--------------------------------------------------------------------

Welcome to the Church of The Reverend Cotton Mather.  This story is
the sole property of the author, and may not be copied or downloaded 
for the intent of profit. Permission is freely given for anyone to 
download or copy for their personal pleasure or use, as long as 
there is no intent to charge money or barter for the privilege of 
acquiring this material.

   (Copyright 2005, revisions c. 2007, R.C. Mather)

E-Mail all comments to RevCottonMather at hotmail dot com
Don't be shy!  I enjoy hearing from you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------


THE COMPETITIVE EDGE:
PLAYING THE GAME III

A Novel

by R.C. Mather



- 45 -

HIDDEN FROM THE WORLD



It was a very busy summer. Sometimes it was very satisfying, and in
other ways, it was incredibly frustrating.

Lori McMasters had had a little girl. They scheduled the christening
for a Sunday late in May. Both Kayla and I had received invitations
to attend, and Lori called me to make sure I was coming.

"Of course I'll be there," I said.

"Good," she said. "It's important to David and me that you are there."

"Why?" I asked, truly puzzled about why my attendance was important.
After all, Sundays were for instructor training sessions, and so, on
that weekend, I had to send Theo, Eric, and Trent off to Kankakee on
their own.

"Because you are our friend," she replied simply. I couldn't argue
with that logic.

Kay and I went to the church and got there early enough to be able
to sit up close. Kayla was wearing a breezy summer dress, and I had
on my one and only suit. I was wearing a polo shirt, though, with no
tie. It was warm, and I opted for comfort over formality. Kayla
smiled at my attire when I picked her up, but didn't tell me I should
stop at home and change, so I assumed it was okay.

It wasn't until after the service, at a banquet hall David and Lori
had reserved for their friends, that I found out more about why Lori
was so insistent concerning my attendance. Kayla found it all quite
hilarious, but wouldn't fill me in on her joke. I finally asked David
about it, and he looked at me with a funny expression.

"What's our little girl's name, Mr. P.?" he asked.

"Shawna Joyce McMasters," I replied, having memorized her middle
name, just in case somebody asked me.

"Right you are," said David. "Joyce for my mother. Can't you guess
why Shawna?"

"Let's see... Lori's mother..."

"Her name is Evelyn," said David. He was smiling now.

"I knew that," I said, almost defensively. I had known it, even if I
had forgotten it.

He prompted me by suggesting, "Shawna? Could it be the feminine
version of..."

I looked at him in shock. "What? No way," I gasped.

He smiled even bigger. "Way," he confirmed. "Whatever Mrs. M. wants,
Mrs. M. gets as far as I'm concerned, and she was pretty darned firm
about this." He clapped me on the back, nearly sending me into the
salad buffet, and had a good laugh.

I stalked back over to the table where Kayla was sitting, with Molly
and Josh.

"You knew about this?" I asked accusingly.

Kayla smiled sweetly, completely disarming me. "I figured it out,
silly. You could have too, you know."

"I just never dreamed..."

"That she loved you that much? She does, Sean."

I glanced at Molly for a little help here, but she was smiling and
nodding her head. For his part, Josh was wisely staying out of the
way.

"But..." I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound
hollow. Lori loved me? Yeah, I guess I knew she did. And I loved her,
too. As a friend and a supporter, she was unbeatable. I hoped she
thought of me the same way I thought of her.

I looked over at Lori, standing now with her arm around David's
waist. David was tenderly holding Shawna in his arms, completely
wrapped up in her presence. Lori glanced up at him, and I could see
her love for him suffused on her face. I was beginning to understand.

I looked over the room and spotted Davey and Kip. They were growing
up, and though they would always be close, they were moving more
within their own individual circles. In fact, this summer, for the
first time, they would be in different camps. Both of them were
highly skilled players for their age groups, but Davey, a year older
than Kip, a year bigger and more mature, belonged in the middle
school group. Kip could compete with them, but he was smaller, and
would be better off acting as one of the better grade-school
competitive players.

I had worked out my summer schedule so that I was on the road every
other week. I promised Davey and Kip I would work with them every
other Saturday. I didn't want them getting burned out on soccer, but
I also wanted to teach them while they still wanted to learn. It was
good for them and it was good for me. I could forget about running
camps and clinics and rediscover my own love for the game.

Kayla scooted her chair closer to me and threaded her arm through
mine. She clasped my hand in hers, our arms intertwined. I turned to
her and kissed her on her temple. At that moment, in that place, I
felt happy and content, better than I had felt in a long, long time.



* * * * * * * * * *


The only spare time I had was during the few weeks before the camps
and clinics started up. I was on the road most weekends, but the
weekdays were, for the most part, mine. Danielle and Keisha had
scoured the want ads for office space to let, and I followed up on
the ones they circled in the newspaper. I marked down the locations I
thought might work, and then, with Mr. Lehigh's help, I began the
processes of elimination and negotiation. He went with me to look at
the ones I liked, and he acted as my agent talking to landlords.
Leasing agents would most certainly take him a lot more seriously
than they would a twenty-year-old college kid, and I was grateful for
the assistance.

