Affair of a Foreign Nature
Chapter 4
rrival
By and © Hans Schrieber
John and I cleared quickly through customs since we were just coming from Germany. It was simply handing our forms over and telling them where we were staying. After we got our bags, we went out by the curb and there was a tall man, dressed very nicely, holding a sign with my name on it. I recognized him to be Karl's father, Herr Baumgartner, from Karl's family pictures on Facebook. "I'm David," I said.
"Hallo, David," he said cheerfully, "Und zis must be John."
John looked at him stunned. Before he could even ask, Herr Baumgartner put his hand on my shoulder and explained "I got a call from your mozzer zat you were brrringing a frrriend. Of course, he is entirely welcome."
"Thank you, sir," John said politely. The relief on John's face was obvi. I know he was worried about not being accepted.
Herr Baumgartner spoke very good English but it was fun to hear him roll his "R's" in the back of his throat. It sounded like he was gettin' ready to hawk a lugey. And, like almost every German, he had an impossible time with the "th" sound always coming out as a "z" sound instead.
He led us to his shiny Beemer and we put our bags in his trunk. I got in front and John hopped into the back seat. "Excuse me, sir," John began once he was buckled in, "have you heard anything about my father?"
"Ach, I only know zat your fazer is sadly very busy on somezing important, und he will be coming to collect you at ze hotel, as soon as possible. Until zen, you should rrrelax und enjoy your visit wiz us."
This clearly pleased John and he smiled brightly for the first time since I referred to him as my friend on the plane. A world of worry and tension evaporated in an instant. "Thanks," said John very appreciatively.
The drive from Innsbruck to South Tyrol was fascinating. The buildings were all so different. I'd seen them in pictures and stuff, but to actually see them in real life was way impressive. They were a mixture of extremely modern and very ancient. All the old looking ones were very well kept up. The streets were spotlessly clean and I didn't see any graffiti or trash. Some of the streets were cobblestone and that made for a bumpy ride even in the nice Beemer. There was German Oom-Pah music playing on the radio. I wondered if the kids listened to that or just older people. I doubted the kids did since Karl and I had talked about music and he liked a lot of the groups I did, especially Green Day.
After leaving the city, we headed through the mountainous countryside. John and I oohed and ahhed at the scenery. The massive peaks of the Alps were both intimidating and inspiring. "Zeese mountains are called ze Dolomites," Herr Baumgartner explained. "We will see ze tallest peak in Austrrria, it is called ze Grossglockner. It means big rrringer, or big bells. It is 3,798 meter high."
I had no idea what that meant in American height. I climbed Mount Whitney last summer with my dad and it's the tallest peak in the continental United States at 14,500 feet. I looked it up later on my Mac and felt proud to know Mt. Whitney is actually higher than the "Big Ringer." Mount Whitney was the greatest trip ever. It was me and my dad and a guy he worked with and his son. I wished Karl and Ricky could have gone with, but my dad said Karl wasn't permitted to leave his study group and Ricky couldn't handle it. He was right, as usual. That hike would have killed Ricky.
It took us 5 days of backpacking and we covered over fifty miles. It was kind of awkward the first day with the kid I didn't know, who was a year older. But by the second day, we found some common interests, and at the end, we were pretty good friends. It seems like I get along well with older kids. I guess that's why Karl and I hit it off so great. The only negative of the hike was missing a whole week of hangout time with Karl.
The scenery was really pretty on that hike, but nothing like this. This was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. If the clouds ablaze from the sunrise that we saw in the plane looked like heaven, then the Dolomites looked like the place where angels came for vacation.
The bright blue sky contrasted with thick patches of emerald green forest and lush meadows with patches of snow in the shaded spots. Beautiful two story houses with the timbers exposed and white-washed plaster were scattered along the countryside, usually at the back of a meadow against a stand of trees. We saw rabbits and deer in the meadows. The higher we got, the more snow there was. I was full of curious questions for Herr Baumgartner about everything I saw and about his family and the ski resort and the animals in the forests and, and, and. He seemed to thoroughly appreciate my curiosity, however, and was happy to answer all my questions thoroughly. Lots of adults act bothered when I ask a lot of questions. At last, after about three hours driving, we reached our destination.
