Message-ID: <22224asstr$947434200@assm.asstr-mirror.org> X-Original-Message-ID: From: artie Subject: {ASSM} TGM: Finding a New Life 7/7 by artie (MF ROM) Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2000 11:10:00 -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, "t07.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. Tales of the Golden Mule - Finding a New Life - Part 7 We held each other in the early morning, the sun creeping in around the edges of the spread tacked up over the glass doors. I was contemplating getting up to take a quick leak, and returning for some serious snuggling, when Nancy started laughing softly. I moved down to a nipple and slipped my arms around her. She held me to her, laughing a little more. We rolled around a bit, and she rolled me to my back. This was very encouraging. But she propped herself up on her elbows, looked at me, and sighed. "I have to get up." "Fine, just hurry back," I said, with a wiggle of my hips under her. She laughed a little more and shook her head. "Oh Bill, thank you so much for what you did last night. That was special." "Well, I figure we're not going to have the opportunity for a few weeks... I thought I'd surprise you." She leaned down and kissed my forehead. I was moving to kiss something else. "You did; oh you did. But I didn't get a chance to tell you what's happening today. Karen and I are going up to San Francisco for some shopping -- strictly girl stuff. Jill, Mindy, Duncan, and Marshall are all coming over for dinner tonight -- the catering is all taken care of -- I managed to do that yesterday afternoon. So, you've got the day free -- the caterers won't be here until four thirty, and we expect to be back around five. Guests arrive at six. Dinner is at seven." I sighed and pouted. I'd also gone limp. She laughed and kissed my head again, wiggling her hips. "Oh you silly, we're going on a wonderful vacation together. I promise you we'll have a nice morning together tomorrow. Okay?" "What about packing for the trip? How are we getting to the airport?" "All taken care of -- we're almost all packed. I'll do one more load of laundry tomorrow morning. Karen is taking us. We'll leave the house around three -- the flight leaves a little after six -- nonstop to Paris! Oh, I'm so excited!" I hugged her. She relaxed on top of me. Oh, something about her weight on top of me is so comforting, so special. "Okay, I'll let you get up." She held me to a nipple for a while, then sighed and got up. I relaxed in bed for a while, and got up when I heard her finish her shower. I went into the bathroom and "helped" as she dried her hair. She laughed and giggled, and I got into the shower. When I got out, she'd left the room. The bed was made as well. I got dressed and headed downstairs. Both ladies were standing in the kitchen, wearing very attractive business attire. "Ooh, this looks serious!" I said, looking them both over, "Need any money?" Nancy smiled and shook her head, then pointed to the kitchen table. There were two opened FedEx packages on it. "Our new credit cards arrived a few minutes ago. I activated them -- sign yours. See you later, sweetie." She stepped over to give me a hug. "No breakfast? Where's Carl?" Nancy laughed. "You're on your own. Carl will be back for dinner. So will we -- be home in time for the caterers." I got a hug and a peck on the cheek; they took off. I picked up my two credit cards and signed them. What now? I needed breakfast, and should drop by Jill's. Nah -- she's coming over later, right? It was too early for her to be in. I had an idea. I moved the cabinet and opened the safe, getting out the guns. I emptied the clips in the 17, putting the shells in with the 18, and put the 18 back in the safe. There's an indoor range along freeway 101 -- the last time I'd been there was when we'd had some engineers visiting from Japan. They seemed to fall into two interest groups -- riding roller coasters or shooting guns. I locked up the house and left in the Jeep, the pistol in its case in the back. Breakfast was McDonald's again. I stopped at a sporting goods store and got two boxes of garden variety 9mm rounds, a pair of shooting glasses, and ear protectors -- might as well have my own. I also looked at holsters. The Hellweg stuff looked good, as did the Desantis. I'd ask Carl for an opinion. At the range, I checked over the 17 carefully. It felt different somehow from the last time I handled a Glock. When I'd selected targets, I got silhouettes -- the cold sensation returned to my hands and feet. I put on my glasses, and hearing protection. I chambered a round and raised the gun, sighting down at the target. I was running cold and hot at the same time. Hours of range practice and competition kicked in and my breath slowed as I sighted the target, slowing my exhale as I pulled the trigger. The sights were set well -- one round right between the eyes. Could I do that to a live person? I could feel my jaw tighten -- yes, if they threatened Nancy. I lowered the gun and closed my eyes, turning a little. I took a few slow breaths, regaining composure. I opened my eyes and swung the gun up, aiming for the chest target. I pulled off four rounds rapid fire. I had to smile, looking at the target as I lowered the Glock. Number one was a little high to the right, two was higher, but three and four were in closer -- a good grouping. I went through more or less the same exercise again. But this