Foreword

   This is the fourth in a series of narratives concerning a research
project done by the author for his Master's Program.  If you read the first
three books, then you need read no further in this foreword.  You already
understand what's going on.  Well, you can skip to the third paragraph of
this foreword, anyway.  That might help you be patient with what is a
strange story.

   If you haven't read the first three installments, then it would probably
make a lot more sense to do that before you read this one.  This narrative
does stand alone, but at the same time it makes reference to things that
happened in past interviews, not to mention the purpose of the project.

   This family was wildly different from other families I interviewed too,
so wildly different that it took a long time for anything to happen.  For
that reason, be forwarned that you'll learn a lot about the folks involved,
before you get tittilated.  It's worth the wait, in my humble opinion, but
I'm biased.  You'll see why if you read the whole thing.

   Bob

   ===========================================.

   The Master's Project - Mildred and Hiram

   Mildred and Hiram responded to my newspaper ad for the project.  Instead
of providing the preliminary kind of information I asked for, they simply
wrote "We wish to participate in the marriage seminar." It was odd
phrasing, but I'd met some odd people during the project.

   I called to set up the initial appointment.

   "Randall residence, this is Mrs.  Randall speaking."

   Now I don't normally put last names of the study participants in a
narrative, but I needed to this time, simply because the way she answered
the phone told me something about her.  I have, of course, changed the name
to preserve confidentiality.

   I knew immediately that I was speaking with an old fashioned woman. 
These days, the average greeting one hears on the phone is "Hello?" A less
frequent, but still normal greeting is simply "Yeah?" or "Yes?"
Occasionally there will be a gruff voice asking "Whadda ya want?", but for
most of us this simply signals a wrong number.  But the old-time formal
phone answering routine, where the name of the family is identified, and
the person speaking identifies him or herself, is fairly rare, at least
when a call is taken on a home phone.

   Not that being old fashioned meant anything in particular to me
concerning their participation in the study.  Marriage is becoming old
fashioned itself these days.  I just assumed that an old fashioned girl
would be married to an old fashioned guy, and that, being old fashioned,
their marriage might be stronger than many others.

   Never make assumptions.  You never know how things will turn out.

   I made the appointment and found out they had been married for twelve
years.  Other than that I was flying blind.  Mrs.  Randall wasn't the type
to chat on the phone.

   When I arrived at the house, I actually stopped and stared at it for a
few minutes.

   There was a picket fence.  It was white.  Inside of and along that fence
were carefully tended flower gardens containing Geraniums, Iris, Pansies,
and four or five other flowering plants I didn't know the names of.  The
grass looked like a putting green.  There were bushes and fruit trees
scattered about.  It was a traditional cape cod house, white, with dark
blue shutters on each and every window.  It had a wide, covered porch, with
a porch swing on it.  An elm in the front yard had a tire swing hanging
from it.  That swing looked wrong somehow, and I studied it.  I finally
realized that the grass under it was undamaged - no bare spot where little
feet had torn and killed the grass as those feet skidded on it.

   It looked like something out of a storybook, or a picture post card. 
That, in itself might not have been so odd, but it was sandwiched between
two cookie cutter houses in a fairly new subdivision of cookie cutter
houses, none of which had fences, or even trees, for that matter.  It had
the appearance of a farm house that had been picked up by Dorothy's tornado
in The Wizard of Oz, and plopped down on top of the wicked witch of the
suburbs' house.

   I went up to the porch.  There was a welcome mat.  There were also
decorations beside the door, above the bell, made of wheat straws woven
into beautiful geometric shapes.  I rang the bell.  A high pitched tinny
bell, just like you'd find in an old farm house, rang until I removed my
finger.

   A woman way too young to be named Mildred came to the door.  She had on
an apron and was wiping her hands with a towel.  Her hairdo looked like the
house ...  like in the pictures you see of women celebrating after VE day
in the papers.  She had on a dress that came to below her knees, and
sensible shoes.

   "Yes?" she asked, opening the inner door, but not the wooden screen
door. I hadn't seen a screen door like that since I was a kid.  It was the
kind that had a long spring nailed to the jamb and to the edge of the door.
When you opened the door the spring dragged across the edge of the door,
making a repetitive twanging sound.

   "I'm Bob," I said.  I like to be informal.

   "Oh yes," she said.  She said it with all the enthusiasm of a person
who's just been told that the kids who are going to leave a bag of burning
dog shit on your porch are here.  "Please come in."

   She was polite, but there was no heart in it.

   Hiram was sitting in an upholstered chair that had wings on the sides,
as old fashioned as the house.  The floors were some dark hardwood and
gleamed.  There were rugs scattered about, but no actual carpeting.  Hiram
was sitting, reading the paper, and I swear on my mother's grave, smoking a
straight stemmed pipe.  He had on slacks and a sport's jacket, over an
open-necked button shirt.  I looked around for the tie.  It had to be here
somewhere.  I didn't see it, but I knew it was there.  He also had a crew
cut.  I had a feeling I was looking at Dennis the Menace's father.

   "Hiram, this is Mister Thompson.  He's here for our appointment about
the marriage seminar."

   "Oh," said Hiram.  He stood up, folded the paper and put it on his
chair, and then stepped forward to offer me his right hand, while his left
removed the pipe from his mouth.  "How do you do?" His grip was neither
firm nor limp.

   "I do pretty well, Mister Randall," I said, as formally as I could. 
"How 'bout yourself?" I don't do very well at being formal.  Too many years
in college, I suspect.

   He took his hand back.  "Shall we begin?"

   No pussyfooting around with this bunch.  That was for sure.

   There were matching chairs, like the one Hiram had been sitting in. 
There was a table between them, with a lamp on it.  The lamp was a huge old
monstrosity, with a maroon shade, and from what I could see it would
completely prevent anyone sitting in one chair from seeing the person in
the other chair.  I sat on a love seat.  There was no couch.  I looked
around.  Other than a coffee table, the rest was just bare wood floor -
lots of it.  The place looked more like an old time parlor than a living
room.  I suddenly realized that one of the things missing was a television.
I looked around some more.  No only was there no TV, I didn't see a radio
either.  Maybe they had those in their bedroom.  Sometimes people watched
TV in bed.

   I examined Mildred and Hiram.  I had to admit they looked a lot alike.
If you've ever seen that painting of the farmer, with the pitchfork, and
his wife, they looked similar to that.  They were both rail thin and had
narrow pinched faces, but at the same time smooth, unlined skin on those
faces.  They both looked gray and insubstantial somehow, almost like they
were only half in this world.  The science fiction buff in me toyed for a
few seconds with the hypothesis that they were actually aliens, posing as
humans, using outdated information.  It is hotly debated in the science
fiction community that any aliens who visit earth will be fifty years out
of date when they get here, because the light waves they can see will be so
old.  But they'll be traveling so fast that the last fifty years of light
will just flash past them.  So they'll think everything is like it was
fifty years before they got here.

   Mildred and Hiram and their house looked a little like that.  They also
looked way too young to have been married twelve.  I decided to find out
about that right away.

   I pulled out my pen and started asking questions.

   "What are your ages?"

   Hiram answered for them both.  "I'm thirty and Mildred is twenty-eight.

   That meant he'd married her when he was eighteen, and she was sixteen.
Interesting, but not completely unusual.  Maybe he'd gotten her pregnant
and had to marry her.

   "Any children?" I asked.

   "No," said Mildred.  It was delivered a little harshly, and it was
impossible for me to tell if the idea of having children disgusted her, or
if she was pissed off because they didn't have any.  At any rate I knew
they hadn't "had" to get married.

   So far the ambiance in the room was pretty cool.  They almost acted like
they didn't want to do this.

   "Are you sure you want to participate in this study?" I asked, giving
them a graceful out if they wanted it.

   "It's necessary," said Hiram.

   Now that was an odd way to put it.

   But I launched into the preliminary spiel about my hypothesis, and told
them I'd be asking a lot of questions, some of them quite personal.

   "Are you going to ask questions about ...  sex?" asked Mildred.  She
sounded slightly ill at the thought.

   "Well, sex is an integral and important part of a marriage." I said.

   "I suppose so." said Mildred.

   I half expected these two to whip out pistols and take their own lives
any second.  I had never seen two people with less enthusiasm about ... 
anything!  Well, that wasn't true.  There was enthusiasm about making their
house look like something out of 1950's television, maybe Mister Wilson's
house.  If they'd have had a kid I swear he would have been named Dennis.
Not that he'd have acted like Dennis the Menace.  Not with parents like
these.  With parents like these he'd probably torture cats in secret.

   For lack of anything better to do I started asking questions.

   "How did you two meet?"

   Mildred laid her hands in her lap.  "We were neighbors," she said.

   She didn't say anything else.  Now I was beginning to wonder if I wanted
to take part in this or not.

   "Could you provide me with a few more details?" I asked.  My pen was
poised over paper, but I wasn't too worried about running out of ink.

   "My mother and father brought me here," she said, as if it were this
very house.  "They told me I would be marrying Hiram.  One year later we
were married."

   I wondered if maybe Mildred worked for the CIA or something.  She was
about as tight lipped a woman as I'd ever met.  I tried another question,
just for fun.

   "What was it that attracted you to Hiram?" I asked.

   "Attracted?" she sounded surprised.  "I told you.  Our parents decided
we would get married and so we did."

   I started listening for music that I knew had to be playing softly in
the background somewhere.  It would be the theme to 'The Outer Limits'. 
Either that or 'The Twilight Zone'.

   "You had an arranged marriage?" I asked, incredulous.  It was 1989.  It
was the twentieth century.  People didn't HAVE arranged marriages in
America any more.

   "There's nothing wrong with arranged marriages," said Hiram, sounding
superior.  "It's a time-honored tradition in which the more mature judgment
of adults establishes things, rather than leaving them to the whims of
hormones."

   They weren't in a marriage.  They were in a ...  "thing".

   "Well, you two are a first for me, that's for sure," I said, trying to
be affable.  I didn't want to say what first came to mind, which would have
been something along the lines of "You two are as crazy as a couple of
loons."

   At the same time, the psychologist in me was just about as fascinated as
the sociologist in me.  Everybody has HEARD of arranged marriages, but
nobody I know of has actually gotten to STUDY one.  This might not fit into
my master's thesis, but then again, who knew.  I was suddenly much more
interested.  Now the trick was to get them to talk.

   I turned on the bullshit.

   "I have to say this is extraordinary luck for me," I smiled widely. 
"Traditional arranged marriages are quite rare these days, but I have
always thought that they fell out of favor at precisely the wrong time in
our history.  The divorce rate is to high these days it's obvious that
marriage is on the rocks - no pun intended." I smiled at my cute little
joke.  "I'm VERY pleased to be able to interview two people in a good
arranged marriage."

   Mildred looked at me sharply.  Hiram moved around in his chair so much
that I thought he might actually be alive.

   Mildred's voice was frosty.  "It is crude to make light of our
situation," she said.

   I wiped the smile off my face.  "I'm sorry.  Did I say something
insensitive?"

   "I don't see how you can hope to perform decent marital counseling when
you mock the participants," she said stiffly.

   "Marital counseling," I repeated.

