An 'X'mas Carol Part Two, Chapter 11
By Jaech Reiter
[email protected]

Copyright 2011 by Jaech Reiter, all rights reserved

A Christmas and New Year's Eve Story Challenge Entry

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This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY. It contains explicit depictions of sexual activity involving minors. If you are not of a legal age in your locality to view such material or if such material does not appeal to you, do not read further, and do not save this story.
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Part Two, Chapter 11

Ben cringed.

He had been walking into the Carnival proper, completely naked, of course, with his Minder, Sam Marley, when he heard his name called. The first classmates from his school had found him, and it was boys in his own grade. Worse, it would have to be Greg Stokes, Shawn Rose, and a few of their other goon friends.

"First it was your boyfriend, Jacob, and now you ......Fuck!" Greg exclaimed, as he was just noticing the major difference between the boys, not that he had been specifically looking, but who could fail to notice? "Dude, you got no balls!"

"Yes, I do!!" Ben shot back angrily.

"Hey!" Sam cut in, "Watch how you address others when you are in this program."

"But, Sam, Greg is---"

"Ben ..." Sam started in a warning tone.

Sam could tell that these boys were the type he would most definitely not like, but there were rules, and Ben had better learn to follow them.

"Yes, sir," Ben said meekly to Sam, as Greg, Shawn and the others hooted out laughing, and they practically hit the ground laughing when Ben turned to them and said, "I am very sorry ....sirs ... for not speaking politely and answering your observation politely. I do have balls. They're just ....... smaller ..... than they used to be."

The boys just laughed even harder.

"Smaller? Than they used to be?? You mean smaller than your boyfriend's nuts that you're so used to playing with?"

"Jacob is not my boyfriend, sir," Ben said, trying his absolute hardest to maintain an even and, or at least, non-disrespectful voice, "and I do not play with his balls."

"Whatever, dude. You definitely don't have any of your own to play with. Hey little dude, whatever your name is, do you know Jacob Marley?"

"That's my brother, and my name is Sam. And I'm only a grade below you."

"Your brother?? No fuckin way!! OK, whatever, Sammy, don't get bitchy. Hey, you think you can get your brother and his boyfriend here together, maybe make'em play with each other?"

Ben shivered with revulsion at the thought, even though he knew that wouldn't happen.

"I can't do that," Sam told the older eighth graders. He was already wanting to get away from them. It may have been embarrassing Ben, but Sam neither liked nor felt safe around these boys. "For one thing, my brother is not naked anymore. And for another, he was a Level Zero and Ben is a L1aO, which means you can't make either one play with anyone, especially not each other. You should probably read the rules, so you don't get in trouble with them."

"Yeah, whatever, sure." Greg said dismissively, "Can we at least tear into this one's ass with a paddle, like we did your little girl brother?"

Ben shivered, worried that Sam would actually say yes, and feeling so guilty that he had ever let these boys spank Jacob. But Sam wanted away from these boys.

"No, you can't spank him," Sam said, already pulling Ben away, "but you can come and watch him get spanked around 6 tonight at the Fisher Industries pavilion."

"Yeah, we'll be there. Gonna love hearing you scream like a little girl, Scruggs!" Greg Stokes called after them.

"Yeah, you're gonna be cryin' like a baby," Shawn Rose yelled, and a few of the other boys with them added their own derision, as Sam and Ben walked away.

"I don't like them," was all Sam commented, even though he really didn't know the boys. Ben certainly had no arguments to that. He knew the boys.

"Sam! Can we see your friend??" A girl of about 9 or10 called out to the boy.

"It's Samantha Ewing. She goes to my school, but she's a couple of grades below me."

"She's in fourth grade??" Ben was thinking, 'Wasn't this just way too young?'

But it wasn't as though he had any choice in the matter.

"Yeah," Sam said, "and so are some of her friends, though I think a couple are in third grade."

'This is sooo embarrassing,' Ben thought, as he was pulled over to the girls; but then what today hadn't been soooooooo embarrassing?

Sam made the introductions to the girls who were all giggling throughout the formalities. They were, however, surprised to hear that Ben was actually the same age as Sam's older brother.

"But he's sooo much SMALLER than your brother!" Samantha observed.

Ben blushed. Of course.

"Are you bigger than him down there, Sam?" Another girl from his private school asked.

"Yeah, can we see??" A third asked.

Now it was Sam's turn to blush.

"Yeah, I'm a lot bigger down there," he mumbled, but then said more clearly, "but no, you can't see."

"Aaawwww!!!" The collective disappointment was followed by giggles and then Samantha asked if they could take Ben on the teacup ride.

"Sure, go ahead," Sam said, and Ben was dragged off by the 6 girls to the teacups. He got into one oversized teacup with three girls, while three other girls got into another; and the ride started off. It was a basic multiple spin ride where the whole platform spun one way while the teacup platforms spun another way and moved on a figured eight track. Meanwhile, inside the teacup you could spin the cup itself another way by everyone pulling on a wheel in the center. Two of the three girls in Ben's cup were doing just that, while he was desperately trying to turn it the opposite way to keep it from spinning even more. His need to vomit was rising quickly.

