by Marian Stack
“Turtle let me take the bag to the cave. You have carried it for days now and it’s my turn to carry it for a while.” Her voice was surprisingly confident as she leaned over to pick up the bag and toss it over her head and shoulders as she had seen Turtle do so many times.
As her hands grabbed for the handles to lift the bag only then did she notice the sheer weight of the load that her guide had been carrying as if it was of little importance.
As she attempted to lift the bag from the ground she declared to the world, “Are you kidding me? This bag must weigh a couple hundred pounds.” She grunted out as she dropped the bag back onto the ground after only lifting it up a couple of inches. “You must have put extra weight…” And then she rapidly stopped her defence and questioned, “Turtle has this gear bag been this heavy the entire time, and why did you fail to mention this to me?” Blair’s voice indicated shame more than anger.
Offering a slightly sarcastic smile Turtle stated, “Not the whole time, we have eaten a few items. Miss Foster this is my job,” She spoke as she threw the gear bag over her head and shoulders, and then continued, “and you are my responsibility, and by the way it maybe only weights about fifty pounds. Now let’s get you into the cave and start the relaxation part of this experience. This is going to be a real treat for a city girl. Let’s go!”
Turtle stood back and allowed her guest to enter first, mainly because she was so excited to share what she herself had been experiencing most of her life.
“A real treat indeed.” Blair could find no better words as she entered the cave that was lit by several small wall torches that illuminated the cave perfectly. “Now I can see why you were so determined to get to this cave. I’m completely speechless.” Then quickly without turning around to view Turtle’s expression, “Don’t you dare say a word.”
“Miss Foster, if I may direct you a little further into the cave you will discover the main reason for this location as the perfect resting point.” And again Turtle was selling her mountain life to this stranger who seemed to have very little experience outside of her world of big cities and important jobs.
As Blair walked towards the back of the cave she was immediately introduced to the sweet aroma of sulphur. “What is that smell?” She turned and asked Turtle with surprise. She knew the smell of sulphur is normally not pleasant and can be at time revolting, but this seemed to be more of a calming smell.
“My father believed it is a combination of minerals unique to this mountain that offered the pleasant aroma but in keeping with the healing powers of the sulphur in the water. I believe it is the relaxing smell of lavender but my father always believed it was unique and would never give the smell a name. Sometimes he would just call it Mother Earth Perfume.” Turtle’s voice softened and she stopped all movement as her thoughts went to her father and how he loved this mountain.
“Earth to Turtle” Blair softly spoke attempting to snap her out of her daydream.
“Yes…I’m so sorry. My father, well he was a great man and I miss him a lot. But back to you.” She shook off her feelings and snapped back to work. “Now if I may suggest. Take off the wet suit and allow your skin some time to adjust to the air, and then slowly submerge your body into the healing waters. Keep your under things on if you want,” she moved her hand up and down Blair’s body indicating her bra and panties and then continued, “Now trust me when I say this is a very safe pool of water to be completely naked in, just another one of Mother Nature’s gifts.”
And then after a fast look around the cave to ensure complete safety for her guest while she was out foraging for food she announced, “I should be gone for about one, maybe one and a half hours. And hopefully I will return with dinner.” Turtle was surprised with her forceful instructions but again she was not going to allow for another outburst. Her guest was safe and she wanted her to know this completely.
As she exited the cave entrance she momentarily stood and took in and exhaled a short deep breath. Pleased with herself for getting her guest safely to her cave not to mention how good it felt and how proud she knew Susan would be for keeping their guest safe regardless of how many times she had threatened to take legal action towards her livelihood.
“Alone again, Well Miss Foster, do what you have been told. Take this wet suit off and let your skin breath.” Blair spoke aloud as she began to remove the shoulder part of the suit. And then tried and tried again. “Are you fucking kidding me? Now that I want out of this disgusting suit of rubber, I can’t.” And then without warning she released a scream that would have shattered glass.
