THE LITTLE BROTHERS CONTEST
“And So To Bed”
The older brothers were enjoying some of the things Sid had brought with him in his pack with his sleeping bag. Mo had found them when he was making Sid’s bed. The ostentatious thanks of the older brothers were doing nothing to mollify the youngster as he rolled on the ground and they helped themselves to his chocolate and other sweets. They didn’t even bother to remove his gag so that he could enjoy some of them as well. By this time, Aki and Luke had settled on the floor with Luke more or less sitting on Aki’s lap. Their manoeuvrings had proved to be good value entertainment while Sid and Matt were taking their loo breaks.
Although by no means being time for bed, it starts getting dark at about eight o’clock early in September and the big brothers decided that it would be better to put the “little ones” to bed in the light. They could always sit by the fire for several hours afterwards swapping unlikely tales and disgusting jokes.
-----00000-----
They decided that Sid was most in need of being released from the uncomfortable tie he was in even though Aki and Luke begged to differ so Mo went over to his little brother while Aiden went to get some more rope. Mo dragged Sid over to where he’d hammered his bed-posts into the ground and un-hitched his foot from the rope cuff round his wrists. By then Aiden had returned and between them they tied Sid’s ankles together and laid him on his sleeping bag. It was one of those technical bags with a water-proof base and a zip that opened both from the head end of the bag and from the foot end.
Maurice threaded the ends of the ropes securing Sid’s ankles through the gap near the foot end of the zip and, taking one end each, Aiden and Mo secured them to two of the stakes they had made earlier. They didn’t bother to pull them too tight. Mo then zipped the bag up to Sid’s armpits while Aiden sat him up and ensured that his arms were clear of the bag. As Aiden forced Sid to bend forwards, Maurice untied his wrists. A few words to the wise about the perils of resisting being put to bed preceded the attachment of a rope to the other wrist that was not still trapped in the cuff rope.
Sid soon found himself stretched none too tightly into a “Y” shape as Maurice pulled his sleeping bag up a bit more and slipped the hood over his head before securing it. Aiden asked Sid if his jaw wasn’t hurting a lot by now and, upon receiving an emphatic nodded reaction, he suggested that Maurice consider removing the gag. After all, he could always replace it if Sid made any noise at all. Once more Sid nodded but more optimistically this time.
Maurice had to undo the hood again if he was to be able to remove the stick and stuffing easily so, while he did so, Aiden went across to a nearby dog rose. He disentangled Sid’s jeans, stuffed one leg inside the other and rolled the result carefully. When Maurice had removed Sid’s gag, Aiden placed the improvised pillow behind Sid’s neck and re-instated the hood.
“What do you say?"
“Thanks, Aiden.” Sid’s response was heartfelt.
“And?”
Sid managed a rapidly mumbled, “Thanks, Mo.”
“Since he asked so nicely, will you help me with this?”
“OK, but two carry mats are more comfortable than one.” answered Aiden as he helped Maurice to slide a sleeping mat under the still silent Sid.
“So? Why do I want to make him any more comfortable than he is?”
“My friend, you’ve missed a point.” said Aiden enigmatically.
The two older boys left Sid to it but not before Maurice said, “Oh by the way, Sid, thanks for all the sweets.” Sid managed to stay silent but there was that look again!
-----00000-----
Luke and Aki had managed to manoeuvre themselves into yet another uncomfortable position and both of them were begging to be allowed to go to bed next. Scott and Tatsu, however, thought that they were providing too much entertainment for them to be let off yet. For the first time Aki let his brother know what he thought of him but only one person could understand what he said.
“Bad boy! Manners! English only, no Japanese.” Tatsu could take the insults and wasn’t even looking severe as he reprimanded his brother.
“Bad move, Aki, looks like Tatsu has to punish you now.”
“Later, not when boys are together. I wait.” All of Aki’s insincere apologies and desperate pleadings fell on deaf ears as Tatsu and Scott turned their attention to Aiden and Matt.
