Live Mannequins

LIVE MANNEQUINS

When my husband and I were in graduate school we struggled financially to make ends meet. With tuition bills, and high college-town rents we existed on Dave's half-time teaching assistantship and my finding part-time gigs here and there that worked around my heavier load of first year required classes. In October lots of retail jobs were being advertised to staff-up for the ever-earlier Christmas season shopping rush.

One that caught my eye was clerking at a local lingerie shop, Val's, in the older of the two malls in town. It was like an upscale Victoria's Secret, owned by a local couple who were also the on-site managers, she working out-front, and he mostly in the back office. Their job posting stated "flexible hours," clearly appealing to students like me, and the pay was above minimum wage, and included a small commission for what you sold. I hoped working at a true "mom and pop" business would be more accommodating to my class schedule and hopefully less stressful than a rigid national corporate structure.

Dave had recently bought me a lovely bra and panty set for my birthday gift from Val's, so the place intrigued me. I enjoyed their sexy, yet classy underwear, so I thought I would be a good ambassador for their products, and maybe they'd include an employees' discount as an added incentive to attract clerks.

When I showed Dave the job posting, he didn't have near the level of enthusiasm I expected him to have. He loves to see me in racy undies, including the stuff he bought for me at Val's, so I thought he'd be excited that I'd be selling the stuff and maybe bringing home some employee bargains.

"You don't seem too sold on the idea of me working there, what gives?" I pointedly asked him.

He hemmed and hawed for a few seconds before cautiously warning me, "Rumors I hear from some guys I know is that if you tip their clerks, they'll privately model things for men before they decide to buy them for their wives or girlfriends."

"Is that why you bought my birthday present there, so you could scope out one of the cute clerks wearing it first?" I teased feigning indignant offense, while trying not to laugh out loud. I couldn't tell if he was worried about me being potentially exploited, or if he was being a little possessive of me maybe showing off for other men in sexy underwear. I guess those two feelings weren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

"No, I'd never do that," he replied far too quickly and vehemently to convince me he was totally guiltless. So, to get off the spot, he turned it back on me, asking, "So, if you go to work there would you model bras and things for men customers?"

"That depends. Just how much did you tip the clerk?" I shot back with a snarky smile.

"I told you I didn't. It was just a rumor I heard." It seemed as if he was protesting a bit too much.

"I think the rumors you heard are wishful thinking from a bunch of horny men hoping it was true," I shot back.

"Well, if you apply there just remember, I warned you." With that we both let the subject drop.

I did go ahead and apply, and I got an interview several days later with Nick and Val, the owners. She had grown up not far from my hometown in the northeast corner of the state, which gained me instant bonus points with her.

Nick really focused on my availability during the four or five weeks right before Christmas. He pointed out that many of students they had previously hired went home over the University's long holiday break, which started mid-December when the store needed them most. I pointed out that I was a graduate student, older than most, married, and our hometown was right here now. That nailed the job for me, and I started two days later covering two weeknights, Saturdays, and every other Sunday afternoon. I could get 18-20 hours a week in, and they offered to work with me on any schedule changes I might need.

Most evening shifts had two clerks on duty, weekends had three, so I quickly met my four salesclerk colleagues who were all students too; and I liked them immediately. Each of them spoke highly of Val and Nick and attested to their willingness to adjust everyone's work hours to meet employees' needs. They assured me they also worked among themselves to juggle schedules to assure coverage. Ashley had been there the longest and was married and closer to my age, and we hit it off right away. Debi, Judy and Laura were younger, and single. I had good bosses, good co-workers, and decent pay; this was going to be a great job and help our struggling budget a lot.

While Val had a cadre of loyal, regular customers who vowed they'd never by a bra anywhere else, the Victoria's Secret in the new mall downtown was clearly brisk competition. This was especially true among students, younger University staff, and others with tighter budgets. Val's stocked high-quality lingerie in styles ranging from scanty and sexy to classic and elegant. My employee discount brought things closer to my price range.

With increasing on-line alternatives, I could tell Nick was counting on stellar Christmas season sales to save their bottom line for the year. He was always looking for ways to get ahead of the competition, especially among the younger people. He had enlarged the dressing rooms a few Valentines Days ago so women could "invite" their significant others inside to watch them model prospective gifts being offered. It was a great marketing tool directly appealing to young men but used by those of all ages when luring their wives and girlfriends to come with them to Val's instead "Vicky's."

