Road to the Sun Ch. 08

The problem she had with 'The Trial' was that it was different every time it took place. The last time 'The Trial' took place it was blue men on horseback. She knew it was cavalry running down young men who stole horses to win their right as men and earn their eagle feathers.

The 'Great Event' was a mystery, only talked about in songs, dances, and stories. This time it would be different. This time it could be written down and recorded. She was thinking about how the story would turn out when Charles called.

Standing and looking out the kitchen window, she noticed when a robin landed on the back porch's railing. It was such a pretty bird. She didn't realize it was a sign until a Cardinal did the same thing a few moments later. The sign told her that the little red-head had to stay around. Rachel was a pretty little thing trying to trace her ancestry. Geraldine still had no idea what part Rachel might play in the 'Great Event'.

It wasn't the first time that the spirits had wanted to keep the girl here, of course. They wanted her to stay when she ran out of cash. A sky spirit sitting on a stop sign made it obvious. The only thing that Geraldine didn't know was why. 'Why did the spirits want her to stay? Was it because Rachel was the one to write the story?' Nothing made sense. No outsider had ever been mentioned in the songs or the stories.

Geraldine had far more questions than answers. All she had to go on were vague stories. Stories that changed over time. Stories that said nothing of why things happened. Songs that were even more vague. Maybe they had missed something? The only thing she could do was to go over the tales in her head.

The other thing that bothered her was where the kids were, or rather, where they weren't.

*******

"What other questions do you think he has?" Cindy asked as Claire snipped her bangs.

Claire was doing her best not to watch James. She had no answer to Cindy's question. But she wanted to know too.

Melody was quiet for a moment before she answered. "My best guess? He's worried that if this happens, or keeps going is a better way to say it, you two won't get married and start families of your own."

That caused Claire to think back to the last conversation she had with her parents over winter break last year. She'd told them she thought her boyfriend was going to propose when they met up after she got back. Of course, that didn't happen. He'd dumped her like a turd in a toilet after he called her by his sister's name.

"I'm not sure I want kids yet," Cindy said quietly. "I think I just want to enjoy life for a while."

Claire couldn't help but laugh at Melody's retort. "I think you meant to say: you want to just fuck for a while before you have to chase kids around!"

"Next!"

While Cindy and Melody changed places, Claire looked out the window and watched James working on the SUV. "Do you think he would want kids?"

"Well, he did tell me he wouldn't mind if I ended up pregnant," Melody answered.

"When did he say that?" Cindy asked as she looked out the window.

Claire paid rapt attention to Melody as she awaited the reply.

"After we had sex the first time."

"What sparked that conversation?" Claire asked as she started to comb out Melody's hair.

"I was bathing and he saw his sperm oozing down my thigh."

"I take it he didn't know about you not being able to have kids?" Cindy asked.

"I don't remember him being home after I got back from that doctor's appointment."

"I know James was upset that his fight caused you to fall. I think that's the first time that I saw him cry," Cindy stated. "It was just after they took you out to the ambulance."

"Don't remind me! That fucking hurt like a son-of-a-bitch!"

"I remember he couldn't sit still in the E.R. and just kept pacing," Claire added.

"He kept apologizing when we got home," Melody sadly added.

"I don't think we should talk about other guys we've been with," Cindy added, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Why?" Claire asked.

"I could see the pain in his eyes when you talked about the letters."

"Ah. You want me to feather your hair like I did Cindy's?"

"Yes please."

Claire took her time trimming Melody's hair and thought about James, kids and lots of other things. When she finished cutting her sister's hair, she swapped with Melody.

She would have preferred to cut everyone's hair outside, but the little bit of wind made it impossible. From where she sat, she couldn't see her brother. "If you were able to have kids, would you have James'?"

"I don't know. Never really thought about it. If I happened to end up pregnant, I'd keep the baby."

"I think it's too early to start talking about having kids. Look at where we live! It's not like it's an ideal living arrangement to have a bunch of screaming memes running around," Cindy added.

