ME & DALE
I met Dale the summer before my sophomore year in high school.
Well I didn't actually meet her then, I just saw her. My family had
moved to Hamilton Co. from Wilson at the end of my freshman year. I
didn't know anybody here yet, so I was pretty bored with myself on the
whole. I learned that the school's janitor/grounds keeper was looking
for some part time help over the summer to help with mowing the grass
and such. I decided that since I didn't know anyone and that I could
make a few bucks over summer break, I'd try to get the job.
It turns out that I was the only person to apply for the job, so
I was hired. Mr. Reynolds…or "Bob", as he liked to be called, was
pretty cool as far as bosses go. About all I had to do was mow the
grass around the school and the football/track field, trim the hedges,
and do a little painting here and there. Also, because Bob was doing
maintenance in the school itself, I was left pretty much to my own
supervision.
The high school building was fairly new when I moved to Hamilton.
It had a new gymnasium with locker rooms and showers for both girls
and boys. It had a "trainers" room that was located between the
Coach’s office and the boys locker room, complete with tables benches
and a whirlpool. The school also had an indoor, Olympic sized,
swimming pool. And when I was through for the day, Bob would let me
go swimming till he was ready to lock up.
The first time I saw Dale, it was a particularly hot afternoon,
and I was trimming the hedges by the infield bleacher on the football
field. Dale was running around the track, and pretty much ignoring
me. Which was fine by me, because I had a lot to do and it was a
bitch trimming that damned hedge with hand tools. Besides, I
thought Dale was a guy, from a distance you really couldn't tell.
I had drank a lot of water that day and I had to go! Being a teenage
boy and not wanting to trudge all the way over to the school just to
take a piss, I just unzipped and let go into the hedge. I mean nobody
would see me, except maybe that guy running around the track, right?
"He" did see me. In fact "he" just happened to be coming around the
turn closest to me when I let go. I didn't think anything of it, and when
I finished, I just started back in on the hedge.
Bob came out to the field to check up on my progress about twenty
minutes later, and saw Dale running. I noticed him watching and sadly
shaking his head.
"Been at it for about an hour now…who is it?" I asked putting down the
shears and picking up my water jug.
"Name's Dale." He said, again shaking his head. "Didn't make the track
team again this spring. Guess Dale's still hoping that maybe next year
will be different."
I was watching Dale now. I thought the running style was a little
awkward, maybe a little uncoordinated would be more de***********ive.
"Too bad really," Bob said, "She tries so damned hard, but she just
isn't cut out for track and field."
"SHE?" I said snapping my head around to Bob and then back to Dale
running around the far turn…My mind flashing back to a few minutes
ago. I could feel the blood rushing to my face as I remembered taking
a leak in the hedge as Dale ran by.
"Yeah…she…why? Couldn’t you tell…well I guess not." Bob said
smiling sadly for Dale. "She's a nice kid though, she did the job you
are doing last summer...never complained about the work."
Since Bob's revelation I'd been studying Dale as she yet again
passed us on the near turn. She did look like a boy from a distance.
She had a short hair cut in a wedge or maybe a "pageboy" I don't know
what women call the style. She was very slender, but had strong legs.
She didn't have any chest whatsoever. Her face was plain looking with
dark eyebrows that were a little on the heavy side. She had a largish
nose, but it was straight. All in all, aside from my wetting the bushes
in front of her, I really didn't find her of interest, and went back to
trimming the hedge.
I saw Dale off and on all summer. I'd wave to her and her to me, but
we never talked. I'd usually be busy with one job or another, and she
be going to or from the track.
Fall finally came to Hamilton Co. and so the school year began. As
it turned out, Dale rode the same bus as I did, probably because, as I
would later discover, she lived just a few miles from me. We would
wave or nod in greeting, but we didn't seem to have any interest in
each other. Dale, I did notice, kept pretty much to herself on the bus,
I did too but that was because I didn't know anyone. I saw her
occasionally in the halls between class or at lunch.
I went out for the football team that year, and actually made it!
I wasn't very big to be playing football, but I did like to play and
I guess the coach saw that too. In the locker room after the first
week of practice, I overheard some of the seniors talking about
"that girl" who wanted to be a trainer. I'd never heard of a girl being
trainer so I asked them what they were talking about. Ron told me
that the school board had ok'd girls to be trainers in athletic events,
providing that there was a separate area for them away from the
locker room and showers. So we now had a girl trainer to help the
coaches and the team doctor with errands and wrapping ankles and
such. I shrugged and didn't think much more about it.
About halfway through the next week, I sprained my right ankle.
It was after I hobbled back to the training room from the ball field,
that I actually first met Dale. I didn't know that she was the girl that
Ron and the others had been talking about. She saw me hobble in
and noticed it was me. She smiled for the first time that I had seen
in any case. It was a pretty smile, even if she was a little plain. She
had pretty full lips now that I could see up close. They actually made
her nose look a little smaller and pretty. Her skin was clear, which is
more than I can say for my own at the time.
"What seems to be the problem?" She asked, looking down at the foot
I was holding just off the floor.
"I think I sprained my ankle…coach said to come in and have it
looked at." I said grimacing.
"Ok…hop over to the table and we'll get that shoe off and have a look."
she said motioning to the table.
I hopped over and plopped down and started to bend over to untie my
shoe. Bam! Our heads ran into each other as she was bending over
to do the same.
"Sorry." I said blushing and rubbing my noggin, trying not to make
eye contact.
