I didn't sleep well. Sexy dreams. But I finally gave up and crawled out of bed.
Tail was in the shower. The girl must've left already, but she sure kept him up all night. He never stopped laughing. That was weird.
If one of us was getting some, and the other guy was... actually trying to sleep, it was cool. We both tried to keep it down. So I just pulled my pillow over my head and nodded off.
Coffee? Nah, it could wait. I needed to piss, but not too bad, and since Tail was still in the bathroom I rolled onto the couch and lit a cigarette.
Giggling. A chick.
All that laughing last night. Tail, yeah, but I never heard her -
Why was I hearing her laugh now? Didn't she go home yet?
A quiet giggle. That was weird. Yeah, I was the only one in the room.
Huh. I took another drag -
My cigarette was taken away. It floated... to the ashtray. I lifted my head, watching it -
And something poked me in the ribs.
I jumped back, and recoiled.
"Oh, goody."
"Huh?"
Nobody was there!
But hands slid around my sides. As soon as I started to get up, they pushed back -
"Whoa -"
And squeezed. Sliding up and down.
"Noooooooo hooo hoo hoo hooooooo..."
Oh, fuck, I pounded on 'em, clawed at 'em, and they didn't stop. Invisible.
"You're both ticklish." Sweet, laughing voice right by my forehead. So happy -
"Haaaalllaaah hah hah haaaah!"
"Yes, you are."
Oh, hell, I thrashed around as much as I could. Firm hands didn't let go. They kept on... really working my sides. More fingertips plowed into my armpits.
Fuck, I couldn't even yell anymore.
Tail, I thought, get your ass out here, help me...
Long, long minutes went by.
I was getting weaker. It was too distracting, and so I was getting my ass kicked by a few serious tickling hands. Couldn't see 'em, couldn't get 'em off me...
My belly - no! Not there. Happy fingers -
I screeched, arching my back...
That's when they got under me. I felt more fingers sliding into my sweats, reaching for my ass -
Oh, shit, I pissed on the couch.
The hands stopped moving until I was done. They still held on, though. I was panting for air...
"Bad," the voice teased. "So bad. I'm going to make you pay for that. Not another hour of tickling -"
"P-please," I gasped. "Help."
"Not two hours of tickling."
"Tail. Help... Tail!"
"Not even six hours of tickling -"
Fingers started to move again!
"Pleeeew-heeee hah hah hah haw haaaaaawwwww -"
"A whole day," she promised.
I shook my head, howling... quieter and quieter.
Twenty minutes? Probably not. Maybe fifteen...
I couldn't move. Steady hands, knowing where to dig. My face was wet. Every time I tried to move, it seemed like the tickling distracted me so much I couldn't finish the motion.
My laughter was hollow. Airy.
This was killing me. It couldn't go on. I rolled my head around desperately - right over some fingers that had found out how fuckin' unbearable the back of my neck was - and saw Tail.
Oh, finally. Yeah. He had to do something. Right now. I was spacing out. The place where I went was worse because I seemed to really concentrate on the fingers.... and all the giddy pain they were causing.
I shook my head and looked at him. He was leaning against the wall -
"Aaaah hah hah haaaah!" I yelled.
A hand covered my mouth.
"Your turn," he said. "I'm so fuckin' tired."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He started to turn away. No, Tail, get back here!
Rope... all up and down his arms. That's when I noticed, finally, that he wasn't wearing anything else.
The hand pulled off my lips -
"Nnnnaaaw huh huh huh huh huh huh."
He walked away. Twisting - because she was making him walk. I could see that clearly enough. Dammit, Tail was still leaving me like this, too weak to roll over, held by too many hands.
Tail walked down the hall.
No, no, I wanted to yell, you gotta do something! Now! Get me out of here, these hands are tickling the crap out of me! Just like...
Last night. He laughed... all night. Gagged, I thought - that was why it sounded especially weird. She gagged him, and dug in until he was a wreck, just like I was now, needing to howl so much harder but air just sorta puffed out instead.
Hands clamped under my knees.
"Naaaaah! Aaaaheeeeeeeeee heee-eeee eeeee!"