Aiden had gone across to his brother and told him that it was time for bed. He even seemed to be giving him a genuine choice of how he was to be restrained. Aiden had arranged for Maurice to help him transport one of those old “Icelandics” to site. The older boys managed to get it pitched earlier and, other than its size, the old-fashioned patrol tend had a distinct advantage as far as securing a prisoner was concerned: no built-in groundsheet.
Aiden had offered to stake Matt out but that “offer” was turned down. He then offered to leave his wrists bound behind him with a strap tightened round his arms. Matt turned that offer down too. He didn’t fancy having to either spend the night lying on his arms or risk being punished for rolling into his brother. In the end, he settled for a tie that involved his being blindfolded.
There were plenty of big brothers to guard Matt as he got ready for bed so Aiden took the chance. He unlocked the chain and led his brother over to their tent accompanied by Tatsu, Scott and Maurice. With potential escape rendered thus very unlikely even if Matt could afford to try it, Aiden untied his wrists. Matt was now completely unfettered but he still didn’t want to spend the first week of term in detention as well as spending the next month grounded but, equally importantly, he didn’t want to miss out on the French rugby tour. He was the very epitome of cooperation.
Matt removed his board shorts. Aiden must have been feeling generous earlier; he’d even allowed Matt a clean pair of the tight boxer-briefs that he favoured. These ones were black with yellow trim. “OK, tie your own ankles. You can use a short cuff.” Matt didn’t say, “Thank you,” or anything like that but he did sit on the bare ground and made a very good fist of the prescribed bondage. Aiden followed that up by binding Matt’s hands in front of him with another rope cuff which he attached to his ankle cuffs leaving rather less than a metre of rope between them. That left Matt capable of standing without bending as long as he didn’t try to reach his hands any higher than his navel. He then got into his sleeping bag and Aiden zipped it almost to the top and sat his little brother up.
“You don’t need to do this, you know. I can’t afford to escape. I’d be too deep in the shit.”
“How about I gag you as well?”
“No. Get on with it. I can take it.”
Aiden produced yet more packing tape and the underpants that Matt had removed earlier, which he put upside down on his head. “Don’t say I never do anything for you.” The brown tape went round the briefs and, of course, round Matt’s eyes in the process without sticking to too much of the crew-cut hair that had not been pulled out earlier in the day. Say, “Thank you.” Matt didn’t bother.
Aiden then stuffed a towel that he’d tied in a plastic bag into the hood of the sleeping bag as an improvised pillow and tied the hood leaving just the bottom of Matt’s face protruding.
“Mo?"
“Aiden?”
“You know what I said about carry mats earlier on?”
“What?”
“See what I mean?” Aiden had left his brother’s sleeping bag directly on the ground but he had taken both sleeping mats for his own use. “You have much to learn, my friend.”
The older boys then left the over-sized green tent to attend to the increasingly distressed pair who had not been put to bed yet. Aiden knew that, not only could his younger brother not afford to escape, but he’d have considerable trouble doing so in his current situation especially with him sleeping alongside eventually.
-----00000-----
When the big brothers approached them this time, Luke and Aki had managed to be sitting with their left hips touching and their legs out straight with Luke’s legs splayed. That wasn’t a good move and was even more uncomfortable than when they had tried to stay kneeling initially until their legs had become embarrassingly interleaved. Even Luke wasn’t enjoying things now. With all the discomfort and obvious embarrassment that Aki and Luke had experienced, any reasonable person would have considered that the conjoined boys had suffered enough for one day but . . .
“Tatsu?”
“Yes?”
“You hear all that noise?” Tatsuhiko had become used to the English habit of omitting the initial intransitive verbs and was well aware that Mo’s remark was a question and not a statement.
“Of course. Aaah! I understand.” Tatsu approached his protesting little brother. As newcomers, both he and Maurice seemed to be really getting into the manner of conducting themselves when they had the chance of torturing their younger siblings. “Aki, I must punish. You spoke Japanese. That was not polite to our English friends.” Aki continued to give it some; it was too late to expect mercy now but he did manage to demonstrate some of the more colloquial English vocabulary that he had picked up.
