During the summer of 1978, when I was thirteen years old, my cousins came to visit me at my lakeside home. My cousins were Donna (14), Shirley (12), and George (8). They brought a mutual friend, a girl named Karen (14), who had become a very good friend of mine as well. As if this wasn't enough, our friends Becca (15) and her brother Jim (13) also paid us a visit for a weekend. There were never this many kids spending the night under our roof in our lives, and I don't think my poor parents ever got over it.
Late Friday night, in the last hour of the first day of Becca and Jim's visit, I got up from bed to use the bathroom. I normally sleep only in my under shorts, so I threw on a pair of blue cotton boxer shorts over these.
After I was done, I left the bathroom and was about to return to my room, when I noticed a light was on downstairs.
All the bedroom doors were shut, except for my own, which made me wonder who was downstairs. I went back to my room and saw that both Jim and George were sound asleep. I quietly shut my door so they wouldn't be disturbed, then I went to investigate the light from downstairs.
It was from the family rec room, located on the bottom floor of the house. Once I walked in there, I saw Becca standing at the sliding glass doors. Barefoot, she was clad in a blue tank top whose hem came down to her mid-thigh. Her long blond hair was unbound and flowed past her shoulders. She stood peering out at the night, deep in thought.
When I came up to her, she gave me a big smile. "Can't sleep. I was wandering around when I noticed how eerie the lake looks at night. It looks like a big black hole in the ground."
I mentioned to her that you could see the lake better at night when there was a full moon. "You could also see the lake monster better with a full moon, too," I added, deadpan.
Becca grinned at me. "Ooooo, the lake monster. I heard about him." I had entertained my cousins with stories of the lake monster, which was a creature not unlike Nessie, who prowled Loch Ness in Scotland. Although they realized that there really was no lake monster, that didn't stop them from playing along with me.
"Would you like to meet him?" I asked.
"You mean go out there now?" She gestured at her scant clothing. "Like this?"
I nodded. "He doesn't like it when the people he's eating are wearing a lot of clothes. So you'd be perfect for him."
Becca burst out laughing--then quickly covered her mouth so not to wake anybody. "Why do I get the feeling that there'll be ropes involved with this? Where exactly would I going, dressed as I am?"
"The boathouse," I said, pointing it out.
Becca had a knowing smile on her face as she said, "Are you kidnapping me here, Doug? Or am I just supposed to go merrily outside with you to get eaten by a monster?"
I ran over to the couch and pulled out a shoe box from underneath it. The shoe box contained a couple of water pistols and a bundle of clothesline rope, but nothing to gag her with. To hell with it. I grabbed a water pistol and the rope.
When I turned to face Becca with the pistol pointing at her, she already had her hands up in surrender. I ordered her to stand up against the wall, with her hands behind her back. When she did this, I tucked the gun in the elastic waistband of my shorts and bond her wrists together. As I tied her, Becca glanced over her shoulder with this wide-eyed, damsel in distress expression. She even let out a couple of frightened moans as I cinched the bond on her wrists.
I pulled out the gun and grabbed her by the arm. "Ok, let's go meet the monster."
We were halfway down my backyard when Becca abruptly stopped walking. She was an inch taller than me, so when she stopped, I abruptly stopped with her. Becca turned to face me, and in the light from the house, I could see her expression was dead serious. "You're not going to tie me up and throw me in the water, are you, Doug? Because that would really suck...."
"No, no, no," I assured her. I explained that the lake monster sticks his head out of the water and grabs people right off the shoreline with its mouth. When I made it clear that she would not get wet at all, Becca continued on with me to the boathouse.
The boathouse served as home port for The Enterprise, my meager little rowboat, which I named after the spaceship on Star Trek. I led Becca in through the side door and turned on the lights. Becca stared at the Enterprise and said, "When are you taking me for a row on the lake, Doug?"
"Oh, you'll be going in the lake real soon," I told her, in my best mad-scientist impersonation. "Once the lake monster gets you, you'll be in the lake forever!"
Becca just rolled her eyes at me.
I wanted to bind Becca as close to the water as possible. There were four massive columns, made of wood, that supported the roof of the boat house. Two of these columns stood right on the edge of the dock, directly in front of the water. I had Becca stand up against one of these columns, with her bound hands pressed up against the wood. Then I got a long length of rope and wrapped that around the column, and over Becca's torso, thus securing her to the column. I had to secure her this way because the column was too thick for Becca to wrap her arms around it.
