Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 (C) Copyright 2002.  M.C. All Rights Reserved. All Reproduction for fee or
profit forbidden.

   Copies of my stories can be downloaded from:
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   =============

   James Part IX.  Soaring Visions

   James 60

   Amanda and I had planned an early start on Wednesday to do some flying
but were forced to change our plans.

   The prior evening, Nicole had wanted to return home to her studies and
so we had an early farewell dinner.  Celeste asked to tag along to pick up
her Solara, still at Nicole's house.

   "No way!" Nicole recoiled, "You'll bug me until I let you drive and I'll
end up getting a heart attack or splattered on the windshield!"

   "Honey, you KNOW I won't do anything dangerous," She caressed Nicole's
cheeks and kissed her, "You're too precious for me to scare...  much."

   "Hah!  See?"

   So Celeste had to swear on Mueller's Wheel that she would not do
anything rash or overly illegal on the way home.

   "You shouldn't cross your fingers when you make a promise." Amanda
noted, which earned her one of those fingers.

   Again, but holding her hands out in plain sight, Celeste repeated her
oath.

   "What about her toes?" Brenda commented.  She got both fingers.

   Finally, shoes off and hands up, Celeste satisfied Nicole of her
sincerity in not deliberately wanting to leave them in pieces on the road
and was allowed into the driver's seat.

   She started the engine and turned to me, "Make sure the boys get started
with the exterior lighting and the cleaning up before you take off
tomorrow." She sighed.  "I probably won't be able to make it back until
late tomorrow morning driving at 45mph."

   "Darling," Nicole purred, "You be a good girl and Nikki will make it
worth your while..."

   Celeste turned and gazed into her eyes, then she smiled, "BUT, if I'm a
bad girl, Lestie will make it worth YOUR while..." Laughing maniacally, she
floored the gas and howled off into the night.

   We had stayed over in the 'Big Room' of the Wheel and were just cleaning
up after breakfast when Max knocked on the door.  He had Patrick and his
sister Jessica behind him.  We exchanged greetings and Max turned to
Brenda, "There's a trailer with a boat coming in.  Maybe you should come
and decide what to do with it."

   I introduced Patrick to the girls, "How are things going?" I asked as we
watched the fully laden truck come slowly down the road.

   "Oh, pretty good, we're just about settled in, but Max told us to ask
you about getting the Internet in the apartment."

   "Hmmm, you're too far to direct-line..." I looked over at Jules, "What
about the company who put the ADSL in for us?"

   "AT-Comm, yeah.  I'll get them to get a link in..." She thought for a
moment and turned to Patrick, "Here's another job for you.  In the next few
days, go around the village and do a survey of how many homes have
computers and would want the Internet...  Maybe we can have enough
subscribers to justify our own T3 connection and supply these people from
here instead of the Sub 4 miles away." She filled in with a bit more
information and Patrick promised to look after it.

   Brenda had been talking to the truck driver and came back with a wide
grin, "It's a 44' deep-V on consignment from Deanna!  Listen to this..."
She consulted a note on the manifest, "...due to financial reversals, a
prominent TV personality has had to cancel her special order.  I am sure
you will be able to put the boat to good use.  Deanna.  P.S.  Please excuse
the lilac treatment of the stateroom." She giggled, then looked at me, "Did
you notice?  She signed herself 'Deanna!'"

   Together and with the help of the just-arrived construction crew we
unloaded the huge boat and down the slipway into the water.

   The boat, a luxury deep-water cruiser of golden walnut and mahogany had
a bridge equipped with the latest radar, computer and satellite navigation
and featured a 20x15 living area, with an "L"-shaped stainless steel
cooking counter occupying almost 1/4 of that.  It had a built-in fridge, a
convection/microwave oven and most cooking utensils one can imagine, all
finished in gleaming steel.  Under the 3-burner propane range, it even had
a small dishwasher which I presumed was strictly for shore use, unless
they'd found a way to use salt water for washing.

