Follow Focus
32
Let’s Party!
“Jane” by Kiselev Andrey Valerevich, ID1160681302, licensed from Shutterstock.com.
Background by Lakeview Images, ID141290857 licensed from Shutterstock.com.
IF I WERE REALLY A DOM, I’d probably be all upset about my sub bringing home yet another woman to satisfy. She’d told me in our first encounter that this could be considered topping from the bottom. She should be punished for it.
But I’m not really a dom. And over the years, I’d discovered that my lovers, including my wives, like to play games occasionally. If I play along, it’s usually a lot of fun. I needed a strategy, though. We walked to the hotel in silence and I sent the two to Adrienne’s room while I stopped at the payphone to make a call. Before I let them go, though, I needed to be sure it was all on the up and up.
“Kathleen, are you here of your own free will and ready to submit yourself to us?” I asked. She was startled that I would put it in such plain terms, but she hadn’t said a word yet.
“Yes, sir,” she whispered. I could see her blushing.
“Your safe word is ‘exposure.’ Don’t utter it unless you want me to stop everything.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Go to your room.”
Adrienne led Kathleen to her hotel room while I waited in the lobby for ten minutes.
I didn’t really need to call anyone, though I thought Ronda would be pleased to hear about our adventure. That would wait until tomorrow. What I really needed was to give them a little time to get ready and to work on my role in our little charade. We’d see how well they were adjusted to the part.
I had a key to Adrienne’s room, of course, so I rattled it in the lock and then walked in. The two women were sitting on the couch and looked up when I entered. I just stood inside the doorway as they froze. Adrienne knew what was expected and had led Kathleen astray.
“Is this the way you greet your master?” I asked. “You have thirty seconds to present yourselves properly.”
I stepped into the bedroom of the suite where I found exactly what I expected. Rope, whips, clamps, gags, and lube. I grabbed the rope and gags and returned to the sitting room. Both women were naked and on their knees. I walked behind them and quickly pulled Kathleen’s hands behind her back and looped the rope around them. She squeaked but didn’t resist. I looped the rope around Adrienne’s wrists as well, and tied it off. ‘Assess, subdue, and restrain’ were the first instructions Adrienne had given me. I wanted to give Kathleen ample opportunity to use her safe word before I gagged her, so I delayed step four. Instead, I gagged Adrienne. Then I stepped in front of the two kneeling women and undressed.
The bondage and submission of the women didn’t particularly turn me on. However, having two beautiful naked women on their knees waiting to please me did have an effect. I reached out and caressed their breasts. Both became more erect, pressing their breasts into my hands as I described them and talked about the differences between them. I pressed my hardening cock against Kathleen’s lips and she opened her mouth to receive it as I continued to pet Adrienne.
“Having two pets is such a burden,” I said. “And to find they are naughty pets who don’t know how to greet their master. In our world, a good pet is always available to her master. She wants him to take his pleasure from her. She understands that infractions of basic rules must be met with punishment. She is always willing to submit herself to her master’s command.”
I pulled out of Kathleen’s mouth with a very hard cock and returned to the bedroom. I brought out the other toys.
“Fifi, I warned you in LA not to keep bringing new people into our relationship. Apparently, that warning and its punishment were not enough to temper your impulses and here you have brought Kathleen into our menage,” I said. I smacked her bottom with the paddle. Just once, but hard enough to make her gasp and jerk upright.
“And Kathleen, who said she wanted to be a proper submissive, ignored the very first provision of what that means. She should always greet her master naked and on her knees.” I struck out with the paddle and hit Kathleen on the rump, perhaps a little less vigorously, but still enough to make her jump.
“I didn’t know!” she blurted out.
“Are you accusing Fifi of not preparing you for this?” I asked. I smacked Fifi again.
“No!”
I smacked Kathleen again, a little harder than the first blow.
“No what?”
“No, um… sir. I am not accusing Ad… um… Fifi.”
I spanked her bum again. Then, for good measure, I whacked Adrienne, too.
