by Van © 2025
		Chapter 2

The sun rose on the first day of The Great Vacation, and over the course of the first half of that bright and seasonably warm morning The Great Vacationers began to appear, one-by-one, all five of them.  (Nicole was the sixth Vacationer, of course, but as she lived in Grey Mansion she didn't need to appear.)  The staggered arrivals meant five separate rounds of hugging, air-kissing, and feminine squealing were required, and each time they escalated in intensity and the number of participants as two became three, three became four, four became five, and finally, all six were present.

Robin Tunney as... Robyn Brandon (aka "Birdie")

The first arrival was Robyn "Birdie" Brandon, Eppi's mom.  Like her daughter (and despite her "elderly condition"), Robyn was both beautiful and cute, and like her daughter she maintained an athletic (and curvaceous) physique.  That said, there were two significant differences between Robyn and Eppi.

(1)  Unlike Eppi's adorable brown doe eyes, Robyn's eyes were pale blue,  In fact, they were as striking and remarkable as Nicole's blue peepers.  Obviously Eppi got her brown eyes from her paternal unit.  Genetics.  What ya gonna do?

(2)  Robyn's hair was longish, somewhat shorter that her daughter's, and more importantly, she lacked Eppi's trademark bangs.  Why?  Who knows.  No bangs had been Birdie's preference for her entire life.

The important thing, however, was that both Brandons were certified knockouts.

Ruth Wilson as... Rosalyn Reid (aka "Rosie")

Rosyln "Rosie" Reid drove up a half hour behind Birdie.  Enid's mom was also beautiful, with blue eyes and hair similar to Robyn's, but rather than being cute, Rosie's features were... interesting.  Roslyn was beautiful, but had character, she radiated presence, and her lips had a natural pout.  She was cute, but it was a special kind of cute.

Also, whereas Rosie was comely (like her daughter), her unique beauty wasn't as "classic" as Enid's girlish pulchritude.  That said, did Rosyln turn heads wherever she went?  Hell yes.

The entire younger generation arrived over the course of the next hour.  First came Eppi... then Enid... and finally Faith returned to the bosom of her loving mother.

"Pumpkin!"

"Mummy!"

Eppi and Enid exchanged an amused look and shared the same thought:  Pumpkin?

If the feline residents of Coffee & Clowder had been present they would have been truly disgusted; however (not counting the "Pumpkin" issue), the humans witnessing the mother/daughter reunion reacted with the expected tolerant enthusiasm.

Anyway... the roster of vacationers was complete and Grey Mansion's carriage-house/garage was cluttered with five strange vehicles not owned by Nicole and John, her absent husband.  (John was in Europe on an extended business trip.)

Birdie and Rosie had already been shown to their guest bedrooms while they'd been waiting for the girls to arrive, and now Nicole was leading a veritable Parade of Guests through the mansion as she parceled out guest bedrooms to the girls.  (Faith didn't need a guest room, of course, as she'd be in her childhood bedroom, the "Pumpkin Palace" as her mother called it.)

The mansion's pair of maids-of-all-purpose (Marsha and Doris, both in their twenties) dealt with the luggage.  The vacationers weren't lazy, but they were on vacation so they didn't feel too guilty.

Lunch was served promptly at noon.  The chosen venue was outdoors at a large teak table and chairs set under the hefty arbor supporting the estate's giant wisteria.  The menu was simple, mere sandwiches, but describing Cook's sandwiches as "mere" was a gross understatement and an egregious misrepresentation of her talents.

Cook had employed seafood, roasted fowl, cured meats, soft and hard cheeses, common and exotic leafy materials, sliced vegetables (including vegetables that botanically were actually fruits), as well as countless condiments.  Just about every regional cuisine on the planet was represented, and everything was presented in the form of small half-sandwiches to encourage nibbling... or grazing... and especially the trying of new things.  "Mere" sandwiches?  Hah!

