Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 If'n you give half a fuck, the way they got together is in the first
chapter, Slowmance.  NS, till now, other than a dimly, if fondly remembered
molestation by a predatory man.  Way back in '72, so long story short, she
sought out another man, and wound up finding a teenage girl instead.

   Did I mention slow?  Well, again there's plenty of quick strokers out
here, this is the exact opposite.  In fact, I'm writing one in parallel,
just to relieve the sexual tension building up writing another story about
twin sisters.

   Nadine here is not the same Nadine from Cuntry Stud, quite the opposite.
Which isn't to say she's not predatory, she's just not quite so much of a
bitch in heat about it.  Clear intentional subversion of the One Steve
Rule, that's all.

   ;

   Nadine (Foghat - "I just want to Make Love to you")

   You ever get a song stuck in your head?  I just shook my head, but popop
was out, finally, and with the sleeping pills.  Well, in combination with
the pain pill, he could sleep through a car wreck.  Literally, I remember
when Mr.  Johnson bought the telephone, out front.  Drunk as a skunk, you
could smell it, when I helped pull him out.  Then the fire truck showed up,
it was a mirical he survived.  The way the bumper, and the whole front clip
wrapped around it, and held it up.

   When they finally cut the top off, to hang from the guy wires, and he
towed it off.  The truck held it up.  Snapped off clean at the ground, he
hit it that hard.

   Slept right through it.  The crash woke me up, but he didn't even turn
over, so I knew we didn't have to be quiet.

   I picked up the bottles, squinted.  [Methaqualone: 600mg] Take with
food, not to be mixed with...

   I counted them, to make sure there weren't any missing.  Sure hope his
doctor knows what he's doing.  I can't read it, without my glasses, but the
paper from the pharmacy clearly said not to mix it with Opiates.

   He could just pass away, in his sleep.  Maybe it would be better, that
way.  So, he won't suffer, but I'm not ready to let him go.  Not yet.  Sur,
he can be a little mean, when he's hurting, but I love him.  More than
anyone, in my whole family, why they turned their back on him, left him
alone, and blamed it on him, driving them away.

   "Huh!" Can't you see he's in pain?

   I get guff too, for him being black.  They call me nigger too, as if
that makes me black.  It doesn't, grandfather by marriage, my father isn't.
Black, not that it would make any difference if I was.  Half black, or a
quarter black, they're just not useta there being blacks here.  The only
one in town, so they make up lies.  It just hurts because it isn't true.

   He didn't run up here as an excaped slave.  That ended in the last
century.  And a half, lets see.  No, the Emancipation Proclimation wa 1863,
if I remember right, so just a little more then 100 years, but.  He ain't
that old.

   Never mind, them.  Don't pay them no mind, "Huh!"

   "Nh!"

   I forgot about her.  Completely, little Tess.

   "Hey there."

   Twisted around, like a towel.  Wringing out, forgot about that too. 
That time of the month, so I can't even play with myself, really.

   "Hhuh!" She turned back, and I got on.  The bed with her.  Felt her leg,
down it like she told me about.

   I remember, it was so long ago, but my first time.  With a girl, another
girl, and she wasn't so young.  Me neither, the same age, so her momma
wouldn't want me.  Neither, she said so she could have me all to herself.

   It just took a while, to remember.

   "How you feel?" Back up, slowly, to her undies.  Stretched tight over
her bottom.  Or half of it, the silky fabric slipping between my fingers,
and her bottom.

   "Hot."

   "Yeah?" I looked up at the fan.  In the window, I forgot that too, but
blowing out.  From blowing the hot air out of the house.

   "Well, I could turn it around."

   "No, that's okay." She touched my hand.  "Don't get up."

   "Okay." I ckissed her hair.  "Huh!  Snh?" Smelled it, and nuzzled it in
her neck.  "Smq, huh!  That feel good?"

   "Can you feel my other leg too?"

   "Yup." I felt over her panty.  Brushed her cortch, and tickled my
fingers out the inside of her leg.

   "Hhihn!" She sighed, nodded.

   "That tickle?'

   "A little.  Huh!  Yeah.  Like that." I couldn't reach, all the way down
to her knee.  She picked her head up.  "Hold me?" I slipped my other arm,
under her hair.  "Nh!" Caught it, and stopped, so as not to pull it, but
her head jerked down a little.  She pulled it out, and set it down.  "Hold
me closer."

