Jennifer : 18 - Ropes and Skates (Good Combination?) (MFmf/fff)

[Soraka]

Jennifer's stories
18 - Ropes and Skates (Good Combination?)
Story index at the bottom

By Jennifer

Introduction

Hello everyone, Jennifer here again as always. I have some free time on my hands so I thought I would begin my next TUG story for this site. If you read the title of this story it gives an implication of where it’s going. I will be the first to admit I did some dumb things when I was a kid. Especially when I was a teenager. This one ended up a disaster for me. I have been a little reluctant to post this story on the web because of the obvious dangers it poses. I mean the dangerous idea it might put in somebody’s head. Let me be clear about this, don’t try this at home. It was a dumb idea in the first place and I ended up paying for it pretty dearly as you will see at the end of the story. Also, my parents don’t know the details in it yet and I was a little reluctant to tell them. Oh well this was about a decade ago give or take. I think they can forgive me for it by now. Anyways, here we go I home everyone enjoys the story.

It was Summer the year I was 16. This is the prequel to one another story about how I spent a good deal of quality time with my sister Mary. I think it was a Tuesday in early June and most of the siblings in my family were together. School had let out the week before and we were all on Summer vacation. Sean was home from college and had the day off from work. Scott did as well. At 16 I had thought about getting a part time job for some money as well that summer. My parents had told me that I could if I kept my grades up and everything else worked out. Scott had already snagged me an interview at the fast food place where he worked. It would be the following week. It was a rare occasion for all of us to have a day off together and we planned to spend it doing something together as a group. The four of us had planned to spend the day outside at a local park skating and doing some other fun activities.

The four of us had all gotten up, dressed and eaten breakfast around 8 the morning or so. The plan was to leave around 9 and come back just before dinner time. Sean and I had gotten up earlier than the rest of the group to make a lunch for everyone to share. It was just chips, sandwiches, pop, and some desert that we threw into a small cooler. Still it would be a welcome meal out side. Everyone had already been up and added sunscreen and gotten their gear together for the trip. The four of us climbed out of the house and began to load everything into the back of Sean’s Van. The van easily seated 7 people and had plenty of room in the back for all of our gear and Sean’s bike. My older brother wasn’t going to skate. He had gotten out of the habit of it, but was more than willing to drive to the event and accompany us to our destination.

Our father was working that day and our mother wasn’t going to accompany us. She had some errands to run in town and would be out most of the morning. She would be back well before we got home for the day. She didn’t have a problem with us going out as a group. She had let Sean take the rest of us to a playground near by the house since he was 12. I was 16 now and Scott was 17. We were more than old enough to look after ourselves. Not to mention that Sean was coming with us as well. The only person who was in question on this outing was Amy. She was 6 at the time of the story. Originally, my mother was going to take her along with her for errands in the morning and keep her home. Our route had been predetermined and it would make taking my little sister along a little more difficult. We were going to drive a good 10 miles from our house to the start of a bike trail that ran through our area. The trail ran behind our high school and we figured we could leave the van their for the day. The plan was to disembark from there and head down the trail for about 2 or 3 miles. I don’t remember the exact distance that it ran. The park was an older part of the community. It had several sports fields, a small playground, two pavilions and a lot of sidewalk and a big blacktop parking lot. Hardly anyone went there anymore since the school had added several more athletic fields to their grounds. Still, it was a fun place to play and it had plenty of room for skating. There was road access to the park, but we usually took the bike trail in when we went. It was just the way of things. Sometimes I would go there after school with Amber and Shelly and my parents or one of my brothers would pick me up later there.

It would have been quicker to drive directly there, but the bike path offered a more scenic route and that was the way we had planned to go. The issue here was that we planned to roller blade into the park from the high school. Amy wanted to go along with us. She didn’t want to be left out of the fun. However, our parents had told her that she wasn’t going with us originally. Amy was barely able to roller skate at this point in her life. She had been learning for about a year now. She had the balance down on the toy skates she had, but she lacked any of the speed that we had. My mother didn’t want her to spoil our trip in by making us take such a slow time. Plus she didn’t want to dump Amy off on us for the day. This was going to be a Teenager’s day out and Amy was a little young for the group. It was a mutually accepted decision by everyone but my little sister of course.

About an 10 minutes after she learned she wasn’t growing she ended up on the floor throwing one of the biggest tantrums I ever remember her having. She cried and protested that she wanted to go. We got the usual “I never get to do anything with the big kids!!” As well as several other complaints out of her. Our mother had raised 4 children before my sister and knew this would pass. She didn’t cave an inch. However, Sean and I did. My older brother said she could come and join us for a while as long as she behaved. I agreed with him on that point. Taking Amy along for the day wasn’t all that big of a deal and it would make her happy. Scott wasn’t as enthusiastic about the whole idea, but he was okay with it as long as he didn’t have to take responsibility for Amy. Besides it saved on all of our ear drums.

Originally, the compromise was that we were going to make the trip out to the park in the morning without Amy. She would go along with my mother into town and she would drop my sister off on her way back at the park later in the day. Amy was less than thrilled with that idea as well. She didn’t want to go shopping with my Mom in the morning. My brother didn’t fight the matter. He just told my parents and Amy that she could come with us when we first set out in the morning. That way my mother could have a day to herself and Amy could have what she wanted. That was part of the reason that Sean was bringing his bike rather than skating like the rest of us. (We had an ulterior motive for this offer, but that I am going to save for later in the story.) My mother agreed reluctantly and packed Amy’s skates and gear into a bag. Once she heard my brother’s contingent plans. She gave us a lecture about keeping an eye on Amy and told Sean to make sure my little sister wore her pads and helmet at the park. With everything loaded into the car the 4 of us were making a final tally as our guests showed up.

It was going to be a larger groups of people that we had originally planned for. I had made two invites almost out of habit as soon as I learned that we had room in the van for them. Amber’s car pulled up and parked in the street in front of our house. She was the only one out of my circle of 3 friends who was driving at this point. Shelly and I had our learning permits, but I was a slow learner and it was hard to find someone who had time to teach me. Scott wasn’t an adult yet, and my mother didn’t have the patience for the matter. My father took me out once a week or so, but his work schedule didn’t allow him time to teach me often. Mary worked and Sean was in college. My eldest brother had been planning to teach me this summer. I was looking forward to getting my license.

Amber exited her car and circle around to the trunk to collect a bag that contained her skates and a few items for lunch. About 5 or 6 minutes later, Shelly came on foot from down the block with hers over her shoulder. I had a fairly wide circle of friends at high school. However, Amber and Shelly were my closest two (and the only ones I played tie up with on a regular basis.) It was about 15 minutes after that, when our final guest arrived for the outing. You’ll probably remember him from one of my other stories, Brandon. He had met Scott in the scouts and they had become close friends all the way through high school. When Scott found out that I had invited my two friends he wanted Brandon to join us as well. A quick phone call and our group had grown from it’s original 3 to 7 in size.

Sean’s van, or minivan I should say was soon loaded to the brim with gear and passengers. I am not sure which it was, it only had seating for 7, but it had a good 3 feet of cargo room behind the third row of seating. It wasn’t the most popular type of vehicle for a man of his age to be driving. But, at the price of free, when my mother hand changed over to a newer vehicle he couldn’t pass on it. The van was older and had some miles on it, but it still ran well and it was perfect for when you wanted to hall lots of people around. Sean’s older piece of junk car had gone onto Scott. I was afraid that there wouldn’t be much left of it when it got passed onto me. The old thing was on it’s last legs. With everything in place, the 7 of us boarded the van and got ready to be on our way. Sean was at the controls of the van. Amy was in her car seat in the second row with Scott beside her. Brandon was awarded shotgun for his late arrival. I was harnessed in the center of the furthest back seat in the middle with my vest on. Shelly and Amber were on either side of me. Sean started the engine and soon the 7 of us were on our way to the short drive we planned to take to the height school.

The ride was a short one of about 12 or 15 minutes. Even at 25 mph and several stop signs and traffic lights along the way, the high school wasn’t all that far from our house. Although the rout my bus driver took sometimes made it seem a lot longer. It wasn’t long before Sean had turned off the engine and I was busy about unclipping the harness vest from the back seat to release myself. Scott helped Amy out of her car seat and the rest of the crew went about unloading the ban. Scott had taken his bike off the rack on the rear of the van when he first got out of the van. Then he began unloading the rest of the stuff. He and my brother Scott were busy hooking up the trailer to it from behind. The rest of us were gearing up and helping Amy with her stuff as well.

I guess I should take a moment and go over what everyone was wearing at the moment. (I do have a photo from this outing of all of us standing together before the beginning of the day. We posed for it at the at the start before we departed and used some of the ropes and other stuff involved with this undertaking. I am not going to post it because I don’t post pictures of myself or my family online period.)

