Christmas
with the Stars
1972
“So you’re a
fan of Donny Osmond?”
The
eleven-year-old slowly nodded as she sat on the wooden bed in her bedroom, the posters and photos of the young pop star on the wall behind
her. She was wearing a striped wool tank top over a long sleeved brown wool
jumper, and black corduroy pants, her long hair cut in a bob that framed her
face and the large glasses magnifying the scared look in her eyes.
“Yes,” she
slowly whispered as she looked at the man standing in front of her. Hye was
tall, wearing a blue denim jacket and jeans with a wide collared floral print
shirt under the jacket, the buttons open to reveal the medallion on his chest
and a mask that made him look like Tony Blackburn covering his head. “Who are
you?”
“I’m Tony
Blackburn. What’s your name?”
“Sammie but you’re
not tony Blackburn. Tony Blackburn does not have a gun.”
“Well, I do,”
the man said as he looked at Sammie, the gun in his gloved hand. “Now, I want
you to do what I tell you to do, and we’ll all get along just fine, all right?”
“What about my
mother, my sisters “
“You’ll join
them eventually,” Tony said as he put a canvas bag down and opened it, taking
out a length of thin brown rope.
“Are you going
to tie me up?”
“I am so kneel down by the bed, and put your hands behind your back.”
Sammie slowly nodded
as she knelt on the wooden floor, her bare feet sticking out from the cuffs of
her pants as Tony knelt behind her and put her wrists together. She bit her
lower lip as she felt the rough gore rubbing on her bare wrists, forcing them
to stay together as he took the lengths around and between her arms before
tying the ends off out of reach of her fingers.
He turned her
transistor radio on as the music started to play, and then he took a second
length of the rope and used it to bind her ankles together side by side. Sammie
stayed still, trying no to cry as he passed a longer
length of the rope round her arms and upper body and further secured her so
that all she could do was twist round.
“All right
Sammie I need you to sit on your bed now.” Tony helped her to sit on the bed as
she watched him kneel down and use more of the thin
brown rope to secure her legs together below her knees, and then she saw him go
to a drawer and take out a pair of short white socks.
“You don’t have
to gag me; I won’t call for help.”
“Sorry Sammie,
I have to make sure now open your mouth nice and wide.”
The young girl
swallowed and then felt the cotton on her tongue as the socks were pushed into
her open mouth. Tony then took from his bag a black half-square, rolled it into
a thin band and clave gagged the young girl, before he laid her onto her side
and looked at her.
“Now, you lie
right there I’ll take you to your mother in a few minutes, all right? You can
dream of Donny coming to your rescue.”
Sammie slowly
nodded as the door to her bedroom was opened, and she heard
the sounds of a struggle from the next bedroom.
“Now stop being
a silly billy and struggling.”
“HRRUHHHH,” the
fifteen yar old said into the gloved hand clamped over her mouth as she
struggled to get free. Her long straw-blonde hair fell over her shoulders, and
she was wearing a light blue jumper with a white shoulder band, and grey jeans
with the legs tucked into knee length black patent leather Frye boots.
“Stop
struggling, little one, and you’ll find out.” The man holding her was wearing a
three-piece suit with a blue shirt and a dark tie and a mask over his head that
was modelled after one of the top impressionists at the time.
“Now listen
your mother and sisters are with my friends, and they are behaving themselves.
Be smart, do the same.”
The young girl
finally stopped trying to twist out of the way, and the gloved hand was removed
as she said “Seriously a Mike Yarwood mask.”
“And a gun don’t
forget that. I’m guessing you are Lesley.”
“Who wants to
know?”
“Call me Mike
and stand still,” the man said as he pulled Lesley’s hands behind her back, and
she felt the rope round her wrists as the were bound
tightly together.
“Where’s mum,
Sammie, Laura “
“My friends are
with them,” Mike said as he puled the rope tight and
tied it off, and then passed a longer length of rope round the young girl’s
arms and pulled it tight so that her arms were forced against her sides. He
took rt round again and again, forming two bands with one around her upper arms
and one round her stomach.
“This is not
funny “
“Well, it can
be fun,” Mike said as he pulled the ropes tighter and tied them off, then
turned the young girl round and made her sit on char before he knelt down and put her feet on his leg, crossing er ankles
and pulling more rope tightly round them so that the leather squeaked as they
were bound tightly together.
Lesley could
only watch as he then forced her legs together below her knees, the thin rope
making the material of her pants seem lighter underneath as it went around and
between her legs, before Mike let them drop to the floor and she started to try
and twist free.
“I want to see
my mother!”
“And you will
eventually,” Mike said as he glanced out of the window.
“What are you
looking for a sign?”
“In a way,” the
masked man said as he looked at Lesley, and then took a roll of brown sticking
plaster from the bag he had and tore a strip off. “For now, put your lips together
“Where are
Sammie and Lesley? How dare you force your way into the house?”