“Now, Kathleen… Ew. That is a terrible name for a pet. It’s the name of an actor, even a politician, or doctor. I need something to call you.”
“Is Katie a possibility?” she asked.
“Did I ask you?” I said, smacking her butt again. She was beginning to turn red.
“No, sir.”
“Then be quiet or I’ll gag you like your tempter. I think I’ll call you Kali. That might be a nod to the State of California, or it might refer to the Hindu goddess of doomsday and death. It might just be the K and L of your given name. Yes. Kali it is.”
I knelt in front of Kathleen and kissed her as I played with her nipples and dropped one hand between her legs. The excitement of getting what she wanted was apparent on my fingertips.
“What do you think of that name, Kali?”
“Thank you, master. Kali will be a good pet.”
“Oh, I know you will be.” I moved over to Adrienne and fondled my mistress. “Are you feeling neglected, pet? That’s what happens when you bring home strays. I have to spend so much time training her that I don’t have enough time to discipline my Fifi.” I kissed and licked her nipples and ran my hand between her legs. There was no question that this turned Adrienne on. She was open and ready for anything.
I stood and went to the collection of toys. Adrienne shrieked into the gag when I reached around her and fastened a nipple clamp to each of her breasts. Kathleen looked at the little devices and started to hyperventilate. She moaned.
“Was there something you wanted to say, Kali?” I asked.
“Um… Uh…” she gulped.
“Well, if you have nothing to say, I might as well keep you from saying it.” I slipped a ball gag into her mouth, giving her plenty of opportunity to object, but as soon as she saw it, she opened her mouth.
“What a good little Kali. That merits a reward.”
I helped the two women to stand and led them to the sofa where I had them kneel on the cushions side-by-side. They could rest their upper chests on the back of the massive piece of furniture. As soon as they were in position, I began nudging their knees farther apart. It was funny in my mind that they had both been models and were accustomed to following my unspoken directions as I posed them. As soon as there was room between her legs, I knelt and began licking Kathleen’s slit. By this time, she ramped up fast and was squealing an orgasm into her gag in minutes. I moved over to Adrienne and inserted my fingers into her vagina as I rimmed her asshole. I pinched her clit a bit and she also lit up. Then I untied Adrienne and pulled her to me, loosening the ball gag so I could kiss her.
“I need you now to keep Kali on edge,” I whispered. “This is what she really wants, isn’t it?”
She nodded and I released the nipple clamps, causing her to gasp and come on my fingers again.
I gave her the clamps to use if she deemed necessary. Then I went back to licking Kathleen until she was in a fevered state. This time, I spent time rimming her asshole, too. In the meantime, Adrienne alternated between playing with Kathleen’s breasts and pussy, and applying a generous quantity of lube to my cock. We shifted positions enough that Adrienne could lie beneath Kathleen and lick her pussy. Kathleen hit a peak again.
That was when I pressed the head of my cock against her asshole and pushed forward. Kathleen rose up off the back of the couch with a high-pitched whine. Rising up forced her bottom down and my cock disappeared into her rectum. Adrienne licked frantically at Kathleen’s pussy and pinched her nipples from below. I gave our lover a few moments to adjust, and then began sawing in and out of her butt.
I was very ready by this time, and Kathleen was close when I started filling her butt with come. The heat and pressure of my ejaculation was enough to push Kathleen into a spastic seizure as she, too, came and then passed out.
I quickly released the gag so she would have no difficulty breathing and then slowly withdrew from her bottom.
It wasn’t the end of our evening—or early morning by that time. I bathed my pets and put lotion on them, then cuddled them in bed where I made passionate love to Fifi and got Kali to help her along. It was a fun night, but by morning, I was happy to put aside the master and just go to breakfast with the two women.
The following week was a scramble. I had a couple of last minute photo sessions of women who wanted pictures for the party. I needed all transparencies done by Thursday, so they could get overnight processing in London.
