by Jayne Louise
The radio said something else– something about a dog, and a woman who owned the dog–
‘Yah, that’s what I said too. Ol’ good-for-nothing dog. She ought to give that thing away.’
The guy on the radio said something else.
A car went by then. The ranger turned his head to see it, and its lights’ glare I saw the chrome searchlight by his window. If he were to hear me, even suspect I was there, and then turn that thing on and shine it right through these bushes at me, there’d be no escape!
Using the sound of the passing car I took two steps backwards and spun about, bolted back across the path, ducked round the trees, and sprinted about 25 yards to where Jem and Jules still stood, almost in the very same spot, in the center of the path.
‘What is it?’ Jem asked in an urgent whisper.
‘Shhh,’ I hissed, holding my breathing down. ‘He can hear us.’ I beckoned them further on into the woods and found a spot of soft sand to sit down on my foot. After a second they sat too.
‘What happened back there?’ Jules asked.
‘Shhh,’ I said again. ‘It’s the park ranger sitting in his Jeep. He’s just sitting there, so he could hear anything unusual. We’ll have to wait till he goes.’
‘What if he sits there all night?’ she asked.
‘Then we wait here all night,’ Jem said simply. ‘Or go back.’
I nodded, still breathing hard. My heart throbbed and the sweat was beading up all over me. ‘He’ll leave,’ I decided. ‘He’ll get bored before we do.’
‘Look!’ Jem urged, and we all whirled around.
Through the trees, even about 40 yards away, we could make out yellow and red lights on the side of his vehicle. Then came the unmistakable sound of the car’s starter. The ranger was going to leave.
‘Good!’ Jules cheered– still in a whisper.
‘Let’s go,’ I said. ‘We have to make sure we know where he’s going.’
Jem nodded and we all prodded each other to our feet. Sure enough the Jeep’s headlights were on, aiming up 542 towards Hammonton. We hurried, less careful for noise now as he would only hear his own engine, and got to the very verge of the ‘U-turn path’ by the time he had turned his taillights to us and started out across the clearing to the roadway. Another car went by, its lights illuminating the entire side of the white truck. Then he lifted his foot off the brake and proceeded out into the roadway.
I darted out from my cover then and dashed round the side of the clump of trees, almost as though I would chase him. The Jeep turned north, away from the Batsto park entrance, and I was able to run out along the edge of the trees and see him disappear round the next bend in the road. For a long, precious moment, there was no other car or person in evidence.
‘Come on!’ I whispered. ‘He’s gone!’
Jules appeared first, her slender body looking almost catlike as she ran, hunched forward, around the edge of the trees towards me. Then Jem came next, even nimbler, skipping round some small obstacle and joining the two of us at the last few shrubs on our left, about 20 feet from the roadside. To our right was a wide clearing and a long unobstructed view of 542 heading south towards Green Bank. In spite of us being fully exposed to the moonlight there was no danger there.
‘Okay,’ I said calmly. ‘Ready?’
‘Wait,’ Jem said, catching my arm. ‘Where are we going?’ She pointed and we all looked. Across the roadway was the simple split-rail fence surrounding historic Batsto village. Where we would hop it was pretty far from anything on the other side– in fact there was a broad lawn to cross before we’d get safely to anywhere we could hide. Any car coming round the bend up the road would shine its headlights right on us.
‘Do we have to run that whole way?’ Jem asked.
I nodded, seeing her point. Even as I stared across at our goal I saw a very faint lightening upon the evergreen shrubs and the fence itself. It took me a moment to realize it was a car coming down the road from beyond the curve. We had not even heard it yet, and here its headlights were illuminating the scenery half a mile away.
‘A car!’ Jules said aloud, and whirled about to run back.
Jem shook her head and strolled quickly but calmly after her. I merely backed my bare bottom farther into the bushes and waited.
The car came round the curve, gradually growing louder as the illumination across the road grew brighter. Then I heard the motor itself, a deep, throaty groaning like a high-performance V-8. It was definitely not a police car or a park ranger.
Then it roared past, doing about 50, a big tall dark-green or dark-blue 4-x-4 pickup, with one guy driving alone. I stood and watched as it went by, going straight down 542 towards Green Bank, its taillights growing smaller and its rumble growing feebler by the second.
Jem and Jules were creeping back towards me. ‘Wow,’ Jules said. ‘What if he turned around?’
I laughed. ‘He still wouldn’t see us till he was right on top of us. That’s what these tans are for.’
Jem giggled. ‘See, I told you tanning was good for something!’
I giggled too. ‘But look, now we know what it looks like when a car is coming. We have plenty of time before it gets crucial. We could make it, all together, just run for it. As long as we get over that fence….’
‘Do you think they have motion detectors?’ Jules worried.
Jem batted her arm. ‘Not everywhere, hun. Not anywhere we’ll be.’
‘Are you sure?’
I shook my head, not caring. The truck had disappeared down the road. There was no sound of anything approaching. But I knew that because of the curve in the road we would see them long before we would hear them. So I took three bold strides and stepped out to the edge of the roadway. The stillness was eerie. I’ve stood naked on a roadway like this before, deeper in the Pine Barrens, but never on a normally well-traveled county highway. It gave me an incredible rush then, as though nothing could threaten me. ‘Okay, come on!’ I said, and leaped across the paved road.
