Jennifer : 28 - A Long Trip to Alaska (self/f, F/fmm)

[Soraka]

Jennifer's stories
28 - A Long Trip to Alaska
Story index at the bottom

By Jennifer

Thu Jan 13, 2011 11:23 pm

My final Story Part 1 The Introduction:

Hello Everyone, I promised that I would share a final story with you and I will. It has been a long and busy couple of days preparing myself to work on this. Now that I am finally sitting down in front of the computer and scribing the first words of the matter. I look back and I know that I am happy with the choice that I have made. By that, I mean the choice of which part of my games growing up would be the final installment that I was going to share with everyone. I chose this one last week after skimming over quite a few files that would make a good choice for this last installment. However, while many of them work well for this matter, this one really stands out as the best choice.

Like any good writer, I did some research on the topic I am going to write about. With some of my stories, when I am missing a detail I went ahead and filled in something that fit. For example, if you look back at several of my other stories, I seem to eat a lot of cheerios for breakfast. In reality, I ate a lot of different breakfast cereal's growing up. My diaries from growing up give some background information that I compose my stories from, what I ate for breakfast is not part of it. However, what I ate for breakfast is really irrelevant to the story itself so I just picked something and ran with it. Nobody was the wiser and nobody complained.

For this story, I want to be as accurate as possible. I have talked with several of my family members who were present for this story. I went over to my father's house and dug up two old photo albums that had over 500 pictures from this event between them. I even found my old original notebook that I kept as my journal during the duration of this matter. I really had bad handwriting when I was that age. I am putting all of this together to draw the story out of in addition to my own memories of the events as best I can recall them. They are surprisingly still fresh in my mind. I will get to explaining that shortly.

However, I am sure there are some things that I won't remember, but I am going to fill in details as I normally do to make the story flow well. So, bear with me as we progress forward. I will be as accurate as is humanly possible two decades after the events occurred. Well, enough talking about all my work going into this I think I should go ahead and get started on composing my story.

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It was still dark when I was shaken awake by my older brother. It was pitch dark to say the least. I had slept through the last two alarms that had been set. So, had Scott not that it mattered. Sean was the most reliable when it came to getting everyone one up in the morning and today was no exception. We had a tight schedule planned. "Jenny, it's time. You need to wake up Jen." Sean stated as he gently shook me awake from my deep slumber. I rolled onto my side and looked up at my brother in the dark silence of our room. "Good morning, did you think you could really sleep in today of all days?" Sean asked looking down at me. I sat up and brought my hands up to rub the sleep out of my eyes. It took a moment seeing as I was currently bound.

The ropes were loose and comfortable. I had two sets, one on my wrists and the other on my ankles. They were just snug enough to keep me from wriggling loose while I was asleep. Not tight enough for me to feel them dig in through my jammies. The room itself was still dark although a small amount of light was shining under the door from the single light in the middle of the hallway. "Alright Jen, are you ready?" Sean asked knowing that whatever response I gave him the outcome would be the same. We didn't have time to play around this morning and he wasn't going to risk me falling back asleep. Still, it was nice to get a little warning. It gave me enough time to get my hands up to shield my eyes as the lights in my room popped.

I slowly drew my hand down from in front of my face and began letting my eyes grow accustomed to the brightness that now flooded the area. Sean made his way back to where I was sitting. "Who tied you up? I thought I told you that you should sleep free tonight it's going to be a long drive." I nodded and yawned. "I did it myself." I managed to reply as my brother closed distance to me from the door. I had managed to tie myself up a couple of times by this age in my life. I could tie my own feet, but my hands were a little trickier. I had to use my teeth to wrap the rope and help tie the knots. I never did anywhere near as good as when one of my siblings tied me up. Still, it was better than nothing in a pinch and the ropes were more comfortable for sleeping since they weren't so snug.

"Here let me get your hands for you." Sean said as I had already begun trying to work the knot binding them free. My brother drew my hands away from my face where I was trying to pick at the double knot with my teeth. He had my hands free in a matter of seconds. I slipped my wrists free of the coils as soon as the knot went slack. "Could you do my feet too?" I asked my brother as I began to run the circulation back into my hands. Sean just smiled and drew the covers back off of my lap. The air around me drew a little cooler as I lost the layer of air trapped beneath my blankets. However, my fleece sleeper kept most of my body heat warmly around my body. After all it really wasn't all that cold. After a minute or two of working the tangles out of the coils that I had bound my ankles with, Sean released my ankles in the same way that he released my wrists.

I slid back one of the pajama cuffs on my sleeper so that I could examine my wrists. There weren't even rope marks apparent from the evening. I rubbed my ankles a little for relief through my pajamas before I rolled out of bed and stood up. I looked up at the clock on our dresser. It read 3:00 am. To this day, I still don't know why we had to leave so early. It wasn't like we didn't have enough time. I stood up and crossed the hallway making my way towards the bathroom. I reached the door pretty groggily and gently rapped on it to announce that I wanted it. "I will be out in a minute, hold on." Scott's voice traveled through the door in a deep loud whisper. A few minutes went by, Scott's one minute actually turned out to be 5 or so. However, if I had wanted the bathroom first I should have gotten up before my brother.

This really was a first with him beating me up in the morning. I just wasn't used to getting up this early thought. After a second rapping on my part, the door finally opened. "It's all yours your majesty." I just stood there and looked back at my brother. I disregarded the comment without a reply and headed into the bathroom. I spent the next 15 minutes or so going through my normal morning routine. I used the facilities, brushed my teeth, and made my hair look better than it did when I got out of bed a few minutes ago. I also took a few minutes to wake up a little bit more. Finally when I had completed my task, I stepped out of the bathroom. The hallway was cleared now, everyone was already down in the kitchen or garage making the final preparations. I turned down the hallway towards my parents room. I wanted to ask my mother what I should wear for the first leg of this trip. I still had a hard time picking out my own outfits at this age.

I took about 5 paces down the hallway towards my parents' bedroom before I was intercepted. "Jen, where do you think you are going?" A hand had landed on my shoulder, I already knew from the voice behind me who it belonged to. I turned around to face my sister Mary. "I need mom to help me pick out something to wear. You guys packed most of my clothes for the trip. I need some help finding something and all of you are too busy." Mary looked down at me and put a finger up to her lips indicating for me to lower my voice. "You need to keep it down Jen, Mom and the baby are both asleep and you shouldn't wake them up. They are not coming with us so there is no reason for them to be up at this hour. Do you understand me?" Mary explained and finished with a question.

I replied with one of my own in a lower tone of voice. "Then what am I going to wear?" I asked my older sister looking up towards her for guidance. "Are you comfortable right now?" Mary asked looking down at me. I thought for a moment and just shrugged. "Then go grab some shoes and just leave on what you already have on. It's not like anyone is going to see you anyways. We are going to be driving the whole day." The thought of staying in my pajamas wasn't something that had crossed my mind in the first place. Normally, my parents insisted that if I left the house I needed to be dressed. However, under the circumstances it made sense now that Mary had explained it the way that she did. "Good, go and grab anything else you think you want for this trip, we are leaving in 20 minutes. I left a pop tart for you on the kitchen table. I nodded and I followed at my sister's heels as she moved forward carrying the large blue backpack. I already knew what it contained. Mary had been pretty complete in showing it's contents to me the day before.