"I think I can manage untying your shoe…I am a trainer after all." she
said with a chirping little laugh as she too rubbed her head, and smiled
at me. "Didn't I see you this summer working for Mr. Reynolds?" she
asked as she untied my shoe and eased it off.
"Yeah…" I said gritting my teeth as pain shot up my leg from the swollen
ankle. "You ran a lot this summer didn't you? Why?" I asked trying not
to yelp from the pain as she pulled my sock off.
"I've been trying to get on the girls track team since I was a freshman,"
she said distractedly, "but I just haven't been fast enough the past two
years. Hopefully next spring I will be." She said as she gently probed my
ankle here and there, turning it a little to the side.
"Two years? Then you are a junior this year." I said still gritting my teeth
with tears threatening to form in my eyes.
"Yeah." She said looking up at me to smile," it's all right to let me know
if it hurts or not. Otherwise I'm going to keep poking and turning till you
do." She said trying not to smile but not doing a very good job of it.
"Yes!" I gasped out at last. "It hurts! It hurts! All right?" I was holding
the edge of the table so tight that my knuckles were turning white and
so was my face.
"Yep! Looks like it's sprained to me." She said standing up to get an
ice pack from the cabinet. It was one of those chemical things that
you had to pop and shake up a second to activate. She set it on the
table next to me and slapped the palm of her hand down on it, then
picked it up and tossed it to me and said "Shake that up and put it on
your ankle when it gets cold…I'll be back in a minute."
I shook the ice pack until I could feel it getting cold then I eased
my ankle up onto the table and gingerly put the pack on it. A few
minutes later Dale came back jangling some car keys saying "Ok.
Let's go."
"Go where?" I said a little lost.
"To the hospital dummy…got to get that ankle looked at by Doc.
Willis…you know…the team doctor?" she said raising an eyebrow.
"You think you can hop out the door to Coach's car?" She asked.
"Uh.. I guess so." I responded as intelligently as I could muster.
At the hospital the doctor looked my ankle over and ordered some
X-rays done and told me I was probably not going to be playing for the
first part of the season anyway. That just made my day. He said that
nothing appeared to be broken and that if I stayed off of it for a while
and let it heal I might be able to make a few games before the end of
the season. He wrapped the ankle up in ace bandages and sent me
and Dale on our way.
"Bummer about the season huh?" She asked as we pulled out of the
parking lot. "Maybe you can be a trainer too until the ankle gets
better?" she added brightly, looking at me sitting there with a long
face.
"I suppose." I answered, not feeling very enthusiastic about it. As it
turned out I didn't become a trainer. I didn't see much of Dale for a
few weeks either because of having been driven to and from school
by my mom while I was letting the ankle heel. It was a real bitch
trying to get from class to class carrying books and hopping along
on crutches. Finally after six weeks the doctor said that I could go
back to playing as long as I took it easy on the ankle and I might
wrap it if it got to feeling weak again. There were three games left
in the season and I got to see them all…from the bench.
Spring came before too long and with it came track and field. I
went out for hurdles and the 100 meter dash. I made the team as an
alternate. Dale too made the team this year, she ran the 440 relay,
and the mile. We saw a lot of each other that spring at practice and
at the meets. We got to be pretty good friends too…she just kind
of grew on me I guess. I did come to like her quite a bit, but I was
infatuated with another girl at the time and I really didn't notice Dale
as a girl. I didn't notice that she seemed to spend a lot of time with
me, and that she wasn't going with anyone. But she never said
anything that would make me notice I guess.
That summer Dale's dad gave her his old car when he got a new one.
She used to pick me up in the morning and take me to the school to
work and she would run till lunch time and then we would go out and
get something to eat. I always paid for the food because she wouldn't
let me give her gas money for driving me to work. I guess we got to be
pretty close friends that summer, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't
notice that she was starting to fill out a little in all the right places.
But I still thought of her as a friend, and didn't look too much. I learned
to love her chirping little laugh, and her pretty smile. She really wasn't
all that bad to look at I decided one morning as she drove us to the
school. She still wore her hair short in that wedge cut I guess you'd
call it. Her hair was a light color, not really blond but too light to be
brown…it had sort of a red highlight when the sun shone on it. Her
eyebrows were dark and outlined her big brown eyes just so. The nose
was still a little big I thought, but she had recently started wearing a
little lipstick that highlighted her full lips so that they complimented
her nose and face as a whole. She didn't wear much eye makeup but
then she didn't need to. She always smelled nice too…not perfumed
or anything like the other girls at school did. Just clean…maybe bath
powder or something, I liked it whatever it was. Her hair always
smelled like strawberries I thought. I liked that too. She did paint her
nails though. She didn't have those long claw looking nails, in fact they
didn't even go past the ends of her fingers. but they were always neat
and even, and she'd paint them in subdued colors like peach or pale red.
In the fall school started again, and so football. Dale was again "that
girl trainer" and I was now on the Varsity team. I was a starting lineman
on both offense and defense. I was kinda small for a lineman, but that
was more often than not a plus for me. Being quicker and lower than
most of the brutes I played across the line from I could do a pretty good
job. And I had fun too. As a trainer, Dale doubled as the 'water boy' …or
is that water girl? Anyway, anytime there was a time out or the play
was stopped for anything she would race out onto the field and squirt
water through our face masked helmets into our mouths if we wanted
water. Sometimes she'd spray me in the face whether or not I wanted
water…and then run off the field giggling as I sputtered and wiped my
face…much to the amusement of my team mates. I on the other hand
didn't think it was too funny. I even got angry at her a couple of times.
