Chapter 12
The morning traffic was picking up as Ben drove up the coast away from Lee Marks. His gut was tense, almost to the point of aching. His knuckles were red with the tightness with which he held the wheel. His mind was blank, he could not think nor did he care to.
The town of Seaside, with the scantily dressed women roaming from shops to shops passed through Ben's vision without notice. During the summer, Ben had always enjoyed cruising through the tiny shopping center, judging the bodies of the tanned women who were spending their vacations here. Sometimes, he would try to make one of them, and more times than not, he was successful. But on this morning, the long legged women passed by him.
Ben tried to gather his thoughts long enough to figure out what he was doing. It hadn't been so much Lee's rejection of him, he had expected that. Instead, he'd gotten closer than he had dreamed he ever would, had actually felt what it would be like to plunge firmly between her legs. Her body had been better than he had imagined it, and her manner during his attempted seduction had thrown him off balance. Finally, her hysteria had driven him completely out of himself, he was absolutely unable to deal with her. As Ben turned his car onto the shady quiet street towards Elaine's, the thought occurred to him that he had become infatuated with a crazy woman.
Suddenly, he was sitting out in front of the small white house.
He knocked on the door softly, almost begging for a chance to establish the thing he had with Elaine. He waited and knocked again. Finally, Elaine opened the door and smiled at him.
"I was hoping you'd come by today. You really did me in yesterday!"
She was bright and cheerful. Ben should have felt more happy to see her, more relaxed at regaining her favor. But the tension was taking him ... moving him away even from this.
"Come on in, Ben, I was just about to bathe."
He followed Elaine into the bathroom. She dropped her robe to the floor and stood naked over the tub. When she bent over to feel the water, Ben gazed vacantly at the tuft of hair that appeared between her long, thin legs. The sight from the rear had always excited him, but today he felt nothing.
"It's not that I'm an exhibitionist or anything...." She grinned as she slid in to the tub. She was unaware of his mood, was speaking to some other part of Ben. A part that was no longer alive inside.
"Yesterday," she said, falling into some kind of private reverie, "it was good ... I mean, better than it has been for such a long time. I made a decision."
"What was it?" Ben asked, still standing above the tub and staring down at her naked flesh like a man watching his own death.
"Well," Elaine explained, now looking at him, "I decided to keep you no matter what the conditions. I was getting possessive and bitchy, blaming you for everything that's wrong with my life. I realized that it was because of you that I saw the shitty way things are going with me. So, dear Ben, there's no reason to fear me ... okay?"
She waited, holding the soap up against her wet cunt. Ben looked through the rippling water, saw the small black tuft wriggling seductively beneath the surface, and once again could not feel anything.
"What's wrong, Ben?" Elaine had finally noticed the straight and withdrawn manner of her visitor. She removed the soap, lost her sense of the erotic and stood up. The water fell from her breasts, dripped down across her flat stomach and seemed to gather on her shiny mound.
Ben looked at her. There was nothing left inside that he could recall or draw on now. His relativity to her was swimming around in his mind. What had made her, and her whole life so appealing to him was now gone.
"Oh boy," Elaine said, stroking his cheek, "you are in some kind of a state! What the hell happened?"
She was naked, and the tips of her breast made small wet marks on his shirt. But she was not using sex with him. She had reached her decision, and she was determined to make it work.
"Nothing's happened, Elaine ... I'm just a little weary, that's all." His voice seemed to come from another body. His eyes rested on her nude body, but he did not really see her.
"Do you want to make love?"
"No, I don't think I could right now."
"Don't worry about it, everybody goes through those kinds of things. And even though you don't think it, you're still a human being."
The wind from outside beat against the house with a sudden force. Ben's mind reeled back to the night before, the phone call and the drive through this unknown place called Seaside. He felt the pull again, the force drawing him to something far beyond his own control.
"I've got to go, now." His voice was flat. His eyes looked through Elaine. She stepped backwards, pulled the towel around her naked body and tried to determine what was happening. It became apparent to her that whatever was going on with Ben, it was far out of her realm to know.