I headed back to my room briefly and looked around quickly. I let my mind wander and considered if there was anything else that I wanted to add to what we were already taking. The only thing that crossed my mind quickly got snatched up. I grabbed two spiral bound notebooks from under the bed along with a couple of ball point pens. I decided that I wanted to take my journal along for this trip. The first notebook was already two thirds full and the second would begin when I finished the first. Carrying the two notebooks under one arm, I made my way out of my room making sure to shut off the light as I went. The next stop on my trip was the kitchen. My reason for going was to consume the food Mary had mentioned earlier. I made my way to the end of out table where my chair was situated. Mary was good to her word. There was a plate sitting there with a cherry pop tart and a glass of orange juice had been poured to go with it.

I set the notebooks down on the table next to my place and went about eating the small meal. The pop tart had been warmed at one point, however now it was cold, not that I really cared. I consumed it quickly standing up while I ate. I would be sitting most of the rest of the day, by my own choice or otherwise. I decided to stretch my legs a little more while I still could. It took me about 3 minute to consume the meal. I was a quick eater when I was in a hurry. I still am. After I finished, I went and deposited the plate and glass in the sink for my mother to find later. No point in leaving her a mess to clean up. We would be parted for a long enough period as it was.

The next leg of my trip sent me into the living room still with the two notebooks tucked under one arm. I needed to get some shoes for the trip. My mother had already packed several pairs along with a good portion of my wardrobe. All that was left, was an older pair of tennis shoes and the flat Mary janes that I wore to school often. Either would be fine. I just didn't want to go in my pajama feet by themselves. school shoes and buckled them on over top of my pajamas. Once that was done, I stood up and headed over for the garage with the two notebooks. I was ready to go as I would ever be and it would be quite a journey ahead.

I opened the door that lead from the kitchen out into the garage. The remained of my family was there save for my mother and Amy who were still both fast asleep in her room. "There you are Jen. I was beginning to think that you weren't coming with us." My father commented looking down at my approach. "We have everything we need.

Well, everything except you that is. Mary, would you help get the rest of this crew ready we'll depart as soon as we finished. I am going to go wake your mother so that she can come out here and say her goodbyes properly. It's going to be more than a month until we see her again after all." Mary nodded. "Of course."

My father made his way past me and patted me gently on the head as he passed leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves. With his absence, that left Mary in charge by right of passage and age. "Sean, why don't you go ahead and help Scott get situated. I will take care of Jennifer. After all we want everyone to be safe and especially no fighting, at least for the first leg of the trip." Mary commented patting the backpack. I already knew what she had in mind and I was looking forward to it.

. . . . . . . . .

Three days ago, Mary had come back from a short errand. Scott and I were sitting at the kitchen table when she came it. She crossed the room quietly and took deposited a large paper back on it in front of us. The bag was from a our local farmer's exchange. It was as store that dealt mostly in agricultural products and some general hardware store type items. Scott and I both looked at my sister. "What's in the bag?" I shot out before Scott could steal my thunder. Mary just replied with a smile at first. "Why it's some last minute stuff for our trip." Mary reached into the bag and began to empty it's contents onto the table.

"1" thump, "2" thump, "3" thump, "4" thump, "5" thump. Mary counted aloud as she deposited the contents of the bag onto the table. Each thump was the sound of another coil of white clothesline hitting the table. It was a soft white cotton rope, the same kind we used when we played tie up. Mary had five bundles of it and each bundle was a 100 feet in length. The bag also contained two rolls of duct tape, a pocket knife and a cigarette lighter. My sister didn't smoke. Mary didn't offer any comment on the ropes purpose. She simply opened the blade on the knife and opened the plastic on the first piece of rope. My sister began cutting it up. She moved down the length of the rope and made a cut ever ten feet or so along the length of it. Mary then took the lighter and melted the end of the rope to keep them from fraying.

She repeated this process with the second length of rope. The third was divided into 5 pieces each about 20 feet long. The fourth formed two twenty five food pieces and a fifty foot piece. Finally, she just cut the last one in half and melted the ends. All of the pieces of rope got coiled neatly into small bundles and the bundles were all piled into a blue knapsack. Scott and I sat and watched as she performed this act inquiring as to the purpose of the cord. Mary just ignored us and worked in silence. Finally when she was done, the words "You'll see." was the only reply we got from her concerning the matter of the ropes. Although, I had already guessed their purpose. It was going to be a long trip after all. Scott and I fought like dogs and cats, and Mary wasn't too fond of it.

I was about to find out what she had planned.

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Jennifer's stories

• 01 - My First Time (f/mf)
• 02 - Trying New Things: Breakfast with Mom (Fm/f)
• 03 - A Walk in the Park (mm/f)
• 04 - The Pole and the Dungeon (m/f)
• 05 - A long camping trip (mmf/f)
• 06 - One Rainy Day at Home (m/f)
• 07 - Winter Vacation at Grams (both genders)
• 08 - A Long Weekend tied up (F/f)
• 09 - Shopping with Mom (F/f)
• 10 - My New Friend (m/f)
• 11 - The Bike Trip (m/f)
• 12 - Sharing With Friends (Ffff/fff)
• 13 - New Horizon (Both Genders)
• 14 - A Trip to My Aunts (mFF/f)
• 15 - A Second Christmas Story (mmff/mmf)
• 16 - Mary's Weekend (F/F)
• 17 - The Next Chapter (*/self, f/f)
• 18 - Ropes and Skates (Good Combination?) (MFmf/fff)
• 19 - Hanging With Mary (F/f)
• 20 - College (FFF/FF)
• 21 - College Days : Stephanie's Captive (F/F)
• 22 - College Days : A New Chapter, Ashley Gets Involved (*/self, F/F)
• 23 - College Days : A New Chapter, Ashley Comes Back (F/F)
• 24 - College Days : A New Chapter, Normal is Good (F/F)
• 25 - College Days: Theodore Roosevelt (FF/F)
• 26 - College Days: Summer Job at the Farm (F/F, M/F)
• 27 - Holiday Trip to Grandma's (f/f, f/m, m/fmm)
• 28 - A Long Trip to Alaska (self/f, F/fmm)
• 29 - The Pioneering Experience (mmmm/f)

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Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section

[Soraka]

My Final Story (Part 2): Safe and Sound

Hello everyone, I apologize for taking so long to get this posted. I had a bit of a family emergency I had to deal with that kept me from writing last week. The future post should be closer together. Sorry to keep everyone waiting. I hope you all enjoy the story.

I suppose there are some details from the first story that need some attention. First of all, to answer the one question that I got, I was 10 at the time of this story. It was the Saturday before the last full week of May that year. My school year had ended abruptly short of it's final days. While the rest of my class mates at school were going through a field day, a class picnic and an end of the year party, I was at home standing at in my garage at 4:00 am on a Saturday. My school year was over and done with. I would be graduating to the fifth grade without any problem. My father had pulled me out of school early this year for this trip. The last three weeks leading up to this excursion had been a real hand full.

