Travelers

At the hospital Martin was off the ventilator and was out of the intensive care unit. I sat beside his bed while he slept and thought about my life and if I would be ending it alone, or basically alone, as this man was. When I looked up Martin was awake and looking at me and when he feebly reached out with his hand I took it in mine and we simply sat there in silence. After about ten minutes Martin gave me a tired smile and simply said, "Thank you," and went back to sleep. A few minutes later I left.

I asked the taxi to wait while I went inside to get my wallet when he pulled to the top of the driveway at the Villa Vegeta. When I went into the apartment I was relieved to see that Jeremy and Lucinda were gone and that my wallet was where I left it on top of the dresser. But when I opened it, it was empty and I smiled to myself because I was not surprised. I had my passport in my purse with me when I left for the hospital and I wondered if Jeremy would have also taken my passport again if I had left it there.

I opened the vacuum cleaner and had to rip open the paper bag to retrieve my roll of euros that I had hidden there. My hands and the money were covered in dust and I tried to brush the money and my hands off the best I could as I went down the stairs to pay the taxi driver. When I told him I could only pay him in euros he shrugged and got out his calculator and then told me how much.

When I got back up into the apartment I looked out the window at the gazebo in the park and thought of Ulla and Martin, of Ulla's ashes being spread there and of Martin's annual pilgrimage to the place where they met and her ashes were spread. And I thought life can be a long lonely trip if you don't have someone to share it with, but no matter what it always ends in tragedy.

Just then a clap of thunder resounded over the water and Stockholm and the skies opened up in a furious downpour and I smiled and said to myself, "I hope they are standing somewhere out in this rain with their thumbs out." But then I remembered they had my money so they probably took the train.

....

The next day Martin had a lot of his color back and, although he could talk a little bit, I did most of the talking. It was very therapeutic for me, almost like going to a psychiatrist as I worked things out. I told Martin about Jeremy and Lucinda and how glad I was to be read of them even if they did take nearly 500 Kronor of mine. When I noticed Martin was asleep again I left the hospital and went into Stockholm for the day and explored Gamla Stan.

The following day when I visited Martin he was looking much better and feeling quite a bit stronger and he asked me how long I thought I would stay in Stockholm. I looked at him and then I surprised myself when I said, "I don't have to report at school until the last week of August. I will stay here until the middle of August."

That day when I left I wondered about why I had made that promise to him, but I knew I would keep it and I felt good about doing so. I had the taxi drop me off in Djursholm and walked back to The Villa Vegeta along the archipelago in the beautiful piercing light of Scandinavia and realized that, for the first time in a very long time, I was content.

The next day at the hospital Martin asked me, "How much will you make this year teaching in the Seattle public schools?"

"With my education level and step increase I will make $54,000 this year, that's not too bad for nine months work." I answered.

"Please don't answer me right now, I want you to go home and sleep on it first, but I will pay you that amount to stay with me for the next nine months. The first few months you will be more of a nurse than a traveling companion, but as soon as I am well enough, hopefully before the full brunt of a Scandinavian winter, we will be traveling out of here. That amount will be tax free to you and net of any living expenses. We will continue to live on a first class basis, or at least as close to it as we can while I recover. Give it some thought and give me your answer tomorrow and now I'm going back to sleep." He said and closed his eyes.

That evening I composed a letter of resignation to the Seattle Public School system.

.....

Three weeks later Gisela and I brought Martin home to the Villa Vegeta.

Two days before Martin's release from the hospital his doctor went over all the foods and activities he should avoid. When he came to sex he told Martin that he should not think of having 'active' sex for at least six months. When he said that I interrupted him and said, "Does that mean he can have 'inactive' sex prior to that?"

And without missing a beat the doctor continued on in all seriousness and said, "He can have passive sex after a month."

"I'm sorry doctor, but I am not exactly sure what you mean by 'passive' sex?" I asked enjoying the situation.

"Receiving oral sex in a comfortable and untiring and not too exciting manner should not cause problems." He said in a bit of a huff at my presumptiveness in asking him to clarify himself.

When we arrived home Martin shocked me when he told me he only had a month to live. "What do you mean talking that way? You are going to make a complete recovery. I'm going to see to that." I said.

"That's what I mean," he said now with a smile beginning to break on his face, "the doctor said I could have oral sex in a month if I didn't get too excited and, well I've had oral sex from you before, so, I know I'm a dead man in a month." And we both had a good laugh.

.....

About midway through August Martin started making arrangements for his Mercedes to be delivered to us so that I would not have to be so dependent on Gisela. The Mercedes was scheduled for delivery in early September and when I reminded Martin that I had never driven a shift before he told me to ask Gisela for driving lessons.

Gisela gave me about three lessons and after I almost put her SAAB in the sea and nearly burnt up the clutch she was reluctant to do so again.