   "Huh!" She quished my bib, against my breasts.  Not real breasts, if I'm
any judge.  Plenty of girls my age, with them bigger.  Not like in the
habit of looking, at other girls.  I seen them, around school.  Church,
modestly dressed, but sometimes they come in with their daddys.  To get
filled up, but I loke her back.  Tight up against me, in there overalls. 
Teeshirts, sometimes with the sleves cut off, so you can see the strap
through the side.  Their bras, I don't got none, not that I need to.

   I guess I'm one of them liberated women.  damn it, I'm almost 15 years
old, and it's the 20th century.  The bicentennial just passed, and we got
quarters for it, just today.  Saw them, counting out the till, must've been
from them city folk.

   "Huh!" I felt up her side, back to the strap.  The buckle, and unhooked
it.  "You know, a young lady can get turned on.  Any time?" I nodded.  She
shook her head.  "A little girl, like you.  It takes a little longer." She
told me, showed me how.  To get hot, and horny, in the crawlspace under her
house.  Like a basement, but too low to stand up in.  Dirty, and dusty,
with cobwebs, and mice.  Squeeking in the dark, I remember.  The way it
smelled, and everything, climbing up though the little door, up in the wall
of the cellar.  She helped me up, then I turned around, to pull her up.

   It was a while a go, a long time, since I even thought about her. 
Playing in the crawlspace, so her momma wouldn't find us.  Catch us
together.

   I guess I was so distracted, I didn't even notice, the track skipping
ahead.  In my head, I shook it, and closed my eyes.

   (Foghat - "Slow Ride")

   ;

   Tess

   "Huh!" she got up, so I hugged her pillow.  On the floor, just a
matress, and a sheet.  Turns out she had quilts, and blankets, packed away
for the summer, on account of it being a winter thing, but it was hot.  She
was hot, behind me, even through her overalls I could smell the grease on.
And smoke, from her grandaddy's cigarettes.

   She pushed up the window, and turned the fan around.  I looked up, at
the clock.  For a minute I couldn't year it ticking, but I was surprised to
see not just the minute hand.  It was gone, a full quarter around from
where I last saw it, but the hour hand too.  A full hour, I have no ideal
how long I was in here, alone, waiting for her to get done.  I just checked
the time when I got undressed, but it had been an hour, and a quarter since
I first layed down.

   She turned back, the buckle hanging from the strap, so the bib folded
down, and I could see.  The soft round shape through her shirt, I had felt
on my back.  She looked down, unbuckled the other one, and let it slip
down. Sat on the corner of her dresser, and picked up her foot.

   The dark blue canvas dropped to the floor, right next to me.  Turned
over to watch her, feeling the cool air from the fan bounce off the wall,
and caress my hair.  Like her breath, but cooler.  I shivvered, and felt my
arm.  The goose pimples slticking out, even the tiny hairs, and rubbed my
shoulders.  She looked down, and smiled.

   I looked down, and frowned.  "Whatsat?" She had a lump, in her
underwear. I shook my head, it looked like a man's, only twisted, but ehn I
looked back up.  Sure enough, the top of her shirt was still tight. 
Hanging like a skirt under the round sides, pulling it out, and even tiny
bumps of nipples, trying to poke through.  It was weird.

   "Oh," she looked down, "I'm sick." Nodded.  I sat up.

   "So, uh." I thought, "Is that why, you don't want to kiss me?" I brushed
my hari back from my shoulder, and hugged her pillow.  Smelled her hair in
it.

   "Oh no." She bent the matress with her knees.  "Here." I felt her
thumbs, under my chin.  Her fingers through my hair, and she closed her
eyes, turned sideways, then her mouth on mine.

   "Huh!"

   "See?" She licked her lips.  "No problem, I just couldn't behind you. 
Like that."

   "Oh," I looked down.  At the front of her shirt.  She pulled it up, and
off.  "Huh!" I caught my breath, evey wide, just at the sight of them. 
"So, you're not worried about me, cathing.  What you got?"

   "Huhaha," they shook, and jiggled.

   "Hihihn!"

   "Not for a couplefew years.  I'm just on the rag."

   "What's that?' I shook my head, but my eyes went back and forth.  It's
like they're staring back at me.

   "Let me show you," she turned, sat down on her hip, and pushed her
underwear down.  With her thumb, she slipped it up, and then over her hip.
Took her underwear off, and something fell out.

   "You're hairy!" I was delighted to see.

   "Yup!" She picked up, a blue rag, all twisted up.

