Chapter 1

I wandered back to my aunt's house in a daze, absently removing the film from the camera, and replacing it with a fresh one as I walked. I was still stunned at the antics of the girls at the beach, and I'd been replaying it in my mind, over and over.

By the time I got back, I could see my aunt through the kitchen window, her smile so like the one my mother flashed from time to time. The one I'd so seldom caught on film. Aunt Sally was a few years younger, and definitely a little more mischievous. She waved to me as I opened the gate, and beckoned me to come inside.

Visiting Sally always had a strange effect on me. I felt as though I left all my problems, and all the rules, at the gate. Sally was what Mum called a bad influence. I loved them both to bits.

As I set foot in the kitchen, I was presented with a full glass of cold beer, and a warm smile. Mum didn't approve of me drinking beer away from home. Sally knew it, and Mum knew she gave it to me anyway. All of that made it so much more fun.

"Come talk to me, Paul. How was the beach?"

Sally was a chatterbox, and I took a sip of the beer before answering. "It was unexpectedly good, actually, Sally. Where's Mike?" Mike was my step-uncle, I guess. He and Sally had been 'shacked up' as Mum said, for about ten years. Mike had told me he had a healthy respect for marriage, but that he didn't actually much like the idea. I'm not sure Mum ever got over the 'scandalous things that man did to my sister's reputation', but obviously it didn't worry them or me one bit.

"Still at work, or you wouldn't have been able to sneak his beer like that."

"You gave it to me!"

"I did not!"

"Liar."

"How dare you. As if I don't have enough attitude to deal with."

"You said Mike wasn't here though, Sal."

"Oh, ha ha. At work, I mean."

Sally had trained as a nurse before meeting Mike, and if the stories she told me were true, then she was the one behaving scandalously back then. Not that I was ever going to tell Mum that. For the last few years Sally had worked at a sex health clinic. That was pretty cool too, but you can just imagine how Mum took it. "How's that going, anyway?"

"It's getting tougher. It's hard to believe people can have so much information and behave so irresponsibly."

"Is it so different from when you... well..."

"When I was young and irresponsible, Paul?" She turned from the bench and grinned.

"I didn't mean it like that."

"Did too."

"Didn't."

"Hmmph. Yes."

"Yes? How, Sal?"

"They die, Paul. That's it. In my day, you could get pregnant, or need some penicillin. Now people die."

"Yeah, I understand. Sorry."

"I brought it up, not you, Paul. You here for dinner?"

"We have to sort that out."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Well, you know I'm only here because Mum wouldn't let me go and camp in the tent anywhere else."

"She was worried about your safety. Mothers are supposed to be. Anyway, so?"

"Well, if I was doing that, I could hardly have dinner in the house, could I?"

"You could visit."

"Every night?"

"If you wanted. You know you are welcome here any time, Paul. You're my favourite nephew."

"You don't have any others, Sally."

"I keep talking people out of having babies. It's my job."

"Stop distracting me. Anyway, if I was going to camp properly, I'd need to light a fire, and cook my own food."

"In my back yard?"

"Yeah, that's the problem, I guess."

"How about you just camp during the hours of darkness?"

"Does that sound right to you, Sally?"

"Yeah, it does. Hey, you better not be planning to dig latrines out there."

"I hadn't thought of that."

"You better not. You can piss on Mary's roses, if you want, but anything more serious should be dealt with hygienically, got it?"

"You still not getting along with her?"

"Oh, she's alright. Could have worse neighbours. Watch out for the thorns."

"It's really alright if I eat here?"

"Of course it is. Just don't stay too late. You'll cramp our style."

"Huh?"

"You know. Mike and I." She grinned again. She always managed to catch me out.

"Oh."

"Yeah. So, chicken alright?"

"Yeah, great. When?"

"About seven. Mike should be here by then. Go watch some TV."

"Camping, Sally."

"Oh, I won't tell."

"Promise?"

"If you give your old aunt a kiss, yeah."

"You smell of onions, and you're not old."

"That's a no?"

"You bet."

"What's your Mum's number, again?"

