Jennifer : 07 - Winter Vacation at Grams (Both Genders)
Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2018 11:35 am
Jennifer's stories
07 - Winter Vacation at Grams
Story index at the bottom
By Jennifer
Hello again everyone, its Jennifer as usual. I thought I would let everyone know that I am still alive and ready to post some more stories here. I have another smaller series of experiences that I would like to share with all of you. These stories took place during my winter vacation when I was 9 (my birthday is in November) at my grandparent’s house with some of my cousins. Let me know what you think. Here we go.
It was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. (especially not me) ...The children were nestled all SNUG in their beds while the waiting morning hung over their heads. Okay bad start, but I couldn't resist. It was Christmas morning the year that I was nine years old. We were on winter break from school and had just started our second week. Our School started a few days early and didn't let out till the second week of June. But we got several other perks, like being able to take three weeks off at the holidays beginning the week before Christmas to the week after new years. My family had a tradition that every year we would celebrate Christmas morning at home and then we would drive to my father's parents farm in Pennsylvania for dinner that evening. Then we would stay there for a few days with our cousins and extended family. Little did I know that it would be a holiday for tie up games with them.
I had fallen asleep late Christmas Eve after we got home from the evening church service. I hadn't fallen asleep until around 10:00, which was past my usual bedtime. I looked over at the clock on the dresser, as I opened my eyes for the first time that morning. It showed that it was still a little before six. It was a tradition in our house that we didn't open presents until around eight o'clock. I sighed in disappointment and rolled back over on my side closing my eyes again. Still, I couldn't sleep a wink that morning. I was too excited with anticipation of the presents. I was warmly dressed against the cold December cold. In addition to my blankets, I was dressed in a blue fleece footed sleeper with a snowflake print on it. Additionally, I was wearing a pink nightgown that went down to my ankles with a lacy trim around the neck and wrists. Finally, I had on a pair of white slippers that looked somewhat like ballet slippers. They were low cut and had a strap that ran over the center of the foot to secure them.
I waited anxiously for 8:00 to arrive, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't sleep at all. I was just too excited with the matter that we would be opening presents in a little under two hours. About 10 minutes later, Scott woke up because he had to use the bathroom. He climbed down from the top bunk and left the room. He came back about 5 minutes later. "Good morning Jen, what's wrong can't sleep?" he whispered. I nodded and explained that I was just too anxious about opening presents to go back to sleep. I told him that I had to sneak out for just a peek. Scott shook his head, "You really shouldn't, you know that mom and dad will be mad if you get up too early." "I know." I replied, but I couldn't help it. "We'll just have to fix this for you" he said. Scott walked over to the dresser and opened the bottom drawer. He took out two short pieces of rope and walked over to me.
"Jennifer, could you turn around please" he instructed. I sat up and turned around, I needed something to take my mind off the presents in the living room. I put my crossed my wrists behind my back and Scott began to wrap them horizontally with five or six loops of rope. Then he made a couple of vertical turns and knotted it off in the middle above my wrists. Then he continued and began to bind my legs at the ankles with the other remaining piece of rope. He looped it around my legs a few times and cinched it off before knotting it. “There we go, that should hold you for a while at least he said.” With that, he turned the light back off and climbed back into bed to sleep until 8.
I rolled onto my stomach and squirmed against the ropes that bound my hands and feet. They were snug, but not all that tight or elaborate. I probably could have escaped by bringing my hands to my front if I really wanted to, but I decided to just leave them alone. I struggled for a few minutes and then I relaxed my efforts and fixed my eyes on the clock on the dresser. I assumed Scott would let me out a little before it was time to go get presents, which left me about 45 minutes tied up. Eventually, I must have dozed off, for a little bit despite the ropes, because the next thing I remember was waking up to my mother's voice. "Merry Christmas, time to wake up.” I opened my eyes and looked over at the door to see my mother standing there with a surprised look on her face. I glanced over at the clock and it was about 7:30.
"Well this is a pleasant surprise; it looks like you'll have to sleep in for once Jennifer." she said jokingly. "I hope you weren't tied up all night, were you?" I shook my head no, and explained that Scott had added the ropes to keep me from sneaking out about an hour ago. She gave me a quiet smile and walked over to where I was laying on the bed. She reached down and undid the knot securing my hands and untied them. Well, were going to get started a little early this year so come to the living room when you’re ready. I began to work on the ropes around my ankles. My mother stood up and shook Scott gently awake. "Time to get up and open presents sleepyhead,” she whispered. Scott sat up and yawned and rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes. Then he slowly climbed out of bed and headed for the door. He looked my way to see if I had been untied remembering an hour ago. I was already sitting up coiling the ropes on my bed. Then I got up and followed him out the door.
(Our parents never really treated our games as weird or anything. I guess they assumed that they were a phase Scott and I were going through and would grow out of. Sean and Mary had played similar games when they were younger. So, they left it at that. They never really participated directly in them other that allowing them to occur. They allowed us to keep rope around the house and they had gotten us each a set of handcuffs last year as a joke present. Sometimes my mom would untie me if she found me bound, but our parents never really initiated the situation.)
We got to the living room to find the rest of the family already assembled for the morning. Sean and Mary were seated on the sofa and my father was in the easy chair on the left side of the sofa. Mary was dressed in a white night gown wearing a blue robe over it. Sean and Scott were each wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt. I took a seat on the other high-backed padded chair across the way from my father. Scott seated himself on the floor in front of the coffee table. My mom went over to the tree and began to pass out the presents to the rest of the group. Scott and I got a fair number of smaller packages, while Sean got a five or six around the same size. Mary only got two packages this year and they weren't very big. Our parents exchanged their usual gifts as well as the things we got them from our school shop and a few things from Mary that turned out to be college sweatshirts.