‘Jayne!’ Jules called, but then Jem was running right after me and I heard Jule’s bare feet slap across the pavement as well. I stretched one leg out and flew across the gravel shoulder in one stride, landing hard in the lumpy grass– I think right on top of a prickly little twig. But we were all across.
The fence posed another obstacle but we merely slipped through between the rails and stood up inside the soft green lawn of the state park. ‘Woo!’ Jem sighed, half laughing as she panted in her excitement. ‘I can’t believe we just did that!’
I stood up straight, arcing my back as I strained to see and hear round the corner. ‘Come on,’ I whispered, ‘we’re not safe yet.’ And I actually took Jule’s hand and led her off across the grass, staying close to the bushes, till we were into the shadows of a few trees. Still there were no cars. None went by till we had crossed the whole lawn and were tiptoeing parallel to the entrance to the parking lot, about 100 yards from 542. Oddly we did not hear the car till it was right abreast of us, but its headlights never came close and none of us felt any danger from it.
With the threat of the cars behind us, we all relaxed. We were still whispering, but it was more like the awe of what we were doing rather than the fear of discovery. Jem swung her arms more freely and actually looked like she was working on her walk. Jules let go of me and scampered off ahead, throwing a few cartwheels on the soft grass and ending with a handspring and a perfect landing only a few feet from a pretty scratchy-looking shrub. Jem and I giggled at her.
We came to the end of the driveway and stepped out into the empty parking lot, all of us wandering apart in amazement at how weird it felt to be here like this. Jules broke into a run and dashed across to the split-rail fence at the far side, where the sidewalk would lead visitors from the picnic area to the tickets booth. Jem sauntered over to the ticket booth and rejoined us in a few minutes saying there were Coke machines there. ‘We should have brought change,’ she said.
‘There might be drink fountains down there,’ Jules said. ‘By the bathrooms?’ So she started down the other way to check.
I sat up on the split-rail fence and crossed my legs– actually it helped balance me there. Jem leaned upon the rail beside me, bending her back and stretching as though ready to run a marathon. I don’t know why but being naked always makes me feel like an athlete too. I like to think of myself as slender and strong and svelte, like the goddess Athena running round in the woods with her bow and arrow, able to do anything and invincible before any threat. I stretch and jump and climb and run like I’ve been this athletic all my life– which I haven’t been, but it sure doesn’t hurt to think of myself this way and I find I really am able to do marvelous things, physically.
Jules was strolling back to us. ‘Are you guys coming?’ she asked in a careful whisper. ‘The bathrooms are down here.’
‘Is there a drink fountain?’ Jem asked.
‘Yes, but I don’t know if it will be on.’
So we all walked down there to see. As our luck would have it the bathrooms were locked, but the water fountain did work and we all had a sip or two. There was a Coke machine too, and of course we still had no change.
Jules found the swings and Jem joined her, the two of them exaggerating every swing by throwing their feet way out and leaning way back till they were nearly horizontal to the gravelly ground. It might have made a great picture to take if we’d had a camera. I did swing a little myself, and then we all slid down the sliding board a few times till the night’s dew had run out and it was no longer slippery enough for bare bottoms. We meandered among the picnic tables and found ourselves a pretty good way away from the historic village itself, and so I suggested we go see some sights.
‘See some sights!’ Jules giggled. ‘But we’ve seen them all before!’
‘But this is an all-new experience for us, isn’t it?’ I asked.
‘Yes, it is… it definitely is.’
Again she scurried on ahead of Jem and me, like a little kid set loose in a playground. But really we all felt like that. After a moment Jem took off after her, and then I broke into a run too, and there in the moonlight we were all three running full-tilt for the visitors’ gate. It was nothing but a little chain over the opening in the split-rail fence and Jules vaulted it easily, landing a little hard on the balls of her feet on the concrete but otherwise okay. Jem, running so fast, actually leaped it in one great stride, gliding over it gracefully with her legs apart and her arms out to the sides as though she would fly. By the time I got there they were both waiting so I decided to be silly. I slowed down, made like I would climb over it, and at the last second caught the top of the post and swung myself right around it– for the gate on the other side of the post had no chain and was totally open. We all giggled at that.
‘Cute,’ Jem said, when we had returned to quieter voices.
I nodded. ‘Well, it seemed like the thing to do, after your hard act to follow.’
‘I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever make it over that thing,’ she confided in me.
‘But you have nothing to hold you back, or weigh you down.’
Jules smiled. ‘They should do gymnastics like this,’ she said. ‘I guess people would think it was obscene. But it really might be easier.’
‘They used to,’ I said, ‘in ancient Greece.’
‘No girls though,’ Jem reminded us.
‘No. Never.’
