Wai Han did as directed, removing her uniform before climbing into bed. Helena went over and grabbed her comforter and tucked her in, “Now go to sleep.”
“Gertie, I want you to help me get ready for today, and then you to stay up here and take the day off. You and Wai Han can both sleep in my bed and relax. I will let the house know that you’re both up here and not to be disturbed.”
Gertie struggled out of the sofa when Helena called her name, “Yes Miss,” she answered right away.
“And the same goes for you, from now on I want you to call me Helena.”
Gertie still had to help Helena dress for the day since she had no idea where her things where stored. Gertie had taken care of her for so long, Helena became slightly ashamed of herself, for being so helpless.
Before she headed downstairs, she grabbed the Professor’s goggle gift. Every good detective needed a magnifying glass.
“Miss Helena?” stopped Helena in her tracks as a weak voice peeped out from under the covers pulled up just under her eyes.
“Yes, Wai Han?”
“If you go downtown, please let Miss Tsang Mei Yan at girl’s school know I all right? In alley near Montgomery and Jackson.”
“If I am in the area, I will try to find it and let her know you are all right.”
“Thank you, Miss... Helena.”
Dressed as a man looking more like a young teenager, Helena ran down the back-servant stairs. She hadn’t been on this staircase for at least ten years. “When did I change?” she asked herself as she opened the back door to the kitchen. Inside she saw all the estate’s help getting ready for the day.
“Hey, you scalawag, how did you get down those stairs?” the rotund cook called at Helena pointing with a chef’s knife.
“Miss Andrea, it is me, Helena. Did you forget me so soon?” the heavyset black woman did a double take as she looked at the much-changed Helena before she rushed towards her locking her in a most inappropriate embrace. Nearly smothering her against her gigantic bosom.
“Child, I haven’t seen you forever, my you have changed. Sit down let me get some food in your stomach, you need to put on some weight.”
Miss Andrea did her best to pick Helena up and sit her down with the other workers at the servant’s table, but in the end, Helena got herself there without breaking any pottery, dishes, or glasses.
“Why you dressed like a boy?” Miss Andrea asked.
“I’m going looking for someone, and I don’t think a young lady would find it easy to move on the scene like a man,” Helena looked down at herself for a moment before continuing, “or a boy.”
“Well your get-up is really good at first glance, but you’re missing two things.”
Helena did a quick check of her costume, and she thought it looked near-perfect, “I don’t see what I could’ve missed.”
“You’ve never been around boys much have you?” she took two of her sausage size fingers and rubbed them on the side of the black oily cast-iron skillet. She then walked over and smeared the black and grease on Helena’s nose and right cheek. “You don’t wash that off just rub it in like it’s been there for a couple of days. The other thing is you need to do something to hide these,” Miss Andrea reached down and grabbed both of Helena’s orange size breasts. Giving them a little shake for emphasis. “Boys don’t have a bosom, but I think I got something that can help. Let me finish cooking your breakfast, and I’ll give a look and see what I can find.”
Helena sat and had the most fun she could remember having in a very long time. Lane and Sigmund were fun enough to be around, but they always tried to be so proper. She couldn’t remember half of staff’s names, but she vowed during breakfast that needed to change. She didn’t notice Miss Andrea leaving the kitchen, she was having so much fun.
She came back in with a long thin cloth. “You come back here in my room, and I’ll help you hide them things, so no one will ever find them.”
Helena finished eating and jumped up to follow Miss Andrea into the back room.
“Take your shirt off, now this called binding. Slave women used to do this back before the war, so they wouldn’t look so appealing to their masters. Back then you had to be careful dropping something, someone might try to take you from behind,” Miss Andrea made quick work of wrapping the cloth around Helena’s chest hiding her breasts from view.
“Has it always been so bad to be a woman?”
Miss Andrea had to think for a moment before answering the question, “Honey, it’s not all bad. It’s just the way it is. When you don’t have rights, and men can do pretty much what they want to do... I think that’s the way it’s always been, but it’s different for you, your white and has money. You only need to be afraid if you’re caught alone, and you can’t defend yourself.”
“Are all men such monsters?”
“No, not all men. Just most of them. Now put your shirt back on, don’t want any of those fellas out there to get the wrong idea.”
Breakfast finished, and her breasts bound, it was still too early to expect Lane and Sigmund to be down. Besides, if they went to the city now, nothing would be open. Better to go exploring her own property. She knew exactly what she wanted to go check out, the stables.
She knew all the horses well, when it was warm she would go riding at least once a week, often as many as four times a week. She loved