Turtle, who was not completely down to the lower part of the path when she heard the shriek, and believing that was a different type of scream, she did not hesitate to turn and run back up the hill.
Upon entering the cave she saw her guest spinning around in a tight circle attempting to get her arm out of the suit. At first glance she seemed to only be able to get her shoulder and her right breast out into the open air.
Once again Turtle was faced with a dual image of this poor pathetic creature offering both humorous and sad images of a person on the edge of crazy, momentarily stood back and enjoyed the dance before she decided to approach, to break in and to take over the lead.
She repeated “Stop” several times, as she tried to get a hold of the spinning wild woman’s shoulders. “Here let me help you start to remove this and then I will go.” As she grabbed for the suit shoulder, she continued to talk, “I really am doing a very bad job helping you through this. I need to remember that you are completely out of your element out here. I’m so used to being out here I forget that others would find this a real challenge. I truly do apologize again. Sadly I guess I just keep giving you more ammunition for suing me at the end of all this. But at least you will be alive to do so.” She softly declared as she gently pulled Blair’s other shoulder out and freeing her upper body from its rubbery prison.
Standing completely exposed Blair remained silent and could only seem to stare into Turtle’s eyes as she absorbed the very truthful message.
Shortly after Turtle’s exit, Blair decided to unpack the blanket from the gear bag and wrapped it around her naked body. The feeling from the fabric from the blanket startled her at first as she expected the fabric to hurt her tender skin but instead she was surprised to notice the soothing feeling. “Out of my element indeed,” she said with normal volume.
As she stood in the middle of the cave with the blanket around her body she encouraged her crazy personality to understand that everything around her was new and different. She needed to smarten-up and to start to participate in her rescue, rather than to be a burden.
As she stood and pondered her predicament she seemed unable to control her desire to enter the hot water of the pool. As she approached the well-used entering area of the hot pool she stood for a moment judging on whether she completely trusted her guides’ description of the pool and its comparison to a Jacuzzi bathtub and decided to allow caution to be removed from the equation and without hesitation she dropped the blanket, ran her hands up and down her belly and up towards her breasts, shrug her shoulders in a upwards lift and then without fear allowed her body to slowly submerge into the very warm water. She was pleasantly surprised and thankful that the bottom was easy to stand on and that it was not slippery or slimy. As she investigated her surroundings she quickly noticed that just below the surface of the water was some of nature’s ingenuity, very convenient small seats formed of solid flat rock that firmly jutted from the walls of the pool to rest on. As she settled into the pool and sat on the seat provided she could feel small bursts of bubbles explode into the air offering a heavenly facial. “Oh my, this true is bliss” She softly voiced.
“If it weren’t for the location, this would be a gold mine.” She thought as she lowered her body to allow the water to cover her entire body up to her chin.
And as she allowed her body to rest, she set her mind towards a different thought pattern which included the ar
ea of her confusion towards her guides’ sexuality and how she seemed to be fighting the attraction. “This woman does not know me. I can be whoever I want to be. Who would it hurt if I decided to play a little hide and seek? I could hide my truth. We have barely talked about my life outside this world. I could be someone else, an experiment of sorts. Yes indeed, I can hide my truth.” Agreeing with her thoughts of this dangerous and devilish plan she turned her attention to the enjoyment of the healing hot pool water.
Turtle had made great progress to the area she and her father had visited many times during their quiet times at the cave. She purposely chose not to back track but instead to travel towards the river that she and her father had used many times to fish for the trout and then change her route to get to this particular area for them to feast on wild jack rabbit for dinner. Turtle was confident that trapping one of the Jack’s would be relatively easy if the population had remained in the area. She knew that her mountain had sustained some great changes but knowing that the cave area remained the same she was confident that they would be eating meat for dinner, then suddenly she said the word “meat” out loud. “What if she doesn’t eat meat?” and then after a micro-second of care, “Oh well, just another reason to be sued, I guess.” She laughed as she proceeded to her hunting spot.
