The Magic Box
By: tiffc
Chapter One
Tiffany auditions for a magician assistant job. Her first audition test is the “saw the lady in half” trick. The magician, Robert, starts out...
“Okay, first, why don’t you come over here and lie down in the box.” Robert led her to the box in which a person appears to be sawed in half, and opened up the top. Looking inside, Tiffany could see the box was clearly divided into two halves, but still could not tell how the trick worked. This would at least be fun to find out the secrets of all these tricks.
“Okay, Tiffany, the audience sees you get in, and I close the top. Fortunately, you’re about the same height as my last assistant, so I won’t have to rebuild my box.” Robert helped her lie her head back into a headrest, and placed her ankles on small cutouts, and closed the box top. “Doing okay, Tiffany?” Robert asked.
Tiffany was a little anxious about being confined in this box, and for the first time realized that she really didn’t know a thing about this guy
“Yeah, I’m okay,” she answered, a little uneasily. Her ankles were locked in the end of the box, which puzzled her, since she thought the secret of this trick was for her to pull her legs up into the top half of the box. Maybe she didn’t know as much about magic as she thought.
“Now, Tiffany, the audience has to believe that it’s really you, at both ends of the box. They all expect you to fold yourself up into one end.” As Robert spoke, he walked around to the foot end of the box, and Tiffany could not see him. “I usually ask a member of the audience to come up and verify that it’s you. First, he or she will come up and ask you a few questions, so they can hear your voice and see you face up close. Then, they come down here.” Robert slipped Tiffany’s shoes off, and pulled off her socks as well.
“What are you doing?” Tiffany exclaimed.
“This is vital to the illusion...the audience member has to make sure that it’s you, and only you, in the box. This brings us to a very important qualification. Do you have ticklish feet?” Robert stroked the bottom of Tiffany’s right foot.
Tiffany screamed and giggled “Stop it! No! Please don’t tickle my feet! I’m soooo ticklish!”
“Okay, that’s good...because when I hand the audience member this feather, he or she will expect to hear plenty of laughter,” Robert held up a large, bright white feather, and then brushed the bottoms of both her feet with it.
Tiffany broke into giggling again “No! I’m ha ha ha ha ha too ticklish there! ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ah!”
Robert stopped and Tiffany caught her breath. “My last assistant wasn’t nearly this ticklish, Tiffany...this might be fun,” Robert slowly stroked Tiffany’s left foot with the feather
“Hee hee ha ha ha ha ha no! Robert! No more! please please please!” Tiffany begged him.
Stopping again, Robert was smiling broadly. “This is too good to resist...you can’t do anything about it. I’m gonna tickle you again, Tiffany...”
“Nooooo! please...please let me out of here! This is torture...you can’t do this to me! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Tiffany was becoming hysterical.
“Oh, it’s almost time for my next appointment...in my other studio, across town.” Robert exclaimed. He tied the feather to a string, and let it hang from the ceiling fan, resting against the bottoms of Tiffany’s feet. Tiffany was panting, catching her breath, and pleading with him not to tickle her anymore.
“Please let me go...I can’t take anymore...I’m going crazy!” Robert walked toward the door.
“Oh, I won’t...I’m going to be gone for an hour or so. You stay right there...and have fun!” Robert flipped a switch on the wall, and the ceiling fan started rotating slowly, causing the feather to brush Tiffany’s bare feet every few seconds.
“NO! you can’t....you wouldn’t leave me like this!”
“See you in a little while,” Robert teased, and left, locking the door to the studio.
Tiffany tried to concentrate, but the teasing, relentless feather interrupted her thoughts over and over. It was maddening, and after a few minutes, the anticipation of the ticklish touch had her nearly in tears. She began screaming for help.
“Somebody! Can anybody ha ha ha ha ha ha hear me? Help! I’m ha ha ha ha ha ha trapped! Please! somebody help ha ha ha ha ha ha ha me get out of here!”
All her willpower summoned, she began pounding her fists in frustration against the inside of the box. She was determined not to laugh, to fight it, and overcome her ticklishness, but she felt the feather touching her, first one foot, then the other, then it was gone...then it touched her again...over and over...she couldn’t take it...she began laughing out loud again. After a while, she laughed continuously. It became hard to tell if she was being tickled or not, the anticipation was as bad as the actual touch. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she heard the front door open.
“Help! ha ha ha ha ah aha I’m being tickled to death! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha please let me go! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” she screamed
“Oh, you poor thing!” An older woman walked into the back room, and rushed over to Tiffany’s feet and yanked the feather away, breaking the string. She unlatched and opened up the box, and Tiffany sat up, gasping, and still giggling.
