Strelnikov
4th Level Red Feather
- Joined
- May 7, 2001
- Messages
- 1,820
- Points
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By Strelnikov
Copyright 2007 by the author
Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance)
Vicky and Veronica Righetti
They’re “mirror twins” – identical, but Vicky is a lefty (Latin “sinister”) and her twin Veronica is right handed. They’re 20 yrs old, medium height, with very trim and fit figure that they maintain by martial arts. They have wavy dark brown hair worn shoulder length, dark brows and lashes, brown eyes. They’re Jedi Masters of tickling, and super-ticklish too – they’ve been tickling each other for years.
Brittany Righetti
Brittany is 18, and has lived on Tickle Street all her life. She has long dark hair and brown eyes, a beautiful Italian face and features, curves in all the right places. She has a bit of an attitude, but it can quickly be destroyed if she's tickled. Like her older sisters, she's super-ticklish, and they always take advantage of that.
Angie Fontana
Angie is 18 – she’ll be a Senior at Tieson City High School this fall. She’s tall, drop-dead gorgeous, with long dark hair, dark brows and lashes, soft brown eyes, an hourglass figure and long, shapely legs. Angie has extremely ticklish feet, and her tickle laugh is as lovely as the rest of her.
Stephanie Miklajcyk
Stephanie is another upcoming Senior, just 18 yrs old. Like her friend Angie, she has a beauty queen build – they’re the same size, right down to their shoes. Stephanie has long, silky light brown hair, bright green eyes and flawless fair skin. She’s insanely ticklish, and regards that as her greatest weakness.
Rachel Griffin
Rachel is 25 years old. She has shoulder-length fiery red hair, a crooked grin, fair skin and a fit and shapely body. Her eyes are jade green – they twinkle with merriment. She’s originally from Georgia, but settled in Tieson City after sharing an adventure four local girls, one they never talk about. She’s smart and tough, but tickle her and she’s helpless.
Amanda Mason
Amanda is a little cutie, just turned 18 years old, a petite girl with a trim and shapely figure. She stands an inch or so over five feet tall in her bare feet. She has curly dark brown hair, brown eyes, dark brows and long, dark lashes. She’s new to Tieson City, and will start at TCHS as a Senior in the fall. She loves to tickle and be tickled. She’s impossible not to like.
Kelly McGuire
Kelly is 18 yrs old, like her classmates Angie and Stephanie, and she’s every bit as beautiful. She’s tall and shapely, with long, silky red hair, blue eyes so dark they seem almost indigo, and that perfect skin that only redheads have. Everybody likes to tickle her – great laugh, great reactions, and she turns such a pretty shade of pink...
Ashley Curtis
A.K.A Beauty Queen. Tall and shapely, 19 yrs old, long blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. Her mother started entering her in beauty pageants and contests as soon as she could walk, and still showers Ashley with positive influence on how beautiful she is. Ashley and her mother moved to Tickle Street about a year ago. Ashley is insanely ticklish, and great fun to tickle.
********************
Vicky Righetti giggled in her sleep, squirming just a little. She giggled again and drifted gently into wakefulness. She was in bed, still mostly covered, but one bare foot stuck out of the blankets over the side of the bed. Something cold and wet flicked her sole – she giggled and sat up, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. The room was still dark, but the sky was paling to the east – the clock on the nightstand said 5:25. In the twilight gloom, she saw that her twin Veronica was still sound asleep in her bed across the room.
Oh. Spanky the brindle mutt was sitting back on his haunches beside her bed, a doggy grin on his face. He must need to go out.
She slipped out of bed – the dog got up to follow. She caught a glimpse of herself in the full length mirror – a ratty night shirt that couldn’t quite conceal her trim shape, a summer tan dark against the lighter fabric, a pillow-perm in her shoulder-length mane of wavy dark hair. Dark eyes, dark brows and lashes, fine-looking legs. And ticklish feet, one of them still damp with doggy-spit.
She slipped downstairs on silent bare feet – no sense waking the rest of the family. The dog bolted outside when she opened the door. He had obviously had too much water, and not too long ago – his teeth must have been floating. Dad probably left the toilet seat up again, she thought.
Today was Friday, so Mom and Dad would be getting up soon. Younger sister Brittany had a summer life guard job, but the pool didn’t open until 10 AM, so she could sleep in. Vicky and Veronica had sales jobs at Squander Mall, but they were off today. We should’ve been able to sleep in too, Vicky thought with a touch of resentment while she tried to rake the tangles out of her hair. Veronica’s still up there pounding her ear, but now I’m wide awake.
Hmm... Spread the misery, maybe? But we have a deal with Brittany, no less firm for being unwritten. We tickle the shit out of her every Saturday morning, but unless she instigates it, she gets a pass the rest of the week. OK then, Veronica’s gonna get it...
Vicky slipped back upstairs and into her shared room. Veronica was still sound asleep, cocooned in her blankets. Vicky pulled the spread off her own bed and carefully worked it under Veronica’s covers, with the edge right next to the sleeping girl. She yanked off Veronica’s covers and rolled her twin onto the spread, then rolled and tucked, rolled and tucked – a Veronica-burrito, with just her head and feet sticking out.
“Mmf!” Veronica said. “Hey! What the hell!” She squirmed, but the spread was rolled too tight – she was had.
“Good morning, sis!” Vicky said brightly. She rolled Veronica onto her back, sat on the bed and trapped Veronica’s ankles in a leg lock. “Ready to greet the new day?”
Veronica stopped struggling. “What got you started so early?” she asked. “The freakin’ cows aren’t even awake yet!”
“But the dog is,” Vicky said, touching the tips of her well-manicured nails on her twin’s soles. “He woke me up. I’m just paying it forward.”
“Oh NOOO!” Veronica begged, struggling and squirming like a worm. “NOT THAT!”
“Yup,” Vicky said cheerfully. “Time for your wake-up.” She dug in, tickling fiendishly. Veronica arched her back and laughed at the top of her lungs.
“I love the sound of laughter in the morning!” Vicky said, raising her voice over the sound of Veronica’s laughter. “It sounds like... victory!” She covered her twin’s soles with tiny flicks, using just her nail tips and making just enough contact to tickle horribly. She switched to longer nail strokes along the crease in the exact center of the right sole – Veronica’s toes twitched and curled as she laughed her head off. The left sole got the same treatment, forcing a solid stream of helpless laughter. Then in the arches, just behind the soles, tickling with both hands – Veronica howled with forced mirth, helpless to resist the well-techniqued tickling.
Vicky spread Veronica’s toes, two by two, tickling between each pair and getting burst after burst of laughter. She held the toes back and tickled left to right on the soft skin underneath, then onto the stretched out soles in a zig-zag path right to left. The tickling had sensitized Veronica’s feet – she was laughing harder now. Vicky took advantage, made a Peace sign and scratched the balls of both feet, and Veronica laughed with wild abandon.
Then down both arches, drawing overlapping circles that tickled like crazy. Vicky drew circles, squares and other tickling shape on Veronica’s heels, savoring the laughter and saving the best for last. Veronica was red faced and sweaty, eyes closed, tears of laughter running down her cheeks, right on the edge. Then two hands again, tickling the back of the arches and onto the heels – the sweet spots, where it tickled unbearably – and Veronica’s laughter went off the charts. Vicky speeded up, tickling at warp speed. Veronica lost it and laughed herself breathless.
“You awake yet, sis?” Vicky asked, releasing the leg lock.
Veronica took a deep breath. “Yah,” she said, eyes closed, a dreamy look on her face. “That really, really tickled!” Another breath. “Talk about starting the day right...” The twins had a guilty secret – they got off on this. Not every time, of course, but often enough.
Vicky unrolled her sister. “Glad I could help,” she said. “Let’s take a shower and have some breakfast.”
The twins came downstairs for breakfast in shorts and t-shirts – they didn’t bother with shoes. Brittany wasn’t at breakfast, still asleep in her room. Mom and Dad didn’t comment on the tickle fest. Tickling was just part of life in this family – every female member of their extended family was a tickle maniac.
Vicky was pretty sure Mom had them figured out. Mom and her own twin, Aunt Karen (twins ran in the family) had been much like Vicky and Veronica when they were younger, and still got into tickle fights sometimes. But how much like us were they? Vicky shied away from the question. She really didn’t want to know – too much information.
They changed into their bikinis after breakfast and got to work doing maintenance on their backyard pool – skimming the leaves and drowned bugs off the surface, vacuuming, adding a little chlorine. They were in no hurry to finish – they had all day. Brittany came downstairs after a while, still in her night shirt. They found her in the kitchen eating toast with coffee.
“Good morning, Little Sis!” the twins chorused.
Brittany shifted in her chair, getting ready to run for it. “My, we’re cheerful this morning,” she said sourly. “What are you two up to?”
“Relax,” Vicky said. “You’re safe ‘til Saturday.”
Veronica added a caveat: “Unless, of course, you piss us off.”
“Morning grumps piss us off,” Vicky said.
“Got to make ‘em laugh,” Veronica added.
Brittany raised both hands in surrender. “OK, OK, I’m smiling. See?”
Vicky looked at her twin, and a silent message passed between them. “You get a pass,” they said together.
Brittany visibly relaxed. “So what plans do you two have for today?” she asked.
Another look, like looking into a mirror. “Work on our tans,” Veronica said for both. “Maybe a game of tennis after lunch.”
“Come see me at the pool after your game,” Brittany said. “I’ll comp you in. Save you a couple of bucks, anyway.”
“Suits,” Vicky said. “C’mon, Veronica, let’s go catch some rays.”
***
They almost didn’t get to play their tennis game – for some reason, the public courts at the park were doing an unusual amount of business for a weekday afternoon. There were people playing doubles on three of the four courts, and two girls getting ready to play on the fourth. Vicky recognized them. Angie Fontana was tall, drop-dead gorgeous, with a beautiful face, long dark hair, soft brown eyes, a perfect tan and long, shapely legs. The other was the new hire at Rosen’s Drugstore – she was a little cutie, 18 or so, a petite girl with a trim and shapely figure, curly dark brown hair, brown eyes, dark brows and long, dark lashes.
“Looks like some other people we know are taking the day off too,” Veronica said.
“Yah,” Vicky said. “We owe ‘em one – here’s our chance.” She raised her voice. “Hey Angie! Interested in playing doubles?”
“Sure, why not?” the little brunette called back instead. “By the way, I’m Amanda Mason,” she continued. “Rachel’s roomie.”
“Want to make a little wager, just to keep things interesting?” Veronica asked with a grin.
“What kind of wager?” Angie asked suspiciously.
“I’m sure we can come up with a suitable forfeit,” Vicky said slyly.
“More like “four-feet”, if I know you two,” Angie said. “Well, that’s OK with me. I really enjoyed tickling you that time at the College.”
Vicky remembered the occasion all too well. The twins’ tickling scheme had backfired, and had gotten them gang-tickled until they were raving. It drove us crazy while it was happening, thought Vicky, but it hadn’t been all bad, though the others hadn’t known that. The way we are, with a little luck we can win either way. “Right the first time,” she said. “For 10 minutes each.”
“Deal. Let’s do it,” Angie said.
Angie was tall and strong, Amanda was small and fast – they were a pretty good team. But the twins won the first game handily – Veronica was right-handed, Vicky was a lefty, and they were so close that it sometimes seemed they were telepathic. But their opponents had figured out their style, and won the second game by 2 points. By then, thunderheads were building up to the west, and the sky was starting to turn that ominous green-bronze shade that promises heavy weather.
“Tie breaker?” Veronica asked.
Amanda studied the sky. “Better do it quick,” she said.
The third game was hard fought, the advantage shifted more than once. The sky was dark now, with a rising wind and a rumble of distant thunder. Vicky drove the last point home on a hard return just as the bottom fell out of the sky.
All four girls ran for the picnic shelter, snatching up their gear bags on the run. They had the place to themselves, the players on the other courts were long gone. It would have made no difference if they had walked, all four were soaked through. Lightning flashed, somewhere close – the flash and bang came almost together.
