Canoe Trip Ch. 04

Susan remained in the center of the canoe. Her face carried a satisfied, blissful expression. She trailed one hand in the water and said softly, "I'm not ready to go back to camp yet."

"Here, put the back pack behind you to lean on. We're in no hurry and I can get us back eventually," said Tiffany. She smiled and thrust her paddle deeply then executed a perfect J-stroke. It sent the canoe sliding closer to the shore on their right, the north side of the lake. As they slid closer to the boulders, Tiffany noticed a space between rocks at the shore that looked worn, as if it had been used for a landing at one time. She paddled nearer and then turned the canoe so they were about parallel to the rocks and she was closer.

Through the brush she caught a flash of light. It looked like reflection from a piece of metal. Staring at it she saw other, shadowy, metallic-looking forms. Yes! It was a canoe, turned over and mostly hidden under brush near the water's edge. She was about to point it out to Susan when a dark figure seemed to materialize out of the brush and trees. The figure of a man limped slowly down the slope, coming closer. Tiffany's mouth hung open a little. She forgot she was bare above the waist. Susan was too but she still had her eyes closed.

"Good afternoon," came a deep, mellow, very masculine voice.

"What!" cried Susan sitting straight up, instinctually covering her breasts.

"As many times as I've been camping here in this wilderness, I can't ever recall a more stunning sight on the lake. Thank you." He grinned at them and stopped on the path just a few yards from the shore. Susan was holding her hands across her bosom, inadequately shielding herself from this unexpected observation. "Who are you? What are you doing here?" She cried.

"I'm camping here. I come here frequently although I don't always make the same campsite. As to who—"

"Excuse my friend," Tiffany interrupted. "She isn't normally so sharp-tongued. We're just surprised because we hadn't expected to find anybody else on this lake."

"I can see that," the man said. His eyes couldn't seen to stay still. He looked at Susan, then he looked at Tiffany's bare breasts and then he looked back at Susan.

"Well," Tiffany asked. "Have you decided?"

"Decided what?"

"Which pair of boobs you like best." Tiffany smirked and stuck out her chest. Susan snorted and dropped her hands to her waist.

"Sorry. Sorry. It's just such an unusual view, up here in these woods. I guess you can say I'm just trying to fix it all in my memory."

Meanwhile Tiffany was examining what she could see of this stranger. He was wearing worn camouflage shorts and a green tee-shirt. On his feet were what appeared to be a pair of old leather moccasins. No boots. "You roughing it or do you have a tent somewhere?"

"I tend to camp away from portages and trails. When I'm up here I like my solitude." He shifted a little as if he was uncomfortable and said, "Mind if I sit while we talk?"

"Nope." Tiffany grinned and the man limped a little closer down the slope and then sat on a large boulder. She was about to ask, when the man leaned over and rubbed his calf.

"Old war wound," he said. "Name's Bill. "Old Bill and his old war wound."

"My name's Susan," she said sitting up suddenly. "And that's my good buddy Tiffany there. The one with the gorgeous boobs."

"Don't sell yourself short, Susan. You have a very good-looking body. Well, torso, anyway." His teeth flashed white in his bearded face.

"Looks like you're a little stiff, there Bill." Tiffany laid her paddle down and stretched her arms overhead, raising her bare bosom. She looked down at herself and wondered just what kind of game the three of them were playing. "Happens I have a few massage techniques for stiffness in joints."

Bill threw back his head and laughed aloud. He had a nice laugh. "I'll just bet you do," he said.

Tiffany lowered her voice, not that there was anybody else around to hear her, but she thought it sounded sexier. "Bill, I think you're not exactly being fair with us."

"What the Hell are you doing, Tiff?" muttered Susan.

What do you mean?"

"Well, here we are two of us half-naked and you are still pretty much dressed," Tiffany said.

There was a pause. A tiny ripple made a splishing sound against a rock at the edge of Bill's campsite.

"You have a point," he grinned. "Four points, actually." Both women were unaccountably stimulated by their situation and partial nakedness before this stranger. Their nipples were erect and pointing. Another pause and Bill reached to strip off his tee shirt.

His torso was nicely muscled. He stood after his shirt was off to do a small parody of a model pose, twisting slightly left and right to demonstrate his shape, flexing his biceps. He had tattoos on each shoulder. From the distance they looked elaborate. One had writing inside a kind of oriental-looking frame. When Bill sat down again Tiffany pushed the canoe a little closer.

"What are the words?"

"Semper Fi," he responded.

