Real Life Stories - October 2017

Screen 4 of 22

We didn’t speak during the journey home except for my giving directions but when we arrived I told him that I would like his help to move a couple of heavy items. When he demurred saying he had to get back to work I responded that we still hadn’t discussed his choice of underwear. To my surprise he agreed without further argument and for the next two hours I kept him busy rearranging the furniture to my satisfaction and unpacking the last few boxes from my recent move. When it became obvious that there was nothing left for him to do he began saying that he really had to be getting back, to which I replied there was no way he was going anywhere until I had seen what he was wearing under his trousers.

He looked aghast and refused point blank. This was, and is, the only time he has ever willfully refused to comply with my instructions or disobeyed me, and the only time I have ever threatened him. I told him that the price of my silence was a sight of his underwear followed a meal in the town’s best restaurant, he could agree or it would be all round the building by tomorrow lunchtime, the choice was his.