We went around in a circle opening a present each in turn by age. Sean got a new portable CD player and quite a few CD's. Scott and I both got clothes and a few toys. He also got a few new games for his play station and I got my first game boy that year with a game. I had asked for one for a while, but my parents had put off buying one until now. Mary received a few gift certificates that she could shop with down where she went to school. The other package was a portable computer that my parents had gotten for her. She was really surprised and thanked them for it. It took us about an hour to work our way around through the presents and we had a good time doing it. We flashed a few smiles around the room and wished each other a Merry Christmas. We knew that we would be leaving in a few hours for our grandparent's farm. It took roughly 4 to 5 hours to get there depending on the weather and traffic.
"Hang on, I still have one more surprise,” my mom said. My mother went over to the closet over by the door and opened it and rummaged through the top shelf removing two more presents. The first two were about the size of a shoebox and the others were a little smaller but still square in shape. They were all wrapped in shiny red wrapping paper. My mom came over and gave one of them to Scott and the other to me. "I picked this out especially for you Jennifer, go ahead and open it." she said. "Start with the big one", Sean offered. We tore the wrapping paper away excitedly. Underneath was a box that said in big bold letters "Men's Work Boots size 12". Scott and I stared over at my mom with a look of strange curiosity. "Um gee ... thanks I guess" I offered sarcastically, reading the box. "I needed a big box Jennifer, and that one was the closest size that I had available" she said "Open it up".
I opened the box slowly wondering what it contained. When I saw its contents, they were even more confusing than the label on the box. The box contained what appeared to be a wad of seat belts and two small rectangular pieces with a zipper on each side of them. Scott looked up and said "What in the h___ is this?" "It's a safety harness for in the car Scott." My mother explained. "I found out about them online on a message board about a month ago when Jennifer asked me if they made car seats for bigger kids." I thought back to about 5 weeks ago just after I turned 9 and had outgrown the booster seat I was in. Up to this point in my life, I had always ridden in a car seat that later became a booster seat for an older kid. It began with a safety harness for when you were four to seven and then switched to a booster seat afterwards. There was a time on a camping trip where I got tied up in it in our camper. (See A long camping trip part 2) Anyway, Scott had also brought the old harness that went with it and managed to squeeze me into it. It was weird, but it still fit me up last summer. I had gone back to wearing it up until to about two weeks before my birthday when I had outgrown the seat altogether.
I liked the way it felt because it reminded me of being tied up by forcing me to sit still and upright. I told my mom that I felt safer with it than just a seat belt, so she let me where it until I outgrew it. About a week later, I had asked my mother if they made car seats for bigger kids, and she told me she didn't think so but she would try to find out. I guess she had found something pretty close online. I set the first mess of seat belts down on the sofa and found a second one in the bottom that had one long belt with four little belts coming off of it that ended in clips. I picked them up and looked them over trying to figure out how they work. "How does it work mom?" I asked, giving up staring at it. "Here, I'll show you if you want, but you need to take off your nightgown first, otherwise it probably won't fit you." I stood up and pulled the nightgown off over my head, I was getting pretty warm with two layers of pajamas on anyway. This left me dress in my sleeper and slippers.
My mom came over and grabbed the seat belt with the four little ones coming off of it. "This goes around the back of the seat in the van" she said. My mom demonstrated by wrapping the long belt around the chair I had been sitting in. Then she came around and buckled the belt behind the chair and tightened it up snuggly. Then she pulled it down so two of the shorter belts were at the back of the chair seat and the other two were about two thirds of the way up. My mother gave the main belt a pull to make sure it was tight against the chair back. "Now" she said, "the main harness goes onto your body and attaches you to this belt on the back of the seat." She picked up the main harness and attempted to fasten it to me over my pajamas. I will describe it as best I can.
It was burgundy in color and the webbing was about the width of a normal car seat belt. It began at my waist with a standard belt that looped around me just above my hips. The waist belt had two metal D rings located on each side at the hips that were fixed in place on the vest. The harness also had two shoulder straps that came up over my shoulders and connected to the front and back of the lap strap. The shoulder straps each had an embedded D ring at the top of their arch and a sliding clip to adjust them. My mother tightened the shoulder straps down to fit me snuggly. It also had a strap that came around just under my armpits and wrapped around connecting in the back and to both shoulder straps in the front. They all came together in the back where the center of the shoulder straps connected in the small of my back with a zipper to close the harness. Finally, it had two smaller inch thick straps that were sewn in near the D rings in the back. They came up between my legs and met in the front; where they buckled with a fatex buckle. When fastened, they snugged the harness tightly down against my body.
(I did some research and learned a few weeks ago that a company called EZ-on made it. They specialize in school bus restraints but they make similar products for family cars. If you want to see what it looked like, their site is here but this was several years ago. http://www.ezonpro.com )
I could see why I had to remove my nightgown, there was no way the leg straps would fasten over a gown that went down to my ankles. My mom picked me up and seated me against the back of the chair where the securement belt was. She took each of the clips on the smaller belts and attached them to the D rings on the lap and shoulder straps. "There we go Jen, what do you think." I pulled against the belts hard and wiggled around a little. But, the straps held me tightly in place and forced me to sit up straight. I tried sliding my arms and legs around a little, but there was no way I could wiggle out of the harness. I jerked forward hard, but the harness held me securely against the back of the chair. I had to admit, it proved to be very secure and completely escape proof. The best part was that it closed in the back, which meant I couldn't get out. I told my mom that it was perfect and that I liked it quite a bit. "I figured you would Jennifer" she replied. "When I saw them online, I thought it was exactly what you wanted and I liked it because it looked safe." My parents were very safety conscious.