“Thank you...oh, thank you...who are you?” Tiffany panted.
“I own this building. I came to see if that magician was here...he hasn’t paid his rent this month,” the woman explained.
“I’m so glad you got here when you did...I couldn’t take much more of that tickling!” Tiffany was rubbing her bare feet, trying to get rid of the tingling sensation.
Walking home, Tiffany couldn’t wait to call Sharon to tell her what had happened...
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Chapter Two.
Sharon was sitting at home in her kelly green sweats when Tiffany returned, all flushed and excited. Sharon looked up from her latest romance novel. “How did the job interview go?” Sharon gave an excited bob of her red hair, and her green eyes sparkled. “So, did you get what you were looking for?”
Still barefoot, Tiffany sat down on her friend’s couch. “Not exactly...”
Concerned, Sharon padded over to where her friend was sitting. “Hey, I thought I was supposed to be the barefoot one... what happened to your shoes and socks?”
Embarassed, Tiffany looked down at her toes. “It was horrible.. so humiliating. I thought I was going to be on stage, in front of the foot lights, and instead...” Tiffany giggled nervously, thinking about what had just happened to her.
“Oh what happened? Did he.. did he, you know?”
“No, no, he didn’t attack or harass me... this was even worse!”
“Worse?” Concern flitted across Sharon’s face. “What happened?”
Slowly, Tiffay told of being locked in the magician’s box, only her head and bare feet sticking out, and of being tickled over and over again. Instead of being understanding, Sharon pulled away from Tiffany.
“That’s it? You were tickled for a few minutes? Big deal... when I was a kid, my sisters and I used to tickle each other all the time...”
“No, really, this was much worse...”
“Oh, get out of here!” Sharon stood up, and padded over to the kitchen. “I’m going to make some tea? Do you want any?”
“Sharon, you have no idea...”
“Tiffany, for god’s sake, we’re talking about tickling, not some kind of bizarre torture like whipping or enemas or something. Jeez Louise, I and I think half the women on the planet walk around barefoot most of the time. Would we be able to if there were weird tickle fetishists out there? I think you’re making the whole thing up.”
Tiffany couldn’t believe it. Her own best friend thought she was making it up. But it was real... being locked in the box, pounding on the side with frustration, unable to pull her helpless bare feet away from the feather that had fallen against the side of the box...
Sharon returned from the kitchen with a cup of tea. Sitting down, she curled her bare toes up against her thighs. “Listen, maybe this Robert guy is a bit flaky.. I don’t know.. and meant to play a practical joke on you. You said he got beeped, right? Maybe he couldn’t get back right away, and was only supposed to be gone a minute? I don’t know, but I’m sure there’s a perfectly normal explanation for what happened.”
Tears of frustration welled up in Tiffany. “I’m telling you, Sharon, it’s not like that at all. It was a deliberate setup. He got off on watching me giggle and squirm!”
Sharon gave her friend a hug. “Ok, I’m sorry. Don’t be like that... I’ll tell you what. Let’s drive over there now and find out once and for all, ok?”
Tiffany shook her head. “I don’t know...”
Sharon would have none of it. Her Irish streak of stubbornness came through. “Those were $80 shoes I lent you for your job interview... at the very least, we’re going to get them back!”
Tiffany laughed in spite of herself. “Ok.” Borrowing a pair of Sharon’s clogs, she fished in her purse for the directions... A O A
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Chapter 3
The two friends walked into the nearly empty room where the magic box was, having been let in by Barbara, the land lady, who recognized Tiffany. After she left to go back on her collection rounds, Tiffany showed Sharon the magician’s box.
“That’s where I was trapped.”
Sharon scoffed. “I don’t see the big deal. It’s an enclosed box. There’s no place he could even lay a finger on you, except your head and feet. If he really was some kind of pervert, there’d be a hole around the waist or breasts or something...”
Tiffany put her hands on her hips. “Care to sample it for five minutes? Maybe you’ll have some empathy for me after you feel a feather on your soles.”
Sharon laughed. “I doubt a day and a half of only being...” she paused, letting Tiffany know how much the word scared her “tickled... would have me begging and pleading for mercy.”
“All right, why don’t you prove it?”
Sharon lifted her chin up a notch. “Fine. Lock me away, oh great Tiffanna!” Sharon dutifully allowed herself to be placed in the box, her head in the neckccuff, her waist through the large hoop in the middle, and her ankles in their tiny holes. She drummed on the inside of the box with impatience as Tiffany proceeded to secure the lock and find the dropped feather.
“Gosh, this IS scary,” Sharon sighed, bored. “What if.. (gasp) my nose itches?”
