DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. If you are offended by 
sexually explicit material or are under the age of 18, stop reading 
now. This material cannot be reproduced for commercial purposes 
without the consent of the author.

John Carter
By
Lazlo Zalezac 
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezak, 2003


Part 1: Shield, Staff, and Compass
Chapter 7

Weddings are extremely stressful for the major participants. The 
bride has struggled to locate the right wedding dress, the bride's 
parents have struggled with an overly emotional bride arranging 
the event, and the groom is just nervous at losing his freedom. 
Flowers don't show up on time, dresses don't fit, the bridesmaids 
dicker, and the groom is always wrong. Someone, somewhere, 
fouls up something simple and a major catastrophe is the result. 
Tears of worry, happiness, and raw nerves dominate the 
proceedings. 

The best man has the easiest job of all the people associated with a 
wedding. He is responsible for throwing a bachelor party for the 
groom, making sure the groom shows up on time, carrying the 
ring, and making a toast at the wedding reception. In this case, the 
wedding had a ring bearer so that reduced the responsibilities by 
one. 

Bachelor parties have a wild reputation, but the one John threw for 
Jack was tame, much to the relief of the bride. The fathers of the 
bride and groom, John, Jack, and Davie spent the evening at the 
miniature golf and go-cart track. Everyone had a great time. The 
party was over by 8:30, but Jack and John spent hours afterwards 
chatting about life, love, and living the American way. They were 
early at the church and dressed in their tuxedos. The ceremony 
went off without a hitch. The ring carrier, Davie, did his part 
without flaw. 

The last remaining responsibility was to give the toast and John 
still hadn't decided what was appropriate to say. He thought back 
to his interactions with Jenny and Jack. He recalled the details of 
day he ran into Jenny and the evening he met Jack. Most telling 
was the last night of that stay.

Jenny had called him to come into her bedroom. When he entered 
the room, she was posed on the bed in a manner that she clearly 
thought was sexy. It wasn't. It looked contrived and didn't reflect 
the Jenny he knew. He slowly undressed as she watched. Her 
nervousness was quite apparent, but also it was clear that she had 
expected a little more hurry on his part. When his pants came off, 
he could tell that she was confused by the fact that he wasn't erect 
yet. He understood her confusion; she had never been with a man 
that wasn't erect before being undressed.

He had slowly climbed into the bed with her. All of his actions 
were intended to increase the tension. He slowly moved his hands 
to her body. Suddenly he tickled her and didn't let up until she was 
screaming, giggling, laughing, and thrashing on the bed. When he 
stopped, she sat up. It took her a moment to get her composure 
back. With a little irritation and lots of confusion in her voice, she 
asked, "What did you do that for?"

He answered, "Oh, I was just trying to get the Jenny that I know in 
bed with me!"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you are not some sort of playmate model posing for a 
centerfold. You are Jenny; a warm, fun, interesting, sexy, and 
exciting young woman."

Jenny sat there for a moment and then began to cry. John held her 
in his arms letting her get it out of her system. Sobbing she said, 
"You don't find me sexy!"

John answered, "Quite the opposite. I find you extremely sexy."

"Then why didn't you come in here and make love to me."

John answered, "I remember the time you took me into the woods. 
I was so excited that I could hardly breathe. I had no real idea what 
I was doing, I must have taken two minutes to get my cock in you. 
A minute later it was all over. It was the most amazing experience 
of life to that point in time. However, my memories about that time 
are not good."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you acted like you enjoyed it, but I have since learned that 
my performance was totally lousy. You deserved more from me."

"I wouldn't say that. It was normal."

John sighed as he realized what that meant. Her experiences in bed 
had not progressed beyond simple in-out fucking, even with Jack. 
He bent down and gently kissed her on the lips. His tongue teased 
her open mouth, running along the upper lip without entering. He 
sucked in her upper lip and then let it go. He teased her mouth until 
she was grabbing his head trying to get him to complete the kiss. 
He didn't ram his tongue into her mouth, but gently explored it, 
penetrating slowly. Her breathing deepened as a wave of sexual 
excitement rolled over her.

He kissed his way to her neck. He took it slow and easy with soft 
little touches of his lips to her skin. They were the same as caresses 
performed with his lips rather than hands. He nibbled upon her 
earlobe, gently and softly with feather light touches. He worked his 
way to her breasts; breasts that were striated with the marks of 
motherhood. He kissed the valley between them. His hands roamed 
along the length of her body with long, light, and slow caresses. He 
kissed his way up her right breast; stopping when he reached the 
aureole. He shifted to the left breast and repeated the same 
treatment. Her breathing was deeper than before. Her body moved 
sensuously under his hand.

