09 - Shopping with Mom
Story index at the bottom
By Jennifer
Hello everyone, it is Jennifer here again. It has been a while since I posted a story here on the site. So, I decided it was finally time to kick it off with a new one today. As for the comments about my last post. I apologize if I offended anybody that I posted the return in the location where we usually post stories here. I guess I just made a mistake. Anyway enough with the apology. I am going to finish my story from this spring in my next posting. I was going to finish it now, but I saw something today that prompted a memory and I wanted to get it out right away. So, without further ado. Here we go.
I sat back in the back seat of the car and watched the telephone poles fly by. It was a Monday afternoon in March, the second day of our spring break. We had already been home for three days, with nothing really important to do. My mother was going grocery shopping as she always did on a Monday in during the week. Earlier that morning she had extended the offer to see if any of us wanted to accompany her to the store. (Note, Sean and Scott were both home, but Mary was still away at college at the moment.) Both of my brothers had declined the invitation, but I was bored out of my mind and I wanted something to do. So, I decided to go with my mother just as a chance to get out of the house.
So, here I was sitting in the back seat of the car looking out the window at the scenery as it passed. That was all I really could do at the moment. My mother liked to shop at a store that was in the next town over. We lived in a small town and there was really only one main grocery store available and my mother really didn't like their selection or prices, so she drove almost 40 minutes out of her way to shop at a different grocery store. I swear that she spent more on gas and the ice she always bought to keep the cold foods cold in the cooler than she saved on groceries. Still, it was her choice and I was just along for the ride at the moment.
That was what I was doing too. Just sitting in the back seat along for the ride. The truth of the matter was that I was strapped in pretty tight and there wasn't much that I could do about it. I guess I will take a moment and describe my outfit for you. It was nothing fancy. I was wearing a pair of blue jeans, a green t-shirt with a emblem on it. I was also wearing a pair of tennis shoes with white socks. Finally, I was wearing a gray hooded fleece sweat shirt with the hood up and a pair of pink fleece mittens over my hands. It was warm enough out that I really didn't need mittens, but it was also cool enough that nobody would probably question them. I preferred to wear them for a different reason. I always liked wearing mittens during a tie up game or similar situation as child because they make it much more difficult to untie knots or undo straps. Plus, they keep ropes from digging into the hands so much.
My real predicament was not my outfit, but the harness that I was secured to the back seat of the car with. It is the same on that I had gotten for Christmas. (I was nine at the time of this story. For those of you not familiar with my stories, you can read it at www.jenniferstories.50megs.com it is the winter vacation part one story listed there. It is also in the archives section of this site under August I believe.) For those of you who are unfamiliar with the safety harness that I wore in the car, I will take a moment below and describe it for you. If you want the background to the reason I was wearing it, read the story listed above if you already haven't.
The harness that I was wearing was one of the vest type ones similar to the ones made by the ez-on pro company. It primarily consisted of a webbing type material that was about the normal thickness and consistency of a car seat belt. It wrapped around me snuggly in several places. The harness began with a normal waist belt that wrapped around my waist just above my hips. It then had two shoulder belts that went over both of my shoulders and connected to the waist belt in the front and back. Next it had another belt that wrapped around my body at about chest height just below my arms. All of these straps came together in the back and where the harness closed with a zipper. This made it difficult to remove on my own and provide a tight and secure fit once the shoulder straps were drawn tight.
The vest also had a double crotch strap that was drawn snugly between my legs. It was sewn on in two places on the back waist belt and connected to the front with a fatex buckle. Overall, once it was fastened, the harness was drawn tight to my body and didn't allow much slack. The harness connected to a special seat mount. There were two sets of D-rings one at the waist and one at the top of the shoulders. The mount was basically a vertical strap that wrapped around behind the seat and clipped onto the four straps to secure the vest part to the seat. Once the clips were fastened, it held me quite securely in place on the seat. I was also wearing a normal lap seat belt in the middle of the back seat as an added safety measure.
As you can see, I was quite secured at the moment, but I also had several other items that held me even more securely in place. My mother had gotten me several accessories for the vest that secured my limbs to the harness and made it even more difficult to move around. The first was a set of wrist straps. They were composed of a loop of seat belt that closed securely around each wrist. They then sealed with a heavy fatex buckle that kept them secured around each wrist. Then they clipped to the lower D-rings on the bottom of the vest to secure my hands to my sides. When they were clipped, it prevented me from being able to bring one hand over to unstrap the other. The position of the buckles on the wrist also made it impossible for me to remove the wrist strap with the arm that it was on. The mittens also made it more difficult to escape, they kept my arms secured helplessly at my sides and prevented me from doing anything with my hands.
