Chapter 16: Pooling Ideas

I looked at the clock; it was a little after 4:30. Nancy or Marybeth first?

I picked up the phone and called Marybeth. "Can we talk?" I asked.

"Sure, would you like me to come over there?"

"If you could, it would be best. I'm finding myself a little swamped. Gail's here."

"Well, I'll be there in half an hour, okay?"

"Sure."

I turned back to my own bailiwick.

"Gail, please. Sherrie, too." I led them to the family room where Susan and Jamie were sitting, schoolbooks out.

"He's gone?" Susan asked.

"Yes. A few things. Actually, three names. June Wheeler, Sylvia and Toni Courdes; they are your age, Susan. They live down the street. Jamie knows them."

Susan nodded. "Jamie told me."

"That's fine. They asked if they could swim in our pool; I told them yes -- so long as I'm here. They are home schooled, so your schedules don't have much overlap." Susan nodded. "I haven't made an issue of pool rules, Susan, but we do need to have some. If I'm not here, June and her friends can't swim. If Sherrie and I are both gone, neither can you nor your friends can swim. You won't swim without an adult around."

Susan nodded. "Sherrie, you are, so far as I'm concerned, an adult. I swim by myself, so can you. It's not that good an idea, though. Also, you can invite friends over, even have a party, so long as you let me know in advance."

Sherrie looked unhappy. "Laura, particularly parties... well, kids pretty much aren't allowed to have them any more. Legal issues, it's dangerous." She shook her head. "I couldn't do that to you, Laura."

I smiled, walked over and kissed Susan on the lips, using my tongue; rubbing my hand on the front of her jeans. I didn't keep it up long, switching to Jamie, then Gail.

When I finished, Gail grinned. "Meanie!"

"Later," I replied and Gail grinned even more.

"I think I see your point," Sherrie said.

"I don't want to make light of the dangers, like I said yesterday. But I'm not going to live in fear of them, either." She nodded.

"Simple, common-sense rules. Oh and Jamie? You are on the approved-friend list, okay?"

She smiled and nodded. "Now, I need to talk to Gail, the rest of you go do school work!"

I led Gail into the kitchen, offered her some tea. She shook her head.

"Marybeth wanted you to talk to me," Gail said neutrally.

"About forgiveness," I told her and Gail nodded.

"I'm not going to talk about what happened -- not to anyone. I promised Coach; I mean it. I promise you too, Laura."

"I know; this isn't about that promise. This is about you and Fred."

"She got in trouble and I got in trouble; you're giving us another chance."

"Yes, but there's a difference between how Amy feels about Fred right now and how she feels about you."

Gail looked at me; at a guess, she didn't know. "Gail, Amy forgave Fred. She didn't forgive you."

"And what Amy wants, that's important?" Gail said with a little heat.

"It should make a difference to you," I told her. "This isn't about me, it's about you and Amy. You know, one of your teammates?"

"I told her I was sorry."

"She accepted your apology, but forgiveness was missing. Do you know what forgiveness is?"

Gail shook her head, so I filled in the blanks for her. "Absolution. Erasing what happened in the big scoreboard of life.

"Gail, think about something for a second. You pushed Amy, not just once, not just this weekend, but other times."

Gail nodded. "I said I was sorry."

"Gail, at the party, you came on to me really strong... you also asked a whole bunch of times."

"You weren't sure what you wanted to do. You said you liked it."

"And I did. I told Amy that it's not a good idea to move limits when you're with someone, I've told her and others that it's wrong to push. There are times, though, when mild pushing isn't wrong. Like with me." Gail nodded. "Were there others you pushed, besides Amy?" I asked her.

Gail nodded. "I suppose I should apologize to them, too."

"You should."

I stepped close to Gail, softened my voice. "You said you were one of the hungry ones. Gail, that means you have an extra responsibility, that you have to go a little further, be more careful about pushing." I kissed her like I'd kissed her before. "I know, because I've found that I'm a hungry one myself."

The kiss was hard and hungry on both of our parts, after a second she was rubbing the front of my slacks as I was rubbing the front of her shorts. I smiled at her. "You know what Marybeth likes?"

"The best finger fuck in the world," Gail said, nodding.

"Mmmmhmmm. She's been giving me lessons. Want to see what I've learned?"

Gail answered with her lips. I fumbled with the zipper on her shorts, then my hand was between her legs; hers between mine. For several minutes we frigged each other, then I inserted a second finger and Gail let out a muffled cry. I smiled at that, opened my eyes to see the look on her face; I saw that and I saw the look on Sherrie's face a few feet away. Right then I found the magic spot in Gail's vagina; she cried out again, much louder. I tickled it for nearly a minute, until Gail closed her legs and broke off the kiss.

