The shower room

As Alicia meekly walked down the hall behind her new boss, she could not help wondering how many people were looking at her. Granted, there were not too many people in the corridor itself but it seemed like every office they passed had an open door and at least one person in that office -- more often five or six -- was watching the hallway specifically to see people like Alicia walk by.

Alicia blushed when she thought about this. When her husband was still alive, she had considered it daring enough to go to the beach in a conservative bikini, usually preferring to wear a modest one-piece swimsuit that was more often than not black so that she did not have to worry about her nipples showing if she got it wet. Now she was wearing far less than a bikini and everyone could see her. They could see her butt. They could see her breasts. They could see her pubes. They could see everything.

Worse yet, the air conditioning seemed to be making her nipples hard and she felt like she needed to go to the toilet.

Yet when she told her boss this, the woman just shrugged and pointed to a special open-air toilet that had been erected in the hall. Apparently it had been built especially for employees like her and yet it made her wince just to look at it.

"Really?" she asked her boss.

"Yes, really," said her boss.

She sat down and tried to do her business, only to suddenly find that she did not need to go, after all. But if that was really the case, then why had her groin felt so damp?

Then she realized why it had felt that way and she blushed again. Surely she was not one of those women. The type who like to get naked.

"Don't worry," said her boss. "You'll get used to it. You'll get very used to it. I can already tell by your body language that you like your current condition far more than you'll ever admit. But that's okay. As long as you do your work, you're welcome to believe whatever you want to believe."

Then her boss gestured for her to get up and enter a room three doors down the hall. Inside was a dressing area -- which, of course, was of no use to Alicia -- and at the far end, a group shower area that reminded her of the showers she used to take after gym class in high school. Her boss handed her a bottle of shampoo, an unwrapped bar of soap and a small portable razor.

"I need you to take a shower before you start work," she said.

"But I already took a shower at home," said Alicia.

"So now you have the chance to take another one," said her boss. "Anyway, this is not a request. I need you to scrub yourself all over and then wash your hair. I also need you to shave everything below your belly-button."

"Everything?" Alicia asked.

"Yes, everything," said her boss. "Are you going to need assistance with that last part?"

"No, I--I can do it," said Alicia.

"Good," said her boss, glancing at her watch. "We're running behind, so I would appreciate it if you get all that done as soon as possible. Any questions?"

Alicia just lowered her head and thanked God that there seemed to be no one else in the shower room save her and her boss.

Then she said to her boss, "No, ma'am. I have no questions."

Of course the minute she said that, the boss made it quite obvious that she was going nowhere until after Alicia was done with her shower.

Alicia just sighed and started unwrapping the soap.