Samantha Sloyan as... Sadie Gallagher (aka "Cook")

The sandwich chef herself carried out the huge platter piled high with her best efforts and was greeted with gasps and enthusiastic applause.

All the vacationers already knew Cook (Sadie Gallagher), and Faith (Pumpkin) couldn't remember a time when the friendly, smiling, and gorgeous redhead hadn't been an important part of her life at the mansion.  Cook was practically Faith's second mother.  She was certainly more than a servant.  Well, she was a servant, but Cook was a special kind of servant... a fairy godmother kind of servant who was a sorceress in the kitchen and could always be counted on for a snack (even if she always insisted on something nutritious when what Pumpkin really wanted was something sweet).  The bottom line was that Faith and Cook went all the way back, and were very good friends despite the age difference.

Oh-by-the-way, Sadie Gallagher was a red-haired, freckle-faced knockout!  When the meal preparation schedule allowed, Cook could often be found in the mansion's well-equipped gymnasium or swimming in the pool enclosed in the greenhouse.  Also, she was blessed with "Irish Good Looks" in the form of green eyes, peachy-pink skin prone to freckles, and red (ginger) hair she kept cropped in what was either a long pixie, a short pageboy, or a wedge-cut.  The coif was practical (given her profession), and everybody agreed it was quite attractive... like the rest of her.

Also oh-by-the-way, Cook was more than Cook.  She was Grey Mansion's de facto major-domo, seneschal, and chief of staff.  She supervised the maids (Marsha and Doris), as well as the landscaping contractor, and was very good at it.  Cook knew everything about everything that was happening or was scheduled to happen at the mansion.  (She was also privy to Mistress Nicole's "hobby," meaning what went on under the mansion and behind the not-so-secret door off the wine cellar.)

Did Nicole know that Cook knew?  Did Cook know that Nicole knew that she knew?  Who knows?

After lunch the maternal vacationers strolled around the gardens, chatting and laughing.  Then, they changed into exercise togs and made use of the mansion's gym to enjoy a good workout, all the while continuing to gossip and make plans for shopping, hiking, and horseback riding excursions.

As for the younger generation, they scampered back to their rooms, changed into their swimsuits, and strolled down to Grey Lake for a little sunbathing on the shore and swimming out to the bottom-tethered platform floating thirty yards from shore.

To be more precise, Eppi and Enid arrived at the lake dressed in bikinis with rolled beach towels tucked under their arms.  Faith had a tucked towel as well, but was wearing a very pretty blue happi-coat-style robe with a bold white wave pattern and (apparently) nothing underneath.  In addition to towels, all three were toting sunglasses and bottles of sunscreen.

Standing and smiling at the kitchen window, Cook watched as the daughters arrived at the green lawn above the lake's narrow sand beach, spread their towels side by side in a neat row, and prepared to soak in the rays.  She pulled out her iPhone and sent a quick message to Doris delegating the maid to carry a small ice chest with bottled water and other beverages out to the lake in about an hour.

Cook continued watching and was in no way surprised when Faith peeled off her robe and was wearing nothing underneath.  The younger Grey only wore a swimsuit when "strangers" were at the mansion, and obviously Eppi, Enid, and their moms didn't fall into that category.  Besides, like her mother, Faith's glorious all-over tan required maintenance.

Anyway, the three Gen-Z cuties slathered themselves with lotion, reclined on their towels, donned their sunglasses... and settled in for a hardcore bout of basking.  Cook's smile took on a slightly leering quality.  It was several yards to the lake-shore, but not so far that she couldn't appreciate the sleek, glistening bodies of Pumpkin and her two young friends.  Then, Cook's smile broadened when Eppi sat up and released the strings of her bikini... followed by the bikini itself.. slathered lotion on her pale-pink breasts, bikini-region, and butt... then lay back down on her towel.  An additional minute passed... with Cook continuing to gaze at the scenery and sip a mug of coffee... then Enid caved to peer pressure, stood, tugged and wiggled out of her bikini (it wasn't of the string variety), slathered the sun-starved regions of her anatomy with lotion, then reclined on her towel once again.