I wrestled around -
The fingers pinched my nipples, and raked down my ribs, and scratched around my belly-button.
A door slammed. Tail's bedroom.
Time faded in and out. Every second was pounding, sizzling...
I seemed to float.
The hands still kneaded and tracked ruthlessly...
I opened my eyes. Blurry -
White stripes in the air...
Rope.
All I could do was tense up. The fingers worked more slowly, but they increased the pressure.
Wailing, then hooting, I felt my body go limp.
The hands took charge of my limbs. Couldn't do a damn thing about it. Sliding my arms up over my head, spreading my legs. I was busy just trying to get enough air.
Both of my wrists were getting wrapped up. Knots, pulling tight -
Now, I thought distantly, there's no doubt. She could tickle me all day. I managed to pull, both arms, wanting so bad to get up...
Rope slid under my left ankle -
Right ankle. Tugging tight.
I was more stuck than I ever had been, on the couch, and she'd had no trouble keeping me down until I just couldn't fight at all.
After groaning hard, straining to bring my hands down, I bounced hard and started kicking.
"Nah hah hah hah nnn-nooo noooooo hoo hoo hoo..."
All of the hands let go.
"There," she said.
Something moved, to my right. I looked and saw a bandanna. It was Tail's. Not mine. Twisting tight -
It was dripping.
"Nooooooo!" I whined, bouncing as much as I could.
She was bringing a wet... gag to my face -
"Open wide."
Hands pounced on my armpits. Hard.
My howl was throttled after about a half-second.
Hands lifted my head, while others tied the knots. I bobbed my head, like a chicken -
Another palm smacked me in the forehead.
They were knotting it. Wet, slimy cloth on my tongue.
After the hands let my head fall, one of them eased on down to the nape of my neck and gave it a stern, lingering squeeze.
"Ski. You got it bad."
She knew my nickname.
I groaned into the gag.
"How could this get even worse for you? Huh?"
A bad idea occurred to me.
I lifted my head. No. Oh, no, no, aw no. I flailed at the ropes, squealing, trying to beg.
My feet were fuckin' defenseless -
A finger touched my balls. Sliding up.
And I was actually relieved. Even that business would've been better than what had me scared shitless.
"Tail likes this."
Three or four fingers now, so lightly... pumping me. I grunted.
"But..." And then she giggled.
I arched, a little, and let my head drop back on the pillow.
The fingers went away.
She let me wait a couple seconds. I was thinking about the last thing she said. But...
The thought of her touching the very worst places, next, made me dizzy with fear. I just knew what was gonna happen next, and I fuckin' desperately wanted to be wrong -
"That's not why I'm here."
"Nnnnnph," I bellowed, shaking my head.
A finger -
No!
My right foot. Wandering across the sole... and back.
"Nnnnniiiiiiiiipph!"
"Hour, after hour, after hour. Yes."
My left foot. No, no -
Many fingers.
Starting out, so slow...
All the thrashing I could do didn't make the ropes loosen.
I couldn't get my brain wrapped around it. Tickled. Tied down.
My feet, yet.
Roaming fingers. She was exploring every inch of my feet. When some spot made me twitch, the fingers doubled back and started trying different... movements.
She concentrated on the lower half of my feet for a long time.
When her fingers slid back up, they went right to the worst, most fuckin' ticklish spots again...
It was still true. My ankles pressed against the mattress. She brought rope with her.
The hands kept tickling, and they weren't slacking off.
Oh, I couldn't take another second of this.
She had to stop tickling me.
Any second now, maybe she'd quit.
Dammit, I was pulling again. It never did any good. Fucking rope. Couldn't she tell how unbearable this was?
Not another minute, I couldn't take it -
Stop crawling across like that, I thought, you're killing me, it tickles way too much...
I started to laugh again. Loud, despairing barks.
There. Now would she just... stop it, please, I was laughing as hard as I could. She couldn't keep doing this. It was too bizarre, the careful hands which never fuckin' stopped, being tied down, and I didn't want to be stuck like that another minute...
Oh, fuck, this was driving me over the edge.
I begged her, in my mind - please tickle my armpits instead. Please. You have no idea how fuckin' insane you're making me. My feet. So ridiculous, they were never this ticklish before, nobody's ever gone after 'em like this -
She had to pull off. Untie me. Stop tickling, just stop it.
