Holy Crap! There was a boat pulling up next to the Princess! I jumped up and pulled my shorts on and tugged the t-shirt over my head. I ran up the steps and out onto the deck to find Aunt Edna and Uncle Albert idling towards the Princess in their fishing boat.
Holy Crap!
In an inspired move, I grabbed both Audrey and Judith's packs without Edna and Albert seeing them and pitched them down the stairway. Then I went to the stern and waved at Aunt Edna and Uncle Albert.
"Hey!" I yelled. "What are you guys up to?"
"We're good," Aunt Edna called out. "How are you doing?"
"We're doing fine. We were just going to...uh...have a picnic on the island and go swimming a little," I said.
I watched as they putted up to the stern of the Princess and Albert grabbed on to the ladder. Suddenly, Audrey and Judith appeared beside me, dressed quite conservatively in their shorts and t-shirts.
"Hi, Edna! Hi, Albert!" Audrey sang out with a wave.
"Hi, Grams! Hi, Grandpa!" Judith said. "What are you guys up to?"
"We were hoping you would have a cigarette lighter," Edna called up to us from the boat.
"Did you take up smoking?" Audrey asked with a chuckle.
"No, we need to melt the ends of the nylon rope we cut for the anchor rope so it doesn't unravel," Albert replied, holding up the end of a new white rope.
Audrey and Judith and I looked at each other.
"Uh...we thought we should melt the rope before we got it wet," Edna said, sounding like somebody who just realized they must sound like nut cases.
"Get the freaking lighter," Judith said to Audrey in a hoarse whisper out of the side of her mouth.
Audrey scooted back to the cabin and retrieved her lighter and returned. She leaned over the stern and pitched it down to Edna. Edna caught it easily and said "Thanks!"
"Thanks!" Albert said waving, letting go of the ladder and backing away from the Princess. "You guys have fun!"
"We will!" Audrey sang out, waving. "We'll see you back at the lodge!"
Judith and I waved as Aunt Edna and Uncle Albert backed away from the Princess and idled away.
When Albert had turned their boat around and headed off into the lake, the three of us looked at each other and let out a collective sigh.
"Thank God they didn't want to come onto the boat!" Audrey said.
"Yeah," I said, "That was pretty close."
"Wow!" Judith said, "That was weird!"
We all headed back towards the cabin and went down inside. Audrey sat down on the bunk and just flopped backwards with her arms outspread.
"I am so tired all of a sudden!" she said with her eyes closed. "I think I could use a nap."
Judith had located her bikini and was in the process of removing her shorts and t-shirt. "I think I need a swim to rinse off a little," she said. She made no effort to hide herself in any way as I watched her. In fact, she seemed to enjoy me watching her. She turned so she could display her perky breasts to the best advantage. She pulled the tiny bikini bottoms into place and held them there and asked, "Could you tie that for me?"
I tied first one side into a nice little bow and then the other. Finally, she pulled the top into place and tied the string behind her neck. Then she turned around so I could tie the back for her.
"Thanks!" she said brightly. I'm just going to swim into the beach for a minute, and then I'll be right back, OK?"
OK," I said, still a little stunned.
"Did you want to come along?" she asked.
I looked down at Audrey, who looked to be sound asleep, and said, "I think I'll just rest a bit, thanks."
Judith headed topside, and I barely heard her dive into the water. When I looked out the tiny cabin window, I saw Judith swimming the 50 yards to the beach with strong strokes.
I sat down on the bunk besides Audrey, my mind still reeling.
Now what was I going to do?
I puttered around the deck of the Princess, tidying up the sails and making sure the instruments all were working. Now and then I checked to see if Judith was swimming back from the beach and waited for Audrey to wake up and join me.
The sky was dotted with big puffy clouds and the breeze was steady out of the west. Presently, Audrey poked her head out and asked if there was anything I wanted from below.
"Just you," I replied, smiling.
She brought a bottle of wine up with her and joined me near the helm. She had her skimpy black bikini on and looked a little tousled, but absolutely beautiful.
"What are you up to?" she asked, sidling up next to me and smiling sweetly.
"I was just straightening up," I said.
"Is Judith still wandering around on the island?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said, "I hope we don't have to send out a search party."
"Well, it won't be much of a search. I can see her near the beach," Audrey said, pointing towards the island.
"That's good," I said, "I'm too worn out to do much searching."
Audrey moved closer and looked up at me. "Did we wear you out?" She asked, smiling and running a finger up and down my chest.
"Almost!" I said, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her to me. I shouldn't have, but she was so close and smelled so good, and once in my arms, she just melted against me. She was so soft and warm, and wrapped her arms around me in a warm embrace. She looked up and we kissed deeply.
