Chapter 8

The drive back to my hometown was uneventful, and I soon found myself back in my own humble two-bedroom house. During journey, the warm weather (and lack of air-conditioning in my truck) meant that I had done a fair amount of sweating, and I was in dire need of a hot shower. Earlier that day, I had purposely not bathed before leaving Gladys’ cabin, because I wanted to smell her on me as long as possible. The long, hot drive had essentially erased that option for me, so I hopped in the shower and luxuriated in its steamy cascade, the only comfort of home I’d been missing.

While I was certainly missing Gladys’ physical charms, I found myself a bit out of sorts in other ways too, in need of her smell, her laugh, her simple gracefulness.

Everyone who has been away from home for a while knows the disorientation of returning, and for a couple hours, I wasn’t sure what to do with my time. I busied myself with simple chores, cleaning the house and laundry, a trip to the grocery store to pick up some supplies for the week ... etc.

Knowing I had to be back at work first thing the next morning, I chose to turn in at a reasonable hour and fell asleep easily. Before sunrise, I woke with a raging hard-on. Morning wood hadn’t hit me that aggressively since I was a teenager! Recent habits took over immediately and with my eyes still only half-open, I rolled to my side, expecting to see Gladys’ delicious form lying next to me. Obviously, I didn’t find her there, and returned to my back with a whining groan, my turgid cock twitching on my stomach, the head leaking pre-cum on my abs above my belly button.

“Well”, I thought, “there’s no way I’m gonna be able to fall asleep again with this boner. Might as well crank one out and then maybe I can get some more shuteye.” So I rose and stepped into the bathroom, opened the vanity cabinet and spotted the short stack of smut magazines I kept stored there - only a half-dozen or so, but I had used them frequently not so long ago. I grabbed the top one from the stack and flipped it open to a random page, putting it down on the sink counter. Maybe it was luck ... or maybe not, I couldn’t say – but the first image I saw in the magazine was a blonde-haired teen girl holding her big tits, facing the camera, thighs slightly parted to show her shaved snatch.

My mind immediately shot to memories of Shawna’s stunning teen body and tasty twat, causing my dick to begin lurching, drops of pre-cum now falling on the counter and the magazine. I grabbed my dick with my right hand and began stroking, using my left to steady myself against the counter. Flashes of Shawna’s enthusiastically agile form were still so fresh in my mind, I could almost feel her petite frame and large, bouncy tits pressed against me, her twitching pussy wrapped around as much of my aching dick as she could manage. I jacked my rod more fervently.

Then, the memory of Sherry licking my cum from Gladys’ pussy added more fuel to the fire of my arousal. Very soon, I remembered watching Shawna and Angel wrapped around each other in a 69, tongues and fingers in each other’s shaved pussies! I groaned with cavernous need while the first jets of my cum began rocketing out of me, onto the bathroom mirror. SPLAT! SPLAT! And then four more on the counter top. Then two more in the sink.

Using both hands to steady myself, I paused for a couple minutes, catching my breath. Once my knees stopped shaking, I surveyed the mess I’d made. Damn! Big globs of spooge were running down the mirror, streaks of it had splattered all over the counter and my dick was still dripping more sloppy jizz onto the floor!

I grabbed some cleaning supplies and scrubbed away the mess I’d created. By the time I’d finished, I was fully awake and knew my chances of more sleep time were almost nil, so I might as well get an early start on the day. I showered, shaved and dressed for work. And after some coffee and a couple bowls of cereal, I took my truck to a local automated car wash – then headed to the office.

Every Monday morning, before sending the troops out on their travels, the boss would gather us for a meeting to cover the previous week’s numbers and assign routes for the coming week - this week was no different. A few of the guys gave me a hard time about missing the previous week, calling me a slacker and trying to get under my skin in a jovial fashion. I let it all roll off me - I was calm and happy. Some even commented on my new attitude, asking me if I’d had a lobotomy, or maybe went to see one of those eastern yogis during my vacation. After the meeting, my boss tried several times to get details on what I’d been doing the past week.

“C’mon Jim,” he needled, “what the heck have you been up to? You’re like a completely different guy, all smooth and relaxed. What did do to get this way in only a week?”

I repeatedly told him that I had just taken some therapeutic ‘me time’ up in the mountains. There was no way I was going to go into any detail, I wanted to make sure that town full of busty ladies were well-protected from any of these people. I even began to think of my co-workers as ‘outsiders’. As if I’d been living in the mountains my whole life – not just a week.

