clean_kitchen
TMF Poster
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2002
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Tickling: The Anti-Drug
by clean_kitchen
Karen started worrying about her daughter about a month ago. Everything seemed to be about as smooth as they could be for a mother and her teenage daughter. Soon Jessie would graduate from high school and head off to college. She had even been accepted to the small private school Karen and her husband had attended. There had truly been few bumps in the road.
But about a month ago something changed. Jessie had become withdrawn. When they did talk, they argued. Karen had been busy this winter with the new account. Maybe her inattention was turning Jessie away. She was truly worried that Jessie had turned to drinking, or worse.
When Jessie announced that she wanted to go out for her 18th birthday with her friends Megan and Kate, Karen suggested that they have party at the house and a sleepover. Jessie resisted at first, but then relented so long as her mom promised to leave them alone and not do anything lame.
"Lame?" she thought to herself. "At what point did I get 'lame?'" She considered herself a young 42 years old. The ladies at work always commented how young she looked for her age, and she still turned more than a few heads when she wore her bathing suit to the pool.
Karen decided that she would try to involve herself in whatever her daughter and her friends were doing that night. That way she could keep an eye on them and maybe reconnect with her daughter. [This plan was, of course, the very definition of "lame"--maybe Jessie was right?]
The night arrived and Jessie's friends came to the house. Jessie, Megan and Kate had been friends since elementary school. Karen knew the other two girls well and thought of them almost as daughters. They ate some pizza, which Karen ordered and ate with them, and watched the latest teen heartthrob DVD on the big screen TV, which Karen rented and watched with them. Her comments about how cute the main character's father was drew an exasperated look from Jessie.
After the movie, the girls retreated to Jessie's room, leaving Karen to pick up the pizza boxes, popcorn bowls and soda cans. Jessie didn't want a cake--too childish, she said--so Karen had baked some brownies. She purposely "forgot" to bring them out after the pizza. They would be a good excuse to check in on the girls in a little bit.
She put the brownies on a plate and stuck a candle in one of them. She heard one of the girls--it sounded like Jessie--break into hysterical laughter. Karen thought nothing of it; she knew from her own sleepovers that loud bursts of giggles and laughter were part of the territory. Someone had probably said something about someone "liking" someone.
Jessie was still laughing when she got the closed door of Jessie's room. She had been laughing for a minute or two now. Karen thought it odd not only that she had been laughing so long, but even more so that it sounded like she was the only one laughing. Still, she didn't make the connection until she opened the door and walked inside. The room suddenly went silent. She nearly dropped the brownies.
Jessie was laying on the floor, red-faced and panting, hair a mess, tears streaming down face. Megan was sitting on her legs, pinning her ankles with her hands. Kate was kneeling on the floor at Jessie's feet.
Megan quickly jumped off of Jessie's legs and knelt beside Kate. Jessie sat up. They all stared at each other for several seconds. The girls were all wearing the short cotton shorts and light cotton tank tops they typically wore to bed. Each also wore a pair of ankle high socks. A pile of cards and poker chips laid on the floor nearby.
Jessie was the first to break the awkward silence. "Mom,... we were just,... uh,..."
"I think I can see what you were doing," her mother interrupted, bewildered, "but I'm not sure I understand it." She wasn't sure she wanted to. Apparently, Jessie was letting her friends tickle her feet. Karen was pretty ticklish herself and couldn't understand why someone would let that happen.
"It's just a game, Mrs. Carter," Megan offered.
"What kind of game?" Karen asked. She still wasn't sure she wanted to know, but she was determined to show interest in her daughter and her friends.
"Tickle Poker," Kate replied.
"Tickle Poker," Karen repeated.
"Yeah, it's kind of like Strip Poker, but with no stripping," Kate continued.
"Well, I'm glad about that," said Karen. "Why don't you explain it to me?"
Megan provided the explanation. "Well, we play it just like Texas Hold'em--just like on TV. The only difference is that the lowest remaining hand in each round takes the chips. The loser gets tickled by the other players for ten seconds for each chip they have. Then we start over."
"It makes the game more exciting," Jessie added. "We don't play for money and we don't want to strip, so this adds excitement to the game. It really makes you think about your bets. I thought I had a good hand last round and bet a lot. I lost and ended up with fifteen chips--that's two and a half minutes."
"I see...," Karen said, still taking it all in. She surprised everyone in the room when she said, "Well, deal me in!"
The girls looked at each other, wondering what to do. Karen sat down on the floor and started to shuffle the cards. She was determined to reconnect with her daughter and her friends, even if it meant getting tickled. It wouldn't be her first choice, but what the heck?
"Mom, I...," Jessie started.
"Oh, be quiet and sit down. Are you in or not?" Karen interrupted, trying to sound playful.
The girls looked at each other, shrugged and sat down. Each was given 15 chips, at ten seconds each, there was a total of ten minutes of tickling in play. The standard ante was a single chip, meaning that someone was guaranteed to get tickled for forty seconds each round. The girls informed Karen that the pot carried over if everyone folded. That provided ample motive to play when possible.
Karen thought she dodged a bullet on her very first hand. She stayed in on a king-8, but the three girls folded with truly terrible hands.
