. 14-18

Chapter XIV

Juanita, the campground manager had actually remembered me from two years previously and almost assigned me to the same campsite that I had occupied then. My old campsite was occupied by a small travel trailer that I estimated to be about 18 feet long and maybe 20 years old. The convention with RVs is that the "front door" is on the starboard side and utility access is on the port side. This meant that my "front yard" was a concrete pad that my front door opened onto and my front yard view was the port side of my neighbor's travel trailer. For the record, the two sites on my port side were unoccupied.

It took me a few days to get comfortably settled into the RV park. During that time I decided that the park clientele was pretty much the same as it had been when I had been there before. That is, most of the RVs were owned by locals who worked in the town or in the mines around town, there were a few snowbirds like myself and a small turnover of transients, most of whom claimed to be heading for California or Texas. It was still early in the cold season, so there was also the occasional rig trying to get to Oregon or Washington before any serious snow started to fly.

I saw my neighbor arrive at her trailer around noon a few times and, based on her uniform, I guessed that she was a nurse working on some kind of horrendous schedule. Consequently, about a week into my stay, I was surprised to see her SUV pull abruptly into her campsite at about 7 PM. Usually by this time I was inside the trailer reading or working on the computer, but this particular evening was pretty warm and I was sitting on my "patio" nursing a beer while watching the sun fade and the stars pop out.

We waved at each other perfunctorily and she headed for her door. I had just settled back into my rocking chair when I heard sort of an extended splash coupled with a blood curdling scream! My startle response was strong enough that about a third of the beer stayed in the bottle, a third of it landed on the concrete and the last third landed on me! The good news was that I was definitely vertical and I suddenly had a respectable charge of adrenaline. I didn't think that I could run anymore, so I must have teleported myself around the trailer! "What's wrong? Are you all right?" Then I saw the water running out of her door! "Oh shit! Just a minute let me turn your water off!"

When I got back to her front door, she was sitting on her doorstep crying while water continued to run out of the door and onto her back! "Uh, Miss, if you need to sit down you can use my rocking chair. You're going to catch your death of cold sitting in that water!" I offered my hand to her. "Come on. I'll help you over to my chair."

She took my hand and as she achieved verticality she exploded! "What a FUCKING day this has been!" Talk about startle responses! The words were no sooner out of her mouth than her eyes and her mouth were all as big and round as saucers while her hands rushed to cover her mouth! "Omigod! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to say that!"

"Yes you did; and it's all right. I know you weren't shouting at me. If you need to blaspheme a little more to get everything out of your system, go ahead. I won't judge you for it."

"Blaspheme? You'll let me blaspheme?" She dissolved into hysterical giggles while I escorted her towards my rocking chair. "Where did you find and steal a Tardis sir? Victorian or Elizabethan England?" That was about as long as she could hold it together. She proceeded to burst into deep wracking sobs.

We were nowhere near my chair and she was beginning to stumble enough that she was ready to fall. I stopped and wrapped my arms around her. "It's all right. Go ahead, let it all out until you feel better." And she did. She soaked my beery shirt in tears!

Finally, she cried herself out; and came up babbling! "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to ruin your evening. Please forg..."

I gently placed a finger on her lips. "Shhh. You haven't ruined anything. You help people every day. I can help you through this crisis—whatever size it may be." Her lips were silent behind my finger and her eyes seemed as big as saucers as she stared at me. I got the curious feeling that she actually saw me for the first time!

"I reckon that the first order of business ought to be to get you into some dry clothes. I would imagine that you have some clothes that were stored higher than the water got, right?"

She did not reply immediately. Her back began to straighten and stiffen. My imagination tickled me with an image of the head neuron (whatever that might be) shouting through a megaphone. "All right you sons of bitches, quit acting like a bunch of scrambled eggs and get the network back up and running!" The next image was of billions of neurons clicking their heels together and shouting in unison, "YES M'AM!"

Her dazed look faded and she replied, "Why, yes. That's right. There should be some dry clothes in there."

I looked at her uniform shoes. "Are you comfortable with those shoes getting wetter or would you like to borrow my shower shoes?"