He was distracted, however, by the third grade girl sitting next to him who had reached into his lap and grasped a hold of his dick, which quickly erected, almost encouraging her tacitly to play with it. It was the first time anyone else had ever touched his dick, and the feeling was completely electric and totally debilitating. Thank goodness he had used up his accumulated semen for the meantime, because it wasn't long before he was panting and yelling through another orgasm, albeit one that seemed to charge every fiber of his being.

Not that anyone noticed amidst the whirl and playful screams of all the other kids on the ride. While the little girl hopped off the ride all smiles at her adventure, Ben could barely pull himself off, wobbly and woozy, nauseous and hardly semi-conscious after the shock of another kid bringing him to orgasm. The three girls in the other teacup felt it was only fair that they also get a turn in the cups with the boy, so they pulled Ben into line again and into another cup. Ben missed seeing that the third grader who had groped him gave an excited whisper into the ear of one of her friends. This girl, another third grader, was now in the second teacup with Ben.

As soon as the teacups started spinning, Ben felt the hand of the other little girl reach over into his lap and begin exploring. At first she just held the 2 ½ inch erection in her warm hand, but soon she was pulling on his dick, rubbing the head, and pulling the skin at the front, right below the head, until he could take it no more and arched back and thrust forward erupting into another dry, albeit mind-altering, orgasm, right there amidst the other unsuspecting girls.

This time, when coming off the teacups, Ben stumbled several times, hardly able to get his feet beneath him, and not just because of the nausea and dizziness, but the extreme post-orgasmic numbing of his mind and body. He had never, ever, had an orgasm that exquisitely intense. Holy shit.

Then the girls began pulling him into line again, and he could hardly fathom what might happen to him next. He grasped the shirt of a smiling and largely unsympathetic Sam as they pulled him gleefully past and begged if he could ask Sam something in private.

Sam sighed and relented.

"Please, Sam, all that cum I swallowed, all that stuff's still in my stomach, and I'm about to throw it up. If I go on another ride I'll throw it up; and I know what you said I would have to do if I did. Please Sam, I don't want to eat any more boys' jizz; please Sam don't make me do that."

The boy was so pitiful and wretched that Sam had mercy on him. "Would the Ferris Wheel make you vomit?"

"I don't think so," Ben said, even as he was swallowing back down the continuing urge to expunge himself of his afternoon's lunch.

Fortunately the line for the Ferris Wheel was long enough that the nausea had descended to manageable levels by the time he sandwiched himself between two giggling fourth graders in one of the Ferris Wheel gondolas. At least these girls didn't touch him, but probably because they weren't on their own.

After riding the Ferris Wheel twice, and giving each of the four fourth grade girls some sort of private experience with Ben, Sam pulled him away and headed back toward the Carnival administration tent to get him checked in.

"Yes!!" They heard an excited, almost victorious, girl's voice off to the side. They looked and saw Janet Teller, one hand on her hip, snapping that neck while she looked upon the naked boy one grade up with absolute superiority. "I knew you should be in trouble just like that pathetic friend of yours!"

She stressed the word 'knew' with such self-righteousness that Ben barely stopped himself from making a fist. She had also somehow managed a separate inflection of self-importance with the word 'I'.

"It's Janet Teller," Ben whispered to Sam, "She rides the bus with me and Jacob, except she gets on a stop before us."

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be like ....bigger ....down there?" Janet loudly called out, obviously not concerned with who heard her among the many smiling and laughing passers-by. "Arent even babies bigger than that?"

The girls who were with Janet began laughing even harder, except you could tell it was forced laughter, just for the show of being able to laugh at a measly little boy; but then, even Sam grinned big on that comment.

"I know what you're thinking, Sam," Ben said quietly to his Minder, "and she really would be almost as bad as what it was to be in front of Belle today, if you wanted me to really suffer; but be careful, because she'll try and get you in trouble, too. And she's really mean."

"You're just saying that."

"No, sir. I'm not."

Sam did think about it briefly, giving Ben over to this girl and her cohorts, just to let them have some fun. But he was getting a warning vibe all on his own as well --- a warning vibe that was soon confirmed.

"I bet you're Jacob Marley's little brother," she said with a sneer to the younger Sam, "You look like a Marley."

Sam was taken back a bit. She did it again, managed to say the word 'you' and the word 'look' with two separate and totally different, disgusted, superior inflections, all while making the sentence as a whole separately insulting.

Damn, she was a bitch.

"I think you should be naked, too. I bet you're just like your brother. I bet if we told your mom or the Carnival people how you acted toward us, we could get you naked, too."

The other three girls seconded that. Who knew Janet the Bitch could get friends to rival her in that aspect?

"I didn't treat you like anything."

"Maybe that's not how we see it. It's four us against you. So we want to see what you look like next to Ben."

