Snippettsville Winter Carnival

Hello, and welcome to the special Winter Carnival issue of Tales from Snippettsville, Short Stories From A Small Town.

For any of you who haven't come across us before, and want to know what it's all about, go to Snippettsville Group

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Contents of Winter Carnival Special Issue

Sam Leathy's Scheme by Quasimodem
Kathy has a Caller by Boxlicker101
Kathy goes Skating by Boxlicker101
Winter Flowers by Lancelot Knight
McRae's Win by Champagne1982
Streak of White Light by Alex de Kok
Sometimes, it's Luck by Alex de Kok
A Moment's Perfection by wildsweetone

Illustrations
Banner and Header (c) Alex de Kok, 2004
Footer (c) Quasimodem, 2003

Now read on...

* * * * *

Sam Leathy's Scheme by Quasimodem

"Somebody shoot your dog?" Sam Leathy asked the morose Jimmy Dorset, seated glumly in Pender's Lucky Bait Shop.

"Aw, I was going skating, but both school rinks are tied up with hockey practise," Jimmy groused.

"When I was your age," Old Man Pender interjected, "the lake was good enough to skate on."

"Look at it!" Jimmy glowered at the thick blanket of snow covering Green Lake. "You can't skate on that!"

"Use my snow shovel," Pender suggested. "Only charge two bits."

Jimmy snorted.

"Your problem, Dan Pender," Sam Leathy announced, "is that you're too cheap to see the dollar idea for tomorrow, past a one cent profit of today."

"What's that mean?" Pender demanded.

"I remember skating on Green Lake, too. Every kid for miles brought a shovel to clear snow. We built a big bonfire on the shore and set torches around the cleared patch. Even our parents came in the evening.

"Jed Bean sold gallons of hot cider at three cents a mug. He finished that winter with nearly twelve dollars, at the height of the depression," Leathy continued. "You could do that for Green Lake, if you weren't so cheap, and you'd make a profit into the bargain."

"How'd I make money on ice skaters?" Pender snorted dismissively, but he kept his ears at full cock.

"Best place is right here in front of the community dock. You've got the only building open during the winter. You've got hydro, so you could hire some farmer's wife to make coffee and hot chocolate. Either they buy it from you, or they hike all the way to Green Lake Lodge, and get treated like loobies by one of their snooty waiters."

"Well, maybe," Pender was rubbing his chin.

"Call Clem Leggit, ask what he'd charge to plow a patch clear."

"There's not enough people hereabouts during the day," Pender pondered. "At night, it gets so dark that skating would be too dangerous."

"Drill some holes in the ice around the skating area. Stick in the butts of those nine-foot bamboo poles nobody will buy," Sam suggested, "then string those clear lights they had up for Christmas, between all the poles.

"Oh, and have Clem drag a couple of those park benches out onto the far end of the cleared ice, so courtin' couples would have a nice dark place to sit down. Or, are you so old you've ossified?"

*

"The newest event in our community's calendar of events, was this year's impromptu Green Lake Winter Festival," Sam read from The Snippettsville Weekly Clarion. "What began as an unassuming auxiliary skating venue on Green Lake quickly grew to include such favourites as the Old-Timer's Costume Night, local waltz and polka stylist, Hans Abenhoffer's Skater's Waltz Night, and the romantic Moonlight Skate that took place this last full moon.

"With the weather turning toward spring, no more official events are scheduled for this year, but already, plans are afoot for next year's Green Lake Winter Carnival.

"The rink will continue in use, until officials from our local ranger detachment declare the ice unsafe for skating."

"Where is Ben?" Clem Leggit inquired, interrupting Sam. "Gone to get his picture took as one of Green Lake's patrons of the art, is he?"

"That's about it," Sam agreed.

"It should be you, Sam," Clem avowed. "It was your idea, and I know it."

A smile creased Sam Leathy's leathery old face.

"I ain't no public benefactor," Sam confessed. "I was jest trying to con old Dan into clearing a bit of snow from the lake, so young Jimmy Dorset would have a place to skate."

* * * * *

Kathy has a Caller by Boxlicker101

A while ago, I had a phone call from Kathy, a former lady friend, who had married a man named McCormick and moved to Snippetsville, far from our city. She was crying, and told me her husband had left her, and she needed my help. Although she couldn't explain just then, I am always ready to help, since she had become a lady friend again.

