Strelnikov
4th Level Red Feather
- Joined
- May 7, 2001
- Messages
- 1,820
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By Strelnikov
Copyright 2004 by the author
Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance)
Brittany Righetti
Brittany is 18, almost 19, 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. She's super-ticklish, and her twin older sisters Vicky and Veronica always take advantage of that.
Joanna Shaw
Joanna is Brittany’s cousin – their mothers are sisters, identical twins. She has lived all of her 18 years on Tickle Street. She has always been the perfect female athlete – her room is filled with trophies. She’s extremely fit and very attractive, with blue eyes, dark brown hair cut in a page bob, and freckled fair skin. She always felt invincible due to her greatness in sports, but if she gets tickled, she loses it.
Vicky and Veronica Righetti
They’re “mirror twins” – identical, but Vicky, the leader, is a lefty (Latin “sinister”) and Veronica is right handed. They’re two years older than Brittany, medium height, with very trim and fit figures that they maintain by martial arts. They have wavy dark brown hair worn shoulder length, dark brows and lashes, brown eyes. They’re extremely ticklish, but since they’re a team, they don’t get tickled much.
Alex Budanov
She still thinks of herself as Aleksandra Budanova – she was 15 years old when her family left Russia to come to America. She has just finished her Freshman year at Commonwealth University. Alex is new to Tickle Street. Long, silvery blonde hair, dark blue eyes, fair skin with a fit body and buxom figure. She HATES being tickled, and is by no means an enthusiastic tickler – at least, not yet. She lives with her parents and three younger sisters: Julie, Jenny and Katie.
Julie Budanov
Yulia Budanova is Alex’s younger sister – she has just turned 18. Unlike her buxom blonde older sister, Julie is slender with long, bright coppery red hair She has high cheekbones, exotic eyes inherited from a distant Tatar ancestor, and skin so fair that it seems almost translucent. Her eyes are that indeterminate shade that sometimes appears blue or gray, sometimes green or hazel. She’s left-handed. Russian folklore associates her physical type with witchcraft and malign spirits – her sisters are a little afraid of her, and even her parents are sometimes uneasy over this strange chick in their nest. Is she ticklish? We don’t know – her personality doesen’t lend itself to that sort of familiarity. But she won’t let anyone touch her feet, and never goes barefoot, even at home.
Sadistic Siblings
Joanna’s sister Jamie is quite the little imp, 13 years old, who loves to sneak up on Joanna and tickle her – like her sister, she has brown hair, blue eyes and freckles. Evgenia Budanova – Jenny Budanov – is 16 years old, blonde and blue eyed like her older sister Alex. Ekaterina Budanova – Katie Budanov – is the youngest, age 13 – she’ll look like Alex and Jenny when she fills out a little more.
********************
Brittany Righetti put her head back as she surfaced. Her long dark hair trailed around her as her feet settled to the bottom of her backyard pool. Brittany was almost 19 – she had graduated from Tieson City High School just a few days ago. She was a little shorter than medium height, shapely, with brown eyes, dark brows and lashes, and a good start on a magnificent tan.
Her cousin Joanna Shaw surfaced facing her. Joanna’s hair was as dark as Brittany’s, cut in a page bob. She had bright blue eyes and freckled fair skin – she took after the Irish side of her bloodline. She was a few months younger than Brittany, and a fellow graduate. The two girls were exactly the same size, right down to their shoes, and looked enough alike to be sisters.
Brittany’s sisters came out of the pool house – a fair-sized shed that housed the pool machinery and provided storage for extra towels, floats and other pool toys. Vicky and Veronica were identical twins, like their mother and aunt – it ran in the family. They were two years older and a little taller than Brittany, but they shared her coloring and there was a strong family resemblance. They wore their dark wavy hair shoulder-length. They dropped the towels they were carrying on the pool edge and dived in.
Brittany squinted into the sun-glare on the water behind Joanna. Uh-oh! A disturbance in the reflection, and the tip of a snorkel. “Behind you,” she said.
Joanna turned, grabbed the snorkel and capped it with her thumb. She reached under water with her other hand, pulled, and was rewarded with a burst of bubbles. Joanna’s little sister Jamie surfaced, spluttering and blowing, her dive mask full of water.
Jamie snatched the mask off. “Hey! That was mean!” she protested. She was a younger version of Joanna, 13 years old, just beginning to fill out.
“Self defense – you were gonna tickle me,” Joanna said.
“Moi?” Jamie said, the picture of wounded innocence.
“Yes, you,” Joanna replied, and gave Jamie a double rib-poke. The girl squealed and jumped.
Brittany felt hands grab her ankles and pull. She thrashed and struggled, and just had time to take a quick breath before she went under. The hands let go. Brittany came up, and saw her sisters struggling with Joanna – they were trying to duck her, all three splashing and laughing. Vicky and Veronica overpowered Joanna, and she went under too.
“Gotcha!” the twins chorused as Joanna came up.
Brittany sat on the side of the pool with her feet in the water, and wrung the water out of her hair. “Anybody know what time it is?” she asked.
Aunt Karen, sitting poolside, checked her watch. “Noon, straight up,” she replied. She turned to her twin. “Hey Kathy, when are we gonna have lunch?”
“Any time, sis,” Mom answered. “Girls! Lunchtime!” she called out.
They all climbed out and dried off. Vicky waited until Veronica was toweling her hair, then lobster-clawed her twin’s sides. Veronica burst out laughing and collapsed on the grass.
“Reminds me of us,” Mom said.
“The Brocato Twins were hell on wheels,” Aunt Karen agreed.