First, though, was Toni’s sixth birthday. After going riding on Sunday, and brunch at That Scottish Café on Monday morning, we just spent the day in the park with our girl. She was thrilled to have Aunt Addie with us and Addie taught her how to do the pony, the Watusi, and the mashed potato. None of us were surprised when Peter jumped right in to join in the dances. Peter, Jane, Kendra, and Derek had joined us for the outing and Kathleen got there mid-afternoon. With Peter and Adrienne teaching Toni new dances, I had a chance to hold and cuddle Alex and James. It wasn’t long before Alex wanted to run and join Toni dancing. Toni wanted to teach the new dances to her little sister. I just held James while Jane leaned against me.
Tuesday morning, a very subdued Kathleen came into the studio for a new photo.
“Um… Do I need to be submissive Kali today?”
“Oh, Kathleen, no. We had our evening of play. Did you get everything you wanted out of it?”
“Yes. And more. I’ve never done that… you know… anal before.”
“Are you recovered?”
“It’s still a little sore, but between you and Adrienne, I was so turned on I couldn’t dwell on the pain. I’ve never passed out from an orgasm before!”
“Well, I’m glad you got what you wanted, but please don’t assume that is our relationship with each other. I have my wives and I have my mistress. That is all I need.”
“Mmm,” she said kissing me softly. “And your countess. How long have you and Jane been lovers?”
“What gives you the idea…”
“It’s obvious that she loves her husband and he dotes on her, but we knew in London last fall that Peter had a decided preference for boys. And Jane casts loving eyes on you.”
“We’ve known each other for several years. Please don’t spread any rumors about us.”
“Of course not! No, I’ll never mention it. But it was sweet to see you and her in the park yesterday. One would almost have thought you were a family, holding her little one.”
I didn’t respond, but led Kathleen into the dressing room and started working on her makeup.
“I have some ideas for a new shot that will show you off without exposing you. Are you game?” I asked.
“Nate, you know that you can expose me or cover me. Whatever you want. Yes, I got my evening of play and I’m not sure I’ll ever want to truly be submissive again, but you’ve been more intimate with me than any other man. Please don’t hesitate to touch me and pose me however you want.”
I smiled at her and kissed her. The kiss turned out a little more passionate than I intended, but by the time it was finished, I had Kathleen naked again.
“Yes,” she breathed. “Just don’t um… touch my bum hole today. Okay?”
“Absolutely okay,” I said. “Now, I need the fishnet stockings and high heels for this.”
I worked the stockings onto her and then put the high heels on her feet.
“Somehow, I feel more naked and lascivious dressed in just this than if I were fully nude,” she giggled.
“It does have some appeal,” I said. I spent a few minutes caressing her and kissing her. Then I led her to the stage. I was going for something fairly simple, but I thought it would be dramatic. I had black fabric spread all over a step unit that had five steps. I pulled it up at the back so it made a full backdrop. Then I spread a piece of red fabric over the top of the stairs and positioned Kathleen on it in several poses until I got the one I wanted and switched to the 4x5.
I spent some time after I’d carried Kathleen to the dressing room, just holding her and kissing her and petting her. It was more a time of reassurance to her that our relationship hadn’t changed because she wanted to test out being a slave. We stopped short of making love in the dressing room, but both had a very satisfactory conclusion to our session.
My second client for the day was Ariel Barnhart. She was in Love’s Labour’s Lost and would be appearing in the upcoming production of Everyman. By comparison to everything I’d been through with models this summer, her session was calm and quiet while still being as sexy as hell.
Wednesday, I had two of my favorite models. Adrienne and Anna were spending the day together and both came in to have new photos done. It was a really fun time and I was happy to get a new photo of Anna out of the deal.
It looked like she and Adrienne were having a good time palling around for the day and I didn’t expect Anna home that evening. It was one of the very few times, though, that I’d had both Anna and Adrienne naked in my arms at the same time. That was especially nice.
