She had now completed everything that came under that general and even the not-so-general heading of work. She in fact now had nothing of any importance to do, except drink some more coffee and eat the salad, before leaving for the office at four! Well! Nothing that couldn't wait until later!

As she was still connected to the Internet, she decided that a little bit of searching for this and looking for that, with perhaps a conversation with some like-minded people, would be a suitable reward for her exceptionally good morning's work!

She read a few personal e-mails, smiled at one or to, unceromoniously dumped most and replied to a couple of friends. But there was little of interest there, unless she wanted to invest in a scheme, that gave a sixty-four percent return in a year. She certainly didn't! Who, was kidding, who? Or conning for that matter?

After about half-an-hour of searching and browsing with no particular purpose in mind, she decided to see who was talking in the Chat Room. This was not any ordinary chat room, but the one devoted to her all-embracing and sometimes all-consuming hobby. Corsets!

***

She had always signed in using the alias of 'MissVB'. It had been a nickname she had acquired, as unusually for an American, she had two middle initials, V and B. It gave complete anonymity, but she could always remember it!

There were three others already on line. Two she knew well, but the third a 'MrTC' was someone new.

'Hi! All! From Texas!' She typed a simple greeting and waited for a reply.

'Hi! MissVB!' Two identical returns arrived on the screen. One added a second message and asked if she was well and that her flu of the previous week had gone. She did not correct their memory about the flu. She had been lucky this year!

'Yes!' Her thoughts returned to the Bradfords. 'I've had a very good day so far! I was introduced to two absolutely super new clients.' She thought about adding more, but didn't. She would introduce an anonymous couple into the chat later.

'You don't usually chat at this time, VB!' It was a lady, who called herself 'LaceMeUpScotty' from New York. 'Are you taking a break, after your successful morning? The weather's awful here in New York!'

'I'm at home. Just having a late lunch, whilst I stay out of the rain!' She picked at the salad, but felt that she should have eaten it a couple of days ago. 'I should have done some shopping though. The salad I'm eating is rather past it's best!'

'Not like yourself!' DavidXX had joined in. 'Are you corsetted today, ladies?'

'You know I always am!' LaceMeUpScotty gave a very typical answer to perhaps the most common question in the chat room. 'I'm wearing a new one, that I had made-to-measure in England!'

She added a simple affirmation of her own.

For the next minute or so no messages appeared on the screen, so she suspected that David and LaceMeUp were chatting privately, so that no-one could read what they were saying. So she decided to send a private message of her own to MrTC, asking him where he was from.

***

Perhaps another minute later and MrTC returned an answer. 'I'm from Cambridge in England!'

She had not seen his name before in the room. 'We've not chatted before! Do you come here often?' She couldn't resist the oldest line in the book.

The reply took another minute, as if he was being very careful. 'No! It's my first time!'

It was now her turn to ask a standard question. 'I take it you have an interest in corsets?'

She smiled as she read his reply. 'Yes! I've laced my wife for many years. She started, when she wanted to get her figure back after having children.'

How lucky to have someone to tie you into your corset! 'And yourself? Do you lace?' Her mind was wandering again to the Bradfords. Did they both lace? She thought only Catherine did.

'No!' He changed the line of questioning. Perhaps, he was embarrassed. 'Why are you called MissVB? Is it Victorian Bodice or something like that?'

'It's actually my nickname, based on my middle initials. But when I started work, twelve years ago, someone unkindly called me Very Boring, because I was always right!'

'We're you laced then? I know from before that you are laced now!'

'No!' She changed the questioning back to his name. 'Why are you MrTC?'

'I've been very successful and could be perhaps called a Fat Cat.' She remembered some of the British stories about boardroom salaries. Salaries that would have been kitten-like in the States! 'You're obviously too young to remember a cartoon called Top Cat. It was once said of me, that I had the same attitude to life.'

'I do remember it. The program is still shown on television here!' She sighed as she realised how many times it was!

'And here! Very Boring was not very kind of your colleagues!'

It hadn't been, but sometimes she had deserved it! 'Then I was very plain! So I re-invented myself and created a new me!'

'You started to lace? And you became Very Beautiful!'

'Thank you!' She was giggling to herself. This man had a certain style and insight. 'I ditched the glasses for contacts! And spent more money, much more wisely and less boringly on my hair, make-up, clothes and shoes. Yes! They did use that nickname.'

'So when did you start to lace? My wife has laced for over twenty years!'

***

She thought back to the day, she had started to lace herself into a corset. She laughed at how she had struggled with the first unsuitable one in black cotton, she had bought from a rather tacky mail-order outlet in New England. The pain, as the bones, steel and the constricting laces had pinched her body had been something she would not forget! The experience had meant that she now followed LaceMeUpScotty's path and had all her corsets made-to-measure!

'It was eight years ago, when I got my first promotion! Someone had called me Very Bossy!' They'd also called her something much less complimentary! 'And I wanted to add a certain style. Perhaps, as someone cruelly joked, I only wanted to be Visually Beautiful and not do all the hard work and exercise!'

'Clever! So you've always worn a corset to work? My wife has for many years!'

'Only since, I've worn the corset twenty-three hours a day for seven days a week!'

'So now you can truly be called Very Bound!'

Copyright 1999 by Ewart Higgins