***
Back when Mom was little and the world was young, all parents had a strict rule – kids had to stay out of the water for an hour after eating. All kids knew that to touch so much as their pinkie toe to the water would cause hideous convulsions and instant death. That quaint notion had passed, but Brittany still didn’t feel like swimming right after lunch. She felt a little bloated – the tuna salad was having its revenge.
She shucked her t-shirt, piled and pinned her long hair on top of her head. Might as well get some sun, she thought. She wandered idly around the yard in her bikini, following the fence line, looking at the flowers growing there.
She came finally to the west side of the lot. She had new neighbors in the house next door, foreigners of some sort – from a distance, she hadn’t recognized the language they spoke, except that it wasn’t Italian. Two of them, barefoot girls in shorts and t-shirts, sat reading under the big oak tree in the back yard. The older of the two was maybe 15 or 16, the other about Jamie’s age. Both were fair-skinned, blue-eyed, with long platinum blonde hair.
“Hi, I’m Brittany Righetti – I’m your neighbor,” she called out. “What are you reading?”
The younger girl looked up. “Journey to the Center of the Earth, she replied. “Jules Verne.” The author’s name came out “Joolz Voine” – the accent was purest Brooklyn. “I’m Katie – Katie Budanov.”
“And I’m Jenny. Glad to meet you, Brittany,” the older girl said in the same accent. “I’ve got The Night Face – Poul Anderson.”
“It’s awful hot today,” Brittany said. “Get your swim suits and come swimming. My cousin Jamie is about your age, Katie – I’ll introduce you.”
“How about our sisters?” Jenny asked.
“Sure – why not? Just let yourselves through the gate when you’re ready.”
They showed up 15 minutes later – Katie, Jenny, and two others. The oldest was a buxom and beautiful blue-eyed platinum blonde, a little older than Brittany – the younger girls would look like this in a few more years. The other was slender with long, bright coppery red hair. She had high cheekbones, exotic eyes inherited from some distant Tatar ancestor, skin so fair that it seemed almost translucent. Her eyes were that indeterminate shade that sometimes appears blue or gray, sometimes green or hazel.
“This is Alex,” Katie said, indicating the blonde. “And this is Julie – today’s her 18th birthday.”
Brittany made the introductions on her end, and they all set to getting to know each other. The two youngest girls were as American as deli sandwiches and cheese-danish. The redhead’s English had the same New York flavor, but there was something else there too. Alex’s was fluent but Russian-accented – she had been 15 when the family came to America, too old to learn a second language without a foreign accent. Brittany noticed that Julie was the only one of them all who wore shoes – black suede Birkenstocks.
Jamie and Katie hit it off famously right from the start. Brittany saw them with their heads together, whispering and giggling, several times over the next hour. She noticed too that Alex, like Joanna, was careful not to let them sneak up on her, and that Julie put her shoes back on whenever she got out of the pool. A shame really – her feet were pretty and well-kept. But there was a lot going on – Brittany didn’t expend much thought on the matter.
“Katiee! Noooo!” Jenny yelled from inside the pool house. And then – a stream of laughter!
Alex scrambled out of the pool. “Katya! Khvatit!” she yelled. The laughter went up a notch.
“KATYA!” A burst of angry rapid-fire Russian followed. Brittany caught the word khuligan – a throat-clearing sound at the start, but otherwise sounding like “hooligan” – was that what it meant? But with no result – the laughter continued, harder now.
“Yulia! Poydyom!” Alex commanded. Julie shook her head, exasperated – one of the participants was new, but the situation evidently was not. She got up out of her chair and followed Alex into the pool house. The laughter stopped.
Jenny came out first, shuffling her feet and looking resentful. The two young hooligans were next, giggling and poking each other in the ribs, and then Alex and Julie.
“I’m sorry about that, Jenny,” Joanna said. “Jamie can be a real pest.”
“Is Katya’s fault. Is family… custom?” Alex said, not quite sure of the right word.
“Tradition,” Julie corrected. “But don’t feel sorry for Jenny, Joanna – she’s just as bad.”
That was a situation Brittany understood all too well. Vicky and Veronica were fiendish, inventive and enthusiastic ticklers – Jedi Masters of tickling. They had tickled her silly more times than she could count.
Nor did they limit themselves to tickling Brittany, or even the other neighborhood girls. The twins had just discovered that there was only one cold Coke left in the refrigerator. They put more in, but a question remained – who would get the cold one?
Back outside, Veronica said to her twin, “My turn to set the rules this time. Have a seat.”
“Oh shit,” Vicky said. “Might as well just let you have it.”
“No fun in that,” Veronica said, grinning.
“How about a handicap then?”
“OK, we’ll do it left-handed. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
Vicky and Veronica sat close on the grass, facing each other. They extended their left legs, drew up their right with their right feet against their left thighs. Each twin got a firm grip on her opponent’s left foot with her right hand.
Joanna and Jamie knew what was coming next. They sat down to watch – Jamie brought her new friend with her and gave a quick whispered explanation.
“Brittany – referee for us,” Veronica said.
Brittany shifted a lawn chair and sat. “Ready– get set– GO!”
Both twins flicked the nails of their left hands on the bottom of her opponent’s trapped foot, fast as they could. Both burst into ticklish laughter, laughing their heads off, howling with forced mirth.
The other girls drifted over and sat down to watch. Alex looked disapproving, but it seemed she couldn’t look away. Julie sat cross-legged, hands resting on her feet as if to ensure that no one could pull her shoes off. Jenny sat next to Katie – it was obvious that the two were making mental notes.
