The Heart Shaped Pendant

Mal began caressing my thigh, her eyes sparkling. I gazed into her eyes and tried to see what reflection of me lurked there, what image projected this bright sunshine that illuminated her admiration. "Do you really want to do this?" I asked. Mal leapt on top of me, kissing me fiercely on the lips. The kissing became more gentle and she put her hands on my shoulders and neck. Her tube top came over her head, her cutoffs went over her feet and she guided my hands to her breasts; when I touched them, she gasped and a look of profound joy crossed her face as I began to stroke and caress them. She pulled my t-shirt over my head and kissed all over my chest and torso ardently, her hands all over me. I rubbed her torso as we kissed; she moved so that my hand could trace the petals of the blossom between her legs. After several moments of this, she quivered and arched her back to shriek for another several moments.

"What was that?" I asked.

It took a few moments for her to recover her breath. "It's an orgasm. Nobody's ever done that to me before; I've only gotten them with Mother's vibrator until now. Two of my boyfriends screwed me, but they always quit after they finished and left me dry."

"I'm amazed that I can do that for you."

"Don't be. You've always been my hero. I've always wanted you to sweep me off my feet and take me to your boudoir. I love your poems and your novels, your outlook on life and your bushy beard. You sweep me into worlds of excitement and wonder, honor and reason and justice. The Poe poem says it all: 'I have not seen/As others saw; I could not bring/My passions from a common spring.' You are the spring of my passion. You are my movie star; you are my sex symbol; you are my hero."

"You're crazy, like your grandmother. She always said that I was Santa Claus as a young man, and she always wanted the presents in my bag"

"Santa, I want what's in your bag, too. She was glad that I got your attention, got you excited. You made her so happy; no man pleased her more and she was very secure in herself and with her relationship with you. She knew that you were a noble beast and wouldn't take advantage of me, especially while she was alive."

I paused, trying to take all this in, and stammered: "I've been ashamed to look at you and want you. This afternoon you were a water sprite luring me to go deeper into the lake, to risk getting trapped in your other worldly kingdom: a farie dream I might never return from. I've always wondered what it would be like to touch your skin, to nibble your breasts, to stroke your hair. . ."

Her eyes gleamed as she said, "Do it. I am your sprite; I am your dream. Follow me into the deep waters." She kissed me hungrily, grinding her entire body against mine. I did touch her skin all over, nibble her breasts, stroke her hair as she moaned and purred, working my way down eventually to where I tasted her nectar as I had her grandmother's so often and brought her another trip to the summit. She was sweeter than I could have ever imagined, as sweet as Charlene. It felt like a homecoming, I was so possessed of Charlene's spirit.

She removed my shorts and started to stroke my forked radish as her grandmother had, looking at it hungrily, "Grandmama taught me how to please a man, taught me how to please you. I'm not sure I remember everything she said, but if there's something you want me to do, say so and I'll do it." Her tongue was master of the gentle swirl and lovingly caressed every tender part; her mouth was a hungry home that welcomed as it consumed. The progression of her tactics was similar to Charlene's: she must have coached Mal. Mal sang me a wonderful wet love song that captured my heart as it was captured twenty years before. It was not long before I geysered my affection and she drank me down completely, driving me wild with her tongue as I subsided. She stayed the entire night; we were oblivious to the world and oblivious to supper. We repaid one another's affections again that night while submerged in the sonic passion ofLe Sacre du Printemps. We went no farther than oral sex: after twenty years with a lover who didn't need protection, I wasn't ready for a situation like this. We slept entwined and the next morning we did it again after coffee before she slipped out the door at 8:00AM to her grandmother's house.

************

Sunday noon saw the lawyer and the five women enter my living room again. I greeted them in a nice shirt and slacks and gave them some iced tea I brewed for another scorching day. The lawyer opened his briefcase and took out the will. He flipped it to the proper page and said, "Mr. Fredrickson, have you made a decision in regard to awarding the heart shaped pendant and all that goes with it?"

"It hasn't been easy, but yes I have. I would like to say a few things first." I looked around the room and took a deep breath.

"I see a little Charlene in each of you: and I'm not talking exterior appearance. Maybe your greed pushed you to do something you surely wouldn't have done on your own, but part of her golden spirit shone forth through you. You walked me backward through time during this week of memory, sharp memories but sweet. I saw her again at different ages of her life past, even ages when I never knew her. She was with you all when you came to me: I could tell by what you did and by the look in your eyes. You knew that I made her happy and that meant something to you, or a least it meant that I didn't repel you completely. Your men are lucky to have you. Thank you for bringing a part of her back to me: I am grateful to you with all my heart. It helps me get along without her a little.

"There was one of you whom I thought was the best; although all of you were fantastic, she was without equal. She was best at the mutual, unselfish sharing of life and laughter and love that was Charlene all these years. I felt the same kind of sensations with her that I did with Charlene. That woman has the pendant and all that goes with it."

"Who gets it?" The lawyer said.

At that moment, Mallory came into the room from the kitchen, where she had slipped without a sound, wearing a low cut, plain blue dress and the necklace with the heart shaped pendant around her neck. The heart shaped pendant rested naturally and serenely over her own young poetic heart. Jaws dropped and looks of disbelief quickly found their faces. It was a tableau that lasted several long moments before it began to break. The sisters and Morgan left singly without a word; Dora looked at her daughter, at me, at Mallory again and at the lawyer. She queried her daughter: "Is this what your grandmother would have wanted?"

"Yes. This is what she wanted; she told me so before she died. It's what I want too, more than anything, and I would have done it for love of Charlie even if the pendant wasn't the prize."

Dora looked at the lawyer, who said, "She is of legal age; she's nineteen years old. She had a right to participate and has a right to make her own choices." Dora then stalked from the house.

The lawyer put the will down and got out another document: the deed to the house. "Mallory Charlene Morris, in addition to the necklace and the pendant, your grandmother's house is awarded to the winner of the contest. She wanted to see who the most generous, caring, unselfish person in her family was and wanted the house to go to that woman." He presented the title for her to sign and gave her the keys.

I watched all this disbelieving but Mallory looked so serene, so radiant, so wise and so ladylike: just as her grandmother always did. Ah Charlene, you're asking me to trust your judgement a bit farther, aren't you? I can't believe you wanted to give me this much; I truly don't deserve her. The purposes Charlene set up the competition the way she did emerged: making her relatives confront her legacy, using their greed against them and knowing that I would try to turn it inside out with gratitude, knowing that they would try to exclude Mal, giving Mal the chance to blossom fully if she was ready. What a teacher, what pedagogical guile my Charlene possessed. Also, this was probably the only way the family was going to sit still for Mal getting the house now as well.

Mal beamed at me proudly, opened the pendant at her breast and showed me the picture inside. It was my picture.