The Present edited by John Drake

  There was a small industrial trading park outside of town. All sorts of craftsmen and engineers worked there doing anything from handcrafted furniture to repairing vintage motorcycles. 
  On the very outskirts of the unit there was a row of sturdy old wooden sheds. The people that worked out of these units called the place Artisans’ Alley. One particularly ramshackle unit was owned by an old man named Max. He was well into his seventies and had a slow patient outlook on life.
  He wore old battered boots, an old battered canvas jacket, jeans and a cap that had been blue once, long ago. Max made leather items-mostly suitcases and furniture, wood and leather were his passions. 
  He parked his small van outside the back of the unit and went to unlock for the day, waving to the Potter that had the unit to his right-a nice man in his fifties. He also nodded to the woman who made custom glassware in the unit to his left. Max unlocked the big padlock on the front of the unit. He un-threaded the heavy chain and put them to one side. Putting on an apron that was crammed with tools, he ceremoniously buckled it in place to start the day in earnest.

  Slowly Max started to potter about his workshop. He was semi retired, only coming in for three and a half days every week. He felt a man needed something to do so he had kept his business running albeit in a reduced form. He still took a few commissions and still enjoyed creating odd and eccentric pieces. The shop was his and he was not badly off-mostly he liked to remain active. 
  One client was due to attend today and he was going to have an interesting time. Max put the kettle on and made himself a quick cup of tea. He cleared a corner of his workshop and set up two instruments on tripods. He had borrowed them from one of the light industrial units and had previously used them to scan an object for a project he had done before. The object had been reproduced in a block of wood and he had built a case around the shaped wooden block so that it was exactly like the original, an expensive custom made case. 
  Max went to the back of the shop. He had started to build the wooden form a few days ago. He had a lot of blocks of two by four lying around his store and used a chop saw to slowly cut them to shape then he gave each block a coat of wood glue on two sides and added it to the pile. Max couldn’t get his hands on a large enough piece of wood but he could glue enough of the smaller beams together to make his wooden form for the next project. He was drawn out of his work by a horn honking outside and slowly made his way to the front of the unit.

  A customized Beetle pulled up outside, a sort of hot rod. The VW was bright cherry red with flames in metallic yellow and black running down the sides. It was a soft top with a black roof. The suspension on the vehicle had been raised by about six inches and the car had the front and back spoilers removed to make way for large tyres. Two fat exhausts stuck out the back from under the car and the registration said B17CH X. 
  A woman of truly Amazonian proportions popped out of the car she was six foot two without the four inch knee high black boots. The boots had a fairly chunky heel. She wore black leather trousers and top, her breasts straining from under the leather like two cannon balls. 
  A high, very detailed leather collar was around her neck with a pair of mirror shades hiding her eyes. Her hair was long and red, tightly knotted into a plait that came to her waist. She had a set of rings in her lips as well as miss-matched earrings. The woman was nothing but hard muscle-her legs, her washboard stomach and her strong arms all showed it. She also had a rather pronounced chest that produced a substantial cleavage in the leather top.She bounded over to Max, pulled off his cap and bent down and kissed him gently on the crown of his bald head;
    “Hi Max! Are you ready to go to work? It’s only two months to go!” Max took his hat back; 
    “Easy Ginger, this is going to take some time to do. I haven’t made anything like this ever.” 
  Ginger looked at him then looked around the workshop seeing where the scanners were set up. She went over to them and started to remove her top, unbuttoning the tight leather. 
    “Ginger do you fancy a cup of tea?” She thought about it for a second;
    “Do you have any coffee” Max thought for a second;
    “Only the instant stuff. Is that okay?”
  Ginger pulled her top off and put it down on a work bench. She fiddled with her collar and finally unclipped it reluctantly, carefully laying it on top. Max disappeared into the back to make her a cup of coffee. Ginger unlaced her boots and pulled them off she pulled off her leather pants and stood there in her socks, lacy black panties and bra. Max returned with a cup of coffee and passed it to Ginger;    
    “How is Amanda doing these days?” Ginger winced at the name; 
    “You know my mistress likes to be called Aurora.” Max looked at her unfazed;    
    “She is my granddaughter. I don’t care how she likes to be called she is still little Amanda to me, plus she isn’t here so you don’t have to refer to her as your mistress.”
  Ginger looked at Max for a second, pondering her response;
    “My Mis … I mean Amanda is doing well. The job at the bank is a little stressful and she is working with the charity as well-that takes up much of her free time.” 
  Max scratched his head;
    “Remind me what does that charity support again?” Ginger thought for a second;
    “Well it’s more than just an orphanage. It’s a counselling service and an apprentice scheme all in one. They are getting funding together for a second site soon. The first place she set up has too long a waiting list.” 
  Max pointed towards the scanners and Ginger walked over to the corner of the workshop. There was a little X on the floor marked with black tape. The redhead stood facing one scanner and folded her arms tightly in font of her body under her breasts. Max was about to start the scanner when Ginger unfolded her arms;
    “Wait a second!” She shouted as she folded her arms behind her back. Ginger squirmed for a bit making sure that her arms were as tight as possible, her hands gripping the outer most part of each of her biceps holding her arms tightly in place from the front it looked like they almost ceased to exist. Max looked doubtful;    
    “Ginger, are you sure about that?” Ginger nodded;
    “Go on-I am a big tough girl.” 
  Max sighed;
    “Close your eyes tight. Don’t open them until I say.” He hit the button. 
  The sensors slowly scanned up and down Ginger’s body, projecting a red line with a laser. After about thirty seconds of her holding perfectly still the scanner beeped, “Okay, the first run is over.” Ginger opened her eyes and blinked she moved around ninety degrees. Max nodded and she closed her eyes again after about twenty five seconds it had finished its second pass. Ginger held her position. Her arms were already cramping as she waited for him to confirm that the scans were complete. 

