Alternate Memories - Dayton

July, 1966

Tuesday, I awoke at 6:30, turned over and tried to sneak and extra half hour of sleep. It didn't work, so ten minutes later I was out on my five mile run. It wasn't as hot as yesterday but it was still warm. My route today went in the opposite direction. A right on Stewart to Wayne Ave. and on to Belmont High School. The out and back distance was almost exactly five miles. It was an invigorating run and I was feeling great

After a shower (in the "little" one) and a shave, I put on a grey bathing suit with the word ARMY printed on one leg and a black sleeveless muscle shirt that I thought complemented my shoulders and arms. Returning downstairs, I grabbed a key off a hook by the kitchen door and walked out to the detached garage that was in back of the house. We used the garage only for storage and I was curious to find out if what I was looking for was still there.

It wasn't on the main floor, but there was an upper storage area, so I climbed the back stairs and found the right box under some tarps. I opened it and looked inside. As far as I could see everything I needed seemed to be there. I removed three inner tubes and two small wooden paddles, and carried them back downstairs. Finding an air pump near the door, I partially inflated all three tubes and made sure they weren't leaking. Then I took everything, including the pump back to the house.

Dave was at the kitchen table when I returned. He was eating some toast and said he was going out to Wright-Patterson where he was working on some project that was connected with a class he was taking. John came down a few minutes later and I told him what I was thinking about. I asked him if he wanted to join us but he had two classes and begged off. I ate some toast and drank some coffee and then called Norb.

We talked for about an hour just catching up. He wasn't free today but would be on Wednesday. That worked for me since that was the day I might not see Maribeth because it was the one day she hadn't found anyone to switch shifts with her at the dry cleaners. Norb said he and Kathy were available Friday and we tentatively set up a double date without deciding exactly what we'd do.

After the call, I took the linens that I'd removed from the bed and which were stained by last night's lovemaking and threw them into the washing machine along with the towels and some of my dirty clothes. By the time the load had washed and dried, it was time to pick up Maribeth. I called her and said I was leaving soon. I didn't tell her what I had planned, but I told her to wear a bathing suit and bring a change of clothes.

Like yesterday, I had packed sandwiches. This time, peanut butter and jelly. The sandwiches along with just a bag of potato chips went into the cooler with six cans of beer. This required me to put two more dollars into the community pot. The cooler was packed into the trunk of the car along with the wooden paddles and the air pump. I deflated the three inner tubes and stuffed them behind the seats. Then remembering one more thing I needed, I went back to the garage and got about ten feet of rope. Finally satisfied that I had everything, I lowered 'Charlie's' top and set off to pick up Maribeth.

Just like yesterday, when I pulled up, Maribeth was sitting on her porch, and she got up as soon as she saw me. But this time there was no rush to the car followed by a frantic get away. Instead she was walking confidently and it gave me time to note that she had chosen a multicolored flowered bikini and tan flip flops. She had on a white lace sun blouse, a white floppy hat and, of course, her yellow sunglasses. Also she was carrying a black cloth tie top bag which I assumed was her change of clothes.

She got in the car, said "hi babe," and kissed me. It was a lot more than a peck, but not one of our passion inducing, tongue dancing numbers either. Just a very satisfying kiss. As I pulled away, I looked over at her and she answered my unstated question immediately.

When she got home last night, her mother seemed surprised when she came through the door, but there wasn't any inquisition or accusations. Her mother just asked if she had had a good time. Maribeth then said that they talked for awhile and it was the most civil and pleasant conversation that they had had in months. This morning it was more of the same. Maribeth was puzzled by this apparent turn around but figuring it out would wait for another day. She was obviously in a great mood and ready for the day.

I was heading south on Patterson when I told Maribeth my plans for the day. I said we were going to Oregonia, a small town a few miles southeast of Dayton that was on the Little Miami River and I thought we'd spend the day tubing on the river.

