Pearl 1/? {Redman}
(c) December 2000
Comments welcomed at redman@seductive.com.


Pearl - Part One
by Redman


Bobbi Sue's breasts ached ... still. Ever since right 
before she had turned fourteen her body ached more and 
more. Every day the ache grew worse and seemed to 
settle in some other part of her body.

At first, it had started at her nipples. The bare buds 
of her breasts began to itch. They were so sensitive 
against the flannel shirts Pappy insisted she wear. 
Then it had settled further downward, causing her to 
cramp, causing her to ache.

But the ache wasn't just her body growing, wasn't just 
her womanhood developing. There was something more to 
it than that, something that Bobbi Sue couldn't quite 
get her fingers on.

To begin with, there were the thoughts. She had 
strange thoughts. It started in her dreams. She 
dreamed of people, strange faceless people, touching 
her; running their faceless hands over her body, over 
her breasts, between her legs.

Bobbi Sue would wake up, sweating and short of breath. 
That's when her body would ache the most. Right after 
the dreams.

Soon she began to have the same kind of thoughts all 
day long. Her body ached as though it wanted to be 
touched, as though it needed to be touched.

But there was no one here to touch her. On the farm 
there was only Pappy and Miss Bertle and neither one 
of them were big on touching. And that wasn't the kind 
of touching that Bobbie Sue's body seemed to crave.

Pappy hardly said anything to her now. There was a 
time when she remembered sitting on his lap. Pappy 
would read to her and teach her to read from the big 
King James Bible that he was always studying. Pappy 
should have been a preacher 'cause he knew everything 
there was to know about the Bible and never missed a 
Sunday service.

Bobbie Sue had never been to the Sunday service but 
she knew that it was important to Pappy. It was the 
only time she was left alone. Miss Bertle was still 
there, but as Pappy said Miss Bertle was "touched in 
the head." Miss Bertle could cook and clean. She could 
do the laundry and sweep the floor. But Miss Bertle 
couldn't really look after a frisky girl like Bobbie 
Sue.

One Sunday morning, while Pappy was away at Sunday 
service, Bobbie Sue was bored and had gotten down the 
big King James Bible and decided to have her own 
Sunday service. Just like Pappy used to do, she let 
the big book fall open anywhere it chose to and then 
put her finger down in it's yellowing pages and began 
to read.

"My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten 
thousand..." 

Pappy had never read from this part of the Bible. 
After just a bit, Bobbie Sue started at the beginning 
of this new part of the Bible, the Song of Solomon. 
Whoever Solomon was he could sure sing and he was sure 
in love with his "beloved."

And she was sure in love with him. "Let him kiss me 
with the kisses of his mouth - for your love is more 
delightful than wine."

But Pappy came home and heard Bobbi Sue reading the 
Song of Solomon out loud and got sore angry with her. 
He grabbed up the big book and that was the last time 
Bobbie Sue ever saw it.

"Cast not thy pearls before swine!" Pappy kept saying 
over and over. 

Bobbi Sue had no idea what that meant though. Pappy 
raised swine but he didn't have any pearls to be 
giving them. The only pearls Bobbi Sue had ever seen 
were on Miss Gloria Love when she visited every month.

Miss Gloria Love arrived every month and paid a short 
visit to Pappy. There didn't seem to be much "love" 
between the two of them though. Bobbie Sue never had 
figured out why Miss Love came every month even though 
she suspected that it had something to do with her. 

Some months Miss Love would question Bobbi Sue about 
all kinds of strange things. "Does Pappy ever touch 
you? Have there been any strangers on the farm? What 
kind of clothes do you like to wear? Do you ever take 
care of the animals?"

But Miss Love was always in a hurry to leave. She 
would always arrive in a big car and there were always 
different people waiting for her there. She always 
seemed in a hurry to get back in the car and be with 
those people.

Especially when she was younger, Miss Love used to hug 
her before she left. It always made Bobbi Sue queasy 
when Miss Love would hug her so fiercely. Miss Love 
put her whole body into a hug, like she couldn't help 
but throw her whole heart into it. Bobbi Sue would 
feel Miss Love's heart start to race and her breath 
come in quick, short gasps and then the older woman 
would have to hurry out of the room.

Lately, Miss Love had quit hugging her though. But 
once, two months ago, before she left, Miss Love had 
kissed her. It was almost as though Miss Love just 
couldn't help herself. As she was leaving the room 
after another questioning, Miss Love had practically 
pulled Bobbie Sue out of her seat and kissed her just 
like a man might kiss a woman. It had been so quick, 
so spontaneous. Her tongue had danced within Bobbie 
Sue's mouth and it had felt so wonderful. Bobbi Sue's 
body had ached for hours after that, almost as though 
she were a string of a guitar, plucked and vibrating.

Then came the day that she was in the bathroom, doing 
her business. When she went to wipe herself, the whole 
tissue came back red with blood. At first she had 
panicked, but after cleaning herself up, the bleeding 
seemed to stop as mysteriously as it had started. 

