Tammy and Suzie were a pair of very attractive young women. Suzie was about five and a half feet tall with very lovely long blond hair and Tammy was about the same height as Suzie but had silky reddish brown hair and had a more voluptuous figure. Both could be very accurately described as 'stunning'.
They were presently out of work, more from apathy and boredom than from any other cause. Friends since high school, they found that a good living could be had merely by being 'pretty' - nothing more. There always seemed to be a need for pretty girls. Occasionally they had worked as photo models or at trade shows, anywhere a beautiful face and figure could turn heads or sell products. Tammy had even taken a junior college course in being a fashion model a couple of years back, but she became infatuated with the instructor and never received credit. Once they had worked for a couple of weeks as exotic dancers at a strip bar down by the docks, but the pay was uneven (mostly what 'tips' they could fit into their garters) and the atmosphere of the place rather coarse. Suzie did not like the unwritten assumption that they would sleep with the customers, if asked.
Now they mostly escorted wealthy out-of-town businessmen around; usually just that. Hardly any 'additional' services. They were not hookers (they kept telling themselves), just girls who could show a guy a good time. Like their other jobs, it was not so much a profession as a way to pay the bills. Never having held a "real" job, they floated from opportunity to opportunity at any whim. Working was a pain; most of the time they just kicked back and concentrated on themselves. The encounters usually paid well enough to cover the rent of their shared apartment and the cost of staying pretty. The health club dues, the latest clothes (don't forget that lingerie) and cosmetics. Trips to the hair stylist and tanning salon. Being gorgeous in itself was a full-time job.
Today they both happened to be at home on the same morning. Tammy had smelled the rich aroma of fresh coffee and come downstairs in her diaphanous robe, her lithe body clearly visible to anyone looking in the window. There was a screech of tires as a driver had lost concentration outside; neither of them noticed. It was, after all, the city. Sitting down at the table reading the mail Suzie noticed an ad saying a local company was looking for young girls to be mannequins for a national department store chain. The blurb claimed good pay with 'no experience necessary'; invited candidates to 'call for appointment right away'. There was the usual motivating nonsense about 'being part of a winning team' that their practiced eyes skipped over. It didn't seem too hard.
"Tammy look at this opening. You think I might have any chance of being hired?" Suzie pointed out the small text in the classifieds.
Tammy looked and read it again, "Hmm, Mannequins Inc. They must mean 'model' which in French is mannequin (her sole memory from two years of high school languages). Sounds kind of uppity, but I don't see why not." She looked over at her friend. "Why the sudden ambition? It's been a nice summer so far." Tammy stretched.
"Oh, Tam, don't you ever wonder what you could do - what you could be? We've been going nowhere for four years!"
"This is nowhere?" Tammy replied, looking around, "Looks pretty good to me."
"How long can it last, do you think? Living from one sugar daddy to the next, shaking our tushes over at Imagination to make ends meet? I want to try something different, something with a future in it. This could be our chance. I'm not going to let it escape." Suzie started putting on her coat and heading for the door.
Tammy then replied, "OK, you go for it! And by the way, let me know back if they need any more models. Especially one that looks like me…"
"No problem," Suzie said, exiting out the door, "wish me luck!" The latch snicked shut.
"Good Luck," Tammy said to the empty room.
Even though it was early in the day, the talk with her friend had gotten her interest piqued. What sort of future was there for a 'pretty girl' once she became older and not quite so pretty anymore? Tammy decided to see if her previous contacts were still hiring; but no luck. It was the 'off' season for the trade show circuit and most of her gentlemen associates were on vacation. There was always the nudie bar but Suzie was right about that place too. At the moment, things seemed rather bleak. 'Maybe when Suzie returns she will have good news,' Tammy thought.
The day grew on and towards late afternoon Tammy started to worry about Suzie; then the phone rang. She jumped at the sudden noise, startled while doing her toenails.
"Hello?" Tammy ventured; it was Suzie on the other end.
"Hi, Tammy! Guess what? I got hired on the spot. They are still looking -- for more models. Why don't you come -- down to the display company? Right now. The address is in the ad -- on the kitchen table. I'm so glad -- I reached you." Her words sort of came out slowly as if she was having trouble concentrating.
Tammy realized she hadn't gotten a word in edgewise. Suzie must have been very excited. But she caught something else too; Suzie's voice was kind of shaky under all that faked-up bubbly enthusiasm. It must have been the excitement of being getting a new job so quickly. Was there any other reason? Tammy couldn't think of anything, and Suzie has not used any of their 'danger' codewords either...
"OK I'll be straight over," she conceded. It had been a boring day anyway.
"Great! See you soon, Tammy. I've got to go now. Goodbye." Click; Suzie had hung up.
