Chapter 49: Gains and Losses

At a Loose End

May - June 1995

Following our great performance at the Young 88 National Championships, the Avalon Sailing Club’s Commodore’s Ball, and prize giving evening seemed rather anti-climactic. We won a few trophies, first in the Quartet Bowl, first on handicap in the Blue Water Shield, and quite a few people congratulated us on our performance in the National Championships. We ended up third in the combined score for the Commodore’s Trophy, behind John Taylor’s ‘Rocket’ and Jeff Carter’s ‘Ed Ake’. It was still gratifying, all us kept pushing each other to sail better, to get every last bit of performance from our boats. I know one of the reasons why we did so well at this year’s National Championships was the regular tough competition that we had here every Sunday at ASC. Sure, the knowledge and experience that Jack Earle brought to us was very important, but every week we were racing, putting his ideas into practice, repeating the drills, getting our sail handling faster and error free. That was what gave us the edge over the other Young 88s at the Nationals.

At work, we were tying up the last stages of the State Government internet project, making sure all of the network design and configuration documentation was complete, running training courses on how to maintain and enhance the various web sites, and making sure the ‘Service NSW’ search application was fully documented. It had been a great project for us, not just from the monetary rewards, but in the processes that we had developed. At the same time, Michelle and I were working on the details of the DLWC project, I was refining the details of the networking equipment and associated server hardware, while Michelle was looking at the resources required to implement and test the new networking environment.

Some developers in the US who were extending the original NCSA web server application had contacted me. The initial developers at NCSA – the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (that is a mouthful of a name!) had lost interest in the project, and a number of developers had taken on the task of turning that server into a commercial-grade web server. They had chosen to name the server ‘Apache’, because, as one of the developers said ‘we based it on the existing code, with a whole lot of patches, so it is A Patchy Server’. I thought it was a terrible pun, but that was their project, and their naming decision. I had been asked to work on some of what they called ‘modules’; their architecture had included the ability to extend the core functionality with these pre-compiled modules. My experience with the initial common gateway interface on the original CERN systems, plus the design of the configuration system from my original UNIX-based router lead to me working on a few of the modules, particular in the configuration side of the server.

Despite all of the new activity at work, I was finding it difficult to get into the new developments, the work on the Apache project, as well as version 2.0 of the Linux kernel was interesting, but somehow I couldn’t get excited about it. The same as work preparing for the DLWC contract, I would set a schedule for myself, then find I was procrastinating, putting things off, finding other things to do rather than working on this project. Eventually Michelle challenged me about how I had to get my part of the project done soon.

“I’ll get onto it,” I said, snapping at her. “Stop nagging me about it!”

“I’m not nagging you, Will, and you know it,” she replied, sounding a bit hurt. “It’s just that we only have six weeks before things start, and time is slipping away. This isn’t like you to keep putting things off, what’s the matter?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you like that,” I said. “I don’t know what it is; I’m finding it hard to get into anything at the moment. It’s hard for me to concentrate on something for more than a few minutes, and I think I’m not sleeping all that well, either.”

“Well, this has been a year full of activity and excitement,” she said. “You started out with the Coffs Harbour Race, then working on the State election victory, your successes at the COAG meeting, and then winning your National Championships. Lots of positive results, lots of adrenaline, and now you’re coming down from a sequence of highs. Of course you’re going to find it hard to focus. A question – when did you last take a real holiday? I mean a holiday when you did absolutely nothing, not when you were competing in a yacht race, but just resting completely.”

“Well, most of the time I have taken off we have racing,” I said. “There hasn’t been a touring break...”

“That could be your problem, Will,” she said, interrupting me. “I know you haven’t taken a real holiday for ages. You were either on a music tour, or a sailing event. I’m going to talk to Lisa, and tell her you need to have a proper holiday, doing NOTHING for at least a week. Maybe the last two weeks in June, before things start at DLWC. The rest of us can handle wrapping up the State Internet project, but for your own long-term health, you need some time off. And I mean time off doing nothing, no working on your side projects, no music, just lying around, maybe reading, spending time in bed with Lisa and Fiona.”

