Vanessa picked up her suitcase, struggled another ten feet with it, and stopped again. Looking up through the mosaic of leaves that flashed a dark green pattern on the evening sky, she tried not to remind herself how stupid she had been to pack everything in one large bag. It had been convenient at the Phoenix airport, where her father had hauled it up to the scales, and at the airport in Boston where there had been porters. The limousine driver had got it this far. But now here she was, a day early for orientation, in the middle of a tiny and all but deserted campus, with the sun going down and no one to help her. She supposed she could just leave it where it was and try to find out where her dormitory room would be. After all, who would steal it here? And it wasn't as if anyone could run very fast, with a suitcase that must have weighed close to a hundred pounds. She picked it up and struggled another ten feet Then she heard laughter from somewhere.
She looked around at the gothic towers and masses of stone that surrounded her. She spotted an open window on the fourth floor of the building nearest her, and thought she could make out a face outlined against the dark.
"Hi!" said a masculine voice from the window.
She laughed. "Hi," she returned.
"Where you going with that thing?"
"The blacksmith shop," she answered. "I've got four anvils in here."
"Oh," the voice said, "I know where that is. I'll be right down to help you."
Vanessa sat on her suitcase for a moment, wondering what the place would be like. She glanced self-consciously down at her breasts. She'd taken off her bra in a John in the Boston airport. She'd never gone without one before in her life-but then, one didn't do things like that in small towns in Arizona, She'd always wanted to try it. In the Boston airport, she'd noticed only one or two boys staring at her-which was some kind of testimony to the sophistication of the East, since her nipples, rubbed erect by the unaccustomed friction of her flimsy blouse, stuck out noticeably.
The noisy clamor of feet on steps issued onto the deep grass of the lawn. Doors banged, and a male figure detached itself from the building and came toward her. The boy was tall-Vanessa herself was five seven, and she could see that he towered over her even as he came nearer-and had long hair.
"You here for orientation?" a voice asked, as the boy got nearer.
"Yes," she said, almost hating to admit that she was only a freshman-only seventeen, and probably very naive.
Now the boy was standing beside her. "I'm Hal," he said. "Hal Winters. I'm helping with orientation. You'll be staying in Bobbins Hall. This way ... "
He picked up her bag-not as if it were nothing, which it definitely was not, but without grunting or groaning-and took off. When they had crossed the courtyard, they entered Bobbins. Hal looked at a chart on the wall, looked at the suitcase, and shook his head. "You're on the third floor," he said. Then, as she felt his eyes touch lightly on her unfettered breasts, she noticed his tone becoming less official. "Come on," he said. "I've got a master key. I'll let you in."
Half an hour later Vanessa was sipping scotch and water in Hal's room. "Is this legal?" she asked.
"Legal it isn't-you're under age in this state. Permitted it is-this school has a pretty liberal reputation, and it deserves it. The cops don't come on campus."
Vanessa wasn't used to drinking much, and felt the liquor going to her head quickly. To take her mind off that fact, she began to ask questions.
"What do you study?"
"Philosophy."
"My God." Well, that avenue of conversation was out. She caught sight of an inner room that opened off Hal's. "Whose room is that?" she asked.
"John Stacey's-my roommate," Hal said. "He won't be here for a few days yet."
The room was dark, but Vanessa could see the walls were covered with photographs. "Is he a photographer?" she asked.
"Hardly," Hal said. "You ask him to take a picture and he can't even find the right button."
"Who took all those photographs?" she asked.
"I did."
"How come they're not in your room?"
"Well ... most of them are figure studies, and when I study a figure, I really study it" She searched his tone for any hint of conceit or egoism, but he was too clever for that "When we have people in we like to be able to close off that room-depending on who ft is. Besides, John digs the pictures more than I do. When I finish something, I land of like to forget it and go on to the next thing." Vanessa expected him to give her a significant look. When he didn't she decided maybe she wasn't that significant Instead he went to the liquor cabinet and came back with the scotch bottle.
"Mind if I take a look at them?" she asked, as he plopped a couple of ice cubes into her drink and filled it from the bottle.
"Go ahead," he said. "I guess you won't see anything you haven't seen in the mirror." Hal kept his seat as Vanessa went into the other room and switched on the light. As she did, she was shocked in two ways at once: first by the pictures, which covered all four walls from floor to ceiling, and featured pictures from a few inches to a few feet high of girls, most of them nude, in every conceivable position-and second, by the quality of the work. Hal hadn't been lying: when he studied a figure, he really studied it Vanessa realized that she was really drunk-and then remembered that she'd been drinking scotch and water without the water-and enjoying it-for some time.
Her eyes immediately fastened on a medium sized picture-blown up to about a foot square-of a vagina, close up. Cunt, she corrected herself, trying to get rid of the sterile language of biology class. The picture looked almost abstract; at the edge were a few fingers delicately holding the outer lips open, gently squeezing pliant mounds of white flesh furry with blonde hair. Then the texture changed where the inner lips lay pouting and distinct against the pearly background of the inner flesh. A clitoris stood erect at the top of the innermost slit, which opened on dark shadows. The cunt was moist and glistening. With a start, Vanessa realized that she now knew the vagina-cunt, she repeated stubbornly-of some anonymous person better than she knew her own. She wondered whether Hal had fucked the girl after he'd taken the picture.
She spent a while perusing the rest of the photographs in the room with fascination. There were a few landscapes and still life's, she noticed, strewn in among the figure studies. All the work showed the same high quality-and almost, at times, (as well as she was qualified to tell,) genius.
She returned to the other room, leaving the light in the inner room on. When she took her seat again, she could still see a magnificent close-up of an erect nipple, and a full-length shot of an upright female torso from the rear, against a spider-web-like background of She sat quietly for a second. Then, "Your stuff is really great"
Hal smiled and blushed slightly. "Thanks," he said.
"How did you learn?"
"My father's a professional," he said.
"And are those professional models?"
Hal got up and rummaged in his desk. Over his shoulder he answered her: "No. I don't like working with professionals. Besides, I can't afford it-I don't sell too much."
Vanessa put off asking where he got his models, "But you have sold some things?"
"Yeah, a few," he said. He opened a desk drawer and, apparently finding what he wanted, returned. "Do you smoke?" he asked.
"What-and give myself cancer?" Vanessa asked.
"No," Hal said, laughing-"Dope. Do you smoke marijuana?"
Vanessa wasn't very shocked, but the little shock she had was displayed on her face. "I never have," she said, "but I'd like to try it some time."
Hal dangled a small cloth bag. "I'm going to have some now. Don't feel as if you have to-some times it's not so good to mix dope and alcohol."
Vanessa found herself being strongly attracted to Hal-but at the same time she became very aware that he was four "real" years older than she was, and probably mentally ten years older. "If you're having some, I'll have some," she said.
"Okay." In a moment he had produced three rather skinny and bedraggled looking cigarettes. "This is dynamite stuff," he said. "But you never know the first time-you might not get stoned, The first time's always the hardest."
For some reason that phrase went awry in Vanessa's mind, and she found herself remembering that she was a virgin-although she had no particular ambition to remain that way-and wondering whether the first time really was the hardest Hal lit a cigarette and passed it to her. "Draw it deep and hold your breath," he said. "That way you don't waste the smoke."
Between drags on the joint, Vanessa found herself asking Hal where he got the models for his pictures.
"Lots of places," Hal said. "Some of the pictures are girls from New York, some from places I've stayed in the summers, and so on."
"Are any of them from school?" she asked.
"Yes," Hal said, "some of them. But I don't say which ones."
"Why not ... don't the girls want you to?"
Hal laughed. "Some of them don't-but the ones who would really care aren't up there."
"Then why don't you tell?"
"Frankly," he said, "I don't particularly want to run a cunt gallery. If I told who was who, every time a guy started to get interested in a chick he'd come running up here-either to check out her pussy or to make sure nobody had ever seen her before, depending. That damned room is famous enough as it is."
"I bet," said Vanessa. They were on their second joint now, and Vanessa hadn't felt anything ... but suddenly like she had got on an elevator to the five hundredth floor of a ten story building, she began to drift far away above herself. "Woaaaa ... " she said.
"Going up?" asked Hal, who obviously understood perfectly how she felt.
"Damn right," she said.
"Here-have some more," He handed her the reeking roll of paper that burned unevenly and brightly. It seemed that she had to make twenty, thirty, forty tiny little moves to get to it Finally she grasped it, brushing Hal's fingers as she did. Seconds later, she realized that she had been leaning over, that her full breasts had swung away from her body and bounced loosely against the cloth of her blouse. She could almost feel her nipples expanding, growing darker and harder beneath the pale cloth. She found herself wanting to rip off her blouse.
But instead, she said, "Would I make a good model?"
Hal chuckled quietly.
"What's so funny?" she asked-although she realized that the tone of his laugh was not malicious. Her brain was functioning weirdly now, and she was just realizing that she had offered to take off her clothes and offer herself before a camera in all kinds of weird poses.
That's how I get most of my models," Hal said.
"How?"
"They see my work and offer."
Vanessa saw a way to gain some ground. "Did I offer?" At that moment she was wondering whether it was really Vanessa who had offered.
Hal was somewhat taken aback, but he recovered quickly. "I didn't say you did. I just said that was the way I got most of my models."
Vanessa laughed. Then Hal laughed. Vanessa was still laughing when Hal got up, went to a closet, and pulled out a mass of tangled wires and shafts of metal He had them sorted out and set up before Vanessa realized they were flood lights. She looked at them with fascination, then went over and turned one on. She was really stoned. She felt the warmth of the light on her chest. She turned it off, then on. Warm, cool, warm, cool. Once more she felt her nipples rising- this time like rosebuds under the warmth of the spring sun.
She was totally lost in the glare of the spotlight when Hal finished setting up his camera. It was a large, old fashioned box camera. As she turned to stare at it, she noticed that there were a number of other cameras-thirty-five millimeter ones-on a bookshelf.
"Okay," Hal said. All the lights came on. Vanessa felt as if she were center-stage in a large auditorium. Ripples of sensation rolled over her. "Unbutton the top few buttons on your blouse."
Vanessa, although she had never modeled anything in her life, slipped intuitively into the model's role. She looked directly at the camera-then arched her back slightly, tilted her head back a bit, and drew her hands up to unbutton the top buttons on her blouse.
She turned to the side, and heard a click.
"Now unbutton your blouse completely," Hal said.
She turned away from him and the buttons of her blouse seemed to fall away beneath her fingers. She opened it wide-her back still to him-and looked at her breasts. Tits, she told herself. They looked better now.
"Let go of the blouse," Hal said. She did, and the cloth swirled down to cover her tits. Suddenly she couldn't believe she was doing this. She remembered back to the naive junior high school days, when she had sworn that she would "save herself for her husband." Her body looked the same as it had then: slim, with silky skin, dark pubic hair-can hair, she reminded herself-and definitely something to be desired.
"Now turn this way." Hal's voice came to her from far away. She turned to him. The camera clicked. She moved again, and the camera clicked again. "Now sit down on the floor."
Vanessa became instantly aware that she was wearing a short skirt. She sat down, and felt the camera's gaze run up her legs and into her exposed crotch. It didn't matter-pretty soon it would all be exposed anyhow.
"Now take off your blouse," Hal said. Vanessa obeyed-slowly, almost in a haze. She reached down and drew it apart, revealing her large, pink, erect nipples, puffy and throbbing. She threw back her shoulders and let the blouse fall to the floor.
For the first time, she saw her own body as a camera would see it. Her breasts were large and firm, and jutted out without the slightest bit of sagging. The nipples were high on them, like crowns. She imagined how it would be to have milk flowing through them, like water from a well deep in the ground. She gazed at them for a few seconds. Hal picked up a small camera and came close. Vanessa could feel its eye fastening on her left tit, and it occurred to her that she should be self-conscious-at least slightly. But she wasn't.
After Hal was through with her tits, he went back to his large camera. Vanessa hadn't been touched-but her body was wracked with excitement as though every inch of it had been teased and caressed, and she could feel her tight little pussy beginning to flow with the juices of womanhood. She knew that feeling well from the back-seat encounters in high school that had been so common and so unrewarding. But then she had always been tight and tense, and the wetness in her crotch had been wasted. The boys she had dated in high school simply hadn't known what to do.
"Take your skirt off," Hal said. She unbuttoned the short skirt and slipped it off. She glanced at Hal. His eyes were professionally ambiguous-but she noticed a lump growing in the crotch of his pants. That was a good sign. She found herself wanting to go to him and put her hand in his pants-to feel the warmth of his long rod in her cool, tingling fingers. Instead. she followed his instructions.
"Lie down," he said, "and spread your legs." Vanessa still had her panties on, and the crotch was marked with a wide, damp circle where her pussy was overflowing. She felt the lips of her cunt rubbing together as she assumed the position Hal had asked for. She looked down. A few curls of dark hair escaped from the edges of her panties. Hal closed in with the big camera and took several shots.
"Turn over," he said. "Spread wide." The cloth of her panties strained against her flesh. "You have a nice ass," Hal said, taking pictures with a 35 mm. camera from all sorts of angles and altering the lighting slightly. When he was done, he emptied the camera and put in fresh film.
"That's good for the preliminary stuff," he said. "I always take a lot of shots like that so I can get a feel for the body. You can take your pants off now."
Vanessa was shivering ;with excitement She wanted to reach down and grab her clit and pummel it with her anxious fingers. "A feel for the body," Hal had said. She had a bizarre image of her slim, youthful body being cradled in a huge hand, turned over and over: like a huge hand, the cameras were all around her, now caressing one side of her, now the other, She turned on her stomach, arched her back, and slipped her pants slowly down-past her knees, over her calves. She straightened her toes, pulled them off, and flung them away.
"Nice," Hal said softly. "Beautiful, How old are you?"
"Seventeen," she said.
"A beautiful age," Hal said. "Usually I work with older models, and their skin is looser. They usually have a little flab on them."
For the first time Vanessa felt that her youth was an advantage.
"Now I'm going to ask you to do some things," he said. "If you don't want to, just slap them ... okay?"
Vanessa heard her voice, from far away, saying, "Don't worry ... I want to." It was almost a groan, and she realized she had been carried away by the alcohol, the marijuana, and her passion, until she was acting without thinking.
"Bring your legs up over your head," Hal said. She raised her legs slowly, until they passed over her head and touched the floor behind her. She was looking up at Hal between her knees. There was a cool feeling between her legs as the air hit the dampness of her cunt, and she felt it also on her asshole. The camera clicked, and she had another bizarre image-of her pussy jumping into the camera and making a juicy print on the virgin film.
"Spread your cunt lips," Hal said. She reached down and, unable to resist the cry of her throbbing clit, touched it. Then she spread the lips of her cunt.
"Beautiful," Hal said, somewhat surprised. "You're still a virgin!" Vanessa felt the camera gobbling up the heavy ring of her hymen.
"Take a lot of pictures of that," she murmured. "I'm not going to have it long if I can help it."
"Spread you ass-cheeks so I can get the asshole," Hal said. She complied, and then realized something strange.
"I don't know what my asshole looks like," she said.
"It's just like the rest of you," he said. "It's beautiful. Nice and tight and pink." He got a mirror and held it for her. She was fascinated with the puckered, smooth flesh. "Stick a finger in," he said. Vanessa began parting the asshole gently, and inserted a little finger. A strong sensation of pleasure welled up from deep inside her.
"That's nice," she said.
"Now take the finger out and spread the hole wide," Hal said "Relax."
She obeyed, and, pulling gently with her fingers, felt her asshole pouting out, becoming more exposed. Hal's shutter clicked several times.
"Now the cunt," he said. "Stick a finger in there-past the hymen, if you can."
Vanessa knew she could: she'd done it before, experimenting with herself. She worked a finger into the juicy pink slit and felt it delve into the inner regions of her womanhood. Somewhere faraway, she heard Hal taking many pictures.
"Okay," Hal said. "Let your legs back down." She did, and lay quietly on her back. "Now let's see your clit."
She spread her cunt-lips and searched for the tiny stump, which had softened and become pliant.
"Can you get it to come up again?"
Vanessa laughed and fingered the tiny bit of flabby skin. Almost immediately the blood coursed into it, and it became hard as a rock-harder than she had ever felt it before. All of her sensation was suddenly concentrated in it, and it seemed to become enormous. Her hips began to churn, and she forgot Hal and the cameras and the lights completely, thrusting her clit onto her finger again and again, humping herself in an orgiastic fit of ecstasy.
After a few moments she passed a plateau: she would not let herself come, and now the setting came back to her. Hal no longer needed to direct her: she writhed about on the floor, stopping in a weird variety of contorted poses that thrust all her sexual being into the camera, cramming it full of images until she thought it would have to explode with passion. Finally she heard herself saying. "If you're done taking pictures, please come and fuck me ... come and break me wide open, and fuck the shit out of my fucking cunt ... "
Her fingers were smashing at her hymen, and for a moment she thought she would break it herself. She rolled over on her stomach and thrust her ass up, exposing herself from the clit to the asshole, and spreading her cunt wide with her fingers. She heard Hal move behind her, but she did not look back at him. Suddenly she felt the moistness of his tongue meeting the moistness of her cunt. It licked her crack from her asshole to her clit, and then circled the clit, licking it if possible still further upright, stroking and caressing it. Her body started to heave convulsively. She was on the brink of orgasm ... when Hal stopped, He let her drift down slowly, and tongued her pussy working the tip of his tongue around her hymen in slow circles and finally worming it past, into her inner recesses. Then it left her, and moved lazily down to the pink, expanding circle of her asshole, prying its way gently in, and then exercising a smooth in-and-out motion.
Vanessa gripped her tits in her hands and massaged them. Now her tits, her cunt, and her asshole were burning likes points of passionate fire, eating into the flesh of her body and consuming it, taking it over, making her forget everything.
Suddenly she rolled over, sat up, and attacked Hal's zipper. Seconds later she held his enormous rod in her hands. With its powerfully flared head and small, central, pin-prick of a hole, it reminded her of a rhinoceros with its horn torn out. She closed her mouth over it, and Hal moaned. Being careful to guard his rod against her teeth, she swallowed more and more of it, till she thought she would choke. She found herself wanting him to come: she wanted a mouthful of hot cream. All the inhibitions she had ever had melted away. Her fingers found Hal's asshole and worked into it. His knees buckled, and his hips pumped his organ down her throat. Then, suddenly, he pulled away and collapsed beside her on the floor.
"Shit," he said, "I almost came." He lay there panting, and then looked at her. "You ready to have that pretty hymen busted?" he asked.
Many times Vanessa had lain awake at night wondering how much her first fuck would hurt. She knew she had a heavy, tight hymen, and that it would not tear easily. But now she forgot all that as she writhed on the floor and clutched wildly at Hal's organ, "Yes," she breathed, "yes, fuck me ... Fuck Me!"
Hal rolled her on her back. There was a camera on the floor behind him. "Let me take a couple more shots of it," he said. He pulled her legs up, and she spread her cunt again. Hal's tongue had left her pussy pink and glistening, and the hymen stood out when she spread it like a donut that had been glued in front of her hole. She felt the light flooding it, the camera catching it-and then Hal was on top of her.
"Now," he said, "raise your hips." She obeyed, and felt Hal's hand in the small of her back supporting her. Then the hot flesh of his rod pressed up against the tiny opening. It was much too big ... it would never work ... but the inside of Vanessa's cunt had forgotten the hymen, and was working to suck Hal in past it. Gradually it worked in, just the tip of it, until the hymen was stretching and taut.
"Now fuck," said Hal. The hand in the small of her back moved down, and she felt a finger penetrating her asshole. She pumped and pumped to get the organ into her.
Suddenly Hal let her hips drop. Far away, she felt something tearing, like a piece of paper, and wetness trickled down her leg in a stream. There was a tiny spear of pain, and then Hal's cock was hers. She gobbled it into her hungry pussy, and felt it rampaging against its inner walls. Now she was full, Hal's cock was going in and out with an easy rhythm, and now he mounted her still higher, bringing the top of the shaft of his cock up so it rubbed against her clit.
It was like a thousand, a million, volts of electricity shooting through her: she was electrified from top to bottom. Hal's finger worked further into her asshole, until she felt it stroking his cock through the thin membrane that separated the two openings. She was high in the clouds, blinded by sunshine. Suddenly fireworks exploded: the floodlights in the room seemed to flash on and off like strobes, and her eyes were filled with bright colors dredged up from the depths of her passion. The rhythm of orgasm took over, and she felt her body churning along as she rode the flood tide of ecstasy above it Hal's movements were perfectly matched to hers-until suddenly the rhythm broke, and she felt his organ churning and twitching uncontrollably within her-and then shooting out a tremendous gush of sperm that blasted into her hot and fresh, shooting her to yet a higher peak of orgasm.
Moments latter, Hal and Vanessa were lying, spent, on the floor, in a pool of liquid. It was not until she recovered herself that Vanessa realized that some of the liquid was blood, and actually remembered that her hymen had been torn. She felt no pain anywhere, except perhaps a dull pain in her buttocks where they had smacked against the floor countless times. Hal got up and took a towel from his closet. Gently he cleaned her, and then the floor. Then laying her on her back, he opened her pussy to see if she was still bleeding.
"Here," he said, giving her another towel. "Hold this up there for a while. There isn't much bleeding now." Then he set about cleaning up-turning off floodlights, putting away his camera, and finally lifting her from the floor and placing her gently on his bed.
"I haven't even started college," she murmured, as sleep overtook her, "and already I feel as though I've graduated."
"Baby," said Hal, a slightly dazed look in his eyes, "you graduated before you even got here." Vanessa went to sleep.
CHAPTER TWO
The next morning, Vanessa met her roommate. Her name, as Vanessa had found out the night before from the room chart, was Peggy Arden, and she was from New York City. When the knock came on Vanessa's door, she had to keep from walking bowlegged as she went to answer. Not that the pain was very bad-there was just a mild feeling of discomfort between her legs. She was sure it would disappear soon.
Peggy arrived with two suitcases and an enormous steamer trunk. She was several inches shorter than Vanessa, bustier, and braless, in a tight navy blue top and faded jeans. Long blonde hair fell down over her shoulders. Vanessa had expected a certain distance, a certain affected sophistication, from anyone from New York. She was pleasantly surprised. Peggy's father, tall, light-complexioned, in a double-breasted blazer and wide striped tie, stayed only long enough to reach into Peggy's suitcase, pull out a bottle of expensive scotch, and have a short drink-in which Peggy joined him. Then he left.
"When did you get in?" Peggy asked, as she emptied one suitcase and laid out a skirt on her bed.
"Last night," said Vanessa. "I thought I had a lot of luggage," she said, pointing to her suitcase, which was nearly as large as Peggy's trunk.
"You've probably got just enough," Peggy said. "As you can see, I went completely ape-shit. I've got everything and the goddamned kitchen sink." She hesitated a moment "What time is orientation?"
"The first meeting is at three," Vanessa replied.
"Want to get stoned first?" Peggy asked.
Vanessa searched for a second for a reply that would sound cool She decided on the truth. I was so ripped (she thought she'd heard that word somewhere ... ) last night that I couldn't move," she said. "I think I'll pass it up right now."
"Mind if I do?" Peggy asked.
"Go ahead."
Peggy produced a joint from her pocket book. "My old man got this shit for me. Great stuff."
This time Vanessa really was shocked. "Your father bought you dope?"
"My old man's pretty cool," Peggy answered. "He's a musician. Plays jazz. He was smoking the stuff back in the thirties when it was called reefer and only the blacks knew about it" Peggy lit up and took a long toke. "I think I'll take a shower. Get the New York soot off me and start fresh." She stripped her blouse and pants off casually, and her tits bounced heavily against her chest. Vanessa couldn't help looking at them. The nipples were wider than any she had ever seen-although she hadn't seen many. They were at least two inches in diameter, and a brownish-pink.
Peggy caught her staring, and laughed "Some knockers, huh?" Vanessa giggled. "You look pretty well put together yourself," Peggy added. Then, "You're from Arizona?"
"Yeah," Vanessa admitted. "Where there's nothing and nobody."
"Bullshit," said Peggy. "Where there are friendly people and clean air."
"Well, that's true," Vanessa admitted.
"I have the feeling," said Peggy, "that you think Fm some land of sophisticated bitch because I come from the city." She slipped her panties off, revealing a blonde pussy with very pink, slim lips. Vanessa realized she was staring again-and then she realized that the experience of the night before had made her look at the female body in a new way.
"I must admit I was expecting something like that," Vanessa commented. "But I must admit that you don't see to fit my expectations."
"Well, I've been through the whole bit-exclusive girls' schools ever since I can remember, and so on. But my parents are pretty loose."
"I guess so. What's a girls' school like, anyhow?"
"Horrible. Let me tell you-while you were out banging in the back seat of a "57 Chevy, we were going out of our brains and playing with each other."
Vanessa was forced to admit that Peggy didn't pull any punches. She was what she was, and that was that At first she wondered whether Peggy had caught her staring at her cunt That might have given her the wrong impression. Or was it wrong? She'd have to see. She decided to act naive.
"What do you mean?"
"Well," said Peggy, turning to fish a towel out of the mass of tangled cloth in her suitcase, and exposing a comely pair of full buttocks with just a slight bit of extra fullness that Vanessa did not find unattractive, Tm a little stoned right now, so it's probably be even blunter than usual. A bunch of girls, no matter how healthy (she put a funny accent on the word) when they're isolated together-still need sex. So everything you'd normally do with a boy, you do with a girl I kind of got to like it-although I still prefer boys when they're around."
"They're around," Vanessa said.
Peggy glanced up at her. "You've checked it out already?"
"I guess you'd have to say I was checked out already," Vanessa said.
"Good. Is that how come you walk bowlegged?"
Vanessa blushed, but it was obviously no disgrace, so she said, "That's right"
"Good"
"Anyhow, go on."
"Oh yeah. Well, you want me to be specific?" She didn't wait for Vanessa's answer. "Girls can do a lot with each other-like suck each other's tits, eat each other out, fingerfuck. Girl's bodies are really pretty nice. You're not grossed out, are you?"
"No," Vanessa answered honestly. Then, "Maybe I will take some of that dope."
Peggy, totally nude, walked over to hand her the point. She stood before Vanessa, breasts silently lying like great mounds on her chest, blonde, pink pussy nearly at the level of Vanessa's face. Vanessa stared unashamedly at the pussy. She had to admit it was inviting. Peggy smiled down at her, then took a drag on the joint, handed it to Vanessa, and stood where she was, with her eyes closed. She spread her feet further apart.
Vanessa reached out and stroked the soft pile of blonde hair. "Mmmm," Peggy murmured. Her hands wandered down and parted the cunt-lips, showing Vanessa the pinkest flesh she had ever seen, and a wide, open hole. Peggy was certainly no virgin.
Vanessa put her hands on Peggy's buttocks and drew the pussy nearer. Peggy's ass was full and exciting, and Vanessa dug her fingers deep into the mounds of quivering flesh. Peggy opened her cunt wider. It was an invitation, and Vanessa took it. She moved her face close, and smelled the clean but distinctive smell of pussy. Then her tongue found Peggy's clit, and rolled it around till it grew erect She sucked it, feeling its firmness against the root of her mouth.
Peggy's hands released her cunt-lips, which closed gently, burying Vanessa's face in her pussy. Now Vanessa had to stretch her tongue way out to continue rolling Peggy's clit around on its tip. Peggy's hands moved to Vanessa's blouse and unbuttoned it Her fingers reached down till they rambled lazily across Vanessa's nipples, and finally encircled the whole of her breasts, holding them up for Peggy to stare at.
"Beautiful," Peggy said. "Why don't you get completely undressed so we can do a sixty-nine?"
In a moment the two were lying together on the bed. First Peggy got on top. She spread Vanessa's legs wide, opened her cunt, and began to tongue her way slowly into the damp cunt "Shit, you've got a fine pussy," she said. She lowered her own cunt down onto Vanessa's face and began gently rotating her hips. Vanessa was completely lost in the pearly flesh, sucking and licking to Peggy's rhythm.
Then she felt Peggy's tongue move down to open and fill her asshole. She gazed at Peggy's asshole. Compared to hers, it was wide and loose, and, like Peggy's nipples, brownish. She licked it gently. Peggy plunged her tongue far up her ass, and she reciprocated, keeping up the rocking rhythm that Peggy had started. She felt Peggy tighten her sphincter, and heard her squeal with excitement. She did the same. It was a pleasant feeling. Abstractly she realized she was shitting out Peggy's tongue and then taking it back in again.
In a moment, Peggy switched back to Vanessa's cunt, and unbuttoned it slowly, from the top down. Soon Vanessa felt Peggy's fingers wandering down her neck to her shoulders. She shivered with excitement Then she felt Peggy's fingers spread, and make tiny trails down toward the firm bulging of her breasts.
Vanessa felt herself becoming lost in the folds of Peggy's cunt. She felt Peggy's dark cunt-hairs brushing her forehead and eyebrows on the top of her face, and her chin on the bottom. Her mouth was buried deeply in the recesses of Peggy's watering pussy, and her nose felt the flesh of Peggy's cunt-lips as they covered her. She ran her tongue in circles around the inside of Peggy's hole. Then she darted it in and out, and felt Peggy's body shudder.
Then Vanessa realized that Peggy's fingers were converging on her nipples. For some strange reason her breasts seemed a million miles away. Then she remembered she had smoked some pot-and that she was stoned, for the second time in her life, and for the second time in two days.
Vanessa felt her nipples rising rapidly. Her heart pounded. Briefly she realized what she was doing. She was eating out another girl! But then Peggy seized on her nipples, and she forgot everything. The warm, tingling feeling spread all the way from her breasts to her crotch, which grew wetter by the moment.
Gently, Peggy guided her up onto the bed. Vanessa ended up on her back. Peggy's cunt descended on her mouth, and she was face to face with Peggy's wide, pink asshole, which formed an inviting target between the shivering cheeks of Peggy's ass. She reached her tongue up and ran it around the rim of the hole. Peggy murmured and groaned with pleasure, and Vanessa found her legs being slowly spread and lifted, until they were drawn up nearly to her chest. She felt cool air on her cunt and her asshole, and she felt Peggy's fingers spreading the lips of her pussy, then her tongue licking her cunt and her ass.
Vanessa closed her eyes and allowed her tongue to delve deeply between Peggy's ass-cheeks. She wormed it around in the hole, and liked the smooth, light feel. With her own trembling fingers she spread the cheeks wider,, and opened her eyes again to watch the relaxing, expanding movement of the silky skin before her.
Vanessa felt that her world had split into two vast pleasure-centers. First was the lazily sensuous teasing that emanated from between her legs. Seldom had she felt so completely at ease, and so completely vulnerable at the same time. The pleasure washed up to the second pleasure center, seemingly thousands of miles away, where her mouth and nostrils and her whole face wallowed in the sensations and odors of pure sex.
After a moment, Vanessa worked her mouth down again until it covered the large, gaping pussy before her. The hole was wide, and she shot her tongue deep into the recesses of Peggy's womanhood. Then she drew it out and attached Peggy's clit again, this time with a steady up and down rhythm.
Immediately she felt Peggy's breathing become more rapid, and in another moment she felt her own clit being gently squeezed between hungry lips. She couldn't believe the feeling that spread out all over her body from her throbbing cunt She was beginning to believe a saying that she had read somewhere in a dime-store sex novel-it takes a woman to know what a woman really needs. Vanessa had learned at an early age how to masturbate, and she had never-with the possible exception of the night before-found a man who knew how to make her feel as good as she could make herself feel. Now Peggy-with a little more experience than Vanessa had had-was showing her that, even without the advantages of a male organ, there were things that another woman could do to her that far surpassed anything she could do to herself.
All at once, as she rocked rhythmically up and down, her clit rubbing voraciously at Peggy's face and her own tongue continuing to work Peggy into a frenzy, she began to have the strangest feeling she'd ever felt in her life. She felt as though she were making love to herself-as though she had her face deeply immersed in the flowing liquids of her own pussy, as though she were giving herself all the pleasure she was getting. There was something about Peggy's cunt that made her want to enter it completely, to lose herself in it and disappear forever.
