Following this chariot was the one being pulled by the female candidates. Ann was in the second rank next to the other girl in her thirties. The two younger candidates were in the front. Like the men, the women were tethered together and wore the same type of leg braces which prevented them from standing. Each wore a type of headgear which was topped with feathered plumes, much as one might have imagined other ponies to have been decorated when they were paraded on display. Again like the men, the women were fitted with "tails" except that in the case of the women, the "tail" material was affixed to a small strap that connected two gleaming metal probes which had been inserted into each of the girl's anal and vaginal openings. The girls seemed to be proceeding a little gingerly as they towed their chariot toward the front of the room. I watched Ann closely as she strained a little against her burden and I observed that if she did not maintain her posture she ran the risk, owing to the profound size of her breasts, of scraping them along the ground as she crawled forward.
The two chariots were guided to corresponding resting places on each side of where the Administrator stood at the front of the room. I was quite surprised by what then ensued. Without warning I heard Ann let out a sharp yelp indicating obvious pain. I looked to see what it was that caused it, but noticed simply that Ann had fallen to one side and seemed to be clutching her abdomen. It was also becoming evident to all that this was not part of anyone's script. I rushed to Ann's side and saw that she was in serious agony.
At my insistence, we disentangled Ann from her accoutrements and drove her to the nearest hospital, which was in Lake Placid. There Ann was examined and then given some medicine to relieve her pain, which was waxing and waning. Within a few hours the diagnosis of kidney stones had been made. After getting the recommendations from the local staff and after conferring with my internist as well as a telephone consultation with Justine, we decided to transfer Ann to New York Hospital for treatment where, it was hoped, the kidney stones would be shattered by the focused delivery of sound waves in a relatively new device. If that did not work, surgery would be the alternative.
Ann's stay at New York Hospital was brief and successful. Within 36 hours Ann had been treated, the stones were shattered and passed, and Ann was given some guidance on how she could avoid, or at least minimize the chance of recurrence. I was delighted when Ann's doctor told us that Ann would be released from the hospital after his visit the next morning (Saturday) at around 7:00 a.m.
I was sitting next to Ann's bed in the private room I had arranged for her later that Friday afternoon when we took a moment to reflect on the whirlwind events of the past few days.
"I'm glad that you are feeling better now, I was really upset when I saw how much pain you were in." I said.
"I never experienced anything like that" Ann added. "Well I guess we'll go back to Davenport" she continued.
"I don't think so" I said. "I think the impetus of the moment has passed and I'd just as soon we left that part alone" I concluded.
Ann's gaze assured me that my preference in that regard sat well with her too.
Hospital Interlude
Towards the end of the day, one of the residents appeared at the door to Ann's room with a crew of four medical students in tow.
"Glad to see that you're doing much better" he said as he flipped through Ann's chart. "If you don't mind, I'd like to give these second-year students a chance to practice some of their physical examination skills."
"Why not?" Ann said, "but I want my husband to stay."
The resident nodded to the first student, a young asian woman who first closed the door to the room and then approached Ann. With seeming competence, she took Ann's blood pressure, examined her eyes, ears and throat, listened to her heart and lungs and palpated her abdomen. The whole procedure took about five minutes and the resident only interjected a few comments along the way.
The second student, a mature looking young man was just slightly less proficient, which was evident in his need to reinflate the blood pressure cuff several times before he was satisfied that he had an accurate reading.
Disaster, of sorts, struck for the third student. This doctor-in-training was a young looking male who did not project any sense of confidence. At the point where he stepped behind where Ann was seated in bed, to listen to her lungs with his stethoscope, he, like the others before him, unfastened the draw string at the top of Ann's hospital issue nightgown so that he would have access to her back. Unlike what had preceded him, in his clumsiness he knocked the gown off her shoulders, so that it fell around her waist, leaving Ann seated there with her bare breasts exposed to the entire group. Ann made no move to adjust her situation, and as I surveyed the room, it was obvious to me that all took notice of Ann's impressive dimensions. The young student was mortified by his gaffe and succeeded only in making things worse as he reached around to lift up the fallen nightgown and managed only to quite conspicuously seem to grab Ann's left breast. I recognized a familiar glint in Ann's eyes and I knew that her exhibitionist tendencies were being stimulated by her predicament.
Finally, the young student managed to compose himself and complete his examination. The fourth student, a young woman, managed also to professionally complete the routine exam.
When the students were finished the resident thanked Ann for her cooperation and asked if she would mind helping a little further by allowing his students to do an internal exam. I thought that Ann would not wish to submit to this indignity so many times, but Ann was quick to indicate her willingness to cooperate. The resident proceeded to drape the end of Ann's bed and to place her feet in the stirrups. I stepped to the rear of the room and watched as how, with her legs now splayed apart, Ann was open to the view of the resident and his charges. Ann's shaving habits were also evident. I watched as the resident donned his gloves and after applying some sort of sterile lubricant, inserted his digits and identified for his students the different anatomical structures that were evident to him. Each of the three students followed in turn and, thankfully, there were no other mishaps.
Sharon and Ann turned out to become good friends as Sharon started her legal career with us. I was happy that there was no jealousy between them. Indeed I was fortunate that none of my employees had strained relations with the others. In fact, Jodi and Allie were sharing an apartment with each other and Maria was a frequent overnight visitor when she did not feel like going home to her apartment in Queens and would rather spend the ni ght in the city.
I decided that I wanted to take a vacation and raised with Ann the thought that we might go away together for a week or so around Labor Day. I thought it important to include Ann for several reasons. First, my attentio n had been diverted pretty much among all the people working with me and I sensed that she thought she might be losing her confidence in the primacy of her relation with me. Second, I had become more assertive relative t o Ann, directing her more forcefully to accommodate me and really not paying much attention to her sensibilities. Third, in fact I liked her very much and cared for her too.
I realized that the South of France was ideal for vacation late in the Summer and after checking with our travel agent, I booked a suite at the Hotel du Cap in Cap d'Antibes for the week around Labor Day.
Ann, as I anticipated was quite thrilled with the notion of "our" vacation. In the week before we were scheduled to go, Ann told me that she was going to go out to Vanities to pick up some items to round up her wardrobe for the trip. I decided to go along for the show. In the car ride out, I asked Ann whether she was sure that no one else at the store, knew about my viewing room. Ann reminded me that the only entrance was from the rea r of the store and that those who worked in the shop only came in from the front entrance. Ann asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her, I told her that I would try and enjoy a few hours watching the goings on at Van ities. Ann dropped me in the back of the store and I made my way to my perch.