The twins’ tickling fingernails flicked and scratched, each covering the other’s foot with fiendish and well-techniqued tickling. They both knew every ticklish spot – how could they not? – and tickled them all. Both laughed at the top of their lungs, tears of laughter streaming down their faces.
“Definitely reminds me of us,” Mom said. Brittany glanced around – Mom and Aunt Karen were beside her, on their knees, sitting back on their heels. Not for the first time, Brittany had the thought that Grandma Angela must have had muscular genes – this was how Vicky and Veronica would look in another 20 years or so. Both were barefoot – she hadn’t heard their silent approach.
As always, it came down to a contest of endurance. Both twins concentrated on THE SPOT, on the arch just in front of the heel, where it really, really tickled. They laughed and laughed, red faced, tickling as fast as they could, as time expanded and the tickling filled their universe.
Vicky was left-handed – advantage to her. But she was an upper body tickler by preference, and maybe just a hair more ticklish than her twin. Veronica was a foot tickler, and there was none better. Her tickling fingernails flicked and scratched in Vicky’s sweet spot and drove her sister wild. It was more than Vicky could bear – she lost it and collapsed onto her back, laughing at the top of her lungs.
Veronica giggled as the tickling sensation faded, then tickled faster as she regained fine motor control. She switched hands, left hand gripping Vicky’s foot, and went to work with her right. Her nails danced in Vicky’s arch, tickling the sweet spot mercilessly, forcing a stream of wild ticklish laughter.
“You win, Veronica,” Brittany said. “Quit!”
“Not yet,” Veronica said, and kept up her attack on the sweet spot. Vicky laughed her head off at the top of her lungs. Veronica’s long, well-manicured nails flicked and scratched, tickling unbearably – Vicky wasn’t struggling any more, all she could do was lay there and laugh. Mom and Aunt Karen looked on and made helpful suggestions while Veronica kept her twin laughing for five minutes more. Then she speeded up and reduced Vicky to red-faced gasping silent laughter.
Veronica released Vicky’s foot. “You’re gonna have to do better than that,” she said.
Vicky drew her knees up and laid there gasping. “That… tickled… so much…” she said. She sat up and rubbed her foot to get the tickle off. “Ribs and sides next time – I’ll have my revenge. Joke’s on you anyway – that Coke’s probably warm by now.”
“Joke’s on both of you,” Jamie said. “Katie and I drank it while you were busy.”
Mom reached over and tickled Aunt Karen’s upturned sole. Aunt Karen giggled and poked Mom in the ribs. Mom squeaked and jumped.
“Feet?” Mom asked.
“OK,” Aunt Karen answered.
“We’re getting too old–” Mom started.
“–to do this on the ground,” Aunt Karen completed the thought.
“Sofa,” they said in chorus.
They went indoors together. A moment later, stereo ticklish laughter poured out of the open family room windows.
Family tradition, Brittany thought. Both women had been stay-at-home moms when the girls were little, and they had spent considerable time together. Their noisy tickle fights featured in some of Brittany’s earliest memories. They had calmed down over the years, but this wasn’t all that unusual, even now.
Alex found her watch. “Is time to go home,” she told her sibs. “Come.”
“Thank you for having us over,” Julie said. “Today is my birthday – come tonight at 7:00 for birthday cake.”
“Glad to have you,” Brittany answered for all of them. “We will.”
Mom was the foot tickler of that pair – like Vicky, Aunt Karen preferred upper body tickling. But Mom was out of practice, and paid for it. Aunt Karen got the upper hand, and tickled Mom’s feet until she hardly knew her own name – then tickled her ribs, sides and tummy, for old time’s sake.
No big deal. Brittany took over the supper preparations – she ordered pizza.
***
The five girls had exchanged their swimsuits for shorts and t-shirts before supper, but hadn’t bothered to find their flip-flops. They were out by the pool at 6:45 when the neighbors’ back door flew open and Julie came out, running flat out. She had changed into a loose black t-shirt and black cargo pants. Birkenstocks aren’t the best shoes for running, but she managed well enough. Her long coppery red hair trailed behind her like a flag. Brittany, Joanna and their sisters ran over to the fence to watch.
Alex was right on Julie’s heels. “Vlered!” she yelled. But she got tangled up in her platform flip-flops and stumbled. Alex kicked off her shoes, but she was out of the race – Julie’s lead was too big.
Jenny and Katie blew past Alex, their bare feet flying over the grass. Jenny stepped on an acorn and yelped – she was out too. It looked like Julie was going to escape – she was almost to the fence, and the woods just beyond.
Katie caught her just short of the fence line. The others caught up, and there was a brief struggle, punctuated by laughter, squeals and sharp words in both languages. Julie ended up on her tummy, struggling, with Jenny sitting on her.
Alex exercised her right of seniority. “Ya starshiya,” she said imperiously. “Ya poschekochu tebe pyatki.”
“English, Alex!” the youngest two chorused.
“Khorosho,” Alex replied, then grinned sheepishly. “OK.”
“Ebat’-kobat’!” Julie yelled. “Shit! Let me GO!” She kicked and tried to buck Jenny off. All she accomplished was to send her left shoe adrift.
Alex traded places with Jenny and straddled Julie’s hips facing aft. Jenny grabbed Julie’s right ankle, bent the leg back toward Alex and pulled off the shoe. Alex grabbed the foot and poised her nails above it.
“No-no-no-no-no-NOOO!” Julie yelled, struggling and squirming.
Alex flicked her nails in Julie’s arches. Julie burst into helpless ticklish laughter. Her struggles stopped instantly – the tickling had completely overcome her senses.
