Chapter 2
The Six-Day Lark
"The six day hunting trip started with five total strangers getting together to have a beer. We had all answered an ad placed in a sporting magazine by one of the five. We were meeting to discuss the trip.
"Joe was the one who was organizing the trip and we met at his house. I had never met him, only written him and talked to him on the phone. He sounded like an all-right guy on the phone; in person he struck me immediately as being an asshole.
"But you'll put up with a lot for six days of elk hunting in Wyoming, especially at the low price Joe had managed to arrange for us.
"Let's set the record straight, though. Joe wasn't a professional tour guide or anything, he had just made arrangements and got us other guys together by placing an ad. After meeting him, I figured he was just desperate for somebody to go hunting with. That's why he went to all the trouble he did.
"Joe's wife was out, so the five of us had the house to ourselves. There was a guy named Ken, who lived only a couple of miles from my own house, although I'd never seen him before in my life. And then another Joe, who was a bachelor from out near Lancaster. Then Bill who'd been married four times and did nothing but moan about child support. Then the host, Joe, and me. My name of course is Artie.
"Joe asked us all what we wanted to drink; then when he had the orders, he came back in with a tray of beers. He got a big charge out of that; I mean, we all thought we'd get the things we ordered, like scotch on the rocks and things like that. But all he had was beer. He thought that was real funny. He was a weird asshole.
"It took us about an hour to get the arrangements established, like what time and where we'd meet. Both Ken and Joe - ah, hell, I'd better call this Joe, not the host, Smitty; that'll be less confusing - had campers. It was decided that I'd go with Smitty and the other two would go with Ken, who's camper was a little bigger. Man, this is boring.
"Anyway, after things were arranged, Joe went into the kitchen and came back with some more beer, and some news. 'I've got a surprise for you guys,' he said with a big grin on his face.
"We all sort of halfheartedly asked what it was.
"He walked to a closet in the living room and opened the door. The thing was jammed with movie equipment. 'I've got some home movies for you,' he said, and after letting us groan a little, he added, 'I promise you've never seen movies like these before.'
"We all heard what he said, but none of us believed him. Until, that is, he had the camera and screen set up and started the first reel.
"It started off with the picture being totally dark, then as the camera pulled back, we began to see what looked like hairs. And as he pulled farther back, we knew damned well they were hairs, because we could see that they were attached to what we'll call a very intimate part of the woman's anatomy.
"Suddenly we had a full view. It was a decent-looking woman, nothing more and nothing less, stretched out naked on a bed. She had her legs wide open and she was spread to the world. You could just about see up to her tonsils.
She had her hand down in her pubic hair and it looked like any second about four or five fingers were going to disappear. Sure enough, they did, and that lady got a look on her face that told the whole story. She enjoyed what she was doing.
" 'That's my wife,' Joe said, and he sounded so damned proud of the fact that I almost dropped my eyeteeth.
"Now Joe might have thought his old lady was the greatest thing in the world to watch, but if you want to know the truth, she wasn't anything special. About thirty-five, a little overweight, not-ugly-not-pretty, breasts a little saggy, ass a little wrinkled. She was a woman you knew from looking at that she'd had a hard life. Man, she had been used.
"On the screen the action hadn't progressed any further until from behind the camera came this tall, skinny guy. Looked like he'd just walked out of hillbilly heaven. Sunburned from the neck up and from the biceps down, but otherwise so white you had to think he'd never seen the sun.
"Joe continued the running commentary. 'That's a guy I work with,' he said. 'And wait until you see the fucking prick on him,'
"This wasn't the most fun way of spending an evening, and already I was starting to regret that I'd already put my money down for the hunting trip.
"The action on the screen did get a little hotter, though. The hillbilly did have a cock that would have put a mule to shame and he certainly did know how to use it.
"First, Joe's wife scrambled up on her knees and crawled across the bed where the dude was standing with his hands on his hips, waiting for her. His cock was half hard, hanging down damned near past mid-thigh. Mrs. Joe didn't waste a second. She started gobbling on that length of hose. I think the guy liked what she was doing, because that thing he was sporting got even longer, and when it was all the way hard, it was all the lady could do to take a third of it.
"The guy seemed to have only one thing on his mind, namely to get that thing of his in a hole. He pushed her mouth away from him and got her on the bed. She spread again and it was like looking down a well.
