Celestial Light Show

Jenny wakes slowly, uncertain where she is until that is when she moves and her bed starts to sway gently, stopping her movement immediately.

"Hammock.!" she reminds herself "Don't fall out."

Carefully she raises herself into a sitting position, legs hanging over the edge of the hammock. She looks down at the ground below her where her feet will land when she straightens up. She checks for insects, snakes or thorns.

Nothing. Just tufts of dry grass and hard baked soil that hasn't seen rain in a long, long time. She tosses her hand towel down so that it lands more or less between her feet and wishes that it was her lovely soft mohair carpet she had laid next to her bed.

The carpet had a very raunchy memory of a one night stand where they had fallen off the bed and continued on the carpet resulting in carpet burns on her bum and she supposes on the guys knees and elbows.

What was his name again? Gone like him and his bullshit phone number. It had been, she had to admit a really good and rough romp. Not like Johnno. Far too gentle he is! she murmurs to herself.

"Another three days to go." she says sadly "Three whole fucking days. Why did I agree to this expedition?"

There is no valid reason for agreeing to participate in what was to be honest Johnno's attempt to grow up.

Johnno having gone off with the other guys on an Adventure she was left with the support team and a bunch of other women with whom she had little or nothing in common except perhaps partners who wanted to find themselves!

Jenny lowers herself down onto the towel, picks up her left boot, turns it upside-down and shakes it vigorously. She then repeats the action for the right boot.

Jenny remembers vividly being scornful of the instructor's warning to 'shake your boots out - evict the unwanted visitors' until the second day, when Jane, a fluffy blonde had not shaken her boots out and found a scorpion with her big toe. The last they saw of Jane was her being carted off to hospital with a foot that looked like it was going to explode. Jenny had thereafter become assiduous at shaking her boots out.

Convinced now that her boots were reasonably safe she slides her bare feet into the boots and heads for the latrines.

Latrines! she mutters to herself. A fucking long drop that stinks to high heaven. Oh for a fucking clean, tiled bathroom with running water and a bath! Oh god! She'd kill for a hot scented bath.

She glares at the camping shower which consists of a rubber bladder suspended from a branch of a tree. There is a long pull rope that triggers a deluge of cold, rubber scented water. If there was any water left in the bladder that is.

Something makes her look at the pull rope a second time. It looks far more bumpy than it ought to so she goes back to have a second look and then hurriedly heads for the admin tent where the Support team hang out when not actually doing something.

"There is what looks like a snake on the pull rope."

"What type of snake?" this from Art. He is big, scruffy and square looking. He lounges untidily in a camp chair that looks as if it is going to collapse under his weight. She assumes he is the odd job man, as he seems to be everywhere but never doing anything important. Except to leer at the women.

Probably as thick as two short planks she thinks. And this is possibly the only employment he can find that matches his IQ.

He does have a certain dangerous allure though and she might not mind him rattling her bones a bit as Johnno had not been particularly assiduous in his attentions lately.

"Long, thin and green." Jenny says patiently.

Art sighs and extracts himself out of the chair.

"Cummon. Let's go look at your long, thin, green snake." he says and ambles off without looking back.

He arrives first and stares at the shower pull rope.

"Not there now. You sure you saw a snake?" he looks at her carefully but doesn't move, just stares at her.

Jenny looks at the rope. No snake! She scans the rest of the tree. Nothing. She is just about to walk away when the birds in the tree next to the shower tree erupt with panicked noises.

"Ah!" Art says "Gone looking for breakfast has he?"

He ambles over to the tree and stares at the tree.

"There she is!" Art says pointing at a side branch that is supporting a dozen or so birds nests.

"Going to raid the nests."

Sure enough the snake is moving slowly towards the nests.

"Stop him!" Jenny says.

"No. She needs those chicks to build decent eggs! And it is definitely a she. You can see the body distortion caused by her eggs."

"I don't care! Stop her or I will."

