by Will Grant
The three girls laughed and giggled mischievously as they slipped out of their swim suits and climbed into the hot, bubbling water of the outdoor Jacuzzi.
Jill Saunders was the oldest of the group by two months. She was a tall, attractive girl, with dark red hair and a temper to match. Many boys were initially attracted to her clear face, blue eyes, and slender build, only to be quickly frightened away when they discovered her intelligence was sharp and her tongue sharper still. Her soon to be university experience was being subsidized by an academic scholarship, which she saw as the first step in reaching her goal of graduation, followed by a prestigious medical school.
Janice Richards was as unlike Jill as it was possible to be. However, their branch of the triad was probably the strongest, and certainly the longest, going back to nursery school. Jill's talents were clearly academic, and her slim build could be described as slender by her friends, or skinny by her detractors. Janice on the other hand excelled on the athletic field, and her exploits in girl's track and field had led to full-ride scholarship offers to some of the top track and field programs in the country. Janice was a tall, well built young woman, who was clearly strong and muscular without being bulky, with a build that most closely resembled that of a dancer. Her good looks, long brunette hair typically worn in a ponytail, and open, cheerful expression ensured there were always plenty of young men anxious for her attention, at least until they discovered that she could beat them in virtually any athletic endeavor they could concoct.
None of these young men attracted more than a passing glance from Janice, who was much more focused on running faster and jumping higher than she was in attracting a guy. She had a talent and passion for winning that she hoped would take her to the highest levels of university athletics as well as national and international competition. She also had a gift for spotting, teaching and developing the abilities of others, which she had honed during the summer by putting on a track and field summer camp for middle schoolers. In fact, during the camp she had coached Jill's eleven- year-old brother Ricky, and it was Janice who first brought his precocious talents to the notice of senior coaches at the high school.
The third member of this three musketeers group was Tatia Davis. Trim and wiry, she was a smart and athletic girl, but with neither Jill's academic drive nor Janice's athletic competitiveness. Her intelligence was geared more to the great outdoors, with a personality that her two friends teased her as being 'granola crunchy'. Rather than running and jumping, she enjoyed hiking and camping and rock climbing, and she would much rather study a wildlife habitat than open a textbook. It was her fondest dream to go into forestry management and become part of the state or federal parks system, or an outdoor adventure instructor.
"Hurry up, my folks get back in about two hours," said Jill, whose home the girls were using for their pre-going away celebration. They each leaned back and watched the stars as the heat of the water, the bubbles and the water jets relaxed them. After a moment, they began the chatter common to 17 year old girls everywhere.
"Did you see so-and-so? He's so hot!"
"Did you hear about...?"
Then finally they came to more substantial topics.
"My God," said Jill, "this summer went by so incredibly fast. Are you guys excited about leaving tomorrow?"
Janet and Tatia both nodded and smiled, though their smiles had a hint of melancholy. In many ways they made an unlikely trio. They were each different in both appearance and interests, but their bond had developed in elementary school and had never wavered. However, they had never been really been tested by separation. Now they were all leaving for different schools, and although each looked forward to the new experience ahead, they also worried about losing touch with one another. It was partly due to this anxiety that they allowed a minor mishap to turn into a major incident which would affect some of them for years to come.
Just as there was a break in their conversation, there was a loud crash from the other side of the hedge, and all three girls leaped up when they heard a loud shout and the yelps of someone falling into the bushes surrounding the tub. Jill quickly leapt out, snatched up a towel and wrapped it around her, then dashed into the hedge, only to pull back a second later with a squirming boy wearing PJ shorts and a t-shirt.
"Hey, let me go!" the boy exclaimed, but Jill held tightly to his arms, then turned him around to face her.
"Ricky, how dare you spy on us!" she shouted at her younger brother. "You little pervert! Getting a quick peek were you?" Ricky shook his head frantically. "You little pervert!" Jill shouted again, angrily, as she shook him by both arms, and his face screwed up with pain and distress.
The other girls had quickly grabbed their own suits and pulled them on, watching angrily as Jill dragged the struggling Ricky over to the picnic table, then sat down on the bench and yanked him across her lap.
"You want to spy on us? I'll teach you not to be a peeping Tom."
She grabbed the waistband of Ricky's shorts, and quickly yanked them down to his knees, then raised her hand and brought it down with a crack on Ricky's bottom. The other girls laughed and jeered as Jill continued the spanking, turning her brother's bottom from white, to a dark pink, then a deep red as the spanking went on and on. Ricky continued to twist and struggle, putting his hands back to block her spanks.
"Janice," called Jill, "grab this little pervert's arms so I can finish this lesson."
