When I was twelve years old in the summer of 1977, I spent three weeks at my Aunt Jean's house, where--among other things--I played tie up games with my cousins Donna (13), Shirley (11), and George (7), and the neighborhood kids Becca (14), her brother Jim (also 12) and Karen (13), who lived down the street.
On the Friday of my second week, I had braced myself for a major tie up game that Karen had wanted to play on that very day. I found this out through Donna, who told me about Karen's plans earlier that week.
However, I was surprised to discover that my cousins were all going over to Becca's house to swim in her pool, and Karen was nowhere to be seen. When Donna invited me to come with them, I reluctantly agreed. My cousins, who were already dressed in their bathing suits, left ahead of me. After I got changed, I went over to Becca's shirtless and barefoot, clad only in a swimsuit with a towel slung over my shoulders.
Once I arrived at Becca's, I found everybody was already splashing around in the pool. But before I could join them, Becca stepped out of the pool and called out to me as she dried herself off with a towel. When I walked over to her, she plucked the towel from my shoulders and placed it on the picnic table. Then she firmly grabbed my arm and said, "Doug, c'mon! There's something I wanna show you!" She said this in a way too overly innocent manner that immediately put me on guard.
I was led inside the house, and downstairs to the storage room at the far end of the cellar. I noticed that a hardback chair with no arms was placed in the center of the storage room, and there was about several miles of rope lying on top of the cushion. I glanced at Becca, who smiled at me in that special, gleefully crazed way that only she could. I knew then I was in big trouble.
When I heard giggling behind me, I turned and saw Donna, Shirley, George and Jim all standing there, clad in their wet bathing suits with their hair slicked back from being in the water.
Before I could even react, I was tackled to the floor by Becca, Donna, and Shirley who all squealed and giggled in my ears like a pack of rabid chipmunks. They forced me to sit down in the chair--well, since I wasn't putting up much of a fight, anyway, it wasn't exactly a knock-down, drag-out battle for them to make me sit down.
Once I was seated, Donna pulled my hands behind the chair's back and held them there so Shirley could bind my wrists together with the rope. Becca pulled off a strip of tape and gagged me with it. Donna tied a rope around my torso, securing me to the back of the chair, while Becca bent down in front of me and bound my ankles together. At first, Shirley wanted to do this, but was chased away by Becca when she made these funny growling noises at her.
As I was being tied to the chair, I saw George, who was so caught up in the excitement of the moment that he jumped around and waved his arms wildly, as if waving in a fighter for a landing aboard an aircraft carrier. His antics eventually made Jim take notice, and he crept up from behind him and tickled George's sides. This made George wrap his arms tightly around his bare torso, as he glared angrily at Jim.
I was finally securely tied to the chair, with my legs bound together at the ankles and knees. Becca made a big deal of double-checking all of my knots, but when she bent down before me to check the rope that bound my knees, Becca abruptly reached up and tickled my bare sides.
I tried to be stoic, and pretend that it didn't affect me, but I soon lost my battle and melted into a writhing mass of muffled giggles. I was laughing so hard that, before long, tears streamed down my cheeks.
It took both Donna and Jim to finally pull Becca off of me. But even as she was being dragged away from me, Becca kept trying to give me one last tickle on my legs, and my feet. "Enough, Becca," Donna said with annoyance. "Becca, c'mon! All right, stop! That's it! Becca!"
Jim finally made his older sister stop by reaching down and tickling her exposed side. This snapped Becca to attention with an indignant "Hey!"
She waved her finger in Jim's face, as if to say, "Don't ever do that again." Jim just mimicked her by waving his finger back in her face.
Shirley and George both stared at me with legitimate concern. I half sat-half hung from the chair in a daze, taking huge gasps of air through my nose. If it weren't for the rope that bound me to the chair, I would have fallen to the floor a long time ago.
