In Their Own Words – Carry On Again Granny

One of our more popular recent programs told tales of when some grandmothers, with their granddaughters in tow, were caught up in moments of peril. In fact, we’ve had so many requests for a sequel program, we felt we had to satisfy you.

So for our first story, Mary recalls the day she took her granddaughter Judith to a school party, and what happened afterwards…

The party was a Glam disco, and my ten year old granddaughter Judith had persuaded her mother to let her wear a silver pinafore dress that was covered in sequins, and black knee length boots. I had, in a moment of weakness, agreed to help out, so I took her to the party, and dressed up a bit myself in a light purple Grecian style dress and white mid-calf boots that had a small heel.

The party itself went very well indeed, and it was beginning to turn dark when I brought Judith back to my home – and that was when we met him. Actually, Judith met him first – she ran into the house as I took her overnight bag out of my car, I walked in, and she was standing there, a tall man with dark hair standing behind her with his hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide open, her blonde hair shaking as she tried to move.

He looked at me, and told me to put my bag down slowly, and he wouldn’t hurt either of us. As I did this, I looked at Judith and asked her if she was all right. She slowly shook her head, so I told her not to be scared, I would look after her.

The man told me to sit down, and then let Judith join me as I hugged her, before he said he needed to make sure we could not raise the alarm. I told him my phone was in my bag, and he could take that, but he said that wasn’t what he had in mind, and told us both to take our boots off. I told Judith it would be all right as I unzipped and removed my boots, and she slipped hers off – and then he tossed a roll of silver tape at me, and told me to tape Judith’s wrists together behind her back.

She shook her head and said she did not want me to do that, so I told her to look at me, as I leaned over and wrapped the tape round my ankles, holding them together as the man watched. I told her it didn’t hurt, as she looked at it, and then told her to put her feet up on my lap, and I’d do the same to her. SO I taped her ankles together as she watched, and nodded to show she knew it did not hurt.

The man told me to tape her legs together below her knees as well, and as I looked at Judith she slowly nodded. I think she had realised, as I had, this was going to happen to both of us, and she wanted me to do it to her, so I wrapped the tape around her bare legs below her knees, and then let her put her legs down as I taped my own legs together in the same place.

She then slowly turned her back to me and said she was ready as she put her hands behind her back, so I put her hands together palm to palm and then taped her wrists tightly together. The tape creaked a little as she twisted round, but I made sure she was as tightly secured as she could be by me.

The man then took the roll of tape from me and made me cross my wrists behind my back, before I felt the tape tugging on my bare wrists as he secured them together. I knew I was not going to separate them – especially when he them wound the tape tightly round my arms and body, forcing them against my side as Judith watched, and she asked if he was going to do that to her.

I was hoping he would not, but he did, the solid silver band like a chest band on her dress. She twisted round, and looked at me as I nodded and said we’d both be all right. The man told us not to shout out, and then he left the room for a few minutes.

When he came back, he tore a strip of tape from the roll and pressed it firmly over Judith’s lips, pressing it firmly down and two more over that strip, before h picked her up and carried her out of the room. She tried to talk to me, but I called out that I was sure I would see her in a few minutes, as he carried her up the stairs while she wriggled in his arms.

A few minutes later, he came back down and pressed lengths of the silver tape over my mouth as well, before he put me over his shoulder and carried me up the stairs to my bedroom. Judith was lying on her side on the bed, wriggling round as she watched the man drop me down next to her, and I rolled onto my side, pressing my taped lips to her forehead as I tried to say everything would be all right. Only what I said was “dhntwhrreehuhhdfffwhllbhllrht.”

I could see he had been through my drawers, as he turned my radio on and left us in the room. We lay for a while, looking at each other, before I started to rub my cheek on a pillow. Judith watched, wondering what I was doing, but slowly, oh so slowly, I started to get the edge of my tape gag free and ease it away from my mouth as my granddaughter encouraged me…

Eventually, Mary and Judith managed to lose the tape gags over their mouths, and a passer-by heard their calls for help.

Eleven year old Amy got in touch and we wanted her to tell the story of how dropping in on her gran on her way home from an art class became an adventure for her…

I had spent the afternoon at a youth club, helping to prepare some costumes for an upcoming show, and during some spare time I had used some paint pens to jazz up the long brown Ugg boots I was wearing, drawing on coloured laces and eyeholes for the laces, as well as colouring the toe caps. I was wearing a pair of white leggings with a red and pink diamond pattern, tucked into the boots, a green t-shirt and a denim jacket, my brown hair in a top knot.

