Spring 1966 - First Games

by Tom Ford

My first experience occurred in 1966. Andrew (10) invited his best friend David (10) over. David arrived around 10 a.m. and he and Andrew immediately went to the living room to watch TV.

Now, I was bored. It was Saturday, and I had done all my homework and just finished my chores. My best friend Frank (9) was out of town and would only be back in the evening. Betty was at her friend’s, while Mom and Dad had taken Barney (7), John (6) and Lawrence (5) out. I had not even asked where. Anyway, to amuse myself, I decided to have fun with my brother and his best friend.

I went downstairs and saw both of them sitting on the sofa watching TV. I quietly made my way toward Andrew, making sure neither he nor David saw me. They were so absorbed with what they are watching that they did not notice me at all.

I crept behind the sofa and hid there for a few seconds, trying t stifle my giggle. Then I sprung.

“Gotcha!” I yelled as I threw myself at Andrew.

“What the …!” Andrew said as I wrapped my arm around his neck.

“Let’s see how strong you are, big brother! Try and break free!”

“Not now Tom, I’m watching!”

I ignored his protest.

This really annoyed Andrew, who promptly used both his hands to loosen my grip. I of course tried to tighten my grip.

Now, Andrew was a very strong boy for his age. He was eventually able to loosen my grip but before he was completely free, I pounced on him where we wrestled on the couch. He eventually got the upper hand as we fell on the floor. I, however, was able to hold my own for a little while. Then David interfered and with that, I was defeated.

David laid me on my stomach while Andrew got up. David sat on me preventing any escape.

I looked up and saw my brother.

“Try that once more and you’ll regret that you ever had a brother named Andrew Ford,” he said in a thoughtful manner. I could see through his eyes that he was not particularly angry.

Andrew told David to release me and I went to my room. Of course, I went down again and repeated what I did before, with the same results.

“Now what did I say, Tom?” Andrew said. Before I could answer, my brother clamped his hand over my mouth and said, “You’re gonna regret this!” in a sinister tone. I would have said something in reply but it just came out as mmmmpphhhs through my brother’s hand. He then removed his hand but before I could say anything, David’s hand clamped my mouth.

David was as strong as my brother and about an inch shorter than Andrew. He and Andrew were best friends since we were very young, and David is well known in our family.

I tried to struggle, but to no avail. David smiled and said to Andrew, “Get the ropes.” Andrew then smiled and went to his room. A few minutes later, he appeared with some soft cotton rope, a sock, and duct tape.

When I saw all of the stuff my brother was carrying, I realized what was going to happen to me. They were going to tie me up! I squirmed and wriggled, trying to get free, but David’s grip held. I started talking and shouting, but it came only as muffled sounds through David’s hand.
“Calm down,” David said, “you’re just making it hard for yourself.” Now, by this point, I realized that nothing I would do would prevent me from being bound and even gagged, but I was determined not to make it easy for them. I struggled as much as I could as Andrew and David pulled my arms behind my back. Andrew then wrapped the cotton rope around my wrist horizontally four times before cinching it and knotting it beyond the reach of my fingers, and then four times vertically, tying it as before beyond the reach of my fingers. All the while, I was struggling to avoid the inevitable.

After tying my wrist, David released me from his grip and hand gag. I pleaded with them and tried to apologize, but it fell to deft ears. “C’mon guys, it was just a joke”, “I won’t do it again” and more things like that. All the while, Andrew tied another rope around my elbows and my upper body, further restricting my arms. David crossed my ankles and wrapped rope around it 5 times, knotting it off at the front. Andrew took another piece of rope around my waist, and tied it to my arms. David then tied my knees.

Meanwhile, my pleading was beginning to annoy them.

“You talk too much,” Andrew commented.

“C’mon guys, let mmmmpphhh!” David took a sock and shoved it in my mouth while I was at mid sentence. I tried to spit it out, but before I did that, David sealed my mouth with duct tape.

“That will keep him quiet,” David said to Andrew.

“Yea. He was beginning to annoy me, and that gag will finally give us relief from all his talking!” Andrew responded.

“Should we hogtie him?” David asked.

At the mention of hogtie, I started to mmmphhh and shake violently.

“No. It is his first tie up game.”

“You’re right. We can save the hogtie for later.”

I calmed down and was relieved I was not going to be hogtied.