   "What's that for?"

   ;

   Nadine (Pure Prairie League - Amie.  With the caveat that it's not real
clear, so she heard the lyric wrong, and thinks the song is actually called
Nadine.)

   "Oh," she made a face, so I pulled my underpants back up.

   "It's okay, it's just a couple days, and then you can touch me too." He
face fell.  "Oh!" she looked like she'd cry, so I hugged her.

   "Mh!"

   I kissed her head, and smelled her hair again, but she didn't hug me
back.  She felt up my sides, and ribs, like to make me shiver, then.

   "Oh!" I put my head up, on her head.  "Yh, you can touch me.  There."
All you want, but I couldn't say it, or nothing.  I never felt, nothing,
like this.  "Ohhh!" Her hands, squeezing, and she turned her head, "Nh,
yes." I felt down her hair.  "Oh good god!" Combed through it, but she
kissed down the side, my shoulder, and kept going down.  "Ohohohohoh!"

   Why, I had no idea.  I didn't have none, my first time.  Yeah, she
kissed them, one by one, and I kissed both of hers, but we're little girls,
You had to squint a little to see we had any nipples a tall, and giggled
when they stuck out like they're cold but this.

   "Oh man!"

   This was so completely different.  I thought they was just for milk,
making milk for babies, I never even imagined, they'ud "Feel so good!"

   "Smwq!  Huh!  Yeah?"

   "Oh yeah, baby.  Get the other one!  Ooooh, yeah!"

   "Mh, hn?" It slipped out, "Smrq!" And her fingers slipped.  I felt a
little drip down like milk, but it was just drool, and she pinched it out.
Licked it, around and round, then kissed it.  Sucked it in again, and it
was so incredible.  It felt so incredibly good, I could hardly wait until
she could kiss my lips, No, my other lips, you know, down there?  When I
get better, it'll only be a couple more days, but for the time being, "Get
the other one, dear."

   "Smwq, huh!' She looked up, licked her lips, and her hand felt dry, er.
This time, cause she didn't drool so back, squeezing it.  So it bulged, and
pinched it so i could feel her lips, her tongue wet like a paintbrush, and
her lips.

   "Ohhhh, honey!"

   Then she touched me.

   "Smwq.  Is it okay.  If I touch you anyway?  Through your panties, till
you get better."

   "Oh, darlin!" I just felt her hair, up her neck, and hugged her back to
my chest.  "Yup, you sure can."

   I didn't even know, I could feel horny whenever I was ill.  I never was
before, why the very idea always made me feel sick.  Before.

   Not any more.

   "Nh, yeah!" Like she done, I saw it, the way she pushed it in.  "Huh, oh
baby, yeah, just like that," only, "Faster, yeah faster!" I always done it
in the nude, in the bath, with my fingers, going faster, and "Fast, nh! 
Nhm!  Hhihihihihn!"

   "Huh!" my nipple slipped out, one last time.

   "Ah, hHhael!  Nhn!"

   I sure had no idea I could.  Feel that.  This, I done it before, but
never when I was under the curse.  "Hih hih hihn!"

   She just lay her head down, on my shoulder, and hugged me.  My heaving
breasts, against her body.  Her slippery drool wet, and I felt it leak out
too.

   Wet, and nasty.  Sick, I felt ill again, but I didn't care.  Not right
then, I wasn't letting get in the way of the best feeling of my whole life.

   "Hhhhhhh." She let out her breath.  "Snhk.  Snhzhzhzhzk?  Hhhhhhh."

   "Huh!' She snored.  So, I felt her hair, and closed my eyes.  Combed it
out though my fingers, and took a deeb breath of it.  The smell of her
hair, holding it out to pillow my arm under it.

   "Nh," she curled up, her leg over mine, and I closed my eyes.  Felt the
fan, blow her hair over my shoulder, and felt down her back.

   Her knee on my hip, and up her thigh.  The elastic of her underpants,
and pulled it out.  Around her bottom, and slipped my finger inside.

   Felt her bottock, the hot baby smooth flesh, and gripped it with my
fingertips.  Felt around, and down.  Deeper, and the light silky fabric
slip over the smooth edgeless tops of my fresh filed nails.

   Just one more thing.  A little damp, sweaty, or something else?  I
slipped them out.

   "Snh?" Something else.  "Hhn!" I licked my lips, my fingertips, but I
couldn't taste her.  I could smell her though.

   I didn't bother getting up, to turn off the light.

