THOSE DAYS OF SURPRISES
Chapter 31
Mike's Stories
I joined the Rangers straight from University and did enough Veterinary Science and Botany to ensure I'd have a good chance of being accepted, I'd known what I wanted to do for some years, since a school-outing when I was fifteen or sixteen. I loved the bush and wanted to do something constructive to save it from development and misuse, I also wanted the opportunity of having something to do with animals and Rangers' work combines both of those things - and many other duties too of course.
I was pretty green when I first joined, sexually I mean. I wasn't a virgin, I'd had a few girl-friends during the three years at college and had sex with one of them a few times - but I didn't consider myself very experienced and certainly wasn't what you'd call worldly wise. For one thing I still thought women always had to be cajoled and persuaded to let you make love to them, it never occurred to me that women got steamed-up the way men do.
The older guys weren't too bad with me, I'd expected to be the butt of a few jokes, the way you are in the first few months anywhere, school, the uni, anywhere and I spotted a few of their attempts to set me up, coped with those I hadn't and quite soon started to get along with the other guys really well.
There had been a few cracks from a couple of the older guys, about how long it would take me to get my 'aerial decorated' - which I didn't understand - and what would happen once the women got an eyeful of my good looks and what I'd got hidden inside my shorts, which I took to be just their way of joking. From time to time I heard other bits of conversation, which were usually cut short when the person saw I was listening - I don't know whether they didn't fully trust me not to let something slip or that they just wanted me to find out what could happen for myself - to 'learn the hard way', you might say.'
'The hard way is my way.' Barbara interjected with a grin. Mike grinned back as Helen shushed her, then continued.
'It was late that first Summer, after I'd only been there a couple of months, I was out on duty with Pat, a real Irish tear-away in his late twenties. I don't mean he was bad at his job or anything like that, just that he had their gift of the gab, could talk his way into or out of absolutely anything - and usually preferred talking his way out of things, well things like early start times or extra duty anyway.
We were patrolling the southern area of the Park, which has a couple of camp-sites, as well as quite a few picnic areas that have barbecue facilities but as there were few people on holiday by that time of the year we were more concerned with inspecting what maintenance work needed to be done. During the busy time of the year things get broken or stolen and except for doing essential running repairs to things that could cause major problems we leave fixing most things until Winter, when it's quieter.
When we drove down towards one of the picnic areas we spotted a tent, which isn't allowed, so Mike pulled up nearby and told me to go and tell the people they couldn't camp there and direct them to one of the places where they could. As I walked across towards the tent a girl came out, she was nothing stunning, not bad looking but not the kind of girl you'd rave about. Short, dark hair, light brown eyes, a slight, trim figure, wearing just shorts and a T-shirt. I was polite and friendly, the way we are supposed to be, explained that camping wasn't allowed, except in specific areas and that I'd have to ask her to take the tent down.
She said that they'd only put it up because they thought it might rain, they hadn't planned on spending the night there and I said I was sorry but I'd still have to ask them to either take it down or move to one of the places where they were allowed to camp, whether they stayed the night or not.
There was no unpleasantness, she understood, called out to someone still inside the tent what I had told her and another girl's voice answered, saying she'd be out in a minute. I stood talking to the first girl, explaining the reasons for the rules, suggesting which of the camping sites they might like and the best way of getting there - and then the second girl appeared from inside the tent. She was a simply gorgeous blonde!'
'I bet by 'gorgeous' he means that she had big tits.' Barbara whispered to me just loud enough for Mike to hear - but if he did he ignored it, carried straight on.
'As boys, we often talked about why the best looking girls usually chose to go around with plain girls rather than another of the attractive ones, trying to decide whether it was to make themselves look even better by comparison or out of some sort of misguided sympathy. These two were a bit like that, not that the girl I'd been talking to was plain, far from it but when the second one came out and stood beside her, she was made to look much less attractive than she really was.
I started explaining to the blonde what I'd already told the first girl and found that I'd suddenly become tongue-tied, the words just weren't coming out properly and when my eyes weren't dropping to the apparently enormous set of breasts beneath her too small T-shirt - '
'See, I told you so.' Barbara whispered triumphantly - which Mike also ignored, simply speaking a bit louder as he continued.
'They were being held by the look in her eyes, which were a very pale blue and seemed to somehow stare right inside my head - and then read the wild thoughts I was having about her. Before I'd had a chance to straighten out what I was trying to say, Pat suddenly took over - the moment he'd seen the blonde he'd left the vehicle and joined us, reacting exactly the way a dog does when it scents a bitch on heat - and in a few minutes he'd convinced her it would be best if we helped them move to the nearest of the camping sites.
Before I knew what had happened he and the blonde had disappeared into the tent, to start packing-up their gear he said and while the other girl and I got some of their other stuff together, from inside it we could hear the sound of his muffled voice and her laughter.