KITTLETOWN

By Max Speer

CHAPTER THREE

THE TICKLING MACHINE

Kittletown is the producer of many original products. Their company name is Tickle Brand®, and they manufacture foot creams, deodorants, body shampoos, body creams, and hair products. Up until a few years ago they produced shaving creams for women but this was discontinued when the electrolysis devices were installed. Now, the shaving and after shaving products are for men. The brand name is simply, Tickler®. The label shows a rugged looking man holding onto a beautiful woman and tickling her ribs with one hand, her hair flying through the air as she laughs.

Also manufactured in Kittletown are feathers and other assorted 'tools'. The Michaels Building contains the plant while the offices of research and development are in the upper floors. That's where research on the Tickling Machine takes place.
The Tickling Machine complex is located on the ground floor. This is where women are chosen to be strapped to this tickle torture machine and undergo a "total body tickle-experience" which is it's advertising slogan. Only the most beautiful women in Kittletown are chosen to work at this very exclusive salon and only after rigerous screening. To be chosen, the woman has to be over 21. She is then interviewed and given a 'manual audition' which consists of 'digit tickling'. If the woman is very ticklish, and is of exceptional beauty, she is allowed on as an apprentice. Here, her duties are customer help and assisting the 'victim' into the device. She is also the dresser since the customer is given a choice of uniforms or costumes that they would like the victim to wear.
The new girls wear blue uniforms and the established girls wear red or black. The uniform is a tight, sleeveless dress with holes cut at the ribs on either side and the stomach area. Tickle Suits are what they're usually called but the girls sometimes refer to them as 'Giggle Clothes'.
The costumes that the chosen victim wears can be anything from string bikinis to full, victorian attire, complete with petticoat. All periods of history are represented in their expansive costume shop.
The victim is strapped to the Tickling Machine and the tickle torture begins. Hundreds of probing devices are employed, either all at once or on an individual body part. The ribcage is tickled with tiny, inch-long rubber-tipped, plastic probes. The sequence of the probing touch was developed by Dr. Gregory who is a master of neural anatomy, with his specialty on the sense of touch. The ribs are meticulously investigated with Dr. Gregory's probes and if the ribs alone were tickled it would be a hysterical experience.
But the Machine has probes all over the body. Special plastic probes tipped in velvet and the tiniest of feathertips are utilized across her belly and up and down her sides. There are eighty of these special probes for the armpits alone; forty on each side. The results are like the fingers of four sets of hands in each armpit. The special velvet/feather tip, created with meticulous design by Gregory, is highly effective and creates the most ticklish reactions on these soft and sensitive spots.
These special probes are utilized elsewhere with a slight difference. The soft tips are slightly firmer for the undersides of the arms and legs. There is a stationary rotating action under the knees and in the crook of the elbow. Even the palms of her hands are tickled. There are one hundred and forty of these types of probes employed to touch every surface of the feet, top and bottom.
Special feather strings are drawn between each toe. The victim's toes are inserted half-way into little cuffs that hold each toe in place and spread ever so slightly without the slightest discomfort. Discomfort can be detrimental to a ticklee so the victim is actually extremely comfortable in the seat before the tickling begins.
The customer either sits behind a console in the room or is given a remote. Most prefer the latter. They have total control to tickle any area of the body or the entire body. The also have intensity controls for a lighter/heavier or slower/faster tickle. The true masters of this machine can drive a woman insane with tickling, but even the novices will get excellent results. The object is to start out slowly and lightly on just a few body areas. Then, the touch and speed are shifted to different areas leading up to a full, whole body tickle. Most woman cannot stand this very long and there is a cut-off since her body functions are monitored remotely from another room.
After the tickling is completed, the customer has an option to purchase an audio, video or still photos of his experience. Most wealthy men in town have photo albums and video racks full of their 'memories'.
The entire cost of the experience for one girl is $2,000 for a half hour session. Sessions of ten minutes run about $750. Video tape souvenirs run as high as $200 and as low as $75. An audio tape runs between $25 and $69.95. Stills go for a straight $24.99.
The girls who work at The Tickling Machine are paid extremely well, and the best, most beautiful and most ticklish girls may walk home with $3000 a week.
These women are often seen on the arm of the most influential men at Balls and High Society Events, laden with jewelry, wearing the most expensive, sleeveless gowns; feathered, jeweled ear rings dangling from each ear, lightly tickling their bare shoulders. Specially designed pumps worn on their delicate feet are lined with fur or feathers.
These Balls are media events. They are covered on Kittletown's special coded cable station WTKL. There is usually an awards ceremony for the Most Ticklish given once a year. The prize is an assortment of gifts and the special Golden Feather.
Ballots are written by hand with special pens with long, stiff feathers that shoot up from the top. These feathers are always used to stroke the sensitive skin of the ballot writer's date. Giggles prevail throughout the night. At home, everyone watches.