Before I entered the world of New England college academia, as described in other stories I have written here, I worked for a couple of years as a high school English teacher in a small town in Minnesota.
The town, with a population of 2,500, was boring, and the school was boring. In an effort to liven things up a bit, I decided to start a Little Theatre company for both students and adults, and the school was gracious enough to allow me to use their stage free of charge.
One of the first plays we did was Wait Until Dark, which was about a young and beautiful blind girl who is terrorized by three burglars who break into her apartment. After tryouts, the girl I selected for the lead was Katie Knudsen. She and her sister Kendall were fraternal twins, and they did everything together, so Kendall volunteered to be the stage manager for the production.
Like many of the families in Minnesota, the Knudsens were of Scandinavian descent. The father was a forest ranger, and the mother was a housewife, who had apparently decided to be very productive in a short period of time. She had produced the oldest sister, Kathy, in one year, the twins, Katie and Kendall, in the next year, and finally, the last one, Kristin, in the third year. Now, Kathy was 19 and in her first year at the University of Minnesota, Katie and Kendall were about to turn 18 and in their last year of high school, and Kristin was 17 and a junior in high school.
And like many Scandinavian ladies, these girls were absolutely beautiful. All of them were blonde and blue-eyed, with beautiful figures. The whole family became part of the theatre company, with the mother offering to be in charge of costumes, and the father helping with set construction.
The month was May, and the oldest daughter, Kathy, had just returned from college. Kathy was about five-foot-eight with shoulder-length blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes and the figure of a gymnast—which is what she had been at college. I was single at the time, and I guess the family felt sorry for me living alone, so they invited me to a Sunday dinner at their house.
"Mr. Baxter, do you like camping?" Kathy asked me as we were sitting around the table.
"Oh, I don't know. I've never done it. Why?"
"Well, I was planning to go camping this weekend with my college boyfriend Mark in Chinoqueg State Park, but he can't get away because he has to work, and Daddy doesn't want me to go alone," she said sarcastically. "Would you want to come?"
"Kathy...." Her mother began.
I thought about it for a moment. It sounded like it actually might be fun, and I had no plans for that weekend. "Sure," I said.
"Great! I have all the camping equipment and two sleeping bags. All you will have to bring is whatever you want to eat—or to drink."
"Okay."
"I was going to go in Mark's car, but he's not here, so can we use your car?"
"Of course."
"Could you pick me up Saturday morning around eight?"
"Okay."
"Are you sure you want to do this, Donald?" Kathy's mother asked. "Spending a weekend with a teenager like Kathy can be a trial."
I smiled at her. "I'm sure it will be fun." I didn't know then just how much fun it was going to be.
II—Kathy
I picked Kathy up at eight that Saturday and within an hour we were pulling into the reserved campsite at the state park.
We pitched the tent together and spread the sleeping bags out inside.
We spent most of the day hiking through the park and then ate a hearty campfire dinner of burgers, salad and some white wine that I had brought. I didn't know what the legal drinking age was in this state, but I told Kathy she could have some as long as she didn't tell anyone else about it.
She actually had quite a bit more than some since it was a large bottle. So by the time she was ready for bed, she was feeling pretty good and in a chipper mood.
"I'll go in the tent and change first, then you can change," she suggested.
"Why don't you just hand me the bag with my pajamas in it, and I'll change out here while you're changing," I suggested. "It's dark enough."
"Okay."
By the time I had changed into my pajamas, I could feel the night getting quite a bit colder. This was after all early May, so the nights were still cold.
And that's why I was a little surprised when I got in the tent and saw Kathy sitting up in her sleeping bag clad only in a pair of thin white silk pajamas. I laughed.
"What are you laughing about?" she asked.
"Your pajamas. At least I'm wearing warm flannels. Your pajamas look more suited to a romantic night with your boyfriend." The two points at the front of her pajamas also made it apparent she was not wearing anything underneath them—at least on top.
"That's what it was supposed to be," she said. "Besides, this is all I had."
"Let's hope the sleeping bags are warm enough then." I crawled into my bag, zipped it up, and turned out the battery-operated camping lamp Kathy had brought.
But even with flannels, I could feel after a half hour that the tent was getting quite chilly.
"I'm starting to get cold," Kathy said.
"It's going to be a cold night."
"We could zip the sleeping bags together into a double bag. I think that would be warmer."
"Do you want to?"
"Yes."
So we both crawled out of our sleeping bags, spread them out, and zipped them together. Looking at the nice view of her silk-clad bottom when she turned away from me, I could see that she was apparently not wearing anything under them either, since there was no panty line.
She crawled into the double sleeping bag first, and I followed, zipping the bag up after me.
"I think this will make us warmer," she said.
"I'm feeling warmer already." I assumed she would not know how I meant that.
"Can I cuddle with you to get warm?" she asked.
"Of course."
She scooted over, put her arm around my chest and lifted her right leg over mine. Now she was really making me warm, and I hoped she would not notice that I had the beginning of an erection.
"This is better," she said, snuggling up.
"You said it." I put my arm about her and pulled her close.
"It will take me awhile to get warm. I can always tell when I'm cold."
"How's that?"
"Give me your hand and I'll show you."