Recycled Mummy

*************************************************

Copyright Oggbashan March 2006

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the settings and characters are fictitious and are not intended to represent specific places or living persons.

*************************************************

June and I are hoarders, boot-fair fanatics, second-hand shop rummagers and we rarely throw anything away without thinking twice, thrice or more.

Our friends cannot believe that we enjoy living the way we do, surrounded by things that might be useful someday. The friends don't hesitate, if in need, to ask if there is something they want and we might have that they would never keep in their pristine houses. They just can't understand that we like having things around.

Every Earth Day we made a special effort to persuade our friends that there were advantages to recycling and re-using. We tried every year. Every year we were unsuccessful. Earth Day just didn't make a big impact locally.

This year, on a Friday evening in January, we were sitting in front of our log-burning stove fruitlessly discussing what we could do to show that we weren't totally impractical pack-rats. We had exhausted our ideas last year. This year didn't look any better. A throwaway remark from June started my train of thought.

"Derek, have you seen that mummy in the High Street furniture store?"

"Who?"

"Not who. What. The replica Egyptian mummy case standing just inside the door. It is painted in black and gold and looks magnificent."

"So what if it does? What has it got to do with Earth Day? That's what we're discussing, aren't we? Or have we given up?"

I was feeling sarcastic. Frustrated by the lack of any reasonable idea I was being unfair. June knew me too well to react.

"It is a totally impractical object intended as a hall cupboard. It is the sort of thing that Paul and Angela might buy as a so-called conversation piece. I thought that we could make one..."

"Why? What good is it?"

"It isn't any good for a cupboard but as a conversation piece it is stunning. If we made one from recycled materials Paul and Angela would give us credit for ingenuity at least."

As I hadn't seen the mummy case the topic died. Over the next week we thought of a few ideas, variations on the themes of last year or the year before. None sparked us into any enthusiasm. Finally I agreed that we would look at the mummy case as a possibility. June and I visited the shop on a busy Saturday morning.

The mummy case was spectacular. It stood a head taller than a tall man and was deep from front to back. We examined it closely. The back half was a simple box shaped to a curve at the top. The front, or lid if the mummy case was lying down, was more complex with coarse shaping for the head, breasts, legs and feet. The details on the outside of the case were made of mould-cast Plaster of Paris fixed to the main structure of the lid. The back and interior were painted in matt black. The black and gold paintwork on the lid covered the cheap construction. The hinges were pathetically frail. If the thing were to be really used as a cupboard it would fall apart within months.

While June distracted the only unoccupied member of the sales staff I took a few discreet pictures with my digital camera with the flash turned off. I turned over the price tag and nearly dropped my camera. The price was outrageous.

We went to the coffee shop and compared notes. Now I had seen the mummy case I knew what June meant. It was exactly the sort of thing that Paul and Angela would covet and then throw away after a year. There was no real difficulty about making a replica with recycled materials and making a better job of it. Could we face making something so intrinsically useless? Paul and Angela were our friends and had been for a long time but making a mummy case would be a major project. What would we use it for if they didn't like it?

"What would we do with it?" I asked as we reviewed our pictures on the computer.

"We could display it on our stand on Earth Day, or have it on our Carnival float in August," June suggested, "Afterwards we could give it to Paul and Angela as a present..."

She had that look in her eye that I know too well.

"Or?" I prompted.

"We could use it as a mummy case. You could be the mummy, or I could be the mummy..."

"That sort of mummy?" I had to make sure I understood what June was suggesting.

"Exactly. You know that we like that sort of thing and so do Paul and Angela."

That was it. We agreed to make it as a mummy case for 'that sort of mummy'. That involved some modifications to the initial idea so that the case could be stood up or could be flat on its back. Those changes weren't difficult, nor were added discreet breathing holes. We could source the materials from our collection and from recycling centres such as car breakers. The satin and silk we had already from a fortunate find in a charity shop. The only new materials would be the fibreglass matting and paints.

June and I worked hard on the design for the mummy case over the next couple of weeks. As we worked we discussed improvements and incorporated them into the design.