“Whew! Cut it pretty close, didn’t we?” Angie said, wringing out her long dark hair.
Vicky pulled a towel out of their bag. “Sure did,” she said.
“Ought to blow over pretty quick, though,” Veronica added, toweling her hair.
“Probably only– ” Vicky started.
“ –gonna last– ” Veronica continued.
“ –about 20 minutes,” they finished together.
Angie sighed. “And that’s just enough time,” she said. “Shit.”
The twins had been Girl Scouts – they had come prepared. Angie and Amanda pulled off their shoes and socks, then laid down on their tummies on a picnic table, side by side, with their bare feet hanging off the end. The twins tied old nylons around the girls’ waists to provide firm anchorage, then used the free ends to tie their hands behind their backs. More old nylons bound their ankles, tied off to the table through the cracks between the planks. It wouldn’t do to have them fall off the table, so Veronica tied Angie’s right elbow to Amanda’s left.
“Ready to laugh?” Veronica asked sweetly.
“Let’s get it over with,” Angie said glumly.
“OK, you call it,” Vicky said. She stood at Angie’s trapped feet and motioned Veronica over to Amanda.
“Start on three,” Amanda said. “One, two, three– ehehe! HAHA! HAHA-HAHA-HAHA! HAHA-HAHA!” she laughed as Veronica scratched the exact centers of her soles, along the creases. Vicky flicked her nail tips in Angie’s arches, not making much contact but tickling like crazy. Angie laughed at the top of her lungs, squirming like a worm.
“Great reaction,” Veronica said, raising her voice over the stereo laughter. “Check it out!”
“Looks like you found the sweet spots,” Vicky said. She held back Angie’s toes and tickled the soft skin underneath, and Angie laughed her head off, straining against her bonds and trying desperately to escape. “Me too, looks like,” she added.
Vicky eased off and tickled side to side on Angie’s stretched out soles, forcing a solid stream of ticklish laughter. The creases in the exact middle of Angie’s soles were especially ticklish – Vicky drew tiny overlapping circles down the sole creases, getting great reactions and making Angie laugh like mad. She made a Peace sign and scratched the balls of Angie’s feet – that was even better. Then more toe tickling, and Angie’s laughter went off the charts. Vicky released the toes and tickled the soles two-handed. Angie’s toes twitched and curled as she laughed and laughed.
“You’re not bad for a rib tickler, sis,” Veronica said.
“Gotta admit, foot tickling kinda grows on you,” Vicky said. “Take over – I’ve just had an idea.”
Veronica shifted slightly to her right, tickling Angie’s arches with just her left hand – plenty good enough, hard as Angie was laughing. Vicky moved aside – Veronica took over smoothly, tickling Amanda’s soles with her right. Amanda had just enough time to take a breath, then she was laughing harder than before.
“What are you doing?” Veronica asked her twin. She made claws of her hands and attacked Angie’s right foot and Amanda’s left, raking her nails from heels to soles, drawing four parallel zig-zag lines on each and applying just enough pressure to drive the girls wild.
Vicky was digging through their gear bag. “Fingers were getting tired – I’m getting some implements.” She came around Veronica’s left side. “Here, use this,” she said, handing Veronica a hair brush, the sort with round plastic knobs on the bristles. “And move over.”
This was more like it! Vicky slipped an old, broken, tied-together shoelace between Amanda’s left little and next toes and pulled the knot back and forth between them. Amanda bucked and squirmed, howling with forced mirth. Angie was laughing again – Veronica was brush-tickling her soles. Vicky concentrated on her own victim, tickling between each pair of toes in turn and getting a wild burst of laughter each time.
Vicky string-tickled left-to-right, repeating twice. “I think this would work better on Angie,” she said. “Let’s trade.” Just a matter of degree, of course – Veronica’s hair brush was getting great reactions and a flood of ticklish laughter from Angie.
“Suits,” Veronica said. Angie and Amanda got another short breather while they made the trade.
Vicky flicked the brush bristles on Amanda’s soles – she kept the bristles moving, flicking, tickling unbearably. Veronica pulled the knotted string between Angie’s toes, sliding the knot on the sensitive skin. The girls laughed with wild abandon – they were completely helpless, the overload of tickling had sucked away their strength.
Hard as they’re laughing, they’re about used up, Vicky judged. “Secret messages!” she called out. It was a game they had played with each other for years – “writing” on ticklish soles with a single fingernail, and the ticklee had to guess the message or get tickled even more. She wrote Quant Suff in fancy Olde-English calligraphy on Amanda’s soles – the girl laughed like mad, tears of laughter running down her cheeks.
“Works for me,” Veronica said. She held back Angie’s toes and wrote on the soft skin underneath in a fine copperplate script. “Hey Angie, what does this say?” But Angie was laughing much too hard to answer, or even form a coherent thought.
Vicky gave Amanda’s soles another few minutes of maximum tickle torture – Veronica tickled under Angie’s toes with equal enthusiasm, and it drove their victims wild. They finished with two handed tickling, fast as they could. Amanda and Angie laughed their heads off at the top of their lungs. Both girls ran out of air and laughed themselves breathless. They were sweaty, red-faced, hair in tangles, tickled out.
“Looks like the rain’s stopped,” Veronica observed.
“Yah, 20 minutes, just like we thought,” Vicky said, and tickled Amanda’s sole. “Now tell me,” she said. “What was the message?”
“HAHA-HAHA-HAHA! I don’t know... HAHAHAHA! Stopitstopitstopit!” Amanda laughed and begged.
Veronica slipped her nail tips between Angie’s toes – the girl flinched. “How about you?” she asked.
“Oh... ghod... ” Angie gasped out. “HAHAHAHA! I don’t know... HAHA-HAHAHA! Please, please, no more... ”
“Sun’s coming out again,” Vicky said. “Enough of this – let’s go swimming.” She flicked open her balisong and cut the bonds. Angie and Amanda just laid there, too breathless to move.
Veronica picked up their gear bag. “Hope you two– ” she started.
“ –enjoyed that– ” Vicky continued.
“ –as much as– ”
“ –we did.” Vicky completed the thought.
“Bye!” they said together, and left Angie and Amanda gasping for breath on the table.
The pool was surrounded by a 10 ft cyclone fence. The entrance was through a low cement block building, with an open double door in the center of the blank wall they faced. A wide hallway led to the pool through the middle of the building. The bath houses were off the hallway to the left. On the right was the pool office with a Dutch door that doubled as a ticket window.
The life guards had just re-opened the pool after the storm, but not many people had stayed around. A grandma, two moms and a young teen babysitter, all watching one or two little kids each – that was it. They swam laps, something they couldn’t do at home. Brittany joined them in the pool between her shifts on the life guard stand. They stayed until half an hour before closing time. Brittany commuted to work on her bicycle – it wouldn’t fit in the trunk of their Mustang, so she said she would see them at home later on.
First order of business was a shower to wash off the pool chlorine – Brittany got home just as they finished and took one too. They changed into clean t-shirts and shorts and came downstairs to start cooking supper.
“Anybody check the pool today?” Brittany asked.
“We skimmed and vacuumed it and added chlorine this morning,” Vicky answered. “Wouldn’t hurt to check it again, though. We’ll do it right now. Go ahead and start without us, Little Sis,” she said. “We’ll help you finish up.”
“After the potatoes are all peeled, no doubt,” Brittany grumbled. Veronica made tickling motions. “I like to peel potatoes,” Brittany said hastily. “Take your time!”
The twins went outside together. They got the skimmer and chlorine tester out of the pool house, but mostly for show. It was really just an excuse to have a private conversation.
“That was fun this afternoon,” Vicky said. “D’you think– ”
“ –Angie and Amanda enjoyed it too?” Veronica finished. “The way we do sometimes? Amanda maybe – not Angie.”
“That’s how it looked to me too,” Vicky said. “Amanda has possibilities, but Angie had enough. Quant suff, just like my secret message. Too bad for her.”
“That’s what you wrote?” Veronica asked. Vicky nodded. Veronica grinned. “Mine was Share Water – would’ve been a shame to waste the rain,” she said.
Vicky laughed. “Another classic,” she said. “I think we’re done here, sis. Let’s help Brittany finish up.”
***
They found an old movie on one of the cable channels after supper – John Wayne, Stewart Granger and Capucine in “North to Alaska”. Brittany watched it with them, sitting between them on the sofa. The tickling scene was as much fun to watch as always, brief though it was.
Brittany had the remote – she clicked the TV off at the closing credits. “Wonder if he was really tickling her?” she asked.
“I’ve heard it both ways,” Vicky said. “But if they dubbed it in– ”
“ –who was the tickle-double, and who was the tickler?” Veronica completed the thought. “No way to find out, I suppose – they didn’t run 10 minutes worth of credits then like they do now.”
“Just think,” Brittany said. “On the big screen – Brittany Righetti, Tickler. Right between the Clapper Loader and the Dolly Grip.”
“Dream on,” Vicky said, shaking her head.
“Who knows?” Brittany went on. “Maybe they’ll do a remake.” She snatched up Vicky’s ankles in an arm lock and flicked her nails in the back of the arches.
“Hee! HAHA-HAHAHA-HAHAHAHA!” Vicky laughed, squirming and struggling. Brittany tickled faster, covering the sensitive skin with tickling nail flicks. “I better practice for the audition,” she said cheerfully. Vicky arched her back and laughed at the top of her lungs.
Veronica jumped up, coming to the rescue. Brittany turned Vicky loose and ran for it – she hit the door at a dead run and disappeared, with Veronica in hot pursuit. Vicky jumped up too, and gave chase – no way was Brittany gonna get away with it!
Brittany had a head start, running flat out on the grass parallel to the sidewalk, but Veronica was gaining on her. Vicky put on a burst of speed, closing the gap. Veronica snagged the back of Brittany’s shirt, and that slowed her just enough. The twins caught Brittany – there was a brief struggle, then a takedown. Brittany ended up on her back with her feet up – Vicky had one of Brittany’s ankles trapped in a one-hand grip, Veronica had the other.
“Noooo!” Brittany yelled. “HAHAHA! HAHA-HAHA-HAHAHA!” she laughed as they started in on her, their well-manicured nails flicking her well-kept and extremely ticklish feet.
“Tickle tickle, Little Sis!” Vicky and Veronica said in chorus. The tickling fingernails speeded up – Brittany laughed like a madwoman, tears running down her cheeks.
Synchronized tickling was a specialty of theirs. They slipped their nails between Brittany’s toes, tickling between all at once and getting a flood of helpless laughter. They covered Brittany’s soles with tiny tickling nail flicks – Brittany laughed and laughed, toes twitching and curling. They spider-walked their nails in her arches – the laughter was completely uncontrollable. And they flicked their nails in Brittany’s sweet spots, in her arches just in front of her heels – Brittany arched her back and laughed her head off at the top of her lungs.
There was no point in tickling Brittany out too soon, so they tickled her heels for a while – not as good, but she was still laughing pretty hard. They switched to random nail flicks, tickling like crazy and forcing a solid stream of helpless laughter. They tickled the balls of Brittany’s feet, then flicked their way down her arches to her heels. Brittany’s laughter went off the scale as they tickled the sweet spots again, fingernails flying.
“Hey, y’all quit!” a Southern-accented voice called out over the laughter. “Y’all interested in a little contest?”
Vicky looked around. They were in front of Ashley Curtis’s house, and two girls were sitting on the stoop. One was Rachel Griffin, who waited tables at the Tieson City Cafe downtown – she was about 25, with shoulder-length fiery red hair, jade-green eyes, a crooked grin, fair skin and a fit and shapely body. The other was Stephanie Miklajcyk, another tall beauty with great legs, long silky light brown hair and bright green eyes. Both were barefoot, wearing gym shorts and t-shirts – without bras, Vicky figured from the look of them.
They eased off on Brittany, just a little, getting mostly giggles with the odd burst of laughter. “What sort of contest?” Veronica called back.