   I just fell asleep with her, like that.

   ;

   Haylee (Berlin - "Take my Breath Away" from the Top Gun OST)

   "Snh!" My legs slipped down.  Between her knees, but her skirt held them
up.

   "There, there." She smoothed mine out, over my lap, and her fingers
closed, over my knees.  "Let it all out.  I know, you miss her, but in time
it will hurt, less, and less."

   "Nh?" I nodded, and snuggled up in her shirt.  Turned sideways, my skirt
slipped back up my legs, and she kissed the side of my head.  "I miss her,
so much."

   "Feel a little better?" She hugged me.

   "Nhm?" I nodded.  She felt so soft, around my arm, but the wire under
her bra dug into the side of my arm.

   "I know how you feel.  I lost my momma too.  And my first love.  The
first girl I ever kissed."

   "You kissed girls?"

   "I still kiss girls."

   "My mommy kissed me."

   She felt under my chin, so I looked up.  "Like this?" I closed my eyes,
and puckered up.

   "Mhm?" I nodded, looked down.

   "Huh!  She kissed me too.  Like that, but then she showed me another
way, to kiss."

   "Hmn?  Nhlnhm?" I wiped my mouth.

   "That tickle?" I shook my head, but her fingers, in my skirt.  They felt
like, they almost tickled, but I didn't giggle again.

   "Hihn!" I just put my head down, and I felt her chin.  Bump the top of
it.

   "We used to sleep together, first." I felt a little sleepy, too.  She
felt down my shirt, the front of it, flattened down, and her fingers.  I
felt my heart, her feeling it, and her other hand, slipping my skirt back
out, between my legs.

   "She used to sing to me.  She had a radio, we didn't have EmTeevy back
then, mind you.  Just listened to the radio, but her favorite song became
my favorite song, then our song."

   "Mhm?"

   "Haylee, what you gonna do?  I think, I could stay with you.  For a
while, maybe longer if I do."

   Like a lullabye.

   "I feel sleepy.  Too."

   "It's okay.  We slept together.  Over at her house, I went to stay with
her, but she just had the 1 bed.  A little one, so we had to cuddle up
close, like this.  It was nice, so nice just to sleep with her, but then,
she started growing up.  Into a young lady, just like you'll start to grow
up, into a young lady, some day."

   She took my hand.

   "So, I got a little curious.  About the changes that were happening, to
her body."

   "Mhm?" I bit my lip, but she felt so soft.  Through her shirt.  She
squeezed my leg.  Rubbed it with my skirt, her thumb, felt so nice, just
slipping up, higher and higher.  "And here."

   "Hihn!"

   "Relax." She felt my shoulder, and rubbed it.  "It's all right,
everything will be all right.  Haylee."

   "Mhm?"

   "What you gonna do?" She sang to me.  "I think, I can stay with you."

   "Huh!" Such a pretty voice.

   "For a while, maybe longer if I do."

   I miss my mommy, but she makes me feel better.  So much better, I don't
miss her so much.

   "Would you like that?  Haylee..." She sang.  I nodded, slowly.  Sleepy.

   "What you gonna do?"

   "Hhhhhhh!"

   "I think," I'll just take a nap.

   "I can stay with you."

   Relaxing all the way down my legs, to my toes.

   "For a while, maybe longer."

   Falling open.

   "If I do?" I "Hihn!"

   Between them.

   ;

   Nadine

   "Huh!" I put her down, and went out, heard her father crying in his
room. Looked back at him, doubled over in grief.

   The same red hair, trimmed short around the back of his head.  Almost
pink, but darker up to the neat brush at the top.

   I picked up my cap, and looked in the mirror, by the door.

   We met at the Funeral.  Most of the crew made it up to the surface, his
wife, her mother didn't.

   Irish, while we're in port, and I was on leave, I comforted him as best
i could, but it would take time.  To get over the tragedy, little Haylee
seemed to be feeling a lot better.  I sure did, let a guilty grin creep up
on my lips, and licked them.  Plump, and red with blood, like lipstick, and
the flush still glowing on my cheeks, but this wasn't the place.  To get
out of uniform, she sure felt good.

   I made her feel better, and tasted her young tongue between the gap in
her teeth.

   Irish girls, I find them hard to resist.  Even sobbing, while I carried
her back to the car, the little lilt at the end of everything she said,
made every sentence sound like a question.

