Mama Gem Becomes a Unicorn

Gem was a classical beauty with high cheekbones and an air of nobility. In her prime she had a statuesque elegance, like she'd stepped out of a painting by Gustav Klimt.

Now, Gem was in her early seventies but still full of the joys of Spring. She refused, with a defiance of which the Trojans would've been proud, to allow her physical age to define her or her physical limitations to be an obstacle to adventures. A cruel and unforeseen stroke, five years ago, made her right arm and right leg virtually immobile; she'd fought her way back from this catastrophe and continued to do all the things she loved.

Chiefly this involved travelling in her little van, specially adapted with a steering paddle, to all the counter-culture get-togethers, big and small, that were scattered across the year. She was a regular feature at festivals and much adored by parents of wild and bored children because her van contained such a myriad of toys, games and shenanigans that could easily occupy any passing brats. There were drums and trampolines, hoops and inflatables, building blocks and puzzles. She fenced off a mini petting zoo which starred two large, docile rabbits that loved being patted and fed dandelion leaves.

Her van had 'Mama Gem's Playhouse' stencilled in large, bright letters along each side and the rest of it was painted matt black. Children were given fat sticks of chalk and told to draw whatever their little minds could imagine; at the end of a festival there was not one iota of black visible amongst the multi-coloured squiggles.

Mama Gem's appearance was far from black. Her clothes were a ragtag collection of cloth-patch dresses, her legs always sported witchy striped tights, her boots were embroidered with cotton swirls, her hair was cut short into purple and blue spikes, none of her facial piercings were plain old silver and the few tattoos she displayed were a cascade of cosmic flowers. Her wheelchair, because she found walking very difficult, was painted Lamborghini Diablo red.

The only grey on Mama Gem was in her kind eyes, these often danced with unrestrained glee at the vista of burbling, laughing children as they charged around her van. Her face could become steely and stern in a second if one of them got out of hand, but her look of authority soon vanished once a blushing child had apologised for their minor misdemeanour. They always did apologise, no one messed with Mama Gem.

At the end of the Summer festival season many of the travelling performers (the jugglers and the stilt-walkers, fire-breathers and bubble blowers, the freaks and eccentrics who go some way in making a festival such an interesting event for normal, everyday folk), would gather for a few days of relaxation, wine and weed at a selected campsite. In the evenings, small groups would congregate around woodfires and share their tales of tragedy and triumph.

Gem was much welcomed at these exclusive gatherings because her caustic wit often had people snorting with inappropriate laughter as she pricked someone's pomposity. A lot of these artists, hippies and crusty punks had grown up playing around her skirts and drawing on her van, so she always got away with causing offence. It's hard to stay mad at a woman who'd wiped your nose when you were four or stuck a plaster over your cut finger when you were seven. Her grey eyes, sparkling with reflected firelight, spoke of kindness and tribal family, and any grievance was quickly forgotten.

She'd spend the evening sipping her gin cocktails and getting gradually and indecently inebriated while passing sly, sarcastic comments to the amusement of whoever was sitting within earshot. It was at one of these informal fireside parties, with stars speckling a blue-black sky and the sound of a distant drum-circle chanting their hippy mantras, that Gem was sitting when, during a quiet moment with everyone content to mutely meditate on the flickering licks of orange flames, her good friend Sally entered the intimate circle and sat down on a camp-chair next to her.

"And where have you been, young lady?" Gem asked. Sally was forty-five.

Sally poured herself a snifter from Gem's cocktail shaker and replied, "I've been with Zacharia."

"The acrobat? You've been gone three days, where did you two go?"

"Um, nowhere."

"Do you mean," Gem raised her voice in faux shock, "You've just been... in bed with Zacharia for three days?"

Sally blushed as the group smiled and murmured.

"He's less than half your age!" Gem announced, "Hmm. Good for you. I would high-five you but I'm neither fifteen nor American."

Gem took a sip of her drink and leaned over in her wheelchair to covertly ask, "What was he like, Sal?"

"He was... flexible. And extremely energetic."

Gem snickered and they both laughed together like only old friends can.

After their giggles subsided, Gem said, "I remember when Zacharia was little David Brown from Bellingham. He was forever hogging the trampoline."

"Yeah, well," Sally lit a cigarette, "He still likes a bounce."

Gem cackled with pleasure.

"I'm going to have to get me some of this moonshine that's going around the camp," Gem spoke to the fireside collective, "Sally here and Zacharia, Izzy and Consuela are off canoodling, Bo and Hua have left to get married, the place is lousy with couples!"

