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			DAMSELS UNDER GLASS: THE SERIES
			A Bug's Tale (Charlie's Story) ———————————————— by Van & Courier  ©2000
			Chapter 2

ANASAZI SITE 'BC-131,' THE CHUSKA MOUNTAINS,
NEAR THE NEW MEXICO–ARIZONA BORDER, USA

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Charlie lay back against the gentle slope of the warm, smooth, sandstone boulder.  The mid-afternoon sun felt gloriously good on her wet, naked skin, especially after the chill of the mountain-fed waterfall and the pool at its base.  Charlie had never really cared for the desert, but this little valley was beautiful.  Cottonwoods and conifers, birds flitting and chirping through the trees, along the cliffs, and across the water of the clear pool and stream (a stream that dwindled to nothing, disappearing under the sand by the time it reached the beginning of the slot at the far end of the pocket valley); red-gold sandstone towering on all sides... yes... it was beautiful.  Charlie closed her eyes... and listened to the music of the falling water... and dozed in the sun.

Suddenly, a shadow flashed across Charlie's closed eyelids and something big landed in the water, splashing Charlie and her rocky perch.  Charlie sputtered indignantly and frowned at Teri, who was just breaking the churning surface of the pool.

"Gotcha!" Teri laughed, then climbed out of the water and lay on the boulder next to Charlie.  Like Charlie, she was completely nude.

"You're always being mean to me," Charlie accused with a theatrical pout.

"Ha!" Teri responded.  "Don't be such a baby, Little Bit.  Name one time I've ever been really mean to you."

Charlie smiled.  This was exactly the sort of opening she'd been hoping for.  "Easy!" she said with a dimpled grin.  "My cruel and unusual twentieth birthday party!  Huh?"

Teri laughed.  "We did get a little carried away," Teri admitted.

Charlie gasped in mock outrage.  "You tie me over the lounge couch with my butt in the air, gag me, invite the entire freakin' dorm in to eat my cake... which I only got one lousy little piece of, by the way... and do nothing when the third floor starts giving me a birthday spanking... and now you call it 'a little carried away'?"

"Hey," Teri protested, "I wasn't even in the room when the paddling started."

"But you were there to take your turn," Charlie accused.  "In any case, there's no way you could tie me up now."

"Why not?" Teri asked with a grin.

"I know a lot more about knots now," Charlie said confidently.  "I can get out of anything you'd try to put me in.  I wrote a highly regarded paper on knot theory last year, ya know."

"There's a big difference between topology and real knots," Teri said, "and I've had a few additional years of experience with rope and lashing doing field work."

Charlie grinned.  Time to close the trap, she mused.  "Well," Charlie said, "if you're going to tie me up—"

"I never said—" Teri interrupted.

"If you're going to tie me up," Charlie continued, "I have to get something out of it."

"Like what?" Teri said cautiously, turning her dripping body towards Charlie and leaning on one elbow.  "If... hypothetically... I were to tie you up... What would you... hypothetically... want?"

"Like if... hypothetically... I get free, I get to tie you up," Charlie announced.

"Tie me up?" Teri laughed.  "In the first place, you wouldn't get free, and in the second place, I'm not going to let you—"

"Chicken!" Charlie accused, grinning at her friend.

"I am not—"

"Bwock, bwock, bwock..." Charlie teased.

"Charlie," Teri said with a menacing grin.

"Bwock, bwock, bwock, bwock..." Charlie continued, bobbing her head and pointing her chin.

"You're going to regret this, Little Bit," Teri said, grinning and shaking her head.  "Go get dressed and bring me some rope... soon to be helpless slave girl!"

"But my clothes aren't dry yet," Charlie objected, pointing towards both their complete, freshly field laundered costumes, carefully arranged on various rocks and boulders and like their owners, baking in the sun.

Teri gave her friend a feral smile.  "Oh, a feeble excuse...  Then, just get the rope."

"Just the rope?" Charlie whispered, swallowing and giving her friend a nervous smile.

"Now who's the chicken?" Teri asked with a self satisfied grin.

"Well, I..." Charlie began.

"Bwock, bwock, bwock..." Teri parroted her friend's earlier teasing.

With great dignity, Charlie rose from the rock, shook out her short, wet hair, combed through it with her fingers, and sauntered towards the trail leading up to the camp.  "Don't go anywhere," she called back over one bare, white shoulder.

"I'll be here," Teri laughed, then closed her eyes and lay back, continuing her sunbath (and completely missing Charlie's smug, triumphant, dimpled grin).

"You chose the tree," Teri said with a mocking smile.  "You aren't backing out already, are you?"

"And give you something to hold over my head 'til we're both white-haired and wearing purple?" Charlie responded.  "It's not the tree I'm complaining about, it's the pine cones."  The tree in question was a young conifer of some sort, about fifteen feet in height, clear of branches to a height of seven.  The cones in question were ferociously prickly, but easily cleared.

