First Summer....

[shaulis]

STS,
Wow what a chapter. MaryBeth saw much more of what occured between Erik and Ben than she will admit to them. Erik and Ben let their urges take over almost getting caught. Their cover story seems to have worked this time. Thank you for this chapter in your great story. I cant wait for the next chapter

[Dooley67]

Another great hot chapter STS. I don't know how you turn these stories out so quickly, so beautifully written and with such ability to focus on a different character or set of characters each time. You really developed Mary Beth in this chapter as a woman who likes what she sees and says it. I like that you had Jack's suit looking more like the boys' suits and that Mary Beth picked it out for him - she knows what she wants and goes after it.

D67

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

Brad had watched Jack land and take off on the lake a million times, but he had never been in a small plane before, except for the commuter flights out of Presque Isle. Certainly nothing this small and never on the water. The four guys had pulled T-shirts on over their swimsuits, while Jack put on a pair of Op brand shorts over his light blue brief. Since he was the novice, Brad got to go up front, Dylan right behind him. Erik was next to Dylan and Ben took the smaller seat in the far back. The takeoff had been calm and gentle, the lake like glass. The Cessna lifted off with barely a jostle and climbed quickly over the western hills. The sky was bright blue with a full sun.

“Perfect climb out,” Jack said. Brad enjoyed the view from the air, especially since he knew exactly where they were. “A cold front is expected to roll in in later, with gusty winds,” Jack warned.

“Is that bad?” Brad asked.

“Depends,” Jack replied. “We’ll just keep an eye on it and make sure we get down before it gets here. Plenty of time.” Far off in the western sky they could just barely make out the band of clouds of the approaching front. It was moving slow and at least 50 miles away.

The guys circled the lake. Jack flew above the house and tilted the wings, a signal to MaryBeth that all was well. They turned south over Maine Route 11 and crossed over Hedgehog Mountain, which was really just a huge hill. They crested the mountain and flew along another lake, making their way down the Fish River band of lakes dotted the eastern edge of the great North Maine Woods. In the wilderness of Fish Lake, they saw a pair of moose. Jack circled and dropped low so they could take in the Moose. Little known fact of Maine is that it is second only to Alaska in moose population in the states.

Jack climbed back to 1500 feet and turned southeast. They picked back up Route 11 again. Once they were over Ashland, they cut across to the east and followed the Aroostook River toward Presque Isle.

“Dudes, that’s Haystack, we should go climb that,” Brad pointed out excitedly. A small mountain rose out of the ridge just before Mapleton. More of rocky pile of debris from the ice age, Haystack is a well-known local point of interest for local hikers. “I’ve climbed it and laid out in the sun on top,” Brad added. It is so peaceful and what a view.”

“Let’s circle it,” Jack offered as he guided the plane in a loop around it. “Brad you take the controls,” Jack offered. As Jack gave direction, Brad flew the plane around the tiny peak. They then continued east, crossing the vast potato farms that sustained the local economy.

Above Caribou, Jack stayed a wide distance from Loring Air Force Base, a restricted fly zone. He climbed to 200 feet as they made their way toward the US and Canada border. The guys were mesmerized by the huge cargo transports making landings at the base. By the time the guys made their loop, including watching air cargo planes land at Loring Air Force Base, the winds were just starting to pick up out of the west. The temp had dropped 5 degrees, marking the entry of colder air. The plane was hitting some chop, making the ride a little more eventful with mild turbulence. Jack seemed unfazed. Ben held his crotch, a posture he took whenever he started to get nervous or excited.

“Getting bumpy,” Ben announced to anyone who was listening.

“Dude, just keep rubbing your balls, we’re fine,” teased Erik, referring to Ben’s nervous habit. “Just don’t get carried away.”

“You wait…” Ben replied.

“I am going to start to head back,” Jack announced. “The front is getting close and we need to get down before the lake gets too wild.” They had crossed over Fort Kent and headed across the village of Alligash, the start of the famous Alligash waterway. Canoe groups dotted the waterway as they flew south, over the northern tip of the undeveloped land mass that is northwestern Maine. An hour and fifteen minutes after they took off, they crossed back over their home lake, Jack descending to 1000 feet as he flew east past the lake and looped around. The plane bounced through the near 360 degree turn. The once blue sky was now pale grey, with the clouds of the cold front rumbling in.

“Water is getting rough,” Jack warned. For the first time, the guys felt a bit of nervousness in Jack’s voice.

“Are we okay,” Dylan asked, having picked up Jack’s tension.

“Yeah, fine,” Jack replied. “It will just be eventful, but we are cutting it close with the wind.” None of that calmed the guys. Even ever confident Dylan gave his brother a frightened glance. The wind was gusty, the plane bouncing as Jack worked to hold his landing point in line. Dylan felt weird sitting in a bouncing plane in a swimsuit. The wings wobbled side to side as the plane descended to 500 feet. The lower they got, the bumpier the flight became, the effect of the wind squeezing between hills. Jack held altitude as the plane crossed the eastern shore, over the secluded beach.
“Hey that’s where we were earlier,” Dylan announced. Erik looked out, but Brad and Ben were too focused on the bouncing plane to care.

“That’s an awesome little beach,” Erik said back to Dylan.

Ben grabbed Erik’s shoulder. He held tight. Ben was terrified, and Erik could feel him shaking. “Everything is fine,” Erik tried to reassure Ben.

