"We'd better no.," Michelle decided. "You can never tell how people would react to news like that. He might be the jumpy sort, and we've scared the poor guy enough as it is."
"Well, as I said, I guess I'm siding with Michelle", Erika said.
"And my vote makes a 3-1 majority!" Ria added jubilantly. "I knew you'd make the right choice, Michelle!"
"OK, it's all well and good that we've decided on a course of action, but the fact remains that he'll still have some questions about that little show we put on for him. How do we explain away that?" Ellen asked.
"Oh, I don't think it'll be that hard! We just need a little brainstorm session, that's all!" Michelle said.
What ensued was a flurry of whispering before the maids finally broke their huddle.
Back at the entrance, Robert was still waiting patiently. After the unexpected welcome, he was all set to leave as soon as the maids went into the other room, but he quickly calmed down and decided to do the polite thing and wait for them to come back. Anyhow, what good would leaving do? As long as his car was broken down, he wasn't going anywhere. Besides, a guy doesn't just walk away from four cute girls and an inherited mansion that had to be worth a fortune, does he?
When the maids re-entered the foyer, Michelle immediately extended a hand in apology;
"Master Robert, I... I think we got off on the wrong foot."
"It's alright," Rob responded, returning the handshake. "I kinda snapped a little there. I really shouldn't have. Well I guess you're the 'beautiful, unbelievable' women that my uncle told me about, huh?"
Michelle blushed in flattery. "Oh, good grief, he said that about us? Wow! Oh dear... Well, we haven't introduced ourselves properly, have we? How rude of us... I'm Michelle."
"I'm Ria."
"I'm Erika.."
"I'm Ellen."
"Nice to meet all of you", Robert said, giving each of them a warm handshake as they said their names, "So, from your outfits, I guess you're all maids here. Wow, my uncle had it really good, didn't he? That'd explain why all of you are here, but... the confetti..."
"That was me!" Ria spoke up, raising her hand. (She had been the one who had cast the confetti blasting spell, so she wasn't really lying when she said this.) "Sorry about that. I guess I was a little too enthusiastic."
"Oh, that's alright," Rob said, "Well, I guess that just leaves..."
"The music!" Erika piped up. "Uh...you see, one of the most awesome things about this place is the sound system! It's voice commanded, see, and we instructed it to play a big fanfare when you entered! It can play literally any song you can think of! Here, I'll show you..." She turned around and looked up at the ceiling, "Stereo! Fur Elise, please!"
As she said this, she secretly waved her hands to conjure up the music, making sure Robert didn't see them move. To her hidden delight, the spell worked, as the ever-recognizable melody began to fill the foyer.
"Wow!" Robert exclaimed, visibly impressed, "Where are the speakers?"
"Hidden away!" Erika quickly said, explaining away the absence of speakers in the foyer. "Doesn't clash with the decorating at all!"
"Can I try it?"
"Sure!"
"Alright..." Rob walked forward and looked up at the ceiling, "Stereo! Let's see... How about Paint It Black?"
"Eep!" Erika squeaked quietly. She wasn't familiar with rock music at all. Luckily for her, Ellen made the save, waving her hands while Rob's back was turned, which caused the famous Rolling Stones song to begin to play.
"Man, the sound quality on this thing is great!" he said, humming along, "OK, OK, one more... Oh, I know! Let's see if it has any heavy metal!"
The four maids gulped at once. None of them were familiar with the genre at all, and all of them were worried that Rob's suspicions might be raised if he picked something they couldn't play. Would he buy an excuse like "The sound system was messing up" or "The stereo doesn't know that song", or was the charade about to be over? Were they overreacting, or would it really be that big of a deal if he didn't hear the song he wanted?
"Stereo! Disposable Heroes, please!"