Ask most people in Dayton about the Miami River, and they immediately think of the Great Miami that runs through the center of town. A lot of them don't know there is another tributary called the Little Miami River that flows south and the two join near Cincinnati. Neither run particularly fast, but the Little Miami is the textbook definition of a "lazy river," it's rare that the Little Miami current ever flows more than one half a mile in an hour.

Three years ago, the fraternity had a tubing party and we were heading to the same place that I was familiar with and retrace that route. I explained that normally when people tubed, they used two cars. They'd park one at the end of their trip and use the other to take everyone along with the equipment to the starting spot. We only had one car, so I explained that I thought we'd float about four miles, which would take us most of the day, but at the end we'd have to walk back. I guessed that would take about an hour. I asked Maribeth if she thought that she could do that. She scrunched up her face in a way that informed me that I had just asked a stupid question, and in a whiny voice she answered that she would try her very best to make such a long journey. I was stung by her obvious sarcasm to what had been a legitimate question in my mind, but on reflection...it was a stupid question, since Maribeth was in great shape.

The drive to Oregonia seemed longer than I remembered. On the way I told Maribeth about my conversation with Norb and the possibility that we'd do a double date on Friday. Maribeth and Kathy had gotten along great in the past, so she readily agreed. I also ask her to think about what we might do that would be fun.

Oregonia is a town of about one thousand and was originally a lumber town. The forests and the mills are long gone, but the river that they used to get the timber to market remains. I parked 'Charlie' under some trees at the water's edge and unloaded everything onto the grassy riverbank. The tubes I had brought were made for Volkswagen Beetles, so the 14 inch wheels were not very big. I used the air pump and inflated all three tubes. Then I secured the cooler to one with the rope and tied off the free end to one of the other tubes. I put the air pump in the trunk, raised the convertible top and locked the car. Then wading into the river, I held one tube for Maribeth to plop her butt into, then I did the same. I threw our shoes on top of the cooler and we used the paddles to move into the center of the stream and picked up the slow moving current. Gently we began to float downstream.

The paddles, now unnecessary, laid across our laps. The water at first seemed cold, but after a few minutes we hardly noticed it. There were only a few whispy clouds and almost no breeze. The air was warm and as we floated lazily, we could hear very few sounds. Both banks of the river were lined with trees, mostly oaks and where they overhung the river their welcome shade gave us some respite from the bright sunlight. The river was pretty clear and we could see the bottom, maybe eight to ten feet below where we floated. It was mostly grass and rocks and it didn't take too much imagination to assume that we were the ones standing still while the grass and rocks moved beneath us.

Maribeth and I held hands and just talked. I told her about all the schools that I had attended as a military brat. She laughed when I described that when you went to a new school, one of the givens was that you would meet the school bully. Every school had one and a confrontation was necessary to determine where you would slot in the pecking order. I had learned very early that appeasement didn't work, so I anticipated a fight every time I started in a new school. The surprising thing I discovered was that a willingness to fight often resulted in no fight at all, and that bullies are basically cowards that usually only pick on kids they think are weaker. I told Maribeth that I thought this was an important lesson that I'd probably have a lot of use for in life.

She told me about her desire to get a Ph.D in Psychology and help people with mental illnesses. When I asked if that included my romantic compulsive disorder, she laughed and said, "exactly like that one."

She asked if I thought I'd make the Army a career, and I said that I didn't know, but that I doubted it. I had spent almost four years studying Industrial Engineering and Management, and that I didn't do that with the expectation that I would never use that knowledge, but I admitted that sometimes life doesn't give a fig about your little plans.

At one point the conversation touched on our date in Norfolk. Maribeth admitted that had I not taken the lead in arranging for a hotel and initiated her seduction that she had planned to seduce me. She wasn't sure how it would play out, but she was determined that I would be her first lover. She explained that she was a wreck inside until the moment when, after our walk on Virginia Beach, I had taken her hands and ask her to go to a hotel with me. She said it was like a prayer that had just been answered.

Some of her girlfriends had told her about some of their "firsts," They had run the gamut from "Wow" to terrible. Some had described situations where the boyfriend paid absolutely no attention to the woman's state of arousal and had attempted penetration with no foreplay, no understanding of how important lubrication is and the needs that a woman has to take some time to accommodate a man's penis once it's been seated.