“F’ww, that’s a bit strong.”
“Ooo, I’m hurt!”
“Language!”
“Yes, I can’t think where he gets it from.” The older brothers of the principal sources of Aki’s expletives were enjoying themselves once more.
“Tatsu, see to it, please.”
Tatsu demonstrated all the sincerity that the occasion demanded. “Of course. I apologise for my brother’s dishonourable language.” Then the rather bulky Japanese lad approached his little brother and the boy to whom he was tied as they scrambled desperately and totally ineffectually across the ground trying to get away from him. “You are naughty boy. My friends upset. You must not say that.” Aki said even more.
“Go, Aki, you tell him.”
“What a pity. So brave.”
“And sooo foolish.”
In spite of Luke’s attempts to advise his fellow sufferer to stop abusing his big brother (and anyone else who happened to be within earshot) before it was too late, the dam had finally burst and Aki was making up for lost time. Needless to say, Scott and Tatsu had no trouble holding on to the pair and Scott set about making his brother an offer he would have been very stupid to refuse as he started binding his ankles so that they were crossed.
“We could leave you two tied together for the night. Of course, we’d have to gag you both. We’d only have to tether you to a branch to make sure you couldn’t go too far.” That immediately got Luke’s attention because he knew that his brother was perfectly capable of treating him like that. “Of course, it would be a bit chilly but I’m sure you could keep one another warm.”
Luke suggested that he’d rather that didn’t happen in between telling his little Japanese mate to shut up. Once Aki had succumbed to Luke’s suggestion, Scott presented his alternative to Luke. “Or I could untie your wrists so that the shrimp here is still tied up, as long as you promise not to resist as I tie your wrists behind you again.”
Luke readily agreed but he thought it was a bit unfair when, after his wrists had been cross lashed behind him, Scott taped his black swim briefs round his eyes rather like Aiden had just done to Matt using his underpants. Knowing Luke, though, he would have known he’d be tied up for the night and was probably simply miffed about not being able to see what the big brothers were going to do to Aki.
Once he had been blindfolded, Luke was abandoned while the big brothers made some creative suggestions to Tatsu as to how to treat his little brother. Luke guessed what their first action was as Aki’s imprecations suddenly became effectively incomprehensible. All Luke heard was Mo’s voice saying, “Tatsu, watch this.” There followed a lot of laughter and a much quieter Aki.
Although Mo was new to this tie-up crowd, he was used to keeping his little brother out of his hair while he created his manga masterpieces or practiced the drums so he demonstrated a technique that he had found to be effective in the past. He had taken the long, soft fabric strip that was the only thing preserving what Aki had been allowed to retain of his dignity for most of the day and tied a thick knot in the middle of it. While Aki was concentrating on telling Tatsu what he thought of his friends, Maurice simply squeezed his thumb and finger into Aki’s cheeks forcing his jaws wide open and stuffed the knot between his teeth.
Before Aki could react, Mo was holding the knot in place while Aiden, in response to Mo’s prompting, twined the fabric twice and tied it behind the head of the temporarily bewildered boy. As he pulled on the ends of the fabric, the knot buried itself deeper into Aki’s mouth. Now, even if he did manage to wrench Mo’s hands away from his face, the gag would not fall out. Scott held Aki’s hands out of the way while Mo brought the ends of the fabric round to the front of Aki’s face once more and tied them off in his mouth by twining them twice and then forming a version of a reef knot so forcing the original knot even further home.
“And one more for luck.” Announced Mo as he tied just one more knot.
Before releasing Aki’s wrists, Tatsu used the white briefs that Aki had discarded earlier to enrol him into the “briefly blindfolded brotherhood”. Mo was waxing poetical again.
Some time was spent discussing whether certain ties were or were not appropriate for restraining a little brother overnight but, in the end they settled for tying Aki’s wrists palm to palm behind him and his elbows just close enough together to stop him slipping his wrists in front of him. At that stage, Aki realised he was stuffed and stopped struggling. He thought that, if he did so, his brother might stop sitting on him.
