Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 10:32:16 -0000
From: Ann Douglas <ann_douglas@hotmail.com>
Subject: Cabin Fever - 1

	Cabin Fever
	by Ann Douglas
     (ann_douglas@hotmail.com)

Part 1


	The sounds of nature filled the night air by
the shore of Spring Lake.  A hundred feet from
the water's edge sat a mixed quintet of women
around a roaring fire.  The clear water reflected
the light of a full moon, a light that added to the
illumination from the fire.  Fifty feet further from
the waterline stood a large wooden cabin, their
home for the weekend.

	"I can't remember the last time I've had
this much fun,"  Julia Marshall said with a wide
smile.  "I'm so glad you asked me to come along."
	"Well we're all glad that you did,"
Sabrina Wilson replied with an equally warm smile
as she ran her hand through her short-cropped
blond hair.  "After all, you're one of us now."

	More than anything else that had been said
to her that weekend, or for that matter in the
seven months she been working at Dawson
Pharmaceuticals, that simple statement filled Julia
with a great sense of satisfaction.  She'd wanted
so much to be accepted by the other women in the
office and had been surprised when Sabrina had
asked her along on this trip.
	"That's right,"  Carol Peters, a tall, slim
black girl of twenty-four agreed. "We should've
asked you long ago."
	The two remaining members of the group,
Maria Ramirez and Brandy O'Conner added their
agreement as well.

	Two or three weekends a Summer,
Sabrina would borrow her parent's cabin up by
Spring Lake and invite a few select friends for a
get away from it all weekend.  The trip was
always girls only and in the world of office
politics, the only thing worse than never having
been asked, was having been asked once and
never again.
	This was the last trip of the year, and being
with the company such a short time, the
twenty-two year old redhead had never expected
to be included.  Not when there were so many
other girls who'd been there longer and were still
waiting a turn.
	The weekend had truly been fun and she
could see why an invitation was so prized.  It was
like the sleepovers she had  enjoyed back in high
school, with the main difference being that, now,
the girls were all in their early twenties rather than
their teens.  One result of which that the chats
around the fire were a lot more interesting than
back then.  Interesting defined as to how intimate
the subject matter quickly became.

	Julia still couldn't believe that only the
previous night, encouraged by the others and
much more than her normal intake of alcohol, she
had shared the most confidential details of how
she'd lost her virginity.  The other girls had all
also shared their tales as well, but since they'd
been on these trips before, the telling was new
only to Julia.
	Julia had blushed a bright red as she
recounted how she had given it up at seventeen to
her eighteen-year-old boyfriend.  An event that in
hindsight, she was sure, was now more
memorable to her than him.  It was a rather
uninteresting story, as compared to some of the
other's, having taken place on the couch in his
parent's basement.
	After listening to the other girls, Julia
learned that Carol had gone to her marriage bed a
little over four and a half years before, technically
a virgin.  Her husband had been her best friend
since junior high school and they'd done just
about everything else prior to that night. Saving
the best for last, she liked to say.
	Maria, on the other hand, had given her
cherry to a married man twice her age back in her
native Mexico when she was just sixteen.  Her
reasoning being that if she was going to give
someone her prize, it might as well be someone
who was actually going to teach her something as
well as remember it later.  A funny aspect to the
story was that both their deflowerings had taken
place the same weekend, a coincidence that had all
five of them laughing.
	Brandy and Sabrina were the two oldest
around the campfire, with both being twenty-five.
Brandy recounted how she had lost it under the
bleachers after the big Homecoming game to the
Captain of the Football team. She of course had
been Head Cheerleader. An American tradition if
there ever was one.
	Sabrina shared the knowledge that her
historic event had taken place at this very cabin
some seven years before.  The boy in question had
been a year younger and the son of her parent's
best friends.  They had come up for a weekend
and left the two teens to entertain themselves
while they went into town for dinner and a movie.
She was sure, Sabrina concluded with a wicked
grin, that they had more in mind something like
the board games that occupied many a summer
night, and not a round of show me yours and I'll
show you mine.
	As unusual as the discussion the night
before had been, it now seemed to Julia to be
rather tame compared to where tonight's was
going.  What had started as a conversation about
the men in their lives, soon become a discussion of
how good they were in bed.  That and what
turned on each girl.  To her surprise, Julia
discovered that she was having no problem
participating in the chat this time, even without a
few drinks in her.

