The Major's Wife

by The Major's Wife (lit)

  “Do you want more?” He shook his head no. She took his hand and held it while she continued to moisten his skin with the other. His body had gotten hotter and she could no longer deny it, even to herself.

  “Lucretia, shots. Are they fighting?”

  “Yes, darling. There is fighting. But you just stay calm and let the soldiers take care of it.”

  “I have to get out there. I am the commander. I…” He tried to roll off the bed, but his body refused to move more than a few inches before blood poured out of his wound, drenching both Lucretia and the bed before it dripped to the floor. She gently pressed him back and kissed him again.

  He gasped for air. “Lulu, I love you.” He took one more breath and then his body shut down, leaving her handsome husband dead.

  Chapter 44

  Lucretia Lucinda Sawyer sat holding his hand while listening to the fighting outside. Finally, she pulled the blanket up over his face. She lay down beside him with her arm across his chest, her head on his shoulder. He had been so good to her, the best he knew how. She had rewarded him with selfishness and even meanness, sometimes. Would it have hurt anything to answer his questions about Ruby and what had happened then? No, it would not have. He never asked anything of her but the truth and she did not even give that to him. She wished now she had told him the story. In telling, it might have sounded sordid, but Lulu did not think of it that way.

  It was years later that I heard the tale from her own lips. She came to sit under my sprawling branches one spring day, not long after she returned here. From my hill, she could see the cemetery where Jeffrey lies. She spoke to Jeffrey as she looked upward, all those years later. I am telling it to you now so that maybe you will understand and not fault her too much. Remember how young she was, and inexperienced, and positive she loved her new husband. When she met Ruby in the park, they neither one expected to become friends, but that is what happened.

  “We talked of many things those afternoons in the park.” Lucretia spoke as if telling Jeffrey, as if he were sitting beside her under my boughs. “Mostly we talked about sex because of my curiosity and her ability to answer everything I questioned.

  “Sometimes she asked about you and where we would be living. Rather than tell her, I said I did not know, because I did not care enough at the time to even ask you. All I wanted were the things we did in bed and I could not confess that to her. Actually, I was no kind of wife at all to you, Jeffrey. I suffer even now for the hurt that I caused you, but that will change nothing now. Anyway, I always changed the subject when she asked, steering the conversation to things in the park, fashions, restaurants, shopping, and of course, sex.

  “When she suggested I watch her with her clients, I was delighted and afraid at the same time. We went to her little room and I hid in the closet behind her clothes. We even set a chair there so I could be comfortable while I watched. It was a good thing, too, because some of her clients came in pairs or more and all that took a long time. The longer she entertained them, the more they paid her, except for the Big-Nosed Banker with his teenie peenie. He always paid her well and came to her every week.

  “I never knew his name or the full names of any of her johns, nor did I care to. We referred to Big-Nosed Banker by that name only. Anyway, when he arrived, Ruby dressed and painted her face like a clown. He liked to take off what she wore and dress himself in it. She was right, too, about his teenie peenie. It only grew when Ruby pulled it out of the clown costume and sucked it. He would moan and groan for what seemed like hours until he blew his wad, which, incidentally, was huge.

  “When he was done, he stood up and began to play the role of a clown, dancing and cracking jokes. Ruby would laugh gaily, even though it was not funny at all. After that, she would undress him and help him with his own clothes. He paid her, kissed the top of her head, and left. The whole thing seemed pathetic to me, but Ruby just laughed and said, ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet.’

  “I swear to you, Jeffrey, that even though sometimes I got aroused, I did nothing about it. Ruby asked if I wanted to fuck any of them, but I never did. She asked if I wanted them to suck me or me suck them, and I never did. Sometimes, I did rub myself while I watched and every time I would think of you, wishing you were the one rubbing me.

  “Ruby’s customers were often pairs of men or a man and a woman together. The women, particularly, liked to watch their men fuck Ruby from behind while she mouthed the woman. And the men got really excited watching that, too. The three would change positions several different ways until the couple was exhausted. I realized many times it was a married couple wanting more than they could give each other alone.

  “One time two women came without a man. They brought a funny-looking thing that resembled a penis in a belt. One of them would strap it on and fuck the other, while Ruby used her mouth to make them come. It was disgusting. I asked her if they liked fucking so much, why not just get a man to do it? She laughed and said she did not really understand it either, but suggested that maybe it was because men do not have tits and those women sure did like sucking tits, each other’s and Ruby’s, too. I told her I did not want to see that again, and she really laughed. ‘Maybe you should try it, Lulu. You might like it. I do like it, especially when one of them licks my pussy. Women seem to do it better than men do. If you ever want to find out, I can show you.’ I told her no and she never mentioned it again. Many times, I wondered how it would feel, but I never had the nerve to let her do it to me. I think she really wanted to.

  “The last time I watched her, there were three men doing things to her at the same time. Once they were all naked, she would tease every man with her tits and tongue. When they got hard, she would sit on her knees. One man fucked her pussy, one man fucked in her ass, and the third fucked her mouth. When they all came, they shot their cum all over her and rubbed it in. It was disgusting, Jeffrey, but Ruby said it was good money and really did not hurt her much.