time when I raised the gun, I could see the bastard's face, and almost hear his voice, sneering as he lied to me, telling me he'd talked to Jill. I put six into the head, all tightly grouped. I set the safety and put the gun down so I could switch targets. I'd only put ten rounds into the clip. I put in the second clip, which was full, and hung a new target. I took a step back, turning to the other side this time. I drew on the target, crouching. I could see the bastard again. Three in the head, three in the chest, back to the head, back to the chest until the clip was empty. I felt better. I refilled both clips and swapped in a fresh target. After two more targets I was about out of bile. I was on my next to last target, working on accuracy now, slow shots with tight grouping. I'd put five in real tight when I felt someone behind me. I set the safety and put the gun down before I turned, uncovering one ear. It was one of the range guys, standing with folded arms, smiling. I could hear my phone ringing. He smiled and nodded. "Your phone has been going off for a while." I picked it out of my back pocket. "Thanks," I told him. "Hi, this is Bill," I said, putting the Glock back in the case. I might need to step somewhere quieter. "Bill this is Tim -- sorry to bother you. I wanted to know if you could empty the closets in the two bedrooms for us -- that would be a big help." I took a breath. We had three bedrooms upstairs -- the master suite, the one next to it that was going to be John's "nursery," and then the guest bedroom at the end of the hall. "Okay, just the master and the one next to it?" "Right. That will make life easier. We can move furniture, but we figured you'd rather move clothes and such." "Okay, Tim. Consider it done." "Thanks. That will be a big help. We'll see you tomorrow morning." I thought fast. "Tim? I've got a favor to ask." "Okay?" "Could you make it ten at the earliest? We haven't had much of an opportunity to sleep in recently." He laughed. "I understand. Okay, we won't be there until ten at the earliest. We'll start with the garage first. The security contractor shows up Thursday, so basically all we're doing tomorrow is prep work and demolition." "Okay then -- see you tomorrow." "Thanks, Bill." I hung up the phone and put it back in my pocket. I put the hearing protectors back on and finished emptying my clip, slow and precise. That's what it was -- the action on the gun felt really smooth, a lot smoother than I'd expected. I gathered my targets, cleaned up my mess a bit, and moved over to sit down and clean things up. The range guy walked over again. "Hey, nice shooting. Haven't I seen you in here before with some Japanese?" "Thanks, yeah -- folks visiting the place I used to work. I speak Japanese, so I took care of the ones that want to go shooting. One of my buddies takes care of the ones that want to go to Great America." He laughed and agreed -- they wanted to go shooting or to amusement parks. I went to the bathroom and washed my hands and face really well, getting rid of the lead and other contaminants. I thought about the closets. I didn't have much in the way of clothes. Nancy had a fair amount. We'd moved the lingerie and other stuff from the passion pit into the second bedroom. I didn't know what was in the guest closet -- leave that for Karen and Carl. I could move some things downstairs to the closet in the massage room, but that had the two gas rigs. I needed storage. I put the gun and ammo in the back of the Jeep and headed to the moving supply store again. I got a few wardrobe boxes -- they had a metal rail in them for hanging stuff. I guessed and got five. I went into whirlwind mode at home. I folded up the massage table and put it in the closet. I put the fur coat in its bag in the closet, resisting the temptation to take it out and bury myself in it. Our mostly packed suitcases I put in the middle bedroom -- we'd be taking those tomorrow. The lingerie and such from the middle bedroom filled up that closet. I assembled the wardrobe boxes and set them against the wall, filling them from our bedroom closet, putting things in the same order. I got the shoes and such moved, and ran out of boxes as I started packing up our "toys." I made a quick run for more boxes. I decided to pack up things in the garage as well, and consolidate what had been packed better, so Tim and his crew would have more room to work. I was about to haul yet another load of stuff downstairs when my phone rang again. I put things down and flopped on the bed. "Hello?" It was Jill. "I thought I was going to see you today." "Sorry, I got tied up -- more prep work for the construction. I thought you were coming over for dinner? Is there something you don't want Nancy to see?" "Oh no, nothing like that. I just wanted the opportunity to chat. How are you doing?" I looked at my watch. It was a little after two. "Well, I've been going nonstop since nine this morning, and I still have a bunch of boxes to move in the garage. I think I'm doing okay. There's just a lot of stuff that has to get done between now and three tomorrow afternoon!" Jill laughed. "Welcome to the real world. I'll let you get back to it, and see you around six." "Thanks, Jill. I appreciate everything you've done for us." I hung up the phone and closed my eyes for a moment. I sank into the bed, feeling that soft plush spread. My head started to spin as I breathed slowly, unwinding a bit. I sat