Kid Muscle 6: The Beginning of Muscle Camp

[Corwin]

"I want in," Dan said, taking a sip of his coffee. He, Terry and Jim
sat around the table. Outside, they could hear the boys playing.

"Well, the project is already pretty far along," explained Jim.
"Terry and I have bought the land, and construction has already begun.
We're just waiting for another bank loan to start the final phase."

"I've got money," said Dan. "How much have you each put in?"

"We've put in about $750,000 each, either in loans or our own money,"
said Terry.

"Done," said Dan, reaching for a checkbook. "And if we need more,
I'll cover those costs too."

"We're all equal partners here," said Jim.

"Fine. Consider it a loan. You can pay me back. Or not. I don't
care. The important thing is..." Dan said, but was interrupted by
Monica, who started to refill their coffee.

"The important thing is the kids," she said.

Dan looked at her, then thought better of what he was saying. "Right.
The important thing is the kids. Here," he said, pulling out a
binder, "this is my research on Ben. We can apply it to the training
facilities in the camp. My funding is from DARPA. Their very
interested in these boys. So is the US Olympic Committee,
Commerce... you name it. They're seen as national assets. An
investment in the future."

"They're our kids," said Terry, echoing his wife's message.

"Sure they are," agreed Dan. "But we want them to grow up to be good
citizens, right? They have a gift, and it's our duty to nurture that
gift. That's what we've been doing! Look at your Tommy or your
Wally. There aren't many boys like them, that's for sure," Dan said
with some glee. "And there there's my Ben. Look..." Dan pulled out a
picture of a baby in a cradle. There were bands attached to weights
on each of the baby's hands. "I've been training Ben since the day he
was born." Dan pulled out another picture of Ben in his specially
designed shirt, then his walker with what looked like a squat
attachment.

Terry took the photos, then passed them to Jim. Both had concerned
looks on their faces.

"Training?" asked Jim. "But he was a baby. How..."

"Ever hear of B.F. Skinner? He was a psychologist who built a special
crib for his kids to help them develop." Dan explained.

"A skinner box?" asked Monica, who seemed to get interested in the
conversation.

"Well, in urban mythology, that's what it's called. It was really
just a fancy crib to stop his kid from crying. Anyway, that's all I
built. A fancy crib to help our kids start building muscle at an
early age. And look at Ben. Stronger than either Tommy or Wally.
More muscular. And two years younger. And from what I've learned
from Ben, I can improve the techniques for the next generation of
kids."

Monica grabbed one of the pictures and gasped. "You tortured him!"

Before Dan could respond, there was a loud, ear-piercing shriek from
the yard. The parents' eyes turned toward the window when Tommy and
Wally went flying backward through the air, arms flailing.

---

Ben and his father arrived at Tommy's house shortly after eight. Ben
had barely slept. All night, he kept talking about how Tommy had won
and how he had met his idol. He could barely wait until he could
spend time with Tommy.

Wally and Jim were already at the house. The adults had told the
children to play in the backyard while they sat and talked.

"Go ahead and play," Dan had told Ben as he went inside.

"Hi Tommy!" Ben said with a big grin.

"Hi!" said Tommy with a bit less enthusiasm.

"Hi!" said Wally, but Ben ignored him.

Both boys were wearing tshirts. They were obviously adult sized
shirts that had been cut down for the boy's smaller height. The
shirts already were muddy and had grass stains on them.

Tommy looked at the new boy. He was shirtless, and wore cut off
shorts. "You may want to ask your Dad to put your shirt on," Tommy
said. "You don't want to get dirty."

"I don't wear shirts," said Ben. "I don't like them."

Tommy shrugged. "I got one you can borrow if you change your mind,"
he said, then turning to Wally, "Come on. You're it." Both boys
darted down the yard, Wally chasing Tommy.

Ben stood and watched. Tommy ran to the end of the yard, the darted
to the right, Wally right behind him. Wally jumped, trying to tag
Tommy, but Tommy ducked out of the way.

