"Come on. I want to show you something," Erin Simms said to Jake.

Both Jake Alistair and Erin lived on the ranch, a privately run refuge for troubled kids and for those that had nowhere else to go. Erin belonged to the first group of kids, and Jake belonged to the other. Jake had never known his father, and his mother had died of cancer six months before. They hadn't any relatives that he knew of, or that the child welfare authorities could find; and few people were looking to adopt a twelve year-old, so either they sent him to the ranch or put him in a foster home. They'd sent him to the ranch just two weeks before. So far, Erin was the only friend Jake had made. She was thirteen, a year older than he was.

Jake didn't make friends easily. He was a nice enough kid, perhaps too nice, but he stuttered whenever he was stressed; and ashamed that he did, he usually kept his mouth shut. For that reason, he hadn't made friends with the other boys. Too, not yet into puberty, he was small for his age. His dick hadn't begun growing; nor did he have any pubic hair. The other boys made fun of him for that reason, making fun of his little dick.

Erin, though, had sought him out. He'd been afraid to talk to her, sure that he would stutter. He had stuttered, of course, but she hadn't seemed to notice; so he no longer did when he talked to her. He didn't know why she liked him; she was a half head taller than he was and already had tits.

They were nice actually, two distinct mounds pressing against her t-shirt; and since she didn't wear bras like many of the other girls, her nipples often left impressions on her t-shirts. Without fail, the sight of those impressions always made Jake's dick stiff. Maybe, just maybe, it was beginning to grow. Jake examined it each day, hoping it had and examined the area of his groin above it for the first sign of hair. So far, all he had was peach fuzz. He hated being the only kid in his barracks without hair. He had to shower with the other boys, and invariably, one of them made a comment about his smooth skin and little cock.

"What's going on?" he asked, as he ran to catch up with Erin.

"They're banding the lambs today," she said. "I want to watch."

"What do you mean, they're banding the lambs?" Jake, of course, knew there were lambs on the ranch -- they raised sheep, after all -- but he had no idea what she meant about banding them.

"You'll see," she said, "Now, come on. I don't want to miss any of it."

* * *

Back behind the barn, the two of them climbed up on the fence. The corral was full of lambs. Four older boys were working them. As they watched, two of them held a lamb down, while a third held some pressed some device, like a big pair of pliers, between its rear legs. The lamb let out a squeal, then the boys released it into another pen. The fourth boy was already bringing them another lamb.

"What are they doing?" asked Jake.

"They're banding them," said Erin.

"But," Jake started.

About that time, one of the boys, hearing him, looked up and said, "Hey, Kid, come over here, and we'll do you next."

"Yeah," said another one of the boys, one in Jakes dorm, "he ain't got nothing to lose. They ain't even started to grow yet. How about it, Kid. Want us to band you?"

Jake's face turned red. He still wasn't sure what they meant, but he knew they were making fun of him, so he didn't answer. The boys laughed, but having a corral full of lambs to do, soon went back to work.

"What are they doing?" Jake asked Erin after a minute.

"They're banding them, Silly."

"What do you mean, they're banding them?" asked Jake.

"They're banding their balls. Don't you know anything?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," said Jake; but he still didn't know what that meant. He didn't want to have to ask, but they were too far away for him to clearly see what the boys were doing to the lambs. Finally, his curiosity go the best of him, and he asked, "Why are they banding them?"

"They grow bigger if they have their balls banded," said Erin, "and it makes them happier. They don't fight so much."

"Does it hurt them?" asked Jake.

Erin shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe a little at first, but," she said, pointing to the ones in the other pen, the ones that had been banded, "they don't seem to mind now. Do you want your balls banded?' Now, Jake did turn red. Erin had never mentioned either his dick or his balls before. It was bad enough that his dick got hard when he was around her.

"You don't have any hair, do you?" she asked. "I heard some of the other boys say you didn't."

"I -- I -- I --," Jake stammered, embarrassed, stuttering, unable to get his words out.

"Come on," Erin said, jumping down from the fence. She reached up, holding her hand out to him. Jake hesitated, then jumped down, too. He wasn't about to stay up there by himself.

"Whe -- whe -- where're we going?" he asked.

"In the barn," she said. He followed her into the barn. They climbed into the loft. Once up there, she said, "OK, let me see."

"Let -- let -- let -- you see what?"

"Drop your pants. I want to see if you have any hair."

Jake shook his head, "No," he finally got out.

