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)
Alex Budanov
Alex is 20 yrs old. Long, silvery blonde hair, dark blue eyes, fair skin with a fit body and Rubenesque figure. She’s a student at Commonwealth University, a long drive away from Tieson City. She’s by no means an enthusiastic tickler– at least, not yet – but she’s getting there. She lives with her parents and three younger sisters: Yulia (Julie), Evgenia (Jenny), and Ekaterina (Katie). She’s new in town – her family moved to Tieson City at the beginning of summer.
Stephanie Miklajcyk
Stephanie will be a Senior at Tieson City High School this fall – she has just turned 18. She’s tall, drop-dead gorgeous, with a beautiful face, flawless fair skin, long , silky light brown hair, green eyes, an hourglass figure and long, shapely legs. She’s insanely ticklish, and regards that as her greatest weakness.
Candice Wade
She’s 19, a little beauty with crystal blue eyes and ash blonde hair, and a very trim and shapely body. Loves to be tickled and get in ticklish situations, but if the tickling goes too far, she's out of control. Lately her lust to be tickled has grown and grown, and now she'll do anything to get tickled. She's lived with her parents and sister on Tickle Street since she was five.
Nicole Wade
Candice’s 21 yr old sister. A little taller than Candice, with bright blonde hair, but the two girls have the same cute shape, delicate features and crystal blue eyes. As ticklish as Candice, but until this summer not an active participant in the Tickle Street action. Like Alex, Nicole is a student at Commonwealth University.
Julie Budanov
Alex’s younger sister, just turned 18, another upcoming Senior at TCHS. Julie is slender with long, bright coppery red hair. She has high cheekbones, exotic eyes inherited from a distant Tatar ancestor, skin so fair that it almost seems translucent, and the most ticklish feet in the neighborhood. Her eyes are that indeterminate color 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.
Sadistic Siblings…
Jenny Budanov (Evgenia Budanova) is 16, blonde and blue eyed like Alex. Katie Budanov (Ekaterina Budanova, Katya to her family) is the youngest at age 13 – she’ll look like Alex and Jenny when she fills out a little more. Jamie Shaw is Katie’s age, dark-haired and blue-eyed like her older sister Joanna.
********************
Alex Budanov shifted her weight and sighed – she had been on her feet since the start of her shift, and they hurt. But sore feet aside, this job at Fourbucks Coffee wasn’t bad. The place was in the food court at Squander Mall. It didn’t pay very well, but it was a great venue for people-watching.
Alex still thought of herself as Aleksandra Budanova – she had been 15 yrs old when her family left Russia to come to America. She was 20 yrs old now, a Slavic beauty with with a fit body and Rubenesque figure, fair skin, dark blue eyes and long, silvery blonde hair. She was new to Tieson City – her family had moved here from the Russian immigrant neighborhood of Brighton Beach in New York City at the beginning of summer.
Last fall, Alex had gone off to college at Commonwealth University in New England – that made two big changes in one year. Alex didn’t make friends easily, so neither change had been easy for her. Unlike her time away at college, she wasn’t lonely here – that wasn’t possible in a big family like hers. But it would be nice to have friends.
Alex occasionally saw her neighbors at the Mall. Twins Vicky and Veronica Righetti worked at the department store that anchored one end of the mall – they lived next door, she had gotten to know them and their sister Brittany a little. Morgan Ernst and Nicole Wade worked at the mall bookstore, and the others came here to shop. Unfortunately, though, everybody was busy with summer jobs and such. They had no time for the new girl.
“Why so glum, Alex?” her co-worker Stephanie Miklajcyk asked.
Stephanie was tall, drop-dead gorgeous, with long, silky light brown hair, green eyes, a beautiful face, flawless fair skin, an hourglass figure and long, shapely legs. All too many truly beautiful girls are stuck on themselves. Stephanie wasn’t a bit like that. She was a genuinely nice person – outgoing and likeable, with a sunny, open personality. Alex liked her a lot.
“I think I am... homesick? Yes, homesick,” Alex replied. Her English was fluent but Russian-accented.
“You’ve been through a lot of changes in the last few years, haven’t you?” Stephanie asked sympathetically. “I was named after my great-grandfather – Stefan Miklajcyk. He got off the boat at Ellis Island 100 yrs ago with no English, one suitcase, and $25.00 in his pocket. I’m not sure I could have done that. I’ve always admired his courage.”
“I am not like him, Stephanie,” Alex said. “In Russia, I had friends and place in society. In Brighton Beach, was not too different. But at college I did not fit in very well. And here... My family are here, but this is not home. There is no place where I belong.”
“You know, ever since I was a little girl, I knew I would be a model,” Stephanie said. “God gave me this...” –a gesture that took in her whole body– “...and I took advantage of it, when I should have been paying attention to other things. A few months back, I realized that He had other plans for me. I’ve been feeling my way along ever since.”
“How did you realize...” Alex started.
Stephanie cut her off. “You’d never believe it if I told you.” She paused, then went on. “Certainty is comfortable, but it can be a trap, too. It’s better this way. You’ll find your own way home, Alex, or you’ll make one. Like Grandpa Stefan did. I wish I’d known him.”
The place got busy then, and that put an end to the conversation. When the customers thinned out, Stephanie suggested that Alex should take a break and think things over – she could handle the place by herself for a while.
Alex came around the counter, sat down in the food court and pulled off her shoes. She didn’t prop her feet up as an American would have done – Russians don’t do that – but just having the shoes off was a relief. Maybe there was something to what Stephanie said, she thought. She had been drifting through life, not doing, but being done-to. She needed to take control, reach out, make a place for herself. There was no going back – her life was here in America now.
“Alex – mind if we join you?” a voice asked.
Alex looked up and saw her neighbors, Nicole and Candice Wade. Nicole was a little taller than her younger sister, and bright-blonde instead of her sister’s ash blonde. But both were little beauties with trim and shapely figures, fair skin, bright blue eyes and delicate china-doll features. They were both wearing capri’s and t-shirts – Nicole had a plastic name badge pinned to her shirt.
“Hello, Nicole,” Alex said. “I did not expect to see you here, Candice. Please, sit.”
Candice plopped a shopping bag down on the table. “Came here to shop and thought I’d visit Nicole while I was here. It’s time for her break, so here we are.”
Alex had met Candice the day her family moved in – Candice and her friends Sara Rosen and Meghan Meyer had tricked her and tickled her silly. Alex had gotten her revenge with the help of her sister Julie and the Righetti sisters, and discovered that serious tickling was a lot of fun. Now, though, she was a little embarrassed – it had been pretty intense.
“I’m sorry we tickled you like that, Candice,” Alex said. “Was mean.”
Candice laughed. “We got off to a rocky start, you and me,” she said. “You got even, like I hoped you would. I enjoyed it – I like to be tickled. Ask anybody.”
“She’s been weird like that all her life,” Nicole said. “I don’t know how many times she asked me to tickle her silly. Two, three times a week, maybe?”
“Lots,” Candice said. “And twice on Sundays. She got pretty good at it, too. And I think she enjoyed it as much as I did – right, sis?”
“Well... you do have a pretty laugh,” Nicole said, grinning. “I couldn’t let Sara have all the fun.”
“Sara’s away on vacation this week,” Candice said. “And everybody else has been too busy lately to have another gathering. I guess it’s just you and me again.”
“A nasty job, but somebody’s gotta do it,” Nicole joked.
Alex took a chance. “No need to overwork yourself, Nicole,” she said. “I could help.”
The sisters exchanged a startled look, and then came to wordless agreement.
“I’d like that,” Candice said. “You and Julie did a fine job the last time, and I’d hoped you’d find an opportunity to tickle me again. What time do you get off work?”
“In two hours. Julie will come to pick me up then.”
“OK, that works for me. I’ll be finished here by then. Call Julie and tell her you have a ride – I’ll give you a lift home. D’you want to play at your place or mine?”
“Mine, I think,” Alex said. “If that’s OK with you.”
“Suits. See ya then!”
Candice and Nicole left. Alex checked her watch and sighed – break time was over. She put her shoes back on and went back to work.
“Ready for some more?” Stephanie asked. “The best part of a job like this is taking your shoes off and getting a foot rub at the end of the day.” She smiled ruefully. “And I thought modeling was hard on the feet – little did I know!”
“My sisters give me foot rubs,” Alex said. “But they tickle.”
“Yah, my brother too,” Stephanie said. “But he tickles me anyway, has for years, ever since he got big enough to get away with it. At least now I get a foot rub first. Come on, let’s make a fresh pot of espresso – you could use the stuff that’s in there to strip paint.”
***
Candice parked in the driveway and turned to Alex. “I’m gonna change clothes,” she said. “Something looser and more comfortable. See ya in five.”
Alex headed home. It wasn’t far, just diagonally across the cul-de-sac. Just as she was coming up the front sidewalk, the door burst open and Jenny emerged, running like the wind, just ahead of Jamie Shaw and Katie. Both younger sisters were blue-eyed blondes. Jenny was 16 – she would look like her buxom older sister in a few years, but she wasn’t quite there yet. Katie was 13, and just starting to fill out. Jamie was Katie’s age, dark-haired, fair-skinned and freckled, like her older sister Joanna.