To be fair, I held no malice toward my work mates, I just wanted to keep that town and its way of life to myself. Some might say I was just being selfish, and there may have been some truth in that. But I truly thought it was in the best interest of the town – and specifically those ladies – to protect them from those on the outside who might exploit them, so I kept mum about the details.

Work quickly fell into a familiar routine; My days were spent on the road, speaking to landowners about leasing their mineral or gas rights to us. During a typical work week, I might spend one or two nights in a motel while scouring a particular area for potential clients. That week, I was home each evening to fix myself a small meal and crawl in bed by myself. As you might imagine, all week long I was itching to get back on the road toward Gladys. By Wednesday night, I had stopped counting days and began counting the hours until quitting time on Friday.

Each morning, I woke early with a raging erection. And each morning, I would stroke myself until my nuts blasted their cream over seemingly everything within a 4-foot radius. It was an easy enough habit to fall into. Though I did have to wash a lot of laundry that week. In an effort to ease clean-up, I started aiming my nut butter cannon toward the bathtub, allowing it to wash down the drain before I jumped in to shower myself.

When Friday morning finally rolled around, I rose even earlier, jerked a big load out, cleaned up and packed a small suitcase before getting ready for work. Friday afternoon, as soon as I could, I rolled down the driver’s side window, lit a cigarette, turned up the radio and began motoring back toward Gladys, grinning like an idiot and giddy as a child on Christmas Eve.

Several hours later, I pulled up to Gladys’ cabin and took a few moments to comb my hair before approaching the house. I barely had time to put one foot on the bottom porch step when the front door flew open, revealing a very naked Gladys who bellowed “An’ jus’ where th’ HELL yew been, mister?” I was caught off guard for a split second, then noticed the corners of her mouth beginning to arc upward. I just offered a smile and continued across the porch and into the house, toward her, my arms outstretched.

She was trying so hard to look upset, but the facade was breaking down rapidly. “Aw hell, I cain’t keep it up, tryin’ t’ fool yew. I been missin’ yew sump’n fierce, sugar pie!” She fell forward into my arms and we wrapped around each other, holding on as tightly as we could.

“Baby, I’ve missed you so much.” I responded. We kissed tenderly, but with growing passion. Soon, I felt I had to say something.

“Gladys, sweetie. I am so happy to just hold your body close to me like this and kiss your sweet lips - but I need to be inside you, baby.” I said.

“Thank God!” she loudly replied. “I w’s afraid yew was gonna act like a gentleman agin, an’ my pussy cain’t take no more waitin’. I need yer fat dick inside o’ me right now, Daddy.”

I kicked off my boots as she hastily removed my shirt and began removing my pants. When she began struggling with my zipper, I removed her hands and kissed her again.

“Get your sexy ass on the bed, baby.” I ordered. “Mmm, yes sir.” she replied while strolling toward the bed, smiling over her shoulder. My own hands were shaking a bit with anticipation, but I managed to remove my pants and boxers, then I followed her.

I found her on the bed, humming, eyes closed, on her back, thighs parted, using her left hand to massage her decadently huge fun bags while her right hand toyed with her shaved pussy.

“Damn, I missed that”, I muttered.

“Don’ gotta wait no more, Daddy. Git over here’n put yer dick in me. I been rubbin’ on mysef almos’ all day, jus’ waitin’ fer yew t’ git here. My pussy’s already plenty wet.”

I traced my hand across her hairless mound and found her assessment accurate; she was already plenty wet. My fingers came back coated in her overheated juice, slimy and tangy. I put my fingers in my mouth and sucked her juices clean from them while using my other hand to rub my cock head across outer lips, coating my prong in more of her girl cum. She began humping her hips up toward me, and I took the hint, easing my painfully hard meat into her boiling pussy.

In our absence from one another and anticipation of this evening, we’d both worked ourselves into a state of near orgasm, so neither of us lasted long, but it was spectacular anyway. She could take my cock all the way inside her, but if I was too aggressive, I’d still bump her cervix. She tensed up at the first bump and her thighs gripped my sides so hard, I had trouble catching my breath. Soon, she returned to her rhythm of meeting my thrusts with her own and I couldn’t hold out – I began cumming inside her. Apparently, this set off Gladys again and she began tensing and shuddering anew.

