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Petra the Small

By: Scorpio44



[This is the first part of a much larger work. It is not a sex story, although there is sex in it and more as it goes along. This part has oral sex, fondling, woman-with-woman, and coitus. This part has the characters looking at the nature of their beliefs, what drives their actions and the possibility that life doesn't need to be the way it has been. I would appreciate feedback on what works for you, the reader, as well as what doesn't.]

*

She was tiny. When the other kids hit puberty they grew; she stayed small. On the first day of high school she was stopped in the hallways three times by teachers who thought she was at the wrong school. She did finally hit puberty when she was fifteen, but it was a disappointment. The changes that she had watched happen to everyone else were not what happened to her.

Instead of growing taller she had a little growth spurt that got her all the way to four foot nine and a half inches. Then she stopped. She grew the hair the books said she would grow, but not much. She shaved her arm pits once a week, but only for psychological reasons. Her hair was strawberry blond and there were only a few hairs in each pit. If she let them grow no one would even have noticed them. From the time she was eleven she had looked at her self, at the spot where her legs came together, wondering when the hair would grow there. It did, when she was sixteen, but so few of the strawberry blond hairs that from four feet away they were nearly invisible. As a senior in high school she still had what looked like an eleven-year-olds body.

But those were minor disappointments. The big disappointments were her breasts. Maybe that is not the way to say that. The biggest disappointments of puberty were what didn't show up. Her best friend starting high school grew B cups before they finished the first year. She grew nothing at all. By the time she was a junior she wore a t-shirt or camisole under her blouse but she still had no need for a bra, and she was hurt and upset about it. Her Mother had C cups. Petra had never met any other family other than her mother and her father. Her mother was five seven, considered tall for a woman of her generation. Her father was almost six foot tall and a big man. She had never heard either of her parents talk about where they grew up or any family stories. She had no idea what her family history was and if that would tell her that the women were usually late bloomers, or were generally flat too. 

Finally near the end of her senior year something started to happen. She woke up one morning and her nipples were tender and looked just a little swollen. She felt the camisole rubbing against her nipples all day long. At once it felt kinda good and it hurt a little. She was very excited because she thought this swelling and tenderness were the beginning of getting breasts. That night she touched them when she was in bed. She rubbed lotion on them and fell asleep with her hands covering them. The next day things were the same. On the third day the t-shirt she had worn to bed was stuck to her nipples. Something had leaked from them and dried during the night. She took it as a good sign.

It wasn't. It was the only sign. 

By graduation day she had conical nipples that were bigger than they had been the year before. The areolas were each the size of a quarter, and the nipple itself was about the size of a blueberry. A small blueberry. But her chest was flat.

She graduated high school as the shortest and flattest female student in the school. She had never been on a date. She had never danced with a boy. Her girlfriends were careful not to talk about sex stuff around her. And what she really wanted was a boyfriend, a relationship, a body. She wanted to be normal.

After graduation she got a letter in the mail telling her that not only had she been accepted to one of the colleges she had applied to she had received a scholarship as well. Her Mom and Dad helped her arrange for housing and pack, plus all the little things that go along with leaving home for the first time. Her parents didn't have lots of money but they took her shopping for a "reliable good little car" and they paid for it. It was a small car; a Honda Civic. Buying a car was, like many things, a trauma for her. When she sat in a car at one lot the salesman said to her, "Let your Dad sit there. After all, he'll be the driver." At another dealer the salesman wanted proof of her age even after he had seen her driver's license. Even in the Honda she had to sit on a pillow and she could barely reach the pedals. Her Dad put blocks on the pedals after they got the car home to make it easier for her to drive.

Going to college ...

Arriving at the college after driving for two days, she ran into the familiar problems of looking like she was eleven. Before she was fully registered, three people had asked her where her parents were. Another person had asked if her sister was a student here. She thought about getting a t-shirt with the words "Yes, I'm eighteen" printed on it. She decided not to when she realized that no one would believe it.

The first year she lived in the dorm. She had a roommate who was a sophomore. Her name was Carol and she was from Iowa. The degree she was interested in getting was a Mrs. So she dated a lot and was quite willing to tell Petra all about the boys and what she did with them. Petra hated hearing about Carol's exploits. They simply pointed at what she wasn't doing. What she was doing was studying. Her first year she finished with a 4.0 gpa. She did find a job for the summer and she enjoyed it. She worked at a summer pre-school, working with three-and-four-year-olds. They liked her, they had fun, and they learned from her. The parents got over leaving their children with someone who looked so young. 

Petra made an effort to dress like she was nearly twenty, but it wasn't easy. The stores that catered to twenty year old women didn't carry clothes her size. When most of the women her age were wearing shorts and cropped tops, Petra discovered that the shorts didn't look right when you don't have hips and the crop tops require breasts in them. She discovered that bib overalls were coming into fashion and that they were available in her size. They covered the lack of breasts a little and lack of hips didn't matter. For warm weather they even came in shorts. 

At the end of summer Petra decided that dorm living wasn't working for her and she started looking for an apartment near campus. She found a two-bedroom place only two blocks from campus that would be perfect but she would need a roommate. She rented the place and then went in search of a roommate. She talked to at least eight women before she found Jenny. Jenny was a transfer from a community college, also starting her second year, thinking about majoring in business, and when they talked she never mentioned dating or men once. She was a good looking woman but didn't dress to attract attention. They agreed on the rent and they moved in. It was a perfect match.

The classes they took were nearly the same and when one needed help the other knew the subject well enough to help. They decorated the apartment in contemporary cast off and didn't seem to care very much how it looked. Both required that the apartment be clean. They studied hard, made good grades and as seniors made the dean's list. At graduation with their bachelor's degrees, they were both accepted into grad school at another university. So they traveled there together and found another two-bedroom apartment they could afford, moved in and spent another two years together.

During those years, Petra gave up on the idea that her body was ever going to look like a woman. Jenny was a considerate roommate who never made a big deal of her body, never barged in on Petra when she was in the shower, and never told Petra anything about any dates she might have had. When they were about finished with their master's degrees they started interviewing for jobs and getting job offers. Petra got three offers. Jenny got six. None of Jenny's offers were in a city that Petra's offers were in. So, three days after they graduated, Jenny and Petra loaded their cars with everything and drove off in different directions. Jenny drove to New Mexico and Petra to Nebraska. 

Moving on ...

A year passed quickly. They called each other about once a week, wrote e-mails a little more often than that and were pretty happy with the firms they were working for and the cities where they now lived. Jenny's main complaint was that she missed Petra and Petra's main complaint was that she missed Jenny. Petra spoke often of being lonely and of wishing she would meet people who would become friends. Jenny spoke of missing Petra, of the great neighborhood she lived in, and the cheap prices for homes. 

One day Petra arrived at work to discover an email from Jenny. She was all excited about a home she had found. It was in a great neighborhood across the street from a park, had a great big private back yard and a front yard filled with roses and other flowers. She wanted Petra to come to New Mexico and see it. She gave Petra three dates when she could easily take off work for a week, asked Petra to pick one and let her know. And she wanted to know as soon as possible.

Petra asked her supervisor which dates would work best for him and he said she could have any of them. She picked the soonest. She called Jenny at work and as soon as she answered Petra said, "I'm going home tonight and start packing!" They laughed and talked for a while, then again that night and the following weekend. When the wheels lifted from the runway in Lincoln, Petra wished the plane would go even faster.

Jenny met her at the gate in Albuquerque. They stopped shortly after leaving the airport and had lunch at a cute little place that had eight salads on the menu that Petra had never heard of. She had one called a Southwestern Grilled Chicken Salad. It had ingredients she had never seen before, but she loved the taste. They drove for a while, with Jenny, pointing out things of interest as they traveled. Where the area around Lincoln was filled with corn fields and farming the area here was obviously desert. When they got to Jenny's new place there was a sign covering the front door: "Welcome Petra."

The house was built in the southwestern adobe style, with thick walls and a flat roof. It was a sandstone color and had rounded poles sticking out of the upper walls and was built to use the land and the environment to shade it from the major heat that would be coming a bit later in the year. 

Jenny hit a button in the car and the garage door opened. It was a three-car garage. There were lots of boxes stacked against a far wall, a bicycle, and little else. The tour of the house told Petra that Jenny had not purchased much in the way of furniture. The kitchen had a big table with six chairs and all the cooking stuff. The living room had an old area rug, a well-used couch and matching chair, but no artwork, no lamps, no tables. The first bedroom she saw had a few boxes in it and nothing else. The second bedroom had a single bed, a small chest of drawers, a small rug and a bean bag chair in the corner. They put Petra's bag in that bedroom. There was another empty bedroom and finally, the biggest bedroom. In that bedroom was a queen-sized bed, two chests of drawers that matched each other and the headboard. There was a large rug on the floor. Each of the bedrooms had a bathroom and Jenny pointed out that there was also a half-bath near the front door.

Just like old times in college, the two settled in the kitchen. After some talk about the neighborhood, the house, the lack of stuff, and how great they both thought the other looked, Jenny looked at the clock on the wall and said, "Petra, there is something I need to talk about with you."

"Oh, this sounds serious."

"Maybe. 

The Party ...

"I have been talking about my wonderful friend Petra for months. All my friends know all about you and they want to meet you. So, they've arranged a potluck welcome party for you."

"When? Where?"

"In half an hour. Here." Petra jumped up from her chair. "I need to change. Get taller. Grow boobs. Cut my hair. Take a shower. There isn't time." She sat back down. "You told them everything?"

"They know you aren't very tall, they know you are very smart. They know I think of you as closer than a sister. They don't know when you had your last period, the last movie you saw or book you read."

"OK. At least I have one or two secrets. Tell me about these friends." But before Jenny could reply, Petra jerked in her chair and said, "Hey, do I need to change?"

"You're fine. Clothes aren't very important to this group. Let me tell you about them." She did. She told Petra about the six people that she was sure would be there soon. Bob was a caterer, when he wasn't inventing something. Helen, Bob's significant other, worked as an office manager for a group of attorneys while raising two kids and a foster child as well. Carole sold real estate, was divorced, had her Mother living with her and thought of herself as an actress. Harvey ran a company that made, installed, and maintained those automatic gates around businesses and housing areas. Sabrina owned a business, a shop in a corner mall that sold intimate apparel and adult toys. Jerry had been a full-time trouble shooting technician for a major bank but recently gave that up to become a minister. At that moment, the door bell rang.

As Jenny approached the door, it opened and ten people came trooping in. Each was carrying food and went directly to the kitchen. After the food was set, each was introduced to Petra. Some of the people went to work at food preparation and the others took Jenny and Petra into the living room. 

The door opened again and two men carrying folding chairs came in. They announced that there were more chairs out in the truck and help was needed to bring them in. Soon there were about twenty chairs set up in Jenny's living room. An hour later there was someone sitting in every chair and six people sitting on the floor, all eating. The kitchen looked like a buffet in a church basement somewhere. 

Petra was almost in overwhelm. She spent most of her life working in a small office or studying alone. Her evenings and weekends were mostly spent alone. Now she was sitting here sharing a meal with almost thirty people that she didn't know and she liked it. Soon the meal was over, the dishes done, food put away, and kitchen back in order. Then something happened that changed the evening. That was when Jerry assumed the leadership role for the rest of the evening.

Jerry was sitting about ten feet from where Jenny and Petra were sitting. He spoke up, loudly enough that the rest of the room quieted. "Petra, I know that meeting us has been a bit of a shock, and I know there are probably questions you have about us. I know we have questions for you. If it's OK with you, let's begin."

"Begin?" Petra said, very quietly. "In a group like this it could take you a long time to ask the questions you'd like answers for and vice versa. If we do it as a group, the process will be quicker."

Petra thought about that for a few seconds and then replied, "OK. I have a question for you. I was told you have become a minister, but I don't see a minister's collar or anything that would say that you are a minister. Are you?"

"Good question. I am, but not in a traditional church. I don't think wearing certain clothing makes one a minister. I believe that how I conduct my life is much more important than what collar I might wear."

"Petra, may I ask you a question?" this from a woman wearing old faded jeans and a western shirt. Petra nodded.

"What is the thing that, if it showed up in your life, would make the biggest difference to you?"

"Could you ask that again? That is a big question."

"If there is something that you long for, hope for, that isn't in your life already, but you'd like it to be - what is it?"

"Oh. That. What's missing from my life is a husband, a family, being loved and accepted. I can't believe I just said that to strangers."

Another person, "What would you be willing to do to have those things?"

"I'd be willing to do anything."

"Leave Nebraska?"

"In a flash."

"Change jobs?"

"Sure."

Jerry spoke again, "In this group, the possibility exists for you to have exactly what you want. It may not look exactly as you have envisioned it. It will, however, feel exactly as you have always known it would feel. As a group, it is our intention that everyone feels the love of family, the acceptance of what we call a chosen family, and that we are there for each other in every physical, spiritual, and emotional way possible. And to have all this, all you are required to do is live like that is who you are."

Petra sat silent for a long time. Finally she looked up and said, "Even a husband?"

Sitting against the front wall of the living room was a man dressed in Dockers, a striped business shirt and wearing glasses. He stood up and said, "I've watched you from the moment I arrived here today. I've spoken to Jenny about you many times. My name is Tom, Tom Soshin. Here is what I offer you: If you will move here, I will help you find a job, help you move, and begin dating you with the intention that we get married one year from today."

The room erupted in clapping, cheers and other noise. Petra sat stunned. Finally the room quieted and Petra knew she had to say something.

"Tom, please come and sit by me. We have much to discuss." He beamed and did as she asked. Two hours later Tom took Petra by the hand and they told Jenny they were going for a walk. Jenny finished saying good night to the few remaining guests and went to her room. Over and over she thought, "Well, isn't life surprising?"

It was very late when Petra and Tom arrived back at Jenny's. They could not have told anyone where they had walked. They started out walking side by side. Sometime during the walk they realized they had been holding hands. At one time they were in a park, sat on a bench talking and holding hands. They decided to walk some more, and when they stood something about that moment had Tom kiss her. His lips touched hers very gently and after just three seconds he started to back off, thinking that he'd better not rush too much. He was unaware that this kiss was Petra's first kiss from a man. When she felt him starting to pull back, she put her arms around him and pressed her mouth against his. Remembering what she had seen in movies she opened her mouth just a little, but didn't know what else she was supposed to do. Tom did. He felt her open and pushed his tongue into her mouth. Petra had to figure out how to keep kissing and breathe what to do with her tongue, and with her hands.

The kiss lasted less than a minute. When it ended Petra was acutely aware that she wanted another.

"Please Sir, may I have more?"

His answer required no words. When they lost count of kisses, they stopped. Then they walked some more, with their arms around each other's waists. Tom was just over five feet tall. He was small enough that everything seemed to fit. He had been looking for the same things in his life that Petra had. As they walked, the bond between them grew. They talked, shared and stopped more than once for more kisses.

When they opened the door to Jenny's house, the single lamp in the living room was the only light on. The house was quiet. Tom took Petra back out on the porch for a moment and softly said, "I'm going home now. I am the happiest I have been in my life. I want to take you to dinner tomorrow night. During the day I have many things to do and most of the time I'm doing them; my mind will be with you." 

She put her arms around his neck and they kissed again. A long soft, slow kiss that had these two people pressed together from the knees to the lips. 


Petra the Small Ch. 02



This story contains nudity, sexual activities shared in a group setting, romance, Love, affection and conversations about relationships, Love, Life and even God. This is not a "Wham-Bam-Thank-you" story. It is fiction, and it is possible. Fiction means the characters in the story may not have the same names in life, may not live where they story places them, may not looks as the story says they look, and may not exist anywhere except in my head. May is a very big word.]

*

"How can you decide you are in love with someone before you meet?"

"Have you ever met God, face to face, hung out together?"

"No, but that's different."

"Because you already have stuff made up about who God is, and how you can be in relationship with God. I can decide right now that when we meet Jerry's friends in Raton that I'm really going to like them. I can decide that I'm going to have them for my brother and my sister. I love them both, and I've never met them. Everyone at the party that was held at Jenny's place when you came to visit had already decided to love you and accept you into the family before your plane landed."

"They all treated me like I belonged. I really did feel welcome and not like a stranger."

"That was our intention. People who come and hang with us have one of two reactions to us. They discover they are part of our family or they get scared and run."

"How could someone run? I never felt as good around people as I felt that night."

"They could run because they realized at some level that in order to accept our love they would need to give up their cherished beliefs about who they are and what they deserve."

"Oh." 

Petra looked out the window and saw nothing. She thought about this family. They passed a sign and Petra came back to present long enough to read it. Raton, 3 miles. She picked up the radio and said, "I just saw a sign for Raton, three miles."

"We saw too. Thanks." Jenny said. A couple seconds later Jerry's voice came over the radio. 

"When we get off we will head west about four miles. I won't be going over forty."

They followed Jerry off I-25 and off into the land around Raton.

Family in Raton

After a few minutes' drive, they were far enough from the highway that they could neither see nor hear it. They turned onto a two-lane country road and went another few miles to a gate alongside the road. The gate was plenty wide and tall enough for the truck Jerry was driving. It looked big enough for a semi truck to pass through. The pillars at each side of the gate were made of brick. They were about four-foot square and almost fifteen feet tall. Connecting these pillars between their tops was a wrought iron structure that was an arc. In the middle of that arc were wrought iron letters forming the words "Getto Ranch."

Jerry stopped the truck in the middle of the road and got out. He walked to the gate and opened a panel in the left pillar. He did something and the tubular steel gate began to slowly open. He jogged back to the truck, climbed in and pulled thru the gate. As he did, Jenny's voice came over the radio and said, "Follow us closely. We don't know if we have to close the gate or it's automatic."

Tom stayed within about ten feet of the back of the truck. When they were well through the gate Jerry let the truck come to a stop. He got out, to go back to the gate. When he got back to the Honda the gate slowly began to close. He smiled at Tom and Petra and asked, "Are you hungry again?"

Tom smiled. Petra blushed. Jerry laughed and went back to the truck. Soon Petra heard Jenny's voice on the radio.

"I see a building up ahead near a grove of trees."

A few seconds later she spoke again, "There is a horse and rider by the building."

"Say more." Petra said, "We can't see anything."

"The rider is on a beautiful horse. Both the rider and the horse have the same color hair. And, the rider gives new meaning to the phrase "riding bareback."

"What does all that mean?" Petra asked.

"It means the rider is a naked woman." Jerry said, laughing.

Jerry stopped the truck just before getting to the rider. He had his window open and said to her, "Roseanne, you are a sight! A welcome and wonderful sight."

She smiled wide and slid off the horse. 

"Get out of that truck, you handsome man. I haven't had a hug from you in months." 

