"Lennie wants to see you now," the boy said. He was quite insistent and his attitude suggested that the king had summoned her and she had better report in immediately or else…"I'm sorry," she said. "Lennie will just haveto wait. We pay our rent and I don't feel that anything else is required of us."
"Suit yourself," the young man said. He turned around and stepped off the porch and she watched him as he walked the long pathway that stretched off into a small copse and led to the big house in the distance.
When she went back into the kitchen she found Lily awake and busy with a bowl of cereal. She said hi and Lily said hi and then she sat down to have a cup of coffee with her little sister. Lily sat back in her chair and stretched her arms behind her back and the oversized lemons on her chest stuck straight out and Norma wondered if they were beginning to grow more than they should. They seemed to be much bigger than she had supposed. She smiled as she realized that her little sister was growing up in many ways; Norma would have to accept that.
Lily stood up and she put her empty bowl into the sink. She took a deep breath and then she turned to smile radiantly at Norma.
"Who was the groovy guy on the porch?" Lily asked.
"The people who live in the big house are home now and the big wheel wants us to stop in and see him," Norma explained.
"We'll do it, too," Lily said. "I kind of liked that boy."
Norma snorted. "His hair is longer and prettier than yours," she said. "I wouldn't be surprised to see him wearing earrings."
Lily gave her a funny stare. "I just liked him," she said. "I wasn't thinking about getting married to him. He just seemed to be very nice and very good-looking."
The telephone rang and Norma blinked in surprise. They had no friends who knew their number and she couldn't imagine who would be calling. She answered the telephone and found out that her landlord was calling her. He wouldn't take no for an answer, it seemed.
"Hello, young lady," he said. "This is Lennie Burke, your landlord. I understand that Mark was unable to persuade you to stop in and visit me. I wish you would change your mind."
She was impressed by the way he sounded. She liked his deep voice and the charm and consideration that his tone and words expressed.
"We will be glad to stop in and say hello, Mr. Burke," Norma said. "I told the young man that I couldn't come right then. He was insistent
He laughed at that. "I'm afraid that Mark is rarely insistent," he said. "He and his brother, Leslie, are very docile. Carol and I are very pleased to have them living with us."
His voice changed and became rather crisp. "I wondered, Miss Walton, if you would like a job? I was told that you have a job, but there is a great deal of work here that I thought you and your sister might want to do. It would pay well and you could be a big help to me. Would you consider it?"
"What kind of work, Mr. Burke?" she asked.
"I think you'd have to come and see what I have in mind. Do stop in as soon as you can. You sound so nice and young, I would very much like to meet you and your sister. I'll be expecting you. Good-bye."
He was gone before she had a chance to refuse his job or anything else. Lily was staring at her with a bright, inquisitive look. Norma hung up the telephone and she sat down again. Her coffee had grown cold but she didn't mind. She sipped it anyway. She lit a cigarette and when Lily reached for the pack she felt a moment of regret. She wished that Lily wouldn't smoke. She was much too young to smoke, but whenever she said anything, Lily was quick to point out that Norma was only a few years older. Two years actually, and regardless of whether she looked to be twenty or not, she was only fifteen.
She watched Lily handle the cigarette and,he way she inhaled and held the smoke in her lungs suggested that Lily had been smoking for,quite a while. She wondered about Lily and drugs but she didn't ask. She was afraid of what her little sister might say.
"So, let's go see the guy," Lily said.
Norma shrugged and then while Lily got into -''me clothes, she sipped another cup of coffee and smoked another cigarette. She was quite impressed by Lily's prettiness when the younger girl finished dressing. Lily had brushed her long blonde hair till it shone like molten gold and she had a touch of lipstick on her mouth, a,.alter concealed most of her breasts and she as wearing a pair of hot pink hotpants. They were much too short, much too revealing. Norma could see every fold of sexual flesh between Lily's legs and wondered if Lily knew that she was showing so much. She must have, because she pulled her shorts down and then she gave Norma a crooked grin.
They walked to the big house and when they knocked on the back door a beautiful brunette opened the door and made them welcome. "Hello," the brunette said. "I am Carol. Do come in."
They stepped into a large, gleaming kitchen and Carol waved toward a breakfast nook where a smiling young man sat, sipping coffee in front of a big plate of toast.
"This is Lennie, your landlord," Carol said. She had a slow, sexy smile and sparkling white teeth, long hair and big brown eyes. She was very beautiful and the hotpants outfit she was wearing made her look even prettier. Norma gave Lennie her hand and she matched his smile. Lily shook hands with him, too. Carol put cups out for them and poured coffee for everybody.
Lennie was admiring her, Norma knew, and he liked Lily, too. He was a very nice-looking guy, probably in his late twenties. He had bright, alert, brown eyes and a nice smile, and short, curly brown hair. His hands were white and she didn't think they had ever done any hard work.
"I am glad to have tenants in the guest house," Lennie said, "and now that I see how pretty you two are, I am delighted to have you for tenants. How old are you, Norma?"
"Nineteen," Norma said. She didn't look him in the eye and she was sure that he did not believe her.
"You might get away with that elsewhere," Lennie said, smiling, "but not with me. You don't have any reason to lie to us. Now, how old are you?"
Lily betrayed her. "Norma is only fifteen and I am thirteen. Our mother got killed in an accident so Norma is looking after me while I finish school."
Carol was regarding both of them with a friendly, brown-eyed stare. "What about your schooling?" she asked Norma.
"I've had it with school," Norma said. "I don't want any more."
"Norma," Lennie said, "I wanted to talk with you and offer you an extra job. Mainly because you live so close to us. You see, I inherited this place and the lawyers tell me that it is filled with treasures, but we have to take an inventory. There is no time limit, but I was wondering if you would like to take the job on? You would earn five dollars an hour and you would have to catalogue everything and there is a year's work here, I'm told."
Norma was amazed by the offer. The money that he talked about was so much more than she was earning.
"Could I work full time?" she asked. "Lily could help me after school and weekends. Would that be all right?"
"Of course," he said. "Are you say in g that you would give up your regular job and do this instead?" He sounded very pleased.
"Sure," Norma said, smiling. "When I finish here I can always get another job like the one I have now."
"That's good thinking," Lennie said. "Carol, dear, why don't you take our new friends for a tour and arrange for Norma to come in and get busy on Monday morning? Or, whenever she can."
"All right," Carol said, quietly.
She finished her coffee and Norma downed hers too. She gave Lennie a shy smile as she and Lily followed Carol out of the kitchen. The house was huge and there were many rooms.
She met Mark again and Leslie and looking at the twins she could not be sure which one had come to her back door. They looked so much alike. The two boys were busy with weights and barbells in a room that had been fitted out for that sort of activity.