âSo much more than just an apartmentâ I couldnât get those words out of my mind all weekend. What in the world did she mean? All I wanted to do was rent an apartment. How could it be anything more than that? Maybe it was in a really great section of town or the building was fabulous. The paper said that the rent was $1200 so it couldnât be a dump but it also wasnât going to be Park Avenue either.
The weekend dragged slowly while I waited for Tuesday. I occupied my time discovering the city and searching the downtown in hopes I might run across an âapartment for rentâ sign. Maybe if I stumbled on the apartment I could find out what the fuss was about. It was a long shot since anyone who would hire a lawyer to interview roommates probably wouldnât advertise on the street.
Tuesday came but the phone call didnât. I kept my cell phone with me all day but no call. At 4:57pm, the phone rang but it was my sister back in New Haven. I hustled her off the phone so the line wouldnât be busy. When I hung up the phone rang again. It was Mr. Whitley!
âMr. Seaman.â âYes, Mr. Whitley.â
âMr. Seaman, my client would like to meet with you tomorrow as discussed.â âFine, Mr. Whitley. That would be fine. Trying not to seem too anxious. I would happy to meet with your client but I would like to know a little more about this situation.â
âIâm sorry Mr. Seaman that is quite impossible. You must meet my client tomorrow at 5 pm no questions asked or I will have to move to our second choice. We have no interest in doing that unless you are unable to abide by my clientâs requirements. Can we expect you at 5pm?â
At this point my curiosity was peaked so I couldnât say no. âYes, of course Iâll be there at 5,â I said. âGoodâ¦very good Mr. Seaman. Iâll see you then.â The phone clicked off.
I had rearranged my dinner with Joe Dobbs; the artist but my mind was so preoccupied I could even concentrate.
The next day passed quickly a review of the galleryâs on-hand portfolio and plans for Dobbsâ new exhibit. I left the gallery at 4:15 pm allowing plenty of time to reach Whitleyâs office.
At 4:50 pm I was asked to wait in the receiving room.
At 4:58pm, I was asked into Mr. Whitleyâs office. âGood to see you again, Mr. Seamanâ âLikewise,â I said.
âMy client is in the conference room where the two of you will meet.â
I was quite nervous for some reason and asked for a glass of water.
âYou will discuss the terms and conditions of your room rental in my clientâs condo. There are two other roommates in addition to my client that live in the condo. If all parties choose to go forward with the rental you will sign an agreement and lease. If not, then, you will have no further obligation.â
Mr. Whitley led me to the conference room next to his office. I was stunned to see the client was a woman. I just assumed it was guys being careful about whom they accepted as a roommate. The woman was not in my thinking and I apparently registered shock when I saw her.
âYouâre surprised to see me,â the woman asked? âYesâ¦. I mean I wasnât expecting a woman, I said. I thought that the ad for a male roommates meant that the other occupants were male.â
âDoes that bother you,â she asked? âNoâ¦. a no⦠it doesnât. Itâs just I assumedâ¦well⦠no one said anything to make me think otherwise,â I responded.
Mr. Whitley overlooked my discomfort and made introductions. âMr. Seaman, this is Miss Jules Danvers. Miss Danvers, I would like to introduce Mr. Richard Seaman.â âMr. Seaman it is a pleasure to me you,â Jules said. âMy pleasure, Miss Danvers,â I answered.
âWell, I will leave you two to discuss arrangement,â and Mr. J. W. Whitley left the room.
âPlease sit down Mr. Seaman. May I call you Richard or Dick,â asked Jules Danvers. âThank you. Rick or DK to my friends.â I said.
âDK,â she asked?
âKevin. Itâs my middle name and my best friend, when I was growing up, always called me DK and it stuck.â
âFine DK. Well, as you know I have selected you with the help of Mr. Whitley as the most likely candidate to round out the living arrangements.
I own a four-bedroom condominium near the downtown. There is ample living area since it has 5000 sq ft. of space, which is very comfortable. You would rent one of the bedrooms and have full use of all other space with the exception of the other bedrooms. There is also a storage area in the basement and a patio deck on the roof. We are near transportation and nice little market and set back from the street so the building is quiet. How does it sound so far?â
âWow, just great. More than I was hoping for. And the rent is only $1200 per month, I asked? âOh, that. The paper did misprint the rent,â she said. âOkay, I knew there was a catch. What is it $1800? $2000? âNo, no nothing like that. The newspaper should have printed $1250.â â$1250. Oh, thatâs great,â I said.
âBefore we go any further, there are several things you need to know and agree to Mr. Seaman. Then you must do something for me.â Like a good saleswoman, Mr. Danvers had peeked my interest and the cloak and dagger stuff left me dying to find out what was so special about this damn condo that they would arrange this elaborate interview process.
âOkay,â I said. âMr. Seaman, there are three woman living in this condo, including myself. You will be the only man but that is by our choice. We all have a particular pleasure we share and our fourth roommate must agree to the same stipulation.
âWhen we are at home we are nude all times. You must do the same. Whether morning or evening, the stipulation is that you must never wear clothes. You are allowed a grace period for the time when you leave or return home and one incident in which you forget otherwise you must accept our conditions if you are going to live with us.â
âAdditionally, you will also be required to comply with any request any roommate makes of you no matter how personal. You on the other hand are not allow to make requests of the other roommates until you have lived with us for a period of one year. You might say the first year you are on probation. What are your thoughts thus far,â Jules asked?
âMiss Danvers, this arrangement is, at the very least, unique. I guess any guy would jump at the chance to live with three naked women but what is the catch? There has got to be a catch. Are you ladies lovers or something like that,â I asked?
âNo we are not lovers and we donât have sex with each other. At the moment Laurie has a boyfriend but then Jen and myself donât. That is not why we have inviting you to join us. Frankly, Mr. Seaman we all enjoy erotic nudity and to have a man in our midst is a exciting pleasure but donât get the idea this is one big orgy. There is no sex unless it happens one of us become involved with you in a relationship. There may be the odd occasional tasks that on the surface might be interpret as sexual but they are purely part of your responsibilities as a roommate. We ALL have them from time to time,â said Jules.
âI guess Iâm not clear, I asked, what do you mean task?â âYes, how can I explain this? Jules paused and thought. While you are our roommate you are expected to do favors for the other roommates. We have found that this cements our relationship and eases the tensions, which DO build up from living together naked. Doing favors for each other helps to build a closeness that is need for our living arrangement. The favors might be as simple as doing someoneâs laundry or cooking dinner when it is not your turn. It also might be of a more personal nature.â She stopped and thought for a moment and I could see she was holding information back.
âWell that seems easy enough,â I said. âYes, but sometimes say Jen, might ask that you to douche her, shave her legs or clean her blood soiled panties. Are you just as eager?â
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