A long day

 Thomas woke up slowly. Which day was it? Saturday. Good. He turned and felt Lisa’s side of the bed. Empty. So she was up already. Did they have any plans for today? He didn’t think so.

Oh yes. He inwardly groaned. Lisa had convinced him to go along shopping with her and her friend Barbara. Why had he accepted that? Of course, Lisa could be very convincing. And in the end, he would do anything for her, so if she put her mind to something, Thomas eventually went along with it. But it would be a long day, that was sure.

Then he remembered the package. It had arrived yesterday. It was something Lisa had ordered, apparently, but she wouldn’t tell him what it was. A present for him, she’d said, and she’d show him tomorrow. That meant today. Suddenly invigorated, Thomas leapt out of bed. The parcel had been quite large. He was really curious what it was.

Lisa had prepared breakfast already. Such a sweet girl, Thomas thought. They kissed each other good morning and had breakfast at leisure. Thomas, unable to conceal his curiosity, asked about the package again. “You’ll see it soon,” Lisa smiled. “First take a shower and get dressed.” She kissed his ear in passing.

Twenty minutes later, they were in the living room. “Go ahead,” Lisa said, “open your present.” Thomas quickly started to work on the tape sealing the cardboard box until he could open it. He reached inside and felt something soft. He took it out and saw a light blue down jacket. It was big; not only was it quite long (almost knee-length, as he would soon discover) but it was also very thick. Thomas didn’t think he had ever seen a down jacket that was so heavily filled.

“Since you don’t have a proper winter jacket, I bought you this. So you don’t have to walk around in that thin jacket you normally wear and freeze to death. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Er... yes. It’s nice,” Thomas said, not wanting to offend Lisa. In truth, he was quite intimidated by the idea of wearing this jacket. It was so... huge! He imagined wearing it when he entered the office. He would look like the Michelin man!

And then he discovered something else. The jacket had big mittens attached. He took one to inspect it closer. It was sewn on the sleeve. There was no way to remove them. Not understanding the point of that, he turned to Lisa.

“Great, isn’t it? I had those attached specially. So you won’t have cold hands. And you can’t lose them. I know how careless you are with those things, so just for you, I asked them to attach the mittens to the coat. I thought of everything, didn’t I? Come on, try it on, I want to see you in it.”

Thomas didn’t really have a choice. He couldn’t object to Lisa when she was so enthusiastic. So although he had his doubts, he slid his arm into the jacket until his hand was in the mitten, then he put his other arm in. He clumsily took the zip that was dangling just above his knees with his big paws. After several attempts, he managed to connect the zip and pull it up to his chest.

“You look great in it,” Lisa beamed. At that point, Lisa’s phone went over. “Hi Barbara. ... Okay, we’ll be outside.” – “Barbara will be here in a couple of minutes, let’s go.”

So she grabbed her own coat, a black Moncler with a fur-trimmed hood. She put on her white woolen bonnet and scarf and took her matching mittens and put them in her pockets. Then she put on her brown Uggs and headed for the door. Lisa locked it (Thomas couldn’t, with those attached mittens) and pushed the elevator button.

While the elevator went down, Lisa turned to Thomas and pulled the huge, thick down hood over his head. “No, I don’t want to wear the hood,” Thomas said, pushing it down again. But Lisa was having none of it. She pulled his hood up again, saying “It’s cold outside, you need to protect your head as well.” Then she immediately zipped up his jacket all the way and tied the drawstrings of the hood. She put a thick knot in them. “Now you can’t take it off anymore,” she smiled. It was true. Thomas helplessly tried to feel the knot with his mittened hand, but he could do nothing about it. He wanted to protest, but they had arrived downstairs and Lisa was already out of the elevator.

By the time Thomas caught up with Lisa, she was outside greeting Barbara. “Hi Thomas,” she greeted him, “you are wrapped up well!” Lisa wasted no time and started showing off his jacket to Barbara. She had Barbara feel the thickness of it, discussed the attached mittens and showed her the tightly knotted hood, explaining that Thomas couldn’t open it thanks to the mittens. “It’s a nice length too,” Barbara commented, as she bent to the hem of the coat. “Yes, just above the knees,” Lisa agreed, “and it even has a drawstring here.” She experimentally pulled it tight and knotted it. “Oh, nice, you should keep it like that,” Barbara said. Thomas protested that it hindered his walking, but the girls ignored him. Thomas sighed. That’s why he hadn’t looked forward to this day. When Lisa and Barbara were together, they could talk for hours on end, and he often felt unnecessary.

They had to take a bus to get to the shops. Lisa and Barbara, talking incessantly, immediately took a double seat. Thomas, whom they seemed to have forgotten, took a seat behind them. He leaned forward and tapped Lisa’s shoulder. “Lisa, can you take my hood off?” he asked. “Just keep it on now, it’s only ten minutes.”

So Thomas had no choice but to keep his hood up on the bus, although he felt quite ridiculous. Luckily the bus ride was brief. But he had no idea that was only the beginning. Soon after arriving, they entered the first shop, and Lisa and Barbara started discussing the clothes. Thomas had to attract Lisa’s attention for a moment and asked her again to take his hood off. But the result was the same. “I’m not going to put your hood up and down the whole day, Thomas. You’ll just have to wear it,” Lisa told him. “And if you’re a good boy, you’ll get a hot chocolate later,” Barbara added with a grin.

