CHAPTER 1

An energetic young woman of twenty-five, named
Alicia, devours the leftover sliced cantaloupe sitting on a plate
on the kitchen drainboard. She's dressed in a silky oriental
nightshirt and is wearing nothing else. She drops the peelings
into the sink after she gnaws each slice to the rind.

Brandon, her newlywed husband, who is five years her
senior, leans against the refrigerator, sipping a cup of coffee
and watching her intently. "Sex always makes me so
famished!" she exclaims. "Why is that?"

"It must be a biological phenomenon," Brandon replies
jokingly. "You need to be replenished after you've given so
much." Alicia laughs and throws a cantaloupe rind at him.
Brandon jumps to the side to avoid being hit and spills hot
coffee on his hand.

"Ouch!" he exclaims.

Alicia appeases him by wiping the coffee off his hand
with a dishtowel. "Are you okay?" she asks.
"Sure, sort of," he replies, pouting. She takes his hand in
hers and begins kissing it, first the back, then turns it palm up
and licks it with her tongue. She licks his fingers one by one,
then opens his bathrobe and kisses his chest. She moves past
his stomach and down into the top of his shorts.

"Oh, my! There's the biological phenomenon," she states
emphatically. Brandon picks her up and carries her over to the
couch, then drops her over the back of it onto the cushions. He
leans over and kisses her. Alicia puts her arms around his neck
and pulls him off of his feet. They continue to embrace.
Brandon's feet dangle in the air above the top of the couch.

"Race you to the Jacuzzi!" she challenges him. She
jumps up from the couch and runs down the hall to the
bathroom where she flips on the Jacuzzi. She pulls her
nightshirt up over her head and glances behind her, toward the
entrance of the bathroom. Brandon races around the corner,
removing his bathrobe on the run. Alicia laughs as he steps
down into the bubbly hot water. She moves back away from
him, teasingly, as he chases her around the hot tub. He dives
under the water in a vain attempt to catch her. Alicia yelps and
swims across the top of the water in her game of cat and mouse.
He resurfaces and makes bubbling noises with his mouth. He
moves closer and grabs her.

"No, Brandon, no!" she squeals. He kisses her fully on
the lips before she can escape his grasp. She succumbs to his
caress, relaxing and putting her arms around him. Finally, she
wraps her legs around his hips as he backs her up against the
wall of the hot tub, and their play culminates in a passionate
frenzy.

Several days later, Brandon strolls out of an oil company
office building in town, dressed in a suit and jauntily swinging
his briefcase. He stops suddenly, clutching his forehead in
pain. He recovers momentarily, shaking his head, and
continues on for a short distance to his car. He turns the key in
the ignition, starting the car, then puts both of his hands to his
forehead, grimacing in pain. Leaning back in the car seat, he
puts his hands down and exhales. Shortly thereafter, he pulls
up the driveway to his house and parks the car.

The sun shines brightly through the windows, even
though it's late afternoon. Brandon walks inside the house,
closing the door behind him and throwing his jacket and
briefcase on the couch. He exhaustedly flops down on an easy
chair, grimacing in pain and touching his forehead. Alicia
enters the room and, noticing his plight, she moves to his side.
"Hi, Darling. What's wrong?" she asks.

"I think I'm just burned-out and overworked. Need a
little mini-vacation," he answers. "Let's go up to Chena Hot
Springs tomorrow for the weekend. I'll take Friday off and
we'll come back Sunday. You've been wanting to go there for
months."

"You think you're up to driving that far?" She asks. "It's
about three-hundred and fifty miles from here."

"Sure," he replies. "We'll leave early in the morning. I
can use the change."

"Sounds great!" she tells him. "I'll pack our things
tonight."

Morning arrives and the couple leaves town, driving past
Fairbanks and heading northwest to Chena Hot Springs. Alicia
sits on the passenger side of the vehicle, dressed in a tank top
and shorts. She rolls down the car window, letting the wind
blow through her hair. She watches the sunlight play through
the tree branches as they speed along the two-lane road. A
moose crosses the road a couple of hundred yards ahead. A
moose calf crosses behind his mother, shortly thereafter.
Brandon slows the vehicle down, looking to his right. "I just
hope another calf doesn't come busting out of the brush, onto
the road in front of me," he tells Alicia. She looks to her right,
watching the two moose disappear into the woods. Brandon
speeds up once again. "Guess she's only got one calf. Wolves
might have got the other one," Brandon observes.

"Or a car hit it," Alicia replies. "Why do you think they
all have twins?"

"Maybe she just had one. Poor moose, anyway. Giving
birth to anything as big as a moose calf would be tough enough,
let alone two of them," Brandon chuckles to himself.

They reach the hot springs about a six hours later and
check into their small log cabin, which is next to the hotel and
the covered hot springs pool. "How are you feeling, Brandon?"
Alicia asks.

"A little better," he replies as he throws a bag of their
clothing onto the bed. "Let's get in that pool and relax." They
change into their swimming suits. Alicia wraps herself in a
towel. Brandon opens the cabin door and begins to walk out.

"Hey!" Alicia yells at him. "Here." She throws a bath
towel at him. They step outside and walk along the boardwalk
to the pool house. Inside, Alicia lays her towel on a bench and
walks down the steps into the swimming-pool sized hot
springs. She immerses herself in the steamy water and places
her nose clips on, telling Brandon that she doesn't care for the
sulfury smell of the water. Only a couple of other people are
in the pool and they are engaged in conversation at the far end.

"Come and get it, Honey," Alicia teases Brandon. He
throws his towel down on the bench, where it slides to the floor
as he dives in. He surfaces next to Alicia. She smiles and
splashes at him. They begin wrestling and she grabs his neck
from behind, pulling him back under the water. He sputters
and splashes her again, laughing. Alicia swims the length of
the pool with long, slow, even strokes, touches the concrete on
the far end and swims back to where Brandon rests at the pool
edge. He suddenly grabs his head with both hands and shakes
it from side to side.