"I've kicked them all away, and all the twigs, and all the pebbles I could find," Teri chuckled. "Now... you want to do this or not?"

Charlie approached the tree gingerly and shoveled some of the sand at its base into a low pile with one foot.  She then knelt gracefully, settled her bare rump onto the sand, and placed her bare back against the trunk.  It was a little rough, but not too bad.  From this small, shaded grove on the raised bank above the stream, Charlie had a pleasant view of the waterfall, pool, and the Expedition's laundry.  She placed her hands behind the tree, looked up at Teri, and smiled sweetly.  "Is this good enough, evil captor?"

Teri gazed down at her petite friend, lips pursed in concentration.  "Hmm... It'll do I guess."  She grabbed a coil of rope and knelt behind the tree.

Charlie felt her wrists being lifted and crossed.  The rope was thin, braided nylon, more thick cord than rope, but it was relatively soft and Charlie knew it would hold a knot well.  (With a sly grin, she closed her hands into fists, tensing her wrists.)  Teri set to work.  Charlie felt a doubled coil pass around her wrists, then another, and another.  "If you want," she offered helpfully, "you can make that tighter–urk!"

Teri had given the coils a strong tug, pulling out most of the slack.  "Did you say something?" she asked pleasantly.

"Never mind," Charlie answered.  Now she could feel the doubled rope being looped crosswise to the previous coils, passing around her wrists and between her arms.  These coils too were pulled tight, and Charlie felt the ends being tucked under the other rope, crossed, and double knotted.

"That'll hold you, Little Bit," Teri said, then strolled to the front of the tree and smiled down at her now helpless friend.  "I think you need a lesson in humility," she said with a gloating smile, then knelt down and began sorting the remaining coils of rope Charlie had brought from the camp.

Charlie took the occasion to surreptitiously inspect the ropes binding her wrists.  Her groping fingers could reach several of the tight coils, and they could just touch both stubby free ends of rope trailing from the knot.  Piece o'cake, she mused.  Half an hour... forty-five minutes tops .  "What are you going to do now, cruel villainess?" she asked with exaggerated innocence.

Teri knelt at Charlie's feet, grasped her prisoner's ankles and crossed one over the other.  She then doubled a length of rope and began binding them together.  "I'm going to tie you like you've never been tied before," Teri gloated.

Loose and badly? Charlie mused, trying not to smirk.  "So," Charlie said, "you have a lot of experience tying people up, do you?  Is there some secret you've been hiding from me all these years?"

"No," Teri admitted with a chuckle, "but I do have a lot of experience lashing loads to burros."  She finished binding Charlie's ankles and reached for the longest remaining coil of rope.

Burros don't have opposable thumbs, Einstein, Charlie mused.  She twisted her arms and squirmed (for effect).  "Ow!" she complained.

"What?" Teri asked.  "It's not that tight."

"Pine cone!" Charlie said with a wince.  "You missed one," she accused.

"Where?" Teri asked skeptically.

Charlie planted one foot and awkwardly lifted her rump off the sand.  "Under here, obviously."

Teri knelt next to her captive and felt for the offending object.  "I don't feel any..."

"Hurry up, will'ya?" Charlie interrupted.  "I can't hold this pose all day."

"Here it is," Teri announced, and held up a tiny fragment of cone for Charlie's inspection.  "Here's your monster cone, Princess," she teased.

"I've got a tender tushie," Charlie said with a wounded pout, settling the anatomy in question back down onto the warm sand.

Teri busied herself by tying a small slip knot in one end of the rope.  "I know all about your 'tender tushie,'" she giggled.  "I've paddled it, remember?"

"Oh, hearty har har," Charlie retorted.

Smiling, Teri passed the rope around Charlie and the tree, threaded the far end through the slip knot, and pulled in the several feet of slack.  She then held the rope above Charlie's breasts with one hand, and pulled the loop tight with the other, snugging Charlie to the tree.  She gathered the rope, and began walking around the tree, passing loop after tight loop around Charlie and the trunk.  With careful placement, taut rope soon encircled the diminutive prisoner above, below, and crossing between her breasts.  More rope cinched her tummy and pulled her lower spine back against the bark.

"Those burros must really love you," Charlie groused.

Teri laughed.  "They never complain... much.  Certainly less than you.  This is hardly a diamond hitch.  Now that would be tight, Little Bit."  She tied off the rope somewhere behind the tree, then threaded the remaining free end between Charlie's ankle bonds... smiled... and pulled.

"Hey!" Charlie protested as her ankles were pulled back towards the tree.  Charlie bent her knees, and Teri pulled again.  "Double hey!" Charlie added.

Teri tied off the rope and stood back.  "All helpless?" she gloated.  "Poooor Little Bit."

Charlie squirmed in her bonds.  "Just you wait 'til I get free," she threatened with a coy smile.