The other thing I’d agreed to do on the way home was to pick up something from Gran’s house. My Gran is Polish, and Mum wanted to borrow her recipe book for a meal. And that’s why I got off the bus a few stops early, and let myself into the front room.

Gran didn’t answer my call, so I figured she was having a nap, and was about to go upstairs when a female voice I did not recognise told me to stop where I was. I looked over to see a young woman standing there, wearing a black leather jacket zipped up to her neck, leggings and boots – and a gun in her gloved hand! I stared at her, and then slowly put my hands in the air as I told her I’d what she said.

That made her smile and nod, as she told me to come into the front room, and waited for me to pass. I could see two bags – one had some of Gran’s silverware in it, the other ropes sticking out from the top. The woman took one of the ropes, and told me to stand still with my hands behind my back, as she started to tie me up!

She started by making me take my jacket off, and then she crossed my wrists behind my back. I didn’t show how scared I was as she used the rope to tie my wrists together, taking the rope around and between them, before she tied it off – the knot out of reach of my fingers.

She then wound more rope around my arms and chest, forcing them into my sides. I had seen this done to people in television programs and in films, but it was the first time this had been done to me, and it felt very strange indeed – even as she pulled the ropes tighter, and then tied it off behind my back. She then told me to open my mouth, and when I di so she stuffed something in my mouth. It felt silky, and tasted clean, but because it had been done so quickly I had no idea what it actually was. What I did know was she then pulled something thin and strong between my lips, pulling the corners of my mouth back as she tie it round my head. It was pressing into my cheeks, but it certainly kept whatever was in my mouth in there.

I felt her put her hand on my shoulder, and she told me to walk slowly up the stairs with her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her picking up more ropes, and then she pushed me towards the doorway. As I walked round, I twisted my body, but the ropes held firm.

The biggest shock, however, was when I was pushed into a bedroom, and I saw Gran lying on a bed. As she turned her head and looked at me, I saw she had a thin brown strip pulled between her lips and tied round her head. She looked at me and mumbled, and I could see something white in her mouth as she tried to talk.

The woman pushed me onto the bed, and crossed my ankles before she started to tie them together, so I looked at Gran. She was wearing a pink jersey dress, but as she rolled onto her side to look at me I could see her white bra underneath. That was possible because the ropes that were holding her arms to her side were stretching her chest so much I could see through it. She had her hands behind her back as well – and her legs below her knees.

I lifted my head to look over as the rope bit into my booted ankles. Gran was wearing a pair of knee length boots, white with a floral pattern on the uppers, and there was a band of rope holding her crossed ankles together, then to her chest ropes. I then felt the rope tugged between my ankles, and then another length around my legs below my knees.

I could also see what one of her long silk stockings was between Gran’s lips now –and from the way it felt I guessed the woman had used one on me as well. So I wasn’t that surprised when she pulled my own ankles back and tied them to the rope she had tied around my arms and chest.

Anyway – I rolled onto my side and looked at Gran as we both wriggled round, but we could hardly move, let alone speak, as the woman looked at both of us and then left. Gran rolled over, liked over her shoulder and somehow indicated to me I should put my mouth near her fingers – so I did, and grunted as she managed to slip one finger under the band around my head, and start to ease it out…

Amy eventually was able to raise the alarm, but it was some time before help came.

For Doris, her tale starts when she was looing after six year old Hazel at home, and her granddaughter opened the door…

I look after Hazel when her mother had to work late, and we always had great fun together. That particular day, I had just brought her back form a local fish café where we had eaten our tea – Hazel was wearing a black dress with little coloured dots and flowers, her hair braided into a pigtail. I had on a black leather jacket with a patterned front over a grey shift dress, dark tights and knee length black leather boots.

Anyway – I went to the kitchen to make some tea for me, and pour a mug of milk for Hazel, when there was a knock on the door. I heard Hazel say “I’ll get it Granny” and saw her walk to the door, wit a pair of her mother’s brown ankle cloth boots coming up towards her knees. Shaking my head, I went back to the kitchen as I heard the door open and close – and then nothing.

That in itself should have warned me, but I made my tea, picked up the mug of milk, and walked into the front room – to see Hazel lying face down on the couch as a man wearing a balaclava over his head was tying her wrists together behind her back.

He hadn’t seen me, so I put the mugs down as quietly as I could, and walked over to where Hazel was, crying softly as she kicked her legs up and down – and then I put my arm round the masked man’s throat and pulled him back, seeing the white cord around Hazel’s wrists as she turned and looked at me, a strip of sticking plaster over her mouth.