My siblings and I all had double homework quite a bit since we needed to be finished before the end of the year was up. Sean had to take quite a few test a week and a half early finishing his final exams in high school for that year as well. Our school district allowed families to take their children on vacation during the school year. However, all the work had to be made up ahead of time if you wanted to go. My father had made the decision to hold this trip and all the arrangements had to be made ahead of time. Taking us out of school the last week of the year really didn't sit too well with my principal at least, but it was my family's decision and we went forward with it.

On top of all the school work that piled up, there had been a ton of preparation for the trip itself. Looking back, my father was going through a midlife crisis would be the best way to look at it. This trip was something he had always wanted to do with the family. But, he had never found the time to do it. We were departing this weekend because of Mary mostly. She would be doing her final half year of college in the fall. After that she was moving away and my father thought this was his last chance to attempt this with his children. Well, at least those of us who could make the trip. My youngest sister Amy had been born in the middle early part of this year and was way too young to attempt a trip like this. My mother and father discussed the issue of the trip and decided that my mother as much as it pained my father, would be staying home to tend to the newest addition to our family.

The trip was going to be a long one and quite a bit happened on the way. I will get into the specifics of it a little more as the story goes on. However, I think I have wasted enough space on this secondary part of the introduction for now.

I looked groggily up at my sister as I tried to sweep the tiredness out of my eyes. I was used to getting up early growing up. However, I wasn't used to getting up at this hour before even the first traces of the sun would be working their way over top of the darkened horizon. While I was still waking up, my alertness was not a requirement of the events that were about to transpire. Mary reached over towards the wall of the garage and pulled the vest harness off the wall. Many of you who are familiar with my stories know about the car vest I wore as a kid. My mother got it for me when I was 8 and outgrowing my car seat growing up.

Mary asked me to turn around and lift my arms up so she could get me situated. If you are not familiar with the vest, I will take a moment and describe it for you. It is composed of seat belt type webbing in several straps that encircle the upper half of the body. The vest has a strap that goes around the waist and two shoulder straps that go over the wearer's shoulders to secure their upper body. The vest wraps around and there is one additional belt that goes around the upper body just below the armpit level. All the straps come together and the vest closes in the back with a zipper. The zipper can be expanded as the wearer gets older or if they are wearing the vest over heavier clothing. Basically, the zipper inserts are a 2 inch wide double sided zippered piece of clothing and a similar one that is 4 inches wide. They can be used to expand the vest.

Mary slipped it on over my outstretched arms and zipped the harness closed in the back. She had the 2 inch zipper insert in the back. I was getting bigger from when I had originally gotten the harness and now I needed the insert for it to fit properly. Mary made sure everything was snug and made a final adjustment to shoulder belts snugging them down a little with a pull slide at the top. Finally, she slipped the double crotch strap between my legs and snapped the fatex buckle to it in front of me. The crotch strap was meant to keep me from sliding under and out of the harness in a crash. This was a feather that came standard on the smallest two sizes of the vests and was an optional add on for the larger sizes. Across the room, Sean was helping Scott into a similar car vest to mine.

My mother also got a set for my two brothers. One for Scott, who was less happy about the item than I was. She also got one for my older brother Sean. Scott's was identical to mine accept it was a different color since it was the next size up. Sean's was the largest size that the company made and lacked the crotch straps that Scott and my own vest had. The company figured that by the time a child was that old the crotch straps were not really a necessity. Mary double checked the harness for snugness, it was on and securely fastened. The vest once it was on would attached to a special mount used for a seat in a van or on a school bus. The seat mount would wrap around the back of the seat and provide 4 clips to secure the harness to the seat.

The vest had 4 d-rings, one on each side of the hips and one on the top of each shoulder. The wearer would sit down and the vest would be attached to the seat mount on each of the d-rings to hold the vest securely to the seat. There were also two open loops on the bottom of the waist belt at the hips. If desired, a person wearing one of the harnesses could thread a lap seat belt through these two loops rather than use the clips on the bottom half of the harness. The vest got used for most of our family car trips during this time period in our life. Scott and I also wore ours on the school bus on the rides to and from school. We had gotten more than our share of teasing for the two vests, but after a month went by and they didn't disappear, the kids got it out of their system. By this time, Scott was working himself away from wearing the harness. He was more than old enough for a regular seat belt and he preferred one to the vest since it was less restrictive.

My brother had stopped wearing it on the school bus about half way through this school year. I still wore mine on the bus. Sean initially wore the one my mother got him for a couple of months mostly on family trips. He never wore his on the school bus. He seemed less bothered by it than Scott. However, now it normally only got used on longer trips. Mostly because it took less work for him to just use the car's seat belts rather than hook all the stuff required to use the vest properly up.

I watched as Sean was helping Scott get his vest on while Mary was finishing mine. "There Jen, all done how is that?" My sister asked. I didn't reply. Probably it was a mix that I didn't know what to say, and that I was too tired to care one way or another. I stood there and watched my two brothers. Scott was being a real pain to Sean. He loosed the shoulder straps on the harness and made a real issue about the crotch strap. He wasn't happy having the wear the harness in the first place, he was testing what he could get away with. As far as Sean was concerned pretty much nothing was the answer to that questions. I was so enthralled with watching the two of them argue, I barely noticed what was going on. I let out a quiet wide yawn in the calm mixed darkness of the garage. I brought up a hand out of reflex mostly to catch the yawn. However, I was suddenly aware that I couldn't.

When I pulled on my right hand, it didn't move from where it was currently lodged. This seemed strange to me, so I tried to repeat the action with more force. However, it didn't work this time either. "Stay still will you Jen? I am almost done and it would be easier of you didn't struggle." I turned my head around to make eye contact with Mary who was still standing behind me. It suddenly hit me that there were ropes wrapped around my wrists. Mary was tying me and I hadn't even noticed it. "What's going on?" I asked looking up at her with a curious look on my face. Mary continued to work on my wrists while she drew the answer to my question to the surface of our conversation. "I asked you a minute ago if it was OK for me to tie you and you just stood there and nodded." She replied. "Like I said, I am almost done with your wrists could you please hold still and let me finish?"

I didn't have any recollection of giving my sister permission. It was likely a combination of how tired I was and the matter that my attention was distracted from watching my two brothers across the room. I just shrugged gently and stopped squirming. I didn't have any issue with Mary tying my hands. It was a rare occasion that I ever had an issue with someone wanting to tie me up. I became complacent and just let her do her work. Mary had taken my wrist and crossed them behind the small of my back. She was using a piece of her rope probably 15 feet in length or so to bind my hand crossed that was. I don't remember the exact was it was done, but they were crossed and wrapped tightly in several directions. I felt a final jerk and Mary smiled over my shoulder. "There, the knots tied and you are secure."

My sister let of me for a minute and let me explore the bindings. They were secure and prevented me from moving my hands as they were intended. I struggled a little, the ropes were secure and I wasn't getting loose on my own. Well at least unless I slipped my hands to the front and worked the knot loose with my teeth. That would be a fair amount of work, but it would be possible if I wanted to escape. I leaned forward and lifted by bound arms in the air tugging against the ropes. I felt my sister grab my arm and pull me back into a standing position. Apparently she wasn't quite done yet.

