Hunter's Moon

The four of us sat around the campfire on a couple of logs. We were far enough back into the woods that no other lights showed anywhere except the twinkling stars and the full October moon - the Hunter's moon. Now and then the fast moving clouds would alternately hide and then frame the lunar globe. "Ghostly galleons, tempest tossed ..." Tom had his arm around my shoulders and Ron had his around my sister.

It was perfect weather for Halloween. Temperature in the lower sixties. Just cool enough to bring a slight shiver now and then but warm enough that the zippered sweatshirts we were all wearing were quite enough. A light breeze was rustling the autumn leaves, now and then sending showers of the colored messengers to the already leaf covered ground. Higher up a faster moving wind was driving the clouds, carrying the hint that it might rain - or might not.

Ron began a ghost story. It was one we had all heard before but that did nothing to detract from the effect. I snuggled a little closer to Tom and smiled to myself, thinking how we had all come to love our October cookouts and games and how, a long time ago, it had first started.

The first time was when we had just turned ten. My name is Lisa Morton and Laura is my twin sister. That first time our mom had come down with the flu and dad was going to take us out Trick-or-Treating. Then late that afternoon he got a call from his work. I never knew what it was exactly but something had come up that made it necessary for him to go in and work on something that night. He didn't just leave us disappointed. Before he told us he couldn't take us, he had called the Stevens, friends of his and mom's, and made arrangements for them to take us along with their son, Tom. Our parents often went over to see the Stevens or had them over to see us, so we both knew Tom and frequently played with him and some of his friends.

We weren't real happy about dad not being able to take us. For one thing, he usually took us out for something special to eat after we had made the rounds. But at least we were still going to get to go. Mom was in bed resting and dad drove us over to the Stevens' on his way to his work. He said it would probably be late when he came back for us, but Mrs. Stevens assured him that would be no problem.

One of both the good and bad things about being twins is that we often dressed identically. Our costumes that year were no exception. Laura and I were both dressed as cat burglars. Black pants, black sweatshirts, black shoes, gloves and loot bags. We had little black eye masks and to make sure everyone knew what kind of burglars we were, we had little black cat ears on our heads. (I suppose mom could have put little tails on our costumes, too, but she probably thought that would have been a bit much.)

Anyway, when we got to the Stevens' we found that Ron, one of Tom's friends we knew pretty well, was coming along also and to top everything off, both Tom and Ron were dressed in police uniforms, complete with night sticks and play handcuffs. It was just chance but I don't think it could have been planned better if we had known we'd be going out together. Our dad and Mrs. Stevens both broke up laughing when they saw us together. Mr. Stevens was away on some kind of business trip, so Mrs. Stevens was going to take us by herself. This didn't bother her because she knew we were all good kids and wouldn't be any real trouble.

Our dad left and pretty soon the five of us set out walking through the neighborhood. The official Trick-or-Treat time in our area ended at eight-thirty but by then we had all collected nice bags of candy and other junk. We had also received a lot of comments about our costumes, especially with the two boys dressed as police.

When we got back to the Stevens' house it was still only a quarter of nine and we didn't expect dad back for at least a couple of hours. Ron was staying overnight with Tom so he didn't need to go home early either. The Stevens' house was on a large lot - about an acre, I think - and the back part had a lot of trees. Closer to the house there was a fire pit with benches around it. Mrs. Stevens lit a fire and brought out some brownies, milk and some other stuff and we all sat around the fire eating, drinking and laughing. After about a half hour Mrs. Stevens went back inside but left the rest of us out there.

I'm not sure who started it - one of the boys, although I don't remember which one - but we started telling ghost stories. Soon everyone got into the act, each of us trying to tell a more scary story. Then Tom moved around behind me without my noticing while Ron was telling a story. Just when he got to the point where the monster jumped out, Tom stuck his fingers into my sides and yelled "boo". Both Laura and I screamed and I turned around and tried to poke Tom back. Ron was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe and Laura started after him for thinking it was so funny. It was kind of funny and soon Laura and I were laughing too.