“Everything is good, guys,” Jack said, hearing Ben’s concern. None of the usual banter was going on. About a mile down the lake, the plane bouncing, Jack lowered the power, further adjusted the flaps and guided the plane downward. The waves were rough on the water and the plane was being battered by the gusts. “Almost there….” Jack announced. Brad was frozen in place. None of the guys were thinking about swimsuits. From the windows, it looked as if they were just skimming the water. About 100 feet off the water, the plane was tossed by a huge gust, even Jack was surprised.

“Damn,” Jack exclaimed. The gust had pushed him well off line. Jack made the immediate critical decision and quickly throttled up, pulled the flaps back in. “We are going to abort,” Jack announced. The plane skimmed 75 feet over the lake and quickly started climbing. The engine roared. The plane was rocking hard on the climb out.

“I think I almost pee’d myself,” Ben whispered to Erik.

“Pee, I almost did worse,” Erik replied.

“What do we do now,” Brad asked.

“Well, we’ll try again, but if we can’t get down here, we abort to PQI,” Jack replied. “The landing will be fine, I can handle the wind, but we have to hit that water nose high in those waves,” Jack explained.

The four guys looked at each other. Not landing back at the lake never occurred to them. They all were thinking the same thing, “all we have on is swimsuits, little swimsuits.” Dylan started to blush, realizing that he might be exposed in just the tiny yellow and orange Speedo. “Damn, I wish I had shorts,” Dylan said to anyone.

“But you look so cute,” Erik replied, teasing.

“Now, being in my swimsuit feels weird,” Brad added. He glanced down at his bulging crotch.

“You’ll be fine guys,” Jack said. “We just wait in the plane for it to calm or MaryBeth to come get us.”

[SwimTeamSpeedo]

After a long loop, Jack had the plane repositioned westward into the even stronger winds. “I’m going to land further up, the water is calmer the more west we get,” Jack announced. Just as a precaution, Jack asked each of them to take out their life jackets and put them on. This freaked all of the guys out. Jack was not really worried anything was going to happen but safety was first. “If we go in the water, best to go out the window, you will never get the doors open,” Jack explained. “Don’t swim against the pull of your jacket, it will take you up.”

Despite the fear, Erik chimed in. “Guess it is good we got swimsuits on.” The chuckles broke the tension.

The plane crossed over the secluded beach, but Jack stayed higher, near 1000 feet. He then began a slow descent, the plane getting well tossed. The waves were white capped below, pushed by the 20 mph wind gusts. Four miles westward over the water Jack began the final drop. A huge gust threw the plane off course to the south, Jack quickly corrected. They flew past the house at about 500 feet, Jack too busy to notice.

“It’s gonna be rough, hang on,” Jack said. The plane skirted over the top of the lake. Jack pushed the throttle at the last minute to help pierce the turbulence, pulling the nose way up, so high he could not see the water, landing totally be feel. The back of the pontoons hit the water first, perfectly as planned, grabbing the plane fast. Jack pulled a bit harder on the yoke then gently let the nose down, making sure that the front of the pontoons did not get pulled under by the swells. The plane slowed quickly, bobbing in the water as it came to a rest. It rose and dropped with each swell, almost like the toss of teeter totter in a playground.

Ben had almost rubbed a hole through his suit, but his grabbing of his anatomy was anything but sexual. Dylan and Erik first looked at each other and then hugged.

“Welcome home,” Jack announced. Brad gave him a high five.

“Seriously, now, were we close to crashing?” Brad asked.

“Not even. If I thought there was any real risk, I would have diverted.” Jack replied.

“But the life vests…” Dylan asked.

“You never know, so I wanted to make sure that if anything did happen, we had everything we needed to get out safe.” Jack replied. The plane made its way slowly to the dock. Jack stopped short. “You guys mind jumping in and pulling me to the dock? In these waves, I’d rather approach with no power.”

“See, I knew we’d need our swimsuits,” Erik replied. The four guys jumped out into the waist deep water. The wind was blowing strong. They were glad to be back on the ground. They tied up the plane, and leapt from the dock. MaryBeth and Rex greeted them on the dock.

“Nice ride?” MaryBeth asked. She eyed the tight wet swimsuits on the four handsome young men.

“Wicked cool,” Brad replied in a manly voice. No hint of the fear they all had a few minutes ago.

[Swimmboy]

OK, that plane ride even had ME getting some sweaty palms. Romance, tension, excitement, bulging Speedos - perfect elements for a perfect story!

[Dooley67]

What a chapter!!!! So much suspense - I was on the edge of my seat. You've really outdone yourself STS. I especially liked how the guys expressed their fears all the while showing complete trust in Jack. Creating that subtext is really amazing.

This chapter reminded me of something that happened 45 years ago when I was a graduate student at U Maine. Every Monday night 5 of us flew from Old Town, Maine to Loring Air Force Base (mentioned in this chapter) to teach in the continuing education division. One Monday night on our return flight we were flying in dense fog in the 6 seater single engine Piper Aztec. We couldn't land in Old Town because such a small airport had no runway lights so we diverted to Bangor Intl Airport. The pilot was flying on instruments but needed the final visual to land. When he said, "the first one to see the runway lights, let me know", we all thought it was the end and just about lost it. We did land safely, but I vowed, never again and I have never flown on a plane like that again.

D67

A post script: At first we thought the pilot was kidding when he asked us to look for the runway lights, but, in fact, he was not kidding at all and that just heightened our fears.

[shaulis]

STS,
What a chapter !!! It was full of excitement, suspense, fear all wrapped in a Speedo. I love how you expressed all of the guys fears but never freaking out on Jack the pilot. Jack must have nerves of steel to land on choppy water. I cant wait for the next chapter .