Oyster Gulch, Chapter 1

by Jackie

She looked at the gas gauge and her stomach knotted. 'How the hell did I miss the 'last gas for... ' sign?' The answer to that question was simple; her mind was eight hundred miles away in Wyoming. Her mind was still in the town and the life she'd left behind. Deep inside she knew that running was the wrong thing to do but it was an impulse. She had endured her tragic existence, because in reality it couldn't be called a life, for far too long.

Heather Logan adjusted the rearview mirror until she could see her teenaged daughter sleeping on the back seat. Caitlin was both the reason she'd stayed and the reason she'd left. For years she thought about leaving almost every day but the idea of uprooting her seemingly content daughter from her relatively comfortable surroundings to cast their fate on the wind just wasn't fair. Her husband's frequent if not incessant philandering was the major source of her discontent; but that was nothing new. As a matter of fact it had started fifteen years ago when she was pregnant with Caitie. She had to admit that in her bloated state she wasn't the most appealing sex partner so she'd forgiven him. He really had no valid excuse for the next five or more flings, but by then Caitlin had started school. The catalyst, the difference this time over all the others, was the age of his sweetie. They had both known Maryanne since she was a baby. Like most of the locals she didn't have aspirations to attend college and started at the convenience store right after high school. 'Christ she was practically a classmate of their daughter's' Heather moaned as the little red gas pump light appeared beside the woeful fuel gauge. When she discovered his latest infidelity the thought occurred to her; 'how long's it gonna be before he decides that Caitie is old enough?' That chilling vision had pushed her over the edge and out the door.

'Why wasn't I paying attention' she scolded herself and took a side road. She hadn't seen anything along the main road for almost an hour. Checking her cell phone again it wasn't surprising that there was still no service. This was nowhere and they were in the middle of it. 'There have to be people and houses somewhere around here ... otherwise why would they build these roads? If I can find a house, they'll have a land line so I can call the Auto Club' she reasoned, but leaving the main road was probably just the latest in a series of unfortunate decisions and actions.

They'd left at ten the night before, right after Hank had fallen into bed. Heather knew he would sleep well beyond the seven o'clock alarm she had disabled. Fueled by half a dozen shots and beers he was more comatose than asleep. 'He's gonna be so pissed when he's late for work' she quickly realized that her thinking was rooted in her former, so called, life. 'He'll have a lot more to be pissed about than being late when he sees the car gone.' She was scanning the horizon for any sign of life when the Camry began to chug. "Oh shit!" she said out loud as she guided the sedan onto the shoulder. The death rattle of the fuel starved engine sounded so final. 'Well Heather you've made an unbelievable mess this time' she thought in remorse. 'What the fuck am I gonna do now?' With no hope at all she pressed the Auto Club speed dial on the useless phone; nothing. She raised the hood on the car as a distress signal although she was thinking 'who in their right mind would be pulled off the road in this God forsaken place unless they were stuck.'

Deprived of the sleep inducing motion of the car, Caitlin popped her head up rubbing her eyes. She looked around at the rocky desert, saw the hood of the car was up and deduced that they had a problem. The fact that she didn't see her mother at that moment made her feel a little panicky. Her petit redheaded mother appeared at the side of the car just before she called out. Heather opened the rear door and said "Hi sleepy head ... I've done something pretty stupid." Sitting on the edge of the seat she explained their predicament to her daughter as optimistically as she could. The chagrinned woman looked up at the cloudless afternoon sky and felt the first rivulets of sweat begin to run between her prominent breasts. It was mid afternoon and it was hot.

With the bad news delivered missus Logan picked up her cell again and started walking up the road, looking at the screen for any sign of connection to the network. Caitie got out of the car that was already getting uncomfortably hot and took a three hundred and sixty degree scan. There was no sign of anything, but they did seem to be in something of a depression. There was higher ground to the west and the north, maybe there was something on the other side of those hills. About a hundred yards from the car Heather caught sight of a road that intersected the one they'd been driving on. It wasn't paved but there was a sign that was so faded she had to walk right up to it to make out what it said. The dirt road only went west and the sign that pointed down it said 'Oyster Gulch 2'. 'Who would name a town in the desert after an aquatic animal' she wondered.

