13 - New Horizon
Story index at the bottom
By Jennifer
Alright everyone, I thought about jumping between my younger and older stories again, but I realized that I need to cover two series of events to help get the background into it. This will be the first of those two since it happened before the other one. While my initial tie up game skills came from my family and that is where most of my games took place early in my life. When I got a little older I broadened my horizons and played more games with my friends. I belonged to a couple of clubs growing up on and off, but most of them didn't have too many tie up experiences. However, there was one that both sharpened my skills significantly on the subject and turned into an outlet for a whole bunch of new experiences. More so than any other. This is going to sound a little strange, but the groups was the Scouts, more specifically the Boy Scouts of all things. I was never really a girl scout as a kid, but I had quite a bit of experience with my brother's troop growing up.
I am sure some of you are sitting there trying to sort all of this out. I joined up as a venture scout with my two older brothers when I was 14. It is a coed programs that the Boy Scouts run with a higher focus on high adventure and learning about life for the older kids. It runs all the way to age 21. However, my experiences with the boy scouts began when I was much younger, namely during the summer that I was nine. It is a complex explanation, but as this next set of stories offers, you will all be able to understand it fully. I really never was a 'Scout' until I turned 14, more of just a little sister who got to tag along sometimes. Still, I always felt like one of the group and the other boys in the troop made me feel comfortable with the whole idea. Nothing even remotely inappropriate happened during my time with it. However, my brother's troop was very good with rope work. I was a quick learner from them and a skilled participant on more than one occasion. Well, I could sort this out all day, but the story does a better job so without further interruption, here we go.
It was a warm and bright Monday evening in early July the Summer that I was nine. My mother and Mary were out at the moment running a few errands. My father had come home from work and made us dinner for the evening early that night around 5 o’clock as he always did on a Monday. My mother and older sister were long overdo as I sat in the living room watching the clock turn slowly towards the time that I dreaded approaching. Sean was sitting at the kitchen table with Scott going through their books and making sure everything was ready for the meeting that night. Every Monday evening, my brother had a Scout meeting with a local troop they had joined. Sean had been with them for several years and Scott had been a cub scout for the last two with the pack that was directly connected to the troop. My younger older brother had crossed over to join Sean in the boy scout towards the end of the last spring when the groups both rechartered. It had been a fancy ceremony and everything. Personally, I found both of the clubs dreadfully dull to attend at all since they were a boys organization and I was girl. Luckily I didn't get dragged along too often to these affairs unless it was a special occasion.
Both the pack and the troop met at a local church that was about a 15 minute drive from our home. The boys scouts met on Mondays and the cubs met on Wednesdays. Either way I usually was able to dodge having to go most of the time. With both Mary and Sean old enough to baby-sit, and the meetings taking place after my parents usually got home, I usually got to stay home with someone else. However, Sean couldn't watch me since he was going and the two other adults in my family weren't home yet. The plan was that they would get back in time to stay home with me, but it was looking more and more like that was not going to happen. It was already 6:20 on the clock in the living room and they were still absent. My dad came in and looked down at where I was sitting. "Sorry Jen, it looks like your mom and sister just are not home yet and we need to leave in a few minutes. Your too young to leave home alone, so you will have to come along with us for a while. I'll leave a note for your sister to come and pick you up when she gets home, but you should get ready to go now or we'll be late."
I didn't reply at all, I had this conversation with my father before and I knew that every argument that I could launch would just lead to a dead end. I hopped down off of the couch and headed over towards the door to retrieve some sandals to wear. I found a set and strapped them on overtop of my bare feet after I shed my house slippers leaving them by the door. I was wearing a short sleeved pink sundress with a floral print that fell just below my knees and a set of ribbons set back a little ways into my hair. My dad looked over at me with a wide smile. He was probably glad that I gave up without a fight. He really didn't need the stress right now as he had a lot on his mind. My mother was pregnant with Mary and he was leaving with my brothers on a camping trip this weekend. They were going canoeing with their boy scout troop.