   "You ARE here to assist us in salvaging our marriage," said Mildred, the
beginnings of worry in her voice.  "Isn't this part of a marriage seminar?"

   I really should have spent a little more on that newspaper ad.

   It would have been easy to say there had been some misunderstanding and
just get up and leave.  But my professional curiosity was aroused, and I
wanted to try to find out what made these two people tick ...  assuming
anything ticked inside their sedate bodies.  I wanted to stay.  To that end
I tried a little more bullshit.  This time I thought about it before I used
it.

   "My research is intended to help people create successful, long term
marriages.  It is not counseling in the classic sense.  What I try to do is
help people find the common bonds within a marriage, and strengthen them.
If all works well, that does result in a happier and more fruitful bond."

   It sounded pretty good to me, even though it was an awful stretch of the
truth.  OK, it was outright lies.  But it sounded good, and if that
actually happened I'd be a pretty happy guy.  I mean who would feel bad if
they helped somebody have a better marriage?

   Mildred relaxed a little, and the concern faded from her face.

   "We've been having ...  difficulties.  I don't think we're ...  happy."

   "I never said I wasn't happy," said Hiram, fiddling with his pipe.

   "You didn't have to," said Mildred.  It was the most assertive thing I'd
heard her say since I met them.  Still, both comments had been made in that
flat, listless voice that suggests that it's just words, and that they
don't really amount to a hill of beans.

   I wanted to stay, but I didn't think I could survive being in this
atmosphere a lot longer if things didn't perk up a little.  If they didn't
blow their own brains out, I might be tempted to blow mine out.

   "How long have you been having these difficulties," I asked.

   Mildred looked straight at me.  "Since we got married." She never even
glanced at Hiram.  "I don't think we got off on the right foot."

   I sat there stunned.  She'd stayed in a marriage for twelve years that
she had hated since the very beginning?  And NOW she wanted to do something
about it?

   "How often have you talked about it together?" I asked.

   "We only decided recently that something must be wrong," said Hiram.

   Well, it was pretty clear to ME that something was wrong, and I'd only
known them for half an hour.

   "Look," I said, not nearly as patiently as I would have liked to,
"Here's the deal.  If you two want to make things better, you have to talk,
and you have to talk about how you feel.  To do that you have to unlock the
emotion that's bottled up inside you.  I'll be happy to help you if I can,
but mostly what any marriage counselor does is help you help yourselves. 
If you're not willing to help yourselves ...  to take some risks ...  then
we're really just wasting time."

   Mildred was stiff again.  "What do you want us to do?" she asked.

   "Let me ask my questions.  I want you to answer them to the best of your
ability, and to answer them as completely as you can.  That will get us
started communicating, and then we can see where it goes from there."

   "You said there would be questions about sex," said Mildred.

   "Yes," I responded.

   "I'm uncomfortable talking about sex," she said.

   "That's one of those risks I was talking about," I came back.  "Part of
marriage is for the making of love ...  the propagating of the species. 
That doesn't mean that couples who don't have children are failures.  But
part of being in love is having sex, and part of having sex should be being
in love."

   I finally got them to agree to answer the questions, but the first ones
I asked weren't about their marriage.  They were about their childhoods,
and their parents, and how they were brought up.  Those they had no problem
with, and the answers made lights come on and sirens go off all over the
place, at least in my mind.

   It turned out that Hiram was raised in this house.  It was a farm house
back then, on the outskirts of a growing city.  His parents and Mildred's
parents were neighbors, each with their own farm.  They were also part of a
religious sect that was traditional, conservative, and which wasn't
impressed with modern farm technology.  What sect that was doesn't really
matter.  Religion is a very personal thing, and it's very difficult to
apply relegious tenets to broad groups of people.  I know we try to do
that, but it rarely works.  Tradition, on the other hand, MUST be viewed in
respect with how it affects broad groups of people, because broad groups of
people bow to tradition in the same way.  Religion is something you
believe. Tradition is something you do.

   And it was tradition that caused Hiram and Mildred to end up where they
now were.

   Their families grouped together, according to tradition, to work the
land.  At least the men did.  Their parents were elderly, and lived a
Spartan life, both due to tradition, and their refusal to boost yields by
using modern technology.  They were content to live off the bounty of the
land, and then leave the farms to their issue.  Back then you could
actually do that.

   They didn't stop with eschewing agricultural technology.  They were
intent in their resolve to forgo all manner of modern things that they
didn't think were good for their families.  Radio and television were at
the top of the "we don't need" list.  The odd newspaper showed up in the
house, occasionally, but usually only the Sunday edition.  The children
were home schooled, and, for all intents and purposes, had no real
interaction with the outside world.  Progress was defined as getting the
back forty plowed before the rain made it impossible.  When your children
came of marriageable age, you found them suitable mates with the same
traditional values as your own.  Since, in this case, the only suitable
mate for Mildred was Hiram, that match was agreed upon by both sets of
parents.  It just made sense to them.

   In short, while Mildred and Hiram grew up in the seventies, their life
style and education was more in line with that of the turn of the century.
When they got married, they moved in with Hiram's parents, per tradition.
Mildred brought her clothes and her bed with her, and simply moved into
Hiram's room with him.

   I listened in wonder.  I visualized their bedroom, with separate beds,
just like Dick Van Dyke and his wife on TV.  The more they talked, the more
astonished I was.

   Mildred's single attempt to get information from her mother about what
she was supposed to do on her wedding night was met with: "We don't talk
about those things.  You'll know what to do."

   In fact, she didn't know what to do ...  and neither did Hiram.  They
fumbled through destroying Mildred's hymen, based on what they had seen
farm animals do, but that was about it.

   Taking their cues from their parents, Mildred submitted sexually to her
husband on a traditional schedule.  On the first night of the full moon,
their wedding night, they fulfilled their 'marital duty'.  The next time
they coupled was on the first night of the new moon AFTER the next full
moon, and then the full moon after the next new moon and on like that.  In
other words they had sex every forty-two days or so.  Unless she had "the
curse", as Mildred called it, in which case they simply skipped that turn.

   [Author's note: I thought this was exceedingly odd when I first heard
it, but didn't ask any questions.  Once they started talking I didn't want
to give them any excuse to stop.  I later researched this 'schedule by the
moon' thing, and found that, in an obscure sect during the middle ages,
that schedule was believed to bring children at a manageable rate.  Modern
science would suggest that, since a woman's 28 day fertility cycle mimics
the cycle of the moon, exposing a woman's womb to sperm every 42 days would
only threaten pregnancy approximately five times per year.  They would get
to 'enjoy' lovemaking a whopping nine times per year, but only five of them
would be during a relatively fertile period.]

   Five years after they were married, both sets of their parents died when
a grain bin they were cleaning out collapsed.  There was a shared wall with
another grain bin next door, and their parents were suffocated by grain
that buried them.  The farms were suddenly property of Hiram and Mildred.

   Neither was prepared to work the farms, and couldn't have managed, even
had they tried.  Not only that, the only adult role models they had were
now gone, and they had to make up their own rules along the way from that
point on.  With almost no outside influence from the media, this tiny
anachronistic microcosm, in the middle of the most advanced country in the
world, puttered on.

   Advanced society caught up with them as the city expanded and,
fortunately for them, their land was now valued so highly that, once
everything but the house was sold, they were financially set for life.

   All that meant was that they didn't have to find jobs, and had no real
reason to go out and mix with the rest of society.  Other than infrequent
trips to the grocery store, for Mildred, and the hardware store, for Hiram,
they pretty much sat at home and made it look beautiful.

   But they weren't happy.  In fact, one could argue that they didn't know
HOW to be happy.  In fact ...  one could even argue that they didn't know
the meaning of happiness.

   That brought us to the present.

   Except they left out one teeny little thing.  That thing came through
the door about the same time as Hiram was explaining how they were
financially independent.

   That thing was a woman.

   She opened the door quietly, and walked in as though she was trying not
to wake anybody up.  I saw a resemblance between her and Mildred
immediately.  She had the same drawn look, with the flesh on her face
seeming strained and thin somehow.  She had the same hairdo as Mildred. 
She wore a dress that could have been the one made right after Mildred's
was made.

   "Oh!" she squeaked as she saw us sitting in the living room.

   "Gertrude!" said Mildred sternly.  "Where have you been?  You know we
don't approve of you going off alone."

   "I'm sorry," said the woman meekly.  "I went for a walk."

   I looked at my watch.  I had been there three hours.  Whoever this
Gertrude person was, she took long walks.

   "We'll discuss this later," said Mildred firmly.  "Right now we're
having a private conversation with mister ...  with this man.  Go to your
room please."

   I didn't know if she'd forgotten my last name, or simply didn't want the
other woman to know it.

   Gertrude ducked her head and trudged up the stairs to the upper floor. I
heard boards creak as she turned and went to my right.

   "Gertrude is my younger sister," said Mildred.  "She lives with us."

   I was shocked.  At no time during the whole story of their history, had
any sister been mentioned.  True, the term "children" had been used several
times, but no names other than Mildred's and Hiram's had been spoken.

   Gertrude, as it turned out, had no one to marry.  What that meant was
that the parents who had arranged Mildred and Hiram's marriage, hadn't been
able to identify an acceptable mate for Gertrude before their untimely
demise.  So Hiram and Mildred, being the matriarch and patriarch of the
family now, took it upon themselves to ...  take care of her.

   There were THREE victims in this sad little anachronistic microcosm.

   I knew that what this couple needed was an ...  extreme makeover. 
Having enough money to live on without going out of the house would make a
lot of people happy.  But then most people would spend it on, well, stuff.
Mildred and Gertrude went food shopping, and to the fabric store, but that
was about all.  They sewed all their own clothing, and Hiram's too.  That
was, after all, what they'd been taught to do.  Hiram, never having built
up much self confidence, and not having any farming to do, just re-read old
copies of Reader's Digest, Life and National Geographic magazines that had
piled up over the years in a closet.  Which parent had been so extreme as
to obtain those was unknown.  And they kept the house up, along with a huge
garden out back.  Early to bed and early to rise, they just existed for
most of a decade.  They weren't so much living their lives, as existing on
autopilot.

   And having sex every forty-two days, of course.  At least Mildred and
Hiram were.  Gertrude, obvioulsy, was not.

   What fun.

   How anybody could survive a marriage like that for twelve years was
worth its own research project.  But the fact was that, despite their
hermit-like lifestyle, and the traditions that had kept them from improving
their lives, they were both intelligent enough to eventually figure out
that they weren't happy, and had made the first step toward trying to work
on that.  They had joined a 'marriage seminar'.  That in itself was a
momentous move for these two.

   Where to start?  I had no idea.  I knew they needed to have some fun,
but I didn't have the faintest clue as to what might BE fun for either of
them.

   After "What do you like to do together?" fell flat on its face, and
"What do you think is his sexiest feature?" got a horrified grimace from
Mildred, I forged off into areas that had nothing to do with marriage.

   "What's the last movie you saw together?" I asked.

   "We don't go to movies," said Hiram.

   "OK, what television programs do you like?"

   "We don't own a television."

   "When's the last time you ate out?  What restaurant is your favorite?" I
asked, reaching for straws.