"Ex-marine," breathed Susan, just loud enough for him to hear across the narrow strip of water.

"Right. Now ladies, this has been pleasant, but I have to get some fresh water before nightfall. So, I'm coming down to the shore with a pail. I didn't want you to think I was about to leap across the water and attack you." He smiled and hoisted the pail he'd been carrying. "Not that I could," he murmured as an afterthought to himself.

"Steady the canoe," Tiffany hissed at Susan. Susan grabbed the gunwales in each hand and looked over her shoulder as Tiffany slowly opened the waist of her shorts and slid them down her legs. When they were off her feet, she slowly stood up, wondering what she was doing, exactly. The women's actions had turned the canoe so when Tiffany stood she was facing the bow of the canoe and showing a three-quarters front view of her lovely tanned body, now completely naked. She raised her eyes and realized that Bill had been concentrating on getting his water from a clean section of the lake and not watching the women.

He waded into the lake and carefully dipped the pail far enough below the surface to avoid collecting any dust or other trash floating on top of the water. When he stood up he looked back and a marvelous vision met his appreciative gaze. "Wow," he said. "Double wow."

Susan grinned. "Maybe we could have dinner together one evening. Or something." "A little gift to you, sir," said Tiffany, caressing her breasts. She was amazed at herself, and not a little concerned. They were out here alone and they didn't know this guy from Adam. Why was she being so sexually provocative? Her sex was getting wet, and it wasn't from the lake.

Susan tapped the side of the canoe to get Tiffany's attention. "You're leaking. I can see it running down your thigh," she murmured. "You better sit down, 'cause I'm starting to get a non-contact high here."

The man on the shore stared at the two women for a long moment. Then he audibly blew out his breath and turned away. He walked out of the water and set the pail on the ground. Then he said, "I suppose I better respond in kind." His voice was gravelly and he didn't seem happy. He put his hands to his waist and began to tug at his shorts. He kept his back to the lake as if to tease the women. As his shorts slid down over his buttocks, jagged white streaks could be seen. The skin was puckered. There were dents where there should have been smooth rosy skin. A raw-looking red streak coiled down across his left butt cheek and disappeared in the dark crack between his thighs. Other marks straggled down the backs of both his thighs. Then he turned around and faced them.

Tiffany gasped aloud and Susan clapped one hand over her mouth, almost upsetting the canoe. The damage to Bill's body encompassed his groin as well as his backside. What might once have been a normal bush of pubic hair was patchy and where he should have had a penis and balls was only a tiny wand of twisted pink flesh.

"Oh, God, Bill, I'm so so sorry. Was it shrapnel?" Tiffany asked in a hushed tone that barely carried across the intervening water.

"Don't be," he snapped. "I'm not looking for pity. But as you see, damaged goods." His voice grated. Bill reached to his ankles to retrieve his shorts. He had them half-way up his legs when Susan spoke.

"Stop." She said. "Please don't cover yourself. I want to come ashore." She gestured at Tiffany who sat down and in two paddle strokes had the canoe sliding toward the narrow landing strip between boulders. Susan didn't wait. She stood and dropped her own shorts. The she jumped over the canoe gunwale and splashed almost naked into the cold lake. Tiffany had her hands full keeping the canoe from swamping. By the time she'd settled it down, Susan was wading ashore, clad only in a thin pair of panties, heading right for Bill. He stood still, hands still clutching his shorts, his mouth open, a little stunned by Susan's unexpected maneuver.

"My uncle was a Marine. He died in Viet Nam." By now she'd reached the man and simply stood him up and embraced him, a full body embrace. "We owe you," she said into his neck. "I owe you. Tonight you're coming to our camp for supper. No arguments." She released Bill's neck and leaned back so just her erect nipples touched his bare chest. She maintained her contact with his damaged body from the waist down and stared into his dark eyes. No smile, no wink. It was clear to anyone who was watching that Susan was suddenly in charge and wasn't allowing any argument.

She let go of him then and turned back toward the lake. Tiffany watched her come down the slope, tears glistening in her eyes. Susan bent and retrieved her shorts from the bottom of the canoe, along with her top and got dressed. The simple act returned her control of her emotions She glanced at Tiffany and shoved the canoe away from the shore, scrambling over the bow and taking up her paddle.

"Seven-thirtyish. Oh and bring something to drink, if you please," called Susan. She glanced once more at Tiffany, raised one hand and dug in with her paddle. The canoe shot forward, leaving a speechless and almost naked ex-marine standing silently on the path.