by Holly Ardent
“I can't say for sure. But she might need to talk about it to get it out of her system. If so, we can help that way by listening and not trying to interrupt or one-up whatever troubles she's talking about. That wouldn't fix all of it, but if she's willing I bet that would be a good way for her to start getting over it, or at least getting enough of a handle on it that it isn't a problem any more.”
While I was talking to get the girls, Molly had gone over to the bathroom and knocked gently. The door had opened to let her in and I could hear them talking, their voices muted by distance and the walls.
“Anyhow, help me get the table set for dinner, and don't forget to add a place for Rita,” I said.
* * *
When Molly and Rita came out of the bathroom, Rita's eyes were swollen and puffy, but her face was clean. I'd heard the water running moments earlier so I figured she'd just washed her face.
Molly caught my inquisitive glance and looked up at the clock on the wall. Years of marriage let me know that that meant she'd explain to me later on.
I served dinner, giving everyone full portions. Rita didn't quite finish hers before pushing it away.
“If I eat any more I'll be sick,” she said.
“Not that the food is bad,” she added hurriedly, “just because I haven't been eating that much lately. If I try to finish that it'll be too much for me.”
I nodded, having guessed that might be her reason.
“Wouldn't do you much good if you lost it all,” I said. “So yes, please stop if you're full.”
She looked relieved, as though she'd feared we might react badly to her not finishing everything we offered her.
When everyone finished eating, Becky went back over to Rita. This time she looked up at her before trying to hug her. Rita smiled and nodded, allowing Becky to wrap her arms around Rita again. This time Rita just closed her eyes and appeared to enjoy the contact.
“Are you going to stay with us?” Kate asked, her tone a little more unsure than it had been when she asked a similar question earlier.
“I hope so,” Rita replied. “We'll have to see how things work out.”
“Good, then you can come see our room,” Kate said.
Becky released Rita from the hug and took her hand instead. As she was dragged off to the girls' bedroom Rita looked at Molly and I helplessly. I smiled and Molly laughed.
“Go ahead. We've got plenty of time. The girls go to bed hours before Molly and I do.”
Rita's mouth moved like a fish out of water, as though she couldn't quite put words to whatever question she wanted to ask. Instead, she turned and followed Becky and Kate to their room.
Molly looked at me and spoke softly.
“Land mines indeed. Rita used to be married and have a son. Her husband and son went on a two week hunting trip right before things turned really bad. They hadn't been paying attention and the Crash took them off guard. Her husband called her about a week after the Crash, told her they were trying to get home. That's the last she heard of either of them.”
I nodded.
“So that's why the family references got to her. I suppose it could explain why she freaked when Becky hugged her too.”
“Not quite. She and her husband had decided to have another child. They were going to start trying right after he got back. She said they wanted a girl that time.”
“Oh,” I exclaimed softly. “That explains it even better.”
Molly nodded at me.
“Rita thinks she'll be fine. We just caught her off guard and brought all those memories back in a rush. I think that she'll need more time than she said to get over it, but we can help.”
“We can try at least. It's mostly up to her though.”
“True, but we'll do what we can,” she said.
An hour later Rita made her escape from the girls.
“Are they always like that?” she asked.
“I call them the terrible twosome for a reason,” I said. “And yes, they can wear us out quicker than almost anything else. Fortunately we can frequently point them at a task and they'll burn out a lot of their energy getting it done.”
Rita shook her head.
“I always thought boys were the rough ones. But those two, they knock each other around, bounce off the furniture, and come up smiling. Becky said something about being a bumble?”
I chuckled.
“Remember the old Christmas TV special?” I asked. “One of the Santa Claus ones? It had the line 'Bumbles bounce!' in it. She's watched that one a lot. I had it on one of our computers while it was still working. She and her sister kind of took it to heart. Of which I thoroughly approve. Bouncing back from problems is always a good thing in my mind.”
Rita's eyes took on a faraway look for a moment. I hadn't meant the message in my reply to be quite so blatant, but I occasionally just don't know when to stop talking.
Molly elbowed me, letting me know that she agreed that I should stop talking.
“It's amazing what kids can get over or ignore. A lot more than we older folks,” Molly said. “Kate and Becky adjusted to things falling apart far faster than I did.”
“They did?” Rita asked. “What about Tim?”
Molly shook her head ruefully.
“Nope, Tim was on top of it from the start. Most of the reason we're doing as well as we are was because he saw it coming. I gave him shit about being a prepper for years before things fell apart. When they did, I shut up fast and thanked my lucky stars that he'd ignored my gibes and teasing.”
Rita looked at me again, this time her gaze was more appraising than it had been before.
“How, exactly, did you get ready for something like this?”
“With time and patience,” I answered. “Come over here.”
I led her to one of the numerous bookcases in our living room and gestured for her to read the titles. I knew what she'd see. The case contained books on gardening, permaculture, perennial vegetables, growing fruit and nut trees, hobby electronics, gun smithing and maintenance, and much more.