He got out of the truck and pulled Jenny with him as he did so. He introduced Jenny to Roseanne after they hugged. Roseanne hugged Jenny and kissed her on the cheek. Then the three walked back to the Honda.

"You might as well get out of the car." Jerry said, loudly.

"OK." Tom said. 

He and Petra got out and were introduced to Roseanne. Petra had some trouble knowing where to look with this beautiful, tall, blond, nude woman standing in front of her. Roseanne pointed them towards the house and said she would be along soon but that she had one more chore to do first. She turned and her horse was right there. Petra noticed that the small blanket on the horse was the same color as the horse. With movements as graceful and smooth as a ballet dancer, she leapt up onto the horse and they took off at a trot. 

Petra spoke up, "Does she always dress like that?"

"When she is out here, I think she does. Every time I've seen her in Santa Fe, she was dressed in jeans and shirt. She even wears boot to town." Jerry answered. 

He looked at Petra and said, "If it bothers you, I'm sure she would put something on."

"It does bother me and I'll deal with it. Please don't say anything."

"OK." 

Jerry turned towards the truck. Petra spoke again.

"Jerry, can I ride to the house in the truck?"

"Of course. I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to get to talk to you alone on this trip." 

He turned to Jenny and said, "Honey, would you mind riding with Tom for a couple of miles?"

"No. In fact, I have some things I want to talk to Tom about." 

They loaded up and slowly drove down the road to the house.

Inside the truck, Petra asked Jerry, "What do you think is going on between Tom and me?"

"I think you are two people testing out a new way of being in relationship. I think that you are getting used to the idea that someone can and does love you. Tom is discovering just how powerful his intention is, and it's scaring him a little." 

There was a pause in the truck.

Petra spoke. "How do you know Tom is scared? He doesn't seem scared to me."

"I've known Tom for a while. He has shared with me the things that are important to him. He has shared the things that he feels have been missing from his life; the things he has held onto as dreams. When you arrived at Jenny's house, he had already decided he was going to love you. I knew that before you left Lincoln. He wants this to work. He sees the possibility here of the two of you fulfilling each other, of having the life you and he have dreamt of and having it together. And he is scared he'll mess that up."

"I can't think of how he could. Jerry, I've been wanting Tom in my life since I was born."

"Are you afraid that something you do or something you are or aren't will mess it up?"

"Yes." Her voice was quiet, and the fear very present.

"My telling you not to worry won't do much good so I'll tell you this instead: If you are both willing to change the paradigm that runs your lives to one that works for you every moment, everything will be Love and Life for the rest of your lives." 

Jerry was watching the road with a big smile on his face as he spoke. After a few seconds, Petra shifted on the seat and Jerry said, "New topic."

"What?"

"When you rearrange yourself you are starting a new topic."

"I am?"

"Well, what were you going to say?"

"I was going to ask about you and Jenny."

"What did you want to find out?"

"How long has this thing between you been going on?"

"The first romantic kiss was in Lincoln. I love her unlike any other woman I have ever loved."

"What about God being Love? Doesn't that mean you love Roseanne, too?"

"It does mean that I love Roseanne. I love you. I love Tom and Alex, too. Loving each of you is an acknowledgement of seeing the divine in you, seeing you as God, as Love, and as Life."

"Then what makes Jenny different?"

"I am willing to have her as my partner in Love and Life. I am willing to share my living with her, every breath, every thought, every feeling. She is the scale that I will measure all other relationships with."

"I think I understand."

"I would be surprised if no more questions come up about it. I have been immersed in this for years and sometimes I still need to work things out. Sometimes that is done in my head but more often now it is through dialogs like this."

Jerry had driven slowly, but now they were at the house and the truck stopped. Petra looked up and saw Alex come out of the house. He was about six or seven inches taller than Tom, well tanned, with sandy blond hair and wearing hiking sandals. After Petra noticed that he was nude, she noticed a long scar down the middle of his chest. It ended about an inch above his navel. She also noticed that he had more body hair than any man she had ever seen.

They climbed out of the truck and met with Jenny and Tom just as Alex stepped up to welcome them to the ranch. He hugged the men first beginning with Jerry, then the women starting with Petra. He helped them gather their gear and they walked together past the house, across a big patio, and around a pool to the bunk house. They all knew it was the bunk house because there was a sign over the double entry doors that said, "BUNK HOUSE."

Inside Petra was surprised. She had expected rooms like in a motel and what she saw was not that. She saw a large long room with four queen-sized beds along the wall opposite the entry with a wardrobe cabinet between the beds as well as a nightstand with a small lamp on it. At each end of the room there was a door. On the wall with the entry there were couches, chairs, rocking chairs, and two tables with four chairs each. Above each bed was a window the width of the bed and about four feet tall. Out those windows, they could see the Rocky Mountains. Pulled to the sides of the windows were eyelet curtains. On each bed were hand-made quilts of various designs. Down the length of the room from one end to the other was a carpet about twelve feet wide. It didn't go under any of the beds. The floor was wooden and stained and waxed to look like shiny oak.

By the time Petra had taken this all in, Jenny had as well and she moved to a bed with a double wedding ring pattern quilt on it.

"I'd like this bed!" She bubbled, looking at Jerry.

"Then, if I may, I would like to join you there a bit later." Jerry said.

"Why, kind Sir, that would please me exceedingly." 

Jenny curtsied and then hugged Jerry. Tom walked to the end of the room where a dark green plaid quilt covered the bed. He looked back at Petra and asked, softly, "Would this one be OK with you?"

"Will you be in it?"

"Yes."

"Then it will be the very one I want to be in." Petra said.

When Petra looked up from putting her things in the drawer of the wardrobe, Tom was gone. She noticed that the door at the end of the room was slightly open. It had been closed when they arrived. She opened it a bit more and entered.

Up along the end wall of the building, beginning at about eight feet, were windows that reminded Petra of grade school. They had a center catch at the bottom and they opened out from the bottom. Below the windows to her right was a huge open shower area with tiled floor and walls. There were six shower heads along the two facing walls and a tiled bench along the far wall. Under the windows to her left were three stalls and along the wall directly to her left a long counter with three big sinks and mirrors above the counter. Tom was nowhere to be seen, but after a few seconds Petra heard a sound that immediately told her he was using one of the stalls. She quietly backed out of the room and turned to see Jenny and Jerry sitting on a couch at the other end of the bedroom. She could see that they were talking, but she could not hear them. 

Jenny saw her and waved for her to join them. By the time she walked to them, Tom had exited the bathroom and followed. 

"How are you doing, Petra?" Jenny asked.

"I'm doing well, I think." Petra answered, as she sat down across from the two.

"We were talking about you, you know." Jerry said.

"And how am I doing from where you sit?"

"Better than I expected." Jerry said.

"Jerry was a bit concerned that you were still in overwhelm."

Tom sat down next to Petra and looked in her eyes before speaking, "I'm a little concerned about that. too."

Petra looked back at Tom, smiled and spoke softly, "You needn't worry. I'm getting more and more comfortable with love and loving and being in a family."

She paused and no one spoke. When the silence ended it was Petra's voice that filled the space.

"I never believed I would be loved. I never believed anyone would welcome me anywhere much less into a family. I'm still letting that sink in. I thought I would have one friend for my whole life, Jenny, and she would be a thousand miles away."

"And here we are sitting in our family's bunk house in northern New Mexico, headed for Santa Fe and our new life."

"And ours, too." Jerry said, taking Jenny's hand. They both smiled.

Tom sat quietly for a minute and then spoke. 

"I wonder if I could ask you, Petra, to consider something else new?"

"The tone of your voice and the look on your face has me afraid to say yes. What is going on? What new something do you want me to consider?"

"I want you to consider not waiting eleven months plus to become my wife."

All three shifted in their seats, smiled and sighed. 

"Out by the pool tonight? Would that be soon enough for you?"

Tom laughed. "No. If it was just you and me, I'd jump at the chance to do it tonight out by the pool. It isn't just about us. Our family wants to be there when we get married, and I want them there. It is the first week of June and if we wait until the anniversary of the day we met it will be May next year. I think a wedding on the first weekend of November this year sounds wonderful."

Petra stood up, and then sat back down on Tom's lap. She put her arms around his neck and her lips next to his ear. Then she whispered, "Can we practice for the honeymoon until then?" 

He nodded his head enthusiastically.

Jerry spoke up, "Would you further entertain the idea of having it be a double wedding?" 

Jenny jumped into his lap and asked, "Is that your idea of a proposal?" while she laughed.

"Why, yes, I guess it is, now that you mention it. Now I need an answer from each of you."

All three spoke as one voice, "Yes!" 

Followed by kissing and hugs. In the midst of all that physical activity, no one noticed Alex walk into the bunk house. He saw the activity and started to back quietly out the door when Jenny spotted him.

"Alex! We have good news!" 

He stopped and looked at the two couples before him.

"The war in Europe is over?"

"No! We're getting married!"

"Tonight? Out by the pool?"

"Not tonight, but out by the pool the first weekend in November sounds good to us." Jerry said, looking around for consensus. 

He got it.

"Let's talk the details over with Roseanne. Which reminds me, we have lots of food for y'all out on the patio. Let's eat." 

As they walked out Alex said that BBQ was messy and he recommended they all eat nude. He already was nude, as was Roseanne. The rest of the group peeled out of their clothes and were ready for dinner.

In less than a minute, they were all out on the patio by the bar-b-que loading plates with ribs, chicken, two kinds of salad, beans, and fresh peach slices. They sat around a round table and ate well, discussing ideas for a double wedding. 

Jerry picked up a rib and took a bite. As he did a small piece fell from the bone and landed in his lap. Roseanne laughed and said, "We don't use napkins. If someone drops food on themselves someone else needs to get it, with their mouth."

Jenny smiled and said, "Oh, I guess I can do that."

She bent into Jerry's lap and nibbled around until she eventually found the small piece of rib meat. She also found a piece of meat that kept getting bigger as she nibbled. Tom looked at Petra and said, "Please pass the ribs."

Petra blushed and passed the ribs. A minute later she dropped a spoonful of bbq beans and they made a trail of juices and beans down her chest and into her lap. Tom smiled and said, "I have to love a messy woman!"

When Tom finished cleaning up her spill Petra was deciding that she would never buy napkins again. Tom was very good at clean up.

The sun went down, the lights (mounted high) on the bunk house came on and still they talked. Alex went into the house at some point and came back out with a pad of lined paper and a couple of pens. Roseanne and Petra did most of the writing and by midnight, the plans were done. For that night.

The three couples went into the bunk house and Alex asked if it would be OK if he and Roseanne slept in there tonight, too. After everyone agreed, they picked the bed between the two couples and all six people went to bed. 

Petra spent about five seconds thinking about a t-shirt as nightgown, but when she saw Tom getting into bed nude, she decided she wanted skin to skin.

Within a few minutes, all the breathing in the bunk house was the breathing of sleep, not activity.

As morning came, the sleeping people began to stir. When they woke up, time was spent touching, kissing, and touching some more. Eventually the urges of morning overcame the reluctance to get out of the warm sensual beds and Roseanne was the first to put her feet on the floor. Five sets of eyes followed her to the nearest bathroom. Within seconds of her disappearance, Petra and Jenny followed her giggling. As soon as the door closed behind the ladies, the three men bounded from their respective beds and ran to the other bathroom. All three had early morning erections. The six people met on the carpet by their beds two minutes later.

Tom took Petra in his arms and announced loudly, "I'm hungry." 

All three women started laughing.

Roseanne said, "Why do men need to state the obvious?" Followed by more laughter.

Petra turned towards the wardrobe for her clothes when Tom stopped her. He gently pushed her toward the bed. "Oh," was all she said. 

Tom fell on the bed next to her and began nibbling on her neck. After a few seconds of nibbling, he moved to the other side of her neck and she noticed that she had that sensation starting again, that she now could identify as getting wet. Then she remembered the four other people in the room and sat up. She saw the four were taking care of their own appetizers not watching her and Tom, so she returned to Tom with enthusiasm. Soon the sounds of passion filled the bunk house, followed shortly with the mixed sounds of orgasms and laughter.

Later, Roseanne was the first to speak, "Since we remodeled the bunk house, we haven't properly tested the showers. We think they hold six or more but we really don't know. Please join us and we'll find out." She walked into the bathroom and left the door open. Seconds later, the water was running over six bodies.

Petra had now been seen nude by five other people in her life, and none of them seemed to care that she didn't look like Roseanne or Jenny. They seemed to love her just as she was. 

As Roseanne lathered her hands, Alex pointed to his back and she started soaping his back. Seeing that, Tom started lathering Roseanne's back. Jerry started lathering Jenny's back and Jenny started in on Petra. Petra made it a circle and started washing Roseanne's back. Later, everyone changed who they were lathering and which side. Soon the shampoo bottle was being passed and mounds of foam were being massaged into hair. Petra did Tom's hair as the others were too tall for her to reach, until she noticed the bench and took Jerry over by it. She climbed up and did a great job on his hair. As he stood in front of her, he was eye level with her nipples and he held on to her hips for balance. The temptation was strong, but he resisted. Petra noticed that each of the men made sure that each of the women were very clean. She giggled as each of them washed her, lathering her sensitive nipples and pussy. She watched Jerry lather Jenny and kiss her breasts after rinsing them. Alex lathered his very hairy body and then hugged Roseanne, using his body like a big warm loofa to scrub her. 




Petra the Small Ch. 02



"Alex, that looks like fun. Would you do that with me?" Petra asked.

Roseanne helped her off the bench and Alex scrubbed her by rubbing himself all over her body. Jerry came up from behind her and they two big men sandwiched her and she turned around inside their hug. They laughed and Tom said, "Hey! Don't scrub all her skin off!"

The shower was a success. They each and all had fun, laughed and got very clean. When they were all rinsed, they shut off the six jets of hot water and used big towels to dry each other. 

Alex said, "This reminds me a little of when we were kids. In my family we usually showered together. My parents were hippies and believed we were saving water." 

"Did you have as much fun with them as you're having now?" Jenny asked.

"No. Not with Mom watching." He laughed.

Ten minutes later, they were all preparing breakfast. The kitchen was huge and built for making big meals for ranch hands. Alex made an eighteen-egg omelet with chopped broccoli, spinach, onions and two kinds of cheese. Tom handled toast duty and he and Petra buttered every slice. Roseanne sliced fresh fruit while Jerry and Jenny made sure the coffee and juice were ready. As with the dinner the night before, they dined at the round table on the patio.

About a minute after they sat down, a bell rang. It was very loud and rang only once. Jerry looked up and noticed it mounted on the outside wall of the bunk house.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Whenever someone opens the gate the bell rings. Some houses have a doorbell. We have a gate bell. It allows us a little while to see who is coming and either dress or not." Roseanne answered. 

She took another bite.

Alex took another bite and then went to the south end of the house and climbed a ladder. When he reached the roof he walked over to a box, opened it and pulled out a big pair of binoculars. He focused them, stood for about a minute while the others continued to eat.

"There is a sight you just don't see every day." Jenny said, pointing to a naked Alex standing on the roof. 

They all laughed and Roseanne said, "Well, maybe not every day."

Alex turned, replaced the binoculars, and climbed down. As he approached the table, everyone looked at him. "I think we have a van full of people arriving. Unless I'm wrong, the van belongs to a fence and gate company."

"Shall we get dressed?" Petra asked.

"If you want to, but I think it's family who figured out we would be here this morning. In fact, it might be your new employer driving the van." Jerry answered.

Alex looked down and said, "They didn't figure it out. I called them after you called me. But I didn't know they would come all this way."

Roseanne looked at the people at the table and said, "I don't know who Harvey might have with him so I think clothes are a good idea. Let's meet back here as quickly as we can." She dashed into the house with Alex right behind her behind. The four from the bunk house ran there and pulled on clothes quickly. Neither Jenny nor Petra put on any underwear, just t-shirts and shorts. The men pulled on shorts and t-shirts as well and ran back to the table. Twenty seconds after the last person was seated at the table giggling, they heard the doors to a van open and close.

"I wonder who that could be?" Roseanne said very loudly.

"Some very hungry travelers from afar." Harvey said as they came around the corner into view.

"Well, sit down and start in. We'll make more."

The hugs and welcomes lasted a minute or two, and then Alex and Tom went into the kitchen and made another full breakfast. Harvey introduced everyone to the two new people he brought with him. They were a couple from Santa Fe who Harvey knew from his old neighborhood. Angela and Jay looked to be in their late thirties or early forties. Everyone at the table was glad they had dressed, for their guests.

Angela sat down next to Petra and Jay sat between Jerry and Jenny. Harvey went into the house to help.

Angela looked at Petra and said, "Have you been in the family long?"

"Almost a month." Petra answered. 

She noticed Angela looking at her breakfast and said, "In your family, did people share food?"

Angela smiled and said, "Sure. Sometimes willingly and sometimes not."

Petra picked up a forkful of omelet and offered it to Angela's mouth. She smiled and took it.

"Wow! That's really good. Who made that omelet?

"Alex did. He lives here." Roseanne offered. 

Jenny offered Jay a bite and he accepted. Petra adopted a pattern of a bite to herself and then a bite to Angela. They quickly were having fun with breakfast. Between bites, Jay asked, "Can we ask questions?"

"Yes." Jerry responded, "What kind of questions?"

"About this family, about what you believe and stuff like that."

"Shoot. Don't be too surprised if the answers are different than what you have heard someplace else."

"Well ..." Jay hesitated. 

Angela jumped in.

"What do you believe?"

"About what?"

"About God?"

"I can answer for myself," Jerry said. "For answers from the others, you'll need to ask them. As for me, I believe that the word "God" has a couple of words that mean the same thing. Those words are Life and Love. Anything that is alive is God. Anything that is Love is God. To go along with that, I believe that everything is alive. The sun is alive, the earth, the land, the air is all alive. There are implications to believing that and I will probably wrestle with those for the rest of my life, but in a nut, that's what I believe." 

Jerry took another bite.

"What about Jesus?" Jay asked.

"Jesus knew that he was God. He also knew that everyone around him was God, too, but that they weren't ready to hear that. The people he lived near were socialized to believe that God was somewhere else. He planted seeds of the truth and he started some major changes in their culture, but as time passed, the people altered what he said and did until they were comfortable with it."

"The Bible says that unless you believe in Jesus you can't be saved." Jay said.

"I believe in Jesus. I believe he was and is God. That isn't difficult for people to get or even understand. What is tough for many is when I say that I believe that you are God and Petra is God and Harvey is God. What people often stumble over is the idea that each of us is divine."

"I've heard ministers say that sometimes we are touched by the divine."

"The implication in that is that there are times when you aren't touched by the divine. When I say that God is Life and Love, I mean it. If something exists, it is God, it is Life, and it is Love. You are divine."

