The Courts Of Pleasure Ch 05

Chapter 05

Sarah settles in The Court

Ahead the raw skyline of the New City with its palisade of solar-efficient skyscrapers loomed before Sarah like a modern Stonehenge. Within their outer ring lay the inner city that was Old Town, and somewhere within its circumference lay her destination.

She knew her way into New Town and as for The Court, while the little map with Coverly's notes fluttered on the seat beside her, the route was engraved in her memory. The familiar roar and rush of the traffic mounted now, its rumble reflected within the canyons of the high-rises beyond the suburbs of luxury homes where the Cornucopians lived in the Bountiful Towers. At last she began the descent into the valley cradling Old Town and commenced working her way through the maze of narrowing avenues to the park on Ryker Avenue and the little side-street beside it.

There was only one house on the side-street, a huge old box on the corner with a long garage behind it where she was to leave Cliff's Pontiac. A stall stood open before her and she eased the car into it. As she left the garage the door rumbled down behind her, and the narrow cobbled drive that led into the gloom of the park from the side-street carried her at last to the opening in the laurel hedge.

She stood before the tunnel peering down the length of glistening trembling leaves to the brilliant space beyond, her heart stirring, her breath quickening, a flush of moistness on her skin an impulse seizing her. She walked quickly at first, and then she ran, her arms lifted to all that lay before her. The glimmer blossomed into sunlight as she crossed the threshold into The Court and dimmed instantly when she blundered into the arms of the man who had stepped into her path.

Together they gasped and stared at each other in astonishment. His hawkish face loomed above hers as she regarded him from behind her confusion. He withdrew from her, sputtering his apology as she offered hers. His face registered an intense and bold appraisal of her features before he disengaged and hurried past her, his tall dark suited figure merging into the gloom of the tunnel. With a deep breath Sarah turned back to the scene before her.

The Tower House glimmered in the late afternoon sun, the crimson and purple light throwing the cottages surrounding it into brilliant relief over the dark and lengthening shadows. Her gaze settled on the Rose Cottage and then on the figure that separated from it and started at a trot down the path towards her. Sarah waved, Vivienne returned the salutation and they came face to face at last where the brick walk left the drive. They paused laughing breathlessly and fell into a girlish embrace.

"Oh? At last" Vivienne enthused. "I'm so glad you're here. I've been watching for you all afternoon. Everything is ready. I can't wait to show you. Come on," she exclaimed taking Sarah's hand.

"I can't wait to see it," Sarah returned. "I can't believe I'm here."

Vivienne glanced at Sarah. "Where's Cliff?"

Sarah smiled into her eyes. "He's on his way from work. He groused about having to take the buses from his job to The Court this evening, but that's just his way. He'll be all right once we've settled in."

"All your things from Southshore arrived yesterday, and I'll help you unpack if you like."

"Okay. That would be nice." She gave Vivienne's hand a spontaneous squeeze. They went up the stoop beside the screened front porch and into the house, past the boxes stacked in the hall, their voices and footsteps absorbed into the furnishings, through the kitchen and out into the solarium. Sarah gasped, her eyes widening with delight as she took in her studio.

A huge easel dominated the space, its commodious rack ample enough for the most ambitious canvas. She stared at it soberly. "You're expecting big things from me aren't you?' she murmured.

"Of course," Vivienne smiled.

"I said it wouldn't be easy."

"I know. I expect it will be even harder than you anticipate," Vi nodded.

Sarah touched the easel, feeling the smooth varnished wood warm under her fingers, "The commission is a tall order for a painter, especially in these times," her voice soft, musing, speculative. "I paint what I see, but I'm more than a camera. I'm very good at feeling, but even if I feel can I make you see it?" She turned, put the easel at her back and gazed at Vivienne. "But then that's what art is all about isn't it?"

Vivienne came to her and placing her hands upon her shoulders looked into her face, "You made me feel with 'The Passion Flower'.

"What did I make you feel?"

"How beautiful I am," she whispered.

Sarah smiled, her eyes lifted to Vivienne's brow and her fingers stroked softly into the dark glossy curl of her hair. "Well, aren't we all?" she chuckled.

Vivienne hugged her then, fully exuberantly. "Yes! Yes!" She laughed. "All of us!"

