After over two hours of holding the same position in the cold afternoon
air Harriet was beginning to regret not taking advantage of
Gwendoline's kindness in getting her out of the assignment. It was not
a comfortable pose at all, involving as it did keeping one foot raised
almost off the ground with only the tip of her big toe on the ground
and almost all her weight on the other. One hand was resting lightly on
her hip and the other touching her breast, which Jim assured her looked
fine despite a few scratches acquired during that insane dangerous
climb earlier on. Jim was intent on his painting and seemed oblivious
of her discomfort.
I was not only the cold that caused her distress, but the agony of not
being able to move a muscle for so long . The prospect of seeing the
final result was all that sustained her - she had so admired his
portraits of Gwendoline that she really very badly wanted him to paint
her as well. And he had only done Gwen from photographs! Think what a
painting using a very present and very live Harriet would look like!
And one thing he had said before starting work was that he hoped to
submit the painting to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
The light was beginning to fade, but Jim seemed intent as ever on
continuing when Gwendoline came storming out of the house and furiously
told him to let Harriet go inside and get warm.
"Can't you see the poor darling is just about fit to drop - you
heartless sod!" And she picked up her fainting friend who had virtually
lost the power of movement by this time and carried her indoors.
"Thanks for coming to the rescue, Gwen. Mind you, I can't wait to see
the final result and I'm glad I did it, but he doesn't know when to
stop. Is he like that in bed?"
"No," giggled a blushing Gwen - "I have to keep waking him up, poor old
fellow! After all he is thirteen years older than I am and I don't
think he leads a very healthy life. He needs to look after himself
better and get a lot more violent exercise. And I'll make sure he does;
there's a lot of spare fat to lose before I marry him and he'll have to
keep it off thereafter."
"Don't worry, Gwen you'll manage him OK. I think he's scared of you,
like I still am!"
"Yes - he's a bit of a wimp, but such a darling man. Do you know I had
to virtually throw myself at him last night!! But once he'd got the
message, everything was so dreamy!"
Gwendoline carried Harriet upstairs, laid her on the bed and got on it
after her and began warming the frozen girl up, enfolding her in a
tender embrace which might have made Jim rather jealous if he had been
present to watch!
"What about all those extra muscles you are going to make me develop,
Gwen?"
"You'll get them, but I promise I won't be a bitch to you any more -
not ever, even if I do still drive you hard. Just get some sleep, Harry
my love - we'll need to be off in a few hours."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After an evening meal which Harriet insisted on cooking and serving as
if Gwen were still enforcing her former harsh regime, Jim told them all
to pile into his station wagon and he drove them through the dark to a
field fifteen miles away in the general direction they were headed. He
left them the small tent which Harriet had occupied the night before
and made sure they were provided with enough food to last them all into
the next day.
"Just leave the tent in the field, ladies. I'll come by and pick it up
sometime tomorrow. Good luck, although I daresay we'll meet a few times
before the 23rd." After a very tender and lengthy farewell to
Gwendoline, he drove away.
Gwen thought with regret of the house - now her future home -that she
was not to see for a few weeks. She supervised the erection of the tent
- this had been one of her particular fortes in the Guides. It was much
warmer with three bodies to heat the enclosed space and a more
comfortable and less lonely time was in store for Harriet, although the
groundsheet had been left behind and they were forced to sleep on grass.
"I suppose we will be sleeping under the stars again tomorrow night -
best make the most of this" Gwendoline said as they settled down for
the night. "Unless we meet someone like the three perverts or Mummy and
Richard - at least we wouldn't freeze if we were held prisoner again,
unless poor old Harry gets stuck in a cage again."
"Remember me saying you lot would never survive the November cold and
frost? I never thought back then I'd end up going through all this with
you two," murmured Harriet.
"You've suffered more cold than either of us this last few days, you
poor dear - what with my making you do all that swimming and hill
climbing . You DID volunteer to be my Jim's model, though - can't blame
that on me"
"It'll be worth every shiver and every agonising cramp to see myself at
the Summer Exhibition." she replied.