Alex tickled up and down Julie’s upturned pink foot, soles to heels and back again. She wasn’t very skilled, but she didn’t have to be. Julie howled with forced mirth, her fair skin turning pink as she laughed.
Julie’s got to have the most ticklish feet in the neighborhood, Brittany thought – she’s completely helpless. She glanced at Vicky and Veronica. Those two were looking at each other, and they might as well have had a big cartoon thought balloon floating over their heads. “AMATEUR!” That’s what they were thinking.
The girls crossed over into the neighbors’ yard. Alex was tickling Julie’s sole, watching the toes twitch and curl. Vicky and Veronica closed in, with the others just behind.
“Alex! QUIT!” the twins yelled.
Alex did, surprised. “Th– thanks…” Julie said, gasping for air.
Vicky grabbed Julie’s other foot and bent the leg back, foot toward Alex. Veronica repositioned Alex’s legs – when she finished, Alex had Julie’s legs trapped in the figure-four leg lock, the bottoms of both feet facing her.
“Hey!” Julie said – she knew nothing good could come of this.
“Isn’t that better?” the twins chorused.
“Da. Spasebo. Thank you,” Alex said, and dug in with both hands, tickling both feet mercilessly. Julie laughed her head off at the top of her lungs.
Brittany watched the tickling critically. Vicky and Veronica were right – this girl had a lot to learn. Even Joanna, a relative newbie as a tickler, could do better.
“Not very good, is she?” Joanna whispered to Brittany.
“You just said the secret word,” Brittany replied, wiggling her dark brows and twirling an imaginary cigar. She pointed at the ground next to the laughing ticklish redhead. “Assume the position!”
Joanna looked disgusted. “I walked right into that one,” she said.
Brittany grinned. “Think of it as performing a public service.”
Joanna flopped down on her tummy next to Julie and lifted her feet. Brittany sat on her facing aft and trapped her legs in the figure-four leg lock. Alex paused, surprised – Julie stopped laughing and took long, deep, shaky breaths.
“Shto…?” Alex started.
“ENGLISH!” the younger girls shouted.
But Alex’s meaning was self explanatory. “Do as I do,” Brittany said. “I’ll coach you through it. Jenny and Katie, watch and learn!”
Brittany spread Joanna’s toes apart two by two, tickling between each pair, and Joanna laughed like mad. She held the toes back and scrabbled her nails on the soft skin underneath, then across both soles, side to side and back again. She tickled up and down the creases in the middle of Joanna’s soles, forcing stream after stream of forced mirth. Then two fingernails, drawing fast looping figure-eight’s around and onto the balls of both feet, and Joanna laughed at the top of her lungs.
Alex followed along, hesitantly at first, but gaining confidence as she tickled. Julie laughed her head off as Alex tickled between her toes, under them and onto her soles. Alex tickled the balls of Julie’s feet, faster now, and the laughter went up a notch. Not bad, thought Brittany – she’s learning fast!
Brittany released Joanna’s toes and tickled her soles two-handed, watching the toes twitch and curl as Joanna laughed like a crazy woman. She tickled down Joanna’s arches to the ticklish heels, drawing circles and other tickling shapes. Then onto the sweet spots – the same as the twins’ – Joanna went crazy, bucking and squirming, laughing her head off as Brittany’s tickling fingernails flicked and scratched.
Alex tickled Julie’s soles, down her arches, onto her heels. Julie’s laughter went off the scale as Alex’s nails scratched and scrabbled. Alex tickled two handed, keeping Julie laughing madly, scratching and flicking the ticklish heels. She tickled up the arches to the soles and back again, covering Julie’s feet with unbearable tickling, looking for the sweet spot. There wasn’t one – Julie was that ticklish – but Alex achieved the desired result anyway. Julie laughed wildly, helplessly, at the top of her lungs, and ran out of air. Alex had tickled her breathless.
“See? That’s how to do it,” Brittany said, and stopped tickling Joanna. She dismounted, rose and gave Joanna a hand-up.
Joanna brushed herself off and shuffled her feet to get the tickle off. She wiped tears of laughter on her sleeve and leaned close. “I’ll get you for this, Brittany!” she whispered.
“You’ll have to catch me first!” Brittany whispered back, grinning.
Julie didn’t move – she laid there gasping, red-faced, with tears of laughter running down her cheeks. “Yob… tvoyu… mat’… ” she said breathlessly – the all-purpose coarse Russian curse.
Alex was grinning from ear to ear. “Way to go, sis!” Katie said. She cracked her knuckles. “Dibs on the next round.”
But her mother called something from the back porch in Russian before she could start.
“Mo-om!” Katie protested. “It’s my turn to tickle her! Can’t the cake wait a few minutes?”
“Give it up, Katie,” Jenny advised. “We can always get her later.”
“Well... OK,” Katie said. “Give her a chance to rest up a little – we’ll be able to keep her going longer that way.”
“I like the way you think,” Jamie told Katie. “Gotta introduce you to Jessica. She’s our age – you’ll like her. You too, Jenny. Wanna go for a hike in the Hundred Acre Wood tomorrow?”
“Sounds good to me,” Jenny answered.
“Me too. Cake and ice cream, everybody!” Katie said. She helped Alex and Jenny to set Julie on her feet.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIE!” the girls chorused.
Julie wobbled – she was a little shaky. Brittany steadied her. “Julie? Are you OK?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” Julie replied. The Russian accent, faint before, was strong. She took a deep breath.
“No problem,” Julie said. “Is family tradition.”
