The Loner
and the
Forest Ranger
 

 by: Hankster

© 2018 by the author

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

hankster@tickiestories.us

The young hiker looked around and realized that he was hopelessly lost in the forest.  He started to panic, but quickly told himself to calm down.  He had learned a few skills from his very short time in The Boy Scouts, and he could put them to use.  He had started out with dozens of other tourists, but when he spotted a clearing, only minutes into the hike, he decided to go off on his own.

******

Craig Morrow was born and raised in Sacramento, California. Now, in his late twenties, he practiced law in a prestigious firm, in his home town.  Craig was an excellent lawyer, but he was not a people person.  From early childhood, he found it hard to make friends, or even to mingle with people.  As a result, he spent almost every night working out at the gym, and then he went home alone.  More’s the pity.  Craig was built like an Olympic athlete, and he was very handsome.  If he had bothered to think about his ‘problem’ he would have gone to see a shrink, who might have ferreted out the source of his non-socialization habits.  Unfortunately, Craig had erased much of his childhood from his memory banks.  It was too painful to remember.

His father was an unrepentant alcoholic, who physically abused Craig and his mother whenever he got drunk, which was most of the time.  Craig’s young body was full of welts and bruises.  He was afraid for his classmates to see him, so he avoided contact with them.  He didn’t have a single pal during all his growing up years, and all through his college and law school years.  He simply shied away from people, even those who seemed to want to be friendly.

His father died of some liver disease when Craig was fourteen.  After that, his welts and bruises disappeared quickly enough, but he could not change his habit of shying away from any kind of contact with other people.  His mother remarried while he was in law school.  She married a wonderful man, who treated her like a princess.  His stepfather tried hard to be a friend to Craig, but Craig didn’t know how to let him into his life.  His father’s abuse may have scarred him forever.

To compensate for his virginity, lack of friends and any kind of a social life, Craig became a workaholic.  He hardly ever took a day off.  Finally, the senior partner of his firm feared that Craig would become ill, and then be of no use to himself or the firm.  He ordered Craig to take some time off.  The younger lawyer could not disobey his boss, and he reluctantly arranged a vacation in Yosemite National Park, which was a little over two hundred miles away.  He didn’t tell anyone where he was going, because he didn’t think that anyone would care.  He decided to take the first two weeks of January for his journey.

He packed his car on a Friday night, and started his drive to Yosemite early Saturday morning.  He arrived in mid-afternoon, and was assigned a cabin.  He had paid extra not to have a roommate.  That evening, he found the lodge’s dining hall, and ate a hardy dinner.  He sat far in the rear, away from any fellow guests.  A few nodded at him, but he pretended not to notice.

The following morning after breakfast, he joined a group of people who were taking a supervised hike into the wilderness.  Naturally, Craig was not comfortable with so many people around, especially since they were all trying to be friendly, and attempting to be his friend.  Their actions actually terrified him.  As a result, he decided to leave the group, and explore the forest by himself.  He left the group at the first clearing he came to.

******

He was not at all prepared for his little side trip.  He didn’t have any food or water with him.  When he realized what a pickle he was in, Craig berated himself for having left the supervised hike.  He prayed that he would be missed, and they would send out a search party for him.  Then he thought that he had not said hello to a single other guest, so he might not even be remembered by anyone.

He had read somewhere that if you should get lost in a forest, it would be wise to stay in one place.  If you start wandering around, it becomes more difficult for a search party to find you.  He found a comfortable spot to sit down, and to take stock of his situation.  The ground he sat on was very cold.  He thought of taking off his jacket and sitting on it, but as the day ebbed, it was getting colder and colder.  He needed the jacket to warm the rest of him.

He saw a bush nearby with some berries, but not one single bird was feeding on the fruit, so they might well be poisonous.  He decided that it would be better to go hungry than to poison himself.

By the end of his second day in the wild, he was freezing, hungry, thirsty, and certain that he would never be rescued.  He considered disobeying the rule, and to begin a search for the clearing, but he was too weak and cold to attempt it.  Late on the third day, Craig fell asleep.  It would be more accurate to say that he was succumbing to hypothermia.

A light snow was quickly covering his body.  He was blending into the rest of the snow covered area, and he was becoming well camouflaged.  Fortunately, while he was still visible, a lone horseman came across what he thought was a dead body.  He was one of Yosemite’s Forest Rangers on his way home for the night.  His cabin was situated at the top of a hill, where he could keep an eye out for forest fires as well as wandering hikers.  He jumped off his horse to investigate.  The ‘body’ was still alive, so he threw him on his horse and hurried home.

