FLAMES AMONG THE CEDARS.
This story is entirely fictitious. The main characters and their prior experiences are inspired by those in my stories, "Cedar Hill Cheerleaders" chapters 1 to 8, and is a prequel to "Cottage 69 Ch 1".
The bridge described below was in part inspired by the original "Long Gully Bridge", Sydney, Australia.
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It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the tallest cedar tree on the nearby ridge, setting it alight; the associated thunder rumbled around the ridge and echoed of the distant mountains. The flames quickly spread from tree to tree, fanned by the warm wind heated in the sandy desert to the north, from whence it came...
Well; actually, the sun was about to set on a fine summer's day; a few soft white clouds drifted above the near side of the mountains to the west, as a gentle breeze wafted up the creek below.
Amidst the dense forest of cedar trees, not too distant from the town of Cedar Hill, Hanson Road passed over a very picturesque bridge. It was a suspension bridge with twin ornate sandstone towers atop the pylons at either end. Each end looked very much like the draw-bridge entrance to some grand castle. In the shallow ravine below was Flat Rock Creek, beside which there was a crescent shaped sandy area where the creek curved to the south. As there had been heavy rain the week before, there was sufficient water to make pleasant gurgling noises as it cascaded over and around the smooth rocks.
In the distance, an owl's deep call reverberated; was he proclaiming his territory; calling for a mate; or, was his call an omen foretelling some misfortune to cum.
A few crickets strummed loudly nearby.
Seated around a small camp fire beside the creek, was a group of five nerdy guys. There was nothing remarkable about any of these guys; they were neither very tall or very short; nor were they extremely fat or skinny; they were just the type that went unnoticed in any crowd. They were:
Jamie Taylor; who normally spent his Saturday afternoons at the Cedar Hill high school editing videos of the latest high school sporting fixture. It was on one such Saturday that he caught the very desirable cheerleader, Chantelle Spiros walking nude in the corridor of the high school. Since then he had encouraged her extrovert desire to be naked and have sex in public places.
Greg Arden; he was one of the Audio/Video geeks at Cedar Hill high school and a class-mate of Jamie. He played tennis on Saturday afternoons, and usually stopped by the local Wal-Mart to buy something as an excuse to see Skye McDougal. He had dated her ever since he accidently walked in on her in the Wal-Mart store's unisex toilet. He and Jamie were the only guys to have ever seen her huge pussy lips, which she called her 'curtains'. Her labia minora were at least 3 inches long when hanging free, rather than being tucked into her cunt.
Andy Meadows; he was a class-mate of Jamie and Greg. He was not quite as bright as Jamie, who he often consulted when doing his homework. He had felt rather lonely ever since Jamie and then Greg had found their kindred spirits. However, he was much happier since becoming involved with his widowed aunt Lorrie, who had moved in with him, his sister Arleen, and their mother. Lorrie was about Andy's age, or maybe a year older at most. She must have spent sufficient time at the gym, or at least exercising at home, to keep away any excess fat and leave the muscles on her arms and legs well defined. She was a brunette with large brown eyes, and she used her beauty to seduce Andy, not that he minded.
Michael (Mike) Yorke had a roundish baby face, and sometimes he secretly wore girls' underwear. A little over a month before, a lesbian friend had suggested he grow a beard to make him look less childish, and so it would tickle her whenever he kissed her pussy. His beard had grown well, and was now soft and silky.
The other nerd was Dinesh (Saju) Sharma. The nickname Saju was given to Dinesh by his parents, but his best friends call him that as well. Very little else was known about him, except that he was doing the same audio/video course at Cedar Hill high school as the other four, with whom he normally had lunch in the school cafeteria.
None of them could remember whose idea it was to go on this picnic, or who choose the location, but there they were. This location had a happy and slightly erotic aura about it. It was very popular for family picnics on weekends, and often used by lovers in the evening; as such most of the guys had been there before. For example, Jamie had made love there with Chantelle one Saturday evening; and Dinesh, with his family and friends, had spent more than one afternoon building sand castles by the creek.
The guys had lunched on the finest of American cuisine; cans of baked-beans and cups of coffee for the main course, and roasted marshmallows as dessert.
The topics of conversation for a group of guys were, as usual: cars; girls; sex; cars; and, being the nerds that they were, the latest school assignment.
After some discussion about their audio/video homework; Michael brought the conversation full circle with this question, "Have you seen how many fully-electric cars are available now?"
"Yeah; even the school gardener has one," replied Dinesh.
Greg added, "Would you believe it's a Jaguar, what's more?"
"Why not!" Michael was quick to say, "When he bought it, the Jag was almost the same price as the original Tesla. Given that, I know which one I would buy."