By early November, I'd gotten to be good friends with Ashley; and Dave and I socialized with her and her husband, Scott. Neither of them ever mentioned clerks trying on selections for men to preview before buying, despite the rumors Dave had conveyed.

By this time Nick and Val were reassessing their prior orders for the Christmas season's inventory and planning their marketing strategies. We clerks could read the stress weighing on them to assure they'd have the most popular items and in the right quantities.

On the Saturday before Thanksgiving, they asked the whole staff to come in early for a strategy session for the holiday sales plan. I wasn't sure how much wisdom I could add, being a social work and not a marketing major, but I sure wanted to help Nick and Val in any way I could, and I was sure my fellow clerks felt the same way. They certainly treated us like family, with Nick even escorting us to our cars after our night shifts ended.

Nick started out the meeting trying to be upbeat about some of the extra PR efforts the mall management was going to make, including newspaper, radio, and even some regional TV ads. The mall owners were even ready to emulate "gimmicky" things done in bigger city malls to build interest and enthusiasm among shoppers. They were planning to hire people to be dressed- and made-up as statues of carolers from bygone years, then every 15-20 minutes they'd spring to life and serenade shoppers with traditional Christmas songs.

Another crew of human statues would be dressed as nutcrackers, Santa, and elves near the main entry. They too would come to life on schedule and sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to welcome shoppers entering the mall.

At that point Val took over, telling us that on the Thursday a full week ahead of Christmas, the mall was having a special "Men's Night" to encourage and assist those procrastinating husbands, dads, and boyfriends in buying presents for their loved ones and friends. They'd have eggnog, champagne, and snacks available in the atrium, and most stores were planning to bring in their full crews to provide "personal shoppers" to guide, encourage, and cajole the men to make informed and hopefully enhanced purchases.

"Think about it, a night of all men in the mall should be a gold mine of opportunity for a lingerie shop," Val ventured, "if we do it right. Nick and I had a far-out, if not a little bit risqué idea, but we'll need your help, and I know we'll be asking a lot from each of you."

"Oh, Val, we'll do whatever we can to help you and Nick; you know that!" Ashley, the most tenured clerk replied expressing all the sincerity the rest of us also felt.

Nick stood and raised his hands and softly told us, "We appreciate your support and loyalty, but don't commit to anything until you hear exactly what we have in mind."

Val went on asking, "Remember what Nick said about the human statues they're planning to have out in the mall?" We all acknowledged that and agreed it was a clever idea.

"Well, were thinking about piggybacking on that theme and replacing some of the plaster mannequins in our front window with 'live mannequins,' like the mall statues, but instead of wearing carolers outfits, they'd be modeling our top selling lingerie ensembles," she explained sheepishly.

"Let me guess," I interjected with a grin, as I displayed my firm grasp of the obvious, "you'd like us to be those live mannequins?"

"I know that's asking a lot," Nick sighed pleadingly, "but it's just for one night and we'll be offering bonus pay."

Considering the size and gender of our potential audience, my first thought was he should have called it "combat pay." But I was liking the idea of some extra money no matter what he called it. Maybe Dave's rumors about the clerks modeling stuff for would-be customers wasn't so off base as I'd first thought. Another job I considered applying for was to be a nude model at the art school, so appearing in lingerie didn't seem all that risqué by comparison.

Ashley leaned toward me and whispered in my ear, "Scott won't like me doing this one bit, but I sure don't want to let Val down."

"I can't tell you how many times I've had that dream about being naked in some group or other," Laura giggled, and they were anything but nightmares, if I'm honest."

"You're all too young to remember," Val interjected, "but in the 1960s Maidenform had a bunch of ads with women wearing their bras with captions like, 'I dreamed I went to work in my Maidenform bra.' A picture of a woman sitting on her office desk in her bra was a pretty racy for the time, but it piqued my interest in the lingerie business. Somehow, those ads made me think of doing the live statues for Men's Night."

"I think I've seen old magazines with those ads, and I have to admit I've had my own fantasies about unexpected places to be in my bra, and out of it too," Judy added with a smirk.

