Remembering back on the past couple of years and all the strange exciting things that have happened to me, I can recall that special day most fondly. The day I became Cassandra, the Goddess that I am today.
It was a cold Friday in January of 1999 while I was driving home from my job. I was in my mid twenties, and had only recently graduated from engineering school when my company hired me. It was only a few months later that the President of Research and Development offered me this opportunity to re-locate and head the micro-electronics and semiconductor research team at their new location. Of course I gladly accepted the position and the generous relocation package. I had only been living in this town for a month or so since my transfer to the new research complex a couple of towns over, and things have been going fairly well for me. On the way home that night I figured I would stop into this little antique shop called Curious Goods I had passed the other day and pick up a few pieces of vintage art to decorate my place with.
Upon going inside, I was greeted by the kind, yet eerie face of the old woman who owned the store. We exchanged silent greetings and I proceeded to look around. There were paintings, and sculptures, crystal vases, nick-knacks, furniture, a few musical instruments, and racks of old clothing scattered throughout the shop.
While wandering around the shop I couldn't help but be drawn to an old hand carved wooden "foot locker" that was over in the far corner of the store, tucked away from plain view. It looked like it would make a perfect addition to my living room's dΓ©cor.
Before I could even turn around and ask about it, the old woman appeared behind me and startled me by saying in a thick, possibly European accent, "Yes, nice piece of work, isn't it? It is very, very old"
It appeared locked, so I asked her if she knew what was inside of it. A look of fond reminiscence came over the woman's face as she replied with an eerie tone to her voice, "Its contents has not seen the light of day in many, many years." She continued to speak, starring down at the large trunk and lowering her voice to almost a whisper "It has been so long since I felt the..."
"Never mind," she said in a sharp tone as she abruptly cut herself off, and quickly changed the topic: "I don't even remember where I hid the key it has been so many years." With that she turned and began walking back to the counter at the front of the store before I had a chance to question her further.
Nonetheless, I felt so drawn to it, so I brought it to the counter and asked her how much she was asking for it. She said it was truly one-of-a-kind and to her no price is great enough. After some long conversation and her asking me some off the wall, almost nonsensical questions, she said, "I believe you are the right one." I asked what she meant by that and she seemed to ignore me, only replying with "That will be $100.00 sir." I figured she had wasted my time and freaked me out enough for one day and took out my credit card and paid the woman. She said, reading my signature off the receipt, "Thank you Mr. Jameson. When you do get it open, you will be most pleased with your purchase." The old woman had a strange tone to her voice and a peculiar glint in her eye as she made her statement. I asked her once more if she would tell me what was in the trunk, and what she meant by her statement, but she just said "Good-bye to you, sir. I must be closing the store now. Have a nice day" as she hurried me out the door. With that she shut the door sharply behind me, and closed the blinds.
As I was carrying the old wooden trunk to my car, I could faintly hear its contents shifting around inside which further raised my curiosity. The few short blocks I had to drive to my condo seemed to take forever. I could not wait to get home and crack that chest open and see what the old lady was being so mysterious about. If there isn't anything of real value or at least some nice art to display I could always keep the trunk and post the contents on E-Bay and make back what I had spent. I raced inside and put the trunk down on the living room floor and went to get my toolbox. After a little messing around with the old fashioned lock, I was able to pop it open without damaging the beautiful hand-carved box.
Upon opening the heavy, creaky trunk lid, my nose was assaulted by a very strong heady odor. It wasn't a mildew kind of smell as would be expected from such an old trunk. It was more of a warm, musky, earthy aroma that while being rather pungent, for some reason, still triggered some intense feelings of arousal within me. After clearing my head and looking down into the old trunk, there was not much in there at all. All I was able to see was a bundled mass of black cloth. I can remember thinking to myself at that point "What a damn rip-off!! All that drama and mystery for a bundle of cloth. The old hag certainly knows how to make a sale." As I would soon find out, boy was I wrong!!
Reaching in to take whatever it was out of the trunk, the cool, slippery feel made me realize that what I had smelled a few seconds earlier was rubber. Holding it up and unfolding it, it turned out to be a one-piece rubber catsuit. I thought to myself "Wow, I haven't seen anything like this since that kinky chick I hooked up with at Steve's frat party in college a couple of years ago" As I held it up in front of me to look it over more carefully, it was a very highly mirror polished, heavy rubber cat suit made out of thick, yet extremely pliable latex. It felt much thicker and heavier than the one that girl had back in college. Also at the bottom of the trunk was a pair of high heel rubber boots that looked as though they would come up to about mid-thigh, made from the same thick, highly polished rubber as the cat suit.
After staring at this mass of shinny rubber sprawled out over the living room floor, with it's enticing aroma filling my nose and wreaking havoc on my senses, I decided "what the hell" I may as well see if it fits. Maybe I can at least wear it out to a nightclub or something and get my $100.00 worth.
I began taking off my shoes and clothing and picked the rubber suit up off the floor.