Message-ID: <22218asstr$947427001@assm.asstr-mirror.org> X-Original-Message-ID: From: artie Subject: {ASSM} TGM: Finding a New Life 1/7 by artie (MF ROM) Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2000 09:10:01 -0500 Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail Approved: Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d X-Archived-At: X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation X-Story-Submission: X-Moderator-ID: dennyw, kelly <1st attachment, "t01.txt" begin> Tales of the Golden Mule (c) Copyright 1999 by artie@netgate.net This work may not be reposted or redistributed without the prior express written permission of the author. A work of fiction, meant for adults. Read something else if you are not an adult, or are offended by stories with sexual content. Then again, if all you're looking for is in-out, in-out, in-out, you should probably read something else. I welcome constructive comments. Enjoy. This is the fourth, and final (for now) Tale of the Golden Mule. The three earlier Tales, Beginning, Miss Yellow, and Searching for Miss Brown are available on the assm web site or on my web site. Tales of the Golden Mule - Finding a New Life - Part 1 We did fill up with gas before crossing the border from Nevada back to California, and prices were substantially higher on the California side. Once we got on to the open road Nancy said, "You didn't tell me you got sick again yesterday." I shrugged -- what else could I do? She reached over and held my hand. "I love you. We've got an appointment at four this afternoon with the counselor Jill suggested. Is that okay?" I nodded. "Yes, thank you." "Bill, this worries me. Are you all right? What can I do?" I shook my head. "Nancy, you're doing so much. I don't know what it is. I want to hold you, and protect you; I don't want you to be hurt." I felt the lump in my throat, and said what I was thinking -- it was hard to do. "I don't know how to protect you from me; I don't want to hurt you." She squeezed me a little. "Bill, you won't hurt me. How could you?" I chuckled and finished the thought for her. "After all the shit we've been through in the last few weeks? I know I'm different. I know it isn't rational, but I still worry about turning into another John..." She was adamant, practically shouting "No! That won't happen!" Then she continued softer, "I won't let it happen to you darling." I kissed her hand. "Thank you. It's just... I worry... That morning with Chris -- it happened so easily. Then with Gail... I don't want to hurt you." Nancy sighed and moved her hand to my shoulder, rubbing the back of my neck. "Oh Bill... Don't worry about that. I met Chris, and she jumped your bones -- that's what she told us. And you were there for me, remember? You went there so you could fulfill my fantasy. And I seem to remember having to do more than coax you with Gail..." I laughed a little. "I guess so. Maybe I should be looking for guidance -- I seem to have lost my way some." Now Nancy laughed. "There's an old joke about a couple on their wedding night. The bride is waiting in bed, and the groom is still in the bathroom. Finally she calls out asking him what he's doing. He replies he's praying for guidance. She tells him to pray for endurance; she'll supply all the guidance he needs." I laughed and caressed her thigh. How close we came in Tahoe, how close I was to asking her right there. It will happen, in its own time, if it's to happen at all. I'm not in any hurry; there's no reason to hurry. "So what do you want to do?" I asked, "This month, next month, next year?" She smiled, wrinkling her eyebrows. "What you told Gail -- find a new life, with you. Be with you, learn to dance, make you laugh, and make you smile. How's that for a start? How about you? What do you want to do?" I patted her leg. "That's a great start. I want a lot of the same things. I also want to learn massage, and how to please you. Find a new life, pleasing you." "And what are you worried about? What are your concerns?" she asked. That made me wrinkle my brow. I shook my head slowly and said, "Sometimes I worry this is all a dream; it isn't really happening. Or someone is going to come along and say, 'Oh, a mistake,' and I have to repay a lot of money. But I think I'm getting over that one. I think my biggest concerns are staying sane, staying fit, healthy, and not putting on a lot of weight. I also don't want to get jaded. I'm scared of the money I guess, scared of what it could do to me." She rubbed my shoulder again. "It's not a dream; it's happening. I went through that when I first moved in with John, and when we were married. I think it took me five or six months to get used to the idea of financial independence. That doesn't mean not working -- I kept teaching, and I'll keep on with that. You need to find something to keep you going. And I'll help you stay in shape, believe me. What would you like to do for that?" "I don't know. I need to stay flexible -- I used to be able to do splits a few years ago..." "Really?" she interrupted. "Yes, but not any more -- that's why we ended that one dance the way we did the other night. If I'd gone down into splits, I'd never have gotten up again. Maybe one of those continuous flow swimming things; I like to swim. But I was thinking more of a water slide. I'd like to go somewhere with good water slides." Nancy laughed. "Have I got the place for you -- no, for us. It's in Hawaii, a