Sarah felt Vi's warmth about her again, the breathing of her breath mingling with her own, their oneness. "There's so much to do. I have such a long way to go. I hardly know where to begin, and I can't wait to get started." she whispered.

Vivienne's voice hummed in her ear. "Just being here is everything. Everything you need is here. Just open yourself to it and to us. You have all the time in the world to see all that is before you, to become fully alive to everything that is about you, with all your senses unstopped and finely tuned. You have magic within you and there is magic all around you."

Sarah breathed out in a long deep exhalation. "I knew it would be like this." She sighed settling into Vivienne's embrace. "This is where I belong."

A door slammed at the front of the house. Footsteps reverberated. "Sarah? Are you here?" Cliff called.

"We're back here in the studio Cliff." She gave the word a lilt and exchanged quick smiles with Vivienne. He appeared in the doorway studying the scene with pleasure, and particularly the sight of Sarah embracing Vivienne from behind, her arms folded over Vi's bosom with Vi clasping Sarah's hands to her breasts. They both looked fresh and radiant like schoolgirls.

"Well," he said energetically rubbing his hands together and casting a bright smile at them. "We're here! What's up?"

Vivienne smiled at him. "We've planned a little welcome for you."

"Really?" He returned expectantly. There was a meaningful pause while he took in the closeness of their embrace and the bemused expression on Vi's face. "Well" he said. "I can't wait. Let me shower first."

Vi turned her face to Sarah, her brows lifting, her mouth puckering expectantly, inviting the soft caress that Sarah placed on her lips. "We're going to dine at the Tower House tonight," Vi murmured with a little giggle squeezing Sarah's hands against her breasts.

Sarah chuckled at the tease, "I think you're being had, Cliff."

"When is dinner?" he responded.

"Around eight," Vi answered.

Cliff glanced at his watch. "We've got two hours."

"I don't think that's enough time, do you Sarah? " Vi laughed.

"Not for what I've got in mind," Sarah giggled.

Cliff spread his hands in frustration. "I wouldn't want to rush things," he offered generously.

With a suggestive roll of her eyes Sarah released Vivienne. "How should I dress for tonight?"

"In the way that you feel most comfortable."

"I want to fit in."

Vivienne smiled as they walked to the door. "In The Court fitting in is standing out. Let us know who you are."

"Sometimes I'm someone different every day."

"I'm sure the transformations will be incredibly interesting if not an endless delight."

"Well, we shall see. It will be novel to say the least."

They studied each other in silence their eyes equally alight with amusement and interest. Vivienne kissed Sarah again, a soft touch on the lips and paused.

"Hey, don't I get one of those?" Cliff asked.

"Will this do?" Vi said opening the door and blowing him a kiss.

Cliff started and rubbed his groin. "Doesn't feel as good as the last time" he laughed.

Vi gave him a helpless wave of her hand and rolled her eyes at Sarah. She left and Sarah watched her cross the lawn between the houses disappearing into her Passion-Flower vine-bowered porch. Musing a moment Sarah went into the hall rummaging for a certain garment bag that held just the right touch for this evening.

****

The path wound into the gathering dusk the flagstones white before them in the twilight. Vivienne led them towards the welcoming glow of the Tower House blazing with light upon its little hill. The night would be warm and still, uncomfortably so perhaps.

Sarah feeling the silky fabric of her tangerine mini clinging about her waist was thankful that she had opted not to wear a bra. The dress was outrageous but it was fun. Her sense of freedom buoyed her tonight and she glanced down at the cleft between her breasts where the pearl she had found that night by the pond lay pendant, glimmering with warmth and life in its gold setting, signaling this new life to her.

Off in the west out over the park and above the dark rim of the city the first star lay low upon the horizon. In the east beyond the Tower House, the moon was rising over the trees. She felt the newness of herself between Vi and Cliff, the expanse of this space into which she would fly.

The urge to run into the dusk the way she had as a child filled her. Her high-heels wobbled on the path and she slipped them off handing them to Vi. She wanted to know again that feeling of near flight when it seemed that with the next step into the gathering darkness she would leave the earth and soar.

Sarah let the impulse seize her and carry out into the grass, spreading her arms and opening her face to the sky, turning, turning, dancing her feet to The Tower shining before her in its phallic grandness. She felt the sway of her breasts, the sweep of her hair over her nape, the gush of her breath.

