Love Always Wins Pt. 01 Ch. 01-04

"Stef the pussycat, ay? Riiight. That, my dear, is classified information."

"Oh goody! Finally some blackmail material!"

"So much for fun. Terri, we've got a pretty good walk ahead of us. How big a breakfast do you need?"

"Well, gee. What are you having for breakfast?"

"Usually, all I need is my Tibetan coffee. However, unless you have been on something a whole lot different than the standard American diet, I think you will need more than that. How does a couple of soft-boiled eggs over buckwheat groats sound to you?

"My stomach just growled so I guess it approves. Tibetan coffee? What's that?"

I laughed, "It's my takeoff on Tibetan yak butter tea."

"You have my permission to speak English any time now."

I gave Terri a hug and a kiss on her forehead. "Okay, give me a hand getting the dinette set back up and I promise to bore you with English."

"Promises, promises."

"No, no. This is a quid pro quo."

Terri gave me a puzzled look for a moment and then had a flash of understanding, "Oops! You're right. I missed that one!" She gave me a playful punch on my arm.

Over breakfast I explained how I had come across references to yak butter tea ever since I had been in high school. Finally, I came across one mention too many and decided to pursue it to a definitive definition.

The constants in the recipes that I found seemed to be yak butter, water, agitation, and bricks of dried tea leaves. Salt was common in the recipes that I found, but not a constant. The adaptation of the Tibetan recipe that I had arrived at was hot coffee and butter frothed together with a blender or a milk frother. I had discovered that the brew usually gave me enough get-up-and-go to get through a whole morning unless I was doing pretty heavy labor.

After breakfast, Terri and I got our gear together for the hike. The walking sticks were the only pieces of equipment that caught Terri's attention as being a bit unusual—especially mine.

"My gosh! That looks like a spear!"

"Yeah, that's what it started out as. I made it on a lark and expected it to be a wall hanger or a conversation piece. I had fun putting it together and then I discovered that it is the world's best walking stick.

"The blade is mostly a conversation starter, but it does give me a sense of security whether I need it or not. The crosspiece or hunting stop gives me something to hold onto when I am using it for balance like when crossing really big blow-downs. The steel foot will last forever even while thunking down onto rocky trails for miles and miles. The Dymondwood shaft is stronger than any wood, and, if I take the spearhead off, that exposes a camera mount so that I can use the stick as a monopod."

"Uh, if you have that fine piece of overkill, why do I need a walking stick?"

"The good news is that nine times out of ten, you don't. The bad news is that Murphy's Law functions most often and most reliably when your equipment is deficient in one way or another. The creek runs pretty fast and deep and a third foot goes a long ways toward helping you keep your balance!"

"And this piece of wood is my walking stick?"

"Yeah, I cut that out of a chunk of green aspen and peeled the bark off the day I got here. It should be nice and dry and smooth for you to use."

"So, you knew I was coming?" Terri said with a grin.

"Don't I wish. Actually, it was just a nice piece of aspen lying next to the woodpile and I decided that I could have something for my hands to do while I sat down and watched the hummingbirds argue at the feeder."

With a grin, I added, "I expect that it will be used by one of my nephews when the family gets together next week. I'll be able to tell him that it was tested out by the prettiest girl on the planet."

I got a funny look from Terri which she punctuated with a light blush and a short, "Flirt!"

We started off by crossing a couple of muddy sloughs and then crossed the main branch of the big creek. Terri changed from her flip flops to her hiking boots and we headed upstream along the old fishing trail.

There were some steep spots, but for the most part it was a nice hike in the Rocky Mountain sunshine with melodious accompaniment from the rushing stream alongside the trail. I was careful to keep our pace comfortably within Terri's ability to suck oxygen out of the thin air.

Not too long after the noon hour, we had arrived at what I think is an old abandoned mining camp several miles upstream. "Unless you are feeling especially energetic, this is usually where I cool off and turn around."

"So this is a mining camp? How do you know that?"

