Minnie the Maid

Final Part

Donna woke with the merest hint of a hangover, thought she must be late.
Sounds of Minnie and Maria in the kitchen filtered through the floor as
she russed. Donna laughed to herself, she had not heard 'russed' inside
her head since schooldays. One of those silly teenage words that
combined rushing and dressed when she was sooo late for school there was
not even time to think two words.

Tiptoeing down the stairs, heels in hand, she paused at the kitchen
door. Minnie and Maria were talking, re-living the dinner party. Nothing
strange in that, such a lavish event for maids was unheard of. Every
house in the county would be alive with tales of the evening so why not
the Collins house.

Finally realising what was wrong - the choker should be preventing
Minnie from chattering like a small brown bird on a spring morning -
Donna grabbed her iPhone from her pocket. She stared at a greyed out
Mistress app with 'Auto Mode' written across it in white lettering.

Maria sat at the kitchen table wearing a summer dress, Minnie serving as
if he were her maid. Skipping polite conversation starters Donna said,
"What's going on?"

"Good morning Donna." Maria looked pleased. "Well... I'm on rest day and
Minnie kindly offered to make breakfast."

"Of course you are." Donna smiled. "I'm not quite awake yet."

"We were talking about last night," Minnie cut in like he would have in
pre-choker times.

Donna sipped her coffee. "Any juicy gossip to share?"

Maria grinned mischievously. "Maybe a little, but you'll have to wait
until this evening. Lucy will be here any second, we are spending the
day together."

Donna raised an eyebrow. "Lucy who is 'literally' excitable?"

"That's literally her!" Maria snickered. As if on cue, the doorbell
rang, Maria stood up with a smile. "That must be Lucy. I'll see you
later."

Donna turned to Minnie with a curious expression. "So, your choker... it
seems as if it is taking a day off as well, doesn't it?"

Minnie frowned, touched the choker locked around his neck. "I see why
you'd think that Donna. I can talk freely in our quarters and the
kitchen today, when I tried talking in the main house I got a very
painful reminder."

Donna nodded. "Well, just be careful, I wouldn't want a repeat of what
happened with Miss West. Show me your Maid app."

The Maid app was greyed out with 'Auto Mode' written across it in white
lettering - just like her Mistress app. She handed Minnie his list of
tasks and sat alone at the kitchen table daydreaming, considering 'what
next.'

The dinner party, she realised, had been Mistress Donna's grand finale.
She was out of ideas, and decided to just coast for the last five or so
weeks. The greyed out Mistress app would be no help, in fact when Donna
looked at her iPhone there was no Mistress app!

Jennifer requested a quiet ride from the airport and, with only her
thoughts for company, agonised over her decision to fire Donna. As the
Uber approached the driveway to the house Jennifer's resolve wavered.
She couldn't fire Donna without confirming her suspicions, "drive on"
she made a snap decision to check into a nearby hotel for the night -
somewhere to access surveillance video without disturbance. Once settled
in her hotel room, Jennifer wasted no time in pulling up the feed from
the cameras. She kicked off by watching dinner party day events.
Breakfast to Bedtime. Now, seeing events in context, what she thought of
as 'the slut incident' - Minnie dressed in some sort of French maid
uniform - was part of an elaborate staging event that began in Minnie's
bedroom. Waiting, alone in his bedroom, and again in the kitchen, and
hearing guests arriving, added to the suspense. It would have plunged
Minnie into a state of dread. Just as it had Jennifer.