Cook finished her coffee and glanced at the kitchen's large wall clock.  She had time for exercise before beginning dinner preparations and decided she could fit in a quick two mile run on one of the estate's forest trails.  She strolled through the mansion to the locker room off the gym and changed into a pair of trail-runners, brief and baggy running shorts, and a sports bra.  Faith had her all-over tan to look after, but Cook/Sadie had her extensive freckle collection to nurture (and unfortunately trail-running au naturel was frowned upon).  She passed the greenhouse on the way and noted that the sunbathers' three maternal units were splashing in the pool.  She couldn't tell if any or all of them were wearing swimsuits, but if past was prologue it was a very good bet that Mistress Nicole at least was as nude as her daughter down by the lake.

Dinner that first night was a burgers-brats-and-beer barbecue feast under the wisteria.  By the time everybody had eaten their fill it was full night.  All the staff but Cook had clocked out and left the mansion for the evening, but not to worry.  Eppi, Enid, and Faith volunteered to handle the cleanup.

Cook put her foot down and absolutely refused!  The youngsters were guests, not servants!

Faith smiled and told her to get over herself and stop channeling Downton Abby.  Then, together with her giggling friends, hurried into the kitchen and set to work.

The maternal units giggled as well.

Cook smiled, rolled her eyes, then hurried after the daughters to make sure they didn't do too much damage to her kitchen.

Significantly less than an hour later the main kitchen, the outdoor kitchen, and the table under the wisteria were all spic and span.  Cook thanked her helpers and retired to her cottage.  Nicole set the mansion's alarm, all six vacationers wished each other good night, then retired to their respective bedrooms.

The empty hallways and rooms were quiet, the Gothic Revival architecture and decor conspired with the darkness to make Grey Mansion decidedly spooky, and not a creature was stirring... until...

Two bedroom doors silently opened and Eppi and Enid emerged and crept down the hallway to The Pumpkin Palace (Faith's bedroom).  Eppi was wearing panties and a tank-top, her usual pajamas, whereas Enid was resplendent in a skimpy, virtually transparent, pale-blue, baby-doll-style nightie.  Both were padding on bare feet.  They didn't bother knocking but eased Faith's door open (quietly), crossed the threshold, then quietly eased it closed behind them.

Faith was reclined against a pile of pillows on her queen-size four-poster bed and wearing her usual pajamas: nothing.  Like her mother, Faith slept in the nude.

Eppi rolled her pretty brown eyes as she padded towards the bed.  "Put something on," she ordered Faith.  "You're embarrassing Enid."

Enid blushed and lightly punched Eppi's right upper-arm.  "Stop it!" she muttered.

Faith smiled, climbed off the bed, and donned the happi-coat she'd worn down to the lake, thus restoring (establishing) her modesty (somewhat).

The current clandestine meeting had been arranged while they were sunbathing, and as their maternal units were all sleeping in rooms in an entirely different wing of the mansion, there was little chance they'd be discovered and/or disturbed.  In Pumpkin's not especially intense Angst Ridden Teenage Rebellion Period, she'd insisted/demanded that she should move into a bedroom as far away as possible from her mother and father's gigantic Master Bedroom.  Therefore, the current Pumpkin Palace was not the original Pumpkin Palace, which had been the nursery right next to her parents.

Anyway, Faith might have called the "critically important meeting," but she'd been frustratingly vague and nonspecific about the agenda and other details (other than location).

Back to the present... Eppi and Enid stared at Faith.

Tightening the sash of her happi-coat, Faith smiled at Eppi and Enid.

"Well?" Eppi said finally.

"Our mothers share a dark secret," Faith intoned ominously.

Eppi and Enid exchanged puzzled frowns, then turned back to Faith.  "What?" they demanded in unison.

