Norma dressed in slacks, blouse and sandals. She intended to begin doing the work that she had been hired for, but when she got downstairs she smelled the enticing fragrances of bacon and coffee and she found Lennie and Carol in the kitchen.
"Hi," Lennie said, with his charming grin. "Sit down and have some breakfast. We've got lots of eggs and bacon and coffee. And I want to talk with you."
She smiled at him, shyly, and when she sat down and looked at his nice, friendly face she knew that her dreams had been nothing but that. Lennie was much too nice to do the things that her wild imagination had thought up. Carol was smiling as she watched Lennie's admiring gaze practically devouring Norma.
"It is fantastic," he said, apologetically. "You are so lovely it is incredible."
His admiration embarrassed her and she was glad when he turned his attention to other matters. She ate and he explained something of what he had in mind to her.
"This place is loaded with pictures that are originals and worth a great deal of money. My uncle was a very wealthy man and he put a great deal of money into possessions. Now I am faced with the task of cataloguing everything and disposing of it.
"What I would like you to do is to locate the most valuable stuff and identify it for us so that we may dispose of it. In the den you will find all sorts of catalogues so the work is really a matter of you finding the most expensive pieces and pointing them out to us. Do you think that you can do that?"
"I'm sure I can," Norma said.
"We have already disposed of some of the paintings but there we were able to deal with experts. The otner treasures in this house you will find for us."
Carol was sitting in the breakfast nook having breakfast, too. She smiled at Norma as she said that they would help as much as they could, but most of the work would fall upon Norma's shoulders.
"That's all right," she said. "That's what you are hiring me for. I will manage."
A moment later, Lily wandered into the kitchen. She was not yet entirely awake and she sat down at the table, her tee shirt and too tight jeans showing off her very young, very ripe body. Norma felt that she would have to say something to Lily about her too tight clothing. She would have plenty of chance to talk with Lily while they were working together.
The twins arrived a few minutes later and the kitchen became a noisy place as everybody talked and ate at the same time. She was a bit surprised to learn that Lennie had the day planned for everyone and she was not going to have Lily with her, after all. Carol would work with her and Lily and the twins were going into the local town to get food and supplies.
"We will deliver a few pieces that I have already sold," Lennie said. "and I will keep the young ones with me. They can help me with what I have to do."
Norma began her work as soon as she was finished with breakfast. Lily and the twins cleaned up the kitchen and Lennie was very busy loading up a small panel truck that he had in the garage. Carol went into the library with her and showed her where all of the catalogues were. She was decidedly helpful.
They had little to do with the art works. Lennie had already made arrangements to sell every piece of art in the place. Carol said that they would spend most of their time, to start with, going through the books. The previous owner had obviously spent fortunes on first editions and prized pieces.
"That's what we have to do," Carol said. "We have to identify and itemize all of the books. Then Lennie can know what they are worth before he offers them for sale."
They worked well together, Norma thought. She liked Carol and at one point, when they took time out for a smoke, she sat back and looked at the beautiful brunette and she was amazed to realize that Carol was really spectacularly lovely. Her long brown hair hung straight down her back and framed her face like an arch. She parted it in the middle and she used eye makeup and lipstick sparingly. There was a quality of softness and warmth in Carol's big brown eyes and her slow, almost sensuous smile often made her seem exceptionally ethereal and unbelievably lovely. Carol noticed that she was looking at her rather intently and she blushed. Norma laughed, a bit self-consciously.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to embarrass you. But, you are so pretty. It just dawned on me."
"Thank you," Carol said.
They were sitting on the carpeting, looking at the catalogues and Carol got to her feet with an effort. She stood, smiling, as she looked down at Norma.
"I'll get us some coffee," Carol said. "I'll be right back."
She decided that she liked Carol and she was glad to have her for a friend. She tried to remember the horrid dream that she had had about Carol and the others and when she tried to remember what Carol had looked like in her dream and without her clothes, she was abruptly ashamed. She was becoming a really weird one. She was still blushing when Carol brought the tray with the coffee things into the library.
Carol didn't notice any change in Norma's complexion, apparently.
"They've gone," she said. "Now we have the house to ourselves. And I, for one, am glad. It gets so noisy with those twins around."
They took time out for some coffee and then they resumed work again.
There were hundreds of books and each one had to be examined and authenticated. Norma held a copy of a book in her hand that was devoted to witchcraft and Satanism and while it was a beautifully bound volume and in mint condition, Norma was not prepared to discover that that particular book was said to be worth twelve thousand dollars. She placed the book on the glass-topped desk and she gazed at Carol a bit uncertainly.