"You show me yours, and I'll show you mine," Erin said. "You want to see my tits, don't you? I see you looking at them all the time."

Jake did want to see her tits, and he wanted to see the rest, too. He'd never seen a girl naked. He'd seen pictures of naked girls -- one of the boys in the dorm had an old Playboy magazine -- but he'd never seen a living, breathing, girl, naked. Reaching for his pants, Erin began fumbling with the snap on the fly of his jeans. He wasn't wearing a belt.

He didn't stop her. His dick was hard, thinking about seeing -- actually seeing -- her tits. She pulled down his zipper, then slid his jeans down past his knew. Jake glanced down, seeing the not too substantial tent his hard dick made in his white briefs. Erin pull his briefs down, too, sliding them down to his knees.

"Cool," Erin said. "You don't have any hair." Reaching over, she cupped his balls in her hand.

"Oh -- oh," Jake said. Involuntarily, he thrust with his hips, feeling his groin contract, shuddering as the feeling spread from his dick, throughout his groin, clear up to the back of his neck. He didn't know what it was, but it felt good.

"Did you just come?" Erin asked, when Jake opened his eyes. He didn't realize until then that he'd shut them.

"I don't know," said Jake. "I've never felt anything like it before." He didn't stutter this time.

"I think you did," she said.

Jake looked down. Nothing had shot from his dick. He'd watched other boys in his dorm jack off. When they did, white spunk shot from their dicks. "I didn't shoot," he said.

"That's because you don't have any hair. You can't shoot until you grow hair. You can come, but you can't shoot. Did you like it?"

Jake nodded.

"Take off your shirt," she said. "Let's get naked." She started unbuttoning her jeans. When Jake, busily watching her, didn't move, she said, "Come on. Get your clothes off." Jake quickly pulled his t-shirt over his head. He didn't want to miss anything. She was just pulling down her jeans, her panties along with them, when he was able to see again. She had hair -- lots of hair -- between her legs. He stood there, his hand wrapped around his dick, not realizing he was holding onto it, while she pulled her t-shirt over her head. In a moment, they were both naked.

Erin spread their t-shirts on the straw, then pulled him down on top of them. She reached over, grabbing his balls once again. He didn't come this time -- if that's what he'd done -- but he wasn't far from it. "You're just the right age," she said.

"The right age for what?" Jake asked.

"The right age to be banded," said Erin. "It's best to do it while your balls are still small, before you grow hair Can I band you?"

"I -- I don't know," said Jake. "Will I grow bigger like the sheep, if I have my balls banded?"

"I don't see why not," said Erin. "The sheep do."

Jake did want to grow. He was tired of being the smallest boy in his dorm. "Will it hurt?" he asked.

Erin shrugged. "Some maybe, but only for a while. It doesn't seem to bother the lambs. I don't see why you would be any different."

"If I let you band me, will you let me touch your --," he stared at her tits.

She glanced down. "My tits?" Jake nodded. "Sure, she said. "You can even stick your thing in my snatch, if you let me band you first."

"You mean you'd let me fuck you?" Jake, of course, knew about fucking. The older boys talked about it all the time. He wasn't certain how to do it, but he knew it involved sticking his dick into a girl's pussy; and that's what Erin had just offered to let him do.

"Stay here," said Erin. "I know where they keep another bander and some bands." She stood up, walking over to the ladder that descending down into the lower part of the barns. Jake lay on the straw, his dick throbbing. He was about to get some pussy.

In a few minutes, Erin was back with a device similar to the one the boys had been using on the lambs. She had what looked like several little green rubber bands, except they were thicker, round, instead of flat. She spread the band, having a little trouble doing it at first, but finally had one spread on the device. She held it to his groin. "Help me out," she said. "Pull your balls through it."

Jack reached through the spread band, grabbing hold of his ball sac, pulling it through the band. With the bander tight against the base of his sac, Erin released the band. It snapped tight against the base of Jake's balls.

"Ow!" said Jake. "That hurts."

"Don't be such a baby," Erin said. "It just hurts at first. Here. Maybe this will help." She took his dick into her mouth. Jake forgot about the pain in his balls. It seemed to be lessening, anyway. Before long, he came again; and this time, he was certain that he had. If anything shot out this time, he couldn't tell. His dick had been in Erin's mouth the whole time. He got to touch her tits, and she let him fuck her. He came again. His balls hurt, but what she was letting him do was worth a little pain.

