Doctor George : 03 - Nina in Secrets and Surprises (f/f)

[Soraka]

Doctor George's stories
03 - Nina in Secrets and Surprises
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By Doctor George

by Doctor George » Fri Feb 07, 2014 7:55 am
Secrets and Surprises Part 1: The Librarian

It was just after 3:30 one Tuesday afternoon. Nina was in her classroom at the end of the school day, putting the books she would need for homework into her schoolbag and chatting to her friends. She had just closed her bag and picked it up when her form teacher called her back

“Nina, I’ve just had an email from the librarian. She wants to see you before you go home.”

Nina glanced at her watch. “Do you think it would be all right to leave it until tomorrow, Miss?”

“It sounds quite urgent from the wording of the message. Do you want me to email back and ask?”

“No thanks – it’s probably just as quick if I go along and find out what she wants to see me about and less bother for you, but thanks for offering.”

“No problem – see you tomorrow, Nina.”

“See you, Miss,” Nina replied as she left the classroom. She hoisted her schoolbag onto her back and went to her locker, which was in the corridor outside. She tucked her scarf and gloves into her cycle helmet and fastened its strap so she could carry it in one hand and slung her yellow cycle jacket over the other arm.

As she made her way to the library, Nina wondered why she had been summoned. She had been in the library at lunchtime, but couldn’t think of anything that could have happened for her to be called back and she was quite sure that none of her books were overdue.

Although she knew the librarian by sight and had exchanged a few words with her, Nina didn’t really know her as a person. She knew that her name was Chloé and that she was a French student librarian substituting for the regular librarian, who was on maternity leave.

The lights were on in the library, so Nina let herself in, closed the door behind her and looked around for the librarian.

“Un moment, s’il te plaît!” came a voice from behind one of the bookshelves.

Nina followed the voice and found the librarian standing on a library stool with a stack of books cradled in her left arm as she reorganised a high shelf. One thing Nina liked about the librarian was her style in clothes. Most of the younger teachers dressed in styles slightly older and more conservative than their years, presumably to reinforce their authority, but Chloé embraced a style all her own, exuberant and often bordering on the eccentric. That day she was wearing a tan coloured hip-length leather waistcoat with fake fur trim at the collar and arm holes over a turtle-necked sweater in cream-coloured unbleached wool. The black woollen tights she wore under her denim shorts were mostly hidden by a pair of charcoal-grey thigh-length socks. Another pair of socks, matching her sweater, were folded down over the top of her black Dr Martens boots.

As the librarian turned and stepped down from the stool, Nina could see the broad leather belt she wore over her sweater, echoing the glossy black of her boots.

“You wanted to see me, Miss Badelaine?” Nina said tentatively.

“In my office, young lady,” the librarian said, sweeping back her shoulder-length red hair, which had flopped forward over one eye.

Nina followed the librarian into the small office in one corner of the library. She closed the door behind her and waited nervously.

Chloé went behind her desk and sat down. “I have something of yours that I found in the library earlier on,” she said bending down and unlocking one of her desk drawers.

As the librarian reached down and rummaged through the drawer, Nina noticed the tails of a floral silk scarf peeking out of the sweater collar at the back of the French girl’s neck. She also noticed bulge of a knot showing through the sweater collar at the front, almost as if the scarf was used as a... Nina shook her head, dismissing the thought; she was obviously imagining things.

The reverie ended abruptly as the librarian deposited Nina’s scrapbook on the table. The outside of the book was plain blue cardboard so Nina knew that she had been identified as the owner by the contents. The front of the book contained cuttings from comics, some originals, some photocopies or scans and a few downloaded from the internet. All showed female characters tied up or restrained in other ways and often gagged. The sheer number testified to the length of time Nina had been collecting these images. Some were annotated in Nina’s small neat handwriting. The back of the book, however, made Nina’s ownership unmistakable. There was an increasing collection of photographs of Nina herself, either tied up or in the process of being tied up.

Nina racked her brain for anything she could say. The librarian broke the uncomfortable silence. “I think we ought to have a talk about this,” she said, not unkindly. “Why don’t you sit down?”

Nina nodded numbly and sat down on the chair at her side of the desk.

“I take it this is something of a hobby of yours?” Chloé asked.

Nina nodded, still unable to trust her voice enough to reply.

Chloé paged through the photographs in the book. “It looks as though you enjoy being tied up,” she said. “You seem to be smiling in all the pictures where you aren’t gagged.”

Nina nodded again.

“Does your mother know about this scrapbook?”

Another nod.

“Does she know you took it to school, today?”

Nina cast her eyes down in shame and gave a tiny shake of the head.

“It is as well it was I who found this and not one of your classmates. I think you would never have heard the end of this if some of them saw those pictures of you.”

Nina looked up, her eyes wide with horror at the thought. Her bottom lip started to quiver.

“Don’t cry, Nina,” Chloé said, laying the scrapbook on the desk and handing her a tissue. “I am not angry with you and you are not in as much trouble as you think you are.”

Nina blew her nose noisily then said, “Thank you, Miss,” in a very small voice.

“I think if I were to follow the rules, I probably ought to pass this to your guidance teacher. She’d probably look at the pictures and worry about your safety and before you knew it you’d have all sorts of people poking their noses into your life. I’m not going to do that, because I’m sure you’re not in any danger and I don’t think most of them would understand what this is about.”

“Do you understand, Miss?” Nina asked, feeling a little relieved.

“I think so,” the librarian replied with a smile. “Not so long ago, there was a little girl with red hair who lived in France. She loved books and spent as much time as she could reading. Even when she could read quite grown-up books, there were some children’s books she still loved to read. Have you heard of a character called Fantômette?”

Nina shook her head.

“Well in these books, there was a French schoolgirl named Françoise Dupont, a very intelligent girl, well read and able to speak several languages and a champion swimmer, skier, sailor and lots of other things. This girl Françoise had a secret identity as Fantômette, a brave crime fighter and righter of wrongs. The little French girl with red hair that I’m telling you about adored Fantômette and loved reading the books about her. Things didn’t always go smoothly for Fantômette in the stories and quite often she would find herself tied up by the villains and have to escape. It was the stories where Fantômette was tied up that the girl with red hair liked best. She liked to dress up as Fantômette in a yellow tunic with black tights, a mask and a hood and sometimes she would play at being Fantômette tied up and having to escape to save the day.”

“And the little red-haired girl who liked being tied up was you?” Nina said, smiling.

“Oui, c’était moi,” Chloé admitted, also smiling.

“So you really do understand,” Nina said, relieved.

“And you, young lady, need to understand that things like that scrapbook need to stay at home and not be left where anyone can find it.”

“Yes, Miss,” Nina said, reaching for her scrapbook.

“No, you still have a lesson to learn about taking good care of valuable – or sensitive – property. The scrapbook stays with me until Friday.”

Chloé picked the scrapbook up and returned it to her desk drawer, leaving Nina staring at the spot where it had lain.

“Come back and get it after school on Friday,” Chloé said firmly. “Now off you go. Ouste!”

“Yes, Miss,” Nina replied standing up and reluctantly leaving the library.

As she walked along the now deserted school corridors, Nina reflected on the position. She concluded that she trusted Chloé, and didn’t feel at all threatened by her but nevertheless felt very exposed having the scrapbook in someone else’s possession. Maybe that was the point that Chloé was trying to impress on her, she acknowledged. Still, there was nothing she could do about it other than to accept the situation, so she picked up her pace and went to the cycle rack where her bike was parked.

She put her yellow cycling jacket on, wrapped her scarf across her face and put her helmet on, fastening the straps under her chin. She unlocked the bike, secured her schoolbag to the rear carrier, switched the lights on and swung her leg over the saddle. Finally she pulled her gloves on and pedalled off into the late afternoon twilight.

* * *


Through the rest of the week, Nina remained anxious about her scrapbook, although she managed to put it to the back of her mind most of the time. School ended at 12:30 on Fridays and as soon as the last lesson was over, she quickly organised the books she would need for the weekend’s homework. She went to her locker in the corridor outside her form teacher’s classroom. It was a grey duffel coat rather than her usual yellow cycling jacket that she took out of it. She slid her arms into the sleeves, but left it unfastened then hoisted the black rucksack she used as her schoolbag onto her back. She hung her purple and white school scarf around her neck and pushed a purple knitted cap into one coat pocket to put on when she got outside. With her outerwear out of the way, Nina turned her attention to the small pink wheeled suitcase occupying most of the space in the locker. She heaved it out onto the floor and closed the locker door. She extended the telescopic handle on the case and set off for the school library, trundling it behind her.

Nina was surprised to see that most of the lights were already out in the library but relieved to find the door still unlocked. She let herself in and made her way to the librarian’s office. She paused and rapped politely on the office door, although it was standing open by a few centimetres.

“Come in,” the librarian invited.

Nina pushed the door open and stepped inside. She had not seen the librarian that day, but was delighted to note the usual combination of style, practicality and individuality in her choice of clothes. The high collar of a light grey sweater was visible at her throat. Over that she wore a thick tunic-length v-necked sweater in a slightly rusty shade of red that complemented her red hair. A wide black leather belt was visible at her waist. The layer on top was a heavy hooded cardigan in a darker shade of reddish brown and open at the front. As the librarian had one foot up on a chair, her black denim shorts were clearly visible under the long sweater. Nina noted the usual combination of woolly tights and over-the-knee socks covering the Frenchwoman’s legs. Today, the tights were light grey to match the innermost sweater and the socks a deep chestnut colour to echo the cardigan. Chloé was working a thick knit legwarmer up over the heel of her black Dr Martens boot. As she smoothed it up her leg almost to the hem of her shorts, it was revealed as being striped in fuchsia pink and purple.

“Don’t worry, Nina,” the librarian said, noticing Nina’s attention as she brought her foot down and straightened up, “the colours will co-ordinate when I get the rest of my outdoor things on.”

Chloé sat down at her desk and reached down to one of its drawers. She fumbled with a key for a moment then slid it open. Nina was relieved to see her scrapbook as it was laid on the desk. She unslung her schoolbag from her back ready to receive it.

“I think you should have a little look inside before you put it away,” the librarian suggested.

Nina glanced at Chloé’s face, but her expression revealed nothing. She opened the scrapbook and leafed through the familiar collection of illustrations until she reached the last few she remembered pasting in. Instead of blank paper, there followed several extra pages of pictures. They were all of the same masked young female character. Some were black and white line drawings but many were in colour and showed the character’s yellow tunic and red-lined black cape. In every single picture the character was tied up and in many cases tied to something.

Nina looked up to see Chloé smiling at her. The pictures were all labelled in the librarian’s precise, angular handwriting, but she still asked, “This is Fantômette that you were telling me about?”

“That’s right – I’m sure you see why I liked her.”

Nina nodded her agreement and turned the page. She gasped as she saw what was there. Following the book illustrations were several photographs. Some looked to have been scanned from quite old photographic prints while others looked more like prints direct from a digital camera.

The images that Nina took to be the older ones all showed a small girl, aged perhaps 10 or 11, she estimated. The girl was wearing what was clearly an improvised Fantômette costume with a yellow sweater worn over black tights and belted at the waist. Her black cape lacked the red lining and the tunic did not have the high collar shown in the book illustrations but the black hood framing her face and the black eye mask were there. The girl was securely bound with white rope and gagged with a handkerchief between her teeth in each photograph. Several of the photographs were carefully posed to reproduce situations shown in the book illustrations. The fringe of red hair made the identity of the girl very obvious.

“Fantômette isn’t gagged in the pictures in the books,” Nina pointed out.

“No,” the librarian agreed, “I always thought that was very stupid of the criminals. I insisted on being gagged when I was pretending to be Fantômette.”

The last three photographs were the ones Nina thought were from a digital camera. They showed a young but fully adult woman wearing a much more carefully copied Fantômette costume. The yellow tunic was neatly fitted with the correct high white collar and deep v-neck and the cape had its red lining. The hood appeared to be finely knitted with a long tail at the back ending in a pompom and the eye mask was stiff enough to stick out from the face at the sides. The red Mary-Jane shoes worn over the black tights were a good match on the ones worn by Fantômette in the book illustrations. The first of these three photographs showed the woman standing in s suitably heroic pose while the other two showed her tied to a chair with an enormous amount of white rope and gagged with a red cloth. As with the other photographs, the fringe of red hair made the subject’s identity obvious.

Nina was fascinated by the detail in the images of the adult Chloé as Fantômette tied to a chair. One of the pictures was almost front-on while the other was from slightly behind, so the arrangement of ropes was fully visible. Chloé’s wrists were crossed and bound behind the chair’s backrest. She was wearing black gloves, presumably to protect her wrists. Her upper arms were tied to the vertical side members of the wooden chair. Ropes were fastened to the top of the chair back and came forward over both Chloé’s shoulders, crossing over at chest level and fastened off to the tops of the back legs of the chair just below the seat. A wide band of rope held her waist back to the chair and another encircled her upper arms and chest. Chloé’s legs were lashed tightly together at her ankles, both above and below the knees and at mid-thigh level. The ends of the ankle and knee ropes were secured to the chair legs while the thigh rope was taken under the chair seat. The gag was at first sight simply a bandana tied between Chloé’s teeth but the slightly distended cheeks suggested there was more to it.

“Who tied you up?” Nina asked, intrigued.

“My mother.”

“What about these photos?” Nina indicated the last three photographs.

“Still my mother. We’ve played games together for a very long time.”

“And have you tied her up too?” Nina asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“Yes, but I’m not going to show you those pictures,” Chloé replied with a smile.

“Thank you for putting all these in my scrapbook,” Nina said, sensing that the conversation was drawing to a close.

While Nina had been studying the photographs, Chloé had put her second legwarmer on and was fastening the belt of a PVC raincoat in a startling shade of pink. “I like to make sure I’m clearly visible riding my cyclomoteur,” she explained in reply to Nina’s raised eyebrows. She picked up a Middle-Eastern style shemagh cotton headscarf. It was already folded diagonally into a triangle. She centred the folded edge on the bridge of her nose, crossed the ends behind her head, brought them to the front and loosely knotted them at her throat. The shemagh was in a cheerful bright purple but with a skull-and-crossbones pattern printed on it, which seemed to send a slightly mixed message. Chloé added a motorcycle helmet to her outfit. It was in the old-fashioned ‘pudding-basin’ style. The hard part, which covered just the top of her head, was black with a broad white stripe from front to back while the sides and back were soft black leather. Chloé fastened the strap under her chin then pulled down the goggles that were fastened around the helmet. They had circular lenses and added a touch of steampunk surrealism to the Frenchwoman’s already extraordinary outfit.

Nina put the scrapbook carefully away in her schoolbag and lifted it onto her shoulders.

Chloé put on her own bag, a leather satchel hanging at hip level, with its long strap running diagonally across her body. She picked up her keys and a pair of purple skiing mittens. “That’s me ready to go home,” she said. “It looks as though you are going a bit further than that with your suitcase,” she added.

