Fun In The Snow 1

This could probably be the last time that I will post on this site. The pressure of coming up with new and different storylines, combined with the increase in the amount of volunteering that I am involved with, leaves me with little time to write. I do have one project on the go, I recently discovered the lost chapters of Astoria Park, and I will, when time permits, proof read, edit and whatever, and when, and if, I think that it is finally completed, I will post it. CM.

*****

It wasn't a major coach company that I drive for, but a small tourism operator that runs package tours for mainly social groups. Today is the first day of a tour from Adelaide to the Victorian snowfields for a week of fun in the snow.

This was the third year that I was to take members of a social club to Mt Buller. They had booked the same accommodation as before, a B&B that could cater for up to 70 guests in rooms that could sleep up to 6. They were taking the chance of early snow by booking in early June, before the ski season proper kicked in. It had paid off last year and the weather forecasts were for early snow this year. Part of the package included 4WD transport to any one of the many slopes of a variety of skills levels, so it was perfect for this group.

I was parked out front of the clubrooms as the group filed out with their luggage and ski gear. They were a happy bunch of mainly 30-40 year olds with a common interest in outdoor activities. I knew most of them by sight and some more closely.

I had stowed the luggage in the compartment under the coach and climbed into my seat ready to address them over the PA system when my mobile phone rang. "Hi, we're just about mobile." I said in anticipation to the usual question on our status.

"Don't go anywhere."

"Why, what's the matter?"

"We've got some bad news, the company has gone belly up, the receivers have moved in to freeze our assets, and that includes your bus."

"Do you have the cash to refund the money that these guys have paid?"

"No."

"Have the bookings been made and paid for?"

"Yes, that part is fine. We are just about to ring and cancel."

"But if you do that they'll not get a refund."

"We have to try."

"Look, these people have booked this holiday in good faith, they have paid good money for it, and I know that some of them have had to save up for this trip. Even if you can manage to get a refund, it will go to your creditors before these guys can expect to see one cent of what they have paid. As far as I'm concerned, this call never happened, you have been unsuccessful in contacting me to prevent me from leaving, and the holiday will go ahead as planned. You can tell them that my phone is either switched off or out of range. I will turn it off and remove the battery so that they can't use the GPS to track me. When I get a chance I'll buy a pre-paid phone and call you." I ended the call. I knew that the bit about them not tracking me was bullshit, they would know where we were heading, but I figured that once I got them there I could negotiate something.

"Is something wrong?" Bethany Hammond was seated behind me, a fact that I was quite pleased about, it probably meant that we would have some après ski fun of our own, just as we had enjoyed last year.

"Nothing for you to worry about."

"It sounded bad from here."

"I'll explain more at our first pit stop." I flicked the switch and began my announcement. "Welcome guys, are you ready for some fun!"

"Yes we are!!"

"Great. Strap yourselves in, we're ready to roll." I selected first gear and released the hand brake. We were on our way.

The most direct route from Adelaide to the Victorian Alps follows the Dukes Highway into central Victoria and straight across. We had just crossed the River Murray when I switched on the microphone. "We have a change of plan. Instead of going by the most direct route, I have decided to take you by the scenic route down the Princes Highway through Mt Gambier. We will stop for lunch at Meningie and overnight at Mt Gambier by way of Coonawarra where you can stock up on wine at cellar door prices."

"Yay." I took it that they were all in agreement.

"Okay, spill." We had stopped for lunch at Meningie and Bethany came over as I washed the bug spots from my windscreen.

"If you really must know, the company has gone into receivership and I was supposed to cancel this trip and return to the depot so that the receivers could impound the bus. I chose not to do that, after all you guys have already paid for the trip and the accommodation bookings have been paid for."

"But you will be out of pocket won't you?"

"Yes, I'll have to pay for fuel and any other things that crop up."

"How will you manage that, you can't earn all that much in this job."

"I'll stick it on my credit card and worry about paying that when I get home."

"You shouldn't have to do that just so that we can have fun."

"I'll manage. Now we'd better get something to eat before we die of starvation."

"This will be my treat, call it my contribution to your expenses."

