The Gate

"Why didn't you shoot him again?"

"Look, I had never seen this man before in my life. I had no reason to harm him, except to stop him from attacking us, to save our lives. When his pistol fell to the floor, and he didn't produce any other weapon, and he stopped moving, I figured he was no longer a threat, so I had no further reason to shoot at him."

"Thank you, Mr, Dunham. That's all the questions I have for you."

At home we put the groceries away and I called my insurance agent, who said an adjuster would be there within a day. By suppertime we were about back to normal. I'd already cut up a big box and laid cardboard across the pools of blood that had soaked into the carpet. The only damage was in the hallway and master bedroom, where the door was demolished, a carpet that I hated was ruined, and a few shotgun pellets had left pockmarks in the walls Most important, Sally and I were all right. Compared to what might have been, I figured we were pretty lucky.

* * * * *

After supper that night we sat and watched TV as if nothing unusual had happened. The excitement seemed to be over.

But that wasn't all that there was to it. As our bodies relaxed in our beds and our minds could replay their tapes without interruption, we grew edgy. I went right off to sleep at first, but I woke a few minutes later and couldn't get back to sleep. Quietly, I got up and went into the kitchen, trying not to arouse Sally, but when I heard a little noise I turned and found her right behind me.

"You couldn't sleep either?" I asked.

"No, even though I'm dead tired. Got anything that's good for this?"

"There's some milk that you could warm up. I've heard that's good. Personally, I couldn't stand it. I think I'll have a wee drop of whiskey."

"What do you drink that with?"

"A glass. I've got a jug of Crown Royal in here, and it's as smooth as good French Cognac." So saying I pulled out the bottle and poured myself a good amount in a snifter glass. "Want a sip?"

"Just to see what it's like." She took a tiny bit, maybe a quarter of an ounce, and swished it around in her mouth, then swallowed. "You're right. I thought maybe I couldn't get it down, but it's nice. Could I have a little glass of my own?"

"I hope I don't go to jail for corrupting a minor. Here. Wear it in good health." We sipped in companionable silence, standing in the kitchen.

She moved closer to me and leaned her head on my shoulder. "I never did thank you for saving my life this morning. You took an awful risk, standing up to that terrible man. I never thought of it at the time, but we could have gone out the front door while they were coming in the back. They probably would have caught me but you could have gotten away. But you only thought about putting yourself between the danger and me, protecting my life by risking yours. Why?"

I didn't hesitate for a second. "Because to me, you are a precious jewel, a treasure worth protecting at any cost."

"I was afraid you'd say that." She paused, as if thinking about how to word something she was reluctant to tell me. "I've got some news that's probably going to complicate both our lives. I've thought about this all day, and even though I'm positive it's true, I hate to say it out loud. Anyway, here goes. I love you. I would have kept it to myself except for the answer you gave me just now. Carl, let's face it, we're in love. What you did was an act of love, nothing else. Think of it. This is the thing that girls dream of, sharing love with a really good man. And now that I've got it, I don't know what to do about it."

"Neither do I. It's not as if we'd planned this. I never saw this coming. I suppose I should have, but I was blind to it. But even if I'd seen it coming, could I have done anything to prevent it? What? Send you packing? That would have been cruel. Try to act angry to turn you away from me? That would have been mean and dishonest. No, this is real and it's honest, and it's pure. I mean, this isn't just lust for each other's bodies. It has nothing to do with appearances or physical attributes. Sally, I can honestly say that my attraction to you isn't about you being young and fresh and beautiful and pure. Well, pure, yes. You're simply a wonderful person, and if you were my age or any other age, you'd still be a wonderful person. I just love you, the real you.

"I think your mother, for all the love she must have had for you, was blind as a bat when she packed up and moved out and left you behind. I'm sorry; I probably shouldn't have said that. What was between you and your mother is none of my business. But I get angry at the thought of anybody doing anything that would hurt you. And yes, I'd risk my life for you any day of the week, not because I enjoy taking risks but because you're worth dying for."

"So what do we do now?"

