Chapter 11
The following evening, Jane arrived promptly at Alexander's room, and the two, at seven sharp, left for the neighboring village in the Ashley's jeep.
The road was bumpy, but Alexander was an excellent driver, and there was little Jane could find to criticize in his treatment of her. She was, she found, still a bit miffed about the incident with Madeleine, and could not keep it out of her manner, or her speech. Still, knowing Madeleine much better now, she could well understand how Alexander had been coerced into bed.
Jane smiled. There had, probably, been precious little persuading on Madeleine's part -- she was, after all, an attractive woman. And she would be more than happy to have the huge black man within her power -- physically as well as economically.
Turning her mind from Madeleine, Jane looked at Alexander, who was ruggedly handsome as he sat beside her in the front seat of the jeep.
"Alexander?"
"Yes?"
"How much longer till we get there?"
Alexander smiled, turning to Jane, his eyes darting from the road to her, and back to the road.
"Not long. Are you in a hurry?"
Jane looked at the rows of shanties, and at the half-naked children running beside the jeep, like lithe young panthers, dancing in the headlights and jumping out of the way.
"I'm always in a hurry to get away from poverty," she said, indicating the shanties with a nod of her head. Alexander looked at her for a moment, then back at the road.
"This is where I grew up -- right along here," he said, his voice rising above the sound of the jeep's engine.
"Must have been ghastly," Jane said, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.
"Not so bad -- not like you rich Americans, of course."
"Ouch!"
Alexander grinned. "Does the truth hurt?"
Jane said nothing, but continued to watch the shanties which zipped along the roadway.
"Has it always been like this?" she said.
Alexander nodded.
"Always."
Jane was silent for the rest of the ride.
As the jeep rolled into the dark main street, the village seemed deserted, except for a ragtag of roosters and hens by a small, half-ruined hut in the center of the road.
"Mama Lu used to live there, when I was a little boy," Alexander whispered, his voice a low murmur in the darkness. "She was a young woman then."
"Like Odetta is now?" Jane whispered back.
Alexander did not answer, but instead kept his eyes on the road. The jeep slowed as it drove just past the village, stopping with a sudden creaking sound.
Both Jane and Alexander listened, their breathing soft Across the grassy expanse of field, the sound of drums could be heard, steady and insistent, and a small fire could be detected through the tightly clustered grove of trees.
"The festival," Alexander said, nodding at the trees.
Suddenly, Jane was filled with doubt. It cloyed her stomach, a delicate nausea which she could find no relief for, except in questioning Alexander further.
"Do you really think I should have come along?" she asked softly.
"You're my guest," Alexander replied, just as softly, getting out of the jeep and going around to Jane's side. He opened the door and let her out, guiding her by the arm down a narrow path, toward the grove of trees in the distance.
As she walked, Jane's mind was a flurry of impulses, many of which she did not understand. There was, of course, no reason to be afraid, since Alexander was with her now. On the other hand, there was no telling what she might witness in the clearing, or what the evening might bring. She thought of Mama Lu, and the "potion" she had prepared.
Jane smiled. The old woman was, clearly, senile. There could be no doubt of that. Love potion indeed. Jane had, of course, joked her along, to get her out of the room. But there could be no possibility of the "potion's" being effective.
Could there?
Jane's first impulse was to believe the old woman, of course. But the years of living in an "enlightened" society had bred out of her any capacity for belief in such things.
There were no herbs or spices which could make a man fall in love, unfortunately. With that thought in mind, Jane let herself be guided along the path, her eyes on the grove of trees ahead.
As they neared, she noticed that the trees cast shadows into the darkened field, which waved across her and Alexander like ghostly forms dancing in the firelight.
Alexander took her hand, and together they entered the grove of trees, coming into the clearing abruptly.
Around the blazing fire, a small circle of people were sitting, their skins ebony, reflecting the firelight which flickered in their eyes as they looked at Jane and Alexander.
"Welcome!"
The voice was that of Mama Lu, and carried across the blazing fire, loud and throaty and resonant.
"Good evening, Mama Lu!" Alexander exclaimed, acknowledging her with a nod of his massive head.
Jane separated herself from Alexander and walked across the open space to Mama Lu. As she passed, she noticed a circle of men in the shadows, around the edge of the clearing, covering its circumference. They had drums before them, and were pounding out a steady, insistent rhythm.
Mama Lu came forward to meet Jane, and held out a cup for her.