"I guess that's a push," Karen said as she gathered the cards and prepared to shuffle.
The girls looked at each other and motioned to Jessie to speak up.
"Not exactly, Mom," she said. "We get to tickle you. Forty seconds."
"What?" she said, surprised, "but I had the highest hand."
"You also had the lowest hand. Sorry, Mom, but those are the rules." Jessie fully expected her mom to back out at that point.
"Very well," Karen said with more confidence than she felt, "what do I do?"
The girls looked at each other yet again and shrugged.
"Lay down on your back," Kate told her, motioning to a clear spot on the floor.
She did as she was told. The girls decided that Jessie should do the tickling and since it was her mom, but Jessie said it seemed creepy. Kate agreed to do it. Megan sat on Karen's legs, pinning her ankles with her hands. Karen was no bigger than the girls, so Megan was strong enough to hold her down. Jessie knelt at her mother's feet. Karen didn't tend to wear shoes in the house, so she was already in just her socks. Jessie sat on near them all at Karen's side.
"Mom, you don't have to do this," Jessie said one more time.
"Sure I do," Karen replied with increasingly false confidence. She wondered how she would react when the tickling started. "I lost so I get 'the treatment.'"
"OK," Jessie said and nodded to Kate.
Karen's eyes grew wide with astonishment as Kate began to tickle her feet. She screamed and laughed and shook as the fingers ran up and down the soft cotton covering her soles. She had hoped the socks would provide some protection. If they did, it wasn't much.
AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA! NOOOOOHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
EEEEEEEE! OMYGAWD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KATIE, PLEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEEEEESE! AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Jessie watched with conflicted emotions. She had played this game countless times with her friends, so she was no stranger to a good tickle torture. It was strange, though, to see her mom laughing and flopping around and begging as Megan held her down and Kate tickled her feet. She suddenly didn't seem so old.
The forty second ended. It seemed very quick to Jessie, but very long to Karen.
"oh,... oh my,... oh my,..." she gasped as Megan released her legs. She scrubbed her soles on the carpet as she caught her breath.
"Man did that tickle!" she said as she sat up.
"Sorry, Mrs. Carter," Kate said, not sure if she was in trouble. She had really let Jessie's mom have it.
"It's OK, Katie," Karen reassured her. "No harm done. You guys do this a lot?"
"Yeah, I suppose so," her daughter replied.
Again, the girls waited to see what Karen would do. Jessie was certain her mom would leave now, though part of her hoped she would stay. Her surprise continued as Karen crawled back to the cards.
"What are we waiting for? Deal 'em up!" she said, motioning the girls back to the cards. She shuffled the cards and reapportioned the chips.
"She must think this is fun," Jessie thought to herself. "She wouldn't let herself get tickled just to snoop on us, would she?" She was suddenly suspicious, and hatched a plan to find out ... later.
The second round began and Karen once again stayed in the game on a king-10, figuring the odds were on her side. She was relieved when Megan also stayed in the game. The common cards were revealed: King, six, six, queen, three. Karen liked what she saw; that gave her a pair of kings. She couldn't believe it when Megan turned over a jack and a six. She lost again. Her eyes shot over to the pot and began to count. Ten chips; a full minute longer that last time.
She looked back up at Megan and forced a grin. "Must be beginner's luck," she joked, crawling back to the clearing on the floor.
Kate sat on her legs. This time Megan would have the honors (the actual winner of the hand usually had dibs on the tickling).
Karen winced in anticipation of the tickling on her feet. What was she getting herself into? She hadn't been tickled for years, and now she was literally giving her feet over to a couple teenage girls.
That's where the line of thought ended. She once again dissolved into hysterics as Megan attacked her socked feet. She pounded on the floor and grasped the nearby bed skirt in delirious agony.
"That's one minute," Jessie announced as Megan continued uninterrupted in her task.
A minute?! Karen thought through the laughter. Oh, crap! She already thought she was at her limit and she still had over half a minute left!
Megan continued to scribble her fingers on the older woman's wriggling soles. It was kind of a rush getting to tickle her friend's mom like this. She imagined she was getting her back for all the times Karen told her parents about something bad she had done while playing with Jessie. The time ended much sooner than Megan would have liked.
Karen again composed herself and returned to the cards. She was determined to see this through, and she couldn't lose every hand, could she?
She was relieved when Kate "won" the next hand, collecting 6 chips. Kate moaned and assumed the position. The girls offered to let Karen do the tickling and she somewhat reluctantly agreed.
"Is that OK with you, Katie?" she asked the now restrained eighteen-year-old.
"Sure, I guess so," she giggled.
Karen took her place at Kate's small feet. She flexed her fingers and and began wriggling them on the soft white cotton of her ankle socks. Kate immediately began to laugh a high staccato laugh. Karen was tentative at first, but soon increased the intensity. After about ten seconds she was really letting Kate have it.
Karen sympathetically watched her daughter's friend flop around on the floor, screeching and laughing. She wondered if that's how she looked a couple minutes ago. As she caressed the firm contours under the soft cotton, she decided that this was kind of fun. Like Megan, she imagined it as a kind of revenge for all the sass Kate had ever given her. She wondered if it had been this fun for the girls to tickle her.