After a two-day drive, I turned off the interstate onto Green Lake Road and one mile farther, was at Hannah's Diner on Main Street, where I saw a sign advertising the Winter Carnival. I used the public phone to call Kathy. "I don't get out much, George," she told me. "Will you bring me some lunch from Hannah's?" Minutes later I knocked on her door carrying an armload of food.

Kathy is a sweet woman in her forties, slender, with nicely flared hips and ass, a pretty face and dark brown hair. She cried, literally, on my shoulder and chest and told me her story. Suffering from breast cancer, Kathy had chosen double mastectomy and life over painful death, which seemed reasonable to me. Not to her husband, though; he left her, declaring she was no longer a "real woman".

"He's an asshole, a stupid asshole," I told her "Breasts or not, you are enough woman for any man."

Kathy smiled for the first time since my arrival. "It's nice of you to say so but can you prove it? I really need someone, George, and you were the best one I could think of." I was very willing and, holding my hand, she led me into the bedroom.

We undressed each other, Kathy leaving her sweater and panties on and I hugged her and kissed her face until she lay on the bed, her legs spread. I removed her panties and buried my face in her wet pussy, which smelled as good as I remembered. It tasted as good too, and I licked up her juices, including the fresh ones and then ate her delightful pussy, slowly and thoroughly as she remembered me doing. Kathy moaned and sighed in pleasure, fucking her pussy into my face until she started cumming, and then she squeezed my head with her legs until she loudly climaxed.

We were far from being finished. I put on my condom and gently entered her while Kathy hugged me with her arms and legs. For a long time I plunged my cock into her pussy while she moaned and fucked back to meet me. Kathy climaxed once, crying out from pleasure and gouging my shoulders with her fingernails. We continued our joyous coupling until I matched her second, equally vocal, orgasm with my own.

Afterward, we lay on her bed, hugging and kissing. "It was sweet of you, coming here," she said. "I really needed you."

"Well, you know that I never turn down reasonable requests from my lady friends. I have always enjoyed making love with you and today was especially great."

"Thanks, George. I have been so afraid that all men would think like my husband. I'm glad you don't."

"Real men don't judge a woman by her breasts. This is a small town but there must be 100 men here who would love to have a girlfriend or wife as sweet and beautiful as you."

"It's wonderful of you to say that. I'll start looking tomorrow, maybe at the Winter Carnival that is going on, but why don't you stay here tonight? I think I need you to show me more proof. Now, let's eat because Hannah has really good food."

* * * * *

Kathy goes Skating by Boxlicker101

In the morning, I woke up with Kathy cuddled affectionately against me. After admiring her beautiful face, I crept out of bed and headed for the bathroom to answer an urgent call of nature. When I returned, Kathy was sitting up and smiling.

"I hope you don't have to go home right away, George. You just got here and the Winter Carnival at Green Lake is going on."

After a tough two-day drive here in mid-winter, followed by the pleasure of making love to Kathy the previous afternoon and night, I was in no hurry to leave. "I would love to stay a few more days, if it's okay with you."

"More than just okay. Thanks to you, I'm ready to reclaim my life. I called the school where I worked yesterday. They want me back and I start work on Monday so that gives us a couple of days together. If you want breakfast, there's nothing in the house but Hannah is famous for her breakfasts."

That sounded like a great idea to me. Hannah's is nearby so we walked there and I learned her fame is well deserved. While we ate, Kathy told me all about the Winter Carnival.

After breakfast, when we picked up a few items at Carr's store next door, Mr. Carr stared at me and acted as if he knew me, but said nothing. Some of my books have included my photo and he might have recognized me from there but he couldn't have known me from anywhere else.

Back at Kathy's house, she talked about the carnival again. "I did a lot of skating when I was younger and for the last few years before surgery, but not yet this winter. How about you?"

I could see she wanted to go and I had no objections. "I did a lot of skating when I was a kid in Wisconsin, many years ago. I don't have any skates but they have them in that store we were in. Let's get me a pair and go to the carnival." I paid for the skates with a credit card and the proprietor acted as if he knew me but was afraid to admit it. I thought he might have read some of my erotic books and maybe felt guilty about it but I wasn't concerned.

