Tabby’s Plan

“No, daddy,” Tabby said, “go back upstairs and put on the pink teddy. The one with the bows on the straps.”

This was something Terry’s daughter did when she was bored, and he hated it. He used to complain to his wife, but she soon got bored with intervening. Besides, sometimes Terry got the impression that she enjoyed watching their daughter boss him around.

Tim, his son, was really the only one who could put a stop to it. Terry certainly couldn’t. He couldn’t even muster up the willpower to say ‘no’ to his daughter, let alone stand his ground if she put up a fight. But Tim? He was different. When Tim wanted something, it happened. That was beyond what Terry could even imagine.

Not that he didn’t try. He would sometimes lay in his bed at night trying to fantasize about being in control of his own life, about having agency over what he did or who he would be. It was no good. The fantasy would always start off okay, with Terry doing something mundane, like grocery shopping, and he would come to an impulse-buy rack. Just as he was about to made his own decision as to what chocolate bar to pick, something would happen. An interruption, a distraction, something. Then it would end the same way all his fantasies ended, with him submitting to the nearest person, debasing himself the same way he would on real life. There was really no escaping the facts of his reality.

And so he scurried up to the bedroom his wife allowed him to share with her, slipped open her lingerie drawer, and found the teddy his daughter was talking about. He then took off the red one he had mistakenly put on earlier, redressed, and returned to the living room. The teddy was tight, as all of his wife’s clothes were, but it was all he had. In that moment, the clothes that Tabby picked for him were the only clothes in the universe that he could wear.

“Ooooh,” Tabby cooed, “that’s much better.”

“Thank-you Tabby,” he replied.

“If we’re going to get any views, though, we’re going to have to put in a bit more work.”

“Views?” Terry felt nervous.

“I need some money to pay the deductible for Tim’s car,” Tabby explained, “so I’m going to get you one of those streaming sites where people pay you to do stuff. But before we can make any cash, we’ve got to fix your image.”

“Could we maybe try something else?” Terry asked in a meek tone, “I could ask your mother if she could…”

“No,” Tabby said with finality, “the accident was my mistake, and so I’m going to fix it. I’ll hook you up with a new look, then I’ll set up the site. I figure it won’t take too long for subscribers to start getting interested in you.”

Terry wanted to keep pushing, but Tabby had said ‘no’, and so it was final. He could even find the words to protest. Instead, he bowed to the **** of her will.

“What do you need me to do first?”

“Get in the shower and take care of that body hair,” she said, “everything from the neck down. Your beard, too, get rid of your whiskers.”

“Yes Tabby,” he said, disappointed, already heading to the bathroom.

“I’ll be up when I hear the water turn off. I’ll help you with your eyebrows and makeup.”

“Okay,” Terry said, beginning the climb up the stairs, “thank-you.”

“Once that’s done, we can practice your act. You’ll have to do anything they want, which shouldn’t be hard for you. The difficult part will be that you need to wait until they pay you.”

“But if they tell me…” Teddy felt very uncomfortable with the idea, paused in his ascent, “I’m not sure I could stop myself.”

“Then I’ll have to be there to make sure you can perform well, and that you’re getting me my money. Don’t worry!” Tabby said, immediately causing Terry’s worries to vanish, “I’ve got it all worked out! This is going to work great!”

Terry wasn’t sure, but he also wasn’t worried, so he turned back to the staircase to obey his daughter’s commands. Even though there was so much he couldn’t do, Terry knew he was great at one thing. Being obedient. And so he headed upstairs, knowing full well that in that one thing, he was the best in the world.