I was flattered when Maribeth said that I had scored on the "wow" end of the scale. I chose not to tell her that it was an approach that I had learned the hard way with Pamela, my high school girlfriend. Despite what I considered my best efforts and deepest consideration, an honest grade of our first coupling I was sure would have been at the bottom of the scale. They say you learn the most from the mistakes you make.

Amen to that!

I glanced at my watch. Almost 11 a.m. and we'd been on the river for almost an hour. The day was getting pretty warm and I thought about the beer floating nearby, but I didn't think it was a good idea to chug one on a hot day on an empty stomach.

At exactly that point, we were rounding a bend in the river and I spotted a picnic table sitting under some trees between the river and the single lane road that ran alongside. I assumed this was God's way of providing heavenly assistance. I pointed to the table and suggested to Maribeth that we stop there. She nodded and we paddled to the bank.

We both got out in ankle deep water and pulled the tubes up on a kind of rocky beach. I picked up our shoes which had been riding on top of the cooler and tossed Maribeth her pair. Once on the bank, I explained my thoughts and suggested that even though it was a little early, we should have lunch. She nodded and I untied the cooler and carried it up to the picnic table.

I had made two sandwiches apiece, and in a few moments, I had devoured one along with half of a beer while Maribeth daintely nibbled on hers. While I watched her eat, I looked at the road. While it was only a single lane, it looked in good repair. Earlier I had noticed that there wasn't much traffic and no cars had passed since we arrived. I mentioned to Maribeth that this road was going to be our walk back in a few hours.

Finishing my beer, I thought about eating the second sandwich but it appeared to me that, at least for now, Maribeth was probably only going to eat just one. I hated for her to eat alone, so I took a pass. When she finished, I crushed my empty beer can and put it in the cooler along with the uneaten sandwiches. Then I put the lid on the cooler and re-tied it to it's tube. Maribeth was still sipping her beer, so I suggested that she could finish it on the river. I floated her tube, and took her shoes. She got in, butt first, and I handed her a paddle and her beer and gave her a push.

I soon joined her and once again we were on our way. As with most Ohio afternoons in the summer, it began to get cloudier, which was good. The periodic relief from the direct sun was welcome. All along we had been playfully splashing each other as a way to keep cool, but now, after lunch, it turned into a full scale water battle. Paddles became scoops and the water flew. Maribeth's hat kept her hair from getting the worst of it, but in a few minutes we were soaked. Soon a truce was declared and sealed with a kiss that stretched over two tubes.

An hour later, we both were feeling full, and the old statement that you "only rent beer," was describing our situation exactly.

We paddled to shore near a flat grassy bank and got out. The grass was soft, so we dispensed with shoes. With the tubes secured, Maribeth looked for a spot to take care of business and we both glanced around to see if any cars were coming down the road. Of course we hadn't seen anybody on the river either, so satisfied that we were alone, Maribeth hooked her thumbs inside of her bikini panties and pushed them off, leaving her naked from her bra down.

Maribeth was facing three quarters away from me as she bent down and slid her bikini off her foot. This gave me a wonderful view of her womanly butt and the curve of her hips. I would have loved a picture of her in that pose. When she stood up, she glanced in my direction and smiled with full knowledge of the effect her sudden nakedness was probably having on me. Then turning she gave me a full frontal view. With her weight mostly on one foot, Maribeth's right hip jutted out in another erotic pose and I wished for another picture.

Still smiling, she asked, "are you going to watch?" When I said, "yep," and nodded, she squatted and spread her knees giving me an unobstructed view between her legs. The stream started immediately and began to inundate the grass. Maribeth let out a deep sigh and continued to pee. When she finished, she gave a little wiggle with her hips and stood up. I could still see a few drops clinging to her skin and I realized that I was being given a real time demonstration of why women needed to wipe. Since we had nothing with us that could be used, Maribeth just turned and said, "your turn."