"Hey man! Cool it would ya?” One of my teammates said on one of
these occasions, “The girl is just trying to get your attention man!"
"Huh?" I said, about as intelligent as it sounded.
"Man...The chick likes you…didn't you know that?" He added looking
a little confused.
I was a little taken aback by this revelation. I had never even
thought of Dale as anything other than a friend. I was kinda stunned
to think that she would even be interested in ME! I mean c'mon! She
was a senior even, and I was just a junior. I dismissed the idea and
forgot about the comment.
By the third game of the season, my ankle was getting weaker and
weaker. The team doctor said that if I wanted to keep playing and not
risk another sprain like last year, that I'd have to start wrapping it before
every practice and game. Up until then, I had never wrapped my ankle,
and really didn't know what to expect.
Before the next practice, I went to the trainer's room to get it done.
Dale saw me come in and had the tape already waiting for me. She
looked down at my leg and arched one eyebrow then looked at me and
asked. “You didn't shave your leg?"
"Of course I didn't shave it…what do I look like, a girl?" I said
somewhat indignantly. I had no idea why I should or even would want
to shave my leg. I found out though!
"Okay..." Dale said with a mischievous grin and a twinkle in her eyes.
"But I bet you will want to next time." She added shaking her head and reaching for the tape. She did a good job taping it up, it felt great during practice. I could make sharp turns on the ankle and generally treat it
like it had never been sprained before. However, I found out at the end
of practice just why it is a good idea to shave the leg, at least where the
tape will be applied.
Back in the trainer's room after practice, Dale gave me a wicked
little smile as she came at me with the tape scissors. She cut down
from the top of the tape line all the way down to the ankle then
across the side of my foot to the other end. She laid down the scissors
and rubbed her hands together looking up at me to say.
"Uh…why don't you put your other foot under you knee and then
hang onto the edge of the table."
Shrugging my shoulders and not knowing why this would be of any
use, I did what she said. I sat on my good ankle and grabbed the edge
of the table.
"This is going to hurt a little." She said with that little mischievous
grin again, "So don't kick me or anything." She peeled back the top
edge of the tape along where she had just cut it. I could feel the
hairs on my leg being pulled out, and started to say that. Then
without warning, Dale just yanked straight down and back for all
she was worth. Needless to say, the pain caused by several hundred
hairs being pulled out at once pretty much distracted me from
saying anything coherent for about thirty seconds. I did cuss a blue
streak during this time however.
Dale was across the room by now trying to cover her mouth with one
hand to both keep me from seeing the smile that was on her face and to
keep from laughing out loud at my antics. She did have an apologetic
if not amused look in her eyes. I was, on the other hand, neither
amused or apologetic. I was hopping around on my good foot and
holding the other in both hands.
"Thanks!" I said not very thankful at all.
Dale finally gave up trying not to laugh and between those chirping
little giggles and the guffaws, she asked me if I thought I was going
to shave my leg before I had it wrapped next time.
"WHAT HAIRS?" I shouted, still doing my one legged dance and
rubbing my abused other leg. “YOU PULLED THEM ALL OUT!" and
reached for a half empty water bottle and squirted her with it. Dale,
with tears in her eyes from laughing so hard by now, ducked and
darted out the door giggling all the way, and yelping in addition. I
chased her as best I could, and ran right into the coach coming the
other way in the hallway.
"Uh…Tim?" He said seriously, but with amusement in his eyes,
"The showers are in the other direction…you want to go use them?
Now!"
"Right coach...just on my way to do that...bye!" I stammered very
red in the face. A little from embarrassment and a little from
the anger.
Still grinning, Dale said peeking out from the door of the coach's
office.
“I’ll bet he shaves next time!" And yelped again as I threatened to
squirt her again with the water bottle. Coach took it away from me
and pointed to the shower room. As I turned to go, he squirted me
with the bottle. That got a giggle out of Dale, until he turned it on
her. He pitched it to her and said to go finish her duties smiling
the whole time.
Dale gave me a ride home that night, like she did most nights,
unless I went somewhere with the other guys. On the way home,
I was still rubbing my leg. In the shower I had discovered that
there were in fact still hairs on my abused leg, much to my
amazement.
"I'm sorry that it hurt Tim." Dale said with still a remnant of a
twinkle in her eyes. "But, I did warn you didn't I?" I could see her
swallow the beginnings of another giggle.
"Yeah…you did." I admitted a little reluctantly. "But how was I to
know? I mean I didn't think…I didn't know…well? Besides…
Only girls shave their legs!" I added trying to smooth over my
dignity.
"Not really…" She said "the pro's do it all the time…at least up
to where the tape will end anyway."
"They do?" I replied looking out of the side of my eyes, not sure
to believe her or not.
"Yeah. They do." Turning to me saying. "I can show you how next
time if you want."
"Anything to not have to go through that again!" I intoned very
acidly. She just chirped in reply and didn't say anymore about it the
rest of the way home.
The following Monday after school, I again went to get wrapped
before practice began. I got there a little early so that I could get
my leg shaved this time however. Dale had me take off my sock and
put my leg and ankle in the sink to wet it with water. Then she had me
sit down on the trainer's table and hang my leg over the side. She put
on shaving gel and worked up a lather then with a razor, she started
at the point where the tape would stop and shaved down. It was a
strange sensation for me. Not just the shaving but the having someone
else do the shaving. Her hands were very gentle, and she didn't cut
me. When Dale was satisfied that she'd gotten all the hair off she had
me rinse my leg off in the sink again then hop back up on the table.
