Desert Wind

I'm the first to admit it, I was counting down the days to my retirement. I'd spent the last fifteen years in a one horse town working as receptionist for a large pharmaceutical company. I wasn't a big fan of the company, but I loved my job and the people who worked there. My name's Dawn. I'm 66 next birthday and do my best to look forty. Plenty round here will blow smoke up my ass and tell me I'm succeeding. My youthful appearance comes in part from clean living. I haven't touch booze or drugs since before I joined the company. I avoid the sun, and eat a mainly vegetarian diet -- more thanks to the state of my bank balance than any desire to help animals or the planet. I'm a tad over five feet tall, am small chested and wide hipped. My husband drives a truck for the same company I work for. We're aware of having our eggs in the same basket, so don't try to educate me. Small town like this, you take what you can get. Ted's away a lot. And when he's home, a combination of loose morals and heavy drinking mean our love life is pretty much a distant memory. I make do occasionally with my imagination, friend pam, and the odd website of ill repute. I suppose I could enter the 21st century and order something that buzzes online, but Wendy is one hell of a nosey mail carrier and amateur town crier.

When Alison rocked into work that first day, she tore through reception like a tornado. The door burst open on this preppy little thing, long dark hair, ballet dancer straight, perfectly proportioned little bod, and the cutest little fanny she presented me with as her resume scattered everywhere and she had to bend to collect the loose pages. She put me in mind of someone and it took me a long time to place her doppelganger. She was the image of that adult actress, Kristen Scott I occasionally sought out on those aforementioned websites. Look her up if you aren't familiar with her. I know I do about once a month when the itch takes me. Cute as a button, briming with mischief, and still manages to look like butter wouldn't melt.

Somehow, Alison and I hit it off from second one. Maybe it was with me helping her retrieve her papers and her being so grateful. When she finally started working in the factory, we were already fast friends. God knows how she rocked into our little dump of a rustbelt town. I guess the desert wind carried her. You know in like the way some disused lots just attract the desert winds and the flotsam they carry? It's like the trash that floats on the wind has been carried about as far as it can stand, and looks for somewhere to settle down. Well, that empty lot was our town. Though Alison wasn't trash, not by any manner or means. She had a touch of class and an air of enigma about her. All she'd say was she was from a big city out east and never talked about her past. Didn't bother me none. We all have pasts that should be let stay there - in the past.

Well, pretty soon, she was a fixture in our home. I'd offer her dinner and she'd accept before I finished with the invitation. When she lost her place, she took our spare room and contributed rent which, I won't lie, helped us out a lot.

Alison is a ticket. Quick to laughter, full of funny comments and always eager to help out. I referred to her as my sister from another mister (as much as to get her to throw her eyes skyward with mortification at the expression), and more than one local though she was my secret daughter returning from far flung parts. She'd wander round the house, when Ted was away, in a pair of skimpy shorts and a loose t-shirt with cut-off sleeves. When Ted was about, and his roving eye fell on her, she always be covered up in sloppy joggers and boyfriend sweatshirt. I swear I've never had any sexual feelings towards another woman, but Alison would give a nun pause for thought. She wasn't one of them buxom women you see online. No fillers, no augmentation. Just a dainty little princess with a tidy bosom, a slim waist, perfect round ass, and the barest hint of a mound between her legs. Like I say, I wasn't interested in that sort of thing.

When I eventually left work for the last time, Alison held my hair when I had my first chuck-up from my first feed of drink in years to celebrate. She showered me down and put me to bed and stayed with me to make sure I didn't get sick again during the night. I can honestly say, having lived in that town for decades, this blow-in was the closest friend I'd ever had. Closer far than Ted, with whom I was supposed to be sharing my life. Waking up beside her, with her arms around me, her pert breasts stuck to my side with sweat in the heat of the morning made me yearn to be young, free and single once more. Made me yearn to have made different choices than the ones I made with my life.

Anyway, with me in retirement, and my pension kicked in, we just rocked along. Everything was going so well, it didn't come as a surprise when life just turned around and kicked me in the gut. Ted, working every shift the company would let him, fell asleep at the wheel and left the road. Left life too. It was devastating, I won't lie, and I never would have survived if not for Alison. She arranged everything, but more so, she made me cry, made me talk, and made me laugh with all-sorts hanging out of my nose. She was there to hold me sobbing through the long nights in bed that followed the funeral.