"Like young Anvi and Finn there."

Sally pointed across the fire at two youngsters sitting happily entwined, watching the flames.

"Ah yes," Gem agreed, "Two young, healthy, cute, sexy people in love and with their whole joint life ahead of them."

A lone voice joked from the edge of the group, "It's enough to make ya sick."

Anvi and Finn smiled, taking the ribbing good-naturedly.

"This is hardly news," Finn said defensively, "We've been married three years."

"That's no time at all, no time at all," Gem downed her drink and a far-away look stole across her elegant features, "I have to admit, I am a little jealous. It's been many a moon since this ol' Mama saw some action. In fact, I'm not sure I can even remember when I last had some sugar."

The lone voice spoke again, "Nothing is more annoying than seeing young people happy. Rubbing our faces in it."

After this bitter remark the conversation moved on. Anvi and Finn were whispering to themselves; they appeared, not that anyone was observing, to be furtively debating. Eventually the various fireside groups began to break up, the fires were let alone to die. People said their goodnights and wrapped their coats tight around themselves as they trudged off into the chill, early morning blackness.

Gem was wheeling herself over the grass towards her tent when she heard footsteps behind her. She spun to find Anvi and Finn had caught her up.

"Mama Gem, do you have a moment?" Anvi said.

"Got all the moments in the world, honey, what's up?"

The young couple hesitated. There was some nudging from Anvi.

Finn spoke up, "What you were saying back there, at the fire, about, um, wanting... some affectionate company, shall we say? I know you were probably joking but..."

"Yeessss?" Gem's gin-soaked brain couldn't work out the hell he was getting at, she never would have guessed what was said next.

"We just wanted to, um, offer... if ever you want to spend some time with two people who think you're wonderful, errr..." Finn ran out of words.

Anvi took the reins, "If you want company... you could come find us. Any time."

Gem looked from one face to the other, then back again, then back again.

"This a piss-take?" Gem sounded cantankerous.

Finn dropped down on one knee so his face was level with Gem's.

"Not at all," he said, alarmed that she'd thought they were mocking her, "We're completely serious."

Gem looked into his eyes. The boy was cute, no doubt about that. Eyes you could lost in. The boy was close, very close. The boy was kissing her. His lips were so soft. She could go on kissing these lips forever. A spike of regret pierced her tipsy mind and Gem suddenly pulled away and looked pleadingly at the young wife.

"Shit, I'm sorry Anvi."

Anvi squatted down next to her husband and gave him a loving peck on the lips.

"We were talking," Anvi said, turning to Gem, "About who we'd like to get with if we were single. We were just playing around, you know? People we fancy, people we think are sexy, wondering what it'd be like to..." she paused, blushing in the gloom, "Make love with them. There were some disturbingly odd choices on Finn's list."

"Your own list has some dubious characters." Finn stood up and wiped his knee, there was a dark spot made by the cold wet grass.

Anvi ignored her husband, and leaned on the arm of Gem's wheelchair, "Mama Gem, we both mentioned your name."

"Me!?" Gem was genuinely astounded.

Anvi leaned her chin on her arm and looked up into Gem's confounded expression.

"We talked about you, how we both like you, then we... kinda played with the idea, fantasising. Do you like girls?"

"I've never been with one before."

Anvi raised herself up slightly, resting her hand on Gem's knee.

"But the idea doesn't repulse you?"

"No, I-"

Anvi interrupted her by placing her lips on Gem's. She was cautious at first but soon sensed Gem's acceptance and so leaned closer and settled into a deliciously delicate tug-of-war, each gently sucking the other's lips as they kissed, breathing each other's breath. Anvi felt her whole body come alive. The bittersweet aroma of gin and marajuana was one she would remember all her days. Anvi was caressing Gem's nylon thigh. Gem raised her hand and touched Anvi's hair, stroking her. After some minutes they slowly, reluctantly, broke it off.

"Wow," breathed Finn in the shadows, watching.

Gem raised her hand in agitation, "I need some time, to think about this. I..."

"Of course, Mama Gem," Anvi said, standing up next to her

husband and holding his hand, "We just felt we had to take the chance."

"And offer you..." Finn floundered.

Anvi concluded, "Us."

"Well, okay. I'm flattered of course but, er, thank you, for the offer. Now get outta here."

Gem waved them off and watched as the darkness swallowed them. She heard Anvi give an excited squeal. She ran her fingers through her hair, tried and failed to make sense of what had just happened, then spun and headed for her tent.

