Captivation

Captivation Part 9

Two months later Caitlin was at an event organized for families. She was there along with her sister, brother-in-law and two year old niece. Caitlin had volunteered to help during the course of the event, while Georgia, Elias and Sophie took part in the various games. Like Georgia and Elias, Caitlin only came to this event to pacify her father, and when she found herself on kitchen duty, she was quite happy. Her hands in washing up gloves, she continued to wash cups, plates, cutlery, as they were brought in. She'd join her sister and her family when the family disco started later that afternoon. But right now, they were still getting the children's goody bags ready and still washing up from the children's lunch that had just been completed.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to find you at a kitchen sink." Caitlin glanced toward the voice and smiled in acknowledgment . "Want a hand?" He asked and began to shrug off his jacket.

"er, you'll have to ask Mrs De Souza." She used her head to point at the woman who was delegating tasks in the back room, "She's allocating jobs."

"Ah. Right." He hooked his jacket with one finger and sauntered off. "Mrs De Souza. Ok if I help Caitlin with the washing up." She heard him ask.

"Hey, if you want to help, we are snowed here." Anne said loudly. "We've got heaps to get organised. And well, washing up is the least of our priorities."

Which begged the question why Caitlin was assigned to washing up, Douglas pondered as he waited. "Well, young man, thank you. It seems like you have a job lined up there." Mrs De Souza told him. "Follow Anne, she'll explain what needs to be done."

Douglas turned and mouthed an apology to Caitlin. She shrugged and smiled. When she had arrived and offered to help, she was dispatched to the kitchen to wash up. It wasn't a difficult task, just mundane. And it had taken her less than ten minutes to realise that the other young women were ignoring her. Not that it worried her. The fact they were deliberately ostracizing her was something she expected as soon as she saw who sat at the head of the table.

Anne dragged Douglas off toward a group of her friends, who were all preparing children's goody bags. "Budge up girls. Doug has come to help."

With smiles, and a fair amount of flirting, they made room for him on the production line. The end result was that one woman who had been putting two of the items in the bag, started putting in only one, leaving Douglas to put in the other. He thought about challenging the organization, then just held his counsel. He couldn't understand why it took six women, and him now, to fill goody bags for the children. It was a job that could have easily been accomplished by two, three at the most. After a few minutes, he was bored stupid. They chatted to him, or rather tried to chat him up. But they were simpering at best and boring at worst. He found himself having to work at not grinding his teeth as he sat among the small group of women and did as they did, insert the odd item into a goody bag. When they finished the bags, Doug wasted no time in leaving. He went to help Caitlin with the washing up.

"You've escaped!" She teased as he reached for a tea towel.

"What was that about? That job didn't need all of them." He frowned as he thought about the last half hour and how he had wasted his time and how bored he'd been. There was clearly something else going on here, given what had just happened. What he didn't know was, what that something actually was. It was frustrating, knowing he was being manipulated as a pawn to score points but not understanding exactly why point scoring was necessary. "Where do you want these to go?"

"In that box." She nodded her head toward the open small box a few feet away.

"Don't tell me you did all that." He looked at the open box and the six other boxes.