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A River Runs in Vermont

By: bgmisfun



I would like to express immense gratitude to LillaBerndt, Metamorphose and TinyBabeLost (in alphabetical order) for their comments and input to various stages of this manuscript. I adopted some of their advice, and stubbornly ignored others. All flaws are mine. 

**********

After a long week shuttling between her office, the seminar room and her biology lab, Joanne finally got a chance to come home and relax for the weekend. Home was not much to speak of. She rented a one room apartment in Burlington. There were no cats or dogs. No goldfish. No birds. No pets of any kind. The place was neatly kept. For a single woman, working almost 60 hours a week, she did not really need much. The only pieces of decorative art were a few reproduction prints of van Gogh and Renoir from her trip to the National Gallery of Art in D.C. two summers ago. There was a fold out futon that doubled as a guest bed if there was anyone visiting from out of town, which rarely happened.

It was almost 8 p.m. She turned on the TV, and took out the baked ziti she bought from the take out place down the street. Weekends were "Forget Calorie Count Days." She went to the fridge, and took out the less-than-half-full bottle of Argentinian Malbec left over from last Sunday. Surveying the remaining portion of the dark purple wine, she was proud of her discipline of alcohol consumption. One third of 750 ml was 250. This seemed right. She didn't need a measuring beaker to check. Her ritualistic pouring was mastered to scientific perfection. 

She mindlessly flipped through the channels while she ate. Nothing interesting was on TV. So she switched it off and went to her CD collection. Pandora was installed on the laptop but she felt like picking her own music tonight. 

Almost with a whisper, Ravel's Bolero emerged. 

On her laptop, the stories on Literotica set her in the right mood. After topping off the wine glass, she went to fill her bath tub. There was something erotic about seeing the bathroom saturated with steam.

Going back to the stories on the screen, she took a few more sips of the Malbec. She traced her index finger absentmindedly around the rim of the glass, letting her imagination run with the characters in the story. She dipped her slender finger into the wine, stirred the liquid, and then lifted and sucked her fingertip. Letting loose her slightly curled shoulder length dark brown hair, she took off her gold rimmed prescription eyeglasses, pulled the woolen sweater over her head and dropped it by her feet. Then she wiggled out of her jeans, kicked them to the other side of the living room. How nice to feel messy.

Her own feminine smell and stale cheese formed an exotic mixture in the air.

She surveyed the flesh all exposed except by her underwear, unhappy with the too pale complexion. How she wished she had a rooftop garden and she could get a full body natural tan.

Then the panties went behind the futon and the bra was dropped next to the wine bottle. The alcohol relaxed her. She kicked her legs in the air, making pedaling motions of riding an air bike. She opened her legs wide, patting herself on the inner thighs. She laughed at her own silliness.

After sitting naked to read for another 15 minutes, her arousal intensified. With hands gently patting her buttocks, she rose and walked slowly and majestically towards the bathroom. Joanne was about to pleasure herself tonight.

She closed the bathroom door three quarters of the way. Forever taking extra caution, she didn't want to pass out in the steam. Once seated inside the tub, she immersed herself to let the soapy water come to chin level. With eyes closed, she cupped her breasts with both hands. They had not lost much of their firmness even at the age of 40. Then her left palm gently rubbed her right nipple, and right thumb and index finger pinching the left one. The erotic sensations cleansed her of all the worldly worries, making her forget the deadlines and pink message slips to handle.

Joanne had no boyfriend. The last time she went on a date was last Thanksgiving. And that one did not end with any sex at all. She just didn't have any chemistry with the guy that her friends set her up with.

She normally masturbated on the weekends, after a bubble bath. Because Mondays to Fridays were busy and she only had time for a shower. It didn't mean she did not have a healthy sex drive. She enjoyed sex, albeit the solitary kind. For Joanne, even erotic self-play happened according to a strict schedule. 

She moved her right hand down to her tummy, poking her navel. Then she pulled both knees up, above water, to her chin, stretching her pussy, as if exposing it for an imaginary lover to penetrate. She rocked left and right gently. 

A naked masked man with the physique of a weightlifter on steroids appeared in the doorway. Only two eye holes and a mouth hole in a black mask. He was licking his lips, making obscene sloppy noises. A chest full of hair. A big thick cock of surreal proportion swung and bobbled with every step he took towards her. He flexed his biceps. Then he spit into both hands, and grabbed his dick, jerking provocatively, as if challenging Joanne to climb out of the bathtub to join him.

Behind him, a young male Russian ballet dancer followed. Pale face, longing eyes, trembling lips. Her CD player suddenly blared the climactic notes of Swan Lake. The masked man faded away, and the dancer stepped forward on tiptoes. He executed a perfect pirouette and dropped to one knee by the bathtub. He dipped his fingers in the sudsy water. His hand sank deeper, searching, and found her right thigh. His palm followed the smooth, soft contour and arrived at the edge of her cunt. He brushed against her neatly trimmed pubic hair, finger tips dancing around her pussy lips ...

"Um, yeah." She made more nasal noises.

She alternated opening her legs wide and pulling them closed. Tonight, she felt extra horny. She even allowed her right index finger to touch her butthole. Just outside, circling the outline of her anus. She wasn't a big fan of anal sex, but there was something nasty about it. 

The temperature of the bath water had dropped by a few degrees now. She stood up, turned on the hot shower, rinsed off quickly, wrapped herself in a plush bath towel and went to the bedroom, where her vibrator was waiting under her pillow.

**********

Monday morning, after attending Prof. Joanne Lexington's seminar on acid rain and river water quality, Debra Jones and Chad Bradley, two of her research assistants, grabbed their textbooks and notes and headed to the college cafeteria.

"Shit. Joanne's work is good, but does she have to be so nasty? 'Chad, get this ready. Make sure you bring that tomorrow.'" Chad complained. Always the goofball, he squirted ketchup on a piece of napkin and drew a smiley face.

"You know this project is a big deal for her," Debra commented.

"If you ask me, I think this bitch is a lesbian and she's not getting fucked enough." He poked a fork in the smiley, as if it were Joanne's face. The napkin was ripped. "I'm gonna stick this fork in her pussy till she bleeds." 

"You're gross. Why are you people always so sexist? A guy not married at that age is lucky, but a woman without a partner is a lesbian?" The little red head was exasperated.

Chad, with his John Lennon round glasses and long hair, had as much good looks a science nerd could get. "I'm glad I'm defending my dissertation next year, man. You have a ways to go." He wadded up the napkin, threw it at the trash can 5 feet away, and missed. "Damn!"

"I know, but she's always reasonable and not as harsh on me. Maybe I don't disagree and argue with her that much," Debra said timidly. Her 5'2" small build added to her meek personality.

"I can't wait to get out of here and find a real fucking job. Working 100 hours a week here for that stipend. Tired of kissing her ass," Chad complained.

"Even with jobs elsewhere, you have to learn to get along with others." Debra, forever the conformist, shrugged her shoulders. 

**********

On Tuesday, Debra and Chad were busy packing test tubes, pH test strips and various lab apparatus into large plastic crates, and loading them into the trunk of Prof. Lexington's SUV. It was only a two-day trip up the White River, but they needed tons of containers to collect water and soil samples. As part of Vermont State College's team to study the impact of pollution and acid rain on the water quality of the White River, the two graduate students went on field trips regularly all over Vermont. Yes, it was called the Green Mountain State, but in this day and age, no place was immune to human contamination and destruction. 

They were enrolled in the eco-biology program, and Prof. Lexington was one of the more active and prolific faculty members in the department. Her $500,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) grant was in the second of the three-year period, but she had not produced enough data to write any papers yet. Her tenure pretty much depended on the success of this grant. Publish or perish. She knew the rule well. 

It was early April, about three weeks before Earth Day. Snow had started to melt. But spring was nowhere to be found in the air. Chad and Debra were happy to go on the excursion. Eco-biology was their passion too. Even though the trip was less than 100 miles, Prof. Lexington planned on doing extensive data collection. They would be wading into muddy waters to collect samples to examine oxygen content and bacteria growth. But Debra was not looking forward to camping in a state park overnight. Chad, on the other hand, was the more outdoorsy type. He loved camping in the wilderness, even in the cold temperatures of April.

"So, Deb," Chad whispered to Debra when they were ferrying the plastic crates to the SUV, "should we bring one tent or two?"

"Of course I'll bring my own tent! I'm not going to sleep with you with Joanne 10 feet away," Debra said with mock horror.

It was no secret to other graduate students, and to Prof. Lexington as well, that Chad and Debra were seeing one another. But with their pursuit of their Ph.D.'s as the main goal in life at the moment, they were not committed as boyfriend and girlfriend yet. Debra was 24 and Chad was 28.