   "Mildred prepares all our meals," said Hiram.  "Gertrude helps, but she
has strange ideas."

   [Author's note: I wouldn't find out until later, but in the last few
years, being bored out of her mind, Gertrude often 'escaped' from the house
by going for a walk.  On one of them somebody must have thought she was
homeless or something, because they gave her money.  She used it at a
McDonalds, because it smelled so wonderful.  She wasn't stupid either, and
knew that if she asked for money, her sister would want to know exactly
what it was going to be spent on, so she just hung around, learning how to
panhandle without saying a word to anybody.  She almost always spent what
she got on food, and that's when she brought her "strange ideas" back to
the kitchen.  She also tried to sew dresses that were more like the ones
she saw on those exciting looking women at the mall.  It was after that
that it became a rule that she not go out of the house unescorted.]

   I had to think about this for a while.  To give myself time to do that,
and to prepare them for changing things, I gave them a little speech.

   "OK, here's what I think.  I think you two have tried your best to live
by traditions and roles that your parents taught you and which, if you were
still operating a farm, might have served you better.  But the fact is that
you are not living the same kind of life as your parents did, and that
means that trying to live that way has become stressful.  A marriage is
intended to be based on love, and you two have never had the opportunity to
learn how to love each other.  To start on that path, the first thing to do
is learn to like each other ...  to enjoy doing things together ...  to
share the same passions.  Normally you would do that while you dated.  You
didn't get that chance.  So, now that you're married, I think the thing
that will produce the best results is to expand your horizons a little, and
find some ways to have fun and learn things together that will bring some
passion into your marriage.  We can also explore some recreational ideas
... things to do just for fun ...  that you can share.  Having fun and
passion in a marriage makes it a lot easier to get through the rough spots
that all marriages have."

   They sat there, staring at me.  I had the feeling I had used words that
weren't in their vocabulary.  Words like 'love', 'like each other' and
'passion'.

   I made another appointment to meet with them, and told them I'd bring
along some experiments that they might find useful.

   "How much do we owe you?" asked Hiram, getting out a check book.

   Now I had an ethical dilemma.  I wasn't charging anything to do these
interviews.  But they thought this was 'therapy', and people charged for
those kinds of services.  By the same token, what I was thinking of doing
was was going to cost some money, and I didn't have a lot of that.  So, I
am ashamed to say, I quoted them an hourly fee, and then said the fee could
be re-negotiated in the future, should they feel inclined to do that.  I
left with a check in my pocket.  The last thing I said to them was that,
since Gertrude lived with them, and was part of their lives, perhaps she
could be included in the experiments.

   "She's just a girl!" said a mildly outraged twenty-eight year old woman
about her twenty-six year old maiden sister.

   "We won't do anything too radical," I promised.  "We're just going to
explore some recreational ideas.  And don't go to any effort in the
kitchen, please.  I'll bring the food."

   ==================================================

   What I did was pack my TV and VCR into my car, stop at the video store,
and then at Pizza Hut on my way to our second appointment.  Since they were
paying, I shot the works, getting three different kinds of pizza and two
movies.  Choosing the movies was the hardest part.  I instinctively knew
that anything with sex or violence or bad language in it wouldn't fly. 
That left children's movies.  There's not much romance in children's
movies, and some of them were even too goofy for this pair.

   Walt Disney saved the day.  Armed with 'Snow White' and 'The Absent
Minded Professor', I sallied forth to rock Hiram and Mildred's world.

   And it did too.  They were like little kids.  They had never had pizza -
didn't even know what it was at first.  But the explosion of taste and
spices was like some magic thing that just blew them away.  Other than salt
and pepper, Mildred didn't cook with any spices.  They ate until they were
stuffed.

   I ran Snow White first, explaining that it was a classic story for all
ages.  Initially only Gertrude reacted, and she reacted instinctively to
the old hag.

   "Don't take it!" she squealed, when the hag offered Snow White the big
juicy red apple.

   Mildred only hushed her.  She was leaning forward in her chair, tense,
and she never took her eyes off the screen.

   It was a resounding success.

   "Are all movies like this?" asked Mildred, her mouth relaxed, even if it
wasn't smiling yet.

   "Not at all.  They're all quite different.  Some you'd like, and others
you probably wouldn't want to see.

   I turned to Hiram.  "So, what did you think of Snow White?" I asked.

   "What do you mean?" he asked back.

   "Did you think she was beautiful?"

   He looked at me with an arched eyebrow.  "She's just a drawing, not a
real woman," he said.

   I left it at that.

   "I wish somebody would come along and kiss me like that," sighed
Gertrude.

   "Gertie!" scolded her sister.

   "Well why not?" whined the young woman.  "Hiram kisses you like that
doesn't he?"

   "Of course not!" said Mildred, fanning her face for some reasons.

   "I see people kissing all the time," said Gertie.  "It looks like
they're having fun."

   Before they could get into an argument about whether or not Gertie had
any business being where she could see those hedonists flaunting their
immoral behavior, I told them to get ready for a different kind of movie. I
explained that it was a fantasy comedy, just in case.  For all I knew they
would have thought it was a scientific documentary.

   The story of Flubber was an even bigger hit, I think primarily because
it had real people in it.  Hiram could connect with Fred MacMurray because
Fred was so reserved and removed from the goings on around him.  Gertie was
smitten by the High Schoolers, with their "fancy dresses" and smiles and
all the insane fun they were having.  And Mildred identified with the Betsy
Carlisle character because she got to choose which man to marry.  There was
actually laughter from all three of them during the movie, which I didn't
watch because I was so busy watching these people experience something new
and exciting and different.

   =====================================================

   Thus began my seduction of the Randall family.  I didn't intend to
seduce them into anything other than joining the twentieth century and
putting a little joy in their lives.  But what they embraced in the end was
much ...  MUCH more.

   CHAPTER TWO

   I went back every week for two months.  I helped Hiram buy a television
and VCR, but we didn't hook it up to an antenna.  I didn't want routine
television fare shocking them.  Then, on a night when I didn't have any
other interviews, I'd take a couple of movies over and the four of us would
watch them.

   I chose carefully.

   There was 'Gone With The Wind', to introduce them to dramatic acting,
with a little G rated sex thrown in, and even some bad words.  I fed them
some old John Wayne movies to acclimate them to violence that was at least
rational in terms of why it was done.  I got a tape of old "I Love Lucy"
programs from a friend, to introduce them to innuendo and interplay between
a husband and wife.  And I got movies that had kissing in them - the old
fashioned kind where there was a grip and a kiss, but no obvious tongue
involved.

   We now chatted about the movies afterward, and there was animation in
their faces as they talked about this or that aspect of this or that scene.
Some of them they thought were shameless, but they watched them anyway. 
They loved the comedies.

   Then I got them 'Summer Of '41' and, for the first time, they saw a love
scene.  Not just a love scene, but a love scene between a boy and a woman
about the age of the women watching it.  At least close to their mental
age.

   It was dead quiet when I turned off the box.  I just waited.

   "Well I never ..." said Mildred.  "That was just shameless!  They had
SEX outside of marriage!"

   Gertie sighed.  "I thought it was beautiful," she said.  "but it was sad
too."

   Hiram just sat, wide-eyed.  He was breathing deeply.

   "Let me ask you a question," I hazarded.  "During the love scene, how
did it make you feel?"

   "It was just awful!" said Mildred.

   That was tradition talking.  I was sure of it.  "What I mean is how did
it make your body feel?"

   Mildred looked so surprised that she didn't say anything at first.  "I
don't know," she said.  "I don't remember."

   Gertie took a breath, but then slumped.  She decided not to say
anything.

   "Upset," said Hiram suddenly.  "It made me upset."

   "What do you mean?" I asked.

   "My stomach hurt," he said.  "I shouldn't have seen that.  It made me
..." He looked away and wouldn't finish.

   "Did you get an erection?" I asked.

   Well you'd have thought I asked if he preferred his babies boiled or
fried before he ate them.  Once they vented their dismay at such frank talk
I pushed even further.

   "Look, a marriage is supposed to be a time when two people who love each
other can experience things that are delightful and loving and that feel
really good.  I know they weren't married in the movie, but they felt
strong emotions, and they explored those emotions, and that led them to
make love.  They didn't 'have sex' ...  they made love.  Do you understand
what I'm talking about?  There is a BIG difference between having sex and
making love."

   "We don't do that!" said Mildred in a hushed voice.  "Not like THAT!"

   "That's my whole point.  Let me play that part again.  I want you to pay
close attention to how it makes you feel inside.  Your body will be telling
you things.  I want you to listen."

   Well, first there was the objection that Gertrude didn't need to see it
again.  Gertie, of course, was adamant that she WAS going to see it again.
I think Mildred was so nervous about seeing those visuals again that it
affected her, and Hiram was just as bad, if not worse.  He had never
answered the question about the erection.  He hadn't had to.  They argued
and I told them that replaying the scene was part of the counseling.  They
let themselves be convinced that it was for a good cause.

   I rewound the tape and played the love scene again, from the initial
attraction, to the moaning end.

   When it was over I hit the pause button, leaving the naked couple on the
screen, kissing.

   Hiram's hands were covering his crotch.  Mildred was a little glassy
eyed.  Gertrude was wiggling.

   "There is no reason in the world why you and Hiram cannot experience
that kind of emotion and love," I said quietly.

   "What about me?" came a whisper in the darkened room that I knew was
from Gertie.

   "You too, some day," I said.

   Not wanting to get into another discussion, I got up and told them I had
to leave.  I left the tape there.

   =======================================

   I dropped by two days later, to pick up the tape and return it to the
video store.  A glance showed it was at the end.  Somebody had watched it
again, or let it run.  I knew we were at a make-or-break point.

   "Do you want more counseling?" I asked.  Both Hiram and Mildred were
standing, not quite side by side, but closer than I'd ever seen them
standing before.  Gertrude had greeted me and then retreated to a chair
with a book, like she wasn't interested.  But when I asked the question,
the book sagged in her hands and she turned her head fractionally towards
us.

   They looked at each other, two sad, lonely people who had lived together
a dozen years, doing what they thought they were supposed to do, and now
having realized that there was so much more in the world that could have
occupied their time, and made life much more ineresting.

   "Yes," said Mildred.  She looked at Hiram.  He nodded and almost cracked
a smile.

   "There are other movies ..." I started.  "I'll call them marital aids.
They are very very explicit, but they show how a husband and wife can ...
they're intended to help in the bedroom ...  with private things." I had to
go easy here.  I couldn't just tell them I wanted to screen porn in their
little hideaway.

   "They're about ...  sex?" asked Mildred in a hushed voice.'

   I nodded.  "They're just instructional ...  to show you how to do things
that most married couples like to do together."

   "Are they as bad as that one?" Mildred pointed at 'Summer Of '41'.

   "Much MUCH worse," I admitted.  "unless you remember that sex isn't a
bad thing."

   There came a glittery look in Mildred's eyes.  Only that gave her away.
Her face remained calm.

   "And this is just for counseling," she said.

   I nodded.

   "What about Gertrude?" she asked.

   I saw Gertie tense up in her chair.

   "There is no reason Gertrude cannot be introduced to some nice young
men. She is of marriageable age, and could go on to have a life as good as
yours and Hiram's," I said reasonably.