Tammy called a taxi to meet her in fifteen minutes. She had gradually gotten infected with her friend's excitement and now for some reason wanted to rush right over to the company were Suzie was. There was barely enough time for her to pull on a T-shirt and jeans and put her 'day face' on before the horn sounded in the street below.
***
Paying the driver, she got out of the cab before realizing what kind of neighborhood this was. Before she could change her mind the taxi sped off towards a better part of town. At the address was an ancient building in red brick; maybe a hundred years old and showing every long day of it. The faded, rusting, cracked sign over the door said Mannequins Inc.. She rang the buzzer and the door was answered in time by middle aged man whose eyes sparkled when he caught sight of her. Men usually did.
"Oh, you must be Tammy." He seemed to lick his lips while smiling.
She looked at him and said "I guess you were expecting me."
"Yes I was -- Suzie spoke very highly of you." He opened the door wider and stood aside. "Won't you please come in? Come on in, Tammy."
As Tammy entered the building she saw a high-ceilinged space; some kind of show room, displaying the finished products. There were many female mannequins posed around the room; one was sitting with her legs crossed; one was posed while crawling and another reclined on a low sofa. The rest assumed standing positions in a variety of different poses. Some were beautifully dressed, others were unclothed; Tammy noticed how incredibly lifelike they all were. She was staring at them but did not realize it.
"You like my mannequins?" He said to her and she turned to face him. "Oh, excuse my bad manners; my name is James and this is my mannequin factory." He took her hand and kissed it theatrically, almost bowing. "I make mannequins for department stores. I'm quite good a it."
"I can see," Tammy commented, "Your work is so excellent; it's almost as if they were alive."
"Thank you!" The man was almost beaming. "My secret is finding the right subject for each of my lovely mannequins. The rest is easy." He went up to the closest standing mannequin and caressed the cheek of the immobile figure. The mannequin wobbled slightly on its glass display stand. "So trivial, really."
Then Tammy asked, "Where is Suzie? Is she posing for you? I'd like to see her."
"Yes, your friend is also quite beautiful, isn't she?" He kept looking at the mannequins, then back at Tammy. "Right now she is in the back, in the workroom, with some of my fellow employees. She will make a wonderful mannequin; I'm sure of it…"
Tammy knew that many mannequins in stores were modeled from live models and that it was not unusual for an artist to become attached to his work. Even though this fellow seemed almost obsessed with these mannequins, she chose to be discreet and questioned no further. Besides, the idea of seeing a mannequin of herself in a window was exciting, in a vain sort of way.
She glanced back at James and saw that he was watching her very closely, as if he was imagining what kind of poses would be most flattering for her; Tammy was 100% right. He noticed her noticing him and decided now was as good a time as any to ask.
"Say, your friend Suzie told me you were looking for work too," he began, "She said how gorgeous you were also, but I thought she was stretching the truth since it would be incredible good fortune to encounter two such outstandingly attractive models on the same day. Yet it is true; you're every bit as striking as she said. Inconceivable!"
Tammy blushed at the complement and would have to remember to thank Suzie later for putting the good word in for her. She looked back at the perfect mannequins and knew at that moment she wanted to model for one. If for nothing else than to keep her eager roommate from one-upping her.
James also saw the look on her face and knew the answer to his next question even before he said, "Would you consider working for me?"
Tammy was so excited at the possibility, she was speechless. All she could do was nod. "Uh, Sure!"
"Good," he said. Walking over to a sideboard, he brought back several forms including a long Model Release. "I need you to sign these papers of employment. Be sure to fill in the name of your bank. We pay by direct deposit. Always."
Tammy took them with a affected smile and filled in the blanks quickly; signing at the bottom with a flourish. When she was finished he took the documents and placed them in a file folder that just happened to be sitting on the desk. If she had looked closer, Tammy would have seen that her name had already been typed on it.
"Let's go to the back now; you need to get ready to pose," he said. Silently he was thinking, (Now I can get a better look at your firm body, which will make an exquisite mannequin!) With a knowing smile he opened the workroom door and escorted Tammy into the busy studio. The door closed behind them with a 'snick'; it was now locked.
Tammy was wide-eyed as she tried to take in everything at once; the high beamed ceiling, the silent chorus line of unpainted mannequin figures along one wall, the few completed ones that some other employees were packing into boxes. There were easels, lighting stands, mirrors, and low platforms arranged in the center of the room and a rack of brightly colored clothes along one wall. It was all so busy, so exciting! She looked around quizzically for Suzie but there was no sign of her friend.
Then the man, James, asked her if she wanted a drink, "to toast your new opportunity."
