After she saw it on the news, we just had to try it. She was the one who insisted. Getting wet in front of a huge crowd, or WITH them, to be more precise. New Years Day, the news just kept running clips of people running into the surf, or into a lake, to welcome the new year. Most were in bathing suits, many in costumes, and a few in their clothes - including a Boston news reporter who just waded into it fully dressed. She was in jeans and boots, wearing a turtleneck sweater and her station jacket over it. She walked into the water just about up to her waist, gave her closing report, handed the mike off to someone, turned, and dove in head first, coming up with a smile on her face as she slogged out of the water and up the beach. And that was the image that got to her, she pointed it out every time it came on the screen. The "L Street Brownies" have made their annual plunge for decades, and she started planning for the next year almost immediately, and her eyes were glued to the TV every time the subject came up, but we never made the 364 days until the following New Year. In fact, we lasted just over a month until she found an opening.
South of Boston, there was a fundraiser for a regional charity with people taking a swim through the ice on Valentines Day for pledges. When she saw it on the news, I was told that we were going there to watch and maybe make a donation, and she picked out a restaurant in the area for us to celebrate Valentines as well.
It was a Saturday afternoon and the actual plunge was scheduled for 2 p.m. at the state boat ramp on the lake. As we arrived, there was already a crowd, and parking was at a premium, but we managed to get a spot where as we learned later, was fortunately close. Luckily, it wasn't terribly cold, but it was still spitting snow with an occasional heavy flurry of big wet flakes, however, we had dressed for the weather.
In the spirit of the day, she was wearing her bright red thick ribbed turtleneck from Lands End with a white cotton one underneath , which showed at both the cuffs and the neck, just like she usually wore the combination. Her tight black jeans were tucked into knee high boots with a 4 inch heel. I had put on a navy blue turtleneck similar to hers over a white cotton one and had on a pair of khaki dockers and LL Bean mud shoes. We both topped our outfits with down vests and headed off to watch the fun.
Firemen in dry suits were already in the water, which was open and ice free more than 50 ft from shore. We joined the crowd and watched as each group was announced and they ran in, and out quickly, mostly in bathing suits and sneakers, some still wearing t-shirts. Groups and individuals, all with pledges, took their turns, and the longer we were there, the more interesting things got. There was a second wave of dippers, all in costumes, everything from halloween to cartoon characters, local high school cheerleaders and football players went in in their respective uniforms, and the school superintendent and high school principal in business suits. Each group, or person was announced over a speaker, and thanked for their support. As things wound down, suddenly a mother with a couple kids in their early teens let out a whoop and the three of them ran to the edge of the boat ramp where she handed her bag to a person standing there, and they ran into the water without removing a stitch of clothing. When they came out, fully soaked and still fully dressed in their winter clothes they were called over to the speaker who asked them a few questions. They weren't part of the program, but apparently between them, they enjoyed what was going on and they challenged each other to do it, with the mom promising to donate $20 to the cause if they did. So as they stood there dripping, smiling and freezing, receiving a round of applause from everyone there, the speaker said the magic words: "Is there anyone else ready to make a last minute donation and take the plunge?" Silence, for what seemed an eternity, and as the speaker began to ask the question again, another mother with a teenage boy and girl stepped up and offered $20, claiming that "If they could do it, so can we!" In, and out, they went, but they at least removed their jackets first. Next, it was a mid-20's couple in jeans and fleece tops, pledging $50. Before they could walk away from the mike, a middle aged woman in a white turtleneck sweater walked up and handed them a twenty as her pledge. The speaker acknowledged the donation and as the woman turned to walk away, the girl in the couple loudly asked her to go in with them. She shook her head to say "no" but the crowd started chanting "Go in, go in!" Half a dozen refusals later, she agreed, and handing off her pocketbook to the speaker, with a big smile on her face, she joined the couple. Instead of running though, they simply walked to the edge of the water and in to it about calf deep and stopped. They turned and faced the crowd and the guy asked "OK?". Almost as if pre-arrainged, the crowd began to chant "Deeper, deeper!". They went a bit further and turned again, with the same response from the crowd. First calf deep, then thigh deep, then up to their waists, then a few more steps, above the waist, and each time the crowd was louder, until finally they dipped fully under, emerging to cheers and whistles from the crowd.
And that did it for Suzy. Her hand was in her bag and out came a twenty. "Pony up" she said to me, and I reached for my wallet. Money in hand we went to the announcer, but we weren't alone. By now a dozen or more people had the same idea and we were fourth in line. Some dropped their jackets, a couple took off their shoes, but otherwise, they all took the dip unplanned and fully dressed. Our turn came soon enough, and at the last minute we hesitated and decided to remove our vests. That hesitation was just long enough for a woman who was by herself behind us in line to approach us. A brunette roughly our age, she was dressed in jeans and boots and a leather jacket. She explained that she was going solo, because her friends were "chickens" and asked if she could join us. Without hesitation we said "Sure" and off came her leather jacket as she smiled like she meant it. She had on a plain light blue crew neck sweater over a darker turtleneck and a couple chains around her neck. The sweater did nothing to conceal what must have been a pair of grapefruit sized boobs which showed no signs of sagging.