With this vision of future celebrity in mind Harriet fell asleep to be
followed in seconds by the other two. Gwendoline's last waking
thoughts, now that the long initiation rite was nearing its end were of
the future beyond this journey. She looked ahead to her statement to
the police about the religious child abusers, to telling her parents
about her engagement to Jim and taking him to see them. Above all she
felt growing excitement invading every part of her mind and body at her
ever more fiercely feared but longed-for ordeal at the hands of Mrs
Travers - she writhed in ectasy at the thought of that good lady daily
working out thereby to strengthen her arms so that she would be able to
bring down the flail all the harder on her bare back - all that Harriet
had gone through would be nothing compared to that! She hoped her
friends were already asleep and would not notice the smell of female
arousal.
Jessica's last thought was that if the experiences of this three were
any guide, considering the ease which they all seemed to having in
finding themselves husbands, one essential feature of any of their
lodge meetings would be a creche.
They would all have been wise to ponder the old adage about fat ladies
singing.
37
Harriet returned to the shore after swimming across the reservoir and
back twice - as opposed to the others' once. Ever since being forced
into that combined double swim and hill climb by an incensed and
vindictive Gwendoline she had deliberately pushed herself to outdo her
friend and leader to Gwen's great admiration and amusement.
Gwen had decided that she might as well continue using Harriet as the
workhorse of the group, since it seemed to be what she wanted and in
the two days since they had left Jim's Harry was beginning to feel that
promised extra muscle coming on - or she liked to kid herself she did.
She had appointed herself as the 'one' in the two against one wrestling
which they were finding ever more helpful as a way to keep warm in the
raw upland November cold, and it was already taking the other two
longer to beat her even after a couple of days. They had crossed a
shallow river earlier today and she had carried them across on her
back, wading waist deep and saving them from the cold water at the cost
of enduring it three times herself.
Harriet thought it strange when she saw her friends were out of sight
and as she swam closer to where they should be, she started to feel
slightly anxious. Coming out of the water, she looked around for them.
They were nowhere to be seen. She shouted but there was no reply. It
was as if they had been spirited away into thin air.
(Don't worry, folks - they have not been taken away in a flying saucer
- author's note)
There had been no sound of engine noise, so wherever they had gone it
must have been on foot and that meant they could not be that far away.
If they had been forcibly abducted just as she had started out on her
swim, they could only have been gone for ten minutes - you can't get
too far in that time. They had to be within sight of where Harriet was
standing or in a building within sight. The trouble was that there were
no likely looking buildings - only an old and very dilapidated shippon
which seemd to be open to the four winds.
She approached it carefully, resisting the impulse to run towards it to
warm up. She cursed herself for her silly bravado, which had caused the
trio to be split up again. She felt that something was terribly wrong.
For whatever reason, Harriet decided to circle around the building and
approach it from the other side. It did not seem possible that she
could have been seen by antyone, but she sensed danger.
The other side of the building was up against a stone wall and she
climbed over this and crept up to the old cowshed. There were no
windows, but quite a few holes in the old structure and she was trying
to peer through a gap when she was seized from behind by several hands
and dragged around to the other side and through a wooden door, which
she noticed had a very new and shining padlock and was very substantial
for the door to a disused building.
"Found another of these dirty little naked tarts, chief." said one of
Harriet's captors. "Wonder how many more of these we've got wandering
around like this - shameless disgusting sluts."
Jessica and Gwendoline were inside against the far wall and tied to a
couple of chairs and Harriet soon joined them. The old cowshed was
filled with about twenty unsavoury looking men all dressed in some kind
of uniform .
"How did you two manage to get caught?" asked Harriet, feeling terribly
scared.
"You don't argue with the kind of weapons they had trained on us," said
Gwen. I was going to shout at you to get away and get help, but they
had other ideas - sorry Harry, but these people are dangerous - you can
smell it somehow."
