Stormwatch - A Serene Summer Day

Finally facing his demons rather than ignoring them, Ephraim Josh Gravely MSgt USAF Ret. reached out and sought counseling, family friend Macy Jarecki was able to refer him to someone that specializes in PTSD and survivor's guilt. With his doctor and his fiancée Veronica's support Josh has a good start on beating back the demons that haunt him. One of the tools he and Veronica uses to help him with dealing with his trauma is his land. He owns 50 acres of forested land, an old scout camp from the 40s, which is now Josh and Veronica's love nest. And there's nothing better than sharing their bounty with their friends and family on a warm summer weekend...

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Stormwatch - A Serene Summer Day

Mike von Köster got up with the sun just lighting up the horizon, it was a beautiful morning here back in the woods, peaceful. It's not quiet, but it is peaceful, the noises he heard here were not gangs carrying on in the streets of Erie PA, but God's own creatures doing their thing in the woods. A hoot owl interrupted his sleep, but it wasn't police sirens, or gunfire followed by shrieks and shouts, just an ol' owl calling his hen. Then came a late-night thunderstorm, thunder crashed, and rain hammered on the metal roof, not a gunshot or a stabbing out on the street but a sweet rain to clean the air.

Plus, a late-night visitor roused during a thunderstorm joined Mike in his bed for comfort, which was a welcome plus. "I don't know why I try to sleep in that other room, I always end up over here," she said.

"I don't know why you do that either, you're always welcome here," Mike replied and with that, the other bedroom became a spare room.

This morning Mike eased his achy old body out of his bed, thankful it's not an old camping cot from his youth, being careful not to disturb his visitor who looked so much like an angel as she slept. He leaned over and kissed her forehead which brought a sweet little smile to her lips then he turned and dressed quietly and went to the bathroom to wash up. Each ache elicited a grunt of pain, but he was able to keep them quiet, so he didn't wake his visiting angel. He guessed she was now a permanent resident angel. Mike built locomotives for over forty years, then when he got injured, he was shuffled off to a nursing home with a gold watch that never really worked and a pension check his ex-wife and his ex-daughter somehow emptied.

He wasn't angry, the job gave him the ability to raise two beautiful daughters by himself, and when he needed them, Veronica was there for him, always there to cheer him up. When his ex-wife and oldest daughter cleaned out his meager savings and his pension, his daughter Veronica and her man were there for him immediately. They gave him a room in their house and an old man's dream, a cabin by the lake, a radio, a TV with rabbit ears, and a helper. Short, sweet, and very curvy, a darling brunette who would do anything to make life a little bit easier for him.

The cabin is a big old log cabin built eighty years ago by some agency, maybe the forest service, they guess that because the exterior is painted in that Forest Service shade of green that appears nowhere in nature. The title to the land should show who it really was, but Mike didn't think that Josh would care. The cabin has a new roof, a new floor and a bedroom at each end, the middle is a large great room with a huge stone fireplace and chimney, kitchenette, and a small bathroom with shower.

He put a pot of coffee on to brew then stepped out onto the porch and turned on the only radio station he could pick up, WPIG. Early morning farm reports, it reminds him of TV in his youth back in the 60's. It was a chilly morning, the weatherman said the day promised to be hot, but right now a little heat is needed. He started a small fire in the brick firepit. It was a simple square made of cinderblocks, but it served as a firepit, barbeque, and with the right wood, a fish smoker. The snapping and popping of the little fire and the smell of the fragrant birch smoke, the occasional splash of an early morning trout, even the damp chill of the morning air was all good to Mike. As he watched the morning mist rise on the pond the curvy little brunette stepped out onto the porch and handed him a cup of coffee, then sat down in an Adirondack chair next to him and sipped her own coffee.

"Thank you, sweetie."

"How ya doing this morning grandpa?"

"Some creeks, some groans, but it's a beautiful morning."

"Yes, it is.

The sound of footsteps on wood reached their ears from across the pond, the other side still shrouded in mist, then could be heard the whirring sound of a small electric trolling motor and soon a pontoon boat appeared out of the mist and headed toward them. The boat pulled up to the dock in front of them with practiced ease and Josh leaned toward them from the captains chair and called, "Morning dad, I'm going to drown a few worms, would you care to join me?"