resort hotel, I think it's a Hyatt, with incredible waterslides. We were there for a couple days for a conference John attended." "When can we go?" I asked. She laughed again. "We still have the Europe trip. Have you ever done yoga?" "One of those things I've been meaning to look into for a long time. A couple of friends in the dance club at school were big believers in yoga." Nancy nodded. "Well, when we get back, we'll start. I know a very good teacher -- his name is Bill too. He's based on Santa Cruz. I studied for a while and got a lot out of it." "Then why did you stop?" I asked. She frowned and sighed. "John?" I asked. She nodded. "I think he was jealous of me spending time with another man, even for something like that." "Okay, I understand. We can start whenever. That would probably be good for stress as well." She nodded. "Very helpful. I wish I could have gotten John interested." We held hands and were silent for a bit. "So what's in the back room, and what are we doing for Gail in Europe?" I asked to change the subject radically. It worked; she laughed. "You'll find out about the back room when I take you there, or maybe I'll have Gail do it, or have Gail take you and Chris. Dear Gail has quite a business, and it's not in the stuff in the showroom. She wants us to check out some exciting developments for her. I think it will be a lot of fun for both of us. I already called the travel agent and had her make the changes." "Oh?" I asked. She laughed. "You wanted it to be a surprise, remember?" I had said that. I laughed. "Yup, surprise me." "Oh I will darling, I will. I think Gail is going to be a good friend." "Did you pick up the pictures?" I asked her. I had the dates written down, but didn't have the pictures of our mystery redhead. "Shit. I thought you got them. Oh well, we'll get them sooner or later." "What would you think of this," I started out, "Tell me if I'm crazy, but I was thinking maybe in a few months having a get-together, maybe at the big house, maybe somewhere else, and inviting Christine, Gail, maybe Chris, maybe Jill and Karen, I don't know. Something to put a big bow around all this, package it up. Does that make sense?" She patted my leg. "Yes it makes sense. I think it would be good to do." "Thanks," I told her. "I'm trying to tell you things, but it's hard. I think that was one of my problems before." "Don't look back; look forward," she told me, pointing ahead on the road. "We're going this way." I laughed and held her hand, kissing it. "Keep me pointed that way." We talked about random things for a while, things we wanted to do to the big house, and to the beach house. Bookcases and the kitchen remodel would be a big step; we'd already cancelled the work that was to be done on the other bedroom. I was already thinking about a small dance floor on top of the carpeting in one part of the large living room area. That would work. We'd need speakers there as well. This could be fun. "What are you thinking about?" she asked. I sighed. "Oh, a lot of things. The money again -- I've never worried about money before. Janet took care of paying the bills for us. If I wanted something, I'd ask her if we could afford it. I never needed the latest gadget. I guess that's why some parts of it seem unreal. I've never been driven by money. I worked hard, and invested what we had carefully -- I wanted her to have the best. The last year or so, she seemed so driven by money, going public. I guess about a year ago she tried to talk me into going to a startup. I'd seen what startup hours did to her, and told her I'd rather have the time with her. Maybe that was the start of it, I don't know." She rubbed my thigh. "With my money sense, we should get someone to manage it and advise us. Maybe that's Duncan. Maybe that's you?" She sighed. "I can help. Still want a grease burger for lunch?" I was a little more enthusiastic about that. "You bet!" So we returned via Tracy, the outlet stores, and the In-N-Out burger. We had lunch then spent a little while at the outlets. We didn't get anything. Back at the Jeep, Nancy tossed me the keys. "You drive us the rest of the way." "Okay, where's our appointment?" I asked her. "Know where Vallco Mall is in Cupertino?" "Think so -- isn't it at 280 and Lawrence, or is it Wolfe?" I asked her. "280 and Wolfe -- that's where we're headed." "Okay, we get to swim through commute traffic for a while." "I can drive if you want me to." "No, I'll do it; it will keep my mind occupied." "Good. Don't worry; you don't need to worry anymore." I laughed a bit. "But it's one of the things I'm best at!" "Then you're going to have to get good at something else instead." "Good idea. I'll need your help." We did pick up traffic, but it wasn't too bad. Well, attitude has a lot to do with it. I was with Nancy; that made a big difference. We found the building with some time to spare, so we both visited the plumbing. I got to fill out the customary paperwork. The counselor, Sue, was an older gal, mid to late forties. I spent about fifteen minutes giving her the abridged and sanitized version of the story. She had to admit it was quite a tale. We talked about issues for a while, and that helped greatly. She'd talked to Jill and made the suggestions about us cleaning out personal effects. We'd followed her advice; I told her not only had it helped, but I thought it had drawn Nancy and I closer together. We talked a lot about Nancy, and my fears towards