"As soon as she was in position the hillbilly climbed on top of her and without any preliminaries he stuck that thing deep inside her. All the way in, in two shoves. Even I cringed, and I was only watching the movie.
"But that lady took it like the pro she must be. She just got her legs up on his shoulders and let him use her, and she sure did enjoy it. The look on her face was proof of that.
"I figured that was it. I mean, it was a fuck film right? A guy and a girl. Granted, the guy was huge, but so what?
"And then, surprise of surprise, what should come into range of the camera but Joe himself. And I'd thought all along that he'd been taking the film. Obviously he wasn't.
"Joe walked up to his beloved wife and stuck himself in her face. She gobbled on that. Joe grabbed her head and really started to pound it to her. It was a nice family-action shot.
"Again I thought that was it. A husband getting his jollies from using his wife's mouth and seeing her take it from a talking mule. But damn, if I wasn't wrong again.
"On the screen, Joe made a gesture with his hand, like he was beckoning somebody else into the scene.
"And sure enough, who to the wondering eyes should appear, but a second broad. Naturally.
" 'That's my friend's wife,' Joe announced. We all took the news in stride.
"The second lady immediately pushed Joe away from his favorite position and sat down on Joe's wife's face. Simple as that. She was facing towards her husband, and suddenly Joe was standing between the two of them. Now he was using his friend's wife's mouth. This was all getting confusing.
"That went on for a short while, until Joe decided that he wanted his marital rights, so he encouraged his buddy to vacate.
"The hillbilly pulled out without a thought about the void he was creating, but we couldn't see Joe's wife's face to see if she was disappointed or not.
"Joe took the hillbilly's place, parking his Volkswagen in his wife's three-car garage, and then, damn, after a bit of rolling around and fuzzy photography, they ended up with Joe on his back on the bed, his wife straddling him, with him imbedded in her, and her still doing whatever she was doing to the friend's wife who was now standing up and jutting herself out.
"Now came the piece de resistance. Joe's friend of the obscenely large endowment imbedded himself with little thought for comfort in Joe's wife' back door. She took it, there too, like a pro.
"The movie ended with everybody silently moaning and groaning and twisting around. A round of applause greeted the flap, flap of the spent film reel, not so much for the quality of the film as for the fact that the damned thing was finally over.
"Joe had more, but we all politely excused ourselves and beat a hasty exit. I returned to the hearth and my favorite wife and faithful dog, grateful that I wasn't a film freak.
"The following Saturday, as planned, we all met again at Joe's house. The only difference this time was that it was morning instead of night, and Joe's wife was home.
"I couldn't bring myself to look her in the eye, and I thought for sure that she wasn't aware that Joe had shown us the films, but just a few minutes after the five of us were gathered around the kitchen table having coffee, the wife comes out with a question. 'Did you enjoy the films?' she asked. We all choked on her coffee.
"The drive from Los Angeles to Wyoming, point of arrival Jackson Hole, was long, boring and disasterless. We drove, talked, slept, ate, spent the night in Ogden, and arrived in Jackson Hole about ten o'clock in the morning. We were in elk country and you could smell the elk.
"We had a small drive yet, up to a corner of private Wyoming tucked in between Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks. The land is owned by a nationally known politician whose name I can't give because he doesn't want anybody to know he's rich enough to own anything.
"I don't know why he's so shy. Everybody knows politicians are the richest people around. They get the dough somehow. I'm never able to figure out how.
"We got to the cabin Joe had arranged to rent, arriving about five o'clock in the afternoon, just in time to have a few stiff drinks and start bullshitting about the great hunting we were going to have.
"The trouble we eventually got into got started that same night.
"We thought we were totally isolated up there, but it turned out differently. It was about ten o'clock that night and we had just finished off a good meal after spending most of the time since five getting drunk. All of us were in pretty bad, or good, shape.
"All of a sudden there was a knock on the door. I was sitting closest to the door and I'll admit that the knock scared the hell out of me. Things that I don't expect always scare me.
"As soon as I got over my surprise, I stood up to answer the door. I think I made some crack as I was heading there to the effect that the 'broads were here.' I was kidding, but when I opened the door I was partially right.
