Chapter 9

Mary sobbed softly and pulled at his arm vigorously. He didn't resist her efforts to move him away from the door, but he didn't understand them, either. She had wanted to witness the scene and now that they were there and it was taking place, Pete wanted her to get her kicks from it. However, she was pulling on his arm so fiercely that he had no choice. They were at the front door and out onto the porch before he quite realized it. Mary reached around him and pulled the door shut.

"Oh, Pete!" she sobbed. "I couldn't stand it. It was too much, honey. Too much."

He patted her head. "Okay, we'll cut out if you like. It was... well, I started to say it was damned exciting, but I guess you don't think so. I..."

"No, no," she said quickly. "I thought it was terribly exciting. My goodness, I never experienced anything as exciting as that. I just couldn't stand it. I thought I'd faint if I stayed there another second."

"Come on," he said, taking her by the arm. "We'll get back in the car and go home."

They walked to the car and climbed in, and Pete started the motor, turned on the lights and began to back out to the street. When he passed the side of the front porch, he saw the front room light had been turned on and Rose was watching them from the doorway. She was wearing the top part of a pair of pajamas. When Pete leaned out the window to look at her -- with curiosity running through him as it always did when he was around this strange woman -- she waved and called for him to stop. He looked quickly at Mary, who seemed stunned.

"Rose has seen us, Mary," he said. "She wants us to stop. Want to?"

Mary's lips barely moved. "I don't care, if you want to, honey."

Pete cut the motor and turned out the headlights. "Come on, Mary. "We'll go inside and see what happens. Okay?"

Mary was actually shaking as he touched her hand to guide her out of the car in the dark. "I'm so damned... excited, honey," she said, her words tumbling out in a jerky manner. "Hope I don't make... a fool of myself."

"Don't worry. You'll get over the shaking. Let's go up on the porch."

They stepped onto the porch, and Pete saw that Rose had disappeared from the doorway. She reappeared almost immediately and was wearing the bottom part of her pajamas now, he noted, the dim light in the room being just barely sufficient to see anything at all. Pete grinned at her and Mary murmured a hello, and they were suddenly inside the room. Rose locked the outer door, Pete observed, but didn't close the main door -- it was a bit warm for this and evidently Rose didn't have air conditioning or at least didn't have it turned on.

"Hello, you two," Rose said, her voice steady but thick-sounding. "How are you, Mary?"

"Fine, Rose. How are you?" Mary asked.

Rose laughed coarsely. "I'm fine. Just fine now, by God!"

Pete glanced swiftly at Mary, but his wife's face was almost expressionless. "We came to see you, Rose. We knew you were upset about, er... Man. Thought we might help you find him."

"He came back right away like a good boy," Rose said thickly. "I just this minute put him out in the pen." She paused. "How long you been waiting to get in? I didn't hear you knock."

Pete felt like saying, "Then how do you know we knocked?" but he didn't. "We haven't been here long," he said lamely.

Rose took Mary by the hand and peered into her face closely. "You look pale. Lemme get you drinks of brandy, will ya?" Rose sounded odd.

"Would you, please?" Mary said softly, her voice breaking. She sank down on a chair, causing Pete to glance sharply at her again, but she seemed all right. The brandy would restore her nerves.

Rose, spilling some of it awkwardly, gave brandy to both of them and had some herself, all the while glancing from Pete to Mary and back again. Finally she spoke, "I s'pose, Mary, Pete told you what I said over the phone?" Her speech seemed to be getting thick.

"Yes," Mary said. "I'm glad your dog came back."

Rose averted her eyes from them both for ever so slight a moment. Then she stared straight at Mary. "I asked Pete if he'd bring you here so I could... go down on you, Mary," she said crudely.

"Oh... I see... well..." Mary stopped speaking and bit her lips.

"Am I embarrassin' you? If so, I'm sorry, honey."

Pete was surprised. This woman was apologizing for causing embarrassment to someone else? When he had seen her on those first two occasions, she had appeared to be the one embarrassed by practically everything that happened.

"I'm not embarrassed," Mary said firmly. "I'm not a child."

"Oh, shit," Rose said vulgarly, her voice sounding strained. "Now I'm makin' you mad at me. Can't seem to do anything right, can I?"

"You do okay," Mary said. "I can understand your wanting sex in odd ways, or what other people would consider to be odd ways. I have my moments, too."

Pete cleared his throat. "Rose," he said evenly, "Mary knows the score. There's no need for any of us to beat around the bush. Reason we wanted to help you find Man was so that we could watch you... having intercourse with..."

"Having intercourse, my ass," Rose broke in savagely. "You mean you want to see a woman getting dog-fucked, don't you?" She staggered and would have fallen if Pete hadn't caught her quickly. He, even though he had been drinking, could smell the strong odor of liquor on her breath and a quick study of her eyes, despite the poor lighting, told him that she was high, very high. Her bolder behavior and especially her frank remark to Mary was in keeping with this, of course, and when she pulled her arm free of his grasp, she uttered a short expletive that was totally unlike her.

"Would you like us to leave, Rose?" Mary asked suddenly. "We don't want to bother you, upset you, or anything like that."

Rose sank down onto the sofa and passed her hands in front of her eyes. "I've just had too much to drink, I suppose. I'm not much of a drinker. Fact is, I'm drunk."

She sat up straighter on the sofa, bit her lips, squinted her eyes oddly and stared at Mary's legs. "You have nice legs, Mary. I'd love to see him between them, prodding you with his prick."