Chapter 11: Strange Memories

With a mirthful smile Sharmon approached Cinnamon and said "Come. I'll wash your back for you."

"Oh... Um... Okay. Thanks?" Cinnamon replied haltingly and turned around.

Sharmon directed her to move closer to the shore until Cinnamon sat in water that came just to the underside of her breasts. She sat with her knees up, knees and feet together. Her arms were crossed in front of her, her hands covering her breasts. When Sharmon started to wash her back, Cinnamon involuntarily stiffened under her touch. Sharmon tried not to feel hurt even though she knew Cinnamon would do just that. She knew that Cinnamon wouldn't relax under her touch until she felt more comfortable, so she ignored Cinnamon's stiffness and continued to run the soap over the silky skin of the young woman's back.

After a little while, Cinnamon felt more comfortable and she let her body relax. As she did so Sharmon began to use more pressure to knead and massage her tired and sore muscles. When Cinnamon told her how good it felt, Sharmon just smiled a soft smile that would have left Muriel and Vanessa speechless and happy had they seen it.

As Sharmon continued to wash and massage her back, Cinnamon's eyes glazed over as she stared across the pool in the direction of the rock cliff. The soothing rhythm of Sharmon's massage was too much and she drifted off, lost in memory. These were not recent memories; they were long buried and forgotten ones.

She missed seeing Vanessa rinsing off under the water fall, even though she was staring in Vanessa's direction. That was just as well, for if she had, she would have been uncomfortable, not just because Vanessa was nude but because her movements had an unconscious sensuality to them.

Sharmon sensed Cinnamon's absence but left Cinnamon to her thoughts while she continued to wash and sooth Cinnamon's tired body. Every now and then Cinnamon would give a little moan of pleasure or a gasp of pain when Sharmon hit a particularly tight spot and worked the tension out. While working her magic on Cinnamon's muscles Sharmon was careful not to do anything to startle her or make her uncomfortable.

When she was done (with all that she felt Cinnamon would be comfortable with) Sharmon began to rinse Cinnamon off by gently dripping water from her cupped hands and gently splashing her. When she was done she softly began calling Cinnamon's name. It wasn't until she gently shook Cinnamon that the girl came back.

"Huh? What? Oh! I'm sorry." Cinnamon said, feeling confused after coming out of her thoughts.

Sharmon smiled. "It's alright. You were gone for quite a while. I asked if you wanted me to wash your hair."

This was followed by Vanessa's teasing "Welcome back." for which Muriel gave her a playful shove.

Cinnamon gave Vanessa and Muriel an embarrassed grin, then turned her head towards Sharmon and said "Please?" Sharmon moved to her side and placed her hand on Cinnamon's back between her shoulder blades. "Tilt your head back and lean back slowly" she said. "Ready?" Cinnamon nodded and leaned back letting Sharmon control her descent underwater. Sharmon only let her go under far enough for Cinnamon's hair to become thoroughly soaked before bringing her back up.

As Cinnamon sat up she was careful to keep her head tilted back to keep the water out of her eyes. When she was once again sitting up, she ran her hands over her head and down her neck and shoulder forcing the excess water out of her hair. Then she leaned back and sighed as Sharmon's strong fingers began to massage her scalp.

Several minutes later she heard "Cinnamon? Cinnamon?"

"Huh?" Cinnamon replied and then gave her self a little shake and said "I'm sorry"

"It's ok." Muriel smiled. "I just wondered if you were enjoying your daydream."

"It looked like you were." Vanessa added.

"Was I daydreaming? It felt more like a memory really. It seemed so real but I guess it must have been a daydream." Cinnamon said quietly, more to herself then to the others.

Cinnamon crossed her arms over her knees and then leaned forward against her legs and stared down through the shimmering water. Sharmon continued to wash her hair.

"Can you tell us what it was about?" Muriel asked softly.

Cinnamon was silent for several minutes and then spoke so softly the others had to pay careful attention else her words be drowned out by the sound of running water.

"It was about me when I was little. It was girl's night, so it was just me and my mom. Mom always sent daddy off to watch ball games with his friends on girl's night. Sometimes we'd go out and rent movies and get something to eat from a drive through."

Sharmon, Muriel, and Vanessa exchanged glances. None were quite sure what Cinnamon was talking about but none wanted to interrupt her as they feared she would not only lose her train of thought if side tracked but being a shy and private girl she'd be reluctant to talk about such a personal memory later on. Without exchanging words they all agreed it was more important to let Cinnamon talk now and possibly discover something important about her and their quest than to ask questions. Besides, questions could always be asked later.