***THE END***
5 June 2004: Many thanks to TMF member Starfires for help with the Russian words and phrases.
Copyright 2004 by the author
Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance)
Brittany Righetti
Brittany is 18, almost 19, 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. She's super-ticklish, and her twin older sisters Vicky and Veronica always take advantage of that.
Joanna Shaw
Joanna is Brittany’s cousin – their mothers are sisters, identical twins. She has lived all of her 18 years on Tickle Street. She has always been the perfect female athlete – her room is filled with trophies. She’s extremely fit and very attractive, with blue eyes, dark brown hair cut in a page bob, and freckled fair skin. She always felt invincible due to her greatness in sports, but if she gets tickled, she loses it.
Vicky and Veronica Righetti
They’re “mirror twins” – identical, but Vicky, the leader, is a lefty (Latin “sinister”) and Veronica is right handed. They’re two years older than Brittany, medium height, with very trim and fit figures that they maintain by martial arts. They have wavy dark brown hair worn shoulder length, dark brows and lashes, brown eyes. They’re extremely ticklish, but since they’re a team, they don’t get tickled much.
Alex Budanov
She still thinks of herself as Aleksandra Budanova – she was 15 years old when her family left Russia to come to America. She has just finished her Freshman year at Commonwealth University. Alex is new to Tickle Street. Long, silvery blonde hair, dark blue eyes, fair skin with a fit body and buxom figure. She HATES being tickled, and is by no means an enthusiastic tickler – at least, not yet. She lives with her parents and three younger sisters: Julie, Jenny and Katie.
Julie Budanov
Yulia Budanova is Alex’s younger sister – she has just turned 18. Unlike her buxom blonde older sister, Julie is slender with long, bright coppery red hair She has high cheekbones, exotic eyes inherited from a distant Tatar ancestor, and skin so fair that it seems almost translucent. Her eyes are that indeterminate shade that sometimes appears blue or gray, sometimes green or hazel. She’s left-handed. Russian folklore associates her physical type with witchcraft and malign spirits – her sisters are a little afraid of her, and even her parents are sometimes uneasy over this strange chick in their nest. Is she ticklish? We don’t know – her personality doesen’t lend itself to that sort of familiarity. But she won’t let anyone touch her feet, and never goes barefoot, even at home.
Sadistic Siblings
Joanna’s sister Jamie is quite the little imp, 13 years old, who loves to sneak up on Joanna and tickle her – like her sister, she has brown hair, blue eyes and freckles. Evgenia Budanova – Jenny Budanov – is 16 years old, blonde and blue eyed like her older sister Alex. Ekaterina Budanova – Katie Budanov – is the youngest, age 13 – she’ll look like Alex and Jenny when she fills out a little more.
********************
Brittany Righetti put her head back as she surfaced. Her long dark hair trailed around her as her feet settled to the bottom of her backyard pool. Brittany was almost 19 – she had graduated from Tieson City High School just a few days ago. She was a little shorter than medium height, shapely, with brown eyes, dark brows and lashes, and a good start on a magnificent tan.
Her cousin Joanna Shaw surfaced facing her. Joanna’s hair was as dark as Brittany’s, cut in a page bob. She had bright blue eyes and freckled fair skin – she took after the Irish side of her bloodline. She was a few months younger than Brittany, and a fellow graduate. The two girls were exactly the same size, right down to their shoes, and looked enough alike to be sisters.
Brittany’s sisters came out of the pool house – a fair-sized shed that housed the pool machinery and provided storage for extra towels, floats and other pool toys. Vicky and Veronica were identical twins, like their mother and aunt – it ran in the family. They were two years older and a little taller than Brittany, but they shared her coloring and there was a strong family resemblance. They wore their dark wavy hair shoulder-length. They dropped the towels they were carrying on the pool edge and dived in.
Brittany squinted into the sun-glare on the water behind Joanna. Uh-oh! A disturbance in the reflection, and the tip of a snorkel. “Behind you,” she said.
Joanna turned, grabbed the snorkel and capped it with her thumb. She reached under water with her other hand, pulled, and was rewarded with a burst of bubbles. Joanna’s little sister Jamie surfaced, spluttering and blowing, her dive mask full of water.
Jamie snatched the mask off. “Hey! That was mean!” she protested. She was a younger version of Joanna, 13 years old, just beginning to fill out.
“Self defense – you were gonna tickle me,” Joanna said.
“Moi?” Jamie said, the picture of wounded innocence.
“Yes, you,” Joanna replied, and gave Jamie a double rib-poke. The girl squealed and jumped.
Brittany felt hands grab her ankles and pull. She thrashed and struggled, and just had time to take a quick breath before she went under. The hands let go. Brittany came up, and saw her sisters struggling with Joanna – they were trying to duck her, all three splashing and laughing. Vicky and Veronica overpowered Joanna, and she went under too.
“Gotcha!” the twins chorused as Joanna came up.
Brittany sat on the side of the pool with her feet in the water, and wrung the water out of her hair. “Anybody know what time it is?” she asked.
Aunt Karen, sitting poolside, checked her watch. “Noon, straight up,” she replied. She turned to her twin. “Hey Kathy, when are we gonna have lunch?”
“Any time, sis,” Mom answered. “Girls! Lunchtime!” she called out.
They all climbed out and dried off. Vicky waited until Veronica was toweling her hair, then lobster-clawed her twin’s sides. Veronica burst out laughing and collapsed on the grass.
“Reminds me of us,” Mom said.
“The Brocato Twins were hell on wheels,” Aunt Karen agreed.
