As the rickety bus chugged through the Tennessee hills on a sweltering afternoon in September, Melinda Johnson twisted uncomfortably in her seat. The bus had turned onto a rutted dirt road and the jostling ride had caused Melinda's miniskirt to creep out from under her, exposing her beautifully tapered thighs and placing her panties in direct contact with the hot leather cushion.
The coarse-grained leather burned through the thin nylon to evoke unwelcome memories of Harry Rolf teasing and probing at Melinda's sexual crevice, arousing her to fever pitch, then leaving her unsatisfied. The pretty blonde squirmed in embarrassment.
Melinda would have lifted her hips and folded her skirt underneath her, but she didn't wish to draw additional attention to herself. Already she was aware of being stared at. The bus contained a dozen passengers, mostly men in blue jeans or bib overalls and work shirts. One, seated directly across the aisle from Melinda, eyed her steadily between pulls on a hip flask. He was in his forties, grimy and unshaven, and he stared at her golden thighs as if he wanted to eat them. Melinda read lust in the glances of the other men, as well, and resentment in the eyes of their dowdy women. She wondered whether she had made a mistake in accepting as her first teaching assignment a school located deep in the hill country, cut off almost completely from the rest of the world.
Perhaps she had been too anxious to leave Nashville, Melinda reflected. But she had to get away from Harry somehow. An ambitious young insurance salesman, he was the man Melinda's mother had picked for her to marry. Melinda had been persuaded that she was in love with him, and they had become engaged. Then the sex had started. Fucking, Harry had called it when he got aroused and allowed his Southern refinement to slip. Fuck-fuck-fuck. That was all Harry had wanted to do.
Melinda's thoughts were broken by a shrill note sounding above the rattle of the bus. The driver glanced in his outside mirror, and his gaze stuck there as the bus bounced along in the center of the narrow road. Curious, Melinda looked through the rear window. A cloud of dust about a quarter of a mile behind the bus was rapidly gaining on it, and she realized the high-pitched sound was a siren.
As the cloud drew closer, it separated to reveal two cars. In the lead was a battered station wagon. Pursuing it and gaining was a gray sedan with a red light flashing on its roof.
The bus suddenly lurched onto the shoulder of the road, tossing Melinda violently against the young man who sat next to her in the window seat.
"Nice to meet you, honey," he said in a hillbilly drawl, and grinned. His twinkling brown eyes stripped the blouse off Melinda's full, firm tits. .
She reddened and would have put the fellow in his place if it weren't for the fright that gripped her as the station wagon skimmed past the swaying bus, missing it by inches. The bus immediately lurched back to the center of the road, bouncing Melinda in the seat and stinging her posterior.
A squeal of skidding tires made her twist around again. The front of the gray sedan dipped as it fishtailed behind the bus, and Melinda was sure it would crash into them. She saw the face of the man at the wheel as he struggled desperately to control the car, his features frozen in shock and fear. Melinda gasped as the car swerved off the road, down the short slope at the side of the roadbed, and into a clump of brush where it came to a cushioned halt.
The scene was quickly obscured by dust, and Melinda faced the front of the bus, shaken. In the distance ahead, the speeding station wagon was only a spot of dust over a rise.
"Good going, Lonnie!" a passenger in bib overalls shouted, and walked forward to squat next to the driver. The hillbilly, obviously a farmer, handed the grinning young driver an uncorked flask. Melinda was amazed as Lonnie tilted the bottle to his lips while he drove with one hand.
Though she didn't usually speak to strangers, Melinda couldn't resist asking the man who sat next to her, "What was all that about?"
He glanced her way. Brown-haired and about twenty-five years old, he had strong, even features. But his face was dirty and bore a two days' growth of beard. His checkered shirt was rumpled. Again his sharp eyes undressed Melinda, and she felt a shiver travel down her spine.
"Don't you know who was in that station wagon?" he asked, then shook his head. "No, I reckon you wouldn't, being a city girl and all. He was a corn runner."
"A what?"
"A booze runner. Those were T-men chasing him. Lonnie just saved some squeezings from getting confiscated by the law."
Melinda's pretty mouth dropped open. She began to realize that the people on the bus not only, dressed and talked differently from her friends and neighbors in Nashville, but lived by different rules as well.
Several passengers took turns moving forward to squat beside the driver, offering him drinks from their flasks. Lonnie heartily accepted all the offers while the bus rocketed down the road.
"He'll get us all killed!" Melinda blurted in alarm.
"I wouldn't worry about that," her seat-mate said with a chuckle. "Lonnie knows this road so well, he could drive it blind."
The driver had heard Melinda's exclamation and was looking at her in his inside mirror. He had good eyes, large and blue, beneath a high forehead topped by neatly combed blond hair. He looked like a city boy, Melinda decided, and she felt a responsive tingle as his twinkling eyes met hers. He shifted his gaze slightly, and she realized he was staring at her legs.
Melinda quickly looked down. In the excitement as she had twisted about, her miniskirt had crawled hip high, exposing not only her smooth golden thighs to their very tops but the crotch of her peach-colored panties as well. Blushing, Melinda clamped her thighs tightly closed and tugged at her skirt. The skimpy garment was completely out from under her at the back and would pull only a short distance at the front, barely covering her hips and loins. Melinda remained conscious of the hard leather seat against her behind. The ultra-thin nylon of her panties furnished practically no protection at all.
The impressionable twenty-one-year-old began painting erotic pictures in her mind. She imagined that the handsome bus driver had glimpsed her hair-bordered slit through the filmy material of her pants, and she visualized his penis stiffening. I'll bet he would like to stick it into me, she thought, and her pussy tingled more hotly against the leather seat.
Suddenly Melinda's mental censor shamed her for thinking about the bus driver's cock. She jerked her eyes away from him, her cheeks burning.
"All the girls go for Lonnie."
Melinda glanced sharply at the man who sat beside her. "What did you say?"
The fellow grinned. "Never mind. My name's Ed Tackett. What's yours?"
"I don't give out my name to strangers," Melinda sniffed, disliking the man's forward manner and the sloppy way he looked. What a difference, she thought, between him and the neatly dressed driver. Lonnie was the only person on the bus with whom Melinda could begin to identify.
She was grateful that he had stopped drinking. The passengers were returning to their seats.
"You visiting relatives in these parts?" Ed inquired.
"No." Melinda didn't look at him.
She felt his eyes caressing her breasts, then moving down to stroke her bare, smooth thighs. The dirty, disheveled man's inspection made her feel creepy.
"We're almost to Tolliver, folks!" the bus driver called without turning his head. "We're going to take a quick rest stop. It'll be another hour to Horner's Hollow."
Melinda's heart quickened. Horner's Hollow was the end of the line for her. She wondered what it would be like. If it resembled the town she was now entering, Melinda feared she would have difficulty adjusting to it.
The bus rumbled slowly between the dusty frame buildings that lined a widened stretch of the road. Two cross streets had a scattering of structures on them. None of the streets were paved. Two old Fords and a black pickup truck were parked on the main thoroughfare, and Melinda was surprised to see several wagons hitched to mules.
Since it was Sunday, most of the businesses were closed. A few people moved along the board sidewalks, glancing into the windows of the stores.
The women wore shapeless cotton dresses which extended well below their knees. They used no make-up. Their hair was pulled severely back into knots.
A gaunt dog with drooping ears sniffed along the edge of a building while a smaller, yellowish mongrel lay sleeping in the dust. There was an air of torpor about the town that depressed Melinda.
"This here's Tolliver!" the bus driver announced as he swung the lumbering vehicle to a stop in front of the town's main building, a two-story general store.
Several men sat on upended barrels in the shade of the store's wooden canopy. One, with tobacco stains on his white whiskers, whittled while the others talked.
The door of the bus opened to admit a puff of dust. The farmers with whiskey-swollen bladders crowded the aisle, eager to take advantage of the rest stop. Their women shuffled along behind. All glanced silently at Melinda as they passed, and her feeling of being out of place returned.
" 'Scuse me, honey," Ed said, and got up. Melinda moved her legs to the side to let him out. As he brushed past, facing her, he gave her thighs another visual caress.
What a coarse person! she thought. She imagined how awful it would be to go to bed with him. Even Harry, who usually was polite, became vulgar when they were having sex. Toward the end he had begun demanding that she kiss him in a way no decent girl would do. He also had pleaded for Melinda to let him kiss her between the legs. She had found the mere idea revolting and had told him so.
Ed was the last person to alight from the bus. The driver, who had remained in his seat, grinned at Melinda. A little thrill went through her. He was very good-looking. But he would probably turn out to be like Harry, she thought. Men! Harry had made her disgusted with all of them.
"Ain't you going to get off, miss?" Lonnie asked.
"I don't believe so," Melinda said, her voice thinner than usual.
The driver continued to stare at her in a friendly way. Melinda became nervous and glanced out the window.
She wasn't aware that Lonnie had left his seat until she saw him from the corner of her eye, standing next to her. She turned her head and was embarrassed to find herself staring directly at the manly bulge in the front of his snug pants. Her cheeks warm, she looked out the window again.
Lonnie squatted beside her. "You're going to Horner's Hollow, ain't you?" he asked in a gentle but strongly masculine voice. She smelled the liquor on his breath.
"Yes," Melinda said primly, not looking at him. "I'm the new school teacher there."
He chuckled. "Man, those kids sure are lucky!"
She didn't say anything and thought, Why doesn't he go away?
"Scoot over, huh, and let me sit down beside you?"
Melinda was about to cut him verbally for being brash. But the sight of his handsome face close up, and of his friendly grin, tempered her indignation.
Clutching her skirt as closely about her thighs as possible, and marveling somewhat at her own action, she slid next to the window. She was careful to keep her skirt under her buttocks as she sat back.
Lonnie slid into the seat she had vacated. "You kept the cushion nice and warm," he said. The remark excited Melinda, prickling the tiny hairs on the back of her neck.
"I really don't have anything to talk about," she announced in a tart tone. Her cheeks glowed prettily.
"That's all right," Lonnie said. "I'd rather just look at you, anyway. Want a drink?" He offered a flask he had gotten from a passenger.
"No, thank you," Melinda said piously. She turned to look out the window. She was distressingly aware that her heart was thudding.
Being alone on the bus with the handsome driver excited Melinda in an embarrassing way. She tingled between her legs and felt like squirming. Though her gaze remained averted, she knew Lonnie was ogling her long, shapely thighs and the impudent swells of her breasts.
"Dang, but you're pretty," he said in a passionate, low-pitched tone.
The compliment pleased Melinda, but she felt she had to protest the young man's boldness. She turned to face him, but before she could speak he did something even bolder: He placed his hand on her thigh, wedging his fingers between that smooth, golden column and the one next to it.
Melinda gasped as Lonnie slid his hand up her legs and under her skirt. The side of his little finger pressed her warm softness through the crotch of her panties. The intimate contact sent a shock wave rushing through her. Her nipples tingled and her vagina throbbed.
"Stop that!" Melinda exclaimed, and tried to slap the impudent fellow's hand away. But Lonnie sawed his hand up and down against her sleek panties. The responsive flesh inside wiggled, and he could feel her curly hairs through the thin nylon.
Melinda felt insulted, because it seemed that the bus driver was treating her like a tramp. But his lewd touch excited her tremendously, and this was frightening. Melinda felt as if she were with Harry, except that she and the driver had no relationship to justify the intimacy. Even if they had, she believed it would have ended the same as with Harry, in frustration. Melinda didn't want any more of that.
She struggled, as much against the giddy feeling that swamped her brain as against Lonnie's caressing hand. But the tanned, blond-haired man was determined. His breath bathed Melinda in whiskey fumes as he laughed and kneaded her soft, hairy vulva through her panties. He used his other hand to shield himself from her flailing blows.
Melinda became desperate as the strength drained out of her muscles. Her thighs, which had been pressed against Lonnie's hand, opened as if of their own accord. Her arms fell limp.
"You hot little dickens," Lonnie husked softly near her ear, and fingered the crotchband of her panties away from her moist, puffed cunt lips.
Melinda moaned, writhing voluptuously as the audacious young man stroked his fingertips up and down the sensitive edges of her slit. Her skirt extended just far enough over her thighs to conceal the lascivious caress. But she felt it to the tips of her toes, which curled downward in her shoes.
The glands of Melinda's vulva secreted a viscous fluid, inviting deeper penetration. As soon as Lonnie felt the erotic moisture on his fingertips, he wormed his middle finger into the slippery mouth of Melinda's channel and glided it all the way up her cunt, which became instantly slick throughout. He stroked his finger slowly in and out of her pussy, rubbing the firm, tingling head of her clitoris and stimulating all the nerve ends in her vaginal mouth.
Lonnie carried Melinda's hand to his lap. She felt the hardness of his penis.
"Take it out of my pants," he said huskily. "We can jazz each other off before the other folks get back."
This shocking suggestion jarred Melinda out of the blissful dream-state into which she had slipped. She suddenly felt humiliated and ashamed, realizing bitterly that her body had betrayed her. She struck Lonnie a stinging blow across the side of his face.
He recoiled, blinking with surprise and pain. Melinda pushed his hand away from her hot thighs.
"Why, you're just a goddamned teaser!" Lonnie said. He swung partially atop her and jammed a leg between her thighs.
For a giddy moment Melinda feared he was going to rape her right there on the bus. But some conversation from the front of the vehicle broke the spell. The passengers were returning.
Grim-faced, Lonnie scurried back to his seat at the driver's wheel. Panting, her cheeks red, Melinda tugged her skirt down.
My God, she thought desperately, I've never let a stranger get fresh like that with me before. What was the matter with me?
She quickly absolved herself from guilt by putting all the blame on Lonnie. He was drunk, and he obviously had no respect for women. What a shame, he was such a good-looking fellow.
But Harry also was good-looking, and he had no respect for her. She wondered how a girl could know whom to trust?
The other passengers glanced at Melinda as they returned to their seats, the women disapproving of her miniskirt and make-up, the men admiring. In her seething anger, Melinda felt more than admiration from the coarse-looking males. They were a drunken, lecherous crowd, she concluded, and Lonnie was the worst of the lot.
She considered complaining to the bus company about the young driver, but had no idea where the company's office was located or even if they had one. They were a backwoods outfit that ran a bus along this route only once a week. Perhaps the vehicle in which she was riding was the only bus they owned.
Ed, who had been seated beside Melinda next to the window, returned. Giving her a smile and saying nothing, he dropped into the aisle seat. Melinda hoped he wouldn't try to strike up a conversation.
As soon as everyone was on board, Lonnie yanked the lever that controlled the door, and the door slapped shut. He started the noisy engine. Melinda caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror as he swayed on his seat, tugging the large steering wheel. His eyes glinted savagely, and his normally handsome mouth had taken on an ugly twist.
Lonnie slammed successively through the gears as the roaring bus gathered speed, raising dust from the roadway. He pulled the flask from his pocket and drew the cork out of it while steadying the steering wheel with his arm. Tilting the bottle, he took a long swig. The flask was nearly empty when he corked it and stuck it back into his pocket.
Melinda's eyes met Lonnie's in the mirror, and she read hurt in them. She realized he felt she had wronged him by hitting him. It was as if Lonnie believed his manhood, or perhaps the "heroic" deed he had performed back on the road, had entitled him to take liberties with her.
Melinda steadfastly refused to consider the possibility that she was to blame for his conduct--that the way she was dressed and the exposed manner in which she accidentally was sitting had led him to a wrong conclusion about her, or that he had interpreted as an invitation her remaining on the bus while the other passengers got off at Tolliver. His calling her a "teaser" had fallen on nearly deaf ears.
Ed's sidelong glance diverted Melinda's thoughts from the bus driver. The slovenly fellow was inspecting her thighs again. He's wishing he could get between them, she judged. Fat chance!
"Are you getting off at Horner's Hollow," Ed asked, "or are you fixing to ride all the way to the county seat?"
Melinda didn't reply.
Ed continued to watch her for awhile, then slouched in his seat and let his whiskery chin come to rest on the collar of his dirty shirt.
Lonnie drove at a reckless speed, the huge bus swaying on the twisting, narrow road. They climbed higher into the hills. The brushy, sparsely wooded land gave way to denser forest. Large rocks were scattered over the slopes. The place had a rugged charm, Melinda was forced to admit, but her shock over Lonnie's lewd conduct and her fear over the way he was driving prevented her from fully appreciating the scenic beauty.
The other passengers were stoic, saying little. The men sipped from their jugs. Melinda had the feeling that they still were watching her, as if she were a curiosity in their midst. But to her way of thinking, they were the curious ones. She wondered whether she would ever feel at home with them.
Melinda was a bundle of raw nerves when the bus finally arrived at Horner's Hollow. As the name suggested, the community nestled in a bowl-like valley. Its floor was covered by a patchwork of small farms. Corn was the most prominent crop, but the rows of tall green stalks were interspersed with fields of hay, strawberries, and garden vegetables. Horses and mules grazed in rock-strewn pastures. The bus rounded a bend at a dairy farm and entered a cluster of crude structures which comprised the town.
The largest building was a plain white church. It stood back from the road, its modest steeple rising above the surrounding roofs. Across the meandering dirt side street was the single-roomed schoolhouse. Melinda felt a momentary elation, quickly tempered by the starkness of the frame, white-washed structure surrounded by a grassless yard. Two crude outhouses were situated behind the main building, their doors standing open to reveal benchlike seats with holes cut in them. With a shudder Melinda realized that was where she would have to go to pee. The door of the school also was open, but no one appeared to be around.
The bus stopped in front of a general store with a rough-hewn exterior. It was closed and on the dusty window was a lettered sign: Horner's Hollow--U.S. Post Office. Across the street a small garage yawned open, exposing a grimy work bench laden with tools and parts of machinery. A bare-chested man, .whose pants hung below his protruding belly, grinned and waved at the bus before bending over the engine of an ancient car. A farm truck stood out front, next to a lever-operated gas pump.
Additional structures were scattered along the main road and single intersecting street. Most of these appeared to be private houses, though "shacks" was a more descriptive term. The majority were unpainted. They had crooked chimneys and sagging steps.
After the harrowing ride, Melinda's main emotion was simple gratitude for having arrived safely at her destination. But when she had breathed a sigh of relief, depression settled over her. Horner's Hollow was even cruder and more provincial than she had expected.
"We're going to stay here a few minutes," the bus driver announced as he got out of his seat. He swayed, and Melinda concluded that he was very drunk. Again she thanked God for bringing her through the journey safely.
She was the last person out of the bus. When she finally stepped to the ground, a group of people were gathered around the bus driver, who lay on his back in the dust. He was writhing and grimacing in apparent pain, clutching his middle.
"What's the matter with him?" Melinda asked a gap-toothed fellow who had gotten off the bus.
The passenger gave her an unperturbed look and shrugged. "Drank too much, most likely. There was probably a touch of bad stuff in the lot."
"You mean the liquor was poisoned?"
"Naw. Just a mite green maybe. Lonnie'll be okay. He ain't much of a drinking man, I reckon."
"Give us a hand here," Ed requested, and took hold of Lonnie's legs. Two other men from the bus grasped the driver's arms, and the three carried him back onto the vehicle.
"Come on, folks, we better be moseying," someone said.
The remaining passengers hurriedly boarded the bus, one settling himself in the driver's seat. The bus snorted, spewing acrid fumes from its exhaust, and started rattling down the road. It quickly gathered speed, raising a cloud of dust that settled over the town like a thinly woven blanket.
"Wait!" Melinda cried. "My luggage!"
"Ain't these your bags, miss?" a young voice beside her asked. It belonged to a teen-age youth with red hair who wore bib overalls, one suspender dangling. A grin lit up his freckled face as he pointed to two suitcases sitting side by side on the ground.
Melinda sighed with relief. "Yes, those are mine. Thank you. I thought the driver, being sick and all, had forgotten to . . . take them . . . out of the ..."
Gathered in a loose circle around Melinda were perhaps two dozen people--men, women and children. They were all staring at her. Except for the freckle-faced youth, no one smiled.
A tall man in an ancient-looking frock coat stepped forward. He wore a black string tie around the rumpled collar of a once-white shirt. His face was gaunt, his eyes dark and penetrating, and he was bald except for a fringe of scraggly brown hair above his collar.
He looked Melinda up and down and said, "So!"
"I... I beg your pardon?"
"You are Miss Johnson, aren't you?" the cadaverous man inquired. His voice was surprisingly mellow and contained a great deal of latent power. It suggested education and bore no trace of backwoods accent.
"Yes, I am," Melinda replied. "Are you the Reverend Perkins?"
"That is correct." He looked at her disapprovingly.
The onlookers remained silent. Melinda felt more uncomfortable than ever.
"The school superintendent told me in his letter that I'm to stay with you and your family," Melinda said to the preacher.
"Well now, that depends ..."
"On what?"
"On whether you're a righteous woman!"
Reverend Perkins boomed. The sudden force of his delivery made Melinda's knees tremble.
"Amen!" an onlooker shouted. Murmurs spread among the crowd.
Melinda was confused and frightened by the preacher's attitude. She searched the faces of the surrounding townsfolk. "I... I don't understand."
"You don't?" The preacher -gestured with a sweep of his hand. "Look at you--eyes all painted up, red stuff on your mouth, wearing that skimpy dress that hardly covers your privates!" His eyes lingered on Melinda's exposed thighs.
Her cheeks turned red.
"You look like a child of the devil!" Perkins proclaimed.
There was a hushed silence.
Melinda was deeply hurt. She said, "You have no right to insult me this way."
"You, insulted?" the preacher thundered. "You? A painted hussy? A Jezebel? How would it be possible to insult someone of your kind?"
"Amen!" screeched an old woman in a sunbonnet, who stood at the preacher's side.
Melinda felt as if she were slowly melting into the ground.
Reverend Perkins launched into a bitter tirade against sin and degradation, waving his arms as if to call down the powers of heaven upon the frightened girl who stood before him, cheeks glowing from shock and humiliation. Perkins's dark eyes glinted fiercely as the scathing words poured from his lips.
"I will show you what decent, God-fearing people think of your kind!" he raged. "This is the condition in which you belong!"
Perkins lunged at Melinda. She screamed in terror as his bony hand clutched her miniskirt and gave it a vicious tug. The fasteners popped. A seam split down the side. The preacher whipped the torn skirt away, and Melinda was left in blouse and panties.
Her minibriefs were made of thin nylon whose pale-pink color harmonized with her skin. The sleek fabric clung smoothly to her mount of Venus, revealing a shadow of the lovely blonde hair that grew there and a suggestion of the puffy slit that traveled downward to disappear between her smooth, soft thighs.
Everyone--men, woman and children--stared at her in shocked silence. Even the preacher, realizing that he had gone too far, shut up and took a backward step. Melinda felt his eyes, and the eyes of the others, probing shamelessly through her skimpy panties, caressing her pussy. She was mortified. And yet she was thrilled. A wave of intense heat spread through her, causing her skin to tingle. Her knees felt weak as she stared back at the eyes that seemed to devour her. A swamp began forming between her thighs.
Suddenly the surge of conflicting emotions overwhelmed Melinda and she burst into tears. She jammed her hands in front of her hot crotch and held them there.
"I will . . . show you to the house," Perkins said stiffly, his voice faltering for the first time. He stripped off his long coat and threw it around the quivering, half-naked girl.
Melinda clutched the preacher's coat closely about her as he guided her by the arm. The hushed, staring crowd parted, allowing the preacher and Melinda to round the general store and hurry along the dirt street between the church and schoolhouse. Melinda kept her eyes directed downward in shame. She was confused by her perverse excitement. Juice had dribbled from her vulva, making her thighs slippery as they rubbed together. The crotchband of her panties was sopped.
Reverend Perkins's house was located behind the church. It was easily the finest residence in town. Though consisting of only one story like the others, it was comfortably large and had a serviceable coat of white paint. Behind it rose a water tank on stilts, suggesting the presence of indoor plumbing.
Perkins guided Melinda up the steps and into the house. They passed through the living room and down a short hall.
"This will be your room," Perkins said, opening a door.
Only long enough for me to change clothes, then I'm going to get a ride out of here, Melinda was about to reply. But the words wouldn't come.
Melinda had chosen the teaching job in Horner's Hollow because she believed some experience in a one-room school, at the outset of her career, would help her decide what grade level was best for her to teach. She still felt that way. Beneath her naive and girlish exterior, Melinda had a character to be reckoned with. She had been taught to live up to her obligations, and now that she was in Horner's Hollow she was determined to stay and make the best of it. As for the rude and insulting behavior of the bus driver and preacher, they were to be pitied for their ignorance, she believed. She hoped to bring some enlightenment to the backward community which would rub off even on them.
She turned to face Reverend Perkins as he followed her into her room. "Where are my bags?"
"They are being fetched," he said in the curiously formal style which he apparently considered appropriate to his profession. Melinda supposed it impressed the simple hill people.
The red-haired youth with the broken suspender brought in the bags and gave Melinda a smile. He was the one person in town that she liked. Holding the preacher's coat closely about her with one hand, she opened her purse and offered the boy a quarter.
"Oh, no, ma'am," he said, grinning as he backed off awkwardly. "I don't want your money."
"But it's a tip for carrying the bags. In the city ..."
The preacher interrupted, saying, "You will soon learn, young woman, that city ways are not favored here."
Melinda slammed the coin away and snapped her purse. What clods! she thought. The lot of them!
"If you'll give me some privacy," she said in cutting tones, "I'll get dressed."
The teen-ager left, but Preacher Perkins remained. He was watching Melinda, and she was surprised to note a slight smile on his thin lips. His eyes twinkled brightly.
"If you're waiting for your coat," she snapped, "I'll give it to you after I've gotten dressed."
Perkins stepped to the door, but instead of leaving the room he swung the door shut and turned to face Melinda.
"My dear..." he began, his tone becoming unctuous, "the way I talked outside was for the benefit of the townsfolk. They expected me to berate you for your style of dress, of which they don't approve." He moved closer to Melinda. "But between us, there needn't be hostility. We are both acquainted with the outside world. We understand each other."
He placed his hand on Melinda's shoulder. "If you will cooperate, I can make things easier for you here." He began to open the coat Melinda was wearing.
She resisted, clutching the garment more firmly about her. "Get out of this room!" she ordered.
The preacher's eyes narrowed, and a steeliness came into them. "Young woman, that is no way to talk. You are a guest in my house."
"Guest? The school district is paying you to board me."
"In the eyes of God, you are my guest," the preacher said firmly.
"Will you please leave God out of it? Now if there's nothing else ..." Melinda was afraid of the unpredictable preacher. Her heartbeat quickened.
Perkins was breathing hard as his beady eyes moved over her. Suddenly he reached out with both hands, catching Melinda by surprise, and tore the coat wide open. He stripped it off her shoulders.
She gasped and backed up as the preacher stared at the front of her close-fitting silken panties. He lunged again, and Melinda screamed when he grasped her arm. Despite his emaciated appearance, Perkins was strong enough to shove her staggering toward the bed where she fell face-down. He pounced onto the bed beside her, holding her down with his arm and shoulder while he grasped the elastic top of her panties. He gave the flimsy garment a yank, pulling it off her ass. His cock turned bolt-hard as he stared at Melinda's luscious white buttocks. She screamed again and twisted wildly, causing the tempting globes to shake.