"Okay, Ben," she said cautiously, "but come whenever you want to . ... or have to. I'll be here. I've dropped Helen, so there's no need for any more hassles."
Without speaking, Ben turned and walked out of the small house. Elaine stood dripping on the living room carpet. She dropped her towel to the floor and felt her own naked body. She began shaking, suddenly feeling very cold and wanting nothing more than to be fully dressed. Elaine thought maybe she would call a friend and go to the new restaurant in Balboa, the place where women wore minks, silks and high heels.
Ben walked between the two fire trucks in the old barn-like station. The hot wind whipped through the open doors and whistled loudly as it found escape routes through the old wooden walls. The bright colors of the machines, their dark, looming hoses and the quiet of the engines at rest had always soothed Ben.
Jimmy Blackburn leaned against the metal doors, smoking a cigarette and watching the empty street outside. "Looks like Hell has finally arrived."
Ben was not listening. He had found a defective nozzle on the large hose and was in the process of replacing it. But the work did not take his mind off his feelings. He dropped the nozzle, bent down slowly, and like a very tired Man, strained to stand again facing the hose.
"You sick or something?" Jimmy grinned widely. His mouth was almost sardonic, his white teeth slightly menacing. Ben felt his coal black eyes piercing him, driving daggers into his skin. It was like seeing him for the first time, a Man who had long ago lost his civilization, lost his people and lost his foothold in history. Ben knew that because of that, he was capable of doing anything.
"I'm fine, Jimmy, just a little anxious...."
"When do you think it'll come? I'll give you odds it comes after the sun goes down."
"Bullshit, you redneck redskin!" Ben was trying to sound loose and jovial, but he was not with his own words. They escaped him as he uttered them, made him feel almost out of control.
"Okay, white Man, me consult gods, me find truth. Me know no fire till chariot of sun cross sky, many crickets from now." Jimmy laughed at his own parody, then held up his hand in the traditional Indian greeting he had seen so many times in Western films.
"What do your oracles say about these?" Ben held the gas can found at Wilson's Grove. The first can still held its perch on the shelf above, the beginning of a collection.
Jimmy was silent. He became very serious. "The gods reserve the right to withhold any information which they feel might be harmful or injurious to the parties concerned."
"What the Hell does that mean?"
"It means that we both know why and what. We both know why whoever started those fires did it. And we both want to see him strike again. But being firemen, hired and respected by the city of Seaside in the great state of California, we arne't supposed to talk this way."
"You surprise me, Jimmy. It's been bothering you, too?"
"Not as much as it has been you" Jimmy lit another cigarette, his eyes penetrating the puff of smoke that rose in front of his face.
"You really think he'll strike soon?" Ben waited anxiously for Jimmy's answer. He had felt somewhat restored after discussing the situation with his partner. There was, indeed, some meeting of the minds.
"Very soon," Jimmy mused, pawing at a grease stain on the cement floor, "if it was me, I'd go tonight. Everything considered."
"The wind?"
"Yeah" replied Jimmy, "and other things. Felings, I guess."
"If you're right, the whole fucking mountain will go up!"
"Maybe it won't be the mountains this time...."
He threw Ben a nervous glance, smiled broadly to reinstate his friendly image. "I'll be around...."
Ben watched him walk through the large doors into the bright street. When the wind hit him, he struggled for a moment then regained his balance as he moved with difficulty towards Elmo's Bar. The idea of a drink suddenly appealed to Ben, it would be the first time in his career that he had ever had a drink on the job.
He poured himself at all glassful, added a touch of water and laughed at his small tribute to propriety. After two large shots, his system began to feel alive again. The room became real to him, the night he spent was lost as his memory became numb, and his morning with Elaine became something other than what it had been. Even his experience with Lee, only six or seven hours before was lost in the swirl of his senses.
The day would turn out okay, he mused, draining his glass and pouring another, there would be a fire soon. And because of that, he would once again be granted his own meaning. He let his tensions flow from him like a blocked river suddenly released into the stream and rocked back and forth on his old wooden chair.