My part of the construction was the structure and carcass. After three weeks' work had I mounted the case on a stand of triangulated struts. It could stand upright. The struts looked as if they were a free-standing support. It could be horizontal at about waist height. The struts looked like two A-frames. I had arranged a locking device so that the mummy case could be fixed in any position from vertical, through horizontal, to vertical but inverted, head downwards. I had used parts from a 1930s car Jackall system to provide a robust hydraulic opening and closing mechanism that would cope with the weight of a body.

While I had been working on the support and the main part of the box structure, June had started decorating the mummy case's lid. We had a core of wood and then moulded fibreglass matting to give the shape of the mummy. Once we had removed the mould we had a finer mummy case than the original's plasterwork and much stronger. Before June started on the fine decoration I had drilled holes around the edges, through the eyes, the nostrils and mouth. Those holes should provide enough air to breathe even when the lid was closed. The holes around the edges couldn't be covered accidentally. Even so, I added more breathing holes to the main casing.

By the end of March my part was nearly done. My last task was to attach ratchet-operated straps to the sides of the back box. When June had finished painting the lid and had stood it up to dry she assembled the materials to line the mummy case.

She covered the whole interior with thick quilted padding and then heavy black satin. I tacked both to the sides and back with a heavy-duty staple gun so that no amount of pulling could shift the lining. A large overlap on both sides ended in a strengthened edge with a row of eyelet holes. It stopped at where the upper part of the occupant's chest would be. Above that a black silk veil could be pulled down and fastened either to the laced overlap or to the sides of the case. That veil could be loose or skin tight across the face. The straps were fed through reinforced slits in the padding and lining and sheathed, first with the padding and then with the black satin. The ratchets, when pulled tight, fitted snugly into recesses in the side of the case behind the satin-covered padding. It would be very difficult for an occupant to get even a fingertip to touch those ratchets and impossible to free them. Where I had drilled the airholes in the back casing we cut the padding away. The holes were invisible, covered by the satin, but air could still pass through.

June persuaded me to try the back part of the mummy case first. She wanted to be sure that she could manage everything herself, or that's what she told me. I stood in the vertical case. June took up the slack in the padded strap over my ankles, then my knees, thighs, waist around my arms and then my chest. I could feel the straps but they weren't holding me.

She pulled hard on the chest strap. It constricted around me, forcing air out of my lungs. I objected. June fastened the strap across my mouth tightly. My head was pushed backwards into the padding. I could only look ahead while June tightened the other straps. Once she had finished I couldn't move any part of me except my eyes. I could feel her pull the overlaps together and thread a black silk cord through the eyelet holes. Gradually she moved up my body lacing the black satin tighter and tighter. She stopped at my neck. She left the silk veil untouched.

"That will do for now. It's enough for a test." she announced. "Ready?"

I couldn't reply. The strap across my mouth was a very effective gag. June moved to the side of the case and released the locking device. She swung the mummy case vertical with my feet at the bottom. I sagged against the straps. The actual movement was very small, probably less than a quarter of an inch. I could see June standing in front of me, examining my fastenings carefully.

"I could do whatever I want, couldn't I?" She asked. "Like this."

Her hand reached out and stroked the padded area over my groin. I groaned into my gag.

"However," June said, "I think I'll try this."

She pushed the top of the mummy case backwards. I tilted to the horizontal and then beyond. I came to rest head downwards. The weight of my body was pushing at my restraints yet my head was still not touching the head of the mummy case.

"And how about this?"

June pulled at the case until I was face down, facing the floor. Even then the straps held me firmly.

"OK." she said. "It works. Now we need the lid finished and we are ready for Paul and Angela."

She flipped me around until I was face up looking at the ceiling. She removed the lacing, flipped the loose lining aside and gradually loosened the straps before unclipping them. I needed her help to climb out. I staggered as my feet touched the floor. She caught me and kissed me hard.

"Thank you, Derek," she said. "We've built a very good mummy case. All we need now is to finish it."

