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 A World of My Choosing   An Out-of-this-World Story by Gil Gamesh   Chapter
Twenty-Seven   When she arrived, our newest family member was named Jemima,
a biblical name.  She said she had always hated it because it sounded like
she was named after Aunt Jemima, of pancake-syrup fame.  We told her she
was no longer bound to keep the name her parents had given her.  She wanted
to banish it forever so we all helped her choose another name.  She wanted
a French name which sounded romantic and exotic.  She chose Jean-Nicole and
then said it over and over until Anna and I were satisfied she was
pronouncing it correctly.  She is now Jean-Nicole, with a hyphenated French
name, the two parts of which must always stay together.

   Jean-Nicole was a beautiful young girl, as only a young virginal girl at
the peak of her loveliness can be.  Her eyes were unusual: the scleras were
pure white without a trace of blood vessels and the irises were light gray
encircled with a dark border.  The effect was stunning.  I looked at her
eyes to the point of being impolite.  She could bewitch any young man with
those eyes and, if she fixed her eyes on you, she could cast a magic spell
that made you do whatever she wanted.

   She also had something bewitching between her legs.  The first time I
saw it, when she bent over carelessly outdoors and the wind whipped her
loincloth to one side, I couldn't believe what I saw.  Virginal!  That's
one word which described it.  Enticing!  That's two words.  All I saw was a
soft mound, split in two with nothing in between, everything hidden, hardly
any pubic hair.  I wanted to use my tongue to lick those little hidden lips
inside into separating and then to slide my penis into her until I made her
moan.

   She was a tall slim girl with flawless skin that showed no sign of being
exposed to the sun.  She clearly had a young woman's body: small breasts
that needed no support, a narrow waist with a flat abdomen, and wider hips
ready for child-bearing.  Her derriere was tight and rounded and was
another bewitching feature.

   Anna and I were right about her in one way but wrong, very wrong, in
another.  She was from a strict religious sect in a Western state.  They
called themselves The Brethren and their lives were strictly controlled by
The Elders.  They all lived in a valley almost completely encircled by
rugged mountains and the nearest small town was over ten miles away.

   She was seventeen, a few months away from eighteen, and about to be
forced into a marriage which she didn't want.  The Elders and her parents
were wise enough not to use physical force but the psychological force was
intense.  If she didn't obey, she would be banished from The Brethren and
would never see her parents or siblings again.  At eighteen she would be
considered an adult by the state and supposedly free to choose whom she
wanted to marry.  The Elders had chosen her to be a second wife to a
thirty-five-year old man.  His first wife had died in childbirth leaving
him with five small children.  The Elders forbade birth control and she had
no desire to become a breeding heifer and to have five children to care
for.

   In spite of the constant indoctrination, she didn't really believe
anything The Elders taught about religion.  She felt she was an agnostic or
maybe an atheist but she was wise enough never to reveal her lack of
belief. She was intelligent and wanted to continue her education and
perhaps to go to college.  That was her secret desire, to go to college
with all the young men who might satisfy her sexual needs and with some
opportunity to develop her inquisitive mind.

   She was intensely sexual, masturbated frequently, and thought she was
demented because of her constant need for the sexual relief her fingers
gave her.  She even admitted to Anna and Caitlyn a fondness for cucumbers
and zucchini and left it up to them to know what she liked about them.  She
said her father was especially fond of cucumber and onion and tomato salad
and he even liked her recipe for stuffed zucchini.  Anna giggled when she
told me that.  I wanted to stuff a zucchini with her.

   All the children in The Brethren were bused to school in the small town.
One day she found the courage to talk to the school counselor, an elderly
woman who was loved by all the children.  She unburdened herself about her
lack of belief and the impending marriage but the counselor seemed unable
to help her.  The next day, she approached Jemima, told her she had dropped
something, handed her an envelope, and walked away.  When Jemima looked
inside, she found a bus ticket to San Francisco and an address for a
woman's shelter.  A few days later, she skipped school, and, with little
except the clothes on her back, boarded the bus, and felt free for the
first time in her life.

   At the shelter, she used her real first name and a fictitious last name
and lied about her age.  When they learned of her cooking skills, she was
given a paying job in the kitchen and was happy to be working there.  She
loved to explore and, with another girl, wandered the city, enthralled by
the beauty and mystery of San Francisco.

   Then one day a policeman showed up, confirmed that she was an underage
run-away, and said he had to report her whereabouts to her parents.  The
counselors at the shelter were legally helpless but told her that a trusted
older couple might be able to help her.  She talked to the couple, pleaded
with them to help her escape, and was told that they would do what they
could before her parents arrived.  She went to bed that night at the
shelter and woke up in our new world.

   <><><>

   Jean-Nicole took to near-nudity and our life style like a duck to water.
She loved wearing only a loincloth and being barefooted when we were
inside. She constantly caused four guys to have hard-ons and simply smiled
and held her head up high when she saw a tented loincloth.  Initially my
concern was that she wouldn't wait even five days to lose her virginity.  I
underestimated her intelligence in that.  She was not a dumb little
teenager.  She was already an intelligent mature adult in every way and
wasn't about to take a chance on getting pregnant.  She reveled in her new
freedom and seemed happy to be with us.  She was a beautiful young woman
and liked to display her body to the stares of four males.

   Iain said she asked him very intelligent questions when he explained
where she was and how she had been brought here.  Anna said the same thing
when she and Caitlyn introduced her to Aimee and they had their girl to
girl talk.  Aimee was amazed that Jean-Nicole was so alert and vivacious
and happy during their meetings.  There was no problem getting her to use
contraception.  She was genuinely pleased to be offered a way to keep from
becoming pregnant.