   "Huh!" I turned, felt up and pinched a lock that started to pull free.
In her bed with her, curled up fast asleep, pulling up her knee to feel her
thigh.  Up it, under her skirt, and her underpants.  The hot little
softness inside it, but I better go.  Find somewhere, to get out of
uniform, just tuck the lock back in the hairpin, like a staple, and pat the
braid to hold it up.  Under my cap, under my collar, straighten my tie, and
head out.  Quietly close the door, and let the handle go slowly with a
click.

   It's better, I never see her again.  By the time she thinks to mention
it, I will be long gone.  To Wessex next, temporarily recommissioned, for
the Salvage, being towed in even now.  Checking my watch, 09:45.  A few
hours to kill before i have to get on the bus.

   "Hey, sailor!"

   "Uh!" I didn't even look back, just turned on my heel, and made for the
corner.

   "I love a woman in uniform." In hot pursuit.  "You with the Carrier."
Butchered, with the local accent.

   "No, actually with the Trawler." Reaching the top of the hill, I came
about face, and looked down.

   Black Irish, scruffy little mustache, and patch at the chin, like a
billygoat.  Large black eyes, a wink.

   "So, that's what you're doing 'ere, In Dooblin."

   "I'll be out of here in the moring," I shook my head.

   "So, what's your plan, tonight?"

   Persistent little bugger, like a Leprechan, maybe cute, and charming, in
his own way.

   "I have a bunk, on the boat." I nodded, "So, I don't have to get a hotel
room."

   "Well, till then, le'me show you around.  A good time."

   "A drink?"

   He grinned, "Aye, lass." Winked again, "This is Dooblin, 'ere's a bar on
every corner.  Watch'er paysin?"

   It's the accent, and he has a childish pitch to his voice.

   "A pint?  Of Guinness."

   "If you can't stagger back to the boot.  You can grave my couch fer the
night.  Rent free, queen struth!"

   "Well, maybe more than a pint," he could start to look better and
better, "If your wife wouldn't mind."

   He hid his ring, behind his back.  "I'm soor, she mightn't.  A lass as
lovely as ye." Another wink, "Once the baerin is asleep."

   "Barren?"

   "Sorry, a leet'l o the Scotch in me blood." He hugged my waist, my hip.
"The babes."

   "Children?"

   "Aye, I'm a father.  Young though I may be."

   "How old?"

   "Me son," he pulled out his wallet, none of the strangely colored bills
the have here, for a pound of sterling silver, just a picture of the 3 of
them together."

   "A bouy, of free."

   "Three?" I took it, ran my nailess thumbtip down the edge, the side of a
face, the black curls hanging in ringlets around a jagged grin.

   "Over ere.  Tis a thirday morn, I could use a pint, and o'r is the best
place in toon." He pointed.  "To have a pint, ye can see the brew'ry from
there."

   I looked up, to the Keg.  A massive barrel, like a water tower, only on
the roof.

   I remember, the tank.

   "You know, where I'm from, we didn't have a water tower?"

   "Where'sat, lassy?"

   "Nebraska."

   "Lady's first." He held the door, and cut a little bow, but I'd already
made up me mind.  One sight of her, jack-o-lantern grin, I could imagine
her black curls crushed lightly against the pillow.  Her lips handing open,
even a little drool.  Snoring lightly until my tongue slips in to explore
her teeth, the gaps between, the loose ones, and the new ones poking
through her gums.  Running my fingers through her hair until she wakes up,
opens her eyes to mine, and smiles against my lips.

   "What'll it be," she wiped the bar, and dropped a couple coasters.

   "Shotina pint, for eachof us?"

   "Will that be a Bushmills, or a Jamesons for the lady?"

   "Bushmills." I cut him off.  "If you please." Look up, "And have the
cook warm up some bangers and mash." To soak it up.

   Don't want to get too drunk, tonight.

   I can sleep it off on the bus.

   "So, what's this, all about?" He waved in the general direction of the
harber, and the deep draft carrier anchored outside of it.  "I've to admit,
a little curious.  D'ye send the whole fleet?"

   "Hardly," I looked up.  She dropped the pints off, with a slop of froth
from the overflowing head, rocking like foam on the wake, towed behind the
trawler, dredging the bottom.

   "I've never seen so many 'Mericans in all me years."

   "How many's that?"

   "Twennt free?" He says free, instead of three, like a toddler.  "Bottoms
up?"

   He poured the shot in the top, so I followed suit, and sipped the black
fluit through the foam, crackling like rice chrispies.

