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Subject: Penelope by Nick (Mm/F rom)
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Penelope (M/F rom)
by Nick (Copyright Nick@cassandra.demon.co.uk)

Note that this story is provided free for entertainment. You may copy it and
distribute to friends but you may not make money from it or any part of it
without my agreement, nor must you claim it as your own. This story is
copyrighted to me (Nick) and I ask you to observe that. 

This story is of an adult nature, containing some sexually explicit scenes.
I do not intend either for me or the reader to break the law in any country
where it may be read, and so if for any reason the law of your country
forbids you from reading adult literature, do not read
any further.


Authors Note:
Unlike most of my other work this story is based on truth The story was
inspired while talking in a pub 
with Sven the Elder. He mentioned a name and that was it. The rest of the
conversation bore no 
relation to the story that follows, but the name sat in the back of my
mind, festering and connecting 
with old memories.


I got a letter. It had a real stamp on it and the address was hand-written,
which marked it out as 
personal correspondence and therefore high priority. Most such
correspondence comes to me by e-mail 
these days, from far flung family members and friends met over the
internet. A piece of paper with a 
real persons handwriting on it is something I've come to miss in this age
of instant communication and 
slick word processors, and so I opened it with the same excitement and
anticipation with which one 
opens a Christmas present.

"Dear Nick", it started, "As you know your Godmother, Penelope, has been
suffering from Cancer for 
the past few months. With some sadness I have to tell you that she passed
away in the early hours of 
this morning. It is sadness tinged with relief, which I'm sure those who
loved her will understand, since 
her terrible pain is now at an end."

That was it. It was signed by Jim, her husband, and, her daughter Harriet.

For a brief moment, I suppose, I grieved. Like many Godmothers, who were
supposed to ensure that 
their Godsons religious education was kept in hand, I saw little of
Penelope, either as a child or as an 
adult. The thought passed through my mind that I had seen even less of her
daughter who was slightly 
younger than me. My only memory of her was of playing marbles as kids and
at that age was the only 
girl I had felt remotely close to, which, in fairness was not very close at
all. She would be in need of 
comfort, I guessed, and… I banished the disrespectful train of thought
before it got any further.

My wife reacted with genuine sadness when I told her. She knew her even
less than I did, of course, 
but then women do seem to feel these things more deeply.

I had my dinner and all but forgot about my letter, until I phoned my
father later that evening.

"Hi dad," I said, "its your favourite son here."

"Oh, hi Matt," he replied.

This was the start of a ritual whereby we regularly wasted a considerable
proportion of our phone bills. 
'Guess the offspring' - I wouldn't tell him who I was and he wouldn't
acknowledge it was me. 
Eventually, however, we got down to business.

"So, what's new you sad old git?" I asked, ignoring his jab.

"Ah," he said proudly, "I had my bollocks felt by this nice lady doctor.
Says I might have to have an 
operation. I do love it when they talk dirty! You?"

I remembered my letter.

"Heard from Jim, you know, Auntie Penelope's husband. Apparently she's
dead, but I guess you'd have 
heard the same thing."

There was a silence. Clearly he hadn't.

"Oh."

I waited for the next gratuitous insult, or obscene observation, but there
was none. 

"I'm seeing you tomorrow night, aren't I," I said a little weakly.

"Yes."

"Well, I'll see you there then, if your lady doctor hasn't sent you to the
knackers."

"Yes. We can talk then. Bye"


The following evening I met him in the pub as arranged. I bought the beers
and sat down. I knew 
something was still wrong. The lively sparkle in his eyes seemed strangely
absent. I made a few lame 
attempts to get the conversation going but there was nothing. Eventually I
decided to break the 
unspoken taboo that seems to exist in most relationships between men.

"So what's wrong?" I asked.

For a while he said nothing.

"You know, you think you know how you'll react to things you're expecting,
but even at my age I'm 
constantly being caught out," he said eventually.

I guessed he was referring to Aunt Penelope.

"I suppose, one is never ready for death, though, especially the death of
someone you were close to for 
a time. It's as if the opportunity to be with them has gone forever."

Again he paused.

"Penelope was a lovely woman."

There was an almost perceptible crack in his voice and his words hung in
the air.

"Just after the war I went to the Royal Academy to study art and, as you
know, it was there I met your 
mother."

All this was ancient history to me.

"They were marvellous times, you know. We were young and creative. We were
at the pinnacle of our 
age and we had a whole new world to rebuild. Most of London was still in
ruins at the time, and that 
seemed to symbolise the need for a phoenix-like reconstruction of the world
of art as well as the 
physical world around us."

I half-waited for some punch-line. This was not his style.

"We were grindingly poor too. We rarely had too pennies to rub together,
but God, we knew how to 
enjoy ourselves!" he smiled wistfully, "We would somehow find the money for
a night-club or a 
concert, or a bottle of something that would see us through the night while
we put the world to rights."

