The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

It seems that the utility companies attempts to meet Colorado’s requirements went for naught. By early 2016 the state government had taken them over due to the number of individuals whose power was being shut off. The utility companies couldn’t seem to grasp that it was no longer BAU (business as usual). Even with the decentralized and renewable power generation they now had, they had not lowered rates at all. The government took it poorly that they had provided the new power system, that required little to no input from non-renewable generation, close to at cost and that the utility companies had decided they could still sell the power from it at the same prices. By boosting their profits several hundredfold even as they shut the power off to many of the residents of the state, they signed their death warrant with the government. The government took them over, the government teams who were familiar with the power generation system were the same ones that had trained all the technicians on it. They were friendly with one another and most of the newly trained techs had no problems with signing on for a government paycheck.

With the electricity for the state secured, the state government then proceeded to take over the two oil refineries in the state. They were owned by the same company and across the road from one another so it was relatively easy.

Colorado had a number of natural gas and oil wells also so they could supply their own raw materials to continue to provide a limited amount of fossil fuels, plastics, and fertilizers. The two oil refineries in Commerce City were not large at all. Only one of them was equipped to make the non-fuel items that petroleum could be used to create. Between the two of them they had the ability to process something like 90,000 barrels per day, which sounds like a lot until you subtract the fuels necessary to ship the raw crude from the wells to the refineries, ship the end results elsewhere for use, provide gas for the Colorado military (which was a scratch army put together from US troops that had been in the state, national guardsmen, students at the military schools, and a number of smaller sources), provide fuel for the farms that produced the food the government doled out on a monthly basis, etc... So there was some gasoline, diesel, and other fuels available but only for those with enough money, and in some cases clout, to afford it. In addition, one of the refineries had been damaged by riots back in 2014 and was unable to run at full capacity. Spare parts could easily fix it, if there were any to be had. They had machinists working to try to make the parts by hand but tolerances had to be exact and, as of early 2016, the machinists had yet to get the second refinery back to full capacity.

In 2015 Colorado got hard on crime. Capital punishment was a given for several crimes including; murder, rape, and intentional mutilation. Lesser crimes still got hard punishment. Colorado had cut a deal with farmers in different areas of the state. They needed more hands for the increased amount of food they needed to produce. So some of the non-violent criminals got hard time working on the farms.

In some cases those without the state ID cards intentionally got themselves caught on lesser charges to be sent to the farms. While they were technically incarcerated, they got three square meals a day, a roof overhead, and were better off than they were before being arrested. The violent and hard-core criminals were sent to the mines. Colorado had a large variety of metals available to it including, as mentioned before, deposits of gold, silver, and copper. They also had many iron deposits (which accounts for much of the red color you find in the mountains there). The mines were not considered high enough priority to provide with fuel after the initial burst of metals needed for minting their own currency so they sent prisoners instead. The oldest miners and some hobbyist miners were recruited to teach the mine foremen. The foremen directed the prisoners and limited metal extraction was once more underway. Another proposal had been brought up to send prisoners to the oil and gas wells but that was shot down by the thought of how much damage could be caused if the prisoners rioted or tried to take over a well.

By 2016 most of the country was in a shambles. Colorado was in decent shape, but nowhere near where it was a decade earlier. New Mexico and Utah were doing better than all the other states, but not as well as Colorado. The coasts were written off. There were reports of people still living there but no cohesive groups of over five hundred in any location. The south had reverted to a frontier level of living, reminiscent of the mid eighteen hundreds. The northern states weren’t as bad as the south or the coasts but were just barely hanging on. No-one seemed to have any idea how Alaska, Hawaii, or the territories were doing. Rumors abounded but they were always “my brother heard from a friend who knew someone who heard on the radio...” types of reports.

Outside of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah power generation had mostly ceased except for near hydro-electric stations, smaller renewable stations, and personal power generation. The way it was viewed was that if an area still had electricity even half the time they were doing well. If they had no electricity at all they were mostly written off. People tended to flock towards the areas that still had power and this caused problems since most areas that had it, had only a limited supply. This meant that firefights were common, borders were heavily protected, and the death toll continued to mount.

Colorado had agreed to help New Mexico and Utah finish powering up their states and then the three states together had hopes of spreading the new power systems further and further from their borders. The last was still a pipe dream though as the estimated time to finish powering up the other two states was in the three to five year range. In that day and age, three to five years might as well be an eternity.

In late 2016 a cult sect spread like wildfire through the remains of the nation. Azrael’s Angels were a group that dedicated themselves to finish the population decrease that the Crash had begun. Needless to say the three states that were doing best were a primary target for them. Their attempts to enter Colorado and destroy that which the state had done its best to keep running required more manpower for the military. In one aspect they succeeded, the additional people required by the military could not be helping the state recover so the Angels slowed the recovery rate. They also managed to destroy many of the decentralized solar farms closest to the edges of the state. Fortunately there were spares to replace them but that took time and also took technicians and engineers off of other projects.

The solar farms were unable to be repaired by hobbyist solar enthusiasts. The new design was as far ahead of the old solar panels as a Porsche was to a Model T. The end result they had come up with was a three dimensional solar cube as opposed to a panel. The principle behind them was that the old panels were as inefficient as they were due to problems with capturing all the photons out of the light and being unable to process them. A large number just weren’t captured or processed well. The new design was a three dimensional box whose interior was coated with what were called snowflake solar cells that had been developed back in 2009. They were tiny little cells that coated five sides of each box. The walls of the box were mirrors so that any sunlight that managed to miss a cell would have a second chance to hit one albeit with a weaker result if it did. The overall capacity was greatly increased over a solar panel with the same two dimensional surface area. The snowflake cells also had less of what was called the ‘shade problem’ where a solar cell in partial shade could burn out prematurely due to the uneven current. Each snowflake cell was only approximately 0.5 millimeters across so each individual cell spent very little time partially shaded. The mirrors also helped with that problem, keeping the interior of the box well light. But the new style was so far ahead of the old panels that had been available that only the trained technicians could successfully work on them. That same caveat kept theft of the solar boxes to a minimum as well, what good would it do you if you couldn’t work on it? The penalty for having one in your possession that you weren’t authorized to have was death and that kept the theft of them down as well.

The cult still managed to get individuals into Colorado and they proceeded to go ahead with rabble rousing. The people that were never happy with what they had (and normally were unwilling to work to make things better) were more than happy to listen to their rabble rousing and caused a great many problems. Several of the Denver fires were attributed, indirectly, to Azrael’s Angels. Other Angels formed groups of bandits who would move through areas when there was a mass migration (such as after a major fire) and attempt to destroy, or heavily damage, communities that were still doing well.

Back at home:

Monday morning arrived and I awoke tangled in the flesh of my two wives. I was lying between them with Rita’s torso pressed up against my back as she spooned me. Holly had one arm over my side (and over Rita as well). I tried to disentangle myself without waking either one but both stirred as I extricated myself. Hoping that they’d drift back to sleep I quickly dressed and left the bedroom.

I stoked the fire and started breakfast. I felt great having had some awesome sex and then a good night’s sleep. I had made sure that everyone that was drinking cider the night before had also had a fair amount of water so I didn’t have a hangover despite being tipsy the previous evening.

Sandra came out of her room before anyone else arrived in the kitchen. She was wearing only an old t-shirt of mine that she used for a nightgown. I had discarded it into the ‘salvage the cloth’ box due to both armpits ripping out and a number of holes poked into the chest from my work on trees and bushes in the yard. Sandra took great advantage of that when she saw me. She orchestrated a yawn that had her stretching backwards with her upper torso, at the same time she tugged at the shoulders of the shirt until one of her nipples slid out through a hole in the chest. Giving a fake gasp she looked at me, grinned, and winked. It was a good thing I was getting a lot of sex on a regular basis or I would’ve been hard pressed to wait until her birthday to have her. She came over and gave me a hug, nipple still protruding through the hole in the shirt. When she pulled back I could see the nipple had hardened and thickened. I gave in, leaned over, and sucked on it for a few seconds. When I thought it was getting to her, I stopped, looked at her face, winked back at her, and then continued to make breakfast. She grunted something along the lines of:

“Men, can’t live with ‘em and they’ve got no resale value.”

Then she hit my back a few times and went off to get dressed.

As the smell of food drifted through the house, the other three came out in varying states of sleepiness. We discussed plans for the week as we ate breakfast. I had a market day on Tuesday, then the dole on Thursday through Saturday. When we told the kids that Rita would be in charge while Holly and I worked the dole Sandra gave me a glare. I shrugged back at her, not feeling like it needed a response. Sandra and Susan had school on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday which was their normal schedule. They would soon be out of school for their winter break though which lasted from mid-November through Mid-January. That was when we got the deepest snows that could last for a week or more at a time. While we still got some deep snowfalls in March and April, those tended to melt off within a day or three.

Sandra had gotten lucky. Her birthday was in the last week of November, about a week after winter break started, so she always considered winter break her ‘birthday break’. She normally looked forward to it enthusiastically and with this year’s arrangements I thought that she’d be even more eager (I found myself experiencing a bit of that eagerness as well this year).

Rita and Holly were going to alternate going down to the market with me from now until they got their clothing sales underway. They figured one person could keep track of things at the house while the other stayed in touch with Mary as to what they were doing, what cloths were available, what designs they were going to work on, etc... The only worry they had had about that plan before was put to rest with the addition of a new guard post within sight of our house. If there were problems at home, there could be guards there within seconds instead of minutes.

The plans for today were pretty simple. The girls would go to school. I would be doing an inspection of the trees, buildings, and land to ensure that everything was set for winter and also to pick up any more windfall nuts. Holly and Rita were going to be sorting through the boxes of cloth my wife had pack-ratted away since before we were married. I figured if she got down to it, my wife probably had enough cloth to make at least one dress for every female in the neighborhood and that was just with the solid portions of cloth. If you added in clothing made from smaller pieces of cloth stitched together she could probably make two and a half for every female in the neighborhood.

After Sandra and Susan were on their way to school, I got Holly’s boxes of cloth that were in the attic out for her. There were still more in our bedroom closet and stashed throughout the house but she wanted all of them available for perusal. After that ‘small’ chore it was past ten o’clock. The attic was a pain in the butt to get into and out of so it took quite some time.

Within ten minutes of when I headed outside and started checking on things I heard a cheery whistle from down near the driveway. Looking up I saw Jess walking towards me.

“Hi. Getting off to a late start, ehhh?”

“I had to get some things from the attic for Holly. It’s a royal pain in the ass to get in and out of there so it took a while.’

“Well, does the offer for a tour still stand?”

“Sure, is there anything in particular you’re interested in?”

“Well, I want to see how you set things up to grow so much here. I thought it was too dry around here for what you were telling me you had growing and wanted to see how you did it.”

“Well, it helps that almost all of our lands slopes down to the east or southwest. The house is at almost the highest point so I harvest rainwater off the roof to irrigate and water with. It also provides us with water we can boil and use to drink if the power is off.”

I took her over and showed her how the front roof drained off into two 550 gallon water tanks on the west side off the house. That water was used for watering the raised bed garden areas, the more traditional garden areas we started after materials were no longer available for raised beds, and some of the trees that were upslope of the house.

“Here around the back of the house we drain the water from the roof into a series of small ponds instead of holding tanks. The ponds kind of tier down the slope and the more water hungry plants are put in the areas near the ponds. Each pond can be damned off and caused to spill over to water the things in the area near to it and we have a few small trenches we can redirect into to send the water where we want it.”

Jess was standing quite close to me throughout all this. The scent of her hair, some floral shampoo, drifted up to my nose quite pleasantly.

“Show me your greenhouse where you grow the citrus, please?”

I led her back around to the front of the house. Well off to the side was our greenhouse. Unless you were standing on the southwest side of it it appeared to be just an outbuilding but when I led her in front the glass wall on its southwest side was glaringly obvious.

“We set it up this way so as to not be very noticeable. The road is to the southwest of our house but the greenhouse is far enough back that the glass front isn’t visible from there. Pretty much only the neighbors immediately to our west can actually see it for what it is. Anyone else that catches a glimpse sees the wooden sides that make it look like an outbuilding. Come on inside.”

I opened the lock on the greenhouse door and led Jess inside. It was warm, probably around eighty degrees Fahrenheit, inside. I removed my coat and hung it on the hook just inside the door. I turned back towards the plants inside and caught Jess hanging her coat alongside mine out of the corner of my eye.

“In here I’ve got about eight different types of oranges, I planned the types I bought so they’d ripen at different times giving us oranges throughout almost the whole year. I’ve got a couple lemon trees, a couple of limes and a few non-citrus that barely produce enough for ourselves. There’s a pomegranate, a fig, and...”