“I started by studying the parts of those I found relevant. I had lots more books I read and studied, these are just the ones I kept for reference. Then I put it into practice. The first few years I tried gardening up here were a dismal failure, but I kept at it. By the time things fell apart I had fruit and nut trees bearing, I'd figured out how to get the garden to do well, and had planted all the trees and perennial vegetables I intended on growing up here. I also got the greenhouse set up for the things I wanted to grow that needed more protection. It took a few years to learn it through experience and get things going, but you can see the results.”
Molly beamed at me.
“He's being modest again,” she said. “I gave him as much shit about that as I did stocking up on food and other things he thought would be necessary. At least until he started producing some food. The first time I tasted home-grown spinach I was a convert, at least to him gardening. After that I teased him less about the whole thing. I figured I was benefiting from it so I could let some of it slide.”
“Molly always wanted me to keep learning things. She kept studying new things all the time. She just didn't quite understand that I preferred to put my own study into practice as opposed to keeping it theoretical.”
“There's so much here. Did you really learn all of this?” Rita asked.
I shook my head.
“No, like I said, just what I thought was relevant. Some books I learned almost everything they offered, others were only a chapter or two. Some I got through quickly. Once you learn troubleshooting and maintenance on something mechanical, that's about it except guessing which backup parts to order. On the other hand, like I said, learning to successfully garden at this altitude took several years.”
Rita shook her head.
“Do you mind if I read some of these? There might be some things I'll want to learn myself.”
“You're welcome to read any of them. Just don't fold the pages, the
re's a bunch of bookmarks over there,” I said, pointing. “Use those and put the books back on the shelf when you aren't reading them in case I need to reference something.”
She smiled, weakly, but it was still a smile.
“Thank you,” she said. “Now Molly was talking about maybe getting to know each other tonight?”
Molly led Rita over to a couch in the TV room. It didn't see much use nowadays since there was only one TV channel we could receive any more. It was a state sponsored channel that showed old movie reruns, notifications for the dole and other state related things, weather forecasts (which were even less accurate than they used to be), and general news. It was nice to have, but the days of people being glued to their TV sets to see the next episode of a new show were over.
We all sat down in the TV room and a bit of a silence followed. I didn't want to step on any more land mines so I was waiting for Rita to start. Molly wasn't as patient as I though, so eventually she started talking.
We paused briefly an hour later to put the kids to bed. Kate and Becky begged for good night kisses from 'Aunt Rita' also and trooped out into the TV room to get them. When Molly and I returned from tucking the girls in, Rita's eyes were moist again, but she was smiling happily.
“I think I like your girls. They're so outgoing,” Rita said.
“Thank Molly for that,” I said. “I've always been more of an anti-social type. Well, not really anti-social, more asocial. I can take or leave people. Not so much for Molly, she's always been outgoing.”
“I'd say he's lying, but he isn't,” Molly said. “He's never been much for crowds, trends, fashions, or anything of the sort. He prefers to do what he wants to and if he finds others that are interested in the same things, he's more than happy to include them. I was always the one that wanted to be in the middle of lots of other people, doing this or that trendy thing.”
“I was like that too,” Rita said.
“Well, I got cured of it pretty quickly. Did you see any of the footage the news was playing the last few days before the cable television stopped for good? Some of what I saw made me really happy that I wasn't in any large crowds then.”
Rita's face paled.
Yup, she saw some of it too, I thought. Mob mentality isn't a pretty thing when people are starving and will do anything for a bite to eat.
“Yes I did, and let's leave it at that. I prefer not to remember some of the things I saw there. I'm still amazed they actually managed to broadcast it,” Rita said.
“Who was going to stop them?” I asked. “I bet the censors that would've nuked that coverage were part of some of those crowds. Remember the people whose jobs weren't absolutely necessary for things to function got let go first. Censors certainly fall into that category as far as I'm concerned. Although the top spots of useless are reserved for politicians, bankers, and lawyers as far as I'm concerned, censors would probably still be in the top ten though.”
Rita burst into laughter and Molly glared at her for a moment.
“Don't encourage him,” she said.
“But, but... He's being redundant. With the way politics worked before the Crash, weren't politicians, bankers, and lawyers completely interchangeable? I mean, you can always substitute one parasite for another, right?”
Molly's eyes flew open and she heaved a melodramatic sigh.
“Not another one,” she said. “I think you and Tim will get along just fine.”
That last exchange seemed to have finally broken the ice we'd been trying to get through. Rita was now willing to actually express what she felt about things. Molly had never had that problem in the first place, and I was as willing as I'd ever been to say what I really thought.
We chatted for another half hour before Molly yawned.
“Time for bed, I think,” she said.
“Where will I be sleeping?” Rita asked.
“For at least part of the night,” I added.
I grinned at her and there was probably a bit more lechery in that grin than intended.
“In our bed, with us,” Molly said. “We've got spare bedrooms, but there's no need to use those, don't you agree?”
“I wasn't sure,” Rita said. “I know what you told me, but...”
Molly shook her head.
