Hemingway's Lost Story

Author's Note: If you aren't comfortable with race play, please don't read this story.

*

The American and his wife stood at Dodoma station looking east into the sun.

"Four Minutes, Mr. Nicks," said the translator. Tabora was to the northwest 383 kilometers after deep valleys and a great river and Jack wondered if they would make it by supper. The streets became unsafe after dark in Tabora and his guns were stowed and not carried in the open.

"This is all so beautiful," said Jack's wife Birdy. She was a pretty woman from a small town near the port of Jack's new outpost.

"It is. We'll get unpacked and go out tonight for a drink and hunt in the morning."

"Are you sure I can go with you? I don't want to slow you down."

"No, I don't trust the staff at Ristalemi. You'll be safer with me."

There was no breeze and the insects pecked at the two travelers like animals in the open field. The man swatted the bugs and they landed on the woman.

"Tell me again why we're doing this."

"I told you the number of hippos is dwindling and we have to get one now. Not everyone can do it. But I believe you can do it. A woman's a better shot than a man at midrange distances and you know what to do."

The bed was soft after the long ride and the couple stayed in instead of going out and cleaned up and unpacked and placed their shoes by the door. The window was open and a cool breeze dried their sweaty bodies and they could sleep.

In the morning there was coffee for travelers in the lobby and soon Abasi would come and take them to the field.

"Goodness, it's hot, Jack." She fanned her hat at her face and her arms and neck shined from wetness and the man held his hat against his chest like he was praying only he wasn't because he didn't believe in the supernatural, except where nature transcends like it does on the plain. There was no god in town but there might be in the wild.

"I think it would be better if you let me talk to the guide. I just think it's best."

The woman grabbed her bags and followed Abasi to the truck and they all rode in the back through the jolts and bouncing of the trek and the man thought how great his wife's breasts looked jiggling and bouncing on the truck. They had not made love in over three days.

"Over here," the guide said.

"We'd like to make camp before lunch. Is this the best place?"

"No, I will show you the best place." The guide Abasi knew the best places and what dangers white people from the West may not know. He'd seen many brave men fall to the beasts of the plains.

Abasi had wanted the money up front, so Jack and his wife stayed close to make sure he didn't leave them.

The grasses were waist high and insects were aggressive and the couple batted them down all day. "Son of a bitch, Birdy. These bugs are dangerous!" he said.

"It's really not that bad once you quit thinking about them. You should just quit, Jack. Really you should."

The day was unsuccessful at hunting. On the way back to the truck and then the hotel, Abasi pointed out a village that has the mightiest warriors. There is a legend of a man so fierce no one has defeated him. "Men come from 4 days away just to fight him. He wins with his hands. It's tradition that no weapons be used in a man to man fight."

The white couple asked if he had a weakness and Abasi said he has no weakness.

"Every man has a weakness. That is what makes him a man. Any man who doesn't think he has a weakness is a weak man and blind, to boot. I would like to meet this man."

"That's not a good idea, Mr. Nicks. His warriors do not take visits well, especially from white challengers."

"What does a man have to do to fight this warrior? Pay a fee?"

"No, much worse. He takes your woman. Well, if you win, he doesn't take your woman, but he's never been beaten. He has many women now. He and his men use the women."

Birdy said, "Why don't they just leave?"

"No one knows. Some say they like being servants to such a warrior."

"Set it up, Abasi. I will have my chance at this man, only let me meet him first."

That night the man and woman copulated quietly in the squeaky bed. The man finished quickly and went to sleep. Outside the insects and beast made their guttural sounds for mating and territory.

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The champion looked at the man and his wife with his dark eyes while his warriors stripped naked and stared at the man until he was also naked. The man was unafraid in the face of larger, more able men.

Abasi spoke to Jack and asked him to reconsider and Jack declined. "There is too much at stake for passivity?"

The grasses waved behind Harmon the champion as he decided that the quality of the woman was sufficient to warrant a fight. Her blonde hair blew in the breeze and this seemed to please the great man.

Abasi said, "Harmon wants you to understand that when you lose he gets to have relations with your wife tonight."

"I understand what's at stake."

"He's asking what are your terms."

"He doesn't have anything I need. I even wish that he keep his dignity. Maybe he could give me a hunting tip," the man said with a smile. The sun was at its peak above the two men. The two great warriors stood in their sweat and primed themselves as the insects circled and landed and Harmon stared intently at the white man.

