Sorry for not posting in so long. This happened a few weeks after my last story on this board. The scenario really hadn't changed all that much. It was a Saturday morning. My mother had already left for the day with my two younger siblings for my aunt's She was going to be staying there overnight this time which, left Sarah and myself home alone for the duration of the day. My father would be home later that evening and my parents figured we would be alright on our own for a few hours. It was the 1980's before all the modern day fear of children getting kidnapped dropped in. These were different times with a different mindset.
It was a cooler morning. I don't remember if it had snowed yet or not, but it was probably within a few degrees of being able to. I was sitting on the sofa dressed in a pair of blue jeans, white socks and a grey sweatshirt. A few minutes after my mother had departed Sarah had tied me up similarly to how she had in the last story. It had been a week or two since our last game and I had requested it. My wrists were tied behind my back with the jump rope and my sister had used the belt from my bathrobe to bind my feet as well. She was sitting a few feet away from me dressed in a green sweat suit. Sarah had turned the television on and we were watching cartoons. I had been tied up for probably between 20 minutes and a half hour. I was more focused on the television than trying to escape. Besides, Sarah would usually untie me if I asked or at about an hour and a half at the longest.
I think we were watching the Jetsons at the time, but I don't remember for sure. All of the sudden I was really startled when my father put a hand on my shoulder. It was a good thing I was tied up otherwise I would have probably jumped out of my seat. I looked up and saw the tall man standing right behind me. It took Sarah another few moments to realize he was there.
"Dad what are you doing home? I thought you had a shipment all the way to Columbus today?" Sarah asked with a large amount of nervousness in her voice.
"It got canceled and they didn't have another load for me to take. So, I thought I would come home and spend the day with you kids. Unfortunately, your mother already left so your younger siblings are stuck at her sisters for today and the first part of tomorrow." He explained. "By the way you shouldn't tie up your little brother here. I know he is a little annoying, but if you cannot treat him nicely I am going to quit leaving you in charge."
Sarah sank back in her chair. We had done our best to keep our games a secret from our parents. We weren't sure how they would react. Normally we could only play when your parents were out. We had also done our best to keep them a secret from our younger siblings Mia and Zack. Mia was at the age if she had found out then so would our parents. Sarah sat there a long moment not quite sure how to respond to her current situation.
"I just tied him up because he wanted me to. It's just a game we play. I let him go any time he asks me to or after an hour goes by." Sarah explained trying to minimize the trouble she was in.
My father looked down at me. The concern in his voice dropped sharply after I cooperated her story. "Yeah Sarah ties me up sometimes and I even try to tie her up sometimes. We tried to keep it a secret from Mia, Zack and you two because we didn't want to get in trouble." I offered.
My father circled around and took a look at me from the front. He looked down and examined my bindings and then he spoke. "Well you should probably untie your brother and then get your shoes. How about we go out for some bowling and then grab some lunch?" He asked. We both nodded. "I also need to stop by the hardware store and pick up a few things. I think I am going to surprise your mother and fix the basement steps today as well." He finished.
Sarah and I agreed again. A few minutes later Sarah had me untied and the three of us departed the house. We had a fun morning out together. Our Dad took the two of us bowling, then to McDonalds for lunch and finally we made an early afternoon stop at a hardware store. He picked up a couple of boards, some nails and a few other things needed for the repair job. Meanwhile, Sarah and I left the subject of our little games unspoken of. We still weren't sure how our getting caught had gone over with my father. I knew that my mother was going to hear about it the next day and it would probably be the end of it. Still we had a fun morning and he didn't seem overly cross on the subject. When we got home our father went out to the garage to cut the boards he needed to repair the steps and Sarah and I spent the remainder of the day each doing our own thing.