"Come on," Chad was playing the sad puppy. "It's not like Joanne is there to act as a chaperone. We are in grad school, not junior high, for Christ's sake. So I'll be sure to pack the condoms," Chad smiled wickedly.

"You know how much a hygiene freak I am. Sex in the woods? Unsanitary. I like to wash up after ... you know. In the camp, it's so icky," Debra was shaking her head and talking in a squeaky little voice.

"I'll bring some bottled water for you to clean your royal highness."

"You're desperate, and pathetic," Debra smacked Chad on the back of his head.

"So it is a go, right? YEAH!" He did a stupid fist pump.

************

Joanne had a hand written checklist -- laptop, GPS, digital camera, test chemicals, test tubes, containers, the Vernier sensors, ... The list went on. Standing in the middle of her office, she turned this way and that way to fetch all the items that she needed. She was in the prime of her academic career. After finishing her doctorate in Oregon, her home state, she did a few post-doctoral research stints at various institutions, and five years ago, landed this faculty position in Vermont. She loved the environment; she had always had a love of nature, and she really wanted to make a difference by finding ways to reduce the damage that the earth was being subjected to.

It was about noon time outside of the biology building. "Debra, Chad, all set?" Joanne did another visual check of the inventory of items in the trunk of the SUV.

"Yes, good to go," Chad replied.

So they started on their trip to Skylight Pond, situated on the top of Bread Loaf Mountain. It was only about 100 miles to the south east. But they would be making numerous stops along White River. And they planned to go all the way up to the headwaters of the stream. Part of Joanne's research involved measuring levels of contamination at 5-mile intervals of the water path.

**********

The ratio of male to female professors in science disciplines was probably 2 to 1. And the men in these fields? Either they were Einstein lookalikes, or they were balding, overweight, humorless and downright ugly.

Joanne was a good looking woman, if only she would literally let her dark brunette hair down, perhaps change her pair of gold rimmed glasses for something fashionable or add some color to her wardrobe. At about 5'4" or 5'5", she kept herself in reasonably good shape. Women professors were supposed to dress conservatively in the classroom and in the office so there was no chance to show off her cleavage, something that she was still proud of. 

If only she did not need to wear that white lab coat half of the time on campus.

**********

The research team had reserved a camping spot on the top of the mountain ahead of time. Joanne brought along a sleeping bag, and she intended to clear out part of the cargo space of her vehicle and sleep in there. Saving herself from having to pitch a tent.

Debra and Chad decided to bring one tent. Chad's explanation to Joanne was, "To save some space for the research equipment!" Debra blushed a little in front of Joanne when Chad said that.

"OK. If that works for you," Joanne calmly remarked. She was thinking to herself, "You lovebirds just keep the noise level down if you plan to get excited in the tent tonight."

The drive along the river was uneventful. Everything worked according to schedule. They made stops according to pre-selected points on the map and in the GPS. They took all kinds of readings on the spot and collected water and soil samples for later analysis in the lab. They labelled the containers. They took pictures of the locations, sometimes taking turns to pose in the pictures as well. They made entries in their research log.

On one of the stops, when Joanne was back in the SUV writing notes, Chad had the urge to release his full bladder. Being the prankster that he was, he told Debra that he was going to pee into the stream.

"That is sick," Debra exclaimed under her breath, but she could not help but giggle.

"Yea, the pee will elevate the ammonia level a little bit. But we collected samples here already. So no harm no foul." With that, he pulled Debra behind some bushes, unzipped his pants and pulled out his cock and directed his urine stream into the river. "Oh, the fire brigade is here!"

Debra laughed and was somewhat excited by Chad's silliness. After he shook off the last few drops, he looked over his shoulder to make sure that the bushes served as a good barrier and Joanne was still busy with her notes. "Come on, Deb. Give me a quickie."

"No. Get out of here."

With his right hand still holding his exposed cock out of his jeans, he used his left hand to pull Debra to him. He planted his lips on hers, while stroking himself to a semi-erect state. He kissed her cheeks, nibbled her earlobes and whispered, "Oh baby, you smell good."

Debra was wearing a purple hoodie with "Vermont State College" printed across the front. Chad reached over, grabbed her right breast and rubbed at the correct spot to locate her nipple. It hardened immediately.

"See? I know your tits so well that I can find your nipple even through all these layers."

Debra only made a half-hearted attempt to swat away his left hand. When she looked down, she saw that Chad's dick was standing at full attention. Under the cloudless blue sky, river water flickering behind them and the bushes serving as a natural barrier, Debra also grew frisky and adventurous. "How about I show you my tits and you jerk yourself off?"

She pulled up her sweater, unhooked the front clasps of her pink bra and exposed her white mounds of flesh. She kept one eye on his growing penis, another on her professor sitting in the SUV 50 feet away. Her fingers pinched her own pinkish nipples to an erect state. She felt naughty. Then she cupped her boobs, stepped closer to Chad and offered them to him. 

With a 5'9" frame, he had to bend his knees to lean down to suck on one nipple while grabbing the other breast, kneading the sensitive tip. He rubbed his nose on her nipples, sniffing between her breasts, taking a toothless bite of her tits. Low moans escaped through her throat. The spring chill and the arousal gave her shivers.

Chad quickened his jerking motion. When his hand reached the base of his cock, he held back for a second or two, enjoying the arousal. He shook his stiff cock proudly for Debra to see. She smiled wickedly at the angry phallus, the veins so visible between his fingers. The mushroom shaped head was thick and red, fully engorged. Debra felt a tingling down in her crotch. The pinching of the nipples, her boyfriend's lips and tongue working on them, and the sight of the big cock growing excited her. Her right hand travelled down to her purple sweat pants, reached under her panties and rubbed on her own wetness.

Debra didn't know she had such an exhibitionist side of her. Granted, this was not the Waikiki Beach, with dozens of people around. But this was outdoor sex nonetheless. Joanne could walk towards them at any minute.

She used her right thumb and the index finger to pinch her clitoris, then let it go. The same two fingers traced the outline of her pussy lips. She transferred her pussy juice from the opening of her cunt to the outside of the lips, giving herself a natural lubricant. As Chad's hand jerking tempo increased, so did her own pinching rhythm. She looked him in his eyes, both nodding slightly, signaling to one another that their orgasms were near.

Chad's left hand deserted Debra's nipples and reached for her pussy. He wanted to finger fuck her while he ejaculated. But Debra would not yield an inch. This was her territory. She knew her pussy better than anyone else. She would not surrender control. This was her play. She intentionally did all the rubbing and pinching outside. She knew when she dug her fingers inside her vagina, she would come. She would explode.

"Come for me, Chad. Go ahead. Do it now," Debra was getting aroused both physically and verbally. "Pull on it and squeeze your cum out of that cock. I wanna see you make a mess here. How long can you hold out, baby? I'll let you fuck me in the tent tonight. OK? But I want you to cum now." She even reached out to grab Chad's hand over his dick, helping him jerk.

Chad loved it when Debra talked dirty. "Oh fuck."

His body shook as the man juice escaped his cock. Debra was so happy and excited. She caught his semen in her left palm. Hot and sticky. She won. She made this guy lose control. Then she allowed herself the same pleasure. She knew she needed two fingers. Her index finger and middle finger together, stroking inside the soft walls of her pussy. Usually 8 to 10 strokes. Then the orgasm hit. She gasped. She almost let out a scream right there behind the bushes.

**********

Joanne finished recording the details of the sample for this location. Her vehicle was parked facing away from the river. Still seated inside, she looked around for her young assistants. They were nowhere to be seen. From the rear view mirror on the left side of the SUV, she saw two heads moving behind a five-foot-tall bush about 50 feet away. She shook her head. She felt annoyed, angry and jealous. Was it because they were delaying the trip? Or they had such blatant disregard for decency? They were acting like teenagers? Deep down ... Joanne was angry and jealous that some people could let go of their inhibitions so easily, and enjoyed sex so readily at the drop of a hat.

Her cheeks grew hot. She fidgeted in her seat, squeezing her thighs together. She took a few deep breaths, telling herself, "When I get home tomorrow."


A River Runs in Vermont



Two or three minutes later, her students emerged from behind the bushes. Trying to be subtle, they made a point of emerging at a 30-second interval. "So stupid," Joanne muttered to herself.

She picked up her clipboard and pencil again, pretending to be double checking the figures when Chad and Debra approached. She turned the key in the ignition and said, "Ready to move on to the next spot?"

Chad, stumbling with weak knees, got into the front passenger side, and Debra, still dazed, blushing and breathless, sat behind Joanne in the second row. They were wondering if she knew what kind of mischief they had been up to. But Joanne just put her sunglasses on. Without a word, she drove off down the trail.

