Storm Of The Century

I had read of things like this but never dreamed it would happen to me.

I knew before I stepped through the bedroom door, the sight only confirmed it.

My Gerry, giving off the uncontrolled sounds so familiar to me as her hips thrust back at Mike, my so-called best friend in the world.

Naked in our bed. Naked, the smell of their sex filled the room tearing at my heart.

Eight long years of marriage, down the tubes. I had thought we were happy, living the American dream. We had a nice home, a managable mortgage, two cars and time to play and take short trips.

Gerry never gave me a hint, not one. She was a willing partner in bed, there were none of the headache games. Often she would reach for me, initiate, using everything she knew to get me to respond.

Mike and I played pool, watched races on TV together on weekends. We took short trips to ball games, laughing and having fun. Sometimes we would go to a nearby lake and fish all day while Gerry shopped the antique stores, always looking for something special. Mike was divorced, his wife had left him a couple of years earlier, I never really knew why and he never spoke of it.

Best of buds, not a single sign that anything was going on behind my back.

Once we were at the beach, it was hot as hell out and Gerry had slipped off her bikini top. I didn't even think anything of it, there was a dozen other women around also topless, some completely nude. Gerry had leaned back in her beach chair, her soft breasts white in stark contrast to the rest of her body. Mike had checked her out, I couldn't blame him for that.

Gerry is a nice looking woman, a bit on the soft side.

He had commented to her that she should cover up her breasts, that is the word he used, because she was quickly turning very red. She glanced down at herself, realized and slipped her top back on, saying "Thank you."

No signs. No signs at all.

The day I caught them, I had cut my hand on a machine at work. It required a few stitches so the foreman told me to take a few days off. I had sick pay built up so it wasn't a problem. The cut wasn't a big deal, I didn't even bother to call Gerry, I just went home.

There they were, in our marriage bed.

I simply turned and went back to the living room, popped a can of soda and turned on the TV. They hadn't seen me, hadn't even realized until the TV came on.

It got real quiet in there.

Mike came out first, he looked at me sheepishly, his face flushed red.

"God, Dan. I am sorry."

"You didn't look very sorry a minute ago." I didn't even look up at him other than a glance.

I think he expected me to yell, scream, attack him, something. But I was oddly not even angry, I was just sick inside.

"You aren't going to hurt her, are you?"

"No, no worries. Just....get....out!"

"Dan, I am really sor...."

"Get out, Mike. If you ever come back here, I will kill you. No matter the consequence, no matter what, I will." My voice raised at the end, I leaned forward in my chair.

Mike knew me well, he understood. He knew I meant it, I always did exactly what I said I would do. He just walked out through the door, out of my life.

I waited for about a half hour for Gerry to come out, she didn't. So I got up and walked into the bedroom. She was sitting there, sobbing quietly, the covers pulled up tightly around her body.

"Dan, I am so sorry." her tears increased.

I was starting to get tired of everybody being so damned sorry.

"Get up, get dressed." I told her.

"You just look silly sitting there like that."

"What are you going to do?" Her voice broke, she was still sobbing, like that would fix things or something?

"I am leaving, I will get a room." I said flatly.

It struck me as odd but I wasn't angry, I had no emotion at all. Some things I could forgive, perhaps even a transgression like this. Lord knows it had popped into my mind from time to time when I noticed an attractive female.

Yes, I knew myself well enough to know I could perhaps be less than true. I hadn't been, no opportunity, but yes, I could. I also knew Gerry, if she had had a fling with some stranger....?

But with Mike? My best friend? And in my bed?

That was not something I could deal with.

It was over.

Gerry just sat and stared at me, tears streaming down her cheeks.

I packed a suitcase, walked out to my 4 wheel drive SUV and drove away.

I spent the night in a motel, the next morning I called my boss and told him I needed some time off. He hesitated, but finally agreed when I explained that I had some marital concerns to deal with.

I knew my value to the company, besides, I had sick pay and vacation time built up, I had nearly two full months of it.

It only took me 3 days to get details worked out. I hired an attorney, gave the house to Gerry, the other car to her also. We even split the bank accounts, it wasn't a huge amount but enough for awhile. Gerry agreed to take over the mortgage, there was no complaint there because the equity was actually pretty nice.

