Chapter Thirteen
She was still lying in the same position when she awakened the next morning, but now she had an unbelievably strong desire to awaken Karl and make him as delighted as he had made her the night before. Slowly lifting herself to a seating position, she slid the covers gently from his muscular body. A teasing smile softly grew as she gently ran her right hand from one of his tiny nipples down through the fine curly chest hair to his deeply dimpled navel. Circling it slowly, she slid her hand downward, finding the longer, coarser hair nearer his pubic area. Gently circling and teasing, she relied on that one hand alone to tease and tantalise him to a full arousal. Sitting as she was, she teased herself gently with her left hand, almost duplicating her right hand's gentle actions but keyed to her own arousal.
She giggled softly as she watched his penis suddenly seem to awaken. In seconds it grew from a small soft limp object to a fully developed erection. Using her knees to press his legs together, she shifted to straddle his hips, fully wet and ready herself. Softly and slowly, she moved her wrists, making the fingers of both hands slide up and down, her right hand curled gently around his hard shaft, her left open, middle digit ridged as it delved between her thighs. She waited in elated anticipation until his eyes slowly opened and he looked up at her before she did anything else. At his surprised realisation of what she was doing, she lifted one hand upward, guiding the blunted pyramid of firm but soft flesh to her own moist and willing lips. She delighted in the look in his eyes as she settled herself downward ever so slowly. As he opened his mouth to speak, she leaned forward and placed the still moist middle finger of her left hand across his lips. Supporting her weight by placing her right hand on his left breast, She grinned in delight and shook her head slowly from side to side.
"Not one word." She sighed as she slowly, deliberately pressed downward.
"And don't even wiggle." She ordered, much more firmly.
Intentionally moving at a snail's pace, she could feel her body thrilling, almost vibrating in anticipation. She sighed softly and realised that Karl was gently mouthing her finger with his lips.
"Guess where that was just a moment ago." She almost whispered, but caught herself just in time. Instead, she crooked her finger gently, bringing the tip between his lips, allowing him to suck it into his mouth. She tingled at the thought, somehow more excited even by such a small private eroticism. Then he smiled and his tongue licked his lips, first to one side of her finger tip, then the other and he winked. Knowing that he recognised her taste, she felt another erotic tingle spread through her and she almost let herself giggle in delight
Tensing her stomach muscles, she squeezed her whole lower body in the way one of her father's nurses had taught her. Since the major part of Karl's erection that was inside her was the tender swollen knob, Karl's eyes snapped open and he moaned softly. An urge to tease him suddenly became overwhelming. She wriggled softly, shifting herself both from side to side as well as slightly up and down as she sought to tighten her internal muscles even more. Karl's moan became a groan and then to her surprise, he sucked her finger deep into his mouth. The combination of him sucking and the movement of his tongue as it gently massaged her finger, reminded her of what she liked to do to his erection and she smiled, as well as sighed softly.
Her body began to move of its own accord. It was as if she were out of control. The sensation of desire in her groin had become a passionate necessity and was now in control. Her body pulsed, it wriggled, it surged. She was almost gasping as each breath came quicker and quicker. She found herself sitting straighter, both hands now on his chest to press herself back as she ground herself down against his pelvis. She felt the mass of her breasts swinging, wiggling, almost dancing and yearned to have Karl's hands hold and massage their soft flesh. She found she couldn't verbalise the words. She was unable to ask, yet suddenly as if in answer to her unspoken desire, his hands rose. She felt their gentle touch and that only served to stoke her conflagration of yearning need.
Her need rose to a fervid pitch and her ardent passion surged. She was astounded at how quickly she was coming to climax and for an instant she worried slightly that Karl might be left behind. Then to her joyful delight she felt Karl's body reaching a state of completion as well and as she gave an ecstatic squeal. She felt his body pulse in climax just after her own body surged and pulsed in its zenith of desire. She grinned widely at Karl's satisfied look and then unable control her muscles enough to move, she collapsed into his ready arms, relishing again the feel of his tight chest beneath her breasts.
She almost fell into a doze but as Karl's hands softly caressed her back, she felt the need to look into his eyes. Lifting her head slightly, she smiled at him.
"Good morning." She managed to whisper.
"Hello sexy lady." He smiled softly, bringing a hand up and gently caressing the skin of her scalp in a motion that she had always found so delightfully endearing.
She thrilled to the thought that he accepted her lack of hair and delighted in the feel of her bald pate as his finger gently traced the curves and convolutions of her scalp.
"Why do you like to do that?" She whispered.
"Because, it's uniquely you." He smiled again. "No one else has such a beautiful head."
"Oh, I don't know." She giggled softly. "I happen to think it hardly compares to the head I just had inside me."
He just chuckled and his other hand softly patted her bottom. She grinned and spread her legs as wide as she could.
"If you reach with your fingers, I like that other bald patch played with too." She announced teasingly.
"That's unique as well." Karl grinned as his fingers followed her instruction.
"Not that unique." She sighed, suddenly more serious. "Keri is developing the same sort of patch now."
