Snowed In Ch. 01

As for Sherry, she was dead to the whole world except for her new toy and her very happy pussy. She came twice and might have managed number three but for the Valium, entertaining a small army of fantasy lovers, and making her husband watch her with every last one of them.

When she finished, and began to drift away into sleep, she wasn’t exactly happy or content. But she was too spent to be miserable, and that was an improvement.

December Twenty-fifth

All of the Fords stood before the big living room window at seven twenty-two that morning. The twinkling tree stood behind them, ignored. They were looking at the snow.

It had snowed all night. That same ridiculous light fluttering of snowflakes. Yesterday the world outside had a thin covering of the stuff. Now they had inches of it. It made a big pyramid in the birdbath. It all but buried Jasper’s doghouse, which lay in a depression near the fence. Josh’s Charger, which he and Neal had spent a precarious hour pushing home the previous evening, was heaped high with it. And it was still coming down.

For a long while silence hung in the air as they surveyed the scene, in disbelief. A Currier and Ives scene, but for the white-shrouded palm trees.

“Dude,” said Josh, breaking the silence. “It really snowed!”

In spite of everything Neal laughed. So did Sherry.

“Hey Josh, I saw that movie about you,” said Vanessa. “A Beautiful Mind?”

“Oh fuck you.”

For an hour or so they opened gifts, chatted fairly easily, acted like a family. There was an undeniable coldness between Sherry and Neal that would not thaw, but they seemed to be keeping their barbed remarks to themselves. Vanessa cooed and giggled over all the baby items she opened, bibs and rattles and androgynous dresses, altogether behaving in a giddy, feminine manner that Neal had never seen in her before. Josh found it hilarious that his sister had given him swim fins and a diving mask, considering the weather outside. Sherry was thoroughly surprised at the stack of Cary Grant and Clark Gable DVD’s Neal had given her -- it was a thoughtful, knowing gift, reminding her of the old Neal for the first time in weeks.He must have bought them ages ago, she thought. And Neal was frankly blown away that Sherry had found a first pressing ofSergeant Pepper on vinyl -- complete with psychedelic rainbow wrapper and punch-out cardboard toys. The card read “From Josh,” so he directed his official thanks to his son. But he knew Sherry had been the one to find it for him; his son knew as much about the Beatles as he did about Quantum theory.

The good spirits, the joviality, the nonchalance and humor lasted about three hours, long enough to see them through the gift giving and an early lunch. Around eleven thirty Sherry cleared away the plates and brought out dessert number one: strawberry rhubarb pie.

But there was a lot of talk about the weather, and that led to trouble. Neal said that the snow would shut things down pretty quickly, suggesting that they get to the store and stock up on a few supplies. Sherry asked him just how he proposed to do that. Neal said they could try her Volkswagen, it would probably get them to the convenience store and back, at least. Sherry asked him if he was trying for two cars in the ditch.

Neal, full of turkey and stuffing and potatoes and pie that his wife had prepared, was reluctant to respond to her sarcasm the way it deserved. Instead he fell silent, and the gloom returned to the house.

***

Around one, Neal tried to pick up something -- anything -- on the television in the den. But the cable was still out, and he didn’t know where the antenna was, or if they even had one for this set. So he brought the old TV down, the one from the bedroom. His wife disavowed all knowledge as to the whereabouts of the remote.

After fussing with the rabbit ears for twenty minutes he managed to get one station from Jacksonville, and he and Josh laid about in the den, watchingThe Grinch. After that a parade came on and he left the room. Parades bored him shitless.

He snuck into his office, a small room off the den, and the coldest room in the house. He knew that Sherry was in the living room, talking with Vanessa, so he was fairly sure he wouldn’t be disturbed. Once connected he quickly logged into his free email account to see if he had a reply to his message.

He had sent Melanie a short note early yesterday morning. The cold and the loneliness in his own home made him think of her pityingly. She didn’t have family in the city, and he didn’t think she had too many friends either. The thought of her spending a solitary Christmas in her tiny apartment made him sick and miserable, caused him to miss her all the more. He hadn’t written much -- just a few short lines, testing the water as it were. But he had admitted to her that things weren’t well with Sherry and him, and that he was seriously considering calling an end to the whole thing.

Neal had hoped that his message might bring some good feelings to poor Melanie, would let her know that he hadn’t forgotten her. Maybe it would even give her something to look forward to, once the holiday was over and the weather cleared up.

