‘Keep Out’ :Excellent ‘What the Camera Saw’ story entry

Readers,

Here’s another of the excellent entries to January’s story writing contest, ‘What the Camera Saw’. I think that you’ll find each and every one highly enjoyable. In ‘Keep Out’, an accidental voyeur finds a friend in a very compromising position.

–  Dana

The sign said “KEEP OUT”, but it was not something anyone seemed to obey. 



Once through the gate, the small one vehicle dirt trail headed over a hill and into the heavily treed property out of sight.  When the “Y” came in the road, the right side took you to a huge soft sand pit.  And in the middle was a collection of rain water at times.  The sides of the pit were covered in motorcycle tire marks, some making it all the way up, some in a half circle up the sides.  Not all of these were my tracks, and I knew that people were entering the property to do the same.  It was a really beautiful spot, and many hours had been spent winding the sound of the bike engine, and unwinding the stress of my body’s engine.

If you took the side to the left of the “Y”, eventually you came to a cute little cabin in an opening on the left side of the road.  I never locked the door, as neighbour kids were prone to break in anyway. 

Inside I had an old metal frame bed, and a fairly good mattress.  Also a wood stove, and a table, a few chairs, some pots and pans, matches, firewood, etc.  All you would need for a night away, except for your bedding, food, drinks and personal items.

If you continued past the cabin, the trail would narrow, as trees and brush had been growing in over the road and the vehicle path itself was pretty much growing in with grass.  It was not a problem for a motorbike in anyway.   15 minutes through beautiful back woods country there was a small lake that no one had access to outside of my trail.  I spent many hours around that lake just watching, thinking, taking time out to myself.  It was not a lake I ever took a boat into yet, as the shore was so soft and full of weeds, grass and brush, but perfect to find a moose grazing in, which I had observed on one occasion the previous summer.  It would be hard to even get a boat from solid ground to clear water until I did some cutting away.

If you circled up along the lake to the left, you followed a trail that went up a steep hill, and once on top, each side dropped down sharply.  One side towards the road, the other towards the lake.  I would take the bike up there and in one small spot you could look around a large section of the property.  As the trail continued, it ended up back on the original road, just a little short of the cabin.



I was on one of my de-stressing rides.  I took the right turn at the “Y” first and tore a few layers of sand from the side of the hills.  I jumped off the bike and looked into the collection of left over rain water.  There were tadpoles galore, with all different advancements.  Some were still undeveloped, some had legs starting, some with 4 limbs protruding and the tail shortening.  It was funny to try and catch them and look at them closer.



Back on the bike I wound it out as fast as I could as I headed back towards the road, so I could go further up into the property.  I never really expected anyone there, because it was supposed to be private, and my property alone.  And other than catching the neighbour kids in the pit on their bikes or dune buggy a few times, it was really not trespassed on, so I thought.



I flew past the cabin at a pretty high speed, but just before I was about to go into the denser part of the trail something to my left sparkled and caught my eye.  I looked back, and noticed a small car parked behind the cabin, out of sight if you turned around at the cabin, but not quite out of sight if you went past.  I decided to keep going, so that they wouldn’t think I noticed anything.



I wound the engine loud, so that they could hear that I was long gone down the trail, and they would realize they would hear me if I came back, so maybe they would leave before that. 

I took the bike to the lake and up onto the ridge.  I rolled quietly along the top, so that the engine could not be heard.  When I got a little closer to the cabin I shut the bike down and parked it.  I decided to walk the rest of the way and see who dared to come onto my property past my signs and through the gate.

I was circling up behind the cabin and was about 50 feet away on the ridge, but it had come down a lot lower to ground level by this point.  I sat there for a minute, and just listened.  I could hear a noise, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was.  Was someone hammering something in my cabin?  Was someone wrecking it?  Were they trying to chip some wood off the logs?  I couldn’t quite make out what it was, but maybe because I was too far.  I slowly slid down the hill in the brush, while still remaining low on my heels as they slid down.  I got about 20 feet closer.  The sound was clearer, but I still couldn’t make out what it was from, or what these people were doing inside my cabin.  It was almost beginning to sound like slapping of some sort.  But I pushed that out of my head, because why would anyone be slapping someone way out here?  I listened hard.  There was nothing else I could come to conclusions with that type of sound.  I had to get closer.

