TRANSFORMATION D'UNE BOURGEOISE - 9

We had a hearty meal accompanied by some red wine. We were chatting
and giggling like two schoolgirls. At one point Conchita got more
serious and said to me : "I know that Monique will be able to change you
physically, it is already happening, but you have to try and change the
way you speak. You speak too correctly, too properly if you know what I
mean. You have to develop a coarser way of speaking, to make mistakes,
use more vulgar words, try and copy my way of speaking. You have to
sound uneducated like me that I wasn't even able to finish the primary
school." She stopped and looked at me as she was sipping some of her
wine then she continued : "For instance when you speak of Monique you
can't use her first name anymore, you should refer to her always as
'Madame', she is your employer now. I know you will be able to do it if
you try, then we will become true friends." She said the last phrase in
an intimate manner insinuating all sorts of future amorous adventures
or at least this is the way I imagined it.

I decided to drop my small secret bomb. I started talking Portuguese
to her : "I agree with you Conchita but probably I would sound more
authentic at least to French people if I speak Portuguese, then they
will accept me more as what I appear to be at the moment!"

She opened her mouth in astonishment : "Wow, how on earth you can speak
Portuguese, Monique didn't mention anything to me?" I looked at her in
a conspiratorial way and continued in the somewhat childish Portuguese
I was speaking: "I never mentioned it to Monique..eh.. I mean Madame,
you see until this morning I never was close to her, she was simply 'la
bonne' for me." I stopped this time for a sip of my wine and continued :
" You see I spent 4 years in Portugal as a teenager, my father was the
French ambassador there and I went to a french school in Lisbon but we
had to learn Portuguese as a second language and of course I had quite
a few local friends. I know that at the moment it sounds a bit spastic
the way I speak, but with a bit of practice everything will come back."

She looked at me still astonished but she recovered quickly and said
always in Portuguese : "Well my dear Maria, this little revelation of
yours makes things a lot easier for the transition to your new status
in life. Wait till Monique hears the news, she will be thrilled!" She
said that last phrase with an emphasis that took me by surprise. I don't
know why, but I was thinking more and more that my whole transformation
as it started in the morning and continued in great leaps was not as
spontaneous as it appeared to be. Was something behind the whole story
that I didn't know? But did I really care? I decided that at the moment
I was enjoying what I was doing and I couldn't care less if there was
a dark conspiracy behind it.

Conchita interrupted my thoughts : "Come on Maria, lets clean the table,
then you can do the dishes and tidy up the kitchen. We have to rush now,
you still have a lot of work to do out in that staircase."
(9 - a suivre)

TRANSFORMATION D'UNE BOURGEOISE - 8

She was holding her hands in front of me, I looked at those big hands,
skin cracked and wrinkly, the nails with remains of a vulgar red
nail polish. On impulse I took those hands and hold them on mine,
she squeezed them and dragged me towards her. Soon she was kissing me
passionately in the mouth, I was aroused and excited, God those portuguese
women were coming from another world, so unpredictable and spontaneous,
no bourgeois false modesty there!

She started undressing me and I did the same to her, she removed my dress,
fairly easy for her, I had to undo the buttons of her nylon smock, the
zip of her skirt as we were fondling each other in our similar black
underwear and pantyhose. We did caress and fondle each other the way
only two females can do. I was content and happy and I managed to forget
fairly quickly my false bourgeois modesty as I was embracing the strong
body of Conchita.

CHAPTER 3
"Come Maria, we have work to do!" Conchita pushed me out of bed in
a firm but not unkind manner. "But first I am going to lend you some
clothes. Your new Patronne Monique wants you to look exactly like a
Portuguese cleaning woman and we can't disappoint her, can we?" I had
such a wonderful love session with her that I couldn't refuse anything
and after all the whole situation started to intrigue me both mentally
and erotically.

Soon I was sitting in a kitchen chair with a not that clean tea towel over
my shoulders and Conchita was working on my hair like a very competent
hairdresser. I was dressed like her twin sister! Black voluminous coton
knickers, or panties if you prefer, and a matching bra, an old full
slip that has seen better days, an equally old black rayon skirt and
thick black stockings that I had to hold with elastic garters just above
the knee.. On top I was wearing an old but clean nylon smock or overall
(une blouse nylon) that had a pattern of dark red flowers over a light
blue background. The smock buttoned in front, had long sleeves and was
coming an inch or two above my skirt hem. Finally a pair of cheap plastic
sandals were adorning my feet. What a sight!

