flaunting the perfect body

From now until 7:45 (when the maintenance crew showed up) was special. There was no sound except the creaking of the building’s metal and glass shell as it expanded in the rays of the sun, the only time of day this phenomenon could be heard. The Mailgirls, normally gregarious, were quiet during this time. One of the rare comments made was by Ngo-kwang. She was not the religious type, but said that the vast, quiet interior space, with the complex and beautiful architecture, reminded her of a cathedral.

Quiet time ended with the echoing thunk of the front door being unlocked. It was Mr. Ganbaatar, an old Mongolian man who was the chief custodian, and his young assistant Jin. Jin, as usual, got as many glances at the naked girls as he could before following into the custodians’ office, which was pretty big. During the height of the business day there were 21 custodians tending to the 26 floors, which contained 814 Hsa officers and staff, working from 536 offices and 14 conference rooms.

To the girls’ surprise the next person to enter through the big glass front doors was Mr. Slice Reality, the artist they had been posing for, probably in the service of creating Mailgirl publicity materials. It was a surprise because he hadn’t been seen in a couple of months. Also he never used to show up this early.

“How are you, ladies?” he said in his north-of-England scouse. Normally they weren’t allowed to converse with this man, but having been addressed, Tami decided it was ok to answer. “Fine, Mr. -- Reality. We haven’t seen you in a while.”

He shrugged good-naturedly. “That’s a long story. . . I’ve permission to sketch each of you today, stretching and athletic poses. Who will be first?”

“Tami, you’ve got the best body!” Huiqing said.

“Yes, you’re the obvious first choice!” Yingtai said.

Tami shook her head. They knew that she did not like to pose. Why, was a mystery. She was very good at it, when it was forced to be her turn. She could stay motionless for a long time.

Instead Xifeng stepped forward to the front of the platform, as Mr. Reality got out his easel. He had her stretch her arms up and out, separate her legs so that she was a big ‘X’, and look skyward. As the first staff came in and made their way to their offices, one could see her little smile. She knew how beautiful and perfectly toned her body was, breasts riding high on her chest, narrow waist, concave tummy, tight butt, lightly muscled legs, and she loved to show it off, especially to the women who had to pass in front of her and could only dream of possessing such perfection.