Dad called me to join him and my brothers in the car and the four of us headed out and off to the meeting. I just looked out the window towards the pretty sunset. I had a book with me, but it wouldn't prove much of an interest. More of a distraction until my mother or sister came to get me. I didn't have time to fetch my game boy, but it would do in a pinch. The meeting was long during the summer. It ran from 7 to 9 pm and would probably run latter that evening because my brothers' patrol was having a canoe trip that weekend. I was glad that I wouldn't have to stay for the whole thing, but never the less I was along for at least the first part of it. My older brother Sean was a Patrol leader and he had allowed Scott to join his patrol along with some of the new boys. A patrol is a smaller groups of 6 to 10 scouts in a troop meant to be a combined unit. They would camp and compete as a group at campouts and other events. The troop kept a mix of the older and younger boys together in each group so the more experienced one could teach the newer ones. It also balanced the strengths for team competitions between patrols.
My father was an Assistant Scout master in the troop along with several of the other dads. He was the more active parent in the organization. My mother helped out and provided a ride from time to time, but mostly it was my father who went camping and oversaw the boys in the activities. The car pulled into the church parking lot and my dad turned off the engine. After a few moments of fiddling with my harness, I was loose and the four of us headed inside the building to attend the meeting. The troop was comprised of about 40 boys of varying ages between 10 and 16 mostly. They were divided into five patrols each of a mixed age group. Aside from the main scoutmaster and my father. There were roughly another dozen or so adult leaders in the troop. Usually, at least 7 or 8 of them made it to each of the meetings. I followed my father and brother's inside the hall of the church where the meetings took place. There were 6 rows of chairs set up for the boys and a large table in front of the group where the scout master and one of the older boys sat.
My dad took me to a folding chair towards the rear of the room and told me I could wait their until my sister or mother showed up to pick me up. I sat and began reading from my book and a few minutes later the meeting started. Two boys walked in carrying flags in front of them. One had an American flag and the other carried another flag with the scouting emblem and the troops number on it. They paraded in and set the two flags into stands on either side of the table. The scout master rose and asked everyone to rise for the pledge of allegiance. (The scoutmaster is the head leader for the adults supervising the activities.) I stood up and recited the pledge with everyone else. My father had taught me the importance of this part of the ceremony as an American citizen and I soon learned that I was required to take part at least in the that capacity. The scout leader excused the rest of us. which consisted of myself and two mothers staying for their son’s meetings to sit down. Then, the boys and adult leaders recited a few other oaths about walking the straight and narrow. Then, everyone sat down.
After the opening was done, the senior patrol leader, (kind of like the president of most other clubs) stood up and began to conduct the meeting. He started out talking about some things that were coming up on the calendar including the coming up campout for my brothers' patrol and a few other boys who would be joining them. Then he went into what each part of the group would be doing for the rest of the meeting. The younger scouts were going to learn a few skills towards advancement, and the older ones going on the campout were going out the storage shed near the church to pack up the gear for the weekend. There were some other things too, but I was trying to read my book so I didn't pay much attention to the happenings of the meeting. After about 15 minutes or so, all the scouts went their separate ways and began working on the activities of the evening. I just sat and read my book for a few more minutes at least. Mary or my mother would be along soon enough to collect me and I could go home from the meeting. However, another 15 minutes went by and there was no sign of either of them. I had stopped reading 5 minutes earlier bored with the story. Mostly because it was a book I had to read for school over the summer. My eyes darted around the room looking out of boredom. Then, something caught my eye.
Off in one corner of the room Scott and a group of the 5 youngest scouts were gathered around in a semicircle with one of the older boys. They each had a piece of rope about 5 feet in there hands and they were busy tying the ends of the them together over and over again. Anything that involved ropes and tying always peeked my interest as a kid. Bored as I was with plenty of time on my hands I decided to go over and investigate what was happening. I rose from the chair and walked over casually staring at the older boy as he demonstrated how to tie a knot for the younger boys. I watched as the group continued for work for another two or three minutes. The older scout was showing the younger ones a couple of the basic knots that they needed for a rank advancement in the troop. I watched from a distances fascinated by their movements. Then, the older boy teaching caught sight of me and stopped to address my presence to the group.
