In Their Own Words - Christmas Memories (MF/MFmf)
Posted: Thu Feb 05, 2026 4:38 pm
Christmas – a time for families, for celebrations, and occasionally very different adventures. This week, on in Their Own words, we talk to people as they remember Christmas stories of their families from the Seventies.
We start with Laura, who tells the story of what happened to her mother one night when she was babysitting…
As she told me, it was the 20th of December, and my mother was asked if she would babysit for the daughters of a neighbour while they went to a party.
That night, she was wearing a checked pinafore dress over a purple sweater, and knee length black cloth boots, as she knocked on the door and met the girls. She was eighteen, while Holly was sixteen and Ivy eleven. Holly was wearing a red dress with gathered short sleeves and knee length black leather boots, while Ivy was wearing a green waistcoat and culottes with a striped jumper, white tights and knee length white boots which were laced at the top.
Anyway, the parents went off, and she gave the girls some supper before she let them go and watch some television, while she went to wash up the dishes. That was fine – until she noticed the breeze, saw thew back door was open, and then screamed into the latex gloved hand that was pressed down over her mouth as she was held against someone.
As she put it, she kicked and screamed, but then a voice said if she did not stop struggling, they would hurt the girls – and she stopped, scared about what might happen to them and her. I stopped struggling and nodded as he told me to keep quiet and put my hands behind my back. I did that, and a few minutes later he used some sort of tape to hold my wrists together.
He then marched me into the front room, Holly and Ivy looking up and screaming as he shouted at them to be quiet and kneel in front of the couch, heads down and hands behind their backs. I had to stay calm and tell them to do what he said, and not to raise their voices, as he pushed me into a seat. I could see him now – wearing a denim jacket and jeans with a clown mask over his face, and the gloves on his hands. He also had a roll of black electrical tape, which he used to secure the wrists of the two girls together behind their backs and then their ankles before he made them sit on the couch.
I kept talking to them calming them down as he pushed me into an armchair and taped my ankles together – I remember thinking that was going to ruin what were my favorite boots, but he wanted us to stay there. He then left us as I told them just to sit quietly, hearing him moving through the rooms upstairs, and he came back with three pairs of ankles socks – pairs he balled up and pushed into each of our mouths to keep us quiet, and then left us to wait for their parents to come home and free them…
Elsie is in her sixties now, but vividly remembers what happened when her big sister was with her and her family during Chanukah…
I was about eleven years old, and we had said the words and were waiting for friends to come round and join us. I was twelve years old, and my big sister Ethel was seventeen – I remember she was wearing this backless one piece trouser suit made with a dark check, held up by a halter neck and with wide white lapels on the front, as well as white pockets on her hips.
I was wearing an orange maxi dress with white sleeves, white socks and black shoes, while Dad was wearing a sharp suit and mum a purple maxi dress. I was standing by the table with the snacks, not a care in the world. When the doorbell rang and Mum went to answer it. And that – that was when the nightmare started.
We all heard her scream and then she walked back in with two men, wearing smart suits, shirts, ties, dark glasses, gloves – and one of them pointed a gun at us and ordered us to put our hands in the air, and walk up the stairs to our bedrooms.
Wel, we were too scared to do anything except walk up, one of the men taking Mum and dad into their bedroom while the other, who also had a gun, ordered me and Ethel to go into her bedroom. He then made us both lie on our backs on the bed, and put our hands together in prayer, as he put the gun down where he could reach it and we could see it before he took a roll of twine from his jacket pocket. Making a small noose, he put it over Ethel’s hands as I watched and pulled it tight, and then took the twine around and between her arms to hold them together. He then lowered her hands onto her lap and took the twine down to her ankles, binding them together as the hems of her pants flared out under the binding, before he took a knife from his pocket and cut the end free.
Making a second loop, he then tied my wrists and my ankles in the same way, as we both heard Mum crying in the other bedroom. He then told us both to keep quiet, or he would make sure we kept quiet – and Ethel said we would as he looked through her drawers and then left us there.
