Chapter 8

When we got back to the camp that afternoon, it was late. I would barely have time to shower before dinner.

Susan dropped me off at our cabin and I waved as she drove down the hill toward her house.

I rushed into the cabin, kicking my shoes off and stripping off my clothes.

“What took you all so long?”

I froze. I turned and saw Mom sitting on the couch, reading a book. My mind was moving at a thousand miles an hour, as I was furiously trying to think of some excuse for being in town so long.

Drawing a blank, I mumbled, “Car trouble,” and headed into the bathroom.

When I came out, I was drying my hair, hoping Mom had already gone down to the clubhouse.

She hadn’t.

“I hope everything was okay,” she said, clearly a prompt for me to explain further.

I may have been caught off guard earlier, but I wasn’t stupid.

“Uh-huh,” I said.

I could see that Mom was clearly not impressed with my brevity, but I guess she decided not to press the issue.

“What’s for dinner?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.

“I thought I’d fix grilled-cheese sandwiches with peas and carrots.”

“Sounds great!” I said and bolted.

I heard Mom follow me out of the cabin, but I didn’t slow down. I wanted to get away from any pointed questions about several missing hours this afternoon.

When I got to the clubhouse, I saw that there were many more people there than usual.

Six families had arrived that day. Most of them, I knew from summers past.

Dwight and his wife Karen had arrived, as expected, with their kids Trish and Jonathan. Trish was Erin’s age, but Jonathan was only eight or nine. I could see that Trish and Erin had already found each other, and were on one of the couches and chatting animatedly.

I was looking around to see who else I recognized when a pair of iron bands, which happened to be in the form of pale, strong arms, wrapped around my chest and heaved me into the air. I felt the breath whoosh out of me and saw stars as I was returned to the earth once again.

I turned around to find Manfred, one of my best friends at the camp. Manfred and I always got along well, although we couldn’t have been more different. Where I was short and pudgy, Manfred was tall and lanky. At fifteen, he was already taller than my dad.

And he was also the only person I knew who would sunburn faster than I did. He’d inherited his father’s fair skin, and he wore a t-shirt for practically the first week he was at camp, just to prevent a terrible sunburn. He’d inherited his hair from his mother, though, and it was a very pale blond. His father, John, was tall and thin too, with red hair and fair skin. Manfred’s mother, on the other hand, was one of the most statuesque women I’ve ever known. She wasn’t as tall as my dad, but she was at least 5’10”. She had the same pale blond hair that Manfred had, and she had a magnificent figure.

Many a night I had lain awake and envied Manfred. His mother, Ingrid, had high, firm breasts with pointy brown nipples. She tanned very easily and was always a beautiful golden brown. Her pubic hair matched the hair on her head, and it was so fair and fine that it seemed like she had a patch of spun gold at the junction of her legs. Too bad Manfred didn’t have a sister!

“Hey, little man, look who’s here,” Manfred fairly boomed down at me.

“Hey, Stick, when did y’all get here?”

“Couple hours ago. Where were you?”

“In town. I had to help Aunt Susan with some storm damage.” I decided that the less I said, the less I’d have to remember what I’d said to whom. “Where are you all staying?”

“The usual place,” Manfred said. They always stayed in one of the motel-style rooms in back of the first building.

I nodded. “Who else got here today? I’ve been gone since lunch.”

“Gina.”

The one name was all that we needed to share a conspiratorial look.

Gina was our age, and really fun to hang out with. She wasn’t a girly girl, afraid to get dirty or touch bugs or other stuff. She wasn’t a tomboy, but she sure wasn’t afraid to have fun. I’d had a crush on Gina since I’d first met her two summers earlier. Manfred knew about it, and teased me mercilessly; the way only a close friend can do, totally ruthless but not hurtful.

The last time I had seen Gina, last summer, she had wonderful cone-shaped breasts with pointy dark brown nipples. Her pubic hair had just developed into a respectable strip, and she had begun to show some flare between her waist and hips. I couldn’t wait to see how she’d changed since then.

Gina was also a package deal; she had two sisters. Her older sister Kara was about three years older than me. She had a gorgeous body, but was well out of my league, being older and very attractive. Gina also had a younger sister, Leah, who was about six months younger than Erin. Leah, like Erin, had just begun to develop.

What made the three girls truly beautiful was their mother, Elizabeth. Gina’s mother was English, of Indian parents, and very elegant. Elizabeth had passed on to her three daughters her beautiful café-au-lait complexion, lustrous black hair, and exotic dark eyes.