Thursday morning, Tiffany Logan came in for her photo session. Once again, feeling just a little of the rush to get all slides in by that afternoon, I might not have taken quite as much time with her as I normally would. She was a lovely woman and very pliable in my hands. She seemed to have a lot of joy in just being touched, and when I got the photo I wanted, I spent some time in the dressing room just giving her a full massage. I hadn’t thoroughly massaged anyone in quite some time. I forgot how wonderful a woman’s body feels under my hands when I am just kneading her muscles and oiling her skin. I didn’t attempt to give her a happy ending but she left the studio wobbling a little bit.
And then there was Jane. She was as much a fixture in the theatre community this year as we were. She and Peter were often at the post-performance parties. They’d hosted a few parties at Damien and Kathleen’s house. It was no surprise that she was invited to attend the photo party, but to do that, she needed a new photo.
“I don’t know, Nate. Have I really lost the weight from the baby? You know, his birth weight wasn’t as much as Alex’s, but I still felt stretched all out,” she complained.
I answered by removing all her clothes and inspecting her closely. All over. She giggled as I caressed her and sighed when I kissed her.
“Jane, sweetheart, please don’t get any thinner. You are a beautiful woman and would be just as beautiful if you weighed ten more pounds,” I said.
“I’ve always believed that you can never be too rich or too thin,” she said. “In my head, I know you are right, but when I look at myself, I can’t help but think I’m getting too fat.”
I turned her toward the mirror and stood beside her.
“Do you see these?” I asked, running my fingers down her ribs.
“Yes.”
“You shouldn’t. Not unless you are a racing greyhound. Honey, you need to have enough body weight that you have the energy to keep up with our little boy. You only think he’s a lot of work now. When he starts walking, you’ll start running. Better get in shape for it.”
“You’ll really… um… you know…”
“Love you? I do and I always will, Jane.”
“You do? I was going to say ‘want me.’ But you love me?”
“And want you. And I plan to show you that as soon as we get your new photo.”
“Oh, Nate. I love you, too.”
That might have been more profession than we were ready to deal with, so we went straight to the stage and I started positioning her and snapping photos. I tried a couple of artistic backgrounds and finally settled on one in rich blues with a lamplit pathway.
I picked Jane up and carried her to the dressing room where I held her and petted her and kissed her. Before long, I was also undressed and our naked bodies were moving together in an age-old dance. I remembered a condom or we’d have been starting a sibling for James. I knew now, though, that we would do that in the next year. Jane was passionate and welcoming. I slid into her smoothly and easily, both of us sighing with contentment at our joining.
Jane had a rather reserved English demeanor, but when we were making love, her ardor broke through. She wasn’t terribly vocal, but her kisses and movements convinced me she was completely in sync with my own lust for her. Her orgasm came in a series of short gasps accompanied by the pulsing of her pussy. That brought me along with her as I filled the condom.
“I need to run film down to Dave’s to get it out for overnight processing,” I said, when we’d lain there for several minutes to recover our breath. “I hate to get up and leave this wonderful embrace.”
“What if I’m still here when you get back?” she asked. “Would that be okay?”
“You might be more comfortable upstairs in our bed than here on the sofa.”
“I’ll talk to your wives and see if I’m welcome tonight. I might have to offer them all… you know… a little reward.”
“I believe Ronda is off with Adrienne. I’m pretty sure Anna and Patricia will welcome you. With or without rewards.”
I dressed and ran the week’s film down to Dave. He had the motorcyclist waiting and in just a few minutes, the film was on the way to London for processing. The rest of my weekend was going to be filled with darkroom time.
After tonight. I had a feeling my night was going to be filled with me filling Jane.
Friday morning, the transparencies arrived at Dave’s about ten and we were all surprised when he delivered them to me at the studio. Usually, he just called and I went to pick them up.
“Well, I’ve got some more help at the store this year,” he said. “Thought I’d take the opportunity to drop in and see your operation if you don’t mind. I’ve heard rumors of a big party to unveil the women of the Stratford Festival next week.”
“I don’t think the women have been trying to keep it a secret,” I laughed. “I understand they’ve rented the party room at the Boar’s Head. I’ve only photographed fifteen if my records are correct. Plus five of my own, but I understand there are far more expected at the party.”