She was startled when the minute ended. It had seemed a lot longer when she was the one getting tickled.
Several more hands came and went with Karen avoiding getting tickled. Megan and Kate each lost a couple times and Jessie had lost once. Karen tickled Megan once when she lost in return for Megan tickling her, but otherwise she let the girls dish it out. She was kind of getting into it, and the girls seemed to be treating her like one of them. The tickling she had endured and the threat of more were worth the connection to her daughter.
Jessie still had her suspicions. It was possible her mom was just keeping an eye on them. She had only lost twice and seemed to fold awfully fast the last couple hands.
Jessie and her mom both stayed in on the next hand, Jessie with a queen-ten and her mom with a king-ten. The common cards were dealt: three, ace, eight, seven, ten. Karen sighed with relief. They had the same pair, but her king beat Jessie's queen.
"You probably cheated," Jessie commented as she laid down and Kate sat on her legs.
"Oh, really?" Karen replied, "You'll have, let me see, two minutes and ten seconds to think about taking that back."
She looked at her daughter's feet but then stopped. "Is it a rule that you always tickle feet?"
"Well, that's what we've always done, but I suppose it's not a rule," Kate answered.
"Perfect. Megan, pull her arms up and sit on her wrists," Karen ordered.
"What? No way!" Jessie complained, giggling. She looked pleadingly at Megan who no had Jessie's arms pinned high above her head.
"There's no rule against it," she shrugged. Megan didn't care if there was or not. She was equally interested to see Jessie get it like this and thankful that it wasn't her. She wondered why she hadn't thought of this.
Karen straddled her daughter's hips. She slid her hands under her tanktop, made claws with her hands and rested her fingers on the sides of Jessie's belly.
"Crap! Mom, no! Please!" Jessie pleaded. She was already laughing so hard it was difficult to understand her.
"Is my little girl still ticklish?" she taunted. "I used to to this to you all the time when you were little."
"No, please, ... PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!" Jessie shrieked as her mom's nails began to dance all over her daughters tummy and sides. Megan had to press down harder to keep Jessie from escaping. She shuddered as she watched Mrs. Carter's hands roam around under Jessie's tank top. Kate, still on Jessie's legs turned and strained to see.
Jessie was completely lost to the world, aware only of those fingers their affect on her skin. She twisted as much as she could, trying to escape the ticking if only for a moment, but her mom's hands here seemingly glued to her body.
Megan and Kate both almost lost their grips on Jessie when Karen's fingers emerged from under her tanktop at her armpits, still tickling away. Jessie lapsed into silent laughter. She was going absolutely nuts.
The two minutes finally ended. Karen removed her hands and gave her daughter a peck on the cheek before returning to the cards.
"omygawd,... omygawd, ..." Jessie panted and giggled as she regained her composure. "My gawd, Mom, that was awful! I remember when you did that when i was little."
"You two can stop grinning," she threatened the other two, now playfully. "You're getting some of that, too." The two girls both gave their best "ooh, I'm afraid" look, but they were both a little nervous. It seemed the stakes were rising.
"And I'm going to get you, too," she said to her mom.
"You have to win, first," Karen taunted in reply.
Now Jessie had two reasons she wanted her mom to lose another hand.
Karen took a bathroom break and Jessie had a talk with her friends. When karen returned, they began another hand.
Karen was first. She stayed on a pair of kings. There was no way should could lose that hand. Kate and Megan both folded. Jessie looked at her cards and then at her friends. She folded.
"Oh, come on," Karen complained, "I had a great hand."
"Rules are rules," Jessie said. "Beside, you're about due, and it's only forty seconds."
Karen laid down and Megan sat on her legs. She protested when Jessie had Kate pin her arms above her head.
"Rules are rules," jessie said. "You started it."
Karen hadn't thought of that. My gawd, were her underarms ticklish. Her anxiety increased when Jessie said, "Take off her socks."
"Oh, no,.. Jessie, what are you doing?" Karen felt the cool air on her feet as Megan pulled her socks off. They felt extremely sensitive after being in socks all day. She started to panic when Jessie took the egg timer they used to time the sessions and tossed it on the bed.
"Here's what I think," Jessie said, kneeling next to her mom. "I think you just came up here to spy on us."
"No! I swear!" Karen pleaded. The whole evening would be shot if she lost her daughter's confidence again.
"We'll see," Jessie said. "You got me really bad last hand, and turnabout is fair play. I'm going to tickle you until you tell us the truth."
"Oh, dear." Karen struggled to free herself. "I'm telling the truth. Please don't do this."
"You're call. You can stop me whenever you want." Jessie crawled down to her mom's bare feet and began lightly tracing her fingernails along the tops and outsides of her mom's feet. Megan did that to her one time and it tickled like mad.
Karen erupted into a stream of laughter, continuing to protest her innocence and pleading her daughter not to tickle her feet. She went absolutely crazy when Jessie skittering her fingers all over her bare soles. Megan and Kate could barely hang on as Jessie's mom struggled to free herself.