I turned towards her as I was talking and when I finally completed the turn my ability to speak was momentarily gone. Beneath her coat Jess had been wearing a fishnet shirt. Under the shirt she was wearing only a quarter cup bra that appeared to made of black leather. The question of her nipple rings was immediately put to rest. She had silver rings, about large enough to fit over my thumb, adorning her chunky nipples. Today she had a silver chain attached from each nipple ring down to a belly button ring with a third chain connecting the two nipple rings to one another.

I hate to admit it but the first thought to run through my head was not “Must Ravish Her Now!” but rather “Why is it that I always have women hitting on me when I’m in a solid relationship. The more solid, the more women hitting on me and the more forward they are.” It had been a recurring theme through my life and it was nice to know that the Crash hadn’t changed everything. Despite the thoughts running through my head what my voice managed to say was:

“Mmmm, nice outfit.”

“You like? I put my chains in especially for you.”

“Yes, I like! What’s the occasion?”

“Well, I chatted with Holly some last night. When I mentioned I was horny as hell she said that I was more than welcome to “borrow” you as long as I didn’t wear you out. I haven’t been laid in a month and am used to having sex seven or eight times a day. It’s driving me nuts.”

“Wow, seven or eight times a day? What happened, he stay in Denver? Or did you wear him out?”

“No, I’ve a confession to make. Steven has always, always blown all his pay on Pamela. I had to do something to bring in money so I made good friends with his crews and worked as a prostitute for them. A silver dime for a blow job, a quarter for straight fucking, a half dollar for anal, or a silver dollar for an hour with me however they wanted. Since they were city crews they had access to the health clinics and could get condoms. They had regular checkups themselves, which was required for their job and included looking for STDs, so there were no pregnancies or diseases. They were flush with the cash and I was available. If you’re still interested now that you know I was a whore for a while, I want you to fuck me. Nothing fancy, just regular sex.”

My head wasn’t spinning quite so horribly this time. It seemed sex was becoming an easy thing for me to find, whether I wanted it or not. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted it here. The piercings and chains had me hard from the moment I saw them. I just normally preferred some degree of feelings between me and my partner; tenderness, love, or whatever but it seemed this one was going to be with just a burgeoning friendship between us. Oh well, if it became a regular thing maybe there would be more feelings later.

“I don’t mean to be rude but I have to ask. So there’s no chance you have an STD?”

“Nope, I’ve never had sex without a condom before. Unless you have one on you, this’ll be a first for me. I figure if you’ve got two wives you sure as hell shouldn’t have any diseases and Holly said you’re clean.”

As she kicked off her shoes I reached out to her pants and unsnapped them, revealing something I hadn’t seen earlier. There was yet another chain running from the bottom of her belly button piercing down into her pants. I slowly eased her pants down, revealing more and more of the chain. As I had guessed, and hoped, it attached to a clitoral hood ring down a bit further. The panties she had on were pretty much a match for the bra. They were leather, lined with some softer fabric, with no crotch. She was also wearing crotchless fishnet pantyhose which I discovered as I finished removing her pants.

Jess reached over to my own pants and unsnapped them, easing them down over my erect penis. Once she got them to my ankles there was a moment of awkwardness as I had to remove my own shoes for the pants to come off. As soon as I had the shoes off and had slid the pants over my feet she was pulling on my underwear as well. She bestowed the head of my cock a little kiss as it was revealed from beneath the underwear. Once she had me stripped, she looked at me inquiringly. I reached down to fondle her pussy and found it dripping wet. I laid her on her back and just looked for a moment.

Jess was a little on the heavy side. You didn’t find many people who still carried around extra weight but she was one of the few remaining. As I had suspected it was part muscle and part extra padding. I preferred my women that way so it wasn’t a problem for me. Her hair spilled out around her, framing the pale skin of her face in an auburn halo. Her skin was even fairer under the areas normally covered by clothing. It was milk white with the occasional freckle. Her nipples were a rich looking dark pink and as I played with them they became almost purple as they engorged. Her breasts were a solid ‘C’ cup with a little bit of sag to them, no longer the gravity defying breasts of a teen but with nowhere near as much sag as those of my wife who had borne and breastfed two children. Her hair truly was auburn as the curtains and drapes matched. She kept her pubic hair very short, about as short as you could get with a pair of trimming scissors and the legs that framed her pubic area were very muscular with only a trace of fat.

I ran my hands over her body briefly, playing with rings, chains, nipples, and pussy. She pulled me down atop her with her muscular arms and urged me to penetrate her. Remembering her request for just plain old sex I penetrated her right off. She sighed as I entered her and there were no difficulties since she was just a touch loose for me as I slid in and out of her. As I picked up speed I noticed that she had excellent vaginal muscular control. She tightened herself down on me further and further until she had a friction level that she liked. I reached down to play with her clit, thinking that that would encourage her to orgasm more quickly, and found that the ring interfered with pulling her clit hood back. She noticed my fumbling, grinned at me, and gently pulled on the chain leading down from her belly button piercing. Her clit hood rolled up easily, exposing a large clit that was nearly half the size of my thumbnail. As I massaged her clit her cunt suddenly tightened on my cock like a vise. The gasp that escaped her mouth told me the reason was her own orgasm. She had a tight enough grip on my cock that I had to stop playing with her clit, re-brace my arms, and work hard to continue moving my cock in and out of her. This was all despite the fact that she was still well lubricated.

“Come in me! Fill me up! I’m just about to start my period in a few days so you won’t get me pregnant.”

Between the incredibly tight pressure and the minor vocal urging I was ready to blow. The sight of the ringed and chained breasts that bounced beneath me probably had a great deal to do with my level of readiness as well. I could probably come just watching her do jumping jacks with her current jewelry on. With a few strokes more I found myself granting her requests.

Afterwards we both just laid back for a bit, soaking in the heat in the greenhouse. As I played with her jewelry I found out that sex left her erogenous zones quite sensitive.

“Stop that! Aren’t you guys supposed to just want to roll over and go to sleep after sex?”

“Well maybe, I don’t though. Any guy who would ignore a beautiful nude woman alongside him in order to go to sleep is either totally exhausted or insanely stupid in my opinion.”

“Well, I can’t think when your doing that. So stop it please. And I’m not beautiful but thank you for the thought.”

“What do you need to think about right now, we’re just relaxing in the heat, no? And while you may not be classically beautiful I think you’re very attractive. I’ll admit the jewelry adds to the appeal but I was checking you out down at the meeting before we met even.”

“We already determined the other day that you aren’t exactly an everyday guy so, while I’m complimented by your opinion, I think that you probably aren’t able to speak for men as a whole.”

“Screw ‘em, if they don’t find you attractive they’re either blind or a prude.“

“Well, that’s part of my problem that I need to think about. I don’t want to screw them. I only want to screw people that I like and have some interest in. I’m tired of doing the whore thing. I thought it was cool for a while but it got old fast. I kept doing it to pay the bills but I want a change now. While I have a stash still left over after paying for the house, it won’t last forever and I’ll need to do something to add to it.”

“Wait, you bought the house? From the way it sounded I thought it was either a joint endeavor or just Steven.”

“Well, like I said... Steven always blows all his money on Pamela. What the hell he buys for her, I don’t know. I never see her with gifts from him or anything but he always claims to be broke. So yeah, I paid for the house, $1000 in silver. It took almost half of my stash to pay for it but I’d been whoring for Steven’s crews for about two years and probably taking in seven dollars a day or so, six days a week. After paying for everything we needed down there all that time I still had almost two grand saved up. I figure $1000 in silver will last for quite a while but I don’t want to be constantly depleting my stash, I need to figure out a way to at least keep it at its current level if not get it worked up again. That’s where my having to think comes in.”

“Do you have any skills, other than those you were using down the hill? I know you can do piercings but I don’t think you could make a living at that up here.”

“I can do single color tattoos as well but like you said, up here there probably isn’t a lot of demand for it. Aside from that, I’m not too bad at gardening, but that’s the same for lots of people nowadays. I can read, write, do math but I don’t see any profit in that.”

We spent a few minutes in companionable silence. My mind was racing as I tried to think of what she could do that might interest her and be potentially profitable. Not knowing her well enough to know her tastes, I narrowed it down to just the things that might be profitable.

“Livestock, small livestock!”

The comment jarred her out of her own thoughts.

“What?”

“Raise small livestock. You have enough room on your property for it and they already have an old fence in that they used to restrict their dogs to one part of the lawn. That run would probably be good for a couple of goats. I was thinking first though, that you might want to start with chickens. So long as you weren’t going to keep the wagon in the garage we could retrofit it to be a chicken hutch. There are only a couple of people that keep enough chickens to actually sell their eggs so you could potentially make some profit on that. Plus it keeps you in eggs and chicken meat. Chickens are easy to keep and I’ve a book or two that details keeping them that you could borrow to read or transcribe.”

“Hmmm, I hadn’t thought about keeping livestock. Where would I get some to start though, I bet the people that sell their eggs wouldn’t want to sell baby chicks, would they?”

“Probably not, but I said there are only a couple of people that have enough to sell the eggs, there are several others that only keep enough to keep themselves in eggs and chicken. I bet you might be able to buy some chicks off of one of them. Sorry, if you don’t like the idea, I don’t really know you well enough to know what you’d like. I was just thinking of things I had wanted to do that might have turned extra profit but that I hadn’t managed to get to. Keeping chickens was one of them. Goats were another, they have good milk, you can make cheese or butter from it also, and you can eat them if you need to.”

“I like animals in general so it might work. I think I’d probably want to only get a few chickens to start though, two or three. That way I can figure out if it is something I am willing to do or not.”

“Well, it’s a thought at least. Let me know if you want to try it. I’ve some lumber scraps that we can use to turn one interior wall of the garage into a hutch, in theory at least. Like I said, I never managed to get to adding chickens into the rest of my stuff. I need to finish checking things on my property though so I’m going to get dressed and meander on out, feel free to stay basking in the heat in here if you like.”

“That’s okay, I really did want the whole tour. I just thought, after you went to all the trouble to describe the privacy that you set up for the greenhouse, that it would be nice trysting spot is all. Seems like I was correct.”

She gave me a grin with the last sentence and started pulling her clothes back on.

Jess joined me for the rest of my rounds. I pointed out what I was doing as I did it. I also showed her each of the different types of fruit and nut trees we had planted on the land. I let her know what kind of tree each was, when it bloomed, when it fruited, and in the case of two of the apples and the peach told her that the blossoms froze maybe one in three years in a late spring freeze and those years we’d get very limited yield, if any, on those three trees.

She was impressed and asked about getting seeds or cuttings to plant on her own property. Unfortunately I had to tell her that without the root stocks most of my fruit trees were grafted onto (when I purchased them, not grafted by myself) that they probably wouldn’t yield very well, if they grew at all. While I knew how to do the grafting myself, in theory, I had neither practice at it or the proper root stocks to graft them to.

I offered to help her get some nut trees going but felt the need to let her know that the quickest ones to yield would take four to five years before bearing nuts (my hazelnut shrubs) and some could take as long as a decade (several types of pine nut trees I had growing). I had a limited number of nut trees on grafted root stock, only a couple of types that wouldn’t do well in my zone if they were on their normal roots. Her shrug and muttered “Gotta start someplace.” made me think that perhaps she was changing her mind about moving away after winter.

By the time a couple hours had passed and I was on to the last of my outdoor chores for the day (searching for any more wind fall nuts) she was yawning.

“What’s up, did you not get enough sleep last night? You look tired.”

“No, I haven’t been sleeping well since the fire that burned us out down in Denver. I wake up every now and again from nightmares where I dream that I slept right through it until my bedroom was on fire. Pamela’s worse though. I only have the nightmares a couple of times a week, she has them every night. I don’t know why the hell Steven puts up with her. She wakes me up and I sleep in a different room. She must wake him up every night.”

“That sucks, if they keep bothering you I might be able to help you shake them if you want.”

“Mine aren’t so bad, waking up a couple of times a week is no big deal. Having Pamela wake me up every night is too much though, I haven’t felt well rested from a night’s sleep since the fire.”

“Well, it isn’t exactly the Ritz but if you need a place to crash where you won’t be woken up we can make a nest in front of the fire. Blankets, pillows, and a toasty warm fire makes for a good night’s sleep for me.”

She just stared at me for a minute until I caught on.

“Oh, yeah... right... fire. Sorry, don’t know what I was thinking there.”

“Actually that’s fine. I was starting to think you had an answer for everything. Good to know you have your screw-ups as well.”

