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 A World of My Choosing   An Out-of-this-World Story by Gil Gamesh

   Chapter Twenty-Two

   A couple of days later the four of us eagerly dressed in our complete
Robin-Hood clothing for our exploration on the isthmus.  We each carried a
spear, another weapon, and a backpack with a rain cape, drink, and food.

   We left home at the first daylight, even before the sun peeked over the
horizon, and breakfasted on the way.  We went down the mountain again and
crossed most of the isthmus.  We were enjoying exploring on another
beautiful summer day and were in sight of the forest land on the mainland
when something I had not anticipated happened.

   We were wending our way along the isthmus when we came to two large
boulders with a sandy opening between them.  I saw we had to go through
single file so I took the lead.  I was through the opening when a huge bear
stood up on one side of me.  I was momentarily startled because he had
markings on his face, red stripes, and I had never seen a bear like that.
He had been partially hidden by other rocks and I had almost led our party
to him.  One glance told me he was a male and I knew that they could be
aggressive.  I quickly became cool, as cool as I had been in a dusty street
in Islamistan.

   I knew what I had to do.  In a threatening posture, the bear was waving
his forepaws in the air as high as he could, higher than my head, perhaps
to appear to be a more formidable opponent, and growling enough to frighten
anyone.  When he lowered his front paws, I sensed he was about to drop down
on all four paws and to charge us.  Standing up, his chest presented a good
target for a spear.  On all fours, charging, that target was not
accessible.

   In my cool state, I called upon all my strength and agility and
quickness and launched myself at the bear with my spear in both my hands. I
felt the spear point enter and then slide deep into his chest and I knew I
had wounded him severely.  I couldn't suddenly stop but I dodged to the
side.

   As I went past him, he swiped at me with a paw, made contact with my
shoulder, and knocked me sprawling in the rocks.  I bounced off a boulder
but luckily my head didn't make contact.  I quickly scrambled to my feet,
pulled Big Boy out of my scabbard, and looked around.  I was dizzy and it
took me a moment to focus.  When I did, I saw that the bear was down on its
side with spears sticking in him in four different places.  His head and
legs were still aggressively moving.

   Anna and James were standing behind the bear's back, both leaning on
their spears which were sunk deep into the bear's side, pinning him to the
ground.  Iain's spear was also in the bear's chest, slanted toward its
front legs.  Mine was on the ground protruding from the center of the
bear's chest.

   Iain was down and struggling to get up.  I could tell that he was
injured.  I knew there was something I had to do before I worried about
Iain.

   I quickly went to the bear and pulled his head back so I could cut his
throat.  I saw thick fur and knew even Big Boy would have trouble cutting
through that.  I reversed my grip on the knife, put the point about where I
thought it would miss his spine, shoved twelve inches of steel into his
throat, cut from the inside out, and swiftly moved away to avoid the
spurting blood.

   Then I ran to Iain and helped him up.  He put his arm over my shoulder
and I put mine around his back and we stood there grinning at each other.
Anna and James ran to us and Iain and I both held out a welcoming arm.  We
all knew we had met the beast and we had killed it.

   After a quick hug, Anna pulled away and looked down at Iain's leg.  I
looked too and saw that the cloth covering his leg was torn and pulled
completely out of his boot.  I saw red blood running down his bare leg but
nothing was spurting and I knew he wasn't seriously hurt.  Still, he could
hardly stand.  Anna dropped to her knees, pulled the cloth to each side,
and inspected the wound.  She looked up at me.

   "He's got two bad puncture wounds that look deep," she said.  "I need to
clean them and put an antibiotic on them.  There's not much blood loss so
the bear's claws didn't hit any big blood vessels."

   "Anna, David's wounded too," Iain said.  "Look at his shoulder."

   Anna stood up and we both looked at my shoulder.  The bear's claws had
caught me just a little way down my arm, had ripped away the covering
cloths of my chemise and tunic, and had left four red stripes across my
arm. The two furrows in the center looked deepest and blood was running
from them down my arm.  Now that I was aware of the injury, it was burning
and hurting.  I breathed deeply, closed my eyes, and tried to will the
injury not to hurt and the blood not to flow.  When I opened my eyes, Iain
and James and Anna were all looking at me.  I smiled at them, to let them
know I was OK.

   "David, I was cool!" Iain said.  "I was like you!  I saw everything in
slow motion!  When the bear swatted you, I knew I had to stop him.  He went
down with your spear and I stuck mine in the side of his chest.  He swatted
me and got my leg.  Then Anna and James stuck him too.  He kept thrashing
around until you cut his throat.  I was cool, Anna!  I really was, James! I
was cool!  Damn, I was cool!"

   "Iain, listen to me," I commanded.  "Shut your eyes and take some deep
breaths.  Try to become calm and then will the injury to your leg not to
hurt.  You can do it."

   He stood there for a moment, eyes closed, breathing deeply.  When he
opened his eyes, he smiled at me, looked at Anna and then James, and smiled
at them.

   "I can do it!" he said.  "It doesn't hurt bad!"

   Anna quickly became our nurse.  She made Iain and me hold our hands
tightly over our wounds.  She pulled off her tunic and her chemise, took
Little Boy out of my scabbard, and, with James' help, cut her chemise into
long strips.  She folded a couple of strips up into pads, put them under
our hands, and then tied the pads tightly in place with another strip.  She
stood back looking at my shoulder and Iain's thigh for a minute.  She was
probably unaware how beautiful she was with her breasts bare and hard
nipples standing up and her hair wild and blowing in the wind.

