Dear readers, thank you for exploring the lives of these characters. I love to hear from you. Please remember to contribute to nifty.org.
Mark
Summer 2019
Mark awoke that Saturday morning and smiled knowing it was going to be a great day. He could already see the sun shining through the slits in the blinds. Yep, he and the kids would go hiking and cook out on the trail. He loved being out in nature. He just had to find his hiking boots.
"Okay, cowkids, up and at 'em."
Mark realized he would have loved living in an earlier time in the wild, wild west. He had seen all of the television shows when he was growing up. He could have lived on the Ponderosa or in the Big Valley. He admired all of the handsome guys in their chaps, riding horses, and eating grub. He always got a funny feeling in his tummy when they were shirtless. He didn't know why but he knew he wanted to look like them. He admired their easy camaraderie. He laughed thinking that as a straight man he could still admire other handsome men. He wasn't intimidated by them because he knew that he could hold his own. Men and women, many younger than him, let their eyes linger a little too long when viewing him. Especially when he was at the community pool. He had to be careful he didn't chub up. He knew Robert was going to be the same way. When he was born, the doctor looked at his genitals and commented on how blessed he was. Mark remembered laughing and proudly saying he took after his dad. Army was beautiful and blond like his mother. He was lithe and would be tall and slender. He too was blessed. The apple didn't fall far from the tree in terms of body DNA for either child. Mark was six feet of hunk. He had a furry chest, five o'clock shadow, a devilish grin and a twinkle in his eyes. He still exercised every day to keep his body in shape. His ego wasn't out of proportion to his body. He knew it was a gift and was glad that it had been bestowed on him. He went to the bathroom to relieve his snake before heading to the kitchen.
Robert and Army still had sleep in their eyes when they came in for breakfast. Mark had set out cereal bowls and was making toast. He didn't want to waste time by cooking a hot breakfast. After eating, they stacked bowls and Mark said they would wash them when they came back.
"It is going to get hot later today so wear layers. I can't find my damn boots. Have either of you seen them?"
Army shyly said they were in the storage closet. Mark knew what that meant. Army had been rooting around again. He was looking for things that were his mother's. Perhaps Mark had been wrong to pack away all of Linda's belongings when she died. It may have been better if he had left them out. When Mark opened the closet door, he could tell that boxes that held Linda's personal items had been opened. He decided that denial was the best route for the moment and looked through things until he saw his boots. Beside them were Linda's boots. They loved to hike together. They were convinced that Army had been conceived on one of their hikes. They were both romantic in that way.
It had been a hot sunny day when Mark and Linda had been on the Appalachian Trail for a weekend hike. Robert was with Mark's parents for the weekend. Both Robert and Linda were deeply tanned from spending so much time outside by the pool. They started hiking early Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning they crawled out of their tent and surveyed the valleys and hills in front of them. Mark knew they were hiking to a waterfall. He had plans. They ate their oatmeal and drank a cup of Nescafe. It was nasty stuff but they didn't care. They were both in their underwear and Mark said it would be fun to hike in the nude. Linda gave him a look that conveyed, 'don't try it, buddy'. Mark asked about hiking in their underwear. Again, she was weighing the possibilities.
"This is what we are going to do then, Buster Brown. We will wear our swimsuits so when we get to the waterfall we won't have to change."
Mark smiled triumphantly. He knew that Linda was all about compromise so he started at the far end of the spectrum and knew that they would end up at the place he really wanted. Linda knew Mark too well and played along with his silly macho games. She could read him an oft-perused book.
After brushing their teeth, they donned their swimsuits. Linda wore a one piece while Mark wore his speedo. They both wore hiking boots. Luckily, their packs were fairly light weight since it was just a weekend hike. They trekked north along the trail. When they encountered other people, both would be ogled. Linda would chuckle because the men were not being able to look her in the face as their eyes were zoomed in on her bosom. She was as well endowed in her mammary glands as Mark was in his lower 48. When this was happening, Linda would start to pick something off of her swimsuit and then start rubbing at her breasts and Mark would rearrange his junk in his speedo. They would then laugh at each other and press forward with their hike.