"I can't ask you to do that."

"You didn't, did you?"

I let it go at that, after all I had other things on my mind than a simple meal at a truck stop diner. How wrong I was going to be proven.

I had just climbed into bed in my single room at the motel in Mt Gambier when there was a soft tap on my door. It was Bethany looking pretty spectacular in a long coat pulled tight against the cold. She looked even more spectacular after I'd closed the door behind her and she opened the coat to reveal Bethany and nothing else. "I don't think that this is a good idea just now."

"That's where you're wrong, it's a very good idea." She was in my bed, holding the sheet back in an open invitation for me to join her, before I could stop her. I had a choice, join her or stand here looking like a fool. Oh well, I climbed into bed with her. "The committee and I have been having a discussion about your plight."

"Oh." I resented her telling the world about my private problems.

"We have decided to chip in and cover your expenses for this trip. I am to use my plastic for all of your expenses, and we'll sort it all out when we get back. You are not to worry about a thing, and no cheap meals either." She prevented my refusal with a kiss. "Now, I seem to remember the last time that we went on this trip, that we had a thing going. Where did we leave that? I seem to recall that it was about here." The kiss again, and her hand found its way down the front of my pyjama pants. Nothing much was said for some time. The difference between that last night at Mt Buller and tonight, was that she didn't sneak back to her room in the small hours, this time she had arranged for her breakfast to be delivered to my room.

From the looks that I got as we boarded the coach it was obvious that everyone knew that Bethany and I were now an item. That it was accepted by them probably had something to do with the fact that she was now in the process of divorcing her husband, while last year she was only thinking about it.

Roger Bedford, the club president took me to one side after lunch. "Pete, I hope for Bethany's sake that you are not married. We like her, and she has been through a rough time of late, what with this whole messy divorce, and the last thing we would want is for her to have her hopes dashed because you have a wife waiting for your return."

"No, I do not have a wife, not now that is. My wife died five years ago. There has been no-one since then, although Bethany came close last year."

"Yes, well, we won't mention that. Good, I'll let the others know that you're free as a bird." We obviously weren't as discreet as we had thought last year.

I have to admit that there were times since then, when I was in bed alone, that I sort of hoped that Bethany would suddenly arrive at my front door and we could continue on from where we left off when last year's trip ended. There was one fly in the ointment of that particular scenario, it was my guilt, for having allowed our relationship, if you could call it that, to develop as far as it had. Because she was still married, that I chose not to pursue the matter further. There was now no guilt to impede our progress to a full sexual relationship.

It was getting dark when I pulled up in front of the B&B where the group was staying. It was cold and it was all hands on deck to get their luggage out of the coach and into the warmth of the reception area. I had just closed the luggage compartment hatches and was about to climb aboard to drive to the coach parking area, when Bethany grabbed my hand. I turned to face her. "You are not staying in that little room where you have booked. It has been agreed that you will stay with me in my room for the duration of our stay. I will not take 'no' for an answer." To reinforce that decision she kissed me. "I'm coming with you and we can walk back together, just so you won't change your mind."

"It appears as if I have no say in the matter."

"You'd better believe that." She clambered on board and sat in her usual seat behind mine.

It was freezing in the coach as the air-conditioning struggled to heat the vast empty space without a coach load of bodies to warm it.

As I pulled into the parking bay, a man approached. "Peter Porter?"

"Yes." I had a pretty good idea who he was and what he wanted.

"I have been ordered to take possession of this coach."

"Can't it wait until we get back?"

"I am just following orders." He held out his hands for the keys.

"Are you telling me that you are prepared to drive this coach, assuming that you have the correct licences, down this winding and treacherous road, with invisible black frost likely to cause you to lose control and crash, just so that you can obey orders? Let me tell you, I would not drive this coach down this road at this time, and I have several years' experience at it."

"Well. . . ."

"Would it be any skin off your boss' nose if he doesn't see the coach until next week? If you take it, how are these people going to get back to Adelaide?"

"Not my problem."

"It will mean that I will have to find a place where I can hire a forty seat coach so that I can get them home, or hadn't you realised that public transport is a tad light on around here?"