“Well, the other offer still stands. If it gets to you too much, let me know. I have some practice helping people adjust to the current situation and I might be able to help out with nightmares in the same way.”

“So, you used to be a psychologist or something?”

“or something. You might laugh if I tell you how but I’ll swear that it works. You can ask Holly, Rita, or Mary about it if you like.”

“So, come on, tell me. How do you do it?”

I sighed, thinking I probably should’ve just kept my mouth shut.

“Hypnosis, suggestion, and post-hypnotic suggestions.”

Jess had a thoughtful look on her face instead of the disbelief I had expected.

“I had a friend once, she used a hypnotist to help her quit smoking. She managed to quit cold turkey that way, never had been able to make any progress any other way before then. So I won’t laugh but if I do take you up on it, I’ll be sure to talk to Holly and Rita first. Who is Mary?”

“Mary works with Allan down at the market.”

“Oh, is that the Italian woman I saw working with him?”

“Yeah, that’s her. She had some problems adjusting, I had to go kind of drastic with her to fix it but it was her own choice.”

“She seemed fine when I saw her.”

“I did tell you I had had some practice with it, didn’t I?”

Jess shrugged in a ‘yeah you did’ admission.

“I need to head in, see what Rita and Holly are up to. You want to come up for lunch?”

“No thanks, Steven and Pamela are out right now, pestering his relatives. I figure I’ll use whatever time they’re still gone to explore the house some more. Still haven’t looked into everything and there are some boxes in the attic I want to check out.”

I gave her a wave and headed back to the house.

Later that evening, after dinner, a knock on the door surprised us. When I opened it, Jessica was standing there looking very annoyed.

“Hey, come on in. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Jessica shook her head angrily, “Those idiots are down there storming all over the house, yelling at each other, blaming each other, and I need to get away from it. Mind if I come in for a bit? I would’ve just gone for a walk but I haven’t met all the guards yet and it’s pretty damn cold out to boot.”

“Come on in, hang out for a while. Give yourself a chance to cool down. If you like, you can crash here. No, not in front of the fire but on the couch. I should’ve thought of offering that earlier but I wasn’t thinking well right then after putting my foot in my mouth and swallowing it to the knee.”

“I may well take you up on the offer of couch space. We’ll see later on.”

My ladies all joined me in telling her to come in and relax. Holly backed me up on my offer of couch space as well.

“Tea?” I asked her, “We’ve only got rose hip brewed up right now but I can make some chamomile or mint pretty quickly also.”

“Whatever you have would be fine, thank you.”

Jess pulled off her coat, hung it up and went in to sit on the couch, followed by Holly and Rita.

When I came in with Jess’ tea, they were talking about Steven and Pamela. Evidently, Steven’s relatives had told him they’d be happy to help. They’d provide seeds, tell him how to plant them, etc... This wasn’t what Pamela had wanted so there was a bit of a blow up. From the way it sounded, Pamela had expected that they were just going to supply them with as much food, already grown and ready to eat, as Steven asked for. When his relatives had laid it out for them that they weren’t going to just give them food and expected them to grow their own, Pamela had a major fit. It ended up with Steven’s relatives telling him he was welcome to visit but not to bring Pamela back again.

When Pamela got home, she tore into Steven because of his relatives. From what Jess said, Steven might actually be growing a backbone since he tore right back into Pamela. Jessica got involved at the point where Pamela told Steven “I want you out of my house!” Jessica, sick of the shit going on piped in with, “Pamela, it’s my house and if I had to kick one of the two of you out, it would probably be your worthless ass.” Needless to say at that point Pamela decided to try to lay into Jessica. Steven, sensing a chance to make good with Pamela jumped in on Pamela’s side as well.

“Why do you put up with that shit?”, I asked her.

“Pamela is the only relative I have that is still alive. Steven isn’t a bad guy either, he just lets her walk all over him for whatever reason. But mainly because I know if I kicked Pamela out she’d either get herself killed or starve in under a week. I want what’s best for her even if I can’t stand dealing with her.”

“So, you’re just going to let her leech off you indefinitely?”

“I’d hoped that her willingness to move meant that she had decided to actually help some. I didn’t realize that she had just expected Steven’s family to take over giving her handouts.”

The rest of the evening was spent in small talk. Holly and Rita talked about their potential clothing business. Jessica mentioned that I had recommended she might want to raise some livestock, starting with chickens and maybe expand to goats if she liked working with animals. Surprisingly, Rita hopped in at that point and quoted all the pertinent parts about raising chickens from one of my books. She mentioned, as I had, that they were probably the easiest to raise and as such were probably a good place to start. The idea of more easily available fresh eggs was certainly a winner as well. Sandra spent the evening mostly quiet but pressing her thigh against mine nearly constantly. She did add a little to the talk about the clothing business but not much else. Around 10:00 we called it a night and crashed.

Around 3:30 in the morning I was woken up by a thumping sound. I slid out of bed and when I checked it out I found that Jessica was thrashing around in her sleep, her feet hitting the wall next to the couch. I quickly grabbed some sweats and on my way back to the couch heard her exclaim something in her sleep. When I got alongside the couch, she was still muttering in her sleep and moving around some. I reached out and tentatively took hold of her hand, thinking human contact might soothe her some. I was right but her hand clenched on to mine so hard that I was almost losing circulation. She did settle down and stop thrashing enough for me to make out her muttering though.

“Fire, it’s going to burn me up. I can see it through the window but I can’t wake up, can’t move.”

She’d start to shift uneasily again from time to time and when she did I’d squeeze her hand to let her know I was there. Her mutterings continued, all in the same vein, for quite some time. I really wanted nothing more than to get her soundly asleep once more so I could go back to my own bed. When she finally quieted her mutterings, she still hadn’t released my hand so I figured I’d work on it some. I matched my breathing to hers and kept it in step for a while (at least a few minutes but I didn’t have a clock handy to know exactly how long). Then I started to slow my own breathing down, a step at a time. Each time I slowed my own breathing, I would wait until hers slowed to match, then I’d slow it a step more. When I had her around eight to ten breaths per minute I began to rub the side of her hand with the thumb of my hand she had a death grip on.

“Jessica, this is Tim. You can hear me but you won’t wake up.”

I repeated this line over and over for a while.

“Jessica, we’re going to help you with your sleeping problem.”

Once again I repeated myself over and over.

“Jessica, when the deepest part of your mind can hear me, I want you to loosen your grip on my hand to let me know. You can hear me but you won’t wake up.”

I repeated this over and over. By this point I was working myself back into a bit of a drowsy state but she still had solid grip on my hand even if it had loosened enough for my circulation to return.

“Jessica, you can talk to me and answer questions but you won’t wake up. The deepest part of your mind knows how we can get you back to sleeping well again and we need to find out what that is so we can solve your sleeping problem. Tell me what the deepest part of your mind knows that will help us solve your problem.”

This one I repeated several times with a long pause between recitations while I waited for a potential response.

When the response finally came, it was faint and inaudible.

“Jessica tell me again what you just said but do so at a normal speaking volume.”

“Fire, I have to deal with my fear of fire. I have to know that its benefits outweigh its risks and that risks with a controlled fire are very low. Then I can stop fearing it and stop dreaming about it.”

“Jessica, repeat after me: Controlled fires provides heat and cooks food. A properly controlled fire has no risk to it. Controlled fire is good. A big, uncontrolled fire would be no danger to me since the guards would wake me up before it could hurt me.”

Jessica repeated the mantra and I had her repeat it over and over and over. I told her that when her subconscious knew that controlled fire was good that she should loosen the grip on my hand still more.

I was drifting back to sleep sitting on the floor and having a hard time concentrating. I did notice when she loosened her grip though. Sliding my hand out of hers, I yawned mightily and figured she could finish programming herself as I slept. In case I needed to work with her more to get over this I quickly gave her a post-hypnotic trigger, that would return her to trance state, before I finished up for now.

“Jessica, Listen to what I am about to say and let it repeat over and over in your mind as you sleep. Repeat this to yourself silently every time you lay down to go to sleep and let it run through your mind for the first hour that you are sleeping each time you go to sleep for the night. You will finish off the end of each first hour of sleep by reminding yourself of this command.”

Another mighty yawn interrupted my train of thought.

“Controlled fire is not dangerous to me. Uncontrolled fire cannot get to me without plenty of warning. Controlled fire provides heat, cooks food, and does other good things. Controlled fire has little or no risk to it. Controlled is good.”

I then returned her to normal sleep. As I stumbled off to bed I had no idea of the magnitude of error I had just made. My thoughts were filled with the idea of a soft mattress, softer pillow, and warm bodies to either side of me.

In the morning I was not the first one up, I was second to last. The only person who was still asleep when I got out of bed was Jessica. She did appear to be sleeping soundly though. Breakfast was waiting when I woke up and got dressed. It was rather late, so Susan and Sandra had already left for school. I was of two minds about waking Jessica up but I didn’t know if she had plans for the day so I decided that I should. I knew I only had a little under two hours to get ready for market also and that I wanted her awake before I left. That deadline helped play a part in my decision to wake her as well.

“Jessica, wake up and come have some breakfast.”

She got up off the couch and came over to the table. She appeared a bit out of it still. I knew the feeling since I was never really awake until I had been out of bed for at least an hour. She rapidly ate the oatmeal that I placed in front of her and drained a glass of water. She shook her head a bit and flushed pink, it wouldn’t have been noticeable if her skin hadn’t been so pale.

“Wow, I don’t normally eat breakfast but I feel good, maybe I ought to have breakfast more often.”

“You’ll want a pretty hearty breakfast in the future if you’re going to be working on planting and livestock. This is actually a fairly small breakfast, we don’t eat quite as much in the late fall and winter, since there is a lot less physical labor this time of year.”

“Well, I can’t remember the last time I ate breakfast but as soon as I was done, I felt really good. Like I said I’ll have to try eating it more often.”

“How did you sleep last night? I know you were having nightmares for a bit. I heard you thrashing around some. I came out and held your hand, that quieted you a bit.”

“I’m surprisingly well rested for having nightmares last night. I dimly remember them and something that pulled me out of them. That was probably your hand. I fell back asleep though and they didn’t bother me again. Normally if I have a nightmare I don’t get back to sleep the rest of the night and if I try the dreams come right back.”

“Well, I also tried talking you through your nightmares. I hope you don’t mind but they were what woke me up, making you thrash and thump against the wall. I thought you might like having them under control so you could get your rest. I don’t think they’ll be back again.”

Jessica flushed again in the middle of my statement.

“Controlled is good.”, she replied.

I told her that I had to leave for market in just a little bit but that she could take her time heading back to her place if she liked. She asked if she could come with me, not having seen the market before and not knowing what was available. I told her that she was welcome to join me if she liked but to bring a gun, assuming she had one, since she’d either go home on her own or be heading home close to dusk if she stayed with us. Holly was coming down with us today to talk shop with Mary so there would be three of us on the trip.

I had remembered to ask Rita if she had practiced with firearms at all and she had, but only with light weight pistols. So, I had upgraded Sandra’s personal weapon to a .38 pistol (she could barely handle the recoil on that one or I would’ve given her my spare .45) and given Sandra’s .22 LR pistol to Rita. With the guards right nearby and Rita armed I wasn’t too worried about her staying here on her own.

Jessica begged off to run home and grab some silver in case she found things she wanted. I told her we’d be leaving in an hour and she headed out the door, promising to be back before then.

“Hey, Holly... I hear you’ve been offering me out to stud again.”

“Yes dear, she any good? I figure you had enough time with her yesterday to find out and I warned her that she’d have to be aggressive to get you to notice that she was interested.”

“Well, let’s just say she has had plenty of experience, and it shows.”

“That’s good, I know you always had an eye for the goth types and never thought you had a chance with one before so I thought I’d help a little.”

“Holly, I don’t understand why it is that you are so eager for me to be having sex with other women. Do you even know why?”

“It makes you happy. Variety is the spice of life and all that. Plus, as of yet at least, it doesn’t seem that you are ignoring me in favor of them. You’ve gone out of your way to include me more than I thought you would. It’s kind of fun, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, it’s a lot of fun, I just didn’t realize that you thought so as well.”

“I still intend on playing director sometimes but I’ve found that I enjoy being in the middle of you and another women, or having you in the middle of me and another women, quite a bit. If you like I can fuss about the other women, but only if it will make you feel better.”

“I’ll get back to you on that, if I start getting worn out, then I’ll ask you to fuss. In the meanwhile, I’m thinking that I ought not look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“Oh, insult me like that again and I’ll start fussing right way.”