Janice stepped over and grabbed Ricky's flailing hands, pulling them in front of him and holding them tightly out of the way, as Jill pinned his legs behind her right leg and proceeded to give Ricky a long, hard spanking which had him squealing. Finally, Jill finished the punishment and yanked him to his feet, holding his arm as he stood there with his shorts around his ankles, sniffling and rubbing his bottom with his free hand. With a malicious grin Jill jerked him around to face the other girls.
"Well girls what do you think? Has he had enough, or maybe he needs a few more?"
The other girls laughed as a humiliated Ricky blushed so bright that that his red face could be seen even in the near darkness. Janice caught Jill's eye, and shook her head almost imperceptibly.
"No, I don't think so," she said. "I think Ricky's learned his lesson, haven't you, bud?"
Ricky shook his head frantically and shouted, "But I didn't do anything!" He pointed at the maple tree on the other side of the hedge. "Socks climbed the tree and got stuck again. I just wanted to get her down, but the ladder fell over when I tried to climb up. I didn't even know you were here!"
The three girls looked in the direction of Ricky's pointed finger, and sure enough, there was Socks, with her black fur almost invisible in the darkness and foliage, but her four white feet standing out plainly. As the girls' attention was turned to the cat, Ricky jerked his arm free and ran off in the direction of the house.
The three girls didn't say anything as they put on the rest of their clothes. Tatia looked embarrassed as she checked her watch.
"I probably need to be getting home now," she said. "I still have some packing to do." She looked over at Jill. "You think he's going to tell your folks?"
Jill sighed. "I doubt it," she said quietly. "He's never been much of a tattle tale. I'll apologize to him and see what he says. Besides it's not your fault, I'm the one who did it."
"I'm the one who helped," Janice said in a subdued tone. "I need to apologize too."
Jill nodded. "OK, but lets get Socks out of the damn tree."
Tatia left as Janice and Jill crossed the hedge and set up the ladder. Janice pointed at the ground, where it was clear the foot of the ladder had sunk into the soft soil.
"That leg must have sunk right into that mud and the whole thing fell over. He probably didn't get beyond the first rung. He's right, he probably didn't even know we were there."
Jill stared at the hole for a second. "Shit," she exclaimed angrily. "And to make it worse, I had to tease him. If I were him, I'd never forgive me."
"Of course he'll forgive you," said Janice. "He's your brother. Me on the other hand..."
The two girls pushed the ladder up and made sure it was sitting solidly. Then Jill climbed up and reached out to the cat, which jumped into her arms. The two girls walked dejectedly into the house, dropped the cat in the foyer, and trudged up the stairs to knock on Ricky's door.
"Ricky, can you open the door?" asked Jill. "I... that is, we, both owe you an apology. We're sorry, we were wrong to be mean to you."
"Go away," said Ricky's tearful voice from the other side of the door. "Leave me alone, I don't want to talk to you."
Jill responded, "Buddy, we're both sorry. We know we were wrong. Won't you let us in?"
"Leave me alone," said the tearful voice again.
Jill looked at Janice, shook her head and shrugged, and the two girls left.
Nine Years Later...
Janice finished hanging the last picture on her 'I love me' wall, and stood back to check out the overall effect. The wall was extremely impressive, with pictures of her at various medal ceremonies, her all American and all Conference awards, pictures of various teams she had been on, diplomas, sorority awards, a picture of her with various military officers, another shaking hands with the President of the US at a Veterans Administration event, a couple of letters of appreciation from some of her boys at the VA, and some trophies on the shelf along with her racquetball racket and her sorority paddle.
Janice folded up the stepladder, then stretched and checked out her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She nodded, pleased with her appearance. Although no longer a track and field competitor, Janice made it a point to stay in shape through running, weight training, and a recently developed love for racquetball. Knowing how hard she expected her athletes to train, she wanted to avoid any thoughts they might have that she might be soft herself. Although she wasn't as slender as she had been as a college track star, her increased hip size and breadth of shoulder was the result of a rigorous weightlifting regimen rather than sloth and overindulgence. She wasn't as fast as she had been in college, but she was much stronger, a fact that quickly became apparent to any woman or man with the temerity to step on a racquetball or squash court with her. With long brunette hair tied up in a ponytail, clear green eyes, an unlined face and a nice figure, Janice considered herself pretty rather than beautiful, and was very comfortable with that.
She stood in the center of the room and did a slow rotation, looking happily around her brightly lit office. She gazed out the large window overlooking the running track, and smiled as she imagined being on the field coaching her team... her team... on to glory.
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