Things in the pub had pretty much gone back to normal after the lock-in incident which was entirely caused by my husband, Harry, getting all macho and speaking his mind. None of the regular customers mentioned what went on that night as I specifically warned them not to, on pain of being barred. This doesn't stop them trying to get a look up my skirt to see if I've left my underwear off again. The most that they have seen lately is a flash of stockings and knickers. If I lean across the bar they may just have been able to see an areola peeking out above my bra line.
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As I mentioned before I am the Landlady of a pub in a little Dorset village. Like most villages in England there is a church which hardly anyone worships in. But it is so much a part of the history of the place that if anyone talks about pulling it down there is a public outcry.
Falling down is a completely different matter. The church is always trying to raise money for one repair or another.
One evening in the pub someone mentioned that the vicar was trying to raise money for repairs to the church roof. They said that the pub should run some sort of Charity event.
I thought to myself, "Here we go again. Some bright spark is going to come up with a really stupid idea and then someone else will have an even more stupid one. In the end we will wind up with a collection box on the bar which by the end of the year will contain less than a pound."
The conversation went like this.
"What we need is a really big raffle with a fantastic prize."
"Like what?"
"Like a car."
"How many tickets do you think we would need to sell to cover the cost of a car?"
"Oh yeh! I didn't think of that."
And then someone did come up with a reasonably good idea. Yes, I know, I was shocked too. What they suggested was that we sell tickets at a fairly high price, say ten quid each. But that we had a prize that didn't have much of a monetary value but that everyone would want. Maybe we could get a local business to donate something. I pointed out that, apart from a few farms, we were the only business in the village and that a load of cow shit or a packet of peanuts would hardly constitute a great prize.
Then the clever bloke came up with the idea that as Harry and I had our days free we could donate ourselves.
I said, "What?"
But evidently, the idea was that whoever won could get us to do whatever they wanted for one day. We would have to leave it vague like that to sell more tickets as everyone would have a different idea of what they wanted doing for the day. For instance, old Tom would love to have me do his housework for one day and have Harry do his garden.
I'm not keen on housework and Harry's a crap gardener but I thought that in principle it could work. I said that it would only have to be between 10 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon as we did have a pub to run and that we would need to know well in advance what day it was going to be.
Before I knew it, a date was set for a Thursday in one month's time. Someone knew someone who could do the tickets and posters for nothing so that was OK. The winner would be drawn here in 3 weeks.
Over the next couple of weeks ticket sales went pretty well and by the time of the draw we had sold eighty. A lot of people crowded into the bar that night and it was decided that as everyone trusted old Tom (and as he hadn't bought a ticket) he should pull the winning ticket out of the hat.
I was quite relieved when the winner was announced as Farmer Ted from Yew Tree Farm. He always seemed like a nice old chap although someone did once tell me that his wife ran off about fifteen years ago. I only hoped that he didn't want any housework done.
When I asked a few people what they thought we should wear on that Thursday they all suggested our normal working clothes.
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On the day Harry drove us round to Yew Tree Farm. Ted was waiting to swing open the gate for us. When we had parked, Ted told Harry to wait in the farmhouse and he would find him something to do in a bit. He guided me towards the barn. As I trod my way carefully across the yard in my high heels, Ted told me that the farm wasn't as big as it was in its heyday. Back then he said that they kept all sorts of livestock. Now he had a few ducks and chickens as well as some pigs and goats. The goats were mostly for milk production.
As we entered the barn, Ted explained to me that he wanted to show me a family heirloom. Right by the back wall there was something covered with an old brown cloth. When we got to it Ted pulled off the cover to reveal what looked like a big old horse saddle mounted on a low wooden frame. The whole thing looked really ancient. The leather on the saddle was worn shiny smooth with so many years of use. The frame was old but really sturdy. It appeared as if it could hold any amount of weight.
I asked him what it was.
He replied that in the family it had always just been called The Hoss.
I said that it must be at least two hundred years old.
He told me that if I leant over I could just see a date on the other side.
As I stretched to see, Ted gave me a gentle push so that I lost my balance and fell over the saddle. Before I knew it he had pulled a great old leather strap across the small of my back and had fastened it so that I couldn't get up again.
I cried, "What are you doing?"
"The poster said 'anything I wanted' for the day," he replied.
With that he undid the long zip that went down my skirt and pulled it off. He lowered my black silk drawers over my stockings and lifted one foot out to leave them round one ankle. Then he knocked my legs apart slightly and secured each one with two other ancient straps. He whipped round the front and did the same with my wrists.
I spoke to him gently, "Ted if it's just sex you want, wouldn't we be more comfortable in the house?"
He shook his head and explained, "No, I can only do it like this. It's a family tradition. My father could only do it out here and my grandfather could only do it on The Hoss too. I remember my old Granddad telling me that if you had a Hoss and a willing wife with a fat ass you could pay your workers less money and they would never leave you."
Now that I was in no position to go anywhere it was as if he finally had someone to talk about it to.
He went on, "It's always been the way with us that the farmer's wife gets strapped to The Hoss to supplement the farmhands wages."