“I didn’t mean it as an insu...”

My sentence was interrupted by Holly laughing at me.

“You still take everything I say so literally. I know what you meant.”

She stopped our conversation then by leaning in to give me a deep kiss. I was reluctant to pull away but after several minutes I decided I really needed to get my market stuff together.

I had my load ready to go within thirty minutes this time. I had less fresh fruit than even a week earlier as we had dried, canned, or done other things with most of it before it could spoil. My focus for sales was now on the dried fruits that would stay good throughout the winter and a bit longer. I still had lots of nuts though, the nuts stayed good for quite some time just by being left out to dry with no other special preparations. I also had a limited quantity of the tropical fruits, and the last of the fresh fruits for the season. Although many of our fruits stored well and were still good for four to six months after picking, I stopped calling them fresh after three weeks to a month when they first started to soften up a little. To fill out the load I also had about a dozen bags of my easily fixed soup mixes. I didn’t sell lots of those, since I preferred to keep them myself, but when I did bring them down I could normally count on them selling out.

Jessica returned within ten minutes of our deadline to leave. She had grabbed a change of clothes and a quick wash along with her money. We headed out to the market right on time. As we were leaving I gave Rita a kiss and reminded her that if there was trouble, there were guards within earshot.

When we arrived at the market and it opened I was in for another surprise. Allan, once again, refused any payment from me. In addition he had broken tradition and reserved a table up front for me. Always before it was first come, first served and no reservations. As he put it to me, he thought he still owed me and would for some time. In addition since we were going into business together (or at least our women were) we were sort of partners.

The store was looking better and better each time I was down. While the entire store was not yet equally clean, it looked like about 60% of it was as clean as it would get and the other 40% was looking much better than it had been in the past. I noticed that a section of the back wall had had everything cleared out so it looked like he had decided to go ahead with the plan for little alcove shops along it.

Market day went fairly well, sales were brisk on all of my preserved/dried goods as people tried to stock up on items they thought they might run short of over the winter. Allan had signs up on the door reminding people that the government dole would be available on Thursday through Saturday. He also had a list of what would be available for this dole. Since it changed from month to month, it was good to know what you could count on getting. The dole for November was to include:

• Corn (5 pounds)
• Sugar (2.5 pounds)
• Flour (5 pounds)
• Vegetable oil (½ gallon)
• Powdered milk (½ pound)
• Dried beans (2 pounds)
• Tomato paste (1 pound)
• Potatoes (5 pounds)
• Assorted fresh fruit (5 pounds)
• Powdered fruit juice (¼ pound)

A reminder was posted on the sign that parents of children under sixteen that had registered their children would receive a half allotment for each child and that children just turning sixteen would need to obtain their own ID card to receive their allotment. It also clarified in large, bold print that in order to collect their allotment, adults needed to be present and have their card available for scanning. In the case of children under sixteen the first parent whose card was associated with the child would be given that child’s allotment. A small addendum to the normal sign read:

‘In addition we will be providing transportation along the main highway this month. Below is a schedule of pick up and drop off times and areas. Our transport can carry up to fifty people at a time.’

The notice on the sign about transportation was new and happily welcomed. The full load would weigh approximately thirty pounds per allotment and I pitied the parents of children too young to help carry the load home. The government provided burlap sacks that you could pack your allotment into but it still made for a very heavy weight if you had any distance to travel. This center was used to distribute food to anyone within fifteen miles of it so the people on the outskirts could find themselves with a long walk, carrying a heavy load. They tended to clump together and come in wagons to avoid that problem, plus it gave them extra eyes to be on guard. The new option on at least minimal transportation was going to make the lives of people from the outlying areas significantly easier, assuming they got word of it in time.

As an aside: The dole helped and no-one claimed that it didn’t. The problem was that the quantity of food was barely enough for a starvation diet for a month, even considering that much of it gained bulk when hydrated. If you couldn’t supplement your dole food with some other source then you were doomed to slowly get thinner and thinner until you were too weak to go even claim your monthly allotment. I guess the government wanted people looking out for themselves to at least some degree.

The transportation notification on the sign sparked a lot of guesses. Rumors had been going around for some time that the state had been trying to develop vehicles that ran on things other than standard fuels. The rumors covered electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles (electric and some other non standard fuels), solar vehicles, and a few more that were truly outrageous like steam power and manual power. Evidently, there had been some truth to the rumors and we were going to get to see some of the results shortly. Either that or they had finally gotten the damaged refinery up to speed and had spare gasoline or diesel. I somehow didn’t think that they would ever find ‘spare’ gasoline so I was going with my first theory.

Jessica spent an hour or two shopping and had a few bundles when she returned to my table. She told me she had chatted with the people who sold eggs and they weren’t interested in selling any chicks so she would want me to broach the subject with the other people I knew that raised them. I kept an eye out for any of those folks since several made a habit of hitting the market any time it was open. An hour or so later I spotted one and took the opportunity to call him over, introduce him to Jess, and tell him what she was interested in.

As I dealt with my customers I overheard part of their conversation. Evidently he was willing to sell and they were mainly talking price, as well as Jessica asking for any tips that he might have on raising them. She emphasized that she was a beginner at raising chickens and that she’d be doing it from book learning so anything he could tell her would help. He gave her tips for a while as they haggled on price. Since you could normally get a roaster chicken (dead and plucked) for about $2.50 silver ( a silver, quarter sized coin) the haggling on price per chick started above that. When all was done, she had agreed to purchasing 5 female chicks at a price of $20 silver (one silver dollar sized coin). He told her he would need about a month and a half notice to get the chicks hatched and a large enough size to be on their own. He also warned her that they’d need an extra heat source over what normal chickens needed for several weeks after that and said he was willing to hold onto them until they didn’t need that if she wanted. She agreed and told him she’d let him know either by herself or through me at a market a little under two months from when she was ready for them.

As he was wandering off, I asked him if he had any prepared feed in excess of what he needed and told him I’d purchase it myself, just in case Jess hadn’t gotten enough. I was feeling responsible for having suggested this course of action to her and wanted to do what I could to make sure it worked. He told me he’d definitely have some and that he’d let me know how much when the chicks were nearly ready to go.

Meanwhile Holly had closeted herself with Mary and I hadn’t seen her since shortly after we arrived and got set up. Towards the end of the market day she came back to the table.

“Damn, Allan has gone whole hog on Mary trying to get set up as a seamstress. They have a room set aside for it, good light, multiple tables and chairs, good storage area set up and thoroughly cleaned. Looks like he planned ahead with her for this.”

“Well, he has a brain on him. He was the first one to think of setting up a market in the old grocery store. That’s why he’s in charge of it.”

The market day finished and the doors closed. Allan came over to make some small talk as we broke down our setup and packaged up our remaining goods to take home. I had more than I liked left to bring home with me (The fresh fruits had not sold well as the list said the dole would include some in a couple of days). He said he’d provide lunch for Holly and I while we worked the dole and we countered by inviting him and Mary up on Sunday for lunch, dinner, and some relaxation after the hectic schedule the dole would enforce while it was going on.

The trip home was made in full light this time and I was much less edgy. When we got home Rita told us that her day had been uneventful and that the girls had behaved fine for her after they got home. Sandra had started making dinner and something smelled wonderful.

“Jess, you should stay for dinner.”

“I can do that.”, she looked almost surprised at her acquiescence.

“Sandra, what’s for dinner?”

“Well dad, you remember how you got on my case about never listening when you tried to teach me to cook? I was listening, I just didn’t want to admit it. So I used some of the wheat berries and the grinder and pasta maker to make pasta. I remembered you said it only needed flour, eggs, oil, water, and salt. We only had two eggs left so it is lighter than normal, I would’ve used more to make it heavier but... I sliced the pasta thin, used some of the canned tomato sauce we harvested from the garden, added garlic, peppers, onions, and a few spices. Chopped some venison jerky up small and simmered it in the sauce. I also made a garlic butter for the bread you normally bring home from market. You did bring some home, didn’t you?”

I was astounded, this was the spoiled child who, until a few days ago when I told her that for me to treat her like a woman she had to act like one, didn’t want to do anything without being told. I couldn’t call her a spoiled child if she continued to behave like this. I wasn’t sure I knew this new person but was looking forward to getting to know her, in more ways than one.

“Yes, I brought some bread home. Is the oven warm so we can warm the bread?”

“No, the sauce needs another hour so I wasn’t starting the oven yet.”

“Well, it looks like you have things well in hand. I’ll leave you to it. Let me know if you need a hand with anything.”

As I turned to start putting away the items we brought home I saw the look on Holly’s face that probably matched my own. Part astonishment, part pride, and part seeming to wonder what other surprises might be in store for us from Sandra.

Dinner was delicious.

After dinner Jessica excused herself to head home.

“Here Jess, take some of the fresh fruit that didn’t sell. I’ve got plenty of it for us and plenty dried and preserved fruit for us as well.”

A momentary conflict crossed her face, “Sure, I hate to have you giving me stuff though. Never accepted charity before.”

“You aren’t now either. We honestly have enough and no room to store more. So if you don’t take it, it will most likely spoil or get given away elsewhere. I’d rather you have it, being neighborly and all that. Consider it a welcome to the neighborhood gift. I’m glad to have a new neighbor with some good sense that I can get along with.”

“I don’t know what to say but thank you then.”

“You’re welcome, it’s no strain on us and maybe Pamela will stop bitching for a little while if you give her some. It’s what she wanted right? Someone to hand her free food?”

“Yes, that is what she wanted. I’m sorry to be a burden on you; crashing here, you having to help with my nightmares, eating here.”

“You’re no burden. I like you, I think the women like you as well. Come on up whenever you want or need to. We’ll be happy to see you.”

“Well thanks again, but I really do have to go.”

“Don’t let Pamela or Steve give you a hard time. Remember it’s your place.”

Jessica left and headed home.

We sat in front of the fire and sipped drinks (non-alcoholic) for a while. I encouraged Sandra in conversation and found that she was getting a decent education on school. She was well versed on quite a few topics that related to life after the Crash, as well as history from before. She could easily hold up her end of the four way conversation that sprung up after Susan went to bed. As we continued to chat, Holly leaned over to whisper to Rita and a few minutes after those two excused themselves to go to bed.

There wasn’t anything going on between Holly and Rita as far as I knew. Holly was just helping me with a plan I spoke with her about right after dinner. I had told Holly that I wanted to encourage Sandra’s new habits and that the best way I could think to do so was to give her a little bit more of what she wanted. I asked Holly if she could arrange to get Rita, and herself, to go to bed while Sandra was still up so I’d have some time and a place for Sandra and I to play.

I got up to put another log on the fire, the firewood we kept inside was right behind where Sandra was sitting since she was sprawled on the carpet in front of the fire. As I leaned over to get the log I made sure to brush Sandra’s breast with my arm. I caught her glancing up at me as I did so and kept my face as innocent as possible. I put the log on the fire and sprawled on the carpet myself, my feet close to hers. As we continued to talk about both inconsequentials and more important things, my feet drifted over to hers, lightly brushing against them. Once again I kept an innocent look on my face and continued to talk when she glanced at me as I made contact.

I was having a great deal of fun, not having had the opportunity to initiate stealth flirting in years. It was fairly obvious that I was enjoying myself if you looked at the front of my pants (which I had caught Sandra doing several times). Sandra didn’t seem to quite know what to do about it though. Evidently, Holly’s sometimes aggressive attitude towards sex was not something Sandra had learned yet. If it were Holly I was flirting with like this, she would’ve already jumped me.

I leaned over away from the fire and pretended to do something with my drink. While leaning over I asked Sandra if she’d put another log on the fire, even though it wasn’t really necessary yet. I heard her shifting around and began to sit back up. When I heard the log go in the fire I sat back up all the way. I found her only inches away from me (as I had hoped and planned) and when she swung the door shut on the fireplace and started to shift back to her previous position I pulled her down into an embrace instead.

Sandra’s firm breasts were a pleasant pressure against my chest and as she opened her mouth to say something I quickly pressed my lips to hers and sent my tongue into her mouth. Her indrawn gasp as I pressed my lips to hers pulled an answering exhalation from my lungs. I proceeded to kiss her as thoroughly as I was capable of, being sure to make her the focus of my attention as I did so. I could feel her reaction as her nipples hardened against my chest. I had learned in the past that you get a much better reaction if the only thing in your mind as you kiss or make love to a woman is her. After several minutes I pulled away, leaving my arms around her with my hands locked against her lower back to keep her convenient.

“I thought I’d thank you for dinner, it was wonderful.”