   She came to dinner every day after her arrival in just a loincloth, sat
up straight, perhaps too straight, and ignored all the eyes on her
beautiful young breasts.  Her light-brown hair was no longer in a bun.  It
was unrestrained, long and slightly curly, tied like a pony tail near her
long neck, and arranged so that the tail wrapped partway around her long
neck and down on her chest, almost covering one of her breasts.  When she
wasn't eating, her lips were always lifted at the ends in a slight smile.
She wasn't a girl; she was a woman, a beautiful intelligent woman, and she
knew it, was proud of it, and wanted to display her beautiful body and her
intelligent mind to us.

   After dinner the first night she helped to clear the table and
volunteered to wash the dishes.  Anna told her that James and Toby had that
duty for the night and she would be placed in the schedule for cooking and
cleaning as soon as possible.  I was pleased to hear her say she loved to
cook and I think three other guys were too.  I suppose we all thought we
might escape from that duty.

   Life went on peacefully after her arrival.  We had our usual chores.  We
all worked in our old garden, almost at the end of its life, and in our new
winter garden, which was just beginning to yield.  I was amazed at how
prolifically the squash had produced.  We had piles of spaghetti squash and
butternut squash.  The gourds had gone wild and outdid anybody's
expectations.  As soon as they dried, I wanted to use them to carry liquids
or maybe oysters.  We ran the rabbit snares and usually brought back one or
two.  We fished in the lake and the sea and caught more than enough.  We
picked the last of the apple crop and added to our stores.  We picked big
purple Muscatine grapes, ate some, and mashed the rest for wine or vinegar.
We pulled lots of wild onions and wild garlic and tied them up in bunches
to dry.

   And Jean-Nicole was always there enjoying every moment with all of us no
matter how menial the work.  She was a joy to be around.  She delighted in
teasing James and Toby, seemingly innocent play but somehow always with
sexual undertones.  They were bewitched by her beauty and her playful ways.
Even Lucky seemed to be captivated by her.  Of course, Iain and I, being
more mature, were not as bewitched by her.

   <><><>

   On a warm Tenth-month day, we visited the swimming beach for one last
swim and Jean-Nicole turned into a complete exhibitionist.  I was surprised
when I saw that her pubic mound was now completely bald.  When I looked
closer, I saw that her underarms and her legs were now just as hairless.  I
was disappointed that I had not been asked to help defoliate her.

   She smiled when James and Toby sprouted hard-ons and laughed when I
ordered them into the cold water.  I watched her nipples get crinkly when
the wind blew and turned over on my stomach.  Anna laughed at me.  She knew
what I was trying to hide.  I decided not to hide it, stood up, showed off,
and walked into the cold water with James and Toby.  Jean-Nicole had
bug-eyes and an open mouth.  I wanted to stuff something in it.  Iain and
Caitlyn were lying on their stomachs with heads on forearms, displaying two
beautiful young derrieres.  Iain was pretending to be asleep but the grin
on his face told me he was watching.

   When we played in the water, Iain and I coordinated our efforts to throw
everybody.  We put our fingers-interlaced hands under their feet, they put
their hands on our heads for balance, and we lifted them out of the water
with as much force as possible.

   I suppose that was Jean-Nicole's ultimate act of rebellion against her
strict upbringing.  She enjoyed it and laughed each time we did it, even
when my hand was sliding down her thigh.  She even did a flying swan and
Iain and I coaxed Anna and Caitlyn to try to do it too.  I enjoyed it too,
just watching three naked wet females flying through the air.  Of course I
liked groping them in the process of getting my hands positioned to throw
them.

   She laughed even more when James and Toby tried to throw her.  The three
of them collapsed in a splashing heap and I saw two young guys groping her
when they tried to catch her.  She just smiled and laughed and let them try
again.  The water was already cold enough to keep four penises and
testicles shrunk like Greek statues.

   On the way back home, Anna and Caitlyn and Jean-Nicole walked close
together and started talking girl talk.  Iain and I walked far enough
behind so we couldn't hear them.  I knew James and Toby were behind us but
I didn't see them.  Out of curiosity I walked back down the mountain until
I found them.  They were standing just off the trail, tights around their
ankles, tunics lifted with one hand, and both belaboring the one-eyed
bishop with the other.  Lucky was watching them with his tongue hanging
out. They motioned for me to join them.  I almost did but I decided to save
it for a few hours and give it to Anna.

   <><><>

   "David, Jean-Nicole wants you to fuck her," Anna said.

   We were in our bed chamber getting ready for bed.  All of us had
showered together when we returned from the beach, had pitched in to
prepare another good meal, and had enjoyed good food and company and
conversation together.  Anna was walking around our bed chamber brushing
her hair and letting me look at her beautiful naked body.  I was already in
bed, watching her, nursing a swollen but not yet hard appendage.

   "Why do you say that?" I asked.  "Has she said something to you?"

   "No, but I saw her looking at you at the beach.  I watched her face when
James and Toby both got boners looking at her.  Her eyes looked like she
was watching a Ping Pong game and she wasn't looking at their faces.  Then
when you stood up and showed everybody your monster, she had bug-eyes and
her mouth was hanging open and she was hardly breathing.  She wants you. 
I'll bet she could suck your brains out through your dick."

   "Anna, why do you tease me?" I asked.  "I'm not going to be the one to
get her cherry.  I don't know that I'll ever fuck her.  I'm just a man and
I may get a hard-on looking at her but, damn it, I love you and you're the
only woman I want."

   She still wasn't ready to give up on teasing me.

