The Carousel

Short Hutch romance. Spinning around.

Kerry walked slowly along the wooden ply boards that made up the Atlantic City boardwalk. Three in the morning and not a soul in sight, just the way she liked it. The ocean breeze carried a salty mist with it. It sprayed upon her face as she walked. Her heels clicking upon the wood was the only sound heard aside from the low humming of the seas waves hitting the earth’s shores.

Her life was a busy one. Always running to do something for someone else. Never any time for herself. Up at the crack of dawn and never stopping till late into the night. She was always the last one on the list. The last to get new shoes or clothes. The last to eat dinner. Denying herself her heart’s desires so others could have theirs. Always she was the last to use the powder room and the last one to bed. But that’s who she was. Unselfish and caring, always putting loved ones before herself. It was her life and she enjoyed every minute of it.

Tonight though, she needed a break, a rest from the realities and ongoing of a busy, hectic life. So she found herself here on the boardwalk of life. She examined each board as she stepped from one to the next. Noting in her mind how the planks differed from one to the other. She tilted her head thinking some of those planks had to have come from the same tree. Yet they were so different. She made sure to avoid the cracks like a child not wanting to break her mother’s back. She smiled at the memory of the old childhood game. To be a kid again playful and unbound from real life. Not to fear or have any responsibilities. To dream of knights in shining armor and princesses in castle towers. Being able to be anyone and go anywhere just by a child’s wish or by the land of make believe.

A smile slid across her face as she felt a few years lift from her chest. Tonight she let her hair down as she skipped from board to board. Her summer red dress rustled against her. She felt free as if she could fly for the first time in ages. Maybe it was the mystic ocean side or maybe it was just her love of life. Or maybe it was the full moon casting its light upon her and entering her soul. Giving her magic powers to free her self from the daily life of the adult world. Whatever it was that night was hers to cherish. She just wished she could share a little of it with someone special.

She neared the end of the boardwalk. The park was closed now but she could see the Ferris wheel climbing to the sky. The colorful flower-laced ponies, hung on golden rods, swayed as if living breathing creatures in the night wind. She could almost hear the music emanate from the round gazebo. It safely housed the magnificent creatures that thundered across the plains. She took a step closer; the child in her wanting to run and hop aboard the carousel.

Kerry stumbled and caught herself before she fell to the pine planks beneath her. The heel of her shoe had caught between boards and she leaned down trying to remove the stuck spike with her hands. She was just about to un- do the lacings that wrapped around her silken leg when she heard footsteps. They sounded so light and soft upon the boards, almost shuffled as if a waltz. Still bent down with both hands gripping at her ankle she lifted her head up to the sound.

The shadow seemed cast in green, at first, as it ebbed toward her. She felt like a trapped animal unable to defend itself and frozen in time and space. She watched as the tall figure’s shoulders moved slightly back and forth in rhythmic fashion. Long legs took strides of grace as the shadow neared. She held her breath and her heartbeat ground to a near halt. Still not seeing the stranger’s face and unable to move she was mesmerized by the silhouette. It moved with such power yet grace. Moved with confidence yet a shy uncertainty. The light of the moon caught the hair of the shadow and the fawn-colored strands danced with delight as the wind blew through them. She wasn’t nervous at all. Kerry found that quite odd. Here she was a woman; all alone in the dark, incapacitated by her high-heeled shoe and a strange, large, more than likely male, figure was bearing down upon her. Yet she felt no fear. A feeling of calm of almost psychic proportions filled her. This man was safe; she need not worry.

His voice was soft as goose-down, almost angelic in tone, as he spoke. “Can I lend my lady a hand?” He said with a little chuff of laughter at her predicament. The moonlight emerged upon his face to reveal his features. His skin was milky soft and his muscular jaw flexed as he smiled brilliantly at her. But his eyes those are what caught her in their grip. They bore into her like a neon sign and she felt herself falling into their blueness. He reached down and grasped her ankle with the feather touch of a dove, easing it out from its trap. She just looked at him, still tumbling through radiant streams of blue. “You okay? ” He asked with a low humming voice. He was close enough to her that she felt his hot breath upon her exposed neck.

“Fine I’m fine.” She spoke back finally, slight embarrassment in her voice.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone this late. Why are you?” His head tilted some at the question. Kerry explained she needed some time to think and regain some focus on her life. Hutch understood the need for time to oneself. Life could get you down and some quiet time of reflection and meditation always got him back on the right track. He had known the weight of the world and it was sure hard to keep holding it up all the time, especially all alone. He had done it now the past eight months. His friend had been gunned down and needed Hutch to help him until he could stand on his own two feet again. Hutch explained to Kerry how Starsky finally was able to be on his own now and had sent Hutch to do some gambling and to take a break from the daily grind of taking care of his partner. So here he was. Mostly broke now, he just wanted some time out under the canopy of heaven to regroup. Tomorrow he would go back home to his life as an officer of the law. He and Starsky would be back on the streets again with renewed force and strength.

