Heatstroked

"Oh, is that what you were doing?"

"Well, yeah. Did I not do it right or something? You told me I should make eye contact more and smile more. I was trying to do what you told me. It did get a lot harder when there were more people later in the afternoon and they were actually swimming."

We walked along in silence for a bit longer before Becki spoke again.

"You really don't remember me waking you up the first time this morning?"

"No," I said. "I'm sorry. I don't."

"That's too bad," Becki said. "I gave your dick a couple of sucks."

"Well, that explains the dream I was having when you woke me the second time," I grinned.

"Oh, does it? And what were you dreaming about when I woke you the second time?"

"You doing exactly that for me."

"I guess it's too bad you slept through it then," Becki said, linking her arm with mine. "You could have experienced the real thing instead of just dreaming about it."

"I'm shocked I did sleep through it," I said. "I'm guessing you must not have done very much."

"Of course not," Becki snorted. "Grumps was waiting outside. And you know as well as I do if I'd taken too long, he would have come stomping in."

"Yeah, he would have," I snorted back. "And I would have caught Bessie's loads, no matter I was sleeping and didn't have anything to do with it."

"Are you complaining?"

"Never."

"John?" Becki said after several more minutes of silence.

"Yes?"

"Do you really not think Emma is prettier than me?"

"What? Is that what this is about? Becki, are you jealous of Emma?"

"Maybe," Becki said quietly. "I don't know. I just... I don't want to lose you."

"Um, Becki. I'm going to say something and I want you to hear me out. And I want you to listen this time. You don't want to get married and I understand and accept that. I want to marry you. Notice that I don't say I want to get married. I want to marry you and only you. You are the only woman I love, the only girl I've ever loved. The only girl I've ever even had a crush on. If anyone is going to worry about losing the other, I think I have more to worry about than you do."

"That's because you aren't thinking, John," Becki sighed. "I don't want to get married. No. And eventually you will get tired of trying to change my mind."

"That's not fair, Becki." I interrupted her. "When have I tried to change your mind about marrying me? When have I given any hint that I'm not satisfied to go along with whatever you want?"

"Oh, let me see," Becki shot back. "How about this ring?"

"That was not me! Mom trotted that out and you accepted it. I just went along."

"How about announcing our engagement to the whole town?"

"I have not!"

"The Chamber of Commerce meeting and the paper."

"That wasn't me! Willard spouted it off in the Chamber meeting. Emma wrote it up in that piece we put in the paper. A piece I didn't want to run, but I got outvoted by your grandmother and grandfather, while you stood there with your face on, you might remember."

"And how did Emma find out anyway? Who told her?"

"I don't know. I guess Mom did."

"And you told your mom."

"We agreed to tell Mom because Eunice was going to talk to her. Becki, are you trying to break up with me?"

"No! Why? Do you want to break up with me?"

"No. But, I'm not the one shouting. Why are you shouting?"

"Because I'm fucking horny as hell and I've been watching my boyfriend smile at other women all day including Emma with her huge tits and he's not smart enough to make a damn move on me even after I told him I sucked his dick while he was asleep!"

"Wow," I said mildly. "You want to shout that just a little louder? I'm not sure Willard caught it all and I think I see him standing on the porch with Bessie."

"What?" Becki peered off in the direction of the house. The sun had slipped behind the horizon. "They aren't on the porch. Mmmph!"

I pulled Becki into a rough embrace and kissed her fiercely. She resisted at first, pushing against my chest, but gradually she relaxed into me. I slid both of my hands down to slip inside the back of her shorts to discover she wasn't wearing panties underneath causing her to squeal and smile against my lips.

"Here and now?" I asked, pulling away. "Or wait until we are back by the pool so we don't have to worry about snakes and chiggers?"

"Well, Mr. Romance, I guess we wait," Becki snorted. "I was kind of wanting to try it out a little further from the house so I could be as loud as I want without worrying about bringing Grumps and Bessie out."

We both hurried our steps back to the pro shop and slipped inside.

"I want to do it up there," Becki said after several minutes of kissing and petting had allowed darkness to settle more firmly.

"What? No! Becki! Are you trying to get me shot? They'll be able to look out the window and see us."

"Not really," Becki said as she climbed the ladder. "There's no moon tonight. When there's no moon, you really can't see much more than shadows up here from inside the house."

