Chapter 1

Just so that you know: The Middlebury universe of characters and events originated in the mind of the Great Vulgus, in his classic erotic fiction story, ‘A Chance to Advance.’ In that story line, he introduced the idea of an unusual business incentive practice at a fictional corporation, J.A.M. Aluminum, located in Middlebury, Vermont, called Executive Pussy on Demand (EPOD).

That great original story made this author anxious to enjoy the many other writings of Vulgus, and reading his stories inspired me to begin writing erotic fiction in the first place. With the permission of Vulgus, I used his characters and their life situations as the basis for expanding the Middlebury set of characters to include filling in a gap in his story line with my own short story, ‘Convergence,’ introducing some new characters who join a unique society while attending Middlebury College in my ‘Campus Life’ series, and establishing the set of stories in that grouping under the heading of ‘The Middlebury Chronicles,’ all of which are posted and available at Storiesonline.

The story that follows this introduction views the events that transpired in almost all of the stories in my ‘Middlebury Chronicles’ collection, along with two other stories that Vulgus had staged in the town of Middlebury; but as seen through the viewpoints and experiences of some of the secondary characters, most of whom had already been introduced. If you desire to catch up on those stories so that you do not miss the connections in the story that follows, they are ‘Insomnia,’ ‘Brooke Can’t Drink,’ and ‘My New House and the People Who Came With It.’ Whether you decide to read those background stories or not, I hope that my story below offers sufficient insight into the characters and events to allow the story to be meaningful in and of itself without causing any continuity gaps. With all that said, I truly hope that you enjoy reading ‘Just A Sec.’

Whoop! Whoop!

“Shit!”

Squeal...

“Mo-o-om!” Haley Crandall said in a chastising tone, “Language, puh-lease!”

Jennifer Crandall, Haley’s mother, breathed deeply, trying to calm herself from the effects of two situations that were crowding her consciousness right then.

First, she needed to try to get her heart out of her throat, figuratively, having just slammed on the brakes as she turned the car slightly to avoid being T-boned by an incoming ambulance. The emergency vehicle had barely missed her car as she was leaving the hospital’s patient and family parking area.

Second, Jennifer was still trying to calm down from her combined anger and anxiety at her daughter and son for causing her to be here in the first place.

“Young Lady,” Jennifer replied to her fifteen-year-old daughter, “you have no right to get all righteous on me right now; especially after...”

Jennifer just shook her head in disgust. She glanced in both directions and then straight ahead, gauging any oncoming traffic from the hospital staff lot on the opposite side of the parking area. Then she turned right, and then right again, to merge with the highway traffic.

Haley, already a junior in high school, despite her young age, wisely kept her mouth shut now and looked at her hands in her lap as they drove. She knew what her mother had been on the verge of saying.

If Haley had not been leading on the super-attractive eighteen-year-old All-State senior football defensive back – the one who had already signed his commitment letter two months ago to play outside linebacker for Boston College next fall – with the heavy indications of Haley’s possible availability for an afternoon sexual interlude ... sigh ... so that she could finally get rid of the stigma of being one of the last virgins in her high school class...

But, at the last minute, Haley had gotten cold feet.

At that point, the senior defensive back had gotten angry and aggressive ... at which time, the super-attractive football player had suddenly lost quite a lot of his previous attraction.

Enter Haley’s brother, Connor, a measly – in her mind – high school freshman, who had heroically, and surprisingly, tried to defend his sister; despite all the shitty things she had said to him over the past couple of years. Not to mention all the ways that she had belittled and marginalized her brother in the recent past.

Connor, for his efforts on behalf of his older sister, had gotten the ever-loving shit beaten out of him by said senior defensive back, aided by one of his teammates, who had been standing nearby when it all started to go down.

According to Connor and Haley, when they were questioned by the staff and the one uniformed policeman at the ER, the enraged defensive back had threatened that ‘Haley, the Little White Bitch,’ was going to be gangbanged by him and some his other eighteen-year-old friends when she had tried to back down from her teasing.

Of course, conveniently, none of the other students within hearing distance of the incident could recall anything about what was said or what had happened ... typical for high school ... and none could corroborate the siblings’ story later when the Vice Principal had inquired. Therefore, a case that could have easily turned into sexual assault and statutory rape never materialized, and neither did the case of aggravated battery – all due to the situation involving no credible witnesses.

