Chapter 40

When I arrived in the kitchen, or the meal delivery area, Terri was routed to the healing chamber and I started on my meal which she had ordered for me before she left. It was another giant platter of oysters on the half-shell and I chased it with a New York Strip and assorted sides. I had just finished eating when Terri came back from her ride in the healing chamber and all the women herded me into the bedroom where I gave the Damsel Carla a good shot and then did my duty to the other three backdoor style.

Now I wasn't upset with these developments at all, but I did wonder about it.

"Mary and I are suspicious of her time here in Crossroads. She is technically a Damsel and she doesn't want to take the chance of being sent back to Cassandra. Kathy and I decided to take it up the ass to keep her company in her enforced birth control method.

"Of course I think Kathy will backslide since she has no risks involved, but Mary and I are going to provide relief via the backdoor only while we are here with you," Terri said, and it made perfect sense to me. I did silently resolve to yank them all out the front door together after the Damsel had gone on her way though. What the hell, if I knocked them up on Earth they would just be knocked up -- subject to their fate as pregnant women.

The rest of the stay went off like clockwork, four times a day for the duration. As we got closer to the end I spent more time with Carla, giving her extra attention and special cuddles every chance I could. Hell, I had my reputation on Cassandra to think about after all. All too soon she came out of the bathroom one morning with the happy and sad at the same time news. I gave her a loving kiss and sent her on her way then took a good grip on Kathy and Mary and called Terri to follow me.

Cowboy Jack was surprised to see me appear with three women in tow, but he knew them all except Mary and the two of them looked at each other and I could tell they had met before.

"You must be, Mary," Cowboy Jack said to her and she admitted it.

"I've seen you on Chaos before," he said, "but I don't remember where or which trip. I could never forget a woman as beautiful as you though."

"Why you smooth talking old bastard. I wish I'd tried harder to get you into the sack when you were there," Mary said, and we all laughed at Cowboy Jack then, and at the last he joined us.

"I hope he didn't drag you here with promises of my fair body," Cowboy Jack said, "because I'm a dedicated one Caretaker man now.

"I've trapped the lovely Glenda here and I must save myself for her," he said, and we all had another good laugh, except I could see tiny tears leaking out of Glenda's eyes.

"You old fool, you're just saying that because you've taught me to suck your dick so well," Glenda said, and then slapped him on the arm.

"Damn," Mary said, "I thought Earth was a modern place. I've seen shacks on Chaos that looked better than this place."

"I resemble that remark. I'll have you know I've spared no expense to make this place remind me of my time on Chaos."

"It ought to do that well enough," Mary said.

Cowboy Jack set his computer to playing an afternoon soap opera then and showed her something she hadn't seen on Chaos.

Cowboy Jack also showed them another of his not available on Chaos, Crossroads, or Cassandra tricks then. A home cooked Cowboy Jack special steak dinner.

He cooked the steaks over a hickory fire outside and fried the potatoes in a giant vat of peanut oil over a butane burner. Of course the steaks weren't long dead and they were from cattle he'd picked out and the potatoes were hand sliced before they hit the hot oil. It wasn't so much that it tasted better than a crossroad's meal, it was just that you got to see the whole thing cooked right before your very eyes. It wasn't delivered by machinery. And, it was every bit as good as anything delivered by said machinery, even if it didn't float down right out of thin air.

"I know what it is, I know it now," Mary said, right in the middle of eating the supper Cowboy Jack had just delivered.

"You know what what is?" I asked.

"I know what's so different about this place than Chaos. It threw me off for a little bit at first, but now I realize what it is."

"Well. Don't keep it a secret," I said.

"The overriding aroma here isn't one of shit, and no, I don't miss it," she said, and laughed.

She was right of course. On Chaos you became accustomed to smelling shit, everywhere. There was shit on the streets and in the edges of the woods everywhere. There was even the smell of shit in the houses from the ever-present chamber pots. About the only shit around Cowboy Jack's house was bullshit, and it didn't smell.