Alex stepped aside, startled, but Jenny made a hard left turn and sprinted toward the back yard. She vaulted the back fence and disappeared into the woods beyond, with Jamie and Katie in hot pursuit. A few seconds later, a wild burst of laughter came from the direction they had gone.
Nothing new there, thought Alex. She pulled off her shoes at the door and headed upstairs to the room she shared with Julie. She changed quickly into a red t-shirt and jeans shorts, peeled off her socks and headed back downstairs. She got there just as Candice arrived.
Candice was similarly dressed – her shirt was blue. She had a small canvas tote bag with her. She kicked off her flip-flops at the door.
“Lead the way, Alex,” Candice said.
“In my room,” Alex said. “No one will disturb us – my sisters are out.”
“Yah, I saw Jamie and Katie chasing Jenny,” Candice replied. “Reminds me of Vicky and Veronica at that age. That was a lot of fun – they made a habit of it, and really got me good!”
Upstairs, Candice dumped the contents of her tote on Alex’s bed – an assortment of nylon straps. She wrapped a belt around her waist, slipped a shorter strap – a dog collar – under the belt at the small of her back. “This is my own invention,” she said. She sat on the bed, drew up her legs and strapped her ankles together with another collar. “See, we’re less likely to hurt each other if you immobilize me.” Candice laid down, rolled onto her tummy and crossed her wrists behind her back. “Tie my hands, and use the last strap to hogtie me. A little tighter... OK, that’s good. Y’know, I should have patented this rig. Wouldn’t have made much money though – I’d have a small and highly select clientele.”
“I would have bought one,” Alex said. “Julie squirms too much.”
“I’ll leave it with you,” said Candice. “I have more at home.”
Alex kneeled at Candice’s bound feet. “Ready?”
“Tickle my soles, right in the middle,” Candice said. “It drives me wild!”
“OK,” said Alex, and did just that. Candice bucked violently, arched her back and laughed her head off.
Candice laughed helplessly as Alex held back her toes and tickled a stretched out sole, paying particular attention to the crease in the exact center. Alex tickled across the balls of Candice’s feet to the other sole, then back again, fingernails flying, and Candice’s laughter went off the scale. She squirmed and struggled, her fair skin turning pink from laughing, tears of laughter running down her cheeks.
Alex was merciless. She tickled Candice’s soles until the little blonde was red-faced and sweaty. She eased off, tickled down Candice’s arches to her heels, and the laughter went down a notch. Then back to the soles again – Candice laughed at the top of her lungs. She has amazing stamina and endurance, Alex thought – my fingers are getting tired, yet she’s still not in any distress. She gave Candice’s soles another burst of nail flicks, forcing a stream of wild laughter, then quit.
“How’s that?” Alex asked, and stood up.
Candice rolled onto her side. “Wooo! Good one!” she said cheerfully, a little short of breath. “That really, really tickled. Give me more!”
Alex rolled Candice back onto her tummy and resumed her position. “Any suggestions?” she asked.
“You did fine,” Candice answered. “A little faster, maybe– Hehehe! HAHAHA-HAHAHAHA-HAHAHA!” as Alex started in on her again. She now knew where the most ticklish places were, and how to get the best reactions. Her tickling fingernails flew, flicking and scratching, making Candice laugh at the top of her lungs. Candice’s musical laughter filled the room – she didn’t struggle, all she could do was lay there and laugh.
“Hi, Alex!” Julie called out from the door. “Can I tickle her too? How about it, Candice?” She was a slender girl with long, coppery red hair, exotic eyes inherited from some distant Tatar ancestor, and skin so fair that it seemed almost translucent. As usual, she wore heavy black eyeliner, black lipstick and nail polish, baggy Goth-black t-shirt and cargo pants, and black Birkenstock slides without socks. She had been only 13 when the family came to America – her English was nearly accent-free. Well, a Brooklyn accent, but that was as American as deli sandwiches and cheese-danish.
But Candice was laughing much too hard to answer.
“My turn now. Maybe later,” Alex said. Candice kept on laughing, her sweet soprano tickle laugh filling the room. Julie sat cross-legged on her bed to watch.
Alex had Candice in the zone, laughing like a madwoman, tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks. She tickled Candice’s soles two handed, watching the toes twitch and curl. She tickled down the arches, covering Candice’s feet with tiny nail flicks. She scratched the ticklish heels, then drew wavy lines, figure-eight’s and other tickling shapes in Candice’s arches. She gave Candice a breather, then held her toes back and tickled the stretched out soles again. Candice laughed at the top of her lungs, loving every bit of it.
Alex quit again a few minutes later. Candice laid there gasping, red faced, her cheeks streaked with tears, her blonde hair messed up. “Good thing... you quit... when you did,” she said. She took another deep breath. “Turn me loose, I need a bathroom.”
Alex did so. Candice sat up and put her feet on the floor. “Hi, Julie!” she said. “Want to tickle me next?” She used the collar of her t-shirt to blot the tears.
“Sure, why not? It’ll be a nice change from tickling my sisters.”
“Her technique has improved since the last time,” Candice said. “How about you?”
Julie grinned. “Better now than before. We practice on each other.”
“And you can practice on me too,” Candice said, and stood up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back in a flash,” she said on her way out of the room.
“This is something new,” Julie remarked. “How long has Candice been here?”
“An hour, maybe,” Alex answered. “She saw me at work and told me she needed tickling. Said we did great job before, and she wanted some more.” She switched to Russian and went on. “Do you mind?”
“Nyet. I had fun tickling her that time – maybe I’ll tickle her too,” Julie replied in the same language.
“I like her,” Alex said. “She’s like Katya, full of mischief, but there’s no meanness in her.”
“And a lot of fun to tickle,” Julie added.
“She has great reactions and a pretty tickle laugh,” Alex agreed. She heard Candice’s footsteps approaching and switched back to English. “My feet hurt. Will you give me foot rub?”
“Be happy to,” Candice called out from the doorway. “I do a pretty good job. That’s how I paid Nicole back for all the times she tickled me when we were growing up.”
Alex desperately wanted this girl as a friend. “OK,” she said. “Better you than Julie – she tickles!”
Candice grinned. “So do I,” she said. She crossed the room to Alex’s dresser and picked something up – a movie promotion pin, the sort movie production companies give out. It was an old one – T3, it said.
“I saw this before. Why the Terminator pin, Alex?” Candice asked. “I don’t picture you as an action movie fan.”
Alex laughed. “Is... initiation pin from college,” she said. “Two girls in my dormitory tickled me. They tickled everybody on whole floor. After, they gave us pins. T3, for Tennessee Toe Ticklers.”
“Sounds like fun,” Candice said. She didn’t seem surprised. “I’ll have to look them up this fall when I get to school.”
“At Commonwealth University?” Alex asked, surprised.
“Yup. Like my sister – she’ll be a Junior this year,” Candice said. “Now lay down on your tummy, and I’ll give you that foot rub.”
Candice did a good job of it, and unlike Alex’s sisters, she didn’t tickle at all. When Alex remarked on that, Candice told her that tickle-free foot rubs had been part of the bargain with her sister. Nicole had never liked being tickled – their tickle play had never been reciprocal.
Candice just about put Alex to sleep. She checked her watch when she finished and stood up. “Gotta go,” she said. “Sorry, Julie – I have to go home and start dinner.”
“Same time tomorrow, Candice?” Alex asked.
“I have to work late at the drugstore,” Candice said with genuine regret. “Some other time. Bye, Alex!”
***
Stephanie gave Alex a ride home the next day. They were later getting away than usual – their relief was late showing up. Candice was already home – she and Julie were sitting on Candice’s front steps, chatting, when Alex arrived.
Alex crossed the cul-de-sac. “I’m glad I caught you, Candice,” she said, and smiled shyly. “Are you free tomorrow after supper? Come, and we can play again.”
“I’d like that,” Candice answered. “But let’s use my place instead – my folks are going out, we’ll have the house to ourselves. Julie, you’re coming too, or I’ll gang up on you with Jenny and Katie and tickle you silly.”
Alex was cheered by Candice’s acceptance – maybe I will make a new friend, she thought. “Candice, maybe you and I can... gang up... on Julie instead,” she said.
“Hey!” Julie said indignantly.
“Oh, hush,” Candice said. “It’s a deal, Alex. See ya!”
“You seem to have a new friend,” Julie said as they walked home. “You’ve needed a friend, Alex – I’m happy for you.”
“She’s fun,” Alex said. “I like her.”
“Me too. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe I ought to practice on Katie – she deserves it.”
Alex laughed. “No more than Jenny – or me, for that matter.”
Julie laughed too. “Come on, Alex, I’ll give you a foot rub,” she said. “I won’t tickle you – not much, anyway. Sit down on the couch and take off your shoes and socks – I’ll do it there.”
Alex pulled off her shoes at the door and sat on the couch, Julie sat beside her. Alex peeled off her socks and put her feet in her sister’s lap.
Julie gently stroked Alex’s soles. “Hehehe!” Alex giggled. “Don’t tickle!”
