By Keith Steeclif
I stood on the beach staring in stunned amazement. This couldn’t be real. I must be suffering from heat stroke. This had to be a hallucination.
Ahead of me a few yards, a row of great looking guys were buried in the sand with just their heads and feet above the surface. Other men of the same age were calling for people to come over and check them out.
The sign read, “Tau Kappa Lamda charity event for the homeless – Pledge Tickle. Tickle Their Feet So Others May Eat. $2.00 a minute.”
People were paying the fraternity members and given feathers. Then they would pick the pledge they wanted to tickle, take a seat in the sand in front of their bare soles, and go to town with the feather.
And the pledges that weren’t getting tickled were heckling the crowd, daring them to tickle their feet, wiggling their toes and telling them how ticklish they were.
“Hey, want to make a pledge howl,” a handsome guy said to me as I drew near. He held up a feather.
“Oh, he’s not man enough to break me,” a man in the sand said. He was a very good looking guy with black hair and fantastic looking feet. He was wiggling his toes at me. “Give a try, I dare you. These are the two most ticklish feet you are ever going to find in your life.”
“He’s not kidding,” the man with the feather said. “His feet are crazy ticklish.”
“Yeah, but I can take whatever you can dish out.”
“We’ll see about that,” I said and handed the man a ten dollar bill and took the feather.
“Excellent, five minutes. Have a seat in front of Jordan here and then I’ll start the timer.”
I sat cross legged in front of the man’s bare soles. His feet were very nice, with high arches, short, plump toes, and wrinkly soles.
“Five minutes? Oh, man, I think I mouthed off too much,” Jordan said. I started to lower the tip of the feather toward his left sole and he said, “Be gentle.”
As soon as the feather touched Jordan’s foot, it started to squirm. He stifled a laugh as his toes splayed desperately. As I started my upswing across his bare sole, Jordan couldn’t contain himself and started laughing. His laughter mixed with the commotion of a dozen other pledges getting their feet tickle tortured.
I twirled the feather across Jordan’s bare soles, making his feet jump and wiggle. He laughed loudly, proving true to his word about how ticklish his feet were. “No, not the toes!” he screamed when I started to pull the feather through the spaces in between. His laughter became more frantic.
I checked the timer. I’d been tickling his feet for over a minute. I pulled back the feather for a moment and said, “Not so mouthy now, are you, Jordan.”
“Hee Hee. Is that all you got? My little brother tickles better than you.”
“Oh really, let’s see how you like this.” I resumed the feathering of Jordan’s right foot and as his laughter kicked back up to high gear, I started scratching his left sole with my fingernails.
“No, no, not that! Not both feet at once!” he cackled, “Oh man that tickles! HEE HEE HEE!”
I was in heaven. Jordan’s foot was extremely soft and warm. I soon dropped the feather so I could feel his ticklish foot flesh with both hands. I tickled his bare soles and wiggling toes with vigor.
“HAA HAA HAA! You really like torturing my ticklish feet, don’t you,” Jordan said.
I leaned in close and spoke in his ear, “I love tickling your gorgeous feet. Kitchy, kitchy, koo.”
“No! Stop! You’re tickling me to death! HAA HAA HAA! HEE HEE HEE!”
The timer sounded and I reluctantly backed off Jordan’s feet. He continued to laugh and pant, his toes still wiggling in a desperate attempt to ease the tickling sensation on his bare soles.
The man that had taken my money returned. “Want to torment one of our other pledges?” he asked.
“No,” I replied, “I think I’ll stay right here.” I handed him more money.
“Forty bucks, you serious?”
Jordan said, “Twenty minutes? No way. You really will tickle me to death.”
“It’s for charity, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Come on, Jordan,” the man said, “You were all talk a few minutes ago. I’m sure a big strong guy like you can take a little more tickling.”
“Of course you would say that, Cameron, this whole event was your idea and you’re not the one stuck in this hole.”
“That’s right, you are stuck, aren’t you,” the man said and then looked at me and said, “He’s all yours. Have a ball.” He took my money and set the timer for twenty minutes.
“Not so tough are you now?” I said as Cameron left us alone. “Don’t worry, I won’t be as cruel this time around. I just needed to put you in your place.”
Jordan looked at me and replied, “I knew this was going to turn out badly. My feet are too ticklish.”
“Then why did you agree?”
“I’m a pledge. Pledges don’t agree, they just do as they are told. But it figured I’d get the one who gets off on tickling guys’ feet. You do get off on this, don’t you?”
“You are so ticklish, Jordan. Who wouldn’t be tempted? And I don’t get a chance like this every day. I intend to get my money’s worth.”