"I said, our mothers share a dark secret," Faith reiterated.

Eppi and Enid rolled their eyes (brown and blue, respectively).

"We heard you, doofus," Eppi huffed.  "What dark secret?"

Faith opened the drawer of her right bedside table and produced a leather-bound journal.  "One of Mother's college diaries," she said, "or maybe we should call it her college gaming journal.  I pilfered it from its hiding place in her private library."

"Gaming?" Enid inquired.

"You mean... Dungeons and Dragons?" Eppi suggested, still frowning.  "What's so dark and secret about playing D&D?  Everybody plays D&D at college.  Everybody who's interesting, anyway."

Enid was skeptical.  "Even way back then?  Even in the UK?  Even at Cambridge?"

"I don't know," Faith admitted, then waved the journal or diary or record still in her hand.  "But D&D wasn't the game they were playing.  These are the rules of a game they invented."

"And by 'they' you mean all three of our mothers?" Eppi asked.

Faith nodded, smiling broadly, then returned the journal to the drawer and slid it closed.  "I'll let you guys read it later... secretly, of course... Mummy doesn't know I, uh, borrowed it... but I'll explain the rules."  She pointed at her slightly rumpled bed.  "Sit."

Eppi and Enid exchanged another look... then clamored onto the bed and settled into cross-legged semi-lotus poses.  There was plenty of room.

"They named their game the EAP," Faith explained.

Eppi frowned.  "Eeep?" she stated, "as in 'Eeep, a mouse?!'"

"You mean 'Eeek, a mouse,'" Enid corrected.

"E-A-P," Faith clarified, "short for 'Effugere Artifex Provocatione,' or 'Escape Artist Challenge'... I think.  I never studied Latin.""

"Pretentious much?" Eppi muttered, "meaning the name, not you."

Enid leaned close and once again lightly punched Eppi's arm.  "Hey, it was Cambridge.  Cut 'em some slack."

"Stop doing that," Eppi muttered, rubbing her arm.

"Anyway," Faith continued with a grin, "back to the game.  They cut cards to decide who would be escaping and who would tie them up so they needed to escape, and they kept score."

Eppi frowned again.  (She was doing a lot of frowning this evening.)  "Wait.  Tie them up?  They tied each other up?"

"B-bondage?" Enid gasped.  "You're talking about bondage!  They invented their own bondage game?!"

Faith nodded.  "And they had rules.  First of all, no clothing.  The bindee had to be nude.  That way they could be sure no illegal escape aids were secreted about their person."

Eppi and Enid blushed and started blinking their brown and blue eyes, respectively.  Faith neither blushed nor blinked, but then she'd had sufficient time to process the mental image of their college age mothers tying each other up in the nude.

"Second rule," Faith continued, "it had to be rope.  No handcuffs, chains, padlocks, cable-ties, or multiple rolls of any kind of tape.  The bindee had to have a fighting chance at untying herself and thus being a successful escapee."

"That's reasonable," Enid nodded (still blushing).  She noticed Eppi staring at her.  "Well... it is.  It would make it a contest between the binder and the bindee, a contest of complementary skills."

"Exactly," Faith nodded.  "Third rule: the bindee had exactly one hour to escape."

"Also reasonable," Enid stated.

"Whatever," Eppi huffed.

"And finally," Faith added, "everybody had to take part, both as binder and bindee."  Her smile broadened.  "I think we ought to try it."

"Are you mental?" Eppi gasped.  "No way."

"You aren't the least bit curious?" Faith purred.

"Yes," Eppi said evenly, "I'm the least bit curious, as least as a bit can be and still be a bit.  In fact, I'm less than the least bit.  I'm zero bit curious.  Less than that.  I'm negative bit curious."

"I'm curious," Enid said quietly, "on the intellectual level... but I don't know anything about tying people up."

Faith's smile became a mischievous smirk.  "I got ya covered," she purred.