***
Julie was with their younger sisters when Alex came home the next day. The younger girls were in shorts and t-shirts again. Julie was barefoot like the others, but was otherwise fully clothed in her Goth-black outfit. All three girls looked a little rumpled. Julie’s face was tear-streaked – she must have lost the tickle fight, thought Alex.
“Are we still on for tonight Julie?” Alex asked.
Julie nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it,” she said.
“I don’t see why we can’t come too,” Jenny complained.
“Just for grownups, little sister,” Julie answered in an airy tone, which was guaranteed to infuriate the younger girl. “Try again in another couple of years.”
“Forget it. We’ll visit Jamie instead,” Katie said.
Alex changed into gray gym shorts and a navy-and-white Moscow Dynamo soccer jersey, both soft from many washings. Then back downstairs –
“If we can’t go with you tonight, we ought to tickle you some more right now,” Jenny was saying to Julie, making tickling motions in the air.
“Leave her alone,” Alex said firmly. “Is almost supper time.”
“Maybe we should tickle you,” Jenny said. “Come on, Katie – let’s do it.”
“We better not,” Katie said regretfully – for once, she was the voice of restraint. “We don’t have time for a tickle fight before supper. Save it for some other time.”
Jenny grumbled a little, but went along. It wasn’t as if Alex or Julie were going to get away tickle-free. They would have other opportunities – or make some.
***
“Hi, come on in,” Candice said. She was barefoot, wearing loose gray gym shorts and a Commonwealth University t-shirt. “My parents went out tonight, we have the house to ourselves. Ready to play?”
“Is why we are here,” Alex said. But that was only part of it. The tickle play would be fun, of course, but even better would be gaining a new friend and a place where she fit in. Maybe that will happen tonight, thought Alex. I hope so.
Candice looked Julie over – Goth-black clothes and nail polish, dark makeup. “This is gonna be fun – I really enjoy tickling Goths,” she said cheerfully. “You’re all so gloomy, it’s a special treat to make you laugh.”
“I’m not gloomy!” Julie said. “Alex is the gloomy one. Tickle her.” She kicked off her shoes beside the door – Alex did the same.
“Oh, I will,” Candice said. She led them inside toward the family room. “But you are really gonna get it, and I expect you to return the favor.”
“Hi, Alex,” Nicole said. “Julie, glad you could come.”
Alex was surprised to see Nicole – Candice’s comments had led her to think that the older girl wouldn’t be a participant in tonight’s activities. The sisters were identically dressed, Alex saw. Well, not quite – Nicole had something pinned to her shirt. A round pin – T3, it said – just like the one she had on her dresser!
Nicole grinned. “Candice told me you were a member of the East Tennessee Songbird Society,” she said. “Welcome, sister! I’ll make you sing tonight!”
“How did you...” Alex started.
“Get this pin? Danielle and Tara moved in downstairs from me after they got kicked out of the dorm,” Nicole said. “How about you? Did you live on their floor?”
“At other end of hall,” Alex answered. “I was not member of their group, they tickled me only once.”
“That can be corrected,” Nicole said. “If you want.” She grinned. “They’re good, aren’t they? And both of them have great tickle laughs.”
Alex was confused. “But I thought...”
“I don’t know what Candice told you,” Nicole said, “but I’ve loosened up considerably since Christmas. I’m looking forward to tickling you silly, and Julie too. Come on, let’s play.”
“Me first!” Candice said.
Nicole laughed. “You never get enough, do you? OK, why not? Let’s do it on the back porch.”
Nicole grabbed a tall stool from the breakfast bar, Candice got another on their way outside. The porch was covered and screened in, with a ceiling fan under the roof. On it were a gas grill, four folding director chairs with canvas seats and backs, and a couple of small tables.
Nicole flipped the fan on. “It’s pretty warm tonight, and the kind of tickling we do is hot work. This will help.” She set her stool down in front of one of the chairs. “OK, Candice, here ya go.”
Candice turned her back on Nicole and crossed her wrists behind her. Nicole strapped them together. Candice sat in the chair, put her feet through the legs of the stool and rested her ankles on the far-side leg brace. Nicole passed a strap over Candice’s lap and under the chair seat, another around her shoulders and the chair back. She strapped her sister’s ankles together, tied them off to the brace to anchor them. The finishing touch – she tied Candice’s big toes together with twine.
Candice wiggled her toes and grinned. “Who wants to sing a duet with me?”
“Are you as ticklish as she is, Nicole?” Alex asked shyly.
Nicole grinned. “Why don’t you tie me up and find out?”
They used more of Candice’s nylon straps instead, but the effect was the same. Candice and Nicole ended up bound side-by-side. The Russian girls set the other two chairs facing Nicole and Candice’s feet. Alex paired off with Nicole, Julie with Candice.
“How d’you want to work this?” Julie asked.
“Let’s see how long you can hold us on the edge,” Nicole said. “Ready?”
Alex lightly flicked her well-manicured nails on Nicole’s soles. Like Candice, those were the sweet spots, where Nicole’s feet were insanely, unbearably ticklish. Nicole threw her head back and laughed at the top of her lungs. Her toes twitched and curled as she laughed like mad.
“Let’s see you top that,” Candice said cheerfully.
“Hush,” Julie said, and held Candice’s toes back. “All I want to hear from you is laughing.” She used a single nail to draw fast, looping figure-eight’s around the balls of Candice’s feet. Candice lost it and howled with forced mirth, her skin turning pink from laughing.
Alex covered both feet with tiny nail flicks. She tickled Nicole’s arches and heels two handed, then held back her toes and tickled the soft skin underneath. Still holding the toes back, she tickled both stretched out soles, left-right-and-repeat, lingering on the soles and balls of Nicole’s feet where it tickled unbearably. Nicole wasn’t struggling any more – all resistance had been tickled away. She laughed and laughed, helpless to resist the fiendish and well techniqued tickling.
Alex glanced over at Julie and Candice. The redhead tickled side to side under all ten toes while helpless laughter streamed from her victim. She released Candice’s toes to tickle her arches and heels. Then holding the toes back again, she tickled the stretched out soles mercilessly. Candice laughed her head off, tears of laughter streaming down her cheeks.
“Let’s finish ‘em off,” Julie said, and picked up the pace. Alex speeded up too, and both ticklees laughed at the top of their lungs. It was more than they could bear – they laughed themselves breathless.
“Not bad at all, Alex,” Nicole said when she had her breath back.
“You have our next-door neighbors to thank for that,” Julie said. “Brittany showed us a few tricks – Veronica too.”
“You couldn’t do any better than that – they’re the two best foot ticklers in the neighborhood,” Nicole said.
“Too much talk,” Candice said. “Turn me loose and assume the position, Alex. I’m gonna tickle you silly!”
“Your turn to tickle me, Julie,” Nicole said. “See if you can do better than Alex.”
Candice tied Alex up next to Nicole. Alex looked over at Nicole. She felt fingernails just touching her soles – Candice was teasing her. Nicole winked, then burst into ticklish laughter as Julie started in on her. Then Alex felt Candice’s nails flick her soles – suddenly she was laughing at the top of her lungs, squirming and straining against her bonds, trying desperately to escape the tickling.
Alex heard Nicole’s laughter through a haze of tickle torture. Julie was really getting Nicole good! But Candice’s tickling fingernails forced wave after wave of ticklish laughter from Alex, and the tickling sensation crowded out all coherent thought.
Candice tickled down Alex’s arches, onto the heels, and back up to the soles as streams of laughter poured out of Alex. Then holding Alex’s toes back, she tickled a stretched out sole in the exact middle, along the crease. Alex howled with forced mirth as Candice tickled across the balls of both feet to the other sole. She drew fast, looping figure-eight’s on the balls of both feet, covering every square inch of sensitive skin with unbearable tickling. Alex laughed and laughed – it didn’t last forever, but it seemed that way. Candice tickled her soles, from the left to the right and back again, fingernails flying. Alex ran out of air, and mercifully, the tickling stopped.
Alex took long deep breaths, eyes closed, tears of laughter running down her cheeks. Nicole was still laughing beside her, harder now, as Julie’s tickling fingernails roamed her sensitive soles.
“OK, I guess it’s time for another break,” Julie said. “But first...” She gave Nicole’s soles another burst of tiny nail flicks, and Nicole’s laughter went off the scale. Julie speeded up, tickling at warp speed, and tickled Nicole’s breath away.
Julie quit, and the two ticklers released their ticklees. Nicole was gasping for air, red faced and sweaty, cheeks streaked with tears. Alex knew she wasn’t much better off.
“That tickled so much!” Alex said. “How did you learn to tickle like that, Candice?”
Candice laughed. “I know all about it from the inside,” she said. “I just do unto others as they have done unto me. Either way, it’s a lot of fun.”
They took their break in the kitchen. For a wonder, the Wade family actually had some decent tea. Alex made it Russian-style – hot, dark and sweet. It would have come out better if she could have used a samovar, like they did at home. Well, maybe not – the tea kettle made perfectly good hot water – but Alex was a traditionalist.
Alex set to work putting Nicole’s blonde hair in a French braid. They chattered away, comparing notes about college and such. Candice nudged Julie.
“Ever watch the monkeys at the zoo grooming each other? How they pick fleas off each other and eat ‘em?” Candice asked. “Look at those two. Same thing.”
