This story comes from seeing a very young and pretty (underneath the grime) female tramp in a park. Her clothes were of high quality but filthy. She did not look like her mind was disturbed. I wondered how she had got in the state she was in...
It was strange how we met. I was searching for my dog in the park and she was collecting discarded cans, hoping to make some money from them. Her clothes were tatty, yet I could see from the stitching on those rare areas not caked in grime they were at one time expensive. Maybe she had got them from a charity or she had been rich and famous then fallen on hard times?
I kept looking at her, glancing so as not to appear rude by staring. The more I looked, the more I thought I remembered her. She smiled. A surprisingly white set of teeth showed behind all that dirt. Oh and her eyes! They were a beautiful bright blue and so clear I swear I could see my own reflection in them. I looked away, embarrassed at being caught out. She laughed.
"You don't recognise me do you?" she asked, chuckling.
"No, no, I don't," I replied, still embarrassed but sufficiently curious to turn and face her.
We must have looked so incongruous talking there together. I was in my best work clothes, expensive but severe dark tweed suit over a pure white blouse with its ruff at the neck. My shoes were Jimmy Choos, stockings Woolsey and underwear by La Perla. There was not a thing on me that cost under Β£200 bar the stockings and they had not been cheap. I'd worked hard to get to where I was and no one was going to deny me the chance to show off my success. Yet there was she, someone who knew me as I struggled to recollect her, wearing something that was once designer I was sure, but what I had no idea.
"It's Gucci and Versace if you want to know," she said, kindly and in the plumiest of English accents. I was shocked that she knew so well what I was thinking. "You were always one for the fashions at school and so envious of me when I got that modelling assignment. Well, I'm not exactly on the front of Vogue anymore, am I?"
I was stunned, puzzled, and then it dawned on me.
"Clarissa!"
I could not believe it. The sexiest, most beautiful girl at the Academy was in front of me and down at heals. Flashes of images filled my head. I remembered her walk to her desk every day. I'd had a crush on her. When she was in the shower after games I'd always ensure I was next to her, ready with a bar of soap or offering to scrub her back. I'd make it look as if I was doing her a favour, by saying she could scrub mine for me in exchange, but I longed for those lessons where I could touch her naked flesh. Of course, it had just been a girlie crush and now I was married with two lovely children, soon to leave school, and a husband. Well, I was married but Jonathan was always away on some International assignment and with my busy job I'd packed my two girls off to boarding school. To the Academy of course, where three generations of girls from the Harmondon family had gone. Now they were close to university they'd been packed off to a Swiss Finishing school, just like I had been and my mother and hers before her too.
I had to hug Clarissa. I didn't care that her clothes probably smelt of piss and were as dirty as hell. I was going to hold her. She had been my idol and yes, so kind then too. She'd known I was besotted with her but never made fun of me nor took advantage of it. She always returned any favour in some way. In the shower she would carefully and very sensually rub my back and buttocks, making sure plenty of soap caressed my skin and washed away the sweat and grime of the hockey fields. Once, just before we left that school forever and as young adults, she surreptitiously left a kiss on my neck and whispered 'Thank you. I will miss this time together. You have been a true friend.' I'd not wanted to wash away that kiss. I felt it reverberate right through my body, stopping to excite and inflame my young clitoris.
"Clarissa!" I said again, advancing and putting my arms tightly around her. She winced, but not from rejecting my hug. No, she was in pain. I pulled back and looked at her, concerned. "What has happened?"
"Oh, I was sleeping under the arches. You know, where all the homeless sleep? A..."
Yes I did know. It confirmed all my worst fears. That was it. I knew what I had to do.
"You are coming home with me. No arguments." I interrupted, "I live over there, on the edge of the park. See the house with the Georgian wrought iron railings along the balconies? Right, forget any belongings I'll sort you out. We were always the same size and I guess we still are, though I have a few extra pounds from allegedly being a content mother and wife." I laughed at myself, seeing the irony in it, knowing it was a lie. I was unhappy as a wife and useless as a mother. Sending them to boarding school was not about their education, it was about me having the space to think, to define who I was at work and home without them under my feet and dividing my attention from this one goal. I liked to be in control.
I took her hand and almost dragged her after me, leaving the big bag of empties she had collected where they lay, though she did scoop up a rather incongruous black leather briefcase as we moved. She was laughing, not hysterically like some demented bag-lady but with joy and seeing this as fun. I imagined too it was with a sense of relief. And I was like a woman on a mission, taking control, pulling her along behind this ship in full sail.
When we reached the door I was reminded of what I was meant to be doing in the park. Sitting on the step, as if nothing had happened and he hadn't been missing for two hours was Max, our English Pointer; the most mischievous young dog on the planet.
"There you are!" I couldn't scold him, he'd come straight back for the first time ever. Previously I had collected him from a Dog's Home, a person's house and the family butcher where Max was found crunching through their best carcase of beef. It had cost me a fortune appeasing the butcher, but the new assistant Penny had been lovely to me and we had become good friends. I used to look forward to meeting her in the park with Buster, her cocker spaniel. Work had stopped that for a while, though we talked regularly on the phone.
We entered the vestibule of my house, the warmth greeting us like a comforting blanket. I closed the big red door behind us, the sound echoing on the black and white diamond tiles. I opened the next set of doors to the vast hall, the log fire between the twin staircases blasting out a wave of heat. In the absence of my Czech maid, I realised I'd banked it up rather too well. The dog ignored this stranger, shot forward and lay as close to the fire as he could, ready to roast on the hearth. I laughed at his predictable antics and then turned to look at Clarissa.
"Strip!" I said, taking command of the situation and the opportunity the over-sized fire presented. "There is no point you keeping those cold and wet things on."
I avoided saying 'dirty' for fear of offending her.
"You sure?"
She seemed suddenly hesitant, clutching to her bosom that briefcase. This was a woman who had walked the catwalks of Europe and the Far East, shown her body regularly when wearing the most skimpy of dresses who was now questioning being naked. She read my mind for me.
"It's different on the catwalk. Most of the men are queer, but what if your husband ...?"