“I’m glad you liked it... How much did you like it?” The last was in almost a sly, needling tone.

“Oh, a great deal. I’ve only begun to thank you.”

My hands unlocked from behind her back, grasping the lower edge of her shirt and drawing it up over her head. Her firm, youthful breasts were exposed. Her nipples and areolae were fully hardened and drew my attention immediately. Discarding her shirt (In the opposite direction of the fireplace), I leaned in and teased her nipples with my tongue. Once again a soft gasp told me that she was enjoying herself.

Removing my tongue from her nipples, I slid my hands behind her back and shoulders and laid her down on the carpet.

“I’m going to play with you a little, tell me what you like and don’t like about what I do.”

Reclining on one arm beside her I sent my free hand over to caress and stroke her breasts. From firm, nearly mauling, fondles of her entire breast to feather-like strokes with my fingertips, she enjoyed all of it. Much to my satisfaction she preferred for me to play with her nipples and areolae though. Many women complained that I spent far too much time in those areas but Sandra kept nudging me back to them if I spent too much time on the other portions of her breasts.

I worked her nipples with my fingers, tongue, and teeth. I did discover that she only enjoyed light biting on them but I could live with that. She was very enthusiastic about my sucking her entire areola into my mouth and then teasing it and her nipple with my tongue. I spent perhaps forty-five minutes on her breasts before moving my target lower.

When I began to pull her skirt up, she was distracted from having my mouth on her breasts so when my hand reached inside and encountered her pussy, with no undies in the way, she jumped. I grinned at her as she made to mock beat me for startling her and motioned for her to lay back. I lifted her lower body and slid her skirt off of her entirely. For a moment I just gazed at her body, devouring her with my eyes. Then I leaned my mouth in to get down to business and make her come.

I licked her pussy gently, surrounding her open slit with soft, wet kisses and light exhalations of air. Her musky smell filled the air, reminiscent of her mother’s but different in subtle ways. I moved one hand in and stroked her labia up and down with my forefinger. As I did so, I moved my tongue in further and began to lick around her actual opening, pressing gently with my tongue. I was trying to avoid her clit to prolong her enjoyment, at least for the time being.

I could feel her getting more and more excited from my attentions. When I thought that she was nearing orgasm I backed off, to her dismayed cries. I removed my own clothing as she watched and guided her hand to my fully erect cock.

“I’m still not going to put my cock in your cunt until your birthday, but I’m more than willing to put it in your mouth or your ass tonight if you like. I promise to make you come before I do though.”

“I’ll gladly take you in my mouth but if you want my ass you’ll need to convince me.”

“How would you like me to convince you?”

“I’m sure you can think of a way if you really want to. Does mom take you in her ass?”

“Yes, any time I want, so does Mary. Rita... not yet, I’m hoping she gets some more growth so I can do that without worrying about injuring her.”

“So, how did you convince mom and Mary?”

“You want me to convince you the way I did them?”

“Tell me about it.”

I related to Sandra the story of how I made her mom my personal slut. Which meant that, among other things, she’d give me her ass whenever I wanted and even enjoy it and beg for it nowadays. Then I told her about how Mary didn’t want to make major decisions so I made that one for her and that she enjoyed it as well.

“So you’re saying that not only can you make me want you to fuck my ass but you can make me enjoy it?”

“Probably so, assuming I can hypnotize you.”

“Do it then, I want to enjoy having you fuck my ass. I can give you that virginity since I haven’t done anal. Oral and vaginal are already gone so I can’t give you those. That way I can have you repeatedly before my birthday and like it. My birthday will be icing on the cake after that.”

Well shit, this wasn’t what I had expected or planned but it seemed like I had a daughter after my own heart. I sat back and considered for a moment and decided that a longer induction was probably called for since I didn’t think she’d been hypnotized before. I gave her a similar induction to the one I had used on Holly.

“Sandra, can you hear me?”

“Yes”

“Are you totally relaxed?”

“Yes”

“Good, we’ll do one more thing to relax you, I am going to raise your arm, it will be totally limp. Don’t help me at all, I’m just going to pick up your arm a few inches and then drop it. When I do, allow it to drop with a nice satisfying plop and go much deeper into relaxation.”

As I lifted her arm I could tell that she was under. As I dropped it she relaxed even more.

“I am going to lift your arm several times, each time I drop it you’ll find yourself going much deeper into relaxation.”

After lifting and dropping her arm another five times I felt that she was ready to proceed. I ran her through a mental relaxation process involving reciting the alphabet backwards and forgetting the letters to come. She dropped out at the letter ‘V’. I wasn’t going to ask much in the way of questions of Sandra so I didn’t bother with the built in lie detector.

“Sandra, do you want to have sex with me?”

“Yes”

“What kind of sex do you want to have with me?”

“Any kind I can get.”

“Do you want to enjoy all kinds of sex with me?

“Yes”

“You will always enjoy sex with me. You will use your own imagination to create interesting ways for us to have sex. The variations you use can involve number of people, dressing up, different ways of penetration, role playing, different positions, sex toys, and anything else you can think of if you clear it with me first. If you understand and accept that, repeat it back to me.”

She repeated me word for word.

“Any pain that you feel having anal sex with me will give you an equal amount of pleasure to the pain in addition to any pleasure you might feel from the act itself. You will discover that you like up to moderate amounts of pain when having anal sex with me. Repeat that back to me if you understand and accept.”

Once again she repeated my statement word for word.

“You will obey any command from me regarding anything sexual. Repeat that back to me if you understand and accept it.”

She repeated my statement with no hesitation.

“You will repeat these statements in your subconscious any time you are about to go to sleep, reinforcing them as a part of you. Repeat that to me if you understand and accept.”

After she repeated that statement I implanted a trigger to take her back into trance state. Then I woke her from her trance.

“I want to get you off, so I can have you get me off. I did promise to get you off first. Lie down for me.”

Sandra laid back down and I immediately went down on her, paying full attention to her clit with a hand while I tongue fucked her. She came quickly.

“Well, that should take care of it. I seem to have lost my erection while working on you, why don’t you suck me back to a full erection.”

Sandra practically jumped to obey that command and soon I was finding that her suction was even stronger than Holly’s. Her skill level wasn’t up to par with Holly but her enthusiasm made up for that. Within a couple of minutes she had me nice and hard.

I laid her down once more.

“Sandra I want you to get fully lubricated if you aren’t. I want your lubrication dripping out of your pussy.”

I figured I’d test my implanted instructions while getting her ready to have me in her ass. As I watched her breathing sped up, her nipples seemed to get harder still and moisture started dripping down her slit.

“Roll over and get on all fours.”

She quickly complied and I positioned myself behind her. I stroked her slit and gathered her juices on my fingers. I slathered the juices over her puckered asshole for a minute or two and then collected more to slather on my cock. Decisions, decisions, I was torn between taking her doggy style like this or rolling her on her back again so I could watch her tits while I fucked her ass. The visual temptation won out and I rolled her over. I laid atop her and gently placed my cock against her slit. Being sure to rub against her clit I proceeded to slide my cock up and down her slit, spreading more lubrication on my cock as I got her to orgasm once more. I pushed some more of the abundant moisture down onto her asshole and then set the tip of my cock against it. Gentle pressure had my head inside her in a few moments and her sphincter began to squeeze my cock mercilessly as her ass tried to eject my cock.

“Come for me Sandra. I want you to come and squeeze my cock even more.”

The command was obeyed instantly. I slowly forced my cock further inside her and when I was about halfway in I paused to look at her. Sandra’s face was flushed to a bright red, her nipples and areolae were at full attention and her cunt was overflowing with her juices. It was a wonderful sight and encouraged me to penetrate deeper still.

“Does that hurt?”

“Yes, but I like it, a lot. Are you as deep in as you can get?”

“No, do you want me to be?”

“Yes please, bury your cock in my ass!”

I pushed harder and harder and eventually had myself inside her as far as I could go.

“Do you want to turn me on even more?” I asked her.

“Oh yes, I want it to be good enough that you want to come back for more.”

“Two ways to do it then, the first is to come as much as you want. I get a real kick out of making women come, it excites me more when I know I’m pleasing them. The second way is a little kinky but... If you want to beg me to fuck your ass that’ll excite me or beg me to not fuck your ass and pretend I’m raping it, that’ll excite me even more.”

Sandra answered with an orgasm. I pulled out most of the way and slammed back in, over and over and over. When she got over her orgasm she began to speak.

“Please, please stop. Take your cock out of my ass. I can’t believe your using me this way. Oh please don’t, please don’t.”

I paused and pulled all of the way out of her ass, she looked up at me quizzically but closed her eyes once more as I immediately re-entered her ass with a full stroke.

“Oh please, don’t. Fucking my ass is wrong. You’re my father and you’re fucking my ass!”

She almost had me on that one, I was within an inch of coming with that statement.

“Sandra, switch over. It’s a classic fantasy thing. You know it’s wrong and I’m raping your ass but all the sudden you start to enjoy yourself and the begging changes from wanting it to stop to wanting it to continue.”

Sandra orgasmed again, recovered more quickly this time, and jumped into the role.

“Oh, I know it’s wrong, your raping my ass but... it feels so good! Don’t stop, slam my ass until you come in there, filling me with your come.”

Okay, so some of my fantasies are a bit common but I can’t really control what turns me on and this one was a winner.

“Oh daddy... Please fuck my ass hard, fill me with your come.”

Sandra orgasmed again, and as she did I buried myself in her ass deeply and joined her in orgasm as her convulsions crushed my cock inside of her.

Throughout the entire episode I had kept my eyes mostly glued to her tits. Her nipples never softened and the rhythmic swaying of her breasts had certainly contributed to my enjoyment. I slid my cock out of her ass and laid down beside her, sucking on the nearest nipple.

“I guess you weren’t kidding about making me want anal sex and enjoying it.”

Looking at the soaked carpet beneath us, I grinned.

“I’m glad you had a good time. How kinky do you want to be?”

“As kinky as you want me to be.”

“Good, suck my cock clean and enjoy it, regardless of how it tastes.”

Sandra sat up, leaned over and complied. I helped the enjoyment part by reaching up to pinch her clit while she was sucking me. I wasn’t sure but I think she got another mild orgasm out of it.

“Time for bed, I don’t know that we’ll have another chance to play before Saturday night though. Busy schedule ahead of us.”

“We’ll see about time for play. I bet I can find some before then. Good night, dad.”

I went to sleep between Holly and Rita once more, surrounded by the smell of my recent sex, mixed with the odors of my wives.

I woke up to an enthusiastic mouth bouncing up and down on my cock. Looking up I saw Sandra, once again wearing her above the knee denim skirt and a tight white t-shirt. When she saw that I was waking, she crawled on the bed, spreading her legs to either side of me. Her pussy was dripping wet again and she took her hand, collected her own juices and spread them over my cock. Before I was fully awake she had lowered herself onto my cock, burying it in her ass in a single stroke. Her face got an incredibly happy look on it and she started bouncing up and down on me. Her tits, enclosed in the tight shirt, followed the same rhythm and my hands, seemingly of their own accord, crept up under the shirt and grasped them. Squeezing tightly on her breasts my thumbs ran back and forth over her nipples.

When I felt Sandra orgasm around my cock I slid my hands down and pushed the shirt over her head, using it to trap her arms behind her. She leaned backwards and caught her weight on her arms, making for an interesting angle of penetration. She continued her up and down movements, slightly slower due to the angle, as I reached up and began to maul her nipples. Tight pinches, stretching, twisting... She loved all of it and it certainly had me going. I had to concentrate hard to avoid coming as I played with her nipples. My eyes dropped down and I realized that her clit was easily accessible in her current position. Leaving one hand on a nipple, my other dropped and began stroking and pinching her clit. She came once more and I let the pressure from her ass squeezing on my cock induce me into coming as well.

“Good Morning Dad!”, she said cheerfully, straightening her shirt and hopping off the bed.

“Uggg”, I answered with my normal ability to communicate first thing in the morning.

Sandra bent over and sucked my cock clean for me, almost initiating another erection in the process.

“Breakfast is ready, mom asked me to come and wake up you up but I decided to wake you up and come instead.”

Snickering at her own humor, she left the bedroom and I heard her telling Holly that I was awake.

I spent a few minutes collecting myself, got dressed, and went out to breakfast. I was the last one up and they were almost finished eating. Sandra sat in her normal place, slowly eating breakfast with a dreamy smile on her face. Holly had already finished and looked from Sandra to me and quickly tried to muffle her chuckle. Sandra didn’t notice but I did, I blushed as Holly grinned at me lecherously and that proved too much for her. She began laughing and got up from the table to take her bowl into the kitchen.

