Chapter 13

Karl wasn’t exactly sure what had awakened him, but for some reason he snapped out of a sound sleep, then for an instant he didn’t know where he was. It took only a second or two before he relaxed since he could see enough to recognise the bedroom in his cabin and a second after that, he realized who he was holding in his arms. However a moment later he knew he’d had one too many cups of coffee before bedtime, so he did his best to ease himself out of bed without waking Ely. He managed fairly well, but she mumbled slightly when he slid his arm from where it had lain under her pillow and against her shoulder. He paused for a few seconds, listening to her breathing as it steadied, then he slipped out of bed.

Even after a quick trip to the bathroom he still felt slightly unsettled, only he couldn’t think of a reason for his uneasiness. Frowning sightly, he walked across the room and looked out into the predawn murkiness through the sliding glass doors that led out onto the upper deck of the cabin. Perhaps he could see or hear some indication of what had disturbed his sleep. Of course he couldn’t see much, but he could make out a few of the shapes and outlines of the familiar scene even in the semi-darkness. As little as he could see though, everything appeared normal, so what had disturbed him? Why had he suddenly awakened from a sound sleep?

Then he had a somewhat disturbing thought, where was his dog? Usually Bruno greeted him moments after he steamed into the bay, often right on the dock, but so far he hadn’t seen the big mutt. Somehow he didn’t think his missing dog was the reason he’d suddenly snapped out of a sound sleep, but right then he couldn’t think of anything else. Besides, he wasn’t going to go hunting for the darn dog in the middle of the night. He yawned then and decided to go back to bed, there was no sense in staying awake if he couldn’t see any sign of trouble, and tomorrow would be soon enough to look for Bruno.

He couldn’t manage to slide into bed as smoothly as he’d slipped out though, not without disturbing Ely, because as soon as she sensed his presence, she moved closer for a cuddle. Only while he’d been out of bed his hands, feet and skin had gotten slightly cooler and when she touched him, she woke instantly.

“Dammit, you’re cold,” she muttered, complaining softly.

“Sorry, for some reason I woke up, then had to go to the can,” he apologised.

“What woke you? Is something wrong?” she sighed.

“Not that I know of, I even looked outside, but couldn’t see anything. Then I realized Bruno didn’t come running up to see me when I got here, so that might be what was bothering me. He’s usually underfoot as soon as I show up.”

“Well since I’m awake, I’d better go visit the biff myself,” she complained softly, then rolled away. “Be right back, so don’t go away.”

She wasn’t long, but by the time she got back he was breathing deeply and was scarcely wide enough awake to wrap her in his arms, but she didn’t mind and easily fell asleep in his arms.

She awoke in his arms as well, but by that time the light was coming in the windows. For long moments she lay in those arms, relishing the feel of his tight chest against her breasts, his strong arms encircling her body and his hands gently caressing her back once again. She could easily have fallen into a doze again, but when Karl’s hands softly and affectionately caressed her back, she opened her eyes and smiled.

“Good morning, Lover,” she managed to whisper.

“Hello, sexy lady,” he smiled softly, bringing a hand up and gently caressing the skin of her scalp in a motion that she had always found so delightfully endearing.

She thrilled to the thought that he accepted her lack of hair and delighted in the feel of her bald pate as his finger gently traced the curves and convolutions of her scalp.

“Why do you like to do that?” she whispered.

“Because, it’s uniquely you,” he smiled again.

“Not that unique,” she sighed, suddenly more serious. “Keri might be developing the same problem now.”

“She said something about it, but I’m afraid I wasn’t paying too much attention when I had the opportunity to see,” he frowned slightly. “To be honest it’s not really noticeable.”

“No, the hair on her head might actually be growing back again, but don’t be surprised at what you see down below,” she smiled weakly. “It’s just taking longer to catch up with Keri, I went through all that she’s going through now when I was going through puberty. I was barely twelve years old.”

“At least she has you as an illustration that life can still go on normally,” he smiled. “David ought to be another example.”

“Take it from me, it makes you feel different,” she sighed. “I think half of the problem is that when we were kids, she used to act as if she felt jealous of me, especially when she was having trouble getting her hair to do what she wanted. Now that she’s developing the same condition, she’s almost seems to believe that she brought it on herself.”

“Surely, you’ve explained the genetic situation.”