"Are you saying that God made the bad stuff, too?" Angela scooted forward toward Jerry. 

At that moment the new breakfast came out the door with fresh plates and more coffee and juice. The conversation stopped while food was portioned to everyone. When Petra reached for the ladle in the omelet, Angela stopped her.

"Please let me feed you. It was fun and felt like something a family would do."

Petra didn't put anything on her plate; just refilled her juice. Jenny made sure that Jerry got a bite now and then, too.

After a minute of eating, Angela asked her question again. "Are you saying that God created the bad stuff, too?"

Harvey stepped in. "Let me take this one, Jerry. You eat. When you say bad stuff, what do you mean?"

"Two years ago we had a daughter. She got sick and a month before her first birthday, she died. That's bad stuff."

"When people used to share things like that with me, I always said, "I'm sorry." I still say it sometimes, but I'm thinking about those kinds of events differently now. On the surface, the death of your daughter looks and feels like bad stuff. But perhaps we don't have a large enough perspective. Perhaps in treating your daughter, the doctors learned something that will help them save a hundred other kids. Perhaps the death of your little girl has had a profound effect on your lives and the way you will live everyday of the rest of your lives."

"When she died, we almost did too." Angela said. 

Tears were running down her face. Petra put her arm around her shoulders.

"I've quit saying those are bad things. I use the word sad because I think it is more accurate. It can be very profoundly sad and still have something about it be beneficial. If you learned something... If you changed how you live... If you became closer emotionally and spiritually with Jay... then there was something beneficial in all that sadness."

Petra whispered to Angela, "Can you tell me about holding her?"

"Oh, Yes." A light went on in Angela's face, as she spoke about having their baby in their lives. She told about that last day, that last hour, when their daughter died. Her tears and Jays' were matched all around the table. When Angela stopped speaking, Petra whispered again. Everyone heard her. 

"You are so blessed. I've never held a child that was mine." 

Angela and Petra hugged for a long time. 

Roseanne hugged Alex and Tom at the same time. Jerry took Jay and Jenny in his arms. No one spoke. No words were needed.

After a time, Petra released Angela and said, "If no one objects, I think we are going for a walk." 

No one objected. They put their arms around each other and headed away from the table. Roseanne caught Petra's eye and pointed in a direction she recommended. Tom left the table, went into the bunk house and found shoes for Petra. He raced after the two women and dropped the shoes in front of them then retreated.

Petra slipped them on and resumed their walk.

"Jay, how are you doing?" Alex asked. 

He was still sitting between Jenny and Jerry who were gently holding him.

He looked up and said, "I feel released. I've been living in pain since the day she got sick. I've felt angry, helpless, frustrated, abandoned, and so alone. We don't even say her name. All the pictures and the baby stuff are up in the attic."

Roseanne sat a box of tissues on the table by Jay and he used a couple.

"Her name was Megan. She was born on the 13th of July two years ago. She was so sweet. I loved holding her, feeling her warmth." 

He used a couple more tissues.

Petra walked in the direction Roseanne had pointed until they came to a stream. It was about fifteen feet wide and they followed it up stream for a while. The sound of the water was soothing. The stream turned and in about fifty yards widened into a pool at the base of a waterfall about ten feet high. They sat and looked at the water for a long time.

They didn't speak; just got up and walked back arm-in-arm. About halfway back, they stopped and stood together hugging.

Jay saw the two women as they approached. He met them, took them in his arms and hugged and kissing them. The three walked slowly back to the table.

Before they sat down, Jerry offered, "Perhaps Jay you and Angela would like some privacy? You can go into the bunk house and none of us will bother you for as long as you need to be there." 

Everyone watched them walk to the bunk house and step inside.

After the table was cleared, the dishes were done and put away Jerry turned to Harvey.

"Can you tell me why you brought them here?"

"Yes. I knew that this family was an answer to the pain they were living in. I knew that whatever they needed would be here. I didn't know it would be you and Petra, but I'm so glad I was here to be part of this."

The two men hugged.

The family found their way to the front porch which was now in shade. The need for conversation really wasn't there. From time to time one person would say something, and then the silence would resume. Their thoughts were about the morning and what they had witnessed. Petra sat in Tom's arms for a long time. Then she took a deep breath and stood up. 

She looked at Jerry and asked, "Did I do OK?" Jerry began to laugh. Not a little chuckle but a real laugh, out loud and joyful.

"Did you do OK? What I saw was the Goddess speaking to the Goddess. What I saw was Love and Life and God as powerfully as I have ever seen them! Did you do OK?" 

He rushed her, took her in his arms and swung her around. He kissed her cheeks, and said, "Petra, I love you. I honor you and I am blessed to have you in my life."

When he put her down, Tom took her face in his hands and said, "I have never loved anyone as much as I love you. You are a miracle for all of us." 

And he kissed her. As they all watched, a few tears flowed down a few cheeks, and then the front door opened. Jay and Angela stepped out on the porch.

Jay looked at each face and asked, "So, what do we do to join this family?"

"You're already in. Now the only question is will you stay?" Harvey said.

"You need to know more about us before you know if you really want in." 

Jerry said. "You need to ask more questions, meet more of your brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and we need to ask you some questions, too."

Jay took Angela by the hand and they sat down on a wicker love seat. 

"OK. Ask anything you want."

"Tell us what you want us to know about you." Alex said.

Angela spoke right up. 

"I am 36 years old. I was born in Denver and grew up there. We met at UCLA in California where Jay was a year ahead of me. I studied child development so I could be a good Mom and teach pre-school. Jay got his degree in engineering. We got jobs in Oregon out of college but the nearly constant rain wasn't what we wanted so we took jobs in Santa Fe. We were both raised in different Christian churches as kids, but until our daughter got sick, we didn't attend Church." 

"In fact, after she died I thought God was punishing me for not going to church." Jay said. 

After a pause he spoke again, "I was born in a small town in western Nebraska - Bayard. We lived across the street from the sugar beet factory when I was little. Ours was like most small town schools, one building old enough that my Dad and his Dad both went there. I figured the way out was to go to college. I got into UCLA and left. Moving to California was culture shock. I'd never seen the thousands of ethnicities that I saw in Los Angeles. My first class at UCLA was English with over twenty different languages spoken among 40 students. I met people from all over the world. In my junior year, I met Angela in the library. When she graduated, we got married."

Tom asked, "Tell us about your families."

"When I was growing up in Denver, it was like being in a single-parent family where Mom was it. I had a Dad, but he wasn't there much. He worked sometimes in one place and sometimes in another. We counted on him being there between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that was about it. I have two sisters, both older than me but they don't have much use for me and I don't even feel like I know them."

"Bayard was a nice quiet town to raise kids in. I heard my Dad say that many times. He owned the propane business in Bayard and when my brother was sixteen, Dad took him into the business. When I was sixteen, he hired me to work in the office, but it was clear that the business belonged to my brother. We went to the Presbyterian Church in town until I was about nine and then the minister got arrested and everyone switched to the Congregationalist church. We went about once a month. I was a pretty good student and didn't get caught doing anything wrong in high school. I learned to cook and now I love cooking for friends." Jay paused. "But since we moved to Santa Fe, we haven't had any friends except at work." 

He paused again. Looking at Alex he asked, "What else would you like to know?"

"Part of what people in this family do is to look at beliefs that we have that don't work. When we use the word "work", what we mean is something that works is something that gets us closer to where we want to be, something that serves us, something that furthers the family goals or our individual goals, or is beneficial for humanity. Would you be willing to look for those beliefs in yourself, everyday?"

Both Andrea and Jay nodded. So did Petra. Alex smiled.

Petra raised her hand, realized what she had done, put it down and spoke. 

"I'd like to ask you both a question that I was asked about a month ago. What is the thing that if it showed up in your life would make the biggest difference to you?"

The eyes on Andrea's face almost popped out. She looked at Petra for a moment or two and then said, "Family. We rode all the way out here on the hope that perhaps we would find a family here. I want to belong to something bigger than just Jay and me. I want sisters and brothers and even parents." 

She took a breath, and Jay stepped in.

"I want brothers and sisters, too. I want the intimacy that I know in my heart can exist and I've never had with anyone but Andrea. I want to wake up every morning knowing that if someone needs me, I'll be there for them and if we need, those same people will be there for us." 

Jay took a breath and Andrea started speaking, as if the two were thinking with one brain and speaking thru two bodies.

"And when we have children again, we won't be alone." 

Andrea and Jay looked at each other and tears came to their eyes. After a few moments, Jay spoke.

"Until now, we have never said anything, not even to each other, about having more kids." 

They hugged. Everyone sat quietly for quite a while. Tom sat with Petra on his lap. Jay sat with Andrea next to him, her legs over his. Harvey sat next to Jerry who had Jenny sitting on the porch between his legs. Alex and Roseanne were sitting against the two posts at the edge of the porch with their feet touching, almost looking like a human gate at the edge of the porch.

When Roseanne spoke, it was as if her soft voice was expressing a strength that had just arrived. It wasn't seen or heard; just felt. 

"In this family, you can have all that, and more."

Alex pushed against Roseanne's feet and when she looked at him he said. "I don't know for sure, but I think you noticed how we have been treating you since you arrived. We intend to do that with everyone we meet. We decided the instant we saw you that you are family. We support your lives in working, even if we never see either of you again. Part of what makes us a family is that we aren't exclusive. We are inclusive."

Andrea had been nodding and smiling as Alex and Roseanne had spoken. Now she asked, "Can I ask about the bunk house?"

Roseanne answered with a nod.

"There are four queen-sized beds in there, but no walls between them."

Alex smiled. "You're right. But that isn't the question you want answered."

Andrea blushed and looked at Roseanne. "There isn't any privacy."

Alex opened his mouth to point out that wasn't a question either, but a wave of Roseanne's hand stopped him. Roseanne answered her question. "When we remodeled the bunkhouse, we thought about making four small bedrooms. We realized that heating it in winter would be more difficult with those walls cutting the room in pieces. If we left it as a big open room we could sleep more than eight people in there. Since our family is now about fifty or sixty strong, we have outgrown the bunk house even before it had been filled for one night."

"But the privacy?"

"There isn't any, except what the people in the room give each other."

Jerry spoke up. "There is something related to this that needs to be spoken now, since the conversation is here. In this family, there is a lot of nudity. When we got up this morning, we took a shower. Together. Not only did we all get very clean, we laughed and had fun, too. Would that bother either of you?"

"You've all been in the shower together naked?" Jay asked.

"I don't know what you wear in the shower, but for me, soap and shampoo are about all I wear." Jenny answered, smiling.

"I don't know about that. Since I left home I guess some girls at college saw me shower naked, but Jay is the only man who has ever seen me completely naked." Andrea said.




Petra the Small Ch. 02



Jerry spoke again. "We aren't going to force you to get naked with us, but in this family being nude in front of family isn't a big deal. It's part of the belief that if you are God and I am God, our bodies are godly. We have nothing to hide."

"What about sex?" Jay asked.

"Sex is fun and beneficial - emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Sex also helps make babies. We want everyone to look at their beliefs about sex and society's made-up rules about sex and discover for yourself what serves you... and then be authentic about it. Do what serves you. Do what works."

Tom spoke up. "The other thing we need to talk about that's almost as important as sex is food. It's 2:00pm and I'm hungry. Alex, lead me to the fixins and I'll start preparations for our mid-day feast." 

Alex stood, along with Petra, Roseanne and Andrea. "I'll help," they each said.

Jerry looked around at who was left and said, "Let's get the table ready. He was right. I'm hungry." 

Ten minutes later, they were sitting out at the round table eating sandwiches, salad and other wonderful things from the kitchen.

Over lunch, the conversation continued. Jay asked, "Petra, you've been in the family for a month. How are you dealing with all the changes?"

"They tell me I'm doing well. Sometimes I think that's true. Other times I think I'm a little crazy. Two months ago I was a lonely woman living and working in Lincoln, Nebraska. Now I have brothers and sisters all over the place, I'm engaged to be married in about four months and, to be honest, I've never felt so loved and accepted in my life."

"How are you with the nudity?" Andrea asked.

"Until a month ago, I don't think any adult had ever seen me naked except my doctor. Then I saw that my attitudes about being naked were all made up, by me and by people who don't know me. I discovered that Tom loves me. He loved me before he saw me naked and it isn't my body that he loves."

Tom interjected, "Well, it isn't just your body that I love."

"OK, he loves all of me. That has been the toughest part so far; accepting that someone like Tom could or would love me. All the stuff about God being Life and Love is easy once I can get my mind around that I am divine... that I am God."

Jay spoke again, "That statement alone goes against everything I was ever taught in church. God sits on His throne in Heaven and passes judgment on us."

"Jerry had me read in the Bible and other places and it does say that we are all divine. I'm starting to think that the whole concept of us needing to please God is part of a control effort to keep people in line. If we are God, why do we need someone outside us telling us how to live, how to love?"

Andrea looked at Jerry and asked, "Do you love Jenny?"

Jerry nodded and said, "Yes."

"Do you love Petra?"

"Yes."

There was a pause and then she asked, "Whom do you love more?"

"There is no more. Love isn't quantifiable. Either I love someone or I don't. I love Jenny profoundly, fully. I love Petra profoundly, fully. The difference is in the expression of that love. Jenny and I spent many hours in the truck talking about our relationship. We talked about how we will express our love for each other in the coming months and years. Our agreement may not be like the agreement between Tom and Petra or between Alex and Roseanne. It will be our marriage. Not a marriage between us and New Mexico, or a marriage between us and some religion, but between Jenny and me."

Jenny spoke up. "That was the most intense, most intimate conversation of my life. Jerry and I have confronted lots of ideas and thoughts and beliefs that we had about being married and how that does or doesn't work to serve us and serve God."

"Wait up!" Jay said. "Serve God? If you are God, how do you serve God?"

"Change the words. If Jenny had said we looked at our thoughts and beliefs about being married and how that does or doesn't serve us and serve Life, would you be OK with that?"

"I get it," Andrea said, "If we do something that serves Life or Love, we serve God because all three are different names for the same thing."

"Yes!" Alex said. "You got it!"

"And how can you explain what happened to Megan?" Jay asked.

"There is more than one possible answer to that question. One of the things our society has asked us to do is to think in terms of right and wrong, good and bad, black and white. I'm asking myself if there is anything that is only good or only bad. Buddhists have a story they tell about a farmer in rural China. He was very poor and needed his son to help him work their small piece of land. One day the boy was walking beside their wagon when it hit a rock, turned over and broke the boy's leg. "That is bad," said the father. Two days later, the king's soldiers came to the area and took every able-bodied young man into the army. They left the injured son. "That is good." The father said. The story goes through various steps each time showing that the same event can be good and bad at the same time. The story shows there isn't "good" or "bad". There is sad, painful, joyful, happy and every other emotion, but there are no things that are completely good or completely bad."

"Again, you are saying that something wonderful may have happened because Megan died."

"Let me be clear about how I see events like Megan's death. I ask the question: is there anything that benefits Life, Love, or God in what happened? If the answer is "yes" then I am content that Life was served. If the answer is "No", then I keep looking because I believe that Life serves itself. Do I mourn for her? Yes, and in the mourning there is growth. Do you miss her? Yes. Can her loss help each of us grow? I think it already has. Was her life a waste? No. That's what I believe."

"I'm full." Jay said. "I don't just mean with food. I need to go for a walk and think. I want to be in this family and I don't know if I can give up almost everything I've believed all my life."

Andrea stood and took his hand, "Come walk with me. I know a cool place where we can go. May I be with you?" He nodded and off they walked in the same direction that Petra had taken her earlier.

When they were a couple hundred yards away, Petra spoke. "These conversations are so wonderful! I'm so glad you brought Jay and Andrea with you, Harvey."

All around the table comments were shared about the conversation that had been shared since Harvey, Andrea, and Jay had arrived.

A silence sat at the table with them and after a few minutes, Roseanne stood up and took off her clothes. She folded them neatly and put them on the bench where she had been sitting. Then she walked to the edge of the pool and dove in. In just about a minute, all the men were in the pool with her. Petra started picking up the plates and glasses from lunch. Jenny helped as they cleaned the table in silence. Afterwards Jenny took Petra in her arms and they hugged for a long time. When they both were ready to let the hug end, they kissed. It was soft and very gentle.

The two women went out on the front porch and sat together on one of the swings. They rocked back and forth slowly, each caught up in their own thoughts. Each thinking about Life, Love, and God and the men who loved them both. 



Petra the Small Ch. 03



[In this chapter they spend time at a family ranch where they explore intimacy deeper and more expressively than any of them had before. Coitus and fondling are taken to new levels of intimacy. Let me know what you think.]

When Jay and Andrea arrived back at the house, they saw no one near the pool or patio. They went into the bunk house and found no one there either. So they went out to the front porch and found Jenny and Petra sitting in the swing. 

They sat near them. Jenny asked about their dreams of the future. 

"I've wanted to be a pre-school teacher and a Mom ever since I was in middle school," Andrea said.

"And are you a pre-school teacher?" Petra asked.

"I was until I was about seven months pregnant, Then I stopped working to have my baby. I haven't been back." 

A silence lingered on the porch.

Jenny spoke up. "Does that mean you were hurt so badly that you don't love kids anymore?"

"No. It means that every time I think about a classroom full of four-year-olds I get depressed and think about our baby." Another pause. "I want to love them. I do love them. I just don't know if I can stop thinking about Megan."

Petra scooted forward on the swing and looked at Andrea. "Maybe you need to think about who those children are, who they are in relationship to you, and who they are in relationship to Life, Love, and God."

"What does that mean?"

"I've been listening to my brothers and sisters for a month. I'm starting to get some of the implications of what they have been saying. Let me talk about what I'm thinking with you both and see if what I'm thinking makes sense. OK?" 

They nodded. 

"So, if Life and Love are God then Megan is God too. Just because we can't see her, or watch her do the things that we wanted to see her do doesn't mean she is gone. And, if I understand this, it also means that we are all interconnected. Part of who you are is Megan. A part of every child in every pre-school class is Megan. So, when you step into a classroom full of four-year-olds you are standing in front of Megan. She is there. When you love them you are loving Megan, loving God, loving Life, and loving yourself."

Tears were running down Andrea's face, and Jenny's face, and Jay's face. Petra waited a few moments and continued. 

"I'm taking a leap here. I never held Megan. I never held a child of my own. I've wanted to for most of my life. I thought there was something really special about "my own child." Now, I know there is something special about "my own child." The something special is that I get to be the prime teacher for that child. I will willingly take on the job of teaching that child who they are, how to honor Life, Love, and God by honoring all Life, themselves, and each other person. I see now that biology doesn't mean anything except history. Somewhere in Raton there are children I've never seen. Those children are Life. I love them. I want the things for those children that I want for Megan, for my unborn children, and everyone. I want them to know who they are. I want them to know that they are part of the great Oneness, the great Wholeness of creation."

