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How I Got Into It This story is a work of fiction, all characters and plot lines are fictional. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. 3– Game Over I knew from the very beginning that I had no chance to get out of this, so, after a few half-hearted attempts to wriggle my hands out of the ropes, I gave up.From time to time Peter came to check our bonds. What I definitely didn’t like was the grin on his face when he came to me. What I liked even less was the remark he made when he came around for the second or third time: “Looking forward to the cheaters’ frame, aren’t we?” Although I hadn’t got the slightest idea what he was talking about, the way he said it implied that it was something unpleasant, at least for me. As I knew that my only possible reply would come out as “Mmmph”, I decided not to reply at all, and to try to look unimpressed. Between his visits, Peter made himself comfortable by the lakeside and, reading a book or comic or whatever, let the sun shine on his bare back. Time went by, but I was not really bored – fortunately I could turn my head round enough to see the two boys staked out in the sun, sometimes squirming as much as their bonds allowed (not a lot), but most of the time quietly lying there. I must admit that I enjoyed the view. After what may have been an hour or so, there was a rustle in the bushes, and Kevin, who was a classmate of Stefan, came out. He wore very short khaki shorts (needless to say they were his only clothing). He dragged behind him another boy in red PE shorts who in was exactly the same state I had been when I arrived here: that is hands tied to his back, gagged, and a leash round his neck. He was enthusiastically welcomed by Peter: “Hey! Number four! We did it!” “Yeah! The third time in a row!” Kevin replied, and they high-fived each other. “Whaddya think? Can we get them all today?” “Sure! With one hour to go and only two of them left, it shouldn’t be a problem.” Once again I had no idea what they were talking about. All I had figured out so far was that this was some kind of game, with one team wearing cutoffs or khaki shorts, and the other team those red PE shorts, just like mine. The prisoner was dragged over to one of the empty rectangles, and very soon he was staked out just like Rico and Bobby. When Kevin saw me, he smiled. “Hi Dominik! So you joined the Rope Club too! Great!” “And never mind your first game wasn’t a success for you. Next time things will go better!” he continued, patting my shoulder. I tried to shrug, but of course the ropes prevented that. “What’s he tied to the pole for?” he asked Peter. “Oh, Stefan said he deserves a punishment.” “Don’t be afraid!” Kevin turned to me again. “Usually, punishments for newbies are not too hard – maybe you’ll get away with staying like that for one or two extra hours.” “Oh nuts!” I thought. It was not really the prospect of staying tied up for such a long time that frightened me, it’s just that I was expected home for supper, and my parents had strong views about their boy staying out too late in the evening. So, staying tied up till well after eight would mean trouble at home – even if they didn’t notice the rope-marks. But what could I do – except make a fist from time to time, more or less successfully reducing that tingle in my fingers. As Kevin was about to return to the forest, he was stopped by Peter. “Err … Kevin?” “Yes?” “I’ve now been looking after the prisoners all the time. Couldn’t you give me a break?” “Well, er …” “Last week” Peter insisted, “Mark and I found a great place to hide, and you see they haven’t caught Mark yet. He must be hiding there, and I’m the only one who knows it! Please!” “All right then!” Kevin sighed, pulled his ropes and bandanas from under his belt and handed them to Peter. “Get lost!” In a moment Peter disappeared between the bushes still stuffing the ropes under his belt. “Oh I forgot” Kevin shouted after him, “the water pistol needs refilling!” He disappeared in the hut. When he came out again, he was taking a big drink from a bottle of apple juice or something, and instead of his khaki shorts he was now wearing PE shorts too, but his were light blue. Dropping the bottle near the staked-out boys, he started to run. He ran over to the lake and into it and swam a few strokes. When he came back, he remarked, not talking to anybody special: “Wow! I needed that!” Then, looking at the staked-out prisoners: “Pity I couldn’t invite you to join me, isn’t it?” It would have been more believable if he had said that without