Chapter 10

Early Saturday morning, the young couple got into Kim’s car for the drive down to the Christians. Because the directions to reach their place were very complex, once they exited the freeway Kim gave Brad the job of navigating. By this time, Brad realized they were about 30 miles southeast of LA, but in the valley, not on the coast. Although it was supposed to be farming country, the land looked parched.

Then Brad remembered something he had read awhile back. There had been water problems affecting the area: The supply of irrigation water had been sharply curtailed and many farms had had to be abandoned.

Leaving the paved farm road, they made a right turn onto a gravel road and followed it for more than a mile. At that point, the road made a sharp right turn around a large outcropping of rock. Kim had been driving slowly on the gravel track, and suddenly stopped the car. They both gasped at what they saw before them.

There, nestled in a very shallow valley, was an oasis of green. There was a very large home built in Spanish hacienda style at the center of a large emerald-green lawn. There were a number of young trees growing — and apparently thriving — in the green expanse. Eventually they would shade the house. In addition, there was a tennis court, a very large swimming pool, and a number of outbuildings.

“My God!” Kim squeaked. “What is this?”

“It looks like Carol and Bill have a little bit of Heaven of their very own, sweetie.”

Kimberly put the M-6 in gear again and they drove on down, coming to a wide circular drive that took them to the front door. Before they could even open the car doors, the front door of the house swung open and Bill and Carol Christian came running out to greet them.

Raising an eyebrow, Kim looked at Carol and exclaimed, “What have you two done? I thought this was a do-it-yourself effort. But we never expected to find a palace out here.”

Carol just cutely giggled while Bill invited the couple in.

What they saw was utterly amazing. The home was furnished in true Spanish Colonial fashion with relatively sparse furniture but with a very high degree of comfort. The house was delightfully cool. In just the very brief time they had spent between their car and the house, they realized how hot it was outdoors. The temperature outside was easily in the high 90s, while the house was about 70 degrees.

Carol led the way to the kitchen where the four sat around the kitchen table while Carol proceeded to serve coffee. From the table they had a view out the back of the house to the swimming pool and the tennis court.

“So what’s the story?” Brad asked.

Bill chuckled and said, “We stole it.”

“You what?” Kim squawked.

“We stole it,” Bill repeated.

“And what, exactly, does that mean?”

He shrugged and with an completely bland expression on his face repeated, “It means we stole it.”

“William Christian!” Kim exclaimed as she began to drum her fingers on the table, “you’re trying our patience!”

“Did you ever hear about the water problem we had out here a few years ago?” Carol asked.

Brad and Kim both nodded their heads.

“Well, we have about 500 acres here. It used to be a farm. However, the supply of irrigation water to the area was cut sharply, and the former owners were low men on the totem pole. They took the biggest hit.”

“But there’s obviously plenty of water,” Brad protested. “My gosh, you’ve got a little oasis here, and it sure doesn’t look parched!”

“Yes, but we’re only using about 10 acres,” Bill responded, “not 500. Furthermore, most of the farms around here — most particularly including this one — grow crops that require a great deal of water. Our allotment was cut by 90%. But that’s still about twice as much water per acre as they used to use,” he concluded with a grin.

At this point Carol began to giggle.

“What’s so damned funny?” Kim demanded.

“It’s part of our theft,” Carol replied. “Do you know how irrigation water is priced?”

“Not a clue,” Kim replied.

“It’s by the acre/foot. That’s one foot of water over an acre of ground, or 44,000 cubic feet. Do you know how much we pay for it?”

Kim just shook her head.

“Let me put it this way,” Carol said with another lovely little giggle, “in the East with municipal or private water suppliers they pay about as much for one cubic foot as we pay for an acre/foot — 44,000 times as much water. We steal it,” she concluded with a shrug.

Finishing their coffee they were taken on a tour of the property. First of all, Kim and Brad were impressed by the gorgeous finish carpentry they saw. They learned that it was all Carol’s work.

“I thought you just did the strong-back, weak-mind stuff around here?” Kim commented.