The age and decrepit condition of the sign were not encouraging. 'Probably a ghost town' she surmised, but it was the best chance they had. Returning to the car she picked through what now amounted to all her worldly possessions and pulled out jackets, hats and sunscreen. The frightened woman began smearing the protective cream on her daughter's back and shoulders, making sure to go under the straps of her tank top and bra. She lifted the teen's strawberry colored shoulder length hair out of the way to get a good coat on the teenager's neck. Then she handed the tube to Caitlin and said "do the front" while she applied the remainder of the goop on her hands to her own arms.

"Awe mom it makes my hands all gooey" the girl protested. Heather snorted and took the tube back. Applying another blob to her fingers she proceeded to coat her child's upper chest. Her fingers slipped under the neck line of the cotton top. Heather was surprised at the funny feeling she got when her hand came in contact with the upper slopes of daughter's breasts. She was slightly ashamed of herself for going lower than she needed to. Her fingers actually dipped inside the overflowing cups making her realize her little girl needed a bigger bra. She failed to notice Caitie's smile.

Wiping her hand down the freckled cheek she said "you have to rub that in yourself" and began applying the cream to her own face and neck. 'She's gonna be just like me ... top heavy' missus Logan concluded as she flipped the lid back on. They were very much alike, mother and daughter. Both petit with very fine bone structure. Heather never quite made five foot four. Her red hair had darkened over the years but she could still remember when it had been that startling strawberry color that Caitie still possessed. To look at missus Logan you had to wonder what insane impulses had driven her husband to cheat. She turned up the collar on her sleeveless blouse and loaded half a dozen water bottles in each of the backpacks and they were off.

They walked for nearly an hour. Not only was there no town in sight, there weren't even any remnants of what used to be a town. Heather felt the panic starting to set in but managed to hide it from her daughter as they sat in the meager shadow of a decrepit fence post to rest and re-hydrate. Their hair was matted with sweat and clung to their heads. Their tops were both so perspiration soaked that they looked like participants in a wet T shirt contest. 'We've definitely walked two miles ... we should see something' the older woman thought gazing up the road. There was a rise about a mile further on 'maybe it's over that hill' Heather prayed. When she looked toward Caitlin sitting with her back up against the post she noticed the cloud of dust back down the road and her heart leapt. She jumped to her feet watching the cloud approach. Five hundred yards away she was just able to discern that it was a vehicle and she started waving her arms. By the time it was within two hundred yards she was jumping up and down at the same time. The action made her breasts flop painfully, trussed up in the inadequate nylon bra. Now Caitie was waving too. Inside a hundred yards she could make out the shape of a dust covered pick up. The cautionary thought about how dangerous it was for two attractive women, all but naked from the waist up, to be flagging down a truck in the middle of nowhere occurred only fleetingly. 'Desperate measures for desperate times'. She wanted to believe, had to believe that the truck was slowing down.

It rolled to a stop right beside them. They were engulfed in the dust cloud. Fine particles bonded immediately with their sweat and turned them into little mud pies. Heather was breathless from excitement as she pulled open the passenger door. The driver wore a plaid work shirt and had extremely short hair. For an instant missus Logan wasn't sure if it was a man or a woman; that was because she had been expecting a man. Taking in their potential rescuer more thoroughly there was no doubt about gender. The fine, some would say pretty, features; the way the work shirt bulged out at the chest, on down to the bare legs this was clearly a woman. Heather felt relief pile on relief as she blurted out their predicament.

" ... is there a town up here ... do they have a gas station ... the sign said two miles but we walked further than that and..."

As the clearly frazzled woman spoke the pick up driver's eyes jumped from the disheveled older woman to what she reasonably assumed to be her daughter. 'Nice pair' the woman at the wheel of the truck decided with multiple connotations that made her smile. "That sign used to say twelve" the woman behind the wheel of the truck chuckled. "Hop in ... My name is Margaret ... Margaret Baker" she said extending her hand "but everybody calls me Peggy."

"Heather Logan ... and this is my daughter Caitlin" she returned accepting the firm sweaty handshake. Tossing the backpacks in the pickup's box Heather guided Caitie in first. She didn't make anything of the driver's thorough visual scan at the time.

"Pardon me, but you two look a sight." Mother and daughter were compelled to look down at themselves. Up until that moment personal appearance was about the furthest thing from their minds, but there was no denying the veracity of the observation. "Have you got a change of clothes in your car?" 'Change of clothes' Heather thought 'we got all the clothes we own.'