"Careful you don't get bitten. That is a Boomslang [tree snake]. The bad news is that there isn't an antidote for the poison and it is haemorrhagic so you bleed to death. The good news is that It takes about twenty four hours, more or less to die. Gives you time to write your will."

Art smiles at her.

"Also you'd have to work very hard at getting bitten by her. Aside from anything else she is a back fanged snake so she has to bite you twice to get a good load into you."

He looks her up and down carefully assessing her leaving her feeling almost as if he is stripping her down.

"Much like sex." he adds.

"Argh!" Jenny snarls and starts to walk away.

"Jenny!" Art calls to her just before she reaches the latrine. She turns and walks back towards him expecting him to agree to saving the birds.

"What?" she snarls.

"How far away would you have been if I hadn't called you back?"

She stops dead and glares at him.

"Bastard!" she says and turns away again.

"Such a sweet backside!" he says laughing.

Jenny storms away to his ribald laughter.

Still fuming from her pointless and irritating interaction with him earlier she arrives for breakfast and decides to lay a complaint about Art's behaviour. After all a common labourer should not talk to a paying guest like that.

She corners Tom the team liaison.

"Who is in charge here?" she asks "I want to speak to the manager and lay a complaint against Art. He was super rude to me this morning."

Tom manages to look sympathetic and serious before breaking out in a smile.

"I don't think the manager will be very sympathetic."

"He will be by the time I am through with him! Come on! Who is he?"

"He's just over there." Tom says pointing to where Art is once more slouched across a camp chair.

"No! That is Art! I want to speak to the manager, owner, supervisor, whatever, whoever."

Tom manages to look serious after a short battle with his face.

"Art is all of those things. Personal Adventures is his business."

"That slob!" she grinds out "That scruffy, rude ignorant man is the owner of the company?"

It is at this moment that Art levers himself out of his chair and ambles across to them. He pats Tom on the arm.

"I'll take care of Ms Smythe. You go and roust out the rest of our guests."

He looks directly at Jenny.

"Now Ms Smythe. I am sorry I teased you so mercilessly earlier today. My wicked sense of humour got the better of me."

"I did not see it as funny at all."

"No. I don't suppose you did. My human interaction skills are pretty appalling and are one of the reasons I don't work in the corporate world any more."

"How many customers do you lose because of your shitty attitude?"

"Not many. Mainly because I tend to stay well clear of the customers."

"Why me? What did I do to deserve your undivided attention?" she asks.

"You are not going to like the answer if I tell you."

"Let me guess: Because you wanted to fuck me?"

"Yes. You are a very sexy woman. You turn me on big time."

"Your pick up lines are pretty awful. You do know that don't you?"

"Yes. But I did warn you."

"Fuck! You are mad if you even think I will go with you. I want out!"

"OK. I understand. There is a resupply truck arriving tomorrow. We can arrange to have you back in your home by tomorrow afternoon."

"Good! And you are going to refund me aren't you?"

"Yes. Of course."

"Thank you. Now leave me alone!"

And Art walked away leaving her shaken by the whole conversation.

Reluctantly she participated in the day's activities. Art stayed well clear of her, As well he should she thought to herself ignoring the nagging feeling that she actually wouldn't mind another clash with him because he was ruggedly cute. And what was worse it made her pussy pulse just thinking about him.

At dinner Art went on and on about a dawn parade as he put it.

"Three planets!" he practically shouted "Venus, Jupiter and Mercury clustered on the horizon just before dawn."

Which reminded her of her late Father's obsession with stars and planets. He used to roust the whole family out of bed at obscene hours to see what called God's light show.

She missed her Father and talk of planets at dawn reminds her strongly of him and she is tempted to get up at 4 AM to see the light show but the thought of being close to Art in the dark puts her off. She reluctantly admits that she does not trust herself close to him either.

Nobody seems keen on seeing the planets and Art eventually gives up trying to persuade some one, anyone to join him at dawn.

