The Initiation of Tommy and Bobby
"C'mon, Tommy, we gotta get over to Scott's house!" Bobby urged.
"A little anxious, ain'tcha?" his twin replied. "We're 'sposed to be there at ten, and it's just 9:15."
For the ten year old twins, it was business as usual on this Saturday morning, and as the newly minted mascots of their friends' scout troop, there was always something going on. Today, it was at the home shared by brothers Allen and Scott, and their cousin, Charlie. They had no idea what, but it was usually something interesting, and even fun.
Their chores complete, the twins, wearing identical jeans and red and blue striped T-shirts, headed for Scott's house, arriving several minutes early from their expected 10:00 a.m. Charlie greeted them at the door, then escorted them up to the bedroom he shared with his two cousins, where their friends, Mark and Kevin, were grinning like a pair of mad scientists, while Scott, in faded jeans and a yellow T-shirt, and Allen, also in faded jeans, but with a tan T-shirt, were tied hand and foot and gagged, and were squirming and struggling, trying to get loose.
"OK, Kevin, your turn!" Charlie pronounced, and snatched up a piece of rope from the floor. Kevin, in red jeans and a white T-shirt, allowed Charlie to tie him, and did not fight being gagged.
"Sorry I'm late!" came a voice at the door. It was Doug. The gangly 13 year old wore jeans and a white T-shirt, and explained that he had gotten up late.
"No excuses!" Charlie growled. "We'll deal with you later, but right now, we need you for something else."
"Yeah? What?" Doug questioned.
"It's initiation time for the twins." Charlie replied. "And since you, me, and Mark are the three newest members of the troop, we get to be the initiation team."
"What's this initiation thing?" Tommy asked.
"It's real simple." Doug said. "Each of us ties you up in a scout uniform, and you gotta get loose at least twice. Then, you tie us up in our uniforms, and you gotta hold two of us for at least ten minutes. After that, we change back in to our street clothes, and we do it again."
"And you gotta get tied up in pajamas, alone in MacAlpine Manor at night!" Doug teased.
"You're kidding!" Bobby said.
"Yeah, at least about MacAlpine Manor." Doug laughed, "But the rest of it is true, so get these uniforms on, and get face down on a bed, and put your hands behind you."
The five boys changed, Scott, Allen, and Kevin were moved to the floor, and Doug began the twins' initiation by tying their hands and feet, then gagging them with scout neckerchiefs.
Next, Mark tied them, and finally, Charlie. The rounds had taken about a half hour each, and had been surprisingly easy. When it came time for the twins to tie Charlie, Doug, and Mark, they were floored that, at least Mark and Charlie, stayed tied for the full ten minutes.
The second round, in street clothes, went about the same way, and when the initiation was finally over, the twins wondered aloud about it. "That wasn't too bad." Bobby said. "In fact, it was pretty easy."
"And fun, too!" Tommy said. "Especially when we got to tie up Allen, Charlie, and Doug."
The hushed conversation was overheard by Allen, who, along with Scott and Kevin, had long since escaped from their knots. "Wat'cha talking about?" Allen asked.
"The initiation." Tommy replied. "It seemed so easy. Almost too easy."
"It was." Allen answered. "And there's a reason."
"Yeah? What?" asked Bobby.
"We all think you guys are 'neat kids,' and want you for our troop mascots, so we make sure you don't have too much trouble passing the initiation. If we didn't want you, or thought you were a pair of jerks, then it would have been much harder. But the next time you guys get tied up, it will be harder, so be ready."
Satisfied with the explanation, the twins started for home. "Ya know, he's got a point." Tommy said. "If I wanted someone in our cub scout den, I'd make it easy for him, too."
"Yeah, but I got this feeling that we're gonna get tied up a few more times before we turn 11, and Allen also said that it would be harder to escape the next time." Bobby answered.
"That's OK, I think I got it covered." Tommy replied. "The word is, that Kevin is pretty good with ropes, so I invited him and Mark to spend the night, and give us a taste of what to expect."
"Cool!" Bobby agreed.