'A Judge!!!' She added large numbers of exclamation marks to show her surprise.

'What's so funny! Or extraordinary! You're the Vice President of a Bank!' He had a point, perhaps it wasn't so unusual.

'Point taken!' Although she did find it funny to think of a judge, sitting there presiding over a very serious and highly important case, whilst she was tightly laced into a corset and not wearing any pants! 'I was thinking of your wife in court!'

'She's had the odd case, that she's found amusing, because of her mode of dress!'

She felt that sounded intriguing. 'Tell me more!'

'A good proportion of her work is to do with the family. Such things as divorce, custody and adoption. In one adoption case, the council was arguing that the wife was not a suitable adoptive mother, as she did certain strange things.'

She couldn't resist being flippant. 'Did she pick her nose in bed? Or scratch her bottom?'

'No! She was corsetted for twenty-three hours a day and seven days a week to about twenty-two inches! Apparently, she was also very attractive and looked superb!'

'I follow a stricter regime than that!' She felt that if that was the only reason, then it would have been very unfair. 'Were they eventually accepted as parents?'

'Could you have refused in her place?

She felt she would have had to say yes, as she didn't think her dress code unusual. 'No! Of course not!'

'She gave a superb judgement, which completely ignored the matter of the corsets. Just as any other good judge would have done! And you? You must come across clients who lace?'

He had not revealed the outcome of the adoption. Perhaps, it was a professional matter and he didn't want to disclose it. Perhaps, he didn't know. 'Do you know what happened in the adoption?'

'She didn't tell me! Professional discretion!' She smiled as she realised she had been right.

***

'Have you ever come across a lacer professionally?' He had repeated the question.

'Not too many! But, I did meet my wonderful seamstress that way!'

'She came to open an account and you opened one as well!

She remembered how she had met the Korean. 'You could put it that way! This tiny Korean lady walked in with a couple of cheques for five hundred dollars or so, wanting to open her first bank account and she just took charge. She walked out fifteen minutes later, with an order to re-fit the expensive French suit I had just bought.

'She sounds like she could be a little bit formidable! Perhaps even dominant!'

He was not very far from the truth! 'She made certain that the office was private and then firmly ordered me to change to the new suit! She measured me and then pinned the suit, whilst I filled in all the Bank's forms for her accounts.

'Did you find the episode erotic?'

'Yes!' It was an understatement. 'It was five years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday.'

'Does she still come to the office?'

Now, that she had moved to the main office of the Bank, she did not feel that she had the required privacy in an open-plan office. But it would have been nice! Perhaps, even to do be measured and fitted in front of her colleagues. 'No! She visits me at home, as she lives close. Sometimes, I go to her!'

'She was obviously a really good find. We're not always so lucky and able to mix business and pleasure!'

'When you thought she might be dominant, you were right!' She remembered how the previous week, she had been severely reprimanded for putting on no more than a pound in weight. 'She makes me adhere to a set of rules, so that her business is more efficient!'

'That's very interesting!'

'She used to object when I came fully dressed for a fitting, saying that I wasted her time getting undressed.'

'So now you come in your corset, with a coat over the top!'

'Yes! She also felt it was inefficient to do fittings in a small private room, where you kept bumping into the walls.'

'So you are now fitted in front of everybody else who happens to be in the shop.'

'I could go on, but you've obviously worked out how her mind works!' She felt it was time for her to take over the questioning. 'Has your wife had any other interesting cases?'

***

'Many! I'll give you only one now, as I've got a lot to do this evening, before she comes home!'

'Housework?' She couldn't resist the dig. 'I can visualise you dressed as a maid all in black and white, with the highest of heels. And a bucket and mop!'

'Not in this family! We have a house-keeper, who cooks, cleans and generally runs the house?'

She thought back to the old British television series of her childhood. 'Like a Mrs. Bridges in Upstairs, Downstairs?'

'You could say that! She lives in a cottage on the farm, where we live.'

She remembered the lady with the Victorian figure in a large apron. 'Does she dress like Mrs. Bridges?'

'No! But she approves of my wife's figure. She says she's way past all of those fun and games!'

Again, she took over the questioning, leading him back. 'Back to the interesting cases. You said there was another!'

'In one case, a man was accused of assaulting his wife, by insisting she be laced into a corset every evening!'

She felt, that wasn't much of an offence. 'Was he found guilty?'

'Yes! But he only got a suspended sentence!'

She felt that even a suspended sentence, was a bit strong. 'Sad, she should have learnt to enjoy it!'

'He had the last laugh, though. He was able to sell his story to a tabloid and he was plastered all over it, with lots of lovely, corsetted young ladies. It's your turn, have you ever had a couple, who wanted a joint account, with interesting ties and conditions?'

***

Her thoughts had been turned back to the Bradfords. 'Strangely, not a real couple until today.'

'No wonder you thought of them as super new clients!'

Copyright 1999 by Ewart Higgins