"Why isn't it? This is the way people lived for, what? The last couple thousand years? If not longer," Melody argued.

"Since humans learned to build their own caves," Claire added.

"I think it's paradise!" Melody stated.

The brush running through Claire's hair scraping her scalp felt great. She always loved having someone brush her hair. She could fall asleep right now if it wasn't for having to hold still for the scissors.

**

Sitting on the counter and bouncing her heels off a cardboard box, Tess pondered playing an ancient game well known among siblings, "The Tease." However, there was a problem. She liked James just about as much as Mariah did. Hence, everything she thought to say was just down-right wrong in so many ways. Instead she sat and stared out the plate-glass windows at the lake and the mountains covered in snow.

James was very charming, in a bit of a silly way, and he was pleasant on the eyes. She could very well envision herself dating him. She could almost see them both holding hands and walking along the shore of the upper lake, then stealing a kiss when they reached the rocky outcrop on the near side. Thinking about a kiss sent shivers down her spine and made her feel a hot flash sweep across her. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly through pursed lips. When she opened her eyes she saw an old blue VW Bug pull up to the pumps.

She knew who owned the old style car and that caused her heart to beat just a bit faster. When the door of the VW opened and a pair of black knee-high boots touched the ground, she smiled and licked her lips subconsciously. Her heart rate increased yet again as the skin-tight blue jeans emerged rear end first, showing off a very nice heart shaped ass. Tess held her breath awaiting the sight of the lovely face that was soon to follow.

Tess was disappointed when she noticed the scarf wrapped around one of her latest crushes, "Damn!"

Tess had only met the redhead a handful of times and was looking forward to watching her breasts bounce as she walked to the store. The redhead pumped her gas and got back into the car, which caused Tess' heart to fall. That turned out to be only a temporary disappointment as the car pulled into a parking spot next to the door.

Tess slid off the counter and walked over to the register and waited as she watched the redhead take the scarf off and unzip the egg-shell colored down jacket. Tess licked her lips again as the tight multicolored sweater bobbed and weaved, doing its meager best to conceal the large breasts.

"Afternoon, Rachel!"

"Hi, Tess! Is Mr. White in?"

"In the back office."

"Thanks!" Rachel turned and headed in the direction Tess had pointed.

Tess watched Rachel's ass sway as she walked away. She could only wonder if she tasted like strawberries.

***

James held his hands close to the engine block of his pickup to warm his numb fingers. He shook his head and laughed at the thought of 'if I was back in Georgia I'd be wearing shorts even if it is October.' The short drive from where the SUV had run out of gas wasn't nearly long enough for the motor to get hot by the time he got back to the cabin. Add to that the time it took the girls to talk about his new 'Harem' and what warmth the pickup's motor had was gone.

He didn't need to be told about his sexuality. He knew damn well what it was! After all, a while back, before they'd left Georgia, he'd spent a whole week trying to figure out why he wasn't interested in other girls! He spent that entire time watching porn. Solo-girl, girl-on-girl, threesomes and even gang bangs. Nothing did the trick for him. When he realized that, he worried that he might be gay or some kind of pervert. That only lasted a whole two seconds after watching a short clip.

He climbed back under the pickup and tried to open the stop-cock for the radiator once again. Still no luck. He cursed a few times and then headed for the barn. Time for a bigger pair of vice-grips and a hammer. He decided then-and-there he'd better put all his tools back in his truck.

The entire time that he spent going to the barn and getting his tools and walking back he thought of all the sexual encounters he'd had: Finger fucking Claire, all the times he'd fucked Melody, Claire's blowjob, the threesome with the twins and of course the time with Cindy in the SUV. He thought about the time he had watched one of the twins in the rain eat the other out. And he wondered if he could now just walk up behind one of the three and just fuck the hell out of her. If it was Melody, she most likely would've loved it! Cindy? Maybe? Then anyways. Now? She'd love it! Claire? Not so sure.

*******

Being broke was not as carefree a life as Rachel Mason had once imagined it would be. She could have called home and asked her mom and step-dad for help, but she wanted to live her life without their help. She was, after all, on a quest. A quest to find her grandmother's side of the family tree.