"Sure," she said as he gave her a goblet of white wine. They clinked glasses and Tammy took a large sip. "Here's to my future!" she announced. He filled her glass again and started to ask her about her favorite poses and what sort of clothes and hairstyles she liked. Distracted, she continued to drink the smooth wine and soon had consumed enough. A few minutes latter she started to get drowsy. Tammy had started walking over to look at herself in one of the wall-sized mirrors when she stumbled and seemed as if she would faint.
"Oh, my!" she managed to say as she started to crumple to the floor, but the man was close by and caught her on the way down. By now she had fallen fast asleep.
"I just love the way that drug works," he said to the unconscious girl. "Crissy, Sandy," he commanded two lovely young women in lab coats, "come right here and help prepare our newest candidate; I must go and complete the work on her friend."
"Yes, James," they replied in unison as they supported Tammy's limp body between them. They appeared to be in his control and did everything he said without question or hesitation. Their movements were slow and a bit stiff, but they worked steadily and carefully.
- - -
The next day came as Tammy floated back to consciousness. Opening one eye she saw that she was still in one of the studio dressing rooms, laying on some sort of reclining couch. Becoming more alert, she felt a cool draft on her skin and realized that she was nude. Still groggy from the wine (she first thought) Tammy sat up and then noticed she was wearing a tag around her wrist. She tried to stand up and then fully comprehended that she had been drugged as her mind remained oddly fuzzy. The idea that there might be some danger here floated past, giving her a scared feeling in her gut as she wondered what happened to Suzie - where was her friend!
Rising unsteadily to her feet, Tammy felt peculiar, sort of inflexible in her limbs. It was difficult to advance rapidly - like she was moving through water, or tar. Creeping, she went to the door of the room, opened it a crack, and looked. It was quiet. Slowly, because she could go no faster, she started to sneak out.
Tammy was halfway to the door when she heard the voice say, "how's my newest mannequin this morning?" It was the man, James. "Going for a little stroll?"
She turned and looked at him like he was mad and shouted: "What have you done to ME - where is Suzie!" Somehow the words came out slowly and softly, "What----have----you----done-to----me-----Whe-re---is----Su-zie?"
"She is a fine mannequin already," replied James, "and you will be joining her soon. Very soon."
Tammy at last became thoroughly frightened and continued to move towards the door, to escape; she knew she was nude but did not care. She grasped the handle and pressed it down, freedom just on the other side - It was Locked! Turning around, she saw Crissy & Sandy, the two female workers, coming after her, moving sluggishly also. Tammy knew she should easily outrun them, but her body seemed to be going deeper into slow motion with every step she took. They were gaining on her!
Tammy made it to another door; this one was unlocked. She pulled it open and stumbled through, before seeing it was not the outside, and almost right into a mannequin figure. She caught the rigid body before it toppled over completely; then a chill ran down her back as she took a good long look at that mannequin. It was Suzie!
Suzie, her friend, was standing stiff as a board on a glass display stand, staring blankly into the distance, with a little half-smile on her frozen face. She did not blink an eye; there was no sign of movement at all. Tammy reached out to touch her; Suzie's flesh was cold and hard as a rock. Something was terribly wrong!
She stepped back in open-mouthed shock as the two employees finally grabbed her arms. Tammy struggled weakly, then was overpowered by them.
James walked in, smiling. "Do you like how Suzie turned out -- isn't she ravishing?" Moving up to the mannequin, he stroked the statue's chin. "I think so…" There was no reaction at all from the frozen girl.
"You-are- deranged- how- could- you- do- this--- to--- her--!" Tammy's words were coming out even more slowly now despite her fear and anger.
"Now, Tammy don't say that - even though my methods are a bit unusual, I'm just trying to preserve beauty like any other artist. As for your friend, I haven't harmed her one iota; she's still very much alive. I'll bet she sees you right now making this scene and is wondering why you are so upset. Suzie asked to become one of my mannequins, willingly." He looked back at Tammy, "So did you!"
Tammy realized that she had been subtly tricked into this - job? -- and was not going to escape Suzie's fate. Somewhere in this studio there was a glass base with her name on it...
"Are---- you---- go--ing---- to---- turn---- me---- into--- a---- man-ne-quin---- too??"
"Yes, my dear Tammy. You see the department store put in a rush order for three female mannequins and the two of you fitted exactly what they were after: Young, tall, curvaceous, athletic, and above all remarkably beautiful. I could not believe my luck when you lovely ladies just walked into my studio. You'll be perfect for their display!"
"No-oo-ooo!" This wasn't what she had bargained for. She struggled but could not get away as the two attending girls strapped her to a reclining chair in the corner of the work room. This piece of foreboding furniture looked like it belonged in a hospital or (no joke) some mad scientist's lair; it had wires attached to the sides and some tubes running out from the foot and head of it.