  Max checked the machine as he had been instructed and saved the file;
    “Okay Ginger, we are all done.” He turned it off and started to pack the scanner away into a bag. Ginger started to pull her leather items on;
    “Max, how long do you think it will take?” Max had already been through this before;
    “As I said, it’s a bit different. I am not sure how long it will take but I am sure that it will be ready in time. Are you sure you want the purple leather dye? I think the midnight blue looks better.” 
  Ginger shook her head as she pulled on her boots;
    “The purple will match other accessories. Do me a favour and make it a bit tighter around the waist wont you?” Max looked at her;
    “Okay, give my love to Amanda.” Ginger looked at him and patted him on the shoulder “This is a secret present so you keep quiet about this little meeting okay? Any problems give me a call.” Max packed the scanner down and put it into a bag;
    “See you later.”
  Max watched Ginger go. He remembered the look on his son’s face when Amanda brought Ginger home and explained that this was her girlfriend not just a girl that was her friend. Max slowly got to back to work on creating the form, cutting up the last of the timber he would need then gluing and sticking it all together. He had assembled the thing on a pallet to make it more manageable. Max got two large clamps, four foot long items and a spare lump of wood. He used the clamps to secure the lump of wood on top of the form so that everything would be held in place while it dried. Max worked on a few commissions then shut up shop.
  On the way home he dropped the scanner and the recording back to a light industrial unit on the estate. He had known the man for many years. The scans would be combined with a computer program to produce an exact 3D model. When it was in place on a mechanical lathe it could cut out the form fairly accurately.