"May luck and health stay by you," the old woman intoned, nodding eagerly, her eyes darting to Alexander, then back to Jane. Mama Lu's eyes were bright and shining in the firelight.
"Thank you, Mama Lu," Jane whispered, a merry gleam in her eye.
With that, Jane turned and walked back to Alexander, who was in the process of taking off his shirt. His broad chest shone in the firelight, his features standing out, his legs like pillars.
Jane came forward, handing them the cup, which he took.
"Drink," Jane said, feeling a bit odd as she said it.
A bit doubtfully, Alexander raised the cup to his mouth, and drank. Draining the cup to the dregs, he gave Jane back the tiny vessel, blinking his huge eyes once, twice.
"What is it?" he asked. "Never tasted anything remotely like it before."
Jane smiled, and shook her head.
"You'll not know from me," she said softly, as he took her by the hand and guided her to a spot in the circle.
Sitting down, Jane looked around the circle of faces, her eyes passing first to one, and then to the other.
"What happens now?" she asked, shaking her head slowly.
"Watch and see," Alexander replied, fixing his eye's on the center of the circle of drums.
Suddenly, from a section of the clearing just beyond the blazing fire, appeared a tawny, black, lithe form in very brief top and bottom.
Jane looked closely, and saw that it was a young girl -- probably Odetta.
The girl flung herself outward, toward the fire, until it seemed to Jane that she would topple into it. Jane let out a little cry, as the girl swayed backward, just short of the flames.
With that, the drums rose in pitch and cadence, seeming to send out invisible arms which caught and held the lithe, voluptuous girl in their grasp. Odetta writhed and jumped, her breasts shaking, as, slowly, she went around the circle of men. Jane felt oddly out of place, her white skin shining like a beacon in the dimness of the surrounding night.
At last, Odetta stopped, directly in front of Alexander, her body moving in a jumble of quick, jerking movements, her eyes glazed. Backing up slowly, she put herself on full display by the roaring fire, her arms reaching out, seeking Alexander, who was sitting on the hard earth, staring intently at the girl before him.
Odetta was, by the symbolic ritual of the dance, offering herself to Alexander. Acid entered Jane.
Abruptly, Jane punched Alexander on the shoulder, her voice a barely concealed whisper.
"Let's go," she whispered, but Alexander shook his head vigorously.
"It's too early," he whispered back, "and besides, Mama Lu would never forgive me."
And so, for the next fifteen minutes, Jane was treated to the sight of Odetta offering herself to Alexander. At the end of the dance, exhausted, Odetta leaned her sweat-shining upper body toward the fire, suddenly removing the upper part of her flimsy covering.
Her great breasts heaved and shuddered, shaking savagely in Alexander's direction. Alexander smiled at the offered loveliness, and laughed out loud as Odetta fled from the firesite, her dance completed. Jane was finding herself, steadily, more and more uncomfortable.
All at once, she noticed that bowls of liquid were being passed around the circle of men and women. Alexander, his eyes hazing, put a hand to his fore-head, and closed his eyes.
"Not feeling well, Alexander?" Jane whispered, leaning toward him in the half-light of the fire.
"I'll be all right," he said, taking a cup and passing it to Jane. "None for me," be added quickly, "I've got a bad stomach."
All at once, Jane was filled with anxiety. Had she made a mistake in giving Mama Lu's potion to Alexander?
A thrill of apprehension went down Jane's back. What if the "potion" turned out to be poison? Jane cast a quick look at Mama Lu, and then looked away. She might have poisoned Alexander unknowingly.
To Jane's immense relief, Alexander's condition did not worsen. In fact, he began to sip on the remains of Jane's drink, few moments after his refusing the other cup of the gritty, pungent liquid.
He looked at her for a moment, and nodded in the direction of Odetta's flight.
"Did you like the dance?" he asked, his right eye-brow raised, his expression slightly amused.
"Yes, of course I did," Jane murmured, averting her eyes from Alexander's for a moment.
"I'll bet," Alexander chuckled.
"Do you think I'm jealous of Odetta?" Jane asked softly.
"Yes."
Jane smiled. `"Well, perhaps I am, in a way. After all, you've known her all your life -- and you've only known me for a few days."
As the drinks passed around the circle, Jane felt herself becoming more and more relaxed. The pungency of the drink, at first annoying, after a time became delightful. She found that the drinks had a soothing effect upon her and that, after a time, she no longer noticed where one drink began and the other drink left off.
