Maids in the Mist
'Maids-in-mist' was Gretchen Collins' kinder more-lenient description of the women who turned to her husband Alex for their satisfaction while they stayed at Bly Bay Outfitters lodge on Chautauqua. Until Annessa Gavin appeared on the scene at Bly Bay the summer of '02, those antics were practiced at a distance, aboard the thirty foot LILLY or on one of the docks when the mist rose and concealed the offenses. When the weather was agreeable many of the women found it exciting to be fucked or sodomized by Alex Collins out on one of the docks.
Gretchen was aware those vile rituals were often initiated with the approval of the women's significant-others, "The cost of doing business," she admitted to Marge, her mother years ago.
"I've heard them speak to one another and watched husbands and wives go through the motions necessary to lead Alex astray," Gretchen said to her sisters, Jennifer and Paula, one Sunday afternoon at a bridal shower for first cousin, Betty Dressler. On that afternoon, Gretchen felt confession good for the soul and who better to hear her confession than her sisters.
Gretchen understood Jennifer had a better handle on her reasoning, for Jennifer had felt Alex' weight pressing down on her more than a few times and understood the allure. Gretchen was no innocent bystander in the matter for she gave Alex Jennifer without reservation and accordingly took her sister's husband, Michael to her hip.
Gretchen worked her way through the list of Alex' indiscretions but took care not to mention Daren Edmondson's name for the blush that would surely follow might give away that particular secret.
Unbeknownst to Gretchen, her liaison with the other woman had come-up during bedside conversation when Alex last enjoyed Jennifer's favors two days before Saint Valentine's Day. Though Jennifer had nettled him for a name, Alex refused to answer the question posed and name the woman.
There were other less kind descriptions Gretchen used when she was in a less-forgiving mood, her most popular being 'dirty whores'.
Annessa Gavin was the original member of that sorority, for she was the first woman to claim a portion of her husband's love. Mrs. Gavin was a small frame, sinewy sixty-year old woman with a perfect dancer's body and a need Alex answered more than a dozen times during the Gavin's ten day stay with Bly Bay Outfitters, the summer of '02. Mr. Gavin's daily medication precluded the sexual arousal necessary to answer his wife's call and so the couple turned to Alex Collins for relief from the tears that came with the darkness.
Alex was tending to a fifty-horse on the skiff in the boat house when his cell phone jittered in the pocket of his tan field jacket.
"When can you get away?" he heard.
Jennifer Patrick's question came as a surprise and without introduction on that Wednesday afternoon, April 5
th
.
"I have a meeting with Andy at his studio early tomorrow morning, Jennifer."
"Alex, I've got this itch that I can no longer ignore, Alex," Jennifer said softly into the receiver.
"Is it something that requires a visit to the clinic?" Alex worried in response.
"Jackass," she snapped back.
There was an awkward silence at Alex' ear before Jennifer asked, "Can we add your friend Daren to the guest list?"
"Which friend, Jennifer?" Alex asked.
"The one who goes down on Gretchen when she visits, Alex,"
Jennifer Patrick arrived at the apartment on Sweet Home Road with her usual punctuality intact and went right up to the front door as Alex had suggested lest she panic and flee. Thirty seconds later Jennifer stumbled back as the door swung inward and a mere wisp of a woman stood in the doorway with only a smile.
"I'm looking for Alex Collins," Jennifer said once she composed herself.
"He's here. He wanted me to show you what you're getting yourself into once you cross the threshold," the woman said. She then extended a hand and a name; "I'm Daren."
"I'm Jennifer, Alex' sister-in-law," Jennifer answered as she was pulled bodily into the foyer by the lapels of her coat. Daren slammed the door shut with a bang and the noise startled Jennifer.
Daren pulled Jennifer into the mix and cradled Jennifer to her bare chest. She forced a kiss firmly to Jennifer's mouth and finally pressed her tongue by the other's quivering lips. Daren's breathe smelled filthy, cigarettes and beer.
Overwhelmed Jennifer went back on her heels. She thought she might fall faint and tightened her arms around Daren's bony frame.
"You understand," Daren said over her left shoulder after turning away, "now is the time to turn and run, Jennifer. If you're staying throw the deadbolt."
Jennifer trailed Daren and stepped into the smoke-filled parlor without adding a word to the conversation. The air in the parlor was heavy with a myriad of scents with pot being the strongest.
"We started without you, Jennifer," Jennifer he heard Alex say while her eyes adjusted from the bright outdoors to the dimly lit parlor. The furniture, an over-stuffed sofa and two high-backed chairs, was covered in ancient maroon velvet.
Alex sat cross-legged on the sofa and crushed the velvet with his bare bottom. His penis glistened at half-staff in the flickering light of the three candles on one of the end tables.
"May I have your coat and the bag?" Daren asked Jennifer.
"Thank you, Daren," Jennifer said.
Jennifer took the bottle of Corona offered and a seat on the maroon velvet beside her brother-in-law. After two sips she looked to Alex.
"Watch," he said in a low voice before crooking a finger in Daren's direction. He pointed to the space in front of the sofa and Daren responded with a smile she wrapped around his penis.
"Careful, Daren," Alex warned while her head bobbed rapidly in his lap. "We're getting close."
Daren raised her head after Alex had finished and leaned toward Jennifer.
"May I kiss you?" Daren asked.
Jennifer nodded. Daren leaned back against the cocktail table littered with empties, roaches and a full ashtray. The table rolled back and provided the room needed.
Their kiss was soft and slow and wet with the woman's saliva. Jennifer tasted him on Daren's tongue. Alex took Jennifer's right hand from Daren's shoulder and placed it in his lap. She felt him tremble as his penis hardened in her fingers.