So Thomas could only hang around and feel humiliated in his impossible thick jacket with the attached mittens and the hood up. Later both girls disappeared into changing rooms, and Thomas was left alone waiting for them to emerge. He had noticed some shop assistants glancing at him, and now a young woman walked up to him. “Can I help you?” she asked, looking straight at his hooded face. Thomas blushed. “No... eh... I’m just waiting for them.” He waved in the direction of the changing rooms.

The shop assistant walked on but then Thomas had an idea. He quickly went after her. “Excuse me. You can help with something. Could you untie my hood please?” The shop assistant gave him an odd look, but she started to work on the knot. “Can’t you do that yourself?” “No,” Thomas admitted, “these mittens are attached to my jacket. It’s my girlfriend’s idea.” The assistant managed to untie the knot and helped Thomas out of the hood. He thanked her and went back to the changing rooms.

“Ah, there you are. How did you get your hood off?” Lisa asked. “I got help from that assistant.” “I didn’t say you could take it off,” Lisa said. “Go back to her and ask her to put your hood up again.” Thomas was shocked. “But... why... I just wanted...” Lisa looked him straight in the eyes and said in a stern voice: “Do it. Now. Or else I’ll tie your hood completely shut and leave you behind somewhere. I’m serious.” Barbara couldn’t suppress a giggle at this threat, but Thomas was afraid. She wasn’t joking. He thought she might actually do it, even if just for a couple of hours. Dejected, he turned back towards the shop assistant. “And tell her to tie it tighter than it was before,” was Lisa’s parting shot.

Thomas walked up to the shop assistant again, his face crimson. “Can you tie my hood again please?” he asked. “Are you cold already? Or is it the girlfriend’s idea?” she asked. “My girlfriend,” he mumbled in embarrassment. The assistant gave him a pitying look, pulled his hood up and started pulling the strings. “Can you tie it tighter than it was at first please?” Thomas asked. The girl’s mouth twitched, as though she was about to burst into laughter, but luckily she got herself under control. “Of course,” she said, and pulled the strings tight until only a tiny hole for Thomas’ eyes and nose remained. She put a series of knots in it just like Lisa had done. “There you go. I have to say, that is an amazingly thick hood. And with such a small opening in it, I’m sure you’ll be kept warm.” Thomas didn’t reply to the comments and merely spoke a muffled “Thank you” before going back to Lisa.

With his hood tied even tighter, the rest of the day was even more of an agony. Still, you get used to anything, and Thomas found he could ignore the stares and giggles better as the day went on. So after a while, he didn’t feel too humiliated anymore. Until they were in that outdoor shop.

“Look what I found! Aren’t these perfect for Thomas?” Barbara was holding up a pair of black Moonboots. Before Thomas knew what happened, the girls were enthusiastically discussing several colors and types of Moonboots. “These black ones are really nice for you, Thomas,” Lisa said. But Thomas was horrified. Moonboots? When it didn’t snow? “I’m not wearing those,” he said with determination. Lisa seemed to reconsider. “Are you sure?” she asked. “Yes,” Thomas spoke firmly, although the effect was a bit diminished coming out from under that thick down hood. He was glad to at least have won this victory.

But Lisa quickly broke the illusion. “Okay then. Since you don’t want to wear the black Moonboots, we have two more options. Either these white ones... or these pink ones with the fur on them. Now my preference would be the pink ones. So it’s going to be those, unless you convince me you would really like to wear the white ones. Either way, you will wear Moonboots, if you ever want to be let out of that hood again.”

Thomas was desperate. He knew she’d have her way. So he gave in. “Okay, the white ones,” he said without enthusiasm. But Lisa wasn’t satisfied. “I said you had to convince me. You don’t sound convincing. I think it’ll be the pink ones then.” Thomas sighed. “I really like the white ones,” he said, “they’re beautiful. I would love to wear the white Moonboots.”

Lisa and Barbara exchanged glances, seeming to consider. “What do you think?” Lisa asked. “Hmm, I don’t know. I’m not sure he really likes them that much. And the pink ones do look nice,” Barbara said in a hesitating voice.

Thomas fell to his knees. “Please let me wear the white Moonboots. They’re my favorite shoes ever. Can I have them please?”

Lisa patted him on the hood. “Of course, dear. If you like them so much, you can have them.” She helped him up and handed him the Moonboots and some money. “Go to the cashier and buy them. We’ll look around some more. When you’re finished, ask someone to help you put them on. If you’re not wearing them by the time we get there, I’ll exchange them for the pink ones and have you wear those instead.”

Lisa and Barbara watched as Thomas left to do as told. “You see?” Barbara said, “it’s like I told you. Men are much more obedient when they are dressed in clothes that make them helpless and ridiculous.” “Yes, this is great. If I get him to dress like this the whole winter, he’ll be perfect. Have you got the videos?”

Barbara showed her phone. It had video clips of Thomas asking a shop assistant to tie his hood tightly and of Thomas begging Lisa to buy him a pair of white Moonboots.

“Thomas will be scared to death that those videos are made public. With those videos as a threat, you can make him wear whatever you want…”



Overview