“Just you wait,” swore Tiffany. Pulling off Sharon’s sneakers and socks, Tiffany caressed the bare soles with a swipe of the feather. Sharon, braced for the attack, simply bit her lip. Tiffany swept the feather up and down her feet a few more times, but Sharon simply thought of going to the dentist and other fun moments, and was able to stifle her laughs. Tiffany paused, almost ready to burst into tears again. “I don’t understand! I was dying! I couldn’t stop laughing! It was so unexpected! It was terrible.”
Sharon nodded. “Well, didn’t you tell me that Robert told you his last assistant didn’t have ticklish feet? Maybe she was like me, and so, when you showed up and started giggling, he just got carried away for a moment?”
Tiffany nodded, no longer sure anymore. Maybe that WAS what happened?
“ok, now, if you’ll let me out of here?” Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Barbara, the landlady poked her head in, her calico cat Felicia under one had.
“Any luck finding your ...” She paused, seeing Sharon locked in the magician’s box. “My, my... what have we here? Some folks can’t stay out of trouble, hmmm?”
Sharon blushed. “I just.. well... you know... “ She had no idea what to say to a strange lady upon being found locked like this in the box by Tiffany. It was sort of embarassing. Barbara walked over to where Sharon’s bare feet stuck out of the box. Putting Felicia down, she simply stared at Sharon’s feet for a moment, then looked over at Sharon with a disapproving look. Sharon squirmed, feeling her cheeks blush. The landlady tsk tsked. She glanced at Tiffany, and said to her.
“Didn’t your mothers ever tell you what happened to the curious cat?” Still looking at Tiffany, she suddenly darted a hand over and started tickling Sharon’s bare left foot. Surprized, Sharon let out a long giggle.
“Hey! Stop that!” Without missing a beat, Barbara began tickling Sharon’s other foot. Sharon burst out laughing. Ha Haaa! HA hahaa! cut that out!” The landlady pulled her long fingernails away from Sharon’s soles, and wagged a finger at Tiffany.
“You should know better than to have come back here with a friend... Robert can be very tempermental if he thinks his stuff is being played with.” Suddenly, before Tiffany could reply, Barbara began tickling both of Sharon’s feet at once.
“Ha HA! HAH HAA!! What are you doing? HAH hah AHAH HAHAHAH!”
“I overheard a little of your conversation with this doubting Thomasina, so I’m showing her not to judge so harshly.” Her fingers danced up and down Sharon’s soles, now flicking the insoles, now sweeping the arches. Sharon was giggling hysterically.
“Stop! STOP! HA HAHA HAHA!! ha hAH HAHAH!”
Tiffany found her breath in her throat. She couldn’t believe it... Sharon was laughing even worse than she had been, and it was only a few minutes... She watched as the landlady continued to wiggle her fingers on Sharon’s soles, first very softly, then raking deeply into the skin. Barabara gave Tiffany a quick glance.
“The secret is to vary the tickling. If she never knows what to expect, it’s much worse, right?” Tiffany nodded, remembering her own tickle torment. “Care to try?” A mischevious smile broke over Tiffany’s face, and she remembered Sharon padding barefoot into the kitchen, ignoring what had happened to her this morning.
“Sure, I’d love to.”
Sharon’s eyes bulged. “What? NO! not both of you!! Noooo!!!”
Tiffany stood next to Barbara, and each took a foot. Together, they traced long circles up and down Sharon’s feet, sometimes playing tickle tictactoe together, sometimes going their own ways. And Sharons was laughing hysterically now, her cheeks pink, her giggles now highcpitched and constant: “Haa haha Hah Hahha! HAHA haa haha HAHA! hah hah aha AHAH!”
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Chapter Four
Sharon took a deep breath. She couldn’t belief what was happening to her. She must have been locked in the box for hours, her feet tickled over and over again by Tiffany and Barbara. When they paused, she’d beg for release, banging on the inside of the box just as Tiffany had done, desperately squirming around, wishing to escape their fingernails.
HA haha Haha Hahha!! Haha Ahhh HAHA HAHA
Tiffany laughed along with Sharon. “God, it feels so much better to give than to receive!” Her fingers stroked Sharon’s ankles and the top of her feet now, while Barbara continued to feather the soles. At one point Felicia came over to see what all the fuss was about, but she was too small to reach Sharon’s soles, so she went back to sunning herself by the window. And now Tiffany and Barbara were tickling her feet all over again. Sharon was bucking and squirming for all she was worth.
“Please don’t tickle my bare feet anymore! HAH HAAH ahahah HAHAH AHAH AHAH AHAH AHAHHA AHAH!”