"Wait. You said you could see me when I went skinny dipping."

"There was a half moon, John. Look up. Do you see even a sliver of moon? Trust me. All I can see up there from the house is a shadow until the pre-dawn twilight."

I didn't see how that could be, but I grabbed my sleeping bag from the pump room and tossed it up to her for us to spread out before I climbed up to join her.

I was not, however, confident enough to slip completely out of my shorts. And I noticed Becki only slipped hers over her right leg. Neither of us tried to slip her t-shirt over her head, although we did push it up to her neck.

I continued to be more than a little worried and kept one eye on the house. I couldn't say what the reason was for Becki, but she wasn't as vigorous as normal either. Nor did she try to make me be. As a result, we spent a long leisurely time making love beneath the West Texas stars before I climaxed. Whether Becki managed or not, I never knew. But, she was quick enough to pull her shorts back up her leg and her t-shirt back down when I went limp enough to fall out of her.

We fell asleep up there, with me lying flat on my back and her using my shoulder for a pillow.

--26Jul87--

"What in the Sam Hill is going on out here?!"

My eyes sprang open to the pre-dawn lightening sky as Becki sat up. Oh, fuck. I was certain I was a dead man.

"Good morning, Grumps," Becki said. "I'll be with you in a minute."

As Becki put her leg on to climb down the ladder, I took the coward's way out and dove in the pool. I heard Becki's snort right before my splash.

To say Willard was not happy would be an understatement. But, I decided to count it as a win when he rode away with Becki in the golf cart instead of going back inside to get his shotgun.

"Well, that was either brave or stupid," Eunice said as she fed me breakfast. "We'll see which when they get back, I suppose."

I don't know if Willard just wasn't all that upset, if Becki had calmed him down somehow, or if it was being so busy that kept him from coming after me with one of the golf clubs they sold.

Emma was back as we opened. This time she wore a bikini. I had a little trouble not staring. Emma could have done laundry on her abs. Her breasts looked, if anything, even bigger, which looked strange with those abs and narrow hips. She looked nice, I suppose. But, she didn't look quite right to my eye, just slightly off somehow, although I couldn't quite place what was wrong.

Becki came out in her bikini and I couldn't help but smile. That was how a woman was supposed to look! Except for the scowl she shot at Emma, that is. The scowl cleared when she glanced over and saw me smiling at her.

I felt my eyebrows rise as Becki walked over and took a chair next to Emma. But, I didn't have time to worry about it as what I had begun to think of as the "older crowd" began to filter in. And they brought friends.

By eleven, there were fifteen women in the enclosure. Most, I at least knew by sight if not their names, but there were four I knew I'd never seen before.

Becki came over to relieve me so I could dive in and cool off. But, for some reason she handed me some money with directions to get Emma a drink. I'd never heard of a lifeguard doing double duty as a waiter, but I couldn't think of a reason why I shouldn't so I did it.

Emma had shifted over near Ms. Phillips and engaged her in conversation when I came back with her diet soda and change.

"Thank you, John," Emma smiled at me. "Oh, would you mind getting Jane one as well? Jane, what would you like?"

"Oh, I don't need anything, thank you," Ms. Phillips said, blushing for some reason.

"Nonsense," Emma said. "John, bring her one like mine, if you would please?"

I glanced over at Becki as I walked back to the counter and saw her grinning broadly at me. I wasn't sure what that was about, but I was glad to see her in a better mood.

I spent the better part of an hour getting drinks for each of the women out there between swimming laps. Emma may have played a part in that as she moved around and met every person out there and chatted with them for a few minutes before moving on.

Becki motioned me over just before noon and I climbed up on the raised stand to take her place.

There was a noticeable shift over the next couple of hours. Emma was the only one who stayed from the morning as kids filled up the enclosure. Most were in high school or junior high, but there were a few younger, although, thank God, they were better behaved than Lily.

Willard gave Becki and I the hairy eyeball that evening through supper and while we watched the sunset. Becki, wisely, didn't even try to come back out and join me at the pool once they went inside.

--27Jul87--

Somehow it became my job to retrieve drinks for the women of the older crowd in the mornings and early afternoon while Becki hung out on the raised platform.