For a while there, Haley had been terrified out of her mind. She had been thinking that, not only was her brother being beaten to a pulp, she was going to be the gangbang bitch of at least two horny football players ... maybe more, if they got on their cell phones and began to put out the word to their friends on the team.

And then the ‘School Resource Officer’ – another term for the cop loaned to the school by the local police department – and the Vice Principal had gotten involved relatively quickly to stop the one-sided beating that Connor was enduring – or ‘break up the fight,’ as they both amended their stories when they realized that one or more of the school’s star football players was involved.

Thankfully, someone had the presence of mind to call the EMTs because Connor was barely conscious by now and bleeding from a cut on his lip. No one thought to call for the school nurse, who was right there on campus, too busy dispensing condoms and permission slips for obtaining birth control pills, and handing out daily doses of Ritalin to keep the unruly boys settled down to make discipline easier for the teachers.

One of the faculty members had called Haley and Connor’s mother at work to come to the school to pick up Haley, also letting her know which hospital was the intended location for the ambulance carrying her son, Connor.

And then ... and then ... and then ... sigh ... it was just a mess. And Haley just KNEW that Sally Fortson was going to spread the gossip about Haley’s teasing Deshandre Wilkins, and all about just what a slut Haley was – accompanied by cell phone pictures and commentary; probably already posted on Facebook. After all, what else would you expect from ‘Haley’s kind of people’? Blah ... blah ... blah.

And, sooner or later this afternoon or evening, Haley knew that she would find herself being forced to endure another one of ‘those talks’ from her mother ... the same mother who had given birth to Haley about the time of her turning fifteen herself; so she’d best not sermonize to Haley all night ... sigh ... breathe.

Deep down, Haley realized that her mother had worked hard for years to overcome the bad decisions she had made in her own youth and was really trying hard to raise Haley and Connor right; and she was trying to instill in them some form of appropriately-tuned moral compass.

It was just that, with no dad around – Haley had refused to call Rex ‘Dad’ when he was still with them – her mom was always too busy trying to make a living to deal with the fact that Haley was growing into a beautiful woman and needed a mature woman’s guidance.

But life had been hard, with all of them having to scratch for a living most of their lives, especially when Rex had simply said, “Sayonara,” and left them without any resources. Thankfully, Haley’s mom had landed a job of sorts working part time for the Woodchuck Hard Cider Company here in town before moving to her current job at J.A.M. Aluminum.

Haley and Connor had found themselves having to look out for each other while their mom was working hard to provide for them. Gran had helped a little, but she had passed away a few years earlier. So, Haley and Connor had had to learn to fend for themselves during the already painful middle school and early high school years.

Only now, there was the added pain of the situation they found themselves in, with Connor in the hospital. And with Haley and her actions today being the proximate cause for his being there in the first place.

Jennifer was driving Haley and herself away from the hospital, trying to concentrate on traffic while she continued to think about her shitty life, her daughter’s need of a good spanking, and how long it would take for Connor to recover from his injuries. The boy had a possible minor concussion from a kick above his left ear, along with swelling and pain in his groin area, as well as bruised ribs. The X-rays taken following his initial treatment in the ER had not shown any indications that Connor had sustained any broken bones.

The doctor had recommended that Connor remain in the hospital at least overnight due to the head trauma. That stay could quite possibly extend into the next three days as well, if the effects of the blow proved to be a concussion – or anything more severe than just a head bump.

Haley had no way of knowing the details of what was to follow, but Jennifer, at that moment, was just certain that she was going to have to go all the way up the ladder of the education mafia to the school board in order to deal with the school and the district. After all, they had all demonstrated several times over the past few years their somewhat selective ‘zero tolerance’ rule on violence.

There was no doubt that Connor would be suspended automatically for at least two weeks – and quite possibly for the whole rest of the spring semester – for being the one who had swung first. It did not matter that Connor was standing up to a larger boy who was threatening sexual violence against his sister; Connor was going to be out of school for a while.

Of course, Deshandre Wilkins, the football hero, was facing some discipline as well; but his suspension would probably be only for a week at most; probably in-school suspension at that. And he would be on the receiving end of a ground-swell of sympathy from all the football fans, based on the emotions stirred by the boy’s mother.