She can't ever get enough.
That was obvious. I was way past the limit. What I had thought was the most tickling I could ever fuckin' stand - that point came and went about an hour ago. I felt it worse now. Maybe it would keep getting more and more amazing after all.
Limits were made to be broken.
What the fuck did I know, anyway. She was still tickling my feet. I was way past freaking out now. No sign she was gonna stop, and my feet were all I could think about, so ticklish, way more ticklish than before she grabbed me. Just thinking about that - laying there on the couch, with a fuckin' smoke... wondering where that giggle came from - well, that made me laugh and laugh. A dull, thick sound.
Get your hands off me, I thought. I'm dying. Tickled to death, slowly. If you keep this up I might just lay here and never...
Was that what she wanted?
Did she want me to lose my fuckin' mind, here?
I was so ticklish, so damn alive, right under her fingers.
You win. Okay? Just please let go of my feet now. Please, I really can't take this any more.
But she kept on tickling.
Tail. He had to get her off me.
Get my legs untied. First, he had to get loose himself. Bust the ropes, come in here and untie me.
She wasn't gonna stop tickling. How the hell could my feet still be this... sensitive -
Nobody else knew I was burning up. C'mon, Tail.
I knew he couldn't hear me, but the thoughts kept coming anyway.
It's all up to you. She won't pull her fingers off me. I'm nuts. Really, seriously - you know how it was last night? This has gotta be worse. I'm still getting tickled, here. Every second.
She's going to make me absolutely insane. She won't stop. Hell, she won't even stop then. Just keep tickling.
All these fingers...
You've got to stop her, Tail. I'm serious. She's still tickling me!
She tickled you all night, didn't she? All these hands. You know. Suffering, hours and hours.
I'm crazy. You can't hear me and I keep talking to you. In my head. She doesn't listen at all. But you already know that.
You're sleeping right now. Tied tight. You're not getting tickled now, are you? Call her. Please. I'll get loose, then, and bring back help...
I can't get loose. Who am I kidding? She's never gonna let that happen.
We've got to do something. Nobody knows. That's gonna let this go on and on. She's counting on that. I'm gagged, Tail. Why aren't you yelling for help?
Wake up, Tail.
I'm gonna laugh real loud until you wake up.
If you don't get your raggedy ass in here, I'm gonna scream.
Get her off me. Right now. Please...
The tickling is stronger now, or I feel it worse and that can't possibly happen again, Tail, I don't know how I hung in here this long. I'm really gonna die. She won't even let me pass out, much less croak. Gonna keep tickling, and tickling.
Tail...
It's bad. I had no idea, dude, I swear I didn't know she was doing this to you. If I ever thought something like this would happen, I would've been there.
Get me off this fuckin' bed.
I'm so ticklish. Big feet. She doesn't say anything. Just keeps on -
Those fuckin' fingers. I hate her fingers. All of 'em. I can't laugh anymore, Tail, you've gotta make the damn tickling stop.
You gotta run. Wake up, asshole, and go get help. Get loose and run, real fast, you got it? Tell 'em to hurry. Get here and cut these mutherfuckin' ropes. I'm getting tickled to death, I mean it, and she's not stopping.
Aw, fuck. This was the most crazy thing ever. How much more ticklish could I get?
She knew. That had to be why she kept right tickling. My feet were getting jolted so hard it was almost scary. Impressive. She knew.
No, that wasn't right. I didn't want to give her any credit at all, but the fingers tickled so much I couldn't even think straight...
The rope was tied too well. Skillfully. Couldn't fuckin' go anywhere. I was way too distracted to move, anyway.
Those hands had it in for me.
No, that was too paranoid. She wasn't gonna tickle to death, and somehow I wasn't even gonna go crazy. Not officially insane. This was worse. Cunning. She knew how to make me feel it harder. Sky's the limit.
I thought I'd break, somehow, but she knew better. Over the hurdle, and tickle me right up to the next one. She's good.
Gasping for breath, so damn tired...
She was done. Oh, fuck, it was finally over.