***
Back when Mom was little and the world was young, all parents had a strict rule – kids had to stay out of the water for an hour after eating. All kids knew that to touch so much as their pinkie toe to the water would cause hideous convulsions and instant death. That quaint notion had passed, but Brittany still didn’t feel like swimming right after lunch. She felt a little bloated – the tuna salad was having its revenge.
She shucked her t-shirt, piled and pinned her long hair on top of her head. Might as well get some sun, she thought. She wandered idly around the yard in her bikini, following the fence line, looking at the flowers growing there.
She came finally to the west side of the lot. She had new neighbors in the house next door, foreigners of some sort – from a distance, she hadn’t recognized the language they spoke, except that it wasn’t Italian. Two of them, barefoot girls in shorts and t-shirts, sat reading under the big oak tree in the back yard. The older of the two was maybe 15 or 16, the other about Jamie’s age. Both were fair-skinned, blue-eyed, with long platinum blonde hair.
“Hi, I’m Brittany Righetti – I’m your neighbor,” she called out. “What are you reading?”
The younger girl looked up. “Journey to the Center of the Earth, she replied. “Jules Verne.” The author’s name came out “Joolz Voine” – the accent was purest Brooklyn. “I’m Katie – Katie Budanov.”
“And I’m Jenny. Glad to meet you, Brittany,” the older girl said in the same accent. “I’ve got The Night Face – Poul Anderson.”
“It’s awful hot today,” Brittany said. “Get your swim suits and come swimming. My cousin Jamie is about your age, Katie – I’ll introduce you.”
“How about our sisters?” Jenny asked.
“Sure – why not? Just let yourselves through the gate when you’re ready.”
They showed up 15 minutes later – Katie, Jenny, and two others. The oldest was a buxom and beautiful blue-eyed platinum blonde, a little older than Brittany – the younger girls would look like this in a few more years. The other was slender with long, bright coppery red hair. She had high cheekbones, exotic eyes inherited from some distant Tatar ancestor, skin so fair that it seemed almost translucent. Her eyes were that indeterminate shade that sometimes appears blue or gray, sometimes green or hazel.
“This is Alex,” Katie said, indicating the blonde. “And this is Julie – today’s her 18th birthday.”
Brittany made the introductions on her end, and they all set to getting to know each other. The two youngest girls were as American as deli sandwiches and cheese-danish. The redhead’s English had the same New York flavor, but there was something else there too. Alex’s was fluent but Russian-accented – she had been 15 when the family came to America, too old to learn a second language without a foreign accent. Brittany noticed that Julie was the only one of them all who wore shoes – black suede Birkenstocks.
Jamie and Katie hit it off famously right from the start. Brittany saw them with their heads together, whispering and giggling, several times over the next hour. She noticed too that Alex, like Joanna, was careful not to let them sneak up on her, and that Julie put her shoes back on whenever she got out of the pool. A shame really – her feet were pretty and well-kept. But there was a lot going on – Brittany didn’t expend much thought on the matter.
“Katiee! Noooo!” Jenny yelled from inside the pool house. And then – a stream of laughter!
Alex scrambled out of the pool. “Katya! Khvatit!” she yelled. The laughter went up a notch.
“KATYA!” A burst of angry rapid-fire Russian followed. Brittany caught the word khuligan – a throat-clearing sound at the start, but otherwise sounding like “hooligan” – was that what it meant? But with no result – the laughter continued, harder now.
“Yulia! Poydyom!” Alex commanded. Julie shook her head, exasperated – one of the participants was new, but the situation evidently was not. She got up out of her chair and followed Alex into the pool house. The laughter stopped.
Jenny came out first, shuffling her feet and looking resentful. The two young hooligans were next, giggling and poking each other in the ribs, and then Alex and Julie.
“I’m sorry about that, Jenny,” Joanna said. “Jamie can be a real pest.”
“Is Katya’s fault. Is family… custom?” Alex said, not quite sure of the right word.
“Tradition,” Julie corrected. “But don’t feel sorry for Jenny, Joanna – she’s just as bad.”
That was a situation Brittany understood all too well. Vicky and Veronica were fiendish, inventive and enthusiastic ticklers – Jedi Masters of tickling. They had tickled her silly more times than she could count.
Nor did they limit themselves to tickling Brittany, or even the other neighborhood girls. The twins had just discovered that there was only one cold Coke left in the refrigerator. They put more in, but a question remained – who would get the cold one?
Back outside, Veronica said to her twin, “My turn to set the rules this time. Have a seat.”
“Oh shit,” Vicky said. “Might as well just let you have it.”
“No fun in that,” Veronica said, grinning.
“How about a handicap then?”
“OK, we’ll do it left-handed. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
Vicky and Veronica sat close on the grass, facing each other. They extended their left legs, drew up their right with their right feet against their left thighs. Each twin got a firm grip on her opponent’s left foot with her right hand.
Joanna and Jamie knew what was coming next. They sat down to watch – Jamie brought her new friend with her and gave a quick whispered explanation.
“Brittany – referee for us,” Veronica said.
Brittany shifted a lawn chair and sat. “Ready– get set– GO!”
Both twins flicked the nails of their left hands on the bottom of her opponent’s trapped foot, fast as they could. Both burst into ticklish laughter, laughing their heads off, howling with forced mirth.
The other girls drifted over and sat down to watch. Alex looked disapproving, but it seemed she couldn’t look away. Julie sat cross-legged, hands resting on her feet as if to ensure that no one could pull her shoes off. Jenny sat next to Katie – it was obvious that the two were making mental notes.
