Friday
After graduating college, I had no real direction. Teaching was a simple option, so I worked nights as a janitor and took the necessary courses for a teaching certificate during the day. I did my supervised "practice" teaching and found I liked it and was reasonably effective for a beginner.
I did a lot of substitute teaching, and I soon was offered a position as a math teacher and assistant football coach at a nearby high school. The first year was a challenge, learning to teach the subject as well as the long hours needed to be a coach. But I was young, hardly older than the students, so it was exciting and new.
In the spring I was asked to coach the girls track team because they had no other coach available. I did not know much about track but I did it anyway. The girls were fun to work with and we developed a rapport. We put together a mile relay team that finished second in the state so we had some success too.
I found that the girls were easier to coach. They were a lot more interested in learning the sport than posturing among their friends, unlike the boys who created a pecking order unrelated to their skill on the field. Girls worked harder too.
That summer I bought a canoe to use on the local river and occasionally a student would join me for a leisurely paddle along the river enjoying the trees and birds. Somehow a canoe trip with me became some sort of badge of honor for some of the students so I always had a volunteer when the weather was nice.
The next year after football season some of the same girls wanted to form a basketball team so I again volunteered to coach them. I knew a little about basketball, having played a lot of pickup games in college. I was a football player in college but I had learned a bit about basketball fundamentals to understand the key offensive and defensive skills required I knew that good conditioning and a hounding defense can keep a poor offensive team in the game.
The girls basketball team had to scramble for a place to practice and since we were not an official team all we could do is scrimmage other schools, but that was fine to start to learn the team game. None of the girls were great basketball players but they were all athletic and felt comfortable pushing their physical limits. They worked hard and really came together and we were regularly beating more established teams in the scrimmages.
The tallest girl was Janey, about 5'9" or so, from the other side of the tracks so she was tough and strong, a real anchor for the team. She was unflappable, and took defense to heart, raising her intensity to match the skill of the opponent she was guarding. Taller girls became frustrated with her tenacity and sometimes retaliated which heightened her effectiveness even more.
Lisa was my favorite, a lanky 5'6" natural athlete who could do just about everything well. She was the most aggressive taking the ball to the basket, mostly because she did not have much of an outside shot. She was a multi-sport athlete like all of her three older sisters and good at every one.
Abbie was barely 5' tall but a fine ball handler and tireless defender. She was as close to a point guard as we had, bringing the ball up court and running the offense. Her parents were very restrictive and did not allow her to date or participate in any unchaperoned events, so her only outlet was sports. She played on every team she could during the year, and played hard on every one of them. She also seemed to be looking for approval, some sort of validation from her coaches of her worth.
For me, the coaching was fun, but the teaching got repetitive, so by the third year I was applying to graduate schools in computer science. Eventually I was accepted and started work on a master's in computer science. I graduated and took a job several states away from where I had been teaching.
A couple of years later while talking to my parents on the phone, my mother mentioned that Abbie had called and wanted to go canoeing. She must have just graduated from college and was out on her own. I got her phone number and gave her a call.
Abbie had just graduated from college with a degree in biology, and was headed to medical school on a full scholarship, a very rare commodity that showed how hard she had worked. She had already moved to the city where she was to spend the next four years and had a small apartment.
She explained that this was to be her summer of fun before the long medical school grind. I had nothing better to do so I agreed to look her up the next time was visiting my parents.
A few weeks later, a business trip brought me close to the area, so I took some vacation days to visit my parents.
Abbie had grown up- not any taller, but less tomboyish and more womanly. Still cute, but now mature in looks and temperament. Short blond curly hair, attractive petite athletic figure, and energetic personality complete the package. She was pleasant to talk with and still enthusiastic about everything she talked about.
Though our ages were seven years different, the maturity gulf was much less than that. We agreed to figure out a way to go on a canoe trip that summer since I had sold the canoe years ago.
What we finally agreed on was a rustic camp on a mountain lake that offered canoeing, fishing and hiking. It was about midway from our respective homes. The rooms were basic, but comfortable, with a store and café nearby. It was right for two people on a tight budget. We agreed to meet for a four-day weekend.