His wife stood on the side, stealing glances at the warriors. Their penises were large and their bodies were trim and muscles popped from their bodies and she stared at them off and on.

Harmon took off his tunic and stood naked. The contrast of color, physique, size, and the size of their genitals even flaccid caused the white man to pause for a second.

One of the warriors shouted Go! and the two huntsmen grasped each other in the shoulders and arms. The champion was taller and stronger, but the challenger fought without fear and believed the fight would last for hours so he tempered his attack.

Soon the ruler of his people started to tire.The Western man's strategy to hold steady and wait for the giant to tire was working. The man attacked him bloodied and with broken ribs from the blows of the giant. There was no referee and sundown was more than an hour away. Both men were getting weaker. The wife paced in the background. The warriors looked on in anticipation of what was inevitable just an hour or two ago and the breeze was gone now. Sweat dripped down in the eyes of the American and he winced from the sting.

Jack broke loose and managed to get his foot behind the giant and push him over onto the ground. Dust plumed from the collision with the ground and both men were bloodied and dirty. Harmon rose up angry and renewed. He pounced on the American with a primal yell and a huge lunge. Their naked skins make a wet slap as they crashed and the smaller warrior was knocked back and onto the ground.

The sun was setting just above the distant trees and the woman's beauty contrasted the harsh, rugged wild behind her. Her porcelain skin and light dress and light colored hair were not washed away by the brutish life of true warriors.

The giant threw himself onto the American and with two elbow strikes to the head the American was unconscious.

The woman screamed in terror. The warriors and their leader approached her and pulled her into the leader's hut before Jack woke up. His protests were met with silent opposition at the front of the hut and Jack's threats and puffing yells went unheard. He relaxed. The act of justice was inevitable. He had made a deal and now he must live with the consequence of that deal and no amount of gesturing mattered to the justice unfolding in that hut.

"Birdy, don't worry. You're going to be fine."

The hut was modestly decorated but clean and the huge structure held 14 cots, a stove, and some storage. Harmon's penis grew while he stared at his new woman who had stripped upon request. He gave her a pot from the stove and she asked Abasi what it was and Abasi answered that it was a gift.

"Tell him thank you for me."

"It was a gift because he feels sorry for you."

"Why does he feel sorry for me?"

"Because you're so ugly. Your pink skin is a sign of ill health, I'm afraid. He will likely not mate with you."

"Well he approved it before when he oogled me outside. And even just now his penis got bigger."

"I don't know. Maybe he changed his mind. Or, maybe he will choose to have relations with you. At any rate, you may want to pray or something. If he doesn't choose to have relations with you, you will serve no purpose and you'll be turned out to the wild."

"Good. I'll just go back with Jack."

"No, if you were to go back on the deal, you would both be killed. Better to do your part."

It was night now and the cool breeze that had returned was gone and the woman lied in her sweat in a stick chair. "Why don't you want me? she asked to Harmon. The great warrior spoke no English and he had learned to ignore the pleas of women. His harem had over 100 women in it, mostly of the Bantu tribe, but also seven white women. All had protested at the idea of being used at first, but their pleas changed to wontonness after the evening's ceremony.

Women set up the ceremony behind the hut in the middle of the small village. Loud sounds of the wild invaded the happy mutterings from the women. Birdy sat bouncing her knee. "Hey, Abasi, why did the other white women get to stay?"

"I don't know, Mrs. Nicks. I can ask." It was hot in the hut and she came outside in her nakedness and walked to the center of town where the other women were readying for the ceremony. She was intercepted and brought back into the hut and under mild protest she sat in the stick chair with her arms crossed.

Abasi returned. "He said they served the greater good of the village."

"What in the world does that mean, like cooking and stuff? I'd rather just die."

"That's not it, I'm afraid. They offered themselves to all the warriors."

"Oh, I see what this is. They bring the women in, scare them into having sex with lots of men, and then keep them here as servants."

"Everyone here is allowed to leave once they serve their duty. These women choose to stay. Just wait till after the ceremony and it will make more sense."

It was getting late and the ceremony hadn't started. Jack was sitting outside the hut under watch. "Be strong, Birdy! There's no shame in fulfilling ones duty or in death. It's the choice that matters." A warrior struck the American with the butt of his gun.

She didn't respond to her husband.

