Gentlemen Then and Now

Brenda looked out as the snow fell lightly outside her window, smiling as she saw thew car drive up to the front door. Even though she was seventy, she still looked twenty years younger, her long blonde hair platted into a pigtail that cane down over her left shoulder. She was wearing a long sleeved black and white striped blouse under a black leather pinafore dress with a skirt that came down to her knees, her legs in black tights and a pair of black leather buccaneer boots that had a lace detail at the front.

Her eyes were sparkling behind her black rimmed spectacles as she watched a dark-haired woman get out of the car, a long white leather coat covering as she locked the vehicle. She turned and waved, and then walked to the front door, Brenda smiling as she heard a voice say “put kettle on, Ma – it’s freezing out there.”

“Of course I will, Mel,” she said as she came out to see the woman removing her coat, revealing a sleeveless Union Jack mini-dress with white knee length go-go boots. Her daughter Melanie was in her early forties, and smiled as the two of them embraced.

“Come on – we can have a natter,” Brenda said as Melanie turned and closed the door, not noticing the grey panel van that was coming up the driveway…

“So come on – how did the party go this morning?”

“Thew school party? Well, whoever suggested our idols when growing up was either a sadist or a genius,” Mel said as she held the mug of coffee in both hands, “I’m just glad Gril Power made it easier – a trip to the Charity shops and I found what I needed. What’s your excuse?”

“I don’t need an excuse,” Brenda said with a grin, “I just love the way I look.”

“You’re seventy plus, Ma,” Mel said with a sigh.

“Age is a state of mind, and I don’t mind,” Brenda said as she heard the doorbell ring. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Melanie watched as she walked down the corridor, and then heard her mother say “Hello – can I help you?”

“It is Brenda isn’t it?” The voice was a male one, not unpleasant but unknown to Melanie. “I hope you forgive this unexpected visit – will you allow us to come in please?”

“Well – since you asked so nicely…”

“Is there anyone else at home with you, Brenda?”

It was a second voice, as Melanie slowly stood up.

“Shall we?”

She looked to the doorway as her mother returned with two men. They were identically dressed – black sweaters and jackets, black pants, black shoes, black gloves, black balaclava masks…

“Melanie,” Brenda said quietly, “don’t panic. They are armed, and they intend to rob us.”

“Rob us? Who are you?”

“Oh forgive us our manners,” the smaller of the two men said. “I am know as Mister Small, and this is my friend Mister Tall. You may have heard certain members of the Third Estate refer to us as…”

“The Gentlemen Robbers,” Melanie whispered quietly.

“Indeed,” Miser Tall said. “Now, I want to reassure you both you will come to no real harm, beyond the need to restrain and silence both of you for a while. With that in mind, Brenda, I trust you will allow us to make sure your daughter is taken care of first – to provide you with that reassurance.”

Brenda slowly nodded as Mister Tall walked over, placing a bag on the table and then removing from it a length for white rope as he walked behind Melanie.

“If you would kindly place your mug on the table, and then place your hands together behind your back?”

“Ma?”

“Best do as he says,” Brenda whispered as Melanie felt the masked man take her hands, and then the rope on her bare wrists as they were forced firmly together. She flexed her fingers as the rope went around and between her slim limbs, before there was a final tug as Mister Small secured the ends out of reach for her fingers.

“Let me guess – you take Ma for a walk while I am kept somewhere else.”

“That would be a fair assumption,” Mister Small said as she watched him double over a longer length of rope and walk behind her, and then felt the pressure on her arms as he passed it round her stomach and pulled it tight behind her again.

“May I see, you seem remarkably calm,” Mister Tall said as he put the gun he was holding down, and took rope from the bag before he guided Brenda’s wrists behind her back.

“I am not in a position to fight you, am I,” Brenda said quietly as she felt the rope rubbing on her wrists as they were secured tightly together, “and therefore, I must comply – but I do commend the way you are acting towards us.”

“We find it helps everyone remain calm,” Mister Tall said as he secured the ends, and then took a second longer rope from the bag, Brenda relaxing herself as she felt the ropes going around her to secure her upper body.

“Indeed,” Brenda said as she felt the ropes tightening, the leather squeaking softly as the ropes moved on her. “Besides – if I am being honest, this is not the first time this is a situation I have found myself in.”

“I do not believe we have met before, Brenda.”

“No - not you,” she said with a smile as Mister Small helped Melanie to stand up, and they walked into the front room, Breda watching as Mister Small helped her daughter to sit on the couch, and then kneeling down before he crossed her ankles on his leg, using more rope to begin to secure her ankles together.

“You’ve been robbed before, Ma?”

“A long time ago – before you came along Mel,” Brenda said quietly as she glanced down, seeing the white bands encircling her chest now and hearing the squeak as her daughter’s ankles were secured, and then her legs below her knees, the rope passed between her legs to tighten the binding in both places.

“Really? Were you scared then?”

“At first – it was me and your grandmother,” Brenda said, “but as things played out, I felt as safe as I do here – mainly because of the way the intruder behaved then as well.”

“You have to thllmhhbbhhthtt,” Melanie said, her words muffled by the rolled and knotted scarf that Mister Small pulled between her lips and tied tightly round her head.

“My apologies – it was necessary. I will search here Mister Tall if you wish to take Brenda to the bedrooms.”

