RetroXotique

  
"Milly, aren't you going to get dressed? I haven't even seen you in that new dress yet."

"All right, Andy. I'll do it now." Milly, clad in dressing gown, got up from the dressing table and went over to the wardrobe. She lovingly got out the dress and laid it on the bed, then fetched the corset.

"What's that for?" her husband said in surprise.

"For the dress. The woman in the shop said I had to have a corset to wear under it."

"You didn't tell me about this."

"I didn't want to think about it. It's perfect hell to wear. That's why I didn't try it on." She took off her dressing gown and fastened the corset about herself, unlaced. She picked up her stockings and shoes, put them on and fastened the suspenders, then got up and said, "Come on, Andy. You've got to help me with this." Andy took the laces nervously in his hands. "I've never done this before." "I've only done it once. Take a firm grip, brace yourself with your knee in my back, and pull." Andy pulled, and his wife gasped. "Are you all right?" "No, of course not. I'm not going to sound like I enjoy this. Just don't take any notice." He pulled again, and giggled. "The things women will do for fashion." "You're just lucky nobody expects you to have a small waist. Tighter." Andy pulled again. "I'm looking forward to seeing the new slimmer Milly." "You won't see anything if you don't get this damn thing laced tighter. Pull!"

He pulled, laughing more solidly. "Are you, sure you want to go through with this?"

"Don't ask me that! Don't make it sound like I have a choice! I've got to do this, or I can't get into my dress! Tighter!"

He pulled again, laughing even more. "Is it worth it, do you think?"

"It had better be worth it. I can hardly breathe. Tighter!"

Andy was now getting weak with laughter. He pulled again. "It's like being in a scene from a French farce, with you ordering me to lace you tighter and then gasping for breath."

"Stop laughing, Andy! It's not funny, and anyway, you'll let the laces slip. Tighter!"

Andy pulled again. "No more, please. I can't get it any tighter. Anyway, you won't be able to breathe at all if I do." "All right. Tie it off." Andy tied the laces off, still shaking with laughter. "What if the lace snaps?" "Don't talk about it," Milly gasped, as she admired her reflection. "No, really! Supposing you get the award, and you gasp with delight, and something bursts down inside your dress. What then'?" "We just hope it doesn't happen. Help me into the dress." Andy got the dress, arranged it low down so that she could step into it, then carefully pulled it up. The zip took a lot of work, as he had not managed to get the corset quite tight enough, but he managed it in the end despite another outbreak of laughter. Milly looked at him impatiently and eased into her tight elbow-length black gloves. "Well, how do I look?" Andy looked at her critically, then said "Like you're going to burst!" and exploded with laughter again. Milly waved one tightly gloved hand at him dismissively. "Don't be so silly. I've got to go through with this now. I just hope I can stand it all evening. Come on, let's go." She set out, and nearly fell flat on her face. "Bloody hell!" "What is it now?"

"This skirt. It's so tight I can hardly walk, and there's this damn train behind it. I tripped over my train."

Andy began to laugh again. "Maybe I'd better carry you."

"No, don't do that. I've got to get used to it." She set off again, using tiny steps, looking over her shoulder to make sure of the location of the train. "Damn, damn, damn!"

As the car rolled through the night towards Fate, Milly began to feel a little better; but any hope that she might have had that in time she would come to feel as comfortable as if she were not wearing the corset soon evaporated. Her more fashionable friends had assured her this would be the case, but it didn't seem to be working. She still felt as if she was being strangled, but she kept quiet because she found Andy's evident amusement at the discomfort she was prepared to suffer for fashion embarrassing.

Even without words, however, she could not conceal the fact that she was having trouble breathing, and Andy giggled to himself every now and then. He kept his opinions to himself most of the way; only when they were in the centre of the city and drawing near to the club did he speak.

"They say whales are endangered now," he said as he steered the car through the heavy traffic, "and looking at you tonight I can see why. There are so many bones in your outfit, what with the corset and all the bones in that tight bodice, that I should think four or five whales had to give their all just so you could look stylish this evening."

Milly sighed, as far as she could, which was not very far. "Andy, do leave off! Isn't it enough that I have to suffer this thing without you making jokes about it all the time?"