“Let her go, and we’ll work out the details,” Rachel said.
They quit, though they still kept their grip on Brittany’s ankles. “Keep talking,” Vicky said. She heard distant ticklish laughter, two girls from the sound of it, laughing their heads off. “Start by telling us what’s going on here.”
“The Club Remo Glee Club is having choir practice here tonight,” Stephanie said. “Kelly and Amanda harmonize pretty well, don’t they?”
“Who else is here?” Vicky asked. Club Remo, she thought. Choir practice. WTF?
“Well, Ashley, of course,” Stephanie said. “And Kelly McGuire, Amanda Mason and Angie Fontana.”
It made sense that Ashley, Angie, Kelly and Stephanie would be friends, thought Vicky. All of them had done some modeling for the department store where the twins worked, which wasn’t a bad gig. They had all gone on a road trip with two of the store’s buyers last spring. All of them bailed immediately afterward, and none of them would talk about it. And Rachel and Amanda might just as well have fallen out of the sky. Mom and Aunt Karen were well connected to the local grapevine, but if there was some prior relationship, they hadn’t uncovered it.
“You tried to suck us into a contest the other night,” Veronica said to Rachel, interrupting Vicky’s thoughts. “You don’t give up easy, do you?”
“Nope,” Rachel said. “Especially after how y’all worked over Amanda and Angie this afternoon.”
“It was a fair match, and they both agreed to the forfeit,” Vicky said. “Don’t take our word for it, go in and ask ‘em.”
Rachel ignored the comment. “I’m thinking a test of skill and endurance,” she continued. “We pair off and tickle each other – that’s nothing y’all can’t handle. Winner is whoever tickles the other out the fastest. Multiple elimination, we keep at it until we have a final ranking.”
“And the winners tickle the shit out of the losers afterward, right?” Veronica said – it wasn’t a question.
Vicky checked her watch. “Have to take a rain check on that,” she said. “It’s after 10 PM. The neighbors will call the cops on us for making too much noise.”
“We can do it indoors,” Stephanie offered, looking innocent. “Ashley won’t mind.”
“Friend, we were born at night,” Vicky said. “But it wasn’t last night. Some other time, on neutral ground.”
“Some other time is right,” Brittany said. “Let me go – I need a bathroom bad.”
“Should’ve thought of that before you started this,” Vicky said. “Oh, all right, I guess we’re even. Let’s go home.” Why did she start it? She must have known she wouldn’t get away with it.
“Y’all blew me off the other night too,” Rachel said. “Chicken?” She sent the sisters on their way with a surprisingly realistic rooster-call.
She’ll get her contest, thought Vicky. After all, we’ve got a reputation to live down to. And then she’ll change her tune.
They got ready for bed, but neither girl was particularly sleepy. Vicky sat cross-legged on her bed, leaning back against the headboard. Veronica joined her and flopped down on her tummy on the bed, idly kicking her feet in the air.
“Maybe we should’ve taken them up on the contest,” Veronica said.
“And get ourselves tickled silly?” Vicky said. “You know Rachel and Stephanie were trying to suck us in, don’t you? The whole bunch would’ve piled on.”
“Sure they were,” Veronica said. “Would that have been so bad? It’s not like we don’t do it to each other.”
“We haven’t tickled Stephanie yet, or the new kid either,” Vicky said thoughtfully. “And the one time we tickled Rachel, we didn’t get to do it for very long.”
“Fun while it lasted, though,” Veronica said. “Like in “North to Alaska”. Maybe we should make a video. Think they’d be interested?”
Vicky grinned. “Remember what Brittany said about rehearsing, just to be prepared?” she asked. She stretched out one leg and poked Veronica in the ribs with her big toe.
Veronica squealed and jumped. She grabbed the foot before Vicky could pull back, and flicked her nails in the arch.
“Hehehe! Vicky giggled. “Don’t you– haheha! –think you– ahaha! –oughta– hahaha! –tie me– hehehe! –up?” she asked and giggled.
Veronica let go of the foot. “Nah, I’m not really in the mood,” she said.
“Me either,” Vicky admitted. “Save it for Brittany tomorrow morning. Let’s get some sleep.”
***
There was a Saturday morning family tradition to uphold. The sky was just turning red to the east when they slipped into Brittany’s room, still in their night shirts.
Brittany was still asleep, on her back, blankets pulled up to her chin. Vicky stood by the side of the bed, Veronica went to the end and grabbed the covers. Vicky counted down with her fingers, three-two-one, and pointed. Veronica snatched the covers off the sleeping girl. Vicky grabbed Brittany’s wrists, pinned them over her head and straddled her like mounting a horse. She shifted to a one-hand hold and rested her nails on Brittany’s toned abs under the pajama top. Veronica kneeled at Brittany’s feet and rested her nail tips on the bare soles. It went off without a hitch – they had done this many times before.
“Good morning, Little Sis!” Vicky caroled.
Brittany didn’t try to escape. “Get it over with,” she said in a resigned tone.
“Such enthusiasm!” Veronica said sarcastically. She led off, tickling Brittany’s soles two handed, and Brittany burst into ticklish laughter. Vicky joined in, tickling in a circle around her navel. Brittany arched her back and laughed her head off.
The twins knew every ticklish spot on Brittany’s body, and tickled them all. Vicky tickled her tummy, side to side, watching the muscles twitch and jump. Veronica kept up the foot tickling, in her arches now. Brittany bucked and squirmed, laughing like mad, trying desperately to escape the tickling.
The tummy tickling was getting great reactions. Not to be outdone, Veronica tickled Brittany’s heels, drawing circles and other tickling shapes. She tickled back onto the sweet spots in Brittany’s arches, just in front of the heels. Brittany laughed helplessly at the top of her lungs.
Vicky didn’t need to pin Brittany’s hands now – the fiendish tickling had robbed her of all ability to resist. She switched to two handed tickling, roaming her hands up and down Brittany’s sides and ribs while Brittany howled with forced mirth. She tickled Brittany’s armpits, then down her ribs, getting on each rib and in the ticklish spaces between. Onto the ticklish sides, grabbing and lobster clawing, then onto the tummy, tickling side to side, one hand following the panty line and the other the ribcage. Brittany laughed like a maniac, tears of laughter leaking from her closed eyes.
Veronica’s tickling fingernails covered Brittany’s feet with fiendish and well-techniqued tickling. She tickled between Brittany’s toes, held them back and tickled the soft skin underneath and onto the stretched out soles. Down the arches onto the heels, flicking and scratching, then back to THE SPOT again, and Brittany’s ticklish laughter went off the scale.
Veronica kept tickling Brittany’s feet right-handed, reached out with her left and tickled Vicky’s upturned sole. Vicky squeaked and jumped, then dismounted, still tummy tickling. Brittany still couldn’t move – the tickling had drained away her strength, all she could do was lay there and laugh. Veronica climbed up onto the bed, still foot tickling. Vicky tickled down Brittany’s left hip and thigh to her feet – Veronica tickled her way up Brittany’s right to her tummy and straddled the younger girl. Streams of ticklish laughter poured out of Brittany as they redoubled their efforts, Veronica tickling her upper body and Vicky tickling her feet.
Both twins put on a burst of speed, tickling skillfully and enthusiastically, and Brittany went wild. It was more than she could bear – they tickled her breathless.
Veronica dismounted. “See ya at breakfast, little sis!” the twins chorused, and left Brittany laying there, limp and tickled out, trying desperately to get her breathing and heart rate normal.
“We don’t have to be at work until 10 AM today,” Veronica said after breakfast. “Let’s get dressed and take a walk in Riverside Park.”
They decided on jeans shorts, their matching pink Double Trouble t-shirts and flip-flops, then headed out. The park was out Johnson’s Ferry Road, just past the interstate. The ferry was long gone, of course, but the Johnson’s Ferry Marina had grown up around its old landing. They turned left onto River Road, then right again into the park entrance a quarter-mile downriver.
They drove past the main parking lot and continued on one of the narrow paved park roads toward the riverbank. Another 250 yards brought them to a bandstand nestled in a curve of the road, overlooking the river. It was an old-fashioned octagonal gazebo, maybe 15 or 20 ft across, raised a few steps above ground level. Six of the sides had waist-high wooden railings, two facing sides were unobstructed. On the side toward River Road was a big open grassy area surrounded by tall trees – it was used for summer band concerts and for the 4th of July fireworks show.
They parked beside the bandstand and got out, and discovered that they weren’t alone. Another car was parked there too, just past the bandstand. It looked vaguely familiar – had they seen it parked at Ashley’s house last night?
“Hi, there!” Kelly McGuire called out from the band stand. “Heard you drive up. What brings you two out here? Surely not that contest Rachel was talking about last night.” Kelly was gorgeous, tall and shapely, with long, silky red hair, blue eyes so dark they seem almost indigo, and that perfect skin that only redheads have.
“Nah, just looking for a place to hang out for a while,” Vicky called back. “How about yourself?”
“The same,” Kelly said. “Nice day, isn’t it?”
Ashley Curtis joined Kelly at the railing. “Watch it, Kelly – for sure, they’re gonna try to tickle us,” she said suspiciously. She was another beauty, about Kelly’s height, with a great tan, long blonde hair and crystal blue eyes.
“Would we do that?” Vicky asked innocently – Ashley scowled. “Of course we would,” Vicky continued. “But not this time. Promise.”
“Fair enough,” Kelly said. “Come and join us. You don’t mind, do you, Ashley?”
They stepped up into the bandstand. The others wore t-shirts, gym shorts and flip-flops. Ashley’s shirt was white – on the front was the US Coast Guard insignia on a broad diagonal red stripe that was bordered on the left with narrow white and blue stripes. She had already taken the oath, and would be leaving for boot camp at the end of the summer. Kelly’s came from one of those design-your-own shops in the mall – blue, with Club Remo over crossed oars on it.
“Club Remo,” Vicky said. “Amanda mentioned it last night. I’ve never heard of it.”
Kelly gave her an amused look. “No reason you should,” she said. “Not many people around here have.”
“What’s it like?” Veronica asked.
“Lots of laughs, but it’s not for everyone,” Ashley said drily. Kelly stifled a giggle. Odd, thought Vicky. Not just these two, all six of them with their secret that they won’t share with anyone. I’d like to know what really happened on that road trip.
The twins kicked off their flip-flops and perched on the railing. The summer day was warm, and getting warmer – the shade and the breeze off the river were welcome. Kelly reached into a cooler, then walked up with a water bottle in each hand. “We’ve got extra water,” she said. “It’s cold. Want some?”
“Sure,” Veronica said. “Thanks. Glad there’s no hard feelings over our little misunderstanding last spring.”
Kelly handed out the bottles. “Nah, my sister and I used to do each other the same way,” she said. “Still do when she comes home on leave.”
“We knew Molly in high school,” Vicky said. “She joined the Navy, didn’t she?”
“Coast Guard,” Kelly corrected. She looked down, checking out the twins’ bare feet. “New nail art?” she asked.
“Yah, pedicure too,” Vicky said, and extended her leg. “Have a look.” Here it comes, she thought.
Kelly took hold and inspected the foot. “Not bad,” she said. She gently scratched the sole with the nails on her other hand, and Vicky giggled like a little girl. “Just checking for calluses,” she said insincerely.
“Find any?” Veronica asked.
“Not yet,” Kelly said, and continued the gentle nail strokes toward Vicky’s heel – Vicky was giggling non-stop now. She let out a burst of ticklish laughter when Kelly got to the sweet spot, then giggled again as the redhead’s tickling nail tips explored her heel.
“Does it– hahaha! –get your– hehehe! –seal of– haha-hehe! –approval– hehe-hehe!” Vicky asked and giggled.
Kelly quit, but didn’t let go. “Soft, smooth and callus-free,” she said. A fast heel tickle, a dozen nail strokes or so, and another burst of laughter. “Just right for tickling. You blew Rachel off last night – that was good thinking. But it’s just us here. D’you feel up to a Tickling Death Match?”