Shelly was in a tank top and a pair of cocky shorts with white socks at the moment. Amber was in green track pants (nylon wind pants) and a matching short sleeve t-shirt. I was in a light blue dress with short sleeves that came down just past my knees. My little sister had on a yellow sundress without sleeves that was a little shorter in length proportional to my own and a pair of pink jelly fisherman style sandals to match it. Scott and Sean were both in T-shirts and Jean shorts with socks and tennis shoes. Sean was in red and Scott was in white. There were logos on most of the T-shirts but I am not going to put them here. Well, that about covers what everyone was wearing. My brothers hadn’t changed much from previous stories physically They were both a little taller and a little stronger, but that was about it. Amber had shot up like a tree the last few years and I was more than 8 or 9 inches over my head now. Shelly had stayed in the middle approaching woman hood. I was still the runt of the group. But that didn’t matter. We were all friends together to have a good time.

Sean and Scott finished connecting the bike trailer to the back of my brother’s vehicle. It was the same old bike trailer that I had rode in a few years earlier when I was a kid. It was just one of those covered canopy seats that could hold two children and hall them behind you like a stroller. Today, it was primarily meant to store the cooler with lunch in it. The park we were going to is the same one from one of my earlier stories. It had changed quite a bit over the decade between the two of them. We could have gotten their faster in a couple of other ways, but we has purposely chosen to take the scenic route today. We were going skating when we got there and the bike trail offered a smooth an beautiful view for the trip in. Once the trailer was secure, we started gearing up for the trip down.

Half of our group, myself included was wearing a set of roller blades of one color or another. Shelly was the one older exception to the group. She had elected for the more traditional quad wheeled roller skates. She never quite got the hang of roller bladding, but that didn’t keep her from coming. Sean wasn’t wearing skates as he planned to take his bike on the trip. Amy was the third member of our group without roller blades. At the age of 6 she was far from ready for them. She had a set of those little yellow and blue fisher price roller skates if you know what I mean. They are the type that Velcro on over your shoes and have the plastic yellow toes and heels with the yellow wheels. The also have a switch on the bottom that can keep the wheels from turning. She was getting a little big for them, and had long since mastered wearing them, but my little sister wasn’t ready for normal skates just yet.

In addition to skates, most of us had on some sort of safety equipment to supplement our outing. Scott and Sean both had bike helmets on and Sean added knee pads as well. Helmets were sort of a mandatory thing with my mother although wearing pads as we got older got to be a matter of preference. Amber hand on knee, elbow, and wrist pads, but didn’t wear a helmet skating. The remaining three of us were in full gear. Shelly and I had always worn the three main sets of pads and a helmet while skating and I wasn’t going to try what I was about to attempt without them. Amy was too young to have any say in the matter. By the way, the helmets were just normal bike helmets. I hadn’t worn anything fancy like I had when I was a younger kid. Once all of us were geared up Sean had us stand in front of his bike while he took a photo with a disposable camera. Then we started really getting ready for the trip.

Sean started out by asking my younger sister whether she wanted to skate down with the rest of us or if she wanted to ride in the bike trailer next to the cooler. Originally we told my parents that we were taking the trailer along so that Amy would have a mode of transportation down to the park. She wasn’t anywhere near the rest of us in speed. But we had all day and it didn’t matter what pace we took to get there. Amy wanted to skate down like the rest of the big kids of course. I couldn’t say that I blame her. The other choice was being harnessed in the back of Sean’s bike trailer.

Sean just shrugged and dumped the cooler and a duffle bag in the rear of the trailer in the center of the seat. Now it was time for the events of the day to really begin. Sean walked back to the front of the car and deposited the camera in the glove box. We had an unspoken agreement that pictures were never to be taken when we were tied up. Plus, if one was and my mother saw it I would probably get into pretty big trouble over the whole thing back then. Sean closed and locked the doors after making sure that he had his cell phone and car keys. Then he mounted his bike and our group of six wheeled its way down towards the beginning of the bike trail. The boys and Amber set a pretty quick pace across the blacktop to the start of the trail. Shelly and I remained behind to give Amy a more comfortable pace for her age. She was about 1/3 the speed that we normally would go. My little sister was sure enough of her balance, but the plastic toy roller skates didn’t allow for much speed. The first half of our group went about 25 feet or so down the trail and then halted to wait for the rest of us to catch up.

Once we stopped, Sean had dismounted his bike and place the kick stand down to keep it upright. Then he reached into the small pouch on the back of his bike and pulled out the rope. The first two pieces he removed were our normal white cotton clothes line each about 15 feet in length or so. “So, Jen you ready to do this or what little sister.” She offered with a smile as he tossed one of the pieces of rope to Scott. I nodded and turned around leaving my back exposed to my older brother. I should note to everyone that this was really a stupid thing to do and I DON’T RECOMMEND TRYING THIS YOURSELF. Sean approached behind me and took hold of my wrists. He lead my arms upwards toward the upper middle of my back. He brought my hands together with my forearms folded over each other behind my back making a right angles at my elbow. This was a new technique that he had learned during his time at college on how to tie someone up. It was extremely effective and escape proof.

The idea is pretty simple, you have the captive fold their forearms over each other behind the back. Then you tie the wrists together at the forearms. My brother began by tying one end of the rope off around right wrist. Then he began coil the rope around my wrists at the forearms and worked his way down to the other wrists. In total, the tie probably covered about 8 to 10 inches of my arms between the wrists. Then he wrapped the tail around the middle of the tie once to cinch it down a little tighter and knitted it off on the bottom in the middle. This left my arms folded over each other with my hands facing downward at the opposite side behind the back. This form of being tied up was pretty effective because it took all of the elbows normal mobility out of the tie and pinned the arms in the middle of the upper back. It was completely impossible to bring my hands to the front with them tied this way. Especially with roller blades on my feet.

Sean patted me on the shoulder and asked me, “There Jennifer, all done how is that?” I gave the ropes a few good tugs and realized almost instantly that I wasn’t getting out of this. I replied that I was well secured and I began to look around at the other situation as it unfolded. While Sean had been busy securing me, Scott had gone ahead and tied Amber’s hands together in front of her. Once he was done securing her hands, my brother reproached Sean. Scott then allowed Sean to tie his hands together in front of him as well. With that the three of us were secured a little better for the trip ahead.

The idea to be tied up and skate at the same time was nothing new to us. We had done it several times growing up at home on and off for a couple of minutes here or there. Scott and I were particularly adept at doing it. My balance was pretty good even without the use of my hand to steady myself. Still, I was the only one in the group who tried it with the arms behind the back. Scott had once and ended up on his butt hard. Usually, the game lasted about half an hour our until my mother caught us. She didn’t approve of the idea and it usually ended with a safety lecture and a threat to take skating away if we did it again. I had wanted to try this for quite a while and now we were going to get a chance. The plan was to spend the whole day with my skates on and my hands tied.

With a final tug on my hands and everything seeming secure the 6 of us prepared for our departure of the day. I did follow my plan for most of the day. It worked out pretty well at first and I had a good time. Still, even with the best laid plans can go wrong especially when you do something this dumb. I am going to stop here for the time being as this is getting to be a long story and I want to get it posted before it becomes 12 pages or so. I will finish it shortly enough so stay tuned.

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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)

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Index of all stories in the "Archive for Everyone" section

[Soraka]

Part 2: The Trip In

Hello again everyone sorry for such a long wait on this second part of my story. I am going to pick up where I last left off.

Once the group was assembled and ready to leave, the 7 of us began our trek down the trail towards the park. The path itself was paved and smooth, which was a nice feature when your trying to roller skate with your hands tied together. Scott and Amber took up the lead of the pack out in front. Even with their arms tied in front, both of them were confident skaters and they seemed to have little trouble keeping their balance. One of the things that I remember when learning to skate was that if you put your hands together and lean forward. Almost like your pushing on an imaginary table it helps you keep your balance. This position works best when your skating slower, but it works at higher speeds as well. Even with the ropes on their wrists they could keep their balance reasonably well.

Shelly followed closely behind the fist two of our pack. She was newer to skating than the rest of us. She hand only been doing it for about 5 or 6 years now. The rest of us had learned from when we were around 4 or 5. Still, she was more than able to keep pace with the rest of us as we moved forward. Especially since she wasn’t tied up. Amy followed Shelly in close pursuit. At least the best that she could. My little sister was a lot smaller than the rest of us. Also her skates were meant more to teach the child how to keep her balance rather than for speed. She was moving a little faster that she could walk quickly. This was really the pace setter for the rest of the group. When The front 3 skaters got too far ahead Amy would yell and they would stop and let the rest of us catch up with them. It was a slow going, but we were all having a good time of it.

I just realized that I left Brandon’s outfit out of the last story. He was dressed similar to my brothers and had on the normal safety gear minus elbow pads. He kept pace next to Shelly and a little ahead of Amy and myself. Neither of them was tied up. Brandon had been a few times in the scouts, and he knew about our games on and off over the years. However, he wasn’t as active as a participant in them as my friends were. He had begun thinking that it was a little weird as he got older and continued hanging out with us from time to time. But he never really made a big deal out of it one way or the other. For the trip down he maintained his place mostly and tried to keep out of the way as the rest of us.

