by Bridy McAvoy
Kaylie spun around to face the door, the familiar voice bringing instant color to her cheeks as, still virtually naked, she faced her boss, who held out a small business card to her. She took it wordlessly and read…
Fantasies Incorporated –The Field Trip
By Bridy McAvoy
ISBN: 978-1-927134-83-2
All rights reserved.
Copyright © Mar 2012, Bridy McAvoy
Cover Art Copyright © Mar 2012, Brightling Spur
Bluewood Publishing Ltd
Christchurch, 8441, New Zealand
www.bluewoodpublishing.com
Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.
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The Field Trip
“I’m not sure this is a good idea, Phil. I mean camping in late September – it’ll be cold up there in the hills.”
Cara frowned at her boyfriend of fifteen months, crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself tightly to show her disapproval.
“It’ll be fine, Cara. Besides, you know I have to take these undergraduates out to do an autumn landscape project. The weather might turn out nice, so pack your suit.”
Cara sighed. She knew he had to spend a few days on this trip; the question was simply whether it would be more miserable to go with him or to stay at home without him in the quiet flat they rented together. She tried another tactic.
“Yeah, right. Like I’m going to sunbathe in front of six randy students as I’ll be the only woman alone on the camp site. I’m sure you’d enjoy that!”
Phil rolled his eyes.
“I have no idea if they’re randy or not, but in any case two of them are girls. So it’s only a five to three split. You won’t be the only woman there.”
“Hmm…”
Cara was fast running out of objections, and since her own post grad course didn’t start for another couple of weeks she couldn’t even protest she had anything else planned. They’d both come back early from summer jobs ready to start, only to find that Phil had been saddled with the early autumn photography field trip at the last minute.
* * * *
“See, it’s beautiful and not too cold, is it?”
Cara had to smile at Phil as they stepped down from alternate sides of the front of the minibus. The students piled out of the rear sliding door.
“It’s warm enough now, but wait ‘til tonight.”
“I’ve got you to keep me warm!” He said as grinned at her and she could read his intentions like a book.
“The ground’s too hard, so you’ll have to keep it in your trousers, mister.”
Her smile belied the rejection in her words and she turned to look around the valley. She turned away from her boyfriend and looked around the secluded valley. The rattletrap minibus had jolted down one side of the valley for the last mile, hitting every bump and pothole on the single track trail. Other than themselves the tiny green clearing was empty, and surrounded on all four sides by tier after rising tier of stately trees, many of them already starting to turn from green to various shades of red, yellow and brown.
“You’re right, Phil. It is beautiful here.”
Cara slowly did a three-sixty, her gaze drawn to the variegated color of the tree canopy that enclosed everything except their grassy area, even arching over the trail they’d just used to get to this idyllic spot. The six students were doing the same thing, drinking in the serenity and the incredible mix of colors lit by the afternoon sun. Phil wasn’t in any mood to let them loiter any longer though.
“Right, come on, split into teams and let’s get the camp set up. Then we’ll have a chance to explore a little before the sun goes down. Steve and Tim, you get the tents out of the van and help Cara and Liz set them up. Keith, you’re with me on firewood duty. Let’s gather as much as possible for the next hour. Hopefully we can get enough to keep us going for the full weekend. Pete, you’re on fire pit duty.” Phil pointed to the charred remains of a fire a few feet away. “There’s a spade in the back. Get that cleaned out and we can have a barbecue supper. Chrissie, you get water duty. There’s a stream about thirty yards that way.” He pointed to the south. “And plenty of water bags in the back. Fill three or four and we can have a hot drink, as well as water for washing.”
“Who put you in charge?”
Cara smiled to show her comment wasn’t meant to be taken seriously, and the students burst into chuckles, their mood remaining bright as they all set about the chores Phil had dished out. Cara was particularly happy he hadn’t picked her for the one duty she hated. Water duty. She always got soaked or fell in with the same result.
* * * *
Cara woke the following morning to the sound of someone whistling and the crackling of a fire outside the tent. She turned over to find the other half of the sleeping bag was empty, so she made an accurate guess about who the whistler was. She stretched luxuriously in the warm confines of her sleeping bag, and remembered how she’d proved to both of them that the ground was definitely not too hard. There’d been noises coming from the girls’ tent too, so she guessed at least one of the guys had scored, which didn’t particularly surprise her.
“Wake up, sleepy head.”
Phil stuck his head through the tent flap and grinned at her.
“Why?”
“’Cos the coffee’s hot and it’s a beautiful autumn morning. We need to get moving.”
“Why, what’s the plan?”
“There’s a fabulous spot near the stream where we can get some great morning shots with the sun glinting on the water, then after an early lunch we’re going on a hike. There’s a trail up this side of the valley that leads out to a cliff top viewpoint with a panoramic view of the hills below.”
“Sounds like a lot of effort.”
“Trust me, it’ll be worth it.”
“Not sure I’ve brought the right clothes for hiking.”