Eventually though, as much as Bobbi Sue wanted to deny 
it, she knew what it was. She had been dreading this 
day ever since Pappy had told her it would happen. 

Bobbi Sue had been afflicted with the curse of Eve.

Pappy had told her all about it. Eve was an evil 
woman; the first of many evil women. Because of Eve's 
sin, all evil women after her had been cursed with 
their monthly flow of blood that Pappy said was God's 
way of flushing the sin out of a woman's body.

Pappy had said the most evil thing about Eve was that 
she never felt sorry for what she had done.

Bobbi Sue had told Miss Bertle about the curse coming 
on her. She had to tell someone and she certainly 
couldn't tell Pappy. Miss Bertle had given her some 
pads and showed her how to use them. It's possible 
that if she hid the used pads and buried them out back 
that Pappy might never know.

But Pappy did find out. Miss Love showed up the very 
next day and somehow she knew all about it. Bobbi Sue 
heard Miss Love and Pappy yelling about her. She had 
been in her room and Pappy hadn't even told her that 
Miss Love was coming to visit today like he usually 
did.

"You know our agreement, old man. The time has come. 
Now she has to come with me," Bobbi Sue heard Miss 
Love say.

"Don't take her, Sally Jane. There's still hope for 
the poor child yet. Leave her here with me. Let me 
raise her proper."

"I know how you want to raise her, old man. Do you 
think I've forgotten so soon? Now you let her come 
with me or I'll let everyone at that Holy Roller 
church of yours know who she is."

"Sally Jane, there's no call for that."

"Don't 'Sally Jane' me. It's Gloria Love now, Daddy. 
And she's coming with me!"

"Take her then, and good riddance to you both. I'll 
shake the dust of you off my feet, just like the good 
Lord told me to."

"Does that mean you don't want your share of the 
money, old man?"

"A deal's a deal, Sally Jane. I didn't raise her all 
these years for nuthin."

"Yea, I thought so, you old hypocrite. Now go get the 
girl."

When Pappy had told her to come see Miss Love, she 
almost didn't follow him. If he had ever showed her 
any kindness at all, she wouldn't have gone so 
willingly. As it was, she realized that there was 
really nothing on the farm that she could call her 
own. The farm really wasn't her home. It had just been 
a place she was being raised.

So she had gone to see Miss Gloria Love knowing that 
wherever she was going had to be better than this 
place. Miss Love had held her and kissed away her 
tears and told her not to worry about a thing.

"What should I pack, Miss Love?" Bobbi Sue had asked.

"Not a thing, dear. At your new home you're gonna have 
new clothes and new friends. There's nothing that you 
need to bring unless there's something you want."

"There's only one thing I want to take with me," Bobbi 
Sue said, looking straight at Pappy. "I wanna take 
that big King James Bible with me."

"She cain't have that, 'Gloria.' That's the family 
Bible."

"Oh, you still have that Bible, old man," Miss Love 
hissed contemptuously. "Shouldn't it really be hers 
anyway, as her inheritance, so to speak?"

"She cain't have it, I said," Pappy screeched. "That 
wasn't part of the deal. She don't need it where she's 
goin'."

"Aren't you the charitable one, old man?" Miss Love 
said harshly.

"'Cast not thy pearls before swine!' the good book 
says. 'Cast not thy pearls before swine!'" Pappy 
squealed.

"Don't worry, old man. We're not gonna take your damn 
book. But you better rethink your parable, 'Pappy.' 
Only one of us here got caught rootin' around where he 
ought not to have been. There's only one swine here 
and he shouldn't go around casting the first stone, if 
you know what I mean."

Pappy grew all red and stormed out of the room. Bobbi 
Sue was amazed. Pappy had never backed down to anyone 
before. Certainly not to anyone quoting scriptures to 
him. 

Miss Love had stood right in front of Bobbi Sue, close 
enough to smell and touch. She smoothed the girl's 
blonde hair and looked into her blue eyes like she was 
searching for something there.

"You're a beautiful girl, child. Your life is gonna be 
different now. It's time to leave this no-account farm 
and begin a new life. Are you ready for that, Bobbi 
Sue?"

"Oh yes, Miss Love. I'm ready to leave right now."

"Where we're going, your gonna need a different name, 
Sugar. 'Bobbi Sue' is okay for a country girl, but 
we're going to a better life now. Would you let me 
pick out something for you, darlin'? Something that 
fits better with what you look like?"

"I don't know. I've never had another name before, 
Miss Love."

"I've had plenty, dear. Why don't you let me try? 
You're so pretty, Sugar, that everyone's gonna go wild 
over you. I think we ought to name you after something 
precious that everyone wants. I think we ought to name 
you 'Pearl.'"

Standing so close to Miss Love, Bobbi Sue's body was 
aching. She wanted to hold the older woman, to hug her 
close and touch her all over. The girl's breast ached 
and her palms itched all over. She'd do anything to 
please Miss Love. Anything!

"That sounds lovely, Miss Love. Call me Pearl from now 
on. Pearl."
  You're changing person here.  Up to this point, it's been first person: Bobbi Sue.  Now it's 
third person.  Is this what you want to do?