Jennifer set out on the back of Misty on Saturday morning for her favorite spot at the top of Ajello's Bluff. It was a fairly energetic ride for the aging mare and Jen kept her to a walk the whole way, except for a brisk gallop through the meadow. The meadow always reminded Jen of the rides they took when Misty was younger. Jennifer was just a few years older than her mare's 15 years but, for Jen it was just the beginning. She knew Misty was tired. She liked when they could charge up the bluff, hardly breaking a sweat, but now there was only the meadow.
It was hot already, almost eighty. Jen rode bareback as she always did these days. She wore a loose flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of cutoffs. Her Teva's wrapped around her ankles. She carried a pack with water, towel and a blanket. It was a perfect day to get some sun. At eighteen, Jen knew the value of a good tan on her young body. Her legs were shapely if not very long, she was only 5'4". Her cutoff jeans framed her perfectly round butt and flared a little at the bottom to accent the outward curve of the front of her strong thighs. Her shirt was untucked and fell away from the points of her high breasts concealing her flat stomach. Her round face always held a smile and her long, sandy blonde hair tied with a single band reached nearly to her waist.
As a freshman in high school, she had run on the cross-country team and made the varsity cheerleading squad. She was popular and her cowgirl style had caught the eye of many of the upper class guys. Now that there was so much work at her father's stables, she had to give up both teams. Dropping off both groups left her a little distant from her friends, especially when Dad said she was still too young to start dating. These rides with Misty went a long way toward cheering her back up.
Near the top of the bluff, the pines that had sheltered her path gave way to smaller birch and dogwood saplings. Ferns and high grass filled in the spaces. Misty waded knee deep to the old foundation overlooking the river. Ajello's mansion had stood here looking down on the world until it burned twenty-three years ago. Since then, nature reclaimed the grounds and only the broken down fieldstone walls show any trace of the past. Jennifer draped the reins over a small branch and Misty quickly pulled them off and began grazing the area. She laid out the blanket on the grass within the walls and took a big drink of water. Then she wiped off her legs where the sweat of the horse had mixed with her own. She had the top two buttons of her flannel shirt undone when she was startled by footsteps behind the foundation wall.
She could hardly move as the steps came around the corner of the wall and showed themselves to be Bob LaRouche. Bob was a senior at the school and a linebacker on the football team. Most people kept some distance from him since he usually had an attitude. Jen hated him because he always gave the cheerleaders a hard time, groping them in the hallway if he could. He lived out here away from town, too. Today he was carrying a .22 rifle over his shoulder. He wore a pair of loose jeans with no shirt. His work boots were untied.
"Don't let me stop you," he said, motioning to Jen's hands at her shirt buttons. "Keep going, let's see what you got."
Jen was shocked. "Like hell!" she shot back. She looked around trying to find a way out of this while keeping her cool. The foundation walls were on three sides growing taller, to about seven feet, toward the back. Bob stood at the only open wall, six inches taller and 80 lb. heavier than she was. "What are you doing up here anyway?"
"Just shooting squirrels and shit, but I ain't had no luck today. Till now, that is." He started walking in closer and Jen stepped back once while re-buttoning her shirt. "Come on, take it off for me."
"Get lost creep, I'm going home." Jen started throwing her things in her pack.
"You're not going anywhere yet."
"What are you going to do, shoot me?" she said. "I don't think even you are that stupid." As she reached down to pick up her blanket Bob gave her ass a kick with the bottom of his boot, knocking her to the ground. She sat up instantly with the meanest face she could muster.
"You don't have to call me stupid. I think you're pretty. Pretty fucking hot, in fact and just wanted to get a better look at you. I haven't seen you much since you quit cheering, you know."
Jen stormed by him but, Bob grabbed the tail of her hair as she went by and pulled her back to the ground again. She shrieked to be back on her blanket but stopped cold when he leveled the gun, not at her, but at Misty, still grazing a few yards away.
"How would you like to walk home, Jenny."
"Fuck you. You wouldn't dare."
"Maybe just the knee. You'd have the only three legged horse in town."
"No don't," Jen said at first angrily and then with resignation, "put the gun down." She put her hands to her shirt again and started at the top button. Bob leaned the gun on the wall and started to her. "No closer, just looking, and just the top OK?" Jen was uneasy now.
