A stock cabinet stood at the top of the stairs. As he chose paperweights to replace the morning's sales, Feisty spotted a teddy bear jammed at the very back of the lowest shelf. An old, old stock item. Reverently he withdrew the bear and took it downstairs.

Bec moved the limbs and cocked the furry head. 'Yeah we got 'em years ago, but they didn't go. We had a sale.' She sat the bear on the register. 'They're from India.'

Feisty regarded her narrowly. 'India? Are you certain?'

'Yeah; says on the tag. See?'

Feisty clutched the bear dramatically, fingers plumbing humble kapok filling. Then he took a leather loop from his pocket and examined it minutely. 'Do you know what we're going to do, Rebecca?'

Bec fanned herself with a greeting card and grinned past her chewy. 'I cannot begin to imagine.'

'We're going to use two of our spare belt loops to create a wondrous product from this unpopular plaything. And do you know how we're going to do it?'

'Nuh.'

'Watch!'

Feisty seized the bear and threaded its arm through a loop. Crooning with satisfaction, he slid it to the bear's shoulder where it rode snugly amid the fur. With mounting enthusiasm, Feisty repeated the process with the other arm, then stood back and gestured wildly.

'Behold, Bec! I give you... Bondage Bear!'

Bec snorted, first in disbelief, then with reluctant approval. The tawdry gewgaw had indeed changed into something novel. She picked it up and felt the... arm bands. A butch teddy with a fetish.

'Hm. Hm. Very good.'

The weekend ground on. Feisty's interest in Bondage Bear waned. But not before he'd explored every positional permutation. On finding the composite discarded by its creator, Bec put it in a dim corner and forgot about it.

To be continued...