Gentle Persuasion
by: Ramos
"So much to clean," Luz sighed as she passed the feather duster over a bronze statuette of a wild stallion. She looked around the study, just one of the many rooms in Don Roberto's expansive hacienda. Don Roberto was fond of nicknacks, paintings and ornaments that had anything to do with the Old West, and the house was full of them. In the study alone there were statuettes of horses, Cowboys and Native Americans, models of trains and wagons, paintings of classic western landscapes, even a traditional Native American headdress made up of dozens of eagle feathers. And all the rooms in the hacienda were like this; even Don Roberto's lovely step-sister, Avelina, who loved to adorn the house with flowers and other special touches, complained that her step-brother's collection was simply too much.
Clarita stood up from wiping the top of the coffee table with a dusty rag. "Yes, Luz, it is a lot of work. But Miss Avelina is such a pleasure to work for, I don't mind."
Luz was the matron of the housekeepers, forty years old, buxom, but with a very slim waist and raven hair. She looked at the younger girl. Clarita was eighteen, only one or two years younger than Elenita, Anarosa, Rafaela and Carmela, the other four girls who worked for Don Roberto and Avelina, and in fact looked very much like them. Luz smiled at Clarita. She almost envied them; sometimes the way the light caught their big brown eyes, cherubic faces and long, straight black pony tails would make them look more innocent than she knew they were. She was sure that for Clarita and her friends every day was full of fun and games, mischief and adventure.
She could not very well blame the younger ones for enjoying Miss Avelina; she was attractive, warm and friendly, and very generous to the housekeepers. She was always laughing and joking. Indeed, for the past year and a half since she and her step-brother had bought the estate and Miss Avelina had hired Luz and the others, she had treated them as if they were family. Avelina, was young herself - in her early twenties, about fifteen years younger than her step- brother - and so, aside from wealth, had many things in common with her young employees.
Don Roberto, on the other hand, was a shallow Mexico City socialite, and made no attempt to conceal his disdain for his step-sister's hired help. His complaints and derision were constant.
"Now, now," Luz gently scolded her, still smiling. She returned her attention to her work.
Clarita also went back to cleaning. "Yes I know," she sighed. "It's just that . . . "
Elenita came running into the study, cutting Clarita off in mid-sentence. "Miss Avelina has just left with her bags packed!"
"What?" both Luz and Clarita exclaimed.
"That's right! She told me that she was moving back to Acapulco and that she would be sending Carlos back for the rest of her things," Elenita continued. "She looked very sad," she added. "She's always loved this house. She said she couldn't bear leaving."
"Why did she leave?" Luz could hear the rising disappointment in Clarita's voice as she begged for an explanation.
Elenita said with some finality, "She had to sell her half of the estate to Don Roberto."
"Oh, no," Clarita, throwing her dust cloth down. Luz could not help but empathize with her young friends. They all knew that when Miss Avelina and Don Roberto had gone in together on the estate, Don Roberto had agreed to allow Avelina to be solely responsible for the hiring of household help. They also all knew that, as ruthless and money-hungry as Don Roberto was, the possibility, or rather, the threat, of his lawyers finding a profitable loophole in his contract with Avelina, thus enabling him to buy her out, breaking Miss Avelina's heart as well as putting them out in the cold, always hovered over Luz and the others.
Rafaela, Carmela and Anarosa then quickly entered the study. "I guess you heard the news?" Anarosa said as she saw the look on Luz and Clarita's faces.
"Yes," Luz said. "I wish there were something we could do. Has anyone talked to him?"
"No," Elenita said. "He's just finished bathing and is in his bedroom now."
"Besides," Rafaela said, "If he's bought Miss Avelina out and plans to fire us all, what could we say to him, and why would he listen to us?"
"Your right, of course, Rafaela," Luz said. "There's nothing we could say to convince him. We all know how stubborn he can be when it comes to money, and we also know that he doesn't give a damn about us."
"That's right," Carmela added. "And now that Miss Avelina's gone, he's in charge."
Luz shook her head. "I just wish there were something we could do."
***
"Help! Help me!" Don Roberto's cries shattered the quiet in the hacienda.
Luz and the girls ran out of their quarters and into the downstairs hallway in their robes and pajamas, rubbing sleep and confusion from their eyes. "What was that?" Rafaela wondered out loud.
"Help me!"
"It's Don Roberto!" Anarosa said.
They all ran up the spiral staircase and along the upstairs hallway. They saw light pouring from Don Roberto's open bedroom doorway into the dark hall ahead. They slowed with apprehension, and the girls followed Luz step by step along the wall as they edged closer to the bedroom door. Luz motioned to the girls to stop, very slowly brought her face to the edge of the doorway and looked in with one eye.
Don Roberto's bedroom was as finely furnished as the rest of the hacienda, but it was now in a state of total disarray. Dresser drawers had been opened and rummaged through, and Luz could immediately tell that many of Don Roberto's valuable ornaments were now missing. The glass doors to the bedroom's balcony were wide open, and a warm, dry breeze blew into the bedroom.
Don Roberto lay there on a big, plush bed with four tall brass posts, fat and pampered, dressed in silk pajamas, robe and slippers. Lengths of velvet rope that had been torn from the drapes had been used to bind his wrists and ankles to the bedposts, and a piece of tape hung loosely off the side of his mouth. A book lay strewn on the floor at the bed's side. The thieves had obviously been aware of Don Roberto's nightly ritual. After having finished his bath, he had most certainly read himself to sleep, unaware that the thieves were just outside his windows, listening and waiting to move in to bind and gag him once they heard his soft snoring.
Clarita had to stifle a giggle.
"Don't just stand there, dammit, help me!" Don Roberto cried.