“I guess you have a point,” I said. “It would be good to get away somewhere; I’ll have to think of a good place to go. I’m not sure how much leave Lisa and Fiona have, but we can talk this evening.”

That evening after dinner, Lisa mentioned that Michelle had called her, saying that she was concerned about me, and that I needed to have a good, relaxing break to, in her words ‘recharge’.

“I’m not sure if I can really take a week off in June,” she said. “I used the last of my leave just before Easter; January took most of it. What about you, Fiona, how much time do you have available?”

“Two or three days, if that,” Fiona said. “If Will just stays here, you know he will spend time in his study here working on stuff. We need to get him away somewhere, and make sure he’s supervised, so he rests properly!”

“I wonder if Alexa might be able to help out?” Lisa though out loud. “Maybe I should give her a call...”

“Hey, Will, have you heard of a place called ‘Milton Park’?” Alexa asked me when I met her for lunch the next day.

“Um, isn’t that a town on the South Coast, near Ulladulla?” I replied.

“No, Milton Park, it’s a country estate and guest house near Bowral, built around the turn of this century by the Hordern family. At one stage, the gardens were said to be the best in the country.”

“When you say the Hordern family, that’s as in the big Anthony Horderns department store? Can’t say I have heard of it. Why do you ask?”

“We – that is, you, Lisa, Fiona and me – are going there for a week at the end of June,” she said.

As I had suspected, Lisa and Fiona wouldn’t be able to take the week off from their places of work, but because there were now regular train services between Central and Bowral, they would take an early morning train from Bowral to Sydney, and a train back after they had finished work in the afternoon. Meanwhile Alexa and I would have the whole week – from the Friday afternoon through to the following Sunday, for a total of ten days – to spend there, relaxing. I was given explicit instructions on what things I had to pack and bring with me – and what NOT to pack. Lisa had suggested I take some books – fiction books – to read, since the weather could very well be cold, and we might have to spend most of the time inside (‘in bed, most likely’, Fiona said). My mother had told me about some books she had been reading, a murder mystery series, set in a monastery in medieval England, called ‘The Cadfael Chronicles’. I had purchased the first three books in the series, and packed them in my suitcase so I would have something to read in case we were confined inside.

After our lunch on Friday, we left for the drive to Bowral; I had brought my suitcase into work on the train that morning, we put it in her car, next to her luggage, and I settled into the passenger seat of her BMW. It was certainly a very comfortable car to travel in; the leather seats almost seemed to cocoon my body. Alexa put a CD into the player, and I leant my seat back to enjoy the ride.

“I hope you don’t feel that I’ve kidnapped you, that I’m taking you away for this week against your will, Will,” she said, smiling at the pun she made.

“No, I realize that I really need to take some time off, just do nothing, unwind, relax, recharge,” I said. “And if anyone’s going to take me to a luxury guest house, I can’t think of anyone more enjoyable to be with that you.”

“I promise I’ll do my best to make it a very relaxing week,” she said. “I’m kind of excited that at night, we’ll be sleeping with Lisa and Fiona, too; is that bad of me, wanting to sleep with them, make love with them?”

“What do you think Baba would say, if she knew?”

“Oh, she would probably say something like ‘Alexandrina, you go for it my child,’ and encourage me to do anything with them. I’m a bit nervous about it, I mean, I’ve never been with another woman before, and I’m worried I will disappoint them.”

“You shouldn’t worry about that, just be yourself, they will enjoy it, trust me.”

“Now, I don’t have to tell you my expectations from you this week,” she said. “I’m not talking sex, or regular suckling from you ... but you are to relax completely, rest, lie around, read your books. Unwind. Don’t worry about work, or anything to do with computers. Michelle and David and the rest of them have everything under control, take my word for it.”

“Absolutely, Boss,” I replied. “Just let me give your pussy lots of licking and sucking, plus plenty of suckle time, and I will be very relaxed.”

“You know I’m going to hold you to that,” she said. “And maybe we can have another attempt at anal, too.”

“Whenever you feel ready for that,” I said. “Unlike a lot of guys, that’s not high on my list of ‘must dos’. As long as you feel relaxed and comfortable, that’s all.”