I took the feather and very gently drew it down the center of his left sole. He let out a little laugh and his toes splayed. “I absolutely love ticklish feet,” I confessed. I slowly and carefully traced the creases in his bare soles with the feather, making his feet wiggle and squirm and causing Jordan to giggle.
I pulled the feather across the base of his toes very slowly. I ran the feather around the outside rim of his feet. Jordan bit his lower lip, “MMMM, man, you sure like watching me squirm, don’t you?”
“Immensely. Let’s kick this up a notch.” I swirled the feather around his bare sole, making Jordan laugh louder and louder.
I’d been teasing Jordan’s feet with the feather for about five minutes. I put down the feather and started rolling my fingers from his heels up to the balls of his feet. As I passed over his bare soles, Jordan’s laughter returned to complete hysterics.
“You’re feet are so freaking soft, Jordan. I could tickle you for days.”
“NO! Please stop. I can’t take any more.”
“Sure you can. Is your body ticklish too?”
Jordan was laughing hard and didn’t reply. I dug into his soles a bit harder, “I asked you a question.”
“Yes! HEE HEE HEE! My body is really ticklish.”
“Where, tell me.”
“Everywhere. My stomach and ribs. My armpits are as ticklish as my feet.”
“I bet you have an awesome body too.”
“HAA HAA HAA! I work out a lot. Oh man, you’re tickling is driving me crazy! Stop! Please stop!”
“You like it don’t you, Jordan. You like all this attention to your feet, don’t you?”
“No, no! It tickles! I’m going insane. Please, no more tickling! HEE HEE HEE HA HA!”
After five minutes of non-stop tickle torture, I gave Jordan a break. His pledge brothers were not faring any better with a constant stream of people lined up to tickle their feet one after the next. They saw that I still had ten minutes to go so they left me alone with Jordan’s defenseless feet.
I gave the poor guy a break and started to massage his feet. He slowly calmed down, his breathing returning to normal fairly quickly. As he came back to himself, he started to enjoy the massage. “Thanks, that actually feels nice,” he said, “Man, you’re killing me. How much time is left?”
“Still eight minutes to go. Not much time at all.”
“No way, I can’t take any more. You’re really getting off on tickling my feet, aren’t you?”
I scanned the other pledges getting their feet torturously tickled by paying strangers. “I’d stay here all day if I could.”
“What did you mean before when you said my feet were gorgeous?”
“They are. Nice arches,” I traced his arch and made his foot twitch. “A cute line of toes,” I ran my finger along the base of his toes, making they wiggle. “A nice shape, not too long or too skinny. Just really nice.”
“You really notice that kind of stuff?” he asked, wiggling his toes a little more.
“Definitely. And I love the way you wiggle your toes, all together like that. It drives me crazy.”
I kneaded Jordan’s soles firmly with my thumbs. “See, not all bad, is it?”
“Couldn’t you just do that? If you like my feet so much, how about giving them a break.”
“Sorry, but I’ve only got a few minutes left. I wasted three minutes just now talking. Time for the grand finale.”
“Oh, no, no, no, not yet. HA HAA HA! Please, just a little longer. HEE HE HEE! No, not the feather again!”
I brushed his squirming feet with the feather, making him laugh and beg. “You like this feather on your ticklish tootsies, don’t you, Jordan.”
“No, it kills. Please, stop.”
“Stop? I can’t stop. Like I said, I’d tickle your feet all day if I could. I bet you’re glad I’m not a brother in your fraternity.”
“That’s for sure,” he laughed loudly. “I couldn’t take it. You’d tickle me to death. HAA HAA HAA HAA!”
I dropped the feather and tickled his soles with my fingertips. His laughter was desperate. “No more tickling. Please, stop tickling my feet!”
I was so into the tickling and I made Jordan scream with laughter. But he really was getting exhausted, so I had to stop thirty seconds early. I rubbed and caressed his soles for the remainder of my time.
As Jordan gasped and panted, I said, “I really am sorry, Jordan, if I went too far. When in my entire life am I ever going to get a chance like this again? For you guys, it’s just an afternoon stunt to raise money. But for me, it was a memory of a lifetime. So thank you.
“But luckily for you, I’m out of cash. So I guess I need to give other people a chance at those amazingly ticklish soles.”
“That was by far, the worst tickling I’ve ever gotten,” Jordan said, “And that’s saying a lot.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’ll never forget it. I just wish I’d had my camera.”
Cameron came back over, “How’s it going?”
I stood, “Great idea for a fund raiser. Jordan is one ticklish guy. Thank you, and thank you, Jordan.” I reluctantly walked away.
