by Julian Bloom
Shirlee, against her will, struggled to refrain from kissing that attractive neck just a few feet in front of her. The night being cool, they had thrown a blanket over their legs and to distract herself and perhaps divert Brad from thoughts of killing, she slipped her hand under the blanket and stroked Brad’s thigh, and then when that seemed to have no effect, his more intimate parts. She could feel that she was having an effect, but he just whispered, “later” in her ear and set her hand on her own legs, while carrying on his conversation.
Her taking an initiative with Brad, both the night before and tonight, together with her awareness that both Harry and Blessings had expected much more than passivity from her, had planted the seeds of a questioning of her long-time assumptions about the role of women. Her betrayal by Harry had been devastating, but was that perhaps merely because she had been expecting something different – assuming that a woman could have a full life only if she secured the permanent love and attention of a male. Shirlee had, of course, been aware of the voices calling for a reassessment of what women needed and could have if they wanted. She had always dismissed them as a passing fancy, an aberration of the corrupt modern world. But were they? She was quite sure that in the long run, she wanted a long-term marriage and children. But did that have to happen right now? She had a lot of years ahead of her, and just at this moment a long-term union with Brad seemed less than ideal.
Surely such ideas were subversive and she was determined not to act on them. And perhaps she would not have had Brad not developed the next day a rather severe diarrhea. He managed the morning drive and lunch, but then took to his bed. Shirlee at first said she would stay with him in the tent, but he angrily told her to go enjoy herself. He said he didn’t want to spoil her holiday, but really, he didn’t relish the thought of her seeing him in distress and weakness. Real men didn’t get diarrhea!
For Shirlee, who sensed the truth, that was the last straw. She was free, she figured, to enjoy herself, and enjoying herself meant having as much contact in every sense with Blessings as she could. She had qualms about the future but squashed then. She would deal with the future when it arrived.
10
PLAY RESUMED
With badly concealed haste she showered and changed into her bikini and headed for the pool. Brad, she saw with relief, was beyond thinking about anybody but himself. Blessings, having taken in Shirlee’s supposed attitude change towards him since their encounter, was of two minds whether to seek her out, but decided that it was too early to give up. Accordingly he was at the pool in his speedo when she arrived.
Unfortunately the Zimbabweans were also there behaving like young Zimbabwean males, making the pool less attractive for others and any significant dialogue between Blessings and Shirlee impossible. But Shirlee’s new attitude towards Blessings was very clear by her body language. Even the Zimbabweans noticed and grinned significantly at each other. So that was the way the land lay, was it? They would have a ribald discussion about it later, but refrained from doing so at the moment, fortunately.
Blessings managed when the Zimbabweans were fully engaged in mock fighting in the pool to say, “This evening” and Shirlee nodded. That was all that was needed.
Blessings was waiting for her when she finished dinner and said, “Twenty minutes. I’ll wait for you near the beginning of the path to our special spot.” Shirlee was not exactly pleased to be heading out into the African bush at night, but Blessings assured her that his having gone before would scare all the animals off.
Which it did. Blessings was waiting just far enough down the path to be invisible from the pool. When she reached him, he put his arm around her back and escorted her. On his other arm was a blanket. He didn’t want to be restricted by the bench. He also had a bottle of “Peaceful Sleep” to deal with the insects. Neither he nor Shirlee had worn more than whatever clothing was essential, so they were naked very quickly. Blessings spread the blanket and invited Shirlee to join him on it. When she did he began to anoint her with the Peaceful Sleep, slavering it over practically every bit of skin that would be exposed to the open air. He took his time about it, starting with her face where special care had to be taken to avoid her eyes and her lips: her eyes because Peaceful Sleep would sting if it dripped into them and her lips because, as he knew from experience, it tasted awful and he wanted to enjoy her lips for a long time. When he finished her face, he couldn’t resist a preliminary kiss, which turned into a long and passionate one which aroused them both.
Shirlee was ready to forgo the rest of the anointing, but Blessings knew from experience that that would be a mistake and began to cover the rest of her with the cream, ending with a finger suggestively penetrating between her toes. Knowing from experience the probable effect he would be having, he had put the lotion on himself before he left his tent, so that no further delay was needed.
There was a moon and the bush was at its most beautiful, but for Shirlee, the outside worlds had faded away and she was wholly consumed by the tingling of her nerves. She was flying on a cloud of ecstasy wanting nothing more but the feel of him against and within her. Running his finger gently around her nether lips, and then across the tip of the stiff column they protected took a moment to take in the sight of her white body spread open for him in the moonlight. “ Beautiful!” For him it was all about peace, the sounds and smells of the bush at night blended with the very personal thrill in his body. This was life as it should be lived!
But though he knew that making Shirlee wait would increase her pleasure, he yielded to her hunger and slowly inserted his organ into the damp and slippery warmth of her inner being. His own sudden urgency made it an act of will to go slowly, but he persisted until he was fully encased. Then he moved quickly, Shirlee, legs tight against his waist, beat against his buttocks with her feet, urging him on and in a very few moments in perfect harmony, they exploded together with fireworks and kettle drums and the singing of choirs.
