It was the slow part of Kari's shift, when there is an opportunity for stocking, or contemplation, or boredom, or on rare occasions, conversation with coworkers or customers. "Ahem" Kari heard, looking over to the consultation window at the pharmacy. It was Melissa, a regular customer. She hadn't been in for a few months, and it took Kari a moment to recognize her. Melissa had lost weight since Kari last saw her, had died her hair, and had a kind of frantic brittle edge to her. "Something's wrong here," thought Kari. She made her way to the little window where Melissa was waiting.
"Hi Melissa, can I help you?" asked Kari.
"Yes please Kari, but maybe not in the way you're thinking," came the reply.
"I need someone to talk to, someone with a level head, good heart and a clear conscience. You're the only person I know with all three," said Melissa. She knew of Kari's rather conservative Christian nature, so it made some sense that she'd come looking for Kari is a moment of apparent crisis.
Brows furrowed, Kari asked "What's up? Is something wrong?"
"Do you remember Geoff, my husband?" Kari nodded affirmatively. "We split up. I came home early one day and found him in bed with the neighbor kid."
Kari's eyes widened but before she could utter a word of sympathy, Melissa went on. "Geoff was on his stomach and David from next door was ..." Melissa began to tear up, her voice shaking.
"What was it, Melissa?" asked Kari, both aghast and guiltily intrigued.
"David had ... was ... oh God, David was having sex with Geoff. He had his dick in Geoff's butt."
Kari's hand flew to her mouth, and she overlooked the twinge in her crotch as she pictured what Melissa had walked in on. Sympathy and revulsion washed over Kari as she stood stock-still.
"Oh, Melissa, I am so sorry. Can I do anything for you? I'd be very happy to pray for you, or with you."
The other woman shook her head gently. "Thank you. I know you believe strongly in prayer. What I need, really need, is someone to be a friend. Please, call me Lis. And can you be a friend to me now? I don't feel there is anyone else I can trust."
Kari struggled for a moment, balancing the value of an exercise of faith by praying, and the value of action, being a friend to this suffering soul. "Of course ... Lis." Kari knew that assuming that role would not prevent her from praying. Ahh, the best of both worlds.
Lis grinned, took Kari's hand, and with an odd look in her eye said "thank you, oh thank you" over and over.
Kari smiled and simply said, "what can I do for you now?" Lis replied, "With me, more than for me. Will you come eat with me tonight? There is a place near here, and I'll treat." Kari's shift ended in thirty minutes, and she readily agreed. This was a better dinner option than home. Kari's husband Marc was going to be very late tonight. A church executive board meeting was going to keep him occupied until well past ten. He would eat at the meeting, and Kari had planned on leftovers. A meal out would be nice.
Kari agreed. "Yes, I'm off at 6:00. Do you want to meet there, hang around here or come back to get me?" Lis clapped her hands and smiled. "I'll be back at six."
Lis drove them to the little restaurant. Quiet, nicely decorated, delicious menu. Kari settled back to enjoy her newfound role of confessor of sorts. Dinner included a glass of house wine. Kari didn't usually drink, but in her role as Lis' support, Lis' friend, she felt an obligation. Just one though. She delicately sipped her drink as Lis explained what had happened. Walking in to find her husband of 10 years being sodomized by the 18-year-old boy next door, Lis had felt her world crumble.
"What did you do?" asked Kari.
"Honestly? Do you really want to know?" replied Lis.
"If it will help ease your burden, of course," replied Kari.
Lis smiled inwardly. This was easier than she thought.
"Honestly, I went to the washroom and cried. Then I noticed my panties were wet. Honestly? I masturbated thinking about what they were doing."
"You didn't!" exclaimed Kari.
Lis took a swig of her cocktail as she nodded. She watched as the emotions stormed across Kari's face. Scandalized but curious. Ah, the hook was planted.
"Did you ... you know ...?" asked Kari.
"Cum? Oh yes, lots." Dropping her voice to a whisper too soft to hear, Lis said something else. Kari leant in, and said "What?"
"I'd never cum so hard, so often, in so little time. And honestly, I'd never known I could squirt," Lis whispered this breathily, her voice made solid in the air, caressing Kari's face softly.
Shuddering, Kari sat back. Stunned. Here she was, with a new "friend" doing her Christian duty in helping someone who was suffering, and they were talking about unnatural sex and orgasms and touching oneself. How had this happened? And the caress of air on Kari's face triggered a distracting sensation, which led her down a path of thoughts she'd never ventured before.
Because Kari drank so seldom, she was a little tipsier than one might expect from the glass of wine. Images began to play out on the screen of her mind. Unwelcome thoughts, impure thoughts, stimulating thoughts. Kari shook her head and looked at her watch, before announcing she had to leave. Lis cleared the check, and the two women walked to Lis' sedan. "We have got to do this again," Lis said.
Kari agreed, with less reluctance than she might have at any other time. Arriving back at the supermarket, Kari made her way to her car and back home. "What am I doing?" she wondered, as she contemplated her evening and the events of the day. Ah well, prayer answers many needs, and compassion for her fellow humans was a good thing. She wondered what would happen next, if anything.
Life resumed its normal course for the next three weeks. Though there were the occasional intrusive images of penises, of women playing with themselves, of nude figures writhing. Kari prayed about these, imploring that they be taken from her if they were, in fact, as wrong as she had believed for years.
