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            “Hello Blake.”
            Referee Blake had been busy looking for his silver whistle so he was surprised to see two strange men in his private locker room.  Both of them were really big men like ex-football players or something.  One of them had his hair cut in a severe crew-cut and the other had a big gold tooth in his smile.
            “Is there something I can do for you?” Referee Blake asked politely.
            “Yea,” Crew Cut drawled.  We sent you a letter, but I guess we forgot to stamp it.”
            “You were told that the Marmadots were supposed to lose,” Gold Tooth moved closer to Blake.
            “But you just kept on handing out them red cards and benching our Tweelers until they lost,” Crew Cut drawled as he moved around behind Blake.
            “Listen, this locker room is private. If you have any questions about any calls I’ve made, you need to take those up with the main office,” Blake explained nervously as he tried to keep his eyes on both of the big men.
            “No, we’re taking it up with you!” Crew Cut growled as he suddenly pinned both of Blake’s arms behind his back.
            “Take your hands off of me!  I’ll call security!”
            “Go ahead and call,” Gold Tooth smiled as he moved close to Blake’s chest.  “Call as loud as you like.”
            Blake opened his mouth to call for help, but as soon as he did Gold Tooth mashed a damp cloth over his face and, as soon as Blake took a deep breath to yell, all sorts of sweet numbing fumes rushed into his nose and mouth.
            The next thing Blake knew he was being propelled toward the door by the two big men.  He tried to struggle and he tried to tell them to stop, but those sweet fumes kept filling up his head until he felt as light as a balloon.
            When Blake’s vision cleared again, he was sitting in the back seat of somebody’s car and being wedged in by Crew Cut and Gold Tooth sitting on either side of him.  Part of his brain was trying to protest that this couldn’t be happening to him while the rest of his brain was trying to tell him that now his hands had been tied together in front of him, his mouth had been stuffed full of cloth, and now Crew Cut was holding his mouth shut while a smiling Gold Tooth was plastering strips of adhesive tape all over his mouth and chin and cloth-bulged cheeks.
            “What are you doing to me?” Blake tried to ask, but all he could make was a frightened moan way back in his throat.
            “Just sit back and enjoy the ride,” Crew Cut growled at him.
            Then that damp cloth was being held over Blake’s nose again and he had no choice but to breathe more and more of the dizzying sweet fumes until –
            The next thing Blake knew he was awake, but he couldn’t see because more of that adhesive tape had been plastered over his eyes.  And he was being pulled along by his tied hands and walking, but he couldn’t see where he was going.  Then he heard a door open and a door close and he guessed that he was now inside of someplace, but inside of someplace where?
            “Please let me go,” Blake moaned behind his taped-over lips.
            “Sounds like some kind of sick cow,” Gold Tooth laughed.
            “Yea, maybe the Boss will let us milk him later,” Crew Cut taunted.
            Then they pushed Blake’s body down on the hard floor and they were none too gentle as they tied his wrists to his crossed ankles.
            “Okay Referee Blake, you just sit right there while we make a phone call.”
            Blake listened to their heavy footsteps going away from him and he waited until he was pretty sure that he was alone.  Then he began twisting his wrists against the harsh ropes and he tried to pull his hands free from his ankles, but the ropes still held him tight until he heard those heavy footsteps coming back toward him.

            “So what did the Boss say?” Blake heard Gold Tooth say.  “Can we start milking him now?”
            “No the Boss is coming over.  He wants to handle Referee Blake personally.  That’s not good news for you Blake.  The Boss must be really pissed at you.”
            Suddenly a searing pain ripped across Blake’s forehead and eyelids as the tape was pulled off of his eyes.  Then he blinked his tears away and looked up to see the smiling Crew Cut and Gold Tooth standing over him.
            “Maybe you won’t be able to hand out your little red cards so easy if the Boss breaks both your arms,” Gold Tooth sneered down at him.
            “Or maybe he’ll break your jaw so you won’t find it so easy to go blowing your silver whistle when we don’t want you to,” Crew Cut smiled like he was enjoying that thought.
            “Yea, but if it was me, I’d break both your legs so you couldn’t do no running around at all,” Gold Tooth sounded really enthusiastic about that idea.
            “Maybe, but we’ll let the Boss decode all that.  Right now Blake you’re going to stay in this room, and you’re going to stay quiet.  Any trouble from you and I promise we’ll hit you with something a lot harder than a red card.”
            Cold fear ran down Blake’s back and made his whole body shiver as he realized that he was now in the hands of two or three maniacs.  He had to get out of here!
            Blake strained and struggled and fell all over the floor.  Each time he fell, he would freeze and listen for the sound of the two big bruisers coming back.  Then he had to admit that there was no way he was going to get free of these ropes by himself.  He had to have help.
            Blake struggled back up onto his knees.  Then he held his tied hands out in front of him as far as he could.  And then he leaned his body forward and dragged his knees up to where his hands were.  Then he started the slow painful process all over again.  It hurt and he knew that he looked like some kind of ridiculous frog, but it was the only way he could think of to get out of here as he inched his body closer and closer to an unguarded door.
            Finally he reached the door.  Then he had to undergo another painful process of rubbing his taped mouth up against the door knob until he finally got it to turn enough to release the door.  Then he nosed the door open with his nose and—
            Suddenly there was a loud cheer and a burst of laughter coming from the other room where it sounded like Crew Cut and Gold Tooth were enjoying the game.
            Blake didn’t want any more to do with them so he slipped through the open door.  Then he frog-hopped and frog-hopped away.

Blake played by Johhny
Photography by Caitiff