"Outside the door were two kids, and honest to God for a few seconds I thought they were Adam and Eve. One male and one female, they were both good-looking kids. The girl had this sort of wraparound thing on that did nothing to hide her considerable talents.
"The boy had hair as long as the girl's and a full beard, and all he was wearing was what looked like an old pair of jeans that had been cut off to make shorts. Both were barefoot.
"Now I don't want to give the impression that the two kids looked dirty. They didn't. In fact, if anything they were spotlessly clean, and they had an odor about them that Johnson & Johnson would have loved to get inside a deodorant can. They smelled like good health and the outdoors, which isn't a bad combination.
" 'What the hell...!' I said, completely stymied about how they got where they were and what the hell they might be doing there.
" 'Sorry to disturb you,' the boy said, very politely, 'but we saw the lights and we wondered if you could do us a favor.'
"I backed up from the door and gestured them to come inside. 'Hey look,' I said to the rest of the guys, 'we've got honest-to-God visitors.'
"That fact was greeted with a lot of drunken cheers, and when they caught sight of the face and body on the girl, the cheers took on an edge of out-and-out admiration and lust.
"Both of the kids took it good-naturedly. They laughed and joked with us awhile, telling us how in the hell they happened to be up there, and why the strange garb.
"Their names were Steve and Debbie and they were from Ohio. Cincinnati, Ohio. They'd been attending the University of Cincinnati, living together, and two months earlier had decided to come to Wyoming for a hiking vacation. They found the spot we all were in and fell in love with it immediately. They stayed, living like a present-day Adam and Eve.
"The favor they wanted of us was, when we got back to civilization, to mail a letter they'd written to each of their parents, telling them not to worry. They'd been expected back at school a week earlier.
"I took their letters, putting them in my suitcase and invited the two of them to sit down. I offered them a drink, which they refused, but they did take a cup of coffee.
"I was drunk enough myself to sit there and openly admire Debbie. She was a gorgeous kid. A soft, slightly rounded face, with an expression so innocent that you automatically wanted to offer to protect her for the rest of your life. The face was a child's, but the body was a woman's. Full and ripe, but yet firm. In actuality, she had a body that would have tempted an honest monk.
"The guys continued drinking the hard stuff while we talked with the kids. Some of the comments started to get a little rough. I think Joe was the one who started that shit. Who else?
" 'What do you do up there in the mountains?' he asked. 'I guess you just go around getting nuts to eat, then you go back to the fire and fuck. Right?'
"Steve and Debbie smiled uneasily. 'There are a million things to do,' Steve said. 'Just getting in with nature takes most of our time. Were learning to live with it.'
"That all sounded damned romantic and great for those two kids, but Joe didn't understand what they were talking about. He'd been away from his freaky wife only one or two days and already he was horny.
" 'But you fuck each other a lot, don't you?' he asked. We all knew he'd stay on the subject until he got his answer.
"Steve nodded and grinned. 'Yeah,' he said. 'We do that a lot.'
" 'Is he a good fucker?' Joe asked the girl. She shrugged and obviously would have liked to change the subject.
"I guess if one of us guys had stepped in right there and squelched the whole bit, none of what happened later would have happened at all, but none of us did. I guess we were enjoying the scene too much, especially the kids' discomfort. I don't think any of us realized what trouble it would lead us into.
"When Debbie didn't answer Joe's question, he repeated it. 'I asked if the punk is a good fucker,' he said, sounding halfway nasty.
" 'There are some things we don't like to talk about,' Steve said, giving what I thought was a good answer. He didn't act or sound smart-assed, he was just answering the question.
"Despite that, Joe got pissed. "'Goddamned hippies,' he said and stood up and walked over to where the booze was kept. He poured himself another healthy portion. He sat over by the window sulking like a kid. I told you he was a winner.
"The rest of us kept on talking to the kids. They were both interesting as hell. And then, I think it was Ken asked them if they wanted anything to eat. The eyes on both of them lit up. 'You had bacon and eggs for dinner, didn't you?' Steve asked. 'We could smell it for miles. Maybe if you had some extra...' Ken got up and started fixing them a bacon-and-egg meal.
"While they were eating, Joe got the broomstick out of his ass and came back over. He sat down with the rest of us, watching the kids eat.
" 'You kids ever been in any movies?' he asked after a few minutes.
"Debbie looked up from the plate of food she was devouring. She shook her head.