After looking at space in industrial areas, commercial spots, and
cheap, rundown rooms in the back of retail stores, we settled on a
roomy, open loft on the second floor of one of the older buildings in
the small downtown area of our community. The building was nearly one
hundred years old, but had been lovingly maintained by its fourth-
generation owners, the Sackett family. It was a block down from
Lehigh Drugs, and Mr. Lehigh and John Sackett had been friends since
high school.

The three of us were standing in the stuffy, dusty loft, looking
around one more time. It was my third visit, and Mr. Lehigh's second.
The first two times, a real-estate broker had been involved, but this
time it was just the three of us.

"So, what do you think, Irwin?" asked Mr. Sackett. He had on a pair
of bib overalls. There was a claw hammer in a loop at his waist, and
a very old, wooden-handled screwdriver stuck out of a pocket.

Mr. Lehigh looked at me inquiringly.

"It looks pretty big," I said.

"It is pretty big," said Mr. Lehigh. "I think it's a little too big
for you for right now, but it'll be a space your business can grow
into comfortably."

I smiled tightly. I was envisioning dollar bills flying out the
window every month, whether I used the space or not. "You've got a
lot more confidence in this business than I have," I said.

Mr. Lehigh looked at me seriously. He took a step back, toward Mr.
Sackett, and put his hands on his hips. "What does your garage at
home look like, Sean?"

"Oh, man, it's stuffed," I said. "My dad's always on me to..." I
stopped, thinking about our garage and my dad's haranguing.

Mr. Lehigh smiled then. "To what?" he asked gently.

Chagrined, I replied, "To get my soccer stuff out of there so he can
actually park a car in the garage again."

"So, along with desk space, you need storage for your equipment,"
said Mr. Lehigh.

Mr. Sackett strode over to an outside wall. "Hell, I could throw up
some drywall about here," and he waved his arms expansively through
the air to indicate the placement of a wall. He stopped, and then
walked quickly to the front of the loft. "Better yet, put your
offices up here. Front window provides some light, and in the summer
you can put in one of them window air conditioner units to make it
comfortable." He paced off four steps and stopped. He looked up at
the open ceiling, and then at each of the side walls. "Yup, this'd
work. You got your heating ducts there," he said, pointing toward the
vents near the floor. "You got your 'lectricity, and I can run you
some more circuits if you need 'em. Telephone comes in the back, easy
to pull a couple of circuits up here. Phone, fax, whatever you need."

Mr. Lehigh glanced at me inquisitively, silently asking if I approved.

I shrugged in acquiescence.

"Okay, John. How much?" Mr. Lehigh and I stepped over to where Mr.
Sackett was standing, still looking up. He was probably trying to
picture how he would do the construction, even before we had agreed
on the space.

"Oh, I don't know, Irwin. Take me maybe three, four weeks to get it
ready. Shelving in the back, worktable, lighting... How many desks?"

Mr. Lehigh looked at me. "Three to start. No, make it four," I said.

"Hmmm... need to make it bigger up front, then," said Mr. Sackett,
nearly lost again in the wonderful puzzle we were presenting to him.

"Okay, John, enough," said Mr. Lehigh with a chuckle. "How much do
you want for rent?"

Mr. Sackett looked back at us. "And it's for this young man?" he
asked again, for about the hundredth time.

Mr. Lehigh laughed. "Yep," he said. "This young man is going to own
most of this town before long, if he keeps on the way he's been
going."

Mr. Sackett favored me with a shrewd look. "Sean - may I call you
Sean? - Sean, you have yourself a hell of a backer here."

"I know I do, sir. He's been helping me since the beginning."

Mr. Sackett snorted. "I ain't no sir, Sean. Hell, if I can call you
by your first name, you ought to be able to return the favor. My
name's John." He stuck out his hand, as if we were meeting for the
first time. I shook it, and John smiled tightly and nodded once.

"John? The price?" Mr. Lehigh broke in.

John Sackett laughed. "Ah, hell, I don't care," he said finally.
"Pay for the material on the construction, I'll build it myself. You
give me five years on the lease, option to renew, and I'll be glad to
have somebody in here, helping me to look after the place. Tell you
what. You and Irwin come up with what you think is a fair rent.
S'long as it pays my taxes and utilities, I'm happy." He looked at me
closely. "But you'll be responsible for repairs after we get this
thing built out. Fair enough?"

Mr. Lehigh smiled. He looked at me, and nodded his head.

I shrugged. 'It's only money. Money I didn't have enough of yet,
though the summer was shaping up to be able to take care of it.'
"Okay, Mr. Sackett..." He scowled at me in mock anger. "Sorry, I mean
John. I'll take it. It scares the shit out of me, though."

It just slipped out, but both Mr. Lehigh and John Sackett laughed
out loud.