   "That should stop the bleeding," she said.  "We'll clean you guys up in
a few minutes.  Right now, I want you both to take an antibiotic tablet. 
Aimee gave me a topical antibiotic and a pill one when I told her where we
were going.  In a little while, I'll change the dressing and put a topical
antibiotic on the wounds.  There's no telling what sort of bacteria are
under a bear's claws.  Now you guys sit down and take it easy for a few
minutes."

   Iain and I obeyed Nurse Anna, sat down on a couple of rocks, and took
our medicine.  We watched James as he wrenched four spears out of the bear
and then walked back to where we were sitting, two spears in each hand, and
his usual big smile on his face.

   "You stuck him almost in the center of his chest, David!" James said. 
"He swatted you and you went down and then, when the bear fell down, Iain
was on him like a chicken on a June bug.  Then me and Anna stuck him at the
same time.  I was leaning on my spear trying to pin him to the ground and I
guess Anna was too.  Then you cut his throat and he died.  We all four
killed him!  We really did!"

   I looked at Iain and saw him with his eyes almost closed and his head
held high like he was concentrating on something.

   "Iain, what is it?" I asked.  "Do you hear something?"

   "Yeah, I'm still cool, David," he said.  "I heard something like an
animal whining.  There, I heard it again.  It's off to my right.

   I stood up and faced to his right.  The erratic wind was blowing toward
us from the south and the sea was breaking on the south side of the
isthmus. In a minute or so, I heard a faint whine over the sound of the
waves but it seemed to come from two large rocks close to where the bear
had been eating something.

   I walked in that direction, looked at what little remained of the bear's
kill, and couldn't believe what I saw.  The few scraps of skin looked like
they were from a dog.  The remaining bones were too small to be from a
large animal like a wolf.  I looked around more and saw what I believed was
a dog's paw with white-colored hair.  I looked more and saw a tiny tail
that looked like it had come from a puppy.  I kept looking and saw another
tail.  The bear had killed and eaten at least two puppies and a mother.

   Iain and Anna were also looking around at the grisly remains.  James had
evidently heard the whine too because he was slowly walking toward two
large rocks.

   "The bear's been clawing at something here, David," he said.  "It looks
like he was trying to get something out of this crack between the rocks. 
The rock's scratched and the sand near the crack is all dug out."

   He dropped to his knees and stuck his face right in the crack, then
turned to me, excited at what he saw.

   "There's something in there, David," he said.  "It's alive.  I heard it
whining.  I can see it."

   I dropped down on my knees and looked in the crack.  I saw it too.  It
looked like another puppy.  I saw white and black and brown areas and tried
to remember what dogs were colored that way.  I knew beagles were but the
bones from the adult mother had looked too large to be from a beagle.

   "I think it's a puppy, James," I said.  "Do you want to see if you can
reach it?  It might bite you."

   "I don't care," he said, and immediately stuck his arm in the crack.  He
tried to reach the dog but he evidently couldn't.  He turned to me.

   "I can't reach him," he said.

   I was about to try to reach in with my wounded right arm but I realized
that was the bandaged one.  I lay down on my belly and tried with my left
arm.  I felt warm fur.  The creature tried to move away from my hand but it
was trapped.  I caught it by the nape of the neck and slowly pulled it out.
It was a puppy.  I handed it to James and we both stood up.

   He cradled the puppy in his arms for a moment, then looked up at me, and
I could see in his face a look of pleading and happiness.  The puppy was
some variety of hound with a beagle's coloration, floppy ears, and short
hair.  It was trying to curl up in James' arms.

   "Can I keep him?" he asked.  "Can I?  Really, I want to keep him! 
Please let me keep him!"

   "How do you know it's a him?" I asked.

   He turned the puppy so its stomach was showing.  It was a male dog.

   "Can I keep him, David?" he pled.  "Please let me!  Please!  Please!  I
want to keep him!"

   "Let him keep him, David," Anna said.

   I looked at his ecstatic face and made a decision.  I probably should
have delayed and made a rational decision.  Instead, I made a quick
emotional decision.

   "You may keep him, James," I said.  "You found him.  You may keep him.
He's yours."

   He looked down at the puppy for a moment and then handed it to Anna.

   "You can hold him, Anna," he said.  "Just don't drop him."

   He turned back to me, wrapped his arms around me, and gave me a long
hard hug.  Then he reached up, pulled my head down to his, and kissed me,
left cheek, right cheek, and mouth.  I couldn't help but smile at his
happiness.

   He took the puppy from Anna and handed it to Iain.

   "You can hold him too, Iain," he said.  "He's my dog now."

   He turned back to Anna, gave her a big hug, kissed her, left cheek,
right cheek, mouth, and then buried his face in the hair beside her neck.
He seemed to be shaking and I wondered what he was doing.  Then I realized
he was crying.  I went to him and pressed up against him with my hands on
his shoulders and waited for him to regain his composure.

   After a minute or so, he pulled away from Anna, kissed her on the cheek,
and retrieved his puppy from Iain.  He stood there, tears on his cheeks,
holding the little squirming creature for a moment and then looked up at
me.

   "I always wanted a dog," he said.  "I always wanted one when I was a
kid. They wouldn't let me have one.  I just wanted something of my own that
I could love."

   He handed the puppy to me again.  I wondered why until he walked over to
Iain and kissed him too, left cheek, right cheek, mouth.  For once Iain
didn't resist.  James walked back to me and retrieved his dog.

   "If he's my dog, can I name him?" he asked.

   "Of course.  He's yours to name.  He's yours to feed and clean up after
too."

   He looked down at the dog for a minute.  "Lucky," he said.  "I think
that's a good name for you.  Lucky.  Yeah, you're Lucky."

