Chapter 3 : Inauguration

Morning Coffee

Hannah called Liz back the following day.

"I've had a chat with the others," she said.

"And?" Liz responded.

"I take it you're still interested?"

Liz thought back to yesterday afternoon. She had spent the entire afternoon trawling the internet to see what she could find. Some of it had been fascinating; some of it horrific. Some of it she'd found a real turn on.

"Yes," she said determinedly, "I'm still interested."

"OK. Well here's what folk think. They are a bit nervous of someone just coming along to watch one of our tie-up sessions. It's not that they're embarrassed but we all do it for what we get out of it, not really from any exhibitionist thing."

"Oh," Liz was set back a bit. "Yes, I can see that, I hadn't really thought it through I suppose. I guess it's different when you are all joining in. It's just – well, I don't know if I'm ready to join in myself yet."

"I can see that. But look here's an alternative. Our next meeting is more a sort of 'show and tell', each of us is going to talk about a movie or a book with a bondage scene in it that we really like. Nobody's going to be doing anything, we'll just be chatting. The other girls would all be fine with it if you wanted to come along to that."

"That might be fun," Liz said. "I don't know that I can contribute though."

"That's all right. You can bring some cake. We're all doing that too!"

"OK, it's a deal," Liz smiled. "Where and when?"

"Thursday next, three o'clock over at Laura's."

"I'll be there. Definitely."

First Group Meeting

Liz spent quite a while puzzling over the forthcoming meeting. Even Ben accused her of being distracted by something. It was difficult though. What do you wear to a woman's group meeting where you're going to discuss bondage movies?

In the end Liz decided she would treat it like any other social event. It was a hot summery day and she chose a pale green, cotton, shirtwaister dress that she knew would feel cool and look smartly casual.

The choice of cake took considerably less time. She had been renowned for her triple-choc cake where she'd lived before. It was definitely time, Liz thought, to introduce the ladies of Westhampton to its delights.

So, when Liz arrived at Laura's place, she was welcomed cheerily; even more so when the others saw the cake she had brought.

"Mmmm," said Theresa, whose girth was rather larger than that of the others. "I say we forget about the rest of the meeting and just get to the cakes."

The rest of the girls were already there. Liz's choice of dress had been just right. All the others had chosen smart, summery dresses, taking advantage of the first really warm day of the year.

Laura, who was obviously chairing the meeting, wasn't having any of it. "I don't think so!" she scolded. "Come on through to the lounge. Everyone can do their chat and then we can have some cake."

Theresa gave a pretended sulky look but then smiled and followed the others through. Laura had drawn up a series of chairs in a semi-circle in front of television and they all sat down.

"Well, welcome everybody," she said, kicking things off. "And especially welcome to Liz. We all hope you enjoy yourself, Liz." The others nodded in agreement, not seeming at all embarrassed just as Hannah had said.

"Now you know we each agreed to bring along a video or a DVD to talk about how it influenced us. Luckily we've all managed to find a different one each – thanks to Cassie for changing her choice so it didn't clash with Mandy. So, who is going to kick things off? How about you Hannah?"

Hannah looked around got to her feet and took up her place beside the television. She took a DVD case out of her handbag and slipped the silver disk into the player beneath the TV.

"The film I've chosen is 'The Collector'. I know it's a bit corny and it's over forty years old now but it's a film that I remember as having a big influence on me when I was growing up. If you haven't seen it, it's about a man, played by Terry Stamp..."

"Oooh, he's always a good villain," Theresa interrupted. Hannah looked at her in a way that made Liz think this wasn't uncommon.

" ... a man who kidnaps a girl and keeps her captive. He's hoping that she will come to love him. It's a strange tale because she's more intelligent than him but he's more cunning than her. And it all turns out badly; for her at any rate."

"Boo! Spoiler!" called Theresa.

"But it does have some delicious scenes in it. This is probably my favorite." Hannah punched her way through the scene selection menu on the DVD. A woman is walking up a street as a van pulls by her. "I couldn't walk past a van on the same side of the road for moths after I saw this," Hannah said. "I felt they made this scene where he grabs and chloroforms her so real. It still gives me chills to watch it. But this is another favorite of mine too." She skipped the DVD back to the scene selection menu and made another choice. Now the girl is being taken by the man through a house, she was shown into a bathroom, an old style room with a big gas water heater. He tells her she can wash. She undresses. He's embarrassed. Then there's a knock at the door of the house. He's got a caller. He ties her wrists to the pipes in the bathroom, pushes a face cloth into her mouth and uses the belt of her dressing gown to tie it there as a gag. He leaves her to go the door. She struggles trying to get free. "Wow," Hannah said. "I mean that was so exciting for me when I first saw that. To be feeling that helpless and that close to rescue. My mother wondered why I got so keen on taking baths and how come my face cloth got so chewed up!"

The other girls laughed but Liz felt it was as much a laugh of tension released as one of a real appreciation of the joke.

Hannah went on for a short while showing some of the other scenes and then came to a conclusion. "Well," she said, "that's the one that did it for me. How about you others?"

The rest of the group gave a round of applause. Hannah blushed. Laura said, "Well thank you Hannah for getting us started. Julia perhaps you'll tell us about your choice..."

Julia and Hannah changed places and Julia slid her disk into the player. "I've chosen, 'Secretary', " she said. "Although I have to confess that it's mainly for the title sequence." She let it run showing Maggie Gylenhall in tight skirt and white blouse trying to carry out her secretarial tasks with her wrists chained to a long pole that held them out at shoulder level. "There's some things I don't like in this film. I mean James Spader is just a bit too creepy for me and I don't like the way they imply that it's all related to the Maggie Gylenhall character's thing for self-harming but this scene is great and so is the spanking sequence later on."

Julia chatted on for a while and then let Terry, and the others take their turn. Liz watched in fascination as scenes from Belle De Jour, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars – Return of the Jedi were played out on the screen. Each of them had fired a spark in one of the girls. While none of them felt that the films had been the cause of their enthusiasms they all felt that their choice had awakened something or just given them a sense of thrill and excitement that had added to an existing interest.

With the last of the films, Laura went out to the kitchen and returned with a jug of coffee, a pot of tea, cups, saucers and plates and the cakes contributed by all the members of the group. They all sat around helping themselves and chatting.

"So, what did you think Liz?" Hannah said.