a smile. He took another swig from the bottle he had dropped before. When he had finished, he looked sternly at the three prisoners and shouted: “You needn’t look at this! You know this is not for prisoners!” Then, in a friendlier tone: “But I will see if there’s some water you can have.” Although none of us could comment on that, I’m sure we all thought that to be a very good idea. But when he took up the water bottle we had got our drinks from, he said: “Oh, I see that you already had yours. The bottle is almost empty! There won’t be enough for all of you, will there?” In fact the bottle was more than half filled. Making sure we all could see it, he poured out the water, onto the ground. “And after all, we don’t want to pee ourselves, do we?” he said, like the nurses in bad movies. Another name appeared on the “I’ll get you for that” list in the notebook in my head. He strolled over to the lakeside and lay down in the grass, his hands folded behind his head. For quite a long time, nothing happened, except some squirming now and then by the staked-out kids. The only other event was that Kevin rolled over to his stomach. Suddenly an alarm clock went off. I wondered what on earth that was supposed to mean. Kevin got up and walked over to the hut. He went in and the noise stopped. When he came out, he held some kind of bugle or small trumpet in his hand. He turned around to the bushes and blew it three times, then, after a short pause, another three times. Then he went over to the opposite end of the clearing and repeated the procedure. Shortly after (shortly at least compared to the time I had spent here) two boys entered the clearing. I didn’t know the one in cutoffs, but the one in red shorts was – surprise, surprise! – another classmate of mine: Leo. But unlike the boys in red shorts who had come here so far (including myself), he wasn’t tied and gagged. Instead, he and the other boy were talking to each other in a friendly tone. But when Leo overlooked the place, the cheerful look disappeared from his face, and I could hear him whispering: “Four? nuts!” He dropped into the grass and asked the other boy: “Hey Theo! Bring a bottle for me please, will you? Ice tea, please.” “OK!” Theo answered and went to the hut. He came back with two bottles, handed one of them to Leo and said with a broad grin: “Here you are. But I wouldn’t drink too much if I were you. You might get a problem later.” “Aw, shaddup!” Leo snapped and grabbed the bottle. The next ones to arrive were Silvio and Stefan. They were accompanied by Julian, in red shorts, who, like Leo before, wasn’t tied up. Julian was a classmate of Stefan. He dropped into the grass next to Leo, took a large drink from his bottle and said: “Phew! That was close! Another minute and they’d have got me. They had seen me and were approaching me from three sides, and behind me some thorny stuff I couldn’t possibly get through. They were just out of shooting range when we heard the signal!” So Kevin’s action with the bugle was the signal for “Game over”, I thought. While Stefan went to the hut to get drinks, Silvio inspected my bonds. “We’re good at it, aren’t we?” he grinned, “You wouldn’t get out of that in years, would you?” “Mmmph!” In short intervals, more boys arrived. One of them was Peter. He looked quite disappointed. “So he wasn’t there, was he?” Kevin asked him. Peter just grunted. When, a minute or two later, another boy in red shorts emerged from the woods, Peter jumped on to his feet and asked him: “Hey Mark!” So that was his name. “Where the heck have you been? I could have sworn you were in the place we found last week.” “I may be stupid, but not that stupid.” was the reply. “After all I knew that at least you would look there first.” “True! Good luck for me that I wasn’t in your place. I’m sure I wouldn’t have thought of that.” Peter admitted. Meanwhile, some 15 boys – including the prisoners – had gathered round the campfire. No more boys arrived, and after a few minutes, Stefan got up. “I think we’re complete now.” And with a solemn voice he continued: “Gentlemen, I have the honour to announce the result of today’s game: Escaped – three. Captured – four. That is: Another victory for the hunters! Kevin, go and get the cards, please! Mark, Leo, Julian, come here!” Amidst the cheers of the cutoff-clad boys that followed, the three boys got up and stepped over to Stefan. When Leo looked around, he suddenly stopped. He looked puzzled, then surprised. “Hey, Stefan!” he shouted, “Wait a moment!” © Copyright Dominik 2007
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