Barn Rules

Mary Beth sat on the old couch in the living room of her mother's house. She was turned sideways with her hands together on the back of the couch and her chin resting on her hands. Her eyes were sweeping the rain soaked front yard and the narrow two lane black top road beyond that. Everything was wet to the point of being soggy. It had rained every day since she had been home or so it seemed.

She tried to remember if it had ever rained while she had been in Iraq. She couldn't remember that it had. Nine months of sun and sand were all she remembered. She tried to keep her mind away from the explosion that had shortened her left leg by an inch but she couldn't stop the memories of the sudden flash and loud bang and the searing pain.

Turning away from the window, she stood up and shook her head trying to clear the memories away. The old clock on the mantel chimed noon and she walked over to look at it. Her built up shoe made a different sound from the other on the hardwood floor. She frowned at the reminder and turned toward the kitchen.

Her mother and sister were gone to town and she was home alone. She had stayed at home to have some alone time or at least that's what she had told her mother. Actually, after being in the Army for five years, her mother and sister got on her nerves with their constant chatter and arguing. They had put her out under a medical discharge but she was contesting it.

It was lunchtime but she wasn't hungry. Her appetite had gone somewhere and forgot to come back. Lack of exercise, her mind said as she walked to the back door and looked out. The backyard was just as soggy as the front and the skies were just as gray and cloudy. The old barn even looked grayer than normal.

With the front door open, there was a nice cool breeze blowing in the back door. She opened the screen and stepped out onto the covered back porch. It was even cooler out here, she thought as she felt her nipples harden under her t-shirt. She didn't have a bra on, which was normal when she was out of uniform. You have to have boobs before you need a bra, she thought with a grin.

Her mother always frowned and looked at her hard whenever she said that out loud. It was always her answer when her mother got onto her about not wearing a bra. Her mother and her sister both had large full breasts so they had to wear a bra or so mother always said.

Mary Beth grinned as she raised her shirt up over her chest and bared her breasts to the cool wind. She shivered and turned slightly so the breeze angled across her chest and teased her rock hard nipples. She shivered again from the tingle in her nipples and then there was a loud bang.

She was on her face before she knew it and scuttled sideways over to the rail and tried to hide behind the two by four at the bottom of the rail and the double four by four post at the end of it. Her heart was pounding and she was breathing short and fast. She could feel her nipples rubbing on the damp painted wood floor as she peeked around the side of the post.

There was no one and nothing in sight except the barn. Then she noticed the hayloft loading door swinging out a short ways and then back in. She shivered and came up on her knees as the door swung a little more out and then back in with a soft dull thudding noise. As she straightened her upper body the t-shirt fell down to cover her breasts at last.

She used the handrail to get to her feet. "That was fun," she whispered to herself and then grinned. "At least the reflexes are still good."

The door on the barn swung wide open and stayed that way. She didn't know if there was any hay in there but if there were, it would be ruined with the rain. She eyed the soggy ground and the mud by the barn door. Then she looked down at the only good pair of shoes she had. Ones with the lift built in that is.

She moved over to the rocking chair by the door and sat down to take her shoes and socks off. It wasn't raining hard but it was raining steady. Without her special shoe she couldn't run well at all and her walk was a drunken rolling gait. She would be soaked by the time she reached the barn, not to mention her feet being muddy.

Her mother had an umbrella but she could not remember where she kept it or if they had taken it with them when they left. It wasn't as if she hadn't been wet before but it had been a long time. As a kid, she had loved walking in the warm rain of summer. This was autumn and a little on the chilly side.

She stuck her shoes under the rocker and stood up. It still felt funny to have most of her weight on one foot when she stood up straight. The six steps to the edge of the porch steps made her frown. Step, roll, step, roll, step, roll. She hated that.

She stuck her hand out in the rain; it was cold on her palm and made her shiver. It would be even colder in the barn with wet clothing on. With a grin, she whipped her t-shirt off and balled it up in her hand. "I've always wanted to do this," she whispered as she started down the steps one at a time.