Suddenly she felt her body begin to shake, and realized that from somewhere very far away, she was coming. It was like a freight train, or a very fast car, approaching from the outer edges of the galaxy at an incredible rate of speed. She had visions of the entire earth, about to be burned up by the catastrophic collision she could feel approaching. The climax that she felt on the way was white hot; as hot as the sun. When it came, it seemed to her that everything in creation would surely burn.
The lips of Peggy's cunt were like the soft petals of pink flowers, reaching up to her. Peggy's clit was a hard nub in the center of the flowers, vibrating with Me and overflowing with the juices of passion-fertilizing the whole world, irrigating it in the forgetful fluid of orgasm.
Then the collision came. Somewhere in the black depths of space, two massive fires met, and filled the emptiness with fireworks. Vanessa could feel the climax shooting out at a blinding speed through her body, touching and setting ablaze every inch of her.
Dimly, in the background, she was aware of moans and little cries. She did not know which came from Peggy and which came from her: it hardly mattered. She could hear the bed creaking, and she could hear the sound of flesh on flesh, and the noise of heavy breathing, penetrating to her from the outer space of the small dormitory room. Gradually the numbness which her climax had forced on her subsided, and the littlest sounds from the room became clearly audible. She had come back from a strange nowhere land that she had never-not even the night before-visited.
Now all she was aware of was Peggy's body, lying heavily but not unpleasantly on top of hers. She gazed up at the placid flesh of Peggy's buttocks, only a moment before churning in a thousand directions at once toward the exhilarating climax they had shared. She put her hands on them, and spread the cheeks to look at die spent pussy and the loose, glistening asshole that confronted her. As she nibbled at the lips of Peggy's cunt gently, she felt Peggy's ringer delicately penetrate the outer rim of her own asshole and rest there, leaving a pleasant and relaxing sensation with it presence.
Finally Peggy stirred. The mood changed. The long trip was over. "Holy shit," Peggy said. That was incredible." She rolled over, her tits flopping as she did, to lie on her side.
Vanessa disengaged herself from the tangle of body and sheet and rested on one elbow, aware out of the corner of her eye that her nipples, so pink and puffy with excitement, had not yet reverted to their normal deflated size and their usual pliant consistency. "I can, see why I would say that," she said. "Shit, I can't believe what I've been missing. But you-you've had it for years."
"Not like that I haven't," Peggy said. That was unqualifiedly the greatest time I've ever had in bed with anyone, man or woman. I felt like I was transported to another world."
Vanessa was surprised. "So was I?" she said, "But somehow I felt as though I was doing it myself ... "
"That's the beauty of doing it with another girl," Peggy interrupted.
"Yeah, I guess so," Vanessa continued. "Anyhow, I was the same place you were," she told her new roommate. "Wherever you were, I was there too. It was absolutely incredible." She hesitated for a moment "But-hasn't it always been Wee that, when you've done it before?"
Peggy was quiet for a moment Tm not sure," she finally said, "that something like that happens more than once or twice in a lifetime. Anyhow-it's always been good. But not like that I mean-that was more than pleasure."
Vanessa lapsed into silence herself for a moment Peggy stirred, then smiled. "Let's take a shower," she said. "I'll wash that pretty pussy of yours for you."
"Mmmm-okay," said Vanessa. Then a strange thought crossed her mind-and, knowing better than to be inhibited in front of Peggy, she said, "Do me a favor."
"Sure," Peggy said.
"Here," Vanessa said, tacking Peggy's hand and realizing that she was still completely stoned. "Come into the bathroom."
When they got there, Vanessa lay down on the bottom of the bathtub.
"Now," she said, pulling Peggy to a standing position over her, "squat down on my face."
Slowly Peggy's cunt descended on her, like a great cloud covering the sun. She reached up and spread the lips so they opened and surrounded her face.
"I feel like Tm squatting in the woods to take a shit," she said, Vanessa worked her mouth free for a moment" Don't shit, just piss," she said.
Peggy showed no surprise. "Mmm," she said, "I don't know if I can ... but I'll try. You may have to wait a minute or two." With this, she started rubbing the soft mound of her cunt and the hard knot of her asshole up and down on Vanessa's face.
Peggy's remark had moved Vanessa to even greater heights of desire. For she was doing this because she remembered, when she was a young girl, going into the woods to play and squatting down in the tall grass to relieve herself. Strangely, perhaps, she remembered those times as some of the most sensual of her youth ... the grass easing gently up between her thighs to tickle and tantalize her exposed parts-her taut, round bottom, and her pubescent private parts-and she wanted to recreate the whole scenes right down to the warm urine running out and soaking into the rich soil. But this time she wanted to be on the bottom. She wanted to be the soil, and the tickling grass.
After a moment, Peggy muttered, "I think it's coming. Where do you want it?"
"All over my face," she said. "And all over my body. Everywhere I want it everywhere." Then she dove back into Peggy's cunt, swirling in a confused storm of ecstasy and anticipation.
Finally, it came ... pouring over her face, drenching her so she could hardly breathe, in a hot stream that carried her back to lost memories of her un-remembered infancy. She felt Peggy rise, and then was aware of the hot stream soaking her from head to toe, like a hose in the summer when it is first turned on, after having been left hours in the sun. The stream seemed to last forever, although Vanessa knew that in reality it was only seconds. When it was finished, she felt Peggy's body detach completely from hers.
From faraway islands, from the distant planets, she heard a voice saying, "Do you want me to turn on the water?"
The water. The shower. Peggy, her new roommate -and she was lying beneath her, drenched in piss. She wanted it to last another few seconds. She said nothing. Then, "Yes. Let's take a shower."
She lay completely still. In a few seconds, she felt water swirling about her feet, and looked up to see Peggy testing the water-her comely buttocks stretched as she leaned, and the lips of her pussy protruding from between her legs-and finding the water suitable. Then, suddenly, it was raining. Fresh water poured over. She felt as though she were in the middle of a wilderness, lying under a waterfall.
After a moment, she got up. She felt the water cleansing her, and then Peggy began to wash her-all over. She stood until the soap formed a white froth covering every inch of her skin, and then she stepped under the water. After she was rinsed, she washed Peggy the same way.
By the time they got out of the shower, it was late, and they realized they would have to hurry If they wanted to make it to orientation in time. As Vanessa dressed, she felt the effects of the marijuana starting to wear off. Once more her dormitory room seemed perfectly ordinary, and Peggy seemed like no more than an amiable roommate from New York whom she'd just met, and whom she'd decided she'd get along well with.
The two girls hastily finished dressing and homed across the campus. Outside the huge auditorium there were still many people milling around. They squeezed their way into the foyer where they were confronted by desks supporting huge piles of paper.
There were books proclaiming regulations, pamphlets on medical care, and directions on how to use various athletic facilities, the library, etc. There were lists of dormitory supervisors, sample schedules that were supposed to give an idea how to select courses, and booklets giving student evaluations of various courses from the previous year.
Looking through the book on medical care, Vanessa gave a start "Hey," she said, jabbing Peggy's arm, "it says here that you can get birth control pills at the health center!"
Peggy didn't look surprised, "Sure," she replied. "Almost all of the Eastern schools do that Most of the others, too. But-big deal. Don't you have them already?"
Vanessa frowned. She didn't want, at first, to let Peggy know that she had been a virgin until the night before. But then, she didn't want to sound as though she'd been taking stupid risks for years, either. "No, I don't," she finally said. Then she added, "I've been meaning to get them for a long time, but I just never got around to it"
"Wow," said Peggy. "How did you keep from getting pregnant?"
"Well," Vanessa admitted, "I didn't take too many risks in that direction. I guess you could say I was in a little bit different environment than you were. My parents were pretty strict"
Peggy let the subject drop. "My mother took me to her gynecologist when I was about sixteen," she said. "The guy examined me, and then told me that my mother had said it was okay for me to have pills whenever I wanted. I didn't even have to tell her-just go to the doctor and pick them up. It was pretty nice. You should go get some right away," she told Vanessa.
Vanessa couldn't restrain her curiosity. "How long was it before you went back to the doctor for the pills?" she asked.
"I didn't go back," said Peggy, smiling. "I took them on the spot"
By this time the girls were sitting in the back of an auditorium, waiting for orientation to begin. The hall was filling up from the front, so they had some privacy for a while. Eventually, however, the hall filled up, with boys and girls, who for some reason had entered from different sides, now mingling- and getting to know each other. After a moment a young, dark-haired professor stepped to the front of the room. Vanessa was immediately taken by him. He was about six feet tall, with a vigorous, straightforward manner. He had broad shoulders and muscular arms that protruded from the sleeves of his short-sleeved shirt "Hello," he said. "Welcome to orientation. My name is Richard Dalton. I teach English, and I'm in charge of the orientation program. Now I'd like to tell you a few things you may need to know ... "
Vanessa's attention wandered off. Professor Dalton was attractive, there was no doubt about that But there seemed to be something about him, in his manner, in his speech, in his dress, that indicated an old-fashioned rigidity-and a quick . temper. Oh, well, Vanessa thought to herself, he's probably married anyway.
Halfway through Professor Dalton's talk, Hal wandered in a side door with a handful of papers and sat down in the front of the room. His eyes wandered over the crowd until they met Vanessa, and then he smiled. Vanessa poked Peggy. "Hey," she said. "See that guy over there?"
Peggy gave a glance in Hal's direction.
"Say no more," Peggy chuckled approvingly. Hal, seeing the two girls talking to each other, raised his eyebrows in approval at seeing Peggy, as if he couldn't believe that two such attractive girls could have happened to be roommates.
After a while, the gathering broke up. Professor Dalton went over to say a few words to Hal, and they left together. Vanessa and Peggy went out another door, but ran into Hal and the professor on the quadrangle.
"Hi," Hal said, stopping for a moment "This is Vanessa Fan-child," he said to Professor Dalton. "Vanessa ... "
"Yes, I know," she said. "He introduced himself at orientation. This is Peggy Arden."
After the handshaking was done, Hal said, "Why don't you two come up to my room before dinner and have a few cocktails?" Then, "You're invited too, Professor."
Vanessa was hoping Dalton would come, but he declined. "Sure, we'll be there," Vanessa agreed.
"Around five or five-thirty,," Hal said.
"Great. See you then."
Vanessa and Peggy wandered away over the luxurious grass, outside the quadrangle, and down a tree-lined, one-lane road. After a while they came to a stream. They sat by the side of it and talked. To Vanessa, it seemed as if it had already been a very long day. But she knew it was just beginning. Peggy looked around to make sure they could no longer be seen from the road, and then removed her blouse. "Might as well get a tan while we're out here," she said. Once more Vanessa wondered at the immensity of her nipples, spreading over the immensity of her breasts. Vanessa closed her eyes and went to sleep. There was still well over an hour before they were to be at Hal's, and she could think of no better way to use it
CHAPTER THREE
At a little after five, Vanessa and Peggy climbed the stairs to Hal's room. The door was ajar, and Vanessa could see milling bodies in the crack. She raped on it lightly, and immediately it was opened from the inside.
"Hi, I'm Gary," said a medium sized boy with sandy hair and the remnants of a few freckles around his nose. "I live across the hall Actually, I'm Hal's doorman."
"I'm Vanessa, and this is Peggy," Vanessa said. She felt Gary's eyes wander at chest level from herself to her roommate. 'Is Hal around?"
"Sure," said Gary. He started to turn, but just then Hal appeared from the other room. "There he is," Gary said.
Hal strode over to them quickly. "Hi," he said. '!Glad you made it" He glanced behind him at the bar to check his stock. "What'll you have? Scotch, bourbon, gin, rum ... "
"You got me with the first shot," Peggy said.
"Scotch?"
"On the rocks."
"A professional drinker, eh?"
"Oh, I do a little bit of everything," Peggy said.
"Is that so?" Hal asked.
Already the atmosphere was thickening.
"I'll have the same," Vanessa said. Then, "Is this one of the parties where your gallery is open?"
"Yeah," said Hal, glancing at Peggy to see whether she knew what Vanessa was talking about.
"I thought I'd acquaint my roommate with the kind of people you have to deal with around here."
"You don't have to deal with them ... "
"You do if you want to have any fun," Vanessa laughed.
"Okay, I'll bring your drinks in there."
"Thanks," said Vanessa, and she started to drag Peggy along.
"Where are we going?" Peggy asked. "What gallery?"
"You'll see." In a moment Vanessa pushed open the door.
"Holy shit," she gasped, on seeing the walls plastered with photos.
For the next thirty seconds, Peggy's eyes wandered around the room, totally fascinated and absorbed, Vanessa's eyes followed those of her roommate.
"This stuff is really great," Peggy said. "Not only is it sexy-some if it's really beautiful. In fact, most of it"
"Thanks for the compliment," said Hal's voice behind them.
"Oh," Peggy said, "did you do all these?"
"Every one," Hal said, handing them drinks. "By the way," he said to Vanessa, I've got some stuff to show you privately."
Vanessa laughed. That's okay," she said. "I don't mind if Peggy sees it."
"What're you talking about?" Peggy asked.
"Pictures Hal took of me last night, I assume," Vanessa replied.
"Yeah," Hal smiled. "They really came out beautifully."
"Can we see them now?" Vanessa asked.
"Well, if you don't want anybody else to see them, maybe you should wait till later."
"I don't care that much. Well look at them in here, and if anyone stumbles in, it's their tough luck."
"Okay," said Hal. "Whatever you want I don't think there are too many with your face in them anyhow." He went off to get the photos.
Peggy turned from staring at a close-up of a pale, pink cunt with the hard stub of a clitoris protruding forthrightly from it. "Now I see how the hell you got checked out last night," she said with a wry smile.
"Yeah," Vanessa said. "But wait till you see these pictures."
"I'm waiting," said Peggy. She pinched Vanessa discretely in the ass. Vanessa giggled and looked around. There was no one directly in front of the door, so she swung it shut and grabbed one of Peggy's tits.
Peggy shook loose and backed away, laughing. "Keep your paws off me, you raving dyke," she giggled.
"Pussy," growled Vanessa, "I want pussy. And I'm going to get it!" She lunged at Peggy and caught her leg. As Peggy reached down to try to loosen her hold, she shot the other hand and grabbed Peggy's pussy ... and both of them toppled over onto the bed.
Just then the door swung open.
"Shit," giggled Vanessa, her hand caught for the moment in Peggy's underwear.
The door closed quickly. It was Hal.
"Jesus," he said, "I leave you two alone for thirty seconds and look what happens. I thought you just met each other."
"We did," said Peggy, wriggling away from Vanessa and turning her back to adjust her mangled underwear. "But we got to know each other pretty well."
"So I see. Anyhow," Hal went on, "here are the pictures. I'm going out to keep the rest of the people company for a while." Then he was gone.
Vanessa was holding an immense pile of pictures fn her hand. On top were several contact sheets, with strips of tiny pictures on them. Many were circled, marked for enlargement As her eyes glanced down the pages, she practically saw a movie of the activities of the night before-until the time Hal had put down his camera.
Peggy looked eagerly over her shoulder. "Damn," she kept saying, "are those some fine pictures. I mean, they make all those girlie magazines-even those really slick ones-look like amateur junk."
"Hal's good all right," Vanessa admitted. But she was too captivated by the novel view of herself that the camera's eye had given her to say more. She was beginning, for the first time, to feel like a real woman. The textures of the pictures reminded her of basic things. They were almost like landscapes, and her body had become a varied terrain, with mountains, forests, hills, canyons, and deserts. She felt like a Lilliputian exploring a female Gulliver-except that the Gulliver was not tied down.
She settled on one close-up of a breast. The nipple was puffy and swollen, and she could almost see the nerve-ends in it vibrating with the high pitch of pleasure, sending back waves of passion to her brain that rolled over all her thought and turned her into a quivering mass of expectant protoplasm. The picture was taken at such an angle that only the mound of the breast, backed up by a smooth, almost sandy-looking desert of her stomach, that curved and disappeared against the stark background of the floor beneath. She felt as though she was looking at a moonscape. The atmosphere seemed nonexistent, and she imagined the pure and perfect shapes floating free in space. But the usual sterility of such scenes was negated by that one puffy nipple, which made the whole picture come together in one throbbing point.
An exclamation from Peggy cut short her reverie. "I'll be damned," Peggy breathed. "Now I see why you never had pills."
"What do you mean?" asked Vanessa, as though she had just been awakened from a deep sleep.
"Last night, you were a virgin," Peggy said-without a trace of the mockery or condescension that Vanessa would perhaps have expected. Peggy was holding a blow-up of Vanessa's cunt-and the thick ring of her hymen stood out boldly in front of the Barrow, constricted opening.
"Oh, yeah," said Vanessa, "I forgot about those pictures."
Peggy looked up. "You thought I was going to give you shit about that?"
"Well," said Vanessa, I knew you'd be nice about It ... "
"Look," said Peggy, Tm not into feeling superior just because I lost my virginity a couple of years ago instead of now. Who knows-maybe it would have been better if I'd held onto it for a while. Besides, that's a really beautiful picture. It's one of the greatest combinations of innocence and complete openness that I've ever seen. It's really fine."
Vanessa relaxed and looked at the picture. "Yeah, it is nice, isn't it? Besides, if I was going to lose it, Tm land of glad it was captured on film."
"I'm just sorry Hal was here before I was," Peggy said. "I would have liked to work my tongue into that" She pointed to the narrow space within the hymen's circle. "Let's look at some more. But I'm warning you-I'm getting pretty horny."
"You ought to offer to model for Hal," Vanessa suggested. "He'd fix you up."
Peggy sounded dubious as she leafed through the pictures. "I don't know how good I'd be. My body isn't as nice as yours."
"Bullshit," said Vanessa. "Besides, even if your body wasn't better than mine-Hal could make the fat lady in the circus look like Brigit Bardot. I mean-these pictures are me, but you'd really have to have the vision of an artist to see me this way. After all-I'm just a teenager from Arizona, and these are pictures of some kind of exotic goddess. I mean-look at this one."
She bad picked a shot of her ass, in which the mounds of her buttocks looked like the walls of a great canyon. She had been bent over, facing away from the camera, probably on her hands and knees. At the very bottom of the picture, the smooth, tight circle of her asshole looked like a well or a dry spring in a riverbed parched by the sun. The shapes were abstract to perfection. It almost looked like a sculpture.
"Yeah," said Peggy. "I don't know how he manages to make people look so sexy and so pure at once. That's sort of the common denominator between all these pictures." She swept her hand in a vague circle, indicating the pictures on the walls about them. "Somehow, lots of them manage to isolate one central thing-like a nipple, or an asshole-and make it seem like a center of sensuality in the middle of a vast realm of ... nothing."
Vanessa looked at Peggy briefly, and Peggy laughed. "You can tell I've been trained to dish out critical bullshit," she laughed. "That's what all that private schooling will do to you. You can bullshit about anything."
"I don't think that's bullshit," Vanessa said. "I think it's true. I wonder if Hal does that consciously, or if he just frames things that way by instinct I can really see what you mean-although I never would have thought of it myself."
Just then the door opened. "Everybody decent?" Hal's voice asked.
The girls looked up. "Yeah," Peggy said. "These pictures are more than decent-they're incredible,"
"Thanks," Hal said, blushing slightly.
"Will you do some of me?" Peggy asked.
Hal was somewhat taken aback by her frankness. "Sure," he said, trying to sound offhanded about it Vanessa could feel Hal's eyes penetrating Peggy's clothing, and from between her legs she felt a vague stirring. Pictures of Peggy in various positions before the camera flashed before her eyes, and she suddenly realized that she was beginning to see the world differently-through the lens of a camera, with various scenes framed and composed as though they were already collapsed into two dimensions and printed on shiny paper. The only thing that retained its three-dimensional reality was the sensuality that pervaded the atmosphere. She was willing to bet that you could never get all that on film.
"If you want," Hay was saying, "we can shoot some tonight"
"Can Vanessa come?" Peggy asked.
"That's a silly question," said Hal. "Are you afraid she'd put her foot in the fountain of my monumental creativity?"
Peggy laughed, "I guess not." She sipped her scotch.
"Why don't you two girls leave this wonderland of tits and cunts for a while and come out and meet some people." Hal opened the door, and they filed out into the outer room, which by now was packed with students. The only person in the whole room that Vanessa knew was Gary, from across the hall. He was talking to a rather weird looking guy with hair down to his shoulders, a full beard, and a motorcycle jacket -the old fashioned kind with stars on the shoulders and zippers everywhere. Hal disappeared. Vanessa took Peggy over to where Gary was.
"Hi," said Gary, in an easy voice in which Vanessa noticed just a hint of a Southern drawl. "This is Paul. He just buzzed in from Florida."
"Do you really have a bike," Peggy asked Paul, "or do you just have the jacket?"
Paul led them over to the window. "That's my machine," he said, gesturing to the courtyard below.
"Wow," said Peggy.
"You dig bikes?"
"Yeah," she said. "You chop it yourself?"
"Yeah."
Vanessa glanced down at the huge chopper, glistening from headlight to tailpipes, with fancy tooled leather saddle bags, a teardrop gas tank painted in luminescent colors to look as if fire was shooting from its front, and a wide leather seat that looked like an armchair.
"What is it?" Vanessa asked.
Peggy answered. "Bonneville. Triumph, 650 ccs. Looks like a '71."
Paul glanced at her admiringly. "Chick knows her bikes," he said over his shoulder to Gary. Then he turned to Peggy. "Want to take a ride?"
"Not right now," she said. "I got dumped off a Beeza last year and my head hasn't quite got over it. This guy took a jump at seventy and came down on some sand. Scattered us all over creation. Since then I don't drive anything but my own bike."
"Oh yeah? What do you have?"
"Nothing much. A Honda 350. Left it in New York."
"That's a nice bike for a chick. Not too heavy, moves out nice, and never needs work."
"Yeah," Peggy agreed. "You must have to tune that mother up every week."
"Had to redo the timing twice on the way up here," Paul said "British bikes are really loose." Then he turned to Vanessa. "How about you ... want a ride?"
Vanessa was unsure. She turned to Peggy. "What happened to you when you had that accident?"
"I skidded about fifty yards on my ass."
"You wear leathers?" Paul asked.
"Used to. About the time I got done skidding I didn't have them any more. But at least I had the skin on my ass,"
"That's what they're for. I got some leathers you wear," Paul said, turning to Vanessa. "How about it?"
Vanessa turned to Peggy. "Go ahead," Peggy said. Then she turned back to Paul "Don't take it too fast," she told him. "I have a feeling this is her first time."
A few minutes later Vanessa was in Paul's room on the second floor. He rummaged through a drawer and pulled out leather pants and a jacket He just sat there, and Vanessa guessed it didn't make any difference if she changed in front of him. She was wishing she'd worn slacks instead of a dress, but she thought what the hell, and slipped the dress off, with her back to Paul.
Paul was sipping a beer, "You've got a nice ass," he said.
"I thought we were going for a ride," Vanessa replied.
"We are. Just put on the leathers and well get going."
Reassured-or perhaps somewhat challenged-Vanessa turned to face him, her breasts bouncing slightly, as she pulled on the pants.
"Nice tits, too."
"Thanks."
"Here," he said, throwing a T-shirt her way. "Put this on under the jacket" A. few moments later Vanessa took her place behind Paul on the bike. As she was about to put on the helmet Paul had given her, she heard Peggy's voice from above.
"We're going to dinner in about half an hour," Peggy yelled. "Well meet you in the dining hall."
"Okay," Vanessa yelled back. Then they were off. Paul kicked the big bike over, and suddenly it shot forward. Vanessa wasn't quite ready, and slammed back in the seat. She grabbed Paul around the waist instinctively, and then realized it was time to open her eyes. The grass was speeding by beneath them, the wind was whipping at her, and the roar of the big engine filled her ears, rising and falling as Paul ran through the gears. They bounced down onto the road, roared out of the school's front gate, and they were gone.
For the next half hour, Vanessa had the strange mixture of feelings that comes from being at once completely free and completely dependent on someone. The bike plunged forward off the road about Eve minutes and onto a dirt trail that ran up a hillside. Vanessa felt as if the bike was splitting the world in half as it slashed between underbrush and trees. In a few moments Paul came to the crest of the hill and guided the bike down toward a pond that glistened in a hollow. He circled the pond on the dirt path a few times, and then brought it up short in a cloud of dust.
"That was fantastic," said Vanessa, "You really feel loose on a bike," Paul agreed. "Want to take a dip before we head back?"
Vanessa thought briefly of saying that she didn't have a bathing suit. But the water was very inviting, and she realized briefly that that would be ridiculous in this environment, where seemingly looseness was taken for granted.
"Sure," she said. "But it'll have to be quick-we've got to get back for dinner."
Before she'd finished, Paul had stripped off his shirt In another second, his naked body was arching over the water in a low, flat dive. It took Vanessa another few minutes to undress. She ran her hands over her body, realizing that she felt completely relaxed. Paul was splashing in the water twenty feet away. She waded in and paddled toward him.
"Ever fuck in the water?" Paul asked her.
Two days earlier, all this would have blown Vanessa's mind. Now, it was almost routine. She was beginning to realize how quickly one could adapt to a completely new world.
"No," she said simply, "Do we have time?"
"It's up to you," Paul said. "I mean, I'd like it, but I don't want to hassle you."
Vanessa floated briefly on the surface. "Who owns this pond?"
"The school Nobody comes here but kids. In a few days, when all the upperclassmen get back, it'll be pretty crowded in the afternoons. Now-you can see it's pretty deserted."
Vanessa swam over to Paul. Remembering all the years she'd spent in high school with stark raving, horny guys pawing at her, she could hardly believe she was skinny-dipping with a guy who didn't really care too' much whether they fucked or swam.
"Lets try it," she said. She reached down in the water and found Paul's cock. She had noticed when he was undressing that it was big, and now, as she felt it, it was partially erect.
"Mmmm," Paul said, relaxing as her hands went to work. She felt his fingers probing her cunt as the water crept into her buttocks and sloshed around her tits, "Let's go into shallower water," Paul suggested.
The paddled in to where they could stand. Vanessa hardly expected any great enjoyment for herself out of the event, but she figured Paul would have a good time, and-why not?
But as soon as she felt Paul's rod creeping up her leg and nudging her pussy, she felt an unexpected wave of desire wash over her. She moaned slightly and leaned back, spreading her legs. Paul's rod floated between them, and in a second she felt an easy rhythm carrying her away.
It seemed as if they fucked forever, floating on the calm waters, with the shiny bike angled on its kick-stand on the shore, and their clothes draped across its handlebars. The trees waved in a light breeze, their leaves turning over and becoming white, twinkling like stars. After a while, Vanessa's body began to tense. Feeling it, Paul mounted "her a little higher, rubbing his cock deliciously against her clit. "Oh yeah," she murmured, feeling the muscles ripple in his back as she held him tightly, "Oh yeah ... don't stop ... just like that ... "
From far away, she could feel a climax coming. It was as if the whole pond was gathering in a great wave, ready to break onto the shore like an ocean swell, The tempo rose, and she could feel, even in the water, Paul's body trembling and warming. She could feel his climax coming too; she could feel a stream of come about to break into the lake, about to fertilize all the acres of water that surrounded them. It was as though Paul was fucking the lake, and she was the lake, and the shore was convulsing. Suddenly her body took its own course; her pussy clamped down hard on Paul's organ, squeezing it for all it was worth. Paul was breathing hard, pumping her like crazy- and then she came. She came in a long series of grasping, thrusting motions. Her insides opened up, and she could feel Paul's prick jumping uncontrollably within her. Then the hot jet of sperm blasted her, sending her into yet another series of ecstatic convulsions. The water churned and splashed, and Paul's breathing was like a hurricane wind. She was completely lost in her climax, sucking Paul's cock with her cunt, drawing every last bit of sperm out of it. Finally she drew a deep breath, and, at the same instant as Paul's body went limp and began to float easily, his cock still buried in her, she let herself go and allowed the water to carry her.
From far away, she could hear a bird singing. The noise of rustling leaves penetrated to her. She broke away from Paul. Suddenly she felt very empty, as her cunt closed on itself and Paul's organ drifted away. But her body was spent and satisfied. She felt her toes touch bottom. Almost in a daze, she wandered onto the shore, dripping from head to toe, spattering the dusty ground with droplets that made tiny dark spots of mud. She lay down on the grass. Paul joined her, and they spent an instant resting and looking up through the trees at the clouds that passed overhead.
"Nice," said Paul, smiling warmly at her. "Sometimes you dream about things like this happening- two people just coming together, completely accidentally, completely freely, and making-making really beautiful love."
Vanessa was surprised at the depth of Paul's feeling betrayed in his words. She was even more surprised that she agreed with him. She had been brought up to think that, in order for two people to make really beautiful love, they had to have known each other for ages. She said nothing. She simply smiled back at him. Then she rose and went over to the bike. She could feel Paul's eyes on her back, running from the top of her head to the heels of her feet, stopping on her wet buttocks as they quivered slightly in the cool breeze. She bent over and looked at him between her legs.
"You've got a nice ass," Paul said.
I think I've heard that somewhere before," she said, fastening her eyes on his upside down image.
Paul got up. "Guess it's time to split," he said. "I've already been split," Vanessa said, not the slightest bit embarrassed at the bad pun.
"You're going to get eaten too," Paul said, 'If we don't get back in time for dinner."
Vanessa straightened up, turned to him, and reached down to her pussy. She opened its lips with her fingers, and gazed at the pink flesh. "I wouldn't mind that either," she said. Paul dropped to his knees before her and nibbled at her clit. Then he licked up and down the inner lips of her pussy.
"That feels so good," Vanessa murmured.
Paul stood up. "More to come," he said, reaching for his clothes. "But not right now."
"Right," Vanessa said dreamily, and began to dry herself with her T-shirt. In a moment they were both dressed. Holding the damp T-shirt in her hand, Vanessa wrapped her arms around Paul. The bike motor roared and grumbled, and they were off.
Fifteen minutes later, Paul and Vanessa joined Hal, Peggy, and Gary in the school dining hall-which was sparsely filled, with only a little over a fourth of the student body on hand, Vanessa's long hair was still wet.
"Looks like you two got rained on," Hal they sat down.
"No," Paul said. "We wiped out in a puddle."
"I bet I know which one, too," Hal returned.
Paul said nothing. He dug into his meal Vanessa shook her head to get the damp hair out of her face. Peggy gave her a knowing smile. "Where's the swimming hole?" Peggy asked.
"Down the road and over a hill," Vanessa answered. It's beautiful Trees all around, and the water's beautiful"
"You'll have to take me."
"I bet Paul would volunteer," Vanessa speculated, with a glance in Paul's direction.
"Once a day's enough," he said, shaking his head with a grin. "What do you think I am-superman?"
"I don't know about that," Hal broke in, "but I'm sure as hell beginning to suspect that she's super-woman." He was pointing to Vanessa.
"Just beginner's luck," she said, with as straight a face as she could manage.
"Let's change the subject," said Peggy. "I brought you that stuff from registration ... have you decided which courses to take?"
Vanessa took a few pamphlets from Peggy and slipped a sheet of paper out of one that seemed to relate to courses. "Yeah," she said. "Probably English, French, math, chemistry, and philosophy."
"It says here," Peggy noted, "that you can make a request for which sections you want to be in."
"Let's see," Vanessa said, looking over some charts. She ate a little more, and then took a pen from her purse and began writing. "This should take about five minutes." She began to write in course names on a schedule form. "Math 1, chemistry 1, English 1A ... let's see. Professors. Jamison, Chisholm, Daltoa ... oh yeah. Let's put down Dalton. Now ... "
"I'm beginning to see what you mean," said Paul to Hal.
"What?" asked Vanessa, glancing up.
"Superwoman," said Hal.
"I thought we changed the subject," Peggy interjected.
"Yeah," said Vanessa. "What are you talking about?"