“I’m off to visit my aunt for the weekend,” Nina explained as she preceded Chloé out of the library and waited as she locked the door.

“I’ll let you out through the staff entrance,” Chloé offered, leading the way.

Nina followed the librarian out to the school car park. Chloé went to her Solex moped, a classic French motorised bicycle. There was something hand-painted in what looked like runic script on the front of the cylindrical fuel tank above the front-mounted engine.

“Your moped has a name?” Nina asked.

“Sleipnir,” the librarian replied, adding, “The Norse god Odin’s eight-legged horse,” in response to Nina’s puzzled silence.

Chloé kicked up the moped’s stand and hoisted herself onto the saddle. She turned the ignition key then pulled her mittens on. She set off across the car park under pedal power then let the clutch in so that the tiny engine started with a cough and an angry snarl. She raised one hand and called out, “A bientôt!” as she stopped pedalling and pulled smoothly away under engine power.

A short walk from the school gates took Nina to the local bus station, which was in reality little more than an expanse of asphalt with parking spaces for buses marked out on it. She located the bus that would take her to the next town to visit her aunt and climbed on, dragging her suitcase behind her.

After buying her ticket, she sat down and considered her strange encounter with the Miss Badelaine. She had felt very vulnerable after the librarian’s discovery of her scrapbook but felt reassured by the gesture of trust that the new pictures represented. She wondered where this unexpected friendship might lead but nevertheless felt quite excited by it.

__________________________________________________________________________
Doctor George's stories

• 01 - Nina and the Lodger (f/f)
  02 - Nina in Christmas Interlude (f/f)
  03 - Nina in Secrets and Surprises (f/f)
  04 - Nina in Aversion Therapy (F/f)

__________________________________________________________________________
Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section

[Soraka]

Secrets and Surprises Part 2: Girl Friday

Nina glanced at her watch as the bus she was travelling on drew to a stop. Her school day finished at 12:30 on a Friday and she had hoped to be on a bus by 12:45 to arrive in the next town by 1:30. Her meeting with the librarian had made her a little later than that, but it was still only about 1:45 when she stepped off the bus. She looked around to orientate herself then set off for her aunt’s shop, trundling her pink wheeled suitcase behind her.

It was a chilly afternoon in early December, so her hair was covered with a purple knitted cap and the toggles on her grey duffel coat were fastened and the hood up. Her purple and white school scarf was wrapped twice around her neck on top of the hood and knotted at the back. Her hands were covered by a pair of black woollen gloves, but she was uncomfortably aware of the inadequacy of even a warm pair of tights against the chill air on her legs.

If one were to be scrupulously accurate, Nina’s Aunt Callie wasn’t an aunt at all, not being related to her by blood or marriage. Nevertheless, Calliope Wolf-Bassenthwaite, who had been a lifelong friend of Nina’s mother and had known Nina since birth was an aunt in all respects that mattered. Similarly, Callie’s daughter, Theodora (who answered to Theda) was, for all practical purposes, Nina’s cousin.

It took only a few minutes to reach Wolf’s Clothing, the vintage and second-hand clothing shop that her aunt owned. Nina opened the shop door and bounced her case up over the step as she entered. She had been to Aunt Callie’s shop on odd occasions before and was familiar with the unusual, but not unpleasant, slightly dusty smell of old clothes coupled with just a hint of camphor mothballs.

“Hello Nina!” Aunt Callie exclaimed delightedly, as if it had been years rather than a couple of weeks since they had last met.

Callie emerged from behind the counter. She was a little unconventionally dressed, but that was perfectly normal for her, partly because it went with her business and partly because that was the way she chose to dress anyway. Today’s outfit consisted of a tweed suit with a hip-length jacket and slightly puffed sleeves over a mid-calf-length skirt with a deep kick pleat front and back. The tweed was a particularly strident checked pattern majoring on oranges and greens. The jacket was fastened with a single button. The top of a white camisole could be seen in the deep V of the jacket’s neckline. A pair of brown lace-up boots were visible below the skirt, the two-inch blocky heels adding to Callie’s already considerable height. As she walked, there was the occasional glimpse of a pair of emerald green stockings. Callie’s frizzy hair was loose, forming a grey nimbus around her head and bringing her total height well over six feet if you included the heels.

Nina let go of her suitcase and deposited her school rucksack on the floor then reached up as her aunt bent down to hug her.

Theda appeared from the curtained opening leading to a small fitting room and the back premises of the shop. She tended towards the flamboyant in her choice of clothes for her everyday life as a college student anyway, but for helping in the shop, she went a little bit further. Her tall narrow frame was covered by a high-collared Chinese-style ankle-length electric-blue silk dress with a high Mandarin collar. The right hand side seam was open almost up to hip level, revealing a pair of cerise opaque tights underneath. The dress was sleevelesss so Theda had teamed it with a crocheted woollen shawl matching her tights. She wore it on her shoulders and knotted behind her back so that from the front view only her arms were covered. Theda’s footwear was a pair of black court shoes with Cuban heels, bringing her height up to match her mother. Her hair, equally as frizzy, was, however, tied back into an untidy bun and nailed in place with a pair of black chopsticks.

“I’ve sorted out some things for you to wear for helping in the shop this afternoon,” Theda said, beckoning.

Nina parked her case and schoolbag beside the counter and followed her cousin. Theda directed her into the fitting room and pulled a curtain across it.

Leaving Nina to change, Theda returned to the front of the shop, where her mother was back behind the counter checking some figures. A squeal of delight emerged from the fitting room.

“Good choice,” Callie said.

Her daughter just smiled in reply.

“I’m a steampunk version of me!” Nina exclaimed ecstatically as she emerged from the fitting room. She executed a little twirl to show off her costume. She wore a white blouse with a high collar and puffed three-quarter length sleeves. Around her neck was a purple tie with pairs of narrow white diagonal stripes on it, a little inexpertly tied. On top was a knitted tank top in broad purple and white horizontal stripes. Her skirt was black silk, quite short at the front and knee length at the back, flounced and further bulked out by two layers of white petticoat underneath. Her tights picked up the purple and white theme in narrow horizontal stripes and worked well with her own black Mary-Janes. A pair of black elbow-length fingerless gloves covered her hands and disappeared up inside the sleeves of her blouse. A straw boater in the traditional early 20th century schoolgirl style topped off the costume. It had a purple ribbon as a hatband and was surmounted by a pair of bronze-coloured steampunk goggles.

“Let’s tidy you up a bit,” Theda said. She loosened and re-tied Nina’s necktie.

“I’m not very good with these,” Nina confessed.

“They used to be part of every school uniform, even for girls,” Theda said, tugging the knot into shape. “And this one was for a pupil at your school, years back.”

“So that’s why the colours are the same as we wear now,” Nina said.

Theda removed Nina’s hat. “Traditional schoolgirl plaits, I think,” she said.

Nina took a small hairbrush and a comb out of her schoolbag, brushed her hair out straight and divided it along a centre parting. Theda braided one side while Nina did the other herself then secured the ends with purple elastic bands.

With Nina's hair reorganised, Theda positioned the straw hat well back on her head and skewered it in place with a long dangerous-looking hatpin.

Nina examined the overall look in a long mirror. “Perfect,” she declared.

“I was really expecting to be your Saturday girl. Are you sure you actually need an extra pair of hands on a Friday as well?” Nina asked. “There's not been any customers since I've been here.”

“Trust me, Friday is our busiest day,” Aunt Callie said, looking up from the ledger she was studying. “By late afternoon and early evening, people will be turning up to buy or rent stuff for parties tonight and over the weekend. We really need a Friday at least as much as we need a Saturday girl.”

“Surely that should be Girl Friday?” Theda suggested.

“General-purpose assistant – definitely our Girl Friday,” Callie agreed.

“I'll show you round the shop then Mum will explain how the till works,” Theda said.

Over the next fifteen minutes, Theda showed Nina where different types of clothes were hung on racks or folded on shelves and explained how they were sorted by size. She pointed out that scarves, belts and other accessories were shelved close to the counter as they were the items most vulnerable to theft and that costume jewellery was kept in a closed display case for the same reason. Nina nodded to show understanding and asked questions from time to time.

“What about the other room?” Nina asked, indicating the open doorway leading through a partition into another part of the shop.

“Ah, yes. The other room,” Theda said, exchanging a glance with her mother. “Mum or I will deal with any customers who go in there.”

“But what’s in there?” Nina persisted, smelling evasion.

“No harm in showing you,” Theda said with a shrug, leading the way.

Nina followed her cousin and looked around. There were fewer clothes, she noted, but shelves and racks stocked with smaller items. As she cast her eye around, she suddenly stopped, her attention drawn by a display rack. “Handcuffs?” she said, mildly surprised.

“And ankle cuffs and chains and things that lock round your neck,” Theda pointed out as Nina studied the display.

“Ropes too,” Nina commented, spotting a selection of cut lengths and a stack of quite large drums of different kinds of rope.

“Nylon, cotton and hemp; twisted or braided; pre-cut or bulk – lots to choose from,” Theda explained.

“And what are these?” Nina asked. She indicated a rack with items consisting of plastic balls, mainly red, but a few other colours, attached to black straps, quite complicated networks of straps in some cases.

“They’re gags,” Theda replied.

Nina held one up and worked out how it would be fitted. Her eyes widened as she examined it. She put it back and gestured to the various items around the small room then asked the obvious question: “But why?”

“Well, we’ve always stocked handcuffs. A lot of people buying costumes for hen nights ask for those. Sometimes they ask for ones you can unlock without a key, but usually it’s the real McCoy, so we always had both available,” Theda explained. “Things have changed over the last couple of years, since Fifty Shades of Grey came out. Have you heard of it?”

Nina’s normally quite pale complexion flushed bright red and she avoided making eye contact with Theda.

Theda grinned broadly. “My little cousin has read it, hasn’t she?”

With a guilty smile, Nina dragged her eyes back to Theda. “One of the girls at school pinched her mum’s copy and passed it around.”

“Does Aunt Suzie know this?”

Nina shook her head vigorously. “No – I’d hate having to tell Mum I’d read it.”

“I’m surprised you managed to get through it,” Theda said.

“Well, I skipped the bits that were boring or too yucky,” Nina admitted.

“I think I’m quite glad of that,” Theda said. “Anyway, Fifty Shades led to much more demand for restraints and things, especially from women, so we expanded the range and word got round so we got more customers asking and we expanded more. I think some people feel less... shall we say, conspicuous... coming here rather than to a more dedicated adult-orientated shop.”

“Plausible deniability?” Nina suggested.

“Exactly that, I suspect,” Theda agreed, “but probably they feel more comfortable coming here too. Eventually, we set this part of the shop aside for more specialist items, so that people browsing for clothes wouldn’t be embarrassed by displays of other stuff.”

“And people buying other stuff wouldn’t feel they were being watched?”

“That too,” Theda said with a grin. “And I think they might be put off if they were being served by someone who was very obviously a schoolgirl.”

Nina glanced around the displays again, this time with a little more understanding. “Actually I’d quite like to play with some of these things myself,” she said.

“We have some samples at home you can try in private,” Theda told her. “Now, back to the counter for a lesson on using the till.”

Nina permitted herself to be shooed back to the main part of the shop.

“Suitably enlightened?” Callie asked, looking up from her work.

“Definitely educated,” Theda replied.

Nina had the good grace to blush again. She opened her mouth to make some comment, but was interrupted by a customer entering the shop.

The customer proved to be the first of the predicted afternoon and evening rush. Nina’s lesson in using the till never happened. As it turned out, she was fully occupied fetching clothes for customers to try, passing items to customers already in one of the two fitting rooms, collecting, folding and re-hanging clothes that had proved unsuitable and on two occasions intercepting customers on their way to the door without first paying. Theda dealt with customers wanting to visit the specialist side room as well as doing her share in the main shop while Callie dealt with payments.

At 8 pm, Theda turned the sign on the door to CLOSED and locked the shop door. After that, Nina manned the door allowing customers to leave but not to enter. Finally at almost 8:20, the last customer left the shop and Nina pulled down the blind on the inside of the glazed door.

“I just need to cash up and then we can go home,” Callie said.

With three of them on the job, the cash was quickly added up. Callie separated out the cash that would form the next day’s float and bagged it then put the rest into the pouch for the bank’s night safe and filled in a paying-in slip.

Theda opened the shop door and stepped out, looking left and right. “OK, Mum, coast’s clear,” she said.

Callie picked up the pouch and went out with it, crossing the road to the bank directly opposite and was back in less than a minute, having put it in the night deposit safe.

While this was going on, Nina had retrieved her school clothes from the small kitchen at the back of the shop and was stowing them neatly into her suitcase. “My duffel coat doesn’t quite go with this outfit,” she commented to Theda.

“It doesn’t,” Theda agreed, “but I think we can do better.” She thought for a moment then went to one of the racks. “Oh, good, we haven’t sold it yet,” she said, producing a black cape.

Theda unfastened the cape and settled it on Nina’s shoulders. It had a high upstanding collar, which was a little tall for Nina, but not impossibly so. It fastened with two large hooks-and-eyes at the front of the collar and with two large ivory toggles further down. The toggles and loops were decorated with frogging formed from silver cord, rather suggestive of marching band uniforms.

“Perfect,” Nina declared, inspecting herself in a mirror.

By this time Callie had put the float in her handbag and was wearing her own overcoat ready to go.

Theda had a dramatic ankle-length black hooded cloak to wear over her Chinese-style dress. “One moment,” she said, disappearing into the side room. She switched off the light in that room and returned, one hand concealed under her cloak.

Nina spotted a significant glance being exchanged between her aunt and cousin, but failed to read the message behind it. Everything became clear when Callie lifted the front of Nina’s cape and said, “Hands out.”

Nina held her hands out and, before she realised what was happening, Theda snapped a pair of handcuffs onto her wrists. “A bonus for your hard work this afternoon,” Theda said. “You’ll get the keys later.”

“Er... thank you... I think,” Nina said, examining the dully-gleaming darbies fastened around her wrists.

“You can look at them later,” Callie said. “Let’s get home and get some food.”

Theda ushered Nina out of the shop, bringing her suitcase, schoolbag and coat, while Callie set the alarm and locked the shop. There was a short walk to a small car park where Callie’s dark green Citroën van was parked. Nina was ushered into the middle one of the three seats and her seatbelt fastened for her by Callie while Theda stowed her things in the back of the van before settling herself in the left hand seat.

“Chinese?” Callie suggested as she pulled away from the kerb.

“Yes, please,” Nina said before her cousin could respond.

Theda said nothing but took her phone out of her handbag and selected a number on speed dial. “I’ll just choose a selection of stuff if that’s OK,” she said as she waited for the Chinese take-away to pick up the phone,

It took about 15 minutes to drive to the Wolf-Bassenthwaites’ preferred Chinese. Callie parked and went into the shop, emerging a few minutes later with a paper carrier bag, which she handed to Theda before driving off.