"Oh, don't start escaping yet," Teri said, smiled, and walked away towards the stream.  Halfway there, she looked back over her shoulder.  "Don't go anywhere," she said coyly.

Charlie grinned.  This is gonna be great, she mused.  She watched as Teri inspected her clothes.  Apparently satisfied with their dryness, she began dressing.  Panties and tank top donned, Teri tugged up her shorts and zipped them.  She then sat on a rock, pulled on a pair of socks, and laced on her hiking boots.  Finally, she retrieved her bandana, folded it narrowly, and tied it around her neck.  "Your stuff's dry too, Little Bit," she shouted.  "You want me to leave it here or take it back to camp?"

"Just leave it," Charlie shouted back.  "I'm gonna need it soon."

Teri smiled and started back to the tree.  "We never did discuss exactly how long I was supposed to wait for you to admit defeat, did we?" she called.

Charlie waited until Teri was standing before her before answering.  "How long?" she asked in a worried whisper.

"Don't worry, Little Bit," Teri said with a chuckle.  "I'm not totally evil, you know.  I'll leave you to meditate on the differences between theoretical and applied topology while I prepare the evening meal.  We can discuss your future after we eat."

"You're really enjoying yourself, aren't you?" Charlie demanded with a pout.

Her mouth curled in a feral smirk, Teri untied her bandana, leaned down, and tied it over Charlie's mouth.  "No more questions, Little Bit," Teri gloated.

"Iz dhere zome point t' dhiz?" Charlie mumbled from behind her supposed gag.

Teri furrowed her brow.  She had assumed the gag she'd seen on innumerable vid shows would have been more effective.  Well, necessity was the mother of invention. She reached for the free ends of the bandana.

Charlie continued her semi-muffled soliloquy. "Dhiz' iz really th' zorriest excuze fur a–m'mmpfh!"

Teri had jerked the bandana taut, pulling it between Charlie's teeth in a tight cleave.  "No... more... questions!" she admonished, kissed the tip of Charlie's button nose, waved, and sauntered towards the camp.

As soon as she was alone, Charlie set to work, grinning happily behind her gag. 

Teri couldn't stop grinning.  She hadn't realized how much she missed her Undergrad days with Charlie... with Little Bit... their long talks, the way Charlie used to make physics actually make sense, her sense of humor, especially her sense of humor.  Tying her up like this was a real goof, just like old times.

She hadn't decided exactly how she was going to handle things.  Probably she'd prepare the evening meal as promised, carefully cart it all down to "The Charlie Tree" (as Teri had begun to think of it), and have a picnic.  Yes, that's it! Teri thought.  I'll leave her tied exactly as she is now and spoon feed her, she mused, then I'll gag her again and pretend I'm going to leave her all night!  A thrill coursed up Teri's spine.  It's fun being a villainess, she decided. Then I'll come back with some coffee at sunset, and let her go.

Teri glanced at her watch.  It was fifty minutes since she had left Charlie lashed to her tree.  The rehydrated lamb stew, carrots and peas, and pan biscuits should just about be ready.  Sun tea had been steeped earlier and was chilling in the stream.  Teri knelt down, closed the valve to the fuel canister attached to her backpacking stove, hooked the wire bail of the stew pot with a notched stick, and—

"What's for supper?"

Teri jumped, nearly upsetting the pot.  She looked over her right shoulder—and found Charlie grinning down at her— fully clothed, very smug, very much not bound and gagged—Charlie!  "What?  How?"

"Lamb stew," Charlie said peering at the empty pouches next to the stove.  "I haven't had this one before.  Is it any good?"

Teri blinked and tried again.  "How did you—?"

"I think we'll eat first," Charlie interrupted imperiously, then picked up a plate and handed it to Teri.

Teri was still rattled.  "How...? Eat first?"

"Eat first, then I tie you to the tree, of course," Charlie purred.  "I don't suppose we have any mint, do we?"

"Tie me to the tree?" Teri whispered.

"'Cause a little fresh mint sprinkled on the stew would probably be really good." Charlie continued.  "I wonder if anything like mint grows around here.  I don't know much about edible native plants.  You probably do, being such an expert in fieldwork and ropes and burros and all, right?"

"Tie me to the—?"

"Teri," Charlie said with a feral smile, "get a grip, serve the damn stew, and let's eat."

Teri gingerly removed the lid of the pot, and began spooning steaming, brown stew onto the plate.  "Uh, okay, so you, uh, won the bet," Teri said with forced nonchalance.  "Do you really, um, want to—"

"Yes," Charlie said with a gloating smile.  "I really want to."

Teri mechanically added some peas and carrots and a biscuit, and handed the plate to her grinning friend.  "You really expect me to let you—"

"You've never welched on a bet in your life," Charlie said smugly, "have you?"

Teri sighed, and sat cross legged on the ground.  "No... I don't suppose I have."  She sighed again, then grinned.  "And no... there's nothing like mint that grows around here."

Charlie's grin widened.  "Pity," she said.