   "You're the Alpha male, David," she whispered, standing there at the
side of the bed with her legs slightly parted.  "You could do it if you
wanted to."

   "I thought you didn't want me to initiate all the young girls who came
here," I said, looking at her hairless mound.  "Make up your mind."

   "You're our leader, David," she whispered again.  "You can do it if you
really want to.  She wants you.  Her tight little virginal pussy is
drooling for your monster."

   "Anna, you know I'm not going to tell others what they can and cannot do
when it comes to sex.  If Jean-Nicole wants her cherry plucked, there are
two young boys who will be glad to do it.  She can decide which she wants
first."

   "Oh, merde, I was hoping I could talk you into fucking her tonight and
letting me get a good night's sleep," she said and let out a big sigh.  "Do
you want to fuck me instead?"

   "If you don't stop teasing me, I'm not going to make love to you at all
tonight.  Is that what you want?"

   She crawled in bed with me, pushed me down flat on my back, and bent
over me.

   "No, David," she whispered.  "I want to suck your brains out through
your dick.  Then I want you to fuck me."

   I wrestled her down until she was flat on her back and I was bent over
her.

   "Anna, please stop," I said, earnestly.  "I never thought I'd turn down
a blow-job but that's not what I want.  I don't want to fuck you.  I want
you to love me.  I want to make love with you."

   She pushed me down until I was on my side and, at the same, turned over
facing me.  I knew what she wanted and that was what I wanted too.  She
moved closer so that her breasts were against my chest, put one leg between
mine, and pulled my head close to hers so we were breathing the same air. I
put one leg over hers, put one arm over her with my hand cupped around half
a smooth soft derriere, and pulled her closer.  We relaxed and talked and
laughed and talked some more and occasionally kissed, just gentle loving
kisses.  She laughed out loud when I told her about what James and Toby had
done on the way back from the beach and how Lucky had jumped at Toby's
semen, perhaps thinking it was another oyster, had got it on his face, and
had flapped his hound-dog ears wildly to get it off.

   When she tried to put a hand between our bodies, I moved my hips back to
give her room.  My penis had been swollen but still soft while we talked
and held each other.  Her hand cupping under my testicles and stroking my
penis, pulling really, brought it to a hard erection, ready to do its part
in transmitting my life into her.  Still I was in no hurry.  I wanted her
to do whatever she wanted, to take control of our love-making, eventually
to have her orgasm before I had mine.  A gentleman always lets a lady come
first.

   She turned over suddenly, backed her rear up against me, put one hand
between her legs, captured my penis, and nestled it against her soft
hairless mounds.  She pushed my foreskin back and rubbed the head of my
penis with one finger, then pressed under the shaft and drew her fingers up
toward the head.  I knew what she was doing.  She liked to capture the
love-drops and smear them over the head and then press just under the head
until my penis slid into her.  I put one hand on her breast with my thumb
and one finger tweaking her nipple and started slowly easing my penis in
and out of her.  I was still in no hurry.  I didn't think I was just
fucking her; I thought I was making love to her.  From the way she sighed
and moaned, she probably felt the same way.

   After a minute or two, she twisted her shoulders around, put one arm
around my neck, and held her head up to me.  I lowered my face until our
lips met and we kissed with open mouths.  I knew the next step and I waited
for her to do it.  She took my hand in hers, pulled it down to where my
penis was sliding in and out of her drooling pussy, and guided my first two
fingers to where her little lips met.  I made sure they were wet with her
juices and then started rubbing her little nubbin as gently and softly as
possible.

   When she came, I knew to stop rubbing and just to press down on her
clitoris.  Her contractions around the head of my penis were just like mine
are, strong at first, gradually fading, and then stopping.  I held still
for a minute or so.  I was in no hurry.  I knew she would change her
position when she was ready.  She knew how I liked to get mine after she
had hers.

   When she was ready, she twisted away from me until she was on her back
with her legs spread wide to receive me.  I rolled over on top of her, she
used both hands to show my penis where to go, and I let it slide into her
until my testicles kept it from going deeper.  I put my arms under her back
with my hands curled around her shoulders.  I didn't want her to get away
from me.  I wanted to hold her underneath me until I released my life in
her.  She splayed her legs wide and locked her ankles around my ass and at
the same time wrapped her arms tightly around my chest.  I suppose she
didn't want me to get away without giving her what she wanted, my gift of
life.

   I held still for a few seconds, savoring the feeling of my penis sunk to
the root in her warm wet vagina, and then began to move.  I pulled out
until the head was barely in her, slid in again, and kept at it while I
sunk into the oblivion of what I was feeling and needing.  I felt my orgasm
creep out of hiding and then suddenly pounce.  She felt it too.  She went
wild again and started hunching upward at me, banging her pubic bone
against mine almost painfully.  Just as my orgasm was fading away I felt
hers begin again.  I wanted so much to join completely with her again, to
dissolve until we were one, but I was content in making love with her.

   I stayed on top of her while my penis gradually lost its hardness and
then a little while longer and then did my husbandly duty: I went to the
bathroom for something for her to put between her legs.  She tucked the
cloth between her thighs, turned on her side, and I spooned up to her with
my hand on her breast.  I was home.  All was perfect.

   "David, I think I'm going to stop taking the pill sometime next year,
about the third month," she whispered.  "If your Olympic swimmers are as
good as you say they are, I'd like to have our baby before the end of next
year.  Is that OK with you?"

   "That's more than OK, Anna," I said.  "It's your body which gets the job
of carrying our child so you decide.  I'm ready to be a father.  I'll do
anything you say except change diapers."