In her skating dress, Kathy looked good enough to eat, which I had done twice the previous day and expected to do again that night. Some of the men eyeballing her gliding across the ice probably knew about her double mastectomy but that didn't stop them from looking and lusting. Some women looked jealous, as if they considered Kathy a rival, and maybe she was. As I had told her, the lack of breasts was a negative but she had so many positives that it was of little consequence.

The most I can say about my skating was that I didn't fall down very much, which wasn't bad, considering how long it had been since I was on skates. I still had fun, and Kathy, I'm glad to say, had a great time and was radiant as we drove home.

By the time we got to bed that night, the stiffness and soreness from my efforts at skating had set in. Kathy took pity on me and I lay on my back and ate her pussy from the 69 position. After Kathy noisily enjoyed her orgasm from that, she moved into the female superior position and we made love, cumming together happily and vocally. We slept snuggled together again that night.

* * * * *

Winter Flowers by Lancelot Knight

When Carl heard at the General Store that a Winter Carnival was being planned, he shrugged his powerful shoulders at the idea. Two decades of thrift, no nonsense, and hard work had made the idea of fun foreign to him. But in his pickup on the way back to his farm on the edge of Snippetsville a memory blossomed in his mind: Ice skating in the pure sapphire of a winter's evening. How long had it been? Why, twenty years ago, he calculated. He was surprised at how the years had fled.

Emily had gone with him, he remembered. Skates thrown over their shoulders, their laughter was fresh and silvery. They had quarreled before the evening was through. About what, Carl couldn't even remember now. But both being strong-willed, neither had admitted to being wrong. And a germinating love affair was nipped in the bud.
In a sudden surge of rebellion against his practical nature, Carl decided—dammit!—that he would go to the Winter Carnival.

In his storage shed beside the barn, Carl located his old skates in a box in a dusty corner, and by god, they still fit him. He polished them until they gleamed, then he sharpened the blades.

The night of the opening of the Winter Carnival, Carl drove over to Green Lake. He zipped up his Alaskan parka and tossed the skates over his shoulder, just as he had done 20 years ago.
It was dark. There was a murmur of voices as the milling crowd waited for the festivities to begin. A switch was thrown, and the scene was bathed in pale lemon light. An ice maze glistened. There was curling and snowman-building and a place to make ice sculptures, and an enormous bonfire was lit. Along the shore, the Kiwanis had set up booths where you could buy hot dogs and steaming cups of hot chocolate or warm apple cider.

It looked like half of Snippetsville had turned out for the event. Laughter filled the crisp air. The lights made the ice look green, so it appeared as if they were floating on a huge emerald.

There was a bench where folks were putting on their skates. Carl was bent over when he heard a soft, clear voice. "Hello, Carl."

With surprise Carl looked up. "Emily!" he exclaimed.

Neither got any further, for nothing really needed to be said. Carl held out a hand to her, and together they skated over the emerald that was Green Lake. The wind whipped their faces. Carl felt Emily's body mold against his, and it felt absolutely right.

They found a quiet spot among the trees, some distance from the laughter and shouts of the Carnival. Carl sat on stump. Even with their parkas on, Carl was able to slide Emily's slacks down. Her pussy glittered with her juices, and her heady, womanly fragrance filled his nostrils until it seemed that all the outdoors was permeated with the odor of pungent pussy juice. Facing Carl, Emily lowered herself onto his lap. She gasped, putting her gloved hand on the back of his neck, as his hard pole penetrated her. For a long time they were still. Emily savored the shaft filling her, then she rotated her hips in a sensual rolling motion. Carl savored Emily's sheath wrapping around him in sensual delight.

Urgency took over. Emily whimpered, Carl clenched his teeth, and they climaxed together, their gasps like silver clouds in the night.

Afterwards, they watched a golden bonfire, tossing sparks to the frosty stars. And Carl decided: While flowers perhaps don't bloom in the middle of winter, love can.

* * * * *

McRae's Win by Champagne1982

Cheri grabbed Randy's hand and pulled herself up. She smiled at him as he led her from the rink back along the shoveled pathway to the hot dog booth. She smiled at Ted Loghan as he took their order. Ted slopped a spoonful of watery chili over the two hot dogs. "Five bucks please. Enjoy the carnival!"