Mike pointed to the little rowboat tied up alongside the dock, "Thank you son, but I'm going to set to the oars in a few minutes and try my luck back in the woods," and he pointed to the mist shrouded northwest corner of the pond.

"Audrey, you're welcome to come too," said Josh.

Audrey raised her slim leg and showed off her neon yellow sneakers. "I'm going for a jog with Ronnie then help her with breakfast."

"Ok then, be that way," smiled Josh, "See you at breakfast." And with a wave Josh started the electric trolling motor and the old pontoon boat slowly headed out to the middle of the large pond.

After the sound of the motor faded into the mist, Mike looked over at the little brunette who was looking at something on her phone. "What' ya looking at sweetie?" Audrey Mitchel showed Mike a picture on her phone, it was from the company holiday party, and it showed Josh Gravely in his USAF dress blues with a gorgeous blond on each arm. "Holeee Smokes, look at those ribbons! And where was my daughter when this was took?"

"She was dancing with her Army buddy Mitch McDonnell."

"Her old dancing instructor. Were you there?"

Audrey pointed to the younger looking of the two blonds, "right there, can't you tell?

"No! That was you?" Mike was shocked, that photo didn't look like her at all. Audrey's parents were odd, they urged their daughter to dye her hair blond like her mother, wear tight fitting clothing like her mother, wear her makeup like her mother, and when she was old enough, to fuck her father like her mother.

"That was mom's idea, she thought dad would look best with a blonds on each arm, so she dyed my hair blond like hers and we dressed the same with our boobs hanging out... but mine are real," she grinned.

"My goodness," said Mike. "Josh doesn't look very happy in this picture, does he."

"Well, I was grabbing his ass." When Mike looked at her with a disapproving look, she said, "Mom told me to do it, mom didn't like Veronica at all."

From what Veronica told Mike about Audrey's mom; Mike wasn't happy with her mom much either. He started to get up and he worked his way out of the chair and with a groan he stood. "I had better get going, those fish aren't going to catch themselves." He disappeared into the cabin and returned with his fishing pole, tackle box, bait box and his travel mug filled with hot coffee. He bent and kissed Audrey on top of her head and said, "You be careful on your run, don't let Ronnie run you into the ground.

She rose and gave him a proper kiss and said, "Thank you, grandpa, I'll be careful." She watched Mike walk down to the dock and get into the boat and with a few pulls at the oars he was heading off. They were on the northeast corner of the roughly rectangular pond; he's headed to the northwest corner, so he'll be rowing for a while. A thought occurred to Audrey, and she pulled her phone from her pocket and did a few internet searches and found exactly what she was looking for.

Audrey is a friend of Veronica's; they were nearly inseparable for a couple of years. Audrey's parents were both sexually wild, they pulled Audrey into an incestuous threeway that at first was fun and sexy, but after a while her parents became quite demanding and that she didn't like. She liked the sex, but her mother was very aggressive, extremely demanding, and liked inflicting pain, and Audrey didn't like that very much. If she was going to have a female lover, she wanted someone sweet like Veronica. At the same time her parents were very poor gamblers and ended up running afoul of the Mafia. To pay their gambling debit they tried some underhanded business shenanigans, and they ended up being grabbed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and to stay out of prison they squealed on their Mafia connections and were pulled into Witness Protection Program.

Audrey went along with them into hiding at first, but when they began talking about conning the SEC with some other scheme and they became very angry at her in bed, she snuck out and ended up in Florida where she, with a little help from Anthony Friedman, her dad's former boss, met up with Josh and Veronica. They invited Audrey to come live with them while she gets her feet back under her. At the same time, the nursing home where Mike was living was going to evict him for nonpayment. His ex-wife and other daughter Maurene cleaned out his pension and his savings and he was soon to be homeless. Mike moved into the in-law suite of Veronica's house and an affection grew between Mike and Audrey, she started calling him grandpa and he started calling her 'lil girl.

