Chapter 1

It was Summer! School was out and we could spend all our time at the beach, swimming, lying in the sun, roasting hot dogs over a fire on the beach and...

"HEY! RANDAHL! HERE COMES ANOTHER ONE!"

I raised my eyes. All I could see was a shadow of my next victim at the mouth of the tunnel where I stood, wand in hand, ready to do battle.

Top, sides, front, back ... oh, and don't forget wheel wells and tires!

If there's a more mind-numbing, soul-robbing job than working in a car wash I hope I never have to do it, I thought to myself as I engaged the track to pull the car through the rest of the wash.

This was the second summer I'd worked at the local carwash and I was starting to hate it—the same routine a hundred times a day. It wasn't all that bad on a busy day, but on a day like today when there could be ten or twenty minutes between cars? Deadly. The only relief today was when a Mustang came in carrying four girls—all in bikinis. Just as I hit the windows with the spray the driver pulled off her top! Unfortunately, by the time the water sheeted off the window the chain had already started the car through the Tunnel of Suds.

I looked at my watch—forty-five minutes to go, and then I'd be free! I looked down the lane—not a car in sight. Those forty-five minutes were going to seem longer than the last two minutes of a pro football game.

Finally the clock hit two-thirty and I could turn the job over to Louis and escape. I drove home for a shower and then over to pick up Beth. She was working in her parents' shop for the summer and she'd arranged it so our hours pretty much matched.

When I got to the shop I got out of my old beater and walked in through the door next to the loading dock and stopped to talk to Bud, the foreman.

"Hey, Tommy! How's it going? Enjoying your summer?"

"Yeah, except for my job it'd be perfect. Is Beth around?"

"I'll call up front and let her know you're here."

"Thanks, Bud," I said as I leaned against the loading dock railing and looked into the production area where a line of CAD/CAM machines were performing their ballet, turning metal blanks into hydraulic pumps, valves and fittings. There must have been twenty machines in the shop, all run by only five guys. I'd finally found out what Beth's parents' business was: they made mainly high pressure parts for hydraulic systems—all custom work, no assembly line drudgery here!

"Hi, Tommy!" I turned around to see my lady walking out of the office area.

"Hey there, Beautiful. Ready to go?"

"Can you come up front for a minute? Dad's got a question for you."

"Sure." Hmmm, what was this about?

"Hi, Tommy," Beth's dad held out his hand. "How's your summer going?"

"Oh, not too bad. Beth said you wanted to ask me something?"

"Yes. I've got a photography problem and I thought maybe you could help me."

"Sure, if I can. What do you need?"

He took me over to a table with some parts sitting on it. "These are some new valve bodies we've just started making. They're the most complicated parts we've made and I was wondering if you could tell me if it was possible to get pictures to show some of the details. I've tried two photographers in town, but all the pictures are just a bunch of reflections. I'm looking for some detail, but neither photographer could come up with anything decent."

I picked up one of the parts and turned it over in my hands, looking at it from different angles. It was easy to see what the problem was: every surface was mirror smooth, not something that would be easy to light in a way to get any definition. "Wow. I don't know. This is some pretty tough stuff."

"Could you do me a favor and maybe take one of those along and think about it?"

"Sure. I'll be real careful not to scratch it or drop it or anything. These look expensive."

He chuckled, "Don't worry about it. Those are all rejects. We can't use them for anything—just think of them as big shiny paper weights."

"Okay, I'll see if I can think of any way to do it. Just don't expect miracles!" How in the world can I take a picture of something that was all shiny sides and angles?

We stopped to say hello to Beth's mom and then headed to my car. I turned to Beth as I got in the car, "Where to, dollface?"

"How about a picnic at the farm?" she replied with a resigned expression over my bad Bogie impression. It was a beautiful June day and the idea of visiting the farm seemed perfect—for a picnic or anything else that popped up.

We stopped at home to find that my thirteen-year-old brother Kevin and his girlfriend were there—also trying to figure out how to spend a perfect afternoon.

"How would you guys like to go for a picnic?" Beth offered. Well, there went my plans for a little afternoon delight...

"Oh," Gail jumped up, "That sounds like fun! Let's go, Kevin."

My brother looked about as enthusiastic as I did.

The four of us piled into my car, hit the local deli, and drove out to the farm.

"Where are we going?" Gail asked.

Beth looked over the back seat, "My folks own some land west of town. It's nice and private." I saw the wink she gave Gail. Ever since the day we found Kevin and her humping away on our living room couch Gail and Beth seemed to be more like sisters than what—girlfriends-in-law?

Soon we were through the gate and up the hill to the field that Beth and I considered "ours." We unloaded the car, spread out blankets and dove into the food. It's amazing how much four healthy teens can scarf down.

After we ate, Gail looked at Beth for a second then jumped up and turned to Kevin, "Let's go explore!"

"Can't we just sit here and let lunch settle," my brother grumbled.

"C'mon, who knows what might happen out in the woods," Gail wasn't being particularly subtle, but then she was talking to a thirteen-year-old boy.

"Oh, all right," Kevin grumped as he got up.

"Have you got everything you need?" I asked. Kevin thought for a second and then nodded with a blush as he figured out what I was talking about—I'd been his condom supplier since he and Gail got together last fall.

After the pair were out of sight Beth hopped up and started pulling her clothes off.

"What are you doing?" I whispered, "They could be back any time!"

"Why are you whispering?" Beth laughed as she skinned down her jeans and panties. "Afraid your brother might figure out you're gonna do the same thing he is? And if I know Gail, they're not going to be back soon."

Well, since she put it that way ... I stood up and started stripping.

There's something about alfresco sex—the feel of the blanket, the sun flashing off the body of your lover, the freedom to make as much noise as you want to...