  The next day Max returned to his workshop. The wooden form seemed to be completely dry. He used a pallet truck to drag it over then used two planks of wood as a ramp for the back of his small van. Max got a jack underneath the planks and slowly raised the height of the block until it slid into place. Max shut up shop and drove around to the engineering shop. 
  With a few minutes of work and a forklift the form was ready to be shaped and it went into the machine. Max and his friend went for a cup of tea then they came back and the machine had cut out the front of the thing. He did get a few comments about the unusual commission, though.
  Max, his friend and another engineer took the form out and rotated it around then putting it back in. They lined it up and left it to cut out the rest of the form while they went and had a nice greasy lunch. After they got back the form was ready. Max explained it away as an eccentric commission for a suitcase. Max inspected the form it looked like it would do the job quite nicely. With the help of the engineer, he loaded the form into his van. He could just about carry it but he had no desire to really put his back under any stress. 
  Max drove his van back to his workshop and set up the form in the back of the place. The first thing he did was slightly adjust it, making the waist smaller as Ginger had asked him using a sander and his eye. He used a rough sand paper them a medium grit sand paper then finally a smooth grit sand paper to finish it off. He used a brush and worked a coat of water proofing compound into the form to keep it water tight before using a heat gun to speed up the drying process. 
  The form consisted of Ginger’s body from the tops of her thighs to the bottom of her chin her arms folded tightly behind her. He would soon be working leather around it but there were other things to do. Max took a roll of pallet wrap and tightly wound it around the form. 
  He used a heat gun to dry it then took a roll of duct tape and applied a layer around the form, covering it completely from under the chin to just above the thighs. Max took a ruler and carefully lined up a permanent marker. He marked splits, cutting the main part of the jacket he was going to make into four pieces. He also marked the collar and a transitional piece around the neck and shoulders-the yoke of the garment. Also, there would be a belt-like section on the waist just resting on the hips. 
  Max took a scalpel and cut the duct tape into pieces to make a pattern for the garment. He took the duct tape cut outs over to a table he had a large roll of brown paper, Max carefully laid out the duct tape and stenciled out the templates. 
  He cut them out then took them back to the form and held them up against it to make sure that they would fit correctly. A little adjustment on the collar and he was ready. 
  The collar the yoke and the waist belt could be formed from flat leather but the rest would have to be wet molded. Max carefully moved the templates and the other materials out of the way. He got a roll of very heavy, eleven ounce leather or 4.4-4.8 mm thick leather out from his store using a hand cart to move it about. He carefully unrolled it, checked the hide by eye and by hand to make sure that there was nothing wrong with it. There were no imperfections-it was veg tanned, a natural product.   
  Max laid the templates out on the leather and scored their pattern into the hide with a scratch awl-a pointed little device. He gave the chest pieces an extra two inches on the sides he would need to stretch and manoeuvre them about a bit. Max got a cutting mat out and slipped it under the leather. A few minutes later he had a saddler’s round knife in his hand and was cutting out the leather. Max cleaned the leather with a prepping compound so that there was no dirt or stains on it. He got out a tub filled it with water and left the four large pieces of leather to soak, while he made himself a cup of tea.
  Max took the front right and back left pieces of leather. He started on the back section first and slowly worked the wet leather into place, tightly over the wooden form. He used a wooden peg to push the leather into shape while pinning it in place with carpentry tacks until he had the leather tightly conforming to a quarter of the shape of the mould. 
  Max slowly started to work on the front of the form, shaping the leather until it was firmly in place. Max had an agreement with the potter next door and he could use his kiln. The form and the leather went into the electric kiln set at a very low heat for ten minutes the rapid drying process locked the leather into its shape so that it was baked into a really hard and solid object. Max checked on the leather every five minutes until a further fifteen minutes had passed he took the form back to his work shop and removed the pins freeing the leather from the form. Max took the other two pieces of leather and repeated the process so that when it was dried he would have a hard shell of leather that precisely conformed to Gingers shape well, after a bit of trimming.   
  Max took the form back to the potter’s workshop and they had a second run. After that Max carefully laid out the leather pieces and cut them to shape with leather knife putting them all up against the form so that the fit was perfect.

  He laid all the leather out and then got a sponge. He applied the first coat of leather dye to the outer face of the leather material really working the deep purple into it. After, he gave it a clean with a dye prep first. Max left the leather to dry, taking off his gloves and went back to the templates. He had a roll of silk blend fabric that was a scarlet colour he would line the inside of the garment with this he also had a roll of black nylon fabric that would act like a backing. He marked them out with the chalk and a template he used a pair of sturdy dress making scissors to cut everything out then he pinned them together and used a small Singer sewing machine to stitch everything together. After he was happy with it he put it to one side and returned to the leather. Putting his gloves on, he gave it another coat of the dark purple dye. 
  Max set about measuring the back of the jacket. He cut out straps for nine fastenings that would close the back of it over the top of the laces-they would be completely redundant but they where what Ginger wanted.