In addition to the wrist straps, the vest had a second set of straps that secured my upper arms to the sides of the harness. They were meant to be used in lieu of the wrist straps if you wanted to partially restrain the arms of the passenger I guess, but I was wearing both at the moment. They were attached to the harness at the strap that ran just under my arms. The straps wrapped around the upper arms just below the shoulder and secured similarly to the way the wrist straps were with a fatex buckle. My mom had sewn them into the harness and I had gotten in the habit of always using them. I just like the way that they felt because they kept my arms at least somewhat more under control. I had seen it on the website that made my harness and asked my mother to get them and another accessory for me. She told me no at first, but after a month or so of whining, I got my way.
The final accessory that I was wearing wasn't attached to the harness directly, but it really helped in keeping me sitting still. The final accessories was a set of ankle restraints that were currently wrapped around my ankles just above the top of my tennis shoes. Again they were similar in construction to the wrist straps in that they were made of a loop of seat belt and closed with a fatex buckle. I had one around each of my ankles. They didn't clip to the vest, but they clipped together at the ankle and secured with a fatex buckle in the middle. They were quite strong and held up quite well against any struggle that I threw against them. Basically, they were like a giant pair of handcuffs for the feet and I have to admit that they worked pretty well
I should note that while I always wore the harness in the car, I didn't always use the ankle and wrist straps. However, I was bored today and I hadn't been tied up in a while. So, I had asked my mother if she would help secure me and she had obliged my request. Personally, I think she liked it when Scott and I were secured this way in the back seat. It cut out all of the sibling rivalry on long car trips. However, today I was by myself. I guess my mother just decided to placate me rather than argue about the issue. She never really had a problem with any of our games anyway.
So, there I sat in the back of the car all strapped in and down. I really couldn't move very well. I could move my joined legs up and down a little bit, but other than that I couldn't move more than a few inches one way or the other at the moment. So, I just sat back and watched the scenery go by as we drove across town to the grocery store.
I looked out the window a final time as my mother brought the car into the parking lot and turned into a parking space. She pulled the car into a space and shut of the engine. “Well Jennifer, were are here. Do you want to get out now or do you want to wait here until I get a cart?“ I thought it over and told her that I would stay put until she got back with a shopping cart. (for those of you who would worry, my mother was just getting a cart from the coral that where people left carts in the parking lot when they were finished with them. It was only 4 spaces down from where we were parked. She would never leave me alone in the car while she went into the store.) My mother nodded and exited the car and headed down to the coral to fetch a shopping cart.
I watched her from the window and waited wondering what type she would bring back. Ever since I was little, I usually rode in a cart when I went shopping with my mother. Recently, I had outgrown the built in child seat that you find on most shopping carts. They are only supposed to hold a child up to 35 pounds anyway. Still, the store my mother shopped at had two other types of carts with build in child carriers that I could still fit if I wanted to. The first was called a shop along cart. It was a plastic mount that attached to the front of the shopping cart and had seating that could hold up to two small children side by side. I was small for my age and could easily fit on either of the two sides. My mother would often use one when I went shopping with her.
The seats also had a set of built in safety harnesses. They were nothing fancy, and consisted of straps similar to what you would normally find in a stroller that secured with a fatex buckle. It had a lap belt and a shoulder crotch strap combination. The seat belts were meant to keep younger children between the ages of two and four strapped in safely. However, the seats could easily hold a child of up to age 11 or even 12. Most older kids who rode in one of these carts just sat on the seat and left the straps unbuckled and off to the sides. If I rode in one, I usually used the safety straps. If I expanded them almost all the way they would fit me pretty comfortably. Scott would sometimes sit on the other side of the seat when he came with us, but he was never strapped in. Though my mother made him wear the lap belt if he misbehaved in the store.
The second type of cart mount that they had available was attached to front of the cart also. It was just had a plastic yellow bench that could sit two children side by side. The bench had armrest and a raised back with a space between the seat and the back of the bench. It looked like a miniature version of a park bench attached to the front of a grocery car. It also hand normal lap seatbelts similar to the ones you would normally find in the normal seat of a shopping cart. I preferred the first of the two types of carts, because it kept me secured better.
My mother was returning from the car coral with one of the yellow bench carts much to my dismay. She arrived at the car and opened the door on my side of the car. “Well Jennifer, are you ready to go?“ She asked. I nodded and told her that I would have preferred the other type of shopping cart if they had one. We have had this conversation before, and my mother knew my opinion on the matter as well as my fascination with being tied up or strapped down. However, she just smiled and came over to the car and unbuckled the D-rings on my harness from the four points on the seat mount. Then she did something rather peculiar. Normally at this point she would undo the wrist straps and let me out of the harness, so I could get into the shopping cart. Instead, she lifted me onto of the car still in the vest harness and put me on the bench seat of the shopping cart and secured the lap seat belt.