While Petra had been speaking the rest of the family had silently joined them on the porch. Jerry listened to what Petra said and then he spoke. 

"I have heard this explained quite a few times and never was it as clear as it is now. Petra, I am in awe of how you think."

"I want to go back to work in a pre-school." Andrea softly said. 

Jay hugged her.

Petra looked at Jerry and Tom and asked, "So, did I get it right?"

Tom laughed and answered, "Sweetheart, trust yourself. You know you have it right."

Jenny asked Jerry, "Where have you been?"

"I heard there was a great waterfall a walk from here and we went to see it."

"And?"

"And it is beautiful. If I had remembered to bring a towel with me I would have gone in it."

"And frozen his butt off!" Roseanne said. "Yesterday that water was snow! If you want to get wet I recommend the pool, it wasn't snow yesterday."

Jerry started towards the end of the porch and said, "Sounds good to me. Anyone else coming in?"

Everyone followed him. As he rounded the corner at the back of the house he took off his shirt and draped it over the back of a chair. Then off came the boots, socks and then the pants. He was pulling down the pants when Jay and Andrea rounded the corner and saw him. Jenny was standing next to Jerry with her shoes off and her shirt half way up headed over her head and off. Petra and Tom were behind Jay and Andrea and bumped into them when they suddenly stopped. When they bumped Petra said, "Oh. I guess we're using our one button suits today."

Andrea said, without turning her head, "One button suits?"

"Yes. The one button being the belly button."

By this time Jerry and Jenny as well as Alex and Roseanne were in the pool. Petra went around the still stationery Jay and Andrea and started taking her shoes off. Tom stayed with Jay and Andrea. 

"You want to go back to the porch?" He asked.

"No!" Andrea answered. "I'm going to let go of whatever it is that has me be afraid of being naked." 

With that she walked over to where Petra was getting undressed. She sat down and started by taking off her shoes.

"I was scared stiff when I got naked the first time." Petra said in a whisper.

Andrea looked at her and smiled, but weakly. Petra pulled off her shirt and stood naked before God. Andrea looked at her body and her smile and gulped once, then pulled off her clothes and headed for the water. When she came up she saw Tom and Jay both headed for the pool. They dove in and Andrea smiled when she noticed that when they dove in their penises hung down from their bodies almost like an erection. 

Tom came up right in front of Petra and kissed her. Underwater his hands were on her butt, pressing her against him. She returned the kiss with enthusiasm. She also grabbed his butt and held his front against hers.

As Jay came up from the bottom he had his eyes open, loving the sight of Andrea from underwater. Andrea had tanned legs and shoulders and a very white body. Her conservative one-piece bathing suit had protected her body from sunlight and from being seen. Now she was treading water before him in only her one-button suit as Petra had called it. He loved her half-dollar sized dark areolas and how they contrasted with the very pale skin around them. He remembered, every time he saw her breasts naked, how he had looked on their honeymoon at the tag on her Olga bra and discovered she wore a 34-C. He loved knowing that. Jay came to the surface right in front of her and at the same moment she felt his hands on her waist and his erection against her pubic hair. She opened her mouth and covered his, inserting her tongue. Her arms went around his shoulders and her legs went around his hips, grinding her pussy against his hardening erection. Within the time of that first kiss in the pool he was inside her. When the kiss ended they both glanced around the pool and noticed that no one was paying them any attention at all. They kissed a few more times as they coupled very slowly. Jay's feet could just touch the bottom without either of them going under, so he gently bounced up and down as he went in and out of Andrea. The pace quickened and before long he was whispering that he was going to cum. Andrea's response was to bite his earlobe. He came immediately.

She held him deep inside and waited until he had softened enough that he withdrew naturally, then she let go and swam to the side of the pool. When she looked around she saw that Harvey was with Jerry and Jenny and that both men were kissing Jenny. She froze, and watched. The longer she watched the more certain she was that both men loved Jenny and that was fine with them both. Finally she turned and Jay was right there. 

He whispered, "This is so strange. It goes in the face of everything I was taught, and it feels right." 

"How would you be if Jerry swam over here and kissed me?"

"I would look to see how you were with being kissed by him. I would wonder if you loved him more than me. I think."

"How would you react if Jenny swam over and wanted you to kiss her?"

"I'd be flattered, and scared. What if it upset you, or hurt you?"

"Would you expect me to be hurt or upset if your sister swam over and kissed you?"

"I wouldn't think so, but Jenny isn't my sister."

"Jenny thinks she is. From what Petra and the others have been saying, Jenny loves you, and she loves me. She wouldn't do anything that she thought would hurt either of us, or her."

"Hmmmm. I need to think about this." 

He kissed Andrea again. When he broke the kiss he asked, "What if the kiss includes tongue?"

Andrea smiled then kissed him with tongue. When the kiss ended she asked, "What do you have that mean; that I included tongue in the kiss?"

"I have it mean that the kiss is sexual."

"Keep talking." 

Andrea was still smiling and still had her legs around his hips. She could feel his penis and public hair against her pussy. She liked being naked in the water with Jay so close.

Jay was not thinking about Andrea's body. He was wrestling in his mind.

"I think the tongue means you want sex," he said.

"So that is one of the beliefs that we've been talking about. You believe that a kiss with tongue means that I want to have your penis in me." She paused, "But is that always the truth?"

"No. Probably not always."

"So a kiss with tongue could be just a stronger expression of affection than a kiss without tongue?"

"Yes. If that's what I make it mean."

"Can you make it mean that?"

"I think so." 

Jay was wondering where this was leading. He was about to find out. Andrea motioned to Alex and Roseanne and they swam over. Andrea released her leg lock on Jay and told Alex and Roseanne about their discussion. When she stopped Alex said, "We have had the same discussion a number of times ourselves. We came to the conclusion that we needed to construct a new paradigm for kissing."

"And what did you create?" Jay asked.

"That kissing God has to be done fully. That kissing Life invites full participation. That Love expressed can be expressed in every kiss." Alex said.

"That kissing anyone is expressing our connection, our acknowledged Oneness and affection for being with them at that moment." Roseanne said, holding on to the side of the pool.

"How hard was it to let go of the old paradigm?" Andrea asked.

"We did something, by accident that helped. We read a book." Roseanne said.

"What book?"

"Stranger in a Strange Land."

"I read that book when I was in high school!" Jay exclaimed.

"What do you remember?" Alex asked.

"There was a guy who was born on Mars and came to Earth. He didn't know much about being human but knew a lot that he had learned from the Old Ones on Mars." His face lit up. "Oh, the best thing for me was the description of the way he kissed the women. I was sixteen and when I read that when he kissed the women they knew he wasn't doing anything else. All his attention was in that kiss. I wanted to learn how to do that."

"I have been studying that myself." Roseanne said, "and so has Alex."

Andrea looked at Alex and said, "I want to be kissed by God." 

Then she looked at Jay and asked, "Would it be OK with you if Alex kissed me?" 

He nodded and said, "I would like to be kissed by God as well. Would it be OK with you if Roseanne and I kissed?" 

Andrea nodded and the two couples embraced and kissed.  The kiss lasted as long as it lasted. No thought was given to time. At some point both couples were under water. Andrea was aware that she was loved, that Alex knew exactly who she was and loved her fully. A few seconds into the kiss Roseanne was aware that Jay was fully kissing her. He was no where else. A few seconds after that she was aware that she was being kissed by his entire body and that her entire body was answering "Yes." 

Eventually they became aware that their bodies needed to have air. The kisses ended and they came to the surface.

Each took a long, full, breath and then Andrea spoke. "I have given up the old way of kissing!" 

They all laughed. Tom and Petra swam over and asked what was going on. The four moved into slightly shallower water where Petra could stand on the bottom and they explained what they had been talking about and doing.

Petra asked, "So were the kisses different?"

"All I can say," Andrea said, "is that by comparison I have never been fully kissed before. And that is not to diminish Jay's kisses at all."

"And to do this all I need do is create the new paradigm in my mind and focus on the kiss?" Tom asked.

There were nods. Tom took Petra in his arms and she put her arms around him. They kissed. It lasted a long time. A few seconds after it began Andrea moved over to Jay and kissed him. Alex and Roseanne kissed as well. When the kisses ended Jerry, Jenny, and Harvey were standing with them in the chest deep water.

Jerry spoke, "Something tells me that there has been a discussion about kissing."

Petra responded, "Yes, there has, and I want more kissing!" 

"We have been in the pool a long time and it is starting to cool off outside. I think the discussion can continue out where we can be dry." Jerry said.

"I may never be dry again!" Petra said. 

They all laughed a little and moved to the shallow end and out of the water. When Tom was on the top step and Petra was standing on the decking she put her arms around his shoulders and said, "I like being the same height as you." Then she kissed him. When the kiss ended only his feet were wet and she was dry all over, except between her legs.

When they were out of the water Jerry asked about the discussion, and was given the shortened version of what had been said and done. He turned to Andrea and Jay and asked them to tell him about their kissing experience.

Andrea spoke first. 

"When I kissed Alex I focused on the feel of his lips, at first. Then I thought about kissing God, and being really connected. I thought about the cells of me blending with the cells of Alex and I could feel it."

Jay spoke, "I thought about the energy of my atoms and the energy of Roseanne's atoms blending, merging, and I could feel it happening. Then, when I kissed Andrea it happened even faster and it was like every atom of me became an atom of her."

"If you have this conversation outside the family, people will think you are nuts. I don't know if what you felt is exactly what happened, but everyone I've talked to in the family who has done what you did have described it pretty much as you have." Jerry said.

Jenny nodded. "The first time Jerry kissed me in Lincoln I thought I would disappear. It was unlike any kiss I had ever had before. I melted into him until it felt like there wasn't a him and a me there was only us."

"What does this mean?" Jay asked.

"I think it means that when you finally know who you're kissing the nature of kissing changes and becomes more powerful." Andrea said.

"More connected." Tom said.

"More a part of the Oneness." Roseanne said.

"Well, speaking as the odd man in the group I can only say, I want some of that." Harvey said. 

He was smiling and standing a couple feet away from the couples. Roseanne took two steps to Harvey and wrapped herself around him and kissed him. It seemed to give everyone an idea that was followed by more kisses.  "I think I could live off kisses like that for the rest of my life but I believe that Tom is getting hungry again." Petra said without breaking the embrace. 

Tom verified that when he wasn't kissing he was indeed starting to get hungry. The embraces all ended and as a group they moved to the kitchen and made dinner together. It was not the lavish bar-b-que of the night before but it provided them with fuel they needed. When they had the table loaded with food they sat down and ate. As the first forkful was lifted Andrea turned to Jerry and said, "Thank you." He turned to Andrea and said, "Thank you." Andrea turned to Jay and said, "Thank you." And so it went until each had said "Thank you" to each of the others sitting at the table.

Half way thru his salad Tom looked up and said, "If kissing is changed by knowing who we're kissing, what about sex?" 

Everyone stopped eating and looked at Tom. A few seconds passed in silence and then Jay began eating again, but faster. Everyone laughed. He did too, but he kept eating quickly.

When he was done he stood up, took his plate and glass back into the kitchen and came back to the table. As soon as Andrea lifted the last bite off her plate it was gone, headed for the kitchen. Andrea blushed a little and said, "I think we have after dinner plans."

"He's not the only one," Tom said. 

He stood, showing an empty plate then heading for the kitchen.

"Ladies, I think we had best finish up." Roseanne said. They each bent a bit closer to their plates and did just that. When the plates were all washed, dried and put away Jay put his arm around Andrea and stopped. He looked around at everyone.

"I don't know where our bed is." He said. 

Everyone laughed.

Roseanne spoke up. "Earlier today I changed the linens on the bed Alex and I used last night. That bed is now yours for tonight. Harvey, you will be in the house with us, if that is OK with you." 

It was and everyone else went off toward the bunk house.

When they stepped inside the bunk house Jay looked at the four beds and saw that two were unmade and two were neat and proper. He decided that the neat one between the two unmade beds was an invitation to Andrea and he to see if they could do something to make the bed looked used. With his arm still around Andrea he walked to the foot of the bed and took her in his arms. They stood kissing for some time. As the others entered the bunk house they went to their respective beds and began kissing as well. Outside it was now fully dark and the sky was filled with stars, a quarter moon, and a satellite or two. No one looked out the windows and no one noticed the stars or anything else.

After a few long, slow kisses Andrea sat on the edge of the bed and slowly leaned back. As she did so she positioned Jay between her legs. She was as wet as she had ever been. He leaned over her and the tip of his penis touched her slit. She assisted it into her opening and in an ever-so-slow thrust he entered her. They both focused on who they were joining, who they were melting into. They felt every tissue of their partner as they slid against each other. When Jay was fully inside Andrea he held still. He savored the feel of her, and realized that she never felt this way to him before. 

She was aware that she had never felt so full before. His fit was perfect. She knew that God was loving her. Love and Life were inside her. She relaxed and meditated on the feelings she was having.

When Jay began to pull back Andrea felt a suction between her cervix and his penis. As he pulled back it felt as though her insides wanted to go with him. It felt so good! She felt another wave of lubrication flowing in her vagina. She felt heat at their connection. Jay felt it too.

Ever so slowly Jay and Andrea melted into each other. They did not hurry. The normal feeling of rushing toward an orgasm was not there. They both felt their orgasms building, and they each savored the feelings but they did not hurry, until the last few moments. Andrea felt Jay's body tensing and felt the stronger pulse in his penis. Had she been thinking she would have recognized those signals as he was about to have an orgasm. She was not thinking. She was just present to the feelings that were there for her. At the bottom of the next stroke she felt him again pressing his pubic bone against hers, putting pressure on her clitoris, and taking her another step closer to her orgasm. He pulled back about an inch and pressed forward again. When he pressed against her clitoris this time she went over the edge, and so did he. The spasms of their combined orgasms shook their bodies and suddenly they both felt what the other was feeling along with what they were already feeling. Jay nearly fainted the feelings were so overwhelming. Andrea let out a long, deep moan and then said, "Oh yes God! Yes God!" in Jay's ear. After a time laying together still connected Andrea opened her eyes and looked at Jay. He was looking at her and a tear was on his cheek. They did not speak.




Petra the Small Ch. 03



They heard the soft noises as the other couples joined. They sensed as the others got closer to their orgasms. They kissed and heard Jenny moan and Jerry grunt. A few seconds later they heard Tom grunt and exhale loudly. Then Petra yelped and said, "God! God! Thank you God!" 

They couldn't handle that and Andrea attempted to stifle a laugh but couldn't. One snort made it out and the room exploded with laughter. They all laughed and laughed for a long time. 

Finally Petra got out of bed, went to the bathroom, ran some water and returned. She didn't return to bed with Tom. She went and sat next to Jenny.

Jenny sat up and they hugged.

"Thank you Jenny." Petra said.

"For?"

"For all this. You gave this to me."

"Oh, that. You're welcome." Jenny kissed Petra. 

It began as a normal kiss, a kind of gesture kiss, and suddenly as their lips touched it became a kiss shared between Life and Love. It lasted and their bodies exploded again. When it ended Petra looked at Jerry and asked, "Is that how kisses are going to be from now on?" 

She was smiling as she asked.

"Except for the really good ones, yes." Jerry said and he leaned towards Petra and kissed her. The instant his lips touched hers she felt the juices flow and the contractions begin. As it lasted she felt completely connected and content. There were no thoughts about right and wrong, about how Jenny might be hurt of offended, or about Tom. She felt just as connected to them. When the kiss ended Jenny was holding Jerry's erection and her other hand was wet with Petra's juices.

Jenny spoke, "I felt you both. I was connected in that kiss. I went over the edge just as Petra did." 

She was still touching them both and bouncing a little on the bed.

"I have to rest." Jerry said, flopping back onto the bed.

Petra and Jenny jumped off the bed and moved over to Tom who was dozing. Jenny slipped into bed beside him and snuggled against him. As he started to wake up she kissed him. His eyes flew open and he saw that it was Jenny kissing him, and he saw Petra climbing into bed with him as well. He melted into the kiss. He felt every part of Jenny's body, the fire raging in her vagina, the tightness in her nipples, and the heat in her lips. He was just as aware of Petra. Every body sensation she was having he was having too. 

Somehow, even though in the world he was used to, it wasn't possible, he was aware that he was kissing both women and they were both kissing him.

He felt them moving on the bed and he felt his penis being invaginated. He was aware that he was in either Petra or Jenny, but he could feel both women and that both women could feel him. They moved and they reached orgasm together. 

Jenny felt his body tense and knew he was about to orgasm. She knew he was in Petra, and that he felt like he was inside her too. She breathed in and they did too. She began to have contractions and the warmth spread thru her entire body, as it did in each of them. 

When she opened her eyes a little later she could see Petra and Tom were both looking at her. 

"I love you," they each whispered. 

Then they fell asleep.

Shortly after dawn the light coming in thru the windows woke everyone. Sometime in the night Jenny had gone back into bed with Jerry. Jay and Andrea were on top of the covers with him sitting cross legged and her sitting in his lap. They were moving in a very subtle rhythm and a moment of watching told anyone that they were One. The others silently moved past them and into the bathroom. Petra turned on the showers and adjusted the warmth of the water while others took care of the morning evacuation of bladders. Jerry stepped into the shower with Petra and lifted her up onto the bench. She poured shampoo on his head and began to work it in with both hands. 

Like the day before his face was inches from her chest. The day before he restrained himself, but not this morning. He opened his mouth and took her right nipple in, sucking gently and running his tongue around it. Petra didn't jump or pull back at all. She looked down saw Jerry's mouth on her nipple and shuddered in pleasure. The door to the outside opened and Harvey, Alex, and Roseanne walked in to join them. Harvey immediately walked into the shower and took Petra's other nipple into his mouth. She wrapped an arm around each man's head and held them to her chest.

Soon the others were sharing the shower and each other. Roseanne asked, "Are Jay and Andrea still asleep?"

"I'm not sure they slept at all." Petra said.

With that said the door opened and Andrea stepped into the bathroom. All those in the shower clapped. She bowed and Jay stepped in and bowed as well.

Roseanne asked, "Did you get any sleep?"

"I think maybe a little," Andrea answered. Then she stepped into the shower and three people started washing her. One poured shampoo and the other two used soap on her. When Jay stepped into the water other hands cleaned him as well. Within a short time everyone was clean and refreshed. They stepped out of the showers and Tom shut off the water. Petra didn't take a towel but walked out the door and stood facing the sun. It was warm outside and a gentle breeze dried her skin. Andrea followed her outside and joined her drying process.

