Chapter One
It was a hot August summer's afternoon in Southern California, and Eric and Annie Camden were enjoying some time off. For the first time in ages, there was no one at home. Of the remains of the family, Lucy and her husband Kevin were on vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with their children; while Sam and David were spending a couple of weeks with their paternal grandparents and the twin's uncle, George Grayson. Matt, Mary and Simon had long left the house and were either married or in long-term relationships of their own. Annie and her husband were making the most of it, doing things they hadn't dared tried with each other in ages.
Also absent from the home was the youngest daughter, Ruthie, who was now fifteen years old. A talented amateur artist, she had earned a scholarship to attend a 10 week-long summer arts camp. The camp was co-educational, and she really enjoyed exchanging artistic ideas with other people from across the country, both women and men; who showed promise in drama, music and visual arts. She was getting the chance to work not only on painting, sculpture and photography (which had become her favorite medium), but also on her vocal and dramatic skills - guided both by masters of the various craft and the "up and comers."
One of her fellow campers was her best friend and boyfriend of more than two years, Peter Petrovsky. The two shared a very special bond, because they were both gifted and because they were able to have intelligent conversations about almost anything. They felt especially close to each other when it was their turn to baby sit Lucy's children, as it made them look forward to the time in the future when they would be having kids of their own. It was only a question of when and not if, because for their second anniversary as a couple back in February, Peter had gotten Ruthie a "promise ring" made of white gold. She refused to take it off even when Lucy and their parents urged her not to make any long-term commitments that she would regret later.
During the first eight weeks of camp, the two had also become rather frisky, making out in all sorts of places on the compound. It was a wonder neither had gotten caught. It was rather difficult for them to carry on their relationship at all.
The male and female campers were in segregated cabins, on opposite sides of the common areas where the groups met for classes, meals, swimming, campfires, chapel services (the camp had Catholic, Protestant and Jewish chapels, each with a full-time chaplains although all three offered counseling services to all campers regardless of faith), and other related activities. Peter and Ruthie understood fully the reason for this separation; but they were the last people who would ever harass each other, sexually or otherwise. And, if they saw something untoward happening between other campers or between a camper and his or her counselor, they'd be the first to blow the whistle.
Still, it didn't stop them from thinking about what lay beneath the proverbial "velvet curtain." After all, they were human beings; and having entered physical adulthood two years ago, they were wondering how much longer it would be before they would give in to temptation and lose their innocence, especially now that they were far from home.
It turned out to be that night, at the end of week eight. There was a group meeting between the counselors that would last the entire evening, and the campers were being monitored by the CIT's: Counselors in Training, although the students derisively called them "campers in training," as many of them had never been to a camp in their lives.
The campers were doing various activities. Some were doing sports such as canoeing, sailing, baseball; others were building campfires, and others were searching out subjects for drawings or photographs. They all adopted the "double buddy system;" each area with a minimum of two campers and monitored by two CIT's, one male and one female. This went on for about three hours. As the teens were preparing to go to bed at ten o'clock, a security alarm sounded. Someone, or something, had apparently breached the perimeter.
The procedure was standard: the campers were gathered up and brought to the field in the middle of the common area, with the halogen lamps surrounding the field were turned on at full blast. A head count was done, and everyone was accounted for, or so it seemed.
Ruthie and Peter, having achieved so many goals, decided they needed a day off and got permission to go to an amusement park about an hour's bus ride away. They had signed out, lanterns in hand (it was getting pretty dark by this point of the evening), and were getting ready to leave to take the bus to a hotel where they'd spend the night (in separate beds, they had agreed) before spending the next day at the theme park; when they learned the transit union had staged a wildcat strike. Disgruntled, the two returned to the campground but had forgotten to report back in to headquarters.
Ruthie and Peter were walking past HQ and the mile-long road through the woods towards the women's cabin areas (the men's were another mile away; the campers usually went around the extensive campgrounds in golf-carts, but even they were in storage for the evening.) They heard the alarm, and the call to report to the common. They were on their way, when they noticed that one of the women counselors had left her cabin door ajar.
Figuring this was just another chance to make out; they snuck in, closed the door behind them and started kissing. About ten seconds later, they stopped, looked at each other, and gave up the pretense that had been building for two years. They quickly undressed each other and starting kissing each other all over, and within five minutes, Peter and Ruthie had become one human being. Twenty minutes after that and sweating buckets, they finally stood up, dressed up, said "I love you" to each other over and over; and after wiping each other clean and finding a fresh change of sheets and blankets in the closet, destroyed the evidence of their lovemaking by throwing the smoking gun into the dumpster which just happened to be right next to that particular cabin.
