The Sheriff Of Lattimer County
Richard C. Russell
Copyright 2009 by Richard C. Russell
Smashwords Edition
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The Sheriff of Lattimer County
Chapter One
Fifteen-year-old Trudy Ann Goode awoke slowly. As she stretched and yawned, long black lashes blinked over emerald-green eyes against the strong sunlight streaming into her bedroom window. Her young eyes shone with unusual good health and intelligence.
Suddenly, she jumped up out of bed. Her face broke into a big smile as she remembered she’s coming today! After weeks of wheedling and begging, her father had finally consented to buy her the mare.
“It’ll be a late birthday present,” her daddy had told her, “but you’re goin’ to have to pay for the upkeep!” Then he added, “You know you’re goin’ to be solely responsible for that animal.” Trudy had nodded in agreement.
That animal was a registered Arabian mare. A family of horse breeders in the county to the north had gone bust. They were willing to sell the mare cheap. Well, cheap for a registered Arabian mare, Trudy Ann thought.
“That horse costs a lot of money,” her daddy told her.
Over the years, she had learned her daddy was what some people called tight-fisted when it came to money. She knew he wanted her to have a proper respect for it.
“I work hard for my pay,” he often reminded her. “Money’s no joke!” he would say. “You have to take damn good care of your money,” he had told her many times.
Trudy Ann walked down the hall to the bathroom. She pushed down her pajamas, sat on the commode and peed. Then she wiped herself, washed her hands and face, and walked back to her bedroom.
After making up her bed, she laid out the clothes she would wear today, bra, and panties, long-sleeved western shirt, and jeans. She took off her pajamas and put them in the clothes hamper in the closet. Before she dressed, she turned and studied her young body in the big mirror over the dresser.
Trudy Ann was tall for a girl just fifteen, but very coordinated. Her daddy was tall, and she had inherited his long legs. Barefoot, she stood five-feet, ten-inches tall. She had always been long, lean, and a classic tomboy.
Lately her breasts had started bloom and her slim hips had widened. Her mother had large breasts, so Trudy Ann guessed she would have them, too. She studied her young budding breasts closely in the mirror. They’re really starting to stick out, she thought, as she cupped them with her hands. Kind of getting squishy too, she told herself.
The small reddish-pink nipples grew firm causing a pleasant tingling sensation between her long thighs. She looked down at the patch of curly dark-blond pubic hair growing on her lower belly. That’s new, too, she thought. She was still adjusting to the on-set of her menstrual cycle–a major change in her life.
Trudy Ann frowned in the mirror. Jocks shouldn’t look like this, she told herself, but she could still out-run all the other girls on her team.
Next to horses, basketball was her favorite thing. She loved putting the ball through the net. If a member of the opposing team were to get in her way. Well, that’s just their tough luck, she thought, because the basket belonged to her.
She will be here today! she thought again excitedly and reached for her hairbrush. After a few short strokes, she was done with her honey-blond hair, which she kept cut short. Jocks don’t have time for long hair, she told herself. It required too much maintenance and it was too damn hot on the court. She dropped the hairbrush and walked to the bed. She dressed quickly and hurried downstairs for breakfast.
“They’re coming!” she said aloud excitedly. She had waited impatiently on the front porch for over an hour. Far down the road, she could see her daddy’s old green pickup pulling the big horse trailer.
Trudy Ann jumped off the porch and ran toward the gravel drive to the barn. She knew he would stop there to unload her new mare–her new Arabian mare! When her daddy stopped the truck, she ran to the back of the trailer for a first look. A long, silvery tail hung over the loading door. Above it was a large rounded pale-gray rump.
“Whoa, Trudy Ann,” her father said from behind her. “You don’t want to spook her. There’s plenty of time. Let me get her out of there.”
Her father drew the locking bolts from the each side of the loading door and let them hang from thin chains attached to the frame. Then he slowly lowered the big door to ground, providing a ramp for the mare.
“Easy girl,” he said softly as he eased up into the trailer beside the mare. He continued to talk to her in a quiet soothing voice as he reached for the halter rope. Trudy Ann knew her daddy had worked horses all his life.