I sat there strapped securely to the living room chair; I was the immediate attention of everyone in the room. My mom explained that the two rectangles with the zippers were to expand the harness in the back as I got older or added winter clothing. Scott looked less enthusiastic than I did about the whole idea. He was still ten at the time and probably thought it made him look childish. However, the next gift changed his mind slightly. My mom handed me the second package which, I had almost forgotten about. I opened it up and found a smaller box that contained another interesting accessory. It contained a set of two small loops of seat belts each about 3 inches in length with a fatex buckle to close them and another attached strap with a clip on it. I stared at them curiously and then I looked up at my mom. "Wrist straps," she commented, "I know you guys play tie up quite a bit, and I thought why not when I saw them. Mary gave me the idea when she told me how well behaved you were tied up in the camper last summer. Do you want to try them out?" she asked.
She came over and wrapped one of the loops around my left wrist and secured it with the buckle. She repeated the process on my right hand, then she clipped them to the D rings on the lap part of the harness. I pulled against them to test the limits of my new confinement, but they held pretty tight. My arms were now pinned at my sides and allowed only an inch or so of movement. The straps hugged my wrists tightly and prevented my hands from touching or doubling back to unclip the straps. Now I really couldn't move my upper body at all. Scott looked over at me as I struggled unavailing against the straps. "Nice touch mom," he offered as he looked down at his own set. Scott's harness was identical to mine except they were brown in color. I guess they color-coded the sizes. He thanked mom for the present and said he would wait until the ride down to try it out. My mom came over to let me out, but I asked if I could stay like this a little longer. She nodded, "Until breakfast if you want to, in about half an hour". She also explained that the hand straps were just for a fun joke and she didn't really expect us to wear them in the car.
Sean stood up and walked over examining the seat belts I was secured with. "That's pretty neat Jen." He offered with a quiet smile. "It's too bad they don't make them in my size" he joked with a snicker. I laughed in agreement with the idea of my teenage brother all strapped in like I was in a car. "Actually" my mother trailed off; "they do make them in teenage and adult sizes. Would you wear one if I got you one?" she asked. Sean looked at her for a moment and realized that she was serious. He thought about it for a minute and gave his reply. “Sure, why not.” As long as it’s just for family trips" he offered. I guess that Sean like this kind of stuff even at his age. I shouldn't have been surprised, he still wore safety pads when he skated and he even wore a helmet when he went sledding in the winter. However, what happened next really surprised me. My mom went over to the closet and pulled out a brown cardboard box.
"I ordered one for you too," she explained. "I didn't want to give it to you until I knew how you would react. If you thought it was too childish I thought I would just return it, but if you’re serious here you go." Sean looked at the box in front of him as if he was having second thoughts. But, then he opened it and looked at the harness inside. It was the same as mine and Scott's except it was bigger. It was also black in color and didn't have the straps that go between the legs on it. My mom explained that the leg straps only came on the smaller sizes, but she could order him some if he wanted. He shook his head and said it was fine as it was. Mary made an affirmative bid that she didn't think she wanted one. I stayed in the harness until breakfast when Mary came over and let me out so we could eat. Overall, it was a pretty interesting morning.
After we ate, we all took some time to bathe, change our clothes, and get ready for the next few days that we would spend at our grandparents. My dad put our bags and toys in the back of the van and got the seat belts that secured the harnesses in place in the van. While we got ready, Scott and I talked about what we wanted to do while we rode down. Originally, I had planned to play my game boy, but Scott suggested that I try my new present instead. He offered that he would if I would for the ride down. I said okay to the idea and we ran it by our mother. She said it was fine and that she would look forward to a peaceful ride down for a change. So, I went to my room to finish getting ready to go. I packed my game boy instead of taking it in the car with me. It was a very cold morning out at only 10 degrees, but I was dressed well for the weather.
My base layer consisted of a T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Next I added a blue sweater with long sleeves and a picture of Rudolph on it over the shirt. I was wearing a pair of white socks and a pair of black T-strap Mary Jane dress shoes with a flat bottom. Next, I added my outer layer to the outfit. I had a pink one-piece snowsuit that covered me from head to toe. It was bulky and closed with a zipper that ran up the front from my waist to my chin. It also had snaps that closed over the zipper to keep the cold out and a belt to snug it up at the waist. It had an attached hood that had a drawstring to secure it. Also, the wrists and ankles had cuffs that you could snug up with a strip of Velcro. Overall, it was very bulky and warm, perfect for playing in the snow or a long car ride without much heat reaching the back. I also had on a wool stocking cap under the hood and a set of earmuffs. My hands were also covered with two layers of mittens. The first was a set of fleece mittens to keep my hands warm. I covered them with an outer layer of waterproof mittens with extended cuffs to keep my hands dry. I had Sean help me Velcro the snowsuit cuffs overtop of them. I was well bundled up, but it was necessary.
When I went out to the van, my mom was there loading the last of the cousin's presents into the car. She told me we would be leaving in about 10 minutes and asked if I was ready to go. I told her that I was and asked if she could help me into the new harness because of my mittens. She helped me into the harness and secured it snuggly to my body. It was really a tight fit with the snowsuit underneath it. I asked her if she could do my hands too and she replied that if I really wanted her to she would. I told her that I did and she wrapped the straps around my mittens and secured them to my sides. About this time, Scott and Sean came out ready to load up. Scott was dressed similarly to me except he only had a coat on and was wearing tennis shoes. Both of them were already in the vests. My mom asked Sean if he would help us while she went inside to get dad and a few more things. Sean said he would and she went back to the house.
Sean helped me into the back seat of the van. I was seated next to the wall opposite the side door. Sean removed the mittens he was wearing and secured my harness at the four clips. Scott climbed in on the seat next too me, and Sean went to secure him as well, but he told him to wait a minute. Scott asked me if I was comfortable, and if I wanted to be a little more secured for the trip. I told him I was fine, but I didn't care if he added a little more restraint, after all I was secured to the seat and my hands were already off limits. He reached into his coat pocket and produced my set of handcuffs. He bent down and secured them around my ankles just below the cuffs on the snowsuit and locked them in place. This effectively immobilized my feet. Then he reached into his other pocket and pulled out a large wadded up handkerchief. He asked me to open my mouth, which I did. Then he stuffed it inside and filled up my mouth. Finally, he took a scarf out of his pocket and wrapped it over my mouth and around my head three times before knotting it off. He made sure not to cover my nose, and I could still breathe through my mouth anyway. But I was still gagged very effectively and no one would be the wiser.