"Dalton," Hal said. "How is it that you requested him?"
"You guys all have dirty minds," Peggy accused, "One track minds, too."
"You don't like the track?" asked Paul.
"I didn't say that ... "
"Well," Hal insisted, "why did you put down Dalton?"
Vanessa giggled. "I don't know."
"Well, you won't have too much luck with him," Hal offered. "He's straight as an arrow."
"Wish his old lady was a little crooked," Paul observed.
"Yeah," Hal agreed. He turned to the girls. "Mrs. Dalton is quite a chick. You'll notice her around. But her husband-he may look sexy, but he's like a fucking block of ice."
"I never fucked a block of ice," Peggy muttered.
"Hell with it," said Vanessa. "He's probably a good teacher." Hal and Paul laughed.
After dinner, Paul and Gary drifted away. Hal and the girls sat for half an hour drinking coffee and talking. Finally Peggy said, "Is it picture-taking time?"
Hal rolled up Ms napkin and stood up. "Whenever you're ready."
Vanessa felt strange walking across the grass with Peggy and Hal toward his room. The others-they were all going somewhere else. They were going back to their rooms, out to movies, to the library ... they were doing all those things that freshmen did, But the three of them-it was as if they were on another planet. They climbed the steps to Hal's room, closed the door, and sat down.
The ritual of the night before repeated itself. First the drinks, then some grass, and then the tripods and lights and cameras started to come out. This time Vanessa, floating in a mist of smoke, was a spectator.
Hal started on Peggy the same way he'd started on Vanessa. He shot nearly two rolls of film before she was down to her underwear. The flesh of her breasts heaved, and the immense nipples swelled, as Peggy slipped off her blouse and stood before Hal in her panties.
Vanessa was even more stoned than she'd been the night before. She was hypnotized by the sight of Peggy's tits. As Hal shot pictures of them from all angles, she felt herself being aroused. She spilled her hand down and pulled up her dress. Then, moving her hand up her leg slowly, teasing herself, she reached her crotch and drew the cloth of her underpants aside. The wetness of her cunt surprised her; her fingers worked into the slime gradually, till they found the hard nub of her clit.
By this time Peggy had her back to Hal, and was easing her panties down over her full buttocks. When she had drawn them all the way down to her knees, she let them drop and stepped out of them.
"Bend way over," Hal said, "and spread your cheeks."
"You want a nice shot of my asshole?" Peggy asked.
"That's right," Hal said.
Peggy did as she was asked. She bent over at the waist and reached her hands back. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as Vanessa watched her dig her fingers into the flesh of her cheeks and spread them. It was a long way to the bottom, but finally Peggy's pink asshole emerged, and started to widen as she stretched it farther and farther open. Hal bent down and took a close-up from inches away. Then he backed up and shot a few more. One of Peggy's fingers wandered to the hole and began to probe it, opening it out even further as it delved in.
"Nice," Hal said. Peggy kept shoving the finger in, until it had penetrated its full length. Then she started fucking it in and out.
"I want two fucks tonight," she said. "One in the ass and one in the cunt."
"I think I can arrange that," Hal said, still moving from position to position and clicking away with his camera. "You look like you've got a nice, loose hole," he added.
By this time the come was flowing over Vanessa's fingers. Hal and Peggy had noticed her playing with herself, but they hadn't said anything. Now Vanessa's finger was whipping up and down at lightning speed.
"Don't come," said Peggy, looking over at her. "I want you over here when we're through. Hal can get some really funky photos."
By this time Peggy was lying on her back, her legs up high in the air and spread wide in accordance with the constant stream of instructions Hal was giving her. She reached her hands down and spread her cunt L Vanessa, removing her fingers from her cunt, but y staying all the while in a highly aroused state, got up and walked over to take a closer look. The pink skin of the interior of Peggy's cunt was tight, and the lips were stretched. At the top of her cunt, where the lips came together, her clit protruded noticeably, excited and swollen. She was rocking back and forth gently, apparently unable to completely quell the rhythm of sex that was coursing through her. Her tits moved back and forth as she rocked like beach balls on her chest. Her hair was flying, spreading out on the floor and then gathering up again in a sensual rhythm. Her ass, cheeks flattened against the floor, ground away, first straight up and down, and then with a jerky, circular motion.
Hal had taken quite a few pictures. He looked at Vanessa. "Take your clothes off," he said. "I'll get some of the two of you."
Vanessa, staring at the widening hole of Peggy's cunt, began to take her dress off. Peggy's cunt now presented a yawning, dark chasm, whose skin inside was delicate and loose and glistening. She stared at its folds as her dress dropped to the floor. Hal had just loaded another camera. "Any time," he said.
Vanessa got down on her hands and knees and moved toward Peggy. When she reached her, she grasped her legs and held them wide apart Then, delicately, she began licking the sides of Peggy's cunt Peggy began to moan. Vanessa kept it up, shoving her tongue into the waiting hole. She wanted to fill it; but she knew she never could. She licked around its insides, tasting the earthy taste and smelling the musky odor that she now found intensely sensual.
Hal approached with the camera and began snapping away. Vanessa moved her head from side to side, to give Hal a number of different angles to shoot from. She licked Peggy up and down the thighs, and then mounted her, fastening her mouth over Peggy's breasts and sucking on her tits. Suddenly, wallowing in the flesh of Peggy's bosom and sucking on a nipple, she felt like a baby again.
But the feeling changed as Peggy's pelvis began to rotate, grinding on hers. One of Peggy's legs moved and was inserted between hers, and in a moment the two cunts were grinding against one another, mingling their juices and slipping and sliding in their damp flesh.
The two girls pumped away at each other for many minutes, working themselves into a frenzy. But because girls were just not made to go together, they couldn't give each other enough continued stimulation to arrive at a climax. Finally they disengaged and, at Hal's suggestion, moved into several poses that would make good pictures. First they both stood up and embraced, and Hal took a series of close-ups up and down where their bodies touched. Then Vanessa, who was a bit taller, took her breasts in her hands and leaned over till her nipples were just touching Peggy's.
Next, Peggy got down on the floor on all fours, and spread her knees far apart Vanessa sat on top of her, facing back, and then began to lean back, until she was lying on top of Peggy on her back. She lifted her legs and spread them, and Hal got a picture of a cunt and asshole arrangement going up and down.
For the final series, Vanessa lay on her back and arched her legs over her, till her feet touched the floor above her shoulders. Then Peggy leaned over her wide-open crotch and dangled her tits down, letting her nipples tease Vanessa's clit and asshole. Vanessa opened her cunt up, and Peggy shoved a hardened nipple as far into it as she could. It came out damp with Vanessa's feminine juices.
From faraway, Vanessa heard Hal say, "I think I've got enough pictures."
"Then get the hell in here with us," Peggy replied.
But Vanessa had a better idea. "I want to take some pictures of you," she told Hal between rapid breaths.
"Okay," said Hal "Do you know how to use this camera?"
Vanessa staggered up, realizing that she was still stoned. "I don't know," she said vaguely. "How does it work?"
"You look through the lens," he said. "You set everything up here first Most of it stays the same. The timing should be right Then-you see that little pointer in there?"
Vanessa looked into the viewfinder. "Yeah," she said. "That little thing that wobbles?"
"Right You twist this thing ... " He pointed to the lens. "Until that pointer is between those two lines, and the tiling is in focus. Got that?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Vanessa said. "I'm so stoned, I don't know."
"Me too," admitted Hal. "I'm not sure I even explained it right It's all like instinct to me. Second nature. But give it a try, and if it doesn't work-well, film's cheap."
Vanessa took the camera, put the string around her neck so she wouldn't drop it, and peered through the lens. She was so stoned that it took her half a minute even to find Hal and Peggy and keep them in the frame. When she did, she found Hal already partially undressed. She snapped a few shots of his torso, his face, and his legs as he drew his pants down. When Peggy. kneeling in front of him, grasped the bands of his underwear and drew them down, she caught what she thought was a nice shot of Hal's cock springing loose. It reminded her of a bent bow straightening.
Hal and Peggy were now going their merry way, and paying no attention to Vanessa. That was just as well, because Vanessa was hesitant to give instructions as Hal had done. She simply followed the action and recorded it.
Seconds after Hal's cock had been liberated from his underwear, it was captured again-by Peggy's mouth. Vanessa couldn't believe how much of the monstrous organ Peggy could swallow, seemingly without strain. Hal continued to stand, pumping in and out of Peggy's mouth, while Peggy held him by the buttocks and shoved him ever farther into her.
After a while Hal moved Peggy to a sofa, which he opened into a double bed. Long before, Peggy had requested two fucks-one in the ass, and one in the cunt. Hal now proceeded to oblige her. Taking a small jar of Vaseline out of his bottom drawer, Hal handed it to Peggy. "Here," he said. "Get that asshole of yours ready."
Peggy complied. She positioned herself on all fours and put her knees wide apart The brownish-pink flesh of her asshole was quivering with anticipation. She delved a finger into the Vaseline jar and then reached back to smear her hole with it. The finger wandered around the outside of the hole, massaging as it went, and then dove it Behind Peggy, Hal was standing with his enormous rod in his hand, pulling slowly on it at the sight of Peggy greasing herself up.
Finally Peggy grasped one buttock in each hand and pulled them apart. Her asshole expanded. 'Tm ready," she said.
Hal moved close to her and brought the head of his cock, now inflamed to an almost purple-red, into contact with her flesh. Involuntarily Peggy's hole tightened, but she relaxed it again with an effort, and Hal started to ease it in.
"Damn, that feels good," Hal moaned "It's so smooth and tight"
"More," Peggy groaned, "Give me just a little bit more."
Hal obliged. By this time about half his cock was buried in Peggy's asshole, whose sides gripped it hard and pulled in and out with its rhythm. Vanessa came in for a close-up on the contact area, and took tie picture just as Hal was penetrating even deeper.
"That's good," Peggy said. "That's about all I can take" Now she started her own motion, moving hex belly up and down and forcing her ass back and forth in the process. Hal picked up the rhythm, and soon they were fucking away smoothly.
Vanessa put down the camera. She'd taken enough pictures. She went over and lay down on her back next to Peggy. Then she reached up, and her fingers found Peggy's clit. Immediately Peggy began breathing hard and the tempo of her fucking increased. On top of her, Hal was really working out. By this time he was wrenching his cock back and forth in the ever-loosening hole. Looking at him, Vanessa could tell he was going to come soon. She redoubled her efforts on Peggy's clit, and soon brought Peggy to the brink of orgasm. The two bodies set an incredible tempo. Vanessa could not tell whether Peggy would have had a climax by just being fucked in the ass, or whether her finger was really necessary. But she knew the finger was appreciated-and she knew she was doing it right Somewhere, she had heard that it took a woman to know what a woman wanted. She had had those words recalled to her recently. Now she realized how true they were. Oh, a man who was good in bed might eventually figure one or two women out, and then do for them what no other woman could. But for immediate contact and understanding, she didn't see how you could miss with another woman.
Vanessa was surprised to have these thoughts running through her head while the orgy of pleasure to which she was witness was raging above her. But the events of the last few days had been so crazy that she supposed sooner or later she'd be bound to withdraw from them a bit and look them over-and why not now? She felt at once intimately involved in what was going on above her, and not involved at all.
Suddenly there was an explosion of sound and activity. Almost without warning, Hal and Peggy came, Peggy's clit grinding down on Vanessa's hand, her asshole ramming back at Hal to gobble up every inch of him possible, and Hal attacking with a fury that had it not been overwhelmed by the tide of passion that carried them away, would have been called positively brutal.
The explosion lasted only seconds. Then Peggy collapsed into the bed, and Hal broke down on top of her, rolling a little to the side and letting his spent cock ease out of her asshole. It was followed by a thin stream of come that dribbled across Peggy's buttocks and made a gray stain on the bed sheets.
"Holy shit," Peggy said. "That was incredible."
Vanessa took a few more pictures, then set the camera up on a bookshelf. "It looked like it," she said. "I'd like to try it some time."
Peggy was starting to catch her breath and recover. "If you do, you'd better prepare first," she recommended.
"What do you mean?"
"You've probably got a pretty tight little asshole. As a matter of fact, I know you do." She responded to Hal's amused, quizzical look by saying, "We checked each other out this morning." Then she turned back to Vanessa. "You have to start by sticking a finger up there once in a while. Then you move to two fingers-always with plenty of lubrication-and then you start trying things like bottles. You see, having a cock up your ass can be plain uncomfortable if you fight it, if you're tense and don't just let go. I mean, after all," she said, pointing to Hal's deflated organ, "that son of a bitch might not look like much now-but when it comes up against your ass, it seems like a fucking telephone pole."
Having absorbed this lesson on how to prepare for ass-fucking, Vanessa moved across the room and sat on a chair, "As I remember," she said, helping herself to a joint that was already rolled and lying on an end table, "you still owe Peggy a regular fuck," she told Hal.
"Shit," Hal said, looking like a damp dish cloth, let me catch my fucking breath."
"Okay." If that's the kind of breath you're catching."
Hal laughed. "I feel like I'm becoming a sex slave or something. I can see it now," he said, moving his hands before him to indicate the spread of a newspaper headline. "Photographer held captive for nine days by coed nymphos; forced to fuck self into oblivion."
The girls laughed. 'It isn't just like that," Peggy said. "I even bet we could find someone else who could give us what we want."
"Well," Hal rejoined, "Vanessa already found an alternate. Paul's a pretty fast worker ... no?"
"Yes," conceded Vanessa. "A pretty good one too."
By this time Hal was somewhat revived. "You going to sit this one out?" he asked Vanessa, staring at her naked body and watching his own organ rise.
"Fuck that," said Peggy. "Come on in. It'll make a beautiful threesome."
"But who'll take the pictures?" Vanessa laughed, as she rubbed her pussy and walked over to the bed.
In a moment the three bodies were so intertwined that a spectator couldn't possibly have determined which limbs belonged to whom. Vanessa had Hal's hairy cock down her throat and was sucking away for dear life. Hal's tongue was buried in Peggy's cunt, and Peggy, for her part, licked Vanessa up and down the crotch, driving her into a frenzy.
When Hal's cock was ready for another round, Vanessa guided it toward Peggy's pussy. Everyone was still lying on his side, and now Vanessa moved so that as the other two fucked, Hal could eat her out and Peggy could suck her tits.
The room was hazy from marijuana smoke, and dark, because the camera lights had been turned out A shaft of light fell across the bed from outside, where a spotlight shone from the top of the building down into the courtyard. Now Vanessa closed her eyes. Once more she was both within and outside what was going on. Hal's tongue probed her pussy, and Peggy's mouth skillfully sucked her nipples, and she felt as though she was being transported on a magic carpet of pleasure. But suddenly, everything but the sounds in the room seemed to go out of existence; she could no longer see, or feel, or smell, or taste. She could only hear.
The sounds of lovemaking were incredibly varied, she learned. First there was the gentle creaking of the bed, in time with the rhythm set up as Hal inserted his cock into Peggy's womanhood and began to pump. Then there were the sounds of the connection itself; wet and sloppy, almost Mice someone dipping a sponge into a bucket But Vanessa had to listen very hard to pick them out over other noises-of breathing, of the friction of shifting bodies against the sheets, and even of noises from the hall outside and the courtyard below. And then, close to her was the sound of sucking and licking on her own body.
It was in this air of abstraction that Vanessa approached the climax toward which Hal and Peggy were moving. It was almost like a symphony; and as the tempo rose, she could tell the end was near. She wondered whether she could come this way-abstractedly, almost in a disembodied fashion. Her stoned brain began feeding her images now-disconnected images of her past. Sand boxes and nursery schools, tree-lined roads and seaside resorts, far away from Arizona and the Pacific. Airplanes, and motorcycles, and pools of water, and then the images all became more compact, and moved like a freight train toward the present.
The symphony of sound in the room became intense. It was like a great machine, revving up far higher than it was ever meant to: pistons flying, crankshafts whirling, belts whizzing, while explosion after explosion drove it onward.
Suddenly the climax came. Suddenly Hal and Peggy broke into cries and moans. The human voices cutting through the mechanical sounds of intercourse brought all Vanessa's senses back in an overwhelming rush, and suddenly she was thrown back into the current: she was part of the machine, but the machine was human now. It was flesh and cunt- juice and semen splattering everywhere, clutching and groaning and heat, sheets waving as they were thrown about left and right. Vanessa ground her cunt into Hal's face until her clit found his teeth. They clamped down, gently but firmly, on her throbbing button of puffy flesh, and she exploded in waves of climax. Peggy was sucking away at her tits, biting her nipples in a frenzy. Pain escalated the pleasure to new, undreamt of levels. Vanessa was floating, weightless, in outer space. The three of them were in a capsule, bound for the edges of the universe.
Then, as suddenly as it had come, the climax began to ebb. The space capsule, stretched as far into the outer reaches as it could go, began slowly drifting backwards, being pulled by the forces of everyday reality-the bed, the floor, the window, the camera lights standing Eke so many storks across the room from them, until it came to rest in the college dormitory room from which they had started, and dissolved.
The three looked at each other, almost in disbelief. Hal dragged himself up out of bed and went to the refrigerator. He returned with three cans of beer. They sat in a circle on the bed, sipping the cold liquid, feeling it run in streams down their throats, cherishing the simple, basic taste.
"Wow," breathed Hal.
The girls agreed in silence.
CHAPTER FOUR
A few days later, most of the upperclassmen had returned, and some classes had begun. Vanessa was beginning to feel quite at home in the quiet, wooded campus, with the many new friends she had made. An air of unreality still hung over the place for her, however; and as she settled into her seat for Professor Dalton's first English class, the wood-paneled room, the glass chandelier, and the old-fashioned chairs with writing boards attached seemed somehow not to go together.
Professor Dalton himself was something of a mystery to her.
"We're going to approach English 1A a little differently than we have in previous years," Dalton said, his face something of a mask. "We are going to start with something relatively contemporary, and move backward. Now this is an advanced placement course, as you know; you who are in it have already demonstrated an ability to read and analyze English literature, and you have displayed a knowledge of most of the true classics of the field. We are going to begin with T. S. Eliot, and we will read first "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," and then "The Wasteland." Many of you have probably studied these poems before ...
Vanessa began to drift away already. She was trying to make sense of Dalton, the person. Lines from Eliot came back to her. "I have measured out my life with coffee spoons." Was that Dalton? Was he another of these Professors of English who had once set out to write great things-who had failed, and had ended up here? Who now took what was left of his paltry life and rationed it carefully, so as not to come face to face with anything profound, important, meaningful?
"I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me," When she had gone to talk to Dalton about his section, she'd thought there had been a certain sensuality hanging in the air. But she had also felt the formality, the rigidity, of his personality. She wondered whether she was a mermaid, and whether, if she wanted to sing to him, he would listen. She wondered what kind of lover he would make. She had seen his wife-a striking auburn-haired beauty whose striding gait and energy-charged manner belied the detached precise-ness of her speech and her demure exterior, Hal and Gary and Paul had mentioned her almost with awe, Was it all Dalton could do to hold onto her?
Vanessa looked at Dalton again. That shouldn't be. His rugged good looks and his confident manner should be enough to hold onto any woman. But there was something in him, she felt, holding him back, Perhaps he was stuck between generations, Vanessa knew him to be thirty-four. His wife was only twenty-eight. The complete freedom-which almost amounted, she felt, to hedonism-that she had encountered in the students she had come to know, was completely foreign to Dalton's way of doing things. She imagined him to be highly disciplined, painstakingly accurate, tightly scheduled. What a waste.
That night Vanessa and Peggy paid Hal back for his previous party invitations by inviting him and many of his friends to their room. It was a quiet party, with the now traditional scotch on the rocks, relaxed conversation, and frank opinion-giving. As usual, there came a time when the others all drifted away, and by one in the morning, only Hal was left.
"I've got something to tell you two, "he said. "But you have to keep it a secret, I really mean that. I don't even know why I'm telling you-except that you'd probably find out sooner or later anyhow, since we've become so close."
"We can keep a secret," Vanessa said.
"I know. Well, here it is. Shirley Dalton asked me to take some pictures of her."
The silence in the room was overwhelming.
After nearly two minutes, Peggy broke it. "Holy shit," she said. "How did that happen?"
"Well, it's a long story. You know she teaches chemistry,"
"Yeah."
"Well, I had her last year. One time she came up to a party at my place, and wandered into the picture room. There had always been a subtle kind of thing going on between us, but neither of us really wanted to bring it out in the open. At that time, she was really impressed with my work, but she didn't say anything more. See, she used to be a model before she got married. But she was really unhappy with the plastic Madison Avenue shit she had to do, That was why she didn't mind giving it up. I guess she really wanted to be an actress." Vanessa thought briefly of her speculations about Professor Dalton. "Anyhow, when she saw my stuff, she said something about a combination of sensuality and art- and then she clammed up. Just the other day, out of the blue, she ran into me in front of the chemistry building and asked if I'd do some shots of her. I asked what kind, and she said, 'the kind you have in your picture room.' That really blew my mind. I don't know whether there's something going on between her and her husband-whether they're having trouble-or whether she just wants to feel that she can still model, or whether she's interested in me personally, or what. Anyhow, we made an appointment to do some stuff in the state forest, about thirty miles north, tomorrow."
"Wow," said Vanessa. 'Td really like to see that."
"Well, I didn't want to tell you this, but she's already seen some of the shots I've taken of you girls. I hope you don't mind."
"Hell no. Did you show her any of the two of us together?"
"Yeah. She seemed particularly interested in those. I also showed her some of the stuff that you took," he said, addressing Vanessa, "of Peggy and me. I really think she's loosening up. She said it looked like fun."
Peggy frowned slightly. "I can't figure it out," she said. "Do you think she's a closet nympho, or lesbian, or something?"
"Well," mused Hal, "what is a nympho but a woman who likes sex as much as a man?"
"You've got a point there," Peggy admitted. "I guess I could fit into that category myself."
"And what's a lesbian? I mean, if it's someone who doesn't like men, she's not it. Like-are you girls lesbians?"
Peggy and Vanessa laughed.
"So she's normal," Peggy said. "Now what?"
"I don't know-play it by ear, I guess. If her husband ever found out, there'd be hell to pay."
"I would assume that," Vanessa said.
Hal was silent for a moment. "Vanessa," he finally said, "you mentioned that you'd really like to see that photo session tomorrow."
"Yeah."
"Well, Shirley's seen your pictures, and she didn't seem shocked that I showed them to you without asking. So why don't you two come along?"
"Oh yeah," said Peggy. "She'd really go for that"
"No-I mean secretly. You could hide and watch. You know, I'd really like to get the four of us together."
"I'd like that too," said Vanessa.
"It would really be risky. If Shirley took it the wrong way, she might think I'd betrayed her trust or something. But if she was loose enough-it might really be something."
"I'll tell you what," Peggy suggested. "Well hide and watch, and if the right moment comes along, well just show up."
"I don't know about that," Hal said. "I've got a better idea. You hide and watch. There's a stream nearby. If things look like they're going well, I'll tell Shirley that you two are swimming there, and ask if she wants to join you. That way the choice will be up to her. If she doesn't go for it-she never needs to know that you were there, or that you know anything."
"That sounds good to me."
The next morning, the girls borrowed Paul's motorcycle.
"Are you sure you can drive it?" Paul asked Peggy. "It's heavy as hell."
"I drove a chopped Harley a thousand miles once," Peggy told him.
"Okay," he agreed. "Enough said." The girls dressed in leather and set out. They were to arrive at the appointed spot about half an hour before Hal and Shirley were to arrive in Shirley's car. Her husband had taken off safely for a conference in Boston the night before, and everything was set. As Peggy motored along the road, with Vanessa holding on for dear life behind her, there was a strange tension in the air.
"I feel like we're on some secret service mission," Vanessa said when they rolled the bike off into the woods from the parking lot at the state forest.
"Yeah," said Peggy. "Operation Sex."
"Well, I guess that's better than a sex operation."
"We wouldn't be in for that anyhow. They've only figured out how to go from men to women, They haven't got it in reverse yet."
The girls wandered down to the stream Hal had mentioned and checked it out Then they waited there, looking at a trail that Hal had mentioned, waiting for Hal and Shirley to pass by.
"You know," Vanessa was saying, "somehow I really feel like a shit doing this. I mean, it's like an invasion of privacy."
"Yeah," Peggy agreed. "But here we are, shits or not, and I'm going to enjoy it Wait a second-here they come."
The two girls were about fifty yards off the trail. All they could see was Hal's head, and a tripod protruding above it. Shirley was a few inches shorter than Hal, and she was out of sight. The girls followed the stream, catching occasional glimpses of the tripod through the foliage. At last Hal stopped momentarily. This was his signal that he was about to leave the path in the opposite direction. Peggy and Vanessa made for the trail. When they got there, they could see Hal and Shirley making their way over the top of a hill. They followed through the underbrush.
When the girls got to the hilltop, they looked down into a dell filled with soft grass. There was a tiny spring at one end. Hal was setting up his camera, and Shirley, perhaps a little nervous even though they had not seen another soul in the park, was pacing up and down and looking around.
The girls could see Hal readying his camera. Shirley approached him, and the session was on. Altering his usual practice, probably because he didn't have much tone, Hal took only two or three shots of Shirley fully clothed, "He's probably studied her body enough already," said Vanessa to Peggy, "just watching her walk around."
"She's really beautiful, isn't she?" Peggy asked, as she watched Shirley stride back and forth in a short skirt and white blouse.
"She looks like some kind of animal, doesn't she?" Vanessa observed.
"Yeah," Peggy agreed. "She reminds me of a lioness."
"Proud as hell"
Like most models, Shirley was not particularly full-breasted. Hal had her sit on the grass. Then, snapping pictures all the time, he had her roll, toss, and do somersaults.
"She must be really tight," Peggy ventured, as they watched the white patch of her underpants shoot in and out of view.
"Wouldn't you be?"
"Yeah. Should we try to get closer? I'd like to hear what Hal's saying to her."
"Okay. But let's be really quiet. If we could get behind that clump of bushes-see, down there to the left? We'd be pretty close, and we wouldn't be in their path when they went to leave."
The girls made their way painstakingly down the hillside. They had taken care to wear green and brown clothes, and kept themselves well concealed, peeking out only occasionally to check on progress. But there was none before they reached their destination. The wind was blowing in their direction, and it carried most of the conversation to them from the grassy dell that they so carefully watched.
"Well," Hal was saying, "whenever you're ready."
Shirley smiled. Vanessa thought she could detect a hint of a blush. Then Shirley carefully unbuttoned her blouse and slipped it off, laying it on top of Hal's camera case. She was wearing a white lace bra. She reached up her back, undid the clasp, and let it fall before her. Tiny pink nipples flashed forth against a background of startlingly white flesh. Against a background of the brilliant green grass and foliage, it made a startlingly dramatic picture.
Hal closed in, taking three or four shots on the way. They were talking almost in whispers now, and the girls could hear nothing. Shirley lay down in the grass on her back, and Hall took a couple of shots from the side. Vanessa could imagine how they'd turn out She knew Hal was using color film, a thing he did rarely-but this was a rare occasion. Vanessa pictured a pure white breast, a rosebud nipple at its crown, against the background of the vibrant lowland grass. It would be one of those abstract pictures with all its sensuality gathered in one carefully composed and focused point.
Undoubtedly in response to a request, Shirley took one nipple in her fingers and began rubbing it. But she obviously was too nervous to bring it erect Hal moved in and helped her. As he did so, Peggy turned to her friend, "Do you think it's warm in this woods?"
Vanessa thought for a second. It was almost noon, and the autumn sun was bearing down hard. The atmosphere was like honey melting under its rays.
"Sort of. What you're saying is that we should take off our clothes?"
"Right," said Peggy, and immediately began to undress. Vanessa followed suit, realizing that they would be able to share much more fully in the spectacle to come if they had complete access to each other's bodies.
In a moment, Hal had apparently finished his task. He took a few more shots of Shirley's breasts, with erect nipples, from various angles. Then he moved close to her and unzipped her skirt. Almost sleepily, Shirley lifted her hips and allowed Hal to draw the skirt off. It took its place with her blouse on top of the camera case.
Vanessa and Peggy now stared at the pure white of Shirley's underwear. It was clinging tightly to her, and the mound of her pubis stood out sharply. Already the girls could tell what kind of cunt she had: not a tight one with the lips drawn up against it, but a loose one whose lips hung luxuriously, tantalizingly away from it, giving the fingers and the tongue something to play with for a long time.
Hal was taking more pictures. Shirley rolled over. Her ass was not round and solid; rather, it sloped down gently and then flared out at the bottom, giving a kind of ski-jump effect to the full looseness of her buttocks. She was not fat-just full, and perfectly formed. Vanessa knew what pleasure it would be to take those buttocks in her hand. She could almost feel her fingers moving up Shirley's slim legs, and encountering the weight, ample and sensual, of those buttocks. She was beginning to wonder about her attraction to this woman. Surely she had never felt this way before about a woman-not even Peggy, whom she had always thought of somehow differently.
Finally Hal backed up, and the girls could hear him again. "Pull your pants down about halfway," he said.
Shirley obeyed. She made a fantastic picture, framed by the surrounding trees, all but naked against the background of the grass, with the dark crack of her ass, half-revealed, making what amounted to an exclamation point in the very center of the composition.
"Okay," said Hal, "take them all the way off."
Vanessa and Peggy gasped almost together. Vanessa, squatting in the grass totally naked, with the blades tickling her ass and caressing her pussy, glanced at Peggy. "Wow," she said. "That's the most perfect body I've ever seen."
Hal, down below them, was apparently thinking the same thing. For a moment he let the camera drop and simply stared at the spectacle. Shirley rolled over slowly, and her cunt came into view. It was covered with a fine nap of hair the same color as the hair on her head. It formed a perfect V between her legs. The whole world seemed to focus in it as Hal raised his camera and began to shoot. Gradually Shirley's legs parted, revealing the pearly flesh of her cunt. It was just as Vanessa had expected: full and loose, but without being sloppy. Just generous, delicate, and very much Eke a flower.
The next few moments below seemed like a dance to Peggy and Vanessa, If it hadn't been for Hal and the cameras, the scene could have been taken from an ancient myth. Vanessa felt as if she had come across a Greek clearing complete with romping gods and goddesses. She was reminded of a poem by Keats. She wondered why. Then she remembered Shirley's husband-her English teacher. How much nicer it was to be out in the wilderness making poetry than to be in the classroom reading it!
As Hal's hungry camera devoured her, Shirley arose and walked. The delicate muscles in her legs, perfectly turned, stood out gracefully in the sunlight Pure animal. Her buttocks bunched up into tight packages of sensuality and then loosened and stretched as she went. Her breasts, not quite as small as they had first seemed, hung with perfect symmetry, like fruits, from her chest. Her toes parted the grass, the breezes blew all around her ... it was all Vanessa could do to keep from running into the dell and joining in.
The minutes dragged out, but Peggy and Vanessa didn't notice. Hal took pictures of Shirley in the grass, next to the trees ... and then he took her down to the tiny spring at the far end of the clearing. He had her stand in the water, which was not much more than ankle deep, and then squat down slowly. He moved in close, and as her pubic hairs broke the surface of the water, with her buttocks on either side, he snapped several pictures. She continued down, with the water creeping into her pussy and up the crack of her ass. Vanessa could almost feel the water cooling her own flaming genitals. Finally Hal had Shirley sit all the way down in the water, and he took a few shots of her private parts completely submerged, through a thin veil of water. When Shirley got up again, the water dripping suggestively from her crotch, and down over her legs.
Hal put away his camera. It seemed to Peggy and Vanessa that it had been a short session-but then Peggy realized that Hal had shot five rolls of film, and more than forty-five minutes had passed.
Shirley lay on her back in the deep grass with her eyes closed. Hal lay down next to her. Her hand traveled slowly over and massaged his chest.