   The main stateroom, was, as warned, finished in purple and purple
flowers.  "Ugh!" Amanda groaned, "It's like the inside of a bordello!" She
turned to me, "You'll like that, won't you?" She pushed me on the bed and
draped herself on me, "After we lavish you with food and wine upstairs, you
can take us down here and sample our wares..."

   "Guys, isn't it time you two took your show someplace else?  There are
people all around!" Sara warned, blocking the entrance from inquisitive
eyes.

   "I know!" Sherri broke out, "Let's call the boat 'CUNTry Living!'"

   = = = = =

   It was the first time I had taken off in Gymbler with a full load, but,
despite the rapidly warming air and all 4 wing tanks filled to capacity,
the powerful engine lifted us with authority out of the sparkling waters of
the Lake.  We circled and waved goodbye to the girls who were putting Gyro
through her paces in preparation for the demo tomorrow.

   Amanda showed me the power and manual fuel transfer system which pumped
the contents of the outboard tanks to the inside ones, "Don't do it until
the inboard ones are dry first - can you tell me why?" She looked at me.

   "Two reasons," I ticked them off, "First, the outboard tanks must be
kept totally full, or totally dry, because they are more susceptible to
sloshing, causing trim instability.  Secondly wing load is lowest towards
the tips of the wing." A common misconception - although the fuel increases
the MASS of the wing; under flight, the LIFT of the wing is highest there,
so it is the most efficient spot for the load.  "Did I pass?" I smiled.

   "Not yet, grasshopper, but there is hope for you yet!" Amanda stroked my
hair.  She looked around, "Why're we going to Harry's?"

   "You wanted to see the major sites of the War of Independence and this
is where we surrendered to the English."

   "Really?  I thought we WON!"

   "That was later, this was first major engagement of the South with the
British.  We surrendered Charleston here..."

   "Where was George Washington?"

   "He had his hands full in the North; Lexington, Saratoga.  The British
felt that they had the situation there in hand so sent about 2000 troops to
the South, hoping to envelope the Patriots, as we called ourselves, and
bring on an early submission." I banked us towards the West.  "There was no
doubt that the revolution was in a lot of trouble then, not only were the
British better trained and better equipped, the States were about evenly
divided between the Patriots and the Loyalists, who were content to live
under the British colonial thumb, paying their taxes without ever getting
their voices heard in Parliament."

   "Wasn't that why the whole thing began?"

   "Yes, but don't forget we'd already been paying taxes to the Brits for
150 years!  The problem was that King George III was mounting a series of
very ambitious wars against the French and needed the money, so he kept
squeezing his colonies.

   "What happened in the 1760's and 70's were a series of tax laws, each
less tolerable, until it culminated in the Tea Tax, which precipitated the
Boston Tea Party.  The British reacted as they always did - by sending more
troops into Boston to quell the unrest.  By 1775 the States had had enough,
they formed a Continental Congress and officially separated from British
rule.

   "Needless to say, our proclamation was not seriously taken.  Everyone
knew we were wholly dependent on the Brits for trade and armament.  In
fact, the declaration was deemed in Europe as 'the horse America attempting
to unseat its Master.'

   "And don't forget too that we did not plan for an armed insurrection, it
just happened that way.  In fact, when Paul Revere made his famous ride to
warn the town of Concord of an imminent British attack, he was not taken
seriously, so as a result some 10 Minutemen were killed and the rest
dispersed.

   "After that, the British threat was taken much more seriously and
opposition mounted.  The problem was that the Americans had no armaments to
speak of, and even less ammunition.  At Bunker Hill, one of the earliest
engagements, the British stormed the American lines three times, finally
taking it when the defenders had to resort to throwing rocks.  Even then
the British casualties were almost triple that of the Americans.  What the
British got was a tactical victory - but the Americans won the strategic
one.  By depriving the British army of its most important commodity - her
trained men, the die was cast for ultimate victory."