**********

It was about 6 p.m. when the team came to the last stop, reaching Skylight Pond. The scenery was mesmerizing. If not for the map, there were no indications that this was the headwaters of the White River, which in turn fed the Connecticut River. Just a few brooks and puddles, with trees growing wildly around. Rays of the setting sun danced between the branches of the trees surrounding the small body of water. The pond was no larger than an Olympic sized swimming pool, with irregular edges. The submerged pebbles in some part of the pond were so shiny, as if they had been polished by the fingers of Father Time.

"If Gaia had a home in Vermont, this would be it," Debra mused out loud. 

Joanne walked over, rested her right hand on Debra's back. "That's a good one." She added a mental note -- I will give her 5 extra bonus points on her next research paper. She didn't imagine this 24-year-old horny grad student, who was up to whatever she was up to behind those bushes a few hours ago, would have such deep respect for nature.

"Ok, let's get to work." Joanne set about to distribute the containers. Barefooted, she led the way and waded into the ankle-deep water and filled the test tubes with the cool aqua color liquid. Mud was scooped up from the shallow bottom of the pond and deposited into the containers. She also placed a few of those shiny pebbles in a Ziplock bag. 

Debra took a few of the test tubes from Joanne and was about to squat down to fill them to collect samples when she remembered, and smelled, the stickiness on her fingers. It felt so wrong to rinse her cum stained fingers in such a serene, clean and almost sacred pool of water. She turned back to the SUV, took out a bottle of water, took a sip and washed her fingers before going back to the pond to proceed with her scientific work.

**********

The professor and her assistants set up base for the evening in a nearby national park camp ground. Apparently this team of three was the only visitors in this part of the park tonight. They made a quick BBQ dinner, cleaned up and decided to take turns hitting showers and then retire for the night. It was about 9 p.m. and Joanne felt that it would be wise for her and Debra to walk together to the shower area. It was a two-minute walk in total darkness, and both of them felt safer side by side, with a flash light in hand.

The shower room smelled of urine, soap and bleach. The fluorescent lights flickered above. Once inside, they stepped into their respective stalls, with the mold-stained cheap plastic shower curtains providing minimal privacy. Joanne let the hot water run full blast. It felt so good on her scalp, her shoulders, and her back. She squatted down to rub mud and dirt from her toes. She was face to face, 12 inches from her pussy. She smiled and admired her beauty. The slightly parted lips formed a small narrow oval.

She stood up and the shower stream hit her breasts like rapid tiny needles, causing tickling sensations. She squirted a generous amount of shampoo into her hair. Soapy water dripped down her body, front and back. Some went down along her cleavage, and some went down behind her between her butt cheeks. If it were not a public shower, she would masturbate right there and then. What day was it? Tuesday? Fuck, Tuesday.

"Joanne. Can I borrow some conditioner? Stupid me. I only packed shampoo," Debra called out from the stall next to hers, her voice echoing in the cavernous shower room amid the splashing water.

"Sure. Come over. You can borrow mine."

Debra lifted the curtain to Joanne's stall and took a step in. She was squinting because she had not totally washed off the shampoo and some of it was getting into her eyes. But even with half opened, irritated eyes, she could see her professor's naked upper body when the older woman turned to lend her a bottle of conditioner. Debra thought her own C cup made her proud. But she noticed Joanne, even though much older, had an equally firm and impressive pair. Maybe because her teacher was about two inches taller, everything seemed to be in better proportion.

Joanne's hair was matted to her head and her neck, her pale skin emitting a glistening glow under the harsh fluorescent lights above head. Her nipples were erect. Her breasts were round. When she turned and leaned forward to hand over the conditioner bottle, the older woman's breasts swung and danced in front of the young student's eyes. Their fingertips touched for a fraction of a second.

Debra had always looked at her professor as a brilliant researcher, but never as a beautiful woman who, like herself, had physical needs she would want fulfilled. 

Joanne quickly turned back, facing the shower after handing the bottle to Debra, continuing to rub the shampoo into her hair. Debra could see the totality of Joanne's naked back. Her hips showed a beautiful pear shape and her legs were nicely toned, no flabbiness. Debra was too embarrassed to risk coming back to Joanne's stall a few minutes later to return the conditioner. So she simply squirted some of the greenish liquid into her left palm and placed the bottle down on the floor.

For that quick second, Debra had the illusion that she was squeezing Chad's cock when he ejaculated into her hand.

"I am leaving the bottle here. Thanks." Then Debra quickly retreated to her own stall.

**********

Joanne caught a glimpse of Debra's naked body, a full frontal view, as she walked into her stall. 

Without her glasses, she could not see very clearly. But she could tell that Debra had full and perky breasts. Well, maybe not larger than her own, but definitely perkier. How she wished she had a 24-year-old's firm body again. "But, hey," she thought, "I have a Ph.D. and I traded 16 years for a successful career. Debra has a long way to catch up."

She also noticed that, between her legs, where a reddish hair triangle was expected -- the spot was apparently hairless.

**********

After they finished showering, they went to the sinks and brushed their teeth. Joanne was now wearing a college sweater, without the hoodie, and matching purple sweat pants. Debra had a grey oversize T-sheet and pink gym shorts.

Debra said, "Joanne, your hair looks really pretty when you don't pull it back in a bun. You should let it loose sometimes."

Joanne looked over, "Thanks. You think so?"

"Yeah, I'm not kidding." Debra felt awkward, not sure if it was because she commented on her professor's hair, or she had seen her tits.

Joanne turned on the battery-powered toothbrush, finding it hard to hold her hand still.

They walked back in silence to the camp site, with Joanne holding the flashlight for the two of them.

**********

By about 10, Chad had also finished showering. Joanne was comfortably settled into the folded down cargo area of her SUV. Chad put out the camp fire and entered the tent that he and Debra would share for the night. Joanne took a few deep breaths and told herself that these horny grad students could do whatever they wanted. It would not bother her. She was not their mother. Hey, she wasn't that old. This was none of her business.

**********

Chad was simply lying on top of the sleeping bag, looking over to Debra, who was just zipping up hers to the chin. He had no intention of sleeping.

"Oh, Debbie, Debbie, show me a boobie," Chad taunted her, snuggling closer.

Debra giggled. Chad was often obnoxious, but he could be charming.

"Not yet. Let's wait a little longer. What if Joanne isn't asleep?"

"Who cares? If it bothers her, she can come and we'll give her a threesome."

"You're sick."

"I only want you. Debbie. I love your young cunt, so fresh and pink. I wish I could've licked you this afternoon after you came behind the bushes." He pulled down his shorts and rubbed his cock as he continued talking dirty to Debra. "You were so hot, lifting your sweater up and showing me your bouncing boobies. Naughty girl. I love those freckles on your chest, baby. Can you tit fuck me tonight?"

Now Debra was turned on. She slowly wiggled her body out of the sleeping bag. "I want it inside," she said.

"Inside where, Debbie?"

"My pussy, inside my pussy. Don't tease me."

Chad rolled away from Debra, knelt beside her and pulled off his T-shirt. Naked, he crawled near and then straddled her midsection. Extending his hands down to her tits, he could feel the nipples perking in his palms through her T-shirt. Her fullness gave him one more notch of hardness in his cock. He leaned forward, and fed his fat cock to her lips. "Open up, Debbie. Taste my cock."

She formed an O with her lips, gently sucking the tip of his cock, swallowing an inch or two; then she pulled it out, and sucked again. In and out. She pulled him out a little more, and then flicked her tongue to the underside of his shaft. Around his cock head, her tongue swirled, her fingers massaging his balls. With one quick motion, she opened her mouth wider and inhaled his cock all the way to the back of her throat. She let it stay there for a few seconds, then pulled it out all the way, and blew gently at his tip. And she inhaled his hardness again. This time, she made gagging sounds when the cock head attacked her throat.

The thrill of having sex in the wilderness excited her. The thought of Joanne sleeping so close by aroused her even more. She imagined Joanne peeping through an open zipper on the side of the tent.

"Oh, god. You are such a good cock sucker," Chad moaned. "You should get a Ph.D. in blow jobs."

With his cock firmly secured in her mouth, Debra reached up and pinched his nipples. This was what Chad called the royal treatment, his cock being sucked and his nipples being played with. This drove him wild.

"Come on, girl. Please strip naked," Chad begged.

He got off from straddling her and she quickly removed every piece of her clothing. "I wanna fuck you from behind. I wanna slap your ass while I bang your pussy," he said.

She rolled around, sticking her ass towards him.

"Let my cock feel your raw pussy. I'm not gonna cum inside you yet. Just let me feel you, ok, babe?"

"Um, mm," she nodded her approval.