I looked up over my shoulder. Mary had taken a second piece of rope out of her bag. This one was a lot longer than the one she had used to tie my hands. It looked like one of the really long pieces to me, but I wasn't completely sure one way or the other. Mary uncoiled the rope and worked it in one hand until she found the center of it. My sister used the middle of the rope to make a loop. She wrapped the loop around the center of my wrist bonds and pulled the two free ends of the rope through the loop the center of the rope formed. Then, Mary pulled the rope tight drawing the loop down on itself. Once that was done, my sister drew the rope upwards about a foot up my back and held it in place with one hand. With the other, she began to wrap the two trailing ends around the top half of my body. I just stood there as my sister made about a eight or nine passes around my upper body with the doubled ropes ends. When she was down two the last foot and a half on each end, she divided them and brought them around in opposite directions to my front. There, she knotted them off together in the middle of my chest.

"There Jennifer, that should keep you out of trouble." Mary commented looking downwards at her handy work. My sister had worked the ropes snug to my upper body with each pass around my upper body. This drew my arms tight to my sides and pulled upwards on my wrist bindings slightly. I gave the whole cumulative situation a good couple of tugs. It held unconditionally well against anything I could supply. I could move my arms maybe two inches to the left or right of their current position that was it. My entire upper body was immobilized quite well. Mary took hold of my side and began to lead me forward towards our waiting chariot. By that, I mean my family's camper. It is the same one that I had journeyed in with my siblings in the first story that I ever posted. Well, at least in the second part.

Mary's leading of me was only directing my course. It wasn't overly forced or expedited. As I walked past my younger brother Scott, I watched partially as I realized that he was receiving an identical binding to my own from Sean. He was putting up more resistance to it than I had, but his hands were already tied and Sean was clearly the stronger of the two of them. Scott was getting tied up whether he wanted it or not. Mary lead me up into the rear of the camper. I was already familiar with the situation as far as our transportation would be taking us. The camper had two up front seats with regular seat belts. The diagonal lap belts that you see in most modern cars. My father and Mary would be taking those two seats for the trip down. My brothers and I would be riding in another area in the camper. Namely we would be sitting in the dinning section for the vehicle.

The dinning area was set up like a restaurant booth. It had a small table that folded up between two benches. The benches served as a place to sit and eat when we went camping the RV. However, they had another hidden secret. If you lifted up the cushions on them, there were four lap seat belts buried beneath the seat to supply a place for other passengers to sit. However, my mother had reservations about me and Scott only having a lap seat belt. So, she had convinced my father into modifying the seating arrangement a little. The modification was pretty simple. He simply took a power saw and cut a small hole in the back of the seat. This provided a slot where a mount for one of the car vests like was was wearing could be slipped around behind the seat. There were already 2 of them in place. Mary lead me over to the bench facing forward and moved me to the far side closest to the wall of the camper. There was already a seat mount situated eating for me there. My sister sat me down and attached the 4 drings on my vest to the seat mount to secure me. She also fastened the lap seat belt snugly across my hips.

Mary had told me about the vest being use and I thought it was a good idea. It meant that I would be safer which put my mother more at ease with the whole idea of the trip. It also meant that I would not be up moving around the camper while it was in motion. Sean lead my younger older brother up the steps and towards the dinning area where I was sitting. The table was folded down leaving an open space between the benches. He seated Scott on the opposite bench diagonal from where I was sitting. Mary had already told me this would be the seating arrangement for the trip.

Scott and I shared a room at this juncture of our lives. Still, when we sat next to each other in the car we fought like cats and dogs. Mary had chosen this seating arrangement to put some space between us. More specifically to put as much space as she possibly could between us. Sean would be sitting next to me to help mediate the situation. "Thank you both for your cooperation. This is going to be a long drive and I want you two to do your best to get along. As you can see we are taking every reasonable precaution to prevent any fighting." Mary stated pointing down to indicate that our hands were tied. "If you two can behave and keep the peace I'll take the ropes off in a little while and you can move your hands. If not, I have plenty more rope and I can promise you a quiet ride the whole way. " My sister explained holding up a roll of duct tape.

"So, are you two going to get along or will there be complications." Scott didn't say anything he just nodded. I on the other hand asked a question. "If we don't behave, does that mean you will keep us tied up like this all day?" I asked looking up at Mary. "I tell you what Jenny. The whole purpose of this is for you two be on your best behavior. If you are good, I'll let you choose whether you want to stay tied or or not. Do we have a deal?" My sister replied to my question with one of her own. That was the problem with being my age. My sister could easily read through anything I put out and try to get at my true intentions. Rather than making any agreement, I replied with another question of my own. "Can you do my legs too?"

The request was an expected one. When I was younger, if I was going to be tied up I generally preferred to have both sets of my limbs bound if one of them was going to be. Mary rolled her eyes back in her head and looked down at me. "Fine, if you promise you will be nice to Scott I will." "I promise." I replied quickly trying to keep an honest look on my face. Mary didn't say anything else. She just reached into the duffel bag and came out with another two pieces of rope. Both of them were short probably the ten foot sections. One she used to bind and cinch my ankles together. The second one was used to repeat the process on my legs just above the knees. Finally, Mary stood up and stepped back. "There, all done how does that feel?" She asked looking down to admire her work.

I struggled and pulled against the ropes in several different directions. It was useless. I was tied very securely and there was no chance of me getting anything loose without help. I was content with my situation. "It feels good. I can't get loose." I put out the two sentences. "Good, now you keep up your end of the bargain or you'll have a gag to go with it." I nodded and watched as my sister turned around to face Scott. She knew I hated being gagged and the threat of duct tape was more than enough to ensure my compliance. Besides, aside from maybe a name calling match there wasn't anything I could really do. Scott was well out of my reach.

"Well, you two sit tight and I will be back in a few minutes. I want to say goodbye to Mom and make sure we have everything we need packed. If we forget something we are not coming back for it." I nodded at my sister's request. It was about all I could do. "Make sure we have my game boy." Scott commented. Mary smiled at him. "Don't worry, I will make sure it's sitting on your bed so that you know where it will be when we get back." Mary commented. Scott began to wriggle and pull against his ropes hard. "I am not kidding Mary. I don't want to leave without it." My sister smiled and patted him on the head. "I know silly, don't worry I know it will be a more peaceful ride if I bring it than if I don't. I'll go make sure it's packed for you." Mary commented. She crossed the RV and opened a drawer in the small kitchen area. She reached inside and held the device up so Scott could see it. Then she put it back in the drawer and closed it. "Behave and you can have it when I untie you later. I doubt you can do much with it right now." Mary commented. Scott gave the ropes a final hard jerk then, he stopped and just leaned back in the seat. He nodded at my sister as well. Mary smiled and left the two of us sitting there staring at each other.

It was going to be a long and exciting trip ahead. It was going to be full of surprises and amazing things. Some of the surprised I would be able to anticipate. Some of them I would not. I knew only two things at this point. Mary wanted a peaceful ride up to our final destination and if I didn't behave it was going to be a long trip. Little did I know how right I was about that.