He was thrilled to find that yes, she had indeed replied to him. There among her older messages, dated from October, was a new unread one whose subject was FOR YOU BABY. His heartbeat quickened as he opened it, the term of endearment melting all his reservations and fears at once.

There was no text in the message, only an HTML page for him to download. He clicked on it eagerly, wondering what she had sent him. Maybe a clever little computer Christmas card she made herself -- the kind of silly, juvenile thing that might have annoyed him once, but which he would utterly welcome now. Or maybe . . . it was a nude picture of herself or something? He could see her doing that -- turning up the heat a notch, trying to get him back.

The download was complete within a minute, but he was a little disappointed to find that it was a fairly simple text message, on a buff colored background:

“Dear” Neal;

How very sweet of you to drop me a line. It’s only been six weeks or so after all. Imagine how thrilled I was to find out that you and your wife are still fighting. Oh oh oh might there be a chance for me after all??? I’ll be sure to hold my breath until you come back to me, dear.

For your information I’m spending Christmas with my parents in Tampa. So when you do manage to get away from the house, you can forget about coming for a little visit because I won’t be there. You can forget about it permanently. I wouldn’t let you within a mile of me.

I’ve been thinking a lot about us for the past few weeks, dear sweet Neal, and have decided that really I need to thank you. You made me aware of just how bad it can get. Thank you for showing me just how fast and how cruelly a man can leave -- I’ll know better next time. Thanks also for all the nice things you said about my body. Now I’m not nearly so afraid to get naked in front of guys. Which guys have I been getting naked for? Wouldn’t you like to know?

Goodbye now and don’t ever, ever write me again.

Melanie

P. S. Thanks also for downloading this attachment. Next time you go fishing off the company pier, you might not want to fuck with the girls from programming. You now have three or four of the more destructive, faster acting computer viruses in your system. It was the least I could do:)

Have a nice crash!

Neal finished reading the last lines just as the cursor froze. When he tried to reboot, he got an empty black screen.

***

Vanessa managed to corner her mother around one. She’d been looking to catch her alone, and finally got her chance while the men watched TV. Sherry Ford was sitting in the living room with a cigarette and a Scotch, staring blankly out into the glowing white yard. She smiled when Vanessa came in and kissed her cheek; she smiled even more, and blushed a deep crimson, when asked if she was having a nice Christmas.

“I had a much nicer Christmas Eve,” she all but whispered.

Vanessa giggled softly. “Did you like it then?”

“Oh baby,” said Sherry, exhaling smoke. “Of course I did. I don’t know how you knew I needed one -- I think you can read my mind.”

“No, I can just hear you moaning and groaning,” she said, laughing mischievously.

Her mother blushed even deeper. “Oh no,” she said, grimacing.

“Mom, I don’t know when you’re gonna figure out these walls aren’t sound proof. It’s okay, don’t worry about it!”

“What all did you hear? No, never mind that. What have -- I mean, have you heard us -- your father and I -- in the past?”

“Duh. Yes, of course. Try not to listen if I can help it.”

“Oh my God,” Sherry groaned, cradling her forehead in her hands.

“Mom, I swear, it’s okay. Kinda sweet, really. Actually, it was when I stopped hearing noises next door that I started to worry . . . ”

Her voice trailed off. She hadn’t meant to say that.

“Yeah, well,” said Sherry, stubbing out her cigarette. “Not without good reason, as it turns out. I’m sorry -- I shouldn’t be smoking around you and the baby --”

“S’okay. So you did like it, then. I’m glad.”

“Yes, of course I did. Thank you -- it was very, um, thoughtful of you. I was very surprised.” For an instant Sherry’s eyes met hers, rather shyly. “Though I guess I shouldn’t be, huh? You seem to know a lot more about . . . these matters than I thought you did.”

Vanessa smirked.

“These matters? You mean sex.”

“Yes, I do,” Sherry said softly. “What makes the world go round, I suppose.”

“Oh, I don’t knowthat much. I know you haven’t been getting any. And that you need to. And that Dad has been, and that makes you angry.”

Sherry laughed bitterly. “You have a very uncomplicated way of putting things, Vanessa.”

“Sorry. I don’t mean to oversimplify it. But that is what’s going on.”

Her mother said nothing for several seconds, then asked “So what do I do about it -- find myself a toyboy?”