She cut my straight long blond hair and layered it in a different
manner, then dyed it in a dark brown colour and treated it with a special
liquid. Expertly and quickly she put rollers of various sizes. Finally she
covered them with a scarf in order to let it dry and set. Obviously I was
having a sort of homemade perm! She made a point of placing the scarf in
my head in a special manner 'style a la Portuguaise' as she said. I was
witnessing for the last few hours a shocking transformation. Only this
morning I was a blond elegantly dressed bourgeoise and now a few hours
later, a peasantly looking woman dressed in the clothes of a shabby
looking 'femme de menage' was standing in front of the hallway mirror
in Conchita's minuscule apartment. Peculiarly enough I was contented in
my present position.

"Before work we have to eat something, you must be starving and I am too"
said Conchita with feeling. And she continued : "Go and do the dishes
and then set the table. I'll finish the cooking. Here, put this apron
on". She picked from a hook an old and dirty looking apron and threw it
to me. It was a faded blue full apron in a stripy coton material that
also has seen better days. Without protest I tied it around my waist and
then I adjusted the bib straps that crossed in the back and buttoned in
the apron strings. The picture of the cleaning woman was now complete.

I asked for a pair of rubber gloves to protect my hands but she refused
them in a rather crossed manner. "Monique thinks that your hands are too
soft and need a bit of housework training. In fact she said to me not
to give you any glove protection for later when you will be cleaning the
public stairs of this building. I am afraid in your new station in life
soft bourgeois hands are not acceptable, 'allez au boulot Maria" the last
sentence meaning something of the type 'come on we haven't all day Maria!'
(8 - a suivre)

TRANSFORMATION D'UNE BOURGEOISE - 7

We arrived in front of the elegant 19th century residential building
in Avenue Victor Hugo. She was an excellent driver and she knew to
drive around the maize of Parisian streets quite well, how on earth a
'femme de menage' was so competent in driving? Another mystery about
Monique. what was her real past, I wonder? She interrupted my thoughts :
"Allez, out of the car, I leave you here, just walk to the side door
where 'concierge' is written and ring the bell, Conchita will let you
in. Run along now, I'll come and collect you in about 3 hours, probably
I'll ring before and see how you are doing. Good luck Maria!"

She practically pushed me out of the car, my ex car, and speeded away. I
practically run to the door and rang the bell, looking sideways to see
if someone was coming. The door opened and a formidable lady appeared in
front of me. She looked at me from head to toes and said casually in a
heavily accented french : "You must be this bourgeoise, Monique mentioned
that wants to become a cleaning woman, what a weird decision." I looked
at her aghast and surprised. I said hastily : "Can I come in please,
I feel uncorfotable in those clothes in public." She looked at me again
and laughed, a rather loud but good hearted laugh I must say. "Mais
oui, come in, but if you feel uncomfortable now, imagine how you will
feel later when you will be down to your hands and knees scrubbing the
landings between floors, ha.ha,ha...!" she continued laughing.

Inside her miniscule apartment I could see her better. She was a big
woman, a few centimetres taller than me and also fatter. She had the
derriere of a woman of her class, big bottom in other words, but also
she seemed a strong woman, her body was somehow muscular. She was
wearing black pantyhose and a short blue nylon smock patterned with
flowers. You could see below the smock her black skirt and her cheap
plastic sandals. She turned again to me and said : "Look, Monique said
to me that you decided to exchange places with her and become 'une femme
de menage, une bonniche', is it true?"

Obviouly she wanted to test me and see if I do things on my own
will. What could I say, that I was partly pushed into this. Not really,
if I was strongly against I wouldn't have stand right now in front of
her dressed as I was dressed! I looked at her and said.: "Yes Conchita,
this is true, I want to live a true experience of a cleaning woman,
a maid, as you said it. Can you help me?"

She relaxed and smiled at me broadly. "Of course I can help you 'ma
petite', let me look at you, remove your coat and scarf, let me see
you face. Look at those hands, they are so soft, so not used to menial
housework, 'par contre' look at my hands pet".

She was holding her hands in front of me, I looked at those big hands,
skin cracked and wrinkly, the nails with remains of a vulgar red.
(7 - a suivre)

TRANSFORMATION D'UNE BOURGEOISE - 6

"But Mon.... I mean Madame aren't we moving a bit too fast here? Probably
I should stay at home for a few days to adapt to my new role and then..."

