Sex in a Bottle

I went downstairs and the money was sitting on the floor and mom was silently rereading Gina's letter. When she finished she had a look in her eye.

"Baby can you help me with something," she said all serious now.

"Sure mom anything," I told her and she smiled like I hadn't seen her do in years.

She stood up and headed for the kitchen and I followed. She opened the door under the sink and pulled out a garbage bag and handed it to me. Without thinking I shook it open and she crooked her finger for me to follow her. One by one she picked up and dropped in the open bag each and every liquor bottle in the house. You hear those stories about alcoholics that hide bottles all over the place well they're true. My mom had multiple bottles in every room of the house except my bedroom and yes that includes the bathroom. Some of them were empty and some even unopened but all of them went into the bag. Last was the one she had dropped by her favorite chair. I cinched up the top and tied it off and smiling carried it out to the garbage outside. This was followed by her favorite sitting chair which reeked of alcohol, urine and sweat. It took both of us to carry it out and I didn't miss the pebble like nipples she was sporting when we got back inside. As I closed the door she walked to the middle of the living room and screamed as loud as she could.

"I'M DONE YOU HEAR ME... I'M FUCKING DONE WITH WALLOWING IN SELF PITY AND BULLSHIT!"

I just stood and watched her and I've never been prouder of her and I told her so.

"You make me proud to be your son," I said.

"Come here," she said and we held each other until we cried.

"Your nipples are poking me," I whispered and we both laughed.

"Now we're even," she shot back and kissed me on the cheek. "Don't you have something to do?"

"Yeah you want to...?" I began to ask but she shook her head.

"No that belongs to you and Gina," she said. "When you're done let's go in and see this friend of hers."

"Can we stop by the bank I want to put the book in my safety deposit box," I asked.

"Smart thinking Alex sure we can."

The thing she was talking about was my quiet time at the beach to speak with Gina. Our house sits on the shore of Southampton Beach in the great state of New York. It is one thousand yards of gorgeous white sand and a tourist hotspot during the summertime. It faces roughly south and today the Atlantic was a bubbling brew of swells and white water. I dressed warm since it was January and the arctic gusts were numbingly cold today. I stepped out and walked the short distance to the beach and stopped long before I was in reach of icy tide. It was so alive! Undulating waves and the low hanging clouds gave it a somber mood but the pristine feel of each breath off the ocean was intoxicating. I loved the ocean!

"Hello Alex," said a voice to my right and I jumped startled out of my reverie. "I apologize I didn't mean to startle you."

I turned my head and saw the man in black with his high collar and pale winter complexion.

"It's okay I didn't hear you is all," I replied.

We turned to face each other and that's when I noticed the white collar at his neck.

"Father..."

"You can call me Mark if you'd like Alex," he said smiling.

"Mark how is it you know who I am but I don't remember meeting you before?"

"You were just a wee lad when I saw you last," he said his Irish brogue getting stronger all of a sudden. "Perhaps I should reintroduce myself. I am Father Mark Donovan, lately of Innis Ireland and I am a friend of your Aunt Gina."

"You haven't heard then," I said.

"Heard," he asked. "Heard what lad?"

"My Aunt Gina passed away two years ago today."

"Oh... I am so sorry," he said his bright blue eyes darkening with the dire knowledge. "I didn't know I have been away."

"Why don't you come in and have something hot to drink and warm up you must be freezing?"

"That's very kind, I would love to."

I turned and walked back to the house and opened the door for him.

"After you," I said and he slipped passed me.

I don't know what made me do it but when I looked back I saw only one set of footprints in the sand leading up to the front door. What the fuck? I shook my head and followed him inside.

"Hey mom we got company," I shouted upstairs.

"Who is it," she asked as she made her way down and she stopped when she saw the priest. "Mark?"

"Hello Ginger," he said.

"You look good, real good... what brings you to the New World?"

"Gina, but apparently I am too late."

"Yeah just a little, have a seat and warm up you look chilled to the bone."

I watched the exchange and wondered if he and mom had a thing going before dad. I walked into the kitchen and began fixing a fresh pot of coffee.

"Is coffee okay Mark," I asked.

"MMMMMMMMMM sounds delicious," he said.

"You haven't changed," I heard mom say.

"Neither have you, you are just as gorgeous as when last I saw you," he replied.

"Liar and flatterer, you always were... so when did you...?"

"Oh the collar, that's fairly recent."