I was worn out, so she'd finally untie me and leave, and I could go cut Tail loose. All over, wow, and I was so unbelievably glad.
No -
Wait. That wasn't tickling. What was she doing? It was over. Didn't she realize that? What the fuck did she -
My toes. No, Stop it. Please.
Why was she holding my big toes? Not tickling 'em. But I thought she was done, dammit, I needed this to be all over.
More rope? What -
No. Too skinny.
It came down... and looped around my big toe.
Aw, shit. No, she wasn't done.
Not this, no, no! She was tying my toes up.
Oh no, you don't...
There was so many cords. One for each toe. Spread apart, and I couldn't protect that wide open space between 'em, so ticklish, so horrible -
I started to cry. And that really made me... just enraged.
"Ski, honey," she said softly.
Please, please, I thought desperately, take 'em off. You've gotta be done tickling me now. I'll... explode. No more tickling -
"I know how frustrating it is, cutie. You must try to understand that this is the quickest way to teach you the truth. Listen up. My tickling will never stop when you want it to stop. You need to accept that - really believe it - and then you won't be as angry. Or sad."
Pulling with all my might, I decided being angry was the way to go. She was wrong. Doing all that to me, and then stopping like she was finished. There was no way I was going to calm down and go along with her blowing me away - fuckin' cords stretching my toes, now, how warped and sick was that? No way.
"You just cry as much as you need to," she said. "I won't tell anybody. Not even Tail."
Fuck - I wished I could bend my toes, now that it was too late. They really straightened out my soles -
Not possible. She kept turning up the heat. Not only was I robbed of the useless comfort of scrunching up my toes, but she'd just made my soles... even more ticklish?
My stomach churned.
Of course. If it was possible, she'd do it. I bet she had a million tricks to make the tickling slam home harder and harder.
One, two, four, eight fingers. No...
She actually did it. Tickling me again, even though I pulled and pushed at the knots...
I cackled for her. It didn't sound like much, but I hoped she knew what I meant. Please, oh please, stop.
The fingers dragged across, and it felt so much stronger that I couldn't even figure out how to feel it all at once. I don't know how I kept on breathing. The tickling was so much... larger that I had no way to take it all in.
Unbelievable -
What?
Gentle. Not like the other fingers.
No, no, they weren't, she didn't do this.
Feathers.
They were. Feathers... sliding between my toes.
I flailed hard. Shouting, trying to bounce, wishing I could break the fuckin' cords which made the insane, unthinkable increase of stimulation possible. She went too far. No man should be feeling that much shocking, screaming current. A whole new plateau of excitement was waiting for me, and maybe she knew how many more worlds full of ticklishness were yet to come.
Every second was staggering.
More than I can take - well, that had become a pitiful understatement.
Oh, yeah.
I could breathe. The hands weren't tickling me.
Still tied down -
She wasn't done. Just letting me catch my breath. This was the most unbelievable day I'd ever had. I looked over at my clock.
2:18.
Well, that couldn't be right.
It was still daylight, but it couldn't possibly be 2:18. Maybe it was the next day.
Dammit. The cords were still there, around my toes...
Hey - the gag was gone. I thought for a second or two, and sucked in a big breath.
A hand clamped over my mouth.
"No, Ski."
"Nnnnnmmphh!"
It pressed down harder. Ow.
"Laugh as loud as you want. But the second you try to yell..."
And the damn gag floated up. Soaked. She dropped it next to my head.
"Do you want the gag again?"
I shook my head.
The hand peeled away. "Nobody else can find out. That might interfere with all this Ski-tickling."
Really, I felt pretty depressed. She was gonna tickle me some more. Two in the afternoon. Fuck. I got up at nine-thirty -
"Your feet," she said thoughtfully. I hung on the next thing she was gonna say. "Enough for now."
"Whoooo," I sighed, closing my eyes. The hands weren't gonna get right back down to business.
That wasn't necessarily true.
Actually, what she'd said was that my feet had had enough - for now.
Shit. I opened my eyes.
"Uh-huh," she laughed quietly.
Tender, insistent fingers curled over my pecs.
"No no no no nnnah heh heh huh huh," I burbled.
