They were all up, dressed and partway through breakfast when the seven o'clock bell sounded below in Eggingen. "Looks like we'll have a beautiful sunny day for our family stroll." Rachel smiled at David and Maria. "The more I think about it, the more it makes sense to do it this way. Simply be down there as part of the scene."

"We need to sort out what to carry with us," David said. "We don't need much... In Freiburg, in Gottenheim, did the German soldiers or other officials stop to question people? Ask for identification like those two soldiers did the other day? Did they search?"

"Never happened to me." Maria shook her head. "I spent a lot of time walking into town to school, exploring at lunch break, walking through town to the gasthaus. The soldiers looked at me a lot, but I was never stopped. But it's not close to the border like here."

"They looked at you because you are so spectacularly beautiful," he said. "No healthy man could keep from looking at you, at the graceful way you move, the confidence you exude."

"He's right, Maria, even if you weren't my daughter, I'd still say you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, even more beautiful than I was at your age and I'm told I turned a lot of men's eyes and hearts in those days."

"You two are making me blush."

"The colour looks so good on you," Rachel said. "Come, let's finish breakfast and go set-up a dressmaking shop."

In addition to the seamstress supplies and the other bedrolls to sit on, David took the crutches and began practising on a circuit of the lookout slab, pausing each time he passed the prow to take a thorough look down on the valley floor. He watched the Erzingen border, the eight o'clock mustering of the troops and the three squads as they headed out to the same posts as they had on the previous day.

New activity was a squad heading along the line of trees beside the river downstream of the camp. They stopped a short distance beyond the slough, then four of the soldiers headed back with a body slung by ankles and wrists, head dragging on the ground.

The other five members of the squad remained and moved in a seemingly random fashion. After confirming their activity, he said to the girls, "They're hauling back the corpse. Others are resetting the trap. How are the dresses coming? Do you need any help?"

"No, we're moving along well. An extra hand at the moment would only complicate it," Rachel said. "We've ripped the leg seams, have the darts cut, and we're just now beginning to stitch the skirts together. These will be surprisingly fashionable. We'll do a modelling session within the hour."

He bent and kissed each of them before he returned to his crutch practice and watch routine. He was lying on his belly at the prow, scoping the valley when he heard Maria behind him.

"Introducing the latest in ladies' summer fashion."

He rolled over and sat up as mother and daughter strutted arm-in-arm back and forth across the granite, swishing their full woollen skirts which swept about three inches above the slab.

"Those drape wonderfully, nicely rounded folds, they move well and have a high-quality look to them. You could go into business."

"We're not finished yet," Rachel said. "I'm going to work on completing Maria's outfit, make a simple laced bodice, modify her shirt sleeves and add some shoulder puffs and details. We have lots of material from our spare shirts, the flannel and the clean white cottons. When I've finished with hers, she'll do mine."

He admired the way Rachel lifted a piece of cloth, placed it on Maria's shirt, moved it around and tried another piece, tilting her head. "I'll go back to watching valley. I want you to surprise me with the finished outfit."

David listened to the nine o'clock bells and saw much more traffic on the little road than there had been on Sunday. Horse carriages, waggons, motorcars and a few small trucks passed and a train descended. There were no further activities around the camp at the weir. People were working in the fields, a horse was pulling a plough back and forth in a plot across the river in Switzerland. There was a sparse but regular traffic at the border crossing.

He listened as the bells pealed ten, and was tempted to turn around and look at the progress on the dress, but he resisted, continuing his slow sweeps with the telescope, looking for activity between Eggingen and Zigzag. His telescope sweep had reached the edge of town and was starting back along the road and rail line when he heard a soft swish behind him.

"What do you think, David?" Maria asked.

He rolled over, sat up and stared. "Absolutely gorgeous. The outfit is also." He stood, then slowly walked around her, trying to take in all the detail. "I'm stunned. Amazed you could do all that so quickly, Mama."

"Quickly is the thing. It won't hold together long. Most of the long seams are simply basted. Closer stitching where needed, but more just tacked together. From a metre away, even a seamstress wouldn't know at a glance. It will hold well for a few days."

"Mama's going to keep playing seamstress with me as her dress form," Maria said as she unbuttoned the front of her skirt and let it drop to the granite as she rotated her hips provocatively.

David began swelling.

Maria undid the laces down the front of her bodice, and he swelled further as the bulge of her breasts moved down beneath her shirt. Blouse, he corrected himself in his mind. So cleverly modified, he thought as she undid its buttons and shook her bared breasts at him.