When they stopped panting and their nerves became quietened, Blessings withdrew and lay beside her blowing gently on her nipples until they began to respond, and the curtain rose on the second act – different but no less delicious than the first.
Much later, Blessings suggested a dip in the pool, being quite sure that they would meet no one there in the early hours of the morning. Walking naked in the moonlight, they both felt the oneness with the world about them that Blessings had felt earlier. Blessings’s body, slick with sweat and lotion, seemed outlined in light to Shirlee a Greek god wrought in obsidian – beautiful! Perhaps more beautiful than Harry had been.
Thinking of Harry made her realize that she was cured. She had survived one abandonment and could surely survive another, which she had no doubt would come in a day or two. Meanwhile, her life was now infinitely richer than it had been. This was life! Not perfect, but well worth living.
THE END
Out of Africa
Safari Lust 2
By: Maurice Bedard
PROLOGUE
After many years of happy marriage in Denver Colorado, African American, Tasheka, is devastated by the sudden death of her husband Jake. She has been content to be a homemaker – leaving all outside matters to Jake. Now, she is forced to learn to do all the things that were previously left to Jake. A further complication arises when the CEO of the mining company where Jake was an executive, asks her to fly to Africa where Jake had an office and apartment, to take care of the disposal of his effects, holding out a safari in a game park as an enticement. Tasheka agrees and looks eagerly to the offer of a Safari vacation.
Once in Africa, Tasheka discovers that Jake had a luxurious second life that she knew nothing about, including a mistress. The discovery spurs her to embark on a new life on her own, starting with an escort for an evening in Johannesburg and an entrancing experience of the African bush, and a hot torrid affair with her White game guide during the Safari holiday.
Chapter 1 BEGINNINGS
For the first time since Jake had been ki
lled, Tasheka realized that she was looking forward to something. When she got the phone call from the company asking her to go to Johannesburg to sort out Jake’s personal effects, her first reaction had been to refuse. It was just too complicated, and she didn’t want any more complication. Just making the arrangements for Jake’s funeral here in Colorado had been stressful. And then taking over the reins of her life was even worse. Jake had always done everything. She had been a homebody – a traditional wife – at least that was the way she liked to think of herself. She’d been happy to leave all their financial and personal business details to him. She’d been forced to learn a lot in a very short space of time. When that was over, she had given a huge sigh of relief and tried to resume her quiet life, and found what had been comfortable with Jake wasn’t nearly as comfortable without him. And though inertia kept her from any new initiatives, when the phone call came, she was actually beginning to feel a bit restless.
Anyway, when the CEO of the company had emphasized how much they needed her to go and held out the incentive of an all-expenses-paid Safari in Kruger National park, she had reluctantly agreed to go.
It was the safari that caught her attention. She had watched incredible wildlife programs on the TV and enjoyed them a lot without any idea that she might actually go to Africa and see it first hand. When she thought about it, she was suddenly excited about doing that – especially as the company would make all the arrangements.
Though Tasheka wasn’t really aware of it, she had been a most unusual executive wife. She had been born in Denver’s small, close knit black community, gone to primary school a few blocks from her home, and attended North High, which had a largish proportion of black students, including almost all her friends. She’d never been out of Colorado. She and Jake had been childhood friends, and only been apart for any length of time when he had graduated near the top of his class and been persuaded by his counselor to apply for a scholarship to several prestigious universities. He had chosen the University of Michigan and done a BA in Business studies and then an MBA.
Even before he’d finished the MBA, he’d gotten a job with Millennium Mining Company based in Golden, Colorado with a subsidiary office in Johannesburg. They’d married immediately and been very happy together until he had been killed in the plane crash. The main disappointment of their marriage was that there had never been any children, but Jake busied himself with his work and Tasheka concentrated on being a model housewife, cooking special meals for him and keeping their house immaculate and welcoming. Even when he started making regular trips to Jo’Burg, they were happy, though she’d missed him when he was away.
They’d never bothered to find out why no children had come along. They’d had a very satisfying and varied sex life. Tasheka, like many African women who tend to store fat in their buttocks, had rather large ones, and was, in fact, well-padded all over. She had been teased unmercifully by the other children, including some black ones, at school. Jake had assured her that they were just jealous and that she was a “big beautiful black babe,” and that he, unlike many white men, had no taste for skinny, bony women, but she had never really believed him, until he made his relish clear in their marital bed, to which she had come hesitantly at first. When she and Jake were married, he displayed a skill and a versatility that had surprised Tasheka, who had only the most basic idea of what went on. He must have learned more things at the University of Michigan than Business Administration, she thought, and when she got up the courage to ask him, he didn’t deny it but gave her a rather naughty grin and said, “Of course! My counselor told me that I should develop life skills at university, so I did. All for love of you, of course, my dear.”
