a 'freeman,' meaning that he was a freed slave. That sort of thing was totally accepted in New Orleans in those days."

"He married a free woman, and when my great-grandfather was born, he named him after the two preachers, Brother Alowishus, and Brother Carlton. Slaves didn't have last names, but he knew that his mother always said that they were from 'the East Lands," so he chose that as a last name."

Ace looked down rather sheepishly and continued in a somewhat softer voice. "There was another reason for the name. It was sort of a joke that the white folk wouldn't get. He told my grand daddy that 'The only way a spade can ever make it in this white world is to be the Ace of Spades.'"

He smiled and said, "I'm the fourth Ace in the family."

"I can tell from your expressions, you don't get the joke either," he added. "In a way, that's good. And if you ask me to explain, I'll just get up on my high horse and go on about it for way too long. For now, let's just say that 'Calling a Spade a Spade' has nothing to do with a shovel and I'll explain it all to you some other time. For now we have a business proposition to talk about. OK?"

"Fine," answered Judy.

"You may have guessed that I'm from New Orleans. You ever been to Bourbon Street?"

Surprisingly it was Julie who said "Yes." Joan and Judy shook their heads no.

"Ever seen 'The Three Jacks' nightclub?

"I don't remember it." answered Julie. "We drove through with my parents a long time ago when I was just a little kid."

Ace laughed. "Most people don't remember it even if they walk through as an adult. The full name of the club is 'The Three Jacks and an Ace.' It's a corner place near the end of the hot area of The Quarter and most people walk right on past it either goin' to or comin' from where the real action is. It's been there for at least a hundred years. I don't know what the original name of the place was, but when my grandfather won it in a poker game, he renamed it 'The Three Jacks.' I will probably be running it one of these days..., if I can convince my daddy that I have any business sense."

He coughed lightly. "Which brings us to my proposition. This is my thesis project for my MBA, and an attempt to show daddy that I can make some positive changes to the club. Everybody thinks that we don't have seasons in New Orleans, but we have four seasons just like everybody else... except for us the four seasons are Summer, Hurricane, Christmas, and Mardi Gras. The Quarter is more or less protected from the worst of the hurricanes. Even during Katrina, most of the places in The Quarter didn't even close until the troops shut them down. Summer and Christmas are OK and there is a steady flow of tourists to keep the business running, but down in the quarter, Mardi Gras is our make-it-or-break-it time. And The Three Jacks' cut of the Mardi Gras business has been slowly going down. This year could be a really big year because Mardi Gras and most college spring breaks overlap this year. You following me so far?"

The Three J's nodded at the webcam, and Ace continued. "I have this idea for a publicity campaign that will put The Three Jacks' name in the news. Most people think that anything goes on Bourbon Street, but things are actually very tightly regulated... pasties are required for public performances..., no genitalia can show at any time..., even the when and where you can show asscheeks are all spelled out in the laws."

He laughed, "Now, that doesn't mean that all of those laws are always enforced, but you have to at least pay lip service to them, and you damn well better follow them for Summer and Christmas. Those are 'family tourist' seasons. Even Mardi Gras is family tourist season for most of New Orleans. There are a lot of krews doing very family-oriented parades all around the city throughout the weeks of Mardi Gras. But in The Quarter it is old fashioned Carn-i-val, and the closer you get to Fat Tuesday, the more you can get away with."

"My plan is to take advantage of a quirk in the laws to do something wild. Almost all of the regulations apply to public businesses, and the language is specific... public businesses. That was intended to keep the restrictions from applying to private homes, but it also accidently exempted private clubs from these regulations. When they realized that problem, the city moved to add something that said that private clubs would be treated the same as public businesses. When the lawyers pointed out that the way the that law was being written, it would apply to private parties in people's homes, they defined a public business as any place that advertized their offerings for more than a week in advance and were open for more than twenty-four hours."

"I am going to open a private club for twenty three hours and start advertizing it five or six days in advance. Daddy says that is impossible, but I am betting it will work... if I have the proper advertizing. I convinced daddy to let me use the second floor with the balconies for the night. He hasn't had more than 50% bookings up there for the last five or so years and 46% is the break even point, so he agreed. He is even leaving town while I work my plan so I either make it or don't make it all on my own."

"I told Ron and Kevin that what I needed were three very attractive girls - the Jacks - who were willing to stroll down Bourbon Street each evening wearing skimpy costumes and one totally uninhibited girl - the Ace - who was willing to accompany them wearing even less and pass out playing cards advertizing the club. I've got the menu and entertainment all lined up. All the reservations will be on-line, the app and website are already written, all anyone has to do is scan the box on the card and it will take them to the site where they can make reservations and put down a deposit. I think we can at least get back up above 60%. Hell, we might even sell out."

"When I explained it all to Ron and Kevin, they told me that The Three Jacks and an Ace really needed to meet The Three J's and an S. I can see that you are all very beautiful girls. Do you know a fourth girl who is very uninhibited?"

"Do you mean like me?" asked Sara as she stepped into the range of the webcam. In a way she was also wearing her favorite sleepwear. Actually she was wearing more than what she normally slept in. She was wearing a black velvet collar and nothing else. Joan had given her that collar during their ski vacation. Golden script on the collar said "J J J," which stood for "The Three J's." It was also Joan's initials. Her full name was Joan Judith Johnson.