"I never pictured you as a man of the cloth, a man between the sheets but never the cloth."

"Now look whose being the flatterer. No I had a bit of a mishap in the South Pacific and well it changed my life."

"Not like that 'woman' in where was that," mom pried.

"You mean the other redhead that was Cairo I believe."

"Yep it was; you disappeared for the entire weekend as I recall."

"You have an excellent memory for certain things," he laughed.

"So what really brings you to my home," mom said her voice carrying just a hint of an edge to it.

"Coffee," I called out as I carried out two cups on a silver tray with creamer and sugar.

I set the tray down and Mark seemed quite agitated suddenly and mom didn't miss that either.

"What's going on Mark? We were friends once, close friends and then you just shut me out, us out."

"It's complicated," he said picking up his cup and warming his hands with it.

"I like complicated," mom said and I stood between them waiting to see if they needed anything.

"Should I go," I asked and he shook his head.

I looked to mom to see what her next volley was going to be but she just waited for him. I looked over at him and then down at his hands and that's when I noticed the intricate gold ring on his finger. The design was the same at that on the wooden box Gina had sent me, a circle with two five pointed stars and something else worked into it. Mark noticed me staring at his ring and he frowned.

"You recognize the design," he said speaking to me.

"Yeah, I've seen it somewhere before," I said.

"Perceptive and cautious, he is your son Ginger," he said. "Your Aunt sent you something, something cryptic and it belongs to me. I would like you to return it to me, please."

Mom's body language changed immediately and she narrowed her eyes her caution turning to distrust.

"I think you should go now," I told Mark and he nodded and rose.

"Yeah, you are no longer welcome here in my house any longer," mom said speaking each word very precisely.

"I understand and I am leaving," he said.

He set his cup down and I glanced down and got another shock when I couldn't see him in the polished surface of the silver tray. I looked up and he smiled brilliantly now.

"Goodbye Ginger, Alexander, take care of yourselves."

Then he was striding out the front door and I looked at mom and then back at the open front door. I forced myself to walk over and close it then lock it. I braced myself against the door and felt my heart pounding.

"Alex what is it," mom asked seeing my state.

"Um nothing," I said and closed my eyes and logic began to discount my insane observations.

There was a reason for it all there had to be. I opened my eyes and mom picked up the coffee cups and carried them to the kitchen.

"He never touched his coffee," she mused.

"Maybe he wasn't thirsty... for coffee."

"Maybe," she replied. "Despite the good looks he has changed."

"How," I asked as I walked over and picked up the serving tray.

"He's, oh I don't know... colder somehow."

"Why don't we get out of here and go see this friend of Gina's huh?"

"Great idea, I could use the drive to clear my head and blow out the cobwebs."

"Let me go get the book and we can still go by the bank right?"

"Sure baby, then we can go meet this man in New York."

Two hours later we drove up to the address on the business card and much to our shock a sign said 'Parking in the Rear'. Parking really? So we drove around back and I'll be damned if there weren't six unclaimed spots so mom parked and I looked at her like the apocalypse had hit and we had missed it.

"Weird," she said beating me to the punch and I just nodded.

There was no sign above the door but as we walked in I saw all the items on the walls and on shelves and knew that we had found without a doubt Giovanni's Palace of the Bizarre and the Strange.

"We're here," I said softly.

"Welcome to... Gina?" asked the tall thin man in the jeans and grateful dead t-shirt.

"No, I'm Ginger her sister," mom replied.

"Well that makes you... little hell... Alexander my how you've grown," he said with a brilliant smile.

"Giovanni," I asked.

"That's me, your Aunt used to buy things for the shop back in the good old days."

"She left your business card in an old book and said we should come see you," I said.

"Old Book you say," he said his face screwing up in puzzlement. "That could be anything from the Codex to the Necronomicon."

"Necronomicon? Is it hand written in an alien language with very disturbing illustrations?"

"Sounds about right, except the alien language unless you are confusing it with Aramaic or cuneiform," he said casually.

I took a pen from the counter and doodled a few of the characters that took my fancy when I looked at the book.

"Is this Aramaic or cuneiform," I asked.

"UM... no... that's definitely 'alien' not meaning little green men alien but just not familiar with it alien," he was ranting now. "You know who would know... no he's dead... oh wait... no he's locked up in Arkham Asylum... she might... no she went to the South Pole and sorta poof gone..."

"Giovanni," mom said breaking his thought process.

"Gina... no sorry Ginger... um... what were we talking about again?"