"She said something about it but I'm afraid I wasn't paying too much attention when I had the opportunity to see." He said quietly. "Her head too? To be honest it's not really noticeable."
"No, her head might actually be growing more hair again, but don't be surprised at what you see down below." She smiled weakly. "It's just taking longer to catch up to Keri, I went through all that she's going through at puberty."
"At least she has you as an illustration that life can still go on normally." He smiled. "David ought to be another example."
"Take it from me, it makes you feel different." She sighed. "I think half of the problem is that when we were kids, she used to act like she felt jealous of me when she was having trouble getting her hair to do what she wanted. Now that she's developing the same condition she's almost come to believe that she brought it on herself."
"Surely, you've explained the genetic situation."
"Ah, but her mother had a full head of hair and a wonderful covering of tight long hair on her bush."
"Mmmm." He sighed softly. "Well, I won't pretend that Keri didn't have a lovely bush. I'll miss it flashing bright red as she dives in the water when we go skinny dipping."
Ely lifted her body and rolled to the side, turning to face him again as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"Whatever." She smiled at him, admiring his tight muscular body. "I'm sure you'll see it before that. She and Linda are both planning on living here with us.Since she's never been skin shy, you'll see her nude often enough."
"Wait a minute." Karl said as he sat up. "We've only got this one bedroom. I was thinking of moving my desk and my radios back into the living room so David could have that room as a bedroom, but where the hell will Keri and Linda sleep."
"Oh for Christ sake." Ely laughed and stood, gesturing in a sweep with her right hand before placing her hands on her hips. "Look at the size of this bedroom. Ten people could sleep up here."
Karl didn't speak, he simply gazed at her in wonder because she was so delightful to look at when she was excited. Her head was held high and her shoulders thrown back which drew her breasts upward. Since her breasts were so large to begin with, gravity had begun to pull them down but they still stood amazingly high for their size. Standing with her hands on her hips, the tiny girth of her waist and the width of her hips was emphasized. Her soft brown flesh and hairless form delighted him, she was exotic and yet available and he loved her body as well as her personality.
"I love it when you look at me like that." She sighed. "You look like you could eat me alive."
"Should I offer?" He grinned.
"Not until I shower." She giggled, glancing downward. "This morning's loving is mixed with last night's and I must stink like a fish. Tonight if you want, after I've showered again. We've got a lot of work to do today."
"Oh yeah." He sighed. "Thanks for the reminder."
"Sorry, gotta go." She called back over her shoulder, literally running from the room.
Her hurry reminded Karl that he to had to go as well. He stood up to go downstairs to the other bathroom then remembered that it had been almost destroyed. Instead he turned to the window wall and slid open the sliding door to the sundeck. Walking to the railing, he sighed softly and using two fingers of one hand as a guide, he leaned out into the day and let relief flow, his urine forming an arch as it fell to the small bushes below. It was hardly light enough to see the edge of the clearing and the cool morning air felt wonderfully refreshing on his skin but he could feel his scrotum tighten and his penis shrink even as he stood there. Looking down, he smiled almost apologetically at the bushes that he had doused as he deliberately shook the last drops into the cool air.
It was only after he was finished that he realised that the rain had stopped. Although the clouds boiled overhead, there seemed to be much less wind than when they had arrived yesterday. He stretched luxuriantly and then feeling a sudden chill, he slipped back into the bedroom. Scooping up a pair of shorts from a drawer, he headed for the bathroom and slipped into the shower with Ely.
"Oh yeah." She laughed with delight and gladly shifted to make room for him. "I was hoping you'd come and offer to wash my back."
"Your front too, if you want." He responded, wrapping her tightly in his arms.
"No funny stuff." She sighed. "We're both going to need every ounce of our energy later today."
Karl looked at her face and saw she was serious.
"Just what do you mean?" He frowned, holding her tightly.
"You know Dad." She arched back, looking directly into his eyes. "He's going to want to move back to his damn computer so he can get back to writing and he's going to want to use the radios too. First though, we have to clean his house. It's a mess and there are only two of us."
"Well with the navy on the prowl, I'd rather he forgot about sending any messages for a while." Karl said firmly. "Surely he'll see the sense in that?"
"Oh he will for a while but he's liable to forget." She said quietly. "I didn't want to say anything if I didn't have too but his short term memory seems to be failing."
"No?" He said shortly, the word coming out as a plea of denial.
"I'm sorry to say it is." She sighed. "It worries me, and what worries me even more is that Trudy seems to be in denial."
"I don't like the implications of that." Karl said quietly as he frowned. "I suppose before we bring him ashore I could disable the sending side of his radios. What do you think?"
"Could you do that, at least until the Navy decides that their 'ghost submarine' sank with all hands? I'd feel a whole lot safer."
"I could and I will." Karl said resolutely.
"Thank you, Love." She whispered softly, then she lifted on tip toes to kiss him gently. "It's actually David and Mary Beth that I worry about."
"Lucky you." He smiled possessively. "I worry about everyone. It's my job."
"Like hell." She laughed softly. "That's your hobby. Your job is to keep us all happy."
