The Watchman

by Marilyn Foxworthy

  I asked, “Right about what?”

  She said, “That our bottoms are connected to our pussy and our boobies. That feels really nice.”

  I smiled and played with her a bit more. Finally I said, “Now we do the baptism. You are going to go under the water and let every bad memory and every bad thing about your old life die as it is all drowned under the water. As it dies, it will let go of you and it will swim away to the sea. It’s as if the you that came here this morning dies and a new Willow is born. You will take a deep breath and go underwater. When the old one is dead, blow out your air and when you rise, I will breathe my breath and a new life into you. Are you ready?”

  Without hesitation, Willow took a breath and released me with her legs and dropped down under the surface of the cove. She moved away so that we weren’t touching and I saw her swim underwater toward the river. When she was about thirty feet away, I watched as her air escaped her lungs and she swam back toward me through the clear water. As she came to where I was, she rolled onto her back and I caught her and put my mouth over hers and breathed into her lungs.

  As I raised her up, she put her legs around my waist again and we kissed.

  She said, “Master, that was nice. There was very little to die. There was one thing and it is gone.”

  I asked, “What was that?”

  She said, “My sister. The old her that had no name and no voice and I spoke for her. She is gone. My new sister, is happy and yells aloud and does what she wants and tells me no and is alive again. She is here, but the one that I have carried is dead now and she is free to swim away. Your baptism is very good. I know that she will like it. And what now?”

  I said, “Well, I hear that there is a fresh blossom here and it wants to learn to kiss.”

  Willow grinned and said, “It is a water lily and it is slippery and ready. Do you mean that we do it right here?”

  I said, “If you want to. Put me in and I will do whatever you want.”

  Willow looked at me and reached down between our bodies and found my penis. She rubbed it at her opening for a moment and then leaned backward, setting me at the door to her sex.

  She said, “Ah, there is a barrier, like Brenda said. Joshua, I love you. I am happy to be your bedmate. You are a wonderful man and I like how you have done this for me today. Penetrate me, My Prince.”

  With that, she pulled hard with her legs around me and drove me all the way in with one motion, all the way to the bone.

  Willow gasped and said, “Oh, that did hurt. But now it doesn’t. And I had a bigger one just now and that made it not hurt as much. And now I’m having another. Your penis is big, but it fits fine. How are babies made? It’s something about fucking, right? Will I have a baby?”

  I said, “Well, you have orgasms when it feels good. So do I, but mine is a bit different. You can have them over and over, but I only have one and then I have to wait a while. When I have an orgasm, my penis shoots out a special fluid called semen. In the semen is a lot of very tiny seeds called sperm. Inside you is a womb. My sperm try to swim into your womb and if the conditions are right, my seed combines with a tiny egg in your body and it begins to grow into a baby.”

  She said, “OK. That will be fine, and I will have a baby for you. You say that it happens when conditions are right. Are they right now? Will Bamboo have a baby too?”

  I said, “Actually, neither one of you will have a baby right now. The conditions are a little bit rare and…”

  She broke in and said, “Oh, otherwise every woman would be having a baby if she has a bedmate.”

  I said, “Yeah, and also, the thing that Clarice put under your arm makes it so that you won’t have one unless we say that we want to and…”

  She broke in again and said, “Because otherwise, we would only do sex if we wanted a baby. But we want to do it every day, so this way we get to do sex all the time and only have babies when we want to. That’s really good. I like your penis. It feels so good. I want to do it where I suck on it. If I suck on it, can the semen come that way too?”

  I said, “It can. And the girls say that they don’t mind how it tastes.”

  Willow said, “I bet that it tastes good. If we are happy if we suck on it then it would be tasty, I think. I will try it. You said that you can only do it once and then you have to wait. So, you did it with Bamboo and now you can do it with me?”

  I said, “Well, I didn’t have an orgasm with Bamboo. She had several, but I didn’t. Not because it didn’t feel good, but because I wanted to make sure that you would have a chance to make love with me too.”

