The Woods

Lorie chuckled. "This is a very private place. You don't need a bathing suit."

Tessa looked at her hard. "I've, uh, never...."

"Been skinny dipping," her grandmother supplied as she started down the step.

Following her grandmother, she said, "Skinny dipping? Skinny dipping. I've heard about it but...." She shivered and added, "I never thought I'd ever get a chance to do it."

Lorie smiled as she headed around the side of the barn. At the back corner, she stopped and opened a metal gate. "Always remember, if you open a gate, shut it. I don't need cows in the yard or especially in the garden."

Toni nodded as she went through the gate. "I noticed the chickens, ducks, and geese in the garden and wondered."

"Chickens and ducks eat insects, worms, and bugs. Geese eat weeds and tender grass shoots. None of them mess with the vegetables," her grandmother said as she shut the gate and led the way across the pasture. "Watch your step. Cow patties are very messy."

Tessa looked around and saw a dark brown pile of cow shit. She shivered as she thought about stepping in one. "Uh yeah," she said.

They reached the back gate and Lorie climbed up on top of it. This gate was made out of rusty pipe and rods where the other one was galvanized metal. "This gate hasn't been opened in twenty years. Everything past here is National Forest but your grandfather used to run cows back here in the summer."

Tessa climbed up on the gate as Lorie climbed down the other side. Tessa turned and climbed down. She turned around and froze. Her grandmother had her bikini top off and was caressing her breasts. She saw her granddaughter's wide eyed expression and grinned.

She folded the bikini top and stuffed it in a pocket in her shorts. She undid the snap on the front of the shorts and sighed as she turned and followed a trail. "Naked in the woods can and does start here."

Tessa groaned softly and followed her grandmother as her mind warred over taking the tube top off or not. A dozen steps later, she groaned again as she reached up and pulled the top down around her waist. Her hands kept coming up to cover her bare breasts but she kept forcing them down to her sides.

The farther they walked into the woods, the more Tessa relaxed. The trail was narrow and wandered between the big tall trees. There was tall grass and brush, which made her feel secure. Then they came to the edge of the brush and the woods opened out. The trees here were as big around as the ones they had been in but these weren't as tall and had more lower limbs.

Lorie stopped and looked around. She stood there for several minutes as Tessa fidgeted behind her. "Are we, uh, lost?" Tessa finally asked.

Her grandmother shook her head as she looked around. "Nope, I'm just looking and listening to see if anyone is around."

Tessa's hands came up to cover her breasts. "Is there?"

Lorie chuckled, unzipped her shorts, and wiggled out of them. "We're pretty much alone."

Tessa stared at her grandmother with her mouth hanging open. "Uh, what does pretty much mean?" She asked as she eyed her naked grandmother.

"It means that there is little possibility of anyone seeing us but you never know who might be wandering around."

Tessa groaned softly and shivered. "I... uh... I...."

Lorie chuckled as she folded her shorts up. "It's all up to you," she said as she started to walk again. "I usually leave all my clothes back at the old gate."

Tessa watched her grandmother as she walked away. She looked so natural. So sure of herself. Tessa looked around quickly and took a couple of steps forward. If the brush had still been thick there wouldn't be nearly as much of a quandary in her mind. She shivered and hurried after her grandmother.

Lorie followed a trail to the left that circled back to the right. Tessa caught up but couldn't quit looking around. As they passed a very large tree, she hooked her toe on a root and stumbled forward to grab her grandmother's arm to keep from falling. Lorie grabbed her and held her up.

"You worry too much. Relax. Someone seeing you won't hurt a bit. Just the opposite in fact since it'll be your first time."

"What?" Tessa asked quickly.

Lorie chuckled. "You'll be embarrassed for a little bit and then the excitement will kick in."

Tessa groaned at the thought of being seen. The words excitement and embarrassing chased each other through her mind. She shifted her hips. Excitement was winning out. She groaned again as she found her hand on the snap at the front of her shorts. It sounded loud as she popped it. She looked around quickly.

Her grandmother sighed. "Are you going to swim in those shorts?"

"Uh, no. At least I don't think I am but being in the water is different than being out here in the open."

"Out in my front yard is being out in the open," Lorie said with a grin.