Audrey pulled back a little and said, "You know Dave, you're a really good kisser."
"Thanks," I said, "you're pretty good yourself."
We heard the splash from the direction of the island and turned to see Judith swimming back to the boat. Audrey went back down below and reappeared shortly with three wine glasses.
When Judith climbed up the ladder, I handed her a towel so she could dry herself off.
"Did you have a good swim?" Audrey asked as she lined up all three glasses and filled them up.
"That was great!" Judith said, toweling her blonde hair and fluffing it to dry in the warm sun. "This is turning out to be a really excellent day!"
Audrey handed Judith a glass of wine and then handed one to me. "Here's to a really excellent day!" she said, and we all clinked glasses.
"Well," I said. "Do you guys want to hang out here some more, or would you like to do a little more sailing?"
"Sailing!" they both said in unison.
"OK, then," I said, "you guys get the sails up and I'll pull up the anchor.
Not only did they get the sails up, but before I got the anchor on board and stowed, Judith had the Princess under way, taking us out into the main part of the lake and heading further north.
The breeze was steady but wasn't strong enough to make the sailing terribly exciting, so Audrey and I just relaxed with our wine and watched Judith sail the Princess. Judith had her yellow bikini on, which showed off her tight abs and her long slender legs. Audrey's bikini was much skimpier and bordered on just plain naughty. I watched Audrey pull a bottle from her bag and begin to smooth baby oil on her long tan legs. It truly was a really excellent day.
We sailed for a couple of more hours, arriving back at the marina about mid-afternoon. Judith and Audrey had changed back into modest shorts and tops before we arrived, and after docking the Princess, Audrey and Judith decided to go up to Audrey's cabin and take a nap. We were all pretty worn out from the sun and the wind, and yes, the little romp below deck back at the bay.
After making sure everything was secure on the Princess, I headed up to the lodge. I was going to use the phone in Fred's office to call Louise in Germany. She was expecting me to call this afternoon. Fred was nowhere to be found, so I let myself into his office and closed the door.
I dialed the number in Germany, and let it ring. On the fourth ring, a female voice at the other end answered, "Bonjour." It was definitely not Louise.
"Hello," I said, wondering if I had gotten a wrong number, "is Louise there?"
"Hello!" the voice came back with a French accent. I could hear music in the background. "I'll get her for you," she said. "You must be Dave."
I heard her call for Louise, and heard laughter in the background. In a minute, Louise picked up the phone and with a smile in her voice said, "Hi Dave! How are you?"
"Hi Louise! I'm doing great. How are you?" I said.
"I'm doing fine, Dave. Things are going pretty good here. Are you having fun at the lake?"
I could hear more laughter in the background, and at least two more voices.
"It's going pretty good here," I said. The weather was a little rainy earlier in the week, but it was really nice out today. I thought I got the wrong number at first when I called."
"That was Marie that answered," Louise explained. "She and Dieter stopped in to see me. They're staying in town for a couple of days."
I heard a very German male voice in the background laugh and say, "Tell Dave we're recovering from spending the week with Marie's parents!" I heard Louise and Marie laugh in the background.
Louise said, "They've been in Paris at Marie's parents, and they came here to regain their sanity." More laughter in the background and clinking of glasses. It sounded like a party. I remembered that it was almost ten PM there.
"Sounds like you're having a party there tonight," I said.
"It's a small party, Dave. Just the three of us," Louise said.
I could hear Dieter in the background say, "Here's to the three of us!" Then I heard Marie laugh and then say "Stop that!"
"It sounds like Dieter is recovering nicely from his stay with Mother-in-law," I said.
"Dieter is in the party mode tonight, I think," Louise said.
I heard Marie say something in French in the background, and Dieter laugh and say, "What happens in Dusseldorf stays in Dusseldorf!"
Louise covered the mouthpiece and said something to the other two, but I couldn't hear it. She came back on and asked, "So who's at the lake this week?" (Neatly changing the subject, I noticed.)
"The usual crew," I said. "Edna and Albert are here, and Bill and Norma Thompson, and a few more that I can't remember their names."
"So what did you do today?" Louise asked.
"I went sailing," I said. "It was a really nice day today."
"Did you go by yourself?" she asked.
"No, I took Audrey Wilson and Judith, Edna and Albert's granddaughter."
"That was nice of you to take the girls out on the Princess, Dave," Louise said.
"Well," I said, "it beat the water-skiing episode."
"The water-skiing episode?"
"I let Judith drive the ski boat while I attempted to ski," I said. "Did I tell you that Uncle Ed's got a new ski boat that will do a thousand miles an hour?"