"I'm sorry, darling. Are you sure you can go through with it? You wouldn't rather go home and take it off, and we can phone to say you were taken ill?"

"No, I've got to do it. I'll bear it somehow. Other women seem to, so I ought to manage."

The awards went well, on the whole. Milly was torn between opinions of her dress: on the one hand, the long, tight skirt and train made it almost impossible to walk, and the corset was appalling. but on the other people looked at her with admiration and friends came up to congratulate her on her outfit. To start with she felt it was worth all the privations to have this kind of attention; but as time went by she began to feel otherwise. The TV people came to interview her once, and though she tried to sparkle wittily she felt she was putting up a very poor performance. She was nervous about her first appearance as "herself" on TV, nervous about the awards, and she had terrible butterflies in her stomach. She had felt this way before, but then she had always been able to take deep breaths to calm herself. Unfortunately, her corset made this not only impossible but dangerous. The award for which she had been nominated came and went. Her heart raced as they read the names out, and when hers came up and the spotlight went onto her for a moment she suffered a momentary stab of panic that her corset would give way under the strain and leave her exposed when everyone was looking at her, but it held. She did not get the award, which would have disappointed her a few hours ago but now was merely a relief. She was having enough trouble with her breathing down on the floor; if she had to go up and have a presentation she was afraid she would either faint or burst her underwear. The awards went on and on, and her corset seemed to get tighter and tighter with each passing minute. At first she was convinced it was just her imagination, but she came to feel, as the evening crawled by, that that was impossible. Surely, she thought, surely it wasn't this tight when I got dressed! She leaned over and spoke in a low voice to a fellow actress.

"Lina?"

"Mm?"

"Can a corset shrink?"

"I don't know."

'While you're wearing it?"

Lina laughed. "No, Milly, you're just tired. There's no cure for that except to undress."

Milly subsided into her own seat in disgust. If it was just her feelings, then it would get worse and worse, and there was nothing she could do about it. She would just have to grin and bear it.

"It isn't fair," she said to Andy as the evening wore on. "Nobody expects you to have to go through this. Why should I have to be half asphyxiated in a strapless corset?"

"You know perfectly well why, Milly," said Lina, who had overheard the conversation. "Because it's the fashion, and you want to follow the fashion, and because it makes you look thinner, and you want to be thinner."

Milly thought about this, then said huffily, "Well, all I can say is it'll be a great relief when that fashion comes to an end."

She struggled on to the end of the evening, feeling worse and worse, and when the TV broadcast signed off she did not wait to indulge in the chatting and congratulations that followed but made for the cloakroom with almost indecent haste. As soon as she had her coat she searched out her husband, dragged him away from a conversation with a very pretty colleague of hers, and towed him off as fast as she could go in that gown.

"Milly, it's very rude to leave like that, you know!"

"Rudeness be damned," she gasped as they left the club and headed for the car, "I've got to get home as soon as possible. I can't bear this any longer."

Andy knew when his wife was in earnest, and he started off as fast as he could. Milly bore up well for a while, but when they had been travelling about fifteen minutes and were about half-way home, she suddenly said "Andy, stop the car. Now."

'What is it? We'll be home in a quarter of an hour, I don't see why..."

"Now!"

Andy stopped the car, pulling in to the side of the road. 'What is it, love?"

Milly opened her door and began to struggle out. Andy quickly left his own side of the car and hurried to help her. "Because I can't bear this bloody corset any longer. Unlace me!"

They went into the shadows, and Milly took off her coat. Andy tugged down the zip to reveal the laces, and after fumbling at the knot for a while managed to get it untied. The corset slackened, and Milly gave a deep sigh of relief. Andy helped her back into her coat, and they returned to the car.

They drove on in silence for some time; Milly was appreciating the relief too much to want to speak. Eventually she said "Andy? What were you saying to Cleo when I wanted to leave?"

"She was saying something to me, actually." He seemed reluctant to continue, and Milly had to prompt him with "Tell me!"

Andy groaned. "She was saying how pretty you looked tonight. She said she's glad you've started wearing nice clothes, and she loved that dress. And she hopes you'll wear it to the end-of-series party."

Now it was Milly's turn to groan. "God help me! I can't go through that again."