her. We scheduled another session for the next week; that one would be the three of us. At the end she talked a little with Nancy, finally moving the three of us back into her office for a few minutes. She told us both that from what she'd heard, we were doing extremely well handling things. We needed to keep talking, not holding things in. If she couldn't help, she could send us to someone who could. We thanked her and left. Nancy and I hugged in the parking lot. "You feel better?" she asked. "Yes, thanks for setting that up for me," I told her. "Thanks for doing it for me," she said. "I did it for us, for us," I told her, and held her tighter. We were going against traffic getting back to the house. When we got there, the flowers were just about shot; they looked as if they'd been consolidated, with fewer vases sitting out than when we'd left. Nancy found a bag of petals in the garage refrigerator and added to it. The fragrance was still with us though; the bedroom smelled heavenly. "Care for a swim?" I called out from the living room. I'd walked off the area I thought would be a dance floor; it would work, with a little bit of rearranging. "Sounds great!" she shouted from the garage. "Wait for me to get my suit." "Your what?" I hollered. She walked back into the house laughing, already half undressed. We had a very nice swim. I spent a while working my right knee and hip, flexing and stretching. We also spent time hugging and kissing in the water. Nancy got out and put a cushion from one of the lounges down on the desk. "Up here for me," she said. I got out with a smile. As I approached her with my intent obvious, she laughed. "Come over here and sit down! I want to check that knee!" I gave her a mock pout. She laughed and said, "And we'll see what happens after that." She had me sit first, then lie back as she pulled, pushed, and twisted both my legs. Some things hurt, some didn't. "You've strained a ligament some, feels like the medial collateral," she told me. "We'll take it easy and put you on Naprelan for a few days." She started running her hands along my legs and added, "You just need to learn to relax and let go more in some situations." I laughed and let my eyes close. "You're right. You need to teach me." She leaned over and kissed me. "I will darling. Let's get up and get dressed." I opened my eyes. "What? Why?" She sat back and laughed. "Oh you... You should see the pained look on your face. While you were being counseled, I was on the phone. Jill and the real estate gal should be here in oh, about," she looked at her watch, then continued, "half an hour. They're bringing pizza and salad. With anchovies." "The pizza or the salad?" I asked gruffly, sitting up. She laughed again. "Both -- I'm getting to know you. And I'll make it up to you later, I promise." I smiled. "I know you will. I'm sorry. Thanks for watching out for the details." I let her help me up, and did spend a while at her nipples as I made my way to standing. We dried each other and went back in, changing into presentable clothing. I popped four wine glasses into the freezer to chill. After I did that I frowned, got four more from the cupboard, and put them in the refrigerator in the garage. On second thought, I added four champagne flutes as well. Nancy saw me coming back into the house. "What did you do?" she asked, perusing the stack of mail. "Put some glasses and flutes in the garage fridge to keep cold. I like cold glasses." She kissed me on the nose. "So do I. There are always plastic ones in the one by the pool." I frowned, then put an arm around her. "I don't drink wine from plastic. Beer maybe, but not wine." She put down the mail and put her arms around my shoulders. "Good for you. But no glass around the pool. It can be nasty, and I've got a scar to prove it." "Yes dear," I said, and kissed her. And that's when the doorbell rang. As I walked to the door, I said to Nancy, "I want you alone some where for a few days -- no interruptions unless they're mine!" I opened the door to Jill and the real estate gal, and invited them in. We set up on the dining room table. The pizza and the salad were good. The pizza had anchovies on half; the salad came with a little container of them on the side. I was glad to see Nancy eating them as well. The real estate gal's story was simple -- the property was in a very good school district. We had four bids, the lowest of which was at the asking price. All four were from families with one or two kids. The highest offer had all sorts of contingencies, wanted the place stripped bare, and wanted a long escrow period. The middle offer was pre-qualified for a mortgage, didn't have any contingencies, could use the furniture, and Jill hinted strongly that they were a nice couple. I looked at Nancy and gave her a questioning glance. She smiled. I turned to Jill and the real estate gal and said, "Sounds like they've got a house to me." The real estate gal wolfed down the rest of her slice of pizza, emptied her wineglass, thanked us, and split. As Nancy returned from seeing her out, I asked Jill, "Can you stay for a little while?" Jill laughed with a piece of pizza still in her mouth and nodded. When she'd swallowed, she said, "Yes, why?" I looked at Nancy. "So you can pinch me and help convince me this is still real." Jill took a swig of wine. "Oh it's real. I brought along the paperwork for Janet's stock exercise. Would you like to go over that?" I nodded as I enjoyed