He ran his tongue around her aureole never touching the nipple. 
First one breast, then the other, and back again to repeat the 
pattern. Her nipples were now hardened points begging to be 
touched. He firmly cupped her buttocks with his hand and then 
moved his hand so that it was caressing her inner thigh. He ran his 
hand from knee to breast, breast to breast, and then down to the 
other knee. He did not let his hand venture too close to her cunt. 
The tension had to build before he would reach that point. 

Her excitement grew. She was moaning and twisting, trying to get 
his mouth to her nipples and his hand to her cunt. She tried to 
touch herself, but he blocked her hand. He relented and circled 
each nipple with his tongue. Occasionally, he stopped and blew on 
the nipple. The warm wetness of his saliva quickly cooled under 
his breath. When she whimpered out of frustrated excitement, he 
aggressively sucked a nipple into his mouth. She screamed out in 
surprise and in pleasure. 

He started to kiss his way down her stomach. He stopped at the 
navel to slip his tongue into it and explore its depths. Her stomach 
shook, in part from the tickling sensation that his tongue created 
and the pleasure that came from having parts of her body explored 
for the first time. She gasped when he continued to work his way 
down to her cunt. Never had a man kissed her below the waist. He 
moved himself between her legs.

He slid his tongue along her skin outside her cunt lips, but not 
quite touching them. Her body began to move of its own accord. 
She wiggled trying to get attention to her cunt. Her hand slipped 
down, but he stopped it. Her hand moved up to her breasts and 
started to play with her nipples. She squeezed them much harder 
than he had, shocking herself with the strength of her desire. 

Her cunt had opened like a flower, ready to accept his attentions. 
He licked from the bottom of her cunt towards the clitoris, 
stopping just before reaching it. Her hands flew from her breasts 
and grabbed his head. She held his head and thrust her cunt up 
against his tongue. She had lost all control in her excitement. At 
the first opportunity, he sucked her clit into his mouth. At that 
point, she came and came hard. She pulled his head into her and 
wrapped her legs around his body so that he couldn't move or 
breathe. Her body jerked without control; spasms of pleasure that 
ebbed and flowed within her signaled an intense orgasm. 

She finally fell back, exhausted and satiated like never before. John 
rose from between her legs and moved to lie beside her. He held 
her tightly, allowing her to recover from her orgasm. She lay upon 
the bed, feeling safe in his arms. Little shivers ran through her 
body.  It was her first orgasm.

As John held her, her shivers changed to a quiet shaking. He felt 
moisture on his chest and knew that she was crying. He allowed 
her to cry for several minutes. He knew the answer before he asked 
the question, "Why are you crying?"

"Jack doesn't love me."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because if he did, he would have made love to me like that!"

John smiled, "The other day you were surprised that I didn't know 
how to play baseball."

Jenny wasn't sure what that had to do with Jack not loving her. "I 
don't follow."

"Well, just suppose that how well I played baseball was a measure 
of my love for Davie. I guess that would mean that I don't love 
Davie."

"No, you don't know how."

"Exactly, Jack doesn't know how to do the things that I do in bed. 
You say that means he doesn't love you. I guess it is a shame that 
he didn't have someone to teach him how to make love before he 
met you."

"You're equating making love with knowing how to play baseball," 
replied Jenny. The argument that John was constructing bothered 
her. Making love wasn't like baseball. Men were supposed to know 
how to make love. 

"Of course, all men are supposed to know how to make love. How 
stupid of me to think otherwise. Of course, all men are supposed to 
know how to play baseball. Neither of them is fully developed in a 
man unless he has had a chance to learn the proper skills. I'm 
equating knowing how to do something with being good at it and 
that not knowing also means that one is not good at it."

"I'm not sure."

"Suppose that how quickly Davie was able to learn baseball from 
me was a measure of his love for me. I guess since I don't know 
how to play baseball would mean that Davie didn't love me 
because I wouldn't be able to give him the proper coaching."

Jenny was quiet for a moment, "That isn't fair to Davie."

"I guess you don't love Jack."

"Yes, I do. That's why I'm upset," retorted Jenny indignant at the 
accusation that she didn't love him.

"Do you know what are the sensitive areas of his cock? Do you 
know how to massage his prostate gland to give him more intense 
orgasms? Do you know if he likes it when you play with his 
nipples? Do you know how much pressure he likes when you give 
him a blowjob?"