"This wasn't a trapper's cabin since you can find the remains of several buildings here. I may be wrong, but this doesn't look like a productive place for a logging camp—especially on this side of the creek. And finally, you saw the signs marking placer mining claims on the trail we just hiked on. I understand that there used to be a lot of claims along this creek all the way up to hard rock mining operations at the headwaters to placer claims all the way down to the river. In fact, I had an Army buddy who had a placer claim downstream inside what is now wilderness area."

"So, I gather that here is where we will have lunch, right?" I nodded and she continued, "Can we get into some shade to eat? I was cold last night, but now I feel like I've been marching through an oven. As a matter of fact, I hope that I brought enough water!"

"Well, before eating I usually hop into the creek and cool off a bit. Let's go over to the bend over there where it's a little easier to get to the creek."

"Oh. Kaay." Terri looked around a bit nervously. "Is this an exercise in skinny dipping? The pervert I'm hiking with didn't tell me to bring a swimsuit."

I grinned, "The pervert usually, but not always, brings a swimsuit. Today, he brought two."

"Well, heck. Why didn't you just tell me to bring a swimsuit?"

"Two reasons. One, if it was hot and sunny, I wanted it to be a surprise. Two, the water is cold, and after last night, I didn't want you to feel any sense of obligation to try it. I figured that if I provided a surprise swimsuit you would feel the least amount of obligation to use it; especially since it's just the same ugly thing I'm using."

"Allll right. Just how ugly is this particular duckling?"

I proceeded to pull a stuff bag out of my pack, opened it up, and shook the contents out: two lumps of black fabric and one lump of gray fabric. I picked up one of the black lumps and shook it out. "Black nylon running shorts, both the same size. Obviously, you and I are not exactly the same shape and size, but these fit me and I'm sure that they will work for you. Being nylon, it dries fast and hardly takes up any space in the pack."

I shook out the gray fabric to reveal a nylon gym T-shirt. "This is a bit loose for me, so it ought to fit you about right."

"Where is your shirt?" She gave me a lopsided grin. "You said you brought two of the same swimsuit."

"All right, I misspoke. Maybe I should have said that I did the best I could without giving the whole game away. After all, I don't normally pack a lady's wardrobe with me in the trailer. I emphasize that I'm NOT saying that you have to try this. If you don't want to get wet, that's entirely your call and doesn't cause you to lose or gain points in my book or anything like that."

"No, it's all right. I'm teasing. It is hot and I'm interested in giving it a try—as long as you promise you're not planning to drown me so you can collect on my inheritance... uh, I mean my insurance."

I rolled my eyes a bit and replied, "No, I certainly don't PLAN to drown you, but I will say that I do NOT know where redline is on my tease-o-meter!"

"Okay, pax. Now do we go and run and change in the bushes or just change in front of each other?"

"Uh, I figure that's the lady's call. What are you comfortable with?"

"Back to back works for me as long as you promise not to cheat."

"That works for me too. Oh, and I promise. Go ahead and find a dry spot where you can put your pack and clothes."

In a few minutes we were about ten feet apart and standing back-to-back on the bank of the creek. Terri gave the signal to go and we proceeded to change into our "swimming" gear.

I think that Terri finished first, but I didn't check because I didn't want to turn around and show off the epic stiffy that Little Stefan had elected to start sporting. Instead, as soon as I finished dressing, I started moving into the creek without turning toward Terri.

I found a little hollow that was big enough and deep enough to lie down in and proceeded to lower myself into the water. As usual, my body was NOT happy with the temperature transition and caused me to move jerkily and with some groaning that got past my teeth which were holding onto my lower lip. When I was all the way into the water, I closed my eyes and concentrated on letting my body acclimate to the running water. During this process, Little Stefan managed to lose all interest in standing tall which I found reassuring.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Terri standing about ankle-deep in the water watching me. "Hey, I thought you were going to wear the T-shirt!"

"What? And treat you to a wet T-shirt contest? I don't think so. Besides I think that the halter top I was hiking in is much more lady-like. Don't you agree?"

"If you want to jump in while wearing a wedding dress, it's your call. All I want is for you to watch your step and not slip and crack your skull."

"How do you suggest I do this? The way you did it didn't look like too much fun."

"Well, you can ease in like I did, or you can do what some folks say works best and just jump in all at once."

