Our return to the cabin became a déjà vu moment and a mirror image of when I first arrived with Darlene about ten days ago. As our rescue vehicles approached, it appeared as though Sheila and the entire membership of the Society of Sisters waited on the cabin's balcony in freezing cold. The upper deck erupted in shouts of joy and hand waves of welcome when Seraina dismounted from the snowmobile. The boisterous display of...

Rattlesnake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is the culinary equivalent of cruel and unusual punishment. I had about had it with rattlesnake by the end of the third meal on the first day. I skipped the midday meal and picked at supper the second day. I hated snakes as much as Seraina did by the evening of the next day. Mood affects perception. The blue funk of disappointment settling over us transformed our dark and cozy...

Wrestling under the covers while playing a game of naked grab-ass kicked our biological heat engines into overdrive. The internal temperature of our sleeping bag was well beyond the comfort zone as our cozy sleeping space became a sauna without steam. "I'm tired of anatomy by Braille, I wanna see what I'm doing." Alice tossed the sleeping bag cover back and rose to her knees. Her nude body glistened with perspiration in t...

While our dinner is not worthy of a five-star restaurant, the view around us was six-star spectacular. The night was moonless, and the velvet black sky above our heads blazed with countless stars. The Milky Way rose and arched across the heavens in a misty river of light along the eastern horizon. The snowshoe workshop did triple duty as kitchen, dining area, and lounge. We spent as many hours outdoors together as we coul...

Alice and I hurried toward the source of illumination like moths to a flame. A glimmering halo of white light surrounded the hole Alice cut through the snow drift at the tunnel's entrance. I crawled into the air shaft that she’d excavated and punched through a thin cap of frost at the end and was instantly dazzled by blinding sunshine. "Alice, Come here and take a look, you aren't going to believe this," I shouted over my...

Morpheus, the God of dreams, wrapped us in a cocoon of dreams. But when he did, he forgot to include a bathroom. I awoke with a four-alarm "urgent need to go" moment as my bladder trembled in an effort to hold back a flood of Biblical proportions. It would be wonderful to wake up nice and slow like I once did in my younger days. I used to enjoy the delightful transition from slumber to wakefulness. No such luck. Personal...

The gentle nudge of Alice's hands dragged me out of my sleep.  "Dennis, I'm sorry to wake you, but I've gotta piss so bad I can taste it. I need your help," she said as she pulled me into a sitting position. Our warm and cozy tent had turned into an icebox. "You gotta be kidding; since when do you need help taking a piss?"  Reaching under my makeshift pillow, I fished out my light and turned it on. In front of me, a naked...

In the confined space of the cave, Alice's distressed cry reverberated off the walls, so loud my ears hurt. I scrambled to be at her side. She sat in a fetal position with her arms wrapped around her knees and her whole body trembling like a leaf in the wind. Fear distorted her face, and her eyes closed so tightly her facial muscles twitched with the effort. A tiny voice uttered from her lips, repeating a single word agai...

"This is Liberty base. The National Weather Service has issued a revised winter storm warning for our area. Up to thirty-six inches of snow starting tonight at five with blizzard conditions beginning at six-thirty PM. Snow throughout the evening, ending late tomorrow. Winds south by southwest twenty to thirty miles per hour, one hundred and twenty miles per hour gusts exposed ridges. Return home immediately. Please acknow...

"These mountains are as dangerous as they are beautiful. They might appear to be lovely and majestic but don't let 'em fool you. The beauty hides the heart of a killer," Brenda explained as she dug through her inventory, looking for a pair of gloves in my size. "Got 'em!" she yelled as she held the object of her search aloft, a pair of insulated gloves joined the rest of my new wardrobe. A slim and attractive woman in her...

My bladder is the perfect alarm clock. The urgent need to go dragged me out of hibernation as the night sky brightened in advance of dawn. I awoke to the gentle sound of Sheila's breathing. Naked, beautiful, and warm, she lay next to me in the relaxed innocence of sleep. Sheila sensed a change in my position, shifted her body, and pressed her bare bottom into my groin as we snuggled together under the covers. My hand rema...

The tour of the Liberty Mountain camp consumed most of the day, and I welcomed the chance to sit down and collect my thoughts. We were back in the cabin with about twenty minutes to spare before dinner service, and I wanted to use the time to clean up before supper.  Darlene had left me on my own for the evening to rekindle a long lost friendship or love affair. Her parting words for the evening were, "Don't get into too...

We returned to our room after breakfast to find a note from Sheila pinned to our door. She was reminding us to join her on the front deck for an introductory tour of the Colony and surrounding area. The instructions also suggested that we dress for the weather. Our walk-in closets looked like walk-in dumpsters. Everything we had brought with us in the Rav4 had been piled in the storage spaces like an unorganized jigsaw pu...

The bright glow of morning sunshine reflected off the snow-capped western mountains and cascaded through our bedroom window, filling every corner with light. Some part of my sleeping brain registered the change in illumination and curiosity teased my eyes open. My initial reaction was a momentary disconcerting sense of confusion that we all feel when waking up in a brand new place for the first time. The mountains dazzled...

Chapter 7 As the applause died down, I took a seat on the table's bench next to Sheila and tried to relax. I felt like I had just run a marathon. Darlene gave me a warm hug and a glass of ice-cold water and sat with me. I don't know which I appreciated more; her company, the hug, or the beverage. I guzzled the water down in one long gulp. Public speaking is lonely and thirsty work. The sisters stopped by in ones and twos...