He held his dick, slippery from her saliva and his pre-cum, aiming it at her exposed pussy. With only the flashlight by their feet, and Debra' body largely in the darkness, he tried to feel his way to her opening. He found it right away, guiding his hot rod into her wet twat. 

"Oh, fuck, yeah."

"Oooo, Chad, ..."

He slapped her ass cheeks forcefully, making loud smacking sounds.

"Don't be so loud. Be quiet," she asked.

"Hell if I care," he grunted through his teeth, and slapped some more.

The pounding and smacking went on for about two minutes. It really turned her on, the potential of being heard by their professor penetrated deep into her exhibitionist side. But at the same time, she didn't want to risk really being heard. She looked around and whispered to him, "Let me ride your pony."

He liked the idea, so he withdrew his cock slowly, reluctantly. They switched position and Debra climbed on top of Chad. He reached over to his air pillow, grabbed a condom from under it and tore the packing apart. "Can you do the honor, baby?"

She loved the smell of the strawberry lube; she always told him to get this brand. She leaned over and kissed him deeply, his tongue probing inside her mouth, his hands cupping and fondling her gorgeous tits. Her deft fingers wrapped the rubber snuggly on his big tool, with no more length to spare. She slowly mounted her pony, holding his forearms as if she were holding the reins to ride a horse. Rocking gently, she let the full length of his cock rise to the opening of her cervix. She eased up and then let her weight pound on his pelvis. 

"Oh, Debbie, Debbie, I'm drilling your pussy," Chad said in a sing song tone. Their movements quickened; their breathing grew heavier. It was so dark; she felt so free. Moaning through her gritted teeth, she ground her pussy in gyrating motions over his dick. She could feel the boyfriend's cock twitch inside her cunt, filling her tight fleshy canal to the max. His fullness inside her was incredibly satisfying. Soon, his body convulsed, his hands grabbing her tits and he unloaded his semen. She also sensed her orgasm rising.

When she came, she felt a great sense of pleasure. But she looked over her left shoulder towards the location of the SUV. She wished someone was watching.

**********

Joanne saw Chad enter the tent. Ten minutes passed. They were quiet. Or maybe it was because she was inside the vehicle but she could not hear any of their sounds. She propped up on her right elbow and looked out of the car window. They had left a very small flashlight on inside the tent and she could tell from the shadows and silhouette that ... Chad was fucking Debra doggy style. Such rapid pounding.

Joanne fidgeted inside her sleeping bag. She lied down. "Well, maybe I can treat myself even though this is not Saturday."

After two, three minutes, she popped up again and checked. She opened the back hatch to listen for any sounds. She heard a few murmurs and giggles. The shadows suggested that Debra was sitting on top of Chad, rocking back and forth with her arms up high above her head. Like a cowgirl riding a rodeo and swinging a lasso overhead. Her tits were bouncing up and down.

"OK. Screw this. I'm going for it." Joanne hiked her sweater up above her breasts, and her sweatpants and undies down to her ankles, inside the sleeping bag. She masturbated to the thought of her young students fucking, with such raw abandon. She was rough on her own body. Grabbing, pinching, caressing, and teasing. Her left hand alternated between the left nipple and the right nipple while her right hand played her clit. She didn't need any foreplay. She didn't want any foreplay. Just plain and simple finger fucking. Nothing romantic. She was so horny.

She wanted to conjure up the face of any of the ex-boyfriends that she had before to help give herself more intense pleasure. But she came up with none. None of the guys he dated before turned her on that much.

So she settled on the image of Chad and Debra fucking in front of her, while her fingers assaulted her nipples and pussy feverishly. The orgasm hit so quickly, so strong that she arched her hips inside the sleeping bag. She was almost out of breath.

The next morning she awoke to find that she fell asleep so fast after she masturbated that she didn't even bother pulling her sweater down and sweatpants up to the proper position. Her tits were exposed above the top of the sleeping bag, which covered her from the waist down. From the corner of her eyes, she saw movements.

Startled, she hurriedly adjusted her clothing, sat up in the cargo area, put on her glasses and saw that Debra and Chad were folding up their tent. 10 feet away. It was 7:15.

She threw her head back, and stared wide eye at the dome light on the roof top.

On the return trip, they made the same stops to collect more samples. Prof. Lexington's methodology always had redundancy built in. She needed to make sure the findings were consistent and could stand up to scientific inquiry.

Joanne was very quiet. The two young students dozed off between every location. She looked for any smirks or grins on their faces. There were none that she could discern.

**********

In the week that followed the field trip, everyone was busy in the lab. Prof. Lexington was impatient. She told her two students that since they had the samples now, they should and could pass the materials through the microscope, and run whatever other tests were needed. At the seminars, she drilled them with all kinds of hypotheses to prove and disprove. They had to take copious notes and write detailed lab reports. The team received half a million dollars from the NSF and they had to produce results. She knew that her students, not only Debra and Chad, were calling her a bitch behind her back. But she didn't care. She had a tenure and promotion at stake. They didn't.

She required Chad and Debra to work overtime on alternate nights. She herself worked five days and five nights a week and sometimes half a day Saturday. After all, her grant paid their tuition and stipend. She owned them.

**********

"Chad, I told you repeatedly that you have to divide the sample from the same test tube and run two separate tests. Yes, there is the sample going up stream and there is another going down stream. So you have to run the test four tests!" Joanne snapped at him, holding up four fingers in his face, as if she were a kindergarten teacher.

"Debra, go back and plot the GPS coordinates in the software and compare the levels of acidity." Now Joanne was equally mean to Debra.

Joanne was surprised at her own demeanor after the trip. She would cut her students off in mid-sentence, stare at them while reprimanding them. The assistants would look down at their feet while being yelled at. Chad was so pissed. He was thinking to himself, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wish I could ass fuck you and then skip town."

Debra wanted to do everything right so as not to get Joanne mad.

At home, another thing changed. She had the urge to masturbate almost every night. For the first few times, she did a quickie in the shower. Then in the following week, she pulled out her vibrator every time she was in bed. She worried that she needed new batteries soon.

**********

Tonight, it was Chad's turn to run overnight tests on the soil sample to examine bacteria growth. Joanne also worked late. She went from her office to the lab to check on his progress. It had been a whole week and the team had turned up nothing worth reporting. Through the glass opening on the front door, she saw Chad inside, bending down, looking through the microscope. She never had any physical interest in this 28-year-old student before. But all of a sudden, she wondered what his cock looked like, how it would feel in her hands, how it would feel it in her cunt. Or perhaps she would even let him poke her ass with it.

Standing outside the lab, she crossed her arms in front of her body, discreetly squeezing her own tits. Her nipples were erect. She took deep breaths. Would she have enough guts and craziness to walk inside and seduce him? She would love to pin him down on the floor, force him to eat her pussy, and then turn around and suck his cock. Or she would offer to let him fuck her doggy style. 

She caught herself daydreaming and hyperventilating. She pinched herself on the cheek, shaking her head like a dog emerging from water. At that very moment, Debra appeared to her right.

"Joanne, are you ok?" Debra asked, with genuine concern. "You're ... tired."

"Oh, but this is not your night on duty," Joanne tried to put her words together coherently.

"Chad asked me to bring him a sandwich," Debra held up a brown paper bag.

"Oh, alright. I guess I'll get going."

**********

During the 10-minute drive from the college to her apartment, she had to take extra caution to stop at the red lights properly. She didn't seem to be able to focus. Once she got home, she quickly stepped into the bathroom. Without turning the shower on, without filling the bath tub with steamy hot water, she simply stood in front of the mirror. Slowly she stripped, looking at her own nakedness in the reflection. Her silk blouse, her dress pants, her bra and her panties all sat in a pile next to her feet. 




A River Runs in Vermont



Her focus of arousal was not on Chad anymore. She stared at her own tits, the nipples a light shade of brown. She pinched and pulled at them till it hurt. Panting, she grabbed her breasts with both hands, imagining a rough lover fondling her. She saw lust and fire in her own eyes. Leaning over the sink, she wanted to kiss herself in the mirror. She stuck her tongue out, licking her own reflection. She marveled at her grotesque actions.

Her heart raced. She was scared, confused, yet horny. What had happened to her? What kind of nymphomaniac had she turned into? Why?

She lifted her left leg, resting it on the rim of the sink. She rubbed her pussy lips. They were not quite wet yet. She saw the hand soap bottle and pumped out a few drops of the slippery liquid and applied it to her cunt. She rubbed her clit, and used each hand to tug on each of her pussy lips. An animal cry escaped from her throat. From the reflection in the mirror, she saw the pink opening inside her vagina. The electric toothbrush beckoned. She grabbed it and switched it on. 

