As his plane glided high above the clouds, his thoughts drifted from his sisters to a girl he thought he might be in love with, another worker at his camp who had decided that living in the large city was getting her nowhere. He had fucked her several times, and each time was as exciting as the last, sometimes more so. As he closed his eyes, he found that her vision returned to him, her long full red hair streaming down her tapered white back, the full upthrust of her perfect, dark-nippled breasts… her slender waist and the sweeping flare of her hips and voluptuously rounded buttocks. He could almost feel her long legs, the fullness of her cream-white thighs… and the vee of her bright red cuntal curls up between them… He had been loath to leave her for this visit with his sisters… but in the long run, he reasoned, it would be the best thing to do. It would make it all the more exciting when he returned to her. She was the most exciting, most arousing girl he had ever met. He himself would suck… fuck… do anything with a woman that she wanted, but until he met Susan, he had never found a woman that would satisfy his endless sexual appetite who was also intelligent. In Susan he felt he had found the perfect, total woman, and now that he was away from her, he could feel an emptiness that he knew would not leave him until he was once again in her arms… and her bed. Her loving made the hard work of teaching children, many of whom could not speak English, all the more rewarding, and the two had come to be accepted as a mother and father image in the camp where they worked.
And then he decided that he would put her out of his mind for the while. After all, he was going to visit the other women in his life… the only other women he could truthfully say he loved. And judging from the tone of Janet's letter, it would be a visit he would not long forget.
He was finally able to get to sleep, able to relax from all pushing and shoving at the airport where he had boarded his plane. He knew he would have to face the same thing when he got off his plane, but right now, all he wanted to do was sleep.
Kitty felt so much better after her breakfast that she decided to pack a small lunch and take it with her while she went wandering around the woods. As things turned out, however, she did not leave as soon as she wanted. She and her sister began talking again of their childhood, and before Kitty knew it, it was time for lunch. Their conversation meandered from one topic to another, each sister not only catching up on details of the lives of their old friends, but exploring each other's feelings about each other. Janet told of her more intimate life with her husband, how much they had loved each other, how he wanted nothing but the best for her and had worked himself to death trying to give it to her.
"That shows a very great love," Kitty commented. "There are not many men who would do that for a woman."
"That may be," retorted Janet, "but if he had really loved me, he would be here with me today. In a sense, I guess you could say he left me. Not for another woman, of course, like what happened to you, but that does not make the pain any less hard to take."
From time to time, as the sisters talked, Johnny would come in and listen for a while. When he had had enough, he would go outside and play, returning again and listening for a while longer. Kitty found, during the course of the morning, that she was becoming very fond of the young boy. He had all of his father's traits that Kitty could remember from having met Janet's husband, and the younger woman could tell by the way Janet acted toward her son that he had been a child of love. Kitty had never thought it was possible to be closer to her sister than she had gotten the night before, but she was wrong. As the women talked and shared their deepest, innermost secrets, Kitty felt a fresh, vibrant wave come over her. Although neither of them mentioned the night before, Kitty had the feeling that something like that might happen again. She was determined that she would not force it, though. Love between people, Kitty knew, is not forced. It just happens.
In time, Kitty decided that she would end the conversation and spend the rest of the day in the woods. She did not feel as though she had wasted time talking to her sister, but the forest was just too lovely for her to stay inside any longer. She had enough of that when she lived in the city.
"What time will Mike be here?" Kitty asked her sister.
"Well… his plane lands around noon… figure about three hours or so to drive up here from Kennedy… although if I know Mike, he'll probably get lost…" Both sisters laughed… "I guess he'll be here around five or so."
Kitty nodded, pleased that she would have a great deal of time left in the day to walk around. She wanted to be there when her older brother arrived.
"Are you sure you don't mind that I'm leaving you all alone with all the work of making dinner?" Kitty asked, suddenly feeling a little guilty.
"Oh, for Christ's sake," her sister scolded lightly, "you're my guest… and my sister. I haven't done anything like cook for a man since… I became a widow. I used to wander around the woods when I first got here, so I know what it's like. Besides, I wouldn't want to let my cooking talents slip. You know what they say about too many cooks."
Kitty could tell that her sister was sincere in her desire to do all the cooking alone. Again she felt a fresh wave of happiness come over her. She couldn't believe that it was so easy to feel good. Yes, she thought to herself, it will be a real shame, almost a tragedy to leave this place and go back to St. Louis.
Even though Kitty had lost all track of time while she wandered around in the wooded hills, she managed to make it back to her sister's cabin before Mike had arrived. She was happy that she had not missed the arrival of her brother, and she was glad that he had called Janet and told her that he would be arriving at about six in the evening. That gave Kitty time to take a bath and get dressed in a way that she knew would please her older brother.
During her sister's absence, Janet had prepared a meal that would please a king, going all out to make the things she remembered her brother liked a deep pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy and a beautiful green salad. She had even gone so far as to travel into the nearest town and buy a bottle of French wine, something she knew would impress Mike.
Janet too, decided that she wanted to dress up for him. After all, she, like her sister, had not seen him in years, and she wanted to look her best. Living in the woods, the nicest thing she had was a pretty cotton skirt with matching blouse, something she only wore on special occasions. Until her brother had told her he was coming, she had never had a reason to wear it.