Tatsu explained that, if his conduct improved markedly, he might consider removing some of Aki’s restraints before he felt like going to bed himself but that, if it didn’t, Sid might have a little friend to keep him company outside overnight but probably without a sleeping bag.
As Tatsu stuffed his little brother into his sleeping bag and zipped it up, he said that he’d learnt something today. He dragged Aki over to the tent, pulled him inside and said, “Yes, I have learnt two mats are better than one.” He had put both carry mats on top of one another leaving Aki without and, unlike the previous two boys who had been put to bed, he hadn’t bothered to provide him with a pillow.
-----00000-----
That just left Luke but, as usual, being simply bound and blindfolded as he was had sent him to that special place. He was going to be no problem and would not require gagging although, if he asked nicely, Scott might consider allowing him to see. Luke chose not to ask; it was too late to see what had been done to his erstwhile fellow in any case. Scott soon had his brother's ankles freed and re-tied alongside one another and placed him in his sleeping bag along with a similar “plastic bag” type pillow to the one that Matt had previously enjoyed. Luke was dragged into the tent and the big brothers took a few hours to themselves before turning in.
-----00000-----
There were more competitions to supervise tomorrow so, eventually the older brothers thought it would be a good idea to retire. There was due to be an “Exemption Sprog Show”; Mo’s parents showed German shepherds and he had lots of good ideas.
Predictably, not being as used to camping out as the others were, Mo was slow to settle and insisted on regaling his little brother, and everyone else on the site, with the “Adventures of Mighty Mo and his Spunk-proof Boxers.” After a short while, however, even that got boring and Scott suggested that they all needed to get some sleep.
“Have I ever told you that you’re . . ."
“Shut up, Mo!” chorused all those who were capable of doing so.
“. . . no fun?” came the mock-dispirited completion.
Through the Night
Things worked out differently for each of the little brothers as the night wore on and, as soon as Aiden could be sure Mo was asleep (he was never quiet even when he was sleeping), he thought he would have a little fun as well as giving poor little Sid some relief from his suffering. He warned Matt about behaving while he was away because he had something to do.
All was quiet, except for Mo’s snoring, as Aiden quietly left his tent. Looking carefully around, he went across to where Sid was lying and put a large hand over his mouth. Aiden spoke quietly. “Shh! If you don’t want to stay out here overnight, keep quiet, yes?” Sid nodded.
Aiden untied the rope that secured Sid’s feet and tied a non-slip knot in the doubled rope. He then bound the rope firmly in counter directions around where he judged the smaller boy’s ankles to be. With another warning about being very quiet, Aiden then untied Sid’s right wrist from the stake before threatening him with unthinkable torments should he fail to cooperate from thereon. Even with both wrists free, there was no way Sid could effect an escape so the threats were probably uncalled for even if they were memorably graphic.
Sid cooperated perfectly as Aiden cuffed his wrists just far enough apart so that he couldn’t touch the fingers of one hand with those of the other. Aiden unzipped the sleeping bag part way and forced Sid to sit up. He took the remaining rope and lopped it around the cuff by Sid’s left wrist, fed both free ends round behind the little scruff-bag and tied the ends round the cuff by Sid’s right wrist. Then he pulled tight so that Sid’s wrists were clamped to his waist. Sid was beginning to wonder whether it wouldn’t have been better if he had stayed staked out but Mo hadn’t given him any insect repellent and his arms were already suffering so he bore his new binding in silence.
“Not too uncomfortable?”
“I’m good.”
“Good man. Just a little bit more then I’ll take you inside.” Sid nodded and Aiden tied another non-slip knot in both ropes not far from Sid’s right elbow. One end of the rope went each side of Sid’s elbow and both ends went behind his back and were finally knotted round his left elbow holding his arms to his sides. “If this hurts too much later, you can ask nicely and I MIGHT do something about it. Mind you, you’ll have to suffer for it later.” Aiden gave Sid his best evil grin and Sid decided to take his word for it.
