Somali Pet Ch. 01

"So what is his solution?"

"Just put some towels under the sink and wait for the weekend, when he will be home."

"You're the woman of the house; you should be allowed to hire a plumber without your husband making unwarranted assumptions about your fidelity," Danielle said, annoyed at the sexism that seemed to be a controlling factor in her home.

"That is not our way," she explained.

"Well then," Danielle said, knowing she wasn't going to change this woman's religion, or a centuries' old hierarchy, "I'm not a man, and I could fix it for you."

"Really?"

"Sure," she nodded, then added another blunt innuendo for the future, "I'm very good with my hands."

"That would be very nice of you. It's getting worse."

"Then let's go," Danielle said.

"Thank you."

"That's what friends are for," Danielle said, trying to build a friendship and trust that she could use to liberate this woman from her rigid and boring present and future.

Danielle easily fixed the sink, since it just needed some tightening at the base of a faucet.

"Done!" Danielle said after a couple minutes with a small pipe wrench.

"That's it?"

"Most home fixes are simple, if you know what you're doing," Danielle said, being very handy at a variety of trades... her dad had been in construction.

"That hasn't been my experience."

"My dad worked in the trades, and I grew up with him babysitting me at construction sites. I'm handy at tinkering with pretty much anything in the house."

"That's a great skill set to have."

"When you live on your own, it sure is," Danielle agreed. "It also saves money. A plumber would probably have charged you 150 bucks for that simple fix."

"I owe you," Isniino said.

"I'm sure I'll need a favour some day," Danielle replied. "Anything else that needs fixing?"

"Not at the moment," Isniino said, before joking for the first time, "unless you can fix the cold weather."

"Boston isn't much like Somalia, I imagine," Danielle laughed.

"It's like a different universe!"

"And I imagine our culture is another different universe."

"It's a lot more liberal, that's for sure."

"It's 2023," Danielle pointed out. "And you must be a little liberal yourself, if you're letting your daughter go to Harvard."

"We moved to this country to give her the best possible life; one she couldn't find at home."

"If you work hard and have ambition, there's no better country in the world."

"Caaisho has both of those traits."

"Yes, and I know she's going to accomplish some great things. Although..." Danielle artfully left her teaser hanging.

"Although?" The Mom was intrigued by both the word and the tone.

"Well, it's just that having taught for thirty years, twenty of them at Harvard, I've seen that the hardest working students are often so focused on learning, they forget to live their lives," Danielle said, that being the truth.

"She can live her life after she's become a doctor."

"In my experience, it's far more beneficial if young women start exploring the world while they're young. It adds perspective to their academic achievements, helps them to broaden their view of the world, and also to discover who they are."

"Caaisho knows who she is," the mother said, with a slight tone of annoyance.

"All teenagers think they do, but travelling, exploring, and meeting a variety of people can be real eye openers," Danielle said, "especially for girls who are excessively shy."

"Oh. She is very shy," Isniino admitted. So Danielle did have a point, although she wasn't sure what to do about it. Pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor was the only thing that really mattered... at least for now.

"If she wants to make some money, she could do some tutoring for high school students," Danielle suggested. "A side benefit would be that if she was the one in charge, she wouldn't feel so shy, especially given they'd all be younger than she is."

"She'd like that," Isniino said, her daughter being a very caring person. And it was true that she was more comfortable around people younger than she.

"I still have some connections at Harvard; I'll get you the form."

"Thank you."

Danielle seized the opportunity to give her neighbour another hug, before adding, "Anytime you need help with something, I'm right next door."

"Thanks again," the new arrival said, still finding the hugs odd, yet somehow comforting.

.....

A week later, it was late November by now, Isniino and her husband were going away for the weekend to visit the two of their sons who were attending college in New York. Caaisho was staying home to work on her studies... not unusually.

Then fate intervened.

Danielle was working on some erotica, when her phone rang.

"Hi, Danielle. It's Isniino."

"Hi! How's New York?"

"Great, but I need a favour," the concerned mother said bluntly.

"For you, anything."

"Caaisho says the furnace isn't working."

"Oh, yikes!" Danielle said, a cold front having hit the city the day before, and the temperature had dropped drastically. "I'll head right over."