   "You probably should name him Trouble!" Iain said, grinning.

   James gave him a quick finger.  He wasn't just grinning.  He was smiling
as wide as possible.  So was Iain.

   "Hold him up to your cheek, James," Anna said.  "If he licks your cheek,
he likes that name."

   He held the pup up to his cheek and, of course, it licked his cheek. 
James beamed even wider.

   "You could take your chemise off and tie a string around the bottom and
tie the arms around your neck and you'd have a good way to carry him home,"
Anna said.

   "Home," I said.  "I think it's about time we started back there; don't
you?"

   "What about the bear, David?" Iain asked.  "Can we eat bear meat?"

   "Well, I can't carry him home, that's for sure," I said.  "He probably
weighs twice what I do.  I would like to have his skin but I have no idea
how much it would weigh.  I'd like to have the head and the paws too but I
know that would be stupid."

   "I'll help you skin him, David," Iain said.  "You can use Little Boy and
I'll pull.  We can do it."

   "We can carry the skin back to the mountain, David," James said.  "When
we get to the bamboo grove, we can cut a pole and two people can both carry
it together.  Me and Anna can carry it some."

   "I can help too, David," Anna said.  "Let me use the knife and you and
Iain pull.  I'll bet we can skin it without much trouble.

   I stood looking at the bear.  What did I want with its skin?  I didn't
know but I wanted it.  Maybe it would make a good bearskin rug, maybe a
coat, maybe a bunch of moccasins.

   I used Little Boy to cut around each of the bear's wrists and the neck.
Then I cut on the inside of each leg up to the center of the stomach and
chest, being careful to cut nothing but skin.  Next I cut from the neck
down to the stomach.  I didn't want the bear's penis or testicles so I made
two cuts around them and the anus.  I looked at the tail for a moment and
then cut it off.

   "OK," I said, straightening up.  "Who's ready to pull?

   "You are," Anna said, and held out her hand for Little Boy.

   I handed it to her and watched her cut the skin loose.  Iain and I
pulled the skin while she cut in long strokes and did it better than I
could have done it, quickly, competently, and without making a face.

   <><><>

   On our way up the mountain, I thought of something that I wished we
already had: a way-station, a cabin or building toward the bottom of the
mountain, only a hundred feet or so above sea level, close to one of the
many mountain streams.  I wanted to have a place where we could spend the
night before or after an excursion on the isthmus.  I tried to think of
what we could use for building materials without having to haul the
material very far.  I knew there were layered deposits of rock near many
streams.  There were also plenty of straight trees like pine or any of a
number of deciduous trees.  The site would have to have running water close
by for drinking and bathing.  I resolved to begin exploring for a site soon
and to start construction as soon as I had more guys to help.

   We finally got home about an hour after dark.  For the last leg, Anna
and I had the bearskin on a bamboo pole, her with the uphill end, me with
the downhill end.  Iain limped along stoically.  I could tell that his knee
was painful and I offered to carry him but he refused.  When they could
Iain and James walked side by side, either holding hands, with James
helping Iain over difficult places, or Iain with his hand on James'
shoulder.  James carried the puppy in his chemise papoose carrier and
talked to it constantly.  After sunset, the moon gave us enough light to
follow the familiar paths the rest of the way up the mountain.  I was tired
and hungry but wonderfully happy and alive and glad to be home.

   <><><>

   The next morning, I heard James in the kitchen talking to Lucky.  I
rolled out of bed, put on a loin cloth, had a quick piss, and went to the
kitchen.  James was pouring some left-over stew from a frying pan over
crumbled bread in a bowl.  He was still naked.  The puppy was whining and
wiggling at his feet.

   "I did what you told me, David," he said.  "He slept with me all night
and then I took him outside first thing.  He sniffed everything and peed a
few times.  After he eats, I'm going to take him outside again and see if
he poops."

   "Where's Iain?" I asked.

   "Still sleeping, I guess," he said.  "We tried sleeping together like we
usually do but he kept wiggling `cause couldn't make his leg stop hurting
so he got in another bed."

   He put the bowl down in front of the puppy and we both watched as it
started gobbling down its food.  Iain limped in and stood watching with us.
He was naked too.  I knew he and James would put on loin cloths before
breakfast.  Anna had requested that we all dress for meals because, her
words, she wanted to be able to think of what she was putting in her mouth.

   Anna walked in just as James was taking the puppy outside.  She was bare
breasted but she had put on a loincloth too.  She petted the dog, kissed
James on the cheek, and turned to Iain and me.  She removed the bandages
she had put on us after we showered last night, inspected our wounds, made
us sit at a table while she cleaned them, and applied more of the topical
antibiotic.  My arm was sore but it wasn't really hurting bad.  Iain said
his injury wasn't hurting bad either but his knee didn't feel right.  Anna
had him put both knees side by side and she leaned over and compared them.
The injured knee was clearly swollen.  Something that wasn't injured
started to swell too.  She gave his penis a yank and then stood up.

   "I probably should take a few sutures in both of your injuries," she
said.  "Aimee, do we have what I'll need to suture a wound?  I imagine
these aren't the last injuries these boys are going to get."

   "Yes, Anna," Aimee replied.  "The necessary supplies are in the
storeroom.  There is also a compound which will glue the two sides of any
minor incision together.  It seals the wound, minimizes scarring, and will
help prevent infection.  Perhaps that is the best treatment for their
wounds."

   "Thank you, Aimee," Anna said.  "I've used something like that before
and I think it'll be fine for minor injuries like these.  I'll take care of
it later this morning.  Maybe I'll even glue Iain's penis to his leg so it
won't be such a bother."