   "In other words they won the battle but we won the war."

   "Yes, exactly.  The Brits had to have all her resources shipped 3000
miles, whereas we had ours close at hand.  In a war of attrition, there
could be little doubt of the outcome.  Problem of course was that the
English Army was very well established here and knew all our major cities
well.

   "So it is with that knowledge that in 1780 they decided to start a
second front here in the South."

   "Did they attack before that?"

   "Yes, in 1776, but their fleet was soundly defeated when they tried to
enter Charleston Harbor.  The Governor of North Carolina then was also a
devout Loyalist so they felt little or no threat from us.  And to a degree,
it was true, in 1780 they walked into Savannah and a year later, took
Charleston after winning decisively just east of The Eyrie."

   "So that's why you think that old fort we saw was from then!"

   "Yeah, as I said, the British had a very strong foothold here, from
years of fighting the Indians and the French."

   "So what stopped the British from taking over everything?"

   "Again, even though tactically they won, they did not have the resources
to hold a city; once they were out of sight, the population went back to
plotting and harassing them again.  And then there was the man called the
Swamp Fox, Francis Marion.

   "Here was a man whose exploits fired the imagination of a tired and
all-but-defeated nation, although he never figured prominently in any major
action, his daring, rapier-like attacks on the British kept our hopes up -
and created myths galore around the man.

   "Look at the farms and plantations around here," I pointed, "Back then
it was mostly marshland, shallow waterways and dense forests and Marion
made full use of them.  The British were not equipped to fight under these
circumstances.

   "The real hero in the struggles here was Nathaniel Greene, who was
compared to Washington by foes who had fought against both.

   "He fully understood the differences between a tactical and a strategic
war, and even when he allowed the British Generals to take the field, he
made sure they left with less ability to wage war.

   "Greene's biggest victory came here..." I pointed as we flew over a
large rolling pasture, now a National Park.  "The war had dragged on for
ten years and the land was devastated.  Both armies were initially aimed
here not for battle, but for the cattle pasturing here, hence the name
Cowpens - it didn't even have an official name then.

   "The British felt buoyant, even though they had forced march for 36
hours with little rations.  This was the ideal terrain for their in your
face kind of warfare and they had every reason to feel confident.

   "The primary weapon against the infantry charge had always been the
cannon, which the Americans did not have.  Instead, General Greene had
lined up some 300 hillsmen from Virginia as his front line.  These hardy
frontiersmen lived by their rifles and were crack shots.  At 800 yards, the
maximum range of the breechloaders they used, they started firing.  After
getting 3 or 4 shots off apiece, they peeled back behind the next line. 
Thinking it was a rout, the British charged again into yet another rank of
debilitating fire.  Like layers of an onion, the Americans kept retiring,
exposing yet another line of rifles.  Three hours later, the British
retreated in disorder, their first major defeat in a face-to-face
engagement with the Americans.  To many historians, this was the turning
point of the war, not just in the South, but the entire Independence War."
I turned the plane and the gentle grasslands gradually become more rugged
as we followed a wide river north.

   "Still, things did not go this well all the time, 3 months later the two
forces met up again just about here.  Greene used the same tactics but it
was not as effective due to the heavy growth and rougher terrain, plus the
British were less headstrong and sent in cavalry to disrupt the lines. 
Finally the American forces had to retreat.  But guess what, our tactical
defeat still left the Brits with almost half their army out of commission
and half their top officers killed or seriously wounded.  A few days later,
they gave up their hard fought gains and retreated as well.

   "After this, the fight went out of the British troops and in October of
the same year, General Cornwallis, soon to be known as 'the man who lost
America,' officially surrendered in Yorktown to Washington."

   We flew on in silence for a bit, finally Amanda sighed, "That was
nice... But I kinda miss your hands-on teaching like last time..."

   I turned a malevolent stare her way, "You think your ordeal is over, my
young pretty?  It has not even begun!"