"What was the name of Lennie's uncle?" she asked.
"Lorimer Todd," Carol said. "Why?"
She was getting down some more books and dusting them off. She paused as she answered Norma's question, and lit a cigarette.
"It says in the catalogue that the only known copy of this book belongs to Lorimer Todd," Norma said. "That's why. This little beauty is worth twelve thousand dollars."
Carol nodded and her big, brown eyes were even larger than usual. "I know," she said. "This guy spent all kinds of money and time on the weirdest stuff. Set that aside so Lennie can peddle it right away."
Norma placed the book on a far corner of the desk and she felt a twinge of sadness, knowing that the volume would be sold on the open market. It was really none of her business but it did disturb her sense of the fitness of things.
The others of the household were gone for most of the day and when she and Carol took time out for a late lunch, Norma realized that she had taken on quite a job of work. She was weary and the work was just beginning. They dawdled at lunch and Norma learned that Carol was barely eighteen years of age. Lennie was twenty-seven and he and Carol belonged to the new breed. They considered marriage old fashioned and Carol had a lot of ideas about marriage and sex she was willing to discuss.
"I think that the thrills and pleasures the human body can experience because of sexual activity represents the ultimate in pleasures and sensations available to mankind."
Norma listened to Carol and she did not argue. She was tempted to say that many people simply did not feel that way about sex and the sensual pleasures but she could not bring herself to say such things. Carol was watching her rather intently and she had the feeling that Carol was deliberately trying to shock her.
"Lennie is the kind of guy who loves cunt. That's the way he is. The boys are still too young and too timid to decide about the things that they will like best, I suppose, but we expect that they will want to go off and get married. In the meanwhile, they stay with us and Lennie sends them to school and lets them earn some money working around the house."
She told Carol, finally, that she didn't., like to talk about sex or anything connected with it. Carol just smiled at her and she began talking about other things.
The day passed pleasantly and Norma was sure that they had accomplished a great deal. There were stacks of expensive books identified and evaluated and when Lennie and the twins and Lily returned from their trip to the city, Lennie suggested that they load the books that could be disposed of right away. While they worked at that, Carol and Norma fixed some dinner.
The house was well stocked with food and after dinner, everyone had some wine and she felt rather silly, refusing each time Carol tried to serve some to her. She finally accepted a glass and she sat with the others watching a program on the color television set. By the time the late news came on she was feeling the wine and she had to admit that it gave her a warm, sensual feeling and she was almost able to enjoy it.
Lily went off to her own room and to bed and the twins went upstairs, too; Carol was sitting in one of the big arm chairs and Lennie was lying on the couch. When Norma finally excused herself and said that she was going to bed they said good night and she went off to her own room.
She was feeling drunk. But, she didn't mind. It was such a nice sensation. She got into her night clothes and she faced the possibility to wild, sexy dreams with little real interest. She was not able to control her dreams and anything that she did in her dreams was not something that she could be held responsible for, anyway. Too, she was beginning to think that she might be turning into the type of person represented by the young man who when asked by his psychiatrist if he was ever bothered by evil and improper thoughts finally replied.
"No, I kind of enjoy 'em."
She suspected, privately, that she was able to wreak a great deal of vicarious pleasure from her nocturnal fantasies. And so she crawled into her bed uncaring about what was ahead for her in dreamland. As she slid into a deep slumber, she worried for a moment that her lovely dreams would not come to her at all.
She knew that she was sleeping soundly and restfully when her dream began. There were certain repetitious characteristics of the dream that she could recognize and accept. Like her previous nighttime phantasmagoria, she was in her room and the people that she had only recently met were eventually involved. But this dream differed slightly in that she was made to suffer for her depravity.
It seemed to her that it all began when Lennie entered her room. He was alone and he was wearing a long, black silk robe. He had the lights on in her room and when he came to her on the bed it seemed perfectly natural for her to let him take her hand and pull her up into a sitting posit ion. He removed the top of her pajamas and when he handled her breasts she heard her self gasping and moaning in exquisite sexual excitement. He bent his head forward and then he was kissing her nipples and sucking them. He took her hand and he held it for a moment. He lifted his face and then he was kissing her lips and she was responding with an indecent ardor. She was so glad that she was dreaming because the things that they were doing were really awful and she was not sickened by any of it.
