I had been hiking alone in the wilderness for almost two weeks when I stumbled into them-two stressed out young women hopelessly lost. They were hunched over by the river, one with her arm around the other.
Every year I take a leave from my job and family to submerge myself in nature. I become primitive man, covering a vast territory, surviving on my knowledge and skills as a fisherman and bow and arrow hunter. The satisfaction it gives me is almost as good as
sex (but not quite).
They did not see or hear me approach. I paused behind a tree some thirty feet away and looked around. The river was narrow and fast at this point, and a wrecked canoe was thrown up on some branches near where the girls were huddled. How they had gotten this far on the swollen river I couldn't imagine. We were deep in the Canadian woods, at least 75 miles from the put-in point for boats. Normally you could go only a few miles before the river became unnavigable, but recent heavy rains had apparently covered the rocks. Their canoe must have been swept along by the current.
One of the women appeared slightly older. She was trying to comfort the younger one, who was shivering, despite the warm late afternoon sun. I stepped from behind the tree and called out to them.
"Hello there. You seem to have had an accident with your canoe."
Startled, they came up on their knees and swiveled in my direction. In spite of the fact that both were soaking wet with tangled hair partially hiding their faces, it was obvious they were very attractive. I guessed that the younger one, a blonde with long hair, was in her late twenties. The other had short, dark hair, and looked a few years older. Both had good figures. This could be interesting, I thought.
"Oh, thank goodness," cried the blonde. "A savior."
The brunette said nothing, just looked at me with wide eyes.
"What happened," I asked.
"The river just took us. We tried to get to shore, but couldn't. Then we were in the gorge...for miles. An hour ago we crashed into some rocks and swam ashore here. Where are we?"
"You are in the Canadian wilderness, over a hundred miles from a road. Didn't you know not to go past the first rapids?"
The brunet finally found her voice. "Yes, we read that. But after the last downpour, the rocks were submerged, and before we knew it we were carried downstream."
I nodded. "Yea, once in the gorge you can't stop. Will people come looking for you?"
"That's the problem," whined the blonde. "Judy here wanted us to feel what it would be like to be totally out of touch. We took a week vacation, brought our own canoe and didn't tell anyone where we were going."
"Don't be a baby, Susan," said her companion. "I told you I would take care of you."
"But how can we get back? We can't follow the river though those hills, and we don't even know which direction to go to find a road."
Judy looked at me and straightened her shoulders. "Maybe Tarzan here will save us.'
The girls were both wearing T shirts, still very wet. Judy's impressive chest was clearly outlined, and she knew it. She stood up, hands on her hips. Susan grinned, and followed her friend's lead. Though considerably smaller, Susan's pert breasts made delectable twin cones in her shirt. It was clear she was not wearing a bra.
Were they implying sexual favors in return for a rescue? It was too soon to jump to that conclusion. Maybe they just wanted to impress me with their femininity and helplessness.
To tell the truth, they were in a tough situation. Nights were cold this time of year, and a snow storm could materialize any day. One hundred miles is a long way to navigate through the forest, even if you have a GPS or compass, camping equipment, and food. These ladies had nothing but wet shorts and shirts. They would never make it.
Obviously I could not just walk away and leave them there. But leading them out and taking care of them would consume the rest of my vacation.
(I deserved some compensation, right?)
"Look ladies," I said. "My name is Matt. You can tag along with me if you want. I'm headed for the road to civilization anyway. Fish and game are plentiful, if you know how to get them, and I do, so I can feed you. But you have to agree to do everything I tell you...everything."
(Was that being a tad too straightforward?)
"Hey, wait a minute," Judy protested. "I know what that means. I will not let you molest my innocent friend. What are you, some kind of uncivilized barbarian?"
I laughed. "No one is going to be molested. I was referring to things like staying put when I tell you to wait while I go hunting. Nothing's going to happen that you don't want to happen."
They both gave me a funny look. I am over six feet tall, muscular, and have bright blue eyes that women seem to like. After a two weeks in the woods, my brown hair was long, and I had grown a good beard. And I was relatively clean; every day I managed to bathe in a river or stream. As I looked from one to the other, the sexual tension was electric.
Judy seemed to disapprove of the way her young friend was appraising me. It made me wonder whether the two of them were into each other, with Judy playing the male role. Well, if we were going to be together in the woods for a week, I would soon find out.
"What do you say?" I asked. "Do you want me to take you out of here, or not?"
"I don't see that we have much choice," Susan said to her companion. "We'll have to follow his instructions."
Judy frowned. "I suppose. All our gear is at the bottom of the river. We are pretty helpless."
"Okay," I said. "The first thing is to get out of those wet clothes and get them dried out. It's going to start to get really cold in a couple of hours."
"But we don't have anything else to wear," protested Judy. "And these clothes are never going to dry in a few hours."
I smiled. "Don't worry, I've two extra flannel shirts you can wear. We'll camp here tonight and build a fire to dry your clothes."
"Sounds good to me," said Susan. "I'm freezing. Give us the shirts and turn your back."
I leaned my bow against a tree and eased out of my backpack. Aside from the extra clothes, it contained cooking supplies, a few toiletries, medicines, flashlights, and other camping gear. A small tent and sleeping bag were tied to the outside.
(Already I was thinking about sleeping arrangements.)
Digging into the pack I came up with the two shirts. They would cover the girls down to about mid-thigh. Things were going to get interesting.