Their love-making had decreased in frequency in recent years, and had almost stopped the six months before his death. Tasheka wasn’t happy with that, but assumed that it was normal in most marriages. Her memories were still vivid, and remembering was almost as good as doing.
Tasheka remembered every moment of her deflowering, for instance, and often used the memory for comfort when he was away and, of course, after his death. Telling her truthfully that he was following the advice in a sex manual, several times before their wedding, he persuaded her to allow him to insert his finger and stretch her hymen in preparation for the real penetration. She was doubtful, because she really had believed in “no sex before marriage,” but he argued that everyone agreed that petting was allowed, that fingers and penises were different, and anyway, what he was proposing was just a hygienic measure to avoid physical damage and pain. She was only halfway persuaded, but trusted him and wanted very much to please him.
When the moment came on the evening after their wedding, he asked her to undress and lie prone on the bed. He himself removed only his suit, shoes and socks. He told her afterwards that he wanted no shocking revelation of his naked body but envisioned a much more gradual reveal, and he wanted her to be totally relaxed before genital sex began. He began by massaging. Sprinkling bath oil on her back, he began to slide his hands very gently over every exposed part of her body, telling her how beautiful each was, giving special reverence to her hips and buttocks. By the time he finished, she was awash in sensual pleasure, losing all anxiety. She remembered later that she had thought that if she had known what it was going to be like, she would have lost her virginity long before, despite her principles.
He finished up by licking and sucking on her toes and then told her to just lie quietly as he removed the rest of his clothes. When he told her to turn over, and she saw him for the first time naked, she was agog. Having done her own preparation for this occasion by looking at art books in the library stacks, she knew the basics of what he would look like, but she had assumed that the models in the art books had been chosen because they were exceptionally beautiful, so she was expecting a less stunning spectacle than she saw. He was, to speak honestly, magnificent. He was of only moderate height, but his muscles swerved around his body in graceful waves. Standing, his smile whimsical, enjoying her perusal, he deliberately posed like an ebony and less meaty version of Michelangelo’s “David.” His neck was long with his head poised gracefully on it, his face was noble, quite like the actor playing the young Kunta Kinte in “Roots.”
“Well,” he said after a long moment, “Will I do?”
“You’re beautiful,” she replied; “do what you will.”
” What I will, is do you.” He lay beside her and put his lips over hers in a long loving kiss and ran his fingers over her breast, scratching gently on her nipples with his finger until they began to swell, then sweeping his hand down her belly until it reached her bush, he rummaged in it until he felt the slippery skin within. There he treated what he found there as he had her nipples, until he felt her lips and the nubbin between them swelling under his finger. Finding the cavity at the center, he inserted his finger and moved it slowly in an out as in a caress. Intuiting that the time was right, he put his hands between her legs, spreading them until he could lie between them, and slowly and gently inserted his now erect and throbbing organ. Tasheka felt a moment of mild pain, but forgot it almost immediately in the rush of pleasure she felt as he filled her, a pleasure that mounted and mounted in towering heights, until it crashed like a Hawaiian surfer’s dream with a mighty roar in her ears. She cried out with the joy of it, and again as she felt his seed jetting into her. When she reached the point of coherent thought, she definitely felt this should have come much sooner.
Always, when she returned from her daydream to the real world, she was both bathed in comfort and disappointed that it hadn’t been real. There was one other very special occasion which she’d never forgotten. The first half hour had gone in a familiar direction, but then, as she spread her legs eager to receive him, she’d felt lips where she’d never expected to find lips, and a tongue where she’s never imagined a tongue would ever be. The feel of his tongue licking, penetrating, curling and shaking within her was incredibly exciting. She couldn’t believe it! She wanted it to go
on forever, but in a few moments she was at the point of no return and with a triumphant cry of, Yes!” her whole body convulsed again and again as the tongue continued and continued until she was exhausted and spent. She grasped his shoulders and pulled him up to receive a passionate kiss before they finally laid together to fall asleep.
She had thought when he was killed that those memories were all she would ever have, but when the phone call came, she realized that she was ready for new experiences and wondered if her trip to Jo’Burg would provide them.
Chapter 2 ON HER WAY
The preparations for the trip took a long time. Tasheka had never traveled abroad, so had to apply for a passport, which took several weeks to arrive. She needed a new wardrobe too. Although she was always immaculately dressed, she had never bothered about fashion and had worn most outfits until they began to wear out. Feeling that new and more stylish clothes would make her feel less insecure in a strange country and among people she’d never met, she approached her best friend, whom she’d known since high school for advice. The friend had become something of a fashionista and was more than happy to not just to give Tasheka advice, but to accompany her to the shops for a buying spree. Then she had to make arrangements for the care of the house. But finally, she was ready and with considerable apprehension boarded a South African Airways flight to Cape Town, where she would catch a connecting flight to Jo’Burg after a night in a hotel to rest.