Cousin Madison Ch. 01

1940 - Still the depression. Families do what they have to do to survive. A farm in upstate New York requires a lot of labor after much of the machinery has been sold to keep the farm from being sold at auction. Everyone has to pitch in. Jeffrey is tagged to spend the summer there and help out. Disappointment could be eased because Cousin Madison has grown up. The trouble is, she has eyes for another.

Jeffrey sighed heavily. Here he had an opportunity to actually go to college with an academic scholarship, but needed money for books and room and board and...countless other things. He needed to work all summer and had a job lined up. But now, he may not be able to go to college after all.

His mother's voice came back into his consciousness. "Your Uncle Preston and Aunt Olivia need all the help they can get. They've got that nice farm but are in danger of losing it unless they can get a decent crop this year. With only one tractor they need help. Your Uncle Preston is still recuperating from the accident he had, so they're short a pair of hands and a strong back."

"I know, mom. But I have a chance to go to college. With a degree I can get a job that will help us here."

"Life is full of choices, son. Some of them are hard, but immediate family needs have to come first."

"They already have a bunch of people to help out."

"Not enough. The farm is large. In years past they would have been able to hire help, but not this year. I don't know how they even pay the taxes on it. They can't lose it, and it is your obligation to pitch in."

He sighed again. "So I leave tomorrow?"

"Your father has purchased a train ticket. Someone will meet you at the station. I believe Courtney's beau has a car."

*****

Jeffrey stepped off the train and quickly noticed his older cousin Courtney waving her hand. She gave him a hug and introduced him to Carl. Jeffrey quickly sized him up as a bit of a dandy and wondered how much help he would turn out to be.

Aunt Olivia was overjoyed to see him. "Why, Jeffrey. I think you've grown six inches since the last time I saw you."

"Six years ago. I would have been twelve."

"Yes, that's about right. Let me show you to your room. Supper will be at six-thirty. That should give you enough time to unpack and settle in."

The farm house was large and rambling, having been added on to many times over the years. He looked around the place on the way to his room on the second floor and later when he was alone. The house had been magnificent once, part of one of the largest farms for miles around. Now the floors were worn and even he could see the need for interior repairs. His room was spare - just a bed, a washstand and an old mahogany wardrobe for his clothes. The floor had a slight tilt to it.

He peered out the window, which needed painting, and could see a barn and a small house just beyond. He remembered there were a couple of other buildings not visible from his room. Everything outside, in contrast to the farmhouse interior, look neat and well kept.

At the table the food was plentiful enough, as most of it came from the farm. The meal was served by a woman he had never seen before. She appeared to be perhaps late thirties or early forties.

"Jeffrey, this is Maureen. She helps me in the kitchen. It takes many hands to keep this crowd fed. Maureen's husband Sean helps out in the fields and with the stock. With your Uncle Preston laid up Sean has to do the tractor work. He's a good mechanic and keeps the machinery running."

Uncle Preston grumbled "If the doctors had done their job I'd be getting around by now." Aunt Olivia glared at him in disagreement.

Jeffrey looked around the table. He recognized Courtney and Carl, and caught a girl of about twelve eyeing him. He remembered a little girl from his last visit, and Abby had grown into a cute giggling girl with pigtails and freckles.

Aunt Olivia's sister Sarah was also staying the summer, with her daughter Madison. Wow. He remembered Madison as a gangly skinny girl but she had filled out nicely. He couldn't keep from stealing glances at her. Blond hair. Blue eyes. Cute upturned nose. Nice figure, too. She must be about nineteen. He hadn't seen her for about six years. He liked her back then, but something seemed a bit off about her now.

Two other girls were at the table. Meghan and Toni were girls from town. Their parents were having a hard time making ends meet and work was scarce in town, so the girls were at the farm to work. In payment they got room and board. He discovered the two girls were twenty and twenty one. They helped around the house and did some outside work when necessary.

Lots of females, but none compared to Madison in the looks department.

After supper he wandered around the farm yard and ran into another fellow about his age.

"Hi. I'm Jeffrey. I'm staying the summer with Aunt Olivia and Uncle Preston."