I could have been mean about it but I didn't hate her, in fact, I loved her. But I loved what she had been to me before, what she was to me now somehow was just...dead?

In exchange I got our little cabin up by the lake, we had bought it for an investment and to use in the Summer months. There was one full acre, the cabin was small but had a bedroom off the main room, and a tiny bath with shower. It looked like a log cabin from the outside, the outer walls were just pine slabs. The entire inside was cedar shingles, it had a stone fireplace and a small wood stove, 110 power ran the lights and fridge. There was even a generator shed, it was a big one, too. It would run lights, TV, even a hot plate in a pinch.

We had only made two years of $400 per month payments so Gerry got the best of things financially, there was 18 years to go.

I simply didn't care.

I planned on going up there for a few weeks, just to be by myself and think. It was now early March, I knew the ice would be off the lake and there was plenty of firewood.

I shopped for provisions, loading my SUV to the point of it feeling heavy to drive. I planned to get up early, head for the mountains, a nice pleasant 3 hour drive.

It was cold the next morning, I didn't think much about it. By the time I was starting up the mountain it was snowing lightly and a stiff gusty breeze sprang up.

It got much worse, I reached down and pulled the rig into 4 wheel drive, reasonably sure that I could make it the last 20 miles to the turnoff to the lake.

I rounded the next to last turn and saw the marks in the snow where a vehicle had lost control.

The skid marks continued on and over a small embankment.

I pulled over and stopped, tugging my heavy jacket tightly against the biting cold and wind. I rushed to the embankment, a small Toyota lay on it's top about 20 feet down below. The front tire was still slowly rotating, this had just happened, someone was inside.

No time to call on my cell phone, I wasn't sure I could get a signal anyway. I worked my way down the bank, looked inside. The driver was still strapped in the seat, not moving, both arms hanging limply downwards.

I tried the door to no avail, the top had it jammed solid, so I worked my way around to the other side, It was jammed also.

I could smell fuel, I didn't like that at all.

Picking up a rock, I smashed the passenger side window and crawled in, expecting any second to be engulfed in flames.

I managed to get underneath what I now knew was a woman, I struggled to release the seat harness, it wouldn't budge. Reaching over, I picked up a piece of the front window that was still fairly intact and tried to saw at the belts.

The glass was in shards, held together by the thin plastic safety liner, it just came apart. I remembered my knife in the kit back in my SUV, started to climb back out.

For some reason I thought to check the glove compartment, it popped open at a touch of the button, revealing a small first aid kit. Sure enough, there was a razor blade.

I cut the belt, the woman's body fell on me, causing me to work hard to get free enough to drag her out through the window.

It took me 20 minutes to work my way back up the bank, she was completely limp but I had detected her breathing so she was alive.

I was totally exhausted by the time I made it to the top, I forced myself to drag her to my vehicle. Gasping for breath, I checked her lips for bubbles, blood, that was fine but she was pasty white and her respiration was very slow.

She was obviously into shock. I made sure she was on her side just in case of some internal injury, I didn't want her to drown in her own fluids.

I turned on the heater full blast, sat for a moment to catch my breath. Carrying a limp human body is a lot like trying to eat soup with a knitting needle.

Then I headed for my cabin. That would be faster than trying to drive back out, besides, it was now snowing very heavily and the wind was beginning to whip the branches wildly.

I knew I had to get her warm, and quickly.

I left her in the vehicle with the engine running to keep her as warm as possible, ran inside and quickly built a fire in the fireplace. I had no good kindling, rather than waste time trying to cut some I just ripped several shingles off the inside walls. I started a fire in the wood stove, too, and turned on the one small space heater full blast.

I set a small pot of water on the stove to warm, the cabin had no water heater.

Back out at my rig, I managed to pick her up and carried her inside, placing her on my bed. She showed no signs of coming to, I stripped her coat off, checked her arms and body for something broken.

Finding nothing, I removed her blouse and stripped the tan slacks off, leaving her in just a bra and simple white panties. I began to rub her skin briskly.

She was warming now, her skin took on a slight pinkish hue but her lips still looked blue. There was blood running fron a gash on her lower left leg, I washed and bandaged that from my stores of emergency suppplies.