Then, Scott pulled out another handkerchief and added it to his own mouth and secured it with a scarf. Next, he took out his pair of handcuffs and connected his feet at the ankles with them. Finally, he put his fleece mittens back on and sat down on the seat on the opposite side. Sean clipped him into the seat and then secured his hands with the wrist straps. Then Sean sat down and secured himself to the seat in front of us with the four clips. Then he reapplied his green waterproof mittens to his hands and waited for our parents to return. I guess I will mention that Sean was dressed in a green winter snowsuit and tennis shoes. He sat there and folded his hands neatly on his lap. We just sat and waited for about five minutes until our parents came out and joined us. The finished packing and boarded the van. My father would be driving and my mother sat in the front passenger seat. Mary would be driving down separately.
I sat in the back seat pretty still because of the wrist straps and handcuffs on my feet. Sean and our parents talked quite a bit on the ride down, but I couldn't really hear what they were saying. After all, I was sitting in the back seat and I had on earmuffs, hat and my hood. Not that it really mattered, because I couldn't talk anyway. The scarf wasn't all that tight, but in combination with the hood that was neatly secured with a bow it worked. I couldn't work the handkerchief out of my mouth at all. I spent most of my time looking out the window at the scenery because there really wasn't anything else to do. From time to time I would struggle or reposition myself a little, but it was nearly impossible to move. We stopped twice, once for lunch and the second for a bathroom break at a rest stop. Both times it took an extra 10 minutes just to get us out and back in, but my parents didn't mind because it was the quietest we had ever been in the car for them. Even though Scott and I were only two feet apart, there was absolutely nothing we would do to annoy each other.
After lunch, Scott and I decided not to have the handkerchiefs back in because they hurt the jaw after a while. But we still had the scarves and pretended that we couldn't talk. At the second stop, Scott decided he wanted his hands and feet free for the last hour of the ride. My mom said that the quiet was nice while it lasted, but she thought we would get tired of it sooner or later. I still wanted to wear mine for the last hour of the ride, which I was allowed to do. My mom told Scott that if he bothered me he would regret it. That seemed to do the trick because he didn't bother me at all. At one point my nose started to itch from the scarf right below it. I asked Scott if he could get it and he reached over and scratched it with his mitten hand for me.
I had to admit that it was a peaceful and interesting ride. The wrist straps were designed for long-term wear and I hardly felt them through the snowsuit and mittens unless I pulled hard against them. Overall, it was a comfortable ride down to my grandparents’ house. I'll share more on this in the next installment.
I guess I should wrap this one up around here. I have already put more time in than I originally intended to. Oh well, I ended up wearing the harness in the car until I was about 14 years old. My mom bought me the next size up twice in there as well. Scott wore one until he was 12 and once in a long while afterwards. Sean gave his up when he started driving. They were just part of my growing up that I remember in conjunction with tie up games. I guess our parents were a little over protective, which is not always a bad thing. I wore mine on the school bus for a couple of years as well until I got to junior high. Our mom let us wear the wrist straps from time to time in the car. But only if we were going on a long trip and only if we wanted to. She never forced us to if we didn't want to. I never really considered it tie up gear, unless my hands were strapped. It was fun once in a while, but I certainly didn't want them tied down all the time.
As for Sean, he was always a good older brother to Scott and me. I asked him about it recently and he told me he put up with all this safety stuff for three reasons. First, he did it because it reminded him of when he was a younger kid and he missed that. When Mary moved to college, he lost his favorite sibling to play and joke around with. Secondly, he wore safety stuff because it was what he was used to growing up and he just felt better with it. Finally, he did it to set a good example for Scott and me. When Mary left, we became the kids that he played with most and our parents made sure we were safe. Sean put up with it because it helped to shorten our age gap. For example, because he wore the harness that our mother got him, Scott and I didn't feel like little kids compared to him because we did. We just accepted it as part of life.
I have a few other incidents where I got tied up using the harness in the car. However, they aren't as memorable or well suited as this one. Still, if you guys want to hear them let me know and I will take some time and put them together. I didn't know if this was appropriate for this forum, because most of the stories here involve using ropes more than things like this. Still, I thought it was something different to share with you guys and it didn't contain any inappropriate material. So, I posted it anyway. Let me know what you think. I'll continue the series later. I've decided that I will just bounce around a bit. I will finish my camping stories later. In a week or two. I am just deciding whether to include a particular incident or not in part six. There is nothing inappropriate with it; I just don't think it will add that much to the story for the space I have to waste telling it.
Jennifer
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Jennifer's stories
Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section
07 - Winter Vacation at Grams
Story index at the bottom
By Jennifer
Hello again everyone, its Jennifer as usual. I thought I would let everyone know that I am still alive and ready to post some more stories here. I have another smaller series of experiences that I would like to share with all of you. These stories took place during my winter vacation when I was 9 (my birthday is in November) at my grandparent’s house with some of my cousins. Let me know what you think. Here we go.
It was the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. (especially not me) ...The children were nestled all SNUG in their beds while the waiting morning hung over their heads. Okay bad start, but I couldn't resist. It was Christmas morning the year that I was nine years old. We were on winter break from school and had just started our second week. Our School started a few days early and didn't let out till the second week of June. But we got several other perks, like being able to take three weeks off at the holidays beginning the week before Christmas to the week after new years. My family had a tradition that every year we would celebrate Christmas morning at home and then we would drive to my father's parents farm in Pennsylvania for dinner that evening. Then we would stay there for a few days with our cousins and extended family. Little did I know that it would be a holiday for tie up games with them.