Lee Marks was still shaking. The morning had left her exhausted and nervous. Ben had come close, and she had felt more desire for him than she had ever felt for another Man. She had numbed that part of her long enough to allow him to remove her clothing. He had touched her with his penis, had come very close to invading her. She had tightened herself, had withheld the panic she felt but then had finally broken down. It had been somone else who had driven the confused Man from her house that morning.
She walked around her small cottage, hoping that no one would knock and demand a room. She was still naked, and her body replayed the scene with Ben over and over again. She still could feel the touch of prick against her smooth skin. The hardness, the potential explosion ... everything was still within her, trying to burn itself out.
But the fires within raged and would not die. Somehow, she would have to externalize them ... again. It was not a concious thought that allowed her to arrive at this conclusion, but a feeling deep inside that sought to burst through. Lee quickly put on her small bikini and, with bottle in hand, walked out onto the beach.
Ben was up and at the coat rack when he realized the ringing was from the telephone and not an alarm. He let it ring twice more, gathering his wits about him. The clock showed that it was five after five. He had slept for over four hours, whacked into unconciousness by the liquor.
"Ben Grant, Seaside Fire Department...."
Agent Manning's voice was calm and controlled. "Ben, just wanted to let you know we have a Santa Ana watch on tonight. There are two small fires in the Santa Monicas north of Malibu."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because, Ben, when we talked there was mention of the winds. You seemed to feel at that time that the Santa Anas might inspire your joker down there to start playing with matches again."
"Yes" Ben said softly, trying to avoid involving himself with Manning or with any other forces, "but nothing's happened. It was just speculation."
"Okay," Manning replied. "But if something does go down there you should be advised of our situation here. You people are the hottest spot between here and San Diego, so we've been watching you very carefully. But now we've got our own fires to handle, so you should call the departments south of you and use their facilities."
"Okay, Mr. Manning. But I doubt if anything'll go here ... at least for a while."
"Never can tell, Ben, you should know that If it does, call us anyway so we can plan an investigation. That last one you had down there could have easily turned into a major disaster."
Manning wished Ben luck and hung up. Ben remembered the report that Manning had filed with the U.S. Department of National Parks. In it, he had warned of the increasing dangers of forest fires in the mountains behind Seaside. This, according to tests, was the result of depleted soil. The rains had been light, and all that there was instead of being absorbed was washed down the dry hillside. Manning had written that Seaside, and the area surrounding it was on a 'yellow alert.' The presence of a probable arsonsist was mentioned in the forty page report; and Ben's theories of arson and motivations behind arson were included in this section. Ben had thought at the time that it seemed as though Manning had a better idea of what kind of person the arsonsist was than he did.
That report had given Ben a sense of wariness. He did not like the presence of the Federal Men, nor did he like the strict analysis of the situation which the scientists and professionals had compiled. It had taken the problem away from him and dumped it into a manila folder where a bunch of desk jockeys would sit around and try to determine a mass of irrelevant points concerning the situation.
Now, Manning's call had given a strange kind of reality to the conversation he had had earlier with Jimmy. There was something about his feelings and instincts coming into conjuction with computerized analysis that bothered him severely. He was relieved that the men from the North would have to busy themselves with fires closer to home. He and Jimmy would be left to handle the situation in Seaside ... if, that is, a situation did arise.
Jim Marks watched the young woman driving intensely nest to him. They were passing through the town of Santa Barbara which meant another three hours before they arrived in Seaside.
The girl, in her twenties and very lean, had offered to take Jim all the way down. She was going to San Diego for a three day vacation and would be more than happy to drop him off.
As she drove, her miniskirt rode high on her thigh. Her legs were thin and brown, and she kept them further apart than was needed. Her arms and hands were bony, and she held the wheel lightly. Jim tried to imagine what it would be like to make love with her, but his mind was directed into other channels.
He had awakened that morning in the small apartment in San Francisco that he and Anne had rented. She had gone to work in a bar, walking around half naked serving drinks and making good money. Jim had gone to the place once, and noticed that her manner of serving the customers was what made the money in tips so good. When she would bring a drink to a table, she would lean further over the table than necessary. Her breast would practically rest in the cusomers face, and the men loved it. They would reach into their pockets, pull out a ten, and Anne would wink at them. They never got to her, though.