	"So is he good in bed or not?"  Maria
repeated the question she had asked Julia in
response to what she considered an evasive
answer.
	"Well, like I said, I'm really don't have a
lot of criteria to give a definite answer,"  Julia
tried to explain.
	"You do have sex, don't you?"  Brandy
inquired.
	"Of course we do,"  Julia replied.  "It's
just that most times Mark would rather I just go
down on him rather than we go all the way.  He
doesn't want to take the chance of us having an
accident."
	"Typical man,"  Carol laughed.  "God
forbid he should take some responsibility in that
area and wear something."
	"Well I hope he at least he's doing the
same for you,"  Maria offered.
        The silence of Julia's answer said that he
wasn't.  An admission that brought a quick
response from the other women.
	"Girl, you have to set that boy straight,"
Carol said in a strong tone.  "My husband was like
that back when we first started playing around.
Giving me that "a brother doesn't do that" crap.
I set him straight soon enough.  Told him that if he
didn't get down there and take care of business, then
the only way he was going to get off was with his
hand.  He came around quick enough, and now he
loves it."
	"That's right," Brandy agreed,  "If he ain't
gonna lick it, then he ain't gonna stick it ... in any
hole!"
	The crude credo brought a laugh from the
entire group, Julia included.  She was worried for
a moment that they were laughing at her, then
realized with relief that it was with her.
	The round robin discussion went on, each
of the girls getting to pick a topic.  When it got to
Maria, her question dealt with male anatomy and
size.  Carol won that round when she held her
hands about eight inches apart as she described
her husband.
	"I'm not sure I believe that,"  Maria
grinned.  "Maybe I should measure that
personally.  Of course I might have to help get it
to its full length first, just to be totally accurate."
	"In your dreams girl," Carol laughed.  "As
if I'd let you within twenty feet of my man when
you're horny."
	"When is she ever not horny?"  Sabrina
jumped in.
	"Which is why I never leave the two of
them alone when Maria comes over for dinner,"
Carol added with a smile.
	"Really that big?"  Maria asked as she
copied Carol's hand measurements.
	"Hey, I'm not saying that all black men are
like that, despite the stereotype that you hear,"
she concluded.  "I just know that he never leaves
me wanting."
	"I hate you,"  Maria shot back, sticking
out her tongue.
	More laughter filled the night as the next
and last subject went to Julia.
	All eyes were on her as she took a long
moment and tried to think of a subject that would
be interesting enough to impress the rest.  At first
she drew a blank, then it hit her.
	"Has anyone ever had a secret lover?"  she
asked.  "Someone that you never, ever told
anyone else about.  I'm not saying you have to tell
who it was, just if you ever had one. Someone
that you really shouldn't have been with, but that
you wanted them so much that you didn't care?"
	"Well since TJ had been my one and only,
I guess my answer is easy enough,"  Carol
answered first. "And that's no."
	"Mine too,"  Maria joined in.  "I can never
keep a secret.  When I sleep with a guy, I have to
tell someone."
	"We don't have to say who, right?"
Sabrina asked.
	"That's right,"  Julia replied.
	"Then my answer is yes."  Sabrina said.
	"Who?"  Maria quickly asked.
	"As if I'd tell you of all people,"  Sabrina
quipped.  "I'd have a better chance keeping it a
secret if I posted it on the Internet."
	"You don't have to tell,"  Julia repeated.
	"Well in that case, then I'd have to say it's
yes in my case as well."  Brandy said.
	"How bout you, Julia?"  Sabrina asked.
	"No, I'd have to say no,"  she said in a
slightly disappointed voice.  "Not that I haven't
thought about it at times."
	"Well it was a good question,"  Sabrina
said, drawing the game to a close.  "If for nothing
else, it shows that each of us still have some need
for privacy in our lives and I think it's more
interesting if there are still things about each other
that we don't know."
	Quiet reigned after that for a very long
minute as everyone wondered what Sabrina was
talking about.