I had fallen asleep late Christmas Eve after we got home from the evening church service. I hadn't fallen asleep until around 10:00, which was past my usual bedtime. I looked over at the clock on the dresser, as I opened my eyes for the first time that morning. It showed that it was still a little before six. It was a tradition in our house that we didn't open presents until around eight o'clock. I sighed in disappointment and rolled back over on my side closing my eyes again. Still, I couldn't sleep a wink that morning. I was too excited with anticipation of the presents. I was warmly dressed against the cold December cold. In addition to my blankets, I was dressed in a blue fleece footed sleeper with a snowflake print on it. Additionally, I was wearing a pink nightgown that went down to my ankles with a lacy trim around the neck and wrists. Finally, I had on a pair of white slippers that looked somewhat like ballet slippers. They were low cut and had a strap that ran over the center of the foot to secure them.
I waited anxiously for 8:00 to arrive, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't sleep at all. I was just too excited with the matter that we would be opening presents in a little under two hours. About 10 minutes later, Scott woke up because he had to use the bathroom. He climbed down from the top bunk and left the room. He came back about 5 minutes later. "Good morning Jen, what's wrong can't sleep?" he whispered. I nodded and explained that I was just too anxious about opening presents to go back to sleep. I told him that I had to sneak out for just a peek. Scott shook his head, "You really shouldn't, you know that mom and dad will be mad if you get up too early." "I know." I replied, but I couldn't help it. "We'll just have to fix this for you" he said. Scott walked over to the dresser and opened the bottom drawer. He took out two short pieces of rope and walked over to me.
"Jennifer, could you turn around please" he instructed. I sat up and turned around, I needed something to take my mind off the presents in the living room. I put my crossed my wrists behind my back and Scott began to wrap them horizontally with five or six loops of rope. Then he made a couple of vertical turns and knotted it off in the middle above my wrists. Then he continued and began to bind my legs at the ankles with the other remaining piece of rope. He looped it around my legs a few times and cinched it off before knotting it. “There we go, that should hold you for a while at least he said.” With that, he turned the light back off and climbed back into bed to sleep until 8.
I rolled onto my stomach and squirmed against the ropes that bound my hands and feet. They were snug, but not all that tight or elaborate. I probably could have escaped by bringing my hands to my front if I really wanted to, but I decided to just leave them alone. I struggled for a few minutes and then I relaxed my efforts and fixed my eyes on the clock on the dresser. I assumed Scott would let me out a little before it was time to go get presents, which left me about 45 minutes tied up. Eventually, I must have dozed off, for a little bit despite the ropes, because the next thing I remember was waking up to my mother's voice. "Merry Christmas, time to wake up.” I opened my eyes and looked over at the door to see my mother standing there with a surprised look on her face. I glanced over at the clock and it was about 7:30.
"Well this is a pleasant surprise; it looks like you'll have to sleep in for once Jennifer." she said jokingly. "I hope you weren't tied up all night, were you?" I shook my head no, and explained that Scott had added the ropes to keep me from sneaking out about an hour ago. She gave me a quiet smile and walked over to where I was laying on the bed. She reached down and undid the knot securing my hands and untied them. Well, were going to get started a little early this year so come to the living room when you’re ready. I began to work on the ropes around my ankles. My mother stood up and shook Scott gently awake. "Time to get up and open presents sleepyhead,” she whispered. Scott sat up and yawned and rubbed the sleepiness from his eyes. Then he slowly climbed out of bed and headed for the door. He looked my way to see if I had been untied remembering an hour ago. I was already sitting up coiling the ropes on my bed. Then I got up and followed him out the door.
(Our parents never really treated our games as weird or anything. I guess they assumed that they were a phase Scott and I were going through and would grow out of. Sean and Mary had played similar games when they were younger. So, they left it at that. They never really participated directly in them other that allowing them to occur. They allowed us to keep rope around the house and they had gotten us each a set of handcuffs last year as a joke present. Sometimes my mom would untie me if she found me bound, but our parents never really initiated the situation.)
We got to the living room to find the rest of the family already assembled for the morning. Sean and Mary were seated on the sofa and my father was in the easy chair on the left side of the sofa. Mary was dressed in a white night gown wearing a blue robe over it. Sean and Scott were each wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt. I took a seat on the other high-backed padded chair across the way from my father. Scott seated himself on the floor in front of the coffee table. My mom went over to the tree and began to pass out the presents to the rest of the group. Scott and I got a fair number of smaller packages, while Sean got a five or six around the same size. Mary only got two packages this year and they weren't very big. Our parents exchanged their usual gifts as well as the things we got them from our school shop and a few things from Mary that turned out to be college sweatshirts.
We went around in a circle opening a present each in turn by age. Sean got a new portable CD player and quite a few CD's. Scott and I both got clothes and a few toys. He also got a few new games for his play station and I got my first game boy that year with a game. I had asked for one for a while, but my parents had put off buying one until now. Mary received a few gift certificates that she could shop with down where she went to school. The other package was a portable computer that my parents had gotten for her. She was really surprised and thanked them for it. It took us about an hour to work our way around through the presents and we had a good time doing it. We flashed a few smiles around the room and wished each other a Merry Christmas. We knew that we would be leaving in a few hours for our grandparent's farm. It took roughly 4 to 5 hours to get there depending on the weather and traffic.