Tiffany turned to the landlady.. “I wish I could take a picture of this.”
Barbara grinned. “I have a pocket camera in my purse. Of course, it would be better if you could catch Robert in the act, then maybe you could get some money out of him.”
“Or at least my shoes back,” Tiffany sighed, absentmindedly tickling Sharon’s big toe. Her eyes swept around the nearly empty room, then noticed a standalone closet along the far wall. It was done in some fancy astrological motif, with a door that had odd swirls in it... a sun sign by the head, and an infinity sign by the floor. “Oh, I have an idea! I’ll hide in there, and when Robert comes back, I’ll take a picture of him tickling Sharon!” The landlady nodded... Fetching a small stepcladder, she recattached the feather to the overhead fan..
“There, now Robert won’t get suspicious right off.” Tiffany agreed. Taking the landlady’s camera, she stepped into the standalone closet and closed the door. She could easily see out through the patterns, and the landlady assured her that she was invisible inside it.
“I’ll be downstairs with the super! Come down with the camera and we’ll use his dark room.” Fumbling for the door, she accidentally turned the switch for the ceiling fan on, but the feather didn’t make it’s first pass towards Sharon’s soles until Barbara was already down the hall.
“Ah! he hee hee! Wait! Wait! Come back! HA ha!! Tiff! Turn it off!” Sharon couldn’t believe it! She didn’t mind being tickled for a second to trap Robert, but this was terrible. Who knew when he was coming back? “Ha HAH!! Come ON, Tiff, stop it! Ha hah HAAHA AHAHHA HAHAH!”
Inside the closet, Tiff had troubles of her own. To her growing horror, she realized that the closet door was stuck, and she couldn’t get out. To make matters worse, the feeling of being trapped was reminding her of being stuck in the magic box, especially with Sharon laughing like that.
“Come on, Tiff! Let me go! HAH ahah AHAH AHAHAH! Stop it! Stop that fan! Hah ahah HAHAH HAHAAAH” The feather swung around the room, suspended from the ceiling fan, tickling first one foot, then the other. Sharon was going crazy all over again. “Let me go! HAHAH AHAH HAAHAH”
Tiff banged on the door of the closet. It seemed to be in sections. Maybe she could pull a section up or down? She yanked on the bottom section, and found that it swung upward, pinning her ankles to the back of the closet. As one of her clogs slipped off a feeling of panic gripped her. Panicking at the reminder of being trapped in the magic box, she grabbed for the top section, which fell down, pinning her neck against the far wall. Too late Tiffany realized that the astrological signs were just a ruse for the ankle and neck holes drilled into the closet door... this was some bizarre variation of the magic box, perhaps for thieves or burglars?
“Hah AHAH AHAHHA AHAHHA! HAHA AHAHAH HAHHH !” Sharon was going mad, giggling and laughing over and over again, and there was nothing Tiff could do, trapped as she was in her own variation of the box. What could be worse? Too late, Tiffany remembered Felicia, the landlady’s cat, as a feline tongue suddenly darted a lick on her exposed ankle.
“Oh no!” She screamed at Sharon. “Not again! HAHA AHAH AHAH HAHAHHA” The cat decided she liked Tiffany, and began licking the top of her foot with gusto. “no no no!! Tiffany shook her sides, overcome with laughter. “Stop! Nice kitty! HAH AHAH AHAHAH!”
Sharon continued to laugh. “Tiff, quit clowning around! HAH AHAH AHAHAH HAH! Let me go! HAH AHAH HAA!” The feather continued to swirl around her feet.
“I can’t! HAH AHAH AHAHHA!! I’m stuck! HAHA AHAH AHAH!” Tiffany tried dancing inside the magic box, but that only made the cat pounce on her toes and play with them more. “HAH HAAH HAHAHA! Help me! HAH AHHA AHAHA Felicia! stop!”
“Tiff, stop mocking me! HAH HAHAH AHAHAH!”
“Ha haHAh AHA!! I’m not mocking you! HAHA AHAH HAHA!” For what seemed like hours, Tiffany and Sharon were tickled by Felicia and the feather.. Finally, Robert and Barbara walked in the door.
“Well, Barbara, now do you believe me?”
The landlady nodded. “Ok, Robert, that’s another month’s rent you tickled your way out of. I didn’t think you could get one person trapped for more than a few minutes, let alone two.” She started snapping pictures of Tiffany and Sharon.
“This is really great!” Robert smiled. “I wonder if we could make them tickle each other?”
Barbara grinned back... “Oh, if we promised to free the winner?” She gave a flick of her finger along Sharon’s soles...“...eventually?”
The two coconspirators laughed...