"Thank you so much," the grateful mother replied.

"No problem," Danielle said, a plan already forming in her head. "I'll call you once I take a look at it."

"The house code is 1412."

"Isn't Caaisho home?"

"She went out for supper... in a warm restaurant."

"Smart girl. Okay, I'll head over there right now," Danielle said, happy to have their house code. She was certain that would come in incredibly handy at some point.

"I owe you," the relieved mother said.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Thanks again."

"Don't thank me until I've fixed it."

"Call me when you can."

"I will."

Danielle hung up and went next door. And since she'd have some undisturbed time, she decided to snoop. She was curious about whether these prim and proper neighbours had any sex toys. An extensive search found nothing. They must be as well behaved as they appeared to be. There certainly aren't any plumbers hiding in their closet, she thought to herself, with a quiet chuckle.

Delicious!

Danielle went into the furnace room, and after a few minutes, she discovered it was an issue with the pilot light. Although she could bypass the issue temporarily, she'd need to pick up a new mechanism. If she rushed out she could do so, but she'd already thought up a plan to facilitate Caaisho's turning, so she didn't fix anything. Instead, she waited for Caaisho to come home, while she called Isniino.

"I've got good news and bad news," Danielle opened with.

"What's the bad news?"

"You need a new pilot switch."

"Is that expensive?"

"No, it's very cheap," Danielle answered. "But I can't get one until tomorrow."

"Oh."

"The good news is the heat in my house is working just fine, and I have a spare bedroom."

"Oh," The mother said, realizing that was a possible solution, but an unorthodox one.

"Are you okay with that?"

"My husband wouldn't approve."

"I guarantee there won't be any men in my house. Not even any boys," Danielle promised playfully.

Realizing she wasn't showing much appreciation for this more than generous offer, and that she didn't really have another option, the mother said, "I'm sorry. I really do appreciate your taking Caaisho in, especially with such little notice."

"It's no trouble at all."

"I'll text her."

Just then, as fate would have it, the front door opened.

"She just got home," Danielle said.

"Thanks again!"

"Anything for a neighbour."

"I really owe you."

"No worries," Danielle said, as she hung up and headed upstairs from the basement. "Hi, Caaisho."

The shivering teen jumped. "H-h-hi, Ma'am."

"It's Danielle," she corrected.

"Sorry."

"And stop apologizing," Danielle teased.

"Sorry," she repeated, unable not to apologize.

"It must be in your DNA."

"It's how I was brought up."

"No worries, I'm just teasing you. But toss a few things in a travel bag; you're staying at my house tonight."

"Pardon?"

"I can't fix your furnace until tomorrow. I've just finished talking to your mother, and you can stay with me tonight."

"I can stay here."

"You'll freeze."

Just then Caaisho's phone buzzed. She read it. It was a message from her mother, telling her to stay at Danielle's tonight.

"Was that your mother?"

"Yes."

"Go and pack. It's freezing in here, and unusually for November, it's going to drop below literal freezing tonight."

"Okay," Caaisho said, although she felt completely uncomfortable about this turn of events. She couldn't explain what it was, but there was just something odd about this neighbour. Although she always seemed so nice, there was something about the woman she didn't trust.

Danielle waited a few minutes before Caaisho came downstairs. She escorted the girl to her house and showed her to the guest bedroom. "You're shivering! I'll turn up the heat until you're warmed up."

"Thank you," Caaisho said, feeling frozen to the bone.

"I also have an electric blanket you can use."

"Thank you."

Ten minutes later, Caaisho was still in her abaya, sitting cross-legged in the middle of a bed with a warm electric blanket draped over her shoulders and wrapped tightly around her body, her laptop in front of her, researching for the essay she was going to write tonight. Sure, she could have donned the fleece pajamas she'd brought along, but she felt safer inside this Christian house (that is if Danielle was even religious), in her traditional Muslim attire.

Danielle came into the room and said, "I think you work too hard."

"Not according to my father," Caaisho said. She'd never admit this to Danielle, but she felt her father was hypercritical of her, and she always worked hard at everything she did, attempting to impress him. Sometimes she succeeded, but not often.