In bed, a little sobered by the kafuffle of stripping and washing in cold water with one arm while leaning on a crutch, Gem relived the previous twenty minutes over and over in her mind. Okay, so it wasn't a joke. Seemingly, they were authentically kinky for her aged, wrinkled, painfully broken bod. Well, it takes all sorts. But how did she feel about them? She hadn't known Finn before this Summer but she sort of knew Anvi, who crafted puppets and marionettes for some of the performers.

The pretty little thing had been hanging around her van since she was a teenager, usually just sitting cross-legged with one of the rabbits on her lap, watching the world through those big, dark brown eyes. They'd spoken once or twice, Anvi had explained how her mother had named her after a Hindu goddess of the forest, but mostly she would just be sat by herself while smaller children danced and ran and fought around her. Gem had sometimes wondered why Anvi had kept returning, could it be the young lass had a crush on her? This didn't seem plausible.

Finn was much taller and broader than little Anvi, he was a carpenter and tree-surgeon and was already showing signs of a life spent out in the coruscating elements. He seemed a bit elemental, like a creature of the woods tamed to pass in civilised society. His open, friendly face showed a complete lack of guile. He had long, wild, straggly, dark hair which was decorated with ribbons and beads. He looked very fit and strong. And those green eyes! Gem was just thinking how a younger version of herself could easily have fallen utterly in love with such a man, as she drifted off to sleep.

The next day Finn had a visitor arrive at the door of his bus.

"Mama Gem sent me," the barefoot child said, "To invite you and your good lady wife to attend her tent this evening. Then she told me to wink siffy-niffy-cantly, but I can't wink so I shall blink siffy-niffy-cantly."

The boy screwed his eyes shut then opened them and asked, "How was that?"

"Perfect," Finn said, "A blink's twice as good as a wink any day."

Anvi arrived at the door in time to see the young lad scarpering away.

"Who was that?"

"That was our invitation to Gem's tent this evening."

"Oh, fucking hell, really!? Shit a brick. This is exciting!" Anvi squeaked like a stepped-on mouse, clapped her hands and danced on the spot. Finn laughed at her glee. The way she displayed her feelings so openly was one of the first things Finn had fallen in love with, he never had to work out what mood she was in.

"We'd better get you under a shower." Anvi said, calming down.

Finn reached up under his teeshirt and scratched his skin, "I don't see why I have to-"

"You stink, babe."

"Maybe she'll like it. I wouldn't mind at all if both of you were dirty."

"She won't. I won't. Women aren't filthy animals like you snuffling, pantie-sniffing scumbags. We aren't turned on by horrible smells."

"Not true. I knew a girl who was really into it. She found my sweaty, unwashed body-"

"I know who you're talking about and she wasn't a woman, she was a skanky fat pig."

"Where is your feminist solidarity?"

"It doesn't apply to your ex-girlfriends."

"I don't see how you can be exhibiting jealousy, considering what we're trying to do with the old lady."

"I don't think you're going to run off with a seventy year-old."

Finn wrapped his arms around his wife and spoke softly, "You don't really think I'm going to run off with ANYONE, do you?"

They kissed.

"Do you?" Finn insisted.

"I suppose not. You seem trustworthy."

They kissed again.

"Now," Anvi dragged him onboard their bus, "Let's grab some towels and go see if the shower is free."

Anvi had a tortuous wait until evening came. They judged seven o'clock to be suitably evening-ish and headed across the camp for their date. She was dragging Finn along and chattering like a nervous schoolgirl. Unlike the previous night, the air was oppressively humid and this added to her overcooked anxiety.

"Do you think my dress is alright?"

"It's fine."

"I should've worn something more revealing. Let's go back and change. Something more... clingy. I feel like an unattractive frump."

"It's fine."

"You think so? It's colourful. She likes colours."

"It's fine," Finn grabbed Anvi and held her, "You look irresistible, you always do."

He sneaked his hand up under her dress and, in a much practised move, pushed his fingers in through the side of her tight cotton briefs to her silky pussylips. Anvi glanced around the twilit camp, no one seemed to be watching. He felt how wet she already was and grinned.

"You're really into this, aren't you?"

He pushed the tip of a finger inside her, Anvi straightened out her dress to hide his public molestation. She chewed on her lip and nodded, blushing.

"Anvi, you're the sweetest, sexiest, beautiful-est girl I've ever met. I'm head over heels in love with you. Everyone I know thinks you're adorable. Gem will too. Okay?"