The tickling suddenly stopped after two or three minutes when the door to the room opened. It was Jessie's dad. He had gone to watch the game at the neighbor's house so that he wouldn't be in the way of "girl's night." Oh crap, Jessie thought, she was in for it now.
Jessie's dad just stared at the girls and his wife until he finally spoke. "Are... you, uh,... alright, hon? I came back for a bag of those chips I like and heard the commotion."
Jessie tensed, expecting her mom to tell him they were torturing her.
"I'm... fine, dear," she said, still a little winded. She giggled. Jessie was so stunned that she froze in place, her nails still touching Karen's soles. The slightest move by Karen tickled her feet against the nails. She figured this was quite a sight.
"Really? Are you sure?" her husband asked.
"Positive, we're just playing a game, right girls?" she said, looking at each of the girls.
"Yeah,..." Jessie said "girl stuff."
"If you say so." Mr. Carter rolled his eyes and left the room, closing the door behind him. The door was barely closed when Mr. Carter once again heard his wife begin laughing like a mad woman.
"Some game," he thought as he grabbed his chips and left. He might just sleep on Bill's sofa tonight. Women.
Back in the bedroom, Jessie continued her ticklish assault on her mom's feet. Karen just shook and laughed as her daughter tickled her silly, determined not to give in.
After another five minutes or so, Jessie stopped. Her mom gasped and giggled as Jessie crawled up beside her. She rubbed her feet together, trying to get rid of the lingering sensations.
"Please,... oh please,... I'm telling the truth..." she pleaded.
"Maybe she is," Kate said, feeling a bit sorry for Mrs. Carter. It was actually a bit of a fantasy to have this kind of power over an authority figure, but she sympathized. She wouldn't want to be in her position, but this was between Jessie and her mom.
"I'm not convinced," Jessie said, straddling her mom's hips.
"No, Jessie! You wouldn't!"
Jessie slipped her hands under her mom's t-shirt and made claws with her hands, nails on Karen's tummy.
"Oh, is my little mommy still ticklish?" she taunted, repeated what Karen had said to her earlier.
"Don't do it, please no..." Karen begged. She could see the bulges under her shirt and she could feel the nails. It already tickled.
Karen exploded into ticklish laughter as her daughter ran her fingers all over her tummy and sides. Her hands moved independently, one walking up her side while the other lingered on her belly, then the other way around. Her fingers wandered aimlessly all over her belly and ribs, all the while wriggling and tickling.
Tears streamed down Karen's face. She tried to withstand it, but the only thought her mind could muster was a desperate desire for the tickling to stop. She shrieked and laughed a high, full laugh.
Megan was really enjoying this. Who'd have guessed that they would spend the night tickling the crap out of Jessie's mom?
Karen's laughter reached a whole new level when Jessie began tickling under her arms. Karen screamed and gasped for about ten seconds before Jessie could make out some words among the laughter.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! OKAY! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAA! OKAAAAAAEEEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Jessie stopped hands still in place under her mom's arms. "What was that?"
"OK... OK... AH!" she squealed as her breathing caused Jessie's nails to tickle her slightly. She had taken one heck of a tickling, but she just couldn't bear it under her arms.
"OK what?" Jessie said, taking her hands out from underneath her mom's shirt so she could talk.
"Just... let me... catch my breath..."
WAAAAAAAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAHAHA!
Jessie gabbed her mom's sides just above the hips and kneaded with her fingers. "Don't catch your breath, just talk."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! OK! OK! AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THE TRUTH! THE TRUUUUHUHUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Karen's head fell limp between her arms. She closed her eyes, exhausted, and tried to catch her breath as she spoke.
"You're right,... you're right,... I'm spying..."
Everything was wasted. All her planning, all that tickling she went though were for nothing.
"That's what I thought," Jessie said, a little disappointed. She got off her mom and Kate and Megan did the same. Karen was too spent to move, except to bring her arms down to her sides.
"Why? Don't you trust me?" Jessie asked as her mom sat up.
"That's not it at all," Karen relied. "I've just felt so distant from you the past couple months. I was worried about you."
Jessie could tell her mom was serious. "Why did you go through all this? Why no just tell me? You could have had dad tell me to stop tickling you."
"I did it because I wanted to spend time with you, to show you I was interested."
"You could have just taken me shopping or something," Jessie said.
"I suppose so," Karen agreed, "but would it have been as fun?"
She grinned and Jessie grinned back at her. "Really? You had fun? Didn't it tickle?"
"Like crazy. But I really enjoyed playing the game with you."
"Really?"
"Really. In fact,..."
Karen crawled over to the cards and began to shuffle. "Who's in?"
* * *
Karen flopped onto her bed at four in the morning. She was completely exhausted, not only because of the hour but because she had been tickled silly on and off for the past couple hours. She had also dished out her fair share of giggles.
They had agreed to implement a no-underarms rule, but not after Kate and Megan each got a taste. All of them had, however, lost their socks shortly after the game resumed.
She'd never had such a night, and didn't know if she'd join them for a repeat game anytime in the future. It was fun, but she didn't know if she could work the nerve back up to submit to tickling like that again. She'd cross that bridge when it came.
