Visit with Grandpa

The old man came into his mountain retreat log cabin from the woodshed carrying a green canvas sling of firewood and set it down near the stone fireplace. The embers were still glowing, so he knew getting a fire started wouldn't be difficult. He placed a row of kindling sized strips followed by a medium sized log on the grate. It didn't need to be a big fire. Those were a waste of resources, and the benefits went up the chimney rather than into the room. A slight chill was expected in the air tonight and he wanted a good head start.

The kindling wood caught the heat from the red coals below and small flames began to appear. Yes. This was going to be a fine evening away. Away from the constant bombardment of television sales pitches with limited programming. He purchased cable TV when it first became available -- paid a good price for it -- only to find even more commercials from other parts of the country. So, he was paying the cable company to give him even more commercials along with dramas into the lives of total strangers he cared nothing about. One day he made a phone call. "Come get your shit. I'm done with all of you."

Well, enough is enough. After all his years, he suddenly had peace and quiet there in his little hilltop cabin. As old as he was, he enjoyed reading about the days when times were simple. This cabin and everything in it were an homage to those times -- with most of the modern conveniences, of course. Gee whiz, indoor plumbing - invented in ancient times, electricity -- a modern necessity were minimal concessions. The discovery of cool water from a well-filtered well water was a plus to his existence. Of course, the garage out back by the woodshed held his 4-wheel drive SUV with almost 300 horsepower. The old man wasn't nuts, after all.

He shoveled the coals back into the fireplace and underneath the log so they would burn completely, then replaced the mesh fireplace screen. Over on the side table, he poured a double Scotch inhaling its vapors. He caught a familiar momentary buzz. Then he selected a pipe and filled it with his special blend of aromatic and slow-burning tobaccos, then struck a match to light it. These were all grandpa scents.

Taking his drink and pipe over to his favorite wing-back leather chair, he kicked off his shoes and propped his feet on the matching foot stool to enjoy the evening alone. That is until there was a knock at his door. "Who in the hell can that be?"

His question was answered as he opened the door to find his eldest grandson. "Mark, come in. What are you doing here?

"I came to visit my grandpa. What do you think?"

"I think you and your old lady are pissed at each other right now and you need a place to hide. That's what I think."

"Not true!" Mark insisted. "Well, maybe partially true. ... Alright, yes. She's mad. Satisfied?"

"It gives me no thrill to see anyone suffer, Mark. Let me fix you a drink so we can watch the fire together. As you can see, I don't do TV up here. Weather radio is about all."

Grandpa fixed the drink and they both went over to sit by the fireplace. It was getting dark outside, and it was the only light in the room.

"Don't you want to know what happened?"

"Why? You know I'm on your side already. I've watched you grow up since you were a pup. Your mom and dad did very well for you."

"Women. Do men ever figure them out?"

"Women? No -- no way. Women are just craziness that lives in chaos. But figuring out even one special woman takes a lifetime. They're human beings and they're full of surprises.'

"Was grandma crazy like that?"

"She was more funny than anything else. She definitely kept me amused. She used to say things like, 'You know, if I don't cut my hair, it will get real long.' Clearly, it was a remark off the top of her head, without thinking, but it hit me funny as hell."

"And you got away with laughing at that?"

"I could see that look on her face, but I laughed anyway. Y'see, over time, we develop little shortcuts and idiosyncrasies in our relationships. Let me tell you one about my mom and me. When I was about 11, I watched mom playing cards on the kitchen table by herself. As I watched, she would place cards in seven different rows -- black then red in descending numerical order. She called it solitaire."

"Sure."

"After she taught me the rules, she turned me loose with the second deck of cards from her bridge set. Every so often, she would tell me I was only cheating myself when I did the illegal things. Well, at the end of the first game, I was stuck and couldn't play anymore, so I turned over the cards that were still face down. I said, look mom. Here's all the cards I needed to win the game."

"She just smiled in a non-judgmental way and said calmly, 'Where else would they be?' I felt like such a dumbass then. It's funny to me now. Life is full of little vignettes like that. We're just in so big of a hurry to actually live our lives that we let them go by unacknowledged. It's a shame, really. Life can be so entertaining -- even when we're the star of our own show."