Uncertainty entered her voice, "I don't know any of those things."

"But if you loved Jack you would know them."

"That's not fair. I love Jack. I just don't know that stuff."

"Ah, you love him but you don't know how to make love to him. 
You don't know enough to coach him. I guess that means you 
aren't right for each other. Sorry."

"No!" Jenny didn't want to give up something that was so good. 
She enjoyed being with Jack. They laughed together, they talked 
about the things that lovers talk about, and he understood her every 
day needs better than she understood them at times.

Jack smiled, "I guess the only answer is that for the next few years 
of your life together, you get to learn how to make love with each 
other. You get to experiment by trying new things. If you can't 
think of new things, you can go to books and find new things to 
try. I can't think of a better future for anyone."

Jenny smiled, "It does sound like fun."

John got serious for a moment, "You have to understand that you 
and Jack will want to try things that the other won't want to try. 
Some things might even sound weird or funny to you, but you 
shouldn't judge. You really have no idea how important it may be 
the other person."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, suppose you tell Jack that you want him to do what I did to 
you. Then suppose he laughed and asked you why you want him to 
lick you down there. How would you feel?"

"I'd be hurt."

"Why would you be hurt?" asked John. He was making progress in 
getting her to understand the politics of sex. He wondered how 
many women never learned what he was teaching Jenny.

"Because I know it feels good."

"Suppose he were to ask you to wear a strap-on dildo and have you 
fuck his ass?"

"What's a strap-on dildo?"

"It is a fake cock that attaches to a harness. You wear it and it is as 
if you had a cock of your own."

Jenny broke out laughing, "You've got to be crazy. Why would he 
want that?"

"Because when you do that, you massage his prostate. That can 
give a man a very intense orgasm. How would he feel if you had 
laughed at him like you did me?"

Now that she realized that there might actually be a good reason 
why a man might want that, she realized that her response had 
been rather dismissive of his wants. Still, she couldn't help feeling 
that she'd feel stupid doing something like that. She meekly 
replied, "He'd be hurt."

"Exactly," replied John. He paused a moment for that to sink in. 
He added, "If you were to do that, he might never tell you other 
things that might make him feel real good. You always have to 
take his requests seriously. If you don’t, you'll destroy his trust that 
you take his needs seriously."

"That's awful."

"Yes, it is. The two of you need to talk about this kind of stuff or 
else you will end up with a dead sex life. Once that dies, then the 
rest follows."

"What do we need to talk about?"

"Well, you might want to talk about what kind of marriage you 
want to have."

Jenny was confused and it showed. She had no idea what he meant 
by kind of marriage. She tried to puzzle it out, but couldn't make 
sense of it. Finally, she asked, "What do you mean by that? Is there 
more than one kind of marriage?"

"Do you want a marriage that is consistent with the dictates of 
society or do you want one that has a lot more freedom to adapt to 
both of your wants and needs?"

Still puzzled, she blurted out, "Aren't they the same thing?"

John laughed, "Not at all. You know, I once had a fundamentalist 
preacher explain to me that sexual relations between husband and 
wife should be performed only for creating children. Once you 
have enough children, then you should stop having sex. If you 
don't, then you are a sinner."

"Ugh, that's horrible."

"Well, there's a less restrictive kind of marriage that probably 
represents the most common framework for marriage. A man and 
woman meet each other, they get married, and then they are never 
supposed to look at any one else in a sexual way. Each partner is 
supposed to be able to fulfill all of the needs of the other by the 
simple fact that they love them."

Jenny nodded in agreement, "Isn't that what marriage is supposed 
to be?"

"Well, I would agree with you except that in my experience it 
doesn't work out that way. That's why there’s a fifty percent 
divorce rate in this country. One or the other partner finds that the 
other is unable to fulfill all of their needs, so they go to someone 
else who fulfills that particular gap. The problem is, that violates 
the whole framework of the marriage and both end up feeling 
cheated."

"You sound like you don't approve of that kind of marriage."

John was quiet for a minute as he thought about how to answer her. 
"Basically, I don't. It fails to take into account the fact that no 
single person can fulfill all of the needs of the other. It seems to me 
that the successful marriage framework has to take that into 
account. It has to allow each partner to step outside the marriage to 
fulfill some need or desire that the other can’t or won’t fulfill 
without lying."

"Isn't that like making it okay to cheat?"

He retorted, "Isn't that what you are doing now?"

Jenny sat back in anger, "No! I'm not cheating on John. We talked 
about this!"