When we calmed down Tom started to tell about a ghost he said lived in the trees in the back of their lot. I think he was making it up on the fly because he contradicted himself a couple of times. Laura and I said we didn't believe him and he told us to go look for ourselves. We agreed and set off into the shadows among the trees. We had a pretty good idea that the boys were going to try and sneak up on us and scare us. We decided to wait in ambush and scare them instead, so we hid behind a couple of big trees along the path.

Sure enough in a couple of minutes the two boys came along the path, giggling and trying to keep quiet. We waited until they had just passed us and then jumped out and yelled. The result was quite satisfactory with them screaming. Soon we were all laughing again. Someone suggested hide and seek. First we girls would hide and the boys would try to find us. Then the reverse.

By the time our dad arrived about ten thirty, we were all getting worn out from all the running and playing, but we all agreed it was the best Halloween ever.

Somehow it became a tradition for the four of us to go out together on Halloween. Sometimes our parents would take us while other times it was the Stevens or Ron's parents. One time it was raining so when we got back we played inside, but all the other times we ended the night with a fire, ghost stories and playing hide and seek in the shadows.

By the time we were in eighth grade we had stopped the Trick-or-Treat rounds but we still got together for Halloween and had our own party. None of the four of us were really big on parties as such, but we certainly enjoyed our own brand of Halloween fun. Tom's family had moved a little farther out to a place in the country where they had about forty acres, most of it woods. We still had the fire and the ghost stories and still played at hiding in the woods, but now the area for our games had gotten bigger.

Some other things had changed too. When the guys caught us it wasn't just to scare us. There were still the surprised cries and pokes to startle us, but now the touches seemed to last a little longer and hands slid around a little more than they used to. It wasn't just the guys - when we caught them the same thing happened. We were at the age where we were becoming interested in the opposite sex but hadn't begun to seriously explore those feelings just yet.

Laura and I had attended some mixed group things and even gone on double (or more) dates a couple of times as had the two boys. None of us had started to go on dates as just couples yet, but at least Laura and I enjoyed the touches involved in close dancing or touch football or similar activities. From what Tom and Ron sometimes said, they did also. Not to mention that their actions during our "hide and seeks" indicated the same thing. Maybe most surprisingly, somehow we had never gone on any of the double or group dates with either Tom or Ron. I still have no idea why not.

That night we sat around the fire and again told ghost stories. The stories got scarier and scarier and all of our pulses had begun to beat a little faster. Something else had changed a little also. I now was sitting next to Tom and Laura was over beside Ron. When we were all worked up to a nice level, we decided to play hide and seek again. Laura and I were given five minutes to go hide in the woods and then Tom and Ron would come and try to find us. We no longer wore costumes but in anticipation Laura and I were wearing dark jeans and sweatshirts to better hide.

We took off along a path into the woods. One of the nice things about being twins is that we thought so much alike that we needed very few words to communicate. We came to a split in the path and with only a word or two we divided the woods with Laura heading left and me right. I found a clump of three big trees growing in a small triangle just a little over a foot across. I was able to wedge myself in the center looking out at the path from ten feet away. In the shadows I expected to be totally invisible to anyone looking in my direction.

For what seemed like an awfully long time I stood there, breathing quietly, waiting for one of the boys to come along the path. The moon was first quarter so it was already sliding down the western sky leaving the woods lighted but with long shadows. A breeze was moving the fall leaves so their rustling covered most sounds a quiet person would make as he moved. Occasionally a small animal might make some scraping sounds as he moved through the crackling ground cover, but any man made sounds were too far away to hear.

It felt like I had been standing there for hours although I'm sure it really wasn't more than twenty minutes at the most. No one had called out to end the game and I was beginning to wonder if the boys were coming at all. Then with no warning at all a pair of hands grabbed me around the waist and a voice, pitched unusually deep, cried out, "Got you!."