"We are going to look around if that's okay," she told him.

"Yeah hey this is a great place to shop I do it all the time..."

So we meandered around and the items in the shop reminded me more and more of the leather book. They ranged from what the fuck to just plain gross.

"Hey Alex how about this for your room," mom said holding up a lamp.

I walked over and looked at it. It was one of those pieces where some artist took a bunch of unrelated stuff and merged it to jack up the price. But the body of the lamp was interesting; it appeared to be either amber or some other yellow stone carved into the curvy figure of a naked woman with one hand on her leg and the other above her head as if beckoning. She had the most sensual smile and despite the crap attached to it I kind of liked it. I looked at the tag...

"A hundred bucks," I said in shock.

"Oh yeah," Giovanni was suddenly behind me and telling me all about the lamp. "What you have in your hands young man is an original Pickman. Most of his work was paintings but this is one of his lost works."

"But a hundred dollars," I asked.

"The Star Glass carving you are so fond of is easily worth that," he mused his finger at his lips.

"Okay I'll bite what is Star Glass?"

"Deep in the Sahara desert there is a place so bleak and terrible only the Bedouin are able to survive there. In ancient times a star fell from the heavens and struck that area and it flash fried the sand into glittering pieces of glass. This particular piece was bought and worked by dear old Pickman after one of his deepest most erotic dream..."

"Giovanni! That's my son you're talking to," mom spun on him.

"A thousand apologies, anyway this particular Djinn haunted his dreams for years until he immortalized her in Star Glass."

"Djinn... what is a Djinn?" I asked.

"A spirit of the air and ether, you've heard of Aladdin's lamp... same thing."

"You mean a genie?"

"Yeah same concept different name," he said.

"You know what, the story alone is worth the hundred bucks, I'll take it." I said.

My mom shook her head and smiled. We returned to the counter and paid for the lamp. As I handed over the cash I noticed Giovanni was looking different clear eyed and coherent.

"Thanks Giovanni," I said.

"Thank you Alex, I'll check on that cryptex for the Tesseract," he replied.

"You'll check on a what for the what," I asked but he just blinked and was Giovanni again.

"Um... did I go away again... damn I hate it when that happens..."

"Giovanni what is a cryptex," mom asked softly.

"Oh that is something for deciphering codes and stuff," he said with a smile.

"And a Tesseract," I asked but he shuddered and blinked a few times before leaning close.

"That is a book Alex, a terrible book that never should have been written..." he said before standing up perfectly straight and saying louder than was normal. "I think I have one on back order..."

"Giovanni, there's no one else here," mom assured him.

"Gina," he whispered. "I'm so sorry Gina I never should have sent you after it."

"What," mom gasped. "What did you do Giovanni?"

Giovanni looked down at his feet and spoke but it wasn't his voice it was much deeper and oh so much colder.

"I sent poor Gina to her death for the Tesseract, the book of the Great Old Ones. It was penned by the high priest of Yog-Sothoth, the opener of ways. They will do anything to get it back. He will do anything to retrieve it..."

Then like a puppet whose strings had been cut Giovanni collapsed onto the floor. We rushed around the counter and mom checked his pulse.

"Is he... dead," I asked.

"No, but he is not in good shape call an ambulance," she said.

The paramedics carried Giovanni out on a gurney still unconscious but stable now. The police asked us our business and we just showed him the lamp and told him we were shopping when he collapsed.

"Well not everybody would have called for an ambulance," the police officer said. "You are good people. I have your information if we have any questions we'll get in touch."

Mom was still shaking so I drove home and pondered the erratic and possible quite delusional Giovanni. Did he send Aunt Gina to her death? Was he somehow responsible for the path she was on? We might never find out the truth.

Light flurries were blowing when I pulled the car into the garage. The door closed and I carried my 'naked lady lamp' into the house and set it on the kitchen table. In the full light it really was pretty, I mean the carving was amazingly detailed.

"You like your naked lady Alex?"

"Yeah, she's so realistic... but not as hot as you," I told her.

"Flatterer... but I'll take it. So what do you want for dinner?"

"Tacos," I replied.

"After you take 'her' upstairs and plug her in hehe..." mom giggled. "She doesn't belong on the kitchen table."

"I'll be right back," I said and took 'her' to my room and set her on the other nightstand.

I took the plug and plugged it in but nothing happened. I tried the switch and still nothing. Oh well I could take it apart and fix it, after dinner. So I left her there and went down to help mom fix dinner.

