Feathers and boas…
Whips, riding crops, ball gags, leather hoods with zippers over the mouth, and stuff I didn’t even knowwhatit was.
Mei-ling grabbed a plastic shopping basket and began walking along the aisles, scanning the products and putting some in her basket.
Occasionally she had me translate a label – particularly on the lubricants.
Thatwas uncomfortable.
She worked her way from the front of the store to the back, where there was a large selection of leather and latex BDSM clothes on mannequins.
Behind the mannequins were large wooden structures for sale: medieval stocks, something that looked like a gymnastics pommel horse, and six-foot-tall X’s with bindings for hands and feet.
The saleswoman – a tattooed girl with nose, lip, and eyebrow piercings – came over to help. She probably smelled the big sales commission from across the room.
Mei-ling pointed out a series of clothing items she wanted to try on. I translated the saleswoman’s questions about size.
Then Mei-ling carried the clothes into a changing room in the rear of the shop.
While she tried everything on, I stared at all the strange things around me. There was shit in there I’d never evenimaginedbefore, much lessseen.
The entire time, I thought about Emilia.
Hmmm… would she like that?
That is, if she doesn’t break UP with me after today…
I thought about my girlfriend with a heavy heart and hoped she was doing okay.
Mei-ling came back out dressed in her regular clothes. She laid several items on the counter next to the basket she’d filled up earlier.
Then she walked over to a part of the shop filled with tripods and lights on stands – apparently for filming. She selected several.
As the saleswoman rang us up, Mei-ling asked me, “Do they have sawhorses back at the warehouse?”
“…saw… horses?” I asked. My English was pretty good, but not exactly fluent.
She pointed at one of the wooden structures along the back wall. “Anything that looks like that?”
“Um… I don’t think so.”
Mei-ling turned to the saleswoman and said in halting Italian,“Anche uno solo di quelli, per favore.”
One of those, too, please.
The saleswoman beamed.“Certamente, signora.”
Certainly, ma’am.
No wonder she smiled. That commission was just getting higher and higher.
When I gave the saleswoman my credit card to pay for everything, she gave me an impish grin.
“Qualcuno si divertirà stasera.”
SOMEBODY’S going to have fun tonight.
I was about to say,No – this is for some asshole we’ve got tied up back at the warehouse–