The alarm turned out to be false: a deer had tripped the invisible fence. The campers were allowed to return to their cabins. It was then that Peter and Ruthie remembered that they had to check back in. They walked back to HQ, still amazed at what they had done. The sex wasn't as great as either had hoped, but they did love each other and since they were so far away from home, this was as good a time as any.
And there would be no way either Peter's mother or Ruthie's parents would ever find out, because she had taken the extra step of bringing with her gear a couple of packages of the "morning after pill," which her uncle, Dr. Hank Hastings, had dispensed to her at her insistence. In fact, she wasn't going to wait till the morning: she would take one package as soon as she got back to her cabin while her cottage-mates slept, and the second first thing in the morning to be extra certain.
But there was something different in the way they walked together and held hands now, using their free hands to carry their lanterns to light the way, for now it was pitch black. While they truly respected each other as equals and of course loved each other, they could never truly understand until tonight what it was like for "the other half." Perhaps they were a little bit closer to that, but the way each viewed the opposite sex had changed forever. They weren't sure how but it had and things would be very different from now on.
Having reported to HQ, Peter and Ruthie walked back to the women's cabins. By now, nearly everyone had reported back to their cabins and lights out was to kick in fifteen minutes hence. The couple stepped on to the porch of Women's Cabin 9, and they were about to say good night to each other when two other campers, came up to them: a young man and woman, both seventeen, and twins. Their names were Rhiannon and Malcolm. By a coincidence, they attended the same high school as Peter and Ruthie; in fact, they went to the same church that Ruthie's father shepherded. The two lovebirds cringed. Had they been found out?
Well, they had, but the siblings promised they wouldn't say anything despite the honor code. After all, they pointed out, many other couples, both long-standing relationships and newly formed ones at the camp, had done the same thing all summer. It was tradition. In fact, the brother and sister each had acquired during the summer a girlfriend and boyfriend, respectively, from amongst their fellow campers and both had lost their virginity, too. But that's not the reason why the siblings wanted to talk to Peter and Ruthie.
"Well, then, what is it?" asked Ruthie.
Rhiannon and Malcolm looked at each other nervously. They weren't sure how to say what was on their minds. But they had to tell someone.
"Ruthie, Peter," Rhiannon said finally, "it's Frank, one of the drama counselors, and a teacher at our high school. After the morning session two days ago, he asked me to stay behind. He locked the door and all the windows, and, um . he touched me where, well, I've only let my boyfriend touch me when I've been with him."
Ruthie and Peter were shocked. Frank Henderson was head of the drama department at Kennedy High School in Glen Oak, and a highly regarded member of both the staff and the community. That didn't sound like him at all, but for now, they decided to take Rhiannon at her word.
"Have you reported him to the camp director?" asked Peter.
"Are you nuts?" said Malcolm. "Sharon and Frank are shacking up with each other, didn't you know that?" Ruthie and Peter shook their heads, they didn't know.
"Sharon's husband and Frank's wife got caught having an affair three months ago," said Rhiannon. "Everyone walked out on each other, and for some reason, Sharon and Frank got hooked up. I can't report him to her; that would be a conflict of interest."
"What about the deputy director, um, Henry?" asked Ruthie.
"He reports to Sharon," said Malcolm. "How far are we going to go with that route?"
"So why are you telling us?"
"Because your brother-in-law's a cop, Ruthie," said Rhiannon. "I was raped, I don't have to take this, and I want to press charges against him as soon as camp is over. Can you help me with that, please?"
"Kevin and Lucy won't be back until a week after we get back," said Peter.
"What about his beat partner, Roxanne?" asked Malcolm. "You two get along with her, don't you?"
"Sure," said Ruthie. "I won't send her an e-mail, just in case they monitor our messages. But I promise I'll write Roxie a letter first thing in the morning and send it out by snail mail; as long as you two promise you won't tell anyone about Peter and me."
"You have our word, Ruthie," said Rhiannon. "We can't thank you enough. Good night, you two."
Rhiannon kissed her brother on the cheek good night, and shook Peter's hand. Peter kissed his girlfriend on the lips, shook Rhiannon's hand, and headed back to the men's area along with Malcolm and the adjacent lower berths they had in their cottage, Men's Cabin 6; while Ruthie and Rhiannon stepped inside their bungalow and the double bunk they shared, with Ruthie on the top level. As the lights turned out (with only dim ground-level garden lamps now lighting the path from the women's to the men's areas) and "Taps" blared out on the loudspeakers, Peter and Ruthie fell asleep in their respective beds, both thinking about what had just happened in the last hour and a half. They had no regrets about the intimacy they finally shared, but wondered if what happened afterwards was because of what came before, or in spite of it.