another bite, with anchovies. Jill and Duncan had enjoyed very much the opportunity to extract some agreements from the University; both of them wanted to insure the money was going to areas that needed it, and not to areas that already had a lot of money but always wanted more. It sounded good to me. The proceeds from the remaining part were going into a trust that would be able to support me (I interrupted and said, "us") as a fallback. I got to sign a stack of papers. "What's happening with Janet's insurance?" I asked Jill. She frowned a little, then smiled. "We're talking. They're going to pay; it's just a matter of when. Remember -- if you get any calls on anything relating to that, you tell them you're represented by an attorney and to have them call me. Got it?" I nodded -- she'd given me this drill a couple times. "Yes, dear," I told her. "What's this?" I asked, when I got to some tax returns. Jill smiled. "This is Duncan's part of the stack. He's amending your returns for the last couple years, as well as doing your quarterly return. He's saving you quite a bit of money." "Enough to pay for you folks?" I asked. Nancy looked shocked. I quickly held her hand and said to Jill, "Jill, forgive me. I wasn't being nasty. You've saved my life." Jill laughed. "Don't worry, I understand. We've saved you more than we've cost you. But you did the major work. Just what did you say at Wilson on Monday?" I gave her a quizzical look. She shook her head and laughed more. "I got a call late Monday from a very senior partner, telling me how happy he'd been to meet you, and how you'd handled things very well. He told me your work was now being done by a different member of the firm, and he'd reviewed past billings on the account, and was making substantial reductions in them." I smiled and raised my wine glass. "What goes around comes around." We clinked glasses and drank a small toast. "Indeed," Jill continued. "Mindy and Duncan both like Mike Marshall very much. He's sharp, good to work with, and doesn't try to bluff when he doesn't know something." I looked over at Nancy. "I trusted my gut." We went over some more details. She was preparing a revised will for me that I'd need to review and definitely sign before we left for Europe. We'd need to spend some time on that. If the townhouse offer was accepted, I'd have some more paperwork to sign, but it would be simple. She'd done an agreement with Josh on the Sunnyvale passion pit, so that was done. She'd worked with my company to be sure I had medical insurance through the end of the year; taking an unpaid leave of absence was the right thing for me to do. It was almost nine when she left. We picked up the debris. We were holding each other in the kitchen when Nancy said to me, "Quick shower and then you're mine." I nuzzled her and said, "I'm yours already." She squeezed me and said, "Shower first!" We went upstairs and were greeted by the fragrance of the roses still filling the room. She turned down the bed and we showered. As usual, I was a big help as we were getting dried off. "You! On your back on the bed! Now!" I laughed and gave her one more feel before I left the bathroom. It was good to be in my own bed again. I laughed to myself at that. It was my bed, in my house. I'd gotten used to sleeping on the "other" side pretty easily. She came in a few minutes later, sliding up to me. "All you have to do is lay there and let it happen," she told me as she stroked my body. It was hard to do, just lay there. She teased me so well; I didn't know what would happen next. She took me into her mouth, and I didn't know if she'd take me over the edge or not. She took me close and brought me back a number of times. Once I moved my hands to her head. She took them and held them at my sides as she ground into me with her breasts, telling me my hands were tied to the bed. That set off something inside me. She moved on top of me, taking me inside her and taking my hands in hers over my head. "Let go and come for me, come for me," she hissed as she ground her hips into me. It didn't take long before I did as she asked. END of Part 1 Tales of the Golden Mule Tales of the Golden Mule by artie@netgate.net http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/artie/www http://artie.web1000.com/ The entire Tales of the Golden Mule is available in HTML format on my web site (http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/artie/www/TGM.html). It's also available as a single LARGE (about 800kb!) text file on the asstr ftp site (http://www.asstr-mirror.org//pub/Authors/artie/text/tgm.txt). ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ This post has been reformatted by ASSTR's Smart Text Enhancement Processor (STEP) system due to linelengths exceeding the 75 character limit. ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ <1st attachment end> ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ Notice: This post has been modified from its original format. The post was sent as an email attachment and has been converted by ASSTR ASSM moderation software. ----- ASSM Moderation System Notice------ -- Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | alt.sex.stories.moderated ----- send stories to: | | FAQ: Moderator: | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |Archive: Hosted by Alt.Sex.Stories Text Repository | |, an entity supported entirely by donations. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+