"Good. Whaddya got, anyway?" he asked, looking around the lot.
"Eighty-four XR 250." Jarid answered hesitantly, yet still with pride in his tone. "It's tied to the back of the Winnebago."
"Cool. Dirt bikes are the only rice-rockets we don't look down on here."
"You don't go fuckin' off on that thing without the boys around, dear." Ollie admonished with a severe finger at Jarid. (Mom never even said anything about this language!) "The locals don't like us here. You won't even see Elmo taking his machine out alone, so don't you,... got it?"
"I got it.", he assured, looking like he'd suddenly found himself on a different planet and probably taken by surprise at being called 'dear'.
"I see you got no car.", Ollie said to mom.
"No, and I was actually wondering how I'd resupply. Something else I'm afraid I forgot about."
"Just as well, cause the same safety rules apply in town as in the trails. You three need something, you ask me, Junior or Elmo here and, if we don't have it, we can get it, or take you out to get it with the boys. You go see Junior about gas for your bike, dear."
This was almost amusing, despite the severe tone he used when warning us about the locals. These people were very different from any I ever ran into, before then.
"Don't any of you go wandering off from the boys when you're out and don't associate with the locals, no matter what they sa- What are you smirkin' about, sweetheart?"
I started, my smirk gone as he pointed at me.
"I'm sorry, I just-"
"You just nothin, this is serious shit."
"Junior says they had a run-in with Mathis at the station last night." Elmo told Ollie.
"Listen to him, Jen, you too, Jarid." Mom said sternly.
"You listen too, Trudy." Ollie said, pointing at her now. "No offense, but you three stick out like a sore thumb and they,..." He paused, regarding the three of us in turn from behind his Foster Grants before dropping his finger. "Just don't leave the park without the boys, not even all three of yas at once, until you're ready to go back home."
"There you are!" a female voice said from around a tall hedge of trees. "What in hell are you sounding off about at this hour of- Oh! New people! Hello, my name is Shelly!"
Shelly, the woman Ollie mentioned earlier and who I figured was his wife, was about his age, plump, friendly faced and possessed of a bust line that dwarfed even Moms and mine put together. They were huge, probably with their own gravitational pull, still with some lift and bouncing up and down slightly as the curly haired blonde hurried across the lawn toward us.
"Awww, there goes the neighborhood." Ollie moaned sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up, you old fart!" She said before cheerily introducing herself to all of us while Ollie rolled his eyes and dug out a cell phone.
After the laughing, the enthusiastic woman introduced herself to Mom, who obviously found her smile infectious, then moved on to Jared, pecking his cheek with her lips and actually hitting his chest with her knockers in the process. He looked like he was going to blow a neuron and I was smiling at this when she did the same thing to me.
"Yeah, whatcha doin?" Ollie asked somebody on the other end of his call.
"I'll run in and get the first weeks rent now, just one moment please." Mom asked Elmo before turning for the camper.
"Later. I got some shit to do and I don't want the money on me, plus I gotta get you a key to the gate."
"Well, get up to lot seven, Trudy's stayin' and she needs to get hooked up.", Ollie answered.
"Oh, but I don't have a car.", Mom said. "I probably don't really need a key."
"Then send the boys up, they ain't doin' anything." Ollie said to his phone. "And send Maddie with 'em on their way."
"We got plenty of vehicles and, if you're here for any amount of time, it'll Prob'ly be easier if you got your own key.", Elmo said.
"Okay, sure."
"Talk to ya later, bout three?" Elmo asked."
"Three's great."
"Well fuck, Junior, just send some fuckin' food along, how hard is it? ..... Yeah."
"Oh, please, please don't go to any trouble, Ollie.", Mom asked, her only answer being one of the old guy's hands waving her off as Elmo disappeared around the corner on some other business.
"Oh, it's fine, it's what they do.", Shelly assured her with a laugh and a more flamboyant wave of her own hand. "Is this one of those pop-out models?", she asked, looking at the Winnebago.
"Yeah? One sec- Elmo!", Ollie called. "Junior says we got spare lanterns?"
"Yeah."
"Can you grab em when you come back at three?"
"No prob, where's Junior?"
"Be at your place in ten. -Junior,... Yeah I just told him. Good, see ya later on."
"Ollie, do you know anything about pop-outs?" Shelly called.
"No, that what this is?" he asked, putting the phone in his pocket.
"Yes, but Trudy doesn't know how to operate it, shouldn't that be done before it's leveled?"
"Probably. You know anything about it, Jarid?"
"No, sorry."
