After the third pull from Henry's self-manufactured pipe, she passed it to Jelly in the seat beside her and realized it was beginning to hit her...hard.
Suddenly, the lyrics to "Strawberry Fields" coming though the rear speakers of the ancient bus whining its way through the foothills began to take on a whole new meaning. She'd heard them probably hundreds of times in the past, but had never really listened.
But with Henry's self-made magic...that's what he called it and it just seemed to stick...fogging the bus...she began to understand. Just as Henry's magic had opened her eyes to many things as of late.
At eighteen and in her first year of college, Liz was far too younger to remember the Beatles, the Doors (another of Henry's favorites) or much else of the 60s. But if the 60s had been anything like the club, Liz wished that she'd been around back then.
Glancing around the packed bus, she noticed again the posters plastered around its interior walls; Jimi Hendrix, the Stones, Janice Joplin...there was even a psychedelic thing that Liz was clueless about. But Jelly had told her if you stare at it long enough, the meaning would become clear.
As of it yet, despite Henry's magic, it hadn't. Perhaps she needed another hit.
Liz had found the club during her first few days in school.
During orientation week, there had been a couple of club sign-up days. Wandering along the tables and stands set up by the various clubs on campus, she worried at first that she may never fit in anywhere. She didn't identify with much of what was presented there, until finally, at the end of the rows, she spotted what looked to be some sort of hippie gathering.
The club members wore colorful tie-dyed shirts, buckskin vests with fringes, beads, bell-bottom jeans and all manner of late 60s garb. They wore their hair long for the most part and, to Liz's delight...they all seemed to be very friendly and accepting of just about anything and anyone.
Liz immediately joined and began her journey back in time with the group.
She soon discovered that many of the club members took the ideals of the group seriously...in addition to the music and styles of the 60s, the group firmly believed in much of the principles that the original "hippies" had espoused...they often held antiwar demonstrations in various locations...they believed in free love and peace.
Open nudity, just like the Summer of Love hippies of San Francisco, was welcomed and accepted around the club at their activities. In fact, as the bus rolled upwards towards the mountains where the club was headed for a three-day campout filled with music and other festivities...Liz and Jelly were totally nude in the seat next to each other, having stripped off nearly as soon as the bus had departed from campus.
Among the twenty-five or so members of the club on the bus, they were the only two thus far to be completely naked, but Liz knew from past experience that by the time they reached the campgrounds, that would change.
Jelly grinned as she passed Liz the pipe again.
Liz really had no idea why they called her Jelly, but somehow, the name seemed to fit her. She was older than Liz by a couple of years and beautiful. Jelly was probably one of the nicest, most easy-going people that Liz had ever met...and as she reached for the pipe, she noticed again that Jelly's bare breasts were larger than hers.
Many of the girls in the club, Jelly included, had abandoned shaving in favor of the natural way. Jelly's dark bush grew thick and unruly between her thighs. As of yet however, Liz had been unable to completely forgo the ritual, and still kept hers neatly trimmed...she also couldn't yet bear the thought of underarm hair.
As the Beatles gave way to Jim Morrison on the sound system, Liz suddenly had to pee.
The three bottles of water that she'd downed during the trip were pressing against her bladder with increasing urgency.
"HENRY!" she yelled over Jim Morrison towards the front of the bus. "I HAVE TO PEE!"
Miraculously, from the driver's seat, Henry heard her over the melee'.
"ANYONE ELSE NEED A PEE STOP?" he called, turning Jim down just a bit.
Several hands went up, both male and female among the club members, accompanied by verbal acknowledgments of the fact that some of the group indeed needed relief.
Slowing the bus, Henry pulled to the right, onto the shoulder of the two-lane mountain highway next to a growth of high brush along the edge.
With a whoosh, he pulled the lever to open the front and back doors of the school bus from another era.
Rising, Liz made her way naked and barefoot behind the group of people headed out of the back door for relief.
Once onto the pavement in the bright sun, she felt the gravely texture of the shoulder under her soles and realized how high she really was.
It was a very warm day and as the sweat rolled off of her, she was glad she was naked. Finding a spot behind the brush, away from the others, she squatted to relieve herself finally.
The bottles of water had filled her bladder to what seemed like the bursting point, and it took a moment to relax.
As she listened to the other voices of the group...some of them already finished and heading back to the bus, she let loose, as a thick, hard stream hit the gravel under her feet.
It felt so good to at last relieve herself and she peed long and hard...much longer in fact than she'd expected.
Suddenly, she heard the bus engine wind up.
Peering through the brush, she watched as the final member of the group, a young man, entered the rear door of the bus, and Henry closed it with another whoosh.
"WAIT!" she called out at the top of her lungs, still pressing the urine from her body, "I'M STILL OUT HERE!"
To her horror, her cries went unheeded as the bus's engine continued to rise.
A thick, black cloud of diesel smoke exited the tailpipe as Henry dropped the transmission into gear.