“You’ll be fine in those shorts you like and a sports bra under a tee. Honest.”
Christ! He even thinks he’s entitled to pick out my wardrobe now!
Cara felt somehow peeved at her partner for bossing her around, so decided on a whim to make her own choices. The shorts were sensible, but she went with a simple button up shirt. The filmy, bright yellow lace underwear wasn’t anything like sensible, as she pulled the tent flap closed and dressed in silence, although she could still hear the groans and protests as Phil made sure the group of undergraduates were up.
Everyone spent the time over breakfast looking around the fantastic scenery that surrounded them, and listened as Phil laid out the itinerary and requirements for the day. When it came time to set off for the local spot shoot, Cara elected to stay at the camp site. She wasn’t the one doing a photography course, and she had a lot of reference reading to catch up with on her Kindle.
Cara read solidly for about an hour after clearing up the campsite after breakfast until she heard a commotion on the track. She looked round to see the party struggling back, with two of the guys half carrying, half propping up one of the girls. Cara jumped up and ran a few paces toward them.
Chrissie looked up and managed a weak half-smile to her as they came closer to the tents.
“She’s sprained her ankle. Badly, I think.”
Steve was breathing heavily from supporting her and Tim, on the other side, wasn’t much better. Liz and Phil were walking behind, with Phil carrying both his own camera bag and those of the other guys as well. Liz was carrying hers and Chrissie’s.
“What happened?”
Cara bit her lip; she knew how important this trip was to Phil. If it tur
ned into a disaster, a chance at a teaching post after his masters could be seriously blighted. It was Liz, the one who’d been the quietest the night before, who answered.
“Big oaf didn’t look where she was going and slipped off the bank.”
“I’ll give you big oaf you skinny runt.”
Liz laughed and then grinned at Chrissie who was smiling at her friend, although as she shifted her weight the smile quickly became a grimace.
“See. Told you I’d get a reaction when we got back to the camp. Put her in our tent please.”
Belatedly, Cara remembered Liz was their qualified first aider as well as a student and she watched as the two men supporting the other woman gingerly picked their way past the other two tents to the girls’ tent.
“Ow!”
“Sorry.”
Somehow the two of them manoeuvred their burden into the tent and Liz bustled into the tent after them. Cara tried to follow and was almost bowled over as Liz shooed the guys out.
“There’s nothing to see, and I don’t need any assistance. Sorry, Cara, there’s not enough room to swing a cat in here. If I need help I’ll yell.”
Cara felt a little put out. After all, she was the only other woman there, but shrugged and left Liz busily zipping the tent shut prior to attending to her friend. She returned to the side of the fire pit and sat down beside her boyfriend.
“What happened?”
Phil shrugged. “We didn’t see it, to be honest. We were all lined up along the side of the stream, about three hundred yards that way it opens out in to a bit of a lake, more of a pond really. I’d got everyone to crouch down to get the reflections off the water correct and Chrissie was on the end of the line. Suddenly we heard a yell and she slid down the bank. Guess her footing gave way. She hit a branch sticking out. Christ, Cara, I thought she’d broken it.”
“Jeez!”
“Anyway, Liz took charge and Tim and Steve climbed down to her then pulled her back to the trail. She’d only slipped about six feet, but it was steep, you know.”
“Ah... So my big, butch boyfriend didn’t get to play the hero.”
Phil tensed up and Cara knew she’d gone too far. Clearly, the accident, which could have been so much worse, had affected him, even if the results hadn’t been too serious.
Cara gave him a hug and he relaxed.
“Anyway, Liz checked her over and says she thinks it’s only sprained. She’ll be able to give it a proper examination now Chrissie’s lying down. We just packed back up and headed back. Chrissie was more worried about her camera than anything else, but I checked it and it wasn’t damaged.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, Cara holding onto his arm, trying hard to comfort him, knowing he was thinking about the reams of paperwork he’d have to fill in as an accident report, once they’d got back to the campus.
The four guys were sitting a few yards away, talking quietly and checking the images on the small screens of their cameras. They’d get the laptops out and download the images later; battery power wouldn’t let them do that more than a couple of times during the three day trip. A few minutes later Liz opened the girls’ tent once more, stepped back out, blinking in the bright sunshine, then zipped it closed behind her. She approached Phil, everyone else looking up and waiting for her diagnosis.
“It’s a slight sprain. That’s all. She’s in a lot of pain, but thankfully it’s not too swollen. I’ve put a compress on it and given her some painkillers. She’s actually dozing right now, and a bit of bed rest will do her fine. She’ll probably be able to walk on it tomorrow, not far, but some.”
“That’s a relief.” Cara was speaking for all of them, and she could see the guys nodding.
Phil, however, leaned forward. “What about this afternoon?”
Liz snorted. “No chance. No way she can manage that steep trail. I’ll stay with her. Shouldn’t leave her alone in these woods for that long, anyway.”
Phil sighed and shook his head. “We could pack up and go back.”