James came up to her and looked down into her wide green eyes. "Tammy, listen to me, now! Listen only to my words and the sound of my voice. You must be calm and trust me when I tell you nothing bad is going to happen to you. Nothing bad. I would never lie to you." His droning words, along with the effects of the drug, were placing her under his influence. "Becoming a lovely mannequin is something you have always desired; deep down in your soul. Now it is actually possible. You should not fear this ultimate of lasting beauty. Trust me." He looked over to where Suzie stood, mute and dazzling. Tammy followed with her eyes. "From this day forward you will be forever young; forever ravishing, forever desired."
He signaled to Crissy and Sandy, who removed the wide restraining straps. Tammy continued to rest on the recliner. "Ask yourself, in your heart, if you really do not want to proceed? If so, you are free to go. Remember my words however, and trust me."
It seemed like over a minute passed, and then Tammy smiled back at James. Her voice was quiet and lethargic. "Go------ a---head------, make------ me------ a---- man----ne--------quin-----, Ja---me---ssss." Tammy's mouth remained open, stuck on the last syllable. He closed it for her. The suggestions and the drug had worked perfectly.
James began the transformation process. First, he carefully shaved her head bald and then started on her pubic mound; she could not or did not want to move, telling herself that if she was going to be a mannequin she had better get used to standing still. The remaining stubble and fine hairs were removed with a cream that tickled her when he smeared it over her body. Then he said, "Don't be scared; this next part is going to feel very strange." Next, he strapped a muzzle, almost like a diving mask, to her face with a tube running down her throat. There was a separate air supply so Tammy could breathe even though she would have choked if he hadn't told her to trust him. Finally, he moved down and ran some other tubes deep up inside her sex and butt. To someone looking on, she must have appeared like some Gigeresque alien creature.
Tammy, even though she had wanted this and agreed to it, had tears in her eyes. It felt so surreal to be penetrated in this way. However, she trusted him; he had told her so.
"Now, my dear, this will not hurt a bit!" He flipped a switch on the control and the sound of a motor or pump started up. She felt a tingling feeling in her throat and then some sort of heavy liquid started to enter her body though the tubes. It was at body temperature and felt like toothpaste in consistency. Slowly, she was aware of a tightness in her abdomen as the fluid began filling up her body cavities.
James came back over to her and looked her in the eyes. Wiping the tears away, he said, "This will take about half an hour, my dear, so don't worry. I will take good care of you; you are going to be an incredibly stunning mannequin. Trust me." Tammy did.
Then the faint rasp of a door buzzer sounded. He said, "This must really be my lucky day -- another lovely lady must be calling on me!" He turned away and Tammy had a momentary sense of uneasiness before he gave instructions to the attendants. "Crissy, you stay here, keep an eye on the slurry pump, it should turn off on its own soon. Go ahead and finish Suzie's treatment up. Sandy and I will go to greet our visitor." They walked off towards the front of the building.
Tammy sat in the chair, watching, helpless. Her stomach and intestines felt so packed, she could not have moved even if she wanted to. Presently the motor clicked off and was silent. Gradually the incredible fullness changed into a warm glow as the fluid was absorbed into her tissues. She sat and watched the girl employee expertly apply makeup to Suzie's face and said to herself, (we'll I'm going to be next to get that mannequin treatment!) As the time went by she noticed that her skin was starting to take on a subtly different look: It was starting to gleam like hard plastic and then she realized she could not move anymore. Even with the fullness gone she couldn't move a muscle. Or did not want to.
James returned and took the mask off Tammy's face; some white ooze dripped out. He cleaned her wide mouth with a rag while Sandy removed the tubes from her lower orifices. A bit of the same ooze dripped out but as Sandy spread it around it dried quickly into a smooth layer covering her pussy. Where Tammy's sex had been before was now as smooth as a barbie doll's crotch. Tammy felt more like a doll every minute. As they moved her around, she could not speak or even blink and she thought the liquid inside her was starting to harden up. Would there be time to pose her before she turned stiff like Suzie had?
Then James spoke to her again, smiling and upbeat. "Well, my dear, you're coming along very nicely." Tammy did not reply because she was unable to; knowing that, he continued, "Time to get you into your new position and overlay the maquette." Sandy entered and said evenly that their new guest was sleeping before helping James stand Tammy on her feet where she remained upright and motionless. Meanwhile, Crissy had finished with Suzie and was giving Tammy a manicure. After shaping her nails to pointed ovals, she applied a pale matte polish that was almost the same shade as the fleshtone.