The main part of the hotel was a beautiful three story structure built in that old alpine style with white ornamental wood shutters and stair rails. The ski resort was close enough to walk to. There were little cottages scattered around. "This is balls!" I exclaimed.
"Balls?" repeated Herr Baumgartner looking confused.
"Oh, umm, that means great."
"Hmmm, balls means grrreat."
"Well no, not really. It's like ... umm never mind."
"Yeah, it's way cool!" agreed John smiling at the mess I'd gotten myself into.
"I'm so glad you zink so," Herr Baumgartner said with a smile.
"Where's Karl?" I asked. I was excited to see him again.
"Oh, Karl is working in ze rrrestaurant now. He will be finished soon. Ze mid day eating is ze big meal for us. My wife is preparing a large dinner for you tonight, since you are used to eating more at night, Karl tells us. I will have your bags taken to ze villa you will be staying in. I apologize, but I do not have any ozer rooms available, und zere is only 2 betts und Karl wishes to stay in ze villa wiz you. Will zat be okay or would u like Karl to stay in his rrroom at our hotel, so you can each have your own bett?" Herr Baumgartner asked.
"Oh, we definitely want Karl to stay with us in the villa. You don't mind if we share a bed, do you John?"
He shook his head. "Nuh-uhh, that's cool."
Herr Baumgartner gave instructions to a young man in a hotel uniform and he got a little motorized cart and loaded our luggage while we followed Herr Baumgartner to the last villa perched on a slope leading directly down to the main ski lift. When we walked in, John and I both said, "WOW" in unison. In a corner to the left was a small kitchen area with a stove, mini-fridge, sink and cupboards. Above the sink was a locked glass case full of bottles of wine.
Herr Baumgartner showed us that the shelves were stocked with treats and said the fridge had drinks in it. On the right was a large walk-in closet stocked with snowboard gear in our exact sizes already hung up. Against the wall were two barely used Burton snowboards. Our names were on a card above each set of gear. We each had a nice, fluffy white bathrobe hanging under our names as well. Two other robes hung separately on the back wall. Next to the big closet was a large bathroom. There was a funny looking beige toilet without a tank on the back of it and a matching colored sink with all kinds of bottles of stuff on the marble counter top. It was like how I pictured a mansion to be. There was a large, glass enclosed shower at the back of the bathroom with a shower nozzle on both ends.
At the other end of the main room, a big fireplace was set in the wall, and there were matching black leather couches placed back to back. One couch faced the fireplace and the other faced a large screen TV on the opposite wall. A coffee table of natural wood sat in front of the couch on the TV side. Beyond the back wall, through sliding glass doors, was a patio with a small hot tub, four person sauna, and an open air shower. There was a fence surrounding the patio for complete privacy. On the right half of the villa was a door entering into a single bedroom with two queen-size beds. The beds had big fluffy comforters on them. There was a TV mounted on the wall opposite each bed.
Everything was decorated really nice. Lots of natural wood was used and the carpets in the bedroom were soft and fluffy. The bathroom was all tiled in browns and beiges with big mirrors on the walls. The rest of the villa was decked out with solid wood floors covered by fancy rugs. Pictures of castles and landscapes hung on the walls.
"We'll take this bed by the window," I said. "It's plenty big for two of us. Heck, it's big enough for four of us."
Herr Baumgartner laughed. "Very good zen. Well, I suggest you trrry und sleep some before dinner. Ozerwise, you will be very tired. You need to adjust to day being night und night being day," he warned.
"I'm not tired; I want to explore. Can we go snowboarding?" John asked.
"Not today. Tomorrow, Karl will take you. You rrreally should sleep now. Trrrust me about zis."
The porter brought our bags and asked if he could help us hang our clothes up. I told him no, we'd rather do it ourselves. When they left I looked at John and he broke into a giant grin to match mine and I said, "How freaking balls is this place?"
"I know! I'd rather be with my dad, but if I have to wait somewhere for him, this is the best place ever!"
"Well, how about we get unpacked and then maybe we better take Herr Baumgartner's advice and get some sleep." John agreed with me, and we hung our clothes next to our snow gear under our name cards. I took the secret camera and put it on the counter in the bathroom along with my other toiletries. When we were finished unpacking, we stashed our bags in the corner of the closet, grabbed our robes and headed to the bedroom. "I want this side near the window. That okay with you?" I asked.