“You showed me a few of the transparencies. I’d love to see your Cibachrome process. I’m still sending all our color transparency work down to London, but we’re doing quite a lot of color negative and printing work.”
“Anna’s been hustling the prints down to the frame shop for matting as quickly as we get them prepared, so I’ve got a dozen here all ready for display,” I said. We went to the table and I pulled out the 12x15 prints I’d finished.
“How are you doing these backgrounds? You aren’t overprinting these, eh?”
“No. They are actually painted backdrops that I’m using in the studio. I pose the models in front of them.”
I took him over to our collection of settings and we shuffled through them.
“You are getting such good integration; it’s as if your model was painted into the setting and just stepped out from it.”
“I discovered that one of the secrets was to put the model in the extreme foreground so I can light her without casting shadow on the background. That means I’m not doing full-length photos of her. Nearly all the backdrops include some floor or groundwork. If I photograph all the way to the floor, there’s a distinct difference between the studio floor and the painted floor.”
“It also makes it clear that the subject of the photo is the model and not the background. I’m impressed,” Dave said.
It was nice to talk to Dave about the process. Almost like being back in college. He joined me in the darkroom while I printed an image and was reminded about how many steps processing Cibachrome took.
“That is a good reminder of why I send that kind of work to London,” he laughed.
It wasn’t quite as fun working in the darkroom with Dave as it was with my wives, but he appreciated the demo and left so I could get some real work done. For the rest of Friday and Saturday, I had a succession of beautiful assistants to help me in the darkroom. They didn’t speed the process up at all, but they did make it a lot more fun.
Monday evening, I took my twenty prints to the Boar’s Head and was welcomed into the party room. And a party was surely underway. We’d taken Alex and Toni to Jane’s house where Kendra and Derek were watching over them for the evening. Peter and Jane, of course, were at the party with Ronda, Anna, Patricia, Adrienne, and me.
There were more women present than I’d seen for photos. Several had men with them and I recognized other men from casts that I’d met before. All told, there were over fifty people there. And the pub was making sure everyone had what they wanted to drink.
I checked in with my wives and mistress and decided it was safe for me to have a glass of cognac and not get too looped to do the presentations.
People paid cash for their drinks and food but we’d all had dinner at Jane and Peter’s before the party. At eight o’clock, just as if it was a performance in the theatre, Kathleen called the show to order. The entire program was to be me presenting the photos to the women.
I tried to have a simple story to tell about each woman or about her scene as I handed her the photo. I included my wives, my mistress, and Jane in the presentations as well. We all had a good time, but one person was missing.
“Does anyone know if Cherianne Kline will be here? I have a lovely photo of her. I understand she works in the Festival office.”
There were head shakes all around. As it turned out, no one had ever heard of her, including the four or five people from the office who were in attendance. I set the photo aside. She’d paid cash for the same package as the other women. Perhaps she’d show up eventually. Of course, I couldn’t show anyone a picture of her face. She had always kept it covered or in shadow.
“Did you touch my wife?” a very large and imposing black man asked me. It seemed he’d had a couple drinks or more.
“Uh… Who is your wife?” I asked.
“So, you touched wives.”
“I have no idea. What goes on in the studio is the province of the model. I don’t discuss it,” I said.
“You did! You had your hands on my Monique. She came home so charged up I couldn’t satisfy her all evening.”
“I think I’m glad she came home to you charged up, but I did not touch Monique more than to position her shoulder or chin. Great photo of her, don’t you think?” I said.
“I think I’ll kill you now,” he said.
He swung a big meaty hand at me.
And ended up looking up at me from the floor where he lay on his back with Adrienne’s spike heel in the center of his chest.
“You will not touch my master,” she growled at him.
He started to sit up, but with Adrienne’s heel pressed against his sternum, fell back down. The guy started crying!
“My Monique. Where’s my Monique?”
“I’m right here, you big oaf,” Monique said, arriving. “May I?” she asked Adrienne, placing her own high heel next to Adrienne’s. Adrienne backed off immediately. “Now I told you he never touched me. What does it take for you to believe? Shall I let his guard dog have her way with you? I don’t think you’d come home all charged up. Now get up, Claude, and take me home. You were just telling me how good my photo looked.”