The rest of the day drew forward with little fanfare. Sarah fried up some hamburgers for dinner and we ate them with chips. Afterwards she did the dishes and began getting ready for bed. My father had offered to let us all watch a movie together if I got my nightly routine out of the way early. I had an early bedtime back then mostly because of my younger siblings. My mother put them and myself to bed around 9:00 pm on school nights and a little later on the weekends. So, staying up to watch a movie was a big deal back then. We had a VCR. My father had recently bought a copy of Star Wars on VHS and he figured the three of us could watch it before we went to bed.
I took a bath and brushed my teeth. I changed into some pajamas. They were blue flannel with long sleeves and pants. I also threw on a pair of socks. It was a cold night and they were probably the warmest set that I had available. I also slipped on my bathrobe. It was made of purple terry cloth and ran a little big on me. It dropped down around me and landed a few inches above the floor. It was another hand-me-down from my older sister. Still it matched the pajamas and offered some additional warmth on a cold night. After I was ready for bed, I headed into the living room. Sarah was there as well still dressed in her sweat suit. I entered the room quietly as the two of them were having a conversation.
"Matt, good timing. Come over here I want to talk to you two together." He said sternly.
I crossed the room dreading what he was going to say. I had the feeling this had to do with him finding me tied up on the couch earlier in the day and I was right. Still, when your that age there are consequences for every action you take. That's how you get wiser growing up. I decided not to push the matter and did as I was told. I crossed the room slowly and looked down at the floor when I got to where they were standing. I didn't want to look my father directly in the eye. Then something on the coffee table caught my eye.
"Sarah told me all about your little tie up games." He started. "I really wish you two wouldn't use bathrobe belts and jump ropes. Those things are not meant to tie somebody up with and I don't have enough money to replace them if they get worn out for something they are not meant for. When your mother gets home tomorrow I am going to inform her of your behavior. She probably won't be thrilled with it." Sarah and I nodded looking at him.
"That being said, I don't have a problem with you two continuing to play tie up. But make sure that if the other person wants to be tied up first and you let them go if they want out. Do we understand each other?" He asked looking at us. Again both Sara and I nodded in agreement with the discussion.
"Good, then that is settled. I spent a couple of dollars today and bought you some rope so that you won't wear out the rest of your stuff doing this. Also I want you to keep Mia and Zack out of it. They are too young for this sort of thing." He explained concluding the conversation. "I am going to make some popcorn and we are going to watch the movie." My father explained before departing the room.
Sarah and I could hardly believe our ears. I had thought that when my father found out about our games they would be over with completely. I would find out later had had played similar ones as a kid growing up and really didn't have an issue with them. My mother was considerably less enthusiastic about the situation, but as time continued she would grow to accept them as part of our childhood and nothing more. My father departed the room and set to work plugging in the air popcorn popper. It would probably take him half an hour to make enough popcorn for the movie. Sara and I looked down at the table in the living room.
My father had bought about 100 feet of white cotton clothesline. It was a strong and soft rope with a plastic fiber encased in the softer material. He had cut the 100 feet in several shorter pieces. There were 5 pieces ranging between 10 and 15 feet in length. He had used his lighter to burn the ends of the rope to keep them from fraying. My father was a heavy smoker, but he never did it in the house. There was a 6th piece of rope remaining that was probably between 35 and 40 feet in length. It composed the remainder of the rope that hadn't been chopped down into shorter pieces. The ropes were neatly coiled and sitting on the table. The two of us looked at each other and the temptation dropped in.
"Sarah you should tie me up for the movie." I stated at once. "Dad got us all this rope and we should try it out. Do a really good job."
"Yeah we could do that if you want to." Sara replied. She picked up one of the shorter coils of rope off the table and began to untangle it. It was a piece about 12 feet in length or so. Sarah asked me to turn around and let her have my wrists. I did so and she began the process of binding me. Sarah had me cross my wrists and tied them both horizontally then vertically each a few times with the rope before tying a knot on top in the middle. My sister got a second short piece of rope and went to work tying my feet together at the ankles. She wrapped it with most of the rope and cinched it off in the center. The cinch was something she had learned from one of her baby sitters who tied her up and probably started this whole thing for us.