“Ah, but her mother had a full head of hair and a full covering of thick hair on her bush.”

“Mmmm,” he sighed softly. “Well, I won’t pretend that Keri didn’t have a lovely bush. I’ll miss that, but I don’t think it ever was all that thick and bushy.”

Ely lifted her body and rolled to the side, turning to face him again as she sat on the edge of the bed.

“Whatever,” she smiled at him, admiring his tight muscular body. “I’m sure you’ll see it soon enough. She and Linda are both planning on living here with us. Since she’s never been skin shy, I imagine you’ll see her nude often enough.”

“Wait a minute,” Karl said as he sat up. “We’ve only got this bedroom and the room I was using as an office and guest bedroom. I was thinking of moving my desk and radios back into the corner of the living room. Then David could have that room as a bedroom, so where will Keri and Linda sleep.”

“Oh for Christ sake,” Ely laughed and stood to face him, gesturing in a sweep with her right hand. “Look at the size of this bedroom. Ten people could sleep up here.”

Karl didn’t speak, he simply gazed at her in wonder because she was so delightful to look at when she was excited. Her head was held high and her shoulders thrown back, drawing her breasts upward. Since her breasts were so large to begin with, gravity had begun to pull them down, but they still stood amazingly high for their size. Standing with her hands on her hips, the tiny girth of her waist and the width of her hips was emphasized. Her soft brown flesh and hairless form delighted him, she was exotic and yet available and he loved her body as well as her personality.

“I love it when you look at me like that,” she sighed, her mood changing instantly. “You look like you could eat me alive.”

“Should I offer?” he grinned.

“Not until I shower,” she giggled, glancing downward. “I didn’t have a chance to clean up after last night’s loving, so I must stink like a fish. Tonight if you want, after I’ve showered again. We’ve got a lot of work to do today.”

“Oh yeah,” he sighed. “Thanks for the reminder.”

“Sorry, gotta go again,” she called back over her shoulder, literally running from the room.

Her hurry reminded Karl that he needed to go as well. He slipped out of bed, planning to use the other bathroom, then remembered that it was out of commission. Instead he turned to the window wall and the sliding door that opened on the sundeck. Although the clouds boiled overhead, there seemed to be much less wind than when they had arrived yesterday, but it was hardly light enough to see the edge of the clearing. It was only as he took one step out onto the deck that he realised that the rain had stopped. At first the cool morning air felt wonderfully refreshing on his skin, but a second later he felt a sudden chill and stepped back into the bedroom, sliding the door closed again. There was no sense in freezing, instead he’d be patient and wait his turn, then he heard Ely turn on the water in the shower. Scooping up a pair of shorts from a drawer, he headed for the bathroom and only a moment or two later he slipped into the shower with her.

“Oh yeah,” she grinned and gladly shifted to make room for him. “I was hoping you’d come and offer to wash my back.”

“Your front too, if you want,” he responded, wrapping her tightly in his arms.

“No funny stuff,” she sighed. “We’re both going to need every ounce of our energy today.”

Karl looked at her face and saw she was serious.

“Just what do you mean?” he frowned, holding her tightly.

“You know Dad,” she arched back, looking directly into his eyes. “He’s going to want to move back to his damn office, so he can get back to writing. He’s going to want to use his radios too. First though, we have to fix and clean his house. It’s a mess and there are only two of us.”

“Well with the navy on the prowl, I’d rather he forgot about sending any messages for a while,” Karl said firmly. “Surely he’ll see the sense in that?”

“Oh he will for a while, but he’s liable to forget,” she said sounding slightly sad. “I didn’t want to say anything if I didn’t have too, but you should know, his short term memory seems to be failing.”

“No?” he said shortly, the word coming out as a plea of denial.

“I’m sorry to say it is,” she sighed. “It worries me, and what worries me even more is that Trudy seems to be in denial.”

“I don’t like the implications of that,” Karl frowned. “I suppose before we bring him ashore I could disable the sending side of his radios. Come to think of it, all I’d need to do is temporarily disconnect his radio’s output stage. I guess we could blame it on earthquake damage, would that do?”

“Could you do that, at least until the Navy decides that their ‘ghost submarine’ sank with all hands? I’d feel a whole lot safer.”

“I could and I will,” Karl said resolutely.