"Yeah we do" she assured her rescuer.

"How about we go back and get 'em? Y'all can come to my place and clean up before I take ya inta town." Still examining her disheveled appearance Heather now felt exceptionally grimy.

"Oh we couldn't put you to so much..." she began to respond, but Peggy interrupted.

"No trouble at all" She assured her hitchhikers and executed a five point turn on the narrow dirt road. The three miles it had taken the pair an hour to walk streaked by in about five minutes. In less than fifteen they were back at their point of rescue, bound for Oyster Gulch. They passed the sign signifying that they were in the town but the only building they could see was the low ranch style house surrounded by cactus. As they drove up the half mile driveway Heather was amazed at the diversity of the desert trees she saw. There weren't that many dotting the landscape until they got here. Peggy noticed her guest's interest and without prompting explained. "We grow 'em ... my partner and I. Ornamental cactus they're very popular ... sell 'em through florists and landscapers mostly." They came to a stop in front of the neat bungalow.

Heather collected their bags from the pickup's box and they proceeded into the blessed cool of the air conditioned home. Like true south westerners it wasn't set so low that you felt like you'd walked into a meat locker, just refreshingly cooler. "Le' me show ya to the washroom" Peggy offered, leading the way down a corridor toward the back of the house. It was after two o'clock.

The natural stone lining the walls and floor was quite appropriate. The grey stone had a sort of rosy hue, the fixtures were black. On the left was the double vanity, a toilet and bidet were on the back wall. To the right the whirlpool tub was flanked by a large semi circular shower stall. The whole place smelled like vanilla. "Help yourself" Peggy invited her mud caked guests, "shower or a bath whichever you'd prefer."

"Thank you so much" Heather gushed in sincere appreciation and really looked at their savior for the first time since she opened the passenger door of the pickup. "I hope we're not putting you to too much trouble..." She was noticing how the woman's breasts held the unbuttoned halves of the plaid shirt apart. The heavy mammaries drooped and showed off their dark round centers through the thin T shirt the cactus farmer wore, quite obviously without a bra. 'I wouldn't dare go out of the house like that ... men are always staring at my chest even when I'm properly dressed'. She'd become used to men ogling her boobs over the years but it still made her feel violated on occasion. Sometimes women showed an interest, and that made her feel proud; funny. In harmony Margaret scanned the petit busty redhead in the see through dirty white blouse and said

"No trouble at all ... when ya get yourselves more comfortable I'll take ya in to get some gas," and she left.

Heather and Caitlin wasted no time stripping out of their uncomfortably sweat dampened and soiled clothes. Missus Logan reached behind her back to unhook her nylon bra and saw that her daughter was already naked. Some kind of a surge she couldn't or didn't want to identify went through her. 'When was the last time I saw her naked?' she wondered, 'has to be months'. At Caitie's age months meant enormous changes. The lumps on her chest had become full fledged round and pert breasts. Pointing out like headlights the two inch pink areolas had a deeper pink button in the center that stood out a quarter of an inch in the cool of the air conditioning. Heather let her eyes roam down the slender torso and saw the fairly recent flair of the hips that made the girl's waist look pinched. Between the slim, almost skinny thighs the plump vulva with it's covering of fine reddish gold curls stood out. Barely visible between lightly furred outer lips was the rose colored canopy that covered the most precious of the female organs, and below that just a hint of inner labia.

The mother shrugged and shed her breast support releasing the melon sized orbs with their three inch diameter crowns. The center peg, that had never fully retracted since she'd breast fed Caitie, stood out over a half and inch and seemed to be growing now that it wasn't being restrained by the nylon bra cup. They were really too big for her frame and it made buying clothes that fit properly quite challenging.

Caitlin watched the twin mounds wobble and sway as her mother bent to remove her panties. She was ashamed of herself for feeling a tightening between her legs like always. Her mother didn't know it but Caitie spied on her regularly. At first it was just natural adolescent curiosity. The teenager wanted to see what a mature woman looked like in the raw, and being conscious of genetics, she had reasonable expectations that she was looking at herself in about twenty years. Two years ago however, just after she started with her monthly cycle, hormones had changed the peeping from curiosity to pure voyeurism.

