A few hours later, the new exhibit (with Wendy stocked in tow) was filled with tons of tourists interested in seeing how mankind brutally tortured each other throughout various generations. Wendy watched from a distance how so many people spent valuable time and money waiting in a huge line, just to take a cheesy picture of themselves wearing phony chains or 'almost' getting their heads cut off. If they only knew Wendy's situation was real...
Wendy sat back in her restraints, looking over the crowded room. Suddenly, Wendy felt something brushed past the bottoms of her bare feet. Wendy struggled to pull herself up. From the way that she was situated in the pillory, Wendy was unable to see past the wood paneling holding her in place nor directly below it. This was the 'unteempth' time that something just mysteriously made contact with her captive soles. The truly odd thing was that she noticed that the more she had these 'instances,' the more her tip jar increased.
"Thankfully," Wendy thought to herself, "My feet really aren't ticklish." But still, the feeling felt strange; she didn't like the idea that someone could mess with her, and she couldn't even see who or what did it. "Oh well," Wendy sighed to herself. "It could be a lot worse than getting my feet poked at; they could do it Puritan style and throw rotten eggs and fruit at me. Besides, no one's even laughed at me...yet."
A few moments, and despair set back in for Wendy. There was no clock in this room of the Mystery Shack, and with her arms tied, she wasn't able to see her wristwatch. Suddenly, a familiar voice called out to Wendy:
"Hey! Down here!"
Wendy twisted and turned her body to try to see over the stocks, but couldn't see her visitor. Wendy shouted blindly, "I can't see you! Come around to the side!"
Wendy looked to her left and right until she found a familiar face. On her right side, there stood one of her smallest friends, Mabel Pines. Mabel (along with her twin brother, Dipper) were the great niece/nephew of Stan. Despite being younger than her, the twins always seemed to bring a smile to Wendy's face. They were a great help around the Shack, and always seemed to be in the midst of some great adventure. With them around, Wendy's boredom around the Shack greatly disappeared. Wendy also adored how despite being loving and caring siblings, how each twin was completely different from one another.
Mabel had to be one of the silliest girls Wendy had ever come across, but, this was not an insult towards Mabel's character. As Mabel proclaimed herself, she had 'embraced the Silliness,' leading to an infinite amount of creativity, imagination, heart, hope, and whimsy. Wendy only wished that she could have had that kind of world perspective at age 12.
Dipper, however, was the complete opposite, and yet, Wendy had never met anyone in her life quite like Dipper. For a boy of only 12 years old, he was incredibly intelligent, brave, and loyal to a fault. When talking to Dipper, it was almost like talking to a small adult. Unlike any other boy she had ever known, Dipper was always cautious to Wendy's feelings, and never said anything hurtful or ignorant (unless accidentally by being nervous). For some reason that Wendy couldn't put her finger on, it always seemed like Dipper carried a terrible secret while in her presence. Many times, Wendy wondered to herself about what type of burden could such a sweet guy carry around?
Wendy turned her attention towards her pint-size visitor. Honestly, Wendy was super-embarrassed by her situation; she hadn't even thought of what would happen if the twins saw her like this. However, Wendy tried to play it cool.
"Hey, squirt. Howya doing?"
"WHOA!" Mabel exclaimed, looking and prodding at the structure holding Wendy captive. "What happened to you? Did you get caught stealing from the till or what?!"
Wendy giggled at Mabel's words, despite her current surroundings. "Nah," Wendy explained. She then began to tell Mabel the story of how she was tricked into the stocks for the event.
"WMOP!" Mabel cried out, blowing a raspberry. She excitedly threw her arms in the air in outrage, "THAT STINKS!" she continued. "Did you want me to try to break you out?" Mabel started to pull and tug on the wooden pillory, with it not even budging one inch.
"Easy, tiger!" Wendy attempted to calm the raging pre-teen. "I just gotta sit this one out in solitary, but maybe you can help out. Do you know what time it is?"
Mabel stretched out her arm, pulling back her dark pink sweater. "Hmmmm..." she mumbled. "Ahhh...2:30?"
Wendy groaned in frustration. "Oh, man! Three and a half more hours of this?!" She kicked her stocked feet so hard, she could hear the padlock on the side rattling. She whined to Mabel, "THIS. IS. SOOOOOOO. BORING!"
Mabel put her little hand up to her chin, and became deep in thought. After a few seconds, Mabel bounced up with energy.
"I GOT IT!"
Wendy looked curiously at Mabel, plotting away deviously.
Mabel came around the corner and whispered to Wendy.