"Hang on, I still have one more surprise,” my mom said. My mother went over to the closet over by the door and opened it and rummaged through the top shelf removing two more presents. The first two were about the size of a shoebox and the others were a little smaller but still square in shape. They were all wrapped in shiny red wrapping paper. My mom came over and gave one of them to Scott and the other to me. "I picked this out especially for you Jennifer, go ahead and open it." she said. "Start with the big one", Sean offered. We tore the wrapping paper away excitedly. Underneath was a box that said in big bold letters "Men's Work Boots size 12". Scott and I stared over at my mom with a look of strange curiosity. "Um gee ... thanks I guess" I offered sarcastically, reading the box. "I needed a big box Jennifer, and that one was the closest size that I had available" she said "Open it up".
I opened the box slowly wondering what it contained. When I saw its contents, they were even more confusing than the label on the box. The box contained what appeared to be a wad of seat belts and two small rectangular pieces with a zipper on each side of them. Scott looked up and said "What in the h___ is this?" "It's a safety harness for in the car Scott." My mother explained. "I found out about them online on a message board about a month ago when Jennifer asked me if they made car seats for bigger kids." I thought back to about 5 weeks ago just after I turned 9 and had outgrown the booster seat I was in. Up to this point in my life, I had always ridden in a car seat that later became a booster seat for an older kid. It began with a safety harness for when you were four to seven and then switched to a booster seat afterwards. There was a time on a camping trip where I got tied up in it in our camper. (See A long camping trip part 2) Anyway, Scott had also brought the old harness that went with it and managed to squeeze me into it. It was weird, but it still fit me up last summer. I had gone back to wearing it up until to about two weeks before my birthday when I had outgrown the seat altogether.
I liked the way it felt because it reminded me of being tied up by forcing me to sit still and upright. I told my mom that I felt safer with it than just a seat belt, so she let me where it until I outgrew it. About a week later, I had asked my mother if they made car seats for bigger kids, and she told me she didn't think so but she would try to find out. I guess she had found something pretty close online. I set the first mess of seat belts down on the sofa and found a second one in the bottom that had one long belt with four little belts coming off of it that ended in clips. I picked them up and looked them over trying to figure out how they work. "How does it work mom?" I asked, giving up staring at it. "Here, I'll show you if you want, but you need to take off your nightgown first, otherwise it probably won't fit you." I stood up and pulled the nightgown off over my head, I was getting pretty warm with two layers of pajamas on anyway. This left me dress in my sleeper and slippers.
My mom came over and grabbed the seat belt with the four little ones coming off of it. "This goes around the back of the seat in the van" she said. My mom demonstrated by wrapping the long belt around the chair I had been sitting in. Then she came around and buckled the belt behind the chair and tightened it up snuggly. Then she pulled it down so two of the shorter belts were at the back of the chair seat and the other two were about two thirds of the way up. My mother gave the main belt a pull to make sure it was tight against the chair back. "Now" she said, "the main harness goes onto your body and attaches you to this belt on the back of the seat." She picked up the main harness and attempted to fasten it to me over my pajamas. I will describe it as best I can.
It was burgundy in color and the webbing was about the width of a normal car seat belt. It began at my waist with a standard belt that looped around me just above my hips. The waist belt had two metal D rings located on each side at the hips that were fixed in place on the vest. The harness also had two shoulder straps that came up over my shoulders and connected to the front and back of the lap strap. The shoulder straps each had an embedded D ring at the top of their arch and a sliding clip to adjust them. My mother tightened the shoulder straps down to fit me snuggly. It also had a strap that came around just under my armpits and wrapped around connecting in the back and to both shoulder straps in the front. They all came together in the back where the center of the shoulder straps connected in the small of my back with a zipper to close the harness. Finally, it had two smaller inch thick straps that were sewn in near the D rings in the back. They came up between my legs and met in the front; where they buckled with a fatex buckle. When fastened, they snugged the harness tightly down against my body.
(I did some research and learned a few weeks ago that a company called EZ-on made it. They specialize in school bus restraints but they make similar products for family cars. If you want to see what it looked like, their site is here but this was several years ago. http://www.ezonpro.com )
I could see why I had to remove my nightgown, there was no way the leg straps would fasten over a gown that went down to my ankles. My mom picked me up and seated me against the back of the chair where the securement belt was. She took each of the clips on the smaller belts and attached them to the D rings on the lap and shoulder straps. "There we go Jen, what do you think." I pulled against the belts hard and wiggled around a little. But, the straps held me tightly in place and forced me to sit up straight. I tried sliding my arms and legs around a little, but there was no way I could wiggle out of the harness. I jerked forward hard, but the harness held me securely against the back of the chair. I had to admit, it proved to be very secure and completely escape proof. The best part was that it closed in the back, which meant I couldn't get out. I told my mom that it was perfect and that I liked it quite a bit. "I figured you would Jennifer" she replied. "When I saw them online, I thought it was exactly what you wanted and I liked it because it looked safe." My parents were very safety conscious.
I sat there strapped securely to the living room chair; I was the immediate attention of everyone in the room. My mom explained that the two rectangles with the zippers were to expand the harness in the back as I got older or added winter clothing. Scott looked less enthusiastic than I did about the whole idea. He was still ten at the time and probably thought it made him look childish. However, the next gift changed his mind slightly. My mom handed me the second package which, I had almost forgotten about. I opened it up and found a smaller box that contained another interesting accessory. It contained a set of two small loops of seat belts each about 3 inches in length with a fatex buckle to close them and another attached strap with a clip on it. I stared at them curiously and then I looked up at my mom. "Wrist straps," she commented, "I know you guys play tie up quite a bit, and I thought why not when I saw them. Mary gave me the idea when she told me how well behaved you were tied up in the camper last summer. Do you want to try them out?" she asked.