Peggy and Vanessa had been crouching close to each other's naked bodies for some time-but the spectacle below them had occupied all their attention. Now they turned briefly to each other. Peggy put one hand on Vanessa's breast and began to finger her pussy with the other. Vanessa did the same to Peggy, and felt Peggy's legs open to receive her affections. She found Peggy's clit as Peggy had found hers, and began massaging it with an identical rhythm.
By this time Shirley had unbuttoned Hal's shirt Hal sat quite still, and allowed Shirley's long, slim fingers to go to work on him, rubbing and teasing him from the top of his head to his waist. After a few minutes Shirley began to undo Hal's belt, and with his help she pulled his pants and underpants off at once.
Hal's rod stood up like a flagpole in the middle of the clearing. Shirley moved softly to it and took it between her lips. She covered its head, and then began a slow up-and-down motion that set Hal to writhing back and forth in ecstasy. After a moment, her tongue moved down the shaft of his cock to his balls. She took them both into her mouth. Her auburn hair flowed down his thigh to his knee, and then back again. She probed the crack of his ass with it, and then ran it back up the shaft of his throbbing cock to the head.
By this time Hall was nearly going insane. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her on top of him. He had her stand above him. For a moment, Peggy and Vanessa were alarmed. They had caused a bush to move, and Shirley had happened to glance their way at that very moment. Vanessa was positive that those wide, green eyes had spotted them. But Shirley's full and beautifully shaped mouth showed no signs of expression. In response to something Hal murmured, she lowered herself until she was squatting directly on his face. Hal's handsome, high cheekbones were inundated by a flood of pale flesh. Shirley rocked back and forth gently, wiping her pussy all over Hal's face. Vanessa could imagine what it felt like: those full, ripe cunt-lips, and the tiny opening of that tight, smooth asshole, circling and circling Hal's lips, his nose, his eyes, his cheeks, his chin, his forehead.
In a moment Shirley got off Hal and rolled over in the grass. She put her hands to her aching cunt and opened it wide. Hal, his rod now looking like a telephone pole more than a flagpole, with a huge, angry head, crawled to her and positioned himself between her legs. She reached out and, taking his inflamed organ in her cool hands, plunged it deep into herself.
By this time Vanessa and Peggy were going after each other at a feverish rate. Several times Peggy had neared a climax and asked Vanessa to slow down. She wanted to come with Hal and Shirley. Vanessa agreed.
Down in the clearing, Hal and Shirley were fucking in a smooth, even rhythm. Their feet were toward the girls, and Peggy and Vanessa could clearly see Hal's organ plunging again and again into the seemingly bottomless well of Shirley's cunt. Shirley was clutching Hal violently. Her nails raked his back and left deep red scratches. Her feet dug into the soft earth as she fought for leverage with which to answer Hal's insistent thrusting. To Peggy and Vanessa, it almost looked more like a fight to the death than like a love-making event. But still, even as the thrusting became more pronounced, it came in an even rhythm.
Vanessa and Peggy were now holding each other on the edge of a climax, waiting for Shirley to come. Every once in a while it would look as though Hal was fighting to keep himself from coming to soon. After a few short minutes of hard fucking, though, Shirley's body began to twitch and heave. Her mouth opened in a piercing moan. Her hands left Hal's back I and grasped the earth, giving her leverage to alter the timing of the fuck. Suddenly she began to smash her cunt into Hal every time he bore down on her, instead of giving way and running her clit along the shaft of his cock. Five seconds later she let out a cry, arched her back, and went completely rigid. Hal continued to fuck while Shirley worked her cunt muscles to try to grasp and hold his organ. She held that position, moaning loudly, while Hal shuddered and churned and broke into his own orgasm.
Peggy and Vanessa now let themselves go completely. Vanessa had to stifle her own cries of pleasure as Peggy's finger pummeled her clit to a frenzied climax. Her knees wobbled and would hardly hold her. She felt dizzy and disjointed. At the same time, she kept her fingers working hard inside Peggy's cunt. Suddenly she felt Peggy tremble and grind harder into her. A torrent of cunt-juice wetted Vanessa's hand and ran in drops down her arm. Peggy was panting. They were both-or rather, all four of them- coming together.
The next thing Vanessa knew, she was lying on the grass, opening her eyes as if she had just slept a full night. No more than two seconds had passed, but it seemed as if she had been completely taken out of time for those seconds. It was almost as if she had become the woman down there on the grass with Hal.
Peggy was looking at Vanessa with concern. "You okay?" she asked.
"What? Yeah. Sure. I was just ... somewhere else."
"I know. I could tell. We'd better get our clothes back on and get the hell over to the stream."
Hal and Shirley were still and resting now. But in a few minutes Hal stirred. He collected his equipment, and began to dress. Soon Shirley began to put her own clothes back on. Vanessa and Peggy barely had time to scamper up the hill and out of sight before Hal and Shirley came over the hill. They raced to a wide place in the stream, threw off their clothes again, and tiled to make it look as if they'd been there for a while.
A few minutes passed-more than enough time for Hal and Shirley to have arrived. Peggy dabbled aimlessly in the water, and Vanessa, after throwing some water in her hair to make it look like she'd been swimming, sunned herself on the bank.
"I guess Hal didn't ask her," Peggy said.
"If I know Hal, he asked her. I bet she decided not to come. In fact, I'll bet she was horrified with the idea."
"Probably. I bet she's from the old school. Thinks that since her husband probably cheats on her, it's okay for her to cheat on her husband, as long as she keeps it to straight, clean sex with one other guy."
"Yeah," Vanessa answered, "and she ... "
Vanessa was abruptly cut off by the sound of a rock dropping into the water only a few feet from her.
"What the hell?"
She and Peggy dove for their clothes.
"Who knows what lands of creeps are crawling around in this damn forest?"
But before they could as much as get their underwear on, they got an answer. Shirley's voice spoke up-from about ten feet away, behind a rock. "All right. Drop those clothes and come out with your hands up."
Shirley emerged from behind the rock, laughing. Hal followed her.
"I'm sorry," Hal said, "but I sort of double-crossed you. I felt really shitty about the idea of you spying on Shirley without her knowing it, even though I'd suggested it. So I told her all about it this morning before we came. She insisted on going through it just as it had been planned."
The girls looked at Shirley in amazement. "You mean you knew that we were watching you all the time?"
"That's right," she said. "Except that you hid yourselves so well that I couldn't locate you. But I knew you were out there somewhere."
Vanessa and Peggy looked at each other in amazement. "And you went through with all of it anyhow?"
That's right. I figured you were old enough to handle it," she said with a light laugh.
"It was beautiful," said Vanessa.
"But," added Shirley, "there's always the possibility that Fm from the old school ... "
The girls blushed. "You heard that too. eh?"
"That's right. It was pretty funny. I was a model in New York for three years while I was going through school part-time. There isn't a hell of a lot you don't see if you model in New York."
By this time they were all sitting by the side of the stream-Vanessa and Peggy naked, Shirley and Hal fully clothed.
"Well," Vanessa said, "I'm going swimming."
"That's what we came for," said Shirley, and began to pull off her clothes. Hal followed suit, and soon they were wading into the rapidly running, shallow water together.
Toward the edges of the stream, which was perhaps twenty feet wide at the bend where they found themselves, the bottom was strewn with small pebbles that made walking difficult. But a third of the way across, the rushing waters had carved a channel about four feet deep, and at its bottom were deposits of coarse sand left there over the years. The four of them stood on the soft bottom there, splashing and disappearing for brief seconds beneath the water, getting used to the slightly cool fluid. Vanessa and Peggy could not keep from staring occasionally at Shirley, whose statuesque body they still found striking. Finally Peggy said to Shirley, "Do you mind if I touch you?"
Shirley smiled. "No," she said. "I'd love it If I can touch you too."
That stipulation hardly required an answer. While Hal and Vanessa drifted a few feet downstream, Peggy began running her hands over Shirley's wet arms and back. Standing behind her, she pressed close, her pussy shoving into the crack of Shirley's buttocks, pushing their globes of flesh upward. Peggy's hands reached around to cup Shirley's breasts, and she teased the nipples till they were inflamed and distended with desire.
Shirley reached behind her back and grabbed Peggy's ass, feeling it with long, probing fingers. Peggy's pelvis began to rotate. Finally she let Shirley go and turned her around. She fastened her mouth on one of Shirley's nipples and began to suck. Immediately Shirley's knees buckled under her and she floated down into the water. Peggy put one hand under the small of her back, the way she had seen people do who were teaching children how to float. The other hand she allowed to meander down to Shirley's crotch. Shirley's legs drifted apart to admit a probing finger. In a moment, Peggy had two fingers buried deep in the recesses of Shirley's womanhood.
By this time Hal and Vanessa had begun their own adventures. They were locked in a tight embrace, with Hal's cock just beginning to find its way up Vanessa's pussy. They swirled around and around in the water, sometimes touching bottom with their dangling feet, sometimes floating briefly, sometimes sinking and holding their breath until they bounced off the bottom and shot to the surface again. Vanessa was grasping at Hal's prick hungrily, shoving her pussy at him like a bitch in heat He was teasing her with it, as he kept track of Peggy and Shirley out of the corner of his eye. When he saw Shirley, still floating on her back with Peggy's fingers in her hole, reach out for Peggy's pussy in an almost dreamlike fashion, he began to : guide Vanessa toward them.
Being in. the water so long was beginning to tire them all. Hal led the way, and they staggered up onto the bank and collapsed, their bodies still eager but in need of a short rest. Vanessa looked up at the sky through the mosaic of leaves overhead. She wondered if the clouds could see them. She thought of Professor Dalton at the head of the English 1A section. She thought of the pictures Hal had taken of Shirley. Then she felt a hand beginning to massage her legs.
Almost automatically, she let her own hand wander across the sand and grass until it found flesh. Her eyes were closed now, so she did not know who it was that she was caressing. The skin was smooth and tight and bare, which meant that it wasn't Hal.
Gradually she felt bodies moving toward her, or pulling her to make slight adjustments. She felt a mouth fasten on her cunt, and then she felt Hal's balls brushing her lips. She opened her mouth and took them in, swirling them around, licking the loose skin with her tongue. Then Hal moved, and she had a pussy in her face. She could tell it was Shirley's. Its delicate, loose lips were drawn halfway down her throat From somewhere above her, Shirley groaned.
Vanessa was enjoying keeping her eyes closed. It reminded her of being in the fun house in a carnival, in the total darkness. You were forever feeling hands on you, on your ass and tits, and once in a while one would penetrate boldly up your legs to touch your pussy-but you never knew for sure who it was. You had always come with your school class, or a large group of friends from the neighborhood, or from camp. You knew it wasn't a stranger but you never knew who it was. That was what made it exciting.
Soon Vanessa began to feel that the group of four was tied together by some invisible strand. It was as if they were all part of the same spider web. She could feel rhythms passing through her to the others, and from the others to her. Everyone was moving constantly, but there was no inconvenience, no strain. The whole group was gradually being worked up into a frenzy. Once more, Vanessa concentrated on the sounds: the trees, the rippling water, the sliding of flesh on flesh, the breathing, and the moans. The tempo increased. Suddenly she felt Hal's cock ram into her. She was taken away, abducted, from the group. She began her own rhythm. Somehow she felt like a rabbit. She was fucking harder and faster than she had before. But somehow, she felt the people around her being drawn in.
She allowed herself to open her eyes. Hal, while he was fucking her, had his head to the side and was eating Shirley's pussy, licking the lips and nibbling at the clit that now lay under a thin coating of passionate secretions. Vanessa grabbed Shirley's legs and pulled them across her chest, bring her cunt and Hal's mouth closer to her face, and making it easier for Hal to fuck her. Peggy had straddled Shirley's face, and was working her clit against Shirley's captive tongue at an incredible rate, while watching Hal's prick plunge into Vanessa and draw out again with the same tempo.
Vanessa closed her eyes again. She reached a hand out and located one of Shirley's tits. She began pulling unmercifully at the nipple, and felt Shirley's cunt respond with a redoubled effort against Hal's mouth. Vanessa knew she was somehow at the center of the entire orgy, and she knew she could not keep herself from coming almost immediately. The problem was how to communicate the climax to the others.
Vanessa felt her cunt tensing. It was like a bow about to release an arrow. She put her hand on Hal for a second to slow him down. Just as she did, she felt the rhythm of Shirley's ass against her chest increase and surpass hers. She opened her eyes to see Peggy clutching Shirley's shoulders and shoving her cunt into Shirley's face at a rate that said she was about to come.
Vanessa let herself go. She forgot who she was, where she was, and even whether she was. She allowed her animal instincts to well up to the surface and carry her away. She was a faraway spectator to her own climax. As she fucked, the waves of muscle contractions took in her whole body, from her head to her toes. Her cunt smashed into Hal's body and clamped down on his organ as hard as it could. She could almost feel every detail of its shape, from the long, thick shaft to the flared, rhinoceros-like head, making its imprint on the interior of her cunt.
Suddenly, from deep inside her, she felt a searing explosion. With the speed of light, it radiated white heat and freezing cold to every part of her body, delivering her up to fantastic flashes of orgasm. The trees and stream and sky flashed on and off, as if a giant strobe light were turned on them. When they were on, she and the whole pile of tangled bodies rushed toward them, eager to become one with all of nature. When they were off, she felt as if she were falling into a black hole in space, down Alice's rabbit hole, off a cliff into a bottomless ocean. Finally the tempo broke, and she froze, clamping down on Hal's cock as hard as she could, like an engine that has overheated and seized. The moment of complete orgasm was long and delicious-but slowly, she felt it ebbing away. The other sighs and moans told her that Peggy and Shirley had been fused into the group orgasm just as she and Hal had-that in a strange sense, they had all for one brief moment become one person.
Half an hour later, the group managed to get clothes and camera equipment and pocket books and things together and wander away from the stream to the path. They said little. Everything had already been made clear. Vanessa helped Peggy lug Paul's cycle out of the bushes, and the girls took off first, leaving Hal and Shirley to pack the camera equipment in the car and drive back separately.
As the big Triumph purred down the highway, Vanessa thought over the events of the day. Somehow, the whole world was turning out to have different foundations than she had originally thought it to have. She couldn't quite figure out what they were, but she knew this much: she had come to college to learn, and she was learning. That very little of her real learning was going on in the classroom didn't bother her at all.
The next day, however, she did find it somewhat odd to be sitting in Professor Dalton's classroom. As he read poems of Yeats and commented on them, she wondered what his reaction would be if he were to find out about the session in the woods the day before. Somehow, she was glad he never would.
CHAPTER FIVE
Several days later, Hal's roommate John arrived. As usual, he was late for registration, and had missed several days of classes. To Peggy and Vanessa, he seemed the perfect compliment to Hal. While Hal was tall and dark, intense and quick-witted, John was of average height, very muscular, with blond hair and an easy, almost permanent smile. He declared that the past week at his grandparents' house in the Bahamas had been worth missing a few classes for, proclaimed that he had forgotten, for the fourth fall in a row, where the college bookstore and library were, and announced that yes, it had been sort of risky going through customs, but he had managed to bring back a pound of Columbian marijuana, all tops, of a variety that went by the nickname "chiba." Peggy was interested to know if it was the same variety as was available in New York from time to time, which was the most expensive of all grass, going for five to six hundred dollars a pound or fifty dollars an ounce. John modestly affirmed that it was, whereupon Peggy asked if she might try just a taste. John said, "Gladly," and produced a joint from his wallet. Within thirty seconds Vanessa and Peggy, Hal and John were rolling on the floor convulsed in totally mindless laughter.
The first thing on John's mind, after getting stoned and getting a beer, was Hal's artistic progress over the summer months. In a word, he wanted to see the dirty pictures. For the next two hours John alternated between drooling over the photos and carefully selecting shots that he wanted blown up.
"Why do you want them blown up?" Hal asked. The goddamned walls are all covered already."
John, a Budweiser can in one hand and another joint in the other, grunted semi-articulately, "Gonna paper the chapel with "em."
Hal stared at the ceiling. Peggy found some marbles in Hal's desk drawer. Hunting up a piece of chalk, she drew a circle on the carpet and divided the marbles into four piles. "Come on," she said. "Let's play." So they did-for five hours, with a break for dinner and time for John, who was constantly losing, to hunt up some more marbles from other guys in the building.
At the end of the five hours, Peggy naturally had cleaned everyone else out three or four times over, and they were just starting to come down from their long trip.
"Damn," said Vanessa, "that chiba really knocks you on your ass. Hey," she said, apparently thinking of it for the first time, "why do you guys have all those marbles?"
"Why not?" asked Hal.
That seemed good enough.
Finally, John broke a long, contemplative silence with a bright and sudden smile that said-"ideal"
"I've got it," he declared.
"Got what?" Peggy asked.
"I hope to hell you've got it," Vanessa added. "Wouldn't be much good if you didn't."
"Don't confuse me. Besides, maybe it was shot off in the war. Anyway, you don't know what it is."
"Well," asked Hal patently, "what is it?"
"A pussy tasting," John said triumphantly.
"What the fuck's that?"
"You uncultured boor," John said, putting on an excellent show of being genuinely hurt by his friend's lack of savoir faire, "have you ever heard of a wine tasting?"
"Yeah, I suppose so."
"Do you know what happens at one?"
"No."
"You get five or ten different lands of wine, and you try them all out to compare them. You know, you say this one is smooth, it's fruity, it's a big wine, it has bouquet, a nice finish-while the other one is probably grade B horse piss."
"Oh."
"Well, man, we don't consume too much wine around here, but a lot of pussy-right?"
"Well-we're comfortable," admitted Hal.
"So-if you can't figure it out by now, I can't help you."
"I'm beginning to get the picture."
"So am I," said Peggy, "and I don't like it"
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want my cunt to be labeled grade B horse piss."
"Oh, shit," said John, his eyes crossing slightly from too much thinking, "that's a wine category, that's not a cunt category. I mean, unless you take a leak in the middle of it"
"I just might, if I knew it was you," Peggy laughed.
"I don't see why we don't do it the other way around," said Vanessa. "We could cover your cock with chocolate sauce and bite it off."
"Ouch," said John. "Well, it depends on whether you like to eat or be eaten."
"Fuck it," said Hal, "why don't we just have an orgy."
"The two things are not mutually exclusive," said John. "Mutually exclusive," he repeated defensively, in response to Hal's raised eyebrows. "I learned that in philosophy last year, and I even know what it means. It means you can have a pussy tasting and an orgy all in the same night."
"I'm beginning to flash on this," Peggy said. "Like we get about a dozen girls, and we cover up everything but our cunts, so the guys can't see who we are. Then we ask them to identify us purely by eating us out."
"That wouldn't work so well," said Vanessa. "Hal already knows us by our cunts better than by our faces."
"Well, shit, you have to be honest," Peggy said. "Like if you've been into the muff in question" ... she hesitated for a second. "The muff in question," she said. "That's like legal terminology. I heard it on Perry Mason. Like the item in question, the day in question, the man in question-the muff in question. Get it?"
"We shouldn't do anything but play marbles on this dope," Hal observed.
"Anyhow," Peggy went on, "if you've been into the muff in question, and like you definitely know whose it is, then you have to fucking disqualify yourself."
"That sounds fair enough," John observed.
"Sounds far out," said Vanessa. "I'll do it on one condition. That we do it the other way around the next week. Have a cock tasting."
"Far fucking out," said John. "It's a deal."
He stood up very formally and offered his hand to Peggy. "Madam," he said, "I am most gratified that we have been able to reach agreement on this difficult question. The fur trade has suffered egregiously in recent years from a certain over-discreteness on the part of the suppliers which I am confident the present arrangements will obviate. If you can supply me with the pelts I need to carry on my business, you will find myself and my assistants more than ready to make up for any losses you and those whom you represent may have suffered in connection with the recent slump in the sausage trade. Now, if you will excuse me ... "
John, who by this time had drunk more than a six-pack of beer, smoked three joints of some of the more powerful dope in existence, and who by his own account had not slept since leaving Nassau nearly thirty-six hours before, reached down and picked up his bag of marbles, emptied it onto the floor from a height of five feet, and passed out. Fortunately Hal, who had lived with him for three years and knew what was coming, had the foresight to put a chair under him.
"Well," said Peggy, "when shall we do it?"
"Why not Saturday night?" Vanessa suggested.
"The question is," Hal observed, "who the hell can you get?"
Peggy smiled. "That's no problem," she said. This damn place is as loose as a goose. I know about six freshmen girls right off who would do it"
"Who?" asked Vanessa, somewhat surprised herself.
"Oh, Angela ... Doris ... Judy Simpson ... Pat, you know, from down the hall ... Carol Park ... Lydia Spencer ... "
"How the hell do you know they'd do it?"
"Because Angela told me the other day that they'd all been swimming out at that pond Paul took you to with a bunch of guys, and it turned into a real orgy."
Vanessa was puzzled, "How the hell did you get talking to her about that?"
"Well first of all, she's a friend of a friend of mine from school-and any friends of this particular friend are going to be pretty loose. Second, she mentioned to me that she'd noticed us spending a lot of time with Hal, and she asked if we'd had our picture taken yet.
"Oh. I guess that picture room of Hal's really is pretty famous."
"Yeah."
"Besides those girls, there must be lots of others for a freaky trip like this."
"I think I can scare up the rest," Hal said. "Now which boys do you want to invite-that's the question."
By the time Saturday afternoon rolled around, everything was under control-as much as could be expected for such an event. They had decided not to use Hal and John's room for the event, because the people going in and out would attract too much attention, and they would have to keep the door locked for too long. They had decided to take a chance on an old barn on some property the school had just purchased and had done nothing with.
Peggy and the rest of the girls walked out early in order to get set up. It was already obvious that it was going to be the social event of the year, even though only two dozen people were to know about it. John had insisted that it be a black tie affair, and all the guys had dragged out their tuxedos-unused for several years-their ruffled shirts and patent leather pumps-left over from dancing school in the city- and they were ready to go.
Vanessa had ripped off about a dozen full-sized linen table cloths from the dining hall. Some of them she used to make a sort of curtain that hung from the rafters of the barn, separating the tasters from the tastees at the beginning. The others she cut pussy-sized holes in, about six feet apart. The girls dragged an old table from the corner of the barn. It had room enough for about half a dozen people to lie across it. Then they dug up some sawhorses and threw some wide planks on them to make room for the rest. The girls got up on the tables, naked from the waist down, pulled the tablecloth over them, and fitted the holes in the cloths to their cunts, so only they were showing.
"Holy shit," said Peggy, as she surveyed the scene from the front. "That's about the weirdest thing I've ever seen."
She took a hit off a joint and broke into hysterical laughter. Just then there was a knock on the door.
She went to answer it. It was John and eleven penguins. "Wait about a second," Peggy said, "till I get in position. Then you can come in, and draw the curtain whenever you want to. No hurry, because the table isn't that uncomfortable." Having controlled her laughter long enough to make herself sound like an assistant buyer in a department store asking a salesman to wait a second, she burst at the seams and went off weeping hysterically. It was all she could do to get into position.
In a matter of seconds, there was shuffling from the other side of the curtain, and the girls could hear John's voice.
"Now gentlemen, you know we have come here tonight to taste some of the finest vintage pussy available on the east coast of North America. You are also aware that this is not only a pussy-tasting; it is a contest. Now you are all acquainted with the owners of the muffs in question."
Peggy thought that sounded familiar.
"The rules are as follows. You are to taste each pussy once. No tasting is to be longer that two minutes, or two quarts of pussy juice, whichever comes first. Before each sample there is a pile of three-by-five cards. You will write down your impressions of the particular pussy on the cards, initial them, and turn them face down. No copying. You are all old enough to have your own opinion. Next, you will each have a piece of paper, numbered from one to twelve, on which you will record your guess as to who the muff in question belongs to. If you have been into the muff in question and know for a fact whose it is, you must disqualify yourself. However, if you are not absolutely positive, you may record your answer as part of the competition. Are there any questions?"
There were none.
"Now," John continued, "the Boy Scouts have a motto: leave the campsite better than you find it While I hardly expect that any of us are vandals enough to go chopping down clits or shaving cunt-hairs, it should be pointed out that each man is responsible for leaving the cunt with which he is occupied in first-rate shape for the next man. There are paper towels and plenty of water around for that purpose. In case you gentlemen should like to clear your palate between tastes, there is a case of champagne in the trunk of my car outside, which should serve nicely. There are joints in the small glasses that you see scattered around. We will proceed haphazardly, not in any particular order: just be sure you taste them all, and don't overstay your time at any particular one, no matter how gratifying it may be. And now; gentlemen, start your engines."
John pulled the curtains aside.
"Quite a spread," somebody said.
A champagne cork popped, and from various corners of the room, puffs of tell-tale marijuana smoke arose.
"I must warn you gentlemen," said John, "that the dope you are about to receive is not your ordinary, everyday, garden-variety marijuana. You will see what I mean."
Inside a minute, the place was pandemonium. People were collapsing on the floor with laughter. One by one, they began to make their way toward the table.
Vanessa, underneath her linen table cloth, had already smoked her share of dope for the day, and was floating along as if she had just come into possession of a magic carpet. She couldn't imagine what she looked like from the other side of the cloth. But soon, she heard someone shuffle up to her and felt him grasping her legs. A tongue began to probe her cunt, licking the lips up and down in a preliminary fashion, and then finally diving right in.
Vanessa could not keep from reacting. The strange, disembodied tongue took her over completely, delving again and again into the recesses of her pussy. She wondered whether she would be able to tell Paul or Hal when they came around. She didn't doubt that there were as many different ways of eating a pussy as there were men-but would she remember their styles?
She put her hands up underneath her hips in order to give herself more thrust and make herself more accessible. In the beginning, she had resolved, with the other girls, to keep from having a climax until the twelfth person-when they would all try to go together. Now she wasn't so sure she could make it From the sounds she was hearing from elsewhere underneath the cloth, she guessed that some of the other girls were having the same problem.
Next to Vanessa, Peggy was thinking and feeling many of the same things. The mouth that was fastened onto her juicy cunt was extremely gentle as it sucked in her cunt-lips and swirled them around. He seemed actually to be savoring her pussy's taste, to be trying to decide what its characteristics were. She helped him by opening her cunt as wide as she could when he really decided to go deep, and rotating her hips to make sure his tongue licked her insides everywhere. She too was skeptical about making it through twelve of these without a climax. She was even thinking in terms of two.
But soon Peggy found ways to hold off and keep herself at the very edge of a climax almost indefinitely. She remembered once having a long talk with a guy about fucking, and the problem guys always had with coming too soon. He'd told her that it was all in the mind. It was like driving a car, except you were driving your brain. There were different gears, and the trick was to know when to shift. For instance, if you were really into a fuck, feeling all the body contact and concentrating totally on the physical sensation, and felt yourself coming, you could quickly shift to thinking about something else, and just coast for a while. Peggy tried it. As she was reaching a feverish state, verging on an orgasm, she suddenly disengaged her mind and began to search for images that would let her coast for a while. The picture of a boat on a still lake floated into her mind, and suddenly although somebody's tongue was still in her cunt, she was drifting along placidly, feeling her excitement subside till it was below the danger level Then she allowed herself to return to full enjoyment of the event. In and out of it she wandered, using a large variety of images-quiet picnics in the grass, vistas of cities or mountains, and even memories of humorous situations.
The barn was by this time in a total uproar. The situation itself was such a combination of the sensual and the ludicrous that groans of passion and wild laughter mingled together and rose echoing to the rafters, John, who had taken time out from the business at hand to observe the spectacle, suddenly felt a strange image settling over the scene before him. With the heads bobbing up and down, and the isolated cunts rising to meet them and falling, the whole thing reminded him of an engine, with pistons shooting upward at various intervals, minor explosions shaking and rocking the tables, and the fuel of sexuality running it all. That was too much for him. He stood, mesmerized, for some time, and then wandered outside, Even from there, the smell of marijuana and the popping of champagne corks noises of combustion. "Holy shit," he told himself. "I've constructed a cunnilingue machine." Then he started to laugh, and went back inside.
By this time things were nearing completion. Everyone was on his last "tasting." There were stacks of cards in front of each girl with absurd comments on them, and each guy had his sheet of paper with his guesses as to the proprietorship of the various samples. John joined in, and suddenly felt the tension in the atmosphere rising. Groans and sighs and the sounds of the table creaking mixed together as the girls let themselves go. In several seconds of din and uproar, the tempo became unbearable. Then, suddenly, one by one, there were piercing cries and clutching arms and frenzies of orgasm. After a few seconds, it was all over.
The place was a wreck. Champagne bottles had been knocked over, clothes were scattered around with other kinds of litter, and exhausted guys lay on the floor trying to breathe.
"Holy shit," somebody said, "I feel like I was beachcombing at Normandy on the wrong day."
"Who the hell's got my tongue?"
"That was a fucking conspiracy." And so on.
After ten minutes or so, the white sheets covering the girls had all been removed, and people were wandering around evaluating results. Peggy was reading the stack of cards that had piled up in front of her.
"Holy shit," she said, "listen to this one! light and pale, with the fragrance of a rose and the consistency of bologna!' Who's the prick that wrote that?"
"Look at this one," Vanessa said. "'Deep, rich flavor; full tobacco taste!' You guys are really something."
"Hell with that," said John. Let's tally up the score."
Snatches of conversation showed the task had not been so easy as it might have sounded.
"I've been going out with Angela for a year and I had no idea which one was her ... "
They all look the same ... "
"Bullshit. You just have to appreciate the little things."
"Like what?"
"Fuck if I know-I think I got them all wrong."
John was rapidly checking each guy's list against a chart that Peggy had given him. In a few moments he was done.
"I guess it's no surprise that Hal wins," he announced.
A loud chorus of boos resounded in the barn.
"He's a fucking professional ... he should be disqualified."
"Well," John pointed out, "he disqualified himself on five of them. But he got all the rest right."
"Give the guy credit," someone shouted. "He's a very sensitive artist!" The sardonic quality of the voice prompted someone to shake a bottle of champagne and squirt it at Hal. That was all that was needed to create pandemonium. Someone scampered up into the barn's hay loft and began pitching hay down on everyone at a mile a minute. Someone else turned on a hose, and suddenly it was raining inside. The guys who still had their tuxedos on stripped them off and threw them out the door, and then dove into the pile of hay and bodies that decorated the barn's floor. It was a mud orgy by this time, with people groping around and throwing hay at each other and fighting for control of the hose. Fantastic configurations of bodies grew up, wrestling, fucking, sucking, tickling, yelling and generally carrying on.
Hal, who had received much of the brunt of the first attack, and who had fucked himself into oblivion, eventually got up arid wandered outside. He had been sitting in the grass for about five minutes when a pair of car lights stabbed through the trees on the horizon. There was only one road in sight, and it was the one that led to the barn. Hal leapt up and stumbled Into the barn. "Somebody's coming," he yelled. "There's a fucking car coming up the road.'"
By this time the place looked like a tarring and feathering party: everyone was naked, covered with mud and hay from head to toe.
"Out the back door," John yelled. "Take all your shit."
There was a mad scrambling of people collecting things. The guys piled outside to pick up their clothes and then scampered around behind the barn. Fortunately the road to the barn was long and open, and the car was still several hundred yards away, and moving slowly over the rutted surface, by the time the whole group gathered up everything in sight and run into the woods.
"I wonder who the hell that can be," said John, gripping his crumpled tuxedo in his muddy hands.
"I don't know," someone said, "but let's not stay to find out."
"I've got a good idea," Peggy said. "There's a pond way down at the back of this place. We could go there for a midnight swim."
The group took off through the woods. Ten minutes later they were straggling across a field in the moonlight, looking like the last humans to survive a nuclear attack.
"If you wrote about this shit in a book," Vanessa said, "who the hell would believe it?"
They reached the pond and unceremoniously dove in. Most of them were still stoned out of their minds and high on champagne. Vanessa floated on the water's surface, feeling as though she were floating in the sky. Everything seemed turned upside down. The stars seemed to be below her, and when she passed over a spring that fed the pond with cool water, it felt like the wind.
