Chapter 4: Plans are Made

The “Mitzi Problem” solved itself in a way that neither of us could have expected. John found someone else! Mitzi had opened the door to John’s libido, and with his semi-rock star status with our music group, he was attracting the attention of other young ladies. I hadn’t been paying much attention to the handful of spectators that would drop in to watch and listen to us play during our jam sessions.

John was still wearing his “signature” cowboy hat, wraparound sunglasses, and black X-man t-shirt. This only added to the mystique of the silent, handsome young man on the drums. Who was he and where did he come from? By saying nothing and looking like he was a genuine mystery man, his reputation grew. The fact that he hadn’t yet begun classes only added to the questions. Soon enough the curious learned he was my brother and was a first year student.

When the fall semester classes began, our group began to grow again. We had become quite well known on campus and we had no problem attracting other musicians to join our impromptu sessions. As a result, we picked up another keyboard player, a violinist, a bass player, and a clarinet/recorder player which changed our sound once more. Mitzi improved on the saxophone, while my girlfriend Marianna continued to contribute her guitar expertise. There was an itinerant trumpet player and French horn student who showed up on an irregular basis.

Out of that motley mix came Yvonne Calderone, the clarinet and recorder student who almost immediately made a play for John. Once again, I had to take her aside and talk to her about John and his affliction. She seemed to understand and promised that she wouldn’t do anything to upset him. I’d heard that before from Mitzi, so I took it with a good dose of skepticism.

Yvonne had no hesitation in introducing herself to John. I thought with the less than comfortable parting of Mitzi from John’s life, he might be more cautious in getting involved with another girlfriend. But that wasn’t the case. He’d obviously decided that having a girlfriend ... any girlfriend ... was better than nothing. He welcomed her advances and within a week, they were dating. Mitzi had opened a door we didn’t know existed, and John had strolled right through it.

It threw me back quite a lot to see the change in my brother. It’s not that he became more vocal ... or even outgoing, but the change in him was dramatic when for the previous eighteen years he had been almost a mute while he was among other people. I didn’t know what to make out of this turn of events, but since he had shown no visible negative affects from Mitzi’s parting, I decided it was time for me to back off and see just how John would make out on his own. Yvonne, bless her, could make him laugh and when she sat with him playing her recorder, she seemed to focus on John as she played.

I was well into my second year of college when I was introduced to my first computer. I was taking an English composition course and I discovered that my ability to type was the key to taking advantage of the features of a desktop computer. I was never going to be a great high speed typist: too many errors. But the word processor program allowed me to make corrections on the go and well before I would print the result. I suddenly became much more efficient.

With permission from the science department, I was allowed to use one of the computers to write reports and my composition assignments. I don’t think a lot of the students realized that the new units were available to us, although on a limited basis. I really didn’t need any other features than the word processor, so I began to plot how I could obtain a computer for myself. I had a feeling it would be something that would continue to be useful well into the future.

In 1998, a small company in San Francisco had developed a desktop computer at a very low (then) price of $595. It came with Microsoft Office already installed with a new improved version of Word, Excel, and a whole array of small business tools. Having used Office 97 at college, I knew this would certainly meet all my needs. At the time it seemed like new desktops and new software were coming out almost monthly, and that made both computers and software very vulnerable to faster, better, more feature-driven equipment. In my mind, there had to be an opportunity to buy a two or three-year-old system at a pretty good discount.

The San Francisco company that made the computer didn’t survive against IBM and its clones. I gambled that the reputation of the unit as durable and reliable was accurate and started looking for a used unit. It didn’t take long to locate one and a quick visit to Oakland to see if the unit was actually worth what the man was asking proved to be worthwhile. It was already loaded with Office 97 and seemed to operate as advertised. At $350, it was an inexpensive bargain, paid for out of the sale of my Honda motorbike.

The computer was called Lasertech and had a number of additional small programs that came with it. Some were on the hard drive, while others were on disc. At first I was only interested in Word, but as I got to explore the other programs, I began to realize I had the answer to my Grampa’s laborious manual record keeping. I learned to use the programs by trial and error, again more out of curiosity than any particular need.

I had access to a dot-matrix printer at college and used it to print out my reports and assignments, along with some miscellaneous materials. I simply copied the work to a disc and took it with me to school. It seemed so modern and efficient that I had no idea how they could improve on something this efficient. I had a lot to learn about computers, as you can guess.

I tried hard to get Gramps to look at the computer as a big help in cutting down his workload at the store, but he stubbornly refused to change. I think all the paperwork was his comfort zone. It kept him in touch with what was going on each day in his little hardware world. I was fighting an uphill battle, but I realized it was better to back off and wait until I could devote the time to build a demonstration of what it could do for him. The last thing I wanted to do was to upset or anger my grandfather. He’d been too good to me.

Meanwhile, Marianna and I were getting along very well. In fact, we were spending almost every hour available together. If we weren’t playing music, we were studying, and if we had a few hours left over between my work commitments, we dated. I was pretty cautious with her to begin with, but she took matters into her own hands ... so to speak.

