Postby Jason Toddman » Fri Mar 18, 2011 12:47 pm
This is based on a request by Cowboy.
TUGGERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE
It was barely past dawn, and the temperature was already well in the 80s as Justin Casey and his best friend Cal Ender pulled into the corral area in Justin’s old but well-maintained pickup truck and climbed out to begin their work day. They had come here to repair Old Man Johnson’s rail fence that was damaged by the thunderstorm (and the stampede of cattle it had caused) day before yesterday. Justin had insisted on getting an early start in hopes of making some progress in the repairs before the summer sun made things too hot. Cal was of the opinion that it was already too hot for comfort and said so. The very first thing he did upon stepping out of the pick-up truck was to remove his heavy shirt and chuck it back onto the seat of the truck. Justin, who had already lowered the tailgate of the truck, quickly followed suit.
Justin was 6’ 2’’, and weighed 175 pounds. He had long, light brown hair, gray eyes, and a well-tanned complexion on a well-toned, muscular body. He looked somewhat like Harrison Ford must have looked like when he was in his late teens except for his hair. He even talked a little like Harrison Ford, with that no-nonsense attitude of his. He had a bright smile when he felt in the mood, but he was usually serious and a bit somber.
Cal was of identical height and build as his friend, except that his hair was straw blond and his eyes sky blue. He always seemed to be smiling and laughing; he took nothing seriously, at least in the opinion of the more practical Justin. He looked a bit like a young adult Ricky Schroder - that blond kid from Silver Spoons.
Both young men were dressed in identical blue jeans, identical hats, and identical dark-brown leather boots. About the only difference in their clothing were their belt buckles. Justin’s had an emblem of a Texas long-horn’s horns emblazoned in his, while Cal had his initials (C.E.) emblazoned on his. Both were nineteen years old.
And both loved TUGs.
The two rugged young cowboys hauled the first three pieces for a new railing for the fence out of the bed of the pickup truck and carried them to where it would be needed. Each piece was about ten feet long, six inches wide, and two inches thick, but these two men carried three of them together almost as if they were weightless despite the dry heat of a hot mid-July Arizona morning. They were already cut to the right size and sanded smooth, and were ready to install.
Pulling out and disposing of the splintered wreckage of the old railings took more time than setting up the new railings did. Fortunately, the posts themselves were undamaged by the stampede, so replacing the railings was a simple matter of fitting and hammering them back into place. It was only eight in the morning when they had finished putting up all six sets of railing they had contracted to do. Despite the early hour, it was already so hot that Cal and Justin were soaked with sweat.
The fence was composed of a set of three horizontal railings connected to posts six feet high and six inches around at roughly ten-foot intervals. The middle railing was roughly waist high, the highest railing just below knee level, and the highest railing as roughly chest height. It looked quite sturdy, and in fact was; both men climbed up to and sat on the top railing and rested without it shifting or sagging in the least.
“Whew! I’m glad it’s Sunday and we’ve got nothing else going on today,” observed Justin as he took a drink of cold water from his thermos. “It’s going to be too hot to get much work done today!”
“Definitely going to be a scorcher,” Cal agreed. “But before we can call it finished one of us is going to have to test the strength of that railing to make sure it’s up to our usual standards.”
“Aw, man; it’s too hot out already! Can’t we just flip a coin for it?” asked Justin as Cal enthusiastically closed in on him. “Or scissors, paper, rock?”
“Now where’s the fun in that?” Cal asked he gleefully began grappling with Justin and tried to wrestle him down to the grass-covered ground. “Used to be when we were young you always enjoyed a good tussle even when it was a hundred degrees in the shade.”
“That’s because there usually *was* some shade, or a good swimming hole nearby,” the more pragmatic Justin retorted as he braced himself and countered his friend’s attempt to wrestle him down. “We had energy to waste when we were kids. Now we have jobs and responsibilities to consider.”
“Shoot, you sound just like my mother!” Cal replied with a laugh as he got Justin into a bear-hug and tried to put him into an airplane spin. “Well, if you’re feeling like such an old lady today, then just give up and let’s test that railing!”
“Nothing doing!” Justin replied with a holler as he twisted lithely around and got Cal into a headlock. “Someone’s got to teach a punk like you some manner to respect his elders.”
It was a running joke between the two that Justin was six weeks older than Cal but looked (and acted) more like he was six *years* older. But he was just as vigorous, strong, healthy, and tenacious as his friend was when the need to be arose.