She interrupted me abruptly in an annoyed manner : "Leave that to me
Maria, I'll organise everything for you. I have lots of close contacts
and trusted friends among the Portuguese community of maids and cleaners,
soon you will be part of their world.". She looked at me again and became
more formal : "Now finish what you are doing here and run upstairs and
clean the bathroom I just used, and tidy up the bedroom. I have a few
phone calls to make, then we'll talk again." She turned and walked back to
the Living Room her heels clicking elegantly. She was 'la patronne' now.


CHAPTER 2

She was talking to me fast as I was standing in front of her dressed now
in her old street clothes! That is, I simply replaced the overall dress
with her prisunic cheap outdoors dress. I kept the underwear and black
pantyhose and I added a pair of flat moccasins that belonged to me for
a change.. It was remarkable that being a small person myself, barely
1.70m in height and 70 kilos in weight I could easily fit in Monique's
clothes, something that pleased her immensely because obviouly I was
about to inherit her whole trousseau!

As I said, she was adressing me : "Now Maria, I talked to my friend
Conchita da Silva, she is the concierge in one of those posh buildings
in Passy (that was one of the most expensive inner Parisian quartiers
in the prestigious 16th arrondissement). She is also a hairdresser
occasionally, she is going to fix your hair in a more appropriate manner
for your current station in life, as a Portuguese cleaning woman and
maid. I asked her to perm your hair and dye it a dark brown. Your current
blondish and longish straight hair is too elegant for what you are going
to become." She loved putting me down and indicating my new position in
life. Funnily enough I was getting an excitement out of it as well.

"Instead of paying her she will ask you to clean the public spaces of the
building, entrance and stairs up to the 5th floor. She will lend you some
working clothes, she has a collection of flower patterned nylon smocks
that I am sure you will love. Don't worry, she will tell you exactly
what to do. Now you can put on my old coat, it is hanging in the broom
cupboard by the entrance, inside the pocket you will find an old scarf,
just tie it around your hair and then we are ready to go."

I got panicked, dressed like this and out from the front door in the
middle of the day, it was barely past 1.00 o'clock in the afternoon. It
just downed to me as I was looking at my (ex Monique's} small cheap
wrist watch that it was only three hours ago that I was still my old
self of a bourgeois lady. And look at me now, a middle age low class
woman leaving her employer's house.

Monique interrupted my thoughts as she approached me and adjusted the
scarf in my head : "You must learn to wear the scarf the Portuguese way,
that will be a standard item when you are outdoors and out of your working
clothes. Most women of your status are wearing it, so you better get used
to it. And something else, it hides up to a point your rather refined
upper class lady features, though I am not worried about that, you can
improve a lot there, wait till Conchita finishes with you. Come on let's
go., I'll drive you, this time I'll spare the embarassenment of public
transport for you, but this is only for your first day. 'Allez ouste!' "

(6- a suivre)

TRANSFORMATION D'UNE BOURGEOISE - 5

"And now the 'piece de resistence ma cherie' Monique said smiling broadly,
come here I will tie your apron'. I approached and she adjusted the
large matching working apron on top of my dress. She criss crossed the
bib straps behind my back and fastened them to the strings with two small
buttons, then she firmly tied the strings in a big bow in the back. She
pointed to the door. "Well, this is your obligatory uniform for working
in the house Marie Benedicte, run along now like a good maid and finish
your chores and then report back here, I want to continue our little
conversation and plan the rest of the day."

It took me an hour of intense work to finish what I was ordered to do. I
was moping the kitchen floor when I literally smelled Monique's presence
in the room. I turned around and she was standing by the door looking atme. God how she changed! She was the epitomy of elegance wearing a dark
grey silk suit, a light grey blouse, fine stockings and elegant medium
heel shoes. My expensive Chanel 5 perfume was filling the air around her. And there I was opposite her the
epitomy of a servant, sweat running down my forehead , my apron front
splashed with water, resting my rubber gloved hands in the mop stick.

I looked admiringly at her. "You look fantastic Monique, I can't believe
that change, you are indeed a very chic lady!"

She answered casually back : "That proves my theorie Marie Benedicte,
that finally the clothes make the master, if you know how to wear
them of course and not the other way round. And look at you, after an
hour's housework you look all the way the part of a Portuguese 'femme
de menage'. We have to work with your hair a bit and do some other
adjustments but you certainly look the part".

I looked at her aghast, but e peculiar excitement run through my body
like an electric current. I managed to answer in a rather meek tone of
voice "But what do you mena ' looking the part?', I simply agreed to
help with the housework and I dressed like this to please you."