   "Better than ours," whispered Mildred.

   I nodded again.  "Do you wish you had known more about what would happen
on your wedding night than you did?" I asked.

   She looked shocked, but then nodded.  "Bring these films," she said
suddenly.

   "Are you sure dear?" asked Hiram.  It was the first time I'd ever heard
him use a term of endearment toward his wife.

   "May we speak with you privately?" asked Mildred.

   We retreated to the kitchen, where she quietly informed me that they had
"tried" what was in the movie.  They had tried kissing, and touching, and
being in bed together without their night clothes on.  I hadn't been aware
that they had never been naked together.  It made sense, when I thought
about it.  Living with your parents you don't chase each other around
naked. That they had figured out how to have intercourse at all was
something I thought was pretty impressive.

   "It was very nice," said Mildred.  "We wanted you to know ...  and to
thank you."

   Hiram shook my hand as I left.  It was the first time since we met that
he'd done so, and his grip was now firm.

   ======================================

   I chickened out in one sense.  I only took soft core porn the next time
I went.  Something along the lines of what they show on Cinemax these days.
I was pretty sure that they'd end up seeing something triple X one of these
days, but I didn't want to scare them either.  Besides, it's pretty hard to
find hard core porn that takes place between a husband and wife, and it had
to pass as a "marriage enhancement" tape.  They were behind the times, but
they weren't stupid.

   While they weren't stupid, they were also anticipating something so far
outside their realm of experience that I think it already had them off
balance.  If I had rocked their world with Walt Disney, the aftershocks had
kept the ground moving under their feet.  The primary thing this did was to
take up so much of their attention that, when the tape started, and Gertie
slipped in and sat down on the love seat beside me, neither Hiram nor
Mildred seemed to notice.

   There wasn't any flesh on the screen yet, but their eyes were already
glued to what was happening.  I had picked this film carefully, and I was
taking a big risk.  It was called 'Sunset Obsession', but I fast forwarded
through that.  The plot line was pretty standard for a film like this. 
Husband and wife, both gloriously sexy, of course, lived in an upscale
house in the country.  The wife's younger sister lived with them, and was
blind.  The first half was about the wife and husband, and included plenty
of sex, some of it role playing.  The blind girl sat around looking
soulful, feeling the sun on her skin and smelling flowers and things like
that.

   I picked this film for several reasons.  I wanted them to see role
playing.  There was one scene where husband and wife ran out of the surf
and coupled in the soft grass within sight of the blind girl.  The wife
objected, but hubby insisted that his sister-in-law was blind anyway and
pressed on.  Of course the blind girl heard what was going on and she
masturbated to the sounds.  That was something I wanted Gertie to see.  The
risky part was because the second half was about how the husband was led to
seduce his sister-in-law, who had no real options with men, and they ended
up as a threesome.  That was pushing things, but in my own opinion, this
family would probably never assimilate completely into society.  If Gertie
was stuck with Hiram and Mildred, then at least she ought to be able to
have some pleasure.  It wasn't that I was trying to get the three of them
to play nice together.  I didn't think that would actually happen.  But at
least she could be exposed to the idea that being alone in life didn't mean
you were denied orgasms.

   Of course I miscalculated.  I was young.  I didn't understand people
nearly as well as I thought I did.

   What I miscalculated on was that none of them had ever been allowed to
go through the hurricane of passion that is adolescence.  They had all gone
from being young people with the chores of adults ...  to being adults. 
There was no in-between time to lie secretly with a member of the opposite
sex and try kissing, and groping and feel all the feelings that go along
with all those things.  Mildred and Hiram had been able to do those things
since then, but they were under the impression that it shouldn't be
enjoyed.

   I thought Mildred would just pass out on the spot when the hubby in the
film stripped his wife and sucked at her nipples for a while before kissing
his way over her abdomen to the obvious destination.  Even though they
didn't show what he was doing down there, it was obvious his face WAS ...
down there.  It was also obvious that his wife was loving it.  When the
roles were reversed, and it was her head covering his groin, he made it
clear that what she was doing met with his intense approval too.

   For those of us who are familiar with triple X porn, soft core doesn't
seem like much.  But to a couple who had never thought about the fact that
breasts can be used for much more than just feeding babies, not to mention
the very concept of cunnilingus and fellatio ...  well to them, soft core
porn is like looking at an alien race from outer space.

   To put it bluntly, the term "masturbation" was no longer a word that
would cause much embarrassment after they had seen this movie.

   The other thing that happened was that Gertie reached out and clamped
her hand over mine with more force than I thought she had in her.  My hand
had been just lying on the love seat between us.  We weren't touching as we
sat there, but her hand found mine and clutched at it like it was a life
preserver and she was overboard.  I dragged my attention away from Mildred,
who was gasping for air, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, and
realized that Gertie was gasping just as strongly, almost shaking as she
sat.

   Neither woman took her eyes from the screen.

   I darted a quick glance at Hiram.  His hand was squeezing the front of
his pants, but I don't think he was aware of it.

   I stopped the movie before the husband had sex with his blind
sister-in-law.  Wife and husband had already talked about how sad it was
that the blind girl had no male attention in her life, and it was already
clear, at least to me, where things were headed.  Of course I had already
seen the movie ...  several times, I admit ...  but the innuendo was there.

   "The last half of the movie might be a little uncomfortable for you," I
announced when I stopped it.

   Hiram sat.  It was his turn to be glassy-eyed.

   Mildred slumped and then shuddered.

   "I can't believe that," she said.  I thought she was about to start a
tirade about the immorality of what she'd just witnessed.  But her second
comment made me feel a little better.  "I had no idea things could be ...
like that." Then she worried me again when she turned to her husband and
barked "Hiram!  Did you know about these things?"

   Hiram's eyes cleared.  Even I could hear the threat in her voice.

   "Of course not!" he said heatedly.  "How could I possibly know that
people behave like that?!"

   "Do people really do those things?" asked Gertie.

   "What are YOU doing here?" came Mildred's horrified voice.

   I held up the hand that wasn't being strangled by Gertie's hand.  "Calm
down everybody.  Gertie's an adult and, like I said, she may get married
some day.  And yes, people really do behave in this way ..."

   I was about to say "when they're married" but I bit that off.  I don't
know why I did that, but Mildred, with that intuition that women have that
astonishes men, somehow picked up on it.

   "They only do these things when they're married though," she said.

   I took another risk.  I hadn't been unceremoniously thrown out the front
door yet, so maybe I was getting bold.

   "People who love each other do these things.  Marriage is one expression
of love and commitment.  But other people do them just for the pleasure of
it."

   "That's scandalous!" said Mildred, but the heat that would have been in
her voice a couple of months ago wasn't there now.

   "It's scandalous if you decide it is," I said calmly.  "You have freedom
of choice, and can decide whether or not you want to behave that way.  But
nature made men and women different for a reason.  What you just saw is one
of those reasons.  Making love is what being male and female are all about.
We were made to interact sexually, and what you just saw is how many people
do that."

   "Gertrude!  You're touching him!" Mildred had just seen her sister's
death grip on my hand.

   Gertie looked down and snatched her hand away from mine, her eyes wide.
Then a change came over her face that almost made it ripple, like a special
effect in a movie.  Her lips tightened and her eyes narrowed and she
grabbed my hand again.

   "I AM an adult," she said.  "And I was just as shocked by ...  that ...
as you were Millie.  It made me feel better to touch another human being,
so I DID.  And I can do it AGAIN if I WANT TO!"

   "Are you trying to seduce my sister?" Mildred's voice rose an octave and
a half during this simple sentence.

   I held up my free hand again.  "Of course not," I said firmly.  "While
your sister is a lovely woman, and while a lot of men would be happy to try
seducing her, that's not what I'm here for." I had to get back in control,
so I tried to turn her question back on her.  "Tell me the truth, Mildred.
While you were watching that, didn't you wonder, just for a few seconds at
least, what it might feel like if Hiram was doing those things to you?"

   I saw movement from Hiram's position, but didn't look.  I could tell in
my peripheral vision that his hand was in his lap again.  I kept my eyes on
Mildred's face, which had gone pale.  She didn't answer.

   "Mildred," I said patiently.  "You are husband and wife.  It's all right
for you to want to enjoy each other's touch ...  like they did in the
film."

   "I have a question about that," said Mildred tentatively.

   "Go ahead," I urged.

   "Well, the first time ...  the first time they ...  you know ...  they
started facing each other."

   She stopped.  I couldn't tell if she was done or not.  I hadn't heard a
question yet.  Finally I said "Yes?"

   "Then they changed to the way Hiram and I do that," she said.

   I didn't understand at first.  I thought back.  The couple in the movie
had changed positions the requisite four or five times.  The people who
make those movies seem to think no one can have an orgasm in just one
position.

   Then it struck me.  Hiram and Mildred probably only had sex in one
position.  I had assumed it was the missionary position, but they had said
they copied farm animals on their wedding night.  I suddenly realized that
Hiram, every forty-two days or so, had been taking his wife from behind. 
It was entirely possible that he had never felt her breasts against his
chest!

   I forced down the surge of emotion - sadness - that threatened to choke
me.

   "Some people find that different positions helps them enjoy lovemaking
more," I said.  "Each position feels a little different and stimulates
different parts of the body.  The movie was encouraging you to try these
different positions."

   "Oh," she said.  "I see."

   "You're married," I said.  "That means you're allowed to do anything
with each other that you want to.  There are no rules.  If both of you want
to do something, it's fine.  Haven't you ever wanted to try something
different and new?"

   I think that, when it came to Mildred, she had to be given permission to
do something before she would even think about doing it.  She had been
given permission, in other movies, to kiss and cuddle.  She had tried those
things, and had (I found out later) enjoyed them so much that it scared
her. Like I said, she skipped adolescence and the discovery and passion
that adolescence is there to expose us to.  So the excitement and fear and
joy and terror and exquisite ecstasy that comes with adolescent exploration
was something new to her, even though she had been an adult for years. 
Now, she had been given permission to ratchet things up ten or twenty
notches, and that scared her too.  The range of emotions that flickered
across her pale face while I waited for her to say something was almost
painful to watch.  But though she was an inexperienced woman, she was also
a strong woman.  She had to be strong to have survived twelve years of a
lifeless marriage.

   Instead of answering my question she turned to Hiram.  She had to lean
forward to see him because of the lamp.  Her hand went out and moved it
back, against the wall.  She still had to lean forward to see him.

   "Would you actually do any of that ...  with me?" she asked him.

   Now it was Hiram who went pale.  He was so shocked that he didn't even
move his clutching hand away from the bulge it was covering.

   "Uh ..." He cleared his throat.  He looked at me and then back at his
wife.

   "Just tell her what you feel," I suggested.

   He looked at me again, and then down at his lap, and then back at
Mildred, and then back to me.

   "People really do ...  all that?" he asked.

   "All the time," I said.

   He looked back at Mildred.  "If I wanted to do that with you ...  would
you let me?" His voice rose half an octave.

   "Would you do them to me?" she asked stubbornly.

   "I'd do them WITH you," he said.