“Right now, if this little joke’s going to work, Mo mustn’t know where you are. Understand?” Sid nodded. “Or, if he does find you, I wonder what he’ll do to you then.” Sid’s surprisingly deep voice assured Aiden that he’d behave and Aiden zipped him into his sleeping bag once more rescuing the improvised pillow on the way. “Right, hold tight.”
Aiden easily shouldered the shrouded little lad and carried him across to the Icelandic where he dumped him rather unceremoniously alongside Matt. “Keep quiet you two unless you enjoy the taste of used football socks. Got it?” Both little brothers nodded their understanding. Aiden left for a last-minute pee up a tree before retiring.
Sid took the chance and said quietly, “’Right, Matt?”
“’Right, Sid.” Answered the blond easily recognising the voice.
By the time Aiden returned, stripped down to his white cotton boxers, threatened both Sid and Matt once more and climbed into his sleeping bag, all was peace and quiet. Except for Mo’s snoring.
-----00000-----
As the night wore on and various big brothers had got out for a pee, no-one remarked upon the absence of Sid because Aiden had previously told Tatsu and Scott of his intentions. Well, no-one until Mo got out at about six o’clock that is.
Everyone knew when Mo had woken by the number of words that sounded as though they had something to do with wildfowling (Most of them rhymed with “duck” and “punt”.) ringing across the camp site. All that the other senior boys had to do now was to play the innocent and suppress their urgent desires to burst out laughing.
“Ooo dear, I wonder how that happened.”
“Should have checked up on him.”
“Too busy driving the pigs to market.”
“Serve you right for making him sleep outside.”
There’s nothing like enjoying the sympathy of your mates is there? Mo didn’t even notice that the ropes and the sleeping bag had also disappeared but that the carry mat was still in place. Mo, who, unlike the other boys, had slept in his clothes, quickly slipped on his trainers and headed off towards home in spite of doubting that he would able head off his fugitive sibling before he arrived. Maurice knew he’d get no trouble from his parents for being unpleasant to Sid but he thought it would be a good idea to leave him in no doubt as to what would happen to him if he did. When he reached home, there was no one up and Maurice rushed into his brother’s bedroom.
Now he was worried. What should he do? Ask his parents? Tell them the truth? Nah! Get back to his mates.
Early Morning and a Bit
As soon as the rest of the big brothers knew that Mo was out of range they put their minds to the problem of what to do with Sid next. As Aiden picked his boxers out of his arse and rotated his shoulders, Scott scratched the front of his undies and Tatsu straightened his rather smart pyjamas (“Must keep up standards.”), a decision was soon made: a brew was called for.
“I’ll get my man on it.” Aiden returned to his tent and put it to Matt that, if he wanted his arms untying before the other little brothers, he could get breakfast started. Matt agreed and Aiden pulled him from his sleeping bag as Matt attempted to arrange himself inside his boxer briefs. He undid his ankles, dragged him over to the rowan tree and tethered him to it by his neck before untying his wrists and leaving him to unstick his blindfold. By the time Matt was ready, Tatsu had brought the stoves over to where he was sitting and Scott had presented him with the necessary supplies. Matt set to his task, grateful to have had his wrists and ankles unbound, and Aiden returned to his tent to find his trackie bottoms, socks and boots and to stow Matt’s sleeping bag away.
It must be said that, before starting his task, Matt enjoyed the freedom of movement provided by his tether to move as far away from the mountain ash as possible before enjoying an early morning piss. He didn’t wash his hands afterwards.
-----00000-----
In his usual funny way Luke had enjoyed his night tied up but by now he could do with being able to give his arms a stretch and he’d already managed to dislodge the swimming costume from his head. Scott wasn’t too bothered about that as he slipped Luke from his sleeping bag and hitched his football shorts back up for him. Scott didn’t think Luke would try to escape but it wasn’t really worth taking a chance so, while his little brother bunny-hopped across to the tree that he’d indicated, he carefully selected a rope of a suitable length for the tie he had in mind.