******

When Craig woke up a few hours later, he was tired and hungry, but he was warm.  He looked around.  He was in a bedroom, lying in a double bed, bare ass naked.  He distinctly smelled food cooking.  He got out of bed very slowly.  He was very weak.  He couldn’t see his clothes, and at the moment he didn’t give a damn.  His nose followed the wonderful aroma that led him into the kitchen.

There was a good looking guy standing at the stove.  He was as naked as Craig, who promptly panicked.  He was one on one with another man, and his worst nightmare was brewing. 

“Hi,” Craig croaked.

“Oh, good, you’re up.  I’m making us some chicken broth to warm us both up.”

“I’m plenty warm now, but thanks,” Craig’s voice was stronger.  It was coming back.  “Can I have my clothes?” he asked.

“I’m afraid not. Your clothes were soaking wet, as were mine.  I put them in the dryer.  But don’t worry.  It’s just us guys here.”

“Here?  Where’s here?  How did I get here, and who are you, besides being my rescuer?”

“Soup’s on.  Sit down at the table and, I’ll fill you in while we eat.”

“Do you mind if I eat fast, and go right back to bed?  I’m so tired.”

“Of course; we aren’t going anywhere.  There’s a blizzard raging out there.  You can sleep as much as you want. My name’s Ken, by the way.”

“I’m Craig.”

“I know.  When I took off your wet clothes, I took a look in your wallet.  I assumed that you were staying at the lodge, so I called to let them know that you were safe.  You must have made quite an impression on them.  Nobody realized that you were missing.”

“I’m not surprised.  I’m very much a loner.”

Ken smiled.  “I am too.  That’s why I took this job.  Now tell me, how did you get lost?”

“I told you.  I prefer to be alone.  There were just too many people on the hike, so I foolishly thought I could go off by myself and not get lost.”

“Well, the area you made yourself comfortable in is on my way home.  It’s lucky I spotted you.  You were almost all covered in snow.”

“I guess I owe you my life.  How can I ever repay you?”

Ken didn’t answer, but he smiled at Craig. 

“Come,” Ken said, “we should go to sleep; your eyes are closing.  Before we get into bed, however, I insist that you shower.  You smell very ripe.  I’ll help you.”

Ken put the dishes in the sink, and held his hand out to Craig.  When Craig stood up, Ken finally checked him out.  “I’m glad you aren’t humongous,” Ken said.  “As you can see I’m very average myself.  I’m really glad we’re both cut.”

Craig thought that was a weird thing to say, but he was too tired to care.  Ken led him to the shower, and turned on the spigots.  The two naked men entered the shower.  It was a tight fit.  Craig expected Ken to hand him a bar of soap, but much to Craig’s dismay, Ken began to bathe him.  Craig was shocked, but at the same time, he was too tired and weak to complain.  To make matters worse, Ken was not shy when it came to soaping up Craig’s genitals, and his asshole crack.  Craig even suspected that Ken inserted a finger up his ass, but he was in a near stupor, and whatever was happening, was happening.  He was totally unaware that Ken’s actions had given him a whopping erection.

“Nice,” Ken mumbled, but Craig didn’t hear him.

After they were both dried off, Ken led Craig to the bedroom.  He collapsed on the bed and fell asleep immediately.  Ken climbed right in next to him.  It’s a good thing that Craig was asleep.  It was the first time he had ever shared a bed with anyone, much less a handsome, naked Forest Ranger.  Worse yet, Ken hunkered up to Craig, and his erect cock nestled comfortably in Craig’s crack.

Craig slept until mid-morning.  He had to pee badly, and he ran to the bathroom.  While he was washing, he saw that Ken had thoughtfully left a new toothbrush, toothpaste, a razor and shaving soap on the counter.  Craig needed to brush and shave badly.  He went about his tasks, and felt really refreshed.

He heard noise in the kitchen and went to investigate.  Ken was there, and he was fully dressed.

“I heard you in the bathroom, so I started breakfast,” he said.  “Your clothes are on that chair there.”

Craig couldn’t wait fast enough to get dressed.  By the time he was ready, Ken had placed two plates of bacon and eggs on the kitchen table.  They started to eat in silence until Ken said, “We’re going to be here for several days at least.  The only time I’ll leave the house is to feed my horse in the stable, so let’s get to know each other.  What do you do for a living Craig?”

“I’m a lawyer.”

“I should think that being a loner would be detrimental to your profession.”

“I’m okay with clients, when it’s strictly business, but I’m not much for socializing.  The funny thing is that I’m not having any problem talking with you.”

“Thanks, I take that as a compliment.”

“Whatever made you become a Forest Ranger?  It’s a pretty lonely profession.”

“That’s exactly why I became a Ranger.  I have a little secret that I didn’t want anyone else in the world to know.  I don’t give a shit anymore, so I’m going to tell you what it is, because you can’t run away.”