"Here are the shirts. Take everything off, including your shoes. You're lucky you kept your sneakers on in the canoe. It would be tough walking a hundred miles in bare feet. I will go start gathering firewood while you change clothes. Oh, and here's a comb to fix your hair. Might as well look at good as you can."
Without waiting for a reaction, I picked up my hatchet and headed into the trees. With all the rain it wouldn't be easy to find dry wood. I knew I needed to find some sheltered areas on high ground. Fortunately, there was an outcropping on a nearby hill that shielded a couple of dead trunks.
Thirty minutes later I returned with an armload of burnable logs. The girls had followed orders and were standing around in nothing but the shirts. Their wet clothes and underwear hung from nearby branches.
I dropped the wood and took a long moment to look them over. Both had very nice, slender legs. And with their almost dry hair combed back, I could see how pretty they were. It occurred to me that I was living a fantasy situation. Two beautiful women totally helpless and dependent on me for survival.
Judy put her hands on her hips and glared at me. "Haven't you ever seen a girl's legs before?"
"Not in this situation," I chortled. "You two look pretty good."
Susan smiled and curtsied. "Thank you kind sir."
"You're welcome. Now I must put you to work. If we are going to eat tonight, you are going to have to catch a fish or two. In the meantime, I will get the fire going."
I got out two lines. "Turn over stones until you find some worms. Thread them on the hooks, and throw the bait in the eddies behind the big rocks. There're plenty of hungry trout in this river. We need at least two big ones for dinner and breakfast."
By the time the sun went down I had the fire going and the tent set up. The girls caught three nice trout and were delighted with themselves. We sat around the fire and enjoyed the fresh fish.
"I want some potatoes and veggies," Judy whined.
"Me too," said Susan. "I'm going to complain to the manager."
"I'll see what I can do about it," I said. "We should at least be able to pick up some mushrooms on our hike tomorrow."
"How far do you think we'll get tomorrow?" asked Susan.
"This section is pretty rough country. We'll being doing well to make ten miles."
"And it's a hundred miles to the road?"
"More or less."
That thought sobered them a bit. I got up and put more wood on the fire. It was almost dark and getting colder by the minute. The girls had a lot of skin exposed to the cool air and were shivering. Twice they had checked on their wet clothes, and of course they were still damp. It would take another few hours of sun to dry them.
"We're going to freeze to death," Judy groaned.
That was the comment I was waiting for. So far no mention had been made of sleeping arrangements to stay warm. I was sure they had taken note of the small tent and the fact that I had only one sleeping bag, but neither seemed to want to face the implications. It was time to give them the facts, exciting for me, not so good for Judy if she were a lesbo. I wasn't sure how Susan would react.
I began my rehearsed speech. "Speaking of staying warm during the night, here's the plan. On my last outing I had a girlfriend, so my sleeping bag is a double. It's big enough to squeeze all of us in. But there is a cardinal rule in cold weather survival that you don't wear clothes in your sleeping bag. The dampness in the fabric absorbs your body heat and prevents it from warming the air in the bag."
(I could swear I've read that somewhere.)
Susan gasped. "You mean we all have to be naked?"
"If you want to be in the bag with me, yes."
"I knew it," exclaimed Judy. "You would devise some way to rape us. Men are so predictable."
I took umbrage at that remark and the anger came through in my voice. "I told you that nothing would happen that you didn't want to happen, and I meant it. Rape is not something I've ever done and never will. Don't need to."
"Umph," snorted Judy. "Put you up against a naked woman and you won't be able to control yourself."
Susan's eyes were darting back and forth between us. She seemed more interested than alarmed. I took that as a good sign. Judy was the problem. At that point, I was convinced she was a Lesbian, through and through. In her mind, men were all pigs.
"Look Judy. You don't have to sleep in the bag. You can keep the fire going and lie beside it. Of course, one side of you will always be cold. And you will need to gather more firewood. I'll leave you a flashlight. There's not enough wood to last the night. Some of what we have has to be saved to cook fish for breakfast tomorrow."
"The fire will be fine. I'm certainly not going to get naked into a sleeping bag with you!"
"Okay with me. What about you, Susan?"
Susan looked at Judy, who shook her head and spoke earnestly. "You can't do it, Susan. It would be a betrayal of our relationship."
"But he's promised not to do anything..."
"Susan, sweetie, have you ever known a man to keep his promises?"
I had enough. "You two suit yourselves. I'm cold and I'm getting into the bag. You can join me anytime you wish. It will be a long night."
"Could we at least put on our underwear?" implored Susan.
"Absolutely not," I said. "It's still wet, and even if I weren't, there will be no clothes in the bag, period."
I was optimistic that I would soon be feeling Susan's naked, tight little body up against mine. In fact, I preferred that she wait until she was good and cold before she came in. She would be happy to have contact with my body to warm hers. At that point I could let nature take its course.
I got up and started toward the tent. "Good night, ladies. See you in the morning, if not before."
After relieving myself in the woods behind the tent, I raised the flap and crawled in. Quickly I got out my clothes and into the sleeping bag.
(If I had been by myself I would have put on one of my spare flannel shirts, but not that time, baby.)
I wondered how long they would last out there. It could even snow during the night.
The tent was about twenty feet from the fire, and they didn't think I could hear them whispering. But my hearing is very good.
"What a crazy situation," said Susan. "Last night we were snuggling in a motel, and tonight we're freezing in the middle of the woods."