I was left alone in the storage room with the lights turned off. I let out a muffled grunt under my tape gag as I tested my bonds. As you might guess, I loved every second of this. In my unruly imagination, I pretended that I was Jonny Quest (of course!) who had been captured by a bunch of surly aquatic crooks while searching through their beach side hideout. My only regret was that Karen wasn't around; I remember wondering how Karen would feel when she found out that Becca and the gang basically stole her tie up game right from under her.
I heard the door click behind me, as if somebody had twisted the knob on the other side. When I craned my head to peer over my bare shoulder, I saw only the door opening slowly. I braced myself, expecting Becca, who was no doubt returning to tickle torture me once more.
But instead of Becca, I was surprised to see Karen!
Barefoot, and clad in a two-piece bathing suit, Karen warily entered the storeroom as if she were about to step through the gates of hell itself. Her black hair was still dry and pulled back into a braid. She deliberately glanced all around the storage room until she spotted me, then she recoiled in horror with this charming melodramatic gasp. She ran over and quickly started untying me.
I realized right there and then that I had been playing Karen's tie up game all along. She had set it up with the others so that I would be tied up and left for her to find in what was sort of her favorite "Nancy Drew" fantasy. And just because she untied me didn't mean the game was over--not by a long shot!
"Are you all right?" Karen whispered into my ear as she removed my gag. "Did they hurt you?" She did a double take when she stared at my face. "Are you crying? What the hell did Becca do to you?!"
"No, no, I'm fine," I assured her. I told her that I had been tickle-tortured. Then, slipping back into JQ mode, I added, "We'd better get out of here before they find out I'm gone!"
When I stood up from the chair, Karen grabbed my hand and held it firmly in hers. I glanced at her, and she gave me a sheepish little shrug, as if to say, "Do you mind?"
I couldn't help but return her fetching smile. "C'mon, let's get out of here," I whispered to her, knowing full well that there was still more captivity in store for us.
We didn't even get as far as the door when Becca leapt out in front of us with a grandiose "Ah-ha!"
Barefoot, and also clad in a two-piece bathing suit, Becca's long blond hair was wet and plastered back against her head from having been swimming. Once I saw her like this, the idea formed in my mind that Karen and I were up against a race of water-breathers from the lost continent of Atlantis (yes, I know; I had a vivid imagination).
Her brother Jim and my cousins Donna and Shirley all appeared around Becca, and they "attacked" Karen and I. Becca and Jim grabbed Karen, while Donna and Shirley grabbed me. We were dragged into the rec room, where Becca had unfolded the sofa bed.
I saw that Becca had already secured strands of rope to the framework on the opposite ends of the bed. Karen and I were made to lie down on our backs, where our wrists were tied together in front of us. Then our bound hands were pulled up over our heads and secured to the bed's framework via the strand of rope, which had already been pre-tied. My ankles were tied together, then secured to the opposite end of the bed, as were Karen's. Shirley was given the task of gagging us with tape.
Karen and I squirmed and writhed as Becca hovered over us with an evil smile and wiggling fingers. Her hands made tickling motions just inches above our bodies. Both of our bound bare feet were facing Becca, and she took great delight in tickling them. The problem was, Becca was so busy tickle-torturing us that she never saw what was coming.
Jim and Donna, who grown a little tired of Becca and her tickle fetish, both teamed up and tackled her from behind. Becca let out this surprised "Urk!" sound as she landed face-down on the mattress next to me. Then Becca cut loose with a string of obscenities as Jim bound her wrists together behind her back, while Donna tied her ankles together.
"I swear to God, I will get you all," Becca swore--just before Shirley happily gagged her with tape. Becca then let out an angry grunt under her gag as Jim decided to hog-tie his sister's wrists to her ankles.
Becca rolled her eyes in exasperation as Donna, Shirley and Jim tickled her every which way that could. At one point she glanced right at me with this wide-eyed, thousand-yard stare that was so creepy, that it made me very happy that Becca was securely tied up.
Karen and I were then tickle-tortured by captors for good measure. Shirley stood right over our bound bodies and tickled both of our writhing bellies at the same time. Jim continued to torment his bound sister by tickling the soles of her bare feet, which, thanks to the hogtie, were pulled up in the air, as if ready made for tickling.
