Knotty Damsel Who Trod on a Wad of Gum

Once upon a time there was a proficient, professional businesswoman named Inger Svendsen who worked as a junior executive for one of the wealthiest tycoons in the world, Gwyneth "Snow" White. One fine afternoon, when Inger really ought to have been in her office analyzing balance sheets and reviewing cost invoices (or whatever it is junior executives do), she was instead out playing truant, visiting fashionable shops as she walked the crowded sidewalks of downtown Syracuse, New York.

A large clip gathered Inger's pale-blonde hair, pulling it to the back of her head. She wore her office attire, a navy blue blazer with pale blue pinstripes, a matching, straight skirt, a white blouse, and a burgundy cravat with the knot loosened. Her sandals were not the same footwear she had donned that morning before going to work, however. She had spotted this marvelous pair in the Footing on the Ritz window and had impulsively made the purchase, although their numerous straps had proved so complex to manage that even with the assistance of the sales clerk it had taken more than five minutes to sort matters so they were on her feet properly.

Her old shoes lay almost forgotten in the shopping bag she carried absently.

"Lost its flavor," she remarked to no one in particular, spitting out a blobby wad of bubblegum onto the sidewalk. Several people looked at her sharply; what if someone stepped in that? Inger continued blithely on, though, not concerned with their disapproval in the least.

"These sandals really show off my feet and legs, but they take some getting used to." She glanced down as she walked and collided heavily with someone coming the opposite way.

"Oof, I'm sorry," she mumbled.

"No problem, baby," answered The Wolf. He wore a charcoal grey three-piece suit, a vanilla yellow necktie wound into a perfectly symmetrical Windsor knot, and a handkerchief impeccably folded and fluted. He carried a trim, leather briefcase, and used his free paw to steady Inger.

"Humph," she replied coldly. She had heard all about The Wolf! "He thinks he's such a Casanova or something," she thought. "If he expects me to throw myself into his arms, he's going to discover I'm not like that!"

She turned and walked away briskly.

"Hey, wait up, baby!" called out The Wolf.

Inger's response was to stride all the faster. She risked a quick peek over one shoulder. The Wolf was close behind! He waved a paw to get her attention, but Inger turned her head and continued forward. She recalled stories she had heard; another thing about The Wolf was that he apparently liked to tie up damsels! She resolutely stuck out a foot…

…and stepped right into the wad of gum she had spat out minutes earlier.

"Eep!" she exclaimed, lifting a foot a few inches from the ground. The gluey goo adhered to the sole of her beautiful new sandal. She tried scraping it off with her other foot, but that merely made matters worse. Now both sandals were mired in the gum!

She tried to move forward, but the sticky substance held her feet. She strained one leg and then the other, but, while the gum stretched, it did not break. She twisted and pushed ineffectively with her feet. She leaned over and locked her hands together under a knee. She grunted with effort as she pulled upwards, but the stubborn gum held her fast. She was stuck! Never mind, she could get out of her sandals and buy a new pair later. She bent her knees and tore at the straps, silently cursing the feature that had appealed so earlier.

And The Wolf was right beside her!

"You dropped this, baby," he said, handing her the shopping bag.

"Oh, thank you." She hurriedly tucked in under one arm. "You know, this may sound silly, but from what I've heard of you, when you were chasing me just now, I thought maybe you were planning on tying me up or something like that, ahaha. Hey, what are you doing?"

The Wolf snapped his briefcase open, which, Inger saw to her astonishment, contained an assortment of ropes, handkerchiefs, bandanas, and scarves. He popped a handkerchief into her mouth and briskly tied a green bandana as a cleave gag between her pink lips!

"Stop that!" she attempted to say. The Wolf held her arms behind her back with one paw, and drew out a coil of thin rope. Inger looked around wildly. The sidewalk was full of people, all ignoring her predicament. It seemed astonishing to her that no one made the slightest move to intervene. "Help, help!" she called out incoherently.