   "You'll do that too," she said.  "Just wait until you see your child. 
You'll give your life to protect it.  It won't kill you to change his
diapers."

   "Oh, are we going to have a boy first?" I asked, joking.

   "That depends on you, David.  Maybe we'll have twins, one of each."

   <><><>

   My failure to kill the big buck with a spear when we went deer hunting
bothered me for days afterward and I decided to try something else.  I was
accustomed to carrying a spear because they were useful as staffs when
going up or down the mountain but they weren't as useful when hunting
moving animals like deer, at least not for me.  I had tried using a bow
from the ones which had been left for us and quickly decided it wasn't
designed for a man like me.  I thought it felt like a kid's toy.

   I wanted to make my own bow and to let the others who wanted one try to
make their own.  We revisited the Iain wood bushes again and I selected one
of the oldest dead shoots, one about three meters long and as big around at
the base as my penis.  The shoots at the bottom of the bush all seemed to
die when they reached maturity while new shoots sprouted higher up.  We
sawed off the one I wanted and an additional ten dead shoots.

   Back at home, I cut my stick to the length I wanted, not quite as long
as I am, and started trying to reduce the thick end down to the same size
as the thin end.  I tried using Little Boy but the wood was so hard it was
almost impossible to cut it.  With the help of the other guys, we rigged up
a vice between two trees to hold the stick immobile.  I found a draw knife
in our tool storeroom, sharpened it to razor sharpness, and tried cutting
the stick with that.  I managed to draw off a thin strip from near the
middle down to the end.  With many hours of work and a lot of sweat I ended
up with a bow which gradually tapered toward both ends.

   Aimee's database said the native Indians used sinew or gut to string the
bow so we've started saving gut from the rabbits we kill and will save
sinew from larger animals when we kill those.  In the meantime, I strung
the bow from string in our storeroom.  It seems strong and durable so it
may be better than the animal strings.

   We have arrows from the store that were left for us but I knew they
would eventually be lost or broken so I will make Iain-wood arrows in my
spare time during the winter.  I won't worry about arrow heads because I'll
just taper the hard Iain wood to a sharp point.  I'll need feathers for
fletching so we're saving bird feathers.  With so many sea-birds around,
there are more than enough.

   James says I should call my bow The Brute because he can hardly draw it.
I can draw it with effort and I'm counting on the cool response to give me
the extra strength to draw it when I see a bear or a deer.

   I'm not finished with my bow but I have tested it.  We found a soft bank
in the woods and hung up a gourd in front of it.  I invoked the cool
response as best I could, remembering the bear towering over me, and then
notched an arrow, drew the bow, carefully sighted the gourd, and let fly.
It went straight and true - a few feet to one side of the gourd.

   I was disgusted with myself.  The damn gourd hung there undisturbed and
I swear it was laughing at me.  I quickly notched another arrow, drew the
bow, and let fly, not even taking time to sight the gourd.  It went
straight and true - through the center of the gourd.  The gourd hung there
swinging back and forth, still whole, but with a hole through it.  I was
speechless.  James wasn't.  Neither was Toby.  Neither was Jean-Nicole.

   "Damn, you shot the shit out of it!" Toby yelled.

   "Yeah, you drilled that fucker, David!" James yelled.

   "Holy shit!" Jean-Nicole yelled, then covered her mouth and looked
around.  She probably saw six surprised faces.

   "I cussed!" she said, looking at us with head held high.  "I cussed out
loud!  I like it!"

   I tried three more times, all with quick responses, and drilled the
gourd again with one of them.  When James set the gourd to swinging from
side to side, I missed the first one, grazed the gourd with the second, and
drilled it again with the third.  In my sniper training, I had spent days
learning quick response firing and I suppose that was now carrying over
into my use of a bow and arrows.  I decided to practice every day in
preparation for an exploration of the mainland.

   <><><>

   The seven of us spent two days preparing for our olive harvest.  We had
cleared the ground under the olive trees once before but then we had only
chopped down intruding weeds and bushes.  Now we wanted to clear the ground
thoroughly so that we could pick up the olives after they fell.  I swung
the scythe for a while in the morning and then again in the afternoon,
while the others raked.  The other guys tried their best but swinging it
required strength they just did not have yet.

   I asked James and Toby to make us about two dozen bamboo poles to use to
shake the olives down.  I asked for twelve with a hook on the end which we
could use to catch the limbs and shake them.  I asked for another twelve to
use simply as flails against the limbs.  I didn't know which would work
best but I thought the hooks would.  I didn't want the olives bruised as
they would be if we struck them with the flail and I had no idea if just
flailing the limbs would work.  I thought hooks would permit us to give the
limbs a good shake.

   I asked Anna and Caitlyn and Jean-Nicole to find us some cloths to cover
the ground under the olive trees to make it easier to pick up the olives. I
wanted to pickle some in brine and to press the oil out of the rest.  I
asked the others to help me bring back some sea water every time we went to
the sea shore.  I hoped the salinity in the condensed water would be enough
to pickle some of the olives in brine.  And finally, I gave the olive press
a thorough inspection to make sure it was in good working order.  I felt
confident that we would be ready to begin to harvest the olives in a month
or so, especially since Aimee said they could be harvested over a two or
three month period around the end of the year.

   <><><>

   We spent one day felling and stripping bamboo poles, about fifty of the
giant ones and lots of the smaller ones.  I wanted them to dry in place so
they would be easier to carry home.  Sometime before next summer, I wanted
to construct something to cover much of the lowest terrace.  During the
summer months, the rocks had often been too hot to walk on comfortably.  I
wanted a shelter near the door which was rain-proof so we could sit
outdoors even when it rained.  The majority of the shelter roof would
simply be small bamboo poles side by side to provide shade.