I gave my mother a surprised look and asked what she was up to. “I know that you like to be strapped in tight Jen, so I thought I would try something new today. If that is okay with you?“ I nodded and told her that it would be okay with me and I wanted to know what she had in mind. Rather than answer my question, my mom walked around to the trunk of our car and opened it. Then she removed something that I had never seen before. It looked pretty simple and I will do my best to describe it. My mother removed a strange looking strap from the trunk of the car and brought it over to where I was seated. It was shaped like a big letter X and had four straps that came out of a central point. Each of the straps were about an inch thick or maybe they were a little thicker, I really don't remember that well. However, each of the straps ended in a retractable clip, kind of like the clip that you would use to attach a leash to a dog collar. The type where you push down and that little metal bar retracts and then you hook it on.
Anyways, my mother came over to where I was seated carrying the small device. I finally worked up the courage and turned to face her. “What is that?” I asked her timidly, trying to hide the excitement in my voice. “It's a chair mount for your harness,” she explained as she began placing it on me. In reality the devices was pretty simple. It was designed to secure the harness to a chair or in this case the bench I was seated on. My mother came over and began by clipping the top two straps on the D-rings on the top of the harness. Then she wrapped the straps around the back of the bench seat and clipped the lower two D-rings on the waist belt on my harness. Finally, she drew the straps down tightly in the back. “There we go Jennifer, that should hold you pretty good. How is it?”
I looked up at her for a moment and then I decided to test the limits of my new situation. I leaned forward hard and pulled against the harness. However, it held secure and prevented me from being able to move more than an inch or two away from the seat. I gave it a few good tugs in each of the cardinal directions. However, it held me securely as if I was still in the car with the normal seat mount attached to the back of the harness. After another moment or two of struggling, I looked up at my mother and gave her an answer to her question. “It feels pretty secure to me. I don't think that I can get loose at all. Where did you find this?“ my mother smiled a little in spite of herself. ”I found it on the website that I found the harness on. It allows the harness to be used with a normal chair. So, I know you like this kind of stuff so I got one for you. Are you ready to go now?“
I nodded and told her that I was fine. “Do you want me to take of the wrist straps for you?“ I shook my head and told her that she could just leave me the way I was for the trip. I was really having a fun time with this little experience and I didn't want any slack in the situation. My mother nodded and began to push me into the store throughout the front door. We moved inside at a steady pace and I began to look around. The store was rather busy for a morning this early in the week. There were quite a few people coming and going. I pulled against the harness a little bit as we entered just trying to find a comfortable position to sit on the seat of the bench. It only took a moment to confirm what I already knew. My movements had been reduced to only a few inches and I couldn't shift around all that much.
Once we passed through the opening vestibule I relaxed my struggles almost all together and just let my situation sink in. As I had already said there were quite a few people here today. This was one of the first times that I was restrained this well in public and I didn't like the idea of drawing a lot of attention to myself. I was starting to feel a little embarrassed, but I decided to keep my mouth shut about it. This was kind of fun after all.
My mother for the most part ignored my situation and went about her business navigating the busy store and finding the items that she needed. When we were shopping our two worlds became separated and she was purpose driven. I spent most of my time trying to gage the reactions of the other people in the store who saw me all strapped down like this. The first five or six aisles moved by pretty quickly without much incident. I caught a couple of curious stares, but mostly from other children shopping with their parents. Some of the adults looked my way for a moment, but then they returned to the business that they had come to complete. I guess I didn't look all that out of place to any of them. There were a couple of kids who once they saw me didn't look away until we rounded the next isle, but nobody really said anything to me or my mother about the situation.
The first real incident happened at the deli counter. My mother approached the display and began to converse with the female clerk giving her the order as usual. The woman looked like she was maybe 30 or a little older. She saw me and gave my mother a curious look." Good morning Ms. _____ how are you doing today? It appears that you have your daughter strapped in pretty tight.“ She commented with a questionative tone of voice. My mother just shrugged her shoulders backwards. “Well, it keeps her out of trouble in the store.” The clerk gave me a quick smile and nodded in agreement as she finished up my mother's order. I had to admit that I agreed with her like it or not. I really couldn't get into any mischief strapped in like this. I really couldn't move at all.
Most of the rest of the shopping day passed without incident. We navigated the isles and my mother collected the various items on her shopping list. I continued to get a few stares here and there, but nobody really said all that much about it. Most of the other customers were in too big of a hurry to pay me any real attention. Still, it was a long ride and every look I got made me feel a little uneasy about the whole situation. Luckily it was coming to a close as we finally approached the checkout counter. I had been strapped down to the cart for about an hour now unable to move.
My mother picked one of the lines that would suit her needs. All of them were long and crowded. So, she just chose one that seemed reasonable in length and went for it. By the time we arrived we were the fourth cart in line. However, the line seemed to be moving at first and before too long the first two people in front of us had unloaded their carts and moved onwards. The lady in front of us began to unload her cart of groceries and my mother moved to the front of our cart so that she could unload it easier. Meanwhile, a couple of other customers pulled up behind us in line. The one directly behind us became the cause of trouble all together.