“Yes, honey. Let’s go home. Sorry, mister. Didn’t mean nothing.”
Monique let her husband up and took his hand to lead him away. Adrienne stayed at attention until they were away and then dropped to her knees in front of me.
“Please forgive your pet, Master,” she said, holding out the silver chain that we used as a leash. I took it from her and clipped it to her collar.
“Now, Fifi. That was a good girl. I’ve always known you would protect me,” I said pulling her to me to kiss.
“You or anyone in the family, Master. Or Lady Jane and her family.”
“Hmm. Well don’t spread yourself too thin, dear. There is only one of you. Come, pet. Let’s have a little drink and sit for a while.”
After that little demonstration, both men and women approached me with an air of respect I didn’t think was totally merited. I knew that Adrienne had been trained in self-defense. She’d knocked Elizabeth out a few years ago with a single kick to her jaw. I’d never actually seen her use her power, though. I wasn’t sure I’d actually seen her strike this time.
I sat with her on my lap while my wives, and Jane and Peter gathered near and took seats around the table. Several of the women stopped to congratulate Adrienne on her quick reflexes and two even asked if she would give them instruction.
Of course, Adrienne was leaving at the end of the week. I didn’t think there would be much training going on. Three more women asked to set appointments for photos and Anna scheduled them. The photos had been displayed on one table so people could look at all of them.
Eventually, the party wound down and we headed back to Jane and Peter’s house to retrieve our children and take them home. Jane and Peter were talking quietly together on the short walk.
“Adrienne, you included Peter and me and our family when you said you would protect Nate and his family,” Jane began.
“I know how important you are to Nate. If I was near, I would never let anyone hurt you,” Adrienne said.
“Um… I was thrilled that you protected Nate and that you feel that way about us. I wondered if… Adrienne, would you like to spend the night? With me?” Jane said.
I think all the rest of us except Peter were floored. Jane was asking Adrienne to spend the night. Adrienne looked a little panicked and then looked at me with a kind of pleading gaze. I reached over and unclipped her leash, handing it back to her.
“Whatever you’d like, dear,” I whispered, kissing her.
Adrienne’s response was simply to press Jane close to her and kiss her. My wives and I took the children and went home.
Tuesday, Anna claimed Adrienne. Wednesday, Patricia, Toni, and Alex went out to play with her and spent the night at the hotel. That meant that Thursday, Ronda and I got to take her to the opening of Everyman.
I have to say that medieval morality plays are not really my thing. I didn’t know that until I saw it. Okay, technically maybe not medieval. The notes say it was dated as somewhere between 1490 and 1500, so it’s placed as early renaissance. Whatever. It was presented as a single act and I didn’t have time to read the notes and still comprehend any of what was going on. We knew a few of the actors in the show, so we went to the pub afterward to greet the women. There were only five women in the show with a dozen men. It was almost the exact opposite of La Vie Parisienne.
It didn’t take us long to say hello and goodbye to the women. They seemed intent on having one too many drinks. Ronda, Adrienne, and I decided against having a drink and headed to the hotel.
“Master, I have been with Lady Jane and Miss Anna and Miss Patricia since the party Monday. This has kept me away from your punishment. How do you wish to punish me for my behavior Monday night?”
“Punish you?” I said, bewildered.
“Listen to me, Fifi,” Ronda growled. “If Nate punishes you for acting as the good and loyal pet you are, I will beat him and he will take it. Now before you ask for punishment, decide if it is so important to you that you want to see your master beaten for delivering it.”
“Oh, mistress! Please spare my master. I behaved violently at the party.”
“My precious, Fifi,” I said, pulling her into my arms. “You behaved exactly as you have been trained. One does not have a pet obey her training and then punish her for it.”
“Yes, Master,” she said meekly.
“However, you have also been trained in how to pleasure your master and mistress. That we will require of you tonight. Do you understand?”
