AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This story takes place in the past and is greatly inspired by
Extra Sprinkles for Ms Lynch
written by one of my favorite authors,
Madabouthair
. As always...THANK YOU for reading! Please enjoy!
*****
No one in Thatcher Blake could deny that summer was the best season. The trees were festooned in shades of verdant green. The midday air was hot and the aroma of freshly cut grass mingled with smoke and grilling meat. The smell drew Eddie Neal to her kitchen window, and she stared outside at her back yard. A slight breeze tousled the light-colored curtains while she stood there listening to the distant sounds of kids laughing and playing in a neighbor's unseen yard. Summer vacation had officially arrived.
School was out and the days stretched long and lazy from one to the next. It was a time most students and teachers looked forward to all year. Rules and routine were shunned in pursuit of play and self-indulgence. Eddie appreciated the free time and chance to relax, but the last couple of days left her feeling bored and restless. After her usual early morning bout of light stretching and calisthenics, she worked on weeding the flowerbeds in her back yard. While the veteran gym teacher stared at the recently mowed lawn, she felt lost. It was a beautiful day in spite of the oppressive heat, but it was a day without substance.
From Eddie's perspective, a day without structure was a day without purpose. The slim, 47 year old gym teacher spent nearly all of June splitting her time between coaching a summer softball team and taking two professional development courses at Blake College. Her team,
Blaketown Batitude,
had an upcoming game next Friday against the
Harmony Hitsquad.
Her team of 11 showed a lot of promise. Practice was held three days a week since vacation started. And although she filled as much of her time with household chores and yardwork, Eddie missed the structure and rigor her classes provided.
Miss Edna Neal has been teaching PE classes at F.W. Harmony High School for nearly 25 years. Classes and after school sports gave her structure. The structure fueled her drive for athletic perfection. She'd had a hand in transforming a few young women in her classes into capable athletes. Others simply went through the motions, hoping to get by until the bell rang for the next class. Still, Eddie always hoped to set an example through her own discipline and athleticism. And when all else failed, intimidation usually did the trick.
Thinking a hot shower would take her mind off things, Eddie headed into the bathroom and undressed. She stood in front of the large mirror over the sink and faintly smiled, pleased with the reflection staring back at her. Decades of vigorous exercise and various sporting activities rewarded the middle aged woman with a slim and sturdy physique. Her extremely butch appearance and short dark hair gave many people the impression that Eddie was older. More often than not, her brush cut and athletic appearance caused most people to mistake her for a man. Although most women her age would understandably take offense, Eddie was, in fact, amused when it happened.
Eddie stepped into the bathtub and yanked the curtain shut. She turned the faucet knob and adjusted the temperature while the spray coursed, rain-like, over her face and head. She tilted her head back and reached for the soap while the water ran rivulets over her nude body. It rained pretty hard the other day, so Eddie went to the Emmerson Community Center to run the indoor track and use the pool. The community center was busy as it usually was during the summer, but Eddie felt lonely and bored--a feeling she tried, and failed, to outrun on the track.
When she got back to the locker room, it seemed nearly deserted in spite of the heavy traffic at the pool. There were two pools at Emmerson. Eddie used the second, an Olympic sized lap pool, to wear herself out after some light stretching and just over an hour of nonstop running on the track. She stripped off her one-piece suit and deposited it on a nearby hook before stepping into one of the many empty shower stalls.
About a minute or so later, Eddie caught sight of the only other occupant in the showers. A frumpy, middle aged woman with plain features and short hair, exited a stall on the far side near the locker room entrance. Eddie grimaced and her dark eyes followed the woman out and watched her disappear behind a bank of lockers. She looked a bit out of shape, though she wasn't overweight. Her breasts sagged and her hips were a little wide. But when she glanced in Eddie's direction, the disgusted look she gave the gym teacher was visible even through the clouds of rising steam and mist.
Gee, that's funny!
Eddie mused to herself as she stood under the spitting spray. The stalls were bare-bones tile; no curtains. She didn't care, and she was unfazed by the other woman's scowl.
Happens all the time. Goes with the territory.
Although the frumpy gal seemed clearly appalled with Eddie Neal's hard masculine presence, she probably had no idea that the butch gym teacher saw her stealing glances in her direction all the while she was in there. It was so obvious, it was comical! At one point, Eddie rinsed the soap off her face, and she turned, catching the other woman's eye. And she just stared and said nothing.
I bet if I came onto that old frump, she'd probably go home with me, Eddie thought. If I straightened her out, it'd be all she wrote. Probably forget about whatever fat sonofabitch she calls her husband...
Back in the present, Eddie finished washing her hair. Bar of soap in hand, she quickly scrubbed her body, and stared down at her legs and feet. Eddie Neal admired fitness and natural beauty. She believed in setting an example, both in and out, of the classroom. To that end, she shunned razors. Her legs, slim and solid, were covered in a down of dark hair. Her pubic mound was a thicket of dense, dark forest she rarely trimmed. Generous sprays of dark hair peaked from the hollows of her underarms. She gave extra attention here with her soap and a washcloth. When she was finished, she grabbed a towel, dried off, and got dressed.
While tying her shoes, Eddie debated about whether she should just stay home and sulk in front of the television, or drive over to that church a few of her colleagues gathered at for bible study. She tried to remember the name of it, but couldn't. A friend of hers, Kris Bennett, was a colleague at F.W. Harmony and visited the church occasionally. Tonight there was supposed to be some kind of monthly get-together for the members and their guests. Eddie heard, on more than one occasion, that the church, and the bible study group, was little more than a clandestine dyke bar frequented by many of the district's teachers and students from Blake College.
She didn't know about all that. And she wasn't really interested in hanging around some church basement with the likes of CJ Treadway, Jude Horst, or the Reverend Nellie Kling. She saw them often enough during the school year. There might be a few young ladies at the party from Blake, but Eddie figured they're sure to be wallflowers, or taken already. Besides, Eddie wanted someone young and beautiful and innocent; someone looking for experience and guidance. Competition was the last thing she needed, and there'd be plenty at that church if she went. After some more internal deliberation, Eddie Neal grabbed her keys and headed out to get something to eat.
Eddie Neal pulled up to the Hoppity Sam, a greasy little burger joint downtown, popular with the rowdy teen crowd. The sun had already dipped behind the horizon, turning the mostly clear skies overhead, several shades of orange, pinks, and purple. There was a lone scud of clouds, and Eddie saw a star twinkling near the monstrous neon sign. The thing sneered noisily in the hot summer air, oblivious to the constant come-and-go traffic.
A blue cartoon rabbit dressed as a bellhop with a jaunty cap was followed by a trio of comical neon arches that lit up one by one, indicating continuous movement. A word bubble emanated from the rabbit's mouth, telling customers to
Hop on Over!