up, got up, and picked up my load. A couple more trips should do it, then rearrange the boxes in the garage. I finished a little before four. I grabbed my swim trunks and a terrycloth robe, and headed for the pool. Good grief, I'd worked hard. I could feel it in my shoulders, back, arms, and legs. But, the place was pretty well sanitized. We should move the spread from our bed into the guest room -- get it away from the construction debris. I'm sure Karen and Carl would agree with that. Damn -- with the crowd here, I wanted more champagne. I had one bottle left. I sort of dried off and put on the robe, and gave Beltramo's a call. Yes, they had it. Yes, they had half a case cold. I had them put my name on it. I called Nancy, hoping her phone was on -- it would save me a trip. "Hi there!" It was Karen. It sounded as if they were moving. "Hi -- this is Bill. Are you on the way home?" "Yup, on 280 just coming up on highway 92." "Good -- I caught you in time. You need to swing by Beltramo's and pick up half a case of champagne they're holding for us." I could hear her talking to Nancy. She came back on the phone and said, "Okay, we'll do it. See you in a while!" Let's hear it for technology. What else did I need to do? I put the gun and ammo back in the safe. I put eight champagne flutes in the garage refrigerator to chill. I'd do a final CD backup of the Powerbook, so we'd have a set of CDs to carry with us. I set it up on the network and started it backing up to a Jaz cartridge. The doorbell rang -- four twenty five -- the caterers arrived. I let them in. One asked me where they were supposed to set up. I gave them a blank look. One of the other gals said, "I've got it all written down." I told them, "Good," and we all laughed. I was still in a robe -- I told them I was going upstairs to shower and change. I took my second shower of the day. I was tired, but I felt good. I was also hungry. I dried off and got dressed, then decided to shave again. As I was shaving, I heard our bedroom door open. Then I heard Nancy shriek. "Aaugh! What happened?" I stepped out into the bedroom. She was looking in our now empty closet. "What happened?" she repeated. I walked over and hugged her. "Tim called this morning, and wanted the closets emptied. Everything is downstairs in the massage room, except for the suitcases, which are next door. I'm surprised you didn't see the change in the garage." "I didn't really look. Show me." I saw some things in clothes bags on the bed. I led her downstairs, an arm around her waist, down to the massage room. "Wow, you've been busy!" Nancy said as we walked in. "No shit!" I flipped the top on one of the wardrobe boxes. "Everything from our closet moved into these, in the same order -- except for the coat, which is over there," I pointed to the closet, "along with the gas rigs and the lingerie. Our toys are boxed up in there as well. Let me show you the garage." We walked out and I showed her the rearranged boxes there. They were hard to see, on the other side of the Jeep. Back in the house, munchies were being set out. I reached for a carrot and Nancy slapped my hand. "Not until guests arrive!" she chided. "Nuts! I haven't had any lunch today. Do I need to make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I need something to eat, especially if we're going to be opening that good champagne." She smiled. "I'm sorry, sweetie. You sit down, and I'll fix you something. Okay?" "I'll be in the office finishing up on the computer," I told her, and walked out. The network backup had just about completed. Once it did, I'd move the USB CD writer over and start doing CDs. Nancy came in and set a plate full of hot and cold food down next to me, along with a can of 7-Up. "I'm sorry, sweetie. Thank you so much for your hard work today," she told me. I turned and put my arms around her, holding her to me. She put her arms around my head and held me to her bosom. "I'm sorry too -- I shouldn't have snapped at you. We'll get to relax in a couple days." She rocked me gently. "Yes we will. We're in Paris for two days, and then the fun starts. Oh Bill, it's going to be so nice." She stepped back and kissed me on the head. I picked up a shrimp from the plate and dipped it in some cocktail sauce. Very tasty. "So what did you do today?" She grabbed a hot thing -- bacon wrapped around something, and sat on the futon. "Oh, we looked at wedding dresses. It was a lot of fun, and you would have been bored to death. I've narrowed it down to two -- I'll take you to look at them when we get back. That will also decide the bridesmaid's dresses. Do you want Lavonda roses?" I had one of the bacon things -- bacon wrapped around a scallop -- very nice. "Yes, if that's okay with you." She glowed as she took my hands. I could see the moisture fill her eyes. "Oh Bill," she said softly, her voice full of emotion, "That day I came home and the house was filled with roses -- I'll never forget that day." "Neither will I -- the look on your face was priceless." Our reverie was interrupted by a knocking on the door, which was open, and a gal saying, "Nancy? I've got a couple questions?" We looked over to the gal standing in the doorway. She smiled and added, "Sorry to interrupt." Nancy stood up, kissing me on the head. "That's okay. What do you need?" She followed the gal up the stairs. I finished my plate of goodies, and the 7-Up. I got on to the World Wide Wait and fished for the weather in