   "Ngh!" I just got an image of him running off, in a green top hat,
ranting about his Lucky Charms.

   "Wo's it?"

   "Siph!" I giggled, "It's magically delicious!  Ihihnehah!"

   "Eye lass." He grinned, and winked again.  "Don't let it get cold, it'll
warm ye up, I swore!"

   He ordered, another, and pumped me for information.

   "I'm not at liberty to tell you that, either."

   "Yes, ye said.  Classified."

   "Again, all I can tell you is it's a salvage mission.  A vessel, run
aground, my name, rank, and serial number."

   "Forgive me for trying," It became a bit of a game, "Another round
then?"

   "Maybe after a few more sausages."

   "I've a special one fer you, lass!" He laughed, and killed the dregs. 
Of whisky, and porter stout, he's right.  It's much better this close to
the Keg, but I only had the one shot.

   "Is your Blood Sausage any good?" My eye drooped, and he took it as a
wink.  "Whew!  Forget the next pint, what's in it?"

   "The sausage?"

   I nodded, not a good idea, and pushed up my cap to wipe my brow.

   "Pork blood, barley, and."

   "I need some air." I staggered for the door.  "HRUHLK!  SPTH!"

   "Ar'ye all right?"

   "Ngh!  I wiped my mouth, didn't look down at the used potatoes, and
sausage.  "KRAWK!  Khuh!  Yep, just let me get anotherone of them Dunhills
off you.  Huh!  Thanks, and have the barmaid cancel the order.  I need to
go lay down."

   He went right back in, and I slid down the wall.  "Huhhh!  Whew!" Wiped
my face.  "Huh!  Maybe in the morning.  I closed my eyes, to the Keg,
staring down at me.

   (Guinness) swirling around, worse than a pitching deck, and dry heaved.

   She'll be there in the morning.  "Whew!  Huhhhh!"

   Air, breathe, don't pass out.  To be at his mercy, in the cab, carrying
me home, but it's too much.

   I shouldn't have even had that first shot on an empty stomach.  "Huhl?
Spth!  Huh!" Take another drag.

   The filter, kept the tobacco from getting on my lips.  "Whew!"

   "I called a caab?"

   "Help me up."

   "Good, that's right, walk it off."

   "Huh!" Don't pass out, don't get raped, by a horny little black haired
Leprechaun, with a goat beard, baaing like a black sheep.  "Hihihihn!"

   "Feel better?"

   "A little steadier." With my hand up, on a post, "Thanks." It felt
ancient, looked at the cracked plaster, fissuring around the old brown worn
wood, like black lightning.

   "Huh!" Thanks.

   "Ere's our lift." The cabbie held the door, while he helped me to the
curb.

   Despite myself, I passed out in the back seat.  If he manhandled me, I
was blissfully unaware.

   ;

   {Historical Note: The USS Nathanael Greene, hadn't yet officially run
aground, submerged, in the Irish Sea.  Because it was a "Boomer," Nuclear
Missile Sub.  So, who's to say who was aboard, and what casualties happened
during that accident?  Also, a time-stamp, as was the Song.  It's some time
late in the year 1986.}

   ;

   Flashback

   I showed her up the hill.  In the morning, Popop woke up bright and
chipper, as if it never happened.  Hand in hand, it isn't much of a climb,
but "What a view!"

   "You never been up here before?" Walking around the Tank.

   We didn't have a water tower, we had a hill.  The Hill, for miles
around, you could see to the horizon, before there was another.

   Hilltown, Nebraska.  Pronounced like Hilton, because we had a hill. 
"Look maw, a hill!"

   It's what stood out, for us compared to the other towns around the
county.

   "I saw a hill!" Just passing through.

   Walking around to the other side, with a road, circling back down to the
town.  Such as it is, overlooking the rooftops.  The Drugstore, notable for
having an upstairs.  The mayor's house, and old Victorian, and the church
steeple.

   I unlocked the fence.

   "Where'd you get the keys?"

   "From popop?" Well, from his keychain.  "I borrowed them." I could put
them back before he noticed.  Busy, running the shop himself, while he's
still bright and happy in the morning.

   I pulled out the rope.  A cable really, and tied a rock in the end.  A
stick, a short length of broomhandle in the other, and it took a few tries
to get it over the bar.

   In the side, of the water tank, holding the bottom of the ladder.  And
the other ladder, to keep kids from climbing over the fence, and up to the
top, where we could get hurt.