Donna finally gave us a break by calling off the tickle hounds. I was left alone in the rec room with Karen lying stretched out next to me, and a hogtied Becca straining and grunting against her bonds on my other side.
I rejoiced in the despite from tickling by simply laying my head back against the mattress and taking a deep breath through my nose. I glanced over and noticed Karen was staring at me. I gave her a wink, and she winked back. Becca was completely oblivious of us as she continued to writhe and squirm around on the bed as best she could with her limbs hogtied behind her back.
Karen took notice of Becca's ongoing struggles, and she promptly started wiggling and straining against her own bonds. Karen let out a series of muffled grunts and groans under her gag that sounded so sincere, I gave her a double take just to make sure she wasn't really in a blind panic to escape. I've mentioned before about how Karen could really get into her role as a bound damsel, and this moment was no exception.
I looked up and saw George standing by the doorway, staring at us with those wide eyes of his. Karen saw him, too, and stopped struggling long enough to let out this little whimper under her gag. She gave me this fearful gaze, then whimpered again, as if to say, "What will he DO with us?"
I got caught up in the moment and whimpered back at her as I shook my head in mock horror. I glanced at Becca--then burst out in laughter under my gag.
Becca stopped struggling against her bonds long enough to frown over her gag at Karen and me, as if we had both gone certifiably crazy. She shook her head, then bumped her forehead gently against the mattress, in frustration.
George got onto the mattress and knelt down between Karen and me. He started pulling the ropes that bound my wrists loose. Once my wrists were free of the mattress, he got up and slipped quietly out of the rec room.
My wrists were still tied together, but being they were bound in front of me, that wasn't a problem. I rolled over and freed Karen's wrists from the bedframe. Although Karen's wrists were no longer tied to the bed, they were still tied together, like mine were. Karen and I engaged in a little bit of silliness as we both tried to untie each other's wrists at the same time. She would slap my hands away and try to reach the bonds on my wrists, until I would do the same to her. We started giggling under our gags--which we never bothered to remove--as our efforts to free the other quickly degenerated into a tickling match. I tried to tickle her bare stomach while she blocked me, and vice versa.
It came to an abrupt end when Becca (remember Becca?) started ranting and raving under her gag as she wildly thrashed her bound body about on the mattress. I quickly undid her hogtie, which instantly quieted Becca down. Although she was still bound hand and foot, at least Becca's body wasn't pulled back in the painful arch the hogtie had her in.
I went to untie Becca's wrists when Karen reach over with her still tied hands and tickled me in the side. I sharply flinched, and grabbed Karen's hands with my own, and our weird little wrestling match was on once more.
Becca twisted her body around and managed to sit up with her back facing me. While I fought off Karen's attack, I was shocked to see that Becca was now trying to join in! Her hands were tied behind her back, and she reached out awkwardly to tickle me. I launched a pre-emptive strike by tickling Becca's bare back. But when I turned to deal with Becca, Karen started tickling me all over my torso.
I stopped suddenly and stared at the doorway. Donna, Shirley, Jim and George all stood there, staring wide-eyed at us. Karen and I both waved at them with our bound hands. Becca was still trying to tickle me with her hands tied behind her back.
Donna came over and untied Becca's hands. But, just when I thought this was all over, Becca pulled off her gag and told Donna to retie her hands together in front of her like Karen and mine were! Once Donna did this, Becca turned to tickle me, until Donna stopped her.
"Your feet aren't tied down like theirs are," Donna explained, as she secured Becca's already bound ankles to the bed frame. As soon as this was done, she said, "Ok, Go!"
Becca and Karen both turned and tickled me at the same time, and I was hard pressed to stop them. With my feet tied down to the bed, I couldn't move away, and having my hands tied together meant I could only return a tickle attack to one person at a time. Luckily, both Karen and Becca were at this same disadvantage.