Cold rain on her back and breasts made her gasp. By the time she reached the ground, her nipples ached they were so hard and she was shivering. She headed out across the yard, which warmed her slightly. She could feel the cold wet grass on her right foot more than the left. There had been some nerve damage on the left side.

By the time she reached the gate in the fence between the house and the barn, the cold rainwater was soaking her shorts and running down the crack of her ass. The strange thing was, she found herself grinning like an idiot. When she stepped through the gate, the mud on the other side squished up between her toes.

She laughed and took another step. Now there was mud between all her toes. She stood there a moment wiggling her toes in the mud. It felt good even if it was cold. Still grinning like a fool, she hobbled on toward the barn. The cold water running down her face and body was suddenly exhilarating. She hadn't felt so alive in a very long time.

At the barn door, she pulled the rope latch and opened the door just enough to squeeze through. Closing it, she paused to let her eyes adjust to the dim light. Without the cold rain and the light breeze, she was warmer. She shook her head to sling as much water out of her short spiky hair as she could and then wiped her face and head with her free hand.

She crossed the barn to the tack room and opened the door. There was a light switch on the wall to her left if she remembered correctly. It was and the light was bright from the bare bulb. Looking around she found a fairly clean rag and wiped her upper body down. She laid the fairly dry t-shirt on the work bench and took off her shorts.

Standing there naked as she wrung the shorts out, she felt wild and free. She had never been naked in the barn or the yard anytime during the whole of her life here. It felt wrong in one way but exciting in another. Her mother would have had a fit. That made Mary Beth smile as she hung the shorts over the back of an old wooden chair.

She used the rag to wipe her lower body and her legs. The scars on her left thigh were long and deep where they had repaired her leg. The thigh muscles were twisted looking and lumpy. The mud on her feet made her grin. There was a horse trough in one of the stalls but she couldn't remember which one.

Naked she went in search of it. It was in the second stall she checked. There was no water in it but the tap worked when she turned it on. She climbed in the tub and sat on the edge as she washed her feet. The water was surprisingly warm. The pipes ran underground, she realized. Too bad there wasn't hot water. A hot bath would have warmed her up nicely.

Mary Beth started to step out of the tub but stopped when she saw the loose dirt on the floor and very little fresh hay. Her mother had gotten rid of the two horses and the three milk cows that used to call this place home. There wasn't any need for hay in the stalls. There were still a dozen or so cows in the back pasture though.

She eyed the rail around the stall and climbed out of the tub onto it and moved around to the front of the stall. She climbed to the top and sat down facing the center of the barn. Her knees were spread in this position and she could feel the cool air on her sex.

Sex? Now there was a subject she had shied away from since she got hurt. Not even masturbation had crossed her mind. Not having a lot of privacy had more to do with that than anything. First the hospital in Germany, then the hospitals in the States, and now home with her mother and sister always hovering over her.

Mary Beth sighed and slowly shook her head. Pity would be so easy. Then the thought that she was alone now crossed her mind and she smiled. Her hands were holding onto the top rail on each side of her hips. She let go and checked her balance. It was good. The two by four top rail was a little narrow under her butt to be comfortable.

"The hayloft door," she muttered and then sighed. One part of her mind said she was stalling. That she didn't need or deserve pleasure. Another part was yelling bullshit. Mary Beth shook her head hard and almost fell off the top rail.

She grabbed the rail and held on as she caught her balance. She looked down at the hard packed dirt floor and then looked at her feet. They looked fairly dry. She rocked her toes down as far as they would go and then lifted them as high as they would go. The right moved several inches father than the left in both directions. Tight pain in her left thigh stopped her toes in both directions.

Mary Beth looked around the barn, her mind trying to keep away from thoughts of therapy. She was supposed to go to the VA hospital three times a week but it was a long drive and she hadn't even tried to drive a car since she had been home. She most likely could but...

Therapy hurt! When she had first started it almost a year ago she had cried it hurt so much. Stretching those lumpy muscles was a bitch. It was so much easier to just sit with her legs curled up under her. It hid her leg also. That thought brought her back to the other thing she didn't want to think about. The head doctor. She had hated talking to the shrinks at the other hospitals so why would the one here be any different.

