I suppose I should tell you why we were here.
We had moved recently. My wife had decided to join the Newcomers Club so she could get to know people. I am not a social person. I went to two meetings and that was it for me. She went to everything. Eventually she found a group that she could get along with and she began to see them outside of the Club. I had my computer and my workshop. Eventually her group had a social event that required a husband to attend. She dragged me along. This was the second such event.
I went under protest. She said it was a Chain Party. I didn't know what that meant. Neither did she, but we were about to find out as the door in front of us opened and we were invited in from the hot sticky evening air into the dark cool interior of a large mansion.
While Sue made all the proper introductions, I glanced around at the large entrance hall. We were in a foyer that extended back to a double wide staircase to the second floor. To the left was a large open room with about twenty people milling about with drinks in their hands. To the right was a double door that opened into a library or study. The doors were open and a few people were gathered there. I noticed the bar at the back of the larger room and a bartender serving drinks. As soon as I was free I ambled back there.
With a drink in my hand and Sue on my arm, we made polite noises to several groups before Sue found one of her regular friends to talk to. I listened quietly for a couple of minutes then drifted over to a window and stared out at the immaculate lawns and flower beds. There was a tall hedge at the border of the property that appeared to surround it. We had driven through a wide gate that was cunningly hidden behind a turn in the road and this same hedge. It was a very private property.
Just as I finished my drink, I heard the host trying to get everyone's attention. I put my glass on the window ledge and turned to listen.
"Good evening friends! I know that some of you are wondering what a Chain Party is so I will fill you in. We will give each man here a length of chain and a lock. He will then take his significant other and chain her to a fixed object somewhere on the property. Then he will return here and drop his key to the lock in this box." He held up a small wooded box. "When everyone is chained up, the men will draw a key from the box and then try to locate the woman that is chained. When the woman is free, she will then be his date for the evening which ends precisely at two. There are a number of activities including dancing by the pool, swimming..." He rambled on for a while listing the various activities available.
Sue was at my side the instant he closed his mouth and she pushed me to the head of the line to get a chain. Once I had it, she dragged me outside the French doors that led to the pool deck. Here she had me chain her to a lamp post beside the main walkway to the deck. I wrapped the chain tightly around her waist and closed the lock. She wasn't going anywhere in a hurry. I took the key back inside and calmly dropped it in the wooden box. Then I got myself another drink.
I stood back and watched as the men dropped keys and stood waiting. Some were impatient and nervous. Others , like me, seemed slightly bored with the whole thing. I talked with one fellow and found out he too was into woodwork. I thought I might like to get to know him later.
All the keys were turned in. A new line formed to select a key. I managed to be the second to last person to get one. The only person behind me was the host. I selected my key and wondered what was next. I could hear the laughter and giggles all around as men tried their keys in various locks. I figured that all the easy finds would already be made. I looked out the French doors and sure enough, my wife was already gone.
I wandered around the house for a while, gradually getting lost. I was on the second floor and found a second staircase. I went down it and seemed to be in a small dining room off the kitchen. I went into the kitchen and looked around. Off to the side was another door. I opened it and looked in. A small bathroom for the staff, I assumed. It had another door on the other side. I went through this door and found myself in a laundry room. I glanced around quickly, but there were no other doors.
I turned to go out again when I heard a rattle of chain from behind. I turned and saw a young woman standing behind the last dryer in the row of four machines. She had obviously been sitting and had just stood up. Her chain was attached to a water pipe that ran down beside the dryer to an outside tap.
"Hello," I said, "you seem to be well hidden."
"Hello, she replied. "Yes, my husband is a... is different."
"Should I try my key?"
"You might as well. You are the only one to find me so far."
"Not much chance then, but who knows." I walked over in front of her and knelt down to better reach the lock that dangled directly on the crotch of her jeans. I slipped my hand behind it and pulled it away. I tipped it up and tried the key. It fit. It turned, the lock opened, the chain fell away. She gathered it up and put it on the dryer beside her.
"Well, fancy that. Odds of about one in thirty. Maybe I should go gambling tonight." I smiled at her.
"Anything would be better that this party," she said.
"Anything? Hmm. Like what?"
"Like anything. Reading a book. Knitting. Going to a bar. Walking on the beach. Anything."
"Reading is hard to do as a couple, but how about a walk on the beach?"
"Seriously? There is no beach here."
"Sure. My car is down the road a ways, nobody would even know if we slipped off together as long as we are back by two."
"Are you sure?"
"Yup. I can grab a bottle of wine and some munchies from the kitchen on our way out and there must be a way through the back."
"No, I couldn't..."
"Come on." I took her hand and led her back to the kitchen. I looked in the wine storage and found a bottle, then I took a small cardboard box, put the wine in and put in a few of the canapes that were scattered about. Just as we were ready, one of the serving girls came in. I asked her how to get out and she said to follow the path from the door at the side of the kitchen. She took a platter and headed out again.
I took our box, her hand and led the way to the back door. Ten minutes later we were in my car slowly weaving through the roads to a small private beach access I knew about.
I opened my door, rescued the box and a blanket from the back seat. Then I went to her side of the car opened the door and held out my hand.
"We shouldn't..."
I put my finger to my lips and held out my hand again. She sighed and put her hand in mine. We walked up a path that led behind the 'No Trespassing' sign and up to the top of a small rock bluff. Once at the top, I quickly spread the blanket, put the box in the middle and sat to one side looking out at the water.
She stood gazing out at the waves that broke on the rocks below us. Her arms were tightly crossed under her full breasts. Her shoulder length hair moved gently in the breeze in time with the hem of her skirt. She sighed again and looked down at me as I got out the bottle of wine. Then she sat, her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms hugging them tight.
I used the corkscrew on my keychain to open the bottle. It popped with a satisfying sound. I wiped the lip with my shirt sleeve and held out the bottle to her. She hesitated before taking it, but then took a full mouthful and passed it back. We sat and munched on the canapes, drank the wine and gazed out to sea. There was an island not too far off shore and the moon was coming up behind it.
The empty bottle of wine lay in the empty box that sat between us.
"What will you tell your wife?" she asked still looking at the water. These were the first words spoken since we had left the party.
"If she asks, which she probably won't, I will tell her I met another woodworker which I did - earlier. Then she will tell me all the things I missed."
She lay back with her hands behind her head. "I wish my husband would do that. He will want a blow by blow commentary of everything that happened, especially if it is sexy." Her voice showed her disgust.
"Wow, how do you know that?"
"This is the third party like this - this one is the tamest. He interrogated me for hours last time. He will do it again."
"Yet he locked you in a room where you wouldn't be found?"
"No. In a room where anything could happen. He probably told everyone where I was."
"Hmm. I suppose."
We were silent for a while, watching the moon climb above the island, watching its silver reflection beat a path to our rock. "You could make up a fantasy to tell him."
She snorted. "Wouldn't he love that."
