Stranded

After that, I scrubbed my body, letting the cool rain rinse me off.

I gathered all of the clothes up and brought them to the Jeep. I sat in the front seat and wrung as much water as I could out of all the clothes, one piece at a time. I hung the clothes up over the air vents, and turned the heater on low heat, high fan.

Then I dried myself off

"The clothes will be dry in an hour or two." I told the girls.

"Are you sure you have enough gas?" Mandy asked.

"I tapped the fuel gauge. Still well over 3/4 full on the main tank.

"Oh yeah," I said. "I still have a little over 55 gallons left between the two diesel tanks."

I turned on the radio and listened for the weather broadcast.

Same old story.

At least 2 and possibly 4 or 5 more days of rain

. I muttered a curse under my breath and slumped back as the music started again. I was just letting my mind wander when I happened to look under the dashboard and see the old CB radio.

I hadn't even turned the damn thing on in over 5 years. But the antenna was still on the roof.

I reached down and flicked the switch, and h numbers lighted right up. I fiddled with the gain and the squelch knobs, finally getting a fairly clear signal. I boosted the volume, and started flipping channels. I turned to channel 9, the emergency CB channel, but could not get a response. So I went back up channel by channel, listening for voices.

On channel 38 I heard people talking very clearly.

"Break 38." I said into the mike. "Mayday, mayday, mayday."

I released the button on the mike. To my immense relief a voice answered right away. "Go ahead Mayday,"

"This is KLX1299. I am stranded by rising water approximately 300 yards west of Everhardt Road, and about 2 miles north of Valencia."

"The voice came back immediately. "This is Cactus Johnny, at my base station in my house. I'll call the sheriff's office and let them know where you are. Are you in immediate danger?"

"Cactus Johnny, this is the Skyhopper. No, we are not in immediate danger. The water is over Everhardt road, and we are on high ground, we have food and water and can shelter in the vehicles for now."

"Copy that Skyhopper. How many people and how many vehicles?"

"2 vehicles, 3 people." I said.

"I'll keep this frequency open and I'll be back as soon as I call the sheriffs."

"Thanks Cactus Johnny." I said, and hung up the mike.

"Now we wait." I told the girls.

"Why didn't you call before?" Cheryl asked.

I blushed. "Because I forgot that I still had the damn thing installed."

Mandy looked at Cheryl and grinned. "Get'im!"

And I found myself the victim of a tickle attack by two very determined naked broads.

They stopped the horseplay instantly though when the radio crackled to life again.

"Break 38 for that Skyhopper." The radio said.

I snatched up the mike. "You got the one and only Skyhopper." I answered.

"This is Pima County Rescue .is everyone there OK? Over."

"All in good health, and in no immediate danger. Over." I sent back.

"Can you provide names? Is there anyone we need to contact?"

"Bill Tapp is my name." I told him. Then I keyed the mike open again and held it back for the girls to speak.

"Amanda Davis."

"Cheryl Carter."

The girls shook their heads when I asked if they needed anyone contacted.

"No one to contact for any of us." I said.

"Roger that." Said the radio. "Both of the ladies were reported as missing, but no one has you listed as gone Mr. Tapp."

"No one misses me enough," I laughed. "We will keep this channel monitored."

Said Pima County Rescue. "As long as you are not in danger right now, we have other people to see to."

'Thanks again." I said into the mike. I flipped off the radio.

'At least they know where we are." I said.

After a while, I had to take a leak again, so I left the vehicles and walked a few yards to water a bush.

I could see the water from there, and I saw something caught against a bush at the waters edge

. I went down to investigate.

It turned out to be an empty 5 gallon plastic bucket with the lid on tight. I was able to get a hold of the handle and bring it up out of the water.

I carried the prize back up to the cars. Mandy poked her head out. "What'cha got there?" She asked.

"Something that's going to be very handy." I told her

I had her dig in the side compartment of the Jeep and find my folding camp shovel. I took it and dug a nice deep hole behind a bush a couple of yards from the cars.

I used the shovel to break the bottom of the bucket and trimmed the rest of the bottom away with my pocketknife.

I set the bucket over the hole and put a head sized rock on the lid to hold it down.

"Here's a toilet if you need it." I said. "Just lift the lid, sit down, and when you're done, drop a shovel of dirt in the hole and replace the lid."

"Better than squatting out here in the rain." Cheryl said. "I'm always afraid that I'll end up getting bit on the butt by a snake or something."

We were all soaked again by the time we got back to the cars.

As we wrung our clothes out and hung them up over the heater vents, Mandy declared, "Shit, we've all seen each other naked, so I'm just going to stay that way until the storm stops. No sense in having to dry the damn clothes every time we get out in the rain."

"Sounds good to me." I said.

We let the diesel idle most of the afternoon, charging the batteries and listening to the radio.

Cheryl was finally acting like I was human and not a psycho.

Mandy was just flat out flirting every chance she got.

Just when I figured that we were going to have a nice and pleasant couple of days, the storm picked up again.

Small hail, even heavier rains, winds, and a lot of lightning and thunder.

The temperature dropped fast, and I spread the blanket out and had Cheryl crawl through the open drivers window of her car to get the other one. When she came back, I closed the tailgate bottom of the Jeep and lay down between the blankets.

Mandy was clinging to me and shaking with every blast of thunder, and Cheryl was soon on my other side.

The girls were too scared of he storm to be horny, but I was enjoying the wildness of the storm.

I soon drifted off to sleep, lulled by the warm bodies on either side of me and the motion of the Jeep rocking in the wind.

When I woke up a few hours later, the storm had eased back to the steady downpour without all the theatrics of a few hours ago.

I heard the girls whispering, so I pretended to stay asleep so I could listen to what they were saying.

'Mandy, "Damn it, I say me first, you were too damn scared to say boo before."

Cheryl, "I was the first one to talk to him, so I say me first."

Mandy, "Scissors, paper, stone?"

Cheryl, "OK. One, two, three."

Mandy, "Damn. OK But don't take too damn long, I want my turn too."

! felt Cheryl's hand wandering down my belly and opened my eyes. "There's enough for both of you." I said.

You know, it's amazing how many positions that you can get into in a Jeep Cherokee.

We tried just about all of them over the next couple of days.

The storm stopped on the 7th day, and the waters had receded enough to drive out in another couple of days.

Mandy and Cheryl both come out to my place regularly, and I drop in to see them at work.

Every once in a while, we take my Jeep and go out camping for a few days, reliving the week when our lives became intertwined.