  She said, “So, if I have a lot of orgasms and you don’t, then you can have fucking with Brenda or Raven or the others. And we all get to have fun all at the same time. Do we ever do it at the same time? Oh, of course we do. You only have one penis. But we can do it one after another, all together.”

  I said, “Well, you said that you had a little orgasm when we were kissing. Did you have one when I was touching you?”

  She said, “Yeah. It was really good. Oh, so if you are inside me with your nice penis, then if Clarice kisses you and you kiss Lark with your fingers, then all three of us fuck together! That’s great. Should we call them?”

  I said, “No, not right now. Sometimes we have fun together, but a lot of times, we do it just one at a time. Right now is my time with just you.”

  She said, “OK. Does it feel good enough? Am I supposed to do something for you?”

  I smiled and said, “No, it feels wonderful. Later, I’ll show you other things that we can do and I will show you what my orgasm is like, but for now, I want you to enjoy yourself. When you think that you are done for now, we will go join the others. I want you to tell Bamboo all about the baptism and how it works.”

  Willow said, “OK! I will. I have had a lot of little ones, so we can go and I will tell her all about it.”

  Willow pulled off of me and I kissed her and told her to run on up to the beach and talk to Bamboo and to have Lark talk with them.

  I stayed in the water and swam about for a little while and then went and sat on the point by myself and watched the river go by. Lark had been right: it had been an interesting morning. Willow and Bamboo had been completely unexpected, despite what we had thought that we knew about them.

  Chapter 16 - She's Dead Joshua

  After about fifteen minutes by myself, I heard footsteps on the sand behind me and turned my head to look over my shoulder. Clarice, Brenda, and Bamboo were walking up to where I sat, and Bamboo looked distraught. Clarice looked a bit worried, but Brenda had a look of confidence, like she knew something that none of the rest of us did and that whatever was going on was perfectly OK.

  I stayed seated and the three women came and stood in front of me.

  Bamboo said, “Master, they have told me about the baptism and it sounds wonderful and I would do anything to have it…but it won’t work!” and she burst into tears.

  Before I could say anything, Brenda said, “She’s telling the truth. She believes it won’t work and it won’t. Let me have Raven take the others back to the house.”

  I said, “OK.”

  Brenda said, “Stay there. Raven, It’s OK. The car will take all of you to the house. Show Willow around and let her pick a bedroom. We will be there soon. OK, Bamboo, sit down and tell Joshua what’s wrong.”

  The three sat in a tight circle with me on the sand at the point and Bamboo started to explain as best she could through her tears.

  She said, “Master, she won’t die! She is wicked and very strong. She cursed me and said that she was going to make sure that I was never happy and that I would never be loved. I am loved now and you have made me happy; let us leave her alone. Going into the water will not kill her. She is hateful and would not let me talk. She said that if I talked that she would murder me in my sleep. When you made me a woman again, she could not hold me as firmly, but she will not die by dunking under water. Please, leave her alone and I will make you as h
appy as I can.”

  I thought for a moment and said, “Bamboo, do you want to be free from her?”

  She cried pitiably, “Yes, I would give anything! If you had not found me, I would give my own life to be free from her! But now, I want to live and she will not die this way. I wish she were dead and that what Willow and Lark says could be mine, but it can’t.”

  I looked at Brenda and asked, “Do you have a plan? It looks like you know what to do. We have to help her.”

  Brenda laid a hand on my knee and said, “You will have to trust me more than you have ever trusted anyone in your entire life. You know that I would never hurt you or anyone in our family. I will not let anything happen to her, but you will have to trust me.”

  I said, “I do trust you.”

  She said, “We’ll see. Give me your ear-piece.”

  Brenda took the in-ear communicator from my ear and put it in Bamboo’s. The girl hardly noticed, she was so distraught. Brenda stood up and pulled both Bamboo and I to our feet. She led us to the very end of the point and said, “Bamboo, I want you to swim to the other side of the river. When you get there, someone will meet you. Just do as I say.”