“So I can use a hammer and a saw. Big fucking deal,” Carol responded dismissively.

Brad had been very thoughtful as they toured. Finally he said, “Water’s obviously cheap as hell, but your electric power consumption must be outrageous.”

“I guess we use a fair amount,” Bill conceded.

“But the cost... ?”

“Next to nothing,” Bill chuckled.

“And what’s that mean?”

“It means I tied up with a smart john is what it means,” Carol said.

Kim just raised an eyebrow.

“Come on. I’ll show you,” Carol said.

The foursome were walking toward the largest of the outbuildings. As they drew closer, Kim became aware of a low humming sound that became more noticeable the closer they came. Taking out a key, Bill opened a steel door that seemed quite heavy. The instant the door was opened, the noise was much louder.

Leading the way inside, he just stood aside without saying a word.

“Good grief!” Kim exclaimed. “You have not one but two gas turbines. They’re both generators, aren’t they? And they’re big!”

Now both Carol and Bill were laughing. “Yes, they are big,” Carol conceded. “Either one can provide about double our total power requirements. We have two so one can be shut down for maintenance and all that good stuff.”

“But the fuel... ?” Kim asked.

“That’s my smart john,” Carol responded. “But he uses it to cheat me. Instead of paying me for my sexual services in cash, he pays with fuel for the generators.”

“And the fuel?” Kim persisted.

“Natural gas,” Carol answered. “What else would you fire a gas turbine with?”

“From where?”

“Down there,” Carol said, pointing downward. Then she giggled and added, “You both certainly know about all the oil that’s been pumped out from this area over the years?”

Kim and Brad both nodded.

“Well, surprise, surprise! Wherever there’s oil, there’s natural gas. Bill just put down an itty-bitty well and we have natural gas.” She paused for a moment and then continued, “Not very much, of course. Hell, we could exhaust this supply in as few as 500 years. Of course, that estimate assumes an increase in usage of about 10 percent per year over that period...”

Brad had been listening thoughtfully. Slowly shaking his head he finally said, “So you have essentially unlimited electric power, free.”

“Not so!” Carol exclaimed. “Why, hell ... I’ll bet we must use at least $30 worth of lubricating oil every year keeping these generators humming, don’t we, sweetie?”

“That’s about right, hon,” Bill replied.

“William Christian!” Carol exclaimed as she glared at him and started tapping her foot on the floor.

Bill thought back to what he had said that might have set off his wife. Then he grinned and said, “That’s about right, slut.”

“That’s better,” she conceded, somewhat mollified. “Just remember, William Christian, I am not your honey and I sure as hell am not your wife. Right?”

“You’re absolutely right, whore.”

Brad and Kim just slowly shook their heads in amusement.

After completing the tour of the Christians’ magnificent house, the two couples decided to play tennis before it became even hotter. After changing into their tennis things with Brad and Kimmie being given an unused bedroom and bath for their use, they met again at the court.

After softly whistling, Kim remarked, “You two certainly don’t skimp, do you? This court is Hartru, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah, I guess it is,” Carol replied nonchalantly. “It’s a nice playing surface, even when playing barefoot. It doesn’t fry your feet the way a hard surface will.”

“Can we?” Kim asked.

“We could, I suppose,” Carol replied, “but it’s an awful pain in the ass getting the footprints out of it afterwards.” She paused and added, “The damned thing takes enough of our time as it is. Hell, there’s scarcely any time left to play after maintaining the dumb thing!”

Their match started off as a replay of the one at the company picnic. The two couples were very evenly matched. After completing the first set, which the Christians won after an exhausting tie-breaker, all four were soaking wet with sweat. At that point Carol grinned and took off her top baring her luscious full tits. Turning to Bill she said, “This should speed up the next set, sweetie. Now Brad will have something to watch bouncing beside the tennis ball.”

“That’s no fair!” Kim exclaimed. “I don’t have any boobs, let alone boobs that bounce.” She thought for a moment, then stripped off both the shirt and shorts, taking down her bikini with them, leaving her naked except for her shoes and socks.