Cinnamon continued, unaware of the other's silent exchange. "Other times we'd watch something we had at home and order a pizza. Then we'd stay up past my bed time watching them and eating candy and popcorn. Afterwards, we'd take a bath together. We'd splash each other silly and then I'd wash her back and hair and she'd wash mine. Just like Sharmon did."

Sharmon, still gently working her fingers in Cinnamon's hair, blushed and looked down but not before Muriel and Vanessa saw her pleased smile.

Cinnamon gave a wistful sigh. "It felt so good. I loved girl's night. After our bath we'd dry each other off. When we'd gotten dressed for bed we'd braid each other's hair and paint our nails." Cinnamon wiggled her fingers and toes. Smiling she continued. "She did a lot better job on me than I did on her though sometimes we'd both get silly and end up taking another bath because we got polish all over."

The others smiled at the picture of mother and daughter together as Cinnamon went on.

"When bath time was over we'd race each other to her room and jump in bed. If I was still wound up we'd have pillow and tickle fights until we wore each other out. Then we'd cuddle together for story time. Other times, if I was already sleepy, we'd go straight to the story. She'd hold me close and I'd rest my head on her shoulder and she'd read to me or tell me stories she knew or made up until I fell asleep. And as I'd fall asleep she'd caress my cheek and kiss my forehead and say 'Goodnight my darling. I love you.'" Cinnamon sniffled as a tear ran unnoticed down her cheek.

They were all quiet for a while until Vanessa said "Wow you're mom sounds real nice." while at the same time wondering at the differences in descriptions that Cinnamon gave of her mom. Sharmon and Muriel wondered the same thing.

Cinnamon gave Vanessa a sad smile "Yeah, too bad she's only a dream."

"Are you sure?" Muriel asked. "People can change, you know."

"Yeah I'm sure. The woman in my dream was taller and had long luxurious brown hair. My real mom is shorter with dirty blonde hair that she dyes." Cinnamon absentmindedly began to twirl a strand of her own hair, which matched her description of her dream mother, around her finger as she continued to describe the differences between mothers. This didn't go unnoticed by the others. Each knew without a doubt that she had not been dreaming but remembering something she'd long forgotten. Cinnamon's unconsious actions and her manner of speaking were not those of one telling of a dream but of a personal experience. They didn't know why Cinnamon had buried these memories but they were convinced that the cause was a sad one for her. Cinnamon herself didn't appear to notice that she was speaking from experience. She still thought she was speaking of a dream.

"Besides Mom would never give me a girl's night much less give me a bath. And she'd never let me eat junk food! She was always focused on eating healthy and keeping fit so I could be a cheerleader. She always ordered me a salad whenever we went out whether I wanted one or not. As if I wanted to be a cheerleader in the first place. Uggh!" Cinnamon made a face.

"I remember once when I was out driving with my step dad, we stopped and had chili dogs for lunch. He made me promise not to tell mom. That was the first chili dog I'd in years and it was so good!" Cinnamon giggled. "We had to eat a whole box of mints to cover up the onions."

Cinnamon's companion's looked at each other at this revelation. They also smiled at her giggle. They enjoyed seeing her happy.

"Can you remember any other differences?" Muriel asked.

Cinnamon thought for a bit before saying. "The mom in my dream had long graceful fingers, like Sharmon's, and she could play the piano for hours. I used to lie on the floor and listen to her play and sing. She had the loveliest voice. And when she'd smile she lit up the room. I always felt so good when I brought something home and she'd give me a smile and a hug before she stuck it to the fridge."

Cinnamon gave a sigh and her happiness seemed to dissipate in the same way the soap bubbles were dissipating in the water around her. "We don't have a piano though. We never did. And Mom's fingers are short and stubby. And I'd get the chills whenever she'd smile."

The three looked at each other over Cinnamon's head. Then Sharmon said "You'd better go rinse your hair and finish washing up." With that she handed Cinnamon a bar of soap over her shoulder and directed her to go stand under one of the small water falls. Cinnamon took the soap and stood up, her arms up raised holding the soap as if she were praying, totally unconscious of her nudity and waded over to rinse the shampoo from her hair.

After that she hurried to finish washing with her back to the others as she became aware of her nudity. When she was finished she waded back to the others. When she saw Vanessa washing Sharmon's back she felt embarrassed and said "Oh I'm sorry Sharmon. Did you want me to wash your back?"

Sharmon waved her off. "It's ok. Go dry off, you're starting to look chilled."

Cinnamon nodded. She was starting to shiver. She made her way to the small shore where their towels and dry clothes were and began to dry off.