Crissy came back with an empty mannequin stand and a pair of high heel shoes which she carefully placed on Tammy's feet; they fit somewhat loosely. Tammy felt unsteady balanced that way, but she did not topple over. James lifted her like a doll onto the stand and slid the rod up her butt; it did not go in very far because the liquid was becoming thicker in her insides. She felt like a butterfly mounted on a pin.
Then James looked at his watch. "It's about time to pose you, my dear." He walked around her still figure a couple of times, imagining. Finally he made up his mind. "With your lissome legs you just have to be a standing figure, but I'll make sure you'll be unique and gorgeous!"
He shifted her legs and placed the left one out in front of her hips, giving it a bend at the knee and tilted her hips to shift the weight naturally; her right leg was straight which showed off her shapely thighs and calves. After making sure that both feet were placed in such a manner that the shoes would be level on the glass base, he started on her torso. A slight twist and angle emphasized her waist while by arching her back he could perk up her breasts. Wherever he placed Tammy's limbs, there they stayed. He positioned her arms and hands as if she was reaching for an invisible wall; it was at once a stereotypical stance but very sexy. Tammy was going to be a masterpiece. James spent a long time getting her facial expression just right, with slightly parted lips and a bemused look. She was dazzling.
While concentrating on posing her, he ordered the girls to go and get their other new guest ready for the next step now that Tammy was almost finished being posed.
Unable to do anything else, Tammy stood there quietly watching the man "that turned her into a mannequin" pose her arms and work painstakingly on her facial expression. Tammy was just about done when she noticed her figure reflected in the big mirror on the opposite wall. She was starting to look like she had always been a display figure. It was obvious that her new pose was taking shape nicely.
Now Crissy appeared again, carrying a "blank" mannequin figure on a handtruck. While it was about the same height as Tammy, it was unpainted and had no detail in the face, hands, or feet. Even the breasts were featureless white globes. James switched his attention to the blank figure and began posing it to match with Tammy's pose. It was, of course, not as flexible as she but he came quite close to duplicating the stance.
"Now don't move, Tammy," he said.
You must be joking, Tammy thought to herself as she stood there motionless as a statue -- not even a blink or movement came from her rigid shapely body. She remained in exactly the same pose he had given her.
Tammy wondered what was going on. James had walked out of her fixed field of vision but returned quickly. Now he was wearing an old robe over his street clothes and carried a large book. Gingerly, he opened it to a marked page and began to read a passage out loud. However, it was no language she had ever heard! A glint of light in the mirror caught Tammy's attention. She could clearly see herself along with the white mannequin standing right behind her like her ghostly twin. Another spark of light; then yet another. She watched as a cloud of tiny sparkles formed out of thin air and swirled around the two stock-still bodies. Brighter, faster the swirl became until Tammy could no longer see the mirror through it. The motes seemed to be getting closer, touching her, streaking *through* her body. Everything was a golden blur. She had no idea how long the 'whiteout' had lasted - a second, an eternity - but eventually it started to fade back into the nothingness from which it had come. She could see the mirror again.
Something felt "odd" to Tammy, strange as that sounded for someone who just had white goo pumped into her insides and had a steel rod shoved up her posterior. Her eyesight was clouded too, enough that it took her several seconds gazing at her reflection in the mirror to discover that where two figures had stood now there was only one. And it was altered too, in a subtly unique and ominous way.
Tammy recognized herself standing there, but this mannequinized figure was taller, longer-limbed, and 'glossier' than it had been before. As impossible as it sounded, somehow her own body and the blank mannequin had been merged together.
Tammy had started to accept her new life as a mannequin, but this latest development was unbelievable. Sorcery was just make-believe, she had always thought, the stuff of dreams and role-playing games but here was graphic evidence - herself - of a entirely supernatural phenomenon! She was even more amazed when she noticed that she was utterly stiff and unmoving - she wasn't breathing any longer and even her heart had stopped beating. But she still remained aware of what was going on around her even though her body had become solid as stone and her eyes had turned to glass. She could even see faint lines across her hips, waist, shoulders, and wrists. Precisely where the separation joints had been before on the white mannequin. Did that mean what she thought it did?
James came close and started to look her over, touching her smooth frozen curves. Finally he said to her, "Tammy you are now a true masterpiece of my art! You and the fiberglass 'counterpart' inside you now share the same reality, complementing each other's space, intermingled, time-sharing that form so to speak. Right now you are solid and inert because the mannequin portion is foremost in your essence. Watch." Then he carefully removed her arms where the lines had appeared on her body to confirm that she was now unquestionably a display dummy. It was eerie. She could see the bright metal connector that held her arm in place. Wow I can come apart! she thought to herself, no one will even know that I was a living, breathing girl, before. He twisted her torso at the hip joint also. The transformation was total.
