Marriage can be the most beautiful thing. But then it can be the most soul destroying thing also. People have a habit of changing once you put a ring on their finger. They can become a completely unrecognisable from the one you fell in love with. Of course this doesn't always happen, some marriages go on to be great successes, where the love grows.
Jenny Jones fished in her bag for her keys, it was late she was tired and getting more and more frustrated. She could hear them rattling but wherever she felt she couldn't put her hand on them. She lifted her heavy hand and thumped a couple of times on the white door of her home.
"Dave", she called out, "Dave" again.
She listened to hear some commotion, cans clattering to the ground, biting her bottom lips she waited stepping backwards a little. The door swung open fast, "what the fuck are you doing you stupid bitch, where are your keys, Christ almighty!", Dave shouted before slouching back towards his chair and the blaring TV.
Jenny took a deep breath and stepped in through the now ajar door. She managed to drag the bags of shopping that she had been out to get into the kitchen and sat down on one of the kitchen stools. Dave was still sounding off, "stupid bitch", she would hear and "bloody incompetent whore!", stuff like that. Jenny silently started to put away the food into the cupboards, she was becoming immune to Dave's rants, "water off a duck's back", she said under her breath.
The first six months with Dave had been fantastic, the best that Jenny could have dreamt of. They were in love and were going to spend the rest of their lives together, what else could she possibly want? They bought a nice little town house just out of the city, it was just perfect for them, just one bedroom, but that was all they needed. Dave worked as a Forman for one of the big construction companies and was doing well, he was up for promotion. That’s when it all started to go wrong. Dave had an accident, one of those freak-of-nature accidents. He was in a coma for three months. Jenny didn't leave his side the whole time he was lying there and her joy when he one day squeezed her hand was immeasurable. The Doctors said that he was a 'miracle' that they 'had never seen such an amazing recovery' from such a life-threatening situation. But the man who woke up wasn't the same one she had known before. And she wasn't the only one who noticed, soon enough Dave had alienated his entire family and Jenny's, so much so that they were no long welcome at anybody's house and on one occasion Dave had to be restrained by her two brothers. Dave now got his disability allowance paid and spent his days slouching in front of the TV. Dave's allowance wasn't much so Jenny had to do twelve hour shifts at the clothes store to help keep them both. They had to leave their beautiful little town house and now lived in a trailer park surrounded by the worst people of society, drug dealers, pimps and whores.
Jenny was exhausted she unpacked her groceries and headed down the trailer to the sleeping compartment. She collapsed onto the soft bed and immediately fell asleep.
Jenny dreamt, she always seemed to dream these days and it was always the same dream. She dreamt of a life of eternal luxury, she would be dressed in finest leather, have the finest Italian shoes, have diamonds and jewels dripping off her fingers. She would be seated on a black throne with men and women in various states of undress bowed at her feet.
Jenny was woken by her alarm, she slammed her hand down to stop its infernal beeping. She got up and looked in the mirror, she still had her make-up on from the previous day. She let out a deep sigh and stepped into the small bathroom. Twenty minutes later she was dressed and ready to leave. She stepped out of the trailer careful not to wake Dave and started her twenty minute walk to work.
Jenny was attractive, she was five foot six inches tall, she had long dark hair that was straight that she always wore back in a tail. She was slim, but perfectly formed, her large breasts had always been a major asset for her in her younger days. Jenny laughed, younger days she thought, I feel fifty and I'm on twenty two. She trudged out of the trailer park and down the pavement towards the corner. At ten past seven in the morning this part of town was ghostly, most people didn’t have jobs and were most likely still in bed or drunk or passed-out from the previous night - she hated it. Jenny walked her familiar route down the main street and up to the 'Minsk Emporium'. Considering the area and the clientele, Jenny always though that the name sounded far to grand. Minskies as the staff called it was a small clothing manufacturer and retailer. Jenny worked in the retail division, she made her way up the stairs to the small staff room and hung her coat in her locker before returning to the shop floor.
"Good Morning Jenny and how are we today?" came a upbeat voice from behind her.
Jenny sighed, smiled and turned, "Good morning Mr Minsk, I am very well thank you and yourself?"
George Minsk was the owner and manager of the Minsk Emporium and just like the name of the shop he was grand and just like the shop he wasn't really that grand at all. He was a short man standing at just over five foot, he was fat too with a beard and moustache, a short fat hairy little man. However he was always cheerful and as much as Jenny hated to be that cheerful in the morning she had to admit he had a way of making her feel a little better about life.