[Soraka]

My final Story (Part 3):The Secrets Revealed Finally Under Way

Scott and I sat in the dinning part of the camper for some time before anything happened. There was a lot going on outside of the camper in the garage. However, it was not within the view of the window adjacent to the table where we were seated. Apparently there were a few last minute things that were taking a while to work themselves out and they had to be dealt with before we could get under way. I watched as my brother tried to work against the ropes on his arms. He shifted his shoulders up and down and tugged with his wrists. I don't believe that Scott really thought he could wriggle out of that. Even if Mary was the better tier of the two. Sean was no slacker either. He had learned quite well from my sister. Where she learned to tie somebody up so well was anybody's guess. I think Scott was just bored waiting and the ropes gave him something to pass the time.

Finally after a few minutes our situation changed. My mother stepped upwards into the camper through the open doorway. It was early and the darkness still partially concealed her from me. She was still in her nightgown and she looked like she could use some more sleep. "There you two are." She commented as she looked down at both of us. My mom just inspected us with a glance and shook her head. I don't think she was the least bit surprised at what she saw. We were here kids after all. She shot us a quick grin and smiled. "Now, I know this is a big trip for all of you. It's not everyday that you kids will get a chance like this. This trip is going to be the one you will remember forever. Make sure you enjoy it." Both Scott and I looked up at the woman who had raised us and cared for us all our lives. This was going to be the longest any of us were ever away from her. We had been gone for a week or two before with a scout summer camp or some other family trip, but this trip was going to be really long and we wouldn't be seeing her any time soon.

"I am sorry that I am not going with you guys. I know you would prefer that I come, but your new sister is two little to make this trip and someone has to stay here and take care of her. But, your father has been looking forward to this trip for years now. He was waiting until Jen was old enough to go and that day is finally here." Both of us looked up at her. I could see there was a mix of joy and sorrow in her eyes. She was glad for us, but she seemed to be disappointed that she wasn't going to be part of this experience. My mother reached down and kissed each of us gently on the forehead and provided a quick hug. I held back the tears starting to form in my eyes. I had a whole mix of emotions rolling through myself at this point. Like my current situation, they were bound up inside of me trying to surface, but I couldn't bring them to share openly.

"Now you two be good for your sister and your father. I am sure Mary keep you in line if you don't." She said pointing down at the ropes. "I want both of you to be safe. Jen, make sure you have your vest on while the camper is moving. That goes double for you Scott!" My brother rolled his eyes at his mother. He was fighting a loosing battle and he knew it. "I will." He said quickly and disappointed. My mother smiled down at him. "Mom, do you think you can untie me before you leave. The ropes are a little tight and I didn't even want to be tied up in the first place." Scott complained looking up at my mother. She leaned down and inspected the ropes binding my brother. She threaded one of her fingers through a couple of the coils binding his arms to his sides.

"No, you'll be fine. Besides, you don't want me to spoil all your fun yet do you?" She said standing up with a smile. She turned and looked at me. "How about you Jenny, it looks like you got what you asked for." I looked up returning her smile with a proud look on my face. "I will see both you in July. Until then, send me some post cards and call me if you get homesick. Take care." My mother stepped back and blew each of us another kiss before she departed. That was the last time I would see her before the conclusion of this long voyage. It gave my heart some comfort to know she would be thinking about me and my siblings on the long journey ahead. She departed and it would seem like forever before our paths crossed again. I would miss her, but I understood why she had to do what she had to do.

I suppose it's time to quit leaving all you guys in the dark and answer a few questions that I have revived about this story so far. This story takes place when I was 10 years old. My mother had recently brought Amy into the world not all that long prior to the story's beginning. This trip was important to her, but it was not going to be any place for a newborn to be. She didn't want all of us focused on my new little sister. She wanted us to focus on the trip and I appreciate her doing that for us now that I look back at all of this. I know she really wanted to be part of this, but she needed to stay behind. That is part of what it means to be a parent. You have to be willing to make sacrifices for the good of your family sometimes. I realize just how much my mother gave up for our benefit.

The trip had been a dream of my father's for quite some time now. Alaska, that was where we were going. My father had pulled us out of school two weeks early to ensure we had enough time to take this trip. He and my mother had gone there for their honey moon right after getting married. They had just dropped everything and spent a month together up there. It had always been his ambition to get back there some day with the rest of his family. He had show me photographs from their first trip up there a thousand times while I had been growing up. All the while he had been promising that some day he would take all of us there. He had made the same promise to my sister Mary for 22 years. The same promise to Sean for 16 years. Then, Scott and I had been born and it had gotten pushed back again and again. He didn't want to drag us along as little children. He really wanted us to be old enough to appreciate the whole of this journey.

This was going to be the year. He had put in for the nine weeks off The last two full weeks of May, all of June and the first two full weeks of July. That was what he had put in for at work. It was so important to him that he had to do it two years in advance. Then, about a year before the trip, my mother became pregnant again. Here, it was a new baby too young to go and right in the middle of the time he had planned this whole trip. It would be just several months old and could not make the trip. Also, this would be my sister's last year of college coming up. If my father didn't go this year, he would never have another chance to do it with Mary. There would be no way she could take that amount of time off from a brand new job on short notice.

My parents had spent several nights up fighting over this whole matter. My father was not angry with my mother. He was grateful for all his children and an new addition to the family at his age was a real blessing. However, it put a problem on his plate. The argument was not whether or not he would be making the trip. That much had been decided. It was a question of what the newborn would be doing while we were going. Originally, he thought to leave her with our grandparents in Pennsylvania. However, my mother put that aside quickly. She made the decision for both of them and stated that she wouldn't be going. It pained him to no end to leave her behind. However, he was going. My mother wouldn't allow him to back out of this. Not out of his promise. So, the preparations began and everything we had worked for was finally coming together.

The plan was simple. We would spend two weeks driving from here to Alaska. It was a long trip and there were a few stops we wanted to make along the way. We would spend the majority of five weeks up there and then take a different root home. I won't be going into all the details of this trip. The whole thing could be a novel and I don't intend to write that here. However, I will cover quite a bit of it in this story and more importantly I want to use this as a way to resolve all the questions and loose ends about my family. If there is something any of you want to know. Let me know and I will share some details with you as I go on.

I finally got to see what was taking so long. I was beginning to think that we weren't really going and this had just been an excuse to get us up early. My brother Sean climbed through the door to the camper and up the steps. I was really surprised to see his situation as he made his way in. Mary followed behind him carrying something I didn't expect. My sister was carrying a third seat mount. The type that had been used to secure the harnesses that Scott and were wearing to the seats. She walked past Sean who stood there waiting and began installing the mount on the seat next to me. She looped the long strap around behind the bench and clipped the belt into place before snugging it down tight to the seat. Then, my sister pulled it snug against the seat and pulled the clips into their proper positions.

My mother had gotten my brother Sean a vest harness at the same time that she had gotten one for my other brother and myself. It was identical to the ones that we were wearing accept it lacked the strap that went between the wearer's legs. This was a safety feature mostly used on the smaller sizes of the vest for younger children. It was optional on the upper sized vests. I was surprised to see my older brother in his current situation. He actually had his vest on. It was the largest size that the company made. Still, my brother had grown quite a bit over the last two years and it looked a little snug on him from where I was sitting. He rarely wore it anymore. He never wore his to school like I did and most of the time it never came out in the family car either. The last time I had seen him in in was our drive up to see our grandparent's at Christmas.

