Chapter 18
The two weeks of non-stop sex, booze and little sleep had taken its toll on Ralph. He was normally a non-descript looking man in his mid-forties with big shoulders and a bigger gut hanging over his belt. But something had happened to him. By pushing his body to the limits of human endurance, he'd actually reversed the aging process. The hard living made him look younger! His gray hair was several shades darker, his muscles were in the peak of condition and the blubbery gut was now hard smooth.
"I feel like a new man," he said. Though admittedly he could use a shower as could the whole troop.
Trixie and Gladys were still going at it in the back seat and the groans, and cries of ecstasy were music to Ralph's ears.
Even Jackie was coming around. As the car bounced along the rutted road to Camp Mohawk, she pulled herself up and put a weak arm around her uncle's shoulders.
"I should never have left you," she mumbled. "I've been wild about you since that day you took my cherry seven years ago. I-I-I tried fighting it. I really thought you were wicked for fucking me. But I've learned my lesson."
Ralph felt a tender flow of compassion swell his chest. He went soft inside and tears moistened his eyes. He deeply loved Jackie; though he did not want to admit it.
"Well, it's all over. All the fighting and running away from each other. That's all in the past," said Ralph. His mind was drifting far away, back to the days of his youth when he was running contraband goods into Central America and dodging the bullets of rebel soldiers.
"Why are we going to this camp," said Trixie. "I've been up here in the country exactly six hours and already it's giving me the creeps. I want to get back to the city."
"Yeah, and count me in too," said Gladys. "We got some sailors to fleece in San Diego."
"All right," he said. "But I just want to say goodbye to my little cousin Jennie. I came up here in the first place to take her back with me. But my plans have suddenly taken a change for the better."
Jackie held his arm as she leaned against him and slipped off into a long deserved sleep. Her troubles were coming to an end and for once the future looked bright.
She hoped that Jennie would be happy with Jay. He was a good, dependable man and a very capable lover as she well knew. Now that she had Ralph, she looked forward to saying goodbye to them.
"Hey, once I saw a movie where the hero rode off into the sunset," said Gladys. "Well, here we are riding off someplace and will you look at that ahead of us."
Through the weighted boughs of the pine trees, the first glint of the sun popped up above the horizon.
"Gee, what would you call that," said Trixie. "That's a sunrise, you idiot," said Ralph, "not a sunset."
Then he started laughing wildly. It was going to be a real fine day. He could just tell it was.