My twin sister and I were relaxing in the family cabin after our 6 hour car trip to the mountains. I was thinking about what we could do first. We had the whole week alone in our sister's house, but tonight, we thought we would stay at the family cabin.
Aimee had left for her gig in Chicago, and had asked Michelle and I to house sit so her cat, Jerome, wouldn't get too lonely. We think the request for our presence was actually for the cat; not to protect the valuable recording equipment in Aimee's recording studio. This is thinking typical to most cat owners, and most definitely to our sister Aimee. As I looked around the rustic cabin, I remembered the many fun times we spent here when we were growing up.
Michelle and I are fraternal twins. We grew up together, as twins do, double dating, fighting, reading each others minds: you get the idea. So it was no surprise when Michelle grabbed the keys for the 4-wheeler and I was already on it. She suggested that it would be fun to take our shirts off and soak up some sun while we took a ride. We took our shirts off without hesitation, and found that we were not the least bit embarrassed. We had been naked together many times, under many different circumstances.
Michelle expertly fired up the ATV, and we were off: nipples to the wind. Therein lies the beauty of our family's mountain getaway. There was 300 acres of beautiful PRIVATE countryside and no one could tell us a thing. Its very freeing to be naked, or almost naked, out in the great outdoors, without the encumbrance of society's laws. As we drove along the dirt road, we realized there was a fresh new trail up to the left. Michelle, being the daredevil she is, gunned the ATV and took off.
We climbed up the steep trail, and like the mad-woman she is, began hooting and hollering with a zeal. This was similar to her behavior on any roller coaster we had even been on. This zeal is something my sister and I do not share. Once I found my voice and my stomach settled back down where it belongs, I yelled at her and gave her a firm pinch on her buttocks.
"Where in the hell are you going? You're going to get us killed!"
"I'm going to see who the fuck has the nerve to carve a trail into our land. Hold on!"
"Cool down girl! It was probably just the gas company."
She didn't respond, but something must have caught Michelle's eye, and she glided the ATV to an easy stop. We had reached level ground and Michelle was off the machine and pointing straight up. "See that?", she whispered.
I looked up and saw what she was pointing at. Up at the very top of the mountain we saw, in the late afternoon sky, smoke from a fire and what looked like some out-buildings; the kind of construction that used to be popular in these parts. We listened and squinted, and soon a chill went up both our spines. The hair stood up on our necks as we both recalled the stories our cousin Lou always liked to tell us when we were growing up. These stories always involved a mysterious, ancient hag that lived at the top of the mountain. We never believed him; and still didn't, but what we were seeing definitely made us both wonder if those stories could have been true. We realized that whether or not the stories Lou told us were true, we were way up a mountain and there was somebody up here with us!
After a short, whispered battle, we decided to make our way on foot to the top of the mountain and see just what was going on. The dirt path had ended and we were making a great effort to get through the brush as quietly as possible. We did pass a new well that the gas company had just sunk; and now it looked to us like someone else had followed the new path and came up this way. We were very close now to what began to look like a camp site at the very top of the mountain. Our immediate goal quickly became finding the source of the incredible smell that we hoped was a cookout. We hadn't stopped anywhere to eat on the way to our sister's house, nor had we purchased any provisions yet. We were no longer scared of whoever this was. Instead, we were ravenously hungry after our climb. As we finished our trek up the mountain I began to think this mystery was too much of a coincidence. Maybe it could be the product of Aimee's imaginative plotting and planning.
As we got closer, we saw a man at the top calling to us. He was bare chested, and he knew our names. As we approached him we realized we didn't know who the hell he was. When he suddenly came into full view we realized he was more than barechested. He was full monty naked; looking for the world like a native of the mountain. I knew right then that my sister wanted him. He was 6 feet something tall and was positively rippling with muscles. He wasn't very hairy except for his legs and man-bush. He had a nice smile and was very apologetic for having scared us. He probably chuckled as he watched our stealth approach to his campsite.
His name was Dean, and he was camping here at the top of the mountain. Apparently he was one of Aimee's friends from her college days. He started showing us around and apologizing that he was naked. He said he wasn't expecting company. And then he added, "So soon." His smile and his voice were intoxicating. He was a real hunk. And, all ours in this mystical place. I could tell that Michelle felt the same way, and was getting very hot and bothered. I think we both forgot about our hunger at that time. I thought at the time that Michelle was probably kicking herself put putting her shirt back on. What a scene that might have been!
After the introductions, Dean started to show us what he was doing up here. He had been camping here for a while, by the look of things. There were actually two lean-to structures that Dean said he built from all the tree branches. He had also made an area to prepare food and had an assortment of art supplies lying around. I admired his campsite at the summit of this beautiful mountain. I marveled at how good he was with his hands, that he had been able to create this shelter from the things that mother nature gave him.
Dean immediately made us comfortable at his campsite. Soon we were drinking cans of Bud and feasting on chips and hot dogs. Right away we decided to join Dean in his nakedness. Dean didn't seem to mind. He looked very encouraged, in fact. Dean and my sister were beautiful to behold as was the incredible view from Dean's campsite. We told him his site selection was perfect. The view from the top of the mountain was incredible. No city lights or noise pollution. And the smell of all the lush greenery was intoxicating. The sun was waining in the sky as we lit up a doob and talked for a while. Dean, who suddenly seemed energized, began to set up his canvas and paints.
Dean had come up the mountain to paint nature. We noticed he had also painted himself. He looked very much like a Native American minus the loin cloth. We both reveled in finding such a free spirit. We began to notice that Dean considered us a part of nature as well, since he was now facing us from behind his easel. We realized we were going to be subjects in his painting. Instead of posing, Dean wisely told us not to move a muscle. Dean said he wanted to capture everything as it was right then. We held still, as time froze in that perfect moment, while Dean frantically painted. We had only to watch his face and body movements for a few seconds and we were mesmerized. We both looked right at him and tried to take all of him in, as his artist's eye did the same.