"Well, you wouldn't be very damn happy in a jail cell." He snorted.
"Ah, but we have the right to be here." She smiled. "Dad is a landed immigrant, Trudy, Keri and I are all citizens and of course so are David and Mary-Beth. All we have to do is make sure that we've tidied up the most glaring of the earthquake damage and the Navy can go pee up a rope. They won't be able to prove a damn thing. We can all lie like troupers and swear we've been here all along."
"And what about your neighbours that saw you at your other place?"
"One neighbour." She grinned. "And he's prone to exaggerating everything so no one will give his word much credence. Since right after the earthquake we moved into the boathouse and were actually on the boat most of the time, there isn't even much evidence in the house. Besides, anyone could see no one could live in that, the trees crushed it pretty badly."
As they had been talking, they had been washing each other.
"Bend forward and get your hair wet." Ely ordered. "You need a shampoo."
"Oh hell, it will just get dirty again, especially if we're working at cleaning up that plaster dust and soot." Karl argued.
"Lover, I want to wash your hair." She said vehemently. "I haven't got hair of my own. I want to wash yours."
The shower hid the tears that Karl knew were in her eyes but he obediently bent his head. Ely did a thorough job, making sure it was washed and then rinsed. Finally, she reached back and shut off the water to the shower, then grabbed a towel and began to massage his hair dry.
"Holy shit, be gentle." He complained loudly. "You're almost taking off my ears."
"Sorry." She sobbed softly.
He freed his head and looked at her.
"Why are you crying?"
"You're going bald too." She sobbed and flowed into his arms, crying against his chest.
"I've been thin on top since I was twenty." Karl laughed and held her tightly. "It doesn't bother me and it's never bothered you before."
"Keri wasn't going bald then." She sniffled. "And David wasn't bald either."
He knew there really wasn't anything he could say so he simply held her tightly. After a few moments she calmed and he pressed her back until he could kiss her gently. She still looked woebegone but at least she wasn't crying.
He smiled as he handed her a towel and took another himself. In a moment he had her smiling softly as he tenderly wiped her body dry. She tried to reciprocate, finally demanding that he stop towelling her for a moment and let her catch up.
"Why?" He asked softly as he dropped his hands to his sides after draping the towel over her shoulders.
"Because I want you to." She answered simply.
In moments they were dry and Karl slipped on the shorts and flip flops he had brought with him.
"Damn, I guess I have to wear my dirty clothes" She sighed softly.
"Hell, there's a whole dresser full of stuff you left here." Karl snapped.
"You didn't throw it out?" She seemed to be astounded.
"No." He grinned. "I knew you'd be back in my bed."
"We haven't slept together in two years and we had a hell of a fight then." She smiled. "What made you so sure?"
"Oh, the fact that we've fought and made up before." He answered softly. "We always fight over the same thing."
He had spoken as he went out the door, heading for the stairs in his shorts. He wasn't surprised when she followed, still nude.
"Are we going to fight again?" She grinned, catching his hand and walking down the stairs at his side.
"Nope, I think I'm outnumbered this time." He grinned, lifting her hand and kissing her fingers briefly. "You did say Linda and Keri were moving into our bedroom didn't you?"
She turned her head, canting it to one side and forward as she stared at him
"You mean you don't mind?" She said vehemently. "What changed your mind, Linda?"
"Partly." He grinned. "It's a numbers thing. This way no one has to sleep alone and I don't have to try to make love to two beautiful bodies at one time"
"But you're wonderful in a menage a trois." She protested. "And . . ."
"And nothing!" He growled, interrupting her. "I'm just not comfortable with three in a bed unless everyone's asleep. Hell, it's taken me years to even be comfortable with the idea of sleeping with your sister one time as well as with you another."
They were at the bottom of the stairs and they stared in surprise when they saw both Keri and Linda in the kitchen and at the kitchen table.
"Hi." Linda grinned. She was nude, as was Keri.
A quick glance showed that they had slept on the living room floor. Their clothes were scattered everywhere and a pile of blankets as well as fresh ashes in the fireplace attested that they had arrived after Karl and Ely had gone upstairs last night.
"Your tub doesn't drain worth a shit, so it's full of dirty bathwater." Keri announced with a grin. "And you need fresh paper in the outhouse, the weather has made it all soggy."
"Did you two spend the night last night?" Ely giggled as she walked into the kitchen and hugged Keri.
"They did." Karl laughed. "Look at the blankets on the floor and the ashes in the fireplace. Why didn't you come upstairs and use the hide-a-bed?"
"We were going to, but Ely convinced us that we'd be in the way." Linda laughed softly.
"I didn't talk to you." Ely protested as she turned to hug her as well.
"Huh, you didn't have to." Keri laughed softly. "You were making so much noise that we knew Karl was busy and I know how he feels about making love in a room with too many people."
Karl had come into the kitchen area now and he simply scooped her into his arms then bent to kiss her smiling lips. Her coffee cup went flying but neither Karl nor Keri even seemed to notice. Both Ely and Linda stared in astonishment as Karl's hands ranged over Keri's willing body. He finally broke the kiss but by then her body was wrapped around his, Her arms were around his neck and her legs supporting her weight around his hips. Her face was wreathed in a delighted smile.
