Roger sat in his chair trying to puzzle out his problem. He felt caught in a trap. He was sure the whole thing was a mistake, or perhaps a misunderstanding. He had only been married four weeks, but how had his beautiful, loving wife effortlessly caught him, in what he felt to be, a web of control.

It was this very morning he had concluded the problem was the chair, the one in which he was sitting, it was to blame. He thought back two months when his then fiancé, Hannah, presented him the chair.

Hannah had asked Roger to meet her in an industrial area not far from his office at a business called "Stan's Creations". Hannah stood in the front office where he could see her framed in the window; her slim curvaceous bod hugged by paneled leggings and a jogging top which hugged her pert c-cup breasts. Long black hair framed her long face. At 24, she was just two years younger than Roger, who was already a top property broker in the county. His family and collegial connections reached to all the right places and his rise had been quick and his future assured. Hannah was 5'5" to Roger's 5'10", she seemed short in her running shoes, but when they were dressed up with her in heels, she was raised up to a more statuesque 5'8". They made for a handsome couple and they had had many the complement to show for it.

Roger walked in the door, "I see you're ready for your afternoon run!", he beamed.

"Yes, I came here with Stan; I'm planning to run while you're with the hypnotist. Then we can go to my place where I can get ready for dinner."

"Great. I'm looking forward to the surprise you have for me."

The surprise was the chair.

Once in back with Stan and Hannah, Roger was introduced to an oversized armchair covered by a shiny satin-smooth sage-colored fabric with an embossed floral pattern.

Overall, the style and fabric were too much on the feminine side for Roger's taste. He could not picture it for his everyday chair.

Seeming to read his mind, or at least the expression on his face, Hannah said, "It's for the bedroom, you will find this chair will be a perfect place to relax. This chair hides a secret place to help you to de-stress."

Hannah reached out with her right foot to press a secret button under the chair.

Electric motors whirred and the bottom cushion of the chair began to unfold forward from the front soon followed by the back of the chair unfolding upwards from the top. By the time the whirring stopped a large padded surface slightly angled in the middle had been revealed with various protrusions and a small switch panel. It was easy to see how the whole system formed sort of cocoon ready to accommodate an appropriately sized person.

Hannah prodded Roger towards the chair, "Come on, I can't wait for you to try it out."

Roger tentatively approached the chair. He rolled onto the surface from the left side. As he arranged his limbs upon it, the padded surface seemed to guide his frame into the one desirable position. Each of his ankles, thighs, elbows and wrists found a place for nestling. His hips and head found perfect indentations in the surface for nestling as well. He found his right hand fell right over the switch panel. From his vantage point, Roger could not see down, but he could see Hannah walk over towards his right side and then he heard the click. The chair came to life and he could feel added pressure to wrists, thighs, hips, elbows, wrists and head. A visor came down over his head. Hannah had hold of his right hand. He tested his range of movement, other than wagging his hands and feet, immobilization was complete. Within seconds a readout appeared on the inside of the visor. It showed his blood pressure (160/95) and his pulse (96). The visor left a small range of view where he could still see Hannah standing nearby, but little else.

Hannah called out, "Relax..." in a slow calming voice. She rubbed his right arm. "...take deep breaths." She continued.

The results were immediate. Roger immediately felt calmer. Then she showed Roger with his right hand that he had complete control to engage and disengage the restraints. This also went towards Roger's relaxing into the situation. In the end, he did find that with the restraints engaged the experience was very calming. Within five minutes he found his blood pressure had gone to (118/72) and his pulse to just 68.

Once back up, standing next to Hannah the best he could muster, though, was "Interesting...".

He never pictured himself being into such a thing. He sighed under his breath "...bondage?".

Hannah scoffed, "It's not bondage. You'll always be in complete control with your hand over the switch. It's just a way for you to relax. The science is clear, being firmly held can have a calming effect."

"Well, it seemed to work. I guess it wouldn't hurt to give it a try."

"I've asked Stan to deliver it to your house on Saturday, you'll have four weeks to test it before the wedding."

Roger relaxed his restrained body into the chair thinking how after his hypnosis session on that evening he decided he was excited by the prospect of using the chair. After all, he could use a place he could chill out after one of his stressful days. Property brokerage could be quite stressful at times.

No, the problem was not the chair. It was something else, something was driving him to the chair. Something about the wedding day... OBEY.