"I've seen videos of Polar Bear Club people jumping into holes in the ice, so that tells me that is most likely the best way to go." Terri pulled off her halter top, threw it to the bank, and moved out to a spot that she figured she could splash down in.

Seeing Terri topless was enough of a surprise that it almost felt like a jolt of electricity had gone through my body! For the moment she was the living image of every beautiful, nubile woman that ever existed! Little Stefan managed to surprise me; in spite of the cold water he was impressed enough that he managed to start rising—like a bloody periscope was the thought that ran through my head.

Terri found a good spot and proceeded to splash down. Her splash was followed by an eruption! "AIEEEE! OHMYFUCKINGGODTHATWATERISCOLD!!

The first thing I saw after shaking the water out of my eyes was Terri standing in the creek with water streaming off of her with her pert breasts pointing out at a very perky angle and capped with now very prominent nipples!

"Stefan, how in hell do you stand it? It doesn't feel bad on my feet, but, I swear, this water is colder than dry ice!"

"Once you're in the water, it takes about thirty seconds for the body to acclimate and decide that it is not going to die. I have never managed it, but some folks say that after you get used to it, it actually feels pleasant."

"Right! And boiling in oil is painless!"

I will give Terri credit. She did not give up. She slowly oozed down into the water similar to how I had gotten into it. The process was accompanied with an interesting sound track of squeaks and groans and curses, but she made it; and she stayed there until I decided that I had had enough!

"Terri, I normally stand here by the creek and shake the water off until I am about half dry and then put my clothes on."

"Fuck that! Let's get up into the sunshine right now!" Suiting action to words, Terri grabbed her pack and clothes in her wet arms and headed right up the bank to the biggest and hottest patch of sunshine she could find. I followed her example and then found a nice fallen aspen that we could sit on and have some food. We kicked off our footgear to dry our feet in the grass, opened our packs to bring out the food, and settled in for lunch.

Lunch was the most delicious torture that I had ever been exposed to, what with the most gorgeous woman in the world sitting an arms length from me and with her beautiful bare breasts pointing directly at me! Oh, and the trail food tasted really good too after our hike and the cold baths; but frankly, I'm surprised that I noticed the taste of anything at all!

Chapter IV

As we finished our food my mind began to gnash and thrash around what was now my paramount problem. How in hell was I going to stand up in front of Terri without embarrassing her to death. After all, Little Stefan was trying to see if he could emulate the Empire State Building inside my running shorts!

Terri swallowed her last bite of food, took a deep breath, looked me directly in the eyes, and asked point blank, "What is wrong with me?"

"W, Wh, WHAT?"

"Well, with four children, I'm pretty sure that you're not gay. So either you don't like me or I've done something to piss you off! And it's not because I'm jail bait either!" She fumbled in her pack. "See! Here's my goddamn drivers license for proof!

"You've been a goddamn gentleman since we met! That was really appreciated at first. When you pulled up my shirt last night, half of me said, 'Omigod, I'm going to be raped,' and the other half said, 'So bullshit! We'll be warm!' By the time you finished massaging my shoulders I had gone from being afraid that I was going to be raped to being afraid that I was NOT going to be raped!

"You've had tons of chances to cop a feel and you haven't tried once! I flirt with you and either there is no reaction or you meet me halfway by treating it like a funny joke or a play on words that has nothing more to it than to lighten the mood.

"When we stood back to back by the creek and changed clothes, I cheated the whole time, but you didn't even try to peek at me! Here I am now on full display and you just sit there and eat your fucking lunch! By now anybody else would have raped me twenty times till Sunday—but not you!

"Except for the fact that you treat me like an equal human being, you act like you were my damned father or a stupid eunuch! Does snow on the roof mean the fire is out?"

I looked into the sky as Terri took a deep breath and exclaimed, "Oh God! Thank you!"

As for Terri, she suddenly looked like she was totally confused! "What are..."

"Whoa, Terri! YOU have made the first serious move! Thank you so very, very much! We have tons that we need to talk about and now you have opened the floodgates. "

"I don't..."

"No, no, please let me talk for now. I promise you'll get your chance and I promise I will answer to the best of my honest ability any and every question you may have to hit me with. Okay?"