Luz ran to the glass doors as the girls followed her into the bedroom. She stepped outside to look around for a moment, and then stepped back inside, shutting the panes behind her. "You must've scared them off with your shouting," she said, reaching down to yank the dangling tape off his cheek and then holding it up. "I guess they didn't make sure this was on tight." She tossed the piece of tape onto the night table.
"Well, are you going to untie me?" Don Roberto demanded, still agitated.
Luz, who was barefoot, now crept stealthily around the bed until she loomed over him at his left side, hands on her hips. Clarita admired how slinky and cat-like her movements were.
"Perhaps, Don Roberto," Luz told him. "Perhaps not."
"Wha . . . what is this! What's going on here?" Don Roberto roared. "Luz, what's this all about? Untie me at once!"
Luz slowly shook her head. "Not until we've had our say, Don Roberto. I think we'd all first like to ask you to reconsider buying Miss Avelina out."
"That's right," Anarosa now spoke up. "It's not right to break her heart like that. Miss Avelina loves this hacienda."
"Oh, I see," Don Roberto spoke more quietly now. "So this is what this is about. Afraid you'll end up on the street, eh? Well, let me tell you, I'll fire you all without blinking an eye if you don't untie me at once!"
"We're going to be fired, anyway," Clarita countered. "Unless you make things go back to the way they were," Carmela added.
"Are you sure you won't reconsider?" Luz asked again.
"Not a chance," Don Roberto answered. "Now let me go, or, so help me, not only will you all be fired, I'll have you all arrested as well!"
"You see?" Rafaela cried out, throwing her arms up. "There's nothing we can do to change his mind!"
"Then that's it, I guess," Luz conceded moving toward the bed to begin untying him.
"No!" Clarita cried. She turned to Don Roberto. "You cold-blooded . . . " Clarita then turned again to the others. "We should do something to him that he really, really hates, something to make him really sorry! We should . . . we should . . . " She pounded her fist against her thigh in angry frustration and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "We should tickle his feet!"
"What!" the others said in unison.
Don Roberto stared at Clarita, apparently unable to believe what he had just heard.
Luz moved away from the bed, chuckling.
"Well," Clarita responded defensively, "we should!"
"That's crazy!" Don Roberto shouted.
"How do you know he's ticklish?" Anarosa asked.
"Oh, he's ticklish, alright," Elenita told her. "I once saw Miss Avelina walk by him and scratch his heel while he was lying by the pool. He jumped up and screamed at her. He really hates it."
"Actually," Luz finally spoke up, still chuckling "maybe it's not such a bad idea."
"It's crazy, I tell you!" Don Roberto shouted again. "Let me go at once!"
"I think tickling his feet is a good idea," Rafaela smiled.
"Yes," Luz said. "We can tickle him until he agrees not to buy Miss Avelina out, until he agrees to ask her to come back. If he doesn't, we have nothing to lose, so we can just go on tickling and tickling his poor feet."
"No! Please!" Don Roberto begged.
"Yes!" Carmela taunted. "Let's tickle his feet!"
"Will you change your mind about the estate, then?" Luz deigned to ask him one more time.
Don Roberto settled back onto his pillow. "Absolutely not, and you'll be in real trouble if you don't . . . "
Luz ignored his response and took two short steps toward the foot of the bed, kneeling there by his left foot. She slowly pulled his slipper off with her left hand, set it to the floor and simply sat there for a moment contemplating his bare foot. Don Roberto's feet were as pampered as the rest of him, all soft, smooth skin, without a blemish or spot of dry skin anywhere.
Don Roberto raised his head as much as possible - his arms were tautly stretched above his head - and said as menacingly as he could, "Luz, I'm warning you . . . "
"Tickle his feet!" Clarita coaxed, the slightest hint of cruelty in her voice. "Tickle his feet!"
Luz brought both hands to his foot, resting the fingertips of her left hand beneath his toes and the fingertips of her right hand against his toenails. His foot flinched slightly in anticipation. She very slowly, very gently, drew the pads of her fingertips down along the top and sole of his foot at the same time. At first his foot jerked wildly back and forth while he screamed at her between obscenities to stop at once, but her fingertips stayed with his foot as it moved frantically back and forth and from side to side, trying in vain to avoid the gentle touch of her fingertips. As her fingertips reached his heel and ankle and began to draw slowly back up toward his toes, he quieted suddenly, and his foot actually became quite still, except for an occasional flinching of the toes, as if his own foot succumbed despite its owner, deciding for itself that it was useless to try to escape the soft, maddening tickling.
"Tee-hee-hee-hee! Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!" Don Roberto began to softly giggle.
All the girls watched intently; Clarita and Carmela chewed on their thumbnails, hopping up and down on their toes, grinning and giggling to themselves, while the others just stood there, mesmerized. They were all insanely ticklish, especially on their bare feet, and they knew that they would be thrashing and screaming wildly if Luz or anyone else were doing this to them. It was obvious to them that Don Roberto was just as ticklish, maybe even more so, and the fact that he seemed to have lost all his strength and ability to struggle against the ropes that bound his wrists and ankles, that all he could do was lie still, tittering lightly, suffering the light touch of Luz's fingertips, fascinated them to no end. As they watched Luz's fingertips move slowly up and down the top and sole of his barely twitching foot, slowly up, and then slowly down, her fingernails never even grazing the skin, just the pads of her fingertips very slowly, very lightly caressing his bare foot, her hands moving in unison, up and down, up and down, covering as much of his bare foot as possible, as if they were palm fronds, something clicked and tingled inside all of them; they knew what torture this gentle tickling must be, and they were happy that Don Roberto was feeling all of this terrible tickling on just one foot.
Luz looked over to the girls as she continued to stroke Don Roberto's foot. "Well," she told them, grinning fiendishly, "you can help me if you like."