  The old man got a hole punch and slowly, meticulously cut out the holes for all of the straps he also cut out sections that would be attached to the buckles. Max laid them out on a tray then took them out and coloured the eighteen pieces of leather on the front side with a purple dye. He looked at the straps and compared them to the jacket, getting a second bottle of purple dye and added a second coat. 
  Max left it for a few hours to work on a different project. Returning to the leather, he ran his fingers up against the inside of the hide. It was too stiff and too coarse. He got a cloth and began to apply a leather softener to inside of the garment. He took a long time adding a coat then leaving it to dry and then working on the pieces in rotation until he had impregnated the leather with three coats of the softener so that while it kept its form it was still more malleable. 
  As an afterthought, Max got the straps and added leather softener to the back of the straps to make them more flexible, again slowly working through the leather until he had given each piece three coats, keeping the entire project consistent.
  Max felt the underside of the leather. It seemed to be smooth enough for what he wanted. Max looked at the inside of the garment. It was not quite the way he liked to finish his goods. He got a bottle of black dye and very carefully coated the inside of each piece of leather in black dye making sure that there was a uniform look and quality to the build. Max pulled out a slicking wheel-a wooden wheel that would be attached to a Dremel and run along the edges of the pieces of leather to give a nice smooth burnished finish. Max used a natural product called gum tragacanth and treated all the edges on the pieces of leather half an hour of careful work and the edge of each bit of leather was perfectly smooth then he carefully dyed the edges of every bit of leather purple using a cotton swab and a little dye making sure that the entire build was again fairly uniform. 

  Max left the leather to dry for a while and worked on other projects for the rest of the day. The next day he started the process of assembling the leather jacket by marking out where the stitching would go. He used a tool called an edge groover on the main pieces of leather to slowly cut a channel around the edges of the leather sections that would be joined together to make the jacket it was a time consuming process slowly rotating and marking each piece of leather. When the leather was marked out he got a tool called a pricking iron, the pricking iron was like a metal comb where every end was sharp when hammered into the leather it would cut holes, ready to be stitched. 
  He also had a piece of hard wood to hammer into and a mallet. Max Slowly used the pricking iron on the leather to produce stitching holes using the channels to guide his tools. Max got together all the parts he would need and started to clamp the pieces he was working on together with rubber clamps. He used a type of thread called artificial sinew to stitch together the leather and the backing slowly piece by piece the garment started to come together. 
  His age started to get the better of him as his hand began to cramp up after he was half way through the job. Max decided to call it a day he would return the next day to continue.

  With a new day Max rose with new enthusiasm and he started to stitch until the garment was finally in place. A certain glue and the liner was held in place. Max finished sowing all the bits and pieces of leather together then got a cup of tea. 
  He returned and added the liner to the garment so that it would be more comfortable, not much more comfortable but certainly a little better. Max carefully marked out the positions for the laces down the back then added bronze eyelets into the leather. The area was strengthened with a second layer of leather. The eyelets had to be quite deep to fit through both layers and a special tool was needed to set them firmly in place. 
  Max had very little left to do but he was going to finish the project carefully, taking his time-he would make it perfect. He carefully marked out the positions for the straps before punching the holes out for them, finishing the straps and adding the buckles.  
  The old man installed the straps onto the back of the jacket, riveting them in place. Max wanted the jacket to have a fine finish so added a strong waterproofing compound then shined the leather up with a polish and a buffing pad. He left the jacket to dry then returned after twenty minutes with a pack of very heavy purple laces designed for serious corsets. 
  He laced the garment up from neck to waist. He put the jacket on a stand took a few photos to email to Ginger. Later, Max carefully wrapped the heavy leather article in a black cloth and put it at the back of his work shop.

  Two days later one of Amanda and Ginger’s friends Liz stopped by Max’s workshop, at about mid day. She pulled up in a pale blue Mini and parked it at the back of the workshop. S
  Liz wore a long blue dress and sensible shoes. She was quite conservative by comparison to her friends but inside she shared many of Ginger and Aurora’s passions. Liz was a tall, thin girl. 
  Max started to get the present out of the storage area and she couldn’t resist taking a peak-she seemed to be a bit jealous of Ginger. The old geezer looked at her and told her that he was only making one of them before she could even ask the question. 
  She looked disappointed but helped him carry the jacket to the boot of her car. Liz thanked Max for his assistance in making Ginger’s idea a reality and assured him that it would be the perfect present. Max waved her good bye and set about pottering around with a few smaller projects.