After he untied the halter rope from the crossbar in the front of the trailer, he slowly backed her out. She acted a little shy when she heard her hoofs make drumming sounds on the ramp but soon she was on solid ground.
Trudy Ann was amazed the mare was so beautiful. She judged the mare to be about fifteen-hands high with perfect conformation. The mare moved with a light, graceful, prancing step. Her long, flowing silvery mane and tail complemented her pale dapple-gray body.
The mare had a small, dignified head, which was a trait of the breed, and she held it high with her neck arched. She looked down at Trudy Ann with an intelligent gleam in her big dark eyes. What a beautiful girl! Trudy Ann thought.
“Thank you, Daddy,” she said to her smiling father. “She’s just so wonderful! Thank you!”
Benjamin Pierce Goode watched his little girl’s reaction to her new mare. He felt very pleased. She’s been a good daughter, he thought. All her life, she had brought much happiness and pride to him and his wife. She’s growin’ into a beautiful young woman, he told himself.
They didn’t say much to her about that because beautiful people seemed to expect a lot for nothing. They wanted Trudy Ann to earn her place in the world on merit and not on her looks. Oh, he knew the day would come when she would become fully aware she was a beautiful woman, but he was determined to postpone that day for a long as possible.
“Well, here,” he said holding out the lead rope. “It’s your horse.”
As Trudy Ann led the mare away, her father bent to lift the loading ramp. He got in the old pickup, pulled the trailer around behind the old barn, and backed it under the shed. After unhooking the trailer, he drove around to the front of the house, parked, and walked inside.
She already knows how to tend a horse, he thought. He would have a cup of coffee and see what his wife was doing. It was his day off. Maybe Mama and me can find something interesting to do, he thought. He knew his daughter would be distracted for a while with her new horse.
Trudy Ann looked at the mare. The mare looked at Trudy Ann. Trudy Ann pulled a carrot out of her back pocket. One sniff and the mare’s ears perked up, she whinnied softly. Trudy Ann held the carrot out so the mare could take it.
The long neck stretched forward, and sensitive rubbery lips mouthed the carrot. Then with a snap sharp teeth cut off half of it. The mare nodded her head as she chewed with obvious relish. She stretched her neck again and reached for the rest. Soon the carrot was only a memory.
The mare put her soft nose in Trudy Ann’s palm. There was no more carrot, but her scent went up the mare’s long nose. A few more carrots and the mare would remember Trudy Ann forever. She would be able to find her new mistress anywhere within a reasonable distance.
Trudy Ann couldn’t wait any longer. Knotting the free end of the lead rope through the metal chin ring in the halter to use for reins, she slipped it over the mare’s head. Then she took a handful of shiny mane and swung herself up on the mare’s back. The mare stood quietly until Trudy Ann said “Get up.” With a graceful stride, the mare walked forward.
Trudy Ann guided the mare around the barn three times to get a good feel for her. Then she gently nudged her heels into the long barrel-shaped ribs. As the mare changed her gait to a slow rocking lope, Trudy Ann tightened her legs. She felt the mare’s heavy shoulder muscles surge between her thighs. Her lower body rocked with the motion. Soon pleasurable sensations flowed up her spine. Oh, it’s heavenly, she told herself.
She rode the mare around the barn until she felt the seat of her pants become damp from the mare’s sweat. It was time to stop. “Whoa,” she said when they reached the front of the barn again. The mare stopped dead in her tracks. After Trudy Ann slid from the mare’s back, she put her hand inside the halter and led the mare to her new stall in the old barn.
In the stall, Trudy Ann tied the halter rope to a plank above the water trough. Then she ran fresh water, filling the trough almost full. She poured a generous amount of oats into the feeder. As the mare drank water and ate her oats, Trudy Ann went to work on her with a metal currycomb. After she was satisfied with the job, she took a big horse brush and went back to work on the mare’s coat. She brushed and brushed. After doing the long tail, she finished by brushing the flowing mane.
