Postby KP Presents » Sun Jul 15, 2012 1:18 pm
I stood on the stairs, staring at the woman who was standing there with Mum. She had a big round face, which was breaking into a smile while she held her arms out. “Come on and give your older aunt a hug, Cassie,” she said as I walked down, and she enveloped her arms round me. She smelt of spice and cinnamon - and she was string as well.
“Cassie, are you...” I could hear Suzie coming down the stairs and stopping as she saw me in my aunt’s arms.
“Hi, I’m Suzie,” she said quietly, “Who are you?”
“This is - oh boy, I knew this may happen someday - this is Cassie’s Aunt Cassie, Suzie. Cassie, this is Suzie Holderness, a friend of Cassie’s.”
“Very pleased to meet you, Suzie.” Aunt Cassie said as she let me go. “If you have got so big, how tall is Jenny - and where is she?”
Mum was going to say something, but Suzie beat her and me to it with “Jenny’s upstairs with my cousin and her friend - they’re playing Escape!”
“Escape.” Aunt Cassie said as she looked at Mum. “Don’t tell me they still play those games? Jennifer, I thought you had grown out of that!”
“Yes, well, I think they grew into it,” Mum said as she shrugged her shoulders, “Why don’t we go up and see them?”
The four of us trooped up the stairs, my holding my aunt’s hand, until we stopped at Jenny’s room door and Mum opened it. Aunt Cassie looked in at the three girls, lying on the floor, before saying “Great - another generation of Craigs doing this to each other.”
Jenny rolled over as she heard the voice, looked at us in the doorway with her eyes all screwed up, and then said “ntccisssssaaa?”
“I see you at least remember me,” Aunt Cassie said with a smile as she knelt down, her skirt falling around her legs, and looked at the ropes. “I see John has taught them one or two of his old tricks - but there’s more going on here. Who are Jenny’s friends?”
“The dark haired girl is my cousin Alicia, and this is our American friend Heidi,” Suzie said as they looked up and nodded.
“Nice to meet you girls,” Aunt Cassie said as she smiled at them. “Well, don’t let me interrupt your games. Jennifer, is there any chance of a cup of coffee? I haven’t had a decent cup since leaving Darfur yesterday.”
“Of course,” Mum said as she took Aunt Cassie by the arm, “Do you two want to come down or are you going to stay up here with the others?”
“We’ll come down when they get free, Mum,” I said as they turned and walked out of the room, talking in low tones. “Now,” Suzie said as the door closed, “Where were we - oh yes, about to tickle whoever wasn’t getting free....”
IT was just before one when we all went down the stairs to the kitchen, where Mum and Aunt Cassie were sitting. She got up and gave Jenny a hug as well, and shook the hands of Heidi and Alicia.
“It’s been a long time, Aunt Cassie,” Jenny said when she was released, “You missed the wedding and everything.”
“Yeah, I know kiddo,” Aunt Cassie said with a smile, “but I could not get away in time. I’m here now though, and I’ll catch up with Connie eventually.”
“Forgive me for asking,” Heidi said as she accepted a glass of squash,” but you sure don't dress like Jenny or Cassie.”
“No, but this is the height of fashion in the more western parts of Islamabad these days,” Cassie said as she stood up and twirled round. “Blouses, skirts and dresses do not really fit in over there.”
“So which aunt are you, Miss Craig,” Alicia asked.
“Oh, I’m the middle one of the family,” Aunt Cassie replied as she sat down. “John - Jenny and Cassie’s Dad - he is two years older than me, and Connie is three years younger.”
“And is what Cassie says true - that he used to tie you and your sister up, as well as her granny?”
“He tried,” Aunt Cassie said, “but he was more successful with Connie than me. I used to fight back, but Connie just went along with it. He used to really love the chair ties with me.”
“Can you show me how - me and Suzie? We haven;t had a chance to play agame yet!”
Aunt Cassie looked at Mum, who just shook her head. “It’s all right, Cassie - I’ll fill you in on the details later. You’re going to stay for dinner, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world - so you think you could get out of the sort of chair tie your dad did, do you?”
“Lunch first,” Mum said, “and then you go to the toilet. Connie told me about these ties - and you’ll be grateful of the relief.”
She placed a large plate of ham sandwiches on the table as we descended on them like the pack of ravenous cubs we were, as Mum looked at her watch.
“Dear God, I’ve got to move,” she said as the front door bell rang. “That will be April, the babysitter” she said as she walked to the door, returning with April. She was wearing a long floral print skirt and a long sleeved round necked top.
“Hi girls,” she said as she came in, “Let me guess - the cute one is Suzie, the serious one is Alicia, and the one who looks like she’s a Yank is Heidi, right? I’m April - pleased to meet you.”
“April I have to run - Cassie are you coming with me?”
“I’ll stay if you don’t mind - Don’t tell John I’m here, but tell Mum. I want to surprise him later.”
“He’ll be surprised all right,” Mum said as she grabbed her jacket. She ran to the door, leaving us with April and Aunt Cassie.
“So, Miss Craig...”
“Please, call me Cass - that way we won’t get me and poppet here mixed up.”