She wasn't crazy and never had been. That thought made her smile as she looked around the empty barn again. "Yeah, you always sit on the stall rails naked," she whispered to herself. "Anyway, it's not crazy, it's fun."

Mary Beth climbed down the stall rails and started for the tack room and the t-shirt. Halfway there she changed her mind and angled toward the ladder leading up to the loft. Climbing the ladder hurt her left leg even though she used her right for the push up on each step. She groaned as she made the last two rungs.

The loft was one big room with two stacks of hay. One was toward the rear and the back loft door and the other was toward the front loft door. The hay to the front was newer, still green in places and smelled wonderful. The stack to the rear was smaller and probably the one her mother was using as supplemental feed for the cows.

Mary Beth took her time as she crossed the lowest part of the hay bale stack on her way to the front door. The hay was prickly on her feet, hands, and body. Memories of playing up here as a kid crossed her mind and made her smile. Hide and seek with her sister had been fun but back then there had been a lot more hay bales.

The door was still wide open and the floor was wet. The water wasn't reaching the hay but it was very close in places. Mary Beth stood off to the side of the door and wondered how she was going to get it closed without exposing herself to the whole world.

"I should have brought the t-shirt," she whispered and then groaned softly as she thought of the climb down and back up to go get it.

She moved closer to the open door and looked out. She could see down the road in one direction for several miles, the house, and the fields to one side. There were woods past that but no one was in sight. She quickly moved across the opening and then leaned on the wall, a shiver running up and down her spine that had nothing to do with the cool wind and the few raindrops that hit her.

With a grin, she turned and looked out the door in the other direction. The woods were closer to the house in this direction and she could only see a short ways. There was no one in sight in this direction either. That a car could come down the road at any second crossed her mind and she shivered again. What if someone saw her, her mind asked.

Mary Beth groaned softly at that thought and without allowing herself time to think, she stepped out into the open doorway. The cold rain shocked her for a second and she gasped as she reached up and placed a hand on each side of the opening as high as she could reach. Holding on, she moved one foot to the side and then the other.

She felt so exposed in this position but her mind was on fire as the heat grew in her sex. She looked one way down the road and then the other. She shivered hard but there was no car in sight. She stood this way for several minutes and then straightened and stepped back.

Was she happy or disappointed that no car had presented itself? She wasn't sure as she sighed and moved to the edge of the door. She leaned out and pulled the door closed. With the latch closed, she turned to sit down on a bale of hay. It was prickly on her ass. The stack behind her felt the same on her back as she leaned against it.

Her eyes were on the door but her mind was on the therapy, both mental and physical. Climbing the ladder and crossing the hay bales had pretty much convinced her that she needed to go. Standing in the open doorway naked did seem strange and out of character for her but it had excited her beyond words. Her hands came up to caress her wet breasts and very hard nipples. She whimpered softly at the warmth of her hands and the tingling they caused.

The palms of her hands making circles on her nipples made them ache and tingle even more. When she pinched and rolled them around, she groaned as little jolts of pleasure shot straight to her sex. Her hips flexed and the hay stuck her ass and back as she moved. She wished she had a blanket so the prickliness would go away and not distract her. She grinned at that as she realized she wanted to masturbate.

Her right hand roamed down across her wet stomach to come to rest on her mound. Her short fingernails combed the short neatly trimmed hair there and made her shiver as the inner muscles of her sex tightened up at the thought of masturbating. She continued to tease her mound but allowed her fingers to crawl slowly downward until she felt the top of her slit with the middle finger.

When her fingernail brushed along the bundle of nerves tight above her clit, she jerked her hand away from her sex and groaned softly as three faces chased each other across her mind. Betty Harper, Mark Waters, and Jill Sinclair would never have sex again in any form.

Mary Beth found herself crying for her two lost friends and her lost lover. She had not been alone in the HumVee when the bomb went off. It was not the first time she had cried for them, nor was it going to be the last. She would never forget them. Others might but not her.