Scott had picked a tree that Luke would not be able to reach all the way round with both arms and set about his masterpiece of tying with one of the longest ropes they had brought with them.
“Scott,” Luke thought he had to be careful about how he asked. “please, just untie my hands; I need a piss.”
“Ask again and I’ll leave you to wet those footy shorts.” Luke could take a hint.
Scott located the middle of the rope and hung it over Luke’s neck with the ends hanging down in front of him. One end then went over each shoulder and Scott brought them together behind Luke’s neck where he tied the rope firmly but not tightly with a reef knot.
“OK, turn round.” Luke jumped to put his back to the tree and Scott passed the ends of the rope in opposite directions around the tree and passed them through the loops round Luke’s neck. There was still enough room in the collar for Luke to be able to breathe easily and even to swivel in it. The process of binding Luke with such a long rope was time-consuming but Scott thought it would be worth it because Luke would not be able to do a runner but, as long as he didn’t try to pull too far away from the tree, he would be safe from strangulation. He’d never do anything deliberately to hurt Luke seriously - - but it was often tempting.
While Luke stood quite some distance from the tree, Scott wound the remaining rope around the four strands between Luke and it pulling him towards it until he was only about 40 cm away connected by a fairly rigid tether Scott knotted off the rope again and finished off by tying the ends behind the tree well out of the way of Luke’s prying fingers.
“OK, Shit-head?” Luke nodded and received the increasingly annoying, “Good boy.” from his brother as he tousled his hair. Scott then knelt and untied his brother’s ankles. “Turn around.” Luke gave a puzzled look but did manage to turn to face the tree with very little abrasion to his neck. “That’s test number one.” announced Scott, pleased with his efforts so far and he then untied Luke’s wrists. Luke immediately started loosening his limbs when Scott announced, “And now, test number two. Move round the tree.”
“What?”
“If you can, you can go for a piss in some privacy and you won’t have to keep standing in it afterwards.” Luke got the point and started edging around the tree. “Watch it, though, once you’ve been, you get back where I can see you. Understand?” Luke understood and, although he probably wouldn’t be able to sit down, it was certainly not the most uncomfortable tie in which he’d ever been left.
Scott was a dedicated bare-chested camper and sports sandal wearer and, before he went to help with Aki, he stripped off his boxers and dressed himself in just his green swimming shorts.
-----00000-----
By the time Tatsu had dragged Aki, complete with sleeping bag, from their tent, he’d dressed himself in a black track suit and trainers. After Tatsu had honoured him with a few words of wisdom after they had retired, Aki had tried his best not to annoy his big brother by any more than was absolutely unavoidable. After a while, he woke up and Tatsu thought that his brother had earned some privileges so he removed the extensive gag from Aki’s mouth. He was even true to his word and untied his elbows after another while.
If only they could speak Japanese, the other boys would have realised how insufferably smug the normally pleasant natured boy was being to his younger brother as he pointed out the advantages of dong what his olders and betters told him. Aki didn’t fall into the trap. He kept quiet; he already had a punishment coming for speaking Japanese himself the previous day.
Tatsu dragged Aki from his sleeping bag. There must have been mornings when Aki had looked better even after Tatsu had removed the briefs from his head. Not only was that explosion of black hair even more unruly than usual but the back of his shorts had been dragged down below his bum. Tatsu seemed to be in no hurry to remedy the situation and simply left the smallest of the little brothers to scrabble around on the ground trying to cover his embarrassment himself. Once all the other big brothers thought they had entertainment value enough out of Aki’s predicament, Tatsu helped him on the condition that Aki “asked nicely”. Poor Aki, he already knew the day wasn’t going to be his favourite ever.
By the time Aki was ready to be restrained further, Matt had made the hot drinks for the older boys so he could be chained in the normal “necklace”. Even once that had been done, Aiden didn’t see why his brother shouldn’t carry on with preparing his breakfast for him. Matt did so fairly uncomplainingly. At least Aiden couldn’t tie his wrists all the while he was using him as a slave.