"Be still, my precious child," the preacher whispered next to her ear as he stroked her quivering ass cheeks. The scent of alcohol on his breath was overpowering.
He's just a drunken lecher like the rest of them, Melinda thought, and yet he calls himself a man of God! But this shock was overshadowed by her desperate fear as Perkins wrenched her onto her back and clawed at the front of his trousers.
"No! Ooh, no!" she cried, flailing at him.
Perkins managed to subdue her with one hand while he opened his pants with the other. He was staring at her delightful cuntal slit, so fresh and pink in its forest of golden curls. When his cock leaped out through his fly, the wicked thing was stiff as an arrow. Skinny, and with a bald purplish head, the preacher's prick was longer by far than Harry's. Melinda gaped at it, and was momentarily petrified.
"That's my sweet little cunt," the Reverend Perkins crooned obscenely as he slid his hand down over her tufted mound and onto the lips of her vulva. The velvety flesh was warm and slickly coated with the honey of her excitement.
The preacher's lascivious middle finger poked into Melinda's soft, oily crevice. She gasped. Perkins's prick quivered, the bald head thrusting toward her like a fist. Staring at it in horrified fascination, Melinda could push only half-heartedly at Perkins's diddling hand.
The preacher stroked Melinda's pussy with obvious delight, his eyes glinting, his lips moistly parted. His alcoholic breath surrounded the confused, passion-plagued girl. She didn't want to give in to the repulsive man-her decency cried out against it--but after all she had gone through during the last few hours her resistance had dwindled nearly to zero.
A rapping sounded at the door. "Clem Perkins!" a woman called through the paper-thin panel. "Is everything all right in there? I heard screaming."
"It's my wife," the preacher whispered, and clamped his hand over Melinda's mouth.
"Yes, dear," he called back. "I was just giving the hussy a lecture, and she resented hearing the truth."
Lowering his voice, Perkins told Melinda, "Don't yell, and don't say anything about this later, or I will ruin you in this town. I can do that. The people listen to me."
When he took his hand away from her mouth, Melinda's brain was reeling. She remained silent as he backed off the bed, his softened penis flopping obscenely out of his fly.
"Remember what I told you, young woman," the preacher declared loudly, for the obvious benefit of the listener outside. "The wages of sin is eternal damnation!" He straightened his clothes and zipped up.
Melinda lay panting, concealing her genitals with her hands, as the Reverend Perkins strode pompously from the room, closing the door behind him. Confused and badly shaken, Melinda couldn't possibly forget what he had said-or done.
CHAPTER TWO
Melinda turned down an invitation to join the preacher's family for dinner, telling Mrs. Perkins through the bedroom door that she was tired from her long trip. Melinda didn't wish to see anyone, much less the wife of the man who had tried to rape her.
Necessity later forced her to venture out of her room, and she was pleased to discover that the preacher's house had a fully equipped bathroom. But it was lacking in one very important feature: there was no lock on the door.
Though nervous, Melinda lowered her briefs and crouched over the toilet, being careful not to place her bottom in direct contact with the seat. Her piss tinkled into the water. She tore off some toilet paper and carefully wiped her pussy. After flushing the toilet, she drew her panties up and let her skirt drop.
Melinda looked longingly at the old-fashioned bathtub which stood above the floor on short, funny-looking legs. Then she glanced at the unlocked door. She decided that since she would be living in the house for the next nine months, she might as well adjust herself right away to the conditions that existed.
She hurried back to her room, fetched a towel and robe, and returned to the bathroom. She encountered no one in the hall. From the living room, she heard conversation.
Melinda turned on the water in the tub and adjusted the mixture of hot and cold. Trembling slightly, she took off her clothes. While waiting for the tub to fill, she stared at herself in the discolored mirror above the washstand.
She didn't look any the worse for all she had gone through, she decided. On the contrary, her cheeks had a fine rosy glow and her eyes were clear, if anxious. Melinda took a backward step and watched her breasts quiver behind the curling ends of her honey-blonde hair. She lifted the silken strands over her shoulders and admired her milky mounds which were large and had perfectly erect pink nipples.
When he was passionately aroused, Harry used to rhapsodize over her breasts. Titties, he had called them. Melinda thought that was terribly vulgar. Still, the word had always given her a little thrill, as had the other dirty terms Harry had used.
Melinda cupped her breasts and squeezed gently. Warmth spread through her. Her loins tingled.
She turned and glanced over her shoulder to examine the firm, perfect hemispheres of her bottom-silken and white in contrast to the golden tan of her thighs and back. Imprints of her panty elastics slanted upward across her lush buttocks.
The sound of the water running into the tub told Melinda that her bath was ready. She stepped over and bent to turn the water off. She tested the water with her hand and found its temperature just right.
After glancing again at the unlocked door and fighting off a fear that the evil preacher might walk in on her while she was bathing, Melinda stepped into the tub and settled down. She bathed luxuriously and wasn't disturbed.
Again Melinda met no one in the hall as she returned to her room. Since her door was as unlockable as that of the John, she wedged the back of a chair under the doorknob before preparing for bed. Later, as she lay in the dark, she heard voices through the wall and realized that the preacher and his wife occupied the adjacent bedroom. Melinda managed to block out the sound and soon fell asleep.
In the morning she awakened refreshed. The events of the preceding day had receded in her mind, and she was filled with enthusiasm over the start of her teaching career. She thought about what an exciting challenge it was going to be.
Studying herself in the dresser mirror as she combed her hair, Melinda recalled what Preacher Perkins had said about her make-up. But she decided she wouldn't quit wearing eye shadow, mascara and lipstick just because the local people didn't approve. The same went for miniskirts. Since her smoothly tanned legs didn't require any cover, Melinda again rejected pantyhose in favor of cool minibriefs.
At breakfast she met Reverend Perkins's wife, Sarah, a short, heavyset woman who belied the saying that plump persons were jolly. Sarah was stiffly formal in her conversation with Melinda and hardly more cordial to her own husband. Their seventeen-year-old son, Matt, rounded out the family. A strapping youth with long dark hair and brown eyes, he silently watched Melinda across the table as he ate his grits and fresh strawberries. Melinda didn't care much for the breakfast, but she was too famished to turn down any food.
Reverend Perkins was civil, talking at length about the community and lauding the virtues of the people who lived there. Melinda responded only when necessary. She didn't want to worsen her relations with the preacher, but she also wished to let him know that all wasn't forgiven.
Immediately after breakfast, Melinda left for school, carrying her teacher's manual from college and the data which the county superintendent had sent her. It was a beautiful morning, not yet too warm. The air was fresh, and the sky gloriously clear. Melinda felt happy to be alive.
An odd assortment of cars, trucks and wagons was parked next to the schoolhouse, but no one was around. Melinda assumed the vehicles had brought children to school, but she wondered why they were parked there. And why weren't the children playing outside? School wasn't due to convene for ten minutes.
Melinda tried the schoolhouse door and found it unlocked, as expected. She entered the building and stopped short.
The room was packed with people, all of whom fell silent. Melinda stared at the rows of old-fashioned desks with attached seats, occupied by children ranging in age from six years to fifteen or older, judging by the looks of some of them. Along the sides of the room, next to the windows and clean blackboards, stood about twenty men. They regarded Melinda solemnly.
She felt a wave of embarrassment when she recognized several men from the crowd that had met the bus. They watched the preacher strip my skirt off, she thought. They saw me in my panties!
Of all the nerve! These men have no business here. They just came to stare at me and think nasty thoughts.
Cheeks burning, Melinda strode to her desk and put down her books and papers. She forced herself to scan the lines of men in blue jeans and overalls, a frown marring her normally cream-smooth complexion. Ed Tackett was among the crowd, but this morning he was clean and neatly groomed, wearing a light-weight jacket and jeans. Melinda was forced to admit he wasn't bad looking with the stubble removed from his face. He smiled at her, but she ignored him.
"First we will take the roll, children," Melinda announced as she sat down at her desk and opened her roll book. "Then I will assign seats. My name is Miss Johnson. I'll try to learn all your names as quickly as I can."
Melinda continued to feel uncomfortable as she read off the students' names from her list and noted their responses. The men who lined the room became restless, exchanging whispered comments.
They're talking about me, Melinda thought, probably wondering if my bra is padded or whether I'm a virgin. I'll bet some of them are telling the others what they saw under my dress yesterday.
She was about to interrupt the roll call and ask the men to be quiet when the black-bearded fellow nearest the door nudged the man next to him, and they left the room. After a moment, a third man followed. Melinda was relieved, assuming the men wouldn't be back. But in a little while all three returned. Then two others left.
This is too much! Melinda thought. They're going outside so they can talk more freely. They must be saying all sorts of filthy things about me. I'm going to put a stop to it!
"Excuse me, children," she said crisply, and walked to the door.
Outside the men were leaning against the schoolhouse, sipping from pocket flasks. This wasn't what Melinda had expected, but in its way it was just as shocking as if they had been discussing her breasts.
"Shame on you!" she exclaimed. "The school is no place for that."
"Sorry, ma'am," one said. He was a gangly fellow with pockmarks on his face. "We figured it was all right to take a little drink, long as we came out here."
"Well, it isn't all right," Melinda declared angrily. "Now get away from the schoolhouse."
"Come on, Tad," his friend said. He was red-haired and round-bellied. "It appears as if the new teacher don't cotton to us."
They sauntered away, and Melinda returned to the classroom. The men inside were talking, but they hushed as soon as they saw her. Melinda was grateful that the children, at least, were well behaved. They all sat silently, watching her.
She resumed reading the roll, but the men continued to take turns leaving and re-entering the room by two's and three's. Melinda proceeded to the seating assignments, but her thoughts were on the men. She couldn't believe they were stepping outside merely to sip liquor. She knew they were talking about her--speculating on what sort of lay she would be, lewdly visualizing her in a horizontal position with her legs spread. Finally the tension overcame her, and she leaped up.
"All right, there'll be no more leaving the room without permission!" Melinda exclaimed, her cheeks glowing from anger and embarrassment. "I think you men made an excellent decision in coming here today. It's obvious that you need schooling even more than your children. You big boys," she continued, pointing at the teen-agers who occupied the large seats at the rear of the room, "move in with some of the smaller children. I want your fathers to take your seats. Hurry up!" She clapped her hands for action.
The men stared at her in silence, and the big boys hesitated to comply.
"Do as I say!" Melinda demanded sharply, her blue eyes snapping with indignation.
The teen-agers began to get up, some smirking. They slid onto the bench-style seats occupied by their younger classmates. The men, taken aback by the young teacher's unexpected arrogance, shuffled nervously. Ed watched Melinda with faint amusement.
He's the lewdest of the lot, she thought. To him a woman is good for only one thing-to satisfy his primitive lust.
"I'm waiting," Melinda said, glaring at the men. "As soon as you pupils are seated, we'll go to work on our ABC's. You men will be the first to recite."
This was too much for the proud countryfolk. They began to file silently from the room, staring solemnly at Melinda as they passed.
"What's the matter?" she taunted. "Are you afraid of some education? Goodness knows, you need it--the lot of you!"
None of the men replied. When the last one had left, shutting the door behind him, Melinda felt proud of herself and immensely relieved. She believed she had solved the first problem of her fledgling career.
"All right now, students," Melinda said, her enthusiasm for teaching having been restored, "you may resume the seats I assigned you."
"What does that mean, teacher?" asked a grinning boy who was nearly six feet tall and built like a wrestler. He had a fleshy face, buck teeth, and an unruly shock of black hair.
Another boy laughed raucously. The pigtailed young girl with whom the first youth was sitting giggled.
"What's your name?" Melinda asked the boy who had spoken.
"Jasper Banes, ma'am." He continued grinning insolently.
"Well, Jasper, I don't want any more outbursts. What I meant was, you may have your seat back."
"But, teacher, I got my seat," Jasper said, slapping himself on the rump as he stood.
"Your ass, you mean!" the boy next to him said loudly from behind his hand.
A gale of laughter swept the room. Vexed and reddening, Melinda tapped her desk for order.
"We'll have no more of this!" she proclaimed. "All of you return to your assigned seats so we can settle down to work."
The older boys got up and jostled one another as they headed back toward their assigned places. Jasper and another youth of about the same age, fifteen or sixteen, grappled in an aisle. The young children cheered and egged them on. A spitball flew across the room, striking the blackboard with a splat.
'Teacher, Johnny pulled my hair!" a young girl cried.
"I did no such fuckin' thing!" replied the yellow-haired boy who sat behind her. He was about ten years old.
This set off a new gale of laughter.
Melinda was horrified.
"Children! Children!" she screamed. "Stop it this minute!"
The bedlam increased, younger children rising to join in the tugging and pushing match which Jasper and his friend had started. Soon boys and girls were running around the room, throwing erasers at one another. They dodged in and out of the cloakroom, giggling and shouting. The little girl with pigtails opened the door and ran out, shrieking as Johnny pursued her with a spitball ready to fly.
"Good Lord!" Melinda cried, helpless to know how to deal with the sudden riot.
Taking advantage of their teacher's indecisiveness, more children streaked outside. Melinda followed, yelling at them, but they seemed not to hear her as they chased one another around the main building and in and out of the outhouses, slamming the wooden doors.
Melinda stood stock-still and closed her eyes, her fists clenched in frustration. Finally she turned and walked back into the schoolhouse. The room was deserted except for a small boy with neatly combed hair who sat at a front desk calmly drawing a picture. Melinda sank into her chair, defeated.
"Billy, you nasty . . . ooh . . . ooooh!"
Melinda rose quickly when the female cry emanated from the cloakroom. She hurried to the open doorway.
At the rear of the large closet, a tousle-haired youth had backed a blonde girl into a corner. She was taller than he, though both appeared to be about thirteen years old. The girl's pink panties were looped about one ankle, and her legs were spread. The boy was holding her skirt up around her waist as he ground his hips against her. Horrorstricken, Melinda realized they were screwing.
"Stop it!" she screamed. "Oh, my God!"
Melinda rushed forward, intending to grasp the youth and pull him away from the girl. But when she moved up beside them and glimpsed the boy's turgid penis ramming rhythmically upward into the young girl's downy nest, Melinda grew weak. The youth- looked at her and grinned. The girl's face was blank, eyes wide and mouth open, as the boy rammed his rigid prong into her.
The sheer savage lust of the spectacle overcame Melinda. Particularly shocking was the fact that the intercourse was being performed in the schoolhouse and by a couple barely into their teens, in open defiance of every principle of morality and decorum. Fiery lightning bolts struck Melinda's loins, and her knees trembled.
"Ooh, Billy . . . Billy ..." the blonde teen-ager babbled, and she began to pump her hips back and forward against her young lover's fucking thrusts.
Billy bent his knees to give him greater ramming power. He jackhammered his straight dick into the girl's frothing channel. Her buttocks slapped noisily against the wall, sending tremors through the old building.
But these were nothing compared to the tremors going through Melinda as she watched. The act was terribly wrong, and Melinda knew she should stop it, but she was too mesmerized to do anything. Her eyes were like saucers, and her lush lower lip hung as she stared at the trunk of Billy's slick upthrust pecker, pumping through the fly of his jeans as it pounded into the young girl's oily crevice.
He'll knock her up! Melinda thought suddenly. And in the schoolhouse! I'll be responsible.
This fear overcame Melinda's shocked fascination with the blatantly sinful act, and she tugged at Billy's arm, screaming for him to stop.
He was stronger than she, despite his young age, but Melinda managed to haul him off balance.
Billy stumbled backward, his prick pulling out of his bewildered partner. The wet, gleaming organ jerked spastically, its head red and swollen. Suddenly Billy's cock erupted, sending a spurt of thick whitish fluid arcing into the air. Melinda dodged just in time to avoid the gob of semen, which sailed past her and splattered against the cloakroom wall.
"Shit . . . oooh, shit!" Billy whined, his body arching as he clenched his fists and screwed up his face. His twitching prick kept shooting seminal bullets harmlessly into the air until his testicles were dry.
The young girl leaned against the wall, breathing hard. She had let her cotton skirt drop to conceal her pussy and thighs, but her panties remained on the floor encircling her ankle.
Melinda's cheeks glowed, and her loins had turned into an inferno. Warm juice dribbled onto the crotch of her panties.
"Man, look at that!" an adolescent male voice exclaimed from the doorway.
Jasper stood there grinning. Several students crowded behind him, squirming to get a better view.
"What did you do, teacher?" Jasper asked. "Jerk Billy off?"
"Shut up, you bastard!" Billy said, and stuffed his partially softened penis back into his clothes.
"Oh, you are filthy!" Melinda cried, looking from one to the other as she quivered with emotion. "All of you! You're the filthiest, nastiest boys I ever knew! I'm going to tell all your parents just how you've been behaving."
The threat sobered the students. Also they were tired after their intense rough-and-tumble. They walked to their seats as more children trouped into the schoolhouse. Soon all the seats were occupied.
Melinda sat at her desk and stared at the unruly class who looked back at her sheepishly. Melinda was flustered, her cheeks pink and her hair slightly disarrayed. Her panties were embarrassingly damp against the burning lips of her vulva.
She managed to complete the seating assignments, separating the children into groups which corresponded to their grade levels. Then she passed out books and assigned work to the various grades. The children were disorderly from time to time-the big boys, especially, making rude comments and engaging in horseplay-but there was no repetition of the chaotic outburst which earlier had swept the entire class.
Melinda remained upset, her mind only half-focused on her work. She kept visualizing the lewd activity in the cloakroom--Billy's young cock stroking into the fluff-encircled slit of his girl friend whose name, Melinda discovered, was May Williamson. Melinda found it difficult to look directly at either May or Billy.
Jasper also made her nervous. Whenever she glanced his way, he seemed to be watching her with an odd expression on his pudgy face. The friend with whom he had been scuffling-a tall, long-haired lad named Luke Terwilliger sat across the aisle from him, and they exchanged whispered comments, grinning lewdly. Melinda believed they were talking about her, no doubt speculating about what actually had happened in the cloakroom.
As the noon hour approached, Melinda developed an uncomfortable need to urinate. But instead of taking a break and going to the girls' outdoor toilet, she waited until both hands of the old-fashioned clock on the schoolroom wall pointed straight up. She dismissed the class for lunch and hurried home.
In the street she passed a middle-aged woman in a sunbonnet. Their eyes met, and Melinda smiled. The other woman looked quickly away.
Nobody in this town likes me, Melinda thought, and felt a wave of loneliness. But she was determined to continue doing her best, in spite of all the difficulties she faced.
She hurried into the house. Reverend Perkins was seated at a desk in the living room. In shirtsleeves, his collar open, he was poring over a huge Bible and making notes, apparently for his next sermon.
"Hello, my dear," he said, smiling and rising to his feet.
"Reverend Perkins," Melinda acknowledged crisply, and walked down the hall to the bathroom.
It troubled her that Mrs. Perkins and Matt didn't seem to be around. But Melinda's need to urinate was so intense that she entered the John, closed the unlockable door, and quickly squatted over the toilet.
She stared at the door while she peed. She wiped herself and was just pulling up her flowered white briefs when the door opened. Perkins leered at her.
Melinda gasped and let her skirt drop. "Get out of here!" she demanded.
"How charming!" Perkins said, and laughed. He entered the bathroom.
Melinda struck at him, but he caught her arm in midflight. He looped a long arm around her slender waist and pulled her against him. She smelled the liquor on his breath, mingled with the sour odor of his perspiration. He was the most repulsive man she had ever known.
"Let me go!" Melinda cried. "I'm going to tell your wii. . . "
Perkins caught her mouth open, and his hard lips ground against her soft ones. His wet tongue lolled obscenely into her mouth. Moaning in her throat and struggling desperately, Melinda was unable to escape the arms that encircled her like iron bands. She couldn't even bite Perkins's tongue because the extreme pressure he was exerting against her lips held her mouth open.
As saliva dribbled off Perkins's long tongue and ran down Melinda's throat, he lifted the back of her miniskirt and placed his hand directly across the seat of her silken panties. He lasciviously shimmied her ass in its sheer confinement, and she felt his penis harden against her belly.
Melinda was furious, all the more so because her body was responding to the evil man's touch. Her senses swirled.
Finally Perkins released her and backed up, evidently to avoid an anticipated blow. But Melinda didn't strike at him. She stood limp and shaken, her mouth open and her cheeks burning.
"Flush the toilet, my dear," Perkins said with a smirk. He turned and left the room.
Humiliated, Melinda struck the lever on the commode, causing the water to gush. She stood panting, staring at the open door. She made up her mind to tell Mrs. Perkins that evening everything that had happened. Melinda didn't see how the preacher could make things any worse for her in Horner's Hollow than they already were.
Still livid with anger, she washed her hands quickly, then went to the kitchen to prepare her lunch. Perkins apparently had gone to his room. Finding cold cuts in the refrigerator, Melinda made a sandwich and ate it with a glass of milk. She watched the doorway, but Perkins didn't reappear. Gradually her nerves settled.
She blamed herself for responding sexually to the preacher's lewd assault, and guilt mingled with her anger. What am I, she thought, some slut who can be stimulated by even the most disgusting man ? She refused to believe this, but her body had behaved in a traitorous way, nearly leading her to degradation three times in the last two days. She would have to be more alert, she decided.
Melinda refused to admit that she needed a man--one who would satisfy her as Harry had been unable to do. During their short engagement, he had awakened her sensuous nature but hadn't made her fully aware of it or given her a satisfactory release. Consequently she had remained at a peak of sexual stimulation, taut and expectant, and she unknowingly had conveyed this attitude to every man she met, while failing to recognize her own true needs.
During the afternoon Melinda continued to have trouble with her class. Jasper and Luke kept eyeing her and whispering back and forth. She was immensely relieved when the school day finally ended.
After discharging the class at 3:30, Melinda remained at her desk to plan her routine for the following day. She would have to put the children to work quickly, she decided. She believed this would avoid a repetition of the trouble which had broken out that morning, provided the fathers of the students didn't show up to bedevil her. Melinda blamed them for getting her off to a bad start with the class.
At 3:40 the door opened. To Melinda's surprise, Jasper entered the room, followed by Luke. The latter closed the door behind him.
Melinda assumed the boys had come to make amends for their disorderly conduct, and she was in a mood to forgive them.
Jasper grinned as he approached her desk. "Working kind of late, ain't you, teacher?"
Melinda smiled benignly. "It would sound better, Jasper, if you were to call me Miss Johnson. And please don't say ain't. It isn't a real word, you know."
The hulking youth glanced quickly at his slender, sharp-eyed friend. Luke moved around to the opposite side of Melinda's desk.
A sudden apprehension skittered along the young teacher's nerves. She stood. "Well, I believe I've done enough for today. Would you boys like to help me clean the blackboards? Then we can leave."
"Fuck the blackboards," Jasper said.
Melinda looked at him and her lower lip quivered. "Get out of this room!" she demanded hotly. She glanced at Luke. "Both of you!"
"Not yet, Miss Johnson," Luke drawled. His dark eyes glinted.
Jasper pushed against Melinda, and a shock traveled through her. She gasped and tried to get away from the youths, but they grabbed her by the arms.
"You was having some fun with Billy in the cloakroom today," Jasper accused. "If fun's what you want, me and Luke can give it to you."
"That's right, Sweet Tits," Luke said, and grasped one of Melinda's breasts.
A new shock wave rocked her, accompanied by throat-clutching fear. Melinda opened her mouth to scream, and Jasper clamped a thick, dirty hand across it. Sidling quickly behind her, he ran a strong arm around her waist, pinning her arms against her sides. Melinda's brain whirled as she felt herself being dragged backward, her heels scraping the bare floor.
Jasper growled at his friend, "Get under her dress. Pull her pants off."
A white-hot flash enveloped Melinda's mind. Her body throbbed. She tried to scream, but Jasper's foul-tasting hand muffled the sound. She couldn't bite him because his hand was pressed too tightly against her mouth.
As Jasper held Melinda around the middle, tilted backward so she couldn't kick without falling, Luke grasped her short skirt at both sides and lifted it waist high. Melinda was humiliated as the filthy boy stared at the crotch of her panties, which clung snugly to her plushy slit.
She felt as if she were sinking into a slimy ooze with nothing to save her. She moaned against Jasper's hand and tried to struggle, but all she could do was rock to and fro. She felt Luke's lascivious hands grasping at the top of her bikini briefs. He began pulling the small silken garment down.
No! Melinda thought. Oh, God, no! They can't do this to me! I won't let them!
But she realized there was nothing she could do to prevent it. She was totally incapacitated by the position in which Jasper held her, and Luke was free to do anything he liked.
The lanky youth drew Melinda's panties away from her pubic mound and the lathering lips of her vulva. Cool air touched her between the legs, and she knew Luke was staring at her bare cunt.
"Shit, she's blonde as a haystack!" Luke lewdly exclaimed. "You was wrong, Jasper. You said she bleached her hair."
"Lots of city girls do," Jasper said. "How the fuck would I know? Hurry up and pull her pants off."
No. . . no. . . no! Melinda kept thinking. But her blood raced with something other than fear. She was becoming strongly aroused, and this shamed her.
Luke lifted one of her lovely legs, pulled off her shoe, then one side of her briefs. He placed her bare foot on the floor and lifted the other leg. Both shoes were gone, then her undergarment.
Melinda felt dreadfully vulnerable as the air caressed her moist vulva. Her legs were braced well apart, giving Luke a perfect view of her golden-fringed slit. A hump stood at the front of his overalls.
"Goddamn, Jasper, she's pretty!" Luke said huskily, worming his finger between Melinda's honey-slick cunt lips. She sucked in her breath as a tremendous thrill slammed through her.
"I'm going to put her on her back," Jasper announced. "Then you get around here and hold her. Keep her arms down and keep your hand over her mouth, understand?"
"Let me screw her first," Luke pleaded. "I got a hard-on."
"What do you think I've got, stupid?" Jasper shot back. "Anyhow, this was my idea."
"I'm still afraid," Luke said, withdrawing his finger from Melinda's pussy. "What if she tells on us?"
"She won't. She's hot for cock. And she knows we'll hurt her bad if she says anything. I'm going to lay her down."
Hot for cock--so that's what they think of me! Melinda thought dizzily. But it isn't true. It isn't!
Her back brushed Jasper's erection as the husky youth lowered her to the floor. She jammed her hot thighs together. Jasper kept his hand over her mouth and dropped to his knees beside her. Luke scrambled around next to her head. The peak in the front of his overalls was awesome, and it pointed directly at Melinda. She tried not to look at it but couldn't help herself. She moaned and writhed.
"Ready to put your hand on her mouth?" Jasper asked his friend.
"I guess so," Luke said, obviously unhappy about having to watch Jasper take her first.
Melinda screamed as Jasper removed his hand from her face. But Luke slid his hand over her lips so quickly that little of the sound escaped. Melinda had no hope that the scream was heard outside.
While Luke held her firmly against the floor, his vile hand bruising her mouth, Jasper knelt next to her thighs. He grinned lustfully as his eyes moved over the smooth, tapering columns and the blonde hairs that curled out from between their tops. Melinda kept her legs firmly together. The insides of her thighs were damp. Her vagina tingled crazily.
Jasper unbuttoned the front of his lust-expanded jeans. Melinda had twisted her head so she could watch him. Her eyes were wide. Her nerves tightened as the youth reached into his pants. No, no! she thought. But her body sang.