I screamed, my heart rate jumping off the scale, as the hands pulled me out from between the trees. I twisted around to find a laughing Tom. He was still holding my waist and as we looked at each other his laughter died as did my scream, but my heart still was beating quite rapidly. He held me for long seconds, our eyes locked, and then suddenly he pulled me against him and his lips met mine.

This should have surprised me as much as that first grab but instead I moved eagerly against him, pressing back with my own lips. His hands relaxed on my waist, one sliding up my back and the other lower down to rest on my bottom. My own arms rose to wrap around his neck. Our kiss - my first real kiss - must have lasted at least a full minute.

When we separated we only moved slightly apart still staring into each other's eyes. A little of the moonlight caught Tom's face and I thought I could see a little worry there. That maybe he had done something he shouldn't have. That look quickly went away as I quietly said, "I liked that, Tom."

It was replaced with a smile. "So did I," he quietly replied.

"Then let's do it again," I breathed and moved my lips back to his. We spent the next several minutes in a few more kisses. During the last one our lips somehow parted and our tongues had begun to explore when we heard Ron and Laura coming down the path.

We pulled back but still smiled at each other before we stepped out onto the path to meet them.

Laura and I dropped behind the boys slightly and I told her what had happened. It didn't take much to tell her because, as I've said, we can almost read each other's mind. Besides she would easily see how excited I was even if most other people wouldn't have been able to tell.

We made our way back to the fire and sat down again. This time Tom and I sat slightly closer, our legs now and then touching. We told a couple of more stories and then decided that this time the boys would hide and we would seek. After the five minutes, we started into the woods and Laura whispered, "I'm going to look for Ron."

I smiled at her and whispered back, "Go ahead. I'll look for Tom."

Well, we both found who we were looking for. Tom and I shared a few more kisses but didn't do anything different from that first time. Later, when we went home Laura told me that when she had discovered Ron she had duplicated Tom's actions and initiated a kiss with him. Ron had enjoyed it as much as Tom and of course Laura felt the same way about it as I did.

We didn't limit our get-togethers to Halloween. It was not unusual for the four of us to meet on a Saturday afternoon, maybe cook hot dogs and then sit around the fire and then maybe play some more hide and seek in the woods. Of course, by now we didn't call it hide and seek. It was more of a "hunt and capture" game, but we still enjoyed it. We might do such things most anytime during the year, although October was our favorite month. And the Halloween times were still the most exciting.

We didn't suddenly start making out every time we got together or even every time we played out in the woods. It did happen a few times but not always. As we entered high school the next year we began to date as couples. Not always as individual couples, but most of the time. Sometimes Laura and I would double date but mostly we went separately. Nor did any of the four of us limit ourselves. The boys dated other girls and Laura and I dated other boys, but Tom and I frequently went out together as did Ron and Laura.

By sophomore year we hadn't become exclusive couples but were most frequently seen together as pairs. When Halloween came we once again planned our own four person party at Tom's home.

First a cookout around the fire. Then stories. Now the stories had become a little more suggestive than they had been, but were still mostly scary ghost stories. Then the hunts in the woods.

This year Laura and I decided something before the party. I should probably mention that Laura and I still looked identical. We were both about five foot six then, and slim. We both had blue eyes and medium blonde shoulder length hair which we both wore in pony tails that night. Part of the fun of being twins is confusing people about which one of you is which. Since that time two years before, whenever Tom caught me or Ron caught Lisa (and when we caught them), a kiss was often exchanged, but only between couples. If Ron caught me, or I caught him, there was no kissing involved. But this year Laura and I decided that whoever was caught by Ron would be Laura and no matter which was caught by Tom, she would be Lisa. We wouldn't say anything and see if the boys noticed the difference.

First we were careful to dress identically and made sure we could find no differences between us. Then we got a better idea. I put on a green shirt and Laura donned a blue one. Otherwise we looked exactly the same.

The first three hours went just as expected. The campfire, the hot dogs, the stories. It was fairly warm - low sixties - and the sky was clear. The moon was a few days past full and there was only a light breeze. Perfect weather. While we ate and told stories, I snuggled with Tom and Laura sat close to Ron. Then we decided to play the hunt games.

