The College Thespian - Chapter Two - The Sporting Goods Store

**The College Thespian - Chapter Two - The Sporting Goods Store**

“We have volunteer forms right over there,” the salesgirl said with a smile. “Would you like to go over and watch the demonstration?”



“Can we?!” Leah said, looking to her mother.



“I guess, but don’t we have someone waiting for us at home?”



“Yeah, but he’s working on his paper anyway, so we don’t have to get back right away.”



“I suppose you’re right. We can stay and watch.”



“Yes!! Maybe I can get some ideas for the play?!” Leah screeched. 



“If you follow me, we have a couple sets of bleachers over this way,” the salesgirl said.



“You have bleachers just for this?” Sarah asked.



“Isn’t it great? Originally, we had a small set-up just as a prop for the store, but these testing events got so large we had to bring in a couple of real sets. People love it. Looks like they’re about to start.”



The three ladies took a seat in the front row of the bleachers and sat in anticipation of what was about to transpire in front of them. 



Another salesgirl, also drop-dead gorgeous, stepped in front of the gathering audience, a microphone in hand who appeared to be the emcee for the event. 

“Welcome everyone! We are glad to have you here for another evening of our most popular event, the personal protection testing series!" The crowd of mostly ladies cheered with glee. "Today, our subject is William from the high school football team, whose mother so graciously signed him up, allowing us to ensure he is properly protected for this football season! Thank you for volunteering your son."



“You can’t be too careful,” the mother said into the mic. “I just think it’s so wonderful that you offer this service. Now I will know for sure my son is going to be protected. Especially after what happened last week.”



“Oh, and what happened last week?”



“Is it okay if I tell them?” The mother asked her son, who was now restrained to a vertical device, holding his hands back and feet spread fairly far apart. The son was far too distracted by the attractive ladies securing him down to even really notice what his mother was saying.



Pulling the mic closer to her mouth, the mother now stood up and turned to face the audience. “See, my son thought it would be okay to play football without proper protection at last week’s game and, well, he went to block a punt and he blocked it alright, but unfortunately, the punter’s foot lodged right between my poor baby’s legs and he had to be carried off the field.” There was an audible gasp heard throughout the crowd, which now seemed to be at full capacity.



“As you could imagine, as his mother, I was shocked that he wasn’t wearing any protection. I wanted to bring him here five days ago, but the swelling was so bad, he couldn’t even walk. But we’re here tonight and I’m eager to get him fitted with proper protection.”



The sales girl took the mic back. “Ouch! That had to hurt!” She said with a laugh, causing most of the crowd to follow suit. “Let’s hear it for this brave mother! We’re so glad you came. Now how about we start the demonstration!”



The crowd roared its approval. The emcee walked over to the test subject who was standing there in only the jockstrap and a half-cut T-shirt, showing off his ripped abs, “How you feeling?” She asked. 



“Okay, I guess. This jock seems a little tight, though.” He said with a little worry in his voice. 



“That’s what they all say, am I right?” The salesgirl said with a wink to the crowd. “I’m sure it fits just fine.” Then she turned to the soccer players. “Are you ladies ready to work your magic?”



They all screamed out in unison their readiness. 



“Let the kicking begin!”



Leah grabbed a hold of her mother’s arm, “This is so exciting.” Sarah couldn’t disagree. She was a little worried about how both of them were perhaps a bit too excited about this event. Then the kicking started.



“Do you have your cleats on?” The emcee asked. All of the soccer players nodded and showed their shoes. “Are you ready, William?” The young man nodded a nervous nod. “Start the kicking!”



A cheer came from the audience as the first soccer player approached the football player. Without breaking eye contact, the girl took two deliberate steps toward her target and launched a lethal kick into the groin of the now-sweating young man. 



“Ohhhh!!” The crowd yelled. 



“Great job! I could feel that one from here! Next!" The emcee said with a laugh.