For months, they had stayed together, making love and just living. But this morning, Jim had awakened with a sense of impending disaster.
"What is it?" Anne asked, pulling the sheet up to her chin and moving her naked body languidly underneath.
Jim had been perplexed and worried. "I don't know, Anne. Something's really bugging the Hell out of me."
Anne watched him wander naked into the bathroom. When he returned, she had all but accepted the fact that he would be leaving her.
"I think I should go south for a few days." He stood above her, replaying the scene that had taken place a year ago when he had first left her.
"Your Mother's fine, Jim." Anne knew where the feeling had come from.
"I don't know. It's been a long time. I think I should hitch down."
Anne smiled up at him. She drew the sheet aside, playing the same game she had played a year ago. Her naked body looked warm and open on the bed. Jim looked at her, then felt his mind wander.
"Last summer" Anne said, bringing her thighs together, "I told you I'd get you back from her. I offered you this for life." And then she spread her legs, arched her belly and showed him everything she had. "Now, if you leave, you'll never have me again."
Jim could see that she was serious. Her eyes were clear and unmoving, her mouth pursed into a faint hint of scorn.
"I've got to, Anne. I'm sorry you feel that way...." Jim was being pulled by forces larger than himself. There was something happening down there, and if he missed it or tried to avoid it he knew that he would be affected for life.
"You look uptight." She was driving now through the hills and valleys North of Los Angeles. Jim leaned against the window watching the orange glow of the two large fires pulsating in the late afternoon sky. Three units from the L.A. department rumbled underneath the freeway and Jim watched them disappear into the hills.
"Hey, wake up!" Her name was Mary, and she was a horny secretary. Picking up Jim had been one way of starting her weekend with a bang. She had been disappointed in his ignorance of her, especially after all the trouble she had gone to, to hike her skirt up her thighs.
"Sorry...."Jim was becoming more tense with every mile. He felt as though he were approaching something that would change his whole life. Just the initial decision to go had already changed his whole life.
"I thought maybe we could get to know each othr better...." Mary smiled ascross the seat at him. She took his hand and placed it on her thighs. As she moved his fingers up between her legs, she let them fall apart. She wore no panties.
Jim felt her cunt. She was moist and seemed rather tight for a girl her age. She pulled her thighs tightly around his hand, and once again Jim was captured inside a warm cunt. While her Vagina pulsated beneath the force of his hand, Jim was staring out the windew, watching the fires far off in the mountains towards the West. As fire will, it drew him forcefully towards it's center.
The cove was shelter against the blazing winds., The ocean in front of her was ripped with white caps, a seething moving inferno of deep waters. Lee watched it all with an unsettling calm, having gone through a fifth of whiskey and a day full of emotional stress.
On the horizon, she watched as a low bank of clouds tried to push their way into shore. They were doing battle with the hot winds from the inland. As the two forces met, the hot winds began showing their strength. Slowly, evenly, the low bank began stacking upon itself until it stood as an arched wall fair out in the sea.
The, pathway of the winds from the desert was blocked. Lee tensed as the wind died and silence reigned heavily all around her. She did not see seagulls, and the white caps folded back into the blue ocean. She gripped the sand around her, feeling that something very ominous was coming.
She was barely breathing when she saw the split. The grey wall tore in the center like a piece of cotton. She felt herself being lifted and pulled out as the desert winds ripped at the bank and tore a hugh whole into its side. The sound was like the roar of a jet airplane engine as the wind drove a hugh tunnel into the cloud bank. In another moment, the cloud bank, once so finely set and blocking the pathway of the fiery winds became nothing more than memory. The hot winds reigned once again. The cooling bank of clouds had been thoroughly destroyed.
Lee felt a tremendous sense of relief at seeing this sight, even though she was not positive that it had really taken place. She lay back on the sand, felt herself gliding within the new air tunnel so recently created, and laughed softly to herself, the sun was setting, and she lifted her head so that she could forge the image of the brilliant red ball into her mind forever.
The old hook and ladder never looked better. Its' red paint was shining, the metal gleaming and the hoses in perfect working order. Ben had spent the better part of three hours stroking the cool metal fondly, preparing his weapons for the fight he knew was coming.