Under the luxurious warm spray Heather felt the recent tension wash away with the road grime. She stepped out of the way to soap and let her daughter enjoy the revitalizing water. In the large stall they exchanged positions a couple of time as if responding to some telepathic choreography. Caitie was first to want out of the spray filled chamber while her mother let the soothing water pound on her stiff neck muscles. The door to the stall and the door to the hall opened almost simultaneously. The naked teenager put one arm across her breasts, crossed her legs and put the other hand in front of her mons with a loud squeal. Peggy felt the electric surge between her legs and smiled at the girl's modesty

"Sorry ... I forgot to give you towels" their host excused herself setting a stack of fluffy bath sheets on the vanity. The shower stall door was open and while Caitie contorted herself to cover up her mother looked the intruder in the eye and saw something she wasn't expecting; lust. Heather was proud of her body but she never considered herself an exhibitionist. The thrill she felt as the woman with the incredibly short hair openly appreciated her nakedness came as a surprise. The stress of the last days and weeks had been steadily melting away but now a new tension was griping her and she knew it was sexual. "Sorry..." their host apologized again and closed the door behind her.

'I wonder if she's a lesbian' Heather considered and the possibility caused her pussy to twitch. 'She did say that she and her partner grew the cactus... ' she knew 'partner' was often the word same sex couples used to refer to their mate. She'd never even kissed another woman in a sexual way but she had fantasized about it. What would it feel like to have that soft pliable skin against you instead of the rough hairiness of a man? What about those soft cushiony boobs instead of the hard chest ... and then there was oral sex what would it feel like to...

"Mom ... are you ever coming out of there?" Caitie's voice shattered her daydream and she realized that her fingers were doing a much too thorough job washing her vulva. When she turned off the water the exhaustion descended on her like a thick fog. For weeks she had been in a constant state of anxiety about the decision to leave her husband and abandon her seventeen year marriage. Even when she finally made the choice she couldn't help continually second guessing herself. It was that preoccupation that had distracted her from paying attention to essentials such as fuel levels and ultimately put them in the predicament that they were now in. The adrenaline and sweat soaked trek through the Nevada country side had been the final straw. She'd been driving for over sixteen hours with just a couple of short meal breaks when the gas had run out. In the relative safety of this stranger's home she found she could barely keep her eyes open as she dried herself. Missus Logan managed to get herself dressed in shorts and a scoop necked top. Caitlin waited in the steamy bathroom impatiently for her mother.

"Feeling a little fresher?" Peggy asked as the pair walked down the hall, toward the front of the house. "Can I fix you something to eat ... are you hungry?" Heather was so fatigued that it was hard to talk

"No ... uh ... thank you so much for your help and hospitality. Do you think it would be possible for me to just lie down for a few minutes? I'm really beat."

"Sure" miz Baker responded opening a door to a small but nicely decorated bedroom "ya can take a rest right in here." To Heather the bed looked like an oasis.

"Thanks" she slurred walking into the room. Missus Logan virtually collapsed on the bed. She was almost asleep by the time Peggy closed the door.

"What about you little one, are you hungry?" Caitie was feeling a bit peckish but she was shy. Seeing her younger guest's reaction Peggy said "Why don't I put out some tortilla chips and salsa for you to pick at ... would you like a soda too?"

"Please don't go to any trouble ... you've done so much for us already" the polite teen replied.

"It's nothing" the older woman assured her "have a seat and make yourself comfortable" she added motioning toward the spacious living room." Caitie sat on the leather sofa and looked around the nicely decorated salon feeling just a little uneasy. Moments later her host reappeared with a tray. The bowl of golden corn chips flanked by the red salsa and a sweating glass of cola certainly looked appealing. Miz Baker set the snack on the coffee table and said "I'm sorry we don't have much to entertain someone your age. We don't have a TV or video games. There are some magazines in the rack and books over there" she indicated the large book shelf that dominated one wall. "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna get cleaned up myself."

