I was staying with my aunt and uncle for a couple of weeks. They have this place up in the country and they'd invited me up for a while. I had some holidays due so I thought why not? They always spoil me rotten and sometimes it's nice to be spoilt.
The second night we were there we were watching TV when there was some noise from the kitchen. My aunt looked at my uncle and he lifted his hands defensively.
"I'll fix it," he said. "I just haven't had time."
"What's going on?" I asked.
My aunt laughed and got up from her seat, gesturing for me to go with her, quietly. We went through to the kitchen and Aunt indicated that I should peep inside.
There was this big fat raccoon, sitting on the table, sniffing around. Then Aunt jumped into the kitchen with a yell and the raccoon was all scrambling paws as he bolted, heading out through an open window.
"That window has a defective catch," Aunt told me. "I've been after your uncle to fix it but it's not high on his list of priorities. That dratted raccoon had figured out how to open the window and he sneaks in every so often."
I laughed and after that I forgot about that fat old raccoon.
I remembered him a few days later. It was Friday night and my aunt and uncle had gone to bingo. I can't stand bingo. I don't like losing money and I hate seeing other people win it instead of me. What's more, their bingo night was an old people's gab fest that went on and on. They'd be lucky to make it home by midnight.
I'd had a rather energetic day and by ten I was ready to call it quits. I went and got ready for bed.
I have a brother. He is a bit of a joker and likes to tease me. For my eighteenth birthday he bought me a nightie. Not just any nightie, but a special nightie. It was transparent amber in colour, and consisted of some skimpy panties and a diaphanous negligee top. Not the sort of nightwear that you'd want to wear in mixed company unless you've got something naughty in mind.
"Now that you're an adult," my brother told me, with a big smirk, "I thought you should have something other than flannelette pyjamas."
Oddly enough, I loved that nightie and frequently wore it. Not that anyone else has seen me in it. That's what I was wearing to bed tonight.
I was sitting in bed, reading, when I heard the noise from the kitchen. That dratted raccoon, as Aunt would say. I decided to sneak down and scare the living shit out of him. (Not literally, as I'd have to clean up the mess, but you get the idea.) I went quietly downstairs and tiptoed up to the kitchen. Then I reached in, flicked on the light and jumped in with a yell.
"Get out of here you miserable little rodent," I shrieked.
Well, it started out as a nice loud shriek but sort of petered out to a thin squeak. It wasn't the dratted raccoon after all. There was this big man, dressed in dark clothes, standing in the middle of the kitchen, looking at me.
They say discretion is the better part of valour. I knew how to be discreet. If there was a burglar, let him burgle, was my opinion. I'd just go back to bed and pretend he wasn't there. And I'd lock my bedroom door. I withdrew my obviously unwanted self.
Expressed like that, you might think I apologised and quietly walked away. It wasn't quite like that. I screamed and bolted. I was up those stairs at an Olympic Champion's pace, vanishing into my bedroom and slamming the door behind me.
Instead of making a satisfactory bang as the door slammed shut it made a dull thump as it bounced of the man who was right behind me. I didn't stand a chance. He just grabbed hold of me and tossed me onto the bed and then pounced on me.
I was scared silly but also fighting mad. I was not going to be raped without a struggle, let me tell you. I was kicking and screaming and trying to bite him, and if my hands had been free I'd have been scratching him worse than any cat you've ever seen. But my hands weren't free, he was holding them. He'd just grabbed my wrists and was holding them in one of his hands. He was wearing a leather jacket so biting wasn't getting anywhere except leaving teeth marks on the jacket. My kicking he was just ignoring. I guess bare feet don't do much damage.
He drags this roll of tape out of his pocket and winds tape around my wrists and then taped my wrists to the end of the bed. Then he put his hand across my mouth so my screams degenerated into a meaningless burble.
"Will you, for crying out loud, shut the fuck up?! Anyone would think I was raping you."
Did that mean he wasn't? I shut the fuck up, glaring at him, and he carefully took his hand away from my mouth.
"Do you mean that you're not going to rape me?" I asked.
"No," he said, shaking his head. "I just want to pinch a copy of Dr Edwards research."
(Dr Edwards is my uncle. He's a scientist doing something incomprehensible. He works from home.)
"Oh," I said, feeling relieved that I wasn't going to be raped.
"Oh," I said again, feeling indignant that he didn't consider me worth raping.
"Why not?" I asked.
"Why? Because I'm being paid good money for his notes, that's why. Why would you think?"
The man had a one track mind - money.
"I said why not," I pointed out, "as in why aren't you raping me?"