  Bamboo walked a few steps into the water and then just dove straight in, swimming for the other side.

  Brenda said, “No, I didn’t hypnotize her. She is so depressed that she did what I told her to without thinking about it. I didn’t force her. She really is willing to do anything to be free and I offered her a way.”

  We watched as she swam away from us.

  I said, “It has to be a half a mile. Will she be able to swim all the way across?”

  Brenda said quietly, “No.”

  As I watched in horror, Bamboo slowed visibly and fell beneath the surface of the water, starting to drown. And at that instant, Brenda ran to the water and dove in. Brenda was a much faster swimmer, but before she reached her, the other girl had surfaced twice and gasped for air, but then disappeared again. When Brenda was still twenty feet away, Bamboo didn’t resurface and Brenda dove down under the water.

  Clarice said, “The ear-piece was so that we could make her tired and then fall asleep. Her breath has all escaped and her lungs are full of water. Brenda will be here in forty seconds. You have a safety margin of one-hundred and ten seconds to revive her. You know CPR. You have a minute and a half.”

  I cried out, “What? You mean she’s dead?”

  Clarice said calmly, “She’s dead. I love you. You can do this. Brenda won’t let anything happen. Are you angry?”

  I didn’t even think about it.

  I said, “No. This is what we do. Brenda knew what to do here. Not me. I trust both of you. I know that if somehow I fail to revive her, then you will do it. You wouldn’t have done this without a plan. How much longer?”

  Clarice said, “”Four, Three, Two, now!” and Brenda’s head rose above the water.

  She threw the unconscious Bamboo over her shoulder, head downward, and a large quantity of water ran out of the girl’s mouth. Brenda lay her down on the little beach at the water’s edge and I got on my knees and tilted Bamboo’s head back to clear her airway.

  Clarice said, “She still has a pulse. She just isn’t breathing.”

  I started mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and in less than thirty seconds, I had the satisfaction of seeing Bamboo shake and begin to cough as she gasped for air. I turned her on her side as more water was expelled from her lungs. When she had caught her breath, she grabbed my neck and opened her eyes and I held her close to my chest.

  I said, “You’re OK now. Try to relax. You’re going to be fine. Relax. Just breathe. Do you want to sit up?”

  She nodded her head and I turned so that she leaned against my lap, where I sat on the ground. I brushed her wet hair away from her eyes and face and kissed her tenderly on the forehead. I loved her now more than ever. I had connected more with Willow early, as we bathed together, but now, having brought Bamboo back from drowning, I felt absolutely linked in a unique way.

  Bamboo coughed a few more times as Brenda took the ear-piece from Bamboo’s head and put it back in my own ear.

  Bamboo finally spoke, saying, “Joshua, what happened? I was drowning. I got so tired and I couldn’t swim anymore. I thought that I didn’t want to die because I love you and I felt so sad that it was over. I told myself that if I could turn around, then maybe I could make it back to you, but I went under and I drowned. And then I was dead. But then, you were breathing into me and I woke up and started to live again.” Bamboo hugged me tightly and cried.

  I said, “You’re alive now and it’s all OK. Clarice, bring us some robes. Do you feel OK now, Bamboo? It might take a while before you feel all better.”

  She said, “I’m weak. But Joshua, she is dead. As we both died, I heard her screaming and then she was silent.”

  I glanced at Brenda and she winked at me and touched her ear, giving me a signal that she had caused Bamboo to hear what she did through the ear-piece before the girl lost consciousness. It may have been a trick, but I knew that while the sound might have been from Brenda, the thing that Bamboo had experienced was entirely real. She hadn’t been possessed by some evil spirit, but she had been cursed. A curse, while not at all magical, was very powerful and Bamboo had carried the memory and power of Irene’s curse in a very real way. And now it was gone.

  I said, “Bamboo, I’m so sorry that you had to go through that. It’s all going to be OK. When you slipped under the water, Brenda swam out and got you and brought you back here. And I breathed into your lungs until you started breathing on your own again.