"And who are you? I am trying to teach a lesson here is there something that you need help with?" The older boy asked looking at me. My brother came to my aid and broke the ice introducing me to the rest of the circle. "That's just my sister Jennifer. She came along tonight since my mother didn't get home from shopping yet." Scott finished. The other boys took a moment and introduced themselves to me one at a time. "So, what do you want?" The oldest boy asked again rephrasing his previous question trying to get the point of the interruption. "I was just curious what you were doing with the ropes over here, that is all. I know how to tie a few knots, but I haven't seen too many of those before." The older boy dropped his gaze of annoyment with me and changed his expression to a more pleasant one. "Well then, why didn't you just say so. You can pull up a chair and join us if you want to." I took the boy up on his offer and drew one of the near by empty chairs onto the outside of the semi circle.
Once I was seated, the boy teaching the lesson handed me a piece of rope and picked up where he left off. He slowly worked his way through a basic knot showing each step in it's construction. I followed along and quickly realized that I had seen this one before. It was a common knot that Sean sometimes used to finish off a tie on me. It usually proved troublesome to untie, but after a few minutes I began to understand why it would. The particular knot he was showing us double back on itself to prevent slipping unlike the usual square knot that I like knew how to tie. It took me a few tries at working the rope, but I soon figured out the pattern of tucks and loops to produce the knot. Most of the younger boys weren't doing much better.
Tying knots. as most people who are involved with our type of lifestyle know, can be a really tricky business if your not well trained in it. Even some of the simple ones can be pretty confusing to a novice on the subject. After a minute or two of work, my efforts were rewarded and I managed to tie the knot successfully. Afterwards I undid it and retied it a couple of more time committing it deep into my memory for future use. Rope work would be one of the more practical applications that I would gain from my experiences here. Upon seeing my success and their failures, several of the boys turned their eyes towards me to see if they could siphon the secret of the matter from my example. One of the boys even introduced himself. "Sheesh your pretty good at this for a girl. Your doing a lot better than I am with this." The boy continued with another compliment and introduced himself a little more formally to me as Brandon. He asked if I could show him how it was done and I was only to happy to prove that my side of the gender could do this just as well as them.
Brandon was a small boy, probably the same age as Scott at the time. He kept his dark brown hair cut very short. He was wearing a light green t-shirt with the troops number and the scouting symbol on it. He had a brown eyes and a quiet reserved mannerism to his personality. I took a few moments and went over the knot with him in the way it made sense to me. A couple of the other boys in the group watched and Brandon and another one picked it up from my lead. Two of the other boys didn't succeed as well as Brandon and the other boy did. Out of frustration, one of the other boys spoke up a little angry at my success. "Who cares? So the little girl can tie an knot and we cannot. After all, there really isn't any thing that this is used for in the real world is there? Why do I have to know this?" His tone was deep and frustrated for his younger age. The older boy teaching the lesson began to explain that simpler knots were part of more complex structures and we need to learn the basics before he we learned the advanced ones. However, the other member of my family present in the group had a much more convenient use for the knot he had just learned. Scott was more than happy to share his idea with the group.
"You guys should know that this knot and many other knots have a great deal of uses. For example, this knot is perfect if you want to tie up your annoying little sister. Especially when she won't keep her big mouth shut." Scott looked down and me and suddenly all the arguing ceased. I had become the focus of everyone's attention. "How about a demonstration?" One of the other scouts suggested looking and Scott. My brother was only too happy to oblige. I wasn't sure how to react at first, but when my brother circled around me and began taking hold of my hands, I just did what I usually did. I cooperated and allowed him to pull my arms around behind my back. Scott wasted no time in putting my wrists parallel to each other. He took a length of rope maybe 6 or 7 feet in length and began to form horizontal coils around my wrist pulling them together. After a good 7 or 8 turns of the rope, he cinched the center of the tie off between my hands to tighten it down. Finally, he tied the tie off with the knot we had just learned. But, he wasn't quite finished yet. He still had about a foot of rope trailing from the end of the tie. He pulled it downwards behind the chair and tied it off to one of the support bars that ran between the two rear legs of the chair.