I figured this was a good time to get an idea about the culture of my sales cohorts and asked her, "Dave told me clerks here modeled thing for their customers; is there any truth to that?"

"I've never done that, but I can't speak for others," Ashley whispered.

Debi looked a little uncomfortable, if not outright guilty, and cautiously said, "I'm not sure when it started, probably when Nick enlarged the dressing rooms, but it became a word-of-mouth rumor shared among guys coming in. It wasn't Nick and Val's idea, but if guys asked, it was up to each of us whether we'd give them a peek into the changing room. The tips were pretty good, so there was some incentive, beyond just the commissions."

That stopped the discussion and gave us time to think about Val's proposal. Ashley asked, "What styles do you have in mind? If they're no more revealing than the swimsuits I'd wear to the beach, I could probably be OK with that." No one else took issue with her modestly qualified agreement, and neither did I.

"We've ordered five bra and panty sets that we hope will be big sellers; two are red to keep with the Christmas theme, and one each in black, white and beige; and to be honest a couple of them are probably a little more revealing than what you all might wear at the beach," Nick conceded apologetically.

I knew someone needed to lighten things up and get Nick off the spot, so I confessed, "Well, Dave and I love to go to nude beaches any time we can, so I guess Nick and Val's selections will give us a lot more coverage than what I've been wearing to my beaches."

Everyone, including Ashley laughed heartily and any qualms about modeling the store's "finest" evaporated. Nick looked incredibly relieved and grateful. It was obvious the success of our Christmas sales was life or death for their business, and for our jobs too, so the five of us were committed not to let them down.

Val stepped in and asked, "Everyone has kind of weighed in, but are you sure you're OK being live mannequins?

"You and Nick have been great to us, Debi announced with eager sincerity. You could have cut our pay and perks with times getting tougher, but you didn't, so I'm in." The other three and I echoed our agreement, with Laura asking, "How do we do it, I mean what does a live mannequin need to know and do?"

"I've been doing a little research on this," Nick said. How many of you have seen live statues at malls or theme parks?" he asked. Everyone claimed they had.

"It just takes a little practice to learn to hold a pose for increasingly longer periods and how to make slow and gradual moves, so you don't get cramps. We'll only have two or three of you at a time in the window, so you'll get breaks as you need them. The others will be personal shoppers encouraging guys who can't seem to make a selection.

"In our bras and panties?" asked Judy almost sounding hopeful.

"If it works for you, yes, you'll be the best advertising we could hope for; or you can put on one of our holiday robes," Val added sounding hopeful we'd be adventuresome.

Nick went on, "As a mannequin you can subtly make eye-contact with guys showing interest in you and give a subtle wink or smile. That ought to bring them inside. You'll want to overdo the makeup and hair a bit to add to the mannequin illusion and make a compelling appearance. And most of all you need to feel positive and have fun. If you're comfortable and at ease, so will the customers."

"As they say, seeing's believing," Val added, "so trust me, when the guys at 'Men's Night' see these things on you lovely women they'll want to see their wives and sweethearts in them too."

"And we'll double the commission rate that night too, so you'll get an extra reward for your extra-special sales efforts," Nick offered. "Any questions?"

No one now showed any reluctance to a bit of performing for the good of the cause, and soon it was time to open the store for the day, with Ashley, Laura and me on duty. In a week the holiday retail season would be underway with each of us asked to consider ideas to help ensure success.

That morning, I suggested Nick put a conspicuous sign above the enlarged dressing rooms publicly reminding customers of the store's policy that began those several Valentine's Days ago: "Gentlemen Allowed in Dressing Rooms by Invitation Only." That previously unwritten rule was conveyed through the rumors repeated by customers or clerks' subtle suggestions. It had brought a major spike in sales, but usually only for the four or five days prior to February 14th, and maybe a day or two after. The upcoming higher mall traffic would bring in many more couples shopping together who hopefully would be susceptible to our spectator-friendly dressing rooms.

That incentive and the multi-media ads brought increased sales beginning with an exceptional "Black Friday" weekend rush. My salesclerk colleagues and I were putting in some overtime hours and accumulating increased commissions too. Val and Nick were around more and feeling more upbeat about their financial prospects. Nearly all the inventory arrived on time, and well before Men's Night.