"It's obviously some kind of political extremist group and we've
stumbled on their armoury and meeting place. Not only that, but they've
obviously got some kind of thing about public decency and the decline
in moral values - as you could tell by the charming way that guy
described us all. Don't worry - I'll get us out of this. At least these
are no Boy Scouts - luckily for me, if not for you!"
Gwendoline shook her head as a sign that conversation should cease and
Harriet did not ask what she meant by that last sentence.
The man addressed as Chief came over to Harriet and asked her if there
were any more of them. She was slow in replying - not knowing whether
to pretend there were friends around who would soon be looking for them
and he slapped her across the face.
"Leave her alone you piece of shit," shouted Gwendoline. " Dirty,
stinking motherfucking coward"
The man turned his attention to her at that at punched her in the face
and then doubled her up in agony with several hard blows to her stomach
the sickening sound of which made Harriet wince as she thought how Gwen
had deliberately drawn these thugs' attention to herself to save her,
Harriet from what she was now suffering.
"Keep your dirty little mouth shut, or you'll get some more"
The majority of the men then started to drift away, leaving the chief
and two others behind. Presumably they were all going home or to work
after whatever meeting they had just had.
The remaining three left the old building a little later after standing
around a defiant and cursing Gwendoline for a few minutes, taking it in
turns to hit her many more times. They promised to be back shortly to
continue teaching her a lesson in manners and decency.
"Oh, darling Gwen - why do you always have to be so stupidly brave -
it's as if you want to get hurt" said Jessica.
"I refuse to hide my feelings for that kind of lowlife. Anyway, it's
time to be going. I don't like it around here - don't know about you
two"
She started to writhe about in her chair and soon had her hands free.
"I told you they hadn't been in the Boy Scouts - at least not the
fucking cretin who tied me. Surprised he can dress himself in the
morning or wipe his own arse."
The other two had been much more efficiently tied and it took a few
minutes for a bloody faced Gwendoline to release them.
"Go and see if you can find out what they are doing out there Harry -
be very careful, sweetheart - don't let them spot you. You and I are
going to start another fire, Jessica if we can find the wherewithal.
There looks to be some kind of kitchen behind that screen."
There was indeed a sink and a primitive stove and in a cupboard a box
of matches. The two girls started to pile up anything that would burn
easily in the middle of the building putting the gang's arsenal of
weapons on top of the heap.
Harriet signalled and mouthed "I think they're on the way back"
"You two get ready to light the fire - I'll deal with these three"
"NO - Gwen. I'll help" said Jessica,"There are three of them and look
at the state of you after what they did to you. You don't want to be
tackling them alone!"
"Do as I fucking well tell you, Jessica - or you'll be in line for a
bit of what I gave Harriet and don't think I wouldn't - go on and start
making a bit of a blaze."
Gwendoline did wonder a little during the few minutes that followed,
why she had been so stupidly proud as to refuse Jessica's offer of
help. She knew, though that she was honour bound to exact revenge
herself for the injuries they had inflicted on her. She sustained an
awful lot more before the three crypto-fascists were all neatly laid
out in a row in front of her.
The first one -the Chief - came through the door first and he was
quickly nursing two crushed testicles as Gwen adroitly brought her knee
up into his groin. The other two were alerted by this time and showed
once more their total lack of scruple when it came to hitting women.
Jessica stood by ready to come to her friend's aid should they get the
upper hand, but they did not have Gwen's speed or skill and finally
joined their still writhing chief on the ground. Jessica and Harriet
tied them up with the rope that had recently bound them.
"Well done, Gwen! - you certainly showed them!" said an admiring
Harriet. "But you look a terrible mess you poor dear! You'll need to
get that face seen to."
"Never mind that now. Get these three into the field - we don't want
them being burned alive - not even scum like them. See if you can fish
their car keys from their pocket - they must have a vehicle parked
somewhere fairly near- I want us a long way from this little blaze when
the fire brigade and police arrive. I think there's plenty of evidence
of their wrongdoing around here to put them behind bars for a while!"