After a short swim, Vanessa emerged from the pond. The change in the group was incredible. From a messed-up, muddy legion of stoned freaks, they had turned into a group of clean, glistening gods and goddesses, conversing together in the moonlight. Here and there the orgy continued, with couples making love on the grass. The heaving of their bodies punctuating the silence with soft rhythms.
"I'm tired," John finally said.
"Me too," said Peggy, sitting next to him. "I guess we can't use that place for next week's festivities."
"I don't know," said Paul, joining them. "I'm curious about who the hell that was up there. I think I'm going to sneak back and take a look."
"Just don't get caught," John said. "You'd be pretty hard pressed to explain what you were doing sneaking around a barn in the middle of nowhere in a muddy tuxedo."
"I'm going to head back to school," Peggy announced. The rest of the group agreed. "Paul, if you find out anything, let us know. Well be in Hal's room for a while."
"Yeah," someone said, "who's got those cards we wrote? They should be good for a few laughs."
Paul went one way, and the group went another. By the tune Hal unlocked the door to his room, and let everyone who'd changed their clothes and returned into the familiar looking haven, people were ready to lie down and drink and relax.
"You know," John said, "ifs always the case that when history is made,, the historians aren't there to record it."
"What are you talking about?" Vanessa asked.
"I bet tonight was the first pussy-tasting in the history of the Western world. Maybe in the history of all humanity. And nobody knows about it."
"You think maybe we should have invited the press?"
"I don't know," John answered, "but sure as hell some group of freaks in San Francisco is going to think of the idea in four or five years, and I'E bet they'll have television cameras there. It'll be hailed as the cultural breakthrough of the century. And here we'll be, the great innovators, sitting on our thumbs completely unknown."
"I don't know," offered Hal, "I think if it's fame and fortune you want, you better try some other route."
"Well, it was fun, and that's all that counts," John concluded.
Just then Paul burst in, "You'll never guess," he said, barely able to contain his laughter.
"Did you find out?" someone asked.
"You're damned right But you freaks have to guess." He grabbed a scotch bottle and poured himself a big drink, and then collapsed on the floor. "It isn't easy to run all the way back from that place laughing your ass off," he said, holding his stomach.
"Come on, you pecker," Hal said, "spill it. We're not going to wait round ail night to find out who the hell it was."
"Guess," Paul insisted.
"Well," Vanessa offered, "there was only one car. It was pretty late. The car wasn't in any hurry. I'll bet it was someone with what axe called dishonorable intentions."
"Right so far," Paul conceded.
"Someone who didn't have any place else to go."
"Yeah."
"Someone who couldn't afford to be seen at a motel, even."
"Shit," Paul said. "You're too smart."
"Well, who the hell could it be?" Gary asked.
"Use your brain," said Vanessa. "Somebody from I the college, ten to one. And not students, because I unless they're up to something as far out as we are, they have places to go."
"And there isn't anyone as far out as we are," Hal interjected.
"I hope not," someone said.
"So," Vanessa concluded, "it must have been someone from the faculty or administration."
"Maybe," Paul said.
"Okay. You'll tell us if we get it right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. Who's the most uptight, fucked-up person that fits that prescription?" Vanessa asked.
"Professor Blatchely."
"Don't be ridiculous. He's so into biology that I bet he fucks his frogs before he dissects them."
"Right," said Paul. "That's wrong."
"Okay, how about that music teacher?"
"Miss Witherspoon?"
"Yeah."
"Wrong," said Paul.
"Well," Hal guessed, "how about President Norton?"
Everyone laughed at the suggestion-except Paul. "You pussy," he said.
"What? That's right?"
"Yup."
"Oh no!" Screams of hysteria swept the room.
"That sly old coot!"
"He's not that old."
"He's fifty-four."
"If I can't get it up when I'm seventy-four I'm going to fucking shoot myself," John said.
"Eighty-five year old men have been known to become fathers," someone observed.
"Isn't that a bitch," Peggy said, "The president of the fucking college, balling in a barn."
"Okay," Paul said, "who was he with?"
"Sylvia Hankins," said Hal.
"Who's that?" Peggy asked.
"His new secretary."
"Don't be so bourgeois," Paul said. "That's wrong."
"Oh, shit, I'm not going to guess any more," Hal said.
"All right. Hold onto your organs, people. It wasn't I one person. It was a couple. In fact, it was Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan B. Nathan."
Three or four people howled. The rest were dumb.
"Who the fuck's that?" someone asked.
"You boobs," Hal said, "they're that couple who just came from Philadelphia to start the new drama department. The bitch of it is, he's gay as a motherfucker, and I'll lay you ten to one she's a dyke."
"Oh," said Peggy, "he's that guy with the scraggly beard and the high voice."
"Right," said Hal. "Okay, Paul, what did you see?"
"Oh, not too much," Paul said casually. "When I got there it was pretty quiet. The Pres was sucking Jonathan off, and his old lady was playing with herself in the corner."
"Isn't that a bitch," said John.
"You might say that. What's really a bitch is that we I got our history-making cultural event busted up just so Norton could get his horny old rocks off on a theatre teacher from Philadelphia."
"Now that does take gall," John agreed. "I think we ' ought to send him a letter saying that he ought to ' be more considerate in the future."
"Didn't they notice anything funny about the barn?" Hal asked. "Like that there was wet hay all over?"
"Not to mention footprints."
"And body prints."
"I think they were beyond that," Paul said. "They probably figured the roof leaked."
"Well, fuck all this," Peggy said. "So the president of this college is bisexual or something. What I want to know is when we're going to have our cock-tasting."
"Is that all you can think about?" Hal asked mockingly, "sex?"
"Well, I don't seem to be the only one. Besides, what's so bad about sex?"
"All right," John said. "As the official promoter of various kinds of tastings around campus, I hereby schedule the world's first full-dress cock-tasting for next Friday night at eight o'clock sharp, at a place to be named not later than tomorrow midnight. Champagne and marijuana to be provided by the management."
"Okay," Peggy said, "that's settled. Now let's see some of the comments you pussy-eaters wrote."
One of the girls had gathered up all the cards, which were somewhat mud-splattered but still legible. They were passed around, and each person had several to read aloud.
"All right," said Peggy, "I'll start. This one is with regard to sample number five. Will the owner of that muff please make herself known to the studio audience?"
A short, dark-haired girl named Judy raised her hand. "Right here," she said. "What's the bastard say about me?"
"Well, it says here ... 'full-bodied, rich, and mellow, with a somewhat musky aftertaste. Plentiful juices. Obviously a vintage year from an excellent chateau.'"
"Excellent chateau bullshit," said Judy. "I was born and raised on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn."
"Will the author of that comment please make himself known?"
A slim, red-haired boy named Charlie raised his hand.
"Well," Peggy demanded, "what do you have to say for yourself?"
"Shit," he said, "I was born on Avenue B on the Lower East Side on Manhattan. I guess I just can't shake that home-grown stuff."
Ripples of relaxed laughter spread through the room.
"All right-next," Peggy said. "This one is a comment on sample number eight"
"That's me," said Vanessa.
"Okay. Here it is. 'A delicate fragrance reminiscent of baked bananas and motor oil, yielding upon closer examination to a quite definite sardine odor. Physically the sample resembles the mouth of a rather small dragon, toothless, but with extraordinarily supple and . powerful jaws, which nearly amputated the tongue of the taster. The overall effect is that of a rather dry sherry which has been left in the sun for six months and then mixed with olive oil.'"
"All right," Vanessa said, "who's the shithead that wrote that?"
Hal collapsed with laughter. "I'm sorry," he said. "I was so stoned that I couldn't taste a damned thing, so I just made something up."
"You cocksucker," Vanessa giggled. She got up and, on the spot, yanked down her dungarees, taking her underwear with them, and shoved her cunt into Hal's face. "I demand a rematch," she said, grabbing his head and shoving it between her legs.
Hal was smothered, and his protests were unintelligible. By the time Vanessa let him go, all he could say was, "I take it all back ... it's ambrosia ... it's the greatest thing I ever tasted ... it's better than my mother's beef stew ... "
And so the evening went.
And so the week went, until Friday. Calm, classes, a few giggles when President Norton addressed assemblies or performed official functions-but nothing out of the ordinary.
Just to be safe, John decided to have the Friday night event in a suite of hotel rooms in a town thirty miles from the college. This time the dress was to be informal, to avoid attracting attention, and people were to arrive at timed intervals. By eight o'clock, the girls were sitting in one room while the boys finished their preparations in the other.
Peggy was laying down the rules of the game to the girls. "Now this event," she said, "is going to be exactly the same as the one last week, with one exception. Contestants will receive extra points if they can make the men come. This is how it works. If you identify someone correctly, you get five points. If you make somebody come, whether you've identified him or not, you get three points. The person with the highest point total at the end wins. Now if anyone could identify all twelve men, and also make them all come, that would be a total of 96 points. That's a perfect score, and if you get that you win a free stomach pump. Any questions?"
It seemed pretty straightforward. Peggy opened the door to the room where the guys were waiting.
Immediately hysteria broke out. Not only were there twelve cocks protruding from holes in sheets, but each cock had a colored bow on it, and flowers strewn around it to give the effect of floral pubic hair.
"Jesus Christ," Peggy said, "How the hell is this going to be a serious cultural event if you guys are fucking around like that?" Then she turned to the girls. "One rule that I forgot to mention. You cannot use your hands, your tits, your cunts, your assholes, or anything else like that in this competition. Anyone found using anything other than her mouth will be forced to squat on a cucumber for the rest of the evening."
With that, the event started. Bight off, Peggy and Vanessa both had to disqualify themselves on three or four samples-Hal, Paul, John, and Gary. After that, they found it rough going-although Vanessa, because she knew Hal's quirks pretty well by this time, succeeded in getting him to shoot a thick jet of sperm into her mouth, thereby gaining three points. Peggy did the same to John. In fact, all up and down the line, there were heavings and groanings and dribbles of sperm staining the sheets.
"These three-pointers aren't so hard to come by," observed Angela as she stepped up to her third cock of the evening, a particularly large one that quivered noticeably as she fitted her lips around it
"Yeah," said another girl. "This one here's a real gusher. It's popped off the last three times anyone's touched it."
"What happens if the damn things run dry?" someone asked.
Peggy never thought of that. "Well, you don't have any evidence that a guy's come," she mused. "Okay," she yelled, 'listen up, you he-men. If you're coming for about the fifth time and don't have anything to show for it, raise your hand under the sheet. That way we'll have something to show for it."
Vanessa was the first girl finished with all twelve samples. Her score was rather devastating, since first of all she had learned to use her mouth and tongue with unerring effectiveness since arriving at college, and second of all, she had rushed through in order to get everyone while they were fresh. Altogether she had accounted for nine orgasms out of twelve people, and thought she had identified all but two of the guys. Now she sat back to observe and finish writing up some of her comments. As she did, she found that it was interesting to watch the techniques of the various girls, and she found herself rating them. She had come to favor the swallow-the-whole-thing technique, but not noticed that there were others. There was the lick-up-and-down technique, the suck-and-gobble technique, and the pull-on-the head technique. All of them seemed to have their advantages, although Vanessa noticed that Peggy, with a style similar to hers, was really cleaning up even after most of the fountains had run dry.
Toward the end, the cocks were getting red, and the girls were panting and collapsing left and right, out of breath from exertion and laughter. Vanessa took a sip from a bottle of champagne, and then went down the line, pouring the liquid over every cock, and over the heads of some of the girls as they worked away. Vanessa noticed that Peggy had tackled one organ that was about the size of Hal's-the biggest in sight -and she sat down to watch. It was Peggy's last one, but she seemed as excited as she had been at the first, and so did the owner of the cock, who moved up and down in a ragged rhythm, thrusting and shoving toward a climax. Peggy let the prick fall from her mouth for a second, and sucked the big, loose balls down her throat. There was a groan from under the sheet. By this time several other girls had gathered around, and Peggy had become the star attraction. She only had thirty seconds of her two minute limit left, and now she began to force herself down on the immense, glistening organ again and again with a rapid, demanding rhythm. The cock disappeared down her throat again and again, and the balls smacked up against her chin now and then with a slapping sound. The tempo had reached incredible proportions by the time there were ten second left, and everyone had gathered around. Finally there was a monstrous groan from under the sheet, and then a series of gasps, as the cock exploded into orgasm. Unbelievably, a torrent of come spilled out of the corners of Peggy's mouth, even though she was swallowing as fast as she could. It ran in grayish droplets down the shaft and spread out onto the sheet.
"Holy fuck," said someone, "did anyone get that guy before?"
Everyone looked at everyone else. "No, I guess not," Vanessa said.
"I wonder who that fucker is," Angela breathed. "He must have control like you've never seen."
"Maybe it's Norton," somebody giggled.
"Well, everyone's made their guesses," said Vanessa, as Peggy dropped to the floor and gasped for breath. "Who do you think it is?"
"I thought it was Hal," said Angela.
"Wrong," said Vanessa. "I know that's wrong. Who else?"
"I thought it was John," said Judy.
"Nope."
Peggy had succeeded in getting her breath. "I know who it is," she said. "It's Bernie."
Everybody laughed. Bernie was a slight, bespectacled freshman, with short dark hair who spent most of his days practicing the oboe in the cellar of the music building. John had asked him to join in because he was always talking about sex, but seemingly never doing anything about it John had thought he'd call his bluff.
"That's an A Number One cock there," Peggy said. "The fucking kid's a pro." She collapsed even further to a prone position and gazed up at the ceiling.
When all the scores were tallied up, Vanessa had beaten out Peggy by three points, having guessed seven out of eight people right, as Peggy had, but having produced one more orgasm. She was the champion.
By the time the guys had extricated themselves from their positions, they had cooked up the idea that the champion should be laid by half of the guys, and the runner-up should be heir to the other half.
"Oh, my poor pussy," Vanessa complained at the thought, although first of all she rather relished the idea, and second, there was nothing she could do about it; the troops were on the way. For the next half hour there was the sound of heavy breathing and juicy cunt being penetrated by a number of different cocks. Vanessa was almost too tired to respond: she simply lay there twitching, and enjoying it.
By the time the festivities were over, Vanessa and Peggy had had all the sex they needed for a month- or so they thought-and they were ready to go home.
"I make a motion," said John, "that since the champion and the runner-up are fucked to shit, we put off reading the girls' comments about the guys until another time."
That was agreed. The group piled into five cars and went back to school.
The next day, Hal, John, Peggy and Vanessa were sitting in the school dining hall, in a far corner, looking through the cards from the night before. They were even better than the ones the guys had written.
"We're missing a big chance here," said Peggy. "We should turn these things into a book."
"We could call it 'The College Student's Guide to Pussy-tasting and Cock-tasting.' It would become a classic-like those etiquette books," Hal suggested.
"Let's hear some of those comments again," John said to Peggy, who as usual was the company reader.
"Okay," said Peggy. "Here's one. It happens to be directed toward you," she said, glancing at Hal. "Like a peppermint custard banana, lightly salted, and baked in bear grease."
"Well," said Hal, "that's concise. What the hell does it mean?"
"Means about as much as the ones you wrote," Vanessa told him.
Just then Bernie, the hero of the previous evening, wandered in and joined them.
"Well, Bernie, you crazy fucker," Peggy said. "Tell us your secret."
"I'm repressed," laughed Bernie.
"Yeah. Hey, tell us where a little guy like you came by such a big cock."
"Heredity," said Bernie. "My old man wears his in a sling, and my grandfather carries his around in a wheelbarrow. I figure at this rate my kid'll have to look for his with a tweezers."
"Really retrogressing, eh?" John laughed.
"Yeah," Bernie said, a twinkle in his eye. "But Fm really glad I didn't get the short end of the dick. When I was at camp one year, my dick was so much bigger than everyone else's that I was embarrassed to take showers. I used to wear my bathing suit all the time. Finally, though, some guy started calling me needle-dick the bug-fucker."
Hal roared.
"Hey," John asked, "couldn't they see the big fucking bulge in your pants?"
"Yeah," said Bernie. "This one guy said it was a piece of hose I'd stuck in there."
"So what happened?"
"Eventually I got even. One day we were down at the lake swimming, and this guy came running down-he was fully dressed-with this magazine. He said, "Here you go, Bernie; if that's not a hose it ought to get a little bigger when you take a look at this." It was one of those really raw spread mags like you get in New York, and I'd never seen one before. My fucking cock jumped out about a mile. The guy was so surprised he stepped back and started to lose his balance at the edge of the dock. So I gave a big swing with my cock and knocked him in."
"Bullshit," John breathed between gales of laughter.
"Well," conceded Bernie, "I also helped him in with a little push."
"I hope you didn't get the magazine wet," said Hal.
"Hell no. Anyhow," said Bernie, ready for a change of subject, "what're you doing?"
"Looking over last night's results," Peggy said. "Let's see what we can find on you. You were number ten, as I remember."
"Right."
"Okay, here's one. Taste like a quiche lorraine, but needs more cheese.' That's all."
"That's weird," said Bernie.
"Well, you held back for so long that nobody got a really good taste."
"Except you," said Bernie.
"That's true," Peggy said. "But I already gave my comment."
"Well," John suggested, let's file this stuff away for a while."
"Maybe we should bury it in a time capsule," Vanessa suggested.
"Yeah. Then historians two centuries from now would know why America fell."
Peggy put the cards in her pocket book. Tm going home for Thanksgiving," Peggy said. "Maybe I'll make copies of them and send them to the Times." Then she turned to Vanessa. "By the way, you're invited to come home with me."
"I accept," said Vanessa. "I sure as hell wasn't going all the way to Arizona."
"You're all invited to stop by," said Peggy to Hal, John, and Bernie.
"We'll be there," said Hal.
It should be a wild time," said Peggy.
CHAPTER SIX
By the time Peggy's father came to get the girls for Thanksgiving vacation, things had calmed down considerably. The weather was getting colder, and it was no longer pleasant to romp around in the woods or go swimming in the nude. The school work had begun to pile up, and Vanessa especially had been up long nights finishing papers and studying for tests. Peggy, with her long years of experience at system-beating, got over the rough spots a little more easily.
When Peggy's father arrived, Peggy was finishing up a test, and Vanessa was alone in their room. The knock on their door caught her in her underpants, but since it was a girls' dorm, and since it didn't matter much whether any of her other visitors-Hal, John, Paul, Gary, Bernie-saw her in her underpants, she just yelled, "Come on in!"
The door had closed behind the visitor before Vanessa bothered to look up. When she did turn to see who it was-expecting either one of the girls next door, or maybe one of the guys-she was quite surprised.
Mr. Arden didn't seem too upset, however. He seemed not even to glance at the fully-rounded, pink-nippled breasts that swung for a brief second before him. His eyes met Vanessa's, and then, unhurriedly, without embarrassment, wandered around the room and out the window. "Hi," he said, going over to the window and sitting down in a chair that placed Vanessa just out of his line of vision, "Peggy around?"
Somehow, Vanessa was put completely at ease by Mr. Arden's easy manner. It wasn't as though he was pretending that nothing had happened: in fact, for him, nothing had happened. She immediately took him out of the forty-year-old category and put him into the "one of the guys" category, at least as far as relating to him socially was concerned. "Peggy's finishing up a chemistry test," Vanessa said. "She was expecting you in about an hour."
"I made good time," said Mr. Arden. "You got anything to drink around here?"
"Sure," said Vanessa, who by this time had pulled on her jeans. "What would you like? We've got scotch ... "
"That's good."
"On the rocks?"
"Great."
Peggy and Vanessa had purchased a small refrigerator which they kept in the larger of their two rooms, which they used as a living room. Vanessa's clothes were in the bedroom, and for a second she debated going in there first and putting on a blouse before she got Peggy's father his drink. But by this time she had the scotch bottle in one hand, and the glass in the other. So she proceeded to walk in front of Mr. Arden, bend down, reach into the refrigerator for a few ice cubes, drop them into the glass, and douse them with scotch. She turned to him, almost hitting him in the face with her tits, and handed him the liquor.
"Thanks," he said, looking into her eyes rather than at her breasts. "Nice service."
Vanessa, feeling slightly aroused by Mr. Arden's lack of attention to her-which was not, she was sure, motivated in any way by embarrassment or disapproval, but simply by the' fact that he had been around quite a lot-went into the bedroom and chose a rather sheer blouse. She slipped it on and returned to-the living room.
"So you're going to be staying with us for the holidays," Mr. Arden said. "We're glad to have you."
"I'm really happy to come, too. I guess you know that Peggy and I have got to be pretty close." Vanessa tried to say that without any hint of the myriad double meanings it would have involved for anyone who knew the girl's real relationship. "And I've never been to New York before. It should be a real experience."
"We should be able to show you some of the sights," Mr. Arden said. "Also, I'll be playing at the Club Hawaii, over on the East Side, and you'll be going there for one night"
"Sounds great."
Just then, Peggy wandered in. "Hi, Dad," she said. "I didn't expect you for a while."
While Peggy and her father chatted briefly, Vanessa looked him over, trying to decide what she could make of him. He was perhaps six one, with soft, wavy hair of the color sometimes called dirty blond. His face was somewhat angular, but oddly enough lacked that rugged look that usually accompanies angularity, perhaps because his complexion was pale and almost delicate. Still, his overall aura was decidedly masculine, and he exuded poise, self-mastery, and self-confidence, in an unusually quiet way. Beneath his gray suit with wide white pinstripes, he wore a pink shirt with a wide collar, and a pink and blue tie. His shoes were two-tone brown, with metal buckles. His hair came down in waves just over his ears and collar, giving a sort of ragged intellectual look. Vanessa knew he had done jazz composing as well as performing, although his work was known primarily to aficionados.
The ride to New York City was long and uneventful. Most of the autumn foliage that had been so spectacular in the earlier weeks was gone, and the air hinted of snow. The miles zipped by beneath the wheels of Mr. Arden's Mercedes, the FM radio lulled Vanessa with jazz tunes, and Peggy, who had been up late the night before studying, slept for a time in the back seat. The only notable occurrence of the trip was when the radio played one of Mr. Arden's compositions.
"How about that," he said. "I never thought that one would go anywhere."
"Why not?"
"Well, for something that was done last year, it's a little old-fashioned. I mean, it uses traditional instruments in a rather traditional way. Most of your contemporary jazz is much more innovative."
Vanessa slumped down in her seat and listened. To her surprise, she found the piece highly sensual, and not at all conventional. Much of it was a conversation between a saxophone and a trumpet, carried on at times softly, then breaking at others into an almost desperate staccato, Toward the end, drums broke in, and a flute, which whirled the piece to an almost dizzy climax.
"Wow," she said, when it was over. "I can't see too much that's ordinary about that. It reminds me of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in some ways-but it's got such a pervasive feeling. It's a very unusual mixture."
Mr. Arden looked at her. "You seem to know a lot about music," he said.
She smiled at him, "Not really," she said, "But I can bullshit a lot."
He grinned and swept his eyes back up the road.
By the time the Mercedes made its way off the FDR Drive on the East Side of Manhattan and crawled through the traffic toward Fifth Avenue, a slight drizzle had started to fall. The windshield wipers made a comfortable sound, and Vanessa felt somehow embraced and protected by the tall buildings that were rapidly turning to massive banks of yellow light around and above her. The car turned down Fifth Avenue, and Vanessa gazed to the right at Central Park. A few blocks before the park ended, Mr. Arden dove the Mercedes into an underground garage, and they had arrived.
It was immediately obvious to Vanessa that she had a roommate who was rather well off. The elevator that took them up to the twenty-first floor opened onto a foyer with only two doors. Mr. Arden swung open one of them and ushered Vanessa into an entryway twelve feet wide and floored with black and white tiles of the type often seen in old French villas. There was an immense chandelier in the hall, which opened through several archways onto a living room, a dining room, a study, and several other miscellaneous rooms. Vanessa eventually learned that the apartment had twelve rooms, all of them huge, and that one floor I of the gigantic building she found herself in contained, after all, only two apartments.
"Mr. Arden?" Vanessa asked, after he had brought her a drink.
"Call me Jay," he said. "My kids call me that, so you may as well. It's a crummy name, but I've had it a long time."
"I like it. Anyhow-where are we?"
"You mean in relation to other things in New York?"
"Yes."
"Well, the Empire State Building is about thirty blocks downtown-that way. Wall Street is all the way down at the end of the island. We're looking out on Central Park," he said, getting up and going to the window. Vanessa followed him. The windows went from floor to ceiling. To Vanessa's surprise, they opened out onto a terrace. Jay walked out. The drizzle had stopped, but the streets far below were glistening.
"Across the park is the West Side," he said. "We're on the East Side. Just up from here is Spanish Harlem. Then Harlem proper starts at 110th St., where the park stops. Greenwich Village is down about seventy blocks."
"All these famous places," Vanessa said, staring out. Suddenly she felt a gentle hand around her waist. It moved around just briefly to play across her stomach. Then it moved back, and, so lightly that she could barely feel it, traveled down, tracing the lines of her buttocks.
"That feels nice," she whispered. It was a dramatic change from the wide-open, raucous, slam-bang sex that she had become used to at school. With the misty New York air, and the bright lights shining through the night and reflecting off the pavement, she felt a hint of romance. She was ready for that.
Jay turned Vanessa to him and kissed her lightly on the forehead. The windows to the interior of the house were wide open, and people were moving around, so Vanessa concluded that it made no difference if they were seen. Jay gave her one more gentle pat on the ass, which made her want to scream and grab him-just because it was so light, so teasing, so subtle. But instead she wandered back into the house and sat sipping her scotch.
As she did, she remembered briefly that Jay was old enough to be her father. But that didn't seem real to her, because her own father was a full ten years older than Jay, and the difference between fifty and forty was immense.
Vanessa had already met Jim, Peggy's older brother, and Linda, her younger sister, but she hadn't yet seen her mother, who had been in the shower when they'd arrived. Jim and Peggy rather favored their father, although Peggy's height seemed to come from her mother. But Linda, as Vanessa was told, favored her mother-she had large brown eyes, and shoulder-length, chestnut brown hair. Now Mrs. Arden appeared. In her gait and in her manner, she reminded Vanessa very much of Shirley Dalton; spirited, proud, and sensual. But her almost unfathomable brown eyes, her high cheek-bones, her straight, slightly hooked nose, and her extremely wide-although not unattractive-mouth, made all comparisons with Shirley's pale and delicate appearance vanish.
"Hi," she said, striding toward Vanessa with a wide smile, 'Tm Gina Arden. You're Vanessa. Glad to have you." Vanessa shook hands with the older woman, wondering what her thoughts would have been had she witnessed the scene on the terrace moments before. She assumed it would not have been adverse.
A few minutes later, the family sat down to dinner. Vanessa was not surprised to learn that the Ardens had a cook, and the meal, veal marsala, was excellent.
"After dinner," Gina announced, "I'm going out to a meeting of the housing council. I may not be back until late, so don't wait up."
Peggy's brother was catching a midnight plane to spend the weekend with a girl friend in Chicago, and Linda was going to a play her school was putting on, and then planned to stay with a friend overnight. Vanessa was almost beginning to suspect a conspiracy when Jay suggested that he take the two girls to hear a friend who was playing at a nightclub in the Village. Half an hour later, they were on the way.
The narrow, crowded streets of the Village, swarming with strange-looking people, the music drifting out of doorways, the odors of Greek and Italian food, were all new to Vanessa. Jay led them into an intimate cellar cafe where a trio consisting of a drummer, a bass guitarist, and a lead guitarist, were playing in a soulful blues style. The lead guitarist, a black guy who seemed to be in his early thirties, nodded and smiled at Jay as they walked in.
The three took a corner table. The place was nearly empty at first, but after they had been there for a while, it began to fill up. Jay ordered drinks, and then took a silver cigarette case out of his pocket.
"You girls want to see a little trick?" he asked.
"Sure," said Peggy. "What's it about?"
"Well, just wait a minute or two and see if you can figure it out." For the first time, Vanessa noticed Jay being just a little bit fatherly toward Peggy. His tone was sort of "Want to see something really neat?"
Jay lit a cigarette. He listened to the music. He played around a little with his cigarette, rolling the lighted end around in an ash tray.
"What's the trick?" asked Peggy.
"Well, it's going on right now," Jay said. "Don't you notice anything rather strange?"
"No," said Peggy. Vanessa was staring hard, but she had no idea what to look for.
"Take a drag of this cigarette," Jay said to Peggy, handing it to her.
Peggy took it and pulled deeply. Her eyes lit up, and she held her breath. Vanessa smiled. There was only one reason for anyone to hold his breath while smoking a cigarette. Finally Peggy let it out.
"Pure hash," she whispered to Vanessa. Then she turned to her father. "How do you do it? Are those some special kind of cigarettes?"
"Nope," he said. He reached into his pocket and took out a tiny brown lump, perhaps a quarter of an inch cube. With his fingernail, he shaved off a tiny speck of it and dropped it into the ash tray. Then he knocked the excess ashes off the burning cigarette, rolled the fire over the bit of hashish, and put the cigarette to his lips. The bit of hash lit up brightly, and a tiny curl of perfumed smoke left the tip of the cigarette-but nearly all the hash smoke was sucked through the cigarette and mixed with a smaller proportion of tobacco smoke.
"That's dynamite," said Peggy. "Hey dad-can you spare a cigarette?"
"Sure," he said, handing one to Peggy and one to Vanessa. "We used to do this back in the fifties, when hashish was something exotic that only existed in Turkey, and marijuana was unheard of except in the ghetto. Would you believe that I got stoned this way on hash at a dinner with the mayor of New York, and nobody knew the difference?"
At that moment, Peggy happened to glance up at the band. The lead guitarist looked pointedly at her cigarette, and gave a sardonic smile.
Vanessa's father noticed. "That's one of Huey's favorite tricks," he said.
Just then the band took a break. Jay waved to Huey, grabbed an extra chair, and welcomed him to the table. He squeezed in between Peggy and her father.
"Hey, man, how ya doin?" Huey chuckled, shaking Jay's hand vigorously. "See ya'all doin somethin for your heads."
"Yeah, well, hash goes nice with your music," Jay said.
"I know, man-that's where it's comin from." Huey was extremely handsome, with deep set eyes, and a full beard that set off his features well. "I hear you're gettin' into the big time," Huey said. "Got a gig at the Hawaii, huh?"
Jay laughed. "Yeah," he said. "Those people don't know what the hell music is, but they pay for it. It looks like you're doing pretty well here."
Huey looked around. "Yeah-the house's full every night, but you know, it's a small place. I like it, though. Pays the rent and so on."
"Yeah," Jay said, with a twinkle in his eye. "And so on." He turned to Vanessa. "Huey spends more bread on women than any other man in existence."
"Yeah, well," Huey said, "all that shit aside-why don't you folks come up to my place after the gig's done? Be about one o'clock tonight."
Jay grinned. "I know you just love me so much you I want to rap with me at one in the morning," he said. "Peggy can go if she wants, but I don't know whether I ought to expose this innocent young girl here to anyone so rapacious as you."
Huey grinned back. "Layin' them big words on me again," he said in mock sadness, shaking his head from side to side. "Well," he said, "I got to go downstairs for a while. Peggy-want to stop by after the gig, since your old man's being such as antisocial bastard?"
"Sure," she said. Vanessa was rather surprised that Jay would suggest that his daughter go home with a thirty year old jazz musician when she was only eighteen-but she reminded herself that this wasn't Arizona. She also realized that Jay had maneuvered things so they would be alone. That was fine with her.
Peggy went to the men's room before the next set started. Jay turned to Vanessa. "I guess I kind of set you up," he said.
Vanessa smirked.
"Hope you don't mind."
She looked at him levelly. "Depends on what you've set me up for," she said.
He tilted his head to the side. "How bad can it be?" lie asked, his lips barely curling in the faintest of smiles.
In answer, Vanessa turned her head away from him and pretended to glance absently at the ceiling. Then, in an instant, she darted her hand over and brushed her fingers lightly between his legs.
Jay doubled over and a low gasp of surprised pleasure and then gazed up at the ceiling, regaining his composure. Vanessa smiled at him demurely.