She drifted into a deep sleep. They'd all be sleeping late tomorrow.
by clean_kitchen
Karen started worrying about her daughter about a month ago. Everything seemed to be about as smooth as they could be for a mother and her teenage daughter. Soon Jessie would graduate from high school and head off to college. She had even been accepted to the small private school Karen and her husband had attended. There had truly been few bumps in the road.
But about a month ago something changed. Jessie had become withdrawn. When they did talk, they argued. Karen had been busy this winter with the new account. Maybe her inattention was turning Jessie away. She was truly worried that Jessie had turned to drinking, or worse.
When Jessie announced that she wanted to go out for her 18th birthday with her friends Megan and Kate, Karen suggested that they have party at the house and a sleepover. Jessie resisted at first, but then relented so long as her mom promised to leave them alone and not do anything lame.
"Lame?" she thought to herself. "At what point did I get 'lame?'" She considered herself a young 42 years old. The ladies at work always commented how young she looked for her age, and she still turned more than a few heads when she wore her bathing suit to the pool.
Karen decided that she would try to involve herself in whatever her daughter and her friends were doing that night. That way she could keep an eye on them and maybe reconnect with her daughter. [This plan was, of course, the very definition of "lame"--maybe Jessie was right?]
The night arrived and Jessie's friends came to the house. Jessie, Megan and Kate had been friends since elementary school. Karen knew the other two girls well and thought of them almost as daughters. They ate some pizza, which Karen ordered and ate with them, and watched the latest teen heartthrob DVD on the big screen TV, which Karen rented and watched with them. Her comments about how cute the main character's father was drew an exasperated look from Jessie.
After the movie, the girls retreated to Jessie's room, leaving Karen to pick up the pizza boxes, popcorn bowls and soda cans. Jessie didn't want a cake--too childish, she said--so Karen had baked some brownies. She purposely "forgot" to bring them out after the pizza. They would be a good excuse to check in on the girls in a little bit.
She put the brownies on a plate and stuck a candle in one of them. She heard one of the girls--it sounded like Jessie--break into hysterical laughter. Karen thought nothing of it; she knew from her own sleepovers that loud bursts of giggles and laughter were part of the territory. Someone had probably said something about someone "liking" someone.
Jessie was still laughing when she got the closed door of Jessie's room. She had been laughing for a minute or two now. Karen thought it odd not only that she had been laughing so long, but even more so that it sounded like she was the only one laughing. Still, she didn't make the connection until she opened the door and walked inside. The room suddenly went silent. She nearly dropped the brownies.
Jessie was laying on the floor, red-faced and panting, hair a mess, tears streaming down face. Megan was sitting on her legs, pinning her ankles with her hands. Kate was kneeling on the floor at Jessie's feet.
Megan quickly jumped off of Jessie's legs and knelt beside Kate. Jessie sat up. They all stared at each other for several seconds. The girls were all wearing the short cotton shorts and light cotton tank tops they typically wore to bed. Each also wore a pair of ankle high socks. A pile of cards and poker chips laid on the floor nearby.
Jessie was the first to break the awkward silence. "Mom,... we were just,... uh,..."
"I think I can see what you were doing," her mother interrupted, bewildered, "but I'm not sure I understand it." She wasn't sure she wanted to. Apparently, Jessie was letting her friends tickle her feet. Karen was pretty ticklish herself and couldn't understand why someone would let that happen.
"It's just a game, Mrs. Carter," Megan offered.
"What kind of game?" Karen asked. She still wasn't sure she wanted to know, but she was determined to show interest in her daughter and her friends.
"Tickle Poker," Kate replied.
"Tickle Poker," Karen repeated.
"Yeah, it's kind of like Strip Poker, but with no stripping," Kate continued.
"Well, I'm glad about that," said Karen. "Why don't you explain it to me?"
Megan provided the explanation. "Well, we play it just like Texas Hold'em--just like on TV. The only difference is that the lowest remaining hand in each round takes the chips. The loser gets tickled by the other players for ten seconds for each chip they have. Then we start over."
"It makes the game more exciting," Jessie added. "We don't play for money and we don't want to strip, so this adds excitement to the game. It really makes you think about your bets. I thought I had a good hand last round and bet a lot. I lost and ended up with fifteen chips--that's two and a half minutes."
"I see...," Karen said, still taking it all in. She surprised everyone in the room when she said, "Well, deal me in!"
The girls looked at each other, wondering what to do. Karen sat down on the floor and started to shuffle the cards. She was determined to reconnect with her daughter and her friends, even if it meant getting tickled. It wouldn't be her first choice, but what the heck?
"Mom, I...," Jessie started.
"Oh, be quiet and sit down. Are you in or not?" Karen interrupted, trying to sound playful.
The girls looked at each other, shrugged and sat down. Each was given 15 chips, at ten seconds each, there was a total of ten minutes of tickling in play. The standard ante was a single chip, meaning that someone was guaranteed to get tickled for forty seconds each round. The girls informed Karen that the pot carried over if everyone folded. That provided ample motive to play when possible.
Karen thought she dodged a bullet on her very first hand. She stayed in on a king-8, but the three girls folded with truly terrible hands.
"I guess that's a push," Karen said as she gathered the cards and prepared to shuffle.