I followed parallel to my little sister. I was probably having the most trouble keeping my balance and staying upright. I could manage a pace a little faster than hers with my hands tied like this, but not a whole lot. I slowed my self on purpose to allow more time to adjust for balance and the movement of the trail. Finally, Sean brought up the rear of the group. He was in now hurry moving his bike along with whatever pace the rest of us were taking. He didn’t want to complicate things by trying to pass me and Amy. I was having enough of a hard time keeping myself upright and moving forward without any additional obstacles. Also, he had the bike trailer with him which, slowed him down and required more work to maneuver with. My older brother was content to follow at the pace the rest of us set and bring up the rear of the parade.

The 7 of us spread out across the trail as much as the stretch would allow us to. For the most part the trail was even and paved smooth. If I remember correctly it was somewhere between 8 and 11 feet across at most points. Wide enough that two bikes could travel side by side in one direction or the other. Our ordering and positions changed on and off based on the terrain and the speeds and balance issues we had being around each other on this trail. Sometimes Shelly would catch up with the front two, especially when they stopped so the rest of us could catch up. Other times she would fall back to where Amy and I were skating. There were a few instances where the 7 of us were spread out in an almost single file line based on our speeds and relative positions. It just varied as we moved down the trail towards our destination.

For the most part, the trail was strait, smooth and well paved, but there are a couple of turns in it. Also there are some places where there is a slight decline or incline that resembled a short hill. As long as we were going forward I could easily keep pace, but at these tricky spots I had to stop and adjust my movements to avoid a fall. Skating with my hands tied behind their back in the fashion that they were was a tricky undertaking to begin with. There was some shared conversation back and fourth during the course of the path, but mostly I kept my eyes to the ground. I need to be careful of where I was going and the things surrounding my immediate path. With my arms folded behind my back like they were, I couldn’t use them for balance at all. I had to rely completely on my legs for the task. This through off my center of gravity and made it a lot harder to adjust to the terrain and changing speeds. Even with my safety gear on, I wouldn’t be able to use my arms to catch myself if I fell. So, I was being extra careful about how I approached the whole situation.

While I was concentrating pretty hard on just managing what I was doing, Amy was taking the whole experience in. Usually when she went skating with us it was just at the local rink or around in the drive way at home. She could take whatever pace she wanted and there was no hurry. She wasn’t used to the idea of using skates as a mode of transportation yet. Still my little sister didn’t let that bother her. While she had to concentrate on just keeping moving forward, there was a look of pride and accomplishment on her face. She was keeping pace with the big kids and quite happy that she was able to do it. She got to see a lot more of the trail from where she was rather than being strapped down in the bike trailer behind Sean as we had originally planned. Personally I think she was enjoying this a lot more since she was moving under her own power.

Personally I was glad of the slower pace because it allowed me more time to react. Although I could tell that the front of our group was a little annoyed by the slow goings. Sean kept a forward glance and a warm smile. He was probably the most patient of our group. Finally, we came to the first real problem area for us. Well, I shouldn’t say for us, it was really only a problem for me. There is one point on the trail with a sharp incline about 10 feet in length that goes up about 5 or 6 feet in the that distance. Up to this point I had come down the trail without incident, but my first attempt up the hill I got about 3 feet forward then I lost my momentum. I began to loose my balance and fall backwards. Luckily, Sean had stopped his bike right behind where I started up the hill and an outstretched arm of my brother broke my fall. I looked back and thanked him for the help. I explained that I didn’t think I could get up the hill like this.

Sean agreed with me on the subject and parked his bike. Once the kick stand was in place behind me, my brother came around and pushed me up the hill slowly. It looked almost like he was pushing a dolly up the hill, me being the human counter part. It took us a couple of tries to work out the balance, but after a few minutes, we managed it and I was standing at the top of the hill. I cleared the way and went and stood with the others as we cleared out of the way. Sean went back down and maneuvered his bike back up the hill. It was quite an undertaking since he had the weighted trailer pulling against him. But my brother was strong and managed it on the first try. After taking a minute or two to catch our breath, the caravan resumed is journey forward towards our destination. Later, I had the opposite problem, trying to stop going down a short incline, but Shelly caught me at the bottom without incident.

Skating with my hands tied behind my back was a difficult undertaking and I had took plan ahead and keep an eye on the trail as we came to each part of it. The trip to the park as a whole was only about a little over two miles. Usually we could skate or bike that in about 20 minutes to half an hour. However, with Amy in tow and my perdicament it took us almost an hour and a half to reach our destination. It was a park. The same park that I talked about in one of my earlier stories about wearing the walking harness and being tied at the same time when I was 7 or 8. The park itself had changed quite a bit from when I was younger. It still had the playground and a couple pavilions, but the facilities had been amended to a larger play area and the city had installed several other athletic fields. They hand also added a basket ball and a couple of tennis courts for additional recreation. The park itself also had a good deal of wooded areas around with hiking trails and the path that the bike trail continued down. In all the place was probably at least 20 or 30 acres of land. Maybe more, but I am not completely sure.

While the park was mostly unpaved area, there was a sidewalk that led from the bike trail up to the parking lot and the sports courts. The paved path also continued from the parking lot to the play areas and one of the pavilions. Skating it was a little more difficult that the bike trail since it was narrower and made of concrete blocks rather than one continuous paved area. Still, after we tightened up the formation a little bit all of us managed to get from the bike trail down to the parking lot. The parking lot was paved with black top, but it wasn’t that well suited for skating. There were cracks all over the place and it was in need of repair. The parks wasn’t used nearly as much as it used to be. The city had gone about building a new swimming pool a couple of miles away and a new park and playground to go with it. It was in much better shape than this one and it got used more often. It was usually a rare affair to see anyone else here on a day in the middle of the week. As was the case, we had the place all to ourselves which, made it a good place for a tie up game and some public privacy.

The parking lot was not an ideal skating area under the circumstances. However, the basketball court was solid cement and at least 40 feet across and 25 feet wide. It would offer a more ideal area for that later in the day. The 7 of us headed down the sidewalk from the parking lot to where we finally brought our procession to a rest. Sean set the kick stand on his bike and the rest of us skated into the pavilion to sit down for a moment. Every one except my sister took a seat on one of the benches for a quick breather. Scott brought his bound hands up and used his teeth to pick the knot restraining him loose. It took him a couple of minutes of effort to free himself, but it was an interesting performance to watch. Once my brother was free he offered the same courtesy to Amber offering to free her hands if she wanted him to. Amber decline and said she proffered to leave the ropes on for the time being.

Meanwhile, Sean had retrieved a duffle bag from the back of the trailer and brought it over to where all of us were sitting. It contained all of our shoes from when we had put our skates on earlier in the day. The group as a whole began the process of changing over from our skates to our normal footwear. Except Sean who didn’t bring skates and Amy, whose skates just strapped on over her sandals. We had planned to do quite a bit of skating that day, but we were all tired from the trail in an a break sounded like a good idea at the moment. Everyone made good progress at the effort besides myself. There is no good way to take off roller blades with my hands tied behind my back as they were. However, Sean was more than happy to lend me a hand. Sean slipped my skates off and helped me into a pair of tennis shoes that I had packed before.

I picture I found of the style of roller skates Amy was wearing in case anyone is intersted.

“So, Jen how are you holding up?” my brother asked me as he stripped my second skate off. “It’s a lot harder that I thought it would be getting here. But I am managing pretty well, thanks to you at least. Thanks a lot for all the help back there.” I replied with a smile. It was the truth of the matter. I would have probably had a harder time without all the help that Sean gave me. The whole trip in was quite difficult, but I had a good time and it turned out to be a rather rewarding experience in proving that I could accomplish what I did on my own. Sean nodded and told me I was welcome for the help. After all it was his job to keep his little sister’s safe. My brother finished tying the second bow on my shoe and stood up looking me in the eyes.

Sean asked me if I wanted to be untied at least for a little while. The truth of the matter was that I was pretty tired from the skate in. My arms were also a little stiff from the ropes, but not really all that bad. The ropes hadn’t been exceptionally tight. They were just snug enough to keep me from slipping out of them. Sean was pretty good at tying someone up and leaving just enough slack to be comfortable. Also, the position was that hard on the arms and my wrist pads insulated my arms from the ropes so they weren’t digging in all that hard. I declined my brother’s offer and told him that I wanted to stay tied for a little longer. Though I would likely want to be untied for the trip home. Originally I wanted to stay tied up for the whole day out here and for the time being I planned to leave the ropes on. I told my brother that I would leave them for the time being, and he told me to tell him if I changed my mind. Most of the rest of the group was finished changing out of skates by this time.

Our groups set about to piling the skate in the back of the bike trailer so that they wouldn’t get lost. Shelly and my brother’s also took the opportunity to lose their helmets. Sean added his knee pads to the pile as well. He offered to extend me the same courtesy, but I decline. He would half to untie me to get my arm pads off anyway and I had everything adjusted to how I wanted it. I couldn’t make any changes with my hand bound behind my back like they were. Shelly and Amber left their pads on as well. It wasn’t a matter that is was more comfortable to have them on or off, it was more that the time to remove and dawn them. Also, it left less of a mess to sort through in the back of the trailer for the time being. I was surprised when Amy didn’t take her stuff off. It was probably a combination that Sean asked her not to and she was emulating the older kids like she often did while I was growing up.