When they arrived at Callie and Theda’s house, Callie took the food straight to the kitchen, saying, “I’ll warm some bowls up and get the lids off the containers while you get Nina sorted out.”

Theda hung Nina’s coat up and carried her suitcase and schoolbag upstairs. “Do you want your own room or do you still want to go in with me?”

“With you if that’s still OK,” Nina responded instantly. At the time of Nina’s first visit to Aunt Callie’s house, when she was still a toddler, Theda, then a young teenager, had invited her to share her double bed so the two only children could pretend to be sisters sharing a room. That tradition had persisted, even though Theda was now a college-age adult and Nina a young teen herself.

“Thought you might say that,” Theda said with a smile. “We didn’t even bother making up the bed in the spare room.”

Theda set down Nina’s luggage when they arrived in her bedroom. “Can you change out of your costume, please?” she said. “I’ll find you some fresh tights for tomorrow, but most of the rest will have to go another day and it would be good not to get Chinese food on them.”

“OK, but you’ll need to see to these first,” Nina replied, holding out her cuffed hands.

“I have the key here,” Theda said, retrieving it from her pocket. “I’ll leave you to sort yourself out and give Mum a hand.”

After Theda left the room, Nina puzzled over the unfamiliar plug key for the handcuffs before working out how it operated. She freed herself then drew the curtains closed. Not being quite sure what to do with her costume, she hung the clothes over the back of a chair and left the hat and gloves on the chair seat. Her tights went into the laundry basket in the corner of the room.

Nina shivered in the chill of the bedroom. Aunt Callie’s house was a Victorian villa with masses of character but rather poor insulation. To keep fuel bills down to reasonable proportions, Callie’s policy was to heat to a background level and to encourage the occupants to wear more clothes. Nina was prepared for this. She put on a pair of long johns and a thermal top then a pair of socks before zipping herself into her one-piece footed sleepsuit, which was navy blue with a pattern of black and white penguins. She thought for a moment then added a thick pink sweater and a pair of grey fingerless woollen gloves. She hesitated before leaving the room and on an impulse snapped the handcuffs back onto her wrists before going downstairs to join her hosts.

Nina found Callie and Theda in the kitchen. Three bowls and pairs of chopsticks had been set out on the table but the food had been left its plastic containers, just with the lids removed and serving spoons added.

“Can you really eat with chopsticks while you’re wearing handcuffs?” Theda asked.

“I don’t know, but I’ll try,” Nina replied with a grin.

Callie and Theda watched with interest as Nina attempted to feed herself. If she held the bowl in her left hand, as she usually did, the handcuff chain didn’t permit her to reach into the bowl with the chopsticks in her right hand. She fared slightly better leaving the bowl on the table and trying to keep her left hand out of the way while she used the chopsticks in her right, but that only worked for the first few morsels picked off the top of the bowl; as soon as she needed to dig down into the rice, the bowl wouldn’t stay still. Nina eventually admitted defeat and freed herself with the key which she had sensibly put in the pocket of her sleepsuit.

“Noble attempt anyway,” Callie said.

As the meal progressed, they discussed Nina’s first experience helping in the shop. Theda and Callie’s consensus was that she had done very well and with more experience would be a real asset to the business. Nina had no real idea how well she had done, so was very pleased with the feedback.

Over cups of tea after the meal, tiredness started to get the better of Nina. She glanced at the clock then said, “I know it’s only twenty to ten, but I think I’d like to head for bed soon.”

“Good plan,” Theda concurred. “We need to be up early tomorrow.”

“Are you sure you’ll sleep all right sharing a bed with Theda?” Aunt Callie asked.

“She always sleeps fine,” Theda said. “It’s me that gets kicked when she squirms around.”

“She wouldn’t if you tied her up,” Callie pointed out.

“Now there’s a thought,” Theda said, putting on her best evil grin.

“Yes, please,” Nina said brightly.

“Have you ever tried sleeping tied up?” Callie asked.

“No. I asked Mum, but she wouldn’t agree to putting me to bed tied up. I’ve tried tying myself up in bed, but I can’t do it so that I can’t escape, so I know that I’m really just pretending to be helpless, which isn’t the same.”

“What do you think, Theda?” Callie asked.

“Well, the worst that can happen is that Nina doesn’t sleep properly and she’s too tired to be much help in the shop tomorrow.”

“Not a disaster,” Callie said. “We’ve managed without a Saturday girl up till now anyway, and that’s a worst-case scenario. She’ll probably be fine.” She turned to Nina. “We’ll give it a go if you’re up for it.”

“Yes, please,” Nina repeated with a grin.

After the dishes had been cleared away, Nina and Theda went upstairs. Nina took her sweater off and shivered briefly in the chill of the bedroom.

“Are you sure you don’t need to keep that on?” Theda asked.

“I’ve got another layer on under my onesie, I’ll probably overheat under the duvet if I keep it on,” Nina replied, “especially as I’m going to wear my monkey hat to keep my head warm.”

Nina had received the monkey hat as a joke Christmas present from Callie and Theda a couple of years previously. It was a full-face mask skilfully knitted in various various shades of brown wool to make a cartoon monkey’s head with sticking-out ears and padding to give it the authentic protruding lower face and jaws. It was shaped to fit closely around the chin and neck, too tightly to pull on and off, so it fastened with buttons at the back of the head. The only openings were the two eye holes. The mouth and nostrils were embroidered on in wool.

After putting the monkey hat on and doing up the buttons, Nina pulled on the pair of matching brown mittens that had come with it. The mittens had quite long cuffs, which she pushed up inside the sleeves of her sleepsuit.

“You have no idea how funny you look like that,” Theda said.

“I think you do – after all you and Aunt Callie made this thing for me.”

“True,” Theda acknowledged, grinning broadly. “Hold your hands out in front and I’ll do your wrists.”

Theda selected a length of soft brown hemp rope from a plastic box in the bottom of her wardrobe. She wrapped it around Nina’s wrists in a figure-of-eight pattern, making three complete turns, then twisted the ends of the rope around each other so that she could form a series of four cinching turns around the centre of the binding and knotted the ends securely together.

“There you are,” said Theda, “rope handcuffs. How does that feel?”

Nina tested the limits of her freedom. “I definitely can’t get out of this, but it’s not too tight and quite comfortable.”

While Nina was speaking, Theda was rummaging through the box of rope for the next piece to use. “This one goes around your waist. Lift your hands up a minute while I put it round you.”

Theda wound the rope around Nina’s waist four times then tied it off in front of her with a complicated-looking knot that held all four strands together. She left two long tails hanging from the knot.

Without being prompted, Nina lowered her hands so that her wrist binding was on top of the knot on her waist rope. Theda used the loose ends to form several more turns of rope between Nina’s wrists, anchoring her hands securely in place.

“OK, you can lie down on the bed now,” Theda said, folding the duvet back to expose the bottom sheet.

Nina sat down on the bed and allowed herself to fall back. She swung her legs up and used her feet to propel herself into position.

Theda was ready with two more lengths of rope. She used one to bind Nina’s ankles, using several turns of rope around them and a cinch between, then repeated the process just below her knees.

“That’s you all done up,” Theda announced. “How does it feel?”

“Comfortable but secure,” Nina replied. “I certainly can’t undo any knots with these mittens on.”

“And with your hands tied like that you wouldn’t be able to reach a gag either,” Theda pointed out.

Nina experimented and quickly confirmed Theda’s assertion. “You’re right but I think just being tied up is enough for tonight anyway.”

While Nina was testing her bonds, Theda pulled the chopsticks out of her hair and released it from the bun. She ran her fingers through the mass of frizzy curls and shook her head like a wet dog. “That’s better,” she said as she started undressing, quickly stripping to an elasticated sports top and a pair of tight-fitting knee-length panties.

“Bloomers!” Nina exclaimed delightedly.

“Gorgeously warm to wear in at this time of year,” Theda informed her.

“Don’t you wear a bra?” Nina asked.

“No point when you’re as flat-chested as me,” Theda replied. “One of these stretchy tank top things is as much support as I need.” As she spoke, she pulled on a pair of thick brick-red over-knee socks, which came up almost the entire length of her legs.

“Great socks,” Nina commented.

“I’ve got a few pairs like this – they make a skirt wearable even in the middle of winter.” Theda added a pair of shorter socks in a startling shade of orange then pulled on a warm brushed cotton nightdress in cream and yellow vertical stripes. She adjusted the collar comfortably then did up the four buttons that fastened it at the front. She added a hip-length cardigan in pumpkin orange which she buttoned up to her throat. Finally, she slung a thick rust coloured woollen shawl around her shoulders, crossed it over on her chest and knotted the ends together behind her back.

“Don’t you get a bit tangled up wearing that in bed?” Nina asked.

“A bit sometimes,” Theda admitted, “but it’s nice to snuggle up in on a cold night, so I don’t mind.”

Theda pulled a black elastic headband down over her head so it hung around her neck then pulled it up to hold her hair back from her face. “You need one of these with hair like mine,” she commented. With her hair satisfactorily under control, she opened the bedroom door and called out, “Ready, Mum!”

Aunt Callie appeared in the room a few moments later. “Same as Nina?” she asked.

“Yes please,” Theda replied, handing her mother a pair of socks in the same colour as her shawl.

Callie pulled the socks over Theda’s hands and up over the sleeves of her cardigan. There were four lengths of rope laid out on the edge of the bed. Callie picked the longest one up and used it to form a coil around her daughter’s waist. Next, she bound Theda’s wrists and tied the binding to her waist. Theda sat down on the bed and her mother helped her lie down and move into place so she was lying next to Nina. Callie lifted the skirt of Theda’s nightdress and bound her ankles and knees with the remaining two pieces of rope before smoothing it back down and then pulling the duvet up over both girls so only their heads on the pillows were showing.

“Do you two want gags?” Callie asked.

“No thanks,” Nina replied. “It will be nice if we can chat together after the light is off.”

“Do you want a head bag?” Callie asked Theda.

“Yes please.”

Callie went to Theda’s wardrobe.

“Head bag?” Nina queried.

“You’ll see,” her cousin told her.

Callie returned with what was indeed a knitted black woollen bag and pulled it down over her daughter’s head.

“It’s like a balaclava without any openings,” Theda explained from inside the bag. “I made it fairly loose around the head so my hair fits in and it’s not too tight across my face, but it’s snug around the neck so it stays on.”

“Can you see anything?” Nina asked.

“Only pinpoints of light through the knitting.”

“Do you want one too?” Callie asked. “We have several.”

“No – I think it would be a bit much on top of the monkey hat.”

“Well, I’ll at least make it a bit darker, so you sleep better.” Callie said. She took a pair of black socks from a drawer and tied one around Nina’s eyes on top of the monkey mask.

“Night-night, girls,” Callie said, switching the light off and closing the door.

The time that Nina had looked forward to chatting to Theda lasted only a few minutes before she drifted off to sleep.

[Soraka]

Secrets and Surprises Part 3: Workshop

It was an odd experience waking up tied up and blindfolded. Nina had woken briefly several times during the night, but had dozed off again once she remembered why she was in a strange bed and why she couldn’t see or move. This time, however, she felt wide awake. She knew that she would have to get up quite early to help in her aunt’s shop but, blindfolded, she had no idea of what the time was.

“Are you awake?” Nina asked quietly.

The reply from her cousin was an incomprehensible mumble. Nina wondered if she was perhaps awake enough to react to her voice, but not yet awake enough to reply coherently.

Nina tried again. “You awake yet?”

“Eff,” Theda replied.

“Are you gagged?” Nina asked, realisation dawning.

“Eff,” Theda repeated. “Um ah me im my.”

Nina thought for a moment then ventured,” Your mum gagged you in the night?”

“Eff.”

“Well I can’t do much to help,” Nina said. “We’ll just have to wait until she unties us.”

They didn’t have to wait long until they heard the bedroom door opening and the light switch clicking on. “Good morning, girls,” Aunt Callie said breezily as she came into the room.

Nina blinked in the light as the black sock tied around her eyes was removed. She looked across at her cousin. Aunt Callie had evidently used the partner of the sock that had been Nina’s blindfold as Theda’s gag. Theda’s head was still completely covered by the black knitted ‘head bag’ that acted as her blindfold, but the fabric was pulled back into her mouth by the knotted sock tied around her head.

“Why is Theda gagged?” Nina asked her aunt.

“She was snoring rather loudly, so I thought it might help you sleep if I made her a bit quieter.”

Nina wasn’t quite sure what to make of this, so she said nothing as Callie removed the ropes binding her.

“Thank you,” Nina said as she swung her legs out of bed and paused to pull her mittens off and unbutton the knitted monkey mask covering her head.

“I’ve already showered,” Callie said, so you girls can have a clear run at the bathroom. “I need to do some ironing before I get dressed,” she added, apparently to explain the white towelling dressing gown she was still wearing.

“If you take first go at the shower, I’ll sort out clothes for you,” Theda said, now ungagged and with her head uncovered but still in the process of being untied by her mother.

“Will do,” Nina said, padding off to the bathroom in her one-piece blue footed sleepsuit.

Nina returned to the bedroom a few minutes later with a towel wrapped around her and her sleepsuit bundled up under her arm along with the thermal top, long johns and socks she had worn under it. She saw that Theda had laid out her outfit for helping in the shop, including some, but not all, of the clothes she had worn the previous day.

“I’ll leave you to get dressed while I take my turn in the bathroom,” Theda said.

“What do you want me to do with my hair?” Nina asked.

“Can you put it in a bun for me? I’ve an idea for headgear, but we’ll see to that in the shop.”

Alone in the bedroom, Nina examined the clothes that her cousin had selected and started getting dressed. Once she was fully clothed, she looked at the result in a long mirror and was very pleased with the result. She wore the same high-collared blouse that she had worn the previous day and the same flounced black skirt with its layers of petticoat underneath. The accent colour today was red, with red and black striped wool tights and a black leather waistcoat with a red lining and a red silk back. In place of a necktie, Nina had been given a red silk cravat to wear. The elbow-length black fingerless gloves she had worm the previous day were to be part of this day’s outfit, but she decided it would be best to leave them off until after breakfast.

Theda had left a pair of black lace-up ankle boots for Nina. They were clearly second-hand but in quite good condition with the leather well cared-for. Nina was not used to high heels, but these were only about 5 centimetres high and as broad as the sole of the shoe, so she felt confident that she could cope with them. She tried them on and discovered they were fractionally too big for her but found that a pair of black ankle socks solved the problem. Nina tied the laces and tried walking in the boots. She was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable and secure they felt. She decided that she should nevertheless have her own mary-janes in reserve.