“I am always relaxed and comfortable with you,” she said. “But let’s keep any talk about what exciting things we will get up to until we are at the resort, otherwise I’ll be too distracted, too horny to drive!”

For the remainder of the drive we kept the discussions fairly tame, we turned off the Hume Highway onto the Illawarra Highway at Bowral towards Robertson. At the charmingly named ‘Bong Bong Picnic Racecourse’, we turned onto Horderns Road towards Milton Park.

“With that street name, we must be on the right track,” I said. “Didn’t you say Milton Park was originally build by the Hordern Family?”

The clouds that had been building up ever since we left Sydney had now decided it was time to release their contents, and as we headed up the driveway to the main building, it started to rain. To be more accurate, it was sleeting, big, fat heavy drops of almost snow; it was not quite cold enough for the precipitation to remain as pure snow. The wipers on Alexa’s car dealt with the precipitation, and we pulled into the gravel forecourt, and rushed across the gap to get inside the building. The reception area opened out into what I guess would be called a ‘great room’; the lounge area was open up to the second floor, with a large stone fireplace against one wall. There was a blazing log fire in the fireplace, which would become very desirable if this wintry weather continued.

I followed Alexa across to the reception desk, she spoke to the young woman behind the desk, and she picked up the phone, and spoke into it. A few seconds later, an older woman emerged from an office behind the desk, ran around and embraced Alexa.

“Alexa! So glad you finally came up here,” she said, kissing her on both cheeks. “It’s only been ... how long? Three years since I made to offer for you to come up here.”

“Well, it’s been hard to get away. Carolyn, I would like you to meed my good friend, Professor Will Morris; Will, this is Carolyn Sheetz, who is the manager here at Milton Park. Carolyn, Will is a cousin of mine, and a business partner; there will be two other friends arriving later this evening, as you should have seen on the reservation.”

“Yes, of course,” Carolyn said. “Let me show you to your rooms, I’ve given you the ‘Shubra Suite’, follow me. Julia, get Francis to park Ms. Ramos’s car, please. And tell him to bring their luggage directly to their room. Now, please.”

Alexa placed her car keys on the counter, so that Julia (I assume she was the receptionist) could give them to Francis – whoever he was – so he could park her car.

“I’ll get your bags brought to your room, too,” Carolyn said. “It’s just down this hallway.”

The room was a large suite, Carolyn opened the door into what was a sitting room, there was a small kitchenette off to one side with a sink, microwave oven, coffee maker and small fridge, but the main open area had some comfortable looking leather sofas and a small table with four chairs. Beyond that was the bathroom – I could see a large walk-in shower, a vanity counter and a door to the toilet cubicle. Opposite the bathroom was a large wardrobe, and next was the sleeping area, with a massive double bed. The windows opened to a view over the fields, at least if it wasn’t sleeting heavier now I could see them.

“The room looks wonderful, Carolyn,” Alexa said. “This will be great for us, thank you for arranging it.”

“Not a problem, Alexa, I owe you, remember? I’ll get some afternoon tea, some little cakes and pastries brought around to your room around 3 pm.”

Carolyn left us to explore the suite, and a few minutes later there was a knock at the door, it was Francis with our luggage. I opened the door, and he pushed a trolley inside, our cases were stacked up on it. I unloaded the trolley, and I was about to reach for my wallet to tip him when Alexa put her hand on my arm, and just shook her head. When he left, Alexa explained.

“We shouldn’t tip anyone while we are here this week, the stay is complementary, Carolyn is paying back a big favour. So it’s like we are private guests, and to tip the staff would be insulting.”

I nodded, I wonder what the favour was that she was paying back to Alexa, I would find out in due course. We unpacked our bags, hanging our clothes in the closet and putting things in the dresser drawers. I put my toiletries in the bathroom, there was a large soaking tub which I hadn’t seen from the doorway.

“Well ... do you want to try out the bed? We have two hours before afternoon tea,” Alexa suggested. “Remember, this week is all about you relaxing, taking things easy, enjoying yourself...”

“I think that is a very good suggestion,” I said. “It’s rather unpleasant outside; I would suggest we leave the curtains open, but since we are on the ground floor, anyone could walk past and see in, even though the weather is pretty crappy.”