That initial coupling had been primal, fulfilling an immediate need for both of us. Afterward, we lay wrapped in other’s arms and rested.

“Oh! ‘Fore I fergit, I’m s’posed t’ tell yew ‘at Doc wants t’ meet yew Saturdee an’ talk ‘bout sump’n. He said yew’d know what it’s ‘bout. He said come over t’ his house ‘round mid day, and brang beer. I’ll give yew d’rections t’ his place.”

“Alright.” I replied. I hadn’t planned on spending any time away from Gladys until I had to leave Sunday night, but I had already promised Doc that we would talk sometime soon.

“Oh yeah! An’ when yew git done over t’ Doc’s place, yew gotta come back here an’ git me so’s we can go over t’ Sherry’s, okay?”

“That sounds like a plan to me”, I answered. When Gladys mentioned going to Sherry’s, my cock lurched at the thought of Shawna and Angel’s naked bodies. Gladys noticed it right away.

“Yew ain’t got a thang fer my sister, do ya?” she interrogated me.

“No, sweetie” I answered truthfully. “But if I’m being honest, it’s difficult for me to not get hard around Shawna and Angel.”

She smirked. “Well, I don’ reckon there’s nothin’ wrong wi’ that. Long’s yew ‘member that yer my fella an’ yew come home wi’ me, I ain’t gonna complain. Shoot. If I’m bein’ hones’, them girls kinda turn me on too, sugar” she chuckled.

She grabbed my dick with one hand and let out a guttural moan, then proceeded to bathe my entire cock and balls with her wet tongue. “I hope yer ready, Daddy, ‘cause I’m gonna put this big pecker in my pussy agin tonight.” Then she wrapped her lips around the crown and began suckling. I had only softened a little bit before, but quickly returned to full size.

We spent the next couple hours making love – taking our time, each of us trying to ensure the other received all the pleasure we could give, revelling in the other’s joy. I lost count of Gladys’ orgasms, but I know she worked me to explosion a total of 4 times in maybe 2 ½ hours! At last, we were both too tired to continue.

Since my arrival, she had squirted at least twice and left me slimy wet from my belly button to my knees. I had cum in her pussy twice, once in her mouth and once on her enormous tits. Gladys chose to stay cum-crusted and kissed me once more before rolling onto her side and quickly falling asleep.

I got up briefly to have a smoke on the back steps and take a leak (from said steps) into the brush below. Afterward, I turned off the lights and rejoined Gladys in bed, snuggling my front to her back. Sleep found me almost as quickly as it had her.

Gladys woke me with a kiss and a smile and quickly reminded me of the day’s plans.

“Now don’ git all worked up, handsome. ‘Member yew gotta see Doc firs’ – and we’re gonna see Sherry and the girls t’day.” She laid one hand on my heavy, mostly-flaccid prick and patted it a couple times. “So yer gonna hafta save this ‘til later t’day, okay?”

I kissed her back and nodded with a smirk, “If you insist, honey.”

But I simply couldn’t keep my hands off her mammoth milk bags. So I pulled her a bit closer to me and began mauling them, growling with need before lowering my mouth to begin painting her tits with my saliva. I slathered every inch of her chest with my tongue, from the top edges where her breasts met her collar bone, to the expanse underneath where her heavy hooters kept the sun from peeking. After only a few moments of this action, Gladys chuckled and said, “Mmm, Daddy ... yew done got me worked up agin ... ever-body else is gonna hafta wait ... I wanna taste yer dick ... give it t’ me.” And she lowered her head to my now tumescent tally-whacker, taking almost half my length before sucking so hard my toes began to curl up. Hell, I thought the hair on top of my head might curl up!

Gladys started bobbing up and down, humming, moaning and jacking the part that wouldn’t fit in her mouth. I took the opportunity to twist my body around a bit, allowing me to keep one hand on her tits while my other hand found its way to her sweet pussy. I guessed that she would be sensitive after the previous night’s pounding, so I chose to very gingerly caress her folds, occasionally fluttering across her clit. Apparently, I guessed right, because it didn’t take long for her to begin whimpering and sucking even harder. She then pulled my cock from her maw with a wet pop.

“Daddy, I want yew t’ put this in me agin, but my pussy is still kinda sore from las’ night. I gotta let my kitty rest ‘fore yew stretch ‘er agin. D’ yew wanna cum in my mouth instead?”

