Betty Jo was driving the train on her way home from school. She was very skilled at working the gears and was really the only kid around who could drive a train. It was a typical afternoon as she maneuvered the engine along the tracks, her long braids hanging down by her shoulders. Charley was standing next to her like he always did.
"Charley, can we stop by the store for a minute?" she asked. "I promised to pick up a few things for Mom."
"Sure thing, honey. But don't take too long now. Floyd and me are going fishing later," Charley said, smiling.
Betty Jo nodded while keeping her eyes on the tracks ahead.
Then Floyd came up front to check on them. "Speaking of fishing, there's something I have to show you, Charley."
"Later."
"Charley?" Floyd tapped his friend's shoulder.
"Yeah?"
"Let's have lunch."
"We had lunch already," said Charley.
"Well, let's have it again. I'm getting hungry."
Charley rolled his eyes. "Then go eat a banana or something."
"Okay," Floyd responded with a shrug. Then he walked off to look for a snack.
Moments later, Floyd returned with a banana in his hand and proceeded to eat it while he watched Betty Jo drive.
Soon the train pulled up in front of Sam Drucker's store. Betty Jo hopped out and ran to buy the things she had promised her mother. "I won't be too long!" she called to Charley and Floyd as she went into the store.
Floyd finished eating his banana and tried to shove the peeling into his pocket – not realizing that he had accidentally let it fall on the floor instead.
"Now, what was it you wanted to show me?" asked Charley as he followed Floyd to the next car.
"Well…you may not like it."
"I probably won't, but what is it?"
Floyd reached behind one of the seats and began pulling out miles of thick, fishing nets. The kind that professional fishermen use to catch giant quantities of fish.
"What's that for?" asked Charley, staring at Floyd as if he had lost his marbles.
"I thought maybe one of these days, you and me could go catch us some really big fish!" Floyd said, enthusiastically. He scooped up an armful of netting to show Charley.
"We haven't got any use for that. We own fishing poles, don't we?"
Floyd chewed his lip. "Yeah."
Charley sighed and shook his head in disbelief.
"Want me to take it back?" asked Floyd.
"Yeah."
"Oh, alright." Floyd sighed as he gathered up part of the net that was dragging on the floor. It was so long that he had to wrap it up tight in order to carry it easily.
At that moment, Charley turned his back on Floyd and started to walk away. But then, as Floyd was handling the fish net, he slipped on the banana peel he had dropped. He stumbled backwards and crashed into Charley, the nets flying out of his arms.
They both screamed as they plummeted downwards and became entangled in the rope-like nets.
"You lame-brain! Get me out of this!" Charley shouted, fighting to get out.
"I-I will! Once I get myself out!" Floyd yelled, nervously.
They were both trapped in the giant nets and only became more stuck the more they struggled. They managed to sit up on their butts, however, they could not stand up. Their heads and feet were loose but the rest of them was wrapped in fish net. And they were tied to each other – back to back.
"How on Earth did you manage this?!" Charley bellowed, feeling horrified at their embarrassing situation.
"D-Don't yell!" Floyd stammered. "Betty Jo will come back soon and she'll let us go."
"Oh dear, how do you let these things happen to us?" Charley groaned, still struggling though it was apparently useless.
"I wasn't my fault," Floyd said, lowering his eyes. "I slipped on a banana peel."
"And who dropped the banana peel?"
"Uh…me?" Floyd felt his face grow hot.
After a few minutes, they heard Betty Jo walking back onto the train and she was calling their names as she looked for them.
"Betty Jo is back!" Floyd exclaimed, trying to cheer up Charley.
"Thank goodness," Charley said with a relieved sigh.
Betty Jo wandered into the passenger car and her jaw dropped when she saw Charley and Floyd tied to each other with nets.
"This is all Floyd's fault!" Charley said to the young woman. "Get us out of here, will you?"
Betty Jo smiled wryly.
"Charley, if you don't stop yelling, I'm going to get awful nervous!" said Floyd, worriedly.
"You keep quiet!" Charley barked.
Betty Jo put down the bag she was holding and moved closer to the helpless men. "You boys look like two fishies caught in a net!" she chuckled.
"Charley's not a fish!" Floyd said, coldly. "He's whale-size!"
"Shut up!" Charley roared at him.
Betty Jo giggled. "Don't be sore at each other. I'll get you free." With that, she reached into her pocket and took out her pocket knife. Being the tomboy that she was, it wasn't unnatural for her to carry around a pocket knife. She opened the small knife and lowered it to the nets. But then she stopped herself.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Aren't you going to cut us out?" asked Charley, confused.
"Um…yes. But not yet," she said, smiling. There was a naughty gleam in her eye.
"Huh?" Floyd said.
Betty Jo decided that she just had to take advantage of this opportunity. She knelt down at Charley's feet and took a hold of his right shoe.
"Oh no…what are you doing?" asked Charley, as she started removing his shoe.
