This will make more sense if you read the earlier parts. Don't worry, they're fun, action packed, and build the tension. Read them first! Also, all characters are 18 years or older. Enjoy.
*****
Mallory Stevens sat by herself on the couch in the Higgins family living room. Her husband, Bob, had just left with Paul to go golfing. Mallory could hear Joyce in the kitchen, humming to herself as she got them each a cup of coffee.
The message in church that morning had been a sermon on extending onto others the good will embodied in the Holy Spirit. Mallory reflected on those ideas and twisted the blue fabric of her dress with her fingers. She had no reason to be nervous. Joyce was a fine woman. An excellent wife and mother. But something was off in this house. Was it the strange rock from last night? For some reason, that odd bit of mineral weighed on her mind and filled her dreams as she tossed and turned last night. Why did she care so much about holding it again?
"You're thinking about Sammy's rock." Joyce had reentered the living room. Her hips swaggered in her high-waisted pants. Her large breasts, which had been on display with a low-cut dress last night, were now mostly concealed in a loose blouse.
"No." Mallory wiped her palms on her dress and reached out for the mug of coffee. When was the last time she'd had sweaty palms? All because of brunch with a housewife? "Thank you for the coffee."
"Are you sure I can't interest you in some mimosas?" Joyce smiled and sat on the loveseat, facing the couch. She was a pretty woman with a warm, soothing charm.
Something about Joyce made Mallory want to give her a big hug. Mallory resisted. "Coffee is fine, thank you." Mallory crossed her legs and offered her own perfunctory smile. "Your children are very charming. What are they doing today?"
"Oh, Rebekah is off working on some sort of science project," Joyce said. "That's mostly what she does these days."
"She's at junior college?"
"Yes. She'll be transferring to a four-year school soon," Joyce held her head high, ever the proud parent. "She's always been good in school."
"And Sam?" For some reason, saying Sam's name made Mallory feel discombobulated and more than a little fuzzy. What was wrong with her today?
"He's had his struggles with school in the past. But he's doing better now. He just needed some motivation." Joyce set her mug down on the coffee table. "He's upstairs right now, studying hard."
"That's excellent." Mallory nodded. "And the rock?"
"Excuse me?" Joyce laughed, a light, airy sound, as if Mallory had just told a slightly vulgar joke.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that." Mallory frowned and looked around the room. It was filled with tasteful, middle-class department store furnishings. "What I meant was. The stone? Or, I mean, can I ...? I'm sorry, I'm not feeling myself today."
"It's quite all right." Joyce reached into the front of her blouse with her right hand and pulled out from between her breasts the black stone with red veins. "Joyce Higgins, always at the ready." She reached the rock out to Mallory in the palm of her hand.
"I ..." Mallory's mouth hung open. She was not used to seeing women retrieve things from their brassieres. Time to get a grip. Mallory should not have come to brunch this morning. She snapped her mouth shut, put her mug down on the coffee table, and readied herself to leave. Instead, her hand reached out and plucked the rock from Joyce. "It's very pretty, isn't it?"
"Yes." Joyce clasped her hands in her lap. The rock was many things, none of them were pretty. "You can hold it for as long as you like."
"Thank you." Her gray-blue eyes reflected the pulsing red light as she stared. Her face, always so reserved, now even more still than usual. The small, silver cross around her neck also picked up a faint red hue from the rock.
Mallory lost track of time.
"You were Pre-Med, right?" Joyce broke the silence.
"What?" Mallory looked up. She'd forgotten about her host. "Yes."
"That's wonderful." Joyce stood and stepped over next to the couch. "I could use your opinion on something." She held out her hand to Mallory.
"I don't think I'm up for tutoring Sam today." Mallory reached out her left hand and felt Joyce's warm fingers close around hers.
"Don't worry, it's nothing like that." Joyce looked down at the trembling woman's hand. "What a pretty wedding ring. Is it vintage?"
"Yes. 1930s." Mallory felt herself being gently pulled to her feet.
"Well, Bob really outdid himself. It's beautiful." Joyce led Mallory out of the living room, toward the stairs.
"I helped him." Mallory still held tightly to the rock with her right hand.
"Of course you did, dear." Joyce lead them upstairs.
Mallory admired the housewife's round butt, shown to full advantage in those high-waisted pants. She blushed and looked away. The walls of the stairway were decorated with framed family pictures. The kids got older as they ascended. Mallory even spotted a picture of Paul and Joyce from their wedding. Joyce wore a gorgeous, white dress and a brilliant smile. Her curly brown hair, longer than now, cascaded around her shoulders.