The boys looked on not quite sure how to react. I gave the ropes a few hard tugs and pulled my wrists against each other. The tie was pretty effective and held my hands solid. Getting out would take some time at least. However, Scott still wasn't done yet. My brother helped himself to a second piece of rope and circled around to the front of my chair. "Now, if your tying up your annoying little sister, you need to make sure that you also tie up her feet or she might escape." With that, he repeated the tie in the same style as my hands and tied the tail off to the cross bar on the front of the chair. Once he finished, my brother stepped back to admire his handy work and take credit for keeping his little sister in line. He smiled down at me and I looked back up at him. I was the center of attention of the small group in it's entirety now. I decided to put on a demonstration of my brother's skills for them. I began to struggle against my ropes and see if I could free myself.
What followed were a series of hard tugs and pulling trying to free myself. Despite all my jerks and squirming, the ropes stayed secure and I couldn't free myself directly. My brother stood back and sucked up the credit for his fine work. After a few minutes of struggling I allowed myself a moment to rest and admitted that I couldn't get free on my own. There were quite a few smiles in the group about the success and I suppose a few questions had been answered. Suddenly, the scout master stood up and announced that it was time to move onto the next section of the meeting. Sadly, our little group had to disperse, but that left them with the question of my perdicament. Brandon was the first to voice in favor of my aid. "I guess we have to untie her now don't we guys?" There were looks of mixed expressions and uncertainty. I really didn't care either way. This was the most fun that I had ever had at one of these meetings and I really didn't want it to end so soon. On the other hand, I didn't want to get my brother or the other boys in trouble. Still, Scott provided the best answer. "Nah, leave her alone for a little while longer. Maybe she will learn not to be so annoying. We'll come back and untie my sis in a little while he said giving me a quick wink."
I pretended to be a little annoyed with the suggestion and told them that I didn't need their sympathy and that I would escape on my own. The rest of the group just shrugged and went to their separate patrols for the patrol meeting segment of the evening. They left me alone tied to the folding chair in the middle of the church hall. Once I was left to my own devices, I struggled a little bit more on and off just to test the feeling of the ropes. After a little better study of the situation, I figured that I could engineer an escape if I wanted to. However, I opted not to. I was having fun with the whole situation and it was more interesting than sitting around reading a book anyway I looked at it. Besides Scott was getting a boon out of it and I didn't see any harm in that. A few of the adults had seem me by now, but since I was showing any signs of distress none of them took action to really help me. It was a good lesson about the indifference of the troop to things like this. So, I just sat there and enjoyed my perdicament until I was interrupted.
I was probably tied up for about 15 minutes when a familiar voice startled me as it filtered down over my shoulder. "Well little sister, I see you are making new friends here." I looked up to see Sean standing behind me. After recovering from the shock I looked up and asked him what he wanted. "I know your having fun, but Mary is outside waiting for you. Dad sent me in to get you and Scott we need to talk about something now." The normal joking tone from his voice was absent and I could tell this was serious. I nodded and Sean untied me from the chair over the course of the next few minutes. Once I was free he led the way out of the church out to the parking lot where some of the boys from his patrol were sorting through the gear. Mary and my father were with them and they had a difficult look on their face. I followed silently behind my brother as we came to meet up with the two of them. Scott was in close proximity as well. Sean must have dispatched him first.
My father started the conversation. "Guys, I have some bad news that I thought I would share with all of you. I won't be going camping with you this weekend after all." Sean and Scott both looked at my father with a combination of disappointment and shock. "I am sorry, but I am going to have to stay home with Jennifer this weekend. You two can still go on the trip, but your going to have to do it without me. I am needed here." The conversation continued and my father apologized to both of my brothers. They had been looking forward to this for some time. The outing was the yearly canoe trip and he wanted to go with them. Mary took the floor of the conversation and began explaining why. I am going to save so dialogue that I cannot remember and just give the short explanation. My sister was in college at the time of this incident, and they were having trouble with her financial aid. She had a few scholar ships and took out several loans student loans to cover the rest of it. It turned out that my mother and her needed to go down to the college to sort it all out so that she would be able to attend in the following fall.