"And well it should," said Mr. Lehigh. "But you'll be fine. I know
you will."



* * * * * * * * * *



John Sackett was good on his word. He began setting the studs for
the walls the next day, and within a week, it was all taking shape.
Danielle arranged for the utilities, and Keisha shopped for used
office furniture. Once the shelving was up and the back room swept
and mopped, I began to haul my equipment out of my dad's garage. I
had plenty of room, and I spent a couple of days getting organized.
South Bend, Kankakee, and the other camp locations had their own
areas of the storeroom, and I made sure everybody had what they
needed. I resupplied each first-aid kit and bought several more from
Lehigh Drugs for my new areas.

I asked John if he could wall off a conference room for us, too.

"Sure," he said. "Gonna cut into your storage space, though."

"We've still got a lot of space for storage. Besides, the back wall
of the conference room can be lined with shelves, too."

"Good thought," he said. He had his hand on his chin as he
calculated square footage for a modest conference room. Then, without
another word, he was off to mark up the floor.

Keisha and Danielle bought a big three-month calendar and tacked it
up on the wall in the office. They color-coded the types of camps and
the locations, and marked it all up for all of us to see. Once they
were satisfied with the result, they made a duplicate for the
conference room. My staff needed to know what was going on, as well
as the office people.

I drove down to Jesse's with his supplies of balls, cones, practice
jerseys, and the rest of the stuff he would need. I met with his
staff to discuss the summer, then we went out to one of the fields
and scrimmaged, four on four, Jesse and me and the instructors.
Playing with his people for an afternoon really gave me a good feel
for the strengths each of them brought to the program. Afterwards,
over pizza and sodas, Jesse and I discussed each of them in turn,
working out how he could best utilize their talents.

During that dinner, Jesse gave me some news.

"Dude, I'm going to have to revise our schedule a little," he said
hesitantly.

"Oh? How come?" I reached for another slice of sausage pizza.

He grinned at me. "I got a job," he said.

"Really? Cool. In soccer, I hope."

"Yup. In fact, we'll probably run into each other in the fall. I'm
taking the Maryland assistant's position."

I stared at him. "You're going to be one of Eric's coaches?" I asked.

He smiled and nodded.

"Oh, man, this I've got to see," I said. I reached across the table
and we grasped hands. "Congratulations, man. That's good news. When
do you have to be there?"

"I have to be there on Monday, the twelfth, so I'd like to make the
last day of camp Wednesday, August 7."

"Ah, hell, that's not cutting camp short by much. I don't think
it'll be a problem."

"Well... there's more," he said.

"Fire away," I said.

"This will be my last year running this camp," he said. "This is a
full-time position, and I'll be spending my summers scouting and
working on Maryland's clinics."

"Oh, yeah," I said. "You're out in the real world now, aren't you?
No more farting around in the summers."

He laughed. "If you can call getting paid to play and teach soccer
real world, I guess I am," he said. He looked at me seriously for a
moment. "But then, you are too, aren't you, Boss?"

His analysis took me by surprise. I had to think about it for a
minute. "Yeah," I slowly admitted, "I guess I am, too." I shrugged
and reached for another slice. "And it's still pretty damn fun, isn't
it?"

"You got that right," he agreed.

"Well, I don't want to give up this location," I said. "I guess our
main task this summer is finding somebody we both feel can take over.
Right?"

He nodded. "We'll find somebody," he said.



* * * * * * * * * *



By July, we did find somebody. In fact, it was a person I knew
already. Jesse's sister, Anna, had been a pretty decent soccer player
in high school. She was playing club soccer at college, which, at the
big schools, could get pretty competitive. On top of that, her major
was Elementary Education. She loved kids, and she loved working with
people who were working with kids. Jesse persuaded her to come to
work for us, and she quickly developed into the kind of manager and
leader we needed. She worked with the kids on relationships and
skills off the field, and let the instructors teach the skills of the
game on the field.

I also followed through with Danielle's suggestion and placed an ad
for part-time office help. I let Danielle and Keisha sift through the
applicants first, and they then presented the resumes and
applications to me. The girls were amused by the reactions they got
when the people applying for the job came in and saw a couple of
college girls doing the initial interviewing. They also saw no need
to let any of the applicants who made it past their screening process
know the final decision on their employment would be made by a twenty-
year-old kid. When I did second interviews, it was invariably amusing
to watch their faces when the applicants first came in and saw me at
my desk.

The most bizarre interview was a woman who came in and sat down in
front of me without saying a word. She had carried in a bunch of
shopping bags, which she dropped to the floor beside her. I glanced
from my work and saw her give out a big, theatrical sigh as she
looked around the office, an expression of distaste on her thin,
pinched face. Her evaluation of the decor included a cursory glance
at me. She apparently decided I could easily be ignored, because she
never acknowledged my presence. Instead, she turned in her chair and
looked at the plain walls, decorated thus far with only my three-
month planner. I decided to outwait her, to see what she would do. I
kept on working on my student evaluations, concentrating on the kids
instead of her. She sat there for a few minutes, putting up with the
silence, until she just couldn't stand it anymore. She rapped her
knuckles against the desktop to get my attention.