   "Oh no!  Whatever do you mean sir?"

   "I mean that we are taking you to a uninhabited place where you--" I
leered at her "--will be carefully examined, and every part of your body
seriously probed."

   "I don't suppose there is any use begging for mercy..." She sighed, "So
I must appeal to your largess..."

   "Largess?"

   "Yeah!" She laughed, "As in large ass!"

   = = = = =

   We laid entwined on a small sandy cove, her eyes soft and heavy lidded
after the passion of our love-making.  A stand of birch trees supplied
shade and its leaves trilled silvery music each time the soft breeze
stirred.

   We were on a small lake I had seen from the air when Jules flew me up to
see Erin last Sunday.  Only about 4 miles across, isolated and, except for
a small bay was completely surrounded by forest.  It was a little
intimidating to land with 60' trees all around but the lake was wide enough
not to present any real difficulties.

   The lake was fed by a fast flowing river of freezing water from the
mountains, which opened up into the sandy strip to which we had tied up.

   "You are without a doubt the worst thing that could happen to a girl."
Mandie murmured, drawing little hearts on my chest, "I can't be away from
you for an hour before I start missing you." She sighed, "Half the time I
want to do something you can be proud of, and the other half I just want to
lie in your arms and cuddle."

   "You don't have to do anything, I'm already very proud of you," I kissed
her softly, "And you're one very cuddly-able sweetie!"

   She nestled over me, turning to allow me access to her breast, "Yes,
feels good..." After a while she stretched and sighed, "Mmmm, before I fall
asleep on you, let's get lunch.  Your stomach's starting to rumble."

   We had a roasted chicken in the ice chest along with salad and boiled
potatoes, but Amanda asked for a fire so we could heat up the chicken and
potatoes.  Meantime she would go fishing.

   I had collected driftwood and was arranging a firepit when she came out
of the plane, wearing just a cotton wrap-skirt around her waist.  "Wow and
double wow!  I'm expecting hula music and you breaking into a dance any
time now!" She broke into a grin and wiggled her butt for me.

   "Check this out!" She came up with a fishing rod that had a slim golden
spinning lure, "I made this!" She grinned, "5/16-oz machined-brass French
spinner body with a modified Willow-blade design." She held the torpedo
shaped lure with the single spinner blade up to me, "See?  It doesn't need
the saddle gadget that makes the French spinner move, instead, the small
reverse lip on the modified blade will autostart the action."

   "Was this what you were playing with in the testing tank?"

   "Yeah, along with Sherri's bi-flexed canard design."

   "Whatever THAT means!  You guys are really moving!"

   "Yeah, well, Sherri and Sara will be busy with Gyro this weekend so we
had to accomplish as much as we can so I could continue the testing at
Regan's."

   "You're testing an airplane wing at Regan's?"

   "Yeah, haven't you been paying attention to Brenda?  We can scale
everything down 56 times by using water instead of air - I'm hoping that I
can get some ideas at Regan's for ways to calibrate and measure each wing
separately and assemble the data in computer simulation.  I'll need
actuators and fairly accurate servos..."

   "Wait, say that again..." I closed my eyes, "Something you said just
now..."

   "I was saying that I'll need servos which can measure the drag and the
lift, while adjusting for the Angle of Attack..."

   "No, no, before that..." I shook my head, "Damn!  I lost it!  It was
clearly another brilliant idea that only I could come up with."

   "...and only you could lose so quickly!" She laughed and kissed me,
"Don't worry honey, don't push it and it'll come back.  Come, let's try out
my new invention!" She took my hand and over to an outcrop which stretched
over the deep channel.

   "This looks like 30 or 40 feet deep, prime trout water!" I looked down,
then pointed at a relatively calm spot.  "Try over there, trout usually
prefer slower water."

