I am walking on the banks of a small stream somewhere in the mountains above Nevada City, surrounded by the cacophony of countless birds, a chorus of frogs, and what seems like thousands of crickets and cicadas. The light is high yet filtered through a layer of wispy clouds and it falls gently to my eyes between the branches of small saplings that litter the banks and their older cousins who began life a bit further from the water's current course. Butterflies flit around the multitude of flowers the spring weather ha s enticed from loamy soil while dragonflies dart about on their missions, often alighting close to me, amid the reeds and tubers. Wandering slowly along the bank, I pause often to appreciate the splendor and isolation of this place. She is never far from my mind and I feel as though she belongs here, too: a sprite amongst the trappings of her home, more so 'in sync' wit h the true nature of this place than I could ever be.
Passing through a particularly thick patch of water plants, I emerge into a shallow meadow, which reaches from the hillside right to the water's edge.
Here, I cannot simply stop for a moment, the sheer awesome beauty hammering me into peaceful and passive submission. I almost fall to my knees and sit on the softest grass that I have ever seen in the wild, my feet soon uncovered, allowing my toes freedom from shoes and socks and into the cool & thick, natural carpet. I never lay down in strange places but, here, I feel much too comfortable to ignore the calling of nature to my body. Looking completely around me, I see absolutely no other signs of humanity and, before I know it, I've removed the rest of my clothes, dropping them in an untidy pile beside my shoes. Standing nude in the warm sunlight, the air as still as a mantis in anticipation, I experience an epiphany so grand that it does bring me to my knees and, with tears welling in my eyes, I sit and then lie with my bare back in the grass, looking up at the clearing sky.
I know that I must bring her here, that this is the one perfect place for her, the only real place where I can hold her close the way she should be held - the only place she could be held without caging her spirit, too. This place is the only place where she will remain free and I can make love with her.
* * * * *
I found the parking spot easily and we gathered up the two armfuls of picnic stuff and left the van for the walk along the stream. The place was almost just as I remembered it, complete with the wildlife sounds, the beautiful trees with the filtered light, and the darting dragonflies. The only real difference was in the stream. Evidently, the spring runoff had given it new urgency and it was making a significant amount of noise following its course through the rocks. The increase in flow had also narrowed its bank s to nearly impassable without using a lot of the exposed rocks and boulder s partially submerged in the water. Cathy looked as 'game' as I felt so we ventured on the direction I wanted to go, ducking under branches that were yards from the water when I was last here, hopping from rock to rock while balancing the food and supplies. I led for a while until I got stuck between a jump too far and a low branch. I tried for a few minutes to get around it but failed and had to ask for help getting the things in my arms out of the way so that I could use my hands. Cathy damn near laughed her head off, teasing me unmercifully for so long that I had to laugh, too. From then o n I let her lead and she was remarkably good at it. She had a natural feel for the loose rocks and was able to move along so rapidly, I had to hustle to keep up! I found myself daydreaming about her...
She jumped to a small rock and had to work to regain her balance, flexing her hips and legs in front of me, her bouncing hair jostled about, always smiling as if it's just too easy. I get a titillating glimpse at her breasts, straining through the soft cloth of her top, and she turns, catching me looking. I suddenly realize that she wanted me to look and I start to say...
"Look out for that one!" I heard her warning just a second too late and, already committed to the leap, I tried to land gently. I did and she was quite impressed up until she started to slide off her perch! She couldn't suppress a slight scream and her eyes widened as she started to fall. I reached for her just as she regained her balance and I lost mine. My look of surprise was almost the same one she was shedding but I wasn't as lucky as she was: I managed to twist enough to toss the basket I was holding with the rest of the food to the bank of the stream and I pushed off the rock enough to avoid falling into the closer rocks as I splashed butt first into the water. It wasn't cold at all; no, the spring runoff was freezing! I had fallen into a pool and was completely immersed, coming up sputtering, gasping, and swearing a blue streak up to the dragonflies. When I saw Cathy, she had reached the bank and was laughing so hard she was rolling. By the time I climbed out of the stream, she had come to help me but was still laughing too hard to be of much assistance. It didn't matter though; I was able to manage on my own and grabbed her as I was climbing the rock she was on, in tending to threaten to toss her in, too. But, when I grabbed her, she hugged me fiercely, pressing her entire body close to mine, raised her face to me and kissed me deeply and passionately. It was easily the best kiss I have ever known and she let it linger on and on until we were both calmed and totally soaked.
Cathy gently separated us and, in mock disgust, said, "Now look at what you've done! You got me all wet, too!" And, quickly jumping down to the bank again, she motioned for me to follow. We gathered up the tossed supplies (Nothing was damaged or even wet except us.) and hurried on into the trees.
