The Guardianship
Part One
by Jack Lennox* * * * * * *
Her lungs without air, she ran without breathing.
She did not look left or right, up or down, forward or back ...but to only the fear to lead her home.
On that hot damp night she woke from a much warmer dream. As awareness gradually filled in the gaps between the conscious and subconscious, she came to realize that she had been dreaming about her Guardian. A heart knows not from dream or reality and hers beat hard and fast, still longing from its tantalizing involvement. She lay on her back having unintentionally turned over in her sleep, could feel the discomfort where her bottom made contact with the mattress, but her attention was directed to more urgent concerns. The dream was already slipping away, only vague disjointed patches from a quilt of desperately erotic images that still held her firmly in their grip. It was not the first time the so-very-handsome man had played a part in her dreams, but after the way he had disciplined her that evening, she was not surprised how he had gotten, not just into her mind, but into her blood. She slid a determined hand down and over her belly, under the waistband of her little underpants, fingers intent on bringing relief to both tortured mind and body. The spasms quickly came and went, marked only by a gasp lost in the lonely spaces of her room. She turned over on her stomach and tried to go back to sleep, hollow and unfulfilled.
* * * * * * *
1
Nina Marie Andersson was in pain. Her ankles were on fire as she tried to keep pace up the hill that would not end. The warmth of the afternoon seemed to smother her, and she was soaked under her sweats. Cursing the body that she swore had not been made for strenuous exercise, she welcomed the summit that was finally within her sights. Dan had already slowed to practically a snail's pace, and she did not want to disappoint him -- did not want to, perhaps, miss out on his words of encouragement or smile that reassured her that he was proud of her ... how pathetic does that sound? She laughed at herself but accepted the need, recognizing that his approval had become a reward that provided her with additional motivation. At least it was something he gave of generously, and her life was so much the better for it. Certain her walking shoes had turned to lead weights, she continued to force herself onward trying to match Dan's abbreviated stride. Muscles strained to their limits, her legs had lost all flexibility. She was reminded of the phrase, no pain, no gain, and imagined its author dipped in honey and staked to a hill of fire ants. Suddenly, a groan of anguish escaped her lips, and with a single motion she grabbed her right ankle and dropped to the cement of the narrow path they had been following.
The cramp was unbearable and she was only vaguely aware that she was being picked up and carried. Dan set her down on one of the stone benches provided along that section of the trail and she felt strong fingers probe the muscles in her calf and ankle, gently coaxing them to loosen. She let out a little whimper of relief as the pain subsided. He continued to massage both ankles where she still tingled from her overexertion, and she allowed her sorely tight legs complete and blessed relaxation.
"You okay?" he sounded concerned.
"Yes, it's fine ...just a little cramp," she reassured him reluctantly, still breathing heavy, not wanting him to stop. She would be perfectly content to have his hands on her as long as, and anywhere, he liked, but she banished that thought as soon as it surfaced.
"You know, you're not training for the Olympics here, Nina. Just let me know, and we can stop and rest before you hurt yourself."
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to make it to the top."
Unconsciously, she had slipped into a higher-pitched, younger sounding voice, and it made her blush and smile self-consciously.
"That's okay, just relax and catch your breath."
The air thin, they were almost 6000 feet above sea level. Denver is, after all, the "Mile High City", and the southern side a little higher.
"Whew!" she exhaled as she took off her Colorado Rockies baseball cap and fanned herself with the brim. "This is definitely the hottest day this year." She knew summer was near and it would only get worse. She didn't know whether it was due to the thinner mountain atmosphere or that they were just closer to the sun, but that sun was brutal if you didn't protect yourself from it.
"We'll keep this to early mornings and evenings, even on weekends from now on," he said, as if reading her concerns.
"Glad to hear that." She smiled at him. Her delicate ankles were feeling much better now, and her breathing had become less pronounced. Her heart rate was still rapid, but she wouldn't bet it was merely a result of her exercise.