Paris -- got to remember, Celsius, not Fahrenheit. A cold, rainy spell was ending, with the predictions for superb weather for the next week or so. I reconfigured things and started writing a CD from the Powerbook. My plate was empty, so I headed upstairs. The table was set for eight -- candles, tablecloth, cloth napkins, flowers, the works. I could hear people at work in the kitchen. One table was set up with munchies. As I walked over to it, a short gal walked out of the kitchen. "Mister Wilson, I'm Yvette. How were those? Would you like me to fix you another plate?" I smiled. "Thank you, Yvette, about half as much this time, and they are very good. Have you seen Nancy?" She nodded as she took my plate. "I believe she's upstairs changing." "Thanks. I'll be right back down." I went upstairs and started going into the bedroom. The door was locked, so I knocked. "Eek! You can't come in!" Nancy hollered. "We'll be down in a while!" I heard laughter, then Karen said, "When Carl arrives, tell him to shower and put on the clothes I've set out for him." "Okay," I said. I was wearing a pair of sort of dress pants and a long sleeve dress shirt. I'd even put on socks and shoes. Guess that was acceptable. I went out to the garage to check the bubbly. There it was, nice and cold, with eight champagne flutes chilling on the shelf above them. I snorted and walked over to the Jeep. I got my perforated targets out, and took them into the house. I got some push pins from the desk and hung them on the inside wall of the office, labeling them in the sequence in which they'd been perforated. Not bad, I told myself, especially considering it had been six or seven months since I'd fired a weapon. Back upstairs, stuff was being prepared on the gas grill outside. I walked out, enjoying the view. Yvette walked over bringing me another plate of goodies; I thanked her. Carl showed up a few minutes later. I gave him the ladies' instructions, and also mentioned he might want to look in the office after he was cleaned up. He headed upstairs. I programmed the CD player for music for the evening, then sat on the couch, watching the work go on around me. The doorbell rang about a quarter to six. I hopped up and answered it. I had a flash of panic as I realized I'd opened the door without looking to see who was there. Was that the way life was going to be from now on? It was Jill. She gave me a hug as she stepped in, and handed me a small box -- my business cards. Carl came downstairs as I was looking at them. They were simple and tasteful, with the office address and phone number. Gee, I should get an email address as well -- one other than the set John had. I put a few in my wallet. The three of us were standing there talking when I heard the bedroom door upstairs open. I looked up the stairs. Nancy and Karen came downstairs, both wearing simple yet sexy and elegant dresses. Nancy had a string of pearls around her neck, and pearl earrings. The pearls accentuated the scooping neckline of her dress. "Wow!" I said as Nancy stepped into my arms. I held her gently and kissed her. She smelled delicious. As we moved apart, I looked at Karen and Carl. She looked like a predator, and he had the deer-in-the-headlights look. I laughed softly until Nancy poked me in the ribs. "Champagne?" I suggested to nobody in particular. We wandered over to the living room area. I showed off my new business cards, mentioning I should get a suitable email address. We were soon offered champagne in the chilled flutes. Jill raised hers and said, "Bon Voyage." We drank. Marshall arrived next, wearing a suit and looking somewhat harried. Mindy arrived next, with Duncan last. Once we were all assembled, with full glasses again, Jill cleared her throat, getting our attention. "A toast to a wonderful couple, showing us how out of adversity can come strength, and love. Bon Voyage!" Nancy and I held hands as we sipped our bubbly. It was my turn. "Thank you all for your help, support, and guidance. This has been a wild trip. Some parts have not been fun -- I hope those days are over, or if not over, at least very limited in number. The wedding is October 7 -- the honeymoon starts tomorrow." We laughed and took another sip. Now we got to have the munchies. I'd had a fair amount already, and was saving room for dinner. Marshall asked me where we were going. I told him all I knew was Paris, other than that it was a surprise. Nancy rubbed my back and told me I was going to love it. We made small talk, wandering. I was standing with Marshall and Jill. Marshall remarked about our friend Mister Morris. Jill almost in passing said, "After the FBI folks saw the beach house, they're very interested in him." What the hell was this? Jill saw the look of surprise on my face. I hooked a finger to her. "Please excuse us for a moment," I told Marshall. Jill and I walked over to Karen and Carl. "Could you join Jill and I in the office for a couple minutes? Now?" Carl smiled; Karen looked a little chagrinned. Once in the office, I closed the door. "All right, what the hell happened at the beach house? Someone isn't leveling with me, and I don't like it." The three of them looked at each other. Carl saw the targets pinned to the wall. Karen sighed and confessed. "Bill, especially after you said not to mention it to Nancy, we didn't want to bother you with the details..." "Bother me, please," I interrupted. She gave me a tight smile. "When Carl and I