On a Tuesday, almost one month later, Lis appeared at the counter. "Hi Kari. Do you feel like dinner tonight? I know another place to try."
"One moment, Lis. I need to check in at home first."
A quick text exchange, permission granted, and Kari nodded.
"Get you at six," Lis said.
When Lis arrived, she was dressed differently. A tight orange blouse, unbuttoned two or three buttons. Clearly braless, Lis' breasts move as she walked. Kari briefly scowled, but reminded herself to be charitable. Lis had a short and tight leather skirt. "Who am I to judge?" thought Kari.
The women decided that Kari would follow Lis this time. After some 15 minutes driving, they arrived at a decidedly different venue. There were bright lights, audible music, and one or two motorcycles. Kari hesitated, but Lis took her hand. "Please, come in. I can really use your company." Kari hesitated again.
Lis said, "Look. If it's too much, you can leave. But I can really do with your friendship now."
Kari allowed herself to be led into the place. She never looked at the name. She was a little numb, surprised that her sense of Christian duty to Lis overcame her better judgment about Godly behavior.
The women settled into a booth and perused the menu. Lis cajoled Kari into trying a cocktail, on the grounds it would be made weak. Burgers, fries, a side salad. The music was pulsing, a steady beat. People were dancing, but not in a way she had seen before. It was more like they were grinding against each other. She stared at the couples moving to the music. Men and women. Women together. And some men together. This was very wrong she thought. She turned to tell Lis that this wasn't right, but Lis was gone. Instead, a young, powerfully built man sat in Lis' place.
"I'm Paul, and you are?" he said.
Kari replied a little archly, "About to leave."
As she began to slide out of the booth, Paul softly laid his hand on hers. "I am sorry if I offended you. May I try again?"
Kari froze. This was the first time as an adult that a man other than her husband or doctor had touched her.
"Hello. May I introduce myself? My name is Paul, and I'm pleased to make your acquaintance."
"I'm Kari." The words escaped automatically.
"Where is my friend Lis?" asked Kari.
Paul gestured to the washrooms. "I think she's over there."
"Is this your first visit here? Lis brought you?"
Kari nodded, answering yes to both. She asked, "Do you know Lis?"
Paul nodded, smiling, and said "Oh yes, we've become good friends recently. We're all friends around here."
"I can see," said Kari, casting her eyes over the dance floor.
"Paul, what are you doing? She's mine. My guest, my friend."
Lis' voice announced her arrival, arm in arm with another young man. Something was off with Lis. She looked -- rumpled. Hair mussed, and was her blouse mis-buttoned? Had Kari missed that earlier? And there was a shine on Lis' lips, and on her chin. What
was
all this? The cocktail? What was going on?
Paul got up. "Nice to meet you Kari. I hope to see more of you." He winked at Lis, who winked back.
"Mmhmm," replied Kari.
"Lis, I need to go. Come talk to me at work. I'm going home now; I really need to pray."
Lis nodded, cheerily saying, "Sure sweetie. Thanks for coming with meeeeee!"
The last sound coincided with what looked like a slap on Lis' bum.
"What on earth is all this," Kari asked on her way out to her car. After making her way home, she brushed her teeth thoroughly, and prayed for guidance, talking through her thoughts, feelings and perceptions. But only with God, not with her husband. God would help her understand what to do.
That night Kari dreamt. She dreamt of Paul. How his hand felt on hers, how she felt aroused by the simple touch of another man. How his eyes bored into hers. In her dream, Paul moved his hand up her arm, and down. The back of his hand brushed her breast. Her dream nipples stiffened. She closed her dream eyes, and Paul read that as consent. Dream fingers tugging at her pyjama top buttons. Paul's eyes had clearly conveyed the order that she not move.
Dream Kari complied, feeling Paul's fingers on her nipples, grazing down her stomach, cupping over her pyjama bottoms. Dream Kari felt shame as she responded. Her breathing shortened as dream Paul's fingers explored her through the cloth. Paul squeezed, and Dream Kari orgasmed, squirting as she did. In her dream, she heard Lis cheer. Suddenly, Kari snapped awake. The wetness she felt in her dream -- it drenched her bottoms and soaked her hand that was rubbing her vulva. Her other hand was on her nipple. Horrified, Kari rushed to the bathroom to clean up and change. As she undressed, her hand returned to her body and she orgasmed for real, leaning against the vanity.
Shaken, she washed, put on new pyjamas, returned to bed, sleeping fitfully. She would be praying about this. Whether for forgiveness or guidance or both, she had no idea. But prayer was in her immediate future.
A few days later, just before Kari's lunch break, Lis arrived at the pharmacy, with an invitation for lunch at the sandwich shop near the supermarket. It was daylight, there'd be no drinking, and so far, Kari's prayer had not led her to distance herself from Lis. It seemed clear that Kari's support for Lis was the right thing to do.
Over lunch, they discussed their last night out. Kari seemed a bit reserved, but Lis soon steered the conversation to Paul, to where Lis had gone, and Kari's thoughts about it all.
Lis opened with an observation about Paul. "He really liked you, you know. I think his exact words were 'there is a real princess.' And I don't think he meant prissy."
Kari blushed, and Lis swooped in. "AHA," she crowed. "You liked him too, huh?"
"Well ...," Kari broke off lamely.
"C'mon, spill Kari. What happened?"