Betty Jo grinned slyly as she yanked his shoe off. Then she removed his other shoe and tossed them both away.
"I just want to tickle you!" said Betty Jo, excitedly. She had recently found out that Charley and Floyd were both extremely ticklish.
"You wouldn't do that!"
Betty Jo began pulling off his socks.
"Oh no! Please, not the socks! Let me keep them on!" Charley begged, as he squirmed frantically.
"You shouldn't have yelled at Floyd," Betty Jo said, shaking her head.
And with that, she yanked off Charley's socks and tossed them away. Then she smirked and began tickling his right foot. "Coochie coochie coo!"
Charley burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"AAAAAAAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PLEEEEEEASE NOOOOOO! HOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! HEEEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAA! STOOOOHOHOHOHOHOP! MY BARE FEET ARE TOO TICKLISH! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Charley screamed.
Betty Jo's heart melted. This was the first time she had ever tickled Charley and it was sooo cute! She tickled his right foot for a while, then she started tickling both of his feet. Her fingers were scribbling on his smooth heels, which was driving him nuts with laughter. Then Betty Jo began counting his toes, tickling each one as she did so. By the time she got through all ten toes, Charley had tears forming in his eyes. He was laughing hysterically and begging for it to stop.
"Tickle tickle tickle!" Betty Jo teased him, as she began swirling her fingers on the balls of his feet.
"OOOOHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! BETTY JO! STOP THAT! PLEEEEASE! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT TICKLES!" Charley howled, bucking and squirming desperately.
Betty Jo was having so much fun that she didn't want to ever stop. She continued tickling the balls of his feet for several minutes. Then her fingers began traveling downward…
"NOOOOOO! NOT MY ARCHES!" Charley shrieked in terror.
Much to his relief, Betty Jo stopped to let him catch his breath.
As Charley gasped for air, Betty Jo stood up and walked around to where Floyd's helpless feet lay. "Well Floyd, let's have a go at your footsies, shall we?" She reached down and removed his shoes and socks.
"Me!? What did I do!?" Floyd asked, frightened.
Betty Jo looked him in eye. "Nothing. I just want to," she said, simply.
Before Floyd could protest any further, Betty Jo ran her index finger lightly down his bare foot. This caused him to start laughing and squirming.
"Aw, you like that don't you?" she cooed, smiling. Then she made herself comfortable and got ready to do something more intense. She placed her fingertips in the center of each sole and began to slowly drag her nails up and down.
"NOOOOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! OOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO DON'T DO THAHAHAHAHAT! AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I CAN'T TAKE IT!" Floyd wailed, struggling with all his strength to escape Betty Jo's playful fingers.
"Do you want me to stop?" she asked.
"YES! PLEASE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!"
But Betty Jo just smiled and shook her head. Then she attacked his toes and probed her fingers between them.
Floyd's face turned bright red as he laughed hysterically.
This continued for about several minutes before Betty Jo decided to give him a break.
"Can we…go now?" Floyd asked, as he caught his breath.
"Nope. Now it's Charley's turn again!" Betty Jo announced as she renewed her position at the engineer's feet.
"Oh no! Not again! Please…I can't take it anymore!" Charley whimpered, feeling like he was going to cry.
"It'll be over soon," she told him, soothingly. "I just want to do one more thing." With that, she grabbed the bag of stuff she had bought at the store, reached inside and pulled out a brand new hairbrush.
She held back Charley's toes with one hand and began dragging the hairbrush up and down his entire sole. This caused him to explode in shrieking laughter. His head whipped from side to side as he thrashed and convulsed. He couldn't even beg for mercy anymore because he was laughing so hard.
But it only lasted a minute or so before Betty Jo stopped to give him a badly needed rest. Tears were falling down his bright red face as he gasped for air. Betty Jo patted him sympathetically on the shoulder, then she went to torment Floyd's feet with the brush.
Since Betty Jo was a compassionate person, she made sure that she only spent a little time tickling the arches of their feet – since that was their most ticklish spot of all.
Finally, it was all over. The men were both a couple of sobbing wrecks. Betty Jo took a handkerchief and gently wiped all the tears and sweat off their faces.
"I'm real disappointed in you, Betty Jo," said Floyd.
"Yeah, we thought you were a good kid," added Charley.
"I am," Betty Jo quipped. "But I'm entitled to have some fun once in a while, aren't I?"
Charley and Floyd were silent. Sure, they liked it when Betty Jo had fun, but not when it was at their expense.
"By the way, do you fellas plan on getting me back for this someday?" she asked.
"Maybe," Charley replied.
Betty Jo shrugged and continued to pat their faces dry. Then she took off Charley's hat and playfully ruffled his damp, silver hair.
"Stop that."
Betty Jo chuckled and started to slice the net ropes with her pocket knife. She felt a twinge of guilt when she thought about how disrespected they must have felt. But when they completely recovered and smiled at her, she felt relieved because she knew that there were no hard feelings.
The End