The whole crew met at 9:00 in the morning of the men's event to go over final plans and receive one of the five special outfits that as a "statue" we would wear.

Nick thought starting with three live mannequins in the window with two plaster ones would get early attention for the store, with the other two clerks handling customers as they responded to the statues' magnetic sales appeal. Then as more men came inside, one of those in the widow would come in to help with sales too. When any of the live mannequins would need a break, we'd rotate in to relieve them. Val talked again about hair and makeup, then it was time to distribute to bras and panties. We didn't want to squabble about who got which set, so we trusted Nick and Val to assign them, knowing our sizes and personalities.

Debi and Laura received the red holiday themed sets. Debi's was lacy, not quite see-through, but with demi-cups cut low enough to give her chest a lot of exposure.

Laura's bra was more sheer and form-fitting to flatter her smaller but firm and shapely breasts, and while the panties weren't technically a thong, they did give her butt cheeks a lot of exposure too. She was 22 years old with trim athletic body that was sure to have special appeal to every young man in our gallery.

Judy, the most buxom of us had the black set which was cut low enough to show maximum cleavage while barely keeping her nipples covered. This bra was perfect to show off her more voluptuous figure, and the V-cut panties drew attention to her lower charms.

The beige outfit went to Ashley. It had bikini panties that covered everything, as did the B-cup bra. Its appeal was the rich quality of the material and delicacy of the lace. Nick must have remembered her caveat about showing no more skin than she would at the beach. She must have been relieved, given her concern over what Scott would think.

That left me the white set, which was more sheer than any of the others, the seamless bra did nothing to hide the shape and shadow of my nipples, and while a double fabric panel in front of the panties hid my bush, the cleft and curves of my shapely butt were abundantly visible from behind. I think my glib remark about going to nude beaches came back to test my resolve. But I did love the outfit and would likely buy it later with my employee's discount. There was something overwhelmingly seductive about the prospect of modeling it for our spectators.

Men's Night started at 5:00, so Debi and Laura started their tour of duty at 10:00 a. m. and planned to work until closing time at 9:00. Ashley, Judy and I would come back in at 4:30 and stay until whenever we ran out of customers or inventory. Laura, Ashley, and I would be the first live mannequins to get the male audience enthused with two of us wearing the sheerest bras being featured.

When I later returned at the mall, I came in the main entry and was impressed with the would-be statues frozen in theme costumes probably waiting until 5:00 to come alive for the arriving horde of men. I hoped I'd be able to imitate their unmoving, inanimate facades. I also passed the lifeless carolers waiting in the central atrium. I honestly think I was more intimidated with the challenge of emulating a lifeless mannequin than being exposed to countless men while wearing only my scanty diaphanous underwear. After all, being ogled and appreciated by so any men could only boost my persistent fragile self-image.

Reaching Val's I found Debi and Laura had already changed into their lingerie and covered up with a couple of the Christmas robes we were featuring. I ducked into a changing room with a robe to get myself ready for the first shift in the window as soon as Ashley and Judy arrived.

At about ten minutes to 5:00 our first shift was ready to climb into the display window. We'd peeled off our robes and left them close-by for when we returned to clerk duty. Most of the daytime shoppers had left and the evening's male guests-of-honor were now trickling in. So, our dimly lit and half-empty display window had not yet attracted a lot of attention.

With the three of us now assuming positions among the two real mannequins, Nick turned up the lighting. Within no more than ten minutes we were drawing a sizeable crowd of curious men.

Being male, their eyes were naturally drawn to shapely female mannequins in sexy lingerie. On second glance, they were stunned to see our truly statuesque and human bodies on display, and immediately found us to be infinitely more inviting than our plaster sisters. It seemed like Val and Nick had hit a home run with the live mannequin idea. Why would we be surprised, men were getting a socially acceptable way to see consensual women showing them what was usually reserved for their husbands and lovers.

The sheer bras Laura and I were wearing caught the attention of many men who jockeyed for position at the front of the window to assure themselves we were indeed real women and to get a close-up look at some thinly-veiled and now very protruding nipples. It took at least a half hour for all those gathering to take their turn at the head of the pack; there were going to be a lot of "nose prints" left on the glass tonight. As the crowd grew, more men went inside the store to see our minimally covered backsides and were met by the very personable personal-shoppers.