  She said, “Oh Joshua, I don’t know what to say. Everything is different and I don’t even know where I am now. I know that we are in the haunted woods and that we have been together and I remember everything that happened, but I don’t know where it all fits together. Bonvale is in that direction, but how does that mean anything? I have been there, but it’s as if I haven’t. The world is swirling and nothing is settled.”

  I said, “I think that’s because you are a new person now. Everything has to be made to fit again.”

  She said, “I am a new person. I fit with you. And with Brenda and Clarice. Where is my sister? I need to tell her who I am now.”

  I said, “She has gone to our house, called Havenrest. We will go there very soon. We will go to our house and put you to bed to rest.”

  She said, “OK. That will be nice.”

  Clarice said, “Now I wish that we had brought extra ear-pieces with us. It would be better if she could sleep now.”

  Bamboo was a big girl, very trim and fit, but at six-foot two, she still weighed more than the other girls. I considered letting Brenda or Clarice carry her, and if she had been asleep, I would have. Instead, I lifted her up, with her legs around my waist, and carried her against my chest like a large child. She seemed happy to let her head rest on my shoulder sleepily. Clarice had brought us robes, but we hadn’t put them on yet, so she draped one over Bamboo’s back as we walked toward the grass where the garden cart was waiting for us.

  I said, “We will need showers when we get home.”

  The cart took the four of us to the door of the guest house and I was about to introduce Bamboo to her new home, but at that moment, Raven came through the door and rushed to hand Clarice one of the in-ear communicators that we all wore. Clarice put the tiny device in Bamboo’s ear without explanation and I felt the girl relax and fall asleep against me on the bench seat that we shared. Clarice got out of the cart and picked up the sleeping beauty and all of us headed into the house.

  Brenda said, “It will be easier for her if she doesn’t have to see her new surroundings when she’s so exhausted from her ordeal. When we get inside, I’ll take her and give her a bath without waking her up, and then I’ll put her to bed. Maybe you should take a nap too.”

  I said, “Actually, I think that I need to unwind. I need something to do for a while.”

  Clarice said, “If you like, I can
have the nymphs bring some lunch down to the secret lair and you can take a look at the project that we have been working on. You and I can take a shower and get warm and then we can work for a bit. Brenda will join us when she can.”

  I agreed and Raven said that she wanted to help Brenda take care of Bamboo. We all entered the elevator and went to the bedroom level and when Raven, Brenda, and the sleeping Bamboo exited, Clarice and I went to the workshop level we called my secret lair.

  When Clarice and I exited the elevator, we went straight to the little bedroom that was outside the workshop where I had lived with Clarice for much of the time before the cataclysm. We dropped our robes on the floor and the water in the large shower started automatically. Our time in the shower was relaxing and very nice. We soaped each other and hugged our slippery bodies against each other, and I considered making love, but we didn’t. Frankly, I was concerned about expending that much physical energy when I was in such a drained emotional state.

  When we were washed and rinsed, we stood together and let the air-driers do their jobs. When that was done, we brushed our hair and our teeth, and decided to get dressed. Occasionally, clothing was like comfort food; it just felt good to be a little bit covered up by soft fabric. While we were in the shower, Mandy had come to the room and laid out flannel pajamas for each of us.

  I sat down in the big chair next to the bed and Clarice sat in my lap.

  I took a deep breath and then said, “Clarice, did we really do that?”

  Clarice said, “Yes we did.”

  I said, “We let, no, we made, Bamboo drown in the river and then we revived her?”

  Clarice hugged me and said, “No. Brenda and I made Bamboo drown in the river and then you revived her.”

  I asked, “Was she really dead?”

  Clarice said, “She had stopped breathing and her lungs were full of water. Her heart was still beating, but it would have stopped in another forty seconds. If you hadn’t started resuscitation when you did, she would have absolutely died. So, for all intents, she was dead.”

  I sighed heavily and went on, “If we hadn’t done it, she would have been tormented by a fractured psyche for the rest of her life.”