Jasper's fist came out of his fly, clutching a meaty cock that would have done a man of thirty proud. Though Melinda's records gave Jasper's age as sixteen, to all intents and purposes he was fully grown. He released his organ and it stuck up, big and hard. The skin had pulled back from its rosy, thick head, and a drop of clear lubricant glistened at the tip of his dong.
Melinda feared she would faint. But her heart was beating too wildly and her blood pumping too rapidly to permit that.
"Open them thighs, baby," Jasper husked, and grasped them from underneath.
He wrenched Melinda's legs apart with ease. The air kissed Melinda's unfurled cunt as Jasper's eyes did the same. The combination produced greater heat rather than coolness.
"She's sure wet," Jasper said, and chuckled lewdly.
Melinda knew she was dribbling like mad. God, I'm so wicked! she thought. Still she kept trying to convince herself that she didn't want Jasper to fuck her. A strange dichotomy racked Melinda's mind and body.
The bulky youth settled himself between her legs, which he held firmly to prevent her from kicking. His prick nodded tautly as he moved. Melinda tried to scream against Luke's hand, but to no avail.
Jasper fell forward atop her. She smelled the strong odor of his sweat. The end of his prick touched her between the cunt lips.
GOD! OH, GOD! her mind shrieked.
The schoolhouse door opened, and a man yelled, "You bastards, let her go!"
Jasper pushed backward without having penetrated Melinda's vagina. Luke released her. Head swimming, Melinda stared up at Ed Tackett, who stood looking down at her while Luke and Jasper scrambled to the opposite side of the room. Jasper struggled with his clothes.
"Are you all right?" Ed asked.
Melinda closed her eyes and began to sob. She placed her hands on her burning pussy.
"Get the hell out of here!" Ed raged at the cowering youths. "Try this again and I'll throw you both in jail!"
Ed knelt beside Melinda and lifted her head and shoulders, cradling her in his arms. "It's all right now," he said gently. "They won't dare touch you again."
The youths lit out of the schoolhouse like scolded dogs, leaving Melinda and Ed alone. She didn't know how she felt. Relieved? No. Frustrated? Maybe. Her mind was in a state of angry, sick confusion.
Melinda's panties were within Ed's reach, and he picked up the puff of soft nylon. He handed it to her. She continued to shield her vulva with her other hand, but Ed had gotten a good look at it when he had entered the room. Even now, some of her golden hairs curled into view around her small hand. Ed's penis stirred in his clothes, and he glanced away.
"Are you able to get dressed now?" he asked Melinda.
"Y-yes."
"I'll look the other way."
He turned his back, and Melinda sat up. Of all people to walk in, she thought, him!
She wondered what had brought him back and why he had been at school that morning. Did he have a child in her class?
Melinda quickly put on her panties, then her shoes. She stood on wobbly legs. She lifted a hand to her forehead.
"All right?" Ed asked solicitously as he faced her.
"My head's still spinning."
"I don't doubt it."
"Thank you for. . . coming in when you did."
"I was just doing my job."
Melinda stared at him, puzzled.
Ed grinned. "I'm the deputy sheriff in these parts. It's only a part-time job, though," he added quickly. "I've got a piece of farmland a couple of miles east of here. Yesterday I was coming back from a stakeout up in the hills. I helped round up some poachers."
So that explained why he was so grimy yesterday, Melinda thought. She still wondered about his presence at the school that morning. But there was something else of more immediate concern to her.
"If you're the deputy sheriff," she said, "I want you to arrest those boys who tried to rape me."
Ed shook his head. "They're just kids. Anyway, you got off on the wrong foot with them this morning."
She bristled. "Are you saying what happened was my fault?"
"For a teacher, you acted pretty dumb." Ed tempered the criticism with a smile.
"Oh, you're as bad as the rest of them!" Melinda exploded. "All the men in this town are drunken, rude animals. You saw how they crowded the classroom, ogling me and whispering nasty things. You were with them."
She turned toward the door, but Ed grasped her arm. A tingle went through her.
"Hold up a minute," Ed said. "We men were here this morning to prevent just the kind of thing that happened with Jasper and Luke. And to prevent a ruckus like you had after we left. The folks living around here told me about it. That's why I came back just now, to wise you up."
Melinda stared at him, trying to comprehend.
"The fathers came to school to let their kids know they were supposed to behave," Ed continued. "It was the men's way of showing their children that you had their backing. I came along because the kids know I'm a deputy. I figured that would lend a little extra weight. But you ruined the whole thing when you ridiculed us and drove us out. That hurt you in the kids' eyes. Lady, you were asking for it...."
"But. . . but how was I to know that's what you men had in mind?"
"You could have given us the benefit of the doubt, instead of going off half-cocked and figuring we were up to mischief. The folks who live around here are a law-abiding, God-fearing lot. Most of them, at any rate. Of course, the kids are rough and ready--especially the big ones like Jasper and Luke. They've been going to school since they were six, and they haven't learned much of anything yet. But they won't bother you again. They're smart enough to know I'll bust them if they do."
"Ooh, Ed!" Melinda exclaimed, suddenly mortified by her own stupidity. She sagged against the strong, good-looking man. "What am I going to do?"
Ed put his arms around her comfortingly. "You're going to do your best, and I'll help you."
Melinda's vibrant softness aroused Ed, and he thought of how she had looked a little while ago, spread out on the floor with her thighs wide open. He couldn't resist running his hand down her back and across her taut, shivery buttocks. She looked up at him, about to protest, but he sealed his mouth to hers. His tongue surged between her lips and drove deeply into her mouth, twisting and stroking.
Once more Melinda responded erotically and again she became alarmed, angry with herself and with the man who had mounted this latest assault upon her decency. She twisted in Ed's arms, beating at him until he was forced to stop kissing her and let her go.
As he stepped back, there was a hump at the front of his trousers. But Melinda didn't notice it. She was too full of rage.
"Don't ever do that again!" she said spitefully. "Just because you saved me a little while ago doesn't give you the right to take liberties. You're as filthy as the rest of the men in this town!"
Ed's features tightened. His eyes turned hard. "Okay, Miss High and Mighty, have it your way. I was fixing to hang around and help you out for a while, but I've got a paper to serve back in the hills and it appears as though I might as well get to it. Paddle your own little boat. I'll see you in a couple of days."
He turned and strode from the schoolhouse.
Melinda stared after him, and her heart sank. She realized that she had treated Ed too harshly for her own good. Without him, she was really alone.
CHAPTER THREE
When Melinda arrived home, Sarah Perkins was seated alone in the living room, sewing. The opportunity was perfect for Melinda to report the lascivious conduct of Sarah's husband. But thinking over what Ed had told her, Melinda merely greeted the older woman and went to her room.
Ed had made Melinda realize she had misjudged the intentions of the men who had visited the schoolhouse that morning. She concluded that her instincts weren't reliable in dealing with the people of Horner's Hollow; she might even unwittingly have encouraged Reverend Perkins to treat her as he had.
She would have to try harder to understand the local people, Melinda resolved. Making waves wouldn't help.
The atmosphere at dinner was reserved. Mrs. Perkins was no friendlier than she had been that morning. The preacher kept watching Melinda, but said little. Matt watched Melinda also, and she detected a lust in his young eyes that matched his father's.
Due to its remote location, Horner's Hollow had no television. After dinner the preacher invited Melinda to join his family in the living room to listen to their old-fashioned console radio, but she declined. She went directly to her room and undressed. After slipping into a robe, she went to the bathroom and tried to relax in a warm tub. But she remained edgy.
Later, in bed, she was unable to fall asleep. Her nerves were taut, and she worried about all that had happened during the last two days. Her teaching career had gotten off to a very shaky start. Everything about her situation distressed her.
Melinda rolled and tossed on the uncomfortable mattress, eventually settling on her stomach close to the knotty pine wall. Sheer fatigue finally made her drowsy. Just as she was about to fall asleep, a sound from the other side of the wall startled her. Bedsprings in the preacher's room had creaked loudly.
Melinda opened her eyes and found herself facing a small circle of light. It was a knothole in the wall, just large enough to look through. She had never peeped at anyone in her life and considered it morally wrong to do so. But when the bedsprings in the other room creaked a second time, Melinda couldn't resist putting her eye to the knothole--to take just one quick look, she told herself.
The preacher's iron four-poster bed was at the opposite side of his bedroom. His wife was lying in it, covered to her chin. A lamp glowed beside the bed. Perkins entered the room and, standing in full view of Melinda, took off his robe. His total nakedness made Melinda gasp.
The preacher's prick hung in front of his dangling, hairy balls like a thick Manila rope with a large knot at its end. The gaunt, bald man approached the bed, his long cock swaying. His wife watched the organ as if hypnotized by its pendulum motion.
Perkins pulled out a drawer in the night table and removed a bottle which he uncorked. As he tilted the bottle to his lips, Sarah looked the other way. Perkins placed the uncorked flask on the nightstand, then took hold of the bedclothes and stripped them all the way down. Sarah was covered from neck to ankles by a loose-fitting cotton gown.
"Can't you find something more appealing than that to wear in bed?" Perkins complained, his voice coming clearly through the thin wall. "The Sears Roebuck catalog must have something better to offer."
"It's sinful to adorn the body," Sarah said.
"Bullshit!" Perkins replied. "You're in my bedroom, not in church."
Melinda was amazed by his attitude. She had gained the impression that the preacher was afraid of his wife and carefully concealed his true nature from her, but this appeared to be untrue.
"Take the ugly thing off," Perkins ordered, pointing at Sarah's nightgown.
She quickly complied, exposing her thick thighs, rounded belly, and huge breasts. When she lay back, her tits shook like silken sacks of pudding.
As Melinda continued to stare through the knothole, heart pounding, Perkins gave her a new shock by swinging astride his wife, settling on her thick waist. His bony fingers gripped as much of her milk-white breasts as he could hold, and he lifted them as he squeezed. Perkins wiggled forward, laying his cock between the copious mounds.
Kneading Sarah's soft tits like gobs of baker's dough, the preacher worked them along the length of his penis and over the top of the organ. He grunted as he stared down at her, his lips pulled tight.
Sarah's eyes were closed. She remained motionless. Melinda imagined how disgusted she must feel. Melinda was disgusted, also-but aroused. Unconsciously she began to writhe against the mattress, stimulating her clitoris which had turned hard.
When Perkins released his wife's breasts, letting them flop to the sides, his prick was revealed in full erection. The eight-inch organ sprang up from Sarah's mammary vale, its purplish knob swollen.
Perkins grasped his wife around the back of the head and tilted her head up. Her eyes popped open, and she stared at his prick, inches in front of her face.
"Take it," he ordered.
Melinda was shocked to the tips of her toes as the preacher sprawled forward against the head structure of the iron bed and his wife grasped his rigid organ, aiming its huge head into her open mouth. Sarah sucked on the meaty glans, her cheeks alternately hollowing and puffing, her throat muscles working. Perkins began to move his hips up and down, stroking his iron-hard shaft through the pale-pink circle of Sarah's wide-stretched lips.
Melinda had never seen anything so revolting. She imagined how awful the penis must taste, and she nearly became ill. But her cunt grew all the hotter, moistening the bedsheet as she ground her hips, pressing her tingling clit against the firm mattress. Heightening throbs of passion traveled through her.
It had become evident that Sarah wasn't repulsed by the preacher's lewd treatment. As difficult as this was for Melinda to accept, Sarah appeared actually to enjoy the degradation. She acted the pious woman and Perkins treated her with attentive concern outside their bedroom, but closed off from the world, when they were intimate, they became different people.
Preacher Perkins slowly stroked his cock in and out of his wife's mouth, and she sucked it avidly. Melinda watched as best she could while writhing next to the wall. Suddenly Perkins backed up, pulling his prick from Sarah's mouth with a sucking Pop. He scrambled backward and settled between Sarah's thighs, his upraised cock bobbing as if it were suspended on a rubber string. Its immense bald head gleamed with Sarah's saliva.
"Fuck me .. . fuck me!" Sarah passionately demanded.
"I'll fuck you, you hot bitch!" Perkins grated as he wrapped his arms around her heavy thighs and boosted them straight up.
Melinda watched his evil prick nose its way into the elliptical, rosy crevice in his wife's brown pubic bush. His rod sank inch by inch into Sarah's juice-exuding cunt until it was completely swallowed up. Perkins's drawn-up balls bumped the hairy rim of Sarah's pussy.
He began to pump, giving Sarah all eight inches of his steel-stiff rod on every stroke. Melinda's mouth hung open as she watched the brutal penis pull way back, then drive completely into the plump, writhing woman. Sarah's big breasts shook. She panted and moaned. She rhythmically bumped her tilted pussy against her husband's fucking thrusts.
Melinda ground her cunt harder against the bed. By now she was aware of what she was doing, and she wanted desperately to complete it. She had to. The stimulation she was receiving from the mattress wasn't sufficient to bring her to a climax, and she worked a hand into the flimsy panties of her babydoll outfit. While continuing to writhe, maintaining a partial contact between her pussy and the mattress, Melinda stuck two fingers up her hot, swamp-like cunt and diddled herself with abandon. She had been forced to adopt this technique after her unrewarding dates with Harry.
Through the knothole, which wavered before her eyes, Melinda watched Perkins drop his wife's thick legs and fall forward to grind his prick in her fat, heaving belly with accelerated speed. Melinda heard the slap of flesh against flesh and the juicy sloshing of cock in vagina as the frenzied pair strove to their climax, panting and moaning. Their bed creaked loudly. Its casters jittered against the thinly carpeted floor.
Melinda's fingers danced in her butter-slick hole. Her other hand gripped a tit and squeezed the sensitive, springy-firm mass. She writhed. The mouth of her pussy contracted spastically around her stroking fingers. The depths of her vagina palpitated. Heat spread through her in a rushing wave, and suddenly all tension let go and she gave a gurgling sigh.
She had lost her view of the couple in the next room as she experienced her own climax. When she next looked through the knothole, Reverend Perkins was climbing off his wife. His cock swung soft and long. It was very red and gleamed with the moisture from Sarah's cunt.
The plump woman closed her legs and faced the wall. Perkins lifted his bottle from the night table and tilted it to his lips.
Relaxed but not deeply satisfied, Melinda turned her back to the knothole. In less than a minute she was asleep.
The children were frolicking about the schoolhouse when Melinda arrived the next morning to convene the class. Their fathers weren't on hand. It took Melinda ten minutes to get the children quieted down and into their seats.
She decided to dispense with the roll and immediately put the students to work. Order reigned for a while. But within half an hour Jasper, Luke and some of the other older boys provoked a disturbance.
Melinda stood and pounded on her desk until order finally was restored. She managed to keep the children fairly quiet for the balance of the morning.
When she went home for lunch, Reverend Perkins again was alone in the house. Sarah apparently made it a practice to do her shopping or gossiping during the middle of the day, and Melinda had learned that Matt was employed on a nearby farm.
The young woman was reluctant to face Preacher Perkins alone after watching him abuse his wife the night before. Also, Melinda suffered guilt over her masturbation, and she blamed herself for spying on the Perkinses. But when the preacher stopped her in the living room and asked her to sit down, she decided she shouldn't refuse to talk with him. She concluded that the better they understood each other, the better she would get along.
Seating herself on the overstuffed sofa, Melinda crossed her tanned legs. Perkins slouched in a chair across from her and openly eyed the lovely display. My legs must look good to him after living with fat, homely Sarah for twenty years, Melinda thought, feeling a forbidden satisfaction.
"My dear ..." Perkins began, his voice smooth and slippery as oil, "have you been thinking about what I told you the other day? I stand ready to help you in any way I can."
Then just leave me alone, Melinda wanted to reply. But she took a grip on herself and said coolly, "I appreciate that, Reverend Perkins."
"Please. We needn't be formal. Call me Clem, and I will call you Melinda."
"If you wish." She wondered what he was leading up to.
"Not only can I make things easier for you here in Horner's Hollow, but you might give some consideration to the future. You won't be here forever.. . and neither will I." Perkins paused to let that sink in.
"Are you planning on leaving town?" Melinda asked.
The preacher smiled wisely. "I am an itinerate person by nature. My son and I have been here for two years, which is nearly long enough. There are other pastures, other places to do the Lord's work . .. and my own."
"Oh, no. I married her after Matt and I moved here. There was, uh, some unpleasantness in Georgia. We needed a place to hole-up for a while. This seemed a likely spot. And Sarah, bless her simple soul, was in need of a man."
This revelation cast the preacher in a new light. But Melinda didn't indicate a response.
Perkins's gaze stroked like a paintbrush up and down her thighs as he continued. "I am not a poor man, Melinda. This community has been good to me. When I leave, I will not go empty-handed." He raised his eyes to her face. "I have always wanted someone like you. I could make you happy. You wouldn't have to teach school any longer. We could live anywhere--Florida, California, even Hawaii."
The proposition surprised Melinda, but she found nothing of interest in it. "You shouldn't be talking to me this way," she said.
"Because of Sarah?" Perkins chuckled. "If you were to repeat this to her, she wouldn't believe it."
He turned serious again. "I would advise you to give the matter some careful thought. There isn't a great deal of time."
"I'm not interested," Melinda said bluntly. "But I hope we can get along while we're sharing the same house."
"So do I," Perkins replied, his eyes probing the neckline of her dress. "For instance, we could go to your room right now. Sarah won't return for a while."
Melinda uncrossed her legs and stood. "That isn't what I meant, and you know it. Now if you'll excuse me ... "
Perkins didn't say anything as Melinda left the room. She could feel his eyes on her twisting buttocks, and a little thrill traveled through her.
His remarks had given her something new to think about, but that was all. He was more unappealing to her than ever, now that she knew what a complete hypocrite he was.
That night Melinda wedged a chair under her doorknob before going to bed, as she had done the night before. She had plugged a wad of facial tissue into the knothole in the wall before arising that morning, and the plug was still in place.
As Melinda lay in the dark, waiting for sleep to come, she reviewed what Reverend Perkins had told her. Poor Sarah, she thought. She was in for a rude awakening. But she would be better off in the long run without Perkins, Melinda believed.
Her thoughts turned to Ed, and Melinda wished he would hurry back from his trip. It wasn't that she cared for his company, she assured herself, but he could help her control the schoolchildren.
She felt lonely and vulnerable.
CHAPTER FOUR
After school on the following day, Melinda was seated alone at her desk, her head bent forward, her face sheltered in her hands.
She had experienced another frustrating session with her boisterous class. Billy had cornered May again, this time behind the outhouses during recess. Another girl had rushed to tell Melinda, and the young teacher had arrived on the scene just as Billy was pulling down May's panties. Melinda had no sooner broken this up before Jasper and Luke got into a fight at the opposite side of the schoolyard. Melinda could only stand by and scream helplessly at the boys to stop. Finally they did, but not until Luke had suffered a bloody nose.
Melinda's every contact with the adult townspeople had been equally frustrating. She would smile and nod at them as she passed, but they invariably snubbed her.
The situation was beginning to seem hopeless. Melinda was considering writing the county school superintendent and asking to be replaced. "Have a rough day?"
The masculine voice had come from the doorway. Ed stood there, a sympathetic look on his face.
Melinda sighed gratefully. "Oh, Ed, I'm so glad to see you!"
He approached her desk. "Are you really? That isn't how you talked when I saw you last."
"Forget that, please. I'm sorry I was rude."
She stood, and Ed put his arms around her. "It's okay, baby," he said, giving her a little pat on the ass.
Melinda felt such reassurance in his embrace that she didn't protest the intimacy.
After a moment he stepped back. "Have the kids been giving you hell?"
"Yes," she admitted.
"Have the fathers been back?"
Melinda shook her head. "Everybody's been avoiding me as if I were a plague carrier. It looks as if I'm not right for this job. I'm thinking about catching the next bus out of here."
Ed studied her. "You can't do that. There isn't any bus."
"What?"
"Lonnie, the bus driver, is sick as a dog. He was picked up by helicopter and taken to a hospital in Nashville."
Melinda blinked. "I know he had drunk too much and collapsed, but I had no idea it was that serious."
"It isn't how much he drank," Ed said. "It's what he drank. And he's not the only one who's gotten sick from it. There's been a rash of lead poisoning around here lately."
"Why is that?"
"The moonshiners have taken to using car radiators to condense their hootch. That's because the radiators are easy to get and set up. Usually there's no trouble with the batch, but once in a while enough lead settles into the whiskey to be dangerous."
"Ed, that's terrible!" Melinda exclaimed. "Why doesn't somebody put a stop to it?"
Ed smiled faintly. "That's what the feds are trying to do. But all moonshine is illegal, and the T-men want to wipe it all out. The guys around here won't stand for that. They're united against the federal boys."
"Somebody ought to explain to the people who make this . . . this moonshine, what they're doing wrong," Melinda said earnestly. "I believe I could do it."
Ed laughed and pulled her into his arms. "What would a cute gal like you know about making booze?" he asked, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
A pleasurable tremor passed through Melinda, and Ed felt it. He tightened his arms around her and pressed his mouth to hers again, this time with passionate force. His tongue bore between her teeth, forcing her jaws apart. He held her so close she could feel his hose-like cock.
Excitement raced along Melinda's nerves. Heat flared in her loins. Becoming alarmed, she struggled and finally succeeded in pushing the brash young man away.
"You mustn't do that!" she said, panting, the color high in her cheeks.
"You liked it," Ed said, grinning.
"I did not! Anyway, I'm interested in this moonshining business." She struggled to bring herself under control as Ed watched her, grinning widely. "I took chemistry in college, so I know what I'm talking about. I could help these people."
"Melinda, listen--they know if they didn't use car radiators the booze would be safer. But it's hard to get the copper tubing and the other stuff to make a real still. The feds have cut off the supply all over this part of the state, and they're busting the old stills as fast as they can find them."
"Copper tubing isn't necessary," Melinda said. "It would be safe to use radiators if they were equipped with a filtration system. The filters could be built easily enough."
"Yeah?" Ed was becoming interested.
"I could build one and show the people how it works," Melinda went on. "But I would have to get to a library where I could find a good chemistry textbook. And I'd need a few materials from a hardware and drug store."
Melinda saw in this project an opportunity to do something for the local people that would win their acceptance. It would give her a reason for remaining in Horner's Hollow and some hope for the future. There was no time to lose.
"How long would it take to drive to the nearest library?" Melinda asked excitedly.
"That'd be at the county seat," Ed said. "A little over an hour."
"Then we could make it today before the library closes." She took Ed's hand and looked earnestly into his eyes. "Drive me, Ed! Please. This might mean a lot to everyone around here."
Ed's interest increased. "Well, I was fixing to do some farm work before the day was over, but. . . okay. My truck's right outside."
Melinda picked up her purse and she and Ed left the schoolhouse together.
Melinda withdrew two books from the library and made her purchases, which Ed placed on the floor of his pickup. It was dinnertime by then, and Ed offered to buy her a meal. She accepted.
They went to a modest little cafe on the main street of town. The atmosphere was severely plain, but the food was wholesome and plentiful.
More relaxed than she had been for a long time, Melinda chatted freely with Ed across the table. They got to know each other.
Melinda learned that Ed's mother had died when he was twelve years old and his father had passed away four years later. Ed had taken over the family farm and had run it successfully, bringing up a younger brother and sister. Ed's sister had since married, but his brother was only fifteen years old and still living with him. The deputy sheriff's job augmented Ed's farm income, giving him a percentage of the fines levied against people he arrested and mileage fees for serving legal papers.
Melinda admired Ed's character, finding him to be altogether different from the impression she had first gained of him on the bus. But his male aggressiveness continued to make her uneasy, and his rather rough exterior jarred her sensibilities.
On the way back to Horner's Hollow, as she sat a bit closer to him in the pickup, Melinda was aware of Ed's sexual vibrance. It was having its effect on her, quickening her pulse rate and making her cozily warm between the thighs. Because she had discovered she liked him as a person, and because of the project she had in mind for helping the local citizens, Melinda felt a hundred per cent better about her situation in Horner's Hollow. For the first time since she had arrived there, she was almost happy.
The narrow dirt road wound around the crest of a hill, furnishing a sudden view of a magnificent red and gold sunset.
"Oh, let's stop for a minute!" Melinda said impulsively.
There was a wide level area at the hill's promontory, and Ed guided the pickup off to the side of the road. He stopped the vehicle and set the brake.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Melinda enthused as she gazed at the rim of sun which glowed dull orange through the gathering mist. The clouds were gilded delicately.
Ed was looking at her rather than at the sunset. "You're beautiful," he said, and slid against her.
Melinda turned to look at him, and he caught her parted lips in a bruising kiss. His tongue surged into her mouth. Melinda caught her breath. Ed's hand lit on her breasts and began to caress the full, sensitive mounds.
A dam seemed to burst inside Melinda, and she was flooded by a wave of sensuality that took her completely by surprise. She believed she should fight Ed, but for the moment she couldn't. His hand felt too good as it rubbed her nipples through her thin blouse and bra. The nubs firmed and pushed forward, asking for an even more intimate caress.
Melinda returned Ed's kiss, stroking her moist tongue against his.
He slid his hand down across her belly and to her thighs. An alarm went off in her brain, but she ignored it. Melinda let the aggressive man move her thighs apart and stroke their bare inner surfaces. His work-roughened fingers were abrasive against her tender skin, but the intimate contact made her throb with desire.
When Ed's fingertips touched the silken barrier of her panties, pressing her soft, hairy pussy through the thin cloth, Melinda's alarm sounded so loudly that she had to take heed. She broke the kiss and grasped Ed's arm, pushing it away.
"We mustn't," she said. But she was breathing hard, and her limpid eyes conveyed a message totally different from her words.
"I want you," Ed said huskily.
"That wouldn't be right," the prudish little girl within Melinda declared.
Ed chuckled tensely. "Baby, it wouldn't be right not to finish what we started."
He wrapped his arms around Melinda and drew her crushingly against his chest. Their mouths fused more hotly than before. Ed's hand glided down her side and dipped underneath her short skirt to resume caressing her bare upper thighs. Melinda's passion took another surge as Ed stroked his tongue in her mouth. He twisted her body farther toward him so she was seated on one hip, and he moved his hand to her exposed buttock. He kneaded the resilient flesh through her thin panties.
Melinda felt as if she were being caught in a whirlpool. Her brain spun giddily. Ed grasped the elastic band at the top of her panties and drew it down, slipping his hand directly onto her buttock, his fingertips teasing the hot, tight cleft between that mound and its twin.
No! Melinda thought desperately. Oh, God, no!
She began to struggle.
Ed had proceeded too far to be rejected, especially since he could tell that Melinda's need was as strong as his own. Though she tore her mouth from his and began to beat him on the chest, he succeeded in pulling her silken pants down to her knees and jamming his hand between the tops of her smooth, hot thighs. His fingers toyed with the hair-covered lips of her pussy.
Blinding flashes of sensual delight seared Melinda's brain. The glands in her vulva exuded honey, and her' cunt lips became slick as Ed manipulated them deftly. Her clit was a hard little pea against the tip of his middle finger. He rubbed it, and Melinda moaned.
"Let's get out of the car," he whispered. 'There's a nice grassy spot at the edge of the woods."
"No!" Melinda exclaimed.
"Then I'll take you right here, but it won't be as good for either of us."
"You're not going to . . . take me at all," she declared, panting, as she tried to push him away. "Now let me go!"