“Thank you, Love,” she whispered softly, then she lifted on tip toes to kiss him gently. “It’s actually David and Mary Beth that I worry about.”

“Lucky you,” he smiled possessively. “I worry about everyone. It’s my job.”

“Like hell,” she laughed softly. “That’s your hobby. Your job is to keep us all happy.”

“Well, you wouldn’t be very damn happy in a jail cell,” he snorted.

“Ah, but we have the right to be here,” she smiled. “Dad is a landed immigrant, even if he is having a few arguments about his status with an officious civil servant or two. Keri and I have dual citizenship. Trudy is a citizen and of course so are David and Mary-Beth. All we have to do is make sure that we’ve tidied up the most glaring earthquake damage and the Navy can go pee up a rope. They won’t be able to prove a damn thing. We can all lie like troupers and swear we’ve been here all along.”

“And what about your neighbours that saw you at your other place?”

“One neighbour, only one, and he’s prone to exaggerating everything, so no one will give his word much credence,” she grinned. “Right after the earthquake we moved into the boathouse and we were actually on the boat most of the time, so there isn’t even much evidence in the house. Besides, anyone could see no one could live in that, the trees crushed it pretty badly. The boathouse itself is quite clean, but that’s all. We left a few things behind, like that old hot plate and stuff of that sort, but what would that mean to an investigator?”

As they had been talking, they had also been washing each other.

“Bend forward and get your hair wet,” Ely ordered. “You need a shampoo.”

“Oh hell, it will just get dirty again, especially since we’re going to be cleaning up all of that plaster dust and soot,” Karl argued.

“Lover, I want to wash your hair,” she said vehemently. “I haven’t got hair of my own and David hasn’t any hair either. I want to wash yours.”

The shower hid the tears that Karl knew were in her eyes, but he obediently bent his head. Ely did a thorough job, making sure it was washed, then rinsed. Finally, she reached back to shut off the water to the shower, then grabbed a towel and began to massage his head to dry his hair.

“Holy shit, be gentle,” he complained loudly. “You’re almost taking off my ears.”

“Sorry,” she sobbed softly.

He freed his head and looked at her.

“Why are you crying?”

“You’re going bald too,” she sobbed and flowed into his arms, crying against his chest.

“I’ve been thin on top since I was twenty,” Karl laughed softly, but held her tightly. “It doesn’t bother me and it’s never bothered you before.”

“Keri wasn’t going bald then,” she sniffled. “And David wasn’t completely bald either, not until after he and I moved to Seattle.”

He knew there really wasn’t anything he could say, so he simply held her tightly. After a few moments she calmed and he pressed her back until he could kiss her gently. She still looked woebegone, but at least she wasn’t crying.

He smiled as he handed her a towel and took another himself. In a moment he had her smiling softly as he tenderly wiped her body dry. She tried to reciprocate, finally demanding that he stop towelling her for a moment and let her catch up.

“Why?” he asked softly as he dropped his hands to his sides after draping the towel over her shoulders.

“Because I want you to,” she answered simply.

In moments they were dry and Karl slipped on the shorts and flip flops he had brought with him.

“Damn, I guess I have to wear my dirty clothes,” she sighed softly.

“You can wear my robe for now, but why do that? There’s a whole dresser full of stuff you left when you moved,” Karl snapped.

“You didn’t throw it out or leave it in the old cabin when you moved in here?” she seemed to be astounded.

“No,” he grinned. “I knew you’d be back in my bed.”

“We haven’t slept together in two years and we had a hell of a fight then,” she smiled. “What made you so sure?”

“Oh, the fact that we’ve fought and made up before,” he answered softly. “We always fight over the same thing.”

He had spoken as he went out the door, heading for the stairs in his shorts and pulling on a shirt. He wasn’t surprised when she followed, only wearing his bathrobe.

“Are we going to fight again?” she grinned, catching his hand and walking down the stairs at his side.

“Nope, I think I’m outnumbered this time,” he sighed, lifting her hand and kissing her fingers briefly. “You did say Linda and Keri were moving into our bedroom didn’t you?”

She turned her head, canting it to one side and forward as she stared at him

“You mean you don’t mind?” she said vehemently. “What changed your mind, Linda?”