Hands laid under my hips, and started massaging my fuckin' biceps -
One slid behind my neck.
I squealed, going nuts all over again, and whipsawed the ropes as much as I could.
A hand teased my belly-button. Others scratched lightly up and down my calves.
For about ten seconds, I bellowed real hard... and then I sucked in a ragged breath, and whined once. It was just too many fingers to laugh at.
More worked their way under my shoulder blades, and rubbed my kneecaps.
"You're not laughing," she said. "Hmmmmm."
No. Something flicked in my armpit. Both -
Feathers.
No, no, no! I was wild to get up, this could not fuckin' go on, I was burning alive. Laughing just didn't cut it anymore. Five hours, not even that, and the tickling was so much more muther-fuckin' intense, now.
I floated in a sky full of... endless contact. Nowhere to hide from it.
The water bottle was my best friend. I sucked at that thing desperately...
If I'm still tied down, then that means -
Hands curled around my ribs.
I slammed down, threw my head back and howled. It sounded like I was exhaling hard - and that was all.
Palms snuggled against the soles of both feet.
Fingers poked under my knees -
And I twisted left and right, roaring with laughter, wide awake again. More aware of the tickling than ever.
The hands worked me over...
And then, later, a nicer signal pierced through it all.
Fingertips. Shit, I thought, oh shit, and there are feathers too.
All around my dick, and my balls, her fingers were grazing like they belonged there.
A feather crawled way down under my balls. Another one eased up and down my shaft.
I am really gonna go insane, I thought. This is it.
She squeezed and rubbed and tickled me.
My eyes stung. Sweating that much. Panting. I needed to cum.
All I could do was squirm...
When the fingers started pumping me again, a weak rebel yell just popped right out of my mouth.
All of the hands worked in rhythm. Way too slow, but there was hope. I wondered how long it had been -
The clock had been turned around.
Another fuckin' long, unbelievable hour. At least. I didn't know for sure...
The fingers were tickling more firmly, racing now and then -
I surged. Groaning, pushing my hips way up -
Yeah. Oh, fuck. I was finally gonna do it.
Wow. Yeah. Wow. This was one of the best... even though I didn't wanna enjoy anything this much. Not when I was still getting tickled. It might give her more ideas.
A hand was milking my dick. Relentless. She knew how to work it.
Scrabbling, tickling fingers covered me...
A thick fog filled my head.
Tickling, all over, like incredibly nice stabs and cuts.
It went on for about five hundred years.
9:21.
A tray floated in. Eggs, pork chops, a big ham sandwich.
I wolfed down everything.
"It's Tail's turn," she said. "Night shift."
Not knowing what to say, I just burped. Obviously she had no idea how much I needed a cigarette, after all I'd been through. Or maybe she did know. I almost asked... but decided I'd better not risk it. The toe-cords were gone, and I was trying to hold on to the idea that now she'd fuckin' leave -
"You're staying like this. Tied. And you know why."
More of the same.
Fuckin' unbelievable -
The door opened. "Good night, Ski. Have incredible dreams... of you-know-what, done by you-know-who."
"I gotta pee."
"Go ahead. I'll clean you up before the fun starts again."
"No," I barked, twisting around. "You gotta listen -"
The fuckin' door slammed shut.
Another door closed.
I heard Tail yelling. Dull thumps. Maybe he was thrashing that hard.
A long wail...
Steady noises. Another thump.
Yeah, she was tickling him again.
I was totally exhausted.
Soft, monotonous laughter next door, right on the other side of the wall -
It was worse that way, somehow, than if I could've seen what was happening. Was Tail gagged? Was she kneading his ribs right now, or pinching his nips?
Maybe his hours of foot-torture had already begun.
The dream I had was clear and sharp. Outside, it was a beautiful night. Clear, and windy...
I looked from the window to my ribs, where her feathers were skating - all over. There was no telling how long she'd been tickling me.
The vertical blinds were open, and I realized she must've moved my bed to the living room. But all of the neighbors' houses were gone. It looked like the surface of the moon out there. Nobody was gonna see me. She could really settle in now, and tickle the living fuck out of me every day. Permanently hers. A plaything -
Tail showed up. He walked down the hall, saw me... and the fucker snorted once.
