The Games
Player – Scarf Games
Shami Kapoor
and her family lived in a detached house on the outskirts of Leicester, her husband
being one of the traders in gold jewellery in the city itself. Although the city itself was still in severe
lockdown measures that particular weekend, the opportunity was there for a
fruitful visit – and so it was that I made the first of a number of visits I
made where I had to make a few adjustments to the way that I worked.
Specifically, I
had to pick a time when her husband was not at home – and as jewellers were not
considered an essential business at first, I had to wait a few weeks before I
actually drove up to the city and parked outside their house, on the day he
re-opened his business. I also, though
contacts, had made sure I was not infected – and I had surgical gloves on under
my leather ones as I walked to the back of the house.
I was dressed
in black, as usual, and as I walked round the side of the house I made sure the
medical mask was covering my nose and mouth, before I pulled the stocking down
over my head and tried the back door.
Slipping in, I closed the door and took a moment to listen to the sounds
in the house, the laughter – and then the footsteps as I stood in waiting,
watching as Shami came in. She was
wearing a white t-shirt with a black camouflage print, and black and white
leggings with an Aztec print, as well as gold sandals.
Oh yeah – and a
startled expression on her face as I walked up behind her and put my hand over
her mouth, whispering “not a word – just do as I say, and you and your
daughters get to spend a fun afternoon.
Nod if you understand.”
I smiled as
Shami slowly nodded, and then took my hand away as she turned round and looked at
me. “You… You’re the Games Player? But the restrictions…”
“I have taken
all necessary precautions – so be assured, I will not harm you in that way, or
any other way, so long as you play along.
Will you do that?”
As Shami slowly
nodded, I said “where are they now?”
“They are in
the front room, doing a lesson for their school,” Shami whispered, “They will
be doing that for at least an hour – why?”
“It gives us
time to have a look round,” I said with a smile, “and also to make sure before
I leave, they will both be just as secure and quiet as you are. For now, however, I must ask you to turn
round and put your hands behind your back.”
I watched as
she did that, taking my rucksack off and removing a length of rope from it
before I crossed and bound her wrists tightly together. I then smiled and said “so, let’s go and have
a look in your bedroom, nice and quietly, all right?”
“We’re
finished, mama,” I heard her older daughter say as I opened the door and we walked
in. I could see ten year old Bhavna and
five year old Nidra sitting on a couch, dressed identically – black and white
striped t-shirts with a v-shaped neck line, and black skirts, with bare feet. They looked at Shami, and said “mummy, what’s
the man doing?”
“He’s come to
help us play a game of cops and robbers,” Shami said with a smile as she
wriggled round. I had used one of her
black dupattas to secure her arms to her sides, the band around her stomach,
and tied the ends between her wrists as well, while I put down on the chair
next to me a selection of coloured dupattas.
“Cops and
robbers? How do we play that,” Nidra
said as she looked at me.
“Well, I am the
robber,” I said with a smile, “and I need to make sure that you, and your
mother, cannot tell anyone I have been here for a while. So I’m going to use these scarves to make
sure all three of you cannot move, and keep quiet, but I promise you, it won’t
hurt – and you can have fun trying to get free.”
“He’s already
started with me,” Shami said as she smiled at her girls, “so let him do the
same to you.”
“Why don’t you
both stand up and look at your mother as she sits down,” I said as I closed the
lid of the laptop they had been watching, “and I’ll make sure your arms are
just like hers.”
“Okay,” Bhavna
said as they both stood up, and Shami sat down.
They both had black hair like their mother, Bhavna’s pulled back in a
ponytail while Nidra had hers cut short.
Anyway – I started
with Bhavna, Nidra watching as I got her to put her hands together, palm to palm,
behind her back and then wrapped a white dupatta round her arms and body,
pulling them into her sides as I passed it round twice, and knotted the ends
behind her back before I used the loose ends to bind her wrists tightly together
as well.
I used a second
white dupatta to secure Nidra’s arms and wrists in the same way, the two girls
twisting round before I allowed them to sit either side of their mother. I then
took the first of three black dupattas, and used it to bind Shami’s ankles
tightly together, making sure the cloth went around and between her legs before
I let the ends hand loose.
“Why did you do
that,” Bhavna said as she watched me start to bind her ankles together in the
same way.
“I will show
you in a little while,” I said as I made sure her ankles were secured tightly
together, and then did the same for her sister.
I then stood up and walked to the couch.
I said I had
brought dupattas, but I had also brought three red gamcha scarfs – smaller,
rectangular ones. I rolled one of them
into a band as said “now I need to make sure you stay quiet before I do the
next thing. I want your mama to open her
mouth as wide as she can.”
Shami nodded as
she opened her mouth, her daughters watching as I pulled the rolled up scarf
between her lips and she bit down on it while I tied it round her head. “Chnhhhhrmhhh,” she said as she looked at
Bhavna and Nidra, both of them giggling and nodding as I used the other two red
scarves to cleave gag them as well.
I then helped
Shami to lie on the floor, and pulled her ankles back, using the loose ends to
secure them to the chest binding. The
girls then lay either side of her as hogtied them as well, the three of them
trying to talk and wriggling round as I said “now, you can try to get free –
see if you manage it before the bad robber escapes.”
Which, of
course, they did not….
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