Two hours later, Gwen was bathing her battered face and body in the
waters of a mountain spring and feeling and looking a lot better. She
was bruised and cut about her face but mightily relieved that no bones
had been broken. The beautiful Gwendoline had long had a horror of
breaking her nose, being always very vain about her appearance. Her
stomach was red from the punches it had received and bruising was
already apparent on her ribcage - it hurt her to touch herself anywhere
and she prayed there had been no internal damage. (One of her first
acts when returning home was to be to have a check-up, only to be told
by the family physician that she was in better shape than ever and
could go on to have a whole army of children if that was what she
wanted).
"How are you feeling now, Gwen" asked an exhausted Harriet who had just
carried her on her back for the last five miles over the moors.
"Awful, darling. But I get the feeling I might just live! I do wish my
good old Jim was here. Not that he'd have been any use against those
guys back there - couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag, that one."
"Could you two teach me to be as good a fighter as you?"
"Of course, Harry - we'll certainly make a beginning. It'll take time
and lots and lots of really hard work - we can only give you a start
and you'll have to keep it up for months - years,even to be any good
like us - Rome wasn't built in a day and all that - you'll take a lot
of hard knocks along the way - don't worry, we'll be gentle with you,
although it might not seem that way at times! We'll begin your training
on the morrow."
"How do you feel about carrying me a few more miles, dear Harry? I
don't think I've any internal bleeding - it would surely be starting to
show by this time, but we should err on the side of caution and I did
promise you some extra muscles after all!"
"Be my guest, Gwen - you saved me from their tender mercies - it's the
least I can do"
38
Harriet was rather out of breath after carrying her beloved and injured
leader, Gwendoline for five hours, but managed to gasp out,
"I wonder - why we seem - to attract such - trouble. It just doesn't --
seem fair - all we - are are -three - nude girls - just minding - their
- own business"
It was the evening of the day that they had tangled with the
Neanderthal paramilitary thugs and another cold night was in prospect.
On that famous occasion Harriet had been on the verge of being beaten
up by the leader of this unsavoury group but Gwendoline, conscious of
her responsibilties as leader, had taunted the guy with a few well
chosen insults and so saved her friend from injury, although only at
the cost of receiving a terrible beating herself . Harry had been
carrying her on her back all day, both to show her immense love and
gratitude and give Gwen a chance to recuperate; she was beginning to
get used to the feeling of that weight resting on her and those warm
arms clasped around her neck. She almost hoped to be allowed to carry
Gwendoline like this for the rest of the journey.
"Put me down now, dearest Harry - thanks a trillion my love," said Gwen
in a faint voice. "But I think I can fly solo from now on in! Let's try
to sleep by that wall - it should keep this fucking awful wind off us."
Jessica and Harriet both willingly endured a cold and miserable few
hours to ensure that Gwendoline had the benefit of whatever little
warmth was going that night and were greatly relieved to see her
looking so much less ill when morning came. Gwen woke and smiled
wearily at her two beloved companions.
"Sorry, girls but I can't go on like this. I've got to have at least
one day and one night's rest in a warm bed - one of you try and find a
phone box and get hold of Jim for me. I've really had it - awfully
sorry and all that. You were right Jessica - I was a fucking idiot to
take on all those three when you could have helped me."
"No you weren't, Gwen - it was YOUR job to fight those guys and you did
it. I'd have stopped Jessie if she'd tried to help you." said Harriet.
"I know what makes you tick by now, having learned the hard way. You're
cruelly hard on others but a fucking sight harder on yourself and I
love you so much for that. Don't - oh please don't - disappoint me,
your greatest admirer. Don't weaken now! You don't need Jim - just get
up and pull yourself together! We're going on! And don't fret my
dearest Gwen - these shoulders are broad enough to carry you to the
ends of the earth!"
"You lovely girl, Harry! I'll walk by myself as long as I can - but I
feel as weak as a kitten after yesterday - so be prepared for a heavy
load!"