"Missed," yelled Tommy who ran back toward Ben. Before he got there,
Wally lept, his thickly muscled legs propelling him toward Tommy. He
reached around Tommy's thighs, his own powerful arms encircling them,
and tackled Tommy to the ground.

"Let him go!" Ben shouted. Before the boy's could react, Ben had
grabbed Wally's belt. Ben flexed his own thickly muscled kid arm and
pulled with such force, Wally was lifted off the ground while he still
held onto Tommy's legs. Tommy,s torso was was on the ground in a
position that looked like a push-up. Ben began to shake Wally.
"I... said... let... him... go...."

The vibration of being shaken dislodged Tommy's legs, which crashed
into the grass.

"STOP IT!" cried Wally who squirmed and struggled to get away.

"Whoa Ben," said Tommy, jumping to his feet. "It's OK. Put Wally down."

Ben looked at Wally angrily. "You don't hurt Tommy!" he yelled,
dropping Wally to the ground.

"I wasn't hurting him Nimrod," said Wally. "We're just playing."

"Ya," said Tommy. "I'm not hurt. We're just playing tag." Tommy
extended his hand to Wally, who took it. Tommy pulled, his bicep
bulging in his shirt, helping Wally to his feet.

"What's tag?" asked Ben with a scowl, staring distrustfully at Wally.

Wally looked at him. "It's a game kids play. The person who is IT
runs around and tries to tag the other kids. Haven't you ever played
tag?"

Ben shook his head no. "I've never played with kids before. Only my Dad."

"Jeeze Ben," said Wally with some concern. "So you thought I was
trying to hurt Tommy?"

"Come on Ben," said Tommy. "You be it and try and tag Wally and me."
Tommy started running backwards, away from Ben. A second later, Wally
did the same in a different direction.

Ben smiled. He took off after Tommy. Seeing this, Tommy turned
around, and started to run full force. He darted to the far side of
the yard, then clipped left.

Wally stopped, watching the two. His jaw dropped seeing Ben run. His
powerful legs flexed and stretched with grace and speed. He seemed to
fly as his calves propelled him through the air, leaping eight to ten
feet with every stride. Tommy ran fast, his own legs trying to
outpace and avoid Ben, but Ben seemed faster. More agile. As they
moved, they looked more like professional football players than kids.
Thick arms pumped back and forth for balance. Wide lats pulled at
Tommy's shirt and stretched across Ben's back. The boys' thick pec
armor heaved on their chests, and Ben's ripped abs stretched and
rippled with each step.

Unable to outrun Ben, Tommy turned and ran straight for him. At the
last second, Tommy cut to the right, trying to veer around the smaller
boy. Ben was too fast. Seeing Tommy's motion, Ben dove at Tommy,
grabbing his legs and sending them both to the ground.

"YOU'RE IT!" said Ben with a huge grin on his face and a twinkle in
his eye. He jumped up. "Did I do it right Tommy?"

Tommy smiled, getting up. "Ya, I'd say you did it right. Wow.
You're fast!"

Wally came over. "See shrimp," he said to Ben, "that didn't hurt
Tommy. It was fun."

Ben frowned at him, a look of distrust in his eyes.

"Ben here is tough!" Tommy asserted.

"Ya. Seemed more than a match for you!" Wally rebuffed, smirking at Tommy.

"And you," said Tommy with a laugh, flexing his bicep at his side to
remind Wally who had the muscle.

"I'm strong," agreed Ben.

Tommy and Wally looked at each other. "Strong enough to be a super
hero?" Wally asked.

Ben shrugged, his mountainous traps contracting into his thick neck
and raising the two cannon ball shoulders. "Guess so," he said
unsure. "I'm stronger than Tommy," he said, then looked at Wally and
added forcefully, "and way stronger than you."

"Prove it, shrimp!" Wally said, punching Ben in the shoulder. Wally
grabbed his shirt around the waist, and started to pull it off. Tommy
grabbed the back, and helped Wally get it over his thick lats and
pecs, and then Wally tossed the shirt at Ben. "Put that on," he
ordered.