Everything was well situated. The rest of the group was discussing their plans for the day. Amy wanted to hit the playground and climb around for a while. After a request from Sean Scott agreed that he would travel with her and keep an eye on things. Soon after the two of them headed down towards the playground. Amy running and my brother in a steady following. Brandon followed along with Scott and the two of them kept a conversation going between them. He only needed to keep her in an eyes view. Sean seated himself next to me on the bench and perched his feet up across on the bench across the way. He had brought a novel he was halfway through with him. One of his college professors had given him a book list for the next semester. The novel would be require reading the second half. Sean had gotten the book ahead of time and was working his way through it over the course of the summer to have it out of the way . My brother was always ahead of things like that. After catching her breath, Amber decided to head off towards the playground in tow of the other two members of our party. All of us were too old for it besides Amy, but this was just going to be a quiet day anyways.

Shelly had remained behind at the pavilion with Sean and myself. It was a warm day out. Not really all that hot, but still it was in the 70’s and the shade was a nice oasis from the tiring trip to get down here. Shelly seated herself next to me and we started talking to pass the time. After all there wasn’t a whole lot that I cold do without the use of my hands. We spoke for a while back and fourth about our plans for the summer. She was staying home mostly and just enjoying the sunshine. She had a summer job lined up for the latter half of July and the first half of august. She was going with her uncle in a food trailer to work at several county fairs for 5 weeks in a row. She had done this last year as well. It was a lot of work, but she made a little over two thousand dollars in the five weeks.

My part of the conversation differed a little bit. There was a family vacation coming up in a few weeks that I was looking forward to. The whole family was. My parents and both of my brothers had each taken close to two weeks off from work and we were heading off to Kentucky to go see some of the many caves down their. It had been two years since the whole family had gone together anywhere like that. We were going to be camping out of our camper. I had been looking forward too it all spring. Only Mary wasn’t going. Her work schedule didn’t allow for it regrettably, but that was just the way things were. She was going camping with us at the end of august like we did every year. However, Sean would have to miss that since he would be starting back to school. Still, it was a sight to look forward to. I had done quite a bit of reading several books my parents had gotten on the caves. I was quite surprises at all the things I had learned and even more excited that I was going to be going in person in just a few short weeks.

I was rambling on when I noticed that Shelly had broken eye contact with me and was instead looking down at my bound hands. It didn’t annoy me really, she usually looked at that sort of stuff when we were tied up. She didn’t have anyone in her family to play these kinds of games with all that often. Her brother tied her up a few times, but most of her experiences on the subject were either tying herself up or with my family. “I’ve never seen your hands tied up like that before. It looks pretty secure. Does it hurt or are you okay?” Shelly broke the conversation as she observed my shift in attention. I stopped talking and looked over at her. I decided an explanation was in order and began explaining the tie to her. First, I commented that I was fine. The position was quite comfortable actually if you didn’t’ struggle and relaxed your arms. I explained that Sean had only begun using it recently. It was something that he had come across in his college education. I explained how it worked and why it was so effective to my friend as she took in the matter. It was kind of like having my arms in a straight jacket behind the back. I had plenty of experience at that since Mary had coaxed my parents into getting me one a few years earlier. Shelly had only tried it on once.

When I got a little further into my explanation, Shelly’s eyes lit up with anticipation about the whole idea. She held up her hand to cut me off and looked over to where my brother was sitting reading his novel on the bench next to me. “Sean” she said quietly to attempt to draw my brother’s divided attention away from the book he has reading. Sean looked up and inquired the reason for the interruption. “I was wondering if you could tie me up the way that you did your sister. I think that is an interesting way to do the hands and I wanted to try it out.” My brother just shrugged and deposited the book on the table in front of him marking his page with a playing card he kept in the back cover. The he rose and headed over towards the bike where he had parked to get a piece of rope to do the tying. However, his search didn’t go as planned.

We had only brought 4 or 5 pieces of rope to begin with. With all the gear and lunch their hadn’t been much room for it. Plus we wanted to keep it hidden from my mother since she wouldn’t approve of skating with my hands tied. Sean dug through the duffle bag for a few minutes and then he told us that his search had come up empty. “Scott must have taken the other pieces of ropes with him to the playground.” Sean commented apologizing for not having anything to do the binding with. Then Shelly caught sight of the rope that Scott had left on the table when he untied himself earlier. He must have forgotten it in the confusion. She brought it to my brother’s attention and suggested that he use it to tie her up. Sean just shrugged again and told her that he would do the best that he could.

My brother came over to where Shelly was standing and had her turn around and position her hands behind her back. He mad a few adjustments for the proper placing and then began to tie my friend’s hands in the same manner that mine were bound. The piece of rope was a little shorter than the one he had used on me earlier, but he managed a fair job none the less. With Shelly’s hands secured behind her he walked over and seated himself and resumed his reading. Shelly gave the ropes a few good tugs and tested their security. After a minute or two she resigned herself to the same fate I already had. She couldn’t escape and would probably be stuck until someone untied her. She came back to where we had been sitting and reclaimed her seat next to me. The two of us continued onward with the conversation where we had left off earlier. It might have seemed strange for the two of us to be talking tied up like this, but this was part of normal for my family.

Well, this is getting to be a little long again and I already finishing the 6 page of text. I think I am going to break here for a while and finish up the rest of the story later. Despite the lack of rope, our games continued and most of us got a turn. We did some more skating later that day. Shelly still didn’t want to skate with her hands tied and Sean kept Amy from attempting it. But I had another go at it and it turned out to be a tricky situation. Anyways I am going to stop here for the time being and come back to this later.

Jennifer

[Soraka]

Part 3: More Fun

Hello again everyone. I am moving onto the third part of this story. I suppose that the title for this part of the story isn’t quite as fitting as I usually try for. After all, I wasn’t wearing skates during this section. This part covers what happened from the time Shelly got her hands tied to the time we returned to skating after lunch. I hope everyone enjoys it.

Shelly and I had been sitting next to each other talking about the trip and the rest of our summer plans for about half an hour or so. Shelly had studied the ropes on her wrists more than once and given them a few good tugs without much success in her pursuit of escape. Sean was a real expert with ropes and we weren’t getting out of this without some outside help. I might have been able to untie her if we faced our backs to each other, but that thought hadn’t crossed our minds yet. Besides neither of us really wanted to get out in the immediate vicinity. I was still pretty excited about the trip. We had been planning it for the better part of 2 years now. Amy was finally old enough to go with us. Everything had fallen into place with everyone getting off from work. Shelly was sharing some of her plans with me as well. After a while, Sean finally looked up at the two of us. I could tell from the look on his face that he was a little annoyed with us.

“Could you two keep it down a little, it’s hard to read with all the background noise you two are putting out. Either keep it down or go hold your conversation someplace else.” Shelly and I looked at each other. The request wasn’t an unreasonable one. My brother had been more than patient with the both of us, but we were disrupting his day too. “You want to go see what the others are up to?” Shelly asked me suddenly drawing on the hint from Sean. I nodded and told her to lead the way. The two of us rose from where we had been sitting and left the pavilion down the trail towards the playground. Our conversation went with us as we left Sean in peace to continue reading his book. The day was warm and there was a gentle breeze mixed in with the sunshine. The perfect day for a walk.

The whole idea of two teenage girls walking down a sidewalk with their hands tied behind their backs might seem a little strange to an observer. We had chosen the park because we knew how unlikely it would be to see someone else here on a Tuesday morning. The whole area we were in was cut off from the view of the road by the woods. The whole parking lot had been empty on our arrival and the only other way to reach the park was off the bike trail we had come by. Other than being a little embarrassing it probably wouldn’t have been all that big of a deal if someone had seen us tied up. However, we didn’t have to worry about that because it didn’t happen. Besides, with the 7 of us there and all being experts in knots we could have gotten free easily if someone did show up. Sean had a good view of the parking long at he had told us he would let us know if someone else came around. Really, this park was our secret place to just hang out and have a good time away from home. It had been for years.

Shelly and I cross what was probably 70 to 100 feet of sidewalk before we came to where the playground met the side walk. The whole playground was probably at least 200 feet across and the whole things was built like a giant wooden fort with lost of climbing equipment and slides. We didn’t see the group when we reached the entrance, so we headed inside and decided to scout for them. It was a short look. Finding 3 teenagers and a 6 year old on a playground didn’t prove to be very challenging. Especially when they were all grouped together around the swings. The swings were at the rear of the playground and really the only thing big enough to accommodate kids of our age around here. I suppose that we were really big for them as well, but that didn’t matter. We found amber lounging in a large tire swing. The tire was on it’s side supported horizontally by three chains hanging down from the wooden framework above. She was laying in it like a big inner tube looking up at the sky while it rocked back and forth slowly. Her hands were still tied together in front of her.