It would be an all day event and my mother believed that my absence would make it go easier. So, she asked Mary to inform my father that he need to watch me this weekend. There were quite a few apologies especially from Mary and my father. It was the last thing that any of us wanted to have happen that weekend. I felt like quite bad that I would be taking my father away from my brothers that weekend. But, everything in life has its order of importance and there was no question about where the priority lied in this matter. I asked my dad if there was someone I could stay with either Shelly or Amber. However, he didn't want to burden either of their families on such short notice. It was a difficult situation any way that you sliced it. My father made his mind that he was just going to skip the camping trip and stay home with me. It was the easiest course of action and made the most sense. Mary offered to take me home and I took her up on her offer.
The ride home was a sad one for me. I didn't like having to put my brothers in this situation. Mary spent most of the time riding home explaining the situation to me in less complicated terms. It wasn't her idea of a good time either, but she if she wanted to finish college she really didn't have a choice in the matter. We arrived home in the same amount of time that it took us to make the original trip. Mary parked the car and I unstrapped myself and followed her inside the house. The two of us walked into the kitchen where my mother was sitting at the table. It was getting late and my mother suggested that I get ready for bed. My bed time was later during the summer than it was during the rest of the year. But, I had a routine of winding down for the night. Plus, I could tell from the mannerism that my mother mad the suggestion by that she wanted to talk with Mary in my absence. I departed from the kitchen and set about getting ready for bed.
I began with a warm bath. It felt good to sit in the warm water and relax a little bit after such an ordeal. I took my time and let my thoughts wander about what was going on. After a while I began to get wrinkly from soaking in the water for so long, I got out and started getting ready for bed, I slipped into a long light blue night gown with long sleeves that went down to my ankles. I added my character slippers over my bare feet and set about the rest of my routine. They were the padded animal kind that covered the whole foot. My slippers had large heads of Tweety from the Bugs Bunny cast on the fronts with the little sock tops around the ankles. I brushed my teeth and arranged my hair the way that I liked it. After about 40 minutes or so total I exited the bathroom in by night wear. I padded my way down the hallway to my room and entered for the evening.
I still had about an hour before my bedtime, but I was tired and I still needed to get situated for the evening. My parents trusted me to put myself to bed as I usually went a normal time. My bed time was just a relative factor they used as a polite reminder. I was usually asleep before then anyway. I was always close with my siblings, and it bothered me when they were unhappy. Sean and Scott had been looking forward to going camping with dad for a while now. He had taken the weekend off from work especially so he could go. Originally, I was going to stay home with my mother and Mary which, was fine with me. But that had all changed now. I unrolled my covers and laid them at the bottom of my bed. I headed over to the chest of drawers and retrieved two short lengths of rope. I was upset at the moment and I had trouble falling asleep when I was. There was something about being tied up that normally calmed me down. So, I decied to add a few ropes to my night time routine. I hopped up into the bed and began to uncoil the first group of rope.
I sat back towards the top of my bed and drew my knees up against my chest comfortably. I then proceeded to bind my ankles together overtop of my slippers. My outfit was probably a little warm for summer to most people. However, I never really slept barefoot as a kid and I preferred longer pajamas all year round. Once my feet were tied I slipped my legs over the side of the bed and took a few short hops across the room. I shut the door quietly and flipped off the light switch. There was still enough daylight coming through the single window in the room from the setting sun. At least enough to guide me safety back across the room. I climbed back into bed and lifted my bound legs off the floor. I pulled the covers back up to my waist. Then I picked up the second coil of rope. With the aid of my teeth, I tied my own hands together in front of me with a few wraps and a cinches. It wasn't the best job I had ever experienced, but it was sufficient. I wasn't about to bug Mary over tying my hands and my brother weren't back yet. Sometimes they ran late the night before a campout. I pulled the covers up and laid down working everything into it's final position. Then, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
I was a little startled when I next awoke to the whisper in my ear. "Hey Jen, you need to wake up little sister." At the same time I felt a hand gently prodding me in the shoulder. My eyes opened slowly as I looked up at Sean who was standing over me looking down next to the bed. I let out a silent yawn and returned my brother's gaze with partially open eyes. "I know it's late, but Mom and Dad need to talk you for a moment about this weekend. Think you can wake up for a few minutes." I nodded and started to sit up. Sean backed away to give me some room. I shifted the covers off of myself and swung my feet onto the floor. Then, I stood upright and steadied myself a little bit. That’s, when I made the biggest mistake of the day and tried to take a step forward. I forgot about the ropes around my ankles completely and fell directly forward. Luckily Sean took a step forward and kept me from going all the way down. He gave me a quick laugh and said I should be more careful. I smiled back and asked him to help me up.