"Okay," he said. "I'm beginning to wonder who's seducing who here."
The effects of the hashish were just beginning to overtake Vanessa, and the low haze of smoke that filled the room was like a thin veil, covering the sensuality that hung in the air. They sat through the next set, the guitar music boiling over them in repeating, insistent patterns of pleasure. Then they emerged onto the street and hailed a cab.
When they arrived back at the apartment on Fifth Avenue, Jay led Vanessa into the bedroom. He pulled a hash pipe out of a drawer, filled it, and gave it to her. As the smooth, fragrant smoke eased its way into her lungs, and a sailing feeling of relaxation took over her body, Jay left momentarily. Seconds later, lilting jazz music filled the room-a high, soaring flute, over a background of rhythm and guitar reminiscent of the jungle.
Jay returned and sat next to Vanessa on the bed. He bent over and brushed his lips across hers. With incredible gentleness, he ran his fingers up under her blouse and over her stomach. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the wandering sensations. The music fit the mood so perfectly that she felt the instruments were actually making love to her. Involuntarily, her legs spread. In response, Jay loosened her belt and pulled her pants off. He moved so slowly and so easily that it took a full ten minutes of caressing and manipulating to get them off. When he had finished, Vanessa felt as though she had not merely been undressed: she felt, strangely, as though an outer layer of her personality, in fact her being, had been stripped away. She was filled with a double sense of vulnerability and complete trust. "There had been times in the previous months when she had had to work hard to get herself ready, physically and psychologically, for the rapid sexual assaults of the various boys she had slept with at school. Their impatience-characteristic not of Hal, but of some of the others-had been highly erotic at times, but it had also had the effect of truncating the sexual experience, rendering it only partial. This experience was something more than a genital one-it involved all of her.
By this time Jay had pulled off her blouse. His tongue ran tiny circles around her nipples. It made its way down her side to her stomach, then back up. Jay lifted her arms and ran his tongue up her side under them. Vanessa had never suspected that her underarms could be sexually sensitive, but now she learned something different. Jay ran his tongue around and around in the soft flesh, and she felt as though she was being sexually penetrated, explored, and caressed just as though he had his tongue in her vagina. She began to writhe and squirm with passion, her feet kicking the sheets of the bed and ruffling them in huge billows. Outside the open window, the rain was falling harder, and it felt as if the rain, the music, the traffic sounds from far below, the lights and the atmosphere of the entire city were entering into her and exhilarating lovemaking experience.
After a time-when she was fully aroused, and every inch of her young, tender body was throbbing with desire-she began to run her own fingers up and down Jay's slim, compact body. She undressed him as slowly as he had undressed her. Something new was happening, and she realized that it was the first time she had ever undressed a man completely. More than that, she felt as though she was making a discovery with each inch of Jay's flesh that was revealed to her. His flat, soft stomach, rippling underneath with muscles that she could guess had once been hard and rippling, felt none the less sensual to her for being part of the body of a much older man. There was something serene and secure in the entire process she was going through. There was no hurry, no urgency. They would get where they were going sooner or later. For now, there was no hurry. Vanessa pulled off Jay's pants. She moved herself down his body until her head was at his feet. His whole body smelled clean, uncomplicated, masculine. She took his toes in her mouth and ran her tongue between them, exploring and caressing everywhere. Then she moved up his leg, licking gently. Somewhere far away, she felt Jay's mouth doing the same thing to her, and all at once two events merged into one; she had felt once before as though she were making love to herself, with Hal. This was a little bit different. Jay was still there, but the impulses coursed through both of them. The boundaries of their bodies seemed to be dissolved.
Eventually Vanessa's mouth wandered up inside Jay's thighs. She licked the inside of them, and his legs drifted apart. Now he relaxed completely, and let her work on him. The tip of her tongue touched briefly against the heavy sack of his balls, moving the flesh and making it quiver. She stared at the tiny, light hairs sprouting from the skin that was practically touching her eyes, and seemed to discover a microscopic world that she had not seen before. It was like the jungle that the music suggested. The flute, playing incredibly high notes now, seemed to be dancing between the thin strands of hair, and she followed its lead with her tongue. Every inch of the body before her seemed different. Every inch afforded her a new and pleasure-filled experience. And with every new sally of her tongue, Jay's reaction was different. When she finally came to the base of his long, smooth cock, and began to lick her way up the center, along the canal where soon the sperm would be flowing, he groaned and thrust his hips toward her.
Climbing Jay's cock was like climbing a mountain. She took it a fraction of an inch at a time, savoring it all, licking in circles, at first gently, then harder. By the time she had crossed the ridge of the cock's head, Jay was quivering all over. She was not only arousing him; she was teasing him. She was building up an incredible reserve of passion and emotion that would soon erupt like a volcano, filling her with the warm juices of life.
After half an hour of slow, tantalizing preliminaries, Vanessa shoved her mouth down over Jay's cock as far as it would go ... the move was sudden, and Jay began thrusting and pushing his cock deeper into her throat. She knew he would not hurt her. Every jab was precisely controlled. Before when she had done the same thing to men, they had often forced themselves down her throat and made her gag. Now, although Jay's cock was deeper into her than anyone's had ever been, there was no danger of that. She felt his cock probing deep down, fucking her throat as if it were a cunt, with a rhythm at once excited and controlled. Vanessa was excited enough by this time that she wanted Jay to come. She imagined the warm swirl of semen shooting down her throat, and the thought made her tingle all over and work all the harder. She felt Jay's body beginning to heave with the tell-tale signs of orgasm. She forced the cock farther and farther into herself with every new thrust For once, she was able to breathe somehow, between thrusts and through her nose, and the usual unpleasant, suffocating feeling that she associated with blowing someone was absent. But at the last minute, Jay stopped. A tiny trickle of come squirted from the head of his cock, and Vanessa licked at it hungrily. Jay went completely limp.
"Mmmm," he said. "That was beautiful, I could tell you wanted me to come," he said. "But I wanted to save it for that delicious-looking pussy of yours."
These words, sort of uncharacteristic of Jay, spurred Vanessa to even greater heights of passion. But Jay, who she realized was orchestrating their lovemaking almost as one would a musical theme, made her lie very still on her back. He sucked her nipples until they were a bright, throbbing scarlet. He sent waves of pleasure out from them that washed over her whole body and invaded her mind, hypnotizing her until she felt like an inanimate object, or perhaps some small animal, lying inert and experiencing sun, wind, and rain with equanimity. She suddenly had an image of a turtle on a log, penetrated and dazed by the warmth of the sun. The sounds and feelings were like liquid swirling around her now, buoying her up and carrying her along, with a million tiny cross-currents caressing every inch of her flesh.
Gradually, Jay moved down. The suspense was incredible, as Vanessa's cunt cried out for the tongue that licked her stomach and then touched the mound of her pubis. Gradually it continued its downward trip, until it breached the edges of her cunt and wormed its way into the damp, pink flesh.
Jay was lying between her legs now. She felt his fingers parting her cunt; opening it wide so that his gaze could fall on all of it. She felt his eyes searching the beauties of her womanhood, taking in the entire world of delicate colors and convoluted shapes. Her clit stood out, throbbing and swollen, waiting for the inevitable touch. Vanessa steeled herself for its coming: she was determined not to bounce and shove as she always had, but simply to remain absolutely still, letting her mind rather than her body absorb the sensations as they issued from it.
When Jay finally eased his tongue between the inner lips of her pussy and licked upward along her distended clit, Vanessa fought hard to keep still. Tremors like those of an earthquake wracked her body, as the inner feelings churned from her crotch and fought for release. But she kept them penned up, and soon felt them invading her brain, turning it to liquid, molten lava.
Jay licked her clit forever, it seemed, and she teetered on the edge of a climax. But she had to use no tricks to stay there without going over the edge. She didn't have to import images of circuses, homework, placid lakes, to keep herself from exploding. Her brain did the work for her, and she stayed in the stream of delicately balanced passion, floating along it, totally absorbed.
Finally Jay plunged his tongue deep into her cunt She drew her legs up under her to open the hole wide for him, aware that at the same time she was exposing her asshole to him, inviting him to explore that as well. She felt him probing the depths of her pulsating cunt, and rotating his tongue, making it cover the whole area of the burning, impatient orifice. Abstractedly, she realized how different, and in a way how much more personal, being eaten was than being fucked. There was something very accepting about the thought of someone facing the teeming, swampy morass of a cunt in heat, tasting it, sucking it in, After someone had done that to you-or at least someone like Jay, for whom nothing seemed ignored, everything seemed welcomed and appreciated-there was no question of embarrassment or bidden fear.
Jay's mouth moved gradually from Vanessa's pussy. His tongue teased the outside of her asshole, and then traveled down her crack till it had reached the small of her back. It turned there, and started back down. Vanessa realized for the first time why a tongue would feel so good in her ass. Her cunt was wet, but her asshole was dry and hot. She realized too, as Jay's tongue finally made contact with her hole and started to make tiny circles on it, what made it so exciting to have someone lick your ass. If eating a cunt was a gesture of acceptance, licking an ass was even more of one. The associations connected with genitals that normally grew up during puberty, forced on adolescents by a society not ready to accept sex for all it was worth, were bad enough. They were supposed to be dirty; not to be looked at or touched But the anal associations were even worse. One night, sitting alone with nothing to do in her dormitory room at school, Vanessa had tried to come up with a definition of dirt. What was it that made something dirty? First of all, it was something that would harm you. Flies were dirty because they carried disease. Second, it was something connected with the earth. Now Vanessa had decided she could accept the first, but not the second. And it was the associations of the second that caused the problem. For instance, shit was supposed to be dirty. Well-what was it? First of all, it was something that came out of your body-and went back into the earth. It was just a pile of chemicals. Now if it was dirty because the chemicals were highly concentrated and they'd hurt you if you ate them, that was one thing. Who wanted to eat shit? But if it was dirty just because it came from the body and went back into the earth, that was ridiculous. She'd actually decided that a little bit of shit couldn't hurt you. Not that she ever thought about that when she was making love. What did shit have to do with making love? Except that it happened to come out of the asshole sometimes. In fact, she had never seen any while she was making love -so what was the big deal? Some people, she had discovered, had quite beautiful assholes. They were pink, symmetrical, smooth-like flowers. Besides, they were, biologically speaking, pleasure centers, and anything that was a pleasure center was relevant to the lovemaking process. To top it all off, she'd once read a book by a doctor on sex that had said that oral-anal contact was perfectly safe, and in fact a good thing.
None of this really occurred to Vanessa while she and Jay were lying on the white sheets of the bed in Jay's apartment. It had all been put out of the way long ago, and now only the conclusion she had reached was relevant It was strange that, even while Jay was licking her ass, opening it, delving into it with his tongue, abstract patterns of thought danced in her head, mingling with the physical pleasure that she felt and enhancing it Never before had she been so completely, and yet so lucidly, involved in sexual acts. She supposed, as another thought-pattern flitted across her brain, that it had something to do with Jay-an older man, a musician, one who was used to capturing the lyrical qualities of life and composing them without draining the life from them; one who structured them to bring out and develop their emotional beauty.
Jay reached up and gently took both of Vanessa's hands. He had been holding the cheeks of her ass open with his own hands, but now he replaced them with hers. She understood what he meant. It was far nicer to have her offering than to have him taking. She actually felt a thrill of pleasure as she grabbed her own ass and spread it. The flesh was slightly rough over the bones of her ass-from sitting, she assumed. Ordinarily that might have struck her as a flaw, an imperfection. But now she accepted the body as it was, and found it beautiful After all, people were not marble statues. She almost laughed at the thought of making love to a marble statue.
After a few more minutes of thrusting deep into her asshole with his tongue and then drawing it oat slowly, teasingly, Jay moved back to Vanessa's cunt again. She grasped at him and turned him around into the familiar "sixty-nine" position, with him on top. As he delved into her cunt from the new angle, she lowered his balls into her mouth and swirled them around. Then she approached his asshole. In a moment it was glistening with saliva. She returned her mouth to his balls, and began to work a finger up his ass. He began a slow rhythm that moved the finger in and out, and rubbed the bottom of the shaft of his cock against her upper lip as she sucked his balls.
Soon a gentle rocking motion started. It was the rhythm of a slow fuck. A new theme, Vanessa thought, unable to keep herself from indulging in musical analogies even as her passion mounted. She felt as though she was being rocked in a cradle at the same time as she was making love. It was a very secure feeling. It brought out feelings and emotions from her unrememberable infancy.
After a while, virtually by an unvoiced agreement, the two separated and simply gazed at each other. Jay's clear blue eyes suddenly became very deep. Vanessa remembered the hashish. She picked up the pipe, which had long since gone out with a large chunk of the resinous brown substance in it, and relighted it. As she inhaled, she was at once carried to new heights of awareness. Everything seemed isolated from everything else, and incredibly clear. Each moment retained its own identity. Time jumped between them like a man leaping over an endless series of chasms. Vanessa began to penetrate Jay's gaze, going down ever-deeper into his consciousness. It was as if his eyes were windows into him, and as if, by staring into them, a series of veils parted before her stare.
Once more, abstraction took over. What was she looking at? The eyes were windows to nowhere, some would tell her. They were connected to the brain- a teeming mass of complex circuits that were really nothing but a huge computer. And yet, that was not what she was seeing. The deeper she went, the more things opened out. She felt as if she was looking through Jay into infinite space. But it was not the space of astronauts, not the dark, hostile vacuum where freezing cold and lack of air could kill any living thing. It was a wide space, the air over a grassy field in the summertime, full of the odors and sounds and sights of pure life. Perhaps there was no living thing beyond Jay; but there was life, pure and unneedful of any thing to sustain it.
Then, Vanessa and Jay started to come together. He touched her shoulder. A tiny point of contact. Then he opened his hand and covered her shoulder, and moved it down her back. From an isolated being, Vanessa was gradually metamorphosed into an enveloped being, at one with another. Soon their flesh touched everywhere. Jay's erect organ slipping into her waiting cunt was not "the sex act." It was part of it; the culminating part, perhaps. But only a part. She almost had the feeling that they could fuck, in the fullest sense, without it ...
Vanessa's whole body was attuned to Jay's. In the past, she had always felt that one or another partner in the sex act was setting the pace, and the other was following. Vanessa had done her share of leading as well as her share of following, but it had never occurred to her before that the whole thing could just happen-that neither person would lead or follow, but that both would be carried along by some greater force that their bodies and souls agreed on without words, without any overt form of communication. Now that was happening. Soon the rhythm began to build, but Vanessa felt as though she was doing nothing. It was completely effortless. Briefly, she wondered whether the hashish had something to do with it. Perhaps. But it was just part of the overall atmosphere in which both of them were immersed.
Vanessa, even in her most satisfying sexual moments, had always had the feeling that a climax was something that came from far away, like a railroad train; that it had to be reached for, although no amount of pure desire could bring it-it had to come of itself. Some of the same feeling remained. She still realized that there was no one thing she did to make herself come. But now the feeling of distance was gone. She searched her mental horizons for signs of an approaching orgasm, but she found nothing. And yet, she knew it was coming. She looked inside herself. The signs were all there. Her temperature was rising, her hips were churning, and she was caught in a rhythm that could not be broken: she thought she would surely die if it was. And yet, these were only signs. What were they signs of?
Jay's rapid breathing filled her ears, and mingled with the other sounds; the incessant, all-pervasive music; the creaking of the bed; the movement of bodies; the rain; the wind, which was rising; the traffic. The pounding of her own heart became louder. And yet, beneath the high tempo of the sounds all together, something was welling up with incredible gentleness, almost timidity, within her. On the exterior level, time was chopped up by the noises, separated out. Vanessa had a bizarre vision of all the sounds as clocks, ticking away. And yet, the feeling that was growing up denied all clocks, all exterior measures. It was timeless, and yet it was happening. Suddenly, it happened.
It was like an explosion, but it had no force. It simply dissolved everything. Vanessa knew that Jay's cock was thrusting away inside her, causing it to happen-and this added something. But it was not what was really happening. Suddenly, she had expanded till she was the size of the entire universe. She was clear, empty space. There were no lights, no stars, because she was the light and the stars. She felt her body convulsing wildly, clutching, grasping-fucking Like crazy. She was coming back. She had been gone-farther than she had ever been before. Making love with Peggy for the first time, she had lost herself in a similar way. But there was no telling whether she had been in the same place then-or when she had made love with Hal the first time. There were no landmarks there. There was no way to tell. All you knew was that you were gone.
For the next five minutes, she returned to her body and dwelt entirely within it. It was almost as though she had missed it where she had been. She felt the heat radiating from herself, and from Hal. His body and hers were covered with sweat. It was a good, earthy smell. She inhaled deeply. From every part of her, tiny spasms shot through her to every other part, like heat lightning in the summer-brief, but brilliantly illuminating. She felt completely fulfilled. The semen started to trickle out of her. Ordinarily she would have searched for something to clean it up with, but now she simply enjoyed the feeling of it dripping on her, making a pool underneath her. Jay was still deep within her. Sadly, she felt his organ shrinking. She held onto him tightly ,and the sadness went away. He kissed her eyes tenderly, then her mouth. They both drifted off to sleep.
Several hours later, Jay gently shook Vanessa awake. She came to consciousness slowly, and for a moment was not sure where she was.
"It's about one thirty," he said. "Gina will be home soon."
"I guess I should get out of here," said Vanessa groggily.
"Well," Jay said, sitting on the side of the bed, "it's not as if Gina would be terribly upset if she came home and found us like this. But she wouldn't want to spend the night in the guest room, and I don't think she'd care for spending it with both of us."
Vanessa thought of telling Jay that he didn't have to explain or make excuses, but somehow she felt he already knew that, and was just saying something because he had to say something to wake her up. Jay walked to the guest room, tucked her in, kissed her, and left. Suddenly she had the strange feeling that he was her father. Oddly enough, it didn't bother her at all. In minutes, she was asleep again.
Peggy didn't arrive at home until the next morning. Nobody seemed at all surprised when she bounced in at about ten o'clock as the rest of the family was having breakfast. Actually, Vanessa thought, she included herself in the family-because Jim and Linda were gone, leaving only Gina, Jay, and the cook and maid. It still seemed like a lot of people.
Peggy smiled at Vanessa. "Have a good time?" she asked, almost as though she were asking whether Vanessa had had a good night bowling.
Vanessa fought for the proper reply. Finally she simply said, "Yes." That seemed enough. Gina didn't seem the slightest bit curious about what she had been up to, so presumably she knew.
Vanessa spent the day wandering around New York. Peggy spent part of the day with her, and then Jay spent some time with her, showing her all the things New York was famous for, and a few that were more or less unknown. It was Jay's last free night, because his stint at the Club Hawaii was to start Sunday night. They decided to spend it at home. Toward the late afternoon, Peggy, Vanessa, and Jay met for cocktails. Gina, who was very active in many community projects-and whom Vanessa assumed had other extracurricular interests as well-called to say she would be home just in time for dinner at eight. Jay had the cook prepare a dinner that needed only to be heated, I and then gave her and the maid the night off.
At first Vanessa felt somewhat strange kicking around in the huge apartment with Peggy and her father. Everybody knew what had gone on the night I before, but there was a hesitation to talk about it, Vanessa supposed that it was because she was Peggy's age, and the taboo on sexual relations between fathers and daughters might sort of extend to her for that reason. She wondered whether that particular taboo had any force in this particular house anyhow. Peggy had never mentioned having sex with her father, so Vanessa assumed she never had. The girls had not kept much from each other since becoming friends.
Vanessa decided that she wanted to take a bath. Jay was not around; he had gone out for a second to buy something. She asked Peggy where to get towels, and which bath to use.
"We've got a really fun thing," Peggy said. I don't think you've seen it. We built it with the people from the apartment downstairs. They're in Greece right now." Peggy led her to a door at the end of the apartment. When she opened it, Vanessa was amazed. It led to a room about the size of the living room, which was two stories high, and contained a large bathtub-or a small swimming pool depending on how you wanted to characterize it. On one of the walls was a ladder that led to a platform. Vanessa realized that the water in the pool was about seven feet deep at one place.
"You can't dive," Peggy said. "But jumping is really fun."
"I can't imagine how much this must have cost," Vanessa said, mentioning Peggy's parents apparent wealth explicitly for the first time. "Just to brace the floor to hold that much water."
"Well, this is a pretty solid old building," Peggy said. "It already has a swimming pool on the roof. Anyway-let's get in!"
Peggy went over and turned several valves on the wall. The water In the pool began to flow. Mice the current of a stream.
"That's so you can wash and not steep in your own dirty water," Peggy said. Then she opened a panel on the wall. It was full of temperature controls. Vanessa was beginning not to believe this. Peggy set a few dials.
"Okay," Peggy said. I haven't seen that beautiful body of yours for a few days now." Rapidly she stripped off Vanessa's clothes. She ran her hands briefly over Vanessa's breasts, then inched her finger a little way into Vanessa's cunt. After wiggling it around just long enough to tantalize her friend, she dropped her hands, gave a short yell, rather like an Indian, and leapt into the water, clothes and all Vanessa laughed and followed her.
As Peggy paddled around, bouncing off the bottom and pulling off her dungarees and shirt, Vanessa proceeded to the shallow part of the pool and found a bar of soap. She sat up on the edge, soaped herself all over, shampooed' her hair with a tube of shampoo Peggy threw her from a cabinet at the other end, and then jumped in. She was amazed at the speed which the rapidly moving current carried away the suds. Then Peggy lay up on the deck, and Vanessa began washing her. "What happens if your old man comes back now?" she asked Peggy.
"He either joins us or ... "
She was interrupted by the door opening above them. "Hi," said Jay. "I thought I'd find you here. Mind if I join you?"
For just an instant, Vanessa felt as though she'd been caught at something. But that feeling rapidly passed. Jay stripped off his clothes and dove in. Ten minutes later all of them were clean, and they paddled in circles in the swirling water. Then Jay got out and turned off the circulator.
Vanessa and Peggy were floating on the surface peacefully. Jay came up under Vanessa and put his arms around her. Realizing that she had nothing to be embarrassed about, Vanessa responded, kissing him on the mouth. Peggy paddled near, and touched Vanessa's leg. She closed her eyes. Suddenly there were four hands on her, buoying her up in the water and running up and down her body. Her sexual instincts flowed to the surface immediately, and she abandoned herself to them, letting her hands drift where they would, caressing Peggy and Jay together.
"Shall we go someplace more comfortable?" Jay suggested.
Without a word, the trio left the pool, dried off, and, still totally naked, proceeded to Peggy's bedroom, which was equipped with an immense water-bed. There, they immediately found themselves intertwined. Vanessa had a feeling that this was a new experience for Peggy and Jay, and she was pretty sure that, in making love to Jay, and in showing him that she really was a woman, she had opened up the possibility for Jay to make love to his own daughter. In fact, she was sure of it, because she remembered Jay muttering at one point the night before that she was the youngest girl he had made love to by quite a few years.
Vanessa and Jay, although they had only spent one night together, had built up a repertoire of movements and stimulations based on an intimate knowledge of each other's bodies. Now Jay and Peggy had to go about building the same thing. They explored each other's bodies all over, while Vanessa alternated between watching and helping. While Jay ate Peggy out, she sucked Jay's cock, or caressed Peggy's nipples. While Peggy sucked Jay's cock, she ate Peggy out. Soon the three of them were locked in a triangle. But passions were building fast. Peggy was rapidly losing control. She was thrashing back and forth on the bed, spreading her cunt with her fingers. Jay plunged into her.
As the fucking started, Peggy reached out for Vanessa and pulled her over till she was seated on Peggy's face, and her eyes were staring into Jay's as he sat up and swung his hips back and forth, stabbing Peggy more deeply with his organ every time. Vanessa and Jay locked in a passionate kiss, and the rhythm sped up. The hours that Peggy had spent with Vanessa, and that Vanessa had spent the night before with Jay, made her into a kind of conduit through which the father and daughter knew each other immediately. Now they made love passionately but carefully, each person controlling himself in order to come with all the rest. Peggy was shoving her tongue deep into Vanessa's cunt, and Vanessa was afraid she would lose control. But suddenly she felt Jay's body begin to sweat, and his movements became ragged and fast. Peggy began to nibble at Vanessa's clit. The waterbed rocked back and forth, the currents inside the great plastic bag becoming more complex every moment, returning in waves to push the three of them back and forth, up and down, and creating little surprise movements that tied them together and carried them to greater heights of excitement.
Finally Vanessa began to moan. "I'm corning," she shuddered, as her swollen clit continued to batter Peggy's face. She felt Peggy arch her hips to gobble more of Jay's organ into her, and knew that Peggy's orgasm was on the way too. She grabbed Jay hard, and pulled him to her, burying her tongue in his mouth. She began to suck it as though it were a prick. Jay's balls were smacking hard against Peggy's ass now, and suddenly, from deep within him, there was a stifled cry. Peggy's tongue was working at a machine-gun rate, and it instantly brought Vanessa's orgasm to the surface. Vanessa spread her knees even wider. Then she felt Jay seize her and give a few long, hard strokes. From the quivering of his loins and the heat of his body, she could tell the sperm was rushing out of him in a thick, hot stream. She felt herself going up, as though she were in a balloon. She couldn't tell which end of her was coming-it could have been her mouth as well as her cunt. She knew that Peggy and Jay were having orgasms with their whole bodies; she could feel the tension ripple through all of them, making an infinite number of circles, crossing the boundaries of flesh as though they didn't exist.
Soon the three of them collapsed. Vanessa's mouth wandered down to where Jay's prick was leaving his daughter's cunt. She watched the semen dribbling out, and licked at it, taking in the good clean taste, swallowing it, and licking up more. Peggy groaned with pleasure.
The three of them lay still on the bed for some time without moving. Finally Jay smiled at Peggy. "I never knew," he said, "when we decided to be as liberal with our children as we were with ourselves, that it would end up like this."
Peggy grabbed his arm affectionately. "Neither did I," she said. "But I'm glad it turned out this way. There's no reason that the love between a father and a daughter should be confined to a few bedtime kisses."
"Out of the mouths of babes," Jay said.
"Babes my ass," said Peggy.
"I guess that's true," laughed Jay. "By the way, how's your ass?"
In response, Peggy rolled over, lifted her hips, and spread her cheeks.
"Beautiful," Jay said, and licked her up and down. "Little did I know," he laughed, "when I was first wiping your ass and changing your diapers, that I'd come back to it one day this way. Although I always thought you had a really nice little asshole."
Vanessa sat up on the side of the bed. There was a ringing from somewhere. "What's that?" she asked.
"It's the buzzer. That means there's someone downstairs to visit us."
"It might be Hal and John," Vanessa said. "They were going to stop by some time. How do I let them in?"
"There's a black phone on the wall in the foyer," Jay said. "Pick it up and tell the doorman it's all right to let them come up."
Vanessa went out and followed Jay's instructions. Minutes later, she was greeting Hal and John as they stepped off the elevator.
"Hi," said Hal. "What kind of hell are you girls raising here?" he asked.
"Quite a lot," Vanessa said. "Come on in."
They settled down in the living room, and Vanessa, feeling quite at home by this time, poured them drinks. "Peggy's in bed with her old man," Vanessa told them. That seemed to elicit no surprised reactions.
"This is quite a place," said John.
"Yeah," said Vanessa. "Let me show you guys some thing." She took them down to the bathtub-pool.
"Wow " said John. "I want to jump right in."
"Go ahead," said Vanessa. "I'll keep you company if you want." Then she looked at the clock. "It's nearly eight," she observed. "And Peggy's mother is coming home pretty soon."
Hal smiled. "I've seen pictures of Peggy's mother," he said. "I'll tell you what You two go ahead and go swimming, or take a bath, or do whatever you do in that thing, and I'll just sit around and greet the Missus when she comes."
Vanessa smiled. "You should be good at that," she observed.
Hal was. When Vanessa and John emerged from the water half an hour later, Hal was nowhere to be seen, although Peggy and Jay came straggling out of Peggy's bedroom after a time.
"I heard Gina come in," said Jay. "So I can guess where she is."
Vanessa laughed. "You heard her come in," she said, "Now, if you be a little quiet, you can hear her come." She had been hearing tell-tale sounds from Jay and Gina's bedroom for some time. Now she could hear little cries issuing forth from the room, just barely audible under the stream of conversation.
"Oh yeah," Jay said. "This should be good. My wife's a real screamer. Once before we were married she got us arrested because we were fucking in a state park and a trooper heard her coming from about two hundred yards away."
Everyone laughed-but it was true. Gina didn't hold anything back. Soon they heard, "Fuck me, oh, fuck me," coming from the room in a high-pitched, passionate voice. And then "Oh, Oh, OOOH! OOOHI"
They simply sat and listened, and drank their drinks. Suddenly there was quiet. It lasted for about five minutes. "Gina's not finished," Jay explained. "She's never satisfied with just one, I hope she doesn't tear Hal to pieces."
"Hal can handle himself," Vanessa informed him. Soon the whole thing started over again, and the act was repeated. The sounds were somewhat different, but the result was the same.
"Okay," said Jay, after the second act was completed. "That's probably all-although you never can trust that woman. Let's take a gamble and heat up dinner."
"I'll go tell them," said Peggy. She walked over to the door of the room and knocked.
"Come in," said Gina.
Peggy opened the door. Her mother and Hal were sprawled out naked on the bed.
"Well ... my profligate daughter," said Gina. "What's up?"
"I've come to tell my profligate mother that we're heating up dinner, so if you want to rip this young stuff off for some more of that good loving, you'd better either hurry up or wait till afterwards."
"I think I'll give him a rest," said Gina. "Besides, I'm about to float away. This guy must have been storing up come for a month." Gina was staring down at her legs, which were covered with the grayish film of semen.
"Go jump in the pool," John yelled from the other room.
Gina thought that was a good idea. She got up. "Does anyone have any secrets from anyone else around here any more?" she asked Peggy.
"I can't see how," Peggy answered.
"Good. Then I won't bother to put on a robe," She wandered out into the living room, naked.
"Hi," John said, looking her up and down. "I'm John."
"Gina," she said. "Hope you don't mind my clothes."
"Beautiful," John said. "If you like I'll come along and help you. I'm a good back washer."
"Well, that's not exactly what I need right now," Gina laughed looking down at herself again ...
"I can see that," said John, "but what am I supposed to say-I'm a good cunt-washer?"
"You don't have to say it," Gina said, linking arms with him. "As long as it's true."
Vanessa had to admire the trim lines of Gina's body. Her skin was smooth, her ass firm and round, her breasts large and crowned by brownish nipples, without the least hint of sagging. She had a sort of bounce in her step as she disappeared toward the far end of the house with John.
After dinner, everyone sat around drinking, more or less waiting for something to happen. It was assumed that something would, but no one was in any hurry. After half an hour or so, the hashish came out again. While they were smoking, Hal said, "Is anyone up for having his or her picture taken?"
Gina and Jay looked slightly surprised.
"Here we go again," said Vanessa. She turned to her hosts. "That's not as innocent an invitation as it sounds. You should see the pictures Hal takes."
"Oh, yes," Jay said. "I think I remember Peggy writing me something about your private collection. She said the work was very good."
"Thanks," Hal said to Peggy. "I always like a good word."
Jay was musing about something. "You said your last name was-Winters?"
"Right"
"Your father wouldn't be Rudy Winters, would he?"
"That's right"
"Oh." That seemed to settle something for Jay. "I don't know how good you are," Jay said, "but your old man's a genius."
Hal smiled. "I think he's pretty good."
"Did you know that the museum just bought four of his things?"
"No," said Hal, surprised. "When did this happen?"
"Well, I guess it hasn't happened yet," Jay said "But Gina's on the board of the museum, and they just approved the expenditure yesterday. It's supposed to be in today's paper." They looked through the paper, but found nothing. "I guess it'll be in tomorrow. Anyhow, I know your old man pretty well. Met him last year while he was doing that series on jazz musicians. I've run into him several times, and we were over at your house once. He mentioned that you were going to the same college Peggy would be going to, but I didn't know whether you two would ever meet."
