Chapter 7
John stayed with me a long time. He petted and caressed me as if I were a bride and that amazing cock of his never did go entirely flaccid. We whispered things we remembered from childhood and I began to get a feel for the isolation the Duncans and de Vascas had known at Casa del Gato in the years when he was growing up. His parents and Kim's had been as free-thinking as he now was, he told me. And he and Kim had responded naturally to the atmosphere of frank sex; he and his then-black-haired cousin had launched their sexual careers together when he was fourteen and she twelve. And one of their prime requirements when ideas of marriage began to form was to bring home individuals who could be happy and generous in such an environment.
We were in my bed, snuggling cozily after the second or third fucking, when he sighed and admitted something that removed a great weight from my mind.
"That was a funny time," he said in a musing tone. "When Kim and I were starting, I mean. Well, maybe even a year or so before that. Kim was just turning into a woman-sprouting breasts and all that-and I was a couple of years ahead of her. Lolita-she was about the most oversexed woman I ever met. Christ, was she hot! And I'll bet I hadn't any more than found out what a hard-on was when she taught me what it was for! You know the chain and key she's wearing in that portrait? She wore the damn thing. All the time! Anne, even when she undressed she kept it on! I never saw her without it! And she used to say it was the key to her pussy. Anyhow, my mother got incensed about Lolita getting to me first. And she took on the job of teaching me the things Lolita had overlooked."
I gasped and John laughed comfortably.
He continued. "Aunt Jenny figured she knew a few little things the Mexican broads didn't, so she gave me some lessons, too. God! I like to fucked myself to death there for about a year! And poor little Kim seemed so naive and ignorant that first time. Only thing she had going for her was, she was just as hot as Lolita! And did she learn fast! I never could understand how I happened to get to her before my dad-or hers."
Afterward, when he'd gone back to his own bedroom and Rose, I knew what he'd been saying. There hadn't been any good reason to tell me all those things about Casa del Gato's sex history. But Rose had surely confided in him about Rolf-both about her own experiences with my son and the fact he'd made love to me-and John had been thoughtful enough to give me a shield against any future embarrassment over my relationship with my fifteen-year-old.
He took with him the aura of strength and confidence that had robbed the ghostly episodes of their effect. The shapeless dread I'd begun to live with returned and the shadows no longer seemed friendly.
I did sleep a little, though. And when day came my elation over knowing John loved me filled me with energy a week's sleep couldn't have. I know my eyes were sparkling. I know I radiated my new happiness and telegraphed to everybody what had happened during the night. And everybody warmed to my behavior and glowed with welcome-except Maria.
Oh, Blaine was an exception of sorts, too. He was obviously as pleased as the rest, and he didn't hesitate to let me know it. But he did so with glances that assured me he'd be cashing in on the swapping situation before I could do more than turn around. His leering eagerness frightened me horribly and it was only the promise I'd made John that enabled me to respond with an assenting smile.
Maria was something else. If I'd been alone with her I think she'd have killed me without changing expression. Her eyes had a stricken, abandoned, haunted expression and her face could have been a model for a portrait in despair. She hardly touched her breakfast and she didn't even come to lunch at all.
I noted her reaction and forgot it; there was too much happiness to be lived. The library had always been a delightful place for me because of the fact I shared it with John, but that day it was sickening in its atmosphere of euphoria. I'd never been quite so inflated by joy in my life. And the day was over almost before it had begun.
Rolf was waiting in the arcade for me. "You've got to come see the snakes, Mom," he insisted.
Now, I could have spent the rest of my life contented without visiting Blaine's rattlesnakes. But I couldn't put a damper on my son's enthusiasm. If something about the damn snakes had stirred him I'd bury my own reluctance and encourage him the way I had about spiders when he was ten, and frogs when he was eleven, and....
Well, a mother was special in her son's universe.
If she wanted him to develop intellectual curiosity, she tried to share his enthusiasms. So we went to the compound. I knew the snakes were defanged-that they were contented in the natural surroundings Blaine provided-but it was a struggle to overcome my fear of going into the enclosure. Several of the big reptiles glided to him at once. And although he offered them nothing to eat they raised their heads and appeared to preen while he stroked them. In moments, he had a half-dozen crawling on him.