“I heard that!” Nicole said with mock indignation. “I don’t have fleas,” she added. “Have to make do with peanuts. Here – have one.”
Nicole pegged the peanut at Candice’s tea cup and made a direct hit, splashing tea onto Candice’s shirt.
Candice looked down at the stain. “You are so gonna get it!” she said.
Alex smiled at the banter. It was good to have friends again.
“Where are you staying this year?” asked Nicole, interrupting Alex’s thoughts.
“I have dormitory room again,” Alex said.
“Want to move off campus? There’s a vacancy in my apartment building,” Nicole said. “My friend Stacy called and told me that the two stoners on the second floor decamped for parts-unknown.”
“I would need room mate,” Alex said.
“There’s another girl already on the lease,” Nicole said. “Stacy’s sister’s Freshman year room mate, Natalie Lasko. Natalie and Shelly lived on your floor too – across the hall from Danielle and Tara. Do you know them?”
“Not well,” Alex said. “They seemed nice though.” She thought about it for a moment, but the decision wasn’t hard to make – she hadn’t been looking forward to another year in a dorm. “I would like to live in your building, Nicole. If everyone will accept me.”
“No problem,” Nicole said. “If tonight is any indication, you’ll fit right in with the rest of us this fall.”
“You all tickle each other?”
“All the time. It’ll be a lot more fun this year – counting you and Natalie, there’ll be ten of us,” Nicole said. “You already know Shelly Haviland, and you’ll like her sisters Stacy and Ashley. You know the others too – Natalie, Danielle and Tara, and you’ll be across the hall from Alicia Jemison and Lindsey Eckard on the second floor.”
Better and better. New friends here, and friends at college too. Home, here and away. I’m glad I came, thought Alex.
They paired off again afterward, Candice with Julie and Nicole with Alex. The Russian girls got tied up this time.
Julie strained experimentally against her bonds. “This is a good rig,” she said. “These nylon straps aren’t too tight, they don’t chafe, but there’s no give at all. Wish I’d thought of it – we would have bruised each other a lot less.”
“That’s why I made it,” Candice said. “I gave Sara a black eye without meaning to. Ready?”
“Any time,” Julie answered for both of them. “Tickle us sill– Eee! Hehe! HAHAHA-AHAHA-HAHAHAHA!”
Julie laughed at the top of her lungs as Candice tickled her, fingernails flicking the sensitive soles. Nicole spread Alex’s right little and next toes and scratched between them – Alex let out a startled yelp, and then she was singing a ticklish duet with her sister, laughing in two-part harmony.
Nicole tickled between each pair of toes, each time getting a wild burst of laughter from Alex. She tickled down Alex’s soles and arches, onto the heels, and back up to the soles. Alex felt her toes twitch and curl as musical ticklish laughter poured out of her. She heard Julie laughing helplessly beside her, blinked away tears to look – Julie was red-faced, sweaty, her cheeks streaked with tears. But Nicole held Alex’s toes back, tickled the ball of one foot and across to the other, and Alex lost it. She laughed at the top of her lungs – it tickled horribly!
Nicole made a Peace sign and scratched the balls of both feet at the same time, just behind the big toes, until Alex thought she would go crazy. Nicole eased off – Alex dropped back to normal rated laughter as the tickling moved down her arches and onto her heels. Nicole lingered there, drawing wavy lines and other tickling shapes. Then holding the toes back again, she tickled onto the sweet spots, fingernails flying, and tickled Alex into gasping, red faced silent laughter.
“Yob... tvoyu... mat’... ” Alex gasped – the general-purpose coarse Russian curse.
“No kidding!” Julie said. “There’s advantages to being as ticklish as I am – Candice tickled me out a couple of minutes before Nicole finished with you.”
Nicole undid Alex’s bonds and helped her to stand up. Alex was a little shaky – the tickling had been pretty intense.
“You are good tickler, Nicole,” Alex said. “Did you learn all that just from tickling Candice?”
“Sure did. Practice makes perfect – right, sis?”
“Yup,” Candice said cheerfully. “And I loved every bit of it!”
“I will try to do as well, Candice,” Alex said. “As you told me earlier, assume the position.”
“You’re in for a treat, Julie,” Nicole added. “I’m a much better tickler than Candice.”
Candice made a rude noise. “Less talk, more action!” she said. “Come on, Alex, tickle me. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Alex flicked her nails on Candice’s heels, and Candice burst into helpless laughter. She tickled two-handed up the arches to the soles, then spread Candice’s toes apart two by two, tickling between each pair. Candice laughed like a madwoman, tears of laughter running down her face. Alex held Candice’s toes back and scrabbled her nails on the soft skin underneath, then across both soles, side to side, over and over. Then two fingernails, drawing circles around and onto the balls of both feet while Candice howled with forced mirth. Alex tickled up and down the creases in the middle of Candice’s soles, and Candice laughed at the top of her lungs.
Nicole had a surgeon’s dexterity, a delicate touch that kept Julie laughing wildly but didn’t tickle her out. She spread Julie’s toes and tickled between each pair, forcing stream after stream of ticklish laughter. Julie laughed and laughed as Nicole tickled her soles and arches two-handed. Nicole tickled down Julie’s arches to the ticklish heels, drawing circles and other tickling shapes – Julie laughed her head off.
Nicole saw Alex looking. “Don’t watch me! Focus!” Nicole said. “Tickle her soles – it drives her wild!”
Alex held back Candice’s toes and spider walked her nails along the crease in the exact center of Candice’s right sole – four fingernail strokes in succession, three times a second – a rate of 180 nail flicks a minute. She tickled across the balls of both feet to the left sole, flicking and scratching. Candice went crazy, bucking and squirming, laughing her head off. Her laughter went off the charts – she lost it and laughed herself breathless.
“Good one, Alex!” Nicole said. She picked up the pace – Julie’s laughter went off the scale as Nicole’s nails scratched and scrabbled. Julie laughed wildly, helplessly, at the top of her lungs, and ran out of air. Nicole had tickled her breath away.
Candice and Julie sat there gasping, trying to get their breathing and heart rate normal again. Candice was first to recover – she had had years of practice. She grinned.
“I’ve had a great time tonight,” Candice said. “We’ll have to do this again.”
“Was fun,” Alex agreed. “Julie and I will have to practice more,” she said, and reached over to tickle Julie’s feet.
“Hehehe!” Julie giggled. “Otstan! Khvatit!”
Nicole laughed. “Sounds like Julie lost her English,” she said. “We make a pretty good team, don’t we, sis?”
“We do indeed. Anybody for a snack? I’m ravenous.”
Alex stood up and checked her watch. “Another time,” she said. “Thank you for having us. We must do this again soon.”
“Party pooper!” Candice said good-naturedly. “OK, untie us. We’ll save some for the next time.”
“We have a neighborhood club, like the Songbirds,” Candice said after she and Julie were untied. “The Ancient and Honorable Society of Vellatrices. You’re both members already, if you want to be – we’ll call tonight your initiation. Next time, I’ll invite the others too – Sara and Meghan, Brittany, everybody!”
“It sounds... wonderful,” Alex said. She turned to Julie – the redhead still looked a little dazed. “Come, Julie.”
It was just as well that they didn’t have far to go – Alex was running on autopilot, lost in thought. At last, she had a place! And at college too! They were half way home when Julie put a hand on Alex’s arm.
“Wait, Alex! We forgot our shoes!”
“No matter,” Alex said. “We can get them tomorrow. For the moment, I have other plans.”
“Other plans?” Julie asked.
“Da. Jenny and Katie...”
“Have been bigger pests than usual lately,” Julie completed the thought. “We should teach them a lesson.”
“We must leave no marks,” Alex said.
“I like the way you think,” Julie said, and grinned an evil grin.
Their mother broke it up – eventually. No marks, no harm done – and Jenny and Katie really did deserve it.
***
Alex didn’t need to be at work until 2 PM the next day, so all four sisters went shopping at the mall together. Alex was already dressed out in her uniform, less the apron. Julie was in her ususal black, the younger girls in t-shirts and shorts. Afterward, they walked with Alex to the coffee shop.
“Hi, Alex!” Stephanie called from behind the counter. “You’re early.”
“Hi, Stephanie. I was shopping with my sisters,” Alex responded. “You have met them, I think.”
“Yah, Katie, Jenny and Julie,” Stephanie said. “Hi – can I get you something?”
“Thanks, but we’re just leaving,” Julie said. “See you later, Alex,” she said.
Alex came around the counter, put her apron on and got to work. She hummed as she worked. Classic rock and roll mainly, cheerful tunes, no gloomy Russian composers for her! She wasn’t really aware of doing it – it was a sound of contentment, like a cat purring.
“You’re a regular songbird today, Alex,” Stephanie remarked.
“Shto?” Alex said, startled – did Stephanie know about the Songbirds? “What did you say, Stephanie?”
“I’ve never seen you this cheerful. Something good must have happened. Come on, tell me!”
“Russians are not always gloomy,” Alex said. “Sometimes, as you say, we are like songbirds. Especially when we have found our way home.”
