What Katie Did!
Another gentle L & C tale…
By Webo
Chapter 1
Sixteen-year old Katie Templeton leaned far to her left, then to her right. She bent forward at the waist, keeping her knees locked, and placed her palms down on the rubberized running track at Riverview High School. Behind her, three members of the boys’ track team gazed admiringly. Phil Miser spoke for many of them, when he said softly, "Legs all the way up to her arms! Give me strength!"
Katie turned around and grinned at Phil, Terry, and Luis, all of whom, as seniors, were about a year older than she. None of them was taller, however, at least up to the waist. They were all runners, and built typically—slender and wiry. "Actually," she began, eyes twinkling, "they do stop right here." Katie put both hands on her waist, and teasingly sauntered over to where the boys stood, smiling back at her. She was used to the attention. At 5-5, and 129 lbs., her 35-inch inseam did put her hips at about the level of the boys' navels. Having been athletic since the age of four, she had that healthy, fit, strong look of many girl athletes, but all of the femininity of any model in a Victoria’s Secret# catalog. "You guys are just jealous you can’t high jump as high as I can. Of course, you do have that handicap of shortness." She turned on her heel and backed into Luis, the shortest of the three boys, although at 5-9, he still had half a head on Katie. She bent forward suddenly, and bumped her healthy backside into Luis’s stomach, causing him to back up a step to avoid being knocked down.
The taller boy recovered quickly and grabbed Katie playfully around the shoulders, lifting her off the ground momentarily. He swung her around laughing, and said, "Now, who’s too short?"
Katie laughed and retorted, "OK, but you have to let go sometime." She crossed her forearms in front of her, and grabbed one of Luis’s wrists in each of her strong hands. "Remember Lu, you’re a runner, not a jumper. These hands of mine are strong enough to pole vault. And your arms aren’t much bigger than the pole."
The other two boys laughed, knowing what was to come. Luis argued, "You’re not gonna be able to do anything, shorty. You’re only bigger than me from the waist down. I got a good 20 pounds on you."
"Wow!" Katie shot back. "You’re about 150? Holy cow! What am I gonna do? You’re almost as big as my brother! I can only carry him about 50 yards!" With that, Katie swung her legs straight out and up, then down forcefully, the leverage causing Luis to set her feet back on the ground. Still maintaining her grip on his wrists, Katie now took command. In a continuous motion, she leaned forward and Luis found himself horizontal on Katie’s strong back, his legs straight out behind him, trapped in a grip from which he had no chance of escaping. As his buddies laughed out loud, Katie leaned further down, and shifted suddenly, twisting to her left, flipping Luis’s slender body across her shoulders. She released her grip with her right hand and quickly slipped her right arm behind Luis’s right leg. With her right hand, she reached across to grab Luis’s right hand, and locked him in a tight fireman’s carry. Slowly, easily, she walked back out to the track, Luis still helpless over her back. All he could do was hang on and enjoy the ride.
"OK, Katie, I think you proved your point." It was Al Freyer, the Riverview track coach. "Cut the horseplay before someone gets hurt."
"Sorry, Coach. I was just using Luis to warm up my legs for the high jump. He volunteered, sort of. I’ll put him back where I found him." Katie spun suddenly, and jogged back across the grass the 15 or 20 yards to where the others were still laughing, and let Luis sort of slide off her back onto the grass. As she jogged back to the other girls who had gathered during the exhibition, she looked back over her shoulder to where the three boys stood. "Thanks Luis! Phil! Would you be my helper tomorrow?"
Coach Freyer smiled dryly and shook his head as he watched Katie. He had coached her for four years now, since she was a promising 8th-grader with no idea of her talent and strength. He had first noticed her when she was in the middle of a coed soccer game and was easily outrunning all the girls, and all but one of the boys. Her speed had caught his eye, but what really amazed him was her leg strength. She had passed the ball nearly 50 yards across the field to a boy who had scored on the play. Then, celebrating the goal, she had caught him and lifted him onto her shoulder, carrying him about 30 yards back up the field before passing him off to another boy. Coach Freyer had immediately coaxed her into trying out for the junior-high girls’ track team in the pole vault, discus, and high jump. She was the first junior-high pole vaulter the girls’ team had ever had, occasionally even out-jumping the boys! Now as a lovely and maturing high school junior, her confidence and skill made her a real star both on the track and in school. Her grades were better than average, and she had many friends and, as far as he knew, almost no enemies. If she had a fault, and Coach Freyer wasn’t certain it was a fault, it was her total lack of shyness. She had not the first qualm about showing off both her skill and her strength. Whenever there was clowning going on, Katie seemed to be, if not the instigator, at least right in the middle of it. And as he watched her carry the older, larger Luis back near their friends, he wondered how he himself would have responded if he had known anyone like her when he was a teenager. At 6 feet tall, and 180 pounds, Freyer knew he was too heavy to ever enjoy the feeling of being lifted off his feet at the hands of someone as small as Katie. Still…there was always hope…
Chapter 2
As the track kids lined up to board the bus for the trip across the county, there she was again. This time it was Brandy Gibbs, another of the high jumpers, riding Katie piggyback! Bouncing the older girl on her back, Katie looked even littler, since Brandy was almost 6 feet tall. Even on Katie's back, Brandy’s feet almost dragged the ground.