got to the beach house, we saw that the side door to the garage had been tampered with. Looking inside with a flashlight, we could see what looked to be a booby trap set on the garage door, and something suspicious on the door into the house. We called the cops, and given what had happened, the FBI sent out a crew." "The rest of the house was clean?" I asked. Karen and Jill nodded. "Yes," Karen said, "As I told you, we figure the burglar alarm kept him out of the house. But it wouldn't have mattered -- opening the garage door, or the door from the garage into the house would have set things off." "Okay. Is that all?" Karen nodded. "That's all for the beach house." I was getting a little upset. "Okay, what else is there besides the beach house?" Jill spoke up. "That's all, Bill. Everyone figures he set those before he came here that night. You know the rest. He's wanted in two counties, and by the FBI, and by Canadian authorities. He'll turn up." "Yeah, on our doorstep?" That brought silence. "Please," I told them, "tell me what's going on. I don't like surprises." Carl turned Karen around and pointed to my handiwork from the pistol range. "Did you do these?" Carl asked. "This morning -- standing and crouching, mostly rapid fire, groups of three to six rounds at a time." Carl raised his eyebrows and nodded his head. Jill and Karen looked a little surprised. "Okay, let's go back upstairs," I told them. We headed back upstairs. Nancy came over to me. "What's up? What was that about?" I gave her a hug. "A minor misunderstanding. I'll explain it all to you later, if you want to know." She looked me in the eye and smiled. "I don't want to know." After a few more minutes, Yvette called us to the table. We sat down to a very nice Prime Rib dinner, with all the trimmings. After dinner, someone asked what was going to be changed in the house. We got out the drawings, and started walking through the place, showing what was going to be done. We'd made our way to the office, and I was pointing out where cabinets would go. Not hearing the usual comments, I looked around and saw that most folks were looking at the targets pinned to the wall. Nancy gave me a nervous laugh. Carl asked, "Just where did you learn to shoot?" "Colorado," I said with a tight smile. "My instructor and coach was also the guy who ran the Boulder SWAT team." We went back upstairs; the dinner debris had been cleaned up (with Carl inquiring as to the leftovers -- they were in the refrigerator in the garage, he was assured). Coffee was served with dessert. With more conversation around the table, things finally broke up, leaving Karen, Carl, Nancy and I, after the catering crew left. Carl would be leaving early in the morning again. I told everyone the contractor wouldn't be here until ten, in a little less than twelve hours. With that, we all wandered upstairs. At the top of the stairs, I shook Carl's hand, thanking him again. Nancy gave him a hug. We closed and locked out bedroom door behind us, and hugged. We got undressed and ready for bed. I think we were both full. We held each other, and Nancy rocked me to sleep in her arms. I'd told the contractor to wait until ten, but I didn't know about the garbage company dropping off the debris box for the demolition. They arrived promptly and noisily at 7. We woke up to the sound of a large loud truck and a large metal container being deposited on what sounded like our driveway. We heard some conversation, winches, and the box being dropped again. Finally the truck drove off. By this time, both Nancy and I had visited the loo and brushed our teeth. I shook my head and laughed as the truck groaned off into the distance. She put on perfume, slowly, enticingly. By the time she was done, I was quite erect. She gave me a look of lust, and pulled me to the bed by my handle. We rolled around on that soft spread, kissing and caressing. Soon I found myself in her arms again, a nipple in my mouth, surrounded by her perfume, her softness, and the softness of the spread. As a general principle, I think a man is always wise to do things the way the woman in his life wants. Things just work out better that way. So when Nancy pushed me to my back, I didn't object too strenuously. She sat up and rocked slowly. I moved a finger to help with her button, and the other hand to caress a breast. She closed her eyes and softly moaned encouragement. As I felt her get close, she reached behind her and pulled the spread up over her shoulders, pulling it tight between my legs, which were spread out. Then she leaned forward, rocking more, lowering a nipple to me, and pulling the spread tight around us. The sensation of the plush fabric tight around my hips and between my legs, pulling tighter with her motion, and then the tightness of it around my chest and shoulders did something to me -- I was so lost, and so dizzy. I heard her moan, and felt her coming on top of me, as I pumped into her. And as I did, she pulled the spread tighter, pulling it around my hips and between my legs, pulling us together in softness. We returned to the real world some time later. We got up and showered together. As Nancy was taking care of her hair, I folded up the spread. She looked out of the bathroom and asked, "Why are you doing that?" I smiled. "Oh, to protect it from the construction debris -- I thought it would be better in the guest room for a while." She laughed. "I think so. Should we order another set