We waited until we heard both men going downstairs before we tried to get free, but the binding was too strong and the twine cut into the flesh of my wrists. We had to wait until a policeman came in and cut all of us free….
For our next story, Belinda remembers when her mother gave birth to her little sister, her next door neighbour also had a baby – and how they all ended up unable to stop a robbery…
I must have been eight years old at the time – it had been a couple of weeks after Sally had arrived, and it was close to Christmas when our neighbour, Mrs. Graves, was going to come in with her daughter Tonya. Tonya and I were in the same class at school, and she had just had a baby brother called Tim arrive.
All three of us had similar outfits on – I had on a short green pinafore dress over a white blouse and was wearing a pair of black go-go boots style leather boots, while Mum’s dress was made to look like a waistcoat and skirt with a white blouse underneath. She was also wearing black leather boots – but hers were laced tightly up the front. She was giving Sally a bottle of milk. My sister was also wearing a green dress with short white sleeves and white socks.
There was a knock on the door, and I got up, walking over and opening it as Mrs. Gaves came in, a bag over one shoulder and Time in her arms. She was wearing a dress with black and grey vertical stripes, as well as a white collar and cuffs, as well as knee length black leather boots, while Tonya was wearing a light grey velvet dress with elbow length sleeves that had a cuff there, white tights and black flat shoes. As for Tim, he was wearing a light blue BabyGro outfit.
Anyway, Mum welcomed Mrs. Graves as they sat down, Tim getting a bottle of milk as well while Tony and I talked about the school Christmas party the next week, and what we were going to wear. It was a nice time to have – spoiled when the two women came in wearing bandanas, over their faces, both with knives and open of them carrying a large paper bag in her other arm.
We held each other as our mums stared at them, before one of the women told them just to keep giving the babies their milk, while the other one put the bag down and told us to sit on the floor, with our knees bent and our hands on out upper legs. We slowly sat down and watched as he put the bag down, out the knife down, and took out a coiled up washing line which she shook loose and made a lasso with. She then put the lasso over Tonya’s head and pulled it tight, forcing her arms against her sides before she used the rope to tie her wrists together in front of her, then tied them down to her legs as the rope went round them as well, and finally around her ankles before she tied the ends off.
She looked at me, shaking as the woman took a second washing lien out and tied me up in the same way, so that we could not move, the rope squeaking on my boots at my ankles. All the time we were watching our mothers, the other woman taking to them as out baby sister and brother finished their bottles, and they winded them. They then started to rock both of them to sleep as the woman who had tied us up took another washing line from the bag, cut lengths off, and used them to tie their ankles together as well as their legs below their knees.
Once Sally and Tim were asleep, the woman took them and laid them on the laps of our mothers, before more rope was used to tie their wrists together behind their backs and then tied round their upper bodies to make sure their arms stayed by their sides.
One of them then went to the bedrooms while the other one went into her pockets and took out a roll of sticking plaster – strips of which she tore off and pressed down over our mouths so that we could not talk to each other. When her ‘friend’ came back, they both left, and Tonya and I tried to get free- our mums had the babies on their laps and really could not move at all…
Our next story is something of a generational tale – Sandra is in her sixties now, but she was fifteen when this happened…
It was a couple of days before Christmas, and Grandma was visiting us at our house. She had long white hair and was wearing a knee length dress that had vertical white and green stripes, a small green bow tie at the neck, as well as black leather boots. Mum was wearing a shite cardigan over a top, a knee length black skirt and black mid-calf boots, while I was wearing a white jumper and a checked mini skirt with my own black go-go boots.
We were just sitting and talking when we heard someone coming in from the back door, and a man appeared – tall, balding hair, wearing a set of blue overalls and one of Mum’s large kitchen knives in his hand. He looked at us and told us all to keep quiet and not move, as I noticed he had in his other hand a large roll of silver tape that Dad used to repair pipes and things.
Mum asked him who he was, and what he wanted – but he said not to ask questions, he just needed a change of clothing and money. He also said we had to be kept quiet – so he tossed the roll of tape at Mum and told her to use it to keep my hands behind my back and my ankles together.