   <><><>

   Iain and Caitlyn and Anna and I spent one afternoon evaluating our
stores of food.  We weren't worried about going hungry.  Rabbits and fish
were easy to get but I enjoyed our varied diet with fruit and vegetables.
We decided that we would probably have enough to get us through the winter
and on into spring but we also concluded that we were going to have to
expand our garden space even more for the next growing season.

   <><><>

   One day we returned to the isthmus, all seven of us and Lucky, but not
far out on it.  Anna had proved herself by helping kill the bear but I
wasn't sure Caitlyn and Jean-Nicole would be as brave.  James and I left
the rest of the group within running distance of Aimee's protection and
then ventured further on the isthmus.  There were no pigs and not even any
sign that they had been there.  When we returned, the others had found a
turtle, about half a meter across, and flipped it over.  I thought it was
time we found out how turtle braised with mushrooms and onions tasted. 
Iain and James and Toby helped me butcher it without flinching.

   We had come prepared to gather oysters and again I shucked while the
others waded and gathered.  Lucky remembered what I was doing.  Every time
an oyster jumped out of its shell, he caught it.  Iain and James and Toby
harvested the oysters at first and Anna and Caitlyn and Jean-Nicole brought
the oysters to me.  Then the three girls talked the three guys into
swapping jobs.  They proved themselves quite adept at prying oysters off
the rocks in the waist-deep water.  The water was a little cold and the
wind was blowing from the south as usual.  I enjoyed watching three naked
women with their nipples standing out from the chill.  Anna fussed at me
because I had not brought my fire starter and said that was her last time
at gathering oysters unless she had a fire waiting.  We went home with
enough to feed us for quite a few days.

   <><><>

   One night, we were all in the lounge talking.  Jean-Nicole seemed
completely at ease wearing nothing but a loincloth when we were indoors and
letting us look at her perfect young breasts.  She said she had felt for so
long like she was tied down in the dark and now she was free and in the
sunshine.

   We had just eaten a meal which she prepared with the help of Anna and
Caitlyn.  She was eager to help and would probably have done all the
cooking, as she had often done for her large family in her old world.  She
was a marvelous cook but Anna and I did not want her to assume that role
exclusively.  James and Toby cooked some nights, as we all did, and we ate
what they cooked and praised it.  Other nights, I paired with Anna and Iain
with Caitlyn.  We compromised by making Jean-Nicole the head chef and
appointing all the rest of us sou-chefs.

   Anna and I had talked about what we could do to help her overcome her
repressive childhood and had concluded that we should start with lessons
from Aimee on Human Sexuality and Reproduction.  I led off the conversation
by asking Aimee a question.

   "Aimee, how are James and Toby doing on their lessons in sex?" I asked.

   "I cannot answer your question until Toby gives me permission to
disclose information about him," Aimee replied.  "James has given me
permission; Toby has not."

   I looked at Toby.

   "I didn't know I was supposed to," he said.

   "Toby, Aimee must always respect our privacy," James said.  "I told you
she's always observing us and you said you didn't mind.  David and Anna
have given her permission to observe them even in their bed chamber and
then to tell others about what they do.  Caitlyn's still bashful.  She lets
Aimee observe what goes on in her and Iain's bed chamber but she doesn't
want her to talk about it.  You need to tell Aimee it's OK for her to talk
about it, like answering David's question.

   "But why does she need to observe all of us?" Jean-Nicole asked.

   "She doesn't really need to," James said.  "Humans were a mystery to her
until we started arriving.  She's learning from us what human being are
like so she can help us.  That's all."

   "Well, I don't care if she observes me and then talks about it," Toby
said.  "It's no big deal.  I'm not bashful."

   "Well, I'm not bashful either, Mr.  Smarty-pants," Caitlyn said. 
"Aimee, you may talk about what Iain and I do if you need to."

   She looked at Jean-Nicole.  "I'm not bashful either," she said.  "I
think I'm going to be an exhibitionist.  Aimee, you can observe me and talk
about me all you want to."

   "Damn!  All I asked was how they are doing in their classes in sex
education," I said.  "I didn't know I was going to cause so much trouble."

   "David, James and Toby are both doing very well," Aimee finally answered
to my question.  "James had finished all ten modules on Male and Female
Anatomy before Toby's arrival and most of the modules on Intercourse. 
Since Toby's arrival, he has started back with Anatomy so he can help Toby.
He's also continuing with the modules on Intercourse.  Toby has completed
most of the modules on Anatomy.  They are both excellent students.

   "Yeah, she rewards us when we've done our lessons," Toby said and
grinned.

   I didn't know that.  "How?" I asked.

   "If we've studied the stuff she assigns us and can answer her test
questions, she shows us a movie," he said, grinning even wider.

   "Yeah, she shows us a good sex movie and we sit there and jack off,"
James said, grinning just as wide.

   "Jack off?  What's that?" Jean-Nicole asked.

   "You know," James said.  "Masturbate.  Spank the monkey.  Have a whack
attack.  Belabor the one-eyed bishop."

   Iain grinned too.  I remembered that description was his.

   "Yeah, Pluck my twanger, punch my munchkin, pull my pud, beat my meat,"
Toby said.

   Jean-Nicole smiled.  "Rub my nubbin," she said and then giggled.

   James and Toby giggled too.  I frowned, shook my head, and made a
cutting motion across my throat.  They got the message.

   "Jean-Nicole, would you like Aimee to guide you through those courses?"
Anna asked.  "You can attend the same classes as James or Toby, or, if you
would prefer, you can have a class by yourself.  If you attend the same
classes you don't have to watch the movie."