"I'll talk to my boss. If you don't see me in the morning it means that they have agreed to let you keep it for this trip."

It was freezing on the walk back to the B&B. While there was only a light dusting of snow on the ground, the wind was strong and bitterly cold. With a bit of luck we should get a good fall of snow overnight.

The fire in the common room was burning invitingly as we arrived back. A glass of mulled wine was thrust into our hands as soon as we had taken our gloves off. It felt good, its warmth kick starting the circulation. Room was made for us, both of us, in the large sofa in front of the fire. This felt weird for me, a humble coach driver, to be made this welcome by the group. I figured that Bethany was responsible for this.

We stayed in the common room until around 10:00pm and the others drifted off to their rooms, leaving Bethany and I alone. "This feels so good, my love." She whispered to me. "I have been waiting for a year for this."

"So have I."

"Then why didn't you do something about it? I know that you don't have a wife, (how did she know that?) and I was pretty sure that there wasn't a girlfriend hovering in the wings of your life, so why?"

"Because you were still married. I had this feeling in the back of my head that I was just a 'bit of rough' for you to enjoy for a week."

"You were never a bit of rough."

"For all that I knew you were going to get back with him and there I'd be left on my own. I was guilty enough about last year's fling, let alone wanting to continue it."

"Last year wasn't a fling as you put it, for me it was the real deal. It might have started out as a fling, but I remember the first time we did it, how could I forget that first time, for me it was the breaking of a pretty long drought, and I seem to remember that I got a little carried away."

"A little, that's an understatement."

"Let me finish. After that first time I realised that this was something better than I had ever experienced. I was in love with you right up until we got back home. and then I was afraid that you would reject me, that you'd think that I thought that I was too good for you and turn your back on me, and I didn't want that, I wasn't prepared to face that possibility. I've been so stupid. "

"No you haven't. We have both allowed our scruples to dictate our actions. What are we going to do about those stupid scruples?"

"If you'll pardon my language, fuck them, that's what I say." She stood and grabbed my hand. "Come with me, and you can take that any way that you like." She led and I came, and came again.

In the early hours of the morning I got out of bed to relieve myself in the en-suite. On the way back to bed I stopped by the window and looked out. "Wow."

"Wow what?" The toilet flushing must have woken her.

"It's snowing, everything's white."

I felt her arms around me and her breasts pressing against my back. "Looks like we go skiing today."

"You're forgetting one thing. I don't ski, and even if I did I wouldn't."

"Why not?"

"What would happen if I had an accident and broke a leg or something, who would drive the coach home?"

"We'd just have to stay here until you get better, wouldn't we?" To make the prospect more attractive, she reached down and grabbed him, stroking him into life, not that he was dead.

It would have been a lot cheaper if we'd bought my ski gear before leaving Adelaide, the prices here were outrageous, not that it bothered Bethany at all. An hour and several hundred dollars later I was kitted out in the newest and best gear, and ready for the slopes, the beginner's slope that was. It took a couple of hours and more than a couple of spills before I was ready to progress to a more difficult run. Bethany stayed with me on my first run, offering encouragement and advice as we descended, she gracefully, me not so gracefully.

"Tomorrow we'll try something a bit more adventurous."

"Do you think that I'm ready for that?"

"I'm jealous of you. When I first came over here as a kid, it seemed to take me forever to learn to ski," She had this mischievous look on her face, "But then the ski instructor was a stud. All the girls were chasing after him. I was jealous of them as well, because I was never allowed to be alone with him."

"I'm glad."

"Why so?"

"Because if you hooked up with him you would probably have married him and not your ex-husband, and then where would we be?"

"I would have found a way." She said with a husky, sensual voice. I liked the sound of that.

"So, how is our newest member getting on?" Roger asked.

"New member?"

"Yes, Bethany nominated you for membership of our club. The vote was unanimous. Welcome."

This is all a bit too much for me to handle, where am I going to find the annual fees?"

"Don't worry, that's all been taken care of."