She protested – and then he said would she rather he forced all three of us to strip, and then he would tape me up while they watched? I saw Mum and Grandma look at each other, before she walked behind me and told me to put my hands behind my back.
I knew she had no choice, as I heard the tape rip, and then felt it sticking on my wrists as they were held together behind my back. She then knelt down and looked up at me, tears making her mascara run as she wound the tape tightly round my ankles.
The man then told her to do the same to Grandma, who stood up and turned her back so that Mum could tape her wrists together. She then sat next to me and told me everything would be all right as Mum taped her ankles together. The man then taped Mum’s wrists together behind her back and forced her out of the room as we looked at each other.
I started to struggle, but Grandma told me to keep calm – and not do anything that may make him want to hurt us later. I understood why she was asking, I did not want to make things worse, so I stopped and then started crying as Grandma shuffled over and put her head on my shoulder, trying to comfort me.
When he brought Mum back in, he had changed into some of Dad’s clothes – and he had pressed silver tape down over Mum’s mouth before he sat her next to Grandma and taped her ankles together. She looked at us as he gagged us with the tape as well, and then left us without another word…
For Sophia, being the oldest of four meant when her family were taken hostage, she had to keep the rest of her siblings calm…
It was boxing day, and we had been out for a family walk with mum and Dad. I was twelve, my blue coat fastened tightly over a floral short dress, and white knee length boots over my feet. Steve was eleven and was wearing a brown fleece jacket over a shirt, black pants and brown shoes. Then there were my little sisters, nine year old Cally and six year old Rita. Rita was wearing a black coat with a fur collar over her dress, and short white booties, while Cally had on a grey poncho over a white jumper and skirt, and her own knee length white leather boots.
We had just walked in when they appeared- tall men, wearing black masks which meant we only saw their eyes and mouths, and carrying guns. Two of them took Mum and Dad upstairs, while the other three forced us to walk into the front room and lie down on the floor, with our hands on our heads.
I could hear Rita crying, so I talked to her, told her to stay calm and everything would be all right, and they had to be brave, as one of the men took Steve and my hands behind our backs, and they were forced together with thin twine. I then felt him cross my ankles and use the twine to secure them together and turned my head to see him do the same thing to Steve, before we were rolled over and strips of sticking plaster pressed down over our mouths.
Another of the men forced us to sit against the couch while we watched his partner cross and bind together the ankles of Cally and Rita, before he rolled them over and put plaster over their mouth as well, then tied their wrists together in front of them and sat them next to us. We looked at each other as we heard shouting upstairs, and then Mum cry out, so I said “Dhnntchrrwhllbhshfhr.” Steve nodded as Cally and Rita looked at the three men, and one of them turned the television on.
The Roberts Brothers Circus was just starting, so Steve said “Whllwhsshshthshlrht,” and we tried to settle down to watch it as Dad was taken back out of the house. I could hear Mum whimpering in a room upstairs, and Steve nudged me and nodded to show he had heard her too – but we did not want to upset the others any more than they had done.
That was when Rita started coughing, and open of the men knelt next to her, telling her to calm down and not struggle because that was what was making her cough. He then said something that scared me - he said if Rita did not stop couching, she may be sick, and the gag meant that would not come out. I looked at him and made a noise, and when he looked at me, I looked at Rita and shook my head.
He then asked Rita if she promised to keep quiet and not call out, and when she nodded, he peeled the tape away from her mouth and said he trusted her. I mumbled “whlldhn” to Rita, who nodded, but i could see the redness in her eyes.
“Whllbhfhn,” Steve said as the telephone rang, and a minute later rang again three times before open of the men picked up the handset. He nodded, and then pulled the wire from the wall before all of the masked men left us alone…
Finally, Eric tells of when he, his mother and his grandmother were surprised…
I was about eight years old and had short dark brown hair unlike now. I also remember I was wearing a rust colored shirt over a white vest, light brown pants and brown boots.
