Date: Sun, 17 Apr 2022 14:16:39 -0400 From: James Karvonen Subject: Double Teamed -2 "It's so hot out here that I need some water." Gary complained. And it was hot. The temperature had risen to about 95 degrees, and that didn't include the humidity factor. "The first thing thing I'm going to do when we get to our campsite is jump into the river and cool off " Jason vowed. "Wrong, the first thing we're going to do before we jump into the river to is to get our campsite put up. We're going to have to dig a latrine to piss and shit in, collect firewood for our cooking and campfire tonight, and then after we get all that done we can talk about doing some other things!" Mike was quick to point out. "That sounds like a lot of work." Jason grumbled. "I'll tell you two one thing, I'm not going to do that work by myself." Mike stated. "Can we at least take our shirts off, they're soaked with sweat?" Jason asked. "Sure, I don't see why not. We'll take a quick break." Mike said pulling his backpack off. It felt good being free of the heavy backpack even for a few minutes. He stretched rubbing his shoulder muscles a little then pulled off his sweat drenched T-shirt baring himself to the waist. "You can pad up your T-shirt like this around your neck and shoulders so the backpack straps don't dig into your flesh." Mike demonstrated. Jason and Gary quickly pulled off backpacks. They stripped to the waist their smooth torsos glistening with sweat then like Mike had shown them padded their shoulders and the back of their necks with their T-shirts. Once that was done they pulled their backpacks back on. "That does feel a little cooler." Jason stated. Ten minutes later they were once again hiking along trail following the river. This time they were shaded a by Live Oak and Cypress trees, their branches draped with Spanish moss giving the area they were hiking through a deep south appearance. The beauty of the area around them that they were backpacking through was almost breathtaking looking almost like the lost world. By late afternoon the three boys to reached Paradise Cove. It was everything that it was advertised to be. The cove was just off the river, complete with a sandbar that easily served as a beach. There was a picnic table and near the picnic table a pipe stick up out from the ground that had fresh water spilling out of it. The camping area itself was shaded by ancient Live Oak trees. The ground where the tent would be pitched looked soft and mossy. Thick woods with plenty of heavy brush lined both sides of the river around the campground. It was definitely a beautiful area located on the river in the middle of nowhere. The three boys wasted no time taking off their backpacks relieving themselves from the heavy load that they had just hiked three miles with. Their shoulders were a little sore from carrying the backpacks, but that was to be expected. They set their backpacks up against the thick trunk of a nearby tree. Getting the three brothers together, Mike said, "You can take a break now and fill up your canteens with fresh water from that pipe over there. That water is nice and cold so I don't want to hear you completely about being thirsty anymore. You have about ten minutes to rest then we're going to get to work. While I set up the tent I'm going to need you two to collect firewood. You can pile the wood up over there by the fire pit." Mike pointed. "What about going swimming. I'm so hot that it feels like I'm going to sweat to death. I need to cool off." Gary complained. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead. "What did I tell you guys earlier. When we get everything done we'll go swimming and cool off. But we're not going swimming until I say so, and that's that!" With that having been said, Mike untied the tent from his backpack frame. He took the tent over to the tent area. Taking the tent out of its sack he unfolded it. He laid out the aluminum tent poles and tent stakes together then started setting the tent up. While he was doing that, Gary and Jason greedily drank the rest of water in their canteens then headed over to the artesian well to fill their canteens back up. "Phew! This water stinks! It smells like rotten eggs." Gary shouted. "That's because it's sulfur water. It won't hurt you. They say that that water is actually good for you. If you don't like the smell tonight when you go to bed take the cap off your canteen and let your canteen sit like that. In the morning that smell will be gone." Mike explained. "I'll do that." Gary said. "So will I." Jason replied. Mike shook his head. Yes, he thought to himself, it was going to be a long weekend." Ten minutes later Gary and Jason headed into the woods to collect firewood. Mike took his time setting up the tent. The tent was only a two man tent but because Gary and Jason weren't all that big the three of them would be able to fit in the tent comfortably when they went to bed later that night. After Mike finished setting up the tent, he untied a blanket and his sleeping bag from the top of backpack. Carrying the blanket and sleeping bag into the tent, Mike unrolled the blanket first laying it out on the bottom of the tent to use as a ground cloth. He laid his sleeping bag out in the middle of tent leaving room on each side of him for Jason and Gary to lay out there sleeping bags when they returned from collecting firewood. Leaving the tent Mike went into the woods to collect some kindling and tinder that he would use later on to