Brandon was only a few feet way from her sitting on a normal swing letting it settle at rest. The two of them acknowledged our approach as we came from around the corner of the normal equipment. “Well you two finally managed to work your way over here.” Amber commented as we approached. She took hold of one of the support chains with her bound hands and pulled herself upwards into a sitting positions. “I see your still tied up too.” Amber commented looking towards me. I returned a smile and turned my back showing her the ropes that secured my hands. “You too huh Shelly?” She added looking at the placement of Shelly’s arms. My two friends exchanged some words back and forth between them commenting on Sean’s rope work and what was going on. I asked where Amy and Scott were and Amber shot me a quick glance down towards the end of the swings to where my brother and little sister were located. Brandon just rocked back and fourth on the swing as the two of us passed.

Amy was located riding on a swing at the end of the row. Scott was behind her pushing her up in the air. My brother looked over as the two of us approached. Even though his face turned towards us, his concentration on moving the swing forward remained unbroken. My brother was still free from his ropes as he had been earlier when he departed from the pavilion. Amy on the other hand was too busy with her situation to notice as the two of us approached. The expression on her face was a mix of fun and unease at the same time. She was moving quite fast in the swing and her eyes kept looking worriedly at the ground as she glided over it. I caught a couple of glimpses of her as she passed at a rather quick pace and I soon saw the reason for her concern.

Apparently we had brought 4 pieces of rope and Scott had put the final one to use on my little sister. I could clearly tell from where I was standing that her hands were folded behind her back and they were probably tied there. I would learn later in the day that they were tied behind her back. Amy was gliding back and fourth rather quickly. Her instincts told her to hold on and steady herself, but with her hands tied she couldn’t. Scott looked over at the two of us to see how we were doing. He caught hold of the back of Amy’s swing as the two of us approached and brought it to a halt. Mostly to avoid the risk of it colliding with one of us. “So, you two finally found your way over here. I see Sean has sent me another two captives to keep an eye on.” Scott said sarcastically looking down at my little sister in the swing in front of him. Shelly and I returned the smile. “We were just wondering what you were all up to over here. It was getting a little boring just sitting around in the pavilion tied up like this.” I commented showing my bound hands to illustrate my point.

“Besides, Sean chased us away so that he could have some peace and quiet to finish his reading.” Shelly added. Scott nodded and filled us in, “ Yeah, we just came over so that Amy could climb around for a bit. She saw you tied up all the way down here and she thought she should be too. I didn’t see the harm in it since she was off her skates now. We tried climbing around on the equipment a little more, but our little friend here wasn’t too good at it with her hands tied. So, the 4 of us came over here to take a rest from all the walking around.” Amy gave me a quick smirk from her perch on the swing and added a few more details. Most of it was about her exploration of the playground and the details leading to her being tied up by Scott. It was the long version of Scott’s story from her perspective. After she got through a lot of it, Scott cut her off and continued. “Amber, Brandon and myself decided to take a short rest on the swings here. Amy decided to join us, but she couldn’t swing with her hands tied.”

Amy had just recently become aware of how to power herself on a swing by pumping her legs back and fourth. But, with her hands tied I imagined that it would be quite impossible for her to do it. “After she sat there and watched us swing for a while, she wanted to join us and asked me if I would push her.” Scott continued. “So, I figured there really wasn’t any harm in it. So, I moved her to a safer swing and you just came up on us as we were in the middle of the ride.” My brother finished. “Are you done talking? I’m bored. I want another push.” My little sister interjected with an annoyed look on her face. I could tell from the tone that she was upset with our interruption to her ride on the swing. Amy swung her legs back and fourth a little bit, but the swing didn’t collect any momentum from her effort. It was too heavy for her to move the way she was seated. Scott apologized and resumed pushing her once he was sure that we were clear of the swing’s path.

I didn’t blame Amy for being a little upset at the sudden stop of her ride. If I had been in her situation I would want it to continue as well. Sitting still would be pretty boring as she was situated. I guess I should comment on what I mean by a safer swing. Scott knew that there was no way that Amy could hold onto a normal swing with her hands tied behind her back the way they were. He had chosen to move my younger sister into a swing that was there for younger children that she would have a hard time falling out of. The swing itself was set a good 3 feet or so off the ground and consisted of a molded red plastic seat with sides that came up to about her elbows. It was mostly meant for children too young to swing on there own, but it was more than study enough. I probably could have fit in it at that age. The swing was supported by 4 chains that attached at the top an front of the seat that connected to the two that it hanged from on top. She was seated back in the swing with her legs hanging over the side of the front just past her knees.

Additionally, the swing was equipped with a branching piece of chain wrapped in a plastic coding in front. The chain came up the middle of the front of the seat and divided forming a T-bar at the front of the swing. The ends of each side attached at the top of the swing with a clip similar to the ones on the end of a dog leash. The swing was also equipped with a 2 inch fatex lap seat belt. Scott had strapped my little sister in and put the front bar in place. Even with her hands tied behind her back, Amy was in no danger of falling out of the swing. I doubt that she could have gotten out of it if she wanted to. My little sister didn’t seem to mind while it was moving, but she didn’t want it to stay still. Scott continued to push the swing with my little sister in it while we talked. I walked down two swings and seated myself on the seat of one of the adjacent swings. I couldn’t swing any better than my little sister with my arms bound behind me, but I could at least get off my feet for a little while.

I watched as Scott began adding some more momentum to Amy’s ride from a ways back. My sister seemed to be enjoying herself pretty well. Shelly moved downwards one swing from where I was seated and took up a perch similar to my own. Once a little bit of time passed, the two of us picked up with our conversation where we left off. It was a rather pleasant summer day out. Not too hot, with a little bit of a breeze. Just a good day to sit and watch the world go by. Our current activities continued for about another half to two thirds of an hour. Amy continued her ride and we continued to talk. Finally, Scott brought the swing to a stop and went about the process of getting my sister out of the swing. He undid the from T-chain and released the seat belt. Then he lifted Amy down onto the ground.

“So, Amy did you have fun?” He asked. My little sister responded in the positive. Next, Scott offered to untie her and Amy agreed with it. She had been tied up for quite a while now, and was ready to be let go. Scott untied the ropes freeing her little hands and then deposited it in his pocket after coiling the rope up. “There is that better?” Scott asked as he observed my little sister rubbing some feeling back into her hands. Amy again nodded and announce publicly that she was glad to be free of the ropes. Scott left her side for a moment and approached Shelly and myself. He offered to extend the same courtesy to us that he just had to my little sister. I had been tied up for a couple of hours now and I was starting to get a little sore from having my hands bound for so long.

So, when Scott asked, “How about you Jen, do you want me to untie you also?” I replied that I was ready for a break from the whole ordeal as well. Scott helped lift me up from the swing and spun me around to get better access to my hands. It took him a little longer to free me than it did Amy. Sean’s rope work was always top notch and it took a while to loosen it. However, after a few minutes, I was free standing to my brother’s left rubbing circulation back into my own arms. I really wasn’t that sore from the whole experience. My wrist guards put a layer of plastic between most of the ropes and my bare skin. Still, keeping my arms in that position for that length of time had a draining affect on me. I was glad for a break from the ropes.

While I was recovering, Scott moved onto freeing Shelly from her restraints as well. She hadn’t been tied up for as long as I was, but she didn’t want to be the only one with her hands tied if the rest of us were going to be free. Sean had done a quicker job on my friend than myself, so it didn’t take as long to free her. Still she was captive for a few more minutes than I was. I looked down the way and saw Brandon untying Amber’s hands as well. I guess it was time for a break for everyone from being tied up. Scott undid the last coil of rope from Shelly’s wrists and began to coil up the rope neatly for later use. He wrapped it’s length into several short coils and tied it off in the middle. Then my brother placed it back in his pocket with the other bundles for later use.

“Well, now that everyone’s free I don’t know about all you girls, but I am starting to get hungry. What do you say that we take this break as an opportunity to eat some lunch?” Brandon offered to the group. He was on his way over to Scott to return the final piece of rope that he had taken from Amber. The discussion on the matter was a short one at best. It only took a short amount of time for the five of us to reach a consensus on the subject. Scott piled the last coil of rope into his pocket and our group began it’s departure from the playground. The walk back to the pavilion was a short one with everyone in good spirits. We crossed the sidewalk that we hand come here on towards our returning destination.

When we arrived, Amber interrupted my eldest brother about our plans and reason for returning. It was getting later in the morning and lunch sounded good about that time of day. Sean was in agreement with the rest of us that he could use a break from his reading. So, my brother put his book down marking his page with a piece of paper. He had made some progress by the number of pages that had been displaced. It was probably going on eleven or eleven thirty in the morning and a good time for some refreshments. Scott unpacked the small cooler and I grabbed the large paper grocery bag from the back of the bike trailer. Lunch wasn’t really anything that would be all that fancy. Mostly just peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a shared large bag of potato chips. It wasn’t the best food ever, but it kept well in the heat and there wasn’t anyone in the group who didn’t care for it.