They reached the waterfall around lunch time. They ate protein bars and then apples and oranges. They purified water to make lemonade.
"Last one in is a sissy." Mark laughed as he raced toward the lake at the bottom of the falls. Linda raced like mad. She was as competitive as Mark if not more so. That is how she became a neurosurgeon. She had fought like hell against prejudices from all of those old doctors. She had placed first in her graduating class from Medical School and had gotten exactly where she wanted on Match Day. They were staying in Chapel Hill.
Their lives had been a struggle, or so they thought. Their world view was of privileged kids with money and a good education who were on their own for the first time. Sure, they had to live in a one bedroom apartment when they finished undergraduate school. They both went to graduate school and worked part time. Mark worked for his dad and Linda worked in a clinical reference laboratory. Mark decided he was educated enough when he finished his degree but Linda knew she was on the pathway to her goal. She wanted to be a surgeon. She loved to take care of people. She was as passionate about that as she was about her love for Mark. They were perfectly matched. They enjoyed the physicality of making love. Linda would goad Mark when he thought he was being too rough with her.
"Come on, wimp, give it to me. Pound me hard. Push me across the bed with your thrusts. Take me big boy." And he did, time and again. She was insatiable about enjoying every minute of life. She wanted nothing left behind when she died. He had met his match in so many ways. But it grew boring for Linda.
He clearly remembered one night after they had been dating for about six months. He was horny and making moves on her. He told her he needed her in the bedroom. She replied that she needed to get a nail file. He didn't know what she meant. She looked him directly in the eyes and said that sex for him was a male dominant activity. She said she was tired of the missionary position with the lights turned off. The nail file was for her to do her manicure while he screwed her. Mark was gutted because at 22 years old he thought he was good in bed. Linda could tell she had hurt his little boy sensitivities. She asked Mark if she could take the lead that night. He said yes but he didn't really know what she meant. By the time she finished with him that night he was a quivering mess. From that point on, she led their sexual experiments and gave him ideas to try. He willingly went along when she wanted to try new and different things. The tired missionary position was stricken from their list of possibilities. It was when she brought home a strap- on dildo that he thought she had gone too far. It was all black which made it worse for him. He was hidebound about certain things.
Linda started by making Mark lie on his back. She told him he couldn't assume another position without her permission. His hard cock was thrusting, trying to enter her but she wouldn't let it. She kept bringing him to the edge and then backing away. She licked his nut sack and when her mouth went lower Mark started making incoherent sounds and his hips were bucking. She pushed his hairy thighs onto her shoulders as her tongue continued to move south. When she entered Mark with the strap-on, he started yelling and cussing. He used language he never uttered around other people; most certainly not a woman. That night he let himself be taken three times. The third time he was riding cowboy while holding onto the headboard. The next day at work his father asked if he was okay because he was walking strange. Mark blushed and said his hemorrhoids were acting up.
After that night both agreed that everything was allowable with two caveats: first, it was always just the two of them and no one else was invited and second, they both had to agree and when one of them said 'stop' the other would honor that. However, neither of them ever said 'stop'.
She taught him about sex, gender, romance, and sensuality. He taught her that he was a willing partner who loved and adored her and was willing to walk over hot coals for her. After he thought that he shuddered thinking that was probably also in her repertoire. After all, she had him understand the correlation between pleasure and pain and had him writhing while she chewed on his nipples. He then understood the short connection between his nipples and his cock. He had never considered a man's nipples as a sex organ. Linda, luckily disabused him of that notion.
Mark had stamina and could ride the wave for hours as they explored the fluidity of sexuality. One of their favorite activities was playing Crash Davis and Annie Savoy from the movie, "Bull Durham." The movie was set right down the road in Durham and they knew the scenes only too well. They would spend Saturday night putting the house back together after making love in every room of the house during the day. They never knew if Mark's parents would stop by after church on Sunday so they wanted it to be the house they expected to see.