"I can't believe how my life has changed in the last couple of days," she said.

"Pretty amazing, isn't it?"

"God, I thought I was in love a week ago. I had no idea."

"Yes."

"Petra, can I ask you something?"

"Yes. Anything."

"How was it when both Jerry and Harvey were holding your nipples in their mouths?"

"That's easy. It felt like being fully and completely loved. They weren't just sucking my nipples. They had every cell of my body in their mouths. I could feel their hands, their penises, their skin, every part of them focused on loving me."

"When I saw them I flooded. I just finished making love with Jay for the hundredth time and suddenly I saw you and flooded. It was as if I could feel their mouths on my nipples too."

"Maybe you could." 

They stood silently for a long time. They saw the sun rising over the house and saw some birds off in the distance. To the north a jet made a white track across the sky, headed west. They saw all that but none of it registered. Their thoughts were inside.

When they were dry and their thoughts complete enough the sound of breakfast intruded on them and they walked around the end of the bunk house and to the big breakfast on the table. Once everyone was seated and eating Andrea spoke.

"I don't want to go back to Santa Fe. I don't want to put clothes on. I want to spend every day naked and making love." 

Jay's head nodded.

Jerry spoke, "Good. That shows that you have begun letting go of some of your old beliefs. Now, let's look at some new beliefs you can test. How about knowing that at every moment you are naked. Not just your body but you are naked. Clothes are a metaphor for the masks we wear, the façade we show other people, the persona we made up to protect ourselves, and now we don't need it as much."

"And now I can be naked with everyone in the family because I know who you are and I know you know who I am," Petra said. 

Every head nodded.

Harvey spoke up, "See how this fits. Can you believe that at every moment Alex is loving you, physically, emotionally, and spiritually?" 

They nodded. "And can you believe that I love you?" More nods. "And can you get that every member of the family was here expressing love with us last night and this morning?"

Jay said, "But they don't know it."

"Don't be too sure. Some people in the family have developed a strong sense about what others in the family are experiencing. We can check in with them tonight as they help us unpack the truck."

"Harvey's right. He's also right that we need to get on the road if we're going to get home before dark. How about if the ladies get us all packed and the gents get breakfast cleaned up. Then we can load the vehicles and head off, leaving these two to get back to whatever they were doing before we arrived." 

Jerry stood and started gathering dishes. The ladies conferred for a moment or two and the headed for the bunk house. Petra and Roseanne stripped the beds and gathered the towels and took them to the laundry room in the house. A big washer held all four sets of sheets and pillow cases, and a smaller washer held the five towels. When they got back to the bunk house everyone was packed. The men arrived and carried the bags out to the vehicles. They put all the suitcases in the van to give more room in the Honda and the truck. Everyone hugged Alex and Roseanne, the two who were still nude and who were staying. Then Harvey spoke up.

"Who is riding with whom?"

Andrea asked, "Can I ride with Petra? At least for a while?"

"I think we will need a pit stop in about two hours and that seems like about Las Vegas to me," Harvey said. "How about you two ride in the Honda til we get there?" 

They nodded and headed for the Honda. "How about ..."

Jerry interjected, "Harvey, so far I've driven the truck. How about if you drive the truck ..."

"And I drive the van," Jenny said enthusiastically. 

"I'll ride with Jenny in the van," Tom said.

"I'll ride in the truck with Harvey," Jay said.

"And that leaves me riding in the van. Perfect." Jerry said. 

Jerry handed a radio to Jay and went over to Petra in the Honda and gave her the other radio. Jay looked at the radio for a few seconds and switched it on, just in time to hear Andrea say, "Let's get this show on the road!" 

He hurried to the truck and climbed in the passenger door. Tom got in the van as shotgun and they were off. The truck led and stopped at the gate where Harvey opened it and then they all got on the two lane highway and headed south. Two hours and twenty eight minutes later they pulled off I-25 and found a place to eat. All of them used the bathrooms, had a quick lunch, gassed the vehicles, and were back on the road in less than forty minutes. Harvey herded the big truck onto the highway and when things calmed down he got out his cell phone and handed it to Jay.

"Near the screen on the left is a button. Press it once and you will see a speed dial list. I want you to call the first six names on that list, not counting Jerry. When you get them or their answering service you let them know that we will be at Jenny's home by five this afternoon. You don't need to tell them anything else."

"Got it!" Jay said, and the calls began. He reached all six people and they didn't need any other information from him and all six said they would call their list. When he was done he looked at Harvey and asked, "What was that all about?"

"Now they will make calls and the family will be at Jenny's on or about when we get there. There will be arms to carry stuff in and put things away and prepare a family dinner and clean before we get there and when the moving is complete someone will deliver this truck to the rental place."

"I had been thinking about the seven of us unloading this truck tonight. I wasn't looking forward to it."

"Now you are getting some idea about the power of an intentional family. There are no burdens that are not lighter when shared. I'm just guessing but I think this entire truck will be unloaded in less than two hours."

"Are you serious? Two hours?"

"Not only will the stuff be out of the truck but all the boxes will be unpacked and everything put away in two hours." Harvey smiled at the prospect. "And, the instant we are done dinner will be ready."

"This I will have to see."

"Well, don't blink." 

Harvey kept smiling. His smile and his Hawaiian shirts were sort of a trademark. They rode on in silence for a few more miles then Harvey had an idea.

"Get on the radio, would you please? Ask Petra if she and Jenny have discussed where everything goes in the house."

Jay hit the button on the radio and asked the question. The answer came back "No." 

Harvey put on his blinker and pulled to the shoulder of the highway and stopped. Then he got out of the truck and walked back to the van. Jenny rolled down the window and Harvey said, "You and Petra have about an hour or so to completely plan where you want everything in the truck put. There will be twenty or more people waiting for us when we get there. You two will be directing traffic and coordinating the whole project. That means that you can't drive anymore and you need to be in the same vehicle with Petra and she can't be driving either. I recommend that you and Petra ride in the van. Tom drives the Honda. Jerry drives the van." 

Jenny traded places so that Jerry was driving the van. Then she dug into her bag and pulled out a notebook and a pen. Harvey explained the plan to the pair in the Honda and Petra came forward and got in the van and sat in the back with Jenny. Tom had taken the driver's seat in the Honda after kissing Petra. Two minutes had passed and they were back on the road. 

Jenny and Petra listed everything in the truck from memory and decided where each box and each item would go. The list took up five pages of the notebook. Jerry never said a word as they worked. He focused on the traffic and following the truck safely. Tom held a safe space between the van and himself.

He and Andrea did talk.

"I've been learning a lot from Petra," Andrea said.

"Yeah, me too. I thought that I would be teaching her a lot but her mind works so quickly that sometimes it surprises me."

"She seems to really understand unconditional love."

"I think she just heard it, accepted it, and now is it."

"How could she let go of all that indoctrination we all got as kids?"

"I just don't know. Maybe she didn't get as much of it as the rest of us."

"Yeah. Maybe that explains it. She seems to really understand all the talk about God and Life and Love too."

"It is all one conversation. I think of it as if there is a sentence that uses one of those words then it probably can swap with one of the other two."

"OK. So when I hear someone say I love you it doesn't make sense to me if I change it and say I God you."

"There is a word, a really old word that Jerry told me about. It is Namaste. It means the God in me recognizes and honors the God in you. If I say I love you I am saying I am the God in you and you are the God in me, and we are One. If I would say I God you it may sound strange because we aren't used to hearing it, but it means that I recognize that we are connected, we are each and together God."

"I was taught that God had expectations about how we should behave while here on Earth. That there were Commandments. No. That there are commandments."

"When you step back and look at that, does it work for you?"

"I don't know."

"What about the quote of Love thy neighbor as thy self?"

That shows up in both the Old Testament and the New. In Matthew, the twenty second chapter if I remember correctly, Jesus says, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self. He also says that that commandment and the one that says Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind are the two greatest commandments."

"So loving is important!"

"So, here we are two thousand years from when it was said. How's it working?"

"Not very well, I'm afraid."

"You're right. Are the Catholics Christian? They say they are. Are the Protestants Christian? They say they are. Was Jesus speaking guidance to the Christians. Both groups would say yes. Neither group has been listening. Have the Catholics and the Protestants ever had a war against each other?"

"Yes. Lots of them."

"And they both read the same words of guidance from Matthew. Something isn't working."

"But how can we fix it?" Andrea looked really puzzled.

"Sometimes when a car is not working we are forced to make a choice; trade it in on something new or fix it. Each person in the family has to decide if they fix their beliefs or scrap them and start fresh."

"So you have done what, exactly?"

"I grew up in a biological family that said they were Christians. I don't know if they ever identified with any denomination but on those rare occasions when we went to church it was always a Protestant church. I was so not satisfied with what I heard in every one of those churches that I never went after I left home as an adult. I read, I listened sometimes to the churches I saw on TV, but I just didn't get it."

"So..."

"So I decided they were all off base. I read the Bible and what the ministers were saying that it meant wasn't what it meant to me. I read the Book of Mormon too, and the God it talked about was different from the one I read about in the Bible. I could understand how some people would be or could be Catholics, Mormons or Protestants, but it wasn't working for me."

"So, what didn't work?"

"The God I read about was a paradox. On the one hand he was all knowing and all powerful, and loving. On the other hand he was jealous, angry and seemed to punish people a lot. All the Christians said that if you weren't one of them you would rot in hell. They couldn't answer what happened to the people who lived and never even heard about Jesus. Would it be a loving God who would have someone born in Tibet in the third century A.D. and lived their life without ever hearing about Jesus and therefore they would spend eternity in hell? I wouldn't buy that at all."

"That's what the church I used to attend said too."

"I decided that the God I would think about and sometimes pray to loved all of us, and loved us equally. When I decided that I noticed that the prayers I said changed. Before, when I prayed, it was to ask for stuff. Oh God, help me find a good wife. Oh God, help me get a better job. Oh God, let her say Yes."

"Now how do you pray?"

"Prayer now is a reminder to me to focus on the Oneness, to see the divine in everyone, to always aim at being the change I want to see in the world."

"Who do you pray to?"

"I pray to life. I may use any of the three words Life, Love, or God and I may even use the words that refer to me. The purpose of my prayer is not to get a God out there somewhere to give me something. The purpose of my prayer is to remind myself of who I am, who you are, and to remind me of the possibilities."

"The possibilities?"

"Yes. How things are today is not how they need to stay. How things have been does not need to be how the future is. Tomorrow does not need to be a repeat of yesterday."

"OH." 

They didn't talk any more until they were in Santa Fe. Andrea had lots to think about.

Tom focused on the road and getting to Jenny's home. When he made the last turn and could see Jenny's house he also saw that there were about fifteen cars parked somewhat near the house. The space directly in front and the driveway were open. 

He parked the Honda in front of the house, leaving space behind for the van so they could get the back doors open and unload the luggage. The truck was backed into the driveway with assistance from one of the women standing in the front yard. 

Within five minutes the truck's back doors were open and a stream of family were carrying items from the truck past Jenny and into the house. Each box or item was not just put in the room where it would reside, the items were unpacked and put away. Petra scurried around inside the house letting people know where to put things and telling them how great they were for helping so much.

When Jerry parked the van he looked at his watch. It read 5:11pm. When the last box was carried into the house and taken into Petra's bedroom Jerry looked at the watch again. It read 6:57pm. Jerry smiled. They had moved her in in just under two hours.

Jerry walked into the kitchen. Food was prepared and set out buffet style on the counter. There were three salads, three vegetables, two different types of chicken (baked and grilled), baked potatoes, iced tea, water, some juice, and two desserts (chocolate cake and berries in whipped cream). Everyone was loading plates and finding places to sit. The chatter was about everything. Some were talking about the stuff Petra had brought. Some were talking about the sooner-than-we-thought wedding plans. Some were talking about plans for this weekend. When Jerry had his plate loaded he wandered into the living room and saw that there was a conversation going on between Andrea, Jay, Petra, Tom, Helen, Carol and Sabrina. He sat near them.




Petra the Small Ch. 03



Andrea was speaking. "We really liked Alex and Roseanne. Their place is beautiful. I did come away with a question about their place however."

"Me too," Tom said.

"My question is why is the place called the Getto Ranch? That isn't the way ghetto is spelled."

Jerry started to laugh. The group turned to him and waited. When he stopped laughing he answered the question. 

"It doesn't mean Ghetto. But the guy who made the sign didn't ask what the word meant before he made the sign. If he had asked he would have discovered that it isn't one word but two. We stayed at the "Get To Ranch." They named it that because they don't ever have to, they get to.

"Now I understand completely." Andrea said. Other heads nodded.

"I wanted to ask what work they do. I didn't see them work one moment while we were there." Tom said.

"Roseanne was out working when we arrived, I think." Petra said. "At least when she met us she said she had some chore to do and it was a couple hours until we saw her again."

"She was working in the nude?" Tom asked.

"I think so."

Jerry stepped in again. "She and Alex raise horses. They have two areas, one for quarter horses and one for palominos. Roseanne is also a fine illustrator. She does medical illustrations and wildlife illustration."

About twenty minutes more and Harvey came in to the living room and about ten other people followed him in, each carrying a chair. He looked at Jerry and asked, "Shall we begin?"

"Maybe we should ask them," was Jerry's response.

Harvey turned to Andrea and Jay and said, "We want to get to know you. Some of the family wasn't at the ranch and so they don't know you like those of us who were there. So, with your permission we would like to ask questions and have you ask us questions as well."

"What kind of questions?" Andrea asked.

"All kinds, except questions that won't help us to know you and won't help you know us." Sabrina said.

"OK. You can ask anything," Jay said.

"What is the thing that if it showed up in your life would make the biggest difference, to you?" Sabrina asked.

"Let me see if I understand the question. Are you asking what do I see as something missing from my life that would make a big difference, if it was in my life?" Jay said.

Sabrina said, "Close enough."

He looked at Andrea and when he opened his mouth to speak he was cut off by her. "We lost our little baby last year. The thing that I see as missing would be having a baby. At least that was the answer four days ago. I hungered for a baby, my baby. Now I am seeing things differently. I still want another baby. But the other thing that I saw as missing, isn't anymore. That thing was family. A few days ago I thought that it was Jay and me. Now I have three sisters that I am closer to than any women I have ever had in my life. I have four brothers that I can easily say I love. I've been with all of you for hours and I have felt loved, accepted, and wanted every moment. Now my answer is that I have everything."

Jay nodded, "I would add to what my wife has said if there was anything to add. I feel more love in my life now than I have ever felt."

"What are you willing to be as a part of this family?"

"You ask questions so differently than other people. I am willing to be a better man than I have ever been before. I am willing to be your brother, unless you need an uncle. I am willing to help you move, help you paint your house, care for you when you are sick, I don't know that there are limits on who I am willing to be. I know that already I am a better husband to Andrea."

"I don't know how to be much of anything. I know how to teach pre-school. I know a little about being a wife. But this much I also know; I am family. Whatever I can do or be that is loving I will do and be that."

Sabrina looked at Harvey and Jerry, "I'm not sure what y'all did out at the ranch but these two got the essence of us in a couple of days."

"It wasn't us," Jerry said. "Petra opened the door and loved them through it. I wish you all could have been there. I still tear up when I remember." 

Harvey, Tom, Andrea and Jay nodded and teared up as well.

"Tell us." Helen asked. They turned to Petra. She started the story and as she progressed each of the others added pieces. Half an hour later there were tears all over the house. Hugs were given and shared.

One of the men who had prepared the food they had just enjoyed had sat quietly long enough. He stood before speaking, "I don't want to ask a question that requires an answer. I am more tactile. I would like a kiss."

Andrea stood, looked at Jay and went into the man's arms. She kissed him. When the kiss ended he smiled and said to the room, "I have just kissed Life and been kissed by Love." 

Later, after many shared kisses, the gathering started to break up and people started leaving for their homes.

"I'd like to schedule a walk with you, Petra," Helen said. 

"How about tomorrow morning?" Petra answered. They set a time and hugged. Three other people scheduled walks with Petra and with Andrea. Bob and others cleaned up the kitchen, leaving enough food in the refrigerator to feed Jenny, Petra and friends for the week. People began the ritual of kisses and hugs as their way of saying good-bye. Petra, Jenny, Jay, Tom, and Andrea discovered that there were many others in the family that fully kissed. It was late when the house emptied of family. As Sabrina was making the rounds she came to Petra and in the midst of their hug Petra said, "I would love to spend some more time with you."

"Honey, my shop isn't busy in the middle of the day most days. Come by. We can talk and I'd love it." 

She handed Petra a card with the address of her shop on it and then she hugged both Petra and Jenny and left.

Tom waited until he was almost last. In fact it was Tom, Jerry, Jenny and Petra who were the last ones in the house.

"Petra, I get to work tomorrow. I need to be there by nine. I want to spend the night with you."

"I have wanted to be able to use this line since I was fifteen and saw it in a movie. Your place or mine?"

"Yours." 

He took her hand and she led him to her new bedroom. That left Jerry standing looking at Jenny. She went into his arms and after they kissed again she said, "You don't get a choice." 

She took him by the hand and led him to the bedroom, shutting off lights as they went. Eventually all four did get some sleep.



Petra the Small Ch. 04



[This is the continuation of a story about an unusual family. I originally called this chapter "Momma." I encourage your votes and comments. What you think and feel are important to me. Thank you for reading.]

*

Early the next morning Jenny and Jerry were awakened by the phone ringing. Jenny answered and the voice on the other end of the line was Sabrina. She told Jenny that her shop had been vandalized during the night and that she needed help.

"We'll be there as soon as we dress," Jenny said. Then she hung up. She took Jerry by the hand and they went into Petra's room, waking Petra and Tom.

"Sorry to wake you both but it's important. Sabrina's business was vandalized last night and she needs our help."

"Right!" Tom said and leapt from the bed. Petra followed and asked, "What does she need?"

Jerry answered, "We'll find that out when we get there. Let's get dressed and over there."

As they got ready they talked, discovering that Jerry, Jenny, and Petra would be going to Sabrina's store and Tom needed to go to work. In less than twenty-five minutes from the moment the phone rang they were on their way.

In the car Jerry made some phone calls and discovered that almost everyone in the family who could be headed to Sabrina's was. When they arrived there were two police cars parked in front. The sign above the store was on but the large "S" was obviously broken and not lit. The front glass window was also broken and pieces of glass were all over the display area inside and on the sidewalk in front of the store. As they approached the front door an officer stepped to the door and said, "Sabrina's is not open. They've had a break in."

"We know. Sabrina called us," Jerry said. "We're family."

The officer took their names and went inside, motioning for them to stay outside. A minute later Sabrina was outside with them.

"It was Buck. He's still angry," she said.