"Now, observe, let me bring your human portion foremost." He intoned another spell, this time from memory. There were no swirling fireflies this time, however Tammy felt another "odd" sensation as her vision cleared with a blink; she was breathing too! "There," he concluded, "tell me how that feels now."
Tammy realized she had a voice, but she could not speak until he had asked her to. "Weird, James. Being a mannequin. Watching you take me apart. Now I'm back alive!" She flexed her left arm, the one that seconds before had been separated from her shoulder. It felt fine, if a bit stiff, like the rest of her body. Even though she was flexible it was definitely easier to move along the same planes as the now-invisible joint lines. When resting, Tammy now felt herself assuming display-like poses and staring silently into thin air. There was a slight sheen to her smooth skin which reminded her that she was still sharing precisely the same space with the blank mannequin figure. What had he called it; her counterpart, her twin?
"You already have agreed to become a mannequin for my company, so now that you know first-hand how my perfect figures are created you are going to spend most of your time from now on as one of them, either in a window or in other floor displays. But once a year or so, I'll bring your human side forward again for a brief period and you may assist me here at the company. Much like Crissy and Sandy are doing now.
"Do you mean….?"
"Yes, they are mannequins too. Some of my first, in fact. Crissy was a girlfriend, once, and I tried out the juxtaposition spell on her. She didn't think it would work. Ha!"
"Where did you learn this stuff? I thought magic was a bunch of parlor tricks." She walked slowly over to look at the book; he closed it before she could glimpse a page. Tammy continued to gaze at it stiffly.
"I bought it. Sounds crazy I know but not all of those ads in the magazines are bullshit. It cost me more than you can imagine; then I had the spells, but nothing else. Slowly, I started a business where this peculiar aptitude could be of some advantage." He put the book on the table and lifted her head with his finger so she gazed into his eyes. Tammy knew what was coming next: "Well, my dear, are you ready for your new reality to begin?"
Tammy looked around quickly, grasping that it would be her last action for a long time. Seeing the stiff figure of her friend Suzie, she walked up to the mannequin and spoke to it, knowing she would be listening. "Well, you found us both a job for life!" No reply from the statue "I'll see you later, bye Suez."
"OK, James. You can do it now." She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath, her last for months, even as he intoned the reversal spell. Compelled to resume the other part of her existence, she felt her body being drawn back to the standing mannequin's station, driven by a force beyond her will to place her arms and legs exactly as they had been posed before. Her face then took on precisely the same expression of detached amusement as she could feel her muscles lock solid. All movement stopped once more. Frozen in position, she felt her body become stiff and hard as a statue. Her breathing ceased and she knew the parting lines had reappeared on her figure -- this time the change had only taken a few seconds! Tammy's vision clouded as her eyes became glassy again. Solid, immobile, suspended; it seemed like she had always been this way. What remained of her mind tried to recall what it was like to have been alive and could not. That was no longer her existence. For now, she was a flawless mannequin posed on a display base.
As James watched her transformation with interest, Sandy and Crissy returned with the newest drugged girl and placed her on the reclining couch. She seemed still asleep as they attached the tubes to her body and started the pump. Though she could barely see what was going on, the faint sounds reminded Tammy of her recent (she could not recall when, exactly) transformation. Her thoughts wandered, this might have been the way to go -- not knowing what was going to happen to you - although if I had woken up and found myself on display in some department store window I would have freaked out!
James asked the girls to carry Tammy to where Suzie had been standing earlier, where they started to spray her with some kind of lacquer paint. She rigidly watched as James flipped the switch and started the new girl on her way to also be turned into a mannequin. Satisfied that everything was in order, he turned to the newly coated figure. "There my dear," he soothed, looking Tammy in the face, "you stay right here and dry and after we do your display makeup you'll be ready to join your friend."
While Tammy was standing on her base she had a clear view of the girl in the chair. Having nothing better to do, she watched as the other was being transformed. Her skin started to take on that glossy sheen; it seemed she was going to sleep through it all.
Then all of sudden, the girl's eyes opened wide and stuck; now awake, she realized that she could not move, not even to blink. Seeing the fear in her eyes, Tammy wished she could have told her that she would be OK and to let it happen because there is nothing more that she could do. Tammy wondered if James had asked her to trust him.
Time seemed to blur; when there was nothing different for Tammy to experience, her mind turned inert as the minutes flew by before her glassy eyes. It must have been at least a few hours before James returned with one of his helpers. Tammy's thoughts and consciousness resumed -- the shadow on the wall seemed to jump several feet.
James told Crissy to do Tammy's makeup while he started to pose the new girl and combine her with another blank mannequin. Tammy's fixed view was pretty much blocked as Crissy applied makeup to her frozen face, but she did observe the blaze of light as he chanted that strange spell again.