That night in bed June wrapped me in her body and rode me until I was so tired out I slept like a log. June does that whenever she has made me helpless during the day. She likes to be in complete control most of the time. Other times she likes to pretend that I have control. Even when she is wrapped up like a parcel and bound like an oven-ready chicken she is still in control. I do what she wants me to do and no more – or else I'll suffer when it is my turn to be confined.

The mummy's lid was almost a replica of the back. Despite the shaping, moulding and decoration it had the same basic internal shape, the same padding, lining and restraints and the air holes. Attaching it to the back was the only difficult part. The hinges were very heavy duty. At the head, well above where the occupant's head would be, and at the foot were hydraulic pistons. Pumping on a small retractable lever at the side of the base of the back section would fold the lid over the back and lower it gently. Operating it the other way would open the lid and fold it to the side of the back section. The last fitting was a snap lock that clamped the lid to the back. It could only be opened with a key.

We tried that lid frequently in all possible positions. We opened it. We closed it. We locked it. We unlocked it. June fastened me into the back and closed the lid. She fastened me into the lid, folded it over with the hydraulics, closed and locked it. I tried it on her, in both halves. She wouldn't let me lace her into the shroud. Otherwise she experienced it as I had done. When we were satisfied we invited Paul and Angela over for dinner on the evening of Earth Day. The mummy case would be standing upright in a prominent part of our dining room.

We had first met Paul and Angela at a mutual friend's Guys and Dolls party. The invite had asked the men to come dressed as women, and the women as men. It hadn't been a great success because of the variation in size of the couples, except for June and I and Paul and Angela. The women had worn tuxedos and trousers. Paul and I had worn our partners' least favourite evening dresses with high heels. For once we men in our borrowed high heels had been slightly taller than the women. June and Angela have the same build, with the obvious differences, as Paul and I have. All four of us could swap clothes easily if we had wanted to. June and Angela do borrow each other's wardrobe from time to time. Paul and I don't.

Our stall at the Earth Day fair had been a moderate success but had missed the new mummy. We had decided that the use we would make of it shouldn't be exhibited in public.

That evening Paul and Angela couldn't keep their eyes off the mummy case throughout the meal. As we sat around the table with the cheese board Angela asked the question we had been expecting.

"OK," she said, "What is it? And why?"

"What is what?" I asked innocently.

"That black and gold mummy case, Derek."

June and I laughed. "Oh that mummy case?" I said. "It's our project to encourage recycling."

"Recycling?" Paul asked.

"Yes," June replied. "Almost all of it has been made with reclaimed materials. Would you like a look?"

"Yes please," Paul answered. "We've seen the mummy case in the High Street. Your one looks much better made and better decorated."

"We think it is." June said.

I opened the case. Angela gasped as she saw the black satin lining and the straps.

"Is that for what I think it's for?"

I nodded.

"I want to try it. On Paul. Now. Can I?"

"That's up to him. Or you can both try it. It takes two."

"It does?" asked Paul. I nodded again. "Then I'll try if Angela will too."

This time Angela nodded.

June and I had to show it off, to demonstrate the fittings, and explain what we would do. Paul shed his jacket and shoes. Angela kicked off her high heels. They stood side by side, Paul in the back, Angela in the lid. June fastened the straps around Paul. I strapped Angela in. We left their mouths uncovered until we had laced the shrouds up over them and they were helpless.

"Now!" June hissed.

She kissed Paul hard on the lips before gagging him with the mouth strap. I did the same to Angela but took longer as Angela's lips met mine hungrily. We turned the case horizontally. I pumped at the hydraulics gradually turning Angela over until she was almost touching Paul. Their eyes were shining as the mummy case closed together with a soft hiss from the hydraulics. I clicked the lock shut with a solid thunk.

June went through to the kitchen to make coffee while I listened carefully for any signs of distress from inside the sealed and locked case. Even if there had been I'm not sure I could have heard it through the padding. When June returned with four cups of coffee I unfastened the lock and pumped away at the hydraulic lever. Angela was slowly raised from Paul and flipped on to her back. I brought the mummy case vertical and locked it there.