After we'd eaten Mary wanted to watch some television and Cowboy Jack provided the show. He even managed to get both our computer screens to show the same thing at the same time. I don't know if it was a big trick or not, but I knew damned well I couldn't get it done.

And I'm sure you want to know what we watched. "Titanic" of course. Mary had never even heard of a boat that big, and she didn't mind saying so. Kathy and Terri hadn't either and they finally admitted it under Mary's grilling. I guess they didn't have ocean liners on Cassandra either.

Of course they all just ate up the love story and thought Leo Di -- I'd like to bust a cap off in his ass -- Caprio was so cute. I just tried to ignore the movie and hang around to console the crying women after it was over.

I started having more kindly feelings toward the movie after I got my three into bed. We did it the right way for all of them tonight and no buttfucking need apply.

I hate to brag on myself, but I will for once. I had a ball lighting all their hair trigger candles until they couldn't take any more. I even had Kathy calling for restoratives, but all I could provide was long neck bottles of Lone Star beer, and I got the feeling it just wasn't the same for her.

All three of them slept in the next morning. Cowboy Jack was up early though and he fixed me a big breakfast. Like the caring man I was I left the house as soon as I'd eaten and went out to saddle a horse. Blacky looked like he needed a little attention and so I gave him some.

I showed my face again about lunchtime and all my women were up by then. They were just finishing a big Cowboy Jack breakfast and I figured it was the best time I could show my face. They were all full, fat, and happy after the meal and it was bound to make things go easier on me. It did, since they greeted me like a long lost Hero and all of them helped Jack feed me a big lunch.

After the meal I headed off for town.

"But where are you going now," Mary asked, but I had the perfect answer.

"I'm going to get a bigger screen for you to watch movies on. I can afford it easily and they just look better on a bigger screen," I said, and it met with their enthusiastic approval.

I had to drive all the way to San Antonio to find some really big screen models, and while I was at it I even looked up a projection home theater. Of course it required men to come out and install it, but no matter. I had two Vizio fifty-inch stand alones to take up the slack until the giant screen got there. I made it back home around six pm and Cowboy Jack had kept supper warm for me.

They were excited by the two big boxes, but they let me eat my supper and rest a few minutes to let it settle. After that small reprieve I set up both new televisions and Cowboy Jack helped me hook them up.

I wasn't the only one who had given their all for the cause of entertaining the women today. Cowboy Jack had been all over DirecTV's web site picking out movies for viewing. He was a crafty old bastard too, and he had a list of tear-jerkers lined up for days.

And so it went. We had to call in the next day and postpone the installation of the Giant TV screen since Cowboy Jack decided there just wasn't room for it in the house. He called some carpenter he knew named Vanina (pronounced Vanin) Green and he was out the next morning with his crew.

I let Cowboy Jack handle all the details, except paying, and I started the guy off with twenty-thousand in cash. They were setting forms for a thirty by fifty theater room before I got my lunch, and Cowboy Jack was busy ordering things for the new room so's he barely had time to cook.

Of course the girls and I tried to help after lunch was over, but Cowboy Jack sent us out to ride horses and he even sent Glenda out with us. Hell, we didn't have enough horses, but of course I knew the cure for that.

Glenda decided she didn't want to go with us since Cowboy Jack was dead set against going himself, but Mary, Kathy, and Terri said they'd admire a look around Earth. I wasn't going to show them very much of it, but it would probably be more than any of them had seen of Chaos or Cassandra either.

We took the new Hummer and I remembered to latch the horse trailer onto it right at the last. It was my first trip over our driveway in the Hummer while pulling the trailer and by the time I got to the bottom of the hill I had Cowboy Jack on the phone.

"Yeh," he asked, when he answered.

"Don't you know anyone around here with a dozer?" I asked.

"I think old Clem Jefferson has a couple, why?"

"We need the ruts knocked down a little on this road, and a load or two of iron ore gravel wouldn't hurt a damned thing. The men who come out to set up the TV might not have half-tracks to climb the hill getting it up there. The Humvee didn't even do a very good job of dragging the trailer down it."