"Sure," agreed John.
"I really want a shower before I crash," I said.
"Me too; that sounds good." John sat on the other bed and pulled his shoes and socks off. "You can go first; I'll check out the TV," he said.
"I noticed there are two shower nozzles in there. Would you be embarrassed to share it and then watch TV together in bed until we fall asleep?"
"Okay. That sounds great." John lit up at the suggestion. He jumped up and started stripping out of his shorts and shirt and then without any hesitation, off came the boxers. I followed his example, pried off my shoes by the heel, pulled my t-shirt over my head, and slipped my warm-ups and boxers off together at once.
John started giggling at me as he put his fluffy white robe on. The robe was way too big for him even though it was a small. It was a men's small. "What?" I looked to see what on my body was so funny. I didn't have a boner, so that wasn't it.
"Your big toe is poking out your sock," he giggled.
I looked down and sure enough, the whole toe was sticking out. I wiggled it and he laughed more. "You think a toe is funny?" I wiggled it and lifted it up and said, "Attack of the killer toe!"
He was laughing uncontrollably. I figured he was just really tired even though he didn't want to admit it; and sometimes when I get really tired, I laugh at the stupidest stuff. "Eeeeeyahhh," I screeched and charged toward him. He stumbled backward and fell onto the bed. I jumped up on the bed next to him and stuck my stocking foot with the wiggling toe in his face. He laughed harder and pushed it away. I was laughing now too and said, "Toe invasion!" I slipped my killer toe monster down inside his robe and started wiggling it into his ribcage. He started jumping and rolling around and evading my attacking toe. I countered his every move and continued the toe tickle attack. He was outrageously ticklish and I was having a riot attacking him. He ultimately slid up against the headboard and had no more room to escape. He was thrashing and half laughing - half crying as I continued to subject him to the tickle toe torture. He pushed at my foot with his hands but I deftly moved it around to avoid him grabbing and controlling my tickle monster.
"Uncle! Uncle!" he cried out.
Taking pity on him, I pulled my foot away and scrambled off the bed. "John's ticklish!" I declared and pointing at him with both hands added, "I have the power over you now."
He was wiping his eyes and heaving to catch his breath. "No fair."
"All's fair in love and war," I countered.
"You may have the advantage now, but I've studied lots of military history, remember? So I know a few tactics. You better watch out. I might just launch a sneak attack." He was grinning.
"Yeah right, you and what army?" I smugly retorted. I turned to go get my robe off the other bed when, WHAM! I felt John's bare flesh collide with my naked backside. He flung his arms around my neck and wrapped his legs around mine. The force of his jump propelled me forward. His legs being wrapped around mine prevented me from catching my balance and I face planted into the plush brown carpet between the two beds. Luckily, I used my arms to catch our fall, but I sprained my left wrist slightly in doing so. "Hey," I complained, "that's a cheap shot attacking from behind like that."
"All's fair in love and war," repeated John, parroting the words I just used on him.
"War it is then," I laughed. I flung myself sideways and rolled him off my back. I spun away and countered. We engaged in combat and rolled around the floor twisting and grabbing at each other. I had both his arms in my grasp when he reached up with both feet, planted them in my chest and gave a powerful shove. It toppled me backwards and he started to laugh again. I rose up on all fours and crawled back toward him. He squealed and tried to escape but I caught hold of his flailing, open robe. It slipped off his shoulders and I was left holding the empty robe as he flung his naked butt up onto our bed. "Oh no you don't!" I grabbed an ankle and dragged him back onto the floor, kicking, squirming, and laughing his head off.
"I almost got away," he said between bursts of laughter. I got him by the other ankle and twisted him until he was forced to roll over onto his back. Then I scrambled up and straddled him, sitting on his waist and I grabbed one arm. I slid up onto his chest and pinned the captured arm under my knee. He squirmed and bucked but I had a weight advantage over him. I tried catching his free arm at the wrist but he managed to keep evading my grasp. He was quick and dodgy.
"Okay, time for the secret weapon." With my right hand, I reached down and started tickling his ribs again.
"Aaaahhhh!" squealed John as he started laughing and hollering. At the same time, he was kicking his legs wildly behind me. "Uncle! Uncle!" he cried out.
