I'd like to say we chatted until dinner was cooked but we didn't. We sat in silence, the only audible noise coming from my stomach as my nose told my stomach there was food around. I didn't even know if these people were going to share with me anyway.
I tried some other words on both of them, trying to see what kind of sentence I could put together to enquire about Blake. Bahbi or the wolves must have seen him, or smelled him. Another thought also occurred to me, perhaps Bahbi thought that my fur coat was my skin, like his. I couldn't account for his friendless in any other way. If I saw someone wearing human skin as a coat (it's been done, I know) I would be sick.
Hom, was home and home was this cave. It was huge, like a sports stadium and the roof in places was as low as five feet and in other places as high as sixty or seventy feet. What I know about science is dangerous but I know hot air rises and in this strange configuration of the undulating roof of the cave, hot air became trapped and served to warm the cave.
Muny was matches, you buy matches with money. I asked where the money comes from and they told me, in their way that sometimes the old woman would walk to town and beg. That made sense, she didn't look strange, she looked poor. With money she had bought some things they needed, matches, string, two pots, sugar, salt. I picked up the string and shrugged, why? Mah took me to a corner of the cave, they slept there, there were furs all over, she picked up a fur at one end and turned it over, I saw stitches. She sewed the fur together with string. Mystery solved.
They did share their meal with me, it was surprisingly good. A little like chicken but not quite. Not bad at all though. There were smiles all round when I accepted their food, as if my acceptance sealed some kind of deal. After we had eaten Bahbi got up and took me by the hair in my neck again. When his mother saw how he'd been leading me around she shouted at him and gestured with her hands. He dropped my hair immediately and looked at me with a downcast head - his way of saying sorry. I could not with hold my forgiveness because (a) he didn't hurt me, he'd pulled my hair gently from the first time in the car and (b) he had just fed me.
He took my hand as his mother had showed him. She gave both of us a big toothless smile as she walked over to us and kissed and hugged us each in turn; I couldn't figure out why. Bahbi put his hands together as one does in prayer then closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly to his mother. I didn't know what this was, some kind of blessing I thought, so I did the same. Mah returned the blessing and then walked slowly to the front of the cave. There were three wolves in a nook not far ahead and the old lady sat down and then lay down next to them.
I turned to look at Bahbi thinking perhaps if the woman slept there I was to follow her but the wolves made me nervous. I found him looking at me as if he was seeing me for the first time. He lifted my chin gently and softly kissed me on my mouth. There was so much behind that kiss, I could feel it and all sorts of things started happening.
My heart pounded, a lovely shiver ran down my back and my nether regions tingled and swelled up with desire for more of this strange half-man's love. I offered no resistance when he led me to the bed of fur I had been shown earlier. A match struck in the dark and he lit a lamp. Another possession of theirs.
He sat down on the fur and beckoned me to join him. I knew now what he was going to do and what the blessing meant. Yet, I wasn't afraid, I was excited, the bells in my head that were clanging and saying: 'This is wrong' were swiftly silenced. I couldn't find anything wrong about him. I sat in front of him and he slowly pushed my coat over my shoulders showing the dress I had on underneath. He knew I was a human just wearing fur, a peculiar man because it didn't upset him. I pulled off my boots and he took them put them aside.
Nothing about this was going to be fast I realised. Bahbi was going to take his time relishing every moment of undressing me. I showed him my zip in the back of my dress and he zipped it down further. He pushed my dress off my shoulders and turned me to him. In the light of the lamp he examined my breasts and my nipples, lightly caressing them, rolling my nipples between his thumb and forefinger until they stood erect.
He leaned forward and kissed my mouth again, I could feel his tongue on my lips and parted them for him, his tongue touched mine and then retreated. My tongue followed his into his mouth and they touched again. This time a little longer. I could feel his arm around me holding me to his chest while he caressed my breast and my back with the other.