Ed's patience ran out. His experience had taught him that there were girls who had to be forced a little, to make them do what they really wanted. He had never known a girl as attractive as Melinda. His instinct told him that unless he followed through with her now, he might never get another chance, and he wouldn't be able to respect himself as a man if he let the golden opportunity slip away.
Ed opened the door behind him and grasped Melinda by the back and thighs, pulling her across the seat. Her skirt slid hip high, exposing her beautiful blonde pussy. As Ed stood, his cock pushed his pants outward like a tent top. Melinda kicked and screamed as he lifted her in his arms.
He kicked the truck door closed and carried the writhing girl into the woods. Melinda felt desperately afraid and humiliated by Ed's rough treatment, but her body sang with an all-encompassing desire such as she had never known before.
Ed dropped her onto the soft grass at a location hidden from the road by the trees. He landed beside her, partially covering her body with his own. He stripped her panties the rest of the way down her legs and off, then quickly slid between her legs, taking hold of her thighs from underneath and spreading them wide apart.
Melinda beat at his tousled head and tried to kick, but that was impossible because of the way Ed was holding her.
He's going to fuck me! she. thought. Oh, God, I can't let him!
But what Ed did next was even more shocking to her. He bent his head between Melinda's thighs and pressed his open mouth against the soft, hair-rimmed labia of her cunt. She gasped as Ed began to suck her sweetness, spreading her cunt lips with the audacious action of his lips and thrusting tongue. He speared the soft, wet core of her vagina, stroking his tongue in her slippery, narrow crevice and swiping it rhythmically across the tingling tip of her clitoris, "Ooh!" she cried. "Ooooh! Ooooh!"
Melinda's whole body seemed to melt before the blowtorch Ed was applying to her pussy. Her muscles softened to the point where she couldn't move them. Her arms and legs fell limp. Wave after wave of indescribable delight swept through her, rocking her sanity.
Ed was licking every soft, moist, tasty portion of her cunt, inside and out, wiggling the sensitive, excitement-puffed lips, flogging her clitoris with his tireless tongue. Melinda's belief that this was wrong was washed away in the floodtide of exquisite sensations that engulfed her. She had never felt anything so wonderful.
When Ed's hands crawled up her body to surround her firm breasts and squeeze them, Melinda couldn't tolerate the clothing that separated her throbbing mounds from his fingers. She found the strength to turn partially onto her side and lower the zipper at the back of her blouse. Though an inner voice cried Shame! she unhooked her bra and settled onto her back, pulling the clothing down off her shoulders.
Ed continued to kiss her pussy voraciously, mouthing the hairy, thick outer lips--gliding his maddening tongue in and out of all the slick inner folds-nibbling at her clit and sucking it--tongue-fucking the hot, palpitating mouth of her vagina. When he felt her push her blouse and bra down, he grasped the garments and hauled them the rest of the way to her waist, causing her tits to bob free. He clutched the satiny, resilient orbs and rubbed his thumbs across Melinda's stuck-up, throbbing nipples.
This new sensation, coupled with the magnificent stimulation she was receiving from Ed's mouth, destroyed Melinda's last bastion of resistance.
She was amazed to hear herself cry, "Oh, darling . . . take me! Do it now!"
Ed lifted his head and knelt between her thighs. He clawed at the metal buttons on the fly of his Levi's. His cock leaped out--long and hard, quivering with lust for the precious blonde-haired beauty.
The sight of his massive erection, pointing nakedly at her, shocked Melinda out of her mood of warm acquiescence. Suddenly Ed was just a coarse hillbilly, determined to degrade her--wanting her only as a sex object, as Harry had, but not offering even the degree of love that Harry had pledged.
"No!" Melinda cried. "We can't do this!"
She started to scramble to her feet.
Wild with lust and enraged by the girl's hypocritical turn-about, Ed slapped her across the face. The stinging blow knocked Melinda flat against the ground. Her cheek burned and her brain went woozy.
Ed quickly ran his hands underneath her and grasped the satiny air-pillows of her ass, squeezing them as he lifted. He scrambled forward on his knees, lodged the tip of his penis in Melinda's flaring, wet cunt and pushed, driving all seven inches of his bone-hard manhood into her.
She gasped, staring up at him. His hot cock throbbed powerfully inside her, stretching the walls of her vagina. The tip of his pecker touched her womb. Melinda felt brutally impaled--like a bug on a pin.
"Now you're gonna get it!" Ed husked. "Goddamn, you're gonna get the fucking of your life!"
"No ... !" she cried. "Oh, God, no!"
But Melinda realized it was too late to fight. Ed was already deep inside her, and he felt wonderful there. Her passion surged. She wanted Ed to complete what he had started, though she couldn't bring herself to admit it.
Ed fucked Melinda with long, sure, steady strokes, rolling and twisting her ass in his hands as he pumped his prick in and out of her from a kneeling position. He handled her as if she were a doll, his strength dominating her completely. Her head and shoulders pressed heavily against the ground as her body angled upward, her legs flopping at the flanks of the hard-fucking male. Melinda's titties shook. She moaned.
Ed's hard, thick cock stretched the elastic membranes of her pussy as it glided in and out. Melinda's channel was so slick with desire that there was no resistance--just blissful, well-oiled friction that thrilled every nerve end in her cunt and in his penis.
Soon Melinda began to writhe responsively, pushing her gold-tufted belly against Ed's deep-plunging thrusts. Unable to gain any leverage in her present position, she lifted her legs and wrapped them around Ed's middle. She pulled against him, driving her pussy vigorously against the coarse hair at the base of his cock. The rough edges of his fly hurt her tender cunt flesh as she pressed against him, but she didn't lessen her efforts one whit.
"Ooh, yes . . . yesss!" she panted, completely caught up in the excitement.
Ed dropped her ass to the ground and lay forward atop her, supporting himself on his arms. He twisted his head and swooped to gobble up a dancing pink nipple which he licked and sucked lustfully as he kept fucking the lovely girl.
When Ed went into the short strokes, Melinda squealed with unbridled joy. She fucked passionately with him, maintaining the rhythm. Ed pounded his hot cock into her-driving, reaching, stretching, gliding-slapping his balls against her ass. Melinda went wild. He had awakened within her a passion which Harry's less-vigorous screwing had barely tapped. Moaning and gasping, Melinda threw her hips against Ed's piston-like thrusts. Her belly undulated spastically. Her cunt rippled along the length of his rod, gulping at his plunging pecker as if she were trying to swallow and digest it.
Then came the full burst of Melinda's orgasm, shaking her from head to toes and filling her with indescribable warmth. Ed let out a frenzied groan, ground his prick even deeper into her pussy, and shook in the maelstrom of her completion, spewing his thick, viscous cream into the pit of her clutching cunt.
Melinda's hands, which had been gripping Ed's back, slowly released their hold and slid to the ground. Her legs did the same. Her brain was still wheeling, though in ever-widening circles-turning more slowly.
Gradually an awareness of what had happened and what it meant seeped into Melinda's deeper consciousness, and bliss changed to humiliation. She felt Ed's oppressive weight against her breasts and belly. The coarseness of his clothing scratched her.
"Get off," she said.
Ed pushed up on his arms and looked at her. He grinned, his face pleasantly flushed, brown hair hanging across his forehead. "Pretty great, wasn't it?" he asked cockily.
Melinda shut her eyes. She could feel Ed's penis softening inside her, shriveling to less than half its former thrusting bulk.
"Will.. . you ... please ... get... off... . me," she said, speaking every word slowly and distinctly as if she were having difficulty controlling herself. Her tone was frigid. Her eyes remained closed.
"Now listen," Ed told her, "don't go giving yourself a bad time ... or me, either. We did what we were both hankering to do, and we had a helluva good time at it. It wasn't wrong."
"GETOFF!" Melinda cried.
Shaken, Ed backed up, withdrawing his soft cock from her very slick vagina. He stuffed his slime-coated penis into his clothes and buttoned up.
Melinda held one hand in front of her pussy and the other arm across her breasts. "Where are my pants?" she demanded, still refusing to look at Ed.
He glanced around, saw her panties lying on the grass, and handed them to her. She opened her eyes. They shot sparks at him.
"Well, turn the other way!" Melinda snapped angrily.
Ed turned. She was spoiling the whole thing for him. It was one thing for a girl to fight beforehand, but when she gave a man this business afterward, she really hurt his ego. Ed knew, however, that he had given her a strong climax and she had enjoyed it. She might try to kid herself about that, but she couldn't fool him.
After she was dressed, Melinda walked past him, heading back to the truck. She hated him and herself, as well. But he mainly was to blame, she believed. He had forced her. She conveniently forgot that at one point she had asked him to do it. She couldn't ignore the earth-shaking truth of her magnificent orgasm-the first really good release she had ever had--and she blamed herself for the enjoyment. Climaxing so strongly with a man she didn't love, a crude lout whose only purpose was to defile her, was shamefully degrading. Melinda believed she had acted like a slut, and in the context of her moral upbringing there was nothing lower than that.
Ed climbed into the truck beside her. She sat well over on her own side of the seat. He started the engine, backed the pickup around, and resumed the drive to Horner's Hollow.
Darkness was closing in, and Ed turned on the truck's headlights. The beams wavered back and forth across the twisting, uneven road. Melinda was jostled in her seat, causing discomfort as Ed's semen trickled out of her still-tingling pussy, sopping the crotchband of her pants.
They rode in silence. The ultimate in sensual pleasure had turned to bitterness for them both.
My God, Melinda thought suddenly, what if he made me pregnant?
She had been on the pill while she dated Harry. She had a supply of them left, but she hadn't taken one in over a week.
As they approached Horner's Hollow, Ed made an effort to break down Melinda's reserve by placing his hand on her knee. But she stiffened and pressed her legs against the door, out of his reach.
He responded to the hurt by deciding to be as independent as she was. He had lived well enough without her for twenty-five years; he could continue to get along without her if need be. That would be better than begging her forgiveness when he had only done what she had wanted him to do.
It was clear that the young teacher still had a lot to learn.
CHAPTER FIVE
That evening, in her bedroom, Melinda went to work on the distillery filtration project. Not only was she anxious to complete it as soon as possible in order to prove her worth to the community, but she believed it would take her mind off the sin she had committed with Ed.
However, as Melinda tried to concentrate on the chemistry textbooks, seeking to work out the formulas she needed, memories of Ed's thrilling lovemaking returned to her mind, bringing with them guilt. She had behaved like a tramp, she believed, even enjoying Ed's awful licking and sucking between her legs. That was an out and out perversion. Still, her body reminded her of how good the cunnilingus had felt.
Melinda finally gave up her project and went to bed. Surprisingly, she dropped off to sleep in less than a minute.
Her next day at school was another exercise in horror and frustration. The big boys misbehaved atrociously, keeping the class in constant chaos. Ed didn't appear to offer help, nor did any of the other townspeople. Only Melinda's faith in the project she was working on at home gave her the strength to continue.
Toward the end of the day, Jasper shot a spitwad at May Williamson while the blonde thirteen-year-old was writing at the blackboard. The missile struck her a stinging blow on the butt, causing her to shriek. Billy saw what had happened and jumped Jasper. The boys rolled in the aisle, wrestling and slugging.
Melinda screamed at them to stop, but neither paid any attention. Jasper quickly managed to subdue the smaller boy, straddling him on the floor. He mercilessly punched Billy in the face until Billy's nose was bloodied and he cried.
For Melinda, this was the last straw as far as Jasper was concerned. The hulking youth, in addition to almost raping her on the first day of school, had been one of the leading instigators of trouble among the other children. Melinda decided to make an example of him.
She dismissed the rest of the class and told Jasper, "I'm going to have a talk with your parents. Where do you live?"
Jasper grinned insolently. "Just a whoop and a holler from here, Miss Johnson. It won't do you no good to talk to my old man, though. He'll be boozed up by this time of day."
"Doesn't he work?"
"Sometimes he helps out on the farms. But he ain't been working lately." Jasper swiped a hand across his runny nose.
"Is your mother at home?" Melinda asked. "Sure. She's always laying around." He snickered.
"Well, I'm going to walk home with you," Melinda said sternly. "And you hadn't better try anything funny, do you understand? If you so much as touch me, I'll tell Ed Tackett."
"Shit, he don't scare me."
"Jasper!" Melinda's cheek colored. "I never want to hear you use that word again."
The big boy grinned mockingly and turned away. Melinda quickly straightened her desk, then accompanied Jasper from the schoolhouse. Despite the disdain for Ed's authority which the unruly youth had expressed, he made no attempt to get fresh with Melinda as they walked the short distance to his house.
When they were within sight of it--one of the most dilapidated shacks in the community--Jasper said, "I got things to do, teacher," and promptly cut out on a lope across an open field.
Melinda squared her shoulders and walked to the front door of the unpainted house. She rapped.
"Yeah-who is it?" a male voice growled from within.
"Why don't you get up and see, you lazy good-for-nothing?" a female countered.
In a moment the door was opened by a burly, bewhiskered man in a torn plaid shirt and dirty Levi's. His shirtsleeves were rolled halfway up, revealing the grimy sleeves of a union suit. Melinda couldn't understand how anyone could wear such a garment in hot weather.
The repulsive man's bloodshot eyes moved over the pretty girl, inspecting her short skirt and close-fitting blouse. His thick lips parted to reveal crooked, discolored teeth.
"You're Jasper's teacher, ain't you?" he said thickly.
"Yes, Mr. Banes, I am. My name's Miss Johnson. I would like to talk to you about Jasper, if I may."
A girl with long black hair appeared from the dimness of the shack, to stand behind Banes. Melinda assumed she was Jasper's older sister.
Banes's eyes turned evil, and he snarled, "I ain't got nothing to talk to you about, young woman."
"Well, I have something to say to you!" Melinda snapped. "Your son's conduct in school is deplorable. Unless you make him behave, I'll have to expel him from the class."
"Yeah?" Banes drawled menacingly, and looked her up and down. He swayed and steadied himself on the splintery doorjamb. His eyes were glazed. "Seems as though you ain't got much cause to complain about the kids, including my Jasper. Some of the fellas told me how you treated them when they took their young'uns to school the first day. I couldn't go myself. I was working." He belched loudly.
Banes's whiskey breath and unkempt appearance nauseated Melinda. But she persevered. "What happened the first day was a misunderstanding," she said. "But that doesn't excuse Jasper's terrible conduct. Every day he's had a fight with someone. He picks on the girls. Why, he ... he even took after me." She didn't want to say any more about the attempted rape, because she didn't want to involve Ed.
Banes raised a heavy arm and made a swatting motion, as if he were attacking a fly. "I don't want to hear any of that shit! My Jasper's as good as any of the other kids. If you can't handle them, I figure it's your fault."
Belching again, Banes pushed past Melinda and swayed down the path to the street. He pulled a flask out of his hip pocket, uncorked it, and tilted it to his mouth as he lurched along.
Astonished and angered by his uncalled-for rudeness, Melinda turned to face the young woman, who remained in the doorway. She was pretty, though she wore no make-up, and her dress was a simple cotton sheath. She was slender and bore no resemblance to the other members of the family.
"He's a bastard, ain't he?" the girl said, not smiling.
Melinda was taken aback. "That isn't any way to talk about your father."
"Hah!" The girl laughed without humor. "He ain't my father. He's my husband!"
"But..."
"I'm his second wife, of course. His first wife died a couple of years ago. He worked her to death." She gave Melinda a slight smile. "My name's Lucy."
"I'm Melinda."
Lucy looked Melinda over. "I like the way you stood up to Josiah. Men don't scare you much, do they?"
"No," Melinda admitted, and elevated her chin. "Judging from what I heard about how you told off the fathers on the first day of school, you don't cotton much to men nohow."
"I dislike rudeness," Melinda said.
Lucy laughed. "The men around here is the rudest of the lot, especially to their womenfolk." Her eyes were warming gradually. "Say, you're all right. Want to come in and visit with me for a spell?" Lucy stepped back from the doorway.
Melinda wasn't eager to enter the house. It looked dirty and smelled worse. But she felt she couldn't afford to reject a gesture of friendship from one of the townspeople.
"Thank you," she said, and stepped into the house.
The small front room contained a potbellied stove, two chairs, and an iron four-poster bed. There were no curtains at the windows. The shades were frayed and torn. One of the chairs was an old-fashioned overstuffed model from which the stuffing was coming out. The linoleum on the floor was faded and cracked. Dust balls lurked in the corners and under the unmade, filthy-looking bed.
Melinda wanted to back out of the house as soon as she had entered, but she controlled the urge.
"Sit down," Lucy said, giving a little wave, indicating Melinda could take her pick of places to sit.
She didn't trust the large, broken chair, and the other chair was straight and hard. She chose the edge of the bed, first carefully pushing back the rumpled covers.
"Want something to drink?" Lucy asked.
"Oh no, thank you," Melinda said quickly.
Lucy sat beside her and smiled. "You know, I ain't lived here in the hills all my life. I was in Knoxville awhile. I worked at a dance hall there." She gave Melinda a close look and laughed softly. "You really learn about life in a joint like that."
"I suppose you do," Melinda said, trying to be pleasant and feeling very superior.
"Mainly you learn what bastards men are," Lucy went on. "But you also learn how to get along with girls."
"Did you meet your husband at the dance hall?" Melinda asked, merely to make conversation.
"Josiah? Oh, hell no. That prick ain't ever been outa this county."
Melinda reddened slightly at the younger woman's language.
"I was born here myself," Lucy said. "Went to Knoxville to live with my aunt when I was fourteen. I got a job at the dance hall by lying about my age." She glanced away. "But I got into trouble, and my aunt didn't want me around any more. So I had to come back here. That was right after Josiah's wife had died, and . . . well... I needed some place to go, 'cause it was hell living at home." She moved closer to Melinda. "Say, honey, am I boring you?"
"No, not at all," Melinda said quickly.
"Gee, you're sure pretty!" Lucy was looking at her in a strange way.
Melinda became nervous. "Well, thank you. You're pretty yourself."
"You think so?" Lucy fondled her straight dark hair.
"Yes. I would say you're way too pretty for that man you're married to."
"Shit, honey, that ain't no compliment." Lucy laughed coarsely. "But I know you meant it right." She kept watching Melinda.
"The reason I came," Melinda said, avoiding the other woman's unsettling gaze, "was to talk about Jasper. He's been quite a problem at school."
"I can't help you a bit with that one," Lucy said. "It's all I can do to keep clear of him." She looked down. "He's caught me a few times, though. One thing I can say for him--at least he can fuck."
Melinda was appalled.
Lucy continued. "All his old man can do is stick his pecker in my mouth."
Melinda's stomach lurched.
Lucy smiled suddenly and put her arm around the blonde girl. "I'm lucky you stopped by. Hey, let's not waste the time we've got, huh? Lie back on the bed."
Consternation swamped Melinda. She had thought there was something strange about Lucy, but she hadn't realized what it involved. Suddenly she was being pushed to a prone position on the bed, and the dark-haired girl was leaning over her, practically lying atop her.
"No!" Melinda exclaimed. "Please!"
"Just hush, baby," Lucy murmured, petting Melinda's cheek, then her breasts. "I can make you feel real good."
Horrified, Melinda was aware that her skirt was being pulled up. Lucy's hand was on her belly, petting her through her panties. Melinda was offended. But her brain reeled from the sudden turn in the situation and from Lucy's intimate caresses.
Lucy moved so quickly and deftly that Melinda's panties were pulled off before she could do anything about it.
"Oh, you're so nice and blonde all over!" Lucy gushed, and rubbed her hand up and down between Melinda's legs.
Melinda moaned and tried to get up, but she couldn't make her muscles function. The other woman's touch excited her just like a man's. Lucy quickly turned her onto her side and unzipped her dress. Helplessly Melinda felt her dress being pulled off, then her bra. She was totally naked.
"Such pretty tits!" Lucy said, and bent to fasten her warm, moist lips to a pale-pink nipple.
A thrill blossomed from the point of suction, permeating Melinda's body. Lucy's hand returned to Melinda's loins, lighting an even hotter fire as she fondled the soft, pliant lips of Melinda's pussy.
Melinda said, "Ooh . . . oooh . . . oooh half in pleasure, half in protest, but she know she couldn't stop what Lucy had begun to do. Despite Melinda's belief that it was horribly wrong, at the moment her body wanted it to happen and her moral will had lost control.
Lucy licked Melinda's nipple more tenderly than Ed or Harry had ever done. Then the experienced young Lesbian caught the dainty nub between her lips and tugged on it, gently shaking Melinda's full, quivery tit.
Lucy's middle finger wormed its way into Melinda's cunt and slowly stroked the sensitive inner surfaces of her passage, which became flooded by lubricant. The maddening finger circled and plunged, diddling Melinda more pleasurably than she ever had diddled herself.
While continuing to suck Melinda's tit, Lucy deftly stripped the hood away from Melinda's tingling, hard clit and caught the slippery pearl between two fingers. She rolled and pinched it delightfully.
Melinda's senses whirled. Her body throbbed madly. Lucy had awakened every sensation which a man was capable of arousing and had made them even more intense because of her woman's knowledge.
Suddenly Lucy stopped, and the bed creaked as she knelt upright. Melinda opened her eyes and tried to look at her, but for a moment Melinda's eyes wouldn't focus. When she was able to see Lucy clearly, the young woman had stripped off her own dress and was wiggling her white cotton panties down her legs. Melinda stared at Lucy's dark-haired snatch, the tendrils thick and long and curling against her white thighs.
Good Lord! Melinda thought. I'm with another woman! Another woman! It was as if the shattering truth had just dawned on her.
Lucy bent forward at right angles to Melinda's body and spread Melinda's lovely legs apart. Her long dark hair cascaded over Melinda's thighs and belly as she pressed her face into Melinda's crotch. Noisily Lucy licked and sucked at Melinda's honeypot.
The bewildered blonde moaned. Her belly bumped spastically as Lucy's lascivious tongue worked in and out of her cuntal folds. Ed had done this, and it had thrilled Melinda immensely, but somehow his touch had been different. He was more dynamic, moving more quickly, as if he were thinking of getting on to something else. Lucy was languorous, treating the cunnilingus as an end in itself. She knew exactly where and how to lick in order to produce the maximum sensual response. Melinda's nerves jumped wildly.
After a while Lucy raised her head. Her dark eyes were soft. "Now you do me, huh?" she suggested.
Before Melinda could indicate a response, or even comprehend fully what was meant, Lucy turned and aimed her ass toward Melinda's face. She swung astride her.
Melinda stared at the soft white buttocks in front of her, and at the dark cleft between them. Lucy backed up, bringing her ass closer to Melinda's face. A combination of fragrances touched Melinda's nostrils. One was a strong woman-smell, unfreshened by recent bathing. The other was a more earthy scent, mixed with the sweat of Lucy's crack.
The smells descended thickly upon Melinda, becoming suffocating as Lucy lowered her ass against Melinda's face. Her stale cunt pressed crosswise on Melinda's lips, and her asshole touched the tip of Melinda's nose. The fastidious blonde suffered a wave of vertigo. She couldn't move and didn't dare inhale.
But as Lucy wrapped her arms around Melinda's thighs, spreading them wide apart, then jammed her face into Melinda's crotch, sucking and licking avidly, pleasurable sensations swamped Melinda's brain, overwhelming the effect of the gross odors.
Lucy writhed, grinding her moistening cunt against Melinda's mouth. Slowly at first, then with an almost insane compulsion, Melinda fluttered her tongue in Lucy'sunwashed cunt as Lucy tongued her sweet, fresh one.
Melinda took huge drafts of asshole-scented air. They made her brain light but no longer gave her an urge to be ill. With Lucy tongue-fucking her hot cunt deliriously, the earthy fragrance, along with the acrid taste and scent of Lucy's twat, excited Melinda all the more. She twisted and bumped beneath the other girl. She moaned and gripped Lucy's hips, licking her cunt harder. But the release that Melinda needed seemed far away.
Suddenly Lucy stiffened and stopped kissing Melinda. The slender young woman vibrated and lay still. After a few moments, she rolled off Melinda and sat up to face her.
Melinda felt desperately frustrated. A cock! she thought wildly. I need a cock! But there was no cock to be had.
Lucy grinned. "Did you get your rocks off, honey? Wow, it was sure great for me!"
Melinda sat up and said scornfully, "I didn't get anything out of it. I'm not a queer!"
Lucy's face turned spiteful. "Yeah? You sure gave me the come-on."
"That's a filthy lie!" Melinda exclaimed. She tried to cover her pussy and breasts.
"How about the way you told off the guys at the schoolhouse and stood up to Josiah a little while ago? You sure as hell ain't a man's girl, honey!"
"I think you're disgusting!" Melinda stormed. "And do you want to know something else? You stink!"
She leaped from the bed and snatched up her clothes.
"Well, piss on you, baby!" Lucy shot back. "I'm going to fix your wagon in this town, but good! Wait until I tell Josiah that you put the make on me? He don't know I'm a Lez, and I don't particularly want him to find out. So you might say I'm acting in self-defense, seeing as how I can't trust you." Her eyes glinted.
Melinda got dressed as rapidly as she could, and she tried not to think about Lucy's threat. But as she hurried from the cabin without saying good-bye, she felt the hot water bubbling around her. Things were apt to get worse for her in Horner's Hollow.
Melinda had no sooner arrived home and entered her bedroom before the door opened and Preacher Perkins walked in.
"Damn you!" Melinda exploded. "How dare you come in here without knocking!"
Perkins raised his hand to silence her. "Watch what you say, my dear," he whispered. "Sarah's in the other room."
"I hope she hears," Melinda said loudly.
"Oh, no you don't," the preacher answered in a soft tone. He smiled confidently. "The longer you stay here and the better you get to know Horner's Hollow, the more you will want to leave. I'm your only way out, little lady. That is, unless you want to run like a bitch, with your tail between your legs."
Furious, Melinda swung her hand at his face, but he caught it and quickly drew her close, crushing her breasts against him. His liquor-scented mouth caught hers, and he kissed her with his long, saliva-coated tongue. He ran a hand down her back, lewdly pawing her buttocks.
Melinda went limp. In a moment, Perkins pushed her away.
"It's obvious that you are not ready yet," he said. "But I can wait... for a while. Just don't keep me waiting too long. Remember what I said about Florida or California. Pick the place, Melinda. There will be enough money so we can enjoy ourselves. The best hotels and restaurants, a new wardrobe for you . . . whatever your little heart desires."
Perkins touched her on the tip of the nose and gave her an oily smile. Then he turned and quietly left the room.
Melinda threw herself onto the bed and cried.
CHAPTER SIX
Working late into the night, Melinda completed the demonstration model of her whiskey filtering device. Though she was very tired when she finally went to bed, sleep was slow in coming. She thought about Ed.
The troubled girl assured herself that she didn't want to see Ed again. But she couldn't understand why he was always on her mind. She wished he could be more like Harry, more gentlemanly and considerate.
No. Harry wasn't considerate, she recalled. Not really. Not when they were in bed. And he had never thrilled her as Ed had. The recollection of Ed's wonderful lovemaking still made Melinda's nerves tingle.
But it was wrong.
Ed would never be back, Melinda decided. She had hurt him too badly. That was just as well, she told herself. But her body longed for him, all the more because of her frustrating and disconcerting encounter with Lucy.
Melinda rolled and tossed. She didn't know what she wanted. Or if she did, she couldn't bring herself to admit it.