I remembered similar experiences in my own youth. Nothing much changes.

"Art was our life. We would go around the galleries, discuss each others
work. We would paint the 
models and sleep with them afterwards - men or women…"

He looked at me, gauging my reaction.

"You kids think you discovered sex don't you," he smiled, "but most of you
know nothing - nothing at 
all!"

I shuddered slightly. My mother was part of this environment, and I was not
altogether sure I wanted to 
hear more, but I was not about to stop him.

"There were girls all around. Bright creative women, women who weren't
afraid to satisfy their needs 
when they felt like it. Oh yes, you may well look surprised. This was long
before the liberated sixties 
and long before Women's Liberation started filling their heads with crap!
Some were complete sluts 
and I slept with most of them, both before and after your mother and I got
married, but you knew that."

I did know, but I never cared to think about it much. My mother was
eventually to divorce him for 
serial adultery. I still found his words a little shocking.

"There was one woman," he went on, staring into the middle distance, "one
woman who stood alone. 
She was so incredibly beautiful and as a young man she had me in the palm
of her hand. That was 
Auntie Penelope."

He paused, smiling as the memories seemed to overwhelm him.

"I would watch her for hours as she stood in her paint-stained smock
sketching some naked tart on a 
chaise-long, wondering what was going through her head, wondering how I
could get near to her. She 
was pure, you see, Nick. She was easily the most beautiful woman of our
intake, but you now I'm 
absolutely convinced that when she passed out with her diploma, she was
still a virgin!"

This was my Godmother he was talking about. I remembered her from my
childhood as one of  those 
big people who would come and buy me presents from time to time. Mostly I
would remember faces 
caked with make-up as they smiled down at me, but Aunt Penelope left a
different impression on me 
because she never wore make-up, I guess. I suppose she didn't need to. I
cherished the little prayer-
book she gave me as a confirmation present and I probably still have it
somewhere. Sure she was 
beautiful, but only in the sense that all adult women were beautiful in
their innate dominance over 
children. The idea that such a creature was the object of any mans desire
seemed, well, odd.

"At one time she could have had me, Nick. She could have made me do
anything for her, but she didn't 
want me. No other woman could do that. I found myself in the unusual
position of running after her 
with a pack of other guys, but she didn’t need me. She didn't need any of us."

A brief break in the story to make an authors note:
S to r y c o p y right belongs to N i c k at c a s s a n d r a dot d e m on
dot c o dot u k as should be stated at the top. Sorry for the interruption.
Please carry on reading.


So was my Godmother a lesbian? At another time we might have discussed the
possibility with 
mischievous relish, but not now. Besides she was happily married to a staid
accountant and she had a 
daughter. I said nothing.

"I got over that phase fairly quickly, and for a short while I was angry
with her for making me look 
foolish, but one could never stay angry with Penelope for long."

"So how come she became my Godmother?" I asked.

"Having grown out of my infatuation, I was able to look at her work
properly. Sure, everyone said 
what  fantastic artist she was, but for the most part they were trying to
climb into her knickers. Few 
understood what she was really trying to do. She had a gift, you see, she
was a bloody good artist - far 
better than me, your mother, and pretty well all of us."

This was true, I suppose. Neither of my parents were able to make a living
by selling their work, but I 
knew Penelope was able to. We had gone to her exhibitions and mixed with
big names in the art world 
who also marvelled at her creations. For me, at the time it was just
boring, but now… well now I saw 
things differently. Ones childhood sometimes loses so much in childish
perceptions.

He sighed and went on.

"At first," he said, "I was stupid enough to think I could be as good as
she was, but slowly as I worked 
with her and got to know the real person, I began to realise that I was in
the presence of what can only 
be described as greatness. There is only one way to react in that
situation, whatever your desires and 
feelings, and that is with true and proper respect. I am privileged to have
had her as a friend and both 
your mother and I were only too pleased to be able to offer you to her as a
Godson."

He dropped his eyes and remained silent as if in prayer. There seemed to be
nothing I could say or do, 
except wait. Then he looked up at me. That old impression of time-worn
insolence had returned to his 
world-weary face, and his eyes sparkled once again with mischief. I
realised, with some relief that my 
Godmothers death was out of his system now, at least for the time being,
and once again he was 'armed 
and dangerous'.

"Your round isn't it?" he said.

"No it's yours, you tight bastard."

"Please yourself," he said, rising, "I was just offering you the
opportunity to get a better look at that 
barmaids arse!"


I got home that night and composed a letter to Jim.

"I was saddened to hear of my Godmothers death, and I know you will miss
her terribly. However, it 
must be of immeasurable comfort to know that her life continues to be lived
uniquely in the paintings 
she has left behind. Many hearts were touched by her and will continue to
be touched."

END

Comments welcome. E-mail Nick~@cassandra.demon.co.uk

For more stories by Nick visit the website:
www.asstr.org/~Nick


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