Eppi and Enid watched as Faith scrambled from the bed, padded to a bookshelf, then reached behind several normal-size leather-bound volumes and produced a trade-size paperback book.  She then padded back to the bed, resumed her former comfy position reclined against the pillows, and tossed the book to Enid.

"Douglas Kent's Complete Shibari," Enid read aloud.  On the cover was a cute cartoon brunette wearing a white thong and a short white T-shirt.  Her arms were folded behind her back and rope was binding her upper body.  Enid opened the book and started leafing through the pages.  "It's a 'how-to' book!"

"Goody," Eppi drawled (sarcastically).  "What's Shibari?  It sounds... Japanese?"

"It is," Faith nodded.  "It means 'tying.'  You might also hear Kinbaku, which means 'tight-binding'... or Kinbaku-bi, which means 'the art of tight-binding.'"

"It's got photos," Enid observed, still leafing through the paperback volume.

"I'm happy for you," Eppi drawled, then focused on Faith.  "No.  No tying each other up.  Not gonna happen.  No way."

Faith's smile broadened (and became wicked).  "But just think about our mother's reactions if they found out!"

"You mean if your mother finds out you've been rifling through her personal papers?" Enid purred as she continued reading.

Eppi grinned.  "Ya didn't think about that, did ya?" she chuckled.

Faith grinned back.  "Mummy will get over it, and none of them can get too judgmental.  We'd only be doing what they did when they were our age.  When they were younger, in fact!  And the embarrassment!  Just imagine the embarrassment!  It would be epic!"

"It would," Enid nodded, then turned a page.

"It would," Eppi conceded quietly, then shook her head.  "No.  Nuh-huh."

Enid and Faith focused on Eppi with disappointed frowns.

"No," Eppi responded, shaking her head again.

Enid and Faith continued frowning and staring.

"Oh... you guys," Eppi sighed.  "Okay.  We can try it... but only once, right?"

"Brilliant," Faith beamed, then leaned to the bedside table, opened the drawer, and produced a deck of playing cards.

Enid had returned to her reading.  "There's just one problem," she intoned.

"Just one?" Eppi chuckled.

"None of us know what we'd be doing," Enid continued.

"Speak for yourself," Faith purred as she removed the deck from its box and started shuffling the cards.  She nodded at the book in Enid's hand.  "I've already read it, and I know all the rules and bylaws of the EAP-game by heart."

"Cheater," Eppi accused.

"So," Faith continued, still smiling wickedly and continuing to deftly shuffe the deck, "since I'm already qualified and know what I'm doing, and to expedite things... I'll go first!  As the binder, I mean."  She stopped shuffling and fanned out the cards on the bedspread, face-down.  "Which means all we need is for you two to cut the cards for the honor of being the first bindee."

Eppi and Enid stared at the neatly arrayed cards... then at each other... then at the cards.

"Low card is bindee," Faith explained (unnecessarily).

Finally... Enid carefully selected a card, gazed at it... then held it close to her bosom with its face against her body.

Eppi went next, reaching out and making a selection of her own.

And then... in unison... Enid and Eppi revealed their cards.

Nearly an hour later & still in The Pumpkin Palace...

---

The pillows piled against the headboard of Faith's four-poster bed had been redistributed.

Still wearing her blue and white Happi-coat, Faith was reclined against half of the pillows, and to her right Enid was reclined against the other half, still wearing her skimpy, pale-blue, and gauze-thin baby-doll nightie.  Once again Enid was reading Douglas Kent's Complete Shibari.  Faith, on the other hand, was smiling at the foot of her bed... and Eppi.

Eppi was not smiling back.  Eppi felt she had very little to smile about.  She had begrudgingly removed her tank-top and panties and was now naked.  Also, she was tightly and thoroughly bound with an excess of conditioned hemp rope.  Eppi, considered it an excess, anyway.  Obviously, she'd lost the card cutting.  Eppi's selection had been the five of diamonds (5♦)... while Enid's had been the eight of clubs (8♣).  Dammit!