I stared at her, but I kept my grip on his throat as he struggled – and then stopped as I felt a small disc pressing on my back, and a female voice telling me to let him go. So I did the only thing I could do – I let him go as he coughed and turned round, rubbing his throat as he looked at me.

The female said to “finish tying the kid up” as I felt whoever it was pull my wrists behind my back, and I felt the thin cord on my wrists as they were secured tightly together. Whoever it was was making it very tight, as the man took some more cord and started to bind Hazel’s ankles together. In a way, I was glad she had her mother’s boots on – it offered some protection from the thin rope as the felt was compressed around her ankles.

As for me – the woman then started to wrap more rope around my upper body, framing my chest as my jacket was pulled open, my arms forced into my sides. The man then made Hazel sit up and I saw her, her eyes wide with tears in them over the brown fabric strip covering her mouth, as the man started to tie her arms to her sides in the same way as me.

I was then pushed onto the seat next to her, and I got a look at the woman. She also had a balaclava covering her head, and like the man was wearing a black jumper and jeans. She looked at me as I saw the strip of sticking plaster in her gloved hands – and then felt the adhesive tugging at my skin as she pressed it down over my mouth, leaving me virtually speechless.

The masked woman then knelt down and crossed my ankles, tying them together as the man tied Hazel’s legs together below her knees, lifting up the skirt of her dress to do so. The woman did the same to me, above the tops of my boots, as we looked at each other, before Hazel laid her head against my side and I rubbed my cheek on her head.

The two masked people looked at me and my granddaughter, and then left the room as I twisted round, trying to get free, the only sound apart from our mumbled attempts to talk my leather boots squeaking as they rubbed together. The sticking plaster was keeping our mouths closed, our lips sealed, and we knew nobody was going to answer our calls for help, even if they could hear them.

They left us there, tied up, gagged – it was Hazel’s mum who found us when she got home later that night. We were both asleep, Hazel’s head on my chest and mine resting on her head, snoring quietly – it was her screams that woke us both up…

Our next tale involves an adopted gran – Soo tells her story…

Gran isn’t my real grandmother – I never knew her. You see, I was born in the Far East, and adopted by someone as a baby. When they died when I was ten, Gran adopted me – but as she is now in her early sixties, and I’m fifteen, I guess she preferred Gran to Mum.

Gran is wonderful – white hair, and loves what I wear, and the things I do. So that day, when she walked in on me and Dave, it could have been very embarrassing if she had reacted the bad way.

Let me describe myself – I have long black hair, and on this day had on a denim jacket over a purple sundress, and a pair of brown heavy boots. As for Dave – the boyfriend – he and I had been to the pictures that afternoon, and he had walked me home, so we were sitting in the kitchen, talking when he asked me a funny question.

He asked if I would let him tie me up. Now, that came completely out of left field, but I trusted him, so I said he could – might have been a mistake, but… Anyway, he asked if we had some washing line, and I told him to look in the store room. He came back with some white rope, and told me to put my arms round the chair back – he’d do it like in the films.

I smiled and looked over my shoulder as he tied my wrists tightly together behind the chair back, and then tied the ends to the chair back itself, and then took some more rope and tied it round my waist. I giggled, as I said I was going nowhere, and he just nodded as he knelt down and tied my ankles together, then pulled them back and tied them to the bar under the seat. The last thing he did was tie my legs together below my knees, and then stood up, saying I made a beautiful captive.

I laughed as I wriggled round, and said he’d need to keep me quiet – and then I saw the clean white rag in hid hand, which he folded up and then pushed into my open mouth. I was helpless, more quiet than usual, and powerless to stop him…

Seriously, I had no idea what he was going to do, as he knelt over and kissed my neck – and then Gran walked into the kitchen.

She looked at me, and at Dave, and I admit, I had no idea what she was going to do. She had been to work, and was wearing a pink sweater, knee length pinstripe grey dress, and knee length black patent leather boots. She looked at me, and asked if we were having fun – well, I nodded as Dave mumbled and tried to say something.

The last thing I expected was for Gran to pull a chair away from the table, sit on it with her ankles crossed, and tell Dave the intruder had to tie her up as well!

I turned my head and looked at her, as Dave asked if she was sure. Gran nodded, and told him to do to her what he had done to me, so he took the rope and guided her arms around the chair back, then tied her wrists together and to the chair back. As he tied more rope round her waist, she looked at me and asked if I was all right. I nodded as I twisted round, my boots squeaking as they rubbed together.

Dave tied the rope off, and then knelt down, his hands shaking slightly as he tied Gran’s ankles together and then tied them to the chair leg, before her tied her legs together below her knees.

