What a Summer! By DanboyII The summer I had been looking forward to had just crashed. As a 27 yr. old graduate of Harvard Law School, I was looking forward to some weeks at home in southern California before heading to Washington, D. C. to work for senator Burke. And now on my very first day home, I was staring at a soft bandaged severely sprained ankle attached to my right leg which had also been diagnosed as having a mildly twisted knee. Both injuries hurt like hell and gave me that debilitating cold sweat and nauseous feelings. It was just a three on three basketball game, and it was just a simple rebound. No one even pushed me. The whole thing was totally my fault. At 5'11" and about 170 lean pounds, I was usually proud of my athletic ability and getting injured was something that didn't happen to me. Now, I was riding home from the emergency room in my mom's Caddy feeling embarrassed and sorry for myself. Summer was going to be a long drag. Mom was attentive as always. "Want to go for some seafood tonight, honey? Ralph and Jean will be there." She glances at me and caught me rolling my eyes toward the sky. "Come on now, don't let this spoil your vacation. You can handle three weeks on crutches and I'll help as much as I can." "I know, I'll try. But I'm not ready to go out just yet. You go ahead. I'll be just fine. I need to do some crutch practicing anyway." We pulled into the driveway and mom came around to my side of the car and opened the real door and pulled out the aluminum crutches that would become my companions for the next three weeks. I moved very slowly, trying to twist into position to get out of the car. It was a slow process and the knee throbbed with each heartbeat as the pain continued to remain stronger than the pain killer I had been given at the hospital. I was looking down and concentrating on what I was doing when I heard an unfamiliar female voice. "Hi, Ms Graham, How are ...oh my, what happened..this must be John ..oh, can I help, can I do something?" I looked up to see a rather short, about 5'1" or 2", and very stocky at about 130 lb., young girl. A very pretty girl, at that. Her hair was a high gloss straw color that stood out in strong contrast to the coppery southern California tan. She wore dark shorts and a white tank top. She had the solid , rather muscular look of an athlete as well as the body of a vibrantly flowering young woman. "Oh, hi Kathy. John, this is Kathy; Kathy -John. John fell and hurt his leg playing basketball this afternoon. This is the girl I've been bragging about, John. She has been such a help to me ever since I moved in." Mom had been in this sprawling Tudor less than a year and I had seen it for the first time yesterday. The house was beautiful and the grounds were gorgeous. "Kathy just got her driver's license and will be a senior this fall," mom volunteered. "Hi, Kathy. I'd stand up but I'm just learning," I offered in a mild attempt at humor. "Can I help," Kathy offered again? I had managed to get turned facing out of the car. The next step was to stand up, if possible. I reached for one of the crutches but Kathy stepped forward and took my hand and arm. "Please let me help," she said. I began to put weight on my good leg and Kathy's hands and stood up. She was very helpful and I used her to steady myself as mom handed over the crutches. Crutches are no fun. I learned that immediately in the first two steps. And they weren't adjusted quite right for my height either, but I made it to the steps leading up to the front door. There were four of them. "I'm not sure I'm ready for this," I said, as I leaned awkwardly on the crutches. Kathy to the rescue. "Lean on me," she directed. I handed the crutches to mom and put my arm on Kathy's shoulders as she put an arm around my waist. I made it up one step and realized that Kathy had actually supported all my weight for the second or so that it took to negotiate that single step. "Attaway," she cheered, "let's go for another." So one at a time, she more or less lifted me up the steps. I was sweating and a little dizzy but managed a thank you. With the crutches back I made it through the door and down the hall to the den where I wanted to collapse on the sofa, but needed some help from Kathy to do that. "You look a little white," she said. "Are you OK?" "A little woozy, I responded, as I blinked my eyes, trying to focus. My mom came in with a diet coke. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was and my hand was shaking so that Kathy had to help me hold it when I brought it down from my mouth. "I'll call the Green's and tell them that we're not coming," my mother said. "No , no , you go ahead. I'll be just fine with a little rest," I tried to assure her. "You're not fine, honey. I'll stay and look after you." "I'm a big boy, mom, I just can't walk very good right now." "Ms Graham, I can stay with John, if you like, or if he likes. It's not a problem." Kathy looked inquiringly at first mom and then me. "Fine," I said quickly, "We'll order in a pizza or something." At that moment I wasn't very interested in spending the evening with this cute young girl, nice as she seemed to be. I was in some pain and wanted to take another pain pill as soon as it was time which was another twenty minutes. Then, I hoped I could just lay down and maybe even