Caitie was embarrassed when she got that crampy sensation between her legs watching the older woman's tits sway under the T shirt when she set the tray on the table. By the time she got around to wondering if they were bigger than her mom's Peggy was gone. The teenager nibbled and sipped and hoped her mom wasn't going to sleep too long. She pulled a magazine from the rack and flipped through it. Southwestern horticulture was not an area of high interest for her. Next was a National Geographic. She spent a few minutes looking at the pictures, but none of the articles grabbed her. The picture on the cover of the next magazine made her jump and emit a shocked squeal; two women in lingerie kissing. With shaky hands she started to look through the adult publication. There were lots of pictures showing different women, in most cases naked, kissing and doing other things. The photos of the women kissing and apparently sucking on the other's breasts made her cookie start to ache. She knew what a lesbian was but she had never seen a graphic display of Sapphic love-making before. She was captivated. When she turned the page and saw the image of a blonde cutie, who didn't look much older than her, holding her partner's vulva open with her tongue sticking out, a bolt of electricity like she had never felt in her life slammed into her crotch. She groaned and nearly dropped the book.

Peggy stood in the doorway in her short black dressing gown holding her breath; consciously checking to make sure her heart was still beating. She had forgotten about the pornography in the magazine rack. 'Oh shit' she thought, but as she looked at her teenaged guest's face what she saw certainly wasn't revulsion; it appeared to be enraptured interest with a side of arousal. Caitie was so absorbed in the erotic material that she didn't realize the owner of the provocative publication had crossed the room barefoot and was now sitting beside her on the couch.

Her first indication that she was no longer alone came when Margaret whispered in her sensitive ear "Do you like that honey?" The poor shocked teenager jumped and let go of the magazine. Peggy had already gotten a grip on the glossy paper so it didn't fall. Her other arm was wrapped around the fifteen year old in a sidelong hug. "Doesn't she have the most beautiful pussy? I really love this picture" the older woman commented still holding the book where Caitlin could hardly help looking at it. The frightened girl was speechless. Her hormones were in overdrive and she felt flushed with sexual excitement but at the same time she was embarrassed to confide her feelings to this stranger. It didn't help that now her host's full left breast was molding itself to her bare right arm. The only thing between her skin and the firm melon was a very thin layer of silk.

Looking down, as she was, when she glanced to the side it was impossible not to notice how the robe gaped. Most of miz Baker's pear shaped breasts were on display. The youngster began to tremble as the battle raged between her prudish conscience and her arousal. Miz Baker's left arm was wrapped around her and the dyke's hand had snaked up under the girl's arm and was stroking the outer contours of her pubescent breast. Caitie felt her nipple stiffen as if it was searching for the stimulation that was only fractions of an inch away. They heard the toilet flush and Margaret casually placed the magazine where it had come from, behind the National Geographics.

Heather was still bone weary but she couldn't sleep. When her head had hit the pillow she had virtually passed out. About half an hour later the dreams started. They weren't bad at first. She was back at home, the family was together, they were having something like a picnic but it soon turned dark. She and Caitie were being chased. The terrified mother couldn't figure out who or what was chasing them, she just knew they had to get away. Somehow she lost her daughter. There were beings in black robes taking her away. Caitlin was naked and the creatures completely shrouded in black were dragging her. Heather heard her child screaming and begging for help, she was trying to catch up to them but they seemed to be in real time and she was in slow motion. That's when she woke up. Her first lucid reaction was to try and figure out where she was. As the empty fuel light appeared in her memory it all began to come back. She had been determined not to add dehydration to her list of woes so she had poured back the water steadily while they were walking. All the fluid she had not managed to sweat back out was now causing her bladder to ache. She had to pee, and right away. As soon as she finished in the bathroom she went looking for her daughter.

'Some Freudian psychiatrist would probably have a field day with that nightmare' she decided as she entered the living room. She saw their host standing in her black dressing gown beside Caitie who was sitting on the couch and looking completely out of it. "That was a pretty short nap considering how tired you looked ... and if I may say ... still do." Margaret commented walking toward her puffy eyed guest. Heather felt an invisible hand grip her crotch. The quite obviously unrestrained tits wobbled freely as the woman came across the room.

"I'm just too keyed up ... I don't think I'm really gonna be able to rest properly until we get to my aunt's place."

"Where's that?"

"Sacramento ... we'd have been there tonight if I wasn't so stupid."

"And if you didn't die of exhaustion or fall asleep at the wheel and kill yourself" Peggy cautioned. "You could stay here tonight and get a fresh start in the morning."

"That's very kind of you" the diminutive redhead responded "but I'd really hate to put you out like that and I know I'm gonna feel better once were back on the road."

"Suit yourself ... You might as well leave your things here. Once we get a couple of gallons in that vehicle of yours you're gonna have to come into town to finish refueling anyway. You can pick up you stuff on the way out" their host suggested as she was leaving the room. "I'll get dressed and we can be on our way."