I began to distribute the 10 sandwiches or so to their various eaters. Some of the boys were having two, and Amy was only having half of one. Meanwhile, Sean popped open the cooler and passed out a can of pop to everyone. The beverages had been kept cool with a couple of ice packs so at least we had some relief from the heat. Everyone also got a napkin to put a hand full of chips on. With all the foot distributed, I finally sat down with the rest of my siblings and friends to have something to eat. Those of us who still had helmets on at this point undid the chin straps and set them on the table. I hadn’t removed my pads yet mostly because my hands had been tied. With my hands finally free it felt good to get the helmet off and made it more comfortable to eat the meal. The remainder of my gear stayed in place. Mostly because I planned on doing some more skating shortly following the meal and didn’t feel like taking everything on and off again.

The seven of us ate lunch quickly with a mixed variety of conversation. Mostly what the plans would be for the rest of the day. Most of us were going back to skating after the meal We had be given ample time to rest from the trip down. Sean would continue woraking on his book while the rest of us skated up around on the basket ball court. We would allow a little more time for a second rest and then take the trail back home. We planned to be back in time for dinner and for our friends to make the trip home with time to spare. So, we wanted to leave the school around four a little after in the afternoon. It didn’t take long for us to finish eating. Once we were done, Sean and I tidied up the trash while everyone else got ready to go back to skating. After that my skates and helmet were back on and we were on our way up towards the court.

I am going to stop this story here for the time being. We skate more that afternoon and ropes came into play. Like I said earlier, I don’t recommend trying this at home. In the next part you’ll all find out why. So, stay tuned. Feel free to drop me any comments or questions if you want.

Jennifer

[Soraka]

Part 4: Nope

Hi, first of all I need to apologize to everyone for not getting this posted soon. My sister Amy came home and stayed with me and my brother recently. This is the first time that I have been able to spend this much time with her in 2 years and I let it take precedence over working on my story. I should have finished and posted this about 2 weeks ago, but I have been rather busy as of late. Anyways, this is the fourth and final part to this story. I know it ends a little bit sketchy, but I hope everyone enjoys it anyway. Here we go.

The day was getting warmer as we eased into the early part of the middle of the day. Our group had finished consuming their meal and was beginning the preparations to move forward with the remainder of our plans for the outing. Sean and I gathered up the remainder of the refuse from the meal and began either repacking it in the trailer or disposing of it in the trash can. It had been a good lunch and a good rest in the shade from the day so far. Our immediate plans hadn’t changed all that much. Once we finished our meal, my brother Sean returned to where he had been seated and returned to his reading. He still had quite a ways to go. But, he kept at the book steadily and hoped to finish it before the end of the week. Which, would be no small feat. His plans for the day differed from the rest of us. He was here only to maintain a precense and nothing more.

While my brother returned to reading comfortably in the shade of the pavilion, the rest of us began our preparations. The original agenda for the day had gone according to plan so far. The plan was to skate down to the park here; take a rest from the trip down; eat lunch; do some more skating or just hang out and then head home for the evening. The agenda was informal and loose at best, but that was where our events of the day so far had taken us. We had a little bit of tying up along the way as well. Overall, everything was going steadily along so far. I just hoped it would continue that way. The remainder of our group began to get our skates and the safety stuff we had each brought back on. So far, midday had reached the park and we still had it all to ourselves. It was quiet and out of the way from the rest of the town. When the city had built the new swimming pool near the newer of the two parks, this one lost most of the luster it once had as a community gathering point.

Once everything was set and we were all geared up, we began to make our way up the sidewalk towards the basketball court. The sidewalk ran close to it, but not all the way there. We still had to cross a small uphill stretch through the grass to reach the court itself. Away from the sidewalks and the trail that lead in, the park only had two suitable areas for skating. Either the parking lot or the basketball court. I suppose there were the two tennis courts as well, but there was a posted warning that you had to wear tennis shoes inside. I guess that pretty much ruled out skating there. The parking lot was much larger than the court and paved over with black top. Still, the disuse of the park had caused it to fall into disrepair over the years. This left he surface of the parking lot cracked at several places in the blacktop and uneven in others. Also, there was the remote chance that a car might come into the parking lot. This would present us with another danger, It was not a chance we wanted to take with my 6 year old sister skating with us. So, our group diverted itself to the basketball court.

The court itself was pretty large and composed of 6 large slaps of concrete. I haven’t been there for a while, so I am not sure of it’s exact dimensions, but it was large enough for a full court game. The area was located at the tope of a grass hill. There was about 7 or 8 feet difference in height between the top and bottom of the hill that the court was settled on at the far end of it. The other end of the court was at the same level as the parking lot behind the tennis courts that separated the hill from it. The court was a full court and had two basket ball hoops, one on each end of it. Other than the two poles on the end of the court and the hill at the far side, the court was an ideal skating area.

The six of us rounded the last bend of the sidewalk and began the assent up the hill and onto the court. It was a steep climb and it took a little bit of balance to get up to the top. I was glad to have my hands free for a moment. It would have been a difficult if not impossible with them tied together. Once we reached the top of the hill, Shelly, Brandon and myself started skating immediately. Amber was helping Amy climb to the top. My younger sister was having a difficult time coming up with her skates on. Scott took a seat on the ground next to one of the poles furthest from the end of the court with the hill on it. He took a moment and took off a hip pack he was wearing. It contained a few personal items and the 4 pieces of rope that we had brought with us. A few minutes later all 6 of us were making laps of the outer edge of the basketball court.

This, proved to be a rather difficult undertaking for all of us to do. The court was more than large enough for 3 or even 4 of us to skate at varying paces. However, what we ended up with as a mixed traffic jam running around in a circle. Shelly ended up not being able to stop as she passed Brandon and ended up sending him face forward into the cement. He took out my little sister on the way forward and she ended up on top of him. Luckily, Brandon caught himself on one arm and managed to break Amy’s fall as he went down. Amber and I pulled up along side and helped the two of them up to their feet. Both of them had the wind knocked out of them, but no serious injuries were sustained. Amy began to sob when she hit the ground. She was at that age where anything that caused pain cause tears. “Ow, that hurt. You should slow down you big jerk. . . . Ect.” Amy spit out a statements as the tears flowed from her eyes from the fall.

Amber pulled my little sister aside and tried to comfort her on the matter. She lead Amy over the far end of the court and began to dust her off. “See, your ok. It’s going to be fine. Look at poor Brandon, you’re the one who fell on top of him. Good thing he is softer than the ground.” Amber didn’t have any younger siblings of her own to contend with. However, she babysat quite a bit in the area for pocket money over the last few years. She really had a way with kids especially younger ones. After a few minutes of jests from my friend, Amy began to laugh at the whole of the situation with the rest of us. The tears dried up and a smile returned to her face. Once the episode concluded, the rest of us returned to skating around the court for the next half an hour or so. We slowed the pace down a little and kept a better watch on each other as the time passed.

After 45 minutes or an hour passing, I don’t remember which it was. Amy was getting tired of skating and withdrew herself from the court. She looked like she was getting pretty tired. After all, she had skated all the way down here and kept pretty busy since the arrival. Even with lunch she was reaching her limit. She pulled herself off the end of the court and began pulling her roller skates off of her feet. It was fine since hers were the style that were worn over shoes anyway. Then, she started working her pads and helmet off as well. Amber pulled off to the side again to give my little sister a hand. They talked as my little sister stripped herself of all that gear. She announced that she was tired and done skating for the time being. Amber told her that she was getting a little burnt out two and offered to sit with Amy for a while.

For the next 15 minutes or so, the remainder of our group continued skating around the court. With two less bodies and one of them being my younger sister, we had more room to maneuver and could use a little more speed. Amy sat close to my friend and the two of them watched as we whizzed pass. With more room to work with, Scott and Brandon opened up and did a couple of trick jumps and crouches. They were better trained than I was. Brandon could do a spin called a double axle on roller skate, which he performed several times to our amazement. With all of us trying more daring things, I got an idea of my own. Once Scott lapped me, I slowed down and allowed him to make a full loop before reaching me again. Then I picked up to match his speed. My brother caught the hint from my movements and slowed his pace to match mine.

“Is there something that you want sis?” Scott asked me as he pulled alongside me taking the outer loop of the two of us. “Yeah, since were not going to be tripping over Amy any more, do you think you could tie my hands up again for a while?” I replied to his inquiry. Scott nodded and lead me the way over to where he had left the hip pack at the base of the pole. The thought of being tied up again had crossed through my mind more than once during this whole expedition. However, after Amy and Brandon took their dive I had dismissed it on the crowded basketball court. Now that the area was a little more clear, I decided that I was willing to give it another try. Scott lead the way and I followed close at his heels. It took less that a minute for us to arrive at the pole that Amy and Amber were sitting next to. It was also the drop point for the hip pack with all the rope in it.