Ben expected either a retort out of Sam, or at least to be pulled away, like he took them away from the other boys. Instead, the boy looked unsure. Maybe those girls really could get him in trouble. Sam looked left and right and saw that no one else was watching, then, looking off to the side just a bit, took a medium breath and began undoing his pants, before pulling his shirt up out of the way and pushing pants and briefs down to reveal his sparse pubic hairs and rapidly filling dick, rising up away from the low-hanging balls for his age.

At least a couple of the girls were awed when they saw it, and all but Janet pointed at poor Ben's crotch and began laughing. Janet just sniffed in disdain, though who knows whether from disappointment that it wasn't either bigger or smaller or just from the lack of an opportunity to get Sam in trouble. Although ......... he had just exposed himself to them. Four 'defenseless' and 'impressionable' girls.

An evil smile began to grow across Janet's face.

"Come on, Sam, let's go," This time it was Ben who pulled Sam away, even as the boy was putting himself away and fastening his pants.

"I'm not done with you yet, Ben Scruggs. Or you either Sam Marley! Get back here!!" Janet called angrily. How dare those insects just leave like that. She had plans.

But Ben ignored her and ignored Sam's efforts to pull himself away.

"Did you hear me?" She called out even louder. "You better get back here! I'm going to tell!!"

"What the hell did you do that for?" Ben asked the younger boy, forgetting for a moment that Sam was supposed to be his Minder.

"I just thought it would make them leave me alone."

"No, it won't, Sam. I told you what she was; she's a bi---" Fortunately Ben caught himself before he said anything. "Look, just stay away from her. She's trouble."

Sam nodded, but then looked around. "I don't really think you're supposed to be talking to me like that."

It wasn't said mean, though.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry ....sir. It, uh ...." Damn, why was this so hard?

Because it wasn't natural. It just wasn't natural to abase himself like this to a kid younger than him. A kid just over two years younger. A kid just over two years younger whose dick and balls were almost twice the size of his own puny and pitiful examples of boyhood. That last thought, and the fact that he had seen the proof of it yet once more just a couple minutes ago gave Ben the shivers. "It won't happen again."

Sam just nodded and looked around. "I should get you checked in proper, though. Come on. And, um, ..... thanks, Ben."

"Sure, Sam."

Was this an awkward truce? A moment where each finally came to accept the other as an equal? Neither boy knew, and they walked on in silence toward the administration tent.

"Scruggs, maybe you and Jacob should've went into a beauty contest together!"

The two quiet boys heard the other boy's voice behind them, and the companionable laugh of yet another boy, and Ben cringed. This was another moment he had been dreading. He turned around, and even started to cover up, except he heard a soft 'no' from Sam warning him, and he left himself uncovered as he faced three of his closest friends. Jack and Tom just started dying out laughing as soon as they saw his naked genitals, and the other, Noah Claypoole had to pull his shocked eyes away from the unexpected smallness of it all and tried to pretend he hadn't seen and just looked Ben in the eyes. Except that Noah was so flustered he couldn't go on.

"Ben, dude, I thought you said you actually had a dick!" Jack Dawkins said between laughs. Tom Chilting had tried to take a drink from his soda, in between laughs, except it all came out his nose when Jack threw this comment out.

Sam was smiling, but at least he gave the mortified Ben a shrug as if to say, well, what can you do? Noah tried to do the same, but much more awkwardly. He wasn't even sure if a little kid was this little. Jacob certainly wasn't, and hadn't Ben always bragged about his dick size? And why the hell were his nuts so small? He remembered his doctor telling him two years ago that the nuts were the first things to grow. Noah tried to smooth over this abrupt and uncertain impasse.

"Uh ..... you know ....it's no big thing," Noah said, vaguely indicating Ben's crotch, before realizing exactly what he had said. Bad choice of words. Jack started laughing all over again, and Tom again sprayed soda out of his nose. "Oh ....uh ..... that's not really what I meant to say ....."

But Sam had started laughing as well, and even Ben smiled. A little. He was red as a firecracker, and he hated himself somewhat for smiling, but it was funny on some level, and it did relieve tensions a bit. Besides, these were his best friends; they didn't mean anything mean.

His friends kidded him mercilessly, as only friends can, for a few more minutes before getting down to more serious matters.

"Well, you know we took it as a serious matter of our friendship to make sure Jacob really remembered his time as a Nudie, so it's only fair that we do the same for you, Ben." Tom said. He looked like he was enjoying this way, way too much.

"Oh no," something inside Ben was telling him 'Be afraid, be very afraid.' The most tortuous ideas often come from friends just having fun. "No. No....Sam?"

"Sounds cool!" Sam said with a broad smile. After all, this was the best of both worlds. Ben gets more punishment and humiliation, except without any guilt attached for Sam. After all, it was all coming from friends, right?

The boys dragged Ben over to the Dunking Booth first, where Tom and Jack loudly proclaimed for one and all to give a bath to the 'little' pervert that showed up to the Carnival naked. They kept up disparaging fun comments throughout and loudly cheered every kid, especially the younger ones, who dunked the boy. Worst of was when they found two of Ben's teachers (only one of whom was able to dunk him, though both were given loud cheers) and Mrs. Wakeford, Palm Drive Middle School's principal.