“Nicholas,” she said one evening as we parked in front of her family home and were steaming up the inside of my VW, “When are you going to find a way for us to be alone together?”

Any time a woman uses your formal first name ... be on your guard. “We’re alone now,” I said, wondering what she was referring to.

“How can you be so dense?” she asked with a scowl. “I know you aren’t a virgin ... so what’s holding you back?”

“Oh ... that kind of alone,” I said slowly as the light went on.

“Yes, that kind of alone. Am I not good enough for you?” she complained.

“Oh, hell, yes, Marianna. You’re amazing ... and so beautiful. I guess I’ve been careful not to push you where you don’t want to go.”

“Well, you can stop wondering. I think it’s past time that we took our relationship further. I want to find out if we’re really compatible,” she said softly.

“Okay ... I mean ... I understand. Now ... let’s try and figure out how we can find some privacy,” I stumbled.

“My family has a little place over the garage that we use for guests. It’s private and I just happen to have the key. Does that give you any ideas?” she smirked.

“Shall we go?” I quickly asked.

“That is the idea,” she smiled, opening the door and getting out.

I was less than a second behind her. I hadn’t had sex for some time, being more than a little cautious with both Ardelle and Marianna. Fortunately, I had a habit of carrying a couple of condoms with me in the vague hope that a night like tonight might come along. It looked like this was that night.

Marianna didn’t waste any time leading the way up the back stairs and into the small apartment. I was small, but complete, with a bathroom and a little kitchenette. There was a nice double bed in one corner and she began stripping as she headed towards it. I followed her lead and soon enough, we were both under the sheets naked. I was pretty sure she was a fully developed young woman and seeing her in the altogether only confirmed my belief. Full, round breasts with large dark areolas, wide hips, fully rounded ass, and muscular shoulders and thighs. She was a hot number, that was for sure.

I fished in my wallet for a condom, but she quickly told me not to bother.

“I’m on birth control and I’m sure both of us have nothing to worry about health wise. I much prefer that natural feeling, don’t you?” she smiled.

“I don’t know. I’ve never had the experience,” I admitted.

“Well then, you’re in for a treat,” she said with an arched eyebrow.

“Don’t you want me to sort of ... you know ... warm you up?” I asked awkwardly...

“You mean foreplay,” she grinned. “Why Mister Minter, I’d be pleased if you’d exercise your talents in that area.”

I won’t pretend that I was an expert, but I had some experience with a couple of young ladies and slowly I began to practice what I knew.

“Oh, I like that,” she groaned as I kissed my way down her body, spending some time on her neck, then her breasts, flicking the nipples with my tongue. That got her attention before I moved down to stick my tongue into her belly button, producing a squeal, before heading to the promised land.

All along the way, I was getting positive feedback from her and that encouraged me to continue exploring just what would turn her on. Her dark curly hair around her sex was quite thick so I used my fingers to spread the lips of her pussy and allow my tongue to enter. More grunts and groans followed until I flicked my tongue across the nub of her clit. I repeated the action a couple of times, eliciting a strong physical response from her.

“Oh ... God ... Nick. I can’t take much more of that. Please, get inside me ... now.”

Mission accomplished, I moved up over her and entered her slowly, mindful of her comfort. She was very well lubricated and snug, so I took my time to begin the ageless act that she craved. Marianna was very responsive to my lovemaking and wrapped her arms around my neck when she wasn’t grabbing at my butt cheeks, urging me onward and inward as I thrust into her. And she was right. The sensation of bareback sex was amazingly intense and threatened to end my first attempt very quickly.

I didn’t expect to last long, so I slowed my stroke a little. Luck was with me for the time being as we carried on together. All the while I was getting nothing but positive verbal and physical feedback from her.

“Oh ... fuck! Finish me, Nick. Finish me, please. I’m going to explode,” she cried at last.

I did the only thing I could, and that was to pick up the pace and bring both of us to a rousing finish.

“Ahhhh fuck, Yes! Yes! Yes!” she cried as I relentlessly pumped into her.

Finally, I was done, as was she apparently. She was lying lifeless beneath me, her eyes closed while she breathed heavily. I was in the same state, and rolled off her to catch my breath as well.

We lay side by side, the only sound our ragged breathing as we recovered from a monumental fuck. I took a while before either of us said anything.

“Don’t go anywhere, Nick,” she said at last before turning to me. “You and I need to talk.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. Was this a kiss-off? All I could do was wait and see.

After a period of silence, Marianna climbed out of bed and headed to the bathroom, one hand between her legs as she scampered out of bedroom. I head the water running, the toilet flush, more running water, then a few seconds later, she sauntered into the bedroom once more. I should have said slinked into the bedroom, because her body language was definitely not defensive. In fact, it was downright outrageous. She would have but a high class stripper to shame.

“Like what you see,” she said, again with that sexy raised eyebrow.

I flipped back the sheet that was covering the lower part of my body and allowed her to watch the resurrection of my male member. This fast a recovery was not a first for me. I thought she might be impressed. It should certainly answer her question.