I looked up at my brother and dropped him a short smile since I knew he was going to be sitting next to me. That made me quite a bit more happy under the circumstances. Mary finished getting the seat mount situated and asked Sean if he would mind sitting down. My eldest brother complied and crossed the floor as Mary parted ways for him. Sean turned around and seated himself as best he could trying to judge just where my sister wanted him to sit. Once he was seated, Mary turned and knelt down next to him. She attached the clips on the seat mount to the four points on the vest like she had done for Scott and me earlier. Then, my sister fastened my brother's seat belt snugly across his hips and stood up leaving him seated where he was.

Scott just sat back and rolled his eyes at what he was looking at. "What?" Sean commented with a sly grin on his face. "I couldn't let you two have all the fun." He commented with a warm smile. The reason Mary helped Sean get seated, was not that he wasn't willing to do it himself. It was a matter that he couldn't do it himself. In addition to his harness, my brother's hands were also tied in a similar manner to the two of us. I smiled up at Sean proud that he would be sharing our situation. He looked back down at me. I just drifted my head back and yawned silently. It was still early and I was very tired. The initial rush of energy that I had from waking up was wearing off and I was getting pretty in need of rest again. "I think I am going to try and get some rest for a little while." I commented at nobody in particular in case anyone cared about the announcement.

I shifted back and fourth a little in my ropes trying to find a more comfortable position to rest in. I was happy to be tied up, but my current restraints were not ideal for sleeping. I was bound quite securely, and the harness held me snugly back in the seat in addition to my ropes. I could turn and move my head freely and I could swing my legs back and fourth a little in front of me. However, that was really the extent of my movement limits. Well, at least any meaningful movement that I had at my disposal for the time being. There was another problem I was dealing with that was quite an annoying factor.

I was always small for my age and at 10 this was not an exception. I wished the vest would allow me to scoot forward a few more inches on the bench. My knees bent freely at the edge of the seat. However, pulled back as I was, my feet were left dangling about an inch and a half above the floor. I swung them gently back and fourth. If I leaned my toes forward they could just tough the floor with the tip, but I could not rest my legs flatfooted on the floor of the RV. It wasn't uncomfortable, more it was just an annoyance I had not counted on. All this was working against me along with the ropes and it was going to make getting some sleep rather difficult. I decided not to fight the ropes and just try to find the most comfortable position that I could.

I leaned my head backwards against the back of the bench. My short height insured there was ample top behind my head. The bench's seat back extended beyond the scope of my height. However, even though it was padded, it didn't supply enough support to keep my head from drifting forward when I tried to close my eyes. I realized that I would need to lean against something. There was nothing on my left besides my brother. So, that left me with the right wall of the camper. I shifted a little to my right and leaned my head in the direction of the wall. It seemed like a good idea, but I fell into another awkward predicament. The should straps on my harness prevented me from making it all the way to the wall. Well, I could make it all the way but not enough of my head got supported. When we got under way I would be stuck dipped too far over to sleep. This whole situation wasn't working out. I was beginning to regret being tied up. But there was nothing I could do about it now.

Sean and Scott both watched my performance from their vantage points. Scott offered a few suggestions running me through the above options one at a time. I tried each one without success. After seeing all my attempts at trial and error ending in the latter, Sean finally added his two cents. "Jen, if you really need to sleep, why don't you try to lean against me?" My brother was certainly closer than any of my other options. However, I had ruled that position out at first. Being tied up was a lot to deal with and I didn't want to inconvenience him any more than he already was. Unfortunately I had exhausted all my other options.

There was a special bond I always shared with my eldest brother. Although Scott and I were closer in age and Mary shared my gender, Sean and I always seemed to connect better than anyone else in my family. It was out of this closeness that I didn't want to be a burden to him in the first place under the circumstances. It was out of this same compassion that we both shared that my brother was willing to accommodate my needs at the expense of his own comfort. I was too tired to argue with him about it. I tried leaning to my left and my head fell gently against the ropes binding his upper arms. It was a better position. "There Jenny how is that?" Sean asked looking down from me. "It's about as good as it's going to get, are you sure you are alright with this?" I asked looking upwards at my brother again.

"I'll try my best to stay still so you can rest." He commented with a smile. Mary just chuckled as she observed the two of us. "Ahh, maybe I should get the camera and get our first picture." I knew she was joking. My parents never took pictures of us tied up and that went for all of us as well. It was an off limits matter and none of us ever had the courage to test that rule. "Maybe I can make this a little better for the two of you." Mary commented as she departed for the bedroom that was at the back of the camper and would serve as my father's resting place on this trip. It had a twin bed in the back and Mary apparently wanted something from it. My sister came back dragging two things with her.

The first item she had retrieved was my father's pillow. It was a normal size and style pillow that you would use on a bed. "Jen could you sit up for a moment?" She asked. I silently complied with the request as I realized what she had in mind. I righted myself and Mary placed the pillow leaning against the side of my brother. "Okay, you can put your head back down now." I returned to my leaning position. The pillow was softer than my brother's side and the ropes. It also helped to close the gap between us. The second item my sister had brought was a wool blanket. She unflung it and wrapped it around me tucking the corners of it into where she could so it would stay in place. There were quite a few good candidates for places between my ropes and the seat belts I was wearing.

"There, you two look just as snug as a bug in a rug." Mary commented content with her handy work. I was too tired to argue. This arrangement was at least semi comfortable given the extent of my restraints. I fell back and let my eyes close gently. I watched out of one of them as Mary stepped forward and seated herself in the passenger seat of the vehicle securing her own safety belt. The other door was open on the driver's side of the vehicle. My father was saying his last goodbyes to his wife. The two exchanged a final hug and wishes of a safe and exciting journey before my father climbed into the driver's seat of the camper closing the door behind him. Finally, he turned the keys and the old engine came to life as a dull hum against the mixed darkness trying to stave off the great coming light. He put the camper into drive and we were finally getting under way.

I finally allowed my eyes to close completely. The darkness was a welcome relief. As we pulled away, I let the gentle motion of the trip and the hum of the motor draw me into sleep. Sean sat steadfast and still next to me providing a place where I could rest. It was going to be a long trip. That much I was sure of. However, for the time being all I wanted was a little sleep.

[Soraka]

My final Story, (Part 4): Free At Last! Well Maybe Not.

No introductions this time, I am just going on with the story.

The light was shinning brightly through the window when it streamed in and fell across my face. Morning had progressed forward quite a bit from when we set out. However, it was beginning to change into day rather than the darkness we had left under. I turned my head slightly trying to block the light from my eyes. However, there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. The ropes were already uncomfortable for the purpose of trying to rest and the addition of the light shinning in my face was making it impossible for me to get any sleep. I dropped a loud sigh slowly as I finally surrendered to the fact that I wasn't going to be getting any more sleep this morning. At least not all trussed up like this next to my brother on the bench seat in the camper.

I shifted and turned my head back into an upwards position removing it from where I had been resting on the pillow between me and Sean only a few moments ago. Sean looked over at me and smiled. He was aware of my movement, but said nothing to indicate that he had any care about the outcome of it. Coming back to terms with my current reality was really a hard thing to do. Waking up from sleeping and realizing that you are tied up is normally a shocking experience to being with. This was even more so than it usually was for me. I finished righting myself and let out a heavy yawn into the air around where I was seated. Closing my mouth and trying to acclimate myself to the light now flowing into the camper I began to look around and examine my surroundings better. Some things had changed and some things remained the same.