Ben turned the shower on, having decided to prepare himself as he had prepared the machinery around him. He soaped himself carefully, making sure each portion of his body received a double lathering. After drying himself carefully, he applied talcum powder and his favorite after shave lotion. He walked naked to the dressing room, pulled out his newly laundered uniform and slowly dressed.
"You going to the fireman's ball?"
Jimmy leaned against the doorjamb, smiling wickedly after five beers at Elmo's.
"Just dressing, that's all...." Ben was a little upset that his private ritual had been interrupted. He had wanted to take time, to make sure that everything was in its proper place. He buttoned his shirt slowly, left the collar op en, and set himself before the mirror. "Man" Jimmy continued, being as sassy as he ever was after a few drinks, "you look like you're ready for the burning bush! One between a woman's legs!" Ben had to laugh. "Not a bad idea, baby."
"Yeah...." Jimmy mused, being horny as Hell. He was always horny during the summer when the white women walked around half naked.
"Why don't you get yourself laid?" Ben was digging a little and both men knew it.
"Why don't you go to Hell?"
"No, man," Ben replied, pulling out a fifty dollar bill from his billfold, "take this, drive into L.A. and make yourself one of those masseuses."
Jimmy stared at his boss wide-eyed. "You're crazy! Here we are sitting on one of the hottest fucking nights ever and you tell me to go get myself blown a hundred miles away in L.A.!"
"Nothing's going to happen, Jimmy...."Ben stared into the mirror again, making some final adjustments on his uniform. He felt good being dressed well in the clean, pressed khaki suit. The uniform still fit well, still made him feel strong and invulnerable.
"You don't stop loving yourself," Jimmy chided, his voice a little weaker now, "I'll take you up on your offer."
"According to patterns, our boy doesn't light his wad until well after eleven. It's not seven o'clock. It'll take you and hour and a half to drive, an hour with the broad and another one and a half returning. You'll be back before any kind of excitement even starts...." Ben held the fifty out to his partner.
"Well I'll be a shit!"
"You are already!"
Jimmy took the money. The logic had penetrated. Ben would never make him an offer like this again.
"Take my sedan, Jimmy boy, I'll use the captain's car...."
"Thanks, man."
"Don't Mention it!"
Jimmy turned back to Ben just as he was about ready to step into his car. "I'll have a few better stories than you did, you old motherfucker!"
"I hope so...."
Ben watched his partner drive off. He felt he had done the right thing. The logic of his argument was correct, and, if things got out of control, there were there were the voulnteers. Ben would never really know why he had sent his most trusted aide away on a night when the fire hazard in Seaside was greater than it had been for years.
The blackened pieces of wood still lay where they had burned over a year ago. No one had bothered to clear out the area of the Browning farm. The land had been turned over to the state because no deed had existed, there were plans to build an honor farm for the troublemaking kids from the city. But no work had begun.
Ben walked through the rubble. He remembered the night well, as well as he did every fire that he had ever fought. The crowd came back to his memory. The bored people of Seaside out on a Saturday night, standing around with each other for one of the few times in a year. It was a happening for them, the young and the old, the rich and the poor. They had all watched Ben Grant fight the kind of fight he knew best. He remembered feeling the eyes of the Women on him, and the egos of the Men burning into his battle.
Where the barn had stood, the loft where Elaine's kid had been hiding frightened and silent, there now was empty space. Ben remembered pulling the kid out, running through the flames and handing him to Elaine, knowing that he would begin fucking her again. Her eyes had invited him as she had taken her only child from his arms.
Then, Ben remembered something which he had not payed enough attention to that night. The image of Lee Marks standing apart from the crowd, leaning against one of the steel posts that once were to be used for a new fence. Her hair had been blowing in the wind, and the white negligee she wore made her seem almost ghost-like. He walked to the spot where she had been that night.
He touched the post, the tall, hard cylinder which did not give. He remembered her standing with her belly against it. The thought turned him on. He had an erection, then decided to drive to wilson's Grove. He felt that he was on to something.