"Those shorts are in the way." She snickered, shifting her weight and wriggling her bottom as she ground her pelvis against him.
"Patience, Red." He said quietly."I'm hungry."
"I'm willing." She giggled. "And now you won't get so much hair in your teeth."
"So I heard." He smiled. "But that isn't what I want and you know it. Besides, you'll have to talk to Ely and make a reservation."
"No fucking way." Ely snapped. "I'm not your keeper. If you want a woman it's your decision."
"I guess that still leaves me in the running too, does it?" Linda smiled tentatively.
Ely simply smiled and kissed her gently on the lips while momentarily cupping and teasing a full breast.
"That sweetheart, is your decision as well." Ely grinned, dropping her hand to Linda's leg as she sat on a kitchen stool.
"Watch it Linda. Ely likes furry pussies." Keri chuckled. "She's more worried about my present lack of hair down there than I am."
Keri slipped to her feet and pulled out of Karl's arms. Stepping away, she dropped her hands to her hips, leaned back and spread her legs. Grinning almost wickedly, she winked at Karl, and he managed to smile even though he could see tears in her eyes.
"See, no fuzz." She announced, then moved back to lift her hands to his shoulders. "And it's your playground, any time you want it." She whispered, deliberately looking him straight in the eyes.
Then she wheeled away and moved to the cupboard, snagging three cups and filling them from the coffee pot, handing one to each Karl and Ely. As Karl and Ely pulled up seats, she sat back on her stool setting her new cup of coffee before her.
"Just so you know why we're here. Neither Trudy nor Dad can run the boat and he was talking about us steaming it in to the dock last night. Then he wanted to go right up to the house and move back in. We talked to Trudy, then decided to swim ashore with all of our clothes and some towels in a plastic bucket with a lid so nothing but our skin got wet."
"It was damn cold." Linda added as Keri paused.
"We used plastic bags as swim caps and taped them on, so our hair didn't even get wet." Keri giggled. "And we flashed a light for Trudy so she would know we made it to shore okay. Then we came up here by flashlight. By the way, I hate what you've done to your bridge. Anyway, in about an hour Dad is going to be hollering to high heaven but Trudy said she can calm him down."
Karl had to grin and he noticed that Ely was smiling.
"You two are a pair of cowards." He chuckled. "Scared of George's wrath."
"You bet." Keri laughed. "I've argued with him before and I always lose so discretion was the better part of valour. Besides, he, Trudy, and the kids can live on the boat for a few days. It certainly won't hurt them, it's warm and there's lots of food and water. It's a hell of a lot more comfortable than the boathouse was."
"Amen to that." Ely sighed. "So what are we going to do first?"
"First, we have breakfast." Karl smiled. "I've got a real hankering for scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, with hash browns on the side."
Linda laughed, thinking he was kidding, but both Keri and Ely grinned.
"You and I will rustle up the ingredients. These two can cook." Keri grinned and grabbed Karl's hand, heading for the door to his pantry.
Inside, while he dug into the freezer for frozen bacon and a loaf of bread, she dug several potatoes out of the bin of dry sand where Karl kept them. She laughed as he came hurrying out of the freezer, shivering and shrugging his shoulders. Dropping the potatoes into a small bucket, she reached out a hand and cupped his crotch through his shorts.
"Shrivelled to nothing, aren't you, Baby?" She grinned.
Laughing as he dropped the bacon and bread into a basket, he lifted his hands to her breasts. At the touch of his frigid fingers her nipples instantly hardened even more than they had been, becoming tight cones.
"Oh shit." She giggled and danced away, running out into the kitchen and setting her potatoes by the sink.
Karl followed more slowly and handed Ely the basket before heading for the door and pulling on an old pair of shoes. Keri laughed as she pulled on a pair of runners.
"Look out chickens. Here we come." She giggled, leading the way outside.
Linda stared after them for a second then turned to Ely who was already putting the bacon into the microwave.
"I don't understand." She whispered.
"What don't you understand, Love." Ely smiled, resting her hand on Linda's arm.
"Well, David is Karl's and your son but in some ways Keri acts more like Karl's lover than you do?"
"Well, last year she was. David and I were living in Seattle and she was living here with Karl." Ely smiled. "I hadn't made love with Karl for more than two years until the other night or morning or whatever it was. I was giving Keri a chance to have his baby but it looks like it didn't work out."
"I don't understand." Linda sighed softly. "This seems to me to be confusing as hell. A few days ago Karl told me he had an occasional lover who had his son and that her sister sometimes took pity on him but he thought she was a lesbian or at least she swung both ways. Now I find I'm the odd one out somehow."
"Oh, like hell." Ely laughed softly. "I can hardly wait to get you into bed and I know both Keri and Karl have already had the pleasure, so what's bothering you?"
"But. . . ." Linda's voice trailed of into nothing and her face had such a bewildered look that Ely moved to face her.