"Do you know for sure it was Buck?" Jerry asked, quietly.

"Whoever did it wrote on the wall behind the cash register, "Poly Bitch!"

"Well, that points to Buck alright."

Petra pulled Jenny aside. "Poly Bitch?"

"The word for people in a sexual relationship or a loving relationship with more than one person is polyamorous."

"Oh. I'd never heard of that."

"Knowing the word means that whoever broke in knows about Sabrina being in the family and does not approve. Her ex is just that kind of guy. When they met the family he thought we were swingers and he was all for it. When he found out that swinging isn't anything like what we are doing, he changed his mind. He changed so strongly that he divorced Sabrina and joined a fundamentalist church."

"Will he be arrested?"

"That depends on him. If he didn't leave any fingerprints that tie him to the crime, he won't be arrested. If he was drunk or otherwise stupid he might have left something that ties him to the crime. Then he will be arrested."

They took the three steps back to Jerry and Sabrina.

Jerry was talking. "What can we do?"

"The police said we can't start cleaning up until the crime scene people are done, and they aren't even here yet. I guess what we can do is get some lawn chairs and sit down out here."

"Yes, we can stay out of their way but still be here." Petra said.

Jerry went to his van and brought back four folding chairs that had been used at dinner the night before. They sat down and waited. After a little while Jenny and Petra walked to the corner and got some coffee for them all. They even got four more cups for the police.

After the crime scene people arrived it was only half an hour until they were told they could start clean up. Then the police left. Sabrina called Harvey and was told the name and phone number of a glass guy who would replace the front window. Four other family members showed up so the clean up went quickly. It was decided that Petra and Sabrina would stay at the shop, Jerry and Jenny would go get supplies and repaint the wall that had been painted, and the other four would get back to whatever they were going to do that day.

After the help left Sabrina and Petra sat down to wait. As they talked the phone rang a few times. The calls were from friends wanting the story and to offer support. Except the fifth call. It was Buck.

"Hey, I heard what happened. Too bad, huh?"

"Not too bad. The shop is still open."

"Maybe you should relocate, to Alaska."

"Because?"

"It's obvious that you don't have many friends here."

"I think what's obvious is that I have one person here that doesn't like me."

"Yeah. And I'll be paying you another visit if you don't leave town."

"I thought maybe it was you when I noticed that the word was misspelled."

"No. It was spelled correctly. I looked it up."

"I honestly wish you weren't so angry. I do love you, you know."

"If you loved me you wouldn't say you love all those other people."

"Loving them does not lessen my love for you."

"We've been down this road before Sabrina. If you are going to be with other men I want you far away from me. I've lived here longer than you, so you have to go!"

"I'll consider it."

"Better hurry or you won't have much too take with you."

"How much time will you give me?"

"If you aren't gone by the end of the month things will start happening that you won't like. Things worse than a little vandalism."

"OK. Let me think all that over. Can I call you?"

"No. I'll know when you're gone. We don't need to talk." Click. 

The line went dead. Thirty seconds later the phone rang again. Sabrina picked it up and said, "Yes."

Thirty seconds later she said, "Thank you" and hung up. 

She looked at Petra and said "That was the police. They asked me when they first arrived today if they could tap the line and I agreed. They got that whole conversation on tape. They are on their way to arrest Buck."

Sabrina and Petra hugged and then quietly sat waiting for the next event, whatever it turned out to be. It turned out to be the glass guy arriving and installing a new front window. When he was done they locked up the shop and were about to leave when Petra said, "Can you run me home? Jerry and Jenny brought me."

"If you don't mind, I'd like company tonight. Call Tom and invite him for dinner at my place. Tell him to bring tomorrows clothes."

"He'll like that. I ought to have him get some of my things too."

"Whatever you might need I probably have but I don't have any men's clothes so Tom better bring those." Petra made the call and Tom said he could be at Sabrina's by six. On the short trip from the shop to her home Sabrina asked Petra about her thoughts about the family.

"It's really hard to say. I've only known any of you except Jenny for a little over a month. I know you are all wonderful at helping and bringing food to gatherings. I know you are all friendly, or at least you all have been to me."

"We have our moments."

"One thing I haven't seen is jealousy or possessiveness."

"I have. When Buck and I first were invited to come to a family event we went looking for people we could be friends with. When Buck was greeted at the door with a wonderful hug he interpreted it as a sexual come-on and from then on he was looking for sexual intent in everything. Because of the way he was raised he believed that men could fool around but that wives could only do what their husbands were comfortable with. When he was hugging a woman and pressing himself against her and looked over and saw someone hugging me in a full body hug he flipped."

"So he didn't get what was going on at all, did he?"

"You mean all the talk about God, Love, and Life? No. He thought that was all trash talk that got women to fuck around. He never let any of it in."

"That is sad."

"Yeah. I miss the part of Buck that was potentially a great, loving man." 

They pulled into Sabrina's condo complex and when the gate closed behind them they got out of the car. At her condo Sabrina hit a security code that also unlocked the door and they went in. It was a big place, three bedrooms and three baths with a deck and a large living room. One of the bedrooms was much like Sabrina's shop, full of bras, panties, night wear and other sexy stuff. One bedroom was a guest room and the third was Sabrina's bedroom. It was dominated by a king-sized bed that was flanked by mirror fronted closets. They were in the living room when the phone rang. It was Buck.

"You bitch!" He said when Sabrina answered.

"Hi to you too."

"You know where I am?"

"Alaska?"

"No. You need to go to Alaska, not me. I'm in jail."

"And you used your one phone call to call me? I'm flattered."

"They are already getting me a lawyer. I'm calling you to let you know what I'm going to do to you when I get out of here."

"Do you think I sent the cops on you?"

"Didn't you?"

"No. Honey, I never said to the police that you broke into my place. I never said how angry you have been. I didn't point them in your direction."

"It had to be you!"

"I don't think so. Maybe you left some kind of evidence behind. They searched my shop pretty good before they left."

"Did they ask you what a poly bitch was?"

"Yes, and I told them that was what some men call women who love more than one person. I didn't say that was what you've called me for the last year."

"My phone time is up, so I've gotta go. I'll be in touch when I get out."

"OK," she paused, "I love you."

"Yeah, right." He hung up the phone.

When Tom arrived at six o'clock he arrived with a small bag of clothes and a bag from a Chinese restaurant. They sat in the kitchen and feasted on rather good Chinese food. The women filled Tom in on the events of the day and both phone calls from Buck. They were about to crack and eat their fortune cookies when the phone rang again. Sabrina let it ring three times before answering. It was the police. Buck had admitted to the break in and to the threats of further incidents. He would be going before a judge tomorrow morning, the officer said. Sabrina thanked the officer and hung up. She sat down with Petra and Tom and told them what happened.

Tom wanted to know how she felt about Buck being in jail.

"I want him back. I want to continue loving him, with him right here for me to do that with. I didn't want him to go." A tear slid down her cheek.

"He's still pretty angry," Tom said it like a statement.

"Yeah. I have a lot of trouble understanding his thinking. If the family had just been a group of people who screwed each other on the weekends he was all for it. When he discovered that the people in the family were going to love us, he freaked."

"What do you think will happen?" Petra asked.

"I don't know. If he talks to the judge and tells everything the family could be in big trouble."

"The family?"

"If Buck says that he is angry because his ex-wife is screwing lots of men as a part of some spiritual group they all belong to, don't you think that will cause problems?"

"We aren't breaking any laws, are we?" Tom asked.

"None that I know of," Sabrina said, "But it isn't the law I'm worried about. I'm worried about public opinion. What will happen to our various businesses and jobs if people think we're some sort of sex cult?"

"I see what you mean." 

Silence sat at the table with them for a while, loudly speaking doom and gloom inside their heads. Then Petra spoke, "Love is stronger than that. Love will see us through this, and we will get through it as a family."

Tom looked at her and then turned to Sabrina. "I love her. I love the way she thinks. I love the way her heart and mind and body work."

Sabrina smiled and nodded. Then she cracked her fortune cookie and read the slip of paper inside. "Love is the answer to your questions." 

She smiled again and said, "I certainly hope so."

Tom picked the slip of paper from Sabrina's fingers and read it aloud. "Love is the answer to your questions." 

Petra said, "See? Love will have this all work out."

The next morning Buck and ten other detainees were transported the block from the jail to the courthouse. When Buck was led into the courtroom there were five people seated in the audience. Three of those were reporters. As Buck's case was called a large sound happened out in the hallway. Yells were heard, "He's been shot! He's been shot!" 

The three reporters were suddenly gone. The bailiff locked the door behind them and court resumed.

The judge asked Buck four questions.

"The owner of the shop you vandalized, was your wife?"

"Yes, you're Honor."

"You are angry with her because she joined a church and wanted you to join too?"

"Yes, you're Honor."

"And, the main belief of this church is that you should love each other, help each other, and do whatever you can to have life work for everyone?"

"Yes, you're Honor."

"Buck, would you actually hurt a woman who loves you?"

"No, you're Honor." Buck was crying. 

Somehow those four questions got through his anger and he saw that Sabrina loving others didn't mean she didn't love him.

The judge gave Buck six months probation and asked him to pay restitution to Sabrina for the damage he had caused. He agreed. The judge let him go. An hour later he walked out of the jail, free. He went to the nearest phone booth and dialed Sabrina's store. She answered after one ring.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi. Are you done with court?"

"I am. I want to come by the store and apologize to you in person. I know you have no reason to trust me, but I'm asking you to." Buck's voice was soft and sounded tired. 

Sabrina thought for a few seconds, then said, "How long will it take you to get here?"

"Fifteen minutes."

"Want breakfast?"

"Sure!" His voice brightened. 

They hung up and he started walking to her shop. As he walked Tom was driving by and saw him. He felt a strange need to stop and say Hi to Buck. They had met once months ago. He pulled over, rolled the window down and said, "Aren't you Buck?"

Buck looked like a scared rabbit. He didn't remember ever meeting Tom. 

"I'm Tom. We met months ago at Harvey's place. I'm sure you wouldn't remember me. I just thought I'd say Hi."

Buck looked at Tom and realized this was a member of the church. Maybe he would help. "Could I ask you a favor, Tom?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"I need a ride."

"Sure, get in." Buck got in and Tom made a U-turn.

"Where to?" Tom asked.

"Sabrina's store." 

Tom let off the gas and Buck spoke quickly.

"I called Sabrina when I got released. I'm going over to apologize to her and make it up to her, what I did. You can come in and be a witness if you like."

Tom stepped on the gas again and the conversation was left hanging there for the rest of the short drive. As they pulled up in front Petra was washing the new front window. She stopped when she saw Tom's car and her eyes got big when Buck got out with Tom. All three walked into the shop and Sabrina heard the door and came out. As soon as she saw Buck she started to cry.

Buck did too. "Oh Honey, I am so sorry. I am such a fool. I can't even tell you what the judge said to me this morning but I know what I heard. I heard that I'm nuts for leaving you. I'm nuts for causing you trouble and pain. I don't know how I can make it up to you, but I want to."

Sabrina was in his arms. She kissed him long and hard. When the kiss ended she said, "You had me when you said, Oh Honey." She looked up at Petra and Tom and said, "I've started another breakfast. Want to join us?"

Petra stayed and ate a little. Tom went to work. Petra ran the shop for the day. Buck and Sabrina got reacquainted. When Tom came to the store after he got off work Petra told him that the four of them were going out to dinner.

Over dinner at a cute neighborhood Italian restaurant they talked. Buck wanted to talk about why he had been angry, why he had been afraid, and how he felt now.

"When we met those people from the family, I thought they were swingers. Something in me thought that swinging would be OK, because you really didn't have a relationship with those people. I thought they just had lots of parties and everybody screwed everybody. Sabrina spent more time with the family than I did. I was driving truck out of town and while I was gone Sabrina was getting to really know the people. When I came back, they were friends. I felt left out."

Sabrina held his arm as he spoke. They sat in the booth together and every few seconds they looked at each other.

"I started to believe that Sabrina was about to leave me. My mind was so crazy that I figured I'd show her, and I left her first! Then I saw the way the family helped her, and supported her while she went through some tough times, and I got angrier! I believed that if y'all would have left her alone she would have begged me to come back."

"I did. Every time we talked."

"I didn't believe you. I was so confused that I wanted you all to myself and I wanted us to screw around together."

Buck stopped talking and ate. Sabrina ate too. Tom and Petra kept trading bites from their dinners until soon all the food was gone.

As he swallowed his last bite Buck spoke again. "Something happened in court. I sat there angry as hell and it hit me that Sabrina hadn't done anything to me. She still loves me. She hasn't stopped loving me even though I've been a total ass. When the judge asked me some questions I answered and agreed to whatever he said, so I could get out and get back to Sabrina." 

He kissed her. When the kiss eventually ended Tom asked Buck a question.

"Buck, how are you going to be with the family?"

"Hell, I never was very mad at the family. I understood that having met Sabrina they would all love her. She's easy to love. I think the big question is how are the people in the family going to deal with me?"

"Do you want us to tell you or do you want to find out on Friday night?" Petra asked.

"I guess the answer is both. What's happening Friday night?"

"We are having a birthday party for the whole family! One of the family that lives out of town a short ways has built a new barn and before the animals break it in they invited us all out for a birthday party. There will be lots of food and dancing!" Petra bounced up and down as she got excited telling Buck about the party.

"But whose birthday is it?" Buck asked.

"Nobody knows! The Brown's decided that a birthday party would be fun and that somewhere in the world Friday will be someone's birthday, so we're celebrating!"

"The Brown's?"

"They own the new barn. This was all their idea." Tom said.

Sabrina sat up a little straighter and said, "I've got an idea too. Let's find someone here in Santa Fe that has Friday as their birthday and invite them."

"And let's get the family to give them gifts and really make this a wonderful birthday for them!" Petra was really loving this.

Buck looked worried. "What if whoever is having a birthday isn't happy about strangers throwing them a party?"

"Then we love them anyway. Even if they don't come to the party they'll know there are almost a hundred people out in that barn celebrating their birthday." Sabrina said.

"OK. How do we find out whoever this birthday person is?" Buck still wasn't convinced.

"We call the phone tree and get everyone in the family to ask around and find someone with a birthday September ninth."

"What if we find more than one?" Buck was still hesitating.

"We invite everyone with a September ninth birthday to the party." Tom said.

"Then the way we do it is to take out an ad in the paper. An eighth of a page ad that invites anyone who can prove their birthday is September ninth to the party!" Buck was in.

"When we get back home I'll first call the Brown's and talk it over with them, then we'll start the phone tree and tomorrow get the ad in the paper." Sabrina got her purse and signaled for the check.




Petra the Small Ch. 04



Tom reached in his pocket and pulled out a cell phone. "Call the Brown's now. Ask them if we can drop by to have a conversation with them about Friday."

Sabrina took the phone and made the call. The Brown's said to come right over. 

The bill was paid, the group rushed out, piled into the car and ten minutes later they pulled down the quarter-mile long driveway at the Brown's farm. The Brown's, Gilbert and Emma, were sitting on the porch steps when they drove up. They were both wearing bib overalls and work boots.

After introductions were made for the benefit of Petra and Buck who had never met the Brown's before they talked about the plan. Gilbert said there would be plenty of parking available, and that he had installed two big lights in between the house and barn. He turned them on and the two lights lit an area big enough to park fifty cars in easily. He also showed them inside the new barn. It was huge. Two hundred people could dance in there with no problem.

The Brown's liked the idea of finding actual ninth of September birthdays. Emma said that as soon as they (Sabrina, et al) left she would phone her part of the phone tree.

It was almost ten o'clock by the time the four got back to Sabrina's. Tom and Petra kissed and hugged their family good-bye and headed for Jenny's home. Petra called Jenny from Tom's cell phone and told her of the plan. She loved it!

Eventually, they did get to sleep.

Early the next morning Tom was in his office. Four miles away Petra was in her office. Sabrina was already at her shop and Buck was at Sabrina's, sound asleep. After Sabrina called Jerry and got his by-in on the birthday party she called the newspaper. They told her that to do what she told them she wanted to do she first had to get a permit at city hall. They also told her that she needed a camera ready ad and that the deadline for this week's paper was ten o'clock the next morning.

Six phone calls later Sabrina had the camera ready ad being made, Harvey was headed for city hall to get a permit and the Brown's knew what was going on. As Sabrina hung up the phone the bell on her shop's front door rang. A customer had walked through the door. Sabrina smiled, and greeted her.

That evening Harvey called Jenny and Sabrina and they started calling the phone tree. The permit had been issued. The city clerk said it was the first permit ever issued for a birthday party in the thirty-six years he had been the clerk. Harvey even got him to look through some of his files for people with a September ninth birthday.

Sabrina called the Brown's. The excitement started to build. Over the next two days people found a DJ who would play music for all ages at the party, various brothers and sisters took on the decorating, six men were given the job of parking the cars for the party, a dozen brothers and sisters decided they would be the clean up committee, and Jenny and Petra bought presents for the birthday people.

On Wednesday morning Petra got a call from the city clerk. The clerk said that he should not be doing this but there was one person he found with a ninth of September birthday. He gave Petra her name and address. He also told Petra that the woman was going to be 75 years old.

When Petra called the number a woman answered and said, "McMillan Assisted Living."

"Good morning. I'm looking for a Margreta Jones. Does she live there?"

"Oh yes! She does. Who may I say is calling?"

"Before I speak to her I'd like to ask you a couple questions about her, if I may."

"OK. Who are you and why are you looking for Margreta?"

"My name is Petra Evans. My family is having a birthday party this Friday evening and since that is the ninth of September we would like to include anyone who was born on the ninth of September."

"Do you know Margreta?"

"No. Does that matter?"

"Tell me your name again, please?"

"Petra Evans."

"Can you come over here to our home?"

"Yes. I can come late this afternoon, say about 4:30 or so."

"I will make sure our director and social worker are here to speak with you then. I will be waiting for you."

Petra got directions and they concluded the call. Then she called Sabrina and Jenny.

"Ladies, I am going to an assisted living home this afternoon to meet the birthday girl, Margreta Jones, who will be 75 on Friday. Want to go with me?"

They both answered, "Yes!"

Petra reviewed her phone call and they agreed to meet in Harvey's parking lot at four and ride over together. 

The three women walked from the car to the front door of McMillan's Assisted Living and were met by a woman who looked at Petra and asked, "Petra?"

Petra stuck her hand and smile out and embraced the young woman with both. She introduced Sabrina and Jenny and they were led inside. They young woman was the one Petra had spoken to earlier on the phone, Cathleen. She took them through a large living room and into the office of the Director. She kept looking at Petra like she was amazed at what she saw.

The Director stood when they entered and introductions were made. When everyone was seated the director spoke.