She took a towel and dried my leg off then ran her hands over the
smooth skin on my leg.. My skin seemed to tingle under her feathery
touch. She looked up at me and smiled a little self conscious smile
blushing a little, then turned away to get something. She came back
with some talc and the tape. She put a little talc in her hand then
rubbed them together then again rubbed my leg. Her hands felt, if
anything, more feathery, and by now, my leg wasn't the only thing
tingling. Something not popularly known or at least mentioned about sweatpants, is that they don't hide a great deal of the 'male'
anatomy…at least not in the situation that I was now in. Dale
pretended not to notice as she started applying the tape, but I caught
her glancing at me other than my ankle or face. I was turning a bright
red I'm sure…and I know that Dale was practically turning pink. When
she finished with the tape she stood up and grinning while biting her
lower lip, gave me a wink and said " you'd better go warm up and
loosen up all those tight muscles before practice." And turned away
quickly to fill the water bottles and let me retreat without too much
more embarrassment. I was able to regain my composure before I
saw or was seen by anyone else "Thank God!" I thought.
Although I didn't have to shave my leg every day, Dale did apply
the talc along with the tape, and I did give her my full attention
when she did. She never mentioned my situation again, even
teasingly, but I know she noticed and she did blush and blubber
sillily as did I.
During the Homecoming game that year, it happened again.
I nearly broke my ankle turning on it at a dead run trying to make
a tackle. Cursing and hopping off the field on one foot, Dale met
me half way across the field to help me the rest of the way. God
but it hurt! Our team ended up losing by 3 points, not that it
mattered much to me at the time. I was very depressed, I sat in
the trainers' room after the game and more or less just sulked
while I was soaking the ankle in the whirlpool. I was really
pissed. I had even planned to go to the dance after the game.
Fortunately, my date understood, and ended up going with
someone else. Dale was pretty subdued about it, I think she
blamed herself maybe, like it was her fault that the tape didn't help.
"I'm sorry Tim... I knew you wanted to go to the dance and all..."
She said a little more quietly than usual for her. “Does it hurt much
now?"
"No…It does feel better…still throbbing a little though." I replied
vacantly, staring into the swirling water.
"You need a ride home?" she asked hesitantly.
My mom and dad hadn't come to the game tonight, I had planned on
getting a ride home with one of the guys after the dance and all, but
now I didn't have a ride. So I said. "Yeah…" Then I realized that if
Dale took me home she'd miss the dance herself and added "But aren't
you going to the dance?"
She turn her head away from me and said." No…I didn't want to go
to the stupid dance anyway!" That's when it dawned on me! How
could I have been so dense? And, being the unlearned youth that I was,
I said.
"What'sa matter…nobody ask you or something?" Then I nearly tried
to bite my tongue off! "You Idiot!" I thought to myself.
She turned to me with a cold baleful look and said again. "Well? Do
you need a ride home or not?"
"Dale…I'm sorry…I...I didn't know…I…"
"Just drop it! Okay?" She said venomously, and then pitched me a
towel. Well actually she nearly threw it at me. Then she turned and
started out the door. “I’ll be in the car. If you want a ride home you'd
better move it! I aint waitin all night!” She said before she disappeared
around the doorway. I really felt like a heel! And then my mind flashed
back to the game when one of the guys told me that she liked me.
Could it?...Did she?... "Girls!" I thought to myself as I got my ankle out
of the whirlpool and hobbled to the dressing room to dress.
On the drive home I tried to smooth things over as best I could.
I talked about the game and how badly it had gone. I thanked her for
helping me off the field and for helping me to the training room and
all. She stayed pretty quiet all the way to my house though, I was
running out of things to say when she turned into my driveway. We
just sat there in the car for a minute. I really didn't know what to
say…then it hit me!
"Dale?" I said hesitantly. “I know I'm only a junior, and you probably
aren't even interested in me or anything…" I stumbled on nervously.
It felt as though my stomach was trying to tie itself in knots! "I…er…
I mean…Dale…would you go to the Prom with me?" I was so nervous,
I wasn't even sure that she'd heard me.
She turned to me, and I could see that she had tears in her eyes
I thought that, well, I didn't know what to think. So I just swallowed
and started to say something else, but she raised her right hand and
touched my face then trailed her fingers down to my lips. Then she
took my left hand in both of hers and brought it to her face. I could
feel her tears on the back of my hand then she kissed my hand and
said in a choked voice.
"Of course I will! " she half laughed and half sobbed. Then she smiled
the most wonderful smile that I think I will ever see on any face again.
I didn't know what else to say but,
"You will?... I mean…Great!...uh…but I have to warn you…I don't dance
too well." I added grinning sheepishly. I'm glad that it was pretty dark,
she didn't see me blushing like crazy! At that she giggled and squeezed
my hand in delight. Then she added.
"Well if you keep on the way you're going, you probably won’t even be
able to walk!" She said teasingly, and letting go of my hand. I could
see my mom looking out the window of the kitchen so I decided that
it was time to go.
"Uh…Dale?..." I started awkwardly.
"Yeah…I know." She said with a mock grimace, "You need a ride to
school Monday right?"
Again grinning sheepishly I said. “Yeah…It's kinda hard riding
the bus with a busted ankle…If it's not any problem that is?" I added
hoping that she would say otherwise, and, she did. As I started to
open the door to get out, she grabbed my hand again, and as I started
to turn back to see what she wanted, She kissed me! Not a peck on
the cheek like most girls do. A real kiss! On the lips! I was too
surprised to do anything. I just sat there stupidly, suspended in time.