	Well I don't know about the rest of you,"
Maria said, changing the subject.  "but I'm in the
mood for one last swim to cool off."
	"That sounds like a great idea,"   Brandy
agreed as she looked past the little group to the
water's edge a few dozen feet away.  "but I'm
afraid I already packed away my suit.
	"Me too,"  Carol added.
	"So who needs a suit,"  Maria asked as she
stood up and pulled off her T-shirt, revealing a
bare set of large tanned breasts.  "It's not like
there's anyone else here but us girls."
        Her shorts followed as Carol and Brandy
decided that it wasn't a bad idea after all and
followed her lead.  It took them a bit longer as
unlike Maria, they never went without
undergarments.
	Figuring when in Rome, Julia shed her
own clothes as well, finishing just as the first three
splashed their way into the lake.  Sabrina was the
last of them to strip, seeming to wait until Julia
made up her mind to join in.  The ponytailed
redhead thought that was a very nice thing for her
to do.  If Julia hadn't wanted to go
skinny-dipping, than at least she wouldn't have
been the only one.
	All five of them splashed around for a
short time, just enough to cool down.  One by
one, they exited the water, picking up one of the
large oversized beach towels that were still piled
near the landing.  No one seemed to be in a hurry
to get dressed, preferring to dry off by the fire
first.
	It seemed funny to Julia, all of them sitting
around naked like this.  Funny, but not the least
bit uncomfortable.  In fact, after a while, it seemed
perfectly natural.  Sitting there, her mind
wandering as she looked into the fire, she found
herself wondering if any of the other girls had
been checking her out.
	Julia had always believed that girls were
almost as interested in each other's bodies as any
guy might be.  If only for the purpose of
comparison, to see how each of them stacked up
against each other so to speak.  They just weren't
as obvious about it as men.
	It was Sabrina, Julia had decided, that had
the nicest body.  Brandy had much larger breasts,
at least a 36D, but Sabrina's were more rounded
and perfectly proportional to the rest of her body.
	Carol had the smallest and firmest ass in
the bunch, for which Julia wanted to immediately
hate her.  Carol also had skin as dark as the night
which Julia thought highly erotic.  She was the
first black girl the redhead had ever seen naked.
	Maria, the final member of the group was
on the chunky side and had been since she was a
teenager.  Yet surprisingly enough, she was also
the one most comfortable with her body and the
least reluctant to show it off.

	"Well you girl's can stay up and chat if
you like,"  Carol said as she stood up from their
little circle, "but this old married lady needs her
eight hours.  Time for me to turn in."
	"I think I'm right behind you,"  Sabrina
joined in.  "It's been a really long day."
	One by one over the next half-hour, the
rest said their goodnights.  Brandy was the last to
go, putting out the fire before she went.


	As much fun as the two-day outing had
been, it finally come to an end late the next
afternoon.  Carol and Maria left around four-thirty
since they had the longest trip home.  Both of
them lived in the same section of Willowdale.
	Sabrina was planning to share a ride home
with Brandy since her house was along the way to
Brandy's in Middletown.  This left Julia to drive
herself home alone, which really wasn't a problem
since she lived the closest.
	By five o'clock, they had both cars packed
and were ready to go when Sabrina announced
that she couldn't find her cell phone.  The three of
them looked for it but after a quarter hour had no
success.
	"Look,"  Sabrina finally said to Julia, "it's
silly for all of us to get home late just because I
lost my phone.  Brandy and I will keep looking for
it a little longer and you can take off.  If we can't
find it soon, we'll just go without it."
	"But wouldn't we have a better chance of
finding it if all three of us looked?"  Julia had
asked.
	"Yeah, that's true,"  Sabrina conceded, but
the longer you wait, the more traffic you're going
to hit heading back into town.  Brandy and I are
going in the opposite direction, away from all the
traffic.  I'd feel bad knowing you sat in that mess
on Route 4 because of me."
	"I guess you're right,"  Julia finally agreed,
even though she thought that leaving Sabrina in a
lurch was a lousy way to show the short haired
blond her appreciation for a really great weekend.
	"Don't worry, Julia,"  Brandy chimed in.
"The two of us will manage just fine."
	"All right,"  Julia finally agreed, "if you're
sure."
	"I appreciate the thought, I really do,"
Sabrina smiled,  "but I would feel better if I knew
you got home without a lot of trouble."
	"Me too,"  Brandy added.
	"It's a pity you didn't realize that the phone
was missing before Maria and Carol left,"  Julia
said.  "We could've used Maria's phone to call
yours and just follow the ringing."
	"I never even thought of that,"  Sabrina
said, a funny look on her face.  "It's too bad they
were the first ones to go.
	"Yes, that's a shame all right,"  Brandy
said as she brushed aside the strands of her long
black hair that had fallen in front of her face.
	"Well if I'm going to go, I'd better get
going,"  Julia said as she picked up the only bag
she hadn't already packed in the car and started
for the door.
	"Julia,"  Sabrina said as the redhead
reached the door.
	Julia stopped at the sound of her name and
looked back.  Sabrina looked like she was going
to say something but then changed her mind. After
a moment's pause she said, "I'm really glad you
came.  You really helped make the weekend as
fun as it was."
	"It was great,"  Julia agreed with a smile.
"I can't even think of the last time I've laughed
that much.  I hope we can do it again another
time."
	"You can count on it."  Sabrina said as she
returned the smile.
	Sabrina and Brandy waved goodbye from
the porch as Julia pulled away.