Her eyes flickered from her feet, to her trailer, to my trailer, and back to me. "I don't want to be any more of a burden than I already am Mr... Ah, Mr... Oh hell, let's at least make this a little less awkward! I'm Gwendolyn. And you are?"

I laughed. "That's a good sign that the worst of the emergency is over! Now we can worry about some of the social amenities." We were too close for a full bow, but I bent at the waist a bit and inclined my head. "I'm Stefan. I wish we could have met under slightly different circumstances, Gwendolyn, but I'm very pleased to have made your acquaintance."

Gwendolyn stepped back and made an exaggerated curtsy. "Likewise I'm sure, Stefan." She finished the sentence with a microscopic smile and a little giggle.

"Now where were we? Oh yeah, I think that barefoot will work just fine so I'll pass on the shower shoes. No sense in me sucking your goodwill dry right out of the gate."

"In for a dime, in for a dollar, Gwendolyn. As long as you need help, I don't keep score.

"If you are going in barefoot, do you need light to find what you need? I don't know how your trailer is wired or what kind of appliances you might have in there so I am going to turn off power to your trailer before you step inside and try to electrocute yourself!"

Gwendolyn's shoulders slumped a bit. "Oh hell! Do you really think that is a real danger? How can anything more go wrong?"

"Gwendolyn, one of the reasons that this old fart isn't pushing up daisies is because I tend to be what some folks call overcautious. I learned a long time ago that Murphy is a persistent son of a bitch and resourceful to boot. He has surprised me often enough that I know that my guardian angel, bless his or her soul, got grey hair long before mine turned color!

"Actually, it occurs to me that we may be debating a moot point. Let me see if the breaker on your power stand is already tripped or not." I pulled my penlight out of my belt holster and proceeded to inspect the breakers. "Well, the good news is that you can safely go in barefoot. The bad news is that it would not be smart to turn the breaker back on.

"Also, I propose that when we get into your trailer that we pull all the twelve volt fuses in your power center so we don't turn something on and discover that we can blow part of that system out."

"All right."

I stood up and continued. "I'll provide the light here and you get your dry clothes into a bundle. Then you go over to my trailer and change while I stay and try to get a feel for how big a mess we have to deal with, okay?"

In a small voice Gwendolyn replied, "Okay." and proceeded toward her trailer.

Gwendolyn sat down on the edge of her concrete patio pad and removed her shoes. There was a pregnant pause and then a drawn out expression of frustration. "Ahhh, shit!"

"What's wrong?"

"This morning it was cool enough that I decided to wear pantyhose today. Would you turn around for a minute please?"

I dutifully turned around and waited for the all clear signal.

As we approached the door I was motivated to say, "Considering what you just had to do to get barefoot, who do you want to go first?" Gwendolyn's reply was a puzzled look so I pushed on. "If I go first I'm invading your private space before you have a chance to vet it for visitors, and if you go first you may be giving me an opportunity for an upskirt. How do you want to handle this?"

"Oh..." The puzzled look became a frown. "OH!" The frown became wide-eyed surprise. "Oho!" She flashed me a grin and continued. "I swear! You have got to be the strangest male that I have ever come across!

"Unfortunately for you I didn't take my panties off with my pantyhose so I'm not going commando at the moment." She paused thoughtfully. "Frankly, I'm not sure why either. My panties are just as wet and cold as the damned pantyhose!" On that note Gwendolyn reached down under the sides of the skirt on the dress and proceeded to pull her panties down and off!

I kind of froze in place when I saw what she was doing. I will confess that she did it very discretely. All I got in the dim light was a quick flash of the outside of her lower thighs and nothing else! However, that was all it took to give me a new problem to worry about.

Whoa! Down boy! God damn it Little Stef, you fucking little traitor! You embarrass me in front of this lady and I'll cut you off, you stiff little bastard!

Heaven only knows what kind of an expression I had on my face!

Gwendolyn gave me a big wide grin as she wadded the panties up with the pantyhose. She then bowed me toward the door. "After you, good sir!"

"Sheesh! And how many incarnations ago were you Torquemada? Or was it the Marquis de Sade?"