The Three J's could hear Ron and Kevin laughing in the background. Kevin stepped into the image and said, "We figured that there was no way to describe Sara, so we just told Ace that The Three Js and an S were exactly what he was looking for and let him find out for himself."

"One problem," said Joan. "There will be thousands of cameras and videos on Bourbon Street. Sara wants to maybe teach school some day. We are hopefully going to be leaders in our various fields. Something like this will be on the internet forever."

"Got that covered," said Ace, stepping back before the camera holding a large feathered mask before his face. "Mardi Gras masks are one of the big traditions down here. They cover almost all of the face, and with makeup on the rest, even facial recognition software won't be able to tell who is under the masks. This is your chance to be anonymous exhibitionists."

"You can stay in a couple of old apartments on the top floor of the club. Daddy can't rent them out anymore 'til he meets some new federal requirements for accessibility - that's what happens when you take federal money after a disaster. Anyway, you have a place to stay and to change from your secret identities into your superslut alter egos without anybody knowing who you are. What do you say? I will even pay the air fare. It's a free Spring Break trip to Mardi Gras for a little work that will be a lot more fun that it is work?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me," answered Judy.

Joan looked over at Sara before answering, and after seeing the hopeful expression on her face said, "We'll do it."

Julie chewed her lower lip and said slowly, "I don't know. I'm not sure I want to do this."

Judy reached over suddenly and thrust her hand down the front of Julie's satin panties. "She'll go," she answered with a laugh. "Her mind may not be sure, but trust me, her body is really looking forward to this."

Julie cover her face with her hands. "Judy! He can see us!"

Judy laughed and held her hand up to the webcam. "Then he can see that my hand is dripping wet and so is your pussy. You are getting off just thinking about parading down Bourbon street strutting your stuff."

"Don't use the word 'parade,'" interjected Ace. He almost yelled as he repeated himself, "Don't EVER use the word 'parade' to describe anything that we do. You would not believe the regulations that kick in as soon as you use the word 'parade.' You can stroll, strut, saunter, and sashay without a permit, but as soon as you parade... Lord-a-mighty do it get complicated. And you cannot 'throw' anything. The special playing cards have to be placed in each person's hands. If you drop it even an inch, you are suddenly a parade."

Ace laughed. "I guess that is another high horse I get to galloping on way too easily. Anyway, we have a deal. I will work out details with Ron and Kevin and they can keep you in the loop on what is going on. Looking forward to working with you at Marti Gras."

With that, Ace stepped out of the image. Ron stepped into the picture and said, "I'll let you girls discuss this now. Talk to you later, babe. I love you." He blew a kiss to Judy.

"Bye Honey," she responded.

Kevin replaced Ron in the image, but before he could say anything, Julie quickly said, "I think that Kevin and I will continue this conversation in private in my bedroom."

With that she promptly picked up Judy's laptop and walked out of the room.

Sara giggled, "I think Kevin and Julie are going to do more than talk."

Joan laughed and replied, "Doesn't the commercial say that a video call is the next best thing to being there?"

"But best is being there, isn't it?" answered Sara as she walked out of the room. She wiggled her ass slightly as she went through the door and said, "I'll be waiting in the bedroom, Joan."

***

A little over two months later, Joan, Judy, Julie and Sara waited outside the baggage claim area at Louis Armstrong Airport for the van that was supposed to pick them up. Kevin had told Julie that he would be waiting in the Cell Phone Lot, whatever that was, and that she should call once they had their bags and were on their way out the door.

"He said he would be right here," she said as she put her phone back in her purse. Julie then said to Sara with a nervous giggle, "I can't believe we are actually doing this."

"We haven't done anything yet," answered Sara. "I was sort of hoping to at least get a full body pat down from one of those TSA screeners. I think it's hilarious that they automatically assume I would be embarrassed by having a man pat me down, but wouldn't mind a woman. A man is just hands, the right woman patting me down could really get my juices flowing."

"After you walked past that window," Judy smirked. "nobody needed to pat you down. You could see everything you've got right through that dress. Don't you even own any underwear?"

Sara just smirked back at her and answered, "Of course I do! I have a pair of granny panties I keep in my dresser for when I have a doctor's appointment."

Julie looked around nervously to see who might be overhearing them and said, "You two!" She was going to say something else, but at that moment a van came gliding to the curb with Kevin at the wheel.

"Julie up front with me," he said. "Ace and Ron will put the bags in the back, and then it's Ace, Ron and Judy in the second seat and Sara and Joan in the back."

Sara let out a big groan and said, "Back of the bus again!" Then she gave Ace a big smile.

He chuckled and said, "You do like to stir things up, don't you little lady?"

"All the time; all the time," she answered with a big grin.

"Well," he continued, "Kevin is going to drive the bus and I am going to be the tour guide. Not much to talk about until we get down to the quarter. One interstate looks pretty much like any other."

Julie spoke up, "I didn't expect it to be so... big." She then suddenly turned red. "I mean," she sputtered, "I mean the city and the traffic and all of that."

Sara piped up with "Julie has the cleanest toes of any of us... because she's always got her foot in her mouth."

Ace ignored her and said, "New Orleans is a major shipping port and has been since before any Europeans came here. There's also a lot of heavy industry and transportation around here, plus a huge tourist industry."

Kevin started down an exit and Ace said, "Now we are getting somewhere. Welcome to the French Quarter. The biggest problem down here is knowing which streets go which way. Just assume that whichever way you want to go, the street you want to be on goes the other way."