This story is based on a close friend's recollection of her relationship with an older gentleman when she was young. It begins when she is a young soldier stationed in Germany in the 1970's and befriends an older German gentleman. This part one of a series that takes the reader through her sexual and fetish awakening...
My name is Rose. I am from Philly- Kensington to be more precise. A poor neighborhood, rife with gangs, poverty, and a large homeless population- at least when I lived there in the 60's and 70's. My family was part of the small Polish population that settled there and never seemed to find a way out. Childhood was not a happy time for me. I learned how to ride the El for free and make my way from K&A way to the shipyards. I could spend all day there watching the ships come and go, daydreaming of exotic places travel could take me to. Mostly I would be dreaming of leaving Philly. One could find scraps of food at the shipyards too, although I can't imagine doing that now. But the shipyard was the happy place of my childhood.
People nicknamed me 'Olive Oyl' because I was such a skinny girl and tall at 5'8". That little girl learned at an early age, that no matter the circumstance, you must create your own happy place- you must make it happen. I have been back to Philly several times, but not to the shipyards. It is no longer my place...maybe it belongs to some other little girl now. Instead, I moved on the only way I could. I enlisted in the Army. My mother told me, "Only whores do that". She thought I should just find a man to support me. I didn't take her advice.
My story begins when I was a young soldier stationed on my first tour in Germany in the summer of 1977. The Army was good fit for me in some ways. This inner-city girl could take care of herself, and I tended to make sure others knew that. Under a tough exterior I was quite shy and did not make friends easily. Some things even the Army didn't change.
Physically, like most of my family, I matured with a much more athletic body. But unlike the other women in my family, I had sprouted much larger boobs (36D) and relatively long legs. I have light gray eyes that matched well with my then dark ash blond hair. Back then I wore it in a short shaggy haircut. My best feature though was my long, well-toned legs.
One of my favorite activities off base were the German schwimmbads. I dove into whatever culture I found myself in during my Army days and in Germany, this was one of those wonderful experiences for me. If you have never been to one, it is one of the most exhilarating experiences you can have. I adore a quiet day reading, soaking in the hot tubs, relaxing in the saunas, swimming in the pools all nude. It was a great escape. This schwimmbad had an outdoor area as well. I love being naked, especially outdoors.
I met Gebhard there. He was an older gentleman who he spoke English quite well. I am not quite sure of his age, but I assume in his 60s as he was mostly retired. So, the age difference between us might have been 40 years. We met in the sauna and were the only two in there the day we first met.
Gephard looked like many of the older gentleman who frequented the: gray hair covering much of his body, a big belly, a clean-shaven face and balding in top. The sweat rolling down over matted hair didn't help. Contrast that with my then young athletic body, and shaved legs, pits, and pubes. It was the type of contrast that was common in the schwimmbad. Really quite a variety of people who enjoyed relaxing nude. Gephard struck up a conversation with me. Most people were quiet in there, but I guess with just the two of us it seemed okay. I think he was fascinated by this young American Female, and I didn't mind the attention.
"You are an American?" Gebhard inquired.
Caught off guard it took me a moment to answer.
"Ah, yes, I just got stationed here", I responded.
"Oh, you are a soldier then." he concluded.
"Yes", I confirmed.
"You like the bath house, Gephard guessed. "Not too many Americans feel comfortable here".
"No worries for me. The first time I came was on women's day, but mostly now I come on open days." I explained.
"Well good for you. My name is Gebhard, by the way".
"Hello Gebhard, I am Rose."
"Good to meet you Rose" Gephard added.
Just then a women entered the sauna and our conversation ended. Except for the obligatory, 'Guten Tag' she quietly placed her towel on the bench and sat down. It was silent for several minutes, until I decided I had had quite enough of the sauna for the moment. I got up, grabbed my towel, nodded to Gebhard, and walked out. I rinsed off at a nearby showerhead and returned to my lounge chair to read.
Ten minutes later, I watched Gephard leave the sauna, and dunk himself in the nearby cold-water bath. I had never tried that myself but made a mental note to put it on my bucket list. I kept watching as he climbed out of the bath. As he stood, I noticed that like the rest of his body, he was very hairy down there. So much so that coupled with his gut hanging down one could barely make out a penis there. He was also uncircumcised which seemed common here but not something I had seen with the men I dated. During my time in the sauna, I purposely looked him in the eyes so I would not look down there.
He looked in my direction and smiled as he walked over and took a lounge chair beside me. People here are so comfortable being nude that I wondered if they noticed the things I did when I was there. In any case I put it out of my mind when continued our conversation. Gephard and I had a mostly vanilla conversation, and he was easy talk to. It was kind of nice to have someone to chat with for a change and he was a very nice man. I never got hit on when I was there, but with the age difference between us I felt comfortable that he had just a platonic interest in me. At this point in my life, I had been with more women than men and most of my male relationships did not end well.
After that first encounter, we would see each other there from time to time. It could be several weeks or months in between, but we always caught up with each other's lives. He genuinely seemed interested. The conversations were always innocent; however, I do recall one conversation about pubic hair that crossed the line to a bit more personal.
"Do all American women shave so much of their hair?" Gephard asked. "Not so many American girls come to this side of the facility, but when they do, I see that many of them do shave." He continued.
I thought, Surely, he knows the answer to that question, but I went along anyway.
"I guess many do Gephard, especially our legs and armpits." I offered.
"And sometimes other areas" he continued.
"I guess so", I muttered.
"I don't want to make you uncomfortable, Rose, personally I like hair on a woman, but you are still a very attractive young lady." He teased.
It was the only time he made me feel a little self-conscious: Realizing that he was looking that closely at my private areas. But at the time I must have stood out as most adults, had some pubic hair: Some trimmed nicely and some just let it grow natural. It depended on age I guess, as some of the younger women seemed to keep more body hair than older women in Europe.
I am not sure if it was curiosity or the fun of toying with him, but after that conversation I began to lay off on the shaving of my pubic area and armpit hair. I was not ready at that time to let my legs go because it showed off the shapeliness of my legs. It also would have been more obvious during PT. Still, it was quite liberating. My natural hair is very light, very fine and thin, so I took some time to even be noticeable. Besides, kind of liked it. As it grew in, it made me fit in with the bath house crowd if not in the barracks shower. I had heard fellow soldiers use the term dyke more than once when referring to me but, I considered myself bisexual. So, my new look gave them something to more talk about.