Cliff and Vivienne were watching her. She felt her pull and his push, and she herself spinning between them in the cross-currents of their energies until at last she was stilled before them heaving and disheveled in the light blazing from the open doors of the Tower House.

They came to her and she put herself laughing between them, into the girl's tenderness and the man's strength and together they passed through the foyer and into the atrium. She donned her shoes again and the unfamiliar clatter of her heavenly-hot-heels on the floor announced them when they entered the atrium.

The table had been set beneath 'The Passion Flower' painting. The image bloomed richly above the white cloth and the porcelain plates amidst the flickering candles. Coverly and Eva and another woman stood next to the table with wineglasses in their hands. Sarah basked in the greetings, the smiles, the hands that held hers in welcome. Eva hugged her and Coverly caressed her upon her cheek.

"Surely you've met Katia Vyrobrovna," he offered with a gesture at the attractive woman beside him.

"I saw you at the Solstice," Sarah said extending her hand.

"And I you," Katia replied. "I'll never forget The Queen of Summer."

"You just missed her encore as a dancer," Vivienne put in.

"This place has that effect on me." Sarah made a quick effort to order her tumbled hair.

"Me too," Katia laughed, "and you're Cliff?"

He stepped forward and took the hand that she offered. "My pleasure," he purred taking in her dark Slavic beauty and the revelations of her wispy tunic. She stood before him the image of a sylph upon a Greek vase from the fillets that bound and lifted her dark hair to the beribboned sandals on her feet.

They seated themselves then, Cliff finding himself next to Katia and across from Sarah and Vivienne relaxed expectantly into the pleasant aura about him. Their voices washed over him in soft alto melodies, Sarah's familiar even paced tones alternating with Vivienne's lighter quicker cadences and Katia's occasional clear resonate contra-points.

At the moment he cared little for the words. He surrendered himself instead to the nuances of their femininity. There was of course the familiar undertone of soothing compliance in Sarah's voice. That seductive edge in Vivienne's that affected him so, and now these infrequent, but even and measured phrases from Katia in her slight Slavic accent that raised a new tension in him. There was no naiveté in any of them. He sensed ripeness, savoir-faire', and immeasurable rewards in the offing.

"I hear that you have a new pianist?" Vi offered.

Cliff's roused himself to her question and to Katia's reply.

" 'Had' is more like it." Katia shrugged her bare glistening shoulder with a silent laugh.

"Fickle fellow. Has he deserted you already?" Vi probed.

"I suppose I was a bit indelicate with him. It's quite funny really; a pity too, he's a superb pianist."

"So...?" Vivienne pursued.

"Apparently the sight me au-naturale was more than he could handle."

"Shameless girl," Vivienne gasped. "He must be very skittish."

"He saw me in the mirrors when I came out of my shower." She palmed a coquettish touch on Cliff's sleeve. "I thought he was gay. My mistake! But I really can't concentrate when someone is after my derriere in class and neither can anyone else. I had to send him packing."

"Well he was still running when I encountered him," Sarah put in. "We literally ran into each other in the laurel arbor this afternoon."

An alert quick glance passed between Katia and Vivienne. "No, it must have been someone else, my pianist departed a few days ago, " Katia explained.

There was bustle behind them. Coverly appeared with a cart laden with covered dishes and Eva seated herself at the head of the table. He prepared to serve and a drift of savory mist enveloped them. Sarah felt the tingle in her taste-buds along with a gush of saliva beneath her tongue.

Cliff glanced eagerly at each dish that Coverly placed before them, the commencement of the meal a delightful crescendo in the sensuous feast of femininity surrounding him. He had already sampled the delights his beautiful blonde wife and the vivaciously sexy Vivienne could provide together.

Now this delightfully dark dancer, whose talents teased him from beneath her gauzy costume that barely hid them, offered a savory new taste for his palette. Instantly he envisioned this beauty in bed with himself, Vi, and Sarah.

Slowly, deliberately Coverly filled the wine glasses and at last raised the toast. "To this good company, to these new beginnings, and to you Sarah and Cliff with the promise you bring to us."

"Salute" they chorused together amidst the ringing crystal glasses. The sounds shivered happily into Sarah's being. It reverberated in the light that she saw in Vivienne's eyes, in the smile that Katia offered as artist to artist, and in the warmth of Eva and Coverly's gaze upon her.