sleep. Mom looked at both of us for a few seconds and then with a little more urging from me decided to go ahead and keep the dinner date. Kathy sat on the coffee table and faced me. "Just tell me what I can do. I'll try not to be a pest. I know you feel lousy and you must want to rest." I told her that both my knee and my ankle were throbbing and that I wanted to take the pain pill early. She got it for me immediately and brought a glass of ice water. I told her that I really wanted to lay down for a while and for the first time wished I was on my bed instead of the sofa. That would be a real chore, I realized because my bed was upstairs and down the hall at the back of the house. I hadn't been in the house anywhere near long enough to think of the surroundings as familiar but now the ordinarily simple trip to my bed loomed as a large problem. Not for Kathy. She said she would help me as she had before. I thought about it and told her that I didn't feel much like trying because the distance was a lot further and there were many more steps involved than the four front steps that we had managed without too much trouble. Kathy was unconvinced. She said that she was a strong girl and if I really wanted to go to my bedroom she could and would carry me there. I closed my eyes and said nothing. CHAPTER 2 When I opened my eyes she was standing and looking down at me. "Just help me get you standing and I'll take care of the rest. With that she took my arms and gently helped me to a standing position on my one good leg. She came around to my left side, and putting her right arm around my waist and her left under my thighs, she lifted me in her arms with a show of power that I did not expect. I put my arms around her neck but that was a natural move on my part and although I was holding on I really wasn't helping much. She was holding me in her arms and she was doing it with surprising ease. She stood very solid and was not a bit shaky giving the impression that she could handle much more than my 170 pounds. She asked if I was OK and if she was hurting me and when I gave assurance that I was all right she began to carry me out of the den and toward the stairway. My bad leg was out in a nearly straight position so it was necessary for her to move sideways so that I would fit through the one narrow doorway in our path. Before we even reached the bottom of the stairway I had developed considerable confidence in Kathy's strength and ability. She moved easily with my weight appearing to be only a slight burden to her. I hadn't paid much attention to this girl because of my condition and even now being carried by this pint sized amazon did not thrill me as it ordinarily would have because I felt so sickly. I rested my head on her shoulder right at her neck and closed my eyes. Her breasts were fairly large in good proportion to her stocky muscular body and almost absently I realized that my forearm was resting on one of them. I was only mildly aware of what could have been a very erotic experience. Kathy climbed the stairs without problem and carried me down the hall to my bedroom. Slowly and gently she placed me on my bed. I was asleep in seconds. Later, when able to think clearly I would be very disappointed with myself for not having taken more advantage of the situation and not even being able to mentally relive the experience except in a fuzzy disjointed way. I have always liked the strong, athletic type woman and the thought of being lifted and carried by one has always been erotically thrilling. I hadn't been fortunate enough to have many experiences with such women but there was a woman in law school that had turned me on. Tonya is a black woman, several years older than me who graduated in my class and is also going to work in Washington D. C. this fall. She and I studied together many times during the past year. Tonya is a tall, slim woman with a very attractive figure. She's about 5'10" and around 130 pounds. Last fall when we first started studying together, we decided to pool our money and send out for some food. I wanted a pizza and she suggested Chinese. We argued a bit and then she suggested that we arm wrestle to decide what we would order. I said OK, and told her to get ready to order the pizza. She just smiled and put her arm in the ready position. My first surprise as we clasped hands was to learn that Tonya's hand was much larger than mine. Her fingers were extremely long. The second surprise was that she forced my arm down quickly with little effort. The force that I felt in this test of strength was simply overwhelming. She offered to make it two out of three and then she beat me again, and then again at my request. I couldn't believe it. She didn't look exceptionally strong. Her arms were long and sinewy and about the same size as mine which measured 13", but hers felt very hard by comparison. She made no big deal out of winning except to sit smiling as I dutifully ordered the Chinese food. After that, we always arm wrestled to determine who would choose the food order and I always lost. I tried as hard as I could and she always seemed to give me a second or two to give it all I had before she would put my arm down. Then half the time she would choose what I wanted to order anyway. Classy lady. I often made comments that even though she won, she must