“I agree,” she said, drawing the curtains. “Maybe at night we can leave them open.”

Once the curtains were closed, Alexa pulled the covers back and spread one of our towels over the centre of the bed.

“I’m likely to leak milk,” she said. “Do you want to start with a nice, long suckle?”

“Yes, please,” I replied, and I started to undress her, removing her blouse, then her skirt before unhooking her bra and sliding down her panties – which I noticed were slightly damp. I planted a soft kiss at the top of her crotch, she moaned softly and pressed my head harder against her. I breathed in the scent of her arousal, and flicked my tongue out slightly.

Alexa quickly removed my clothes, and we were lying together in the bed. I placed my lips over one engorged nipple and started to suckle; I was rewarded with some of her warm, sweet milk in a few seconds. She moaned softly as I drank from her, alternating from one breast to the other every few minutes. I loved the taste of her milk; it was sweet and creamy, and I love the way it turned her on as I sucked and drank from her milky breasts.

“I need you in me now,” she moaned, spreading her legs wide open.

I rolled over on top of her, she reached down to guide me inside her, she moaned loudly as I entered her, and she stretched her legs up around my thighs, pushing her mound up to press against my shaft. We made love slowly, there was no big rush, no urgent pounding into her, I was happy just to look into her eyes, feel her body around me, bend down and kiss her as we enjoyed the joining of our bodies. The steady, slow pace allowed me to last quite a while, and Alexa had several small orgasms before mine was close, I started to increase the speed and intensity, until I knew I was only a thrust or two away. I held her tightly against me, pulled almost all the way out, and drive deep into her, groaning loudly as I erupted into her. I was vaguely aware of Alexa moaning as she came again, but I was lost in the sensations of my own orgasm.

Exhausted, I rolled off her, and lay next to her, panting to get enough air into my lungs. Alexa was just as exhausted as I was, she had her eyes closed, and was breathing heavily, I watched her chest rise and fall.

“Oh my God, that was a fantastic start to the week,” she said, still panting. “I have been well and truly fucked!”

“You are always a damn good fuck, Alexa!” I said, smiling. “It is always really enjoyable. Do you think you have the energy to get up and have a shower?”

We helped each other up and to the bathroom, and we were both able to get into the big walk-in shower together. It was one of the most luxurious showers I had ever been in, several heads, two ‘rainfall’ heads over us, and some nozzles on the sides made sure we were completely washed. We spend time using the soap, washing all over each other’s bodies, then dried ourselves on the large, fluffy bath ‘sheets’. Clean and dry, we got dressed, straightened the bed, and took a seat in our sitting room. I was about to ask Alexa how she ended up getting the room ‘comped’ when there was a knock at our door. It was Julia, the receptionist, pushing a cart with our ‘afternoon tea’; there was a fresh plunger of coffee, plates of little pastries, nuts and cheeses.

It was all very decadent, the pastries were so delicious, it was a wonderful way to enjoy the afternoon. I could have eaten more of the pastries, particularly the miniature vanilla slices, but I guess I needed to leave room for dinner. We looked outside, through the big picture windows, and saw the sleet had turned to snow.

“I hope Lisa and Fiona aren’t going to have any difficulties driving up,” Alexa said. “I fear this weather has set in for the next day or so.”

“Do you want to see how warm that big fire in the Great Room is?” I said to her. “Maybe we could sit there, do some reading?”

“That sounds nice,” she said.

I grabbed one of my ‘Brother Cadfael’ books – the first, chronologically in the series, ‘A Rare Benedictine’. The fire was blazing in the fireplace, we found a large leather sofa to sit on – I sat, while Alexa lay across it with her head on my lap.

“If we were by ourselves in here,” I whispered to her, “I would unbutton your blouse, and caress your breasts.”

“I would love that, but we might get into some trouble,” she replied. “What if I get us something to drink? A bourbon on the rocks for you?”

I nodded, and she returned in a minute with my drink. I rested the glass on the side table while I started to read. My knowledge of English and European history in the early twelfth century was pretty hazy, as was my understanding of Roman Catholic practices and the roles of the monasteries, but the story line was interesting, and soon I was caught in the story, the intrigue, and the characters. I was deep into the story when Alexa shook my shoulder.