Nina went downstairs and found Callie in the kitchen. She was startled to see that her aunt had shed her dressing gown but apparently not finished dressing. She was standing at an ironing board wearing a pair of brown woollen stockings and possibly the most extraordinary item of underwear Nina had ever seen. It seemed to combine a bra, a girdle, a pair of short-legged panties and stocking suspenders in a single garment. It was robustly constructed out of white nylon with strategically-placed elasticated panels and looked to be not far short of bulletproof, the very antithesis of skimpy underwear.

Nina realised her mouth was wide open so she closed it before asking, “What on earth are you wearing, Aunt Callie?”

Callie stood the iron up on end for a moment so she could turn to face Nina. “It’s called a panty-corselette – very 1950s.”

“It doesn’t look that old,” Nina commented, noting its snowy whiteness.

“It isn’t – they still make these things and this one’s only about a year old.”

“It doesn’t look very comfortable.”

“Well, you certainly know you’re wearing it, but it’s not really uncomfortable. There’s lots of firm support from this bit.” Callie indicated the reinforced front panels. “It’s nearly as good as a corset for keeping your spine straight and preventing backache.”

“How do you get into it?” Nina asked, having examined the curious garment from all angles.

“It opens across here,” Callie explained, pointing between her legs. “It’s a bit of a struggle to get it on then fiddly to fasten – there are about eight hooks-and-eyes.”

“Do you always wear period underwear with your outfits?”

“Usually, or at least something close. That way the clothes on top sit the way they authentically should. Something like this or a corset encourages you to stand and move in the right way,” Callie explained, resuming her ironing.

At that moment, Theda joined them in the kitchen, more conventionally dressed in a dark red ankle-length skirt and a white blouse with a red necktie a little brighter than the skirt. “You’ll shock the child, dressed like that,” she commented to her mother.

“I think I already have,” Callie replied.

“More shocked at the contraption she’s wearing than anything,” Nina said, still studying Callie’s underwear.

“OK, that’s me done, Callie said, hanging the skirt she had been ironing over the back of a chair.

Theda folded up the ironing board and put it in a cupboard while her mother put the iron aside to cool safely and took the skirt out of the room.

“Breakfast,” Theda announced, filling the kettle and switching it on. “What do you fancy, Nina? Toast? Cereal? Something cooked?”

“Egg on toast would be nice,” Nina decided.

Callie reappeared, now fully dressed in a green and cream checked skirt reaching fractionally below the knee, a round-necked Fair Isle sweater mainly beige but with the pattern at the yoke majoring on greens and reds and a matching cardigan left unbuttoned.

Over breakfast, Nina asked what the day’s work in the shop would be like.

“Well, we have a tutorial workshop this morning,” Callie said, sounding oddly tentative.

“Workshop?” Nina echoed.

“You remember the stuff I showed you in the side room?” Theda said.

“How could I possibly forget?”

“Well, we found that it was all very well selling people bundles of rope, but they often came back and told us that they didn’t actually know how to tie someone up,”

“So you give lessons?”

“We used to just show people when they asked,” Callie explained, “but it was a bit disruptive when they came in at a busy time.”

“And if we were showing one person, then all the other customers would tend to crowd round,” Theda added.

Callie took up the explanation again. “So we decided to run proper tutorial sessions first thing on some Saturday mornings, so we could invite interested customers, and then open the shop for customers later on. And that’s what’s happening this morning.”

“So do both of you do the demonstrations?” Nina asked.

“No,” Theda replied. “We’ve found tutor to come in and do that for us. She’s really nice and it’s almost as much a performance as it is a tutorial.”

“Quarter past eight,” Callie pointed out. “Time we were gone.”

* * *


“We run this as a bit of a masked ball,” Theda explained to Nina as they stood in the shop. “I looked this out for you.” She handed Nina an eye mask, quite deep so it went down onto her cheeks either side of her nose and well up onto her forehead and was shaped to fit the contours of her face. It was covered with deep red silk and encrusted with sequins.

Nina settled the mask onto her face and positioned the two strands of elastic securing it above and below her hair bun.

“And there’s a hat, too.”

Theda handed Nina a low-crowned black top hat. It had been decorated with a red chiffon scarf tied around it so it would hang down at the back and had a veil attached to it. She settled the hat on Nina’s head and pulled the veil down. The veil was in the style one worn by women horse riders with an elasticated edge which came below Nina’s chin.

Nina looked at herself in a mirror. After a long silence, she finally simply said, “Wow.”

“Now give Mum a hand while I get ready,” Theda instructed, heading for the fitting rooms.

“We need to clear some space in the side room first,” Callie said, now sporting a mask shaped like a butterfly and covered in iridescent green silk.

Under her aunt’s direction, Nina pushed a display rack of books and DVDs out into the main part of the shop. It was on casters so it moved easily, although not always in the direction Nina intended. While she did that, Callie rearranged some of the other shelving to make a little more floor space.

“Now what?” Nina asked.

“Chairs – there’s a stack of folding chairs in the store room at the back,” Callie replied, leading the way.

They returned with five chairs each, all with tubular steel frames and moulded plastic seats. They arranged them in a rough circle around the edge of the side room, leaving a gap to enter and exit.

When Nina returned to the main part of the shop, Theda had emerged from the fitting room. She was now dressed in a hip-length white cotton chemise with cap sleeves and embroidered decoration. On top was a dark red corset covering her from hips to just above the nipple level of her bust. Below that she had a pair of white cotton pantalettes reaching to just below her knees where the legs were gathered and embroidered in the same way as the chemise. Red and white striped stockings (or socks or tights, Nina couldn’t tell) covered her legs and feet. Her hands and most of her arms were covered by a pair of red silk gloves reaching well up over her elbows. Like Nina and Callie, she was masked, but her mask was just a broad red silk ribbon with two holes cut in it.

“If you’re going to run a tying-up workshop, you need someone to tie up, and that’s my job for the morning,” Theda explained to a dumbstruck Nina.

“Amazing undies,” Nina replied eventually.

“And the weird thing is that I’m almost completely covered up apart from a few centimetres of arm and a bit of cleavage but, because it’s underwear, it makes me look incredibly vulnerable,” Theda pointed out.

“And more than a little sexy,” Callie commented as she trundled an empty hanging rail out from the back of the shop. “That will be the instructor,” she added as the doorbell sounded. “Could you open the door, please, Nina,”

Nina went to the shop door, which had been re-locked after they arrived. She turned the knob of the Yale lock and swung the door open. The figure standing outside was wearing a pink PVC raincoat and a rather old-fashioned black and white motorcycle helmet. She had a black nylon holdall in one hand. The lower part of her face was covered by a purple cotton scarf with a skull-and-crossbones pattern, leaving just a pair of hazel eyes showing, but Nina recognised her instantly.

“Ma’m’selle Badelaine?”

“Nina?” Miss Badelaine replied, with equal astonishment as she recognised the voice. “I thought you were visiting your aunt this weekend.”

“I am,” Nina replied. “This is my aunt’s shop.”

“If that’s Miss Boscardin, stop chattering on the doorstep and let her in!” Callie called out.

Chloé immediately stepped in through the open door past Nina, who was now slightly confused. This was definitely the school librarian; she was sure of that, they had both recognised each other. Also, she knew for a fact that the librarian’s name was Chloé Badelaine, so why was her aunt calling her Miss Boscardin? Nina closed the door, checked that it was still locked and that the CLOSED sign was in place and turned to join the other three women in the shop.

Now she had taken her helmet off and pulled her scarf down, Nina could see that the newcomer was definitely the Chloé Badelaine she knew. She noticed that Chloé was wearing tall black lace-up boots with heels 7 or 8 centimetres high instead of her customary Dr Martens, significantly increasing her 160 centimetre stature.

Theda broke off the discussion she had been having with Chloé and said, “Nina, this is the tutor we were telling you about. We bill her as ‘The French Mistress’.”

Nina thought for a moment, mentally unpacking the multiple meanings of ‘mistress’. “That’s quite suggestive isn’t it?” she said tentatively.

Theda nodded with a barely controlled grin.

“Actually, we already know each other,” Nina confided.

Theda’s eyes widened in surprise, but Callie’s reaction was more practical. “The audience will start turning up soon. You’d better get ready Céline.”

“Je m’en vais!” the Frenchwoman responded, heading for the fitting rooms.

“Céline?” Nina queried. “But I know her name is Chloé Badelaine.”

Whatever response Callie was about to give was cut off by the doorbell. Instead she said, “You’ll be out here while the tutorial is going on. Some of the regulars will undoubtedly turn up in masks or wrapped up in scarves – that’s just the tradition these sessions seem to have developed. Offer to take coats and things and hang them on this rail then usher them through to the side room where I’ll be waiting.”

Nina nodded at intervals through this hurried briefing then went to the door to let the first visitors in. They proved to be a couple in (Nina estimated) their twenties. The man was wearing a brown leather jacket and jeans with a black knit cap on his head. His partner wore a green parka with its fake fur edged hood thrown back and jeans tucked into her Ugg boots. She had a bright yellow knit bobble hat on with a huge white scarf pulled up over her nose. She accepted Nina’s offer to hang her coat up and stuffed the hat into a pocket before handing it over but kept her scarf in place; her partner declined the offer and went into the side room as he had entered the shop.

The next arrivals were a middle-aged man and woman both dressed in jeans and sweaters with fleece jackets on top, his grey, hers pink, which they deposited with Nina. They obviously felt no need of disguise attending the workshop session. They greeted Nina politely and asked if she was new to which she replied that she was the Saturday girl. The very ordinariness of the conversation made Nina feel melodramatic and a little ridiculous in her mask and veil.

Nina’s confidence in her appearance was restored by the next person to ring the bell. It proved to be a short, plump woman with a mass of black curly hair wearing a huge fake fur coat in imitation leopard skin. Her face was entirely hidden by a shiny black Venice Carnival-style mask decorated with gold glitter and painted-on red lips. She had apparently walked down the street wearing it. Despite the heavy make up on the eyelids visible through the mask’s eye holes, Nina could just about make out that the woman was black. This was confirmed when she removed her gloves and scarf before handing her coat over to Nina, revealing an astonishingly tight glittery gold sweater and black leather trousers tucked into boots with amazingly high heels. Nina suspected that anyone who knew her even slightly would have no trouble recognising her despite the mask.

Two older women came next. Nina thought they might be in their fifties or older from the grey hair she glimpsed. One was quite short and wore a light blue-grey tweed skirt suit with sensible-looking black brogues and opaque navy blue tights. She wore a knit hat matching the suit with a Fair Isle pattern and a grey scarf pulled up over her mouth to just below her nose. Her companion was significantly taller and wore a green waxed cotton jacket over chocolate brown trousers tucked into what Nina thought of as ‘old lady boots’: brown suede with the zip up the front. She wore a hat rather similar to her friend’s but with coffee brown as the base colour and a brown and cream checked scarf pulled up over her mouth. The smaller woman shed her suit jacket, revealing a matching waistcoat worn over a white sweater, and loosened her scarf. She reached up and pulled down the edge of her hat which proved itself to be a balaclava, entirely covering her head apart from a narrow slit for her eyes. Her companion removed her jacket to expose the cinnamon coloured sweater underneath. She removed her scarf and handed it to Nina with the jacket, briefly showing her face before she too pulled her hat down to form a balaclava. From their body language as they went into the side room Nina thought they were probably a couple.

There was a gap of about five minutes before the next arrivals. Two women came in, talking and laughing together excitedly. Both were wearing hooded parkas, one beige, one blue, jeans and Ugg boots. Both also wore long woollen scarves over their heads and wrapped around their faces to leave just their eyes exposed. Apparently these were simply a response to the chill of the winter morning rather than a disguise as they unwound them from around their heads as soon as they entered the shop. They proved to be two young women who looked to be about college age. The one in the beige parka had light brown skin and was wearing a silk headscarf under her brown woollen scarf. She handed over both parka and scarf to Nina. Her companion, a blue-eyed, blonde haired woman chose to keep her jacket on and wear the scarf loosely around her neck.

Theda and Chloé emerged from the back of the shop. Theda was still dressed as Nina had last seen her, but Chloé was completely transformed. She was still wearing the knee-high black lace-up boots that she had been wearing when she arrived. Tucked into them were the tightest black trousers that Nina had ever seen. Above the waist, she was wearing a black leather waistcoat and apparently nothing else apart from elbow-length black leather gloves. Chloé’s figure, usually hidden under layers of heavy sweaters, was revealed as a classic hourglass. Her red hair was pulled back into a bun except for one unruly tuft that flopped forward over her forehead. Nina recognised the black eye mask Chloé was wearing as the one she had seen in Chloé’s photograph of herself dressed as Fantômette. In authentic Fantômette style, it sat slightly clear of her skin and stuck out on either side of her face. Nina noticed that it had been constructed rather ingeniously using a black plastic spectacle frame as a foundation.

“Love the outfit,” Nina said. “Leather trousers?”

“Rubber,” Chloé replied, pinching the black shiny material and letting it snap back.

“Wow,” Nina said, at a loss for any other words.

“Come on – show time,” Theda prompted, leading Chloé towards the side room.

There was a clatter of applause as the French Mistress arrived for her performance.

Nina was wondering how to pass the time while the tutorial was taking place when to doorbell rang again. She opened the door and froze in shock as she recognised the small black woman standing outside as Miss Pennywright, her art teacher at school.

“I hope I’m not too late,” Miss Pennywright said, sounding a little anxious.

Nina hadn’t been recognised immediately so she decided to trust in her mask and veil and to brazen it out. “Not at all, ma’am, do come in,” she said, successfully suppressing her instinct to address a teacher as ‘Miss’.

Nina stood aside and the teacher stepped into the shop past her.

“Has it started already?” Miss Pennywright asked.

“Yes, but only just,” Nina replied. “Would you like me to take your coat?”

“Yes, please.” Miss Pennywright unwound the long green scarf she was wearing on top of her mustard yellow duffel coat, un-toggled the coat and handed it to Nina. Under the coat, she was wearing a one-piece jumpsuit combining knee-length shorts and a waistcoat in a bright green, yellow and orange checked fabric. She wore black leggings and a black roll necked sweater underneath and a heavy orange cardigan on top. A pair of mustard yellow socks were folded down over the top of her emerald green Dr Martens.

“Callie told me that some people like to wear masks to come to these events,” Miss Pennywright ventured, gesturing towards Nina’s mask and veil.

Nina carried out a quick mental audit of the previous arrivals. “There are nine guests so far and we have four masked against five not.”

“Well, I’ll even it up.” Miss Pennywright removed her green Peruvian-style earflap hat, revealing the smooth dome of her shaved head. She rummaged in her handbag and took out a brown woollen ski mask, quite a close match on her milk chocolate coloured skin, and pulled it down over her head, leaving just her eyes and mouth showing. She put her hat back on on top of it and wrapped her scarf loosely around her neck before going to the side room.