"Excuse me?" she asked petulantly. "I've got an appointment with Mr.
Porter for two-thirty. Can you please run off and find him for me?"

I looked up. "Sure," I said. "Who should I say is waiting?"

She gave me a put-upon look. "It should be on his calendar." She
sighed. "I guess he's too important to be on time, ain't he?" She
shook her head at Mr. Porter's follies, trying to draw me into
familiarity at our mutual misfortune having to associate ourselves
with such an arrogant businessman.

"I don't think it's that way. Your name again?" I prompted.

"Just tell him Alice Wentworth is waiting, sonny," she said.

"Alice Wentworth. I'll tell him." I stood up and left the office.
Keisha and Danielle glanced up. They were huddled together, giggling.

"You set me up, didn't you?" I whispered.

"We just thought you'd enjoy speaking with Mrs. Wentworth," said
Danielle, barely able to contain herself.

"Thanks a lot," I muttered. I shook my head at them, but I couldn't
suppress my grin. I opened my office door and strode in. Mrs.
Wentworth glanced up.

"Is he coming anytime soon?" she asked. She made it sound like she
didn't expect a good answer.

"He's here now," I replied as I returned to my desk.

She glanced toward the closed door.

"Not there," I said. "Here."

She looked at me in shock. "You?" she asked. I nodded. Without a
word, she gathered up her packages. She stood up. With just one more
glance at me, as if to reconfirm what her eyes had seen, she turned
and walked out the door. Interview over.

Danielle and Keisha came in as Mrs. Wentworth clomped down the
stairs, and the three of us broke out in laughter. Keisha shook her
head.

"I wish I could have seen her face," she said, trying to catch her
breath. "I bet it was priceless."

"Let's just say I wish I'd had a camera," I said, and that sent us
off all over again.

In the end, I hired somebody I knew slightly, somebody who also was
familiar with our clinics. Elena Brewer was around thirty, married,
with two kids in elementary school. Her oldest, Brittany, was in our
rec program, and her boy, Danny, played T-Ball. Elena was chubby and
friendly, a good-hearted person who also happened to be very
efficient. She didn't mind at all taking direction from Danielle,
Keisha, or me, and she picked up on our system quickly. In
practically no time, she made herself nearly indispensable. I knew
early on she would be just the person I would need to take over our
off-season duties. Danielle, too, was comfortable about the decision,
which contributed to my good feeling about hiring her. After all, I
had never interviewed anybody before.



* * * * * * * * * *



True to his word, Mr. Lehigh gave Kayla Saturday afternoons and
Sundays off all summer long. Every other Sunday, I would have to
leave, but I made sure I was home by Friday so we could have as much
weekend as possible together.

Those travel Sundays were hard. Some of our locations were far
enough away that Theo and I had to leave right after Sunday dinner.
We would spend the night in a cheap motel near our practice fields so
we could be there bright and early Monday morning with the
instructors. Theo spent most of his time with the instructors or on
the sideline, and I usually observed the players from the field. Most
of the time, I acted as referee during the full scrimmages.
Sometimes, when the instructors had the groups broken down into
smaller teams, I stayed on the sidelines and watched. I always itched
to get out on the field and take over instructing, but I had to let
the teachers teach. After all, that's what I had them there to do,
and I wanted them to feel empowered enough to carry on with their
planned drills. The last thing they needed was me barging around and
creating havoc for them.

And Theo was the supervisor for the instructors, not me. It was up
to Theo to make sure the instructors were following our program. I
trusted him to make the right decisions as far as our team of
instructors was concerned. I was there to learn about the students.

It was the best part of doing the clinics, as far as I was
concerned. If I couldn't really work with any of them on an
individual basis, I could still get to know them by spending time on
the field with each group. I learned quickly who were the ones with
real potential. I found out which kids were the bullies. I discovered
the ones who were the "good kids." I identified the leaders of both
groups, the kids the others listened to, and I got to be friendly
with the shy ones. There are always outcasts in every grouping, and
our camps were no different. Some parents were desperate for their
kids to belong somewhere, anywhere, and they signed them up for all
sorts of stuff, hoping to spark an interest or find a group they
would fit in with, kids similar to their own.

The natural leaders and the bullies always had their hangers-on. For
the others, I tried to give them a sense of belonging. I spent quite
a lot of my time with the others, the ones who needed a friendly
supporter within the structure of the clinic. After just a few
visits, I was able to subtly influence all the cliques within the
recreational groups (the competitive groups didn't usually have these
segregations, because kids who had achieved this level of performance
tended to be more assertive, at least on the field), and many of the
shy ones were befriended and assimilated.