I was still tied up just like I had been when I had drifted off earlier. So was Sean. I had managed to get some sleep despite everything I had working against me. It wasn't very restful sleep, but it was sleep none the less. I had to admire my big brother. He had just sat there and supported me when I was laying against him the past couple of hours. I looked up at him. He was still quiet and stoic as a statue. I was grateful for the sacrifice of his own personal comfort that he had give up so I could get some much needed rest. My hands were still tied behind me and my ankles and top legs were bound as well. I shifted around in the ropes as best I could. I was quite stiff and the ropes were past the point where they were beginning to leave a feeling of comfort. I struggled back and fourth a little trying to gain some slack and a measure of comfort against my bonds.

Mary had tied me securely, but not overly tightly. I still had just a little wriggle room, but not enough to squirm loose. I gave the ropes a couple more tugs and slid forward in the seat a little to allow a little more room between my back and the seat for my bound arms. Sean shifted a little next to me as well. Since I was no longer lying against him, my brother was free to move around and try to get a little more comfortable now. Scott was now sitting across from us as he had been before my little nap. However, his situation had changed. My brother his game boy out and was busy playing away on it. Scott had a little thing that clipped on the top of the system. It provided a magnifying glass for the screen and a small light that allowed it to be played in the dark. Though, my brother was quite enthralled with his game, he made only two sounds. The little clicks when he pressed the buttons and the slight rattle when he moved his arms.

It was getting closer to the middle of the morning. I forget exactly what time it was, but someplace between 7:00 am and 8:30. I had been asleep for a few hours and now that the sun was up, sleep was too difficult to pursue. My brother sitting diagonally across from me had been untied and some point in our journey and had two new accessories to this situation. Scott had a set of headphones coming out of the bottom of the game boy and leading up to his ears. Most likely so the sound if his game didn't disturb me. The second new item he was wearing, was a set of handcuffs. The were the normal type like the police would use with a 3 link chain between the wrists. This was what were making the noises when he moved. My brother was still restrained, but his new position afforded him the freedom to play his game. He was definitely more comfortable than Sean or I was.

"Hey, how did you escape.?" I asked looking across at my brother. He ignored me. I wasn't sure if it was the headphones or if it was intentional. "Scott, when did you get untied?" I shouted. Scott looked up at me and then held up his wrists to show me he still had the handcuffs on. That was all the response I got. Sean on the other hand answered my question. "Mary untied him about an hour ago. He complained that he was bored all tied up like that and wanted to play his game boy Dad had to stop for gas and Mary told him that she would untie him and let him have his toy if he promised to be quiet so you could sleep. Mary untied him while we were stopped and handcuffed him at the same time. She didn't want to wake you by offering to untie you or me." I nodded taking in the explanation. "So, we are going to be tied up for a while yet?"

Sean nodded, "Dad is going to stop at a rest stop in about two hours. I am sure Mary will untie you then if you want her too." I listened to his explanation and just sunk my head down. It wasn't that I minded being tied up normally. However, I was pretty stiff from the ropes and I waned to get comfortable again. Two hours would be a long time since I had been tied up for a while already. "Dad, can you stop so Mary can untie me now?" I asked directing my voice loudly towards the front of the cab. My father shot a quick glance back toward me following the sound of my voice. "Is it an emergency Jen? Do you have to use the bathroom or something?" I replied "No, I am just stiff from the ropes." "Are you in pain?" My dad asked. Again, I shook my head. "No." My father nodded. "Then you are going to have to wait. We are on the high way now and there really isn't a good place to stop for a while. Well, be getting into a town in about an hour. I make a stop someplace there." He replied looking back at me.

I sunk my head down in disappointment. "Alright thanks." There wasn't any point in continuing the conversation. I wasn't going to lie to my father and there wasn't anything he could really do to accommodate my request at the moment. I shifted my gaze out the window. There was a lot of scenery to look at as it zoomed by on the outside. Most of it was forest and the signs that darted the sides of the road. I just sat there and stared out. Like I said earlier, the ropes were beginning to become a little bit uncomfortable. I sat as still as I could not wanting to struggle and exacerbate the problem. I was used to being tied up for long periods of time. Several of our games ended up lasting several hours. The real key to being comfortable was not to struggle.

Scott continued to play his game and my father and Mary talked to each other as they sat in the front of the camper. I kept my gaze out the window. There wasn't much else that I could do at the moment with my hands and feet tied. The harness held me snugly to the seat and the ropes kept me pretty still. My mind wandered. I wondered what Alaska would be like. How long it would take to get there. All the things that we were going to see and do along the way. It was going to be an amazing trip there was no doubt about it. The conversation up front was out of my ear shot and I really had no interest in it anyways.


I kept my focus out the window of the vehicle as we moved forward towards our destination. My thought were my own and I was lost in them. I felt a sudden jolt as my brother bumped into me hard on the side that we shared. I turned my head his direction quickly to see the cause of the disturbance. Sean looked down at me, but his concentration didn't waver. He bumped into me a couple of more times. "Hey, watch what you're doing!" I yelled. "That hurt and I cannot really brace myself here." Sean continued to ignore me for another moment and instead responded with a hard jab of his elbow into my ribs. It wasn't enough to cause any real damage. After all, he was tied up and the ropes around my upper body adsorbed most of the blow. However, it gave my harness a good check to see how it would work if we got hit from the left side of the camper. I shifted a few inches to the right and the seat belts did their jobs pretty well in stopping me. The blow winded me.

"Ouch, that hurt, what are you doing Sean?" I screamed in his direction as best I could. Instead of a verbal response, my brother continued to shift around without a word. He was moving towards me now. Not more than an inch or two. That was all the vest would allow him to do. I was about to repeat my inquiry when I let out a short scream instead. "Eek!" was all I could get out. Somehow a hand had grabbed hold of my bound wrists from behind the seat. I jerked away and repeated my original scream. "Hold still will ya? It's hard to find the knot with you being all squirmy like that." I looked down at my brother daring to open my eyes and find out what was going on. A minute or two ago, my brother right arm was tucked behind his back tied to his other wrist. Now it was reaching around behind mine. Suddenly everything made some sense.

I stopped squirming trying to escape and relaxed as I realized what was going on. I scooted as close to Sean as I could and tilted the little that I could in his direction bringing my bound hands as close as I could. My brother felt around behind me for what seemed like forever. In reality, it was probably only 2 minutes. I suddenly felt the ropes around my crossed wrists loosen a little. I sat still and a minute or two later, the center cinches that really secured my hands fell away. Sean removed his hand from behind me and told me to see if I could squirm loose now. A little wriggling, and the rope that bound my wrists fell free and sat tucked behind me on the seat. I gave my wrists a moment to rest and relaxed again.

Sean quit his squirming around in the seat next to me and just relaxed. He began working his other arm out from behind his back. With the center tie off of my wrists, I began trying to move my arms around me. It was a slow and difficult process with the upper arm bindings that Mary had applied to me. There were at least a dozen coils of rope around my upper body pinning my arms from the elbows up to my chest. Mary had tied my arms down securely to prevent as much movement as possible. She had wrapped them several times. I looked down and located the knot securing the rope without any trouble. I knew where it was from when I opened my eyes. It was located at the bottom of the tie in front of me on my tummy. It was well out of reach of my hands as long as they were behind my back. However, with the new movement I had, I managed to get a hold of it with one of my hands.