I took my time with breakfast. My plans for the day were mostly relaxation as the dole started tomorrow and I didn’t want to be exhausted when I showed up there. Holly was planning on a light day as well while Rita was going to be studying my library some more. Sandra and Susan didn’t have school but did have their regular chores so they’d be busy at least part of the day.

After breakfast I just kind of ambled around the house, looking for small things that needed doing that weren’t on the regular list. Holly cornered me while I was in our bedroom and asked for the low down on Sandra and myself. I told her that I was still reserving normal intercourse for her birthday but that Sandra had decided that oral and anal didn’t count towards that and that I wasn’t going to argue with her about it.

“So, the dreamy smile on her face this morning was due to you?”

“Well, more her actually. She woke me up sucking on my cock and when she saw I was awake she mounted me with her ass. We both got to come so that was probably the look you saw.”

“Well Mister, I want my turn today whenever you’re ready again. Remember, I’ll start fussing about it if I don’t get as much attention as the rest of them.”

She turned and walked out of the room, but I caught the smile on her face first so I knew her last statement was intended, at least partially, to be humorous. Just before she left the room I called out her trigger phrase. When she tranced out I instructed her to remove her underwear and bra and to not realize that she wasn’t wearing them. She was wearing a broomstick skirt so I thought it might make it more interesting to fulfill her request later in the day. She removed her garments and I had her return them to her clothing pile. I then had her stand right where she had been when I tranced her, told her to not remember the intervening minutes and actions and took her back out of trance.

Thirty minutes later I walked back into the bedroom, having overheard Holly say that she was going to get some cloth from under the bed. As I walked in I was greeted by the sight of my wife, on all fours, stretching out under the bed. I gently eased her skirt up and the sight of her bald pussy got me partially erect again. She noticed and started wiggling out from under the bed, I allowed her to do so but once she was all the way out I put one hand on her back to keep her from rising. My other hand was occupied with unzipping my pants and removing my cock from the restraint of my underwear. When it was fully out I began to slide it up and down her slit, feeling her slightly moist already. My free hand went under her shirt to her nipples where I began to pinch and lightly pull. My, now erect, cock immediately felt the difference in her moisture level and I took advantage of that to penetrate her. I easily slid deep inside of her, this being a position she frequently asked for since it allowed me to penetrate her fully and leave none of my cock stuck outside. I worked at it for a few seconds until I could feel my balls bumping against her ass. Then I began to move in and out of her.

I moved my free hand down from her breasts to her cunt and reached around to trace her slit from where my hand bumped against my cock up to above her clit. I didn’t move her clit hood out of the way, just stroked over it so it would be a slow build-up for her. Shortly before she was going to come I withdrew from her pussy, stood her up, stripped her, and then gently eased her back onto the bed. I crawled onto the bed myself, spread her legs and knelt between them. I began to ease my cock back inside of her but just as the head of my cock was totally inside of her I triggered her trance again.

“Holly, tell me your favorite sexual fantasy that you’ve never experienced.”

“I am a slut in training, I am being trained on how to do things I never considered doing before.”

“Things like what?”

“Things like being a sexually available sign.”

I knew this fantasy. It was from a series we had both read long ago called “The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty” written by a well known author under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure. The idea for Holly’s fantasy was that people were used as signs outside of commercial businesses. They were attached to signposts nude, or nearly so, and were available for the sexual use of people passing by. I could work with this one due to the rings I had left in my ceiling from the rope chair but wanted to see what other options I had.

“What are your next two favorite sexual fantasies that you’ve never experienced?”

“My next favorite is being a whore, being controlled and told what to do. I’ve been assigned to work a lumberjack camp. There are twenty-eight men there and I have to sexually satisfy each and every one of them daily. My favorite after that is where I am a trained slut, already finished training. I am considered part of the furniture. In my fantasy, I have been placed under a dinner table which is full of men, my master is one of them. I have been instructed to strip and crawl under the table. All of me is available to any man there but if they give me no other instructions I am simply to crawl from man to man giving each one a blow job until they come and I’ve blown everyone at the table. Sometimes I vary this one and there are women there as well. Sometimes the men have me do things other than blow them, pulling me onto their lap to penetrate my cunt or ass, or reaching under the table to maul my breasts.”

Well, it looked like the first of the three was going to be my choice here. I could see potential for the other two but the lumberjacks would require some time to run her through satisfying the other twenty-seven men (or at least convince her, through trance, that she had done so) and the third was not appropriate with Susan in the house.

“Holly, this is who you are until I tell you otherwise. You have been captured as a slave. You have been trained as a sex slave. You were disobedient in your training and so you were relegated to a more common owner. Your owner also owns a pub and you are frequently strung up in the middle of the pub, a pull curtain offering privacy if whoever is using you wants it, for patrons to use as they will. Your sex slave training has left you in a constant state of arousal, if you are awake your nipples are hard and your cunt is soaking wet. The only time you are allowed to not be aroused is when you are sleeping. It has been trained into you as an instinct and you are unable to avoid it. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Good, stand up. Follow me.”

I extracted handcuffs and silk rope from a drawer and walked over to one of the rings in the ceiling. I cuffed her hands together and tied the rope around the chain of the handcuffs and through the ring on the ceiling, pulling her weight up off of her entire feet and leaving her on her toes and the balls of her feet (just as was described in the books). I fixed the rope so the length tied to the handcuff chain could easily be lengthened, allowing her to get down on her knees.

“Slave, you have been assigned the task of signpost. You will promote the pub with your body. Customers are welcome to use you as they wish so long as they do not damage you. You are commanded to enjoy anything sexual they do to you, regardless of your personal preference. You have been on post for four hours so far and have been used multiple times. The barmaids come over and clean you up after each customer is done with you. You are to have your pussy as wet as is possible for you, I want to see your juices running down your legs. Your nipples are to be as large and erect as is possible for you. Any command I give you will be obeyed immediately, even if a prior command has you not consciously recognizing me. Do you understand?”

“Yes”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, Master. I understand”

“Good. Now, consciously you have never seen me before. I’m just a strange man that just had a beer at the bar. Subconsciously you know me and will obey my commands.”

I walked up to Holly and began to rub my hands over her body. She practically purred. Her nipples were standing as large as I had ever seen them except when she was breast feeding. Her aroma filled the room and a glance at her legs showed wet little trickles running down the inside of her thighs.

She responded eagerly to my touch, making small guttural sounds in her throat. I crushed her breasts lightly, paying special attention to her nipples. Leaving one hand on her breasts, the other stroked its way down to her cunt. Running my index finger over her clit hood I found her clit to be quite swollen and larger than I was used to. Evidently she was being honest with me when she told me this was her favorite fantasy. The gentlest pressure on the clit hood had it sliding back and allowing her swollen clit to emerge. With my forefinger holding the hood back I eased my middle finger onto her clit. I tapped it gently, timing the taps with her pulse (which was evident in her neck). When she was sighing with each tap I began to speed up the tapping. I’d speed it up a touch and keep it at the faster pace until her pulse caught up, which it invariably did. When I had her pulse racing and her breath panting I stopped to entirely remove my pants and underwear. Going around behind her I used the knot in the rope to give her a little extra slack and then refastened it. I pulled her backwards by her hips so she was standing with her torso and her legs forming a sideways ‘V’ with her face pointing towards the floor. Her arms were stretched out above her back and supporting a good portion of her weight. In that position I could penetrate her cunt or ass as I liked. Reaching both hands around her, one went back to her breast and the other to her clit again. Once more I sped her pulse by manipulating her clit, bringing her to a faster level than she had been at before. When she sounded like she was about to hyperventilate I pushed my cock into her pussy, burying myself fully with one hard thrust. She was as loose as I had ever had her, the added lubrication making full penetration quick and easy.

“Slave, use your pussy to massage my dick.”

Holly had been doing kegels since the birth of our first daughter (Sandra) in order to keep herself from getting a really loose and sloppy vagina. She had developed her vaginal muscles quite nicely, although not to the level Jessica had demonstrated. This meant that when I told her to massage my dick, all of the sudden my cock was in a pussy much tighter than it had just penetrated. I removed my hands from her clit and breast and started massaging her tight ass. Lifting her a bit higher onto her toes in the process.

“That’s good, keep massaging it while I fuck you. I want you to come for me repeatedly while I fuck you. That’s what you’re there for, to be fucked and do as you are told. So I’m telling you to come over and over while I fuck you.”

Holly immediately began orgasming and kept it up for several minutes. When she started to lighten up on the orgasms I stopped with my cock deep inside of her and then, removing my hands from her ass, I reached around front for her breast and clit again. Within moments her orgasms had resumed.

I continued this way for probably fifteen minutes before removing my cock and straightening her up. I extended the slack in the rope as far as it would go and ordered her to kneel.

I spread her legs and slid underneath her, lying on the floor. I pulled her down atop me and my cock once more buried itself deeply into her cunt.

“Make me come slave, if you don’t do a good job, I’ll do it for you like this.”

So saying, I pulled on the rope that was still attached through the ring, pulling her arms up and her torso away from me. I stopped pulling when I had her high enough that my cock was about to fall out of her and slowly gave some line back causing her to gently ease back down my cock.

Holly proceeded to fuck me as best as she could. I didn’t hold back and within a few minutes I had filled her with my come. I got out from beneath her and helped her stand. Removing the handcuffs, I instructed her to stand still for the moment.

“Holly, you are back to being yourself again. You remember this session both the way it really happened with me controlling you and the way it happened to you in trance where you were a sex slave and I was a stranger using you. You will come out of trance when I count to zero. Three, two, one, zero.”

Holly stared at me, amazement on her face.

“What the hell, I have two sets of memories for what just happened.”

“Well, you know that hypnosis can be used to implant false memories, now you know how. I thought you’d like that memory of having a fantasy come through though.”

“I think I do, I’ll get back to you on that. You planning on doing anything else with those other two I told you?”

The question was asked in a manner both fearful and eager so I answered truthfully, hoping that eager would win out. If it didn’t? Well I’d burn that bridge when I came to it.

“Probably, but not today at least.”

She nodded her head in a manner I was unable to decipher and proceeded to get dressed and leave the room.

I put away the toys and sprawled on the bed to relax for a few moments. Next thing I knew an hour had passed and I was waking up from a nap. As I got up and walked out to the living room I found out what had woken me up. Holly had just let Jessica in the house, evidently her knocking had woken me.

“Tim, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure Jess, what’s up.”

“It’s my bitch of a sister. I swear to god that I’ll never get another good night’s sleep in my house unless I can get rid of her nightmares. I know it wasn’t too long ago but I didn’t have any bad dreams since you talked me through them and I’m not even feeling the fear of fire that I was before so I think what you did worked. I didn’t even fall back asleep to the nightmares right after you took care of it. Could you do the same for her?”

“Yeah, I can try. Probably won’t be able to until Saturday night though. I’m working the dole the next three days and was trying to take it easy today so I wouldn’t be tired for it.”

“Thank you, at least I can handle it easier knowing it is only a few more days. I hate to ask but do you mind if I grab a nap on the couch?”

“You’re more than welcome to. Heck, grab a nap on our bed even, we aren’t currently using it. I need to get lunch going, wait on the nap and I’ll feed you lunch first.”

“I can do that. But I feel bad with you feeding me again. I’m sure you don’t have lots of spare food.”

“We’ve got more than we actually need and you can make it up to us later when you have eggs coming in.”

“Sounds like a fair trade to me. Eggs are my treat once I have chickens and they are laying.”

“Well, why don’t you and Holly chat while I make lunch. Rita is around also, I think the girls are doing chores though.”

I ran off a quick lunch consisting of some bread, cheese, dried apples in honey, and a chamomile-mint tea. I called the girls in to lunch and got Rita to put down the book for a bit to eat. After lunch I led Jess back to our bed.

“So, Holly tells me you’ve been practicing more. Trying to fulfill fantasies now? If you want, I’ve got some you could fulfill. Since you were trying to have a relaxing day, it might help you relax some also.”

I wondered if anything I did with Holly ever again would stay private. I suppose if I asked her it might but I hadn’t thought to do so.

“Well, I’d need to hypnotize you for that. If you’re willing I’m certainly good with that idea.”

“Well, I chatted with Holly about it like you asked and she’s certainly good with what it has done for her. Without hurting me, which I don’t think you’d do, it isn’t like you could do anything to me or get me to do anything that I haven’t done repeatedly the last few years.”

“Well, you want to tell me a fantasy you’d like to have come true now or should I ask you when you are hypnotized?”