"No!" Don Roberto begged between giggles. "Hee-hee-hee- hee-hee! Enough! Tee-hee-hee-hee-hee! It tickles!"
Clarita, thumbnail still between her teeth, looked over to the others and caught the glint in Elenita's eyes. They nodded to each other and both sprang forth toward Don Roberto's right foot, Clarita kneeling on the floor facing the sole of his slipper, and Elenita settling herself down on the edge of the bed between his ankles, resting herself across the top of his right calf. Clarita quickly yanked his slipper off, and she and Elenita immediately began to touch his bare foot.
"Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah! Tee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee! Sto- ha-ha-ha-hap! Don't tickle my fee-hee-hee-hee-heet!"
Clarita used the tip of her index finger very lightly, drawing slow, lazy strokes with that single fingertip up and down, up and down his soft, bare sole. She never changed her tempo, but simply stroked up to just beneath his middle toe and back down, gingerly along the very middle of his sole, to the center of his heel, and then back up again with that one gentle fingertip, up and down, up and down, tickling and tickling. Elenita used all five fingertips in much the same way she watched Luz use her ten fingers, softly caressing the top of Don Roberto's bare foot, from the base of his toes, down to the ankle, back up and from side to side, as if she were lovingly stroking a favorite pet.
"HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!" Don Roberto roared hysterically.
Anarosa leaned over to Rafaela and whispered something to her, and Rafaela responded with an enthusiastic nod. The two padded quickly and silently out of the bedroom.
Carmela didn't notice her two friends leave the room. She simply stood there in a state of subdued excitement as she watched Luz, Clarita and Elenita apply a torture that was so subtle, and yet so intense. Without realizing it, she edged closer to the foot of the bed to get a better view of Don Roberto's soft, twitching bare feet.
While she continued to caress the top of Don Roberto's left foot with the fingertips of her right hand, Luz took her left hand away from his bare sole to motion at Carmela. "Come on," she invited.
Carmela did not hesitate. She knelt on the floor to face Don Roberto's bare left sole and quickly brought all five fingertips of her right hand to the soft ball of his foot, wiggling the fingertips against the skin very quickly, but very lightly.
"HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!" Don Roberto guffawed. "STO-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAP! DON'T TI-HI- HI-HI-CKLE MY FEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEET ANY MORE! HEE-HEE-HEE- HEE-HEE! HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!"
Carmela brought her lightly wiggling fingertips down to the tender arch of his foot and left them there for a bit, tickling and tickling, then brought them wiggling down to the heel, then back up to the ball of the foot, wiggling her fingertips gently beneath his toes, and then back down to the arch to linger there for long, torturous moments, scrambling all five fingertips softly, lightly and randomly against the smooth skin, tickling and tickling and tickling. "Tickle, tickle, tickle," she cooed, and this verbal teasing, if it were at all possible, seemed to make Don Roberto laugh even harder. Tears streamed out of the corners of his eyes and down his cheeks as he shrieked hysterically, yet his feet hardly moved, his toes twitching only slightly now as his bare feet endured the soft, merciless tickling of the four women. "Tickle, tickle, tickle," Carmela taunted again. "I love to tickle feet! Tickle, tickle, tickle!"
Anarosa and Rafaela returned and smiled gleefully as they heard Don Roberto's raucous laughter. They approached Luz with their hands behind their backs, and Rafaela whispered something in Luz's ear.
It was enough to make Luz stop what she was doing and laugh out loud. She held her hand up to Carmela, Clarita and Elenita, who had not yet stopped tickling Don Roberto's feet. "Hold on a moment, girls," she said, and after a moment more of slightly more intense tickling, they finally, albeit quite reluctantly, stopped.
Don Roberto's laughter abated as he gasped to catch his breath. "No more," he said weakly, "no more."
"We will stop, Don Roberto," Luz said, and she heard a couple of "Awww"s from a couple of the others. Inwardly, she had to admit to herself that she felt the same way - torturing this bastard beyond belief was quite gratifying, and Rafaela and Anarosa's plan would add immensely to the torture - but she realized that she must keep the ultimate goal of all this in mind and try once again to persuade Don Roberto to see reason. "There is no sense in your enduring any more of this," she told him as his breath became steadier. "All you need to do is call Miss Avelina and your lawyers and tell them you've changed your mind."
It was obvious from the seething look in his eyes that Luz's brand of reason was the furthest thing from his mind. "I'll see you all behind bars, you bitches! I'll see you hang! You'll never get away with this! Release me now!"
Luz was almost glad that he was being this stubborn, and she knew that her co-workers felt the same way, that Clarita, Elenita and Carmela were impatient to continue Don Roberto's torture, and that Rafaela and Anarosa were anxious to begin their new, fiendish variation of his torment. "One last chance, Don Roberto. Will you make the calls?"
"Never! You can kill me, for all I care!"
"Oh, no! We would never do that! But perhaps we could drive you insane - with tickling!" Luz then nodded to all the others.
"No!" Don Roberto cried. He was then launched into immediate hysterics as Clarita, Elenita, Carmela and Luz went back to enjoying themselves with his feet. Clarita continued to drag her one lazy fingertip up and down his bare right sole, perhaps applying just a bit more pressure with the pad of her fingertip. Elenita didn't change her technique; she loved the feel of the smooth skin against her fingertips, and continued to caress the top of his foot gently and lovingly with the fingertips of her left hand. Luz now used her fingernails ever so lightly, dragging them gently, palm down, from the base of his toes along the top of his left foot to his ankle, and then reversing her hand, bringing it palm up toward his toes again, letting her knuckles and nails lightly graze the skin. She repeated the motion over and over, as if she were fanning the top of his bare foot. After scrambling her fingernails all over Don Roberto's soft, bare left sole for several blindingly torturous moments, Clarita took her right hand away from his foot and, changing her technique completely - she had suddenly recalled a cartoon she had seen once in which cats were used to torture a woman - she brought her mouth to the smooth arch, softly kissing him there over and over for a moment or two (she noticed that his foot had the light scent of perfumed soap) before beginning to lick up along the arch, bringing the tip of her tongue back to just where the heel started, and then back up along the arch, up, and then up, and then up again, licking the sensitive arch of his bare foot over and over like a kitten.
"HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! PLEA-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEESE!," Don Roberto cried out. "NO MORE-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! IT TI-HI-HI-HI-HI-HI-CKLES! IT TI-HI-HI-HI-CKLES MY FEE-HEE-HEE- HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEET! STO-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH- HAH-HAP! HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE! HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!"
Rafaela and Anarosa now moved to opposite sides of the bed, climbing up onto the bed on either side of Don Roberto's hips and setting down what they had been hiding behind their backs. Don Roberto did not even notice them until they pulled open the front of his robe and unsnapped his pajama trousers, quickly yanking them half-way down his thighs and exposing his genitals. His cock shook flaccidly as he screamed with helpless laughter.
"WHA-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! WHAT ARE YOU-HOO-HOO-HOO-HAH- HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE- HEE! HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!" Don Roberto screamed.
Rafaela flicked his limp cock with her index finger and told Anarosa, "He isn't enjoying being tickled much, is he?"
Anarosa grinned devilishly. "We can help him with that, can't we?" With that, the two girls impishly picked up what they had brought back to the bedroom with them - two long, stiff eagle feathers they had yanked from the Native American headdress in the study - and began to tickle his cock.
Don Roberto suddenly arched up his hips and howled, "NO- HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO! NOT THA-HA-HA-HA-HAT! PLEA-HEE-HEE-HEE- HEE-HEESE! HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!"
"He certainly is ticklish here, isn't he" Rafaela smiled.
"Tickle, tickle, tickle," Anarosa cooed. "Tickle, tickle."
His cock began to swell and rise as Rafaela and Anarosa flicked the tips of their feathers along its sides.
"Koochie, koochie, koo," Rafaela teased. "Tickle, tickle."
Don Roberto's cock was swollen hard now, bouncing from side to side as he shook with laughter. Anarosa and Rafaela kept tickling and tickling, quickly brushing the feathers' tips up and down the veined shaft.
"Tickle, tickle, tickle," Rafaela continued to taunt him. "Tickle his feet, girls! Tickle his feet!"
"Yes!" Anarosa joined in as she tickled Don Roberto's helpless cock. "Tickle his feet! Tickle, tickle, Don Roberto, tickle, tickle," she grinned.
"NO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO MORE-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! PLEA- HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEESE! HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!" he shrieked.
Of course, as Rafaela and Anarosa kept tickling and tickling the shaft of his cock, the other four young ladies never wavered. Clarita ran the tip of her index finger up and down Don Roberto's right sole faster and faster. Elenita continued with her loving caresses along the top of his right foot. Luz concentrated her lightly flicking fingernails on the top of his left foot just where the toes started, and Carmela continued to lick his smooth, left arch as though it were made of honey.
Anarosa and Rafaela now brought the tips of their feathers to the purple, swollen head of his cock, both flicking the feathers' tips very quickly, mercilessly brushing the very tip of the head over and over. Their feathers' tips collided back and forth, but both girls ignored every other part of his cock and concentrated on that very sensitive tip, brushing back and forth, over and over, tickling and tickling.
"NO MORE! PLEA-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEESE! I BEG YOU! HA-HA- HA-HA-HA-HA! PLEASE STO-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAP! I'LL DO WHAT YOU SAY-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! JUST STO-HAH- HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAP TICKLING ME-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE!" Don Roberto screamed.
"Did you hear him say anything?" Rafaela innocently asked Anarosa as she kept tickling Don Roberto with the feather.
"Not a thing," Anarosa responded. "Tickle." The six women tickled and tickled Don Roberto. They tickled his cock. They tickled his feet. They tickled and tickled.
Don Roberto was now reaching the point where his laughter was now longer audible. He bucked his hips, twitched his toes, and sobbed and gasped noiselessly.
Luz brought her hand away and motioned to the girls. "Enough. We don't want to kill him."
Rafaela and Anarosa brought their feathers away from the tip of Don Roberto's cock immediately; the could see that he was just on the edge of orgasm, and what they wanted was to torture him, not give him the pleasure of release.
It took the others several seconds more to stop tickling his bare feet; it almost seemed as if Clarita, Elenita and Carmela had caught a "tickling fever," as if all they ever lived for was to tickle Don Roberto's helpless bare feet. They withdrew reluctantly.
Don Roberto gasped as the swelling in his cock went down and he tried to catch his breath.
Luz rose from the floor and went to the night table, picking up the telephone and lifting the receiver off its cradle. "Alright, Don Roberto. Enough games. I'll dial, and you'll talk."
Although Don Roberto's breathing became more regular, he could only nod silently in consent, a beaten man.
***
When Miss Avelina returned to the hacienda, her step- brother was not there to greet her. He had locked himself in his study, with his nicknacks, paintings and ornaments . . . all except the remains of the Native American headdress. He had disposed of it very shortly after his ordeal, unable to bear its silent reminder of how his will was broken by Avelina's hired help.
The women were there, though, and welcomed Miss Avelina back with enthusiastic embraces.
Miss Avelina looked them all over, smiling gleefully. "It is so good to be back. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that Roberto's had a change of heart." She turned to Luz. "And it's so incredible that he would even hear you out, never mind let you talk him into it. How did you convince him?"
All the younger girls giggled, and Luz promised Miss Avelina that someday she would tell her employer all about it. "Suffice it to say for now," Luz told her with a wink, "that any man will come to his senses with a bit of . . . gentle persuasion."