That’s good enough, she told herself. The mare’s coat almost glowed. After Trudy Ann unsnapped the lead rope from the halter ring, she stood on her tiptoes and whispered into the nearest big soft ear, “Goodnight, girl.”
The mare whinnied softly as Trudy Ann slid the stall gate locking bar into the gatepost. Trudy Ann stood and just looked at her new mare a few minutes. Then she turned and skipped toward the house. She was a very happy girl.
Dinner then a hot bath, she thought when she reached the porch steps. Then hit the books until bedtime. That math test is in the morning.
Trudy Ann read the mare’s registration papers again. “Keep those in a safe place,” her daddy had warned. After studying for her test, she had brushed her teeth and got into bed. The light from the bedside lamp lit the official registration certificate from the A.H.R.A. showing her mare’s name and pedigree.
Wow, she’s a real princess! Trudy Ann thought, after reading her new mare’s registered name. Also listed were the names of the mare’s sire and dam, and their genealogy for several generations. Princess Lialila was her mare’s official name. Trudy Ann wasn’t sure how to pronounce it correctly. Princess Lialila by El ibi Sarii out of Ralilii was her mare’s pedigree.
I’ll call her Princess, Trudy Ann decided. She folded the paper, slipped it back into the envelope, and put it in the nightstand drawer. She would ask her daddy to put her mare’s papers in his safety-deposit box at his bank. Princess, she thought, as she turned off the lamp and snuggled under the covers. Her Princess, she told herself. Still smiling, she drifted off to sleep.
****
Life passed in a pleasant fashion for Trudy Ann Goode. Now sixteen, she had spent her time going to school, playing basketball, riding her mare, and driving her daddy’s old green pickup over the fields.
It was late Saturday afternoon and she had just had another driving lesson. Her daddy had seemed pleased with her progress. “Next week, we’ll try it on the road,” he had told her.
Daddy has spent a lot of time teaching me to drive, she thought as she ran water in the tub. She adjusted the facets until the temperature was just right. Then she poured some of the bubble bath stuff into the water as the tub filled. Her mom had given her the bubby-bath for Christmas.
Maybe it’s too girly, she thought as she watched the bubbles foam. She turned off the water, took off her robe, and stuck a toe in the water tentatively. Then she stepped into tub and lowered herself in the water. She slid down until the water was just under her chin and put a small rubber pillow behind her head.
“Aaaah,” she moaned softly. It feels so good, she told herself. As she soaked, she remembered driving the old pickup earlier. They still had the same old pickup. He’ll never buy a new one as long as it runs, she told herself.
The old pickup had a clutch and a four-speed transmission. Too damn many pedals, she had thought at first, but when she finally learned not to pop the clutch out too fast and stall the engine; she drove more smoothly across the fields. She had driven for a long time today.
Before each driving lesson, her daddy turned the old truck in a direction where she would cause the least amount of damage. He headed the old truck away from the house, the sheds, and the old barn. “You might take out a fence or two,” he had told her the first time, “but I can fix those.” Trudy Ann looked forward to next week when she would drive on the road.
Her daddy had taught her to drive and to ride and care for horses. He had also taught her how to shoot, hunt, and fish. She guessed he had passed those skills on to her because he didn’t have a son.
Sometimes her family visited a fish camp on the Colorado River for a few days. There were not any nearby lakes in their part of the country. Many weekends, just her and her daddy had gone camping in the mountains to hunt and to fish the streams. She felt she and her daddy were much closer than most other fathers were with their daughters.
Trudy Ann loved her mother dearly, but she felt a special kind of love for her daddy. From her earliest memories, she had seen him get up from the breakfast table to go to work. He always looked so tall, she thought as she closed her eyes. She could see him now.
Usually he dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt with the cuffs rolled up. His badge, a large silver star, with the word SHERIFF engraved across the middle of it, hung over his heart. He most always wore brown twill pants with a sharp crease and rawhide cowboy boots.