"He's attempting to apply Somali values to an American society," Danielle said. "He'll need to change, or he'll be a very unhappy man."

"That won't happen."

"If you're saying he'll refuse to change, you're quite possibly correct. So you need to become your own woman."

"That isn't how our culture works."

"In America, women are equal."

"That's just a façade," Caaisho said, annoyed by the claims she kept hearing about America being freer. Sure, there was some truth to those claims, but the gender-based politics here weren't basically all that different from back home; they were only less blatant.

"How so?"

"It's still a male-dominated world."

"True, true," Danielle agreed, walking over to the bed. "But that's changing."

"Only in appearance."

"Eighteen, and already a pessimist," Danielle laughed, as she sat down on the bed. "You're becoming more American already."

"I'm inundated with all the meaningless slogans in this country," Caaisho replied, feeling a little uncomfortable with another woman sitting on the same bed as she was. "'Land of the Free,' people keep on saying. Free how? Sure, people like me are free to speak our own minds, but we just get shouted down, if people don't approve of what we look like. An average woman's income in this country is only 83% of the average man's, and black women like me bring in only 62% of an average man's."

"I can't argue against facts. God bless America," Danielle said ironically. "Except to say that on average in 1960, all women were paid 60% as much as men, and it must have been significantly lower than that for black women. So at least things are getting better."

"I don't mean to be overly critical, mind you. The opportunities for women in this country are way better than back home."

"I understand. Being a woman anywhere in the world means you're playing from a weaker hand."

"Exactly."

"So what do you do to relieve your stress?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"School is stressful. Life is stressful. Being a daughter whose father has such high expectations is stressful. Sometimes you must feel like you're about to burst at any minute."

"There are days like that, yes," Caaisho smiled for the first time. Danielle seemed to understand the pressures she was facing in a way her parents didn't. For them, her life was already planned in full. Graduate from college with distinction on a full ride scholarship, seven years of medical school, get a job in a hospital (because whoever heard of a black woman having her own medical practice), marry a man of her father's choosing, and have at least three kids.

"So what do you do about it?"

"Nothing really," she admitted, since she always felt stressed. She just assumed that was the way life was. Always worried. Always working too hard. Just like the life she saw her parents living.

"May I ask you a personal question?"

Caaisho wasn't sure she wanted to answer a personal question from an outsider, but she was too polite to refuse, and especially tonight, since Danielle was doing so much for her. "Sure."

"Do you masturbate?"

"Oh my, no," she gasped. She hadn't expected the question to be that personal!

"Your religion doesn't consider it sinful, does it?"

"Yes it does, actually. Categorically. Without question."

"That's a shame," Danielle said. "There's no better stress relief than a good orgasm."

"Ma'am, I'm not comfortable with this topic of conversation," Caaisho found the nerve to say. Even mentioning sex wasn't something they did in their culture.

"I'm sorry," Danielle said, placing her hand on Caaisho's leg over the blanket, and giving it a gentle squeeze, "it's just that after thirty years of teaching psychology, I've gained an understanding of how people... especially freshman girls... think."

"I appreciate your expertise, but this isn't a conversation I'm comfortable with having."

"I understand," Danielle said, standing up. "You have to discover who you are on your own. But just throwing this out there... if I don't get myself off every day or two, I become a raging bitch."

Caaisho had nothing to say, she just secretly prayed this woman would leave the room. This conversation was incredibly awkward.

"Well, if you need anything, just let me know."

"Thank you. I'll be fine."

"Okay," Danielle said, deliberately leaving the girl a little rattled, as she anticipated her more aggressive next step a little bit later.

Caaisho shook her head in consternation. She'd been surprised... no, astonished... by that conversation. It proved her early assessment that American women were obsessed with sex was true. Sure, she was always stressed, but that was life. Sex was for marriage, for procreation. Not to relieve stress.

