I believe most of you will quickly realize that I am not Jennifer. She asked Canuck last Summer for permission for me to use her account here. He approved it, but I haven't really had time to write anything. My work took me overseas for the last few months. The internet there was limited and I didn't want to post anything here on my work computer. I got back about 3 weeks ago and the holidays are now over. So, I thought I would share a story now that I have some time to sit down and write one. I don't have the same skill at writing my sister has. Also, I don't have nearly as many stories. As I didn't keep a diary about them growing up. I do have a few to share and I think I will start with this one.
My sister refers to me as Sean in her stories. I will be going with her naming conventions here. So, if you know me elsewhere on the internet from other postings. I would appreciate it if you would keep them to yourself. This story took place when I was 11 years old. It was a weekend in late fall, though I don't remember if it was late October or early November. Here we go.
I awoke that Saturday to the sound of footsteps descending the basement stairs to where I was being held. My eyes opened slowly as they tried to adjust to the dim light while I was sitting up. Mary hadn't turned on the basement lights yet. All the illumination I had was coming through the early rays of the sun penetrating a few small windows scattered around the room. At this time in our lives I was positioned in what served as our basement laundry room. It was the first open space after you rounded the corner coming down our stairs.
The room itself was surrounded by dull grey cinder block walls. It had an open cement floor bare and was probably 20 feet square. Across from my current position was a door that led to a room that served us as a play room growing up. A 15 foot wall jutted out separating the laundry room from a cellar where my mother stored canned fruits and vegetables. There was a 3 foot wide hallway around that corner with a door on the right entering the root cellar. At the end of the hallway was another room that housed our furnace, hot water heater and served as a general junk storage room. Back along the wall situated in the corner was where my cage was located.
Now, I want you all to put the first ideas you drew out of your heads. Normally, I shared a room with my younger brother Scott on the first floor of the house. This Saturday morning was a little different and I was trying an experiment. The cage itself was 6 feet long, 4 feet wide and about 3 feet high. These dimensions are just a good guess. I was about 5 foot tall at the time and I could lay all the way down with room to spare. It was a crate really, made of a wire mesh set of bars separated into 3 inch squares. It had a metal floor and a metal ceiling. The front door to it opened with a simple latch. Mary had fitted it with a combination lock as well. I didn't know the combination.
Our dog had been hit by a car two years prior. We had never replaced her. But my parents being the pack rats they were never really threw anything away. So, the crate remained behind and I had thought to use it in one of our games for something different. My mother was absent. She had taken Scott and Jennifer to see my aunt as she often did on the weekends. She had left on Friday rather than Saturday to beat the snow. My father was out on the road. So, that left us with a perfect time frame to test this idea that had been in my head for some time. I wondered what it would be like to spend a whole weekend locked inside of it. At least until my mother came home on Sunday afternoon.
Mary knelt at the door to the box and began spinning the dial on the lock. She worked through the combination in about 20 seconds and I heard it click releasing the lock. She opened the door and set a plate on the floor of the crate along with a fork and two cups.
"It's a little after 7." She began.
I sat up groggily and began to untangle myself from the sleeping bag.
"Well, how did you sleep?" She asked.
"Alright I guess." I replied sorting my hands out of the tangle and lifting them over my head to yawn.
"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Her second question was direct and to the point. I shook my head no. "All righty, then you should eat it while it's hot. I put salt and pepper on them already and grape jelly just the way you like it. The red one is orange juice and the green one is milk. Just ring the bell if you need to use the bathroom or anything else." My sister explained as she closed the cage door and set the padlock back in place.
I looked down at the plate of food and the two cups at the end of the cage.
"Really, what am I 5?" I asked looking at her.
"No, but you are handcuffed and I don't feel like driving to the laundry mat in this snow to wash a sleeping bag." She replied before she turned and left me on my own.