Feeling around her neck and head, I found the lump just above the hairline, it was soft and swollen. There was no cut so I washed the area, then rolled her on her side. There seemed to be no other injuries except for an angry red mark that I took to be caused by the seat harness. Her face was puffy now, probably from the air bag deploying, I remembered having to push that back out of the way.

I reached hehind and tripped the catch on her bra, noticing it fit her rather tightly. I was concerned that it might be interfering with her breathing, she was still breathing rather slowly but seemed to be improving as her body warmed up.

I tried to not notice as her breasts swung free but I couldn't help it, she was nicely built and young, in shape. I reached down and removed the simply white cotton panties, noticing in spite of myself that she was completely bare, obviously a fresh wax job.

I quickly pulled a blanket up and over her, tucking it in snugly, feeling a little ashamed of myself for not being able to avert my eyes.

I checked her pulse, it was rising as was her breathing. I got a couple of pillows, placed them on my old wooden rocker chair and sat down to wait.

I had already tried my cell phone, of course it read no signal. Outside, the wind was screaming now, every few minutes I could hear a piece of a branch or some debris strike the building.

I planned to stay awake, that didn't work. I was asleep within minutes.

I woke up, the room was cooling so I refreshed the fires. The little cabin held heat fairly well, in no time it was up to 75 degrees.

A quick check on the woman showed she was still out cold. I applied a cool towel to the lump on her head, she gave off a soft low moan but didn't respond further. I lifted the blanket and checked her leg, the bleeding had stopped so I changed it for a fresh one, using some healing ointment from my first aid kit.

I thought about it for a moment, rationalizing that I needed to check for any injuries I might have missed. I again felt carefully up and down her arms and both legs, then I slid the blanket down, baring her breasts and abdomen.

She really was quite beautiful. I tried again to not really look, though with little success.

I checked her ribs and all seemed fine except for the red welt was now swollen even more. I got a cool damp towel and pressed it to the swelling, but that didn't seem to have much effect.

I pulled the blanket back from her lower body, looking at her hips and sides for signs of swelling. Once again her nude body caught my attention, I again quickly recovered her and retreated to my chair.

I slept again.

I woke up to the wind even louder, looking out I could see it was daytime, I had slept most of the evening and night. There was a solid 3 feet of snow on the ground, the upwind side was piled up and blocking the windows, the downwind side was almost stripped bare.

I guessed the wind to be a steady 60 MPH and perhaps more, with gusts causing the rock solid little cabin to actually shudder.

I went to the stove, made some coffee. I had barely poured a cup when I heard her voice.

"That smells so good." she said.

Startled, I looked over at her, she was lying there on her back looking at me.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Groggy, I am sore. Can I have some of that?"

I quickly poured her a cup, carried it over to her. She sat up to take it, the movement caused the blanket to slip down baring her breasts.

She looked down, quickly pulled the blanket back up.

"Oh!"

"I'm sorry, you were in an accident, I had to check."

Her big eyes looked up at me, then around the room. She reached for the cup, took a sip.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"I am Dan. We are at my cabin. This is Wildwood acres, by Mountainview lake."

"Oh. I am Kimberly....Kim. What happened?"

"Accident. I found your car, pulled you out and brought you here."

"Oh. Yes, I remember, it slid. I couldn't steer."

She looked at me, up and down.

"Why not to town, to the hospital?"

"I couldn't, the storm."

She listened, realized. The wind was still screaming outside.

"How bad is it?"

"Pretty bad, we are snowed in."

She set the cup down on the table by my bed, lifted the covers and looked.

"Oh God. I am naked."

"Sorry, I had to check, I had to warm you up. You were going into shock."

"Can I have my clothes?" She was blushing furiously.

"Sure."

I gathered up her clothes, set them on the bed.

"I will tend the fire while you dress." I told her, turning my back.

"Thank you."

I added some sticks to the flames, the fire almost instantly leaped and caught. I held my hands to the fire, hearing the soft rustling of her as she dressed.

I did my best to put the vision of her lying there nude out of my head.

"All right." she said as she stepped up beside me to the fire.

"Thank you for helping me." she said simply.

"No problem. Are you hungry?"

"Yes, starving! What do we have?"

