I along with seven of my friends in the “Footy pyjamas clubâ€, were having a slumber party with my parents blessing. We were all in the same class and were 10 or 11 years old.
My parents were gone from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, visiting friends of theirs’. They had called in a babysitter, a girl we knew from across the street. The afternoon went well. The troubles started when it was time for us younger girls to go to bed. We were going to sleep on mattresses laid out on the floor of the basement.
The babysitter had been on the phone for about an hour and now the doorbell rang. It was her boyfriend. I didn’t think much of it as we all changed into our footy pyjamas before to going to bed. Suddenly, she called us all over and said: â€You all like to play games, don’t you? You know; ‘Damsel-in-distress’ and those kind of games. I know I did, when I was your age! Oh, the memories I have! Well, let’s not get in to that, right now. The thing is I’ve got a game for you, which we can play all weekend! What about that?â€
We all looked at each other. Whatever did she mean by that? Then we all nodded in almost unison.
She continued: “The best part of it is that you can wear those footy pyjamas all weekend, if you want to. You can be ‘damsels-in-distress’ and my boyfriend over there and I, we can play your guards.†We, hesitantly, agreed. “Good!†she said. “However; to do this properly I will have to tie you up, both hands and feet. You wouldn’t be in real distress if I didn’t, now would you? No, you wouldn’t! So go over to my boyfriend and file up and we’ll start tying your hands in front of you. Then, when you’ve gone to bed, we’ll come and tie your feet together. Come on, let’s go! Move it! Move it! Move it!â€
We were all so taken by surprise, that we all filed up and let our hands be crossed in front of us, and tied together. The ropes weren’t firmly tied, but the knots were virtually impossible to get at, as we all, for some strange reason, wore thumb less mittens together with our PJ’s. Then we went to our mattresses, and lay down. When we had done that, the babysitter and her boyfriend started tying our feet together. When they were all done, she said; “Now you’re all my ‘prisoners’ for the weekend! Of course, if anyone wants out, just say so and we’ll release you. If not, you’ll be our prisoners ‘til Sunday, by which time a handsome prince will come along and rescue you all. Ah, isn’t that romantic! Remember, those PJ’s are all you are allowed to wear for the next couple of days, and you will have at least your hands tied almost the entire time, except for meal- and bathroom-brakes. Just to be sure you don’t escape, we’ll lock the door.â€
It was hard to get to sleep that night, and we lay there chatting until the babysitter came along and threatened to gag us if we didn’t shut up this minute. Some of us tried, in vain, to free our hands. But the ropes were expertly tied. They wouldn’t loosen however hard we tried.
The next morning, we were freed, one after the other, so we could go to the bathroom. Then we ate breakfast.
Just as she said, they didn’t let us completely loose until just before my parents came back Sunday afternoon, by which time, we all had gotten tired of the game. But no one wanted out before the time was up, I’ll give them that.
At school on Monday, we all discussed what had happened over the weekend and agreed, that we wanted to play the game again, some day.