In the morning she took a contraceptive pill, merely as insurance against the possibility that she might be forced again. She refused to carry that thought any further.
Melinda toted the small-scale filter to school and set it up on a table in a corner of the room. Curious, the children clustered around. The usual mischievous outburst was forestalled when Melinda announced she was going to put on a show.
Using some alcohol to which she had added impurities to represent the lead derived from car radiators, Melinda explained as she poured the alcohol through the filter that she was simulating the process involved in filtering whiskey. The children watched attentively, because even the smallest among them knew about the whiskey poisoning which had claimed several men in the community--their fathers, brothers, or merely people they knew.
Melinda realized the children wouldn't understand the filtering process in detail. But she hoped they would tell their parents enough about the demonstration to stimulate their interest and get them to come around.
Chemically testing the filtered alcohol before the children's eyes, Melinda proved that the impurities had been eliminated.
"The same thing would happen to the lead in the whiskey that your fathers and brothers drink," Melinda told the students. "Then no one would get sick any more.
"All right, children," she concluded, "now we're going to put the demonstration away and get back to our regular work."
The remainder of the morning passed more smoothly than usual. In the afternoon the big boys started trouble, but it didn't bother Melinda very much because she felt she had something going for her. The weekend lay ahead; by Monday, she hoped, there would be some adult reaction to the filtration experiment.
After school, as Melinda was tidying up her desk, Ed appeared in the open doorway. Melinda felt an immediate surge of happiness, but she was careful not to show it.
Ed seemed ill at ease as he entered the room, closing the door behind him. "I heard about the little show you put on this morning," he said. "The word got around when the kids went home for lunch."
"I hope the lesson sinks in," Melinda replied coolly. "But I don't see why you would be interested."
Ed grinned. "Come on now. Don't you reckon we've carried this foolishness far enough?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Melinda sniffed, and turned her back to him. She tried to quiet the pounding of her heart.
Ed ogled her shapely ass. Melinda's miniskirt was so snug that it revealed the lines of her panty elastics, curving upward across the fullness of her buttocks.
Ed moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Melinda stiffened. She felt his relaxed, meaty penis pressing against the crack of her bottom. The contact set off a quaking sensation in the pit of her belly.
Melinda twisted out of Ed's embrace and whirled angrily. "Keep your dirty hands off me!" she demanded.
He blinked.
"Just because I didn't make trouble about what happened the other day," Melinda continued, "don't think you can ever get away with that again."
"But you liked it," Ed argued.
"I did not! It was filthy and wicked!" Melinda's blue eyes showered scorn on him. "And you're a rude, ignorant hillbilly who has no respect for women!"
It gave Melinda a heady feeling to talk to Ed this way. She knew it was dangerous. But the insulting rebuke seemed necessary in order to vindicate herself.
Ed's eyes flashed. "I respect women, right enough. But you're no woman-not in your mind, at any rate. You're a silly little girl who hasn't grown up yet. Well, baby, that's how I'm going to treat you until you start acting like a woman."
He grasped Melinda by the arms and pulled her headfirst across his lap as he dropped onto the straight chair beside her desk. Melinda was shocked, then humiliated as she realized what Ed was about to do. She shrieked and kicked, but he had no difficulty holding her firmly in place with one arm while he pulled up her skirt with his other hand.
Melinda's plump bottom quivered erotically in pink nylon panties. Staring at the exciting display, Ed lifted his hand and brought it down stingingly against her buttocks. A sound as sharp as a pistol crack echoed across the room, and Melinda's lush buttocks compressed beneath Ed's punishing palm. He lifted his hand quickly, and her ass cheeks wobbled.
He spanked her again, harder. Melinda yelped. Her bottom burned. Ed kept powering his hand against the seat of Melinda's silken pants until he could no longer tolerate even that flimsy cover, and he pulled her panties down. He spanked her bare ass, striking first one blushing cheek, then the other, then both together, making them dance wildly. The hurt intensified. Melinda wailed.
"Had enough?" Ed yelled hoarsely over the staccato spat! spat! spat! of the spanking. . "Yes!" Melinda cried, sobbing. "Ooh, God, yes!"
"Are you going to be a good girl and do what I say?"
"Yesss!"
Ed stopped spanking her and pulled her panties up. He flipped her skirt over her ass.
Melinda felt Ed's cock pressing hard against her belly. The heat which first flared in her bottom had since suffused her entire body.
"Stand up," Ed ordered.
Melinda stood and faced him tearfully. Her blonde hair was mussed, her mascara running.
Ed stood and said, "I want you to take my clothes off."
"Here ... in the schoolroom?" Melinda's meek voice quivered.
"Right here."
Melinda seemed to have no choice but to do as he said. She had been thoroughly chastened. Her hypocritical pride had been shattered in the fury of the last few minutes.
Working quickly and not looking at Ed's face, Melinda unbuttoned his work shirt and stripped it off his thick shoulders. He wore no undershirt. His chest was husky and covered by a blanket of curly brown hair. Melinda shivered with excitement as she looked at it. Her bottom continued to burn fiercely.
Melinda's hands dropped to the waistband of Ed's blue jeans. He wore a thick belt with a massive buckle which Melinda had difficulty opening. Ed gave her no help. Finally she succeeded in getting his belt open. She sniffled intermittently, fighting the urge to bawl like a baby. But she remained intent upon doing as Ed had commanded.
Unfastening the metal buttons on Ed's fly, Melinda's fingers brushed the hardness in his Jockey shorts. She pulled his pants down, and the stretchy fabric of his shorts bulged farther forward. She admired the size of Ed's prick, bent slightly by the constriction of his underwear. She noticed a wet spot in the fabric where the tip of his penis pressed.
Melinda dropped to her knees in front of the dominant man. Before she could remove his pants, she would have to take off his heavy boots. She unlaced them rapidly, then tugged as he lifted first one foot, then the other. She tossed the boots aside.
She tugged his snug pants down his hairy legs.
The bulge in his briefs bounded to and fro before Melinda's eyes as she removed the pantlegs from his feet.
Her heart thudded wildly. Her nerves tightened. She grasped the top of Ed's shorts, stretched the elastic waistband forward, and whisked the garment down. His large cock sprang forward and bobbed up and down before locking in a rigid upward tilt, pointing directly at Melinda's face. The foreskin had pulled partway back on Ed's glans, exposing the rosy, wet tip. Melinda stared at it.
"Pull my shorts all the way off," Ed ordered.
Melinda bent slightly to accomplish this, and as she worked the clingy garment down his calves and over his feet, his motions caused his heavy whang to smack the side of Melinda's face. She felt a perverse thrill.
She was gripped by an impulse so shocking that she wouldn't have dared consider it as recently as a few minutes ago. But now everything was different. Ed had subdued her prudish nature. She fleetingly recalled her observance of Preacher Perkins and his wife in their bedroom and her dalliance with Lucy, as unsatisfying as that had been. She wanted Ed's cock fully and completely, without the slightest puritanical reservation.
Melinda grasped the stalwart shaft, thrilling to its hardness. The velvety foreskin moved beneath her encircling fingers. She pressed toward the base of Ed's cock, carrying the foreskin all the way back, and causing the mushroom-shaped head of his dong to swell into full view. Ed's glans was very wide and rosy, with a firm ridge around it. The entire head was suffused with clear lubricant. Its fresh male aroma entered Melinda's nostrils, causing them to flare.
"Oh, I want it, I want it!" she heard herself say, and her brain went into a dizzying whirl as she bent her head, her mouth opening.
Ed was amazed and thrilled as Melinda's soft pink lips surrounded the end of his cock. The juicy tip of his organ touched her tongue. Her taste buds rioted. She breathed in his wild, hot scent.
Groaning voluptuously, the sound muffled by Ed's meaty stopper, Melinda glided her encircling mouth fully over his glans. Her lips contracted thrillingly behind the ridged crown. She felt Ed's fullness throbbing against her tongue, pushing upward against the roof of her mouth.
Melinda worked her lips and tongue, sucking Ed's prick eagerly, drinking down its musky juice. Every nerve in her body sang with delight. Groaning again, Melinda bobbed her head instinctively, taking Ed's fat cockhead into the tightness of her throat as she glided her caressing lips on his bone-hard shaft. Though her eyes watered, she had no urge to gag. Ed's cock felt and tasted too good to her.
He writhed uncontrollably as she mouth-fucked his magnificent organ. She'd had no idea this would be so good. She sucked greedily on Ed's meaty cockhead as her lips slurped noisily around its thick stem. Saliva drooled from Melinda's mouth and washed down onto Ed's nuts.
He had to stop her, lest his passion overflow and drench her throat with cum. Taking hold of the sides of her head, he lifted her off his upthrust prick. When Melinda's mouth let go of his pecker suckingly, the wet, red thing bobbed crazily up and down, trailing a string of her gleaming saliva.
He helped her to her feet, and they kissed, tongues churning. Ed tasted himself in her mouth.
Melinda was still fully dressed, and Ed began immediately to remove her clothes. He took off her blouse, then her brassiere. Her beautiful tits stuck roundly forward, their pale-pink nipples tilted up. Ed grasped a squeezable titty in each hand and kneaded them with thrilling effect. Melinda's cheeks were flushed. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes, letting the marvelous magic of Ed's strong hands have its way with her. Her cunt had become a cauldron, its lips puffed with hot blood and flaring outward, its inner portion wet with desire.
His hands still surrounding her breasts, he directed first one thrusting nipple, then the other, to his moist, sucking lips. His tongue waggled back and forth across the firm titty crests.
Ed then unfastened her skirt and pulled it down, dropping to his knees as he did so. He took hold of the top of her panties and drew the delicate garment away from her exciting blonde curls. As he held her panties at her ankles and she stepped out of them, his eyes focused on the junction of her thighs and belly, where Melinda's soft pussy lips wiggled beneath the golden hairs that covered them.
He gently moved her legs apart. Running his hands slowly up and down the backs of her thighs and over the cheeks of her bottom, he bent forward and tilted his head to the side. He wrapped his moist, warm lips around a generous mouthful of Melinda's cunt hair and her puffy vaginal lips.
"Oooh!" she moaned, and pressed her hot pussy against Ed's loving mouth. She was in heaven. Gone was her moral objection to this marvelous form of lovemaking. It felt too good to be wrong.
Ed's maddening tongue fluttered along the oozing split of Melinda's vulva, then wormed its way between the lips and licked her hotly throbbing clitoris.
"I love that!" she heard herself exclaim. "Oh, darling, eat me all up!"
Ed raised his head and said hoarsely, "Sit on the edge of the desk and spread your legs. Let your pussy hang over the rim."
Pussy! Melinda liked to hear Ed call it that.
She followed his instructions. Her bottom hurt when she sat down, but she ignored the discomfort. It gave her a deliciously wanton feeling to sit nude with her legs wide open facing the empty seats of her students. As stimulated and utterly free as Melinda felt right then, she would hardly have minded if the seats had been occupied and the students staring at her.
Remaining on his knees, Ed stared at Melinda's blonde-fringed, rosy chasm, puckered by the pressure of the desk edge. Her soft grotto was awash with the moisture of her desire. Her tiny clit eagerly stretched toward him, its bald tip gleaming.
Ed stuck out his tongue and swiped a luscious, moist caress upward along her flaring cunt lips, across her clitoris, and over her hairy mound. Melinda's blonde curls became plastered to her burning flesh. Ed caught the outer edges of her pussy with his thumbs and stretched her snatch wide, exposing smooth, wet slabs of rosy flesh. He licked the entire inner surfaces of her large cunt lips, then concentrated on the lesser folds between, his tongue probing and gliding, fluttering and twisting, caressing Melinda's cute little clit and entering the deep, snug channel of her cunt.
She was wild with desire by then, and she swayed on the edge of the desk. To steady herself, she wrapped her legs around the back of Ed's head. He began a bobbing motion, fucking his tongue down across the tip of her clitoris and into her hole, its width stretching the elastic membranes of her orifice.
"Darling! Darling!" Melinda cried.
Her nerves tightened nearly to the breaking point, and if Ed had continued the devastating cunnilingus Melinda surely would have climaxed. But he stopped when she reached this high point of excitement. Ed unhooked her legs, let them down gently, and stood in front of her, his marvelous prick upraised.
"Oh, fuck me, darling, fuck me!" Melinda cried. It was the first time she had ever used the blunt erotic verb. It sounded exactly right to her ears.
Ed moved up to her. He had to tilt his rod down only slightly in order to insert the massive, slick cockhead into Melinda's even slicker, elastic cunt.
Ed pushed, and his rugged maleness surged all the way up Melinda's tight, hot channel, stretching its sides voluptuously and bringing his blunt-nosed pecker into pressing contact with her uterus. The force felt wonderful to Melinda. She knew nothing could hurt her now.
Rocking on the balls of his feet, swaying and twisting sensuously, Ed fucked his throbbing prick in and out of Melinda's clasping, slick vagina. She leaned forward, grasping him around the neck, and the angle produced an even stronger contact between his stroking penis and her clit. Looking down, Melinda watched Ed's slick shaft alternately come into view beyond her blonde curls, then sink out of sight as his coarse hair ground into her golden fluff. She felt his thickened, firm scrotum bumping the lower rim of her pussy. Ed's chest slapped her full, swaying tits.
Melinda writhed and moaned delightedly, "Ooh, Ed, darling . . . angel . .. fuck me .. . fuck me ... ooh, loverrr!"
"God, but. .. you're tight!" he gasped as he screwed her hard and steadily.
"Your cock's so . . . hard and fat!" Melinda exclaimed, glorying in the sensuous words. "Oh, I love it! Shove! Shove! Ooh, yesss! Oh, daar-linnng! Oooh! Ooooh! Oooooh!"
Ed's hands surrounded Melinda's quivering, shaking tits. He pulled first one, then the other, to his open mouth. He licked and sucked at her luscious nipples.
As Ed did his erotic dance between her thighs, his plunging prick seemed to come at her from several angles, blissfully hard as it surged deeply. Melinda had never thought fucking could feel so good. It was even better than the other night, because she was giving herself fully and freely, without the slightest moral reservation.
"I love you!" she exclaimed as Ed fucked her faster. She wrapped her legs around his waist and drove her pussy against him with equal speed.
"And I love . . . you!" Ed shouted, heaving his hips mightily forward. The semen burst from him to spurt vigorously into Melinda's quaking cunt.
Their orgasms blossomed in perfect unison, filling them both with quivering warmth as Melinda's rippling vagina milked Ed's twitching, spewing prick of all the jism his balls had held. Finally she fell limp against him, her legs sliding down his flanks. She felt completely fulfilled, and there was no taint of guilt this time. Melinda had never been so ecstatically happy.
Ed helped her get dressed, then she helped him, giving his damp cock a final kiss before concealing it in his Jockey briefs. He drew her to her feet and kissed her full on the mouth. Their tongues twisted and curled languorously.
As she and Ed left the schoolhouse hand in hand, Melinda wanted to shout to the whole town that she was in love. In the rush of her new-found happiness, she had temporarily forgotten Lucy's threat to ruin her reputation by saying she was a Lez. The future seemed bright and secure, with Ed at her side and the townsfolk giving her credit for solving the problem with their stills. Even Preacher Perkins's lewd propositioning wouldn't bother her any more.
She was in love, and it was real this time. Melinda knew it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Conversation in front of the preacher's house caused Melinda to look out her window. In the gathering dusk of evening, a group consisting of two men in overalls and three women in plain cotton dresses approached the front door.
Perkins answered their knock. Moments later Melinda heard the callers talking to Perkins in his living room, but she couldn't make out what was said.
After the group had departed, a knock sounded at Melinda's door. She opened it to face Perkins and his wife, wearing stern expressions.
"I'll attend to this, Sarah," the preacher announced. "You go see to the dinner dishes."
"Be firm with her, Clem," his plump wife admonished. "I'll have no perverts living in my house."
Melinda caught her breath, and a sickening dread came over her.
"Yes, dear," Perkins said dutifully to his wife.
"Now run along."
He entered Melinda's room and closed the door behind him. His dark eyes glinted in his scrawny face, and he worked his lips thoughtfully as he studied Melinda.
"Those people who were just here ..." he began, "no doubt you saw them through your window."
"Yes. What did they want?" Melinda's voice quavered tensely.
"They had a shocking story to relate. It concerned your visit to Lucy Banes yesterday."
"What they said was a lie," Melinda declared too quickly.
The preacher took a flask from his hip pocket and sat down, spreading his long legs across the rug. He uncorked the bottle and tilted it to his lips.
"That woman told me what she was going to say," Melinda explained. "But there's no truth to it. I didn't seduce her."
"Care for a drink, my dear?" Perkins asked, offering the bottle.
"Certainly not."
"Well, you needn't be snooty about it." Perkins's eyes swept over her. "You're in real trouble now. Lucy's story might explain a number of things--such as the cold way you've treated me, for instance."
He took another drink and kept the uncorked bottle in his hand.
"All right!" Melinda exclaimed. She continued to stand and look down at the preacher. "I'll tell you exactly what happened at Lucy's house. There's no reason why I should protect her now that she's trying to ruin me."
"By all means, my dear. Tell me everything." Perkins chuckled lewdly and took another sip from his flask.
Melinda backed up and sat on the edge of the bed. Her short skirt crawled high on her thighs, but she kept her knees primly together. The preacher's evil eyes caressed her golden legs.
"I went over to the Banes house," Melinda began, "to talk with Jasper's parents about his deplorable conduct in school. Mr. Banes was drunk. When I tried to talk with him, he insulted me and stomped out. Lucy Banes seemed nice. At least, she was friendly. She invited me into the house and we talked."
Perkins was watching Melinda closely. She noted that his eyes had clouded a bit and his cheeks were becoming flushed. He took another drink.
"Lucy told me about her troubles," Melinda continued. "She must have gotten the idea from the way I had talked to her husband, and the way I'd handled the men who came to the schoolhouse the other day, that I didn't like men. Anyway, she made a pass at me. I was so shocked that I. . . well, I couldn't seem to do anything to stop her. She pushed me over onto the bed."
Perkins chortled. He was enjoying the story a great deal.
"She pulled my skirt up," Melinda went on, "and before I knew what was happening, she had taken off all my clothes."
The preacher laughed loudly. "Oh, my dear, you tell a delightful lie."
"I'm not lying!" Melinda said vehemently. "This is the truth. Lucy Banes forced herself on me. And I didn't enjoy it! When I told her that, she got angry and said she was going to tell her husband I tried to make her commit an unnatural act. I guess she was afraid I would tell someone the truth."
Perkins tilted his bottle again. He wiped his thin lips as he brought it down.
"Perhaps you are telling the truth," he said slowly. "I'm willing to accept it. But the rest of the town won't, unless I tell them to." His tongue was thick, and he started slurring his words. "If you want me to do that, little lady, you are going to have to be very nice to me. I believe you know what I mean."
The preacher stood and swayed drunkenly. He lifted the bottle again and drained it.
Melinda was afraid of him. She cast a quick glance at the door and tried to estimate whether she could get past him to reach it. Perkins dropped his empty bottle on the rug and laughed as it rolled away.
"The townspeople want me to eject you from my house," Perkins said, approaching Melinda unsteadily. "Sarah insists on the same thing. You heard her. But I still like you, provided you're really not queer and will prove it to me." He smirked. "I can convince the townsfolk. I could make them eat shit out of my hand."
Melinda was appalled. She began to edge along the bed. As Perkins lunged, Melinda sprang to her feet and tried to run for the door. But the wiry preacher grasped her arm in an iron-like grip and spun her around, pitching her headlong across the bed. He dropped onto the mattress beside her.
"You won't scream," he whispered urgently. "You know that would make matters worse for you." He twisted her onto her back.
Melinda stared at his whiskey-flushed face. His eyes were hot with lust. The frightened girl reluctantly decided that the moment had come when she would have to give in to Perkins's lascivious demands. If she were to fight him off, he would be convinced that the lies about her were true. He would have little interest in her after that and would throw her out in order to appease the townspeople. Melinda felt she couldn't permit herself to be forced out of town, especially now that she had good reasons for staying.
"Let me fuck you, my precious child," Perkins said huskily, his breath saturated with alcohol. He ran his hand across Melinda's breasts and down over her belly.
"All right," she murmured, closing her eyes. She was overwhelmed by revulsion.
An insane gurgle escaped the preacher's lips, and he began feverishly to remove Melinda's clothing. She kept her eyes closed and fought the urge to shudder as his lewd hands moved over her.
Oh, Ed. . . Ed! she thought. Please forgive me.
When Melinda was stripped to bra and panties, Perkins drew her to a sitting position. Her eyes remained closed, and her head lolled. She felt Perkins's fingers clawing at the clasp of her brassiere, finally fumbling it open, then pulling the bra away.
"What marvelous titties!" he husked, gassing her with his foul breath. "So fresh and firm!" His bony hands surrounded the satiny, thrusting orbs and squeezed them hard.
Melinda felt no excitement. The pressure only hurt. "Please ..." she murmured helplessly.
Perkins bent his bald head and caught a jutting pink nipple between his lips. He chewed and tugged on the rubbery nub. Melinda gasped. His hand punished her other shapely young boob.
Perkins raised his head and swayed, jostling Melinda and pitching her onto her back. Her eyes popped open. Perkins's eyes were very glassy, and Melinda realized that he was terribly drunk. She concluded that he must have been hitting the bottle all day.
The lascivious preacher caught the elastic waistband of Melinda's delicate pants, and stripped the silken garment down.
"So blonde and beautiful!" he wheezed as he stared at her defenseless pussy.
Get it over with, damn you! Melinda thought.
Perkins lifted her panties to his face and breathed in their erotic fragrance. He took the crotch of the dainty garment in his mouth. Melinda shut her eyes against the obscene spectacle.
Perkins pushed her legs wide apart.
"So lovely ... lovely ..." he husked.
He leaned forward to kiss her between the legs. Suddenly he gave a groan and became a limp weight against Melinda's belly.
She sat up and looked at him. He wasn't moving. But he wasn't dead. Melinda felt his deep, even breaths tickling her skin.
Tensing herself, she slowly slid out from under the repulsive man, and he collapsed against the bed. Filled with gratitude over her sudden good fortune, Melinda hurried about, gathering her clothes and putting them on. When she was fully dressed, she checked her appearance in the dresser mirror. A few swipes of a comb through her honey-blonde hair made her presentable.
She walked to the door, opened it, and called, "Mrs. Perkins! Will you come here, please?"
The frowning little woman appeared from the kitchen.
"Mrs. Perkins, I'm afraid your husband passed out while we were talking. Will you help me carry him out of my room?"
Sarah didn't seem surprised, doubtless because the preacher frequently drank himself into oblivion. "I'll get Matt," she said.
In a few moments she reappeared with the youth. He glanced at Melinda appraisingly but said nothing as he edged past her and entered her bedroom. Sarah followed, giving Melinda a stony look.
Matt turned his father over. Sarah lifted the preacher's feet while Matt took hold under his armpits. Together they carried the lanky man from the room.
Melinda immediately shut her door and breathed a heartfelt sigh. She wasn't concerned about Perkins returning that night. From the way he had looked, she knew he wouldn't regain consciousness until morning.
But Melinda knew she would likely face a recurrence of his evil lust tomorrow. He probably wouldn't be as drunk then, she feared, and there would be nothing to save her from submitting to him. With a feeling of bitter resignation, she prepared for bed.
The next morning, at breakfast, Perkins seemed as alert as ever. He watched Melinda constantly, a glimmer in his beady eyes. Melinda's skin crawled as she thought about what he had in mind for her.
Since it was Saturday and there was no school, Melinda could have remained at home. But that would have made her a sitting duck for Perkins, and she decided to get away, even if it meant going to the schoolhouse on her day off. She could use the time to catch up on her reading.
She entertained a hope, though she realized it was a slender one, that Perkins might be well-soused again by evening and she might again be saved by his overindulgence.
Just as Melinda was leaving the house, two paperback books in her hand, Ed's pickup truck came up the hill and pulled to a stop. Overjoyed, Melinda ran to him.
Ed grinned. "Got any plans for the day?"
Melinda returned his smile. "Not a one."
"Then get in. I'd like to show you my farm."
Happily she climbed into the truck beside Ed. He turned it around and they moved down the hill to the main road. Though Melinda was sitting close to him, Ed made no move to kiss her, and she wondered why.
They drove up the road for about a mile, then turned onto an even narrower way, which was hardly more than a pair of tire tracks. As soon as they were out of sight of the main road, Ed stopped the truck. Letting the motor idle, he wrapped his arms around Melinda.
"I didn't figure it would be a good idea to let the townsfolk see us smooching," he said, then gave her a passionate kiss.
Melinda stroked her tongue against his, and her hand moved naturally to Ed's lap. She fondled his prick through his jeans, coaxing it to hardness. Ed's hand lit between her bare thighs and scooted up between them. He gently pinched and fondled the warm lips of Melinda's pussy through her thin pants.
"Oh, darling, I want to go to bed with you right now!" she exclaimed. "Isn't that awful of me?"
"The hell it is," Ed said. "It's the way you ought to feel, seeing as how we love each other."
"Say it again. Say you love me."
"I love you, Melinda."
She couldn't doubt his sincerity, and she felt like the luckiest girl in the world as she pressed her lips to his. Her tongue slid eagerly into Ed's mouth and he sucked it as he fingered her panty crotch aside and teased her hair-bordered slit with the tips of his fingers.
"Is your brother at home?" Melinda asked breathlessly as she broke the kiss.
"Yeah. But he's out working in the fields."
"That's good," Melinda said. "Then we can fuck as soon as we get to your house." She felt shameless, but sublimely happy.
Ed chuckled. "You've turned into a great little fuck-bunny, you know that?"
"I want to be your fuck-bunny forever," she said.
Ed resumed driving, moving the pickup faster than before. He kept his right hand on Melinda's warm box, caressing it through her panties. She held the sizable lump at his crotch, every once in a while giving it a little squeeze.
The road wound through the woods, passing several clearings where corn grew. Ed removed his hand from Melinda's cunt to wave at a farmer in straw hat and overalls. The white-bearded man waved back.
"My place is just ahead," Ed told Melinda, replacing his hand between her thighs. "Don't expect too much."
"I know I'll like it," she said, smiling, "because it's yours."
They rounded a bald, rocky knob and looked out over a small valley where several farms were clustered.
"There it is," Ed said, pointing.
It was the second place on the right. The house was modest but recently painted a pale yellow. The grounds were neatly kept. A large barn was located not far from the house. Behind it, long rows of corn sparkled bright green in the morning light. Next to the corn, a sizable field was devoted to smaller plants. A youth was driving a mule between the rows, cultivating. The boy was too far away for Melinda to see him clearly.
Ed turned the truck into his driveway and brought it to a stop in front of the house. Ed and Melinda hurried inside. The living room was cheaply furnished but clean. There was a thin rug on the floor, a simple sofa, and two upholstered chairs which were worn but serviceable. An open doorway led into a kitchen where a wood-burning stove could be seen. Another door stood open, and Melinda assumed it led to the bedroom. A coal oil lamp stood on the living room mantle above a stone fireplace.
Ed drew Melinda into his arms and they shared another soulful kiss. Their tongues made love liquidly while his hands moved up and down her back and sides. Melinda was waiting for him to pull her skirt up, and Ed didn't disappoint her. He drew her skirt waist high and filled his hands with the spongy, panty-sheathed cheeks of her bottom.
