A Tale of Two Titties

I was kind of becoming aware that there was some light peeking through my eyelids when I felt the bed move and a body slid off of me and out from under the covers. I opened my eyes soon enough to see the backside of a very shapely form heading towards the bathroom. I didn't have my glasses on so the edges of the image were softened but still lovely.

It was deliciously warm under the covers, but I managed to muster the willpower to begin getting up. My right arm which had cradled Terri most, if not all, of the night, complained about having that responsibility by shooting pins and needle signals to my brain. I gasped out a groan involuntarily!

"Are you okay? Is something wrong?" came floating out from behind the bathroom door.

I chuckled, "Yes, I'm fine. I'm just trying to wake my arm up." My eye caught sight of a wad of fabric crumpled at the head of the bed. "Would you like me to bring you your T-shirt before you come out?"

"I, uh..." The pregnant pause made me grin. "Oh yes, please!"

"I can open the door or shove it under the door. Which way do you want?"

"Damn decisions... Open the door but no peeking please!"

I had to laugh. "Ah shucks, Terri. Oh well, yes m'am; I aim to please." I backed up against the door frame, draped her T-shirt over my left arm and grabbed the door handle with my left hand. "Okay, here it comes." I then swung the door wide open with my left hand and held it there.

This maneuver was rewarded with a very loud involuntary, "EEK!" and then peals of laughter when she saw the T-shirt draped on my arm and nothing else to be seen besides the backside of my left shoulder. "You crazy idiot," she said as she took the shirt off of my arm, "Obviously you are trying to give me a heart attack! It's a good thing I wasn't wearing my panties or I would have peed in them! Okay, I've got it. Thank you. You can close the door now."

I was dressed by the time Terri came out of the bathroom and we proceeded to swap jobs and places. "By the way, Stef, how did you sleep last nite?"

"Well, after somebody rudely woke me up, and after I warmed up a couple of ice cubes, I slept like a baby."

I just wish that little Stefan had slept as well! Judging by what I felt every time my sleep got lighter, I think the little bastard was hard all night long! If Terri noticed, she probably thinks that I'm the biggest pervert since Pan!

"And how did you sleep?"

"Wonderfully warm and cozy. And noisy!"

"Noisy?"

"Did you know that you snore?"

"I guess I never told you about the time that I kept my whole platoon awake one night. Even my platoon sergeant wasn't brave enough to wake me up or poke me so that I would roll over or something. Please be advised that you have permission to nudge me or something any time I snore and wake you up! Did I keep you awake?"

"No, I seem to be able to go back to sleep as soon as I know that the noise is you. What makes it interesting is that you seem to have quite a repertoire of snores. You've got one that would probably make a rogue elephant back off. The one I like best is sort of a buzz that is almost as relaxing as listening to a cat purr."

"Stef the pussycat, ay? Riiight. That, my dear, is classified information."

"Oh goody! Finally some blackmail material!"

"So much for fun. Terri, we've got a pretty good walk ahead of us. How big a breakfast do you need?"

"Well, gee. What are you having for breakfast?"

"Usually, all I need is my Tibetan coffee. However, unless you have been on something a whole lot different than the standard American diet, I think you will need more than that. How does a couple of soft-boiled eggs over buckwheat groats sound to you?

"My stomach just growled so I guess it approves. Tibetan coffee? What's that?"

I laughed, "It's my takeoff on Tibetan yak butter tea."

"You have my permission to speak English any time now."

I gave Terri a hug and a kiss on her forehead. "Okay, give me a hand getting the dinette set back up and I promise to bore you with English."

"Promises, promises."

"No, no. This is a quid pro quo."

Terri gave me a puzzled look for a moment and then had a flash of understanding, "Oops! You're right. I missed that one!" She gave me a playful punch on my arm.

Over breakfast I explained how I had come across references to yak butter tea ever since I had been in high school. Finally, I came across one mention too many and decided to pursue it to a definitive definition.

The constants in the recipes that I found seemed to be yak butter, water, agitation, and bricks of dried tea leaves. Salt was common in the recipes that I found, but not a constant. The adaptation of the Tibetan recipe that I had arrived at was hot coffee and butter frothed together with a blender or a milk frother. I had discovered that the brew usually gave me enough get-up-and-go to get through a whole morning unless I was doing pretty heavy labor.

After breakfast, Terri and I got our gear together for the hike. The walking sticks were the only pieces of equipment that caught Terri's attention as being a bit unusual—especially mine.

