Beauty and the Bog by Patrick Colin Jackson (f, qs) Once again, Katrina Lawrence was home alone. Her mother was at the Natchez, Mississippi County Fair, where two of her older brothers worked. Her father was at the dealership, where he and her third brother (also older) sold and fixed tractors. Katrina had run through the list of chores her parents had left her that morning. Now everything looked right around the house.and there was nothing else to do. The TV wasn't working. The phone was, but all of her friends were too busy to come over and play - or for her to come over and play with them. She thought about finding something to read.but, after a few minutes of looking, she realized she'd read it all before. Today, however, Katrina didn't mind being home alone. She didn't mind it because there WAS something else to do. Something she was forbidden to do, but had ached to do ever since being forbidden to do it. Because of Katrina's "feline beauty," everyone called her Kitty. And she /was/ a beautiful child, even at twelve years old, with cornsilk hair and dark blue ("Scandinavian blue," everyone called it) eyes. A look in those eyes and any boy would be gone. A look in those eyes and many a boy at her school /had/ been gone. And no wonder: she was the most graceful and athletic girl in town, having taken up gymnastics at the age of eight. Kitty had been complimented on her sensational appearance from early childhood - even by her three brothers, who had always made her feel so special and appreciated. She had always worshipped these attractive and accomplished guys, who thought nothing of letting her lie next to them at night when she couldn't sleep. She had always loved it when they picked her up and kissed her and said how proud they were of her. (Then again, who could blame them for being proud of such a lovely sister?) All of their support and encouragement really bolstered Kitty's self-esteem.particularly when they, or anyone else, noted how gorgeous she looked in her underwear or a bathing suit. (Again, no wonder: Kitty had been swimming ever since she could walk.) It was time. Kitty fixed herself some breakfast, ate and cleaned up after herself. Then she locked herself in the bathroom (a force of habit), used the "throne", showered and washed her hair. After scrubbing and rinsing and drying herself all over, she studied that which she had brought in with her: a white t-shirt, a pair of full-cut white panty-briefs and a small box of safety pins. After donning the briefs and t-shirt, Kitty proceeded to pose in them before the mirror.admiring how she strained the seams of her "comfies," and also how long and sleek her legs appeared. It always made her feel sexy to stroll around in a bathing suit, a leotard, or underwear. Today, however, she was going one step further. After tucking her t-shirt into her undies, she carefully safety-pinned the tail of the shirt to the waistband of the briefs. This "swimsuit" made Kitty look - and thus feel - sexier than ever. She was all ready to go. The Lawrence House was a beautiful Antebellum mansion built by Kitty's great-grandfather. It was separated from Natchez by 20 miles of woods. The house was so far off the road that, while Kitty could have been seen clearly by a causal passerby, nobody without binoculars would have realized that she only had a t-shirt and her underpants on. The striking little girl walked leisurely from the back parlor down a short path through the woods. The path disappeared into Bogart's Lake, which was better known as "Boggy Lake." This was due to all the peat, moss and algae floating on its surface; the large, shallow pond looked like a bog. And that's exactly what attracted Kitty to it. She strode right into the lake, directly where the path should have been. The fetid water came up to her knees, then to her thighs. She smiled, slowly treading her way toward the center of the lake. The green water rose to her hips, then crawled over her bottom. She grinned happily as it reached the waistband of her underpants. For several minutes Kitty stood in the center of the fetid green pond, making up her mind which way she should go from here. On the shore, directly opposite the path she had followed to get here, was a low embankment; beyond that were trees, vines and green mist. Kitty recognized it straight away. It was the great swamp named "La Fen Nikita," by the local Cajuns who feared to tread there; although they did spread lots of horror stories about it. Her parents had strictly forbidden her to venture into that swamp, mostly because there was quicksand. That had been their mistake, mentioning the quicksand, for that was the most appealing and exciting part for Kitty. Now that she had found "Fen Nikita", Kitty celebrated by doing a perfect surface-dive into the green lake. She could see nothing around her, but that was all right. Her bare feet found the muddy floor of the lake. Tucking her legs under her, Kitty launched herself as high as she could out of the fetid pond. Then she sliced right back into it with a big /sploosh/. Algae, moss and peat sprayed everywhere. Kitty pushed her wet cornsilk mane out of her face, then examined the rest of herself. Her t-shirt was clinging to her trim body. She waded around in the green pond, enjoying the way it felt. Suddenly, Kitty spotted three vines leading up the embankment to ... well, it didn't matter where to. Giggling with delight, she lunged in that direction and began to swim toward the bank - with her "bathing suit" alternately trailing behind her and sucking at her. Reaching her