Chapter 5
That evening, in her bedroom, Melinda went to work on the distillery filtration project. Not only was she anxious to complete it as soon as possible in order to prove her worth to the community, but she believed it would take her mind off the sin she had committed with Ed.
However, as Melinda tried to concentrate on the chemistry textbooks, seeking to work out the formulas she needed, memories of Ed's thrilling lovemaking returned to her mind, bringing with them guilt. She had behaved like a tramp, she believed, even enjoying Ed's awful licking and sucking between her legs. That was an out and out perversion. Still, her body reminded her of how good the cunnilingus had felt.
Melinda finally gave up her project and went to bed. Surprisingly, she dropped off to sleep in less than a minute.
Her next day at school was another exercise in horror and frustration. The big boys misbehaved atrociously, keeping the class in constant chaos. Ed didn't appear to offer help, nor did any of the other townspeople. Only Melinda's faith in the project she was working on at home gave her the strength to continue.
Toward the end of the day, Jasper shot a spitwad at May Williamson while the blonde thirteen-year-old was writing at the blackboard. The missile struck her a stinging blow on the butt, causing her to shriek. Billy saw what had happened and jumped Jasper. The boys rolled in the aisle, wrestling and slugging.
Melinda screamed at them to stop, but neither paid any attention. Jasper quickly managed to subdue the smaller boy, straddling him on the floor. He mercilessly punched Billy in the face until Billy's nose was bloodied and he cried.
For Melinda, this was the last straw as far as Jasper was concerned. The hulking youth, in addition to almost raping her on the first day of school, had been one of the leading instigators of trouble among the other children. Melinda decided to make an example of him.
She dismissed the rest of the class and told Jasper, "I'm going to have a talk with your parents. Where do you live?"
Jasper grinned insolently. "Just a whoop and a holler from here, Miss Johnson. It won't do you no good to talk to my old man, though. He'll be boozed up by this time of day."
"Doesn't he work?"
"Sometimes he helps out on the farms. But he ain't been working lately." Jasper swiped a hand across his runny nose.
"Is your mother at home?" Melinda asked. "Sure. She's always laying around." He snickered.
"Well, I'm going to walk home with you," Melinda said sternly. "And you hadn't better try anything funny, do you understand? If you so much as touch me, I'll tell Ed Tackett."
"Shit, he don't scare me."
"Jasper!" Melinda's cheek colored. "I never want to hear you use that word again."
The big boy grinned mockingly and turned away. Melinda quickly straightened her desk, then accompanied Jasper from the schoolhouse. Despite the disdain for Ed's authority which the unruly youth had expressed, he made no attempt to get fresh with Melinda as they walked the short distance to his house.
When they were within sight of it--one of the most dilapidated shacks in the community--Jasper said, "I got things to do, teacher," and promptly cut out on a lope across an open field.
Melinda squared her shoulders and walked to the front door of the unpainted house. She rapped.
"Yeah-who is it?" a male voice growled from within.
"Why don't you get up and see, you lazy good-for-nothing?" a female countered.
In a moment the door was opened by a burly, bewhiskered man in a torn plaid shirt and dirty Levi's. His shirtsleeves were rolled halfway up, revealing the grimy sleeves of a union suit. Melinda couldn't understand how anyone could wear such a garment in hot weather.
The repulsive man's bloodshot eyes moved over the pretty girl, inspecting her short skirt and close-fitting blouse. His thick lips parted to reveal crooked, discolored teeth.
"You're Jasper's teacher, ain't you?" he said thickly.
"Yes, Mr. Banes, I am. My name's Miss Johnson. I would like to talk to you about Jasper, if I may."
A girl with long black hair appeared from the dimness of the shack, to stand behind Banes. Melinda assumed she was Jasper's older sister.
Banes's eyes turned evil, and he snarled, "I ain't got nothing to talk to you about, young woman."
"Well, I have something to say to you!" Melinda snapped. "Your son's conduct in school is deplorable. Unless you make him behave, I'll have to expel him from the class."
"Yeah?" Banes drawled menacingly, and looked her up and down. He swayed and steadied himself on the splintery doorjamb. His eyes were glazed. "Seems as though you ain't got much cause to complain about the kids, including my Jasper. Some of the fellas told me how you treated them when they took their young'uns to school the first day. I couldn't go myself. I was working." He belched loudly.