The End
by: Ramos
"So much to clean," Luz sighed as she passed the feather duster over a bronze statuette of a wild stallion. She looked around the study, just one of the many rooms in Don Roberto's expansive hacienda. Don Roberto was fond of nicknacks, paintings and ornaments that had anything to do with the Old West, and the house was full of them. In the study alone there were statuettes of horses, Cowboys and Native Americans, models of trains and wagons, paintings of classic western landscapes, even a traditional Native American headdress made up of dozens of eagle feathers. And all the rooms in the hacienda were like this; even Don Roberto's lovely step-sister, Avelina, who loved to adorn the house with flowers and other special touches, complained that her step-brother's collection was simply too much.
Clarita stood up from wiping the top of the coffee table with a dusty rag. "Yes, Luz, it is a lot of work. But Miss Avelina is such a pleasure to work for, I don't mind."
Luz was the matron of the housekeepers, forty years old, buxom, but with a very slim waist and raven hair. She looked at the younger girl. Clarita was eighteen, only one or two years younger than Elenita, Anarosa, Rafaela and Carmela, the other four girls who worked for Don Roberto and Avelina, and in fact looked very much like them. Luz smiled at Clarita. She almost envied them; sometimes the way the light caught their big brown eyes, cherubic faces and long, straight black pony tails would make them look more innocent than she knew they were. She was sure that for Clarita and her friends every day was full of fun and games, mischief and adventure.
She could not very well blame the younger ones for enjoying Miss Avelina; she was attractive, warm and friendly, and very generous to the housekeepers. She was always laughing and joking. Indeed, for the past year and a half since she and her step-brother had bought the estate and Miss Avelina had hired Luz and the others, she had treated them as if they were family. Avelina, was young herself - in her early twenties, about fifteen years younger than her step- brother - and so, aside from wealth, had many things in common with her young employees.
Don Roberto, on the other hand, was a shallow Mexico City socialite, and made no attempt to conceal his disdain for his step-sister's hired help. His complaints and derision were constant.
"Now, now," Luz gently scolded her, still smiling. She returned her attention to her work.
Clarita also went back to cleaning. "Yes I know," she sighed. "It's just that . . . "
Elenita came running into the study, cutting Clarita off in mid-sentence. "Miss Avelina has just left with her bags packed!"
"What?" both Luz and Clarita exclaimed.
"That's right! She told me that she was moving back to Acapulco and that she would be sending Carlos back for the rest of her things," Elenita continued. "She looked very sad," she added. "She's always loved this house. She said she couldn't bear leaving."
"Why did she leave?" Luz could hear the rising disappointment in Clarita's voice as she begged for an explanation.
Elenita said with some finality, "She had to sell her half of the estate to Don Roberto."
"Oh, no," Clarita, throwing her dust cloth down. Luz could not help but empathize with her young friends. They all knew that when Miss Avelina and Don Roberto had gone in together on the estate, Don Roberto had agreed to allow Avelina to be solely responsible for the hiring of household help. They also all knew that, as ruthless and money-hungry as Don Roberto was, the possibility, or rather, the threat, of his lawyers finding a profitable loophole in his contract with Avelina, thus enabling him to buy her out, breaking Miss Avelina's heart as well as putting them out in the cold, always hovered over Luz and the others.
Rafaela, Carmela and Anarosa then quickly entered the study. "I guess you heard the news?" Anarosa said as she saw the look on Luz and Clarita's faces.
"Yes," Luz said. "I wish there were something we could do. Has anyone talked to him?"
"No," Elenita said. "He's just finished bathing and is in his bedroom now."
"Besides," Rafaela said, "If he's bought Miss Avelina out and plans to fire us all, what could we say to him, and why would he listen to us?"
"Your right, of course, Rafaela," Luz said. "There's nothing we could say to convince him. We all know how stubborn he can be when it comes to money, and we also know that he doesn't give a damn about us."
"That's right," Carmela added. "And now that Miss Avelina's gone, he's in charge."
Luz shook her head. "I just wish there were something we could do."
***
"Help! Help me!" Don Roberto's cries shattered the quiet in the hacienda.
Luz and the girls ran out of their quarters and into the downstairs hallway in their robes and pajamas, rubbing sleep and confusion from their eyes. "What was that?" Rafaela wondered out loud.
"Help me!"
"It's Don Roberto!" Anarosa said.
They all ran up the spiral staircase and along the upstairs hallway. They saw light pouring from Don Roberto's open bedroom doorway into the dark hall ahead. They slowed with apprehension, and the girls followed Luz step by step along the wall as they edged closer to the bedroom door. Luz motioned to the girls to stop, very slowly brought her face to the edge of the doorway and looked in with one eye.
Don Roberto's bedroom was as finely furnished as the rest of the hacienda, but it was now in a state of total disarray. Dresser drawers had been opened and rummaged through, and Luz could immediately tell that many of Don Roberto's valuable ornaments were now missing. The glass doors to the bedroom's balcony were wide open, and a warm, dry breeze blew into the bedroom.
Don Roberto lay there on a big, plush bed with four tall brass posts, fat and pampered, dressed in silk pajamas, robe and slippers. Lengths of velvet rope that had been torn from the drapes had been used to bind his wrists and ankles to the bedposts, and a piece of tape hung loosely off the side of his mouth. A book lay strewn on the floor at the bed's side. The thieves had obviously been aware of Don Roberto's nightly ritual. After having finished his bath, he had most certainly read himself to sleep, unaware that the thieves were just outside his windows, listening and waiting to move in to bind and gag him once they heard his soft snoring.
Clarita had to stifle a giggle.
"Don't just stand there, dammit, help me!" Don Roberto cried.
