A Bird Never Flew on One Wing

The shout barely drowned the background noise of the huge parking area. It was a woman's voice. Its sound rang a bell with me, yet I didn't recognize it right away.

I dropped a bag of corn flakes into the trunk of my Mustang and turned round. The sun shone down on a busy Friday afternoon at the mall. After a moment I spotted the shape of a slender woman who was waving at me. It was Cheryl's mom.

'Hello Mike,' she shouted again.

'Hello, Mrs. Winter,' I answered, briefly waving back at her. For the last three and a half months my thoughts had been circling around the little bitch she'd raised.

Cheryl had walked into my life, twisted me around her little finger and tempted me to think that my fate had eventually entered a happy road. However, she'd left me heartbroken only a few months later.

Mrs. Winter came up to me across the lane of traffic, obviously encouraged by my response. The chance meeting brought back the memories...Cheryl's teasing smile, a mere twitch in the corner of her mouth, when she slid the strap of her top down her shoulder, stripped slowly off her skirt and tights, backed giggling away from me whenever I tried to put my arms around her...until she was naked as a jaybird, breathtaking, charging the atmosphere in the room with her perfume, her sex appeal, and her sheer wanton presence...when she pushed me against a wall or onto the bed and looked me amusedly in the eye while fumbling in my pants for my dick which was hard as bone all along, tickling it with her restless fingers...when she took it into her mouth, licking, kissing, sucking, before finally allowing me to take her luscious body, fuck it, while she was shivering and jerking with her eyes closed, groaning with pleasure, as if disconnected from reality...

Mrs. Winter was slightly smaller and more petite than her more feminine daughter. Also, she wore her brunette hair longer than Cheryl who'd dyed her stylish bob jet-black.

I'd figured her for a determined woman but right now she seemed to be a bit uneasy.

'How are you?' she asked. There was an empathetic tone in her voice.

Mrs. Winter wore sunglasses, blue jeans, cowboy boots, and a plaid shirt with the sleeves hitched up. Cheryl had always teased her about her rustic down-home style.

'I'm fine, thanks,' I muttered, 'and you?'

'Great...or rather,' she took a deep breath, 'not the best...Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor. Could you by any chance take a look at my car? I've got an issue with the gear shift.'

She'd always objected to our relationship because of the age difference between me and her little one. I didn't know what's wrong with a twenty-nine years old guy falling in love with a chick ten years younger who was definitely more experienced and dirtier than most of her peers.

The woman in her mid-forties looked pleadingly at me. Her dark glasses reflected my shape.

Without a murmur I shut the trunk lid and walked over to her car. The old Toyota minivan looked as if it was over the hill. I started the engine and tried to go into reverse. It was just as impossible as to engage first gear. Neither with feeling nor with effort I was able to shift gears.

'Looks bad, ma'am,' I said to the woman who'd taken off her glasses, 'I'm sorry, I don't think that I can fix this.'

Cheryl's mom had the same blue-green eyes as her daughter.

'However, I can offer you a lift,' I added when she looked at me in despair.

Only after casting a final look at her broken-down vehicle she took up my offer of help. I parked my car next to hers and we loaded her groceries in my trunk.

I headed slowly for the exit of the parking area. All too soon I was on the familiar road to Cheryl's home again.

'It must've been a difficult time for you,' the woman in the passenger seat looked at me, 'thank you for your help in any case.'

'Never mind, Mrs. Win...'

'I'm Paula.'

'Never mind, Paula.'

She noticed my hesitation when I took her shopping bags out of the trunk.

'Cheryl isn't here. She moved out weeks ago.'

I nodded and continued unloading the car when she asked: 'Would you like a cup of coffee, as a small thank you for your help?'

'Thanks, but I'm afraid I've got to go.'

'Please come in for a moment! It's no trouble at all.'

There was a pleading overtone in her voice and I didn't have the heart to decline the invitation. I carried her bags to the kitchen table and took the beverages to the pantry.

'Please sit down, I'll put it away,' she said, fiddling with her coffee machine. Her movements were jittery and she looked troubled. I gazed at the back pockets of her jeans.

Eventually she passed me a cup of coffee and sat down next to me, just around the corner. Silently I got up, walked around the table, and fetched some milk from the fridge. She blushed.