I caught the "we" in that, smiled.

"No shortage, I stocked up for a six week's stay."

"Oh, God! Are we going to be stuck here that long?"

"I doubt it, storms like this are rare this late in the year." I thought I could hear the wind easing already anyway.

"Very likely the roads will be clear in just a couple of days."

"Oh! My car! What about that?"

"I am afraid it is done for."

"My suitcase? In the trunk?"

"Sorry, I didn't get it."

"No time." I added.

I went outside to the SUV, snow was piled up on one side so I opened the door on the other side and started carrying the boxes inside.

"Do you want me to help?" she asked.

"No, I want you to rest." I told her.

She sat down in the old rocker chair, she was fast asleep when I came back in with the second load. I just went ahead and finished unpacking, then stocked the shelves and put everything away.

Then I went out to the shed and threw the switch from main power to my generator, the power would go off shortly anyway, I knew. It had electric start, it took just seconds and the engine was chugging away.

She woke up to the smell of bacon frying, I had potatos and onions, some pancakes with syrup. I fixed a plate, she ate it all and looked around for more. I had expected that, offered her another serving.

Finally satiated, she got up and went to the sink to wash the dishes.

"Where is the hot water?" she asked, looking at the single faucet.

"Here." I said, showing her the little firebox under a small tank above the sink. I built a small fire, in a few minutes it was hot. I adjusted the valves to where the water trickled warmly.

She quickly washed the dishes as I put things away.

Then she went and sat down in the rocker. I made a mental note to make another chair, the rocker was the only one in the room. There was a simple wooden bench and table, that was it.

I sat on the bed.

"Are there any books?" she asked.

"How about TV?"

"We have TV?" she looked around the room, curious.

"Sure." I went over to the wall cabinet, opened the double doors. I touched the switch, the TV came on.

"You get reception way up here?"

"Yes, satellite."

"Oh."

The screen came on just in time to hear the words "Storm of the Century!" from the announcer. They went into detail about 5 foot snowfalls, 100 and more MPH gusts in some areas. I didn't think we had it quite that bad and I was thankful, the little cabin was solid but still..

We spent the afternoon watching a few different TV shows, then I cooked a small dinner of beans and hamburger. She ate and again washed the dishes, watching as I built the tiny fire to heat the water.

"Movie?" I asked Kim.

"Sure." I showed her my collection, she picked one and stuck it into the player.

"This is pretty nice!" she said looking around.

The movie began to play, I looked over at her and she was sound asleep again.

I picked her up and put her on the bed, tucking a blanket around her snugly. I checked the lump on her head, it seemed to have gone down some, so I let her sleep.

I spent the night in the rocker.

The next morning I woke up to hear water running and Kim humming. She had found my little wash basin tub and simple shower, somehow got a fire going and was taking a bath. The wash area had barely room for the toilet and the round basin, the wooden door had to be opened to get out.

I heard the water stop, the door cracked open and Kim peeked out. I had built a small tiled area just outside the door to stand on and dry off. The cabin wasn't intended for company, certainly not mixed company.

"How do I...?"

I could see she hadn't thought of that part.

"Just a second, I will get you a towel." I kept those on a shelf just outside the door.

I handed her one of the larger ones, she shut the door.

I grinned to myself, knowing. That was almost impossible.

"Oh, the hell with it! You have already seen me naked!"

She opened the door and stepped out almost in defiance, closed the door behind her and began to dry off.

I just smiled, glancing away while she dried off and dressed.

When she was finished, I had her set in the chair while I checked and redressed the wound on her leg, it was healing nicely. Then I checked her head, it was almost completely back to normal. Even the puffiness in her face was almost gone.

"Well, I think you will live." I told her.

Her hair hung damply, I got a soft towel and dried it for her as she sat there, then I handed her my one hairbrush. She brushed out her brown hair until it was soft and full.

Then I added some small sticks to the fire in the washroom.

"I am going to take a short bath, too." I told her.

"OK." She turned on the TV, I undressed and stepped into the trickle of warm water, soaped down and rinsed off. I felt better almost instantly. I stepped out and got a towel, not looking her way. I could see out of the corner of my eye that she was watching me, though. I just kept my back to her and dried off.