"My gosh! That looks like a spear!"

"Yeah, that's what it started out as. I made it on a lark and expected it to be a wall hanger or a conversation piece. I had fun putting it together and then I discovered that it is the world's best walking stick.

"The blade is mostly a conversation starter, but it does give me a sense of security whether I need it or not. The crosspiece or hunting stop gives me something to hold onto when I am using it for balance like when crossing really big blow-downs. The steel foot will last forever even while thunking down onto rocky trails for miles and miles. The Dymondwood shaft is stronger than any wood, and, if I take the spearhead off, that exposes a camera mount so that I can use the stick as a monopod."

"Uh, if you have that fine piece of overkill, why do I need a walking stick?"

"The good news is that nine times out of ten, you don't. The bad news is that Murphy's Law functions most often and most reliably when your equipment is deficient in one way or another. The creek runs pretty fast and deep and a third foot goes a long ways toward helping you keep your balance!"

"And this piece of wood is my walking stick?"

"Yeah, I cut that out of a chunk of green aspen and peeled the bark off the day I got here. It should be nice and dry and smooth for you to use."

"So, you knew I was coming?" Terri said with a grin.

"Don't I wish. Actually, it was just a nice piece of aspen lying next to the woodpile and I decided that I could have something for my hands to do while I sat down and watched the hummingbirds argue at the feeder."

With a grin, I added, "I expect that it will be used by one of my nephews when the family gets together next week. I'll be able to tell him that it was tested out by the prettiest girl on the planet."

I got a funny look from Terri which she punctuated with a light blush and a short, "Flirt!"

We started off by crossing a couple of muddy sloughs and then crossed the main branch of the big creek. Terri changed from her flip flops to her hiking boots and we headed upstream along the old fishing trail.

There were some steep spots, but for the most part it was a nice hike in the Rocky Mountain sunshine with melodious accompaniment from the rushing stream alongside the trail. I was careful to keep our pace comfortably within Terri's ability to suck oxygen out of the thin air.

Not too long after the noon hour, we had arrived at what I think is an old abandoned mining camp several miles upstream. "Unless you are feeling especially energetic, this is usually where I cool off and turn around."

"So this is a mining camp? How do you know that?"

"This wasn't a trapper's cabin since you can find the remains of several buildings here. I may be wrong, but this doesn't look like a productive place for a logging camp—especially on this side of the creek. And finally, you saw the signs marking placer mining claims on the trail we just hiked on. I understand that there used to be a lot of claims along this creek all the way up to hard rock mining operations at the headwaters to placer claims all the way down to the river. In fact, I had an Army buddy who had a placer claim downstream inside what is now wilderness area."

"So, I gather that here is where we will have lunch, right?" I nodded and she continued, "Can we get into some shade to eat? I was cold last night, but now I feel like I've been marching through an oven. As a matter of fact, I hope that I brought enough water!"

"Well, before eating I usually hop into the creek and cool off a bit. Let's go over to the bend over there where it's a little easier to get to the creek."

"Oh. Kaay." Terri looked around a bit nervously. "Is this an exercise in skinny dipping? The pervert I'm hiking with didn't tell me to bring a swimsuit."

I grinned, "The pervert usually, but not always, brings a swimsuit. Today, he brought two."

"Well, heck. Why didn't you just tell me to bring a swimsuit?"

"Two reasons. One, if it was hot and sunny, I wanted it to be a surprise. Two, the water is cold, and after last night, I didn't want you to feel any sense of obligation to try it. I figured that if I provided a surprise swimsuit you would feel the least amount of obligation to use it; especially since it's just the same ugly thing I'm using."

"Allll right. Just how ugly is this particular duckling?"

I proceeded to pull a stuff bag out of my pack, opened it up, and shook the contents out: two lumps of black fabric and one lump of gray fabric. I picked up one of the black lumps and shook it out. "Black nylon running shorts, both the same size. Obviously, you and I are not exactly the same shape and size, but these fit me and I'm sure that they will work for you. Being nylon, it dries fast and hardly takes up any space in the pack."

I shook out the gray fabric to reveal a nylon gym T-shirt. "This is a bit loose for me, so it ought to fit you about right."

"Where is your shirt?" She gave me a lopsided grin. "You said you brought two of the same swimsuit."

