When our church hired the new Pastor, we were invited to a reception in his honor and that of his wife. For reasons that shall be pretty obvious, I've changed everybody's names and other things that could identify them. Even though all that occurred was among people who consented most willingly, there are some who might look askance upon us. Please note that everybody was at least eighteen years of age!
I was a senior in high school when they arrived and a member of the Choir and of the Junior Guild at the Church. I was one of the "good girls" who was quite active in youth events planning and organization. The old Pastor was grateful for my help as he had a lot on his plate managing a rather large congregation and all of the internal politics. For me, I was happy to be a leader and to help as much as I could.
Pastor Jerry and Amy met us in the Social Hall and totally charmed us. He is a gentle, handsome man with a soothing voice and a quick laugh. I thought he was handsome in a homely way, if that makes any sense. He wasn't pretty as a movie star or anything. His nose was large and a bit off-center, he had an angular face and thick eyebrows that tended to the "unibrow" look, but his personality shone brightly. You just didn't see the imperfections and ended up concentrating on his eyes. He had lovely, soft hazel eyes that could just draw you in.
Amy was simply beautiful. She had a gentle smile, pretty blue eyes, blonde hair she wore in a pony tail, and she dressed very modestly. I never saw her in a skirt above her knees. She always wore hosiery, her jewelry was very plain, usually a simple wedding band on her left hand and a simple gold chain with a crucifix around her neck. Her wrist watch was an inexpensive model, chosen for function, not for embellishment. To put it simply, she had the bearing of a dignified lady. I thought she was the epitome of what I wanted to become, a godly woman.
Pastor Jerry made it clear she was going to work with the Ladies' Auxiliary and with the Youth groups. I was delighted, because I was drawn to her strongly. At our first meeting, she shook my hand warmly, smiling broadly as she looked me directly in my eyes. I thought she was going to be the perfect leader for us. I hoped to learn a lot from her.
It wasn't too long before she formed a committee of the oldest girls in the congregation to meet with her and to decide on various activities. We met after school for an hour on a weekly basis. The membership of her committee changed with time, some girls dropping out and others recruited to take their place. We formed a little clique and all became quite fond of Amy. She was fun to be with and she had a wonderful sense of humor.
I ended up taking charge of the youngest girls, aged 4 to 10. At Amy's suggestion, I organized them in groups of 4-5 girls each, under the leadership of the 9 and 10-year olds. I simply had to keep track of them. I had no more than six or seven girls I had to direct, so it wasn't terribly difficult. The way Amy had it organized, we'd give out assignments to the older girls who would supervise the youngsters and I would get some private time with Amy, usually an hour or two, in which she would talk to me about life, boys, fashion, drugs, booze, and other things teens get into. She became pretty much my older sister and confidant.
As time went on, Amy would invite me for lunch on a Saturday or even shopping. She often bought me a coffee and I found myself telling her everything about me and my life. In fact, I found myself telling her things I didn't even realize about myself until I said them out loud. I always felt better afterwards. It was really therapeutic.
I began to look forward to my time with Amy even more than with my boyfriend. He was a very nice boy, but he wanted more from me than I was ready to give up. I was a pretty naive eighteen year old. I'd only let my boyfriend kiss me and touch my breasts. Never under my top or inside my bra. I'd confessed this to Amy and she asked if I wanted to go further with a boy.
I knew girls who had been having sex with boys for years at that time, but I was still decidedly a virgin. My mother was happy I'd resisted temptation, but to be honest, more intimate contact just wasn't that tempting to me. I suppose in another context, I'd have become a nun, but that wasn't part of our faith. I'd learned to masturbate and actually enjoyed that. Amy told me that it was a gift from the Lord and it was no sin to enjoy it, as long as it wasn't to excess. She explained that our bodies were made in the image of the Lord and that such pleasure was divinely given.