"Relax," answered John, "That is exactly what I meant when I said 
that the marriage framework has to take things like this into 
account to work. Jack told me that you both had a need to thank 
me and that this was the best way it could be done. That discussion 
between you and Jack is exactly what I'm driving at. You both 
choose to step outside those narrowly defined boundaries of an 
acceptable marriage because it answered a need both of you had."

He watched Jenny for her reaction. When she had relaxed a little, 
he continued, "Suppose that you want to find out what it would be 
like to have sex with two men at once. Maybe he wants to watch 
you have sex with a woman. It might even be the case that you 
want to try sex with a woman. Maybe he wants to have sex with a 
man. Maybe you want him to have sex with a man while you 
watch. Maybe he wants to eat another man's come out of your cunt 
right after you've finished fucking. The point is that there are a lot 
of maybes out there and to shut them out of your life together 
before you even have a chance to discuss them with each other 
seems to me to be wrong."  

She nodded, "You know. I've never thought about that before. I 
was always told that when you got married that your desires would 
focus only on your husband and vice versa."

"That focus is still there. If you have sex with another man or a 
woman and you do it because you both want to try it, have you 
actually stopped focusing on each other? If it is his fantasy, then 
you are doing it for his pleasure. If you both have the same fantasy, 
aren't you still focusing on each other by giving the other the 
chance to experience it? If it is your fantasy, aren't you letting him 
be a loving caring husband by letting him do this for you?"

She frowned as she struggled to make sense out of his argument. It 
went against everything that she had believed and, yet, she had just 
done it. She answered, "I'm going to have to think about this for a 
while and make up my mind."

John shook his head, "Don't make up your mind until after you and 
Jack talk. Even then, don't shut the door on this topic until you are 
both a little more confidant in your sexuality. What fantasies do 
you have?"

Jenny shrugged her shoulders, "I don't really have any."

"I would have guessed so. You've been so busy and cut off from 
other people until now that you didn't have a chance to fantasize. 
Just getting a person to share your life with was dream enough. 
When you start having sex regularly and it is fantastic, then you 
are going to start having all kinds of thoughts. You'll see an 
interesting scene in a movie and then you'll turn to him to hint that 
it was hot and you want to try it. Same thing goes for Jack. He's 
been so lonely that just being with you is more than enough. He'll 
want more after a while."

Jenny was quiet for a long time thinking about what John had said. 
Finally, she decided that she knew a flaw in this whole scheme, 
"What about jealousy?"

"Big subject. What would happen if you went to Jack and said that 
I was better in bed than him?"

"Oh, he'd be hurt!"

"What would happen if you went to Jack and said that I licked your 
pussy. Then you said that it was wild and that the whole time I was 
doing it, you kept thinking how much better it would have been if 
it had been Jack. Would he be hurt, angry, jealous, or maybe 
prompted into letting you know just how good it would be?"

"Hmm."

"And suppose he was horrible at it. Would you tell him that he was 
bad? I hope not. Wouldn't it be better if everything that he did right 
you let him know that he was doing it right? Give him positive 
feedback so that he improves. Soon he'll know how to lick you 
better than I ever can!" 

John cradled Jenny in his arms and stated softly, "You two need to 
talk. Not just once, but all the time. You need to establish your 
own boundaries and decide what is right for you. You have to 
continually reappraise things and change as you grow or else you 
will grow apart. That is real intimacy, not sex."

Jenny kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks John. You are so nice to 
me. You know just what to say and you never push. Jack and I will 
talk."

He had then told her, "Great. I have to get home. It is late and I'm 
leaving tomorrow. Let me know when you guys are ready to get 
married and I'll be here. Okay?"

"Thanks."

John had left for school the next morning. Then four days ago had 
come back to be the best man in the wedding. His second night 
here, he had thrown the bachelor party for Jack. Afterwards, Jack 
and John had talked for several hours. It seems that Jenny had 
followed his advice and talked with Jack.  He learned about this in 
a conversation that had started out very surprising with Jack 
stating, "You know that Jenny woke up the morning you left town 
very angry."

John was surprised. He had thought things were good when he left. 
He apologized, "I didn't know that. What did I do? What can I do 
to make up for it?"

Jack saw the panic on John's face and laughed, "Yes, she woke up 
and realized that you had given her the best orgasm of her life and 
that you had left before you had one!"

John smiled, "Sorry about that. I guess we talked and I forgot why 
I was there."

