I just turned 22 and had finished a four year hitch in Uncle Sam's Navy. I had been stationed overseas for the past three years, on a destroyer tender out of Naples, Italy but now that my enlistment was up the government was kind enough to fly me back to the States for out-processing. I signed my final discharge papers at the Naval Station in Norfolk, Virginia and I was officially a civilian again and had my ticket home to San Francisco and a place to stay at my mother's house in the City. My mom, Sophie, had gotten remarried a year ago and what with being in the Navy and in Italy I hadn't had the opportunity to attend the wedding or meet my stepfather yet so the next week or so would be sort of a combined welcome home and get acquainted with the new family reunion.

The 757 landed at San Francisco International just after noon on Saturday and within a half hour I was in a cab headed for my mom's house on Nineteenth Street. With my sea bag slung over one shoulder I walked up the steps and rang the doorbell and when the door opened there is no adequate way to describe my surprise, standing there in the doorway, no filling the doorway, was one of the largest black men I had ever encountered.

"Uh..."

"Well now, you must be David, I'm Stan, your mom's husband, welcome home. Your mother told me you would be arriving sometime today but not exactly when. She's out at the hairdressers right now but will be home soon. Come on in son."

"Uh... thanks." I walked into the familiar surroundings of my mom's living room. It hadn't changed since I left all those years ago and I set my sea bag down and sunk onto the couch.

Stan was smiling at me. "Look David, I presume from that 'deer in the headlights' look on your face that your mother didn't tell you that I was black, am I right?"

"Uh, well... well, yea, she didn't, but it's not a problem, really. Mom has always been kind of a free spirit and I grew up around an eclectic group of her friends, then there is my time in the Navy, so it's no problem.

"I didn't think it would be but you never know how people are going to react to the color issue, although it really doesn't seem to be a big deal here in San Francisco."

In the next few hours while we waited for my mom to return I decided that I really liked Stan and by the time mom finally arrived we had become pretty comfortable with each other. The next week went by without a hitch and by the following Monday I had registered for classes at San Francisco State and had secured a part-time job bartending on the day shift at McGintys Bar and Tavern. It was a Tuesday night and I had just gotten off work and after cleaning up we all sat down for dinner. Towards the end of the meal Stan announced that his daughter, Alexia, was coming to the City to visit while she looked for an apartment somewhere on the peninsula, seems like she was transferring to San Jose State University.

Mom just smiled, like she always did at every iota of news, good or bad; wars, bombing, a new ice age or another guest in her house. "That's nice honey, I know you miss her a lot."

A step-sister was news to me, so I asked. "Uh, where is Alexia now?"

Stan turned towards me, "Oh, well she's living with her mother in Memphis. She had started grad school at Memphis State but decided that she wanted to be closer to me so she transferred."

The following Saturday Stan had a tee-time with a golfing buddy and asked me if I would mind picking up his daughter at the airport. I didn't have anything to do so I copied down her flight information, made a sign with her name on it and drove down to the airport to pick up my new step-sister. While I sipped on a Coke I watched the arrival monitors and when her planed landed I walked over to the down escalator, held up the name sign and waited. I didn't see her, but I heard her.

"I'm Alexia."

Standing in front of me was the most beautiful woman I had laid eyes on in a long, long time. She was about 5' 7" and maybe 120 pounds. Her skin was a light golden bronze color and her black hair was done up in tiny cornrows which only accented her deep green eyes. She had a large handbag over one shoulder, which made her breasts stand out even though they were pretty small. She wore a paisley blouse that was tucked into a pair of Levi's that was so tight they could have been painted on. I was probably panting while I starred, then finally my mouth decided to work.

"Hi Alexia, I'm David."

"David. David who?"

"David Fisher. I'm your step-brother."

"My step-brother? I've got a freekin honkey for a step-brother?"

"Uh, yea, I guess so."

"Well white boy, get those pitiful eyes off me and your tongue back inside your mouth cuz you ain't getting nowhere near this black woman."

I was taken aback by her racial remarks and said so. "Well who in the hell did you expect to meet you, after all, my mother's white too!" I avoided the answering her comment about my ogling and I turned and walked down toward the baggage carousel, throwing her name placard in the trash on my way. I stood by the carousel and waited for her baggage although I didn't have a clue what she had checked through. I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I turned and saw Alexia, only this time she was smiling at me.

"Look David, I'm sorry about what I said, and I apologize."

"Oh it's OK, I understand."

"No, I don't think you do. I was raised in the South and blacks and whites don't mix all that much regardless of what you have seen or heard so I guess I was a bit stunned when you introduced yourself."