   Iain immediately clamped his legs together and put both hands over his
family jewels.

   "You're both lucky, you know," Anna said.  "That bear could have done
some real damage to you.  I want you both to take it easy today.  Iain, do
you need a pain pill again?  Did you sleep alright with one last night?"

   "I don't need it yet.  After the pill kicked in, I slept OK," he said.
"I was so tired I probably could have slept without it.  James and I didn't
even jack off when we went to bed."

   "Anna, it's always going to be dangerous for us to venture off the
mountain but someday we've got to do it," I said.  "I guess I'm just a
typical male and I want to see what's over the horizon.  We've got to make
this whole world our home someday."

   "You don't have to do it," she muttered.  "You can let your descendants
do it."

   "Oh, am I going to have descendants?" I teased.  "When do I get to
start?"

   "Soon.  I want to wait until more women are here," she said.

   "Well, if Caitlyn is the next arrival, I don't want her to start having
babies any time soon," Iain said.  "I hope we can wait a few years."

   "David, it's about time for our next arrival," Anna said.  "Someone
should be here at all times.  Let's let Iain take it easy around here until
then.  He needs to let his leg heal.  I think his knee is sprained and he
should stay off it.  He should stay in bed or lay down somewhere for a few
days."

   "Iain, after breakfast, I'm going to reset the rabbit snares," I said.
"You take it easy today and stay off that leg.  Anna, would you and James
pick the garden, that is, if he can put down Lucky long enough.  We'll skip
exercises today.  This is going to be a lazy day for all of us."

   Anna and I were preparing our breakfast when James came back.  I peeled
some cold boiled potatoes for hash-browns while Anna battered and fried
some rabbit.  Iain sat at a table, sliced some bread, drizzled olive oil on
it, and I put it in the oven to toast.  James put Lucky down and stood
watching us.  Lucky immediately went exploring and sniffing everything.

   "He pooped," James said.  "I took him down the hill a little to where
that big Oak tree is.  He scratched out a spot and squatted and pooped like
he knew it was his bathroom.  I think he already knows his name.  He came
to me when I called him Lucky."

   "That's a good start," I said.  "You wanted him.  Now it's your job to
house-break him."

   "David, how do you think Lucky got here?" he asked.  "We haven't seen
any dogs on the mountain.  Do you think there are dogs on the mainland, out
from under Aimee's shield?"

   "Well, first there was a mama dog and then there was a papa dog and they
got...."

   James cut me off.  "Come on, David.  I've been thinking and I believe
there are dogs in this world.  I think somebody put dogs here but they
didn't put them on the mountain because they wanted the rabbits to multiply
without any predators.  They probably wanted us to have dogs."

   "I think you're right, James," I said.  "In our old world, dogs came
from wolves.  Man slowly guided their evolution into all the different
breeds.  If we leave the dogs here alone, they'll probably evolve back into
wolves again or maybe go extinct in this world.  I think there are more
dogs out there off the mountain."

   "Maybe we could all have one," he said.

   "Uh uh," I said.  "Let's stop with one for a while.  If we turn Lucky
loose here, what might happen to Lighting and his family?"

   <><><>

   We did something unusual after lunch, something I couldn't ever remember
having done before since I came to our new world.  We took a nap.  Iain
asked for another pain pill with lunch and Anna approved his request and
sent James to Aimee's room to get it.  After cleaning the kitchen, we all
went to our bedrooms.

   Anna and I crawled into our bed alcove, her first as usual.  When I lay
down, she scooted back against me and held my hand against her breasts
while we napped.  We both moved our loincloths out of the way so I could
nestle my penis in the warm place between her legs.  It was complacent for
once and didn't go nosing about for something to get into.

   Iain and James also went in their bedroom for a nap.  James carried
Lucky to bed and I suppose the puppy was ready for a nap too since Iain and
James had played with him all morning.

   When I awakened an hour or so later, I eased out of bed, had a quick
piss, and went across the hall to their bedroom.  Iain was on his left
side, bare butt showing, spooned up against James, with his injured right
leg over James left, and his arm over James' back.  Lucky was curled up in
a circle in front of James.  James' hand was resting on Lucky's back.  They
were all still asleep.

   I was standing there, just looking at them, when Anna surprised me by
putting her hand on my shoulder.  I turned toward her and put one finger in
front of my mouth.  We both stood there watching the sleeping boys and the
sleeping dog.

   "They're beautiful; aren't they?" Anna whispered.

   I looked at Iain critically.  I wasn't sure what a woman's definition of
beautiful was, especially when it came to men and boys.  Iain was tanned
all over and the white stripe around his hips had disappeared.  He was not
soft looking anymore.  He had clearly defined muscles all over now and
there was little body fat on him.  I couldn't see James' body as well but
he looked about the same.  Perhaps she was referring to the way Iain was
holding James, spooned up to him with one arm over him, both peaceful and
relaxed, sleeping the same way Anna and I had been a few minutes before.

   "Yeah, I suppose so," I answered.

   The puppy immediately raised his head, seemed to smile at us, and
started wagging his tail.  Maybe that was enough to wake up James.

   "Be still, Lucky," he said.

   Iain rolled over on his back and looked at us.  His loincloth wasn't
covering his genitals and his penis looked as relaxed as mine was.  He
stretched, yawned, and then lay there looking at us.

   "May I look at your wound, Iain?" Anna asked.  "I promise I won't pull
your penis again."

   He smiled and I suppose that was approval of her request.  She sat down
on the side of the bed and leaned over his leg.  I could tell she was
having trouble seeing.  The lights in the room were on dim.