"Kate!" Coach Freyer yelled. "Put her down!"
Sheepishly, Kate let the bigger girl slide down her back to stand on her own two feet. "Sorry, Coach."
"Kate, you can’t always be horsing around like that. You’re gonna strain something and you’ll cost the team, and maybe yourself, if you lose a scholarship." Coach Freyer tried his best to look severe, but was unsuccessful.
"C’mon, Coach," this time it was Brandy’s turn to sound hurt. "I’m not that big!"
"Brandy, I’m not saying you are, but you still outweigh Katie," Freyer replied.
"Yeah, by a lot!" Brandy said. "At least 40 pounds. Katie, are you still around 140?"
Katie turned and glared at Brandy, eyes twinkling. "One-forty?? Thanks a lot! No, I’m still under 130, as a matter of fact. Does that mean you’re up to 180? Holy Cow!"
"Who you callin’ a cow?" Brandy glared back at Katie, but her eyes were laughing.
"Catfight! Catfight!" came the shouts from the bus, mostly from the boys.
Now it was Katie’s turn to laugh. "I’m not sayin’ you’re a cow, silly! That’s just an expression I use all the time."
But before she could say any more, Brandy ducked down and tossed the smaller girl over her shoulder, climbing the steps of the school bus. Smack! Brandy gave her a playful, but firm swat on the rear.
"Hey!" Katie hollered. "That hurts!"
Brandy smacked her again, not so hard this time. "You deserve it. Callin’ me a cow…"
Again Katie giggled. "Put me down! I’ll get you for this, you big meanie!"
"Ooh. ‘Big meanie.’ That hurts." Brandy continued with her giggling burden to the back of the bus where all the starters always rode together. When they got to the next-to-last seats they always shared, Brandy ducked over suddenly, catching Katie in her arms, and dropped her into the seat. "Now, stay put," the senior girl told her. "We’ll settle this after the match, when we get back off school property."
Katie looked across the aisle at Brandy and they grinned at each other. "We’ll see. We’ll see."
"I can kick your butt with one arm in a sling," Brandy grinned at her.
"I’ll drop you on your head. Twice!" Katie retorted. It was a little game they always played on the way to an away meet. It was an attempt to get into their "game faces" and it usually worked. They had been best of friends since Brandy, and Katie’s brother Eric, had dated a couple of years ago. It had been an odd sight, that pair. Eric, about half a head shorter than Brandy, and nearly her physical equal, had been on the swimming team. Brandy had discovered Eric enjoyed piggyback rides. From girls. Since she enjoyed her strength and athleticism, they had been a natural match emotionally; but physically, a little comical to look at. The day Brandy and Katie met was the day all three of them discovered that girls and boys could roughhouse together, even if the girl occasionally won, and still be best friends, and in the case of Brandy and Eric, closer than that.
That day Katie had chanced to look out the window, and watched in amazement as Eric, older than she by four years, was being carried over some girl’s shoulder, into their back yard! Running out the back door and into the yard, fearing the worst, Katie had cried, "What’s the matter?" Near tears, she watched as the girl, who of course turned out to be Brandy, turned around grinning.
"No problem. We were just settling a bet." Brandy had set Eric on the ground and walked up to Katie, introducing herself as his soon-to-be-girlfriend. "I’m Brandy. Eric made me a bet I couldn’t get into your back yard unless he let me. He tried to stop me, and, well, you saw the result."
"You mean," Katie had stammered, you beat my brother wrestling? How old are you?"