The next young lady didn’t waste any time either. With a large grin on her face she too, swept her foot rapidly upward, making direct contact with the cup inside the jockstrap. It made a fairly loud sound and the crowd was once again, enthusiastic.



“Wonderful kick!” The emcee inserted as she walked over to the boy. “How you feeling?” 



The young man glanced at his mother, knowing how important this was to her. “Ummm, pretty good I guess. I definitely felt that last one.” That elicited a cheer from the crowd.



“Well, these are designed to take most of the blow, but there will always be some, ahh, discomfort with any direct hit. No ruptures yet, though right?” The boy’s face dropped. “I’m kidding! It’s been weeks since we’ve had a rupture here at The Platform. Shall we continue?”



The crowd cheered loudly and William swallowed hard as the next girl approached.



This girl had a little something different up her sleeve. She walked very slowly to the awaiting target, placed both of her hands on his shoulders and thrust her knee up with wicked force, causing him to bend over as much as he could within his restraints. 



“Oh!! The knee thrust! That was a good one, Candy!!” The emcee praised. “Only two more to go. William, are you ready, or do you need time to catch your breath after that one?” The crowd chuckled, heck, even William’s mother laughed at the joke.



The next soccer player took a running start and slammed her cleat into the awaiting cup. It almost sounded like it cracked. Again, William bent forward and gasped for air. 



“Damn!! That one had to hurt!!” The crowd cheered with approval. “How you feeling, Willy?”



The boy looked over at his mother, his eyes pleading to end this. “Mom,” he said, simply ignoring the emcee and the crowd, “they’re starting to swell again. Can we be done?”



“You only have one more soccer player to go, then, of course, we let one lucky audience member take a turn. Can you handle two more kicks?”



She put the mic in front of his mouth. “They’re really sore and I think I feel the right one slipping out.”



“The right what?” The emcee asked, teasing the poor boy.



“My right nut.”



“Oh, your right nut is slipping out? That can't be good! Do you want me to tuck it back in?” His face dropped yet again. “Or perhaps we could have your mother help you with that, since you're a little tied at the moment? What do you say mom? Can you help him out?”



William’s mom slowly got up from the bleachers and whispered to her son, “which nut is it, honey?”



“My rrr, rr, right one. I can feel it coming out of the cup.”



So his mother crouched down in front of him, “Oh, yeah, I can see the nut peeking out, right here.” She said, gently poking at the nut. Her long fingernails sent a shiver all through his body, causing him to wince in pain. 



“Careful, we’d hate to have your own mother partially castrate you, am I right people?”



That sent the crowd into hysterics, even Sarah and Leah laughed, with Leah turning to her saying, “could you imagine if you ruptured your own son’s nut? That would be something, wouldn’t it?” Sarah returned a smile when William cried out again.



“Mom!!” He said, “that really hurts.”



“Well, I have to get it in there! You don't want to be kicked in this state do?!! Here, let just give it one more good push and get it back into the cup.” As she did, William clenched his teeth. She pushed the nut hard with her fingers, holding her breath as she did. “There!” She said. “It’s back in the cup!”



“Wonderful! Great job mom. We might have to hire you, haha!”



What William’s mother didn’t realize was she had pushed the right nut so hard that it caused the left one to shift just to the edge of the cup. William was in such pain at this point that he couldn’t even tell.



“Our last soccer player is Mindy. Mindy are you ready?” She gave a thumbs up and sauntered over to the young man. When she got to him, she turned around so her back was facing him. 



“Oh, are you doing what I think you’re doing?” The emcee asked.



Mindy nodded. 



“You are in for a treat, folks. Miss Mindy has a lethal back kick and you’re all about to experience it. Well, William is more than most of you. Let’s see it, Min!” A huge cheer came from the crowd.



Mindy bent forward a touch, slowly brought her right heel up to William’s crotch until it made contact with the cup. His heart began to race. And before he could take another breath, Mindy sent her right heel slamming into the cup. 