   Amanda made a bullseye cast into the spot, unraveling line as she spoke,
"Another thing about the lure - it has a sink rate of almost exactly one
foot per second, so by counting off the seconds, I can place it at the
exact depth...  twelve...  thirteen...  fourteen...  fifteen." She clicked
the bail and started her retrieve, then, in an urgent whisper, "We have
a..." Suddenly she hauled the pole back and it almost doubled on itself,
"BIG Fish on!"

   Amanda was skillfully playing the fish with the drag clicking away on
the light line.  Instead of breaking surface as a bass would, this one kept
swimming deeper in erratic circles.  I ran to get the net and climbed down
into the freezing water as Amanda maneuvered her prey towards me.  I made a
scoop and held it up.  It bristled angrily and thrashed in my grasp.

   "I'd say he's about six, seven pounds."

   "Ugh, he's ugly and...  and he's blind!"

   "No honey!" I laughed, "He's not blind, he has a translucent membrane
across his eyes, that's why he's called a Walleye.  One of the meanest and
best eating fish around!"

   "Way cool!  Let's catch another one!" She laughed, but several casts
later still had no bites.

   "Walleyes are territorial, so try a different spot..." I pointed to a
bed of weeds just off the rocks.  In short order, Amanda had caught a 3lb
largemouth and a 5lb pike.  We elected to keep only the bass, the pike
would be too bony to be worth the trouble.

   Amanda let me try the lure next, commenting, "One thing I've noticed is
that fish are way dumber than most people give them credit for.  Anything
that gets their attention is fair game." She watched me as I landed and
released a little bass, barely larger than the lure, "See what I mean? 
Their first instinct is to strike, then run away only if their quarry
doesn't."

   It appeared that we had cleared the area of the bullies, because all I
caught were small fries, 1/2lb or less, but the effectiveness of Amanda's
lure was well demonstrated.

   "Try deeper water," Amanda suggested, on my next cast, watching me time
the seconds, "But no more than 20 or 25 feet, because the lure relies on
reflection, it's not effective when there is not enough light."

   "Hush...  There's something here..." I alternated between retrieving and
small twitches of the rod.  "Yes!" I pulled back as the line surged past
the drag, "Another diver!" I grunted, frantically cranking whenever there
was a lull in the action.

   Finally Amanda netted it, screaming in excitement, "It's GORGEOUS!" It
was a huge 4lb Rainbow, its scales glowing in colors from steely blue to
vivid red and every hue in between.

   "Maybe we should let him go - as good as he is for eating, we've already
got enough for lunch." I suggested.

   "Yeah, and he's real pretty too..." She gently removed the hook from its
mouth, "Hmm, notice how small his mouth is?  I think the #4 treble is a bit
too big for trout...  OK, fish, we're gonna let you go, but be sure to make
lots of babies and we'll come back for them next time!" Carefully Amanda
flipped the net and released it.

   I started the fire and re-roasted the chicken while Amanda filleted the
fish.  We sliced the potatoes and made them into pan fries as the fillets
cooked.

   A short while later I laid in Amanda's lap licking my fingers and sighed
contentedly.  "I should be burping now, but my stomach doesn't even have
room for that."

   She smiled at me and pushed a piece of errant fish back in my mouth,
"You sir, are a scary eater.  I think I had a drumstick and a piece of fish
and by then, you'd already polished off the rest!"

   "I saw you slow down, so I knew you'd eaten enough!"

   "Yeah right, no wonder I'm wasting away to skin and bones..." She
started giggling as I poked her boobs.

   "These puppies look real well fed to me..." I checked their heft and
resilience and flicked the nipples.

   "I think they're gonna be ready for the pencil test soon - what do you
think?"

   "Whatever - but I think they're definitely ready for the tongue test
now!"

   I rolled her over and started licking them.  She clutched my hair as I
applied long wide strokes around the sides and little wet kisses to the
tips.  I kept my fingers on them as I trailed my tongue down her stomach
and burrowed in the thin cotton wrap.