It was a good thing his parents did not know what went on in their house when the draperies were closed. Mark knew that he and Linda weren't the first to try their veritable circus of sexual exploration but he couldn't conceive of his parents having the imagination and willingness to explore these unchartered territories. He remembered seeing his father peeing one day in the bathroom and the stream of yellow water went all over the wall as his father tried to hide his penis. His father yelled at Mark and told him that it was a sin for him to be looking. His mother always wore a housecoat that practically skimmed the floor. It was buttoned all the way to her throat. He had never seen her in a bathing suit. His sister, Faith, went through a stage in high school where both parents were concerned that she was a slut because she was caught kissing a boy after a date. It was a sexually repressed home.
Their time at the waterfall was magical. She was The Lady of the Lake as she handled his sword. He was Odysseus who was home from a ten-year odyssey. Because they were both beautiful and gifted in their physical attributes, they took it for granted it would always be that way. They spent afternoons making love. They hastily put up a tent as the sun was going down and gathered some sticks for a fire. They made love in front of the fire. That night in the tent, Linda was a cowgirl until Mark told her he was chapped and needed some medication. She found some lotion and then she started again. Mark was amazed that he could get it up again the next morning before they hiked out of the mountain to drive home. But he did. Linda then fed him his own essence for breakfast. He was a little hesitant at first but Linda convinced him to enjoy this new adventure. Afterwards, Mark was so turned on by the taste of himself he convinced her to go one more time. Mark dove in afterwards with no asking or hesitation. He loved the taste of himself mixed with Linda.
It was the absolute freedom of their sex and gender play that allowed Mark to be open about Army saying he was Belinda. Linda had taught him about the range of sex and gender. His repressive childhood was gone and he was open to the limitless possibilities of the gifts of their love. God, he missed her so bad. She had given him an incredible gift and now he had no one to share it with.
Mark came back to the present and helped Army and Robert prepare for the hike. He said they were driving to the mountains because he had something he wanted to show them. Mark quickly gathered the equipment that hadn't been used in years and was so manic the boys didn't know what was going on with their dad. They were on the road and Mark was in a great mood. Both boys finally stopped asking 'how much further, dad' and fell asleep in their seats. When they reached a parking lot, Mark put on a pack and the three headed north on a trail. They arrived at the lake late in the afternoon. They were enchanted.
Mark set up the tent and then said they were going swimming. "Put on your swimsuits. We don't want the fish nibbling on our things thinking they are bait." The boys giggled. They walked in the water with Mark in the middle holding onto their hands. The bottom was solid and went they were out to Army's shoulders, Mark sat down and let the boys play. They had a splashing game and both boys tackled their dad. It was a magical time for them. They were fearless. Army was like a fish in the water the same as his mother. Robert was like his dad and plowed through the water like a tug boat.
They toweled off when they got out of the lake and Mark built a fire in front of the tent. They were wearing their skivvies. He had put some hot dogs in a cooler and they roasted them on twigs. He found an old bag of marshmallows in the cabinet and had brought those also. As the fire died down, they looked up and saw the stars. It felt like they could reach out and touch them. When they climbed into the tent, they laid on Linda's sleeping bag that had been opened and Mark used his sleeping bag to cover them. The three of them slept intertwined. It was the most intimate thing that Mark had done since his Linda had died. He awoke and was at peace.
They had a peeing competition in the morning; Army said that it was unfair because Mark had such a big penis. He asked Mark if he could touch it because he had never seen it so big and hard. Mark swallowed and said he could have one quick touch. Army touched it and then was totally disinterested. Mark wondered if he had gone too far with Army. He didn't want to be prudish but this was new territory. Robert kept asking if his was going to be as big as his dad's. Mark said that time would tell and they would have another peeing competition when he was a grown.
Mark pulled out packages of instant oatmeal and he made some instant orange juice. It was a quiet beautiful morning by the lake. They ate and talked about the good time they were having. Mark said they needed to clean up the camp site so they could head back home but first he had a story to tell them.
He then told them the story of Linda.