“What do we do now?” David asked.

“Let’s torture that little rascal!” Andrew replied. Now, I was not little, at least not compared to Andrew and David. I was only an inch shorter than Andrew, and even though Andrew was stronger than me, if you can measure strength, the difference would indeed be small.

Now, I asked myself, what could be more of a torture than me being tied and gagged? I soon found out.

I was barefoot, wearing only shorts and a shirt to cover my body.

From previous experience, they knew I was extremely ticklish. Andrew sat and rubbed his fingers against my bare feet. I tried to evade his fingers, but it was of no use. He stroked and stroked. I soon burst into laughter, laughing and giggling under my gag. I squirmed and kicked, but the tickling continued. David soon had his fingers strumming my ribs which caused me to laugh and laugh and laugh. This continued for about 20 minutes, with two minute breaks to let me catch my breath.

When the tickling was over, I was on the verge of tears. David went to the kitchen, while Andrew placed me on the couch. I was helped into a sitting position. David soon arrived carrying a glass of water.

Now Andrew sympathetically said to me, “Do you want some water?”
I nodded. Then my brother peeled off the duct tape.
“Spit the sock out,” Andrew ordered. I spat it out and thanked them. By this time, I was quite acquiescent to both of them. I had had enough tickling.

David held the cup to my mouth where I drank all of the contents. “Thanks, now could you mmmmmpppphhh!” Andrew shoved the sock back into my mouth and placed duct tape over it.

“Sorry, can’t understand what you’re saying! Maybe if you stopped mumbling, we might understand you!” David mocked. I just mmmphhh-ed. What else could I do?

Andrew then said, “Listen Tom, we’re going out and play. Now don’t go anywhere. We’ll be back in 30 minutes.”

With that, they went outside to play, leaving me tied and gagged on the couch.

Now that I was alone, I decided to get myself free. I tried pushing and pulling the ropes, but they wouldn’t budge. I still tried that for ten minutes but nothing would go. I tried to scream, but it came out only as muffled grunts. Fifteen minutes wasted. Then I tried to assess my situation. It was obvious that struggling against my bonds would do no good. I looked around. Then I saw it. Scissors. They were on a table near the kitchen.

I tried to stand up. Very difficult considering that your ankles are crossed. I hopped towards the scissors, around the couch, towards the kitchen. Now, hopping is a very tedious task. It took me about twelve minutes to reach the scissors. Luckily, the table was low enough for me to reach with my bound hands. Twenty eight minutes had passed. Then I started.

“Just what do you think you’re doing”? I was startled. I saw David’s blue eyes under his short brown hair looking at me. He then ran towards me. I just stood there, in no position to escape in my bound and gagged position. “Mmmppphhh” was all I could say.

He looked at me and checked my bonds, saw the scissors, which had not cut anything (David arrived too soon), and took it. He called Andrew, who soon arrived.

“Looks like we got a Houdini here,” David said, showing Andrew the scissors.
 “Lucky we were a bit early, or we would have lost a valuable hostage,” Andrew replied. They both laughed and rechecked my bonds, making sure that they were secure.

They then untied my knees and ankles. I remained gagged and my arms and wrists were still tightly bound, though. David led me back to the living room, while Andrew picked up a light wooden chair with no armrest.

Andrew then positioned the chair so that it would face the front door, and I was lashed to the chair. This time they made sure I would not escape. They sat me on the chair bound and gagged, used rope to hold my body to the chair, retied my ankles and knees, and tied my feet in such a way that my feet would not touch the floor.

“Now try to get out of that,” Andrew said. I struggled against the ropes, but they had tied me too well. I could not get out of the chair. I could not move the chair from its position. I just remained there, stuck.

“Perfect,” said Andrew with a broad grin. “We have a surprise for you. And don’t worry, your agony will soon end!”

Then they left me.