“Earth to Will! Earth to Will! The others are here, we should go back to the room,” she said.

“Sorry, I was caught up in my book.”

“So I noticed. I spoke to you several times, you didn’t even hear me!”

I put a book mark in to keep my place, and followed Alexa back to our room. Lisa and Fiona were just unpacking their bags, and Lisa gave me a big hug and kiss.

“That weather was starting to close in,” she said. “I was worried that we mightn’t be able to get through if the snow got worse!”

“We were stating to slide over the road,” Fiona said. “The last bit, from Bowral to here, we barely got over thirty kilometres an hour.”

“At least you are here now, you should have a shower, it’s so lovely,” Alexa said. “Then we can have dinner, I think there’s a roast lamb on the menu.”

“Do we have to dress for dinner?” I asked her, and she nodded.

“Yes, something semi-formal, a suit, or a jacket and tie,” Alexa said. “I’ll get changed too.”

It didn’t take us too long to get ready, Alexa and I had already had our shower, all I had to do was get changed into my suit, and I waited in our sitting room for the three women to get ready. The wait was worth it, I felt particular fortunate to be escorting three beautiful women to the dining room, where, as Alexa had predicted, dinner was a rather delicious roast lamb, with all the trimmings. There was a large log fire blazing in the dining room as well, and through the windows looking over the main veranda we could see the snow continuing to fall.

“It’s not that often it snows this low down,” Fiona said. “When I was in Canberra, we might get one or two light snowfalls each winter, but Canberra is at a higher altitude than here.”

“I guess so,” Lisa said. “Now if we had gone up to the Blue Mountains, they would be getting a decent snowfall, I am sure.”

“Can you imagine what the Great Western Highway would be like?” I said.

“I heard the news a bit earlier, they’ve closed both roads over the mountains,” Alexa said. “The storm is bringing lots of snow to the Snowy Mountains, too; just what they need for a good ski season.”

When we had finished our meal, including a rather delicious cheesecake for dessert, along with coffee and glasses of port – Saltram’s ‘Mr Pickwick’s Particular Port’, it was off to bed. There had been much discussion –whispered, of course – over dinner as to how we could best arrange all four of us in the bed together, who might ‘attend’ to whom. Somehow it was determined that I would have to service all three of them, both with my prick and my tongue. I was sure it was going to be a rather energetic night for me.

Alexa had reminded both Lisa and Fiona that she had never had sex with a woman before, and was feeling a bit apprehensive about it.

“Don’t worry, Alexa,” Fiona said, “I promise to be gentle for your first time.”

We all laughed at her comment, but if anyone should introduce Alexa to the ‘Sapphic delights’, Fiona would be the best person. Despite appearing to be over the top and completely gung-ho, Fiona was very caring and sensitive, and would know just how to put Alexa at ease, guide her into how best to satisfy her, and to make sure Alexa enjoyed the whole encounter. Which meant for tonight, well, at least initially, Lisa and I would be paired together; something that I felt was right, too. As much as I loved Fiona and Alexa, it was Lisa that I really enjoyed making love with.

At least the large king-sized bed provided plenty of room for all four of us; we kept the curtains open, but turned the lights off in the bedroom, with just the soft lighting from our sitting room illuminating the room. There was some light coming in through the windows, we looked out to see the snow covering the ground. The big, fat snowflakes were clearly visible in the outside lights as they drifted down; the snowfall wasn’t heavy, just a light dusting adding to what had already fallen.

“Time for bed,” Lisa said, and pulled off her dress, hanging it up in the closet.

Fiona and Alexa were following her lead, and soon all three were naked; Fiona was standing behind Alexa, her arms wrapped around her chest and her hands caressing Alexa’s breasts. I quickly removed my clothes, hanging them up properly. Alexa had already pulled the bedcovers back, and spread a towel down on one side, where she and Fiona would be. The two of them got into bed, and Lisa and I took the other side, and I tuned their activities out from my mind, just concentrating on Lisa.