She goes to bed that night wishing she had accepted the invitation but glad she hadn't.

She awakes from a dream of her Father shouting Wake up! Wake up! Come see God's light show! and it brings her to tears.

She looks at her watch and it shows 4 AM. Of course it is 4 AM she thinks that's why I am dreaming of Dad.

She rolls over intending to go back to sleep but the hammock sways threatening to tip her onto the ground.

"Shit!" she says now fully awake. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"

The memory of her Father adds to her wakefulness and she lies looking up at the stars remembering, remembering.

After ten minutes she gives up, swings out of the hammock, shakes her boots out and goes looking for the clearing where the planets will be visible.

There's no one there

Art has obviously not persuaded anyone.

The planets are all there and the horizon glimmers faintly with the start of astronomical dawn. It is a stunningly beautiful sight and it mesmerises her.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Art's voice makes her jump.

"I didn't see you there." She says not prepared to admit he was right about the planets.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you."

He stays well clear of her and the silence stretches out. Slowly the horizon brightens and soon Mercury the dimmest of the three is gone with Jupiter still holding on but only just. Venus is still easily visible but after a while the sunrise overwhelms even Venus.

"So beautiful!" she breathes. "Thank you."

"Thank you for listening to me and more importantly acting on it."

He leaves her there watching the sky brighten and finally the sun rise.

At breakfast he announces:

"Jenny was the only one dedicated enough to get up and watch the celestial light show."

Which prompts laughter and some ribald commentary.

"Of course tomorrow morning there will be the old moon setting with them!"

Almost without thinking Jenny quotes an old Scottish poem

A saw the new muin late yestreen

Wi the auld muin in her airm

And gif we gang tae sea, maister,

A fear we? ll cam tae hairm.?

Art looks at her and says

"Then maybe you shouldn't leave us on the resupply truck this morning. Ye'll cam tae sum hairm! and end up with a bunch of Scottish lords at you feet."

"Ah, but they will be all dead which would be a terrible waste." she responds.

"What are you two talking about?" Tom laughs "And Ms Smythe your Scots brogue is not very good!"

Art looks at Jenny.

"Well you started this. Explain it to him."

"Entering school teacher mode:" she says. "The quote is from 'Sir Patrick Spens, an old Scottish poem with no known author. In the poem, a famous sea captain is sent to Norway to fetch the king's daughter but a huge storm comes up and sinks the ship. It is all spelled phonetically to represent how the Scots might have spoken it."

She shakes her head "It's a nightmare to teach to teenagers. My late Father loved the poem so I heard it constantly. And he was Scottish so his accent was nearly right. It should have been an Edinburgh accent, not a Glaswegian accent though."

Jenny thinks for a while.

"He loved the stars. He is the main reason that I got up at 4 to watch the sunrise."

"I think," says Art "That you owe it to him to watch sunrise tomorrow morning."

There is an agreeing murmur from the rest.

"I will get up and chaperone you Jenny!" says Alice.

Art laughs out loud.

"You cannot turn that offer down!"

Jenny thinks hard, memories piling up unbidden, eventually the flood of her emotions overwhelms her.

"Yes. I will stay." she says then gets up and walks away.

The day passes easily enough, the team working hard to keep them busy and entertained and Jenny starts to realise that she is enjoying the outdoors and is glad she didn't leave.

She notices that Art is always around, but not crowding her and only interacting with her when absolutely necessary.

Disturbingly she finds that his carefully maintained distance disappoints her and she feels a tinge of jealousy when others in the group get more direct attention than her.

Remember Johnno, your fiancée! she thinks to herself and finds that she would actually rather not remember Johnno.

The day is almost over when they are crossing a river over a swaying, wobbly, rope bridge and Art is assisting where some cannot make it up onto the bridge. Most of the women make it across despite the swaying of the bridge. Some do not and end up falling into the river to the amusement of everyone.