Aki was carried over to the rowan tree and chained by the neck on the opposite side of the tree from Matt. He sat looking expectantly at Tatsu who didn’t seem to be taking the hint so, eventually he had to ask. Tatsu was quite disappointed that he was so polite about it and felt that he had to untie his ankles and wrists.
-----00000-----
Scott and Tatsu set about preparing breakfast for themselves and, as long as they were prepared to beg, their little brothers as well. As his breakfast was being prepared by Matt, Aiden went across to his tent to get Sid.
“’Right, Sid?”
“’Right, Aiden. - - - Thanks.”
Aiden grinned and went about unzipping Sid’s sleeping bag. “Now, I think you owe me a favour, don’t you?” Sid was grateful not to have been left to the insects overnight but he was worried about what Maurice would do to him when he returned. On balance he was forced to agree. “Well, in that case, open up.” The socks were obviously his, the ones that Maurice had stripped from his feet yesterday, and he wasn’t looking forward to what he assumed Aiden was going to do with them but he was small and Aiden had real muscles. Sid opened his mouth.
Aiden pushed one of the socks, that he had previously rolled, well behind Sid’s teeth. He used the other to pad out his cheeks. It’s a good job Sid’s socks were only small, shame about the cleanliness though, but there was still an excess of fabric poking out between Sid’s lips even after Aiden had made another attempt to stow it away.
“Close your lips.” Sid couldn’t even laugh about the stupidity of that instruction but concern for his own well-being ensured that he did his best to comply. Aiden reached for the packing tape. A few minutes later and all of Sid’s face below his nose had disappeared. A shiny cocoon of brown tape had completely obscured the protruding fabric, Sid’s lips, his chin and the back of his neck. Sid was beginning to wonder whether braving the mossies all night might not have been a better choice after all.
“Shout at me.”
“Mmmmm”
“No, SHOUT at me.”
“Mmmph!”
“Oh sorry, you were shouting. Well, that seems OK.”
Aiden untied the rope round the sleeping bag and Sid’s ankles and shouldered him, sleeping bag and all, across to where Maurice had left him the previous evening. After another ten minutes during which Aiden untied Sid’s wrists and elbows, zipped up his sleeping bag and tethered his wrists and ankles to the stakes once more, other than for than the shiny expanse of Sid’s gag, you’d have thought that he was just as Maurice had left him before retiring.
Sid was glad to have his arms released; even being staked out loosely as he was gave him a change of position and the opportunity to deal with his developing cramps.
-----00000-----
By the time he’d returned, breathless and sweaty to site, Maurice noticed all the rest of the boys except Sid nonchalantly tucking into their breakfasts.
“What the . . ?”
“He’s been there all night.”
“Yes, he was gagged somehow.”
“He must have been so quiet that you didn’t notice him.”
“That’s right, isn’t it, Sid?”
Sid nodded.
“You bastards, do you realise how far I’ve just had to run?”
“Yup. About six miles in all, wasn’t it?”
“’Bout time you got some exercise.”
“Not a bad time, really: 50 minutes.”
“OK, OK, my time will come. What’s for breakfast?”
Depends what you cook. Sid’s probably hungry by now.”
“Yeah, lying there like that all night, he’s probably built up quite an appetite.”
Maurice might have been annoying at times but he was a popular kid and, once he’d re-discovered his sense of humour, he couldn’t help admiring the way he’d been conned. The fact that someone had already prepared breakfast for both him and Sid helped.
Everyone soon mucked in and Sid was safely consigned to the “necklace” along with Luke and untied before being fed. There was then some time for relaxation and for Aki and Sid to wonder when they’d get a chance to take a pee in some privacy.
Aiden and Scott completed whatever tidying up and washing up was considered necessary while, once they had been safely secured, Aki and Sid were escorted somewhere private for a few minutes before being returned to the rowan tree. Now back to his normal self Maurice announced that it was time for the next event in the Little Brothers Contest.