"I’m sixteen. I’m big for my age, though," she had grinned at Katie. "How about you? I know you’re Katie, Eric told me. Are you in high school yet?"
"Hey! I’m a sophomore! Yeah, I’m in high school!"
"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you," Brandy had offered. "You just look so little."
"That’s just cause you’re so big," Katie had retorted. "Our family’s pretty normal sized."
"You are a little firecracker, aren’t you? Just like Eric said," Brandy had replied. "He told me that you were little but loud, but really strong for a girl your size. He said you can give him an airplane spin, right? Let’s see!"
"I don’t know, Eric looks a little sick," Katie had told her. "How heavy are you? Over 140?"
Brandy answered, "Around there, maybe 150 in these clothes. Wh--"
And then, before Brandy could finish asking why Katie had asked, she found herself over the little girl’s shoulder, being spun too rapidly to continue the conversation. "Yeah," Katie had said, "I can give my brother an airplane spin. He’s a little lighter than you, though. I’d guess maybe 140 or so. That’s why. Are you dizzy yet?" Katie had spun twice more before setting the now-dizzy Brandy on her feet from where she immediately had fallen into the grass laughing. Since then, Brandy and Katie had been best friends.
Chapter 3
Jerk. Thump. The bus stopped. They were in the parking lot at St. James High School, their opponent for the meet. As the boys and girls made their way to the front of the bus, Katie shook Brandy’s shoulder. "We’re here. Wake up."
Brandy stirred a little. "I was having such a delicious dream.," she said. "I was really sound asleep. Now’s when I need a piggyback ride." Brandy grabbed the younger girl around the shoulders and leaned all her 160 pounds on Katie’s back. Katie leaned forward lifting the taller girl’s feet off the bus floor and continuing the walk up the aisle when she noticed Coach Freyer checking off names. She stopped and let Brandy back down.
"Let go. Coach will see us, and I don’t want to get in any more trouble," she told Brandy over her shoulder.
"Are you kidding?" Brandy asked, "Coach loves watching this stuff! Didn’t you know that?"
"What? Whaddya mean?" Katie replied.
"I mean he enjoys watching girls carry each other, and guys, too. Especially guys!"
"I don’t understand," Katie continued. "Whattya mean, ‘guys’?"
"Watch this," Brandy told her. She walked around Katie and stood behind Phil, the runner who had been teasing Kate earlier, and who was now standing on his tiptoes to reach the rack over his seat to remove his gym bag. Suddenly Brandy scrunched down a little, being a couple inches taller than Phil, squeezed him around the waist, and stood up, easily lifting the lighter boy about a foot off the bus floor. Brandy swung the embarrassed senior back and forth, his legs swinging helplessly off the floor. "There, Phil, need a boost?" she teased him.
"Brandy, you big amazon, put me down," he gasped. Phil was smiling, but embarrassed at the same time.
"Go ahead, get your gym bag down. It’ll be easier for you this way."
"Brandy, my bag weighs about 20 pounds. You’ll drop me if I pull it down on us."
"Try me," Brandy insisted. "You’ll like me."
"Brandy, what are you doing?" It was Coach Freyer. "You’re gonna strain something, and put yourself out of action!"
"Don’t worry, Coach. I don’t think Phil and his bag weigh as much as I do," Brandy grinned at Coach Freyer. "I can hold him. Shoot, I could probably hold you!"
Coach Freyer shot a quick glance at Brandy and Phil, then looked down at his clipboard again. "Just put him down, please. I don’t need either of you hurt right now, thank you."
"OK, Brandy, I got my bag. You can let me down now." Phil was looking over his shoulder at the red-haired freckle-faced 6-footer. He hadn’t noticed til now just what a cute girl she really was.
"So, you thought I couldn’t hold you and your bag, huh? I’m tellin’ ya, I’ll bet I weigh more than you and your gym bag together. How much do you weigh, Phil?" Brandy set the shorter boy on the bus floor and they continued to head toward the bus dors.
"I weigh 145 or so now. I’m guessing the bag is around 20 pounds, but I’m not sure. Tell you what," Phil continued, "they have a scale here inside the locker room. I’ll hold my bag and get on it, but you have to weigh yourself on the same scale. You don’t really look that heavy to me, even if you are sort of a beanpole." Phil was grinning at Brandy again, any embarrassment apparently forgotten.
"Watch who you’re callin’ a beanpole, shrimp. Next time, you’ll leave this bus upside-down." With that, Brandy raised herself on her toes and set her chin deliberately on the top of Phil’s head. "Remember who’s bigger."
