As promised when dusk began, three carts pulled up from different directions to Lot 204. Petey had a load of firewood and Kim and Terri helped her unload and stack the wood and start the campfire. Rita brought out a camp chair and set it up for Sara; she had a quilt to tuck around her to combat the chilly night air. Sara came out of the camper and made her way slowly to the small group. Jesse was the first one to greet her; she held her tight and kissed her cheek. “No tears...." Sara whispered in her ear and Jesse tightened her hug for a moment longer as she murmured her promise. In just a few minutes the fire was crackling and Nell had handed out the tumblers, she leaned close to Sara and spoke softly, "Darlin, I made yours with just a touch" she winked at Sara. They all got comfortable and as usual, it was Kim who asked the question that they had all been wondering. "How much time do you have?" she winced as Nell nudged her hard in the ribs. “I told you I would say the wrong thing" she rubbed her side and looked around the group helplessly. Rita started to say something, but Sara put a hand on her arm. “I’ll be here as long as I am supposed to be......" she said simply. She looked around the circle of friends and she could feel their love. It was an energy that was palpable. Petey took a cue from the fire and went to get another log to add. It was then that she realized that Rachel and Dory were walking from their camper to the golf cart. She waved a hand to them both as Rita walked over and smiled, “Would you like to join our campfire?" she invited her neighbors. Rachel looked at the gathering and then at Dory, who was still walking up to the cart. "Dory let's sit with them for a bit." Rachel accepted the invitation. “What about the Lodge?" she asked. “We can go up a little later. There is no rush." Rachel started to across the lot toward the fire. “Now you're learning," Petey smiled. "This is river time. No rush. No fuss" Dory looked over at the group, and though it was not what she wanted to do, she joined Rachel on one of the log benches, but she made sure everyone knew that this was not her choice for the evening. Her body language spoke of one who was uncomfortable and bored. She put her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hand and stared into the fire. Rachel walked by and patted Sara's shoulder and took a seat between Dory and Petey. Nell had already popped up and began making a drink for the newcomers, she deliberately made Dory's lighter than she normally made. She took the drinks over and handed them to the new arrivals. “This is made with homemade Kaluha," she said in her soft southern accent. "Thanks," Rachel smiled gratefully. She took a sip and gasped. “That is soooo good." she exclaimed. “Nell’s been cooking that recipe for about 10 years or so. She started cooking it on a camp fire, and then she went to using a grill, now I believe that it is brewed on that fancy fandangled camper stove." Sara laughed softly. “And every batch she makes is better than the one before." “I’ll drink to that!" Kim raised her glass. “I buy the ingredients, and I have followed her recipe, but Nell puts her love in every batch and I can never get to taste as good as she makes." Kim lamented. "That's because I omit the motor oil you lil gearhead," Nell joked and everyone laughed. Rachel looked around the group of women in the fire light and though she had only recently met them all, she felt very comfortable among them. Petey leaned forward to poke the fire with a piece of re-bar and adjusted the logs to burn a little more evenly. When she leaned back her shoulder accidentally brushed against Rachel's and she looked over to apologize but Rachel didn't seem to mind, she smiled casually. Terri's ever watchful eyes caught the unspoken communication between the two while Dory made annoying scraping noises with her boots. “How did you all get this place started?” Rachel asked the group. "I read every word in the brochure you gave me, but it doesn't really say how this came to be." Everyone turned to Nell and she looked around the group. “Ok, ok.....guess I am the designated spoke's woman." she laughed easily. " We all had lots in this place when it was more of a mainstream RV park, back in the day it was more of redneck retreat, than what it has become." she chuckled softly. “Naturally, being the women that we are, we sorted gravitated towards each other so to speak". Nell pointed toward Rachel and Dory "You two are from Dallas and you are bout 10 to 15 years ahead of us up here in the hills, we all had different mainstream jobs and responsibilities and we worked with people who were not as acceptant of our lifestyle as people have become these days. Hell it's hip to be gay, or to know someone who is gay, or have a friend who is "in the life". But for a lot of years we kind of lived under the 'radar' so to speak in the business world round here. When we met, Lord it was bout eight or nine years ago, and these two...." She indicated Rita and Sara "literally stumbled upon us, and it was one of those instant moments when you look at someone and the gaydar goes off. We knew we were sisters so to speak....... So we had been wanderin in here every season for several years and it was funny, every season we just picked up where we left off from before. We caught each other up on what had been happening off season, bitched about our jobs, moaned and groaned about the amount of work we had to do to get our places ready for the season. We all kinda started out with the bare necessities. Older campers. Lord those two started off in a pop-up tent on their ground." Nell pointed toward Jesse and Terri who nodded their heads in agreement. “But this place," and she stopped. “This place became a haven of sorts. Not that there are not dangers abounding in here. We have redneck intolerance, old school bigotry and just plain out and out ignorance of who we are and what we are getting out of our lives. But even so, here we felt safe. It was a place to getaway from the world so to speak, to relax and kick back. But