She could see the big wood-handled revolver in the holster on the wide pistol belt he always wore around his waist. Cut from one piece of tanned cowhide, the fancy hand-tooled pistol belt and holster, passed down from her grandfather who was sheriff before him, gleamed with saddle soap. Her great-grandfather had also been a sheriff. The men in her family had a long history as sheriffs of Lattimer County.
A long row of shiny bullets in leather loops ran around the back of the pistol belt. On the left side were a handcuff case and a key ring. A pair of chrome-plated handcuffs gleamed from the case. Among the keys was a little silver key for the ‘cuffs.
As a little girl, she had often played with the handcuffs. She would lock herself in and out of them repeatedly until her daddy told her to put them away. So she knew about the little silver key. She knew how to use the opposite end of it to lock the ratchet so the ‘cuffs didn’t get too tight and cause injury.
Her father also carried a long leather-covered, spring-loaded blackjack in his back pocket. “Outside of the pistol, it’s the best piece of law-enforcement equipment ever invented,” he had told her many times. “You lay this over a bad man’s ear with enough force and it will drive him to his knees, where he’ll be as docile as a newborn baby while you ‘cuff him,” he would say. “After that, it’s all up to the bad guy; if he wants things hard, things can be hard.”
When Trudy Ann was little, her daddy took her for rides in his squad car. It had a big red light mounted on the roof and a chrome-plated siren on the right front fender. They had sped along the country roads with the red light flashing and the siren howling.
It was so exciting! she remembered. When she got big, she had decided, she would wear a badge like her daddy. Ever since then she had wanted to be a lawman like her daddy, but she had never told him. Only she knew her secret ambition. Somehow, she had known her daddy wouldn’t approve of the idea.
Now there’s this dating thing, she thought. She opened her eyes and waved her hands thought the thick foamy bubbles. She had only had one date so far and it had turned out badly. It had happened last Saturday night. A large frown spread over her face as she remembered her first ever date. She had ended the evening fighting off Charley Adams.
I really misjudged Charlie, she told herself. She closed her eyes tight, held her breath, slid her head under the water, and used her fingers to wash her hair. Then she sat up in the tub and rubbed her eyes. After soaking a bath cloth, she used it to scrub herself thoroughly. Charley tried to feel me up after we got home from the movie, she remembered.
It was like he had a dozen hands, she thought as she rubbed the bath cloth between her thighs. “Ooooh,” she moaned softly. A warm tingling began and spread through her lower belly. His hands were all over me, but mostly on my breasts, she recalled. She rubbed her nipples and they became erect. Charley had tried to unbutton her blouse.
Trudy Ann slowly slid her right hand down her smooth belly and between her long legs. She used a long finger to rub her clitoris gently. Before I could remove one of his hands, the other one was on my breasts, she remembered. “Come on, Trudy Ann,” he kept saying.
At the movies, he behaved like a perfect gentleman, she told herself. He had brought them popcorn and cokes. She had enjoyed herself until he parked the car in front of her house. Because she was curious and had never kissed a boy before, she had rewarded him with a quick kiss. That was a mistake, she told herself. Because then he wanted more kisses and he started to paw her.
She had tried to get out of the car but he would not let her go. He was too strong for her. Finally, she had threatened to tell her daddy if he didn’t stop. That stopped him quick! she thought. She jumped out of his car and ran into the house. Boys just want one thing! she told herself. I’ll never go out with him again!
“Ooooh!” she moaned louder and rubbed herself harder. The tingling sensations became stronger and flowed up her spine. Her hips rocked and rotated as her stomach tightened and released in anticipation. She had done this before. It feels so good, she told herself, but she always felt a little guilty afterwards.
She closed her eyes tightly and bit her lip! Her young body suddenly convulsed in orgasm. “It’s so good!” she moaned softly. After a few long minutes, she washed between her thighs again. Residual spasms of pleasure ripple through her belly. It’s still tender, she thought.
Trudy Ann stood, reached for a towel, and dried herself before stepping out of the tub. It was late Saturday afternoon and tonight she had another date. This time, it’s Terry Parks, she told herself. Terry, a jock like her and captain of the football team, was taking her to a school dance. Dating is a little scary, she thought. Terry had better not try to paw me like that Charley Adams did, she told herself as she put on her robe.