***THE END***
Copyright 2004 by the author
Dramatis Personae (in order of appearance)
Alex Budanov
Alex is 20 yrs old. Long, silvery blonde hair, dark blue eyes, fair skin with a fit body and Rubenesque figure. She’s a student at Commonwealth University, a long drive away from Tieson City. She’s by no means an enthusiastic tickler– at least, not yet – but she’s getting there. She lives with her parents and three younger sisters: Yulia (Julie), Evgenia (Jenny), and Ekaterina (Katie). She’s new in town – her family moved to Tieson City at the beginning of summer.
Stephanie Miklajcyk
Stephanie will be a Senior at Tieson City High School this fall – she has just turned 18. She’s tall, drop-dead gorgeous, with a beautiful face, flawless fair skin, long , silky light brown hair, green eyes, an hourglass figure and long, shapely legs. She’s insanely ticklish, and regards that as her greatest weakness.
Candice Wade
She’s 19, a little beauty with crystal blue eyes and ash blonde hair, and a very trim and shapely body. Loves to be tickled and get in ticklish situations, but if the tickling goes too far, she's out of control. Lately her lust to be tickled has grown and grown, and now she'll do anything to get tickled. She's lived with her parents and sister on Tickle Street since she was five.
Nicole Wade
Candice’s 21 yr old sister. A little taller than Candice, with bright blonde hair, but the two girls have the same cute shape, delicate features and crystal blue eyes. As ticklish as Candice, but until this summer not an active participant in the Tickle Street action. Like Alex, Nicole is a student at Commonwealth University.
Julie Budanov
Alex’s younger sister, just turned 18, another upcoming Senior at TCHS. Julie is slender with long, bright coppery red hair. She has high cheekbones, exotic eyes inherited from a distant Tatar ancestor, skin so fair that it almost seems translucent, and the most ticklish feet in the neighborhood. Her eyes are that indeterminate color 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.
Sadistic Siblings…
Jenny Budanov (Evgenia Budanova) is 16, blonde and blue eyed like Alex. Katie Budanov (Ekaterina Budanova, Katya to her family) is the youngest at age 13 – she’ll look like Alex and Jenny when she fills out a little more. Jamie Shaw is Katie’s age, dark-haired and blue-eyed like her older sister Joanna.
********************
Alex Budanov shifted her weight and sighed – she had been on her feet since the start of her shift, and they hurt. But sore feet aside, this job at Fourbucks Coffee wasn’t bad. The place was in the food court at Squander Mall. It didn’t pay very well, but it was a great venue for people-watching.
Alex still thought of herself as Aleksandra Budanova – she had been 15 yrs old when her family left Russia to come to America. She was 20 yrs old now, a Slavic beauty with with a fit body and Rubenesque figure, fair skin, dark blue eyes and long, silvery blonde hair. She was new to Tieson City – her family had moved here from the Russian immigrant neighborhood of Brighton Beach in New York City at the beginning of summer.
Last fall, Alex had gone off to college at Commonwealth University in New England – that made two big changes in one year. Alex didn’t make friends easily, so neither change had been easy for her. Unlike her time away at college, she wasn’t lonely here – that wasn’t possible in a big family like hers. But it would be nice to have friends.
Alex occasionally saw her neighbors at the Mall. Twins Vicky and Veronica Righetti worked at the department store that anchored one end of the mall – they lived next door, she had gotten to know them and their sister Brittany a little. Morgan Ernst and Nicole Wade worked at the mall bookstore, and the others came here to shop. Unfortunately, though, everybody was busy with summer jobs and such. They had no time for the new girl.
“Why so glum, Alex?” her co-worker Stephanie Miklajcyk asked.
Stephanie was tall, drop-dead gorgeous, with long, silky light brown hair, green eyes, a beautiful face, flawless fair skin, an hourglass figure and long, shapely legs. All too many truly beautiful girls are stuck on themselves. Stephanie wasn’t a bit like that. She was a genuinely nice person – outgoing and likeable, with a sunny, open personality. Alex liked her a lot.
“I think I am... homesick? Yes, homesick,” Alex replied. Her English was fluent but Russian-accented.
“You’ve been through a lot of changes in the last few years, haven’t you?” Stephanie asked sympathetically. “I was named after my great-grandfather – Stefan Miklajcyk. He got off the boat at Ellis Island 100 yrs ago with no English, one suitcase, and $25.00 in his pocket. I’m not sure I could have done that. I’ve always admired his courage.”
“I am not like him, Stephanie,” Alex said. “In Russia, I had friends and place in society. In Brighton Beach, was not too different. But at college I did not fit in very well. And here... My family are here, but this is not home. There is no place where I belong.”
“You know, ever since I was a little girl, I knew I would be a model,” Stephanie said. “God gave me this...” –a gesture that took in her whole body– “...and I took advantage of it, when I should have been paying attention to other things. A few months back, I realized that He had other plans for me. I’ve been feeling my way along ever since.”
“How did you realize...” Alex started.
Stephanie cut her off. “You’d never believe it if I told you.” She paused, then went on. “Certainty is comfortable, but it can be a trap, too. It’s better this way. You’ll find your own way home, Alex, or you’ll make one. Like Grandpa Stefan did. I wish I’d known him.”
The place got busy then, and that put an end to the conversation. When the customers thinned out, Stephanie suggested that Alex should take a break and think things over – she could handle the place by herself for a while.
Alex came around the counter, sat down in the food court and pulled off her shoes. She didn’t prop her feet up as an American would have done – Russians don’t do that – but just having the shoes off was a relief. Maybe there was something to what Stephanie said, she thought. She had been drifting through life, not doing, but being done-to. She needed to take control, reach out, make a place for herself. There was no going back – her life was here in America now.
“Alex – mind if we join you?” a voice asked.
Alex looked up and saw her neighbors, Nicole and Candice Wade. Nicole was a little taller than her younger sister, and bright-blonde instead of her sister’s ash blonde. But both were little beauties with trim and shapely figures, fair skin, bright blue eyes and delicate china-doll features. They were both wearing capri’s and t-shirts – Nicole had a plastic name badge pinned to her shirt.
“Hello, Nicole,” Alex said. “I did not expect to see you here, Candice. Please, sit.”
Candice plopped a shopping bag down on the table. “Came here to shop and thought I’d visit Nicole while I was here. It’s time for her break, so here we are.”
Alex had met Candice the day her family moved in – Candice and her friends Sara Rosen and Meghan Meyer had tricked her and tickled her silly. Alex had gotten her revenge with the help of her sister Julie and the Righetti sisters, and discovered that serious tickling was a lot of fun. Now, though, she was a little embarrassed – it had been pretty intense.
“I’m sorry we tickled you like that, Candice,” Alex said. “Was mean.”
Candice laughed. “We got off to a rocky start, you and me,” she said. “You got even, like I hoped you would. I enjoyed it – I like to be tickled. Ask anybody.”
“She’s been weird like that all her life,” Nicole said. “I don’t know how many times she asked me to tickle her silly. Two, three times a week, maybe?”
“Lots,” Candice said. “And twice on Sundays. She got pretty good at it, too. And I think she enjoyed it as much as I did – right, sis?”
“Well... you do have a pretty laugh,” Nicole said, grinning. “I couldn’t let Sara have all the fun.”
“Sara’s away on vacation this week,” Candice said. “And everybody else has been too busy lately to have another gathering. I guess it’s just you and me again.”
“A nasty job, but somebody’s gotta do it,” Nicole joked.
Alex took a chance. “No need to overwork yourself, Nicole,” she said. “I could help.”
The sisters exchanged a startled look, and then came to wordless agreement.
“I’d like that,” Candice said. “You and Julie did a fine job the last time, and I’d hoped you’d find an opportunity to tickle me again. What time do you get off work?”
“In two hours. Julie will come to pick me up then.”
“OK, that works for me. I’ll be finished here by then. Call Julie and tell her you have a ride – I’ll give you a lift home. D’you want to play at your place or mine?”
“Mine, I think,” Alex said. “If that’s OK with you.”
“Suits. See ya then!”
Candice and Nicole left. Alex checked her watch and sighed – break time was over. She put her shoes back on and went back to work.
“Ready for some more?” Stephanie asked. “The best part of a job like this is taking your shoes off and getting a foot rub at the end of the day.” She smiled ruefully. “And I thought modeling was hard on the feet – little did I know!”
“My sisters give me foot rubs,” Alex said. “But they tickle.”
“Yah, my brother too,” Stephanie said. “But he tickles me anyway, has for years, ever since he got big enough to get away with it. At least now I get a foot rub first. Come on, let’s make a fresh pot of espresso – you could use the stuff that’s in there to strip paint.”
***
Candice parked in the driveway and turned to Alex. “I’m gonna change clothes,” she said. “Something looser and more comfortable. See ya in five.”
Alex headed home. It wasn’t far, just diagonally across the cul-de-sac. Just as she was coming up the front sidewalk, the door burst open and Jenny emerged, running like the wind, just ahead of Jamie Shaw and Katie. Both younger sisters were blue-eyed blondes. Jenny was 16 – she would look like her buxom older sister in a few years, but she wasn’t quite there yet. Katie was 13, and just starting to fill out. Jamie was Katie’s age, dark-haired, fair-skinned and freckled, like her older sister Joanna.