At that same moment, the bathroom lights flickered, as if the power supply had been interrupted or some heavy appliances had drained energy away from the generator.

She stuck the handle of the vibrating toothbrush inside her cunt. The buzzing sensation was not as strong as her vibrator. But she did not want to waste any time to go to her bedroom. This would have to make do. She rapidly moved the electric toothbrush in and out of her pussy, while pressing it on her clit at the same time. It felt like the cock of a nameless man, any man. All she could hear was the humming of the little motor inside the toothbrush, as if it were as loud as the roar of a washing machine. 

The reflected image of her furiously fucking herself in the bathroom was both erotic and frightening. She bit her lower lip, closed her eyes as the orgasm engulfed her. Her legs were shaking. Her knees buckled. After almost blacking out, she collapsed on the cold floor tiles in the bathroom.

The toothbrush slipped from her hands. And she curled up in a fetal position. She wanted to feel warm and safe in her own embrace. All of a sudden, she felt so lonely.

**********

She saw herself being sucked into the mirror, being tossed through a dark, endless tunnel. Numerous hands tried to grab her to break her fall, all unsuccessful. She was being lifted out of her bed, tossed into the sky. When she looked down, buildings, cars and landscapes zoomed out of her sight. Shivers went down her spine. Ants were crawling down her neck.

She screamed, and woke up in a pool of sweat.

**********

Still drained by the previous night's bizarre activities at home, Joanne arrived at the office late. For her, 9:15 was late enough. She was trying to stay awake with help from a cup of cafeteria coffee,.

A group of students gathered around the reception area, watching some breaking news on the television. 

"Joanne. Come here and look," Debra said.

"What's happening?" Joanne asked.

"The White River has flooded overnight. And White River Junction, the train station we passed by on our trip? It was closed because the tracks were damaged."

"That's strange. The river never seemed that rapid and massive. And there shouldn't be any more spring thaw at this time of the year. Besides, the Skylight Pond is such a small body of water."

"I know. Aren't you glad, Joanne, that we finished the data collection before this flood? Otherwise you have to wait for god-knows-how-long."

"That's true," Joanne nodded.

**********

Joanne was working late hours tonight. She was very tired. Only two hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. All day she was like a zombie, walking around, muttering instructions to her assistants. She really wanted to go home and go to bed early.

She was trying to access the database to see the graph showing the findings in a visual format. But the computer message said, "File corrupt." She worried.

"Debra. Come to my office. Something's wrong with the scattergram," Joanne summoned her student from the bio lab over the phone.

One minute passed and Debra was still not there.

When Joanne was about to pick up the phone again, Debra stumbled in, smartphone in her right hand, thumb typing and left hand opening the door. She apologized.

"She must be texting Chad," Joanne was thinking to herself and got more furious. "Come and check."

She stood up and let Debra sit in her chair to type on the keyboard, in the process banging the chair against her desk.

Debra knew her professor was really upset, so she just focused on the screen and tried to trouble shoot the problem. She dared not volunteer any excuse.

"File not found ... File corrupt ... Missing parameters." The screen spit out ominous messages.

"I can fix it. Don't worry." Debra was offering lame assurances.

Her smartphone buzzed in the breast pocket of her denim jacket.

"Debra. You really have to learn to separate your personal life and professional life here. You're working now, on duty. Don't be distracted. I don't care what you do after hours, outside of the lab. But when you're on duty, you need to devote 100% of your attention," Joanne snapped.

"Yes, I know. I understand," Debra tried to reach into her pocket to switch off the phone. Not only was the buzzing annoying, but it created a tinkling sensation on her left nipple. She couldn't be distracted.

"Unsuccessful attempt to connect to server." 

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

Joanne got really mad. Standing behind Debra, she reached down into her pocket and tried to remove the phone. She wanted to smash it on the floor and stomp on it. But the breast pocket was so small that the phone was stuck. Using her left hand to hold the jacket, she used her right hand to take the phone. In this struggle, she ended up grabbing Debra's left breast repeatedly, with both hands.

"Stop the stupid phone!" Joanne barked at Debra.

The image of the young student's naked body in the campground shower came back to her.

"Joanne, please, don't ..."

How Debra complimented her hair.

Joanne was clawing at Debra's breast. "I am sorry, Joanne ..." Debra was scared.

Did Debra see her naked upper body that morning? Did Chad also see it? Did they laugh and make fun of her? Smartphones, oh my god. Did they also take pictures and broadcast them on the web? Or even clips on YouTube? No wonder the Dean had such a strange look at her last week at the meeting. Now her career was ruined. All because of this stupid assistant and her horny boyfriend. They fucked in the tent, which made her horny, which caused her to masturbate, which caused her tits to be exposed.

Joanne spun Debra around in the swivel chair to face her. She grabbed Debra and lifted her out of the chair. She yanked off Debra's jacket and threw it away. "When I was your age, I published three papers already. All you do is fool around."

Debra was in tears. She held her forearms in front of her body, trying to protect her tits. With a raised right hand, Joanne almost wanted to slap Debra on the face, for the software failure, for her carnal activities, for being young and beautiful. But she knew better than launching physical assault like that.

Like a possessed soul, instead, Joanne grabbed both of Debra's tits. 

"Please, let me go, Joanne, please." Debra was hysterical.

Joanne wasn't sure if the grabbing was for her sexual satisfaction, or for release of her frustration. Frustration at what?

Debra kept waving her arms in front of her body, trying to ward off the attack, with little success. Behind her was the swivel chair, and then the computer. If Joanne pushed any further, Debra would end up falling backwards and sitting on the keyboard. Which was what happened.

The computer emitted a series of quick beeps, resulting from Debra's butt sitting on the keyboard. 

Debra did not want any more damage to the program, from the errant keystrokes. So she turned around and tried to at least press EXIT. Joanne kept clawing. Now with Debra's back to her, she simply grabbed the younger woman's tits from behind.

"Please, please, Joanne, please don't," Debra was pleading in tears.

Joanne started to come to her senses and lowered her hands. In trying to catch her own exhausted body from falling, she held onto Debra's shoulders. She panted, resting her forehead on the back of Debra's shoulder.

Then she let the young woman loose. "I am sorry. You should go now. We'll fix the program tomorrow."

Debra quickly ran over to the other corner of the room, picked up her denim jacket, and sped out of the office.

Stunned at her own craziness, Joanne collapsed in her chair, holding her head in her hands. Would this be the end of her career? If Debra ran to campus police at this moment, the college could file sexual harassment charges. If Debra pushed it far enough, she could be escorted away in handcuffs. Sexual assault ... after jail time, she needed to be registered as a sexual offender.

What was wrong with her?

**********

After another night of tossing and turning, Joanne dragged her feet to work. She felt like her legs were being weighed down by some 50-pound dumbbells. Again she saw a group of students gather around the TV as she walked in. The chatter was still about the flooding of the White River, even though the amount of overflowing water had diminished. Everyone was surprised and dumbfounded at this strange ecological event.

She avoided eye contact with Debra, who seemed to show a nonchalant attitude towards the things around her. A flyer on the desk caught Joanne's attention.

"In celebration of Earth Day, the Philosophy Department presents a Public Lecture by Prof. Dennis Wu, on 'Eco-balance and Chinese Philosophy.' Room 321. Main Hall. Today at 10 a.m."

"That sounds like an interesting topic," Joanne wondered aloud.

"Probably more of the Yin and Yang infinity-existentialism-crap. You can get that in a fortune cookie," Chad sneered. He made a mock bowing gesture, like a Buddhist monk.

Debra was really pissed at his ignorance and arrogance. "You're such a racist. So all Chinese philosophy is related to takeout orders? Joanne, you wanna go? I'll go with you."

"Yeah, why not? Get some fresh air from the other side of the campus," Joanne agreed.

It was a 10-minute walk to the Philosophy Building. The morning sun was warming the frost created by last night's event in her office.

"I fixed the software problem. It was only a corrupted index file," Debra said, looking down at her feet as she walked.

Joanne was pleased with the remedy to the computer issue, but more pleased that her student did not avoid the reference to what happened the night before. "I'm really sorry about last night. I don't have a good explanation for that. But excuses are meaningless. I apologize for scaring and hurting you," Joanne looked over to Debra, with a tint of shame in her voice.

"No, no, no. Don't worry. I didn't tell anyone, and I won't. You are too stressed about work and the grant. That's all. We all get cranky and wacky."

"I know, but not that kind of wacky."

"So, ... are you ... er ... really ...'" Debra pondered whether the L word was appropriate here, "interested in women?"

Joanne laughed lightly, "I don't think so."

"There is nothing wrong with it, if that is who you are. One of my cousins is a lesbian, and she and her partner adopted a child from Africa."