Finally, Jane was feeling the full effect of a half hour of steady imbibing, and was noticing also that Alexander seemed unaffected by his steady indulging in the rough, coarse beverage.
Suddenly, Jane leaned forward, and looked at Alexander dolefully, her long hair falling about her shoulders.
"Do you desire me, Alexander?" she asked softly, a feeling of disbelief spreading through her at her words. Jane could not believe her boldness.
"I don't know," Alexander said, a twinkle in his eye. "Why don't you try me and find out?"
Suddenly, Jane was on her feet.
She jumped into the middle of the circle of drums, her hair flying wildly, her eyes blazing. Immediately, she stripped herself of her clothes, and began a throbbing, wild dance of such passionate intensity that the crowd of onlookers gasped in amazement.
As the drums beat faster, Jane felt herself losing control of her impulses, as the ancient, primitive lust of the natural woman overtook her. It was as though she were caught up in a hurricane of feeling over which she had absolutely no control whatever. Her eyes glazing, she felt herself melt into the feeling of the moment -- each movement was an expression of desire, each swaying of the hips an incredible gesture of longing. It was a dance of hunger which Jane executed, and it was directed at Alexander. As she moved, her generous breasts shook passionately, her willowy thighs flexing wildly to the rhythm of the drums. At last, the dance finished, Jane subsided, to the appreciative hoots of the audience -- which was mostly male.
Alexander smiled, seeing Jane fetch her clothing self-consciously and put it on.
"That," he said evenly, "was quite a performance."
"A lot you seemed to notice! You looked like you enjoyed Odetta's `performance' much better!"
Alexander shrugged his shoulders. "I enjoyed them both."
"Oh!" Jane exulted. "A politician!"
Alexander glanced at Jane speculatively.
"I don't play politics."
Jane snorted disgustedly.
"You were supposed to react passionately' At least, that's what Mama Lu promised!"
Alexander grabbed Jane's arm angrily.
"What did Mama Lu tell you?"
His grip on her arm told Jane that Alexander meant business.
"She gave me a -- a love potion -- and told me that it would make you want me." A half-puzzled look came over Alexander's features suddenly.
"Is that what you gave me when we first got here -- that drink that tasted funny?"
Jane nodded her head shamefacedly.
"Yes," she said.
Alexander laughed out loud.
"I don't need any damn love potion!" he growled, taking Jane by the arm and hauling her out of the clearing abruptly.
Finding a trail that led out of the grove of trees, Alexander led Jane along it roughly, so that her feet barely touched the ground.
He pitched her onto the earth, which was warm and soft, and in an instant Jane's skin was exposed, warm and bare, to the heavy night air. The air felt like liquid to Jane's trembling body, as Alexander took possession of her roughly, urgently.
With one mighty plunge, his staff pierced her to the quick, and she was crying out, gasping involuntarily, as she felt the strength of his embrace.
Slowly, inch by wonderfully painful inch, Jane felt the immensity of him as he entered her. She closed her eyes, moving her hands over his magnificent, broad back, her breath coming in tiny, spurting gasps.
"Oh Alexander," she whispered urgently. "Oh it feels wonderful... oh God yes... do it... oh yes... oh please... it feels so... so... oh... ohhhhhh yes!"
With a strong, rifling rhythm, Alexander probed the white woman beneath him, plunging himself into her, cruelly, savagely.
Jane let out a whimper, which soon turned into a scream, as she felt the hard, manhood pierce her to the hilt. The low, heavy, slapping sound of love filled the jungle night, as, there on the narrow trail, Jane learned a variety of pleasures -- and pains -- that a man could visit upon a woman.
At last, rising to the extremity, Alexander let out a great shout as he exploded into the eager, sobbing woman beneath him. The lovemaking continued on and on, rising to a crescendo and falling off slowly, passionately.
"Oh my Lord," Jane gasped, "oh dear God ..
Her words caught in her throat as she felt the last full measure of Alexander's warm, rippling life flow into her.
Gripping him passionately, eagerly, with her loins, Jane let herself be caressed into a half-dreaming state, her eyes half closed, her breathing soft, delicate.
It was fully an hour before Jane, in sweet exhaustion, entered the clearing in the center of the grove of trees.
Noticing her disheveled appearance, Mama Lu approached Jane stealthily.
"Did my potion work?" she whispered, her eyes traveling the length of the well-loved young white woman.
Jane Morrow breathed a long sigh, and gazed happily at the old woman before her.
"Oh boy!" she said. "Did it ever!"