   Mildred slumped again.  I hadn't noticed her get all rigid, sitting up.
She leaned back and looked toward Hiram.

   "We need to rearrange the furniture.  I can't see you because of that
lamp," she said.

   Nobody laughed, but it was one of those moments where the tension is
released.  Mildred turned to me.

   "You said the rest of the movie might be ...  I believe you said
'uncomfortable' for us."

   I nodded.

   "I can't imagine being any more uncomfortable than I am right now," she
said.

   "Believe me, you can be much more uncomfortable than you are right now,"
I said.  "This is all new to you.  Maybe we need to take a break and think
about things for a while."

   "Millie?" came Hiram's voice.

   She leaned forward to look at him again.

   "You never said whether you'd do those things with me."

   Mildred's face went through a few gyrations.  She hissed "YES!" and she
covered her face with both hands.

   She didn't quite burst into tears, but she shook a little.  Gertie's
hand was still clasped on top of mine.  I realized at that moment just how
much turmoil was going through Millie's mind.  She had discussed their
sexual behavior right in front of her sister.  I pulled my hand out from
under Gertie's, and took her hand and stood up, pulling her up with me.

   "Gertie, let's get something to drink," I said, pulling her toward the
kitchen.  I nodded my head at Hiram, from him to Mildred, suggesting he go
to her.  He looked startled and then stood up suddenly.  I pulled Gertie's
hand and she resisted a little.  I think she wanted to see what would
happen, but maybe she was only looking at the front of Hiram's pants.  They
were nicely tented out.  I pulled harder.

   =======================================

   When we got to the kitchen I didn't know what to do.  Things were pretty
tense in the other room.  I didn't really want anything to drink.  I just
wanted to give Hiram and Mildred a few moments alone.

   Things got tense in the kitchen too.

   "Would you kiss me?" asked Gertie suddenly.

   "What?" I was dumfounded.

   "Would you kiss me?  Like in the movies?  Nobody's ever kissed me
before," she said.

   "Well ...  uh ...  I don't think that would be a good idea," I said.

   "Oh," she said dejectedly.  Poor Gertie.  She had just taken her first
tentative step into the world of male/female relationships and had been
rejected.

   "It's not that I don't want to." I tried to soften the blow.  "I just
don't think Mildred would approve."

   That got her ire up.  "I don't get to do ANYTHING unless she approves!"
she said heatedly.  She actually stamped her foot.  If I hadn't known
better I'd have thought she was fourteen and had just been told she wasn't
old enough to go on a date.

   "That's not what I meant," I said hurriedly.  "It's just that things are
very tense for them right now.  They're experiencing something new and
foreign, and it's threatening to them."

   "What about ME?" she whined.  "At least they've been able to kiss and
... other things.  I'm going to be stuck here for the rest of my life and
I'll never get to do ANYTHING!"

   "That's not true," I said soothingly.  "The fact that they ARE
experiencing new things is changing them, and changing the way they live
and think.  You'll get to meet men and have relationships.  You just need
to be patient."

   "I don't WANT to be patient," she said sullenly.  "I've seen other
people, and they look so happy and they do such exciting things.  For the
first time in my life I think maybe I could do some of those things too ...
be like them.  I ache inside Bob!"

   "You don't need to be like anybody else," I said, taking her hands
reflexively.  "You need to just be yourself.  That's what will be
attractive to men.  Don't try to live somebody else's life Gertie.  Just be
yourself and let things happen.  You'll find happiness."

   "Bob, " she said with a little disgust in her voice.  "I just tried to
get you to kiss me and you won't do it.  I would have been happy to let
that happen.  How can I let things happen if nobody ELSE will let things
happen?"

   She had a point.

   "Just one kiss," I said.  I glanced, somewhat fearfully, I'll admit, at
the entrance to the kitchen, where I expected Mildred to be, possibly
holding a shotgun.

   Imagine packing all your dreams and hopes and unexplored teenaged
passions into one kiss.  That's what she tried to do.  She had paid close
attention to those movies, particularly the most recent one.  She knew to
turn her head slightly, and to open her mouth.  Her lips were tight at
first, but the feel of mine, softer and more pliable, transferred to hers
almost instantly.  She also remembered what the man's hands had been doing
in the movie she'd just seen, and about ten seconds into that kiss her hand
found mine and brought it to her left breast.

   She didn't so much kiss me, as she tried to consume me.  I had been
kissed with this kind of passion in the past, but I wasn't expecting it
from her.

   When she finally pulled back, she was panting.  My hand was still on her
breast.

   "I couldn't possibly live with only one kiss like that," she sighed.

   My brain jerked back to reality and I pulled away from her.

   "You have to.  At least for now," I said.  "If things go well in there,
maybe you can have one more."

   She grinned.  It was the first time I had seen elation on her face, and
it made her beautiful.  She still had on no makeup, and her hair was still
dry and limp looking, but there was real joy on her face, and it made her
beautiful.

   When we walked back into the living room, Hiram and Mildred were in an
embrace that I thought I'd never see them in.  They were kissing, and it
was a LOT like the kiss I'd just gotten.  His hand was on one of her
breasts too, and he was squeezing.  I felt a jerk on my arm and realized
Gertie and I had walked into the room hand in hand.  I didn't remember
doing that.  She jerked me back into the kitchen.

   "They're busy," she whispered.  "I'm ready for that other kiss now."

   This time I did more than just put my hand on her breast.  I squeezed
and molded it in my hand.  I found what I hoped was her nipple through the
bra she was wearing and worried at it with my fingers.  She wiggled against
me, writhing as she gloried in feeling something so strong, so colorful in
her otherwise black and white life.

   When we were done with that one she looked into my eyes and, quite
seriously said "I can't possibly live with only two kisses like that."

   ========================================

   I left shortly after that.  If I stayed, Gertie might have gotten out of
control.  And I probably wouldn't have been much help to her.  It's pretty
hard to be kissed like that and not respond in ways that she just wasn't
prepared for.  I didn't play the rest of the movie that night, but, again,
left it there.  I knew they'd watch it, and I knew it would be something
they'd do better with in private.

   The next day Hiram called me.

   It was awkward at first.  I got the impression he didn't talk on the
phone much.  That wasn't surprising.  They didn't interact with the world
much at all.

   "Bob ...  I was ...  um we were wondering ..." His voice kind of petered
out.

   "Yes?" I urged.

   "Well ...  are there any ...  um ...  other marital type movies?  I mean
...  well ...  this is very interesting and it's really making a
difference," he finally finished.

   "There are other ...  aids," I said.  "But I have to tell you, Hiram,
they're very explicit.  If you'll remember the one I left there.  It showed
...  well it showed part of oral sex.  These other movies show it in very
explicit detail ...  both men pleasing women and women pleasing men."

   There was silence for a few seconds.

   "Uh ...  I think that would be all right.  Does that really happen?" he
asked.  He sounded breathless.

   "It's quite normal for most people," I said.

   "This is all so strange.  We've been ...  well ...  things are very
different Bob."

   "I hope they are different in a good way," I said.

   "Oh boy," he sighed.  "I had no idea this could be so much fun," he
said.

   "I'll pick something up and see you in a couple of days.  Is that OK?"

   "Yes!  Good," he said.  He hung up abruptly.

   CHAPTER THREE

   Mildred met me at the door.

   "Gertrude told me you kissed her," she said.  The look on her face was
impossible to interpret.

   I stood there.  What do you say to a protective sister who is barring
the door.

   "We watched the rest of that movie," she added.

   I kept standing there.

   "She said she seduced you," said Mildred.

   Standing there seemed to be working.  She was still talking, and there
was no shotgun.

   "That's the silliest thing I ever heard," she said.

   "I did kiss her," I admitted finally.

   "She's been skipping around and acting like a chicken with its head cut
off ever since," said Mildred.  "I've never seen her this way.  Hiram and I
...  well ...  if we hadn't done the things we've done in the last few days
I'd probably chase you out of here."

   "But you know how she feels?" I suggested.

   She smiled for the first time.  "You've changed our lives Bob.  When I
look back ...  I can't believe it."

   "You ain't seen nothin' yet," I said, holding up the new tape.

   Her eyes glittered.  "You're corrupting us Bob."

   "I'm simply showing you how life can be.  You get to choose what to do
and not to do."

   "That," she pointed to the tape "is going to embarrass me, isn't it?"

   I nodded.

   "Good," she said.  "Everything else you've done has embarrassed me, but
I feel more alive now than I ever have in my whole life."

   She stood back to let me in.

   "I'm still not sure how I feel about you making Gertie feel like that."

   "I promise you I'll try my best never to hurt her feelings, or make her
think anything will happen that might not happen," I said.  I meant it too.

   "I think from now on, you two shouldn't be alone together," she said.

   "That means if she wants another kiss I'll have to kiss her in front of
you," I said.

   She blushed.  "I might be busy.  Hiram and I have been practicing." She
blushed harder and pulled at the top button of her dress, fanning it back
and forth to pull air in and out of it.

   "Practice makes perfect," I said.

   =======================================================================

   As I got the movie ready to play I saw that the previous tape was, in
fact, at the end.  They had seen the husband make love to the blind
sister-in-law, with her sister's help.  For all I knew they viewed that
sharing as something obvious and logical.  I still had no real idea how
they would react to things.

   But Mildred had said nothing, except that she was glad I was here with
the new tape.  And that I could kiss her sister again, apparently.

   Another change was that things had been re-arranged.  Now the love seat
was facing the TV.  The two chairs were side by side, with the end table
between them and the love seat.  The lamp was still on the table, but
things had been moved away from the wall enough that you could see each
other while sitting.  It left most of the room bare, but that part of the
room that had furniture in it was a lot cozier.

   Mildred, ever the matriarch, wasn't quite finished.  Hiram was sitting
on the love seat, and her sister was sitting in one of the chairs.  She
addressed Gertie.

   "Hiram and I may display some affection for each other during this
movie," she said.  "I want you to ignore us."

   Gertie, for some reason, got very agitated at that.

   ======================================================================

   Most of you have seen an X rated video at one time or another.  Chances
are, you knew what to expect before you saw it.  For Hiram and Mildred,
what they saw on that TV screen was all new.  They had heard of
masturbation, but didn't know the mechanics.  They had seen an indication
of oral sex in the previous movie, but didn't know the mechanics of that
either.  I found out later that after I left, the last time, they retired
to the bedroom and Hiram got acquainted with Mildred's breasts.  Both of
them were amazed.  There was, for them, a radical change in behavior as
they decided not to wait for the next full moon.  Hiram also tried that
languid motion that he had seen, with the man pressing in and out gently.
Hiram had had orgasms before, naturally.  Once a penis is in a vagina, it's
pretty hard not to get to that point.  But he had always been in a hurry,
because he thought he was supposed to get on, perform his duty, and then
get off.  Mildred, though, in twelve years, had never had an orgasm.  In
fact, Mildred had not had an orgasm in her entire life.

   That night they had her first, and Hiram, bless his heart, thought he
was killing her.  They weren't comfortable enough to tell me about all this
until later that night, but you need to know about it now, because it
affected the way they processed what they saw on that X-rated tape.