from Gail?" "Oh, maybe when we get back. We'll see." We both put on sweats, saving for later the clothes we'd wear on the plane. Karen was downstairs drinking coffee and looking over the Wall Street Journal. "What was the commotion this morning?" I asked her, as Nancy poured a cup of coffee for herself. "They were setting the debris box where it would block both cars. I had them move it so we can get the cars out." Nancy nodded as she sipped her hot brew. "Thanks. Hope they didn't wake you." Karen shook her head with a smile, "No, I was awake." I opened the refrigerator out of habit. It was cleaned out. Nancy slapped me on the rump and said, "Sit down. I'll get your breakfast!" I sat, and took a chunk of the paper to read. Nancy walked out to the garage, returning with eggs, bacon, and bread. "Oh, Bill," she said as she started the bacon and toast, "I wanted to check with you before I accepted, but I've been asked to teach physiology again. It would be for six weeks, starting two and a half weeks after we get back. Is that okay?" "Sure," I told her, "how many days a week?" She walked over and kissed me on the forehead. "Tuesday and Thursday mornings, we're thinking ten to noon or thereabouts." "No, sounds fine to me," I told her. "So, tell me," she went on, "I've done all these drawings and overheads by hand -- is there any way to get them into the computer, so I could do it from the computer?" I thought for a moment. "Sure, most likely. Show me some, and let me know what you want to do." I expected this would wait until we got back. I was wrong. She ran out of the kitchen and down the stairs. She returned a minute later and put a three ring binder in front of me. She had a couple hundred pages of hand done drawings and outlines. The drawings were beautiful. I was marrying one very talented lady! I showed a couple to Karen. "These are beautiful! You did these?" I asked. Nancy smiled and nodded. The drawings of the cabinets she'd done had been very good, but these were fabulous. Okay, sounded like the Adobe stuff, and a good tablet. "So what can I work on during the trip?" Nancy asked. I almost laughed. "This is a vacation! One more like that, and we're leaving the damn computer home!" She gave me a mock pout. "I'm sorry..." Now I laughed. "We'll see. The software is easy -- to get, at least. It takes time to learn. You're an artist -- way beyond what I do." Nancy brought plates over to us. We had a last breakfast in the house for a while. At one point Karen started laughing -- probably at the way Nancy and I were holding hands and exchanging sighs. We laughed too. With another sigh I helped her clear the plates. "I'll take care of these and start the laundry," Nancy told me. "I'll be in the office." I gave her a quick hug and headed downstairs. The portable was backed up. I noodled around a bit, and decided I'd get some software and a Wacom tablet to take with us. I'd wait on a scanner -- I wanted to talk to some folks. I wasn't really doing much when I heard the office door open and close behind me. Nancy swept into the room, wearing the fur coat, and took me in her arms. Under the coat, she wasn't wearing anything but perfume as she held me to a breast. My head swam as I held her, running my hands over her and the softness of the coat. One of her hands held my head, the other was running down my shoulders and back. I tried moving her to the futon, but she held me tighter. I was getting lost in her again. We moved to the futon; she moved on her back. She helped me strip, and pulled me on top of her. We kissed and I pushed into her quickly as she ran her hands over me. The combination of her lips, her perfume, and the fur had me over the edge very quickly. I was surprised I'd come so intensely, and so suddenly. I lifted my head a bit and was about to say something when she pulled me back down to the fur and laughed softly, moving my head back and forth. I sighed and let go, relaxing into her. She held me tighter. I started slipping out. Nancy said, "I'm prepared this time." She reached into one of the coat pockets and pulled out a dry washcloth. She moved it between her legs as we separated with a slurp. I tried to get up, but she rolled me over, into the back of the futon. "Where do you think you're going?" she growled, as she enveloped me in her softness and the fur again, holding me to a nipple. I was wedged into the back of the futon, with her on top of me. It was the best place in the world. I sucked gently on her and drank in her perfume. I heard a knock on the door, and Karen's laughing voice. "We've got company!" Nancy answered, "Hold them off for a few minutes. We'll be there." She gave me another long sensuous squeeze and wiggle. She pulled away and I started to sigh, but she rearranged herself on top of me, giving me her other nipple. "I need equal time," she said with a laugh. She did sit up soon after, and rubbed my chest. She looked at me and laughed. "Surprise!" she said. I laughed. I looked over at the clock -- nine thirty. I sat up and kissed her, running my hands over her body, and the coat. I got more animated, and she held my head into the fur again and squeezed me. As I melted in her embrace, she let go of me and stood up. "Sorry, sweetie -- we'll have time later." I leaned back against the futon and sighed. "What's wrong with now?" She laughed. "I need to get dressed and finish packing, and you need to see who's here!" She threw my underwear and