Almost at the same instant, she became aware of the slowing of the train's speed. The click of wheels against the steel rails changed in rhythm as the time between the sharp sounds became greater and greater. Quickly her hands moved away from the mounds of her breasts as she sat up straight in the seat and leaned expectantly toward the window.
A line of blue lights began to pass the window and Sandi saw the patterns of bricked tile on a platform, luggage wagons and the fluttering movement of scores of people as they broke away from the support of the adobe wall of a small station building and ran alongside the slowly moving cars carrying large straw baskets and holding up variously wrapped packets. She realized that these were train side vendors selling food and drinks to those who could be convinced that it was more economical to buy the variety of foods offered by them instead of having dinner aboard the train.
As the train lurched to a complete stop, Sandi rose to struggle with the window, forcing it down and allowing the sounds of the hawkers to flood into the narrow confines of her compartment. She couldn't understand the words as the panoply of noises assaulted her Midwestern American ears.
Seeing the window slide open, a gaggle of squawking vendors broke for the shaft of light holding their various wares high in their hands. Crowding around the lighted rectangle, they shoved and shouted, trying desperately to shove their wares into Sandi's hands, which were still holding the edge of the compartment window.
Assaulted by the sounds and intensity of the vendors who crowded around her open window, Sandi pulled back from the window with a jerk. From behind her a low guttural growl reverberated against the narrow walls of the compartment as Eric, having eaten the last of his dinner, turned at the sound of the voices and Sandi's action at the window. His ears were alert and pointed s1ight1y forward as he watched Sandi's back. When she jerked away from the window, Eric, his massive muscles contracting and flexing, leaped forward to fill the gap, attempting to interpose his body between that of his mistress and the unknown danger that was lingering just outside the open window. His lips started to curl, exposing the line of sharp teeth that could rend and tear. Blocked by Sandi's body, the great dog coiled and then leaped to the seat of the coach and shot forward, his teeth flashing bright in the compartment's light. A defensive snarl broke from his lips as he moved to the window and looked down at the milling group of vendors still trying to push their wares through the open window.
When the big dog's powerful frame filled the window, snarling and with teeth bared, they fell back, some angry, others frightened, and others, not so near the window, confused by the sudden movement.
"It's okay, Eric," Sandi said to the great black and tan beast looming so threateningly in the open space of the window, "Get down, and let me get something to eat."
Sandi, seeing the bristling hair along the back of the thick neck, took hold of the metal choke collar and pulled back sharply, but not with any real strength. "Down! Eric, down." she said, pulling again on the choke chain that circled the powerful neck.
She had trained Eric herself and she was the only person who could really tell him what to do. It wasn't that he was aggressive toward other persons with whom he came in contact, but his first and only fierce loyalty was to this girl whom he had known since he was a small puppy on the large Midwestern farm where they had grown up together.
Hearing Sandi's voice and feeling the pressure from the chain, Eric immediately dropped his hostile attitude and turned away from the window, sitting on his haunches on the cushion of the seat. He still wanted to be close to the open window just in case. The snarling look on his face was quickly replaced by one of alert inquisitiveness and sharp-eyed watchfulness. The bristling hair along his hackles, smoothed and blended with the short hair of his coat and the strong muscles of chest and back relaxed and he held himself in check.
Satisfied that Eric would no longer try to impose his body between her own and the window, Sandi again moved forward and quickly making her choices, selected a ham sandwich and a Coke. The vendors held up their fingers to indicate the cost, and she dug into the pockets of her tight jeans, pulling out the crumpled, dirty bills, and handed them through the window to the brown-skinned vendors just as the train lurched forward to resume its steady journey toward San Mateo.
To her surprise, after she had settled herself on the seat, Sandi found that the sandwich, which consisted of lettuce and a thick slice of ham between the cut halves of a thick Mexican bun, had been warmed and was tasty. The Coke looked and tasted no different from those she was used to in the United States. She sat quietly munching on the sandwich and taking an occasional swig of the Coke until she had completely devoured them both.
At her side waiting patiently, Eric watched as Sandi chewed reflectively on the sandwich. When she had finished and was idly looking out the new closed window at the black reflection of the glass, the big dog crept forward along the seat and laid his massive head in his mistress's lap.
Sandi had felt good after finishing the last morsel of food that she had so hastily bought from the hawkers on the station platform. It was a good feeling; one which gave her confidence that her trip deep into the interior of Mexico to attend the Institito would be a good one. She had been letting her mind wander over the possibilities of what was in store for her when she finally settled in the small hill town that would be her home for the next year when she felt the pressure of Eric's head where he rested it on her thigh.
Lethargically, Sandi let her hand caress the great head, her fingers stroking and combing the thick hair. Memories flooded back into her mind of the large farm where she had grown up. It was a typical Midwestern farm, with a large rambling house, barn, and hay loft where she had spent many of her happiest times, and one of her most frightening moments.
The remembered odor of fresh, sweet straw, flared out her nostrils as Sandi recalled that warm spring day when she had lost her virginity to one of the rough-handed farm hands that worked for her father. She had learned about sex by watching, almost unknowingly, the matings of all the animals on the farm. To her young mind at the time, it was a natural thing, but some of the farm hands, and particularly one man, had thought her natural young-girl curiosity was amusing.
One day when the spring planting was in full swing, the man had followed her to the barn. Sandi was then blooming into young womanhood and the vital juices were running in her veins like the sap in newly sprouting trees. She had been tense, her body inflicting strange thoughts upon her mind. Had she known then what she knew today, Sandi always told herself, she would have understood the strange itchy feeling as just sexual desire and the buildup of sexual tension.
By some strange animal sense, the young rough-handed farm helper had understood her condition and followed Sandi into the barn. At first, she welcomed his aggressive advances, but when they became more insistent she had tried to extricate herself from the situation. She wasn't weak, but he was much stronger. She never gave her ravisher a name, but merely acknowledged his identity as male.
After he followed her to the hayloft, Sandi had been forced down in the soft straw and her arms pinned to her sides by his weight. She had tried to fight him off after a few innocent kisses, but it had been useless and soon her light, thin blouse had been pulled open, her bra lifted roughly from the nubile nubs of her young breasts, and the wide material of her skirt had been shoved up around her waist. The man's hands pawed at her body as she tried with increasing desperation to push them away from her enflamed flesh. It had been useless, and soon she felt the heat of desire taking control of her senses and Sandi knew that she would lose her virginity to a man whom she hardly knew or cared about. Although she had accepted this, she had not enjoyed the coupling, and felt nauseous waves of self-disgust pass over her as she sprawled in the hay after he left her.