By: tiffc
Chapter One
Tiffany auditions for a magician assistant job. Her first audition test is the “saw the lady in half” trick. The magician, Robert, starts out...
“Okay, first, why don’t you come over here and lie down in the box.” Robert led her to the box in which a person appears to be sawed in half, and opened up the top. Looking inside, Tiffany could see the box was clearly divided into two halves, but still could not tell how the trick worked. This would at least be fun to find out the secrets of all these tricks.
“Okay, Tiffany, the audience sees you get in, and I close the top. Fortunately, you’re about the same height as my last assistant, so I won’t have to rebuild my box.” Robert helped her lie her head back into a headrest, and placed her ankles on small cutouts, and closed the box top. “Doing okay, Tiffany?” Robert asked.
Tiffany was a little anxious about being confined in this box, and for the first time realized that she really didn’t know a thing about this guy
“Yeah, I’m okay,” she answered, a little uneasily. Her ankles were locked in the end of the box, which puzzled her, since she thought the secret of this trick was for her to pull her legs up into the top half of the box. Maybe she didn’t know as much about magic as she thought.
“Now, Tiffany, the audience has to believe that it’s really you, at both ends of the box. They all expect you to fold yourself up into one end.” As Robert spoke, he walked around to the foot end of the box, and Tiffany could not see him. “I usually ask a member of the audience to come up and verify that it’s you. First, he or she will come up and ask you a few questions, so they can hear your voice and see you face up close. Then, they come down here.” Robert slipped Tiffany’s shoes off, and pulled off her socks as well.
“What are you doing?” Tiffany exclaimed.
“This is vital to the illusion...the audience member has to make sure that it’s you, and only you, in the box. This brings us to a very important qualification. Do you have ticklish feet?” Robert stroked the bottom of Tiffany’s right foot.
Tiffany screamed and giggled “Stop it! No! Please don’t tickle my feet! I’m soooo ticklish!”
“Okay, that’s good...because when I hand the audience member this feather, he or she will expect to hear plenty of laughter,” Robert held up a large, bright white feather, and then brushed the bottoms of both her feet with it.
Tiffany broke into giggling again “No! I’m ha ha ha ha ha too ticklish there! ha ha ha ha ha ha ah ah!”
Robert stopped and Tiffany caught her breath. “My last assistant wasn’t nearly this ticklish, Tiffany...this might be fun,” Robert slowly stroked Tiffany’s left foot with the feather
“Hee hee ha ha ha ha ha no! Robert! No more! please please please!” Tiffany begged him.
Stopping again, Robert was smiling broadly. “This is too good to resist...you can’t do anything about it. I’m gonna tickle you again, Tiffany...”
“Nooooo! please...please let me out of here! This is torture...you can’t do this to me! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Tiffany was becoming hysterical.
“Oh, it’s almost time for my next appointment...in my other studio, across town.” Robert exclaimed. He tied the feather to a string, and let it hang from the ceiling fan, resting against the bottoms of Tiffany’s feet. Tiffany was panting, catching her breath, and pleading with him not to tickle her anymore.
“Please let me go...I can’t take anymore...I’m going crazy!” Robert walked toward the door.
“Oh, I won’t...I’m going to be gone for an hour or so. You stay right there...and have fun!” Robert flipped a switch on the wall, and the ceiling fan started rotating slowly, causing the feather to brush Tiffany’s bare feet every few seconds.
“NO! you can’t....you wouldn’t leave me like this!”
“See you in a little while,” Robert teased, and left, locking the door to the studio.
Tiffany tried to concentrate, but the teasing, relentless feather interrupted her thoughts over and over. It was maddening, and after a few minutes, the anticipation of the ticklish touch had her nearly in tears. She began screaming for help.
“Somebody! Can anybody ha ha ha ha ha ha hear me? Help! I’m ha ha ha ha ha ha trapped! Please! somebody help ha ha ha ha ha ha ha me get out of here!”
All her willpower summoned, she began pounding her fists in frustration against the inside of the box. She was determined not to laugh, to fight it, and overcome her ticklishness, but she felt the feather touching her, first one foot, then the other, then it was gone...then it touched her again...over and over...she couldn’t take it...she began laughing out loud again. After a while, she laughed continuously. It became hard to tell if she was being tickled or not, the anticipation was as bad as the actual touch. Finally, after what seemed like hours, she heard the front door open.
“Help! ha ha ha ha ah aha I’m being tickled to death! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha please let me go! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!” she screamed
“Oh, you poor thing!” An older woman walked into the back room, and rushed over to Tiffany’s feet and yanked the feather away, breaking the string. She unlatched and opened up the box, and Tiffany sat up, gasping, and still giggling.