sweats at me. She ducked out the door before I could complain. I put my sweats on and headed upstairs. A delivery company was here with stuff for the garage. They wanted to know where to unload things. I grabbed our keys and shuffled cars around, leaving the Jeep out on the street, and Nancy's Mercedes in the garage, as close to the boxes and as far from the construction as possible. I told the guys to put things where her car had been. Tim and his gang showed up just as the unloading completed. I'd guessed correctly, or at least he wasn't telling me I'd screwed up. I caught Nancy upstairs, and gave her a big kiss. "Thanks for the surprise," I told her. "I remember the first time you did that to me." She laughed and held me. "So do I -- and I wanted to do it again." "Want to go shopping with me?" I asked her. "No, I want to stay here. Be gone long?" I was taking off my sweats. "Want to help me change?" "You don't want me to help you get dressed..." I laughed -- she's a smart woman. "Shouldn't be more than an hour. Need anything?" She gave me a squeeze and said, "Just you." We kissed again. I got dressed. "Have you called Gail yet?" Nancy asked. I shook my head. "Nope. Why don't you give her a call -- have her mark her calendar." Nancy laughed. "I'll do that. Hurry back." I made another trip to Computerware -- they were starting to recognize me. Damn but the Adobe stuff is expensive! I got the illustrating tools, Kai's add-ons, and a Wacom tablet. I shook my head leaving -- a lot of money! When I got back, I couldn't park in my own driveway. A couple guys were installing stuff in the garage. Tim and two others were busy ripping our kitchen apart. Tim saw me, walked over, and shook my hand. "Good to see you. Why the garage first?" I asked him. "It will give us a place to work as well, and make the cabinet guy's lives easier too." "When are you going to start on walls?" "I thought you'd have all the computer stuff packed by now." I gave him a blank look. "I'll do that now. Sorry." He hadn't mentioned it, but I should have figured that out. "I'm just going to move things into the other office. Will that work?" Tim nodded. "That will be fine." I put my bag of goodies on the dining room table. I went to the office and got the bag for the portable -- it was going to be my carry on bag. I took the portable, with the video camera and tapes upstairs and put them on the table. I made quick work of the computer stuff, disconnecting it and putting displays, keyboards, rodents, and such in a couple boxes. I had one of Tim's crew help me move the desk and the futon. The massage room was getting damn full. That room done, I went back to the living room. Nancy and I passed each other as she carried clothes upstairs. I started installing the Adobe stuff on the portable. "Okay, Tim, what else did I forget?" "Can't think of anything. We're going to close and cover doors to protect other rooms. The furniture remaining, such as the bed, we'll move to the middle and cover in plastic. We won't leave much for your cleaning crew to pick up." I heard a loud noise and watched a section of upper cabinets being removed from a wall in the kitchen. "Any salvage value on those?" I asked. He smiled and shook his head. "Sadly, no. I think the cabinet guys were planning on reclaiming the hardware though." On my next trip into the garage, I saw they'd covered the stack of boxes, and Nancy's car with plastic. I went upstairs. Nancy was sitting on the suitcases, looking a little shell-shocked. It was a little after noon. "Hello, beautiful," I said softly, taking her hands and kneeling in front of her. "Buy you lunch at your favorite gourmet restaurant?" She laughed. "How gallant. I'd be honored." We kissed and headed downstairs. I checked the confuser -- everything was loaded. Karen was talking to a guy working on the front door, putting in new lock hardware. It looked pretty solid. "Karen, we're going to lunch. See you in an hour or so." She looked up. "Okay -- take your time -- just be back by three." We got in the Jeep and I drove us to In-N-Out Burger. It took us a while to get a seat. "So are we ready to go? Passports, tickets, itinerary?" Nancy nodded. "All in my carryon. We'll double check when we get back. Now we get to wait." She reached over and squeezed my hand. "Still glad we got rid of the passion pit?" I laughed. "We still have the futon at the office." She shook her head. "Too small. I'll wait for Paris." "It wasn't too small a couple hours ago!" She laughed. We enjoyed our lunch, actually taking our time eating at a fast-food place. "What did Gail have to say?" I asked her. She took another sip of her root beer and nodded. "She's thrilled. She'll be there." "Did you tell her how I proposed?" Nancy laughed. "No -- I just told her it was a moment I'll never forget." "You tell her Karen or Carl may be up?" Her smile faded quickly. "Yes. I told her we'd had a little trouble and wanted one of our investigators to check on some things for us. She said she'd do whatever she could to help." On that somber note, we cleared our table, making way for another group. We refilled our drinks and headed back to the house. We went in through the garage. Karen intercepted us at the base of the stairs. Plastic sheeting was strung up everywhere. "You don't want to go up there," she told us. I saw our bags over by the dining room table. We both heard loud noises from upstairs, and a few moments later saw a guy