Banes's whiskey breath and unkempt appearance nauseated Melinda. But she persevered. "What happened the first day was a misunderstanding," she said. "But that doesn't excuse Jasper's terrible conduct. Every day he's had a fight with someone. He picks on the girls. Why, he ... he even took after me." She didn't want to say any more about the attempted rape, because she didn't want to involve Ed.
Banes raised a heavy arm and made a swatting motion, as if he were attacking a fly. "I don't want to hear any of that shit! My Jasper's as good as any of the other kids. If you can't handle them, I figure it's your fault."
Belching again, Banes pushed past Melinda and swayed down the path to the street. He pulled a flask out of his hip pocket, uncorked it, and tilted it to his mouth as he lurched along.
Astonished and angered by his uncalled-for rudeness, Melinda turned to face the young woman, who remained in the doorway. She was pretty, though she wore no make-up, and her dress was a simple cotton sheath. She was slender and bore no resemblance to the other members of the family.
"He's a bastard, ain't he?" the girl said, not smiling.
Melinda was taken aback. "That isn't any way to talk about your father."
"Hah!" The girl laughed without humor. "He ain't my father. He's my husband!"
"But..."
"I'm his second wife, of course. His first wife died a couple of years ago. He worked her to death." She gave Melinda a slight smile. "My name's Lucy."
"I'm Melinda."
Lucy looked Melinda over. "I like the way you stood up to Josiah. Men don't scare you much, do they?"
"No," Melinda admitted, and elevated her chin. "Judging from what I heard about how you told off the fathers on the first day of school, you don't cotton much to men nohow."
"I dislike rudeness," Melinda said.
Lucy laughed. "The men around here is the rudest of the lot, especially to their womenfolk." Her eyes were warming gradually. "Say, you're all right. Want to come in and visit with me for a spell?" Lucy stepped back from the doorway.
Melinda wasn't eager to enter the house. It looked dirty and smelled worse. But she felt she couldn't afford to reject a gesture of friendship from one of the townspeople.
"Thank you," she said, and stepped into the house.
The small front room contained a potbellied stove, two chairs, and an iron four-poster bed. There were no curtains at the windows. The shades were frayed and torn. One of the chairs was an old-fashioned overstuffed model from which the stuffing was coming out. The linoleum on the floor was faded and cracked. Dust balls lurked in the corners and under the unmade, filthy-looking bed.
Melinda wanted to back out of the house as soon as she had entered, but she controlled the urge.
"Sit down," Lucy said, giving a little wave, indicating Melinda could take her pick of places to sit.
She didn't trust the large, broken chair, and the other chair was straight and hard. She chose the edge of the bed, first carefully pushing back the rumpled covers.
"Want something to drink?" Lucy asked.
"Oh no, thank you," Melinda said quickly.
Lucy sat beside her and smiled. "You know, I ain't lived here in the hills all my life. I was in Knoxville awhile. I worked at a dance hall there." She gave Melinda a close look and laughed softly. "You really learn about life in a joint like that."
"I suppose you do," Melinda said, trying to be pleasant and feeling very superior.
"Mainly you learn what bastards men are," Lucy went on. "But you also learn how to get along with girls."
"Did you meet your husband at the dance hall?" Melinda asked, merely to make conversation.
"Josiah? Oh, hell no. That prick ain't ever been outa this county."
Melinda reddened slightly at the younger woman's language.
"I was born here myself," Lucy said. "Went to Knoxville to live with my aunt when I was fourteen. I got a job at the dance hall by lying about my age." She glanced away. "But I got into trouble, and my aunt didn't want me around any more. So I had to come back here. That was right after Josiah's wife had died, and . . . well... I needed some place to go, 'cause it was hell living at home." She moved closer to Melinda. "Say, honey, am I boring you?"
"No, not at all," Melinda said quickly.
"Gee, you're sure pretty!" Lucy was looking at her in a strange way.
Melinda became nervous. "Well, thank you. You're pretty yourself."
"You think so?" Lucy fondled her straight dark hair.
"Yes. I would say you're way too pretty for that man you're married to."
"Shit, honey, that ain't no compliment." Lucy laughed coarsely. "But I know you meant it right." She kept watching Melinda.
"The reason I came," Melinda said, avoiding the other woman's unsettling gaze, "was to talk about Jasper. He's been quite a problem at school."