"Do you want to see me freak Dipper out?"
Wendy bent down as much as her restraints would let her, and asked, "How are you going to do that?" At heart, even though she was bored out of her mind, the last person she wanted to tease (or even hurt) was Dipper. Wendy tried to stop Mabel,
"Maybe we shouldn't-"
"Oh, it'll be okay. It's not a big deal. He's just sitting upstairs reading like a big nerd."
With that, Mabel spun around and headed for the exit. Wendy, still stuck in place, called out to Mabel:
"MABEL, WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?"
Despite all the background noise of the other customers, Wendy perfectly heard the shouts of Mabel to her twin brother residing overhead:
"DIPPER, COME QUICK!
"IT'S WENDY, DIPPER, SHE'S IN TROUBLE!"
"THEY GOT HER, DIPPER! THEY'RE HOLDING HER PRISONER!
"YOU'VE GOT TO SAVE HER, DIPPER!"
"Ohhhhh noooooo!" Wendy thought to herself. It's not to say that it wasn't pretty funny, but this wasn't going to end well, especially for poor Dipper.
Sure enough, in less than a millisecond, Wendy heard the biggest and loudest "WWWHHHHHAATTTTTTT!" she had ever heard in her life. Shortly after came the pounding of little feet from upstairs, to the staircase, and shortly down the hall. Wendy heard Mabel again:
"THERE, DIPPER! SHE'S IN THERE!
Even though see couldn't see him, Wendy could hear Dipper rushing through the crowds, and crying out for her:
"WENDY?! I'M HERE! (excuse me)
"WHERE ARE YOU? (pardon me)
"WENDY?!" (please let me through)
"ARE YOU OKAY?" (out of my way!)
As the voice grew closer, Wendy could see the parting of the crowds, as if someone was pushing everyone out of the way.
Hoping to calm him down (while trying not to laugh) Wendy called out to him, "DIPPER! I'M OVER HERE!"
"WENDY! DON'T WORRY, I'M COMING!"
The voice came closer, and even though she couldn't see him, (as in Mabel's case) Wendy could easily make out the tip of his trademark blue and white cap.
"Dipper!" she exclaimed. "Right here, along the side of the display!"
She turned to her right to see the second half of the Pines twins, Dipper, frantically looking high and low for the source of his crush's voice. He looked up and part of him relaxed upon seeing her green eyes.
"Wendy!" he sighed in relief. "You're alright!" Standing on his tip-toes, he reached up and hugged Wendy. Though Wendy felt the warmth of the young boy's embrace, she felt like total garbage for finding even a bit of humor in the instance. She felt even worse when she realized she couldn't even comfort him or return his hug due to her bound hands.
She tried to calm him again, before he made a bigger scene, "Dipper..." This made the small pre-teen look up from Wendy's torso, and in horror, he analyzed her confinement. He started to become riled up again:
"WENDY! WHAT HAPPENED? WHO DID THIS TO YOU?"
Wendy tried again to comfort Dipper. Outlookers were beginning to stare.
"Dipper! Wait a sec-"
"IT'S OKAY, WENDY! I'LL SAVE YOU!"
"Dipper! Please listen!"
Dipper had disappeared from Wendy's view; only seconds later, she heard strained groans and grunts coming from the front of the stock display. Wendy felt someone try to pry open the wooden boards holding her feet...only to do so to no prevail.
She then heard something pounding on the padlock holding the stocks shut. Again, she heard angry grunts, followed by a small voice whispering, "Ow...ow...ow..." almost in rhythm with the metallic pounding. Wendy watched as the small blue hat tip bobbed up and down just outside her view.
Defeated, Dipper ran along the stocks and looked up at Wendy. "Don't worry, Wendy..." he explained. "I...I...I'll find a way to get you free. Maybe if I can find a crowbar or something to break this thing..."
"DIPPER!" Wendy interrupted. She had to stop this; behind him, people were starting to laugh and point. Maybe they thought it was some sort of performance piece or something like that.
"Dipper..." she ordered in a low, grim, but serious tone. "Look at me..." His strong brown eyes again met her dark green ones.
"You need to listen carefully. I am not in danger. I am not being held captive. I am in this 'thing' of my own free will. It was the only way your "Grunkle" would give me the day off on Friday. I promise; everything is all right."
Dipper, nodding along with every line she said, slowly began to realize what happened. His nervousness and excitement quickly turned to dread and regret as he turned around to see small groups of people snickering and making fun. Their taunts echoed in the back of his mind:
"Oh, how adorable!"
"What a dork!"