It was almost dark by the time Lee reached her home. She had sat on the beach watching the battle in the sky, and now, there was only one thing left to do. She walked through her darkened house as though in a trance, the room and furnishings being things from a dream.
She went into the living room, threw on an old Door's album left behind by her son. There was a fifth standing on the kitchen counter, and she poured herself a large glassful without bothering to add ice or water.
Fumbling through the garage, she found her five gallon gas can. It was the last one she had, and she laughed at the coincidence. Once again, she sucked hard on the tube, and for a moment envisioned the cool plastic as a penis ... the burning sensation began again between her thighs. When she had finished filling can, she did not bother to screw the cap back onto the gas tank.
Lee placed the can carefully down next to the record player. She walked to the full length mirror on the door of the bathroom and stared at herself.
Her body looked tense, but she was pleased with what she saw. She felt more uninhibited with herself than she had ever felt before. She cupped her hands beneath her breasts and pushed them up. They barely remained trapped behind the cloth of her bikini bra. Quickly, she unsnapped the garment and slowly pulled it from her tits.
The nipples were already erect. She rubbed each bud slowly, feeling the shock waved dig deeply into her chest. Her breasts were not yet sagging, and she thought that, that was nice.
Then, with a slow, sensuous movement, she pulled the elastic of her panties down lower and lower. She held the garment down beneath the full bloom of her pubis. She turned sideways to the mirror and pulled the panties down to her ankles. As in a private dance, Lee stepped out of them and faced herself naked in the glass.
She smiled broadly. Her eyes seemed to penetrate through the reflection, to separate themselves from her image. She brought her hand slowly up between her thighs and spread her lips. Arching herself into the glass, she rubbed her pubis slowly against the cool mirror. She found herself watching her own eyes, and the image of her body began to quiver.
And then something very strange happened. The intense reflection of her eyes dominated everytling. Soon, her body became a blur, and her eyes stood alone, suspended in space and time. She held the frightening image for as long as possible, with a student-like curiousity to see where it would take her.
The panic, the sudden rush of fear made her draw back into herself. Her shoulders suddenly dropped and her tits hung low. She grimaced at herself, and truned away from the mirror. She was unable to think of anything else she wanted to do. She decided she would drink all of the fifth. She laughed at herself for thinking of dealing with a hangover.
"You sure?" Mary looked at Jim with longing. She had jacked him off somewhere between L.A. and Balboa. He had come hard, his come shooting into the windshield where it now held its own crystalized state.
"I'm sure," Jim replied, feeling the acid he had dropped a half hour before beginning to work its magic. "Maybe I'll catch up with you in San Diego ... I don't know."
Mary pulled her short skirt modestly down her thighs. She was a little em harassed. She had been more aggresive with him than she had a right to be. It had given her a strange feeling of power, but now it made her feel cheap.
"We never really ... you know...."
"Fucked?" Replied Jim, watching the highway leading towards his Mother's Motel begin to shimmy in the darkness.
"Yeah, I really wanted to. But fuck it...."
"Yeah, fuck it."
The secretary became furious. She had heard about people like Jim, had heard they were wierd and different. She longed for the martinis and candle-lit dinners she was used to. San Diego, with its orgainzed swimming and pleasure seemed very attractive to her now.
Jim did not look at her as he opened the door and climed out. Mary watched him, thinking maybe she would call the police and charge him with rape. But then, she decided, that would ruin her weekend.
Jim leaned back in the window on the passenger side. He was smiling now, his eyes were wide and his face flushed. "Listen you're okay. I mean, I'd really like to ball you. If I ever see you again...."
"Get the Hell out of my way!!!" She threw the automatic into 'drive,' bolted forward and then stalled. She was furious. Her entire life had been devoted to turning Men down, playing the game that all the girls in her 'singles only' apartment had played, were now playing and would be playing when she returned. This bastard had turned down her gift. Well, she thought, finally getting the engine turning again, there will be a lot of nice guys in San Diego who will do anything just to get close to me!
"Don't bum on it!" Jim called out as she drove out onto the highway. He watched her tail lights wiggle and merge into one as the car disappeared into the distance. The acid was really coming on strong, it would be a far out night.