The crowd gasped at the speed and force of the blow. William let out a huge burst of breath, like he just got the wind knocked out of him. Then applause. 



“Mindy, that was wonderful!!!” the emcee praised, walking over to William. “How was that, Willy?” 



“It was hard, really hard,” William said, his voice two octaves higher, sending the audience into fits of laughter. “Well, you survived in tact, so that’s great. Would you recommend this cup to other boys?”



“Yes. Yes, I would,” he said even more squeak in his voice. 



“Glad to hear it, Mickey Mouse, ha!! Just kidding, just kidding. Well, we have one more kick to go, who would like to do the honors?”



As enthusiastic as the crowd was, no one was volunteering. Seems they loved watching the carnage, but none of them wanted to participate. Then Sarah elbowed Leah in the ribs. “Really?” Leah whispered, “Do you think I should?”



“Why not? It would be great practice for you before we head home to kick your brother.”



Seeing the two speaking, the emcee worked her way over to their end of the bleachers. “Was someone contemplating helping us out?” Sarah then put her hand on her daughter’s back, “I think you found yourself a volunteer.”



“That’s wonderful, and what’s your name?”



“Leah.”



“Leah, do you have any experience kicking boys?”



“Well, I was a cheerleader all through high school.” This drew hearty laughter and applause from the audience.



“Sounds qualified to me! Do you want to help us out?”



“Sure!” Leah said, not hiding the huge grin on her face.



“Why don’t you step over here with me?” The two made their way towards William and stopped a few feet in front of him. Leah’s nipples were thrusting obscenely upward, she was so excited. She looked like a Playboy model with her platinum-blonde hair cascading to her shoulders. William could clearly see her nipples through the nearly transparent top. It was a momentary delightful respite from the carnage he had suffered up to that point.



“Now, before we start, do you have any questions?” The emcee asked.



Leah meekly pulled at the mic and said, “Do guys really rupture their nuts during these demonstrations?”



“Whoa! Heading right the the “R” word with your question. I like this girl!” The emcee chuckled. “Well, we haven’t had any guys rupture *both* nuts, so when you use the plural, I’d say no. But, have we had guys lose one nut during our testing? Sure. We have. We’re not proud of it, but it happens. But I’m proud to say it has never been from a defective product. We sell only the finest in men’s groin protection, just like the one William has on here. Any other questions?”



“Doesn’t that hurt?” Leah asked innocently. 



That sent the crowd into a fit of laughter, Leah looking around not knowing what she said that was so funny.



“I’m not a guy, but from what I’ve observed, it would seem that it is quite painful, yes. Now any other questions?"



“When can we start?!!”



“Ahhh, that’s more like it. You can kick whenever you’re ready. What type of kick would you like to administer? Or do you want it to be a surprise?”



“I really liked that back kick?”



“The one that Mindy just did?” Leah nodded her head. “Wonderful choice! Although, this one is a little trickier. Perhaps we could have Mindy come back out here and give you some pointers? Mindy come on out! Let’s hear it for Mindy everyone!” The crowd responded with roaring enthusiasm as Mindy joined them.



“So Mindy, Leah here would like some pointers on executing the back kick, can you help her out?”



“Sure, let’s get set in front of him.” They positioned themselves in front of William and turned their backs. “First, you want to line up your foot with the target, like this.” She said as she slowly brought her right heel up to his groin. “Then once you have a feel for where the target is, bring your foot forward to here, and then, WHAM! Send it back into his nuts," as she said this she slammed her hell back into William's groin, catching everyone off-guard - mostly William.


"Whoa!!" The emcee shouted. "I did NOT see that one coming!" The audience was whooping it up for Mindy. Leah looked longingly at her new hero and said under her breath, "that was amazing."



"Aww, thanks girlfriend. You ready to try? You can hold onto my shoulder if it helps you balance better. This can be a tricky kick.” Everyone seemed to be ignoring poor William as he had a coughing fit from the last kick.