Stiff at first, her legs gradually loosened as they started back up the long grade, Dan walking backwards ahead of her until she could proceed without apparent discomfort. He was out jogging the same paths every morning before she was out of bed; he accompanied her on her brisk walk, mostly for her benefit, acting as coach. His movie star face topped with short dark hair did not escape her attention. She admired his body, as well -- tall and lean with muscles hinted at under his gray sweats -- but with an eye that veiled her interest. When he turned, she became more focused on the remainder of her task, looking forward to finishing the last few hundred feet of the most challenging climb she'd attempted to date. She consulted the calendar in her head and realized they had started this five-day-a-week ritual almost three months ago, gradually building up her endurance with increasingly longer trips. She was certainly no athlete but had never felt healthier in her life.
When they reached the summit, they stopped, not from fatigue, but to catch their breath at the view. Below their feet another verdant valley had been carved out of the rugged landscape. It was not the first time that Nina had marveled at the thought that they had walked to such a grand view of nature, only a few miles from their suburban home. At the southern edge of the city, nestled in the foothills of the great Rocky Mountains, The Highlands was the pride of the state. A vast development of both multi-million dollar homes built into steep embankments and more modest middle-class neighborhoods arising to weave through gentler rolling hills, the area was a beautiful mix of man's design and nature's wild. The original plan was to build smaller individual residential developments separated by buffers of untouched wilderness, and despite the temptation to sell valuable real estate, the city had kept to its design.
Nina felt exhilaration as a pleasant breeze ruffled her shoulder-length blonde hair. The long journey up the hill had led to a beautiful discovery and she could imagine herself standing at the top of the world. The terrain spread out before the two of them was an impressive creation: a complex of jagged red rock and ravine broken by plummeting expanses of thick green brush and contrasting seas of wildflowers. Far below, alder and birch sprang up in clusters marking partially hidden streams still flush with the melt of the winter's snow. Everywhere, lines of graceful aspens stretched to meet the bright blue late-spring sky ...and on terraced hills above, the homes of Denver's elite clung unobtrusively to witness the glory.
"This is so gorgeous," she said and followed it with a sigh. "Thank you for bringing me up here."
Dan looked at her and smiled. It was a smile she wished she saw more often. The affection it conveyed was evident; she interpreted it as the feeling a big brother might have for his little sister. It wasn't exactly what she wanted, but it was far better than nothing. The fact was, she wished he smiled more, period. She characterized him as really pretty moody ...it's not as bad as that sounds. Since moving into his home three months ago, he had always been polite to her, had never once made her feel unwelcome. The domestic scene they created together made for a genteel, almost formal, tableau. They might share a smile or laugh when he was up, but she thought there always seemed to be a vague cloud of sadness around him preventing him from exacting any real joy out of life. I should talk.
"This is about as far south as it goes," he told her.
Veering off to her left, the narrow white strip of cement continued, and Nina tried to follow its twisting path with her eyes before it disappeared behind a bluff, then reappeared again further down. She loved the seemingly countless pathways that had been laid down throughout The Highlands, each a little adventure to be explored, where one path would eventually meet another and could eventually lead you back to where you started. A path could take you through a small forest, along a meandering creek, and across a flowering field, down a bouldered bank. Or it might follow a line of homes with backyards in view, through parks with children playing, cross residential streets and boulevards, past schools, behind strip malls, and around new construction pushing the city's expansion further south every year.
Dan knew most of the trails well, having jogged them for over two years, but for Nina there were still discoveries to be made. She was at the midpoint of her most ambitious walk yet, what figured to be about five miles round trip. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon in late May, but that could always change. Clouds were already boiling up over the mountains to the west and moving rapidly in their direction. The weather was never predictable. In March they had walked under clear warm skies one day, only to brace themselves against a cold bitter wind the next. There were days in April that felt like a sweet summer, others where the wet paths they followed were the only ground surrounding them not covered by blankets of melting snow. As they stood admiring the view, the naked May sun gazed upon them with its burning eye, but only the week before they had trudged through several days of gloomy gray, returning home each time damp from the incessant drizzle.
After taking in the scene, the two set off again on the trail that would turn and lead north and eventually to a path back to the park across the street from the single-story house they shared on Clairmont Avenue. She was eager to get back to her computer, as she had the rest of the afternoon free. It seemed that was where she found all of her entertainment lately, but she was not ready to admit that it had become an addiction. At least these days she was getting some regular exercise. They walked at a much stiffer pace, but it was all downhill and Nina had no difficulty keeping up with the longer strides of her Guardian.