My mother never discussed such things with me and I was not tempted to include her in those discussions. When I began to have my periods, she handed me a package of tampons and explained how to use them and when to change them to avoid a bad illness, but that was all she said and the topic was off the table after that.
I attended a private high school to which we wore a pretty typical uniform, a white blouse with a Peter Pan collar, a neck tie tab, a plaid pleated skirt, a Navy blue blazer with the school crest on the pocket, knee socks and black maryjanes. There was never any problem choosing what to wear to school, but it left very little choice, other than small items of jewelry and outerwear. We did have the option of wearing light gray slacks instead of the skirt on colder days. Seniors also had the option of wearing pantyhose or tights instead of the socks, too.
My mother bought me tights to wear on cold days, but refused to get me anything more sheer than that. I wanted to wear hosiery as I felt I was becoming a grown-up woman. I was also heckled by some of the girls for what I wore in school. In retrospect, they had little else to pick on another girl for, so that became the point of discussion. I tried explaining that to my mom, but she had no interest in that particular problem. Sturdy knee socks were cheaper than pantyhose that developed runs pretty regularly, so knee socks were what I wore.
At least I wore them until I complained about it to Amy in one of our discussions. Hers was the sympathetic ear I needed and she had a solution. She offered me a job for a real hourly wage so I could afford to buy my own hosiery. I become one of the janitors at the church, working ten hours per week at the minimum wage. After taxes and such, I had enough left over to buy an occasional pair of pantyhose and even to buy a treat for myself now and then. Mom knew what I was doing and never complained about it. She understood that I'd taken one of the first steps to becoming a responsible adult and thanked Amy profusely for hiring me.
The day I got my first paycheck, Amy offered to take me shopping and to help me find the best deals in hosiery. I was totally flattered she'd do that for me, so we went to the mall and set out to shop. I looked longingly at Vickie's store, but she steered me toward the large anchor department store where we looked over the selection.
The cupboard was pretty bare, I'm afraid. I found some in my size in taupe and navy, but the latter were control top and I just didn't need those. I had a good slim figure and kept in shape with regular workouts and sports. I picked out the last two pair of taupe stockings in my size and took them to the clerk to pay for them. It was there I discovered they wouldn't take my paycheck and I just didn't have the cash. Amy came to my rescue, having me endorse the check over to her and returning cash I could spend. I was so embarrassed, but she was very cool about it.
"It's no problem, Barbie. Next payday, we'll go to the bank and get an account set up for you so you can spend your money, okay?"
"Amy, you're the best. Thank you so much!" I hugged her and she held me closely. I realized I could feel her lovely breasts against my own. For some reason I didn't understand at the time, it felt just wonderful. I'd hugged lots of other girls, but I never had such a reaction before.
Amy smiled sweetly at me. "My friend, come with me. I'll show you how to put them on so you can get more than one day's wear out of them."
I let her guide me to the dressing room. She closed the door and told me to take off my shoes and knee socks while she opened a package of pantyhose for me. Once I had my socks off, she examined my feet and toes. "Dearest, you need a good pedicure. Rough nails are the death of good hosiery. Here, I can help that for now. Don't you have a girlfriend over for sleepovers and such? When I was your age, we learned a lot about makeup, nails, and hair at our sleepovers."
I tried to explain my mom to her, but she just held up her hand and smiled at me. "Barbie, would your mother object to you staying over at our house with me? Your girl education has been sadly neglected."
I reddened. "I... I don't know. She's never let me do anything like that. I could ask her, I guess."
She put her hand on my arm gently. "I'll ask her if you can come over for a senior girl retreat chaperoned by me. I'll set her mind at ease and my husband won't mind having another girl in the house at all. Okay?"
That seemed to calm my apprehension. "Yeah, that would be nice and I think she'll let me do that. She likes you a lot."
Amy kept her hand on my arm and looked at me. "I like her, too. I know she's been looking out for you. She wants only the best for you."
She directed her attention to my legs. "You know, you have nice legs. You're going to look really pretty in hosiery."