"I'm Dylan. My dad more or less manages the farm. I guess you met my mom. She helps in the kitchen. You'll probably run into my sister Colleen. She's twenty-three and can be a bit bossy, so be warned, but pulls her weight. She can outwork me."

"Gee I'm glad to meet another guy around here."

Dylan laughed. "There are a lot of skirts, aren't there?"

"I'll say. Do you have one you're...attached to?"

"Oh, no, no, no. They're off limits, I guess except for Toni and Meghan, but they're too old for me - I'm only sixteen. As for the others--well let's say there is a bit of a divide between your family and laborers like my family. Those who live in the big house and those of us in the tenant house don't mix socially."

Jeffrey was a bit surprised at the sort of class distinction he thought went out with the last century.

His self-guided tour led him around to the front of the house where he found Uncle Preston glumly sitting in a rocking chair on the porch, smoking. Jeffrey took a chair next to him and learned his uncle had been running the tractor over some uneven terrain and it had rolled on him, trapping his leg.

"It was broken in about eight places, some bones were crushed. I told them to just take the damn thing off and I'd be fine with a fake leg, but they said they couldn't remove a limb that could be saved. So, here I am, with the goddam cane and can't even walk straight. The leg hurts and is a couple of inches shorter that it should be. I'm useless."

"Aunt Olivia says you look after the books."

He snorted "Hmph, like that's a job. We have next to no revenue and lots of bills. Hailstorm ruined our wheat last fall. Abby, bless her heart, picked apples from the trees in the orchard and hauled them out to the road where she built a little stand and sold them to passersby. She even sold some eggs. That girl has more energy than anyone else in the house."

"What happened to Jake and Robert? I expected them to be here. I thought they'd be a help."

"My two sons decided they would help in another way. They talked about how war is brewing in Europe again and they joined the service. Jake last year in the army and Robert this spring in the navy. While they don't help out on the farm they send home every penny they can."

"Leaving a house full of females."

"A house full of females. Sean and Maureen help run things but I can't pay them, so they work for their keep. Dylan helps in the fields and Colleen can do the work of two men, so I'm grateful for that. There's another tenant house on the far side of the property. It's just a tiny house, but I let the family have a few acres to scratch out a farm. Mostly they grew what they needed to eat, but when they had a surplus they give us a share of what they made. Hardly ever saw them, but they moved out during the winter. Moved in with other family in Pennsylvania."

He looked at Jeffrey intently. "Your mom has told us what you are giving up to help here. We appreciate it and hope if we can get in the black again you'll still be able to go to college next year."

Jeffrey felt ashamed at how he reacted when first told he was to come to the farm. They certainly needed another man around.

In bed he listened to the sounds of crickets and an occasional owl hoot. Once he thought he heard the chickens clucking in the henhouse. These were all new sounds to him.

After a hearty breakfast Dylan showed him the tractor and what other little equipment remained and took him into the barn where they found Colleen handling a pitchfork like a pro. She stopped and leaned on the handle. "So, you're the one who's going to help save the farm. I hope you're willing to work."

"I'll do whatever is necessary."

She laughed "We'll see about that, won't we," and went back to work.

Jeffrey helped Dylan move stock from one pasture to another, waving his hat and whistling to keep them moving. The rest of the day was taken up with mending fences and that night he fell immediately to sleep, exhausted.

The following day, Sunday, much of the work paused. The eggs still had to be gathered and hay spread for stock not in the pasture, there were two cows to be milked, but mostly it was a day of rest.

Abby grabbed his hand and said "Let me show you the swimming hole."

Along the way he caught Abby casting glances at him, so he stopped and turned to face her. "What's up Abby?"

She blushed. "Well, the last time I saw you I was six and you were twelve. Now I'm twelve and when they said you were coming I got excited. I still remember you as being twelve and thought..."

"You thought maybe we could get together."

"Something like that. I've always fantasized about you being my boyfriend." She looked down and made a design in the dirt with her shoe. "But I know it can't be. And, I see how you look at Madison, so I know what the score is. But, you should know that she is after Carl, but he doesn't even know she's alive. He's thirty and she's nineteen. He and Courtney are supposed to be together, but I don't trust him. I see him looking at the other girls, but Courtney is blind to it."

"You are quite an observant young lady."