He did something with his hands and then his robe was wide open and when he put her hand upon his stiff cock she was not really surprised. She seemed to know just what to do with it. He told her to move her hand up and down and she did it and each time she squeezed his organ when she moved her hand upwards, a small drop of fluid oozed out of the tiny opening in the head of his cock. She giggled as he pushed her head down until her lips were touching the tip of his organ. She moved her tongue and then she was tasting him and as his fluids encountered her taste buds, she shivered and then she was suddenly avid, an animal, fiercely eager to use her mouth and her tongue on his organ to secure the nectar she suddenly desired. He was holding her head in his hands and he was telling her how to do what she was doing expertly and she wondered how she could know so much about sex and fellatio and all of the things that she seemed able to do in her dreams.
She knew that the psychologists were con-. vinced that all inhibitions could be ignored when the individual was in a dream state and she was glad of that. She would probably pay for her nocturnal sins-horribly in the morning. She had not suffered too greatly in the past, whenever she had erotic and elaborate dreams, but that could set in at any time. She knew that she was beset by guilt feelings all the time. Even when she was filled with sexual turmoil and excitements too great to contain and she used her fingers to ease the torments in her, the exaggerated feelings of guilt beat her down like a burden far beyond her ability to carry.
The degree of pleasure that she could enjoy because of what she was doing surprised her. She lost most of her reservations very rapidly and it seemed that she became wanton and sexually frenzied in a very short time. She was moving her head up and down and then she was swallowing him every now and then as his preliminary juices flooded her mouth and excited her beyond her ability to control herself. She was shaking and quivering and then he was, too.
She could hear him talking to her and he was half crazed with exaggerated sensation and it pleased her to know that she was providing ecstasy for him. He was talking to her and she was hearing him but she was having difficulty making sense of his words.
"Suck, baby," he was saying, "suck hard now. Ooooooohhhhhhh, baby, that's it. Ooooooooohhhhhhhhh Man, I'm gonna make it. Ooooohhhhhhhh, baby, that's it, lick it and suck and ooooooohhhh, I'm making it. That's it, aaaaahhhhhhh, ohhhh, Lordy, you did it aahhhhh."
It seemed to her then that he fell backwards and she was still sucking him and she was still shivering and shaking and she knew that she had swallowed him, devouring him as avidly as any desert traveler might drink. She was so glad that she was involved in a dream because she could not live with herself it she could actually do such things in real life. But, it seemed that she could do them quite expertly when asleep.
She wondered if he was going to be her only visitor for the night and the dream and it seemed that he was. She lost track of things for a bit and then he was sitting up on the bed with her and they were both naked.
He was fondling her breasts and the way the tiny, rock hard nipples popped out of their soft little nests shamed her. She was so responsive when she was asleep. She could feel his touch in every nerve ending in the satin smooth skin of her breast and it was a very nice sensation. She worried for a moment, wondering if she was becoming a nocturnal voluptuary. She decided that she probably was beginning to enjoy the wild erotic dreams and fantasies that she could experience when she went to sleep. She felt a moment of deep unhappiness when she decided that any girl who had to get her kicks in her sleep was certainly in very bad shape.
Lennie was still with her and when he took her into his arms she found that she could enjoy the sensation of being held in a man's arms. She wriggled herself against his naked body and when her own nudity touched his she could feel a grand sensation of sheer sexual pleasures. His hands slid downwards and then he was slipping his finger into her wet opening and she was writhing and twisting and squirming like a worm. Each time his finger thrust up inside of her, his hand mashed her clitoris and rubbed it and she knew that she was spilling a little bit of her own special brand of sweetness and that delighted her. She knew that dreams had a way of falling apart and breaking up into segments and she was not at all surprised when he moved and then he was kissing her sexual flesh and his tongue was sliding up inside of her. She shuddered with a massive spasm of pure erotic splendor and then she spent herself as wildly as any maiden in heat. Something had changed and she could feel his hard cock in her mouth, she was tasting the sap that he expelled and then he was drowning her and she started devouring him and her own glands and loins reacted and she spent herself anew. Her orgasm was one of great magnitude and she was not able to keep her mind on the things that were taking place within the corrupted corridors of her mind.
She was suddenly aware that Carol and the boys were in the room with her and Carol slipped out of the robe that she was wearing and she was able to see -the glorious body that she remembered from her previous dreams. She stared at Carol's nudity quite candidly, admiring the creamy white texture of flawless skin, the plump bullet-shaped breasts, the shallow cleft of bewitching flesh with the tiny mole above its crevice. Carol climbed onto her bed and she could see the small petals of palest pink that protruded like tiny bits of coral hiding and guarding the place of purest ecstasies.