After a while, his balls had really begun to hurt. "I think you'd better take it off," he said.

Erin shook her head. "We can't take it off," she said. "It has to stay on."

"But it's really beginning to hurt," he said.

"You made a deal," she said. "You said I could band you, if I let you touch my tits. I let you, and I even gave you a blow job. You can't back out now."

"I didn't know it would hurt this much. You said it wouldn't hurt."

"I said I didn't think it hurt the lambs," she said. "Maybe boys are different."

"Well, it does hurt."

"Just a minute," she said. She stood up, walking to the opposite side of the loft, coming back in a moment with a length of rope.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I'm going to tie you up, so you don't wimp out on me."

"No. Take the band off. It hurts."

"Either you let me tie you up, or I'll say you raped me. I've got your DNA all over me. That'll prove you raped me. They'll put you in jail for life. I like you, but you said I could band you. I'm not letting you back out now."

Of course, Jake had seen all the TV programs where they'd proved rape through DNA matches, and he supposed his DNA was all over her, maybe even inside her. "Look," she said. "It's going to stop hurting in a bit. You just have to tough it out. I'll go get you some Tylenol or something. Now, roll over on your stomach, so I can tie your hands."

Not feeling that he had much choice, Jake rolled over onto his stomach. She tied his hands behind his back, then tied his feet -- then stuffed his underwear into his mouth, tying them in place with a rag. "I don't want you screaming," she said. "I'll be back in a minute with some Tylenol -- and some ice. Maybe some ice would help."

Erin brought back an ice bag full of ice, four Tylenol, and a sandwich. She took off his gag. "How does it feel?" she asked.

"It really hurts," Jake said.

"Here," she said, placing the ice bag on his balls, "does that help?"

"Not really," said Jake. "It hurts way inside."

"Well, here. Take the Tylenol." She popped them into his open mouth, then gave him a drink of water out of a glass she'd brought.

After a few hours, the pain had subsided to a dull ache in his groin. His balls, themselves, no longer hurt. They had turned black. "Why are they black?" he asked Erin.

"Probably dead," she said.

"What do you mean, dead," Jake asked.

"Didn't you know?" she asked. "Banding kills them. They'll fall off after a while."

"My balls will fall off?"

"Sure. Didn't you know that?" she said.

"No," said Jake. "I thought banding them would just make me grow."

"I don't know," said Erin. "Sheep get bigger once they're castrated."

"I didn't want to be castrated," said Jake. He thought castrated meant having your balls cut off. He'd read about eunuchs that had had theirs cut off.

She grabbed his balls, squeezing them. "Can you feel that?" she asked. Jake shook his head. "Too late," she said. "They're dead. You're already castrated."

By suppertime, Jake was no longer in much pain. The Tylenol and the ice had helped; he no longer had any feeling in his balls; and the ache in his groin had eased. Erin helped him dress. "Don't tell anyone I banded you," she said. "When they find out you've been banded, tell them you did it to yourself. Deal? You agreed to let me do it, remember? If you tell them I did it, I'll tell them you raped me."

"OK," said Jake.

She kissed him. That alone, almost made having his balls banded worthwhile. He felt his dick stir, becoming hard. She saw it and laughed. "See, having your balls banded hasn't slowed you down. We'll fool around tomorrow, if you want."

"OK," said Jake, again.

Jake told the nurse he had a headache and got some more Tylenol. By morning, he no longer hurt. He didn't shower, because he didn't want the other boys to see his black balls or the band around them. They were black and cold to the touch. No matter how hard he squeezed them, he couldn't feel it.

It was two days before someone discovered his banded balls. By that time, they'd begun to stink. True to his word, he said he'd done it himself. They took him in to the doctor, who had no choice but to cut them off.

Over the next few years at the ranch, Jake grew a little hair around his dick, but not like he would have, had he still had balls. His dick grew, as he grew, but not like it would have, had he gone through puberty. It still got hard, though, and he and Erin continued to have sex. He climaxed, usually more than once, each time they had sex, but he never shot. Other than a small scar, he was smooth below his dick. Having his balls cut off did seem to make him grow. He had longer arms and legs than did the other boys.

It wasn't so bad, being banded. He could fuck Erin and never worry about getting her pregnant. He suspected she wouldn't have let him fuck her, had he still had balls. Call it a trade off, his balls for all the sex he wanted; and he still wanted it, even though he no longer had balls.