Principal Wakeford had an arm!! She dunked poor, wet Ben on the first throw. But she was finished.

"Bring the little fellow back up," she said loudly with a dazzling smile. "I want another go at him."

Again, first throw and he was back in the tank.

"Too bad we don't have any lobsters to drop in the tank, you know, to chomp at his boy bits," Mrs. Wakeford said good-naturedly at the horrified boy who was toweling himself dry. Don't give his friends any ideas, please.

"Nahh," Tom said, "Wouldn't work Mrs. Wakeford, nothing for them to chomp at."

Mrs. Wakeford laughed, as did everyone around them. Ben just turned red, which in itself was an amazing feat, given how cold the water had been.

"All in good fun, right Ben?" Tom said casually before tugging the boy away, "And after all, we cant have you getting into this kind of trouble again. Looks bad for the rest of us."

"So naturally we have to be hard on you." Noah said, again causing his other two friends to laugh. Damn, wrong choice of words again.

"Well, technically," Jack said impishly, "If you do get in trouble again, then we might get to be HARD on you."

The boys all cracked up and pulled Ben over to the exhaust of one of the jumping inflatables, allowing the boy to dry off and warm up.

"Seriously, Ben," Tom Chilting said, "We do have to make sure you remember this well enough to never get in trouble again."

Liar. Tom was just having too much fun doing this to his best friend.

"I think, sir, that I've had plenty already today to help me never forget this."

"Nnnnaaaahhhh," All three of his friends said at once.

"I think you still need a few more memories," Jack Dawkins said with a smile.

"Definitely!" Noah Claypoole added.

While they were standing there talking, some of the littler kids in the inflatable Moon Walk 'ride' were calling for the little naked boy to come and bounce. So Ben's three friends sent him, where, in as little as five minutes he went through nearly 5 dozen 'accidental' collisions, pile-ups and brushes with exploratory hands and bodies, although his body was the only one naked. Where were all the other naked kids? How come they weren't out being tortured?

His friends eventually called him to come out and then drug him over to the shooting gallery and armed some of the smaller kids with three rubber bands each, the shooting gallery caller agreeing to give out awards to whoever could get the most points – one point each for the dick and either ball, and an extra two if you hit each one. Prizes went out for 25, 15, and 10 points. Ben could barely walk to the next 'fun' station after no less than four boys and one girl were able to claim prizes (with one boy getting two trifectas). A dozen other kids had gotten at least two hits on his sore dick and/or agonized balls.

The worst part (well, actually the worst part was the stinging and now aching pain in his nuts and already jerked-sore dick), once the acute pain subsided, was knowing his closest friends had planned this. They had deliberately brought the rubber bands with them. And they didn't skimp on them either; these were heavy duty, new rubber bands.

Next was a ring toss, which required that Ben jerk his tender dick hard once more and lay back, pushing against the base of his dick to keep it vertical, while kids tried to toss rings around it. Among those eager kids Ben that watched approach was his little brother Tim, who had walked up with his closest friend Caleb. Caleb had stayed eager when he saw it was Ben acting as the goal pole, but Tim blushed and quickly walked away. Caleb shrugged and retreated with his friend.

(Caleb, and his older brother Randy, who Caleb and Tim had spied on before through a bathroom keyhole, lived in the next neighborhood over from the Scruggs, but went to a separate elementary and middle school system, although one that fed the same high school as Ben's did)

It was during this activity that Judge Krum walked up.

"Sam, I see that you are taking your duties responsibly."

"Oh, Judge Krum ....Sorry, I never got him over to the Administration tent!"

Sam was now worried, except the Judge waved it off with a smile and told the boy that as far as she was concerned, this qualified as working for the Carnival, and she would smooth things over with the main office that had been expecting him. Indeed, Ben had become quite the moneymaker for the Carnival. Sam then introduced the Judge to Ben's three friends, Noah, Jack, and Tom.

"Hey, Judge," Noah said, "We need a good prize for Ben for whoever gets the most. Something to do with him and not just the Carnival prizes."

"Why would we give Ben a prize?" Tom asked. He could be a bit dim-witted.

Jack smacked the back of Tom's head. "Not FOR Ben, numbnuts. He means make Ben do something for whoever gets the most points over so many minutes or so many throws."

"What could Ben do, though?" Tom asked.

Noah and Jack looked at the boy like he was retarded. Fortunately, Tom's slowness caused a smile in the Judge and increased her playful willingness to oblige the boys.

"I think I can expand on his sentence to include reasonable prizes as part of his service requirement."

"Something good, though, Judge," Noah said, "considering how small the target is."

Wow, Sam thought. Friends can be cruel. He was glad none of his friends had this Frat/Haze mentality in dispensing lack of mercy. And so it was that three kids tied for the top prize: two hours of personal servant time from Ben Scruggs – AFTER his current offender status subsided.