Carol sat up and she could see the young girl's sexual machinery and it appalled her to realize that she liked looking at Carol's most intimate parts. Carol had her knees drawn up and she was resting her chin on her knees and when Lennie slipped his fingers into the cleft that she was displaying so fetchingly, she gasped and she began to squirm. Lennie bent forward and he was kissing Carol's soft little mouth and Norma was enthralled as she watched them but, she was not allowed to rest for very long. One of the twins forced his rigid cock into her mouth and the other one was shoving his hard organ into her sexual opening and she was writhing and threshing in the throes of an exceptionally sweet anguish. The boys took turns with her, and before she could empty his loins with her mouth, it was his turn to insert his organ into her person and she was able to enjoy long, drawn out periods of excited copulation with each of the boys while she watched Carol and Lennie doing the same thing beside her.
She drifted into an atmosphere of purest bliss and it seemed that she was floating on a cloud of fluffy happiness and her body was glowing and teeming with lovely erotic thrills and she just didn't care about anything or anybody.
There was a time when she found that Carol's lovely mouth was glued to her sexual organ and Carol's tongue and crawling mouth were driving her insane with pure ecstasy. She knew that Carol was feasting upon the nectar that had been buried deep within her loins and she didn't mind. She liked Carol and she was glad that Carol liked making love to her. She was sure that she was drunk, filled with erotic zeal and a new willingness to enjoy the outrageously delightful thrills that she could experience in her sleep.
She seemed to know that the twins were taking turns screwing Carol as the brunette knelt and feasted busily upon Norma's sexual juices, so she was prepared when Lennie pushed his huge cock into her mouth. She began licking him and sucking him and he was patting her head and murmuring words of encouragement and instruction to her. He was sliding his organ in and out of her mouth and she could taste him and she could feel the throbbing beginnings of his orgasm and then he was drenching her throat and she was coming in Carol's mouth and Carol was screaming as she tried to devour Norma's flesh. And, worst of all, she could hear her own voice, loudly proclaiming her beginning splendor in weird, broken sentences.
"Aaaaahhhh," she was saying, "I'm coming, Oh, Golly, I'm comingggggggggg. Ooooooohhhhhhh, ooooooooooahahahaha, I'm making it. I am making it big… oooohhhhhh, aaaaahhhh. That's it. That's it!"
She fell back against the sheets and she was soaked and so was the bed. The others were recovering from their own splendid orgasms and when Carol bent above Norma and she felt the wetness of the girl's kiss upon her Iips she tried to hold on to things but she could not do it. Carol's mouth kissed her with a warmth and affection that she liked and then she was gone, drifting off into seas that waited, seething and glowing in the depths of deepest sleep.
She was certain that she had fallen into a long shaft of utter darkness and her dreams vanished and her body rested and she had no awareness of anything until Carol came into her room with the morning sunshine behind her, and she woke and matched the bright smile on Carol's pretty face.
She remembered the details of her dreams for a moment or two, then like a spot that reacts to its remover, memory dimmed out and was gone and she woke fully, alert and happy and eager for breakfast and the work that would fill the day.
Carol was wrapped in a faded robe and she had come in to tell Norma that breakfast was ready and on the table. Norma got out of bed and she flashed a smile at Carol. Then she disappeared into her bathroom.
She was conscious of weariness as she stood under the shower and she wondered if the warm water was a soporific. She turned the valve that made the stream colder and that made her feel better.
Her body was alive with aches and pains and twinges of one sort or another and she wondered if the bed she was sleeping in was too soft. She had heard that a soft bed could do lots of damage to the body. Maybe that was her trouble.
She spent too much time, probably, on dressing in pretty clothes, brushing her hair, applying makeup. For some reason she wanted to look her very best when she joined the others for breakfast.
She succeeded, it seemed, because the admiring looks that the others gave her when she sat down in the nook were decidedly complimentary. Carol smiled at her and she stepped aside as Lily showed up and slid into a seat.
Norma was amazed by the change that had taken place in Lily. She was all made up to look much older than she was. She wore eye makeup and deep red lipstick, her sharply pointed nails looked like they were dripping blood and there were twin patches of rouge on Lily's round cheeks. She smiled at Norma and Lily's big blue eyes danced with mischief.
Lily was wearing a tight tee shirt and when she looked at the shape of Lily's breasts, practically visible, Norma was shocked. She was tempted to say something to Lily but she did not do it. Her little sister was growing up and there was nothing that she could do to prevent that. Lily would do all right. Always.