She came over and wrapped one of the loops around my left wrist and secured it with the buckle. She repeated the process on my right hand, then she clipped them to the D rings on the lap part of the harness. I pulled against them to test the limits of my new confinement, but they held pretty tight. My arms were now pinned at my sides and allowed only an inch or so of movement. The straps hugged my wrists tightly and prevented my hands from touching or doubling back to unclip the straps. Now I really couldn't move my upper body at all. Scott looked over at me as I struggled unavailing against the straps. "Nice touch mom," he offered as he looked down at his own set. Scott's harness was identical to mine except they were brown in color. I guess they color-coded the sizes. He thanked mom for the present and said he would wait until the ride down to try it out. My mom came over to let me out, but I asked if I could stay like this a little longer. She nodded, "Until breakfast if you want to, in about half an hour". She also explained that the hand straps were just for a fun joke and she didn't really expect us to wear them in the car.
Sean stood up and walked over examining the seat belts I was secured with. "That's pretty neat Jen." He offered with a quiet smile. "It's too bad they don't make them in my size" he joked with a snicker. I laughed in agreement with the idea of my teenage brother all strapped in like I was in a car. "Actually" my mother trailed off; "they do make them in teenage and adult sizes. Would you wear one if I got you one?" she asked. Sean looked at her for a moment and realized that she was serious. He thought about it for a minute and gave his reply. “Sure, why not.” As long as it’s just for family trips" he offered. I guess that Sean like this kind of stuff even at his age. I shouldn't have been surprised, he still wore safety pads when he skated and he even wore a helmet when he went sledding in the winter. However, what happened next really surprised me. My mom went over to the closet and pulled out a brown cardboard box.
"I ordered one for you too," she explained. "I didn't want to give it to you until I knew how you would react. If you thought it was too childish I thought I would just return it, but if you’re serious here you go." Sean looked at the box in front of him as if he was having second thoughts. But, then he opened it and looked at the harness inside. It was the same as mine and Scott's except it was bigger. It was also black in color and didn't have the straps that go between the legs on it. My mom explained that the leg straps only came on the smaller sizes, but she could order him some if he wanted. He shook his head and said it was fine as it was. Mary made an affirmative bid that she didn't think she wanted one. I stayed in the harness until breakfast when Mary came over and let me out so we could eat. Overall, it was a pretty interesting morning.
After we ate, we all took some time to bathe, change our clothes, and get ready for the next few days that we would spend at our grandparents. My dad put our bags and toys in the back of the van and got the seat belts that secured the harnesses in place in the van. While we got ready, Scott and I talked about what we wanted to do while we rode down. Originally, I had planned to play my game boy, but Scott suggested that I try my new present instead. He offered that he would if I would for the ride down. I said okay to the idea and we ran it by our mother. She said it was fine and that she would look forward to a peaceful ride down for a change. So, I went to my room to finish getting ready to go. I packed my game boy instead of taking it in the car with me. It was a very cold morning out at only 10 degrees, but I was dressed well for the weather.
My base layer consisted of a T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Next I added a blue sweater with long sleeves and a picture of Rudolph on it over the shirt. I was wearing a pair of white socks and a pair of black T-strap Mary Jane dress shoes with a flat bottom. Next, I added my outer layer to the outfit. I had a pink one-piece snowsuit that covered me from head to toe. It was bulky and closed with a zipper that ran up the front from my waist to my chin. It also had snaps that closed over the zipper to keep the cold out and a belt to snug it up at the waist. It had an attached hood that had a drawstring to secure it. Also, the wrists and ankles had cuffs that you could snug up with a strip of Velcro. Overall, it was very bulky and warm, perfect for playing in the snow or a long car ride without much heat reaching the back. I also had on a wool stocking cap under the hood and a set of earmuffs. My hands were also covered with two layers of mittens. The first was a set of fleece mittens to keep my hands warm. I covered them with an outer layer of waterproof mittens with extended cuffs to keep my hands dry. I had Sean help me Velcro the snowsuit cuffs overtop of them. I was well bundled up, but it was necessary.
When I went out to the van, my mom was there loading the last of the cousin's presents into the car. She told me we would be leaving in about 10 minutes and asked if I was ready to go. I told her that I was and asked if she could help me into the new harness because of my mittens. She helped me into the harness and secured it snuggly to my body. It was really a tight fit with the snowsuit underneath it. I asked her if she could do my hands too and she replied that if I really wanted her to she would. I told her that I did and she wrapped the straps around my mittens and secured them to my sides. About this time, Scott and Sean came out ready to load up. Scott was dressed similarly to me except he only had a coat on and was wearing tennis shoes. Both of them were already in the vests. My mom asked Sean if he would help us while she went inside to get dad and a few more things. Sean said he would and she went back to the house.
Sean helped me into the back seat of the van. I was seated next to the wall opposite the side door. Sean removed the mittens he was wearing and secured my harness at the four clips. Scott climbed in on the seat next too me, and Sean went to secure him as well, but he told him to wait a minute. Scott asked me if I was comfortable, and if I wanted to be a little more secured for the trip. I told him I was fine, but I didn't care if he added a little more restraint, after all I was secured to the seat and my hands were already off limits. He reached into his coat pocket and produced my set of handcuffs. He bent down and secured them around my ankles just below the cuffs on the snowsuit and locked them in place. This effectively immobilized my feet. Then he reached into his other pocket and pulled out a large wadded up handkerchief. He asked me to open my mouth, which I did. Then he stuffed it inside and filled up my mouth. Finally, he took a scarf out of his pocket and wrapped it over my mouth and around my head three times before knotting it off. He made sure not to cover my nose, and I could still breathe through my mouth anyway. But I was still gagged very effectively and no one would be the wiser.
Then, Scott pulled out another handkerchief and added it to his own mouth and secured it with a scarf. Next, he took out his pair of handcuffs and connected his feet at the ankles with them. Finally, he put his fleece mittens back on and sat down on the seat on the opposite side. Sean clipped him into the seat and then secured his hands with the wrist straps. Then Sean sat down and secured himself to the seat in front of us with the four clips. Then he reapplied his green waterproof mittens to his hands and waited for our parents to return. I guess I will mention that Sean was dressed in a green winter snowsuit and tennis shoes. He sat there and folded his hands neatly on his lap. We just sat and waited for about five minutes until our parents came out and joined us. The finished packing and boarded the van. My father would be driving and my mother sat in the front passenger seat. Mary would be driving down separately.