Basking in their regard and affection she felt suddenly beautifully and wildly happy, and utterly at home with them. There was a nudge at her elbow as Vi offered her a silver platter heaped with herbs and white slices of sauced meat.

"What is it?" Sarah sniffed at the delicate muskiness floating over the dish.

"Truffled turkey," Coverly intoned arching his eyebrows meaningfully, his gaze settling on the pearl nestled into the cleavage of Sarah's breasts. She had been such a perfect fuck that Solstice night when he had taken her roused beyond measure, all the charms of her beautifully naked body offered first on the dais to the multitude and then secretly to his firmed phallus.

"Be careful, Sarah," Katia warned. "It will make you absolutely randy."

"In that case let's all have some," Sarah exclaimed as Vivienne slid a generous slice onto her plate and raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"A bold woman," Coverly announced wisely.

"You see, Sarah," Katia continued warming to her subject, "Women are especially susceptible to the influence of truffles. They seem to find men infinitely more attractive after a truffle-laced meal. Has something to do with pheromones I understand." She looked around the table with satisfaction. "They use sows to root them out. They can smell that male scent under the ground," she finished.

"Don't trifle with truffles," Vi announced throwing a salacious glance at Sarah.

Cliff surveyed the women before him and grinned broadly watching Sarah sample the delicacy.

"Yum" she announced.

Katia studied Sarah's face in keen silence, a vicarious enjoyment in her eyes and upon her tongue. "The ancient Greeks believed truffles were made by thunder," she added.

"I should be so lucky," Cliff put in with a wink at his wife and Vivienne.

Sarah paused with a forkful of truffle and with her free hand reached back and pulled the gold clasp loose that bound her hair. A toss of her head and the golden torrent spilled down her back. Her shoulders moved seductively and her breasts undulated under the tangerine drape. She lowered her fork and fixed Cliff with her eyes. "Who needs thunder?" she said.

Vi patted Sarah's shoulder and winked meaningfully at Cliff, "Here's one little lady who packs her own thunder."

"I could use a little thunder, " Katia responded with a roguish glance at company before her.

I don't see why when you've got lightening," Cliff returned gallantly, smiling broadly down at her and openly appraising her charms.

Sarah and Vi looked at each other in mock shock.

"Indeed," Coverly enthused lifting his wine glass to them all, "Here's to thunder and lightening and everything that goes with it."

"And that's saying a lot," Katia added drolly.

"And it looks like its all right here in The Court if I'm any judge," Sarah observed.

"Well we certainly don't want any of it to go to waste do we?" Cliff offered grandly with a gesture of his wine-glass that embraced the women before him.

"There's all this erotic energy here in The Court." Sarah exclaimed suddenly. "Its incredible, I've never seen anything like it before. So tell me about it," Sarah pleaded, "how did this happen, how did this place come to exist?"

"It began generations ago," Eva began, "with an ancestor of mine, a woman who came here with her lover before Plainfield was even a notion in anyone's mind. They say she was very beautiful and unruly and there were stories that she was a witch. The talk was very ugly and dangerous in her village.

But she had wealth and independence and foresight, and she came here with her lover and they built the Tower House as a monument to their love. They both had a passion for the arts. She was said to have an incredible voice and he was an accomplished pianist and they filled the house with books and pictures and music and they lived out their lives in this place.

They never married and they only had one child, a daughter. In time that daughter came into the heritage that they had created for her and she gathered others like herself about her. Artists and workers in the crafts and they built the cottages and lived in them and did their work here.

She searched for men and women who would dedicate their lives to their art and you would recognize some of their names to this very day. It was said she took her lovers from amongst the women until she was ready to have a child and, like her mother she only had one, a boy.

By then the Old Town was here and it had already surrounded The Court, and when the boy grew to manhood it was obvious that their way of life would disappear unless they protected it. So he set himself the task of hiding The Court; of shielding its way of life from the outside world. It was he who had the swamp dug that still surrounds The Court to where the great hedges and the trees form the park. The pond flows into the swamp and there is a moat around it and beyond there is the forest that he ordered planted.

The lover with whom he had a child was the daughter of a writer whom you would know and she became famous as an actress. Her work took her out of The Court into the world, but he stayed and reared their daughter here in the life of The Court. That girl was my great grandmother and she was born just after the first Great Depression. It was in her lifetime, when this country and the rest of the world was growing out of bounds.