"Your call came as quite a surprise. Let me explain. Margreta came to live with us six years ago. A man about fifty brought her to us. She was sick and frail. He paid us for fifteen years of care at our then going rate. When he walked out the door he was really gone. The contact information he gave us was faked. We have had no way to contact him or anyone about her. She has told us a lot about herself over the last six years. Everyone here loves her. We would do just about anything for her. Then you called."

Sabrina spoke up, "Is she well enough to attend a party?"

"Oh, Yes! She will probably even dance!"

"Can we meet her?"

"Yes, but there is something you need to understand first. Margreta thinks she has a daughter. She knows she hasn't seen her daughter in many years but she talks about her daughter often. Her daughter is named Petra."

That last word hung in the air of the office like it was about to explode.

"Petra?" Petra asked.

"Yes. Meeting you I now believe she will believe you are her daughter. She describes Petra as very petite, smart as a whip, and gentle. I think she will embrace you and introduce you to everyone as her long lost daughter."

A tear ran down Petra's face.

"I would like to meet a woman who would like me to be her daughter."

"OK. Just so you know what's likely to happen." 

Everyone stood and as a group they followed the director out into the big living room. Every eye was watching this group of young people walking through their living room. They walked to a lady sitting in a wing-backed chair by a window. She was holding a book in her hands and looking out the window.

When the group realized they were headed for that particular woman Sabrina started to cry. Petra took out tissues for all of them and they wiped tears away.

The old woman in the chair was tiny. Sitting in the chair her feet stuck straight out from the cushion. She resembled a wrinkled child sitting in an adult chair.

When the Director spoke her name the old woman looked up, with Petra's eyes. The same bright, intense, joy was in her eyes that everyone saw in Petra.

"Margreta, you have some visitors."

One look at the people behind the Director and Margreta was scooting her way out of the chair. With the moves of a much younger woman she was past the director and in Petra's arms.

"Petra! I have missed you so!"

Petra returned the hug and added her tears to the embrace. After a while Margreta broke the embrace and said, "Where are my manners? I have not even acknowledged your friends."

Sabrina and Jenny introduced themselves and everyone hugged. The social worker left them for a moment and returned with two boxes of tissues. Everyone sat.

"Petra, how did you find me? Oh, never mind. I don't really care how you found me. I'm just glad you're here."

"Margreta, how would you like to attend a party on Friday evening?" Sabrina asked.

"A birthday party?"

"Yes. It is your birthday, isn't it?"

"Yes," and looking at Petra she said, "and yours is February twelfth."

"Yes, it is." Petra said in a voice so soft it was barely hearable at all.

The energy in the group changed again. This meeting was no longer about the party and a stranger.

"If I may ask, Margreta, what happened a long time ago..."

"I always wondered if your parents told you. I guess they didn't. Did you ever wonder why you didn't look like your Mother Alice?"

Petra looked stunned. She knew her mother's name was Alice!

"I wondered. How do you know my mother's name?"

"Oh. I thought you knew more than you know. I am your mother. I am also your father's half-sister. His father married my mother after your grandmother died giving birth to him. When I was raped and got pregnant your parents took me in and when you were born they took you to raise. Back then a single woman couldn't raise a child alone. They said they would care for you as their own and their only request was that I not be a part of your life until you were an adult. Once a year until you graduated from high school I got a letter from your Dad telling me a little about you and sending along your school picture."

"You thought I was looking for you?"

"Yes. The look on your face says I was wrong."

"I have to be honest. I never knew I was adopted. I couldn't look for you. I didn't know you existed."

"And you found me anyway."

"And I came here to invite you to your seventy-fifth birthday party!"

"I accept! Can my friends here come too?"

Sabrina answered, "Oh yes! We want them all!"

"None of us drive so we'll need transportation."

The Director blew her nose and said, "I'll arrange for a bus. I'll need details and directions but I think almost everyone here can attend. Do you have room for all of us?"

"We'll make room." Jenny said, "After all, you're family."

Jenny set things up for the evening. Petra was staying for dinner with her Mom. Jenny and Sabrina were going to a party planning meeting to spread the news and to send Tom to get Petra after dinner.

"Who is Tom?" Margreta asked.

"He's my almost husband." Petra said, beaming.

The group left and Petra and Margreta went down a hallway to Margreta's room. Once inside they sat and talked and shared from the past and created memories. Margreta showed Petra her scrap book of pictures and letters from Alice. The book had every letter and photograph that Alice ever sent. 

They cried together.

They went to the dining room and had dinner together. Petra was introduced to everyone and hugged by everyone who could stand and two men who couldn't. There were tears during dinner too. 

As soon as they could Petra and Margreta went back to Margreta's room. Inside they talked quietly, sitting very close on the couch. They talked about the past, and the future. They talked about hopes, dreams, wishes and God.

At nine o'clock there was a knock on the door. Margreta called out, "Come in!" and Tom did.

"Margreta, this is Tom. Tom, this is my mother Margreta."

Tom hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Margreta pulled back and said, "Why are you thanking me?"

"If you hadn't given birth to Petra I couldn't be as happy as I am every day."

"You're welcome."

By 9:30 they were in Tom's car headed for Jenny's. They stayed up with Jenny, Jerry, Sabrina and Buck talking about miracles and surprises until about midnight. There were times during the conversation that Petra noticed she was crying again. The tears were joy leaking out and falling as expressions of a verse in the Bible "my cup runneth over." 

Just after midnight Tom called a halt. He could see how tired Petra was and knew she needed some rest. Sabrina and Buck went home. Petra stayed awake long after she and Tom went to bed. The next morning she said she felt good and rested. No one believed her.

On Friday morning Jenny got up and followed her normal morning routine. After starting the coffee she showered and got dressed. Then she went out into the front yard to get the paper. Petra was in the shower when Jenny came back inside.

"Petra!"

Petra shut the water off and answered, "Yes?"

"You're on the front page!"

As quickly as possible Petra got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around herself and headed for the kitchen. Tom and Jenny were holding the paper and smiling.

Tom read, "Two days ago a surprise visitor to the McMillan's Assisted Living facility arrived to meet Margreta Jones who will be celebrating her 75th birthday today, the 9th of September. What the visitor did not know was that the woman she would meet is, in fact, her mother. About thirty years ago Margreta Jones gave up her only daughter into adoption. The mother and daughter reunion lasted the evening and promises to last much longer. The daughter, Petra Evans, has arranged a birthday party for her mother at the new barn of Gilbert and Emma Brown on West Alameda Street near Via Abajo. Anyone who lives in or around our town who has a birthday in September is invited. Be sure you bring proof of birth to the party. Further information can be obtained by calling Sabrina Thomas at 555-1818. The party is potluck except for punch and the birthday cake! Please let Sabrina know you're coming so they can have enough cake."

As Tom handed the paper to Petra the phone rang. Jenny answered.

She listened for a few moments and said, "Tell Petra." She handed Petra the phone. It was Sabrina.

"Petra, my phone might melt! I keep getting call after call. Buck is in the living room now taking calls. We have fifteen more September birthdays. Miller's Bakery called and they are donating eight sheet birthday cakes for the party! Donating! The manager of the A&P called and is giving us all the paper goods we need. His birthday is in June but he wants to come. What do I say to people?"

"Tell them to come! Tell them when the barn is full we'll dance and eat outside. Tell them to bring lawn chairs, blankets and no booze! This party isn't about getting drunk it's about Love and Joy!"

When Petra pushed the button on the phone to hang up it rang again. This time it was Harvey. "Petra, take the day off. That is an order. There are a hundred things you need to coordinate today and my finances aren't on the list. By the way, let me know where you're going first I have something for you."

"I think I need to go to Sabrina's. Then to the Brown's."

"OK. I'll meet you at Sabrina's."

"Do you know someone who can help her with the phones?"

"Yes. I've got it covered." He hung up.

"Harvey commanded me to take the day off. I'm going to Sabrina's and then to the farm. My gosh people are really getting behind this idea!"

"Honey, you are amazing! I'm so glad you came into our lives." Tom hugged and kissed Petra. When the hug ended the group got their stuff together, Petra dressed, and off they went. 

At Sabrina's Petra was hugged and kissed by Buck, Sabrina and three other people she didn't even know. The three were sent by Harvey to handle the phones. Sabrina shut her shop. They were about ready to go out the door when Harvey walked in. He handed Petra a credit card. She took it and looked at Harvey with a question on her face.

"You're going to need something for the party. Pay for it with the card. I trust you. I love you and I want to help however I can."

Petra kissed him the way a man like him deserves to always be kissed and then she and Sabrina left. Sabrina gave him the same kiss that Petra did. Buck watched and smiled. He wasn't jealous. He was happy.

He thought, as he watched Petra's little car drive away, "I got it! I am a happy, blessed man."

At the farm they found a big truck from Santa Fe parked by the barn. The workers were unloading tables and chairs. The man with a clip board asked which of them was Petra and asked her to sign for the tables and chairs.

"How much is this costing us?"

"You get a special rate, a hundred chairs for a dollar, two hundred chairs for two dollars. Oh, the tables are more, ten cents apiece. The total comes to five bucks and someone already paid." The man was smiling like he knew the Cheshire Cat personally.

"Who paid the bill?"

"I did." He was still smiling.

"And who asked you to bring the tables and chairs? Not that I'm not grateful, I am, but I hadn't gotten that far in my thinking."

"You hadn't. I had. I read about you and your Momma in the paper and I just want to be a part of this."

"You are a part of this! Thank you." Petra hugged him.

"You are going to be here aren't you?"

"No one in my family has a September birthday."

"You have a September un-birthday don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Wife? Kids?"

"Yes and yes."

"Call them. Tell them you're coming to the best birthday party ever! I want you and your family to help my Momma celebrate her life!"

Sabrina handed him a cell phone and he did just what Petra asked him to do.

When he handed the phone back to Sabrina they hugged. He got in the cab of his truck with his two workers and Petra climbed up on the step of the truck. She could barely see into the cab. The two men were looking at her. They were Hispanic men and smiling at her.

"Su tengo novias?"

"Si, Senora."

"Come to the party." The man driving translated and the men smiled very widely. Petra got down and the truck drove off. She walked into the barn. The DJ was setting up his equipment down at the far end. Sabrina was down with him. Petra walked and looked at how the tables and chairs were set up. Sabrina was talking with the DJ.

"Is it possible to have a couple of the speakers outside? I think we are going to have more people that this barn will hold."

"Just tell me where you want them."

"I'll get back to you in just a few minutes." Sabrina saw Gilbert walk in and she went to him. 

"Gilbert, can we set an area for outside dancing?"

He burst into a smile and said "Sure!" His cell phone came out of his bib pocket and he dialed. Two minutes later he came back to Sabrina and said, "In an hour there will be a portable corral built right out the north side of the barn. It'll be about the same size as the barn."

Sabrina told the DJ and he set up speakers out there. All day calls were made, received and trucks arrived, unloaded and left. As the sun lowered in the sky Tom showed up with Buck and clothes for Sabrina and Petra. They kissed the men and went in the house to dress. 

While they were inside folks started arriving. They arrived in cars, pick up trucks, SUV's and one on horseback. The women all carried food, some men carried food too. Kids dressed up for a party got out of their cars and ran around. The party had begun.

When Sabrina and Petra came out of the house they smiled to see twenty vehicles parked and people just inside the barn. When they walked in Petra stopped. There were presents on a table. Wrapped in colorful papers and tied with bows the table had birthday presents on it.

She turned to Sabrina and Emma and said, "Oh my, I didn't get Momma anything!"

They both laughed. "You call this nothing?"

"But, shouldn't I have a present for her?"

"We'll put a bow on you!"

"Are you sure?"

"She only wanted you. That's all any of us wants."

"OK. I guess."

Over the next hour Harvey, Gilbert, Buck and three others showed up and directed traffic. Gilbert attempted to count people as they arrived but lost count somewhere after four hundred. The truck that brought the tables and chairs earlier came back and another two hundred chairs were unloaded and put around another thirty tables. The dancing would be outside until dinner was cleaned up. 

Ten minutes later a truck delivered a big dumpster and ten trash cans. No one had thought of that. No one had been asking for paper showing birthdays either. Petra was up by the DJ when her cell phone rang. It was Harvey at the gate.




Petra the Small Ch. 04



"Honey, your Momma is here in a nice bus. Were bringing her right up to the door."

Petra asked the DJ to give her a mike and turn up the sound.

"People, people. My Momma just arrived. The bus will pull right up to the door. We want her to sit at this table." She pointed. "And let's be quiet until she arrives, OK?"

The barn got quiet and people moved to the sides making a path for Momma. The white bus stopped right in front and the driver began assisting the old folks off the bus. First off was Margreta whose face was bright and beaming. She focused in on Petra and they walked toward each other. The crowd watched for a few steps when a child's voice was heard, breaking the silence.

"Happy Birthday to you..."

All the people in the barn began to sing. They didn't sing softly or slowly. They sang in joy and happiness. They were sharing in the joy and happiness of the two tiny women standing hugging in the middle of the barn. When the last words were sung everyone clapped and cheered.

Petra was afraid to let go of her mother. Not because her mother was old and frail, because she was overcome with the love and joy coming to them from all sides. Margreta held on too, savoring another hug from the daughter she had missed for so long.

Tom stood near the entrance to the barn. Tears fell from his face, unnoticed. His eyes were focused on Petra and Momma. He no longer thought of Margreta as anything except Momma. 

The song ended and Harvey stood beside Tom and put his arm around Tom's shoulders.

"Almost too much to take in isn't it?"

Tom looked at his friend, his brother and said, "My heart and my soul are very full."

"We'll take care of the parking. You go be with Petra and Momma." He let go and turned, walking back out to the outside. Tom walked through the crowd and then helped get Momma and Petra to the seats of honor. No one needed to tell anyone what to do next, but the DJ did. He announced that it was time to eat! People picked up plates and plastic tools and attacked the hundreds of homemade casseroles, salads, vegetables, ethnic dishes, fried, baked and bar-b-qued chicken, pork and beef. Sabrina brought Momma a plate and a plate for Petra. Emma brought a bigger plate for Tom.

All during dinner people stopped by and thanked Momma for inviting them to her party, thanked Petra for sharing her joy with everyone, and gave Petra and Momma presents. Momma took a gift, thanked the giver and unwrapped it. Her eyes were like the eyes of a young child at their first big Christmas. 

After the present was open she said to the giver: "Honey, I so appreciate the way you say I love you. I really don't need anything. Would it be OK with you if we find a family or a person that needs this and they can keep it for me?" The folks never said "No." In the course of the next two hours Momma and Petra unwrapped over a hundred gifts. The DJ brought Petra a microphone and Petra called for all the other ninth of September birthdays to come forward. There were eleven of them. Each was told to pick four gifts from the gifts that Momma and Petra had unwrapped. Then Petra and Momma conferred and Petra called for all the September birthdays to come up. Somehow there were exactly enough presents for each September birthday to take home two gifts. There was one present left. It had been hidden under the table by Tom. He brought it out and handed it to Momma.

The family gathered around as did all the people who lived with Momma. She tore the paper and discovered two 8x10 picture frames. One held a picture of Momma at the moment she first saw Petra in the living room of her home. The other was a picture of both women hugging that first time.

Tears fell from hundreds of eyes and Petra and Momma led the rain fall. Hugs happened all over the barn and the DJ made it a stronger moment. He started playing a song, "Lovin' Arms" sung by the Dixie Chicks. Couples danced. Couples held each other and sang along. Couples kissed and cried and told each other they loved each other. Tom moved to sit between Petra and Momma. He hugged them and told them both he loved them.

When the song ended the DJ announced that it was time for clean up. He told people to save their forks as the best was still to come. All the plates and trash were taken out to the dumpster by the trash can load. In less than ten minutes dinner for four hundred was cleaned up. All the serving dishes were back in the vehicles that they came in and Petra and Momma were escorted to the tables where the birthday cakes were lined up. All the people with birthdays on the ninth came forward and each cut their cake for family, friends and new friends to eat. The DJ thanked the baker for his fine work. Happy Birthday was sung again. One large candle was put in Momma's cake and the birthday people gathered and together they blew out the candle.

The DJ played dance music outside until about one in the morning. When he finally stopped playing he was invited to spend the night in the camper on a pick up owned by a single woman who had been in town three months and up until this night didn't know anyone very well.

When the dancing had started Momma took Tom by the hand and pulled him outside. She danced one slow song with him, kissed him on the cheek and told both he and Petra it was time for her and her friends to go home. The bus was brought to the door and the residents of the McMillan Assisted Living home got aboard. The director stood by the door to the bus. She helped some of her people get aboard. Some were holding hands as they walked to the bus. All carried tissues. As the bus pulled away people waved and called out to them.

Tom and Petra danced and held each other whether there was music or not. Eventually they sat down.

"Honey, what you did tonight was create a miracle."

"I don't see how I did much of anything. Everyone came together. Everyone did this."

"You and Momma were what we needed to pull it all together. Did you feel the energy in here all night?"

"It felt really good to me. I don't know about everyone."

Sabrina, Buck, and Jerry walked up. Jenny ran to catch up. She snuggled into Jerry and they all pulled up chairs and sat with Petra and Tom.

Jerry spoke first: "Final count was a hundred and ninety seven vehicles. The best estimate on the people was just over four hundred."

Jenny said, "Best estimate is three hundred thousand kisses in five hours. Not bad for a small town in New Mexico."

Buck spoke, slowly. "I'm glad I was here to see this. If I had heard about it sitting in jail I wouldn't have believed it." Sabrina hugged him.

"I'm glad you were here too. I love you Buck!"

"I love you too Sabrina." He paused, looking at each of the family sitting around him. "I love every one of you."

"I think Momma had a good birthday."

"You think!?" Everyone laughed. They talked for a little while longer and then Petra got up and started picking up the little bit that hadn't been picked up before people left. Jerry stopped her.

"You and Tom go home. I have a crew coming in at noon to restore Gilbert and Emma's farm back to working order." Hugs and kisses were shared and everyone went home.



Petra the Small



In her own soft voice Petra said, "Just promise me this isn't just a dream I'm having. Promise me that you really will be back tomorrow."

"I promise."

"Oh, but what if Jenny has already made plans for us for tomorrow night?"

"You have to eat, don't you?"

The door opened a little and Jenny said, "If I bring a date, can we join you two for dinner?"

They laughed and hugged and Tom went home. Jenny and Petra sat up until four in the morning talking. 

Day Two ...

At nine o'clock in the morning Jenny's phone rang. She knew it was Tom before she had touched the phone. As she lifted the phone Petra opened the door and asked, "Is it Tom?" Jenny smiled and said, "Good morning, Tom."

