Thank you so much for the response to this story. I'm having a lot of fun writing it - especially this little chapter! Hope you like it.
Chapter Three: Something for the Ladies
"Penny, are you sure you can't spare the time to visit?" Tin-Tin asked. "It's so much fun here right now. The boys are really throwing themselves into this contest. You'd enjoy it, you really would."
"Tin-Tin, I really can't. I have an engagement for afternoon tea at the palace next week."
"Well, if you're sure," Tin-Tin said. "Maybe you're right - tea with the king will be far more civilised than what's going on here right now. To be honest, I can see things getting out of hand before long. You know how competitive the boys are. Even John's spending hours in the gym and that's something I never thought I'd see."
Penny had to agree with her on that one.
"Alan's driving me mad," Tin-Tin continued. "He's begging me to tell him what my challenge is, promising me all sorts of things if I give him a hint. I'm tempted to suggest we get engaged just to see what he says."
"What are you planning?" Penny asked.
"Not what Alan thinks, that's for sure. Twice now I've caught him reading my fashion magazines. I'm sure he thinks I'll get him to design a dress or something."
"Well, that would definitely be a challenge," Penny laughed.
Tin-Tin, however, didn't find it funny. "Penny, I'm an engineer. I sometimes think everyone forgets that. Even Mr Tracy - he's more likely to ask me to type a letter than fix a piece of equipment. No, I'm going to give them a workbench and a pile of components and they'll have an hour to work out what it is and put it all together."
"Won't Virgil have an advantage there?" Penny asked. "Alan might not like that."
"Not really," Tin-Tin insisted. "They're all more than capable of doing basic repairs on their 'birds. This is no different."
"I suppose so." Lacking any particular enthusiasm for the mechanical, Penny was about to end the conversation, her thoughts starting to drift towards the opera she was to attend that evening.
"They need something to exercise their minds, anyway," Tin-Tin went on. "All these physical challenges are going to wear them out. Honestly, Penny, you should see them. I'm looking out onto the pool right now and they're all down there getting some training from Gordon. They're taking it so seriously. I thought Alan would be the only one to think about what he was going to wear to reduce water resistance, but no, they're all down there in tiny Speedos, flexing their muscles and comparing six-packs. Mrs Tracy's already complaining that the seams of their shirts are straining with all this extra bulk. She's only half-joking when she says her challenge should be for them to sew up the tears. Oh, now Scott's doing one-handed press-ups and Virgil's just joined in. Looks like they've found something else to compete over. Well, at least with a dip in the pool afterwards they won't be coming in all hot and sweaty again. I've lost count of the number of times Mr Tracy has told them off for wandering around without their shirts on. And that's another thing - I'm so tired of being asked to drop whatever I'm doing in order to rub sunscreen on their backs. They- Sorry, Penny, did you say something?"
"No, no. Nothing. Not a thing." Penny wasn't really lying. After all, there had been no words, just something which was halfway between a sigh and a whimper. "How long did you say this was going on?"
"Ten days. Ten days of rampant testosterone and alpha male egos. I really wish you could be here to help me get through it all, Penny. Oh well, I expect you'll have a lovely time at the palace."
"Yes. About that... "
Two minutes later Penny had ended the call in order to summon Parker and her suitcases, whilst Tin-Tin was left to smile in satisfaction at a job well done.