Now as heedless of the hot sun as if it were January rather than July, the two young men continued to grapple with each other. For long moments neither yielded to the other, for they were essentially equals in terms of strength and wrestling skills. Finally however, Justin’s foot slipped on the slick grass underneath him and he fell onto one knee. This was all the advantage Cal needed to force his friend’s shoulders down to the ground and pin him to the count of three.
Cal whooped in victory as he helped his friend to his feet. Then he hastened to the pickup truck to pull some familiar coils of rope out of it while Justin, with a weary but still good-natured sigh of resignation walked slowly over to the railing the two had just set up and stood up with his bare back against one of the sets of railings they had put up. He watched Cal racing happily toward him with rope in hand and spared him a low smile as Cal scaled the fence with a couple of quick climbing steps and single agile leap from the top; whopping happily. Then Cal came upon him again from behind more quietly.
“Arms over the railing and hands behind your back, partner,” Cal said to Justin cheerfully – grasping one of his friend’s wrists and looping a bit of rope around it before Justin had gotten it more than halfway into the desired position.
With considerable skill and dexterity, Cal lashed Justin’s wrists together, cinched the loops off, and tied this combination to the middle of the three horizontal railings, which would have been at just the right height for this were Justin’s biceps not braced over the top railing as well. As it was, there was a several inch gap bridged by several stretches of rope as Justin’s writs were securely tied to the middle railing. Then Cal roped the biceps of both of Justin’s arms as closely together as possible and then tied his upper arms to the upper railing until Justin was unable to move his arms at all.
Cal took more rope and wound it over Justin’s shoulders, under his arms, and back around the top railing his friend was leaning against. Were the railing not connected to the fence posts to either side of it, Justin could have carried the thing across his shoulders like Christ carrying his cross – though it would have been simultaneously lighter but more awkward with its ten foot length.
Cal then tied more rope around Justin’s waist and the middle railing. This ensured that Justin could not so much as wriggle his body between his beltline and his collar bone. He could wiggle his fingers, but they could not reach any part of the ropes he was tied with.
Finally, Cal tied another rope around the bottom railing and Justin’s legs above and below his knees. Cal made no attempt to tie Cal’s feet as they were three feet apart (with his legs spread fairly wide open) and there was nothing to conveniently tie them too. In addition, Cal wanted Justin to be free to brace himself with his legs so he could pull. After all, how else could he test the strength and secureness of the railing he was tied too?
“Okay, Justin… we’re all set! Heave with everything you’ve got!” Cal told him.
Justin promptly pulled on the railings with all his might; trying to dislodge them by main strength while he was tied to them. But the railings held; for all he moment he could achieve, Justin might as well have been tied to a healthy eighty foot tall tree.
“Are you really trying?” Cal said to his friend with a mocking voice. “You don’t look like you’re trying at all!”
“I’m… trying… as hard… as I… CAN!” Justin insisted between gasps of breath while straining with all his might to pull the railings free or at least slacken the ropes he was tied to them with. His upper body was now glistening with the sweat of his efforts, and despite Cal’s teasing his muscles were obviously tensed and exerting a great effort. His blood vessels stood out in bold relief. But nothing – not the ropes, not the railings, and most definitely not Justin’s body – was visibly moving. Justin was as immobile as the statue of Atlas holding the dome of the sky upon his shoulders, and even the mighty mythological figure could not have exerted much more effort to hold up the sky than Justin did in his efforts to rip out the railings or pull his body away from them.
But the railings and the rope held, and finally Justin gave up in defeat with shuddering gasps of breath. Cal removed Justin’s hat and fanned him with him for a few moments, and then gave Justin a drink from Justin’s own thermos. Then he took a towel to wipe the worst of the sweat off of Justin’s heated body. “Looks like we did a good job with this fence railing, partner. Now let’s give it a real test.”
Cal began to tickle Justin’s middle and sides without mercy. “Aaagghhh! Hahahahaha! Hey! Hahahahaha! What are you doing? Hehehehehehe! Lay off! Aaahhh! Stop that, you punk!!! Bwaahahahahaha! Knock it off! Hahahahahaha! Nooooo! Hahahahahah! Leave my ribs alooonnneeee! Hahahahahahahaha!”
This whole time, Justin was writhing and twisting his body as much as he could to get away from his merciless friend’s tickling fingers. But to no avail. He could not get free.