“All right, Cass - why do you do for work?”
“Oh, I do some work as a Foreign Office representative,” Aunt Cassie said as she sat back down. “My latest role finished earlier than expected, and it’s been over eight years since I last saw my family, so I thought it was well overdue.”
“We got Christmas and Birthday cards,” Jenny said before she took a drink from her glass, then said “as well as the occasional letter, but - it really has been eight years?”
“Eight and a half, Jenny”, Aunt Cassie said. “Anyway, I believe you two wanted a challenge. Go and do the toilet, then come back down. Jenny, got any rope?”
“One or two bits,” Jenny said as she followed us up the stairs, and then brought several lengths back down with her. When Suzie and I came back into the room, Aunt Cassie had set two chairs up next to each other.
“Sit down, you two,” my aunt said, but we did not need any encouraging - we both hopped on and sat with our hands on our laps.
“Tummies first,” Aunt Cassie said as she passed a length of rope around my waist, pulling me back so that my back was firmly against the chair back and tying it to the centre of the five pieces of wood that ran down the back. She did the same to Suzie, as the others watched.
She then put our hand to the side of the chair, and started by tying one end of a long, long length of rope around my wrists, next to the chair back so that it was held firmly in place. She then wound the rope around my tummy and arms, as well as the chair back, weaving it in and out as she did so before using the last few feet to tie my other wrist to the chair back.
“Where did you go on holiday, April,” Jenny said as if nothing unusual was happening. It wasn’t - Suzie was just as happy as me, winking as she was tied in place as well - but April looked at us as well before saying “Miami - I needed some time away to get over that night. Anything interesting happen while I was away?”
“Nah - all five of us got tied up and gagged by one of the nicest masked men I’ve ever met, and we played a few games.”
“Hold on - you were in another robbery?”
“Yeah,” Alicia said, “at my grandmother’s house.” As she told April what happened, Aunt Cassie had folded my legs so that I was sitting on the chair with my legs crossed, and had tied my left ankle to my right knee, as well as my right ankle to my left knee. I caught April having a look out of the corner of her eye, but she turned away again without saying anything.
“I have to do this in gymnastics,” Suzie said as she let Aunt Cassie fold her legs and then tie them together. “I can hold this position for as long as you want.”
“We’ll see,” Aunt Cassie said as she patted her on the head. “Now, I guess we can sit and talk...”
“No we can’t” I called out, “We want to be silenced!”
“Do you really?”
“Yes,” Suzie said, “with cloth and tape and things!”
“Well, I don’t know....”
Jenny simply picked up a hankie, stuffed it in her mouth, tore a strip off the grey roll of duct tape and stuck it over her lips. “Sl;lrghhntcssse,” she mumbled, “wrreusdttt.”
“All right, then, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she replied as we both opened our mouths, and allowed her to push a folded up handkerchief in, then to put three strips of duct tape over our closed lips. “So, April, What do you think we should o with these three?”
“I want to hear more of what happened,” April said, “and besides, cute as they are we can’t leave them alone like this.”
As the five of them sat round the table, I found out something I hadn’t experienced before - it was almost impossible for me to move. Looking at Suzie, she was thinking the same thing, so we sat and listened to them as they talked. Jenny told them about our days at Holderness Manor, while Alicia told us the full story of the day before we were robbed.
It was Heidi who was fascinating, however, as she told stories of her family and friends, and especially the weekends she spent bound and gagged for various reasons. I started giggling when she told us of her friend Cindy's party before she flew over here, when the door burst open and Granny stood there, panting as she took in the scene.
“Cassandra?” she said, but when I said “Hgnneeee” she walked over and embraced Aunt Cassie instead, the tears falling down her cheeks. “Why haven’t you been in touch, why haven’t you called - where have you been,” she said as she held her as Mum had held her earlier.
“I’m fine Mum, I’m fine,” Cassie said as she looked at Granny. “I just got home earlier than expected, and I didn’t have time to tell you. After missing Connie’s wedding, I wanted to surprise all of you.”
“Surprise us? First your sister cuts short her honeymoon then you turn up unannounced...”
“Connie’s back?” Aunt Cassie looked worried for a second, but when she looked back at me the smile was back on her face. “Well, it seems the gang is all here again. Does John know?”
“No - Jennifer - oh dear,” she said as she looked round the room, “This is going to get very confusing, isn’t it? No, Jennifer told me when we left the bank, so I cane straight home while she went to tell Connie. Tell me you’re going to stay here.”
“I can’t - I’ll stay for dinner, but I need to check in at the head office.”
“Cone for dinner on Thursday then - in fact, Alicia, can you ask your Grandma if you three can come as well? I’m sure Cassandra has lots of tales to tell.”
“I’ll ask her,” Alicia said with a smile, and Granny finally looked at me., “So have you figured out how it get free of this yet,” she said with a smile. I nodded as I lifted up my hand, having wriggled it free of the ropes while they had been talking.
“She is good,” Aunt Cassie said - and she had cause to say it again on Thursday...
Last edited by
KP Presents on Sun Jul 15, 2012 2:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.