Luz ran to the glass doors as the girls followed her into the bedroom. She stepped outside to look around for a moment, and then stepped back inside, shutting the panes behind her. "You must've scared them off with your shouting," she said, reaching down to yank the dangling tape off his cheek and then holding it up. "I guess they didn't make sure this was on tight." She tossed the piece of tape onto the night table.
"Well, are you going to untie me?" Don Roberto demanded, still agitated.
Luz, who was barefoot, now crept stealthily around the bed until she loomed over him at his left side, hands on her hips. Clarita admired how slinky and cat-like her movements were.
"Perhaps, Don Roberto," Luz told him. "Perhaps not."
"Wha . . . what is this! What's going on here?" Don Roberto roared. "Luz, what's this all about? Untie me at once!"
Luz slowly shook her head. "Not until we've had our say, Don Roberto. I think we'd all first like to ask you to reconsider buying Miss Avelina out."
"That's right," Anarosa now spoke up. "It's not right to break her heart like that. Miss Avelina loves this hacienda."
"Oh, I see," Don Roberto spoke more quietly now. "So this is what this is about. Afraid you'll end up on the street, eh? Well, let me tell you, I'll fire you all without blinking an eye if you don't untie me at once!"
"We're going to be fired, anyway," Clarita countered. "Unless you make things go back to the way they were," Carmela added.
"Are you sure you won't reconsider?" Luz asked again.
"Not a chance," Don Roberto answered. "Now let me go, or, so help me, not only will you all be fired, I'll have you all arrested as well!"
"You see?" Rafaela cried out, throwing her arms up. "There's nothing we can do to change his mind!"
"Then that's it, I guess," Luz conceded moving toward the bed to begin untying him.
"No!" Clarita cried. She turned to Don Roberto. "You cold-blooded . . . " Clarita then turned again to the others. "We should do something to him that he really, really hates, something to make him really sorry! We should . . . we should . . . " She pounded her fist against her thigh in angry frustration and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "We should tickle his feet!"
"What!" the others said in unison.
Don Roberto stared at Clarita, apparently unable to believe what he had just heard.
Luz moved away from the bed, chuckling.
"Well," Clarita responded defensively, "we should!"
"That's crazy!" Don Roberto shouted.
"How do you know he's ticklish?" Anarosa asked.
"Oh, he's ticklish, alright," Elenita told her. "I once saw Miss Avelina walk by him and scratch his heel while he was lying by the pool. He jumped up and screamed at her. He really hates it."
"Actually," Luz finally spoke up, still chuckling "maybe it's not such a bad idea."
"It's crazy, I tell you!" Don Roberto shouted again. "Let me go at once!"
"I think tickling his feet is a good idea," Rafaela smiled.
"Yes," Luz said. "We can tickle him until he agrees not to buy Miss Avelina out, until he agrees to ask her to come back. If he doesn't, we have nothing to lose, so we can just go on tickling and tickling his poor feet."
"No! Please!" Don Roberto begged.
"Yes!" Carmela taunted. "Let's tickle his feet!"
"Will you change your mind about the estate, then?" Luz deigned to ask him one more time.
Don Roberto settled back onto his pillow. "Absolutely not, and you'll be in real trouble if you don't . . . "
Luz ignored his response and took two short steps toward the foot of the bed, kneeling there by his left foot. She slowly pulled his slipper off with her left hand, set it to the floor and simply sat there for a moment contemplating his bare foot. Don Roberto's feet were as pampered as the rest of him, all soft, smooth skin, without a blemish or spot of dry skin anywhere.
Don Roberto raised his head as much as possible - his arms were tautly stretched above his head - and said as menacingly as he could, "Luz, I'm warning you . . . "
"Tickle his feet!" Clarita coaxed, the slightest hint of cruelty in her voice. "Tickle his feet!"
Luz brought both hands to his foot, resting the fingertips of her left hand beneath his toes and the fingertips of her right hand against his toenails. His foot flinched slightly in anticipation. She very slowly, very gently, drew the pads of her fingertips down along the top and sole of his foot at the same time. At first his foot jerked wildly back and forth while he screamed at her between obscenities to stop at once, but her fingertips stayed with his foot as it moved frantically back and forth and from side to side, trying in vain to avoid the gentle touch of her fingertips. As her fingertips reached his heel and ankle and began to draw slowly back up toward his toes, he quieted suddenly, and his foot actually became quite still, except for an occasional flinching of the toes, as if his own foot succumbed despite its owner, deciding for itself that it was useless to try to escape the soft, maddening tickling.
"Tee-hee-hee-hee! Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee!" Don Roberto began to softly giggle.
All the girls watched intently; Clarita and Carmela chewed on their thumbnails, hopping up and down on their toes, grinning and giggling to themselves, while the others just stood there, mesmerized. They were all insanely ticklish, especially on their bare feet, and they knew that they would be thrashing and screaming wildly if Luz or anyone else were doing this to them. It was obvious to them that Don Roberto was just as ticklish, maybe even more so, and the fact that he seemed to have lost all his strength and ability to struggle against the ropes that bound his wrists and ankles, that all he could do was lie still, tittering lightly, suffering the light touch of Luz's fingertips, fascinated them to no end. As they watched Luz's fingertips move slowly up and down the top and sole of his barely twitching foot, slowly up, and then slowly down, her fingernails never even grazing the skin, just the pads of her fingertips very slowly, very lightly caressing his bare foot, her hands moving in unison, up and down, up and down, covering as much of his bare foot as possible, as if they were palm fronds, something clicked and tingled inside all of them; they knew what torture this gentle tickling must be, and they were happy that Don Roberto was feeling all of this terrible tickling on just one foot.
Luz looked over to the girls as she continued to stroke Don Roberto's foot. "Well," she told them, grinning fiendishly, "you can help me if you like."
"No!" Don Roberto begged between giggles. "Hee-hee-hee- hee-hee! Enough! Tee-hee-hee-hee-hee! It tickles!"