A small smile crept across her face as she looked up at the two of us.
“Yes, Master. Fifi is here for your pleasure.”
With that understood, we commenced our pleasure.
We all had dinner at our local pub Friday night, one last evening with Adrienne. Saturday morning, she was up early and off to Toronto to the airport for her return to LA.
I didn’t have time to miss her too much. I had prints to make in the darkroom. I’d had two more actors in for photos since the party Monday, and got the transparencies back on Friday morning. Anna slipped into the darkroom with me.
“Quite a week,” she said, getting us both naked. Naked is a really great way to work in the darkroom when a pretty girl you love is naked in there with you.
“Exhausting. Glad things will be slowing down a bit now.”
“Don’t be too glad,” she said, sitting on my lap while I exposed the print. We kissed. “It’s not going to slow down much.”
“We’ve got more appointments?” I asked.
“A couple. But Monday night we gave the proof sheets and order forms to all the models. The orders have started coming in. I foresee a lot of darkroom time with my lover.”
“I won’t complain about that. I suppose I’d have gotten bored if I didn’t have any work to do.”
“Has the summer been all you hoped it would be?”
“Anna, I’ve felt more alive than I did all through the winter. And it might surprise you to know I’ve felt closer to my wives than ever. Even with a steady stream of models, Adrienne, and Jane, I’ve never felt so in love with you and Patricia and Ronda.”
“Your wives have all felt closer to you, as well,” Anna said.
We got the system synchronized for getting the prints made and continued to chat as we moved them from one bath to another, then into the rinse. Before we turned on the lights to take the new prints to the framer, we spent time just loving each other and making love. In an unusual move, Anna wanted me behind her as she bent over the sink. Even without the light on, that is a sight I will never turn down. I could feel her butt up against my stomach as I thrust into her and reached forward to play with her nipples. When we’d come, I turned the lights on. We got dressed and left the darkroom to get the new prints dry and down to the frame shop for matting.
Then Anna went over all the new orders. There were a few orders for “standard prints,” which we now defined as a matte finish black and white. It wasn’t quite the archival quality, but was superior RC paper. I was surprised at the number of orders for large, as in 12x15, prints on archival paper. These women seriously liked pictures of themselves. And there were quite a few orders for 8x10 photos that an actress could attach to a resume as a head shot.
I got right at it and wasn’t too surprised when Ronda joined me in the darkroom for an afternoon.
The next week, I had two more sittings and a raft of printing to get done. Wednesday evening, we turned on the news. Canadian news was different than news in the States. It often showed how little importance was attached to things we considered big news, and how important stuff was that caused a shrug of our shoulders.
The lead story was Quebec having passed Bill 22 making French the official language of government and business in the province. I suppose that if you didn’t speak French and lived there, that might be a problem. The news in Stratford would be broadcast in English and as soon as the show was over, it would be rebroadcast in French.
We’d gotten used to having both languages around us. And a week after we arrived in Stratford for the summer, we’d received a package of language learning records from the State Department. For Arabic. The note from Mr. Martin said simply that if we were making our home in Oman, we should have a basic understanding of the language. I’d made a little progress. All my wives were better at it than I was. Ronda was the best. But, of course, Toni spoke it almost like a native from what we could tell. I could understand more than I could speak. I’d always had a little trouble learning languages. I think Arabic made six for Ronda. As it happened, Oman wouldn’t be the only place where the language was spoken. All the Arab nations on the west side of the Persian Gulf spoke Arabic.
When we went to the east side of the Gulf and entered Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, the languages were all different. Farsi, Pashtun, and Urdu. I was talking about this with Ronda when Anna hushed us.
“Look! Look at this!” she shouted. I turned my attention back to the news.
For the first time since 1868, the United States House Judiciary Committee has passed three articles of impeachment against a sitting president. President Richard M. Nixon will be tried in the Senate for obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and disobeying subpoenas. There is no word as yet as to when the trial will begin.
“What? They didn’t impeach him for war crimes?” I shouted.