Val soon needed more sales help and pulled Laura out of the window without leaving her enough time to find her robe. Being in just her sheer bra and panties, she was immediately surrounded by a surge of eager buyers, one even offering to buy the set right off her back. Nice try. As a single and unattached young woman, she seemed to revel in their unabashed arousing attention. Working in her scant attire would certainly be compensated with many generous commissions.

Ashley and I could see our large crowd outside continue to grow and getting anxious with unfulfilled anticipation. Val's was the place to be in this venue tonight. It was becoming all too clear to us that they expected we'd spring to life, like the other live statues in the mall and do something extraordinary to entertain them. Just breaking our poses to change places with our replacements wasn't going to cut it.

Since we were already wearing just our sexy lingerie, it wasn't too hard to guess what these already sensuously enticed men were hoping for. We'd never considered this expectation, so we were totally unprepared and unscripted. Ashley tried to speak to me like an aspiring ventriloquist, and asked, "What do we do now?"

I was surprisingly getting more than a little aroused by the size of our audience and their fixation on our bodies, when a wild and audacious idea came to me. So, I looked at the crowd again and didn't see any women or children. I didn't want someone's wife to take offense at my plan and sic the mall's "rent-a-cops" on us.

Trying not to move my lips, I told Ashley, "We need to come alive, and show them more of us or they'll feel let down and move on. Let's cross our ankles and pivot so our backs are to them. The 'butt lovers' will go crazy. Then we'll unhook our bras and slowly and seductively take them off, dangle them with one raised hand, and drop them on the floor. Some guys will go inside to get a better view, and those outside will think we're just teasing them with our backsides. Once we're topless for a few seconds, and the guys cheer for more, we'll pivot to face the crowd and give them what they've been waiting for. Then we'll grab our stuff and go into a dressing room, put them back on and start selling."

"You're right we've got to give them something more," Ashley agreed. "But Scott can't know about this. I think he'd be OK with the stuff I'm wearing, but showing my bare boobs is another story." That made me think about what Dave would think about my exposure too. Again, our nude beach experiences had me naked for more men than this to see, so he couldn't be too upset with me.

When unexpectedly sprang to life and pivoted, we got a thunderous round of applause. They only got louder when we provocatively unhooked our bras and slowly let the straps fall off our shoulders. Gravity took over and soon our breasts were exposed to those inside the store. We raised our arms and teasingly dangled the bras before dropping them.

As expected, some guys went inside to "shop" for a clearer view of our tits. To satisfy those still waiting in the mall, we turned a "180" again to give them a brief frontal view of our now completely bare breasts. More applause erupted, along with shrill wolf whistles, attracting more spectators.

Not wanting to get in any legal trouble, we quickly grabbed our things, and it was time for the second shift to assume mannequin duty. Debi and Judy came into the window to replace us. They appeared in awe from having seen our concluding act, while Ashley and I hurried to help Laura who was now overwhelmed with customers. We didn't even take time to look for our robes.

Our performance had earned us no less than "rock star" status, and I half expected the enthralled men to ask us to autograph their ball caps or tee-shirts, if not their purchases. It took some time to wend our way through the packed aisles to find an open changing room to re-dress. The guys were certainly savoring the up-close and personal contact with two still topless women.

Men seemed to gravitate to the clerk wearing the outfit they wanted to buy, until some of the more enterprising customers started asking us to model a different set for them. Then they'd point to the sign above the dressing rooms about men being invited in to observe. For our safety, Nick had already thought of this issue and told us, "No men in the dressing rooms with you tonight."

When I was first approached to model a different ensemble, the guy did ask if he could come in and watch. I told him the store policy, adding with a smile, "But, if you're really serious about buying, I could probably let you sneak a peek." Since Dave and I have been married, I've left a gap in dressing room curtains many times to give him and any nearby anonymous men an impromptu show while changing outfits. My offer to customers tonight didn't seem to be any more salacious than that, and I'd get commissions to boot.