"I'm not falling for that again," I said, continuing my tickle torture. Finally, I was able to grab his free wrist and pin that arm under my other knee. I stopped tickling him, and I sat there on his chest with his arms pinned and my hands resting on my thighs. "I win."
"Not yet!" declared John as he caught his breath. He gave an unexpected lurch with his right shoulder and freed his right arm. The battle resumed, and I started chasing the elusive wrist again. Suddenly, he moved it up, left, down and then straight out. He shocked me as he grabbed a fistful of my naked, dangling balls and squeezed.
"Aaaahhh," I cried out. "Hey, that's definitely not fair!"
"That's my secret weapon. It's like a nuke!" He was so proud of himself. I reached down to pull his hand away, but he just tightened his grip.
"Okay, okay," I said, "Uncle."
"Nope, I'm not falling for that," he said smiling.
"C'mon, that's really not fair. You win, okay?" I conceded the game.
"All's fair in love and war, remember?" sniggered John. He smirked and gave my boys a little tug for emphasis.
"So, little gay boy, which is it? Love or war?" I smiled. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth but nothing came out. He was searching my expression and my eyes for my intent with what I'd just said. I wasn't even sure what my intent was. It just popped out like most things I say do.
"Okay, truce. But you have to make a treaty with me before I'll release my prisoners," he said finally, giving another squeeze to my balls. "If you promise not to tickle me anymore, unless I give permission, I'll free the prisoners."
"Deal," I agreed. He let go of my balls and I slid down off of his chest freeing his arms. I said, "Now I really need a shower, I'm all sweaty." I slid all the way down onto his thighs and reached up and rubbed the sides of his ribcage with my hands. "I'm sorry if I was too rough with you, dude."
"Heck no," replied John smiling brightly, "it was fun." Turning a bit serious, he continued, "I'm glad we met on the plane. I'm glad we made friends."
"Me too, dude. Way glad. Let's go shower." I jumped up and extended my hand. He reached up and took my hand and I pulled him onto his feet. Unexpectedly, he continued his momentum into me with a big hug. It caught me completely off guard and I had to take a half step backward to keep my balance. He released his hug before I could even think about hugging back even if I had wanted to. It was on odd experience getting hugged in the nude by another naked boy. My brain didn't know what to do with it. He was blushing.
"Thanks for being so nice to me. If it wasn't for you I'd be in such big trouble right now with my dad not being at the airport and all, and my phone not working. I don't know what would have happened to me."
"Hey, no problem, dude. You would'a done the same for me. That reminds me, I gotta call mom and let her know we got here safe." My call went straight to the message machine, so I left a short, but informative message. I put my arm around his shoulder and tugged him toward the door and we walked side by side to the fancy, double shower. We didn't even bother with the robes.
I opened the glass door and fiddled with the knobs. The hot water was like instantly there. I adjusted it to a comfortable temperature while John peed. Then, we stepped into the shower after I peeled my socks off and tossed them in the bronze trash can. We both rotated slowly in the warm water, enjoying the relaxing spray on our fronts and backs. The nozzles had adjustments on them and they were on a hose so you could disconnect them from their hooks and hold them in your hand. We both experimented with the various spray options. Some pulsated and others were a fine mist. I laughed at John, who had selected a setting that kind of swirled around and was spraying it on his dick and balls. He was boning up from it.
"This feels great. Try it," suggested John.
I dialed around until I found the same spray style and moved it down to my boy toys. He was right. It was great. It was like little fingers swirling around my sac. I boned up too and I moved the spray up onto the head of my dick where it sent wild sensations through it. Before I cummed, I pulled it away and hung the sprayer back on the wall.
"Whew, that was balls, but I can't take any more. It's too intense." Our boners were maxed out with hardness. His thin little 3 inches was poking up at about a 45 degree angle. Mine curved up slightly and was just about a half inch away from my belly splitting my pubic patch in two. His little patch of wispy, wet pubes lay flat against the base of his surging dick.
"Sure is," agreed John. He followed my example and hung his back up. We washed with the body wash and shampooed our hair. Our boners slowly subsided. He laughed at me for putting shampoo in my pubes.
"What? It's hair too; it needs to be shampooed."
"Just never thought about anyone doing that, I guess," he responded.