Melinda slid her mouth off his and moved it moistly to his ear. "Ooh, darling . . . darling ..." she breathed. "I love you so much!"
She writhed pleasurably against him as he rolled and patted her pliant ass. Ed's cock pressed urgently against her belly. She could hardly wait to get his rigid prick inside her, hoping this would wipe out the memory of Preacher Perkins's lascivious mauling last night and make her better able to face a renewed threat from him if need be.
Ed was as anxious as she. He swept her up in his arms, holding the bare backs of her thighs as her short skirt bunched at her middle. He glanced down at the white triangle of her sleek panties, where her thighs met her belly.
Laughing, Ed carried Melinda into the bedroom and placed her on a twin bed. She didn't bother to push her skirt down as he stood beside the bed and began removing his clothes. Melinda's snowy briefs were opaque, but they clung with revealing snugness to the ripe curve at the base of her belly. A bit of the nylon was caught in the crack of her ass. Ed's eyes remained on her all the time, and a smile of anticipation lighted his face.
When he removed his undershorts, his virile cock sprang up, revealing the fine large balls at its base, brown hairs curling around them.
"I like to look at you with your pants off," Melinda blurted. "Is that a shocking thing to say?"
"It sounds great to me," Ed told her, grinning, and moved to climb onto the bed.
But Melinda stopped him by reaching out and grasping his upthrust prick. She propped herself on an elbow as she drew him to her face.
"I want a taste of this," she said boldly.
Ed thrilled as he watched her tilt his cock slightly downward and take the end of it into her warm, moist mouth. Melinda gave his prick a suck with the foreskin still sheathing the glans. But when she failed to derive the full burst of flavor she had expected, she widened her lips and used her hand to slide the foreskin back. Her saliva bathed the naked head of Ed's cock as she fastened her lips behind its rim, sucking eagerly.
Ed groaned and caressed Melinda's soft golden hair while she fellated him, bobbing her head a bit but mostly just licking his meaty glans and contracting her lips rhythmically behind the head. Melinda loved the flavor of his big, juicy dick. As she enjoyed it to her heart's content, she marveled over the change that had taken place in her: With Harry she had considered sucking to be a sin and highly unappetizing, and she had refused to do it or let him do it to her; but with Ed it seemed like the most natural, and certainly one of the most enjoyable activities in the world.
You 're a cocksucker, girl! Melinda thought, and laughed inwardly as she went on enjoying Ed's delicious lollipop. With him she felt wonderfully free. Everything was right; there was no reservations.
Again Ed had to be the one to halt the fellatio in order to save himself. He gently eased Melinda backward, and his cock bobbed free. He dropped to his knees on the bed and opened the buttons which ran down the front of Melinda's dress. After unbuttoning her to the waist, he stretched out beside her and gave her a kiss on the mouth, while running his hand inside her dress, petting her breasts through her snug brassiere.
Their mouths fused hotly, tongues circling and gliding. Melinda clamped her thighs around one of Ed's naked legs and rubbed the crotch of her panties against him. Her clitoris tingled wildly.
If he doesn't fuck me pretty soon, she thought, I'm going to die!
Ed released her and backed up. Melinda helped him pull her dress off. She sat up and removed her bra, letting her lovely tits fall into his open hands. He squeezed and rolled the firm, pliant mounds, sending glorious sensations rushing through her.
"Your hands are wonderful!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I love every part of you!"
To emphasize the point, she grasped his upthrust cock again. As she squeezed the thick shaft, a drop of clear lubricant oozed out of its tip. Melinda quickly bent and swiped her caressing tongue over the rosy crown, licking up the juice.
"Baby, let me take your pants off," Ed husked, and grasped the thin elastic band which crossed her gently curved belly.
Melinda lay back as Ed pulled her panties down. He lifted her shapely legs in the air as he took the cute garment away. When her legs dropped, Melinda moved them wide apart, keeping her knees steepled. The outer, hair-adorned lips of her pussy parted, and the pale-pink inner labia were unfurled. The tempting flesh was awash with the love-juice she had generated.
Ed bowed, sticking out his tongue, and slurped up a taste of her luscious nectar. He stretched her cunt even wider and looked at her red-rimmed, inviting hole. Ed inserted his tongue into the delightful passage and pressed his face fully against her crotch. As her pubic hair tickled his nose, he wormed his tongue deeper into her cunt, thrilling Melinda so intensely that she feared she was about to climax.
But she didn't want to climax with him this way. She wanted his strong shaft deep in her pussy, linking their bodies in the most meaningful sense.
"Hurry, darling!" Melinda implored. "Take me!"
Ed raised his smiling face, and his mouth gleamed with her honey. "If you're so anxious," he teased, "why don't you get on top of me this time?"
"I'd like to," Melinda said.
Anticipating the new thrill, she waited while Ed stretched out on his back, his erection swaying. He guided Melinda astride him, and she held the base of his rigid cock, pointing its head into her moist slit. The bulging glans stretched the mouth of Melinda's pussy, and she gasped pleasurably as the fist-like knob sank deeper and deeper into her while she slowly let herself down. When she came to rest against Ed's loins, she felt utterly stuffed by him. His prick was pressing against her womb, and she could feel his balls against the lower edges of her buttocks.
"Now fuck me, baby," Ed said. "Wiggle and squirm all you like."
Harry had never let Melinda get on top of him. He had to be the big man always, dominating her with his body. She had felt used by him, and that was part of the trouble between them. With Ed there was a mutual giving and receiving.
Melinda sat straight up, straddling Ed's hips, supporting herself on her knees. She gently rotated her prick-packed pussy, causing his hardness to rub all the nerve ends in her cuntal walls and to massage her clitoral tip in a delightful way. Melinda began to raise and lower her crotch as she rotated, and this made the friction even more intense. She leaned forward slightly, pressing her entire clit against Ed's rod. When she fucked him in this position, it was sheer heaven.
It was great for Ed, also. Not only was his bone-hard cock being massaged from root to tip by Melinda's swirling, pumping cunt, but her titties hung suspended directly above his face. He clutched them loosely, pushing them against her body, then letting them drop. He held the smooth, pliant masses around their sides and patted them together, making a soft slapping sound.
"Hey, these are great playthings," he said.
"I love you to play with them," Melinda told him.
She kept grinding her cunt, reveling in the wonderful sensations her lover transmitted to her. Ed pulled one of her titties to his lips, took a moist suck at the projecting pink nipple, then waggled his wet tongue back and forth across it. Each stroke of Ed's flogging tongue gave Melinda added pleasure. She moaned and shook her titty against his mouth, causing her nipple to slap against the tongue that was striking it.
As Melinda squirmed and bounced atop Ed, she discovered she could extend the length of his strokes within her by rising off her knees while leaning on an arm propped against his shoulder. In that way she was able to lift her crotch until his prick nearly popped out of her lathered pussy. She could circle her cunt while holding the fatness of his cockhead between her sensitive labia, then drop quickly, causing his rod to glide all the way up inside her. Melinda did this several times, bringing intense pleasure to them both.
She found it great fun to control the action for a change. As the need moved her, she increased the tempo of her screwing until at last she was wriggling and bobbing like an Oriental dancer gone berserk, her lush tits swaying and leaping before Ed's eyes. He jabbed upward into her swirling, stroking vagina. She cried out. Again. Then suddenly a blissful burst of warmth spread through Melinda, and Ed's lust geysered hotly in her cunt.
She lay fully forward against him, and Ed wrapped his arms around her. Without warning, he rolled her over onto her back while his cock remained sunk in her pussy. Ed loomed above her, grinning.
"This time I'm not going to let you go so quick," he explained.
"What if your little brother comes in?" Melinda asked.
"Then I reckon he'll get an eyeful of us screwing."
"Oh, Ed! That would be awful."
"It wouldn't be so bad," Ed replied. "Andy's old enough to get wised up. But don't worry. I told him I was fixing to have a friend over. I didn't mention your name, of course, but Andy figured I was talking about a girl. He'll stay out in the field until I give him the high sign."
Melinda was vexed. "You mean, Andy's used to having you bring girls here?"
"I haven't exactly been a monk," Ed confessed. "But there won't be any other girls for me from now on, provided you're willing."
Melinda smiled. "Kiss me," she ordered.
Their lips met and clung tenderly. Their tongues began a slow swirling and stroking. The oral stimulation re-stiffened Ed's virile prick, and in moments he was screwing Melinda again.
This session lasted for a long time, yielding deep satisfaction to them both.
When Ed returned Melinda to town, she asked him to drop her at the school. Her purpose was to stay away from Preacher Perkins as long as possible. If she eventually was forced to give in to him, she would be better able to face the ordeal as a result of the time she had spent with Ed. He was the best thing that had ever come into her life. He gave her a sense of security and happiness which not even Perkins or her troubles in the town could dent.
Melinda sat at her desk and began reading a book. After about twenty minutes, a knock sounded at the door.
"Come in," Melinda called.
The door opened and a somber middle-aged woman entered the room. She was followed by a female who was younger and better-looking, but equally serious. She obviously wore no brassiere, and the nipples of her large breasts made dents in the printed fabric of her dress. A third woman with white hair and a weather-beaten face brought up the rear. They advanced on Melinda, forming a semi-circle around her desk.
They could have been part of the delegation that had called on Reverend Perkins the night before. Melinda hadn't been able to make out the features of the callers in the evening gloom. The young teacher braced herself to face a direct demand that she leave town.
"Miss Johnson," began the middle-aged woman, whose graying dark hair was pulled into a shapeless knot, "my name's Clara Tucker. This here's Mary Lou Simmons." She pointed to the younger woman who had blonde braids. The oldest member of the group was introduced as Maud Lackey.
"We've heard the talk about you that's been going around," Clara said bluntly. "The men-folk believe the gossip. Some of the ladies do, too. But we three have our doubts. Lucy Banes has been having a bad time with her mean-mouthing husband. If he's turned her into a man-hater, we wouldn't be surprised."
The other women nodded in agreement.
Melinda was encouraged, but she remained edgy. "I appreciate your confidence in me," she said.
"That ain't really what we came to talk about," the dour-faced woman continued. "Our young'uns told us about the show you put on for them yesterday. I'm talking about that whiskey filtering thing. Know what I mean?"
Melinda beamed. "Yes, I do."
"I lost a growed-up son to bad whiskey last winter," Maud said. "And Clara here-she had her husband get mighty sick."
Clara nodded.
"We'd like to see how that filter gadget works," Mary Lou spoke up. A hesitant smile flitted across her youthful face.
"I'd be happy to show you," Melinda said, quickly getting up. She walked to the table where the components of her experiment were spread out, covered by a plain white sheet.
The visiting women gathered around as Melinda removed the sheet from the array of bottles and jars and the small-scale filtration unit she had constructed. As she readied the various chemicals, she explained what they represented, going into more detail than she had with the children yesterday. Her audience was attentive.
After the demonstration was completed, the women looked at one another. None of them spoke.
"Naturally, you'll have to use your imaginations to understand how this could be adapted to a whiskey still," Melinda said. "But the principle is sound. It will work. If the local whiskey makers were to use it, the lead that's been making your sons and husbands sick wouldn't be in the whiskey any more."
"We'll be going now," Clara announced, still unsmiling. "We're grateful for your time and trouble."
Melinda felt a sinking sensation. They weren't convinced, she concluded. It's because I'm an outsider. They don't trust me.
Mary Lou hesitated as her two friends turned toward the door. She gave Melinda another quick, uneasy smile.
"You know, if I was you," she said in a voice so soft that the others couldn't hear, "I'd do something about all the mean talk that's going around. If it ain't true, you could prove it by screwing a couple of the local guys. They're all blabbermouths. The whole town would know about it mighty soon."
Melinda was startled and didn't quite know what to say. She settled on a simple "thank you" accompanied by a slight smile.
After the women had left, Melinda thought the suggestion over. She appreciated it, in that it indicated someone was concerned about her. That was a small step forward. Also, the idea might work. But feeling about Ed as she did, Melinda knew she wouldn't be able to carry it out.
Screwing the preacher would be the limit to which she was prepared to go. But as she reconsidered that, she questioned whether even it would be necessary. The visit from the three ladies had demonstrated that there were some in the town who doubted the gossip which was being circulated against her. Also, the women had witnessed her filter demonstration, which meant the idea was getting a hearing. That was all Melinda had wanted. If the logic of the demonstration didn't convince the local people, Melinda felt she wouldn't have much of a future in Horner's Hollow, anyway. If the demonstration did convince them, the nasty gossip wouldn't be important.
Melinda decided to stand her ground until she received a definite reaction. As for Perkins, she would wedge a chair under her bedroom doorknob as soon as she got home. If necessary, she could stay holed-up in her room all day tomorrow.
She expected to know by Monday, one way or the other, what the townspeople thought about her scheme to protect their lives. On the basis of the women's attitude as they left, Melinda wasn't hopeful.
If it weren't for Ed, she would have been depressed. Only her love for him gave her the strength to go on.
CHAPTER EIGHT
To Melinda's pleased surprise, Preacher Perkins left her alone that night. He had visitors in the front room, discussing church activities. Melinda went to bed early, after carefully barricading her door. She slept well.
In the morning the preacher and his family went to church without inviting Melinda to accompany them. She wouldn't have accepted, anyway. Reverend Perkins's religion wasn't for her.
Ed didn't come around. Since there were no telephones in Horner's Hollow, he couldn't call. Alone in the preacher's living room, Melinda listened to the radio for a while. Then she returned to her bedroom to read.
The Perkins family returned. A little later, the preacher left the house alone. Melinda was relieved. But the afternoon dragged.
In the evening Perkins returned home half-soused. He quietly came to Melinda's room after dinner.
"My wife is becoming insistent," he said, watching Melinda closely. "She wants you to move out."
"I wish I could," Melinda snapped back.
"But there is no need for that, my dear." Perkins caressed her bare arm, making her shiver with revulsion. Her reaction caused him to stiffen. "Very well. If I must be blunt with you, I shall. Take off your clothes. I want to finish what we began the other night."
"Get out of this room," Melinda replied firmly, "or I'll scream for your wife."
Perkins stepped back, a look of surprise on his pinched face. "That would be very unwise. You would give me no choice but to evict you immediately."
"You can't throw me out without negotiating with the school district," Melinda said. "They're paying for my keep."
The preacher's thin lips twisted thoughtfully. Suddenly he smiled. "Why are you being so difficult, my child? I've told you what I have in mind about you accompanying me to Florida or California. We will live well. It won't be long before I will be ready to leave."
"I'm not interested in that," Melinda said flatly. "Now get out."
Her bravado worked. Muttering darkly about the sin of vanity, Perkins withdrew.
But Melinda knew he would keep trying to make her as long as they lived under the same roof. If only she could move in with Ed, she thought. That would be very pleasant-they could ball every morning and night-and it would stop the gossip about her being a Lesbian. But it would probably get her fired from her job, she realized. The conservative little school district wouldn't be apt to retain a teacher who was living in sin.
Melinda's thoughts were troubled as she lay in bed that night. She dreamed chaotically. The next morning, as she prepared for school, she hoped the day would bring a 'definite response from the townspeople on the filtration idea. Even if the response was negative, her mind would at least be more settled.
When Melinda arrived at the schoolhouse, she was surprised to see no children playing around the door. She walked in and faced an empty room.
The gossip about her had done its work, she concluded. The parents had elected to keep their children at home rather than expose them to the corrupt influence of a teacher who was queer.
But I'm not a Lesbian! Melinda wanted to shout from the schoolhouse door. I love Ed Tackett! There's nothing I enjoy more than fucking him!
She sat down at her desk and felt like crying.
If Ed weren't so noble and would brag to his friends about making her, she wouldn't have a problem, Melinda realized. But his fine character was one of the things she loved about him, and she wouldn't have changed that for the world.
While Melinda sat alone, pondering her situation, the door of the schoolhouse opened and a half dozen townsmen filed in, grim-lipped and silent. Their women followed. Melinda recognized the three who had visited her on Saturday.
Clara was the first to speak. She said, "We talked our men-folk into coming over to see your demonstration."
Melinda took heart and welcomed them. She walked to the table to set up the test.
But as the men gathered around, a white-haired old farmer remarked, "This short-skirted city gal ain't going to teach us nothing."
"Excepting maybe how she makes love to other girls," a snaggle-toothed man in faded overalls replied.
There was laughter, and Melinda's face turned red. Still she went doggedly ahead with the demonstration. The men watched and listened to Melinda's explanation, but they made frequent lewd remarks to one another, which obviously were intended mainly for her ears.
By the time the session was over, Melinda was more disheartened than ever. The men hadn't come to learn anything, she decided, but just to ridicule her.
They left, and Melinda sank into her chair. She cried.
That evening Ed picked her up, and they went for a drive in his truck. She told him of her experiences that day, even alluding to the gossip that was going around.
"I've heard the talk that you're a woman-lover," Ed admitted. "But that's plain foolish."
"Well, I can't take it any longer," Melinda said. "The children aren't coming to school, and the adults are making my life miserable. I'll never be accepted in Horner's Hollow. I may as well go back to Nashville and see if I can get a job as a substitute in the schools there."
"Then I'm going with you," Ed announced.
Melinda looked at him quickly. "Darling, that would be wonderful! But you can't. Your brother couldn't run the farm by himself."
"I'll put the place up for sale."
"No! I won't let you. You've put your whole life into that farm."
"You're more important to me than anything else, Melinda." Ed's tone of voice and the way he looked at her convinced her he meant what he was saying. "Without you, the farm wouldn't mean anything to me any more. I'll be able to find a job in the city, doing something. Leastwise, we'll be together."
"Oh, Ed ... "
He stopped the truck at a secluded spot. He had brought a blanket, which he spread in the back of the pickup. He helped Melinda up onto the improvised bed.
A full moon cast its pale light through the leafy filigree of the trees. Melinda snuggled into Ed's arms and thrilled to his caresses.
Anticipating their lovemaking, she hadn't worn a bra that night. She had nothing under her dress but a pair of filmy white panties.
Ed stroked and rolled her full breasts through her dress, then lowered the zipper at her back and let her luscious titties out. His cock was already hard, and Melinda stroked it through his pants.
Melinda was troubled by what he had said. She felt she couldn't let him sacrifice his interests in order to be with her. Yet she didn't want to be separated from him. She knew that would make her miserable.
As Ed's hands tenderly played with her tits, rubbing the satin-smooth flesh and twirling her erect, tingling nipples, passion overcame Melinda's negative thoughts. Her pussy was very wet, its hot lips plastered to the crotchband of her panties. She opened the buttons on Ed's fly and let out his prick.
She stroked his cock slowly and lovingly as they kissed. His lips nibbled and sucked at hers. His tongue circled her mouth, dipping in and out. Melinda caught Ed's tongue between her lips and sucked on it while her tantalizing fingers danced over the bare head of his penis. Her fingertip brushed the wet slit at his pecker's tip, then she enclosed the entire hot head in her cool palm and squeezed it as her fingertips explored the sensitive ridge behind his corona.
Ed dropped his mouth to her breasts and took long, thrilling sucks at her nipples, stretching the stems forward from her boobs and letting them snap gently, causing her tits to quiver.
"Darling, when you treat me like this, nothing seems wrong," Melinda said breathlessly. "I feel as if I can put up with anything else."
"Don't talk," Ed whispered, and stilled her lips with the warm, moist pressure of his mouth. His tongue moved around her teeth and stroked the slippery inner surfaces of her cheeks.
Ed's hand slid beneath Melinda's skirt. He fondled the smooth, firm slopes of her thighs. The pliant flesh was warm and dewy with excitement. His fingers crept to the saturated silken barrier of Melinda's panties, and he gently pinched her pussy through the thin, damp nylon, causing more viscous moisture to ooze out of her slit and wetting his fingers.
Melinda's tongue leaped in Ed's mouth, responding to the intimate stimulation he was giving her. She tugged at his rigid prick as if it were a handle. Ed began to pull down her panties.
Melinda writhed, her excitement reaching a feverish pitch. She lifted her lovely legs and bicycled them as Ed drew her pants off, then she let her thighs fall wide apart and lay back.
Ed bent over her, running his hand under her buttocks and seizing the smooth mounds that felt like firm foam rubber. He lifted Melinda's ass while leaning on his elbows, and he brought his mouth to her dribbling, plushy slit. His tongue and lips worked thoroughly over and through her steamy snatch, wiggling its pliant folds and sucking up her sweetness.
Melinda reached for Ed's cock, but it was too far away. Though she had a desire to return the love he was giving her, she had to content herself at the moment with just receiving. The passionate girl hooked her legs over Ed's shoulders and pressed her pussy crushingly against his mouth. His tongue danced in her wealth of softness, sending excitement kiting along her nerves. She grew hotter and hotter. Her sexual nectar flowed onto Ed's lapping tongue.
Finally Ed had to come up for air, gasping but grinning. His mouth and nose were wet.
"Let me, darling," Melinda said, her voice quivering with excitement as she reached for his cock.
Ed sat back and Melinda bowed her head toward his lap and the towering, thick column that bristled from the fly of his blue jeans. She took Ed's cockhead into her mouth, but that wasn't enough for her. She wanted to encompass as much of his manly organ as she could possibly hold.
Melinda's lips crawled suckingly downward on Ed's shaft, his fat glans gliding back on her velvety tongue. Her throat opened eagerly to accept the bulging, rubbery stopper, and Melinda's lips reached the edges of Ed's fly. Her nose was pressed against the coarse fabric of his jeans. She worked her tongue and throat and lips, massaging Ed's entire throbbing cock and bathing it in her saliva.
Melinda dug a hand into Ed's pants and cupped his hairy nuts, gently squeezing the thick skin of his contracted scrotum. She began to bob her head, pumping her mouth up and down on his dick in long, slow, steady strokes. Her teeth scraped him excitingly as her tongue glided and her lips wiggled and sucked.
For Ed the stimulation was intense, and he found himself approaching the point where he wouldn't be able to control his response if Melinda didn't stop fellating him. But she showed no sign of stopping.
She didn't want to stop. Having his cock in her mouth, thrusting deep into the opening of her throat, gave her a special satisfaction that was psychological as well as physical. It felt good to the nerve ends of her lips and tongue and the walls of her mouth and throat-but beyond that it gave her a sense of really possessing and pleasing this man she loved.
Ed caressed Melinda's bobbing head, working his fingers through her silken blonde hair.
"Yeah!" he exclaimed, his voice rasping. "Oh, God, baby, don't stop! Ooh shit, don't. . . STOP!"
Melinda cocksucked him faster, plunging her mouth on his sweet prick with long, looping strokes. Her wet tongue swabbed the tender underside of his dong as her lips and teeth stroked rapidly back and forth across his ridged crown. She massaged his hot nuts.
Suddenly he bucked upward and released a harsh groan as his prickhead forged fully into Melinda's throat. She felt the meaty knob expand, then her throat was drenched by a flood of his thick, warm cream. His entire cock twitched, and he clutched Melinda's head harder. Ed groaned and shook, as his semen spurted down Melinda's gulping throat.
She caught the fever of his climax. The excitement of taking his ejaculation this way, feeling his slippery semen sliding down to her stomach, sent tremors through her body. But her orgasm was soft, due to the lack of direct stimulation to her private parts.
Still Melinda felt an almost spiritual satisfaction. She knew she had thrilled Ed, having received his seminal gift in a way that had truly demonstrated her appreciation of it.
After his spurting had ceased and the stiffness began to go out of his cock, Melinda slowly disgorged it, giving the head a final licking suck as it slid out of her mouth. Ed pulled her against him and gave her a long, searching kiss on the lips. He was demonstrating, she felt, that her swallowing of his cum had not been an act which he considered demeaning.
"Now I want to take care of you," he said huskily, and urged her to lie down.
Ed bent into the moist, musk-scented chasm of her thighs. First he gave her hot pussy a quick licking all over, inside and out, then he fastened his lips around her erect little clit and flogged the jewel-like tip with his tongue as he sucked. He added a fillip by inserting two fingers into her vagina. He stroked his fingers in and out of her cunt, moving them next to his face as he ardently sucked and licked her clitty.
Melinda quickly rose to a shattering climax which perfectly topped off her modest earlier orgasm. She tossed her head, her golden hair whipping against the blanket as she sobbed with ecstasy.
Ed kept sucking and licking her pussy until her tremors tapered off and a glorious satisfaction seeped through every cell of her body. Then he lifted his head.
"I love you, baby," he whispered.
She sighed gratefully. "Oh, Ed, I love you so much!"
They kissed.
Ed found Melinda's panties and helped her slide into them. He restored the top of her dress, then stuffed his well-kissed prick back into his clothes and buttoned his fly.
"I'll stay in Horner's Hollow a while longer," Melinda volunteered.
"I can't ask you to do that," Ed said. "You've had it plenty rough in the last week, and things don't look like they're going to get any better."
"I can put up with it as long as I have you," Melinda said. "After a while we'll work something out."
They climbed back into the front of the truck, and Ed drove slowly to the preacher's house. He reiterated his offer to put his farm up for sale, but Melinda insisted that he not do anything until they talked again. They made a date for the following night.
Depression settled over Melinda once more as she entered the house. But she was grateful, at least, that Perkins and his family had gone to bed.
Melinda wondered what she would do if the kids didn't show up for school in the morning. She forced the dismal thought from her mind and sought solace in sleep.
CHAPTER NINE
The children will be there today, Melinda thought hopefully as she left the house the next morning.
But as she approached the school, she could see it was deserted. Her heart sank. Standing in the doorway, she surveyed the empty classroom and debated whether to get in touch with the school superintendent and report her utter failure on the job. That would be a bitter step, but Melinda felt she couldn't draw her salary if she had no children to teach.
As her gaze swept the room, it came to rest on the table in the corner where she had left her filtration experiment spread out. The table was empty. Someone had taken everything, including her notes.
Melinda decided it was a prank, just one more way to bedevil her so she would leave town. Well, you people might get your wish! she thought spitefully.
But she had made Ed a promise and would have to discuss the situation with him before she did anything definite. She sat at her desk, deciding it would be better to remain there than to go home and fall into the preacher's lustful clutches.
As Melinda busied herself preparing assignments for classes that might never be held, she hoped Ed would drop in to see her. She longed to kiss him and feel his caress. Her nipples tingled at the thought of his hand brushing across them.
But Ed had his work to do, she realized. A farm didn't run itself.
Melinda returned home that night more tired than if she had done a regular day's work. The tension under which she was living was having its effect on her nerves. She kept glancing at her watch, counting the minutes until she would see Ed.
Perkins and his wife and son hardly spoke to her. Mrs. Perkins kept giving her dirty looks, as if to say, When are you going to move out?
When Ed arrived, Melinda ran outdoors to meet him. Again he refused to kiss her until they were away from the house.
His brother was visiting at a friend's house that evening, Ed said, and they could have his place to themselves if Melinda wanted to go there. She jumped at the chance.
As they drove along, she told him that the children had failed to come to school again and that someone had stolen her experiment.
"That don't surprise me," Ed said. "I got the word that the stills are being shut down."
"What do you mean?"
"You sold the men on the idea of filtering their hootch," Ed replied, grinning. "But I reckon they were too proud to tell you. They must have taken your experiment to use as a model."
"How silly!" Melinda said, but she felt a great deal better. "I would have given them the whole thing if they'd asked me."