I really don’t like running when I’m naked. I mean I love being naked, but running, pounding one foot down and then the other, over and over, is not very flattering to me. Jem and Jules both have the most beautiful girlish figures, slender and smooth with everything so tight and together…. Even when running Jules doesn’t have anything bouncing around. Her chest and middle have just the slightest little jiggle, and the muscles in her bottom make her look more like a working athlete than a bodacious bare-bottomed chick. Jem isn’t that much more filled-out, and thankfully never will be. She’s got enough to bounce but it’s mainly because she’s so slender in the middle. Her stomach is like a plank of wood and her legs are so not flabby they look almost skinny. We always like to say Jules is the born athlete, but Jem is the one who’s built like one, with nothing anywhere that she doesn’t need. No wonder the guys adore her so much!
And, me– well, I’m me. I’d trade bra sizes with either one of them if they were stupid enough to take the trade. Nature gave me exactly what guys want me to have and what I would rather trade half of for another two inches in height. I have a good profile– I know that– but while it helps a lot in swimming it’s nothing but a pain in running, especially naked. People who never go naked like we do never realize it’s not about your body or how it looks to other people. It’s about how you feel being naked. And on a hot sweaty night like this, with my body awash with the slime of nighttime juices, the more you have in certain places the more uncomfortable you can be.
The long stroll did us good though. We stepped up onto the porch of the gift shop and peered inside, never getting close enough to even breathe on the building, however. Then we turned and walked down the main street of the recreated village, going by the various historic shops and remembering what they were from last month’s more legitimate visit. Far off across the village were some lights on– I assumed they were just night lights and we decided not to worry about them.
We strolled by the mansion, not wanting to get too close in case there were, as Jules had said, motion-detector lights. We could always come back to see it on our way out. Together we strolled across the bridge, all stopping to look over at the waterfall where Batsto Lake flows into the little creek that leads out to where we anchored the boat. There was a beautiful silvery sheen on the water of the upper lake, the half-moon casting a thin white glimmer somewhere near the middle of the water.
Jules said she wanted to go swimming. ‘It’ll wash us off,’ she said. ‘I’m still all sandy from the woods, and slimy from the river.’
‘What do you think that is?’ Jem teased. ‘It’s the same water.’
‘But it’s up-stream,’ she said, almost aloud. ‘It’s all just cedar water.’
‘Yes,’ I said, leading them both across to the other railing of the bridge, ‘but look at this.’ And we stared down at the water cascading noisily over the dam, falling into thick white froth about twelve feet down.
‘How deep do you think that is?’ Jules wondered.
‘At least as deep as this thing is high.’
‘Hey!’ Jules said, turning round with a new idea. ‘What about the lake? Think we could find it from here?’
I shrugged. I knew she meant the launching beach– the lake was right behind us! ‘It’s just up that way, around that bend I guess.’
‘Want to check it out?’
I shrugged. ‘If you’re not tired.’
Jules smiled excitedly and marched off across the bridge. We strolled around the back of the mill building, hearing the creaking of the water wheel going around inside. There was a wide expanse of lawn just beyond, and we all burst into a run, frolicking happily like children. Once or twice one of us would break out in a little giggle, but we were still amazingly quiet and I don’t think anyone up on the path or the bridge would have known we were there. Finally we were all sweaty and panting hard and Jem led us up onto the little front porch of one of the Quaker cottages, where there are two little benches flanking the front door. Those two got there first. I sat on the step and stretched out my legs.
It was hot, and even in the last few minutes a thick haze had come over the sky. If I had not known the forecast was clear I might have thought it was a front rolling in. For a few moments it even felt a little cooler. But we were totally sweaty and none of us could have regretted being so under-dressed.
I left them there and wandered out to lean on the split-rail fence, gazing out at the road at a wide space between two bushes. There were very few cars– scarcely
one every five or ten minutes. I know that people in these parts may work odd shifts, like at the casinos, and it’s not surprising to see some traffic at this hour on a road that’s usually busy in daylight. What surprised me is how casual we were about it. Being along the outside of the curve as we now were, the headlights from either way appeared far down the road and we had plenty of time to get ourselves out of where they could see us. Jem and Jules no longer cared– they were perfectly comfortable that the cars could have nothing to do with what they did and so they never even flinched.
Then a police patrol car went by, slowing down to pass the state park almost as though he somehow knew we were there. I shivered. My heart sped up. I bent way out over the fence and finally crawled right through it, stepping out to the side of the road to see if the police car would turn in at the park driveway. I wasn’t going to panic if it did– that was at least a quarter of a mile away from here and we only had to dash across this road, into the woods, and make our way back to the boat. That’s how perfect it was– we had nothing with us, so we could leave nothing behind. But the police officer just kept going straight on, down the long straight stretch of 542 towards Green Bank. And I was alone on the roadway again.
‘What are you doing?’ Jem called in an urgent whisper through the fence.
‘I thought he was turning in,’ I said, strolling nonchalantly back to the fence.
‘Who?’ they asked at once.
‘State police,’ I said.
‘Ohhh.’
I climbed through the fence again and stood up. ‘Do you feel like staying here?’
‘I want to go somewhere else,’ Jules said. ‘Where is the playground from here?’
I smiled, feeling a little like a mother hen. ‘We were there already,’ I said. ‘Back by the picnic area.’
She was all about to bolt off and run for it when Jem said, ‘Hey. We should stick together. Right?’