The Marriage Secret by Studbound The Marriage Secret By Studbound Park Hill was a fashionable upscale neighbourhood where many employees of the Star Software Company lived. Star was a large company that maintained a work force of over ten thousand - many developing software. The company was known for its innovations and creativity. Park Hill was known for its expensive houses with three-car garages, well washed children, and herds of Sports Utility Vehicles. Many in the community hired crews of blue-collar workers (who lived elsewhere) to tend their lawns and gardens or do the housework. A few families even had a full-time cook and housekeeper. It was that kind of place. The company encouraged employees to live in Park Hill, and offered perks to make life there more enjoyable - day care, a large community athletic center, and so on. The only dark note in the otherwise happy community was the rather high divorce rate. It seemed that creative thinkers with advanced college degrees had an unusually difficult time keeping their marriages together. Almost everyone in the entire suburb (which was gated with a guard posted around the clock at the entrance) had seen one divorce and many were on their third marriage. The officials in the local school district often complained that almost none of the children lived with both of their natural parents. An exception was Mary-Sue Baxter and her husband, Joel. For whatever reason, the stylish Mary-Sue, known for her fashionable clothes and lavish catered parties, had stayed married to Joel for longer than anyone could remember. Joel was known to be almost fifty years old, but nobody knew Mary-Sue’s age except that she was almost certainly a little younger than her husband. The couple worked out religiously at the athletic center, and Joel, unlike many of his fellow workers, had maintained a flat stomach and a muscular physique. His daily swims in his abbreviated Speedo frequently drew the attention of other women in the community. As for Mary-Sue - well, no matter where she went, heads turned. For a woman most certainly in her forties, Mary-Sue was a “looker” - and a fair number of men around had flattered her by hitting on her although she was known to have rejected all advances. “I love my husband,” she curtly told one lothario. “So watch it!” And so it was noted in the community that the Baxter’s were about to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary. Twenty-five years of wedded bliss, and nobody knew how such an outstanding accomplishment had been executed. Certainly nobody who knew the Baxter’s had stayed with his or her spouse nearly as long. And the women who knew Mary-Sue had, for some years, been asking her what the secret was that kept her and Joel together for so long. What did the Baxter’s know that eluded all of their acquaintances? Mary-Sue would just smile and say that there was a secret indeed, but that she was not ready to share it. The enigma of the Baxter’s haunted the entire community and some made it almost a spectator sport to find out what they did that set them so dramatically apart from their peers. Finally, pressured by so many around her, Mary-Sue said that she and her husband would have an open house to celebrate their twenty-fifty anniversary. Everyone would be invited, and she would share the secret of their wedded success with all who attended. No children would be allowed at the party. Speculation ran rampant through the community with wagering that Joel had found some sex secret that satisfied his wife over and over. Some thought the answer was religion, although nobody had ever seen them in church. It had to be something spiritual that held them together - possibly some event in the past. The Baxter’s had one child - a boy, but he was grown and gone. Maybe they had lost a child - maybe they had some common background or experience that had formed a tight bond between them. The invitations went out - hundreds of them - involving all of the friends and acquaintances both in the neighbourhood and on the job - with the strict proviso in bold type that NO CHILDREN ATTEND. That, of course, only heightened the anticipation. When Saturday, June 10th, rolled around, people throughout Park Hill, and beyond, gravitated toward the Baxter house to congratulate the happy couple, and hopefully to discover their secret. Mary-Sue was gracious greeting couples and guests as they arrived, and inviting them into her house. The tables were laid with a large cake and other hors d’oeuvres - expensive caviar. Expensive wine and champagne flowed for all who were thirsty. Mary-Sue circulated among the guests, but Joel was notable by his absence. The conversations were pleasant, soft music played in the background and everyone seemed to be having a good time - but there was an air of anticipation. When would Mary-Sue and Joel reveal the secret - and where was Joel? After about an hour, when the house and garden behind were both full of guests, Mary-Sue asked for attention. It was quiet - hushed as everyone watched. “All of you have wondered how Joel and I have maintained our marriage for a quarter of a century. We love each other, of course, but there is a secret.” Mary-Sue walked over to the entrance to a side hallway, which had been blocked off with an embroidered tapestry. Pulling a cord, Mary-Sue rolled up the tapestry. Sitting on a sturdy chair, facing out from the hall toward the guests was Joel. There were gasps. People stood rather startled. Mary-Sue watched and smiled. Joel was nude except for the following: a straitjacket, a large black leather gag, a black lycra thong, three leg binders, and finally a few leather belts that held him fast to the chair. Joel looked out over his gag at the guests. And they starred back - some in disbelief, others eventually smiling – and still others eager to get closer for a better look. With the gag covering much of his face, it was hard to tell what Joel was thinking, but the looks on the faces of his observers exposed clearly the range of emotions and thoughts that circulated around the room. “An explanation is probably in order,” said Mary-Sue after a few moments, as people began to recover from the initial start of seeing the bound and gagged Joel. “Early on in our marriage we had problems. We had played with a little bondage even when we were courting, and we found that Joel liked it when I tied him up but we didn’t really enjoy the reverse. Further, it irritated me when he would sit in front of the television set flicking from channel to channel.” (This statement was greeted with murmurs of agreement from the women throughout the room). “There are times when I liked to talk to Joel and share my ideas and the events of my day with him, but he would stop me, or not listen.” (More women seemed to agree that that was something they understood). “So one night I tied him up, and we sat in front of the television set and we watched what I wanted to watch. And the set stayed on one channel the entire evening. Joel never complained. The secret there is to get a good gag.” There was laughter around the room. “Well,” continued Mary-Sue, “We bought some equipment. A better gag, a straitjacket, and so on. We have a sleep sack that Joel uses some nights. Whenever there was something on that I wanted to see, he was bound and gagged. He got used to sleeping tied up. Sometimes I tie him up on Friday after dinner and he’s that way until just before he leaves for work on Monday.” “Mary-Sue,” interrupted a man standing near the back of the room, “Do you mean that all those times I called and asked to talk to Joel and you told me that he was tied up and couldn’t talk, he really was tied up and gagged?” “That’s right, Dan,” smiled Mary-Sue. “And usually when I had women in for coffee or desert, Joel was tied up in the closet in our bedroom. That’s why he never bothered us - he stayed out of the way, so to speak. And it worked out just fine. He enjoyed the bondage, and I enjoyed being in charge. And that’s how we’ve done it for twenty-five years. It was has been as simple as that. Now, I’m circulating our album showing Joel bound in a number of different ways. Pass it around and enjoy the party.” The album went from couple to couple, each thumbing through over one hundred pictures - all of Joel in various bondage positions. The Baxter revelation certainly set tongues wagging at the party and for a long time afterwards. Through the rest of the party, guests circulated around the room, many stopping by to checkout Joel’s bondage, everyone eager for their turn at the photo album. The restrained husband looked at them and nodded to respond to their comments, affirming that he was happy with his situation, and that he indeed did enjoy the restrictions that Mary-Sue so frequently imposed on him. He was a happy man. There was no question about it. And being in charge, Mary-Sue was delighted. She was the master of her house, so to speak. Of course, everyone talked about it for weeks after the party.
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