Later in the afternoons, I mostly sat up on the raised platform while Becki engaged Lily and the younger crew and gently guided them in choosing safer ways to play in and around the water.

In the evenings, all four of us would watch the sun set together after eating the supper Eunice and I would make together.

Afterwards, I would work out with Gary and wait to see if Becki would come back out to visit me once Willard and Eunice were asleep. She did about every third or fourth day. It was enough, although I wouldn't have minded more.

Every night I fell asleep beneath the stars, with the West Texas breeze caressing my cheek, looking at Becki's darkened window.

We didn't see Emma until the weekends.

--08Aug87--

There might have been days we got rain that we didn't get more lightening than water out of the clouds, but I don't remember many. That Saturday was no exception. I was back inside the social room, waiting for it to let up enough for me to make a run to the house when a strange sound caught my attention.

Someone was knocking on the metal door hard enough for me to hear in the social room. That was just weird. All we offered was golf and swimming. No one with a lick of sense would want to run around holding a metal pole over their head or jumping in the only body of water larger than a bathtub for ten or fifteen miles.

I considered for a moment, then decided I might as well see who it was and what they wanted.

Emma and Ms. Phillips were standing there getting soaked.

"Oh, thank God," Emma said, slipping through the opening and dragging Ms. Phillips with her. "I was about to give up and go up to the house. Jane ran over a nail or something. Her tire is flat."

I glanced out, but only saw Emma's Cobra in our lot.

"It's back about a mile or so up the road," Emma said. "I brought her on out."

I wanted to ask why they would come another mile out to us instead of driving the mile back into town, where there were no less than three garages willing to come out to fix a tire.

"Of course," I said. "Um, would you like to call someone to come out and fix it?"

"No point until this lets up," Emma said. "We just wanted somewhere dry, friendly, and not as cramped as a car to wait until it did. Where is everyone?"

"Um, I guess at home," I said slowly. "We generally don't see many people when it's stormy like this. Golf or swimming don't generally get along with lightening too well."

As if to punctuate, a loud crack of thunder rattled the walls.

"I know that," Emma rolled her eyes. "I meant Willard, Eunice, and Becki."

"Oh. Up at the house. This rolled in before we would normally get started and has been going pretty constant since."

"Oh, really?" Emma asked, grinning for some reason. "Well, do you mind if we go sit in the social room until this clears up someone would be willing to come out and fix Jane's tire?"

"Not at all," I said. "That's what it's there for."

So much for my running up to the house. Well, maybe Becki would run down to keep me company. In the meantime, we had guests.

"Would you like anything from the snack bar or anything?" I asked.

Emma indicated they didn't. Ms. Phillips was quiet and seemed content to let Emma do the talking for both of them.

Ms. Phillips looked a bit odd to me. I'd never seen her look less than perfectly groomed. Her blonde hair was plastered to her head and her make-up was smeared. Her blouse was clingy and I saw enough to realize she wasn't wearing a bra and the rain must have been a bit chilly for her before looking away. At the risk of rudeness, she frankly looked more like a drowned rat than the usual glamorous lady she presented.

Emma looked like Emma, only more so. She was already wearing her swimsuit, the one piece cut down to display her navel that day. I'd never seen her hair wet either, but the slicked back wet look suited her well. Maybe too well.

It had been a couple of days since Becki and I had managed to steal any time together. I'd been watching out the window, hoping she might come down to join me, and daydreaming about what we might do for, with, and to each other. Already half aroused, I found myself responding to Emma rather more than I was comfortable with and, after turning on the lights in the social room, wandered away to the pro shop.

With people, paying guests, in the building, it didn't make sense to keep the doors shut and locked. I went ahead and opened us up for business and wished like anything I'd snagged my book from the pump room when the storm woke me.

Even with Ms. Phillips and Emma in the building, I wasn't really expecting anyone else to show up until the storm passed. If I had thought anyone else would show, it wouldn't have been my sister.

I didn't recognize her at first.

"Hey, doofus!" Jan caught me in a hug.

"Good Lord, what did you do to your... to your..." I trailed off, pushing back to look at her.

Jan was still skinny as ever. But the red hair that had made her look like a matchstick was half gone and the remainder had been dyed blue, green, and purple. She had a new nose piercing and five silver chains running from it to five different places on her ear on the shaved side. She looked like she'd mistaken a permanent marker for eyeliner and lipstick and the t-shirt and leggings she was wearing looked like Freddy Krueger had at least rounded second and third base.