Gina’s father was a television producer, and took long vacations during the summer re-runs. They almost always stayed for several weeks at the camp. I had much to look forward to. I had many dreams of the doe-eyed, beautiful young Gina. Many dreams indeed.

Shaking myself out of my reverie, I looked up and Manfred was grinning down at me like an idiot.

“What’s she look like?” I asked, desperate to know.

“Just wait.”

“Manfred, you’ve got to tell me,” I almost whined at him.

“Just wait,” was all he’d say.

“Okay, Mr. Scandinavian Stubbornness, who else is here?”

“Norm and Dee were in here earlier; they pulled in after we did.”

He pronounced their names like “Normandy”—our pet name for the older couple who towed their own Airstream trailer—basically living year-round at nudist camps across America.

“And?” I prompted.

“That’s all I know,” he shrugged. “Oh, except for some new family. I haven’t met ‘em yet, but I know they’ve got three daughters and a son.”

“How old?”

“Dunno, just heard about ‘em from my folks.”

About that time, Mom came into the clubhouse and came over to where Manfred and I were talking.

“Hello, Manfred. How are you?”

“I’m fine, thanks, Mrs. Hughes. How are you?”

“You’re always so polite, Manfred. But you know you can call me Beth,” Mom said with a smile. “I’m fine, thank you. Although, I’d be even better if my helpful son would lend a hand fixing dinner. Do you know where I can find my helpful son?” she asked in mock earnestness.

“No, ma’am, I haven’t seen your helpful son,” Manfred said, grinning broadly. “I guess you’ll have to settle for Paul.”

With a grimace at Manfred and an “I’ll get you” shake of my fist, I followed Mom to the kitchen area.

At dinner, we talked about the new arrivals. Dwight and Karen, John and Ingrid (Manfred’s parents), Chris and Elizabeth (Gina’s parents), and Norm and Dee I already knew about.

Mom also told us that Stan and Terri would be staying in the cabin next to ours. It wasn’t really next to ours, being almost 100 feet away, but “next to” was apt enough. Stan was tall and wiry thin, and Terri was almost the exact opposite, a petite woman with short blond hair and smallish, cone-shaped breasts.

I found out that the Coulters, Gina’s family, were staying in the cabin above ours on the ridge. Dwight and Karen Delozier were staying in the cabin beyond Stan and Terri Dunbar’s.

Mom also told us that a new family had come to the camp. I perked up at this news, and so did Erin. Not that it was new news to me—in fact, Manfred had mentioned the new family already. But Mom had evidently already talked to them. John and Jessica Jordan, and their four children, were staying in one of the larger cabins behind the motel-style buildings.

Erin and I pressed for more information about their kids. Mom told us that they had three daughters, sixteen, thirteen, and ten, and a son, nine. She didn’t know their names, however. Erin perked up at the prospect of another girl her age, and I was quietly enthusiastic about a new sixteen-year-old girl at the camp. Erin would be out of my hair with three other girls her age, and I, at least, could have fun with Manfred and Gina, whether the new girl was any fun or not.

As I thought of spending time with my friends, my thoughts quickly turned to Susan. I definitely enjoyed the time we spent together, but the thought of missing time with my friends filled me with pangs of anxiety. But then the thought of not spending time with Susan drove all those thoughts from my mind.

Susan was definitely important to me, in ways I couldn’t really put my mental finger on. I didn’t know if I was falling in love with her or not, but the fact that she was one of the few people in the world who treated me like an adult meant a great deal to me. Susan treated me like a man, and I liked that. And, of course, my fifteen-year-old mind admitted, the sex was a lot of fun too.

After we’d finished eating, Erin and I helped Mom clean up the dishes. We both knew that if we were helpful, then Mom would let us do what we wanted for the rest of the night. She usually did, but ensuring things by helping out never hurt.

Most of the other families in the clubhouse were finishing dinner too, and we were just finishing cleaning up when Susan entered the building. She was wearing her bikini bottoms (I had gotten so used to seeing her without them that they almost looked out of place), and was greeting new arrivals.

As she made her way toward our table, Erin asked if she could go play with Trish and Leah. Mom said yes, and she raced off to find the other two girls.

“Hi, Beth,” Susan said as she came up to us. “I really appreciate you letting me monopolize Paul like I’ve been shamelessly doing. He’s been very helpful.”

“I’m glad he has. I’m very proud of him,” Mom said. “I understand you two had a bit of car trouble this afternoon.”