"Well, go help your mum find the owner's manual and we'll see what the hell."
"Okay.", he said, glad to have something to do, it seemed.
He, Shelly and Mom went in as I approached Ollie.
"Can I help?"
He looked me up and down and said with a smile, "No, you're just a girl!"
"I'm not just a girl, I play hockey." I said with a big smile.
He laughed, saying, "Now that's just wrong, sweetheart. Listen, why don't you go put something on your feet and take a look around? Come back later, if you wanna help, 'bout two hours."
"Okay, Ollie."
"Go tell your mother you're going." he said, taking a drink of coffee, which had to be cold by then. "And remember, don't leave the park without the boys."
"I won't."
I stepped up into the RV where Mom was trying to serve Shelly Coffee and help Jarid find the owner's manual at the same time.
"Mom, Ollie said I could go walk around, I'll be back in a couple of hours."
"Just remember what he said, don't leave the park!"
"I won't!" I yelled on my way out the door with a pair of orange crocs in my hand.
I should explain a few things about myself, here. First, I'm not the same person at home and around the neighborhood as I am at school. School is business, like hockey is business, and I take my studies every bit as seriously as Jarid does and like we've always been told to by both mom and dad, so we wouldn't end up as penniless street people, begging for cigarettes in a homeless shelter. So, when I'm at school, I don't 'hang out', other than with the girls on the team and, even then, only in the locker room. At lunch, I study, or prepare for afternoon classes with Jarid in the library and, if that sounds weird, or boring, that's just what it takes to graduate with honours, like we both did.
At home, once the school uniform is off, things are different. Once my homework is done, or on the weekends when I don't think it's necessary to study for some test or semester exams, I'll go out and you'll think I'm like any one of the girls, by the way I dress and act. Actually, I'm probably a little worse than the average girl because I, as people have said, am the aggressive type. I play Offensive Forward and hey, if you think the talk is bad in the boy's locker room, you should hear the girls. Sometimes, some of that locker room talk has surprised friends at home, not to mention their parents. I'd even once had sex with my ex-boyfriend, less than a year before, while I was pretty sure Jarid was still a virgin.
So, if you're wondering how I could go meandering about a strange campground wearing what I woke up in, all I can say is that it seemed natural for that place. I never even thought of it at first, not until I saw what had to be Junior's lot at the end of the row, judging by the big familiar truck in the short dirt drive amidst several motorcycles and ATVs. Remembering how big and attractive he was, I naturally thought to check my look and that's when I remembered. I would have expected Mom to say something about it, but I guessed it was such a busy morning that she didn't take any more notice than I did.
The thing was, though, those campers who I saw outside their trailers were dressed more or less like I was anyway, with housecoats and even a few nighties, proving that it was natural there which, in my mind, would only make it natural for me to act the same way. When in Rome. That's what they say, right?
A lot of these people would wave, even call out a 'hello' or 'good morning', and, while I was reserved in my replies at first, as the new kid in town, my greetings in return became more casual and sincere. These were very friendly and laid back people.
At one point, I was walking along the track in front of the first row, looking down at the water and wondering if it was okay to just wade in up to my knees alone, when I heard another greeting. I turned, shading my eyes with the edge of my hand on my brow.
"Hi! C'mere, hon!"
It was a black woman in a skimpy, lime green bikini with a white smile that stood out to be seen for miles, waving me over from under the awning of a trailer I'd already passed. My reserve returning in some measure, I walked back along the track and into the lot to see what she wanted with a polite smile on my face, despite those reserves.
"Day-um! a real live Barbie doll!", the tall, curvy woman exclaimed with a smile, looking me up and down. "You one of the ones that came in last night? What's your name, hon?"
"Yes, we came with a man named Junior. I'm Jenifer."
"Bull-shit, you're Barbie now." she laughed. "I'm Robbie."
"Hi, Robbie, how are you?" I asked politely.
"Well, I'd be a lot better if I could have my morning swim, but I don't think my friend was out of bed like she said she was on the phone. You swim?"
"Uh-huh."
Just then, a big black man, Robbies husband, I guessed, came out of the trailer wearing a pair of grey boxer briefs and nothing else. He did a double take at me and, embarrassingly, I did one of my own at the obvious heavy cargo those boxers held. Luckily, if either one of them noticed, they didn't indicate so in any way.
"Jet, this is Barbie."
"Shit, I guess she is!" he said with an appreciative smile, offering his hand. "How are ya, baby?"
Now I'm embarrassed, self conscious and a little paranoid about if they saw where I'd pointedly looked as I felt a flush coming. Not something that happens to me very often