“All of us, multiple elimination?” Vicky asked.
“I’m way too ticklish for that,” Ashley said from the other end of the bandstand. “I wouldn’t stand a chance. No, Kelly against one of you. She wins and we tickle both of you, or vice versa. Usual forfeit.”
“Veronica’s the foot tickler,” Veronica said. “I’d rather tickle tummies. She’ll take you on.”
Vicky picked up on it instantly. “I’ll even agree to a handicap,” she said. “We’ll tickle left handed.”
Kelly got a blanket out of the trunk of her car and spread it on the floor. She kicked off her flip-flops, sat cross-legged on it and looked up at the others. “This is gonna be easy,” she said. “Let’s get started, Veronica. That way, we’ll have more time afterward to tickle you senseless.”
Vicky sat facing Kelly. “Pretty confident, huh?”
“Hey, why not?” Kelly said. “I beat my sister the last six times running. I can even beat Rachel half the time, and she’s very good.”
“Well, I’m ready when you are,” Vicky said. Ready to turn the tables on you, as you’ll soon find out. “Vicky, you and Ashley referee for us,” she said.
Vicky and Kelly extended their left legs straight ahead, and drew up their right legs with the bottom of the left foot against the inside of the left thigh. Each girl took a firm grip on her opponent’s left foot with her right hand. Both flexed the fingers of their left hand. “Get ready to laugh, girlfriend!” Kelly said.
“On three,” Veronica said. “One, two, three, go!”
Each girl flicked the nails of her left hand on the bottom of her opponent’s trapped foot. Both girls burst into ticklish laughter, howling with forced mirth.
Both girls tickled skillfully, fiendishly, forcing stream after stream of laughter. Kelly concentrated on the sweet spot at the back of Vicky’s arch – Vicky on the sole and ball of Kelly’s foot. They laughed and laughed, tears running down their cheeks, filling the air with their musical laughter as the tickling filled their universe.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, Vicky thought as she laughed her head off. I’m losing it – Kelly’s doing more giggling than laughing, and I’m laughing non-stop. Kelly flicked Vicky’s arch and heel, tickling the sweet spot mercilessly, and Vicky laughed with wild abandon. But Vicky had stamina and staying power – she hung on and covered Kelly’s sole with a flurry of tiny nail flicks, and now Kelly was laughing just as hard again. Both girls laughed their heads off, swaying a little, eyes closed, tears running down their cheeks.
Kelly and Vicky laughed in two-part harmony, each trying desperately to tickle the other out and avoid the same fate herself. Both girls were sweaty and red faced, tears running down their cheeks, laughing at the top of their lungs. But suddenly Vicky changed rhythm, and it was too much for Kelly – she collapsed backward, laughing helplessly, all of her strength tickled away.
Vicky giggled as she drifted down off the tickle high. She disentangled her left leg, drew it up under her, then shifted and scooped up Kelly’s ankles in an arm lock. Kelly had just enough time to take a deep breath, and then she was laughing her head off again as Vicky tickled side to side across both soles. She looked over at the others, still tickling. “Kelly was right,” she said. “This was easy.”
“This was a team effort, remember?” Veronica said. “Quit and let her catch her breath. She’s gonna need it.”
Vicky quit. “You better... tie... me up...” Kelly gasped out. “That tickled... so much!”
The twins had a car blanket too. “We’ll use a Blanket Roll,” Veronica said. “You too, Ashley. Assume the position.”
They rolled Ashley and Kelly up with just their heads and feet showing and laid them on their tummies side by side. Veronica kept up the deception and selected Kelly – to finish what she started, she said. That left Ashley for Vicky. The twins sat cross-legged, facing each other, and put the other girls’ feet in their laps. The final touch – they tied the others’ ankles together, tied off to their own thighs to immobilize them, and tied the big toes together with string.
Ashley twisted around. “You two pulled a fast one,” she said accusingly. “I’ve been keeping track. That was you, Vicky – you’re the lefty. You set Kelly up.”
“Nice try, but you can’t be sure of that,” Vicky said. “Even Mom has trouble telling us apart.”
“You agreed to the rules,” Veronica added. “You lost a fair contest.”
“Give it up, Ashley,” Kelly said. “She’s right. C’mon, Veronica, tickle me– Eeep! HAHAHA! HAHA-HAHAHA-HAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!” she laughed as Veronica spider-walked her well-manicured nails in both arches.
Ashley’s so ticklish, I’ll need more finesse than that or I’ll tickle her out too soon, thought Vicky. She scratched tiny overlapping circles along the creases in Ashley’s soft soles, using just the very tip of just one nail. Helpless laughter poured out of Ashley – her toes twitched and curled as she laughed her head off.
Vicky drew fast, looping figure-eight’s around the balls of Ashley’s feet. The loops got smaller, tighter, covering the sensitive skin with unbearable tickling and driving Ashley wild. She tickled at the base of Ashley’s big toes, then between the big toes and the next – Ashley’s laughter went up a notch. She circled a nail in each of Ashley’s arches, just behind the soles, and Ashley squirmed like a worm, howling with forced mirth. For a rib-tickler, Vicky had a surprisingly delicate touch – she had learned from her twin. She kept Ashley laughing wildly but didn’t tickle her out.
Kelly laughed like a maniac as Veronica tickled side to side across both soles – Kelly’s toes twitched and curled as she laughed her head off. Veronica eased off, working slowly down both arches to the heels, flicking with her nail tips like chording a guitar. She shifted her tickle target to the balls of the feet, tickling both at once – Kelly’s laughter went off the scale.
“Hey, she’s turning purple – you’re killing her,” Vicky said.
“Nah, just pink,” Veronica said, raising her voice over the laughter. “Kinda matches our shirts, doesen’t it?”
Vicky switched to Secret Writing in Ashley’s arches – 867-5309 – and was rewarded with an especially loud burst of laughter. She paused and asked, “Hey Ashley, what does that say?”
“Hehehe! I don’t know! HAHAHAHAHA! HAHA-HAHA-HAHA!” Ashley laughed as Vicky started in on her again. By then, Veronica was “writing” in Kelly’s arches too – the two girls laughed in two-part harmony, singing a ticklish duet.
Time for some toe tickles, Vicky decided. She slipped the nails of both hands between Ashley’s toes and scratched lightly. Ashley was completely helpless, red faced and sweaty – all she could do was lay there and laugh like mad. Vicky held Ashley’s toes back and tickled the soft skin underneath. She spider-walked the nail strokes down onto the stretched out soles, getting great reactions and a flood of helpless laughter. Then releasing the toes, she tickled down Ashley’s arches, ending up on the heels. Vicky speeded up her two-handed heel tickling, and Ashley laughed at the top of her lungs.
“OK, we’ve been at it for almost 10 minutes,” Veronica said. “Let’s give ‘em a breather.” She quit tickling – Kelly giggled weakly as she came down off the tickle high. Vicky did the same – Ashley laid there gasping, eyes closed, tears running down her cheeks.
The twins stood up and stretched to work out the kinks. “We’re gonna have to shift ‘em,” Veronica said. “Otherwise, we’ll be tickling with our weak hands.”
“Wish we could tickle their tummies too,” Vicky grumbled. “Not much chance of that, the way we’ve got ‘em wrapped up. Oh well... Help me move Ashley. Alley oop!”
They sat down again and re-tied the other girls’ ankles to their thighs. “Any chance we can talk you out of this?” Ashley asked plaintively.
“Nope, you get to laugh some more,” Vicky said.
Kelly looked over at her friend. “Just pretend that the Captain wants to water-ski,” she said. “Come on, let’s get this over with. I’m getting hot in here– Ehehe! HAHAHA-AHAHA-HAHAHAHA!”
The nautical comment mystified Vicky, but she didn’t let that stop her. She tickled between each pair of toes, each time getting a wild burst of laughter from Kelly. Musical ticklish laughter poured out as she tickled down Kelly’s soles and arches, onto the heels, and back up to the soles. Vicky held Kelly’s toes back, tickled the ball of one foot and across to the other, then both at once. Kelly lost it and laughed at the top of her lungs.
Veronica spread Ashley’s toes two by two and tickled between each pair, forcing stream after stream of ticklish laughter. Ashley’s soles got it next, then her arches, and then her heels – she laughed and laughed as Veronica covered her feet with tickling nail flicks, not making much contact but tickling horribly.
Redheads sure turn a pretty shade of pink, Vicky thought. She made a Peace sign and scratched the balls of both feet at the same time, just behind the big toes, getting great reactions and driving Kelly wild. She eased off – Kelly dropped back to normal rated laughter as the tickling moved down her arches and onto her heels. Vicky lingered there, drawing wavy lines and other tickling shapes. The overload of tickling must have sensitized Kelly’s feet – she was laughing harder now, red-faced, lost in ticklish delirium.
Veronica flicked her nails on Ashley’s heels, then two-handed up the arches to the soles. Ashley laughed like a madwoman, tears of laughter running down her face. Veronica had control, but Vicky was a little surprised that she hadn’t tickled Ashley out by now – the girl was losing it, near the limit of her endurance.
Kelly’s hanging in there better than Ashley, but I can fix that, thought Vicky. She made a claw of her hand and drew four fast, parallel zig-zag lines on the right foot, from sole to heel. She did the same on the left foot, then alternated left-right-and-repeat, and Kelly laughed at the top of her lungs. She held Kelly’s toes back and scrabbled her nails on the soft skin underneath, then across both soles, side to side, over and over. Kelly laughed, and laughed, and laughed some more.
“Time’s about up,” Veronica said. “Let’s finish ‘em off.” She picked up the pace – Ashley’s laughter went off the scale as Veronica’s nails scratched and scrabbled. Ashley laughed wildly, helplessly, at the top of her lungs, and ran out of air. Veronica had tickled her breath away.
“Good one, sis!” Vicky said. “Right behind ya!” She held back Kelly’s toes and spider walked her nails along the crease in the exact center of Kelly’s right sole – four fingernail strokes in succession, three times a second. Then two fingernails, drawing circles around and onto the balls of both feet while Kelly howled with forced mirth. Vicky tickled the balls of both feet again, fingernails flicking and scratching. Kelly went crazy, bucking and squirming, laughing her head off. Her laughter went off the charts – she lost it and laughed herself breathless.
The twins unrolled their victims – Ashley and Kelly laid there gasping and sweaty, eyes closed, cheeks streaked with tears. They sat up and winced, their abs must be pretty sore from laughing. There were two water bottles left out of the 6-pack. Vicky gave them to the girls – they downed them in a few long gulps. Both of them were in much better condition than she would have expected, considering the treatment they had gotten. Especially Ashley – the last time, the girl had been a quivering wreck when they finished with her.
Ashley used her fingers to rake the worst tangles out of her hair. “You won this time,” she said. “But I still think you pulled a fast one. You’ll find yourselves in a fair fight someday – I suspect you won’t do near so well.”
“If you find yourself in a fair fight, it means you didn’t plan ahead and prepare properly,” Vicky said.
“Our grandpa taught us that years ago, and we took it to heart,” Veronica added. “Think of this as a learning experience.”
“Let it go, Ashley,” Kelly said. “Vicky’s a lefty, but Veronica’s a foot tickling Jedi Master. She probably could’ve beaten me left handed, so it doesen’t matter which one did the deed.”
“See? You’re smarter already,” Veronica said. She checked her watch. “C’mon, sis, we need to go home and get ready for work.”
They cranked the Mustang and headed out. Vicky giggled. “Maybe we should hang out a sign– ”
Veronica grinned. “Yah. Vellication by Veronica – Life Lessons Taught,” she said. “Or maybe V&V Vellication,” she continued hastily, cutting off Vicky’s protest.
Vicky grinned back. “No Job Too Big – No Job Too Small. Open 24 Hours,” she said. “Sounds like a winner.”