I was about 15 feet away from the cabin now, just inside the brush line, still out of sight pretty much.  They would actually have to stand on the bed and look out the small window just above it, in the back of the cabin to see me.  It WAS slapping.  Why the heck would anyone be out here slapping???  So many scenarios went through my mind.  I didn’t even know if it was one person or more.  I knew the car was small enough that not more than 4 people could be in there at the most.   Then I could hear a voice.  I stayed put and just listened.  I could decipher it was a woman’s voice.  Not quite words, but was definitely the voice of a lady.  I tried to hear what was being said, but it was just normal talk, so it wouldn’t penetrate through the walls.  As I listened, I finally heard the voice of a man.  “I’m so sorry hun.  I really didn’t mean to.  I just wasn’t thinking at the time.” 



What the??  I just couldn’t figure out what was going on.  I get the whole apologizing thing, but why the slapping?  And if he was the one being sorry, then it wasn’t him slapping her I would assume.  That actually gave me a sense of relief, because I never had respect for a man who could hit a woman.  But what was she doing?  Slapping her hand?  Slapping his face?  His leg?  It wasn’t the sound of a slap on the table or the chair or anything, it was definitely the sound of skin on skin.  I was curious, so I had to slowly stand up and ever so carefully walk directly up behind the cabin in hopes of not making one piece of dead stick snap or rock get kicked. 

I was listening about a foot behind the cabin exterior wall.  “You really disappointed me this afternoon Jake.”  Slap.  Slap.  Slap.  “And I don’t know where you ever thought that doing that in front of everyone was something acceptable”  Slap.  Slap.  Slap.  “And it didn’t just embarrass me, I seen the others looking at you wondering why you would do that.”  Slap.  Slap.  Slap.  SLAP. SLAP. SLAP. 



I wondered if this was the Jake who lived up on the next side road.  I hadn’t really met him yet.



“But hunny, I didn’t mean to.  It just happened all wrong.”  SLAP. SLAP. SLAP. SLAP.

“There is no excuse to have even attempted it, never mind in case it turned out wrong!!”  

SLAP.  SLAP. SLAP. SLAP.  “Owww.  But it was all done in innocence….”  SLAP!!!!!!  “…..it was just to get Brent back for what he did to me last week.”   SLAP!!!! SLAP!!!!  SLAP!!!!  SLAP!!!!! 

“Oh, and you think that retaliation is the way to get him back?  And then what?  He will have to out do you?  When will it stop???”   SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  “I’ll tell you when!!!  Right now!!!!  This is the end of it!!!”  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  “The way you scared Kathy was beyond what she needs!!!”   SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.

“But I didn’t mean for Kathy to find it!” 

“Look at me!  You didn’t mean for HER to find it, but odds are it might not have been Brent considering it was their place and both had access to the outdoor freezer!!!  You actually made her black out!!  And you embarrassed me so bad in front of everyone!!!”  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  “Everyone knew it was something YOU did, whatever was in that freezer!”  SLAP!!!!!  SLAP!!!!!  SLAP!!!!!  SLAP!!!!!



The sounds of those slaps were so loud!!!!!  Could she actually be spanking this guy??  No way!!!  That doesn’t really happen!!!???  But, what else could it be??  I can’t fit any other scenario into what might be going on.  I HAD to find out!!!  But how?????   I listened again for awhile.

“But Darla, hunny, I had told Brent to go and get the ice I brought, from the freezer, not Kathy!”  SLAP!!!  SLAP!!!  “So, really, it’s her fault….”  SMACK!!!! SMACK!!!!  SMACK!!!!  SMACK!!!!



It was Jake.  Jake and Darla!  Oh my goodness!!!  I couldn’t believe this was one of my neighbours!  I didn’t recognize the car, but they probably borrowed someone else’s who was easier accessible.



“How DARE you blame her!!!!  She has nothing to do with this, and yet she was the victim!!!” 

The slapping never stopped.  It just continued on, and when he found a moment to catch his breath, he would try and explain.  “Darla, owww, Darla.  Listen.  It was just innocent.”  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.

“Listen, please, listen hunny.  Owww” 

She never stopped, but he continued to try to explain.

“Darla, it was just an old manikin from the shed at work.”  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  “Brent knew it was there, and that’s why when I put the pieces in the garbage bags…..”  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  SLAP.  “….Owwww….. hunny, please listen!  When I put the pieces in the garbage bags, and into Brents freezer, I knew it wouldn’t….”   SMACK!!!  SMACK!!!!  SMACK!!!  SMACK!!! SMACK!!!   “….freak him out, because he would touch it and know right away pretty much!!”  SMACK!!!  SMACK!!!  SMACK!!!  SMACK!!! 