"That isn't their way," Ed explained. "Anyhow, they still think you're a Lesbian. They would have been lowering themselves to ask you for that filter."
"So they stole it! Oh, Ed, I'll never understand these people."
"Sure, you will," he said, and cuddled her close to him. "I'm one of them, and you understand me. I'll help you out with the others when the time is right. Just now we've got to be patient, like you said. Things are coming around."
Melinda wished she could believe it. Her whole idea in building the experiment had been to win the people over, but instead of that they had stolen her idea and still refused to accept her. They and their ridiculous pride! she thought.
But at least she was with Ed now and could forget her troubles for a little while. As soon as they arrived at his house, they went into the bedroom and undressed. They made love by the dim glow of a coal oil lamp, and Melinda found the atmosphere highly erotic.
But she would have enjoyed fucking with Ed on Charlotte Avenue in Nashville at high noon, if it weren't for the riot it would cause.
Melinda and Ed tried something different this evening. At his suggestion, she knelt in the center of the bed, resting her shoulders against the mattress, and Ed knelt behind her upthrust buttocks. He plunged his prick into the soft pink mouth that nestled in her golden curls. Ed twisted as he stroked, slapping his straight, firm belly against Melinda's springy buttocks. His thick cock stroked like a ramrod in her narrow cuntal passage.
After a short time, he drew her backward on top of him and he stretched out on his back. She knelt facing his feet. With her thighs spread wide apart, Melinda rotated her hips and pumped up and down.
Ed had the pleasure of watching his shaft stroking in and out of her rosy cunt mouth. Melinda's pink, puckered anus winked at him from between the white, quivering globes of her ass.
She leaned forward, pressing her clit more firmly against his cock. In this position she also was able to watch the action. Her juice dribbled down his rod, making it very slick. Ed's balls shook each time he drove his long, thick column up into her.
The sight complimented the voluptuous tactile sensations which they both enjoyed. Their passion mounted, stroke by stoke.
They climaxed, shuddering together. This brought blissful calm, and they relaxed in each other's arms. The rest of the world seemed far away.
As soon as it became clear that the students weren't going to show up the next morning, Melinda returned home. She drafted a letter to the county school superintendent, read it over, and tore it up. She paced her room.
Perkins was away from the house all day, and that was a relief. But Mrs. Perkins hardly spoke to Melinda. The atmosphere was tense.
That evening, when Melinda met Ed, he had news that troubled her even more. The whole county was being flooded by bad liquor, he reported. One or two moonshiners apparently were taking advantage of the shutdown of the other stills.
Melinda feared she would be blamed for this. On top of everything else, it was simply too much for her to take. She decided to leave Horner's Hollow.
She didn't tell Ed her decision, because she didn't want him to insist on coming with her and sacrificing all he had worked for. This meant she was breaking her promise. But she would write him as soon as she got home, and perhaps he could drive to Nashville and meet her. She would try to explain things to him then. There would be less pressure on both of them by that time, and she hoped they could work out a sensible solution to their problem.
Deciding to phone the school superintendent from Nashville rather than to write him, Melinda quickly packed her belongings. The only transportation available to her was the preacher's mule, which he kept in a shed behind the house. Melinda didn't relish the idea of riding the animal thirty-five miles through the dark woods to Tolliver, where she hoped to be able to arrange for a car. But this would be better than asking Ed to drive her and upsetting him before she got away from Horner's Hollow.
Another slight problem was that Melinda hadn't brought any slacks or shorts with her, feeling that a teacher in a small town wouldn't be expected to wear such things. Consequently she would have to ride the mule in a miniskirt, with only her thin panties to protect her from the mule's hard, hairy back. But she decided she could tolerate even this.
Anything was preferable to remaining in Horner's Hollow for even another day.
It was ten-thirty when Melinda sneaked out the back door of the house, carrying her suitcases. She intended to strap these over the neck of the mule. As she approached the stable which was bathed in the glow of a full moon, a sound from behind her made her dodge quickly around the corner of the shed.
Peeking, Melinda saw Preacher Perkins emerge from the house. At first she feared he was looking for her. But the tall man walked directly to the stable door and opened it without glancing around. He lit a lantern inside the shed.
Melinda waited nervously for Perkins to complete whatever he was doing and return to the house. When the light in the shed was turned out, Melinda anticipated that she would soon be able to begin her journey. But Perkins emerged from the stable riding the mule. He tugged a rein, and the animal turned toward the woods.
Shit! Melinda said to herself, employing the vulgar expletive for the first time in her life. She was bitterly disappointed over the disruption of her plans.
She wondered where the preacher was going at that hour and in apparent secrecy. Curiosity impelled her to leave her suitcases on the ground beside the mule shed and to follow Perkins on foot. The bright moonlight would help her find her way through the woods. She intended to follow the preacher only far enough to gain an idea of where he was going, then return to the house.
Perkins guided the mule up the slope behind his house, leisurely threading his way through the trees. Melinda followed just closely enough to keep him in sight. The hoot of an owl made her shiver. She glanced back to satisfy herself that she would be able to find her way back to the house.
After topping the crest of the hill, Perkins's swaying form sank from view. Melinda walked faster, telling herself that she would go only as far as the summit. From there she hoped to see the direction Perkins was taking.
But when she reached the high point, Melinda's curiosity took a sudden surge. On the floor of the next valley, lanterns glowed among the trees. Two figures moved about a strange-looking apparatus from which smoke curled. It was evident that Perkins was headed in that direction.
Melinda hesitated and glanced back toward Horner's Hollow. She could make out several lights, and this convinced her it would be safe to follow Perkins down the slope. To find her way back to the house, she reasoned, she would only have to climb the hill and look for the lights. - "Who's that?" a gruff voice called from the lighted spot in the woods. Melinda still wasn't close enough to identify the men.
"It's me," Perkins answered more softly. "Keep your voice down."
The preacher rode his mule into the circle of light, and a man stepped up to greet him. The fellow stood directly under a suspended lantern, and Melinda recognized him as Josiah Banes. The other figure stepped forward. He was the preacher's son, Matt. Perkins dismounted from his mule and spoke quietly to the others.
Melinda wasn't close enough to make out what they said, but she had an excellent view of the location. Two large tubs of murky fluid rested on the ground. Nearby, a fire burned under a boiler which looked like an oil drum elevated on three legs. A crude pipe emerged from its top and was connected to an automobile radiator propped upright on a table. Fluid trickled from the bottom of the radiator into a bucket resting on the ground. Empty bottles stood on another table, and on the ground nearby were several wooden crates.
Matt picked up an empty bucket and quickly substituted it for the full one below the radiator. Josiah moved over to help him, holding a funnel over an empty bottle which Matt filled with clear fluid from the bucket. They moved from bottle to bottle, filling several. Perkins corked them and placed them in a wood crate.
It was clear to Melinda that Perkins's wealth, about which he had bragged, came from distilling moonshine. He was continuing with the illicit operation, not bothering to install a filter, in order to turn an extra profit while the other stills were shut down. He obviously didn't care about the health of his customers.
Melinda crept closer, wanting to hear what the men were saying. She stood behind a large tree, just out of the pool of light from the lanterns suspended between tree limbs.
"Stoke up that fire," Perkins snapped. "We've got to finish this batch before sunup."
Josiah growled, "I don't see why we can't stay here another night. Moving this fucking still every goddamned night is a pain in the ass."
"My dear Josiah," Perkins said, "we can't trust the local citizens at this particular time. The young teacher has convinced them that their whiskey should be filtered. If they found out we were continuing to produce unfiltered stump-hole, they would most likely shut us down. Worse yet, one of the other moonshiners might tip the T-men."
"I thought you were fixing to ride that sassy-assed teacher out of town," Josiah said.
"All in good time, Josiah. All in good time. Matthew, gather some more wood for the fire like a good lad."
Saying nothing, the youth turned and walked directly toward the spot where Melinda was standing. Fear gripped her. She didn't know what to do. If she were to run, she would surely be seen or heard.
Matt moved closer. Melinda drew herself more snugly against the tree. Cold shivers raced up and down her spine.
A few feet from her, Matt paused and looked around, squinting through the darkness to locate some fallen branches. Melinda held her breath.
Matt look directly at her and froze. Then he took a forward step.
Panic overcame the frightened girl and she ran, her shoes crushing twigs and dried leaves.
"What was that?" she heard Perkins ask in alarm.
"It's the teacher!" Matt yelled right behind her. He was running fast. "I've got her!"
Strong arms encircled Melinda's waist, lifting her off the ground. Matt swung her around, her bottom pressing firmly against his cock and balls. He gave her a push, and she stumbled into the circle of lantern light where she fell to the ground, bruising her knees. Her hair swung before her eyes. She pushed it back and gazed fearfully up at Perkins and Josiah.
"Well, well," Perkins said, his eyes glinting, a smug smile twisting his lips.
"Hellfire!" Josiah exclaimed.
"Stand up, Melinda," Perkins ordered.
Matt moved around to stand beside his father. Melinda stared at them.
"I ... I won't tell anyone what I saw," she said tremulously, and stood on shaky legs.
Perkins laughed.
Josiah's whiskery face glowered. He wore no shirt. A gray union suit covered his large belly which protruded over the low-slung belt of his blue jeans.
"What the fuck are we gonna do with her?" he growled.
"That's an interesting question," Perkins said, studying Melinda with faint amusement.
"You hadn't better touch me!" she warned. "If you do, I'll tell everybody what's been going on here."
"You'll tell them anyway if we give you the chance," Perkins replied. "Or rather, you'll tell Ed Tackett and he will tip the others. I've noticed how friendly you've been with that deputy."
"Shit, she's a girl lover," Josiah scoffed.
"Don't be too sure," Perkins said.
Melinda was trembling. "Please . . . just let me go back to the house. I'll keep quiet."
"My dear, that's impossible," Perkins said, adopting a gentler tone. "You will remain here until the truck arrives to pick up the whiskey and our equipment. My friend Elmer will drive us to Nashville after he has delivered the supplies to our distribution point."
"You're fixing to hightail it already?" Josiah asked.
"Necessity has altered my plans," Perkins told him. "You and Matthew can take over this operation and split the profits two ways. I have enough."
He stepped forward and grasped Melinda's arm. She cringed. He led her a few paces away from the other men.
"My money is in a Nashville bank," he said softly, speaking close to Melinda's ear. His breath was strong with whiskey. "I'll withdraw the entire boodle and we will take a plane to Miami."
"No!" Melinda exclaimed.
"But you have no choice, my dear. Fate has sealed the bargain for you."
Melinda jerked free of the preacher's grasp and ran for the woods.
"Matt!" Perkins bellowed. "Nail her!"
The long-legged youth was right behind Melinda, and she realized she couldn't get away. Matt crashed against her thighs, his arms encircling them in a football-style tackle. Melinda sprawled to the ground, Matt landing heavily atop her.
She was stunned. Matt rolled her over and picked her up. Melinda's skirt bunched at her middle. Her pink polka-dotted panties were exposed to the other men as Matt carried her to the center of the lighted area and dropped her onto the ground.
Josiah licked his fat lips as he stood over her. Perkins moved up.
"Take off her clothes," the preacher ordered.
Josiah asked eagerly, "Are we all gonna get to screw her?"
"I am going to screw her, my dear Josiah, while you and Matthew watch."
"Hellfire, that ain't fair!" Josiah said. "We oughta have a crack at her, too."
"She's mine," Perkins said as he took off his coat. "I'm giving you a half-share of the business. That should be enough."
Josiah hesitated, leering down at the terrified girl.
"You heard what Paw said," Matt told the bewhiskered man. "Let's strip the snooty bitch."
Matt sank to his knees beside Melinda. She knew it would be futile to try again to escape. Her knees and bottom were already sore from being tackled and dropped onto the ground. Next time she might be severely hurt.
Josiah clumsily lowered himself to his knees at her opposite side. "She's a cute little package," he said, "even if she is a woman-lover."
"She's going to be a man-lover tonight," Perkins announced, and tossed his shirt aside.
Staring up at him, Melinda was forced to submit to the rough treatment of Matt and Josiah. The latter's fat hands moved over her breasts and belly, caressing more than undressing her, while Matt unzipped her dress and slid it off. The teen-ager then rolled her roughly onto her belly and unhooked her brassiere. Josiah shimmied her panty-clad butt.
"She's real firm and bouncy," he said, chuckling lewdly.
"Quit mauling her," Perkins ordered. "Just pull her pants off."
Josiah grasped Melinda's panties at both sides and pulled them down. The flickering lantern light played over the perfect white hemispheres of her ass, which trembled as Josiah jostled her, roughly yanking her panties down her legs and off.
He and Matt rolled her onto her back on the leafy grass. A perverse thrill went through Melinda as her naked breasts and pussy were exposed to the three lustful males.
Perkins pushed his pants and shorts down, and his long prick curved forward from his dangling balls. His cock was impressive even when only semi-erect, but the hose of flesh with the bald, round nozzle repelled Melinda.
Loving Ed as she did, she wanted no one's penis but his. The prospect of Perkins shoving his brutal prick into her revolted her nearly to the point of nausea.
"You can force me," Melinda said bitterly, her blue eyes hurling condemnation at the three males who held her captive, "but you can't make me like it. I'll hate all of you every minute!"
"See there?" Josiah snorted. "I told you she's a goddamned cunt-lover."
"We will see what she likes," Perkins replied, his eyes shining confidently as he stepped forward, totally nude. "Matt, hold her arms. . . Josiah, her legs."
His lengthy prick swaying lewdly, the lustful preacher mounted Melinda's waist. She realized with a shock that she was in for the same degrading treatment she had once watched his wife receive. Melinda feared she might not be able to endure it.
CHAPTER TEN
The preacher's prick curved toward Melinda's face, its purplish knob hanging in mid-air as his hairy balls rested against the inner slopes of her titties.
"You must make me ready, my dear," Perkins said huskily. "Stick out your tongue."
Melinda held her lips firmly closed. She stared up at the repulsive man, trying to keep her anguished eyes focused on his face rather than on his awesome penis. Matt and Josiah were out of Melinda's line of vision, the former kneeling above her head and the latter behind Perkins.
Perkins smiled. "Very well. If you insist on being stubborn, I will simply have to persuade you."
He rose to a kneeling position and moved forward until he straddled Melinda's neck. Her arms were being held straight back, against the sides of her head. This prevented her from turning her head to avoid the humiliation which Perkins was about to force upon her.
Melinda couldn't keep from looking at his penis except by closing her eyes, and she didn't dare do that. She had to know what was happening. Perkins's revolting cock hung directly above her nose. His balls were nearly touching her chin. Melinda forced herself not to breathe. She kept her lips firmly sealed.
Smiling evilly, the preacher lowered his crotch. His soft scrotum came to rest on her chin, and his spongy cockhead touched the tip of her nose. Melinda tensed more. She felt like screaming, but she didn't dare open her mouth.
Watching her through narrowed eyes, Perkins slowly twisted his body, dragging his penis back and forth across her nose. Melinda was suffocating from lack of oxygen. She was going to have to take a breath soon. She made an anguished sound behind her closed lips.
Perkins took his semi-limp penis in his hand and swiped the rubbery head across Melinda's nostrils. Though she still hadn't inhaled, the strong aroma of the preacher's prick wafted up her nose. Melinda's eyes widened. Her brain grew light. Perkins kept rubbing his cockhead against her nostrils.
Suddenly the desperate girl's need for oxygen overcame her revulsion and she took a deep breath. Perkins's cock-scent flooded her nose. Her brain reeled giddily. Just then she felt a finger touch the moistening lips of her pussy, and Melinda knew Josiah was getting into the act.
Her soul cried out against the hideous outrage, but she couldn't keep her body from responding sexually. Her cunt lips were slick when Josiah fucked his stiff middle finger all the way up between them.
Melinda's mouth dropped open, and Perkins placed the tip of his penis between her soft lips.
"Lick it, my dear," he said huskily, and twisted his cockhead between her lips, pressing it against first one corner of her mouth, then the other, without attempting to sink it deeply inside. He obviously didn't want to risk being bitten.
Against her will, Melinda felt her tongue emerge from her mouth. While hating the erotic part of her nature that made her respond even to as lewd and repulsive a man as Perkins, Melinda began to lick the smooth, spongy head of his cock, buffeting the big bulb back and forth. The strong taste of his organ fired the buds of her tongue, and she began to salivate. She breathed deeper of the penile aroma.
Suddenly Melinda's lips opened wide and she took the entire bulging head of the preacher's prick into her mouth.
"Aah!" he exclaimed ecstatically, and his cock immediately stiffened.
Perkins adjusted his posture so that he could stroke his long rod in and out of Melinda's mouth as she eagerly sucked on his juicy glans. Its viscous secretion drooled down her throat, and the girl gulped repeatedly.
Josiah was stroking two thick, stubby fingers in and out of her lathered cunt, rotating them and stretching her elastic labia. Melinda moaned against the fullness of Perkins's cock. Her body throbbed with sensual excitement.
There's no hope-for me, she thought. I'm just a slut!
Perkins had another name for her: "My lovely little cockeater!" he husked as he slowly stroked his eight-inch slippery prick in and out through the soft pink circle of her lips.
Melinda worked her jaws against the gristly thickness of his shaft. Her velvet tongue lapped at the underside of his glans. His cock forged deeper and deeper into her throat, and if Perkins had chosen to finish the fellatio by spurting his slimy product into her gullet, Melinda would have swallowed it gratefully.
But the lascivious man jerked his penis free, and the long shaft bobbed above Melinda's face. He wiggled forward, dragging his hairy balls across her mouth and nose. The odor of his intimate sweat was stifling. Still Melinda put out her fevered tongue and stroked his scrotum moistly while she eyed his swaying prick and moaned.
Josiah's stroking fingers in her vagina had helped, lift her to her present state of mad passion.
Suddenly they left her as Perkins backed up, smacking her on the chin with his wet, heavy whang as he settled at her chest. He used his thumb to push his cock down into the valley of her tits. His large hands covered the firm springy mounds and wiggled them against his throbbing pecker.
Then he let the tip of his prick moistly kiss each of her tingling upthrust nipples, before scrambling farther back, and coming to rest between her thighs.
Melinda had taken advantage of the brief respite from the intense dual stimulation of Perkins's prick in her mouth and Josiah's fingers up her pussy, and had managed to bring herself under control. She glared at Perkins once more as he prepared to insert his rod in her cunt.
"Ask me for it," he said tensely.
She remained silent and didn't move. Except for the wetness of her vulva, she might have been judged totally indifferent.
Josiah was kneeling beside her, looking down. "She wishes you was a girl," he told Perkins.
"Shut up, you fool!" the preacher snapped. "Get over there and tend to the still."
"I'll need Matt to help me," Josiah complained.
"Matthew, lend a hand," Perkins ordered.
The youth released Melinda's arms, for which she was grateful. They had become sore in the cramped position above her head. As Matt moved away, the front of his dungarees was pushed rigidly forward. Josiah showed no such reaction.
Melinda's attention was jerked back to the man who crouched between her thighs as Perkins introduced the end of his wickedly long penis into the slippery maw of her cunt. He shoved, and his rigid cock glided all the way up inside her, bumping her womb.
"Oh!" Melinda exclaimed, and she writhed in an attempt to avoid the painfully deep penetration.
But Perkins took her sudden response as a sign of passion, and he husked, "That's my girl. Give me some cunt! Put your back in it."
He began to stroke his eight-inch shaft vigorously in and out of Melinda's slippery, clutching pussy, bumping her uterus with every thrust.
"No! No!" she cried.
Josiah was watching and listening as he worked at the still. He obviously remained convinced that she was a Lesbian at heart.
But Perkins's prick strokes were getting to Melinda in a passionate way, even though they hurt her. Soon the hurt was completely submerged in her sensual enjoyment of the act. She closed her eyes so she wouldn't be reminded who was fucking her. She tried to convince herself it was Ed.
Perkins lowered himself fully against her, nestling his face in her sweet-scented hair, and his jackhammer hips drove his hot cock at breathless speed up and down in the quaking, clasping channel of her vagina. The preacher's vigorous fucking rocked Melinda from head to toes. She thought dizzily, My third man! How many more will there be? When she was this hot, she could fuck anyone and everyone. There was no limit.
Oh, Ed, she thought, forgive me!
Melinda moved her pussy rhythmically against Preacher Perkins's fervent strokes. Her cunt began to ripple. She gasped. A tidal wave of ecstasy rolled through her and she climaxed, her cunt muscles milking the minister's plunging organ.
She felt him give a jerk. Then his semen was spurting hotly inside her as he groaned. Perkins's huge balls held a large amount of jism, creating a squishy flood inside Melinda. She sighed and went limp.
Perkins raised himself on his arms and looked at her. "Now will you go with me to Miami?" he asked expectantly.
Melinda kept her eyes closed and didn't say anything.
Perkins snorted and withdrew his cock from her. He stood up.
When Melinda opened her eyes, she found herself looking directly at Matt. He and Josiah had just finished filling some bottles with whiskey, and the teen-ager stood with the funnel in his hand, staring at the beautiful blonde who lay disheveled on the grassy ground. His pants front was still erect.
He must be suffering, Melinda thought. Though he had abused her, she felt compassion for the youth. Suddenly she wanted to screw him.
But it was Josiah who was unbuckling his pants as he swaggered toward Melinda. "I'm gonna fuck some womanhood into this queer bitch," he said, and glared at Perkins, daring him to interfere.
The preacher stood naked, his cock hanging long and slimy. "Go ahead," he told Josiah. "She needs some more warming up."
"What about me, Paw?" Matt inquired, obviously in distress.
"Help Josiah work her over, my boy. What's yours is mine. It always was and always will be."
From the way Perkins looked at her, Melinda could tell he had given up his hope to take her to Miami. But he took satisfaction from the fact that he had possessed her once.
Melinda would have welcomed Matt alone, but she hated to be touched by Josiah. She watched the big man drop his pants, then fish into the front of his union suit and bring out a thick but not lengthy cock. It was covered by foreskin which formed a puckered lip at its end.
Revulsion for the filthy man overcame Melinda, and she closed her eyes. Josiah's stench told her that he was kneeling next to her face. The odor was compounded of stale urine impregnated in his underwear, sweat, and the strongest cock-scent she had yet encountered.
"Open your eyes, bitch!" Josiah said, and slapped her.
Melinda gasped. She looked up at Perkins who stood beside her, taking a long sip from a bottle. It wasn't one of the bottles which had just been filled. As before, the flask from which the preacher drank had a brand label on it, and the liquor wasn't clear but amber-colored.
Josiah was holding his smelly penis in his hand and waving it in front of Melinda's face. "This tastes better than cunt," he said. "Try it and see."
Melinda stiffened as he stuffed the repulsive thing between her lips. The limp cock oozed into her mouth, foreskin and all. Its rank taste made her head swim. Chuckling, Josiah continued to hold the shank of his organ, his fingers pressing against Melinda's lips. Suddenly he pulled back the outer skin. Melinda felt the thick hood desert the knob of his dong. As the slippery glans came to rest on her tongue, a stronger gut-wrenching flavor overwhelmed her, along with an odor so strong that her eyes watered. She felt as if she was going to pass out.
"Suck it, goddamn you!" Josiah roared.
Melinda heard Perkins laugh.
She might indeed have lost consciousness if it weren't for the pressure which Matt suddenly applied between her legs. The horny youth's very hard penis pressed at the slippery opening of Melinda's pussy, then glided deeply into her. Her cuntal muscles contracted claspingly on his rod.
"Ooh, shit, she feels good!" Matt crooned, and he began to fuck her vigorously, slapping his hairy loins into her soft crotch as his lengthy, super-stiff dong thrilled the walls of her vagina.
Melinda responded by actively sucking Josiah's filthy prick. Her nose pressed against the man's foul underwear as she took his entire wormlike organ into her mouth. Melinda breathed in the scent of many days' dribbled piss as her gushing saliva bathed the cheesy knob of his cock, washing the smegma down her throat. Her stomach lurched, but Matt's hot rod was giving her such excitement that she kept sucking, fluttering her tongue against the head of Josiah's organ.
The brutish man's fat belly nearly suffocated Melinda. His cruel hands squeezed her tits. Mad passion racked her. Matt's cock kept coming in-driving and pounding as he grunted with delight. She moved against him.
Josiah seemed to take forever to acquire a hard-on. Melinda's mouth was tired from sucking by the time his meaty cockhead expanded and his shaft stiffened out. Just then Matt finished inside her, splashing his hot juice against the mouth of her uterus. Melinda didn't finish.
As soon as Matt had pulled out of her, Josiah withdrew his penis from Melinda's mouth and scrambled around to settle between her thighs. He drove his cock into her, and she said, "Uuuh!"
Josiah wheezed as he pumped, lying forward against her. His huge belly weighted her down, and his foul breath gassed her. But Melinda felt nothing could make her sick after eating his penis, and the heat in her body made her bob her pussy against Josiah's strokes. He pushed up and looked at her, appearing surprised that he was getting some responsive action.
The obnoxious man twisted his head and pressed his bewhiskered face against Melinda's. His beard scratched. His slimy tongue lolled into her mouth, dribbling spittle down her throat.
Melinda fucked him harder.
If Josiah was discovering something about her which he hadn't been prepared to believe, Melinda also was learning something about herself: When she was aroused, the act was the thing. Her body seemed incapable of discrimination. Though she hated Josiah-and Perkins, too-her loins responded to the thrusting of their pricks, just as if she were with Ed. Her mouth had even responded to their foul organs. If that meant she was a slut, there was nothing she could do about it. Shame was swallowed up by the overwhelming necessity to accept herself as she was.
Josiah brushed his bewhiskered face to her breasts, and his bristly beard hurt her tender titties as his sloppy mouth surrounded first one thrusting nipple, then the other--tugging and chewing, licking- and sucking. Melinda's whole body undulated. Her hot, oily cunt stroked faster around Josiah's plunging prick. She felt herself approaching a climax.
She gave a whoop as she came, heat bursting through her, and the responsive muscles of her vagina clasped Josiah's cock, rippling up and down its meaty length. He groaned and twitched, emptying his semen into the flood which already existed inside her.
That's five men I've screwed, Melinda thought giddily. FIVE!
Her last thought before she lapsed into lethargy was, Will Ed still want me after this? She had no answer.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
While young Matt did most of the work at the still, Perkins and Josiah drank from store-bought bottles, shunning their own contaminated product.
The men had pulled their pants on, but Perkins had ordered Melinda to remain nude and to lie on the ground where they could watch her. From the lustful looks in their eyes, Melinda knew it was only a matter of time before they would assault her again.
She feared for her life. Perkins had told Josiah that he had changed his mind and wouldn't be leaving Horner's Hollow for a while. Josiah had asked what he was going to do with Melinda, and he had smiled wisely.
"Leave the ungrateful girl to me," Perkins had replied, and taken a long drink of whiskey as he watched her.
Melinda shivered, though the heat from the still made the air warm, even at midnight.
As the men became drunker, their conversation grew more lewd and insulting. Matt paid no attention, remaining close to the still and doing his work.
Finally Perkins tossed his empty bottle aside and reeled toward Melinda. "I'm going to have another piece of ass," he said thickly. "Josiah, you may join me if you wish."
"Shit, parson, I couldn't get my dick up again," Josiah replied, his eyes rolling drunkenly as he sprawled on the ground.