There was a silence for a minute. "Well," Gina said, "now that we've established Hal's credentials, shall we let him take some pictures?"
"Sure," said Jay. 'It should be fun. Where's your stuff?"
Hal disappeared into the hall and retrieved a small attach� case he'd brought with him. It contained three cameras and a few flash attachments.
"Okay," he said, "I only brought five rolls of film, so I don't want to mess around. Everybody take your clothes off."
"My," said Jay, as he began unbuttoning his shirt, "the young man certainly has a tone of authority." He chuckled.
Soon there were five naked bodies littering the living room.
"Okay," said Hal. "This is really a good chance for me, because I've only done individuals, or maybe two people at most, in the past. I want to get a lot of sort of sculpture-like effects with all kinds of limbs going in all directions."
"Maybe that would be better accomplished on a bed," Gina suggested with a smile.
"Glad you said that," grinned Hal.
They all removed to Peggy's room, which had the biggest bed in the house, and dove in.
"Okay," said Hal, "just pretend you're fish swimming in a sea of bodies."
"That shouldn't be too hard," said Gina, making her way through a tangle of limbs.
Vanessa, for the first time, found herself totally lost in flesh. She had a difficult time telling who was who. So she stopped trying. She felt herself being rubbed on the legs, the back, the neck, the face. Somewhere, she heard the click of Hal's camera, and once in a while she saw him at the edges of the group, straining to get into position to take a particularly difficult shot.
Suddenly Vanessa saw a cock about six inches from her face. In the context, it was almost as though she'd found it walking down the street. It didn't seem to belong to anybody, and although if she'd tried she doubtless could have identified it as either John's or Jay's, she decided not to bother. There were so many limbs floating around that she didn't even consciously remember how many males there were and how many females. She took the cock, which was still somewhat limp, in her hand, and then began to nibble on it with her lips, carefully keeping her teeth from it. Like some kind of autonomous thing, it began to rise. She watched almost in wonder as she felt the blood coursing into it and making it swell. It was like some kind of plant, growing up out of the tangled jungle of hairs that covered the earth.
So detached was Vanessa feeling that she began to think of the various breasts, cocks, and cunts that floated past her as planets in a strange galaxy, drawn past and against each other by occult forces. She could feel the tension in the body-pile mounting, and realized that various oral-genital couplings were taking place all around. She could see Gina fastening on another cock, and then Peggy placing her head between her mother's legs. She felt a mouth close over her own cunt, and she closed her eyes and drifted away.
The sloshing of the waterbed began to take on a definite tempo, which rose slowly. The bodies were rapidly becoming covered with a coating of vaginal juices, saliva and perspiration that made moving through and among them easy. Once in a while there was a change in position. Vanessa saw a free cunt floating past her, and she pulled the cock out of her mouth and pressed it into the opening. There was a slight shifting, and then the fuck had begun, right in front of Vanessa's face. She watched the prick penetrating the tender pink flesh. It made tiny squishing noises. She licked its shaft when it was pulled most of the way out, and then moved her tongue to the clitoris that rode astride it while it was shoved deep in. The gyrations of the flesh were absorbing. Vanessa stared at the stretching, shoving, pulling, spreading, reaching bodies, with the strange feeling that she was watching some kind of mobile abstract art. And yet, automatically it stimulated her own body to rise to greater heights of passion.
Suddenly she was aware that Hal was closing in with his camera. She continued to watch the fuck that continued to go on inches in front of her face. The movements of the hairy crotches seemed blurred, and as she licked them in turn, helping to lubricate the coupling and to shove the participants toward a climax, she was aware that her own face was as much a part of it all as were the genitals before her. The texture of the pussy was so pliant, smooth, yielding- while the cock was so hard and stubborn. As Hal took a few pictures, she was aware that the smooth skin and the regular shapes of her face would help provide a background to the two, linking them together in the picture. Somehow the esthetic pleasure of that thought increased her passion. She was really beginning to learn how to use her mind to make sex better.
By this time the waterbed was heaving up and down as though it was in the middle of a hurricane. Before she knew it, Vanessa had a cock up her cunt, and a cunt in her face, and there were warm flowing juices and writhing bodies everywhere. Cries, like the calls of birds-gulls, she thought, as she remembered hearing them on some long forgotten waterfront-issued indiscriminately from the group, making it seem like a flock or herd, or some other kind of animal grouping.
The cock buried in Vanessa's pussy began to penetrate to her deepest depths, and she realized that it must be Hal. The photographing session had to be over. Hal was the only one around with a cock that big. And the pussy in her face-she didn't know it, so it had to be Gina. It was nice. While Peggy's inner cunt-lips were a pure, bright pink, Gina's were decked with an earthy brown. They were full, like Peggy's, and squished around liberally on Vanessa's face, massaging her nose, eyes, and mouth. Gina's asshole opened as she squatted to spread herself completely over Vanessa's face, and Vanessa dug her tongue into it. It was surprisingly loose, and Vanessa wondered briefly whether Gina had spent a lot of time being fucked in the ass. She seemed to get an answer when the entry of her tongue into that hole produced a violent reaction above her. Soon her whole tongue was buried in Gina's ass, the cheeks of it bouncing on her own cheeks, and she moved her finger up to pummel Gina's clit as the wild ride went on.
Vanessa had no direct idea of what was going on with the others in the body pile, but from the movement of the bed she knew that something was reaching a climax. Gina's cunt was flowing generously with the thick secretions of womanhood, which ran down Vanessa's face and along her neck. Since everybody was really fucking everybody else everywhere, lubrication was needed everywhere. Vanessa felt legs and arms rubbing against her own body at a dozen different points, and everyone of them added to the total sensation. Now it was building up, and reaching a pitch that had to break soon in an orgasm.
From above Vanessa, there was a piercing cry. It penetrated to her very womb, and from there waves of her own orgasm rolled forth. It was like an instantaneous chain reaction. There was complete chaos in the bed. Vanessa's orgasm started-and just kept on going. Hal's cock was suddenly gone, but something else-whether it was a finger, a tongue, or another cock, she didn't know-took its place, and she just kept on coming. Soon she was thrashing around, rubbing every part of her on every part of someone else. Her whole body seemed to be one big cunt; every inch of it was susceptible to the most intense feelings of stimulation, as she felt completely turned inside out in her passion.
After a time, very slowly, things subsided. It was like the tide going out. A cool breeze from an open window blew across the drenched bodies, for the first time making some difference in the intense but not uncomfortable heat that had enveloped them.
Afterwards, they all took a bath together. It was a wonderful feeling to be so completely open to one another, as they soaped and washed each other everywhere in the swirling currents of the water. They felt like one immense family.
Afterward, they wound down somewhat in a long, rambling conversation. They took a walk in the park, watching the bare trees tossing in the winds of the coming winter. There was an invisible web of trust and understanding binding them all together. Vanessa couldn't help but think that the center of it was that first night she had spent with Jay. Somehow that had changed a lot of things for her. She had to sort them all out. But that would take time.
The next night, they went to the Club Hawaii for Jay's opening. When Vanessa got there, she knew why Jay had so much money. There was a ten dollar per person cover charge-not for them, of course-and very expensive food and drinks, with seven or eight different waiters for different courses. They listened to the music, relaxed, talked small talk. The next morning, Jay drove them to the airport. They took a plane to Boston, and a limousine back to school Thanksgiving weekend was over. Vanessa had to admit that it had been quite an experience.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The next few weeks at school went uneventfully, until just three days before Christmas Vacation. Then all hell broke loose. Vanessa was right in the middle of it. She had showed up for Professor Dalton's last class before the vacation, but Dalton had not been there. That was very strange. The class waited almost the entire period, talking and wondering what had happened. Then Vanessa left and went to Hal's room.
When she got there, the place was in chaos. Hal was standing in the middle of a mass of photographs strewn everywhere.
"What the hell happened?" asked Vanessa.
"Somebody broke in," Hal said wearily.
"When?"
"About a half hour ago, while I was in a philosophy class. It must have been someone who knew my schedule. The dorm was practically empty. Everybody has classes that hour, just about."
"What's missing?"
"They didn't get into the safe. But I was doing some work in the dark room, and that's gone. One of the pictures was a blowup of a shot of Shirley Dalton."
"Oh my god," said Vanessa, She sat down heavily. "Jesus Christ. That could really blow it."
"Yeah," said Hal. "If somebody's into blackmail, that picture could really do it."
Suddenly Vanessa's brain cleared. "Oh, shit," she said.
"What?" asked Hal, catching the note of alarm in her voice.
"Dalton didn't show up for class today. It was that hour. Last hour. He wasn't there. There was no note or anything. He just didn't show up."
"Oh, fuck," Hal breathed. "That's it. That's got to be it. Somehow that bastard got suspicious, and he came up here, and broke down my fucking door, and ransacked the place. And now he has one of those fucking pictures. I'd better call Shirley." He picked up the phone and dialed Shirley's office. There was no answer.
"Hal," said Vanessa, "I think you'd better get out of here. You never know what Dalton's going to do."
"Shit," said Hal, "you're right. What a fucking pisser. The thing is Shirley. I have no idea what he's going to do to her."
"I'll take care of that," Vanessa offered. "I can find her a hell of a lot more safely than you can, and I can do as much as you can."
"I have a fucking urge to be a hero," said Hal, "and stick around. But I know damn well you're right, and I can trust you."
"Can you drive Paul's bike?" Vanessa asked.
"Hell yeah," Hal said. "Driven it plenty of times."
"Okay," Vanessa said, taking charge. "I know where he keeps an extra set of keys. You take the bike and go to that hotel where we had that-that event. I'll call you there as soon as I hear anything. Do you have money?"
"Ten bucks," said Hal.
"Here," said Vanessa, cleaning out her wallet. "Here's thirty more. Come on,"
They went across the hall. Paul's door was locked, and their knocking brought no response.
"This is no time for formalities," Vanessa said. She was wearing boots. She kicked at the door twice with her heel, and the lock gave way. She fished Paul's extra keys out of his top drawer. In seconds, Hal was gone. With relief, Vanessa heard the bike cranking up outside. It took off out the front entrance to the college.
Then there was the roaring of another engine. It was a car. She looked down the driveway in the other direction. It was Dalton's car and it was moving like hell. It tore out after Hal, tires squealing.
Vanessa, hysterical now, tore down the stairs. She ran straight into Paul.
"What the fuck's going on?" Paul asked. "I heard my bike ... "
"Yeah," Vanessa stammered, "Dalton found out that Hal took some pictures of his wife, and he's after him in his car."
From far away, over the quiet countryside, there was a sharp "crack."
Paul tensed.
"That's a gunshot," he said.
"Oh my god, are you sure?"
Paul was grave but self-possessed. "Yes."
"What the hell can we do?"
"I don't know," said Paul. If we call the cops, the whole thing's blown. That could have been a hunter or something. It's the season. But I've never heard them hunting around here before. Look. I'm gonna borrow Jake Mandrin's Harley, and we're gonna go see what the hell's going on. There isn't an ambulance within thirty miles of here anyhow. If Hal's in trouble, well get to him before anyone else could."
Peggy came running up. "What the hell's all the ... "
Vanessa told her while Paul ran off. Seconds later the roar of an immense bike engine cut the stillness. Vanessa jumped on behind Paul, and they were gone.
"What the hell happens if Dalton starts shooting at us?" Vanessa asked, thinking of it for the first time.
Paul shook his head. "There's gonna be a gunfight," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"Mandrin's a crazy fucker. He likes guns. There just happens to be a .22 pistol in the left saddle bag. He was taking some target practice yesterday ... It's empty now, but I've got a box of shells in my pocket."
"Oh, Jesus," Vanessa said.
"You want to get off?"
"No. I think if I'm here Dalton'll be less likely to do anything crazy. Besides, I have to see Hal. I have to see if he's all right."
They were roaring down the highway. "Any minute now," Paul said, gunning the Harley to a hundred miles an hour on the straightaway. They leaned into the curve and hurtled around it like a rocket The speedometer read ninety.
Vanessa's mind, which had reacted well in the crisis, was now beginning to crumble as the thought of what had happened penetrated to her suddenly. She realized that the world was not all love and understanding, and that in their carefree lifestyles they had been playing with immensely powerful emotional forces with no idea of the possible consequences. Oddly, she did not blame Dalton. She blamed Hal, herself, Peggy, John, Shirley-everybody who had become so caught in their own little world that they had forgotten that there was a much bigger world outside, and that it might come crashing in on them at any moment.
"Give me that gun," Paul said as he throttled the bike down to seventy on a long straightaway and took one hand off the handlebars. Vanessa reached down and pulled the gun out of the saddlebag.
Paul took it and opened the breach. "You're going to have to load it," he said. "Put in five shells. Point it down, and off to the side. Don't touch the trigger. Shove them into the little holes there."
Vanessa had seen enough cowboy movies to know what to do, although the whole situation was so unreal, with the roar of the engine, and Paul's voice shouting above it, and the wind, and the speed, that it seemed completely surreal. She had literally been torn out of reality, and was now embarked on a strange and horrifying nightmare.
"Leave an empty chamber underneath the firing pin," Paul yelled. Clutching him with her knees, she rotated the black metal cylinder slowly, deliberately. A few short minutes ago, everything she did was inconsequential. Her biggest decisions had been which pen to use for a test, whether to have cottage cheese or a chefs salad for lunch. Now the positioning of a simple cylinder of metal could mean the difference between life and death.
"I've got it," she finally said. Paul took the gun from her. He was wearing his leather jacket He shoved the weapon into one of its big zipper pockets and zipped it closed.
"Jesus Christ," Paul yelled, as they rounded one last curve. "There's Dalton's car."
The blue Plymouth had gone off the road and was stuck, with one wheel in a ditch. The driver's door was open, and the car was empty. Paul raced the Harley down next to it. They leapt off and ran to the car. There was nothing there but a few footprints in the mud of the ditch. They headed off into the woods.
"Quiet," said Paul. From far away-seemingly In the woods-there was the roar of an engine.
"That's my bike," Paul said.
"Are you sure?"
"Damn right," he said. "That's my bike."
They ran down the road another hundred feet. Thick tire tracks from a cycle led off the road. There was a deep furrow in the mud on the other side of the ditch, and then the tracks led off into the woods toward a slim path.
Paul followed the tracks twenty or thirty yards. "He jumped that fucking ditch," Paul said. "That was a nice piece of riding on that fucking hog of a chopper. There's no blood anywhere. The tire tracks don't wobble. He was really moving out here." There was dirt scattered everywhere from the force of the bike tires. "He's all right"
"Are you sure?"
"He was all right when he got here," Paul said. "And Dalton's on foot. You don't catch a bike on foot. And Hal's still moving." Every once in a while, the wind carried the sounds of the fleeing bike out of the woods to them.
"I don't know where the hell that trail goes," Paul said. "But Hal's okay for now. Dalton must have missed."
"Hey," said Vanessa, "there's someone in the woods."
"Oh, shit," said Paul. "It must be Dalton coming back. Let's get our ass out of here."
"We can't," Vanessa said. "If he gets that damn car out of the ditch, he'll be looking for Hal on every damned road in the county all goddamned day. Even if we call the cops-would they find him before he found Hal?"
"You're right," said Paul. "Okay. Get down behind the car."
The noises of someone running through the woods were getting louder now. Vanessa crouched behind the car. Soon Dalton's form emerged through the foliage. He was running like a madman, carrying a rifle in his right hand. Paul just stood there, with his hand on the gun in his pocket.
Dalton saw him immediately.
"You fucking bastard," Dalton screamed, "are you in on this too, you motherfucking perverted little prick?" Vanessa thought he would tear his guts out, he was screaming so violently. She couldn't imagine that this was the same man who had stood with such detached calm-coldness, almost-before her class so many rimes.
Paul went toward Dalton. Vanessa couldn't understand why. Then she realized. The range of accuracy of the rifle was greater than that of Paul's pistol. Paul had to get close enough to even up the odds.
"Drop the gun," Paul said, "and let's talk about it." His voice was amazingly calm-at least on the surface.
"Fuck you," Dalton screamed, although he made no move to raise the gun, which he held by the barrel "Get out of my way before I blow your goddamned head off. I'll splatter your guts all over creation,"
By this time Paul had closed to within twenty yards of Dalton. Vanessa peeked through the windows of the car.
"Look," Paul lied, "I don't know what the hell this is about, but I do. know that you're trying to kill somebody, and I know that if you do, you'll regret it."
"Bullshit," Dalton screamed back at him. He made a move to raise his gun. Paul jerked the pistol out of his pocket and pointed it at Dalton's head. "Drop it," he said, "or I'll cut your fucking ass to pieces."
Dalton's eyes grew wide. His jaw dropped. Paul pointed the gun away from him and clicked the trigger. "There was one empty chamber," he said. "That was it. The next one's for real. Drop that fucking gun before I count to three or so help me, I'll blow you away. One. Two." He was counting fast. Vanessa shook.
The gun slipped from Dalton's hand.
"Now back up," Paul ordered.
Dalton staggered backward.
"Vanessa," Paul called. "Get that gun."
Vanessa scampered out and scooped up the weapon.
"Point it straight up in the air and pull the trigger till it stops firing," Paul said.
Vanessa fired off three rounds, and then there were only empty clicks.
"Whew," Paul said. He lowered the pistol, opened the breech, poured the shells out into his hand. Then he slipped the gun into his pocket and walked toward Dalton.
"Look," he said, "you may think something terrible's been done to you."
Dalton was almost in a trance.
"We'll get it straightened out," Paul said.
No response.
A car drove up on the road behind them. Peggy and John jumped out.
Paul turned to Dalton. "Did you hit Hal?"
"No," he said.
"All right. Listen. John, you and Peggy and Vanessa take the professor back in your car. Give him a drink or something. Don't let him out of your sight."
Peggy came over and whispered something in Paul's ear.
"Good," Paul said. He turned to Dalton. "Your wife is gone. We've told her what happened. She's waiting for a phone call. She wants to know whether or not you're a murderer."
Paul took the rifle from Vanessa, and shoved it into the saddleback of the Harley. For the first time, Professor Dalton's face began to show some emotion other than pure rage. "She wants to know whether I'm a murderer?" he almost whispered. "And what is she?"
Paul looked back at him. "She's a woman," Paul said. "And she's still your wife. She's scared to death. But I know she wants you." He cranked up the Harley. There was a roar, and he was gone.
Vanessa went to Dalton and took his arm. "Come on," she said gently. "Let's go back."
Peggy and Vanessa stayed with him all afternoon, and into the night. At first he was completely irrational. There was nothing for the girls to do but explain everything. Sometimes Dalton seemed to understand.
"What does the fact that Hal-who is a professional, who does beautiful work-took a few pictures of your wife, have to do with your relationship to her?"
"They're filthy pictures," he said.
"They're not. They're beautiful."
Vanessa left and went to Hal's room. She came back with a sheaf of his pictures and some of his photography books.
"Look at these," she said, shoving still life's and studies of faces under his nose. "Now look at these in this book. They're done by some of the greatest photographers in the world. Which ones are better?"
Vanessa could see she was, slowly and excruciatingly, getting him at least to think. For some reason, he had to answer her-and when he did, he had to tell the truth.
"So he's an artist," Dalton said. "He's also an adulterer. I know my wife made love to him. Do you know what that does to me? Do you have any idea?"
"What is making love?" Vanessa asked calmly.
"Oh, for Christ's sake," he cried, "it's when you strip somebody naked and shove your cock into their cunt."
"Is that right," Vanessa asked.
"You're goddamned right it's right."
She thought for a second. "What would you say if I told you we were making love right now?"
"Bullshit," he said.
"Making love is when you open yourself completely to someone. It's when you make an emotional investment. It's when you communicate with another person. There's lots of sex that isn't making love, and there's lots of making love that isn't sex. Just because two people happen to have genital contact doesn't mean they're making love. Look at me."
Vanessa felt very strange. Somehow, she was taking control of the situation. Peggy looked on in awe.
"You are wide open to me," Vanessa said, "right now. I can see through you. I know everything that is going on in your mind. I can tell why it's there. I haven't been listening to you talking about poetry for a whole term without learning a few things about you." She decided to take a long shot. "I think you're holding back. I think you want to write poetry-not analyze it. I think you've labeled yourself a failure, and you're trying to hold onto what you have. You're trying to hold onto your wife, who could be a model or an actress, and your job, and your apartment. You're just trying to get through life without having anybody tell you that you're a failure. That's not too hard. You're a very smart man. Maybe you're a genius. I don't know. So you can be a success. But not on your terms. On someone else's. That way, they can't call you a failure. That only leaves yourself."
Once in a while Dalton seemed about to speak. But the thoughts were swirling so fast in his confused mind that he barely opened his lips before the thought had changed. He remained silent.
"Let me ask you something," Vanessa continued. "Do you know when Hal took those pictures?"
"No."
"It was three months ago. Three months. Have you talked to your wife in those three months?"
Dalton showed signs of anger. "Of course I've talked to her," he said.
"What did you say?"
"You want me to remember every god damned word I said to my wife over three months? Shirley and I talk a lot. We're very close. Or-we were." He put his head between his hands.
"You've been close in the last three months?"
"As close as we've ever been-I thought. Until today. Today I found out that the whole thing's been a lie."
"You didn't notice any change in Shirley's attitude toward you?"
"No. She must be a good liar."
"Maybe it didn't change," Vanessa said. "Maybe that day with Hal-and it was only one day-didn't take anything away from you. Maybe it only added something to her Life. Did you ever think of it that way? Maybe the only thing it brought out was that there were certain things she couldn't tell you-because she knew how you'd react. I don't know. Maybe she shouldn't have done it. But the fact is that her desire for something else, or someone else, is something that she just couldn't talk to you about. And that was something that was missing in your relationship long before Hal came along with his cameras."
Dalton was exhausted. Vanessa looked at a clock. She was shocked to see that it was three in the morning. None of them had had anything to eat.
"Peggy," Vanessa said, "can I talk to you for a minute?"
They went out into the kitchen.
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure."
"Find some food somewhere. Cook something. Something nice, if there's anything around. See if they have any wine or anything."
"I have a bottle in the room," she said, "I've been saving it. I'll bring it down."
"Ok yean," said Vanessa, remembering. Then-leave us alone. I think we may get somewhere."
Peggy looked at Vanessa with unconcealed admiration. "You're really something," she said. "I never knew you thought all those things you've been saying for the past-how many hours? I never knew you could talk that way."
"We've got a long way to go," Vanessa said simply.
"I'll get going," Peggy said.
Vanessa returned to the living room.
Dalton was stretched out on the sofa. He was wide awake; although his body was close to collapse, his mind would not stop running its endless cycles of thought and emotion ...
They began to talk again.
"You're trying to convince me of something," Dalton said. "You're trying to sell me something. What is it?"
"I'm not trying to sell you anything," Vanessa said, aware that it was not completely true. But what followed was true. "I'm trying to give something away."
Dalton glanced at her, his eyes weary. "What?"
"At the risk of sounding corny," she smiled, "I might say it was love."
"And what about my wife?"
"What about her? Maybe I am trying to sell you something. An idea. The idea that love of one person doesn't necessarily rule out love of somebody else- on a very deep level. I know that a husband and wife have a kind of love that's necessarily different. But in the last few weeks I've found that in the context of that relationship, a lot of other things are possible. A marriage should open up new possibilities, not cut them off. It should mean trust and security and openness. Sure, there are some things a marriage can't withstand. But I don't think that one of the partners having a relationship with someone else is one of them. Shirley and Hal have a very good relationship. But they both know that she's married to you, and she's going to stay that way, and they wouldn't want to do anything to change that. And that's the truth."
Vanessa and Dalton talked for another half an hour. Then Peggy came in. "Dinner is served," she said, "and I'm going to bed. Goodnight"
Dalton looked up, surprised. "My God," he said, "I didn't even realize we hadn't eaten."
"I did," said Vanessa. "I'm about to starve to death."
For the first time in the long night, Dalton smiled. He followed her into the dining room.
Vanessa gasped when she saw what Peggy had done. An immense steak lay sizzling on a platter. A bowl of B�arnaise sauce was beside it. There was broccoli, baked potatoes with sour cream, and strawberry shortcake for desert.
"Where did she get all this stuff?" Dalton asked. "I swear none of it was in the house."
"Friends, I guess," said Vanessa. "Look at this." She produced Peggy's bottle of wine. Dalton stared at it "I know something about wines," he said. "That's a very good bottle. I'm not sure I'm in condition to enjoy it."
"Well, see if you can get in condition," Vanessa said. She sat across the table from him. Her hair shone in the light of the candles that Peggy had placed on the table.
The meal took an hour. When they were finished, it was threatening to get light outside. A little food and some good wine, and Vanessa's company, had pacified Dalton to a great extent. He was turning the things she had said over in his mind.
"I have to sleep," he said, after they were done eating.
"I'm going to stay with you," Vanessa said.
"What do you mean?"
"I want to make sure you don't have any bad dreams. Shirley's coming back tomorrow afternoon. Peggy talked to her on the phone, and told her we'd been talking. She's not scared, and she wants to talk to you. But she made Peggy promise that somebody would stay with you tonight. She doesn't want you to be lonely."
"I don't know what to say," Dalton said, "except that I'm too tired to argue. You can sleep on the sofa."
"Okay," Vanessa said.
Dalton got up and wandered toward the bedroom. Vanessa followed him. When he got to the door, he turned, but said nothing. She gave him a wry smile, put her hands on his shoulders, and kissed him lightly. "I'll tuck you in," she said.
Dalton was puzzled. "Are you trying to seduce me?"
"Not right now," she said. Tin too tired."
Tm too confused," he said. "You've been fantastic. Really. I don't know whether I agree with anything you've said-but you've been straight and honest, and very gentle-especially with someone who was going to kill somebody only a few hours ago."
"Spoken like a professor," Vanessa said. "Let's go to bed."
CHAPTER EIGHT
The next morning, which did not occur for Vanessa until just before noon, she and Dalton awoke next to each other, with the sunlight streaming in the window.
"I'm going to take a shower,' Vanessa asked. "Are you?"
"You can go first," he said.
"Or we can both go together."
Dalton shrugged his shoulders. "All right," he smiled.
Like the night before, the whole affair was entirely platonic-but very warm, and very comforting.
"Shirley's getting here at about three," Vanessa said, as she soaped Dalton's back. He said nothing.
"Tell me something," she said.
"What?"
"Can I call you something besides Professor Dalton -in private, at least?"
"How do you know you'll need to call me anything in private?"
She leaned around and looked at Mm. "We're in private right now."
"You can call me Richard," he said. "That's a little formal sounding still, but that's what everybody calls me."
After Vanessa had washed his back, Richard washed hers. He was very gentle. "You've given me a lot," he said. "I haven't given you anything."
"You're making up for it," she said, as his fingers worked into her muscles, relaxing her all over. "Is that as low as you're going to go?" His hands had stopped at the small of her back. In response, he went lower, soaping her shining buttocks, the soaking hairs of her cunt, and on down her legs to her feet. His touch told Vanessa more than any words could have. She was amazed at the tenderness, the care, that were hidden beneath Richard's cold exterior. When they stepped out of the shower, they dried each other. Each touch was ecstasy. There was no sexuality in it; just warmth, and communication.
Vanessa was dressed and at the door. "Are you going to tell your wife that you made love to me?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" he replied, suddenly suspicious. "I did nothing of the sort."
Vanessa shook her head slowly. "If that shower wasn't an act of love, I don't know what was."
Richard smiled. He looked down at the ground, and then up at Vanessa. He looked very deep into her eyes. "If I'm going to be blamed for it, I may as well do it."
"It's a date," Vanessa grinned. "But first you have some things to straighten out with your wife."
"I've got some things to straighten out with myself," he said.
"With her too. Don't let me convince you you're completely wrong."
"Thanks."
Vanessa turned and walked away.
Two days later, she left for Christmas vacation. Hal had gone to New York after escaping from Richard's attack. Peggy and Vanessa had called to tell him it was safe to return, but he'd decided it wasn't worth it. Vanessa was going to Arizona, Peggy to New York, and everyone else was scattering all over the globe.
Vanessa spent an uneventful-at least outwardly- vacation at home. She read, took long walks, went to movies, spent time with her family. By the time she returned to school in January, she had a few things sorted out.
The campus was deep in snow when she arrived back. Somehow, after only a term, the place seemed like more than home to her. She found Peggy reading in their room.
"Hi," she said. "I'm back."
Peggy leapt up and gave her a. big kiss.
"Have a nice vacation?"
"Oh, sure. You know. Just ordinary."
"I've got a proposal for you for the next one."
"What? You mean spring vacation?"
"Yeah. My parents just went and bought this enormous yacht."
"You're kidding. Where the hell do they get all the money?"
"Not from my old man's job, that's for sure. Didn't I ever mention to you that my mother and father together inherited over sixty million dollars?"
"Jesus Christ." Vanessa sat down.
"Well, we won't go into that. It's no big thing. Anyhow, I thought I'd told you. The point is that they've bought this yacht, and it has a crew-a really freaked out crew-of five, and they're sailing to the Bahamas in the spring. Everyone's invited. That is, everyone that had their shit together."
"Damn," said Vanessa. "I wonder if that means Richard and Shirley."
Peggy glanced at her. "You mean you're on a first name basis with Dalton?"
Vanessa glanced up. "Yeah. You seen him?"
"No. He took his wife to some skiing resort that nobody's ever heard of for the whole vacation, Won't be back till classes start tomorrow."
"That's a good sign."
"You really are amazing," Peggy said. "Ifs not enough that you keep him from ripping Hal off. Incidentally, Hal will be in tonight We had some good times in the big city. Anyhow-it's not enough that you do that. You have to convert him to a free love trip."
Vanessa looked up. "I've sort of decided that nothing's free," she said.
Peggy sat down. "That sounds sort of heavy," she said. "What do you mean?"
"Nothing that's too awfully heavy," Vanessa said. "Just that there are all different kinds of relationships, and you have to keep the lands separate, or they all end up being one kind-shallow. See, I've been thinking about this a lot. If you think free love is free sex, then you think that every sex act is lovemaking, But that's bullshit. I mean, you can have sex just for the pure pleasure of it-just like you can eat a good meal for the pleasure of it. But that's not making love, Nothing against it-but you have to distinguish,"
Peggy was quiet. "It's funny," she finally said. "My father came to some very similar conclusions. We talked a lot about that while I was at home."
"Well, that's not surprising," Vanessa told her. "It was your father that started me thinking about it-that night I spent with him. Somehow, I just couldn't lump that in with all that pussy-tasting and cocksucking stuff. I mean, that was fun, it was great, it was lots of laughs-but there's a lot more to Me than that"
"No shit"
"You know," Vanessa said, "it seems as if your old man and I really learned a lot from each other."
Peggy grinned. "Does that mean you'll come spring vacation?"
Vanessa stared at her. "Did you think I ever considered not coming?" She giggled. "You nut," she said, messing Peggy's hair playfully, "it would have to be some awfully heavy shit to keep me away from that Like the end of the world or something."
The time between January and the spring vacation wore on slowly. Vanessa kept her date with Richard-- but not until March. He wasn't ready before that First, Shirley and Richard and Vanessa sat around for long hours, talking and talking and talking, till they knew each other's minds inside and out Toward the end, Hal was included. It took three weeks to clear Richard's mind of his feelings about Hal-but he kept working at it, and Hal kept working at it, and eventually they came to the conclusion that neither had acted terribly well, and that the whole thing had best be forgotten.
One night, late in March, just before the vacation, Richard knocked on Vanessa's door. She opened it, dressed in a pure white evening gown, and stared at Richard in his black suit.
"Well," she said, "are you ready for this?"
He smiled. "As ready as I'll ever be."