   "Oh, oh, honey..." She caressed my hair and opened her legs so I can
move my face between them, "Oh god, yes, baby..." Her moans accompanied me
as I sucked her sweetness out, spiced with a bit of saltiness left over
from our previous coupling.

   "Hmmm, honey, I want..." She reached for my cock, "Eeeew!  You have sand
all over your thing!"

   "Didn't you say you wanted some excitement in your love life?  A little
grit...?"

   "God, no!" Laughing, she pointed my erection at the lake, "Go wash it
off first!"

   "Only if you join me..." I looked at her and lifted her up in my arms,
"Deal?"

   "OK, don't drop me in..." She took off her wrap and I led her down to
the water's edge, "Ooooh!  The water's friggin' FREEZING!" She slowly waded
in, goose bumps breaking out all over.

   The sandy bottom dropped off and the water became thigh high, she shook
my hand off, "Fuck it!  Let's get it over with!" And dove in.  She swam for
a few strokes and turned back to splash me, pointing and laughing at my
cock which had wisely retreated to a warmer hiding place.

   I took a running step and piled in the water beside her.  I went numb
and all my orifices closed up on me.  I rose up gasping, "Holy shit!  That
is COLD!"

   Amanda was wheezing and laughing as I turned to get back to shore,
"Wait, we have to get you cleaned up!" She stopped me and rummaged between
my legs, "What happened to the mighty Dweebus, Ravisher and Despoiler of
all?" She looked at me, then, in one smooth motion, engulfed me in her
mouth; cock, balls: everything.

   I almost fainted again, the shock of her soft churning mouth on me so
indescribably amazing.  Slowly her hands coaxed my balls out from hiding,
her tongue urging my cock to rear its head again.

   I was throbbing inside her mouth and I pulled her head against me.  The
poor honey was shivering.  I lifted her up out of the water and placed my
arms around her for warmth.  Her legs wrapped around my waist, her sex
seeking my hardness.  It took a few swipes but then I found myself inside
her boiling pussy, tighter than I'd ever felt before.

   "Ugh, slowly my brute...  Big..." She sighed, closed her eyes and worked
herself slowly on me.

   My breath came in wheezes and I found myself rocking her body on me,
trying to go deeper in the exquisite pleasure that was her cunt.

   Finally, when I was fully immersed in her lava-hot tenderness, she
started humping against me.  She pointed me back at the beach, "Babe, take
me there...  And take me THERE!" She almost screamed the last as I lowered
her on her discarded skirt and rammed myself in her.

   Our cries echoed in the still of the lake and transformed us into a
single orgasmic entity of light, and sound, and touch, and pleasure.

   She laid in my embrace, small and soft, and gripped my arms to her body;
one across her breasts and the other cupping her mons, keeping her warm and
languid.

   She started humming, and after a while, I joined in, softly,

   "These are the moments

   I know heaven must exist;

   And these are the moments

   I know all I need is this,

   I've found all I've waited for...

   And I could not ask for more."

   The day had started to wane when we cleaned up, buried our refuse and
readied Gymbler for takeoff.

   We enjoyed the flight back in companionable silence, interspersed only
with soft touches and tender looks; we were well content with what we had
shared in that tiny, unsoiled bay with the laughing trees and basking fish;
and it was with a small tinge of loss when we finally spied the Lake and
dropped in for our landing.

   The marina was hopping with excitement and the girls couldn't wait to
show us Deanna's boat, newly washed and waxed and proudly displaying a
prominent "CL1" on its stern.

   "What's with the '1'?" I asked, "I understand the CL part, but..."

   "Spell it out!" They urged, barely able to breathe for their merriment.

   "Huh?  Er, oh!" I started laughing and dissolved to the ground with
them, "C-L-O-N-E!"



   =============

   (C) Copyright 2002.  M.C. All Rights Reserved. All Reproduction for fee
or profit forbidden.

   Copies of my stories can be downloaded from:
</files/Authors/MikeC/>

   What do you think of the story? Send comments and suggestions to
MikeC@NSpace.net