   That, in fact, is why Millie told Gertie to ignore them.  You see, when
Hiram heard her moans and rising groans as she approached her very first
orgasm, he misunderstood.  They were a lot louder than those he'd heard on
any movie, and he thought she was uncomfortable.  So, caring more about her
feelings now than he ever had in the past, he got off of her.  She was so
close to a new and powerful feeling that she could almost touch, that her
hand did what her mind had never thought to do.  She reached between her
legs and put pressure where Hiram had just removed it.

   "She thrashed like she was on fire or something!" Hiram later told me.
"I thought she was having a conniption fit."

   Well, there was more communication between them in the next hour than
there had been in the first five years of their marriage.  Mildred, in no
uncertain terms, instructed Hiram to get right back where he belonged, and
the next time she got wild under him, she threatened him with dire
consequences if he stopped.  Knowing that it was HIM who was making her
feel that way, produced results that were monumental, compared to what he
had experienced in the past.

   And poor Gertie was standing by their bedroom door, listening to the
whole thing.

   So, when the movie started, and within five minutes there was a dick
being sucked and a pussy being licked, and then a close-up of that dick
just fucking the snot out of that pussy, things got tense.  Mostly they got
tense in the throats of Hiram, Mildred and Gertrude, who made all sorts of
little sounds with their tense vocal chords.

   I thought the required ejaculation on the actress' flat stomach would
bring down the house.

   Then, ten minutes later, when there were TWO dicks being sucked, and TWO
pussies being fucked, Gertie climbed out of her chair and sat on my lap.

   "What are you doing Gertrude?" came Mildred's shaky voice.

   "Never you mind what I'm doing," said Gertie, leaning back against my
chest.  Her hands brought mine up to her breasts.  I realized there was no
bra under her dress this evening.

   "He's not going to marry you Gertrude," said Mildred, her voice
strangled.

   I looked over and saw her husband's hand had disappeared under her
skirt, which was up and exposing her knees.  Those knees were nowhere near
touching each other.

   "I don't want him to marry me," sighed Gertrude, her hands covering mine
and pressing.  "I just want him to touch me a little bit."

   "That's shameless," insisted Mildred.

   "Not nearly as shameless as you hollering the other night, fit to wake
the dead."

   I had a boner now, and Gertie wiggled on it.  "You told me not to pay
any attention to you," panted Gertie.  "Now you take your own advice!"

   The couple on the screen changed partners.

   "We're NOT doing THAT!" came Mildred's strangled yelp.

   "Hush up," said Hiram firmly.  "I can't hear what they're saying."

   "They're not SAYING anything!" cried Mildred.  "You're going to make me
yell if you keep doing that Hiram ...  right here in front of them!"

   "Go ahead and yell," said Hiram.  His hand under her dress made it look
like there was a cat under there, trying to get out of a bag.

   Half an hour later Millie had had two orgasms and her hand was busy in
Hiram's lap as she tried what she had seen on the screen.  Hiram was very
appreciative.  The scene changed and there was a close-up of a man's finger
diddling a woman's clit and then sliding deep inside her.

   Gertie turned her head.  She was almost beside herself now.  I had been
stroking her breasts and flanks for half an hour.

   "Do that to me," she whispered.

   "In front of them?" I groaned.

   "I feel like I'm going to pop open and fly apart."

   She wiggled.

   "If I do that, you're going to get loud too," I whispered.

   "I don't care," she panted.

   So I pulled up the skirt of her dress.  As I slid my hand along the
inside of the thigh she groaned and spread her legs.  I didn't play around.
I went straight for her panties and slid my hand inside the waistband to
find sloppy, slippery pussy.  I did take it easy pressing into her, because
I was quite sure she still had her hymen.  She did.  It only covered half
of her vaginal canal, though, and it was the back half, so I was able to
slide most of my finger past it.  I did that so that, when I pushed the
base of that finger against where I knew her unused clitty was, I'd have
something to hang on to.

   I needed it.  She was ready to go and she did.

   "OH!" she squealed.  "OH!  OH!  OH!" Her head went back on my shoulder
and her back arched and I wiggled my finger and she wailed.

   Quite suddenly the light from the screen went darker as someone blocked
it.  Then the lamp went on, and I was caught with my hand deep in Miss
Gertie's panties.  My wrist had pulled her dress up and her legs were wide
open and Gertie suddenly looked like a well hung fella.

   Millie was hovering over us, her eyes wide and her hand covering her
mouth.  Her dress was also mostly unbuttoned to the waist.

   "Millie!" came the plaintive cry of Hiram, whose penis was jutting up
into the air through his fly.  "She's just making the noises you made the
other night."

   "I did NOT sound like that!" Millie panted.  "And even if I did, I had
to make sure she wasn't yelling for the same reason I was."

   It was a telling moment.  Here was Mildred's innocent, maiden sister,
with a man's hands stuck firmly in her panties, and his other hand on her
breast.

   At the beginning of this story you all know what would have happened. 
But Millie had been through SO much, and her horizons had been widened to
SUCH a degree, that she simply stood back up and said "Mind that that's ALL
you do with that man."

   She went back to Hiram, but they only lasted ten more minutes before
Hiram was pulling her toward the bedroom.  As she left, her dress now open
all the way to the waist, and her bra pulled up making a white line in the
gap of her open dress, Mildred cautioned her sister one last time.

   "I know what you're feeling Gertie.  You take care that you don't go too
far.  You need to wait until you're married."

   She yelped as Hiram tugged her violently toward the bedroom.

   "In a pig's eye," sighed Gertrude.

   As soon as her sister was gone, Gertie bounded up off my lap and turned
around.  She was looking at my lap ...  at what had been poking her bottom
for the last forty-five minutes or an hour.

   "I want to see it," she breathed.

   "Slow down," I said.  I didn't cover my groin.  "We need to get a couple
of things straight."

   "I think THAT'S straight right now." She pointed at the lump in my lap
and giggled.

   "Yes it is, and you just saw why it gets straight," I said.  I tried to
put some darkness in my voice.

   "I don't think I want to do that just yet," she said airily.  She was a
young girl at heart, and with a young girl's confidence, she assumed
nothing would happen that she didn't expressly approve of happening.

   "Sit down," I told her.

   "Come on Bob, this is fun," she complained.

   "I know it is, but you have to understand a few things before I'll do
anything else with you."

   She plopped in the chair, pouting.

   "What!" she snarled.

   "Your sister was right.  I'm not going to marry you," I said for
starters.

   "I already told you I'm not interested in marrying you.  There are
hundreds of men out there."

   She wasn't above a dig.  But I ignored her inference that all those men
were much more desirable than I was.

   "That's one of the things I want to talk to you about," I said.

   "I don't WANT to talk," she sulked.

   I ignored her.  "You're feeling new and exciting things.  There's a lot
left to feel, and the feelings are going to get stronger and stronger and
stronger as you go along.  If you just sashay out there in the big wide
world and treat a man like you treated me tonight, you're going to have
sex, whether you want to or not."

   I had her attention now.

   "Men don't play these games for fun.  They play them to try to make
babies in women like you.  You don't have a lot of experience, and there is
no way in the world that you're on birth control.  If you get too excited,
and let a man go too far, you're going to end up spread out on a bed like
the women in that movie, with a big, fat penis poking deep in your belly."

   Her eyes were wide now.

   "And they aren't going to pull out and squirt all over your stomach
either Gertie.  They're going to push just as far up inside you as they can
and try their damndest to make you pregnant with twins."

   "Don't curse" she said automatically.

   "OK, I won't curse, but you have to promise me that you'll at least try
to take things slowly."

   "So all men want to do is make babies in women?" she asked.  "When they
do that stuff?" She pointed at the TV.

   "Yes," I said.  "You have to be careful who you do those things with. 
Your sister was right to tell you to wait until you're married."

   "You're a man," she said.

   I blinked.

   "You could have done all those things to me.  I'd have let you."

   "I know sweetie, that's why I needed to slow things down a little." I
thought she had gotten the point of my little talk.

   "But you didn't," she said simply.  "So not ALL men are like that."

   "That's not the point," I said helplessly.

   "Yes it IS the point.  I'm not stupid.  I know where babies come from. I
didn't know exactly how that happened ...  not with people anyway ...  but
now I do.  And Hiram and Millie have been doing that for years and she
never got pregnant."

   I almost welcomed the distraction of talking about Hiram and Millie.  I
explained things to her about women's cycles and the infrequency of their
lovemaking.

   "I know all about that," said Gertie.  "I bleed every month, just like
Millie.  And I know when they do their duty.  But I didn't know it could be
like THAT." She pointed at the TV again.  "I bet YOU'VE done that with a
woman," she said.

   I didn't say anything.

   "Well?"

   "OK, OK, I've done that."

   "And YOU'RE not married.  How many women have you done that with?"

   "I don't know," I said helplessly.

   "So many?" she sounded awed.

   "No!" I barked.  "Four or five at the most."

   "How many of them got pregnant?" she asked.

   I thought about Tanya.  She was the only one I KNEW was pregnant.  I
hadn't gotten any calls from Todd or Lizzie, but then as much as Todd was
having sex with both of them nobody would be surprised if either of them
turned up with a bun in the oven.

   "One" I said.  "But that was planned." I didn't want her to think I got
women pregnant and then ran off on them.

   "But you didn't marry her?" Gertie was shocked.

   "She was already married," I said.  "It's complicated."

   "So you got a married woman pregnant ...  on purpose." She wouldn't let
up.

   "I can't tell you much about it," I said.  "It was part of this research
project, and her husband couldn't give her a baby because there was
something wrong with him, so I helped out a little."

   Finally I had said something that shut her up.

   "Can I see it now?" she asked.

   I groaned.

   "We have to hurry.  The last time they only did it for an hour," she
said.

   "We have to leave all out clothes on, OK?" I demanded weakly.

   "Fine," she said.  "But I want to feel what it's like with your mouth on
me too."

   I wasn't to find out for ten minutes or so that she was referring to my
mouth on her nipples.  I misunderstood, but that seems completely
reasonable to me, based on what we'd just seen.

   Which is how I ended up standing up in front of her chair while she
instructed me to take out my pride and joy.  It had gone soft, but then
stiffened again once I knew she was going to do this.  I went ahead and
pulled my balls out too.  It made me look a little longer that way, and I'm
just as vain as any other man.

   She just looked for a while.

   "It doesn't look like the ones in the movie.

   The actors had been circumcised.  I explained that.

   She tentatively touched it.  That turned into her grasping it between
her thumb and forefinger.  The foreskin moved and she jerked her hand away.
I was feeling better about things.  She wasn't just attacking me.  Maybe
she really was just curious.

   She grasped it with thumb and two fingers this time and moved the
foreskin back.  "They did it like this," she said, wrapping her hand around
it and jacking fiercely.

   "Ow!" I stepped back.  "Not so hard!"

   "Sorry." She didn't sound sorry.

   I stepped forward again and she tried again, with a much gentler touch.

   "It's warm," she said.  I didn't say anything.  "I'm supposed to put it
in my mouth, aren't I?"

   "No," I said.  "Some women like to do that and some don't.  You never
ever have to do anything you don't want to do Gertie.  Remember that.  I
don't care who you're with, if they try to do something that makes you feel
bad, or uncomfortable, you make them stop."