The girls looked at each other and motioned to Jessie to speak up.
"Not exactly, Mom," she said. "We get to tickle you. Forty seconds."
"What?" she said, surprised, "but I had the highest hand."
"You also had the lowest hand. Sorry, Mom, but those are the rules." Jessie fully expected her mom to back out at that point.
"Very well," Karen said with more confidence than she felt, "what do I do?"
The girls looked at each other yet again and shrugged.
"Lay down on your back," Kate told her, motioning to a clear spot on the floor.
She did as she was told. The girls decided that Jessie should do the tickling and since it was her mom, but Jessie said it seemed creepy. Kate agreed to do it. Megan sat on Karen's legs, pinning her ankles with her hands. Karen was no bigger than the girls, so Megan was strong enough to hold her down. Jessie knelt at her mother's feet. Karen didn't tend to wear shoes in the house, so she was already in just her socks. Jessie sat on near them all at Karen's side.
"Mom, you don't have to do this," Jessie said one more time.
"Sure I do," Karen replied with increasingly false confidence. She wondered how she would react when the tickling started. "I lost so I get 'the treatment.'"
"OK," Jessie said and nodded to Kate.
Karen's eyes grew wide with astonishment as Kate began to tickle her feet. She screamed and laughed and shook as the fingers ran up and down the soft cotton covering her soles. She had hoped the socks would provide some protection. If they did, it wasn't much.
AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA! NOOOOOHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
EEEEEEEE! OMYGAWD! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! KATIE, PLEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHHEEEEESE! AAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Jessie watched with conflicted emotions. She had played this game countless times with her friends, so she was no stranger to a good tickle torture. It was strange, though, to see her mom laughing and flopping around and begging as Megan held her down and Kate tickled her feet. She suddenly didn't seem so old.
The forty second ended. It seemed very quick to Jessie, but very long to Karen.
"oh,... oh my,... oh my,..." she gasped as Megan released her legs. She scrubbed her soles on the carpet as she caught her breath.
"Man did that tickle!" she said as she sat up.
"Sorry, Mrs. Carter," Kate said, not sure if she was in trouble. She had really let Jessie's mom have it.
"It's OK, Katie," Karen reassured her. "No harm done. You guys do this a lot?"
"Yeah, I suppose so," her daughter replied.
Again, the girls waited to see what Karen would do. Jessie was certain her mom would leave now, though part of her hoped she would stay. Her surprise continued as Karen crawled back to the cards.
"What are we waiting for? Deal 'em up!" she said, motioning the girls back to the cards. She shuffled the cards and reapportioned the chips.
"She must think this is fun," Jessie thought to herself. "She wouldn't let herself get tickled just to snoop on us, would she?" She was suddenly suspicious, and hatched a plan to find out ... later.
The second round began and Karen once again stayed in the game on a king-10, figuring the odds were on her side. She was relieved when Megan also stayed in the game. The common cards were revealed: King, six, six, queen, three. Karen liked what she saw; that gave her a pair of kings. She couldn't believe it when Megan turned over a jack and a six. She lost again. Her eyes shot over to the pot and began to count. Ten chips; a full minute longer that last time.
She looked back up at Megan and forced a grin. "Must be beginner's luck," she joked, crawling back to the clearing on the floor.
Kate sat on her legs. This time Megan would have the honors (the actual winner of the hand usually had dibs on the tickling).
Karen winced in anticipation of the tickling on her feet. What was she getting herself into? She hadn't been tickled for years, and now she was literally giving her feet over to a couple teenage girls.
That's where the line of thought ended. She once again dissolved into hysterics as Megan attacked her socked feet. She pounded on the floor and grasped the nearby bed skirt in delirious agony.
"That's one minute," Jessie announced as Megan continued uninterrupted in her task.
A minute?! Karen thought through the laughter. Oh, crap! She already thought she was at her limit and she still had over half a minute left!
Megan continued to scribble her fingers on the older woman's wriggling soles. It was kind of a rush getting to tickle her friend's mom like this. She imagined she was getting her back for all the times Karen told her parents about something bad she had done while playing with Jessie. The time ended much sooner than Megan would have liked.
Karen again composed herself and returned to the cards. She was determined to see this through, and she couldn't lose every hand, could she?
She was relieved when Kate "won" the next hand, collecting 6 chips. Kate moaned and assumed the position. The girls offered to let Karen do the tickling and she somewhat reluctantly agreed.
"Is that OK with you, Katie?" she asked the now restrained eighteen-year-old.
"Sure, I guess so," she giggled.
Karen took her place at Kate's small feet. She flexed her fingers and and began wriggling them on the soft white cotton of her ankle socks. Kate immediately began to laugh a high staccato laugh. Karen was tentative at first, but soon increased the intensity. After about ten seconds she was really letting Kate have it.
Karen sympathetically watched her daughter's friend flop around on the floor, screeching and laughing. She wondered if that's how she looked a couple minutes ago. As she caressed the firm contours under the soft cotton, she decided that this was kind of fun. Like Megan, she imagined it as a kind of revenge for all the sass Kate had ever given her. She wondered if it had been this fun for the girls to tickle her.