Lady Gwendoline did not need any further assistance from Lady Harriet
and she gradually became her old confident and somewhat insufferable
self as her strength returned - much to the joy of her two friends who
had both been utterly dismayed at her loss of will. Jessica marvelled
at how Harriet had been able to shame Gwen into snapping out of her
defeatism.
Gwen for her part was pondering her shameful failure and mulling over a
proposition to put to Harriet. At last she made up her mind.
"Harry, my sweet! How would you like to be in charge for a few days and
then you could punish me for my spinelessness earlier on? You could
chase me up hills and make me swim freezing lakes. I don't suppose
you'll find any housework for me, but you never know!"
"I'd love it, but the answer is, NO! You went through absolute hell on
account of saving me from being roughed up. I still can hear that
wicked bastard's punches thudding into your poor belly. I know it must
still hurt you awfully! And that might have been ME he was doing it to!
That more than makes up for all the things you put me through - a
million times more! And what you put me through was no more than I
deserved and did me a power of good anyway. SO - let's hear no more
crap like that - boss."
"You're surprising me more every day, Harry in all sorts of lovely
ways!"
And then Gwen continued, pouring out her joy.
"Oh, Bliss! I love all the things that are happening to us. I truly do!
Isn't it so heavenly and utterly fine to be three young, healthy,
proudly naked girls exulting in our lovely God-given bodies? Don't you
both realize by now that we can take on any challenge the world can
throw at us and still be ready for more? Isn't it so intoxicating to
have got where we have? The world is ours!"
"If I didn't know better, I'd say you'd been drinking, Gwen" said
Jessica.
"I know just what you mean, my revered Gwendoline," said Harriet.
39
It was the morning of 9th November when the three girls awoke to find
that fog had descended. They could scarcely see to the edge of the
field where they had slept. The last few days had been cold, but crisp
and dry and they had hardly felt any discomfort now that they had grown
so used to surviving in the open for so long. But this clammy,
pervasive, damp cold was new and most unwelcome.
"We had to expect this sooner or later, but it's come at just the wrong
time. I don't even know what direction we should be going in any more"
said a despondent and shivering Jessica.
"Well I do - this field is aligned pretty well north/south. Just as
well someone can think ahead around here," said Gwendoline. "I suggest
we make a move if we don't want to die of exposure. Your kick-boxing
lessons will have to wait a day or two, Harry. Give you time for that
black eye to heal a bit!"
They proceeded cautiously for a few hours and the murk showed no sign
of lifting, when the shadow of a building loomed up in the fog.
"Can't we shelter here for a bit, Gwen" pleaded Jessica who was not at
all convinced that they were going in the right direction. "We're
probably just going round in circles anyway - this is madness, going on
in this awful fog."
"OK, just for a couple of hours or so, but we are getting behind
schedule - not that that matters if this goes on" Gwen did not
elaborate on the last few words.
The building seemed to be another of those disused agricultural
structures that had been such useful shelters to them in the past and
they were less cautious in approaching than they ought.
It was only when they came nearer to the place that they realised it
was a dwelling and an occupied one at that!
"Let's knock on the door, Gwen," said Jessica. "We hardly ate anything
yesterday and I can't take much more of this. We can pretend to be lost
and asking the way" A likely story!
"I agree," shivered Harriet. "This fog gets into the bones and you need
rest Gwendoline. You're beginning to look really ill again. Who cares
if we fail in our mission - we've our whole lives ahead of us, don't
let's throw them away just for some impossible initiative test that
we've already passed by any reasonable standards"
"I might look ill, but I'm perfectly OK. But if you miserable pair
can't take it any more, then lets turn ourselves in, by all means." And
Gwen knocked loudly on the front door. Footsteps could be heard coming
along the hall and the door opened.
"Jim? Good Lord! My darling. What are you doing here, sweetheart - the
answer to three maidens' prayers!"
They all pushed their way eagerly into the house without waiting to be
asked. Jim had still not got over his surprise at seeing his fiancee
again so soon, when they all threw themselves onto the rug by the
sitting room fire and began to thaw out.