	Julia got as far as the cutoff for the road
that would take her to Route 4 when the old '88
Honda Civic that she shared with her younger
brother began to sputter and then abruptly die.  It
didn't take a mechanical engineer to realize that it
was out of gas.
	The Civic had originally belonged to her
father.  When he bought a new car, he decided
that rather than take the pittance the dealer was
offering for a trade in, he would give the car to his
kids.  Since there were two of them and only one
car, they would have to share it.
	For a twelve-year-old car, the Honda was
in pretty good mechanical shape.  One thing,
however, that didn't quite work at the moment
was the gas gauge.  Therefore, it was important to
fill it up at every opportunity.  It was a chore that
they alternated, depending on whom had used the
car last.  Since Harry had used the car for school
during the week, it was his turn to fill it up.  Julia
had made a point to ask him if he had before
leaving on her trip.
	"Of course I did,"  Harry had said,  "what
do you think I am, some kind of idiot."
	"Not some kind of idiot,"  Julia said to
herself out loud, "a dead idiot."

	The long walk back up the dirt and gravel
road to the Wilson's cabin took considerably
longer than the five minutes it had taken to drive.
Before setting off on her way back, Julia had
briefly considered the idea of continuing onward
to Route 4 instead, in the hope of finding a phone
along the road, or someone to give her a lift to a
garage.  That consideration lasted no longer than
it took the prospect of being a filler item on the
evening news about a body found alongside the
road to come to mind.
	Sabrina and Brandy had to use the same
road she had come down in order to get to the
interchange.  If she were lucky, she would run into
them before she had to walk too far.  In a worse
case scenario, a two mile walk wasn't that difficult
for someone who spent as much time along the
jogging path in the park as she did.

	After an hour's walk, two new things filled
Julia's thoughts, temporarily replacing the varied
forms of violent death she had been picturing
Harry being the recipient of.  The first was the fact
that there was a big difference between running on
a nice smooth level track and hiking on an uneven,
rock covered country road.  The second, and of
more immediate concern, was the fact that she
hadn't encountered Brandy's car along the way.
	"They can't still be looking for that phone
after two hours,"  the redhead said as she forced
herself to keep putting one foot in front of the
other.  "It wouldn't be too funny if they had car
trouble too."
	By the time Julia finally reached the ridge
overlooking the lakeside cabin, the sun was
beginning to drop below the horizon. She was
relieved to see that Brandy's car was still parked
where she had left it.   For the last ten minutes,
Julia had begun to worry that there might've been
some other road out of here that she didn't know
about.  A road that Brandy and Sabrina might've
taken a long time ago.
	Pushing aside any fatigue she felt, the
T-shirt and shorts clad young woman doubled her
stride down the path.

	Checking Brandy's Escort parked
alongside the cabin, Julia noted that the luggage
she had helped load into the car was gone.  This
made her think that the possibility that Brandy had
car trouble as well might not have been so far off
after all.
	Stepping up to the porch, she found the
cabin door locked.  Julia knocked on the door a
few times but got no response.  She called out a
hello, but no one seemed to hear that either.
  	Julia then went over to the end of the
porch and picked up the red painted milk can that
sat there.  Sabrina had shown all of them where a
spare key was hidden in case anyone found herself
locked out.
	Once inside, the first thing she noticed was
Sabrina's cell phone sitting on the coffee table.
At least they'd be able to call the auto club if they
were all having car trouble, she thought.  A noise
from one of the back rooms told her where the
other two girls were.  She was about to call out
once more and announce herself when a better
idea presented itself.
	As the new girl in the group, Julia had
been subjected to a few practical jokes over the
weekend.  One of these involved all of the girls
disappearing on the first night and them making
enough noise to wake Julia.  Then, after she had
searched the dark cabin and found everyone gone,
they had all jumped out of a closet and given her a
good scare.  This might be her chance to return
the joke on Brandy and Sabrina.
        Tiptoeing to the back room, Julia had to
suppress the urge to giggle.  She had been trying
all weekend to come up with a joke of her own.
This might not be much, but at least it was
something.
	Remembering that the old door in the large
bedroom that Carol, Maria and her had shared
creaked, Julia opened this one as slow as she
could.  The surprise would be ruined if they heard
her too soon.
	Opening it just enough to be able to look
in, Julia peeked through the crack to make sure
they weren't looking her way before she burst in.
What she saw on the other side of the door made
her forget all about her little prank.