He walked along down the highway. His legs were wobbly and his mind was shooting outwards in every direction. The Earth seemed to vibrate beneath him; to pulsate and throb with its own secret rhythym that he alone understood.
When the young, hippie-type reached his Mother's Motel, he stood across the street staring into the melting buildings. He climbed the hill behind him, perched himself in its bank and waited. It would be at least another hour before he 'peaked."
The feeling became stronger in Wilson's Grove. The evidence of fire here was still on the charred trees. But the desolation of the Browing farm was not.
Ben walked slowly through the dark grove, feeling the presence of the quiet trees around him. They stood like hugh watchful monoliths, waiting for someone to tap their secret. Ben knew there was a truth here, something that would be gathered from the silent trees.
And then he found it.
At first, it appeared as the rest of the junk around the grove. Papers, beer cans and an occasional piece of underwear dotted the landscape. Ben shone his flashlight on each of these items, looking for his clue. He stopped at one point, lifted an old whiskey bottle off a small pile of garbage and saw the matchbook.
Its ends were frayed. The five sticks left in the book were useless, their sulfur tips having been burned a long time ago. He fondled the paper with trembeling fingers. Then he saw the inscription, blackened by wear but still readable.
"Oh shit...."
The matchbook read 'Mark's Motel ... by the sea in Seaside."
Ben stuffed the book into his pocked, stumbled out of the grove and ran as fast as he could to his car.
The 'peak' on an LSD trip is that point when all energy, natural and chemical reachs a height. Jim was at his peak now, and the acid was very strong stuff.
He tripped back and forth in his mind between a distorted reality and images of the past. He thought of his Mother as a young woman, and saw himself being held by her. He remembered the days on the beach with her, the pleasure of those summers they had spent together.
Then he pulled out and felt the Earth moving beneath him. The dark void across the highway emptied itself of all barriers and he flew into it, then returned again. The Motel down below shimmered and stood nakedly plain. There was nothing there, he decided, the wood was all. And, even that was not alive.
And then he lay naked on a beach. The ocean screamed at him, pulling him out. The waves became hands with long fingers that caressed his body, tugging and ripping at his skin. Jim tried to fight off the vision, but when he returned to what lay beneath him, the empty, dead Motel, he fell immediately back into his vision.
The ocean was now rising above him. His body screamed, but the screams of the sea overshadowed his own. The hands were all around him, and he felt his inside being pulled through his own body. At the moment everything inside him flew out into darkness, the image of his Mother appeared. She was laughing sardonically, a Woman possessed.
The final snap came when his energy left him and was replaced by a vacant sound of wind. Jim shook as he pulled himself free of the 'trip' and concentrated once again on the Motel.
For a moment, the acid seemed to disappear. He felt the warm summer winds and firm ground beneath him.
Then it came. The Motel exploded into blues, greens and oranges. The fiery hands caressed the building where his Mother lived. The energy pulsated and provided an excellent visual effect.
"Oh wow!" He shouted, now happy that he had taken such good acid.
Lee was naked and spreadeagled on her bed. She listened to the rumble of the fire that worked its way from the living room towards her. Her hand gripped the sides of the mattress, she was waiting to be consumed.
The pulsating orange ball of energy was in her mind, and it began working its way down her body. Through her breasts, across her stomach and onto her belly. She smiled to herself as the fiery ball once again invaded her cunt. It would be the last time, she thought with relief, that she would suffer through the invasion.
The heat of the flames reached her. There was a battle raging between the fire in her vagina and the one which was seeking more fuel through the walls of her small bedroom. The smoke poured through underneath the door, and Lee watched it from a distance as it rose gently to the ceiling.
Then, as usual, she heard it. The sound of an axe being slung against her bedroom door was one she had known before. She waited patiently, her fantasy was working.
Ben Grant hammered away at the locked barrier, the flames searing his back. The entire living room was in flames when he had reached the house, and he had run through them. Now, he tried to reach Lee.
The axe broke through, the door shattering into hundreds of pieces. The smoke poured in, and the fingers of fire jumped across the room outside and began working through the opening. He reached in through the hole he had just made, unlocked the bedroom door and ran towards her.