She used another short piece and tied my legs together at the knees underneath my bathrobe. This was done in a similar fashion to my ankles and really pulled my legs together tightly. Finally, Sarah decided that she was going to use the really big rope. Her plan was to use it to tie my arms to my sides similar to how most of the tie ups we saw on television went. She uncoiled the large piece of rope and tied one end of it off on my left arm further up. She began wrapping it securely around my torso pulling it snug with each passing loop. when she had exhausted most of its length. She tied it back onto itself someplace in front of me with a rather simple knot as she only had one end of the rope to work with at this point.
When she was finished my sister took a step back and admired her handy work. She had tied me up quite a few times over the past couple of years. However, we had never had quite this much rope to work with. Usually it was one or two jump ropes and whatever else we could find to fill in. I tried to explore the limits of my new captivity. She had done a very effective job. I wriggle and squirmed back and forth quite a bit on the ropes making little to no progress towards freeing myself. It quickly became apparent that I wasn't going to wriggle my way loose from this. The wrist and ankle ropes were secure and deprived me of most of my movement. The extra ropes around my arms and knees also drew away most of the leverage that I had towards trying to escape.
While I sat there struggling, Sarah took one of the two remaining pieces of rope off of the coffee table and sat down on the sofa next to the opposite arm rest. My sister drew her legs upwards and started using it to tie her own feet together at the ankle similar to how mine were bound. I sat there watching.
"Hey what are you doing?" I asked looking over at her.
"I figured you wanted most of the rope Matt. But I figure there are a few pieces left and they shouldn't go to waste." Sarah explained as she knotted the rope off on her feet.
My sister used the last remaining piece of rope to tie her hands together in front of her. She assisted the effort using her teeth to help pull the rope snug and tie a knot in it. After she was done she was sitting there with her hands tied together in front of her and a second set of ropes on her ankles. Apparently she didn't have a means to do her on wrists behind her back. But still I found it kind of funny that we were both tied up. It was about this time that my father came in with the popcorn. I still remember the look on his face to this day.
"What you two couldn't wait until morning?" He asked.
"Sorry, you got us the rope and we wanted to try it out." Sarah explained looking at him.
My father just shrugged and set about turning on the movie on the VCR. Once the credits started rolling he seated himself between us on the sofa and held the large bowl of popcorn on his lap. Sarah took a little bit now and again with her bound hands. I on the other hand couldn't get anywhere near the popcorn. Still, my father being the good natured man that he was fed me a few kernels periodically during the course of the movie. Normally when I was tied up at that age, my focus would be to attempt an escape. However, with the movie playing and everything being what it as I just sat still and enjoyed the situation for what it was.
The pair of us stayed tied for the first half of the movie or so. Then Sarah decided to shed her bonds. Given her situation escaping was less than difficult. After all her hands were self-front tied. A few minutes of picking the knot with her teeth and she was free. It was about this time I realized that I was getting rather stiff myself. This was one of the more complex tie ups that I had been in and it had been for a rather extended duration.
"Hey can you let me out too?" I asked from the other side of the couch.
My sister nodded and stood up. She made her way around the back of the sofa and instructed me to lean forwards. My father shifted to the right a little bit to make room. Sarah reached down and untied the knot that secured my wrists. The she retreated and seated herself back on the other end of the sofa for the duration of the movie. It took me a good 10 minutes of wriggling to finally pull my wrists free of the coils that bound them now that the knot was undone. It took me a few more minutes to work my way out of the upper arm ropes and then to untie my ankles and knees. Overall, it felt pretty good to be free.
By this point, the movie was reaching its conclusion and I shifted my attention to the end of it. When the movie was over my father told me it was time to head to bed. Sarah took a few minutes and gathered up the ropes from where they were scattered about. She coiled them up neatly and then headed off to hide them in her room. I went to bed shortly afterwards and got a good night sleep. This was just the beginning of the legacy that would become the tie up games in my family. Thanks to everybody for reading I am sorry it has been so long between posts.
Alex95