Sometimes being the top gun worked in my favor. I tried to do my
best for all the kids, both on the field and in life.



* * * * * * * * * *



For the Fourth of July, the instructors and I got some extra time
off. The Fourth fell on Thursday, so we all worked a short week. The
drug store was closed on Thursday, but Kayla was scheduled to work
all day Friday, as well as Saturday until noon. I could live with
that. After all, we had an extra day to be together.

It had become somewhat of a tradition for my friends to spend the
afternoon of the Fourth at the beach. The morning started out stormy,
but by noon, it had cleared up. The sun came out, and the temperature
climbed into the nineties. I picked up Kayla, and together we drove
over to the lake.

She had packed a basket of sandwiches for everybody. Keisha and Eric
were bringing beer and sodas on ice. Molly and Patrick, up for the
long weekend, were also meeting us, bringing fruit and veggies.
Theo's girlfriend, Rachel Nguyen, had a part-time job at the bakery,
and they were in charge of desserts. I was anticipating something in
chocolate.

We carried our cooler together down to the beach, where Theo and
Rachel had already staked out a good-sized chunk of sand for us. They
had brought a wooden picnic table down and spread a red and white
checked oilcloth over the tabletop, weighing it down with small rocks
to keep it in place. I set up a beach umbrella we had brought with
us, and we put our coolers in the shade it provided.

Rachel was a shy, pretty girl who was born in Vietnam. Her parents
brought their four children to America during the great exodus
following the collapse of the South Vietnamese government, settling
in Denver. Since she spoke four languages fluently, she had her pick
of jobs after graduating from college. She had chosen to work with
the International Relations office at Northern, which was where she
had met Theo.

It was already a little past lunchtime, so as soon as everybody had
arrived, we set up our repast on the table. We sat at the table and
passed plastic plates of food around. Eric and Keisha handed out
drinks for everybody, and we ate in contented companionship.

Theo finally asked the question I could no longer ask.

"Say, Kayla, are you going to become a Hawkeye, like your brother?"

Kay had just taken a small bite of her ham sandwich. She chewed
thoughtfully for a moment, and then shook her head.

"No? Then where are you going to go?" asked Theo.

'Yes, where are you going to go?' I asked silently.

She raised one eyebrow, ostensibly at Theo, though I happened to be
sitting next to him.

"TBD," she said.

"TBD? What school is that?" asked Rachel, puzzled.

Kayla smiled. "To Be Decided," she said.

"You haven't committed to a school yet?" asked Eric, surprised.

Kayla smiled even wider. "Sure," she said. "In fact, I've committed
to three schools. I just haven't made up my mind yet which one I'm
going to attend."

"Really? How can you do that?" asked Theo.

Kayla shrugged. "It's only a fifty-dollar deposit to hold your
spot," she said. "And it's refundable. So I'm holding spots at three
schools."

"Is one of them Maryland?" asked Keisha.

'Is one of them Florida?' I asked silently.

Kayla just smiled, though. And didn't give either of us an answer.

After lunch, the guys put the rest of the food back into the coolers
and cleaned up our picnic area while the girls got the blankets and
towels out for the afternoon. Kayla spread out a blanket for us in
the sun, next to Keisha's blanket. I peeled off my shirt and flopped
down on my side. I propped my head on my hand and watched as Kayla
removed her nylon shorts and her beach cover up. She knew I was
watching, even if she didn't acknowledge it. She didn't exactly put
on a show, but she didn't undress like she was standing alone in her
bedroom, either. I lay there, appreciative, as she divested herself
of all but her little bikini. When she dropped her cover up on the
blanket, I couldn't help but give out a low whistle.

Kayla smiled at me. "What?" she asked, entirely too innocently.

"Just admiring what God hath wrought," I said.

She giggled. "It's not like you haven't seen it all before, you
goof," she said softly, so the others wouldn't hear.

I shrugged, a truncated gesture in my position. "It's been awhile,"
I said. "Besides, I don't think I could ever get tired of the sight."

She sat down beside me. "Not even if I was old and gray and wrinkled?"

"You'd still be Kayla," I said.

She smiled happily, and bent down to give me a quick peck on my
lips. I automatically reached for her, but she merely laughed lightly
and leaned away from me.

"Bad boy," she said in mock accusation, shaking her finger at me.

"It's your own damn fault," I said, lying back and putting my cap
over my face. I put my hands behind my head and closed my eyes. "If
you weren't so freaking beautiful, I might not be so tempted."

"Really?" Now she sounded a little more serious. "You only want me
because of my looks?"

"Well... that, and your stubbornness and your dedication and your
levelheadedness and your spirit and your soul and your body that's to
die for. Oh, yeah, and your father's money and..."

But that's as far as I got. She had taken a bottle of ice water, and
she began to dribble it onto my bare chest. I leapt up in surprise.

"That's cold!" I exclaimed.

"I couldn't have said it better," said Kayla with a laugh. "Come on,
lunkhead, let's go swimming."