“Partly,” he shrugged. “But really, it’s a numbers thing. This way no one has to sleep alone and I don’t have to try to make love to two beautiful bodies at one time”

“But you’re wonderful in a menage a trois,” she protested. “And...”

“And nothing!” he grumbled, interrupting her. “I’m just not comfortable about sleeping three in a bed, not unless everyone’s just there to sleep. Hell, it’s taken me years to be comfortable with the idea of sleeping with you one week, then with your sister another.”

They were at the bottom of the stairs before they realized that both Keri and Linda were in the kitchen, sitting at the table.

“Hi,” Linda grinned. She was nude, as was Keri, who waved a hand and winked.

In a quick glance Karl saw that they had slept on the living room floor. Their clothes were draped over an easy chair and a rumpled pile of blankets on the hide-a-bed showed where they had slept. Then too the fresh ashes in the fireplace attested to the fact that they had arrived after he and Ely had gone upstairs last night.

“Your tub drain is busted and splatters water out of the hole in the floor, so the tub is full of dirty bathwater,” Keri announced with a grin. “And you need fresh paper in the outhouse, the rainy weather has made the roll you left in there go all soggy.”

“Did you two spend the night here?” Ely giggled as she walked into the kitchen and hugged Keri.

“They did,” Karl laughed. “Look at the blankets on the couch and the ashes in the fireplace. Why didn’t you use the little bedroom or come upstairs and use the bigger hide-a-bed?”

“We were going to, but the little bedroom was cold and Ely convinced us that we’d be in the way if we went upstairs,” Linda laughed softly.

“I didn’t talk to you,” Ely protested as she turned to hug her as well.

“Huh, you didn’t have to,” Keri laughed softly. “You were making so much noise that we knew Karl was busy. So, since I know how he feels about making love in a room with company nearby, we stayed down here.”

Karl had come into the kitchen area now and he simply scooped her into his arms, then bent to kiss her smiling lips. Her coffee cup went flying, but neither Karl nor Keri even seemed to notice. Both Ely and Linda looked on in surprise as Karl’s hands ranged over Keri’s willing body. He finally broke the kiss, but by then her body was wrapped around his. Her arms were around his neck, her legs were supporting her weight around his hips and her face was wreathed in a delighted smile.

“Those shorts are in the way,” she snickered, shifting her weight and wriggling her bottom as she ground her pelvis against him.

“Patience, Red,” he ordered.”It’s morning, I’m hungry and we have a tough day ahead of us.”

“Okay, but I’m willing,” she giggled. “And now you won’t get so much hair in your teeth.”

“So I heard,” he smiled. “But that isn’t what I want and you know it. Besides, you’ll have to talk to Ely and make a reservation.”

“No fucking way,” Ely snapped. “I’m not your keeper. If you want one of these two women, it’s your decision.”

“I guess that still leaves me in the running too, does it?” Linda smiled tentatively.

Ely simply smiled and kissed her gently on the lips while momentarily cupping and teasing a full breast.

“That sweetheart, is your decision as well,” Ely grinned, dropping her hand to Linda’s leg as she moved on to pull out another kitchen stool.

“Watch it Linda. Ely likes furry pussies,” Keri chuckled. “She’s more worried about my present lack of hair down there than I am.”

Keri slipped to her feet and pulled out of Karl’s arms. Stepping away, she dropped her hands to her hips, leaned back and spread her knees. Grinning almost wickedly, she winked at Karl, and he managed to smile, even though he could see tears in her eyes.

“See, almost no fuzz,” she announced, then moved back toward him, lifting her hands to his shoulders.

“And it’s your playground, any time you want it,” she whispered, deliberately looking him straight in the eyes.

Then she wheeled away and moved to the cupboard, snagging three cups and filling them from the coffee pot, handing one to each Karl and Ely. As Karl and Ely pulled up seats, she sat back on her stool, setting her new cup of coffee before her.

“Just so you know why we’re here. Neither Trudy nor Dad can run the boat and he was talking about the two of us steaming it in to the dock last night. Then he wanted to go right up to his house and move back in. We talked to Trudy, then decided to swim ashore with all of our clothes, a flashlight and some towels in a plastic bucket that had a tight fitting lid. That way nothing, but our skin got wet.”

“It was damn cold,” Linda added as Keri paused.