Right behind us, there was another mother with a little girl who couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 at the time. They were using one of the carts that had a double seat with the five point harness restraints for the kids. The child was riding on the left side of the seat with the harness left unbuckled behind her. “Mommy, I want to go look at the candy,” The young girl annunciated to her mother. Her mother gave her the okay to go look at the candy rack, which was located slightly to the right of where our cart was currently parked in the check out lane. With the permission given, the girl got out of the cart seat and walked the 8 feet over to the candy rack and began to look it up and down. She must have had a whole 50 cents in her pocket and she thought about spending it.
The girl looked up and down the candy rack for the next minute or two without much interest. She looked bored with the whole trip to the store. I looked back at her mom who was now buried in one of the supermarket magazines located at the end of the checkout line rack. The younger child continued to peruse the candy bars for a little while, but she soon lost interest in the idea and began to look around for something else to pass the time. Then she turned around and her eyes landed directly on me unfortunately. Meanwhile, the customer in front of us was finishing loading the last of her groceries and my mom was beginning to unload our cart onto the conveyer belt behind us.
It was clear that I had the girl’s total attention. She spent the better part of the next two minutes just staring me up and down and gauging my whole situation. She seemed to be fascinated with the fact that I was all strapped in. Once she finished looking around at me she shifted her gaze to the floor for a moment and stared at her feet. The girl had clearly had something on her mind, but she wasn't ready to bring it to the surface. The she looked up at me again. “What's your name?” she asked shyly as she returned her gaze to the floor. “Jennifer, what is yours?” I replied. “Carley,” she replied. I smiled and told her that it was nice to meet her. Anything was better than just sitting her at the moment.
With the ice broken the little girl became more bold and asked me if she could ask me a question. Ignoring the fact that she already had I told her to go ahead. “Why are you wearing so many seat belts?” she asked. I let the question settle and began to think of a logical answer to give to her. Finally, I settled on telling her that it was to keep me safe in the grocery store and to make me sit still. “Neat, but why are you handcuffed and feet cuffed too.“ she asked. I just shrugged, ”I just like the way that it feels” I explained as best I could. Next, she asked me if I could move very much, which I replied that I couldn't. I was beginning to lose the point of this conversation and I had little interest in finishing it.
Suddenly, the girl reached up and pinched me hard on my right leg just above the knee. I let out a small yelp and instinctively reach for her. However, the wrist strap on my right arm kept it snuggly at my side and the harness kept me centered in the middle of the seat. The girl stepped back out of reflex, but she quickly realized that she was well outside the reach of my restrained mitten hand. She waited a minute for the situation to diffuse, then she reached over and pinched me again. It was a little harder this time and I almost screamed. “Stop that you little brat.” I yelled at her. This caught her mother's attention and she lowered the magazine for a moment. “Carley, come back here and leave the girl alone. You are embarrassing me.“
The little girl sadly returned to her mother who seated her on the child seat of the cart. Then her mother secured the safety harness, probably to make sure that she wouldn't get up to bother me again. Carley didn't look too happy about the idea, but the brat had it coming. I was relieved when the cashier finally finished my mother's total and we exited the store heading for the parking lot. We headed back to the car and my mother undid the X strap and lap belt that secured me to the bench seat. Then she put me into the car and reattached the harness to the seat mount. “Mom, could you undo my wrist straps?” I asked. She nodded and unclipped my hands from my sides.
I took the next two minutes to remove the straps completely from my wrist and I decided to shed my mittens as well. I laid them all in the center of the seat off to my right. Then I pulled my legs upward and removed the double loops that secured my ankles as well. It had been an interesting experience to say the least, but it felt good to have my hands and feet free from the restraint. I still wore the car harness for the ride home, but it was nice to be able to move again. My mother finished loading the groceries into the car. Then, she got into the front seat and we headed home.
Woo, that was a long story to say the least. I guess I should comment that this was a singular incident. I still used the car harness or the child seat when we went shopping until I outgrew the child carrier seat. However, this was the last time that I rode with my hands and feet strapped down in the store. It was a neat thing to try once. But, I just wasn't comfortable with the idea in public. I could live with being strapped in because it didn't look all that out of place. But being tied up publicly made me feel a little uneasy. Still, it was a neat experience.
Sorry for taking so long to post this everyone. I have been working on it for a while. It is about 9 page and it took a while to type out and proofread. I hope you all enjoyed the story. Next time I will post the final part to my long weekend series that is so long overdo. But I wanted to get this typed up while the memory that triggered it was still fresh in my mind. Thanks for reading, I hope you all enjoyed my latest story. Feel free to post comments here or on the message board on my website.
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