The company proved to be uncharacteristically generous and settled with a lump sum that set me up for life if I continued to live frugally enough. Made me wonder what they were feeling guilty about. Or what their lawyers knew. Again, Alison was a wonder. She had great advice on what to do with the money so that it would always grow and give me a small income. I paid of what was left on the mortgage and settled into the life of a widow and a landlady with a passive income.

Time past, and the dark depression receded, in large part thanks to Alison. Out of the blue one day, she proposed a hike. Now, I've never been much of an outdoors person. But she was so enthusiastic about it, I finally relented. She scanned maps and online resources and found a spot where camping was allowed around five hours drive away. It was up in the mountains, beside a lake, and near enough to a town so we'd never be short of provisions.

We set off early one day, picnic packed alongside the new tent and twin sleeping bags she got me to buy. Alison had taken a couple of days off work so we could avoid the crowds for Wednesday and Thursday, and then choose to stay on for Friday and the weekend when it would got busier at the lake, or leave if I didn't take to camping.

We found the most idyllic spot following her instructions. Right near an icy lake, up by the tree line of the only majestic mountain range in our state. She had the tent up before I'd unpacked the truck. And the two of us went down to waggle our feet in the cold water of the dock inside the next hour. That night, I managed to get a fire lit near the tent and we cooked up a sausage stew. Alison laughed that the beans might not be the best idea considering we'd be sharing close quarters, but we enjoyed them immensely all the same.

The sun fell out of the sky around eight. Soon after, the stars were blinding and we both lay out looking up for shooting stars. Out of the blue, Alison took my hand lying there on our sleeping bags by the tent, and I held it tight, feeling like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"You never ask me anything about where I come from." Alison made it a statement, not a question.

"Should I?"

She laughed her silver, childlike laugh.

"You're never curious about why I rocked up in the middle of nowhere?" A question this time.

"None of my business. Just glad you did."

I could feel her smiling beside me in the dark.

"I'm glad you're glad." She whispered. I felt a shiver run through me.

"Why did you bring that up?" I asked. "About me never asking about your past?"

She was silent for a few minutes. I was super conscious of the crickets making out in the undergrowth.

"I have a secret." She whispered so low I could barely make it out.

"We all have secrets, dear." I said back to her, squeezing her hand. "No harm in that."

"Hmmmn." She said.

More time passed and I began to think she'd fallen asleep beside me, when she pipped up again.

"I love you, Dawn. Do you know that?" Well, that took me by surprise.

"Why, I love you too, Alison." I replied. I was about to continue by saying I thought of her as the daughter I never had, when she spoke again.

'And I don't want keep a secret from you."

"What's the matter, girl. Are you ok?" An edge in her voice had me worried. I wondered for a second if she wasn't ill. Forgive me for saying it, but I'd grown accustomed to having her around, and I couldn't bear to think of losing another loved one.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just nervous."

"Nervous? You've nothing to be nervous about. You can tell me anything."

"Yeah." She sighed.

"I just don't want anything to change."

I was about to say that nothing could ever come between us, when she sat up suddenly.

"Come on. It's a lovely night. Let's go for a swim."

With that, she stood up and walked a few paces towards the lake, before turning back to look at me.

"My swimsuit's up drying." I said. "And the water's freezing."

"Come on. It'll be lovely." She laughed and I couldn't but follow.

We walked hand in hand to the lake.

"I don't want to get my clothes all wet." I said rather stupidly as it turned out.

Alison lifted her t-shirt off her beautiful breasts and over her head.

"So let's not get them wet."

Laughing she walked away towards the water's edge, pulling off her shorts, revealing the revealing thong beneath. Moonlight struck her beautiful buttocks as they appeared, and I felt a pull in my loins that was most unexpected. When I pulled my own shirt over my head, the material slipping over my nipples gave me a delicious rush. As I pulled my own shorts off, I felt the gusset of my panties were sticking slightly to my crotch. I decided to put that down to the warm evening.