"Oh I do understand Alexia and I can appreciate your predicament. I didn't know that my mom had married a black man until he opened the door the day I arrived home from Italy." Seeing the amused look on my face Alexia roared with laughter.

"I'll bet that WAS a surprise, my dad's a pretty good-sized man."

"Good sized? God Alexia, he's a giant! And it was a surprise, but to be honest this is the West Coast and things are pretty laid back out here. The sixties and all that, I guess. I grew up in the City and this is as a homogeneous group of races as you'll ever run into in any city, anywhere."

The next week went pretty smooth, everybody fitting into mom's house and I grew to enjoy eating with a real family, instead of a couple of hundred Navy guys. Stan and my mother were obviously deeply in love with each other and I found Alexia to be an extremely intelligent woman. Although we were just two months apart in chronological age I was just starting college after my hitch in the Navy and she already had her BS in History and was enrolled in a Master's program in Business.

On Monday afternoon my boss at McGinty's asked me to stay over and work a double, helping cover the evening shift. We finally closed the bar around 1:00 in the morning I didn't get home until almost two and when I finally woke up on Tuesday and looked at the clock, I saw that is was 11:02. Christ I had slept the entire morning. The house was quiet when I got out of bed and I assumed that I had the whole place to myself. I walked downstairs in just my underwear and put on a pot of coffee and went back upstairs to get cleaned up. After my shower I pulled back the curtain and stepped out of the tub and started to dry off. It was humid in the bathroom from the hot water so I opened the window for some fresh air and when I did I saw that Alexia was lying out on the deck, face down in a lounger wearing a spectacular yellow bikini and reading a book. I watched her for a minute or two, her nicely rounded shoulders, her long legs that went right up to a perfectly shaped butt, damn what a great figure that woman had!

I put on a pair of running shorts, tank top and my old Nike's and went out into the back yard and said. "Hey."

Alexia looked up from her book. "I thought I was all alone, how come you're not at work?"

"I worked a double yesterday and didn't get home until almost two this morning so the boss gave me the day off. Besides I have a class tonight."

"Oh, what class?"

"Econ 101."

"Oh God I hated econ when I was an undergrad but with my business major I have four econ courses I have to take in my first year. Say, maybe I could help you with your homework. I mean if you want me to."

"That would be great, really great. You sure you don't mind?"

"Nope I don't, in fact it will help me too. You know keep me on my toes. So, where you going dressed like that, headed out for a run?"

"Yea, want to join me?"

"Alright if you're sure you don't mind? I'm not very fast or anything."

Smirking I said. "No problem. I'll go 'real slow', after all nothings too good for my sister."

"OK then let me get changed out of this swimsuit and into my running gear. I'll be right back."

I watched her get out of the lounger and when she turned and walked into the house my eyes again focused on her backside, specifically on her legs and ass. She had the typical runners' physique; long legs, a tight butt and small breasts but she was still quite the looker. As the screen door closed behind her I idly wondered what she would look like naked.

When she returned she was wearing a pair of women's running shorts and a loose fitting Memphis State Athletic Department t-shirt. We started out from our house, up 19^th Street and into Golden Gate Park. We ran for almost an hour and a half before we finally got back home and the whole time I ran at my normal pace and Alexia kept up with me, almost easily I thought, until we finally slowed down and started walking the final couple of blocks to the house. She was breathing almost normally by the time we stopped in front of the house and when she sat down on the steps I could see that there was a small camel toe that had crease the front of her running shorts, the material having slipping just inside her labia and this seemed to indicate that she probably wasn't wearing any underwear. I sat down beside her.

Shoving me playfully she said, "Oh come on David, you're as tired as I am, admit it!"

Laughingly I told her the truth. "Actually I thought you were going to keep running until you ran me into the ground. I had to turn us around and head home before I collapsed and quit breathing forever." Laughing at my honesty, she grabbed me and pulled me to her and then kissed me on the cheek.

"God damn you're OK brother. Let's go for a dip in the pool and get some of this sweat off of us."

It was electric, the kiss. I could feel the tingling from my toes to my lips, and I like it. "We don't have suits."

"No shit white man, you scared you might see some skin on a real native, or are you just self-conscious about your own body?"

Now that was a challenge if I ever heard one. "Nope, not at all, let's go."

We raced up the stairs, through the house and into the back yard. She pulled off her running shoes and socks and dove into the pool. I sat down on the back steps and took of my shoes, socks and tank top and dove in behind her. I came up just off her right side, turned and splashed some water into her face.

"Hey, that's no fair." She screamed at me then she grabbed my shoulder and dunked me and held me under the water.

I finally came up sputtering and jumped for her but she dodged away, turned and dove under me then came up and got me into a scissors lock, her legs tightly around my waist. "Hey let go!" I complained.