[Chasmo]

Okay - I'd like to apologize in advance for the remainder of this story as well as for what has come thus far. As I noted in my last post, this one seems to have gotten away from me a bit. It hasn't been carefully enough edited and the thread gets lost in any number of places. Mea culpa for sure. Hopefully it hasn't been too much of a dog's breakfast. I'm already working on the next tale which will be my second shot at a Katherine Wray standalone. It feels pretty good so far.

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Speaking with purpose into the microphone on the translucent podium in front of her, Danielle attempted yet again to reassert control. Quickly, however, and to the continued delight of the audience and the strains of 2001, she realized that someone - no doubt Anna - had killed the power to her mic.

That fact and the general cacophony of music and crowd noise, had stolen from Mrs. Parnell the one moment she may have had to save herself from what came next. As the two big-screens astride the royal purple curtain began to flash the words "The Big Unveiling" in large purple letters on a bed of white, Anna Parnell from the her remote control panel slowly lifted that curtain to reveal - it would soon be clear - more than the boys' new racing shell.

"Mom," Will Parnell intoned swallowing hard as he realized that the train of his mother's glorious, deep purple, chiffon skirt was beginning to rise with the curtain.

"Shut up Will and let mommy think," Danielle curtly replied.

"But Danielle," pleaded Jerry Sarano who now noticed the same thing as did the likes of Rebecca Ross, Katherine Wray, and the rest of the delirious crowd, "your gown . . . "

"What are you talking about you spineless wimp," Danielle snapped further losing her composure in front of these people upon whom she had perennially looked down. "My gown . . ."

And then Danielle too realized what was happening as she felt the light chiffon of her gorgeous dress rub against the backs of her long legs and realized that her hem was hooked to the rising curtain.

"My gown . . . oh my God . . . my gown is caught on the curtain . . . make it stop . . ," cried the once hyper-confident diva as - turning in place to attempt to detach the offending hooks - she gave the audience a view of the backs of her tanned, toned, thighs.

As the senior boys drank in the sight before them - loving along with every woman present that the tables had been turned on the snobby know-it-all who had made them all feel small or uncomfortable over the years - Danielle as rudely as ever attempted to enlist the aid of the two men caught in the spotlight with her.

"Help me you idiots . . . or this thing is going to tear off my dress," she screamed.

As the crowd continued to guffaw at Danielle's distress, Jerry Sarano and Will Parnell each endeavored to jump to Mrs. Parnell's aid. Seeking to cover his former partner before her imminent stripping, Mr. Sarano - still without pants himself - peeled off his purple blazer with the thought of wrapping it around the increasingly exposed Danielle. Unfortunately for the prospective gallant, no sooner had he removed his jacket than it and the tail of his white oxford shirt also became ensnared by one of the still rising curtain's hooks.

Will Parnell in the meantime - sporting quite the tent of his own in his white shorts due to the conflicted feelings he was having watching his powerful mother get disrobed before him - befell yet a different sartorial tragedy. Thinking that their now former captain was going to deprive them the sight of his haughty but gorgeous mother being unveiled, Calum Duncan and Christian Tabash independently sought to prevent him from doing so. Duncan, always a mischief maker, ensnared one of the rising curtain's hooks into a belt loop on the back of Will's tight shorts. Young mister Tabash meanwhile, reached for Will's shoulders to hold him back from his efforts.

The ninety-seconds or so that followed - which seemed to each of Danielle Parnell, her son Will and Jerry Sarano to last an eternity - will forever be remembered in the annals of Gonzaga crew team history as "The Great Unveiling." In an instant, the eyes of the mother and son Parnell and the once proud Mr. Sarano bulged in horror as each realized that the rising curtain was about to do them a great disservice. The indignity for Jerry Sarano continued when the very blazer he had removed to shield Danielle - now caught on one of the curtain's relentless and rising hooks - wrapped powerfully around his wrists causing his bound hands to go helplessly skyward. His tightly tailored shirt in the meantime, the tail of which had been the unlucky target of another hook, was torn from his toned torso leaving him - tippy-toed - in his white bucks, white knee socks, purple tie and black jockstrap.

Will Parnell did not fair much better as the hook that Calum Duncan strategically placed in his back belt loop - after completely lifting the ordinarily arrogant young jock from the stage - ultimately tore his perfectly pressed shorts from his well exercised bottom revealing him in a far too small pair of men's thong panties in Harvard crimson with a white "H" embroidered over his rock hard nether region. His unexpected fall from the hook, meanwhile, left Christian Tabash holding Will's white oxford shirt that had been inadvertently torn from him as he fell. Looking like a bookend to the curtain ensnared Sarano, Will found himself in only shoes, socks, a tiny pair of underwear and a tie.

Despite the humiliation being suffered by Messrs. Sarano and Parnell, and the accompanying collective joy of all present in their comeuppance, Will and Jerry's ongoing downfall was a mere appetizer to the humiliation being suffered by the once powerful alpha-lawyer in between them. For just as the curtain controlled by her daughter made fools of Jerry and Will - it also began the epic undoing of Danielle Marie Parnell herself. Having realized that neither Jerry nor Will was in a position to provide her any aid, with her back now to the howling audience and the upward trajectory of her skirt about to reveal whatever might be covering her perfectly exercised bottom, Mrs. Parnell tore fruitlessly at the fabric of her train . But it was all for naught.

As women doubled over with laughter and any number of men and boys under cover of the museum's darkness began uncontrollably to touch themselves, Danielle Marie Parnell - despite her best efforts to prevent it - felt the luxurious chiffon skirt of her gorgeous Elie Saab evening gown tear away from the designer frock's backless sequin halter top and head skyward along with the now practically dangling Jerry Sarano and the shorts of her pant-less son Will. The resulting vision was delicious for in that moment - having been spun around again to face a crowd that was laughing uncontrollably at the sight of her - Danielle Marie Parnell, with her mouth in the shape of a giant "O," stood knock-kneed wearing naught but her spectacularly high stiletto-heeled purple and gold Jimmy Choo pumps, a purple sequined halter top and, very much like her humiliated son, a pair of diaphanous silk thong panties in Harvard crimson with a white "H" embroidered over her barely visible landing strip.

As Mrs. Parnell looked in vain at her two hapless male counterparts, one whose bound hands prevented him from covering his completely bare ass and jock covered manhood and the other - her son - whose hands had dropped to his sides as he stared catatonically at his mother's half dressed form, her usually facile mind began to fail her. How had she been found out? What would become of Will? How could all of these nobodies be staring . . . and laughing . . . at her? And where was her skirt . . . and Will's clothes? Were they really wearing the same underwear? And all these men . . . and strong, fit, hard, boys . . . who she had always loved to tease relentlessly - they were never supposed to see her looking like this!! She needed to make a run for it.