Someone finally stopped. "Let her loose!" came an angry command.

"Why should I, baby?" asked The Wolf, but he did release Inger.

"Because Ms. Svendsen has a pile of work that needs attending," replied Gwyneth "Snow" White. Her jet-black hair was long and unbound; she wore a shiny, red blouse and a straight, black miniskirt. She thrust a thick folder into Inger's hands. "Besides, I want you to tie me up!"

"Anything to oblige, baby," said The Wolf.

Inger yanked the bandana from her face and removed the handkerchief from her mouth as she scraped the gum from her shoes, which now came off relatively easily. She turned to The Wolf, and noticed in astonishment that he had already finished binding and gagging Snow White; he had roped her legs together several times and secured her arms behind her back. "How did you do that?" she demanded incredulously. "You must be a wizard with knots!"

"You know it, baby," he agreed, hefting Snow White over a shoulder.

Inger watched them go and then raised a startled hand to her face. The Wolf had turned around! Was he coming back for her?

"Forgot her shoes," explained The Wolf, snatching a pair of black pumps from the sidewalk. "They fell off in all the excitement. That happens a lot when you tie someone up. Lucky they don't get any gum on them."

"Mpfff," agreed Snow White.

The Wolf sauntered away again. Inger clutched the folder tightly and turned to go back to her office. Someone bumped into her, but it wasn't anyone exciting, so she slowly continued on her way.

Knotty Damsels' New Clothes

Once upon a time there was a shy, cute wolf named Anna who worked in the Chic Chick Shack, a retail boutique that offered fashionable attire for today's discerning shoppers with discriminating tastes. As the three Bacon sisters were discerning shoppers with discriminating tastes, they naturally frequented Anna's place of employment.

"Welcome, is there anything I can help you find?" Anna greeted the trio of vivacious, young human damsels, giving her tail a friendly wag.

"Anna, did you know that your brother blew my house down yesterday?" demanded Lacie (the blonde).

"He blew mine down too!" exclaimed Alice (the brunette).

"I'm so sorry!" gasped Anna in astonishment. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Alice and Lacie said together, as if having one's house blown down were merely a minor inconvenience.

"We sure learned our lesson about using shoddy building materials," grumbled Alice.

"They moved in with me," Celia (the redhead) explained, not looking entirely happy as she said it.

"Theodore is so impulsive," mused Anna. "I wish I had a bit more of his personality. It might help in this job; I work on commission and sales aren't exactly my strong point." Her tail drooped as she watched the three women spread around the store. Anna hoped fervently that this time one of them would actually buy something.

They soon collected a pile of garments to try and disappeared into the dressing rooms. Celia took a deep breath as she squeezed into a minidress that she felt was a perfect shade of green to complement her orange-red hair. She tightened the broad, black belt, wondering if something quite so daring was for her, and hurried out in her stocking feet to show it off. However, she did not see her sisters or even Anna, so she loudly called their names.

A masculine voice answered. "Hey, baby, looking good!"

"Wolfy!" she exclaimed. "Where's Lacie? Where's Alice?"

"I think my sister is looking after them," he explained vaguely. "I can help you with your purchase if you like, though. I help Anna out like that sometimes. Let's see, you've got a bargain on there at ninety-five dollars!"

"But the price tag only says seventy-nine, ninety-five," protested Celia.

"It's on special," The Wolf explained.

Celia started to object, but then turned her head. "What was that noise?"

"I didn't hear anything," shrugged The Wolf.

"It sounded kind of faint, like someone calling out from far away."

"Well, maybe someone was," The Wolf suggested carelessly.

"I don't think I want this dress," decided Celia, looking at herself in a mirror.

"Why not, baby? It looks gorgeous on you!"

"I don't see paying the point of shelling out so much money for practically nothing; I mean, the bodice is so low and the skirt hem is so high that it's almost like I'm not wearing any clothes at all!"