Kayla raced down the beach and into the water. When she got in over
her knees, she dove in and began swimming with strong strokes out to
the wooden raft, anchored about thirty meters out from shore. I
scrambled up and followed her. It was no race, since she had such a
good head start. She pulled herself gracefully up onto the crowded
raft and sat, her feet dangling in the water. She ran her hands
across her scalp to scrape the water from her hair as she watched me
swim toward her. I hauled myself up next to her, not anywhere nearly
as gracefully, and sat down beside her.

"You're not going to tell me where you're going to school, are you?"
I asked.

She laughed delightedly. "It's driving you crazy, isn't it?"

"Yes, to be frank, it is," I said.

"Then it's working," she said, and she stood up suddenly and dove
cleanly into the water. She began swimming back toward shore.

"Dammit," I muttered. I sat there stewing for a minute. Finally, I
decided I was just provoking her into even more torture, so I slid
into the lake and swam back to the beach.

Kayla was waiting for me, standing in water up to her waist. She
watched me swim toward her. I was tempted to keep going, back to our
blanket, but when she held out her hand to me, I had to stop. I stood
in front of her. She surprised me by putting her arms around my neck
and pulling herself up against me. I automatically put my arms about
her waist as she lifted up and gave me a soft, lingering kiss. I held
her tightly, feeling her body pressed up against mine. It was a
feeling I hadn't had in a long time, and the fact we were both nearly
naked, in just our swimwear, created a diversion of blood flow in me.
My cock began to get very hard, and I knew she could feel it pressing
against her under the water.

"Mmmmm," she hummed, sending pleasurable signals pouring into my
brain. She opened her mouth and let her tongue out to tease against
my lips. I obliged her by letting my tongue snake out and meet with
hers, but the contact was too brief. She broke our kiss, but stayed
in my arms.

"I've missed this," she whispered. I wasn't sure if she realized she
had said it out loud, and I didn't care. It was a sentiment I agreed
with wholeheartedly.

She pressed her groin a little harder against me, letting her legs
part just a little to nestle my now painfully hard cock between her
legs. I could feel the heat of her pussy against me, and it was
almost enough to set me off.

"It's been a long time," I murmured in her ear. For emphasis, I
nibbled for a moment on her earlobe, one of her most sensitive spots.
When I felt her wriggle against me in reaction, I quit. Feeling her
moving was almost too much stimulation, and I didn't want to have an
accident here at the public beach.

She gave me one more kiss before letting me go. My knees were a
little shaky, and I was afraid the evidence of her kiss would be way
too obvious if I waded to shore. I kept my arm around her waist and
slowed down, taking my time before coming out of the water.
Fortunately, my cock deflated enough in the cool water not to be
quite so obvious by the time we reached shallower depths. We walked,
arm in arm, back across the hot sand to our towels and blanket.

I flopped down on my stomach and put my head down. Eric, sitting
against a wood and cloth beach backrest, glanced over at me.

"A little tough to walk with that rocket in your pocket, ain't it?"
he asked with a knowing grin.

I grunted. It was answer enough for him. I heard him chuckle and go
back to reading "Soccer Today."



* * * * * * * * * *



We stayed at the lake all afternoon, alternately swimming and baking
in the sun. There were bikinis and wonderfully brief swimsuits
everywhere, female flesh on display in all its abundant glory, but I
only had eyes for Luscious. Even Molly's fire engine red two-piece
suit, brazenly displaying the freckles splashed across her chest,
wasn't enough to keep me from continually shifting my eyes back to
watch Kayla. Slimmer than most, and yet to me, the most alluring of
them all, she captivated me. She must have known it, too, and yet she
did not seem to acknowledge it, nor did she take advantage of it. She
just... was.

Our group had decided that, since we had eaten a relatively healthy
lunch, we could afford to splurge and gorge ourselves on carnie food
for dinner. Late that afternoon, we packed up our stuff and threw it
in our cars. There were cold-water showers and changing rooms at the
beach, and we took advantage of them to rinse off the sand and get
out of our damp suits and into some dry clothes. We hopped into our
cars and drove back to the park where the town's big Fourth of July
festival was set up. 

We could see the lights from the carnival rides from several blocks
away, festive yellow and green and white blinking strings of light.
As we got closer, we could begin to hear the noise. Loud music from
different rides and tents, all clashing until it was a cacophony.
High-pitched girls' screams coming from the direction of the Zipper
and the other faster rides mixed with the amplified voices of the
barkers encouraging marks to throw down some money on other
amusements. It all seemed designed to maximize the illusion of fun
while extracting the maximum amount of cash from naive wallets. And
we were all looking forward to joining the masses.

We found parking spots in a church lot about six blocks away from
the park. We walked as a group down the sidewalk. I held Kayla's
hand, and she had a firm grip on mine. Ahead of us, Molly and Patrick
were skipping like a couple of ten-year-olds, laughing delightedly at
the strange looks they got. Eric just shook his head at their folly,
but Keisha was smiling at their indulgence.

