Sipping his black coffee, his handsome face bloated and flushed, Martin Reardon managed a gravel-voiced "Good morning."
It was good to hear his voice back to normal again-not slurred and mumbling as it had been last night. Denny noticed that his father's hand shook slightly as he held the cup to his lips. Denny wondered how his father managed to work on patients' teeth with such shaking hands. The siblings wished him good morning, sat down and began eating with gusto.
"Well, what do you have planned for today?" their father asked.
Denny washed a mouthful of hotcake down with cold milk. "We thought we'd ride the bicycles into Walden Flats-maybe drop by Rex's or Ray's-or visit Landon Pond."
"Good," their father said, chewing, "but no hitchhiking, understand? Ride your bicycles. I know it's a long way to ride a bike-all the way into town-but, well, we've had a lot of trouble around here lately with men picking up kids hitchhiking. It's mighty dangerous, so I insist that you use the bikes, all right?"
They promised they wouldn't hitchhike.
"Incidentally," Martin Reardon said, "don't be surprised if a big dog charges at you when you're getting the bikes from the garage." He smiled but his lips were twitching from his hangover. "Since you were last here, Denny, we adopted a stray dog. His name is Frederick. A weird name, but that's what Norma named him. In any event, he's friendly enough, but he's inclined to be over-protective. Perhaps he's overly grateful for his new home. Don't move too quickly till you know him better."
Martin Reardon dabbed his mouth with his linen napkin and stood up. Glancing at his wrist watch, he kissed Norma. "Well, off to the sore muscle and neck-cracking mill," he said. "See you kids this evening. Have fun, but be careful."
Dr. Reardon kissed his son and daughter, then exited through the back door. They heard the engine start, and then the sound of tires on gravel as their father left for his office in town.
Joyce stood up, excusing herself, and went to the bathroom. Norma began clearing the table, and as she bent over, her bathrobe parted slightly and Denny caught a delicious look at the swell of her large, bare breasts. The negligee had drooped too. He strained, straightening in his chair in hopes of catching her nipples, but she wasn't bending low enough. And then, suddenly, her eyes met his and, strangely, she leaned even farther forward, allowing Denny an unobstructed view of her beautiful hanging globes-nipples and all. Denny's heart beat fast inside his chest. Why was Norma letting him feast his eyes on her tits this way? It was obviously intentional. Just last summer he had sucked on those titties. He felt his prick press hard, painfully, against the fly of his denims. Maybe he could fuck her this summer, he thought. Yes, maybe his dream would come true at last!
Norma carried the dishes to the sink then and began transferring them into the washer. Denny did not attempt to help her. He didn't want to stand up. His hard-on would be too obvious. Then, as if his fear of being caught with a hard-on had materialized, Norma said, "Denny, please bring the salt and pepper over here to the cupboard, would you? Hmm?"
"Uh-okay," he stammered. "In-uh-just a minute, okay?" Desperately, he tried to concentrate on other things-anything to make his erection disappear.
"I'll get them," Norma said, coming back to the table and fetching them herself. Bending over then, Denny saw her eyes fasten to the full erection bulging inside his pants. Yes, she had sighted his stiff cock for sure, because she stared directly at his crotch for several long seconds, a hint of a lusty smile on her full-lipped mouth. Finally, still grinning, she picked up the salt and pepper shakers and returned to the cupboard.
She began humming softly, her back to him as she worked. Her voice was not professional as she began humming softly, but it was satin-smooth and very female and right in tune. She sounded a bit like Helen Reddy. Finally, she said, "Denny, I'm looking out the window. Now could you bring the other things from the table for me?"
Denny stared down at his hard-on, which had finally dwindled somewhat. "Okay," he said, picking up the syrup and butter plate. He went over beside her and set them down on the sink.
Norma faced him then, and once again their eyes met meaningfully. Fluttering her lashes, she raised her eyebrows. "Be sure to watch out for poison oak if you go over to Landon Pond," she said. "We don't want you bedded down again-with your whatchamacallit all swollen again, do we?"
Briefly, Denny stared down at the floor; then he gazed into Norma's mischievous brown eyes again. He knew she was taunting him now. Yes, she had seen his hard-on and now she was talking about poison oak and referring to the time she had sneakily jerked him off. She was making no effort to hide his perfect view of her breasts either. Her robe was still parted and she left it that way.
"No, I certainly wouldn't want poison oak again," he said, lying and swallowing, unable to take eyes from the lovely milk-white set of tits.
Norma let him continue staring at her boobs. Denny knew she knew he was staring at them, but he didn't care. Fascinated by their contour, he longed to grope them and suck them just as he'd done last summer.
"Oh," she said, "I never informed your father about the ointment I administered to your poison oak, dear. Your father seemed to admire your bravery under the circumstances, so I never-uh-informed him about my cure-all medicine."
"Thank you," Denny said, nodding. He hoped she was subtly informing him that she would keep secret anything that might ever occur between them. Maybe, too, she was informing him that, like himself and Joyce, they had formed a secret agreement. Could that possibly be true? God, he hoped so! Norma definitely wasn't wasting any time 'getting it on.' At the thought that this might be true, Denny felt his prick stirring again inside his pants. And then she dropped the bomb that sent tingles running through his balls.
"Denny, there are quite a few things I'd like you to help me out with here at the house. Someday, when you have nothing much to do, when Joyce is in town or something, I'd like you to give me a hand-in private. I realize this is your first day here and you must show your sister around, but try to save a few days- uh-for us. To help me. Your father's gone all day during the week, of course, and I hate to disturb his relaxation on weekends. I have some heavy things to lift-some very special chores. Would you assist your step-mother sometime?"
Denny actually found himself trembling. "Sure, Norma," he said. "I–I'd be glad to. A beautiful and ripe woman, he thought. Not a girl, but a fully developed woman! It was definitely an invitation, he thought. It had to be. Yes, she had observed his hard-on, referred to the poison oak incident, and now she had come right out and asked him to be alone with her. Was she actually inviting him to fuck her? Or could it all be in his sex-crazed imagination?
Joyce entered the kitchen then. "Come on, Denny," she pleaded. "Let's go! I wanna see Walden Flats, the pond, everything. Let's split, Den."
Denny was careful to keep his back toward his sister and step-mother. For some reason he didn't want either of these two females to see the semi-erect bulge in his pants.
"Right on, sis," he said. "Trying to sound casual. Yeah, let's split."
"Why are you walking that way, Denny?" Joyce asked. "Is something wrong?"
"Hardly," he said sarcastically, wincing at his choice of words. "O.K." he said. "Let's get the bikes out of garage and split for town." Nervously, he glanced over his shoulder, saw the puzzled look on his sister's face and his step-mother trying valiantly to suppress laughter.