Nina waited until she was alone again and heaved a huge sigh of relief. She had been sure that her disguise would be penetrated and an awkward scene ensue. However, she couldn’t imagine Chloé not being recognised as Miss Pennywright must know her well as a fellow member of staff. Skimpy masks only work as impenetrable disguises in the pages of comic books and in reality Chloé’s mask would be about as effective as Clark Kent’s spectacles.

As there didn’t seem to be any more people coming to Chloé’s tutorial, so Nina went through to the rear premises of the shop where there was a rudimentary kitchen. She switched on the kettle and made herself a mug of tea, which she carried back through to the main part of the shop, setting it down on the counter and hoisting herself onto one of the two tall stools that stood there. There wasn’t much to to but wait, so she whiled away the time by working on the crossword in the previous day’s newspaper, which she had found in the kitchen.

The tutorial ran to just under an hour. Nina was alerted to the end of the session by the round of applause from the side room. She hopped down from the stool and pulled her veil back into place, having lifted it up onto her hat to drink her tea. She stationed herself next to the coat rack to return the attendees’ property to them as they left.

Callie and Chloé positioned themselves at the shop door to bid the visitors farewell. Nina thought it looked a bit like a church minister shaking hands with the congregation as they left after a service.

Just as she had been last to arrive, Miss Pennywright was last to leave. To Nina’s surprise, she left her ski mask on, pulling her scarf a little more snugly around her neck then putting her coat on on top of it. She thanked Nina for her help then just as she was about to leave said quietly, “Cool Saturday job, Nina.”

In her shock at being recognised, Nina simply replied, “Yes, Miss,” in a rather small voice.

“Nina, could you go and help Theda, please,” Aunt Callie said as she locked the shop door and went through to the back premises with Chloé.

It was only when Nina was in the side room that she realised exactly what her aunt had meant by ‘help’. Theda was kneeling in the middle of the floor, her knees apart for balance, comprehensively bound and gagged. Rather than helping immediately, Nina spent a few moments inspecting her cousin’s predicament. There was a band of rope around her upper arms and chest, above her bust line, which was pulled down sharply at the back by several strands going down to rope around her waist and between her legs. A second band of rope passed below her bust and was cinched between her arms and body. Her arms were behind her back with her wrists crossed and lifted up to the junction of the chest ropes where they were securely bound. Theda’s ankles were crossed and lashed together, both across and front to back, with a couple of strands of rope going up to her waist rope. A floral silk scarf had been folded into a band and tied tightly across her mouth, going from her chin to just under her nose. Theda was making impatient-sounding noises, but they were so quiet that Nina guessed there was more to the gag than was immediately apparent.

“Gag first?” Nina asked.

Theda nodded.

Nina untied the knot securing Theda’s gag and put the scarf on one of the chairs that were still set out. As she suspected, her cousin’s mouth was stuffed with cloth, so much so that it was forced open. Using forefinger and thumb, she teased out a corner of fabric and gently pulled. A damp red silk handkerchief came out. Nina was astonished to see that there was more packing still in place. She extracted three more silk handkerchiefs, one white, one green and another red.

“Thanks,” Theda said after swallowing a couple of times. “Céline really went to town on the gag today.”

“Chloé,” Nina corrected her then asked, “Why?”

“One of the audience asked a question about making gags a little more effective and she replied by explaining how very compressible the silks are that you can buy from magic shops. If she’d stuffed any more in, I think they’d have come out of my ears.”

“Where do I start with this?” Nina asked, looking at the web of ropes securing Theda.

“Get my wrists undone first, then you’ll be able to get at the knots holding the body ropes.”

Nina started picking at a knot. “These are really hard to untie.”

“You see that wooden thing hanging over there?” Theda said, nodding her head in the direction she meant.

“This thing?” Nina picked up a tapered wooden spike hanging on the side of a display rack from a loop of thin cord through a hole in the blunt end.

“Yes – it’s called a ‘fid’. Use the pointed end to tease the knots undone if they’re too hard for fingers.”

“I’ve never heard of a fid before,” Nina said, setting to work.

“It’s a sort of wooden marlin spike. They’re used for splicing ropes and for fancy rope braiding work,” Theda explained.

Working steadily, Nina freed her cousin’s hands then her feet so that she could stand up to make the knots more accessible. After ten minutes or so, Theda was completely free. They coiled up the ropes that had been used and put them into a plastic storage box that still contained unused binding supplies.

“I’ll take these home and put then through the wash,” Theda said, wrapping the damp silk handkerchiefs in the scarf that had been used to secure them. “Let’s see if Mum has made some coffee yet.”

When Nina and Theda returned to the main part of the shop, they discovered that Callie and Chloé had moved the stools to the front of the counter and were sitting on them, their back supported against the front edge of the counter and each cradling a mug of coffee in her hands. Callie was as Nina had last seen her, except that she had removed her mask. Chloé had taken the opportunity to change out of her costume She now wore a thick knitted dress with a bright green shoulder area and below that horizontal black and green stripes with the green stripes getting narrower and the black stripes correspondingly wider as they progressed downwards until the lower part of the skirt was completely black. The collar of a purple turtle-neck sweater showed above the round neckline of the dress and Chloe wore a heavy mauve cardigan on top. Under the dress, Chloe was still wearing her amazing rubber trousers and her knee-high boots.

“You did a brilliant job of tying up my cousin, Miss Badelaine,” Nina said, removing her own mask.

“Thank you, Nina,” the Frenchwoman replied, casting a sidelong glance at Callie as she did so.

Callie frowned. “Nina, why do you keep calling her ‘Miss Badelaine’?”

“As far as I know, it’s her name – she’s the librarian at my school.”

Callie’s and Theda’s eyes both swung towards Chloé. After an uncomfortable pause, Callie said, “She told us her name was Céline Boscardin.”

Chloé had the good grace to blush. “I thought it might be best if I kept this work separate from my job at school, so I made up a name. Je suis désolée.”

“And your real name is?” prompted Callie.

“Chloé Badelaine.” The Frenchwoman reached into her handbag and handed her passport to Callie.

Callie glanced at the outside. It was a standard European Union passport in the usual maroon cover with ‘République française’ impressed on the front in gold letters. The cover was a little creased, presumably from jostling with the other contents of its owner’s bag. Callie opened the passport and read the details: “Name: Chloé Joéphie Victoria Badelaine-Delaferre; place of birth: Clochemerle (69)... What does 69 mean?”

“Département du Rhône,” Chloé interpreted.

Callie continued reading: “Height: 1.60 metres; eyes: marron-vert... Chestnut green?”

“I call them noisette – hazel – but marron-vert is what the passport office likes.”

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you Chloé Badelaine,” Callie said with a smile, handing the passport back.

“I’m sorry about the deception,” Chloe said. “I hope you understand my reason.”

“I’m not angry with you, just caught by surprise,” Callie replied. “And I understand completely why you might want a secret identity.”

“Not so secret, I’m afraid,” Nina said. “Miss Pennywright from school was in the audience. She recognised me, so I’m sure she won’t have had any trouble recognising you.”

“The black woman with the woolly mask and the green hat?” Theda asked.

“That was her – I saw her without the mask when she came into the shop,” Nina confirmed.

“I thought there seemed something familiar about her, even with a mask on,” Theda said.

“Well, if she spends her Saturday morning coming to a performance like today’s, and she’s cautious enough to wear a disguise, she’s probably not going to be indiscreet about it to anyone else,” Callie said.

“Besides, when she was my art teacher, I got the impression that she might well have a bit of an interest in games like the ones we play,” Theda added.

“We will just have to see what happens,” Chloé said philosophically. “Would you like me to come back next week? I have a few interesting ideas to explore.”

“Yes, please,” Callie replied. “These sessions seem to be very popular. I’ll send an email round our regulars.”

“Alors, à bientôt mes amies. I look forward to seeing you all next week,” Chloé said, stepping down off her stool and reaching for her raincoat which was draped over the counter.

“And I must get some proper clothes on,” Theda said as she headed for a fitting room.

The rest of the day was busy, but not as hectic as Friday had been. There were fewer people wanting to buy or hire clothes for that evening and a small number of the previous day’s hires being returned. (Most returns happened on Monday evenings, Callie explained to Nina, and the shop stayed open until 7pm on Mondays for that reason.)

By the time the shop closed at 5:30, Nina was very tired but pleased at how her first weekend as a shop assistant had gone.

[Soraka]

Secrets and Surprises Part 4: Sleepover

“Food should be ready by the time we get back,” Callie said as she drove the van home. “I put the makings of a chicken casserole in the slow cooker before we left this morning. It’s a vaguely Moroccan-ish sort of thing, so I’ll do some couscous to go with it – that’ll be really quick.”

“Sounds good,” Nina said appreciatively.

Once they were back at Aunt Callie’s house, Nina decided that she had been wearing fancy dress for quite long enough and felt the need for something more comfortable. She changed into a pair of grey knit leggings with a Norwegian style pattern in white and her thick pink sweater. she pulled on a pair of pink socks over the leggings and her favourite grey slipper socks over those. Her hair bun was starting to disintegrate, so she brushed it out and braided her hair into a plait instead. She added a pair of grey fingerless gloves to her outfit almost out of habit and went downstairs to join her hosts.

Over the meal, they discussed the weekend and Nina’s work experience. “So, the main thing is, have you enjoyed it?” Aunt Callie asked.

“Yes,” Nina replied after a moment’s reflection. “It’s been fun and I’ve really enjoyed being helpful to you and to the customers.”

“Sense of achievement?” Theda asked.

“More satisfaction,” Nina said. “I’m not sure selling old clothes counts as an achievement.”

“Maybe not in the wider scheme of things,” Callie conceded, “but you were a real asset to us on Friday.”

“What would you usually be doing on a Friday afternoon?” Theda asked.

“Usually homework, which will have to be done on Sunday afternoon this weekend, but Mum has been helping me learn some escaping skills and that sometimes happens on a Friday afternoon.”

“And are you getting good at it?” Callie asked.

“I could occasionally escape just through dumb luck before Mum started giving me tips, but I know a few things to try now,” Nina replied. “It doesn’t mean I can always escape, even when Mum has set me a challenge she thinks is easy.”

“So which is more fun: being tied up or escaping?” Theda asked.

“It’s always very satisfying when I manage to escape, but sometimes it’s nice when I know that I can’t possibly get loose and I can just relax and enjoy being tied up without feeling any need to do anything about it.”

“Being tied up is a good way of chilling out sometimes,” Callie observed.

“Really nice way to unwind after a tiring day,” Nina agreed.

“Was that a request to be tied up I just heard?” Theda asked.

“Well, it could be,” Nina admitted.

“Did you have anything in mind?”

Nina thought for a moment. “A while back, you mentioned that you own a straitjacket and you thought it might fit me. Any chance of trying it?”

“If you help Mum clear the table, I’ll go and look it out for you.”

Theda left the kitchen and Nina helped Callie to transfer dishes to the sink for rinsing then to the dishwasher.

“I’m glad your mum is relaxed about you liking tie-up games now,” Callie commented as they worked.

“It’s a pity it couldn’t all have been resolved sooner, but I understand the reasons she had.” Nina said. “Now it’s been sorted out, it’s taken a lot of stress out of our relationship.” After a moment she added, “And it’s given me the best Saturday job in the world, Aunt Callie.”

Callie responded with a hug for her niece.

Theda returned to the kitchen with a bundle of white fabric in her arms. “I’ve brought the jacket and a few other bits you might enjoy.”

“The lounge might be a better place for this,” Callie pointed out.

Nina followed Theda to the lounge. “Should I take my sweater off?” she asked.

“Probably not. This is the smallest size of Posey straitjacket – the red line around the collar shows the size. It’s a bit roomy widthways on my body but a touch too short for me, so it’s probably just a little big for you all round. The seams are a bit rough inside, so a sweater makes it more comfortable to wear as well as filling it out a bit. You’ll want something on your hands too for the same reason, so I got your gloves out of your coat pockets.”

Nina pulled the black gloves on over the fingerless ones she was already wearing and asked, “Now what?”

“Just stretch your arms out in front of you, and I’ll slide the sleeves onto your arms and strap you in.”

Theda worked the sleeves of the straitjacket into place then fastened the four roller buckles that closed the back of the jacket. “That’s as tight as it will go. How does it feel?”

“Snug, but not too tight.”

“OK, we get the intimate bit next, you can relax your arms, but move your feet apart.” Theda reached between Nina’s legs from the back and pulled the crotch strap up behind her back where she fed it through the least remaining buckle.

“I’ll do your arms next.” Theda threaded the long strap at the end of the right sleeve through the vertical strip of webbing stitched to the front of the jacket and pulled the sleeve through after it so that Nina’s hand and part of her forearm were through the loop. She then threaded the strap through the smaller loop on the left side of the jacket. She repeated the operation with the left sleeve then buckled the two sleeve straps together behind Nina’s back and pulled them tight.

“That’s you all strapped up,” Theda said.

“It feels amazing,” Nina said, struggling to see how much freedom of movement she had. “Can you escape from this thing?”

“Not a chance. Usually when you see people doing escape tricks with straitjackets, they either don’t have the loops that the sleeves go through or they are so loose they can work an arm out of a sleeve. There are very few people who can escape from a genuine straitjacket properly fitted.”

“It feels odd having my top half so completely trussed up and my bottom half completely free,” Nina commented.

“I can take a hint,” Theda said. “I brought some extra bits down as well as the straitjacket. Sit on the edge of the sofa and I’ll do your legs.”

Nina sat down and Theda produced three leather straps, all different lengths and clearly cut down from belts. She fastened the shortest one around Nina’s ankles, the middle sized one below her knees and the longest one above.

“Completely strapped up now,” Nina said approvingly.

“Gag? Blindfold? The full works?”

“Yes, please.”

“OK, MP3 player first.” Theda produced Nina’s own iPod from her skirt pocket. She inserted the earbuds into Nina’s ears and tucked the player itself inside the collar of the straitjacket after switching it on.

“And one of these.” Theda pulled a black knitted head bag like the one she had worn the previous night down over Nina’s head.

“How much can you see through the bag?” Theda asked.

“I can make out your silhouette against the light, but that’s about all,” Nina replied, raising her voice to hear it over the music in her ears.

“I’ll soon fix that.” Theda tied a woollen scarf around her cousin’s head so it acted as an additional blindfold and helped to keep her earbuds in place.

“Completely black now,” Nina said, now speaking very loudly to compensate for the music and the layers of wool insulating her ears.

“Open your mouth now,” Theda instructed in loud, clear voice. She felt through the bag to locate Nina’s mouth then tied a second scarf around her head as a cleave gag forcing the fabric of the bag back between her teeth.

“I’ll park you on the floor, so you don’t fall off the sofa,” Theda said as she lifted her cousin bodily and deposited her on the carpet. “Have fun. I’ll be back in half an hour or so.”

