Finding Alice Read online

  He had access to a source of up market listings that 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 having worked his way up from a poor background by starting his own construction company. He 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 who 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 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 the girls 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 organized a male stripper to come to the office after work. 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 organized a table for all her staff at the local hotel. It was a bit of what she called, “job enrichment.” The hotel was packed and noisy. Everyone was talking but having trouble hearing each other over the din. They held a sweep and Mary's horse won. She collected $150 and was in full party mode. She was 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 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 regulars had started to come in after work. Mary’s unit was just around the corner from the hotel and the three of them walked down the street arm in arm singing, with John in the middle.

  The unit was at the rear of a set of shops. The entrance was along a side passage then up a flight of stairs. They were still singing as they got to the top and Mary fumbled for the keys. Somehow she managed to prize the door open to reveal a small one bedder. John looked around. She had it nicely decorated with modern furniture. It was cosy and comfortable with a lounge and combined TV and stereo unit in the main room leading to a separate kitchenette.

  “Pour us a drink, there is some wine in the fridge and glasses in the top cupboard,” called Mary, as she went over to the stereo and started to search through her music.

  Some twoing and frowing as the two girls decided what music to play. Finally they settled on Fleetwood Mac as next “You can go your own way” reverberated through the unit.

  John came out of the kitchenette with a bottle and three full glasses of wine. He had to step sideways to avoid the two girls who were now dancing wildly with each other. They each stopped to take a sip of wine then continued dancing, glasses in hand.

  John sat on the couch watching them. Both were pretty good movers. They were egging each other on. They seemed to be exciting each other. Next the song “Gypsy” came on and the two girls moved towards each other. Mary was being very provocative. She gave Anne a big hug then moved away nearly spilling her drink in the process. Both girls then kicked off their shoes. Next Mary took off the red silk scarf she had been wearing around her neck, threw it towards John catching him across his face. He could smell her perfume on it. It was nice. Next she loosened the buttons down the front of her blouse. Her large breasts were now swaying with the music.

  Anne poured them more wine from the bottle John had placed on the floor next to the couch, as Mary put on some more music. This time it was the rolling stones “I can’t get no satisfaction.” The two girls were hanging pretty loose by this stage, still dancing together wildly.

  “Come and give us some satisfaction John,” they teased.

  Mary dragged him up to dance as Anne sat down for a rest. She pulled off John’s tie and loosened the buttons down the front of his shirt. 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 Anne joined them and all three danced together, with their arms around each other’s shoulders. They all felt very close. It all seemed quite natural. Mary kissed John again. He was really enjoying it. She was very cuddly and sexy. Next Anne joined in kissing John as Mary danced and watched. Next Mary moved between them but instead of kissing John turned and went into a full passionate kiss with Anne.

  “Hey,” said John he was missing out, although the girl on girl thing was a real turn on.

  The two girls put an arm out each and beckoned him into their web. Next they went into a three-way kiss. It was very exciting. Everyone was kissing everyone at the same time. Next, as they kissed 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 down to underwear and it was obvious from the rise in John’s underpants, he was getting really turned on. More three way kissing, the
n John sat down while the two girls danced and kissed together.

  Mary took her bra off and Anne followed. They were now rubbing up against each other as they kissed.

  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. More kissing and heavy petting followed, with John in the middle. The girls removed John’s underpants while he removed each of theirs in turn. They were now all fully naked. Anne seemed to be getting really turned on by the girl on girl kissing and was biting John’s bottom lip in turn when she kissed him. John was not sure who was in charge. Both girls had their hands all over him and he had well and truly risen to the occasion.

  Mary went down on him while he kissed Anne. Next Mary came up and moved on top of him kissing him passionately while Anne had her arms around both of them. Then Mary guided him into her and started to ride him up and down. Her large breasts were swaying in a type of rhythm. He wondered how she got all that flesh in under her clothes. He now had his hands around her behind as she rode on top of him. She was a little buxom but very comfortable to touch. It was like she had not had sex for a long time 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 again biting his bottom lip. She was quite wild.

