Getting a Lift

The other couple was somehow arresting. I don't know what it was exactly. Maybe it was just that the mid-week crowds at the ski area were so thin. Whatever it was, we had noticed them right off that morning. Well, that's not quite true – I should say that Sarah had noticed them. We had arrived just before the lifts opened, so that we could get ready in time to get out on the first chair. It was such a warm day, we had been surprised to find ourselves too hot even in thin jackets, and decided to get a locker rather than take them back to the car. While I bothered about with filling the locker and moving things from coat pockets to bib pockets and so on, Sarah had seen them similarly occupied. They finished slightly before we did, and so ended up on the chair ahead of us.

"Did you see that couple?" Sarah asked, nodding in the direction of the chair just ahead. She was talking in a whispery voice, as if afraid they might hear, which somehow seemed endearing to me.

"I guess so," I answered, not really sure what she was driving at. I reviewed my memory banks, trying to figure out if we knew them from somewhere. Coming up empty, I added, "Why?"

"Nothing really. Just look at them if you get a chance." Her voice dropped even further. "I think you'll find them...interesting."

I was soon to get my chance. When we got off the lift, the couple was stopped, looking at a map. We stopped nearby, and I was able to take them in. Like us, they had elected to ski in just shirtsleeves, so I could see their figures. They were both thin and active looking, but not so much as to be intimidating. Just healthy, I guess. She had dark hair and dark eyes, and her hair was tied in a thick braid. He was rather boyish looking, and in fact I found myself wondering how old they might be. A little younger than us, I thought. Still, I knew Sarah would find him interesting, if only for the bright blue of his eyes, and his wife? girlfriend? was clearly my type. Oh, Sarah had me figured, and as the couple skied off Sarah grinned at me knowingly.

All such thoughts were quickly lost in the rush of wind as we slipped through the snow. It was a gorgeous Spring day, and the snow was perfect. The views of the surrounding mountains and the lake from high on the peak were amazing. We took turns leading down the hills, and often found ourselves alone on runs. The rides on the lift gave us time to review the last run, but also to fall back into discussions of the mundane: wondering how the kids were doing, figuring out what color to paint the living room. All the things people talk about when they have been married a long time. I call it the joyous intimacy of the comfortable day-to-day. It being mid-week, the ski area had discounted lift tickets today, as they were doing something with the lifts that caused them to pause for a few minutes every so often. But, as there were no lines and we were enjoying the views and the time together, we didn't mind.

Every so often, though, we would see the couple again. They too seemed comfortable, but somehow more captivated by each other. There was an energy between them, something we remembered from our early days, and still experienced once in a while, but we guessed they weren't talking about paint colors as they rode the lift. They rode with their heads close together, kissing sometimes, touching. Somehow they always seemed to be just ahead of us, never behind. At some point, we laughed together on a lift ride, realizing that we were both beginning to feel competitive. We were skiing faster than normal, trying to catch up, trying to be on the chair ahead of

them

for once. Once or twice, we thought we had gotten ahead as we came in sight of the lift near the bottom of a run, only to have them pop out of another run, just ahead, and climb on the lift ahead of us. Then we would lose them altogether for a while.

Finally we realized we were hungry, and decided to stop for lunch. Many people had told us the best lunch to be had was at the lodge on the other side of the mountain, so we worked our way around to it. After depositing our skis and clomping up the stairs into the lodge restaurant, we were stunned to see the couple sitting there already. We looked at each other, and Sarah mouthed, "Amazing." All through lunch, we found ourselves glancing across the restaurant at them. The energy we had noticed earlier was still there. Once in a while, we found ourselves locking eyes with them, and we always found ourselves looking away like kids with a crush. Our whispered conversation over lunch was filled with observations of what they ate, how they looked at each other, and how silly we felt being so obsessed. Neither of us said, of course, that we could just quit being so obsessed. It was obvious to us that would not happen. More interesting in retrospect, neither of us would admit that somehow we felt sure they

knew

we were noticing them, but we both felt it.

Finally they finished and left, and a few minutes later so did we. We giggled as Sarah hurried us along. We knew we wanted to see where they would go, and that we both felt if we tried we could pass them sometime. But, as we came out of the restaurant and found our skis, there was no sign of them anywhere. Still grinning at each other over this whole silly game, we studied the map for a minute together. We wanted to get back to the other side of the mountain, back to the runs we had enjoyed all morning. From here, there were two ways to get there – work our way up and down around several lifts, or take a new high-speed gondola. We had heard the gondola ride was amazing, so we settled on that. Skis in hand, we walked over to where the gondola loaded, in little four-person cars. The cars had an outside rack for the skis on one side, and inside had two bench seats facing each other. As we walked in, Sarah grabbed my arm and I looked up, just in time to see our couple climbing into a car. Looking at each other and laughing once again, we clomped quickly over to the loading point, catching the very next car.

As we had heard, the ride was amazing. We were whisked out of the building and high into the air, and the views were incredible. The car was warm and cozy with the afternoon sun streaming in the windows. The woods slid by underneath us as we wended our way up the hill and over small valleys. We noticed that only our two cars seemed to be occupied, with many empties above and below. A sign in the car announced that this would be a 16 minute ride; we thought that wouldn't be near enough given this view.