I looked at Bethany who smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

I'll give them this, they know how to eat. It wasn't just the appetite worked up by a day of skiing and the clean air, I got the impression that they dined in this style all of the time. The food was rich and plentiful, not your takeaway junk for this lot. For lunch and dinner, the B&B employed a Chef and his entourage of cooks to prepare whatever the guests desired in the way of food, no wonder that they could afford to charge the exorbitant tariffs that they do.

It was clear that Bethany was used to the exercise of skiing, she obviously didn't spend all day behind the wheel of a 40 seater coach, because she was not tired when we got to bed. I tried, truly I tried, but after an hour of glorious love making I just had to call a halt to proceedings. She was very understanding and snuggled up to me as I drifted off into Dreamland.

"Wake up sleepyhead." This angel whispered to me in my dream. I kept my eyes closed, not wanting to end it. Dream angels are not supposed to kiss me, nor are they supposed to caress me into life, that was usually me doing that. When he was fully awake she climbed on board and began to do things that angels most definitely did not do. I opened my eyes.

"At last, he's awake." She kissed me, I kissed her, we kissed each other until I was fully awake and able to enjoy the start of another wonderful day of fun in the snow. "We've had more snow overnight, we'll try a run that's a little more adventurous today."

"Can't we stay in bed today?"

"Tempting as that may be, we are here to enjoy the skiing, the other we can enjoy at night, and when we get home."

"When we get home?"

"You don't think that I'm going to let you out of my sight now that we are together, do you?"

"But. . . "

"No buts. I have spoken."

"Yes Ma'am. Your wish is my command, oh gorgeous one." I kissed her, just to let her know that I was not being sarcastic. She wasn't convinced, with good reason.

"Okay, I get the message. I'm moving too fast for you. I don't want to scare you off, I couldn't handle that."

"Don't get me wrong, what we have right now is fine for right now, but I'll have a lot of things on my mind, like finding a new job for a start. I wouldn't feel comfortable if I were not a significant contributor to any relationship that develops between us."

"I like the sound of that, any relationship that develops between us. Now, it's time for us to get out of this lovely warm bed, have a substantial breakfast to set us up for a day of skiing."

We spent the morning on a couple of intermediate runs, okay I fell a few times, nothing dramatic, but I got up straight away and my skills progressed to the point that Bethany suggested that it was time for me to try a more serious run this afternoon.

A hearty lunch and a lift ride to the top of one of the more difficult runs had me a little worried about whether I was ready for this. Bethany kissed me. "You'll be fine, just take it easy and don't try anything fancy, at least not on your first run." She pushed off and I followed. We kept to the beaten tracks and arrived at the bottom in one piece. I was pleased with myself for getting this far in such a short time.

We managed two further runs before it was time to prepare for dinner. We changed into casual clothes and headed for the laundry. Who would have thought that pristine white snow could end up as a dirty sludge over our ski gear? We washed them and placed them in the dryer. It would take the best part of an hour for them to be completely dry, so we went into the café and had a coffee and chat with others in the group.

"How is he going?" Roger asked, nodding towards me.

"He's entered in the Olympic trials next week." Bethany told him.

"That good? It must be the coaching that he's been getting."

"Have you been getting lessons that I don't know about?" She asked me with mock seriousness.

"Damn, I've been caught out." Equally serious reply from me. "Here I was thinking that I could get extra lessons and trick you into believing that I'm a fast learner."

"What, when you haven't left my side for more than a couple of minutes, when you went to the loo, since we got here."

"Too much information." Roger said. "But not surprising if I might add.

We collected our washing from the laundry and took it back to our room. There was a slight delay before we went down to the dining room to join the others for dinner. The looks that we got from them told us that they knew how we had used our time.

There was no skiing the next morning as the weather had turned bad. There was a serious amount of snow dumped on us overnight and the gale forced wins made the conditions so bad that we could not venture outside of the B&B. The group set in for some serious drinking and a variety of indoor activities. Some couples only ventured out of their rooms for meals. Bethany and I were one such couple. The heating in the building was perfect for such activities as making love unhindered by doonas or blankets. Both of us were making up for lost time and opportunities.