***
Copyright 2007 by the author
Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance)
Vicky and Veronica Righetti
They’re “mirror twins” – identical, but Vicky is a lefty (Latin “sinister”) and her twin Veronica is right handed. They’re 20 yrs old, medium height, with very trim and fit figure that they maintain by martial arts. They have wavy dark brown hair worn shoulder length, dark brows and lashes, brown eyes. They’re Jedi Masters of tickling, and super-ticklish too – they’ve been tickling each other for years.
Brittany Righetti
Brittany is 18, and has lived on Tickle Street all her life. She has long dark hair and brown eyes, a beautiful Italian face and features, curves in all the right places. She has a bit of an attitude, but it can quickly be destroyed if she's tickled. Like her older sisters, she's super-ticklish, and they always take advantage of that.
Angie Fontana
Angie is 18 – she’ll be a Senior at Tieson City High School this fall. She’s tall, drop-dead gorgeous, with long dark hair, dark brows and lashes, soft brown eyes, an hourglass figure and long, shapely legs. Angie has extremely ticklish feet, and her tickle laugh is as lovely as the rest of her.
Stephanie Miklajcyk
Stephanie is another upcoming Senior, just 18 yrs old. Like her friend Angie, she has a beauty queen build – they’re the same size, right down to their shoes. Stephanie has long, silky light brown hair, bright green eyes and flawless fair skin. She’s insanely ticklish, and regards that as her greatest weakness.
Rachel Griffin
Rachel is 25 years old. She has shoulder-length fiery red hair, a crooked grin, fair skin and a fit and shapely body. Her eyes are jade green – they twinkle with merriment. She’s originally from Georgia, but settled in Tieson City after sharing an adventure four local girls, one they never talk about. She’s smart and tough, but tickle her and she’s helpless.
Amanda Mason
Amanda is a little cutie, just turned 18 years old, a petite girl with a trim and shapely figure. She stands an inch or so over five feet tall in her bare feet. She has curly dark brown hair, brown eyes, dark brows and long, dark lashes. She’s new to Tieson City, and will start at TCHS as a Senior in the fall. She loves to tickle and be tickled. She’s impossible not to like.
Kelly McGuire
Kelly is 18 yrs old, like her classmates Angie and Stephanie, and she’s every bit as beautiful. She’s tall and shapely, with long, silky red hair, blue eyes so dark they seem almost indigo, and that perfect skin that only redheads have. Everybody likes to tickle her – great laugh, great reactions, and she turns such a pretty shade of pink...
Ashley Curtis
A.K.A Beauty Queen. Tall and shapely, 19 yrs old, long blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. Her mother started entering her in beauty pageants and contests as soon as she could walk, and still showers Ashley with positive influence on how beautiful she is. Ashley and her mother moved to Tickle Street about a year ago. Ashley is insanely ticklish, and great fun to tickle.
********************
Vicky Righetti giggled in her sleep, squirming just a little. She giggled again and drifted gently into wakefulness. She was in bed, still mostly covered, but one bare foot stuck out of the blankets over the side of the bed. Something cold and wet flicked her sole – she giggled and sat up, rubbing sleep out of her eyes. The room was still dark, but the sky was paling to the east – the clock on the nightstand said 5:25. In the twilight gloom, she saw that her twin Veronica was still sound asleep in her bed across the room.
Oh. Spanky the brindle mutt was sitting back on his haunches beside her bed, a doggy grin on his face. He must need to go out.
She slipped out of bed – the dog got up to follow. She caught a glimpse of herself in the full length mirror – a ratty night shirt that couldn’t quite conceal her trim shape, a summer tan dark against the lighter fabric, a pillow-perm in her shoulder-length mane of wavy dark hair. Dark eyes, dark brows and lashes, fine-looking legs. And ticklish feet, one of them still damp with doggy-spit.
She slipped downstairs on silent bare feet – no sense waking the rest of the family. The dog bolted outside when she opened the door. He had obviously had too much water, and not too long ago – his teeth must have been floating. Dad probably left the toilet seat up again, she thought.
Today was Friday, so Mom and Dad would be getting up soon. Younger sister Brittany had a summer life guard job, but the pool didn’t open until 10 AM, so she could sleep in. Vicky and Veronica had sales jobs at Squander Mall, but they were off today. We should’ve been able to sleep in too, Vicky thought with a touch of resentment while she tried to rake the tangles out of her hair. Veronica’s still up there pounding her ear, but now I’m wide awake.
Hmm... Spread the misery, maybe? But we have a deal with Brittany, no less firm for being unwritten. We tickle the shit out of her every Saturday morning, but unless she instigates it, she gets a pass the rest of the week. OK then, Veronica’s gonna get it...
Vicky slipped back upstairs and into her shared room. Veronica was still sound asleep, cocooned in her blankets. Vicky pulled the spread off her own bed and carefully worked it under Veronica’s covers, with the edge right next to the sleeping girl. She yanked off Veronica’s covers and rolled her twin onto the spread, then rolled and tucked, rolled and tucked – a Veronica-burrito, with just her head and feet sticking out.
“Mmf!” Veronica said. “Hey! What the hell!” She squirmed, but the spread was rolled too tight – she was had.
“Good morning, sis!” Vicky said brightly. She rolled Veronica onto her back, sat on the bed and trapped Veronica’s ankles in a leg lock. “Ready to greet the new day?”
Veronica stopped struggling. “What got you started so early?” she asked. “The freakin’ cows aren’t even awake yet!”
“But the dog is,” Vicky said, touching the tips of her well-manicured nails on her twin’s soles. “He woke me up. I’m just paying it forward.”
“Oh NOOO!” Veronica begged, struggling and squirming like a worm. “NOT THAT!”
“Yup,” Vicky said cheerfully. “Time for your wake-up.” She dug in, tickling fiendishly. Veronica arched her back and laughed at the top of her lungs.
“I love the sound of laughter in the morning!” Vicky said, raising her voice over the sound of Veronica’s laughter. “It sounds like... victory!” She covered her twin’s soles with tiny flicks, using just her nail tips and making just enough contact to tickle horribly. She switched to longer nail strokes along the crease in the exact center of the right sole – Veronica’s toes twitched and curled as she laughed her head off. The left sole got the same treatment, forcing a solid stream of helpless laughter. Then in the arches, just behind the soles, tickling with both hands – Veronica howled with forced mirth, helpless to resist the well-techniqued tickling.
Vicky spread Veronica’s toes, two by two, tickling between each pair and getting burst after burst of laughter. She held the toes back and tickled left to right on the soft skin underneath, then onto the stretched out soles in a zig-zag path right to left. The tickling had sensitized Veronica’s feet – she was laughing harder now. Vicky took advantage, made a Peace sign and scratched the balls of both feet, and Veronica laughed with wild abandon.
Then down both arches, drawing overlapping circles that tickled like crazy. Vicky drew circles, squares and other tickling shape on Veronica’s heels, savoring the laughter and saving the best for last. Veronica was red faced and sweaty, eyes closed, tears of laughter running down her cheeks, right on the edge. Then two hands again, tickling the back of the arches and onto the heels – the sweet spots, where it tickled unbearably – and Veronica’s laughter went off the charts. Vicky speeded up, tickling at warp speed. Veronica lost it and laughed herself breathless.
“You awake yet, sis?” Vicky asked, releasing the leg lock.
Veronica took a deep breath. “Yah,” she said, eyes closed, a dreamy look on her face. “That really, really tickled!” Another breath. “Talk about starting the day right...” The twins had a guilty secret – they got off on this. Not every time, of course, but often enough.
Vicky unrolled her sister. “Glad I could help,” she said. “Let’s take a shower and have some breakfast.”
The twins came downstairs for breakfast in shorts and t-shirts – they didn’t bother with shoes. Brittany wasn’t at breakfast, still asleep in her room. Mom and Dad didn’t comment on the tickle fest. Tickling was just part of life in this family – every female member of their extended family was a tickle maniac.
Vicky was pretty sure Mom had them figured out. Mom and her own twin, Aunt Karen (twins ran in the family) had been much like Vicky and Veronica when they were younger, and still got into tickle fights sometimes. But how much like us were they? Vicky shied away from the question. She really didn’t want to know – too much information.
They changed into their bikinis after breakfast and got to work doing maintenance on their backyard pool – skimming the leaves and drowned bugs off the surface, vacuuming, adding a little chlorine. They were in no hurry to finish – they had all day. Brittany came downstairs after a while, still in her night shirt. They found her in the kitchen eating toast with coffee.
“Good morning, Little Sis!” the twins chorused.
Brittany shifted in her chair, getting ready to run for it. “My, we’re cheerful this morning,” she said sourly. “What are you two up to?”
“Relax,” Vicky said. “You’re safe ‘til Saturday.”
Veronica added a caveat: “Unless, of course, you piss us off.”
“Morning grumps piss us off,” Vicky said.
“Got to make ‘em laugh,” Veronica added.
Brittany raised both hands in surrender. “OK, OK, I’m smiling. See?”
Vicky looked at her twin, and a silent message passed between them. “You get a pass,” they said together.
Brittany visibly relaxed. “So what plans do you two have for today?” she asked.
Another look, like looking into a mirror. “Work on our tans,” Veronica said for both. “Maybe a game of tennis after lunch.”
“Come see me at the pool after your game,” Brittany said. “I’ll comp you in. Save you a couple of bucks, anyway.”
“Suits,” Vicky said. “C’mon, Veronica, let’s go catch some rays.”
***
They almost didn’t get to play their tennis game – for some reason, the public courts at the park were doing an unusual amount of business for a weekday afternoon. There were people playing doubles on three of the four courts, and two girls getting ready to play on the fourth. Vicky recognized them. Angie Fontana was tall, drop-dead gorgeous, with a beautiful face, long dark hair, soft brown eyes, a perfect tan and long, shapely legs. The other was the new hire at Rosen’s Drugstore – she was a little cutie, 18 or so, a petite girl with a trim and shapely figure, curly dark brown hair, brown eyes, dark brows and long, dark lashes.
“Looks like some other people we know are taking the day off too,” Veronica said.
“Yah,” Vicky said. “We owe ‘em one – here’s our chance.” She raised her voice. “Hey Angie! Interested in playing doubles?”
“Sure, why not?” the little brunette called back instead. “By the way, I’m Amanda Mason,” she continued. “Rachel’s roomie.”
“Want to make a little wager, just to keep things interesting?” Veronica asked with a grin.
“What kind of wager?” Angie asked suspiciously.
“I’m sure we can come up with a suitable forfeit,” Vicky said slyly.
“More like “four-feet”, if I know you two,” Angie said. “Well, that’s OK with me. I really enjoyed tickling you that time at the College.”
Vicky remembered the occasion all too well. The twins’ tickling scheme had backfired, and had gotten them gang-tickled until they were raving. It drove us crazy while it was happening, thought Vicky, but it hadn’t been all bad, though the others hadn’t known that. The way we are, with a little luck we can win either way. “Right the first time,” she said. “For 10 minutes each.”
“Deal. Let’s do it,” Angie said.
Angie was tall and strong, Amanda was small and fast – they were a pretty good team. But the twins won the first game handily – Veronica was right-handed, Vicky was a lefty, and they were so close that it sometimes seemed they were telepathic. But their opponents had figured out their style, and won the second game by 2 points. By then, thunderheads were building up to the west, and the sky was starting to turn that ominous green-bronze shade that promises heavy weather.
“Tie breaker?” Veronica asked.
Amanda studied the sky. “Better do it quick,” she said.
The third game was hard fought, the advantage shifted more than once. The sky was dark now, with a rising wind and a rumble of distant thunder. Vicky drove the last point home on a hard return just as the bottom fell out of the sky.
All four girls ran for the picnic shelter, snatching up their gear bags on the run. They had the place to themselves, the players on the other courts were long gone. It would have made no difference if they had walked, all four were soaked through. Lightning flashed, somewhere close – the flash and bang came almost together.
“Whew! Cut it pretty close, didn’t we?” Angie said, wringing out her long dark hair.
Vicky pulled a towel out of their bag. “Sure did,” she said.