“We used plastic bags as swim caps and taped them on, so our hair didn’t even get wet,” Keri giggled. “And we flashed a light for Trudy, to let her know we made it to shore okay. Then we came up here by the light of a small flashlight. By the way, I hate that rope railing on your bridge, that scared hell out of me. Anyway, in about an hour or so, when he wakes up, Dad is going to be hollering to high heaven, but Trudy said she can calm him down.”

Karl had to grin and he noticed that Ely was smiling.

“You two are a pair of cowards,” he chuckled. “Scared of George’s wrath.”

“You bet,” Keri laughed. “I’ve argued with him before and I always lose, so discretion was the better part of valour. Besides, he, Trudy, and the kids can live on the boat for a few days. It certainly won’t hurt them; it’s warm and there’s lots of food and water. It’s a hell of a lot more comfortable than the boathouse was.”

“Amen to that,” Ely sighed. “So what are we going to do first?”

“First, we have breakfast,” Karl smiled. “I’ve got a real hankering for scrambled eggs, bacon and toast, with hash browns on the side.”

Linda laughed, thinking he was kidding, but both Keri and Ely just grinned.

“You and I will rustle up the ingredients. These two can cook,” Keri grinned and grabbed Karl’s hand, heading for the door to his pantry.

Inside, while he dug into the freezer for frozen bacon and a loaf of bread, she dug several potatoes out of the bin of dry sand where Karl kept them. She laughed as he came hurrying out of the freezer, shivering and shrugging his shoulders. Dropping the potatoes into a small bucket, she reached out a hand and cupped his crotch through his shorts.

“Shrivelled to nothing, aren’t you, Baby?” she grinned.

Laughing as he dropped the bacon and bread into a basket, he lifted his hands to her breasts. At the touch of his frigid fingers her puffy nipples instantly hardened even more than they had been, becoming tight cones.

“Oh shit,” she giggled and danced away, running out into the kitchen and setting her potatoes by the sink, then ran over near the fireplace to put on a blouse, jeans and a pair of runners.

Karl followed more slowly and handed Ely the basket before heading for the door and pulling on an old pair of shoes.

“Look out chickens. Here we come,” Keri grinned, leading the way outside.

Linda stared after them for a second, then turned to Ely who was already putting the bacon into the microwave.

“I don’t understand,” she whispered.

“What don’t you understand, Linda?” Ely smiled, resting her hand on Linda’s arm.

“Well, David is Karl’s and your son, but in some ways Keri acts more like Karl’s lover than you do?”

“Well, for the last year or two, she was. David and I were living in Seattle and she was living here with Karl,” Ely smiled. “I hadn’t made love with Karl for more than two years until the other night, or morning, or whatever time it was. I was giving Keri a chance to have his baby, but it looks like it didn’t work out.”

“I don’t understand,” Linda sighed softly. “This seems to be confusing as hell to me. A few days ago Karl told me he had an occasional lover who’d born his son and that her sister sometimes took pity on him. At that time Karl and I were well on our way to being lovers. Then Keri came along and I fell for her like a ton of bricks, but that was okay, because you and Karl got together. Now we’re here and Keri is acting like Karl is her main interest, leaving you and me to stand watching, while they do everything but screw each other. I think I’m the odd one out somehow.”

“Oh, like hell,” Ely laughed softly. “I know both Keri and Karl have already had the pleasure and I’m willing, so what’s bothering you?”

“But...” Linda’s voice trailed of into nothing and her face had such a bewildered look that Ely moved to face her and stared directly into Linda’s eyes.

“My father had two women in his bed for years, Keri’s mother and mine. When they died, he went without a lover for almost a year, but then he began to bed every nurse and every housekeeper that he hired. From talking to those women over the years I know he is a very virile man and an ardent lover. He passed on his rampant desires to both of his daughters. Then since we were raised to share everything we had between us, it seemed only natural to us to share our love for Karl,” she sighed deeply. “It wasn’t until we found that Karl was much more comfortable when in bed with only one of us that we decided to still share, but on a one to one basis, since then we’ve taken turns at seeking his affection.”

“But if Karl and I...” Again Linda’s voice faded away.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Ely laughed softly. “You have to know that since we were children Keri and I often slept in the same bed. I remember playing with each other when we were only eight or nine years old. She’s my absolute favourite woman. But, you just might change that preference.”