'How rude of me,' she apologized, looking embarrassed, 'it's just...I'm a bit worn out...It's so quiet here since Cheryl's left her home...'

For a moment there was an awkward silence. I tried to steer the conversation in a less painful direction: 'How's your new job going?'

There was another silence.

'To be honest,' she sighed, 'the company's been downsizing staff. I got fired.'

It couldn't get much worse.

She tried a brave smile and said: 'Well, things didn't go well for me lately, and now there's the car repair on top of it all.'

I kept my opinion about her gearbox damage to myself and laid spontaneously my hand on hers. What had initially been an impulsive gesture seemed quite inappropriate on second thought, given that she was just a distant acquaintance, and to make it even worse, the mom of my ex. I wondered if she'd pull her hand away.

Paula looked down at it but didn't. Unintentionally my thumb brushed the ring on her finger.

'It's from Cheryl's dad,' she explained, jumping at the chance to change the subject, 'he left us when she still was a baby girl.'

She looked strained. Two vertical wrinkles began to show from the wings of her nose to the corners of her mouth but she had an honest face. Little by little I began to see her with different eyes. A tender soul emerged from the dragon that had kept a jealous watch over its beautiful offspring. I felt an affinity between the two of us that went beyond our joint grief about Cheryl having gone.

As if she'd been thinking the same she looked at me and said: 'I'll make us some dinner. Let's see what's in the fridge.'

She got up and rummaged in the refridgerator.

'Darn it,' I heard her swear moments later when she'd dropped an egg.

I walked up to her and laid my hand on her arm. She tried to shake it off but I put the other hand around her waist and steered her back to her chair. She allowed herself to be lead without further opposition.

I cleaned up the mess, checked the supplies in the fridge, and prepared some pasta with fried eggs for the both us. Paula observed me from the kitchen table.

'There's a bottle of wine in the fridge,' she said wearily, 'I could do with a drink.'

I poured some wine into a glass.

'Take one too, please,' she asked.

'No, thank you,' I replied, 'you know I'm driving.'

She insisted on drinking with me, however, and I took a bit too. Hungrily we tucked in. She complimented my cooking and we chatted about this and that. Paula cheered up a bit and even laughed about my little jokes. I'd come to like her.

In next to no time she emptied two glasses of wine. When she got up she was downright tipsy. Giggling she propped herself up on the table.

I rushed to her aid and supported her. She tried another step but was still shaky. Resolutely I pulled her close to me. When she leaned with her back on me I felt her firm body against my hard-on.

On the spur of the moment I put my arm around her waist and raised the other hand to stroke her hair and her cheek. She let it happen in astonishment.

Gently I turned her face towards mine. With a blank expression she looked up at me over her shoulder. When I kissed her she opened her mouth slightly, breathing rapidly. Her lips were rough as if she'd scarcely been using a chapstick.

I placed the other hand on her breasts which were kept safely in the firm cups of an everyday bra under her shirt. She closed her eyes.

Inch by inch I slid my palm down the line of buttons of her shirt, paused shortly at her belt, and increased the pressure of my fingers when I got to her fly.

The farther I got the more she stiffened. She grasped my wrist but didn't stop me from going on. Eventually I had to bend down to reach for her crotch.

The sound she made was the result of anxiety, confusion, and blissful sensation all in one. Fiercely she breathed the odor of the wine into my mouth. I kept on rubbing her pubic mound under the tough seam of denim until a long-drawn groan escaped her. Moments later I sensed a warming of her nether regions through the fabric.

I undid her belt buckle and unbuttoned the jeans. Swiftly I pulled it down, turned her towards the table and bent her over. With my fingertips I stripped her panties from her gorgeous buttocks.

While getting my dick out of my pants I checked her pussy with my fingers. Despite her indecision Paula was well prepared for me.

Cautiously I pushed my way in. Twenty years ago someone else had been with her, knocking her up, fathering a baby they'd called Cheryl, the beloved...

I looked down at Paula. She was a beauty in her own right. I grabbed her waist and fucked her ruthlessly. Her shirt had ridden up and her body emerged from the piled up fabric. Her hips were pear-shaped but not as wide as you'd expect of a woman who'd given birth.

After coming fiercely I pulled her up and embraced her. With her jeans and panties halfway down she was unable to walk away, and still shaky anyway, partly because of the wine, partly because of the sudden turn of events.