Gwendolyn giggled and I climbed into the trailer where I flashed my light around. "Oh, wow!" I reached back to give Gwendolyn a hand up the step.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD! WHAT A MESS!" Gwendolyn dropped the wad of underwear onto the floor and covered her eyes with her hands. She sagged like her knees were going to give out so I put my arm around her waist to give her some support.

Between sniffs and an occasional sob I got to listen to a rather colorful string of profanity delivered sotto voce in at least two languages!

It took a few minutes, but Gwendolyn finally dropped her hands from her face and managed to pull herself together. Then she began digging around in the wardrobe cabinets and drawers that were above the wet line. "Okay, I think I have everything that I need. I'll be back in a few minutes."

While Gwendolyn went over to my trailer to change, I proceeded to check the mess out. What really surprised me the most was how high the water had gotten without any serious telltales on the outside. Every square inch of the floor was still under at least a quarter inch of water. Much to my amazement, the heating ducts, that, as is the case in almost all trailers, run under the floor, showed no sign of any leakage into the belly of the trailer! Let me qualify that—there HAD to be leakage, but it was not obvious!

I didn't see anything in the trailer that I could use to move sheets of water so after I pulled all the fuses in the power center, I started checking out things on the floor to see what could be salvaged from water damage. The floor in the trailer was entirely covered with linoleum so the only carpeting consisted of throw rugs that I could roll up and throw out onto the patio slab. The most sensitive item seemed to be a cardboard box full of books. I got busy sorting out the books and carefully spreading the wettest ones out on the oven racks, the stove top and the dinette table.

I was close to finishing with the books when Gwendolyn returned. "Well, Columbus, what have you discovered?"

"Your first impression was right. It is a mess!

"Do you have a squeegee that we could use to push some of this water out?"

"Uh, no. I've got a big sponge. Would that help?"

"Hmmm, why don't we adjust the leveling jacks so that we can at least get the water to run toward the door. We'll sop up as much as we can and leave all your windows and your door open tonight in order to get as much water as possible to evaporate. Tomorrow, I may have to rig up some kind of a filter system so that I can use my water pump to empty out your heating ducts—I flat cannot believe how well they seem to be holding water!"

"Okay, let me get my leveling wrench out of the storage compartment and see what I can do while you finish with the books."

Less than an hour later we had gotten about as much done as was practical in the dark. "Alright, let's call it good for now. Without some sunlight, it's going to be hard to tell what the most productive next step is.

"What are the chances that you can get off work tomorrow so that we can go over the mess together?"

"Oh, that's not a big deal. We just had a schedule change and my three days off starts tomorrow.

"Changing the subject, Stefan, do you have a sleeping bag that I can borrow? The trailer is far enough off level that I think I'll have problems using my regular covers."

"Oh crap! I hadn't even thought that far ahead. This is a pretty nice neighborhood but I would suggest that it would be really foolish for you to sleep in here with the door and all the windows wide open! I would suggest that you store your significant valuables in my trailer or your SUV and find a hotel room to rent—at least for the night." Gwendolyn's silence in the dark was deafening! "Or, I tell you what, you can sleep on my dinette tonight if you want. I will warn you ahead of time though that I have been told that I am an Olympic-grade snorer."

Gwendolyn giggled and replied, "I'll take my chances with the dinette. And now, I think that I owe you dinner and a trip to a bar—especially if I can talk you into doing the driving."

I looked at my watch. "It's late enough that about the only places that will be open are fast food joints. Plus that, I already finished dinner just before you arrived tonight—just in time, I might add, for you to ruin my dessert beer. If I may, I'd like to get a rain check on that dinner."

Gwendolyn sounded a bit crestfallen in the dark. "Uh, well, yes, you can have a rain check. I only got here a few days before you did; since you've been here before, could you suggest a fast food joint and a bar that I could go to?"

"Whoa, Gwendolyn. You're getting ahead of me. I sense that if you make it to a bar, you are going to wind up puking drunk after what has been a pretty shitty day if I can extrapolate from what I have seen and the hints that you have dropped. I'd like to offer an alternative.

"How about I take you out for some ice cream, you bend my ear for as long as you need, and I ply you with ONE whole ounce of brandy to warm you up when we get back to my trailer."

