^^^June 2005. On the beach of Cap d' Agde, France^^^
"An erection? Really, Armand?"
Yvonne rebuked her brother in a harsh, belittling tone. The slim, twenty-year-old frowned, shook her head, and glared at his erect penis.
"I can't help it," the eighteen-year-old answered. His face was red. "I'm surrounded by naked women. It's a natural reaction."
"What's wrong with your dick?" Yvonne asked as she made a face and leaned down to get a closer look at it. "I know all erections aren't straight, but that's a hell of a curve."
Armand's mother and grandmother turned and looked at the nude, young man. His mother, Brigitte, said to herself, "His penis is much bigger than his father's."
The grandmother looked at her grandson's rock hard cock, mumbled something in French, raised her right hand to her heart, and collapsed onto the sand.
"Are you happy now? You pervert!" Yvonne yelled. "You killed Grandma."
They rushed to the elderly woman's aid. Brigitte announced, "She's breathing. She only fainted." She talked to her mother in a soothing manner, comforting and encouraging her to wake.
Armand looked on. His eyes took in the chaotic scene. At first, he focused on his grandmother's face. His eyes strayed and he looked at the nude bodies of his sister, mother, and grandmother.
They were each at a different stage of life. His sister was lean with boyish hips, a narrow waist, and firm, high breasts. The left nipple was pierced. The black hair on her head was thick, long, and straight, reaching down to the middle of her back. There was no hair around her sex.
His mother at thirty-seven was in the prime of life. Her body looked soft and lush. Very sexy. She had full breasts. They sagged, but in a way that emphasized their size. Her hips and bottom were round, not in a fat way, but in a phat way. Her dark hair was wavy and reached her shoulder. The black hair between her legs was neatly trimmed.
Armand's eye's had no boundaries. He looked at his grandmother's wrinkled face and her big, saggy breasts which puddled on her chest and slid into her armpits. She had a paunchy belly and lots of gray hairs in her full bush.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he said to himself. "They're family!" He looked at his erection and said, "Go away! You're embarrassing me!"
It didn't.
^^^A month before^^^
"We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." The Huguenot minister said those words as he began the Protestant service of the dead for Victor Gagne.
Afterward, family and friends gathered at his house to pay their respects to the widow, Marie. The short, French-born, sixty-year-old woman sat on the living room couch. Her eyes were red from all the tears she'd shed. For the hundredth time, she nodded and accepted the condolences of another person who had known her husband.
When the last mourner left, Maria's daughter Brigitte, sat beside her, hugged her, and asked, "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"
"I need an airplane ticket," the old woman responded.
"What?"
"I promised your father that when he died, I'd take his ashes to the old country and scatter them on the spot where we met and first made love."
"And where is that?"
"You know your father and I were born after the war in southern France. The area was called the Languedoc-Roussillon administration region. Our families worked on an olive grove that grew behind the dunes adjoining the Mediterranean Sea. We met on the beach."
"I see," Brigitte said. Her brow furled and she said, "I'm worried about you traveling so far by yourself."
"I won't be alone," Marie said. "You and the children will come with me. I have money set aside for the trip. The kids are out of school for the summer. It's time you met your cousins. It's what Papa wanted."
"Okay. I'll talk to them."
Brigitte went looking for her children. A month ago, they moved in with her parents after her no-good husband bankrupted them and they lost their home. She was divorcing the bastard.
Her parents lived in an apartment above their day spa business. It was perfect for two people. A tight fit for five. She and her daughter shared the guest room. Armand slept on the family room couch.
She found the children in the family room and said, "You've both been great helping your grandmother through this difficult time. There is one more task we need to do."
Yvonne turned toward her mother, made a face, rolled her eyes, and said, "Argh! What now?"
"She wants to take us to France to a town on the Mediterranean Sea. We'll meet our French relatives and help her spread Grandfather's ashes on the beach where they first met."
"Cool," Armand said.
"You had me when you mentioned France," her daughter said.
^^^
A couple of days later, the family flew from New York to Paris. They traveled all night, landed in Paris, and took a smaller plane to Montpellier. They caught a train to the coastal town. Relatives met them at the station and whisked them off to an olive farm which Marie's eldest sister, Bette, and her husband, Jean-Paul, owned.
They arrived in the early evening and a celebratory dinner was held in their honor. Wine flowed. Victor's brother, Marie's sisters, and cousins and friends who had known Victor or Marie were there. Marie loved being with family and old friends. She feasted on the homemade French food, savored the local wine, and adored the fact that she was hearing and speaking her native tongue.
The hours of travel caught up with the Americans. Armand fell asleep in a chair. Brigitte went to her son, woke him, and said, "I'm exhausted. Let's go to bed."
"Yes," Armand said. "I'm not sure if I'm worn out by our travel, the wine, or eating too much food."