****
The next two years pasted and brought profound changes to Trudy Ann’s young body. Now, at eighteen, she was as ripe as she would ever be. Her young breasts had ballooned! Now she wore a special wide-strapped sports bra to support them as she bounded up and down the basketball court.
The extra weight on her chest had forced her to tweak her jump shot and free throw. However, she quickly made the adjustment and soon regained her status as the high-scorer on her team. Soon she would graduate, and her high school basketball career would end.
Late one afternoon after basketball practice, her coach had asked her to come to his office. Trudy Ann was astounded when her coach told her she might be eligible for an athletic scholarship. It had never occurred to her. Her coach said representatives of the University of Arizona’s Athletic Department had approached him. Would Trudy want to play basketball for UA in the fall?
“Yes, Coach!” she had exclaimed. “Yes, I do want to play for UA. Please!”
Her parents were very happy and relieved when they heard about the scholarship. They had saved religiously to put money into her college fund. There was enough for the first two years at a good school. During Trudy Ann’s first two years at college, they expected to save enough for a third year, but money for a fourth year was in question. The scholarship was a true godsend. They had been prepared to take out a second mortgage on the ranch, if necessary, because Trudy Ann had to have her education.
That last summer before college, Trudy Ann spent her time riding, working around the ranch, and helping her mother with the housework. Her mother was not quite satisfied with Trudy Ann’s cooking ability, so there were additional culinary lessons. She often drove her daddy’s old pickup around the county on weekends. It really wouldn’t go very fast but she buzzed along the main highway.
She dated some, but she wasn’t serious about any of the boys she knew. They’re all just over eager adolescents in pursuit of their first sexual conquests, she told herself. She did not plan to lose her virginity to any of them. She dreamt of college men. Surely, they will be more mature, she often told herself.
In late summer, she and her mother went on shopping trips to buy her college wardrobe. They used some of the money her parents had saved for college tuition to pay for her new clothes. As she and her mother put away her new college clothes, Trudy Ann started to feel a little nervous about leaving home.
When fall came, Trudy Ann and her parents drove to the regional airport in Yuma. A twin-engine, turbo-prop jet belonging to a regional feeder airline would fly her to Tucson to begin her college career at UA. It was probably less than two hundred miles away, but to Trudy Ann it seemed as if she were going to the moon forever.
The night before she left for college, she had cried as she rubbed the long warm neck in the dark stall. “Goodbye, girl,” she said and put her cheek against the soft mane. “Bye,” she said again as she closed and barred the stall gate. The mare had whinnied softly as Trudy Ann walked out of the old barn. In the house, she had made her daddy swear to take good care of her mare. She knew he would anyway, but hearing his assurances made her feel better.
At the airport in Yuma the next morning, the family huddled together saying goodbye. Trudy Ann and her mom were sniffling. Her father tried his best to maintain a brave front. He advised his little girl to beware of the dangers of the big city. Tall and beautiful in a cream-colored pantsuit, she looked as if she could take care of herself.
He had taught her as best he could how to survive in the world. He had taught her man-things mostly, how to ride a horse, to drive, to shoot a rifle and a pistol. She had a natural eye and was a good shot. She’ll always be my little girl, he told himself with a lump in his throat. Ben Goode hugged Trudy Ann a last time. Then he stood aside, so mother and daughter could discuss intimate female things.
Trudy Ann‘s mom was happy and very proud, despite her sadness at seeing her baby leave home for the first time. She had dreamt of the day her daughter would go to college. Jean Goode had had to quit school after the eighth grade. She had to stay home to mind the other kids while her parents tried to make a living.
She was very proud for Trudy Ann and was sad to see her go, but she wasn’t that worried. She has a level head on her shoulders, she told herself, and she want be a pushover for any man. Jean Goode was sure if there were going to be any man trouble, it would have started long ago.