"Hey kid, at least your princess isn't in another castle! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Humiliated, Dipper turned back around to face Wendy. Her green eyes changed from dead serious to that of softer and more sympathetic.
After an awkward silence between the two, Dipper tried to stutter out some sort of response:
"Wendy...I'm sorry-
I...I don't understand-
Mabel said you were-
Everyone said that they didn't see you all day-
I was worried-
I thought that…oh, man..."
Dipper hung his head in shame, his cap covering his face. He had not only made a total fool out of himself, but she also managed to drag Wendy into it.
Wendy felt terrible. He REALLY did believe she was in trouble, and more so, leaped up in an instance's notice to 'save' her. Wendy thought of the action as sweet; after all, she just discovered she had her own personal 'little hero."
She broke the silence. "Dipper, I'm so sorry. It's just that, I was super, super bored. And then, Mabel came by, and she asked me if I wanted to do something fun, and-"
Dipper jumped in, "Wait, WHAT?! YOU were in on it?!
Wendy looked down in shame, "Yes...I mean not really...I mean, I told Mabel not to!"
At this point, Dipper felt a hard slap on his back. He turned around to see the bright-red, giggling face of his twin sister. Mabel acted like nothing had happened. "What's up, Broseph?" she greeted him.
Dipper returned an angry stare.
"What?!" Mabel exclaimed. "Don't be mad," she said, punching his shoulder gently. "You have to admit, it's kinda funny..."
She turned her attention to the bound redhead sitting next to her, "Right, Wendy?"
Wendy looked down, and slightly giggled, "Yeah, a little bit..."
Dipper sunk even lower. It was bad enough that he was laughed at by both the visitors and Mabel, but to have Wendy poke fun, too...
Still, Dipper decided to play it cool.
"Ok. Yeah, right. Funny! HAHA!"
He stepped up to face Wendy again.
"Sorry I overreacted, Wendy... Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"
Wendy felt her heart break. She had (accidentally) helped make a fool out of Dipper, and yet, here he was, humbled, and even willing to try to make attends for something that WASN'T even his fault. However, Wendy didn't want to upset the pre-teen even more, so she kept cool-headed:
"No worries, dork! Tell you what? How about you contribute to my tip jar over there?" Wendy used her head to motion towards the halfway filled glass jar sitting on the stand next to the pillory. Dipper and Mabel went out to the front of the stocks. The first time through, Dipper totally missed the dangling pair of milky white bare feet at the front of the display.
This kinda shocked Dipper, for every memory of Wendy had her donning her mud-covered pair of lumberjack boots. "Wow, Wendy." he exclaimed. "You really have some small feet. I guess the boots hide it well, huh?"
Wendy chuckled to herself, "Yeah, I guess so..." Never before had she so many people compliment her peds. It was kinda nice.
Dipper turned his attention to Wendy's tip jar, when he noticed the suggestion note attached to the base. Dipper had to re-read it just to make sure he wasn't imagining things.
"Uh, Wendy?" Dipper called to her. "Are you sure that you REALLY want me to contribute to the tip jar?"
"Huh?" Wendy seems confused by his question. "Of course, man! Don't hold back!"
Mabel, curious by these off-remarks, came over to Dipper's side and read the note under the jar as well. She recoiled afterwards.
"Oh, Dipper, no!" Mabel cried. "We had a truce over this, remember?"
"Wrong." Dipper corrected. "YOU and I had a truce. Besides, Wendy said she WANTS me to 'tip' her.
Mabel looked on in disappointment.
"Hey!" Dipper shouted. "You wanted to make Wendy laugh. Now, it's my turn!"
From the distance, Wendy really couldn't make out what the twins were whispering about. She watched as Dipper reached up and threw a dollar or two into her tip jar.
"Ohhhhhh!" Wendy thought to herself. "What a sweetheart!" She knew that Dipper didn't make a lot of cash around the Shack, so she truly appreciated even the smallest effort from him.
Suddenly, the twins disappeared in front of the stock, where Wendy couldn't see. The only thing that she could make out, once again, was the faint blue tip of Dipper's cap.
"Hey, guys?!" Wendy called out. "Where'd ya go?"
"We're still here, Wendy!" Dipper shouted back. "But, I have a really important question to ask you..."
"Yeah, Dipper?"
"Wendy...Are...You...TICKLISH?"
With that, Wendy suddenly felt the presence of 8 little digits exploring the bottoms of her bare feet. At first, Wendy jerked her feet back, only to be stopped by the wooden frame. The feeling was definitely strange, but at the same time, it didn't make her want to laugh or giggle, or even flex in response. She felt Dipper drag his fingers across both soles, beneath her arches, under the bases of all 8 of her toes, and against her heels. He even tried the lone birthmark on her left foot.