Not surprisingly, my prospective buyer picked out fairly skimpy strapless bra and a matching thong. When I first went into the dressing room I planned to put on the new outfit and open the curtain to give him a quick peek. But instead, I left the curtain open about five or six inches so he could watch me change. My own playful mood and level of arousal led me to doing a spirited pirouette while nude between changing outfits. When I emerged, he decided he wanted the set I'd worn in the window, with the alternative set being just a ruse to hopefully see me naked again, and up-close. The $20 tip was a nice token of his appreciation.

The other clerks were also figuring out how to make the night a financial success for Val and Nick and for each of them as well. We planned to do four live mannequin sets over four hours, to keep attracting new foot traffic moving through the mall. The second set ended with Debi and Judy also coming to life and losing their bras. They maintained the crowd's interest and enthusiasm.

About 7:00, Ashley, Laura, and I were on for our second act performance. Laura told us she didn't want to miss out on our fun and planned to stay with us to the end this time. We assumed our statue-like positions and held them for maybe twenty minutes when again the crowd's hunger for more became a clarion call for us to act. Waves of men were jostling each other as they jockeyed for positions closest to the window in anticipation of now seeing three women strip for them.

After 10-15 minutes, I gave a nod to my colleagues, and we turned away from the crowd and took off our bras. I visualized the crowd standing spellbound as they saw the three of us in just our sexy panties, holding out our bras, while looking enticingly over our shoulders. I knew this image could be a Clio award-winning ad photo for Val's. We had our gallery captivated, so when we pivoted back to show the audience bare tits, the thunderous applause was accented with cries for "more."

We turned our backs to them appearing to be ready to leave the window. Then the three of us all had the same idea at the very same moment, and we proceeded to slide our panties to our ankles and step out of them displaying our bare bottoms to the audible delight of our now devoted admirers.

"Do we go for the gold?" I challenged Ashley and Laura. They were as over-stimulated from our performance as I was, so I counted three and we each turned to the window now completely naked.

Facing the crowd, Ashley and I were astounded to find ourselves looking directly into the eyes of our husbands who had elbowed themselves to the front of the mob. I thought Ashley was going to faint or be sick. She was absolutely mortified to be caught by her husband while at least a hundred men ogled her bare body with awe and infatuation. While we hadn't actually been naked or even half-naked for these men for more than maybe ten seconds, for some husbands that could be enough to feel their wife had betrayed them.

Unfortunately, Ashley had hung her head with embarrassment and hadn't taken time to recognize the smiles of amazement and affirmation on both Scott and Dave's faces. I immediately escorted her and Laura out of the window finding our robes this time. Laura went to help customers while Ashley and I were met by our husbands. I was relieved no end when Dave gave me a warm, approving embrace, and Scott did the same with Laura.

"That was amazing," Dave told me, and Scott told Ashley how surprised and impressed he was with her newfound courage and seductiveness. That was enough to convince us we could finish our night for Val and Nick as we'd planned.

"You two go get a beer somewhere here, and we'll let you know where to meet up when we close, sometime after 9:00," Ashley said. "We've got a whole store full of customers to take care of."

Our live mannequin performances had turned the watchers into buyers, with our last set packing the store. Word-of-mouth among the men shopping encouraged more requests for all five of us to model other items with many lucrative curtain peeks thrown in. The 8:00 crowd for Debi and Judy was much smaller, so they cut it short to get back to making sales.

The last customers left at 10:00, with that final overtime hour adding significantly to the bottom line. We'd sold out almost all of the common sizes for all five featured sets. Nick would have to do some quick re-ordering. After closing the shop, we celebrated with champagne Nick had brought in anticipation of a successful night. We'd called Scott and Dave to join us, knowing both had clearly been impressed with our performances, and blown-away by the size of the crowd we attracted. No other store had drawn a crowd outside while waiting for room to shop inside.

It was biggest day of sales in the store's history, with over 140 sales totaling just over $10,000. My tips alone were $375. With commissions and wages, and Nick's bonus pay I made $620 for the what turned out to be a five-hour evening. Making $124 an hour wasn't too bad, and I assumed the other clerks did just as well.

Val stood and spoke to all of us, "Thank you five for literally saving our store tonight. You each went over and above anyone's expectations, and I'm sure over your own comfort zones for us. We won't forget each one of you, ever."