   "Aimee, would you please turn the lights on bright?" I asked.  "Anna
wants to look at Iain's wound."

   "Yes, David," Aimee answered.  "Anna, would you please give me a report
on what you see again?  I would like to maintain records of illnesses and
wounds as part of our history."

   Anna removed the bandage around Iain's leg and looked at the wounds. 
Next she tugged his legs side by side and compared his knees.

   "I see no excessive redness around the punctures so I assume the
antibiotic is doing its job," she said.  "He should take another antibiotic
pill tonight.  I'm going to leave the bandage off for a while and I'll put
on another one before bedtime.  The swelling in his knee is about the same
as last night and this morning.  With rest, I would expect it to be reduced
tomorrow morning.  I think someone else is also lucky."

   She turned to me and I knew what she wanted.  I sat down on the side of
the bed.  She removed the bandage around my arm and inspected the claw
marks.

   "I see no evidence of infection but there is a lot of irritation," she
said.  "I think David is going to be wearing hash marks on his shoulder for
a while.  I'm going to leave the bandage off his wound too.  I'll recover
it tonight.  He should get another antibiotic pill tonight too."

   "What are hash marks, Anna?" James asked.

   "It's service stripes, James," she answered.  "Army enlisted men get one
for each three years of service.  It's a diagonal stripe worn on the sleeve
of a dress uniform.  It's just for enlisted men; officers don't wear them.
Iain, could you move over?  Let me lay down behind James."

   He moved over on the other side of the puppy and Anna stretched out
behind James and spooned up to him.  Lucky immediately went wild and
crawled over James to lick Anna's face.  I decided to join the fun.  I
crawled in the bed, over the other three, and lay down behind Iain.  He
didn't protest when I spooned up to him and nestled my penis in the warm
place between his legs.

   The puppy decided it had to come welcome me next.  It squirmed across
Iain and licked my cheek too.  We all lay there petting and playing with
Lucky for a few minutes.  He kept squirming and going from one of us to
another.  I wondered when James had taken him outside and if one of us was
going to get peed on.  Finally James leaned over Anna and put Lucky down on
the floor.  He immediately went exploring.

   "What's for dinner?" James asked.

   "Coq au vin," Anna said with a straight face.

   "Cock o'what?" James asked.

   "That's French for rooster with wine, but you can use a hen," I said. 
"You braise the chicken with wine, lardons, mushrooms, and garlic.  I loved
it when Mother cooked it.  It's delicious."

   "Well, what's lardons?" James asked, grinning.  "I know what a hard-on
is."

   "Lardons are thin strips of pork belly.  Mother used bacon.  She would
have me cut it like matches," I said.  "It gives a great flavor."

   "I suppose a rabbit would do as well.  You don't have to use a hen,"
Anna sad, grinning too.  "You can use a poulet."

   She pulled on James' penis a few times.

   "A pull it?" James asked.

   I saw Anna hadn't turned loose of James' penis.  She was slowly pulling
it.  I reached over to Iain's penis and pulled it a few times.

   "Yeah, it's a young tender spring chicken," I said.  "Have you ever
eaten one?

   "No, but I've licked one," James said, grinning wickedly.  "It was
delicious."

   He patted Anna on her hip and giggled.  She shook her head like she was
exasperated but she was smiling too.

   "I'd rather have spaghetti," Iain said.  "Caitlyn loves meat balls and
sausage with white sauce." He giggled at his own effort.

   "I wish you have told me that yesterday," I said with a straight face.
"We could have had bear meat balls."

   That elicited an "Ooohhh, merde!" from Iain, "Hot damn, that's a good
one!" from James, and a prolonged loud groan from Anna.

   She cupped her hands under James' testicles and looked at me.  I saw
that his penis was already well on its way to erection.  It looked like a
hairless prepubescent boy's except for the size.  I cupped mine under
Iain's testicles with my thumb over his penis.  I felt it firming up too.

   "Well, I'd rather have steak," she said, and then paused and looked
directly in my eyes.  "Round steak.  I like my meat rare ... and full of
blood."

   That elicited three groans too.  It also elicited a firmer hard-on
between Iain's legs.

   Anna leaned over James, held his now fully-erect penis straight up, and
took it in her mouth.  She slid her hand and her mouth slowly up and down
for a moment, then lifted up and looked at me.  I could see the question on
her face.

   I pushed my fully-erect hard-on between Iain's legs again and then moved
back.  I leaned over, pushed him down on his back, wrapped my hand around
the shaft of his penis, took the head in my mouth, and mirrored Anna's
movements again.

   I don't know what might have happened if it hadn't been for Lucky's
intervention.  He kept jumping up, trying to get back in the bed with us.
In his jumping, he clawed Anna's butt.  She screamed, flipped over to see
what had happened, and saw a grinning puppy with its tail wagging furiously
and its tongue hanging out.

   "Bad dog, Lucky," she said.  "That hurt."

   She stood up, held her loin cloth to one side, and tried to see what he
had done on her buttock.  I'm sure James and Iain checked out her wound as
thoroughly as I did.  She had red stripes diagonally down one side of her
derriere but there was no blood.

   "You've got hash marks too, Anna," I said.

   "Yeah, we've got to doctor your wound tonight," Iain said.

   James knew when to be serious.  He crawled out of the bed and hugged
her.

   "Don't pay any attention to those two little boys," he said.  "I'm sure
it hurts a little bit.  Let me rub some of that antibiotic ointment on it
and then let's go start dinner."

   "Would you kiss it first and make it stop hurting?" she asked.

