The Road to Redemption

by Stephen Morris

  Eventually it had to happen. Audry's father found out about them and fired John. John protested that he had always done a good job.

  “Stay away from my daughter,” George had threatened.

  But of course he didn’t. They continued to meet secretly.

  One day when he was gardening at one of the large houses, a BMW pulled up and two guys in dark suits, got out. An older man and a young guy about John’s age. The older man went inside, while the young one waited outside.

  “What's happening?” asked John

  “Nothing much, we’re Estate Agents, just giving the owners a quote on their house.”

  John looked at the guy his age standing there in his dark suit looking all professional, while he was in his old clothes, all sweaty and dirty.

  The older guy came out of the house, shook hands with the owner and walked passed John, totally ignoring him as if he wasn’t even there. For the first time in his life, John felt inferior. He was on a lower social level. He was just a hired gardener. A second-class citizen to be ignored.

  John could not get the estate agents out of his mind. He had a good think about it that night. Here he was slaving his guts out for peanuts, all dirty and sweaty, while these guys were all dressed up, driving around in a BMW, just for talking to people. It was no contest, he had the gift of the gab, he was going to become an Estate Agent.

  The next day, he used what little money he had saved and went and bought himself a suit and tie, just like the guys he had seen wearing. He then went door to door, calling on the local estate agents. The first four said they didn’t have anything available, but at the fifth one he struck gold. A woman who the staff called “Boss Lady” ran it. She happened to be at the front desk when John walked in. She liked to have good-looking young men around the place and invited him in to her office. John’s cockiness and self-confidence impressed her and by the time he left, he was the new Property Manager. I’m a Manager thought John. It appealed to his ego. Of course he didn’t realize that next to the receptionist, this was the lowest job in the agency. In some agencies the receptionist also doubles as the “Property Manager,” or what it really involves, looking after the rent roll. This involves letting out rental properties, finding tenants, making sure they don’t get behind with their rent and attending to repairs and maintenance.

  John was a fast learner and he thrived in the job. On one particular day he was conducting an open house, or in this case an open home unit, whereby potential tenants could inspect the property, during a one-hour period. Being a unit, quite a number of young couples had been through, when a guy walked up to him and asked:

  “How Much?”

  “$400 per week,” John had replied.

  “No, not the rent how much to buy it?”

  “We are not selling this, only renting it,” said John.

  The guy was about to go when John ever alert, sensed an opportunity.

  “Are you looking to buy a unit?” John asked him.

  “No,” said the guy. “I’m actually looking to sell. I saw your sign outside and noticed people going through, so I thought this unit was for sale. I own the one next door, it’s very similar to this and I was just trying to get an idea of what my unit might be worth.”

  “I can help you with that,” bluffed John,

  “Why don’t I call around after I close up here and I can give you an idea of what your property is worth?” The guy agreed.

  John in fact had no idea what the property would be worth, but that wasn’t going to stop him. As soon as the guy left, John rang his “Boss Lady” and asked her what the unit he was trying to rent out, might be worth. She gave him a figure and wanted to know why he was asking.

  “ I’ll tell you when I get back to the office,” he said

  John finished the open house and closed up. He knocked on the unit next door and an attractive woman, a few years older than him, answered

  “Hi, my name’s John. I met your husband next door and he said to call round.”

  “You must be the estate agent, come in. My partner has just gone down to the shops to get a packet of cigarettes. He said you may call round.”

  “Nice place you have here,” said John. “And I like the way you have decorated it.” He immediately started to work his charm on her.

  “Much nicer than next door and I love your decor.” That was always a good one to put in. Everyone likes to think their property is better than their neighbour’s and that they have better taste. Of course it was pretty much the same as next door. John had seen some very nice homes via Audry’s friends and this could hardly compare. However the woman was already impressed. A good-looking young man had turned up on her doorstep and complemented her on her taste in decor.

  “Would you like a coffee?” she asked.

  “Love one,“ said John,

  “Mind if I take a look at the view from your balcony?” He stepped outside.

  “I like this view better than next door.” It was really about the same.

  John next looked over the rest of the unit and gave her a valuation, that was somewhat more than Boss Lady had said. He was already practicing one of the golden rules of real estate... give them a high valuation to get the agency agreement. You can always tell them later that the “market” was only prepared to pay somewhat less for it.

  By the time her partner got back, she had already decided John was going to be their agent.

  “And you won’t believe the price he thinks we can get,” she crowed

  John told them he would get some paperwork and come back later in the afternoon, then went back to the office to negotiate with Boss Lady.

  “If I can get a listing would you be prepared to let me sell it?” asked John

  “OK,” said Boss Lady, handing him a blank contract. She was always ready to take on new listings.