It was a quest that led her to Montana. Which was strange in itself because it led to the Blackfeet reservation. She had always been told that she had Cherokee Indian blood lines not Blackfeet.

Her Great-grandmother's census report had clearly stated that she was born in St. Mary's, Montana. Checking the local birth records felt more like pulling teeth from an alligator that was unrestrained than getting help from a public service agency. She was being stonewalled but had no idea why. She had been so flustered that she wanted to quit. She had already packed her car up and was ready to go back home to Vermont. All that stopped her was the offer of a small job to rewrite some old stories in exchange for a little money and some help in finding out more about her family line.

It didn't take long to finish that small task and the money she had earned went even quicker. She did find out more about her family, but that information gave her more questions than it did answers. So, it was a pleasant surprise to get a call from Mr. White for another job. What was more surprising was the job itself: To locate missing people. Not where her talents were.

Five hundred dollars up-front and a hundred a day with all expenses paid sounded like a good deal, but when Mr. White offered to help find more info for her family tree, she jumped at the offer. Mr. White also offered her free lodging and dinner at the The Lodge so that she would have easier access to the people who could point her in the right direction to find the three young women and one young man he'd hired her to locate.

Lost in her thoughts, she was startled when the waitress brought her coffee and large fries and gladly drank from the nice hot cup of coffee. She then looked at the manila envelope that Mr. White had given her when she left his office. She looked at the first photo and it showed a dark haired woman with a pretty face, but she was not able to tell her eye color. The name below said: "Claire Cromwell". She was a very beautiful woman and Rachel found herself gazing at the photo for far longer than she had expected. She set that one aside and pulled out the next photo. Blonde female: name: "Cindy Cromwell". She, too, was very attractive and Rachel had a hard time moving on to the next photo.

At first, she thought she had a duplicate photo of the blonde but noticed that the name was different: "Melody Cromwell". "Ah, twins," she said.

"Why do you have a picture of James?" came Tess' voice.

Rachel jumped in her seat and almost knocked her coffee over. "What?"

"Sorry to have startled you! I asked 'why do you have a picture of James?'"

"Oh!" she laughed. "Mr. White wanted me to find these people."

"I didn't know they were lost!" Tess said, her brow furrowed.

"They're not lost. They're just not where they are supposed to be," Rachel stated. She asked Tess to join her at the table.

Tess was a very good looking woman in her own right, brown eyes, black hair and a rich toffee complexion. Rachel had never really considered women as sex partners in the past but could only imagine what it would be like to bed this beauty. She had had quite a few offers while at college from both men and women but had decided to wait back then.

"What do you mean by 'they're not where they're supposed to be?'"

"According to Mr. White, they are not living in their house."

Rachel could see the puzzled look on Tess' face and asked, "So, I take it that you know them?"

"I've seen the girls once with James here in the restaurant. As far as knowing James, I just met him for the first time today. You missed James by about four hours."

Rachel was about to ask her another question when she heard a ding and Tess promptly excused herself to tend to other customers. She had a feeling that Tess was holding something back but she wasn't sure what it could be because she also had the feeling that Tess had told her the truth. Since she was going to be staying in a room upstairs she would have plenty of opportunities to talk with Tess again, so she gathered up the photos and went to her car.

**

Sly Fox was up to something and Tess didn't like it. To get an outsider involved seemed a bit nefarious to her. She couldn't figure out why Sly Fox was involved. He was her grandmother's proxy after all, so maybe it was her doing. What in the world could she be up to? Grandma had her hands in everything that had to do with the reservation. So, what did James and his sisters have to do with the tribes? Lots of questions and only one answer that she liked. Those other women were James' sisters and he was single.

Tess watched as Rachel left the building and smiled to herself when the redhead came back inside with her bags and walked over to the registration desk. 'Maybe cherry?' she thought to herself.