But tonight he was alone. He felt a twinge as he walked and talked with Kerry. Her understanding and quiet ways pulled at something deep down inside him. She listened and comforted him as he told his tale of his best friend’s near death collision with fate. They entered the carnival area and headed toward the merry-go-round at Kerry’s request. Her child-like heart wanting to just sit upon a carousel horse. Hutch’s heart was light and free too that night. Maybe it truly was the light of the moon that grasped their souls and unlocked the corners of the heart that held child-like wonders. They sat side by side upon their steeds talking and laughing into the night. What seemed like eternity was only a matter of hours. Finally running out of things to say. Kerry sat holding the twisting golden pole. Her hand nervously running up and down the cold metal. She wanted this man but how could she ask for that? She didn’t even really know him yet. She didn’t just sleep with anyone. There had to be a special bond, a love correlation.

Somehow she felt as if they had met before; maybe in another world, another time and place. Hutch felt the same as he looked at Kerry with reverie. He didn’t just sleep with any woman. He wasn’t like most men. He had to have deeper feelings, more than just the physical aspects of it all. He reached over to touch her hand. Her heart fluttered at the light brush of his fingers upon hers. Their hands moved following the up and down twist of the golden pole in unison. Their eyes locked and the key was thrown away. Hutch leaned over toward her ivory horse and their lips brushed lightly across one another. His eyes stayed open and locked to hers as he took her lips with his. He pulled gently at them and probed her with kindness. Kerry let herself go and eyes closed they kissed as the ponies rocked back and forth in comforting movements. Hutch pulled away from the kiss slowly, their lips not wanting to part from one another. He helped guide her over and she found herself in front of him, now both sitting upon his horse. Kerry leaned back against the blond man’s chest. She could feel the rise and fall of his breathing and the thumping of his heart against her back.

Hutch let his hands explore uncharted waters; he smiled as he felt her shiver under his touch. Kerry leaned her head far back onto his shoulder and they kissed long and deep as his hands roamed over her body. He lifted her shirt and continued to feel his way over her. Paying attention to soft moans of pleasure that clued him in that he was on the right path. Hutch stopped only briefly to relieve himself of his shirt before continuing their displays of pleasure. Their bodies were heated beyond the point of no return from roaming over each other’s flesh. Hutch lifted Kerry off the horse like a Knight-in-Shining-Armor he carried her to the bench of the carousel that was usually reserved for grandma and grandpa. He lowered her to the whimsical bench as clothes began to be slowly peeled off steamy bodies. “Touch me. Touch me everywhere,” she cried.

“Feel me. Can you feel me?” Hutch whispered in her ear. “I need you to feel who I am; all that I am. Can you my lady?” He chuckled. “Can you feel me?” Never in her wildest dreams did she envision two people could connect to one another so lovingly, so tenderly and so deeply. He lay on top of her, careful not to put so much of his weight down that she would feel uncomfortable.

“I want to feel you all of you.” She sighed into his ear. Her breathy words flowing into him caused him to tremble. She looked at him with concern. He smiled down at her letting her know he was fine. His burden had become hers and she guided him into relief. Slowly he slipped inward, not pushing hard, not forcing and not in any hurry to end the passion they both were entangled in. Up and down he bestowed his gift upon her, slower and slower, his eyes never leaving hers. She bit her lip but a shallow gasp escaped her mouth. Hutch stopped his slow movement with a questioning look making sure the gasp was that of pleasure and not of pain. Her eyes crinkled with laughter and he moved again in the slower than molasses dance of joy. He took a handful of her hair in his hand but didn’t pull or tug, just held it in his palm gentle and safe. She let her hands reach up to grasp either side of his face and caress it with her thumbs. Hutch lowered himself to her lips once laying enchanted kisses upon her softness. He felt her body quiver and her hands tightened on his face. He gripped at her hair harder but still not pulling it just wanting to feel its softness in his hand. Their journey was near complete, as he navigated himself up and down, up and down. She moved up and down with him, up and down. As if in a dream world, the carousel lit up like a thousand candles in the night and the music chimed and the gazebo turned round and round. The lovers upon the ride of ecstasy traveled with it unable to stop even if they wanted to. Up and down went the ivory flower-laced horses, up and down upon the golden poles. Both were becoming dizzy with delight but neither would break the connection they now shared. Hutch stopped only once to peer down one last time at Kerry before his and her eruption of life sent them whirling into the universe and around the galaxy.

They both lay in each other’s arms breathing their lives into each other’s mouths as they kissed one last time. They must have fallen asleep, for the briefest time, lying there in each other’s arms. The sound of seagulls and the surge of the foamy waters brought them down from their flight and back to the real world. They said goodbye as the sun cast its rosy pinkness across the sky. A newness and rebirth ebbed on both their faces. They would always cherish the moment in time that they shared together. They would return now to their separate lives. The gift they gave each other was not a one-night stand but a life long gift that would stay safe in the mists of their hearts.