“Ought to blow over pretty quick, though,” Veronica added, toweling her hair.
“Probably only– ” Vicky started.
“ –gonna last– ” Veronica continued.
“ –about 20 minutes,” they finished together.
Angie sighed. “And that’s just enough time,” she said. “Shit.”
The twins had been Girl Scouts – they had come prepared. Angie and Amanda pulled off their shoes and socks, then laid down on their tummies on a picnic table, side by side, with their bare feet hanging off the end. The twins tied old nylons around the girls’ waists to provide firm anchorage, then used the free ends to tie their hands behind their backs. More old nylons bound their ankles, tied off to the table through the cracks between the planks. It wouldn’t do to have them fall off the table, so Veronica tied Angie’s right elbow to Amanda’s left.
“Ready to laugh?” Veronica asked sweetly.
“Let’s get it over with,” Angie said glumly.
“OK, you call it,” Vicky said. She stood at Angie’s trapped feet and motioned Veronica over to Amanda.
“Start on three,” Amanda said. “One, two, three– ehehe! HAHA! HAHA-HAHA-HAHA! HAHA-HAHA!” she laughed as Veronica scratched the exact centers of her soles, along the creases. Vicky flicked her nail tips in Angie’s arches, not making much contact but tickling like crazy. Angie laughed at the top of her lungs, squirming like a worm.
“Great reaction,” Veronica said, raising her voice over the stereo laughter. “Check it out!”
“Looks like you found the sweet spots,” Vicky said. She held back Angie’s toes and tickled the soft skin underneath, and Angie laughed her head off, straining against her bonds and trying desperately to escape. “Me too, looks like,” she added.
Vicky eased off and tickled side to side on Angie’s stretched out soles, forcing a solid stream of ticklish laughter. The creases in the exact middle of Angie’s soles were especially ticklish – Vicky drew tiny overlapping circles down the sole creases, getting great reactions and making Angie laugh like mad. She made a Peace sign and scratched the balls of Angie’s feet – that was even better. Then more toe tickling, and Angie’s laughter went off the charts. Vicky released the toes and tickled the soles two-handed. Angie’s toes twitched and curled as she laughed and laughed.
“You’re not bad for a rib tickler, sis,” Veronica said.
“Gotta admit, foot tickling kinda grows on you,” Vicky said. “Take over – I’ve just had an idea.”
Veronica shifted slightly to her right, tickling Angie’s arches with just her left hand – plenty good enough, hard as Angie was laughing. Vicky moved aside – Veronica took over smoothly, tickling Amanda’s soles with her right. Amanda had just enough time to take a breath, then she was laughing harder than before.
“What are you doing?” Veronica asked her twin. She made claws of her hands and attacked Angie’s right foot and Amanda’s left, raking her nails from heels to soles, drawing four parallel zig-zag lines on each and applying just enough pressure to drive the girls wild.
Vicky was digging through their gear bag. “Fingers were getting tired – I’m getting some implements.” She came around Veronica’s left side. “Here, use this,” she said, handing Veronica a hair brush, the sort with round plastic knobs on the bristles. “And move over.”
This was more like it! Vicky slipped an old, broken, tied-together shoelace between Amanda’s left little and next toes and pulled the knot back and forth between them. Amanda bucked and squirmed, howling with forced mirth. Angie was laughing again – Veronica was brush-tickling her soles. Vicky concentrated on her own victim, tickling between each pair of toes in turn and getting a wild burst of laughter each time.
Vicky string-tickled left-to-right, repeating twice. “I think this would work better on Angie,” she said. “Let’s trade.” Just a matter of degree, of course – Veronica’s hair brush was getting great reactions and a flood of ticklish laughter from Angie.
“Suits,” Veronica said. Angie and Amanda got another short breather while they made the trade.
Vicky flicked the brush bristles on Amanda’s soles – she kept the bristles moving, flicking, tickling unbearably. Veronica pulled the knotted string between Angie’s toes, sliding the knot on the sensitive skin. The girls laughed with wild abandon – they were completely helpless, the overload of tickling had sucked away their strength.
Hard as they’re laughing, they’re about used up, Vicky judged. “Secret messages!” she called out. It was a game they had played with each other for years – “writing” on ticklish soles with a single fingernail, and the ticklee had to guess the message or get tickled even more. She wrote Quant Suff in fancy Olde-English calligraphy on Amanda’s soles – the girl laughed like mad, tears of laughter running down her cheeks.
“Works for me,” Veronica said. She held back Angie’s toes and wrote on the soft skin underneath in a fine copperplate script. “Hey Angie, what does this say?” But Angie was laughing much too hard to answer, or even form a coherent thought.
Vicky gave Amanda’s soles another few minutes of maximum tickle torture – Veronica tickled under Angie’s toes with equal enthusiasm, and it drove their victims wild. They finished with two handed tickling, fast as they could. Amanda and Angie laughed their heads off at the top of their lungs. Both girls ran out of air and laughed themselves breathless. They were sweaty, red-faced, hair in tangles, tickled out.
“Looks like the rain’s stopped,” Veronica observed.
“Yah, 20 minutes, just like we thought,” Vicky said, and tickled Amanda’s sole. “Now tell me,” she said. “What was the message?”
“HAHA-HAHA-HAHA! I don’t know... HAHAHAHA! Stopitstopitstopit!” Amanda laughed and begged.
Veronica slipped her nail tips between Angie’s toes – the girl flinched. “How about you?” she asked.
“Oh... ghod... ” Angie gasped out. “HAHAHAHA! I don’t know... HAHA-HAHAHA! Please, please, no more... ”
“Sun’s coming out again,” Vicky said. “Enough of this – let’s go swimming.” She flicked open her balisong and cut the bonds. Angie and Amanda just laid there, too breathless to move.
Veronica picked up their gear bag. “Hope you two– ” she started.
“ –enjoyed that– ” Vicky continued.
“ –as much as– ”
“ –we did.” Vicky completed the thought.
“Bye!” they said together, and left Angie and Amanda gasping for breath on the table.
The pool was surrounded by a 10 ft cyclone fence. The entrance was through a low cement block building, with an open double door in the center of the blank wall they faced. A wide hallway led to the pool through the middle of the building. The bath houses were off the hallway to the left. On the right was the pool office with a Dutch door that doubled as a ticket window.
The life guards had just re-opened the pool after the storm, but not many people had stayed around. A grandma, two moms and a young teen babysitter, all watching one or two little kids each – that was it. They swam laps, something they couldn’t do at home. Brittany joined them in the pool between her shifts on the life guard stand. They stayed until half an hour before closing time. Brittany commuted to work on her bicycle – it wouldn’t fit in the trunk of their Mustang, so she said she would see them at home later on.
First order of business was a shower to wash off the pool chlorine – Brittany got home just as they finished and took one too. They changed into clean t-shirts and shorts and came downstairs to start cooking supper.
“Anybody check the pool today?” Brittany asked.
“We skimmed and vacuumed it and added chlorine this morning,” Vicky answered. “Wouldn’t hurt to check it again, though. We’ll do it right now. Go ahead and start without us, Little Sis,” she said. “We’ll help you finish up.”
“After the potatoes are all peeled, no doubt,” Brittany grumbled. Veronica made tickling motions. “I like to peel potatoes,” Brittany said hastily. “Take your time!”
The twins went outside together. They got the skimmer and chlorine tester out of the pool house, but mostly for show. It was really just an excuse to have a private conversation.
“That was fun this afternoon,” Vicky said. “D’you think– ”
“ –Angie and Amanda enjoyed it too?” Veronica finished. “The way we do sometimes? Amanda maybe – not Angie.”
“That’s how it looked to me too,” Vicky said. “Amanda has possibilities, but Angie had enough. Quant suff, just like my secret message. Too bad for her.”
“That’s what you wrote?” Veronica asked. Vicky nodded. Veronica grinned. “Mine was Share Water – would’ve been a shame to waste the rain,” she said.
Vicky laughed. “Another classic,” she said. “I think we’re done here, sis. Let’s help Brittany finish up.”
***
They found an old movie on one of the cable channels after supper – John Wayne, Stewart Granger and Capucine in “North to Alaska”. Brittany watched it with them, sitting between them on the sofa. The tickling scene was as much fun to watch as always, brief though it was.
Brittany had the remote – she clicked the TV off at the closing credits. “Wonder if he was really tickling her?” she asked.
“I’ve heard it both ways,” Vicky said. “But if they dubbed it in– ”
“ –who was the tickle-double, and who was the tickler?” Veronica completed the thought. “No way to find out, I suppose – they didn’t run 10 minutes worth of credits then like they do now.”
“Just think,” Brittany said. “On the big screen – Brittany Righetti, Tickler. Right between the Clapper Loader and the Dolly Grip.”
“Dream on,” Vicky said, shaking her head.
“Who knows?” Brittany went on. “Maybe they’ll do a remake.” She snatched up Vicky’s ankles in an arm lock and flicked her nails in the back of the arches.
“Hee! HAHA-HAHAHA-HAHAHAHA!” Vicky laughed, squirming and struggling. Brittany tickled faster, covering the sensitive skin with tickling nail flicks. “I better practice for the audition,” she said cheerfully. Vicky arched her back and laughed at the top of her lungs.
Veronica jumped up, coming to the rescue. Brittany turned Vicky loose and ran for it – she hit the door at a dead run and disappeared, with Veronica in hot pursuit. Vicky jumped up too, and gave chase – no way was Brittany gonna get away with it!
Brittany had a head start, running flat out on the grass parallel to the sidewalk, but Veronica was gaining on her. Vicky put on a burst of speed, closing the gap. Veronica snagged the back of Brittany’s shirt, and that slowed her just enough. The twins caught Brittany – there was a brief struggle, then a takedown. Brittany ended up on her back with her feet up – Vicky had one of Brittany’s ankles trapped in a one-hand grip, Veronica had the other.
“Noooo!” Brittany yelled. “HAHAHA! HAHA-HAHA-HAHAHA!” she laughed as they started in on her, their well-manicured nails flicking her well-kept and extremely ticklish feet.
“Tickle tickle, Little Sis!” Vicky and Veronica said in chorus. The tickling fingernails speeded up – Brittany laughed like a madwoman, tears running down her cheeks.
Synchronized tickling was a specialty of theirs. They slipped their nails between Brittany’s toes, tickling between all at once and getting a flood of helpless laughter. They covered Brittany’s soles with tiny tickling nail flicks – Brittany laughed and laughed, toes twitching and curling. They spider-walked their nails in her arches – the laughter was completely uncontrollable. And they flicked their nails in Brittany’s sweet spots, in her arches just in front of her heels – Brittany arched her back and laughed her head off at the top of her lungs.
There was no point in tickling Brittany out too soon, so they tickled her heels for a while – not as good, but she was still laughing pretty hard. They switched to random nail flicks, tickling like crazy and forcing a solid stream of helpless laughter. They tickled the balls of Brittany’s feet, then flicked their way down her arches to her heels. Brittany’s laughter went off the scale as they tickled the sweet spots again, fingernails flying.
“Hey, y’all quit!” a Southern-accented voice called out over the laughter. “Y’all interested in a little contest?”
Vicky looked around. They were in front of Ashley Curtis’s house, and two girls were sitting on the stoop. One was Rachel Griffin, who waited tables at the Tieson City Cafe downtown – she was about 25, with shoulder-length fiery red hair, jade-green eyes, a crooked grin, fair skin and a fit and shapely body. The other was Stephanie Miklajcyk, another tall beauty with great legs, long silky light brown hair and bright green eyes. Both were barefoot, wearing gym shorts and t-shirts – without bras, Vicky figured from the look of them.
They eased off on Brittany, just a little, getting mostly giggles with the odd burst of laughter. “What sort of contest?” Veronica called back.
“Let her go, and we’ll work out the details,” Rachel said.
They quit, though they still kept their grip on Brittany’s ankles. “Keep talking,” Vicky said. She heard distant ticklish laughter, two girls from the sound of it, laughing their heads off. “Start by telling us what’s going on here.”