"So what can we make him do," asked an eight year old boy who was tied with a 13 year old boy for First Place.

"Anything that he had to do as an offender is fair." The judge told him. "Or just make him do some chores at your house. Though if you wanted to donate that to your school, I would double the time."

About that time a 12 year old boy with straight brown hair, leaving barely an inch to an inch and a half of hairline visible, and younger Bieber-like face, got the last of his rings over Ben's 2 ½ inch dick and scored the same 35 points as the other two winners.

"Yes!!" The boy exclaimed, as he gave a high-five to his friend next to him.

Ben was starting to hope for Janet 'Tattle-Tell' Teller over his own friends as to who should get to control him at the Carnival. And it didn't stop after the ring toss.

After that, they took him (and Sam) over to a pin-the-tale on the donkey booth for 5 and 6 year olds (Ben was thankful they opted for tape on the tails instead of gluing Velcro strips to his ass), then made him an honorary traffic cop in the middle of the bumper car arena (safely on the island in the middle of the Bumper Rink, and finally left him at a hot dog stand so they could go off and ride a few rides on their own. Sam, as well, was given a reprieve for almost an hour while Ben acted as a human sign, with a parent-volunteer at the hot dog stand acting as his Minder.

The sign had been Jack's idea. Ben had to wear it over his shoulders and it came down front and back to just below his navel, leaving, of course, the rest of his midsection and his total lower body completely exposed.

The front of the side said:

Disappointed in small wienies? Try a real one over at The Grove Hot Dog Shack.

And on the back it said:

We've got fresh buns for your wiener over at The Grove.

Contrary to what one teacher thought, the parents that saw the sign on the boy laughed heartily, and many of them did go over to The Grove and get something at the Hot Dog Shack. It was a great success, especially with many (many!) of the kids from the Grove Lake and Hampton County school systems. After 90 minutes of being human signage, Ben had been seen, pointed at, and laughed at by several hundred kids from all over the County, and nearly 80 from his own school. The rumor of his position (and complete nakedness) went like fire through the Carnival, and hot on the heels of that word was the scandalous gossip of just how tiny this nearly 14 year old boy was in the dick and nuts department.

"Hey, dickless," one 7th grade boy called out from a laughing group of kids, one of many saying similar things. He was looking to impress his friends and his girlfriend and added, "sounds like you need to be at The Grove!"

"Yeah, somebody needs a real wiener!" The heckler's friend would say, and everyone around would laugh. The joke never got old.

Except for Ben.

The Grove owner finally brought a free supper over to the boy and let him take off the sign and have a private table to eat at. While he was eating, most people were re-routed around so that he could actually eat in peace. One boy, though, was let past the volunteer keeping an eye on Ben. Tim meekly came up to near his brother and sat down, but still could not look at him. He was angry at Ben for becoming so visible, for becoming a laughing stock. What he had needed was a strong older brother, not one that was the literal butt of jokes.

But he also felt guilty about feeling angry.

They sat there silently for awhile, each feeling guilty about causing the other one pain, but neither really knowing how to say it, or where to start.

"Why did you do it?" Tim finally asked, sad and hurt.

"Do what? Be a bully? I don't know. I guess maybe I was just feeling abandoned and hitting back against people I knew couldn't hurt me. Of course it hurts now. Now that I know what I was. Well, it hurts what I did to you and mom."

"NO. Why did you do this? Why did you have to say anything to those Angel people?"

"I don't understand."

"I liked what you were starting to be: Nice to me."

"I did this because of what I've done to you. I've been a right shit, Tim. I'm sorry, but that's what I was."

"I know, but you started being nice! Why did you ruin it??!" Tim was already in tears, and Ben wasn't really understanding.

"Ruin it? I thought ....."

"NO!! NO!! You didn't think about anybody but you! That's all you ever think of!! You were starting to be nice, and then you ruined it!!" Tim was up at this point, yelling now, through his sobs, "Nobody treated me nice before you changed, and now they just treat me worse cause you're just ....you're just ....you're just stupid, now! And everybody knows it and nobody thinks I'm anything!!"

And he ran off.

Ben felt lower than ever. Suddenly the food he had been allowed to eat in peace weighed so much heavier inside him. And it was only half eaten. He pushed it away, feeling less than zero.

"He'll be OK, mate." Jack said as he sat down next to Ben. Noah sat on the other side and Tom across from him.

"Yeah, just give him some time. We'll help, you know, however we can." Noah said.

"Well, when you aren't naked anymore."

"Tom!"

"What? I'm just saying...."

"Shut up, Tom."

"It's OK," Ben finally said. "Thanks, for coming over."

The other three boys nodded, and Noah and Jack even clapped their friend on his back and even gave him a partial bro hug. Tom leaned forward supportively and added:

"I'd clap you on the knee and show my support, too, but you're fucking nekkid, man."

"Tom!!" Both of the other boys started.

"What?? I'm just sayin' ...."