Our newly created game of bondage tickle wrestling ran on for a while longer, until Becca, Karen and I started to run out of steam. We laid back in a happy, if exhausted, heap. Donna bent over us and asked, "So, who won?"
"I did," Becca said, as she sat up and untied her ankles.
"It was a draw," I told her, after I finally removed the tape gag from my mouth. I glanced over at Karen, who lay staring thoughtfully at the ceiling.
Becca's mother was home, and was calling us to a dinner of cold cut sandwiches upstairs. Jim, Shirley and George had already gone up while Becca, who had freed her legs, waited for Donna to untie her wrists. I bent over and began to untie my ankles.
By the time my feet were free, Becca and Donna had already went upstairs. I turned to face Karen just as she attacked me again! She had pulled off her gag, and was now trying to bite me in the neck like a vampire. I grabbed her tied hands and pinned her back down against the bed at her wrists. Her feet were still bound to the bed, so it was easy for me to keep her pinned down with only one hand.
I had to admit, while I was baffled at Karen's giddy behavior, I was also fascinated by it. She started writhing and squirming as she struggled to get free of my grip. When I asked if she was going to behave herself, Karen stuck her head as far forward as it would go and made biting gestures at me with her mouth.
We were both startled when a stern voice said, "Excuse me."
Donna stood at the doorway with her hands on her hips in a perfect imitation of my Aunt Jean whenever she was angry. "Becca's mom is wondering where you two are. Are you planning on joining us anytime soon?"
That did it. We were finally done. I untied Karen's feet while Donna untied her wrists. As we went up the steps in single file, I was the last one up with Karen ahead of me. Karen was halfway up the steps when she abruptly turned around and made one last biting motion in my face. She even threw in a little snarl. Then she turned and continued up the stairs as if nothing ever happened.
While we ate at the dinner table, I kept feeling something touch my bare legs ever so slightly. When I felt it again, I quickly glanced down saw just caught a glimpse of Karen's bare foot as she snatched it away from my leg and tucked it under her chair. When I glared at her, Karen gave me this goofy grin and went "Heh, heh, heh!" in an overly comical fashion.
Becca's mother, who never saw the foot action under the table, stared at Karen with a puzzled look and muttered, "Hope it's not the sandwiches that's making her do that...."
At that, all of the kids--myself included--gave her our best goofy grins and went "heh, heh, heh", just like Karen did. We laughed when Becca's mother actually peered under the bread her of her sandwich, as if to make sure it was ok.
After dinner, we went back downstairs and tied up Donna, Shirley and Jim. They wanted us to tie them up. Apparently, the impromptu tickling game I played with Becca and Karen earlier appeared to be so much fun to the others that they wanted to try it themselves.
I tied Jim's hands together, while Becca did the same for Donna, and Karen bound Shirley's. We made sure to bind our captive's hands in front of them. Once that was done, Jim and my cousins climbed onto the bed--with Jim seated in the middle of Donna and Shirley--while we tied their ankles together, then secured their feet to the metal frame of the fold out bed. The three of them were barefoot, and clad in bathing suits (the girls wore one piece suits).
Jim glanced at Donna and Shirley on either side of him, then asked, "Hey, why am I in the middle?"
He never got an answer, because my cousins pounced on him, tickling Jim's bare torso without mercy. He fought back as best he could, giving Donna and Shirley each a good tickle in their sides that made them squeal.
Becca, Karen, George and myself took sides and eagerly cheered on our players. After several minutes of intense ticking, the three of them all collapsed on their backs with no clear winner. Donna held up her bound hands and said, "Ok, game's over. You can untie us now."
That was when Becca gave me The Look. Her face developed an ear to ear grin and her eyes grew extremely wide. Becca sported The Look whenever she had a really naughty idea. Karen has described The Look as being "Becca's Cheshire Cat Face", and it's an apt description.
Once I got The Look from Becca, I instantly knew what to do. Becca and I grabbed some extra clothesline rope, ran over to the opposite side of the bed, and tied Donna and Jim's bound hands down to the metal frame. I tied Donna's hands, and she made these funny whiny sounds as she stared upside-down at me.