  “Get them to sign this. Lets see how you go. I want you to get a three-month exclusive agreement. Charge them 3% commission and allow plenty of money for advertising,” she paused,

  “You will only get 1% on this one, as I am already paying you a salary to do the rent roll.”

  “OK,” said John, “but if I get more of these, we are going to have to re-negotiate.”

  He sold the property, for somewhat less than the original quote and they did re-negotiate. He managed to get a base salary plus half of the commission on each property he sold. He was now a fully-fledged Real Estate Agent and he had an edge. Through Audry, he had met a lot of rich people. He was moving in their social circles and even if he didn’t like the private school boys, at least he got on well with some of their fathers, especially the self made men.

  He had access to a source of up market listings the other agents did not. By networking he could find out who was thinking of selling and get in first before any other agent. One of the rich self-made men, John had been gardening for took a liking to him. This guy had three daughters but no son, so treated John like the son he never had. He could see a lot of himself in John and also did not have much time for the toffs his daughters hung around with. He invited John along to his golf club and even nominated him for membership. John could now mix with the rich people at the golf club and stand on an equal basis with them. With his mentor’s help, new listings were starting to pour in.

  It was not long before he became the top selling agent and Boss Lady’s favourite.

  Chapter 3 Melbourne Cup Day and Marriage

  John was taking to real estate like a duck to water. He wondered why he had ever wasted his time gardening, working his guts out for peanuts. He was doing well and now bought his first BMW. It was second hand and a few years old, but he kept it immaculate and Audry was impressed.

  In a real estate office, factions form, just like in political parties. There are always arguments over who got a particular listing and who actually sold a particular property. As agents have open houses, they quite often come across the same buyers at different house openings. There are always arguments, about w
ho first introduced the buyer and who actually made the sale.

  Boss Lady had 12 agents working for her. John formed an alliance with two of the girl agents, who were a few years older than him. They agreed to support each other at regular meetings, whenever commissions were being discussed. One of these agents was Mary, who was single and lived by herself in a one-bed unit, not far from the office. She was a little on the buxom side with very large breasts. She had had long dark hair and a pretty face. The other was Anne, who lived with her boyfriend, but was having some problems in their relationship. She was tall and thin with an attractive rather than pretty face and dressed smartly to show off her shapely legs.

  All three played tricks on each other in the office. One morning John got a message on his desk to ring Mr. Lyon, urgently. Of course it was the Zoo. He paid them back by putting a message to ring Mrs. Angel, about selling her penthouse. It was Dial-a Prayer. They were always leaving jokes on each other’s desks, some of which were quite risqué. When John gave up smoking they left a cartoon on his desk. It was a drawing of a man sitting in his lounge room openly masturbating. His wife was leaning around the corner saying, “I wish you would take up smoking again”.

  For Mary's 25th birthday, John and Anne organised a male stripper to come to the office. She loved it. So did Boss Lady for that matter.

  On Melbourne Cup Day, as was her practice, Boss Lady, closed the office for the afternoon and organised a table at the local hotel, for all the staff. It was a bit of what she called, “job enrichment”.

  The hotel was packed and noisy. Everyone was talking but no one could really hear each other. They held a sweep and Mary's horse won. She collected $150 and was in full party mode, sitting next to John grabbing him around the shoulders and talking into his ear, so he could hear her. Anne was on the other side of him, also talking into his other ear.

  One of the other agents they didn’t like was sitting around from Anne. He was always trying to steal their commissions. When he went to the toilet Anne leaned over and poured some of his beer on his seat. When he came back he was furious at his wet behind. Everyone disliked him and they all laughed. He could not tell who had done it and left in a huff. Mrs. Boss lady pretended to ignore the whole thing. She did not like him either, but he brought in a lot of business and to her business came first.

  The wine flowed freely, care of Mrs. Boss Lady, until around 4:30 pm, when she decided to leave. Gradually the rest of the agents started to drift away, off home to their wives and families. Only John and the two girls were still sitting at the table. Mary decided to shout them cocktails, with her winnings and they retired to the stools at the bar. The two girls started teasing the bar tender as he mixed their cocktails. They were now both quite sozzled and were giving him plenty of cheek.

  By this time they had been drinking for about 4 hours. Mary suggested they go back to her place to listen to some decent music. It was still very noisy at the hotel, as the other regulars, had started to come in after work. Her unit was just around the corner from the hotel. The three of them walked down the street arm in arm singing, with John in the middle.

