It was an eerily quiet, early summer Sunday-morning, the last one in the month of July. Not even the usual sounds of cars passing by on the freeway or of birds merrily chirping away in the trees disrupted the silence.
Zuni stood on the terrace of the loft-apartment, a long since forgotten cup of coffee on the low table beside her, taking long, deep breathes, looking out over the roof-tops, enjoying the scenery and the feeling of being completely and utterly alone in the world.
She was a dark skinned 17 year-old beauty at 1 meter 70, with big, deer-like dark eyes, and tightly curled dark hair like a big halo around her head. She was dressed in a tent-like, long-sleeved and ankle-long, light pink woolly night-gown, with small blue and red flowers strewn all over it, and nothing else, her naked feet firmly planted on the cool concrete-floor.
She put her cuffed-together hands above her head, and leaned as far from side to side, backwards and forwards as she could, without having to lift her feet and risk falling. She noted with a great deal of satisfaction, that she could still touch her toes without having to bend her knees. Not much, at least.
Suddenly she heard a voice behind her: “So there you are, honey!” It was her boyfriend, Steve, who had come out to join her. “Would you like a fresh cup of coffee?” He was only a few centimetres taller than her, blue-eyed, blonde hair cut off just above the ears, and dressed in a pair of red and yellow cotton pyjamas.
“Yes, please,” she said. ”I had completely forgotten about this one.”
“Back in a flash!” Steve said, with a smile.
When he returned, he told her to sit down so he could inspect her cuffed wrists and ankles, something he very closely did every morning and every night, to check she hadn’t developed any redness or chafing. If there were, he would put a soothing cream on that place. “You can never be too careful, you know! You can so easily get chafed, even though they are padded.” Satisfied there still weren’t any, he sat down in a chair on the other side of the table, and they enjoyed each other’s silent company for a while.
Later on, when she lay on her back on their bed, and he helped her change her thick night-time diaper to a thinner day-time one, a pair of white, over-the-knee, sheer stockings and garters, and put her in an ankle-long, long-sleeved white cotton dress with several petticoats and buttoning it up in the back, she asked him, like she had done so many times before, as he put a pair of high heeled shoes on her feet, why he was so kind to her.
“None of my other boyfriends would have even dreamed of doing any of the stuff you do to and for me,” she sighed.
“I know,” he said, as he meticulously wound a wide, pink satin ribbon several times around her waist, and tied it off in a bow in the back, letting a good one and a half decimetres of ribbon hang down either side from it.
He looked her deep into her eyes. “The simple answer is; I love you, and I love doing these things for, and to, you.” It was the same answer he had given her every time she had asked that question, and she let out a satisfied sigh, hoping he’d never get tired of her. “Now,” he continued, patting her gently on her bottom,” what would you like to do today?”
Two hours later, they were walking around the zoo. He had put a waist-long, light-coloured, summer-coat on her, and a pair of lace, finger-less gloves on her hands, which were crossed and cuffed together in front of her, so they almost covered the cuffs. He had also put a thin chain around her waist under the ribbon, to hold her wrists to her waist.
They looked at all the different animals basking in the sun, and laughed at the antics of the monkeys and dolphins. Afterwards, they went to the nearby botanical gardens to look at all the exotic flowers, before ending up in a small café.
They talked about what they had seen and laughed at the fun stuff, and he helped her eat her donut, and hold up the cup of coffee, so she could take a sip through the straw.
“Oh,” she moaned, as they walked back, his arm tucked under hers, as much for her support as anything else, “I’ve loved these past few weeks of freedom so much, I don’t ever want them to end so soon! I want to be with you every minute of every day! Please tell me, I don’t have to go back to THAT place tomorrow? I know I can take care of myself, I just know it. I’m a big girl now!” In reality, she loved being at the day-care centre for teenagers where he had put her. They did everything she told them to, but it still wasn’t the same, as being with Steve. They did it because it was their job; he did it because he loved her.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry! I know you’re a big girl now, but I’m afraid you’re still going to have to go back. You know you need someone to take care of you, while I’m at work.” He put a finger under her chin, gently lifting it up, and put a light kiss on the tip of her slightly upward-pointing nose. “But you know I’ll be taking you home with me, every night for as long as you want me to; don’t you?”
“Yeah; suppose so,” she said, looking down at the table with a sad face. “But hey,” all of a sudden she was looking much cheerier, “not only do we have the evenings and nights; we have the whole week-ends to ourselves, too! Let’s not forget about those!”
“No, never; of course I won’t!” he said. “It’s those I live for; don’t you now that?”
“Yup, I do!” she said with a big nod. Her sudden change of moods, so characteristic for her, made him smile.
The next morning, he once again put her in a day-time diaper, but instead of a beautiful dress, he put her in a pair of much worn denim coveralls and a long-sleeved t-shirt. He put a ball-gag in her mouth, cuffed her wrists together in front of her and ankles together using the inbuilt cuffs in the coveralls, put her in the specially built car-seat, buckled her seat-belt, and drove off.
When he had unbuckled her, and helped her out of the car, he kissed her on the nose and said:” See you tonight, love!”