"We finish our whiskey and go back to bed. But we'll go to my bed. I don't want you in the other bedroom alone, trying to grapple with all this. But I want you to understand that I wouldn't feel right about making love to you right after the burglary. I don't want you to look back on all this years from now and think that I took advantage of you when you were still scared. So anything stronger than holding you close is going to wait until our heads are clear and we have thought this all out very carefully. A sexual relationship is like toothpaste. Once it's out of the tube you can never put it back."

She climbed into my king size bed and crawled to the middle. I stood there looking at her, thinking how tiny she looked on that big mattress. I got in and we snuggled together like a couple of puppies, all arms and legs over and under each other, so closely intertwined that you couldn't have pulled us apart.

Was it the alcohol or our relief at having our love out where we could act on it, that made us go to sleep as soon as our tired bodies hit the mattress as one? I only know that I slept soundly, without any bad dreams about killing people, and I believe that Sally did the same. We didn't need dreams that night; we had each other. Sally was all the dream that I'd ever need.

In the morning we slept late, and even when we did start to stir we drifted back to sleep. I was so pleased to have her with me that I had no desire to get up and start moving around. Why move when you're snuggled up to an angel?

I was lying there, half asleep, when Sally opened her eyes and stretched her arms up straight over her head. Let me tell you, that can be a little alarming when you're not prepared for it. But what came next was just as surprising: she lowered her arms and hugged me as close to her as I could get. I wasn't prepared for it, and my face landed smack between her luscious breasts. Nothing to complain about, that's for sure. Her nightgown still covered them. My nose was on her skin, my mouth on lace-trimmed cotton. But her arms, reaching around my neck, cradled her twin girls and shoved them up against my cheeks, like bookends.

I made a mental note never to forget this experience. I mean, if I ever get the worst case of Alzheimer's disease on record, I'll still remember that hug. It was one for the memory book.

I don't even remember what we did the rest of that morning. Just ordinary things, but we did them together, and that made them special. We ate lunch in the living room, side by side on the sofa, and as we ate we talked. When the food was gone the conversation wasn't. We talked on for hours: about ourselves, about each other, about our relationship, about our living arrangement, about what people would think, about whether we gave a damn what people would think, about sex, about my vasectomy, about every subject under the sun, until we both knew that we were going into this relationship with our eyes open, and that our feelings were in every way mutual. Late in the afternoon we went into the bedroom and consummated our relationship.

I'd love to tell you that it was the most spectacular sex that the world has ever seen, but in fact it was just about the opposite. We were trying too hard, and in our nervousness we were hesitant and clumsy, fumbling around, making a mockery of the most beautiful act that a man and woman can perform together. A casual observer would have thought that we were two adolescents trying to learn what sex was all about by trial and error. Fortunately, our love carried us through it with no hurt feelings.

But that night, ah, that was different. We were simply superb together, helping each other, attentive to each other's feelings and sensations, and we managed to get everything timed to perfection. When we reached a final thundering orgasm together the world was saved, the heavens applauded, and the stars sang out. It was simply the best simultaneous climax in the history of mankind.

We hugged our naked bodies together and held on for dear life. After the disastrous afternoon performance we didn't expect very much, so when perfection was achieved that night we were awestruck. Sally said it all, when she sighed and whispered, "Who could believe that we could make such beautiful music together?"

I lay in her arms and replied, "I almost hate to have sex ever again because nothing could be as perfect as what we've just enjoyed together. But there's a little voice saying, 'We did it once, so we could do it again!' And I want to believe that little voice."

"And again, and again, and again!" added Sally, laughing with a sound like angels singing.

I was thinking over our whole life together, so far. "We must keep track of the important firsts in our relationship. We had our first passionate kiss last night, in the kitchen. We had our first night together right after that. Then this afternoon we had our first clumsy, awkward sex, and tonight we had the most perfect lovemaking since Adam and Eve. What's left?"

"Our first fight! I can't wait to see what it will be about. And then we can have our first makeup fuck, when we blow away all the anger and tears with another beautiful orgasm. Now that's really something to look forward to!"