When we passed some of the food vendors, the smells coming from the
grills and fryers reminded us of how hungry we all were. We spread
out to hunt and gather. Eric and Keisha picked up three barbequed
turkey legs, while Molly and Patrick went in search of drinks. Theo
and Rachel stood in line for cheeseburgers and fries, and Kayla and I
found a funnel cake vendor.

"Don't you know funnel cakes and fried bread are just empty
calories?" asked Kayla as we waited for our order to be put together.

"Sure," I said. "That's what makes them so delicious."

"And fattening," she complained.

I stepped back and looked her slowly up and down. In fact, I
practically leered at her, but she stood there and accepted it. "I
don't think you have anything to worry about," I said.

She grinned at me. "I was trying to be considerate," she replied. "I
was thinking more about you than me."

I laughed. "Maybe I should double my order, then," I said.

She smiled again, and threaded her arm through mine.

We took our treats back to our group. They had found a big, round
table underneath the bingo tent, which was between sessions. In
another half-hour, the tent would be overrun by blue-haired ladies
with fistfuls of bingo cards and colored markers, but for now it was
nearly empty. We set up our food and drinks in the middle, and used
our boardinghouse manners to fill our paper plates.

After we ate, we walked around the carnival for a while, but after
less than an hour, I was ready to find something else to do.

"Anybody else thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked, turning around
to face the group.

Theo's expression was a mirror of mine. "Yeah," he said. "There's
got to be something better than this to do."

Eric looked around sadly. We were surrounded by what seemed to be
hordes of kids about the ages we were teaching at our clinics. Boys
in their early teens were trying to look tough and cool, to impress
young-looking girls wearing tight clothes, who went everywhere in a
giggling gaggle.

"Shit, even when I was that age, I wasn't nowhere near that young,"
said Eric with a grimace.

"Sure you were, darlin'," said Keisha kindly. "You just wore it
better than most."

He smiled at her and put his arm around her waist.

We wandered out of the carnival area and over toward the live music
tent, where we stayed until it began to get dark. Unfortunately, it
wasn't the sun going down, it was bruised-looking thunderheads moving
in that was making it dark. Still, we hoped it would hold off long
enough for the fireworks. We picked out a good spot to watch, but
close enough to the gate so we could make a run for our cars if it
did start to rain. We lounged around until it turned into nearly full
darkness. Kayla and I lay back on the grass, her head nestled on my
shoulder, as the fireworks began. The rain had held off.

It only held off long enough for the fire department to start the
fireworks. About ten minutes in, big fat raindrops began to fall.
Within seconds, it turned into a full-scale thunderstorm. We
scrambled to gather up our stuff. Unfortunately, so did everybody
else, and the crush of people all trying to leave by the gates
delayed us. By the time we got through, there was no point in running
to the cars. We were already soaked. While people fled all around us,
we strolled, the eight of us just out for a walk in the rain.

We waved goodbye to our friends as they got into their cars. I
popped open the trunk, and we got out our towels. The rain had
slowed, so we could dry ourselves off a little bit. We spread the
towels on the car seats and got in. As I started up the car and
turned on the defrost, I glanced over to Luscious.

"Where to?" I asked.

She gave me a shy smile. "How about our old spot? We haven't been
there in awhile."

I knew just where she meant. She was right, we hadn't been there in
a long time, and I was very glad to hear her suggest it. I backed out
of my parking space and headed out of town.

About fifteen minutes later, I pulled in among the weeds outside the
old Gallagher barn. I shut off the car and cracked open the back
windows a little, to let in some fresh air. It was still raining.
Once the windshield wipers quit, the rain began beading and running
down the window. In seconds, the world was hidden from us, and we
were hidden from the world.

I looked over at Kayla, suddenly very nervous. She leaned in a
little toward me. I put my arm around her shoulder and leaned over
the console to give her a kiss. She leaned her head back to accept
me, but it was a cramped position at best.

I took a chance. "Wouldn't it be more comfortable in the back seat?"
I asked softly.

Kayla smiled. "Better than a blanket outside, for sure," she replied.

I scrambled over the seat into the back, and held out my hand in
invitation. She smiled again and took my hand. She was a lot more
graceful coming over the seat than I had felt. She settled against me
as I put my arms around her once again.

I kissed her temple, and she closed her eyes. I let my lips stray
down the side of her face, to the tender and warm spot right behind
her ear. Another of her spots. I gave her light, caressing kisses,
and she arched her neck, giving me greater access to her sensitive
areas, and she hummed in appreciation. I concentrated for a long time
on that area, from her collarbone to her ear, making sure I touched
every centimeter of her skin.

While I was paying homage to her neck, my right hand had found her
left arm. The inside of Kayla's forearm was another of her hot spots,
and I very lightly ran my fingertips slowly up and down, from her
wrist to her elbow.