"Is that what you do when you come up here to your cabin all alone, grandpa?"

"Not always. Sometimes I bird watch or look for other animals that live around here. I leave out bird seed and cat food for the raccoons sometimes. I leave raw peanuts for the squirrels. I read that to them, it's a junk food, but they don't get them every day."

"Seems awfully lonesome."

"Lonesome is just a state of mind, Mark. We're born alone and we die the same way. Besides, this is the time of an old man's life when he literally lives in retrospection."

"But why? Nothing that happened before can be changed. It's done and dusted."

"Quite true, young padawan. You did see Star Wars, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Who didn't?"

"The thing is, our life events and decisions don't always affect only ourselves, but everyone else around us. If I invite eight people to dinner and I break one drinking glass, somebody gets the odd jelly jar to drink from. That makes that person feel separate and alone from the rest of the group. It was an accident. I didn't break the glassware to make them feel badly. It just turned out that way. Understand?"

"Yeah. I get that. But it's hard to think that way all the time. It's like trying to envision the future before actually living it in the present."

"What I really miss in life, is having sex. You know that humans are the only animals who have sex just for the fun and pleasure of it? All other animals are programmed to reproduce themselves into the future generations. I watched a boar hog mate with a sow one time at a local farm. I was curious, so sue me. The old sow kept rooting around in the soil looking for grub worms for food while the old boar climbed on top behind her and banged away with his long pink tongue hanging out. Afterward, he jumped off and slowly sauntered over into the trees and plopped down in the shade. My dad was there and saw it too. We both just laughed our asses off. Dad said, 'I know just how he feels. Then we laughed some more."

"Farm life is farm life, grandpa. Why is sex so complicated?"

"Complicated? As opposed to man on top, get it over with quick? If that's all there is to it, we're no better than that old boar and his sow. Maybe you should talk with your dad or visit the library. Maybe Amazon and Barnes & Noble can sell you an e-book or two. Or maybe, instead of doing all that research, you can just talk about it with your wife. Ask her what she likes or wants. I'm an old guy, but I've never heard that having sex directly caused someone's illness or death -- except for the spreading of diseases, of course. Sex is a gift that you give to each other. Taking pleasure without giving pleasure likewise is selfish. It's an antiquated phrase, but it was said that ... it takes two to tango."

"I've never heard that."

"Well, a tango is an exciting and sexually charged style of ballroom dancing. Times being as they are, no wonder you've never heard of it. Women are twerking their asses these days instead of relating emotionally with their male partner. So, you spank them and fuck that ass and you're back to being just like that boar hog again -- back in the shade. The worst part is you never see them again or know their name. Maybe that's just as well."

"I think I see your point. Sex alone is not the whole relationship."

"Nor should it be. You can't just pay the bills, come home, grab some ass and call it love."

"I'm not like that, grandpa."

"I was talking generalities. I told you that your problems are your own. I'll help if I can, but don't invite me into your bedroom too. Your wife is very lovely, but it's not my place to be there. I'm having another drink. Want me to freshen your glass?"

Grandpa freshened both glasses. "There's some ice in the ice maker, if you want." While Mark was in the kitchen, he took the opportunity to relight his pipe. He couldn't talk and toke at the same time. The bigger log in the fireplace was blazing away perfectly -- not to high, not too hot.

"Guess I needed the ice. This is much better now."

"Mark? Have you ever heard of the Kama Sutra?"

"Is that like Karma?"

"I guess you haven't. Anyway, it's a sexual textbook of love-making positions and ways to have sex with your partner originating from ancient India. Sex, by itself, is very simple. Being so simple, it gets boring. You know, the same old stick it in and pull it out, take a shower and go to sleep type of thing. There is much more to the art of love making and relating than just using your genitals."

"Uh ... "

"Get the more expensive, illustrated copy. If you're shy, leave it out on the coffee table as if by mistake. Women are curious, so no doubt your wife will get nosey. Make sure you read it cover to cover first before you leave it out for her to see. Education ... was, is, and forever will be the key to success in any endeavor."