Katie, meanwhile, was taking all this in, especially coach’s reaction to Brandy’s show of strength. As she passed him and watched her name get checked off, she said, "Gee Coach, I wouldn’t be surprised if Brandy could carry you around." She watched his face carefully.
He gave her a sort of quizzical look, and said, "Just don’t you get any ideas. Sometimes I worry about you girls. I never remember girls looking so typical as you and even Brandy, and having the kind of strength and athleticism you two do." He shook his head, and resumed checking of the last few team members.
Katie caught up with Brandy and Phil and the three of them walked to the St. James visitors’ locker area. "Well," she said, "let’s have that weigh-in. I’m sort of curious myself. I know at home I was 131 dressed like this." She got on the scale and set the sliding weights. "One-thirty. One pound lower than at home. Your turn." She stepped down, and Phil got on, holding his gym bag.. He slid the weight higher, slowly, and got it balanced.
"One sixty-two. Hmmm. Sounds light to me." Phil stepped away and Brandy stepped up on the platform.
"I can tell you right now, Phil, I weigh more than 162." Sure enough, with the balance slide where it was for Phil, the beam hit the upper stop. Brandy moved it a little further and it balanced again. "One sixty-six! And Katie is right, that is a pound lower than ours at school. Now, get on again, Phil, this time without your bag. Let’s just see how much of that 162 is you."
Phil turned to walk away. "Forget it," he said. "It’s not that important." But Brandy was too quick for him. She grabbed him around the waist again, as she had in the bus and swung him around, feet off the floor, kicking helplessly, carrying him back to the scale.
She set him down on it and said, "Hold still. Let me move this weight." She slid it back and it balanced. At 139! "Whoa! One thirty-nine! Maybe 140 at home. You better start eatin’, boy!" Brandy grinned at Phil who seemed more than a little disheartened by this discovery by the girls.
"Gosh, Phil, you only weigh nine pounds more than me! And you’re, like, six inches taller!" Katie laughed softly. "No wonder you can run so fast. You don’t have much to move! Lemme try something." Before Phil could say anything, Katie, already lower than he was since he was still standing on the scale platform, ducked under and poked her head between his legs, grabbed his thighs, and stood up with Phil perched on her slender shoulders. She turned and walked a few steps down the hall towards the doors leading to the track. There, they met Coach Freyer, who stared wordlessly at this new and most odd-looking pair.
"You girls are going to drive me nuts! First, it’s you and Luis, then Brandy and Phil, now you and Phil! Is there any combination you haven’t tried?"
Katie schemed quickly and said, "You. We haven’t tried you. Hey Brandy, give Coach a piggyback ride!"
"Hop on, Coach. I can do it," Brandy bent slightly at the waist, and Katie watched closely. She thought she noticed a little glint of excitement or interest in his eyes.
"You know, I wouldn’t be totally surprised if you could, but the last thing I need is to have you get hurt cause you tried to carry me and we both fell down or something. Another time, maybe." Coach Freyer turned his back on them and walked towards the exit door. "Now let’s get out there and kick St. James’ butts!"
Chapter 4
As Katie and Brandy waited their turns for the final high-jump of the day, Katie couldn’t help but wonder about her "discovery." It really seemed as though their coach was inviting Brandy to give him a piggyback ride. Katie thought about her older bigger brother, and how he enjoyed it when her girl friends picked him up; how she often saw him horsing around with the swim team girls, mostly with him doing the riding when they chicken-fought, or his encouraging them to carry him "…cause it’s easy in the water…" as he said so often. She had to admit, there did seem to be a pattern here. She also realized she got a kick out of surprising a boy when he wrestled with her and she could lift him and keep his feet off the ground, pretty much at her mercy. She wanted to get her coach in the position where she could somehow try to pick him up. She thought she might be able to do it, but she wasn’t sure. She was sure Brandy could, though; and her own legs were at least as strong as Brandy’s. But how to do it when he wouldn’t get angry or yell at her or Brandy; that was the question. It would have to be at a time when such an act would be a natural result, not a made-up occasion. What would that be? When do you do wild, crazy things? Aha! She knew, all of a sudden. It came to her like the cartoon light over a character’s head when she gets a bright idea. But it would take work.