Lifting her hands to cup Linda's breasts, she smiled softly as she stared directly into Linda's eyes.
"My father had two women in his bed for years, Keri's mother and mine. When they died, he went without a lover for almost a year and then he began to bed every nurse and every housekeeper that he hired. From talking to those women over the years I know he is a very vital and potent lover. I'm sure he masturbated every night that he was alone. He passed on his rampant desires to both of his daughters and since we were raised to share everything we had between us, it seemed only natural to us to share our love for Karl." She sighed deeply. "It wasn't until we found that Karl was much more comfortable when in bed with only one of us that we began to share on a one to one basis, taking turns for his affection."
"But if Karl and I. . . ." Again Linda's voice faded away.
"Oh sweetheart." Ely laughed softly. "You have to know that since we were children Keri and I often slept in the same bed. I remember playing with each other when we were only eight or nine years old. She's my absolute favourite woman, but . . . you just might change that."
Linda couldn't help but stare into Ely's big hazel eyes. Her hands lifted almost of their own accord and she returned the soft cupping caress her breasts were receiving. Suddenly she brushed Ely's hands aside, crushing their breasts together as she kissed Ely firmly and passionately, her body alive with desire. After a moment Ely pressed her back with both hands on Linda's shoulders and grinned.
"I was right." She managed to say, just as the microwave beeped and made them both jump.
"Shit, I was going to have the potatoes peeled and chopped up by now." Ely wheeled to pull the bacon out and put the frozen loaf of bread in its place.
"I'll do the spuds." Linda laughed, then winked. "And tonight I'm going to do you"
"Wonderful." Ely's eyes sparkled as she put on an apron. "Is that a promise?"
"Absolutely." Linda giggled in assurance.
"Absolutely what?" Keri cried as she came in the door with a bucket of eggs in each hand.
"She's promised to do me." Ely literally crowed.
"Great. She'll do a wonderful job" Keri laughed in delight then she looked elated. "I guess that means I get to play with his highness, doesn't it?"
"I guess so." Linda laughed. "But what the hell are we going to do with all those eggs?"
"Oh." Keri giggled. "I should have left them out on the porch but I was chilly and came inside in a hurry. Karl hasn't been here to collect the eggs for at least a month, so we're going to have to break each one into a saucer and then throw the bad ones away. It's too bad though, I think some of the eggs might have chicks already started."
"Why not candle them." Linda asked. "Then you could run those that are developing into chicks back out and put them under the broody hens."
Karl had come inside as well and he grinned at her.
"Thanks, but I don't think I have this many candles." He grinned at her, holding up two more buckets of eggs. "Besides, there are about thirty or forty little chicks out there now."
"You use a bright light in a darkened room, not real candles." Linda said sweetly. "For nine people, thirty chicks would grow into enough chickens for about ten or twelve good meals, maybe. Around half of those chicks will be female's that you'll want to keep for egg laying, so that's only six good sized meals. You weren't a farm boy, were you?"
"No." Karl answered quietly. "I never thought about how little meat a chicken had on it, or about the number of eggs either for that matter."
"Well, I was a farm girl." Linda smiled. "Keri, would you look after these spuds. Karl, you get a bucket and a light that will fit under it. A plastic pail that I can cut a round hole in would be best I guess, but then I'd need some aluminum foil to line the plastic bucket."
Ely grinned as Linda took charge. In a few minutes Karl had used a hole saw and a drill to cut a round hole in the bottom of an old tin pail and Linda was rapidly sorting the eggs into three other buckets. Karl was watching over her shoulder and she was pointing out unhatched and developing chick embryos, enlarged air sacs that meant those eggs were definitely rotten and what fresh eggs should look like. On her advise, Keri had taken several of the fresher eggs and had opened them individually into a saucer while out on the porch. At least twice her squawks of anguish proved that Linda's desire for safety was justified and also that she had misjudged an egg's freshness. In only minutes however, Keri was back in the kitchen with eight eggs that all smelled and looked good. As Ely was cooking them, Linda emptied the last bucket and sorted the last egg.
"There, all done" She looked up proudly at Karl. "These are the fertile ones with chicks on the way. Do you know how to pick out broody hens to set them under?"
"Nope." He grinned. "Not for sure. How do you do it?"
"Well, you look for a hen who doesn't want to get off the nest and has almost no feathers left on her belly." She smiled. "Then too, they usually have a very distinctive cluck but I doubt if you'd recognise that, since you aren't a farm boy."
"Okay, right after breakfast, I guess we'll take these back out to the hen house and . . ."
"No, we take them back now, before they have a chance to get a chill, unless you have an incubator in your hip pocket." She stood up and found her shoes. "Come on, grab the bucket, at least you can do that." She ordered Karl.
"Bossy wench." He grinned but followed her to the door.
Keri looked at Ely and grinned. "Well, if she has anything to do with it, I'll bet we eat well."
"If she can cook and make love well, Karl may toss you on your ear." Ely teased.
"Oh I don't think so, I've got a secret weapon. I'd think you might worry though."