I watched as my sister turned and retreated up the basement steps back towards the kitchen. I heard the basement door close behind her leaving me alone in the basement. I took another minute to collect my sense and a let my eyes adjust to the dim light around the room before I finished extricating myself from the sleeping bag. When I was younger I wore my brown hair longer. Not in nearly as a girl, but I had about 2 to 2 and a half inches. I parted it out of my eyes and straightened it as best I could without a comb and the hand handcuffs. I was dressed in a fleece sleep suit similar to the ones my sister favors in her stories. I was born in the late 70's and footed pajamas were more in fashion back then for both boys and girls. This particular set was dark blue in color with a zipper that went down to my waist. The sleeves had the ribbon style cuffs and the legs ended in pajama feet with the white vinyl bottoms and toe caps. Mary had insisted I wear them as the basement was colder than the rest of the house. She didn't want me getting sick on her watch.
I had a pair of metal handcuffs around my wrists. They were the real deal, not toy ones with the little safety buttons. My father had purchased as set for both my sister and myself at a flea market after some finagling. We each had two sets of keys for them and my mother kept a spare set in the kitchen drawer that were not to leave it for emergencies. At current both sets were in use in my current situation. The first set was locked around my wrists in front of me. The second was around my ankles. This limited my movements quite a bit and added a more confined feeling to my situation.
I worked my way across the small space and made my way over to where Mary had left the food. I took a moment to work myself into a sitting position Indian style. As much as the cuffs on my ankles would allow. Then I lifted the plate onto my lap and stared eating. Mary had fixed me 3 or 4 scrambled eggs with salt and pepper. Two slices of wheat toast with grape jelly and some bacon. I know it's weird that I remember what I had for breakfast 30 some odd years ago. But, I ate the same thing every morning from the time I was 5 until I was a teenager. Also, my sister was an amazing cook and always managed to get everything right.
Mary and I had been playing tie up ever since I can remember and probably before. I don't remember exactly how it all started. I will have to ask my sister if I remember to. My mother was all right with it. Though she preferred we keep it away from my younger siblings. So, most of the episodes happened when she was away from the house visiting my aunt on the weekends. Given the relative difference in our ages Scott and Jennifer were 6 and 5 respectively at the time of this occurrence. They both had seen our little undertakings and even participated a few times. But not to the extent that Mary and I did. It was a rare occurrence that a week went by where one or usually both of us got tied. Mary had taught me a lot about how to tie knots and I was becoming a regular expert. I had been since I was 9 years old.
I released my fork and reached over for the green cup to get some milk to wash down the current bite of food. It was a taller plastic cup. My sister had put one of the Tupperware Sippy tops on it. My mother had plenty of them in the cupboard. Jennifer still preferred them on her beverages over a normal glass. I was a little perturbed by her using them with me at my age. But her argument made sense. She didn't want to have to clean up a large mess. The milk was slightly warmed and contained some strawberry Hershey mix. I had to give it to Mary she knew what I liked. I downed about a third of the glass in one draw. Then I went back to eating my breakfast.
I took my time and enjoyed it. After all given my current situation, all I had was time. After about half an hour I concluded the meal. I still had about half the orange juice left. I set the cup in the back corner of the small cell next to the water bottle my sister had gotten me the night before. I worked my way back and tucked the lower half of myself back into the sleeping bag. It was colder down here than I had anticipated. Probably the low to mid 50's (12 to 13 Celsius) which, was comfortable, but a little chilly for just pajamas.
Mary hadn't left me without amusements. I had a 5 pound bucket of Legos in one corner of the small cage and a chapter book I was about half way through. I don't remember what it was. I opened the book and looked down at it. There was sufficient light coming through the window for me to read by. I stared down at the words and started delving into the story. I spent the next hour or so making my way through a two chapters. I stopped a page short of finishing and marked my place with a small piece of paper. I worked my way across the crate and picked up the bell that was laying there. I needed to summon my sister as my bladder was catching up with me.
I began swinging the bell back and forth pairing it with some shouting. My efforts were quickly rewarded. I heard footsteps making their way across the kitchen floor towards the door to the basement steps a minute later. I was certain Mary had heard me. So, I sat the bell down and waited for her to come. A moment later she appeared around the corner of the steps looking down at me.
I am going to break this story here for now. The next part is longer than I want to write at the moment. Comments are welcome and appreciated. Thanks for reading and I will hopefully post again soon.
Sean