I pulled the nozzle off the hook again and dialed in to the strongest spray. I pointed it at him and started squirting the shampoo off his hair. He squealed and grabbed his. Soon we were having a water fight in the shower. We sprayed the shampoo out of our hair and off our faces so we could see better. Then the battle was on. The obvious target was our privates and every time the strong spray would hit our balls, we'd jerk away and squeal. Finally, we grew tired of the game and shut the water off and dried with the fluffy, white towels on the racks. I found a bottle of lotion on the marble counter and smeared it on my chest and legs. I had dry skin and had a habit of applying lotion after showering. John offered to do my back when he saw me struggling to reach. His touch felt nice and my dick stirred a bit while he was rubbing me.
I splashed on some cologne from another bottle and sniffed my palms. "Mmmm, smell that."
"Mmmm, that smells nice. Give me some," requested John. I shook some onto his palms and he rubbed it on his chest and sides. I left for the bedroom and he followed.
I pulled on a clean pair of boxers and pulled the comforter down along with a sheet that was under it and climbed into my spot. John pulled on his own clean pair of boxers and was getting into the other bed. "Why you going over there?" I asked.
"I dunno, just figured you wanted your own."
"Nah, let's share since we're going to be anyway. Then you won't mess up Karl's bed any," I suggested.
"Oh, okay." John replaced the comforter and bounded over to our bed. He hopped in and we pulled up the sheet and comforter. The weight of the comforter was much less than it appeared it would be. It really was very comforting. I started pushing buttons on the TV remote until I found an old John Wayne cowboy movie. It made us both giggle and laugh at the dubbed in German voice for John Wayne. After a bit, we grew tired of it and I moved on. There were some dorky cartoons of really poor quality also speaking German. We found an old episode of Baywatch dubbed in German too. Finally, we decided to just give up and when I came across a channel of soft, instrumental music, I put the remote down. The music was relaxing. "Let's just go to sleep," I suggested.
"Yeah, okay," agreed John. He yawned. I closed my eyes and I suddenly felt very tired and heavy. "Hey, David, you asleep yet?"
"Hmph, no. What?"
"Can I scoot over by you like how we slept on the plane?"
"Mm hmm." I felt the warmth of his bare leg against mine and gently sighed involuntarily. He snuggled up against my side and slipped his right hand into my left. We locked fingers and fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
"David. David. David, wake up!" Someone was poking me. I squinted at the beaming face the noise was coming from and then realized it was Karl. I sat up and rubbed my eyes.
"Karl! What's up dude?"
"Time to get up and I will show you around before dinner. My mozer has cooked a wonderful welcome meal for you." John stirred and rolled away from me. "Hallo! I'm Karl," said Karl with a wave at John.
"Umm, hi. I'm John."
"Pleased to meet," Karl said
"What time is it?" I asked very uncertain.
"It is 18:00 o'clock," stated Karl looking at his watch.
"How come are you using military time?" John asked. Karl looked at him quizzically, uncertain what he meant.
"It's not military time," I explained, "it's just how they give the time out in Europe. They don't start over after noon like we do, they do it the same as our military does it, but for them it's just normal."
"Oh," is all John replied. The look on his face said he didn't like not knowing that. "So did you say we are going exploring?"
"Yes, I want to show you ze hotel and explain all ze zings we can do," answered Karl with great anticipation in his voice. John sprang from bed and ran around to other side.
"What should I wear?" He asked.
"Somezing warm; it's getting cold outside now."
I also got up and put on some long jeans and a sweatshirt. We put our coats and knit caps on and headed out onto the hotel property. We followed Karl down to the lifts and they were just closing them down for the daytime skiing and preparing for night skiing. We looked at the map of all the trails you can ski and board on. There was a board park and I was especially excited for that. Karl was pointing out some fun, challenging runs up near the top of the mountain. John was quiet and had the same takeoff and landing look on his face from the plane.
"John, what one do you want to go on first?" I asked to include him in the conversation. He looked at me hesitantly and pointed at the bunny hill for beginners. Karl and I were at a loss for words for a minute.
"Oh, you ever boarded before? I thought you said you had."
"I joined a club at my school and we went four times this winter. That's all I've been," he admitted. "I'm not that good. I fall a lot."