Gail gasped, muttered, "Oh my! You have been taking lessons!" She took a deep breath, leaned closer. "Please let me finish you off!"

I nodded, looking down at her hand inside my slacks. God, I thought, that looks sexy. Feels sexy! Gail inserted another finger, started pumping them in and out of me at a frantic pace. I sighed, sighed again and came solidly.

I saw Sherrie step back, but she made a little sound, and Gail turned to look.

Sherrie moved out of the room, and Gail turned back to me. "Marybeth likes to watch two of us," she whispered, and then glanced back at the now empty doorway. "She doesn't ever go with anyone except one on one; not like Nancy."

"And you."

Gail nodded. "I'm hungry!"

I smiled. We zipped up and five minutes later when Marybeth arrived, we were more or less normal.

"I need to talk to Marybeth, Gail. I think it will take a while."

"More lessons, I hope!" she said, then kissed Marybeth on the cheek and left.

Marybeth and I sat in the kitchen, looking at the pool; she was silent as I explained about the lawsuit. Her face showed little or no trace of emotion.

"Do you think she's going to drop the suit?" Marybeth asked when I finished.

"I'd like to say yes, but I don't know for sure."

Marybeth sighed. "When Nancy said we should cool it for a while, I pretty much thought she was overreacting. Now..." She met my eyes. "I feel this very cold wind blowing on my backside."

The phone was in the other room and when it rang, I knew Susan would get it. After a second, Susan appeared. "Linda says she's decided to eat out tonight; she'll be by to pick Jamie up in a while."

I nodded, and Susan left.

Marybeth looked at me. "I'm going to leave. If I stayed, I'd probably say something. I'd be polite, like you were, careful, like you were -- and would add nothing. Friday, that's a good deadline. Let me know what Linda does. I think, for now, we shouldn't bother Nancy with this. It takes a bit to get her dander up. This would."

She gave me a hug and a kiss. Then she smiled when we pulled apart. "Of course, if we're cooling it with the girls, that means I can come back and we can see if we can improve our performance with my little toy."

Snapshots flashed in my mind for a second; Roger, hard, sliding inside me. Marybeth and I fucking each other. Last, Raul, smiling at me.

"Keep that thought, whatever it is!" Marybeth laughed, and then left. I wondered if she wondered why I was blushing so hard.

When Linda arrived, Jamie was ready. I opened the front door to let her out and she looked at Linda, then at me. Without a word, she put her backpack down, gave me a big hug, and then went outside.

That was, I thought, all in all not a good sign. Jamie had hugged me goodbye. She knew I'd gone to talk to Linda, she knew the topic. Then she had hugged me goodbye. For all sorts of reasons, I hoped she was wrong.

Sherrie and I worked on dinner; we'd come to a sort of accommodation. Sherrie wanted to learn more about cooking, Susan didn't. So Susan was going to load the dishwasher whenever we cooked.

"I watched again," Sherrie muttered as we waited for the microwave to melt meat for dinner.

"Gail didn't mind," I told her.

"I'm a perv."

"I don't think so. Besides, I've found it's nice being a perv."

She smiled at me; later she and Susan started talking, while I sat down with a book.

Around eight there was a knock on the door; I found two men standing there. "Jay Wheeler," the man in front said. "I believe you've met my daughter and my wife."

"I did. A memorable pair." He smiled. He was about five eight, rather slender in build, in his mid-thirties.

The other man said he was Frank Courdes, "Short," he said, "for Francois. Gus said you were amused by nick names."

"I don't think amused is the right word. Intrigued or maybe fascinated. Maybe I'll write a book, some day."

"June is a determined young lady," Jay said. "She loves to swim. This summer she'll be on the Phoenix Country Club swim team." He met my eyes. "Thanks for letting her and Frank's girls use your pool."

"That's one reason I bought the house."

I looked and saw June, Sylvia and Toni coming along the walk, coming towards us. "Look, why don't you all come in? I'd like you to meet my daughter and my boarder."

There was a long round of introductions, and then Susan and the other girls went into the family room while Sherrie stayed with us.

"I invited your daughters to a pool party Saturday."

Jay nodded. "Karen also said your daughter and Jamie Kellogg are friends, that you're friends with Linda Kellogg."

His voice was neutral and restrained.

"I invited them and I was sure they would come. Now... the invitation is still open, but I'm no longer sure either of them will be here."

"June got an odd phone call this afternoon," Jay told me, his eyes on me. "It was from Jamie. All she said was 'I'd apologize to you, June, but my mom would have a cow.' Then she hung up."