Early in September Gisela was off to Marbella on holiday and two days later I heard a car drive up the driveway and looked out to see Martin's Mercedes and an attractive man in his 30's looking at all the doors into the Villa Vegeta trying to figure out which one to knock on.

I opened the window and said, "We are the middle door, please come on up."

A few minutes later I opened the door and Armand introduced himself. I made a pot of tea as Martin was signing necessary paperwork and then Martin said, "If you will stay an extra day and give Suze some driving lessons and get her familiar with the car I will pay your expenses and give you a 100 euro tip."

Armand looked at me and smiled and said, "You don't know how to conduire?"

"Excuse me?" I said.

"You don't know how to..." and he made driving motions and we all laughed.

"I know how to drive, just not a shift." I answered.

...

That afternoon Armand gave me my first driving lesson and I had trouble concentrating when he put his hand over mine to show me the gear shift pattern. When Armand asked me how long I had been caring for my father and I told him since the end of June. He said, "It must be difficult, a woman your age to be at home every night." I thought to myself actually it was one of the most comfortable enjoyable times of my life. I had even taken up knitting and I had developed a real affection for Martin during that time.

When I answered honestly, "No, not really, but I do miss having sex," Armand ground the gears.

"How long have you been married?" I asked him.

"Ten years now, we are about to have our first baby in a month, actually deux...twins. My wife and I love each other very much, but the last few months have been difficult. We are usually, how do you say, very active, but, with the twin pregnancy it has been impossible..," he said.

"I think we both have the same problem." I said laughing.

Armand said nothing and continued to drive, but I glanced at his crotch and his penis was saying a lot. I thought 'what the hell' and reached over and rested my hand on the penis trying to burst out of his pants.

"Armand we can make love, but only under one condition, it has to be in front of Martin, otherwise I would feel I was being unfaithful to him." I said.

Armand quickly pulled the car over to the side of the road and said, "You Anglais, you are disgusting! I cannot make love to you in front of your father! What kind of a father is he to want such a thing!"

I laughed and said, "Armand Martin is not my father, he is my friend and a voyeur."

"A voyeur and not your father, but of course, this I understand. Yes, it is possible." He said with a great deal of enthusiasm.

When we got back to the apartment I asked Armand to wait in the car for a minute while I went in and talked to Martin. When Martin said he wouldn't mind a 'live show' and besides I must be horny I invited Armand up.

Actually I wanted to make love to Martin. During the time we had spent together since our first meeting in Seattle he had become less and less repulsive to me, and in fact we often cuddled at night in bed together and whenever he got an erection I found it incredibly frustrating to not be able to do anything with it.

When Armand took me in his arms and began to kiss me I made sure to turn myself so that I could look into Martin's eyes. I could tell by the look in his eyes and that he was enjoying the vicariousness of watching.

When Armand took my blouse off and removed my slacks I walked over to Martin and asked him to remove my thong and bra. Then I leaned over Martin and said, "This is for you and I wish so much that it could be you."

Martin moved his chair over next to the bed and watched intently when I took Armand into my mouth. Armand became very aroused very quickly and I decided that I would have him cum in my mouth the first time and that way after I got him hard again the second time would last longer. When Armand was close to cumming I withdrew him from my mouth and held the tip of his penis between my thumb and forefinger inches from my open mouth and looked into Martin's eyes while Armand ejaculated into my open mouth. When his stream of ejaculate lessened I brought my mouth down and enveloped him and began the task of bringing him back to hardness.

Armand was groaning because he was now too sensitive, but I continued in my ministrations and finally I began to feel him growing harder in my mouth. When I had him as hard as he had been the first time I stopped and rolled over onto my back and as he mounted me I reached out and took Martin's hand. We stared into each others eyes as my excitement mounted and when Martin leaned over to kiss my open mouth I could feel myself beginning to cum.

Armand was still trying to cum a second time when I said to him that I wanted to change positions. When he withdrew from me I could see his pulse in his erect throbbing penis. I told Martin to move his chair to the end of the bed and then I piled pillows under my stomach and supported my forearms on the arms of his wingback chair as Armand re-entered my steaming pussy from the rear. As he thrust into me I unzipped Martin's pants and pulled out his erection. Martin petted my head as I lovingly took him into my hungry mouth. After only a few minutes Martin put both hands on each side of my head and began to cum into my mouth and when I began to squeal in delight Armand began to cum into my hungry pussy as well.

After Armand left Martin asked me to change the sheets so he could go to sleep and he admitted that he was exhausted. I apologized to him for getting carried away and he laughed and said, "You didn't kill me and if you did I can't think of a better way to die."

When Martin was asleep I crawled into bed beside him and thought about my life and our life together. I knew that this could not last forever, but I knew that I was more content now than I had been in a long long time.