There was something extra exciting about having another couple next to us on the bed making love while we were doing the same. Lisa seemed to be even more turned on than she usually was, I suspected it was the presence of Alexa and Fiona making love right next to us. I could hear the moans and sounds of pleasure from the other two, imploring each other to continue touching, licking or sucking, and that only served to make me more aroused. After Lisa and I had both reached our orgasms, we swapped partners, Lisa moving over to Alexa, and Fiona moving to me. She knelt over my waist, licking and sucking my prick until I was hard, then straddling me, slowly rising up and down as I caressed her breasts. I looked across to where Lisa and Alexa were engaged in a passionate sixty-nine, they seemed to be enjoying themselves, and Alexa had got over her initial reticence.

After another half an hour, we switched again, but this time all four of us were combined; as I was fucking Alexa, Fiona and Lisa were sucking her tits, then they moved so Lisa had her pussy over Alexa’s face, while Fiona sucked Lisa’s tits. The combinations and arrangements of bodies kept changing, until we were all completely exhausted, falling asleep in a tangle of bodies.

We woke up around 8:00 am, with the light starting to stream in our window, we had gone to sleep with the curtains still open. There was a layer of snow on the ground outside, and it looked like a winter wonderland. After a shower and breakfast I decided I would want to go outside and check out the snow. At least all four of us could squeeze into the large shower together; not that it left a lot of room to move, but at least we were able to wash each other.

Once refreshed and clean, we got dressed, and headed to the dining room to see what was available for breakfast. I decided to skip the pancakes, grilled chops and sausages, and be content with some scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. There was coffee and a selection of fruit juices to wash it down with, all in all, a very enjoyable breakfast. On the way back to our room we took a diversion outside to look at the snowfall; there was maybe fifteen centimetres of fresh snow, not a huge amount, but certainly enough to make driving difficult. If the day remained sunny, the show would probably melt by mid-afternoon; I wasn’t sure if more was predicted.

“I guess we’ll be staying inside here, at least for today,” Lisa said. “I’m not sure I want to go driving with that much snow on the roads.”

“I can’t see a problem in remaining inside here,” I said. “The fire in the Great Room will be nice to sit in front of, we could read or relax. That’s the whole purpose of this week, anyway.”

We headed back to our room, after I cleaned my teeth, I grabbed my ‘Brother Cadfael’ book, and we headed to the Great Room. There was a very inviting fire blazing in the fireplace, I stood in front of it for a minute or two, just to warm myself up. Lisa and Fiona sat at a table where there was a large, partially completed jigsaw puzzle, and started working on that, while I sat in one of the big, comfortable sofas, and started back in my book. Alexa lay down in the sofa, resting her head on my lap while I read. It was very relaxing, very comfortable sitting there, reading, glancing every so often at the log fire.

After an hour or so, I got up, disturbing Alexa in the process, and got a coffee. Lisa and Fiona were making steady progress on the jigsaw, and I had finished one of the short stories that made up the first book I was reading. Fiona suggest we check out the pool room, there was a full size pool table. We decided to play a game, Lisa and I took on Fiona and Alexa, Lisa broke, managing to sink one of the stripe balls. The lead swung back and forth, until Alexa got a good run, finally potting the eight ball, and leaving Lisa and I with three of our balls yet to pot.

“Best of three!” Lisa said.

We won the second game, by two balls, but Fiona and Alexa creamed us in the final game, we managed to sink one ball, before Alexa ran their final five balls. I had to admit, she clearly outclassed us.

“Signs of a misspent youth,” Alexa said. “Good games, though, that was fun.”

It was time for lunch, so far, the food here had been exceptional, and after eating, we took a walk – in the snow – around the famed gardens. The time to return to see them at their best would be in early summer, there was very little to see at the moment. It was still nice to walk around, the snow covered everything, and made it into a winter fairyland. It was bloody cold though! We didn’t want to linger outside, so it was back into the Great Room, and we stood in front of the fireplace to warm up and defrost.

“What should we do this afternoon?” Fiona asked. “It’s too cold to stay outside, and some of the roads are closed, or at least not safe to drive on. Alexa and I could whip your butts at pool again...”

“No thanks,” Lisa said. “You two have humiliated Will and me enough for one day. Enough for one year, I think. I never knew you played pool that well, Fee.”