"I, uh... well, okay..."

"First off, I need to answer your opening question. For your information, there is not a damned thing wrong with you that I have discovered—and here is the proof!" I stood up and pulled my running shorts down. I pulled the waistband out as I pulled the shorts down, but not quite far enough. Little Stefan was caught by the waistband and since he was the hardest I ever remember him being, he got pulled down painfully and then bounced energetically!

"Oh God, free at last! That feels so good!"

Terri's eyes got big, but I couldn't tell what the emotion was that was driving the reaction. "Terri, this has been my constant companion since the first time that I touched you! How many men have you ever met who called you ugly and still sported a stiffy that was this hard? Does this make you think that I can't stand you or that I can't tell the difference between you and a piece of furniture?"

"Well, uh... no..."

"Let me tell you that I sure wish that I had brought a jock strap with me this trip, because it's a real pain in the penis to act nonchalant around a woman that you don't want to embarrass!

"I'm curious. Was I so good about covering up that you never knew what was going on—or was it a calculated exercise to see how uncomfortable you could make a guy?"

Terri blushed, a beautiful full body blush, and replied, "Uh, I could tell you were hard last night, but you were asleep and I thought maybe it was like the morning wood that I've heard about. The rest of the time the shorts you have been wearing have been pretty baggy. Plus, I've tried to not be too gauche by staring at your crotch—especially seeing as how I couldn't catch you obviously checking me out very much."

"Trust me. If I was Superman, your backside would have a serious sunburn—if not burnt to a crisp! And I will admit that it was almost painful trying to maintain eye contact during lunch!"

Terri grinned, "Well, for an old fart, I did notice that you do seem to have a nice pair of buns back there... And you do have a lot more body hair than any guy I've been around before, but after I warmed up last night I was surprised that it wasn't distracting or seemed like it was in the way."

"Oh no, that sounds like a lead-in to a Neanderthal joke!"

Terri giggled—a comfortable in her skin and in the situation giggle, "No, that's one that I need to keep in reserve for future use."

"Okay, forewarned is forearmed. I will probably be able to survive your negative Neanderthal onslaught.

"However, we still need to slay this elephant in the room, so to speak. Moving on in that direction, I want to emphasize that there is absolutely nothing wrong with you and there is absolutely nothing wrong with me. Generally speaking, I guess you could say that we are victims of the human condition.

"If we need to pin a tail of blame on the donkey of our situation then, I guess we need to pin it onto a human culture that hasn't caught up with the twenty-first century—or at least with our current situation.

"Now some folks will say that humans are animals with souls. Others will say that humans are just animals. The bottom line is that almost everybody agrees that we are animals. As animals we have three imperatives; well, with some minor modifications they work for plants and other life forms too, but I'll keep the explanation mostly in our animal kingdom.

"Number one is to simply live. That means that our first priority is to run away or to fight back when something threatens us or the property that we need in order to survive. Today, lawyers call it the right of self-defense.

"Number two is to eat. If nothing is trying to kill us, then our mission is to kill something else to eat; whether that something else is a plant or an animal. In order to get the energy that we need to live, we need to destroy something that was or is alive. I suppose that a socialist would call this the so-called 'right' to welfare. I suppose a cynic would call it a 'right' to be a parasite, whether it is a symbiotic or a destructive relationship matters not. Our selfish genes don't care about such hair-splitting. As far as they are concerned, if it provides more energy than it costs, than it's a go.

"Now, to be fair, I have stumbled across some research that indicates that the melanin in our skin can harvest solar energy. I guess you could say that melanin is sort of the chlorophyl of the animal kingdom. However, that does not invalidate imperative number two. It just makes it 99.9 percent true in the animal kingdom instead of one hundred percent true.

"Number three is to procreate. If we are alive and we aren't eating, our prime directive is to produce offspring. Without offspring, our selfish gene line ceases to exist and its entire raison d'être is thwarted. I guess a religionist would call this the so-called 'right' to go forth and be fruitful."

By this time I had stepped completely out of my running shorts and was in full professor mode while standing in front of a gorgeous class of one whose delicious state of dishabille kept the pointer between my legs at full staff and, most of the time, pointed directly at said class.