When she tries to mount the bridge, he steps back and waves to one of the other support people.

"I don't bite!" she snaps at him "You can lift me and survive the experience."

The comment is out before she has adequate time to think through the implications and what is more disturbing is her reaction to the delighted smile that Art gets before lifting her up, he hands which are carefully placed so as not to cause offence cause shivers to run through her body.

"Thank you." she says, they lock eyes and she damned near falls off the rope bridge before even starting out.

"Careful!" he says stepping forward to be positioned to catch her if she falls.

She manages to regain control of her balance and to be honest her emotions and sets out, carefully I will NOT fall off this bridge! she promises herself and then promptly gets halfway and the bridge starts to sway as someone else starts out too early.

She holds on desperately for a few sways and then her feet slip off the middle rope and she is left hanging by her hands from the handrail ropes, her feet just touching the the water.

"Go on! Let go!" shouts Alice who as already fallen in the water "The water is warm and shallow."

She holds on for a few more seconds listening to the laughter and comments from those not hanging with their feet just in the water and then she gives up and lets go, falling ungraciously into the water.

The water is shallower than she expects and she twists an ankle.

"Ow! Fuck!" she says and starts to hobble back to the shore, the laughter has died when her predicament becomes apparent.

Suddenly there are arms under her legs and under her shoulders and she finds herself being lifted up effortlessly by Art.

"Come on. Let's get you out of her and look at your injury." he says and carries her to the bank.

The first aider sits her on a chair and straps up her ankle Art wanders off to oversee the rest of the crossing which have their share of falls and dunkings.

After the crossings have all been completed Art visits her.

"How's the patient?"

"Not very patient. I wanted to complete that crossing."

"Try again tomorrow?" Art asks.

Jenny thinks about it for a while.

"No. Now!"

"Your ankle?" the first aider says concerned.

"I won't fall this time."

"I really don't recommend it."

"I will be alright." said through gritted teeth.

She looks at Art.

"Give me a hand to get on that damned bridge of your please."

"Are you sure?" he asks looking slightly amused "We can't be held responsible if you damage your ankle any worse."

"I won't fall." she says getting up and hobbling towards the bridge.

The first aider looks at Art and shrugs. "You'd better keep an eye on her. That ankle is weak after the fall."

Art just nods and follows Jenny down to the bridge.

"Need a hand getting up?" he asks politely.

"No. Thank you." she says then looks at the bridge. "On second thoughts, yes please."

He helps her onto the bridge and makes to follow her in the water.

"Don't you fucking dare!" she says which elicits a huge laugh from Art.

"I will meet you on the other side, shall I?" he asks politely.

She looks at him, nods and starts to cross, slowly, precisely. When the bridge starts to sway, she stops and waits until the swaying stops, then she moves on until she gets across the river and stops at the end of the bridge.

"Help you down?" Art again and she nods. He lifts her off the bridge and lowers her carefully onto the ground.

"Your ankle OK to walk back on?"

"Yes. I think so. Thank you."

"Stubborn woman." Art says with a laugh.

"Yes, I am. Deal with it." she says, a smile taking the sting out of the words and they walk slowly back to the camp.

"Now, I want you to rest that foot." Art says before leaving her.

Jenny watches him walk away and wonders about the mixture of feelings she is experiencing. She can still feel where his huge hands had gripped her as he helped her onto and off the bridge. Part of her wishes he had been a little less controlled.

She shakes her head. Johnno is your fiancée. she thinks to herself and then remembers being carried out of the river in Arts arms. Johnno couldn't do that! she thinks feeling a flush warming her cheeks.

By supper time her ankle is really complaining and she has to resort to using a stick, but she is in reasonable spirits and something of a heroine for having redone the crossing with a twisted ankle.

Just before she hobbles off Alice says to her: "4 AM to see the celestial light show?"

"Of course. A little twisted ankle isn't going to stop me." she replies and goes to bed.