My brother came to a stop and bent over. He opened the pack and retrieved one of the coils of rope from the pack and began to untangle it. Working the rope free took a couple of minutes to separate the ends from each other. Once my brother had a length of rope trailing from his hand he skated back over to where I was standing. Scott brought himself to rest behind where I was standing. “Ok Jen, hold still please.” My brother asked as he took hold of my hands. Scott guided my hands together behind my back and brought them into an x shape. Then he took the loose end of the rope and began to make several horizontal loops around my crossed wrists. Once he finished the horizontal passes, my brother finished off the tie with several vertical passes to snug the tie down. Then he knotted the rope off on top out of the reach of my fingers.

Scott took a step backwards pushing off of me slightly. This caused me to stagger forward a little and almost fall. I managed to catch my balance and restore my ground before I went down though. I gave the ropes a few good solid tugs and they held pretty well. The tie wasn’t as fancy or restrictive as the style that Sean had used earlier. But it held well against my straining and kept my hands out of use. I took a couple of small steps forward acclimating myself to my situation trying to get used to keeping my balance without my hands again. It came pretty easily and after a few short steps I risked a couple of longer strokes. After I reclaimed my ability to keep my balance a little better, I returned to skating with the rest of my friends.

Amy and Amber sat and watched as the four of us did laps of the course. The boys moved at a much quicker pace than Shelly or I did. Shelly wasn’t the best skater of the bunch. I had other reasons that prevented me from moving at top speed. The boys were more than careful to give me the space I needed. I stayed more towards the center of the court while they made wider passes around the outer perimeter. Shelly bobbed in and out as she saw fit. Amy watched us for a time but after a while she seemed to get bored with the whole idea of watching rather than participating. Still, she never was definitely my sister. Since she had her skates off she didn’t want to go to all the hassle of putting all her stuff on again. So she looked for a new means of entertainment. Her eyes circled her head trying to find something fun to do. After a couple of minutes of looking, they came to rest on the hip pack that Scott had left open at the bottom of the post.

Amy stood up and walked over to where Amber was sitting a few feet away. She stood there looking over at my friend for a minute or two. She had one of those looks on her face where she was waiting for Amber to acknowledge her existence. Finally Amber looked up and saw my sister. “Hi Amy, what do you want?” Amy shrugged her shoulder s back and shifted her feet around on the ground. “Amber? . . Amber do you think? . . Do you think you could tie me up?” Amy asked finally spitting her idea out to my perplexed friend. Amber let the thought mull over in her head a couple of times before it came to reality. She had seen Amy tied up by me and my siblings on several occasions. She had witnessed it earlier in the day. It just took a moment to sink in. “Why do you want me to tie you up Amy?” Amber replied trying to draw reason from the blank request. “Because . . . Because” Amy let the words hang in the air for a moment or two before drawing an explanation together. “Because I’m bored. And we have the rope over there.” My little sister said pointing at the open fanny pack.

Amber drew the rational together as best she could. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. Amy didn’t need a reason other than the materials and the time were available. Amber just shrugged and followed Amy over to where the hip pouch was laying. She dug out the first piece of rope and began the process of unknotting it from the coil. Amy watched her work with anticipation. (Most of this part of the story is second hand to me. We were too busy skating to notice at the time, but we saw the result.) Once Amber had worked the first coil of rope free from its knot Amy turned her back to her and put her hands together. Amber began tying my little sister hands parallel to each other behind her back and knotted them off snuggly. Of all of us, Amber was probably the second worst at tying someone up other than Amy. Still, she did a good enough job to keep my little sister’s hands secure.

Being tied up was a new experience to Amy and she wasn’t much of an escape artist at the time. I think she like being tied for the same reason I did when I was her age. It was a fun physical experience being restrained. Amy tugged her hands a few times and struggled against them. Amber took a moment and asked her how the ropes were. Amy replied that they were “super escape proof”, and asked Amber if she would tie up her feet too. (Amy always used that phrase as a kid when I tied her up and she couldn’t get out.) Amber set about grabbing a second piece of rope while Amy laid herself down on the ground to struggle. She sat down and fell backwards into a laying position. Then she rolled onto her tummy and watched us while Amber worked the second piece of rope.

Once the second coil of rope was free, Amber came over and began to wrap it around Amy’s ankles. Amber asked my sister why she was lying on her stomach, and she replied that it would be easier to tie her up this way. It took a moment for Amber to get the meaning of what my sister meant by that statement. Amy watched over her shoulder as Amber began wrapping the coil of rope around her ankles. Once she reached a few loops and began to cinch the tie off, Amy abruptly jerked her legs back. I guess it was more of an upwards motion off the ground. She drew them backwards towards her hands. “Can you tie me up like this?” She asked. Amber caught hold of Amy’s request and set about granting it. She slipped one end of the rope under one of the loops to keep the feet together and then she brought the end down and tied it off on my sisters hands. This drew Amy up into a rather snug little hogtie. Then Amber backed away to let my sister explore the limits of her new confinement.

Amy had seen me and Scott both hogtied on several occasions growing up. She was curious about the position. I explained that it was a way to tie someone’s feet behind their back like their hands. She had wanted to try it herself to get a feel for the situation. However, my brothers and I decided to put it off until she was a little older. We gave her a number of different excuses and reasons, and she just accepted them for the time being. However, Amber was not keyed into this family secret and Amy had found a way to manipulate the situation to her advantage. Little kids always seem to come up with the best plans about getting their was and Amy was no exception. The remainder of our group made another couple of laps before we caught sight my sister and her perdicament. Our little parade came to an abrupt halt. We pulled up on the end of the court and set our eyes on my little sister’s antics.

The fact that she had been hogtied never really jumped into any of our minds. We just had stopped seeing that she was bound. Amy began to roll around and squirm on her chest. She was quickly learning just how hard it was to move around when you’re tied up like that. She was pretty flexible for her age and after a little work, she managed to roll over onto her back. Amber had left my sister a good 8 or 10 inches of slack between her limbs. It was more than enough for Amy to roll her way around and back and fourth. After a long of work, my little sister even managed to work herself up into a sitting position with her legs tucked back against her chest. We all gave her a little encouragement as she attempted to sit up. Then we finished with some applause as she managed the feet. My little sister was sitting there looking at us with a real look of pride on her face. Despite the fact that she was no closer to freeing herself.

After a few minutes, the novelty of the situation sorted itself out and we resumed our normal pursuits. We began making laps of the court again and every once in a while we tossed a quick glance over at my sister to see how she was coming in attempting to regain her freedom. It was a loosing battle watching her struggles from afar. Even with Amber’s lack of rope working skill, Amy wasn’t making any real progress. I glanced over at my sister each time I mad a pass of the court. There was something nostalgic about watching her sit there and struggle tied up like that. It brought back memories from when I was around her age and some of the first times that I had been tied up. Her eyes were still fixated with the novelty of the idea. The experience and her memories of it still made it a fresh experience for her each time she was part of one of our games. Part of me wished I was her age again part of me was glad to just watch her enjoying the perdicament.

As I circled the court, my mind wandered between all the tie ups I could remember from over the years. Amy was really coming of age with this strange tradition in our family. She seemed to be fascinated with it as I was. Looking back, I probably should have been paying more attention to what a I was doing and less to watching my little sister. I was quite good as skating with my hands tied behind my back, but it required my full concentration. Dividing my focus was a costly mistake. It hit me almost out of the blue that I was at the end of the basketball court when it happened. I lacked the time to stop at all. Without the use of my hands, I lost my balance and lunged forward at the edge of the court. I was coming straight at the metal pole that the basket was mounted to. At the last second, I shifted my weight to the left bringing my upper body out of alignment to hit it. I heard a loud ‘ding’ as my right leg struck the pole on the way by. The next thing I remember, I was laying face down. I was several feet from the base of the hill and mostly in shock. Followed by a rather heavy wave of pain.

Well, I am going to conclude this part of the story here. To answer the question I have been asking in my title for the last few weeks, ropes and skates are not a good combination. Looking back on the whole thing, it was a pretty dumb thing to do. I’ll share the results and the aftermath of this tumble in my next story. I would advise anyone from trying this at home.

Alright, I guess I should make a quick comment and take care of the question that I know are coming. Why did I post this story if I knew it ended this way. I did it for a couple of reasons. First, it was part of my experiences growing up. So, I thought it had just as much right to be shared as the other stories I am going to share. Secondly, it illustrates a good point of how dumb it is to try and skate with your hands tie behind your back. Finally, the real reason for this story is I am getting set up for the next series of stories that I am going to be sharing. I thought this would provide a better context of how my situation came about rather than a paragraph about falling while skating. I like to share the details of my life and this experience has made me wiser for the wear. I wasn’t exactly okay from the fall, but this happened quite a few years ago and I pulled through just fine. To this day, my mom doesn’t know that I was tied up when this happened. Well, I guess she does now.

Jennifer

[Soraka]

The Epilog/Prolog

Hello everyone, sorry to leave things hanging so much up in the air from the last story. I began writing my next story as I had planned to, but as I got through the introduction of it, I soon realized that there was too much information that I had to cover to make any kind of a story out of it. I am writing this little episode in my life to help bridge the gap between the next story and what happened after my fall at the park. This opening doesn’t have me or anyone else getting tied up I am afraid, so if you want to skip it I understand. However, I need to fill in some of the gaps between the last story and this one to make sense of anything. If you are interested in what happened to me after my fall and how I ended up where the next story picks up read on this information is for you.

