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by Dingbat
This story is a work of fiction, all characters and plot lines are fictional. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Mark Turns 11 remains the property of the author. The story or characters may not be reproduced or republished elsewhere without the expressed written consent of the author.
When they emerged, the captives' clothes had been replaced with buckskins, while Mark and Kevin remained in their regular clothes. After shaking off the effects of transit, Mark and Kevin looked around, and both expressed a bit of amazement. "I thought you were gonna make them pajama Indians," Kevin said.
"I musta just said 'Indians' instead of 'pajama Indians.'" Mark replied. "But no matter. From what Scott and Doug told me about their trips through here, we'll find pajamas for them to wear."
Kevin nodded, then pointed at their prisoners. "Wha'da we do with them?" he asked.
"Bring 'em to my place!" came a young voice behind them. Kevin and Mark spun around, and looked into the face of Israel Boone.
"Don't do that!" Kevin exclaimed. "You're as stealthy as an Indian, and you scared the hell out of us!"
Israel laughed, and said he'd been taught by Indians how to move quietly. "It's a handy skill," he said, and Kevin and Mark agreed. Even among the tied and gagged captives, there was agreement, as they let out a few soft "Mmmppfff's" and nodded their heads.
"You sure you got room?" Mark asked, and Israel replied that they had recently enlarged his cabin, and had plenty of room. "Good!" Mark said. "Bring them!"
Several minutes later, they arrived at Israel's cabin. After taking the captives to a back room, and securing their ankles and arms, Israel grinned at Mark, and said "I hear it's your birthday." Mark nodded. "Well, I got a present for you," Israel said. "Come with me."
Mark followed Israel into the other back room, where Israel opened a dresser, and pulled out a blue chambray shirt, a pair of fringed buckskin pants, and a pair of Apache boots. Mark's eyes lit right up, and all he could get out, was "Wow!"
Israel smiled at Mark's reaction. "Try them on!" he said, and left the room to give Mark a bit of privacy. A couple of minutes later, he came out, dressed in the buckskins, and asked "How do I look?"
"Almost like my twin," Israel said. "We're gonna make a great team!"
"What about Kevin?" Mark asked. "And where is he?"
"He said he wanted to be an Indian, so I granted his wish," Israel said. "I gave him a set of Wild Horse's buckskins."
Mark and Israel went into the other room, and there, with the rest of the captives, was Kevin, dressed in the Indian buckskins, replacing the neckerchiefs and bandanas that gagged the seven captives, with ones that had been knotted in the middle. "Keep-um noise down," Kevin said. He figured that if he was going to dress like an Indian, he ought to talk like one, too.
"No need for that," Israel said. "If anybody asks, just tell 'em that you learned to talk good English at the white man's school."
"Will it work?" Kevin asked.
"It will if I want it to work," Mark answered, and Israel nodded. "It'll work with the other Indians, too!" Mark continued.
"Cool!" Kevin answered. "By the way, Israel, thanks for the Indian buckskins."
"Thank Wild Horse," Israel said. "He traded them to me for a set of my buckskins."
Left alone, the seven captives could, at last, attempt escape. As expected, Allen was the first one loose, followed by Doug, and between the two of them, they got Scott, Big Chris, Red Jeff, Ronnie, and Charlie free. "Now it's our turn!" snarled Ronnie. "Birthday or not, I'm gonna get that little weasel of a brother good!"
Pretending he was still gagged, Ronnie made several loud "Mmmppfff's," which attracted the attention of the three younger boys. When they came to investigate, they were easily overcome by the better than 2:1 odds. Surrendering to their fate, Kevin asked "Wha'cha gonna do with us?"
Scott held up a length of rope, and said "Does this give you a hint?" Without another word, Kevin turned his back to Scott, and crossed his wrists behind his back.
Doug beckoned Israel, and smiled. "You know the drill," he said. Israel sullenly nodded, turned his back to Doug, and put his hands behind him.
Ronnie looked over his little brother, and said "You look good in Israel's buckskins, Mark. You're gonna look even better, tied up in them." Apparently, since none of them had been called on being dressed like Indians, but not talking like them, they had overheard Israel's earlier comment.
Like the others, Mark turned and put his hands behind him, allowing his big brother to tie them. And while Ronnie was hard at work getting Mark tied, he was blissfully unaware that his little brother had whispered that he wanted to be at least as good as Scott at escaping at the time they entered the portal. Ronnie figured that just tying Mark's hands and feet would be enough, and that if he escaped, it would either be considered a fluke, or the result of geting back to back with one of the boys captured with him, and picking their knots loose.
Mark, Kevin, and Israel soon had their ankles tied, and the former captives returned Kevin's favor by gagging the three of them with knotted bandanas. Immediately after being left in the room, Mark started wiggling around, but before he could get anywhere, Israel softly "Mmmppfff'd," and it was clear that he wanted Mark to hop over to him, and get back to back. Thinking that it might be a good idea to hide the fact that he was as good as Scott at getting loose, even from his friends, he did as Israel wanted.
Mark made a little noise hopping over to Israel, which was picked up by Charlie, Ronnie, and the others. "Wha'da'ya think they're doing?" Allen asked, and Doug opined that one of them was hopping over to one of the others to get loose.
"We should stop them!" Charlie said, but Ronnie waived him off.
"It's Mark's party, so let him have his fun!" he directed.
"I got an idea!" Big Chris interrupted. In a chorus, the others asked "Yeah? What?"
"Packy and Israel are buddies. Let's call him up, and dare him to rescue Israel, Mark, and Kevin," Chris said.
"Yeah!" Doug agreed. "And let's do it within earshot of our three guests." All around, there were nods of agreement.
"Israel's got a phone?" Allen asked.
"Of course!" Ronnie said. "If Joey, Packy, and Pee Wee all have one, so does everybody else! And they all have nice long cords."
Doug picked up the phone, and carried it over to the bedroom door. There, he called Packy's house, but got no answer. "Bummer! He's not home," Doug grumped.
"Try Joey's house," Big Chris suggested. Doug dialed the number, and this time, was rewarded with an answer. It was Packy.
"Where's Joey?" Doug asked.
"He can't come to the phone," Packy said. "He's a little tied up at the moment, and Pee Wee's with him."
Doug groaned at Packy's bad joke, and said "Well, someone else who's a little tied up, is your buddy, Israel, and the birthday boy, Mark, too." "Me and my friends got them, and Mark's friend, Kevin, too, and we dare you to come over and rescue them!"
That was a challenge that would not go unanswered. "You and your friends better get ready for some serious hog ties!" Packy declared. "I'll be there in ten minutes!"
Mark, Israel, and Kevin heard it all, and decided to hold up on trying to get loose, at least until Packy either freed them or wound up tied and gagged with them. Another ten or so minutes was no big deal, and besides, Mark liked wearing the buckskin pants, light blue chambray shirt, and Apache boots, and thought it was kind of neat being a captive with Israel while both were wearing them. (But he thought it would be neater if he, Israel, and Kevin were the ones doing the tying, and Ronnie and his six friends were the ones getting tied.)
Will Packy rescue Mark, Kevin, and Israel? Now that they have gotten loose, what will Ronnie, Charlie, and the others do to avoid getting captured by Packy? Who else will be involved, and will they be captors, captives, or both?
Come back next time for the answers to these and other questions! Find out if Mark's birthday turns out to be a beaut or a bust!
© Copyright Dingbat 2007
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