It was a hot August summer's afternoon in Southern California, and Eric and Annie Camden were enjoying some time off. For the first time in ages, there was no one at home. Of the remains of the family, Lucy and her husband Kevin were on vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with their children; while Sam and David were spending a couple of weeks with their paternal grandparents and the twin's uncle, George Grayson. Matt, Mary and Simon had long left the house and were either married or in long-term relationships of their own. Annie and her husband were making the most of it, doing things they hadn't dared tried with each other in ages.
Also absent from the home was the youngest daughter, Ruthie, who was now fifteen years old. A talented amateur artist, she had earned a scholarship to attend a 10 week-long summer arts camp. The camp was co-educational, and she really enjoyed exchanging artistic ideas with other people from across the country, both women and men; who showed promise in drama, music and visual arts. She was getting the chance to work not only on painting, sculpture and photography (which had become her favorite medium), but also on her vocal and dramatic skills - guided both by masters of the various craft and the "up and comers."
One of her fellow campers was her best friend and boyfriend of more than two years, Peter Petrovsky. The two shared a very special bond, because they were both gifted and because they were able to have intelligent conversations about almost anything. They felt especially close to each other when it was their turn to baby sit Lucy's children, as it made them look forward to the time in the future when they would be having kids of their own. It was only a question of when and not if, because for their second anniversary as a couple back in February, Peter had gotten Ruthie a "promise ring" made of white gold. She refused to take it off even when Lucy and their parents urged her not to make any long-term commitments that she would regret later.
During the first eight weeks of camp, the two had also become rather frisky, making out in all sorts of places on the compound. It was a wonder neither had gotten caught. It was rather difficult for them to carry on their relationship at all.
The male and female campers were in segregated cabins, on opposite sides of the common areas where the groups met for classes, meals, swimming, campfires, chapel services (the camp had Catholic, Protestant and Jewish chapels, each with a full-time chaplains although all three offered counseling services to all campers regardless of faith), and other related activities. Peter and Ruthie understood fully the reason for this separation; but they were the last people who would ever harass each other, sexually or otherwise. And, if they saw something untoward happening between other campers or between a camper and his or her counselor, they'd be the first to blow the whistle.
Still, it didn't stop them from thinking about what lay beneath the proverbial "velvet curtain." After all, they were human beings; and having entered physical adulthood two years ago, they were wondering how much longer it would be before they would give in to temptation and lose their innocence, especially now that they were far from home.
It turned out to be that night, at the end of week eight. There was a group meeting between the counselors that would last the entire evening, and the campers were being monitored by the CIT's: Counselors in Training, although the students derisively called them "campers in training," as many of them had never been to a camp in their lives.
The campers were doing various activities. Some were doing sports such as canoeing, sailing, baseball; others were building campfires, and others were searching out subjects for drawings or photographs. They all adopted the "double buddy system;" each area with a minimum of two campers and monitored by two CIT's, one male and one female. This went on for about three hours. As the teens were preparing to go to bed at ten o'clock, a security alarm sounded. Someone, or something, had apparently breached the perimeter.
The procedure was standard: the campers were gathered up and brought to the field in the middle of the common area, with the halogen lamps surrounding the field were turned on at full blast. A head count was done, and everyone was accounted for, or so it seemed.
Ruthie and Peter, having achieved so many goals, decided they needed a day off and got permission to go to an amusement park about an hour's bus ride away. They had signed out, lanterns in hand (it was getting pretty dark by this point of the evening), and were getting ready to leave to take the bus to a hotel where they'd spend the night (in separate beds, they had agreed) before spending the next day at the theme park; when they learned the transit union had staged a wildcat strike. Disgruntled, the two returned to the campground but had forgotten to report back in to headquarters.
Ruthie and Peter were walking past HQ and the mile-long road through the woods towards the women's cabin areas (the men's were another mile away; the campers usually went around the extensive campgrounds in golf-carts, but even they were in storage for the evening.) They heard the alarm, and the call to report to the common. They were on their way, when they noticed that one of the women counselors had left her cabin door ajar.
Figuring this was just another chance to make out; they snuck in, closed the door behind them and started kissing. About ten seconds later, they stopped, looked at each other, and gave up the pretense that had been building for two years. They quickly undressed each other and starting kissing each other all over, and within five minutes, Peter and Ruthie had become one human being. Twenty minutes after that and sweating buckets, they finally stood up, dressed up, said "I love you" to each other over and over; and after wiping each other clean and finding a fresh change of sheets and blankets in the closet, destroyed the evidence of their lovemaking by throwing the smoking gun into the dumpster which just happened to be right next to that particular cabin.