She looked intensely at me : "We might as well sort things out here and
now! Marie Benedicte, I have a proposition to make to you. Would you
consider to change positions with me and become a 'femme de menage', a
maid, a cleaning woman for a year and I will be 'la femme bourgeoise',
a woman of the high society. You will find out where I come from and I
will be able to fulfill my dream and live the life of an upper class lady
even for a limited period of time. Think, it can be like a sabbatical
year for you, you will be able to experience things totally outside of
your own milieu. For me it is a lifetime long ambition to know the world
of luxury and wealth, a world where you come from but I know it from the
servant's side. For you it is going to be a complete reversal of roles
and positions in life."

She stopped and looked at me, I could tell she was completely taken by
her own words, she was already so near to fulfill her dream, she was
already dressed the part and she was enjoying it immensely. But what
about me, I was confused as I was trying to think hard for an answer. I
knew already that it was either her terms or good bye Monique for good.

6 What did I really have to loose? My life was in shamples at the moment
with the departure of my husband. I was not working and I was financialy
independent, I had not immediate family and very few friends, as a matter
of fact most of those so called friends were my husband's friends and I
knew very well that they were going to disappear from my life. And that
was going to be an experience, probably a hard one but an experience
anyhow. And why do I have this inner excitement that is transmitting
sexual signals to my body? Do I really get a sexual pleasure out of it?

I must have blushed all over because Monique looked at me inquiringly
and asked : "What is it Pet? Do you consider my proposal? You realise
of course that by that stage there is no going back. It is either my
proposal or I am out of here and your life ."

I looked at her, took a deep breath and said : "Oui Monique, J'accepte
votre proposition!" and I continued more excited now after I said the ok :
"But how is it going to work, and we have to talk about lots of practical
matters like ...."

She stopped me with her hand : "Now let's make your acceptance more formal
and from now on I am Madame Monique, or simply Madame for you and your are
'ma femme de ménage' Marie Benedicte or simply Maria, so please repeat :
"Oui, Madame, J'accepte de devenir votre femme de menage pendant un an!"

Blushing all over again and excited at the same time I repeated :
"Yes Madame, I accept to become your cleaning woman for a year!"

"Very well Maria, I am your employer from now on!!" she said triumphantly
and she continued : "Now you asked before about practical matters,
you are right we have to sort them out. First of all you will put our
agreement in writing and send it to your solicitor. Not everything of
course, just write simply that due to a prolonged absence abroad you are
authorising me, Monique Perreira dos Santos to handle all your financial
affairs, pay all the bills and run the household paying the domestic
staff (that is you!) etc,etc. Then you notify in writing all the people
that you think they might contact you, telling them that you are going
abroad for an indefinite amount of time to recover from the shock of
loosing your husband to another woman. Also you will apply to your bank
to issue credit cards in my name. Of course I'll take your credit cards,
and your car keys, your are not allowed to drive anymore, only public
transport for you. You will receive all the money that I earn from my
various domestic and cleaning jobs which you are going to undertake from
now on." She stopped seeing me getting more and more uneasy.

(5 - a suivre)

TRANSFORMATION D'UNE BOURGEOISE - 4

"Bonjour Madame, you look terrible this morning, is everything
allright?" "Non Monique pas du tous, everything is not allright" I said
and tears started coming up again. "Pauvre Madame, please tell everything
to Monique"

And I started and I said to her in detail what happened, sobbing softly
at the same time.

3

As I was talking she took me by hand and we went to the living room,
we sat together in the couch and she started holding my hand as I
continued my monologue. When I stopped I started crying again, God what
was happening to me, was that strong sleeping tablet that made me so
emotional? She put her hand around my shoulder and pulled me towards
her. Soon my head was resting on her shoulder and I closed my red eyes
for a moment of rest.

Suddenly I felt her warm lips kissing my cheeks and forehead and then
she kissed me in the mouth in an unexpectedly passionate manner. I was
completely taken by surprise but I felt at the same time an increased
sexual excitement. She then wiped my wet eyes with the edge of her apron,
something that excited me even more. She started talking to me in a quite
but firm manner, definitely forgetting her position in the house. She
spoke to me as a friend rather than a domestic : "With the little I know
you are completely secure financialy, you owe this wonderfull property
and you have a steady income from your grandfather's trust. You are 37
years old, you don't have to work for a living and you can organise your
life anyway you want." She stopped and looked at me rather sternly I
must say, as if she was accusing me for having all those benefits in life.

I looked back and all of a sudden I realised that I needed that woman. I
said without hesitation : "Look Monique. Would you like to stay the
week with me to help me get over this terrible crisis I face, even if
you thing that is not that serious?"