Ben looked at the shirt. "I don't like shirts," he said. With a bit
of dread in his voice, he added, "I don't like the way they press into
my muscles."

"That's the point," added Wally, a bit unsympathetically.

"Ya," said Tommy. "When we play super hero, we see who can flex out
of their shirt, and who is the strongest. The strongest is the Hulk,
and the second strongest is Thing. They're both super heroes."

Ben looked at the shirt. "B...b..but there are three of us."

Wally looked at Tommy. "Who's stronger than the Hulk? Superman?"

"Nah..." said Tommy. "There is this neat creature. The Abomination.
He's stronger than the Hulk, but he's a villan not a hero."

Wally shrugged. "So? Thing and Hulk against a bomb... a..."

"Abomination," said Tommy.

"Whatever," said Wally. "So, shrimp, think you're strong enough for this?"

Ben looked at the shirt, then with angry determination in his eyes, he
looked at Wally. "I'll show you..." he said threateningly, then put
one arm in the shirt and the collar over his head.

Ben felt the shirt's collar pressing into his neck. It felt like it
was strangling him. He raised his other arm. He wiggled into the
sleeve, but the shirt got caught on his wide shoulders. Even though
Wally had stretched the shirt to accomidate his thick torso, seams
popped as Ben tried to get it over his body. Wally moved to help Ben,
who jumped out of his reach and over to Tommy. Tommy took over,
stretching the fabric over Ben's huge muscles and draping it over his
abs. The sleeves of the shirt were so tight, Ben couldn't lower his
arms, and the fabric stretched to a point where it was obvious that in
moments, it would be doomed to be rags.

"Shoot!" Wally said, his mouth agape.

Ben's eyes seemed to be full of tears, and his body seemed to be
shaking. "You want to see muscle," he said, his voice cracking, "well
here's muscle." In a sudden move, Ben lowered his arm into a
most-muscular crab pose. He flexed so hard the shirt literally
exploded from his body. Tatters of fabric flew all around the muscle
boy, some hitting Tommy and Wally in the face. All that remained was
the collar and some dangling remains that clung desperately above his
heaving pecs and down his massive back. Ben then flexed his neck,
popping the fabric necklace so that it floated to the ground like a
feather. "I! HATE! SHIRTS!" he bellowed.

Wally took a step back, not believe his eyes. "We can't even do
that," he said, awe in his voice.

Ben looked at Tommy. "Bet Tommy can," he said.

"No," Tommy said, a feeling of inferiority coming over him.

"Sure you can!" said Ben, his hero-worship obvious. "Try."

Tommy looked at Ben. "I'll try," he said, "but I doubt it." Tommy
took a deep breath, expanding his chest and causing the seams in his
shirt to burst. He raised his arms, flaring his lats and quickly
lowered them, flexing his torso hard. Tears formed around the muscle
kids pecs and the shirt split down the back and around his traps.
Tommy flexed harder, expanding the tears in the shirt around the
collar. His face began to turn red as he flexed his muscles larger,
trying to pop the shirt as Ben had. "Aaaarrrghhh..." Tommy grunted,
but finally gave up. His shirt, no more than rags hanging from the
collar, draped over Tommy's torso. He grabbed the collar, and pulled
the shirt off. "Sorry Ben, that's the best I can do," he said.
"Guess you're the biggest muscle kid around," he added, patting Ben on
the back.

"And you know what that means," Wally said with a grin, "Come on Hulk.
Let's get the Abomination." Wally hit a most muscular pose.

"Thing need Hulks help!" said Tommy, displaying his own impressive
double bicep pose. "Abomination not so tough," he said, winking at
Ben.

Ben smiled, catching on, "Tougher than you," he grunted, flexing his
own arm below Tommy's. Thick veins appeared on top of Ben's peaked
kid bicep as his skin stretched over an arm that dwarfed both Tommy's
and Wally's. He looked at Wally, then raised his second arm, flexing
his superior kid muscle in Wally's face. "Abominablition stronger
than both of you!"

