Chapter 16

Once back inside my room, I hung up my coat and sat on the edge of the bed to await Sherry's arrival.

After a few minutes of silence, I heard the keycard slide into the door followed by the door opening. Sherry stepped inside quickly and closed the door behind her. Her face showed a curious mixture of strain, apprehension, and excitement.

I stood and walked across to her.

"Welcome, Sherry, let me take your coat."

Sherry started to reply, but nothing came out. She cleared her throat and said "Thank you... I guess. This is so strange...".

She turned and let me ease her coat off her shoulders. I slid it onto a hanger and hung it on the rack next to my stuff.

Sherry turned back to face me. "Now, what?" she said.

I stepped back and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Just stand there for a bit, Sherry. I want to get a good look at you."

Sherry nodded and stood silently, blushing as I got my first really good look at the woman I had under my control.

As I'd noticed earlier, Sherry was dressed much more attractively then her usual loose blouse and skirt. Her thin, pale-green blouse and darker skirt complimented her dark red hair, which seemed somehow to be more nicely done than normal.

Her blouse fitted her better, as did her skirt, revealing her figure to be rather shapely. Her breasts filled out the blouse surprisingly well, and the soft, pleated skirt complimented a nice set of hips.

"What have you done with your hair, Sherry? It looks... I don't know, glossier and neater than the last time we met?

Sherry seemed embarrassed that I'd noticed. "Nothing much", she said "I just used some conditioner on it when I showered today. I normally just use shampoo".

"Well, it looks very nice. You should do that more often."

"I don't much care how I look except when I go to church. To tell you the truth, I don't know why I wore this outfit, except that I usually try to look nice when I come here to shop. I don't do it very often- the shops are sort of expensive and Jerry wouldn't want me to spend too much on myself."

"I see", and I did see, too. Probably more then she did. I began to understand just why Sherry gave in so easily to my threats.

But Sherry wasn't done. "Do you remember what you said to me the last time we met? About my breasts, and hoping that Jerry appreciated them?", she said very softly.

"Yes, I remember. I meant it too."

"I know you did. I could tell. Anyway, Jerry doesn't appreciate them, because he's never seen them. I've never seen him naked, either"

What?!! Sherry, you two have been married close to 30 years, if you got married right out of college! How can he not have seen you naked?" I was appalled.

"Twenty-eight years in July, actually. And it's very simple. Jerry believes that we are to be ashamed to be seen naked. He says that in the Bible, Adam and Eve were ashamed of their nakedness and hid from God. He says that we must hide our bodies from even our husbands and wives to avoid sin. "

"But what about sex? Sherry, tell me that you're not a virgin after 28 years of marriage!"

"Oh, no. I'm not a virgin. I was when we got married, though".

"So, how does it work, having sex and not seeing each other naked?"

"Well first you have to understand that sex for any purpose than procreation is a sin. All men have urges to do it for pleasure, but that is sinful, put there by Satan, so it is important to not do anything that creates lust. That's another reason to stay covered up. Second, no matter how hard a man tries, he will give into lust now and then and have to have relief. When that happens its important to do it quickly and without taking pleasure in it so as not to be more sinful than necessary. Then you pray for forgiveness for your weakness."

"But I still don't understand. HOW do you live together for nearly thirty years, have sex at least now and then, and still not see each other naked?"

"We undress in the bathroom one at a time, and put on nightclothes. I wear a long gown and Jerry wears pajamas. We get into bed, and when Jerry can't stand it any longer, he tells me, and I pull up my gown, he pushes down his pajama bottoms and we... do it under the covers" Sherry said, blushing furiously.

"Sherry, sit down someplace. I want to talk about you this some more and you needn't keep standing."

"Okay" Sherry walked over and sat on the other bed, facing me, her legs tightly together, hands in lap.

"So how have you kept from getting pregnant, Sherry? Are you on the Pill?"

"No! That's a sin. After Jerry decided we didn't want to have children, he had a vasectomy."

"But isn't that a sin, too?"

"Jerry said he prayed and prayed on it and finally God told him he would be forgiven."