Danielle went downstairs to the living room, and by the light of a streetlight outside her picture window, she watched the falling snow, while she sipped on a glass of red wine. Snow was so beautiful when you were safe and warm inside, and sometimes even when you weren't. Then after about half an hour, she went upstairs to her room and got into her pajamas, but only after removing her panties and putting on a strap-on. A smallish six-inch one. Her ten- and twelve-inch black beasts would have to wait for another occasion. She turned on the large flat-screen computer monitor in her bedroom (the spare bedroom right beside hers), and loaded one of her favourite lesbian porn scenes. She fast-forwarded to the action, and turned the volume high enough that Caaisho would hear. Years of... not psychology per se, but in this instance keen observation... had taught her that women overhearing the moans of other women having sex couldn't help getting horny themselves, whether they wanted to or not. They also became more receptive to being seduced, even though they didn't realize it... or understand why. The sounds of sex created not only stimulation in their bodies, but also... subversively... in their minds.

Caaisho was just finishing up her essay, when she began hearing some sounds. Sexual sounds! Her eyes went wide. Had Danielle invited someone else into the house? She couldn't make out every word, but she could hear feminine moans of pleasure. At least there wasn't a man in the house, but still. She suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable.

Danielle wasn't actually watching the scene, she was simply waiting a few minutes before she went into the next room and checked on her prey.

Caaisho was beside herself! She heard a woman begging, "Yes, yes eat my pussy!" So vulgar! She'd known there was something off about Danielle, and now she was proven right. She got off the bed and checked if there was a lock on her bedroom door, but there wasn't. She sighed. She no longer felt safe.

"Yes, you love eating my cunt, don't you Mommy?" a voice cried out.

"Yes, Mommy loves your wet cunt," a different female voice responded, neither of them Danielle's.

Caaisho was appalled!

Lesbians?

Incest?

Disgusting!

She wanted to leave, but where would she go? She had her own car, but with all her attention on studying, she hadn't made any good friends. Moving to a new city just before starting college didn't help, and neither did her extreme shyness. Added to the fact that she was a Muslim with extremely dark skin in a primarily white community (okay, only a bit less than 40% of her fellow Harvard students were white, but less than 7% of them were black... she'd checked), and that she wanted to focus on her grades instead of partying, she wasn't remotely a member of the popular crowd. The last time she'd had actual friends had been back in Somalia, more than three years ago.

She had nowhere to go.

Maybe with enough blankets, she could spend the night at home.

She wanted to text her mother, but realized she'd left her phone at home.

"Finger fuck me, Mommy, I'm so close to coming!" a voice demanded, with a loud moan.

"Yes, come all over Mommy's face, baby!" the other voice urged.

Caaisho didn't intend to keep listening, but it was like when you drove past an accident on the freeway... you didn't want to slow down and look, but just like everyone else, you did anyway. She just couldn't believe what she was listening to.

"Oh yes, oh yes, oh fuck yes, Mommy!" the girl screamed as her orgasm hit her.

Caaisho got back onto the bed and tried to focus on finishing her essay, while blocking out the tawdry sounds emerging from the room next door.

Yet, she couldn't accomplish either goal. It was just so loud!

A couple minutes later, she'd typed just seven words, and she heard the older voice beg, "Fuck Mommy, baby, fuck Mommy with your big cock."

Caaisho was confused.

How could the daughter possibly have a penis? That didn't even make sense. Not to mention a daughter having sex with her mother. This was so, so wrong!

Danielle knocked, but she didn't wait for a response as she walked in and asked innocently, "I'm getting ready for bed. Can I get you anything?"

Caaisho said, "No, I'm fine."

Danielle feigned surprise as she said, "Oh my, my movie is really loud."

Caaisho could feel her cheeks burn with embarrassment, even though she had done nothing to be embarrassed about. Deciding to be blunt, she said, "Yes, it's rather distracting."

"Sorry. Please don't judge me, but I watch lesbian porn most nights to get off," Danielle said, as she went towards the bed.

"You're a lesbian?" Caaisho asked, even though it made perfect sense.

"I am," Danielle said, sitting on the bed.

Caaisho was paralyzed with fear. She sensed something was completely wrong here. "Ma'am, please. I need to work on my essay."

Danielle reached for the laptop and closed it. "No, you need to take a break."

Caaisho was annoyed. She never allowed anyone to touch her computer, or to keep her from her schoolwork. "What are you doing?"

"Oh yes, slam that big cock into Mommy," a distant voice begged.