June and I unlaced the shrouds and made a real production of slowly loosening the straps. Paul and Angela were wriggling sensuously before we finally released them and helped them out.

"Wow!" Angela said finally.

"Wow! is right." Paul added. "That is some contraption. Have you two tried it yet?"

"Separately, not together," June said before I could stop her. "We needed someone to help."

"Then we must repay what you did for us," Paul said. "After the coffee."

June nodded. I was screaming inside. We would be completely helpless inside that mummy case. Did Paul know enough to operate it properly? June obviously wanted to try it. I was scared stiff.

Angela took me by the hand and led me to the mummy case. June followed. Just before I was about to get in June whispered into Angela's ear.

"June wants you to strip to your pants. Will you?" Angela asked.

"Yes. If she'll strip too."

June nodded. I stripped down to my boxers. June kept just her bra and panties. We were strapped in, the shrouds laced tight, the black silk hoods pulled down and secured, and the case closed gradually. June's body didn't press against me through the two layers of shroud except that her erect nipples brushed my chest. That light touch seemed more arousing than her full weight might have been. Those two pressure points were joined by a third as my erection strained against the shrouds between us.

At first I was still worried that we had trusted Angela and Paul so much. Those insistent nipples banished the thought and I began to enjoy my close confinement. Almost too soon I heard the lock released. June began to lift from my body. When she was on her back beside me I heard her being released from her restraints, followed by some whispering. June spoke to me:

"Angela wants to try, with you. I've agreed if I can try the same with Paul. It's too much trouble to ungag you so I'm assuming your agreement."

I couldn't agree or disagree. Angela was strapped into the mummy case lid and lowered on to me. Her nipples dug deeper into me. Her stomach pressed against me, not heavily, but enough that I was well aware of her. Angela must be pregnant. That thought made my erection react strongly and push upwards. I thought I heard Angela grunt through her gag.

As the mummy case opened again Angela's breasts and stomach stayed in contact for the first part of the lift. I was sure she was pregnant. Had she told Paul?

Angela and I strapped Paul into position. June climbed into the lid and waited. I kissed her before covering her face with the hood. When the case was shut and locked I took Angela's arm and drew her away.

"Angela," I whispered, "Are you expecting?"

She looked at me. She nodded.

"How did you know, Derek? It doesn't show, does it?"

"No, Angela, it doesn't. Your body was slightly more in contact with me than June's. Normally you two are identical dress sizes. I think Paul will realise when he finds that June doesn't press against him as you do."

"I'm fully dressed. June isn't. If Paul notices the difference that explanation will do. I'm sure he won't notice in the excitement of being mummified with June."

"When are you going to tell Paul?"

"I only confirmed my pregnancy yesterday, Derek. Paul and I have been so busy that there hasn't been a suitable time. If I haven't told him by then, I intend to before Friday evening when we are all at the Chamber of Commerce dinner dance. I shouldn't drink too much and normally I would have a few there."

"If that's what you want, I'll keep quiet. June has probably noticed."

"She would. Female friends are much more observant than husbands are. She wouldn't say a word until I tell her officially."

We released June and Paul. His excitement was obvious. June dressed herself again. As we sat around drinking coffee I thought that Paul was unusually quiet. I suspected that he had guessed Angela's secret. I was wrong.

"What do you intend to do with the mummy?" Paul asked eventually.

I looked at June. She nodded.

"We were going to give it to you two, to show that we can make useful objects from scrap."

Paul looked at Angela. She mouthed something at him.

"Are you sure? I don't think we could accept something that has taken you two so much work. The other problem is that it needs at least one other person to operate it. I think you should keep it, and we and you two could take turns using it. I'd like you to demonstrate it again while we think about it."

After some more discussion June and I agreed to get in the mummy again, naked this time. June's straps were left slightly loose so that she had some movement. As the hydraulics turned me over on to her, she guided my erection inside her. The lid closed and the latches were secured. June and I were sealed inside, connected together in the warm soft darkness.