“Thank you...oh, thank you...who are you?” Tiffany panted.
“I own this building. I came to see if that magician was here...he hasn’t paid his rent this month,” the woman explained.
“I’m so glad you got here when you did...I couldn’t take much more of that tickling!” Tiffany was rubbing her bare feet, trying to get rid of the tingling sensation.
Walking home, Tiffany couldn’t wait to call Sharon to tell her what had happened...
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Chapter Two.
Sharon was sitting at home in her kelly green sweats when Tiffany returned, all flushed and excited. Sharon looked up from her latest romance novel. “How did the job interview go?” Sharon gave an excited bob of her red hair, and her green eyes sparkled. “So, did you get what you were looking for?”
Still barefoot, Tiffany sat down on her friend’s couch. “Not exactly...”
Concerned, Sharon padded over to where her friend was sitting. “Hey, I thought I was supposed to be the barefoot one... what happened to your shoes and socks?”
Embarassed, Tiffany looked down at her toes. “It was horrible.. so humiliating. I thought I was going to be on stage, in front of the foot lights, and instead...” Tiffany giggled nervously, thinking about what had just happened to her.
“Oh what happened? Did he.. did he, you know?”
“No, no, he didn’t attack or harass me... this was even worse!”
“Worse?” Concern flitted across Sharon’s face. “What happened?”
Slowly, Tiffay told of being locked in the magician’s box, only her head and bare feet sticking out, and of being tickled over and over again. Instead of being understanding, Sharon pulled away from Tiffany.
“That’s it? You were tickled for a few minutes? Big deal... when I was a kid, my sisters and I used to tickle each other all the time...”
“No, really, this was much worse...”
“Oh, get out of here!” Sharon stood up, and padded over to the kitchen. “I’m going to make some tea? Do you want any?”
“Sharon, you have no idea...”
“Tiffany, for god’s sake, we’re talking about tickling, not some kind of bizarre torture like whipping or enemas or something. Jeez Louise, I and I think half the women on the planet walk around barefoot most of the time. Would we be able to if there were weird tickle fetishists out there? I think you’re making the whole thing up.”
Tiffany couldn’t believe it. Her own best friend thought she was making it up. But it was real... being locked in the box, pounding on the side with frustration, unable to pull her helpless bare feet away from the feather that had fallen against the side of the box...
Sharon returned from the kitchen with a cup of tea. Sitting down, she curled her bare toes up against her thighs. “Listen, maybe this Robert guy is a bit flaky.. I don’t know.. and meant to play a practical joke on you. You said he got beeped, right? Maybe he couldn’t get back right away, and was only supposed to be gone a minute? I don’t know, but I’m sure there’s a perfectly normal explanation for what happened.”
Tears of frustration welled up in Tiffany. “I’m telling you, Sharon, it’s not like that at all. It was a deliberate setup. He got off on watching me giggle and squirm!”
Sharon gave her friend a hug. “Ok, I’m sorry. Don’t be like that... I’ll tell you what. Let’s drive over there now and find out once and for all, ok?”
Tiffany shook her head. “I don’t know...”
Sharon would have none of it. Her Irish streak of stubbornness came through. “Those were $80 shoes I lent you for your job interview... at the very least, we’re going to get them back!”
Tiffany laughed in spite of herself. “Ok.” Borrowing a pair of Sharon’s clogs, she fished in her purse for the directions... A O A
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Chapter 3
The two friends walked into the nearly empty room where the magic box was, having been let in by Barbara, the land lady, who recognized Tiffany. After she left to go back on her collection rounds, Tiffany showed Sharon the magician’s box.
“That’s where I was trapped.”
Sharon scoffed. “I don’t see the big deal. It’s an enclosed box. There’s no place he could even lay a finger on you, except your head and feet. If he really was some kind of pervert, there’d be a hole around the waist or breasts or something...”
Tiffany put her hands on her hips. “Care to sample it for five minutes? Maybe you’ll have some empathy for me after you feel a feather on your soles.”
Sharon laughed. “I doubt a day and a half of only being...” she paused, letting Tiffany know how much the word scared her “tickled... would have me begging and pleading for mercy.”
“All right, why don’t you prove it?”
Sharon lifted her chin up a notch. “Fine. Lock me away, oh great Tiffanna!” Sharon dutifully allowed herself to be placed in the box, her head in the neckccuff, her waist through the large hoop in the middle, and her ankles in their tiny holes. She drummed on the inside of the box with impatience as Tiffany proceeded to secure the lock and find the dropped feather.
“Gosh, this IS scary,” Sharon sighed, bored. “What if.. (gasp) my nose itches?”