“The Club Remo Glee Club is having choir practice here tonight,” Stephanie said. “Kelly and Amanda harmonize pretty well, don’t they?”
“Who else is here?” Vicky asked. Club Remo, she thought. Choir practice. WTF?
“Well, Ashley, of course,” Stephanie said. “And Kelly McGuire, Amanda Mason and Angie Fontana.”
It made sense that Ashley, Angie, Kelly and Stephanie would be friends, thought Vicky. All of them had done some modeling for the department store where the twins worked, which wasn’t a bad gig. They had all gone on a road trip with two of the store’s buyers last spring. All of them bailed immediately afterward, and none of them would talk about it. And Rachel and Amanda might just as well have fallen out of the sky. Mom and Aunt Karen were well connected to the local grapevine, but if there was some prior relationship, they hadn’t uncovered it.
“You tried to suck us into a contest the other night,” Veronica said to Rachel, interrupting Vicky’s thoughts. “You don’t give up easy, do you?”
“Nope,” Rachel said. “Especially after how y’all worked over Amanda and Angie this afternoon.”
“It was a fair match, and they both agreed to the forfeit,” Vicky said. “Don’t take our word for it, go in and ask ‘em.”
Rachel ignored the comment. “I’m thinking a test of skill and endurance,” she continued. “We pair off and tickle each other – that’s nothing y’all can’t handle. Winner is whoever tickles the other out the fastest. Multiple elimination, we keep at it until we have a final ranking.”
“And the winners tickle the shit out of the losers afterward, right?” Veronica said – it wasn’t a question.
Vicky checked her watch. “Have to take a rain check on that,” she said. “It’s after 10 PM. The neighbors will call the cops on us for making too much noise.”
“We can do it indoors,” Stephanie offered, looking innocent. “Ashley won’t mind.”
“Friend, we were born at night,” Vicky said. “But it wasn’t last night. Some other time, on neutral ground.”
“Some other time is right,” Brittany said. “Let me go – I need a bathroom bad.”
“Should’ve thought of that before you started this,” Vicky said. “Oh, all right, I guess we’re even. Let’s go home.” Why did she start it? She must have known she wouldn’t get away with it.
“Y’all blew me off the other night too,” Rachel said. “Chicken?” She sent the sisters on their way with a surprisingly realistic rooster-call.
She’ll get her contest, thought Vicky. After all, we’ve got a reputation to live down to. And then she’ll change her tune.
They got ready for bed, but neither girl was particularly sleepy. Vicky sat cross-legged on her bed, leaning back against the headboard. Veronica joined her and flopped down on her tummy on the bed, idly kicking her feet in the air.
“Maybe we should’ve taken them up on the contest,” Veronica said.
“And get ourselves tickled silly?” Vicky said. “You know Rachel and Stephanie were trying to suck us in, don’t you? The whole bunch would’ve piled on.”
“Sure they were,” Veronica said. “Would that have been so bad? It’s not like we don’t do it to each other.”
“We haven’t tickled Stephanie yet, or the new kid either,” Vicky said thoughtfully. “And the one time we tickled Rachel, we didn’t get to do it for very long.”
“Fun while it lasted, though,” Veronica said. “Like in “North to Alaska”. Maybe we should make a video. Think they’d be interested?”
Vicky grinned. “Remember what Brittany said about rehearsing, just to be prepared?” she asked. She stretched out one leg and poked Veronica in the ribs with her big toe.
Veronica squealed and jumped. She grabbed the foot before Vicky could pull back, and flicked her nails in the arch.
“Hehehe! Vicky giggled. “Don’t you– haheha! –think you– ahaha! –oughta– hahaha! –tie me– hehehe! –up?” she asked and giggled.
Veronica let go of the foot. “Nah, I’m not really in the mood,” she said.
“Me either,” Vicky admitted. “Save it for Brittany tomorrow morning. Let’s get some sleep.”
***
There was a Saturday morning family tradition to uphold. The sky was just turning red to the east when they slipped into Brittany’s room, still in their night shirts.
Brittany was still asleep, on her back, blankets pulled up to her chin. Vicky stood by the side of the bed, Veronica went to the end and grabbed the covers. Vicky counted down with her fingers, three-two-one, and pointed. Veronica snatched the covers off the sleeping girl. Vicky grabbed Brittany’s wrists, pinned them over her head and straddled her like mounting a horse. She shifted to a one-hand hold and rested her nails on Brittany’s toned abs under the pajama top. Veronica kneeled at Brittany’s feet and rested her nail tips on the bare soles. It went off without a hitch – they had done this many times before.
“Good morning, Little Sis!” Vicky caroled.
Brittany didn’t try to escape. “Get it over with,” she said in a resigned tone.
“Such enthusiasm!” Veronica said sarcastically. She led off, tickling Brittany’s soles two handed, and Brittany burst into ticklish laughter. Vicky joined in, tickling in a circle around her navel. Brittany arched her back and laughed her head off.
The twins knew every ticklish spot on Brittany’s body, and tickled them all. Vicky tickled her tummy, side to side, watching the muscles twitch and jump. Veronica kept up the foot tickling, in her arches now. Brittany bucked and squirmed, laughing like mad, trying desperately to escape the tickling.
The tummy tickling was getting great reactions. Not to be outdone, Veronica tickled Brittany’s heels, drawing circles and other tickling shapes. She tickled back onto the sweet spots in Brittany’s arches, just in front of the heels. Brittany laughed helplessly at the top of her lungs.
Vicky didn’t need to pin Brittany’s hands now – the fiendish tickling had robbed her of all ability to resist. She switched to two handed tickling, roaming her hands up and down Brittany’s sides and ribs while Brittany howled with forced mirth. She tickled Brittany’s armpits, then down her ribs, getting on each rib and in the ticklish spaces between. Onto the ticklish sides, grabbing and lobster clawing, then onto the tummy, tickling side to side, one hand following the panty line and the other the ribcage. Brittany laughed like a maniac, tears of laughter leaking from her closed eyes.
Veronica’s tickling fingernails covered Brittany’s feet with fiendish and well-techniqued tickling. She tickled between Brittany’s toes, held them back and tickled the soft skin underneath and onto the stretched out soles. Down the arches onto the heels, flicking and scratching, then back to THE SPOT again, and Brittany’s ticklish laughter went off the scale.
Veronica kept tickling Brittany’s feet right-handed, reached out with her left and tickled Vicky’s upturned sole. Vicky squeaked and jumped, then dismounted, still tummy tickling. Brittany still couldn’t move – the tickling had drained away her strength, all she could do was lay there and laugh. Veronica climbed up onto the bed, still foot tickling. Vicky tickled down Brittany’s left hip and thigh to her feet – Veronica tickled her way up Brittany’s right to her tummy and straddled the younger girl. Streams of ticklish laughter poured out of Brittany as they redoubled their efforts, Veronica tickling her upper body and Vicky tickling her feet.
Both twins put on a burst of speed, tickling skillfully and enthusiastically, and Brittany went wild. It was more than she could bear – they tickled her breathless.
Veronica dismounted. “See ya at breakfast, little sis!” the twins chorused, and left Brittany laying there, limp and tickled out, trying desperately to get her breathing and heart rate normal.
“We don’t have to be at work until 10 AM today,” Veronica said after breakfast. “Let’s get dressed and take a walk in Riverside Park.”
They decided on jeans shorts, their matching pink Double Trouble t-shirts and flip-flops, then headed out. The park was out Johnson’s Ferry Road, just past the interstate. The ferry was long gone, of course, but the Johnson’s Ferry Marina had grown up around its old landing. They turned left onto River Road, then right again into the park entrance a quarter-mile downriver.
They drove past the main parking lot and continued on one of the narrow paved park roads toward the riverbank. Another 250 yards brought them to a bandstand nestled in a curve of the road, overlooking the river. It was an old-fashioned octagonal gazebo, maybe 15 or 20 ft across, raised a few steps above ground level. Six of the sides had waist-high wooden railings, two facing sides were unobstructed. On the side toward River Road was a big open grassy area surrounded by tall trees – it was used for summer band concerts and for the 4th of July fireworks show.
They parked beside the bandstand and got out, and discovered that they weren’t alone. Another car was parked there too, just past the bandstand. It looked vaguely familiar – had they seen it parked at Ashley’s house last night?
“Hi, there!” Kelly McGuire called out from the band stand. “Heard you drive up. What brings you two out here? Surely not that contest Rachel was talking about last night.” Kelly was gorgeous, tall and shapely, with long, silky red hair, blue eyes so dark they seem almost indigo, and that perfect skin that only redheads have.
“Nah, just looking for a place to hang out for a while,” Vicky called back. “How about yourself?”
“The same,” Kelly said. “Nice day, isn’t it?”
Ashley Curtis joined Kelly at the railing. “Watch it, Kelly – for sure, they’re gonna try to tickle us,” she said suspiciously. She was another beauty, about Kelly’s height, with a great tan, long blonde hair and crystal blue eyes.
“Would we do that?” Vicky asked innocently – Ashley scowled. “Of course we would,” Vicky continued. “But not this time. Promise.”
“Fair enough,” Kelly said. “Come and join us. You don’t mind, do you, Ashley?”
They stepped up into the bandstand. The others wore t-shirts, gym shorts and flip-flops. Ashley’s shirt was white – on the front was the US Coast Guard insignia on a broad diagonal red stripe that was bordered on the left with narrow white and blue stripes. She had already taken the oath, and would be leaving for boot camp at the end of the summer. Kelly’s came from one of those design-your-own shops in the mall – blue, with Club Remo over crossed oars on it.
“Club Remo,” Vicky said. “Amanda mentioned it last night. I’ve never heard of it.”
Kelly gave her an amused look. “No reason you should,” she said. “Not many people around here have.”
“What’s it like?” Veronica asked.
“Lots of laughs, but it’s not for everyone,” Ashley said drily. Kelly stifled a giggle. Odd, thought Vicky. Not just these two, all six of them with their secret that they won’t share with anyone. I’d like to know what really happened on that road trip.
The twins kicked off their flip-flops and perched on the railing. The summer day was warm, and getting warmer – the shade and the breeze off the river were welcome. Kelly reached into a cooler, then walked up with a water bottle in each hand. “We’ve got extra water,” she said. “It’s cold. Want some?”
“Sure,” Veronica said. “Thanks. Glad there’s no hard feelings over our little misunderstanding last spring.”
Kelly handed out the bottles. “Nah, my sister and I used to do each other the same way,” she said. “Still do when she comes home on leave.”
“We knew Molly in high school,” Vicky said. “She joined the Navy, didn’t she?”
“Coast Guard,” Kelly corrected. She looked down, checking out the twins’ bare feet. “New nail art?” she asked.
“Yah, pedicure too,” Vicky said, and extended her leg. “Have a look.” Here it comes, she thought.
Kelly took hold and inspected the foot. “Not bad,” she said. She gently scratched the sole with the nails on her other hand, and Vicky giggled like a little girl. “Just checking for calluses,” she said insincerely.
“Find any?” Veronica asked.
“Not yet,” Kelly said, and continued the gentle nail strokes toward Vicky’s heel – Vicky was giggling non-stop now. She let out a burst of ticklish laughter when Kelly got to the sweet spot, then giggled again as the redhead’s tickling nail tips explored her heel.
“Does it– hahaha! –get your– hehehe! –seal of– haha-hehe! –approval– hehe-hehe!” Vicky asked and giggled.
Kelly quit, but didn’t let go. “Soft, smooth and callus-free,” she said. A fast heel tickle, a dozen nail strokes or so, and another burst of laughter. “Just right for tickling. You blew Rachel off last night – that was good thinking. But it’s just us here. D’you feel up to a Tickling Death Match?”
“All of us, multiple elimination?” Vicky asked.
“I’m way too ticklish for that,” Ashley said from the other end of the bandstand. “I wouldn’t stand a chance. No, Kelly against one of you. She wins and we tickle both of you, or vice versa. Usual forfeit.”