"Gibbs, you’re up. Templeton, on deck!" The announcement came over the loudspeaker. If either of the girls made this jump, their team would win. The meet was that close! Katie watched as Brandy took her stance, rocked gently back and forth, and slowly, then more quickly, took her steps toward the jump point.
"Unnh," Brandy grunted as she pushed off, up, over, and ever so gently touched the crossbar. As she hit the foam mat, the bar shook for a second, then fell. "Damn," Brandy said under her breath.
"Templeton, you’re up!"
Katie stood up, stretched, and began rocking, getting into rhythm for her approach. One-two-three-four, leap. She arched her back and lifted her feet as high as she thought she ever could, then hit the foam with a whap! She looked at the crossbar. It hadn’t moved! They had won! She had done it!
"Yes!" Brandy yelled as she ran over and grabbed Katie’s arms. They chest-bumped, and Brandy grabbed Katie around the butt and lifted her high into the air, jumping and spinning while the other girls all cheered. Katie waved her arms around and enjoyed every minute of it. What a feeling! She had never, in all her competitions, been responsible for scoring the winning points. She was ecstatic!
"Brandy! Let me down!" Katie hugged her friend around the neck then slid to the ground and grabbed Phil, hugging him right off the ground, spinning him as Brandy had done to her. Her plan was working to perfection. She ran back to Brandy and whispered in her ear. Brandy grinned at her, then they both headed for their coach.
Coach Freyer put both his arms out, to hold each of the girls around the neck, and was caught totally off guard when each of them ducked down and grabbed one of his thighs just above the knee. He put his hands on each of their outside shoulders to keep his balance, and was delighted when they stood up with him on their shoulders. "OK girls, OK! Careful, we don’t want to injure our stars, or me either, for that matter!" Freyer was laughing, nonetheless. What happened next, he had hoped for, for a long time, and never expected. Katie suddenly pushed up on his right hip and Brandy slid her head between his legs, holding him on her shoulders, by herself! She quickly put both her arms around his thighs and took a few steps away from the others. Suddenly she turned and looked toward the school photographer.
"Get this shot," Brandy hollered at the photographer. She raised both her arms in a double-biceps pose with Coach Freyer on her shoulders and the photographer got off two, three, four quick shots. "All right!" Brandy exclaimed. She scrunched her legs down and her coach’s feet hit the ground as she backed out from under him. They exchanged high-fives. Then Brandy turned back toward Katie and they began jogging toward the locker room. She and Katie conversed for a time, and then went in and put on their warmups, and came out again with their bags.
They strolled towards the bus in groups of two and three, sometimes four or five. Brandy, Katie, and Phil were walking in a group just ahead of their coach. "Hey Brandy, hold this a second, will you?" Katie asked her friend. She tossed Brandy her gym bag. Now, as Brandy, then Phil, and finally Katie walked single-file towards the bus, Brandy stopped short and scrunched down, and Katie gave Phil a shove, causing him to land right on Brandy’s broad back. With a gym bag over each shoulder, Brandy reached back and caught Phil’s thighs, hoisting him easily up into a piggyback ride. Now she was holding two gym bags, and Phil, who also had his own bag, a total of about 200 pounds!
"You kids will be the death of me." It was Coach Freyer. "OK, Brandy, here’s your punishment." Brandy stopped momentarily, as Coach Freyer continued, "You started this, now I want you to carry Phil all the way to the bus."
Brandy laughed. "You think I can’t do it? It’s only about 50 yards!"
"No, I think you can. I just want to watch you tire yourself out so you’ll sleep all the way home."
"That’s OK Coach. You’ll still have me," Katie grinned at her coach. She was about a half-step in front of him when she suddenly did the same as Brandy had done—stopped short, scrunched down and caught Freyer at the legs, lifting him onto her back. She was certain she felt him grab her shoulders, and help hoist himself up. It was definite when he laughed and gently squeezed his legs around her waist.
"OK, you carry me all the way back. Then you’ll both be exhausted and sleep all the way home," he told her. "Think you can?"
"Think you can take it?" she asked him suddenly. She looked at him over her shoulder with a twinkle in her eye. "Remember these legs just pushed me higher than any other girl at this meet today!" She stopped and did a couple of short squats then continued to walk to the bus. "If you want, I’ll carry you from the bus into the school when we get back, too, Coach."
But Freyer didn’t hear her. He wasn’t worrying about explaining anything to anyone any longer, he was just enjoying it for the short period of time he knew it would last. "Hey, Tommy," he yelled for the photographer. "I got another photo op for you!"
End