"Are you borrowing a line from that sitcom? So you are playing psychiatrist now?" Joanne said to herself.

They walked again in silence for another minute.

"But ... if you were ... I mean, ... do you think lesbians would be interested in me?" Debra blushed and phrased the question tentatively.

"Why don't you ask your cousin?" They both burst into laughter, providing a moment of comic relief. But Joanne got the undertone of Debra's question. She added another mental note, "If you really have a lesbian cousin."

Arriving at the Philosophy Building, they located the room and sat in the middle row. Prof. Dennis Wu, a 60'ish scholarly looking man, was organizing his lecture notes. Joanne and Dennis started working in Vermont in the same year, so they went through some of the same orientation functions together. Since then, at many of the cocktail receptions hosted by the president and the deans, they would nod to one another, and sometimes shared small talk.

Still 15 minutes before the start of the lecture, and only about 10 people in attendance at this point. Joanne walked over to Dennis and shook hands.

"How have you been?" Joanne asked.

"Busy, busy," Dennis answered.

"Aren't we all?" Joanne said.

"Yea, your mom doing ok in ... Portland, right?" Dennis asked.

Joanne was amazed at how he paid attention and remembered that. "Yes, she's doing fine in the nursing home. My brother visits her more regularly. I'm the bad daughter."

"And he works in San Francisco?"

"Has he memorized my bio?" Joanne was blushing. "Yes, he's there." Now, how many kids did he have? She could only remember he was a widower.

"My son is graduating this year from UC Santa Barbara. MBA. And my daughter just started her Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford." His volunteered answer filled the gap of silence.

"Impressive," said Joanne -- "Your children's achievements, and remembering so much about me," she thought. This guy seemed to be able to read minds. Or was he just reading her mind? "I'll let you get set for the talk."

"Thanks. I'm glad you're interested in this topic. You're doing the scientific part of environmental studies and I look at it from the conceptual side," said Dennis.

Joanne had to drag her jello-like legs back to her seat. This guy was an amazing mind reader and had paid attention to every detail in her academic work and personal life. She actually felt a tingling in a spot that should not be experiencing that effect in a classroom.

The talk started. Joanne found it hard to focus. She was looking at Dennis's black hair, mixed in with a significant portion of grey, noticing how he pushed his glasses up his nose, how he paused before making a complicated, abstract argument. He was about 5'8" or 5'9", medium build. Even at his age, he did not stoop when he walk or stand. 

And he had elbow patches on his jacket. He was so old school.

Debra was paying attention to the lecture, taking notes. Joanne was daydreaming.

Among various topics, Dennis talked about Feng Shui -- literally Wind and Water, in Chinese folklore, and how the natural elements had a life and spirit of their own. If man-made buildings or obstacles stood in the way of the natural flow of energy, the earth's equilibrium would be damaged. If there was an excess of one form of energy, the scale would be tipped. The physical habitat and the emotional well-being of the inhabitants would suffer. If some crucial elements were destroyed, the foundation of the scaffold would collapse.

If the disruption was minor, then the situation could quickly be remedied. If the damage perpetuated over decades, the harm could hardly be undone. Severe deforestation, building of artificial dams to redirect streams, overfishing, over-drilling ... the list went on and on. If an integral part of the eco-system was interrupted, the entire network collapsed.

"Does this have anything to do with Yin and Yang?" Debra wanted to prove stupid Chad wrong, so she raised her hand to ask Prof. Wu the question.

Dennis lowered his head, took a sip from his paper cup, and said, "That's a simplistic way of summarizing a lot of things. Yin and Yang refer largely to female and male energy, respectively. The moon and the sun. Water and fire. This dichotomy is not limited to the Chinese view of the world. Cultures and languages around the world make similar distinctions in the objects in the environment. Geomancy, in Greek, is similar to the concepts of Wind and Water in Chinese folk wisdom."

Joanne was mesmerized. She only understood half of what he said, but she was enthralled by the way he spoke and the way he thought. Where had he been for the past five years? If ever there was an academic lecture that was sexy, this was it.

Not only did he know his discipline, but he was also so well versed in ideas from all over the world.

Afterwards, they waited until the group of about 30 dispersed. Dennis came up to them and cocked his head to one side, as if asking "How was it?"

"Very interesting, Prof. Wu," Debra commented.

"Thank you."

"I have to get back to the lab, Joanne. I'll see you later," Debra turned and was about to leave.

"Oh, it is 11:30 already. I need to get back to the office too," Joanne said.

Dennis asked Joanne, "Which day do you have longer lunch hours? Maybe we can have lunch?"

"Let's see. What day is today? Tuesday? Tomorrow will work for me." 

"OK, I will send you an email later to work out the details."

On the way back to the biology lab, Debra stole a few glances at her professor. She saw a more relaxed, happier and kinder Joanne, unlike the sex crazed monster last night.

**********

Wednesday lunch led to Thursday dinner. Dennis and Joanne decided to go to Applebee's. Not a romantic place for a date, but precisely because both of them wanted to make it low key.

When she left the office at 5:30, Chad looked at Debra and mumbled, "What the fuck is happening here?"

"What's wrong? She is the boss. She can leave anytime she wants."

"Is she dating someone?"

"I have no idea, and it's none of our business." Debra walked away.

**********

It was a pleasant evening. Joanne remembered more details that Dennis had told her over the years at faculty functions. He was originally from the Los Angeles area, teaching philosophy at one of the U. C. campuses. His wife passed away about ten years ago, when his children were just about finishing high school. He stayed on, got the kids settled in their college studies, then at 55, decided to take retirement. It was unheard of for most college tenured faculty. They could work until their 70s if they preferred, even if they needed a cane to walk around.

Dennis decided to take the pension, and find a new job far away from his home base. "I figured I have worked all my life to raise my family. Now that my wife was gone, I wanted a change of scenery. My friends said I was crazy to trade snow for sunshine. Some colleges in Washington state offered me positions. But I wanted a different time zone, new challenges. I was tired of Starbucks," he laughed.

"The Green Mountain coffee here is pretty good," she quipped.

"You are very right," Dennis looked at Joanne, marveled at the instant rapport the two had. He reached over the plate of linguine alfredo and patted the back of her hand.

She felt like a school girl on her first date.

"So what do you do in your spare time?" Dennis asked.

"Oh I barely have any spare time. I only have 18 months left on the grant and ...," she was interrupted.

"Ah, let's talk work when we get back to campus. Talk about something fun." His mellow voice made Joanne relax.

"Well, I have over 200 CDs, mostly classical music."

"Impressive. I know very little about classical. Are you familiar with the Sibelius violin concerto? It is a great example of fire and Ice."

"I have that one in my collection. But I've never seen that quality in it."

"When we have time, maybe we can listen to it together," Dennis said.

When dinner was over, Dennis asked Joanne if she played tennis.

"Oh, not since high school," she admitted in a shy way.

"How about we play tomorrow afternoon?" he suggested.

"Friday afternoon? I have to work."

"Really? Most faculty take Fridays off."

"So, you play every week?" she asked, wanting to find out if she was a fill-in girlfriend this week.

"No, Jeff -- do you know Jeff Greenberg in sociology? He and I play every other week. Too demanding on our old bodies to make it a weekly thing," he smiled. "Recently he hurt his ankle so I haven't played in a while. Let me call the Athletics Department tomorrow and see if we can find a last minute booking?"




A River Runs in Vermont



"Oh, ok. That should be fun," Joanne answered. Now she had to break another work habit -- in addition to not working tonight, she would skip Friday afternoon.

When Joanne left her biology lab on Friday around noon, she gave detailed instructions on what needed to be done with the samples in the next 24 hours. She announced she would only be back Saturday morning.

Once she stepped out, Debra and Chad looked at one another. "Something is up. I can say with a 0.01 margin of error," Chad declared.

And then after Friday afternoon tennis, another dinner was planned for Saturday. 

Strangely, she hadn't had those bizarre and erotic nightmares since Tuesday. Friday night she was especially tired from the tennis games. Strangely, she didn't feel the urge to masturbate. Yet she felt so sated.

Joanne planned to dress up for the dinner Saturday night. The best outfit in her wardrobe was a knee-length black cocktail dress. For her, this was the equivalent of the slutty look.

Dennis suggested a Turkish restaurant and he would pick her up at 6 p.m. 

Would she really let it go all the way this weekend? One part of her said yes. She would make it happen, either at his place or hers. He was smart, handsome and perceptive. Quite a bit older than she was, but she wasn't looking at commitment yet.

The other part of her said that she should take things easy. Perhaps one more week. If he played it coy, she should too.

Saturday morning, she stocked her kitchen cupboard with an assortment of wine. Six bottles for her were the equivalent of a personal cellar. Three red, three white. Symmetry, balance, whatever that meant.