  “Then she did not show up for several afternoons, but a small boy came to me and asked if I was Lulu. I knew that something was wrong by the look on his face. He handed me a note that read, ‘By the time you read this, I will be gone. Do not try to find me. My john today cut me everywhere and pretty bad. I never told you about the sadists, masochists, and those with strange wants, but they are the best paying. If I survive what they do. Good-bye, Sweet Lulu. Have a good life. Love, Ruby.’

  “I should have told you about her years ago, and to this day, I do not know why I did not.”

  It was a sad story. I hope Jeffrey heard it, because Lucretia really did need him to know, even now. She should have told him before, but humans do strange things. Did she keep her secrets to protect herself or punish him in some way? She probably does not even know that herself. How sad.

  Chapter 45

  Lying beside her dead husband, Lulu slept. She awoke to the sound of silence. She got up, dressed and opened the door and looked outside. There were bodies everywhere, both soldiers and Indians. The outside gate was open and just a short way from the entrance, she could see men digging holes. She recalled a weedy cemetery that direction and realized they were preparing graves. It was just before sunset and already bone-gripping cold.

  Without a coat, she walked slowly toward the cemetery, trying not to look at the faces of the dead. She saw Captain Grant digging, along with his men. “Captain, you will need one more grave. My husband died.” She spoke quietly, in a voice devoid of emotion. She turned and walked back to her cabin, where she slowly dressed her husband’s body in his uniform. It was difficult, but something she felt she had to do herself.

  She added wood to the stove again and sat at the table to wait for someone to arrive. “Come in,” she answered a knock on the door. It was a private she did not know.

  “The captain sent us for your husband, Mrs. Sawyer. He wants all the bodies in the ground before dark.” Lucretia simply nodded and turned her head away as the man motioned another man inside. The two of them lifted Jeffrey’s body,
wrapped the blanket tightly around it, and carried it out to the wagon waiting outside.

  Lucretia refused the ride offered by the private. She preferred to walk. She watched without seeing the bodies, including many soldiers, buried, with crosses placed at all heads. Captain Grant said a few words, a gun saluted, followed by a bugle playing “Taps,” and then the funerals were over. She walked alone back to her cabin, where she found the mattress replaced and fresh blankets folded neatly on it. She knelt beside the bed and prayed for a long while, asking God to take Jeffrey into his heaven. She kicked off her shoes, removed her bloodied dress, and burrowed beneath the blankets, otherwise fully clothed.

  Gunshots awakened her at sunrise. One of the privates knocked on the door with a plate of food and orders from Captain Grant for her to stay inside and away from the sides of the cabin. That made no sense to her, as there was no place to be in the small house but near the walls. What did he want her to do, hide under the bed? At that second, a shot came through the wall, missing her by inches. Badly frightened, she pulled the table over by the stove, followed by the bed. The mattress was heavy, but she managed to get it up on its side and slide it around her as she sat on the floor against the wall she knew connected to the building next door. That same wall held the mattress in place with the table for more support. As long as no one shot down on her, she should be all right.

  After a while, she dared to crawl back out to retrieve Jeffrey’s shirt and her shoes. It was cold in the cabin. She dropped a couple of small pieces of wood in the stove, grabbed some blankets to put under her on the cold, hard floor, and then climbed back into her mattress cocoon. The stove began to heat and soon she warmed, but her teeth still chattered.

  “Stop it,” she told herself. She knew the chattering was from fear, not cold. She clamped her teeth tightly together. “Relax, Lulu,” she said aloud. “You survived one Indian attack and you can survive another. Or was it two you survived? Hell, who is counting?” She forced out a chuckle, but it sounded more like a cry than a laugh.

  “Let’s try to keep count of who is shooting whom by the screams and yells of those hit. Yes, Lulu, that is a great idea. I wish I had a pencil and paper to keep track, but I can use my fingers. So let us get started. Oh, dear God, I am talking to myself and answering, too. Auntie Liz used to say that doing that was the first sign of madness. Seems right because I think I am going mad. All right, outside the walls, a scream…one for our side.”

  Tears formed, but she held them back, counting cries and screams. Hours passed, forcing her to leave her little protection to use the chamber pot and put more wood in the stove. She lost count of the number of killed or wounded, but she remembered that most of them came from inside the fort.

  The sky darkened and the shooting finally stopped. She heard voices, but only a few. The door opened, showing an outline of a tall man reflected from behind by some small fires. “Mrs. Sawyer, where are you?”

  “I am here, behind the mattress by the stove.”

  Eagle walked slowly into the room and peered down behind the mattress. He burst into laughter that sounded like laughter should, not demeaning or insulting. “I declare, you are more inventive than I ever would have thought. Do you have a gun down there with you?”

  “No, I did not think of it. Should I?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Sawyer, most definitely. You might be able to protect yourself for a while with it, or use it on yourself to prevent them from abducting you.”

  “Abducting me? You mean the Indians? Do you think they are going to get inside the fort?”