" 'I like to make movies,' Joe added. 'Would you be interested in being in one of them?'
"Joe of course had brought his camera along.
"Steve shrugged. 'I don't know,' he said. 'What kind of movies are they?' he asked.
"Joe wasn't coy. 'Fuck movies,' he said, 'and I sure would like to get you two making the scene on film. Maybe even some of us could join in.'
"Joe was as subtle as a lighted-up billboard. Steve just grinned and looked at Debbie. You could tell he loved her. 'Nah, I don't think so,' he said. 'We kind of like to keep things like that private.'
" 'I'll pay you,' Joe said. His voice was thick and his words were slurred.
" 'Money's no good to us,' Steve said. 'There's nothing to buy up here. Thanks but no thanks.' It was a polite response but firm. The kids definitely didn't want to be in Joe's fuck films.
"Joe wouldn't give up. 'I'll bet that little girl of yours could take cock all night and still want some more,' he said. He got up from his chair and looked like he was going straight for the girl. I think I was the one who pulled him back into his chair.
"The kids finished their meals quickly and stood up. They thanked us. I think they were in a big hurry to get away from Joe.
"I showed them to the door. 'Come on back sometime,' I said, meaning it. They were good kids. 'Joe's not like that when he's sober. We'll be here until next Saturday.'
"Both of the kids nodded and thanked us again. They sure had enjoyed those eggs and bacon. I watched as they walked off into the darkness. They seemed to know right where they were going. And they must have been healthy as hell, because they didn't seem cold at all and, believe me, it was more than a little chilly up there at night at that time of year.
"When I got back to the table, Joe was still sounding off. 'Did you see her looking around at us?' he asked. Somebody said they hadn't noticed. 'She sure was, he continued. 'Hell, I can tell when a pussy wants a good fuck. I guess that kid she's with just ain't a good fucker. She kept looking at me like she wanted some. And man, I mean to get me some of that...'
"... We all got our quota of elk in three days. Do you believe that? Those damned things seemed to walk right up to all of us and just beg to be turned into steaks.
"So there we were, stuck in the middle of nowhere with three days left on the rental and nothing to shoot at. We sure as hell weren't going to shoot more elk. No use shooting anything just for the fun of killing right?
That first morning, the cards were pulled out and about eleven o'clock the booze followed. We'd brought enough booze to fix up a million snake bites.
"By noon we were all feeling no pain. By one o'clock you could have put any of us through a Chinese water torture and we would have laughed through the whole thing.
"About that time, Joe lurched to his feet.
" 'Fuck cards,' he said. 'I'm gonna do myself some hunting.'
"Ken asked him what he was going to hunt. Elk was the only thing open.
"Joe looked at him and sneered. 'I'm gonna hunt us up some of that pussy we saw a couple of days back. Hell, she must be really hard up for a good fuck by this time.'
"I think somebody at that point said something about leaving the kids alone, but there wasn't any force behind the statement, and Joe ignored it. He picked up his gun and stumbled out of the door. We all were so drunk we didn't even bother to think how dangerous it was to have that idiot roaming around the country with a loaded gun. He also took his camera with him. And a pint bottle.
"All I remember doing that afternoon was playing cards and drinking until I couldn't see the cards anymore, then I begged off and hit the sack for a nap. Man, was I loaded.
"A couple of hours later I woke up and damned if I didn't start drinking again. But I guess all guys make fools of themselves when they're away from their wives and families.
"I guess it was about five o'clock when we heard noise outside. It sounded like somebody shouting. Smitty got up and went to the door. Staggered to the door would be more accurate. He looked out and then looked back into the room. 'Goddamn,' he said, 'it's Joe, and he's leading those two kids back with a gun on them.'
"Smitty kept the door opened until the two kids were escorted in. The boy had a deep gash on his forehead that looked like he's been hit with a gun butt. And he was mad.
"Tell this son of a bitch to leave us alone,' he said, 'or so help me, I'll kill him.'
"That statement should have sobered us up, but it didn't. Maybe if we had tried to put an end to all that nonsense right then and there, it would have stopped. But none of us tried. I guess it was the booze working. And boredom.
"Joe was in the cabin by that time and he kept his rifle aimed at the boy's chest. He was tanked to the gills and looked more than capable of using the rifle if he didn't get his way.