He was wearing my NASCAR jacket. What the fuck?
And then, oh shit, the front door opened. A slight breeze came from outside, cool and nice. It smelled a little like my last girlfriend's muff.
Tail didn't even say anything to me. He walked right over to the door, not even looking back once -
I started giggling. Hoarse, and lusty. Even to me it sounded like I'd really snapped.
Tail stopped, and his head went down. Reaching for something -
The son of a bitch lit a cigarette. I'd never worn that jacket, or even taken it out of the dry-cleaning bag... much less smoked with it on.
But two things were more important, right then. I wanted a fuckin' cigarette...
And Tail was getting away. Leaving me here.
He jingled his car keys and walked out, pulling the cloud of smoke along with him.
I just stared at the door, wondering why she left it open. The air smelled so nice. Reminding me -
Hands eased into my armpits. I laughed like I was drunk.
Fingers skipped over my feet, reaching for my toes and heels.
The tickling just went on forever.
When I woke up, even the rope was clean.
She fed me pancakes, and untied me just long enough to wrap my arms again - behind me, like Tail had been tied yesterday. About forty hands latched on and walked me out into the living room, no matter how hard I struggled.
There were big wooden... frames there. She'd brought in a rack, and something that looked like a kids' swingset. There was one leather seat hanging from it.
Pale foam rubber covered the window, and the door.
All of our furniture was gone.
I watched leather cuffs float closer. Hands stuck my left arm out straight, so it could get wrapped up...
Snapping, bouncing, I'd developed this high-pitched wheeze.
I couldn't stand it. Firm little brushes. She was driving me crazy.
Roaring, shrieking, yelling... Unspeakably ticklish after she shaved me again. And I was so quiet. No more voice.
It didn't matter if I was afraid, or pissed off. Determined to get loose, trying to please her.
No amount of straining got me anywhere.
The steel crib showed up a few days later.
Just before bed, I was taken right into the shower. It was the same routine that had started the second day. I was so worn out I couldn't do shit. She scrubbed me down... then toweled me off while her hands held my jaws open. Flossed and brushed my teeth.
With my hair still damp, I was shoved across the hall - and when my bedroom door opened, I got my first look at it. One-inch tubes surrounded my bed. A low cage...
All kinds of thick bolts holding it together.
She had leather straps - all stitched together, like a harness - and they pinned my arms tight against my sides.
I watched the barred lid swing down. It looked heavy.
One more strap cinched my ankles together, and looped over the top bars. My feet were three inches off the mattress. Kicking just made my feet swing a little - and so did the fingers which covered my soles, tickling and tickling.
A quicker hand teased the tip of my cock until I was fairly hard.
The light went out, and she closed the door.
One day, a skinny wooden shelf had been put up. It ran the whole length of the living room wall. It held small clay pots, which were full of shit she liked. A couple dozen things to tickle us with, several kinds of rubbers...
Wider shelves were added for the cock toys.
More of the narrow ones were lined with oil and lube bottles, and some had pegs for hanging up things which were longer. Straps, mainly. The thin belts which snaked down were covered with fur, and they just made me seize up and see spots before my eyes whenever they were creeping on me.
"March, march, march, Ski. Left, right, left, right."
She was certainly in a good mood today, hustling me down the hall. Tail must've really gone through the wringer.
"Day shift. Your turn, cutie..."
Nothing I could do was changing my path. Right to the stocks.
Tit clamps were definitely not my idea of a good time.
It was easier if I just didn't dwell on the more... intimate stuff.
A cigarette hung just barely out of reach.
If I memorized all the answers - instead of reading them off the clipboard, like I used to - she might've actually let me smoke it...
Big, deep breath. I cracked my neck and leaned back against the chair.
"Ready?"
I nodded.
"What are you going to do today, Ski?"
"Get tickled. Shoot my wad. Same as yesterday."
"Are you kidding? Wow, you must really love getting tickled."
This one always got to me, and it wasn't even in the form of a question. "Hell, no. But I'm gonna get it anyway. I'm locked in here."
"You are? Wait a minute. Are you saying... it's involuntary? You hate it, and you keep getting tickled anyway - big, tough guy like you?"