Trudy Ann was always very popular at school, but boys never became a problem. She had dated often, but there was no special boy. Her mother was sure Trudy Ann was still a virgin. They had talked about sexual things. She had spoken very frankly with her young daughter, because men had ruined more young girls than could be counted. She had warned Trudy Ann about unwanted pregnancies, sexual diseases, and such. Trudy Ann was prepared. She hugged Trudy Ann again and watched her turn toward the boarding ramp.
“Bye, Mom! Bye, Daddy!” Trudy Ann said and waved. Tears were in her eyes as she turned toward the plane.
She felt both sad and excited at the same time. She swung the small travel case in her left hand as she hobbled toward the boarding ramp. “Damn these shoes!” she cursed under her breath. She hadn’t worn high-heels enough to be good at it, so she had to move more slowly than normal. She arrived at the bottom of the high boarding ramp.
“These damn shoes!” she cursed silently again. I’ll never get use to the damn things. I’ll probably break my damn leg getting up these damn stairs! Lately, damn had become one her favorite curse words. And why not, she thought. I’m grown now and I could cuss, if I want to.
Very carefully, she placed one tiny heel after the other on the grooved metal steps and worked her way cautiously to the top. A pretty flight attendant, standing at the open door, smiled as she watched Trudy Ann’s progress. When Trudy Ann reached the top of the stairs, she asked, “First time?”
“Yes,” Trudy Ann admitted. She returned the smile and walked into the plane. She found an empty seat next to a small round window and sat down. It was her first time on an airplane, too.
After the flight attendant had closed the big door, preflight instructions began. Trudy Ann was sitting on her seat belt. She raised her rump, pulled the belt over her lap, and fastened it tightly as instructed. She was still thinking about the oxygen mask thing, when a loud roar came from the engines. The plane began to taxi toward the runway. It’s moving, she thought. Then the plane turned, rushed down the runway, and flew into the sky.
Oh my, she thought as the plane roared into the air. It’s going straight up! She felt her stomach lurch and reached for the emergency airsick bag. She didn’t dare look out the little round window. After several hard swallows, her stomach returned to its proper place, and she was okay. Then she peeked out the window next to her
How wonderful, she thought, looking down at the ground far below. The ground moved one way, and she another. It’s breathtaking, she told herself. She relaxed more and began to enjoy the feeling of soaring across the sky. She studied the clouds and terrain below. It seemed no time before the pilot announced the landing. Well, this is it, Trudy Ann told herself, College.
****
“Faster!” the coach yelled at them. Fifteen tall, sweaty females ran back and forth across the polished floor.
Ladders, Trudy Ann thought as she ran full speed from one end to the other end of the basketball court. Coach calls it ladders. Sounds of squeaking shoe soles echoed in the vast gym. She was sweating, but not breathing hard yet. She was in great shape. Trudy Ann had done this exercise drill for most of her high school life, but she had never heard it called ladders.
She had really tried to earn her scholarship. She gave a 110% at every practice and during every game. This was her third season with the team. She had earned a starting spot on the team her sophomore year. This year they were doing very well in their division. They might make the playoffs.
Her grades were still okay. She had to maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep her scholarship. The days of faculty leniency toward top jocks and their grades were long gone. She looked around at her fellow teammates huffing and puffing up and down the shiny wood planks.
Trudy Ann had always thought she was tall, but many of the girls running with her were over six-feet. They made her look short. They were towering, thin and willowy, but hard as nails.
Trudy Ann had learned the painful way that college basketball was a much more aggressive game than she had played in high school. Cracked ribs, busted noses, split lips, big black eyes, and painful pulled muscles were the norm after every game.
After their warm-up, they played a hard scrimmage game between two teams chosen by the coach. Later they cooled-off by practicing free throws and jump shots. The whistle finally blew. It echoed loudly in the vast gym. “Okay, showers!” The coach yelled.
****
The next morning, Trudy Ann sat in the middle of the fourth row in the classroom. The boy sat to her right, two rows up. She could see his profile clearly. As the English Lit Professor droned on, she studied the boy’s face. His nose turns up a little at the end in a cute way, she thought. Combed low on his forehead, his hair had a long, gentle wave on the side. It’s not long, and it’s not short, she thought. His hair was very thick and a dark reddish-brown.