"Naja, no problem," said Karl brightly, "I can get an instructor to teach you to do it more better. Soon you will be pro." John clearly approved of that idea and was beaming.
"For reals? You can hook me up?"
"Ja, naturlich. Do you want a pretty girl teacher or big strong man teacher?" John surprised us both when he chose a man. He was afraid if he had a pretty girl, he'd worry more about how he was looking in front of her and he really wanted to learn to board better. "Okay, an ugly, hairy man teacher for you. I will talk to my fazer and get it ready for ze morning." Karl had the habit of using the German word "naturlich" a lot. It means "naturally" and he slips it into his conversation all the time. We sort of figured it out after a while.
"Wow, Karl, this place rocks. You and your dad are the greatest." John practically skipped all the way over to the hotel. "What's that fancy building with all the glass and shiny steel?"
"Zat is ze Kur spa. It is only for adults, but on nights after it is closed, my fazer lets me und my friends use it sometimes. Und on Tuesday mornings, children are allowed in, but you have to wear a swimsuit. Normally, everyone goes naked in zere. Ze big dome over zere is ze regular swimming pool we can use anytime." Karl pointed to the other side of the hotel.
"This place is really balls," I said as we entered in the main lobby. "So what all is in that spa place?"
"Zere is hot mineral pools und ice pools. Zere is mud baz. Zere is a swimming pool, naturlich. Und zere is massage, but only for ze adults. Zey have steam rooms and saunas wiz herbs in ze air zat clean out ze lungs. It's umm, how you say, balls." Karl snickered at his adoption of this new American slang word.
"Damn, too bad about the adults only thing on the massage. That would be awesome to try," I coomplained. "It sucks that we have to wear bathing suits on kids' day, too; we might have seen some hot naked Euro chicks."
"Hah," snorted Karl, "You are funny American." Karl then offered, "If you like, I could talk to Frieda or Gerta. Zey have given me und some of my friends a massage after hours before. Zey are very good at it. Would you like zat I ask?"
"Obvi! Hook us up." I wondered what Frieda and Gerta looked like. Their names made them sound like maybe they were big, strong broads with mustaches that worked you over like in a scene in this James Bond movie I have in my collection.
"Or, if you prefer, I could get Fritz or Peter to give you one," Karl said with a big smirk on his face.
"Shut-up!" I smacked him in the arm and he laughed. He greeted the people at the front desk and we walked behind the counter and through a door. At the end of a long hallway with offices, we entered a wooden door and were suddenly in a practically different world. It was the family living quarters of Karl's family. Instead of luxurious, it was warm and inviting. Karl's little brother and sister came bounding up and stood apart smiling shyly.
"Zis is Heinrich und zis is Maria," introduced Karl. Heinrich appeared to be about eleven and Maria about eight. Maria waved and hid behind Heinrich, who pushed her away. "Come und I show you my room." We pulled our coats and caps off and hung them in a closet, then filed past Heinrich and Maria, who trailed behind. Karl's room was amazing. It was spotless and everything was neat and orderly. I figured Mrs. Baumgartner made them clean it before we came.
Karl and Heinrich shared a room, but it was really big. It was like a full size hotel room. They had a big screen TV across from their twin beds with a balls gaming system hooked up to it. John wanted to play "Call of Duty" but Karl said there wasn't time.
"I like play wiz you," Heinrich timidly said, "after we eat." He had a cute smile and was like a miniature Karl but skinny and much less muscular. He had the same dark brown hair and thick brows as Karl. Maria hung in the doorway where both brothers simply ignored her. I felt bad, so I walked over and tried to talk to her. She slipped to the side of the doorway and smiled shyly but didn't answer my questions. Heinrich explained, "She doesn't understand hardly any English yet." I reached in my pants pocket and found a week old Jolly Rancher and offered it to her. I held it toward her and smiled. She shrugged and looked at Karl, who nodded, then she reached out, took it, and ran off to show her mother.
Karl was showing us some of his awards from skiing when his mother called us to come to dinner. We all sat around a large wooden table and Mrs. Baumgartner scurried about making sure we all tried everything she had cooked. She was a very pretty woman and had a dark green apron over a stylish black dress. She was like an elegant housewife. We all bowed our heads and Herr Baumgartner said grace and gave thanks we had arrived safely. I gave silent thanks as well, and I know John did.
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