just like we are who we are, we had the normal lesbian drama of fights, misunderstandings, misinterpretations, but even so I think that deep down we had a sense of respect for each other. And a willingness to help out in all kinds of situations. Lord, we had deck destroying parties, lot cleaning get togethers, pot luck suppers, barbeques……we have shared a lot of memories here." "I remember callin up these two one rainy Friday night, and asking Terri, "If I was a pussy, where would I be.!!!!!” She chuckled. “Kim and I were huddled underneath a blue tarp that we had stretched over our poor decrepit decklet and in these two roll in that black ford ranger. Terri jumps out and runs under the tarp laughing "Who you callin' a pussy! Needless to say, the Kaluha was cookin on the grill; we were laughing and carrying on under that blue tarp. Lord that was a night. One of many that we've enjoyed here. It's nothing to take a ride in a golf cart and suddenly be stopped at a campsite and end up staying and having a block party. That just the way it is here." Nell paused in her story and looked around at the group. She could tell from the way that Dory was sitting, she wasn't listening at all, but the others were smiling and nodding their heads and laughing at her jokes. “To make a long story short, about five years ago, this place was going down fast; the prior management was to say the least incompetent. We had always joked that for as much time as we spend here we should just buy the damn place and run it ourselves. In essence that is what we did more or less, none of us had the money or credit to buy it out right, so we formed a partnership, made a business plan and it just so happens that the president of one of the local banks was a member of the park, we invited him down one night for a cookout and of course the Kaluha came into play. By the time that old man poured himself back into his golf cart we had a contract signed by him personally agreeing to give us the line of credit that we would need for our business plan. And the rest I will let Jesse tell." She smiled as she deftly handed over the story to Jesse. “Labinky! I know it sounds strange and all..... but trust me it fits! Terri and I had a neighbor where we used to live and we would have these porch parties we called em. Every evening, after we got off work, or we were finished with supper we would go sit out on our little tiny deck and visit with the neighbors. We lived in a trailer park, so the nearest neighbor was about a good spit away. One of our neighbors was a gay gentleman and he was just the sweetest guy in the world. Ted was just a hoot to listen to when he started talking bout his drag queen days and he would just regale us with stories. He would come up the walk a waving his hand and askin' how are the Labinky's tonite. The first time he said it, Terri and I just looked at each other as in what the hell is he talking about. It was then that he explained that Labinky's in his world were lesbians. When it came time to find a name for this place we threw out every conceivable name under the sun and finally after we had finished off Nell’s decanter of Kaluha, out of the blue I just said we should just call the damn place Labinky Park because my brain can not think any more. And we were all drunk enough to agree. So Labinky's we be!” Dory kicked a stone toward the fire. She stood up, "Nice story." She looked down at Rachel “The Lodge is calling." Rachel looked around the women and back up at Dory and Petey could tell that she really didn't want to leave at that moment. “Rachel, I'll take you up later if you need a ride up" Petey offered. "Then give me the keys to the cart," Dory asked impatiently. “Just be careful, I'll be up in a bit." she handed over the golf cart keys to Dory. The group watched as Dory made her way to the golf cart and left the firelight. Nell tilted her head a bit and leaned toward the fire. She looked over toward Petey, “Guess maybe it's your turn" she smiled toward the comely blonde as she raised her glass. Petey looked a little spooked at being singled out, but she took a deep breath and cast a quick look sideways before she began." I answered an ad on the internet that Jesse had posted. It said 'Need diplomatic, hands on park management for a unique community of seasonal RV campers. Mostly female community.' which is of course double speak for lesbian resort. Now I am up in New England in a very small community that has a lesbian population of exactly two, me and a 85 year old sister who bless her soul gave me the best advice I had ever received in my life. " Petra, get yourself outta here, I am too old to show you the ropes kiddo, if I were 20 years younger, I would break you in good....get out and get you some baby girl. Now I was no babe in the woods, I had a few flings in college, but they were more like one night accidents than anything else. I concentrated on my classes; there was a lot of drama going on at home. I had a younger brother who had gotten into drugs and at that particular time in my life it was focused on him and trying to get him some help. As far as personal relationships... that was all kinda secondary. My family moved in a different world than I did. They were not totally ecstatic at my leaving what they considered the cultured New England environment for the wilds of West Virginia, but I am thinking, female resort, that is a lesbian's wet dream. So I emailed Jesse back for an interview. Drove down here about two years ago. It was the most interesting interview I had ever been on. The four of them were sitting up at the Lodge around a table and I walked in an introduced myself. I was asked one question by each of them......" "Nell was first and she asked ' We are responsible for the well being of the residents who pay good money to spend a good time at our park, what can you contribute to their safety and well being?' To which I replied " This is a 600 acre park, if anyone is lost, I'll find them, if they are drunk, I'll make sure they puke behind the trees, if they are rowdy, I can calm a crowd down, if they are in for a fight, I know how to dial 911. I have basic EMT experience from my college days and can take care of most non emergency medical situations." "Then Terri asked me how I would handle a roll out situation if the weather was calling for flash flooding. I said I would be unhooking trailers and hitching them up to whatever could move them and get the trailers to the highest ground in the park, and when I looked at the map coming in that would be the ball park field." "Kim asked me the difference between a open wrench and a vise grip. I laughed and pulled my Leatherman out from my pocket and opened it up, this attachment is a small vise grip, an open wrench looks like the letter c and comes in standard and metric sizes. Kim whistled and said 'sweeet'." Jesse asked the hardest question of all of them. 