But Ben started laughing. It felt good. It felt like both a release of pressure and an influx of energy, something his tired and worn out body and psyche so very desperately needed this late in the day. Without that laugh, he wasn't sure he would have been able to go on. The boys sat there and chatted like old friends for another ten minutes. Ben was feeling almost human again.

"It's weird sitting here chatting with you guys ....and I'm ..... naked." Ben couldn't help but laugh. And for the very first time he felt actually ....OK. Sort of. With being naked in front of someone else. Although he had already noticed earlier that it didn't feel so weird around his brother Tim.

"What's weird is how small your dick and nuts are."

"Tom!!" Jack exclaimed. Seriously.

"What? I'm just-"

"Just saying!" Jack and Noah finished for him.

Ben smiled. He blushed excessively, true, but he still smiled. And that in and of itself shocked him.

"It's OK guys. You're all thinking it. I am small; I know. I guess I ......."

How did he explain that he really had been bigger? Perhaps even bigger than all of them, at least until a Christmas spirit that looked identical to Jacob Marley, but was in fact Jacob's great-grandfather, shrank his dick and nuts. Twice. How did he explain that? He didn't. He couldn't. Tim was the only one who would ever know that.

Ben took a deep breath and just said what he needed to say. "I guess I just ..... made stuff up ....... so I wouldn't feel so ....."

"Small?"

"Yeah, thanks, Tom."

"You're welcome."

Ben and the other two sighed. Tom. You had to love him.

It was at that point that Sam slid in to the bench next to Tom, and he wasn't alone. Michael Dorritt, his neighbor who was in 7th grade at Ben's school, was with him, looking about as noncommittal as you could when sitting down with some older boys and their naked best friend. What worried Ben was when Sam nervously checked his watch.

Shit.

He had forgotten about that.

"It's almost 6, isn't it?"

Sam nodded. He hadn't looked forward to this. He didn't want to do it.

"A little past. Michael's going to take you."

"Take him?" Jack asked. "Take him where?"

"Yeah, where you have to go, now, Ben?" Tom asked.

"I, um, have to get spanked again."

"Spanked? Ah, that's not so bad," Noah said, but then saw the look in Sam's face --- Sam, who was feeling ashamed already about enjoying the vicious treatment of Ben that morning. He could not stomach watching this, even if it was going to be lighter.

"Wait," Noah said, "It is no real big deal, right? I mean, Jacob survived that one we gave him in Gym, right? And you were brutal to him, Ben. You can deal with this one, right?"

"These are professional spankers." Sam quietly said.

"Were you spanked this morning?" Tom asked quietly. Ben answered yes, but the involuntary shivers that went through both him and Sam answered even more.

"Was this your idea?" Jack challenged Sam. The problem for Sam was that he was the one who registered Ben for it, the one that asked them to use Ben for a demonstration. But he didn't do it because he wanted to. All the same he was uncertain how to answer it.

"Leave him alone!" Ben said sharply and suddenly, surprising everyone.

"Aren't you supposed to say 'sir' with that command?" Jack asked, but the cynical joke fell flat, and he just as immediately apologized for it.

"Is it going to be bad, Sam?" Ben asked. His nerves were showing in voice and posture.

Sam shrugged. "I don't think as bad as this morning. They won't mess with your mind, I think. They won't put anything on your balls. I asked to make sure. And they aren't allowed to put anything up your butt at this one."

"They put something up your butt this morning?" Tom asked with a sick-like fascinated disgust.

"NO! ..... sir ....I mean ..... that is ....um, no sir, they didn't. But they ......."

"I love this 'sir' stuff!" Tom interrupted, smiling.

Ben sighed, but continued. "They clamped this ....thing on my nuts. It gave me a kind of a shock --- lots of times. Like getting kicked, really hard, in the nuts. Over and over, while my ass was being ripped open ..."

Again a shiver went through the boy, cutting off anything else he might could say about it.

"You want us to go?" Jack asked, but sounding like he really didn't want to see his friend get mutilated. Spanked was one thing, but this was on a wholly different level.

The problem was that Ben wasn't sure he could actually ask his friends not to go. That might get him in more trouble.

"No, he doesn't want you to go." Sam said simply. And that settled that for Tom, Noah, and Jack, all of whom decided they would wait there for Ben to get back.

At that point Michael stood up and just jerked his head slightly to the side and said, "Come on; let's go."

And Ben got up and followed the boy. Michael didn't really seem to want to talk any, even when Ben tried to ask for details about what might happen. More and more he felt like he was walking with his executioner, and the fear of the morning being repeated at this demonstration of the X-40 made him almost frantic to make some connection with the boy.

"Come on, please, Michael, can you tell me anything about what is going to happen to me ....sir?"

Michael finally stopped and looked at the boy, except that he just shrugged and said, "What you deserve......well, maybe they won't be that hard on you ..... unfortunately."

He started walking away again but paused to answer Ben's response:

"You don't really like me that much, do you, Michael?"