As Audrey finished her internet search she heard the chirp of a whistle, she and Veronica wear whistles on lanyards around their necks when they're in the woods to call for help in an emergency. This chirp meant that Veronica had started her morning jog. Audrey closed up the cabin and headed up the path to where she would meet Veronica. Soon the tall, slim blond and the short, curvaceous brunette were jogging along the path. The path is a dirt road through the forest that weaves and winds from one cabin to the next eventually in a large loop. Although most of the cabins were in ruins due to neglect and vandalism, Josh has done his best to collect unburned logs and clean up collapsed cabins and restore the cabin sites to an area where tent or an RV could camp, and he rebuilt several standing cabins. Audrey and Veronica ran about four laps around the property enjoying the jog through the woods then headed back to the cabin. Normally Ronnie would be heading back to wash up and head into Orchard Park for work, but this is a long weekend, Independence Day!

The sun was now above the horizon and the morning mist started to "burn off" quite quickly. Mike rowed across the width of the pond enjoying the sounds of the forest starting to wake up, the songbirds were quite excited to greet the dawn and Mike enjoyed this part of the day more than any other. Even yesterday when it rained all day, he sat on the porch with Audrey watching the gentle rain as it fell on the pond and Audrey told him stories of her youth with parents that he sincerely did not approve of. To get her mind off of her parents' "oddities" he taught her how to clean and filet fish, and between cloud bursts he took her out to the dock and taught to catch sunfish and blue gill.

Now he was in his favorite portion of the pond, the pond had backed up into the forest and this section of the pond was filled with large trees both standing and fallen. It was easier to ship the oars and pole the boat through the maze of trees, but back here there were big trout easing their way between, around, and under the logs that filled the water. This place was a challenge, he's lost many a hook to underwater hazards, but those trout called to him.

He fished for an hour or two, enjoying the morning peace. He shared this corner of the pond with a deer that stopped for a drink, and a raccoon who appeared to be heading home after a long evening. As he prepared to bait a hook that a fish just cleaned, there came the clanging of that big triangle bell from back at Josh and Ronnie's cabin, breakfast is ready! He polled his way out of the trees, even in their death the trunks of these once proud trees had a strength and dignity. Their smaller branches and bark had fallen off long ago and what remained were tall grey forked columns that reached for the sky and sheltered trout the size of salmon. When he finally broke into the open water leaned the pole he made from a sapling he had cut against a tree trunk and began to row toward Josh and Veronica's cabin. Josh was waiting for him with the pontoon boat and moved toward him. "Let's go eat dad!" Josh called with a grin and tossed Mike a line, then he revved up the gasoline outboard motor and as Mike held tight as Josh towed him to his cabin.

They washed up and settled in at the picnic table in front of Josh and Veronica's cabin for pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs and coffee. The smell of wood fire, coffee and bacon added to the perfume of the forest as Mike settled in for breakfast with the people he loved most. "So, what has everybody planned for today?" Veronica asked.

"I have some elm to buck and split," said Josh. They found a big elm that had gone down in a storm a year or two ago, with the neighbor's help and his tractor they pulled it up to the area where the cabins sit, the remains of one of the wrecked cabins is now firewood storage.

"That sounds like a workout," said Veronica with the subtle twitch of an eyebrow.

"I have a full day of glorious nothing to do," said Mike. "I think I might help cut some wood."

"Oh no grandpa," announced Audrey, "we're going shopping!" She whirled and turned to Josh, "Can I borrow the truck?"

"What's wrong with your car?" asked Josh.

She handed her phone with the search results to Josh, "It won't fit in my car."

Josh looked at the phone and it showed a small dormitory style refrigerator. "Why a mini-fridge?"

"Because I'm tired of reaching into the fridge for a snack and coming out with a cup full of worms!"

"Still, that should fit in your car." Then Audrey flipped the screen displaying a six-foot tall three foot wide, two-foot-deep plastic "Garden Shed." Josh looked at it then said, "You want dad to do some gardening?"

Audrey shook her head, "it's for his fishing poles! I keep knocking them over, he leaves them everywhere."

Before anyone else could speak, Veronica handed Audrey her credit card and said, "Get two." When the chuckling died down Josh reminded everyone, "we have company coming today, Ant said they would arrive after lunch."

"I can't wait to meet Antman," said Mike. "He sounds like a great guy."

"Daaad!" whined Veronica and Audrey. "It's not Antman, it's Ant, A-N-T, short for Anthony."

"I think he just likes to get you guys stirred up," grinned Josh.