“Just you wait,” swore Tiffany. Pulling off Sharon’s sneakers and socks, Tiffany caressed the bare soles with a swipe of the feather. Sharon, braced for the attack, simply bit her lip. Tiffany swept the feather up and down her feet a few more times, but Sharon simply thought of going to the dentist and other fun moments, and was able to stifle her laughs. Tiffany paused, almost ready to burst into tears again. “I don’t understand! I was dying! I couldn’t stop laughing! It was so unexpected! It was terrible.”
Sharon nodded. “Well, didn’t you tell me that Robert told you his last assistant didn’t have ticklish feet? Maybe she was like me, and so, when you showed up and started giggling, he just got carried away for a moment?”
Tiffany nodded, no longer sure anymore. Maybe that WAS what happened?
“ok, now, if you’ll let me out of here?” Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Barbara, the landlady poked her head in, her calico cat Felicia under one had.
“Any luck finding your ...” She paused, seeing Sharon locked in the magician’s box. “My, my... what have we here? Some folks can’t stay out of trouble, hmmm?”
Sharon blushed. “I just.. well... you know... “ She had no idea what to say to a strange lady upon being found locked like this in the box by Tiffany. It was sort of embarassing. Barbara walked over to where Sharon’s bare feet stuck out of the box. Putting Felicia down, she simply stared at Sharon’s feet for a moment, then looked over at Sharon with a disapproving look. Sharon squirmed, feeling her cheeks blush. The landlady tsk tsked. She glanced at Tiffany, and said to her.
“Didn’t your mothers ever tell you what happened to the curious cat?” Still looking at Tiffany, she suddenly darted a hand over and started tickling Sharon’s bare left foot. Surprized, Sharon let out a long giggle.
“Hey! Stop that!” Without missing a beat, Barbara began tickling Sharon’s other foot. Sharon burst out laughing. Ha Haaa! HA hahaa! cut that out!” The landlady pulled her long fingernails away from Sharon’s soles, and wagged a finger at Tiffany.
“You should know better than to have come back here with a friend... Robert can be very tempermental if he thinks his stuff is being played with.” Suddenly, before Tiffany could reply, Barbara began tickling both of Sharon’s feet at once.
“Ha HA! HAH HAA!! What are you doing? HAH hah AHAH HAHAHAH!”
“I overheard a little of your conversation with this doubting Thomasina, so I’m showing her not to judge so harshly.” Her fingers danced up and down Sharon’s soles, now flicking the insoles, now sweeping the arches. Sharon was giggling hysterically.
“Stop! STOP! HA HAHA HAHA!! ha hAH HAHAH!”
Tiffany found her breath in her throat. She couldn’t believe it... Sharon was laughing even worse than she had been, and it was only a few minutes... She watched as the landlady continued to wiggle her fingers on Sharon’s soles, first very softly, then raking deeply into the skin. Barabara gave Tiffany a quick glance.
“The secret is to vary the tickling. If she never knows what to expect, it’s much worse, right?” Tiffany nodded, remembering her own tickle torment. “Care to try?” A mischevious smile broke over Tiffany’s face, and she remembered Sharon padding barefoot into the kitchen, ignoring what had happened to her this morning.
“Sure, I’d love to.”
Sharon’s eyes bulged. “What? NO! not both of you!! Noooo!!!”
Tiffany stood next to Barbara, and each took a foot. Together, they traced long circles up and down Sharon’s feet, sometimes playing tickle tictactoe together, sometimes going their own ways. And Sharons was laughing hysterically now, her cheeks pink, her giggles now highcpitched and constant: “Haa haha Hah Hahha! HAHA haa haha HAHA! hah hah aha AHAH!”
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Chapter Four
Sharon took a deep breath. She couldn’t belief what was happening to her. She must have been locked in the box for hours, her feet tickled over and over again by Tiffany and Barbara. When they paused, she’d beg for release, banging on the inside of the box just as Tiffany had done, desperately squirming around, wishing to escape their fingernails.
HA haha Haha Hahha!! Haha Ahhh HAHA HAHA
Tiffany laughed along with Sharon. “God, it feels so much better to give than to receive!” Her fingers stroked Sharon’s ankles and the top of her feet now, while Barbara continued to feather the soles. At one point Felicia came over to see what all the fuss was about, but she was too small to reach Sharon’s soles, so she went back to sunning herself by the window. And now Tiffany and Barbara were tickling her feet all over again. Sharon was bucking and squirming for all she was worth.
“Please don’t tickle my bare feet anymore! HAH HAAH ahahah HAHAH AHAH AHAH AHAH AHAHHA AHAH!”