Instead of bringing me upright, Sean wrapped his right around my back to support my weight. Then, he took his other arm and lifted me up underneath my knees. With a simple amount of strength he lifted me off of the floor and held me crooked in his arms. With that the two of us exited the room and headed down the hallway towards the kitchen. When we arrived, the rest of the family was assembled. Scott moved ahead of me to pull a chair out. Sean deposited me gently into the chair and set me down. My hands and feet were still bound the way I had arranged them before I went to bed. For most normal families, this would be a weird sight I am sure. But nobody who was present gave it a second thought. In fact, a little while after we finished talking, Sean just scooped me back up and took me back into my room. There he sat me on the edge of the bed and retied my hands so they would be a little more secure. Then my older brother tucked me in and wished me good night. This was just a normal part of my bedtime routine when I chose it to be.
Well, back to the present part of the story. I sat bound hand and foot at the head of the table. My father looked down and began to address me. He began the conversation reiterating the fact that Mary and my mother were going out the college on Saturday. They didn't have much choice in the matter, which didn't leave him a whole lot of choice about staying home to watch me. Or at least that was the original plan. There are a lot of times that I cannot remember exactly what was said in a story, but I will never forget the next sentence that came out of my father's mouth. "Jennifer, how would you feel about going camping with the boy scouts this weekend?" . . . . . .
Well, I will leave the story there for now. There really isn't much to tell. I guess it's one of my classic leave it hanging endings, but my opening probably gives always my answer. There really isn't much to tell. After Sean put me back in bed I went to sleep and the next relevant part of the story didn't take place until the weekend of the trip. However, it was a weekend that I would never remember.
Jennifer
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Jennifer's stories
- 01 - My First Time (f/mf)
- 02 - Trying New Things: Breakfast with Mom (Fm/f)
- 03 - A Walk in the Park (mm/f)
- 04 - The Pole and the Dungeon (m/f)
- 05 - A long camping trip (mmf/f)
- 06 - One Rainy Day at Home (m/f)
- 07 - Winter Vacation at Grams (both genders)
- 08 - A Long Weekend tied up (F/f)
- 09 - Shopping with Mom (F/f)
- 10 - My New Friend (m/f)
- 11 - The Bike Trip (m/f)
- 12 - Sharing With Friends (Ffff/fff)
- 13 - New Horizon (Both Genders)
- 14 - A Trip to My Aunts (mFF/f)
- 15 - A Second Christmas Story (mmff/mmf)
- 16 - Mary's Weekend (F/F)
- 17 - The Next Chapter (*/self, f/f)
- 18 - Ropes and Skates (Good Combination?) (MFmf/fff)
- 19 - Hanging With Mary (F/f)
- 20 - College (FFF/FF)
- 21 - College Days : Stephanie's Captive (F/F)
- 22 - College Days : A New Chapter, Ashley Gets Involved (*/self, F/F)
- 23 - College Days : A New Chapter, Ashley Comes Back (F/F)
- 24 - College Days : A New Chapter, Normal is Good (F/F)
- 25 - College Days: Theodore Roosevelt (FF/F)
- 26 - College Days: Summer Job at the Farm (F/F, M/F)
- 27 - Holiday Trip to Grandma's (f/f, f/m, m/fmm)
- 28 - A Long Trip to Alaska (self/f, F/fmm)
- 29 - The Pioneering Experience (mmmm/f)
Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section