I roughly squeezed her left breast, and Gladys emitted a noise that started with a yelp, then quickly deepened into a prolonged groan. “Daddy wants to cum all over your gorgeous titties, baby. But first, I’m gonna sit up on the edge of the bed and I want you to sit between my legs so you can use these titties to work on my cock.”

Belying her age, she moved much more like an over-excited teenager, scrambling to the floor quickly to meet my demands. I sat upright and swung my legs off the bed. As soon as my feet touched the floor, Gladys was between them, popping my cock head back in her mouth and drenching it with her saliva. Then, without need for further prompting, she pulled her mouth of my cock and slapped it into her cavernous cleavage, using her hands to wrap her enormous mammaries around my thickness. Heaven! And then she began moving her upper body up and down, strangling my aching cock with those heavy hangers. Her face adopted a determined look as she continued working her tits up and down along my shaft. Apparently, she was as hungry for my cum as I was to give it to her!

Soon, I felt the tell-tale tickle in my balls begin to race up my shaft and I told her so.

“Daddy’s about to cum all over your titties, baby.”

“Mmm, I can’t wait Daddy”, she replied. “Shoot it all over m’ titties!”

And I did. Long, gloopy ropes of semen hitting her heaving chest with audible slaps. She used both hands to keep jacking my pecker, milking more and more of my jizz onto herself with self-satisfied little purring sounds. When the torrent slowed to a dribble, she sucked me back into her wet mouth, nursing the remainder of my load straight onto her tongue until my dick was too sensitive to continue and I had to pull back from her.

She spent a few minutes lifting her pendulous jugs to her own mouth, licking at the ropes of jism I’d used to decorate her chest while I watched and tried to catch my breath.

“It’s time fer me t’ take a bath, an’ yew need one too, mister” she said, rubbing the rest of my load into her heaving tits as if it were lotion. “D’ yew wanna join me?” I nodded. “C’mon, handsome” and she stood. We grabbed our bathing accessories and walked hand in hand down to the creek, all the way into the frigid stream.

As we were bathing, Gladys said, “Jim, honey, yew ‘member las’ week when yew trimmed yer pew-bic hairs an’ shaved yer balls?”

I nodded.

“Well ... sugar ... I shore do like the way it felt when yew was smooth. Would yew ... ya’ know ... keep doin’ it fer me?”

“Baby, if it makes you happy, I’ll be happy to.” I stepped toward her and kissed her lips while not mentioning that I had planned to keep shaving my balls anyway. I liked the way it felt too – at least when they were smooth. Stubble on the balls felt like needles - pure torture!

I continued, “Gladys, honey, you don’t have to be shy if there’s something you want me to do that’ll make you happier. Granted, there might be times when I’ll refuse – but I bet you’ll find those times to be the exception.”

She smiled and kissed me again before we separated so we could finish our respective bathing, shaving, brushing routines. Before long, we emerged from the chilly water and began the uphill climb to the cabin, hand in hand again.

Anticipating the sexy possibilities waiting at Sherry’s house, I decided to head to Doc’s house earlier than planned and get that meeting out of the way. Since it was already late morning, I stopped at the grocery and grabbed a six pack of beer. Then, following the directions Gladys had provided, I made my way to Doc McGill’s home.

His house was a lovely but understated 3-bedroom brick home with a 2-car garage and even had a picket fence around the front yard – though it wasn’t painted white. When I knocked on the door, Doc seemed genuinely happy to see me, offering a warm handshake while pulling me into the house. He gave me a brief tour that ended in the kitchen. I took one of the beers from the six pack and handed him the remaining five. He shrugged and took one for himself and placed the rest in the fridge.

“Let me just fire up that grill so we can get these steaks on there pretty soon.” he said. With that, we both moved toward his back patio where we got comfortable and talked about all manner of typical guy stuff – but mostly football.

When the steaks were ready to eat, the reason for our meeting was broached. “Jim, I think I might have figured out why you’re not sterile and all the local fellows are - it may have something to with immunizations.” I looked at him, puzzled.

He continued, “Do you remember getting all your immunization shots when you were a kid? Of course not. Well, you might remember SOME of them, like when you were 5 years old, getting ready to be sent to school for the first time. But there’s no way you remember getting shots as an infant. Who would?”

“I’m sure you’re right, Doc. I don’t remember much of anything before I was maybe 3 or 4 years old.”