   James was eager to do it.  He dropped down on his knees, held her
loincloth to one side, and kissed her derriere right on the red stripes. 
He didn't stop with a kiss.  He licked it a couple of times and then looked
up at Anna.

   "It feels much better, James," she said.  "Would you like to go bed with
me tonight and play?  If you say so, I'll let these two bad boys play with
us too."

   <><><>

   "Anna, when David does sex stuff with me and Iain, are you OK with
that?" James asked.

   We were through with dinner and had cleaned the kitchen and were just
sitting at a table talking.  I was content to wait for Anna to decide who
she wanted to play with and where.

   "What do you mean?" Anna asked.  "Are you asking how I feel when I see
him with his mouth on your penis or Iain's?"

   "Yeah, jacking me off, sucking my dick, kissing me, stuff like that: are
you OK with all of that?"

   "How do you feel when I do the same thing to you?" she asked.

   His big grin was probably answer enough.  "I like it."

   I just sat and listened and wondered what was bothering him.

   "I like it too, James," she said.

   "But I don't understand why David does it to me," James persisted.  "I
don't want you to feel bad about him when he does it.  I respect him a lot
and I just don't want anybody disrespecting him because he does it.  I
don't want anybody thinking he's..." He looked at me.  "...gay or something
like that.  I know he's not.  I just don't understand it."

   "Why do you do it to him?" Anna asked.

   "Has David told you about what happened to me before I came here?" he
asked.  "I mean, what the reverend Moneyhand did to me?"

   "No, he just said you had never known your parents and had been in a
number of foster homes.  He said you were abused by some foster parents."

   "Yeah, I was.  Abused, shit!  Moneyhand used to fuck me in the ass and I
hated it.  I pretended to like it `cause I had no place else to go but I
really hated it.  I felt sick inside and I finally couldn't take it
anymore."

   "Go ahead, tell her what you did to the reverend," I said.

   "I killed him, Anna.  I let gas loose in the house and it exploded in a
big ball of fire.  I was just crawling out the window and I was knocked out
and I woke up here."

   "Tell her what happened here.  Tell her what you offered to let me do,"
I said.

   "Well, I was really sick when I came here.  I puked and pooped and peed
all over everything.  David washed me clean and then cleaned up my mess. 
He was so gentle and nice to me.  I didn't know what it was going to be
like here.  You tell here the rest, David.  I can't."

   "He wanted to sleep with me one night," I said.  "He even offered to let
me fuck him if I wanted to.  I told him that he didn't have to offer his
ass to someone just so he could be cared for and protected.  I said I was
going to be his friend and care for him.  I was going to make sure he would
never have to endure anything like that again."

   "And he's kept his word, Anna," James said.  "He's made me feel like a
man and not like a trapped...fuck toy.  That's why I like him so much.  I
guess I even love him.  He's like a big brother or maybe a father to me.  I
know he's my friend.  I know he's a good man and I don't want anybody
disrespecting him."

   "You still haven't told me why you do it with David," Anna said.

   "Well, I guess it started before you came here.  I'm horny all the time
and I feel like I've got to jack off or something a few times every day or
else I'll go crazy.  I know David and Iain are just as horny as me and they
need to do it too.  I like it when they suck my dick so I do it back.  I
want them to enjoy it as much as I do."

   "Nobody's asked me how I feel about it," I said.

   James looked at me.  "Well, how do you feel about it?"

   "I like playing with you guys.  I did it a little as a kid and it was a
lot of fun.  I guess we were all so horny with puberty that we had to do
something.  I'm about as horny now.  I suppose I like doing stuff with you
and Iain because I know you'll do the same thing for me.  Putting my hands
on you, sucking your dick: that doesn't bother me in the slightest.  Do you
want to know what does?"

   "What?" Iain asked.

   "Kissing you," I said.  "I never kissed another boy when I was a kid and
I guess it never occurred to me.  I like it but I can't make up my mind how
I'm supposed to feel about it.  It makes me horny as hell, just like
kissing a woman does.  I'm OK about kissing Anna but I can't make up my
mind whether I should be kissing you and James."

   "How about when I kiss you for certain special occasions, you know, left
cheek, right cheek, mouth?" Iain asked.  "Does that bother you?"

   "No, I like that.  I think that's a custom we ought to carry on in this
new world.  That's not sexual.  The kind of kissing I'm talking about is
kissing with open mouths, what some people call French kissing but I don't
think the French should be blamed for it."

   "Well, I like it when you guys kiss me," James said.  "I like it when I
kiss you too.  Maybe I like it a little more when Anna does it."

   "I wish you guys wouldn't worry about kissing each other," Anna said. 
"This is a new world and we're all going to sort out what we like and what
we don't.  I've made love with a few women before and I don't regret it.  I
know women can enjoy kissing each other and I don't mean just kissing on
the lips.  I may even make love with some of the girls and women who come
here.  What do you think of that?"

   James leered at her again.  "Can I watch, I mean, may I watch?"

   Iain seemed in favor too.  "You can help me do Caitlyn.  Maybe both of
us can convince her it's OK."

   "Well, I think we can all agree on one thing: that we don't want a
hatred for homosexuality to get started here," I said.  "I'm still trying
to figure out how we can have a world where we all love each other, not
hate each other for stupid religious reasons."

   "Amen," James said.

   "What do you mean: amen?" Iain asked.

   "People always say amen when they agree with what the preacher says,"
James explained.

   "James, come here," Anna said and turned to the side and spread her
knees.

   He walked over close to her and she caught his hand and pulled him
closer so he was standing between her knees.  He watched as she untied his
loincloth and let it fall to the floor.  His penis was swollen and standing
out a little from his testicles, not just hanging down.  Anna cupped her
hand under his testicles, leaned over, and blew little puffs of air at his
penis.