  Mary poured them more wine, turned on her hi-fi and put on some dance music. The two girls were hanging pretty loose by this stage, dancing wildly with each other. They dragged John up to dance, pulled off his tie and loosened the buttons down the front of his shirt. The three of them, dancing and feeling very comfortable together. From there it just sort of happened naturally. Mary moved her body back and forth in front of John then pulled him towards her, rubbed her hands up and down against his bare chest and gave him a big wet kiss. I’ve been waiting for ages to do that, she giggled, as she pushed him back to dance again. Next all three were dancing together, with their arms around each other’s shoulders. They were like a family of friends. It all seemed quite natural. Mary and John kissed again, then Anne joined in, first kissing John, then Mary. Everyone was kissing everyone. Next they went into a three-way kiss and the girls started to fondle John while he fondled them back.

  They pulled his shirt off and removed his belt, so his trousers fell down. Kicking them off, John started to take Mary’s clothes off, while Anne assisted him. Then vice versa as they removed most of Anne’s clothes. Soon they were all semi naked and it was obvious from the rise in John’s underpants, he was getting really turned on. More three way kissing, then John sat down while the two girls danced and kissed together. Each of them took turns sitting down, while the other two danced and kissed and caressed each other. They were all interchangeable. Finally when they were all dancing and kissing together, Mary held the other two by the arms and led them into the bedroom.

  John was pretty much in an alcohol haze by now and didn’t really know what was happening. More kissing and heavy petting, with John in the middle. Anne seemed to be getting really turned on, by the girl on girl kissing. John was not sure who was in charge. Both girls had their hands on him and he had well and truly risen to the occasion.

  Next Mary was on top of him kissing him passionately. Then he was in her and she was riding him up and down. Her large breasts were moving up and down on him. He wondered how she got all that flesh in under her clothes. He had his hands around her behind. She was a little overweight but very comfortable to touch. It was like she had not had sex for a long while and was desperate for it. She was really going for it and making “oh, ah” noises. Anne was leaning over kissing him at the same time then kissing Mary as she rode him. Anne was really turned on and was biting his bottom lip. She was quite wild.

  Next Mary made a big “ahhhhh” noise, lent forward, kissed him very affectionally again, as if to thank him and then rolled off him. She gave Anne a final lingering kiss, then turned over on her side. Soon she slid off into an alcohol-induced sleep. Next Anne started to really show her desire for him. She got on top of him. She was much more slender and taller. The difference between the two of them could not have been more striking. So different, yet both so sexy in their own way. She was now biting his lip so hard it almost drew blood. She was on him for what seemed quite a long time, grinding him, as Mary occasionally stirred beside them. John didn’t remember, but it went on for so long, he must have also drifted off to sleep.

  The next thing he knew, Anne was poking him in the side and telling him to wake up, she had to get home to her partner. He stumbled off the bed and searched around for his clothes, which were strewn all over the flat. Mary slept through the whole thing. Somehow they both got their things together and managed to get down the stairs to the main road and hail a taxi. Anne was still very warm and kept clinging onto his leg in the taxi. When the taxi dropped her off at her place, she gave him a very warm kiss and simply said, “Thank you.”

  The next day at work they all had hangovers and were a bit strange towards each other. What were they? Work mates, friends or lovers. This continued for a few days until Anne broke the ice, by leaving a drawing on both their desks. It was a risqué cartoon about kissing cousins. After that, they all had a laugh and continued on as normal. Actually John was looking forward to next Melbourne Cup, but it never happened again. By the time that came around Anne had sorted out her differences her boyfriend, married him and moved north, while Mary had a steady boyfriend and had moved on to another agency.

  Naturally, Audry knew nothing about this. John and her had done a lot of heavy petting but until now she had not been prepared to go the whole way. However eventually she did, in the back of his BMW. But it was not nearly as exciting or as wild and free for John, as it had been with Mary and Anne.

  Then it happened, Audry was pregnant.

  “I don’t care what your father thinks, I am going to marry you,” said John

  George exploded when they told him,

  ”There is no way this marriage is going to take place.” Audry ran to her bedroom.

  George pointed at John,

  “You get out of my house and don’t come back.”

  It wasn’t off to a good start to say the least. G
eorge tried to get Audry to have the pregnancy terminated:

  “You are my only daughter and you have had the best of everything. I had always dreamed of a big wedding for you, how could you do this to me? You can’t marry a gardener.”

  “He’s not a gardener, he’s a Real Estate Agent now,” Audry protested.

  “That’s as bad as a used car salesman,” George had yelled back at her.

  But Audry stood her ground. Audry’s mother Mabel was religious and didn’t believe in abortion.

  “Let me talk to him, I’ll see if I can turn him around when he calms down,” she promised.

  With Audry holding her ground and her mother working on him, George had eventually capitulated. On a cold winter’s morning in July, John and Audry were married at the local Registry Office. Only eight people attended, the bride and groom, both sets of parents plus Audry’s girlfriend, Elizabeth and her new boyfriend Peter, who of course had been a private school boy.