"Come on, Mom. Sit down and get acquainted."
The air was unusually chilly and I expected the sand to be cold, but it was only a little less than body temperature. I wasn't really enthused about sitting, though; it would have been nice to feel I could rim if I wanted to. But the small rattler that left Rolf and came toward me reminded me somehow of a curious adolescent, and I watched it with amusement. Following Rolfs low-voiced instructions, I put my hand on the ground and let the little fellow explore it with its flickering tongue. The sensation was of a lightning-rapid touch a hundred times lighter than John's feather. But when the snake rubbed its chin in my hand the similarity ended.
Rolf's eyes glittered and he trembled with excitement. "Mom! Fantastic! The very first try! And Joe's shy!"
Joe. Shy? Maybe, but he was certainly working up an ecstasy with his chin rustling over my arm. I think I must have been a little hysterical at that moment. All I could think of was how dry and silky his skin was. The scales made it seem silky, I supposed. And it would be ridiciulous to expect slime in this desert setting. In fact, the concept of
"coldbloodedness" seemed terribly misleading right then. His body temperature was about the same as the sand and felt warm on my arm.
I was so bemused and concentrated so on his temperature and texture I didn't even react when he began crawling up my arm. He coiled one loop, then another, of his body around the limb and worked his way steadily upward, clearly satisfied I meant him no harm. But when two of the larger rattlers approached me I protested.
"Oh, God, Rolf! Look!"
He acted as if he were beside himself with delight. "Yeah! Jeez, Mom! You're fabulous! That's just how they are with Maria!"
His mention of Maria's name was like a needle. I gritted my teeth and remained stationary. Joe continued crawling up my arm and the darker of the other two reconnoitered my knee with his flicking tongue. Rolf leaned forward, ignoring the snakes that had settled themselves on him, and watched avidly.
"That dark one is Diablo," he whispered. "The other big one is Pedro. Mom, they really like you!"
Diablo heaved himself onto my thigh and crawled across my lap, curling himself into a solid lump in the depression and hiding his head. Pedro acted less sure of himself. Again and again his tongue flickered over my stocking and time after time he drew his head back to study the shimmering surface.
"Pet him, Mom. Rub his head, real slow. Don't startle him."
Leaning on the hand Joe had crawled over, I extended the other slowly toward Pedro's head. He arched his neck and watched, unblinking. But he did let me touch him, and I stroked the hard head gently without alarming him. At length he dropped back to the sand and resumed his exploration of my leg.
But I lost interest in him abruptly. Joe's head had slipped through the armhole of my blouse and his body was following.
"Omigod, Rolf! Rolf! What do I do now!"
"He won't hurt you, Mom. Just hold still. When he gets settled, you can get him out without getting him upset."
"To hell with that! I'm upset right now!"
"Don't bug him, Mom! He'll bite!"
"BITE! I though they were defanged!"
"Sure! But they've still got teeth! And they can bite pretty hard! Look." He grasped one of the rattlers by the neck and pressed the points of its jaw. The mouth gaped to reveal rows of needle-sharp, gleaming teeth.
I gave up the idea of arguing with Joe. But I writhed inwardly. His head glided over the upper bulge of my breast and into the hollow between the warm mounds. I realized too late that my round-shouldered posture pressed my boobies toward each other and let the bra gap where the cups were joined by a broad band. Into the pocket the gap made went Joe's head. And while I held my breath and stifled a shriek of terror, he began to crowd his body in. He was a firm, muscular snake. His body was so much harder than the tissue in my breasts there was no comparison. And he crowded them and reshaped them to make room for himself.
Not content merely to have found a warm, snug place to sleep, he explored. His head probed restlessly inside my left cup until it reached my nipple, and I nearly fainted from the sensation he produced when he flicked his tongue over the sensitized surface.
