"Skinny dipping? Are you out of your mind? We're in public in case you haven't noticed. What if someone comes along?"
"It's nearly dark, so what if they do?" My identical twin Mary Helen sat on a convenient root to slip off her Superga chambray sneakers. "All they'll see is a couple of girls in the water. They won't know that we're de-liciously nekkid."
"Ha. And what if they decide to go swimming too?"
"We'll just keep our boobs under the water and outwait them," Mary Helen said unflappably. "Besides which, we'll probably spot anyone coming down the trail in the twilight and as soon as it's dark anyone who does come won't see us. Come on, Sarah Beth. For once in your life get the broomstick out of your butt and let's swim! I'm sweating like a virgin in an Ann Summers novel."
So we compromised. I will explain that whenever I don't want to do something, and Mary Helen does, and we decide to do the thing that Mary Helen wants -- as we always do -- she calls that a compromise. So it was that I found myself treading water quite naked in the sandpit that serves our neighborhood as a convenient swimming hole. At least Mary Helen was right about the twilight. It was fast getting dark and anybody walking by probably wouldn't even notice us.
And the water was so cool and refreshing. What could possibly go wrong?
That's when I noticed something moving on the bank.
"Mary Helen," I hissed. "Someone is trying to steal our clothes!"
She peered into the gloom and suddenly shouted "Hey! Get away from there! Then to me, "It must be some of those bratty boys. I can't believe their parents would let them out so close to dark." She noisily splashed towards shore shouting all the way, not even caring that she wasn't wearing any clothes.
It was then that I saw that those moving shadows weren't human at all.
"They're hogs, Mary Helen! Feral hogs. Watch out! Those things are mean!" I'd heard that they haunted the woods and brush around here but had never actually seen one.
Mary Helen yelled and splashed, trying to scare the swine away but it was no use. The beasts were too absorbed with rooting through our clothes, grunting and squealing as they fought over the tasty tidbits. I sprinted to the bank and bounded out waving my arms and shouting in my dripping birthday suit. That caught their attention. Glittering malevolent eyes fixed me in their glare and the nearest boar tossed his head and stamped. I suddenly remembered the diseases one could get if impaled by a tusk and hastily flopped backwards into the water - not because I was scared of a bunch of damned pigs. It was because I wanted to.
Mary Helen hooted derisively.
Twenty minutes later two buck naked girls, boobs and bottoms gleaming in the fading light, forlornly contemplated the remnants of the porcine feast. The only recognizable scraps were half of Mary Helen's bra, the collar of my University of Houston tee shirt, and two sets of sadly chewed sneakers.
At this point there was a short pause while Mary Helen intensely voiced her opinion of all hogs, feral and otherwise.
"Now that you've had your say," I said after her little tirade was finished, "what are we going to do?"
"Go home, of course, but I think we might want to wait until it's darker. At least we have our sneakers. Sort of." Those Superga's looked more like Supergags now. "We can cross the field easily enough. All we have to do is walk in the grass and no one will hear us, but if anyone's on the path we'll be able to hear them first and hide."
"And after we've crossed the field?" I asked. "It's still six blocks to our house."
"We'll sneak down the street. If we see anyone coming we can hide behind a fence or in some bushes. Nothing could be simpler! Stop worrying. Everything will be fine."
"It had better be," I threatened darkly, "because if it looks like we're about to be caught I'm going to throw you out as a sacrifice and run for it."
I rummaged around until I found a sturdy stick that I could use to fend off deadly creatures lurking in the night and felt ready to go.
The coast was clear. We slipped silently into the meadow from the cover of the thin band of trees surrounding the sandpit. I used my left hand to cover my boobs and my right hand to cup my crotch but the sad poverty of human anatomy left me wanting another hand or so to carry my stick and such. I had to make do. We waddled hunched over, stopping every few steps to "Hst!" and peer around the darkness and listen, afraid that a frat party would suddenly materialize with us in the middle as maids of honor.
Soon we were halfway across and nearing the only stand of saplings in that nearly naked expanse of grass and scrubby bushes. When we were but a few yards away Mary Helen stopped short and I plowed into her from behind. I gently remonstrated by shoving her in the back.
"Shut up!" she hissed, gesturing emphatically. "There's someone in the trees."
In an instant we were flat on our tummies behind a scraggly clump of muhly grass that would not have hidden a bunny but was perfect for a Gila monster. Texas does not have Gila monsters but if we did they would lurk in muhly grass. I am certain of it.
Voices came to us. Voices that I knew.
"Isn't that Emmy Hartman?" ย Mary Helen breathed.
"Yes, and Brian Thompson, too." I hissed through gritted teeth.
Why was I annoyed? How about because Brian had been pressing hard to date me and get me into bed, and I was almost ready to accept both propositions. And here he was alone in the meadow at night with Prissy Emmy the Sunday School Princess and her more-virtuous-than-you attitude. Why was she wandering the fields after dark with some random guy, especially one who was supposedly fixated on me? If it wasn't for a little matter of clothes and damned pigs my stick and I would be having a vigorous discussion with Brian and Emmy right about now. I lay behind that ridiculous tuft of grass and seethed.
They were just a few yards away, clearly visible in the waning light, and seemed to be arguing.
"Come on, Emmy," Brian wheedled. "You know I'm good for it. You can't just leave me like this." Right in front of us Brian unzipped, pulled out his package and waggled his hard manhood enthusiastically. I half expected Emmy to squeal and bolt, but no. She took hold of his willy with one hand and started stroking with the other, not that he had all that much to stroke. I hadn't missed much by not sleeping with him, I decided.