The Road Home by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 25

The day progressed with the usual boredom. Even though education was now nothing more than fiction, the former graduate student’s once-busy minds still craved knowledge. Maya, on the other hand, believed that planning took precedence over academia and began compiling a mental list in her head of the things that needed doing. Food was always first on that list and while Nathan and Jackson brought back a significant amount of food, they needed more—sooner rather than later.

Morning flew by as those who had been unable to sleep drifted off into a short nap, but wakened by the smell of lunch, everyone came back to life. The meal was consumed quickly, leaving only one more task to be performed—bathing. In their haste to escape Tacoma, no one thought to bring soap. Even pots and pans became difficult to clean, so Aurora suggested that sand be used as grit, scraping remnants of food off the cookware. A sponge was the only other thing they needed, and that was found in a soap dish placed above the kitchen sink. Maya always seemed to take the lead when it came to cleaning, believing that she alone could do a better job than the others. But as everyone filed out for a well-needed bath, Aurora decided to stay behind to help Maya with the dishes. Of course, she had another reason--bathing meant undressing, and after hearing Eli’s comments, she decided to avoid the cat-calls she expected from bathing with three men. It wasn’t long before Maya and Aurora heard the screams of freezing testicles as Eli, Nathan, and Jackson waded into the lake. The shock seemed to be more than they could handle, but choosing to remain, they continued scrubbing the sweat from their bodies. Inside the cabin, the girls, hearing the clatter of cold-induced cursing, began laughing and continued as the three men entered the cabin. Wanting to warm themselves as quickly as possible, they stepped out of the lake, grabbed their clothes, and ran in but seeing Maya and Aurora laughing prompted more than a bit of embarrassment.

“What’s so funny?” Eli asked.

The two continued giggling as Aurora pointed. “Oh my God,” she said. “Where did your balls go?”

Embarrassed, Eli looked down and noticed the absence of what he believed made him a man. “Jesus fuck, Aurora,” he said. “They're just shriveled up from the cold. Damn, get a grip.” She considered this payback for the remarks made this morning, but couldn’t help delivering one more jab.

“Of course they are. But honestly, I didn’t know you had balls.”

Eli didn’t know whether to be angry or embarrassed, but quickly covered himself and ran off to the bathroom as everyone burst into laughter.

Now, it was time for the girls. Forgetting to bring other needed items, they grabbed a clean set of clothes and started for the door. But just before closing it, Maya turned towards them and spoke in a scolding manner.

“Guys,” she began. “I’m only going to tell you once. We’d like to have some privacy, so don’t open those curtains, got it? I’m serious. I will beat your asses if any of you start peeking out at us.” Closing the door behind them, the two walked down to the lake. Once upon its banks, they began undressing, displaying their womanly bodies to an absent world. Maya trusted that the boys would behave like adults but fully nude, she looked back at the windows and noticed the curtains were slightly askew. Looking more closely, she saw the curtain moving slightly, seemingly closing on its own.

“God fucking damn it,” she said.

The warning she gave was still fresh in her mind, and seeing her former fellow students gawking at them fueled her anger. But before confronting them, she thought it would be best to finish bathing.

Wading into the numbing water of the lake, the girls let out a scream when the water reached their genitals. Peeking around the curtains, the three boys began whispering lude comments to each other.

“Fuck,” Jackson said. “I didn’t know Maya had such a huge set of tits.”

Even Nathan, who was ordinarily respectful of others' privacy, dared himself to take a brief look. “Shit,” he said. “Aurora shaves her snapper? Talk about baby-smooth.”

In order to retain his dignity, Nathan moved back from the curtain, leaving Eli and Jackson to gawk at the girls who were only trying to bathe. But boys will be boys and when Maya and Aurora returned all of them received a well-earned verbal beat-down.