masked and muffled by her good mood, but still detectable in the distance. Bobby held very still as she ran her fingers across his face.
“Think how that makes me feel,” she continued. “You mustn’t think only of yourself, you know. You mustn’t be selfish. You must think of me, too. Think how Dee feels when you jerk away like that.”
She smoothed the hair which habitually fell over his brow.
“Well,” she said, “you’ll learn. Children are always selfish at first. They have to be taught. Especially boys.”
She whirled away from him again. “Oh, I know all about boys. Don’t I, Ash? Don’t I know all about boys like him?”
Bobby thought the man she had called Ash was about to answer, but she did not wait for him.
“I know all about them.”
This time she grabbed his toe and wiggled it. “All about them.” Something in her tone suggested that she simultaneously chided and forgave him for mischief yet undone.
Dee rubbed his foot through the sheet for a moment, then uncovered his leg as far up as his knee. Bobby was naked under the sheet and he was afraid that she would lift the sheet further, revealing him completely, but he did not allow himself to squirm. As his feet were bound to the bed frame he knew he could not get away from her anyway, but he did not want to be accused of flinching again.
She seemed interested only in his feet.
“Oh, look at these toes,” she said with wonder, as if discovering something amazing on the ends of his feet. “Did you ever see such perfect toes. Ash? Just look at them.”
Ash had been positioned by the door, leaning his back against it as if keeping outside forces from bursting in. Bobby wondered if his parents were out there now, waiting for the right moment to hurl themselves through the wood to rescue him. Maybe they were there with the police. Maybe they were there with guns and, and… he couldn’t think what else they might have, but he was pretty sure that the police arsenal was vast and deadly. He didn’t want this man and woman shot. He didn’t want anyone to hurt them. He just wanted to go home. To be untied and released from the bed, to have the gag taken from his mouth.
Ash came from the door and bent over Bobby’s toes, regarding them as intently as if they were marvelous new growth in the garden, a biological marvel that was sprouting and stretching upwards right before his eyes.
Now was the time for the police to ram the door. Bobby thought. He was afraid to look in that direction for fear the man and woman would see him and realize their mistake, ruining the opportunity. But the door did not move, the police did not come.
All this attention to his toes made them itch with the desire to move, but he didn’t know if he was allowed to wriggle them or not.
Dee took his little toe between her fingers.
“And this little piggie cried ‘whee, whee, whee,’ all the way home,” she said, waggling his toe back and forth gently.
Ash laughed, glancing at Bobby to see if he enjoyed the moment, too. Urging the boy with his eyes to enjoy it.
Suddenly Dee bent forward and took Bobby’s toes in her mouth.
“Ummmm!” She moved her head back and forth as if in ecstasy over this mouth-watering delight. “Ummm- ummm!”
Ash laughed nervously and looked at the boy to judge his reaction.
Bobby whimpered despite himself. The warmth and wetness of the woman’s mouth filled him with confusing feelings. Part of him liked it, part of him felt it was somehow wrong although no one had ever told him so. Maybe the part that was wrong was the part of him, that responded to it.
Dee rolled her eyes up to look at him, her mouth still on his toes, her face at bed level so that she regarded him across the entire length of his body.
There was something in her eyes that Bobby could not name but knew by instinct. A hint of promise. He felt a welter of reactions, but most powerful of all was embarrassment. This stranger should not be treating him in so condescendingly intimate a way. Even if he was kidnapped, even if he was tied and gagged and naked, he was not a baby to have his toes sucked. To be cooed over.
Dee pulled away from his toes with a loud smacking noise. “Better than candy,“ she said. “Sweeter than sugar.” She beamed at him, but Bobby did not respond. Without warning she pressed her thumbnail into the sole of his foot and ran it upwards along the muscle. Bobby’s whole body jerked.
“Oh, he’s ticklish,” Dee said delightedly.
“He’s ticklish,” Ash said. As if they had discovered a wonderful secret about him.
Dee ran her thumb along the sole of his other foot, and again Bobby’s body spasmed on the bed.
“You see,” she said triumphantly. “I told you I knew all about little boys. I know what you like.”
She tickled the tops of his feet now with feathery soft fingers. Bobby writhed and tried to pull away while Dee and Ash laughed in the conspiratorial way of adults who thought they were giving pleasure to a child.
“Oh, we’re going to have fun!” Dee cried.
“Untie him. Ash,” Dee said excitedly. “And take that thing out of his mouth, for heaven’s sake.”
She made it sound as if the restraints were all Ash’s idea.
“He’s not going to do anything silly, are you. Tommy?” She leaned over him, a hand on either side of his body, smiling. Bobby smelled her breath, which was clean and sweet with a faint hint of toothpaste. Then she came too close so that her face blurred, and for a horrible moment he thought she was going to kiss him. Bobby squeezed his eyes closed in anticipation, but instead she rubbed her nose against his.
“Ummmm-ummm.”
He could smell something on her skin, perfume or powder in a dose so small he could hardly detect it. The scent reminded him of his mother who always used too much powder and had a familiar and mildly nauseating odor when she held Bobby too close. Dee smelled better, but she was still too close.
Ash removed the restraints from his feet first, then held him in place with a hand on Bobby’s chest as he released the boy’s body from bondage.
The gag was the last to go and just before ripping the tape from Bobby’s face Ash leaned close and whispered. “Don’t yell.” He paused, waiting for a response from the boy. Bobby nodded his head.
“You promise?” Ash whispered. Bobby nodded again, his eyes wide in anticipation of being free. He had no idea of the passage of time but felt as if he had been tied and tickled and cooed over for hours.
The tape came off so fast that Bobby gasped, but he didn’t yell. Ash smiled and nodded his approval.
“Well, get up,” Dee said. “Let’s have a real look at you! Get up!”
“I’m naked,” Bobby said in horror.
Dee laughed. “Oh, we don’t care. He’s shy. Ash. Isn’t that sweet? He’s shy.”
She pulled the covers off and beckoned him with her hand. “Come on now, stand up.”
Bobby clutched at the sheet, but she pulled it away from him.
“Now don’t be silly,” she said. “It’s just us. You can be naked in front of your family. Besides, how are we supposed to see you if you stay in that bed all day?”
Ash gently tugged at him and Bobby got to his feet, covering his groin with his hands. He felt his face burning with shame.
“Oh, Ash,” Dee said, “look at him, will you just look at him. He’s perfect, he’s absolutely perfect. My perfect little boy.”
She clapped her hands to her face and her eyes misted over.
“Just perfect,” she said softly. “My beautiful Tommy.”
“I’m Bobby,” Bobby said.
Ash touched Bobby’s arm and shook his head violently from side to side. Bobby realized that the man was warning him against something, but he did not understand what.
Dee did not appear to notice. Tears were on her cheeks now even though she was still smiling at him. She touched his cheek with her fingertips with such softness it seemed she could not believe what she was seeing.
