Human Cattle – Part 9

By Pickle

When I turned my barn into a gym, I invested in a secondhand ice bath.  I was never so happy I had done that as I was now.  I knew there’d be a shit-ton of inflammation in my tendons, muscles and joints since my body had been put under so much duress.  Pulled apart so unforgivingly!

I’d never endured any “test” so tough or extreme before, so I didn’t even bother to strip off before plunging myself into the bath of frigid water.  It felt like a billion tiny sharp needles jabbing my body as I lowered myself in, but once submerged, it began to numb some of the pain.  My endorphins were already in high gear from the torture. There was no other word for what Steve had made me endure, but the freezing cold water seemed to make my brain kick-in and deliver a more healing type of euphoria.  I stayed submerged for five minutes before slowly climbing out, looking like a drowned rat.  I took my wet clothes off and hung them on the line in back of the house.  When I finished, Steve was already sitting in an Adirondack chair, again swallowing down a beer.

Continue reading Human Cattle – Part 9

Human Cattle – Part 08

By Pickle

“Don’t go anywhere Pick, I’ll be right back.”  He unlocked the door and disappeared through it, closing it behind him.  A few minutes later he returned carrying another army rucksack.  This one was of a more normal size.  My buddy carried it around behind my back and I heard him rummaging through it and taking things out.  I tried to twist around to see what he was up to, but of course, couldn’t move my legs far with the 500 pounds on the spreader bar holding them in place, and Steve had gone far enough behind me that I couldn’t twist my upper body and head far enough to see what he was up to.  He sang his little made-up ditty of …

“The waves come in, the waves go out! 

The waves come in, the waves go out!” 

“Kinda almost like a sea shanty, huh soldier?”

The fucker was truly enjoying himself at my expense.  On one hand, I found myself wanting to evict him from my cottage and get him the Hell out of my life, and on the other, strangely kind of liking this side of him.  He had me thoroughly confused.  I realized I was enjoying this intensely macho treatment.  How hard he was testing me.  The punishment he was putting me through.

Continue reading Human Cattle – Part 08