Alex stepped aside, startled, but Jenny made a hard left turn and sprinted toward the back yard. She vaulted the back fence and disappeared into the woods beyond, with Jamie and Katie in hot pursuit. A few seconds later, a wild burst of laughter came from the direction they had gone.
Nothing new there, thought Alex. She pulled off her shoes at the door and headed upstairs to the room she shared with Julie. She changed quickly into a red t-shirt and jeans shorts, peeled off her socks and headed back downstairs. She got there just as Candice arrived.
Candice was similarly dressed – her shirt was blue. She had a small canvas tote bag with her. She kicked off her flip-flops at the door.
“Lead the way, Alex,” Candice said.
“In my room,” Alex said. “No one will disturb us – my sisters are out.”
“Yah, I saw Jamie and Katie chasing Jenny,” Candice replied. “Reminds me of Vicky and Veronica at that age. That was a lot of fun – they made a habit of it, and really got me good!”
Upstairs, Candice dumped the contents of her tote on Alex’s bed – an assortment of nylon straps. She wrapped a belt around her waist, slipped a shorter strap – a dog collar – under the belt at the small of her back. “This is my own invention,” she said. She sat on the bed, drew up her legs and strapped her ankles together with another collar. “See, we’re less likely to hurt each other if you immobilize me.” Candice laid down, rolled onto her tummy and crossed her wrists behind her back. “Tie my hands, and use the last strap to hogtie me. A little tighter... OK, that’s good. Y’know, I should have patented this rig. Wouldn’t have made much money though – I’d have a small and highly select clientele.”
“I would have bought one,” Alex said. “Julie squirms too much.”
“I’ll leave it with you,” said Candice. “I have more at home.”
Alex kneeled at Candice’s bound feet. “Ready?”
“Tickle my soles, right in the middle,” Candice said. “It drives me wild!”
“OK,” said Alex, and did just that. Candice bucked violently, arched her back and laughed her head off.
Candice laughed helplessly as Alex held back her toes and tickled a stretched out sole, paying particular attention to the crease in the exact center. Alex tickled across the balls of Candice’s feet to the other sole, then back again, fingernails flying, and Candice’s laughter went off the scale. She squirmed and struggled, her fair skin turning pink from laughing, tears of laughter running down her cheeks.
Alex was merciless. She tickled Candice’s soles until the little blonde was red-faced and sweaty. She eased off, tickled down Candice’s arches to her heels, and the laughter went down a notch. Then back to the soles again – Candice laughed at the top of her lungs. She has amazing stamina and endurance, Alex thought – my fingers are getting tired, yet she’s still not in any distress. She gave Candice’s soles another burst of nail flicks, forcing a stream of wild laughter, then quit.
“How’s that?” Alex asked, and stood up.
Candice rolled onto her side. “Wooo! Good one!” she said cheerfully, a little short of breath. “That really, really tickled. Give me more!”
Alex rolled Candice back onto her tummy and resumed her position. “Any suggestions?” she asked.
“You did fine,” Candice answered. “A little faster, maybe– Hehehe! HAHAHA-HAHAHAHA-HAHAHA!” as Alex started in on her again. She now knew where the most ticklish places were, and how to get the best reactions. Her tickling fingernails flew, flicking and scratching, making Candice laugh at the top of her lungs. Candice’s musical laughter filled the room – she didn’t struggle, all she could do was lay there and laugh.
“Hi, Alex!” Julie called out from the door. “Can I tickle her too? How about it, Candice?” She was a slender girl with long, coppery red hair, exotic eyes inherited from some distant Tatar ancestor, and skin so fair that it seemed almost translucent. As usual, she wore heavy black eyeliner, black lipstick and nail polish, baggy Goth-black t-shirt and cargo pants, and black Birkenstock slides without socks. She had been only 13 when the family came to America – her English was nearly accent-free. Well, a Brooklyn accent, but that was as American as deli sandwiches and cheese-danish.
But Candice was laughing much too hard to answer.
“My turn now. Maybe later,” Alex said. Candice kept on laughing, her sweet soprano tickle laugh filling the room. Julie sat cross-legged on her bed to watch.
Alex had Candice in the zone, laughing like a madwoman, tears of laughter rolling down her cheeks. She tickled Candice’s soles two handed, watching the toes twitch and curl. She tickled down the arches, covering Candice’s feet with tiny nail flicks. She scratched the ticklish heels, then drew wavy lines, figure-eight’s and other tickling shapes in Candice’s arches. She gave Candice a breather, then held her toes back and tickled the stretched out soles again. Candice laughed at the top of her lungs, loving every bit of it.
Alex quit again a few minutes later. Candice laid there gasping, red faced, her cheeks streaked with tears, her blonde hair messed up. “Good thing... you quit... when you did,” she said. She took another deep breath. “Turn me loose, I need a bathroom.”
Alex did so. Candice sat up and put her feet on the floor. “Hi, Julie!” she said. “Want to tickle me next?” She used the collar of her t-shirt to blot the tears.
“Sure, why not? It’ll be a nice change from tickling my sisters.”
“Her technique has improved since the last time,” Candice said. “How about you?”
Julie grinned. “Better now than before. We practice on each other.”
“And you can practice on me too,” Candice said, and stood up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back in a flash,” she said on her way out of the room.
“This is something new,” Julie remarked. “How long has Candice been here?”
“An hour, maybe,” Alex answered. “She saw me at work and told me she needed tickling. Said we did great job before, and she wanted some more.” She switched to Russian and went on. “Do you mind?”
“Nyet. I had fun tickling her that time – maybe I’ll tickle her too,” Julie replied in the same language.
“I like her,” Alex said. “She’s like Katya, full of mischief, but there’s no meanness in her.”
“And a lot of fun to tickle,” Julie added.
“She has great reactions and a pretty tickle laugh,” Alex agreed. She heard Candice’s footsteps approaching and switched back to English. “My feet hurt. Will you give me foot rub?”
“Be happy to,” Candice called out from the doorway. “I do a pretty good job. That’s how I paid Nicole back for all the times she tickled me when we were growing up.”
Alex desperately wanted this girl as a friend. “OK,” she said. “Better you than Julie – she tickles!”
Candice grinned. “So do I,” she said. She crossed the room to Alex’s dresser and picked something up – a movie promotion pin, the sort movie production companies give out. It was an old one – T3, it said.
“I saw this before. Why the Terminator pin, Alex?” Candice asked. “I don’t picture you as an action movie fan.”
Alex laughed. “Is... initiation pin from college,” she said. “Two girls in my dormitory tickled me. They tickled everybody on whole floor. After, they gave us pins. T3, for Tennessee Toe Ticklers.”
“Sounds like fun,” Candice said. She didn’t seem surprised. “I’ll have to look them up this fall when I get to school.”
“At Commonwealth University?” Alex asked, surprised.
“Yup. Like my sister – she’ll be a Junior this year,” Candice said. “Now lay down on your tummy, and I’ll give you that foot rub.”
Candice did a good job of it, and unlike Alex’s sisters, she didn’t tickle at all. When Alex remarked on that, Candice told her that tickle-free foot rubs had been part of the bargain with her sister. Nicole had never liked being tickled – their tickle play had never been reciprocal.
Candice just about put Alex to sleep. She checked her watch when she finished and stood up. “Gotta go,” she said. “Sorry, Julie – I have to go home and start dinner.”
“Same time tomorrow, Candice?” Alex asked.
“I have to work late at the drugstore,” Candice said with genuine regret. “Some other time. Bye, Alex!”
***
Stephanie gave Alex a ride home the next day. They were later getting away than usual – their relief was late showing up. Candice was already home – she and Julie were sitting on Candice’s front steps, chatting, when Alex arrived.
Alex crossed the cul-de-sac. “I’m glad I caught you, Candice,” she said, and smiled shyly. “Are you free tomorrow after supper? Come, and we can play again.”
“I’d like that,” Candice answered. “But let’s use my place instead – my folks are going out, we’ll have the house to ourselves. Julie, you’re coming too, or I’ll gang up on you with Jenny and Katie and tickle you silly.”
Alex was cheered by Candice’s acceptance – maybe I will make a new friend, she thought. “Candice, maybe you and I can... gang up... on Julie instead,” she said.
“Hey!” Julie said indignantly.
“Oh, hush,” Candice said. “It’s a deal, Alex. See ya!”
“You seem to have a new friend,” Julie said as they walked home. “You’ve needed a friend, Alex – I’m happy for you.”
“She’s fun,” Alex said. “I like her.”
“Me too. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe I ought to practice on Katie – she deserves it.”
Alex laughed. “No more than Jenny – or me, for that matter.”
Julie laughed too. “Come on, Alex, I’ll give you a foot rub,” she said. “I won’t tickle you – not much, anyway. Sit down on the couch and take off your shoes and socks – I’ll do it there.”
Alex pulled off her shoes at the door and sat on the couch, Julie sat beside her. Alex peeled off her socks and put her feet in her sister’s lap.
Julie gently stroked Alex’s soles. “Hehehe!” Alex giggled. “Don’t tickle!”