"That's okay, she's gonna make it up to you one day," answered 
Jack with a great big smile. He continued, "You know when she 
told me that you ate her cunt, I was shocked. I knew about that, but 
didn't know what the big deal was. I'll tell you this, I know now. 
When I saw how she reacted when I started licking and tonguing 
her, I thought to myself that this was better than an orgasm. I 
couldn't believe how much pleasure I gave to her that night."

"I guess you guys are talking to each other."

"Oh, you bet. You have no idea how much your advice has meant 
to us. We've discovered things about each other and ourselves that 
I never dreamed about. Thank you, so much."

"I'm glad you two are happy."

"I've never been happier."

The conversation continued for several hours with exchanges of 
hopes and dreams for the future. It was the first time that the two 
men had talked about such things with another man. It was proof 
that a real bond of friendship existed between them.

John decided he knew what to say in his toast. He stood and tapped 
the side of his glass with a knife making a clear ringing sound that 
captured everyone's attention. He started, "For those of you who 
don't know me, I'm John Carter. I'm the best man and it is my duty 
to give a rousing good toast to the newlyweds. Those who know 
me know that I seldom talk about myself and that I spend most of 
my time walking through the wilderness alone. I am going to break 
one of those habits for a little while today and talk about myself."

"I spend almost a third of the year hiking; I hike all summer and 
every weekend. Every morning when I wake, I restart my campfire 
from whatever coals remain from the night before. Once the fire is 
started, I wait and watch the sunrise.  It has become a ritual that I 
perform religiously." 

"I've watched the sun rise from every part of the country and under 
every weather condition possible. I want you to know that I know 
sunrises. Occasionally, I get the chance to watch a truly 
magnificent sunrise that precedes a gloriously beautiful day and I 
want to describe it to you."

"A truly great sunrise comes in stages. In the first stage, the sky is 
a dark gray that slowly lightens. The second stage is the false 
dawn. The entire eastern horizon is illuminated with brilliant 
yellows, purples, violets, and other colors too fantastic to name. 
Slowly the colors soften as we approach true dawn. The sky turns a 
glorious blue. A cold wind blows into your face as you watch the 
horizon. This wind blows exactly at the moment the sun peeks over 
the horizon and only lasts a few seconds. Even though it is cold 
and chills you to the bone, I've always considered it the morning 
kiss of the Goddess of Life."

"Now in a great dawn, you first see the dark grayness of the world 
around you. Then you watch as the darkness disappears as the light 
illuminates world. This illumination is amazing; it possesses an 
intensity and purpose that you never see any other time of the day. 
However, a line is drawn across the world. It separates that part of 
the world that is lit from that part still untouched by a ray of 
sunshine. The lit part shines with vibrant colors while the rest 
remains dark gray. That line moves down the vista around you. It 
illuminates more and more of the world. It gives you a sense of 
hope that soon you will be illuminated and shine with a brilliance 
of colors that is rare.  You want to cry because it moves you in the 
deepest part of your soul. Even the animals respond. A silence 
descends as they wait in anticipation. Finally, the sun rises 
completely and the whole world is illuminated. The birds sing, the 
squirrels chatter, and the brooks babble. Your hope has been 
fulfilled."

"Before Jenny and John met, the sky was a dark gray. Then they 
met and the sky lit up with colors of amazing hue. It was so 
beautiful that it made you want to hold your breath. The colors of 
those early days have transitioned to a vibrant blue. Today, in the 
ceremony that has just taken place, the sun has poked above the 
horizon as they have declared their love in public for the whole 
world to know. The light of their love is illuminating us and as 
they move forth into this world, they will light others. We shine as 
a result of their light. I know this. Look at Davie, he's happier than 
I've ever seen him. I heard that he hit a home run the other day in 
tee ball. Look at their parents. Have you ever seen anyone look so 
proud and happy in your whole life? The smiles in this room tell 
me that this is one of those magnificent dawns that leads to a 
wonderful day."

He turned to face the newlyweds and continued, "I want to thank 
Mr. and Mrs. Jack Anderson for allowing us to bask in their light 
on this, a most amazing day. I know they will light the world with 
their love for a long time. Here is to the happy couple. Cheers."

John looked around the room in amazement at the reaction that his 
toast had sparked. Almost everyone's eyes were moist, a few were 
crying outright. Jack and Jenny were hugging each other tightly 
overwhelmed by emotion. Finally, Jenny's parents started to clap 
and the rest of the room joined in. This was followed by the clink 
of glasses as people took a sip of the Champagne or bubbly grape 
juice as was the case for John and Davie.