“Exactly! But here’s the thing; There are more than a dozen immunizations that each child should receive in the first 18 months of their life. But in places like our little town, the old timers didn’t trust doctors at all, unless they thought they were dying. Hell, most of them are still that way today! Sure, we have state-mandated immunizations for all children before they can attend school, but up until then – nothing. And I can guarantee you that no child in this hollow has had a single immunization shot in their infancy or toddler years. I know I haven’t given any in the last 20 years! I’ve begged and pleaded with these parents to get their shots according to the well-known, recommended guidelines. But these folks won’t have it. Every one of them believes their child is a special angel, sent from God. And ‘why would God send an angel to me that needs fixin’ right away’ ... and on and on they blather. So neither I nor any government guidelines are going to change their minds. I finally resigned myself to it years ago – just content that the children have to get at least some of their immunizations before they can start school.”

“But here’s the thing, Jim. You’ve had all those recommended immunizations. I know, because I called and had a copy of your medical records sent over.”

My brow was knitted tightly, trying to deduce which immunization might have allowed me to be immune from the effects of the local groundwater.

Doc must have picked up on this, because he continued, “What I don’t yet know is WHICH of the immunizations might be the one we’re looking for. Here’s where it gets a little shady” he said with a conspiring grin, “I’ve got a colleague at the university teaching hospital, and they’ve agreed to provide semen samples so I can use them to test.”

My eyes almost popped out of my head, “What! How is that possible?”

He shrugged, “Easy. A lot of the teaching hospitals pay for samples; blood, hair, tissue, sperm ... you get the idea - and use them for research purposes. I figured “Why not use them myself? I’m doing research too!” though I’m not planning to tell anyone what exactly the research is. At least not yet.”

I quickly interjected “Doc, I think it would be a bad idea to tell anyone ever. Okay, maybe not that long – but at least not for the foreseeable future.”

He agreed with me, then kept talking. “So I got in touch with them and had some random samples sent – I don’t know who the donors are and don’t need to. The only stipulation I raised was that the samples provided had to be ‘live’. In other words, known-good ‘swimmers’. So, using the first sample, I added some of our local groundwater – from my own well right behind you, actually” he pointed. “And within 36 hours, that sample no longer had any live ‘swimmers’. You with me so far?”

I nodded for him to continue.

“Right, so next I used a new, untainted sample and began adding small amounts of each of the immunizations you received as a child. After 48 hours, there was no change in the sample – still lots of swimmers. So I added some of the well water – and I waited. As of last night, when I left my office, that sample looked just as healthy as when I received it!”

“Wow! Doc, that’s pretty incredible!” I congratulated him. “So how long do you think the remaining tests might take?”

“Not sure exactly. I’m confident that I can figure it out, but it’s going to take a fair amount of time, as you can imagine.” he answered.

I nodded my understanding. “Well Doc, I truly appreciate the work you’ve already done on this. Even if nothing else comes of this, it puts my mind at ease and I thank you for that.”

“Aw hell, Jim. It’s nice to have a mystery to work on – something to keep my mind engaged. Now, I have to tell you that I’m not pursuing this full time. I have my practice to run, you understand? But I’ll be happy to keep testing until we have a better idea what exactly is causing these effects.”

I clapped him on the shoulder and said “Again, I must tell you how grateful I am for what you’ve already done. Don’t feel rushed to solve the mystery on my account. But it’s nice to know you’re planning to keep investigating.”

Though we’d only had three beers each, Doc was beginning to show signs of a fairly strong buzz. I let him know that I had to get back to Gladys, thanking him again for his work, the conversation and the delicious steaks. He just smiled and slurred “Anytime ol’ time, buddy!”

I made my way back to Gladys’ cabin and found her in the kitchen, packing up what seemed like enough food to feed 20 people! After kissing her neck and hugging her from behind, only briefly playing with her heavy breasts, I said “Okay, you’ve piqued my curiosity; What’s with all the food?”

“Well, I got bored waitin’ fer yew t’ git back, so I fig’r’d I’d make us some grub. An’ I started t’ makin’ some chicken and grits, and then I fig’r’d I’d go ‘head an’ make some biscuits too and then that I jus’ kep’ cookin’ an’ makin’ more food. But now that I see it all t’gether, I thank I mighta overdone it a bit.”

I chuckled and hugged her again.

“But I can always take some over t’ Sherry an’ ‘em. An’ yew can take some of it wi’ yew tomorree when yew gotta leave. ‘At ways I know yer eatin’ good while yew ain’t wi’ me.”