"No, but that sounds exciting," Louise said with a laugh. "No broken bones, I hope."
"No, I'm all in one piece, but I'll know better next time," I said. "What did you do today?"
"Marie and I went shopping and Dieter practiced for October-fest," Louise said. “We're just going to kick back tonight and take it easy."
"October-fest is months away!" I said laughing.
"Conditioning is key, according to Dieter," Louise said and got a huge laugh from Marie and Dieter.
I heard Dieter say something in the background in German. I don't understand German, but it sounded naughty, just the way he said it. Then I heard Marie say something in French that sounded naughty and it included the word Louise, and there was general laughter all around in the background. Then I heard Louise cover the mouthpiece again.
Louise came back on, still chuckling. "Dieter was just saying how much he liked staying at Marie's home in Paris." She said. That got still more laughter. (Now I wished I had stuck with the French lessons a little longer. Maybe German too.)
"Marie's mother must be very interesting," I said.
"Oh, she is," Louise said. "She's a very interesting person." Louise suddenly switched gears again. "Does Fred have his boat on the lake yet?"
"No," I said, "It's painfully close, but it still needs a couple of things. “Maybe next spring."
"Did you get all the cabins wired up for Uncle Ed?" Louise asked.
"I have a couple more to go and then I'm done," I said. "I just have to wait until the guests all check out before I can do it."
"Well, don't work too hard there," she said, "be sure and have some fun while you're there."
"Oh I'm having fun," I said. "You have fun with Dieter and Marie tonight."
"Thanks, Dave, we will."
"Well," I said, "I just thought I'd check in and see how you're doing."
"It's going great here," Louise said. "I love you, Dave."
"Love you too."
"See ya."
"Bye."
I hung up and looked in the mirror by Fred's desk and said to myself, "That was interesting."
I was headed back to my cabin when I ran into Bill and Norma heading down to the dock.
"Hey Dave, how's it going?" Bill asked. He had his tackle box with him.
"Pretty good, I think," I said. "You guys headed out?"
"Yeah," Bill said, "Just for a little bit. Wanna come along? We've got extra poles."
Norma chimed in, "We've got lots of leeches."
"Uh...." I started.
"If you don't like leeches, we've got lots of other snacks along," Bill said.
Norma cracked a smile at that and said, "And we have lots of beer in the cooler too."
"OK then," I said, "you talked me into it."
We headed down to the dock and Bill and Norma loaded their gear into their boat. We headed out and started through the maze of little islands to the west of the lodge. After a while, Bill shut off the engine and lowered the trolling motor near one of their favorite fishing holes.
We fished for a while, talking about nothing in particular. They had lots of snacks in the cooler, as well as lots of cold beer, which we worked at while we fished.
I had to ask Bill about how their water skiing episode had gone with Judith at the wheel.
"Bill screamed like a little girl!" Norma said in response. "Judith reminds me of how Louise was at her age."
"Was Louise that competitive and crazy?" I asked, my interest piqued.
"Louise was hell on wheels, but I guess you know that," Norma said, opening another beer. "She hadn't settled down very much by the time she met you."
I opened another beer myself and said, "Louise was only shy and reserved for about ten minutes after we met. Then again, that was at a party after the homecoming game, and we were both partying pretty hard."
"We had some pretty wild parties, didn't we?" Norma said, realizing she had a fish on her line. She played the fish expertly and Bill scooped it out of the water with the net. He removed the hook and held it up for Norma and I to admire before returning it to the water and releasing it. After she re-baited her hook, she cast her line out again.
"Norma's got a new boss at work," Bill said, handing me a fresh beer and fishing one for himself out of the cooler.
"Really?" I asked, looking over at Norma. "Is he nice?"
"It's a she," Norma said, looking over at Bill and rolling her eyes.
"Yeah," Bill said, "and Norma thought her plan to screw her way to the top was goofed up, but it turns out that her new boss is bi and was putting the moves on Norma last week!"
"Really?" I asked, looking at Bill and then Norma. Norma just nodded and waited for Bill to carry on.
"I told Norma we could go down to the Pleasure Palace when we get back and pick out a nice strap-on," Bill said with a big grin.
Norma rolled her eyes and said, "Only if I get to try it out on you first."
Bill and I grinned at each other.
Just then, Norma jerked her line and started reeling. She obviously had something big on the end of the line.
"Looks like Norma's got dinner for us!" Bill said, putting his rod down and getting the net ready.
Norma looked at me and rolled her eyes again. Whatever it was on the end of the line, it wasn't putting up much of a fight.