  Mary went on for a while like this making “oh, ah” noises.

  “Your wonderful John,” she managed to get out as she kissed him.

  “I am going to ride you all night.” With that she sat up on him as she continued.

  Anne was kissing her as John cupped her breasts in his hands. Finally Mary made a loud “ahhhhh” noise and started to shake. She let out a gasp and lent forward, kissed him very affectionately, 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 come on to him and got on top of him just like Mary had. 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. Next John took over and rolled her onto her back into the missionary position. He was really turned on and going for it. Anne had her long legs up in the air beside him welcoming his access. It did not take her long to cry out in ecstasy. Next John let out a cry as he became enveloped in his own rapture. He was now quite exhausted and snuggled down between the two girls. Mary occasionally stirred beside them. John didn’t remember after that. He must have 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 towards him in the taxi and kept clinging onto his leg. 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 Mary 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 Day, but it never happened again. By the time that came around Anne had sorted out her differences with 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 had done a lot of heavy petting with her 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. George 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.

  The contrast between both families could not have been more marked. John’s father was dressed in an old brown checked sports jacket, with dark brown pants, a green tie and tattered brown shoes. His mother wore her best dress, which was also about 20 years out of date. George, John and Peter had on smart business suits. In that way John certainly looked more like he belonged with Audry’s family, than with his own.

  John’s father tried to shake hands with George, but George just brushed him aside, saying,

  “Lets just get this over.”

  Chapter 4 Moving Up

  John was becoming very successful and was really moving up. He was always on the lookout for a good buy in real estate, which usually involved a desperate seller or an old person who didn’t know what their home was really worth.

  Although ambitious, John did have some morals. He did not take advantage of old people, even though from time to time opportunities came up. In one instance he had to advise an old woman, who could not manage any more and was about to go into a nursing home. Her husband had died some years earlier and she didn’t have any close relatives. Having lived by herself for the last 10 years she was slipping both physically and mentally. John felt sorry for her and made sure she got a good price at auction.

  However, in another instance a home came up for sale, where the owner had bought a new home before he had sold his old home. He was now in deep financial trouble. To end up like this he had taken out bridging finance for the full value of his new home, plus he still had a mortgage on his old home. The market had turned due to interest rate rises and he was unable to sell his old home. What was even worse was the “new home” was actually a period home that needed renovating.

  John felt no sympathy for this guy. He had been greedy and disobeyed a golden rule of real estate; never buy before you have sold. John knew of only one customer who had got away with this. It was a Jewish guy who had bought his new home before he sold his old one, but that was during a booming market. In 99% of cases safety is the best policy and the rule is, always sell before you buy.

  John had the guy with bridging finance at his mercy and was able to buy the second home from him at a very discounted price. The guy was forced to go back and live in his old home. John then set about renovating the home. Having been built in 1900 it was a federation home with a large veranda, intricate woodwork and decorative lead light windows. Inside it
had high patterned ceilings with roses around the lights. It had timber archways and fireplaces in the lounge room and main bedroom. Over the years some features had been taken away and the beautiful kauri pine timber floors had been covered with a tacky carpet.

  Audry had convinced her father to lend them money towards buying the house. Her father George had visited the house the day after they bought it. His first comment was,

  “Why did you buy an old dump like this? It doesn’t have an en-suite off the main bedroom and why would you need a fireplace in the bedroom? I thought you were a real estate agent and knew what you were doing Jonno.”

  John tried to explain to him that it was a character home and that was the style when it was built. He also tried to explain that when renovated there was a big market for this type of home. However George was having none of it.

  “These places should be pulled down. They are past their use by date,” ranted George.

  This made John’s blood boil. George had no respect for Australian heritage. He managed to keep his cool but countered with,