"No. I don't. But I don't think you're worth disliking, except ....... except I'm happy enough to take you to the spanking area over at the Fisher Industries booth."

"I'm not that bad, Michael."

Ben didn't know why he felt this urge, this need to appeal to Michael. Was it because he was having Executionee's Syndrome all of a sudden in being taken back to the X-40? Was it because he truly wanted to be different, to show he was different? Was it the need to gain trust from those who had no reason to give him any? Whatever it was, he almost felt that this was a milestone of sorts. If he could gain forgiveness before being punished, then he could handle the rest of this punishment. Maybe that was it.

But Michael was unimpressed.

"Yes, you are that bad, Ben. You and Jacob both. You think you guys are going to change because of all this? Maybe you're only scared of being caught the next time. Maybe you'll be more careful; but you're still both the same inside. You're still both the same that you were before; so why are you even trying to make me think that you're going to be any different?"

"Because I'm not like that! I'm really not! That's not me!! I mean ....it won't be me! ..... no, I mean, it's not me ...."

But Michael laughed. "Listen to you. You don't even know who you are!"

But that was the problem. Ben finally was realizing who he was, and it wasn't who he had been becoming. It was who he could be.

"No, wait ....I can prove it! I can prove I'm not a bad person."

And that was the other problem. He knew it, but he still hadn't proven it to himself. He was untried, and everything Michael said could well be true about him. He could simply return to the bad-Ben self, deeper inside. And why not?

He had already fulfilled the Christmas Spirit's requirements; at least, once this punishment was done he would have. He would only have to be superficially nicer and just wait on puberty to hit – again – and he could be Ben again ......

....... and meanwhile just harbor the same bad direction, become the same thing his father had become. Crap. That was entirely possible.

Maybe this visitation was aimed at preventing him from becoming that man down the road, maybe it was just giving Ben a wake-up call to change. And he was pretty sure he was changing, or, waking up, or whatever. But he really had yet to actually prove it to himself. He did volunteer himself for Nudie Juvie time, but that really was driven by fear – fear of losing his little brother, fear of losing his nuts. But what had he done to prove to himself that he would change? Perhaps that was why he was pursuing Michael's approval.

Except Michael wasn't buying it.

"Prove it? How? I can already make you do almost anything."

He had a point.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Ben actually sounded dejected, but Michael didn't notice. Things that he had bottled up before were now coming out.

"I can't believe I was actually scared of you, once. I even used to think you were bigger than me. And you aren't. And I don't mean down there. I mean, you are freaking tiny down there, but I used to think that you, actually you," Michael made a hand motion to indicate the whole of Ben's body, "were bigger than me. I mean, but now ..... now, I see that I could take you in a fight. Maybe not Jacob, but definitely you. So why should I even care if you 'are' or 'are not' different, or whatever?"

"You couldn't take me in a fight, Michael. You wouldn't even get close. I'm tougher, more aggressive, and a whole lot stronger than I look. Like, freakishly stronger than I look, so don't think that's going to be your way out."

Ben had stepped forward a little and his tone and the way he carried himself suddenly hit Michael that the boy really wasn't lying about that aspect. THAT was apparently something in no need of being proven, not to Ben at least. It was also at that point that Michael realized that they had taken a back route to the booth and were quite alone with no one about. Michael was not feeling so safe now, and he shrank back a bit in fear, ready to take off running.

"No, wait, Michael! I didn't mean that the way it came out. I will never hurt you, OK? I won't fight you. I just meant ..... you could be 'not afraid' of me and maybe even like me because of another reason. Like you trust me."

"Why the hell would I trust you? I know what you're like. I've seen how you treat Sam all the time. And you've treated me pretty bad over the years, too. Jacob was bad enough, but anytime you were around I wouldn't go anywhere near Sam. And I used to get along with Jacob. You're just ........" the look of disgust said enough, but he finished off his statement with something milder: "You just can't be trusted."

"No, I can ... I ..... I can do something to earn trust ... I can ......I can ....."

"What? What could you possibly do to make me think you aren't just playing me?"

And there it was. Ben knew. It was from earlier in the day, right before he saw Santa. He knew what he could do. But could he really do that? Especially when he wouldn't be forced to? Couldn't be forced to?

"I can do something no bully would ever, ever do. Never. No matter how much good it would do him in tricking or playing a person."

"You mean, like strip naked with a teeny wienie in front of everyone? That would be a great idea! Oh wait, that was already done to you!"

"No, something by law you can't make me do. Something even the court can't do, since I'm only a Level 1a Offender."

Michael looked at the hot pink collar around the boy that said 'NUDEP' on both sides and at the hot pink bracelets spelling out 'L1a' on both wrists. The 7th grader knew what he COULD do to Ben, something like making him run around naked squawking like a chicken amongst the 7th and 8th grade girls at their school (and he had thought about doing that, but wasn't really in the mood at the time to fool much with Ben, other than just do Sam a favor and accompany him to the spanking area), but he wasn't sure about everything he COULDN'T do. So he wasn't sure what Ben meant.