hauling chunks of wallboard downstairs and out through the garage to the debris box. Nancy and I held hands and walked to the kitchen. It was mostly ripped out. Furniture was moved in other parts of the house where they'd be working. The inside of the house around the front door frame was taken apart, and two guys were working there. "Let's sit on the patio." I suggested. Nancy nodded and headed out. I got the confuser, my carry-on, and my suitcase. I put the extra manuals in my suitcase. I set up the computer on the little table and hooked up the tablet. I fired up Illustrator and told it about the tablet. Nancy was impressed, and excited. She wanted to do more, but I insisted I just wanted to make sure things were functional. I put the tablet and its accoutrements into my bag. I insisted on going over everything we were supposed to have. We were taking some tranquilizers with us -- I suggested we put those in carry-on. That's about the only thing we moved about. If we only had our carry-on stuff, we'd do okay on the trip. We both winced as we heard the loud noises of our house being torn apart. We heard power tools, hollering, and hammering. "About ready to go?" We both turned to see Jill standing behind us. She smiled. "I wanted to see you off. All packed?" We nodded. I stood up and offered her a chair. She sat down, then started asking about tickets, passports, money, hotel vouchers, ad nauseum. Nancy answered everything satisfactorily. Karen appeared at the door and took our suitcases. "The others are already loaded. Both of you go to the bathroom!" she hollered, carrying the cases through the debris of the house. We stood up. Nancy and I picked our way downstairs to the small bathroom. The office was pretty well gutted. We took turns in the bathroom. Upstairs, we checked in with Tim, and shook his hand. He told us to have fun -- the place would be beautiful when we returned. We got into Karen's Jeep. About half a block from the house, after looking back over my shoulder watching it fade from view, I turned around and it hit me. Here I was again, sitting in Karen's Jeep. Karen and Jill were in the front seat. I was sitting behind Karen. Nancy was at my side. How many weeks ago had we ridden like this, going up to Tahoe? I don't know what I looked like, but when I looked at Nancy, she quickly unbuckled her seat belt and moved to the middle, buckling in again. "It's all right, Bill," she said softly, holding my hands. "Oh Nancy, I love you," I whispered, my throat tight with emotion. She smiled, and I saw tears forming. "I love you. Thank you for asking me to marry you." I sighed -- I couldn't speak. We looked at each other in silence for a while. I thought about asking her if she'd remembered her diaphragm, but reconsidered. We made the ride in silence. We arrived a little early at the Air France terminal at the San Francisco International Airport. We gave Jill our keys -- we wouldn't need them, and they'd be useless when we got back. We unloaded our bags from the back. We had two suitcases each to check, and a carry-on each. Nancy had our documents. We lined up a porter to haul our bags inside. We exchanged tearful hugs there on the sidewalk. "See you in a few weeks," Jill told us. She was smiling, but we could see the emotion in her face, and hear it in her voice. "Stay in touch." "Yes, mother," I said, and hugged her. I hugged her tight. I hugged Karen as Nancy and Jill exchanged hugs. We watched them get back in Karen's Jeep. We waved to each other and they drove off. I looked in Nancy's eyes. "We're on our honeymoon. Let's go," I told her. She smiled as she looked in my eyes. I turned to the porter. "Air France First Class to Paris." He nodded. "Yes sir, follow me." I took Nancy's arm in mine and we walked into the airport. THE END! This is the end of this part of the Tales of the Golden Mule. Nancy and Bill are gong on vacation for a while. What happens next? In part, that's up to you. Tales of the Golden Mule is over one hundred forty thousand words long. Do you know how long it takes to write 140,000 words? And, those words have been carefully reviewed by a number of people. Thanks to Wiseguy, Ralph, Bram, Melody, Rex, Jim, Patrick, Clif and Rose, and MC Writer for the comments and nits -- you've helped shape this story, for the better! If you spot problems or errors, or something that doesn't make sense in TGM, let me know. Every error you help me correct is one less error everyone else who reads the story from then on will have to contend with. And, the latest revisions are on the TGM web page. The page counter I have on the main TGM page has had almost 30,000 hits since I started counting in mid-July, and that's just for one site. I estimate about 45,000 hits for TGM since I started it, counting both sites. The single combined file has been downloaded from the asstr ftp site over a thousand times. Want to guess how many comments I've gotten, other than from the small group of people who read everything I post, and the people who have helped me edit it? It's damn small! Since I started posting TGM in December, I've gotten notes from about thirty people. I guess I should be happy about that. I've put a lot of time into this. So have others. I'd really appreciate it if you would take a minute or two to tell me what you think about the story. END 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. | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+