As she gradually woke and peeped from underneath the covers, she knew there was no urgency.

Today was Saturday and save for a little personal and necessary shopping, she had no duties or tasks of any consequence to perform. But that was not to say that she would be lazy and spend most of the day in her sumptuous bed! She was definitely not that sort of person! She could see too, that the sun was shining and the cloudy and dull weather of the past few days appeared to have passed through towards the Gulf. A good reason to rise, after a week in which she had worked hard and late most nights, for no little success. Perhaps, if the weather was going to hold, as the glamourous TV weathergirl assured her that it would, she might drive towards Austin, see her sister and have a late and slightly indulgent lunch. A plan, that the two of them, had half agreed earlier in the week.

As always, she had slept in a corset to follow the regime that kept her waist to it's trim and very controlled twenty-one inches. But at night she was more severe on herself, lacing to an inch less. Generally she just wore a slip over the top, but last night, as almost an extra treat for herself, she had worn stockings as well. She just loved the feel, as she stroked them. But what was wrong with that!

The waking process, was completed by the telephone. 'Oh! hi!' It was her sister. 'No! I'm in bed ... No! I'm not lazy ... Is it really ten! ... Poor Bill, give him my regards! ... Shall we make lunch definitely next week, then? ... Say one at Altos ... Have a good weekend ... I will.'

***

'Oh! Dear!' She was talking only for herself, as she stood in her kitchen grinding the beans for the first coffee of the day. 'Look's like I'm going to have to make a new set of plans!' She knew that due to pressure of work, she had been slacking and had relaxed her regime slightly. She thought of the severe training corset, that she occasionally wore at night. Perhaps, she should wear it today, to force herself back into line! It did considerably help her posture and her figure, but caused not a small measure of discomfort. 'Well, come on Vee-Bee! You need it! You'd better get started! There won't be another chance like this!'

She gradually relaxed, expanded and then removed the corset she had worn that night as she always did. Slowly and carefully to avoid any undue pain as her body expanded to regain its freedom. After taking off the stockings, she touched her toes, spread her feet well apart and generally stretched and rolled her body, before standing in front of a full-length mirror. Her eyes and hands started to examine her naked body. 'Not bad!' She posed and pouted at the image. She moved her feet together and bounced up and down on her toes. She smiled, as she saw her whole body move in unison. She stroked and pinched a thigh. 'I don't believe in cellulite!' She put a hand under each breast. 'How many women can say they only need a bra for modesty?' She blew herself a kiss. 'Stop posing and get on with it!'

With just an old baggy Calvin Klein T-Shirt for modesty, she moved into the smallest of her three bedrooms, which served as a well-equipped gym. She would endure the pain of working out for at least thirty minutes, timed exactly by the large clock on the wall. She always smiled as she looked at that clock, with its good memories and unwritten messages. When she had received the last promotion to Vice President, her previous colleagues had presented her with the clock from the office wall, so that she would always remember where she came from. And she would also know, that nothing of value ever came without effort!

She never allowed herself to cheat on that clock. Never! As she moved from the treadmill to a bike and finally on to an exercise machine of daunting complexity, she counted out the steps, the revolutions and the minutes as they ticked towards ten forty-one, when she would get her reward. Or at least the immediate one of a hot and fragrant bath! The long-term one of a fit, flawless and geometrically-correct body was almost achieved. But unfortunately it was one of those things, that could never happen!

***

The reward was all too brief, but everything a bath should be; deep, exactly the right temperature and flowing in the most fragrant and essential of oils. Her favourite Vivaldi was playing in the background and her head was running with pleasant thoughts, as life to her was fine and comfortable. In fact it was all it should be, excepting her almost non-existent love life. But then she liked living alone, as it didn't have the downside of sharing and it might interrupt her regime! She kept wondering too, if the mysterious control freak in the chat room would have a solution for David.

But that remorseless enemy time kept clicking on and just as she was comfortably considering becoming a water baby and emigrating to Hawaii, the clock informed her that she had to emerge. She had just five minutes of the hour she allotted each day for her exercise, bath and toilet to dry and powder herself.

Then she would be ready for that special corset, that she both feared and loved!

***

Her normal corsets were perhaps twelve or so inches long and reached from just under her bust to her hips. Her position in the Bank meant that all were now beautifully made to measure and fitted her perfectly. Most were now in the best silks, and she had colours and styles to suit her mood and all of her suits and casual clothes. One which covered her bust, was even designed to be worn with a long skirt, at the most formal of functions.

But the training corset was different!

The main difference was not it's length, although as it reached from over the bust to mid thigh this was the most obvious. It was the method of construction. Whereas, the daily corsets were made with a light feminine touch and compromised a little with her body, this instrument of torture made no concessions at all.

The material was not feminine at all, being best described as almost a strong canvas, in a colour beloved by great-grandmothers everywhere and called corset beige by those who laced. The corset was also a lot heavier, as it was probably twice as thick, four times as strong and resitant and laced with the most practical of cords, that would not have been out of place in an old-fashioned parcel office.

But the great virtue of the training corset, was that when fully laced, it was the shape that she wanted to attain. The waist was set to exactly twenty inches and the hips to a precise thirty-five. The unrelenting steels meant that she could not sit down or even bend, but it forced her into walking and standing in the absolutely correct posture she desired.

***

She always took the training corset out of it's special drawer with care and respect. She did not want to offend it, so that the punishment would be greater. As always, she had already stretched a pair of self supporting stockings on her legs and strapped a pair of Ferrangamo sandals with the highest heels she could wear to her feet. Once in the unbending corset, she would not be able reach her knees, let alone her ankles or feet!

When she had first acquired the training corset, despite having worn other less constricting ones for several years, it had taken her an hour to lace it down to anything like the desired size. Now, twelve months on, practice had made perfect and after she had wrapped it around herself and fixed the busk at the front, it took her just five minutes to close the back of the corset with those fearsome cords.

As she tottered using very short steps around her bedroom, accustoming herself to the feel and perhaps even danger of the corset, the door-bell rang.

Copyright 1999 by Ewart Higgins