She even went to a drugstore and bought a 3-pack of condoms. Nothing wrong with a single woman getting protection for herself. But to stock up on a 12-pack would be sending the wrong message that she was a heavy user. So three was good.

Dinner was terrific. They ate, talked and laughed. One glass of wine and then he asked for an unsweetened ice tea. He seemed like a guy who would not in anything heavily.

After dinner, they walked to the back of the restaurant to his car. Under the halogen lights in the parking lot, everything took on a ghostly yellow shade. When Joanne and Dennis walked under the lamp posts, long shadows were cast behind them. It was a cool spring evening. They both walked with their hands in their coat pockets. 

**********

Dennis was elated that Joanne accepted his dinner invitation. He couldn't believe his luck. This lady was like a hidden jewel -- intelligent, successful and independent. She didn't let it show, but was beautiful in an unassuming way. Ever since he moved here to Vermont, he had only had one serious romantic relationship. That was with a Ph.D. student of his, who was in her 30s. They worked very hard to withhold the physical part of their relations until she finished her degree. It lasted for about six months -- they both felt something taboo about it, and then she moved away to start her career. There were very few available and desirable single women in his circle.

He had noticed Joanne from the day he started working at Vermont State College. Short news releases about her grants or her projects in the college's newsletter always caught his attention. He admired her work in ecology. He had thought about approaching her. And then there she was a few days ago, showing up at his lecture. It was fate.

**********

He went to the passenger side to open the door for her. He paused and said in a low, halting voice, nothing like the eloquent professor in front of a class of 50, "Well, Joanne, I ... er ...," he took a deep breath and continued, "I am very rusty with this going out and dating thing. I would love to invite you to my place and have another drink, if you like the idea."

Joanne absentmindedly pulled the lapels of her coat together as she pondered the question. A silence of five, six seconds elapsed.

"Are you cold, or ... are you afraid of letting others gain insight into you?" Dennis asked.

Dumbfounded, Joanne lowered her hands to her side. She gave up. "Are you trained in psychiatry as well?" She felt naked in front of Dennis. He could dissect her every thought and every gesture.

"No, maybe it's empathy. You see, you listen and you sense," he answered with a smile.

Joanne was torn. They were colleagues, but they didn't work in the same department and there would not be any conflict of interest if they were involved in any sort of way. But suddenly she got cold feet. Her heart was pounding and her body wanted to break free of the walls she had built all these years. However, her brain told her to hold back, perhaps one more week.

"I'm not used to this dating thing either. Perhaps we 'll end on this high note, and you give me a ride home?"

Slightly disappointed, Dennis nodded and cheerfully said, "Sure."

On the drive back to Joanne's place, she kept bouncing the idea around in her head. When was the last time she'd had such a good time? But she was so scared to let someone into her heavily guarded emotional world.

The car turned the corner and arrived at her block. Suddenly, Joanne had the revelation that this good thing had been around her, on the opposite side of the campus, all along. She rarely went over there, and she never paid attention to this man. Then serendipity brought her there because of the Earth Day lecture flyer.

The car pulled up in front of the apartment building. She didn't care this was a public place. 

"I want to kiss you, Dennis," Joanne whispered. The words escaped her month without her realizing it.

"I thought you wanted to do that inside the restaurant, Joanne."

She leaned over and kissed him, deeply, for however long it was. Her heart melted. Totally. If he asked her to undress and make love right there and then, she would.

**********

Up in her apartment, they sat down quietly on the futon. Joanne put on the Sibelius piece. About five minutes later, they were kissing passionately. Dennis knelt in front of Joanne, licking her fingers, kissing the back of her hands, nibbling all the way up her arms, to her bare shoulders. She was so aware of her hardened nipples. She wrapped her legs around Dennis's waist, pulling him in, her fingers running through his greying hair. His tongue trailed down her neck, to her collar bone and down to her cleavage.

The rich and mellow woodwind section of the orchestra accompanied the shrieking violin, and Joanne's arousal soared with the high notes. 

He lightly kissed her stomach, and moved down to her thighs. He took in her perfume, Cashmere Jasmine Vanilla. His hands reached behind her buttocks, pulling her pelvis closer to his face. He was so excited to have her pussy merely an inch in front of his face. His nose nuzzled here and there. It was driving her crazy.

With both hands, he pulled down the shoulder straps of her dress half way, exposing the top portion of her full fleshy breasts. He touched between the two mounds of beauty, and leaned in to inhale the sweet fragrance of a woman in heat. One at a time, he lowered the bra cups, first the left one, then the right. Wasting no time, he sucked the erect nipples that were the size of grapes. 

She let out a moan, fingers grabbing his shoulders and the back of his head, pressing him hard against her breasts. She didn't want to give herself any chance to have regrets. She pulled him in by his tie, rough and passionate, the erotic fire in her eyes hot enough to melt any man. She giggled at her clumsy and unsuccessful attempts to unbutton his shirt.

Dennis stood up in front of the seated Joanne, smiling, taking off his shirt, revealing a clean hairless chest. The sight of this man excited her so much. If he had been a stranger, Joanne could have walked past him in the street a hundred times, not paying him any attention. But knowing him, she was now attracted to his personality; he was so kind, engaging and so handsome.

Shedding all shame, Joanne stood up, with her dress pulled down to her midsection, facing Dennis. Both of them naked from the waist up, she put her hands on his chest, kneading his muscle all over.

Dennis returned the favor. He reached his right hand behind her back, steadying her, while massaging her tits with his left hand. He pulled her closer and kissed her, his fingers never missing a beat on her nipples.

She knew full well that her pussy was flooding; she could literally feel juices oozing down her love canal. It was not the same kind of arousal with a vibrator. She was wet with anticipation. She knew this man would fuck her tonight, and his cock would be hundred times better than her sex toy. And he would do it at his pace.

She grabbed his hand, stood up and slowly walked into her bedroom, the violinist playing the cadenza at the end of the first movement.

Once inside, she turned on her bedside lamp, nodded to him, and began to undress herself. Taking the prompt, he did the same, almost matching her step by step. She hooked her thumbs to push her dress past her hips and wiggled out of it, letting it drop to the carpeted floor. He unbuckled his belt, unzipped his pants and let them drop to his ankles. His erection pointed at her under his boxer shorts. She rolled down her pantyhose, standing in front of him only in her red panties.

She almost had the urge to cover her mouth with her hands, trying to conceal her embarrassment and excitement.

"You look heavenly." He was amazed at the beauty in front of him. Such a well proportioned lady, almost twenty years of his junior.

She sat down on the edge of her bed. He took off his socks, and slowly removed his underwear. Her eyes were locked hungrily onto his cock, which was staring at her in all its nakedness. Such vitality. Apparently he had not lost any of his stiffness even at the age of 60. His balls hung tightly behind his manhood.

He walked up to her, climbed onto the bed and gently straddled her thighs. She lay back and wiggled up to the head of the bed. He followed, all the while looking at her longingly. They hugged and their hands explored every inch of one another's body. His left hand reached her pussy, fingers dancing around the outline of her panties. With a mischievous move it went under the fabric, touching her pussy lips. He dipped his middle finger shallowly into her vagina, brought out a touch of her juice and spread it around her pussy lips. Moving in circular motions around her vulva. She gasped, arching up, offering her clitoris to his probing finger. He playfully avoided her, stroking the outside only. After a few more minutes of foreplay, his left palm pressed against her clit. She felt warmth radiating into her. With a sudden motion, his middle finger probed inside, feeling its way around this hot furnace of a cunt.

Her head shot up with excitement as a bolt of electricity travelled deep into her cervix. She let out a guttural groan. "Fuck me with your finger." She squeezed her thighs closed, trapping his hand. But he had no intention of retreating. First he pumped his hand in and out slowly, gradually quickening its pace. As her arousal was building, he changed the in-and-out movements to a circular motion, swirling his finger inside her cunt. This drove her wild. Her battery toy could never compare to this: a hungry and horny man in bed. His fingers and his hand over her body, and soon his cock would fill every empty space inside her.

When she pleasured herself, she had no problem letting out cries of satisfaction in the lonely company of herself. Originally self-conscious in his presence, she began to lose the nervousness. She didn't care anymore. She let go and cried out as she reached the first orgasm of the night. She knew there would be more.

The fervent bowing on the violin strings brought the concerto to its climax in the third movement. The cellos and the trombones blended with the soprano voice of the high strings, like Dennis and Joanne's bodies fusing into one.

She convulsed violently, soaked in the sweet agony between her legs. Her body was floating in a warm bath, buoyed by waves of passion. She felt dizzy, losing all senses of time and orientation.