The twins’ tickling fingernails flicked and scratched, each covering the other’s foot with fiendish and well-techniqued tickling. They both knew every ticklish spot – how could they not? – and tickled them all. Both laughed at the top of their lungs, tears of laughter streaming down their faces.
“Definitely reminds me of us,” Mom said. Brittany glanced around – Mom and Aunt Karen were beside her, on their knees, sitting back on their heels. Not for the first time, Brittany had the thought that Grandma Angela must have had muscular genes – this was how Vicky and Veronica would look in another 20 years or so. Both were barefoot – she hadn’t heard their silent approach.
As always, it came down to a contest of endurance. Both twins concentrated on THE SPOT, on the arch just in front of the heel, where it really, really tickled. They laughed and laughed, red faced, tickling as fast as they could, as time expanded and the tickling filled their universe.
Vicky was left-handed – advantage to her. But she was an upper body tickler by preference, and maybe just a hair more ticklish than her twin. Veronica was a foot tickler, and there was none better. Her tickling fingernails flicked and scratched in Vicky’s sweet spot and drove her sister wild. It was more than Vicky could bear – she lost it and collapsed onto her back, laughing at the top of her lungs.
Veronica giggled as the tickling sensation faded, then tickled faster as she regained fine motor control. She switched hands, left hand gripping Vicky’s foot, and went to work with her right. Her nails danced in Vicky’s arch, tickling the sweet spot mercilessly, forcing a stream of wild ticklish laughter.
“You win, Veronica,” Brittany said. “Quit!”
“Not yet,” Veronica said, and kept up her attack on the sweet spot. Vicky laughed her head off at the top of her lungs. Veronica’s long, well-manicured nails flicked and scratched, tickling unbearably – Vicky wasn’t struggling any more, all she could do was lay there and laugh. Mom and Aunt Karen looked on and made helpful suggestions while Veronica kept her twin laughing for five minutes more. Then she speeded up and reduced Vicky to red-faced gasping silent laughter.
Veronica released Vicky’s foot. “You’re gonna have to do better than that,” she said.
Vicky drew her knees up and laid there gasping. “That… tickled… so much…” she said. She sat up and rubbed her foot to get the tickle off. “Ribs and sides next time – I’ll have my revenge. Joke’s on you anyway – that Coke’s probably warm by now.”
“Joke’s on both of you,” Jamie said. “Katie and I drank it while you were busy.”
Mom reached over and tickled Aunt Karen’s upturned sole. Aunt Karen giggled and poked Mom in the ribs. Mom squeaked and jumped.
“Feet?” Mom asked.
“OK,” Aunt Karen answered.
“We’re getting too old–” Mom started.
“–to do this on the ground,” Aunt Karen completed the thought.
“Sofa,” they said in chorus.
They went indoors together. A moment later, stereo ticklish laughter poured out of the open family room windows.
Family tradition, Brittany thought. Both women had been stay-at-home moms when the girls were little, and they had spent considerable time together. Their noisy tickle fights featured in some of Brittany’s earliest memories. They had calmed down over the years, but this wasn’t all that unusual, even now.
Alex found her watch. “Is time to go home,” she told her sibs. “Come.”
“Thank you for having us over,” Julie said. “Today is my birthday – come tonight at 7:00 for birthday cake.”
“Glad to have you,” Brittany answered for all of them. “We will.”
Mom was the foot tickler of that pair – like Vicky, Aunt Karen preferred upper body tickling. But Mom was out of practice, and paid for it. Aunt Karen got the upper hand, and tickled Mom’s feet until she hardly knew her own name – then tickled her ribs, sides and tummy, for old time’s sake.
No big deal. Brittany took over the supper preparations – she ordered pizza.
***
The five girls had exchanged their swimsuits for shorts and t-shirts before supper, but hadn’t bothered to find their flip-flops. They were out by the pool at 6:45 when the neighbors’ back door flew open and Julie came out, running flat out. She had changed into a loose black t-shirt and black cargo pants. Birkenstocks aren’t the best shoes for running, but she managed well enough. Her long coppery red hair trailed behind her like a flag. Brittany, Joanna and their sisters ran over to the fence to watch.
Alex was right on Julie’s heels. “Vlered!” she yelled. But she got tangled up in her platform flip-flops and stumbled. Alex kicked off her shoes, but she was out of the race – Julie’s lead was too big.
Jenny and Katie blew past Alex, their bare feet flying over the grass. Jenny stepped on an acorn and yelped – she was out too. It looked like Julie was going to escape – she was almost to the fence, and the woods just beyond.
Katie caught her just short of the fence line. The others caught up, and there was a brief struggle, punctuated by laughter, squeals and sharp words in both languages. Julie ended up on her tummy, struggling, with Jenny sitting on her.
Alex exercised her right of seniority. “Ya starshiya,” she said imperiously. “Ya poschekochu tebe pyatki.”
“English, Alex!” the youngest two chorused.
“Khorosho,” Alex replied, then grinned sheepishly. “OK.”
“Ebat’-kobat’!” Julie yelled. “Shit! Let me GO!” She kicked and tried to buck Jenny off. All she accomplished was to send her left shoe adrift.
Alex traded places with Jenny and straddled Julie’s hips facing aft. Jenny grabbed Julie’s right ankle, bent the leg back toward Alex and pulled off the shoe. Alex grabbed the foot and poised her nails above it.
“No-no-no-no-no-NOOO!” Julie yelled, struggling and squirming.
Alex flicked her nails in Julie’s arches. Julie burst into helpless ticklish laughter. Her struggles stopped instantly – the tickling had completely overcome her senses.