Then I headed to the public restroom. I splashed some water on my face, thinking about going to an ATM and them going back. When would I ever get a chance like this again? I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.
A guy wearing a swimsuit and flip-flops walked into the restroom. The guy caught my eye right away; tall, muscular, tanned, a fabulous body. And then when I looked at his handsome face, I realized it was Jordan.
“All that tickling made me have to go,” he said and walked past me to the stall.
I was suddenly very nervous. Having him trapped was one thing, but now I fully realized how much I’d revealed to him. I started to leave.
“You enjoyed yourself then?” he asked. The toilet flushed and Jordan walked over to the sink to wash his hands.
I was stunned, didn’t know what to say. I stammered, “I saw everyone else doing it. It looked like fun, and it was for charity.”
Jordan grabbed some paper towels and dried his hands as he walked toward me, “Yeah, but you really enjoyed yourself, didn’t you?”
“Well, yes, but…”
Jordan smiled, “Hey, I’m just messing with you, man. Believe it or not, I know someone else like you.”
“Really.”
“Yeah, my best friend from home. Gets me every chance he can. Especially these,” he said lifting his arms and showing his armpits. “Like I told you before, they are as ticklish as my feet. I’d better not get myself caught with the two of you. I’d really be in some trouble.”
“I’m Keith.”
“Well, Keith, I’m glad you had a good time. All things considered, it really wasn’t that bad. Although I’m not looking forward to getting buried back in that hole. We’re suppose to be here for another two hours. What about you, what are you doing?”
“I don’t know, go home I guess.”
“Well, like I said, I have two more hours of fun left. Nice to meet you.” Jordan started to leave, then turned back to me and said, “You know, whether it’s you or somebody else, I am going to get my feet tickled some more.” Then he left.
I stood dumbfounded in the rest room for several minutes, not quite sure what just happened. But then I knew what I had to do. I went back to my car, then I went to an ATM and took out two-hundred bucks.
When I returned to the spot on the beach, Jordan was already reburied and a guy was tickling his feet with two minutes left to go. Eight of the eleven other pledges were currently having their feet tickled too.
Cameron spotted me and said, “Back for more?”
“It is for a good cause, after all.”
“You want to get someone else?”
“No, I’ll wait for Jordan,” I said and paid Cameron enough money to cover the rest of their time there.
When the man finished with Jordan, I came up behind him. Jordan was recovering from the short tickling and looked up and recognized it was me.
“I knew you’d be back.”
I sat down in front of his bare soles as his toes wiggled in anticipation. “You know you’re really in for it, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I figured as much. Anything for charity, I guess.”
“Anything for charity. But this time, I brought my camera.” I showed him the video camera I’d retrieved from my car and I set it up in the sand to get a good shot of his bare soles and his head in-between his feet. “It really is for a worthy cause,” I told him as I slowly lowered my fingers toward his bare soles.
“Yeah, and the charity gets money too,” Jordan said just as my fingers made contact with his soft, warm foot flesh and he started to laugh.
The next ninety minutes was a marathon of almost non-stop tickling. I tormented poor Jordan’s bare feet without mercy and kept the guy howling. When the time was finally up, I turned off my camera and took out one of my personal cards. Sticking it between his big and second toes of his right foot, I said, “You should call me the next time your friend from home is in town. I’m sure you’d have a lot of laughs with the two of us.”
I thanked Jordan and Cameron and left the beach as the fraternity brothers were digging out their exhausted pledges. To my utter surprise, I received a phone call less than two weeks later. The guy introduced himself as Charlie and said he was Jordan’s best friend from home. He was going to be in town that weekend and Jordan had given him my number.
“Why would he do that?” I asked Charlie, “Knowing what we both intend to do to him.”
“I’ve stopped trying to figure Jordan out a long time ago. Sometimes I think he might actually be into it. Other times I think he just gets off on the fact that his ticklish body can have such an influence over me. Regardless, I stopped asking questions a long time ago. All I know for sure is that we have to think of something that is going to totally blow his mind.”
“When do you get into town?”
“Friday afternoon.”
“Good, bring him to my house on Friday night for dinner. You ever see those inversion boots?”
“Oh, you’re kidding, you have those?”
“I will by Friday. Well hang Jordan upside down like a bat and then tickle him batty.”
“Oh, you’re evil! I like it.”
The rest of the week, Charlie and I emailed and im’ed each other with details of our plans. Like Charlie, I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. I just knew that come Friday, I was going to get to the sole of the matter. And Jordan’s day at the beach, was going to look like a picnic.
Aren’t fraternities the best?!