New horror waited for my attention. Pedro had discovered the boundary between stocking and flesh, nosing out a place where I'd carelessly let my skirt hike. And he was dragging his thick bulk over my thigh and out of sight under my skirt. I whimpered helplessly while he forced his way into the dark nest at my crotch. And when he'd settled and was a warm, motionless mass against my pussy, I looked up to see Rolf grinning broadly.
"You rat!" I hissed at him. "You knew they'd do that!"
"No! Mom, I didn't! Honest! There's none of them inside my clothes!"
He was telling the truth. I realized my predicament was as much a surprise to him as to me. But he was taking it better, and I could see he enjoyed it.
"Boy!" He grinned. "Those guys know what they're doing!"
As I gradually became accustomed to the notion of having snakes curled up in sensitive areas-or having them touch me at all, I guess-I calmed. There was nothing repulsive about the way their skin felt to me. And the ribbed strength and firmness of their bodies did enable them to thrust against me in a way that aroused intensely pleasurable tingles. So I simply sat and learned to enjoy an aspect of Rolf's new interest he hadn't anticipated.
His eyes widened suddenly and he drew a sharp breath. "Mom!" he whispered. "Turn your head real slow! Look!"
I did so. Perhaps fifteen feet from me, I saw the most enormous rattler I'd ever dreamed of. It had a distinctive set of markings and at the center of each diamond on its back was a dark spot that looked iridescent. I gasped.
"He's Blaine's favorite," whispered Rolf. "Biggest one he's ever seen. He says he's the king."
"What's he call him?"
Rolf chuckled softly. "He let Maria name him. She fell in love with it when Blaine caught it."
"What's she call it?"
"Don Juan. I think she means after her father."
I was sure she'd do that. But I damn well wasn't going to have that monster curling up against my pussy! Or anywhere else on me! He was just too big.
"How do I get rid of these passengers?" I asked Rolf. "I think it's time I get out of here."
"Well...." Rolf hesitated. "Okay, I think I know. Let me get these guys off first." Gently and patiently he urged one rattler after another off him until they'd all left. Moving slowly and easily, he stepped behind me.
"If you'll unbutton the top couple of buttons on your blouse I'll unfasten your bra, Mom. Know where Joe's head is?"
I nodded and pointed at my left breast. "Inside the cup."
His eyes widened. "Can't afford to scare him, then. When you've got your blouse unbuttoned far enough put your hand inside-up by your shoulder-and hang onto the strap so the bra doesn't go loose too quick. Then just do what I tell you."
I unfastened buttons from my neckline to a point below my breasts. And I held the strap at my shoulder while Rolf reached inside the back of my blouse and unfastened the hooks in my bra.
"I'm going to get my hand in there and get his neck, Mom. Let go of the strap when I say. But I've got to get my fingers over him first, while he can't see what they are. He'll just think it's another snake and he won't mind that."
His hand slid past mine and onto the pulsing flesh of my breast. I heard his breath hiss sharply and imagined he was reacting to the unexpected chance to feel me up. But his fingers moved steadily, worming their way between flesh and cup until they encountered Joe's neck.
"Now, Mom. Don't get uptight. I want to get my thumb under his chin. I don't think he'd bite you now, but it's not worth the risk."
"All right," I whispered. The sensation of that young hand inside my bra was fast destroying my composure, but I hadn't any way to prepare for the jolt of excitement that rocked me when his thumbnail depressed my nipple and wedged Joe's chin away from it. With a quick, fluid movement, my son's hand closed on the quiet snake.
"Let go of the strap!"
I let go and the cups fell forward away from my boobies. Rolf withdrew his hand, Joe's body jerking and coiling around his wrist. The rattles buzzed with a sound like the rustling of dry leaves while he carried Joe away from me. In a moment he came back and lifted Diablo off my lap. I couldn't go through the contortions of refastening my bra, but I'd already buttoned my blouse. And I knew what had to be done about Pedro.
When Rolf had deposited Diablo and returned, I steeled myself.
"He's burrowed down real snug, hon. I think his head is right against the crotch of my panties. I'll get the skirt out of the way when you're ready."
He colored. "Mom, I don't think that's very good."
"Why?"