   "Is it like going to school?" she asked.  "I was always bored in
school."

   "It's nothing like school, Jean-Nicole," James said.  "Aimee just guides
us.  She gives us reading assignments and then asks us questions to see
that we're doing our homework.  If you don't understand something, you just
ask her."

   "I don't want to study with you guys," she said.  "I want to study by
myself."

   I thought I might know why she didn't want to study with them.

   "Jean-Nicole, she shows James and Toby a movie if they've done their
homework and they jack off, you know, masturbate," I said.  "Is that why
you don't want to study with them?"

   "Whip the one-eyed Cyclops," Toby whispered and then giggled.

   "Choke my cobra," James whispered, and then giggled.

   Caitlyn shook her head in disgust and then giggled.

   "I've never seen a guy do that," Jean-Nicole said.

   "Are you a virgin?" Anna asked.

   Jean-Nicole shook her head yes.

   "And you've never masturbated?"

   "The Elder who was teaching us life skills said self-abuse is a sin
but..."

   James butted in.  "Hot damn.  I've already sinned once today and I'm
going to sin again."

   "Me too," Toby said.  "Maybe two more times."

   "Go ahead," I said.  "It's no skin off my dick."

   Jean-Nicole looked shocked and then puzzled.

   "David, be good," Anna said to me and then turned to Jean-Nicole. 
"James got some poison ivy on his legs and, at the same time, the foreskin
of his penis got all red and irritated.  David looked at it and told him I
was going to have to cut the loose skin off his penis.  He showed it to me
and I told him he had just irritated it by masturbating so much.  I found
an ointment in the storeroom that helped it heal."

   She looked at me and shook her head.  "David, you are so bad."

   "You can watch us if you want to," James volunteered.  "Me and T...I
mean Toby and I can show you how it's done."

   I looked at Jean-Nicole and saw tears in her eyes.  She was frowning at
little.  She stood up and I thought she was about to leave.  Anna saw the
same thing I did.

   "What's wrong, Jean-Nicole?" she asked.  "Have we done something to hurt
you?"

   She sniffed a few times and then the dam broke and she started sobbing.
Anna quickly went to her and pulled her head against her shoulder. 
Jean-Nicole wrapped her arms around Anna and cried softly for a brief
moment.

   "Please don't laugh at me," she finally said between sniffles.  "I know
I'm just a stupid ol' girl and I don't know anything but I do want to
learn, not just about sex, but about everything.  I wanted to go to college
but they wouldn't let me.  And anyway, I masturbate a lot.  And I want to
have sex with guys, lots of them, before I get married.  So there!"

   Anna held her until the sniffles had run their course.  The way she was
looking at James and Toby told them they had better not open their mouths
again.

   "Jean-Nicole, James and Toby weren't laughing at you," I said "They
laugh at everything.  Maybe it's just part of their nature or maybe it's
just because they're teen-age boys.  I like to have them around when
they're joking and laughing and having fun."

   "Me and Toby, we're sorry, Jean Nicole," James said.  "We didn't mean to
hurt your feelings.  We just laugh at everything."

   "James!" Aimee said, and he knew why she called his name.

   "I mean, Toby and I are sorry, Jean-Nicole.  We just like to laugh."

   "Yeah, when Lucky poops on the floor, we laugh at it," Toby said.

   "And then they clean it up," I said.

   That got a little smile out of her.

   "Jean-Nicole," Aimee said, "I have the ability to teach college-level
courses in many subjects.  If you will come to me at your convenience, we
can plan a course of study for you.  I would be pleased to have you as a
student."

   "She's a great teacher," Iain said.  "I'm studying physics and she makes
that intelligible to an idiot like me."

   "One of Aimee's primary reasons for being here is to function as a
teacher," I said.  "She knows more than a thousand college professors."

   "And I can teach you about sex," Aimee said.  "I have five modules
planned for James and Toby.  You could jump in at the point Toby has
reached and have classes with them while we cover the first lessons in a
separate class."

   "And you can't fail with her," James said.  "I'm taking English with her
and she makes me master each part of a module before we move on."

   And that's how Aimee got yet another student in her sex education
classes.  Later, James and Toby came to me grinning and I knew something
had happened.  When I asked, they told me Jean-Nicole had watched the movie
with them.  I asked if that was all she did.  They just smiled.

   <><><>

   One day, Iain sang to all of us and later pulled a gotcha on James and
Toby.  OK, and me too.  The seven of us had put on our full Robin Hood
regalia and climbed to the top of the mountain to see if the leaves were
changing yet, to have a picnic, and to show Jean-Nicole the source of all
our power.

   After our picnic, Caitlyn asked Iain to sing for us and he agreed if we
would only follow his directions.  We all stripped naked, climbed to the
top of one of the two peaks, formed a circle, stood looking at each other
for a moment, held our arms out to the side, hands close to others but not
touching.  With the warmth of the sun on my naked body, the slight breeze
blowing up the mountain, surrounded by the jumble of gray rocks, the
distant sea shining a pure blue, I was content to be in our beautiful
world.

   Iain started singing and almost immediately I felt something strange
come over me.  His song was not in any language I knew but somehow I knew
what it was about.  I felt peaceful and interconnected with the others and
with everything in our strange new world.  I was part of the others as they
were part of me and we were all part of this world and it was good and
perfect.  I knew I'd found a world of my choosing.  All too soon, Iain
stopped singing and I looked around.  The others were smiling slightly but
nobody was saying a word.  No words could have expressed what I felt.