At least, in the minds of the student body, it was a relief that it was after football season, so that Deshandre would not be forced to miss playing in any games – after all, football is serious business; and near and dear to the hearts – and wallets and pocketbooks – of many prominent boosters within the local community.

Deshandre’s mother, Kanesha McRae, was the same mother who had a total of six children by four different fathers – and was still single and currently shacked up with another loser. She was evidently envisioning the football success of her bully of a son as her ticket out of poverty. And all the other ills that come about by allowing your mindset to develop over your entire teenage and adult life on the basis of what amounted to the economic and psychological slavery of living continually on the figurative ‘plantation’ of government assistance.

Jennifer was attempting both to drive and to deal with all of these issues warring for preeminence in her mind at the moment. Then there was the encroaching feeling of mild panic over the physical damage her son had sustained and might continue to sustain for the rest of his life. Add to that all the school work that he would be forced to make up and the classes he would miss.

Then, there was concern over whether the company health insurance offered by her employer, J.A.M. Aluminum, was sufficient to cover the coming hospital expenses. But, she had a little better feeling about that than she did about other things right now.

And, finally, there was Jennifer’s frustration and absolute fury at her daughter, Haley, for being at the center of all of this.

Thinking once again about her job at J.A.M. Aluminum, Jennifer could only offer a quick, silent thanks to the powers above for allowing her to get employment at J.A.M. She was grateful as well to be selected for the specific job she had right now, working as the secretary for the former Division Chief of the Fabrication Management Division, and now one of the company Junior Vice Presidents, Mr. Brad Pittman.

And what about Matt? Jennifer wanted to continue with her developing relationship with the man she who was currently seeing. But, would he see all of this mess involving her two teens as just too much drama? Would he bail on her, just as Rex had?

One year earlier.

‘Man,’ thought Brad Pittman, ‘has it been two years already?’

Brad was looking at the simple calendar that lay flat atop the desk in his new office. Yes, as of Thursday last week, he had been working for J.A.M. Aluminum for just two years, and this was already ‘his’ office.

Brad remembered promising his wife, Janice, that he would be able to find a good job AND be close to her while she finished college at nearby Middlebury College. And he had been true to his promise by landing a very fulfilling and well-compensated job with a great company.

Brad and Jan had recently reached the three-quarter-way-there point on paying off the house in town that they both had fallen in love with as a ‘starter’ home two years earlier. It had been a brief battle with the Housing Office at Middlebury College to convince the school officials that Jan should be able to live off-campus for her last two years at the school – with her husband, for goodness sake!

Surprisingly, Brad and Jan had been able to enjoy sufficient marital bliss there while not interfering with Jan’s need to study hard and graduate.

With money from their college fund accounts, that had actually not really been needed for college expenses because of scholarships they had both earned, Brad and Jan had been able to commit a rather large down payment and then mortgage only a small portion of the value of the house; but, a portion, nevertheless, that allowed them to build a basis for a good credit record.

With Jan’s having graduated now, they could finally really begin to experience the American Dream of being together in their own first home, enjoying married life together without the distractions of school. Despite graduating recently from such a prestigious school as Middlebury College, Jan was happy being a stay-at-home wife to her first love, the man with whom she had been in love since they had been young teens.

It also did not hurt that the man in question, Brad Pittman, had proven himself to be quite the young business powerhouse that his company needed at the time he had joined the team at J.A.M. Aluminum. And his compensation had surged considerably in the past two years. They had recently even been able to purchase a three-year-old Buick Lacrosse for Jan to use.

Brad smiled and snorted softly as he remembered the dire warnings of his and Jan’s parents back in Ohio when the two of them had said that they could not wait to graduate, and had married while Jan still had two years of high school remaining and Brad was heading off to Notre Dame. The two lovers had been close ever since they both were young teens, having grown up as next-door neighbors.

The two of them had gotten even closer romantically while Brad was a junior in high school and Jan was a freshman. This attachment had started right after that first night when Brad had turned off his bedroom light and had observed the bedtime preparations of the pretty redhead next door, across the relatively short distance between their two homes.

Chapter 2 »