“Veronica’s the foot tickler,” Veronica said. “I’d rather tickle tummies. She’ll take you on.”
Vicky picked up on it instantly. “I’ll even agree to a handicap,” she said. “We’ll tickle left handed.”
Kelly got a blanket out of the trunk of her car and spread it on the floor. She kicked off her flip-flops, sat cross-legged on it and looked up at the others. “This is gonna be easy,” she said. “Let’s get started, Veronica. That way, we’ll have more time afterward to tickle you senseless.”
Vicky sat facing Kelly. “Pretty confident, huh?”
“Hey, why not?” Kelly said. “I beat my sister the last six times running. I can even beat Rachel half the time, and she’s very good.”
“Well, I’m ready when you are,” Vicky said. Ready to turn the tables on you, as you’ll soon find out. “Vicky, you and Ashley referee for us,” she said.
Vicky and Kelly extended their left legs straight ahead, and drew up their right legs with the bottom of the left foot against the inside of the left thigh. Each girl took a firm grip on her opponent’s left foot with her right hand. Both flexed the fingers of their left hand. “Get ready to laugh, girlfriend!” Kelly said.
“On three,” Veronica said. “One, two, three, go!”
Each girl flicked the nails of her left hand on the bottom of her opponent’s trapped foot. Both girls burst into ticklish laughter, howling with forced mirth.
Both girls tickled skillfully, fiendishly, forcing stream after stream of laughter. Kelly concentrated on the sweet spot at the back of Vicky’s arch – Vicky on the sole and ball of Kelly’s foot. They laughed and laughed, tears running down their cheeks, filling the air with their musical laughter as the tickling filled their universe.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, Vicky thought as she laughed her head off. I’m losing it – Kelly’s doing more giggling than laughing, and I’m laughing non-stop. Kelly flicked Vicky’s arch and heel, tickling the sweet spot mercilessly, and Vicky laughed with wild abandon. But Vicky had stamina and staying power – she hung on and covered Kelly’s sole with a flurry of tiny nail flicks, and now Kelly was laughing just as hard again. Both girls laughed their heads off, swaying a little, eyes closed, tears running down their cheeks.
Kelly and Vicky laughed in two-part harmony, each trying desperately to tickle the other out and avoid the same fate herself. Both girls were sweaty and red faced, tears running down their cheeks, laughing at the top of their lungs. But suddenly Vicky changed rhythm, and it was too much for Kelly – she collapsed backward, laughing helplessly, all of her strength tickled away.
Vicky giggled as she drifted down off the tickle high. She disentangled her left leg, drew it up under her, then shifted and scooped up Kelly’s ankles in an arm lock. Kelly had just enough time to take a deep breath, and then she was laughing her head off again as Vicky tickled side to side across both soles. She looked over at the others, still tickling. “Kelly was right,” she said. “This was easy.”
“This was a team effort, remember?” Veronica said. “Quit and let her catch her breath. She’s gonna need it.”
Vicky quit. “You better... tie... me up...” Kelly gasped out. “That tickled... so much!”
The twins had a car blanket too. “We’ll use a Blanket Roll,” Veronica said. “You too, Ashley. Assume the position.”
They rolled Ashley and Kelly up with just their heads and feet showing and laid them on their tummies side by side. Veronica kept up the deception and selected Kelly – to finish what she started, she said. That left Ashley for Vicky. The twins sat cross-legged, facing each other, and put the other girls’ feet in their laps. The final touch – they tied the others’ ankles together, tied off to their own thighs to immobilize them, and tied the big toes together with string.
Ashley twisted around. “You two pulled a fast one,” she said accusingly. “I’ve been keeping track. That was you, Vicky – you’re the lefty. You set Kelly up.”
“Nice try, but you can’t be sure of that,” Vicky said. “Even Mom has trouble telling us apart.”
“You agreed to the rules,” Veronica added. “You lost a fair contest.”
“Give it up, Ashley,” Kelly said. “She’s right. C’mon, Veronica, tickle me– Eeep! HAHAHA! HAHA-HAHAHA-HAHAHA! HAHAHAHA!” she laughed as Veronica spider-walked her well-manicured nails in both arches.
Ashley’s so ticklish, I’ll need more finesse than that or I’ll tickle her out too soon, thought Vicky. She scratched tiny overlapping circles along the creases in Ashley’s soft soles, using just the very tip of just one nail. Helpless laughter poured out of Ashley – her toes twitched and curled as she laughed her head off.
Vicky drew fast, looping figure-eight’s around the balls of Ashley’s feet. The loops got smaller, tighter, covering the sensitive skin with unbearable tickling and driving Ashley wild. She tickled at the base of Ashley’s big toes, then between the big toes and the next – Ashley’s laughter went up a notch. She circled a nail in each of Ashley’s arches, just behind the soles, and Ashley squirmed like a worm, howling with forced mirth. For a rib-tickler, Vicky had a surprisingly delicate touch – she had learned from her twin. She kept Ashley laughing wildly but didn’t tickle her out.
Kelly laughed like a maniac as Veronica tickled side to side across both soles – Kelly’s toes twitched and curled as she laughed her head off. Veronica eased off, working slowly down both arches to the heels, flicking with her nail tips like chording a guitar. She shifted her tickle target to the balls of the feet, tickling both at once – Kelly’s laughter went off the scale.
“Hey, she’s turning purple – you’re killing her,” Vicky said.
“Nah, just pink,” Veronica said, raising her voice over the laughter. “Kinda matches our shirts, doesen’t it?”
Vicky switched to Secret Writing in Ashley’s arches – 867-5309 – and was rewarded with an especially loud burst of laughter. She paused and asked, “Hey Ashley, what does that say?”
“Hehehe! I don’t know! HAHAHAHAHA! HAHA-HAHA-HAHA!” Ashley laughed as Vicky started in on her again. By then, Veronica was “writing” in Kelly’s arches too – the two girls laughed in two-part harmony, singing a ticklish duet.
Time for some toe tickles, Vicky decided. She slipped the nails of both hands between Ashley’s toes and scratched lightly. Ashley was completely helpless, red faced and sweaty – all she could do was lay there and laugh like mad. Vicky held Ashley’s toes back and tickled the soft skin underneath. She spider-walked the nail strokes down onto the stretched out soles, getting great reactions and a flood of helpless laughter. Then releasing the toes, she tickled down Ashley’s arches, ending up on the heels. Vicky speeded up her two-handed heel tickling, and Ashley laughed at the top of her lungs.
“OK, we’ve been at it for almost 10 minutes,” Veronica said. “Let’s give ‘em a breather.” She quit tickling – Kelly giggled weakly as she came down off the tickle high. Vicky did the same – Ashley laid there gasping, eyes closed, tears running down her cheeks.
The twins stood up and stretched to work out the kinks. “We’re gonna have to shift ‘em,” Veronica said. “Otherwise, we’ll be tickling with our weak hands.”
“Wish we could tickle their tummies too,” Vicky grumbled. “Not much chance of that, the way we’ve got ‘em wrapped up. Oh well... Help me move Ashley. Alley oop!”
They sat down again and re-tied the other girls’ ankles to their thighs. “Any chance we can talk you out of this?” Ashley asked plaintively.
“Nope, you get to laugh some more,” Vicky said.
Kelly looked over at her friend. “Just pretend that the Captain wants to water-ski,” she said. “Come on, let’s get this over with. I’m getting hot in here– Ehehe! HAHAHA-AHAHA-HAHAHAHA!”
The nautical comment mystified Vicky, but she didn’t let that stop her. She tickled between each pair of toes, each time getting a wild burst of laughter from Kelly. Musical ticklish laughter poured out as she tickled down Kelly’s soles and arches, onto the heels, and back up to the soles. Vicky held Kelly’s toes back, tickled the ball of one foot and across to the other, then both at once. Kelly lost it and laughed at the top of her lungs.
Veronica spread Ashley’s toes two by two and tickled between each pair, forcing stream after stream of ticklish laughter. Ashley’s soles got it next, then her arches, and then her heels – she laughed and laughed as Veronica covered her feet with tickling nail flicks, not making much contact but tickling horribly.
Redheads sure turn a pretty shade of pink, Vicky thought. She made a Peace sign and scratched the balls of both feet at the same time, just behind the big toes, getting great reactions and driving Kelly wild. She eased off – Kelly dropped back to normal rated laughter as the tickling moved down her arches and onto her heels. Vicky lingered there, drawing wavy lines and other tickling shapes. The overload of tickling must have sensitized Kelly’s feet – she was laughing harder now, red-faced, lost in ticklish delirium.
Veronica flicked her nails on Ashley’s heels, then two-handed up the arches to the soles. Ashley laughed like a madwoman, tears of laughter running down her face. Veronica had control, but Vicky was a little surprised that she hadn’t tickled Ashley out by now – the girl was losing it, near the limit of her endurance.
Kelly’s hanging in there better than Ashley, but I can fix that, thought Vicky. She made a claw of her hand and drew four fast, parallel zig-zag lines on the right foot, from sole to heel. She did the same on the left foot, then alternated left-right-and-repeat, and Kelly laughed at the top of her lungs. She held Kelly’s toes back and scrabbled her nails on the soft skin underneath, then across both soles, side to side, over and over. Kelly laughed, and laughed, and laughed some more.
“Time’s about up,” Veronica said. “Let’s finish ‘em off.” She picked up the pace – Ashley’s laughter went off the scale as Veronica’s nails scratched and scrabbled. Ashley laughed wildly, helplessly, at the top of her lungs, and ran out of air. Veronica had tickled her breath away.
“Good one, sis!” Vicky said. “Right behind ya!” She held back Kelly’s toes and spider walked her nails along the crease in the exact center of Kelly’s right sole – four fingernail strokes in succession, three times a second. Then two fingernails, drawing circles around and onto the balls of both feet while Kelly howled with forced mirth. Vicky tickled the balls of both feet again, fingernails flicking and scratching. Kelly went crazy, bucking and squirming, laughing her head off. Her laughter went off the charts – she lost it and laughed herself breathless.
The twins unrolled their victims – Ashley and Kelly laid there gasping and sweaty, eyes closed, cheeks streaked with tears. They sat up and winced, their abs must be pretty sore from laughing. There were two water bottles left out of the 6-pack. Vicky gave them to the girls – they downed them in a few long gulps. Both of them were in much better condition than she would have expected, considering the treatment they had gotten. Especially Ashley – the last time, the girl had been a quivering wreck when they finished with her.
Ashley used her fingers to rake the worst tangles out of her hair. “You won this time,” she said. “But I still think you pulled a fast one. You’ll find yourselves in a fair fight someday – I suspect you won’t do near so well.”
“If you find yourself in a fair fight, it means you didn’t plan ahead and prepare properly,” Vicky said.
“Our grandpa taught us that years ago, and we took it to heart,” Veronica added. “Think of this as a learning experience.”
“Let it go, Ashley,” Kelly said. “Vicky’s a lefty, but Veronica’s a foot tickling Jedi Master. She probably could’ve beaten me left handed, so it doesen’t matter which one did the deed.”
“See? You’re smarter already,” Veronica said. She checked her watch. “C’mon, sis, we need to go home and get ready for work.”
They cranked the Mustang and headed out. Vicky giggled. “Maybe we should hang out a sign– ”
Veronica grinned. “Yah. Vellication by Veronica – Life Lessons Taught,” she said. “Or maybe V&V Vellication,” she continued hastily, cutting off Vicky’s protest.
Vicky grinned back. “No Job Too Big – No Job Too Small. Open 24 Hours,” she said. “Sounds like a winner.”
***
, hosted a video tutorial on teasing the human sole. Think of all the inept, slapdash foot tickling that goes on--even 
by experienced members of this Forum--that could be markedly improved by your expertise. Please don't call it "Foot Tickling for Dummies." Instead, call it "Stalking the Sweet Spot." You'll do Larry King and Oprah, make a fortune, and quickly rectify this nation's mounting laughter deficit. Think on it...