Mom and I ate dinner, did dishes and then sat on the couch and watched some TV. After a couple of hours of mindless entertainment mom fell asleep and I covered her up with a blanket. Bored I went upstairs to work on my lamp project. I turned on the overhead light, unplugged the lamp and set it on the bed. I kicked off my shoes and jeans and propped up my pillows and examined the lamp. It really was a hodgepodge of eclectic pieces. I removed the old woman lamp shade and saw that the light assembly was slid into the bottle and sealed in place. I looked closer and saw that it wasn't soldered but some sort of wax used to keep the assembly from rattling around. That was a creative solution. I looked at the brass base that held the bottle and it appeared handmade and was beautifully done. Last was the bottom of the base and there was a single standard head screw holding it. I leaned over and fished the multi-tool from my nightstand drawer. I began by removing the screw holding the bottom into place and once that was done two things fell into my lap, the wires ending in the plug and a glass stopper for the bottle. I flipped the lamp so I could see in the now open base and frowned. There was no connection between the light assembly and the wires, it was purely decorative... just great. Well at least I had the stopper for the bottle. I could remove the lights and have a nice bottle to decorate my room. Two internal screws later and the brass base was off. I looked at the wax seal and could only scrape the wax off and carefully pry the assembly free. I opened the knife feature of the multi-tool and set the blade against the wax and pushed slowly I didn't want to scratch it. I had a good two inch patch going when I glanced down at the bottle and slice went the blade into my thumb.

"Motherfucker..." I cursed bleeding all over the lamp and all over myself.

I stuck my thumb into my mouth and headed for the bathroom for a bandage. I ran water on the cut just in case, god only knows how old that wax was and I didn't want it getting infected. Two bandages later I got it to stop bleeding. I walked down to the laundry room and took off my shirt and set it on the washer so mom would see the blood stain. Then I looked down and saw my underwear was bloody too. Ah this just gets better. So I snuck upstairs naked trying not to wake my mom. I glared at the lamp and decided it could wait until tomorrow. I set it back on the nightstand with the stopper next to it. I tossed the base and the rest in the trash I just wanted to go to bed at this point. I slipped under the cool clean covers and closed my eyes.

I never saw the eerie stream of violet smoke leak out from between the broken seal of the wax. I never saw the inhumanly beautiful woman who stood above my bed.

"Masterrrrrrrrr," she crooned. "What is your wish Master? Oh what naughty dreams you have about dear sweet Gina. Hmmm as you wish so shall it be."

It seemed like I had barely closed my eyes and there she was my sweet Aunt Gina. I knew I was dreaming but I didn't care. She had her back to me and she was wearing a white cotton shirt and that was all. I moved to stand behind her and slipped my arms around her waist. She purred and pressed her ass against my naked groin.

"MMMMMMMMMMM you are such a naughty boy," she moaned.

I ran my hands up higher but the shirt was buttoned all the way up.

"You didn't think I was going to make it that easy did you?"

"Yeah for a minute there I did," I told her.

She turned around and there perched on her face were the 'old lady' glasses of hers. She put her arms around my neck and kissed me. It wasn't long before our tongues were dueling and the moan that escaped her lips was as erotic as the shirt or the glasses. I ran my hands over her back and downward until I was cupping her naked ass cheeks. She broke our kiss and licked her lips.

"I want you to use your teeth to open my shirt," she said smiling that naughty smile of hers. "Now get on your knees and work your way up."

Was it my hunger for her or maybe it was my desire to please her but there I was down on my knees her soaked pussy at face level. I licked my lips and looked up but she waggled her finger at me.

"Uh uh uh... no pussy for you until you suck on my titties..."

I growled in frustration but smiled knowing before the dream was done my cock would be buried in that soaked pussy. I brought my teeth to the lowest button and tried my damnedest to get it open but it just plain refused. I tried a second time and a third time... snarling I rose to my feet grabbed the shirt by the collar and pulled. In that dream fashion time slowed to a crawl and I watched each and every button as they shot off in random directions and then my focus latched on to one in particular as it 'pinged' off the window behind us. I was staring at the window as it fogged over and I heard the sound of raindrops falling against the glass. Boom... time snapped back into place and the rainstorm outside the window was very real. Then I looked back at Gina and she smiled. I slowly opened the shirt and gazed at her lovely breasts so large and heavy, just like her sister's except that Gina's nipples were inverted, how interesting.