Fighting the excitement in my stomach, I managed to say, "I'm not."

"Good!" Her eyes twinkled, "I'm glad you're honest, anyway. Claire and I have been girlfriends for years, and even though Mavis still goes out with men sometimes, she's.... Well, she's told us that those lips of yours are talented as well as pretty," She looked puzzled suddenly. "Funny. Your hair's a little messy from swimming, but your makeup looks just fine. Is it some new kind?"

"Er-yes," Worried that she might start to wonder why a woman would wear indelible makeup on a camping trip, I changed the subject as quickly as I could. "And my hair would look a lot better if one of you had the decency to loan me a towel."

"Don't be mad," Sylvia laughed again, "I know we're a little rough on new-comers, but think of it as a kind of Initiation. Claire and I went through stuff a lot worse, and besides, you do have to be kind of careful out here. I don't want to sound too much like Mavis, but sometimes the least mistake can be disastrous when you're camping. Even as experienced as we are, we almost made a slip today that could have been awful."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, when we lined up our packs before we went swimming, we left the pack with our clothes in it a little too close to the fire. None of us saw it at first, but when I went back for my bathing cap, I could see that our pack was close enough that a spark from a burning log could have hit it."

How right you are, I thought, And how convenient for me that the idea has already struck you. It'll be that much less suspicious when we get back and find your clothes reduced to ashes.

I wanted to snicker with anticipation. But I merely asked

with polite interest,

"So you moved all the packs farther from the fire?"

"Oh, no need for all that work," Sylvia replied, "I just moved ours from the spot closest to the fire to the other end of the line. Claire and Mavis both agreed it was a good idea when I told them."

It took just a minute for her words to sink in. She had moved the pack with their clothes in it from one end of the line to the other. Then the pack that I had ruined must have been the second one in line. the one with--

My clothes!

For a second I almost screamed, thinking that I had set fire to my own clothing! I wanted to leap off that cold rock and go racing back to camp. But I knew immediately that such an action would give me away. But I had to get back there! And soon!

"Uh, hadn't we better be getting back?" I asked, "That fire--" "Oh, there's no hurry," Mavis said, joining us. Like Sylvia.

she and Claire had turned their towels into skirts, and the presence of three dressed women now made me feel more naked than ever.

"Has Sylvia been telling you about the campfire?" Claire asked, "Well don't worry. Our packs are upwind of the fire, so the chance of a spark hitting them now is pretty remote."

"But I imagine you're getting a bit chilly, sitting about like that," Mavis smiled, "You know, you're still a bit damp? Too bad about your towel!"

"Of course, we could dry you off with birch switches," Claire said thoughtfully, "They do that in Sweden, you know."

"Uh-oh," Sylvia smiled knowingly, "Old kinky Claire. Watch out for her, Pat!"

"Who says I'm old?" Claire stuck out her tongue at Sylvia and both girls laughed.

"Well come along then, "Mavis said, to my relief, "Let's get back and get you dressed, Young Lady."

It was all I could do to keep from racing back up the trail. But again, I forced myself to pretend calmness as the towel-skirted lesbians and I walked along. It seemed I could feel their eyes all over my nudity, and I kept hoping against hope that things weren't as bad as they seemed.

But when we reached camp, the sight of that charred, smouldering pack broke my composure. I screamed and raced over to it. "My clothes! All my clothes! Look!"

There was nothing left but burnt rags. Shivering miserably, I hugged my arms about myself as the girls gathered around the blackened mess.

"What'd I tell you!" Sylvia said smugly, "That could've been our clothes!"

"Odd," Mavis mused, "I thought the wind was all wrong. And look: This pack is blackened on the bottom! Fire burns Up, not Down. I wonder how...."

"Oh what does it matter How?" I wailed, "Doesn't anybody care that those were my clothes?! Look at me, Mavis! Thanks to you, I'm stuck out here! Like this!" I stamped my bare foot and felt my bare breasts and bottom jiggle naughtily. "Miles from nowhere without so much as a handkerchief! And... and..."

"And what, Patricia?" Mavis asked. Her raised eyebrow told me I'd better not spill the secret of my true sex to her two gay girlfriends.

I paused and swallowed what I'd been about to say about being stuck this way, with breasts and makeup and feminine hairdo and shaved skin and a fake pussy over my crotch.

"And... well, just look!" I bleated, "I haven't any clothes! Not any!"