After about five minutes, Cal stopped to let Justin catch his breath. “Yep! Good and solid!” he said to his friend as he clapped Justin on the arm – although whether he meant the fence railings or Justin’s body was uncertain. “And while you’re right here…”
Cal came right up to Justin and kissed him slowly and passionately on the lips.
TBC?
Last edited by
Jason Toddman on Fri Mar 18, 2011 2:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...
Postby sarumansauron » Fri Mar 18, 2011 1:19 pm
That is an interesting and good story. Thanks!
I love TUGS and TICKLING Torture!!!!!
Postby Jack Smith » Sat Mar 19, 2011 3:36 am
It is a cool start if you want to continue it and it is an interesting ending if you don't.
Postby mikeybound » Fri Apr 12, 2013 10:04 pm
I'd want more. I'd also want some spelling and grammar fixed.
Postby Jason Toddman » Sat Apr 13, 2013 12:24 pm
mikeybound wrote:I'd want more. I'd also want some spelling and grammar fixed.
The spelling and grammar were fine until this story wound up in the archived section. Something about that screws up the punctuation for some reason. I'll fix these now with a simple delete, re-copy and paste; but to tell the truth I'd forgotten about this story a long, long time ago so I'm unlikely to ever resume it.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...
Postby mikeybound » Sat Apr 13, 2013 1:06 pm
I still saw the occasional, genuine error. I'm sure you'll spot them when you're fixing the rest.
Postby Jason Toddman » Sat Apr 13, 2013 2:11 pm
mikeybound wrote:I still saw the occasional, genuine error.
Such as what? I'll act on specific mistakes pointed out to me but I don't plan to root them out myself when a spellcheck already turned up none.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...
Postby mikeybound » Sat Apr 13, 2013 6:08 pm
"It was still before eight in the morning when they had finished putting up all six sets of railing they had contracted to do."
"But he was just as vigorous, strong, healthy, and as tenacious as his friend"
Just some minor things, but I hope pointing them out makes it better.
Postby Jason Toddman » Sat Apr 13, 2013 7:27 pm
Ummm... nit-picky sort aren't you?

Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...
Postby mikeybound » Sun Apr 14, 2013 8:42 am
Eh. I aim for perfection.
Postby Jason Toddman » Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:22 am
Sorry Cowboy. Not at this time anyway. I don't even remember where I was going to go with this one after all this time (I'd long since forgotten about it), and I have too many projects here and elsewhere to occupy my time now that interest me more.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...
Postby Cowboy » Mon Jul 20, 2015 12:28 am
When's the sequel??
Postby cyrus6347 » Sat Jan 09, 2016 10:07 am
I have to say that this is a beautiful story. especially at how flawless it transitions from work into a tug. Although indeed, half of why the story seems so good is their friendliness to each other, as if many other aspects of their day can also transition into tugs. And perhaps a percentage of why I like it too is because well there exists
Jason Toddman wrote: two rugged young cowboys

Definitely love to either here a continuation or indeed, a story of a similar vein. I know it's ages since the post was put up, but it's really good. Plus, I've only just seen it now and well, as I said above a beautiful story.
Postby Lake Lover » Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:48 am
cyrus6347 wrote:Definitely love to either have a continuation or indeed, a story of a similar vein. I know it's ages since the post was put up, but it's really good. I've only just seen it now and well, as I said above a beautiful story.
Thanks for resurrecting this neat story, cyrus ! I had actually missed it these several years.
Postby cyrus6347 » Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:58 am
Lake Lover wrote:
Thanks for resurrecting this neat story, cyrus ! I had actually missed it these several years.
Wish I had seen it earlier so I could have spouted more encouragement when it was relevant.

Postby Jason Toddman » Sun Jan 10, 2016 7:02 am
Since so many people have asked for a sequel for this particular story, I'll see if I can get back into the mood to come up with something. I just wish stories than were more in my preferred forte were the ones people were clamoring for, but so be it.
One problem is that I'm not sure what most people want in a continuation or how far to take the intimacy in it.
Dare to be different... and make a difference.
To boldly go where no one in their right mind has gone before...
Postby xtc » Sun Jan 10, 2016 7:09 am
Your fans demand a continuation!!
Seriously though, I understand what you say about "preferred forte" but c'est la vie.
As an experienced writer and moderator on this site, I am sure you are aware of the usual snag when asking for suggestions concerning plot direction.