* * *


True to her word, Theda returned to the lounge half an hour later. In the mean time, she had showered and changed into her nightclothes. As on the previous night, she was wearing an ankle-length brushed cotton nightdress in vertical yellow and cream stripes, a pumpkin-coloured hip-length cardigan and was swathed in a rust-coloured woollen shawl.

Nina was still lying on her back on the floor, but had managed to change her position by a metre or so. Theda knelt down beside her and removed the blindfold and gag before pulling the head bag off her head. “How was that?” she asked.

“Amazing,” Nina replied. “Very, very different to the way rope feels. No pressure points like you get with rope but somehow feels more restrictive in some ways.”

Theda nodded her agreement with her cousin’s assessment. “Time to unstrap you?”

“Yes, please – I think I’ve had enough for a first taste of the straitjacket.”

Theda freed Nina’s legs first then helped her to stand up before undoing the buckles on the jacket.

“Thank you,” Nina said, stretching her limbs. “Have you ever tried sleeping in the straitjacket?”

“Yes, once, and it was possibly the most uncomfortable night I’ve ever spent,” Theda replied with a rueful grin.

“I thought it wasn’t bad for comfort.”

“That’s what I thought too after trying it for a short time. When you’ve been in the jacket for a while you notice that those buckles start to dig into your back. You can’t lie on your side comfortably because you can’t support yourself on your elbow and shoulder like you would naturally, so you end up on your back again. The other problem is that as you move around in the jacket, it eventually develops creases and they tend to form in uncomfortable places like under your arms and they really dig into you because it’s made of quite stiff canvas and there’s not a thing you can do about it.”

“Let me guess,” Nina said. “You got Aunt Callie to strap you up for the night and you got really uncomfortable but you couldn’t do anything about it and your mum couldn’t hear you because you were gagged.”

“Got it in one,” Theda said, still grinning.

“Bad idea, then.”

“Yes, but I’d already thought of sleeping in a straitjacket a few years before we found a real one.”

“So what? You made your own?”

“Sort of – I’ll show you upstairs, if you like.”

“Yes, please – I’m intrigued.”

As they passed the kitchen door, Nina could see that Aunt Callie was sitting at the table with the newspaper spread out in front of her and a mug handily within reach.

“I’m going upstairs to show Nina my sleepsuit project,” Theda called out.

“I’ll be up in a few minutes, if you need any help,” Callie replied.

Slightly puzzled by her aunt’s words, Nina followed Theda up to her bedroom.

Theda moved the chair away from her desk and positioned it in front of her wardrobe. She stood on it and reached up to an old leather suitcase on top. “Can you take this, please, Nina. It’s fairly heavy and probably a bit dusty on top.”

Nina stretched her hands up and took the case as her cousin handed it down.

“Just plonk it on the bed for now,” Theda said, stepping down from the chair.

After using a damp tissue to clean the dust off, Theda opened the case. She lifted out a bundle of fabric in a purplish grey colour and laid it on the bed. “This was the mark one version of my final year Craft, Design and Technology project at school,” she explained. “It’s a sleepsuit for an escapologist.”

Nina unfolded the bundle and eventually discovered that it was a hooded full body suit in a material with a curious texture that was very soft but had a slightly hairy feel to a hand run across it.

“What’s it made of?” Nina asked.

“It’s a mix of wool, cotton and nylon,” Theda replied. “I found the very strongest woollen yarn I could and twisted it together it with cotton and nylon to make an even stronger triple strand. The result was the very thickest my knitting machine could handle and I set the tension high so it came out really dense.”

“This doesn’t look knitted,” Nina pointed out.

“I shrunk it after it was knitted, so it’s more like a kind of felt.”

Nina spread the whole garment out on the bed. She noted that although it had two legs with attached feet, they were joined together down the inseam. The sleeves were closed at the ends and were extended to almost the same length again by a thick strap of the same fabric about 5 centimetres wide. There was an attached hood and a number of flat loops of fabric attached in various places.

“So, it’s a kind of straitjacket with trousers?” Nina said.

“That was the idea,” Theda replied, “but it didn’t quite work out as I hoped.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Nina asked.

“Several things. First off, it was supposed to fit me, but the shrinkage didn’t work out the same as the test piece I made. I could just get into it when I completed it, but it was incredibly tight vertically. I had my last big growth spurt just after finishing it and went from slightly taller than average to being as ridiculously tall as I am now in only a couple of months. The second issue was that it turned out not to be escape proof. The sleeves were just a bit too wide at the top and I managed to work an arm out of one of them and initiate an escape that way.”

“But if it was meant to be an escapologist’s sleepsuit, maybe it’s OK if the escapologist escapes like they are supposed to be able to.”

Theda grinned. “I had exactly that discussion with Miss Pennywright. She put forward just that argument, but I didn’t buy it. In my view, the escapologist has to know she can’t escape, otherwise she will spend the night getting loose instead of just relaxing. Also, I put security in my description of the project at the beginning.”

“You called this the ‘mark one’ – is that why?” Nina asked.

“Those weren’t the only problems. The dyeing job didn’t work. It was supposed to be purple, but the wool and cotton need different dyeing processes and the nylon won’t dye at all. The result is that a deep purple dye just did that to the composite fabric.”

“It still looks amazing,” Nina said. “Is there any chance I could try it out, despite the failings?”

“Of course you can – you’re quite a bit shorter than I was when I made it, so it should fit reasonably well,” Theda replied.

“I just wriggle in through the top and you do me up?” Nina asked, indicating the buttons across the shoulders.

“That’s about it,” Theda confirmed, “but it’s actually designed to work two ways.”

Theda reached into the suitcase and took out a spiral bound sketchbook. “This is my record of the design process.” She flipped through the pages, showing Nina the initial ideas then the detailed design sketches, samples of the yarns used glued to a page and finally photographs of the finished garment being put on to a person and fastened up in two different ways. The person demonstrating the sleepsuit was dressed in a black leotard and tights with black gloves on her hands and a black stocking covering her head.

“Who’s that in the photos?” Nina asked. “She’s not remotely too tall for the suit and she looks a bit curvier than you.”

“That’s Miss Pennywright, the art teacher.”

Nina stared at the pictures in wide-eyed astonishment. “Earlier on, just after the workshop session, you said you thought that Miss Pennywright might have a bit of an interest in games like the ones we play. Was this why you think that?”

“Not just this,” Theda replied. “I already had an idea it might be the case when I asked her to help with the pictures and if she’d mind being tied up in the suit.”

“Yes, I’d want to be reasonably sure of the answer before I asked something like that,” Nina said.

“She was completely happy about the whole thing. The only condition was that she shouldn’t be recognisable in the photos, hence the black outfit.”

“That’s twice Miss Pennywright has amazed me today – and she isn’t even here this time!”

“She’s an amazing lady.”

Nina picked up the sleepsuit and held it up against herself. “It’s quite a bit taller than me. Will that matter?”

“We may end up with a few wrinkles, but it should be OK,” Theda told her cousin.

“So, do I just strip to my undies and wriggle in?”

“No, you’ll need a to cover up – this stuff is as itchy as a horse-blanket – but nothing too cosy or you’ll boil.”

“How about the long johns and top I had on under my own sleepsuit last night?”

“Should be perfect,” Theda said, laying the sleepsuit out flat on the bed and undoing the buttons.

Nina quickly removed her outer layers and dressed in her thermal top, long johns and socks. She pulled another pair of socks on over her hands. “Do I need something on my head too?” she asked.

“Try this,” Theda said, taking a nylon stocking out of a drawer and handing it to Nina.

Nina twisted her plait into a coil on top of her head then worked the stocking down as far as it would go, with the excess length bunched around her neck.

Guided by Theda, Nina slid herself into the sleepsuit. With the two legs of the suit sewn together, it was quite hard to get her own legs down inside them as they had to go in together. As soon as she was far enough into the suit for her hands to reach the opening at the top, they had to start going into the sleeves, which made it even more difficult to work herself into the garment. The last few inches were achieved largely by Theda pulling on the sleepsuit and pushing on Nina’s shoulders. Once Nina was inside the suit, Theda did up the buttons across the shoulders but left the hood loose.

“How’s that?” Theda asked.

“Pretty snug. I can’t see how you ever got into this, even when you were shorter.”

“I’ve moved the buttons on the shoulders since I first made it to make it a bit tighter around the tops of the sleeves.”

“And a bit more inescapable?”

“That was the idea,” Theda replied with a grin. “Now, which way do you want to be done up – straitjacket or hog-tie?”

“The hog-tie looks amazing in the photos.”

“As you wish, but you may regret this. Roll over onto your tummy.”

Nina rolled herself over awkwardly, hampered by her legs being held together by the suit. Theda straightened her up on the bed then fed the strap on the right sleeve of the suit through a loop of the same material stitched to the middle of the suit’s back. She pulled the strap through the loop then guided Nina’s hand through as well, so that it ended up with her forearm across her back. She repeated the operation with the left sleeve so that both Nina’s arms were through the loop.

“Like a straitjacket, but with my arms behind me,” Nina commented.

“Exactly so,” Theda replied, threaded the straps through smaller loops at the sides of the sleepsuit’s waist. “The arrangement of loops is the same front and back so it can be done up either as a straitjacket or like this. Now see if you can lift your tummy a bit.”

Nina lifted her bottom slightly so there was a gap under her, allowing Theda to push the straps under her body, passing them through the loop on the front of the suit.

“Down.”

Nina relaxed and Theda brought the straps through the loops at the sides of the suit again. She pulled them tight and knotted them together in the middle of her cousin’s back, just below her forearms.

“OK, bottom up again,” Theda instructed.

Nina complied and her cousin threaded another of the woollen straps under her legs,threading it through loops on either side of the suit near the tops of the thighs.

“Now for the hog bit,” Theda said, lifting Nina’s feet and bending her knees. She threaded the strap through loops at the sides of the suit’s ankles and knotted the ends together, pulling Nina’s heels down onto her bottom.

Theda picked up another woollen strap and passed it under Nina’s legs. She threaded it through loops positioned on either side of the suit’s legs just above and below the knees then knotted it off to help keep her cousin’s knees bent.

“One more bit and we’re done,” Theda said.

“But I can’t move as it is,” Nina pointed out.

“I didn’t think the leg straps were quite enough, so there’s one more.” Theda threaded a strap under Nina’s forearms, wound it around them once, then took the ends through the loops at the ankles and knotted the ends together, relieving some of the tension on the thigh-to-ankle strap.

“Now you’re done – how is it?”

“Well, it’s definitely a hog-tie, but it feels very different to being tied up with rope.”

“Better? Worse?”

“Not sure yet,” Nina replied, “but I’m sure I’ll find out.”

“Half an hour should help you make your mind up. Do you want a gag too?”

“Definitely – it’s not a proper tie-up without a gag,” Nina said emphatically, “but not too restricting in case I need to yell for help.”

“Understood,” Theda said producing a pair of purple socks out of a drawer.

“Are those your old school hockey socks?” Nina asked.

“They are, and they make good gags, don’t they?”

Theda tied one sock between Nina’s teeth, pulling the fabric of the stocking over her head back into her mouth, and used the other one to blindfold her. She pulled the hood up over her cousin’s head and did up the buttons at the throat, leaving just Nina’s blindfolded and gagged face showing.

“Is that OK?” Theda asked.

“Uh,” Nina replied, nodding her head.

“OK, there’s a baby monitor plugged in and I’ve got the receiver in my pocket, so I’ll hear if you get into trouble. Half an hour should be enough done up like that – see you later.”

“Ee oo,” Nina replied.

* * *


Nina was surprised that it was Aunt Callie who released her after the half hour.

“So how was Theda’s hog-tie suit?”

“Amazing, but she was right, half an hour was really about enough in that position,” Nina replied as soon as she could speak again.

“Theda was actually quite envious of you, so I had to truss her up too,” Callie said helping her niece wriggle out of the sleepsuit after untying all the straps.

“So where is she?”

“I’ll show you,” Callie said beckoning Nina to follow.

They went into the neighbouring bedroom, which was the one used by Callie. Theda was lying on her back on the bed, covered from head to toe in an extraordinary purple garment. Nina stared at it open-mouthed. It seemed to be made from a soft purple fleece fabric. The upper half was made like a straitjacket, with the arms in the classic position. Nina noted that they were securely positioned through a pair of vertical loops attached to the front of the suit and that the sleeves passed through smaller loops at the sides. The lower part was a single sheath for both legs and feet, tightened by straps of the same material at the ankles and above and below the knees, all secured with velcro fastenings. There was a single zip fastener running from the toes right up the front of the legs and body and also closing the front of the hood that entirely covered Theda’s head.

“Theda called the suit I was wearing the mark one version. Is this mark two?” Nina asked.

“That’s right,” Callie confirmed. “She designed this one on the basis of the experience with the first version.”

“It looks scarily effective.”

“It is – I’ve tried it too and neither of us could make any progress trying to escape from it.”

“It looks fairly comfy though.”

“Theda definitely got that right – I’ve only tried it for an hour or so, but she’s slept in it a couple of times and apparently slept quite well.

“Is that her plan for tonight?” Nina asked.

Theda replied herself by nodding.

“Should we move her into her own bedroom so you can have your bed back?” Nina asked.

“I don’t mind sharing,” Caillie replied. “Besides, you might sleep better on your own.”

“Good point,” Nina conceded. “I didn’t sleep brilliantly well last night and I’d quite like to catch up tonight.”

“So you don’t want to be tied up again tonight?” Callie asked with a grin.

“Two nights running might be a bit much,” Nina said, then on an impulse added, “I could tie you up though – you’re the only one not to have been tied up today.”

Nina expected her suggestion to be instantly dismissed as the joke she had intended it as, but Callie didn’t reply immediately, apparently giving it some thought. “That could be fun,” she said, “but I’ll need to get my night things on first.”

“And I need to get my sleepsuit on – I’m getting a bit cold like this.” Nina gestured to her thermal top and long johns, which were the only clothes she was wearing.

Nina visited the bathroom then returned to Theda’s room. She dumped the amazing escapologist’s sleepsuit on a chair together with the stocking that had been over her head. She pulled her own navy blue footed sleepsuit with its pattern of black and white penguins out from under the pillow where she has stowed it that morning and zipped herself into it.

Feeling much warmer, Nina padded along the landing to her aunt’s room and knocked on the door. “Ready?” she asked.

“Just a moment,” Aunt Callie replied.

Nina waited patiently for a minute or two until her aunt opened the bedroom door. She stepped inside the room and blinked in amazement at her aunt’s choice of nightwear. Callie was wearing a fleece onesie in red and white horizontal stripes. A pair of thick grey socks were pulled up over the bottoms of them and a she wore a matching pair of grey mittens on her hands. A white knitted hat covered her hair and she was swathed in an enormous white knitted shawl.

“You look surprised, dear,” Callie said.

“Um, I think I was expecting something more...” Nina was at a loss for words.

“Classic?” Callie prompted. “Retro? Just plain old fashioned?”

“Something like that,” Nina admitted with a sheepish grin.