I lifted her up and carried her to the bedroom where I stripped her naked. There she was in all her vulnerability, sprawled over the blanket, her private parts exposed to me.

She didn't look like some photoshopped model from a porn site but like a woman of flesh and blood. Her skin wasn't as flawless as a nineteen-year-old's (How could it be?). Wrinkles loomed and veins began to show on the back of her hands.

She had a slender body and sturdy legs. Her small tits arose slightly from her chest with the nipples pointing upwards. Her collar bones protruded under her skin.

I petted her cheek. Torn between fear and longing she looked up at me when my thumb slid over her lips. Looking down at her I saw the young chick she'd once been as well as the woman grown to full maturity she'd become.

Playfully caressing her nipples I undressed myself. I lay down on her and took her in my arms. Slowly I made love to the beautiful woman, taking the time to get her off. When she was eventually seized by a noiseful orgasm I came once again.

Caringly I pulled the blanket over the two of us and held her tight. She clung to me with her eyes closed, her body shaken by jerks and shivers. She kissed me back and her tongue was soft and responsive now.

I pondered on how I'd gotten from there (the parking area of the mall) to here (the bed of my ex's mom). I'd have to make some decision and I'd made up my mind. Night had fallen and I was happy with what the day brought. Paula had snuggled up to me and was asleep in my arms. Softly she blew little drafts of air against my hand. She was more than fuckable. She was a natural pearl and I loved her.

I spent the night with her. My car was parked safely in the driveway and I'd drunk some wine anyway. What's more, I myself hated waking up after a night of love with my lover having gone. Cheryl had done it again and again. Drowsily I pecked her mom's beautiful shoulder.

The first sunrays came in through the window when I woke up. Paula was still lying with her back to me. However, she was wide awake. Her body was tense and there was no unaware breathing anymore.

'Good morning, my dear,' I whispered, putting my arm around her.

There was no answer at first, then a tear-choked voice: 'Did you get your revenge at last?'

It took me a moment to understand. Before I could answer she asked: 'Did you do the same with Cheryl?'

I sighed. Sex with her daughter hadn't been anything like last night. Neither better nor worse, just as different as day and night.

'I haven't been looking for revenge,' I said, 'and I certainly didn't take it. You're the only reason why I'm here.'

I heard her sob.

'Did you think of Cheryl when you were having sex with me?' she asked, choking back her tears.

'No, I didn't.' It was a white lie. Or hardly a lie at all. I'd fallen in love with Paula.

'I want to be with you,' I said.

Reluctantly she let herself being turned over. Her face was soft and her eyes were puffy. What a difference to the snappish Mrs. Winter I'd known from my visits to Cheryl's home! It had never occurred to me to take a closer look at her, to regard her as the sexy chick she'd been all the time. Tenderly I kissed the tears off her face: 'You're beautiful. I love you, Paula.'

'Really?' she blubbered out.

'Well, to tell you the truth,' I confessed, 'I was quite annoyed when I met you yesterday at the mall. But I got fond of you when you told me about the ring from Cheryl's dad.'

I took her slender hand and kissed it.

'I got the hots for you when you were tipsy from the wine,' I went on, remembering her leaning on me, 'and fell in love when you were asleep in my arms.'

Gently I wiped a strand of hair off her face and bent down to kiss her. She softened in my arms. Like a person dying with thirst she drank my kisses with her eyes closed, like someone who'd been longing for love for too long.

She shifted herself closer to me and opened her legs in anticipation, even lifting her lower body up towards my busy fingers, and gasping out in an agony of suspense when I teasingly withdraw satisfaction from her.

Eventually we had some relaxed morning sex. For the afterplay we moved to the shower. Paula looked up at me naughtily and soaped my balls and cock exhaustively with both her hands. Like a little girl she squeaked with pleasure when my cum shot up against her tummy and her tits.

I kissed her and soaped her body every bit as thoroughly in return, with particular attention to her nipples and her pussy.

After I'd rubbed her down she disappeared in the direction of the kitchen, just swathed in her bath towel. I got dressed and fetched my groceries from the car. The kitchen smelled of toast and coffee when I returned. The place felt familiar to me. I'd known it from my visits at Cheryl's home. Now I also knew its attractive tenant, literally every inch of her. Affectionately I kissed Paula. Her hair was still wet.