   "Blow job," she whispered.

   After that, she just sat there, one hand under his testicles, and blew
puffs of air at his penis every few seconds.  We all watched as his penis
swiftly began to lift, stood out horizontally, lifted some more, and then
stood up pointing at her face.  He might be thirteen but he already had a
man's penis.  Anna wrapped one hand around the shaft and cupped his
testicles with the other.

   "James, I know you young guys are always horny," Anna said.  "I think
all women know it instinctively.  It gives us a way to control you, to get
you to do what we want you to do, to give us children, and then get you to
protect and provide for a family.  Women think with their hearts; men think
with their little heads.  We love you anyway."

   "And you don't think less of me and Iain and David, especially David,
when we do stuff with each other?" he asked.

   "No, James, David and I agree about the way we hope everyone will be in
this new world.  We don't want a bunch of senile old men, a lot of them
celibate except for alter-boys, we don't want them dictating what we do
when we enjoy sex.  We don't want hatred to rule our lives.  We want love,
even between two men or two women, to rule our lives.  But we don't have to
be so serious about it; do we?  When we all played together, I had fun;
didn't you?"

   "Yeah," he agreed, and his big grim reinforced his word.

   "Well, are you ready to go to bed with me and play some more.  We'll
even invite the two bad boys if they'll promise to be good."

   Of course, we promised.

   "I just want to play at oral sex and kissing and stuff like that," Anna
said.  "You guys can play all you want to but nobody gets to fuck me
tonight.  Maybe I'll let David do it when we go to bed, if he can still get
it up."

   James and Iain led the way to their bed this time.  There was no
structure or plan in what we did.  One way of playing flowed into another
and we were all involved at the same time.  I had my mouth alternately on
two penises and one pussy and I kissed three different people.  I suppose
James and Iain did too.  I watched Anna suck James' dick while I was
sucking Iain's.  When Anna lay down on her back and spread her thighs, Iain
beat James to the offering.  James had to be content with sucking mine. 
Then three guys ganged up on Anna for a while, one from the East, one from
the West, and one from the South and she had her first orgasm with Iain
taking a turn licking her pussy.  She lay there with her eyes closed, a
smile on her lips, while three guys gave her a semen shower.

   Later, in our own bed chamber, I would probably have been content to
cuddle up with Anna and go to sleep.  She had other ideas.

   As usual, I let her crawl in our sleeping alcove first.  When I crawled
in after her, she took charge again.  I didn't resist.

   She pushed me down on my back, kneed my legs apart, knelt between them,
and grabbed my still-swollen but flaccid penis.  I put my hands under my
head and watched her.  She stroked my penis for a moment, then leaned over,
took the head in her mouth, and started sucking.  I still wasn't completely
rested from our trip down the mountain and I wasn't surprised when my penis
was slow to become hard.  Maybe she was satisfied that it was about full
size but soft.  She straddled my thighs, lowered herself down until her
pussy was resting on the shaft of my dick, with about half still exposed,
and wiggled from side to side and back and forth and I felt her wetness on
my testicles and penis.  Then she rode me, front to back, with her hand
wrapped around the exposed part of my penis, all the while blowing little
puffs of air downward and whispering "blow-job." It was a new experience
and I liked it.  My penis did too; it surged into a full-blown erection.

   I could see her little crimson button at the apex of her vaginal lips
and I waited for her to lean forward and bring it in contact with the shaft
of my penis, her way of fucking without fucking.  She didn't.  She rode me
for a while longer and then suddenly lifted up, held my penis straight up,
and sucked it into her vagina with wild wiggles and squirms and thrusts. 
With an orgasm already, I hoped I could hold back long enough for her to
come first.

   She rode me slowly for a while with her eyes closes and a slight smile
on her lips.  I knew what she was doing.  I was doing the same thing but
with open eyes.  We were both savoring what we felt as my penis slowly
disappeared in her hairless pussy and then just as slowly reappeared.

   She stopped for a moment, cupped one hand under her breast, and said
"Suck." I had learned last time to obey her commands.  I held her breasts
up with both hands, craned my neck upwards, and sucked her nipples until
she started riding again.

   Now, she pounded on me, her thighs and derriere bouncing off my thighs
with an audible slapping noise.  Just when I was beginning to wonder if I
could hold out, she slowed down and began to groan.  I grabbed her by the
hips and slammed her down so every bit of my penis was inside her and felt
her vagina begin to clench and relax around the shaft.

   She sat there on top of me, her hands on my chest, her thumb and one
finger pinching my nipples, and I waited for her breathing to slow down. 
After a little while, she lifted herself so that only the head of my dick
was still in her warm wetness.

   "Fuck up," she whispered, and again I obeyed her command.  I held her by
the hips, thrust upwards into her, and gradually lost all awareness except
what I was doing with my penis.  With the first spurt I let my ass fall
back down on the bed, shoved her down so that my penis was entirely inside
her, and finished squirting out my life into her.  She groaned and whined
and then she surprised me.  I felt her vagina begin to squeeze around the
shaft of my dick and I marveled that she could come again so quickly.

   <><><>

   "David!  Anna!  Please come to my room!  A young girl has arrived and
she may be Caitlyn!  Shall I call Iain?"

   A couple of days later, Anna and I both were awakened by Aimee's call
just after four o'clock in the morning.  We had been sleeping naked as
usual, with Anna cuddled up to my butt, her hand resting on my hip.  I
slept on the outside of the bed alcove and she slept on the inside, a
result, I suppose of my protective instinct for her.  I rolled out of bed,
glanced at the clock, and held out my hand to her.