"I can't help you a bit with that one," Lucy said. "It's all I can do to keep clear of him." She looked down. "He's caught me a few times, though. One thing I can say for him--at least he can fuck."
Melinda was appalled.
Lucy continued. "All his old man can do is stick his pecker in my mouth."
Melinda's stomach lurched.
Lucy smiled suddenly and put her arm around the blonde girl. "I'm lucky you stopped by. Hey, let's not waste the time we've got, huh? Lie back on the bed."
Consternation swamped Melinda. She had thought there was something strange about Lucy, but she hadn't realized what it involved. Suddenly she was being pushed to a prone position on the bed, and the dark-haired girl was leaning over her, practically lying atop her.
"No!" Melinda exclaimed. "Please!"
"Just hush, baby," Lucy murmured, petting Melinda's cheek, then her breasts. "I can make you feel real good."
Horrified, Melinda was aware that her skirt was being pulled up. Lucy's hand was on her belly, petting her through her panties. Melinda was offended. But her brain reeled from the sudden turn in the situation and from Lucy's intimate caresses.
Lucy moved so quickly and deftly that Melinda's panties were pulled off before she could do anything about it.
"Oh, you're so nice and blonde all over!" Lucy gushed, and rubbed her hand up and down between Melinda's legs.
Melinda moaned and tried to get up, but she couldn't make her muscles function. The other woman's touch excited her just like a man's. Lucy quickly turned her onto her side and unzipped her dress. Helplessly Melinda felt her dress being pulled off, then her bra. She was totally naked.
"Such pretty tits!" Lucy said, and bent to fasten her warm, moist lips to a pale-pink nipple.
A thrill blossomed from the point of suction, permeating Melinda's body. Lucy's hand returned to Melinda's loins, lighting an even hotter fire as she fondled the soft, pliant lips of Melinda's pussy.
Melinda said, "Ooh . . . oooh . . . oooh half in pleasure, half in protest, but she know she couldn't stop what Lucy had begun to do. Despite Melinda's belief that it was horribly wrong, at the moment her body wanted it to happen and her moral will had lost control.
Lucy licked Melinda's nipple more tenderly than Ed or Harry had ever done. Then the experienced young Lesbian caught the dainty nub between her lips and tugged on it, gently shaking Melinda's full, quivery tit.
Lucy's middle finger wormed its way into Melinda's cunt and slowly stroked the sensitive inner surfaces of her passage, which became flooded by lubricant. The maddening finger circled and plunged, diddling Melinda more pleasurably than she ever had diddled herself.
While continuing to suck Melinda's tit, Lucy deftly stripped the hood away from Melinda's tingling, hard clit and caught the slippery pearl between two fingers. She rolled and pinched it delightfully.
Melinda's senses whirled. Her body throbbed madly. Lucy had awakened every sensation which a man was capable of arousing and had made them even more intense because of her woman's knowledge.
Suddenly Lucy stopped, and the bed creaked as she knelt upright. Melinda opened her eyes and tried to look at her, but for a moment Melinda's eyes wouldn't focus. When she was able to see Lucy clearly, the young woman had stripped off her own dress and was wiggling her white cotton panties down her legs. Melinda stared at Lucy's dark-haired snatch, the tendrils thick and long and curling against her white thighs.
Good Lord! Melinda thought. I'm with another woman! Another woman! It was as if the shattering truth had just dawned on her.
Lucy bent forward at right angles to Melinda's body and spread Melinda's lovely legs apart. Her long dark hair cascaded over Melinda's thighs and belly as she pressed her face into Melinda's crotch. Noisily Lucy licked and sucked at Melinda's honeypot.
The bewildered blonde moaned. Her belly bumped spastically as Lucy's lascivious tongue worked in and out of her cuntal folds. Ed had done this, and it had thrilled Melinda immensely, but somehow his touch had been different. He was more dynamic, moving more quickly, as if he were thinking of getting on to something else. Lucy was languorous, treating the cunnilingus as an end in itself. She knew exactly where and how to lick in order to produce the maximum sensual response. Melinda's nerves jumped wildly.
After a while Lucy raised her head. Her dark eyes were soft. "Now you do me, huh?" she suggested.
Before Melinda could indicate a response, or even comprehend fully what was meant, Lucy turned and aimed her ass toward Melinda's face. She swung astride her.