Linda couldn’t help, but stare into Ely’s big hazel eyes. Her hands lifted almost of their own accord and she returned the soft cupping caress her breasts were receiving. Suddenly she brushed Ely’s hands aside, crushing their breasts together as she kissed Ely firmly and passionately, her body alive with desire. After a moment Ely pressed her back with both hands on Linda’s shoulders and grinned.

“I was right. You are a hot tomato,” she managed to say, just as the microwave beeped and made them both jump.

“Shit, I was going to have the potatoes peeled and partially cut up by now,” Ely wheeled to pull the slab of bacon out and put the frozen loaf of bread in its place.

“I’ll take care of the spuds,” Linda laughed, then winked. “And tonight I’m willing to take care of you”

“Wonderful,” Ely’s eyes sparkled as she put on an apron. “Is that a promise?”

“Certainly,” Linda giggled in assurance.

“Certainly what?” Keri cried as she came in the door with a small plastic bucket of eggs in each hand.

“She’s promised to take care of me tonight,” Ely laughed.

“Great. She’ll do a wonderful job” Keri chuckled in delight then she looked elated. “I guess that means I get to play with his highness, doesn’t it?”

“I guess so,” Linda grinned. “But what the hell are we going to do with all those eggs?”

“Oh,” Keri giggled. “I should have left them out on the porch, but I was chilly and came inside in a hurry. Karl hasn’t been here to collect the eggs for at least a month, so we’re going to have to break each one into a saucer and throw the bad ones away. It’s too bad though, I think some of the eggs might have chicks already started.”

“Why not candle them,” Linda asked. “Then you could run those that show developing chicks back out and put them back under the broody hens.”

Karl had come inside as well and he grinned at her.

“Thanks, but I don’t think I have this many candles,” he grinned at her, holding up two more buckets of eggs. “Besides, there are about thirty or forty little chicks out there now.”

“You use a bright light in a darkened room, not real candles,” Linda said sweetly, then frowned. “For nine people, thirty chicks would grow into enough chickens for about ten or twelve good meals and a snack or two, maybe more if you scrimp a bit. However, around half of those chicks will probably be female’s. Those you’ll want to keep for egg layers, so that leaves you with fifteen cockerels; that’s only six good sized meals. Since you didn’t think of that, I take it you weren’t a farm boy, were you?”

“No,” Karl answered her. “I never thought about how little meat a chicken had on it, or about the number of eggs hens lay either for that matter.”

“Well, I was a farm girl, so I know what to do,” Linda smiled. “Keri, would you look after these spuds? Karl, will you get a bucket or a box and a light that will fit under it. One of these little plastic pails would do, since I can cut a round hole in one easily, but then I’d need some aluminum foil to line the plastic bucket.”

Ely grinned as Linda took charge. In a few minutes Karl had used a hole saw and a drill to cut a round hole in the bottom of an old tin pail, then looked on while Linda began rapidly sorting the eggs into three other buckets. Karl was watching over her shoulder and she was pointing out what fresh eggs should look like and how they differed from developing chick embryos, or eggs with enlarged air sacs, which meant those eggs were definitely rotten. On her advise, Keri had taken several of the fresher eggs out on the porch and had opened each one into a saucer to check their freshness before saving them in a small bowl. At least twice Keri’s squawks of anguish proved that Linda’s desire for safety was justified, but also that she had misjudged an egg’s freshness. In only minutes however, Keri was back in the kitchen with eight eggs that all smelled and looked good. As Ely was cooking them, Linda emptied the last bucket and sorted the last egg.

“There, all done,” she looked up proudly at Karl. “These are the fertile eggs with chicks on the way. Do you know how to pick out broody hens to set them under?”

“Nope,” he grinned. “Not for sure. How do you do it?”

“Well, you look for a hen who doesn’t want to get off the nest and has almost no feathers left on her belly,” she smiled. “Then too, they usually have a very distinctive cluck, but I doubt if you’d recognise that, since you said you aren’t a farm boy.”

“Okay, right after breakfast, I guess we’ll take these back out to the hen house and...”

“No, we need to take them back now, before they have a chance to be chilled too much, unless you have an incubator in your hip pocket,” she stood up and found her jeans and shoes. “Come on, grab that second bucket, at least you can do that much,” she ordered Karl.