"Mama said I could take a break from modelling." She stepped out of the skirt toward him. "Care to join me?"

"You've trapped me down my trousers again," he said as he lifted his left thigh above horizontal, unclasped his belt, unbuttoned his front, popped out and dropped the trousers. Maria had his shirt unbuttoned and off his shoulders by this time, and he dropped it behind. She pushed his stiffness down a bit, got up on her toes and straddled its top as they merged in a hug, deeply kissing.

Maria grabbed his butt cheeks and pulled closer as she ground down on the top of his shaft with her lips and tickler. It was a long embrace, intensely passionate, tears rolling down into their mouths as they kissed. They held tighter, ground their bodies together more forcefully. She started twitching, then heaving. She let go the kiss, growled a moan from deep inside and stood in a tremor, squeezing him tighter still as she quaked.

He gently held the sides of her head, licked the tears from her cheeks and softly said, "You were crying too, I thought it was only me, crying for the joy of you."

"I thought they were only mine. Crying because I'm so happy to know you. You stir me so deeply in so many ways, you inspire me, you caress my soul." She lifted onto her toes and began licking his beard. "This has really grown."

"It's half a month old, beyond the itchy stage. Was that hug good for you?"

"I would never have imagined such a thing was possible," she said, "I'm still in recovery." She looked around and asked, "Mama, have you ever had an orgasm from a hug?"

"I still can't believe what I just saw. I am in awe at the passion you two have." Rachel giggled and added, "Next, you'll be popping just holding hands."

"Whatever it takes, Mama," she giggled back. "Whatever it takes."

"I see David still has his battering ram, Sweetheart. It's poking proudly out beyond your cheeks. Something needs to be done with it, otherwise, he'll have aching balls."

"What would you suggest, Mama?"

"Why not ask him, Sweetheart? He knows best what he wants."

"David?"

"Kneel and straddle me, take me in, gyrate and caress your nipples across my chest. That will pop me rather quickly. Do you want to come again?"

"Yes! — oh God, yes."

"You lead, I'll follow. We'll do it together."

And they did. They did rather noisily. She collapsed, and they writhed together in a tangle on the flannel for a long while after.

"Don't worry about the valley, David," Rachel said. "I'm watching it for us now I've managed to stop watching you. How wonderful you two are together. There's a damp towel beside you when you're ready. It hasn't quite dried yet from its washing."

The day had warmed appreciably, and it was just after half past ten as Maria unplugged and began using the towel on David. "It's like you have two different pieces here. One soft and floppy, the other an oak shaft in a chamois sleeve. Each so different. Both of them so wondrous."

David kissed Rachel's cheek as he relieved her from the lookout task. "Thank you, Mama. Thank you for being so attentive."

"I'm still thinking about that hug." She shook her head. "It would be completely unbelievable if I were told about it. It was incredible to see it evolve."

"Tell me if you ever need a hug, Mama." David winked at her and chuckled. "I have an unlimited supply of them in many different styles and intensities." He took a step forward and wrapped his arms around her. "You're a very special person, Mama. We both love you dearly."

They went back to their tasks, Rachel slipping out of her shirt and handing it to Maria to put on so she could begin converting it into something much more feminine.

David was monitoring the same routine changing of the guard at noon, when Maria said close behind him, "It's time for another fashion show."

He rolled over and sat as two elegantly-dressed ladies paraded across the slab then stopped in front of him to strike a few poses, similar to ones he had seen in newspaper advertisements. He was speechless.

"Well?" Maria asked.

"I'm struck dumb," he said. "I'm amazed at the transformation, amazed by the difference made by moving around a few pieces of cloth."

He got up, slowly walked around them, looking them up and down, looking at every detail, feeling much like the Regimental Sergeant-Major doing a pre-inspection before the officers came. "You ladies pass inspection. Where did you get those handbags?"

"This is my little clutch bag in which I keep documents. Your birth certificate and Swiss papers are in here among them."

"And your lovely little purse, Maria?"

"I put this together while Mama was stitching. It's made from the sleeve of a pullover. I decorated it with buttons from the fronts of the other trousers and the matching macramé strap is from yarns unravelled from the pullover."

"Very inventive." He bowed. "Would you two beautiful ladies care to join me and take a stroll into town, maybe find a nice little café or gasthaus to pause for some lunch?"

"What a splendid idea," Rachel looked at him with a broad smile as she curtsied.

"Mama and I decided it's best if we take our skirts off to get through the first bit of rough blocks and the tangle of bushes." Maria giggled, "I hope you don't mind seeing our bare bottoms."