Then the door swung open, and the interior light came on and I
could see that Dale’s eyes were closed. Then she opened them and
smiled at me as she pushed my shoulder out the door. I just stood
there in the driveway for what seemed like hours as she drove off.
I was shocked, stunned, I don't know what I was, but I liked it. Then
the porch light came on and I snapped back to reality…reluctantly.
The next few weeks seemed to fly by. What with school and the
weight training and the soaks in the whirlpool trying to get the ankle
back in shape to play. "And to dance." I thought to myself. Dale was
different somehow now, I really couldn't put my finger on it. She
still teased me in the training room, and we had the usual water
fights, but there was something else there too. I think the rest of
the guys on the team sensed it too, they didn't talk down about "that
girl trainer” any more, at least not around me. The Coach too seemed
to treat her a little different. Or maybe it was all in my head? I don't
know even now. We never kissed or anything in front of anyone, though
there were several times that we pulled over coming home from
practice or going to school. I did learn how to kiss pretty quickly,
I guess some things just come naturally, at least with Dale they did.
Dale and I became closer in those few weeks than the entire time that
I had known her. We were both still pretty much innocent in so far as
our "playing around" went. We petted a little, and kissed a lot. But
we never went past the touchy feely stuff. Mostly because I was
afraid to, though I wonder about Dale sometimes. She never said
anything about it but sometimes when we had been "playing" and
stopped for a breather, she'd have this little gleam in her eyes.
Ah…If only I knew then what I know now. But that's life I guess?
In three weeks, I was ready once again to take to the field in
uniform. It was the last home game of the season that year, which is
usually when "Homecoming" takes place, but not this year for some
reason that I can't remember. It was early in the third quarter, and
things were going fantastic for our team. I was feeling great too, I
had made several really good tackles and the fact that the whole
family, the whole school, the coaches, and Dale had witnessed them
made me feel like I was going to burst! I was having a ball and the
other guys on the team were feeling the same way. It was all in all
the best game we had had all year. Not that it was my doing or
anything, but I had helped. Then it happened.
My team was on defense, and the other team ran an end around
play. I was playing the linebacker position on the side that they
swept to. I never knew what hit me. I remember seeing the ball
moving in my direction. I remember the color of the other teams'
jerseys. I even remember the numbers on the sides of their helmets.
Then.
Whiteness.
I came to with a black and white blur hovering over
me. As my vision cleared, I could see that it was a referee. He was
saying something that didn't make any sense. Then Dale's face was in
front of mine. I could see that she was very worried about something,
but I had no idea what then her face vanished and the coach's and the
team doctor's appeared in her place. My hearing was coming back now,
they were asking me if I thought I could walk off the field. "That's silly!"
I thought. "Of course I can."
Someone helped me up onto my feet, and my world started to spin
for a second then settled down. "That's strange" I remember thinking.
I took a step with my left foot and then I moved my right one.
Whiteness!
I came to again as they were closing the doors to the ambulance. I
saw Dale trying to get to me, her eyes were streaming with tears. The
ambulance attendant asked me if I wanted anything for the pain. "What
pain?" I thought. "What happened? What’s going on here? What am I
doing in an ambulance?" My mind was coming back on line now and I
was wondering what the hell was going on. My mind didn't have any
clues.
As the ambulance started to move to pull off the field, my body began
to report in to my still foggy brain. That's when I consciously felt the
pain for the first time.
Whiteness!
I woke up yet again as they were wheeling me into the emergency
room at the local hospital. I remember it being so damned cold! I was
still dressed in my wet uniform, shoulder pads and all. Apparently
someone had removed my helmet though, I could feel the cold air on
my wet head. The doctor in the Emergency room looked me over and
told a nurse to get a blanket, then he looked at my right leg. I couldn't
hear what he said, I was still swimming in molasses it seemed. I later
found out that they had injected me with a mild anesthetic. I lay
there in the emergency room trying to replay what had happened for
what seemed like hours. I was still too numb to feel much, and I sure
wasn't thinking too clearly.
Somehow Dale managed to sneak past the attendants in the room,
or they let her in. I don't really know which, even now. But she was
there. I could feel her holding my hand. I saw the tears in her eyes,
and the worry on her face. She looked at my right knee and made a
hurt face that hurt me more to look at than any I was feeling at the
moment. She turned back to me and asked if the doctors had told me
anything yet.
"No." I replied in a haze. "Dale?...What happened? I don't remember.
I mean I must have gotten hurt…is it bad?" I was not so much in
pain as confused, and maybe in shock. The cold air didn't help either.
I had the chills by then, and I was shivering. Dale stopped trying to
hold back the tears then. She gasped and said.
"Oh Tim!...They ganged up on you! I heard you leg snap all the way
across the field!...and then you screamed!...I tried to help, but they
wouldn't let me!...They pushed me away! Then they put you in the
ambulance and took you away…I..." It all came out in a rush, tears
streaming down her face. She covered her mouth with one hand and
still held mine in her other hand. That's when the nurse came in and
took her out of the room. "Leg snapped?" I thought in horror. “Is my
leg broken?" I wondered I tried to sit up, and that's when I noticed
that they had me strapped to the gurney. I couldn't move! I was
starting to panic when two more nurses came in and started to roll
me down the hall. They took me to the x-ray room to get "pictures"
of my leg. I was unstrapped and they moved me onto the x-ray
table. I felt my knee when they did this! It did hurt! It felt like they
were trying to pull my leg off at the knee! I looked at it while they
were positioning the machine. It looked awful! It didn't even look
like a knee. I didn't see any bones sticking out or anything and was
kind of in a daze sitting there looking at the mess that used to be
my right knee, it was so swollen that it looked like someone had
moved my thigh down to just above my calf. And it was turning
colors…blue and purple, and black. One of the nurses grabbed my
leg to turn it just a little for the X-ray.!!!!! If she had been within
arms reach I would have strangled her with my bare hands…then
I passed out again.