Laura and I would hide first. The guys gave us five minutes to find hiding places and we set off down the path. However before we went too deep into the woods we stopped and quickly changed shirts. Now it was very likely the guys would mix us up. Soon we set out again and found places to wait for their search. Admittedly we didn't try for really good concealment. Both of us wanted to see if the guys could tell us apart.

It took less than fifteen minutes before Ron came up behind me and cried, "Gotcha!" His hands went around my waist and turned me towards him. There was enough moonlight that he could see me clearly but I think the shirt color stopped him from looking too closely anyway. No matter, he said, "Now I get to collect my prize, Laura," and pulled me against him. I didn't resist and when our lips met I kissed him as much as he kissed me. In fact we did it a number of times.

We started back along the path with his arm around my waist and occasionally his hand would slide down over my bottom. I leaned against him and must have behaved very much like my sister because he didn't seem surprised at anything. When we got back to the fire Laura was sitting on Tom's lap, her arm around his neck, looking like they had just finished a very satisfactory kiss.

Ron moved to sit on the other bench and pulled me down on his lap. He placed a quick kiss on my neck and then said, "Laura was pretty easy to find tonight."

Tom replied, "So was Lisa. But I still caught her, so we win."

Laura and I looked at each other and couldn't help giggling. "Something funny, Lisa?" Tom asked, looking at my sister.

We laughed again then I said, "Just that I'm Lisa."

The looks on both boys' faces were truly astonishing. They also each pulled slightly back and looked at the girl on the other guy's lap. I guess they were afraid we'd be mad at them for kissing our sister. Laura and I both broke up laughing. When I could breathe again I said, "We just wanted to see if you guys could tell the difference. I guess we both must ..."

Laura finished the sentence for me. "Kiss and cuddle the same way. Neither of you..."

Now I took over again. "Seemed to notice anything unusual." (We often do that. We think so much alike we can frequently tell just what the other is going to say.)

Laura and I stood up and moved to change places. Now on Tom's lap I said, "Not mad at us are you?"

Both Tom and Ron seemed to still be in shock or something, but Tom managed to answer, "No. Not if you girls aren't. I will say Laura is just as hot as you are, Lisa." Then he looked at me closely. "You are really Lisa, aren't you?"

I laughed and kissed him. "Yes, I really am."

Laura added, "We're not mad. Just don't count on us trading off like that a whole lot."

Ron looked at her. "A whole lot? You mean you might do that to us again?"

We looked at each other and silently agreed. I answered for her. "We might sometime. Would you mind?" I looked from one guy to the other as did Laura.

Tom and Ron exchanged glances. They must have agreed but I'm sure their looks didn't carry even five per cent as much information as when Laura and I did that. Ron slowly said, "I suppose not. But I'm not ready to trade in Laura."

Tom gave my waist a squeeze. "I think I'll keep Lisa, too, but maybe a little variety once in a while ..." We all laughed.

We did change our shirts one more time that night and again the guys couldn't tell for sure even though that time Tom caught me and Ron caught Laura.

We didn't do that any more during the next year. What we did do, however, was build a small shelter - a gazebo, if you want - out in the woods by the fire ring. That way if the weather turned bad we could still have a place to go.

By junior year we had become two pretty steady couples, dating only each other. When Halloween was coming up again we began planning our annual party. By now our games had changed slightly so that Laura and I were always the hunted and the guys were always the hunters. We liked it that way. At one point the guys asked us if we were going to try and fool them again. We looked at each other and came to an agreement. We knew that by now both of us were engaging in some pretty heavy petting with our boyfriends. If we switched off there might be more than kissing involved although neither of us had had any actual sex, oral or otherwise. I asked, "Suppose we did, would you guys mind?" They both slowly shook their heads slightly. Then I added, "Why don't we make it more interesting. If you catch us and guess wrong then..."

Laura finished, "You'll owe us a dinner out. If you guess right, we'll buy you dinner."