"You know, today is the first time we've been naked together. You are so beautiful, it's a shame to cover you up with clothes"

"Do you like my tits? My nipples are so sensitive, and when you lick them and suck on them I just about go through the roof! You know just how to make a woman glad she's built like a woman. Oh, you got a good look at my cunt when you were licking it. Do you like it?"

"I love it! It's gorgeous. And when your outer lips are opened, it looks like a wonderland for my tongue. It makes my tongue want to crawl right in there."

"Not only your tongue. Your cock is just right for me. I'm glad it isn't huge, because it would take away from the wonderful sensations of you moving in me. You've got just the perfect prick for my pussy, and you can put it in there any time you want to. And oh, that one time when you sucked on my clit! I never even heard of anything like that. Licking, sure, I've heard girls say their guys do that, but sucking, really sucking on my clit till I came, and with your fingers rubbing my G spot at the same time, now that's something that nobody ever told me could happen."

"I love to give you pleasure. I think I'll make that my life's work. Sally and her orgasms. From now on, satisfying Sally is my specialty, my hobby, my greatest reward."

"I'm sorry I didn't do better on your blowjob this afternoon. I've never done that before, and it's going to take some practice to get it right. I hope you don't mind. Maybe I could give you one every night just as we're dropping off to sleep. How would that be, slipping off to sleep while I swallow your semen. I've got to work on that.

"But oh, Carl, all this talk about sex has got me so hot. Please fuck me again. Here, you get in front of me and let me put my ankles over your shoulders. Now plunge your prick in there, make my cunt happy. Mmmm, keep that up. That's just right. Yes, fuck me, fuck, fuck, fuck me! Oh, oh, there's a little one! Keep going, that's right, keep going just like that. Now harder, harder, yeah, really bang away at me, pound me, now spray your load in my cunt! Oh, am I ever coming! Oh, you fucker, you've done it again! Keep going, don't stop, don't ever stop! Fuck me! Bang me! Oh, how I love that! It's right there! I can feel it but there's more to come yet. I want it! I want all of it! Just a little more. Fuck, fuck, fuck me! Aaaah, there it is now! Ooooh."

There was a long pause, while her whole body gradually went from stiff to rubbery. "Oh, Carl, how I love the things you do to me!" There she was, right there in my arms, the most beautiful girl in the world, and I had just given her pleasure beyond words! It made me so proud. If I'd died right then my life would have been complete, my goal achieved, my purpose fulfilled.

* * * * *

Life went on. The insurance adjuster came and did his thing, and floor covering people came and re-carpeted the whole house. A handyman came and repaired the walls in the bedroom and repainted the whole room. I was satisfied that we had got the place back to normal, and the new carpet was a big improvement over the old stuff. There was no more cardboard on the floor and no more smell of dried blood, no lingering reminders of our encounter with violent death. So our little love nest was serene once more.

* * * * *

Out in the back yard, the gate still needed work, so a couple of days later we got back to it. In the morning we applied adhesive and laid the back side plywood on, aligning it carefully and putting small nails in all four corners. Concrete blocks were set in critical locations to apply slight pressure on the adhesive, which would be allowed to cure overnight. I didn't want to disturb it for a whole day, to allow the adhesive to harden thoroughly. Next morning I figured it was fully hard, and it was time to run a few screws through the plywood to secure the blocks in place, to make sure that if there were a local failure of the adhesive with changes in the weather, it wouldn't propagate across the entire bondline.

We had to move the whole assembly from the patio out to the yard, where I had set up blocks to support it. Picking it up was sort of tricky, and then when we set it down gently, we had to bend our knees and lean forward. I couldn't help but notice that I was looking directly down Sally's blouse, an exercise that could give a healthy man a heart attack. I stepped over to her, and she met me with a hand across my crotch and asked, "Oh, is that for me?"

"Yes, it's all yours," I replied. "Where would you like me to put it?"

"Let's go into the bedroom and see if we can find a place where it will fit."

Five minutes later we had stripped down for action and were doing a trial installation. "You're very wet down there," I observed.

"All the better for you to fuck me. Oh, you slid into my cunt so smoothly. But wait, are you a little bigger than usual this morning?"