   On the way back down we paused for a pit-stop, boys to the right of the
trail, girls to the left.  Iain, James, Toby and I lined up and all did the
same thing: pulled our tunic up, pulled our tights down and let them catch
under our scrotums, put a thumb and one finger on our penises, pulled the
foreskin back to expose the head, and grunted and pissed and grunted and
pissed some more.  When we finished, we shook, covered up, released our
tights from behind our balls, and let out tunics fall.

   "James, why do you have to pull your foreskin back like that?" Iain
asked.

   "Huh?  What do you mean?"

   "You pull your foreskin back to expose the head of your penis before you
piss," Iain said.  "Why?"

   "I don't know," James said.  "I guess I learned it so my dick can see
where to aim.  How do you do it?"

   "Where I come from, a guy doesn't have to pull his foreskin off the head
of his tianga.  It just comes back by itself before he pisses."

   "His what?"

   "His penis.  Isn't that what I said?

   "No, you said his dianga."

   "Oh, merde, I slipped," Iain said.  "It's tianga, like teeth, tianga and
tolos."

   "Tianga?"

   "Yeah."

   "And your foreskin just comes back off the head of your tianga by itself
when you're about to piss."

   "Yeah!  I don't have to pull it back."

   "Bullshit."

   "No, no, it's true.  And then my foreskin just slides back over the head
again, all by itself, after I'm through."

   "Bullshit!  Let me see you do it."

   "I don't have to piss right now.  I just did it."

   "He's just shitting you, James," Toby said, eloquent as always.

   "Well, I'll try but my tianga probably won't do it," Iain said.  "Maybe
I can squeeze out a few drops."

   "Do it!"

   Iain lifted his tunic, pulled his tights down, hooked the waist band
behind his tolos, and grunted.  James was bent over looking closely at
Iain's tianga.  So was Toby.  I'll admit it; so was I.

   Iain had his head back and was looking up.  He said, "Look.  There's a
big raptor."

   Of course three more sets of eyes looked up.  I looked back quickly and
saw Iain's hand moving away from his tianga.  The head was exposed.  He
grunted again and managed a little squirt.

   "There, it worked," he said.  "Did you see it?  It's about to go back
down."

   He held his tunic up with one hand and his tights down with the other.
His foreskin was tucked neatly in the groove behind the head of his penis.
By itself?  James and Toby and I stared at it and waited for the foreskin
to creep back over the head.

   Iain waited a few seconds before he said, "Gotcha!"

   He ran but he didn't get far before James and Toby brought him down.

   I was glad Iain's people regarded circumcision as barbaric genital
mutilation and were only sending guys who were natural.  Circumcised guys
can never have fun like we can.

   <><><>

   On 9-16, Iain sang, a capella, `You Lift Me Up' to Caitlyn.  On 10-18 I
sang `You Lift Me Up' to Anna while Iain was again singing it to Caitlyn.
This time Aimee provided music for us.  I survived the ordeal.  I didn't
die.  Nobody laughed.

   A few days after Iain first sang to Caitlyn, he and I went for a walk,
as we often did, to talk about what we needed to do in the next month or
so. It was really more of a climb because we were going up the mountain. 
We stopped at a scenic spot to drink in our beautiful world.

   "David, I have a confession to make," Iain said.

   "What?"

   "I didn't really write that waltz," he said.  "I was compiling the
waltzes of Strauss when I ran across one whose provenance was in dispute. I
had brought Caitlyn home so I could show her what I did and we were in my
room.  I played that waltz, trying to find a clue as to who wrote it.  She
asked me who wrote it and told her I did but I was only kidding.  She
thought I was really the composer.  I tried to tell her the truth but she
wouldn't listen.  She even told my mother that I had composed the most
beautiful waltz ever.  My mother just smiled.  She knew I didn't.  Now I'm
stuck with it."

   "Iain, do you know what is the most frequent lie told to beautiful
girls?" I asked.

   "No," he answered, puzzled.

   "Just let me put it in, honey.  I won't come.  I promise."

   "What's that...Oh, you're saying all guys lie to girls to get what they
want."

   "Well, not all.  The ten percent who don't get any pussy don't lie," I
said.

   "Sometimes you're hard to understand, David."

   "Look, Iain.  It's no big deal," I said.  "Don't worry about it.  What
I'm saying is that all guys try to impress girls and they sometimes
exaggerate or lie.  It's normal male behavior.  Girls know it.  They expect
it.  Just forget about it.  What was it you wanted to confess?  I've
forgotten."

   "Well, please don't tell anybody."

   "Tell them what?  I've forgotten what we were talking about."

   "OK, can we talk about something else?  I have finally decided whom your
voice reminds me of: a tall actor in the nineteen fifties who starred in
lots of musicals," Iain said.  "I think you're going to have a rich
bass-baritone voice like his."

   "I don't know who you're talking about," I said, and I really didn't.

   "Well, you know I helped compile classical music, opera, and Broadway
musicals so they could be given to Aimee," he said.  "Your voice sounds
just like his.  I'd like to help you develop it.  I think you could have a
beautiful baritone singing voice."

   "Do I look like him?"

   "No.  He wasn't as lean and hard as you are.  He was good looking
though, just like you."

   "Thanks, I think.  I wish I could sing like you do.  I'd like to sing
`You Lift Me Up' to Anna."

   "David, did you develop your muscles overnight?" he asked.

   "Huh?  No, of course not.  It took years of exercise and I still have to
keep exercising to stay in shape."

   "Well, it took years for me to develop my singing voice.  I can't
remember when my mother started coaching me.  She was still doing it before
I left."

   "Shit!  I can't sing, Iain."