Whiteness!
When I woke up again I was warm. I didn't feel any pain. I was
just beginning to think it might have been a bad dream when I opened
my eyes and saw the white ceiling. Looking down, I saw that I was in
a hospital bed and there was a huge ugly lump under the blanket where
my right knee would have been. I pulled back the covers and saw a
mound of ace bandages and pillows. My leg was still there, but it didn't
look like a leg. I touched it gingerly at first then prodded some more
when I didn't feel any pain.
"They doped you up silly…of course it doesn't hurt!" Dale said from the
left side of the bed, startling me. I didn't know she was there. She had
stopped crying but her eyes were puffy and her cheeks were stained.
She filled me in on what I had missed while I was out. She told me
that the X-rays had shown that nothing was broken, but that I had
separated almost every tendon and ligament in my knee joint. The
doctors were still puzzled as to why my leg hadn't just broken.
I would be on crutches probably for the rest of the school year
Just the same though. And that I would have to go through some
pretty intensive physical therapy, but I should be ok in the end. I
just sat there trying to absorb it all for a while.
"Well...so much for the rest of the season." I mumbled. Then I had
a sudden painful thought. Turning to Dale I said. “Dale…About the
dance…I..." Her hand flew to my mouth to stop my words as her
eyes brimmed over with tears again she smiled weakly and shook
her head. Then she leaned over me and kissed me. I could taste
the salt of her tears on her lips, and I reached out and held her as
tight as I could in the position I was in. If she found it uncomfortable,
she didn't say anything. Dale just stood there trembling. I don't know
how long we sat there like that, but I must have drifted off to sleep
again.
I woke up the next morning, well actually the next afternoon. My
mom and dad were there, and the Coach, and of course Dale. I could
feel my knee throbbing now but it didn't hurt too bad as long as I
didn't move very fast. It did send me a jolt when they put me in the
wheel chair to take me out of the hospital though. They had me a pair
of crutches waiting when I got to the door. I would later learn to hate
those damned things with a passion unequaled to this day. Who'd
ever have thought that your underarms could hurt so much?
After two weeks of sitting at home in front of the TV and being
bored out of my head, except when Dale came by to drop off my school
work, and to cheer me up, I was ready to try to limp to school on my
crutches. I also started on the physical therapy regime they had
planned for me. I had to do movement exercises, and had to be hooked
up to a pulse generator. That was the weirdest feeling I'd ever had! It
had two electrical lines with pads on the ends. The nurse would put
them on either end of a particular muscle and hit a button. When the
current ran through the pads, it made the muscle contract. It was a
very weird feeling to feel my muscle move when I wasn't doing it! I
also had to sit in the whirlpool for an hour or two at a time. But I
could use the one at the school when I wanted too, and I did, often.
Dale would stay with me on the days that I stayed after school to
use the pool. She would always help me getting in and out and of
course she gave me rides everywhere! It got to the point that we were
doing our homework while I soaked in the whirlpool.
The football season came to a depressing end for me that year,
and Basket ball season soon was under way. The school was using
the local college gym that year because they were replacing all the
flooring in our gym, and doing work on the bleachers. So Dale and I
were left pretty much to our own in the training room on the days
that we stayed over. Mr. Reynolds even eventually stopped waiting
for us to leave. As a matter of fact, he gave Dale and me a key to the
back door so we could lock up after I got done with the whirlpool.
One evening, as we were sitting there doing our homework, and I
was turning into a raisin, Dale kept looking at me and grinning
whenever I looked up at her. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.
"What?" I said a little irritated and a lot curious.
She closed her book and grinned the most mischievous grin I'd yet
seen her wear.
“I’ll be right back" she said looking at her watch, and getting up to
leave the room. Still puzzled I shrugged and went back to my books.
A few minutes later Dale came back.
Dale was wearing a little, very little, one piece bathing suit, and
that grin again. She blushed a little self consciously as she saw my
uncomprehending and probably silly expression on my face. She did a
little pirouette, and held her hands and arms up as if to say "well?"
Then she turned and closed the door and locked it. I dropped my book
into the water I was so surprised, but the splash brought me back long
enough to scrabble for the book and save it. Well it was a little wet.
Dale came over to me and took the book out of my hands and tossed it
onto the table, then she hopped up on the edge of the tub, and swung
those long slender legs over the edge and into the water.
"Mmmm…Feels good." She said in a dreamy voice…or was it me
dreaming? She looked at me and raised one of those big dark eyebrows
and purred, "Well?...Are you going to scoot over so I can sit down
too? "
I don't think I said anything, I did move over though. I don't
remember doing it, but the next thing I knew Dale was sliding into the
water beside me. Then her arms were around my neck, and we were
kissing. I wrapped my arms around her nearly naked back and held her
like she was breakable. Before long we were panting and laughing and
kissing again. It was wonderful! My hands started exploring more than
I had ever done before then. I traced the line of her neck down her
back to the little dimples on her back just above her backside, then
around the curve of her narrow hips and up her sides to her underarms.
I traced the curve of her arms up to her elbow and then back up her
arms to her shoulders. When my hands found themselves back at her
hips again they took a different route. I followed the contours of her
legs to her knees, then I started back up to her hips. I was very aware
of myself becoming excited, but was afraid to mention it. As it turned
out I didn't have to.