"I think the light's going to startle him. And when I move my hand to get hold of him he's going to strike at something."
"Oh, dear! You've got to go after him blind?"
"You could do it."
Like hell I could, I thought. I wasn't about to try that. Rolf could stick his hand up my twat to his shoulder first!
"You do it," I murmured. "Listen. That knob at the corner of his head-it's pushed right against my clitoris."
"Jeez!" There was a distinct note of awe in his voice. "Jeez, Mom!" He grinned delightedly. "Good thing he isn't rubbing!"
"It's been bad enough as it is. Get him out of there!"
He stretched on the sand and ran his hand up the ridge of my thigh. When his fingers reached my panties he slid them gently across and onto my mound. And while I held my breath and perspired because I couldn't prevent my pussy from squirming when his hand burrowed against it, he got to Pedro's neck and drew the bulky body slowly into the open.
I sagged back onto the sand and went limp. Out of the comer of my eye I watched Rolf as he placed Pedro at the base of one of the heaps of rocks. He started back.
"Mom!" His tone was urgent. "Move easy, but get up!"
Suddenly taut in every muscle, I pushed myself to a sitting position, then rose carefully. Behind me, the forward two feet of his magnificent body raised inquisitively, Don Juan reared motionless.
"Omigod!" I groaned huskily.
Rolf's low voice steadied me. "He's willing to make friends, Mom! Don't miss the chance!"
I reached toward the elevated head and found myself stroking its massive bumps. The rattler responded almost as Margarita might have. He arched his neck and swayed gently. And when he started to explore my hand with the darting tongue I held absolutely still for him. But I didn't encourage him to use my arm for a ramp, nor did he attempt to. When he'd thoroughly explored my hand and forearm he lowered himself to the sand and watched me, merely holding his head a few inches off the ground.
"Now, Rolf? Please?"
"Sure."
We left the compound. To my surprise, Rolf was far more enthused by the antics of the rattlers than by the opportunity he'd had to feel me up. Even when I stopped and had him fasten my bra he kept talking about his new friends.
"They're weird, aren't they, Mom! Cool!"
In all honesty I had to agree with him. They'd shown distinct personalities and the horror I'd always felt for reptiles seemed to have left me. I didn't have to pretend interest; it was real. And I found myself agreeable to Rolfs urging that I visit the compound more often. I did make a promise to myself, however. I was going to be more cautious about getting down on the ground around those brutes!
Rolf was full of the news I'd made friends with the snakes; he made the announcement at supper as proudly as if I'd achieved some remarkable goal. The others appeared to share his delight and even Maria regarded me with something less hostile than her usual glare.
John and I spent an hour in the library after the meal, mostly reviewing what needed to be done before we could ship the nearly completed manuscript, and then we started to lock up. The lantern was missing again.
John's expression clouded fiercely and he swore a long string of blistering epithets. When he'd seemingly run out of steam I suggested I might have an idea what was happening to the lantern.
"What, for Christ's sake?"
Wincing at the expression of incredulity that quickly spread over his features, I described the ghostly figure of the garden. "Whoever or whatever it was, it came into the library through that window we found open," I told him in conclusion.
"Well, the damn window was open. We know that. And nobody has the key but you and me-the key to the door, I mean. I'd rather think it was a ghost that opened that window than try to believe somebody else could pick the lock on the door."
"Honey?"
"Yeah?"
"Are there any spare locks here?"
He looked puzzled, then appeared to understand. "I think so. In the basement shop."
"Would it be much trouble to replace this one?"
"No. Blaine and I could do it in about a half-hour."
"Would you? And just for tonight would you keep the key?"
"Huh?"
"Please, honey?"
After a long pause he nodded. "Okay. I know what you're saying. Come on."
Blaine grumbled at first, but he helped John and before we went upstairs for the night there was a new lock in the library door and John had the keys. If my ghost went through the window, John would know I hadn't walked in my sleep and unlocked the door and all the other things I'd have to do.
I went to bed knowing the "ghost" would walk in the garden before morning. And I knew I'd be awake to watch it. I didn't know what else would happen, and I was filled with dread recognizing the fact.