At the ceremony the women brought some food, some liqueur, and pipes and passed them out to everyone. There was a fire since there was no wind. The women had brought out chairs for about 30 people and the warriors were sitting and several chairs were empty. The women were in their colorful kanga and their hair was decorated in braids. They heard honks from a hippo in the distance.

"What am I supposed to do?" Birdy asked.

No one responded to her. She watched the women work and their sweaty bodies and she wished she had a kanga. The women showed no fear of the men and the men helped the ladies when it was convenient and even Harmon passed food down a line.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked Abasi.

"They are celebrating."

"Celebrating what?"

"That another person will be joining their tribe. This isn't like other tribes in Tanzania. They have their own customs and they are a happy people for the most part."

"The warriors don't seem very happy."

"It's not appropriate to laugh and smile as warriors in this culture. The men must always be alert and ready to defend the village."

"I see. Well, count me out. We'll do this thing and be gone in the morning."

The women formed a circle around the fire and sang tribal songs, shouting and cheering. The warriors and young children watched from the broader circle of chairs and spaces and the children clapped with joy.

The rum and the ibogaine were taking effect and the men began to sing in a show of emotion and the women noticed and smiled and laughed. The women put the kids to bed and rejoined in the circle and started gyrating and rolling their hips in seduction. The white women were, too, with exaggerations of motion of their asses and chests and the men clapped with delight.

A confusion of wildebeest made their calls from the distance and insects chirped and sang in the tall grasses.

Some women came now to the circle of warriors and danced next to them on their chairs, putting their breasts and asses in the men's faces and jiggling in seduction. The American woman looked on at the joy with which the women teased the men. They were laughing and she was silent.

"Abasi, why are the women so happy? It's too hot here and there are so many bugs and the food is awful."

"Well, usually it is for the sex, I'm told."

"Aren't there lots of men in Africa to have sex with for these ladies?"

"Yes, but these warriors are selectively bred for size of their penises and sexual prowess."

Many of the men were starting to tent in their garb and the white woman could see their size. The women squealed in delight when the penis of the man they were dancing for became erect. The women sat on their laps and bounced just to torture the usually stoic men. Since the children had been put to bed, the dancing got more provocative and the men got more aroused with each minute of seduction the women were given.

Birdy noticed how much the white women enjoyed making these warriors smile and reach out for their bodies. Soon the women pulled the men up and undressed them, rubbing against their penises. The women removed their own clothes and folded them and laid them on the side by the huts. Their naked bodies bounced and jiggled in dance in front of the mighty men now clapping and cheering from the ibogaine and rum and women.

Birdy stared back and forth from the penises of the men to the wontonness of the women and pictured herself dancing. She writhed in her nakedness against a side of a hut, rubbing her ass and shoulders against the sticks with her back slightly arched. A woman came and pulled her by her hand to the middle near the fire. The woman coaxed the American woman to dance stiffly at first. She had not been given the drug or rum.

Abasi said, "Mrs. Nicks, I think they are waiting for you to dance for Harmon."

The white woman stepped near the giant warrior and twisted her body awkwardly in an attempt at seduction and the man seemed pleased. All the men and women were watching the Western woman try to seduce a tribal leader with just her body. She approached Harmon and rubbed her body against his slowly while the women and warriors all clapped in rhythm and shouted in sync.

His dark penis enlarged in front of her and she stepped back half a step. It was the length of her forearm and thicker in the foreground against her white skin and small frame and onlookers watched for her reaction. "Oh...goodness," she said. Harmon was quiet but stared at her eyes and she looked at him for almost a minute while clapping was in the background. A breeze touched her skin and her pink nipples became tight even as her skin still glistened from the sweat.

She looked down at the member bobbing level with her chest and she grabbed it and tugged on it making it grow stiffer and the veins became prominent. She licked her lips. Abasi said, "Well, Mrs. Nicks. Now do you understand?"

"Uh, huh," she mumbled.

The fire crackled quietly against the chanting and clapping of the men and women and Harmon led his new pinkish woman into his hut. They were in there till morning making grunts and moans and expressions of violent pleasure and the sun arose to the American woman wearing a red kanga and sipping on a cup of herbal juice outside the hut. She would join the other women later that day and become willing property of the tribe.

The American husband was confused when she waved at him, blowing a gentle kiss goodbye. He gathered his pack without protest and left into the wild with Abasi. The honk of the hippo lay to the east toward the morning sun and they had 20 miles to go before they made camp. Jack and Abasi talked very little. The American knew he had been beaten by a truly superior man and justice was a right of the noble.