Dale pulled back for a moment so we could catch our breath. Her
eyes literally glowed at that moment. I was entranced. I blushed, when
she looked down at the water smirking a little and she said.
"Problem Tim?" with a little voice from somewhere deep in her throat.
When she looked back up at me I know I was about to burst into
flames from the heat in my face. Dale smiled and reached down to my
hands and took them in hers. She guided my hands back out along the
outsides of her legs then at the knees, she pulled them to the soft
underside between her legs…She slid them slowly back up along her
soft inner thighs to the point where they meet. Dale closed her eyes
and gave a little gasp as she touched my hands to her most private of
treasures. Her legs clenched shut tightly around my hands and hers.
She shivered a second or two then opened her mouth to say
Something that never came out…It just turned into a little sigh. Dale
opened her eyes and smiled at me and released the pressure on my
hands. She didn't move to pull them away, nor did I…I was enthralled.
It was so soft and at the same time hard…well firm actually. And hot!
I could feel heat from here even through the already hot water of the
whirlpool. Dale leaned over and kissed me a long breathless kiss. And
just when I thought I was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen,
she surprised me yet again. Dale put her tongue in my mouth and
started teasing my tongue! I nearly choked when I inhaled with a gasp
pulling her tongue into my mouth that much further. Sputtering and
giggling she rolled her head back over her shoulders leaning back and
away from me. She started to slip when she did, but caught herself
on the edge of the tub with her arms, but in doing so, she bumped my
knee and I yelped in surprise and pain. Dale covered her mouth and
started to apologize when I told her that I was all right…just a little
pain… “I might be getting a cramp too." I said not really feeling the
throbbing in my knee.
Dale eased her arms back into the water and sat down again opposite
me in the whirlpool and gently started massaging my injured appendage.
she massaged it from my still tender ankle up to my puffy knee, being
very tender and careful around the joint. It did feel better, and she
smiled at me when she saw the relief in my face. Then she started
working her hands slowly up my thigh one hand on both sides of my
right leg. When she finally got to my shorts, I was about to faint, or so I
thought. She saw, or rather felt that they were rather tight because of
what she was doing and gave me a wry smile and quipped.
“We’re just full of stiff muscles and joints aren't we?" And she started
to delicately trace my outline on my shorts, with her strong
fingers. Dale ran her left hand slowly up and down the inside of my
right leg, while she kept tracing me with her right. I looked into her
eyes and saw that they were nearly closed, and her breath was coming
in short gasps again, mine was too. She lowered her face to mine and
kissed me again and our tongues played and danced around one another
as we gasped for breath. I found my hands on her chest, and could
feel what felt like knots under the thin material of her bathing suit.
Dale was panting too much to kiss now, and so was I but we stayed
cheek to cheek panting in each other's ear as we felt each others
bodies. Dale finally raised her right hand to the waist band and put her
hand down my shorts to grasp me. I thought I was going to explode
on contact, but somehow didn't. She stopped rubbing my inner thigh to
touch herself…Then she reached the hand and grabbed my right hand
from her heaving chest. I didn't have to be guided this time, but she
didn't let go of my hand anyway…It was hot between her legs as she
placed the flat of my hand to the outside of her bathing suit. My
fingers bunched together as she clamped her legs shut once more. She
started rocking and wiggling on my hand, and I was moving my hand
between her legs as best I could but all I could do was wiggle my
fingers a little. Dale put her now free hand down my shorts with her
other hand. She rubbed the sensitive end with the palm of one hand,
and pumped with the other…I didn't last long when she started that.
It started as a quivering in the back of my legs and raced up my
muscles to my groin. My back arched by its own accord and I could
feel myself squirting into the hot water of the whirlpool and onto
Dale's hand. She kept pumping and rubbing till I nearly collapsed,
and grabbed her arms. She gave me a funny smile, almost like she was
in pain then her back arched as I felt her legs spasming and trembling
like before…but this time I felt her more tender part spasming and
contracting too. And the material of her bathing suit got slippery.
Dale let out a little growl or a groan or something unintelligible,
then she started shaking. I thought maybe she was starting to cry, I
was getting really worried when the shaking turned into laughter. Her
grip on my hand relaxed and she gently sat down on the tops of my
thighs and wrapped her arms around my neck. I started to raise my own
arms to encircle her waist but she reached back down and grabbed my
right hand and took me back to her hot spot. This time however, she
pulled aside the material of her suit and put my hand on her flesh.
It felt like an electrical tingle run up my hand and arm. Dale must
have felt it too, because she let out that little sound from deep in her
throat and gasped again. I rubbed her hairless pubic mound. "Huh?" I
thought. Dale looked into my eyes and grinned and winked. Then she
smothered my mouth with hers.
Dale wiggled a little while we continued kissing and I let my
fingers explore her smoothness. I traced her outer lips and the line
where they part to reveal her inner lips. My palm brushed across her
sensitive "button" and she shivered again and rewarded me with
increased panting and kissing. When I delved a finger into her
entrance she gasped again. Dale was nearly pulling the hair out of
the back of my head, as I continued probing and touching and teasing.
Finally I couldn't stand anymore. I was still standing at full attention
and I could feel a dull ache in my own groin. Dale pulled back enough
to look me in the face. Her normally pale face was flushed and red
from the blood that was coursing through her body. I'm sure my face
was too, but I wasn't thinking about that at the time.