When breakfast was finished Josh and Veronica were washing dishes and they peered out the cabin door to see Audrey rowing Mike across the lake to their cabin to put his fishing gear away. "Who woulda thunk it," muttered Josh softly.

"Those two are nearly inseparable now," said Veronica. She wasn't smiling, not by a long shot.

"You sound concerned." Josh could understand her concern, Audrey's dad groomed her to love a father figure, and he did it quite vigorously. Veronica's dad Mike is a big boy now, he can handle himself. Besides, if Audrey is after Mike for his money, the joke is on her, that well has been sucked dry. Audrey has more money than Mike does. Veronica's older sister Maurene had been dipping into their dad's accounts for some time. So, by the time Josh and Veronica convinced Mike to come up to Buffalo and visit for the summer, the nursing home was getting ready to kick him out because Mike was out of money.

"Shouldn't I be concerned? How many years has she been fucking her father?" Veronica was really angry. "Dad hasn't had..." Josh silenced her with a gentle finger to her lips and she stopped before she said something truly ugly.

Fresh from bouts of psychiatric counseling every week since they returned from Florida, Josh was full of sage wisdom. "It's not going to do anyone good if you get mad at them..."

"I'm not mad at them," said Veronica trying to restrain herself, then she sadly wept, "I'm mad at my mom, I'm mad at my sister, how could they do that to him? He's such a gentle hearted man... like you."

Josh shook his head, "You must be talking about a different Ephraim Gravely than the one I know..."

"Hush!" she put a finger on his lips as he did to her. "You know what kind of past I had but you still love me." She was talking about her past being used by rich men as 'fuck-toy arm candy.'

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess I am pretty wonderful." They stepped out on the porch and sat in their chairs and watched Audrey rowing the boat around in lazy circles, she and Mike laughing like kids. As the sun came up over the tree tops the remains of the mist faded and the morning dew began to dry up.

"When do the Friedmans arrive?" she asked as their hands clasped.

"Ant said somewhere around two," said Josh. The CEO of their company, Andalon, and his huge family were nearly permanent residents here at Josh and Veronica's cabins. Cabin 8 was still set up like in the old girl scout camp days, with military style metal bunkbeds in a huge common area. Two full size refrigerators were installed for Anthony, Marge, and their seven children.

"And Terri?"

"Terri pulled a long shift last night so she'll probably be pretty late, we may have to save her some dinner," said Josh as they headed down to the woods on the far side of the pond where the cabins were situated. "It's going to be a hot one, today!" said Josh taking off his jacket and tossing it on the utility wagon he was pulling. The wagon also contained a sledgehammer, wedge, chain saw, oil, and a gas can.

"Oh, I invited the Jareckis also," said Veronica. The Jareckis are their neighbors out here in the countryside and in the village of Springville. Out here they have a big plot of land across the road and their home in Springville is just two blocks away. There are two families, Paul Jarecki, his wife Andi, and their twin girls Sandy and Madeline, and their baby son Daniel, and Paul's brother John Jarecki, his wife Macy, and their infant daughter Katarina. Their Jarecki set up is three small barns in a row, the two outer barns are living space for each family the center barn is a common kitchen and bathroom with shower and a sauna.

"This is your first trip up here with the whole gang, isn't it?" asked Josh. "This is the first time the pond is really warm enough this summer for the kids to go swimming."

"Swimming? No, I don't do swimming with a pond full of kids, I'm going to let you play lifeguard," laughed Veronica as she poked Josh with a finger.

The woods were warm and fragrant, the intoxicating scent of the pines was invigorating, and when they finally got to the remains of cabin three, they were more in the mood for loving than for cutting wood and they melted into each other's arms. However, as they gazed into each other's eyes and Josh clasped her round, firm butt cheeks and pulled her close, Audrey and Mike appeared from around a corner in the path. "AaaHEM," coughed Audrey, "We're not interrupting anything, are we?"

"Your timing is immaculate," said Veronica as she turned around in Josh's arms. "We were just starting to cut wood."

"So is that what you young kids call it," chuckled Mike, then he winced from the elbow to the midsection that Audrey gave him.

"Can we get the keys to your truck?" Audrey asked sweetly.

"Here you go, and lock the gate when you go," said Josh as he tossed her the keyring, "There's a lot of vandalism in the back country here and we can't hear people up at the cabin from here."