I sat in the back seat pretty still because of the wrist straps and handcuffs on my feet. Sean and our parents talked quite a bit on the ride down, but I couldn't really hear what they were saying. After all, I was sitting in the back seat and I had on earmuffs, hat and my hood. Not that it really mattered, because I couldn't talk anyway. The scarf wasn't all that tight, but in combination with the hood that was neatly secured with a bow it worked. I couldn't work the handkerchief out of my mouth at all. I spent most of my time looking out the window at the scenery because there really wasn't anything else to do. From time to time I would struggle or reposition myself a little, but it was nearly impossible to move. We stopped twice, once for lunch and the second for a bathroom break at a rest stop. Both times it took an extra 10 minutes just to get us out and back in, but my parents didn't mind because it was the quietest we had ever been in the car for them. Even though Scott and I were only two feet apart, there was absolutely nothing we would do to annoy each other.
After lunch, Scott and I decided not to have the handkerchiefs back in because they hurt the jaw after a while. But we still had the scarves and pretended that we couldn't talk. At the second stop, Scott decided he wanted his hands and feet free for the last hour of the ride. My mom said that the quiet was nice while it lasted, but she thought we would get tired of it sooner or later. I still wanted to wear mine for the last hour of the ride, which I was allowed to do. My mom told Scott that if he bothered me he would regret it. That seemed to do the trick because he didn't bother me at all. At one point my nose started to itch from the scarf right below it. I asked Scott if he could get it and he reached over and scratched it with his mitten hand for me.
I had to admit that it was a peaceful and interesting ride. The wrist straps were designed for long-term wear and I hardly felt them through the snowsuit and mittens unless I pulled hard against them. Overall, it was a comfortable ride down to my grandparents’ house. I'll share more on this in the next installment.
I guess I should wrap this one up around here. I have already put more time in than I originally intended to. Oh well, I ended up wearing the harness in the car until I was about 14 years old. My mom bought me the next size up twice in there as well. Scott wore one until he was 12 and once in a long while afterwards. Sean gave his up when he started driving. They were just part of my growing up that I remember in conjunction with tie up games. I guess our parents were a little over protective, which is not always a bad thing. I wore mine on the school bus for a couple of years as well until I got to junior high. Our mom let us wear the wrist straps from time to time in the car. But only if we were going on a long trip and only if we wanted to. She never forced us to if we didn't want to. I never really considered it tie up gear, unless my hands were strapped. It was fun once in a while, but I certainly didn't want them tied down all the time.
As for Sean, he was always a good older brother to Scott and me. I asked him about it recently and he told me he put up with all this safety stuff for three reasons. First, he did it because it reminded him of when he was a younger kid and he missed that. When Mary moved to college, he lost his favorite sibling to play and joke around with. Secondly, he wore safety stuff because it was what he was used to growing up and he just felt better with it. Finally, he did it to set a good example for Scott and me. When Mary left, we became the kids that he played with most and our parents made sure we were safe. Sean put up with it because it helped to shorten our age gap. For example, because he wore the harness that our mother got him, Scott and I didn't feel like little kids compared to him because we did. We just accepted it as part of life.
I have a few other incidents where I got tied up using the harness in the car. However, they aren't as memorable or well suited as this one. Still, if you guys want to hear them let me know and I will take some time and put them together. I didn't know if this was appropriate for this forum, because most of the stories here involve using ropes more than things like this. Still, I thought it was something different to share with you guys and it didn't contain any inappropriate material. So, I posted it anyway. Let me know what you think. I'll continue the series later. I've decided that I will just bounce around a bit. I will finish my camping stories later. In a week or two. I am just deciding whether to include a particular incident or not in part six. There is nothing inappropriate with it; I just don't think it will add that much to the story for the space I have to waste telling it.
Jennifer
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Jennifer's stories
- 01 - My First Time (f/mf)
- 02 - Trying New Things: Breakfast with Mom (Fm/f)
- 03 - A Walk in the Park (mm/f)
- 04 - The Pole and the Dungeon (m/f)
- 05 - A long camping trip (mmf/f)
- 06 - One Rainy Day at Home (m/f)
- 07 - Winter Vacation at Grams (both genders)
- 08 - A Long Weekend tied up (F/f)
- 09 - Shopping with Mom (F/f)
- 10 - My New Friend (m/f)
- 11 - The Bike Trip (m/f)
- 12 - Sharing With Friends (Ffff/fff)
- 13 - New Horizon (Both Genders)
- 14 - A Trip to My Aunts (mFF/f)
- 15 - A Second Christmas Story (mmff/mmf)
- 16 - Mary's Weekend (F/F)
- 17 - The Next Chapter (*/self, f/f)
- 18 - Ropes and Skates (Good Combination?) (MFmf/fff)
- 19 - Hanging With Mary (F/f)
- 20 - College (FFF/FF)
- 21 - College Days : Stephanie's Captive (F/F)
- 22 - College Days : A New Chapter, Ashley Gets Involved (*/self, F/F)
- 23 - College Days : A New Chapter, Ashley Comes Back (F/F)
- 24 - College Days : A New Chapter, Normal is Good (F/F)
- 25 - College Days: Theodore Roosevelt (FF/F)
- 26 - College Days: Summer Job at the Farm (F/F, M/F)
- 27 - Holiday Trip to Grandma's (f/f, f/m, m/fmm)
- 28 - A Long Trip to Alaska (self/f, F/fmm)
- 29 - The Pioneering Experience (mmmm/f)
Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section