'If the opportunity would arise would I sleep with management?' I looked around the table at these lovely ladies and I think to myself, if I say no, this will offend them, if I say yes; I am not going to get the job. So I paused for just a moment and then said “well technically if I am staying here in the park during the season the same as you are, I am sleeping with management every night." They all busted up laughing and looked at each other and nodded then they looked back at me and said in unison. "You’re hired!"’ "Yeah she was the 200th applicant that had applied for that position, we had baby butches and femmes and every conceivable type of dyke and trannie that had applied. When Petey walked in she was like a breath of fresh air. We just knew she was the one and she has not let us down one bit." Terri laughed as she raised her glass. Sara grabbed Rita's hand and squeezed it. "I guess it is our turn now." Rita looked toward the group and smiled, “We have been park members here about 15 odd years or so. Like Nell said, this is a haven. Most times it seems like a lot of work, but we have enjoyed seeing this place grow and change. We were one of the ones that stayed on after Nell and her crew took over the management. We love this place. Sara has transformed this little parcel of ground into her home away from home. She is here the first day it opens and we are the last ones to leave at the end of the season." Rita started to choke up a bit and she looked into the fire. “This has always been our little get-away" Sara said softly. “I wish that I could pack it up and take it home with me at the end of the season" she said wistfully. “I have enjoyed every minute that I have had here. It was a fight to get here this season, but now that I am here, it feels so good." Sara looked over at Rachel and smiled. “Well neighbor, it looks like it is your turn now......" Rachel looked around the group, the combination of the warmth of the fire and the internal warmth from the drink had loosen what she had always considered a tight hold on her personal privacy. “I’m a lawyer," she began cautiously. She watched for a negative reaction because she knew that once identified, people had two reactions they either respected a lawyer or hated them. No one made a rude remark. That was a good sign. “I work for the District Attorney's office in Dallas, which means long, long hours and not much of a social life. Dory works in a local bank. We have been together for about ten years now, which is a record of sorts for me. The longest relationship that I had before Dory was roughly 3 to 4 years. I had the misfortune of getting involved with women who never thought that they were gay, but they said that they loved me." Rachel laughed at herself. “So, I devoted myself to my job." She looked into the flames of the fire pit and raised her eyes to the group. "Sometimes when you do all the right things, follow the letter of the law.....follow your conscience and your guts....you end up losing more than a case, you loose yourself......so I decided to take a break.....I Googled....lesbian friendly resort and all kinds of places showed up and I was just clicking aimlessly from one site to another and I clicked on your site and I saw that wonderful view of the river you have as the sun sets and I just wanted to see it for myself.....so I spent that night on the internet looking and comparing RV's, found a dealership near where I lived and printed out the make and model that I wanted, took my truck down the next morning, gave the printout to the dealer, and told him to get it hitched to my truck, I filled out the paperwork, wrote a check. Then I stopped at the Bass Pro Shop on my way back home, went to the Manager and told him I just bought an RV and needed it stocked, he worked up a list and had it delivered to the dealership to be put in Camper. I put in for a leave of absence from my job, Dory put in for her vacation and I drove us here. Not a camper by nature, but I think I have the nature of a camper." Rachel smiled at the group. “It looks like we all came here to heal in one way or another," Sara sighed. "Ladies, I would love to spend more of this evening with all of you, but the meds are calling and I need to snuggle down...before I fall down. Thank you all for coming down tonight. Be safe for the rest of the evening." she arched her eyebrows knowingly. One by one they all came over and hugged Sara. Jesse got on one side and Rita on the other and between the two of them they helped Sara negotiate her way back up the deck and into the camper. Petey and Terri took care of the fire ring, carefully dousing the flame and spreading out the coals to cool. Rachel folded up the quilt and sling chair that Sara had sat in and tucked it beside the camper door for the next day. Nell and Kimmy packed up the cooler and the tumblers, tossing the straggling ice cubes on the smoldering embers of the fire. The night was still young, in the distance you could hear laughter and music coming from the different campsites. Quietly, they each got in their carts and headed into the night. Click On The River To Chapter 29 © Labinky Park 2008 Labinky Enterprises 2008 |
Chapter 28
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