  “If help does not come soon, it is likely they will get inside and we cannot stop them. There are too many of them and too few of us. Now, come out of there so we can talk. Here, I will move the mattress back to the bed for you to sleep tonight.”

  “Will they not return tonight? I think I will stay here.”

  “No, ma’am, they will not attack tonight. They seldom do after dark. They will come for their dead. They need rest as much as we do.” He lit a lantern, moved the mattress, and put some more wood in the stove.

  He stopped talking when she stood. Wearing only Jeffrey’s shirt and her shoes and under things, she made a funny but exciting picture. Eagle felt his dick begin to rise and turned away so she could not see it. “Do you want me to have your trunks brought over so you can get yourself a dress or something?”

  “That would be nice, Captain. I would like a bath, too, if possible. I appreciate your kindness.”

  “No bath. There is no water except for drinking and cooking. We do not know how long we may be holed up here, unless they torch the fort tomorrow instead of fighting. I will send over a small bucket for you, if you like.”

  “Torch the fort? You mean, they will light it on fire?”

  “Yes, it is easier that way. They have lost so few men—if any—that they prefer the fun of killing us off a few at a time every day. I suspect that they will tire of that game and simply end it. I am surprised they did not do it yesterday, or today, for sure.”

  At first, their stilted conversation was void of any emotion, as they both were careful in what they said. It was as if they were standing on a fence, each afraid to be the first to fall off. The tone of their talk changed with the mention of burning the fort. Lucretia shivered, not from the cold this time, but from fear.

  “Are you cold, Mrs. Sawyer? I can get you another blanket.”

  “Not cold, Captain, just frightened.” Suddenly she laughed.

  Eagle looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “What is so funny?”

  “I do not want to tell you even. It is such a stupid thing.” He continued to look at her, the question still there. “I just had a thought that if I am to die tomorrow, I want to die clean. I told you it was stupid.”

  He continued to look at her, but gave her a small smile. “Is that your way of telling me you want that bucket of water?”

  “Yes, that would be nice. Thank you.” Lucretia smiled in return, but it quickly disappeared when she dropped her eyes to the floor. She had not missed the triangle in his trousers. He wanted her, she knew. How could he when he hated her? Eagle realized his secret was no secret anymore. She had seen his hard-on and he was embarrassed. He turned to the door and left without another word.

  Chapter 46

  `A few minutes later, Privates Jones and Winters knocked on her door. One carried a trunk, the other a small pail of water. She admitted them. “Put the trunk by the bed and the water on the stove. Thank you both.”

  They could not take their eyes off her. Lucretia knew she had to get into a dress soon or one of these men might decide to rape her. She did not understand what they saw that aroused them, but it was obvious both privates emulated the captain. “That will be all, Privates.” She opened the door and then closed and latched it behind them.

  Outside, neither man said a word and tried to erase that vision from their minds. It would never do for anyone else to see their rock-hard cocks. Or else they would need to find a place to masturbate, which was the option they picked. They walked to the stable and stood watching each other skim their penises. “Wanna bet who lasts longest?” one asked but received no reply. It did not matter to either as they rocked back and forth, even more excited by watching the other. When their semen shot forth, each still pictured the beautiful, half-dressed woman.

  Had Lucretia known, she would have been horrified and embarrassed. What she did not know was that they were virgins, both of them. They were only seventeen and had joined the army from the farms where they grew up. Winters had no mother or sisters, and Jones had only brothers. They had learned about sex from the animals on their farms. If Lucretia had known this, she would have pitied them. She had learned the wonders of sex and love. At least, what she thought then was love.

  The morning brought Corporal Dryer with a plate of food. By now, Lucretia was dressed once again like a lady. She asked him to place it on the mattress as she had the day before. She ate everything, as her last mea
l had been breakfast the morning before.

  When the first shot rang out, she sighed deeply and took cover in her little cocoon, as she thought of it. It was another long day, another long, cold day. She played her counting game for a while, but when the in-fort screams outnumbered the outside-fort yells, she became stressed and then frightened.

  At dark, she opened the door and looked out for the first time in two days. There were bodies everywhere. The gate was open and the men carried out the dead Indians who had managed to get inside before dying. That they were so close was incredible to her. Was the army too inadequate to protect even themselves?

  She watched the bodies of her own people taken out to the cemetery. She realized that a kind of truce gave both sides time to deal with those who had perished. She stood by the gate, watching the digging from yards away by lantern light. There were no markers this time. She figured that there was simply no time to make them. She hoped that someone would remember who went into what grave later.

  She smelled food and located Corporal Dryer in the old kitchen area. “Where did Greta and Frank go?” she asked him as she approached.

  “They left while we were on our way to the depot, apparently. No one knows where they went. They were just gone the next morning.”

  “Can I help you, Corporal? I do know how to cook.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Sawyer, but you will get that lovely dress mussed in here.”

  “Do not be silly, Jed. Dresses can wash, but stomachs need food. Now, let me clean those potatoes. Are you putting them in the fire to cook?” He nodded, flustered by her presence. “The meat on the spit smells good. What is it?”

  “Best, ma’am, you do not know.”