“That’s an unfair escalation!” Carol declared. “All I did was take off my top.”

“That’s true,” Kim countered, “but my shorts were sopping, too.” With her nose in the air she sniffed, “With my dainty pussy, I don’t want it to be all raw and chafed.” She paused for a moment and added, “It’s not like your high-mileage hooker’s cunt.”

Carol was about to roar with laughter but managed to control it. Then she sniffed, looked at Bill and complained, “That’s another thing, Bill Christian, and it’s all your fault: Because we’re stuck way out here on the far side of nowhere, I don’t have nearly as many miles on it as I should. I mean ... Good grief! I’m running a serious risk of being drummed out of the union if I can’t develop more customers.”

Bill just grinned and shook his head.

For her part, Carol slid off her shorts and bikini, too, revealing a pussy that was as bare as Kim’s with just a tuft of sun-bleached pubic hair shaped to a V pointing down at her slit.

The four resumed their game. The two men were both heavily muscled and very athletic. Their concession to the increasing temperature had been to shed their shirts revealing the prominent muscles on their chests, arms and shoulders. The two women were both very muscular, too, but their muscles only became prominent as they played; at rest, both women appeared soft and smooth. In tennis skills the two women were about equal, but Kim was both faster and quicker than Carol. Kim and Brad edged the Christians in a tie-breaker in the second set, and finally pulled away to win the third set 6-4. By that time, all four were approaching exhaustion.

“I think it’s time for something to eat,” Carol said. “We were planning a barbecue.”

“In this heat?” Kim said skeptically. “We’ll melt out here! And cooking... !”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Carol retorted. “Let’s go inside.”

“But the barbecue... ?” Kim asked, utterly baffled.

Carol didn’t reply but just led the way back inside, entering using a sliding door into the kitchen. “We’ll just do it in here where it’s nice and cool.”

Only then did Brad and Kim notice a built-in gas grill. In just moments it was going and Bill began grilling hot dogs and hamburgers while Carol took salads already made from the refrigerator.

In just a few minutes the now-famished foursome were eating.

Kim looked around and finally shook her head. “Nope,” she said softly as if she were talking to herself, “it’s not a real picnic.”

“What’s wrong? Why not?” Carol asked, feeling hurt. She thought the whole thing was delightful. And Bill had done his usual fine job cooking, while the salads, she thought, were lovely.

“Where are the flies? The ants? All the other creepy-crawly things... ? Nope. It’s not a real picnic,” Kim announced.

Finally realizing that Kim had been jerking her chain, Carol just sadly shook her head and stuck out her tongue.

After lunch they went out to the pool. The girls were still nude, so their preparations consisted of taking off their tennis shoes and socks. In moments the men had stripped and all four were pounding up and down the length of the pool. To an onlooker — there wasn’t one — the two men were pounding up and down while the two women were smoothly gliding. After a number of laps in the 50-meter pool, one after another they got out and just stretched out on mats beside the pool, soaking up the sun.

Lying beside Carol, Kim said, “You two really have it all out here, don’t you? You have a bit of Heaven here on earth.”

“Mmm,” Carol replied. Her eyes were closed and she was already more than half asleep.

At four o’clock, the foursome went back into the house to shower and change. Following Carol’s instructions, the men dressed in jackets and ties while the women just wore casual clothing. While the reason for the difference in attire was not clear to any of them, those were the instructions Carol had received from Kathy Carlson.

Leaving the house, Bill Christian stopped suddenly. “Uh, oh...”

“What’s the trouble?” Carol asked.

“Transportation is the trouble. Driving up to LA with four of us in a two-door BMW sport coupe is not my idea of great fun.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” she responded blithely. “We’ll just use my car.”

“Say you’re kidding, slut. Please say you’re just kidding,” Bill complained. “We can’t all fit in my pickup, but—”

“Mine has four doors,” Carol interrupted. “We’ll fit.”

“But that’s not a car, it’s an earthmover, for heaven’s sake!”

Meantime, Carol had gone toward the garage door and activated its electric opener while Bill was still sputtering. The door opened smoothly revealing her new BMW.