She stood it for as long as she could, and then she turned her face
to me and kissed my mouth. Our kisses were gentle and soft at first,
but they got hotter and wetter as she reached up with her left hand
and put it behind my neck to hold me close.

I opened my mouth just a little, and she took that as an invitation.
Her tongue attacked, going deep into my mouth. We surrendered
ourselves to the joy of kissing for a long time.

The windows were completely steamed up when she finally broke our
kiss with a groan. She looked into my eyes seriously for a moment.

"Touch me," she whispered.

She gently guided my hand to the hem of her shirt, and pressed my
palm against her bare tummy. She lightly held my wrist as I began to
run my hand across her abdomen, until I felt just the slightest
pressure from her, the merest suggestion that I should move my hand
up her body.

How could I deny her wishes? I moved my hand beneath her shirt, onto
her breast, over her bra. She attacked my mouth again, twisting to
press her breast against my hand while she kissed me. I squeezed her
covered flesh, but it was suddenly not nearly enough. I roughly
pulled her bra up over her breasts and cupped her bare breast,
feeling the already engorged nipple burning a hole in my palm.

With a gasp, she broke our kiss and threw her head back. "Oh, God,"
she moaned, as I bent down. I rucked her shirt up to expose her body
to me, and I took her right nipple between my lips. My fingers
squeezed, and then moved over to play with her left breast while my
mouth pleasured her right one.

I felt her take my head in her hands to hold me to her breast. I
suckled at the altar of her body, and was refreshed. My hand dropped
to her thigh, and I caressed the hot skin I found there. But when I
moved my hand up her inner thigh toward her center, she took hold of
my hand and stopped me.

"No, Sean," she whispered. "Not that... not yet..."

Still with my lips against her breast, I whispered back to her.
"Whatever you want, my love." And I continued with my lips, tasting
her, giving her what she wanted.

She pulled at my shirt, and I sat up long enough to shuck it off. In
turn, I encouraged her to remove her shirt and bra, assisting as I
could. Naked from the waist up, we both explored, with fingertips and
palms and lips and tongue.

My cock was rock-hard from the moment we cuddled together in the
back seat. As we played and kissed, I unconsciously rubbed it to ease
the throbbing, not even realizing I was doing it. Sometimes I would
reach down and adjust it in my shorts. Other times, I found myself
twisting to rub my crotch against Kayla's thigh.

Finally, one time, she accidentally ran the back of her hand against
the rod standing upright in my shorts. My whole body twitched, which
made her giggle.

"What?" I asked, lifting my mouth from her throat, where I had been
planting tiny kisses.

"Is it painful?" she asked.

"Is what painful?"

"This," she said, brushing my cock again. Of course, my body
betrayed me by twitching again.

"It's okay," I groaned. "I'll survive."

"Oh, poor boy," she said sympathetically. "I'll tell you what. Just
this once, I'll help you out." She reached for my zipper, but I held
her hand.

"No," I said, though it pained me to do it.

She looked at me. "No, really, it's okay," she started, but I shook
my head.

"When you're ready to go further, we'll go further," I said. "As
much as it hurts me, I won't take anything unless I can give
something in return."

She smiled saucily. "You'd be giving me something in return, I
think," she said.

I groaned. 'What are you doing?' I screamed at myself. 'She's
offering. Take it!'

"That's not what I meant," I managed to squeak out. Her fingers were
squeezing me, measuring my hardness. I finally had to lift her hand
away, before I had an accident.

She pulled her hand away from mine and sat back. Her skin glowed in
the night, and her hair, half out of its ponytail and its pale mass
scattered across her shoulder, gathered even more of the dim light
available.

"I don't mean to cause you discomfort, Sean," she said seriously.
"It's just that I'm not ready..."

She shook her head. She knew that wasn't quite right, but she didn't
really know how to say it. Neither did I. I reached for my shirt, and
then picked up her clothes and handed them to her.

"I know, sweetie. I know." And I did know, though I also knew I
could never verbalize it any better than she was able.

We got dressed and moved back into the front seat. I started the
car, and we waited a few minutes until the defrost could clear a spot
large enough for me to navigate the country lane. We drove in silence
back to her house. I pulled into the driveway, shut off the car, and
turned to face her.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly.

She smiled at me. "Of course," she said. "Are you okay?"

"I'm healing," I said with a rueful grin.

She smiled and unfastened her seatbelt. She leaned over the console
and gave me a soft, long kiss.

"I know what you'll be doing tonight," she whispered softly. "Who
knows? Maybe I'll be doing the same thing."

With that, she gave me one last quick kiss, laughed softly, and
turned around to open the door. Before I could even move, she ran up
her sidewalk and, with a final wave back to me, she opened the door
and disappeared.

She was right. She knew what I would be doing, alone in my bed,
before sleep would come. And the thought that she would be taking
herself to her own completion made me grab my hard cock again and
again. I used a lot of tissues that night to clean myself up.






(Continued in Chapter 46)


  
CE45