"John, I need to-... Oh, who's this?" Becki trailed off as she came in from the pouring rain through the pro shop door.

"I'm still not completely sure," I grinned. "But, I think it's my sister risen as a vampire or something."

"Ha-ha." Jan said flatly as she left me and walked over to Becki. "I see you still haven't explained to him he's not funny. Hi, Becki. How have you been?"

"Hi, Jan." Becki's face relaxed. If she was surprised at my sister's new look, it didn't show. "How have you been?"

"Not too great," Jan admitted. "Tired. Fired. And little lost as to what comes next."

"I hear you, sister," Becki said with a sad smile my direction. "I've been two of those most days."

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Before I could ask, a familiar voice spoke from behind me.

"I thought I heard a little baby doll in here. How you doing, sweet pea?"

"Em? Em!"

I felt my eyes widen as I watched Jan run over to Emma and leap in the air to wrap her legs and arms around her. Emma caught her gracefully and their lips met for a kiss.

What in the hell was going on? How the hell did Emma and Jan know each other and know each other well enough to share a kiss?!

"What are you doing here, Em?" Jan asked, once Emma had set her down.

"Helping a friend, of course. What else?" Emma smiled and touched Jan's nose with the tip of her finger. "Speaking of which, do you happen to have anything with you?"

"What do you need?" Jan asked promptly.

"Hair. Make-up. Nails. The works."

"For the friend, I assume," Jan grinned. "Because you look awesome as always. All right, lets go get my gear. I'm reasonably sure this doofus isn't going anywhere, so I can talk to him later. Right, John?"

"Sure," I said, hiding my struggle to catch up. "Go ahead. I'll be here."

"How does Jan know Emma if you didn't?" Becki asked once they were out of sight.

"I have absolutely no idea, and that's just the tip of the iceberg today." I said plaintively.

I quickly caught Becki up, explaining the arrival of Emma and Ms. Phillips and was gratified she asked the same question that had first come to my mind.

Jan and Emma came back in carrying three suitcases between them.

"Moving in?" I asked mildly.

"Shut up," Jan laughed. "These are my tools of my trade."

"What tools?" I asked, but Jan didn't answer as she and Emma disappeared once more.

"Ok, now my curiosity is up," Becki said. "I'm going to go check this out."

"Sure, sure," I sighed theatrically. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine here. All alone. With nobody to talk to and explain what's happening."

Becki laughed and kissed my chest before walking off to see what was going on.

It was another hour before the storm moved off and Willard and Eunice came down from the house. Willard was getting around better and had even left off using Becki's cane about a week earlier.

"Where's Grumpkin?" He asked, his brows rising when he saw me standing in the pro shop.

"Back in the social room with our guests, at a guess," I shrugged. "Emma and Ms. Phillips showed up a little before opening and my sister popped up about an hour ago or so. There was some mention of hair, make-up, and nails and all four of them disappeared that-a-way."

"Oh?" Eunice asked. "Why don't you mind the store while John goes on to clean up the pool area?"

"Where are you goin'?" Willard asked suspiciously.

"I'm going to check up on our guests, of course."

"Of course," Willard said to Eunice's back as she went through the door. "You just couldn't keep your fool mouth shut, could you, pool boy?"

"Wait, what? How am I in trouble?"

"You don't mention women folk are doin' hair, make-up, and nails somewhere in front of other women folk. You should know that, boy! Next thing, they'll be in here asking me if they can turn the social room into a damn beauty salon or some such foolishness."

"Asking you?" I grinned.

"Shut up and go play with your skimmer net, pool boy."

It was a day for surprises. The only other person to walk into the pool enclosure that afternoon was my mother.

"Keeping busy?" Mom asked with a smile as I swam to the shallow end and walked up the stairs slicking my hair back.

"Keeping in training since no one's here," I shrugged. "Are you here to see Jan?"

"Jan's here?" Mom asked.

"Yeah," I said. "At least I think so. She was earlier. Last I saw she and Emma were taking a bunch of make-up and stuff to the social room with Eunice, Becki, and Ms. Phillips. I haven't seen any of them since, so I guess they're still in there."