Melinda stared at the soft white buttocks in front of her, and at the dark cleft between them. Lucy backed up, bringing her ass closer to Melinda's face. A combination of fragrances touched Melinda's nostrils. One was a strong woman-smell, unfreshened by recent bathing. The other was a more earthy scent, mixed with the sweat of Lucy's crack.
The smells descended thickly upon Melinda, becoming suffocating as Lucy lowered her ass against Melinda's face. Her stale cunt pressed crosswise on Melinda's lips, and her asshole touched the tip of Melinda's nose. The fastidious blonde suffered a wave of vertigo. She couldn't move and didn't dare inhale.
But as Lucy wrapped her arms around Melinda's thighs, spreading them wide apart, then jammed her face into Melinda's crotch, sucking and licking avidly, pleasurable sensations swamped Melinda's brain, overwhelming the effect of the gross odors.
Lucy writhed, grinding her moistening cunt against Melinda's mouth. Slowly at first, then with an almost insane compulsion, Melinda fluttered her tongue in Lucy'sunwashed cunt as Lucy tongued her sweet, fresh one.
Melinda took huge drafts of asshole-scented air. They made her brain light but no longer gave her an urge to be ill. With Lucy tongue-fucking her hot cunt deliriously, the earthy fragrance, along with the acrid taste and scent of Lucy's twat, excited Melinda all the more. She twisted and bumped beneath the other girl. She moaned and gripped Lucy's hips, licking her cunt harder. But the release that Melinda needed seemed far away.
Suddenly Lucy stiffened and stopped kissing Melinda. The slender young woman vibrated and lay still. After a few moments, she rolled off Melinda and sat up to face her.
Melinda felt desperately frustrated. A cock! she thought wildly. I need a cock! But there was no cock to be had.
Lucy grinned. "Did you get your rocks off, honey? Wow, it was sure great for me!"
Melinda sat up and said scornfully, "I didn't get anything out of it. I'm not a queer!"
Lucy's face turned spiteful. "Yeah? You sure gave me the come-on."
"That's a filthy lie!" Melinda exclaimed. She tried to cover her pussy and breasts.
"How about the way you told off the guys at the schoolhouse and stood up to Josiah a little while ago? You sure as hell ain't a man's girl, honey!"
"I think you're disgusting!" Melinda stormed. "And do you want to know something else? You stink!"
She leaped from the bed and snatched up her clothes.
"Well, piss on you, baby!" Lucy shot back. "I'm going to fix your wagon in this town, but good! Wait until I tell Josiah that you put the make on me? He don't know I'm a Lez, and I don't particularly want him to find out. So you might say I'm acting in self-defense, seeing as how I can't trust you." Her eyes glinted.
Melinda got dressed as rapidly as she could, and she tried not to think about Lucy's threat. But as she hurried from the cabin without saying good-bye, she felt the hot water bubbling around her. Things were apt to get worse for her in Horner's Hollow.
Melinda had no sooner arrived home and entered her bedroom before the door opened and Preacher Perkins walked in.
"Damn you!" Melinda exploded. "How dare you come in here without knocking!"
Perkins raised his hand to silence her. "Watch what you say, my dear," he whispered. "Sarah's in the other room."
"I hope she hears," Melinda said loudly.
"Oh, no you don't," the preacher answered in a soft tone. He smiled confidently. "The longer you stay here and the better you get to know Horner's Hollow, the more you will want to leave. I'm your only way out, little lady. That is, unless you want to run like a bitch, with your tail between your legs."
Furious, Melinda swung her hand at his face, but he caught it and quickly drew her close, crushing her breasts against him. His liquor-scented mouth caught hers, and he kissed her with his long, saliva-coated tongue. He ran a hand down her back, lewdly pawing her buttocks.
Melinda went limp. In a moment, Perkins pushed her away.
"It's obvious that you are not ready yet," he said. "But I can wait... for a while. Just don't keep me waiting too long. Remember what I said about Florida or California. Pick the place, Melinda. There will be enough money so we can enjoy ourselves. The best hotels and restaurants, a new wardrobe for you . . . whatever your little heart desires."
Perkins touched her on the tip of the nose and gave her an oily smile. Then he turned and quietly left the room.
Melinda threw herself onto the bed and cried.