“Hmmm, both have their good sides but why don’t we wait until I’m hypnotized. If the fantasy that comes out then isn’t the one I’m thinking of now I might have to have you do it again.”

“Oh heaven forfend that I have to satisfy TWO sexual fantasies from a beautiful goth chick.”

“I’m not beautiful and I know it, but thank you.”

“I think you are and you’re welcome. Here, take your nap. After you’re well rested I’ll hypnotize you.”

“I thought you could make me well rested by hypnotizing me?”

“Only if I had already had you under, it is easier to hypnotize someone who is well rested, so...”

Jessica laid down and prepared to nap. I left the room before I could get roped into something I wasn’t ready for, having already come twice today. I figured a few hours and I’d be good to go again.

I decided to lay down on the couch and turn on the television. I had three choices for channels, all provided by the state of Colorado.

As an aside: One of the channels played news constantly, one hour shows, updated as new reports came in. This meant, normally, that you could watch in the morning and then in the evening and in the evening you’d still be getting repetition from the earlier show you had watched. A second was kids ‘educational’ shows which played from 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Not all areas had schools and not all people could afford to send their children to school so they provided some basic educational shows that taught reading, writing, basic maths, etc... The last channel was the most popular. It showed reruns of all the crap that had kept people glued to their couches before the Crash. They occasionally had a decent movie on as well but most of it was reruns of the most popular shows from the last decade before the Crash.

Three radio channels were also provided by the state. Two of them played music. The first of those played a mix of songs from the eighties, nineties, and naughties (also known as the aughts). The second played a combination of folk music, classical music, and show tunes. What you got on the second music channel was determined by the time of day, with the schedules being read off on the air, for the following week, every two hours. The last channel was talk radio, but not the partisan and religious stuff you used to find on it. They had news articles, weather, governmental job opening listings, and it was pretty much a catch all for anything the government wanted to get out to the inhabitants of the state.

I tuned in to the news and watched for an hour. I caught a section that was describing the new vehicles the state was providing for transportation. Once they produced enough of them they intended to set up transit lines throughout the state, all meeting at a central hub in Denver. Each highway that was large enough to have been named with a number (I-25, I-70, 285, etc...) would have a minimum of two runs on it daily, they were trying to get the transportation to allow you to get to Denver, have a few hours there and then be able to get back to your starting point all in a day. The new vehicles were hybrid, low profile buses using a combination of the new solar cubes and a natural gas powered engine for power sources.

There were sections of the state that could not possibly manage daily round trips to Denver due to distances and the major highways not following straight lines between two points but it was a step in the right direction. I imagined they would set up more lines out to those distant points as they built more vehicles.

Another section of interest warned people that Azrael’s Angels had been very active in the state for the last few weeks and that they were claiming responsibility for several attacks, fires, and instances of vandalism on power generation sites. They warned people to be on the lookout as there were at least two large groups known to be in the state at the time. A third group had been apprehended just the day before in a bloody firefight.

After the news started to repeat I put on the radio. Once more I had a choice of three channels, I chose the one with the music mix from the 80’s, 90’s, and 00’s.

About two hours after Jessica had fallen asleep (when I had been relaxing and listening to music for an hour), she woke up and came out to the TV room.

“Good nap?”

“Yeah, I feel much better. It’s amazing what a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep will do for you.”

“So, do you feel like being hypnotized now, or would you rather wait a bit more.”

“If you don’t have a preference, I’d prefer to wait a half hour or so until I am fully awake.”

“Not a problem, I’ve just been relaxing since I need to be up earlier than normal, for this time of year, tomorrow to work the dole. Have a seat, relax...”

We made small talk for a little while until she claimed that she had woken up all the way. I let Holly and Rita know what I was going to do so we’d be undisturbed while I was ‘work’ing. They would keep the kids out as well which was more what I was worried about than them interrupting.

I used Jessica’s trigger to put her back into trance. Then I used a series of deepening procedures to put her deeper into trance.

“Jessica, can you hear me?”

“Yes”

“Jessica, do you want to tell me what your favorite sexual fantasy that you’d like to have fulfilled is?”

“Yes”

“Tell it to me.”

“In my favorite sexual fantasy I have a male partner. He seems to know everything I like and just what to do to me. He begins by pulling my hair up off of my neck, leaning in to lick and lightly bite the veins in the side of my neck that get me hot and bothered. He starts at the join of my ear and jawbone and follows the sensitive vein down from there.

After he gets me hot and bothered with my neck he moves on to my wrists. The inside of my wrists are very sensitive and get me very excited. He works on the inside of my wrists with first his fingers and then his tongue and mouth, nearly giving me a hickey there in the process.

Next he gently removes my shirt and bra. Rather than making a beeline for my breasts he uses his eyes and hands to explore my torso. He runs his fingers lightly over my shoulders, trailing them down my back. He focuses on my lower back for a few minutes, exploring and getting to know my body. Then his hands travel around my sides to my stomach. Slowly he brings his fingers up my front torso, he runs them around my chest on the outside of my breasts, brings them up to my collarbones and travels in along them until his fingers meet at the top of my sternum. Then he draws his fingers lightly down the front of my chest, between my breasts. I’ll be all goose pimples at this point from excitement.

He removes his hands from my torso, puts one behind my neck to grasp me firmly. The other arm goes around my lower back and he draws me in to him. He leans down to kiss me as my breasts brush against the cloth of his shirt. He takes his time exploring my mouth with his tongue and then encourages me to do the same to him. Finally he pushes me back to break us apart and kneels in front of me to remove my pants. He takes off my shoes, socks, pants and underwear and stands back up, drinking me in with his eyes. His eyes will show that he desires me more than anything else at this point.

He leans over and breathes gently across my nipples, causing them to harden if they haven’t already. Then he licks my nipples and sucks them into his mouth. I’ll be begging him to strip by that point and he will show consideration, stopping his attentions and stepping back to do so. As he begins to strip, I’ll ask him to let me do it for him and he will say yes. I’ll use only my teeth to remove his clothes, my hands staying at my sides. Once I have him nude, I’ll grasp his dick with one hand and one of his nipples with my other hand, bringing him to full erection if he isn’t already there.

At that point I’ll drop to my knees and suck him. I’ll suck him as well as I possibly can. I’ll beg him not to come yet because I want his cock elsewhere before we are done. If he doesn’t come in my mouth after a few minutes I’ll stop sucking and offer him my pussy in any position he wants. Once again I’ll ask him not to come since I’ll want his cock one more place before we are done. If he can make me come from fucking my pussy and he still hasn’t come himself I’ll offer him my ass in whatever position he wants. I’ll beg him to come inside of it and if he does, I’ll be his. He’ll have shown that he knows what I want and like, he’ll have shown consideration, he’ll have shown that he can make me come, and he’ll have shown that he is willing to take me however I want.

My fantasy is to find the man who can do that. He’ll have to be a man that I am willing to let do that which means I’ll like him, I wouldn’t have sex with him if I didn’t like him, and if he does everything I want there and I like him, I’ll be his for good because he’ll be everything I want.”

I stood in stunned silence. This would make four that I was responsible for keeping pleased but the offer was really tempting. Besides that, I had told her I would do what I could to make her fantasy come true. I could always ask for her next favorite fantasy but that would be cheating. I decided that I’d bring the decision to a higher authority. Telling Jessica to stay right where she was, I went and got Holly. I brought her back and had Jessica repeat her fantasy for Holly to hear (and so that I could memorize it better, just in case).

“So Holly, what do you think?”

“What do you mean, what do I think? You told her you’d fulfill her fantasy, right?”

“Yes, but I didn’t realize that would add another woman to my group of regular lovers. It’s getting a bit larger than I had intended or anticipated. I don’t know that I could keep all of you satisfied.”

“Pshaw! You know you could. Hell, you could trance us and tell us we had been thoroughly laid, or talk us through it with us getting laid in our minds. You could make us all bisexual and able to satisfy one another when we couldn’t get you. You could get help and then maybe even be able to add more women still.”

“I could probably do a lot of that but it would feel like I was cheating. As for help? Who do you think all of you could or would agree on?”

“Anyone you wanted us to, once you were done with telling us it in the right manner.”

“Yeah but... once again that would feel like cheating and... I really don’t want to change people like that unless it is absolutely necessary. With Mary some serious changes were necessary but with everyone else I’ve just tried to encourage some natural impulses of one sort or another. Forcing one of you to like someone enough for sex just seems wrong to me. Maybe if you could all agree on one guy that would work. I think that there are enough of you that I wouldn’t be very jealous. After all it would be my own damn fault for accumulating too many women to satisfy. The last problem then is that it would have to be a guy I got along well with. I could see way too many problems if it weren’t.”

“Well, it isn’t a problem yet, is it. I believe you were asking what you should do about Jess here. I say, if you want her as a regular lover, go for it. If you don’t? Well, then maybe you’ll need to adjust her so another fantasy is her first and foremost and then satisfy that. I’ll tell you though, she is bright, attractive, and has an attitude problem. She’s just what you like in a woman, so if you pass this chance up?”

Holly shook her head as she walked out of the room without completing that last thought. I swear, after all these years together my wife could tell me she thought I was being stupid without saying a single word.

I turned back to Jessica and had her once more repeat her fantasy to me. Then I brought her out of trance.

Jessica tensed slightly as I pulled her hair off of her neck, leaned in, and licked and nibbled my way down from just behind her ear lobe. I could feel her begin to tense as her breathing sped up. I reached for her hands, drawing them up to my face. I traced small circles on the inside of her wrist with my fingertips. Leaning in I replaced fingertips with my tongue and continued the small, gentle circles. After a moment I touched her wrist with my lips and gave a gentle kiss followed by light suction to the wrist. I increased the suction until I heard a hitch in her breath. When I heard that I removed my mouth, replacing it with the fingertips once more and switched wrists. I followed the same pattern on the other wrist, perhaps sucking on it just a touch longer and harder than the first.

I stepped back and looked her full in the face, making solid eye contact. Keeping my eyes locked with hers, I reached down and grasped the bottom edge of her shirt, slowing drawing it upwards. As the shirt blocked our eye contact, I kept my eye focused exactly on the point I thought hers would be once the shirt was gone. When we matched gazes again, she was blinking. I tossed her shirt to one side and stepped closer. Maintaining eye contact, I reached behind her and, due to many years of practice when I was much younger, unclasped her bra with a single hand. Stepping back, I tossed the bra after her shirt.

I looked down at her torso. Her nipples were fully engorged and nearly purple, they were adorned with silver barbells today. Her auburn hair spilled over the milky white skin of her shoulders. The rich contrast between her hair and skin was interrupted only by tiny dustings of light brown freckles. Her entire torso was a beautiful milky white, and the small amount of freckles visible only made her skin seem whiter still. The dark purple of her nipples and areolae made another wonderful contrast with her skin. As I reached out and placed my hands on her shoulders I could feel that the skin was as soft as it looked. I trailed my fingers down her back, pausing to gently knead for a moment any time I found a tense muscle. When I reached her lower back, my fingers spread and firmly massaged it until I could feel her relax a little. When that occurred, I lightened the pressure and used my fingers to revel in the softness of her skin.

I ran my hands along her sides, bringing them to the front of her torso. I elicited a slight jump and nearly inaudible giggle with that action, telling me that she was potentially ticklish. My hands came all the way around her front and across her stomach to meet in the middle. I gently brushed the belly button piercing that dangled down and heard the soft tones of jingling metal as it swayed back and forth. My hands moved up, across her stomach, towards her sides once more. As they met the bottom edge of her ribcage, they slipped further out her sides to avoid brushing her breasts. Moving up, I slid them back onto her chest just at the bottom of her armpits and gently traced my way, along her collarbones, to the top of her sternum where my fingers met. As I drew my fingers down the valley between her breasts I felt, and saw, her fair flesh breaking out in goose pimples all over.

I slid my left arm around her back, nestling it in the curve of her lower back, while my right hand went behind her head to her neck. Firmly grasping her neck I drew her towards me with both arms until her rigid nipples were touching the cloth of my shirt. I leaned in to her lips and matched them with my own. Spreading her lips with my tongue, I invaded her mouth. I crushed her to me as I tried to touch every portion of her mouth that I could with my tongue. After thoroughly exploring her mouth I brushed my tongue lightly against hers, teasing it to draw it forward. I slowly drew my tongue back, repeating that action over and over until her tongue was in my own mouth. I let her explore my mouth as I had done with hers and then released her.