He explained that the dwelling had belonged to an elderly aunt of his
who had recently passed away, leaving all her possessions to him as her
only living relative. He had only heard from his lawyer the morning
after their departure and had been here for the past couple of days. So
if Gwen had tried to contact him in her temporary despair the day
before, she would have been out of luck.
"I'm just doing a bit of a stocktake in preparation for either selling
the place or moving in. I can't decide just yet. Fancy a bite to eat?
There's a pretty well-stocked fridge."
Harriet went to investigate and before long the smell of cooking began
to spread throughout the house. After twenty minutes she appeared with
a plate of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and sausages for Gwendoline.
"Here you are Gwen. Get this inside you - coffee follows in a jiffy.
Get seated round the table the rest of you - I'll be serving you in a
couple of minutes."
Soon Harriet produced equally full plates for the others.
"Are you sure you won't join us, darling Harry? Don't you think your
act as a servant has gone on long enough?" said Gwen as she turned to
look at Harriet standing by the table, ready to refll cups and plates
as desired.
Harriet ignored this and looked at Jim. "Any nice hard work to do in
this lovely house, Jim? I'm trying to build up my body to match these
two superwomen here. No task is too heavy for me - I want to be worked
until I drop!"
Before Jim could answer, Gwen interrupted. "SIT DOWN and join us you
darling silly girl. Stop making me feel guilty! Seriously though Jim -
she would love to help out with a bit of heavy work. She's in serious
training now and it would be good for her. That's better dear - come
and sit next to me."
Gwen put her arm around Harriet's neck, pulled her face close to hers
and kissed her tenderly and passionately on the lips, inserting her
tongue deep into her mouth, not drawing away for several long minutes.
Jim looked on in amazed embarrassment - as did Jessica who had her own
reasons to feel jealous.
"I've been so rotten to this sweet girl - I'm going to spend the rest
of my life being especially nice to her to make up for it. If anyone
objects to that - it's just too bad! Don't worry Jim - I've plenty of
love left over for you, as you are going to find out very shortly, just
as soon as we've finished eating!"
After breakfast Gwen raced up the stairs followed more slowly by Jim.
She frowned angrily at his obvious lack of fitness.
"You're still young , Jim and yet you move around like a clapped out
old man! And look at that disgusting gut! I'm going to take you in hand
and we'd better start today. I'm a lovely, healthy young girl, even if
I am a bit battered at the moment, and I take it very personally when
my lover keeps falling asleep when he ought to be shagging my arse off!
Now let's get on with it and don't worry about my bruises. I like a bit
of pain, especially when it's on account of being well and truly fucked
by you!"
Jim was utterly shocked and not a little disgusted by Gwen's brutal
crudity and hurt by her mercilessly accurate description of his
physical condition, but he soon forgot all that in the heavenly joy of
making love to this exquisite being who, only a few days before he had
imagined to be quite unattainable.
Jim had fallen asleep after making love. Gwen looked adoringly at him
for a few seconds and then decided it was time to begin his physical
rebuilding. She punched him in the stomach as hard as she could and he
awoke, sitting bolt upright and clutching his abdomen with a look of
pain and surprise.
"Out of that bed you idle bastard. Today you begin to sweat as you've
not sweated for far too long. Look at me, Jim! Look at my body, there's
not an ounce of surplus fat anywhere and there never will be - look!"
And she swivelled around slowly, letting him see her sheer physical
perfection. He looked again at her firm breasts, thighs and buttocks
and her flat firm and muscular stomach and strong arms and shoulders
and felt shame at his own run down condition. He had really let himself
go to seed in the last year, since Gwen had been so enthralled by this
handsome and talented artist and he had fallen so utterly and
hopelessly in love with her.
"If you really truly desire the privilege of being allowed to screw
this lovely young girl you see standing before you every day whenever
you feel like it, all you have to do is lose that gross fat belly, stop
slouching around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame and generally get
yourself fit. We can start now - and DON'T put those clothes on - you
don't need clothes to exercise. What do you have outside in the garden?"