be cheating somehow because she didn't look very strong. One evening she responded to that comment by picking me up. She did it by locking her arms around my thighs in what she called the "under the butt" lift. She asked if I thought she was strong enough as she held me and I responded by getting an immediate erection. We both laughed and she put me down and we tried to go back to studying. That didn't work because we were both aroused. I asked if she would do it again and she quickly agreed. She gave me another "under the butt" lift and this time carried me into the bedroom where we proceeded to have some really great sex. Variations of this little scenario happened on a regular basis so being lifted by a woman was not new to me. I love it. And somehow we still managed to get some studying done. CHAPTER 3 When I finally woke up, it was morning. I had slept through the night. I was also in bed, under the covers, in my pajamas. I remembered nothing of how that might have happened. On que there was soft knock at the door and my mother peeked in. She smiled when she saw that I was awake. "Well finally, we were beginning to wonder if you were going to sleep all day. How do you feel, hon? Does it still hurt a lot?" I was busy taking inventory and hardly heard her. I wiggled my toes and there was no shooting pain. I moved my leg, or more correctly I just tensed the leg muscles slightly and the telltale jabs appeared at the knee. I tried to sit up and I made it but the ankle gave a throb to remind me that it was the part of my body needing the most care. "Not bad," I said, as I carefully moved my legs over the side of the bed. Throbs and aches appeared, but dimmed quickly. I actually felt pretty good and said so. "I'm starved." "Oh, that's a good sign. Kathy's been over here twice already and we were beginning to worry some. It's almost noon. I'll have to call her right away. She'll want to come over and help. She's quite taken with you, you know." Mom went to the phone by the bed and dialed. "He's up and looks much better," she said without taking time out for a "hello." Sure, right, come whenever you want, bye bye." "Where are the crutches, mom, still in the den?" "Must be, I'll get them." I stood up and considered hopping my way to the bathroom. I thought better of it and sat down to wait for the crutches. Mom reappeared with them and I placed a large breakfast/lunch order. Whatever she suggested, I said, "Yes." Slowly and clumsily, I managed the bathroom activities, replacing the normal shower with a sponge bath. The ankle bandage was a definite problem for trousers so I ended up with the baggiest shorts I could find and a tee shirt. Kathy appeared at the top of the stairs just as I swung through my bedroom doorway on the crutches. "Hi John, you look much better today. Your mother was right." "Hi Kathy, I feel a lot better too. Thanks for all your help yesterday. If it wasn't for you I would have spent the night on the sofa downstairs for sure." "Oh, I'm just glad you feel better and that I was here and could help." "And help you did. You are a very strong girl, er, woman. I really appreciate what you did for me." "Hey, no problem", she said as she swung her arms in a jaunty motion, shifted her weight from foot to foot and then struck a double bicep pose and burst into a low soft laugh. I laughed too because she was funny and yet she was clearly a very strong young woman. She was wearing a gray sweatshirt with USC on the front that covered her upper body but tight red shorts exposed well formed but somewhat thick muscular legs. "I'm here to help again. How did you expect to get down those stairs?" I had been thinking about that very thing. It's strange how your thinking changes when you become a semi invalid. Plans for how you are going to get from one place to another and the identification of the obstacles in between are never far from your main thoughts. I had learned that in a short time this very morning as forgetfulness forced me to make more than the minimum number of trips from bedroom to bathroom. "I plan to sit down when I get to the top step and then keep moving down a step at a time. I also thought of how to do it with one crutch and the banister but I think I need more crutch practice first before I try that." "I have a better idea, at least for the time being. Until you get better on the crutches I'm here to help and since I just get my drivers license I can also be your chauffeur and your summer won't be ruined, it'll be great and I can take you where ever you want to go so you can enjoy your vacation and we will have a very nice time and go so many places and you will forget that your leg is hurt." She ran out of breath with her brow wrinkled as she stared at me with a pleading look on that beautiful face. "How could I possibly turn down an offer like that? Are you sure you have the time to spend some of it with me?" "Like I said, no problem. Please let me do it?" The wrinkles stood out even more. "O.K.", I nodded, "you asked for it." She told me that she had been thinking about the stairs too and that it would be easy. She told me with confidence that she could carry me on her back, piggyback style, almost anywhere. She bent over and put her hands on her knees and told me to climb on her back. Because of her short legs, It was easy for