Mum had taken me to visit Gran – Mum was wearing a primrose yellow mini dress with short, puffed sleeves, and a black halter band round her neck as well as sandals, while I remember Gran’s brown velvet mini-dress and the shiny black leather boots she wore with a small square heel.
I also remember something else as we walked in – the wide look in her eyes as she sat on open side of a wooden seat. Because there was a tall man with her, kneeling in front of her and using a length of thin cord to secure her legs together below her knees.
He turned and looked at us, then picked up a gun and pointed it at us, telling us both to sit on the couch and “keep our hands where he could see them.” Mum held me as we walked over, and I heard a squeaking sound, seeing the band of rope round Gran’s ankles that held them tightly together as well.
We had to watch as he reached into a black square bag, and took more ropes out, before he went behind gran and doubled the rope up. I suddenly realized she had her hand behind her back, and we watched as he wound the rope round her upper body, framing her chest as the velvet was crushed under the tight bands. She looked at us and said she was sorry this was happening – and she told me to be brave and not call out as the man knelt in front of Mum, and used more of the thin cord to tie her ankles tightly together, and then another length to hold her legs together below her knees.
He then looked in his bag, and at us, before he took out two lengths and walked behind mum, telling her to put her hands behind her back. She told me to be brave as well as I watched the man use the cords to keep Mum’s hands behind her back. And then the longer length to keep her arms against her sides.
Both Mum and Gran moved on the leather couch we were sitting on, making even more of a squealing sound as the man went back to his bag – but this time he took out a roll of white tape. Mum and Gran looked at each other as he peeled the end free and then wrapped it round my ankles as my feet hung over the edge of the leather seat. He tore the tape loose and patted it down, before he taped my legs together below my knees as well, and then my wrists in front of me before he wrapped the tape round my upper body to keep my arms against my sides.
He then made me lie down with my head on Mum’s lap and my legs over Gran’s before he tore a strip of the tape off and smoothed it down over my mouth. I watched as he put tape over Mum and Gran’s mouth as well, before he left us sitting there, twisting as the leather squeaked but I really didn’t know why he did it – why I felt so excited about it…
Until next time, this is In Their Own Words…
We start with Laura, who tells the story of what happened to her mother one night when she was babysitting…
As she told me, it was the 20th of December, and my mother was asked if she would babysit for the daughters of a neighbour while they went to a party.
That night, she was wearing a checked pinafore dress over a purple sweater, and knee length black cloth boots, as she knocked on the door and met the girls. She was eighteen, while Holly was sixteen and Ivy eleven. Holly was wearing a red dress with gathered short sleeves and knee length black leather boots, while Ivy was wearing a green waistcoat and culottes with a striped jumper, white tights and knee length white boots which were laced at the top.
Anyway, the parents went off, and she gave the girls some supper before she let them go and watch some television, while she went to wash up the dishes. That was fine – until she noticed the breeze, saw thew back door was open, and then screamed into the latex gloved hand that was pressed down over her mouth as she was held against someone.
As she put it, she kicked and screamed, but then a voice said if she did not stop struggling, they would hurt the girls – and she stopped, scared about what might happen to them and her. I stopped struggling and nodded as he told me to keep quiet and put my hands behind my back. I did that, and a few minutes later he used some sort of tape to hold my wrists together.
He then marched me into the front room, Holly and Ivy looking up and screaming as he shouted at them to be quiet and kneel in front of the couch, heads down and hands behind their backs. I had to stay calm and tell them to do what he said, and not to raise their voices, as he pushed me into a seat. I could see him now – wearing a denim jacket and jeans with a clown mask over his face, and the gloves on his hands. He also had a roll of black electrical tape, which he used to secure the wrists of the two girls together behind their backs and then their ankles before he made them sit on the couch.