start the fire with. He also found fat light from a dead pine tree lying on the ground near the tent site. Once lit fat light caught fire quickly making it a whole lot easier to get the fire going. He placed the tinder, kindling and fat light in a small pile next to the fire pit. Jason and Gary soon returned with armfuls of dry wood. Mike showed them where to put the wood so that they could make a woodpile. "We're going to need more wood then that." Mike stated much to Gary and Jason's disappoinment. Not only were the two boys dirty from carrying wood, but they looked tired as well. Dirty sweat trickled down the sides of their faces and their bare chests dripped with sweat. With some reluctance they headed back into the woods returning a few minutes later with two more armfuls of wood that they dropped into the growing woodpile. Fifteen minutes later Mike said, "That's enough wood for now. Now go get your sleeping bags and lay them out in the tent. And then we'll go swimming to cool off." "Alright!" Jason shouted. "Let's go Gary!" Grinning inwardly to himself Mike watched as the two younger boys rushed to their backpacks to get their sleeping bags. They quickly untied their sleeping bags from the frame then raced each other back to the tent to see who would get there first. While Jason and Gary were getting situated in the tent, Mike laid out the wood in the fire pit for the cooking fire. As he was laying out the wood he heard loud talking and laughter coming from inside the tent. It sounded like Jason and Gary were up to something what they might be up to Mike had no idea. So far since leaving the boat ramp earlier that afternoon they had been very cooperative. They complained a little but that was to be expected since this was their first backpacking experience. He laid out some tinder and kindling, adding pieces of fat light to use to get the fire going quickly. He was just starting to build a tepee fire with the wood set out when he heard a yell coming from inside the tent. "Last one in gets double teamed!" Jason shouted. Before Mike knew what was happening Jason and Gary shot out from the tent butt ass naked racing each other to the river. "Hey you two!" Mike shouted, but they didn't hear him. They ran across the sandbar jumping into the slow moving river. Sighing Mike got up. Pulling off his tennis shoes and socks he walked over to his backpack. Opening it up Mike rummaged through the clothing and food finding his bathing suit. He hadn't expected Jason and Gary to go swimming naked but they ran by him so fast that he hadn't been able to stop them. Skinny dipping at Paradise Cove wasn't really all that unusual. He and his father had gone skinny dipping a couple of times while they were camping here. One just had to be careful. Even though it was an isolated area far from civilization, it still was a public place where anyone could show up at any time. The river was used by fishermen, boaters, canoers and even an occasional houseboat. After all the Altamaha River was the one of the longest and more popular rivers in the state of Georgia. It covered a distance of almost 250 miles feeding into the Atlantic ocean at Darien, Georgia. Taking off his pants and underpants, Mike pulled on his bathing suit. Walking to the edge of the river he could see that Jason and Gary seemed to be having a good time. Both boys looked like they were strong swimmers. They handled the slow moving current of the river quite well. He watched as Gary climbed up on a Cypress knee to dive in the water, his nude smooth hairless body glistened in the bright sunlight. Jason climbed up on the Cypress knee behind him. His nude body was a little more muscular then his little brother's slender lithe body. Just before diving into the water Jason shouted, "Come on in Mike, the water feels great!" Mike joined them doing a quick top surface dive into the water. He swam over to Jason who was standing in chest deep water. "Who told you two that you can go skinny dipping?" He asked. Gary joined his older brother treading water nearby. "We forgot our bathing suits, besides it's more comfortable going then it is swimming in bathing suits." "You know that other people use this river." "If we stay in the water when they won't see us when they go by so they won't know if we're naked or not." Jason exclaimed. Giving it some thought Mike finally yielded saying, "All right, if that's what you two want to do." "You ought to go skinny dipping with us. No one is around to see you except us, and we're all boys." Jason suggested. "Maybe tomorrow, besides we're going to have to get out of the water soon to get a fire going so that we could boil up some water for our meal for tonight." "What are we going to have for dinner?" Gary asked. "Freeze dried beef goulash that you cook in a pack in boiling water." "Sounds good to me." Jason said. And then he added, "You do know that you were the last one in the water when I called out, the last one in gets double teamed. That means that Gary and I get to double team you tonight." Gary started laughing when he heard Jason mention double team. Mike had no earthly idea what they were talking about. "What is this so called double team that you're talking about." He wanted to know. "That means that me and Gary get to do anything that we want to do to you tonight." Jason explained. "You didn't bring up that game until now." Mike stated. "Well we thought we would surprise you with that game." Jason smiled almost deviously....