" 'I brought 'em back with me,' he said triumphantly. 'I thought I'd let my buddies join in the fun.'
"He got the camera from around his neck and lay it on the table, all the while keeping the gun trained on Steve.
" 'Okay kiddies,' he said. 'It's movie time. Strip off them duds your wearing.'
"Steve was ready to put up a fight, but Debbie took his arm. 'Do what he says,' she said. 'Maybe they'll sober up, get some sense, and let us go.'
" 'You hear that?' Joe shouted, even more triumphant. 'You hear what the little girl just said? She wants cock so bad her mouth is watering.'
"Joe lurched to a chair and sat down heavily. The rifle stayed on Steve. 'I told you to strip down,' he said.
"I think it was at this point that my conscience got the better of me. I'd been turned on by this scene, but it was getting a little too serious. Sure I was horny from not getting any, but I sure as hell didn't want to force anything on anybody. And I guess too, that the booze had me uninhibited. But anyway, I made some comment to Joe about his stopping the kidding now. We'd all seen the joke.
" 'I ain't kidding,' he said, and from the tone of his voice we all knew, even the kids, that he was serious.
" 'Take them pants off, kid,' Joe said, gesturing with the rifle butt at Steve. 'Let's see that measly little thing you got hangin' between your legs that you can't satisfy this pretty little piece of pussy with.'
"Again Steve was ready to head right for Joe and slaughter him, but again Debbie held him back. 'Do what he says, honey,' she said. 'Then they'll leave us alone.'
"Steve looked at her, and I think more as a protection for her than anything else, he reluctantly reached up and undid the button at his waistband. The zipper was next and his pants dropped to the floor. They were the only piece of clothing he was wearing.
" 'Christ, look at that little dick,' Joe said, laughing uproariously. 'No wonder that little snatch is drooling at the first real thing in pants walks by.'
"Now to tell the truth the kid was a little small, but it was adequate. No monster, but I'm sure he was able to keep his girl friend happy.
" 'Now you cunt,' Joe said, pointing the rifle at Debbie.
"I don't know what was the matter with the rest of us. I admit that we just stood around and stared. But like I said, I guess it was the booze and the fact that we were all horny. I know that's no reason to let all that stuff happen, but it's the only reason I can think of.
"Debbie reached up and behind her and undid the snap on the halter she was wearing. She undid it, but kept her hands in front of her.
" 'Take your fuckin' hands down,' Joe shouted. 'I want to see your tits.'
"Slowly, reluctantly, Debbie let her hands slide down to her sides. Christ, she did have a gorgeous set of tits on her. Big and firm, and the damned things stood up all by themselves.
"I admit that my mouth started to water and I felt a funny feeling in my pants. I would have liked to get a piece of that beautiful girl, too, but...
"Anyway, Joe was still having his field day. 'Now get those pants off,' he told the girl. 'I want to see that slimy pussy.'
"Both of the kids, and especially Debbie, were very frightened by that time. I think they realized finally that Joe was serious and also that none of the rest of us was going to do anything to stop him.
"God, I'm ashamed of this whole damned thing.
"Debbie opened her pants and let them drop to the floor. She, too, was now totally naked. And like I said, she wasn't bad to look at. In fact, she was about the best thing I'd ever seen in person. She had one great little body.
"I was hard as a rock by that time, and I figured all the rest of the guys were equally turned on, because nobody made an effort to put a stop to anything.
"Joe again gestured with his rifle and got the kids to move over towards the nearest bunk. 'Pull that blanket down,' he ordered and Debbie reached down and did as she was told.
" 'Get on that bed, cunt,' Joe said. His voice was getting heavier and nastier every minute.
" 'Steve, what should I do?' Debbie asked. She was scared to death, and by all rights I should have felt sorry for her. But I didn't. All I wanted was for her to get up on the bed.
" 'Do what he says, baby,' Steve said. I don't think he answered that way from cowardice; I think he realized if that if they didn't do what Joe wanted, the idiot was capable of killing them. I think he was right.
"At Steve's bidding, Debbie got on the bed on her back. God she looked so damned tempting there on that bed that I damned near shot off in my pants. I was as bad as Joe. She lay there board-stiff.