She wriggled round, and then said she needed to be kept quiet as well, so Dave took a second rag and folded it, then put it in her mouth before she said something that sounded like keep them in there…

She couldn’t have meant that – could she? But Dave took two more lengths of rope and tied one between the lips of each of us, keeping the cloth in as he tied the rope round our heads! I admit, that was a little rough, but Gran looked at me and winked as she wriggled round in the chair.

Why on earth had she done this? We were both helpless now, as there was a knock on the door, and Dave went to answer it. How was he meant to know someone had decided to rob us? We heard the fight, and then saw the tall dark haired man as he looked in, smiled and left.

It was an hour later when we watched Dave jump into the room, a bruise on his eye as he looked at us over the silver tape that covered his mouth. He had been taped up as well, as he started to jump to where a pair of scissors was lying, out of reach of both of us…

For our last story today, we invite Lady Davinia Borden to tell of how she and her granddaugther, the Honorable Yvonne, became the victims of a well know thief…

I live in a manor house in a small village, and my granddaughter Yvonne had come to spend a bank holiday weekend with me.

Yvonne is nine years old, and has naturally blonde hair, as well as liking for dressing up a little bit. On this particular Sunday morning, she was wearing a light pink dress with a white lace rosette and overskirt, white tights and long socks with lace on the top, and knee length brown boots. She also had a black band with white lace trim holding her head back, as she sat at the breakfast table.

As for me, I had on a black leather pinafore dress over a cowl necked jumper, and white knee length boots with holes in the uppers to make them look like lace. We talked about what she wanted to do that day, and then I went to my drawing room to look at the mail while she went to her room.

And that was where I was when he walked in. He was a tall man, slightly greying dark hair cut short, smartly dressed in a well-tailored suit, white shirt and tie – but he held a gun in his gloved hand, as he introduced himself to me as The Panther.

It was a name I had heard of – one of that breed they call a gentleman thief, but I knew I was in trouble, and silently I prayed that Yvonne would stay in her room, as he put a leather valise down, opened it, took out a length of rope and asked me to turn my back to him, while putting my hands behind my back. I complied, and looked straight ahead as the man crossed my wrists and started to bind them together. I had to admit, he knew what he was doing – the ropes were tight, but tied expertly and not that uncomfortable as I wriggled my fingers.

He then knelt down and asked me to put my ankles together, and I watched with a somewhat detached interest as he bound my ankles as tightly together as my wrists. When he had finished, I sat with my legs to the side, as I was taught at finishing school, while he apologised and folded the skirt of my dress back, tied my legs together below my knees, and then folded the skirt back. At least he was well mannered.

What I was not expecting, however, was to hear Yvonne say “Grandma, can I show you – why are you doing that to Grandma.”

The Panther turned and looked at Yvonne, and then at me as I sat at the end of the couch, and then smiled as he asked Yvonne to close the door and come over. She looked at me, and I knew what might be coming, as I nodded and said she should do as the man said. She closed the door, and then came over, looking at me legs as she asked if he was a bad man.

I will give him credit – he did not try to hide it, as he said he was a bad man, he was going to rob her grandma, and he had to make sure I could not raise the alarm – and now she was there, he had to make sure she could not raise the alarm as well. He produced more rope, as I told Yvonne to let the man do to her what he did to me, it did not hurt, and she did not need to be scared.

She was a very brave girl, standing there as he took her hands behind her back and tied her wrists together. He then told her to sit next to me, which she did, her feet hanging off the edge of the couch we were both sitting on as he bound her ankles tightly together, and then her legs below her knees, the band of rope visible between the tops of her socks and her skirt.

She smiled at me and said she was all right, as the Panther took a long length of rope, and tied it round my upper body so that my arms were held against my side. He did the same to Yvonne, and then asked me to tell him where my safe was, and how to get into it. Well, I did not really have a choice to do anything except tell him, so I did so. The safe was actually in that room, so we both had to watch, Yvonne wriggling round as her boots squeaked, while he opened and emptied my safe of my jewels and money.

He then turned and looked at us, and said he also had to make sure we stayed quiet. He produced from the valise a wide roll of white adhesive tape, and told Yvonne to close her mouth, me watching as he wrapped the tape around her head, covering her lips and preventing her talking. He did the same to me, and then helped Yvonne to lie on her side with her head on my lap as she looked up at me, almost seeming to smile under the tape.

And that was how he left us, unable to really move or talk as he smiled and kissed us both on the forehead, and then left with his valise, my valuables – yet strangely, my and Yvonne’s dignity intact…

That’s all we have time for on this edition on In Their Own Words – good night…

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