"Thanks" Heather replied looking back at Caitie who seemed to be coming out of whatever kind of trance she'd been in; her daughter was getting to her feet,

"I gotta go to the bathroom" she announced and proceeded down the hall behind miz Baker.

"Don't be long honey ... with a little luck we could almost make Aunt Jeanne's by midnight."

In the stone bathroom Caitlin stripped down her shorts and panties. She really did feel like she needed to pee. The pool of pussy juice that had collected in the crotch of her underpants painted itself onto her thighs. Sitting on the toilet she ran her fingers over her swollen vulva and felt a gigantic wave of heat wash sweep through her. Images from the magazine and the view between the lapels of miz Baker's robe danced behind her closed eyes. She had diddled her cookie a few times, usually after spying on her mother, but had never achieved the big 'O' as the girl's at school called it. 'Maybe I'm doing something wrong... ' she thought as her fingers teased the plump slippery flesh. It sure felt good but she knew she didn't have time to practice her jilling technique right now and the urge to urinate seemed to be a false alarm. The crotch of the panties felt cold and she considered changing them, but thought she only had a limited number and who knew when they'd be able to get anything washed, so she decided against it. Once her extremely hot coochie warmed up the cream it wasn't too uncomfortable.

Her mother was waiting for her in the entry hall and they arrived outside just in time to see miz Baker load a couple of 'jerry cans' in the box of her pickup. Just over the rise beside the Baker bungalow the little town of Oyster Gulch spread out before them. Heather noticed the general store "Would you mind stopping in here Peggy ... I should pick up some more water" she said " ... not that I'm planning to pull another Moses or anything" she added with a giggle. Peggy swung the truck into an angle parking spot in front of the store and the two older women got out.

"I'll just stay here" Caitie told them as they closed the doors with the windows, as always, wide open. Inside the well stocked store Heather scanned the terrain for the water. A woman was selecting canned goods and putting them in her cart, two more were near the back of the store apparently having a chat. She located the stack of shrink wrapped sixteen ounce bottles, picked up two and headed for the cash. The older woman behind the counter rang in the purchase while saying "Hi Peggy ... who's your friend?"

"A tourist..." the cactus farmer replied and they both laughed as Heather took the small roll of bills from her pocket. Handing over the money the busty redhead felt the cashiers eyes scan her, head to toe. It was the kind of once over that she normally got from men. " ... nah ... missus Logan and her daughter ran out of gas out on the twenty so she's just restocking so they can get back on the road."

"Won't be stayin' around to take in all the local attractions then?" the cashier said with a chuckle as she handed her customer the change.

"Afraid not..." Caitie's mother returned putting her money away.

"Pitty!" the woman behind the counter commented and Heather detected sincerity in her tone. When she looked up she noticed that the store keeper's eyes were fixed on her chest. She felt kind of awkward as she picked up the water and the moderately heavy load squished into her boobs.

"See ya ... Irma" Peggy called over her shoulder as they left. They passed by two women standing outside what looked like a hair salon and another looking in the window of an electronics shop. Pulling up to the gas pumps a tall blonde with grease on her face and a wrench in her hand greeted them. "Hey Peggy ... what's up?"

"Hi Max ... my friend here ran dry out on the twenty ... gotta get enough fuel in 'er so she can make it to the pumps" the short haired woman answered while she was preparing to fill the first 'jerry can'.

"Wow you're quite a ways off the beaten track" the mechanic was saying as she wiped her wrench with a rag. Heather was about to respond when the Oyster Sheriff's car pulled in and positioned itself directly in front of miz Baker's pickup. The woman who got out was all dressed in black with a silver star pinned above her small left breast. As she replaced the pump nozzle and started screwing the top on the gas container Margaret greeted the officer "Hi Sarah".

"Peggy" the deputy returned with a nod and then turned toward Heather and said sternly "are you the driver of a green Toyota Camry parked on the shoulder of County Road Twenty?" Heather was shocked that the cop was addressing her. The stranded motorist had been standing there wondering if there were any men in this town at all when the blunt question was put.

"Uh ... yes, yes I am" she replied as the woman in the all black uniform pulled a notebook from her back pocket. 'What now!' the busty redhead wondered 'am I going to get a parking ticket?'