"Since I can't be your girlfriend can we still at least be friends?"

He stuck out his hand and she took it. "Deal. We can still do things together."

She got a mischievous grin. "Like now. Know why I'm going to show you the swimming hole? It's because Meghan and Toni go there on Sundays."

"Why is that of interest?"

"You'll see."

They approached some trees that marked the course of a stream through the property, and soon heard laughter.

"Shh. Be quiet. I think you'll like this."

She motioned to crouch behind a bush and they peered through the branches.

Jeffrey swallowed hard and almost whistled as he saw Toni and Meghan out in the water splashing each other. The pile of clothing on the shore told him they were skinny dipping, and his eyes focused back to the girls. Soon they waded to shore, laughing.

He watched as they emerged from the water. Toni had dark hair plastered to her back and a slender body. Her breasts were small and hardly bounced as she walked. Meghan had blond hair and a sturdier body with breasts larger than Toni's, and they jiggled freely. He had never actually seen a naked girl before and felt himself getting hard as he watched them towel off and begin to get dressed.

"We'd better go now before they see us," Abby whispered. The pair backed slowly away from the bush and back into the trees. When they were out of sight they turned and ran back toward the house. Halfway there he had to stop and catch his breath although she wasn't winded at all.

"What did you think? Did you like it?"

"We shouldn't be spying on them like that," he admonished, but broke into a laugh. "But yeah, I liked it."

"I bet you've seen lots of naked girls before."

"The truth is I've never seen even one."

"Ever? I mean, you're eighteen. You've never had s-e-x?""

"Never."

"Wow. You have a lot to learn."

"Oh, I suppose at twelve you know all about it."

"Sort of. You learn a lot on a farm. Reproduction is part of what goes on here. We've all seen animals mating and watched them give birth."

"But they're not people."

She shrugged. "It's got to be the same principle. I've saw Dylan naked when he was washing off outside one day. It all looks like the same parts, so I assume it works the same way. Would you like to have s-e-x with Toni or Meghan? I might be able to work up a situation for you to meet them at the swimming hole."

"Your dad told me you were resourceful, so I bet you could. It was fun to see them swimming but they're not my type."

"Oh, right. Madison. She is pretty, but I bet you can't get her. She wants to steal Carl away from Courtney. I think Carl wants to have s-e-x with Toni and Meghan, though."

"Look, Abby. I don't want anything like that with Madison. I just want to be with her, to spend time with her."

"No you don't, not really. She's snooty. She thinks Carl has money because he has a car and fine clothes, but I haven't seen any of it. Maybe he's a tightwad to boot. He's all she sees around here. She gets all moon-eyed when he's around."

The next day was Monday and he learned that while some laundry was done every day Monday was major laundry day. Aunt Olivia, Toni and Meghan washed everything - clothes, sheets, towels - and hung the wet wash out on a maze of clotheslines behind the house. Jeffrey studied the ladies underwear that hung everywhere. There was a notable lack of bras. He had never paid attention when his mother did the wash and hung it out, but was sure she had a bra.

As the days went by he slipped onto the routine of farm life.

One day he helped load a wagon full of bales of hay into the barn and up into the loft. It was easy at first, but soon his arms tired. Colleen laughed at him as she effortlessly tossed bale after bale. The day was warm and Jeffrey removed his shirt and mopped his face with it.

Up in the loft they moved the hay bales into neat stacks, although several broke open leaving loose hay on the floor. He stopped to catch his breath.

"Ran out of gas, huh?" She looked him over. "That's because you're soft." She gripped his arm. "Definitely soft. Here, feel my arm."

He wrapped his hand around her upper arm and was amazed at the hard muscles. She took his hand and put it on her midsection. "Go ahead. Try and push it in."

He tentatively pushed with his fingers and then poked hard. It was like pushing on the side of the house. She laughed "That's from work."

She cocked her head for a moment and then grasped his hand again. "Of course, I'm not hard everywhere. I have soft parts, too," she said as she took his hand and placed it on her breast.

He froze, but she laughed "Go ahead, feel it."

Nervously he squeezed the soft flesh and she said "Not so hard. Use a gentler touch."

His hand practically shook as he fondled.

"You've never been with a girl, have you?"