Dale grinned wickedly and wiggled her narrow hips a little then
stood up. She bent over and grabbed the waistband of my shorts in
both hands and looked up as if to say "are you going to help or what?"
I raised my hips far enough for her to pull down my shorts. She
pulled them down to my knees and put her hand on my abdomen and
pushed me back down. After I was seated again, Dale edged up to my
lap and slowly lowered herself to where she was barely touching me
with herself. She hovered there a moment or so…just barely touching
and rubbing my tip with her softness. I could feel her heat when our
skin made brief contact. Dale put her left hand up on my shoulder as
I held her thin sides. She took me again in her right hand and guided
me into her soft, warm folds…then with a short movement I was in her.
Slowly she lowered herself the rest of the way down till she was at
last sitting full in my lap, her feet on the bench on either side of
my rear end, her knees up next to my armpits. She took her right hand
and put it on my left shoulder and then painfully slowly she began to
rise and fall on me. I was in heaven, and from the look on her face,
Dale was too. Her milky skin was blotchy from the blood rushing, her
face was wet with sweat, and there were goose bumps on her bare
arms. Her silky short hair was hanging limply from the perspiration,
her eyes had a hungry hunted look. Her biggish nose was flaring with
each breath she took, her beautiful lips were flushed and soft…her
jaw clenching and unclenching to the rhythm of her movements.
Before too long her tempo had sped up to where her backside was
making a smacking sound as it hit the water. And we were splashing
water over the sides of the whirlpool. My breath was so short now that
I thought I was going to pass out. I could feel my time running out as
the backs of my legs started quivering again. My stomach muscles went
tight and I squeezed Dales sides so hard that I thought I'd hurt her. I
could feel my toes curl under just before my back arched and I began
to spasm in finale. Dale was keening that little sound in the back of
her throat again and her eyes went wide and wild. She gritted her
teeth in an almost scary smile and seemed to pick up the pace even
more! I could feel her tensing under my grip and her fingers were
digging into my shoulders so hard she broke the skin. The chords of
her neck nearly snapped as she snapped her head back on her neck.
She lost rhythm as she started to spasm and shake. Her legs slammed
together so hard that it hurt my ribs. I could feel her waves of
contractions and spasms from the inside of her as well.
After a few moments she nearly collapsed on me, her legs fell
apart away from my sides. Dale slumped forward on me laying her
head on my shoulder and wrapping her arms around my neck and
caressing the back of my head with the fingers of one hand. I just
hugged her as tight as I could and we sat like that, still joined, till
we caught our breath. I idly traced the curve of her spine with one
hand and held tight to the cheek of her bottom with the other. I
could feel myself starting to deflate and started to move.
"Don't... please…" Dale purred in my ear. “I like the way it feels
now too. Don't hurry…please."
What could I do? I certainly didn't mind the feeling, and if she liked
it too, I was certainly not going to move again…
"How come we've waited this long Tim?" She breathed in my ear.
I was about ready to panic now…I had to talk, but what was I
supposed to say?
"I don't know babe." I said into her hair.
Hey it was honest, and I didn't know what else to say. I nibbled
on her ear a little and was rewarded by a little playful thwap on
the back of my head and then a squeeze on my shoulder, and she
giggled. I could feel myself slipping out of her now. It felt really
funny, and it got a little gasping giggle out of Dale as it finally
withdrew on its own. Dale wiggled a little and sighed in my ear.
"I wish it wasn't over…I don't want to stop. ...Are you hungry?"
She giggled and wiggled playfully biting my neck. "I am...I'm
starving!"
Not knowing what else to say, and not really looking forward
to losing our embrace, I said. "Yeah I am kinda hungry…you
want to go get something to eat?"
"Yeah…I have to go to the bathroom now anyway." she said
Pulling her face around to mine and kissing me tenderly on the
lips again, but more relaxed this time…We were not in a blood
rage now…but it still felt wonderful all the same. I kissed her
back and she pushed on my shoulders and stood up on the
bench I was sitting on. As she did her bared pubice came to
my eye level and I saw her bare skin there for the first time.
I could smell it too. An intoxicating smell like none I'd ever
known before. I could see her smooth bare skin, the whiteness
of her thighs, the reddened and pink of her inner folds. The
water was running down off of her as she stood there and it
dripped from her folds and ran down the insides of her thighs.
There was a red welt on one of her legs where she had pulled
aside her bathing suit…She blushed a little when she saw me
looking so intently. Dale ran a finger around the seam of the
leg opening and pulled it back over to cover herself. Then she
swung those beautiful legs over the side and lowered herself
to the floor on shaky legs and arms.
"Uh…You'd better pull up your shorts before you try to get out."
she said with a giggle as she toweled off. Then She was out the
door, and gone.
She came back in a few minutes, dressed, but still flushed
and smiling that smile. I had by this time gotten out and dried
off, though I still felt like a giant white raisin…A very happy and
tired white raisin though. Dale gathered up our books and turned
off the whirlpool and discreetly drained and rinsed it before I got
back from the dressing room. I thought I was going to fall over, I
was so tired. She took my book bag and slung it over one shoulder
and put hers on her other shoulder. I followed her out of the
building as fast as I could on my crutches. "How can she be so
energetic?" I thought amazed by the spring in her step. "Girls! Go
figure!?" I said to myself.
"Huh?" Dale said turning and smiling at me. "You say something?"
"Uh…I said what a figure!" Lying though my teeth, but it was
probably the best thing I could have said. Dale gave a little bubbly
laugh and tossed her hips and opened the car door for me.
The End