I laughed real hard, like I meant it. That was the answer she wanted.
"Does anybody know you're forced to take all this tickling?"
"Tail knows. He's the only one."
"But why doesn't Tail do something to stop it?"
"He gets tickled all night. Right now he's sleeping in his cage."
"That's wild. You're both prisoners, and you get tickled... Which one of you gets tickled harder?"
I sighed. "I'm gonna get tickled as hard - Aw, shit. From the top. I get tickled every bit as hard as Tail does."
"You do? All day?"
"All day, every day."
"You're stuck, and getting tickled, until... Wow. Okay, if somebody manages to get in here, all your forced tickling would end - wouldn't it?"
"Nobody ever comes. It's been so long I know they're never, ever going to come. No matter what, I'm going to get tickled just as long and hard and skillfully as I am now." I paused, and she didn't interrupt me, so I kept talking. "But if the impossible happens, Tail will be hauled out here and we both have to tell the visitor that we live like this by choice. Inside all the time, tickling each other all the time..."
Dammit, sometimes I just wanted to puke. This was the longest answer, though, and I'd been working on it for weeks. "If any visitor comes inside a second time, or any other visitor shows up, Tail and I will be tied up and moved the same day. If Tail and I are ever rescued, we're gonna be recaptured immediately, as soon as the rescuers turn their backs, and we'll be moved to the next house. It's way out in the desert, already stocked up and waiting... Uh, and there's great locks on the outside of all the doors."
"Good," she said, as if she was surprised that I got the answer right. Then she hummed for a second... "If you knew this was the very last day of tickling, how would you feel?"
"There is no such thing as the last day of tickling. I'm caught, here, and I'm getting more ticklish all the time." I pulled at the cuffs, seriously wishing I was somewhere else.
"You're doing so well, Ski. One more. It looks like another long day of tickling is about to start - do you really want to miss out on it?"
"More than anything," I said, meaning every word. "But there's no fucking chance of that."
"You did it!" she cheered. "Hooray!"
The lighter came up - and flicked...
Please, I thought desperately. I was good, I memorized all the answers, aw please.
I got the cigarette.
She even lit it.
Now I can rattle off the answers without even thinking about 'em. If I don't sound sincere enough, there goes my daily smoke. I need that cigarette, too. Shit...
Some of Tail's questions are different. He has one about who owns the house, and who really runs the house. And he does get into the tickling. I don't understand that at all.
We get to hang out every couple weeks. Three hours off my shift, three hours off his. Cuffed together, wearing these weird leather pouches, and my bong comes floating over. She gets us fucked up. Beer, too, and last time there was pizza...
Her fingers barely tickle us at all when we're talking. I mean, we snicker a lot, but we're used to that. Mostly it's just good to see his fuckin' face.
I stare at his hands a lot. They're visible, for one thing. They leave me the fuck alone.
We can't believe what's been done to his living room. Just packed with shit now that makes us sweat bullets.
I fuck with him sometimes. Of all the places I could've rented a room, and so on.
He got tickled first. I can't figure out why that makes me feel better, but it does.
Nobody has ever knocked on the door. Not once since she caught us... She must be really careful about paying the bills on time. There's always food, and money for beer. New toys. A set of chrome rails just got here, yesterday or the day before. She hasn't even put 'em up yet. I think they'll go on the ceiling.
Shit's been the same for a long, long time. The gardener comes and goes - I hear the lawn mower sometimes, but he sure as hell doesn't hear me - and apparently she's been smart enough to keep doing whatever it takes to keep the neighbors from coming around. Nobody's suspicious. I mean, we're still in here.
Last year she pinned up a whole bunch of pictures. Our next house.
It's all set. I used to think she was bluffing...
The living room looks a lot like this one.
Sometimes I have trouble falling asleep, even though I'm wiped out, and all I have to do is think about the next place. That makes me relax. The outside walls are almost the color of the sand, just like the roof. She's got bars over the windows already, and two rooms full of supplies.
There's a whole case of cigarettes next to the high-back bench.
And the view, from the front window, looks almost like the surface of the mutherfuckin' moon.
29jan2005