As if she wore a watch Turtle was climbing the loose shale path that lead directly to the entrance to the cave. She felt confident that her skinned and prepared Jack rabbit would please the unstable guest that awaited her return. As she proceeded up to the entrance she was anticipating another onslaught of vulgarity and accusation, which made her stop all forward progress and stood still preparing her energy for the attack. As she stood in complete silence she was startled to hear only silence. Stunned by the quiet she decided to take a few steps forward and stop again. And again not a sound came from the cave. Fearful that something terrible had happened she dropped all of her belongings including the rabbit and ran as fast as she could to the inside of the cave, mentally preparing herself for a disaster.
“Miss Foster.” She whispered, fearing that maybe a wild animal really had committed an unthinkable act, but instead to her absolute delight her charge was sitting next to the fire.
“What’s wrong, were you unable to capture dinner?” Blair’s words indicated simple calm and respect.
“Are you okay?” Turtle hesitated to ask for fear her response was some kind of slow burn, and the real Miss Foster was about to pounce without warning.
“Turtle you were absolutely right in bringing me here. What a delightful way of rejuvenating a tired body. Truth be told I have spent thousands of dollars at spas around the world and not once have I felt like this afterwards. I could kiss you for this.” Then suddenly and abruptly Blair was standing in front of Turtle, inches away from touching her body, and then purposely let the blanket that was covering her naked body fall to the ground. Then very unceremoniously looked down at the blanket on the ground and looked back into Turtle’s face and mischievously stated, “Oops”, and then acted without permission, she cradled Turtle’s face in her hands and proceeds to kiss her with unbridled passion.
Shocked in the moment but enjoying the encounter Turtle allowed the kissing to proceed adding her own participation.
Stepping back from the delightful interaction Turtle stated that she had dropped their dinner outside the cave and needed to retrieve it or another animal would have it as theirs.
Stunned by Turtles’ nonchalant reaction and rapid exit, Blair momentarily stood still not to mention completely exposed, speechless and alone in the cave. Unsure of her next move, as she was making this up as she went along, decided to bend over to gather the blanket. To continue walking around in the cave completely nude would be a bit much not to mention gross.
Gross, the word sat in her mind, as she thought about the kiss. “It wasn’t gross.” She suddenly felt confused as she moved her fingers towards her lips and affectionately patted her wet lips and tried to hold onto the fading sensation of the kiss. She expelled a deep throat grunt as she whispered, “Well that was fun, and a good start to my game.”
As Turtle left the cave entrance she found herself purposely moving her lips in a rubbing motion and pressing them together as she tried to savour the feeling from the recent enjoyable attack. It was difficult for her to just let this instability go without thought. So as she walked over to where the jack rabbit carcass was resting, she turned to sit on the familiar medium size boulder that was just inches away from a low dense grouping of prickly bushes. As she allowed the quarry to lie across her bent leg she began to ponder, “What game is this woman playing? It’s clear that she is a lesbian but why the constant unstable personality? Do I ask or do I play along until we get her back to her family and leave it at that?”
Completely confused and knowing she was ‘out of her element’ she grabbed the rabbit by it’s large hind legs and proceeded to stand to begin the process of telling the woman in the cave that she was about to eat rabbit for dinner. Then she remembered about her father’s wild garden a few yards down the hill in a small flat area of earth. She sprang to her feet with delight at the memory but then suddenly she heard a helpless crying sound coming from the dense bush behind the boulder she had been resting on.
Her years of training have told her to stop all movement and with her hearing on high alert she began to eliminate all the forest sounds around her until she could hear the cry again. Suddenly she heard the whimpering of a small animal. The sound was coming from over her right shoulder. She decided to place the quarry on the boulder and squat down in an attempt to look into the thick brush. She could no longer hear any sounds or notice any movement. Confident in her knowledge she crouched down and reached into the brush in an attempt to feel for a small injured creature. With her arm and hand exposed in the prickly bush she waited for another indication of life. Once she heard the whimpering again she was fearless in her determination to get whatever animal was in need and rescue regardless of danger.