The wedding, four weeks ago, was the happiest day of his life, but not without concerns. Hannah had a strange request; Roger was to profess the vows that tradition had assigned to the Bride: to love, cherish, and to OBEY. From hindsight, he had no idea how she had persuaded him. In the end, it was a strange need he felt to atone for his male privilege. He took the nervous laughter that arose behind him during the ceremony as a badge of pride. Several women came up to him during the reception to congratulate him on his awareness of his own male privilege. He had not realized how most women had lived and his vow gave him a small taste of what women had felt in patriarchal societies for millennia. But now his vow seemed to weigh on him. Why did he feel he had to keep a vow he had only made to show his solidarity with women? When Roger later spoke to Hannah about his feelings, she asserted that husband and wife are accountable to each other - this had nothing to do with obeying. Roger almost believed her. If it had not been for the later incidents with the chair, he would not have these doubts right now.

He thought back to the first day they were back from their honeymoon. Hannah asked Roger to help with 'tidying', as the house was a mess with all the changes. She was moving into Roger's house and they had just returned from a long trip. Roger muttered that it would wait. He grabbed a beer and turned on the TV; the basketball game was on in 45 minutes. Before he knew it, Hannah was standing before him with her hands on her hips. She yelled, "You need to sit in your chair until WE calm down." Something in Roger snapped, a panic from deep within. He knew she was right; he jumped right up, walked into the bedroom and opened the chair so he could calm down. Motors whirred the switch flipped and clamps tightened. He needed the calm. But something different; his arms pivoted at the shoulders as they were raised above his head. He had lost control- no way out. He called, no answer. He stewed- no relief. Finally, in this position, he fell asleep. When he awoke his arms were back at his sides. Once free he saw over five hours had passed! He had missed the whole game. He found Hannah in the kitchen with food ready. She seemed happy, he did not want to spoil the mood, he made a mental effort to stay calm.

"I guess you must be hungry." Hannah proffered.

"Yes, famished."

"Sit down, we both can do with a good meal."

While Roger was calming down in his chair, Hannah had gone out to buy groceries and prepared a meal for them both.

Roger thanked Hannah and began to eat. "Something strange happened with the chair."

"Really, I believe it worked fine. We're both calm now."

"No. I mean yes, but I was trapped. My arms moved out of reach of the switch."

"That is by design." Hannah raised her arm to show Roger a device on her wrist. "This monitors my vitals. If it senses I am upset the chair raises your arms. In this way, we avoid confrontation while either of us is upset. That way we never have an overly emotional confrontation."

"But I missed my game."

"That's your own fault."

Roger realized it was his fault. It was selfish of him to ignore his wife's needs. He didn't know where all this came from, but he began to beg Hannah's forgiveness. Her needs would always come first.

Now he sat in the chair for the fourth time in two weeks with his arms above his head. Looking back, Roger thought that he had become overly compliant. It came from someplace other than just the chair, or the vow. He still needed to solve this problem. Sitting there was becoming too relaxing for thinking clearly. With his arms above his head the switch was way beyond reach. How long would Hannah be upset this time, anyway.

Perhaps there was a clue, in what had just happened. The third Saturday of the month had become his golf day with two of his college friends. He had forgotten about Hannah's plans for meeting with the contractor for the bathroom remodel. Besides, he did not need to be there. His attendance had only been implied, he rationalized. How did he forget about third Saturday anyway!

Despite Hannah's fit, Roger was determined. He headed to the car with his clubs. But with his hands on the wheel, he could not get himself to start the car. He sat there with sweaty palms and heart pounding in his chest. Hannah came charging out of the house. She stared at him through the window with hands on her hips. She did not even have to say it. Roger got out of the car and went compliantly to his chair.

Thinking back, it hit Roger: the compliance had to have come from the hypnosis. This was a new feeling that had developed since his sessions had begun. He must talk to his hypnotist; he would insist that through the hypnosis he would have some of this need to be compliant dialed back. He had allowed too much emphasis to be put on the marriage. He still had to retain some independence for himself. Having resolved the issue, he went further into a relaxed state. He saw his blood pressure was down to 119/70 with a pulse of 69. He took a deep breath. His attention heightened when the display went blank. Dancing colored shapes appeared before his eyes on the visor. With that, Roger fell into a very deep sleep.

He awoke, with his arms at his side. He released himself and was happy to see he had awoken in plenty of time to see the contractor with Hannah. In the car, on the way he apologized profusely for not clearing the round of golf with her. He was happy inside knowing that he would clear this weirdness up with the hypnotist on Monday.

On Monday, at five in the afternoon Roger walked into the office of his hypnotist, just as the previous patient was leaving. He sat down to wait.

Within seconds, Hannah opened the door to her inner sanctum and said a soothing voice. "Roger, please come in and have a seat."

On the way home, Roger knew it was the right decision to end his sessions with the hypnotist. Roger was sure Hannah and his chair were all he would ever need to solve any problem.