In bed the memory of the day and of Art's hands on her intrude on all other thoughts and eventually she takes a finger to herself and, as she cums, she murmurs "Art!" and feels his hands on her body.

Sleep is not too easy to come by as her ankle keeps sending a shaft of pain up her leg but finally she drifts off to sleep, only to be woken by Alice.

"Come on sleepy head. 4 AM."

She rolls out of her hammock, shakes out her boots and follows Alice to the viewing point where Art is waiting for them.

"I didn't think you would make it Jenny. Impressive." he says.

"Fat chance of me missing this." she says and settles on a bench to wait for the dawn. The planets are visible and then the sliver of an old moon appears and follows them down towards the western horizon.

"Beautiful." Art says and sits down on the bench beside her.

Surprised, she looks around for Alice and cannot see her.

"She deserted you." Art says softly. "But don't worry. I am not going to carry you off into the bushes and ravish you."

Jenny looks at him, then at the distant horizon and sighs.

"A pity. I might have liked a bit of a ravishing." she says surprising herself.

"Ah, but you have a fiancée. I believe Johnno is his name." he says softly.

She nods.

"Yes. You are right. I do have a fiancée. But what does that have to do with now?"

"I don't do things like that. Sorry."

They sit without looking at each other till the horizon goes bright and the sun starts to break through. Finally Art gets up and holds out his hand.

Jenny looks at him and takes his hand.

"Thank you Art. You are a good man." she says.

"And a stupid man." she hears him mutter as he starts to walks away.

"No. Ethical!" she says but he doesn't pause or look back.

====

"Did you score after I left?" Alice asks.

"No. I didn't. He told me he didn't cheat on other men." Jenny says.

"Fuck! And you let him get away?"

"No. I didn't. I will get him, mark my words." Jenny says.

Jenny and Alice smile at each other and then sit in peace.

"Don't let him get away." are Alice's last words as they go their separate ways.

"Not a chance." Jenny says, knowing she really means it.

====

The week in the bush does not make things between Jenny and Johnno any better. Jenny starts comparing Johnno with Art and finding a huge disturbing discrepancies. Aside from anything else, Johnno seems more uninterested in her sexually than he was before they went into the bush and Jenny ends up fantasizing about Art as she masturbates after Johnno is asleep.

The breakup comes when they go for a wind up party with the rest of the people who went into the bush.

Art is of course there and the tension between them is not only electric but quite obvious. So obvious in fact that Johnno challenges her halfway through the party.

"Did you fuck that Art character?" he asks furiously.

The first time he has shown any real emotion since; she pauses thinking since a long time ago..

"No, I didn't. More's the pity. He is an ethical man and told me while I was engaged to you, he was not going to get involved with me."

"You expect me to believe you?"

Jenny shrugs.

"Yes. Why not. In fact, why don't you go and ask him?"

"You lying bitch!" he snarls "Our engagement is over! Give me my ring back." he says holding his hand out.

"With pleasure!" she says giving him the ring. "Now fuck off and leave me alone."

Johnno turns and storms out of the venue. Jenny watches him go then she walks out into the garden trying not to cry. She tries to distract herself by staring up at the sky which doesn't help because of her tears. She remembers viewing the celestial light show with Art and being alone with him in the cool early morning darkness and she wants him near.

"No bright stars in the big city." Art's voice is so close and unexpected that it makes her jump.

"Fuck it man! You mustn't sneak up on people like that." she says turning to face him.

"Sorry!" he says not sounding sorry at all.

His solid presence makes her heart beat faster.

"I couldn't help but see your argument with Johnno. Your engagement is off I gather?"

Unsettled by his sudden appearance. she snaps at him.

"Yes. It is! And so what are you going to do about it?"

He laughs softly, takes her in his arms and kisses her.

"How is that for a start?" he asks.

She leans up against him.

"Not enough." she whispers.