Liz shook her head with surprising violence. “No way. Jolting her around in the back of that minibus today could make it a damn sight worse! Honestly, give her a few hours relaxation and she’ll be fine. You lot go and I’ll wander around here, take some shots down here. Might not get the best shots, but I’m sure I can get some damn good ones.”
“But…”
“No buts. She might need medical attention so I have to stay. The rest of you can go.”
Cara felt she had to speak up. “I’ll stay.”
“No. Go with Phil and the guys. I have to stay, but I know from my brother who came here a couple of years ago that it’s a great view from up there. You’re an artist, you’ll appreciate it. I need to stay with Chrissie in case it suddenly swells. If there’s a problem I’ll signal somehow, even if the mobiles won’t get signals. We’ll be fine.”
Cara could sense Phil still wanted to protest but couldn’t find an excuse to, under the relentless logic of the woman who’d, at least temporarily, taken charge – taken over from him.
* * * *
An hour after they’d started up the trail, they reached a break in the tree cover on their right and Phil called a halt. Cara could feel the backs of her thighs and calves burning from the effort of keeping up with the pace her boyfriend had set. She could see the four students were breathing heavily too as she dropped to the ground with a groan. Phil, on the other hand, mister fitness himself, wasn’t even breathing heavily. She cradled her head on her folded arms and looked over the scenery revealed by the break in the trees. Far below them she could see the valley floor, and at the far end the tiny colorful dots of their three tents and the light blue box which could only be the top of the minibus.
For a moment she thought she could see movement, two people moving around down there, but the distance was too great to be sure so she dismissed it as a figment of her imagination.
Phil sat down next to her. “Problem?”
“My legs ache!”
“Here drink this. You need to keep your fluids up. I’ll work on these.”
Without another word Phil shuffled down and began to massage her calves, starting just above her ankles and moving up in slow circles.
“Why don’t you guys take a few shots, looking out over the valley. Our main viewpoint is another half an hour up the ridge, but Cara here needs to get her legs back, so don’t waste the time.”
She could hear the rustling as they guys fished their cameras out of their bags, but was concentrating on the magical feelings Phil was introducing in her legs. The burning feeling was subsiding as his practised hands worked on her lower legs. Cara could hear the other guys moving away, and took a quick glance. They were moving up the trail a little, heading toward where the drop-off was sharpest and the view better. Already they were out of earshot of any low voiced conversation.
“That feels good… so goooood.”
Phil chuckled and increased the pressure on the middle of Cara’s calf. She gasped as his fingers dug in, finding a knot and then gently massaging the muscles, persuading them to un-kink once more.
She let the warm glow suffuse through her body, luxuriating in the feeling as he left her lower legs and moved to the back of her thighs. Cara closed her eyes and sighed, knowing his touch was putting a smile on her face. Her bra felt scratchy against her chest and she realized her nipples were hardening from the pleasure the massage was inducing.
“Hmm…”
She sighed again, a feeling of peaceful bliss descending over her.
Slap!
How she jerked back into the present as the stinging sensation penetrated through her shorts as Phil slapped her right ass cheek.
Slap!
The left one got the same treatment.
Ow!
“Come on, don’t zone out on me. I need you awake, not recumbent. Come on, break’s over, get back on your feet.”
Cara climbed back to her feet, gingerly rubbing her ass and frowning at him.
Phil simply laughed, and the four students joined in with chuckles of their own. She’d been that relaxed by Phil’s massage she hadn’t even noticed them return from taking their pictures of the valley floor so far below.
“Right, let’s get a move on. We need to get up there, do what we set out to do and get back to camp before dusk. This is not a good trail to be on after dark.”
Cara pouted then took a swig from a proffered water bottle before joining the file of men as they headed back up the trail, Phil as ever setting a blistering pace. She rubbed her ass again, her tender flesh still smarting. A snort from behind reminded her Steve was following so she quickly pulled her hand away.
I’ll get you for that, Phil!
After a couple of minutes she forgot all about revenge as the trail grew steeper still and she had to scramble as much as walk up the slope. The longer legs of the guys made it easier for them, but they all took turns helping her when they came upon the more difficult sections.
Suddenly she rounded a boulder and stopped dead. Steve, following her, bumped into her with a muffled apology then stopped himself. The others were strung out in a line all simply staring at the panoramic view opened out in front of and below them.
Optically, the scarp they now stood on seemed to be the highest point around, although it probably wasn’t. Rank after serried rank of heavily wooded ridges stretched out in front of them, almost geometrically perfect as each one carved a straight line across the landscape. The lines weren’t parallel, but all seemed perfectly straight, embracing a kind of complex geometry only nature herself could command.
The colors were something else too, a complete riot of greens of every conceivable hue overlaid with the reds, oranges, yellows and brown of early fall. It was spellbinding in its beauty, truly breathtaking, and Cara could sense the others felt the same way.
“Come on, cameras out, guys. You can stare later, but you need to frame and capture the view properly. Don’t forget to check your light too, and for Christ’s sake use a decent depth of exposure.”