"Seeing you bent down like that would give a marble statue a hardon. Here, let's turn over and you can go for a ride, while I watch your girls jiggle and dance."

"Maybe you could hold them, cradle them, so they don't get scared. Curl your fingers around and use their little noses for handles."

"Let me give them a kiss first so they'll know I'm going to take good care of them."

As I slid the rest of the way into Sally I finally hit bottom, with the head of my cock nudging her cervix. It felt good to me, and Sally let out a little squeal of excited surprise. "Oh, that feels so good. I told you we fit together perfectly. Aaah, play with my tits. Rub my nipples. That's it, so nice. Can you reach up enough to suck them? Here, I'll lean over. Maybe I can dangle them right into your mouth. Yes, flicking your tongue, that's so good! Oh, keep that up! Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck me! I'm gonna come!"

I stroked on through her first orgasm and caught up with her on her second, spraying my load into her cunt just about two strokes after she had stiffened up and made noises that weren't words, but sure weren't screams either. With my cock still in her, she lay down on top of me and I hugged her close as we came back from outer space and re-entered earth's atmosphere. We were gasping for breath at first, then snuggled silently while we got back to normal. The feeling was magnificent, her velvety insides caressing my softening phallus while our mixed juices seeped out and trickled over my thigh, and her gorgeous, generous tits massaged my chest.

"Oh, this feels so good," she whispered. " I hate to move."

"Then don't. I could hold you forever like this. You know, you're a real contradiction. You can work around here all day long and not tire out, you can lift your end of the gate with ease, and yet you're so soft, so tender, and your skin feels like a baby's."

"Aren't you afraid you'll get tired of me? What's going to happen when I want sex and you can't do it? Oh, I know, that's when I can suck your cock and get it hard. I haven't been practicing that, have I. I've fallen behind in my duties as a diligent housekeeper. It's just that when we get here on the bed, all excited, I want to feel you inside me, and when we do that I lose track of everything else in the world. Once you're in me, the sun could turn purple and I wouldn't know or care. The combination of sexual excitement and love takes over my whole being, and it's the greatest feeling in the world. Oh, you've made me so happy! I'm afraid I'm giddy, like a little kid, but it's such an honest, open feeling that it makes me forget every bad thing that's ever happened to me, and I get lost in the moment. There's no past; I hope there's a future but I can't think about it; the present, the here and now, the you and me, that's all that matters." She was still for a few seconds. "Oh, how can you put up with my babbling?"

"You're just bubbling over with good feelings, and it's wonderful to watch and listen to you. You're so sweet, so loving, so lovable, so genuine. You're so important to me, so necessary, like air and water. It's like having the energy of all the living things on the planet, rolled up into one precious little bundle labeled Sally. Having you here with me all day is so wonderful that it seems impossible. How could I ever be so fortunate? I feel that I must be living a dream."

We drifted off into a nap, our happiness erasing all the troubling memories of her unhappy past and my close call with a burglar who wanted to kill me, and we slept without stirring. I dimly recall feeling that Sally's skin was cool when I ran my hand over her arm and back, and I guess I must have grabbed a sheet and put it over us, but other than that we were too content with our embrace to spoil it by moving. After what felt like five minutes we woke up and the clock told me that we had slept for two hours. Even after all that, I didn't want Sally to move out of my arms, and I told her so.

"I feel the same way, but we've got to get up some time."

"I know, but I don't want to. Maybe I've gone a little crazy, wanting you up against me every minute of every day. You're more than a person to me. You're my reason for living, the target of all my desires, and my good luck charm, all rolled up in one."

"Don't forget, even girls who are good luck charms have to go to the bathroom sometime, and get dressed, and do the laundry. They even have to help move gates from time to time. So cuddling is good, very very good in fact, but other things have to be worked into our schedule, too."

Sally stretched and gave me a hug. "Somehow, Carl, in our sexually satisfied stupor, we've managed to get ourselves out of phase with the rest of the world. Here it is, late afternoon, and we're just waking up. What do you feel like doing now? Are you hungry? We should be, but I'm not. How about you?"