"And are you Heather Logan of Rawlins Wyoming" she asked referring to her notes.

"Yes" Heather replied in a squeaky voice. She was getting a little scared.

"You're under arrest for grand theft" the cop informed her at the same time she slapped a metal cuff on the shocked woman's right wrist. Heather was too stunned to react and the deputy spun her around and fastened the other cuff to her left wrist behind her back. It all happened so fast that it took the prisoner a moment to realize that her heart and stomach were now in her shoes and her daughter was scrambling out of the pickup's cab screaming. Caitie clung to her handcuffed mother's side wailing

"What ... what's happening?" the grown ups ignored her.

"Sarah is this really necessary ... in front of the child?" Peggy asked. Sarah Duggan could be one cold bitch. Peggy had heard that she could also be one hot bitch, although she had never had the opportunity to experience that side of the deputy's personality.

"Listen I already got the State Troopers and the Attorney General's office calling wanting to know what's goin' on. This one's gotta be done by the book. There's talk about an abduction charge as well and transporting a minor across state lines. That'll get the Feds involved. I don't want to be grilled by the FBI and come off lookin' like an asshole." Heather was very near tears. The only reason she was able to keep it together was to not scare Caitie anymore than she already was.

"You said Grand Theft ... are you talking about the car?" the handcuffed woman asked for clarification.

"That's correct" Deputy Duggan replied giving her prisoner a steely glare.

"But it's my car" the restrained woman pleaded. The officer referred to her notes again.

"It's registered to one Hank Logan of Rawlins Wyoming."

"That's my husband!"

"Well he's the one who reported the car stolen so you're apparently driving it without his permission."

"But it's half mine" Heather tried to preemptively apply her community property rights.

"Could be so mam ... I suppose if you had a way to return his half to him that might resolve the issue" Sarah was smirking "but that doesn't seem like a practical solution to me. Anyway I have a legal obligation to read this to you" she said pulling a laminated card out of her chest pocket. "You have the right to remain silent..." Heather had seen the Miranda rights delivered so many times on TV that she thought she could probably recite them along with the cop. Never in her darkest thoughts had she ever imagined those words being directed at her. " ... do you understand these rights as I've explained them to you?" the prisoner nodded and choked back her tears again. 'How can this be happening?'

"What about the girl?" Peggy asked putting her arm around Caitlin's shoulder. The teenager was still clinging to her mother's shackled arm and sobbing quietly. Missus Logan was mortified that she had been so fixated on her own problem that she'd almost forgotten her daughter. She should have been asking the question but once again miz Baker came to her aid.

"Well obviously she's material to the abduction charge but that hasn't been filed yet ... so the only thing I can do is call Social Services and keep her in lock up until they get here."

"How long will that take?" Margaret asked.

"Not sure ... won't be tonight ... maybe not even tomorrow..." the end of the deputy's reply was drown out by Caitie's squeal. If she'd heard correctly she was going to be put in jail as well. The thought terrified her.

"Couldn't I take her home with me?" Peggy asked hopefully. Sarah Duggan thought for a minute.

"As of now she's in the legal custody of her mother. If her mother was to assign temporary custody to you then I suppose that could work."

"I'll sign anything to keep Caitie from going to the lock up" the handcuffed woman agreed.

"So miz Baker has your permission to be the temporary legal guardian of your daughter?" the deputy wanted the consent explicitly.

"Yes, yes ... where do I sign?" the distraught mother wailed; her raw nerves finally getting the best of her.

"Actually there's no need for a document ... I'm a witness to your agreement to transfer temporary custody, and that's good enough for now. But if this abduction charge is actually filed we got a whole new ball game."

"Understood" Peggy assured the deputy and tugged Caitlin away from her mother. The girl clung briefly and then accepted the inevitable and began crying in earnest again. Sarah guided the girl's mother to the patrol car and just like in the movies put her hand on top of Heather's head as the busty redhead folded herself into the back seat. The deputy felt a twinge between her legs as the generous cleavage came into view looking down at her prisoner. 'More of that later' she promised herself, closing the door and rounding the car to the driver's side.

Margaret Baker hugged the sobbing teenager tighter as the Oyster Gulch Sheriff's car pulled away. "Come on honey ... everything's gonna be OK. These charges are being brought by a bunch of self-important men ... they're gonna find that men don't hold much sway in Oyster Gulch."