While still tickling the captive pair of feet, Dipper peeked his head along the side of the stocks, expecting to see Wendy giggling and smiling, Dipper was shocked to find only the complete opposite.
Wendy sat nonchalantly behind the pillory, her back against the wall (due to the restrictions of the handcuffs), with her green eyes lowered and a huge frown on her freckled face.
"Dude, REALLY?" Wendy called out. "Kinda weak revenge, there, Dipper!"
Dipper stopped and walked back to the side to see Wendy.
"What?! That didn't tickle at all?" Dipper quizzed her. "But, I gave you my A-game!"
Wendy laughed heartedly in defiance, wiggling her feet bound in the stock. "Sorry, kiddo. I'm made of tougher stuff. Thanks for the tip though..."
She continued to laugh, with Mabel shortly joining in.
Dipper was still flabbergasted. "But I...I mean...How...How did you..."
He stopped, lowered his head, and muttered. "This isn't over..."
He turned around and walked out the exit, the girls' laughter following behind him.
Wendy sighed and addressed Mabel, still standing by her side. "Oh, man! What was that about?"
"Well..." Mabel started to explain. "I know it seemed odd, but Dipper was just following the suggestion on your tip-pee thingie."
"Huh?" Wendy questioned. "What thingie?"
Mabel left Wendy's side and ran to the tip jar display. She came back carrying a banner. She held it in front of Wendy's face as she explained, "This was mounted beneath your tip jar..."
Wendy lowered her eyes to the banner displayed. It read:
"$1 TO TICKLE THE WENCH'S FEET!"
"Cute, Stan..." Wendy thought to herself. "Real cute."
This would explain the coincidence between the growth of her tip jar and the 'weird feelings' she felt on her bare feet. After all, Wendy couldn't see over the edge of the wooden frame, leaving her foot bottoms exposed without knowing who or what passed them.
Relieved, Wendy told Mabel, "Well, that explains a lot. That shows that Dipper wasn't being a complete weirdo; I guess that means we can still be friends."
"HA!" Mabel laughed at Wendy's sarcasm, and again, the girls shared a variety of laughs and snickers.
"Yeah, but then again, Dipper kinda takes it seriously..." Mabel leaned closer to the bound teenager, and whispered, "As little kids, Dipper kinda crafted himself to a master tickler. It actually became so bad that a few years ago, we had to call a truce. We can't even mention the "T" word in our house."
"Oh, really?" Wendy raised an eyebrow, giggling at the thought of Dipper having a dark side.
Mabel continued on, "Well, I don't mean to change the subject..." Mabel went back to the front of the stocks. Wendy watched the young girl disappear, only to be replaced by a high-pitched voice coming past the wooden frame.
"I noticed something about your feet..."
Wendy cut her off, "Oh, let me guess, I have been at this all day; super small, as white as silk?"
"Yeah," Mabel hesitated. "But actually, I noticed your nails..." Wendy could feel Mabel fidgeting with her big toes, examining them. "When was the last time you had a GREAT pedicure?"
Wendy rolled her eyes and began to think. After a second or two, she responded, "Ummmm...I couldn't tell ya, kid. You see, this is probably the longest I have been barefoot in a very long time..."
Mabel felt that Wendy was leaving something out from her story, but decided to ignore her inquiries.
"Well," Mabel started again, "While you're waiting out the clock here, I can give you the world's best pedicure!" Mabel bounced back to meet Wendy face-to-face. "I even have the perfect plaid toenail polish, just for you!" Mabel's eyes beamed as she went into further detail. "It would match your flannels perfectly!"
Once more, Wendy felt incredibly odd about someone going over one of her least favorite features, but then again, how could she say no to the bright-eyed, little pie face glaring up at her?
"You know what; that's actually sound great!" "Besides," Wendy explained, demonstrating her restrained limbs, "even if I wanted to, I really couldn't stop you from doing so, so what the hey?"
Mabel let out a loud, excited squeal! She started to walk away, shouting, "Don't worry, Wendy! I'll be back in a while! I have to get my crafts!"
Wendy shouted after her, "Just be careful!" Mabel quickly disappeared from view.
Wendy slumped back in her seat, sighing to herself. "Those are two great kids; CRAZY, but great.
Little did anyone realize that in the background, an old enemy was waiting for his time to strike. He spent his day observing the events that recently took place, and licked his lips as he plotted to use Wendy's situation to his advantage...