Alison had already waded out up to her waist and I followed gingerly. The combination of loose stone on the lake bed and freezing cold had me taking my time. Before I reached her, Alison laughed and dove away from me. I watch her beautiful body arc in the air and the moonlight glisten off her buttocks just before she disappeared under the surface. Again, I felt a pang of hunger I'd not experienced in a long time.

"Old fool." I whispered under my breath.

I was paying so much attention to my own movement through the water, that I hadn't realised Alison hadn't reappeared. I felt suddenly alone, even though she'd only been under for twenty seconds or so. Mild panic took me and I was about to call out her name, when she reappeared right in front of me with a whoosh.

"Come on in." She laughed.

"It's freezing."

"I'll keep you warm.' She smiled and I noticed a mischievous look cross her eyes.

She was a foot or two away from me, standing in knee deep water. The moonlight caught her profile, illuminating her pert breast with proud nipples pointing straight ahead. I took in the curve of her waist, her flat abdomen that descended down and in to a triangle of dark hair just visible through the material on the bump of her mons.

My breath caught in my throat. My heart started to beat faster and flutter in my chest. I realised I was shaking. But I couldn't pull my eyes away from her. A look of deep concern crossed her face.

"Dawn? Are you ok?"

"I'm feeling a little... lightheaded, dear. I think I need to head back in."

Alison, a look of deep concern crossing her face, ploughed through the water to me and slipped her arm around my waist.

"Come on. Let's go in."

I felt a rush of heat though my body at her touch but allowed her to lead me back to shore. She made short work of grabbing our clothes, before taking me in her arm again and leading me back to the campsite. I was utterly aware of both her near nakedness and mine as we walked together.

When we got back to the sleeping bags, she ducked into the tent and reappeared with her towel. She proceeded to wrap me in it and rub it gently against me to dry me off.

My body thrilled with her touch but at the same time I felt incredibly, uncomfortably naked. My mind was lost in unfamiliar territory and refused to let me cling to any central thought. The vision of Alison, naked, knee deep in water looking at me... with that look in her eyes... made me feel so alive and so scared at the same time. I felt an ache between my legs and a void from my abdomen up to my chest that thrilled and terrified me.

I woke, Alison's arms about me, lying on an opened sleeping bag, with the second opened bag thrown over the pair of us as a blanket. The night has been cool, but warm enough for us to sleep outside. I gazed down at her face and shoulders wrapped around me and the confusion seemed to melt away. But when her eyes opened on mine and focussed with a quizzical, mischievous grin, I felt those cobwebs again.

We went for an early morning dip, swim-suited this time, and dried off beside the fire. It appeared that we'd both drawn a line under last night and decided the status quo should remain as was. Nothing was said, but what was left unsaid, would be left to lie and not come between us. There was no awkwardness, no jump scares when one might touch the other unexpectedly, no shortage of hugs and little kisses. We were our happy little family again.

And so it would have continued, had we not crossed paths with Tod.

The desert wind was up to its old tricks again. Friday morning, Alison appeared back from the lake with a bucket of water and a cowboy in tow. Tod was obviously a drifter, couch surfing his way through life till he grew too old or too tired, and settled for a carnival life. He was obviously what the young folks these days call a fuck boy. Back in my day, trouble is what we'd have seen him as and called him out for it. Alison seemed to have taken a shine to Tod, and to be honest, in the back of my mind, once I got past jealous, I was happy for her. Who was I, after all, to gatekeep her libido? She needed someone her own age to blow off steam with, not be stuck with an old hag like me all the time.

So, Tod (he insisted on the one 'd' -- I gathered that was a joke he'd use to break the ice with prospective conquests), stayed for breakfast. And when I offered to run into town to grab some beers, he kindly offered to mind Alison. She gladly accepted his offer. With some misgivings, I never hit under 80 miles per hour on the eight mile drive into town, grabbed the first brews I saw, and hit 80 all the way back. I could have taken my time.

When I hopped out of the truck, I was greeted with the familiar sounds of lovemaking coming from our tent. I suspect they'd been at it since the minute I got in the truck. And they were still at it now. God bless their youth. What was it someone once said? Youth is wasted on the young or something like that. Well, this pair weren't wasting a second, it seemed.