"Melinda will help you," Perkins said. He nudged her with his foot. "Won't you, my pet?"
The frightened girl gained a glimmer of hope. Drunk as they are, she thought, if I can just get them tired enough, they might pass out.
On hands and knees, the pretty blonde crawled over to Josiah, her suspended tits swaying. Watching her, a grin split his bewhiskered face.
Kneeling beside the evil man, Melinda pulled down his pants and fished his cum-coated penis out of his foul underwear. Perkins stood behind her and watched the lantern light caress her split ass and her pink-slitted golden bush.
Melinda bent to Josiah's smelly crotch, wedging her face between his bulging belly and his fat thighs. She took his entire soft penis into her mouth and pressed her nose against his stinking underwear. She breathed as little as possible as her tongue circled his flopping, strong-tasting glans and her lips pulled suckingly on his wormlike shaft.
"What an ass!" Reverend Perkins exclaimed as he dropped to the ground behind the kneeling girl.
Melinda tried to ignore his vile touch as he placed his hands on her white hips, his thumbs digging into the crack between her satiny buttocks. Perkins squeezed the firmly resilient mounds and drew them as wide apart as they would go. Cool air caressed Melinda's shockingly exposed anus, and the pink puckered dimple winked involuntarily.
Perkins bent low behind her, and she felt his hot breath strike her between the buttocks. Despite her will not to do so, Melinda became excited, and she sucked more energetically at Josiah's prick. Though the organ remained soft in her mouth, Josiah groaned responsively. Melinda reached into his underwear and fondled his relaxed balls, which were surrounded by silky long hairs. She lifted his balls out of his underwear, tucking the edges of the union suit behind them. His nuts had a strong sweaty smell, but Melinda preferred to press her nose to them rather than to his urine-befouled garment.
The preacher pressed his face into the canyon of Melinda's ass. His warm lips encircled her wildly tingling anus. As Perkins poked his wet tongue against the sensitive puckers of Melinda's asshole, a shudder of perverse delight went through her. She pushed her ass more firmly against the parson's face, and she lapped at Josiah's prick with increased ardor, sniffing his sweaty balls at the same time.
Preacher Perkins's wicked tongue pushed through the dainty sphincter of Melinda's hot asshole and slithered up her not-quite-so-dainty rectum. Because of the wetness of Perkins's tongue and the spit he was drooling into her ass, there was no discomfort as he breached her tight elastic orifice and stretched the muscular ring. Melinda was surprised by the voluptuous sensation which she derived, especially when Perkins's tongue began stroking in and out. Her tingling asshole spasmed around the preacher's slippery tongue as it fluttered glidingly up her hot rectum, nearly withdrew, then thrust deeply up her ass again.
Melinda moaned around Josiah's still-wiggly cock, then let the peter go and slid her moist, sucking lips down over the man's hobbling balls. Melinda kissed his nuts all over and even took one of the egg-shaped testicles into her mouth.
"Uuh! Oooh!" Josiah said, and he quivered.
Melinda grasped his soft cock and pumped it up and down while she kept sucking his nuts, going from one to the other and bathing both of them in her spit.
Perkins had begun reaming her asshole with his tongue, working it round and round, and the sphincter became more relaxed, spreading rather widely. The preacher's nose was nestled in the top of Melinda's silken asscrack, and his hot breath tickled her while he tongued her anus.
Josiah's penis thickened in Melinda's hand as she jerked at it. She let go of his floppy nuts and took his cockhead into her mouth. She bathed the spongy knob in saliva as she sucked at it, working her lips energetically behind the corona. His cockhead grew larger. His shaft stiffened up.
Suddenly Reverend Perkins stopped tongue-fucking Melinda's asshole, and she felt a pang of disappointment as her sphincter contracted slowly. But the muscle remained pleasantly relaxed and very wet from the preacher's saliva.
Melinda bobbed her head above Josiah's loins, her encircling soft lips gliding up and down on his cock. His balls had contracted at the base of the shaft, and Melinda caressed them as the blunt head of his penis battered the roof of her mouth and thrust deeper into her throat, stroke by stroke.
The hard-working girl was excited, but not to the point where she was approaching an orgasm. She remained disappointed over her loss of stimulation at her rear.
But suddenly that disappointment was supplanted by fear as she felt firm, insistent pressure against the puckered indentation between her buttocks. This time it wasn't Perkins's tongue that was pushing to enter her rectum, but his penis. Melinda raised her head off Josiah's standing prick, intending to protest and, if necessary, wriggle away from the preacher's threatened new penetration which she feared would hurt her. But the smooth knob of his cock made good its assault upon her softened puckers and popped inside her ass. Instead of hurting her, the fullness felt thrillingly good and Melinda groaned with pleasure as inch after inch of the preacher's thrusting, thick pecker forged up her slippery anus.
As Melinda bent to resume her sucking of Josiah's cock, she caught a glimpse of Matt who was standing by the still and watching enviously, his pants-front pushed into a tent. Just wait until I've taken care of these two, Melinda told him silently. Your turn will come.
Preacher Perkins stroked his long slippery rod in and out of the spasming, hotly clutching orifice between Melinda's white upthrust buttocks as she bobbed her head on Josiah's dong. She writhed from head to hips, undulating voluptuously. Her excitement mounted. It was a very odd sensation to have a man's prick stroking up her asshole instead of up her cunt, but Melinda was surprised to discover that the nerve ends in her rear passage were even more sensitive than those in her vagina, and she felt herself approaching a strange new kind of orgasm, though her clitoris was receiving no stimulation at all.
She mouth-fucked Josiah harder. A groan burst from his lips and his whale-like body heaved upward as he rammed his pecker into Melinda's throat. The cock jerked spastically and Melinda's eyes watered, but she kept sucking and gulping. Josiah's balls let go, and a flood of thick, slimy semen gushed upward to splash into Melinda's gullet. She gulped it down.
Preacher Perkins was fucking her asshole energetically, running the entire length of his awesome rod into her squishy guts. Melinda spasmed, as she continued to swallow Josiah's seemingly endless seminal deluge. The blissful girl's rectal muscles rippled around Perkins's prick. Suddenly the stroking column twitched, its head expanding in Melinda's intestine, and the preacher spurted his semen into her bowels.
Melinda throbbed wildly, letting go of Josiah's shriveling peter. She bellowed like a heifer being bred. Her asshole convulsed around the preacher's quivering penis.
After withdrawing from her, Perkins flopped onto his back and didn't move. His brown-stained prick lay against his belly. His eyes were closed and his mouth was open. He was breathing deeply.
Melinda glanced at Josiah. He reached for his bottle, but the flask slid out of his hand and spilled on the grass. He made a sound like a deflating air mattress as he collapsed on the ground. He too was unconscious.
Melinda was nearly as tired as the men she had sexed into insensibility, but she had one more challenge to meet. She got up and walked over to Matt, smiling as she lifted her disarrayed blonde hair behind her shoulders.
"Hard up, aren't you?" she said boldly, and placed her hand at the protruding front of the teen-ager's pants.
"Yeah," he husked as Melinda caressed his cock through his clothes. He dropped the bucket he had been holding.
"Would you like me to suck you off?" Melinda asked, no longer shocked by her own frankness.
"Hell, yes!" Matt said, breathing hard. His erection throbbed in his pants.
"Will you let me go if I show you a real good time?"
"Shit, Melinda ... I can't do that," the youth said, obviously suffering.
"If you don't, your father and Josiah will kill me. I know that's what they have in mind. Do you want to have that on your conscience?" Melinda kept fondling his pants-front.
"They wouldn't. . . kill you ..." Matt's head lolled, and he writhed against the exquisite torture Melinda was administering.
"What else can they do?" she argued. "They're afraid that if they let me go I'll tell Ed Tackett about the still."
"Will you?" Matt asked, grinding his aroused penis against Melinda's hand.
"Yes," she said, "because the liquor they're making is apt to kill people. They have to be stopped."
The youth suddenly shoved Melinda away. "You better lie down and wait until Paw wakes up," he said hoarsely. It was obvious he was having a battle with himself.
Melinda dropped to her knees in front of Matt, her tits bobbing erotically. She grasped at the front of his trousers, quickly unbuttoning them. She let Matt's long penis out, and the horny organ angled rigidly upward, the hood pulling back off its moist rosy head.
"There ain't no deal," he said raspingly as he watched Melinda's blonde head bow to his thrusting prick. "Paw would whomp me."
"I know," she told him, not looking up. "I want to do this anyway."
Melinda stuck out her tongue and began to lick the young man's excitedly twitching pecker. The rosy cock bobbed about as Matt writhed, Melinda chasing it with her tongue. She slapped and flickered her moist tongue against the handsome prick. She swabbed one side of the column, then the other. She lapped against the underside of the upthrust bulb, causing it to bounce like a yo-yo on a string.
Finally Melinda enclosed the entire throbbing cockhead in her wet, warm mouth and she began to hunch, gliding her wide-stretched lips up and down the slippery shaft as Matt's glans plowed along her velvety tongue, into her throat.
The youth had never received such treatment before, and he was intensely thrilled by the sucking, licking action of Melinda's hotly encompassing mouth. It excited him further to watch her tousled head bobbing as his rigid shaft alternately sank into her pretty face, then reappeared, slick and gleaming with her saliva.
Matt began to rock on the balls of his feet, fucking his straight prick into the mouth of the lovely girl. He gasped. He let out a rasping groan. Suddenly his cream erupted and flooded into Melinda's throat, washing down to her stomach as she continued to suck, and the youth quivered with an ecstasy he had never known before.
After she had drunk all his semen, Melinda let his softening penis slide slowly out of her mouth and down across her chin. She looked up at Matt and stuck out her rosy tongue which still bore drops of his cum. She ran the tongue around her mouth, licking up a few final traces of his semen, then closed her mouth and swallowed. She smiled at the youth.
Matt stared at her, obviously thinking about all she had said before. Her life was at stake, and so were the lives of a lot of others, if what she had said about his father's whiskey was correct.
"Goddamn it, get your clothes on and get out of here!" Matt said. "Hurry up before Paw wakes up."
Overwhelmed with gratitude, Melinda bounded to her feet. She gave Matt a quick kiss on the lips, then scurried to gather her clothes. She got dressed in record time.
Melinda didn't dare return to the preacher's house. The only place where she felt she would be safe was Ed's farm. She had been there twice and knew she could find the place, even in the dark, but it was going to be a long walk. It was late and she was tired, but she set out through the woods, mentally calculating the location of the road.
Owls hooted and there were sudden rustlings in the woods, but Melinda hurried on, picking her way among the trees. Several times she was scratched by branches, and twice she lost her footing on fallen limbs and rocks, causing her to fall. But she picked herself up and continued.
She finally arrived at the road, and this made for easier walking. She identified the turnoff to Ed's farm and followed it. By the time she came in sight of his place, her muscles ached. But the realization that she was almost at her destination gave her the strength to go on.
Melinda staggered onto Ed's porch and slumped against the doorjamb. She pounded on the door until she heard movement inside the house. A lamp was lit, and the door was opened.
Ed appeared, clad in undershorts. He blinked, sleepy-eyed. "Melinda, for God's sake! What's the matter?"
He embraced her and helped her into the house. He guided her to a chair. Still panting from her exertion, she told Ed what had happened, even including her voluntary sexing with Josiah and Perkins in order to make possible her escape. But she omitted any mention of Matt. She didn't want to see the boy punished for his father's sins.
Ed's brother emerged from the bedroom, wearing a robe, and Melinda was surprised to discover he was the freckle-faced youth who had carried her luggage from the bus to the preacher's house the day she had arrived in Horner's Hollow. She had liked him from the first, and she gave him a warm smile when Ed introduced them.
Melinda felt better now that she was safe and had rested for a few minutes, but she remained weary.
Ed said, "Andy, go make some coffee. Melinda and I have a few more things to say to each other."
"Sure thing, Ed." The youth grinned. "Nice to see you again, Miss Johnson."
Melinda said, "I hope we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on, Andy."
The boy went into the kitchen, and Ed told Melinda, "That guy named Elmer that Perkins mentioned--the fellow who was going to pick up his supplies-well, some of the townspeople got hold of him. They worked him over pretty good, and he admitted it was Perkins and Josiah who were still putting out the poisonous hootch. The whole town's looking for those two birds. When they get home in the morning, they'll find a reception committee waiting."
"That's good," Melinda said, and lay back in her chair. "Oh, Ed, I'm so tired!"
"I'll bet you are, honey. Why don't you go into the bedroom and climb into my bed? Andy and I will bunk out here for the rest of the night."
"With Andy around?" Ed shook his head. "That would be kind of rough on the lad. He and I will be comfortable out here. This old sofa opens into a bed. Andy and I used to sleep on it when we were kids."
Without waiting for the coffee Andy was brewing, Melinda gave Ed a kiss and walked into the bedroom. Ed removed the covers from Andy's bed as Melinda quickly undressed. She snuggled into Ed's bed and was sound asleep moments after her head touched the pillow.
CHAPTER TWELVE
When Melinda awoke in the morning and found herself staring at a strange ceiling, she had to think for a moment to remember where she was. Then a recollection of the sordid events of last night swamped her mind.
Now that the excitement was over and she was able to think clearly, Melinda worried about Ed's reaction to what she had told him. He hadn't seemed to condemn her last night for admitting she'-d had sex with Perkins and Josiah, but she wondered how he really felt. She was anxious to talk with him.
Getting up and slipping a dress on over her panties, Melinda walked to the door which led to the living room. She rapped, but there was no answer. She opened the door and looked out.
The bed in the living room had been folded back into a sofa, and there was no sign of Ed or Andy. Melinda glanced at the old-fashioned clock on the wall and saw that the time was eleven-thirty.
My God! she thought. I'm supposed to be at school!
But then she wilted. What was the use? The kids probably hadn't shown up for classes that morning anyway. She recalled that she had been on her way out of town when she had gotten mixed up with Perkins and Josiah. Since nothing had changed in her relations with the townsfolk, Melinda concluded she might as well go ahead with her plan. But now, of course, she would have to talk it over with Ed.
He probably won't want me anyway, now that I've admitted screwing Perkins and Josiah, she thought. She felt depressed.
Melinda had noticed a pitcher of water, a basin, a towel and soap in the bedroom. She bathed herself as best she could and got dressed again. She was very hungry and took the liberty of preparing breakfast in Ed's kitchen.
It was nearly one o'clock when she returned to the living room. She sat down, determined to wait patiently until Ed returned.
In less than ten minutes, Ed's pickup squeaked to a stop outside. Melinda jumped up and met Ed and Andy at the door.
Ed grinned and drew Melinda into his arms. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"Much better now," she said. But her smile was less than enthusiastic. She watched Ed anxiously, looking for a clue to his new attitude toward her.
He gave her a quick kiss, then flopped into a chair.
Andy said, "I better get out and plow that back twenty. See you later, Melinda."
"I hope so, Andy."
The youth left the house.
Ed said, "Well, Preacher Perkins and old man Banes are safely locked up. The folks gave them a pretty rough time, but they'll live-leastwise for a while."
"What do you mean?" Melinda asked.
"Josiah and the preacher demanded some whiskey, so the townsfolk brought them a case of their own white lightning. The folks told them it was from another still-one of the safe ones."
"Oh, Ed . . . !"
He shrugged. "What could be fairer than that? Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you, the Lord says. If the preacher's hootch is okay, he and Josiah will survive. If it isn't--well, those old boys will just be getting what they deserve."
It was a crude form of justice, but Melinda had to admit it was sound. The more she learned about the people of Horner's Hollow, the more respect she had for them.
"Oh, incidentally," Ed continued, "I found your suitcases by the shed in back of the preacher's house. I brought them here in the pickup."
"Thank you," Melinda murmured.
"You were fixing to skip out, weren't you?"
She looked down. "Yes, Ed, I was. I was going to write you as soon as I got to Nashville. I was hoping you could drive over and we could make plans." She looked at him. "I just didn't want you to chuck everything and run off with me. That would have hurt you too much."
"Nothing would hurt me as much as losing you," he said.
His eyes were sincere.
"Do you still feel that way? Even after last night?"
"Why, sure. Why shouldn't I?"
"Well, I told you how I screwed Perkins and Josiah."
"You couldn't help that," Ed said. "Anyway, you got away from them. That's what counts."
"Oh, darling, you're wonderful!" Melinda exclaimed, and bounded across the room to plump herself on his lap. They kissed passionately and Ed fondled her unbrassiered tits.
He abruptly terminated the kiss and leaned back to look her in the face. "There's something I've got to tell you right now, and maybe you won't think I'm so wonderful after you hear it."
Melinda blinked. "What is it, darling?"
"Well, I got to thinking about the trouble you've been having at the school--the kids not showing up for classes and all. I've known right along how I could put a stop to all the bad talk that's been going around, that silly prattle about you being a Lesbian, but. . . well, I didn't want to hurt your reputation in another way. But after I found your suitcases and realized you were fixing to leave town, I figured I'd better do what I had in mind. It seemed like my last chance."
"Yes, honey?" Melinda prompted.
"I talked to the guys who were hanging around the general store a little while ago. Baby, now don't get sore--but I told the fellows I've been bedding you for the last week. I said you were the hottest little cunt in Tennessee and there just wasn't anything you liked better than fucking!"
Ed paused, waiting for Melinda's response.
She was shocked, because her faith in Ed's character seemed to have been ill-founded. But in another way she was relieved. Undoubtedly the children would return to school now. The hill people didn't always bother to get married before they set up housekeeping, Melinda had learned since she had been living in Horner's Hollow, and they were apt to have much greater tolerance toward a loose woman than toward a Lesbian.
However, she felt she had to frown at Ed. "Darling, that wasn't very nice," she said petulantly.
"I know it," he admitted. "But I reckoned it would be okay in the long run." He paused, then smiled broadly as he continued. "Seeing as how you and I are going to be getting married pretty soon."
"Ed!" Melinda stared at him, her eyes dancing. "Well, baby, can't you say any more than that?"
"Oh, you bet I can, you big oaf! I love you, and . . . yes! I want to marry you tomorrow." She threw her arms around his neck, and they kissed with hotly stroking tongues.
After they came up for air, Ed said, "We can't tie the knot quite that fast, I'm afraid. We've got to wait until a new parson comes to town. I wouldn't want Perkins to marry us, and I don't reckon you would, either."
"That's right," Melinda said, and smiled broadly. "Well, until then we'll just have to go on living in sin, I suppose."
Ed laughed, and they kissed again.
After dinner that night, Ed opened the sofa-bed for Andy and himself to use.
"See you in the morning, honey," he said to Melinda. She could tell by his tone of voice and the sorrowful look in his eyes that he was very unhappy about the arrangement.
Andy was in the kitchen, noisily finishing the dinner dishes.
Melinda snuggled into Ed's arms. "I thought we were going to live in sin," she murmured. "You've got us living like a monk and a nun!"
He took hold of her arms and eased her away from him. "Baby, do you think I like it?" he whispered softly. "My cock is aching for you right now. But we can't go to bed together with Andy here. The poor kid would suffer like hell knowing we were in the bedroom sexing it up."
Melinda got a daring idea. "Honey, you said the other day that you thought Andy was old enough to learn what sex was all about. Remember?"
"Yeah." Ed appeared puzzled.
"Well ..." Melinda took a deep breath. Her body tingled with anticipation. "Why don't we show him?"
"You mean, let him watch us? Melinda, that'd be even worse! We'd give him a hard-on that wouldn't quit, and he wouldn't know what to do with it."
"Shhh." Melinda touched her finger to Ed's lips and whispered, "I mean . .. well, darn it all, why don't the three of us go to bed together?"
She feared, as soon as the words had left her lips, that she might have ruined herself in Ed's eyes. After all, it was a shocking suggestion that a man should share his fiancee with his kid brother.
Ed stared at Melinda for a moment, and her apprehension increased. She was at the point of apologizing and begging his forgiveness when a smile suddenly lit up his rugged face.
"You really wouldn't mind breaking Andy in?" Ed asked.
"I wouldn't if you wouldn't," Melinda replied, trembling with excitement.
"Then, by God, we'll do it! I was wondering who I could get to show him the ropes. If I were to let him get mixed up with any of the young local gals, he'd just get hooked into playing house before he was ready. You're sure you don't mind?"
"Darling, I'd be happy to do it," Melinda said.
They kissed.
Melinda marveled to herself over how much she had changed in the last two weeks. But then she realized she really hadn't changed at all, deep inside. She merely had been forced to recognize herself for the sensuous creature she had always been--the creature Harry Rolf couldn't satisfy because he wasn't man enough and was too selfish. She had to be accepted as a sensuous woman, not merely as a plaything to be used by a man for his own gratification. Learning to recognize people, herself included, for what they really were, instead of for the false images they sometimes projected, was the lesson which Horner's Hollow, and Ed in particular, had taught her.
Melinda and Ed went into the bedroom and pushed the twin beds together. While she made them up in the form of one king-sized bed, Ed had a talk with Andy in the other room. Melinda undressed and slid under the covers, settling herself in the center of the bed.
Ed came in. "Andy's getting undressed in the living room," he reported, and grinned! "The kid's pretty excited. Take it easy with him, will you?"
"I'll be gentle with him, darling," Melinda promised. Her heart thudded with anticipation.
Ed undressed and crawled into bed beside Melinda. He turned down the wick of the bedside lamp, snuffing out the flame. After a few moments the door opened and Andy entered the room, stark naked. In the soft moonglow that flooded in through the windows. Andy's prick could be clearly seen, standing almost straight up in front of his firm, even belly.
Melinda lay back the covers, inviting the fifteen-year-old to lie beside her. He did so, being careful not to touch her. Melinda kissed him, and her cool hand encircled his hot, stiff cock. She thrilled to its bone-like hardness. Andy's cock wasn't as large as Ed's, and Melinda knew it wouldn't give her as much satisfaction, but his youthful eagerness excited her. It gave her a very warm feeling to know she was going to be the first woman in his life.
Melinda stroked Andy's upthrust prong gently as she kissed him with a circling, fluttering tongue. She teased his tongue into responding, and soon Andy was thrusting his tongue into her mouth. Melinda sucked on it.
She lay back the covers and bent to his loins. Andy's young cock was so taut with excitement that it resisted Melinda's effort to hold it perpendicular to his body. She leaned closer and placed her moist, soft lips around the tip of his hot young pecker. Andy groaned. Melinda let his entire slippery cockhead glide into her mouth and she contracted her lips around the ridge of his organ, sucking gently as she fluttered her tongue against the weeping tip of his dong.
"Oooh, gosh!" Andy exclaimed, panting. "I can't. .. stand it!"
Melinda quickly released his penis from her mouth-not because she would have minded taking the gush of his semen in that way, but because she wanted Andy's first sexual experience to be complete. Lying back, she guided the youth's tousled head to her breasts. He eagerly licked and sucked at her thrusting, firm nipples.
Melinda glanced at Ed. He was smiling at her, honestly pleased that she was helping his brother learn about life. That was a further demonstration of Ed's fine character, Melinda believed. She loved him all the more for it.
After Andy had sucked Melinda's tits to his heart's content, she guided him atop her. His eager shaft slid easily into her lathered cunt.
"Oh, wow!" the youth exclaimed as he supported himself on straight arms above the lovely blonde. "Man, that feels great!"
"Better than your hand-huh, Andy?" Ed asked with affection.
The youth laughed tensely. "You'd better believe it!"
"Now fuck me," Melinda whispered as her hands moved up and down Andy's back. "Show me what that fine hard cock of yours can do."
Thrilled speechless, Andy began to pump his prick up and down in Melinda's slippery, clutching channel. She responded and arched against his vigorous thrusts. But she was really only waiting for Andy to finish so that she could be with Ed. He was the man she loved, and that made all the difference.
Andy lowered himself against Melinda, his hairless chest resting on her soft titties. He drove his hard prick into her at breathless speed. Melinda ground her cunt against him and worked its internal muscles, clutching at the youth's fast-stroking cock.
Andy gasped, twitched, then thrust deep into Melinda's belly. He came, his hot juice spurting. Melinda petted him and kissed him around the neck.
"Gosh, that was great!" Andy said as he climbed off.
"You bet it was," Melinda replied.
Then she quickly rolled atop Ed, finding his cock nearly as stiff as Andy's had been and much larger. She impaled her wet, hot pussy on his manly spike and fucked wildly, grinding her hips and pumping them up and down. Melinda swung her head, causing her blonde hair to caress Ed's face and shoulders. He squeezed her luscious tits and directed a tingling nipple to his warm, moist mouth as he drove his long cock upward into her swirling, pumping cunt.
They fucked to a thrilling dual climax as Andy watched.
Afterwards Melinda crouched and took Ed's penis into her mouth while Andy approached her from the rear. She had explained to him beforehand what they were going to do, and she aimed her white, soft buttocks high enough so the youth would have no trouble inserting his resurrected prick into her vagina.
As Melinda sucked Ed to a renewed erection, bobbing her mouth on his fine-tasting, meaty prick, Andy's steel-stiff rod danced up and down in her wet, throbbing pussy. All three climaxed together, Andy's hot semen spurting into Melinda's cunt while Ed geysered into her mouth. This time Melinda held only his glans between her lips as he came, so that his thick, slippery semen would splash over her tongue, thrilling her taste buds before it slid down her throat. A beautiful burst of warmth streamed through her, and Melinda vibrated between her two lovers. She felt blissfully happy.
In the morning, Ed and Andy drove Melinda to school. Her heart leaped as she saw the children playing around the door.
"Oh, Ed, they're back!" she exclaimed, and threw her arms around his neck. She kissed him moistly on the mouth, nearly causing him to drive the pickup into a tree.
Andy got out of the pickup and helped Melinda down.
"I want to thank both of you for bringing me," she said with a smile.
"Well, Andy didn't just come along for the ride," Ed explained. "I'm giving him a few days off from the ranch so he can go back to school."
"What do you mean?" Melinda asked. "Andy told me he graduated from here two years ago."
"That's right," Ed said. "But I figured maybe he could help keep the other kids in line. Anyhow," Ed added with a grin, "a little extra education won't hurt him. Throw him into your eighth grade class."
"You shouldn't do this," Melinda said to both of them. "Andy, Ed needs you on the farm."
"I can get along without him for a little while," Ed said. "You've gotta have a fighting chance with that class of yours, and Andy can see that you get it. Watch that Jasper Banes," he warned his brother. "He's a bad one."
"I can handle him," Andy said confidently, and took Melinda's arm. "Come on, Miss Johnson. It's time for school to start."
"I'll pick you up at three-thirty," Ed called as he drove away.
Melinda said, "Andy, I hope you won't tell any of the other students about being in bed with me last night."
"You're my teacher, ma'am," Andy said, a grin splitting his freckled face. "That's how I'm going to treat you. And the rest of the kids better treat you the right way, too, or they'll answer to me."
Melinda had a warm feeling as she entered the old schoolhouse and walked to her desk. The children filed in and took their seats. Melinda assigned Andy to one of the vacant large seats at the rear of the room. The students looked at him, knowing he was Ed's brother, then straightened in their seats. Perfect silence reigned.
"Children, it's good to see you back," Melinda said, smiling happily. "Now let's get down to work, shall we?"
Not a contrary sound was heard. With a burst of pride, Melinda knew at last how it felt to be a teacher.