I only had to drop my shorts to mid thigh to have plenty of room, so I took a step forward and aimed at the same general spot that Maribeth had just used. Our fluids mixed together on the ground and Maribeth seemed transfixed watching the flow. I flicked away the last few drops and Maribeth commented, "I wish I could do that." We both laughed, but continued to stare at each other's exposure. Maribeth broke the spell when she said, "I never thought about cocks much, but I can't stop looking at yours." She stepped forward and cupped my ball sac and rolled my testicles in the palm of her hand. I returned the favor by palming her still bare cunt and wedging my finger into her slit. Our lips met in the first truly passionate kiss of the day.

Just when it was really starting to get interesting, we heard the roar of a car approaching. Maribeth quickly stepped into her bikini and I pulled up my shorts. The car sped by, probably not even noticing that we were there. As it disappeared we both started to laugh. With the spell broken and our bladders now empty, I opened two more beers and joked we could do this again in a couple of hours. Shortly we were on the river again.

Once we passed under a red painted covered bridge. It was actually the only bridge we'd seen since we started and a couple of people saw us and waved. We raised our beer cans in return. Another time we had to steer around some large boulders in the middle of the river. We used our paddles and I went left pulling the tube with the cooler while Maribeth went right. We crossed each other's path on the other side and for a time, we slalomed around each other until we grew tired of this new game.

Further on we heard the roar of motorcycles, and I remembered that we were close to the Devil's Staircase, which I told Maribeth was a 150 foot hill with a 40 degree muddy slope facing the river. The challenge for the motorcycles was to build up enough speed to ride all the way to the top without stalling. I knew there used to be competitions there on weekends, but I suspected we were just hearing some people practicing today. As we passed, I saw I was correct, there were three, and as we watched, one guy almost make it, but he stalled out about a 20 feet short. His bike tipped and he struggled to keep the bike from falling, especially on him.

I asked Maribeth if she wanted to stop and eat our last sandwiches or did she want me to just pass her one out here on the river. She opted for a traveling lunch so I opened the cooler, threw in our two empty beer cans, gave her a sandwich and placed two new beers and my sandwich in my lap. I opened the beers and handed Maribeth a new one. It was kind of pleasant eating this way as trees passed on the river bank and rocks passed below.

Soon I noted that we were now six hours into the trip and I was pretty sure it was about three to four miles back to the car. I told Maribeth that I was ready to call it a day and she nodded in agreement. We looked for a good place to exit to the river and soon found a good wide spot. I pulled the tubes up on the bank and twisted off the valve caps. While the tubes were deflating, I gave Maribeth her shoes and untied the cooler. Only the melted ice, two unopened beers and the bag of potato chips which we had never gotten around to eating remained, except of course for the trash I'd thrown in.

I wasn't incapable of carting all of our stuff back to the car, but I didn't really see the point. We had hardly seen anybody all day. I found a spot behind some rocks, so I folded up the tubes and placed them, along with the cooler and the rope behind them. Satisfied that they would be safe for the couple of hours we'd be gone, we climbed up to the road and started walking north holding our last beers.

It turned out that we were on State Route 47 and the traffic remained not only light, but almost non-existent. A mile later we discovered the reason. Some work was being done on a culvert and the road was closed at that point. What cars we had seen must have been local traffic. I thought to myself that had I known that, our brief passionate interlude earlier may have had a different ending.

It was getting hot, so twice we stopped and splashed in the river. Otherwise there wasn't anything particularly noteworthy for the rest of our walk, except that, as we neared Oregonia, we saw two more tubers, but the kids in them just seemed to be paddling around in circles.

'Charlie' was where we left him. I fished out the key from where I'd hidden it and unlocked Maribeth's side, then my own. I felt like we had enough sun for the day, so I left the top up. The route back to pick up our stuff took a bit longer than I expected due to the road closure, but soon we had everything and we're on our way back to Dayton.

We got back to the house about six o'clock. I left the tubes in the car, but brought the cooler. We went inside but didn't see anyone, so we headed to the big bathroom and stripped down. I made sure we had towels available and we got under the warm shower together.