He held her tight, breathing in the natural scent of her hair, his finger withdrawn from her pussy but his palm still pressed against her pubes. She let the first waves subside, descending from the heaven of erotic senses. With glassy eyes, she turned to him, "That's terrific. You're good."

"You're delicious. Just watching you cum excites me."

"I love it when professors talk dirty," she said. They let out a hearty laugh. "Let me catch my breath, and then it's my turn to play."

His cock pressed tight against her left thigh, he said, "Ready when you are."

Lying to her left, Dennis rested his cum-stained left hand on Joanne's stomach, as if he was sharing some of her erotic energy through touch. She was staring at the ceiling, replaying the events over the last four days, marveling at how fast things had progressed, yet not feeling a bit rushed. Things seemed so natural with him. e-harmony could not have done a better job.

From the corner of her eyes she noticed that he was looking at her intensely. She turned her head to her left, smiling, asked, "What are you looking at?"

"You."

"Silly."

"I am the luckiest man on earth."

"Stop it." With that, she sat up in bed. "OK, I'll make you feel luckier." She moved down to his abdomen. His cock had softened a little from the waiting. But now that it was face to face with this naked woman, who had just emerged from an intense orgasm, it rose to life again. 

Naturally there was a generous amount of pre-cum emitted from his stiff cock already, from his watching her come. She traced her index finger along the entire length of his rod, and gently holding it, pulling back his foreskin to expose more of his tip. This was ripe for kissing and licking.

And she did, savoring every inch of it, tasting his secretion, inhaling his masculinity. Cock sucking had never been better. All her inhibitions were gone. The longer she tasted him, the faster her sucking rhythm had grown. Her techniques were raw, but her passions intense. She bobbed up and down, using her tongue and her lips.

His cock responded, and his hands moved to touch her cheeks while she gave him the oral sex he had not received in a long time. He looked down and saw her, wild-eyed, kissing every surface of his manhood. He shivered and begged for more.

She swung her legs around, straddling his face, offering her pussy to him. With her on top, she sucked his cock while he licked her clit from under. She had no idea where this shameless pursuit came from. But she was enjoying every second of it. He made wet sloppy sounds, sucking her pussy lips and clitoris. She didn't quite know how to deep throat, but she let his rod go as far as her mouth would allow.

This mutual eating went on for what he felt like was an eternity. Then he patted her lightly, and rolled out from under her. He said awkwardly, "I cannot go on like that all night. I have to preserve my energy. Let me inside you now?"

She nodded, and moved over to open the drawer of her night stand and handed him the condoms.

"Uh, I'm really flattered ... that you're so prepared for me," he smiled.

"Just do it, silly."

Joanne lay in the middle of the bed. Nothing fancy. She just wanted it the old fashioned way. No doggie, no cowgirl. She pulled her legs up to her chest, slightly opened to the side, as she had done numerous times in her bathtub. Except this time she was not waiting for any imaginary intruder. Dennis was here and he would insert his throbbing cock inside her.

When he entered her, she almost had tears in her eyes. She trembled, and held him tight. With rhythmic pounding, he lowered himself onto her, rising and falling. His length and stiffness were incredible, penetrating and filling her pussy.

Dennis did not have to worry about his stamina. He didn't have to pound hard. He could sense her tight vagina squeezing his cock already. She quickly had her second orgasm before he came deep inside her, his cock releasing all that he had. He felt like he had unloaded every ounce of semen he had in his body.

**********

He pulled up the blanket and covered both of them to keep warm, also to make themselves less conscious of their naked bodies in front of one another.

"Do you want a drink of water?" He rose and asked her.

"I should be the one offering you a drink," she giggled.

"No problem. I am very at home here already." He put on his boxer briefs and walked out to the kitchen.

On his way back, with two cups in hand, he walked past a glass jar of stones that she put on the top of her dresser. "What are these?" he inquired out of curiosity.

"What? Those? They are pebbles I collected on one of my field trips a few weeks ago."

"Interesting."

"Why?"

"One of them seems to be ... shiny ... aglow."

She sat up, put on her glasses and looked at the jar from ten feet away. Indeed, the largest, egg shaped one seemed to have some glowing quality. She was mesmerized. She never noticed it before.

She put on a nightie and walked over, standing side by side with him. He passed the cup of water to her, and they both drank while their eyes were glued to the pebble.

"Can I take it out?" he asked.

"Sure."

He reached into the jar and picked his way to get the pebble. It was brownish in color and it now had a slightly orange glow to it. He looked at it closely, turned it upside down, and handed it over to her. It was cool to their touch.

"You picked it up on a field trip? Where?"

"Skylight Pond."

"And where is it?"

"It's up on Bread Loaf Mountain. It is the headwaters of White River."

"The river that has flooded recently?"

She stood with her mouth open, speechless. "Do these stones have anything to do with that?"

"I don't know."

He picked up the pebble again and walked over to the lamp on the nightstand. Under more lighting, he examined it further. "Look at these lines. Do they look like some kind of drawing? Or writing?"

She leaned closer and studied the stone. "I don't know. You mean hieroglyphs?"

"Probably no. Maybe just signs of natural erosion over the years," he said.

"You think this has anything to do with the flooding of White River?"

He pondered the question and shook his head. "This pebble came from the pond. The pond is the starting point of the river ..." His voice trailed off. "Is the flooding still going on?"

"I haven't followed it in the last two days. But I heard my students talk about it a few days ago and they said that the water level is still high, even though the damage is less threatening now."

"This came from the pond, ..." he repeatedly mumbled to himself. "Water is a form of feminine energy. I don't believe in poltergeists and spirits. But I believe in balance of energy. If the pond or the river loses something, then that scale is tipped." 

She frowned and felt a chill in the back of her neck. She had goose bumps.

"And you have the pebble here." He went back to examine all the other stones and none of them had this special quality. "So you have an excess of feminine energy here."

Her eyes widened. "What does that mean?"

He looked around her room and mused, "Your room is not flooding." He smiled.

Was the timing of the strange events a coincidence? Her erotic but haunting nightmares? Her attack on Debra?

Joanne hesitated sharing these with Dennis, but she did anyway.

"If the pebble represents an abundant, or excessive, amount of feminine energy, and that has crept into you ..." He scratched his chin after listening to her retelling of the tales.

Then she remembered something that Debra said at Skylight Pond. "Debra, my grad student, jokingly said the other day -- that the pond could be the home of Gaia."




A River Runs in Vermont



"Real or not, I don't know if there is any correlation. But if it makes you feel better, you can drive back to the pond and return them to the water," Dennis suggested.

"You mean now?"

"No, no, no. Not such a hurry."

He decided to stay for the night. She offered to shower together with him but her nerves were strung too tight to have sex anymore. They hugged and kissed and fell asleep in one another's embrace.

The next morning at 7 a.m., Joanne decided to text Debra, "Can you spare a few hours this morning? This is something important. Prof. Wu and I have something important to talk to you about. Give me your home address and we'll pick you up in half an hour. We're making another trip to Skylight Pond." She felt that if the pond had anything to do with her own bizarre behavior, she owed it to Debra to let her know about the stones.

When they met Debra, the poor girl was only half awake. She was asking all kinds of questions, about what was going on. Joanne had no complete answer. So she just gave her student a truncated version of the story, leaving out her nightmares.

They decided to take Joanne's SUV instead of Dennis's sedan because of the mountainous roads. Using her research notes, she set the GPS to N43.98671° W72.93580° and elevation 3360 feet. Without making any stops, Dennis made the trip in about three hours all the way to the top of Bread Loaf Mountain. Joanne carried the jar of stones in a backpack. The last portion of the drive was on Skylight Pond trail, a muddy road traversing west to east, ascending at a steep incline.

With he parked the SUV at the closest distance to the water, they walked for about five minutes to revisit Skylight Pond. This time, the water had a strange quality. The swimming-pool-sized pond looked like a pot of simmering stew, with small bubbles rising to the surface.

Holding the jar, Joanne looked at Dennis and Debra. He nodded to her, gesturing towards the pond. She took off her socks and sneakers, rolled up her jeans to about knee high, and walked to the spot where she remembered she took the stones. Like making an offering, one stone at a time, she lowered the pebbles to the shallow water. She returned the shiny brownish one the last.

Within seconds, the most amazing thing happened in front of their eyes. The bubbling stopped. 

In a minute or two, there were only a few occasional ripples caused by the wind blowing across the pond. 

It was April 20, Sunday. Two days before Earth Day.

Under the cloudless clear blue sky in Vermont, standing on top of Bread Loaf Mountain, an enigmatic sense of peace descended upon Joanne.

**********

Author's note:

This is an entry for the 2014 Earth Day story contest. Feel free to vote and leave comments.