Tessa's eyes went wide and then she laughed as she realized her grandmother was only making a comparison or a least she hoped so. "Yeah, this is a little more private than that."

Lorie shrugged and started down the trail.

"Wait a minute," Tessa said quickly. As her grandmother stopped and looked around, Tessa ran the zipper down and then wiggled out of the shorts and the tube top. She groaned softly, her eyes closed, her lower lip trapped between her teeth.

Lorie ran her eyes up and down her granddaughter's body. "You have a much better figure than I did, way back when.

Tessa's eyes snapped open as she realized her grandmother was looking at her. She groaned again as she held the shorts in front of her sex. "I... I... I...." She stammered and then groaned even louder as her grandmother continued to look at her.

Lorie grinned and turned on the trail. "Feels good, doesn't it?" She asked as she started walking again

Tessa found herself nodding as she followed along. She kept glancing around as she went. By the time they reached the other side of the open area, she had the shorts and tube top in one hand by her side. She was still nervous but the longer she was naked, the more excited she got. She could feel slipperiness between her thighs as she walked.

The trail split and her grandmother took the left again. She pointed to the right and said, "If you follow that trail and keep taking rights, you'll end up at the gate on the far side of the barn. It's fairly thick all the way except for what we just crossed."

Tessa stopped and looked along the trail. "What makes these trails?"

"Deer mostly, along with occasional hikers and ATV riders."

"Hikers? As in people type hikers?" Tessa said sharply as she looked all around quickly.

"This is a National Forest after all and not private property."

"But...." Tessa said with a whimpering sound.

Lorie chuckled. "You have a cute butt."

Tessa groaned softy as she turned and followed her grandmother. At least the brush was thicker along this trial but there were more openings than on the first trail. The second opening they came to, something jumped and ran off into the woods. Tessa froze. All she had seen was a flash of white and some brown.

Lorie had stopped also. She looked at her granddaughter. "We spooked a deer. If you walk slowly and quietly, you can walk up on them without spooking them. They are quite beautiful. Good eating too."

"You... you eat deer?"

"Your daddy and grandfather used to hunt here. This is where your father met your mother."

"I... uh... thought they worked together somewhere."

"They did later but they first met here on this farm. Your father helped your grandfather a couple of days a week with the cattle and the hay. And more than that when he cut the hay and baled it over on the river bottom."

"Why do I think there is something about mom running around naked in there somewhere?"

Lorie laughed and started on down the trail. "That you'll have to ask your Mom about."

Tessa sighed and mumbled, "Ask her, ask her, ask her. All kind of family secrets and no one wants to tell me about them."

Lorie chuckled and kept walking. "Curiosity is good for the mind. It keeps it nimble."

Tessa followed along, her mind on the assortment of questions she had. As they rounded a sharp turn in the trail, she asked, "Here's my biggest question. Why am I here? I know about divorces. I have friends who have been through them and they didn't get exiled."

Lorie shrugged and kept walking. "Hell, if I know."

"Is it something they don't want me to know about? Were they having affairs? What the hell. I'm not a kid anymore. I know about these things."

"You've heard about those things but you don't really know anything about them. There is a lot more to it than tab A goes into slot B."

"What?" Tessa said and stopped walking.

Lorie looked around at her Granddaughter and grinned. "Sex is not what all affairs are about."

Tessa thought about that as she started to walk again. She was deep in thought and nearly ran into her Grandmother. Lorie had stopped on the edge of a clearing and was looking around. There was only high grass in front of them. "Where are we?" Tessa whispered.

"We're lost in the jungles of Africa and have found the great savanna where the animals feed."

"What?" Tessa asked in confusion.

"Now we're going to creep down to the great waterhole where the lions, tigers, and bears go to feed and swim."

Tessa stared at her Grandmother as if the older woman was totally crazy. Her Grandmother chuckled and stepped out into the open. The grass came up to her waist as she started down a narrow trail. With a quick look around, she followed her grandmother.

She was still muttering about crazy people when her Grandmother stopped quickly and then squatted down even quicker. Tessa was confused for a second and then squatted down as quickly as she could. "Is there someone around?"

Lorie grinned at her and shook her head. In a whisper she said, "Nope, I was just testing your alertness and how quick you could figure out a problem and react."