I could hear the smile in Gwendolyn's voice as she replied, "Yes, that sounds really nice. Thank you!"

"Great! However, full disclosure here; Candy's Ice Cream is closed by now, the Morenci Cup & Cone is too far away—as well as probably closed—so we are stuck with fast ice cream at Dairy Queen. Does that work for you?"

Gwendolyn grabbed me in the gloom and gave me a little hug. "Yes, that sounds like a deal to me! Let's go!"

Chapter XV

It wasn't until we got to the Dairy Queen that I finally managed to get a look at Gwendolyn in decent light. She was wearing a fairly baggy T-shirt and moderately tight cut-offs along with a pair of (I kid you not) blaze orange flip-flops! I swear you'd go blind if you stared at those flip-flops long enough!

The cuffs(?) of the cut-offs were quite heavily frayed, but since the original cut had apparently been made about mid-thigh, she was not in danger of having any type of modesty failure on that front. I couldn't tell if her C-cup tits were being protected by a regular bra, a sports bra or a halter top, but there was no question that something was keeping her nipples from trying to poke through the T-shirt fabric—and doing a poor enough job of it to make the task of trying to deduce exactly what was underneath pretty tantalizing!

In the size department, Gwendolyn was about two or three inches shorter than me and probably about the same weight. That meant that she had a very nice butt that complemented and emphasized her waist in a way that would have done Phidias proud were he to have sculpted it.

Her hair was a very dark brown, but definitely not black. At the moment, she was wearing it in a very attractive ponytail that fell to about the top of her shoulder blades.

Her face was somewhere between oval and round in shape which provided a nice frame to set off her small, cute mouth to best effect. The nose was small and almost child-like but betrayed the fact that it had probably been broken at some time in the past. For someone with such dark hair, she had remarkably light skin which made her eyebrows stand out quite prominently. The effect was heightened over the right eye by a vertical bar of pure white hair that bisected that eyebrow.

Gwendolyn's eyes were almost magical. They were not brown. They were more of a very dark amber and they drew my eyes to them almost like magnets draw steel!

Overall, my assessment was that I was out with a Goldilocks girl who was about half my age. In other words, she was just about right in every physical way as far as I was concerned.

After we had settled down with our ice cream, she with a banana split and a sundae for me, I opened with some rules. "Alright, nothing but positive conversation until after we finish the ice cream. After the ice cream is gone we can babble all over the place about how deep the shit was today and what to do about it. The penalty for going negative about today during the ice cream is that we lose a spoonful of our ice cream to the other. Okay?"

Gwendolyn smiled, playfully put her arms arms around her banana split, and said, "It sounds to me like somebody wants to get some of my ice cream." She paused while her brain sorted through some of the less insistent possibilities. Suddenly her eyes got a little bigger and locked with mine as she grinned. "Oh! I know! Maybe somebody just doesn't want me to get indigestion tonight." She paused for another beat and finished with, "Anyway, yeah, that sounds fun and practical. Let's go with it."

"Well, for openers I know that you are a nurse and that effectively you just arrived in town. Are you a brand new nursing graduate or did you just get tired of your old job?"

Gwendolyn paused, gave me a quirky smile and said, "Boy, I can tell you want me to do all the talking tonight."

I laughed and replied, "It seems to work pretty well. I'm pretty dull and most people just like to talk—especially about their favorite topic."

"Hmmm, that feels like an interesting façade. I'm curious about what I'm going to find behind it."

Gwendolyn savored a spoonful of ice cream and continued, "But! You did ask first, so hold onto your hat!

"It feels like I have been a nurse all of my life. Obviously, that's not true, but I certainly did get my feet wet in high school when I was a candy striper. I got my BSN on an Army scholarship and got to split the next four years between Walter Reed and the sandbox.

"That first year, my efficiency reports weren't anything to write home about. That first year I was a mess! I swear I spent more time with the psychiatrists and psychologists than I did on the wards. You see, my parents never made it to my commissioning ceremony. My classmates pinned my butter-bars on for the commissioning photo and that evening the Highway Patrol delivered the wonderful news that my parents had both died in a head-on that day on their way to see me get commissioned!