Terrified, and still peeing, Liz scooted forwards on her bare feet and waved her arms frantically.
"HENRY! WAIT! I'M STILL OUT HERE!" she screamed again.
But the bus lurched forwards, groaning and complaining loudly as it pulled back onto the road, headed up into the mountains.
Then it was gone, disappearing over the crest of the hill in the distance, leaving Liz stranded and naked behind the brush on the side of the road.
Finally, the last of her urine fell from her body and she stood, in shock and disbelief at the fact that they'd left her behind. All of her clothes were on the bus and she had nothing to cover herself with.
Surely, she thought, they'd realize their mistake at any moment and turn around for her.
But as she waited, behind the brush, the moments turned into minutes.
Finally, after what she thought had to have been at least an hour...she realized that they weren't coming back...at least not any time soon and her fogged brain began to panic.
She was completely naked on the side of the road, miles from anywhere, with no way to get home or to get to the campground.
The pavement burned under feet.
It was one thing to be nude with the group...but to be left naked on the highway was something else entirely.
Out of nowhere, a car appeared, racing its way up the road in her direction. Panicking again, Liz crouched, covering herself behind the brush as it passed right by her with a young man behind the wheel.
Then, she realized how stupid that was.
It could have been her way out.
On the other hand, she thought, she couldn't just go waving down any car she saw. She was naked after all...and who knew what kind of people she might encounter.
Yet, she also knew she couldn't possibly walk all the way down, back out of the mountains. She didn't know exactly how far from the campus she was, but she did know that they had driven for at least a couple of hours.
She had no idea exactly how far away the campgrounds were, but she did know that Henry had mentioned that they would drive at least another hour or so through the mountains.
Looking around her, Liz took stock as she crouched behind the brush. To the left of her was the two-lane road with mountainous boulders jutting out from all angles at the edge of it. To her right was an embankment that led down a steep side to what seemed like oblivion.
In front and behind her, the road stretched out as far as she could see...uphill one way and downhill the other.
For all intents and purposes, as far as Liz could surmise...she was trapped.
Another hour, by her estimation, passed as she sat on the hard ground behind the brush. Her brain had cleared, but the fear remained. Several cars had come her way, but as of yet, she hadn't been able to muster the courage to wave any of them down.
Still, as the sun moved towards afternoon, she realized that she would soon be out of options...she was going to have to do something.
With an exhale, she pushed herself to her feet.
Peering through the brush again, she saw that the road was deserted.
Maybe, she thought, she could walk behind it until someone came by. She feared the possible consequences of flagging down a motorist...she was just an eighteen year old girl after all. But, maybe, if she chose carefully, she would run across a nice person who would help her.
Liz still couldn't believe that anyone on the bus...especially Jelly, hadn't noticed that she was missing.
She grew angry at them.
How could they leave her stranded, completely nude on the side of the road like that?
But, her anger didn't help her.
She had to get out of this situation somehow before dark.
Steeling her nerve, she set out behind the brush walking upwards. She figured she was probably much closer to the campgrounds; therefore, some form of help, than she was the city at the bottom of the mountains.
The road remained empty as she padded along with the gravel digging into her feet. The shoulder on the other side of it was smoother, she saw, but she didn't really want to walk along the open road naked.
After a while, maybe half an hour or so, she thought, she realized that her choice was made for her as the brush thinned, growing ever shorter, until finally, she reached the end of it.
She stopped a moment.
Past the end of the brush, lay nothing but the open road. She would either have to turn back or continue on, totally exposed on the side of it.
Exhaling again for resolve, she faced her choice and set off as the brush disappeared, finally walking naked and exposed along the side of the road.
The sun beat down on her and she sweat bullets as she moved along the incline, wondering if the choice to walk uphill had been the best one.
After more time had passed, her feet began to hurt and she cursed herself for not waving down a car sooner.
It was odd, she noticed...walking along naked like that. She'd been naked before in places with the club, but never alone out in public. She'd especially never walked naked alongside a highway before.
If the circumstances had been different, she thought, she might actually have enjoyed it. The idea was kind of exciting...and she noticed her nipples stiffen somewhat at it.
But this was no time for that. She pushed it away and concentrated on the task at hand, placing one foot in front of the other as the sweat poured from her naked body.
Finally, as the road steepened, and she regretted her choice of direction, she heard the sound of an engine winding up the hill behind her.
Swallowing hard, she turned to face it and stuck her thumb out.
As the sound drew closer, she spotted the emerging silhouette of a motorcycle, atop which sat a man.
Instinctively, Liz withdrew her arm and tried to cover herself, crossing one arm in front of her breasts. With her other hand, she tried to cover her vagina...praying that the man would pass her by.
But it was too late.
Spotting the naked young girl hitchhiking on the side of the road, the man slowed the bike towards the shoulder and pulled over, stopping right in front of her.