As she crept into the prickly bush, the bushes thorns fought back, proving to be as determined as she, to keep its prisoner. Now lying on her stomach she relentlessly pushed her way into the bush until she found the source of the whimpering. The small creature offered zero resistance, and to Turtle that only meant one thing. This small animal was close to dying. As she cradled the tiny creature in her hand she reversed her wiggle to release her body from the many thorns that had snagged onto the wet suit. As she tenderly held the furry prize in her hand, she noticed that her closed hand practically encased the tiny animal’s entire body. Sitting back on the boulder she gingerly opened her hand to inspect and establish what she was holding.
“Oh my… look at what I’ve got here, a little wolf cub.” She voiced with great surprise, as she had never seen one so small. It was plain that the mother had left the cub to die as it was more than likely the runt of the litter. Knowing exactly what to do she unzipped her wet suit top and slid the cub, body first so that the legs would face forward, closed the zipper, reached for the rabbit again by the back legs and proceed to slowly run up to the cave.
“Boy, you’re full of surprises.” Blair voiced, as she stood back and watched Turtle literally pull a wolf out of her wet suit.
“It’s dying but I’m going to do whatever possible to keep it alive. It cried out for help so that makes this…” she examined for the sex of the wolf and discovered, “little girl, well she still has some fight in her. So I will fight with her.” Turtles’ words left little doubt that she was willing to fight for this life.
“I thought you were getting dinner not bringing the entire forest population home.” Blair’s chosen words proved to contain very little thought, as she walked over to the small fire that had been burning the entire time, and poked the ambers demonstrating little interest in the condition of the wolf pup.
Feeling the bite from Blair’s words Turtle was determined to give her guest a free lesson on wildlife and stated, “Miss Foster, i
f I recall our advertisements did indicate an enjoyable time in the wilderness learning about nature and it’s many wonders, well guess what, this is learning about nature and sadly this is a part of it. Infant mortality in the young is very high in the wild. So if you don’t mind I will care for this little girl until she passes or gets stronger. I promise your concerns will be cared for.” Her words again taught an unwilling Miss Foster another one of life’s lesson.
Stunned by the subtle slap upside of the head, Blair decided to sit and watch Turtle care for the pup. She watched as Turtle inspected the pup for injuries, and thankfully concluded that there were none.
Surprisingly Blair’s reaction was the same, thankful, as she heard Turtle gently speak to the pup and informing her she appeared to be uninjured. All legs moved as they should, there were no signs of an extended belly, which would indicate internal bleeding and no noticeable lacerations, just a very small wolf pup that appeared to be very undernourished and dehydrated.
As if an outside force took control of Blair’s body, she found herself intrigued enough to walk over to where Turtle was preparing the pup some form of liquid food, she without permission reached over to touch the pup’s body, and then jerked it back because the little girl attempted to defend herself by offering the weakest growl ever recorded.
“You see! She’s still got some fight in her.” Turtle softly laughed. “Don’t forget she’s wild, and it doesn’t matter that she is weak, it’s a good sign. Here, gently reach for her. Don’t jab at her. Here like this,” Turtle took Blair’s hand and gently placed it on the shoulder and tenderly passed her hand along the side of the belly to the tail.
“Oh my, she’s so soft, and thin. What can I do to help?” Blair instantly was all in.
Surprised by the change of heart, and the tone of her voice, Turtle decided to accept the help. “I need to get some kind of a food mixture made if you want to keep an eye on her, by softly talking to her and watching her breathing by keeping her head and nose pointing upwards. Do you think you can manage? It’s unlikely she will try to run in such a weak condition. I will only be a few minutes getting the meat mixture ready.” Turtle whispered as she moved away allowing Blair to take over the nursing position.