"Yeah; but there are now some new makes that are much cheaper; for example, the Hyundai Ioniq and the Nissan Lea..."
"BRRRRRRRRRAP!"
Just then, one of the boys was the first to pass wind. None confessed to being the culprit, but it did lead to a change in the topic of conversation.
Jamie noted, "It's obvious that our lunch is about to make itself known; just like in the movie 'Blazing Saddles', eh?"
Air leaving the nose is breathing; leaving the mouth is talking; but any wind escaping from the other end is normally embarrassing; this is called flatulence, or in the vernacular, a fart.
Jamie suggested, "How about we have a farting contest?"
"What will determine the winner; will it be the loudest; the smelliest; or the one who farts the most?" Mark enquired.
Jamie added, "I've heard that farts can burn; this is due to the presence of the hydrogen and methane they contain. So, perhaps the winner should be the one who creates the biggest flame."
Mark thought out loud, "Couldn't that be dangerous? Won't your bum cheeks get burnt?"
"Yeah. Um; I guess it might be a good idea to keep your underpants on. But how will we light the fart?"
"How about we just lean over close to the remains of our fire."
To ensure greater conflagrations would be achieved, they dined on the remaining baked beans. It was just on dusk.
And so, with their trousers removed ready, the contest began.
*****
Miss Janette (Jan) Prentice and Miss Frances Emilia Lambert were on an overseas holiday from Australia. They were staying in back-packer hostels and driving themselves between places of interest in America. Their hire-car was a small white sedan with a retractable sun-roof.
They were enjoying a gap year, after which they both intended to enrol in an education degree in Sydney.
Janette was a plain girl-next-door type. She was a full red-head; that is, her hair was the colour of brightly-polished copper and she had a red-heads characteristic freckles across her nose and on each cheek; her eyes were a healthy captivating green. She had small pout breasts, just big enough to complement her trim but otherwise curvaceous body. The muscles in her long legs were enhanced by her fine ankles and slight knees.
Her companion was normally known by her second Christian name, Emilia; however, her friends just called her Emmy or Em. She had a similar build to Jan, but she was a honey blond with peaches-and-cream complexion, a cheeky precocious face, and bright blue eyes. She wore graduated glasses which she only really needed for reading; she felt they gave her an appealing educated air and hid her true nature; that of a nymphomaniac.
Emmy was the driver as they left Miami early that morning. They travelled north on highway i75 until they reached the Everglades. Here they stopped to enjoy a one-hour Everglades adventure.
As soon as all the adventurers were seated in the airboats, each driver announced, "Please put on the seat-belt provided; we don't want to lose anyone in these alligator infested waters, do we?"
Airboats are flat bottomed vessels that are propelled by a giant fan above the rear of the boat. They are a very popular means of transportation in marshy and/or shallow areas where a standard inboard or outboard engine with a submerged propeller would be impractical.
The girls both considered the Everglades airboat ride exhilarating; especially gliding sideways into the tight corners of the open canals. Skimming through the low sawgrass was also an experience, although at a slower speed.
There were two airboats, each carrying six passengers, that went out together; so Jan was able to use her inexpensive compact camera to capture a few action shots of the other airboat.
They didn't consider the alligator wrestling, that followed the ride, as fascinating, since they had seen plenty of videos of Steve Irwin catching the much bigger salt-water crocodiles in Australia.
Jan was the driver as they left the Everglades heading west.
They lunched in Tampa, then our intrepid pair joined a three-hour manatee and dolphin tour of Tampa Bay.
As the last of the passengers came aboard and sat down, a tall lanky sun-tanned guy in a navy-blue t-shirt and blue jeans made the following announcement; "Hello, I'm Joe, and up there," pointing to a heavy-set middle-aged man in the small raised cabin, "is your skipper, Jack."
At this point Jack took over the introduction, "Firstly; would you all watch your 'stewardess' Joe as he demonstrates how to put on a life-vest."
Joe forced a smile at the reference to his duty as the 'stewardess'; he had heard the same reference on ever tour, and didn't think it funny anymore. He did however demonstrate placing a life-vest over his head and tying the straps about his waist.
Jack continued, "Now could you all put on your life vest; it's located under your seat. Thank you."
Joe and the skipper observed the passengers making sure they all fitted their vest correctly.
"Right folks; now let's go and see some of the hundreds of manatees that live here in the Bay. We'll go where they feed in the shallows, so you can see them feed as well as watch them as they breathe on the surface... Joe! cast off please!"
With all of the preliminaries completed, the skipper manoeuvred the boat out into the bay.