However amazing the view, we found our attention diverted by the couple in the car ahead. Just as the car left the building, we noted that they were seated on the rear-facing seats, and so they were looking directly at us. That is, they would be looking at us, if they were inclined to do so. Which they weren't. Instead, they were turned toward each other, arms wrapped around each other, kissing. You know, the kind of kissing you do when you are hot for each other. We found ourselves staring at them. When Sarah cleared her throat softly, I knew her thoughts were as mine, and we found ourselves wrapped together, matching their intensity. We felt the car bounce and sway as it chugged across the towers from time to time, and the vibration seemed to deepen our desire. As we kissed, we found ourselves peeking ahead, to see what was happening ahead.

Suddenly I felt Sarah stiffen and back off a little, and I realized she was looking intently at the other couple. I stopped and gathered myself, focusing my attention to the front. They were still wrapped about one another, but they were no longer kissing. Instead, I could see that their cheeks were pressed together, facing us. I whispered to Sarah,"I think they see us," and I felt her nod against my chest.

Just then, the woman ahead seemed to wave a little bit, and she extricated herself somewhat from his grasp. Their fingers were still lightly entwinded, as she half stood, leaning forward to place her hands on the rear bench of their car. There she stopped, still, and she seemed to be gazing at us. We couldn't quite make out her features at this distance, but there was no mistaking her stillness. She was watching us, and waiting for something.

At this point the car dropped into a valley, out of the bright sunlight it had been riding in. The shadows of the trees on the ridge above flashed across the cars, seeming to paint them with a strobe light. Still, the woman stood still, leaning toward us. "What is she..." I started, but my voice dropped off as Sarah raised herself out of my arms, leaning onto the front seat of our car, matching the woman's posture exactly.

At that moment, two things happened. One, there was a loud clunk, and the gondola swung gently forward and back, finally stopping. The gondola was paused like so many other of our rides today. Two, the man ahead of us began peeling the woman's ski pants down over her hips. She never seemed to turn her head or change her position at all. He pulled them down to about the middle of her thighs, and stopped. My heart began to pound, as Sarah whispered intently, "Come on, we can't let them beat us." I looked out of the car at the empty run and the tops of the trees below, and swallowed hard. My hands shaking slightly, I grabbed the thick elastic of Sarah's pants, and pulled them similarly downward.

At this point, the man ahead slipped to his knees, and slipped off one of the woman's ski boots. Again they waited, and I copied his actions. I began to sense where this was going, and went to work on Sarah's other boot. I looked up to pull her pants the rest of the way down, watching the woman step lightly out of each leg of her pants. Then the man stood, and pulled off his shirt. I dropped mine to the floor as well.

I could hear Sarah's breath catch as the man ahead began sliding down the panties in his car. Almost robotically I matched him, pulling the silky garment down Sarah's legs and setting them on the bench between her arms, just as I saw happening in front of me. I saw the indecision turn to resignation as Sarah finally moved. We watched her panties flutter out of the little vent window of our car, finally catching on a tree branch just a moment after the ones from the couple ahead.

When we looked back up to the car ahead, we noticed that the man had moved behind the woman. He pulled down his pants and grabbed her waist. Sarah moaned as she felt me grab her own waist, and moaned again as she watched the woman ahead arch her back and drop her head as the man pulled her toward himself. I found my own breathing increase as I felt her caress the length of me, and I matched his rhythm stroke for stroke.

All of us seemed locked together, despite the gulf between the cars. Both cars swung gently back and forth with our movement, and Sarah gasped as a lone skier passed underneath us. He seemed not to notice. Only seconds later, though, a snowboarder passed came into view, and he crashed roughly to the ground staring up in amazement at the two cars. Just then, there was another loud clunk, and the two cars began slipping forward once again and out of his sight.

The man ahead seemed to be increasing his pace, and the woman seemed to be looking down rather than out at us now. "Hang on, just hang on!' Sarah moaned. I hung on with all I had, sliding in and out of her as off in the distance I could just see the end of the line. I resisted the temptation to speed up, and moved one hand up to the red curls of Sarah's hair. "Oh god," she moaned, and I looked up to see the man tensing up as he pushed into her as deeply as he could. I felt myself lose control at this sight, and I too pulled myself tightly up against Sarah, groaning my release.

By now the unloading station was coming up quickly. We scrambled apart and back into our clothes. I helped Sarah get her boots on, and we laughed as we saw them hurry from their car with their skis – and her boots – in hand. The lift operator seemed to give us a knowing grin as we climbed out of the car ourselves. As we came out onto the snow, we saw them skiing away, and we caught our last glimpse of them for the day just as we started down the hill.

Later, as we skied the run under the gondola, Sarah laughed as she slid to a stop in front of me. There in the branches of the pines, on two trees a short distance apart, she pointed out two pairs of panties swinging gently in the breeze. "I guess now we know how that happens," she said, grinning lewdly.