I started thinking. Andrew and David had certainly done this before; their knots were too secure for this to be a work of a first timer. The bonds were tight, but they didn’t hurt. The gag was effective. Any escape attempt without help would be futile. Then I tried guessing what their surprise was, and I tried to imagine what I was to expect. Then I thought about how I felt. I then realized that I enjoyed this game, and even though I was helpless, I was actually enjoying it. And then I began to think of revenge. Yes, revenge! Revenge would be sweet, and I tried to plan in my mind how to get them back. Yes, I enjoyed this game, but that did not stop me from pursuing revenge. I realized that I could not subdue either David or Andrew alone. Even if I targeted them individually, they were a little stronger than me. Taking them both down at the same time was out of the question. So I needed an ally. But who? Betty and her friends I ruled out because, well, she is a girl. Barney and his younger brothers I ruled out because they were too young and would be easily overpowered. So who? The only ones remaining were my cousins Donald (9) and Ben (7), and my best friend Frank.
Donald and Ben and their sisters Margaret (8) or Maggie, and Lucy (7) were the children of my Uncle Richard, brother of James Ford, my Dad. They were also our neighbors, so we were very close to them. Well anyway, I decided that Ben should be eliminated because of his age, Maggie and Lucy because they were girls, so Donald was the only one left, since he was my age and about my size. Frank was also my age and was only a half inch shorter than me at the time, and the fact that he would be returning that evening, automatically made him an ally. So it was decided…

My train of thought was interrupted by a honk of a car horn. I listened, and realized that my parents and my younger brothers had returned. I struggled. I certainly did not want them to see me like this. But it was of no avail. I heard some clicking, and Mom came in the front door. So this was the surprise Andrew had planned for me.

Mom saw me and was surprised.

“So this is the surprise Andrew told me about,” Mom said. She called out to Andrew.

Andrew emerged in the front door with Dad and behind him were my little brothers.

“You did this to him?” my mother asked.

“Yes, mom.”

“And did you do this with David?”

“Yes, mom.”

“Then call him.”

I listen as Andrew shouted David’s name, and he emerged from the kitchen.

“Yes, Mrs. Ford,” David said.

“You helped Andrew tie up Thomas,” Mom asked.

“Yes, Mrs. Ford.”

“Then let me see your work.”

I was flabbergasted. I was expecting Mom to be angry with Andrew and David, but she wasn’t. Mom inspected my bonds.

She then called Dad. “James, did you teach your son how to tie?”

“Well yes, how did you know?”

“Don’t you remember, you tied repeatedly me up exactly the same way when we were young.”

Dad then bent over and checked my bonds, “I taught Andrew well in the ropes. Look at those knots, couldn’t have done better myself.” Of course, he was only kidding, for my Dad knows a lot about knots, and what he taught Andrew was just the tip of the iceberg.

Mom then called Andrew and David, “Just make sure he’s free when lunch is over,” she told them.

Mom then went to the kitchen while Dad went to watch TV, leaving me in the chair bound and gagged.

My little brothers, who just stood at the door just staring at me, ran towards me as soon as my parents were off me. They look at how I was tied and just played around me. John tugged at the ropes; Lawrence poked his fingers into my legs, while Barney inspected the knots. Then Barney (whom I had tickled many times before) said, “let’s tickle him”. But Andrew said no. Barney pleaded, but still the answer was no. Thus I was spared from the torture of being ticked again.

John then said to Andrew, “Could you tie me up like that as well?”

When my father heard that question, “No,” he said.

“But why could Andrew and David tie up Tom and not me?” John asked.

“How old are you”? Dad asked John.

“Six.”

“The reason is that I won’t allow children below nine to be tied up in this house. That is your grandfather’s rule when I was a child. Because I don’t want very young children like you to get hurt. Now when you get nine, I think you get big enough so that you can be tied up at games and not be hurt. Do you understand?”

“Yes, dad.”

With that lecture, Dad gave us the famous nine year old rule: mainly that nobody under nine could be tied up. It was a basic rule by which every one of us followed, even by my friends who were not members of my family, for my father was strict in following rules.

With that, my little brothers continued to look at me, and occasionally, would tease me. After five minutes, they became bored and left me.

After fifteen more minutes, Andrew and David untied me. After I spit the sock out of my mouth, I said, “Watch your backs, for I will get my revenge!”

“You can never tie us up like that,” Andrew responded.

I just grinned up them and promised my revenge. What they did not know is that I had a plan.

We ate lunch, and for the rest of the day, I did what normal 10 year old kid does. I played chess with Andrew, watched TV and just played normal games.

That night, Uncle Richard and his wife came over and ate dinner at our house. They also brought their children with them.

After dinner, I quickly took Donald and told him what happened. We then planned my revenge, which we planned to execute with Frank. What was the plan? Did it work? Did I get my revenge? Read the next part and find out.

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