***
Julie was with their younger sisters when Alex came home the next day. The younger girls were in shorts and t-shirts again. Julie was barefoot like the others, but was otherwise fully clothed in her Goth-black outfit. All three girls looked a little rumpled. Julie’s face was tear-streaked – she must have lost the tickle fight, thought Alex.
“Are we still on for tonight Julie?” Alex asked.
Julie nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it,” she said.
“I don’t see why we can’t come too,” Jenny complained.
“Just for grownups, little sister,” Julie answered in an airy tone, which was guaranteed to infuriate the younger girl. “Try again in another couple of years.”
“Forget it. We’ll visit Jamie instead,” Katie said.
Alex changed into gray gym shorts and a navy-and-white Moscow Dynamo soccer jersey, both soft from many washings. Then back downstairs –
“If we can’t go with you tonight, we ought to tickle you some more right now,” Jenny was saying to Julie, making tickling motions in the air.
“Leave her alone,” Alex said firmly. “Is almost supper time.”
“Maybe we should tickle you,” Jenny said. “Come on, Katie – let’s do it.”
“We better not,” Katie said regretfully – for once, she was the voice of restraint. “We don’t have time for a tickle fight before supper. Save it for some other time.”
Jenny grumbled a little, but went along. It wasn’t as if Alex or Julie were going to get away tickle-free. They would have other opportunities – or make some.
***
“Hi, come on in,” Candice said. She was barefoot, wearing loose gray gym shorts and a Commonwealth University t-shirt. “My parents went out tonight, we have the house to ourselves. Ready to play?”
“Is why we are here,” Alex said. But that was only part of it. The tickle play would be fun, of course, but even better would be gaining a new friend and a place where she fit in. Maybe that will happen tonight, thought Alex. I hope so.
Candice looked Julie over – Goth-black clothes and nail polish, dark makeup. “This is gonna be fun – I really enjoy tickling Goths,” she said cheerfully. “You’re all so gloomy, it’s a special treat to make you laugh.”
“I’m not gloomy!” Julie said. “Alex is the gloomy one. Tickle her.” She kicked off her shoes beside the door – Alex did the same.
“Oh, I will,” Candice said. She led them inside toward the family room. “But you are really gonna get it, and I expect you to return the favor.”
“Hi, Alex,” Nicole said. “Julie, glad you could come.”
Alex was surprised to see Nicole – Candice’s comments had led her to think that the older girl wouldn’t be a participant in tonight’s activities. The sisters were identically dressed, Alex saw. Well, not quite – Nicole had something pinned to her shirt. A round pin – T3, it said – just like the one she had on her dresser!
Nicole grinned. “Candice told me you were a member of the East Tennessee Songbird Society,” she said. “Welcome, sister! I’ll make you sing tonight!”
“How did you...” Alex started.
“Get this pin? Danielle and Tara moved in downstairs from me after they got kicked out of the dorm,” Nicole said. “How about you? Did you live on their floor?”
“At other end of hall,” Alex answered. “I was not member of their group, they tickled me only once.”
“That can be corrected,” Nicole said. “If you want.” She grinned. “They’re good, aren’t they? And both of them have great tickle laughs.”
Alex was confused. “But I thought...”
“I don’t know what Candice told you,” Nicole said, “but I’ve loosened up considerably since Christmas. I’m looking forward to tickling you silly, and Julie too. Come on, let’s play.”
“Me first!” Candice said.
Nicole laughed. “You never get enough, do you? OK, why not? Let’s do it on the back porch.”
Nicole grabbed a tall stool from the breakfast bar, Candice got another on their way outside. The porch was covered and screened in, with a ceiling fan under the roof. On it were a gas grill, four folding director chairs with canvas seats and backs, and a couple of small tables.
Nicole flipped the fan on. “It’s pretty warm tonight, and the kind of tickling we do is hot work. This will help.” She set her stool down in front of one of the chairs. “OK, Candice, here ya go.”
Candice turned her back on Nicole and crossed her wrists behind her. Nicole strapped them together. Candice sat in the chair, put her feet through the legs of the stool and rested her ankles on the far-side leg brace. Nicole passed a strap over Candice’s lap and under the chair seat, another around her shoulders and the chair back. She strapped her sister’s ankles together, tied them off to the brace to anchor them. The finishing touch – she tied Candice’s big toes together with twine.
Candice wiggled her toes and grinned. “Who wants to sing a duet with me?”
“Are you as ticklish as she is, Nicole?” Alex asked shyly.
Nicole grinned. “Why don’t you tie me up and find out?”
They used more of Candice’s nylon straps instead, but the effect was the same. Candice and Nicole ended up bound side-by-side. The Russian girls set the other two chairs facing Nicole and Candice’s feet. Alex paired off with Nicole, Julie with Candice.
“How d’you want to work this?” Julie asked.
“Let’s see how long you can hold us on the edge,” Nicole said. “Ready?”
Alex lightly flicked her well-manicured nails on Nicole’s soles. Like Candice, those were the sweet spots, where Nicole’s feet were insanely, unbearably ticklish. Nicole threw her head back and laughed at the top of her lungs. Her toes twitched and curled as she laughed like mad.
“Let’s see you top that,” Candice said cheerfully.
“Hush,” Julie said, and held Candice’s toes back. “All I want to hear from you is laughing.” She used a single nail to draw fast, looping figure-eight’s around the balls of Candice’s feet. Candice lost it and howled with forced mirth, her skin turning pink from laughing.
Alex covered both feet with tiny nail flicks. She tickled Nicole’s arches and heels two handed, then held back her toes and tickled the soft skin underneath. Still holding the toes back, she tickled both stretched out soles, left-right-and-repeat, lingering on the soles and balls of Nicole’s feet where it tickled unbearably. Nicole wasn’t struggling any more – all resistance had been tickled away. She laughed and laughed, helpless to resist the fiendish and well techniqued tickling.
Alex glanced over at Julie and Candice. The redhead tickled side to side under all ten toes while helpless laughter streamed from her victim. She released Candice’s toes to tickle her arches and heels. Then holding the toes back again, she tickled the stretched out soles mercilessly. Candice laughed her head off, tears of laughter streaming down her cheeks.
“Let’s finish ‘em off,” Julie said, and picked up the pace. Alex speeded up too, and both ticklees laughed at the top of their lungs. It was more than they could bear – they laughed themselves breathless.
“Not bad at all, Alex,” Nicole said when she had her breath back.
“You have our next-door neighbors to thank for that,” Julie said. “Brittany showed us a few tricks – Veronica too.”
“You couldn’t do any better than that – they’re the two best foot ticklers in the neighborhood,” Nicole said.
“Too much talk,” Candice said. “Turn me loose and assume the position, Alex. I’m gonna tickle you silly!”
“Your turn to tickle me, Julie,” Nicole said. “See if you can do better than Alex.”
Candice tied Alex up next to Nicole. Alex looked over at Nicole. She felt fingernails just touching her soles – Candice was teasing her. Nicole winked, then burst into ticklish laughter as Julie started in on her. Then Alex felt Candice’s nails flick her soles – suddenly she was laughing at the top of her lungs, squirming and straining against her bonds, trying desperately to escape the tickling.
Alex heard Nicole’s laughter through a haze of tickle torture. Julie was really getting Nicole good! But Candice’s tickling fingernails forced wave after wave of ticklish laughter from Alex, and the tickling sensation crowded out all coherent thought.
Candice tickled down Alex’s arches, onto the heels, and back up to the soles as streams of laughter poured out of Alex. Then holding Alex’s toes back, she tickled a stretched out sole in the exact middle, along the crease. Alex howled with forced mirth as Candice tickled across the balls of both feet to the other sole. She drew fast, looping figure-eight’s on the balls of both feet, covering every square inch of sensitive skin with unbearable tickling. Alex laughed and laughed – it didn’t last forever, but it seemed that way. Candice tickled her soles, from the left to the right and back again, fingernails flying. Alex ran out of air, and mercifully, the tickling stopped.
Alex took long deep breaths, eyes closed, tears of laughter running down her cheeks. Nicole was still laughing beside her, harder now, as Julie’s tickling fingernails roamed her sensitive soles.
“OK, I guess it’s time for another break,” Julie said. “But first...” She gave Nicole’s soles another burst of tiny nail flicks, and Nicole’s laughter went off the scale. Julie speeded up, tickling at warp speed, and tickled Nicole’s breath away.
Julie quit, and the two ticklers released their ticklees. Nicole was gasping for air, red faced and sweaty, cheeks streaked with tears. Alex knew she wasn’t much better off.
“That tickled so much!” Alex said. “How did you learn to tickle like that, Candice?”
Candice laughed. “I know all about it from the inside,” she said. “I just do unto others as they have done unto me. Either way, it’s a lot of fun.”
They took their break in the kitchen. For a wonder, the Wade family actually had some decent tea. Alex made it Russian-style – hot, dark and sweet. It would have come out better if she could have used a samovar, like they did at home. Well, maybe not – the tea kettle made perfectly good hot water – but Alex was a traditionalist.
Alex set to work putting Nicole’s blonde hair in a French braid. They chattered away, comparing notes about college and such. Candice nudged Julie.