"Good good" he said before trotting off up to what he called his office, but was really the sewing room. Minsk was an excellent tailor, he mainly specialised in women's clothes and had made quite a name for himself in the local area. Jenny was usually busy and that morning was no exception. Even though Minskies was located in what was considered the bad part of town people would travel from quite far away so that George could make them that special something for this party or a provocative something for that party. There was one major difference between this tailor shop and any other that Jenny had found strange at first but now just accepted. George Minsk worked in complete privacy, he would not let anyone see his creations; as he called them; at all, not even when they were finished. They garment was always sealed in a black fabric bag and handed to the customer by Jenny who even then had no idea what was inside. Jenny would greet the customer, hand them their black bag, take receipt of their payment and then see them out. That was pretty much all she did - oh, there was intercom, a device installed between Jenny's desk and George's workroom to let him know that customer was there for a fitting - but that was all. Jenny at first was obviously curious and had at times tried to as George what was in the bags, but he would always ignore the question and start a conversation about something completely different. By now Jenny had given up guessing and just accepted the fact that she would never know what they were. Her job wasn't particularly full-filling but it paid well and that was really all that mattered at the moment.
Unusually Jenny had a quiet afternoon, she took the time to sort out her stock room, she neatly arranged the black bags so that it was easy for her to see who's belonged to whom.
"That’s better", she said with a smile and nod, satisfied at the job she had done.
Just then Jenny noticed that a black bag had fallen behind the left hand shelf, "that wont do", she said bending down to try and retrieve it. The bag and its contents had wedged itself quite tightly behind the shelf and no matter how hard Jenny pulled she could not move it. She stood up and considered her options, she could try to move the shelf out a little, however that would take time as the shelf was very heavy and was laden with lots and lots of black bags, Jenny dismissed this idea. Jenny looked around the room and noticed a large pair of tailor's scissors, option two she thought, cut the bag open retrieve the item and then re-bag it, George should never know.
Jenny set about preparations for her plan, she found a brand new black bag and labelled it up correctly, copying George's immaculate handwriting as best she could. She wrote : Mistress Elizabeth van der Sar, 13 Windsor Terrace. Jenny made sure the tags looked the same even down to the elaborate drawing that George always put in the corner, a picture of a red dragon. Jenny had done a good job it was almost identical from the other. Jenny was now ready to execute her plan.
Jenny waited until ten minutes before closing and then checking that the coast was clear she took her position just to the side of the shelving and took a deep breath before starting to cut along the seam of the bag. She cut the entire length before slipping her hand in and pulling out the contents. Jenny pulled out a large box, she was careful to ease it out of the bag. She then quickly took the bag and placed it into the new bag and closed the flap. Jenny sighed a deep breath of relief, even though George was a nice guy she wasn't sure how he would react if he had caught her doing what she just did. Jenny went back out into the shop and stood there tapping her pen against the counter top. She glanced back over at the bag, she hadn't sealed it yet, her curiosity was running wild, she played it over in her mind, it wouldn’t hurt to look, what's the harm? After a couple of minutes of sneaking glances and convincing herself that it would be ok she went back to the bag, she pulled the flap down and eased the box out placing it on the table.
Jenny spent a few seconds just looking at the box, it was pure white with a embossed dragon on the lid. She then carefully removed the lid and placed it to one side before peeling the tissue paper apart and peering inside. Jenny looked down at a black corset top, it was beautiful, made of silk and lace, embroidered with various beads and jewels. Jenny ran her fingers over the material, it was so soft to the touch. She lifted the corset out of the box and held it up, it was boned in front to hold in the waist and the back was held together by a delicate looking but strong lacing system. Jenny carefully placed the corset to one side, also in the box was a pair of black silk gloves, the opera style, the ones that go right up over your elbow. Also included were suspenders that she worked out fastened to the corset, and stockings as well, the old fashioned seamed stockings. She placed these to the side and opened a smaller box within the larger one. Inside this box were a pair of boots, but not ordinary boots, they were spectacular, black shiny leather high heeled oxford style boots, they mush have had a six inch heel on them and for laces there was a delicate black ribbon. The sole of the boot was beige like leather and they felt so soft and smelt so good. Jenny ran her hands over the shoe, there were two small D rings on either side where the ankle would be but apart from they there was little on them. Jenny placed them carefully back in the box and put it to one side. The last item was in a small jewellery box, Jenny opened it and looked in at a very ornate choker. It was made of black leather the same as the boots, which fastened around the neck and then it had lots of small chains hanging from it in a v shape that would certainly fall down into your cleavage if you wore it. Jenny couldn’t help but slip it round her neck and fasten it. The cold steel of the chains felt refreshing against her chest and she liked the way it felt as she looked at herself in the mirror.
"It suits you" a stern voice said behind her.
Jenny spun round to see George Minsk standing in the doorway looking at her, "Mr Minsk, I um". Jenny flustered trying to remove the collar but having no luck.