   "Of course you can, David.  You've helped me develop my body with
exercise.  Now let me help you develop your voice with exercise.  You can't
do it overnight but you can do it.  In thirty days you're going to sing to
Anna."

   So for the next thirty or so days, he exercised in the morning under my
direction.  In the afternoon or evening, I exercised under his direction
and his coaching made me begin to believe I really could sing.

   It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  Iain said I had a
mild case of performance anxiety and, once I had done it, it would get
easier every time.  Just before I did it, I even tried being cool to see if
I could get myself under control but that didn't work.  I could be cool and
kill seven bad guys on a hot dusty afternoon in Islamistan.  But I couldn't
be cool when all I had to do was sing.  I had butterflies in my stomach and
sweat in my armpits just before I did it.

   That morning the girls announced that the guys all had appointments for
haircuts.  We grumbled but we submitted.  The four of us gathered in the
kitchen and sat silently while they did whatever they wished.  We all got a
trim and shampoo and a styling.  I will admit we looked better with our
hair neat and not wild as usual.

   Afterwards they chased us out, told us to go bathe and then prepare
lunch, and then they did whatever women do to get ready.  At lunch we saw
the results.  They had made three beautiful women look even more beautiful.

   After lunch, Iain and I went in an unused bed chamber, closed the door,
and he coached me through my part again.  I knew the words and I could
recite them and I surprised myself by singing them without mistakes.  Iain
said I was ready.  I wasn't sure.

   Next he worked with James and Toby and Jean-Nicole.  I had no idea what
they were going to sing but Iain let slip that it was a comedy offering.

   And last, he and Caitlyn went in the same bedroom and worked on their
routine.  I was in the hallway when I heard something, probably classical
music, come to a crescendo but I had no idea what they were doing either.

   After dinner, we all dressed in our finest new world regalia: a chemise
under a tunic, tights or pants or whatever they are called, and boots or
moccasins.  We assembled on the terrace just after the sun had sunk below
the horizon.  Iain and Caitlyn had reserved seats on the first bench, Anna
and I sat on the second bench, and James and Jean-Nicole and Toby sat on
the third.  We were all going to perform on the next level of the terrace.

   Iain and Caitlyn performed first, to an excerpt from Beethoven's
Pastoral Symphony with lyrics by Iain and music from Aimee.  The lyrics
were simply `The Night Was Made for Love' repeated over and over and in
different combinations.  He held her hands and looked at her while singing
in that pure tenor voice of his and then, as the music came to a crescendo,
they kissed.  They were so damn beautiful together, the production was
faultless, the lyrics were perfect for the music, and the kiss was tender
and gentle.  That was exactly what I wanted to do with Anna.

   As soon as they were seated in front of Anna and me, the three back-row
kids took the stage.  They all turned their backs to us, removed their
tunics, did something under their chemises, and turned around again.  They
all had breasts, all three, James, Jean-Nicole, and Toby.  It was evident
that James breasts were false; they were too high.  It was evident that
Jean-Nicole's breasts were real; they were perfect.  And it was evident
that Toby's were false; one was quite a bit lower than the other.

   They sang a French children's song, Frere Jacques, first in French and
then in English.  The comedy wasn't evident until they reached the last
line of the song: ding ding dong, ding ding, dong.  With each word, they
gave a synchronized roll of their hips to the left, to the right, and then
an energetic pelvic thrust.  They were hilarious.  When they finished,
James and Toby removed their breasts: apples tied together with a string.

   My hand was sweaty when I offered it to Anna.  She took it and we
followed Iain and Caitlyn up the stairs to the stage.  I wanted so much to
say the words to Anna, to tell her how much she meant to me.  I looked at
her, saw her eyes and lips smiling at me and, right on cue, I started
singing `You Lift Me Up' to her.  Iain was singing to Caitlyn but I really
wasn't aware of him.  All I knew was that the woman I loved with all my
heart was looking at my face and I was holding her hands.  The last line
`You lift me up, to all that I can be' said it all to me and, I hoped, to
her.

   When we were getting ready for bed that night, I felt overwhelmed by my
love for her again.  I was so glad she was with me but I wondered if she
regretted coming here.  Maybe she would have liked to have had a
traditional wedding.

   "Do you ever wish you hadn't joined me?" I asked.  "Do you wish you had
had a big wedding with you in a white wedding gown and me in a tuxedo?"

   "No, David," she answered.  "How many women have ever had a wedding like
mine?  How many women have ever been walked down the aisle, well, from our
bed chamber to Aimee's room, by a fourteen-year-old boy, both dressed in
something like Robin Hood wore in Sherwood Forest?  James was very
dignified when he gave me away.  How many brides have had an avatar named
Aimee appear on a screen dressed in a judicial robe and conduct the
ceremony?  You were beautiful to me even if you didn't have on a tuxedo."

   "I just think about our old life and wonder if you miss it."

   "David, this is a grand adventure.  Have you ever looked in the eyes of
a young soldier who has had his legs blown off?  I don't ever want to see
despair and misery like that again.  Some of us may be killed here but at
least it won't be in fighting in a useless religious war."

   "Did I ever tell you I love you?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"I do love you, you know.  Today, I felt so stupid trying to sing to you
but I wanted so much to tell you how I feel about you.  I'm so glad we
found each other."

   "And I'm glad we're here, David.  I think this is the world you wanted
and I'm happy sharing it with you.  And you've got a beautiful voice.  I
hope you'll let Iain keep on teaching you to sing."

   "Yeah, and he'll keep on teaching us to dance," I said.  "Maybe I won't
make a damn fool out of myself and hurt my masculine self-image too often."

   TO BE CONTINUED:



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