“Sounds ominous!”

“It’s nothing like that, “Ken said.  “The naked truth is that I’m gay.  All through high school and college, I had a big crush on my best friend.  Every day I wanted to say something to him, but he’s straight, and the last thing I wanted was to out myself to him, or anybody else for that matter.  So I joined The Service to avoid temptation, and here I am.”

“Why are you telling me all this.  You could have kept your secret.”

“Yes, I could have.  I was foolish once, and I don’t want to repeat my mistake.  You see, Craig, I have the major hots for you.  We’re snowbound, and I could make you very happy if you’d let me.”

Craig was speechless. Ken tried to read any kind of emotion on his face, but Craig’s face was a blank.  “Aren’t you going to say anything?” Ken asked.

Craig struggled to find the right words.  Finally, he said, “Ken, I’m a virgin.”

“You mean to gay sex.”

“No, just to sex.”

“May I take that as a yes to us exploring our relationship further?”

“Do we have a relationship?”

“There’s nothing I’d like more.”

“Then as long as it’s confession time, let me tell you something.  All during my formative years I kept to myself, but even though I did, there was one thing I noticed as I grew older. I work out a lot, and in the showers afterward, I found myself becoming aroused by all those naked male bodies.  I came to believe that I was gay, and like you, I was determined to hide it.  I just crept deeper and deeper into my shell.”

Ken jumped up, and embraced Craig.  He placed his lips on Craig’s, and the two men shared their first kiss.  It’s a good thing they were holding onto each other, or for sure, they would have fainted and fallen to the floor. 

When he came up for air, Ken said, “Shit; I’m sorry we got dressed.”

“It won’t take long to remedy that.”

******

Hand in hand they ran to the bedroom.  Indeed, it only took a moment for them to strip and jump into bed together.  Ken held Craig in his arms and began to fondle him.  “Since you are a virgin, let’s proceed really slow.  We’ll just fondle each other, and when you are comfortable with that, we’ll move on and take it to the next step.”

Craig sighed deeply, and allowed himself to take Ken’s cock into the palm of his hand.  He played with it gently, enjoying the feel of it.  “What comes, after this?” Craig asked.

“Well, the next logical step is to mutually masturbate each other.”

“That sounds great, and what’s the step after that one?”

“Oral, and then anal sex.  Those are the ultimate expressions of intimacy.  But each step up the ladder must be preceded with proper foreplay to reach ultimate Nirvana.”

“How long will all this take?” Craig asked.

“That all depends on you, and how fast you want to climb the ladder.” 

With that having been said, Ken clamped his lips on Craig’s, and offered him his tongue.  Craig knew nothing about open-mouthed kissing, but he got the picture quickly, and their tongues began their adventure to a sexual encounter.

When he could breathe again, Craig said, “I want to get to the top of the ladder as quickly as possible.”

They didn’t exactly make love in the next couple of hours, but they experimented with each other in how to make love to a man.  Neither had cum yet, and they were so in need of relief, that at last, they got each other off with  a luscious game of sixty-nine.  Afterward they lay facing each other with their now flaccid cocks rubbing together.

“I know it’s really weird and crazy,” Ken said, “but I love you.”

Craig hesitated a long time, but he finally said, “I love you, too.  What fools we were to have buried our true selves for all these years, and denied us all this pleasure.”

“I disagree,” Ken said.  “If we had come out early, we would have had dozens of lustful encounters.  That might be fine for some people, but not for us.  We needed to meet each other, and make meaningful love; not just have sex.”

They lay still for a long while, enjoying the after-glow, when Craig asked, “How soon can we fuck each other?”

They made love constantly for the next three days.  The only time they stopped was to eat, or to care for Ken’s horse.  The blizzard was long over, and the trails were navigable. 

It’s time to leave the mountain,” Ken reluctantly announced.

“What about our future?” Craig asked.  “I love you.  I don’t want to be separated from you.”

Ken gave Craig a chaste little kiss on his cheek.  “Don’t worry,” he said.  “I have it all figured out.

**********

Ken resigned from The Forest Rangers, and moved in with Craig in Sacramento.  He had no trouble getting a position with the Sacramento Police Department.  Once he was fully moved in and began to work, he and Craig settled into peaceful domesticity.  Sure they had their little spats, but their union was forged in heaven.

With their pasts behind them, and with their new-found state of happiness, both of them became friendlier, and began to make friends among their co-workers.  They started to socialize in a downtown gay bar, and in a very short time, they made more friends than either of them had made in their lifetimes.  They had suppressed their true natures for too long.  Now they were liberated, and life opened up for them, hopefully forever.