Crissy worked carefully, knowingly, adding long eyelashes and darkening Tammy's eye shadow and mascara. Her cheeks received a patina of rosy blusher and her usual lipstick shade was replaced by a bold, glossy, red. Of course Tammy did not move a muscle throughout, remaining a perfect living canvas. Crissy did a beautiful job on Tammy's face, then she finished up by spraying another light coating of lacquer to 'set' the makeup; it tickled in Tammy's nose but she could do nothing, not even sneeze.
James asked Crissy to carry the completed Tammy figure to the front to be packed with Suzie for shipment. As she entered the display room, she noticed the other employee (Sandy?) standing motionlessly on a base along with some of the other mannequins, it finally sunk in that she was also a mannequin and had just been active for a few minutes.
Tammy was in shock that everyone who worked for James must be all mannequins too.
Tammy was then taken apart rather abruptly by Crissy and her arms, legs, and torso segments were prepared to be packed into the same shipping carton with Suzie, who already rested piecemeal on the bottom of the box.
Then James came over to the box and looked at Crissy disapprovingly. He her to go back on display in the show room; she would be turned into a solid mannequin later. Turning his attention to the new display figures, he placed foam padding around the figures so they would not be damaged in transit. Tammy's torso was placed in such a way she could look straight into Suzie's blank eyes; she wondered how her friend was feeling as a mannequin. It became pitch dark as James sealed up the cover. Timestop.
Suddenly, there was light. A different women took the new mannequin figures out of the box and started putting them together. Tammy could see that she and Suzie were in an entirely new place that must be the department store. It looked like a workroom backstage.
The woman looked at the two frozen girls for a long time, examining their appearance. Tammy was startled when the window dresser said out loud (though no one else was around) how beautiful they were. "James has really surpassed himself this time!" Then she placed them onto a cart, bases and all, and transported them though the store as people noticed the two lifelike nude bodies heading for one of the store displays.
Inside the window that would be her new home, Tammy watched as the women dressed Suzie's stiff figure very slowly and precisely, then came over and started to dress her. They were being costumed in some sort of kinky sleep wear that Tammy was surprised to see in such a conservative store; it was quite a change of image for them! Tammy could still see Suzie out of the corner of her eye and she looked so beautiful there in her skimpy teddy. Instead of using their bases, the woman posed the mannequins as free-standing figures and kept them erect with some sort of transparent wire.
Finally the lady checked the look of their lingerie one last time, brushed the lint off of Tammy and Suzie, placed price cards on the floor in front of them and left the display window. With a squeak of unoiled pulleys, she opened the curtain and two brand new mannequins gazed out upon the street for the first time. Tammy could see the cars whizzing by and the slower passage of pedestrians on the sidewalk. Every now and then one of them would stop briefly to gaze at the stunningly lifelike display figures.
As the day grew on Tammy noticed she was getting used to the new setting, then the time blurred again as her thoughts crystallized into timestop. When she next 'woke up', Tammy was dressed in a different outfit and looked out of the window from a slightly different position. Then she noticed the new girl that James had been working on last was sitting in a chair next to Suzie; they had posed her into a sitting position. She, too, looked strikingly beautiful and not nearly as scared as Tammy had seen her last.
The days and weeks went by; after many different outfits and changes of scene, Tammy now fully accepted her new role as a mannequin and was even getting used to the intervals of 'null time' when things changed seemingly within an instant. One day, she 'awoke' to see one of her old girlfriends looking through the window at her display. She was looking at the mannequin intently; for the first time in a long while Tammy tried to speak out, then realized that she had forgotten how to move or make a sound! The friend walked away without seeming to recognize that the mannequin was really Tammy.
Some time later, Tammy became aware she was no longer in 'her' window. From the bright lights and clutter she concluded this was probably a workroom at the store. Then her thoughts cleared and she realized that the person standing in front of her was James! He had just finished saying something; her frozen body suddenly felt curiously fidgety as memories of a bygone life flooded back along with her ability to move. Taking her first dusty breath in almost a year, Tammy recalled what it was like to be alive. Then she took her long-delayed sneeze and at last cleared up the tickle in her nose. She was not aware she was nude.
"Bless you, dear Tammy," he said with a smile, "Tell me, how do you like your new life as a mannequin? Take your time; I know it's difficult." Without being asked, he lifted her off the restrictive support rod and steadied her upright for a few moments until she recalled how to balance on her own.
Tammy took few deep breaths, and stretched. Her body stayed somewhat inflexible, constrained by the fiberglass figure that remained within. She glanced around and saw that Suzie was standing stiffly on the glass base next to her, rigid, still in mannequin form.
