Thanks to all who have not only taken the time to read my stories, but have also been so generous with their kind feedback and sharing of their own experiences.
I realize that this is 2011, and the subject of women's body hair is not all that popular in this era. Because of current fashion and the successful efforts by businesses to make hair on women "disgusting" in order to sell merchandise, there is a whole generation of people who find even the mention of the subject appalling, not to mention the actual presence of it on a woman's form.
So my stories are not for everyone, to be sure, and I really do thank those readers who simply bail out on my stories once they find out the subject matter, and don't make sarcastic comments. I appreciate that.
For the other readers, and since you're still reading that must mean you, thank you for your support.
***
This is one man's story...
Her name was Cheryl, and she was the kid sister of one of my best friends. Because of that, I felt obligated to make fun of her just like her brother did, and that's something I deeply regretted doing. I did manage to actually make the apology to the girl herself eventually, in the cellar of my house one rainy afternoon.
How we ended up down there is a long story.
For much of my teenage years, I was an overweight kid with acne who sweat a lot and was socially awkward. I liked girls - a lot - but the feeling wasn't mutual. Everybody loves a fat man is an old saying, but it didn't apply to me, at least when it came to girls.
Ironically, the only girl who treated me nicely was my best friend's sister Cheryl, and while I liked her, the fact was that I couldn't do anything but ignore her. If I had shown the slightest interest, her brother would have made my life even more of a living hell than it was already.
That wasn't the only reason I ignored Cheryl however. Her parents ruled their roost with an iron fist, and while the mother was a mean and nasty lady in her own right, she was a saint compared to her husband, who was a certifiable lunatic in my eyes.
I never saw my friend's father do anything to Cheryl, but if I had a buck for every time I heard my friend or his brothers get screamed at, smacked upside the head or get a boot right in the ass with those steel-toed work shoes his old man always wore, I'd be a rich man today. He was about as strict a parent as you can get and not end up in a jail or an asylum. Apparently the guy never heard of Dr. Spock. My friend and his brothers were all terrified of him, and that said something because my friend was usually fearless.
So the idea of trying to get close to Cheryl was out of the question. She wasn't allowed to date at all, or so I had heard, and she was only permitted to go to school and then come home and help her mother. That was it. An occasional trip to the neighborhood store, and once in a while she would be on the rusting swing set in the back yard when I would visit my friend. That was her social life so far as I knew.
As her brother confided to me once, Cheryl's mother didn't allow her to shave her underarms, and this was before there was such a thing as hippies. Apparently her mother was of the opinion that shaving makes the hair grow back thicker and heavier.
It was an old wives' tale, but since Cheryl's mother was an old wife, I guess it figured. After Cheryl's brother told me that, I kept my eyes peeled for a sighting of her armpit hair, because that was something that really turned me on, ever since I had uncovered a little collection of dirty pictures that my old man thought he had hidden.
Seeing those old pictures of women with hair under their arms really made an impression on me, so I knew that seeing the real thing would really be something. Unfortunately, Cheryl never wore sleeveless tops, probably because she was self-conscious about it.
I did get a peek up her t-shirt sleeve once when we were hanging out around her swing set, and while it wasn't much of a look, I saw enough to confirm what her brother had said. I blurted out that I thought she looked sexy, but then her brother reappeared and I didn't want him to know that I was interested in his sister, so I just took off with him and never made a move on her again.
That was also the extent of the interplay between Cheryl and myself. We talked from time to time, but I never did what I wanted to do, which was to be with her. Not necessarily for sex, mind you, but I would have loved to have explored those incredible underarms with my hands and lips, or at least gotten a good look.
Never happened. I kept my eye on my friend's sister, who never got any taller than the 4'10" or so she was that day. She got picked on mercilessly for her lack of height, but I guess the hair under her arms stayed hidden from the rest of the world or else she would have been drilled over that too, I'm sure.
I'm reasonably sure that Cheryl never wore a sleeveless top all through her school years, and she never wore a short sleeved blouse with baggy sleeves again either, or else I would have noticed. Like I said, I kept an eye on her, but like I also said, I never acted on it, until that day in June of 1972.
***
I had just finished my second year of college and was working at the neighborhood grocery store when I saw Cheryl come into the store and head for the back. It wasn't common for her to stop in and get a soda like the rest of the kids did, but whenever she did come in she would flirt a little with me.
Her brother - my friend - was in the Air Force by then, while I still had long hair and a sarcastic sense of humor. I had lost some weight though, so instead of being a fat bastard I was merely a husky one.
When Cheryl came up to the register with a six pack of Colt 45 and asked for a pack of Old Golds, I laughed. Kids tried to buy beer and smokes all the time, but while the cigarette purchases back then were usually allowed when kids would say they were for the parents, beer was a no-no.
"C'mon Cheryl," I said with a laugh. "I can't do that. You know better."
Cheryl reached into her little purse and pulled out a folded piece of paper, handing it to me with a smile.
"Cheryl Marie Panetta is 18?" I said in disbelief as I looked at her birth certificate. "Today?"
"Yep!"
She was so little that it didn't seem possible. After all, the last time I saw her she was just a kid. A kid that had just graduated high school, she informed me, and as I did the math in my head in all made sense. Time flies all right, and with her brother gone and in the service I rarely saw Cheryl any more.
She looked the same, I noticed as I checked out her groceries while checking her out as well. Small breasts that thrust out proudly, and smoky eyes along with jet black hair. Unfortunately, even though it was a warm day the blouse she was wearing had sleeves.
"So you're going to go home and smoke and drink to celebrate?" I asked.
"Omigod no," Cheryl said with a look of horror. "Guess I'll end up going back in the woods or something. Don't even know why I'm doing this. Just wanted to celebrate."
"Really? If you are still in the mood later, I get off in an hour," I suggested. "I could keep you company, if you wanted any that is."
"Yeah!" Cheryl replied, with a level of enthusiasm that excited me. "That would be cool."
I told her about this place where a lot of us used to gather to drink, since Cheryl sure wasn't one to have ever ended up there by herself. She found the place, because when I got back there with a six-pack of my own, she was sitting on the stump of the tree with her second beer in her hand.
"Happy birthday!" I proclaimed, and we tapped our cans together and began to celebrate.
The cigarettes had been abandoned, since the first one she lit up made her dizzy.
"You mean you never even tried one before?" I asked after refusing the offer of the pack, having quit that habit before I ever got hooked. "Not even one?"
It was true. Apparently Cheryl had been so terrified of getting caught that she never so much as took a puff, or a drink or maybe anything else for that matter.