“I said what I meant, I always do. Come to bed dear and we can all continue to get to know each other better.”
* * *
Rita was hesitant once we'd gotten into the bedroom. Molly and I normally slept nude and as we stripped down I caught sight of Rita's face. She looked nervous and tense.
“You don't have to start sleeping in here with us tonight,” I said.
Molly glared at me.
“We can give you a couple of days to get adjusted to the idea if you need them.”
Molly, who was out of sight of Rita, shook her head at me.
Rita stared at me then looked over to Molly, who quickly schooled her face into a neutral look, then back at me.
“Actually,” Rita said, “I don't think I need that. You're both standing here nude in front of me without the least bit of self-consciousness. I can do the same, can't I? Just stand here nude and not worry about what you two are thinking?”
“Well, there's no need to worry about what we think in some ways,” Molly said. “However, Tim can be a bit of an animal when it comes to sex, so you might want to worry about that.”
Rita was still looking at me and she caught the indignant look on my face moments before Molly burst into laughter.
“How do you two do that?” Rita asked. “You dig and jibe at one another with no hard feelings. When I was married—”
She paused for a moment, gulped, but then continued.
“When I was married, neither one of us could've done that for fear of hurting the other one's feelings.”
Molly's face turned serious.
“You just need the right man or in Tim's case, the right woman. Someone that you know well enough to know what they'll be offended or made nervous by. A lot of the time it's just insecurity that keeps married couples from kidding with each other. But look at us, if I were insecure would you be here?”
Molly shook her head.
“Not a chance. If Tim were insecure, he wouldn't have offered to let me play the same way. One of these days I may, but women outnumber the men after that stupid state draft and war got all the men killed. So it's his turn now. Even when it is my turn, I may not take advantage of it. Part of the reason I find other partners for Tim is that he really does want more sex than I do. I'd give it to him anyway, but I might be a little...”
She paused as she searched for the correct term.
“put out by it,” she continued. “He'd be sure to notice and that would make both of us enjoy it less. This way, I get to watch. That normally makes me more interested in sex. It's a win-win situation for us since I get to enjoy all the sex I have with my husband and watch him with other women. Of course, his winning side of the deal is fairly evident.”
Her eyes gleamed for a moment as she locked gazes with Rita.
“Sometimes, he and the other woman will even let me direct. Tell them just what to do. That's the biggest turn-on I've ever experienced.”
Rita blushed and looked away, murmuring something under her breath. Molly was about to ask her what she was saying, but I caught her eye and shook my head.
I moved closer to Rita and when she looked up, it was my turn to make eye contact.
“So, you're going to stay in here tonight?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Then let me help you out.”
I reached for the base of her shirt and skimmed it up and off her body. I smiled as I caught my first sight of her breasts with nothing in the way. They were milky white with a very light smattering of freckles across the top where they joined her torso.
She must have had her breasts bound when she was wearing those rags. There's no way I could've missed tits this size on a woman, even one that was dirty and dresse
d in rags.
As I reached for the waistband of her skirt I brushed against the sides of her breasts on my way down. I pushed it down over her hips and let it slither to the floor where it pooled, before she lifted a foot to kick it away.
My eyes slid down the front of her body, from her breasts to her stomach and down. They shot wide open when they reached her pubic area.
“Wait, what?” I spluttered.
“I told you so,” Molly said.
Rita laughed gently.
“Molly told me what you liked and offered to loan me her razor when I showered earlier. Do you like?”
My eyes were still locked on the pink flesh of her pussy, entirely unobscured by pubic hair. I picked my jaw up off the floor and nodded. My hand, still at her hips from removing her skirt, slid down of its own accord and stroked the smooth flesh of her mons pubis.
I wasn't wearing any clothing myself, so my instant reaction to the feel of her bare skin was quite obvious. Rita inhaled sharply and bit her lower lip. Her hand moved out slowly. I saw it tremble as it closed the distance to my erection.
“It's been a very long time,” she whispered, almost as though she were talking to herself, “but I think I'm ready again.”
Her index finger made contact with the head of my cock. She slid it down off my head and ran it down the shaft. She was still trembling, but I thought her breath might be speeding up a bit. The light touch of her finger on my cock had me trembling right along with her, craving a firmer touch as opposed to the tentative one she was using.
I held myself back. With the mood swings Rita was having I was worried about setting her off again. Instead of grabbing her and tossing her on the bed to take her, I just left my hand gently rubbing her mons. My other hand moved up to her breast and started stroking it, gently.
She wasn't lying about having a kid, at least I don't think so. I remember when Molly's nipples got larger from her pregnancies. They did shrink back down some, but they were darker and thicker after. Rita's got the same thing going, but if these shrank back down from their size while she was pregnant I wish I could've seen them then.
With her nipples engaging my attention, it was only natural that my hand would move to the one on the breast I was playing with. It was already hard, which didn't surprise me, but what did surprise me was its sensitivity. As soon as I brushed her nipple Rita inhaled with a hiss, her eyes closed, and she thrust her breast at my hand.
