It all unravelled like a ball of string. One momentary slip and away it scurried, racing from her fumbling fingers with unstoppable energy, carrying away with it her past life and her future. Of course at the time she had no idea of the significance of this ephemeral moment of embarrassment, yet it was to creep back up on her, stalk her, homing in from behind on her unsuspecting until it had grabbed a hold on her and she would be lost.
Maybe that wasn't right. Maybe she couldn't lay it all at the door of that one moment. The more she reflected upon it, the more she realised that she had been on a journey long before that and the tipping point, that moment when you teeter upon the brink, unable to make the final decision, unwilling to commit yourself, the irrevocable step was never really the true moment of change. It was simply the moment when you recognise the journey you have been on. The collapse of the final barrier that you fool yourself with, reassuring yourself that you remain in control all the while you are relinquishing it; the culmination of choices and their inevitable consequences sapping away at your freedom, herding you towards your pen, tying you in with fine nylon strings that, as they wrap themselves around you, appear so insubstantial, yet when too late you realise they are impossible to break. Bound and dragged along by these Lilliputian bindings until you are in your stall, your bright metal ring glimmering above you upon the wall, to which you are now tethered, a steely chain with no key and no way back.
How had it come to this? How come she did not notice what she was slipping into? God knows she had enough clues of the irrevocable transformation she was being put through. Had the changes been too subtle or profound? In retrospect she recognised that she had placed her own blinkers around her eyes, concealing her submission lest she rebel against it. All the while convincing herself of the control she possessed while it ebbed away unnoticed.
Such a simple thing, a screw head; it should have been drilled home, forced into that narrow opening made for it, sunk deep into the machine's bodywork, screwed in tight until nothing remained proud. Yet some anonymous negligent worker had left this trap for her and there had been consequences for Kate, oh yes there were always consequences. Day upon inevitable day it waited there to snare her, the moment when Kate would press herself up against the hard machinery, the warm glow of the photocopier sweep across her belly as somehow the button on the front of her skirt caught on that screw head. Maybe there are hidden forces that pervade life unnoticed that nudge us into the choices we are destined to make.
Right now, though, Kate was furious with herself. How could she have been so stupid! She had been trying to impress her new boss Mr Silcox and she knew from Debs, who had got her this job, that he was a bit gruff with staff. Yet somehow she had torn her skirt, her professional look, and he had been standing right there in the office as she had turned and ripped the material apart. The look on his face made her want to die and she had just frozen, like a rabbit in the road blinded by the dazzle of approaching headlights. What an idiot to just stare at him, her skirt gaping, holding on to the reef of papers she had just copied.
She hurried back to her desk having scooped up what she could of the fabric to hide herself. She had turned a bright shade of pink, her mind reeling at the imprint of the look upon Mr Silcox's face. Sitting down she tried to collect herself, tried to think, but all she felt was a throb in her head and the vacuous emptiness in the pit of her stomach. She fumbled around her desk and found some pins. In spite of everything, her thoughts inanely turned to why she had pins in her desk, yet her drawers were loaded full of 'useful' items she had squirreled away. She sat for a moment until the throb in her head subsided, although a tightness in her chest remained. She collected her skirt as best she could and attempted to walk normally to the toilets. Safe inside the cubicle, she could work with the pin to hold the tattered fabric together.
For around half an hour Kate sat her desk, an uneasy hiatus between her and her boss. What had he seen? How would he react? How would she be when next they met? Endless questions circled like vultures, tormenting her and feeding off her anxiety. Then he had walked in and after giving some papers to one of the other girls he came across.
"Would you step into my office for a moment?"
Mr Silcox's office was very smart with wooden floors and panelled walling. He had a large heavy mahogany desk and huge bookcases littered with neatly arranged books, globes, plaster statuettes and small steel office toys. There was a smell of leather that peppered the air from the large chairs, and the creak of the floorboards all added to an ambience to unsettle the visitor and impress upon them the power of this man.
Kate stood uncertainly, trying to keep control over her emotions. She could feel the heat in her cheeks. Mr Silcox approached her and stood close peering into her eyes.
"Accidents happen, even embarrassing ones, but we must carry on with our work. I am glad to see you have pinned up your skirt already." Kate nodded.
"Normally I would say that was the end of this unfortunate matter." He left the words hanging with the expectation of something to follow. Kate contemplated now ominous the word 'normally' sounded.
"However, on this occasion I saw something that does disturb me." He stared at her intently, watching her reaction, as he led her step by step. When he judged the level of her discomfort sufficient he went on.
"Was that a sow mark I saw on your thigh?" He was as always direct, and his gaze held hers watching for the slightest hint of denial, ready to pounce.
"Umm. I'm sorry about what happened. I'll pop out at lunchtime and get a new skirt."
"You didn't answer me. I saw a faded round blue mark on your inner thigh, and it looked to me for all the world like a sow mark. So tell me, have you visited a sow farm in recent months?" Again the probing spotlight that would not be deflected.
"It was a long time ago."
"I want to see it. Take off your skirt." Kate stared at him in horror. What was she to say? She needed this job otherwise she would have stormed out. She needed to find some way placate him, but she could not move, her body locked inactive as her mind whizzed.
"I am sorry Mr Silcox, I really didn't mean to cause any embarrassment."