She was startled when the minute ended. It had seemed a lot longer when she was the one getting tickled.
Several more hands came and went with Karen avoiding getting tickled. Megan and Kate each lost a couple times and Jessie had lost once. Karen tickled Megan once when she lost in return for Megan tickling her, but otherwise she let the girls dish it out. She was kind of getting into it, and the girls seemed to be treating her like one of them. The tickling she had endured and the threat of more were worth the connection to her daughter.
Jessie still had her suspicions. It was possible her mom was just keeping an eye on them. She had only lost twice and seemed to fold awfully fast the last couple hands.
Jessie and her mom both stayed in on the next hand, Jessie with a queen-ten and her mom with a king-ten. The common cards were dealt: three, ace, eight, seven, ten. Karen sighed with relief. They had the same pair, but her king beat Jessie's queen.
"You probably cheated," Jessie commented as she laid down and Kate sat on her legs.
"Oh, really?" Karen replied, "You'll have, let me see, two minutes and ten seconds to think about taking that back."
She looked at her daughter's feet but then stopped. "Is it a rule that you always tickle feet?"
"Well, that's what we've always done, but I suppose it's not a rule," Kate answered.
"Perfect. Megan, pull her arms up and sit on her wrists," Karen ordered.
"What? No way!" Jessie complained, giggling. She looked pleadingly at Megan who no had Jessie's arms pinned high above her head.
"There's no rule against it," she shrugged. Megan didn't care if there was or not. She was equally interested to see Jessie get it like this and thankful that it wasn't her. She wondered why she hadn't thought of this.
Karen straddled her daughter's hips. She slid her hands under her tanktop, made claws with her hands and rested her fingers on the sides of Jessie's belly.
"Crap! Mom, no! Please!" Jessie pleaded. She was already laughing so hard it was difficult to understand her.
"Is my little girl still ticklish?" she taunted. "I used to to this to you all the time when you were little."
"No, please, ... PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE!" Jessie shrieked as her mom's nails began to dance all over her daughters tummy and sides. Megan had to press down harder to keep Jessie from escaping. She shuddered as she watched Mrs. Carter's hands roam around under Jessie's tank top. Kate, still on Jessie's legs turned and strained to see.
Jessie was completely lost to the world, aware only of those fingers their affect on her skin. She twisted as much as she could, trying to escape the ticking if only for a moment, but her mom's hands here seemingly glued to her body.
Megan and Kate both almost lost their grips on Jessie when Karen's fingers emerged from under her tanktop at her armpits, still tickling away. Jessie lapsed into silent laughter. She was going absolutely nuts.
The two minutes finally ended. Karen removed her hands and gave her daughter a peck on the cheek before returning to the cards.
"omygawd,... omygawd, ..." Jessie panted and giggled as she regained her composure. "My gawd, Mom, that was awful! I remember when you did that when i was little."
"You two can stop grinning," she threatened the other two, now playfully. "You're getting some of that, too." The two girls both gave their best "ooh, I'm afraid" look, but they were both a little nervous. It seemed the stakes were rising.
"And I'm going to get you, too," she said to her mom.
"You have to win, first," Karen taunted in reply.
Now Jessie had two reasons she wanted her mom to lose another hand.
Karen took a bathroom break and Jessie had a talk with her friends. When karen returned, they began another hand.
Karen was first. She stayed on a pair of kings. There was no way should could lose that hand. Kate and Megan both folded. Jessie looked at her cards and then at her friends. She folded.
"Oh, come on," Karen complained, "I had a great hand."
"Rules are rules," Jessie said. "Beside, you're about due, and it's only forty seconds."
Karen laid down and Megan sat on her legs. She protested when Jessie had Kate pin her arms above her head.
"Rules are rules," jessie said. "You started it."
Karen hadn't thought of that. My gawd, were her underarms ticklish. Her anxiety increased when Jessie said, "Take off her socks."
"Oh, no,.. Jessie, what are you doing?" Karen felt the cool air on her feet as Megan pulled her socks off. They felt extremely sensitive after being in socks all day. She started to panic when Jessie took the egg timer they used to time the sessions and tossed it on the bed.
"Here's what I think," Jessie said, kneeling next to her mom. "I think you just came up here to spy on us."
"No! I swear!" Karen pleaded. The whole evening would be shot if she lost her daughter's confidence again.
"We'll see," Jessie said. "You got me really bad last hand, and turnabout is fair play. I'm going to tickle you until you tell us the truth."
"Oh, dear." Karen struggled to free herself. "I'm telling the truth. Please don't do this."
"You're call. You can stop me whenever you want." Jessie crawled down to her mom's bare feet and began lightly tracing her fingernails along the tops and outsides of her mom's feet. Megan did that to her one time and it tickled like mad.
Karen erupted into a stream of laughter, continuing to protest her innocence and pleading her daughter not to tickle her feet. She went absolutely crazy when Jessie skittering her fingers all over her bare soles. Megan and Kate could barely hang on as Jessie's mom struggled to free herself.
The tickling suddenly stopped after two or three minutes when the door to the room opened. It was Jessie's dad. He had gone to watch the game at the neighbor's house so that he wouldn't be in the way of "girl's night." Oh crap, Jessie thought, she was in for it now.