"Umm, no. There just has never been somebody I wanted to be with."

She grinned. "You mean one has never wanted to be with you."

He felt his face redden. "Well, I was busy with school, trying to get a college scholarship, so I never had much of a social life."

"Use your other hand, too."

He felt he would burst out of his pants as he caressed her breasts. She leaned over and kissed him. He had kissed a couple of girls, so sort of knew how to kiss back.

"Maybe you're not hopeless after all. Undress me."

He stopped with his hands and stared at her.

"Go ahead, undress me. I'm not going to bite your head off. Here, let me help you get started."

She wore a simple dress like most of the women on the farm, and unbuttoned two buttons. "Now, your turn." She laughed "They probably told you I'm bossy, and they're right. I am. Go ahead. Do it."

With trembling fingers he slowly unbuttoned the rest. When she nodded he put his hands on her shoulders and slowly pushed the garment off her shoulders. She lowered her arms and it fell to the floor. He found himself looking at bare breasts, and couldn't help fondling them again, playing with nipples. His hands just covered her breasts. She moved his hands and put them on her hips, on the elastic waistband of her underwear.

This time he understood that it was something she wanted him to do. He gulped and pushed the waistband over her hips and it joined the dress on the floor. She stepped out of the pile of clothing and stood before him as he stared at her whole body. The red hair he had just uncovered matched the color of the hair on her head. Her legs were muscular, but shapely.

"Well? Are you going to leave me standing here like this? Take something off."

Until recently he had never seen a naked girl, and no girl had certainly seen him naked. For a moment he froze in terror. What would she think of him? Would she make fun of him? Was that what this was all about - humiliating him?

"If it helps, I've seen a naked man before. I've taken a tumble a few times. Now that we have that item out of the way I think you can do your bit."

He looked down at his belt as he unfastened it and unbuttoned his pants. Everything seemed in slow motion. He dropped is pants and she nodded as his bulging underwear was revealed. Taking a deep breath he pushed down his undershorts and his erection sprang free.

She stepped up to him and embraced him, laughing. "That wasn't so bad, was it? Look, we're opposite! My body is mostly hard with a couple of soft places and yours is soft with one hard place."

She put her hands on his shoulders and pushed down as she sank to the hay strewn floor, taking him with her. "So, do you know what to do now?"

"Sort of."

"Oh, for goodness sakes. Sort of doesn't cut it. I guess I have to teach you. You haven't been on the farm long enough to observe how it's done. First, do what you were doing earlier."

He fondled her breasts, watching her reactions to different touches. He found she liked gentle massaging and to have her nipples rubbed with his thumbs.

"Mmm. Now, you know what? I have another soft place. See if you can find it."

His hands wandered over her skin, reveling in the smoothness of it, even with the firm muscles below. He massaged her legs and torso until he came to the red triangle. His fingers played in the hair, combing it with his fingers and brushing side to side. He encountered a wet place that seemed to be soft, and massaged it.

"Mmm. You almost found it. Be a little bolder."

He squeezed the fleshy mound and probed into the wetness, surprised at how easily his finger slipped between the two fleshy sides. He moved his finger up and down and noted that when he reached the top she had a reaction showing that was a place she liked to have touched. He probed and found a small nub. She jerked when he squeezed it "Be kind of gentle there. I like when you touch that place but it's very sensitive. See what else you can find."

His finger pressed into the slit, sliding downward until it seemed to be sucked into a secret place. He knew he had found a vagina and played around the entrance before thrusting his finger half way in.

"Yes. Right there. Go in and out."

He pushed his finger all the way in and withdrew it. Movement of her hips told him to go faster.

She kissed him. "Now for the real thing. Put it in. I'll help you."

She rolled on her back, drew up her legs and spread her knees apart. He knew his penis went into the vagina, but had only the vaguest idea how to do it. He got on his knees between her legs and leaned forward until his penis was close. She reached down and held it to aim it, and as he pressed forward she guided him in.

"Now do what you were doing with your finger. Move your hips."

He was awkward at first but caught on to the in and out motion. She moved her hips so their bodies slammed together. He felt himself tense.

"Wait if you can."

He tried to hold back but released a torrent into her. She kept up her hip motion past when he finished until he began to soften.