"It's - different," she finally offered, "unlike anything I have ever sensed before. There is this feeling of timelessness that is so… fabulous. A day or a week can pass in an instant." Tammy walked around slowly, almost mechanically, as she spoke. "And the clothes - those are the best part. At first it seemed really odd having someone else dress me, but now I'm starting to like it." She blushed faintly, "I shouldn't be telling you this, but sometimes people stare at me in the display and seem to get aroused - that turns me on too!!"
James nodded, "Wonderful, Tammy, I'm very happy this vocation is to your liking. The store also regards you as an effective display figure for them; believe it or not they keep tabs on how well the garments you have been modeling are selling. You have done outstandingly well. That's why I'm here today."
"What do you mean?" She turned to face him and paused, suddenly immobile, at rest. He seemed to be taking an especially long time to answer, though only seconds had passed. She was not used to real time.
"They would like you to model some of their formal evening clothes and gowns. This will require a slight, say, modification to your appearance?"
"I don't understand. You said just now that they liked how I look a lot."
"Of course they do; however, they also feel that your potential could be improved. You will have to trust me about this alteration." James was trying to convince her, and had succeeded.
"All right - what do you want me to do?" Tammy conceded, "You're the artiste…"
"First off, pose yourself in these shoes; they will enhance the curve of your legs." The new pair of pumps had at least four-and-a-half inch heels. Tammy wobbled a bit; for someone just getting used to standing on her own again, the height was rather dizzying and her balance precarious.
"Now, stand up straight and angle your feet a little; keep your ankles together." Tammy followed his instructions carefully. "Raise your hands above your head. Yes, that's it. Now, hold it right there."
Tammy wondered what sort of a pose this was going to turn out to be; from her experience it didn't seem very elegant. James had told her to 'hold' however, and hold she would, like a living statue.
He approached her and began wrapping a leather-and-whalebone corset around her torso. The garment closed in front with a series of buckles; James pulled the straps very tight and Tammy could feel how it compressed her waist and pushed out her chest. "You're doing fine; take a big deep breath and let it out," James said, moving behind her. Tammy did as he asked. When she began to exhale, he pulled on the laces, cinching the corset even tighter. She could barely breathe now, taking air in little short gasps. It felt as though she was going to be pinched in half.
"Perfect!" he announced. "You've got an hourglass figure that Brigitte Bardot would have killed for!" He had finished tying off the laces and was posing her arms so one hand rested lightly on her hip, highlighting the flaring curves and the other raised near her face, as if she was getting ready to wave. A tip of her head and Tammy's newest pose was complete.
"How. Long?" Tammy could only speak in short breaths. She had seen pictures of women with wasp waists before; only now did she appreciate how much effort that affectation required.
"Quite a while, I'm afraid." He replied, "However, you will be spending that time in mannequin form."
"Thanks," was Tammy's last word as James repeated the transformation spell. She welcomed the sudden stiffness as her body hardened into position. In a few seconds she no longer had any reason to breathe and the grip of the corset seemed to fade along with her memories of animation. Soon afterward she was a rigid display figure once more with glassy eyes and a painted, frozen, smile.
He undid the lacing on the corset and released the buckles. As he had planned, her waist held its curve without the restrictive garment. Tammy was ready to model the tightest-fitting gowns the store possessed. Now a free-standing mannequin, she would also occasionally be placed into display cases in addition to her usual window presentations.
Watching the window dresser approach her and James turn away, Tammy realized her active interlude was over. Idly she wondered how long it would be before the next time. Soon after being placed in her window once more, now coated in a luminescent black gown with a slit that went up to her waist, Tammy drifted away into the limbo of timestop.
In all the bustle of her posing, Tammy had lost track of her friend Suzie. She was no longer in the same window display even though the other new mannequin still was. One day, Tammy became aware of a familiar face *outside* the window - Suzie! She was waving to catch the attention of the mannequin inside and show off her new clothes, doing a little model's turn on the sidewalk. By the time Tammy's benumbed mind has grasped the fact that her friend had quit the mannequin business, Suzie was gone.
Tammy saw her occasionally for some interval afterward, often on the arm of a different man each time. Viewed through the compression of Tammy's timestops, Suzie seemed to wither very quickly. Her clothes became cheaper and tighter as her makeup and hairstyles turned garish. It was clear that she was earning her living now walking the streets. Abstractly, Tammy was sad without knowing why. One day Suzie stopped coming by; she was quickly forgotten by the elegant mannequin figure in the window. Her thoughts were focused solely on wondering what manner of clothes she would model next. Tammy was satisfied.
And so it happened that a certain young girl came to spend the rest of her existence as a motionless eternally youthful mannequin when all she had expected was a one-day modeling gig.
Serendipity?
Go Figure!
End