“Funny lady,
isn’t she Ernie?”
“She sure is
Eric your mummy is funny, isn’t she?”
The
eight-year-old girl looked at her mother as the man stood with his gloved hands
on her shoulders. She was wearing a round necked blue jumper with a blue and
white diagonally striped top half, and a pattern of cats with arched backs at
the stomach, and a floor length dark blue skirt with white polka dots, a pair
of sandals on her feet.
“Mummy, why are
Morecambe and Wise in our house with guns?”
“They’re not
Morecambe and Wise, Laura,” her mother said as she looked at the two masked
men. “Please, don’t hurt my babies “
“Do as we say,
the worst that happens is you all get to play a part in a play what I wrote,”
the other man said as he held a sawn-off shotgun in his hands. “Now, we need to
keep you and your daughter nice and quiet behave, your other daughters will
join you later. Keep hold of the kid for now, Eric.”
“Of course,”
the taller man in the suit said as the man in the Ernie Wise mask walked
towards the young woman. She was wearing a short-sleeved cream coloured smock
top with a blue floral print over a long-sleeved buttoned cardigan, whit slacks
and black suede boots. She had long light brown hair, while her daughter’s
blonde hair was cut short.
“See my friend
is not going to hurt your mother,” Eric said as Ernie took her mother’s hands
behind her back. She smiled at Laura as she felt the rope rubbing on her wrists
as they were secured together, and then let out a gasp as the rope was passed
round her arms and formed two bands to keep them against her sides.
“It’s all
right, Laura, you don’t ned to be afraid,” she said with a smile.
“Does it hurt
mummy?”
“Don’t fight
against him,” her mother said as Eric took his hands from Laura’s shoulders and
he knelt down, taking the young girl’s arms behind her
back as he started to tie her up as well. She watched as Ernie came round and
knelt in front of the mother, passing a thin rope round her ankles
and then forcing them together side by side. For her part, she watched the look
in her younger daughter’s eyes as the ropes were taken round her upper body and
she was bound in the same way as well
Ernie used
another length of rope to secure her mother’s legs together below her knees,
the young woman looking on as he tied the ends off, and then Laura was walked
over by Eric, and helped to lie down with her head on her mother’s lap before
he took some ropes of his own and tied her ankles together, and then her legs
below her knees, the material of the skirt gathered underneath as she looked up
at her mother.
“Well now-
comfy?”
“As much a is
can be,” her mother said as Laura nodded and then the young girl watched as a
rolled-up scarf was pulled between her mother’s lips and then she felt the tape
as Eric pressed it down over her mouth to keep her quiet as well.
“Hey he’s coming up the driveway.”
“Nice and quiet
now Daddy is going to get a big surprise,” Ernie said, Laura nodding as he
front door opened and closed.
“Hey are you in the front room? I’ve got Mum with me.”
“Hghhddd,” the young woman said as the room door opened and
her husband came in. He was wearing a blue and grey striped jumper under a pair
of fawn coloured dungarees, and black Doc Marten shoes
and a shocked expression as he saw his wife tied up and cleave gagged, and his
youngest daughter lying on the couch, her head on her mother’s lap and just as
tightly bound with brown sticking plaster over her mouth.
“Well hello
there, my friend.” He tuned his head to see the men in the Morecambe and Wise
masks, before he turned his head and said “RUN!”
“No, I’m afraid
she can’t do that, silly boy.”
He slowly
turned round to see a man wearing a Mike Yarwood mask behind his mother. The
older woman was wearing a short round necked silk dress, cream with a red
floral print, and cream-coloured shoes, a gey-blonde wig on her head and a
strip of sticking plaster over her mouth as she stood with her hands on her
head.
“Move.”
He stood to one
side as his mother was forced to walk into the room.
“Helloghrhhnhhee.”
“Hrruhbhfhlrht?”
Laura and her
mother nodded as she was walked over to an armchair, Mike taking some ropes
from a bag as he walked past and then binding her wrists tightly together
behind her back as Laura twisted round on the couch. Her arms were then forced
against her sides, the younger woman looking at the way her mother in law’s
dress was being stretched over her small chest, before she was made to sit down
and and her ankles and legs were secured as well.
“Turn the
television on,” Eric said, Ernie nodding as he turned on the set and the
picture slowly started to appear. Eric then walked behind the man and pulled
his hands behind his back, as the door was opened and Sammie was carried in by
Tony Blackburn.
She was
twisting round, before she was sat at one side oof a shorter couch and she
looked round the room.
“Ah Disney
Time,” Eric said as the two girls looked at the screen, while Mike left, coming
back with Lesley as he sat her on the other end of the couch from Sammie. They
watched Rolf Harris taking as Eric and Ernie dragged their father out of the
house, their mother and grandmother looking at each other.
“Whtssghnnhn?”
“Hfhhfnhdhdeee,” their mother said as the three girls
watched the clip from Snow White, the two masked men watching over them .
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