Karen started looking around for the roll of tape while Shirley tried to bite at the knot that bound her wrists. She even made these growling noises as she did so. George wound up finding the roll of tape and handed it to Becca, who gleefully tape-gagged Donna and Jim. Karen threw me another strand of rope, which I used to bind Shirley's hands above her head to the bed's metal frame. Becca then gagged Shirley.
Our captives writhed and squirmed against their bonds as they let out muffled grunts under their gags. I stood over Shirley's bound hands, and leaned over her with my wiggling fingers hovering just above her exposed armpits. She glared at me, and if looks could kill, I would have been decapitated right there. But I tickled her anyway.
Becca gleefully joined in with her own tickle assault on Jim and Donna. Karen, who stood on the opposite end of the bed, facing our captive's bound bare feet, merely stood there. When I called for her to join in by tickling our captive's helpless feet, Karen stuck her tongue out in an icky-face display of disgust. "Their feet are all dirty and stuff," she muttered, as she waved her hands distastefully.
This appeared to rile up our captives even more than being tied and tickled. Donna let out a low moan of anger as she glared at Karen.
Becca abruptly decided that our "dirty" captives had suffered enough...for now. Leaving our captives bound to the fold out bed like a trio of staked-out victims in a Tarzan movie, we went back upstairs. Becca went outside to speak with her mother, who was sunning herself in the recliner by the pool.
As we stood on the back yard patio, I couldn't help but notice that George stood with a distracted look on his face, and I could imagine him scheming how he could sneak downstairs and free our captives. After a few seconds, he said, in his best innocent manner: "I gotta use the bathroom."
Karen and I exchanged a furtive, knowing look. "Sure, George," she said sweetly. "You go right ahead!"
George gave us a double take, as if he wasn't sure whether or not we were on to him. Then he took off and ran into the house, but he ran to the right, towards the basement steps, when the bathroom was actually to his left.
"Is he gonna go in the corner?" Karen asked with a giggle.
"We're both gonna be tied up again in no time," I warned her.
Becca came over and happily extended an invitation to Karen and me to stay overnight at her house. She'd just checked with her mother, and she told Becca that everybody could stay over if they wanted to. Becca's eyes grew fearfully wide as she looked around and said, "Uh, where's George?"
"Where else?" I said. "Freeing the captives."
Becca took it much better than I expected. She simply shook her head with a smile and said, "Oh God, we're gonna get it!"
The three of us ran back inside and stood at the top of the basement staircase. There wasn't much noise at first, then we heard some faint muttering, and then I distinctively heard Donna say, "Where are they?"
George replied that we were upstairs.
Becca, Karen and I stood right behind the wrought iron railing that overlooked the staircase. We saw the rec room light had abruptly been switched off, followed by whispers and what sounded like quick movement of furniture.
Becca gave Karen and me a look that said "Uh-oh!"
"Should we go to them?" Karen whispered.
"Why not?" Becca replied as she shrugged her shoulders. Becca explained that, now that they were free, and since we technically owed them a game with us as their captives, we might as well get it over with. It made it seem like it was the honorable thing to do.
And so the three of us quietly descended the stairs to our doom, our bare feet silent against the steps. I was out front, with Karen close behind me, her hands on my bare shoulders. We were startled to see a ghostly shape emerge from the gloom. It turned out to be George, who stared at us and said, "Oh, here you are!"
I noted that he said this loud enough to warn the others inside. And, sure enough, Jim, Donna and Shirley appeared behind him, all pointing water pistols at us. We wuz captured!
But not all of us. When I heard Karen cry out Becca's name in an annoyed fashion, I turned and saw Becca staring at us from the top of the steps. She had that big, Cheshire Cat grin on her face as she silently waved to me and Karen before skipping off. I was royally ticked, too; after she gave us that big speech about how we had to bite the bullet and offer ourselves as captives, Becca then runs off on us!