Mark looked at his watch. He could still make it to the mall bookstore. "Uh, grandpa, I should probably go for now. It was nice visiting you, as always. Judy might be mad if I stay away much longer."

"You mean she isn't mad enough already?"

Mark didn't waste grandpa's good Scotch and downed it in one swallow. It was shame to shoot it without savoring its complexities the way grandpa taught him. He kissed grandpa on the cheek. "Thanks for everything, grandpa. I'll visit again soon."

Grandpa had not worn a wristwatch in some years, but he had a hunch about Mark. He toked his Meerschaum pipe and enjoyed the sounds of silence once again. He sank back into his own memories searching for a useful thought. It came to mind without effort. He got up from his chair and moved the furniture back clearing the middle area of the floor in front of the fireplace. In the custom-built cedar chest, under the stairs to the upstairs bedrooms, he pulled out a genuine bearskin rug. He bought it when they first built the cabin all those years ago, now.

Carefully, he unrolled it in the area he had just cleared, keeping well back from the fireplace screen. Then, he laid down on it. It was as soft as ever. His memories came flashing back. This was the scene of the night that he and his young wife christened their newly built log cabin on the hill. The champaign was chilled and the bucket was ice filled. The fireplace glowed just like it was right now.

Beth was beautiful even in her old flannel bathrobe as she padded barefoot down the steps. The old man looked over to the stairs and re-envisioned her as a ghostly image, slowly turning into flesh. "Someday, I'm going to buy you a pure silk bathrobe to caress your beautiful body, my dear."

The old man still rested on the bear skin rug as he remembered. She centered herself on the bear skin rug as his younger self watched. In one, painfully slow motion, Beth opened her robe and let it slide down her arms, dropping it at her feet, revealing a real Venus de Milo, with arms and her diamond wedding ring. "Honey, would you do a slow turn around for me? I'd love the full experience."

Without a sound and with a sly smile, she slowly turned so that the fire light glow could catch every curve, every nuance of her naked self. The appendix scar didn't hinder a single thing about her beauty. Her light brown hair cascaded to her shoulders is gentle waves. Her delta of Venus was thick and neatly trimmed. Her weighted breasts were pointed with erect nipples at her own excitement for being the subject of this loving man's desire that she loved deeply in return. The curve of her hips was symmetrical and tapered nicely down her legs. As she used her feet to make her slow turnabout, she displayed the soles and arches of her pretty feet, ending it straight toes with deep red painted nails. He longed to lick and tickle the top of the cleavage in her ass cheeks. He already knew she liked that. She was perfect in his eyes. As long as they lived together, that never changed.

The old man put a pause on those memory flashbacks and fixed another drink. His pipe was a done deal for the night. As he sipped his double Scotch, he laid back down where he was on the rug to refresh and un-pause his memory playback. He took a long pull at his glass and set it down, then closed his eyes.

Beth knelt beside him and stroked his face. Her mouth was moving, but memories have no audible voices. She bent over, dangling her breasts and dragging her bare nipples into the bear skin rug, then she kissed her man softly. He raised his arms to embrace her and pull her to him as she braced herself to lay down beside him. Their lips glued together, working in slowly building passion. Beth now lay in the center of the rug, the firelight highlighting her hair and illuminating her body warmly like a new dawn over a luscious landscape. He raised himself off his back and rolled over on his side and continued kissing her lips, along the sides of her neck and along her collar bone. He smiled as he licked the goosebumps that his stimulation created on her skin. Her hand held the back of his head, urging him like a ship in the wind to his next port of call.

He kissed her lips and sucked on her cutely dimpled chin, playfully, then proceeded southwest toward her left breast nipple. He licked it wet as well, then pulled back to blow hot air against it to watch it contract and harden. He flicked it with the tip of his tongue. She obviously felt it as she squirmed her hips and tightened her legs together, reaching for her pussy with her free hand. He couldn't help himself and traveled back up to her left ear this time and sucked her earlobe and tongued inside it as more chills ran down her left side. She involuntarily shrugged her shoulders.

