Karen – Sweatshop by MonsterP63
It was nicknamed The Sweatshop. It was a textile manufacturer and workers had to deal with hot water washers and steam pressing machines on a large scale. This shop employed pretty much only women who were all ending their working shift, their clothes soaked in perspiration.
They had no choice but to wear long sleeves shirts and long legs pants as they could easily get burned by the steam or the hot water on numerous equipment.
Then a new woman named Karen arrived at work. She easily got along with the others making a few friends, but nothing much. She was friendly but she kept her private life, well, private. There were a few things about her. The first one was the way she walked, as if her lower legs were stiff.
“I’m wearing special orthopaedic soles” she had said which had satisfied most of the workers, although some were finding her looking… odd.
“Geesh! Have you seen the length of her legs? Especially between the knee and the foot. Don’t you think that it doesn’t look… normal.” Had said Suzy.
“Yeah, but she said she’s wearing orthopaedic soles. That may explain why.” Had said Lynda.
“That’s probably why she won’t talk too much about her life. She might have been born with malformations.” Had said Rosy.
“Yeah, talk about malformations.” Had said Caroline. “Ever noticed that she doesn’t seem to sweat?”
To that, they all agreed. Although she was working on very hot equipment, her clothes never became even remotely stained with sweat. Her forehead was exhibiting some drops of water from time to time, but nothing more.
“Might be the darn scarf she’s always wearing around her neck.” Said Suzy.
“Just ask her.” Said Lynda. “She’s coming.”
The tall woman entered, walking stiff. She went to the vending machine and got a big bottle of cold water from it before sitting at a table.
“Hey, Karen. How ya doin’ today?”
“Hello Suzy. I’m doing quite fine, thank you.” Said Karen, taking many mouthfuls of water before taking a break.
“Say, you don’t seem to sweat a lot.” Said again Suzy. “We were wondering, is that… scarf the secret?” referring to the silk scarf she was around her neck.
“I… I rather not talk about that.” She said, putting a finger on it as if she was reluctant to touch it and looking at the table, taking another shot of cold water.
The other girls turned around.
“What a weirdo.” Said Suzy who was reprimanded by the others. “She might have a scar or something.” Said one at low voice.
“Have you noticed that she always comes to work all dressed up and goes back home with her working clothes. It’s like she’s afraid we will see something in the shower.” Said another one.
Karen heard them. She didn’t react. She didn’t care about what they thought. Once her water bottle was done, she headed out with the others, the break being over.
It went like that for a couple of weeks, until that dreadful Friday, when a little piece of sharp metal became Karen’s worst fear.
She was walking through some equipment, not very far from Lynda and Caroline where she apparently lost a little of balance and ended up brushing a piece of equipment. And there was this sound, the dreadful sound of fabric ripping. She didn’t hear it with the noise, but she felt it: her pants had been ripped good and before she could react, it was torn open from the waist belt down to the crotch, and the whole left side.
Lynda saw the incident and then, she put her hand to her mouth as Karen, red faced, was trying to put her pants back together. Lynda rushed to her.
“What the hell is that?” she said, risking a finger Karen’s thigh, covered with very tight and very shiny…
“Rubber? You’re wearing a rubber catsuit under your working clothes? Geesh! No wonder you don’t soak up your clothes in sweat.” She said with a smile.
“Yeah.” Said Karen, looking at Lynda. “The secret is out. Now excuse me, I will go change.” She said, heading for the locker room, but as soon as she was in, the other girls followed, all eager to see what was her secret.
“A rubber suit! A friggin rubber suit! She’s a damn weirdo if you want to know my opinion.” Said Suzy.
“And what is that?” said Caroline, looking at Karen’s lower leg where a kid leather sleeve, tightly laced, appeared to be running from under the knee and into her working boot. “Your… orthopaedic sole?” she asked with a defiant grin.
Karen didn’t say a word. She had to remove her work boots to change her pants. She unlaced her work boots and pulled out her feet from it, revealing a pointed toe boot.
“Oh shit! She’s wearing ballet toe boots! Tell me, Karen, in addition to your latex catsuit, do you have any dildo, cuffs or other fetish stuff” Said Suzy, laughing. “What a weirdo!” she said, but startled as the other girls were looking at her with question marks on their faces.
“Geesh, Suzy.” Said Lynda. “You seem to know an awful lot about all this fetish stuff.” Said Lynda.
She froze on the spot, wide eyes.
“Well, I… I…”
The locker room door slammed open. The shift forewoman entered.
“What the heck happened? Karen, I heard you had an ac… ci… dent…” she said, trailing off, startled at Karen’s sight.
“It’s all right, Kathy,” said Karen. “Just a torn pair of pants. I’ll be ready in a few minutes, just the time needed to change.”
“Why change?” asked Lynda. “We all know it now, why not simply keep your latex suit?” she said. The others startled.
“Well, come to think of it.” She said while taking off her shirt, revealing how tight the rubber was against her full breast. “Then again, it’s gonna look odd with the work boots.”
“You don’t need them.” Said Lynda.
“Hey, what are you saying? That she wants to dress up like a friggin tire, I don’t give a damn, but the safety shoes are there to stay. What’s going to protect her feet from falling objects?” said Kathy.
Lynda picked up a lunch box laying near her and handed it to the boss.
“Here, Kathy. Try to drop it on Karen’s toes.” She said with a corner smile.
Kathy took the lunchbox and stayed there, not knowing what to do. With Karen’s feet pointing down, there was no way that anything would drop on her toes.
“Err… ” was all Kathy could say.
“So, you’re all set up, Karen.” Said Lynda.
“What are you doing, Lynda?” asked Suzy. “You want to help that freak…”
“Okay girls, that’s enough. Back to work.” Loudly said Kathy.
“Yes boss!” answered the girls in unison.
They went back to work, Karen wearing only her shiny and tight rubber catsuit and her ballet toe boots. At the end of their shift, Suzy saw Lynda go talk to Karen. They parted with large smiles.
Monday morning.
Kathy entered in a rush in the locker room.
“Karen, Lynda I heard you’re still here, I have to tal… What the hell are you doing?” she said, startling.
In front of her were standing two gorgeous women, their body encased in tight and shiny black rubber catsuits complete with gloves, their feet encased in kid leather knee high ballet toe boots. Lynda was wearing a complete hood with only eyes and mouth holes and was helping Karen put the same kind of garment.
“Why…” asked Kathy, still stunned by the sight.
“Hair nets, you know, to prevent our beautiful hairs from becoming entangled in the machinery.”
“Yeah, right and these are, let me guess, back support?”
“Yes they are, and really effective.” Said Lynda, rubbing her waist, tightly crushed inside a very tight and rigid long leather corset, the same as Karen’s.
“Very good then. Hurry up or you’ll be late.” Said Kathy, turning around.
“Hey, wait boss.” Said Lynda. “Didn’t you come in to tell us something?”
“Ah yes, that’s right. There’s a change of assignment. For the week, you’ll be both working at the staining department.”
“Great!” they both answered together, picking something in their respective locker: gas masks.
“Now what?” asked Karen as Lynda was putting hers.
“All with safety in mind.” Answered Karen. “Safety glasses.” She said as she knocked with her latex covered knuckle on the glass windows of the gas mask.
“And protection from harmful fumes.” Said Lynda, her voice muffled by the thick rubber of the mask as she was tightening it on her head.
To Kathy’s dismay, they looked at each other.
“This is going to be fun!” they said in unison.
© Pete / monsterp63, December 12, 2006