Leah put her right hand on Mindy’s shoulder. She brought her foot up to the cup as instructed, then slowly lifted her foot up to her front - paused and looked at Mindy - then whoosh, she sent her heel into William’s groin. But she didn’t quite hit the target, she hit just to the left of the cup, really hitting mostly the inside of his thigh. William drew a breath of relief, thinking he dodged a bullet. “Wait, wait, wait, I didn’t do that right!” Leah pleaded. “Can I do it again?”



The emcee paused, looked around and said with a smile, “I don’t see why not! We don’t really have any hard and fast rules during these demonstrations. Go ahead. Take your time. You can do this!”



What no one really noticed was that the last strike, while not very effective, it caused William’s left nut to slip even more out of the cup. 



“I might need to adjust,” William said to deaf ears. “This doesn’t feel right. Anyone?!!”



As Leah brought her foot up to line up the next strike, she could clearly see the nut halfway out of the cup. “Are you sure this is okay?” She asked the emcee, whose view was blocked and couldn’t see the exposed nut. 



“Of course, dear.” The emcee said. “His cup has held on thus far, I’m sure he’s still well protected.”



Leah looked over at William’s mother who nodded in approval. The she looked at Mindy. "You got this," Mindy said, stroking her back.



“Okay, here goes!” She said, dropping her foot from the target, gripping Mindy’s shoulder tightly, and thrusting with all her might, her right heel, making direct contact with the exposed nut. “POP!!” 



The sound was heard throughout the building. Some who were shopping across the store even looked over at what was happening. The emcee knew right away what happened. She was quite familiar with that sound. Mindy and the soccer players also knew. Most in the audience had no idea. They figured it was the sound of the cup. Even William’s mother didn’t realize what just happened. She was so excited that Leah did the kick correctly, that she quickly stood up and went over to give the girl a hug.



“That was marvelous, dear,” she said, hugging Leah tightly. “After that first kick, I wasn’t sure if you could do it. But that one was right on target, simply perfect!”



Seeing William passed out, Sarah quickly got up and went over to Leah. “Yes, that was wonderful, honey, but we’ve got to get going back home,” she said, grabbing her daughter’s hand. 



“Aren’t we going to buy a jockstrap for Cory?”



“Yes, yes, of course, but it’s getting quite late and we really should be going. It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Williams. Good luck to your son in football this year.” And they hurried to the jockstrap section of the store. Sarah really wanted to get out of there quickly, before anyone figured out what had happened to William.



“Can I help you?” A striking brunette asked.



“Yes, we need groin protection for my son, can you help me out?”



“Is he here? We have a measuring lab right over there.”



“No, no, he’s at home. But his waist measurement is 32 inches.”



“Okay, what kind of protection do you need exactly?”



“Nut protection,” Leah chimed in, a little miffed at the question.



“Of course, but what kind of activity will he be participating in? Football, basketball?”



“Haha, no, nothing like that,” Sarah chuckled. “He doesn’t do sports. It’s for a play.”



“Oh, a play. I see. I have just the jock for you.” The salesgirl said, grabbing one off the self. “Here, if he’s got a 32-inch waist, you’ll want a medium jockstrap. This is one of our most popular brands.”



Sarah snatched it from the salesgirl, grabbed Leah and pulled her towards the checkout lanes, wanting to get out of their as quickly as possible. When they got to the checkout lane, there were a few mothers and their sons already in line, holding what appeared to be jockstraps as well. But Leah noticed their packaging looked a little different from what they had. Like it was bulkier, larger. She tried craning her neck to see the difference. 



“Were you here for the demonstration?” The girl at the checkout counter asked the mother in front of them. (And yes, even the checkout girl was gorgeous - who hires these girls?)



“We caught some of it, yes. It was amazing,” the mother said, pulling out her credit card. “It's such a wonderful service that you offer. Although, that poor boy seemed pretty out of it at the end.”



“Yeah,” the checkout girl said nonchalantly. “We had another rupture with that one.”



“Really?" the mother said, “is that what that sound was?”