"Hah, I'm the mother of his son." Ely laughed. "I think I'll always have a place."
"I do too, Sis." Keri's mood changed and she seemed almost teary eyed.
Ely noticed and paused in stirring the eggs.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"Unh uh." Keri sniffed. "I think I should have let someone else open those eggs though. The rotten ones were evil smelling. They upset my tummy."
"Oh, is that all. Are Linda and Karl on the way back yet? Everything is ready."
In only a moment Linda and Karl came in and they all sat at the big kitchen table. For a few moments there was little said as they all dug into their breakfast, then Karl paused and looked up.
"Thank you, everyone, this is great." He said softly.
"You provided it, we just fixed it." Ely chuckled. "What kind of farm were you on, Linda."
"Oh, I was raised on a mixed farm, we had a little bit of everything." She smiled. "This is wonderful bacon, I haven't had any like this since my father used to cure his own."
"That bacon is from one of Karl's wild pigs." Keri chuckled. "They broke out of our attempted pig pen and ran free. He shot this one with a .22 rifle and knocked it out but didn't kill it. He did manage to pen it though, so he had a friend come over from the mainland to show him how to butcher it and then how to smoke the bacon and ham."
"Marvellous. Are there any left alive?" Linda asked.
"Well, there were five of them left. They're all down in the bottom of the gorge and around the bay now. I'm quite sure I've managed to fence them in so they can't get out." Karl answered.
"That's what you said last spring." Keri giggled. "Until the morning we woke up and they were in the garden. That was funny. There you were running around in the nude, chasing the pigs through the mud."
"The funny part was when you came to help and got dragged through the mud while holding onto a pig's hind leg." Karl laughed
"It was almost fun until he started crapping as he ran." She giggled even harder. "That's when I decided to let him go."
Linda had been laughing with everyone else but suddenly she looked quite serious.
"How many were gilts and how many were boars? Or had you castrated the boars?" She asked. At their stunned looks she rephrased the question. "What sex were they?"
"Oh." Karl paused for thought. "I guess there were two males. This is what's left of one. When I think about it, my friend came over and we castrated the one I caught about a month before we butchered him, why?"
"Well." She grinned. "If the pig that dragged Keri was a boar as well and there were three or four sows, then by now there could be twenty or thirty young pigs running around. Of course, your pigs could be what's keeping that dog you were talking about alive."
"You mean he could be eating them?" Ely asked quietly.
"Well, if he were really fast or really mean, he could be." Linda advised. "Of course, it takes one hell of a dog to kill even one pig, let alone one out of a herd. He might catch a little one off on it's own though."
"I think he lives on fish and birds." Karl grinned. "He isn't mean either. He's just lean and rangy and he's David's and my dog."
"Just don't call him now." Keri said quietly. "He bothers me sometimes and right now I'm not sure I could take his smell."
Linda looked at her and then she grinned.
"Let's see." She mused. "Last night you told me at least twice to be gentle because your nipples hurt too much. This morning you got all dewy eyed about the idea of chicks hatching. You almost lost your cookies from the smell of some eggs that I know couldn't have been all that strong. You've been picking at your food like a bird but last night at supper, you pigged out. Then after we got here, you just had to raid Karl's storage for crackers and pickles. Now you don't like the idea of a smally dog being near. Do I smell something suspicious?"
Keri coloured.
"Fink." She said sharply but she grinned as well. "I was going to wait until Karl and I were alone to tell him."
She reached out and took Karl's hand just as Ely squealed.
"Oh." Karl looked at her in surprise. "Do you mean what I think?"
"Well, we could try to candle her like an egg and have her sit on top of that old bucket but I'm not sure it would work." Linda chuckled. "Have you seen a doctor, Keri?"
"Unh huh, I'd just seen him and was on my way home and sort of in shock already, when the earthquake hit." Keri laughed softly. "I've been so worried we wouldn't get back here. I want to be in this house when anything happens."
"What does Trudy say?" Linda asked.
"How did you know I told her?" Keri's head snapped around to stare at her.
"Oh come on." Linda grinned. "She's a hell of a good nurse and I've been thinking about the look in her eyes when she watched you, sort of proud and yet almost protective. I thought at first when we said we were going to swim ashore that she was going to veto it but then she seemed to shrug off her objections after looking at you. I imagine you're at least a couple of months along, right?"
"Okay, you're right, she knows." Keri smiled. "She thinks I'm fine. And you're right, I'm in my third month, almost the fourth. What are you, another Sherlock Holmes?"
"Nope, but I like to keep track of things. When are you due, November or December?"
"November, we think." Keri stared at her. "My God, you think fast."
No one spoke for a few seconds, Karl had a crazy grin on his face, Ely was smiling happily and Linda looked slightly smug. Finally Karl slid to his feet and moved to wrap his arms around Keri tightly, still grinning.
"You didn't use Chinese herbs, did you?" Linda giggled.
"No way! Those things stink like shit." Keri laughed. "I'd given up on trying and was just having fun."