"What!" Tessa said sharply.

Lorie chuckled as she stood up and started along the trail again. "I can almost hear your heart racing."

With a deep breath Tessa stood up and looked around. She shook her head and started after her grandmother. "Crazy, bat shit crazy," she whispered but her grandmother was right, her heart was racing. Whether it was fear or excitement was a whole other question.

The trail curved to the right and then back to the left. The tall grass was thinning out as they went. A line of tall green bushes was to the left as they topped a short rise. In front of them was a large blue green pond of water surrounded by tall dark green cattails.

Her grandmother angled down the steeper hill and ended up at two tall oaks near the water. The hill had been covered with short grass, as was the area under the trees. Tessa felt more exposed here than anywhere else they had been. She kept looking around and suddenly realized she was making a soft whimpering sound. Her grandmother paused to hang her shorts and the towels on a low limb, stepped out of her sandals, and turned to grin at her granddaughter.

"Nowhere to hide," she said and then laughed as she took off running in the direction of the pond. She made about two steps into the water and then launched into a long flat dive.

Tessa stood where she was, her mouth hanging open. A few seconds later, her body gave a jerk as she looked around quickly. There was no one in sight. She shook her head as she moved over to the low limb where her grandmother's cloths were and hung up hers. "Bat shit crazy," she said as she turned toward the pond.

With her clothes hanging next to her grandmother's, Tessa waded out about knee deep and looked the pond over. It was a fairly large oval shape with cattails all around. This seemed to be the only opening. It took her a moment to find her grandmother. The older woman was floating on her back out toward the middle.

Tessa grinned at the way her grandmother's breasts jutted out of the water like perfectly round islands. She sighed and waded out until the water came up to her waist. It was cooler feeling on her sex than anywhere else. The bottom was sandy and firm, which surprised her. She had always though the bottoms of ponds were muddy.

She took another couple of steps forward and her breasts were under water. She brought her hands up and caressed her breasts. They felt slippery from the sweat earlier. Her belly did also. She moved her hands lower. One caressed the short hair on her mound and the other rubbed along her inner thigh.

Her inner thighs felt even more slippery than her breasts had. Her other hand dropped lower as she spread her legs and explored the slippery areas. She groaned softly as one hand and then the other brushed her outer lips.

"Cleaning up is one thing, masturbating is another," Tessa heard her grandmother say.

Her head snapped around in the direction she had last seen the older woman. She wasn't there. She backed up a few steps and scanned the surface of the pond. A few seconds later, her grandmother's head slowly came to the surface a few feet away.

Lorie shook her head to clear the water from her face and off her short hair. "Although there is nothing wrong with masturbating. Everyone does it whether they admit it or not."

Tessa's eyes grew wide as her grandmother spoke. "I, uh, I," she stammered as she felt the heat of a blush.

"And we have a winner," Lorie said with a grin.

Tessa groaned softly and sunk under the water. Fingers in her hair pulled her back up. Her grandmother grinned and winked. "It's your body, play it anyway you like. Orgasms keep you young and alive."

Tessa blush again. "Sometimes they put me to sleep."

"Those are the best kinds," Lorie said with another wink. "So how is skinny dipping so far?"

"Lots of different sensations," Tessa whispered. "This whole going naked thing is exciting and terrifying at the same time."

"Ain't it wonderful," Lorie said as she lay back and spread her arms. She made a stroke with both arms while lazily fluttering her feet. She moved off across the water slowly on her back.

Tessa shivered and then sighed. She turned around and did like her grandmother with the same result. The water caressed her body. It made her shiver again. So much different without a swimsuit on. Especially between her upper thighs.

*****

Swimming naked was exhilarating. The backstroke exposed her breasts and sometimes her mound. On her side doing a slow crawl, exposed her hip. Doing a normal overhand stroke exposed her ass and the flutter of her legs forced cool water over her hot sex.

Slightly out of breath, she sat on the bottom with the water up to her neck. She had a smile on her face as she watched her grandmother doing a slow backstroke across the pond. She wasn't doing an overhand stroke, just fluttering her feet slowly and moving her arms close to her sides.