With our combined supplies we had a more than decent breakfast. Paula beamed at me fondly whenever our eyes met, and giggled playfully. Her bare feet stroked my leg under the table and I bent forward to pet her knee.

Her kisses smelled of strawberry jam and I forgot the gloomy mood she'd been in when I met her the day before.

We made a day trip to the amusement park. Paula was as happy as a lark. Chattering she clung to my arm when we strolled around the area. She squealed when we rode the roller coaster, won some plushie at the raffle ticket booth, and we had corn on the cob and burgers. Hardly anyone of the folks around would have guessed that we were seperated by more years than me and her grown-up daughter. From time to time she even seemed a bit too revved up to me.

On our way home I stopped by the lakeside. I had Paula moved over to me and sat down on my lap, with her legs stretched out towards the passenger side. We kissed and cuddled watching the sundown behind the hills. It was hard to believe that this woman had been sitting in my car as a stranger just a day ago.

Paula looked dreamily out of the windshield and seemed to be lost in thought. Only briefly she giggled when I undid the uppermost buttons of her blouse, released one of her tits from its cup and cradled it in my hand.

Suddenly I wasn't quite sure if there was a worried expression on her face. However, she put on a broad smile, kissed me, and assured me that everything was okay.

At home we watched some Netflix episode. She'd snuggled up against me in a comfy sweat shirt that smelled of laundry detergent and fell asleep in my arms. Gingerly I carried my precious to the bedroom.

My darling had a restless sleep that night. She tossed and turned and I didn't seem to be able to soothe her.

Sunday morning felt like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Paula lay wide awake beside me with her back to me. She stiffened when I tried to pull her close.

'What's wrong, my dear?'

'I'm fine.'

'Tell that to the marines!'

'Leave me alone!'

'Paula, I love you! I have no desire for revenge!'

'I want to be alone!' she sobbed.

I held her tight. Only after a while she softened and gave in to me. She broke down in tears and told me that she hadn't been able to pay the rent after losing her job. Her landlord had eventually set a final deadline. Seemingly she'd refused to accept the issue to the last moment. The pressure had become overwhelming by now, given that the vacation of the house was pending.

'Don't worry, darling, we'll fix this,' I said but there was no way of comforting her. After a silent breakfast with a devastated Paula I asked her for the message from her landlord. After an annoying quarrel she handed me her cell phone.

I scanned the subject lines of her mails. There were also messages from Cheryl but I didn't read them. When I found a reminder from Paula's landlord I filtered the inbox by his name. My furious girlfriend watched me with her arms folded.

'Okay, I'll pay it,' I said.

'I don't want you to pay!'

'Don't be silly, Paula! Why ever not?'

'What does that do for me?' She was sobbing again.

It turned out that on top of that her bank account had been blocked. I asked her for the notice from the bank. She refused to show it to me and even threatened to throw me out when I didn't give in. Eventually she opened a drawer and rummaged for some letter in a cluster of envelopes. Wrathfully she threw it at my feet and slammed the drawer shut.

The notice dated from two months back. After scanning it I asked suspiciously: 'What else is in the drawer?'

'No!' Paula blocked the way to the writing desk. She looked drop-dead gorgeous in her fury. She wore an old Buccaneers shirt (whoever may have given that to her), a pair of sweatpants, and cute white bobby socks. Even if there'd been no reason at all to go into the matter I wouldn't have missed the chance to wrestle her down.

She confronted me in blank despair and tried to push me away with both hands, even tried to kick me. I seized one of her wrists and fended off her blows with the other hand. She was panting, her tousled hair in her tear-stained face. The petite woman was amazingly tough.

Eventually I was able to get hold of her foot. With a quick movement I clasped her body and overbalanced her. For a moment I enjoyed the power over her, then put her slowly down on the floor, carefully watching out not to hurt her.

She was fierce as a dragon. Even with the weight of my body on top of her she kept on struggling. I pinned down both her wrists with my hand while I put the other arm around her. She sobbed convulsively.

Unceasingly I whispered soothing words in her ear but it took some time until she calmed down. I made her promise to stop fighting and released her hands. She'd finally given up resistance. I got up from the floor and helped her up. I'd liked to fuck her on the spot but thought the better of it. Paula backed away from me and looked out of the window, hugging herself. She listened to me opening the drawer and getting out the envelopes, never turning round.