objective, Kitty gripped a vine and hoisted her body out of the fetid water. She looked back down at herself. Her briefs were clinging to her, just like her shirt. With her trim legs, she churned the water into green froth. Then she dropped back in again. She played this joyous game for a few minutes, hoisting herself out and then easing herself back in again, She dangled in the green water up to her thighs, her hips, her waist, her ribs, her chest, her armpits, her shoulders, her neck.ultimately, she just lolled there-gripping a vine with her hands, while floating on her belly and kicking with her legs. She looked over her shoulder, at the back half of her well-toned body. Her rump bobbed like an island in the green lake. This was fun! It was time to climb out of the water, up the bank itself. The first few times, Kitty slipped and plunged back into the green pond. Finally, however, she reached the top and spent a few minutes catching her breath. This hadn't been the first swim she'd taken in her underwear, but doing so never failed to make her feel safe and happy and good all over. She caught her breath, got up and entered "Fen Nikita". Kitty had not gone far when the mists thinned to reveal a large carpet of leaves over slimy black mud. Immediately, she realized what this was. Immediately, she felt the urge to leap into it and go for a sink. This time, she couldn't even hear the voice of reason within her, which tried (often in vain) to talk her out of these things. Right here and now, more than anything, she wanted to get muddy. So she did. Kitty sat on the edge of the pit and dipped her lower legs into the quicksand. It was soft, warm and sticky. Excited, she turned around and lowered herself in up to her thighs. The mud clung to and sucked on her legs, which made her happier and more excited than ever. Still, she wanted to be well and truly /in/ the warm, caressing goo. So she got up, turned to face the pit and jumped right into it. /Sploosh!/ Leaves and mud sprayed all over as Kitty sank up to her hips in the quicksand. She wallowed through the clinging stuff to its center, and then just stood there as it licked her legs and bottom. She chuckled as the warm goo bubbled beneath her, then got even softer. It crawled up to her waist, then up to her ribs. 'Oh, boy ... I'm sinking!' Kitty thought. Then she suddenly reached buoyancy and began to float. For a few minutes she just sat there in the chest-deep quicksand, enjoying every second of what was happening to her. "Now, then ... What if I lie down in it? Will I keep floating?" she asked herself. The soft, warm quicksand was becoming even thinner, because of her playing there, and Kitty wondered if she might be able to swim in it. So she fell on her belly in the slimy black goo, lifting her legs and bottom to its surface. She began to paddle with her arms while pushing with her legs - and beamed upon realizing that it worked! Granted, it /was/ trickier and slower than crawling through water. "Wow, this feels good!" Kitty told herself. "I never knew quicksand could be so comfortable. I love it!" Reaching the pit's edge, she lolled dreamily in the black goo for a few minutes.looking over her shoulder to admire the muddy island that was her back and rump. Finally, Kitty gripped some weeds and dragged herself out of the quicksand. 'That was quite a swim,' she thought. Then Kitty got up and looked down at herself. She was soaking wet and filthy all over - looking like some hideous swamp creature. Kitty smiled, recalling how she'd always liked to play in her parents' hog-waller ... coating herself with mud to pretend she was just such a monster. That's when something occurred to her: the quicksand was between her and Boggy Lake! Moreover, it should still be softened by her romp in it - which meant, if she leaped back in, she could sink up to her neck. So Kitty got back into the quicksand; sure enough, she sank from her waist to her neck in less than a minute. For a few more minutes, Kitty just sat there, giggling like a little baby, as she floated shoulder-deep in the warm and sticky goo. Then she shifted her weight, letting her back half rise to the surface, and proceeded to "swim" through the black mud to its edge. There she rested a few seconds before hoisting herself out of the pit. Kitty dropped back into Boggy Lake and briskly swam around for a minute or two, just to clean herself off. With a couple of surface dives, she managed to rinse all the quicksand out of her hair. Then, at a leisurely crawl, Kitty reached the opposite shore of the green lake. For about a minute she rested on her belly in the shallow, tepid water. She amused herself by rolling from side to side, then looking over her shoulder as the green water licked her round buttocks. Finally, she dragged herself out of the fetid green pond, more from laziness than from exhaustion. Kitty scampered back home, showered and changed. Having gotten her "swimsuit" unpinned and in the wash, she had lunch all ready by the time her folks got home. They all thanked her and complimented her on a meal well fixed - all four courses of it, to be exact. Her mother had some really good news for her: Kitty's birthday was coming two months early this year, since her parents were expecting twins. both of them girls! Everyone was delighted, and congratulated Mom with kisses. Not one member of the family knew or even suspected where Kitty had gone that day. Kitty slept very well that night, dreaming about what kind of birthday present she was going to give her baby sisters - once they were nine or ten, of course.