  Later that day at Liz’s apartment Liz helped Ginger prepare for a party-a very special party. 
  Ginger was in the bedroom. She was wearing a collar, a push up bra and a very tightly applied stainless steel chastity belt. The rest of her clothes were neatly folded up in a corner of the room and she looked towards the cloth-wrapped bundle with anticipation. 
  Liz looked at the tightly applied chastity belt and whistled;
    “What did you get up to?” A naughty look and a smirk spread across Gingers face;
    “I might have teased mistress Aurora a bit,” Ginger looked at the bundle, “…did you have any trouble getting it here?”
  Liz looked at it;
    “Not really Max was a dear and helped me load it into my car but getting it out was a bit of a problem. It’s so heavy. I swear I want one too! Getting it in here was a bit of a struggle. Getting it to the party one of the neighbours helped me with my luggage,” Ginger grinned as Liz continued, “…of course, he didn’t know what’s in the luggage.” 
  Liz looked at her clapping her hands together and rubbing them;
    “Let’s get started! I have a feeling that this is going to take a while…”
  Ginger put her arms behind her back slowly. She worked them into place using every bit of her flexibility to get her hands wrapped around her upper arms. 
  She groaned with the strain and winced a little but her arms were held in place very neatly and tightly tucked out of the way. Ginger grew impatient as Liz fought against the lacing on the jacket-she had to undo about three thirds of it to get it loose enough to slip the garment over Ginger’s head!
  Liz immediately started to pull the laces taught. The leather closed tightly around Ginger’s body, locking her arms behind her back in their tightly folded position.     
  Ginger had asked for the garment to be tighter around her middle-it certainly was. Inch by inch Liz laced the garment closed. It would take some time, not that Ginger had any option or desire to be anywhere else... 
  The leather creaked. Liz would lace a few eyelets down the back of the jacket, tugging all the laces through, grip them and give the jacket a few good tugs to get it closed she continued this pattern for ten minutes. 
  Ginger was reduced to some very shallow breathing, panting for each breath. Liz found herself panting from the exertion; it certainly took a lot of effort to get the jacket closed!
  Finally, Liz got the lacing all the way to the bottom of the jacket with a great deal of effort. She pulled the laces all the way closed and Ginger’s body was tightly clamped in the leather embrace.  
  She waited for Liz to stop lacing and tie the knot then Ginger started to squirm about in the jacket. It was so tight, so stiff from her neck to her waist-it was merciless! She had no escape. 
  Liz slapped her on the ass;
    “Stop playing about! I have to finish with the straps.” 
  Ginger groaned and stopped playing as Liz tucked the laces away and started to tightly buckle the straps down the back of the jacket they were redundant detail but they gave it an even more dominating aesthetic.

  Ginger squirmed about in the garment looking for any flaw, any way to escape from the very tight jacket. Her hands were useless as the leather tightly held them in place. 
  The laces had been closed punishingly tight even if they were cut the leather straps would hold the garment together she had no way to reach either it was completely escape proof she was completely at the mercy of those around her. There was a knock on the door…
  Max was dressed up in a three piece suit that was neatly pressed and folded he had a red bowtie and cummerbund, a little hickory walking stick and a stove pipe hat. Liz looked at him and at the hat;
    “I don’t think those were ever in fashion even when you were young.” 
  Max grinned;
    “At my age I can have a few eccentricities. I have my tools in the van does anything need to be adjusted?” Ginger fixed Max with a look in her eyes;
    “Bloody Hell Max this thing is so tight I have no chance of escaping it,” she paused for effect and smiled, “…its perfect, thanks! Now Liz will finish wrapping Mistress Aurora‘s present!” 
  Max shook his head;
    “It’s Amanda.” A look shot across Gingers face;
    “Only you get to call Mistress That Max. Now you go to the party. I am having my self delivered fashionably late!” Liz kissed him on the cheek and Ginger kissed him on his hat brim. Max wandered off to his van to get to the party and Liz set about adding the finishing touches to the ‘present’.

