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Perchance to Dream
If you are under the age of 18, or otherwise forbidden by law to read electronically transmitted erotic material, please go do something else. This material is Copyright, 2000, Uther Pendragon. All rights reserved. I specifically grant the right of downloading and keeping ONE electronic copy for your personal reading so long as this notice is included. I would prefer to do my own reposting, thank you. All persons here depicted, except public figures depicted as public figures in the background, are figments of my imagination and any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental. |
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Perchance to Dream
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"Oh could I, Mr. Cameron?" Shannon Powell begged. "I would appreciate it," Rev. Powell said. "I don't have to read my sermon from the pulpit, but I do have to write it down. And today I've decided that the approach I had written Thursday is really going at it backwards. I don't want to take Shannon away from the fireworks." Ryan couldn't see any grounds for refusal, even if he'd wanted to. And eight-year-old Shannon was basically a good kid, especially for a PK. "Just stay close to us, Shannon," Laura said. Finding someone else's kid among a crowd in the dark was murder. Somehow, you knew your own by the way she moved. Not that he was going to search for Crystal tonight; she and JG would meet them when the fireworks were over. He and Laura waved Rev. and Mrs. Powell goodbye, agreed with Shannon on two rendezvous, and settled down while she took a last swim. It had been a decade since they'd had an eight-year-old of their own, and they rather enjoyed the limited and temporary possession. Crystal didn't quite shut them out of her life, but she no longer enjoyed sharing the details with them. For that matter, she no longer enjoyed finding an odd-shaped rock. Crystal and JG returned for a snack just before sunset, and Ryan told them about Shannon. "I could go back with my parents," said JG. His doleful tone implied the sacrifice involved in spending the last 45 minutes of the day away from the girl he had seen all afternoon and would see the next day. Ryan didn't mind. While clearly unworthy of his little girl, JG was the least unworthy of any on the horizon. He was majoring in electrical engineering which, if it didn't rate as a science, was one hell of a lot better than art history. Besides, he was what she wanted; had JG not wanted her, it would have been a tragedy. "Your choice," said Laura. "The front seat won't be crowded after all." "Just make sure," Ryan said, "that there is no corruption of the innocent while she sits between you." The amount of petting that Crystal and JG would do in the presence of Laura and him was a bit annoying, suggesting as it did that they were doing a lot more in private. Laura put a high priority on keeping the lines of communication open, so he usually didn't say anything. Shannon pinched JG's nose about then. She squealed all through the chase. And everyone was laughing so hard by the time that JG dumped her in Ryan's lap that the subject was closed. By the time that darkness settled, Shannon had reached the point where her exuberance was less an outflow of energy than a necessity to keep herself awake. He warned her against going into the woods any more. This had less to do with getting lost (in less than an hour the fireworks would draw everybody to the lake shore) than fear of what she would stumble upon in the dark. Crystal and JG weren't the only young couple out there. Finally, they had her settle down, and he tried to entertain her with knock-knock jokes. Those and elephant jokes exhausted, he was telling the one about: "... The boss asked why I was throwing so many nails away. "'They point the wrong way,' I told him. "'Silly,' he said. 'Those are for the other side of ...'" He stopped at the first swoosh. She froze at the BANG! "Oooh!" she said, and he had to agree with her. Strings of red draped over the other side of the lake like a giant umbrella; the nearest strings almost reached their side. He moved Shannon to face the center of the fireworks directly, so her body could receive the pressure from the explosions like a radar antenna. She said nothing, but held that position while the sky filled with fire again and again. He hugged Laura as they split their attention between the lovely sky and Shannon's appreciation. Slowly, though, Shannon slid back against him. She was about to miss the fireworks which she had anticipated so fiercely. Laura saw what was happening and moved to lean against him on the other side. The sleeping girl received more of his attention than the fiery sky. The sheer trust that she exhibited by going to sleep lying against him enraptured him. It was a familiar pleasure, sensual but not directed towards Shannon. He'd never been attracted to those who slept in his arms -- except Laura. They'd had an evening wedding, a festive reception, and a long drive to the resort. He'd fallen asleep across the bed; she'd managed to change her clothes and cover them both with a blanket. He could still remember the morning. |