Once more I traced my fingers down through her cleavage. When I reached her ribcage below where her breasts hung I gently pushed her away from me. My fingers continued lightly tracing down her stomach, giving a gentle tap to the dangling belly button ornament as they passed it. When my fingers reached her pants I gently unsnapped them. Kneeling down I untied her boots and let her lean on my shoulders as I removed them. Her socks followed in the same manner. Unzipping her jeans, I pushed them down to pool about her feet and offered her my hand to help her step out of them. Her underwear followed quickly in a similar manner.

I stood up, allowing my eyes to take in all of her as I did. When they reached her face, I stared at her, letting my lust show in my eyes. Leaning in towards her, I angled my face upwards so I could continue watching her eyes. When I was close enough to touch her nipples with my lips I turned my face downwards and gently blew across her turgid nipple. She shuddered in response so I moved to the other breast and treated that nipple to a gentle breeze as well.

I leaned in that last fraction of an inch so my tongue could touch her nipples and began to lightly flick them. As I did I could hear Jessica:

“Please, strip. I want you nude, I want to press my flesh against yours and I want you inside of me. Oh, please strip for me?”

I sucked on first one, and then the other, of her nipples before standing up, stepping back, and beginning to strip.

“Oh, stop. Please stop, can I do that for you? Let me strip you.”

“Yes”

Jessica leaned in and grasped the bottom of my shirt with her teeth. I could tell she’d need a bit of help since I was taller than her so as she began to lift it I slowly dropped my legs until I was squatting. She was surprisingly adept with her teeth and the shirt came off quickly. Then she dropped to all fours (as I straightened back up) and amazed me by untying my shoes and removing them with nothing but her teeth, my socks following quickly after. Finally she knelt up, her face just at my crotch level. She unbuckled my belt with her teeth, then followed with the snap and zipper of my pants so quickly that I knew she’d done this a lot. As I stepped out of my pants, she followed me on her knees to remove my underwear with her teeth as well.

She reached up and grasped one of my nipples with a hand, the other traveling to my cock. After her lascivious display undressing me, getting me to full erection was not going to be an issue. As soon as she noted that, she removed her hand. It was replaced immediately with her mouth. She was quite good with her mouth, easily on par with Holly although not better. Since their styles were totally different, this was a very good thing. She continued to suck me for several minutes, pausing only once to take me out of her mouth and tell me not to come as she wanted me inside her somewhere else before we were done.

After about five minutes of sucking my cock she stopped and stood.

“I want you in my pussy, how do you want me positioned?”

“Here is good.”, I patted the bed, “Sit on the edge of the bed, legs hanging over, upper torso lying back.”

She did as I requested and her pussy was accessible by me standing next to bed. I proceeded to waste no time and immediately penetrate her. I had almost forgotten, already, just how tight she could make her pussy which she did as soon as I was all the way inside of her.

“Don’t come inside my pussy either please, I’ve one more place I want your cock before we’re done.”

I was glad, at this point, that I had already come twice today. If I hadn’t, I might not have been able to honor that request.

I reached out to manipulate her clit. By this time I wanted her to come so we could go on to the last phase and let me come. Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying it immensely, the problem was that I was enjoying it a bit too much and wasn’t sure how long I could hold out. I had to turn my head so I wasn’t watching her breasts bounce or that would’ve been too much. When it was almost too much anyhow, I started reciting the multiplication tables in my mind. I was up 9 times 6 by the time she came. When she was done her orgasm, which almost triggered my own as she clamped down on my cock, I allowed myself to withdraw my fingernails from the heel of my hand where I had dug them in as a last ditch effort to not come myself.

“Tim, I want you to come in my ass. How do you want me?”

“There is a position that Holly never would give me before, she might now if I asked but she claims it won’t work. Feel like trying it?”

“Sure, I’m always up for trying new stuff.”

“I’ll lay back on the bed, I want you to get on your knees over me, facing my feet. Then lower your ass down on my cock. You think that will work?”

“I might have to contort a bit, but I’m flexible. Let’s try!”

I laid back on the bed and watched as she knelt astride me. I watched her milky white ass, with its tiny brown freckles, slowly lower itself down. The head of my cock got inside of her ass with no problem but as we tried to get me deeper into her she had to start leaning back. Eventually she had my cock buried deeply in her ass but she was leaning back, resting her weight on her elbows to either side of me, her forearms were straight along my sides. This was an added bonus as far as I was concerned because it allowed me to reach up and cup both of her breasts. The position was interesting but difficult for her to move in. I took up the challenge and managed to make shallow strokes in and out of her ass. With as close as I was, that was enough for me to be coming within a couple of minutes.

Jessica collapsed atop me when I finally finished coming. She rolled over onto her side beside me, snuggling against me with her breasts pushed tight to my side. After a couple of minutes:

“Got room for another woman in your life? I sure hope so, because I’m yours, whether you want me or not.”

“I think I can manage to squeeze you in. So was that the fantasy that you were going to tell me or was that something else entirely?”

“That was something else, although I think they might be related.”

“So, tell me what the one was you were going to tell me, maybe we can work on it some other time.”

“I certainly hope so. I want you to control me, totally. I want you to take control of me, tell me what to do, use me, do whatever you want. Control is good, recently whenever you’ve told, or even asked with the right phrasing, me to do something, I’ve done it and had almost a mini-orgasm it felt so good. So I want you to control me intentionally and see if it feels better still. I think controlled will be good.”

“Do you want me to just order you, or hypnotize you first so you have to do what I order you to.”

“I want to have to do it, so you’ll need to hypnotize me again.”

“You got it, that’s not something I’ll turn down. Once again, that will probably have to wait a few days though, sorry.”

I was wondering what the hell that was all about. Especially if she wanted it before she decided to give herself to me. There was a lot of stuff confusing me of late, but most of it wasn’t stuff I wanted to pry into very much in case I broke it. I thought a quick test might be in order though.

“You’ll stay for dinner.”

“Yes” she said and her fair face flushed pink, a flush I now recognized, having seen it just a few minutes ago when she was coming.

The dinner she was staying for wasn’t going to happen unless I got off the bed and made it. I got up, dressed, and headed out for the kitchen, telling Jess she could just lounge there if she liked. With six of us eating and me wanting there to be some leftovers available over the next couple of days I decided to go with an extra large shepherd’s pie. I had some ground beef frozen from a trade a while back and potatoes were something we grew ourselves. Creamed corn was another thing we had from our own garden, having treated it and canned it back in the end of September. Aside from that all I needed was a little butter and milk, both of which we got weekly at the market.

I could hear Holly and Rita in the girls’ room, talking with them although I couldn’t make out any specifics, just their voices. Jessica showed up in the kitchen, dressed again. Looking around she could see I was peeling a lot of potatoes, rinsing them, and placing them on a cutting board next to a knife.

“These need to be chopped?”

“Yes.”

“What size chunks and where do you want them?”

“Medium to small and toss them in that pot of water heating on the stove. You cook, also?”

“Well I cook, I won’t say I’m great at it or anything but I tend to end up with things that are edible.”

“That’s great, I’m the only regular cook around here. Holly could burn water but Sandra is showing some potential, as you saw last night. She just doesn’t do it much. I don’t know about Rita, she hasn’t showed an interest. So if you’re going to be around a lot, that’ll mean a second cook available.”

“You bet your ass I’ll be around a lot. I’m just worried about what your other women are going to say about adding me in to the queue.”

“Don’t be, Holly will be fine with it. Rita will be also I think, although it might take a bit there.”

“What about Sandra, I’ve seen the way she’s been throwing herself at you.”

“Sandra is a special case. I’ve no intention of keeping my daughter as a regular lover, although at this point she may be thinking otherwise. I know she’d be jealous. She was jealous the first night I invited you up here. I’m pretty sure you noticed her being blatant about flirting with me that evening.”

“Yeah, I noticed. I just figured it wasn’t my place to be saying anything.”

The time spent cooking passed much more quickly than normal with someone helping and chatting with me as I went. In about an hour I was calling everyone to dinner. We sat down and ate and when we had finished there was about half of the batch left. I let Rita and the girls know it would be in the refrigerator in case they needed meals the next couple of days, I hoped to be home in time for dinner but wasn’t counting on being home in time to cook dinner myself.

After dinner we spent some time just talking. At one point Holly caught me eye and glanced towards Jessica. I nodded my head and she took my meaning instantly. After about an hour of talk, I excused myself to go to bed, wanting an early night since I was exhausted from all the sex and still needed a good night’s sleep before working the dole. Holly told me she’d be along in just a little bit herself.

I undressed, killed the lights and crawled in under the electric blanket. I was out in just a few minutes, the combination of lots of exercise (sex) and good food putting me out nearly as quickly as the lights. I’ve no idea how long I was asleep before I woke to someone sliding in bed alongside of me. I could hear voices out in the living room still so I guessed it was Holly until a small hand grasped my cock.

“I’d like some attention today as well.” said Rita.

I refrained from groaning, opening my eyes to find the lights on once more. Instead of groaning, I asked her what type of attention she’d like.

“I’d be more than happy with having you eat me until I come and then doing the same to you, but I’d prefer you inside my pussy. With all the sex you’ve had today I bet your erection would slip all the way in easily.”

“You get me hard and I’ll do you. If you’d rather just do oral we can do that also. Wait a second... All the sex? Who’s been talking?”

“Just Sandra, Holly, and Jess. Let me suck you hard and then climb on top of you. You can just lie back and relax, I’ll do all the work. Just don’t fall asleep on me or I might have to do something to wake you up.”

I laid back, wondering just what she was talking about doing to me to wake me and also wondering why it was that my sex life had become a topic of general conversation. Feeling her mouth close around my cock I was amazed by the looseness as she sucked me. I was used to having my erection stretching the edges of her lips but even as she got me hard there was still none of that. I guessed she was right and there’d be no problem fitting me in this evening. She slid atop me and in a single thrust buried my erection inside of her. She was incredibly wet and I wondered how long she had been waiting. I’d feel guilty if I found out that she wanted me earlier when I was messing with Jessica.

Since she’d woken me from a sound sleep, I found myself still not quite awake all the way. I was just enjoying the sex through a lazy haze and zoning out. Evidently I fell asleep because all of the sudden I awoke to an incredible pressure on my cock. Looking up I saw that Rita had repositioned herself and buried my, smaller than normal, erection in her ass. It appeared that it was causing her some light pain but at the same time a great deal of pleasure.

“I told you I’d do something to wake you up if you drifted off on me. I’d be angry but I know that, realistically, unless you are worn out and smaller like you are right now I won’t be having you this way for at least a couple of years. I figured I’d jump the gun while I could. I’ll tell you a secret, you’re the first guy to have my ass.”

I was totally awake again now and reached down to grasp her ass cheeks. They fit perfectly in my hands, with very little hanging over.

“And such a fine ass it is. I don’t know how you are doing this without screaming. It feels like you have my cock caught in a slippery vise. I’ll tell you this though, if you want me in your ass again before those couple of years are up, I assume you are talking about you hopefully getting more growth and filling out some, I’ll be more than happy to wear myself out to the point you can squeeze me in.”

“It hurts but I don’t feel like screaming. Having you in my pussy at full size hurts a little also but I enjoy it. I enjoy this to but I’m not sure how much. It feels like you are stretching me to the breaking point but I can tell I’m not in danger of tearing or anything. I’ll get back to you about doing it again sooner after we’re done.”

When she finished speaking she started moving. She slid herself up and down my cock, I could tell it hurt her some but at some point in there she came so I assumed the pleasure was at least equal to the pain. I reached up and used the tips of my fingernails on her breasts to turn her on more, hoping that it might make it easier on her. My cock was burning with friction, even with the generous lubrication it had after being in her pussy. If I hadn’t come as many times as I had today I’m pretty sure she would’ve set a record for the shortest amount of time it ever took me to come. As it was, I lasted perhaps twenty minutes before coming. It was almost painful but blissful at the same time.

Rita drew herself off of me and laid down beside me.

“I think I’d like more but only if you are at least as small as now.”

“We could physically train your ass to stretch out a bit more and be larger if you like. We have butt plugs that can be used for that purpose.”

“Let’s try that in a few days, right now my ass is incredibly sensitive and sore but I’m certainly interested. I loved the look on your face while you were in my ass, it’s like you are both focused on me and totally detached at the same time. Now get your sleep, you’ve work in the morning. Holly will be in to join you in a few minutes.”

Not normally being the type to roll over and fall asleep after coming, I thought I might make an exception in this case. I rolled over as she got out of bed and left the room, turning the light out once more on her way. The last thing I remember was someone, I assume Holly, climbing in on the other side of the bed. When next my eyes opened, the thin rays of a late fall dawn in the Rocky Mountains were peeping in through the gaps in the curtains.