The alarm turned out to be false: a deer had tripped the invisible fence. The campers were allowed to return to their cabins. It was then that Peter and Ruthie remembered that they had to check back in. They walked back to HQ, still amazed at what they had done. The sex wasn't as great as either had hoped, but they did love each other and since they were so far away from home, this was as good a time as any.
And there would be no way either Peter's mother or Ruthie's parents would ever find out, because she had taken the extra step of bringing with her gear a couple of packages of the "morning after pill," which her uncle, Dr. Hank Hastings, had dispensed to her at her insistence. In fact, she wasn't going to wait till the morning: she would take one package as soon as she got back to her cabin while her cottage-mates slept, and the second first thing in the morning to be extra certain.
But there was something different in the way they walked together and held hands now, using their free hands to carry their lanterns to light the way, for now it was pitch black. While they truly respected each other as equals and of course loved each other, they could never truly understand until tonight what it was like for "the other half." Perhaps they were a little bit closer to that, but the way each viewed the opposite sex had changed forever. They weren't sure how but it had and things would be very different from now on.
Having reported to HQ, Peter and Ruthie walked back to the women's cabins. By now, nearly everyone had reported back to their cabins and lights out was to kick in fifteen minutes hence. The couple stepped on to the porch of Women's Cabin 9, and they were about to say good night to each other when two other campers, came up to them: a young man and woman, both seventeen, and twins. Their names were Rhiannon and Malcolm. By a coincidence, they attended the same high school as Peter and Ruthie; in fact, they went to the same church that Ruthie's father shepherded. The two lovebirds cringed. Had they been found out?
Well, they had, but the siblings promised they wouldn't say anything despite the honor code. After all, they pointed out, many other couples, both long-standing relationships and newly formed ones at the camp, had done the same thing all summer. It was tradition. In fact, the brother and sister each had acquired during the summer a girlfriend and boyfriend, respectively, from amongst their fellow campers and both had lost their virginity, too. But that's not the reason why the siblings wanted to talk to Peter and Ruthie.
"Well, then, what is it?" asked Ruthie.
Rhiannon and Malcolm looked at each other nervously. They weren't sure how to say what was on their minds. But they had to tell someone.
"Ruthie, Peter," Rhiannon said finally, "it's Frank, one of the drama counselors, and a teacher at our high school. After the morning session two days ago, he asked me to stay behind. He locked the door and all the windows, and, um . he touched me where, well, I've only let my boyfriend touch me when I've been with him."
Ruthie and Peter were shocked. Frank Henderson was head of the drama department at Kennedy High School in Glen Oak, and a highly regarded member of both the staff and the community. That didn't sound like him at all, but for now, they decided to take Rhiannon at her word.
"Have you reported him to the camp director?" asked Peter.
"Are you nuts?" said Malcolm. "Sharon and Frank are shacking up with each other, didn't you know that?" Ruthie and Peter shook their heads, they didn't know.
"Sharon's husband and Frank's wife got caught having an affair three months ago," said Rhiannon. "Everyone walked out on each other, and for some reason, Sharon and Frank got hooked up. I can't report him to her; that would be a conflict of interest."
"What about the deputy director, um, Henry?" asked Ruthie.
"He reports to Sharon," said Malcolm. "How far are we going to go with that route?"
"So why are you telling us?"
"Because your brother-in-law's a cop, Ruthie," said Rhiannon. "I was raped, I don't have to take this, and I want to press charges against him as soon as camp is over. Can you help me with that, please?"
"Kevin and Lucy won't be back until a week after we get back," said Peter.
"What about his beat partner, Roxanne?" asked Malcolm. "You two get along with her, don't you?"
"Sure," said Ruthie. "I won't send her an e-mail, just in case they monitor our messages. But I promise I'll write Roxie a letter first thing in the morning and send it out by snail mail; as long as you two promise you won't tell anyone about Peter and me."
"You have our word, Ruthie," said Rhiannon. "We can't thank you enough. Good night, you two."
Rhiannon kissed her brother on the cheek good night, and shook Peter's hand. Peter kissed his girlfriend on the lips, shook Rhiannon's hand, and headed back to the men's area along with Malcolm and the adjacent lower berths they had in their cottage, Men's Cabin 6; while Ruthie and Rhiannon stepped inside their bungalow and the double bunk they shared, with Ruthie on the top level. As the lights turned out (with only dim ground-level garden lamps now lighting the path from the women's to the men's areas) and "Taps" blared out on the loudspeakers, Peter and Ruthie fell asleep in their respective beds, both thinking about what had just happened in the last hour and a half. They had no regrets about the intimacy they finally shared, but wondered if what happened afterwards was because of what came before, or in spite of it.