I kept talking to them calming them down as he pushed me into an armchair and taped my ankles together – I remember thinking that was going to ruin what were my favorite boots, but he wanted us to stay there. He then left us as I told them just to sit quietly, hearing him moving through the rooms upstairs, and he came back with three pairs of ankles socks – pairs he balled up and pushed into each of our mouths to keep us quiet, and then left us to wait for their parents to come home and free them…
Elsie is in her sixties now, but vividly remembers what happened when her big sister was with her and her family during Chanukah…
I was about eleven years old, and we had said the words and were waiting for friends to come round and join us. I was twelve years old, and my big sister Ethel was seventeen – I remember she was wearing this backless one piece trouser suit made with a dark check, held up by a halter neck and with wide white lapels on the front, as well as white pockets on her hips.
I was wearing an orange maxi dress with white sleeves, white socks and black shoes, while Dad was wearing a sharp suit and mum a purple maxi dress. I was standing by the table with the snacks, not a care in the world. When the doorbell rang and Mum went to answer it. And that – that was when the nightmare started.
We all heard her scream and then she walked back in with two men, wearing smart suits, shirts, ties, dark glasses, gloves – and one of them pointed a gun at us and ordered us to put our hands in the air, and walk up the stairs to our bedrooms.
Wel, we were too scared to do anything except walk up, one of the men taking Mum and dad into their bedroom while the other, who also had a gun, ordered me and Ethel to go into her bedroom. He then made us both lie on our backs on the bed, and put our hands together in prayer, as he put the gun down where he could reach it and we could see it before he took a roll of twine from his jacket pocket. Making a small noose, he put it over Ethel’s hands as I watched and pulled it tight, and then took the twine around and between her arms to hold them together. He then lowered her hands onto her lap and took the twine down to her ankles, binding them together as the hems of her pants flared out under the binding, before he took a knife from his pocket and cut the end free.
Making a second loop, he then tied my wrists and my ankles in the same way, as we both heard Mum crying in the other bedroom. He then told us both to keep quiet, or he would make sure we kept quiet – and Ethel said we would as he looked through her drawers and then left us there.
We waited until we heard both men going downstairs before we tried to get free, but the binding was too strong and the twine cut into the flesh of my wrists. We had to wait until a policeman came in and cut all of us free….
For our next story, Belinda remembers when her mother gave birth to her little sister, her next door neighbour also had a baby – and how they all ended up unable to stop a robbery…
I must have been eight years old at the time – it had been a couple of weeks after Sally had arrived, and it was close to Christmas when our neighbour, Mrs. Graves, was going to come in with her daughter Tonya. Tonya and I were in the same class at school, and she had just had a baby brother called Tim arrive.
All three of us had similar outfits on – I had on a short green pinafore dress over a white blouse and was wearing a pair of black go-go boots style leather boots, while Mum’s dress was made to look like a waistcoat and skirt with a white blouse underneath. She was also wearing black leather boots – but hers were laced tightly up the front. She was giving Sally a bottle of milk. My sister was also wearing a green dress with short white sleeves and white socks.
There was a knock on the door, and I got up, walking over and opening it as Mrs. Gaves came in, a bag over one shoulder and Time in her arms. She was wearing a dress with black and grey vertical stripes, as well as a white collar and cuffs, as well as knee length black leather boots, while Tonya was wearing a light grey velvet dress with elbow length sleeves that had a cuff there, white tights and black flat shoes. As for Tim, he was wearing a light blue BabyGro outfit.
Anyway, Mum welcomed Mrs. Graves as they sat down, Tim getting a bottle of milk as well while Tony and I talked about the school Christmas party the next week, and what we were going to wear. It was a nice time to have – spoiled when the two women came in wearing bandanas, over their faces, both with knives and open of them carrying a large paper bag in her other arm.
We held each other as our mums stared at them, before one of the women told them just to keep giving the babies their milk, while the other one put the bag down and told us to sit on the floor, with our knees bent and our hands on out upper legs. We slowly sat down and watched as he put the bag down, out the knife down, and took out a coiled up washing line which she shook loose and made a lasso with. She then put the lasso over Tonya’s head and pulled it tight, forcing her arms against her sides before she used the rope to tie her wrists together in front of her, then tied them down to her legs as the rope went round them as well, and finally around her ankles before she tied the ends off.