Wally grabbed Ben's arm, feeling the hard flexed muscle as Tommy
jumped low, grabbing Ben around the knees and knocking him to the
ground. Wally pulled Ben's arm over his head, and getting to his
knees, tried pinning it to the ground. While Wally tried to grab
Ben's other hand, Ben powered his arm up, easily overpowering Wally's
weaker muscles. Wally grabbed Ben's arm again, and this time, using
two hand, forced Ben's arm to the ground.

"Need some help here, Hulk!" he said, struggling against Ben.

Ben thrashed, trying to free his arm. Wally had to gulp as he saw the
kid's chest and shoulder's pump up and flex trying to break Wally's
grip. Tommy moved and grabbed Ben's other arm, forcing it to the
ground. Ben thrashed, forcing his arms up, but Tommy and Wally
pressed harder. The boys moved to put not only their muscle, but also
their weight into keeping Ben on the ground.

"We got him!" cried Wally. "Thing and Hulk got the Abomination!"

A look of panic and terror spread across Ben's face. "Ahhhh," he
grunted, his muscles flexing hard, forcing Tommy and Wally to redouble
their efforts to control him. "No..." Ben muttered. "No. No! NO!"
he cried, then shrieked hard. Ben flexed as hard as he could, forcing
his hands up with such fury that both Tommy and Wally flew several
feet into the air. Ben started screaming and crying hard.

Wally and Tommy landed on their butts about two yards from Ben, who
was pounding the ground with his feet and arms screaming.

"Whoa!" said Wally.

"Ben!" cried Tommy, moving to get up, "It's OK. We're sorry. It's
just a game!"

As Tommy spoke, the four parents came running out of the house. Terry
ran over to Tommy, while Monica and Dan ran to Ben and Jim ran to
Wally.

"Ben, it's OK. Daddy's here." Dan said.

"What's the matter?" asked Monica, in a concerned voice.

"Trapped!" Ben said, between tears. "Couldn't move. Scared." Ben
stood up and ran to Monica, putting his arms around her. Monica
returned the hug. "I don't like being trapped," Ben weeped. "It
scares me."

"Come inside," Monica said, leading Ben into the house. "Would you
like something to eat? I have cake," she said.

Ben nodded yes and wiped his eyes.

Dan followed them inside.

"Dan, why don't you wait in the living room while Ben and I talk," Monica suggested, then whispered, "I think this needs a mother's touch."

Reluctantly Dan left.

Outside Terry and Jim spoke with their sons. They both told how Ben didn't know how to play, and seemed to have a grudge against Wally. Tommy expressed some pride that Ben idolized him, "kinda like a kid brother," he added. Neither boy understood Ben's reaction to their game of super heros.

"We had him," said Wally.

"Ya, but then he went crazy," agreed Tommy. "I tried to hold him but he was way too strong. With one hand he tossed me from there," Tommy pointed, "to here."

Wally nodded.

"And you boys didn't do anything else to him?" Jim asked.

Both boys shook their heads no.

"OK, well, you boys stay out here and play," said Terry, walking back to the house with Jim.

"When can we go to the gym?" Wally asked. "I gotta get more muscle so I can beat Tommy!"

"You wish," said Tommy.

Wally sneered a friendly sneer, then shoved Tommy in the chest.

Tommy laughed, bounced his pecs once then raised an arm into a single bicep that he knew was a couple inches bigger than Wally's. "See this?" he said, the with his other arm shoved Wally in the chest, causing the boy to step back. "When we get to the gym, I'll show you how I'm gonna keep building muscle faster than you!"

"We'll go soon," said Jim, watching the boys as they started running around the yard again.

Inside, Monica was still talking to Ben, so the men went and found Dan.

"Your wife sent me here," he said to Terry.

"Ya, she does that to me too sometime," he agreed. "We talked to the boys. It seems Ben just freaked out. Is it true he doesn't play with other kids often?"

"Don't want the other kids to get hurt," Dan said as a way of an explanation. "You saw what he did to your two boys. Imagine if that happened to some kids without their physical development."