“I wasn’t there, but if you mean that popping sound everyone heard, then yes, that was what we call an MOR.”



“A MOR?” The woman asked.



“The ‘moment of rupture.’ Happens here a lot. That will be $39.50.”



Leah looked up to her mom. “Mom?”



“It’s our turn honey, here,” Sarah said, handing the jock to the checkout girl.



“Ahh, the old fashioned jockstrap. Not many guys wear these any more,” the checkout girl said. The comment going past Leah and Sarah. 



“That will be $15.50.”



“How about that?” Sarah said, “It must be on sale.”



As they were heading toward the exit they heard a shout in their direction. “Wait! Wait!” The young lady yelled. Sarah’s heart dropped. The jig was up. They were caught. Would probably be stuck with a huge medical bill.



“Leah, Leah!” The girl said from about 10 feet away. It was Mindy from the demonstration. “We wanted you to have this,” she said holding up a pin. She took the back of the pin off and reached out to pin it on Leah’s blouse. “You are now part of the club. Well done.” 



Leah looked down to see it was a cute pin of two acorns. Then she noticed that Mindy had four of them pinned to her uniform. 



“Hope to see you back here again soon,” Mindy said as she gave her a peck on the cheek and ran back to the other soccer players, half of whom also wore the same pin. 



Leah looked up at her mother, who was still anxious to leave the store.



“That was weird,” Leah said, following her mother out the door. “But this is cute!”



On the drive home both ladies were pretty quite. Finally, just before they got home, Leah spoke up. “Mom? Did I just rupture that guy’s nut?”



“Now honey, we don’t know that for sure. They do a lot of demonstrations there. They could have been talking about a guy from earlier.”



Leah paused, “Did you hear that sound? It was awful.”



“Yes, I heard it.”



“It sounded like a large balloon popping, didn’t it?”



“Well…”



“I popped that guy’s nut, didn't I?”



“Now honey, we don’t know that for sure. And besides, that’s why guys are born with two. They can lose one and still be fully functional down there.”



“Really?”



“Yes, really. Goodness, I need to speak to the health teacher at the high school.”



Sarah pulled into the garage and turned to face her daughter. “Now listen, what you did was an accident. It could have been any one of those girls that popped that kid’s nut. It was an accident.” Then she paused, a slight smile growing on her face. “I bet that felt pretty empowering, though, right?”



“It was amazing,” Leah said trying to hold back a smile of her own. “I had no idea I had that in me.”



“Oh, you certainly do, young lady. Just remember that when you’re practicing on your brother. We don’t want any ruptures.”



“I’d be sick to my stomach if I ruptured either of his nuts,” Leah said, pausing in contemplation…”Mom what happens if a guy ruptures both nuts? Can he still, ya know, do stuff?”



“Did you ever even go to health class?” Sarah said incredulously. “If a man loses both balls he goes sterile for life. He can’t have kids, he can’t even get it up.”



“Wow,” Leah said under her breath. “But at least they wouldn’t feel any more pain when they got kicked there again, right? If they were missing both nuts?”



Sarah started chuckling, “I mean…you’re not wrong. I’m not sure if a guy would look at it quite that way. But I like your optimism.”



“What do you suppose this is for?” Leah asked, looking down at her pin.



Sarah had a pretty good idea what it symbolized, but she didn’t have the heart to tell her daughter the truth. She had been through enough already.



As they got out of the car, Leah reached into the shopping bag and pulled out the jockstrap. “These are funny things, aren’t they? This is all that stands between having regular, healthy balls, and getting his balls turned to mush and going sterile. They should cost a lot more than that.”



“That’s one way to look at it,” Sarah laughed. “How about you get back on the horse and go get some more practice in with your brother. You are the star of the play, after all!”



“Thanks for cheering me up, mom,” Leah said, leaning over to give her a hug. “I promise I’ll be careful.”



“Maybe no back-kicks for a while.”



“Good idea.”