  Ginger smiled as Liz rummaged around in a bag. She brought out an absolutely massive purple gall gag. The gag must have easily been three or more inches across but it was made of a really soft very flexible rubber that would easily squeeze to shape. It had a thick main strap and a smaller strap that went under the chin. Eagerly Ginger held her jaw open in anticipation Liz pushed the massive rubber ball into her mouth she got a good grip on Ginger’s face and used her thumbs to forcefully push the gag home. She went around the back behind her victim moving her hair out of the way she tightly buckled the gag and then pulled the gag strap beneath Ginger’s chin tight. 
  Ginger looked at Liz with begging eyes. Liz grumbled then strapped the gag even tighter at her request. After the gag Liz pulled out a thick purple spandex hood it had two holes for Gingers nostrils and a space at the back for her plait of long red hair to be pulled through. Liz carefully fed Ginger’s hair through the hole then pulled the hood down tightly over her head. She lined up the breathing holes then made sure that the hood was in place comfortably over Ginger’s head giving her a sort of sensory deprivation. 
  Then Liz pulled a pair of purple tights from the bag it was fairly easy to get Ginger to step into them and then pull them up her long legs to her waist. She smoothed them out over body so that there were no creases kinks or wrinkles. The next step was a pair of purple ballet heel boots that would go up to her calf. Liz helped ginger to sit down on a sofa then she tightly laced each of Ginger’s feet into the impossible boots. 
  Ginger tried to stand up, tottered for two steps then Liz caught her. She brought her over to an open black travel bag which had a handle and wheels. Liz felt it was fairly easy to get a large purple luggage strap and wrap it around Ginger’s body pushing her knees tightly into her chest and her ankles hard up against her bottom. Ginger grunted enthusiastically into her gag. Liz sighed and pulled the strap a little tighter, pushing Ginger all the way into the case and closed and zipped the lid shut. 
  The case had been specially modified with several hidden vents all around it so that air was coming in from every side. The case was also strengthened so that it would not collapse if something else was stacked on top of it. Finally Liz got a large purple bow and stuck it on the suit case. She put on her own party clothes-blue bra and panties, a pair of blue stockings, heels-a long voluminous blue dress and a blue silver and sapphire necklace. She called around to a neighbour that had promised her a hand with the case. The middle aged man was puffing a little, helping to carry it never guessing what the contents could be only that it was a present for a party and had to be handled with care. 

  The party was being held at Amanda’s residence. She lived with Ginger in a big four storey town house. It was on a nice road and was very centrally located. 
  There were guests everywhere, a DJ, a barman, several waiters and other staff served drinks and food to a large number of guests both friends, family and colleagues though the large basement was locked off limits to most guests. 
  There were decorations everywhere-balloons banners glitter and streamers. A very large party was going on for her 25th birthday. The hostess wore a light purple pants suit she had a silk blouse three inch purple heels her hair was black and carefully pulled back. She wore simple understated make up and looked completely at home-the mistress of her environment. 

  Max ended up at the party after finding a parking spot. He gave Amanda a piece of jewellery that had belonged to her grandmother and she hugged him and made sure that he had a drink before going on to welcome the next wave of guests. 
  Max was left slowly eating a vol-au-vent and talking to a rather butch girl with tattoos about carpentry. Liz arrived, she brought in the gift wrapped case. Mistress Aurora looked at the suit case with interest. Liz smiled and handed the case to her;     
    “Several of us worked together to get you this.” Aurora carefully removed the bow and opened the case she gasped in surprise and a smile spread across her face. The ratchet strap was released and Ginger was allowed out of the box she submissively kneeled at her mistress’s feet. 
  Aurora stroked her head as she spoke to Max and Liz;
    “Max I see your hand in this, you are a true craftsman! Liz I am sure you got Ginger into this, thank you for wrapping my present!” Mistress Aurora patted her slave girl, “Ginger you have been a marvelously naughty slave girl. I will have to keep you like that for quite a while.” Ginger mewed into her gag in anticipation and excitement as Aurora reached out and slowly stroked her present.