*******

Raymond White sat in his imported leather office chair and tilted it back so that he could prop his feet up on the antique mahogany desk. He snatched a stack of reports off his desk and reviewed them for the umpteenth time. He had spent years and a fortune on the research and now it was well within his grasp. Just a few loose strings to take care of and a bit of legal wrangling and it would be complete. He reached for his phone and made a call.

"Hey, Ray! What's up?"

"How's the search going?"

"Not going to say hi to your brother?"

"Sorry, Stephen. How you doing?"

"Okay if you don't count that I'm sweating my balls off!" Stephen replied with a laugh.

Raymond didn't give a flying fuck about his brother, let alone his balls. He just pinched the bridge of his nose and asked: "So...?"

"Well, I'm enjoying some s'mores."

"How many have you had already?"

"Four. But I still got to find that marshmallow that rolled away."

Instead of replying, Raymond just hung up the phone. He knew his brother would keep looking for that one elusive string. He knew where the other two were but they were going to be a problem. Grandma had fucked him over with those two, but her time was running out. He was pleased that his brother had managed to eliminate four loose strings in a single night; it was about time for a little luck. It had taken far too long to find those strings in the first place.

*******

Rachel leaned back in the hot-tub and tried to relax. It had been a long time since she had last enjoyed the hot pulsating jets that soothed her lower back. She reached up and rubbed the red creases under her rather large breasts, trying to ease the pain inflicted on her by the damn torture device called a bra. She had tried so many types of bras over the last couple of years and still found them all to be uncomfortable. She preferred not to wear one at all but she didn't want to look like her tits were growing out of her belly button. She needed the support, but surely there was a bra somewhere that hadn't been designed by a sadist.

Her hands slowly drifted up her breasts till her finger tips touched the light pink nipples. She then traced the outer edges of her areolas, then pinched both of her nipples. The image of James from the pictures popped into her mind and she imagined that he was licking one of her nipples, but since a finger felt nothing like a tongue, she lifted her breast to her mouth and licked it herself. Then it was Tess in her mind who was trailing kisses down her stomach towards her private place. Then a blonde from the file who licked her clit. Rachel's other hand worked away at her sex as multiple people tasted her and probed her hidden depths.

It was a wonderful orgasm that overtook her far quicker than she was expecting. Fantasy partners were nothing new for her, but the partners who'd just helped her out were deserving of further investigation when she went to bed that night.

*******

Shivers ran up and down James' spine, he was cold but knew those weren't from that. Most likely were from what was about to take place later tonight. The job was complete and it was time to go get warmed up, but now he only needed to put away his tools. After loading them behind the seat of his pick-up he knocked on the window closest to the fireplace and asked Cindy to turn on the converter. He frowned as he realized that fire-wood would need to be brought in next but that could wait till he finished in the outhouse.

The space heater did fairly well keeping his knees and upper body warm, but his ass was freezing since the wind was blowing through the gaps in the boards where the building covered the hole. He would like to have fixed that but the outhouse had to be ventilated; what it needed was a pipe running from below the seat to above the roof, but that meant a new building, and be damned if he was going to build a new one this late in the year.

Passing fire-wood through the window had become a habit and it worked out well, not having to walk the extra distance nor to have the door opening and closing repeatedly. That and not having his sisters moan about the mess it made. Five arm loads of fire-wood for inside and five more that he left on the porch was all part and parcel of gathering wood for the night. He was so happy that he didn't have to go looking for wood in the middle of the night any longer.

He was pleased to see the wash tub set up so he could scrub the oil, dirt and grease off before going to bed for the night. He grumbled when his sisters made him strip at the door but he was getting used to it slowly. The only part he didn't care much for was standing naked in the open doorway. It was far too cold to be doing that now and he begged to be let in from here on out.

The smell of dinner cooking was another nice surprise. The sight of two soup cans made him think twice if he were actually hungry.

"We're doing something a bit different with the soup tonight," Cindy said as she stirred the pot.

"I made a cheating version of Chicken and Dumplings," Claire added.

"Well, your bath water still is a bit cold. Would you like me to cut your hair while we wait for dinner or your bath?" Melody asked as she stood back up from the tub.