“Hey sweetie! What are you doing?” Judy’s mother, Tonya said as she walked into the living room.

“I was just going through the attic, looking for those old decorations, you know, when I found this old box of video tapes.” Judy called back from where she was sitting cross legged by the tv. Reaching into the box, she held one up. It was an old VHS tape, in a blank cardboard sleeve. The only marking on the front was an old piece of masking tape which had “Old Shame” written across it in marker.

“Honey! No, don’t!” Tonya called, frantically, her eyes widening with shock as she saw the tape, but it was too late. Her daughter had already slipped the tape into their old VCR. It started playing automatically. Bad 80s rock warbled out of the TV speakers, along with a lot of static. Against a backdrop an eye blistering shade of reddish orange, a title came up in barely legible blue letters that shivered and warped as the screen flickered. “Corrigan Pictures Presents: Secretary’s Training IV” it said, followed after a few seconds by: “Starring Tawnee.”

With nothing in the way of transition, the screen abruptly changed to a poorly lit office, containing an off center desk with a few papers on it, a filing cabinet and bare walls. The camera shook for a few seconds, losing focus as it tried to zoom in on the man sitting at the desk, pretending to be looking at the papers.

Against the overwhelming sound of the camera’s motor, a door opened, the sound echoing through the room, along with some footsteps. A second later, a young woman strode into view. She was dressed as a secretary, or more accurately, someone’s fantasy of a secretary, in a short black skirt, cut high up one thigh and a business jacket cut with a deep plunging neckline to show off as much cleavage as possible. Between the outfit, the massive 80s hairdo, poor lighting and general blurriness of the video, it took Judy a few seconds to recognize the actress as her mother, some 20 odd years younger.

“Hello Mr. Wilson. I’m Tawnee, you’re new secretary. They told me to come here...that you’d show me the ropes.” She said in an unconvincingly sultry tone. Her mouth opened in an expression of faux surprise as the man opened a desk drawer and started pulling out bundles of rope.

A few bars of a supposedly comedic soundtrack started up, then abruptly cut off as the scene again cut without any sort of transition. Tonya or Tawnee or whatever, Judy’s mom, was now sitting on the desk, tied up. Or more accurately, wrapped here and there, inexpertly with some coils of rope here and there. Likewise, she seemed to have more trouble keeping the loosely tied gag from falling down then talking through it. Nonetheless, she seemed determined to play the helpless victim, squirming around to show off her long legs, shaking her chest and flashing her doe eyes. She couldn’t have done better if she’d been chained to a train track in a silent film.

At this point, Tonya had managed to cross the room and hit pause on the VCR. “That’s enough of that.” She said, hitting the eject button. She slipped the tape back into its cardboard sleeve and dropped it back in the box. “I wouldn’t watch the rest of those. There all Corrigan Pictures trash, all pretty much the same. Get tied up, mug for the camera, get tied up with less clothes on…”

“Wha...what the...I had no idea, mom…” Judy stammered.

“What can I say, I was young, inexperienced, niave you might say. Everyone’s got some skeletons in their closet, some old Shame they’d hoped would never see the light of day…” Tonya gave a long sigh. Then, she shrugged. Raising a hand, she zipped her latex catsuit all the way back up. “Anyone, every actress has to start somewhere, right? Now where did I leave my whip? I need to get going, shooting starts in two hours…”