Side note: Alison later told me Tod had what she referred to as a 'Kevin McAllister cock'. 'A what?' I asked, shocked at the reference. I needn't have worried: "It means a cock so fine, leaving it home alone is just asking for trouble." She laughed. But I'm jumping ahead.

I wandered down to the dock and sat there, feet in the water, beer growing warm in my hand, looking out across the lake. The majesty of nature did my soul good. The distant sounds of lovemaking did little but enflame my libido, though.

Absentmindedly, I held the bottle tight to my crotch, just between the tops of my thighs. I began flicking the top of the bottle without really realising it. Over and over, a thousand small thunks on the mouth of the bottle. Each one just enough to send a vibration and a tiny pressure against my clitoris. Thunk, thunk, thunk. In my mind, I pictured Alison astride Tod, arms up, breast flailing in the air and she rode him. Her mouth was open and wailing, matching the sounds brought down to the lake by that damn desert wind.

My crotch grew moist at the image, and I found myself digging the bottom of the bottle into my crotch with increased ferocity. I tried and failed to imagine Tod's penis impaling Alison. All I could see was her. Her face, turned up to the sky in ecstasy, hair loose and flowing wildly, her bony chest and perfect youthful breasts with their dainty cake shop areolas, her lightly muscled abdomen, her cinched waist, her perfect buttocks, the dimple on her ass cheek. Her legs, so long and thin and shapely, her soft hands that felt like velvet gloves in mine.

I had come without realizing I was even close. The fantasy had carried me off, and the bottle had done its job. With a mild sense of confusion mixed with shame, I realized I just come to the thought of making love with another woman for the first time in my life. Not just any woman, one I'd sworn I'd mind like my own daughter. I felt conflicted.

Before I could begin to dwell on it, I felt a hand on my shoulder that made me leap and shriek out loud. Alison had snuck up on me without me knowing. I panicked and tried to work out if she could have seen or heard anything. I surreptitiously inhaled to make sure there wasn't a smell of sex in the air, even single-handed sex. There was a definite damp spot on the crotch of my shorts, but that could have been condensation from the beer.

Alison sat down beside me and leaned in close, arm around my shoulder. She had that happy daze of the recently laid and I felt jealous.

"You ok?" She asked with a contented sigh.

"Sure am." I took a swig of the warm beer and contemplated spitting it into the water.

Alison nuzzled her head into my neck and scootched so far into me, we almost became one, amoeba-like.

"I do love you." She said, letting out another contented sigh.

"Yep." I responded a lot more coldly than I had intended, trying to nonchalantly take another sip of beer. Even as I said it, I regretted my petulance. Frankly, I was shocked at it.

"We ok?" She asked, with a slight hurt, slight nervous tone in her voice. That made my heart melt and I felt terrible. I let my hand drop onto her bare leg.

"We are never better. I was just thinking about Ted, that's all."

"Oh, I'm sorry. That was so insensitive of me..."

"Oh, no, dear. It's not you. I just miss him."

"And with their names being so close."

"Ha! I didn't even notice. Believe me, your Tod is a lot fitter than my Ted ever was."

Alison looked down.

"He's not my Tod."

I hugged her close.

"I know. Just making light of it."

"He's not my Tod... Because... Because you're my Dawn." With tears now flowing down her face, she kissed me lightly on the cheek. It took me by surprise, and her words took a moment to settle correctly in my brain. I turned to head towards her, shocked at the tears and her words, mouth open to ask...

And she planted the second kiss square on my mouth.

She looked as startled as I was. I don't think she was expecting me to turn. She made to stand up, an apology forming on her lips. I held her in place by the arm. She stared into my eyes, hers wide and revealing nothing but turmoil. I saw expectancy, fear, dread, wonder, hope, love, despair, all reflected in them. It was too unbearable. Especially for someone as sweet as her. So I kissed her back....

It was probably the jealousy that made me bold. Probably the frisson that had been growing between us all weekend -- hell, since we first met. Probably the sounds of sex that I'd longed to be partaking in. Probably 60-odd years of opportunity spilled and spoiled on stony ground, repressed through lack of choice in a one whore town. Probably because it was everywhere these days. Probably because I'd come (I finally admitted to myself) a thousand times imagining myself being the older women being eaten out by Kristen Scott in a thousand videos.