   My favorite spot, the high point of town, I can see for miles, and
miles, and miles.

   I hummed to myself, (The Who, Sell Out) Pulling in the slack, like a
sailor.  "Get on," the stick.  Under her legs, with the cable up between
them.  Pinning her skirt to her tummy, "And hold on."

   I walked back, pulling, so she could walk up the side.  Like batman, the
back of her skirt swinging behind the seat.  "Nh, now.  Climb up."

   She clung to it.  Scared, shaking, hanging on for dear life, but the
stick swung around.

   The bar, to get stuck between the rungs, and the flat metal sides
they're welded into.

   "Hang on, Tessy, it'll be all right, I'll be right there."

   "I'm scared!"

   "Don't look down, I'm almost there."

   "Hurry!" I held on.  Got to the stick, and the bottom rung.  Held onto
the rope to pull it down, grip both ends of the loop together.

   "Nowh, climb up."

   "I can't!"

   "You have to baby, so I can climb up too."

   "I'm scahahared!"

   "I know, baby, just climb up one step, and I'll be right there.  "Ngh,
hm!" With both hands to reach up, and grab the next, beside her shaking
knees.  "I'm right here honey, hold on." I got my foot over the rung, and
hooked my knee behind it.

   "HhHhH!" She shivered, so I hugged her.  Held onto the rung, but across
her chest, and her belly to hold the next one down, until she calmed down.

   "Feel better?"

   "Mhm?" She squeeked, but her shivers had gotten better.

   So, I helped her climb up...

   ;

   {Fictional Town.  Yes, there are hills in nebraska, but yup.  They're
few, and far between.  About the closest to a real town for the basis
thereof is actually in Indiana, but due to the graphic content of the
story, I wouldn't want to use a real place.  Kind of like the problem they
had with making [Fight Club] when they found out there was actually only 1
Marla Singer in the whole of the US.  Inexplicably enough, that makes
trouble for asking permission.  If there were 2, and one of them decided to
sue for defamation (Or in this case, Libel) then they could always say "We
ment the other Marla Singer."

   So, I can't ask the people of the Township of Hilltown Nebraska.  There
aint none to offend.  In case you're wondering why I make up names, and
places.}

   ;

   Nadine (The Who - Baba O'Reily)

   "Heerr," I blinked awake, looked up at a face, blinking down at me. 
"Drreenk these?"

   She held it up, lines of concern around her eyes, and mouth.

   "Ugh!" I had whisky in it.  And a raw egg, yolk.  "Guh!" I kept it down.


   "Heerr's a fizzey." I washed it down, belched.  Alca-selzer, or the
local equivalent.  The half tablets floating in the spreading foam.

   "Uh!" I sat up, held my head.  "Where's." Shook it, tried to remember.
the bartender called him by name, as did the server girl, he told me.

   "Ian?" I nodded.  "Worrk."

   "And the kids?"

   "School."

   "They start school here, at 3?" Nigel, I remembered.  His son's name,
more of yesterday, afternoon, coming back to me.  How long was I out?  How
long were we drinking?  I don't feel any new tattoos.

   "Me barrn, he's five."

   "Nigel." I sat up, squinted.  "How old are you?" Tilted my head.  Old
enough to be his mother, obviously.  Not Nigel's Ian's.  probably why she
wasn't in the picture, he showed me.  The sailor lass he picked up on the
street.  Forgot to take off his ring, but wouldn't show me a picture of his
wife.  it was all coming back, in pieces.  I felt like I had the corners,
and started working along the edges to join them.

   "Fourrdy naine."

   "What's with the accent?" She didn't sound Irish, either, but there was
also a lot of silver streaks in her red hair.

   "I'm frroom Glasgow, dearry."

   "Oh," remember something about the scooch in him.  I'm sure my underwear
just shifted, on the cooch.  The way he said it.  "Huh!  What time is it?"

   "Neerly noon."

   "Shit."

   "Wot is it?"

   "I'm AWOL.  Well, not officially yet, I still have." Blink at my watch,
failed math, but the pounding was starting to go out of my head.  "Hours to
show up for mustard." Muster, I mean.  Converting Eastern Military Time to
GMT.

   "Wheer doo you need too bee, then?"

   "Wessex."

   "They cloed tha' base."

   "I know, had to drag it back somewhere, secure."

   "Well, I'll take ye then."