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Shannon, on the other hand, would miss what she had entrusted to him if she slept much longer. He shook her gently. "Look, Shannon," he said. The first rockets of the grand finale were going up. She woke enough to open her eyes. "Oh," she said as one colorful mass after another filled the sky. She watched until they faded completely, still lying against him. Then she curled up and went back to sleep. "I'll get our stuff together," Laura whispered. Not that others weren't shouting around them, not that Shannon would have awakened for a much louder sound, but whispers are appropriate around a sleeping child. He helped her gather things as well as he could. When the kids returned, JG took Shannon out of his arms. Ryan carried the blanket and the cooler back to the car. The cars from further down the lot filled the road behind them so that they couldn't get out. Ryan wasn't in a hurry, Laura had always been patient, and the kids would gladly have said good night till it be morrow. They opened the doors as wide as neighboring cars would allow and rolled down the windows to let the interior cool. Crystal took Shannon from JG's arms and strapped her into the seat. The kids stood on the right side of the car while the adults stood on the left. The line behind them started to stretch out, and JG's father honked as he went by. The car to their left pulled out into traffic. At that signal they got in, the kids both from the driver's side for some reason. When he looked back to check the stream of traffic behind him, he saw the arrangement. Crystal was on the high bump in the middle; JG was behind Ryan with his legs splayed to accommodate the seat. Shannon, asleep again, had more room than anybody else; only her legs were crowded by Crystal's. In that position, Crystal couldn't sit up straight. She rested her head on JG's shoulder. He gritted his teeth, even though JG's right hand was on Crystal's shoulder in plain sight and his left couldn't reach any part of her but her hand from the position of his arm. Their pose wasn't particularly erotic, but the intimacy was horribly suggestive. Ryan believed, as a matter of policy, that his daughter was still a virgin at eighteen; he would have appreciated a little more help with the suspension of disbelief. "I think that I'll take the speed-bumps faster than coming in," he said loud enough for Crystal to hear. "It'll make quite a show in the mirror." He actually crawled over those bumps, though. And when he checked the backseat fifteen minutes later, Crystal looked fast asleep. JG's left arm was braced against the door. His position couldn't be comfortable, but his face had a blissful smile. Ryan could understand that. When Crystal slept in your arms, comfort was a minor consideration. |
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And now she was resting just as trustingly in the arms of a boy of twenty in the backseat of Ryan's own car. He, having been twenty himself at one time, knew what that meant to JG. And there was nothing, nothing at all, that he could do to protect her. Laura was absolutely right. They'd done all that they could to inculcate some sane standards when the task was easier; their influence was minimal now. And while JG had some rough edges, his major fault was that he was interested in her. Abstractly, Ryan could hardly blame him for that. Pretty, smart, and good-natured, Crystal was probably the pick of her high- school class. It was just that she had looked at him with such trust, and the dangers had grown since then, while the protection he could provide kept shrinking. "Take JG home first," Laura said suddenly. He turned on that street without question. JG tried to ease himself out of the car without waking Crystal, but she was far from that deeply asleep. "Do you two want to say goodbye while we're taking Shannon home?" Laura asked. Crystal crawled out. "Thanks Mom," she said. "And Dad." They turned back towards the parsonage. "They won't do anything in the next ten minutes which they haven't done already today," Laura said. He'd already figured that out. Besides, she was better on those things than he was. He couldn't have raised Crystal one quarter so well without her; of course, there would never have been a Crystal without her. "What did I do to deserve you?" he asked. The words could have been taken either way, the tone couldn't. "You used to say that you didn't deserve me," she said. "I don't." "I dunno. You're a pretty good guy." She put her hand on his leg. Shannon sighed in the back seat. "Glad to have an eight- year-old again?" He nodded. "Glad to be giving her back?" He nodded again. They were both grinning when they turned into the Powell's driveway. Shannon stirred briefly when he picked her up, and again when he put her in her father's arms. Laura was right, he was glad to be out the door with his deputy-parent laurels intact before the undressing began. He'd give odds that she'd be awake and in a nasty mood for the next hour or two. He drove very slowly back. Maybe JG had sensed Crystal's special importance; maybe he would try to deserve it. Ryan had tried for Laura, after all, and he'd been even more loutish at twenty than JG was. |
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And, from that day to this, he had loved her. "Sleep in my arms tonight," he said. He regretted few purchases so much as the king-sized bed. "It's hot." Her tone sounded closer to evaluation than refusal. "So are you." She laughed, but it was a laugh of acquiescence. "You're such a romantic. I'm an old, flabby, woman." "Sleep in my arms tonight." "You're trying for your own fireworks." "That too. But I want to hold you after." Crystal came out immediately when they got to JG's, opening the door before he got halfway up the walk. Some murmur of greeting from JG's parents followed her out the door. "Good night and thanks," he called back. He'd expected her to still be outside saying goodnight to JG. When Crystal had settled into her seat and was looking out the window, Laura's hand sneaked over to rest on his thigh. He risked a glance at her. She was smiling, not looking at him at all, but smiling. They wouldn't need all the bed tonight. |
The End. Perchance to Dream Uther Pendragon anon584c@nyx.net 2000/07/04 2001/07/04 2002/06/30 2004/07/05 For another aspect of adults' caring for youth in their charge, see: "Clean Sweep" Another story involving the same people, told from Crystal's point of view can be found at: "Lakeside Fireworks" This story is indexed under: Wedded Lust This story is coded (MF rom wl). The code, wl, means: Sex within the marital relationship. For more on the story codes and how to use them to find the sorts of stories to interest you: "Story codes for readers" The directory to all my stories can be found at: Index to Uther Pendragon's Website |