He wore brown horn-rimmed glasses. From time to time, he would turn his head her way and the eye she could see, slightly magnified behind the lens, was a greenish-brown color. Glasses only enhance his intelligent look, she decided. He would still look intelligent without them.
He’s the most intelligent-looking boy I have ever seen, she decided. He’s not big, not a jock. Usually, she was in the room before he arrived, and she always watched him take his seat. He’s not tall, either, she told herself, Not nearly as tall as me.
The boy wasn’t heavy but he’s wasn’t slim either. He looks solid, she thought. Why was she attracted to him? She didn’t know, but she was, and she decided to meet him outside of class. Trudy Ann turned her attention the professor.
****
Later that afternoon, Trudy Ann saw the boy again in the Student Union. He was sitting alone at a table sipping a drink of some kind from a Styrofoam cup. A paper plate with a nearly eaten sandwich set to one side of a book that lay open before him. He was reading and sipping the last of his drink. He nibbled on his straw as she walked by to get some lunch.
Trudy Ann bought a sandwich and a small bottle of sparkling water. Then she walked back to his table. “May I join you?” she asked the boy. She watched, as his eyes got even bigger behind the lens of his glasses. He seemed to gulp with surprise.
“Sure-e-e,” he said and sat up straight in his chair. As Trudy Ann sat down, she felt her breasts bounce against the jersey she was wearing. She wasn’t wearing a bra today, and enjoying the freedom. After all, she thought, this is the day of the liberated female. She hadn’t missed seeing his eyes stare at her breasts.
“What’s your name?” she asked him. Reluctantly, his eyes left her breasts and focused on her eyes.
“Robert Stevens,” he said. His voice was mellow and pleasant to hear.
“My name’s Trudy …” she started to say, but he interrupted her.
“I know who you are,” he said hurriedly. “Everyone on campus knows you.”
“Really?” she asked. “What do they know?”
“Well … that you’re the hot basketball player,” he said.
“Hot as in good, or hot as in attractive?” she asked him jokingly
“Both!” he said immediately then he blushed.
”Thank you,” she told him and gave him a warm smile.
“We have English Lit together,” she said.
“I know,” he responded. His eyes roved over her.
She noticed his eyes had returned to a more normal size, but he was still looking at her very intently as if he were doing a painting of her. Trudy Ann wished she had done something with her hair and had used some makeup, but she seldom wore makeup.
“Where are you from, Robert?” she asked him. She seemed to be carrying the conversation. Maybe he’s not as bright as he looks, she thought.
Not being bright wasn’t Robert Stevens’ current problem. Believing this beautiful girl was talking to him was his problem. Just looking at her rendered him nearly speechless. She’s one of the hottest girls on campus, he thought. Every jock in the Athletic Department is trying to be the first to bang her. What’s she doing sitting here talking to me? he asked himself.
“Memphis, Tennessee,” he heard himself say.
“How did you get to UA?”
“Scholarship,” he said.
“You play a sport?” she asked him in a doubtful tone of voice. What is it, she wondered, golf? The university did have a golf team.
“It’s an academic scholarship,” he said in a quiet voice.
“Oh,” Trudy Ann said.
Their conversation continued in a similar vein for some time, with her doing most of the talking. After a while, he seemed to relax and started to talk more. They agreed to meet later after her basketball practice.
“Here?” he asked her.
“Okay,” Trudy Ann agreed. “About eight o’clock?”
“Okay,” he said.
“It was nice meeting you, Robert,” Trudy Ann told him as she stood up. He jumped up from his chair. “Bye,” she said and gave him a smile and a little finger wave.
“It’s my pleasure,” he assured her before she turned and walked away. It definitely was his pleasure. His whole body vibrated very pleasantly as he watched her walk from the room. She carried herself with a long graceful stride. Just like a goddess, he thought.
Jesus! How did that happen, he asked himself on the way to his next class. The rest of the day moved very slowly for Robert S. Stevens. When he finally entered his dorm room, his roommate, Sam Betts, jumped him.