When I finished securing her to the column, Becca immediately began struggling against her bonds. She even bent one leg up and placed a bare foot against the column in an effort to push herself away, but the ropes held her firmly to the column.
"You dastardly fiend," Becca moaned, "you'll never get away with this!"
"But I already have, my dear," I said with the best insane laugh I could manage. I decided I should bind Becca's legs. I got more rope and knelt down in front of Becca. I grabbed her foot and placed down it next to her other one so I could bind them together.
"Did you know Karen likes you, Doug?"
My weird little fantasy involving a bound, scantily clad Becca and the lake monster came to a screeching halt. I stared up at Becca in shock, and saw that she was dead serious.
"I'm not teasing you," she said somberly. "I mean it: Karen really likes you. A lot. She's always talking about you."
"Yeah, I know," I said, uneasily. I didn't know why I felt uneasy; I just did. "I like her too, a lot."
Becca smiled broadly. "Really? That's great."
"She talks about me?" I asked.
Becca nodded. "All the time."
"What does she say?"
"Why don't you ask her the next time you see her?" Becca replied.
"Ok," I said, as I felt my cheeks turn red with embarrassment. "I will."
There was an awkward silence, which Becca broke when she said, "You'd better go ahead and tie my feet before I kick you in the water, you little creep."
I smiled shyly as I tied up Becca's ankles. In retrospect, I've wondered if Becca agreed to let me "kidnap" her just so we could be alone to talk about Karen's feelings for me. In any event, once I had her ankles securely bound together, Becca had quickly reverted back to her damsel in distress mode. She struggled and writhed against the column, grunting and groaning all the way.
I stood up and pointed towards the black water in the dock. "Any minute now, the creature will arise and feast on you, my dear!"
My little monster fantasy was disrupted once again when the door swung open and Donna and Karen peered into the boathouse. Karen appeared wide-eyed and shocked, while Donna had a weary, grumpy look on her face from lack of sleep. Both girls were barefoot; Karen wore a robe over her night shirt while Donna wore jeans with her night shirt.
"Here she is," Donna said, as she gestured to Becca. Donna turned to us and added, "Karen thought Becca fell into the lake."
"I did not say that," Karen said emphatically.
"Oh yes, you did," Donna insisted, "you all but implied it."
I stared at the girls in puzzlement as they continued their little spat over who said what when. I had every intention of tying up Donna and Karen as well, but this little scene between these two good friends had turned out to be entertaining by itself.
Becca stared wide-eyed at the water and cried, "What the @#$% is that?!"
I stared at the water in time to see what appeared to be a swirling motion that rolled briefly over the surface. Sometimes, a fish will swim close to the surface and create these mild ripples on the surface of the water. It was no big deal; I saw them all the time. Although to have it occur now was great timing. Still, Becca really looked unnerved, and it was never my intention to scare her. When I explained this to Becca, she said, "What #@$%ing fish? The lake monster?!"
"No. There are regular fish in the lake," I assured her.
"There it is again!" Karen cried, as she stabbed a finger at the water.
I stared at the water, but did not see anything this time.
"Oh no, it's actually closer to Becca than it was before!" Donna said, as she cringed behind my shoulder.
I got it now--Donna and Karen decided to have some fun with the bound Becca, who was clearly spooked at being tied up so close to the body of dark water that lay before her.
Becca stoically turned to me and said, "Doug, untie me...now...."
However, when I started to walk towards her, both Donna and Karen grabbed my arms and pulled me towards the door. "Stay away from the water!" Karen cried. "It might be those flying fish...those bat-like monsters with the fangs. You wouldn't want to get attacked by them! "
"You're right," Donna agreed. "They go right for the face!"
"You won't let Doug get attacked by them, but I'll just stand here, waiting to get eaten like a side of #@$%ing beef, right?!" Becca shouted after us. She cut loose with a string of curses and various threats--most of which I can't repeat here. However there was one threat involving placing the oars from my rowboat into an orifice on the body that was anatomically impossible...but Becca was more than willing to try.
Becca's blue streak was cut off when we went outside and shut the door.
Donna and Karen burst into giggles as they watched Becca try to wiggle free from the column that I had tied her to. "God, is she pissed!" Donna said with joy.
"Is she still cursing?" Karen asked.
"She never stopped!" Donna glanced at me. "You should have gagged her, Doug."
"Yeah, Doug, what kind of a captor are you, anyway?" Karen said playfully.
I heard Becca let out a yell of terror that sent chills up my spine. It made me go immediately back inside the boathouse.