“I’m like you, I hate getting cold in bed. I sometimes layer up even more than this.”

“Are you still sure you want me to tie you up?” Nina asked a little nervously.

“Quite sure,” Callie replied firmly.

“What would you like me to use?” Nina looked around the room for any obvious sign of tying up supplies.

“Well, I keep a few things in here,” Callie said, opening a wardrobe. There was a wicker basket with a lid at the bottom, under the hanging clothes.

“That’s where I keep my stuff too,” Nina confided.

“I think there are quite a few people who do,” Aunt Callie said in a dramatic stage whisper as she lifted the basket out.

Callie opened the basket. It was stuffed with rope, silk scarves, knitted scarves, stockings and oddments of fabric. “Just wrists and ankles with these, please,” she said, handing Nina a pair of laddered black stockings.

Nina found the prospect of tying her aunt up oddly exciting. Callie lay down on the bed and offered her hands in front of her for Nina to start tying. After hesitating for a moment, Nina wrapped one stocking around her aunt’s wrists in a figure of eight pattern forming three complete loops around each wrist. She Twisted the ends of the stocking around each other then used the remaining length to form a cinch between Aunt Callie’s wrists. She finished off with a small, tight knot.

“Very good – it’ll take scissors to get me out of this,” Callie said, inspecting the finished binding.

Nina repeated the operation with an identical binding on her aunt’s ankles. Callie kicked her feet gently to test the security of the binding. “It’s going to be your responsibility to make sure we all get up tomorrow,” she instructed Nina. “If you set the alarm for eight o’clock, that should be about right.”

“Will do,” Nina promised as she pulled the duvet up over her aunt and cousin. “Good night,” she said from the door with her finger on the light switch.

“Night-night,” Callie replied.

Theda managed a double grunt that might have been her version of ‘night-night’.

Nina switched off the light, closed the door and returned to Theda’s room. She turned turned on Theda’s bedside lamp and switched off the overhead light so that she wouldn’t have to stumble across an unfamiliar room in the dark. It took a few minutes for her to work out how to set Theda’s alarm clock and make sure it would go off at the right time.

With the clock set, Nina sat down on the edge of the bed and put on her knitted monkey mask. She reached up to do up the buttons at the back of the mask then remembered something she had seen in her aunt’s basket and wondered if Theda had similar items in the plastic box she kept in her wardrobe. She put the mask down, crossed the room and turned on the main light again and went to investigate the box. A little rummaging yielded a pair of knitted items. One was a black headband about 8 centimetres wide, the other almost identical, except that part of its circumference was much narrower, only about 2 centimetres and much thicker than the rest.

Nina had guessed the function of these items when she had seen them in her aunt’s room. She took the band with the narrower section and pulled it down over her head. It was a very snug fit, so it had to be worked down into place. She adjusted it until the narrow section was between her teeth, forming a neat cleave gag. She realised that it would be more effective as a gag with some packing inside her mouth but decided not to add that in the interests of comfort.

Happy with her discovery, Nina replaced the box, turned off the overhead light and returned to the bed. The handcuffs that Callie and Theda had given her on Friday were still lying on the bedside table where she had left them. She very carefully placed the key next to the alarm clock and put the handcuffs on the bed beside her. She located the mittens that matched her mask and put those beside her as well. She placed the mask and the other knitted band on the other side of her and switched off the bedside lamp.

Working by feel, Nina slid the knitted band down over her eyes then put her mask on, reaching behind her head to fasten the buttons. She slid her hands into her mittens, pulling them up over the sleeves of her sleepsuit. She hesitated for a moment then snapped the handcuffs onto her wrists with her hands in front of her.

Nina swung her legs into bed than rather awkwardly pulled the duvet up over herself. She wondered if she would be able to unlock her handcuffs while wearing mittens, but decided it was too late to worry about that and was soon asleep.

[Soraka]

Secrets and Surprises Part 5: Day of Rest

An insistent beeping sound penetrated Nina’s consciousness, dragging her up from the depths of a sound sleep. It took her a moment to recognise the sound as Theda’s alarm clock and another to remember that it was her responsibility this Sunday morning to free her aunt and cousin and that she had to free herself first.

Nina rolled over in bed and reached out blindly with her handcuffed and mitten-covered hands for the button on top of the alarm clock that would silence it. There was a gentle click and peace was restored. The next task was to locate the handcuff key. She remembered leaving it next to the alarm clock, but it still took her a surprisingly long time to find it. The handcuffs she was wearing were the old-fashioned darby style, with each wrist enclosed by a curved shackle hinged to a straight cylindrical barrel lock. The bulky plug key had to be screwed into the opening at the hinge end of the lock. Nina was relieved that despite the mittens on her hands, she was still dexterous enough to manipulate the key. Despite that, it took considerable fumbling for her to get the tip of the key into one of the keyholes and start turning it. Once the key was in place, it took only a few turns to release the shackle. Nina took the opportunity to pull the mitten off the free hand, which made it much easier to unscrew the key from one lock and fit it into the other.

With both hands free of both the handcuffs and her mittens, Nina reached behind her head and unbuttoned her brown woollen monkey mask. She slid the black headband covering her eyes upwards and off her head. She switched on the bedside lamp to supplement the grey early morning light filtering through the curtains then reached up to get the gag out of her mouth. It was only when she hooked a finger around it that she realised it would be very unpleasant to remove. It had been a tight fit when she pulled it down over her face the previous night and the part between her teeth was now soaking wet. She didn’t relish the prospect of dragging it up across her face so decided to leave it in place for the moment.

Nina’s next job was to free Aunt Callie, which would require a pair of scissors. There was probably a pair somewhere in Theda’s room but she had no idea where to look, so she got out of bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen and took a pair from the cutlery drawer. Back upstairs, she tapped politely at her aunt’s bedroom door before opening it.

“I’m already awake,” Callie said. “I heard your alarm going off for ages before you switched it off. Trouble waking up?”

Nina attempted to reply though her gag, but just produced an incoherent mumble.

“So you changed your mind about being tied up last night and did it yourself?” Callie asked.

Nina nodded as she used the scissors to snip through the nylon stocking binding her aunt’s wrists. She pulled the duvet down and cut the ankle binding as well.

“And you’ve left the gag in because you can’t work out how to get it off without smearing drool over your face?”

“I oo ip im owah,” Nina said, articulating carefully.

“You’ll do it in the shower?” Callie repeated. “Good plan. Why not go there now while I get Theda untied.”

Theda nodded her head emphatically to indicate that it was time to be untied.

Nina went to the bathroom and enjoyed a few minutes under the stream of hot water. She wasn’t sure what to to with the gag, which was now completely soaked, so she left it on the side of the bath. She wrapped herself in a towel and returned to Theda’s room.

Her cousin was standing in front of a mirror in her nightdress, using a spiky hairbrush to sort out her frizzy hair. “So what did you do to yourself, last night?” she asked.

Nina explained her use of her handcuffs.

“And you slept OK like that?” Theda asked.

“Like a log,” Nina replied, “but I was so tired I could probably have slept up a tree.”

Chuckling at the reply, Theda headed for the bathroom.

Nina spent a few minutes with her cousin’s hair-drier then braided her hair into a single plait. She dressed herself in her pink sweater worn over a pair of black leggings with black socks pulled up over them and her black mary-janes. She spent the next few minutes repacking her suitcase ready to go home.

* * *


When Nina went down to the kitchen, she found Aunt Callie already there, but still wearing her striped onesie.

“What do you fancy for breakfast?” Callie asked.

“What are you two having?” Nina countered.

“We’re not.”

“Whyever not?” Nina asked.

“When we drive you home, we’re going to stop off on the way for early morning Mass,” Callie explained. “Catholic tradition is that you don’t eat for a couple of hours before communion.”

“Well, I can make something for myself, if you want to go upstairs and get dressed,” Nina offered.

“Are you sure?”

Nina nodded emphatically, so her aunt headed upstairs.

* * *


A quarter of an hour or so later, Callie and Theda came downstairs together to find Nina sitting at the table, finishing off a slice of toast with scrambled egg on it and with a mug of tea in front of her.

Nina was surprised to see Aunt Callie wearing trousers. They were beige cavalry twill and very tightly fitting. The lower part of the legs were covered by her knee-length lace-up brown leather boots. The tops of a pair of khaki-coloured socks were just visible above the boots. Callie also wore a cream roll-necked sweater under a tweed jacket in a bold brown and grey dogtooth check. A sage green hooded scarf hung around her neck with the hood pushed back.

Theda was comfortably dressed in a bottle green sweater and a faded blue knee-length denim skirt. Under the skirt, she had a pair of maroon ribbed tights and black elastic-sided ankle boots. A pair of mid-blue legwarmers covered the tops of the boots and reached almost to her knees. A plum-coloured woollen cardigan, styled like a suit jacket, contrasted boldly with the sweater. She had a dark red circle scarf looped twice around her neck.

“What time do we have to go out?” Nina asked, looking up from her breakfast.

“Mass is at half past nine, and it only takes about five minute to get there, so there’s no rush,” Callie replied.

“How long does it last?” Nina asked, thinking about the time of her own church service later in the morning.

“The early service is really quick, just a bare minimum Mass,” Callie told her.

“It’s just the prayers and readings for the day plus communion,” Theda explained. “The homily will probably be all of two minutes and the whole thing will be over in fifteen.”

“Sounds a bit rushed,” Nina said.

“It’s really nice actually, very informal,” Theda said. “There’s usually only about ten or a dozen people there for that service. We sit around in a circle so we all face each other and pass the bread and wine around when it gets to that bit.”

“That does sound really nice,” Nina agreed. “Can I join in?”

Theda glanced at her mother who said, “If it was Father Stephen celebrating today, there would be no problem. As long as you understand what it’s about, he’s completely relaxed about non-Catholics attending, but it’s Father Andrew this morning and he wouldn’t allow it.”

“It would be weird if I sat at the back during an intimate service like that, so I think I’ll just wait in the van,” Nina said.

* * *


A few minutes later, Nina was ready to go. Her suitcase and schoolbag were waiting alongside her at the front door. She was wearing her grey duffel coat with her purple knitted hat on her head and her purple and white school scarf hung loosely around her neck. She was wearing her black woollen gloves wit her grey fingerless ones pulled on over the top.

“Did you remember to pick up your handcuffs?” Callie asked.

Nina patted one of her coat pockets in reply.

“We thought you might get a bit bored just waiting in the van,” Theda said, “so we thought we’d give you something to amuse yourself.”

With, that, Callie produced a pair of handcuffs from her jacket pocket, similar in design to the small pair Nina had worn overnight, but larger in size. She bent down and snapped them on around Nina’s ankles.

While Nina’s attention was taken up with what her aunt was doing, Theda took the handcuffs and key out of her cousin’s pocket. She unlocked them and snapped one shackle onto Nina’s right wrist. In a co-ordinated move, Theda brought Nina’s right hand round behind her back, while Callie brought her left hand round to meet it and snapped on the second cuff.

Nina stood in open-mouthed astonishment; it had taken only a few seconds for her to be shackled hand and foot and she had been rendered helpless before she had a chance to react.

“Well, I certainly won’t be gatecrashing Mass,” she said.

“Phase two?” Theda said to her mother.

Callie nodded and produced a cotton headscarf out of her pocket. It had been folded into a band and a knot tied in the middle. Theda brought a handkerchief out of one of her pockets.

Nina made no attempt to resist as Theda pushed the handkerchief into her mouth and Callie tied the scarf between her teeth.

“Now, we don’t want the neighbours to see you like that,” Theda said. She lifted up the hood of Nina’s coat to cover her head, fastened the top toggle at Nina’s throat and wrapped her scarf twice around her head, covering her mouth and nose, and knotted it at the back.

“OK, everyone out to the van,” Callie announced.

Nina shuffled her way out through the front door, taking the tiny steps that her cuffed ankles permitted. She waited while her aunt opened the rear doors of the van then allowed herself to be lifted bodily and deposited on the van’s floor, which was padded by a thin mattress. Nina’s case and schoolbag were stowed beside her and the doors closed.

Callie settled herself in the driving seat and Theda in the left hand passenger seat and they drove off. Nina discovered that if she lay on one side and bent her knees, it stopped her rolling around every time the van negotiated a corner.

* * *


After five minutes or so, the van stopped and Nina heard the handbrake being applied. Callie and Theda leaned over their seats to look at Nina.

“See you in about quarter of an hour,” Callie said.

Nina’s aunt and cousin climbed out of the van and shut the doors. There followed a sharp clunk as the central locking engaged.

Now that she was on her own, Nina decided to explore the limits of her freedom and see if she could effect an escape. She knew that if her wrists were tied behind her with rope, she was able to work her hands under her bottom and her feet to get them to the front. It seemed reasonable that with her hands slightly further apart in handcuffs, it should, if anything, be even easier. It didn’t take long to discover that her heavy duffel coat actually made the attempt impossible. She had no option but to lie there, chewing on her gag and waiting for Callie and Theda to return.

Nina didn’t have long to wait until her aunt and cousin returned. Once again, they leaned over the backs of their seats to look at her. Nina noticed that Callie now had the hood of her scarf pulled up over her hair while Theda had one loop of her circle scarf pulled up over hers. Presumably they were traditional enough to prefer to wear headcoverings during Mass, but Nina was in no position to ask.

* * *


The drive from Callie and Theda’s church to Nina’s home took about half an hour. Callie usually parked on the street outside, but on this occasion she reversed the van into the driveway until it was almost in contact with Nina’s mother’s car. Theda opened one of the sliding side doors of the van and helped Nina swivel around so she could come out feet first. Callie took charge of Nina’s luggage while Theda helped her cousin to stand. Once Callie had locked the van, she headed down the path that led between the house and garage. Nina followed, slowed by the tiny steps she was forced to take, and Theda accompanied her.

By the time Theda and Callie reached the kitchen door into the house, Suzanna, Nina’s mother, had already opened it in response to Callie’s knock.

“I see you’re taking a firm hand with my daughter,” Suzanna commented as Theda helped Nina negotiate the step up into the kitchen.

“We thought it would keep her out of trouble while we went to Mass on the way here,” Theda explained.

“Well I hope she was some use to you in the shop and you haven’t had to keep her chained up the entire weekend,” Suzanna said as she unwound Nina’s scarf to reveal the gag underneath. She pushed Nina’s hood back and started working on the knot securing the scarf between her teeth.

“Actually, she’s been great,” Callie said. “I won’t say we couldn’t manage without her, because, obviously we have up until now, but her being there made such a huge difference to the Friday rush and the smooth running of the Saturday workshop.”

Suzanna had removed Nina’s cleave gag but not yet extracted the handkerchief from her mouth. She broke off what she was doing and asked pointedly, “That’s the Saturday morning bondage workshop with the French lady you told me about?”