Karl pulled back and looked at her strangely then turned and looked at both Linda and Ely, his face now twisted in a worried frown. Ely broke into laughter and Keri snickered. Linda looked at Ely quizzically and then at Karl and Keri as well, her eyes seeming to search for an answer.
"What's so funny?" She asked after a few seconds.
"Karl is worried." Ely chuckled.
"What about? Trudy is a good nurse and she said she'd even been a midwife. I understand you're quite a good nurse too. Keri will be fine. Women had kids long before there were any doctors or hospitals."
"Keri will be fine." Karl frowned. "This has taken me totally by surprise. I knew how long Ely and I tried to have a kid and what the doctors said about me so I thought I was practically sterile. I think we can handle one pregnant woman at a time but I've been sleeping with both you and Ely. The thing is, we haven't been taking any precautions because I didn't expect this."
"Don't worry, Karl." Linda laughed easily. "It probably takes more than a few brief dalliances in the bedroom even now. I doubt if you've become mister potency overnight."
"God, I hope not." He sighed. "Now don't get me wrong, I love kids but the idea of three pregnant women in one house . . ."
He got up from the table shaking his head. Taking his cup of coffee he walked out onto the front porch, snagging a long shirt from a hook beside the door. Linda stared after him in surprise.
"Did I upset him?" She asked, looking crestfallen.
"No love, it's just time for his after breakfast cigarette and think session." Ely smiled.
"But . . . he never smoked on the boat." Linda protested.
"Yeah, I noticed he wasn't smoking on the boat. He must have run out of tobacco." Ely shook her head. "After all these years, we still haven't managed to cure him of the habit. He still has three or four cigarettes a day."
"Hell, I think that's why he built that front porch." Keri snorted. "When he was planning the house, I told him if either you or I were living with him, he couldn't smoke inside. He does try to keep it away from us or the kids."
The conversation drifted off into other subjects as Karl sat out on the deck and tried to work his head around the problems he was faced with for the day. Luckily he was able to set aside the thoughts about pregnant women then he could deal with the urgent problems of getting George and his family back into their house. After they were back and happy he could worry about what he needed to do here in this house as well as down on the boat.
He had pretty well made up a list of what had to be done when Ely came out of onto the porch carrying another cup of coffee for him.
"Here Papa-man, we decided this had to be an extra cup of coffee morning." She grinned.
"Why thank you." Karl smiled, taking it from her.
"Oh, it is beautiful here." She sighed "I've always thought it was prettier than Dad's place."
Karl had to agree it was pretty and he felt proud of his work but all he did was grin.
"Wait until you see all the changes." He laughed softly after a moment. "How long has it been again, since you've been here?"
"Almost two years." She smiled "I was working steady and I couldn't seem to get away."
"I know how that is."
"Are those sheep over there?" Ely asked pointing some animals that were grazing off to one side of the small meadow.
"No, those are goats." Karl grinned. "And there's the big pen under the tree's with the chicken coop."
"Is that it I see over there? Oh no that's the garden." Ely laughed, answering her own question "The fence is to keep the goats and chickens out, I suppose, and I guess all those short trees are an orchard. You have got a farm. How did you get it all here?"
"Bit by bit on boats and barges," Karl grinned. "You know I've been building it up for years."
"You did it all by yourself?"
"Almost." Karl laughed. " I had some help from one of my nephews for the one summer. He and his girlfriend helped Keri and I build this house."
"What are those other two buildings, one there and the other one there?" She lifted an arm and pointed
"You should recognise the one, it's the old cabin. Remember the kit house your Dad bought for me? The one that I built years ago? I use it mostly as a workshop and storage space now. The other building is a shelter for the goats in bad weather at one end and a storage shed at the other."
"Wow, I can hardly wait to see it all."
"Well, let's get down there then." Karl grinned as he stood and began to move off. "Since this cabin's okay we can start on your Dad's and if we get it cleaned up early enough, when we come back tonight, we'll see if we can get close to one of the nanny goats. I want real milk for my coffee."
"That's what I like about you." Ely laughed. "You're never satisfied. You always want just a bit more."
"Well, I hope so. You have to keep making improvements or you get lazy."
Just then they felt a tremor run through the ground.
"Shit, that felt like a minor quake." Karl said sharply.
"Yeah, like the aftershocks we had after the big quake." Ely agreed with a frown.
"I didn't feel those. I was on the boat. I never even felt the damn tsunami."
"I bet you were in deep water and didn't even notice it when it passed right under you." Ely looked around swiftly. "Let's get Keri and Linda out of the house. We can send them down to the boat."
"Okay, you grab some emergency supplies. You know dried food, matches, blankets, stuff like that. You know the drill. Keri and Linda can get a head start to the boat. If the tide were right, I'd head to sea but we've missed the high by a good hour." As they'd been talking, they'd been trotting toward the house.
They were almost there when Keri and Linda came bursting out, both loaded with just the kinds of emergency supplies Karl had mentioned.
"Great, emergency supplies. Ely, show them where to store those for now. The shed by the goats is so light that if it comes down we can still get the supplies out. After that Keri and Linda can get a head start for the boat. You can too for that matter. I'll catch George on the radio. Maybe he knows more of what's going on. I'll follow in a few minutes."