" 'Okay, kid,' Joe said. 'Get that little prick of yours hard. You're gonna fuck her while I take some pictures. And maybe I can give you some pointers, so she ain't sniffin' around for more cock.'
"Anger flushed into Steve's face for a second but he controlled himself. He stood there, still not moving.
"Joe, at that point, wasn't above threatening anybody. For a second he aimed the rifle at Ken, who was standing closest to him, and told him to pick up the camera and start filming. Ken, too, did what he was told.
" 'Okay kid,' Joe said, turning the rifle back on Steve, 'I told you what to do. Do it.' Joe then picked up a bottle of whiskey that was on the table and took a deep drink.
"Steve moved to the bed and got in next to Debbie. The way they were lying there, Steve was protecting her body.
" 'Get on top of her, I said,' Joe shouted. Steve moved to the top of Debbie's body.
"Under the circumstances, I don't know how he did it, but after a few seconds, at Joe's orders, of rubbing against her, Steve got hard.
He had to boost himself up to show Joe that it was hard. Ken was getting the whole thing on film.
" 'Okay, boy, Joe said, 'now stick it in her and fuck her.'
"Steve looked wildly around the room. 'Why don't you guys do something?' he said. He sounded frantic. I'm embarrassed to say that none of us said or did anything at all.
"Joe repeated his order, and when Steve saw that he wasn't going to get any help, he moved between Debbie's legs.
" 'Lift up those legs to your shoulders,' Joe ordered. 'We want to see you stick it in her,'
"Steve did as he was told. He got Debbie's legs up on his shoulders. I heard him say to her quietly, 'I'm sorry baby.'
" 'Now stick it in her cunt,' Joe said. I looked at his face. For the moment he was insane.
"Steve moved up towards her and we all stared as he disappeared into her. He had gotten to a more than respectable size when he was hard. It slid in, all the way. Debbie didn't make a sound.
" 'Fuck her, asshole,' Joe shouted, and Steve started moving against her. I have to admit that it was a beautiful sight, and a real turn-on.
" 'Long-dick her,' Joe shouted, 'Pull it almost all the way out and then ram it inside her.'
"Steve looked at Joe. I've never seen so much hate and disgust on anybody's face. But to be honest, I didn't give a damn. I just wanted this show to continue. This whole thing had turned us all into animals.
" 'Maul her tits a little when you fuck her,' Joe said. 'Broads like to have their tits mauled. And I want to hear a little noise out of you little girl. Enjoy this damned thing.'
"I don't know if what Joe had said made the girl start to respond or whether it was what her boyfriend was doing to her, but Debbie started to moan a little. Then she started to move against Steve, pressing up against him every time he lunged against her.
"Her low moans turned to deep groans as Steve began to really pound into her. He leaned down over her, pulling her up to him until the two of them were as close together as they could have possibly been.
"He moved into her with strong but short strokes. Now I knew she wasn't acting; she was enjoying the sex. She moved her body like she'd been born to the bed.
"I was completely turned on. I was hard as a rock inside my pants, and it got to the point where I had to get some relief. I pulled myself out. That was all the urging the rest of the guys needed. In seconds, all except Ken, who was too busy filming, and Joe had exposed themselves and were working away.
" 'Get her on her knees,' Joe shouted. 'Get her on her knees and fuck her like a goddamned dog.'
"I honest to God think the kids were turned on then by the scene. Steve pulled out of her for a second, and he was hard as stone. He helped her move around until she was on her knees, with her rear end stuck up in the air, open to the world. God she looked sexy.
"Steve got on the floor and, in full view of all of us, he pressed hard against her from the back. He took hold of her hips and lunged against her. Debbie let out a groan of pleasure.
"It was no holds barred from then on. Steve didn't need any more directions. He probably wouldn't have been able to hear them if they'd been given. Debbie was making too much noise.
"The scene lasted maybe ten minutes, which, considering the circumstances, was pretty good. Finally Steve groaned extra load and pressed himself deep inside her. He hesitated, breaking the rhythm of his strokes. Then he pounded at her with frantic strokes.
"From the moving she was doing and the sounds she was making, Debbie got off, too. It was probably the wildest thing I'd ever seen in my life. And a complete turn-on. I was so hot by the time they finished, I think I would have fallen in love with a hole in a tree.