"Come on then, onion aunt."

"That's better. You know what? You got attitude."

"Yeah, you taught..."

"You everything you know. Yeah, got it. Get out of my way. Go camp in the lounge for a bit, while I finish up here."

Dinner was nice. Mike gave me a hard time about not bringing my girlfriend with me to camp over the summer, and Sally nearly fell off her chair thinking of how Mum would take that. I disappointed them both with the information that I didn't have one. Mike promised to give me some tips later, and Sally told me he didn't have a single clue, but that as she understood the female mind, perhaps she could help. My protests that I was here to take photos were completely ignored.

I started to help with the dishes, but after I called Sally 'Camp Mother' she threw me out, and I grabbed my things and headed out to the tent. It was, as suggested, set up in the middle of their back yard, and I guess on the surface it all seemed a little daft, but I wanted to get away by myself for a while, and this was the best I could talk Mum into.

I had the basics all set up here, a rechargeable battery lantern so that I could read, a camp stretcher with my sleeping bag, and a stash of junk food. I'd been sensible and put most of the photography gear in the house, but I still had the camera with me, and a tripod, in case I decided I needed to take some night shots.

The small tent would have been a little cramped for a group of people, but it was fine for just one, and I really liked the idea that it was all mine.

I flicked the lantern on, stripped, hauled myself into the sleeping bag and relaxed with a book. I was quite capable of escaping completely from the world while reading, and it was at least a couple of hours before I put the book down.

As was often the case this late at night, when I had some privacy, and I was a little too tired to read, my thoughts turned to sex. Hell, my thoughts turned to sex a lot more often than that.

In this case, I was thinking about the girls at the beach, the way they'd cheerfully flashed their knickers at me, the way their asses wiggled as they ran off. As my thoughts wandered over what else could have happened, my cock responded in the way it always did, and as I lay there in the dim light, I started to stroke it, closing my eyes to concentrate on the images, sliding my hand slowly up and down the shaft, enjoying the feeling, not in any rush.

And that's when someone knocked on the door. Well, you know what I mean. Patted the door flap, actually, and called out quietly.

"Hey, you there?"

"Huh? Oh, I..." I struggled to rearrange myself so my erection wasn't so obvious. "Yes, yes, I am. Is that you, Sally?"

A pale face with dark hair poked through the opening. "Who's Sally? Your girlfriend?"

"My aunt. Who are you?"

"Steve. May I come in?"

"You are half in already. Steve? Really?"

"Alright, alright, Steph. Stephanie Jane, actually. But can we stick with Steve?"

"Steve it is. Come on in."

She crawled through the door flaps, and sat cross-legged on the floor of the tent. She was about my age, and dressed in a pale green cotton nightie. Her body was trim, and her breasts were firm. I realised she didn't have a bra on. The nightie must have been pretty short, because I could see her black knickers the way she was sitting. She made no attempt to correct the problem. It took me a moment before I realised I'd seen those knickers before. "Oh, I know you. From the beach."

She looked confused, and stared back at me, before opening her eyes wide. "Oh, the photographer!"

"Yeah. Paul. Nice to meet you, Steve."

"Hiya Paul. I already knew your name. I've been doing some research."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. You know there are at least four people sleeping in tents on this street tonight, by the way?"

"There are?"

"Yeah, well I doubt any of them are asleep as yet."

"So who are the other two?"

"You saw them already. Vicki and Heather."

"I did? Oh, at the beach?"

"Uh huh. Heather's the redhead."

"Oh, okay."

"And... I bet you can't tell me which is which, between Vicki and me."

"No, I'm pretty sure I can't. You two are twins?"

"We're not, but it's quite a story. Later. I was the one on the... well, it would be the left of the photo."

"Oh, right. So you, then Heather, then Vicki on the right. Got it."

"Yup."

"So Steve, what are you all doing sleeping in a tent?"

"Oh, well Vicki and I are staying with Heather, and we all wanted to get away from everyone, and..."

"Wait, don't tell me. Her Mum wouldn't let all of you stay any further away than the back yard?"