She turned around and pressed herself into me, raising her lips to mine for a deep kiss.

“Well” I said, “if you’re done cooking for the whole county, I’ll help you clean up real quick.”

She smiled, swatted my butt and let go of me so we could begin cleaning. Thankfully, that process didn’t take long, but gave me enough time to let Gladys know what Doc had found so far. I did a pretty good job of not sounding like everyone here was an uneducated hick for not getting their babies immunized. In the end, she seemed to understand the gist of what I explained, but it was easy to tell she wasn’t all that interested in the details.

When the cleaning was done, I said “Baby, you have to know that I hate saying these words – but I think you should get dressed.”

She affected a mock look of disgust “Why sir! I never heard such rudeness in all my born days! Why ever should I git dressed?”

I chuckled again at her performance. “Well honey, as much as I love seeing you naked, I’m sure you don’t want to drive all the way to Sherry’s place showing the town your birthday suit.”

Gladys smirked “I was thinkin’ ‘bout it fer a minute, but I reckon yer right. ‘Sides, I don’t wan’ ol’ Skeeter a-droolin’ an’ jerkin’ on ‘is little dick while thankin’ o’ my boobies. Yer the only fella I want seein’ my nekkid titties, Daddy.” She pressed those fun bags into my chest and kissed me again.

I had to slow her down. “Easy there, girl. If you keep that up, we’ll never make it to your sister’s house.”

She stuck her tongue out at me, “Spoil sport” and slapped me lightly on my chest. “But yer right. Jus’ ‘member my rules; No fuckin’ Angel yet, no cummin’ in anybody’s pussy ‘cept mine an’ yew better have some left over fer me tonight.”

“I remember, sweetie.”

She pointed out which of the mountain of food dishes she wanted to take to Sherry’s and reluctantly got dressed while I took the food out to the truck.

In an unexpected turn of events, when we arrived at Sherry’s, everyone was on the front porch and dressed! Sherry and her daughters were hard at work on different chores; Sherry was sewing patches onto Angel’s well-worn denim shorts, Angel appeared to be shucking peas from the garden and Shawna was sweeping the porch and stairs. As my truck pulled up the driveway, they all looked up and their lovely smiles appeared. Before I could fully stop the truck and get out, Shawna had already dropped her broom and ran around the truck to meet me, her face beaming with joy.

As I stepped out of the truck, she immediately wrapped her arms around my neck and pushed herself hard into me. “Unca Jim! I’m s’ glad yer back! I missed yew a whole big bunch!” and then she raised her face to mine to kiss me. I kissed her back, briefly enjoying her soft, but insistent lips against mine. She began squirming her whole body against mine when Sherry barked “‘At’s enough o’ that, little missy. Let th’ man git sitch’ated ‘fore yew start all ‘at mess.”

I put both my hands on her little butt and squeezed. “I’m very happy to see you too, sweetie. But we better listen to your Momma – neither of us wants to get on her bad side.” Shawna reluctantly let go and went back to her sweeping duties.

I made my way around the truck and helped Gladys out, who went up to sit in a chair next to her sister. “Shawna, Angel, I brung a whole mess o’ food wi’ me. Ya’ll hep Jim carry it all in th’ house.” Gladys said.

Shawna jumped at the chance to help and Angel came down toward me, blushing. I was surprised at her demeanor, suddenly so seemingly shy. “Are you alright Angel?” I asked.

“Yes sir” she replied. “I jus’ been missin’ yew sump’n terr’ble. I even had a dream ‘bout yew las’ night. An’ when I seen yew pull in the driveway, my tummy got all fluttery and I jus’ ... I dunno ... I ... I really missed yew is all.” Then she quickly grabbed me in a hug, her arms around my stomach and leaned in to kiss me softly before taking a stack of covered dishes in the house.

I went onto the porch and said to hello to Sherry, who offered me a brief kiss and went back to her sewing while she and Gladys gossiped. The teenagers ferried and organized the food, I smoked a cigarette and sat on the porch with Gladys and Sherry, relishing the moment of relative calm and anticipating what I hoped would happen later.

I didn’t have to wait long. As soon as the food was inside and stored properly, Shawna came back out and grabbed my hand, pulling gently to get me to follow her. “Unca Jim, my pussy’s been itchin’ s’ bad I thought I’s gonna go crazy! C’mon in th’ house an’ hep me scratch it, please?”