'I enjoyed that lunch very much, Catherine!' The two ladies had left the men at the table and were repairing their make-up in a powder room, that would not have disgraced any Hollywood film star. She would have included, all with inflated and overblown egos! 'This place is absolutely amazing. We've all eaten and drunk far too much! Thank you for entertaining us here!'

'Thanks! It's no trouble.' Catherine turned away from the mirror, as she had now finished. 'But, it was David's suggestion to come here. Not our's! Peter or I would never join a club like this. He always follows the extreme Marxist philosophy on clubs!'

She remembered and repeated Groucho's famous phrase. 'I would never join any club, that would have me as a member!' Catherine had joined in at the end and they laughed together!

'They've got a wonderful choice here.' Catherine had picked up a bottle of expensive French perfume from the enormous selection of fragrances, lotions and creams, had turned and was now leaning with her back to the table. 'Perhaps, not all to my taste! This is at least a hundred dollars in Lord and Taylor.' She sprayed a little on her wrist and smelt it! She shrugged and turned her nose up in disgust. 'It's certainly not me! Eau de tart's boudoir!' She moved her hand in front of Vee-Bee's nose. 'Is it for you?'

She in turn repeated Catherine's disgusted turn up of the nose. ' I have to laugh. That's the sort of perfume, beloved of some of my client's wives. Or at least a certain type!' She paused for effect. 'Salesman, armchair ranchers, bar owners, baseball stars. You know the sort of women, that those men attract!'

Catherine broke in. 'All gold, expensive and often ill-matched clothes, too much make-up, fat in the wrong places, excessive perfume. And absolutely no brain! As two successful, professionals, we shouldn't be so bitchy!'

'Or mock the afflicted!'

The two women laughed again, but this time they hugged each other! Four hands gently felt two tight bodies in a joyous, but very feminine and equally discrete exploration, as the laughter subsided into a knowing purr and a smile, that would not have been out of place on any Cheshire cat.

'Vee-Bee!' Catherine was the first to speak. 'Can I ask you a personal question? I don't think I would be able to ask it, if I hadn't drunk quite so much!' She hiccuped and covered her mouth with her hand. 'I'm sorry. But I'm afraid, I've enjoyed it all too much. What the hell! Everyone should get a little drunk once in a while!'

'We have haven't we! I haven't been like this for months. You know it's very funny!' Her hands were now under the short jacket of Catherine's suit and resting on her tight and extremely small waist, which was enclosed in a wide leather belt. 'I was going to ask you a very intimate question myself.' She looked directly at Catherine. 'It might even be the same one!' She started giggling.

***

'You go first!' Catherine's hands were now exploring Vee-Bee's waist, in a reciprocal embrace. 'You're the youngest by a long way! You're almost young enough to be my daughter!' She squeezed the waist tight. 'But my daughters don't quite share their mother's hobby with her total passion. Yet!' She emphasised the last word to indicate her plans.

'Thank's for the compliment about my age!' She could feel her fingers almost meeting around a waist that must have been no more than eighteen inches. 'How long have you laced?'

'That makes a change!' Catherine removed her hands from Vee-Bee, turned back to the mirror and flicked her hair away from her face. 'Men always ask the size first! They're obsessed with the size of everything!'

'You're right! I was going to ask that question next!' More laughs! 'Men are so predictable!'

'I've been laced since I was fifteen!' She saw Vee-Bee give a smile and gesture of approval. 'So that makes forty years, give or take a few years off for bad behaviour!'

'Bad behaviour?'

'The children! You silly!' Again they embraced. 'You can't lace that tight, when you're pregnant. But I did wear a maternity corset for most of the time. And I was proud, that I had laced down to my original size within three months! After the second daughter, the last, I did it in two!'

'That's dedication!' She couldn't resist feeling that waist and hoped that her's would be in the same shape in twenty years. 'I've only been laced for about the last ten or so years! You've got a good start on me!'

'Your second question was on size!' Catherine again explored. 'I'm fascinated you know, as I haven't met another full time lacer for about five years.' She paused and asked a question to check her statement. 'You do lace all the time, don't you? I do!'

'Of course!' She thought she had better say more. 'Twenty-three hours and more for seven days a week! Currently, I lace for work to about twenty-one.' She knew she had cheated slightly today, as she wanted to enjoy the meal. 'Today, I gave myself room for lunch. I'm twenty-two at the moment!'

Catherine laughed and tut-tuted, as she shook her head from side to side. 'You're an amateur!' She realised what she had said. 'Sorry. I could have chosen my words better.'

'No matter!' She decided to make an admission. 'At work, I'm always the woman in charge, but in my personal life, I'm submissive.' She had deliberately avoided any qualifying adjective. 'I'll always defer to superior knowledge and wisdom!'

'You are quite innocent about tight-lacing!' Catherine leant forward and kissed Vee-Bee tenderly on the cheek, as she might her daughter. 'I was taught all of the intricacies of corsets and how to lace them extremely tight by my mother and grand-mother.' She stood back and removed her jacket to expose her waist completely. 'Normally, I lace to twenty. But today as it's a special occasion, Peter has reduced me a further two inches! It's also a corset with a two-inch, absolutely straight, vertical section, called a pipe-stem, so that the belt sits absolutely flat!' She stretched her arms upwards and turned through a full circle to show all sides. 'Fits well! Not bad for a supposedly sensible lady of fifty-five!'

'Wonderful!' She took in the show and applauded. 'But we had better get back!'

'You are definitely not driving yourself home!' Catherine knew both of them were way over any sensible limit. 'We're quite close and came in a taxi. Come back to our house and spend the night. We'll drop you back here in the morning!'

She thought about the proposal. She could think of no valid reason to refuse, but she tried. 'I've no change of clothes! Not even a toothbrush!'

'But you shouldn't drive.' Catherine put an arm round Vee-Bee's waist to lead her back to the others. 'Now that we've each met a fellow lacer, we're going to have a lot to talk about! And we might even let Peter join the discussion!'

Finally, she submitted to Catherine's will. 'Oh! What the heck. At least, it'll mean I can have a few more drinks!'

Copyright 1999 by Ewart Higgins