"OK," Michael said, his curiosity piqued, at least. "What then? What can you do that I or Judge Krum can't make you do?"

"I'll ..... I can ......I'll ..........suck your dick."

"Wait ......what?"

"I'll suck your dick, Michael. I've never done it before, and honestly, I can't promise I won't throw up, though I certainly hope I don't, for other reasons, but I'll do it. I don't want to. I really, really don't; but I'll do it."

Michael was stunned. Still. Again. Whatever --- he was thrown. Why the hell would this bully do this?

"What's up your sleeve?" He asked, still distrusting of the bully.

"No sleeves." Ben said, holding up both of his obviously naked arms. Both boys smiled, and that helped relieve a lot of tension. Michael still looked uncertain and glanced at his watch. They were already late. He just didn't understand what good this could be doing for Ben, what the boy was getting out of this deal. All the same ......a blow job ......getting to see what it actually felt like to have someone suck on your dick ....... and being able to make a bully do it no less.

Ben could see from Michael's eyes, as well as the growing bulge in his pants, that he had the boy hooked, not that that really made Ben feel any better. He, of course, was just hoping that Michael would take him at his word and not make him do it, yet still give him the credit of truly wanting to be trusted. By someone.

But the growing interest in Michael's eyes and crotch suggested otherwise. And that slight lick of his anxious lips as he thought this over signaled to Ben that this was indeed dangerous territory. But after the things he had been made to do that day already, Ben was pretty sure he could do this and mentally survive – provided he could pull off just before Michael shot.

And provided Michael didn't tell anyone, Ben would not be in any worse social condition. So it was a demoralizing offer for Ben, but not social or emotional suicide.

"I just don't get why you would do this."

"That's the thing, Michael. No bully would. No one who wanted to hurt somebody would. And I ..... I don't know. I guess I ....I just need someone to believe in me. No one does. No one. I need somebody to believe I'm not just doing everything for myself, that I'm not pretending to be good to avoid more punishment."

"Oh I get it. I'm taking you to the spanking, and you found out I can ask for more or less spanks, and harder or easier, so that's why you offered."

"No, it isn't. Honest....... But ..... you mean ......you really ....you can really ask them to go easier on me?"

"I knew it! That's all you were interested in. You are NOT going to change. You're still just after your own hide."

And Michael walked away.

"No, wait, Michael! Please!" This was backfiring. How could it backfire? After he humbled himself and tried to prove his sincerity! Was no one ever going to trust that he could be someone different?? Ben was desperate. He needed someone to believe in him! "Please, I'll prove to you that wasn't why I offered to ....to do that."

"I'm tired of this. Close your mouth. I'm already going to report you for attempting to bribe me."

Oh, this wasn't just backfiring; it was getting so much worse.

Ben caught up with Michael before they came back out into the open. "Give me twenty seconds ....sir. Please, sir, give me twenty seconds ....or ten ....please ....."

Michael stopped and looked at his watch. "OK, you got 10 seconds."

"If you ....if you ask them to be as hard on me as they can ......" Ben almost couldn't finish as the fear of what he was saying went through him and began to drain the blood from his head ...."if you do that, I'll ....I'll give you two more blow jobs, after this one. Whenever you want them."

That threw Michael. "Why would you do all this?"

"I don't know. It's not to stay out of trouble. You can see that right? I mean, I'll do it IF you get me into more punishment. I mean, I don't want to be spanked; I really, really, really don't. But ..... I ....Michael, I need someone to believe I'm not just doing stuff to get out of more trouble, that I really want to be different, that I'm really not like my dad."

"I don't know your dad."

"I don't either, really. I know he's a total ass."

"Yeah? Go figure."

"I'm NOT going to be him! ... uh, ....sir ......I don't think I could ever make Sam believe that. Jacob's parents don't want me around him anymore. My little brother seems to think I'm just trying to hurt him on purpose – still. My mom and sister think I only gave myself up cause I thought it would get me out of even worse trouble."

"Yeah, well, that's what everyone else at school thinks to. At least that's what everyone is saying," Michael verified. "Sam said even Jacob and your other friends think you did it because you thought it could get you out of worse trouble."

"So you see, don't you, I wouldn't offer you more blowjobs to go hard on me ..... eww, gross, bad choice of words ....I mean, I wouldn't do that, you know, if I was only trying to get out of punishment, right?"

Michael nodded. It was more reflexive than agreement. Or did his subconscious recognize the veracity in the boy's reasoning and desperation? "OK, so what will you give me if I asked them to go easier on you?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Michael asked, amazed.

"Nothing."

"But two blowjobs ... two more blowjobs, if I ask for the maximum?"

"Yes." Ben's knees were going weak. Did he really want to do this? He needed someone to believe in him fully, but to go this far?

"Come here," Michael said after a small internal deliberation, and he led the boy to a section of booths that he knew were already closed up, though the lights were on inside and they had yet to be taken down.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm going to help you make good on your first promise."

Ben gulped. There was no way out of this one.