"Like hell, I'm staying with you." Ely responded only stopping with the others long enough to explain what they needed to do then she followed Karl inside
"I hope your dad has been listening to the emergency radio and I hope he's got the radio or the CB turned on." He commented as he picked up the little CB transceiver.
"Calling 'Skolka', Keeper calling 'Skolka'. Come in George."
" 'Skolka' by. Where have you been? I've been trying to raise you for hours."
"Sorry George, we felt an earthquake, what's up? Did you hear anything on the radio?"
"Turn on a broadcast set and listen, we've got lots more problems."
"What now?" Karl frowned.
"Well, The San Andreas fault let go a while back down in California. All of the state is a bloody mess. It seems like it set off a volcano or two down there as well and Mt. St. Helens has blown again. Mt. Rainier and Mt Baker are venting a bit, that means they're perhaps on the point of erupting as well."
"Oh great, so what do you expect that to mean to us George?"
"Well to start with, we're going to get more ground tremors, maybe earthquakes, maybe small tsunamis. And if the wind blows our way, we might get a covering of ash. Hell man, at the most they're only two or three hundred miles away."
"Okay, what should we do?"
"Well for one thing, we can't stay here on the boat. Just because the tsunami didn't cause problems last time doesn't mean the next one won't cause problems. If another one comes it will probably be from another direction. For instance if it came from the direction of Mt Baker it would come almost straight toward the entrance of the cut. We could have a hell of a wave in here."
Karl looked thoughtful.
"George, I'd rather meet that tsunami well away from shore but since we can't get through the cut except at high tide now, I think that might be impossible. So we're going to have to make the best of the situation here on the island for now. We've sent Keri and Linda ahead, Tell David to fire up the boiler and set the burner at half but not to let it get over forty pounds on the big steam gauge. When Linda gets there, she or Keri can take over and bring the pressure up. We'll take the 'Skolka' in to the dock and unload everyone. Then I want to moor it so it's back in the middle of the bay and facing the cut. Get everyone to pack up what they can for clothes and essentials. Ely and I will be at the dock in half an hour."
"Ten four, over and out." George answered and the radio went silent.
Karl turned to Ely who looked thoughtful.
"I think everyone should come here." She said quietly. "We can put Dad and Trudy in here and the kids in the . . ."
"Hold it." Karl said quietly. "We can work out logistics later but I agree, everyone should come here for now. Right now we need to get back to the boat."
They almost ran all the way back to the bay, only pausing at the shed at the top of the path long enough to recover George's wheelchair. At the dock they left the wheelchair inside the boat shed and met David and Mary Beth who had rowed it back after Keri and Linda had used it to get out to the 'Skolka'. Karl set a record time rowing out to the boat.
Keri met them at the stern of the 'Skolka'.
"Dad's in a hellish fuss but we're ready to move ashore." She announced. "Linda is at the wheel, and. . . ."
"Great." Karl barked. "Ely, I want to tie up to the dock with the bow out so I'll spin her here on the buoy and again at the dock. Can I get you to untie her after I've spun her around the buoy, then be ready to tie us up on the starboard side with bumpers down when we dock?"
"Sure Karl," Ely answered, reaching for one of the bumpers to tie it over the side even as he ran for the wheelhouse.
George was sitting in the after part of the wheelhouse at the radio and he had his briefcase as well as his canes by his side while Linda was at the controls. Both of them greeted Karl warmly but he practically ignored them as he rushed to the wheel. Linda had steam pressure up by the time he reached the wheelhouse and she stepped aside. Karl simply threw the engine into forward and turned the wheel hard over before advancing the throttle. The boat spun around the mooring buoy and in only a moment or two was pointing toward the dock. Karl shifted the engine control into reverse and backed water until he felt them come to a halt.
"Okay Ely?" He called out the window.
"We're free." She called back. "Take her in."
Karl eased the boat forward and then took the time to smile at Linda and George.
"Sorry to be brusque." He apologised. "But I want everyone off the boat with absolute essentials and yet I want another set of essentials left on board if possible. In my case that means don't bother taking anything off. I've got all I need at the cabin. I'm planning on mooring the 'Skolka' back where she was, but I plan on running a pair of slack lines in to the shore to hold her from swinging with the wind. I want her to roughly face the cut at all times. We'll be able to row out to her at any time, so if we forget something, it won't be a worry. All right?"
"The houses are okay then?" George said quietly.
"Well, my cabin is, except for a broken window, a small hole in the edge of the roof and one crushed toilet. Your place will need to be cleaned and fixed up before you can move back there." Karl said quietly, concentrating on the approach to the dock. "You and Trudy can sleep in my den for now."
"How the hell did a toilet get crushed?" George asked quietly.
"A rock fell from the cliff behind the cabin. It must have dropped and maybe bounced. It came right through the bathroom window." Karl laughed. "It's lucky it didn't hit anything essential but it broke off a water supply valve and I think the whole of the heat sump is flooded. I'll explain later. Right now, I want to get us docked properly."