Sherrie, who'd been quiet up to then, laughed out loud. "That is so cool! They were going on earlier about something. I asked what and Jamie told me there was something she really wanted to do, but her mom wouldn't let her. Susan said, 'sometimes just knowing that someone would like to do something, but can't... might be a way to say it without saying it.'"

The two men looked at Sherrie; uncertain, I thought, about what to make of her statement.

I contemplated things for a second. Jamie was an interesting person, more mature, I thought, than Susan. Sherrie was shy and gay. Why was she sitting with two men she didn't know, when she could just have easily been elsewhere? Because she'd been asked to by either Susan or Jamie or maybe both. Which meant Jamie had been sure that there would be a chance for Sherrie to say what Jamie had wanted her to say.

Jay smiled at Sherrie. "I got the message earlier, but thanks anyway for the college try."

Sherrie blushed and started to get up. I touched her hand and she looked at me. "It was very nice of you to do that for Jamie, thanks."

She got up and hurried off.

I met Jay's eye. "There's like a..." I paused and laughed, "I was going to say fraternity, but I guess sorority would be better. Cheer is like any other team, the members bond. They help each other out. Sherrie's graduated and Jamie isn't a member yet, but they are kindred spirits anyway."

He nodded and there was an awkward pause. I met Jay's eyes; they flicked down to my breasts, hesitated and didn't go lower. "I'm sorry your wives didn't come along, I liked talking to them," I said mildly.

"Right now," Frank said, "they are sitting back at our house, wishing we would come and tell them what all was said."

"They should have come along," I repeated. Why would they trust their husbands alone with me, when they could have just as easily come along? I saw Jay glance at Frank, and saw Frank smile slightly back.

Oh, that explains it. Except the explanation offered up more questions than the one simple explanation answered.

Frank spoke, "Karen has this remarkable ability; she calls it 'gaydar.' The ability to look at someone and know if they are gay or not."

"I've heard of it." And at one time I had had my doubts; now I wasn't so sure. I could sure look at a girl or woman and know if she wanted to be with me. I mentally kicked myself; then realized I really didn't want to go around scrutinizing everyone I met. "And she applied this to me?"

"To you, Linda Kellogg and Jamie." He met my eyes. "She thought, what with one thing and another, you'd prefer us to meet you before she met your daughter or your boarder."

"She needn't have worried." I waved at them, "Obviously you have something to say." And if it's you don't want your daughters associated with gays, what does it say about you?

"You know what happened between June and Jamie." He wasn't really asking a question.

"Yes, I hadn't heard about it before today. I listened to June's side this morning; this afternoon I listened to Jamie's. It is a tribute to both of them that the detail of events matched perfectly. Jamie really is sorry; she lost all her friends."

"Because June punched Jamie?" He shook his head, obviously not believing me.

"Because Jamie had become arrogant and self-centered; contemptuous of not only June and her friends, but her own friends as well. I'm no fonder of Linda's lawsuit than you are; nonetheless she helped guide Jamie back towards being a human being. And Jamie was smart enough to follow the guide. I don't have any problem being friends with either of them."

Jay sat looking at me, "Odd how things work." It was uncannily like what Marybeth had said about Ann and being tickled.

"In college Karen was attacked. A cockroach of a human being literally crawled out of a crack, hit her and started to drag her back to his hole.

"Poor guy, he thought he was attacking a little kid; not the scion of twenty generations of coal miners. She pulverized him."

"Good for her!" I replied instantly.

"They took Karen to the student infirmary to be examined; she did have some bruises. Not nearly what she applied to the cockroach.

"Then... then it got bad. Really bad for Karen," Jay went on.

"Karen was politically liberal; she believed in feminism and all that. In less than a week she woke up and realized who it really was who cared about her rights; she's volunteered for a lot of conservative candidates ever since. It's where I met her."

"I'm not sure I follow," I told him. "What happened to change her mind?"

"The feminists, the do-gooders were positive she was traumatized. They wanted to enshrine her as a permanent victim, to make her a poster girl in their campaign to show what scum all men are.

"It didn't matter to those women that Karen hadn't been traumatized at all; in fact, when the guy was tried, she pointed him out. The guy peed himself, right there in front of everyone when she did. He was terrified of her. Karen wasn't a victim; she didn't think she'd done anything more than step on a cockroach.

"Oh and then about a dozen of those 'do-gooders' hit on her. Some of them groped her, others tried to kiss her... they didn't want to hear 'no.' She was, they told her, confused, and brainwashed by men. Even when she told them that she and Gus had been lovers since high school, they kept on. Any woman, they told her, who used a name like 'Gus' was obviously a brainwashed victim of patriarchal, dominant males whose only desire is to see women barefoot and pregnant and kept that way.