It was nearly ten minutes later before Mary Beth could pull herself together. Her eyes were blurry with tears but she was down to sniffling by then. A few minutes later she whispered, "Maybe... maybe I do need to see that shrink."

She stood up quickly wiping the tears out of her eyes and off her face. She staggered and had to steady herself on the hayloft door. She opened the door and looked down at the muddy ground twenty feet below. She had the sudden urge to jump and slammed the door.

"No! No! No!" she said loudly and backed up to trip on the hay bale behind her. She sat down hard, the rough hay poking her ass. She gave out with a sharp yell of surprise and pain.

Mary Beth stood back up and ran her hands over her ass. There was no blood but a couple of spots stung. "Stupid hay," she said aloud as she started back across the hay toward the ladder.

When she was about halfway across there was the sound of the barn door below creaking open and then closing. Mary Beth froze where she was and then slowly started to back up. She knew the door had latched because she had checked it. Someone was in the barn with her. She backed up faster and then turned to climb up on top of the stacked bales.

There were two bales laid end to end and she laid down behind those with her head sticking out just enough to see the ladder. She listened carefully but didn't hear anything but the wind around the tin roof. A minute or so later, she heard steps on the ladder. Then a man's head appeared. Mary Beth wanted to back up but she also wanted to know who this guy was.

He climbed on up and paused as he stood up to take off an old yellow slicker suit. He had his back to her. The pair of overalls he wore were faded, as was the Levy work shirt. He had looked familiar but she couldn't put a finger on it. Hanging the slicker on the end of the ladder, he turned and looked around. She was high enough up that he could not see her in the dim light.

When he turned and started to walk toward the far end of the barn, he walked with a stiff leg on the left side. Mary Beth gasped in recognition. It was Jerry Gates. He was several years younger than her and about three grades behind her in school. He had been a Junior Rodeo Champion before a bull stomped on his knee.

He went out of sight around the stack of hay bales and then there was bright light as he opened the loft door. There were the sounds of hay bales being moved and restacked. A little later she heard the sound of the hand winch as the hay was being lowered out the door. A minute or so later, he came around the end of the stacked hay and headed for the ladder.

Mary Beth held still hoping he wouldn't see her head. When he was putting his slicker on, he said, "You could crank up the winch and close the door. It would save me a trip back up here."

She moaned softly and then said, "I really can't do that. You might say I'm not dressed for the job."

"Uh huh," he replied, looking up at her. "I figured as much since your shorts and t-shirt are in the tack room."

"I came out here to shut the loft door on this end but I was warmer without the wet clothes," she explained.

"Your t-shirt was pretty dry," he said with a grin.

"Uh yeah but..."

"I've often wondered what you would look like naked," he said straight out. "I had a big crush on you back in high school."

"I... uh... didn't know that. The crush part that is."

"No one did, I was too shy and dumb to do anything about it. Anyway, who would want a guy with a gimp leg?"

Mary Beth heard herself giggle and clamped her hand over her mouth for a second. "Sorry, that wasn't directed at you. It was directed at myself."

"Uh huh," he said as he turned to start down the ladder.

"Hey Jerry, wait a minute. It really was aimed at me. I got hurt in Iraq and..." She let the sentence hang, as she didn't want to go any farther.

"Ok, I believe you," he said as he started down the ladder with a hopping gate.

"Hey Jerry, unload the platform and I'll winch it up after you leave."

"Who says I'm ever leaving," he replied with a chuckle. "I've got you trapped."

Hey, no fair," Mary Beth said quickly.

"Who said I had to play fair," he called out from below.

A minute or so later, the barn door creaked again as he when out. Mary Beth contemplated climbing down and getting dressed. He would be outside loading the hay and covering it with a tarp for a while. But would it be long enough? There was also the possibility that he had hid her clothes. That would be the worse case of all. All she could do was lock herself in the tack room. He'd have to leave sooner or later; he had cows to feed, if he was getting hay.