Keith Bradford was in his late twenties and lived with his girlfriend, Kim, in a small flat in a small town in the English Midlands. It was on a Friday, two days before the football World Cup Final that his television had failed, prompting Kim and himself to go out and buy a new one. While in the electrical store, Keith had found a television remote control unit lying on a display stand and had accidentally discovered that he was able to freeze time whenever he pressed the 'Pause' button.
Being a normal red blooded male, Keith was only interested in one thing, looking at the female of the species, and more to the point, what intricate secrets said females wore beneath their outer robes. He also had a yearning to pleasure them in some way if he could and so he had secreted the remote out of the store, unknown to his girlfriend who he loved dearly and had a very active sex life with.
The functions on the remote had been explained to him by a famous news presenter who had appeared to Keith while he was purchasing a new television set in a department store the previous day. The 'Pause' button wasn't the only facility that the remote could do as the coloured buttons also had different functions from those which were normally displayed on the television screen. The red button acted as a freeze button, while the yellow one enabled the user to move the limbs of whoever was the victim to enable articles of clothing to be removed. The green one allowed the user to command the victim to do things against their will whilst the blue one would allow the user to control the victims mind without being verbally spoken to. Keith had yet to try out this facility and determined that he would find the appropriate person that day.
There was also another function which hadn't been explained, as while in his hurry to freeze one particular victim, he inadvertently pressed a button which took him back forty years to the same date in 1974. Whilst there, he had discovered a whole new generation of ladies who wore sexy and sensual undergarments and he couldn't wait to use his new found toy to go exploring again. To cap it all when he went back in time, in most cases he was completely invisible to everybody so he was able to do almost anything at will.
Keith slept soundly following the exploits of the previous day and was only awakened by the sound of his girlfriend, Kim, letting herself into the flat following her night shift at the care home. He glimpsed at the clock on the bedside table; it was nearly twenty past eight in the morning. He threw the duvet cover back and slid off the bed as she walked into the bedroom.
"Hi Love," he said, kissing her on the lips. "Did you have a good night?"
"Yes, it was quiet tonight," said Kim. "Everybody seemed to behave themselves for once!"
"I'm going to cook some bacon and eggs," he said, heading towards the kitchen. "Do you fancy some?"
"No, we had bacon sandwiches at half past five this morning," said Kim. "I'll just have a slice of toast and a cup of tea then I'll get to bed. What are you doing this morning?"
"Well, the new television is coming about ten o'clock," said Keith. "Then I think I'll go out for a bit so that you can get some rest."
Kim nodded and she sat at the table reading a magazine while Keith cooked the breakfast. When they had eaten, Kim went off to bed as promised and gave Keith the instruction that she wanted waking around four thirty. The television was delivered on time and promptly installed and tested so by ten thirty, Keith was ready to go out again. He checked the main bedroom where Kim was sleeping peacefully and then went quietly into the spare room to the wardrobe where he had stored the carrier bag with the remote in and took it out.
The carrier bag was a bit awkward to keep lugging around and although the items weren't heavy, he was aware that every time he put it down it would become visible so he had a quick scout round for something more suitable. In a cupboard, he found a red canvas drawstring shoulder bag which Kim had once used to take to work with her. It was still in good condition and he thought it would be ideal to put the remote and the breadsticks in so that he could carry it on his shoulder and wouldn't have to keep putting the carrier bag down.
He put the items in the red bag and locked the door of the flat behind him. Once outside, he walked down the road a little way towards town. There was a large park nearby with a small children's play area which had a couple of swings, a roundabout and a see-saw and he stopped just inside the gate. There was nobody there so he reached inside the bag and pressed the 'Play back' button on the remote and instantly, there was a small white flash and he was transformed back to 1974.
Keith found himself still in the play area, but it was so much different to how he knew it. The swings were larger and heavier as was the roundabout, and there was a big, iron climbing frame along with a tall slide all set on concrete and not surrounded by the soft wood chippings of the modern day. There were a few children climbing and playing on the swings and Keith stood and watched them for a moment. He'd noticed the previous day the difference in the adult clothes and today even the children were dressed so differently. A few of the boys wore jeans or casual trousers and t-shirts. The girls were in casual dresses or skirts and tops and all seemed to be wearing sandals and white knee socks.
Keith left them after a couple of minutes and walked down the road towards town following the same route he had the previous day. The street layout was slightly different and the town council offices where he had encountered the lady in the trouser suit were still to be built. In its place stood a row of factories and being a Saturday morning there was hardly anyone around and the area had a feel of emptiness and neglect to it. Near to where he had encountered the young lady in the dark blue skirt stood an old pub. It too looked closed and forlorn and had long since had any customers.
Soon he was back in the bustling town centre and he headed back towards the shop where he had encountered Doreen and her friend, and also Lucy and Roger the previous day. It was as good a place to start so he wandered inside and found the long mirror, checking that he was still invisible as he was the previous day, and thankfully he still was.
He wandered down the aisle looking around at the clothes and fashions available on display for ladies of that era. Some of the price tags seemed very cheap to him compared to what Kim would pay in the present day. He continued on, unhindered and unashamed through the lingerie department looking at all the silky nightdresses and slips on the stands and feeling a few of them and he wished that Kim would wear items like that.
He was standing near to the changing room where he had encountered Lucy the previous day. One of the sales assistants had gone in to tidy away some clothes left behind by a customer and as he looked at her for a moment, a smile played across his lips. The curtain was partly drawn back and he slipped in close up behind her, threw his arms round her waist and kissed her on the side of the face.