"All right, I misspoke. Maybe I should have said that I did the best I could without giving the whole game away. After all, I don't normally pack a lady's wardrobe with me in the trailer. I emphasize that I'm NOT saying that you have to try this. If you don't want to get wet, that's entirely your call and doesn't cause you to lose or gain points in my book or anything like that."

"No, it's all right. I'm teasing. It is hot and I'm interested in giving it a try—as long as you promise you're not planning to drown me so you can collect on my inheritance... uh, I mean my insurance."

I rolled my eyes a bit and replied, "No, I certainly don't PLAN to drown you, but I will say that I do NOT know where redline is on my tease-o-meter!"

"Okay, pax. Now do we go and run and change in the bushes or just change in front of each other?"

"Uh, I figure that's the lady's call. What are you comfortable with?"

"Back to back works for me as long as you promise not to cheat."

"That works for me too. Oh, and I promise. Go ahead and find a dry spot where you can put your pack and clothes."

In a few minutes we were about ten feet apart and standing back-to-back on the bank of the creek. Terri gave the signal to go and we proceeded to change into our "swimming" gear.

I think that Terri finished first, but I didn't check because I didn't want to turn around and show off the epic stiffy that Little Stefan had elected to start sporting. Instead, as soon as I finished dressing, I started moving into the creek without turning toward Terri.

I found a little hollow that was big enough and deep enough to lie down in and proceeded to lower myself into the water. As usual, my body was NOT happy with the temperature transition and caused me to move jerkily and with some groaning that got past my teeth which were holding onto my lower lip. When I was all the way into the water, I closed my eyes and concentrated on letting my body acclimate to the running water. During this process, Little Stefan managed to lose all interest in standing tall which I found reassuring.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Terri standing about ankle-deep in the water watching me. "Hey, I thought you were going to wear the T-shirt!"

"What? And treat you to a wet T-shirt contest? I don't think so. Besides I think that the halter top I was hiking in is much more lady-like. Don't you agree?"

"If you want to jump in while wearing a wedding dress, it's your call. All I want is for you to watch your step and not slip and crack your skull."

"How do you suggest I do this? The way you did it didn't look like too much fun."

"Well, you can ease in like I did, or you can do what some folks say works best and just jump in all at once."

"I've seen videos of Polar Bear Club people jumping into holes in the ice, so that tells me that is most likely the best way to go." Terri pulled off her halter top, threw it to the bank, and moved out to a spot that she figured she could splash down in.

Seeing Terri topless was enough of a surprise that it almost felt like a bolt of lightning had gone through my body! For the moment she was the living image of every beautiful, nubile woman that ever existed! Little Stefan managed to surprise me; in spite of the cold water he was impressed enough that he managed to start rising—like a bloody periscope was the thought that ran through my head.

Terri found a good spot and proceeded to splash down. Her splash was followed by an eruption! "AIEEEE! OHMYFUCKINGGODTHATWATERISCOLD!!

The first thing I saw after shaking the water out of my eyes was Terri standing in the creek with water streaming off of her with her pert breasts pointing out at a very perky angle and capped with now very prominent nipples!

"Stefan, how in hell do you stand it? It doesn't feel bad on my feet, but, I swear, this water is colder than dry ice!"

"Once you're in the water, it takes about thirty seconds for the body to acclimate and decide that it is not going to die. I have never managed it, but some folks say that after you get used to it, it actually feels pleasant."

"Right! And boiling in oil is painless!"

I will give Terri credit. She did not give up. She slowly oozed down into the water similar to how I had gotten into it. The process was accompanied with an interesting sound track of squeaks and groans and curses, but she made it; and she stayed there until I decided that I had had enough!

"Terri, I normally stand here by the creek and shake the water off until I am about half dry and then put my clothes on."

"Fuck that! Let's get up into the sunshine right now!" Suiting action to words, Terri grabbed her pack and clothes in her wet arms and headed right up the bank to the biggest and hottest patch of sunshine she could find. I followed her example and then found a nice fallen aspen that we could sit on and have some food. We kicked off our footgear to dry our feet in the grass, opened our packs to bring out the food, and settled in for lunch.

Lunch was the most delicious torture that I had ever been exposed to, what with the most gorgeous woman in the world sitting an arms length from me and with her beautiful bare breasts pointing directly at me! Oh, and the trail food tasted really good too after our hike and the cold baths; but frankly, I'm surprised that I noticed the taste of anything at all!