Randy pushed the money over the vinyl-covered plywood and handed his girl her hot dog. "I'm gonna take you away from this crowd Cheri," his voice stroked her name, turning it into a caress. "Let's go for a walk up the trail and be alone for a while."

From behind them came a call, "Randy? Randy McRae!" An elegant, blonde woman approached down the walk.

"Hello, Elaine. I haven't seen you around much! How you been?" Randy smiled at her as he hugged Cheri close to his side.

"I've been busy as all hell. What with plannin' my wedding and all."

"Shut up! Who's the lucky man?"

"George Brady, out at the Lazy Snips. We met at the masquerade last year. I'll cut to the chase though, Randy, we need you over at the wood chopping competition, they're one short for a proper race. The winner gets entered into that vacation trip draw." Her voice took on a pleading note, "Come on?"

"You should enter Randy!" Cheri encouraged him, " Make George earn that win. I saw the list of competitors in the program. He'll walk away with the prize without you in it."

Randy smiled at her, "You hoping you'll come with me, Cheri? C'mon baby, I'll win a chance at that prize!"

Elaine laughed delightedly and started walking back to the competition area. There were five men, each standing beside a chopping block and an axe. Jumbled piles of short logs waited behind them. Over across the space, Randy saw the place for the last entrant and he leaned over and kissed Cheri for luck. He smiled and nodded his acquaintance to his competitors as he walked past to his pile of wood.

The edge of his axe was keenly sharpened and he smiled as the skate sharpener from the community arena shouted out, "You won't find no fault with that edge, McRae! I sharpened them all this mornin'!"

Randy waved, dropping his coat and hat over the saw horse. He flexed his fingers and swung the axe, loosening up. Cheri stood against the rail with Elaine and felt a thrill of excitement as their two men shook hands. The whistle blew.

With a swing of the axe Randy sent logs flying. He continued until he'd chopped three more, without any real pause he hacked the blade into the block and filled his arms full of wood. Smoothly into the flow, Randy placed them in a neat pile and then went back to chopping.

This time he tossed the chunks at the pile. Some even landing on the stack. He continued even after two other men had started to build their piles. Then he flung the axe at the block, madly stacking wood, until the whistle sounded that the race was over, ten minutes after it had begun.

The judge stepped over and with a measuring tape, shouted out the height of each stack. The other competitors shook each other's hands as Randy and George stood waiting. Their piles were stacked high, looking almost identical. Before the man got near George's wood, everyone gasped as they watched it topple over. Randy McRae had won.

* * * * *

Streak of White Light by Alex de Kok

The short line of skaters, each holding onto the figure in front, snaked sinuously around the perimeter of the carefully cleared impromptu skating area on Green Lake. Out here, the skaters were few, for the light was dim, the torches planted much further apart. Sally Devine led the line of skaters into a deeper pool of darkness, raised her hand and brought the column to a halt.

She looked around at the others. "Are we ready, girls?"

"Ready," said Alison Jenner, Sally's twin, with a grin.

"Ready," said Sally Aker, a vivid smile on her face.

"Me, too, I guess," said Sue Ellis, "but I still don't know how I let you con me into this!"

"Because you're an exhibitionist at heart, that's why, sweetheart," said her lover, Tom Jackson. "Remember my Christmas present."

"Mmm, yes!" said Sue.

"What was it, Sue?" Sally Devine said, "something sexy?"

"Oh, yes, it was sexy. Very sexy," Tom said, grinning.

"Come on, tell," said Alison.

"Me," said Sue with a grin, "gift-wrapped!"

"Wow, lucky man," said Charlie West. "Hear that, Al? You'll know what to give me next Christmas."

"In your dreams, Charlie," Alison said, laughing. "What were you wearing under the gift-wrap, Sue?"

"Nothing, by the time Tom had finished unwrapping," Sue said with a giggle.

"Are Jack and Chuck in place?" Sally Aker asked Tom.

"Ready and waiting. Jack has the Winnebago's engine running, with your other clothes ready for you. He's parked it right on the edge of the dock, and the heater is turned up full." Charlie grinned. "Chuck has his video camera, so watch out for the lights. He promised to catch the end of your trip, ladies."