All Characters In This Story Are 18+ Years Old
*
"What are you going to do with Grandma's ashes, Uncle Claude?"
Nel sat, between her uncle and her mother, on the leather bench seat of Claude's 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado. Claude was driving, using 40 years of experience to maneuver safely, while he was lost in his thoughts about his recently departed and cremated mother, Carla James. His sister, Sally, equally isolated and distant, stared out through the tinted passenger window. The urban landscape was bright in the late May Denver afternoon sun, but it slipped by, unseen and unappreciated. Nel's hands were folded in her lap around a small purple velvet bag, containing a vial with a tablespoon of Carla's cinders. Her stark, simple question was a pistol shot in the closed cabin of the old luxury coupe.
Claude and Sally snapped their heads around to Nel, as if an alien being had just materialized in their midst. "Huh? What?" Claude's confusion tumbled from him. Then, returning to the present, he answered, "Oh. I have something special in mind, kiddo." He smiled warmly and patted her thigh, above her knee, but below the hemline of her denim skirt. "How about you?" He asked, "Any thoughts?"
Sally, once again interested in the living occupants of the car, dropped her left arm around Nel's shoulders and chimed in, "Yes, hon', tell us what you want to do with your little bit of Grandma."
Nel paused. "Well, I remember, right after we got here, Grandma took me up to Pikes Peak and she said there was no higher place in America between there and the Atlantic Ocean. I think she would like it if I just sprinkled her where she could look East and see the sunrise every morning." She gave her mother and uncle a tentative look and asked, "Do you think that's, like, too dopey?"
"I do NOT!" Sally answered emphatically. "I think that's just too precious! I wish I had thought of it." She twisted in her lapbelt and kissed Nel on the cheek.
"I agree," Claude said, giving Nel's leg a quick tight squeeze before returning his hand to the steering wheel. "How would you like it if I drove up with you tomorrow or Sunday?" He volunteered.
"Oh, that would be terrific, Uncle Claude!" Nel promptly answered.
"OK, then," Claude said, "Let's plan on that. The urn itself, of course," he continued, "will be kept in a place of honor in the house. We can all think on where that might be, unless you already have a spot picked out, Sis?"
"Well, she loved the patio garden." Sally mused aloud, "That stone Chinese pedestal lantern, which I have never used for that purpose, would be a perfect niche, wouldn't it?" She leaned forward and looked around her daughter at Claude. "As for Pikes Peak, would you mind terribly if I did not go with you? The company has been great about bereavement leave, but I probably should take a look at a couple of projects before I go in to the office Monday." She watched their faces closely for any reaction as she said, "Besides... it will give you guys a great opportunity to really bond... you know?" She grinned broadly and winked. Uncle and niece each received her open message through their respective secret lenses, smiling their acknowledgement.
"Yeah, Mom, perfect!" Nel quickly agreed, "But what about YOUR personal vial? Are you going to do something with that?"
"I haven't given it much thought, dear," Sally replied. "I guess I'll just keep it in my jewelry box until I figure something else out."
Claude pulled the Olds up to the curb and they all walked to the house, again quiet with their own thoughts. Inside, they parted: Nel vanished into her bedroom, Sally headed for the patio and Claude closed himself in the den. Half an hour later, Claude tapped on Nel's bedroom door. She opened it a crack, saw it was her uncle and stepped back. "Hey, unk," she smiled, "Come on in, I could use your advice."
Claude stepped through the door and saw his 18-year old niece had shed her denim skirt, along with her opaque navy tights, and had tossed them onto her perpetually unmade bed beside Turk, her stuffed plush dragon. She stood in front of her closet mirror wearing a pink floral push-up bra with satin cups and white cotton boy-cut panties. She looked,through the mirror, at her uncle looking at her and she grinned. "Do you like this bra?" She asked, turning around, holding her hands under her breasts. She looked down to her left and then to her right and then up at Claude. "I can't decide... Do you think it makes me look, you know, BIGGER?" She stepped close and dropped her hands to Claude's waist and then around to the front of his wool slacks. Cupping her right hand and pushing it against his package, she said, "I think it definately makes YOU bigger, unk." She giggled and squeezed. "I liked it when you touched my leg in the car. Do you think Mom knows... about... US?" She asked innocently, stroking the palm of her hand along Claude's stiffening member.
"Uhnnn, Nel... kiddo," Claude groaned and choked out a reply, "I wouldn't even know how to ask her." He temporized, hoping the subject would die. "I do like that bra. It is flattering, and," he said, swatting her backside, "It will look even better when you COVER IT UP with a top!" He grinned as she made a face and stuck out her tongue at him. "Listen," he said, "No kidding around, now. Get dressed and come out to the living room. We need to leave for the restaurant." He turned and walked out, closing the door behind him.
Nel left her tights on the bed and pulled her denim skirt back on over her bare legs. She reached into her sweater drawer and extracted a V-neck, back buttoned, pink lamb's wool sweater. Holding it up she saw it matched the pearly color of her bra cups. "Perfect!" She said, grabbing a thin pink polyester camisole from her underwear drawer. She pulled the cami, and then the sweater, over her head, tugging until her breasts were accentuated just the way she wanted them, with the merest hint of her bra's edge peeping at the swell of her bosom behind the V-neck. She kicked her bare feet into a pair of ropy wedgies and left for the living room.
When Nel got there, Claude was sitting on the sofa, exactly as he had been yesterday when he paddled and fucked her. The memory made her wet, although she also saw her mother, sitting to his left, and that put a damper on the whole thing. Claude looked up as she stepped down from the hall. Patting the cushion to his right, he said, "You look terrific, Nel. Sit right here for a moment, will you, please?" Not knowing what to expect, Nel shrugged acquiesence and walked over to the couch, sitting as directed.
Claude looked first to Sally and then to Nel. "In the car you asked me what I was going to do with Grandma's ashes," he reviewed. "I said, 'I have something special in mind' and now you are BOTH going to find out what that was." He reached into the inside pocket of his new navy linen blazer and pulled out two long thin white cardboard boxes. Each had a red ribbon and they were stamped with the name 'Zales' in gold ink. He handed one to Nel and the other to Sally.
"What's this? Pens, Claude?" Sally asked with a chuckle, taking the ribbon off her box.