Friday
I had to leave early to get to the cabin on Friday at noon. I arrived at the resort and checked in, went to the cabin and put my gear in my room. I was just about done when I saw Abbie drive up, her round face beaming under the blond curls. Her car was barely stopped when she jumped out and threw herself at me, catching me by surprise and nearly knocking me down.
We unloaded her luggage and got her installed in her room which adjoined mine. She was chattering away, but I managed to get a word in and suggest we change into swimming gear and take the canoe out and practice a bit, then take a swim before dinner.
Abbie was wearing a modest two piece suit under her t-shirt and shorts as she came almost skipping down the path to the dock. I gave her some basic instructions on paddling techniques and emergency instructions. Fortunately she said she was a good swimmer which is always a good skill to have when canoeing.
We paddled around a while and began to establish the syncopation two people need to comfortably paddle a canoe for hours at a time- once again Abbie's athletic intensity allowed her to learn quickly.
The final step for the beginning canoeist is to learn how to right, empty, and re-enter a tipped or swamped canoe. We paddled to the dock and took off our outer clothes leaving only our suits on. I could not help but admire the hint of a six pack Abbie's bare midriff exhibited, well defined leg muscles, and tempting breasts hidden by the aqua blue top of her suit. We must have looked like quite the odd couple standing there, me at 6'3" and a well-muscled 245 and her at 5' and maybe 100 lbs.
We practiced righting the canoe several times, laughing and splashing in the cool water until we were comfortable with the process. By then evening was approaching so we put the canoe back on the dock and headed back to the lodge.
After showering and changing we met on the lodge's veranda to enjoy a glass of wine as the shadows lengthened over the lake and surrounding mountains. Abbie said she had had wine only occasionally as her parents were very much opposed to alcohol of any type. But it did relax Abbie, and she began to reveal a lot of her life I did not know about.
As she elaborated about the strict rules her parents had imposed on her throughout high-school and college- no dating without a chaperone as long as they were paying the bills- I realized she was throwing off those restrictions as best as she could. She had won a full scholarship to medical school that included even a stipend for living expenses. She no longer had to live by her parents rules.
Eventually we walked the quarter mile to the café and had a leisurely if simple dinner accompanied by a bottle of wine. The sun had long gone below the mountains' crest so we walked in the cool evening twilight back to the lodge. Somewhere along the way her small hand found mine and held it tightly as we walked.
Back at the lodge, we headed back to our rooms. As we neared the door to her room, she reached her hands up to my shoulders to pull my head done for a chaste kiss. "Thank you for a wonderful day", she said.
She entered her room as I entered mine. At this point I was acting the mature former teacher, though I found her attractive I did not intend to initiate a romance. As I was nodding off to sleep I heard a nervous knock at the door. It was Abbie of course, in a baby doll type of night dress. She said she was too excited to sleep and wanted to talk some more.
The room was comfortable but modest, and the only chair in the room was occupied by my gym bag, so she could not sit there. The only place to sit was the edge of the bed, so that is where she sat. I lay down on the covers, head on the pillow, and listened to her talk about what interested her about medicine.
She stopped suddenly, collected her thoughts (and perhaps her resolve), and said, "You know, that was the first time I ever kissed a man. I liked it. It made me want another."
I smiled and said, "Come here." I sat up on the bed as she walked around to my side. With her standing and me sitting our heads were about the same level. She reached over and put her arms around my shoulders and gave me a long kiss on the mouth. The kiss ended as she gasped for a breath, arms still around my shoulders. She snuggled close, and I moved to give her room on the bed.
"I know this is forward and my parents would die if they heard me say this. I want you to make love to me. It's time I became a woman. You've been my hero since you coached our teams, and I know you will be the best teacher a woman could have." How that could come out sounding both assertive and timorous is hard to understand, but she managed.
"Abbie, I am not so sure this is a good idea. You don't want to make a hasty decision you'll regret later on. You need to think this through. I do find you very attractive, sexy even, but I also feel I have some responsibility to discourage you if this is a spur of the moment kind of thing."