It took me a good 8 or 9 minutes to work it free with only one hand to use. It took me another few to work my arms free of the coils given the limits of my movement. Sean just sat there and rested watching my own escape efforts. He had managed to pull his wrists out of their behind the back bonds with mostly brute force. Something that his older and stronger build afforded him and not me. However, it had taken most of his strength to do that and he just sat there resting for the moment. I undid the rope that secured my legs together above the knees. It took a moment or two, but it fell to the floor without much effort.

I realized suddenly, that Mary was looking back around the corner of the front seat. "Well done Jen, it looks like you got out on your own." My sister commented with a smile. Scott just sat there. He missed the best part of the whole performance. He was too enthralled with his game. "Not yet" I commented. "My ankles are still tied and I cannot reach them." I said letting my bound feet fall back towards the floor of the camper. I had tried a couple of different angles, but I could not get my ankles up to the point where I could reach the knots. At least without undoing a couple of points on the vest harness. I finally relaxed and just let them hand a few inches above the floor still tied. I wasn't getting them loose for the moment. However, anything that had been uncomfortable was free now and I had finally regained enough freedom that I was content with my current situation.

Sean having regained some strength from a short rest was now trying to free his upper arms as well. However, his knot was located on his right side toward the middle of his back. A hard place to reach given his arms were pinned from the elbows up. He got a hold of it with his left hand, but the angle was bad and he couldn't see what he was doing. I watched as he tried unsuccessfully to work at the knot. "Hold still a second, I'll get it." I instructed my older brother. With my hands free, I could use my left arm and reach the knot easily. Sean retracted his hand and let me take a shot at it. I had a good angle on the knot and I could see it. These gave me two advantages over him. It took me a good 10 minutes, but it finally pulled loose.

With the knot gone, Sean wriggled against the slacking ropes, and I did what I could. A few minutes later, there was a large coil of rope sitting between the two of us in the middle of the seat. "Thanks little sister. It was a lot of fun. I don't get tied up all that often any more, but it does feel good to get out of those ropes after being tied for so long. Sorry about hitting you earlier, but I was almost loose and I didn't want to loose my only chance at getting free." My brother shared offering a warm smile down at me. I looked back up at him. "I should thank you. You are the one who got your hands out in the first place." I replied returning my smile up at him. It felt good to be free. Both of us mirrored each other with a looks of both relief and accomplishment. Mary was looking towards us from the front seat with a scowl.

"Well, it looks like we have a couple of certified magicians on our hands. I will have to tie the two of you up a whole lot better next time. Don't worry I have plenty of rope." My sister commented pointing down at the bag on the floor. My sister seemed a little hurt in her voice and mannerism. She had been playing tie up since before I was even a thought. She was very talented at tying somebody up and it was a blue moon when somebody managed to get out of one of her ties. Still, somehow Sean and I had managed it. "I guess I don't have to stop now do?" My father commented.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

My father did stop eventually. It was much later than his original promise of when we would stop. With Sean and me untied though that rest stop wasn't needed. Our next stop was for lunch sometime around 11:00 or so that day. We pulled into a restaurant. I don't remember which one, or what we had to eat. The five of us got up Sean, Scott and I slipped out of our vests. Scott cuffs were unlocked and I untied my ankles. It would have been pretty hard walk into the place with them still tied together. Besides, we didn't want too many questions. We ended at a round table by one of the windows in the restaurant we sat down and ordered lunch together.

I did get some unexpected attention from the waitress. She thought my feety pajamas with mary jane shoes was an odd outfit. I had forgotten to change. However, other than a few stares nobody paid it all that much mind. We stopped for an hour or so for the meal and shared some talk about what was to come. We still had a few more hours to drive before we would rest for the night. But it was going to be a lot of fun. We had the whole trip ahead of us, and it was just the most amazing experience we had planned.

After lunch, we headed back to the camper. Scott and I got re-situated into the vest we had worn on the way down so far. My eldest brother left his sitting on the ground of the camper and rode with just the lap seat belt. He was old enough that it didn't matter. The harness was optional for him, that wasn't the case with Scott or myself. My mother had left specific instructions that we were to have them on at all times. Mary handcuffed Scott again. Not that it seemed to bother him. I got the same treatment. Mary had the sets of handcuffs that my parents had gotten each of us at the flee market the later part of the year I was seven years old.

The handcuffs were the real deal. The were not toys. There was no easy open switch and they double locked so they wouldn't loosen or tighten. "Let's see you get out of that. Without the keys of course." Mary said with a little chuckle holding the keys up in front of me. I tugged on my wrists to show they were locked securely together in front of me. With that, Mary took her seat as did my father and we were off again. Mary was right of course. I didn't know anything about how to pick a lock and even if I had been a master at it, there was nothing available to try with. My hands were staying locked together until she released me. This time there would be no miraculous escape on our part.

Sean didn't share this experience. Either Mary lacked enough handcuffs, or he chose not to allow the decision to go forward. He made no comment on the matter and Mary made no attempt to restrain him. She had plenty of rope. However, for now it was tucked back in the duffel bag. I spent the next half hour bored. I looked out the window and focused some of my attention on the handcuffs. They were definitely escape proof. However, they offered a reasonable range of motion, and they were a lot more comfortable to wear than the ropes I had spent the majority of the morning in. Sean and I didn't talk much this time around. He had his own game boy and switched it on as we moved towards our destination.

After a while, I was just sitting there looking down at my feet. They were untied this time, but I still couldn't reach the floor with them. It was a fact that I found rather annoying. I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Do you want to play Jen?" I saw Sean looking down at me as he offered me his game boy from its back. It as one of the old large white ones that Nintendo originally came out with. I just shrugged and reached up with my cuffed hands taking hold of the device. I looked down at the screen and I realized what he had in mind. In my brother's collection was a game game that had an assortment of board games. The cartridge included a version of both chess and checkers. I nodded and took the first move.

Sean and I spent the next two hours passing the game boy back and fourth between us. Each taking a move and then passing it on to the next player. We alternated which game we played. I had learned chess a year or so back, and I was ok at it. Sean beat me almost every match we played. Checkers on the other hand I held my own at. Sean was not all that good at the simple game and I took my share of victories. The cartridge also contained a version of both Othello and backgammon. However, I barely understood either of them and found them boring. Still, it was a fun way to pass the time. Time was the one thing we seemed to have a lot of on our hands. After a while, I really forgot that I was handcuffed all together. It wasn't until the RV made a sudden turn into the park that I remembered the restraint.

It was sometime after 3:00 pm and we had finally arrived at our first destination. We would be camping here for the night. My father had done some research in planning this trip. He had spent a whole day off at the library and the triple A office getting ready. He knew everywhere we were going to be staying and this was our first stop. Our stay would be a brief one, but little did I know what the evening had in store for me.

Note from @canuck100 : unfortunately I could not find the other parts of this story in the archives. I'm not even sure that Jennifer ever posted them. If by any chance you have saved them, please post them here as a reply!