“That might help, yeah.” She scooted closer to Sherry, put her arm around her. “Look -- you and Dad love each other. There’s no arguing that. He fucked up, you didn’t. Now I’m not saying that you fucking upa little is the only answer, but who knows? You might consider it.”

Sherry looked at her.

“Vanessa, we’re married,” she said.

Vanessa shrugged. “That didn’t stop Dad. And it might be the only way to get his attention.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”

“Why?”

“Well, what about you -- would you cheat on Brad?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely! If I needed to, or if the situation was right. Shit, wouldn’t you cheat on Brad?” She laughed. “Anyway, I wouldn’t consider it cheating. It’s just taking care of yourself, getting yourself through a bad patch. And as horny as I’ve been, and him not around -- hey, if there was someone here to do me --”

“Oh, Vanessa, stop it.”

“No, I’m serious!”

“I believe you’re serious, I just don’t want to hear it. What you don’t understand is, that’s not the way things are supposed to be. You don’t just screw whoever you want to when you’re married!”

There was a pause, then Vanessa shrugged.

“Then why do we want to?” she asked.

Sherry stared at her but couldn’t answer her. She only sighed, and turned her eyes back to the window. After a minute or two Vanessa kissed her again and patted her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” she said, getting up. “I didn’t mean to bug you. Anyway, for right now you’ve got Big Bear to take care of you.”

***

At about four Josh caved in and dialed Jeanie’s number from Neal’s office phone. She answered it, snarled about fourteen words that should never be used on Christmas Day, and hung up. He called back, the phone just rang. He hung up and called again. This time he got a busy signal.

“Well, fuck you too,” he said disgustedly and hung up.

At seven he and his sister actually went outside to play in the snow. Josh couldn’t decide what was stranger -- the fact that he was actually standing in soft, powdery snow or that his sister was fully dressed for the first time in a week. They made a pathetic, slouching snowman that their mother took pictures of, and then when she was gone Vanessa tried in vain to give him a giant cock and balls. They kept falling off, causing her no end of amusement. Eventually Jasper -- who had rapidly decided snow was a bad idea -- took a long, steaming piss on the snowman and decked him.

At nine thirty, while Josh was eating leftovers in the den with his dad, the electricity went out. They both waited a few minutes, munching in the dark, but the power didn’t return.

“Ah shit,” grumbled Neal. “I knew it. I fucking knew it.”

“What?”

“This! I knew this was gonna happen, I said so. Honestly, you’d think someone woulda learned from the last time it snowed here, but hell no. I bet it’s down for days.”

“What about the heat?” asked Sherry a few minutes later. She was maneuvering down the hall with a candle, a ghostly spectre.

“What about it? It’s out. We still got gas in the kitchen but . . . ”

“So what -- we all sleep in the kitchen tonight?”

“No, Jesus, we don’t have to sleep in the kitchen. We just bundle up good tonight. We’re not gonna freeze to death or anything, Sherry.”

“I didn’t say that!”

“Well then quit being so melodramatic.”

“Neal, I’m not being --”

“We could all sleep together,” said Vanessa, from somewhere in the darkest corner of the room.

The suggestion struck them all speechless for a moment.

“Well, you know,” she added, “me and Mom, and Dad and Josh -- we could sorta snuggle up.”

“Uh, pass!” said Josh. “No offense, Dad.”

“Nessa, we don’t need to sleep together. We’ll be fine at night, you guys -- we’ll just pile on the blankets. Tomorrow I’ll crank up the oven and we can go into the kitchen when we get really cold. I don’t know, maybe move some chairs in there. Right now we need to find some candles before I bust my ass.”

For the next hour they prepared for the night. The house soon glowed like a cathedral, each room bathed in flickering candlelight. By eleven all was completely, incredibly silent; the only noise was the occasional whistling of the wind outside.

Neal settled into his makeshift bed in the den with many grunts and grimaces. Sherry had been exceptionally cold to him after the kids went to bed, tossing blanket after blanket at him from the hall closet, never even considering admitting him into the bedroom with her. Neal was a bit dismayed by this, yet also somehow relieved. He couldn’t imagine the conversation that would ensue if they ever did find themselves in such intimate space again.

He climbed into bed naked, having learned long ago that it was the best way to keep warm under a lot of blankets. Unfortunately, his nudity also awakened his cock, which struggled and rose insistently, craving attention. Poor guy, Neal thought miserably. There’s no one to pay you any attention anymore. Not Sherry, not Melanie.