"Ready!" she said and stepped off towards the boat ramp as we joined her. A quick whispered discussion along the way and we decided to go in slowly, rather than run in. Ankle deep at the edge and turned to the crowd "Deeper!" the chants started. It was then that our friend made her move, shouting out "I can't hear you!" and "Louder". And as the crowd obliged, we backed up deeper. One step at a time, urged on by the crowd, up to our knees, hips, chests, finally, when most people would have had sufficient cold water and headed out, we decided to go fully under, and swim a few strokes to each corner of the open area. That done, we bobbed and waded back to the ramp and slowly emerged, water running from everywhere. I'm not sure if the cheers we heard were for us, or the next few dippers heading in, but we made our way out and were graciously handed blankets by the event staff and had a chance to warm up a bit in a tent set up for that purpose.
While we were in the tent,our new friend finally introduced herself as "Pam" and thanked us for letting her go in with us. Then she told us she lived fairly close by, and we could use her bathroom to get cleaned up and changed if we wanted to. Suzy thought that was a good idea, so we made arrangements, and as we left, Pam rejoined her friends and we followed them to her house over 20 minutes away.
Barely inside, the two women complained of being chilled. One of Pam's 3 friends offered to make some good stiff drinks, but Pam had another idea. She looked at us and said "Come on" as she motioned us through the house. She drew a curtain and opened up a sliding door onto the rear deck of the house and as we stepped out, she pointed to her hot tub. "Help me with the cover" she said as we opened it up and watched the steam rise. "Shoes off this time sweeties" as she pulled her boots off. She didn't need to say anything else as she clambered into the hot water, dipping down and finding a seat. "Get in her!" she said, almost too late as Suzy already had a leg in and I was right behind her. Barely seated, the slider opened and Pam's friend came out with drinks, she looked at us and smiled as she handed us our drinks of some kind of brandy concoction, then looked at Pam and said "Again?" as she went back inside. Pam mumbled something about her not liking getting her clothes wet and then just laid back and took a sip from her drink.
The door slid open again, and this time it was a pretty Asian girl in a short plaid skirt, black hose, and a black turtleneck sweater. The only reason I even recognized her was from her boots, because when we came into the house she had on an overcoat, hat, gloves, a scarf and sunglasses. Pam looked at her and said "What's up Tina?" who answered "Hold my drink" as she handed it to Pam. Without another word, she unzipped her boots, pulled them off, and climbed into the tub with us. As Pam handed her back her drink, she said "Leave them in there, they're no fun" and sipped her drink and sat back against the headrest, submersing the neck of her sweater and the bottom of her dark hair.
As we finished our drinks and talked about the day, the heat of the water caught up with us and it was time to get out. Pam lead the way, and wrapped in towels we headed toward the bathroom.
I assumed that we were getting more towels and she'd show us a place to change, but instead we all ended up in the somewhat spacious room. Tina proved that she wasn't shy by immediately turning on the shower and stepping in. "Gotta wash the chlorine out of these clothes" she said, followed by "Pam, can you wash my hair?" as our hostess stepped into the shower with her. The glass door closed, but we could see the tops of their heads as Pam lathered her up, then her own hair, and they rinsed fully clothed under the steaming water. They undressed in the shower and as the water went off, they both stepped out wrapped in towels. "No show for you today sweetie" Pam said to me with a smile. Then she reached under the counter, came up with another bottle of shampoo, handed it to Suzy, and said "Have fun, we're out of here".
Suzy knew that by now I was probably excited and by the time I had the water adjusted, she was under it. She was lathering up her own hair as I stepped in, and my crotch was met with a handful of lather. She massaged me through my pants, adding more shampoo and making more lather, as I added shampoo to her head and massaged it in. Carried away now, we added more and more shampoo, lathering up our sweaters and then our pants, and finally humping against each other for several minutes as the water rinsed us clean. As was inevitable, Suzy was on her knees in a few minutes, and I was in her mouth. She licked and sucked and deep throated for all that she was worth as the water ran down over us both. Finally, as the moment came closer, she took me in her hand and stroked me as she rubbed the tip on her face and lips until I let go all over both, watching her smile as it ran down onto her sweater. She wiped her face with her sleeve, and instead of standing back up, she lay back in the tub and smiled at me. "Guess what I'm doing?" she asked, and judging from the look on her face, it was obvious that she was wetting herself in her jeans. "You must be ready by now, or did you go in the hot tub?" she asked me. Without a word I smiled back and relaxed, my stream hitting her in the crotch and working its' way up to her tits, which she had now pushed together. She leaned forward into it, closed her eyes and said "Finish", as I emptied the rest onto her head and face, watching her open her mouth to catch a little bit of the stream. When I was done, she stood up, came under the shower, and forcibly kissed me on the mouth, giving me a taste of myself, before pulling away and smiling at me with "Happy Valentines Day honey....."
Her fear of cold water disappeared that day, and for years later we tried to get wet at any similar event that we could get to. It took two years, but after our second time in the water on New Years with the L Street Brownies, she was interviewed by the same reporter that she had first seen on TV the day this whole thing started, and she got to go back in the water with said reporter as their cameraman did various angles and retakes of the scene for their story that night, where Suzy was the featured dipper and interviewee.