“That was never an issue,” Ronda said, calming me down. “This all stemmed from the Watergate break-in during the last election.”
“Yeah. Look at what that election got us. A vice president convicted of tax fraud and a president impeached for abuse of power,” Anna said. “Who’s the vice president now?”
“Gerald Ford became vice president just before Christmas,” Ronda said. “I heard the news when we were in Dusseldorf.”
“I suppose he’s a puppet,” I said. “Nothing is going to change. It requires a two-thirds majority in the senate to convict a president. All the Republicans need to do is band together.”
“Nate, when did you become so cynical about the government?” Patricia asked.
“Really?”
“No. I guess I already know the answer to that question. None of us have trusted anyone in office that we can remember in our lives,” Patricia admitted.
“I think it hit home when Johnson told the draft boards to draft protesters first and send them to the front lines. It was then that I realized the president had the power to pretty much order the deaths of any group of people he found unpleasant. Then Nixon telling the protesters that nothing us kids could do will change anything. Really, I’d love to think there were some public officials who gave a damn about the people.”
I called my sister to wish her happy nineteenth birthday the next Tuesday, August sixth. It was easy to do. She and Julie had arrived at Mom and Dad’s the week after I visited there and had stayed the summer as camp counselors and staff. I thought that was pretty funny since I don’t think my sister had ever gone to camp.
“Julie and I have to go back to Minneapolis in two weeks. Can’t you guys come to visit while we’re here?” Kat asked. “I only ever see you if I come to Stratford.”
“Yeah. It’s been awkward to get the usual times since I started work,” I said. “Let me talk to my family. If you and Julie are leaving, maybe Mom and Dad need someone to replace you in camp.”
“That would be wicked cool. Make it soon so we get to see you before we leave.”
I talked it over with the family and I guess we were all feeling a little homesick for our families. Ronda, Patricia, and Anna had visited their families the week I was in LA. Then Patricia and I went to visit Mom and Dad after they moved. We were all ready to spend a little time with the folks back home.
Two days later, Richard M. Nixon announced that he was resigning as president and Gerald Ford became the 38th President of the United States. As far as I could remember, it was the first time the US had ever had a president who hadn’t been elected to the first or second office in the country.
Peter and Jane were also preparing to leave Stratford and return to the UK. They were not comfortable coming to the US with us and felt that might draw too much attention to the presence of all of us in Stratford. We decided to work out a plan to meet at Christmas in London if we could.
By the end of the next week, we were ready to leave our summer home. I was a little depressed about leaving the one place I truly felt free and happy. But job responsibilities were calling the first of September. On the seventeenth of August, Jane and Peter left for England and my family left for Illinois.
We took the room next to Kat and Julie, which left Toni and Alex on a fold out and crib in the living room. Mom and Dad didn’t mind. They were just happy to have us all visiting, and helping at the camp. Having Julie and Kat leave on Wednesday left a hole in the camp’s kitchen staff. Anna and I moved in to fill it. That only lasted a day. Dad had a bunch of tasks around the camp that he needed an extra pair of hands for. I moved on to be with him and Patricia joined Anna. Ronda, bless her heart, drew full time child care!
The camp was winding down for the season. Like Julie and Kat, all but two of the college kids who had been working had left for college. The Chicago schools were all back in session, and the camp the last week of August was pretty small. We agreed to spend Labor Day weekend back in Tenbrook so we could all visit family there.
Patricia and I made a visit to the cemetery and placed flowers on Tony’s grave. I carried Alex, and Toni held Patricia’s hand as Patricia told Tony that she had a family he would love and that we had a little girl who would be Toni’s best friend.
Then Toni took Alex’s hand and told her that her father was a very brave man who saved Uncle John in a bad war. She went on to point at the stone and instruct Alex that this was ‘Father.’ Then she took Alex to me and said, “This is Daddy.” I guess I didn’t need to explain to either of the girls that Tony wasn’t Alex’s father. That could wait for another time.
On Monday afternoon, we all drove back to the camp. Tuesday morning, Anna took Ronda and me into Chicago so we could go back to work.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