“Very helpful Mister Small,” the taller of the two masked men said as he took Brenda by the arm, and walked her out of the room – her mind going back fifty years…

“Mum? How has your day been?”

Brenda hung up her black PVC raincoat and then stopped to look at herself in the long hall mirror of their home. Her long dark brown hair was falling over the shoulders of her sleeveless dress, the cream fabric covered in diagonal lines of blue and black crosses with dark trim, a faux black belt round her waist. Her slim legs were in a pair of tight fitting black leather boots with a block heel.

“Mum?”

“I’m in the dining room,” her mother called back, Brenda smiling as she walked into the room – and then stopped in her tracks.

Her mother had tightly permed blonde hair, and she too was wearing a sleeveless dress – in her case, a black one with a white collar and white bands at the bottom of the skirt. She was sat on one of the dining table chairs, her arms going round the sides and behind the seat back – but that was not what really made Brenda stare.

It was the bands of rope that were wound round her arms and body, holding her tightly to the chair back as well as her arms to her sides, and Brenda could see how tight the ropes were.

“Mum, what is going on?”

“Well…”

“Ah – this must be your daughter. Pleasure to meet you young lady – please, stand perfectly still, and keep your hands where I can see them.”

Brenda slowly nodded as she saw the man who now stood behind her mother. He was dressed like John Steed – a tailored three-piece suit with a dark collar, a white shirt and tie, the bowler hat, the rose in his buttonhole – and the gun he was now pointing at her in his gloved hand.

“Who are you?”

“Names are not important,” he said with a smile, “do as I ask, nobody needs to get hurt. Please, take a second chair away from the table and sit on it, hand son your lap.”

Brenda sawfly sat down as the man knelt in front of her mother, and then passed more rope around her booted ankles. The boots were knee length dark brown suede ones, and as he bound her ankles Brenda could see the material lightening under and around the bands of the rope. “I really am unharmed,” she said as she looked at Brenda, the man taking her ankles to the side and securing them further to the front leg of the chair before he bound her legs together below her knees, and then to the two joints of the front legs.

“Who is he?”

“I don’t know,” her mother said as the man walked round behind Brenda with a pilot’s bag in his hand. She then felt him take her arms round the chair back, and felt the rope rubbing no the bare wrists of her arms as he began to secure her as well. “He came into the front room as Iwas having afternoon tea, and – well, you can see and understand now.”

“I think so – is he robbing us?”

“I regret to say, I am, young lady,” the man said as he secured the ends of the rope round the central spar of the chair back, and then started to wind a long length of rope round Brenda’s arms, body and the chair back so that she was locked into place. “A regrettable, but necessary part of that is ensuring you and your mother are not in a position to stop me – or to call for help.”

“On that, I think you are succeeding,” Brenda said quietly as she felt the wood against her back, the rope on her arms and chest, and then felt the final tug as he secured the ropes behind her.

Walking round, he looked up and smiled as he wrapped more of the rope round her ankles. Her mother watched as Brenda bit her lower lip – the was skilled, and it did not hurt – and as he moved her ankles over and secured the rope to the left front leg, she said “ever the gentleman?”

“Indeed,” he said with a smile, “manners maketh man, after all.” He then wrapped the rope round her legs below her knees, securing them before tying the ends of the rope round the leg joints at either side.

“There now,” he said as he stood up, and walked back round to the bag, “any last conversations you wish to have for the moment should be both brief and sincere.”

“Mum?”

“Be brave, my special one,” her mother said quietly before the man pushed a rolled-up cloth into her mouth, the edges sticking out as he looked at Brenda. She nodded slowly and opened her mouth as the cotton was pushed in, the two women looking at each other as he left them there…

“A gentleman after my own heart,” Mister Tall said as Brenda sat on her bed, watching him empty the last of her jewellery into his black velvet sack.

“I can see why you may think that” Brenda said as she twisted round, the ropes rubbing on her leather dress, “but yeah – I can see a bit of him in you, without the bowler and the umbrella.”

“Then I accept the compliment – does your daughter no?”

“No – but I will tell her. Once we get free.

“Whenever that may be…”

“We will inform the correct authorities when we deem we are safely away,” Mister Tall said as he started to roll up a black headscarf which he had folded in half along the diagonal, and then tied a double knot in the middle of it. “In the meantime?”

“I am to be quiet?”

“You are to be quiet,” Mister Tall said with a smile, Brenda nodding as she allowed him to slip the knot between her teeth. Biting down, she tasted the silk on her tongue as he pulled the band round her head and secured the ends together at the base of her neck, before he helped her to stand up and escorted her back down the stairs.

“Ah – I trust the search was fruitful?”

“Very much so – the daughter?”

“Hmfhhnn,” Melanie said as she watched Brenda sit in an armchair, Mister Small sitting and crossing her ankles before he wrapped the white rope round them and made sure they stayed together. He then secured her legs together below her knees and tied the ropes off. Brenda feeling the knot getting heavier in her mouth as it started to soak up her saliva.

“Your mother has a fascinating tale to tell you when she is able to,” Mister Tall said with a smile as he and Mister Small picked up the bags. “I would listen – you will find it illuminating.”

“Mhmmm?”

“Lhtthrr,” Brenda mumbled as she looked at the two masked men.

“The Gentlemen Robbers bid you both adieu – may we never meet again,” Mister Small said, smiling as he and his partner left the bound and gagged women…

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