   I might as well have been talking to the wall.  She leaned forward and
closed her lips over the tip of my cock.  I felt her tongue flicker briefly
against the tip and she leaned back.  She was obviously trying to taste. 
She didn't say anything, but then leaned back in and put more of it in her
mouth.  The foreskin was covering the tip, mostly, but it still felt good,
of course.

   Her hand moved and I felt the foreskin pull back while everything was
still in her mouth.  She pulled off, her lips squeezing and caressing the
head.

   "It's so smooth," she said, kissing the tip.

   "Remember ...  it squirts," I reminded her.

   "Now?" she asked, leaning back.

   "No, but if you keep doing that it might," I said.

   "That one woman ...  she let him squirt on her tongue," she said.

   "Some women like that.  A lot don't," I said.

   "Why?" she asked.

   "Some women don't like the taste or texture," I said.  "It's like
anything else.  Some people like egg plant, and some don't."

   "Does yours taste like egg plant?" she asked, looking up at me.

   "I don't know," I said exasperatedly.  "I never tasted it."

   "Have any other women tasted you?" she asked.

   Uh oh.  Here we went again.

   "Yes," I said.

   "Did THEY like the taste?"

   "None of them ever complained," I admitted.

   Her mouth went back on.  She had no technique, but it still felt
wonderful.  It felt good enough that I got achingly hard, and knew I would
need to cum or I'd get a case of the blue balls.  But I could do that
later, after I left.  What I needed to do now was get this girl off a
couple of times and then leave.  She was too pliant, and even though I had
the best of motives, I was getting weaker in my resolve not to show her
just how good sex could be.

   "Let me do you now," I said, my voice rough.

   She pulled off lovingly.  "I like this," she said.  "It makes me feel
all wiggly inside."

   "Remember how you felt on my lap?" I asked her.  "When I had my hand in
your panties?"

   "Ohhh yes!" she said.  "Will you do that to me again?"

   "Yes," I said.

   She tried to sit on my lap again, but I pushed her back up and traded
places.  She bent briefly and I saw her panties in her hand when it came
out from under her skirt.  I should have realized that, in trying to sit on
my lap, she intended for me to bring her off with my fingers.  But I
remembered her saying she wanted my mouth on her.  So I sat her down,
pulled her butt to the edge of the chair, flipped up the skirt of her
dress, and then just leaned forward and tried to find her hymen with my
tongue.

   I was a little excited, as you'll recall.

   There was a strangled "whoof" type grunt, and her legs tried to close
forcefully.  About that time my tongue gave up on her hymen and went
searching for her clit.  That got me slapped on the head with two hands,
which I misinterpreted as happy slaps, so I sucked in her clit, which was
surprisingly large in my opinion, and mashed it with my lip-covered teeth.

   The slapping hands turned into claws that gripped my long hair
painfully. I couldn't hear too well, but there were definitely grunts and
groans and whines coming from up there around her head.  Her hips slapped
up off the chair and she wailed again.  It got a little messy.  She had a
lot of girl juice saved up that she had never used, I guess.

   She started jerking in that way that, over the years, I have learned
means that she was too sensitive for any more direct stimulation, at least
to her clit, so I surreptitiously wiped my face on her dress and went up to
unbutton it and do what she asked me to do in the first place, but which I
had misunderstood.

   She liked that.  She liked that a lot.  Her nipples stiffened up like
troopers and she moaned and told me how wonderful I was making her feel and
about then the head of my prick, which I had been in too much of a hurry to
put away, nosed right between the open petals of her femininity.

   Man it felt good.  She was hot, and wet, and turned on, and it would
have been so easy to just hump forward.

   "That's your penis isn't it?" she panted.  We both knew what she was
talking about.

   "Uh huh" I said licking a nipple and then kissing it.

   "Are you going to put it in me?" she asked.

   "I want to," I said.

   "I want you to," she said.

   "No you don't." I pushed back and broke the contact.  "Not yet.  You're
not thinking with your brain.  You're thinking with your hormones."

   "I know what I want," she said, her eyes glittering.

   "Then the next time I come over, you'll know if you still want that," I
said.

   "Will you at least let me taste you?" she asked.

   I didn't want to tell her that she was too inexperienced to actually
bring me off with her mouth.  Instead I told her I would do what needed to
be done, but when it was time I'd let her taste me.  That seemed to be OK
with her.

   I stood up and jacked it in front of her as she leaned forward.

   "When I did it that hard you said it hurt," she observed.

   "It's different when you do it yourself," I panted.

   "I want it in me," she said.

   "No you don't," I gasped.

   "Yes I do." Her hand went between her legs and she started rubbing.

   "Are you ready?"

   "Is it going to squirt?" she asked excitedly.

   "Aaaaannnnny seeeeeecond noooooooow" I groaned.

   I bent over backward a little and froze, holding my prick tight as the
spunk tried to exit my balls.  I felt her lips seal over the head, and I
let go, holding her head lightly, not to keep her on, but more just to be
in contact with her as I pulsed.  It felt GOOD!

   I was still dribbling when she pulled off, her mouth full of stuff that
she wasn't at all sure she wanted in there.  Her face scrunched up and she
finally swallowed.  Then she swallowed again, and then she looked
thoughtful.  She licked her lips.

   "That's not at all like egg plant," she said.

   I couldn't resist kissing her.  I had no desire to taste my own semen,
but she had been such a trooper about it all that I felt like I owed it to
her.

   "Nope," I said, licking my own lips.  "Not like egg plant at all."

   CHAPTER FOUR

   I didn't, as it turned out, leave right away.  Gertie's lust seemed to
be sated by what we had done.  She wanted to cuddle and talk.  Whether it
was her propriety, or just habit, she straightened her clothing.  I did
too, and we sat on the love seat while she asked me question after question
about all sorts of things.  She was starved for information on the real
world, outside their little safe enclave in the farm house that was now
surrounded by that real world.  She wondered what school was like, and what
my apartment was like.  I thought about inviting her over, but I knew what
would happen if I did, so I let that thought lie.  We talked about what the
"normal" relationships were like between men and women I knew, and I told
her how close I had come to taking her virginity.

   "I wouldn't have minded, you know," she said, her jaw jutting out a
little.

   "There is quite often pain the first time," I said.  "I felt your hymen
with my fingers, and it will tear the first time a man enters you."

   "As good as all that felt, I don't think a little pain will bother me,"
she said confidently.

   "Talk it over with Millie," I suggested.  "She's been through it."

   "Millie doesn't want me to ever grow up," she said.  "She treats me like
a little girl." She bit her lip.  "Maybe I'll just move away from here. 
You know, get a job and find out what life is like.  Maybe go to school
like you."

   I thought about her 'schooling', and the fact that she didn't even have
a GED.  As far as I knew she had never been enrolled in any public school
at all.  When she ran up against the bureaucracies that lay in wait for her
they would crush her.

   "It's not as easy as just walking out the door and finding a job and all
that," I said.  "Your life has been very very different from that of most
people out there.  They won't understand that you're intelligent, and
capable.  And there are a lot of men out there who wouldn't treat you very
well."

   "You could help me," she said hopefully.  "You've been very nice to me."

   I was saved from having to make any promises that I might not want to
keep by the return of Mildred and Hiram.  Both looked relaxed and were
smiling.  Hiram said he needed to do something outside and walked out the
door.  Millie stood looking at Gertie and I, but didn't comment at all on
how close her sister and I were sitting.  Instead she walked over and
touched my shoulder.

   "You have changed our lives Bob.  I cannot thank you enough."

   "Aw shucks ...  it weren't nothing," I quipped.

   "It was everything," she said sternly.  "It's like Hiram and I have
awakened from a very bad dream, to find that the world is safe and
comfortable, and a wonderful place to be in."

   "I told you sex was an important part of marriage," I reminded her.

   "It isn't just the sex!" she said, blushing.  "Though I have to admit
that I like that part a LOT better than I used to.  I don't know how to
explain it, but now I know that Hiram LIKES me." She didn't seem to know
what to do, and went to her chair and sat.  "What did you two do while we
were ...  talking?"

   "He made me feel wonderful," said Gertie effusively.  "Did it hurt when
Hiram took your virginity?"

   Mildred looked slightly astonished.  "You didn't do THAT did you?"

   "He wouldn't," said Gertie, pouting a little.  "But I want him to.  Did
it hurt?" she asked again.

   Mildred looked at me with something in her eyes that was hard to read.

   "It was awful," she said.  "It has always been awful." She looked
slightly surprised suddenly.  "Until Bob came into our lives.  Now it isn't
awful at all." She looked at me again.  "That's what I mean.  You've
changed everything.  We even TALK to each other while we're ...  talking. I
told Hiram what I wanted and he LISTENED and he told me what HE wanted and
it was just so different.  I just can't describe it!"

   "I'm glad your life is better," I said.

   "You don't understand!" she said excitedly.  "I actually HAVE a live
now! Hiram wants to take me someplace.  He wants to eat more pizza.  We
didn't' know.  We didn't understand ANYTHING!  Everything is so different
we don't know what to DO!"

   She looked at her sister.  "And YOU!" She slumped.  "We've ruined your
life too."

   "No you haven't," said Gertie calmly.  "I'm perfectly fine.  I'm going
to do things differently than I did before, but I still love you Millie. 
You just did what you thought was right."

   "But you want to have SEX!" moaned Millie.  "And part of me says that's
horribly wrong, except another part of me knows now what that can be like
and I WANT that for you too, and I just don't know what to do any more."
She was obviously distraught.

   "Millie," I said.  She looked at me.  "Look, a lot has happened in a
short amount of time.  You don't have to do anything right now.  You're
financially secure, and you have new things in your life.  Just think about
them until you feel comfortable with the changes.  Then you can try
something else new and explore as much as you're comfortable with.  You
have lots of time.  You don't have to make a ton of decisions right now. 
Gertie's a big girl, and you don't have to make decisions for her either.
Tell her what you think, but let her make her own decisions."

   Then I turned to Gertie.  "And you have to understand that sometimes
your decisions won't be the best ones, and you might be unhappy with what
happens.  When that happens you just have to learn from the mistakes and
try to make better decisions in the future.  You don't need to be in a
hurry to experience everything you want to do.  You have lots of time too."

   I sat back.  I felt strange.  I really wanted to help these people, not
that I'm a do-gooder or anything.  They had just had a strange and tough
way of living, like the jungle boy who is brought to America and doesn't
know how to act.  They would have made a good case study for a sociology
project all by themselves.  At least until I came along and changed things
for them.

   Hiram came back in, beaming.

   "I just talked to our neighbor!" he announced proudly.  "His name is
Chuck."

   "Whatever did you talk about?" asked Mildred.

   "Privet hedge," said Hiram with some satisfaction.  "He likes our hedge
and would like to do something to make his yard look a little less bare. 
I'm going to help him plant."

   That started a conversation that eventually led to them wanting to go
out and do something.  They didn't know where to start and asked me to take
them somewhere.  Since I had no idea what they might enjoy, I decided to
set a date for a game of miniature golf.  I thought that might be pretty
safe, and anybody could learn to putt.