The twins were staring at Lily's chest and seeing their very frank interest in her little sister's structure made her very nervous. Carol finished putting the food on the table and then she sat down with everybody else and they began eating.
Lennie asked Norma what her plans were for the day and she told him that she would like to go into the town and get some reference books from the library.
"You don't have enough books here?" Lennie asked, smiling.
Norma matched his smile as she explained. "There are lots of books here for our purposes," she said. "But, unfortunately, many of them are out of date. The library can give us prices that are right up to the minute."
"Well," Lennie said, "we do want to be right up to the minute."
It was decided that Lennie would drop her off at the town library and Carol would pick her up two hours later. Norma was quite sure that she could accomplish her purposes in that time. Too, she had other errands that she wanted to take care of. She thought that she should stop off at the place where she had been working and let them know that she would not be back.
It was a Monday morning and everything in town would be open and she could get all of her errands done. When she explained all of that to Lennie he told her to take her time and do whatever she had to do. They would drop her off at the library and she could be on her own from then on.
Lennie and the twins loaded all of the books and the other items that she had evaluated into the panel truck and then they drove out of the big estate and into the town. Lennie told her that he and the twins would be gone for most of the day but Carol would pick her up in two hours.
She used a public telephone to place a call to her previous employer and it made her feel good to realize that the people who had employed her wanted her to stay with them. They were very cordial and when she finally persuaded her boss that she was quitting because she had a much better job, she gave them the new address and they promised to send her final check there.
The library was not a very large one. It was run by a little old lady with white hair piled high on her head and ancient, probably valuable rings on her skinny fingers. She talked with the woman about the books that she wanted to borrow and she got the feeling that she knew more about books than the librarian. After all, hadn't she spent some time in the extensive library at home?
She located the books that she sought, then she used her best powers of persuasion and her school library card as a means of getting the books out of the building. She managed it, finally, and when she started walking toward a drug store a few blocks away, she noticed that a very nice-looking young man with dark curly hair and big brown eyes seemed to be very much interested in her. He had been hanging around her when she was in the library and when she left with her books, he followed her.
There was a bench at the bus stop and she decided that she would sit down and pretend to be waiting for a bus. That should get rid of him. The bench sat back from the sidewalk and she sank down onto it a bit gratefully. It was a glorious morning and she could sit and watch traffic and enjoy the warmth of the sunshine and the beauty of the day.
The young man sat down beside her. He pulled out a wallet and flashed a gold badge under her nose, unnerving her.
"You are under arrest, Miss," he said, quietly. "Come along with me, please."
He stood up and she twisted so that she could look up at him. She was just too astonished to move. He was waiting for her impatiently.
"I don't understand," she said. "I haven't done anything to be arrested for. I know that I haven't."
He looked to be cold and unyielding and she was very close to tears. She had no idea why she was being arrested but there was not very much that she could do but obey him.
She stood up and he led the way to a nice looking car. He opened the door and she got in and then he drove the car away from there and it didn't dawn on her for some time that they were heading out of town. He was not taking her to police headquarters and when she realized that, she asked him where he was taking her.
He looked at her and then he smiled and she liked him very much. He was nice and kind and very good-looking and she wished that he was not arresting her.
"I'm not a regular cop," he said. "I am an insurance company investigator. I have been following you ever since you and the others left the Todd house. You just don't look like a crook to me. Why have you gotten mixed up in that kind of thing?"
She stared at him with such an astonished gaze that he began to look a lot less sure of himself. He stopped the car and then he turned so that he could face her.
"You knew that Lennie Burke is looting that big house, didn't you?" he asked. "You are one of them, aren't you?"
She was stunned, and when she tried to speak, to explain that she had nothing to do with what Lennie was doing, the lie stuck in her throat. She was telling him just what pieces to steal and dispose of first.
He lit a cigarette and she took it from him. She puffed on the cigarette and then she was much improved.
"I didn't know," she said, helplessly. "I had no idea."
"I am so glad," he said. "You don't look like a thief."
He was looking at her much too carefully, and she could see that he liked her and thought her pretty. And she was glad.
"Lennie told me that his uncle died and left everything to him and he hired me and my sister to catalogue and evaluate his inheritance. I didn't know that I was doing anything wrong."
"No one died," the young man said. "The Todds are in Eruope for a vacation and while they are away, Lennie and the others are looting the Todd estate. And you are helping them."
She stared at him and then it became too much to bear and the tears spilled over and began sliding down her cheeks. He reached out and took her into his arms while she wept and she was very much aware of his interest in her and his embrace.
It was a very nice place to be.