“Oh so much easier!” Laura practically sighed with relief, admitting to herself that this was the part of the who arrangement that she had really been dreading. Even without the washing up which they had been told not to worry about, there was still going to be a lot of cleaning up to do and she had not relished the idea of either doing that once everyone went home, which was probably going to be not too far off midnight in the end, or getting up a six the following morning to come do it then. Certainly several of the guests would have helped if she had decided to get it done on the night but it would still have been quite the anticlimax to a fun day of games, feasting and general celebration!

“That’s so cool!” Samantha gushed. “You can take camp beds and blankets and stuff and have a massive Christmas sleep-over! You’d be up for that, right?” she turned to her friends, both of whom enthusiastically agreed with their mouths full of delicious lasagne. “And if nobody has to drive home that night, everyone can just relax!”

“Well maybe not everyone will want to stay,” Laura reminded her, “but at least we can offer! I should get in touch with everyone and let them know. We’ve got a few blow-up mattresses and those fold-out camp beds in the shed and I’m sure we’ve got some sleeping bags in the loft but certainly not enough for everyone.”

“Don’t worry,” Josh assured her, seeing that his wife was starting to spiral into urgent organisation mode, kissing the top of her head like he often did with Samantha, “I’m sure most people will have something they can bring. Julie and Mike go camping all the time, remember? And Miranda’s girls both go to Brownie and Guide camp. Plus there’s a week and a half yet for people to make their arrangements!” Laura nodded, calming down a little bit as the children, who had all now finished eating, chatted animatedly about the idea of sleeping on the hall floor and sneaking a midnight feast of Samantha meat, with Samantha engaging just as enthusiastically as the others, feeling every bit as much a part of of the fun plans even if her only active role would be as the party food!

“Everyone done with these?” Laura asked, starting to gather up the plates.

“Yes thank you, Mrs… Laura.” Amanda smiled sweetly and Rob nodded his agreement. After dinner, Josh agreed to see to the washing up so Laura could get on with letting people know about the new plans while the children nestled on the sofa under a big blanket to watch a Christmas movie.

Later that evening, after Samantha was in bed and Josh had driven the siblings back to the care home, he and Laura sat on the sofa with a fresh bottle of red wine and spent several hours discussing the future, sharing and idea that they both seemed to have had independently and concluding that it was the right things to do, both morally and for their own sakes. Thinking it best not to make any sort of formal offer or announcement before things were a little more formalised, Laura promised to start the process the next day. Both feeling a distinct warmth in their souls which was not just down to the wine, they headed up to bed with a renewed feeling of excitement, not just for Christmas itself but for what would come after.

On Thursday, Samantha’s class had their swimming lesson in the school pool and, while she changed into her swimsuit in the communal locker room, it was the first time most of the other girls in the class had seen her meat stamp. Samantha had not been quiet about her Christmas plans, of course, but seeing it there, proudly branded onto her cute backside, caused quite a stir among her classmates. Although the suit she wore for swimming class at school covered a bit more than the one she had worn to the fun pool, any potential sexiness rather conclusively nullified by the swimming had and goggles also required by the school, some of the circular marking still poked out around the edge of her suit and did not go unnoticed by the boys when the two groups entered the pool area.

The sight of Samantha’s meat-stamp, with everyone trying to sneak a look at it or discussing it in hushed whispers when they were supposed to be concentrating on instructions, caused so much disruption to the class that after twenty minutes of unsuccessfully trying to refocus her pupils, the teacher, Miss Cole, asked if Samantha would be willing to stand on the side of the pool and let everyone have a good look. Of course Samantha was more than happy to do this, climbing out of the water before proudly hitching up the side of her costume to give a clear view of the stamp that identified her as Grade A meat! Miss Cole then announced that there would be a fifteen minute break in the class during which the others could ask Samantha any questions they had.