Alex tickled up and down Julie’s upturned pink foot, soles to heels and back again. She wasn’t very skilled, but she didn’t have to be. Julie howled with forced mirth, her fair skin turning pink as she laughed.
Julie’s got to have the most ticklish feet in the neighborhood, Brittany thought – she’s completely helpless. She glanced at Vicky and Veronica. Those two were looking at each other, and they might as well have had a big cartoon thought balloon floating over their heads. “AMATEUR!” That’s what they were thinking.
The girls crossed over into the neighbors’ yard. Alex was tickling Julie’s sole, watching the toes twitch and curl. Vicky and Veronica closed in, with the others just behind.
“Alex! QUIT!” the twins yelled.
Alex did, surprised. “Th– thanks…” Julie said, gasping for air.
Vicky grabbed Julie’s other foot and bent the leg back, foot toward Alex. Veronica repositioned Alex’s legs – when she finished, Alex had Julie’s legs trapped in the figure-four leg lock, the bottoms of both feet facing her.
“Hey!” Julie said – she knew nothing good could come of this.
“Isn’t that better?” the twins chorused.
“Da. Spasebo. Thank you,” Alex said, and dug in with both hands, tickling both feet mercilessly. Julie laughed her head off at the top of her lungs.
Brittany watched the tickling critically. Vicky and Veronica were right – this girl had a lot to learn. Even Joanna, a relative newbie as a tickler, could do better.
“Not very good, is she?” Joanna whispered to Brittany.
“You just said the secret word,” Brittany replied, wiggling her dark brows and twirling an imaginary cigar. She pointed at the ground next to the laughing ticklish redhead. “Assume the position!”
Joanna looked disgusted. “I walked right into that one,” she said.
Brittany grinned. “Think of it as performing a public service.”
Joanna flopped down on her tummy next to Julie and lifted her feet. Brittany sat on her facing aft and trapped her legs in the figure-four leg lock. Alex paused, surprised – Julie stopped laughing and took long, deep, shaky breaths.
“Shto…?” Alex started.
“ENGLISH!” the younger girls shouted.
But Alex’s meaning was self explanatory. “Do as I do,” Brittany said. “I’ll coach you through it. Jenny and Katie, watch and learn!”
Brittany spread Joanna’s toes apart two by two, tickling between each pair, and Joanna laughed like mad. She held the toes back and scrabbled her nails on the soft skin underneath, then across both soles, side to side and back again. She tickled up and down the creases in the middle of Joanna’s soles, forcing stream after stream of forced mirth. Then two fingernails, drawing fast looping figure-eight’s around and onto the balls of both feet, and Joanna laughed at the top of her lungs.
Alex followed along, hesitantly at first, but gaining confidence as she tickled. Julie laughed her head off as Alex tickled between her toes, under them and onto her soles. Alex tickled the balls of Julie’s feet, faster now, and the laughter went up a notch. Not bad, thought Brittany – she’s learning fast!
Brittany released Joanna’s toes and tickled her soles two-handed, watching the toes twitch and curl as Joanna laughed like a crazy woman. She tickled down Joanna’s arches to the ticklish heels, drawing circles and other tickling shapes. Then onto the sweet spots – the same as the twins’ – Joanna went crazy, bucking and squirming, laughing her head off as Brittany’s tickling fingernails flicked and scratched.
Alex tickled Julie’s soles, down her arches, onto her heels. Julie’s laughter went off the scale as Alex’s nails scratched and scrabbled. Alex tickled two handed, keeping Julie laughing madly, scratching and flicking the ticklish heels. She tickled up the arches to the soles and back again, covering Julie’s feet with unbearable tickling, looking for the sweet spot. There wasn’t one – Julie was that ticklish – but Alex achieved the desired result anyway. Julie laughed wildly, helplessly, at the top of her lungs, and ran out of air. Alex had tickled her breathless.
“See? That’s how to do it,” Brittany said, and stopped tickling Joanna. She dismounted, rose and gave Joanna a hand-up.
Joanna brushed herself off and shuffled her feet to get the tickle off. She wiped tears of laughter on her sleeve and leaned close. “I’ll get you for this, Brittany!” she whispered.
“You’ll have to catch me first!” Brittany whispered back, grinning.
Julie didn’t move – she laid there gasping, red-faced, with tears of laughter running down her cheeks. “Yob… tvoyu… mat’… ” she said breathlessly – the all-purpose coarse Russian curse.
Alex was grinning from ear to ear. “Way to go, sis!” Katie said. She cracked her knuckles. “Dibs on the next round.”
But her mother called something from the back porch in Russian before she could start.
“Mo-om!” Katie protested. “It’s my turn to tickle her! Can’t the cake wait a few minutes?”
“Give it up, Katie,” Jenny advised. “We can always get her later.”
“Well... OK,” Katie said. “Give her a chance to rest up a little – we’ll be able to keep her going longer that way.”
“I like the way you think,” Jamie told Katie. “Gotta introduce you to Jessica. She’s our age – you’ll like her. You too, Jenny. Wanna go for a hike in the Hundred Acre Wood tomorrow?”
“Sounds good to me,” Jenny answered.
“Me too. Cake and ice cream, everybody!” Katie said. She helped Alex and Jenny to set Julie on her feet.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIE!” the girls chorused.
Julie wobbled – she was a little shaky. Brittany steadied her. “Julie? Are you OK?” she asked.
“I’m fine,” Julie replied. The Russian accent, faint before, was strong. She took a deep breath.
“No problem,” Julie said. “Is family tradition.”
***THE END***
5 June 2004: Many thanks to TMF member Starfires for help with the Russian words and phrases.
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