I almost choked on my own tongue! I wondered if I could kill myself by holding my breath. I hadn’t had time to tell Susan about the lame excuse I’d given Mom about why we were in town so long.

“Car trouble?” Susan asked innocently. “Not with my car, no,” she picked up smoothly. “We went to the hardware store, but they didn’t have the panels we needed. So we had to order them from Spartanburg. That took some time,” Susan said calmly.

“I’m glad to hear you didn’t have car trouble,” Mom said, shooting an ominous glance at me.

“Oh, I didn’t say we didn’t have a bit of car trouble, it just wasn’t with my car,” Susan said, coming to my rescue.

“Oh?” Mom asked.

“When we were leaving the hardware store, we happened to run across the cashier from the grocery store from yesterday. Paul and I both remembered her because she was so nice.”

Mom arched an eyebrow at me and nodded for Susan to continue.

“She was the one having car trouble. So Paul suggested that we stop and help her out.”

“Very nice of him,” Mom said.

“Always help a lady in distress,” I chirped up with what I hoped was an innocent expression.

“We ended up giving her a ride home, and she invited us in for a cold drink as a way of saying thanks. I guess we stayed there longer than we thought. She was a very nice young woman.”

“Ah,” Mom said.

“So I guess that’s what Paul meant when he told you we had ‘car trouble,’” Susan said.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t make that clearer, Mom,” I apologized as sheepishly as I could.

“Anyway,” Susan said, “I just wanted to stop by and tell you what a wonderful job Paul is doing, and how helpful he’s been.”

“Thank you,” Mom said, smiling at me.

Susan turned to me, “And since we’ve been working so hard these past few days, why don’t we take tomorrow off and take a little R&R?”

“You’re sure?” I asked. I felt my panic building, then thought about the situation from Susan’s perspective and relaxed somewhat. Besides, I did want to spend time with my friends.

“Sure, Paul,” Susan said dismissively. “We’ve got Monday to finish the boxes on the back wall, and the roof panels won’t be in until next Wednesday.”

“Okay. Fine by me,” I said.

“Good then, it’s settled,” Susan said. “Have a nice night.”

“You do the same,” Mom said.

Susan turned to talk to another family and Mom turned to me.

“Car trouble? Do you know how worried I was about you?”

“Sorry, Mom, I should’ve explained better,” I said contritely.

“Oh well, it’s water under the bridge now,” she said, letting me off the hook.

Suddenly, she was hugging me again. I hugged her back, feeling a little awkward.

“I was just worried about you, honey,” she said.

I resolved myself not to get an erection, and Mom obliged me by releasing me fairly quickly.

“Now go find Manfred and try to stay out of trouble,” Mom said, laughing.

The next day was Sunday, and for the first time in several days, it was a normal “camp day.” Not that I was complaining. The past four days had been like an emotional whirlwind; a very enjoyable whirlwind at that.

As it turned out, the new family had a thing for J’s. The next morning, while we were eating breakfast in the clubhouse (I wondered wickedly what Susan was having for breakfast), we met them at last.

John and Jessica Jordan entered the clubhouse and began making the rounds, introducing themselves. Erin and I met Jenny, Jill, Jackie, and John Junior—sixteen, thirteen, ten, and nine, respectively. John Jordan was an average looking guy, but his wife could’ve been a model.

Jessica was a little taller than I was, with lustrous dark brown hair. She was thin, with a fine-boned face and high, firm breasts. She had long legs and slender hips, a narrow tuft of pubic hair, and a tanned complexion. Her daughters were remade in her image, in varying stages of development. Jenny was taller than I was, with a body almost identical to her mother’s. I got the feeling that she didn’t want to have anything to do with someone who was only fifteen. So much for her. Erin and Jill hit it off first thing, and Jill joined the group formed by my sister, Trish, and Leah.

But the real surprise of my morning was Gina. Her parents came down for breakfast first, then she and her older sister came into the clubhouse.

I was stunned.

The last time I had seen Gina, she had still been developing. Now, she had blossomed into full womanhood. She was still about 5’4”, but her breasts were now luscious, full and round, capped by beautiful dark brown nipples. Her narrow waist flared to full hips, leading to very well-proportioned, trim legs. Her pubic hair was a neat strip, fuller in the middle and sparser on the edges. She had also let her hair grow; her shoulder-length jet black tresses were wavy and shone in the morning light. She was a darkly exotic beauty. More so now than ever.

I had just resolved myself to go and talk to her when I felt a thud in my right arm.

“Hiya, little man,” Manfred said as he sat down at the table. “What’d I tell ya?”