Between the lines, Terry and Jim heard a bit of pride from Dan in the way Ben had apparently beaten the two older boys.

From the kitchen, they heard Monica yell, "Terry, y'all can come in now."

The three men walked in. Monica did not look happy. In front of her were Dan's pictures.

"Sit down," she said sternly. The bachelor father's looked at Terry, who clandestinly shrugged, then moved to sit next to his wife.

"No, Dan, you sit here," she ordered politely.

"Uhm..." he said sitting down.

"No, I'll do the talking for a few minutes." She pulled out a picture of the shirt Dan divised to build his toddler son's pecs and shoulders. "Ben doesn't like shirts, does he."

"Well, lot's of young kids don't like clothes," he said. "My parents always tell the story about when I was three and went running down the street naked. It's a phase. He'll outgrow it. Besides, they don't make kid clothes for boys with muscles like his."

"That's not it," Monica said. "Have you ever asked him?" She pointed to the picture, tapping her finger like a second-grade teacher. "He doesn't like shirts because he feels confined. He feels trapped, like he can't move. He says that he's afraid that he can't move his arms, or that his body is compressed. So he rips out of them."

Dan looked confused.

"It's this shirt!" she shouted at him. "Think about a baby in this. Unable to move. Every motion a struggle. Arms pressed down by the clothes, crushing his body. And this!" She grabbed the picture of the crib. "Ben said Tom and Walter held his arms down. He panicked! He couldn't move. He did what he was trained to do... use everything in him to move the weight to get it off him. A baby... a poor little baby in this... this... torture device!"

Dan looked shocked at Monica's outburst.

"I'm sure Dan didn't mean..." Terry started, but Monica glared at him.

"I just wanted him to grow into all he could be," Dan said softly, picking up the pictures.

"You wanted him strong. The strongest! Did you ever pick him up? Did you ever cradle him in your arms? Did you ever read him fairy tales?" She started to cry.

"I'm a good father!" Dan said.

"Monica... I'm sure Dan did the best he could," Terry said. "Dan, I'm sorry. She gets..."

"It's OK," said Dan. "She's right. Maybe I was a bit too focussed."

"But that's why we need muscle camp," said Jim. "So our kids can be kids. Look, Tommy and Wally naturally wanted to work out. They want to be big and strong. We may have encouraged them a little, but it's in their souls to get huge."

"You have some good ideas," said Terry, pulling out Dan's plan for a gym. "But we also need to make time for them to play and just be kids." He pulled out a plan for a playground, cabins, a school, and the grounds. "Jim and I have the land, and we've started construction. If you're still interested."

Dan was looking at Monica. "I'm sorry," he said. "I only want the best for Ben. I never realized." He put his head down, starting at the crib.

"You men rarely do," Monica said. "I'm sorry I laid into you, but..."

"No, it's OK. You're right. He tried to tell me, but I didn't listen. Maybe..."

"Ben can come here any time to play with Tommy," she said, guessing his next question. "Why not even let him spend the week? Y'all can go and build your little project, and I'll take care of the boys."

Dan smiled. "Thanks." He looked at Terry and Jim. "Ya, I'm in. Show me what you have in mind."

[bribear1042]

All I can say is WOW!! This is turning into a GREAT muscle kid story. KUDOS Corwin. I cannot wait for Muscle Camp!!!

[lead guitarist]

Thanks for the new installment! This story is terrific. Having Ben be a troubled kid is an interesting twist - I'm looking forward to seeing how you deal with that, and how you develop his relationship with Wally.

My only criticism is that I would like even MORE description of the boys' muscles - their eye-popping physiques! And even MORE strength feats! But that's just me - there's never enough, IMO.

Also, please don't take this as a negative, but they don't HAVE to burst out of their shirts every chapter. Maybe that's getting a bit old. Just let 'em run around in their posing suits, so we can see their muscles, and let 'em show us their strength in a variety of ways.

Thanks again! This is one of my favorite stories!