"We'll have the sales figures all done in the morning, so come in tomorrow afternoon and we'll have your checks ready, with a nice bonus included," Nick offered.

Scott looked at Ashley with admiring eyes and said, "Let's not let such an amazing night end yet," then turning to Dave and me he added, "Let's go get a drink and celebrate."

We found a quiet hotel bar not far from the mall, ordered our drinks, and Dave said to both me and Ashley, "The live mannequins were probably the best marketing scheme a lingerie shop could have come up with, and with the crowd you attracted it had to be a financial success. Who came up with the idea?"

"I think Val thought of it first, but Nick was all in on it too," I said confidently.

"Did any of you salesclerks have any second thoughts about being the mannequins?" Scott asked more out of curiosity than any criticism.

"My first thought was I'd only do it if the underwear didn't show more than what people would see at the beach," Ashley replied. "Some of the others were OK with the more revealing stuff," she added looking at me with a smile. "But we all wanted to do anything we could to help Val and Nick."

"When Dave and I got to the mall, we couldn't believe the size of the crowd in front of Val's, I mean the whole place was pretty busy, but nothing like number of guys you were attracting," he said with a big smile.

"It took us a few minutes to get close enough to realize it was you two and Laura in just your bras and panties and posed like mannequins," Dave added.

"OK," Scott asked trying not to sound judgmental, "Then what made you take the stuff off? Was that the plan all along?"

I knew Ashley was feeling vulnerable to Scott's inquiries, so I jumped in, "No, that was never in the script, but once we'd been out there standing in the window, we could see our audience clamoring for more. They were obviously expecting us to do like the mall's statues and come to life and give them a performance. Being real women and already half-naked, it wasn't hard to guess what they were wanting to see happen."

"I just have to ask, what persuaded you to strip in public for all those guys to see?" Scott asked looking straight at Ashley.

"I wanted to do whatever I could to help Val and Nick make it financially, and I knew our winning over the crowd would do it," she replied.

"Don't you think just being in your lingerie already won them over?" he said trying not to sound accusatory.

"It certainly drew a lot of spectators, but they weren't rushing in to buy until Joan and I took off our bras the first set and went to help clerk and our fans followed us in," Ashley shot back.

Again, I knew Scott was trying to get her to admit to getting some sexual thrill out of showing herself to the men gathered to watch us, and I wasn't sure what he honestly thought of that. Who knew what he'd think of her giving peeks into the dressing rooms, so I again spoke up for both of us.

"Scott, our thoughts and actions tonight were complicated for us too. We certainly wanted to help make money for Val and Nick since they've been so good to us, but we were going to make some good commissions, a bonus, and some tips too. And I have to tell you, when you have a hundred guys looking at you like you're the most sexy, beautiful woman in the world, you're not going to disappoint them. We got caught up in the runaway magic of the evening, that simple. It didn't take anything away from my marriage to Dave.

"But didn't getting naked for them challenge your sense of privacy or self-respect?" Scott asked, again trying his best not to judge us.

"Being seen and enjoyed by those guys gave us attention, validation, an ego-boost, self-worth, and empowerment we don't get every day. I haven't always had the best body self-image. Seeing them watching us with interest and enjoyment confirmed our desirability and buoyed our self-respect." I replied.

"Didn't you feel they were taking advantage of you?"

"Oh, Mark, there was something mystical about the shared excitement between us and our audience that created a special kind of psychological relationship between us. The need to be seen, admired, and desired is deeply human, but many women are too anxious to actually fulfill their dreams. It's nothing to be ashamed of if its consensual; it's a way to experience pleasure, confidence and self-expression," I added, trying not to sound all philosophical. "Tonight, we all found the courage to live out our fantasies."

Dave chimed in with an "aha" revelation, "I get it! If I think of myself as just one of the spectators tonight, I'd have to admit I admired Joan's gutsy performance and lusted over her body. So, why as a husband wouldn't I feel the same way, or even more, knowing proudly that she's my wife?"

Both Ashley and I were touched with Dave's honest self-assessment of how he dealt with our unexpected behavior tonight. "Thank you for understanding," was all I could say to him.

"I get it too," Mark told Ashley as he gave her a heartfelt caring hug. It was time to go home.