"I guess we all figured it was over. Joe, and us too, had, had our jollies. We expected Joe to let the kids go. But he had more and different ideas.
"He looked at me. 'I saw a piece of rope in the camper,' he said. 'Go get it.'
"I think I made some sort of protest, but when he aimed the rifle at me, I chickened out and went outside and got the rope. Discretion took the total place of valor.
"I brought the rope in. Joe looked at me and laughed. He sounded nutty as a fruitcake and he was still drinking from the bottle. He had to pass out soon.
" 'Tie him to a chair,' Joe said to me. He nodded at Steve.
" 'What for?' I remember asking.
" 'Don't ask questions,' Joe said sharply. 'Just do it.'
"I did it.
"I tied Steve's hands together behind his back then stretched the rope down and tied his ankles. Then I got him into a chair and tied him to that.
" 'Face him towards the bed,' Joe said.
"I moved the chair.
" 'Now he's gonna watch his girl friend really get fucked,' Joe said. He was in seventh heaven.
"There was a muffled protest from the bed when Debbie caught the implication of what Joe was saying, but that was all the fuss she made. I don't know what her motivation was, but she didn't try to get up and run away or anything. She just lay there like a corpse.
"Joe looked lazily around the room. His vision fell and stayed on Ken. 'Put that stupid shit camera down,' Joe said, 'and get over there and fuck her.'
"Ken was silent for a few seconds. 'Ah, no Joe,' he said finally. 'I never did like sloppy seconds.'
" 'FUCK HER!' Joe shouted, and he meant it.
"Ken got out of his clothes in record time. He was stiff. He walked to the girl and stood over her, looking down. She turned her head away from him.
" 'I'll kill you if you do it,' Steve shouted from the chair.
" 'Put a gag on that asshole,' Joe ordered. I got up and did as he said. Damn, this is all hard to talk about. So goddamned shameful.
"You would have to be a dead man not to be turned on by Debbie, and Ken wasn't a dead man. He got on top of her and put himself in her. He told her to wrap her legs around his waist. When she didn't move, he reached down and slapped her. I didn't believe he would do that, but he did. It was really rape now.
"He must have hurt her, because she started to cry. But she also did what she was told and wrapped her legs around Ken. He started to move against her, really hard and wild.
"Debbie was making no noise at all, and Steve was going through agony. I saw him at one point close his eyes, to try to blot the sight out, but he couldn't keep them closed long.
"Ken finished up in just a minute or two. I admit that I was next in line, and I'll also admit that at that time I was anxious to get my share. I was so damned horny, and when a person's horny he'll do things he ordinarily wouldn't do. I realize that's no excuse though.
"I got up on the bed between her legs. 'Fuck her good Artie,' I heard a voice say behind me. But it wasn't Joe, it was Smitty. He had got into the spirit of the rape.
"Just touching her was like touching fire. She was that hot. I looked down at her. She wouldn't look at me. I reached down and moved her face until she either had to look at me or else close her eyes. She looked at me. 'Please stop,' she said. It only made me hotter.
"All of us had her that afternoon. All of us that is, except Joe. He was so tanked he couldn't have gotten hard if somebody had put a thousand dollar bill in front of his face.
"When the first round was over, we broke out more booze and started another party. Steve was kept tied to the chair. Debbie was kept for our future pleasure.
"It turned out that Joe didn't have to use his rifle anymore. He didn't have to give orders. We all agreed that we'd use the girl as long as we were up there.
"We kept her busy for the last three days of the trip. Guys would get up in the middle of the night and go to where we now had her tied. They'd take the ropes off and just get on top of her, or get her to get on her knees and then just use her. It was strictly animalistic.
"She soon gave up trying to get any of us to help her. She knew that she and her boyfriend were at our mercy until we either got tired of them or left.
"We left both of them tied when we took off. I know they got loose. They had to. But I've been worried ever since, and every time the doorbell rings, or the phone, I'm sure it'll be Steve, either with a gun or the police."
Artie's behavior illustrates a factor that is present very frequently in situations where a group commits the act of rape: there is almost always a leader whose actions arouse and incite the others to behave similarly. The secondary participants would not normally commit rape, but under the special circumstances of the group situation, where the leader establishes some kind of dominance over the other participants, their normal behavioral standards fail to prevail.