"A tennis court - minus the nets and a swimming pool - empty."
"Right - we can use the tennis court to start with. I think we'll get
you running a few dozen circuits to loosen you up a bit. And start
filling the pool, darling - we all want a swim and you are going to
join us. Now lets get outside and start demolishing all that disgusting
fat and building up lots of lovely strong muscles!"
The fog was starting to clear a bit by this time and Gwendoline could
make out more of the details of the house and its surroundings. They
would have avoided it had they been able to see as much as was now
visible. Jim gasped as the cold air hit his naked body and wondered why
Gwen showed no reaction, until he realised that she and her two
companions had grown used to this kind of temperature long before this.
They reached the tennis court and Gwen gave him a preparatory talk
before making him start his hours of exercise.
"You know how I got these bruises, Jim?"
"No - I thought it was a fall or something"
"Well, some of my injuries were when I was tied up and beaten by three
men and the the rest which are worse were caused by them after I had
got free and fought and beat them all senseless. When we had just
started out on this adventure I and Jessica were attacked by five thugs
who were going to rape us. I demolished three of them and Jessica did
for the other two. We got mixed up in an illegal bare knuckle prize
fight and between the two of us we defeated seven male pugilists one
after the other. You see what I'm getting at? I could destroy you any
time I wanted to and I don't like that! I don't want to marry a
weakling and a wimp. Please give me something to look up to apart from
your talent as a painter. Please my sweet! Start running round the
court and I'll see about filling that pool - don't stop until I get
back."
She found how to turn on the water supply to the swimming pool and left
it to fill up and then went back inside the house, looking round to see
that Jim was continiung to obey his imperious young fiancee's
instructions. She grinned broadly to think how his feet would be a mass
of blisters when he had finished and rejoined her friends who, as she
expected were fast asleep in front of the fire. She joined them and
dozed off herself, waking up with a guilty start - poor old Jim!
"Wake up you too. Jim wants to work out with us in the garden - he's
suddenly got bitten by this fitness bug. We ought to humour him! Shame
for him not to have a bit of company - let's go."
When the three girls got outside, Jim was on his hundredth lap around
the tennis court and sweating despite the cold foggy November air.
Gwen signalled to him to come and join them and he was happy to comply,
being in the terminal stages of exhaustion by this time.
"Mind if we all take part, my darling? Why should you get all the
pleasure? Jessica will race you round the court a few times and after
that you'll think of lots of other energetic vigorous things to do
together and I'm going to give darling Harry her kick-boxing lessons
for the day. Isn't this such great fun - all improving our bodies and
naked together as Nature intended!"
"Thanks for telling the others this was all my idea," gasped an utterly
exhausted Jim later that day as he dried himself off. He had just swum
in the killingly icy water of the refilled pool with his three hardy
and untiring guests.
"I don't want to humiliate you Jim, even if it is for your own good as
well as my selfish desire to be seen on the beach with a hunk rather
than a weed. And I would NEVER show you up in front of anyone else. To
change the subject, I've got a favour to ask of you - in fact lots of
favours"
"All you have to do is ask - my lovely, bossy future wife and it's as
good as done!"
"I want you to keep track of us for the rest of our journey and make
sure we get fed every day. The guy who arranged this initiation left
food supplies hidden for us along our route, but they've all been
rifled or ruined in some way or other for days now. We need a new
supplier or we'll never survive in this weather - not if we're half
starved. So I think you should be waiting for us every night when we
make camp! And one more favour - don't get dressed until we leave
tomorrow evening. There's no need to be shy with us - we're three very
nice girls! And why should you get to look at us and not we at you?"
"So you think an obese old man is worth loking at, do you?"
"You're not that bad-looking sweetheart, in fact you're still a pretty
handsome guy - just not quite up to my highly exacting standards - but
you will be, darling, you will be!"