Suddenly she flipped over and swam toward her granddaughter with sure overhand strokes. She stopped a few yards from Tessa and let her feet settle to the bottom. She took a deep breath and wiped water from her hair and face. "Okay, enough of this lollygagging. I have things to do."

Lorie started wading toward shore. "Are you coming or are you staying?"

Tessa stood up quickly. "I'd get lost if I tried to retrace our steps."

Lorie grinned and shook her head. "You should have paid closer attention."

Tessa followed her grandmother ashore as she said, "I was, uh, distracted by being naked for the first time."

"The first time will always live in your memory for everything fun and exciting," her grandmother said as she grabbed her towel.

Tessa walked up next to her grandmother and picked up her towel. "I guess that is pretty much true."

Lorie laughed as she dried her hair, face, and neck. "There is no pretty much to it. I'm talking from experience."

Tessa sighed. "My experience is very limited, shall we say."

"You're young. Experience comes with time. That and a backbone."

Tessa dried her hair and looked at her grandmother as she finished. "Too many people expect so much out of me," she whispered softly.

Lorie chuckled. "What they don't know," she started to say and then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She looked at her granddaughter and frowned. "You have to live your life, your way. What other people expect and think are unimportant in the long run. What you expect and think are all that really counts."

"I wish it was that easy," Tessa said as she lowered the towel. She saw that her grandmother wasn't drying her body. "Aren't you going to dry off?"

Lorie grinned. "I'll dry naturally as we head back home."

"Okay," Tessa said as she watched her grandmother gathering up her clothes.

She hurried to grab hers as her grandmother started up the hill.

*****

The walk back was almost as exciting as the walk out but Tessa found herself looking at the trails and where she was more than looking to see if anyone was around.

When they reached the open area in the creek bottom, her grandmother stopped and turned to face her granddaughter. She held out her hand. "Give me that towel and those clothes."

"What?" Tessa asked in confusion. "Why?"

Her grandmother grinned. "Because I'm going back the way we came and you're going a different way."

"What!" Tessa said sharply and then whimpered softly. "I'll, uh, get lost."

Lorie chuckled. "Remember what I said about the other trails around here?" When Tessa shook her head, Lorie added, "If you are on the trails in that direction," she paused to point to her right, "turning right will take you back to my house."

She pointed to the left and said, "Going that way, the trails to the left will take you back to my place."

"I, uh," Tessa said and shivered.

"Yeah, you," Lorie said with a grin. "Now hand me that stuff."

"I, uh, I," Tessa stammered but she held out her clothes and the towel toward her grandmother.

Lorie took the clothing and towel and asked, "Now, which way are you going?"

Tessa shifted her weight from one foot to the other and back several times, as her mind had a war over what she was going to do. Being naked here in the woods with her grandmother was one thing but alone....

Her grandmother's eyes on her, drew her back to the here and now. "Uh, what is the difference?"

"The one to my right goes through a series of open areas like this one as it follows the creek. The one to the left is much the same but there is a small open area that is perfect for sunbathing. Years ago there was an old fire tower there. The footings and a small concrete slab are all that remain."

Tessa took a deep breath. "Which, uh, one is less likely to have people around?"

Lorie grinned as she replied, "That you will have to find out for yourself."

Tessa groaned softly and shivered hard. "I, I, I don't think I can do either one."

With a sigh and a frown, Lorie turned and started across the opening the way they had first came in. "That's up to you."

"But, but, but," Tessa sputtered and then shivered. "Where are these trails you are talking about?" She asked quickly.

"Follow the sandy part of the creek either way and you will find the connecting trails," her grandmother said without looking back.

"But, but, but," Tessa stammered again and then groaned as she followed her grandmother. When she reached the sandy part of the creek bed, she stopped and looked both ways. "Which is shorter?" She asked and looked toward the direction her grandmother had been. She wasn't in sight.

Tessa's heart raced as she took a couple of quick steps forward. She could see the opening where her grandmother hand gone but.... She shivered hard as she looked left and right again. Was this some sort of test? She had no idea.

Her feet seemed to move on their own as she walked over to the entrance to the trail her grandmother had used. At that point, she turned suddenly and looked all around. A feeling of being all alone washed over her suddenly. She turned back toward the trail entrance and then turned right.