Faith had released the cinch securing a coil of hemp rope, doubled it, found its center, then set to work.  Dedicated to the virtuous principal of Due Diligence and intending to do her very best, Faith had taken her time and made a job of it.

As for the details of the Designated Bindee's final predicament:

(1)  Eppi's arms were folded behind her back—forearm against forearm and wrists against their opposite elbows—with neat bands of horizontal rope passing above and below her boobs and tightly pinning her upper-arms against her sides.  Additional strands yoked her shoulders and cinched the horizontal bands.  There was rope looped around her forearms, but nothing around her wrists; however, wrist-bondage wasn't necessary as with Eppi's elbows locked in place by the upper-body ropes, unfolding her arms was impossible and therefore she could grope her hands and flutter her fingers all she wanted but couldn't untie anything.  It didn't help that Faith had positioned all the key knots below Eppi's shoulder blades and well beyond her reach.

(2)  Eppi's ankles were crossed and thoroughly lashed together.

(3)  Eppi's legs were folded back until her heels hovered above her bare butt, several strands of rope linked her ankle-bonds to the nexus of her upper-body-bonds, then were knotted and tightly and closely wrapped, expending all of the remaining rope.

With a smug smile Faith explained to Enid that the upper-body bondage was called a "box-tie" and the entire arrangement a "hogtie."  She pointed to the copy of Complete Shibari still in Enid's hands.  "I have other bondage reference works I can loan you."

Enid's smile brightened.  "Oh, goodie!  Gimme!"

"Tomorrow," Faith chuckled, then slapped Eppi's left butt cheek, scrambled from the bed, padded to her chest of drawers, and returned with a neatly folded cotton bandana (in medium blue with the usual white stylized paisley pattern) and a long, thin, summer-weight scarf (in heather gray).

"Hands!" Eppi complained, "No spanking!"  This was soon followed by "Mrrrf!" as Faith had crumpled the bandana into a loose wad, stuffed it into Eppi's indignant mouth—"Nrrrrm!"—then centered the narrowly folded scarf over the cotton stuffing and between the bindee's teeth and cinching it tight at the nape of her neck.  "Mrrrpfh!"

"There," Faith said (gloated) as she freed all of the strands of Eppi's brown hair from under the scarf and completed a tight square-knot.  She then scrambled up the bed and resumed her place against her half of the piled pillows.

The book was still open in Enid's hands, but now her somewhat wide-eyed gaze was on Eppi... who was glaring back.  "Get your phone," she said to Faith.

Faith grinned.  "Do you want to make a call or take a photo?"

Enid rolled her blue eyes.  "You need to start a timer.  We have to insure Eppi gets her full quota of 3,600 seconds to wiggle free."

"Yes, one hour," Faith nodded solemnly.  "She gets one hour to escape."  She then leaned to the left nightstand, retrieved her iPhone, and began tapping and gliding her way to the Timer function of her Clock app.  "Which ring-tone should I use?  She needs her own ring-tone.  We all need our own ring-tones."

Enid nodded.  "Hmm... a difficult choice.  We should listen to all of them... one-by-one... to find the one that suits her best."

"It's a long list," Faith observed.

"Aesthetics are important," Enid intoned.

Eppi glared at both of her bed-companions, then started squirming and struggling, seeking a weakness in Faith's handiwork.  She'd decided not to wait for the ring-tone issue to be resolved.

Faith and Enid listened to the entire list of ring-tones... gradually narrowing the list... and finally agreed that "Chalet" was as good a signature ring-tone for Eppi as any.  Faith set the timer at "1 hours," "00 min," and "0 sec"... paused to smile (gloat) at her squirming and glowering bindee... then tapped the green "Start" button.

And thus, formally, the first session of the first round of the younger generation's version of their mothers' EAP-game began.