She looked at me, shaking as the woman took a second washing lien out and tied me up in the same way, so that we could not move, the rope squeaking on my boots at my ankles. All the time we were watching our mothers, the other woman taking to them as out baby sister and brother finished their bottles, and they winded them. They then started to rock both of them to sleep as the woman who had tied us up took another washing line from the bag, cut lengths off, and used them to tie their ankles together as well as their legs below their knees.
Once Sally and Tim were asleep, the woman took them and laid them on the laps of our mothers, before more rope was used to tie their wrists together behind their backs and then tied round their upper bodies to make sure their arms stayed by their sides.
One of them then went to the bedrooms while the other one went into her pockets and took out a roll of sticking plaster – strips of which she tore off and pressed down over our mouths so that we could not talk to each other. When her ‘friend’ came back, they both left, and Tonya and I tried to get free- our mums had the babies on their laps and really could not move at all…
Our next story is something of a generational tale – Sandra is in her sixties now, but she was fifteen when this happened…
It was a couple of days before Christmas, and Grandma was visiting us at our house. She had long white hair and was wearing a knee length dress that had vertical white and green stripes, a small green bow tie at the neck, as well as black leather boots. Mum was wearing a shite cardigan over a top, a knee length black skirt and black mid-calf boots, while I was wearing a white jumper and a checked mini skirt with my own black go-go boots.
We were just sitting and talking when we heard someone coming in from the back door, and a man appeared – tall, balding hair, wearing a set of blue overalls and one of Mum’s large kitchen knives in his hand. He looked at us and told us all to keep quiet and not move, as I noticed he had in his other hand a large roll of silver tape that Dad used to repair pipes and things.
Mum asked him who he was, and what he wanted – but he said not to ask questions, he just needed a change of clothing and money. He also said we had to be kept quiet – so he tossed the roll of tape at Mum and told her to use it to keep my hands behind my back and my ankles together.
She protested – and then he said would she rather he forced all three of us to strip, and then he would tape me up while they watched? I saw Mum and Grandma look at each other, before she walked behind me and told me to put my hands behind my back.
I knew she had no choice, as I heard the tape rip, and then felt it sticking on my wrists as they were held together behind my back. She then knelt down and looked up at me, tears making her mascara run as she wound the tape tightly round my ankles.
The man then told her to do the same to Grandma, who stood up and turned her back so that Mum could tape her wrists together. She then sat next to me and told me everything would be all right as Mum taped her ankles together. The man then taped Mum’s wrists together behind her back and forced her out of the room as we looked at each other.
I started to struggle, but Grandma told me to keep calm – and not do anything that may make him want to hurt us later. I understood why she was asking, I did not want to make things worse, so I stopped and then started crying as Grandma shuffled over and put her head on my shoulder, trying to comfort me.
When he brought Mum back in, he had changed into some of Dad’s clothes – and he had pressed silver tape down over Mum’s mouth before he sat her next to Grandma and taped her ankles together. She looked at us as he gagged us with the tape as well, and then left us without another word…
For Sophia, being the oldest of four meant when her family were taken hostage, she had to keep the rest of her siblings calm…
It was boxing day, and we had been out for a family walk with mum and Dad. I was twelve, my blue coat fastened tightly over a floral short dress, and white knee length boots over my feet. Steve was eleven and was wearing a brown fleece jacket over a shirt, black pants and brown shoes. Then there were my little sisters, nine year old Cally and six year old Rita. Rita was wearing a black coat with a fur collar over her dress, and short white booties, while Cally had on a grey poncho over a white jumper and skirt, and her own knee length white leather boots.
We had just walked in when they appeared- tall men, wearing black masks which meant we only saw their eyes and mouths, and carrying guns. Two of them took Mum and Dad upstairs, while the other three forced us to walk into the front room and lie down on the floor, with our hands on our heads.