Clarita, thumbnail still between her teeth, looked over to the others and caught the glint in Elenita's eyes. They nodded to each other and both sprang forth toward Don Roberto's right foot, Clarita kneeling on the floor facing the sole of his slipper, and Elenita settling herself down on the edge of the bed between his ankles, resting herself across the top of his right calf. Clarita quickly yanked his slipper off, and she and Elenita immediately began to touch his bare foot.
"Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah! Tee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee! Sto- ha-ha-ha-hap! Don't tickle my fee-hee-hee-hee-heet!"
Clarita used the tip of her index finger very lightly, drawing slow, lazy strokes with that single fingertip up and down, up and down his soft, bare sole. She never changed her tempo, but simply stroked up to just beneath his middle toe and back down, gingerly along the very middle of his sole, to the center of his heel, and then back up again with that one gentle fingertip, up and down, up and down, tickling and tickling. Elenita used all five fingertips in much the same way she watched Luz use her ten fingers, softly caressing the top of Don Roberto's bare foot, from the base of his toes, down to the ankle, back up and from side to side, as if she were lovingly stroking a favorite pet.
"HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!" Don Roberto roared hysterically.
Anarosa leaned over to Rafaela and whispered something to her, and Rafaela responded with an enthusiastic nod. The two padded quickly and silently out of the bedroom.
Carmela didn't notice her two friends leave the room. She simply stood there in a state of subdued excitement as she watched Luz, Clarita and Elenita apply a torture that was so subtle, and yet so intense. Without realizing it, she edged closer to the foot of the bed to get a better view of Don Roberto's soft, twitching bare feet.
While she continued to caress the top of Don Roberto's left foot with the fingertips of her right hand, Luz took her left hand away from his bare sole to motion at Carmela. "Come on," she invited.
Carmela did not hesitate. She knelt on the floor to face Don Roberto's bare left sole and quickly brought all five fingertips of her right hand to the soft ball of his foot, wiggling the fingertips against the skin very quickly, but very lightly.
"HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!" Don Roberto guffawed. "STO-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAP! DON'T TI-HI- HI-HI-CKLE MY FEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEET ANY MORE! HEE-HEE-HEE- HEE-HEE! HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!"
Carmela brought her lightly wiggling fingertips down to the tender arch of his foot and left them there for a bit, tickling and tickling, then brought them wiggling down to the heel, then back up to the ball of the foot, wiggling her fingertips gently beneath his toes, and then back down to the arch to linger there for long, torturous moments, scrambling all five fingertips softly, lightly and randomly against the smooth skin, tickling and tickling and tickling. "Tickle, tickle, tickle," she cooed, and this verbal teasing, if it were at all possible, seemed to make Don Roberto laugh even harder. Tears streamed out of the corners of his eyes and down his cheeks as he shrieked hysterically, yet his feet hardly moved, his toes twitching only slightly now as his bare feet endured the soft, merciless tickling of the four women. "Tickle, tickle, tickle," Carmela taunted again. "I love to tickle feet! Tickle, tickle, tickle!"
Anarosa and Rafaela returned and smiled gleefully as they heard Don Roberto's raucous laughter. They approached Luz with their hands behind their backs, and Rafaela whispered something in Luz's ear.
It was enough to make Luz stop what she was doing and laugh out loud. She held her hand up to Carmela, Clarita and Elenita, who had not yet stopped tickling Don Roberto's feet. "Hold on a moment, girls," she said, and after a moment more of slightly more intense tickling, they finally, albeit quite reluctantly, stopped.
Don Roberto's laughter abated as he gasped to catch his breath. "No more," he said weakly, "no more."
"We will stop, Don Roberto," Luz said, and she heard a couple of "Awww"s from a couple of the others. Inwardly, she had to admit to herself that she felt the same way - torturing this bastard beyond belief was quite gratifying, and Rafaela and Anarosa's plan would add immensely to the torture - but she realized that she must keep the ultimate goal of all this in mind and try once again to persuade Don Roberto to see reason. "There is no sense in your enduring any more of this," she told him as his breath became steadier. "All you need to do is call Miss Avelina and your lawyers and tell them you've changed your mind."
It was obvious from the seething look in his eyes that Luz's brand of reason was the furthest thing from his mind. "I'll see you all behind bars, you bitches! I'll see you hang! You'll never get away with this! Release me now!"
Luz was almost glad that he was being this stubborn, and she knew that her co-workers felt the same way, that Clarita, Elenita and Carmela were impatient to continue Don Roberto's torture, and that Rafaela and Anarosa were anxious to begin their new, fiendish variation of his torment. "One last chance, Don Roberto. Will you make the calls?"
"Never! You can kill me, for all I care!"
"Oh, no! We would never do that! But perhaps we could drive you insane - with tickling!" Luz then nodded to all the others.
"No!" Don Roberto cried. He was then launched into immediate hysterics as Clarita, Elenita, Carmela and Luz went back to enjoying themselves with his feet. Clarita continued to drag her one lazy fingertip up and down his bare right sole, perhaps applying just a bit more pressure with the pad of her fingertip. Elenita didn't change her technique; she loved the feel of the smooth skin against her fingertips, and continued to caress the top of his foot gently and lovingly with the fingertips of her left hand. Luz now used her fingernails ever so lightly, dragging them gently, palm down, from the base of his toes along the top of his left foot to his ankle, and then reversing her hand, bringing it palm up toward his toes again, letting her knuckles and nails lightly graze the skin. She repeated the motion over and over, as if she were fanning the top of his bare foot. After scrambling her fingernails all over Don Roberto's soft, bare left sole for several blindingly torturous moments, Clarita took her right hand away from his foot and, changing her technique completely - she had suddenly recalled a cartoon she had seen once in which cats were used to torture a woman - she brought her mouth to the smooth arch, softly kissing him there over and over for a moment or two (she noticed that his foot had the light scent of perfumed soap) before beginning to lick up along the arch, bringing the tip of her tongue back to just where the heel started, and then back up along the arch, up, and then up, and then up again, licking the sensitive arch of his bare foot over and over like a kitten.
"HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! PLEA-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEESE!," Don Roberto cried out. "NO MORE-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! IT TI-HI-HI-HI-HI-HI-CKLES! IT TI-HI-HI-HI-CKLES MY FEE-HEE-HEE- HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEET! STO-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH- HAH-HAP! HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE! HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!"
Rafaela and Anarosa now moved to opposite sides of the bed, climbing up onto the bed on either side of Don Roberto's hips and setting down what they had been hiding behind their backs. Don Roberto did not even notice them until they pulled open the front of his robe and unsnapped his pajama trousers, quickly yanking them half-way down his thighs and exposing his genitals. His cock shook flaccidly as he screamed with helpless laughter.
"WHA-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! WHAT ARE YOU-HOO-HOO-HOO-HAH- HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE- HEE! HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!" Don Roberto screamed.
Rafaela flicked his limp cock with her index finger and told Anarosa, "He isn't enjoying being tickled much, is he?"
Anarosa grinned devilishly. "We can help him with that, can't we?" With that, the two girls impishly picked up what they had brought back to the bedroom with them - two long, stiff eagle feathers they had yanked from the Native American headdress in the study - and began to tickle his cock.
Don Roberto suddenly arched up his hips and howled, "NO- HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO! NOT THA-HA-HA-HA-HAT! PLEA-HEE-HEE-HEE- HEE-HEESE! HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!"
"He certainly is ticklish here, isn't he" Rafaela smiled.
"Tickle, tickle, tickle," Anarosa cooed. "Tickle, tickle."
His cock began to swell and rise as Rafaela and Anarosa flicked the tips of their feathers along its sides.
"Koochie, koochie, koo," Rafaela teased. "Tickle, tickle."
Don Roberto's cock was swollen hard now, bouncing from side to side as he shook with laughter. Anarosa and Rafaela kept tickling and tickling, quickly brushing the feathers' tips up and down the veined shaft.
"Tickle, tickle, tickle," Rafaela continued to taunt him. "Tickle his feet, girls! Tickle his feet!"
"Yes!" Anarosa joined in as she tickled Don Roberto's helpless cock. "Tickle his feet! Tickle, tickle, Don Roberto, tickle, tickle," she grinned.
"NO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO MORE-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! PLEA- HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEESE! HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!" he shrieked.
Of course, as Rafaela and Anarosa kept tickling and tickling the shaft of his cock, the other four young ladies never wavered. Clarita ran the tip of her index finger up and down Don Roberto's right sole faster and faster. Elenita continued with her loving caresses along the top of his right foot. Luz concentrated her lightly flicking fingernails on the top of his left foot just where the toes started, and Carmela continued to lick his smooth, left arch as though it were made of honey.
Anarosa and Rafaela now brought the tips of their feathers to the purple, swollen head of his cock, both flicking the feathers' tips very quickly, mercilessly brushing the very tip of the head over and over. Their feathers' tips collided back and forth, but both girls ignored every other part of his cock and concentrated on that very sensitive tip, brushing back and forth, over and over, tickling and tickling.
"NO MORE! PLEA-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEESE! I BEG YOU! HA-HA- HA-HA-HA-HA! PLEASE STO-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAP! I'LL DO WHAT YOU SAY-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! JUST STO-HAH- HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAP TICKLING ME-HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE!" Don Roberto screamed.
"Did you hear him say anything?" Rafaela innocently asked Anarosa as she kept tickling Don Roberto with the feather.
"Not a thing," Anarosa responded. "Tickle." The six women tickled and tickled Don Roberto. They tickled his cock. They tickled his feet. They tickled and tickled.
Don Roberto was now reaching the point where his laughter was now longer audible. He bucked his hips, twitched his toes, and sobbed and gasped noiselessly.
Luz brought her hand away and motioned to the girls. "Enough. We don't want to kill him."
Rafaela and Anarosa brought their feathers away from the tip of Don Roberto's cock immediately; the could see that he was just on the edge of orgasm, and what they wanted was to torture him, not give him the pleasure of release.
It took the others several seconds more to stop tickling his bare feet; it almost seemed as if Clarita, Elenita and Carmela had caught a "tickling fever," as if all they ever lived for was to tickle Don Roberto's helpless bare feet. They withdrew reluctantly.
Don Roberto gasped as the swelling in his cock went down and he tried to catch his breath.
Luz rose from the floor and went to the night table, picking up the telephone and lifting the receiver off its cradle. "Alright, Don Roberto. Enough games. I'll dial, and you'll talk."
Although Don Roberto's breathing became more regular, he could only nod silently in consent, a beaten man.
***
When Miss Avelina returned to the hacienda, her step- brother was not there to greet her. He had locked himself in his study, with his nicknacks, paintings and ornaments . . . all except the remains of the Native American headdress. He had disposed of it very shortly after his ordeal, unable to bear its silent reminder of how his will was broken by Avelina's hired help.
The women were there, though, and welcomed Miss Avelina back with enthusiastic embraces.
Miss Avelina looked them all over, smiling gleefully. "It is so good to be back. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that Roberto's had a change of heart." She turned to Luz. "And it's so incredible that he would even hear you out, never mind let you talk him into it. How did you convince him?"
All the younger girls giggled, and Luz promised Miss Avelina that someday she would tell her employer all about it. "Suffice it to say for now," Luz told her with a wink, "that any man will come to his senses with a bit of . . . gentle persuasion."
The End