He considered running upstairs and trying again to sleep with his wife, but the prospect of standing in the cold hallway, knocking on the door and trying not to be overheard doing so by the kids, kept him where he was. Instead he wrapped his chilly fingers around his cock and began tugging slowly. His movements made the covers jerk and ripple crazily, and sounded deafening in the silent house.

So this is what I’m reduced to, he thought. Jerking off alone, in the freezing cold den of my own house.

He closed his eyes, tried to concentrate -- one good hard cum and he’d sleep better. But who to imagine now? What woman to service his stiffstanding need? Pamela Anderson? How about five Pam Andersons? No, too silly, too fantastic. That girl in Marketing, the new one with the big knockers.

Big knockers like Nessa’s.

Oh God, no -- now he was losing his erection. Damn it, what was with him? Stroke harder, faster -- make it happen. Come on, think about that girl -- what was her name? Ah, fuck her name, think about her tits. Yeah, those were big juicy tits she had, and she loved to show ‘em off. Always wearing things tight, or low cut, or both. Nice, nice headlights when it was cold in the office.

Oh yeah. Now what if she were here now, Neal? Right here in this room, with those gorgeous tits popped right out of her shirt -- that big rack staring you in the face, just like --

“Dad?”

“Ah Jesus, Nessa!” he cried, slamming his nuts painfully.

“Oh my God!” she said, turning away from him. She held her hand in front of her mouth. “Oh shit! Oh shit shit shit! Uh . . . I’m sorry.”

Neal let the pain wash over him, tried to slow his breathing. All the while his daughter’s pale figure remained in the doorway, facing the wall. And here he thought his situation could not be worse.

“It’s okay, Ness,” he grumbled eventually. “Uh, what is it?”

“Oh fuck. I . . . I’m so sorry. Um. I was just . . . just checking on you. Making sure you didn’t need anything. Or anything.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Um . . . okay. Are you sure? It’s awful cold down here.”

“No, baby. I’m okay. Really.”

“Um . . . oh shit . . . all righty then. Goodnight.”

Quick as a wink she vanished down the hallway, fatally embarrassed. Her bare feet made almost no sound on the floorboards. That’s how she surprised him, he thought -- plus he’d been pretty preoccupied at the time.

Neal sighed and dragged the covers back into shape. Oh well. No use trying to cum tonight. He doubted if he could ever get hard again in his life.

***

Vanessa mounted the stairs as quickly and quietly as she could. To her ears every sound was immense, huge, deafening. It didn’t help that her heart was hammering in her ears.

Oh God, the dick that must be under that blanket. Josh was obviously not adopted, she mused -- he’d inherited his equipment from Daddy. She felt a giddiness in her belly, a weakness in her knees as she played the picture back in her mind. His flushed face, his strained expression. The tall tent poking straight up under the covers, the jostling of the material as he jerked himself. His panting breath, clenched eyes. In her fairly knowledgeable opinion, he had been less than a minute from blast off.

Oh Jesus, how embarrassing but how incredibly, unaccountably hot. Her own father: rock hard and raging with lust.

She passed her own room and paused briefly at her mother’s door: no sound within. Either she was asleep or Big Bear was fucking her very quietly. No doubt she was now very self-conscious about her noise. Vanessa cursed herself for ever telling her. At least before she could tell what her mother was up to.

Too bad, too bad. She’d just have to be really, really quiet. She stalked past the door and stopped before Josh’s, turning the knob so slowly she thought she would freeze to death in the drafty corridor.

At long last she was in, closing the door softly behind her. The click of the lock sounded like a pistol shot.

The dim room held a intangible, lingering stink that was somehow magnified by the cold: the scent of shoes or dirty clothes. Her brother lay on his side, facing the wall. The single glowing candle on his desk cast dancing shadows over his rumpled brown hair, his tattooed bicep. Vanessa blew out the flame, plunging the room into relative darkness -- only the moonlight illuminated the scene. It wouldn’t help them at all if they were discovered, of course, but somehow it felt safer.

Despite the iciness of the air, she hustled out of her nightgown and flung it on the floor. Her nipples were popping out harder than steel bolts, making her tits feel colossally huge, like they could fill the room. Ignoring the goosebumps rapidly spreading over her, she pulled down her panties and crumpled them into her fist, then lifted the covers and shook her brother’s bare shoulder. He grunted; she slid in next to him, luxuriating in the warmth of his body.