"Baby, I thought you had a better eye than that; that you could recognize great fashion and all that!"

"I'm not arguing against the fashion; I think it's a great style…"

Anna popped out from behind a curtain across another dressing room. "Everything okay?" she asked brightly.

"Looks like you've got a sale," The Wolf told her. "She just said what a great style it was!"

"Oh, wonderful!" exclaimed Anna.

"No, you haven't got a sale," said Celia firmly. "First of all, Wolfy is trying to overcharge me…"

"Oh, Theodore," sighed Anna.

"…and secondly, I'd feel too embarrassed showing off this much when I go out, so, no, it's not for me."

The Wolf placed a friendly paw on her bare shoulder. "Is there anything I can do to change your mind?"

"No, Wolfy, I've decided… hey! I heard that noise again! It's coming from the other dressing rooms!"

Celia gave gasps of disbelief as she flung back one curtain and then another to reveal her two sisters. Lacie (the blonde) wore a sky-blue tube top with white shorts, and Alice (the brunette) wore a floral-print camisole and a violet miniskirt.

However, it was not their attire that concerned Celia, but rather the ropes binding them and the cloths gagging them!

"Mpfff!" called out Alice and Lacie.

"They also were reluctant to buy their outfits," Anna explained, looking a tiny bit guilty.

"We'll change their minds, though," announced The Wolf, not looking guilty at all, "just like we'll change yours!"

Celia sighed, realizing she could not resist against two wolves. Soon, she was trussed much as her sisters were. She sat on a small bench, with her legs extended straight before her, her ankles placed on the bottom rung of a short stepladder used by employees to reach high shelves. The Wolf added more rope to keep her feet in place.

"Now will you make these purchases?" he asked, stepping back.

From the three dressing rooms, the three sisters shook their heads and mewed denials into their gags.

"Hmm," said The Wolf, walking to a shelf filled with hats. He ran a paw over the merchandise and then plucked an orange feather. He waved his find slowly as he walked to Celia. "Time for some soft sales tactics!" He brushed the feather against the sheer material on her sole.

Celia couldn't help herself; she gave a muffled shriek of laughter. She determined to hold out as long as she could, but as ticklish as she was….

The Wolf stopped abruptly as he heard someone enter the shop. "What can I do for you, baby?" he asked, heading for the front.

The three sisters called out loudly through their gags, but Anna alertly closed the door to the dressing area so they could neither be seen nor heard.

"It's what I can do for you, Wolfy," Inger answered. "I've got your handkerchief and bandana you left behind the other day."

"Oh, yeah, thanks for returning them, baby!"

"I didn't say I was returning them." Inger snatched the items out of reach. "If you want them back, you'll have to get them from me!"

She sprinted out the shop, with The Wolf following close behind. "And this time, Snow's not going to interfere," Inger thought happily as her feet raced her forward. "Not with the way I tied her up!"

"Okay, Anna, fun's over," decided Celia. The redhead had worked her gag loose. "You can untie us now. I've guess this outfit is okay after all, so if you knock ten percent off the right price and throw in a couple accessories for free, we've got a deal."

"Any discounts come primarily out of my commission," said Anna, "and the boss is very strict about no freebies. Besides, it's only right that you should stick to a deal when you make one, and I distinctly heard you offer my brother one hundred and fifteen dollars for this!"

There was so much wrong with those last few words that Celia didn't know where to start objecting, and soon couldn't object at all, as Anna replaced her gag. "You'll agree eventually," the saleswolf said, retrieving the feather. She closed the curtains in front of Alice and Lacie, remarking, "I'll be with you two shortly to work out your deals!"

Celia burst out into laughter as Anna Wolf moved the feather more energetically than her brother had. "Oh, well," the redhead thought with good-natured resignation, realizing she would, indeed, have to give in eventually, as would her sisters, "at least when we go out wearing these new clothes, everyone will be admiring us!"