me to put my leg over her back and assume a sitting position. Once there, she brought her arms around my thighs and straightened up as I held on with one arm around her neck and the other holding both crutches. I was now fully awake, compared to the previous evening, and all my senses were working well. The sensation of being lifted is magnified dramatically when the lifter is a good looking woman. And it doesn't matter much how she does it. That is especially true when the woman is as strong and sturdy as Kathy. Kathy moved with confidence and purpose and my weight seemed to be of little notice. Because I had no doubts about her ability either, I was much more interested in checking out this girls body during the trip if I possibly could. The crutches were an obvious hindrance to that activity so I deftly leaned them against the chair at the top of the stairs as we went by. I was now able to explore Kathy's upper body at least to some extent as we descended the staircase. Without being too obvious, I moved my arms about under the pretext of gaining a more comfortable position. Her shoulders were very broad, wide and solid. Letting my hands move down to her arms, I could feel hard defined biceps under the baggy sweatshirt. Her easy movements showed greater control than I remembered Tanya having. And Kathy was definitely much more muscular than Tanya. Was I riding the back of a sixteen year old girl who was much stronger than a woman that I couldn't beat at arm wrestling? The answer seemed obvious. We reached the bottom of the steps and Kathy headed for and entered the kitchen just as my mom called out to us to hurry up. Kathy stopped at the table so that I could climb off and take a seat. "Isn't Kathy incredible", my mother asked? Without waiting for an answer she began extolling Kathy's virtues starting with the declaration that "she works so hard and is so very athletic - have you seen the muscles she has?" Mom made nothing of the fact that a young high school girl had just carried her college grad. lawyer son into the kitchen on her back. She obviously knew something of Kathy's capabilities. I felt good and I was starved. I started devouring a large plate of bacon and eggs while Kathy took a seat and accepted a cup of coffee. I soon learned that the two women had already decided that Kathy was going to look after me until I would be able to get around on my own. Kathy was so excited. She kept talking about how she could drive me anywhere I wanted to go, with her brand new drivers license and further that could carry me anywhere that might be difficult to get to for someone on crutches. CHAPTER 4 True to her word, Kathy became dedicated to taking care of me. She drove her parents Jeep Grand Cherokee and although she was new to driving, she turned out to be a naturally good, skillful, yet careful driver. Riding with her at the wheel was a pleasure. And ride we did. We went to the beach often. We went to the zoo and we went off into the ocean to watch the whales. We went to baseball games and to the movies. We hit the trendy bars and restaurants and drove to Disneyland and to Knots Berry Farm. If it was something fun to do, we did it, and in many cases we did it more than once. We developed an incredible relationship. Our age difference disappeared in the wake of the compatibility we found growing out of the situation. It would be odd to say the least if our relationship hadn't grown into something more intimate. Kathy carried me down stairs every morning and upstairs every night. She often lifted me into and out of the Jeep, running around the car quickly so that she could get to me before I would try to step down myself. She needn't have hurried, I was always waiting while I play acted as though I might try it without her. Mostly, she carried me in her arms, like a bridegroom carries a bride, but she carried me in all sorts of other ways too. Into and out of some restaurants we sometimes caused quite a scene. Kathy would go in and arrange for the table and for someone to hold any doors. Then she would come out and get me and carry me effortlessly into the place past people who did double takes when they saw this beautiful small young woman carrying a guy much bigger than herself. As time went on, I did use the crutches some, but she would often say that it was so much easier and quicker for her to just carry me. I didn't argue much and although I was embarrassed at first for people to watch me being carried somewhere by a woman, I soon had lost that feeling. I enjoyed touching her and feeling the power of this very strong woman whenever she lifted me. When my cast was removed I began walking upstairs at night. Little by little the best summer of my life was coming to an end. Kathy still came every day but the need for her to carry me anywhere had really disappeared. I think she wanted it to continue just as much as I did. We talked a little about our relationship just before I left for Washington DC We decided that we would talk and write often but agreed that even though we had spent every day of the summer together, we weren't each other's "steady." At least not yet. It was also a lucky thing that Tonya was going to be in Washington too. She could be counted on to help me through what surely would be a painful period of, "lift and carry withdrawal."