So, there I was lying at the bottom of the hill after my spill off the skates. I had landed pretty hard and found myself in a lot of pain waking up. I tried to get up, but that didn’t go according to plan. When I tried to move my right leg, I found it hurt profusely to do so. My plight didn’t go unanswered for long. Amber and Shelly were by my side in moments of the accident. My brothers arrived within two minutes of my landing hard. Shelly was freeing my hands while Amber and Sean were looking over my injuries. Once my hands were free, I immediately reached up towards my forehead and found that I had blood running down the front of my face. Sean eased me backwards into a laying position and supported my head with his hands. I made him well aware of the sharp pain in my right ankle. He told me to lie still and not to move. I followed his instructions as best I could in between sobs.

It wasn’t long before Scott was wrapping a bandage over the cut on my forehead and putting pressure on the wound. Seam mostly was just trying to keep me calm and still. Amber was on her cell phone and Shelly was on my brother’s. Sean had given Shelly his phone and had her call my mother to inform her of the situation. Amber had used her phone to call for an ambulance on the advice of my mother. My brothers were both attending to me with the first age knowledge they had compiled over the years in scouting and other places.

Poor Amy spent the whole time lying at the top of the hill on her stomach. In all the rush, Amber and the rest of the crew had forgotten about her. She let out a yell eventually and that brought Amber up to untie her. She was near me pretty soon as well. I saw a pretty concerned look on her face about the whole matter.

It wasn’t long until the ambulance got there and two paramedics were checking me out. I got to go through the whole nine yards of getting put on a back board and stretcher. Sean accompanied me to the hospital along with Shelly. That was all the room the vehicle to take on the trip. The rest of our group headed back to the high school to retrieve Sean’s van and head home. That was what my mother had instructed them to do I would learn later on. My mother on the other hand had gotten into her car and headed straight for the hospital to meet up with the rest of us there. Once I got there, the staff ran the normal routine of test to make sure that wasn’t hurt on the inside. They ran x-rays, blood work and a number of other tests over me and treated the apparent injuries. My mother was there before I arrived and talked everything about my situation over with the doctors as the matter developed.

I am going to spare you all the drama. Obviously I survived the ordeal, since I am alive writing this today. I had a few bumps and bruises from the tumble, but nothing a day or two of resting wouldn’t take care of. The cut on my forehead took a few stitches and 2 weeks to heal completely. However, the real problem I had was my right ankle. I had broken it on impact and done a pretty good job of it. The doctor reset it and put it in a nice pink plaster cast for me. He told my mother that it would need to be on for at least 6 weeks. There went most of my summer. We were at the hospital until late that night when they finally let me and the rest of my family go home.

The next morning, I was sitting on the couch with my injured leg resting on the coffee table. I was watching Cartoons with Amy to my left and a bowl of cereal on my lap. I was on a prescription for the pain and it was more than manageable. My situation was what had me upset. This was the first time that I had broke an major bone and frankly I hated it. The cast began at my foot and came up my leg to just a few inches below the knee. Thankfully they had let me still bend my leg at the joint. It would have been a really long summer if it had been straight the whole time. I hadn’t been able to get into my bed the night before so, my mother had put me up on the couch in the living room. I didn’t get much sleep not being used to my situation.

My leg brought a whole host of new challenges with it. I couldn’t put any weight on it at all. The doctor had been very clear about the do’s and don’t list. I also couldn’t get the cast wet and he didn’t want me to get dirt on it if it could be avoided. That pretty much meant that I would be spending the next few weeks inside the house. I relied on crutches to get around the house when I needed to. Other than a trip to get my game boy and a few runs to the bathroom, I pretty much stayed on the couch for the next two days. I wasn’t very good on crutches, I really didn’t have the upper body strength for it. So, I tried not to move around any more than I had to. I was mad at the whole situation. Mostly at myself for doing something so dumb in the first place. Luckily the story of my hands being tied hadn’t reached my parents ears yet. In fact, they never found out about it. We were all really surprised how well Amy could keep a secret at that age. Sean gave her a dollar to keep her mouth shut.

I spent the next few days on the sofa relying on my family to help me get the things I needed. Sean and my mother were both willing to help me when they were home. Scott took a little more coaxing from my parents, but he was willing to help on his way by. Amy kept me company and helped serve as a messenger between my parents and brothers when I needed something. The rest of our group and several of my other friends from school dropped in on and off to say hi. So, I wasn’t all that lonely just a little bitter at the whole situation. I wasn’t mad at my family or friends, I was just mad at the situation as a whole. It put me and the rest of my group in a rather difficult situation.

The whole of the matter had come up at the dinner table the first night after I had gotten home from the hospital. The issue of discussion came up when Scott inquired about what my parents intended to do about the trip we had planned. It was only about a week away and my injuries posed a big problem. From the list that the doctor had given me it was more than clear that I couldn’t go. I was too immobile to go climbing around in caves to begin with. Also I didn’t want to take my chances with camping at all for the time being. It would pose too many challenges. I wished I had broken one of my arms, at least then I could walk normally. Being off my feet was a real pain in the butt.

A whole slew of ideas came through the discussion of what was going to happen. Obviously I wasn’t going, but the rest of the family had been planning this trip from quite a while. Everyone had taken time off from work and my parents had made several reservations a few months ahead of time to cover the agenda for the trip. It was a pretty big deal and we had planned to be gone for 11 or 12 days in a row. It was too late to reschedule and several of the deposits my family had made could not be recovered. The original plan the first evening was just to call the trip of and do something here at home that I could participate in. However, I quickly put that to rest without much thought. I didn’t want to ruin everyone else’s plans over my situation. I would normally be more than old enough to stay home alone or even with Amy for a while now. At least for a few hours or overnight. But, my situation left me without enough mobility to be self reliant and my mother wouldn’t here of me staying home by myself for a week and a half. What ended up being the solution at the end of the first night, was that I was going to stay home and someone would stay with me. The only thing really up for debate was who would be doing that.

Both of my parents thought the other one should go and offered to sacrifice their vacation for me. Most likely it looked like my father was going and my mother was staying. However, it was still up in the air. Sean offered to take the duty of tending to me as well. None of them truly wanted to miss the trip, but they all were willing to put my needs first under the circumstances. The situation went unresolved for the next two days as everyone packed for the trip as if they were going. It was just a matter of who was staying behind to tend to me. Truthfully it was tearing me up inside that someone would have to give up this trip for me. None the less, things were what they were.

The solution to the problem didn’t present itself until five days after my fall with the trip directly on the horizon. It was the evening of our family meal. Once a week, my family made a real effort to get together for dinner with everyone present. This included both of my brothers and often my eldest sister if she they could all get off from work on the same night. Mary arrived an hour early as she usually did bearing a couple of side dishes to help my mother with the main course. I don’t remember what we had that night, but it was a full family meal with all the trimmings I am sure. This was the first time I had seen Mary for an extended stay after the accident. She stopped by on her way home from work one night and said hi for about 10 minutes, but that was the most of it. We all sat down to a family meal and began eating.

The trip quickly became the main topic of the discussion around the table that night. It was at the forefront of everyone’s agenda and my parents were getting tired of arguing over who was going and staying. The trip was within a few days now and it was time to make a decision. Mary listened back and fourth as the matter was discussed. Most of us just sat and ate while our parents discussed the matter. Finally, Mary added her two cents to the conversation. “You know Mom and Dad, why don’t you both go? Jen could stay with me at my place for the duration of the trip.” The table went silent with the suggestion. My parents had allowed me to stay with Mary on and off for a weekend here or there, but never really for a this length of time.

I am sure that the idea had crossed their minds more than once. Still, I was their problem and they didn’t want to dump me off on my sister. That and Mary had to work during the time that I would be staying with her. Mary offered to take me on as a border for the duration of the week if I was willing to go along with it. She had a few days off stored up for a rainy day. Still, it would mean that I would have to be on my own for a couple of hours for about half the number of days. But, we found out later that my friend Amber was willing to come over and keep me company for at three of the days in question. Shelly would keep an eye one me for another one later on as well, but that was arranged later that week. For that night, my parents said that they would take the idea under consideration. All in all, it seemed the most practical. It wasn’t like I was 8 or 9 any more. I was old enough to think and fend for myself.

The whole of the matter took some coaxing from me and my calling my friends to see if they could help cover the gaps. But in the end, my parents caved. It was settled that the rest of the family was going on the trip and I would be spending the time with my sister. Despite my inability to walk, it would turn out to be a fun vacation after all. Not as much fun as what I had planned on doing. But, it would still be a chance to spend some time with Mary and get a change of scenery. It would also be one of the longest strings of TUGS that I got to play with Mary ever. That, is where I am going to conclude this little intermission between the two stories.

Jennifer