"In here." Joyce knocked on a door. "Sammy, sweetie. Can we come in?"
"Yeah," a muffled voice called through the door.
Joyce opened the door and ushered them into the room.
Sam sat at his desk, still hunched over whatever he was working on. Mallory's gaze moved about the room. There was no mistaking a teenager's room. At eighteen, many girls were busy trying to surround themselves with adult things. But boys? In Mallory's experience, boys tried their best to never grow up. There were several posters tacked to the wall with space themes, one wizard cat, and one featuring a scantily clad elf lady. There were rocks on the shelves, mixed in with the comic books. There was, inexplicably, a stack of towels near his nightstand. And there was a curious, pungent, earthy odor. Not a bad smell, but very odd. Mallory sighed. At least he'd made his bed.
"Sammy?" Joyce squeezed Mallory's left hand and pulled her close.
"One sec, mom." Sam scribbled on the paper.
Mallory's grip tightened on the rock. A warmth had spread through her, without her realizing. Up her right arm and into her chest. The world still felt muddled, but she was more relaxed.
"Okay." Sam put down his pen and spun his chair to face them. He wore a t-shirt with a faded skull that said
Ordering Pizza with Skeletor
and some jeans. "Hi, Mrs. Stevens. How are you today?"
"I'm ..." Mallory searched for the word. "I'm good Sam."
"Great." Sam gave them a goofy smile. "What's up?"
"Well, Sammy," Joyce said. "Mallory has a medical background, so I thought we could have her look at your condition."
"Oh." Sam reached down and unbuttoned his jeans. "Okay." He pulled off the jeans and threw them to floor.
"What?" Mallory squeezed the rock in one hand and Joyce's fingers with her other. "What are you doing?"
"It'll be easier to show you than to explain." Sam pulled off his briefs and his dick sprung free.
"I don't ..." Mallory stared. She'd never seen anything like it. Veins everywhere. Engorged and pulsing. Did it have the same beat as the rock in her hand? The purple head mushroomed out in a ridiculously wide way. The whole thing was wrong, especially attached to Sam's slight frame. Whatever was wrong with him, it was beyond her. Sam needed a doctor.
"We need your help, Mallory." Joyce pulled her toward her son.
"Good Lord preserve me," Mallory said. The boy's testicles were comically large. How much stuff did he have in there?
"Have a look and tell us what you think." Joyce dropped Mallory's hand and stepped behind her.
Extend onto others the good will embodied in the Holy Spirit. She had to help. Mallory stood right in front of Sam's feet. The teenager had a wide grin on his face. She ignored him and leaned closer to his penis. It bounced with each beat of his heart. A drop of precum oozed out of the tip and meandered down the head. The rock in her hand sent out waves of warmth. "This is beyond me." Now bent at the waist, she reached out with her left hand toward his hideous manhood.
Sam watched the beautiful woman move toward him. She was clearly entranced. Now, inches away, he could see her soft, freckled skin as he moved his eyes down her slender neck, over her chest, and down her dress to catch just the first bit of cleavage. The cross around her neck hung in front of her and swayed with her slow movements. This was it.
"I can't." Mallory blinked her eyes. She looked down at here wedding ring and thought of Bob on one knee, offering it to her. And the ring this sweet man gave her was about to touch someone else's penis. "I really can't." Mallory straightened. "I want to help, but ..." The rock was now very hot in her hand. She tossed it toward the bed. "I have to go."
"Wait." Joyce tried to grasp her hand again.
Mallory stepped around her, opened the door, and raced down the stairs. She grabbed her purse in the kitchen. Everything was a blur; the front door, the walkway, her car door, the ignition. And she was gone, heading home.
~~
Once the shock had worn off, Joyce followed Mallory out into the hall and down the stairs. She was just quick enough to see Mallory disappear out the front door. Joyce wasn't going to follow her outside. There's no way she wanted to make a scene for the neighbors. "Oh, well. That didn't work," Joyce said to the empty living room.
On the end table by the couch, Mallory had forgotten her sunglasses. They were a large, tortoiseshell pair. Maybe trendy about a decade ago. She stepped over to the end table and picked them up. Great, now she had to figure out how to get them back to Mallory. Maybe she'd send them with Paul to work on Monday? That is if he still had a job.
"Mom? Is she gone?" Sam called down from his room.
"Don't yell across the house, sweetie." Joyce yelled back. "And yes, she's gone."
Joyce climbed the stairs and went back to Sam's room. She closed and locked the door behind her.