"I love you, Finn."

"'Course you do, I'm the best husband in the world. Now, let's go break our marriage vows."

As they reached Gem's family-sized tent (there was never a shortage of willing volunteers to erect it for her) Finn said, "Knock knock, anyone home?"

Gem's voice invited them in. They entered to find Gem wrapped in a silken robe that was splashed with colourful oriental patterns. She turned off her portable teevee, wheeled over to a table and picked up three glasses. She held them up and the young couple walked over to take one each.

"To us. Sláinte!" Gem raised her glass in salute then took a deep swig of the crystal-coloured booze.

"Skol," said Finn and then downed his drink in one swallow; this he instantly regretted.

"Careful, son," Gem warned, "I don't make 'em weak."

Anvi raised her glass and said, "Chin chin."

She took a much more moderate sip than her spluttering husband. Gem took the empty glass from Finn, he thumped his chest twice and coughed.

"Now, to be honest," Gem began a speech she had rehearsed, "Until last night, I hadn't had any sexual thoughts about either of you. It's not in my nature to go around perving up kids who're half a century younger than me. But I lay in bed, thinking, imagining... picturing you both, in your bus, at it like rabbits."

Anvi and Finn shared a grin.

"I hadn't realised," Gem continued, wheeling herself over to pour another cocktail, "Quite how much..." she offered a glass to Finn, he shook his head, "I hadn't been allowing myself to recognise how lonely I was. Am, still. No one has spoken to me like you two did last night in a very long time. So, if you want to share some of what you two have... I would like to take you up on your gracious offer."

Anvi and Finn nodded. Gem took a swig from her glass.

"I think we should see how serious you both are. Strip him."

She caught Anvi's eyes and motioned with her head at her man. Anvi took a sip of her cocktail, put down her glass and pulled Finn's teeshirt off over his head. Finn posed in what he thought of as his muscular, masculine glory. Anvi's next words deflated him a bit.

"Isn't it gorgeous?" Anvi spidered her fingers over his broad, furry chest and slid her palm down his arm.

"Mmmm, tight." Gem agreed, stroking his taut stomach.

It? I'm not an 'it', Finn was thinking. He held his tongue as the women stroked his skin and discussed him further.

"You can't really tell hot this body is, under the baggy clothes he wears."

"It's certainly a fine chunk of man-flesh."

There was that 'it' again, Finn noticed grudgingly.

"I wouldn't mind if he had a little tum-tum," Anvi stood behind him and patted his belly, "But his work is so physical, it keeps it all so toned."

"He works hard for you. He's a good lad."

There followed a few silent minutes of Anvi and Gem examining Finn's physique like art historians assessing a Greek sculpture.

"Don't worry," Gem said eventually, "Middle-aged spread will happen, even to you young lovebirds. What's the rest of it like?"

Anvi reached around his torso to unbutton and unzip his jeans. In one swift action she pushed his jeans and underwear down and helped him step out of them. Three feminine hands began a detailed exploration of his lower half.

"Not bad." Gem concluded.

"It's not bad, is it?" Anvi giggled.

"Turn around." Gem spoke to Finn but it took him a moment to comprehend he was being addressed directly for the first time.

His feelings were conflicted until he turned and came face-to-face with his proud spouse. Anvi squished her lips on his, her tongue slid into his mouth. Through the active, boiling kiss, she said, "Love you, babe," and her vivacious arousal instantly soothed his troubled thoughts. Behind him, he could feel Gem amusing herself by groping his firm bumcheeks. Anvi broke off their frenetic kiss and her brown eyes flashed dark with excitement. Finn gave her a friendly grin. Anvi turned him around and slid her hands down his body to his thick, hanging cock. She held it up, proffering his member to Gem.

"Isn't he delicious?"

"You have good taste, girl, it's definitely a cute one."

"All of him is cute."

"It gets a lot bigger?"

"Oh yes!"

Anvi began to move her hand long his shaft, peeling back the foreskin.

"Mmmm, it is lovely, isn't it?" Gem was beaming.

"I adore sucking on it, Mama Gem, is that something you're into?"

"It would seem churlish to refuse."

Gem leaned forward from her wheelchair and kissed the head of Finn's cock. He couldn't help but let out a gasping groan as she opened her mouth and sucked on the bulbous tip. Anvi continued to wank him tenderly as Gem eased the whole head into her mouth and sucked contentedly. The tent was silent except for the slurping of the old lady on the young meat.