Tiffany turned to the landlady.. “I wish I could take a picture of this.”
Barbara grinned. “I have a pocket camera in my purse. Of course, it would be better if you could catch Robert in the act, then maybe you could get some money out of him.”
“Or at least my shoes back,” Tiffany sighed, absentmindedly tickling Sharon’s big toe. Her eyes swept around the nearly empty room, then noticed a standalone closet along the far wall. It was done in some fancy astrological motif, with a door that had odd swirls in it... a sun sign by the head, and an infinity sign by the floor. “Oh, I have an idea! I’ll hide in there, and when Robert comes back, I’ll take a picture of him tickling Sharon!” The landlady nodded... Fetching a small stepcladder, she recattached the feather to the overhead fan..
“There, now Robert won’t get suspicious right off.” Tiffany agreed. Taking the landlady’s camera, she stepped into the standalone closet and closed the door. She could easily see out through the patterns, and the landlady assured her that she was invisible inside it.
“I’ll be downstairs with the super! Come down with the camera and we’ll use his dark room.” Fumbling for the door, she accidentally turned the switch for the ceiling fan on, but the feather didn’t make it’s first pass towards Sharon’s soles until Barbara was already down the hall.
“Ah! he hee hee! Wait! Wait! Come back! HA ha!! Tiff! Turn it off!” Sharon couldn’t believe it! She didn’t mind being tickled for a second to trap Robert, but this was terrible. Who knew when he was coming back? “Ha HAH!! Come ON, Tiff, stop it! Ha hah HAAHA AHAHHA HAHAH!”
Inside the closet, Tiff had troubles of her own. To her growing horror, she realized that the closet door was stuck, and she couldn’t get out. To make matters worse, the feeling of being trapped was reminding her of being stuck in the magic box, especially with Sharon laughing like that.
“Come on, Tiff! Let me go! HAH ahah AHAH AHAHAH! Stop it! Stop that fan! Hah ahah HAHAH HAHAAAH” The feather swung around the room, suspended from the ceiling fan, tickling first one foot, then the other. Sharon was going crazy all over again. “Let me go! HAHAH AHAH HAAHAH”
Tiff banged on the door of the closet. It seemed to be in sections. Maybe she could pull a section up or down? She yanked on the bottom section, and found that it swung upward, pinning her ankles to the back of the closet. As one of her clogs slipped off a feeling of panic gripped her. Panicking at the reminder of being trapped in the magic box, she grabbed for the top section, which fell down, pinning her neck against the far wall. Too late Tiffany realized that the astrological signs were just a ruse for the ankle and neck holes drilled into the closet door... this was some bizarre variation of the magic box, perhaps for thieves or burglars?
“Hah AHAH AHAHHA AHAHHA! HAHA AHAHAH HAHHH !” Sharon was going mad, giggling and laughing over and over again, and there was nothing Tiff could do, trapped as she was in her own variation of the box. What could be worse? Too late, Tiffany remembered Felicia, the landlady’s cat, as a feline tongue suddenly darted a lick on her exposed ankle.
“Oh no!” She screamed at Sharon. “Not again! HAHA AHAH AHAH HAHAHHA” The cat decided she liked Tiffany, and began licking the top of her foot with gusto. “no no no!! Tiffany shook her sides, overcome with laughter. “Stop! Nice kitty! HAH AHAH AHAHAH!”
Sharon continued to laugh. “Tiff, quit clowning around! HAH AHAH AHAHAH HAH! Let me go! HAH AHAH HAA!” The feather continued to swirl around her feet.
“I can’t! HAH AHAH AHAHHA!! I’m stuck! HAHA AHAH AHAH!” Tiffany tried dancing inside the magic box, but that only made the cat pounce on her toes and play with them more. “HAH HAAH HAHAHA! Help me! HAH AHHA AHAHA Felicia! stop!”
“Tiff, stop mocking me! HAH HAHAH AHAHAH!”
“Ha haHAh AHA!! I’m not mocking you! HAHA AHAH HAHA!” For what seemed like hours, Tiffany and Sharon were tickled by Felicia and the feather.. Finally, Robert and Barbara walked in the door.
“Well, Barbara, now do you believe me?”
The landlady nodded. “Ok, Robert, that’s another month’s rent you tickled your way out of. I didn’t think you could get one person trapped for more than a few minutes, let alone two.” She started snapping pictures of Tiffany and Sharon.
“This is really great!” Robert smiled. “I wonder if we could make them tickle each other?”
Barbara grinned back... “Oh, if we promised to free the winner?” She gave a flick of her finger along Sharon’s soles...“...eventually?”
The two coconspirators laughed...