She answered back immediately as if she knew the answer even before I
asked. She said : "I'll stay on one condition, we have to establish a
different relationship, not the one of employer and employee to start
with. I am Monique for you, but you are Marie Benedicte for me." I blushed
a bit when she mentioned my double name. Coming from an upper class
family I had several names in fact my full name was Jeanne Marie Benedicte
Batiste D' Armagnac. But for my friends I was simply Marie Benedicte.
(4 - a suivre)

TRANSFORMATION D'UNE BOURGEOISE - 3

CHAPTER 1
My husband left me!! I simply can not believe it! It finally happened
and it happened just like that. Yesterday he announced to me that he had
an affair with a nurse (how banal, Mon Dieu!) working in his clinic and
they were moving out of the country to start new parallel careers in an
exclusive private clinic in Milan, Italy! I simply cannot believe it,
my husband decided to leave his beloved Paris for an Italian city, even
if that is Milan? Later I understood that this was planned well ahead and
it was me in my notorious innocence and naivety that didn't pick anything.
He packed a suitcase of clothes and personal things in a haste and left
yesterday evening directly for the airport, they had a late flight to
catch. He said that He didn't need anything else from the house which
belonged to me anyway, through family inheritence. But in a goodwill
gesture, as he said, he left everything that we bought together for the
house the five years we stayed together.
We parted as friends without unnecessary scenes, we both were low key
people and we didn't like screams and abuses. He even managed to convince
me that he wasn't good enough for me, he wasn't the type of man I needed
etc. Probably he had a point. I really don't know. Of course after he
was gone a terribe emptiness overtook me and I started crying bitterly
on my own. It took me some time to calm down and only after I took a
sleeping tablet I was able to go into a deep dreamless sleep.
I opened my eyes quite late the next day, it was past ten in the morning
and I could hear the familiar noise of the vacuum cleaner from the floor
below. God I forgot! It was Monique our Portuguese cleaning lady. I felt
uneasy I had to explain to her what happened. She was coming to the house
3 times a week and we were quite happy with her. All of sudden the feeling
of emptiness came back to me. I was still thinking in terms of WE, but
I was alone now! Tears started coming up tp my eyes and I desperately
tried to control myself.
Soon I was in the dining room where usually breakfast was served when
Monique was around. She saw me and I must have looked quite a sight
because she stopped what she was doing and came towards me, a concerned
look in her face. She looked very neat in her light blue overall dress
and her matching bib apron and head scarf. I was a firm believer that
a domestic in the house should look the part, nothing fancy, just a
practical maid's uniform.
(3-a suivre)

TRANSFORMATION D'UNE BOURGEOISE - 2

So the term Portuguese maid/housekeeper or 'femme de menage Portugaise'
was synonymous to a poor backwards peasant girl or woman often illiterate,
coming form the rural areas of Portugal to work in the sophisticated
Paris. The rich bourgeois Parisians had the tendency of course to look
down on them.

At the time they were lots of specialized shops in those rich Parisian
suberbs, selling 'domestic workwear' for those in live in service. Those
shops were called 'blouses et tabliers boutiques' (overalls and aprons
shops).

In today's Paris, as elsewhere in the western world live in maids are a
rarity. Portuguese women are rich and elegant an go to Paris for their
shopping and the 'blouses et tabliers boutiques' are nearly gone.
(2-a suivre)

TRANSFORMATION D'UNE BOURGEOISE - 1

© 2005, Drawing by Eneg, colors by Monika Rubbermaid

TRANSFORMATION D'UNE BOURGEOISE
by Conchita

translated from French and adapted by Monica

Translators Note

The story is happening in Paris of the early 1970s and could be based
on real facts. At the time Portugal was still a very poor country and
not a member of the European Union. Lots of poor girls and married
women were coming from there to work in France as factory workers,
cleaners and maids. Many of those girls were working as live in maids
in many Parisian bourgeois houses or apartments. If they were working in
apartments they had there own separate rooms at the top of the building,
usually in the 6th floor, at what was called 'la chambre de bonne' (maid's
room). Of course there was no elevator in those buildings of the late
19th century and the maids were going down from the back service stairs
to the kitchen door of the apartment they were working. They were not
allowed to use the font entrance of the building even when they were out
of uniform and not on duty. For them there was the back or side service
entrace to come and go, the same way that the garbage was coming down as
well. All those apartment buildings had there own live in concierge who
had a little place to stay either by the entrance or in the basement. The
concierge was usually the 'terror' of all live in maids because she was
checking on them all the time, reporting back to their employers.

(1-a suivre)