Karen and I were pulled into the rec room, where Donna, Shirley and Jim had a whale of a time just trying to figure out what to do with us. While they debated, Karen and I had our hands tied behind our backs and were made to sit together on a sofa. Shirley came over and gagged each of us with tape. She left George to stand guard over us while she joined the debate. Our eager captors quickly nixed putting us back on the foldout bed, because they wanted to do something different!
Karen leaned close to me and I started to back away from her, thinking she was acting weird again. But then she glared at me over her gag. When I stayed put, she promptly started picking at the knot that bound my wrists. To do so, she sat so close that our legs were touching--a fact not lost on George, who promptly screeched, "Look! They're making out!"
Karen abruptly stopped trying to free my wrists, but not before Shirley saw her moving around back there. She and George launched into this annoying chant of "Doug loves Karen!" over and over again.
I glanced up at Jim, who shook his head and said, "Man, even tied up, they can't keep their paws off of each other!"
Becca suddenly poked her head into the rec room and asked, "What are they doing?"
"There she is!" Donna cried, as she raised her water pistol at Becca. "Get her!"
Becca tried to run again, but Jim raced after her and grabbed his sister by the arm. With Donna and Shirley's help, Jim dragged Becca back into the rec room, where she was forced to kneel on the floor where her hands were bound behind her back by Donna. Like Karen, Becca also wore a two piece bathing suit.
"That was really low," Becca muttered contemptuously. "Making up a story about Karen and Doug just to get me to come back down here."
"No, they were really making out," George insisted. "Here, it went like this." He went so far to kneel down next to Becca with his hands behind his back and mimicked what Karen did to me by leaning very close to Becca's body.
Becca stared in disbelief at him, then looked up and calmly said, "Would somebody get this little pervert away from me?"
"What?" George said with a frown, as Donna pulled him back to his feet. "What did I do now?"
Becca was tape-gagged by Jim, and we bound captives were herded into the guest bedroom, where Donna--in a fit of matchmaker inspiration--made Karen and me lie down face to face. She tied my feet together at the ankles, then hogtied them to my wrists. Shirley did the same for Karen.
Becca was made to lie across the bed under Karen and me. She grunted and groaned loudly as our captors hog-tied her feet to her hands, as well.
Shirley then made a big deal about how dirty our feet were, and we even suffered some mild tickle torture before an abrupt clap of thunder made our captors scurry away to watch the rain.
The light was left off, but I could still see Karen's face in the dimness. I really didn't mind being tied up, the occasional flash of lightning only heightened the melodramatic mood of being a bound and gagged Junior Detective in the bad guy's lair.
Karen kept staring at me with those wide brown eyes of hers. Then she suddenly crossed her eyes, which shattered my captive fantasy, but it still made me giggle. Karen, encouraged by my muffled laughter, crossed her eyes again and let her head slump against the mattress in a comic impression of being knocked out cold. This made me giggle even harder.
Becca laid with her back facing us, and at one point, I saw her trying to crane her head over her bare shoulder in an effort to see just what the heck I was laughing at.
Karen and I continued to clown around until Jim entered the room and loosened the ropes that bound my wrists. He leaned over me and said, "I'll only untie you if you promise not to attack Karen, all right?"
I just laid there with my head against the mattress until he left. Karen wiggled her whole bound body, while making an excited screeching sound under her gag; she was obviously telling me the time had come for us to get out of here.
After I pulled the ropes loose from my hands and feet and removed my gag, I untied Karen's wrists. I then leaned over to free Becca. No sooner was Becca's gag removed than she asked, "What was so funny?"
I gestured at Karen, who sat up with her feet still bound and gave Becca one of her cross-eyed looks.
"That's it?" Becca said, as she gave me a scornful look.
Karen stuck her tongue out at Becca as she untied her feet.
I'm going to stop, here. But there's still more nuttiness from the House Of Becca. Everybody stayed over that night, and we managed to squeeze in even more tie up games well into the wee hours. That story, the conclusion of this little epic, will be next. As always, thanks for reading.