Jessie's dad just stared at the girls and his wife until he finally spoke. "Are... you, uh,... alright, hon? I came back for a bag of those chips I like and heard the commotion."
Jessie tensed, expecting her mom to tell him they were torturing her.
"I'm... fine, dear," she said, still a little winded. She giggled. Jessie was so stunned that she froze in place, her nails still touching Karen's soles. The slightest move by Karen tickled her feet against the nails. She figured this was quite a sight.
"Really? Are you sure?" her husband asked.
"Positive, we're just playing a game, right girls?" she said, looking at each of the girls.
"Yeah,..." Jessie said "girl stuff."
"If you say so." Mr. Carter rolled his eyes and left the room, closing the door behind him. The door was barely closed when Mr. Carter once again heard his wife begin laughing like a mad woman.
"Some game," he thought as he grabbed his chips and left. He might just sleep on Bill's sofa tonight. Women.
Back in the bedroom, Jessie continued her ticklish assault on her mom's feet. Karen just shook and laughed as her daughter tickled her silly, determined not to give in.
After another five minutes or so, Jessie stopped. Her mom gasped and giggled as Jessie crawled up beside her. She rubbed her feet together, trying to get rid of the lingering sensations.
"Please,... oh please,... I'm telling the truth..." she pleaded.
"Maybe she is," Kate said, feeling a bit sorry for Mrs. Carter. It was actually a bit of a fantasy to have this kind of power over an authority figure, but she sympathized. She wouldn't want to be in her position, but this was between Jessie and her mom.
"I'm not convinced," Jessie said, straddling her mom's hips.
"No, Jessie! You wouldn't!"
Jessie slipped her hands under her mom's t-shirt and made claws with her hands, nails on Karen's tummy.
"Oh, is my little mommy still ticklish?" she taunted, repeated what Karen had said to her earlier.
"Don't do it, please no..." Karen begged. She could see the bulges under her shirt and she could feel the nails. It already tickled.
Karen exploded into ticklish laughter as her daughter ran her fingers all over her tummy and sides. Her hands moved independently, one walking up her side while the other lingered on her belly, then the other way around. Her fingers wandered aimlessly all over her belly and ribs, all the while wriggling and tickling.
Tears streamed down Karen's face. She tried to withstand it, but the only thought her mind could muster was a desperate desire for the tickling to stop. She shrieked and laughed a high, full laugh.
Megan was really enjoying this. Who'd have guessed that they would spend the night tickling the crap out of Jessie's mom?
Karen's laughter reached a whole new level when Jessie began tickling under her arms. Karen screamed and gasped for about ten seconds before Jessie could make out some words among the laughter.
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! OKAY! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAA! OKAAAAAAEEEEEEEEHEHEHEHEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Jessie stopped hands still in place under her mom's arms. "What was that?"
"OK... OK... AH!" she squealed as her breathing caused Jessie's nails to tickle her slightly. She had taken one heck of a tickling, but she just couldn't bear it under her arms.
"OK what?" Jessie said, taking her hands out from underneath her mom's shirt so she could talk.
"Just... let me... catch my breath..."
WAAAAAAAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAHAHA!
Jessie gabbed her mom's sides just above the hips and kneaded with her fingers. "Don't catch your breath, just talk."
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! OK! OK! AAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THE TRUTH! THE TRUUUUHUHUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Karen's head fell limp between her arms. She closed her eyes, exhausted, and tried to catch her breath as she spoke.
"You're right,... you're right,... I'm spying..."
Everything was wasted. All her planning, all that tickling she went though were for nothing.
"That's what I thought," Jessie said, a little disappointed. She got off her mom and Kate and Megan did the same. Karen was too spent to move, except to bring her arms down to her sides.
"Why? Don't you trust me?" Jessie asked as her mom sat up.
"That's not it at all," Karen relied. "I've just felt so distant from you the past couple months. I was worried about you."
Jessie could tell her mom was serious. "Why did you go through all this? Why no just tell me? You could have had dad tell me to stop tickling you."
"I did it because I wanted to spend time with you, to show you I was interested."
"You could have just taken me shopping or something," Jessie said.
"I suppose so," Karen agreed, "but would it have been as fun?"
She grinned and Jessie grinned back at her. "Really? You had fun? Didn't it tickle?"
"Like crazy. But I really enjoyed playing the game with you."
"Really?"
"Really. In fact,..."
Karen crawled over to the cards and began to shuffle. "Who's in?"
* * *
Karen flopped onto her bed at four in the morning. She was completely exhausted, not only because of the hour but because she had been tickled silly on and off for the past couple hours. She had also dished out her fair share of giggles.
They had agreed to implement a no-underarms rule, but not after Kate and Megan each got a taste. All of them had, however, lost their socks shortly after the game resumed.
She'd never had such a night, and didn't know if she'd join them for a repeat game anytime in the future. It was fun, but she didn't know if she could work the nerve back up to submit to tickling like that again. She'd cross that bridge when it came.
She drifted into a deep sleep. They'd all be sleeping late tomorrow.