His treatment of her left breast nipple was no less thorough. It was difficult to resist the turn-on of her erect nipples. Knowing she was turning on, also turned him on. Although in the here and now, he was dressed, in this vision, they were both naked on the fur rug. His eyes still closed, he fumbled around reaching for his drink glass and finished it down.

His tongue continued to travel down to her navel. From her belly button down, she had a faint, blond treasure trail of tiny hairs that led straight to their paradise. He could follow this trail with his eyes closed. He drew a line on her skin around her pussy triangle. Beth had widened her legs to let him in. He licked her pussy lips wetly only once and blew warm air against them. He felt awkward with his ass so high in the air as he moved into a pleasure giving position at her toes. He kissed them individually once from the big toe to the pinky toe, then grazed his tongue along the underside of them, pointing his tongue and poking into the spaces between them. He took a long lick down the soles and sucked hard into her high arches. His hands led the way by touch and massaging their way back upwards to her anxiously awaiting pussy lips, now glistening with excitement dew.

He moved his face into her pussy fur and relished in her scent, rubbing his nose against her clit as he sniffed and deeply inhaled her pheromones -- his cock growing harder. He gently lashed out his tongue and separated her outer lips, then let his tongue dive into her pool of soft, pink and sensitive flesh. Beth rotated her hips upward in her enjoyment. As his lips and tongue kept busy, his hands roamed freely back to caressing her breasts. Beth took one of his hands, bent forward and sucked on two middle fingers simulating oral sex. If his cock was a thermometer, the bulb would have burst at that.

He jumped to his knees and sought her pussy with the head of his cock and slowly let it slide between the outer curtains and deep inside as Beth sucked his fingers deeper into her mouth. As she withdrew them, so did he withdraw his cock. When she sucked his fingers inside again, he pushed his cock deep into her pussy again. He let her signal in this way the speed that she needed. Over time, she could just suck on his fingers and his cock would harden without any other stimulation. She began to suck his fingers more rapidly and his cock pounded into her likewise.

Without warning, she pulled his fingers out of her mouth and breathlessly said, "Don't cum inside of me. I want you to feed it to me. Give me your life-force. I want to taste it. I want to share it with you."

The man was nearing his own orgasm, so he had to be careful. He moved up toward her face as she rose up on her left elbow in proper position to receive his gift. She held his balls and felt them contract. She used her nails to gently scratch underneath them hoping to stimulate him further. He kept stroking his cock as she held her mouth open. Finally, he got that special feeling -- the point of no return. He'd read the current sex literature, but there was no way to use his internal muscles to stop this express train of semen. She placed her mouth over the head of his cock and waited as he stroked and jerked, his legs quivering at the stress. Suddenly, the pulses began. She used her hand to surround and warm his balls as the veins in his cock delivered their load. She collected it all in the well of her tongue.

As he pulled out of her mouth, she grasped it and squeezed getting two more drops of his precious soul on the tip of her tongue. She swirled it around in her mouth like mouthwash, then reached for the back of his head and pulled him to her lips. He kissed her with closed lips, until she used her tongue to open them -- pushing some of his semen inside his mouth. It had a salty taste, kind of eggy in texture and had no discernable scent but smelled clean. He opened his mouth further and let their tongues communicate with each other. Their mouths watered so much, the eventually had to swallow. He remembered that he was only halfway into reading the Kama Sutra, but he was sure this was never mentioned yet. He couldn't separate from her embrace. He didn't want to. He loved her so much. He wanted to slip inside her skin and she into his to become one person -- two hearts beating in synchronistic rhythms. The kisses never ended and the champaign ice had completely melted before they even popped the cork.

The fireplace had grown cold. Even the embers had burned to white ash. The dawn was peering in through the kitchen curtains, illuminating a pathway into the living room. The old man woke up on his old bear skin rug and looked around. It was only now that he felt the pang of loneliness. It would have been his wedding anniversary yesterday, but he lost his beloved Beth some years ago.

Life goes on, he mentally told himself as his morning brain fog subsided. First, he had to pee, then make the coffee. There were birds and squirrels to feed. He wondered if the raccoons found the bowls of cat food and water overnight. He wondered about his grandson, Mark. Today, he would buy flowers and visit Beth's grave and tell her he still loved her.