"There's something moving around in the $#@%ing water!!!!" Becca screamed at me. "I-It's not a fish! I dunno what it is, but it ain't a $#@%ing fish! Get me the #@$ outa here, now!"
There was true fear in that voice. "All right, that's enough," I said, as I knelt down before Becca and untied her ankles. I got up and undid the rope that secured her to the column. When I untied her wrists, she gave me a big hug.
"Thank you, Doug," Becca said, as she reached down and removed the water pistol from the waistband of my shorts, "for giving me the chance to get even."
I blinked in surprise as Becca pulled me close to her and pointed the pistol right at my head. "You two," Becca said to Donna and Karen, "don't make a move, or he gets it!"
"Nice knowing you Doug!" Donna said with a wave as she ran off.
But Karen remained right where she was, holding her hands up in surrender.
Donna poked her head into the boathouse doorway and said, "Karen, aren't you coming?"
"No," Karen replied firmly. "Leave if you want to."
Donna gave her an annoyed look as she headed back to the house alone.
Becca nudged me, and when I glanced at her, she had a broad smile on her face as she gestured to Karen with a nod, as if to say: "See? What did I tell you?"
I could only smile shyly back at Becca. I felt my cheeks blush again.
Becca ordered me to bind Karen's wrists behind her back with rope. When this was done, Becca bound my wrists behind my back. With our hands secure, Becca marched us back up to the house. Once we entered the rec room, Becca ordered Karen and I to lay face down on the floor. We lay side by side as Becca bound our ankles together.
Once we were both bound hand and foot, Becca stepped over us and went up the steps, grumbling to herself all the way.
As "Becca Bondage" went, this was pretty tame. Not that I was complaining. For I got to watch Karen wiggle and writhe around next to me as she got her bound hands into position to untie mine. After a few good tugs, the knot that bound my wrists together was yanked loose, and the ropes grew slack.
I pulled my wrists free and sat up next to Karen. I left my feet tied while I untied her wrists. When Karen's hands were free, I bent over to untie my ankles.
Karen was having trouble untying her ankles, so as soon as I got my feet free, I went to work on freeing hers. However, no sooner did I place her bound bare feet in my lap than I was struck by a devious idea.
Karen let out a squeal when I grabbed her bound feet by the ropes and mercilessly tickled her soles. She rolled around in delightful agony before me, and I kept tickling her until she cut loose with another squeal.
Afraid that her wild whoops of tickle torture might wake my parents, I stopped and untied her feet.
Karen sat up and wagged her finger at me in mock anger. I wiggled all of my fingers at her, as if I was about to tickle her again, and she got up and ran out of the room so fast that it was all I could do to just keep up with her.
When we arrived at the bedrooms, I saw George was awake. He stood with Shirley in the hallway. They both stared wide-eyed into the girls' bedroom like a pair of spectators at an accident scene. Karen and I walked up to the doorway and peered in. What we saw made our eyes wide, as well.
Becca had Donna on the bed. Donna, whose jeans had been removed and was now bare-legged and clad only in her nightshirt, lay on her right side on the bed, with her wrists hog-tied to her ankles. Becca had gagged her mouth with tape, and was now in the process of blindfolding her. Donna was bound in the sort of industrial-strength bondage that we had come to know and expect from Becca. Despite the fact that Donna was hog-tied, Becca had still bound her knees--hell, she even tied Donna's two big toes together!
"Becca said if we helped Donna, we would join her," Shirley told us. She appeared completely intimidated.
George, whose hair looked as if it exploded out from the right side of his head, gave me a annoyed look. "I always miss the good bondage games," he muttered with disgust.
Becca glanced over at him and held up a length of rope in her hands. "You wanna play a tie up game, Georgie-boy? C'mere, little Georgie-Worgie! I'll tie you up even tighter than your big sis!"
"Nooooooo," George said, shaking his head, as he clung to me for protection.
After leaving Donna trussed up for several minutes--although Donna swore it felt more like an hour--Becca untied her and that was finally the end of the tie up games for that evening. I took George back with me into my room, where we found Jim still sound asleep. And it occurred to me that, for all the yelling and screaming we did that night, neither of my parents had come out of their bedroom to tell us to quiet down.
I found out the next day that they knew full well that we were running around, but were just too weary to come out and police us. My mother told me: "Your dad and I figured as long as you didn't kill each other, that was good enough for us."
More craziness to come next time. As always, thanks for reading.