“Bobby, dude! I saw you talking to that tall, hot blond babe!” Sam yelled. “Man, don’t you know that’s for jocks only. Careful those monsters don’t murder your little ass!” Sam giggled with glee. “What did you do? You go begging to her table?”
“No! She came over to my table and asked if she could sit down,” Stevens told his roommate and only friend on campus.
“Oh, sure she did!” Sam Betts snorted in total disbelief. “Sure she did. I can just see it all now!” Betts said.
“Yeah, well, think what you want,” Stevens told him. He stripped off his clothes and put on his bathrobe. “I’ve got to take a shower,” he said as he picked up his shaving kit. He slipped his feet into shower clogs and started for the door.
“Hot date,” Sam asked him snidely. Stevens couldn’t help himself it was just too good. He stopped and looked at his smartass roommate.
“Yup, got a date with Trudy Ann Goode at eight in the Student Union,” he said and walked out of the room.
Sam Betts frowned and then said aloud, “No fucking way!”
****
“Where are you off to, Trudy?” Mindy Evers asked her roommate as she walked toward the door of their room. They had just returned from basketball practice and Mindy lay on her bed exhausted. She watched as Trudy Ann hurriedly took off her sweaty warm-up suit. Then she saw her throw on her bathrobe, grab a plastic shower bag, and head for the showers at the end of the hall.
Mindy was also a scholarship basketball player. She was black and from an agricultural area north of Jackson, Mississippi noted for its cotton production for hundreds of years. Some of her ancestors had been enslaved and imported from a part of Africa where the natives grew very tall.
In the old days, tall slaves were all right if they were also heavy and wide at the shoulders. Tall and slim was not a trait favored in a field slave. Field slaves labored from sunup to sundown in the fields to grow and harvest cotton.
In an effort to breed the tall trait out their male slaves’ offspring, plantation owners put the extremely tall males to shorter, broader females the same way they put stud horses to mares. It was a good plan that produced thousands of large and tall field hands.
From her high school history classes, Mindy had learned breeding slaves had become a big business in the south after England and other European countries had banned slavery. Occasionally, there were throwbacks to the old gene pool producing extremely tall females. Mindy Evers was just such a throwback. She stood six-feet, three-inches tall and she was a hell of a basketball player.
Mindy had been Trudy Ann Goode’s roommate since they had arrived at UA on the same day. She also felt they were good friends. In all that time, Mindy had seldom seen Trudy Ann put on makeup or even try to dress up. Soon Trudy Ann had returned from the showers with a damp towel around her head.
She’s not really all that dressed up now, Mindy thought. Trudy Ann had put on a tight sweater and a short skirt, which was very unusual. No bra, Mindy told herself. That’s not like Trudy Ann.
Trudy Ann wore flats, because she didn’t want to look too tall. After brushing out her short blond hair, she used a pale shade of pink lipstick. Now she inspected herself closely in the full-length mirror they had installed on the back of the door.
“Well?” Mindy asked again.
“I’ve a date,” Trudy Ann said, looking at Mindy’s reflection in the mirror.
“You,” Mindy said. “You’ve got a date? You don’t date!”
“I do now,” Trudy Ann told her as she turned from the mirror. She took a small purse that Mindy had never seen before and put girl stuff into it.
“Is that perfume, I smell?”
“Yes.”
“Trudy Ann?”
“See ya, don’t wait up,” Trudy Ann said and was out the door, leaving a perplexed Mindy talking to herself.
Robert Stevens saw her as soon as she walked through the double doors of the Student Union. Even that far away, she’s a vision, he thought.
He watched her as she moved toward him with a long graceful stride. Hard running on the basketball court had sculptured her long tanned legs to perfection. He noticed how her large breasts bounced against the tight sweater. Her short blond hair shone with health. She was smiling. He stood up before she stopped at the table. Hurriedly, he pulled out a chair for her.
“My, aren’t you polite,” she said. She smiled again as she sat down. He loved her smile.