I could hear Rita crying, so I talked to her, told her to stay calm and everything would be all right, and they had to be brave, as one of the men took Steve and my hands behind our backs, and they were forced together with thin twine. I then felt him cross my ankles and use the twine to secure them together and turned my head to see him do the same thing to Steve, before we were rolled over and strips of sticking plaster pressed down over our mouths.
Another of the men forced us to sit against the couch while we watched his partner cross and bind together the ankles of Cally and Rita, before he rolled them over and put plaster over their mouth as well, then tied their wrists together in front of them and sat them next to us. We looked at each other as we heard shouting upstairs, and then Mum cry out, so I said “Dhnntchrrwhllbhshfhr.” Steve nodded as Cally and Rita looked at the three men, and one of them turned the television on.
The Roberts Brothers Circus was just starting, so Steve said “Whllwhsshshthshlrht,” and we tried to settle down to watch it as Dad was taken back out of the house. I could hear Mum whimpering in a room upstairs, and Steve nudged me and nodded to show he had heard her too – but we did not want to upset the others any more than they had done.
That was when Rita started coughing, and open of the men knelt next to her, telling her to calm down and not struggle because that was what was making her cough. He then said something that scared me - he said if Rita did not stop couching, she may be sick, and the gag meant that would not come out. I looked at him and made a noise, and when he looked at me, I looked at Rita and shook my head.
He then asked Rita if she promised to keep quiet and not call out, and when she nodded, he peeled the tape away from her mouth and said he trusted her. I mumbled “whlldhn” to Rita, who nodded, but i could see the redness in her eyes.
“Whllbhfhn,” Steve said as the telephone rang, and a minute later rang again three times before open of the men picked up the handset. He nodded, and then pulled the wire from the wall before all of the masked men left us alone…
Finally, Eric tells of when he, his mother and his grandmother were surprised…
I was about eight years old and had short dark brown hair unlike now. I also remember I was wearing a rust colored shirt over a white vest, light brown pants and brown boots.
Mum had taken me to visit Gran – Mum was wearing a primrose yellow mini dress with short, puffed sleeves, and a black halter band round her neck as well as sandals, while I remember Gran’s brown velvet mini-dress and the shiny black leather boots she wore with a small square heel.
I also remember something else as we walked in – the wide look in her eyes as she sat on open side of a wooden seat. Because there was a tall man with her, kneeling in front of her and using a length of thin cord to secure her legs together below her knees.
He turned and looked at us, then picked up a gun and pointed it at us, telling us both to sit on the couch and “keep our hands where he could see them.” Mum held me as we walked over, and I heard a squeaking sound, seeing the band of rope round Gran’s ankles that held them tightly together as well.
We had to watch as he reached into a black square bag, and took more ropes out, before he went behind gran and doubled the rope up. I suddenly realized she had her hand behind her back, and we watched as he wound the rope round her upper body, framing her chest as the velvet was crushed under the tight bands. She looked at us and said she was sorry this was happening – and she told me to be brave and not call out as the man knelt in front of Mum, and used more of the thin cord to tie her ankles tightly together, and then another length to hold her legs together below her knees.
He then looked in his bag, and at us, before he took out two lengths and walked behind mum, telling her to put her hands behind her back. She told me to be brave as well as I watched the man use the cords to keep Mum’s hands behind her back. And then the longer length to keep her arms against her sides.
Both Mum and Gran moved on the leather couch we were sitting on, making even more of a squealing sound as the man went back to his bag – but this time he took out a roll of white tape. Mum and Gran looked at each other as he peeled the end free and then wrapped it round my ankles as my feet hung over the edge of the leather seat. He tore the tape loose and patted it down, before he taped my legs together below my knees as well, and then my wrists in front of me before he wrapped the tape round my upper body to keep my arms against my sides.
He then made me lie down with my head on Mum’s lap and my legs over Gran’s before he tore a strip of the tape off and smoothed it down over my mouth. I watched as he put tape over Mum and Gran’s mouth as well, before he left us sitting there, twisting as the leather squeaked but I really didn’t know why he did it – why I felt so excited about it…
Until next time, this is In Their Own Words…