Knowing almost as much about Samantha’s stamp as Samantha did herself, Amelia put up her hand and asked to be allowed to go to the toilet, a request the teacher granted with only a slight eye-roll, reasoning that the fact she had asked to go rather than just relieving herself in the pool like most of her classmates would should be considered a win. Giggling to herself as the rest of the class began to bombard Samantha with their questions, both about the stamp and her cooking itself, Amelia slipped into the changing room and sneaked her phone, which was supposed to be kept switched off during lesson time, out of her bag. She thought for a moment about going into one of the toilet cubicles anyway but decided she was not likely to be disturbed, with no other classes due which hers was in the pool and none of her classmates likely to want to miss what was sure to become one of the most talked-about incidents of the whole term. Besides, the toilets were so cramped!

Quickly, knowing that she had a finite amount of time before she would be expected back, Amelia pulled off her swimming cap and fluffed out her hair with her fingers then tugged her wet, clammy swimsuit off her shoulders and pulled it down, leaving her standing naked over a small, wet heap on the floor. At first she took selfies on her phone, trying to hold it at an angle that would capture as much of her lovely young body as possible, but then she remembered the automated function and set it up on top of her bag on the bench, instructing it to take fifty pictures at two second intervals which would give her enough time to change her pose between each one. Once she was satisfied, she scooped up her suit and hat and took them into the toilet cubical to put back on, meaning that if anyone did come looking for her, she would be where they expected to find her and she would be able to truly “sell” her deception by flushing the toilet as she left.

Sat at his desk at work, Josh felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Thinking it might be Laura asking him to pick something up from the shops on his way home or to help her choose between a number of options for something for the party, he opened the message and instantly blushed a deep scarlet, killing his phone screen quickly and hoping that nobody around him had noticed what was on it.

“You okay?” Aaron asked him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

“No, no!” Josh replied, trying not to sound flustered. “All good!”

“Nothing wrong, is there?” His friend persisted. “Not bad news I hope?”

“No,” Josh smiled, steadying his breathing, “just something I have to deal with. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay? If anyone asks, just say I needed something from my car!”

“Whatever you say, Chief!” Aaron laughed, realising that he had got all the information out of his friend that he was going to get. Trying not to look too much like he was in a hurry, Josh walked briskly down the corridor and out the door to his car. Once safely locked inside and confident that nobody within the building would be able to see, he opened his phone again and slowly scrolled through the photos that Amelia had sent him, fifteen in total, a mix of selfies and shots taken from a distance but all clearly calculated to show off her lovely, naked young body. He remembered what Laura had explained to him when he had been worried about taking the pictures of Samantha for the invitations but felt trying to justify these as “advertising her meat”, while there was no doubt that they did that, would be a bit of a stretch! On the other hand, he did not want to delete them, not before getting to take a proper look through them in his own time at least, so decided to show them to his wife when he got home and, with her permission, transfer them onto the same encrypted memory stick where he liked to save banking and other sensitive documents. After the photos was a simple message:

“Like what you see? Can’t wait for tomorrow! XOX”

Chuckling to himself, Josh messaged back. “Me too, but you’re supposed to be in class! Anyway, thank you! Very artistic! xxx” He decided the messaged conveyed the right amount of friendly humour but also showed that he was behaving like a responsible adult if anyone should check.

“Took you long enough to reply! Your hands busy?” Came Amelia’s reply, before quickly being followed by another. “GTG. See you Friday!” with a close-up photo of her, now wearing a swimsuit and apparently in some kind of booth, blowing a kiss. Chuckling, Josh scrolled through the photos once more than slipped the phone into his pocket and went back inside.

By the time Amelia rejoined her class, Samantha was sitting on the edge of the pool with her feet in the water, answering the last of their questions which seemed to be about what had happened at the butcher’s when she actually got the stamp.

“Is everyone feeling suitably educated now?” Miss Cole sighed as Amelia climbed back down the metal steps into the pool. “Good,” she managed to smile when everyone confirmed that they had got their curiosity out of their systems. “Well, thank you for being so open with us all, Samantha, but perhaps we can get on with the lesson now?”


To be continued...