Avram picked her np as easily as if she'd been a babe in arms. "Zora," he said, "throw something over her, will you please?" The voice was slow and patient, but there was enough menace behind it to compel attention. "Now don't delay me, anybody, you'll only make me mad, and that'll only waste your time and mine. Zora? Thank you, thank you…now well just run along…"
Outside, Esther sat behind the wheel of Lloyd's Volkswagen camper, an angry look on her face. "Yeah, good, Avram, you get in the back with her. The bed's down. Put her in there and keep die cover over her. I'll drive. Lloyd here can't stop blubbering."
"It's all right," Avram said in his gentle voice. "Both of you did just fine. You both did the right thing." Lloyd looked up at him gratefully and blew his nose, his face was red as a beet Nan gave both of them the same trusting smile she'd given the camera as Avram's strong arms lifted her into the back of the little truck.
It was dark back there. Nan was beginning to come down off her drug-induced high, and reality was seeping back into her mind. Reality and memory. "Oh, Avram," she said as he lowered her gentry onto the little bed in the back. "I had the most terrible dreams."
"Yes," he said, tucking the coverlet over her. "That's what they were, dear. Dreams." He patted her arm. In front, Esther started the car and put it in gear, easing out into the Highway One traffic lights from other cars flashed oddly, off and on, through the front windows and windshield. It was like the funny light show in the dream, only there was no rock and roll music. That was okay. She didn't want any music. Anything that loud would drown out the soft and reassuring sound of Avram's deep voice.
"There was this dream about Mary Alice," Nan said. "She'd been hurt, and I couldn't seem to do anything about it. But…it was like I could, too, only I had to go back to being Ed's wife to do it I ah of a sudden had all the money to help her with that anyone ever needed, and I could pay off all the bills and maybe even buy into the school and become partners with her once she got well…She will get welt won't she, Avram?"
"Yes, she will," he said. "We called the hospital this afternoon, and she's going to pull through. She'll need a lot of help, and she'll particularly-I mean besides somebody taking care of her…"
"Oh, I'll do it" Nan said. "She'll get the best of care. I promise." She gripped his big hand hard.
"…Anyhow, shell also need a lot of help putting the school back on a sound basis. I'm sure I can help out there some…"
"But Avram, that's what I was going to tell you. I…oh, it wasn't a dream. It wasn't It's me. I am worth…oh, God, twenty million dollars…"
"Welt," he said, obviously not believing her, "It sure it won't require anything like that much. Well all pitch in."
"Oh, sure we will Sure we will, Avram." She gripped his big paw with both of hers. "There's something…something on my wrists, Avram. What is it?"
"Oh," he said. He felt for them. "Oh, that" His big hands broke the chain, once, twice, tossing the pieces into a corner of the little truck. "Junk jewelry," he said. "Not really your thing, I think."
"Oh, it isn't," she said. "I never liked jewelry. Ed kept giving it to me and I never liked any of it. I didn't even feel bad about it when Marie-Helene stole all of it back in St. Tropez."
"Well," he said, "that's all over."
"Yes," she said. "Oh, yes, it is." She clung to his big arm. "There…was so much of it…I didn't understand…There was a dream about myself…under the lights…and people were doing things to me…and I couldn't help myself…I was so embarrassed…"
"Only a dream," he said, patting her hand. She grabbed the hand suddenly and pulled it under the cover to hold it against her naked bosom. She could see his face, big and kind and black-bearded, in the flickering lights.
"Yes…but Avram…it was a sexy kind of dream, really…it felt really sexy…I was naked.. and everybody was looking at me…and I felt kind of hot…you know what I mean?" She turned his hand around to feel his big rough palm on her hard nipples.
"Yes," he said, "I know what you mean."
"Yes…and it would all have been so nice…if only everyone had been kind…I was feeling kind to them…but they weren't feeling kind to me…and…and…that's one of the things I learned, these last few weeks, Avram…that love is being kind.. and giving yourself completely…but only to the people who give back…"
"That's right," he said. "That's the beginning of wisdom. It takes us all such a long hard time to get around to learning that" His hand, guided by her own, strayed down her front to rest on the soft patch of hair.
"Oh…that's nice…hold me there, Avram…could you…could you put your fingers inside me.. and feel me…and hold me…I'm still hot…from the dream…"
He did, and the hand was huge and warm and comforting, holding on to her thoroughly wet cunt as if it were some sort of handle, his big thumb slowly, gently, massaging her clitoris, which now stood out proudly.
"Oh, Avram…I've needed ah of you…so long…I've needed so much to learn…that it didn't matter whether it was a man or a woman…you went to bed with…as long as it was someone you loved and trusted and respected and felt affection for…Oh, Avram, I love Mary Alice so…I'm going to take such good care of her…"..
I'll help you," he said. "I love her too."
"Oh, you do? You do? She loves you too. Oh, Avram…dear Avram…come up in the bed with me…"
"I'm not sure both of us can get up there."
"Oh, do…please do…I'll get up on top…there's room…"
His big hands turned her this way and that, and he rolled his big body onto the bed, and he fumbled with his clothes a bit, and then Nan, still naked except for the coverlet over her shoulders, felt herself slowly sliding down…down onto Avram's large and thoroughly ready cock. She opened easily to receive him, and prepared to settle down comfortably. To her surprise, it filled her, inside, ad the way to the cervix: there was a thoroughly satisfying feeling of being stuffed right up to the gills.
"Now arch your back a little," he said. "Sit forward a little."
She did, and felt the tip of her clitoris rub deliciously against his pubis, covered as it was with his thick forest of bodily hair. It scratched…Delightfully…She purred softly as he rearranged the cover on her shoulders with big protective hands, and, still purring quietly, she began slowly and rhythmically to ride, ride, on his big and responsive body, back and forth. Her eyes closed; her breathing grew heavier, heavier; she felt his own response growing, growing…they were coming, together…both of them…at the same time…She heard his deep grunt at the same moment her own climax came, and she collapsed gratefully on his big chest, digging her flushed face into his heavy beard…
"Don't look now," Lloyd said up front, "but something's going on up there in the back."
"What?" Esther said in her rough voice. She looked around when the truck stopped at a traffic light. "For Christ's sake," she said. "Fucking. Can you beat that?"
"My, my," Lloyd said in a mock-prim voice. "But wouldn't you just adore getting a piece of that, now?"
"Which one?" she said, putting the car back in gear. Lloyd, an arch smile on his face, refused to answer.
She looked in the rear-view mirror, smiled wryly, and gave it the gas. "You're right," she said. "It wouldn't matter in the slightest"