   We did that the following Saturday afternoon, followed by ice cream at
Baskin Robbins, which blew them away, followed by dinner at McDonalds -
Gertie insisted - followed by a shopping trip to the mall.  That was a
mixed success.  They didn't like the crowds, but the women looked at
clothing they had never taken the time to peruse before, and made several
purchases.  Lingerie like that they had seen in the movie was high on their
list.  Mildred bought her first pair of slacks, and both women bought
blouses and skirts instead of one-piece dresses, which was all I had ever
seen them wear.

   I made the mistake of taking them to a club, which was a complete
disaster.  The music was too loud, and there were too many people.  Their
clothing didn't fit in, and they didn't care for alcohol.

   By the time we figured all this out - about ten minutes - and left, it
was getting late, but they didn't want to go home.  The lights and activity
of the city street invigorated them.  So we decided to take in a movie at
an actual theater.

   That blew them away too.  With speakers on all sides of them "Indiana
Jones And The Last Crusade" just about left them comatose.  It was also
their first movie that contained gratuitous violence.  When we straggled
out of there, they were gorged with the outside world.  Hiram had spent
more money that day than he'd spent in the previous six months, but he was
happy.  He couldn't wait to see Mildred in her new undies.

   That was interesting too, because Mildred insisted on modeling for both
Hiram and me.  She said it was my doing that had resulted in her decision
to widen her horizons, wardrobe-wise, and that I was "family" now.  All she
had gotten was a pair of high-rise panties and matching bra, but they were
sheer and lacy and feminine and even without makeup she looked great.

   That, of course, led to Gertie modeling HER choices, which were similar
to her sister's, but then there were TWO women prancing around in nearly
nothing, and both of us male types responded.

   And THAT led to another cuddling session, and it took place right there
in the living room, right in front of each other.  When Hiram took Millie's
bra off and began to slurp at her breasts, Gertie felt permitted to do the
same thing.  It was a little uncomfortable for me initially, because I kept
looking over at the other couple, waiting for them to react.

   But they didn't.  They were too wrapped up in each other and what they
were doing.  They were like teenagers at a drive-in who aren't aware that
someone is looking in the window.  Still, their newfound sense of freedom
would only let either of the women go just so far "in public" so to speak.
Gertie wanted me to do the same thing I had done to her the last time, but
not in front of her sister, so she pulled me up and toward her bedroom. 
That made me a little uncomfortable too, because I knew if she got me in
bed, I was going to plumb her depths.

   "Where are you going?" asked Mildred's breathy voice.

   "To my bedroom," said Gertie simply.

   Millie struggled up and out of Hiram's embrace.  She looked good
standing there in only panties, her nipples spiked.

   "You're sure about this?" she asked, concern overlaying her
breathlessness.

   "I want to feel what I heard through your door," said Gertie.

   "Ohhhhhhh" moaned Millie, agitated because of her emotions about a
number of things, not the least that she was ready to go to bed too.  "Let
me be there," she finally said.  "To make sure everything is all right."

   "You want to WATCH!?" gasped Gertie.

   "I want to help," said Millie.  "I don't want it to happen to you the
way it happened to me."

   It was bizarre.  That's the only word I can think of that adequately
describes what happened.  Gertie was so fired up that she just pulled me
along and the next thing I knew Mildred, mostly naked, and Hiram, fully
clothed except for his zipper, which was down, were standing beside
Gertie's bed while she climbed up on it and laid back like a sacrificial
calf.  She was breathing hard.  I stood there, not knowing what to do.

   "Be gentle with her," Millie urged me.

   For lack of anything else to do I started getting undressed.

   "Oooo hurry up," moaned Gertie.  She had wanted this for weeks, and was
impatient.

   "I'm not going to rush through this," I told her.

   "I'm going to explode if you don't do something soon," she moaned.  Her
hand slid into her new panties and she spread her legs wide.

   I crawled up onto the bed, boner hanging down and swaying.  I felt so
weird about this that I think I was a little cruel to her.  I licked and
kissed her all over, sucking at her nipples until she writhed, bucking her
loins up at me.  She started shoving at her panties, and I helped her take
them off.  She splayed her legs wide again and I put my nose where she
wanted my prick.  That was fine, but she wanted more and she only let me
bring her close to an orgasm.

   "I want it in me when I feel that," she grunted, pushing at my head.

   I had forgotten all about Mildred and Hiram, but was reminded they were
there when I dipped the tip of my prick toward the prize.

   "Gently," came Millie's whisper in my ear.  I looked to see her hovering
over us, standing at the side of the bed, her rarely used breasts hanging
down, but firm and full.  She leaned over and kissed her sister on the
cheek.

   "It's going to hurt," she warned.

   "Just DO SOMETHING!" Gertie screeched.

   I wasn't gentle.  I probably should have worked my way past her barrier
slowly, with little short prods.  But once I felt the resistance I just
pushed through it and kept going until my hairs bumped into hers.

   "OOOOooffff" she yelped.

   "BOB!" came Millie's chastising voice.

   "It's all right," grunted Gertie.  "Ooooo I feel like I'm going to split
in half," she groaned right afterward, making it sound a lot less 'all
right'.

   I just stayed there, putting pressure on her clit, but not moving.

   "You OK?" I asked.

   She looked up at me and I saw her eyes were wet.

   "It DOES hurt," she whined.

   "I told you it would," I said softly.

   "You went too fast!" chided Millie.  She reached for her sister's hand
and they gripped tight.

   I moved unconsciously.  She felt deliciously tight.

   "Mmmm" Gertie made a sound and her hips flexed against mine.  "It's not
so bad now."

   So I moved some more.  And her "Mmmmm"s turned into "Ahhhhh"s and then
into higher pitched sounds as she began to move under me.  Her movements
weren't coordinated, so I stayed mostly in deep and just let her rub up
against me.  She figured that out pretty quickly and I found a rhythm that
matched hers.

   Then suddenly she was gasping and I felt both of her hands on my back
and her cries got loud as I turned to see that Hiram and Millie were gone.
I let Gertie work through her first orgasm, which left her gasping for
breath.  I stopped and laid on her, knowing I wasn't too heavy.  I kissed
her chin and she opened her eyes.

   "There's more?" she tried to wiggle but I was too heavy for that.

   "You ready to go again?" I asked.

   "Ohhh yessss," she moaned and reached her lips up for a kiss.

   So I gave her another one, and then, somewhat shamelessly, squirted her
full of spunk.  I know I shouldn't have, but I did, and it was wonderful.

   We were lying there, exhausted, with me half on and half off of her.  We
had rolled partly to the side and my weight was holding her up, along with
one arm which was against her back.

   "You squirted, didn't you?" she whispered into my face.

   I nodded.  "Sorry.  That's what I was trying to warn you about.  Men
like to do that when they shouldn't."

   "I don't mind," she said kissing my nose.

   "Are you sorry?" I asked.

   "About ...  all this?" she asked.

   I nodded again.

   "Oh no.  I wanted it.  I wanted it all." She kissed my lips this time.

   A coyote started singing down the hall from us.  There was no doubt it
was Millie.

   "Mmmmm" she said rubbing up against me.  "That makes me want to do it
again."

   So we did it again.

   It was even better the second time.

   =====================================================================

   I spent another three months with them, on and off.  The project was
almost finished by the time Gertie found another man.  She met him at the
library, of all places.  I never thought that was a place to pick up women,
though I should have remembered that Lisa, the nudist, worked there and she
was a pretty erotic woman.  It would stand to reason, if I had thought
about it, that erotic men might hang out there too.  That's kind of
interesting to think about isn't it?  The library as a place of sexual
tension.

   Now you'd think, that with all that sex going on, they would think about
the risks involved.  And they did, to one extent.  They planned on getting
birth control pills for Gertie.  But Mildred hadn't been to a doctor in six
or seven years.  They lived a pretty healthy life, even if it wasn't all
that exciting until they got involved in the project.  For that reason they
had to wait two months before she could get Gertie in to see the doctor and
get a prescription for birth control.

   The thing they DIDN'T think about, was their menstrual cycles.  Millie
may be forgiven, since she was no longer on a lunar cycle for doing her
duty.  She didn't look at the calendar any more.  She made love with Hiram
whenever she wanted, and she did it frequently.  She did it SO frequently
that Gertie got miffed.  At that time I was her only potential partner, at
least in her mind, and I didn't visit but about once a week, during which I
took them on more field trips in the real world.  After bowling (thank
goodness for automatic scoring machines), or a symphony concert (a
RESOUNDING success), or a baseball game (which I had to explain the rules
of and didn't understand very well myself), or furniture shopping (Their
bed just didn't stand up to actually being used frequently), or any of a
raft of other things I exposed them to, we invariably went home and just
fucked like bunnies.  Literally EVERYTHING turned them on, whether it was
the big strong men who they watched run around bases, or the lovely ladies
in fine costumes, or the backs of video tape cases, describing the contents
of the movie, it didn't matter.  When a field trip was over, they wanted to
shed their clothing and dance in the moonlight.

   So, when Millie finally got Gertie to the doctor, and went in with her
(of course), and the doctor asked a few questions, he prescribed vitamins
instead of birth control pills.  He ran tests, of course, but he'd probably
seen this before, and knew what to expect.  When Millie found out the
results of the tests, she had them run on her too.

   They left with two prescriptions for prenatal vitamins.

   I didn't find out about the fact that they were both pregnant for a
month after that.  And that is because, when Gertie got cranky between my
visits, and when they all went on an unsupervised field trip to see the
circus, when they got home Hiram finished with Millie and then did
something to make Gertie shut up about how horny she was, and how unfair it
was for Millie to get all that loving and how she should be able to get
some loving to and on and on and on.

   In short, Gertie wasn't all that sure about whose baby was now growing
in her belly.  She was afraid I'd think she was a slut, a word they were
now all cognizant of, but didn't number themselves in as a group.

   I convinced her that I wasn't miffed at all.

   But, when Millie told me that Gertie was spending an awful lot of time
at the library, and that she wasn't bringing home many books, I put two and
two together and began to wean them away from my influence.  I had created
a monster, but it was a happy monster, and the natives seemed to only think
them odd, not dangerous, so I didn't think they needed me any more.  I
started stretching visits out to two weeks, and then three weeks apart, and
eventually when I arrived one night Gertie wasn't there.  She was out on a
date with a nice young man.  I met him later.  His name was, believe it or
not, Beauregard.  Maybe he came from the South.  Who knows?  He was
probably in his thirties, had a receding hairline, and could have used a
lot more chin and a little less belly.  But he was a nice guy and he was
smitten with Gertie, who was probably the only woman he'd ever met who
would enthusiastically drag him into bed.  I never got any sense that he
cared one whit that another man's baby was making it harder and harder for
them to snuggle and couple.  If my hunch is correct, a woman was returning
his affections for the first time in his life.  Sometimes when a man is in
that situation, he tends to overlook any little faults in the woman.

   It has now been two years since I saw them, and I often think about
them. I should call and go over.  I know the house will look completely
different, and they'll seem like strangers to me, but I really would like
to see how things turned out.

   But I'm pretty busy, and other things have happened that might make such
a visit ...  uncomfortable.  That, however, is another story, for another
time.


   


  
the_masters_mildred