“Nina was acting as front of house staff and wasn’t actually in the room for the workshop,” Callie reassured her. “Also, we made sure she was well disguised and not looking too much like a schoolgirl.”

“She did get to untie me afterwards, after the guests had gone,” Theda said from her position kneeling on the floor unlocking the handcuffs on Nina’s ankles.

“I suppose that’s all right then,” Suzanna said, somewhat mollified.

As soon as Nina’s hands were freed from the smaller pair of cuffs by her cousin, she pulled the handkerchief out of her mouth and deftly tossed it into the kitchen sink before rubbing her wrists. “It’s been a brilliant weekend and I really enjoyed the work,” she said. “Can we make it a regular job, please, Aunt Callie? I won’t be able to do the Saturdays when I have a hockey match, but I’d like to do the others and I’d be able to to almost all Fridays.”

“You’d be more than welcome, Nina,” Callie replied, “but it’s your mum that has the final say.”

“Work experience and earning some cash of her own will be a good experience,” Suzanna said. “You said that she was a genuine help?”

“She certainly was. We gave her the handcuffs she was wearing just now as a bonus, and it’s not just me being an indulgent auntie, she worked hard to earn it.”

“In that case, I have no problem and I’ll trust your judgement on the more... adult... part of the business.”

“Thank you, Mum,” Nina said, hugging her mother.

“Twenty past ten,” Suzanna commented, glancing at the clock. “Are you about ready for church?”

“I’m wearing leggings and socks to go under my choir cassock,” Nina replied.

“In sober black for once,” Suzanna commented, looking down. “And the top half?”

“My pink sweater.”

“You could probably do with a skirt for church – that sweater is a bit short to wear as a dress these days.”

“OK – I’ll go upstairs and pop one on,” Nina replied.

“I know you’ve just been to Mass, but do you two want to join us heretic Anglicans at church?” Suzanna asked Callie and Theda.

Nina, who had only got as far as the kitchen door, turned and said, “When I asked them if I could go to their church service, they chained me up and gagged me and put me in the back of the van.”

Suzanna looked questioningly at her honorary sister and niece.

“Um, I suppose we did do something like that,” Theda conceded.

“It wasn’t exactly cause and effect, though,” Callie said. “We thought she might get bored waiting for us.”

Nina, who was still standing in the doorway, smiled sweetly and said, “Well, we wouldn’t want Theda and Callie to get bored while we’re at church, would we, Mum.”

“That child is definitely your daughter,” Callie said with a laugh, raising her hands in mock surrender.

“Woe is us, our wicked ways have found us out!” Theda wailed, thumping her chest for effect.

“We’ve just got time if you’re quick upstairs and come back and lend a hand,” Suzanna said to Nina.

Nina ran upstairs, used the bathroom and cleaned her teeth. In her bedroom, she chose a black denim miniskirt to make even more of a statement with her pink sweater and black leggings. Her hair had suffered somewhat with her rolling around in the van with her hood up, so she loosened it, combed it out and re-braided it into a plait.

Going back downstairs, Nina paused at the piano in the dining room to quickly run through the treble part of the choir piece for the offertory at church to get it more firmly in her mind.

When she arrived back in the kitchen, two of the dining chairs had been set in the middle of the floor. These were two of a set of six flat-pack wooden chairs that Nina and Suzanna had re-engineered for strength and stability a few weeks previously. They were very simple straight-backed wooden chairs with slightly concave plywood seats. The seats were stiffened by rectangular wooden frames which were supported at the corners by square wooden legs. The two back legs also went up past the seat to form the side members of the backrest. They were linked by a deep wooden member at the top and four thinner bars below, all of which were gently curved for comfort. The legs were stabilised by wooden stretchers, one on each side joining front and back legs with a third running across the width of the chair, linking the centres of the other two. In strengthening the chairs, Suzanna and Nina had doubled up the thickness of the frames under the seats, which also helped stabilise the legs and had reinforced all the joints with long screws. The overhauled chairs had successfully withstood the test of having people tied to them and struggling with their bonds.

Callie and Theda had both removed their jackets and scarves. Theda had a pair of Suzanna’s heavy grey walking socks pulled over her hands and up over the sleeves of her sweater. She was sitting on one of the chairs and already well on the way to being securely bound to it. Suzanna was doing the tying, while Theda assisted by sorting out rope from the large box on the floor and handing it to her aunt.

Nina was always impressed at just how quickly her mother could tie someone up when she set her mind to it. Callie was sitting bolt upright on the chair with her arms straight down the verticals either side of the back rest. There was a band of about four turns of rope around her arms and chest and the back of the chair just above the level of her bust. It had been cinched between her arms and the side members of the chair, presumable to foil any attempt to work the rope upwards and off her shoulders. Another similar band below bust level was cinched between Callie’s arms and body. A further band of rope went around her waist and was fastened off to the verticals either side while more rope went across her hips and was fastened to the tops of the back chair legs below the seat both sides. Her forearms and wrists were lashed to the side members of the chair by separate bindings, with the wrist bindings also involving rope that looped around the chair leg below the seat. Suzanna was just finishing off the last wrist binding as Nina entered the room.

“Nina, would you see to Aunt Callie’s legs while I make a start on Theda?” Suzanna asked.

“Will do, Mum,” Nina replied. “How would you like me to do them?”

“Together, I think, if we’re doing the same to both of them, seeing as Theda’s wearing a skirt.”

“Good point,” Nina replied, helping herself to rope while Suzanna started tying Theda to the second chair.

Nina decided to start by removing Callie’s boots. Although the boots were laced up, ther was a zip on the inner side so the didn’t have to be relacec edevy time they were put on. She slid the zips down and pulled the boots off her aunt’s feet. “Just to make it a bit harder to scoot the chair around,” she explained with a smile.

After selecting some suitable lengths of rope from the pile that Theda had already disentangled, Nina made a start by tying her aunt’s ankles together. She wrapped the rope around them four times then finished off with three cinching turns between them before knotting the ends off. She stuck a finger down behind the coil of rope to check the tightness.

“Not too tight, Auntie?” she asked.

Callie wiggled her feet experimentally. “These trousers have stirrups so the bottoms of the legs are well down over my ankles. There’s plenty of padding there and it feels fine.”

Suitable encouraged, Nina repeated the binding just below Callie’s knees, so the rope was above the top of her socks, and again above her knees.

“Now, Mum’s done this to me; let’s see if I can make it work on you,” Nina said picking up another length of rope. She folded the rope in half to find the middle then fastened it around the cinch above Callie’s knees. She pulled the ends of the rope out to the sides, feeding them beneath her aunt’s legs as she did so. Next, she took the rope down over the edges of the chair seat and wound them around the tops of the front legs of the chair, securing them with a hitch at each side. She brought the ends of the rope together behind the binding below Callie’s knees and wound then around the cinch before knotting them off.

With Callie’s knees now effectively anchored to the chair, Nina turned her attention to her aunt’s ankles again. She took another piece of rope, found the centre and fastened it to the midpoint of the transverse stretcher running across the width of the chair. She brought the doubled rope forwards, wound it around the cinch between Callie’s ankles, so it pulled her feet back slightly, and secured it with a knot. She took the free ends out to the sides, going in front of her aunt’s ankles to the front legs of the chair where she fastened them off with a secure hitch at each side. With ropes tethering the binding three ways, Callie was unable to move her feet significantly in any direction.

“You’re getting scarily good at this,” Aunt Callie commented.

By the time Nina had finished securing her aunt’s legs, Suzanna had finished binding Theda to the second chair from the waist up.

“I’ll get lunch in the oven while you finish off tying Theda up,” Suzanna instructed.

Having done it once on her aunt, Nina was much quicker reproducing the same bindings on her cousin, also removing her boots as she had Callie’s. Her mother was still working on the chicken and potatoes that were to go into the oven while they were out at church, so Nina decided to follow her own initiative in gagging Callie and Theda. She went into the utility room next to the kitchen to see what was available.

“Don’t worry, these are all clean and were waiting to go back upstairs,” Nina said brandishing a bunch of socks.

Nina started with Callie. She rolled one of her own yellow ankle socks into a ball and carefully pushed it into her aunt’s mouth, taking care not to cause undue discomfort. She followed it with a grey knee-length sock belonging to her mother. She tied a knot about half way along its length which she pushed between Callie’s teeth then took the ends of the sock round behind her head and tied them together with a firm double knot.

“I’ll just make sure you can’t push it out,” Nina said, stretching a purple legwarmer between her hands. She wrapped it across her aunt’s face so it went below her chin and almost up to the bridge of her nose and tied the ends tightly together at the back of her head.

Satisfied with the result, Nina reproduced the gag on Theda. “That’s them done,” she said to her mother.

“And the lunch is in the oven with the timer set, so we ought to head for church now,” Suzanna announced.

Suzanna was wearing a moss green sweater with faded blue jeans and a pair of olive green socks pulled up over them. It didn’t take long for her to step into a pair of Ugg boots and to put on her sheepskin jacket. She put a bottle green beret on her head, wound a matching dark green scarf around her neck and picked up her handbag. She carried out a last minute inspection of the ropes securing Callie and Theda. “I think that should hold them OK,” she said, smiling sweetly at the two prisoners.

Nina put her grey duffel coat back on, added a pink knitted cap to match her sweater and a charcoal grey scarf. “Will it be OK leaving them like that with the oven on?” Nina asked.

“Well the oven has never set fire to the kitchen so far, so I expect they’ll be fine,” Suzanna replied, ushering her daughter out through the door.

* * *


When Suzanna and Nina returned from church, they discovered that Callie and Theda had managed to move their chairs together but that they were just as securely tied up and gagged as they had been when they were left.

“I think you’re on untying duty while I sort out the meal,” Suzanna said to Nina as they both removed their coats and hung them up.

While Suzanna put some vegetables on to heat, Nina went to the kitchen cutlery drawer and took out a red Swiss Army knife. She selected the stubby pointed tool intended for poking holes in leather. “It’s not as good as that handy wooden gadget you have in the shop, but it’s the best thing we have for getting knots undone,” she said.

Nina started by removing her aunt’s and cousin’s gags.

“You two are getting to be a force to be reckoned with,” Callie said, as soon as she could speak.

“That’s right,” Theda agreed. “Mum and I must have spent over half an hour trying to find some way to get loose, but we couldn’t reach any knots or find enough slack to wriggle a hand out.”

“When we were little, you were always the better one at tying up,” Suzanna said, looking over her shoulder at Callie.

“Not sure about that,” Callie replied, “but you were definitely the better escape artist and that more than made up for any difference in tying skills.”

“I’m not sure I could have got out of what we did to you two, even when I was younger and at my best,” Suzanna said.

While this conversation was going on, Nina was at work systematically undoing the knots securing her aunt. It took well over five minutes to get them all untied.

“I’ll take it from here, dear,” Callie said. “If you give your mum a hand, I’ll get Theda untied.”

Accordingly, Nina switched her attention to the meal and helped by setting the table. Ten minutes or so later, with Theda now untied, the four sat down at the table to enjoy the meal.

After they had eaten and mugs of tea had been poured, Nina asked, “Is it all right if I take my tea upstairs. I have a pile of homework to finish before tomorrow.”

“You go on – we’ll see to clearing up,” Suzanna replied.

Nina made her farewells and thanked her aunt again for the weekend’s work experience then went upstairs to her bedroom.

* * *


Two hours later, Nina leaned back on her desk chair and stretched her arms. There was only some maths to do, and then she would be finished. She decided that another mug of tea would be in order, so she removed her headphones, picked up her empty mug and headed downstairs.

“Oh, wow,” Nina said, faced with the sight of her mother roped to a chair in exactly the way that Callie and Theda had been earlier. Her face was covered from below her chin to the middle of her nose with a woollen scarf in blue and grey stripes, which Nina recognised as one her mother had bought from a jumble sale specifically for tying up games.

“So you were right – you can’t escape from that?” Nina asked.

Suzanna shook her head in reply.

“Aunt Callie and Theda gone?”

Suzanna nodded.

“Do you want me to get your gag off?”

Suzanna nodded again, so Nina put her mug down and went across to where her mother was sitting. She untied the fat knot at the back of her head and unwound the scarf. There was a knotted brown sock between Suzanna’s teeth. Nina untied it and then extracted the soggy handkerchief that was stuffed into her mouth.

“I wasn’t quite expecting this,” Nina said.

“Callie challenged me to see if I could escape. It seemed like a fun idea at the time, but she didn’t say what would happen if I couldn’t escape.”

“Nothing, apparently – you’re still here,” Nina said with a grin.

Suzanna returned the grin, somewhat sheepishly.

“So how long have you been tied up?” Nina asked.

“Almost two hours. They tied me up just after you went upstairs and I was sat here while they tidied up the lunch things. They’ve been gone a bit more than an hour now.”

“So you’ve been tied up longer than they were while we were at church.”

“Yes – if you’ve finished your homework, perhaps you could untie me?”

“I haven’t quite finished,” Nina replied. “I’ve done English and French and I’ve done my preparatory sketches for art but I’ve still got maths to do.”

“Well, don’t stop now, if you’re on a roll,” Suzanna said. “Another half hour won’t hurt me.”

“OK, if you’re sure,” Nina said, switching the kettle on and dropping a teabag into her mug. “At least I’ve got time to get you a clean gag while the kettle’s boiling.”

Nina gathered up the damp sock and handkerchief and took them to the utility room. She returned with a clean handkerchief and the partner of the sock. It took less than a minute to restore her mother’s gag to her satisfaction, by which time the kettle had boiled.

A minute or two later, with her tea made, Nina went back upstairs.

* * *


That evening, over a light meal of cheese on toast, Nina recounted her experiences of the weekend. Her mother questioned her fairly closely about the conduct of Saturday’s workshop session at her aunt’s shop, picking up from the questions that she had asked Callie and Theda earlier.

Nina enthusiastically described exactly what had gone on but omitted two facts. One was the identity of the French Mistress. She felt that she understood Miss Badelaine’s reason for concealing her identity and felt a little bad at having blown her cover to Aunt Callie, so did not reveal to her mother that the French Mistress and the school librarian were one and the same person. The second fact she kept to herself was that her art teacher had attended the workshop and had penetrated her disguise with apparent ease.

Suzanna seemed to be satisfied with the conduct of the workshop and sympathised with Nina’s disappointment at not seeing Theda actually being tied up. On the strength of that, Nina decided to reveal that she had spent both the previous nights tied up in bed, once at the hands of her cousin and once at her own. Her mother seemed not be be unduly put out by this despite having refused to tie Nina up in bed on previous occasions. Instead, she simply asked, “So are you planning to sleep tied up again tonight?”

“No,” Nina replied emphatically. “It was fun, but it’s a school day tomorrow and I could really do with a good night’s sleep to recover from a busy weekend.”

[Plueschbabycd]

Another good story form Doctor George I like. I wish someone had make the bag for head. That I wright my story about a balaclava/ski mask similar it.