“But what happened?”  she asked without stopping.  SMACK!!!  SMACK!!!  SMACK!!! 

“Well, I asked Brent to go get the ice.”  SMACK!!! SMACK!!! SMACK!!!.



I HAD to see what was going on!!!!  I couldn’t handle it any longer.  Just then I remembered I had my phone in my pocket!!  I immediately shut off the ringer.  Thank goodness no one called in the last half hour!!!   Hey!!!  I can sneak a peek through the window by holding my phone up!!!  Awesome!!! 

Hmmmm.  Maybe I don’t want to see what is going on inside my cabin!!  Ahhhh, yeah, I gotta now!!!

I put the phone on video, and lifted it ever so carefully above my head.  Darn it!!  I was about a foot too short of the window!!  Should I stand on something?  I looked around me, carefully, quietly.  But other than a small log, that would only make me fall if I tried, there was nothing solid enough to stand on. 

I decided to sneak around to my right, as there was a window a lot lower down on the wall on the cabins side.  One I could reach, but not quite see in from ground level.  I turned the video back on, and ever so slowly slid it up close to the window frame, just barely getting the lens into the window.  I couldn’t make out what was being recorded, but the cabin was one room and small, so odds are, they would be in line of view somewhere.  So I just let it record and listened.  The smacking never ceased.



“Don’t even dare tell me in any way, shape or form it was Kathy’s fault for going to grab it for him!!”

SMACK!!!  SMACK!!!  SMACK!!!  SMACK!!! 

“Well, no.  I guess it wasn’t her fault, really.”   SMACK!!!  SMACK!!!  SMACK!!! 

The sound was even louder!!! “Okay, okay.  Owwwww.  It wasn’t her fault at all.  It was mine!”  SMACK!!! SMACK!!!  SMACK!!! SMACK!!! SMACK!!!  “I should never had done it in the first place.  Not because I was afraid of Brent finding it, but…”   SMACK!!!  SMACK!!! SMACK!!!  “….because there was just a slight chance someone else, owwwww, would have!”   SLAP!!!  SLAP!!! SLAP!!!  SLAP!!!!

“Right!!!  And that IS what happened!!!  How DARE you even chance that!!!  REALLY??  Wrap a manikin in garbage bags?  And leave it in the freezer on a hot day when you know someone would need to go and get ice or something?  I can’t believe you even considered that funny for one minute!!!”  SMACK!!! SMACK!!! SMACK!!!  SMACK!!!  “I couldn’t even wait until the kids went to bed to deal with you for this!!!!   Thank goodness we had access to this cabin!!!  I really don’t know what I would have done outside of that!!!”  SMACK!!!  SMACK!!! SMACK!!!! 

“Look at me!!!  When we get back to Brent’s place to get the kids, you had better go straight to Kathy and apologize!!  You should even get on your knees and beg that she forgive you for this one, because I wouldn’t doubt she has second thoughts of you being even NEAR her property, ever, in case you pull something like this stupid prank again!!!” 

“Okay, okay.  I will!!  I promise.  I’m sorry hun!!”



The smacking started again, but I thought I had better sneak away before they ended whatever was going on.  I turned off the video, slowly walked around to the back of the cabin.  As I did, I heard her say, “Now, get up!  Get dressed.  And let’s get back to that party immediately.”



I managed my way up into the brush, and sat down on the little ridge again, just behind the cabin.  Within minutes, I seen Darla come out and get into the car.  She started it and backed it out, and stopped in front of the cabin.  I guess Jake came out shortly after, as I heard the cabin door shut, the car door shut, and watched them speed away.

I couldn’t wait a minute more to look at what my phone captured!!!  I clicked on the last video.

Oh my goodness.  Darla’s right shoulder was barely turned away from me.  Just enough her eye wouldn’t catch my movement.  She was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs.  And what I just couldn’t believe was happening, actually DID happen!!!  There was tough Jake, with his jeans around his ankles and his backside in the air sticking out past her right side!!!!  

I never knew my cabin seen so much!!!  And it made me realize, it’s a little haven for more than me!!!  And because of that, unless someone decides to trash it, I will leave the door unlocked!!!

I shook my head, ran down the ridge towards my bike and jumped on it, while laughing my head off. 

One, because I couldn’t believe Jake was getting a bare bottom spanking, from his WIFE!!  Hahaha

Second, because I got it on VIDEO!!!  Oh my, do I dare tell anyone??!!!

And third, because he actually put a manikin in the freezer!!!!

I popped the bike into gear.

And as I was about to speed off, I told myself, “I will have to remember that trick!!!”