   "Yes, Aimee.  Call him.  I suppose you might as well call James too. 
Anna and I will be right there."

   Our bed chamber was the closest to Aimee's room so we were there a few
seconds before Iain and James ran in.  The lights in Aimee's room were on
dim.  The naked young girl was in the same recliner chair that the rest of
us had been in when we arrived.

   She seemed to be sleeping peacefully.  She was on her side, one hand
touching her cheek, red fingernails showing, the other near her waist.  Her
legs were bent and her knees were together.

   I held one finger in front of my lips, put my hand on Iain's shoulder,
and mouthed the words, "Is it Caitlyn?" He understood and nodded.  The
expression on his face was clearly one of absolute happiness.  I walked
over in front of Aimee's image and whispered to her.

   "Is she OK, Aimee?  Have you measured her vital signs?"

   "Yes, David," she whispered back to me.  "Her temperature and heart rate
are slightly elevated but not dangerously so.  She seems to be in no
danger."

   I walked back to the other three and we stood there looking at Caitlyn.
Iain had said she was beautiful but his words simply didn't do her justice.

   Her hair was as long and golden blonde as Iain had said.  It was pulled
back in a ponytail which curved around and rested on one breast.  The hair
on each side of her head had been plaited and the two plaits were joined
together somehow just under the ponytail.  I'd never seen an unusual
arrangement like it but it was a perfect crown for Iain's princess.

   Her face was almost unbelievable in its young beauty.  Her skin and
features were flawless.  Her cheeks were very faintly pink, perhaps from
makeup, perhaps from a slight fever from the journey.  Her lips were full
and red, parted just a little with two perfect white teeth showing.

   Her breasts were just little mounds on her chest, one small mound capped
with another smaller mound under the areolas and with almost non-existent
nipples that scarcely protruded.  Even lying as she was, on her side, her
abdomen was a shallow bowl between her ribs and her hip bones.  Her pubic
hair, what little I could see of it, was the same color as that on her
head. Between her legs, from behind, her cleft was tightly closed and
virginal, nothing more than a cease in the two plump mounds on each side.
Her hips were almost boyish and I wondered if she could possibly bear a
child.  Her legs were long and slim and her toenails were painted bright
red like her fingernails.  She was probably the most beautiful girl I'd
ever seen but she was just a girl, not a woman.

   I looked at Iain and saw that he seemed still awe struck at the sight of
her.  I looked at James and saw the same expression of wonder on his face.
I looked at Anna and she smiled at me and mouthed the words, "She's
beautiful." I put my hand on Iain's shoulder and he turned away from her
for the first time.

   "Iain, I think you should cover her with a blanket before you wake her
up," I whispered.  "James and Anna and I will wait in the hallway and let
you be alone with her when she awakens.  You can call us back in a few
minutes.  We should see if she needs to be medicated and to go pee like the
rest of us did.  Can you carry her to the toilet?  Anna can go with you if
you need a woman's help."

   He nodded.  I turned to Aimee and whispered, "Aimee, will you please
blank your screen and let Iain and Caitlyn have a moment of privacy.  I
think you should quietly watch and call me and Anna if Iain needs help with
her.  We'll be outside in the hallway."

   I put my hands on James' shoulders and pushed him out into the hallway.
He rather reluctantly went, looking back over his shoulder at Caitlyn. 
Anna followed us.

   In the hallway, I thought about the girl, not a woman, I had seen in
Aimee's chair.  I wondered how the outcome of our trip across the isthmus
might have been different if Caitlyn had been with us.  I was glad she had
not been.  If Iain's protective instincts had been directed toward her,
would he have helped to kill the bear?

   Then I thought about the exquisitely-beautiful girl-child I had seen.  I
could not believe that she could possibly bear a child.  Her hips were too
narrow.  I had no idea when a woman's hips widened to prepare her for
childbirth.  I could understand how Iain could love her.  She was probably
as beautiful a girl as I'd ever seen.  But she was a girl, not a woman.  If
Iain made love to her and got her pregnant, I didn't want to know what
might happen.  I thought we had a problem and I didn't know how to handle
it.

   Anna was a nurse but her expertise was in the operating room working
with men.  I didn't expect her to have any expertise in child-bearing. 
Still she was a woman and would know more than I did.

   Aimee always measured all of our body proportions in order to recognize
us.  If she measured Caitlyn, would she know whether the girl would be able
to bear a child?

   Anna and I had made love or had sex within a few minutes after her
arrival.  She wanted it and I did too.  I needed it as much as she did. 
But it was probably stupid for me to do it with no thought of the
consequences.  Still, I wasn't worried about her ability to bear any child
we conceived together.

   Would Iain listen to me if I advised him not to make love to Caitlyn
until we were sure it was safe?  Would I have?  Anna said the contraceptive
pill Aimee gave her was free of side-effects as far as she could tell.  But
Caitlyn probably had religious beliefs against taking it.  Could Aimee and
Anna and Iain and I convince her to take it?

   I knew Iain's and Caitlyn's love for each other would lead them down the
path to more and more intimacy until they joined their bodies together.  I
knew that was the normal progression of a man and a woman who loved each
other.  What could I do?  What could anyone do to stop them from making
love?  I didn't know.

   I could kill a bear simply as a part of the protective instinct all men
probably share.  I could kill a rattlesnake with my bare hands.  Why did I
feel so helpless in a situation like this?

   I looked at Anna and saw her looking at me.

   "I think we've got a problem," I started.

   She nodded.  "I do too.  She can't have a child yet.  Her pelvis is not
wide enough."
   TO BE CONTINUED: