STOCKINGS AND LADDERS

Danni didn’t know whether to be upset or angry about the remark made by Karl, the oddly eccentric old man who was a regular visitor to the small library where she worked. She should have been used to his lewd comments and the uneasy knowledge of how he secretly ogled her as she went about her duties between the shelves, but there was the ring of truth about what he’d said that disturbed Danni. It was a strange feeling almost like a premonition, as if she’d just started a new chapter in her life.

“Do you really think so?” Danni replied, trying to remain calm and indifferent to Karl’s question.

“Yes…that’s what I think…” Karl said, his voice still thick with the inflections of a European accent in spite of his declarations of having spoken English for years. “It’s why you don’t have a man…you always dress too conservatively…like an old maid…”

Danni shook her head at the thought. “I’m not an old maid…I’m…”

“How old are you, Danni? You are young! You should dress young!” Karl waved his arms gregariously.

“I’m only just thirty…” Danni lied, denying five years.

“And soon you’ll be forty…and then fifty…and before you know it, you’ll be an old maid…” Karl shrugged happily.

“Well…what do you suggest I do, Mr Expert!” Danni laughed, pausing for a moment before slipping off her shoes to climb to small ladder to a higher shelf.

“You should get rid of these to start with…” Karl said, gently catching her ankle and forcing her to stand precariously on one foot for a second.

“What?” Danni said, slightly alarmed at being touched by the old man.

“These…you should not wear these…they hide your feet!” he said, suddenly pinching the gossamer fabric at the toe of Danni’s pantihose.

“Karl!” she gasped, astonished that his talon-like fingernails had poked a hole into the sheer fabric, which rapidly laddered and peeled back away from her defensively clenched, dainty toes. “You’ve ruined them!”

“Sorry…I didn’t mean to do that,” Karl apologized without releasing his grip on Danni’s ankle. “I’ll buy you some new ones…”

“It doesn’t matter…” Danni quickly said, knowing she felt uneasy at the thought of the old man shopping for her underwear. She wriggled her toes, politely cursing the material which unravelled to her heel. Danni grumbled as he released his grip on her ankle, the torn pantihose catching on something on the ladder and trapping her foot between the top rungs of it.

‘Here…I think it’s stuck,” Karl said. He busied his hands as if trying to assist, but before Danni could stop him, the shredded fabric was well and truly hitched up on the step and was tearing up the inside of her leg.

“Oh no!” Danni moaned as she jerked her leg against the restriction. “Help me down, please Karl…”

“Careful…” he said, sounding concerned as he placed his hands on her hips for support as she hopped backwards down the ladder. “You really look in a bother there!” he chuckled as Danni balanced with one foot on the bottom rung and the other foot hitched up almost at waist height.

“It’s not funny, Karl!” Danni blushed, almost laughing herself at the embarrassing predicament she’d gotten into. “Help me!”

“I think you might have to take them off to get free,” Karl sounded seriously concerned, but Danni suspected he was thinking less honorable thoughts.

“I can’t do that!” Danni protested, twisting her leg frantically in an attempt to escape the thing that had snared her. She realized there was going to be no other way to free herself, but still she struggled desperately until it finally seemed pointless to try any more.

“It’s ok…there’s nobody else here…” Karl said, taking a moment to check around the end of the shelf.

“Typical!” Danni muttered to herself. Her assistant, Jennifer, had left for lunch only a short while earlier and there was no way to remain balanced on one leg until she returned. “Ok Karl…can you do me a favor and go close the front doors?”

“Yes…ok…” Karl said, shuffling quickly away to do as he was asked.

Danni tried jerking her leg clear one last time, listening as Karl closed and locked the front door of the library before she hopped back up the ladder. She realized that she should have taken the opportunity of his brief absence to remove her pantihose and was still struggling with her hands up under her skirt when he returned. “Karl!” she squealed with embarrassment when he caught her struggling immodestly with her pantihose half way down her thighs.

“Let me help you,” he said, rushing to grab hold of the fabric which had curled into a tight roll just above her knees.

“No! It’s ok, Karl…I can manage!” Danni grumbled helplessly as the old man wrestled the pantihose down past her knees. It wasn’t just that he was interferring. Danni could see that her flimsy lace panties had become entangled in the seat of her pantihose, the cool draft of the conditioned air in the library make her acutely aware she was naked under her skirt, but she dared not mention it to Karl and could only watch nervously as the old man stripped her to her ankles.

“Can you get this foot out now?” Karl asked, helping the blushing librarian to step out of her pantihose.

“I can manage now, thanks Karl…” Danni said, unable to climb back down the ladder until Karl finished unhitching the bundle of her underwear from the loose screw that had caused all the trouble.

“There!” he said, finally tearing the fabric free of the ladder. “I’ll buy you some new ones, ” he said, turning on his heel and walking briskly away.

“No Karl!” Danni called after him, unable to convince him it wasn’t necessary. She clambered down the ladder so quickly that the front of her dress got caught on exactly the same screw that had snared her pantihose, leaving her standing on the floor with the front of her skirt hooked up at waist height. “Oh God!” Danni cursed, exasperated and terrified that Karl might change his mind and return to catch her baring her nakedness. Desperately, she fumbled with the hem of her skirt which was stuck fast on the screw. The weight of her body pulling against the skirt made it impossible to free the skirt without damaging it and climbing the ladder again made reaching the screw difficult if not impossible. Danni stopped for a moment and listened attentatively for the sound of the library door opening and closing. Feeling confident that Karl had left the building, she stood on the tips of her toes and unbuckled her narrow leather belt, slipping it from around her waist and letting it drop to the floor. Her fingers trembled as they fidgeted with the buttons of her skirt, unbuttoning each until she was able to step free of it.

Danni studied the hole in her skirt and the silver head of the screw which had pierced it. Carefully, she gathered up the woollen skirt and picked at the tiny hole until it slipped free. Her relief was short lived. Danni’s heart nearly lept from her mouth when she turned to see Karl, his steely grey eyes glinting excitedly at the sight of her, completely naked from the waist down. Danni immediately pressed the bundle of her skirt defensively against her bushy blonde pubic mound and stood paralysed for a moment, her face and ears burning with embarrassment knowing that Karl hadn’t even left the building and had surely been standing behind her loving every second of the opportunity to ogle her fleshy, bare backside.

“I think I took these by mistake,” Karl smirked, handing back Danni’s whispy black panties.

“Um…thanks…” Danni blushed, snatching the panties from Karl and rushing past him to seek sanctury in the female rest-room. It was quite a long and humiliating sprint across the floor of the library, Danni certain that Karl would have been watching from bare behind wobble provocatively as she ran away from him. Once inside the rest-room, the trembling librarian closed the door and leaned on it, panting heavily while she caught her breath. She stood there for a long minute trying not to think about the embarrassing thing which had just happened. In a strange way, the anxiety she felt gave way to an unusually delightful thrill, a thrill which almost made her feint when she finally looked at the tiny triangles of her panties and realized Karl had torn the sides out of them, rendering them useless and forcing her consider the likelihood that he’d confront her later with the knowledge that she was completely naked beneath her skirt.

Danni stared absently at her reflection in the mirror of the bathroom wall. She’d never really thought of herself as being attractive in any sexual kind of way, but there was something definitely arousing about the sight of her bare shapely hips and thighs spilling out around the bundled ball of her skirt she was still clutching modestly. The thought that she had run half naked through the public library in full view of the strange old man made her feel profoundly embarrassed but at the same time, the freakish string of events were titilating in the most unexpected way.

“Are you ok in there?” Karls voice resonated through the wooden door against Danni’s back.

“Um…yes…” Danni mumbled, half expecting Karl to push his way into the bathroom. Her head was spinning with confusion. One part of her felt almost overcome with a desire to expose herself again in front of the old man to renew the delightful feeling of vulnerability which waned slightly after entering the bathroom. She stared at the crumpled bundle of her skirt and silently contemplated what might have happened if she’d run away from Karl without taking her skirt from the ladder. She wondered what he must have been thinking outside and knew he would have had a dream fulfilled by seeing her bare bottom and possibly even catching a glimpse of her pussy. Gradually, she crept away from the door, secretly hoping that it would fling open and that Karl would see her again. There was no way the timid librarian could be so brazen as to invite him into the room but she glanced at her reflection again and dropped her skirt, walking away from it as if silently calling for Karl to catch her in the midst of her perverse daydream. Danni gazed at the image of her exposed thatch of golden blonde pubes. She lifted her blouse slowly, curling it’s hem until only her shoulders and breasts were covered by it and the remainder of her body appeared completely nude.

“Karl!” she called softly, his name catching like a lump in her throat. “Karl?” she called again, listening acutely for the sound of his presence outside the bathroom door. Danni gently caressed her thighs with her small hands, roaming provocatively over the curved shapes while otherwise clenching her legs demurely. The feeling of skin against skin on the insides of her legs was highly arousing, as was the dreamy fantasy that the hands groping her were Karl’s and that she was meekly resisting him.

“Karl!” Danni whispered hoarsely, feeling weak with an all consuming delight. Her hands became more animated, cupping and squeezing the fleshy orbs of her buttocks before travelling up her body to her blouse. She avoided looking at her reflection now, knowing that the twisted look of pleasure on her face was obscene and made her feel deeply guilty. But she couldn’t stop herself and her spidery fingers picked at the small pearly buttons of her white cotton blouse, popping each one open quickly. Her conscience seemed to throb caution as she hastily stripped out of the blouse and carelessly flung it across the bathroom floor to join her skirt. “Oh Karl…” she sighed deliriously as she unhitched her modest bra. The sensation of the elastic snapping loose around her ribs was like a small electric tingle that alerted her to the fact she was now totally naked. Danni was too overwhelmed with sensual excitement to care that her clothes, strewn careless on the floor of the bathroom, would look a mess when she put them back on again. It didn’t matter. She wanted to be naked and she wanted Karl to see her. She called once more.

“Is this the way you want to see me?” Danni started to say as the bathroom door suddenly opened.

“Danni!” Jennifer’s face was frozen with a shocked look at the sight of the other librarian standing completely naked in the bathroom.

“Jennifer!” Danni croaked, her hands rushing to cover her nude body.

“What’s going on?” Jennifer asked, her tone demanding answers.

“Nothing…” Danni stammered, diving towards her pile of discarded clothes on the floor. “Nothing…it was an accident…” she said, trying to think of an excuse to explain the bizarre surprise.

“What do you mean? An accident?” Jennifer stepped quickly to stand on Danni’s clothes before she had a chance to retrieve them.

“I don’t know…” Danni was blushing bright red, unable to look up at her assistant without feeling thoroughly ashamed of herself. She struggled briefly with her clothes trapped under Jennifer’s foot, fully aware of the way the young girl must have been looking down on her. Danni felt crushed by the foolishness mistake she’d made, knowing there’d never be any reasonable explanation for what had happened. She glanced past Jennifer’s legs and, as if to slap Danni with a final indignation, she saw Karl standing in the doorway, grinning like a schoolboy at her.