   I managed to hold out, against him, and beer after beer, I just should
have never started with that shot.  "Urhp!" I found my cap.  "Jamesons?"

   She shook her head.  "Tyrr Connel." Set down the bottle, so I grabbed
it. "Whooph!" She set down the glass with a crack that made me wince. 
"Whew!" Shook her head.

   "Hold that." I screwed the cap back, "Hair of the dog, eh?"

   "Good ferr what ailes yuh!"

   I knocked it back, and she put it on the shelf, but my hands stopped
shaking.  She grove the car around to pick me up.

   "Huh!" Toyota.  Beat up beige thing.  I decided to stop having
expectations, around here.  Sick of being proven wrong.

   "Therr's a mirrerr." She flipped it down.  On the wrong side, I shook my
head and went around.  "To fix yourr hairr."

   Winced at it.  Pulled out the braid, and saved the hairpins.  Pinched
them in my lips, she handed me a brush.

   ;

   Sadie

   {I'm not bothering with her accent, she can't hear it.}

   When I met me husband, he was half living on the street.  Hid da didn't
pay no mind, drunk half the day."

   "Irish." She tucked the hair back, on the sides, and ran her fingers
down the tight plait up the back, like a duck's arse.  Left her smart
little cap on the seat behind us.

   "What would you know of the Irish?" I laughed, "He's Welsh, of Cardiff?
So, when they found out we were courting.  He told me I was the most
beautiful woman he ever behold, and came by my shop, until I gave in to his
charms."

   "Hihim!  He can be, so charmin'."

   "Aye." I remember.

   "How old was he?"

   "A dozen?"

   "When he started coming around the shop?"

   "Look here, lass.  It's just us women here, and the ministy hasn't
bugged my car, to my knowlege.  No need to avoid the subject then, is it?"

   "What'sat?"

   "I saw how ye asked after me young.  Me bairn, and didn't ask after me
daughter."

   "Huh, yeah." Still drunk, from last night.  "So, he was 12, when you had
sex."

   "Aye, we run away.  I had some quid saved, for a rainy day.  It was
sunny for once, nary a cloud in the sky, but you know as well as I, it is
best to move along before the neighbors start to whisper."

   "Huh, yeah." She shook her head, "I swear, I've been halfway around the
world, before I met another woman, like me."

   "So, if ye'll look in the glove box."

   "What am I looking for?"

   "The bag, I brought with me.  Tied up ike a parcel." So no one would
think anything of it, merely dropping it off for the postman.  She untied
the twine, and unrolled the end to look inside.  "What's this?" Set the
pulp paper bag aside, as if it were a sandwitch.

   "My family album." A flip book.

   "Huh!" I smiled, and pulled asside for a lorry to pass.  She would never
have her hands on mine, but she could look.  He was safely away at
kindergarten.  "This is Nigel?"

   "Aye," you couldn't see his face, I cut the motor, on the roadside,
where none would but drive past, and maybe catch a glimpse of us through
the windscreen.  He was standing up, tall and proud, right next to my
finger and thumb, when I saw it, I just had to get the camera.

   "You have any, um.  Of your." She looked doubtful, "Daughter?"

   I laughed, "Of course deary, flip back to the back." She turned it over,
and started over.  "Huh!  If'n you don't mind me sayin'.  She's lovely."
Her thumb, caressing the photograph, along her arm, then up it to cover her
smiling mouth.

   "So, not exactly as me, in a way."

   "I love little girls.  Hihn!  Juslike her, she's perfect."

   "Aye," I leaned over, and felt her hot cheek.  Her skin, and lips as
well.  Licked them, but this was a grown woman.  Even with me eyes shut,
it's the skin, I can not ignore it.  The rough surace of it, it isn't what
I prefer, but seeing her, looking at me young.  Me daughter, knowing full
well where she gets her beauty.  Certainly not from Ian.  Just his
coloration, his dark hair, and eyes.

   "Huh!" She licked her lip, and sucked it in to nibble.

   There's another thing my boys don't have.  Feeining down the blouse, to
unbutton her jacket.  "You can keep one, to remember." Inside to pinch the
buttons through her blouse, working my way up her tummy.

   "Smooch!" She nodded, "Thanks, I'd like that."

   "Sh," I slipped my hand in the opening, and up her panting midriff to
her brar.

   She'd earn it, and remember me.  Looking at my daughter, and touching
herself.  The way I'll touch her.

   "SNH!" Her gasp in her nose, with my tongue feeling in her mouth.

   ;