It is not necessary for the other members of the group to like or respect the leader, and indeed, in Artie's case, he openly and frankly despises Joe. However, Joe's behavior, as a kind of simulacrum for Artie and the others, gives them all a chance to let go of ordinary inhibitions without taking full responsibility for their actions. In a great many group rape situations, that failure to take personal responsibility is the key factor in the behavior of most of the participants.
Obviously, for Joe, his own personality provides him with an attitude towards others which can be defined as "criminal," and which can be examined in the light of his behavior as "criminally motivated." A precise definition of "crime" is given by Leon J. Saul in The Hostile Mind:
As for what crime is, throughout or discussion, we treat crime in the biological sense of injury to life and the living, particularly human life and human living. By injury, we mean not only bodily damage, mild or murderous, but anything which impairs development and adjustment, individual liberty and happiness. An injury is thus considered criminal if widespread perpetration of it would threaten the foundations and functions of society.
Obviously the behavior of the men in the hunting party is criminal, in that the young victimized couple are held prisoner against their will and forced into acts which violate their privacy, threaten their liberty, and impair their development as individuals. If this practice were widespread, obviously the entire foundation of society would be intolerably undermined, and therefore Joe can be termed a criminal.
There are some additional qualities of the rapists' acts which need to be examined in order to determine their responsibility. Saul in The Hostile Mind provides us with additional material which can be used to examine Joe and his confederates:
Of course, the quantitative factor is of great importance here. Not every inconvenience which someone imposes upon us need be called a crime; essentially we are seeking for the quality which can be isolated and properly described as criminal. This quality seems to be an inner, psychological one, a mechanism which conceivably can and perhaps does exist in quantitatively different degrees in everyone. Its essence is an individual's acceptance in his ego of sufficient hostility for him to act it out with relative freedom against other human beings for selfish personal purposes.
In acting out his own hostilities, Joe is the most apparently criminal of the group. However, it is important to realize that this quality of hostility must be present in each of the men in order for each individual to participate in the rape and exploitation of the young couple without seriously balking. It is the presence of hostility in each of them that allows the situation to develop.
Artie blames it on various things, such as booze, boredom, and sexual deprivation, all of which are entirely spurious failures to recognize the truth of the situation. If Artie himself had not been sufficiently hostile to have responded in the first place to the sight of a young girl being victimized, he would not have allowed the situation to get out of control. This is true for each of the participants, despite what their individual denials may be. It is all the more true for Artie, since he shows some tendency to introspection and analysis, and yet fails to go far enough in his self-examination to uncover this aspect of his own personality.
This is another factor which is often present in these situations: the failure of the secondary rapists to see that their own hostility has allowed them to respond to the situation their leader created. Recognizing that Joe's initial act of aggression was responsible for setting up the situation is not enough. If it had not been for the aggressive hostility present in each man, the situation would never have continued. They are all responsible, and Artie realizes this, although he does not seem to realize why.
The presence of hostility as a motivation for rape is substantiated by the comments of Gladys Denny Shultz in How Many More Victims
The illness of the otherwise normal men who force sex relations on women unknown to them and maul - sometimes kill - is a sickness of hate - hate of the female. Their sex instincts have become twisted and perverted by this hatred to such a degree that the protectiveness toward the self-respecting female which is inherent in decent, civilized men has turned to a desire to ravish and degrade, not for the sake of sex gratification - many derive no sex satisfaction from these forced relations - but from a desire to avenge themselves on the female sex.
For Joe, the leader, this is particularly obvious in his exploitive, twisted relationship with his wife, and Artie is aware of this aspect of Joe's personality even before they leave on the hunting trip. For the others, hatred of the female is less apparent, and hostility is a less all-encompassing motive. However, its existence to some degree in each of them cannot be denied.
Artie's remorse over his own behavior indicates that for him, hostility is perhaps a minor factor in his makeup. He is able to recognize that their treatment of the young couple was wrong, and he is able to admit his own partial responsibility for the episode. However, the situation might have been an opportunity for Artie to understand an aspect of his own personality that he is now not able to understand due to his failure to recognize what importance his own hostility played in his going along with the situation engineered by Joe.
For Artie, it does not appear that a recurrence of this kind of behavior is too likely. Although he enjoyed it, it seems to be fairly removed from his normal mode of sexual expression and not likely to become a pattern.