Lee saw Ben Grant and became terrified. She realized that this was not her fantasy. His appearance gave her fear. The fire was raging through every part of the house, and it would be only a matter of seconds before she would have been dead. Suddenly, as she felt him lifting her from her bed, she did not want to die.
"You crazy woman!" He muttered, his voice filled with exhilaration.
"Take me," she moaned. And this time, she meant it.
Jimmy watched the pulsating light show with joy. It had been a real treat, being consumed visually by the spectacular sight. Sitting by himself, he had shouted and screamed for joy as each new burst of fire exploded in the motel below him.
Then he saw his mother being carried by a man from the burning building. The dark figures moved swiftly and easily from the danger and disappeared down onto the beach below. Jim knew that the figure was his Mother, and he knew that this was her Motel that was on fire.
The figures glowed as they moved away from him. Jim felt his heart leap. He saw them as one, saw them as the perfect pair in universe filled with imperfection. "Out of sight!" he shouted.
It would be a couple of days before the young Man realized what had really taken place that night. As he would walk through the charred remains of his Mother's house, he would not be sure if, indeed, he had seen the glowing couple during the height of his acid trip. He would be afraid to tell anyone that he had been on acid and that he had sat on a hillside watching his own house burn to the ground without doing anything about it.
An act that had cost Lee Marks and Ben Grant their lives.
By the time Ben heard the sirens, he was far down the beach. No one would come looking for him out here, and he was alone with Lee.
He had carried her from certain death out onto the cool and deserted sand. Her naked body in his arms was all that he wanted now.
He lay her down on the sand. She looked up at him with eyes that were soft. He kissed her hard on the mouth, and their tongues met and melted.
He kissed her neck, then moved down to her breasts. Lee held his head lightly against her as he stabbed at her nipples, then ground the erect buds firmly between his teeth.
Ben stood above her, dropped his pants and knelt down between her legs. Lee watched him and moaned as she felt his prick working slowly up inside her. Ben hovered over, breathing softly as he stroked evenly into her.
The momentum picked up and Lee, too, began to move. She thrust her pelvis up, then relaxed with a sigh. She knew she was coming, and wanted to prolong the moment. Ben stroked her harder now, pushing his cock far up inside her. Lee took him all the way, clutching the sand as hm came forcefully and violently.
Ben lifted his woman into his arms and walked another hundred yards down the beach. When he had finally managed to walk around to the other side of the cove, he lay her down once again on the sand.
"Again?" She moaned. "Again!"
She let him pull her thighs apart. She rubbed her soreness lightly, anticipating the moment when he would enter again.
He bent over her, pulled her legs far back against her shoulders and slid inside. Her cunt was still wet, and Ben rocked back forth into her with ease. She was becomming his woman.
Lee cried out as Ben struggled, then held himself firmly inside her and came. She reached down between their bodies and touched his cock. Her fingers trembeled as she held him inside her.
"Let's go...."
He lifted her again and walked with her in his arms. Behind them, the fire was being fought by other Men.
On the highway above them, they could hear the cars and people moving like a swarm of ants towards the blaze. The entire town was moving against them, and they were glad that they were heading in the opposite direction.
When she lay naked on the sand for the third time, Ben kissed her sore lips and drove his tongue inside her vagina. Lee groaned loudly, she was taken completely.
She held him again, feeling his cock as it grew hard in her hand. She kissed the head, and licked him all over. Her tongue moved slowly, there was no hurry.
He entered her for the third time that night. She threw herself up in supplication, wrapping her thighs around his back.
They worked feverishly against each other. Their bellies slapped, the sound being diminished by the pounding surf. Lee pulled at his back, digging her nails into his warm skin. She was getting there, it wouldn't be long now.
Finally, she felt herself weaken, then a surge of energy passed through. She shuddered, threw her belly against his and fell back. A second later, Ben came as strongly as he had the first time. He fell into her waiting arms, knowing that the warm body beneath his would be there forever.
"We won't go back there, will we?" Her voice was soft and lovely.
"No. Never." Ben replied, knowing that his day had finally come.