It was the night of the Junior Prom, and they had decided to pick this night to open things up a little bit on the campus. Richard was taking Vanessa, and Hal was taking Shirley. There were going to be no bones about it They were going as couples, they were leaving as couples, and they were spending the night as couples. And if the president of the college had anything to say about it-Vanessa had about ten words to say regarding a certain night during the previous fall that would make sure his speech was not too long, and not too caustic.
"Would you like a drink?" said Vanessa.
"I don't need one, if that's what you mean, but I'll take one."
Vanessa handed him a scotch. They stood sipping the cool liquor quietly, gazing out the windows. Then she took Richard's arm, and they left.
It was an interesting evening. Richard and Vanessa danced together and held each other tight, impervious to the stares of some of the faculty members. Richard danced with Peggy, and several other girls. John and Paul cut in on Hal several times. The champagne was flowing, and things were loose. Toward the end of the evening, Richard's hands made their way dangerously far down Vanessa's back as they danced, President Norton, they saw, was watching. After the last dance, they headed for the door, arm in arm, Norton came up to them.
"Professor Dalton," he said, "I think I should have a word with you."
"Anything you can say to me, you can say to Vanessa too," Richard said.
"All right," Norton said, stiffening slightly. "I know you are a tenured faculty member at this institution. I respect you and your work highly. But there are certain points of decorum which must be observed- faculty, students, administration-everyone must adhere to certain ethical standards, I am sure you know what I'm referring to."
Before he got any farther, Vanessa broke in. "Can I talk to you for a moment-alone?"
Richard excused himself to get more champagne.
Norton said his piece, and then Vanessa said hers. After that, Norton had little to say. As Richard returned with two full glasses, he overheard Vanessa saying, "I know you're an accomplished academician, and I respect your work highly. But-why don't you loosen up a little bit? Like-live and let live?" She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, turned to Richard, took her champagne, and they left.
A week later, there was a gathering on a dock in a fashionable yacht harbor on Long Island. A seventy foot yacht was about to leave for Bermuda, and the passengers were boarding. Jay Arden stood at the gangway. Vanessa and Peggy were already in a bar in the after section of the ship, drinking away. They saw Hal approaching with a party of five or six.
"Damn, it looks like they're coming," Vanessa said excitedly.
"Who?"
"Hal's parents. Wow, Look at his father."
Rudy Winters was perhaps fifty. His hair was pure white, but his face was tanned, and he walked like a racehorse getting into the gate. He had thick, powerful shoulders, bright green eyes, and a face that seemed in a perpetual smile.
Hal's mother was some six years younger than her husband, and according to Hal, she hadn't been sitting home knitting while her husband did figure studies of twenty year-old models from Tokyo to Teheran.
"Damn," said Peggy, "these old folks sure have something together. Look at them." They were, indeed, a fine couple. "But who are those chicks with them?"
"Let's see," said Vanessa. "The tall, skinny blonde is a model. She also did a part on Broadway last year. Sylvia Simon. I think that's right. The brunette is a writer. I forget her name. You know that big book on the twenties that came out last year-I forget the name of it. She wrote it"
"Far fucking out."
"And I don't know that taller brunette."
"Well, you will."
"Hey," yelled Peggy excitedly, "here come Richard and Shirley."
Vanessa broke Into a broad smile. "I wasn't sure they'd make it," she said. "Boy, am I glad. This is going to be some trip."
By nightfall, there were sixteen passengers aboard. The lines were let go. The dock drifted away. They were off.
The first event of the trip was a strip poker tournament. There were two tables of eight each, and a complicated system with chips that made sure no one would lose too fast-or too slowly. As usual, Jay had brought an incredible supply of marijuana and hashish aboard, and by the time the game commenced, Vanessa and Peggy could hardly see the table. In her condition, Vanessa was reduced to almost nothing in the first few minutes. She had neglected to wear a bra, and after losing her shoes and stocking, earrings, and hair ribbon in just three games, she sat with her tits bouncing on the table, clad only in her skirt and underpants.
At the other table, Sylvia Simon was also doing what she did best-taking off her clothes. Vanessa stared at her snowy breasts, tipped with rosebud nipples that looked as if they were pushing up out of a ten foot drift, with something akin to envy. Sylvia, whom she had met only briefly, smiled warmly back at her. Vanessa nudged Peggy. "I think we ought to reserve some time for a threesome with her," she said. "I think she's on our wave-length."
"Agreed," said Peggy.
It rapidly developed that the reason the men had wanted to play strip poker was that they knew how to play poker. Shirley was having trouble too, and was soon down to her bikini lace underwear. Watching Richard smiling broadly at her, Vanessa simply could not believe that he was the same man who just a few months before had been ready to shoot someone for laying hands on his wife.
In another half an hour, all the girls were sitting around naked, and only Paul, who had played rather recklessly and-Vanessa suspected-had not exactly played to win, was down as far as his underwear on the male side.
"All right," said Sylvia finally, "enough of this bullshit. I want to call for a women's caucus. I think we've been ripped off."
There were loud cheers and raucous laughter from the women, protesting voices from the men.
"We're going to have a short meeting to decide what should be done," Sylvia went on. "But before we do, I think we should admit that we did lose, although maybe not fair and square, and a deal's a deal. So I think all the girls should stand up on the tables and spread their pussies nice and wide, and wiggle their tits, and let the guys see all the goodies they've uncovered."
With that, she proceeded to follow her own suggestion, climbing up on the table, taking her nipples in her hands, and teasing them upright.
The men applauded.
Vanessa climbed up on her table, and Peggy followed. Vanessa reached down and spread her cunt-lips wide, right in Rudy Winter's face.
"Free lick?" she invited.
Rudy stood up and licked delicately at her. Then he plunged his tongue deep into her cunt, to the applause of everyone present. With great difficulty Vanessa made herself pull away from the pleasant sensation. "That's enough for you," she said.
By this time all the girls had mounted the tables, and some of the guys had begun to remove -their clothes. Suddenly Sylvia called out, "Okay, girls, that's all they won. Let's go have a little meeting."
The girls trooped out-leaving, as Vanessa noticed, a few flagpoles that were gradually lowering to half mast.
The girls filed into the dining room, and Sylvia locked the door. She started to pull the curtains, but then changed her mind. "Let 'em look in," she said. "It'll let 'em see what they're missing." She pulled up a chair, got a. fork from the cabinet to use for a gavel, and called the meeting to order.
"Now I'll tell you what I think," she said. Then she laughed, slapped her knee, and took a drink. 'I think there's a bunch of really nice looking pussy in here, and I don't know what you girls are into, but I think we should all have some of it ourselves before we let the men have any,"
Cheers echoed through the room. Vanessa searched for Shirley, wondering how she would be tacking this. It might be too abrupt a step for her. She found Shirley looking straight back at her, with a great deal of passion in her eyes. She made up her mind that she would take care of Shirley, and everything would be all right.
" ... so," Sylvia was rambling on, "I have a suggestion. I think we should turn out the lights, and gather in a big group on the floor here, and find out what we're all about"
Even before she stopped talking, the lights went out Vanessa called softly to Shirley in the dark, and found her easily. Shirley melted into her arms. The feeling of Shirley's breasts against hers was exhilarating, and the pent-up desires that she had first felt watching the photo session with Hal and Shirley-that had only partially dissipated with their later encounter in the stream-now flooded back more strongly than ever.
She let her hands wander down to those beautiful buttocks, grasping their full flesh and now, with fingertips infinitely more sensitive than they had been a few months earlier, feeling the smooth texture of the skin.
Shirley surprised Vanessa by taking her face in her hands and kissing her squarely in the mouth. Vanessa's heart jumped. She herself, she now realized, had been prepared more for sex than for love-and this was completely and frankly an act of love.
"Do you want to stay here?" Vanessa whispered.
In the dark, lightened a bit by the moon outside the portholes she saw Shirley smile. "Yes," she said. "This is beautiful. I -don't feel the same way about the others as I do about you. I really love you, you know." Vanessa felt herself blushing. "But that doesn't matter. I'd like to stay with you for a while, though."
They settled down to the floor, face to face, locked in an embrace that was at once firm and incredibly tender. Vanessa put her lips to Shirley's, and eased her tongue into Shirley's mouth. The softness was surprising. She was used to men's kisses-hard, demanding most of the time, only occasionally subtle and tender. She seemed to melt into Shirley now, as her hands dropped once more to hold her buttocks.
"I'd like to kiss your cunt," Shirley breathed into Vanessa's ear. The stark sensuality jumped Vanessa's affectionate feelings to a new level of passion-without destroying for a moment the affection. The two women shifted position, and in seconds Vanessa was breathing the deep, clean odor of Shirley's pussy.
She remembered every bit of it; the full, almost overfull lips; the soft, inviting hole; the eager, stubby clitoris. She and Shirley penetrated each other at the same instant, and soon were oblivious to anything else.
All around them, there were moanings and noises of sex. Vanessa opened her eyes long enough to see Peggy making love with Sylvia and the unidentified brunette Hal's father had brought. It looked good to her. After a time, Shirley also looked up and glanced around.
"Shall we go over there?" Shirley asked. They did, and spent another ten or fifteen minutes probing and exploring different bodies. Vanessa was especially excited, as she knew she would be, by Sylvia's. It was slim, and the cunt was spare and tight It was a completely different experience from the loose generosity of Shirley's but it was in many ways as pleasant- especially when Sylvia came to a climax with her clit vibrating a mile a minute against Vanessa's flicking tongue.
After about half an hour of intense activity, things quieted down. There were small conversations, arid a few people were dozing off. "I think it's time to go back outside and see what's coming off," said Sylvia. "Those men have become awfully damned quiet."
She opened the door, and eight naked women wandered out on deck. There was no one there.
"Maybe they're back by the swimming pool," Vanessa suggested. The girls made their way back, turned a corner-and ran straight into an orgy. The men were all piled up in a group, arms and legs going in every direction. Vanessa was surprised to see Richard in the middle, with Hal and Paul. Her jaw dropped about six feet.
"Well, if we can do it, they can do it," Sylvia said gather lamely.
With the arrival of the girls, the men's pile began to break up. Bodies flew into the swimming pool, which was small but comfortable, and others simply flattened out against the deck. Soon there were couples strewn all over the deck, with here and there a threesome of one sort or another, and the sounds of love-making pervaded the air.
Vanessa found herself together with Richard and Shirley. They were off to one side, on a blanket that somehow had been left on the deck.
"Do you know what I'd like?" Vanessa said.
"What?" asked Shirley, her breasts glistening in the moonlight.
"I'd like to watch you two make love." She hesitated. "I think that would be really beautiful"
"That's a novel suggestion. You mean I should make conventional, old fashioned, man-on-top love with my own wife?"
Vanessa laughed. "I know it's hard to comprehend," she said.
Richard and Shirley smiled at each other. To Vanessa, it was plain that there was a river of love and understanding flowing between them. Shirley laid down on her back, spread her legs, and opened her arms. Richard came into them with such complete confidence and trust that it brought tears to Vanessa's eyes, and she knew she had been right when she'd argued that no matter what Shirley's relationship with anyone else, it couldn't take anything away from their marriage-unless one of them let it.
They began to fuck in a rhythm so easy and natural that it made Vanessa wonder how sex could seem so difficult at times. Shirley's ass spread beautifully on the blanket, making a pattern that caused Vanessa's own temperature to rise. She put her fingers to her own cunt and sought out her clit. She began to massage it with the rhythm of the lovemaking before her.
"I have to warn you," Richard said, "that I smoked hashish for the first time tonight, and my head is feeling extremely funny."
"Oh boy," Vanessa said. "Anything could happen. This could be the fuck of the century."
"I smoked some marijuana," admitted Shirley, "and I'm feeling just fine. It's strange. I feel as though my whole body is concentrated between my legs. Or maybe it's as if my cunt had spread out over all of me."
"I know what you mean," said Vanessa. "It happens a lot."
Shirley noticed Vanessa massaging her cunt.
"Are you coming with us?" she asked.
Vanessa smiled. "I'm going to try," she said.
Richard and Shirley turned back to each other. Shirley had had her legs hooked into Richard's, but now she disengaged them and simply thrust them straight up into the air, opening herself up completely and letting her own motions come from her body and hips. Vanessa laid down with her face close to Shirley's cunt. It almost drove her wild to see those full, pink lips pulling in and out, to see the cock disappearing into that smooth, damp hole, to see Shirley's ass pucked up and then loosen as she worked the muscles inside her cunt.
"How are you doing?" Richard asked his wife.
"Fine," she said. "Come up a little bit more on top of me. I need some more friction up there." Shirley turned to Vanessa. "We talk a lot when we fuck," she said. "We don't really need to, but it turns us on. I could just pull him a little bit higher-but it sounds so much nicer to say it. It's like admitting out loud, to the whole world, that you need the other person."
It turned Vanessa on too.
"How are you doing?" Shirley asked Richard.
"Okay," he said, breathing a little heavily. "I might have to slow down in a little bit I'm getting sort of close."
Shirley took a deep breath. "All of a sudden," she said, "so am I. I think it's Vanessa watching us. That really does something to me. I can feel it all the way down in my cunt." Her movements abruptly speeded up, and the sound of Richard's balls smacking on the generous flesh of Shirley's ass echoed in the night.
"Oh shit," said Richard, "that did it. Here I come."
"Oh ... Oh ... OH," screamed Shirley ... " Fuck me ... fuck the shit out of me ... I'm coming ... right ... NOW!"
Her back arched as though she'd been shot, and Richard, the sperm jetting from him in thick, hot streams, dove deep into her, stabbing her again and again, trying to satisfy the longing for complete stimulation brought on by Shirley's climax. Her ass pounded hard against the deck now. The blanket was long lost, and they were fucking on bare wood. Shirley's legs opened and closed, opened and closed, trying to grasp something, trying to hold onto something, and yet trying to keep that same thing moving against her clit and then down deep into her wide-open hole. The sperm flew out of the edges of her cunt, whipped to a froth. "Oh Jesus," she screamed, "I'm still coming, I'M STILL COMINGI!! Oh shit, don't stop," she cried to Richard.
"Damn," said Richard, feeling Ms organ shrinking involuntarily.
"Oh Richard," she said, "I love you," her hips still pounding away in the middle of an orgasm while she tried to console her husband that his organ-like everyone else's-shrunk automatically after it had discharged its load of sperm.
Vanessa was aware that something very weird was happening. She had never seen anyone come for so long before. It had seemed like an hour, but she realized it was probably no longer than fifteen or twenty seconds. And yet-it was still happening.
She looked up to see Hal beside her. "Hal," she said, "she's really stoned on grass-she never smoked before-and she just keeps coming ... "
Richard looked up and saw Hal. "Come here," he said. Then he turned to Vanessa. "Here's Hal," he said. Then he laughed. "I'm bailing out. But I'll be back."
In an instant, Richard pulled out, and Hal replaced him, ramming his fresh, hard organ home.
Shirley screamed again, and her body rippled in response. Her mouth was hanging open as she sucked in air, and her eyes were closed tight. She grabbed Hal and began fucking him as hard as she could. Meanwhile, Richard had collapsed into Vanessa's arms.
"A while ago I would have felt bad about that," he said. "But that's ridiculous. I never saw anybody in a state like that before. Do you think she's all right? I mean-she's been in a state of orgasm now for almost a minute."
Vanessa laughed. "She's fine," she assured him. "I've had that happen to me. It's not really a physical orgasm after the first few seconds-but it's just that the dope gets your mind on this weird trip, and you get all the effects of an orgasm. It's a total thing. It's not anything like a genital thing any more. It's completely overwhelming."
Hal had been drawn into Shirley like a ship into a whirlpool, and could not keep from coming almost immediately himself. Now he was suffering the same fate as Richard had-he was gasping and losing power like an old car engine. Vanessa had never seen anyone with control like Hal's before, but she had never seen anyone move like Shirley was. She was still going in twenty different directions at once.
"My God," said Hal, half frustrated and half laughing, I'm fucking shot. Well-who the hell's next?"
Vanessa looked around, but there was nobody in sight. Then she caught sight of Paul across the pool "Hey Paul," she yelled, "get your fucking organ over here. It's an emergency."
Paul rushed over, organ in hand. "Where's the fire," he asked.
"Right there," said Richard, pointing, "and if you can put it out, you're a better man than we are."
If Hal can't do it I can't do it," he said, "but I'll sure as hell have fun trying."
The switch was completed. In approximately thirty seconds Paul was swept away too.
By this time Shirley was starting to come down. "Richard," she said. "Come back."
By this time Richard was able to maintain an erection, and he returned to the scene of the crime. Shirley was totally obliterated. She clutched him tightly as he fitted his cock into her now completely red cunt, and started pumping away. Shirley was laughing and crying at the same time-laughing because although she had been somewhere else, she had been aware of everything that had gone on, and it was incredibly hysterical-and crying because she had just gone through an incredibly wearing, and yet incredibly fulfilling, emotional experience.
Richard pumped slowly into her. Occasionally still spasms of orgasm would cross her, and she would shudder. But they were rare.
"I've got a surprise for you," said Richard. Tm going to come again."
"Oh, that would be wonderful. Oh, shoot inside me, please come ... "
Richard stroked slowly, deliberately, evenly. Shirley opened her eyes and looked into his.
"Here it comes," he said, "and I want you to tell me just how it feels. It's coming ... right ... NOW."
"Oh, OH." Shirley groaned, "it feels ... hot and wet . , . it's gushy and it feels like a fucking swamp ... Iloveit ... ILOVEIT ... "
Then they both collapsed.
Vanessa didn't know what to say. Their bodies were glued together, and they were drifting off to sleep. She retrieved the blanket that was crumbled in a heap nearby and put it over them. "Amen," she said.
For the next few days the yacht made a leisurely path toward the Bahamas. The farther south they went, the more sunshine and clear water they ran into. Vanessa had once been thrilled, in a way, by the immensity and closeness of New York City, with its teeming people, its variety of sights and sounds and noises. Now, she was sailing into simplicity itself: sky, wind, sun, and water. She sat out on the deck reading, or talking with the others. Rudy Winters offered to help her learn how to use a camera-and while that task would normally have fallen to Hal, he deferred cheerfully to his father. Jay would sit on the deck, blowing on any one of a number of instruments. Somehow trumpets, clarinets, and saxophones sounded clear and uncomplicated in the new atmosphere, and the lilting sounds of jazz themes set a tone for the cruise that was pleasant and yet at times inspiring.
There was one thing that Vanessa particularly enjoyed about the trip. In almost every social situation she had ever been in, sexual tensions had complicated life. Everyone was always wondering whether someone else found them attractive, would go to bed with them, would reject them. Everyone was worried about the reactions of others-jealously, approval, disapproval. Needless to say, there was no such tension aboard the yacht. And yet, Vanessa was relieved to find that the shallowness that had characterized some of her earlier sexual escapades was entirely absent The fact was that with so much easy sex to be had, the question was no longer whether it would happen. The question was how it would happen-and the answer always turned out to be positive. Ironically, a trip that had been anticipated by all as a carefree round of orgies became a trip characterized by a number of new and profound relationships. Sex was still prominent-but .with fewer people bothering to wear clothes at all as the weather grew warmer, the emphasis on sheer genital desire was gone. There was no purely physical curiosity anymore. All curiosity was intimately bound up with the whole psyche of the other person involved.
One of Vanessa's greatest amusements was the crew. Jay had carefully selected them-four males and one female, who oddly enough worked on the engine- and they could be seen as often as not wandering among the passengers in the nude, conversing intelligently and also fitting in, in a number of other ways. Gloria, the mechanic, maintained that she had an advantage over the other mechanic, a male, who for safety reasons always had to wear something while working. Gloria, as she pointed out, had no dangling appendages that were likely to be gobbled up by whirling machines. Vanessa learned that she had gone to a famous college and studied art, and then had gone on to a technical school to learn about machines, just for the fun of it.
Vanessa spent her night with different people- sometimes with Richard and Shirley, sometimes with Hal, and sometimes with Jay. Jay was rapidly becoming her favorite. She had not believed that a repeat of their incredible experience in the New York apartment could be possible. At first, she tried to think of it as a fluke, a one night thing of beauty that, like an art work, could never be reconstructed. In one way, she was right:, it was never exactly the same. In another, she was wrong: it got better.
Jay, always overwhelmingly considerate, had ordered a darkroom built aboard the yacht in preparation for Hal and Rudy's presence. Now Vanessa could see her work only hours after she'd taken a roll of pictures. She found that the famous writer aboard-whose name was Barbara Banton-took a considerable interest both in her pictures and in her ideas, and the two women spent long hours talking about many different topics. In fact, they decided to do a new kind of book-a fantasy built around their experience on the ship, illustrated with photographs taken by Vanessa under Hal's direction. Vanessa found that Barbara understood her ideas and put them into words even better than she did.
One evening, they were talking to Richard and Shirley about the proposed book. Richard was strangely silent.
"What's the matter with you?" Vanessa asked him. "Getting seasick?"
"No," Shirley answered for him. "He's just thinking. You see, Richard's been writing some things-mostly poetry-since we left"
Barbara looked up. "That's what the book needs," she said. Richard smiled.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking," he said, "about some things Vanessa said to me once-about success on my own terms, and about being honest with myself. I've decided to quit my job at the college. We're going to move to New York. Shirley's going to do some modeling. Rudy's said he can use her. She's going to take some acting lessons. I'm going to try writing poetry for a while."
Vanessa smiled as deeply as she ever had. "I don't know," she said frankly, "it's a risk. But you have to take it, don't you?"
"Yes."
"That's nice."
The trip continued to go along smoothly. The night before the boat was scheduled to arrive in the Bahamas, Jay produced a surprise. "I've got some stuff here that some of you may be interested in," he said. "It's called mescaline." It was at the dinner table. "Any of you ever taken it before?" All the young people except Vanessa had. The older ones-except Jay-hadn't.
"Well," he said, "I'll tell you what it's like. It's fantastically physical-especially visual. It's not like LSD because although it can lead to some pretty heavy emotional experiences, you are in no danger of losing control of yourself-at least that's my experience. The Indians, or some of them, have been using organic mescaline in their religious ceremonies for centuries. There's only one problem with organic mescaline. It makes you throw up. The stuff I have is synthetic. I propose that we have our own religious-or whatever you want to call it-rites tonight" With that, he produced a pill bottle from his pocket, took out a capsule, and downed it. "Anybody else?"
In fact, it turned out to be everybody else. Normally few of them would have done it-but the atmosphere aboard the boat was so relaxed and trusting that no one was afraid. They continued on with their dinner, "It'll take maybe an hour before you feel anything," Jay told them. "And when you start to go up, you'll know."
They did. An hour later, Vanessa was sitting by the side of the pool with Peggy, Hal, and Jay, watching the sun go down. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, everything seemed very funny to her. She began laughing. It was a deep, completely spontaneous laughter. She started making jokes and atrocious puns. Soon the rest of them had collapsed onto the deck or fallen into the water, they were laughing so hard. From other parts of the ship, they could hear more gales of laughter.
When she had somewhat recovered her composure, Vanessa felt completely purged. She felt as though a clean current had run through her, washing out all the accumulated poisons of her past with an undeniable sense of the complete absurdity of the pettiness of everyday life. The sun was just beginning to sink, and the horizon, covered with a thin, high layer of clouds, vibrated as though it was completely on fire. Everyone gathered at the rail and simply stared at it. Ribbons of light waved out there, as though blown by a secret breeze. It looked as though the world was coming to an end. The profundity of every sunset, and the miracle of every sunrise, played an almost religious drama of death and resurrection before them. But at the same time, the fertility, the vibrancy, of life was reaffirmed. It all seemed like some glorious lovemaking act.
When the sun had gone down, the group gathered in a lounge hung with scarlet draperies that had little gold threads running through them. As usual, there were no clothes in the crowd, and suddenly Vanessa felt the full strangeness of the gathering. The drug had the effect, like marijuana, of separating moments of time from one another-but unlike marijuana, it presented them not in a sort of heady abstractness, but in a tangible concreteness full of visual stimulation.
Vanessa went over to Shirley, who was sitting alone, gazing at the curtains.
"Look," said Shirley, as she recognized Vanessa's presence. "Look at these curtains. They look as if they're three feet deep. Look at all the levels-how deep the gold threads are. And look at the flashes of light running over the surface in different patterns."
Vanessa followed Shirley's gaze for a while, completely forgetful of everything she had ever experienced before. Then she turned her attention to Shirley, whose auburn hair made her think immediately of the mane of a spirited horse as it waved gently in the breeze. She stroked it, completely absorbed, Shirley looked up at her.
"You have fantastic eyes," Shirley said. "I can see right through you. It's not as if you're not there. It's as if you were the whole world. Everything is right there."
Richard came up to them. He seemed like a spirit, intruding into Vanessa's visual field. His smile seemed like sunshine. He touched Vanessa on the shoulder. Her body seemed to melt, and all of it came alive. Richard ran his hand down to her breast. She could almost feel the tiny veins in it swelling. The nipple puffed up. It became red. Suddenly it looked scarlet- the same color as the waving curtains. Vanessa could almost see the blood in it. But she wasn't, oddly enough, frightened by it. She realized abstractly that her body was no more than a sack of blood, bones, and muscle, held in by the thin layer of her skin. She realized that if her skin did not exist, she would simply dissipate. She would die. But that was not so bad. She could become part of the sunset, part of the curtain.
Jay appeared. Gina was with him. "Jesus," he said, shacking his head to try to bring himself down for a minute, "It's like a dance. Turn around. Look at the people."
They turned around. Jay was right. People were walking around the room. Some were embracing, or were in the early stages of making love. It was like a ballet. Suddenly the flesh before them seemed incredibly real. Everyone's whole being was concentrated on his outer surfaces. Jay put his arms around Vanessa, and she could swear that their veins opened, and their blood mingled. She reached out and touched Shirley's waist, pulling her near. Her hands began to explore Shirley's body. Suddenly she was at the center of a group of people. There was flesh everywhere, kissing, touching, whispering. The whispering was like the breeze. The words were not important. They seemed empty, like the wind. But the intensely human sounds, the strange variations, played like a soft rhythm beneath the sounds of the ocean and the moving people. It was as if a hidden drummer was playing softly on cymbals with a brush.
Someone lit two. candles on a table at the center of the room. They cast a primitive light, starkly outlining faces and bodies, thrusting high points outward and making low places retreat in a dense blackness of shadow. Vanessa had the feeling that they were cast back thousands, millions of years. All of the trappings of society were irrelevant, and there was simply a group of people, floating on an ocean a mile deep, trusting their ship, trusting the water and the sky, and trusting each other. The ritual had begun.
Jay disappeared and returned with a clarinet. Its high, Kiting notes touched Vanessa everywhere. They floated like gentle fingers through the air. She felt-the passion rising in her. She was still in the center of the group, with Shirley, and Richard, and Hal, and everyone else nearby. Jay was sitting off to the side, playing softly, like Pan, his hair tangled with the wind.
The walls of the room began to move, They were breathing, in and out, in a steady rhythm. Ordinarily such hallucinations would have been terrifying-but the walls were breathing with them, and it was comfortable. The curtains swayed to the music. The ceiling rippled like water.
Vanessa found herself running her mouth over someone's body. She did not know whose. It was female. She ran her tongue along a thigh. The legs opened. Vanessa's tongue licked the forest of dark hair, and then pried at the opening, exposing pure, pink lips glistening with secretions. She was lost in a strange valley of pleasure. Ahead of her, a monument of flesh arose. Her tongue climbed it. It shuddered, and the whole valley began to churn. A cave opened up.
Gradually, Vanessa began to be aware that someone was making love to her. She could not tell at first whether it was a tongue, or a finger, or the head of a cock that was bouncing gently off her clit, making her entire body ripple. She looked down. There was no one there. For a moment, she was scared. Then she looked up. Jay was staring at her, playing the clarinet. He blew a high note, and Vanessa's clit tingled as though it had been touched. It was the music. The music was making love to her. Jay was making love to her, through the air. Through thin air.
Vanessa had a few times before, under the influence of marijuana, felt as though her body had disintegrated when she was making love; she had felt disembodied, and completely spiritual. Now, she had a different sensation. Her body had melted into the air, and it was everywhere.
Jay put down the clarinet and moved toward her. It was as if there was no motion. Her body was extended in the air, and he moved through it, along it, till he came to her center. She thrust her legs up into the air, exposing her cunt completely. Like a river, Jay flowed into it Colors were mingling with sounds and sensations. As Jay penetrated her, Vanessa felt blue, then green, and finally, pink that turned to scarlet. The colors pervaded her. She was not seeing them; she was them. Time was nothing more than the flow of beautiful colors, like a liquid kaleidoscope.
Vanessa still had her face buried in what she now recognized as Shirley's cunt. The full lips quivered. She glanced up, as Jay began to pump more music, more color, more sensation, into her. Shirley had her hands fastened around Richard's cock, and was staring at it. Gradually, people started to connect Shirley's mouth came down hard on Richard's cock, swallowing it up. The feeling was the same for Richard, for Vanessa, for everyone. They all literally shared his ecstatic sensation as it coursed through them in the totally fluid atmosphere of the magic room.
Peggy appeared. Richard grasped her and shoved his tongue into her waiting cunt Again, Vanessa felt it deep in her insides. More people were added to the conglomeration. The rhythm started to mount. The candles flickered. Suddenly they were going on and off like strobe lights, in a weird, primitive rhythm. The breathing and whispering in the room orchestrated there alterations of light and dark. It was daytime, then night, then daytime again, in an instant. The earth began to spin. They were all at the center of it, whirling in its molten core. Their insides were the earth's insides, as they all began to make love together. Vanessa saw cattails dancing in the breeze, sea gulls hovering over white surf. Sexual symbols: the cattails for the male organ, waving in desire. The ocean for the female organ, frothy with the white surf of union.
Everything was coming to a climax, and yet nothing was happening. Jay's cock pumped into Vanessa and then drew out again. Every thrust of his hard, insistent organ into her was the beginning of the world, the flood tide, the birth of life. Every withdrawal was sadness and pain. She tried to transcend it, and she succeeded. The withdrawals were necessary for the newer and more profound entries to take place.
All of the bodies were moving with the room, and yet nothing was moving. Vanessa had the feeling that time was suspended, that their lovemaking would go on forever. Yet soon, very soon, she knew, it would be coming to a climax. The whole world would burst open in orgasm.
It was like a violin string, being played and being tightened at the same time. It would have to break.
Suddenly Vanessa was aware of the sheer physicality of it Jay's cock was making itself felt in her cunt. She closed on it, and felt its contours. Every bit of flesh, every vein, was hers. In her mouth, Shirley's clit was banging away at a furious rate. The room was filled with chaotic noise, and yet somehow it was composed.
Vanessa felt someone, somewhere, starring to come. She didn't know how she felt it; she only knew she did. The thought, and the feeling of Jay's rising passion coursing through her own veins, ripped her open. She exploded like a ripe fruit. Her juices erupted like a fountain. There was wetness everywhere. She had been dropped into the ocean. She was expanding on it like a slick of oil, spreading out in radiant colors that changed to the colors of the sunset, From faraway, she heard herself scream at the top of her lungs. It was but a poor attempt to express the overwhelming passion she felt. Her skin, though soaking, felt parched, and she cried out for more. Jay responded. She felt his organ suddenly blow up, like a huge balloon, and burst. She was swallowing Shirley's juices, which flowed down her throat like a river. Inside her Jay's sperm was swimming, flowing, coursing through her like a whirlpool gone wild. Jay and Shirley were meeting inside her. Everyone was meeting inside everyone else. -Outsides had become in-sides. Space collapsed. Everyone was one person.
The ship sailed on, its bow cutting the waters like a knife. It was going from everywhere to everywhere, and everyone was on it. The sun had gone down. But inside, it was rising. The ocean swells rolled on under the ship, and the breeze swept lightly across its decks. For Vanessa, and for everyone aboard, a voyage was under way that continually began, and continually ended, and began again. Wherever the ship went, the voyage would continue. Even after it had rotted in a shipyard or sunk to the bottom of the ocean, the voyage would go on endlessly, circling the globe around and around.