“Ever watch the monkeys at the zoo grooming each other? How they pick fleas off each other and eat ‘em?” Candice asked. “Look at those two. Same thing.”
“I heard that!” Nicole said with mock indignation. “I don’t have fleas,” she added. “Have to make do with peanuts. Here – have one.”
Nicole pegged the peanut at Candice’s tea cup and made a direct hit, splashing tea onto Candice’s shirt.
Candice looked down at the stain. “You are so gonna get it!” she said.
Alex smiled at the banter. It was good to have friends again.
“Where are you staying this year?” asked Nicole, interrupting Alex’s thoughts.
“I have dormitory room again,” Alex said.
“Want to move off campus? There’s a vacancy in my apartment building,” Nicole said. “My friend Stacy called and told me that the two stoners on the second floor decamped for parts-unknown.”
“I would need room mate,” Alex said.
“There’s another girl already on the lease,” Nicole said. “Stacy’s sister’s Freshman year room mate, Natalie Lasko. Natalie and Shelly lived on your floor too – across the hall from Danielle and Tara. Do you know them?”
“Not well,” Alex said. “They seemed nice though.” She thought about it for a moment, but the decision wasn’t hard to make – she hadn’t been looking forward to another year in a dorm. “I would like to live in your building, Nicole. If everyone will accept me.”
“No problem,” Nicole said. “If tonight is any indication, you’ll fit right in with the rest of us this fall.”
“You all tickle each other?”
“All the time. It’ll be a lot more fun this year – counting you and Natalie, there’ll be ten of us,” Nicole said. “You already know Shelly Haviland, and you’ll like her sisters Stacy and Ashley. You know the others too – Natalie, Danielle and Tara, and you’ll be across the hall from Alicia Jemison and Lindsey Eckard on the second floor.”
Better and better. New friends here, and friends at college too. Home, here and away. I’m glad I came, thought Alex.
They paired off again afterward, Candice with Julie and Nicole with Alex. The Russian girls got tied up this time.
Julie strained experimentally against her bonds. “This is a good rig,” she said. “These nylon straps aren’t too tight, they don’t chafe, but there’s no give at all. Wish I’d thought of it – we would have bruised each other a lot less.”
“That’s why I made it,” Candice said. “I gave Sara a black eye without meaning to. Ready?”
“Any time,” Julie answered for both of them. “Tickle us sill– Eee! Hehe! HAHAHA-AHAHA-HAHAHAHA!”
Julie laughed at the top of her lungs as Candice tickled her, fingernails flicking the sensitive soles. Nicole spread Alex’s right little and next toes and scratched between them – Alex let out a startled yelp, and then she was singing a ticklish duet with her sister, laughing in two-part harmony.
Nicole tickled between each pair of toes, each time getting a wild burst of laughter from Alex. She tickled down Alex’s soles and arches, onto the heels, and back up to the soles. Alex felt her toes twitch and curl as musical ticklish laughter poured out of her. She heard Julie laughing helplessly beside her, blinked away tears to look – Julie was red-faced, sweaty, her cheeks streaked with tears. But Nicole held Alex’s toes back, tickled the ball of one foot and across to the other, and Alex lost it. She laughed at the top of her lungs – it tickled horribly!
Nicole made a Peace sign and scratched the balls of both feet at the same time, just behind the big toes, until Alex thought she would go crazy. Nicole eased off – Alex dropped back to normal rated laughter as the tickling moved down her arches and onto her heels. Nicole lingered there, drawing wavy lines and other tickling shapes. Then holding the toes back again, she tickled onto the sweet spots, fingernails flying, and tickled Alex into gasping, red faced silent laughter.
“Yob... tvoyu... mat’... ” Alex gasped – the general-purpose coarse Russian curse.
“No kidding!” Julie said. “There’s advantages to being as ticklish as I am – Candice tickled me out a couple of minutes before Nicole finished with you.”
Nicole undid Alex’s bonds and helped her to stand up. Alex was a little shaky – the tickling had been pretty intense.
“You are good tickler, Nicole,” Alex said. “Did you learn all that just from tickling Candice?”
“Sure did. Practice makes perfect – right, sis?”
“Yup,” Candice said cheerfully. “And I loved every bit of it!”
“I will try to do as well, Candice,” Alex said. “As you told me earlier, assume the position.”
“You’re in for a treat, Julie,” Nicole added. “I’m a much better tickler than Candice.”
Candice made a rude noise. “Less talk, more action!” she said. “Come on, Alex, tickle me. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Alex flicked her nails on Candice’s heels, and Candice burst into helpless laughter. She tickled two-handed up the arches to the soles, then spread Candice’s toes apart two by two, tickling between each pair. Candice laughed like a madwoman, tears of laughter running down her face. Alex held Candice’s toes back and scrabbled her nails on the soft skin underneath, then across both soles, side to side, over and over. Then two fingernails, drawing circles around and onto the balls of both feet while Candice howled with forced mirth. Alex tickled up and down the creases in the middle of Candice’s soles, and Candice laughed at the top of her lungs.
Nicole had a surgeon’s dexterity, a delicate touch that kept Julie laughing wildly but didn’t tickle her out. She spread Julie’s toes and tickled between each pair, forcing stream after stream of ticklish laughter. Julie laughed and laughed as Nicole tickled her soles and arches two-handed. Nicole tickled down Julie’s arches to the ticklish heels, drawing circles and other tickling shapes – Julie laughed her head off.
Nicole saw Alex looking. “Don’t watch me! Focus!” Nicole said. “Tickle her soles – it drives her wild!”
Alex held back Candice’s toes and spider walked her nails along the crease in the exact center of Candice’s right sole – four fingernail strokes in succession, three times a second – a rate of 180 nail flicks a minute. She tickled across the balls of both feet to the left sole, flicking and scratching. Candice went crazy, bucking and squirming, laughing her head off. Her laughter went off the charts – she lost it and laughed herself breathless.
“Good one, Alex!” Nicole said. She picked up the pace – Julie’s laughter went off the scale as Nicole’s nails scratched and scrabbled. Julie laughed wildly, helplessly, at the top of her lungs, and ran out of air. Nicole had tickled her breath away.
Candice and Julie sat there gasping, trying to get their breathing and heart rate normal again. Candice was first to recover – she had had years of practice. She grinned.
“I’ve had a great time tonight,” Candice said. “We’ll have to do this again.”
“Was fun,” Alex agreed. “Julie and I will have to practice more,” she said, and reached over to tickle Julie’s feet.
“Hehehe!” Julie giggled. “Otstan! Khvatit!”
Nicole laughed. “Sounds like Julie lost her English,” she said. “We make a pretty good team, don’t we, sis?”
“We do indeed. Anybody for a snack? I’m ravenous.”
Alex stood up and checked her watch. “Another time,” she said. “Thank you for having us. We must do this again soon.”
“Party pooper!” Candice said good-naturedly. “OK, untie us. We’ll save some for the next time.”
“We have a neighborhood club, like the Songbirds,” Candice said after she and Julie were untied. “The Ancient and Honorable Society of Vellatrices. You’re both members already, if you want to be – we’ll call tonight your initiation. Next time, I’ll invite the others too – Sara and Meghan, Brittany, everybody!”
“It sounds... wonderful,” Alex said. She turned to Julie – the redhead still looked a little dazed. “Come, Julie.”
It was just as well that they didn’t have far to go – Alex was running on autopilot, lost in thought. At last, she had a place! And at college too! They were half way home when Julie put a hand on Alex’s arm.
“Wait, Alex! We forgot our shoes!”
“No matter,” Alex said. “We can get them tomorrow. For the moment, I have other plans.”
“Other plans?” Julie asked.
“Da. Jenny and Katie...”
“Have been bigger pests than usual lately,” Julie completed the thought. “We should teach them a lesson.”
“We must leave no marks,” Alex said.
“I like the way you think,” Julie said, and grinned an evil grin.
Their mother broke it up – eventually. No marks, no harm done – and Jenny and Katie really did deserve it.
***
Alex didn’t need to be at work until 2 PM the next day, so all four sisters went shopping at the mall together. Alex was already dressed out in her uniform, less the apron. Julie was in her ususal black, the younger girls in t-shirts and shorts. Afterward, they walked with Alex to the coffee shop.
“Hi, Alex!” Stephanie called from behind the counter. “You’re early.”
“Hi, Stephanie. I was shopping with my sisters,” Alex responded. “You have met them, I think.”
“Yah, Katie, Jenny and Julie,” Stephanie said. “Hi – can I get you something?”
“Thanks, but we’re just leaving,” Julie said. “See you later, Alex,” she said.
Alex came around the counter, put her apron on and got to work. She hummed as she worked. Classic rock and roll mainly, cheerful tunes, no gloomy Russian composers for her! She wasn’t really aware of doing it – it was a sound of contentment, like a cat purring.
“You’re a regular songbird today, Alex,” Stephanie remarked.
“Shto?” Alex said, startled – did Stephanie know about the Songbirds? “What did you say, Stephanie?”
“I’ve never seen you this cheerful. Something good must have happened. Come on, tell me!”
“Russians are not always gloomy,” Alex said. “Sometimes, as you say, we are like songbirds. Especially when we have found our way home.”
***THE END***
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