It was Tom. He talked with Jenny for a minute then with Petra for three minutes. Jenny watched her friend almost dancing with the phone. When she hung up, she was bubbling.

"Tom found a company that needs someone immediately for their accounting department. It sounds like a perfect fit for me. I can interview this afternoon if I want the job."

Jenny smiled and asked, "And do you want the job?"

"Jenny, I have wanted Tom all my life. I asked him every tough question I could think of last night, and he passed. I feel like I've known him all my life. I love kissing him. I love being kissed by him. He's the right size. His goals in life are much like mine. I never realized how much I hurt about not ever being in a relationship, a romantic relationship. Then he stood up and said what he said and I wished I had a tape recorder going so I could save that speech for the rest of my life. I want the job. I want to go home, pack up everything I have and move here." She took a breath. "Oh, my God. I have to find a place to live."

"No you don't." Jenny smiled. "The truth is I brought you here because I wanted you to move here and live with me. You can still do that, even for three hundred and sixty four days."

Petra sat down on the floor. Jenny sat with her. They hugged and sat silently for a long time. Finally Jenny said, "Let's go get something for breakfast."

In a flash they were dressed and out the door. A few minutes later they were in IHOP eating, laughing, talking and planning. Petra paid for breakfast. As they drove back to the house Petra asked, "Which bedroom is mine?"

They laughed some more and Jenny answered, "Which ever one you want except mine." Back home they found a message from Tom saying he would pick Petra up for the interview at twelve-forty. Petra spent some time picking out the most professional of all the clothes she brought on vacation. It wasn't quite right, but would just have to do.

At exactly twelve-forty, the doorbell rang. 

Tom ushered Petra to his car, a red Miata, and away they went. Nineteen minutes later, they pulled up in front of a building with a huge sign on the front: "Peterson's Gates." Tom got out of the car and opened the door for Petra. 

"When you get inside, ask for Harvey. He's expecting you."

When she opened the door, Harvey was standing right there. She suddenly remembered him from the party. He stuck out his hand and said, "Come with me into my office." 

He led the way into a big office that had gates and pictures of gates all over it. There was a single chair behind the desk and a single matching chair in front of the desk. Harvey didn't mention the party. He talked business, and about the person his company needed. Ten minutes later Harvey said, "The job is yours if you want it. Here is what I can offer as compensation." 

He handed her a typed page outlining the benefits package and the salary. It amounted to a 24% raise over what she was already making. She stood up and shook his hand. 

"Does that mean you'll work for me?"

"That depends. When do you want me to start?"

"I know you have to go back to Lincoln and finish up there, and you have to move. How about one month from today?"

"Done!" She smiled wide at him and said, "I can't believe this happened so fast."

"Believe it. I'm really happy for both you and Tom."

"Thank you."

Back in Tom's car she pulled a small notebook out of her purse and started making notes. She paid no attention to where they were driving, until the car stopped. She looked up and saw that they were not at Jenny's house. They were in front of another southwestern style house with three willow trees in the front. It looked very new. 

"Where are we?" she asked.

"My place." 

He opened her door and they went into the house. It was sparsely furnished, but with wonderful taste. He gave her the tour and when they reached the master bedroom, Petra almost had her heart stop. She had two equally terrifying thoughts. 

"He wants to take me to bed!" "He'll see me naked!"

Tom turned and walked out of the bedroom. Petra followed, almost breathing a sigh of relief. When they were back in the living room, Tom turned to her and said, "I only showed you the master bedroom because I am an honest man. I know that to expect you to want to be there now would be foolish. We have only known each other since yesterday. However, I do want you to know that I do want you there. I'm certain I am in love with you." 

He turned and went into the kitchen. Petra followed. He opened the refrigerator and asked, "Can I offer you something to drink?"

"Do you have anything diet?"

"Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, water, or juice?"

"Diet Coke, please." 

He opened two, poured them into glasses and they sat at the table. "Have you given any thought as to how you'll get all your stuff from Lincoln to here?"

"I can't afford a moving company. I guess I'll rent one of those drive-it-yourself trucks and drive it myself."

"Here is what I'm thinking. Let's say that two or three of us fly back to Lincoln when you're ready, we rent a truck, load it and while you drive your car, we follow in the truck."

"I suppose you have all this arranged?"

"All we need are the dates and I'll book the tickets."

"Who are the two or three who will come with you?"

"Jenny plans to go back with you and help pack and get you ready. Harvey and Jerry and I will fly back about a week later and do the heavy stuff. None of us has ever been to Lincoln, so be prepared to take us to the best eatery in town."

"I hardly know you guys. I can't let you use your vacation time to help me move."

"If Harvey or Jerry was your brother or your uncle, would you let him?"

"I don't have a brother or an uncle, so I can't answer that question."

"You have all the brothers, uncles, aunts and sisters you ever wanted now. You are a part of the family you met yesterday. The only one who isn't related to you yet out of all those you met yesterday is me. And I plan to be related in three hundred and sixty-three days."

Petra sat her Diet Coke on the table as tears trickled down her cheeks. She got up from her chair and sat down in Tom's lap. With her arms around his neck and shoulders, she planted a kiss on his lips.

When it ended, she said, "I am looking forward to that."

They kissed for some time. Then Tom remembered something and stood up suddenly. If she hadn't been quick, she would have ended up sitting on the floor.

"What?" She said.

"I forgot. I was supposed to call Jenny." 

He found the phone, called Jenny and told her that Petra was moving. Then Petra took the phone and talked with Jenny for ten minutes. When she hung up, she told Tom they needed to go back to Jenny's.

Before they left the house, Petra walked back to the master bedroom and stood looking at the bed. Tom followed her in but didn't say anything. When they walked out to the car, Petra said, "I wanted another look. I've never been in a man's bedroom for the night and I wanted to see where it was going to happen."

Tom grinned all the way to Jenny's.

The next two days were spent in family meetings, parties, and getting things planned for her move. She had arranged to change her ticket so she could return to Lincoln a couple days early. Jenny arranged to travel with her.

Lincoln ...

When they walked into Petra's place in Lincoln, Petra started to cry. Jenny asked why.

"I thought I was happy here. Now I look at it and it's cold, empty, and there wasn't any happiness here at all." 

Jenny cried too. Then they got to work. They got lots of boxes and trash bags and started going through everything Petra owned. The next morning Petra drove to work and gave her two week's notice. Her boss was so upset, he had payroll write her a check and she was terminated on the spot. What he didn't know was that payroll followed company policy and paid her for the two weeks she would have worked, as well as what she was owed.

After she deposited the check, they went out for lunch and then called Tom. They let him know that as soon as he and Jerry could get there they were ready to move. Tom called back before they were ready for dinner and let them know that their movers were arriving in two days. Petra called and arranged for a rental truck to be picked up on the morning after the guys arrived. 

That evening Petra took Jenny to two great restaurants, asking her which she thought the men would like. They both agreed that the men would most likely love a place called "Steaks!" that served huge slabs of steak, baked potatoes, and corn on the cob. They also had big-screen TV's tuned to sporting events, and waitresses that showed lots of skin. On their way back to Petra's house of boxes, Petra got worried.

"If Tom is gonna like "Steaks!" he's going to be really disappointed when he undresses me."

"If a big breasted woman was what Tom wanted to date and marry, don't you think he could find one?"

"Well, yes. I'm sure he could. But why is he interested in me?"

"I've known Tom for almost eight months. I've never seen or heard of him dating anyone. I have heard him talk about wanting a wife. I've also heard him talk about how important family is to him."

"He told me about how his parents and brother died when he was young. Being forced to live with people he didn't know and who really didn't want him was hard."

"I knew he had no biological family, but not what happened."

"I wasn't asked to keep anything he told me a secret, so I guess it would be ok if I shared with you. Tom was at camp one summer when he was ten. His parents and brother were driving up to the camp to pick him up and then go on vacation together. Their car was hit by a drunk driver and shoved off a mountain road. The car fell over a hundred feet, killing all three of them. 

After the funeral he went to live with his father's parents. His grandfather was one of those men who believed that hard work was what men were supposed to do, so that is what Tom got."

"Oh."

"When he told me, I cried. No one should lose their whole family like that."

"Petra, I've never asked before but I'm going to ask now. I've known you almost six and a half years. In all that time, I've never seen you get a letter from your family, even a phone call. I never saw you go home for the holidays or anything. What happened?"

"When I was all packed and ready to leave for college, my Dad took me off to the side and said, "Petra, you are going off to a new life. Leave the old life and only look ahead." When I had been at school a week I wrote them a letter. Four days later it came back. It was marked, "Undeliverable" in my Dad's handwriting. I tried calling a few times but they changed the phone number to unlisted or something and every letter I sent came back, so I quit writing after a year. I cried every time I sent them a letter and I cried more when they came back. 

During that first summer, I took a week and drove home. The door was locked, and no one would come to the door. To this day I don't know what happened. If I hadn't gotten that apartment, and found you as my roommate, I think I would have died."

Jenny took her in her arms and they both cried.

When the men arrived, there were lots of hugs and kisses at the airport. Jerry and Tom both kissed both women and Jerry walked out of the airport with his arm around Jenny just like Tom's arm was around Petra. The men explained that Harvey hadn't made the trip because his company had just gotten a huge rush order for a new housing area, but that Harvey and the others would be there to help unload when they arrived. 

Petra had left her car at home. No one had ever sat in the back seat and she believed it wasn't big enough to hold the men in anything like comfort. She had rented a mini-van and Jenny was the driver. The people at the rental agency would not rent the van to Petra if she was to be the driver... she was too small.

They were given a half-hour tour that Petra had devised to cover sights she thought men would want to see. They drove past the University of Nebraska football stadium and saw the skyline of downtown Lincoln. Then Jenny headed for "Steaks!" and the promised great meal.

Petra was a little surprised when both men asked the hostess to seat their group in a room away from the big screen TVs. 

Jerry explained, "We didn't fly all this way to watch television. We came to be with you." 

The hostess showed them to a small private room -- ideal for them. Petra and Jenny filled them in on the packing, the rental truck situation, and let it be known that they were happy to be at the beginning of this adventure. Their meals arrived and they ate most of the meal in relative silence. The food was really good and they were really hungry. Three or four times during the meal, Petra noticed that Jerry had reached over and touched Jenny. She first saw him touch her shoulder, and then a bit later saw him put his hand on her leg. She lost focus when Tom put his hand on her leg.

It was another first for Petra. She didn't jump, but almost. As his hand rested on her leg, she noticed that it felt heavy. Not uncomfortable, but heavy. Then she noticed how warm it was. Not hot, not unpleasant, just warm. She thought about what it meant his hand on her leg. She came to a lot of judgments about what it might mean, but she didn't know what it meant.

"Tom," she said softly, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?" 

He also spoke softly, and leaned towards her.

"I don't quite know how to say this, or ask this. I've never had someone put their hand on my leg before. I don't know what it is supposed to mean."

Tom sat still for a few seconds. Then he answered. "I don't know what it means, for anyone but me, right now, in this time and place, but I can tell you what it means to me right now." 

Petra nodded.

"It means I want you to know that I love being with you. I'm glad to be here. I want you to know that I love you, but I'm still a bit scared to say the words."

Petra was looking into Tom's eyes and saw that he spoke the truth. Suddenly she heard Jerry speaking and realized they weren't alone.

"It means I want you to know I love being here with you. I'm glad to be here. I want you to know that I love you and I'm scared to say the words." Jerry said, looking into Jenny's eyes. 

She burst into tears and into his arms. Petra sat stunned. She didn't know there was anything cooking between Jerry and Jenny. She didn't believe any man was ever going to say those words and now she had heard two men say them.

She watched Jenny kissing Jerry for almost a minute when she felt Tom withdraw his hand from her leg. Instantly she missed the feel of it, missed the pressure and the warmth, but more she discovered how much she missed what it meant. She grabbed his hand and started to put it back on her leg, but stopped. Instead she put it around her body as she climbed into his lap. Their lips met and she pushed her tongue into his mouth. 

When the kiss ended she said, "I'm sorry it took me so long to react. Ever since I met you I have been in overwhelm. I have done things and thought about things that I had never dreamed of before. You say you love me. I trust you. I don't know why you love me, I question your sanity, but I believe you when you say it. And, I don't know what to do with it; now that I hear you say it."

Jenny was still in Jerry's lap. She said, "Well, I do. Let's pay the check and get out of here. I can think of more romantic places than a restaurant called "Steaks!"."

Jerry opened his wallet and dropped a one hundred dollar bill on the table. "I think that will cover dinner and tip quite nicely."

"But dinner was to be on me," Petra protested. 

"Dessert can be your treat." He said, putting his arm around Jenny and heading for the door. Petra gave up the protest and wondered what she could possibly give them for dessert. There was nothing at home to eat except the snacks they had bought for the trip.

By the time she reached the van, she had an idea what Jerry might have been referring to as dessert.

On the way to Petra's they talked softly in the back seat, and they kissed. Jerry rode in the front passenger bucket seat and Jenny drove. Every time the van stopped at a light, Jerry leaned over and kissed her. At one point in the trip Petra had some thoughts about sending Jenny to the motel with Jerry while she and Tom stayed the night at her place. She didn't say anything about those thoughts because she also had the thought that maybe Jerry or Jenny weren't ready to take that step. When they pulled the van into Petra's driveway, it was just after ten o'clock.

Tom spoke before opening the sliding door of the van. "It's late. I can't speak for Jerry but there is something I can say for me. I want to come inside and I want to sleep with you tonight, but I know if I do, we won't get much sleep. I also know that we need to be well rested for tomorrow. So, rather than come in under the pretext of having dessert, or for just a minute, I think you better take us to wherever we are spending the night."

"I want to spend the night with you." Petra said.

"And I want to spend every night with you," Jenny said to Jerry.

"But Tom's right: if we open the van door now we won't get much sleep and tomorrow is a big day." Jerry said. 

Jenny kissed Jerry. Tom kissed Petra. Jenny restarted the van and they drove to the motel a few blocks away and without either woman getting out, left them there. As Jenny pulled out of the motel parking lot she said, "That was the hardest thing I've ever done."

"Leaving him there?"

"Yes. I want to take him to bed!"

"Don't you hate it when good sense gets in the way?"

"I do tonight!" 

The rest of the short ride was quiet. They went inside Petra's and got ready for bed. Petra let Jenny have the bathroom right off the master bedroom, and she took her toothbrush into the other bathroom. She took off her clothes in the bathroom and put on what she usually wore to bed, a t-shirt and fresh panties. She noticed a wet spot on the panties she took off. She was in the big bed when Jenny came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a t-shirt. She climbed into the bed and pulled the covers up. Petra shut off the lamp beside the bed. Neither went to sleep.

"Petra?"

"Yes."

"What are you going to do tomorrow night?"

"Sleep with Tom, if he still wants me to."

"Oh, I think I can safely say that he will want to."

"I can understand Jerry wanting to sleep with you, but what have I got to offer Tom? I'm as flat as an eleven-year-old boy. I don't look like a woman." 

A single tear rolled down her cheek. Jenny didn't see it, but she guessed it was there.

"Turn on the light, Petra." 

She did.

"You've never made love before have you?"

"Never. Tom is the only man I've ever kissed. I don't even know how."

"So, has he touched you?"

"He's held me."

"Has he put his hands on your breasts?"

"No. He's been a perfect gentleman."

"Do you want him to touch you?"

"Yes."

"Then sometime tomorrow when you kiss, gently pinch his nipple."





Petra the Small



"Oh, I'm not sure I could."

"It sends him a message that you want to go farther. Men like it."

"What if I hurt him?"

"You won't. Men's nipples aren't usually as sensitive as women's." 

She sat up and pulled the t-shirt over her head, baring for the first time her breasts to Petra's sight. 

"Reach over and gently pinch my nipple.

"I couldn't."

"You can. When you do I'll tell you if you are pinching hard enough." 

She took Petra's hand and put it on her breast. Petra hesitated, then pinched the nipple. 

"Not hard enough. You can be a little more forceful with him. His nipples won't be as big, and they won't be as sensitive. Do it again."

Petra reached out and pinched her again. She felt the areola starting to tighten. Jenny sucked in a little breath. 

"Perfect." 

Petra let go and dropped her hand to the bed.

"So, sometime tomorrow I just walk up to Tom and pinch his nipple."

"No, silly. When you two are kissing out by the back of the truck, you just reach up with one hand and pinch him. Come on, I'll show you." 

Jenny got out of bed. Petra noticed that Jenny wasn't wearing panties. Jenny pulled her out of bed and stood really close. She put her arms around Petra and kissed her. She broke the kiss for a second and said, "Reach up." 

Petra did, found Jenny's nipple and pinched. Jenny moaned. The nipple was tight when Petra touched it. The kiss ended but Jenny was still holding on.

"What is Tom going to do then?" Petra asked.

"He's probably going to reach for your breast."

"Good luck to him. They are hard to find."

"Men have radar. He'll find it. You just stand there and go with the feeling. It will feel really good." 

Jenny was still standing right against Petra and she kissed her again, this time she moved one hand to Petra's chest. When her hand brushed over Petra's nipple, Petra moaned. It was involuntary. Jenny's hand went back to the nipple and very gently pinched it, holding it between thumb and first finger.

"Oh my God!" Petra said. 

She backed up a few inches. 

"Something's wrong."

"What's wrong?"

"I'm feeling things I've never felt before."

"Like?"

"Like between my legs. Like my nipple never felt like it did when you touched it. There seems to be some connection between my nipples and between my legs."

"Like you're wet?"

"Soaked. What's that all about?"

"That's your body telling you it's ready for sex. That's your natural lubricant getting your vagina ready for Tom's penis."

"When you kiss Jerry, do you get wet?"

"The panties I took off were soaked. I'd bet yours were, too."

"They were!"

They stood silent for a few moments and then climbed back into bed. Jenny didn't put the t-shirt back on. Petra shut off the light.

After a minute or so she asked, "Then what will he do?"

"Standing out behind the truck, probably nothing. But when he gets you alone..."

"Tell me. If I know what's coming maybe I won't be so afraid of doing something wrong."

Jenny sat Petra up in the bed. Then she grabbed the bottom edge of the t-shirt and lifted it over Petra's head. She sat to one side of Petra, facing her in the dark. She found Petra's face and kissed her. As the third kiss started she brushed her hand over Petra's nipple. She used both hands and gently tugged at the buds on Petra's chest. By applying pressure as she kissed, she leaned Petra back onto the pillows and then released the gentle hold she had on her nipples. She kissed Petra a couple more times and then shifted on the bed until Petra could feel her warm breath against her nipple.

Jenny's tongue touched that nipple. It was as though an electric shock went through Petra. Jenny did it again. Another shock, not as surprising but very pleasant. Then Jenny took the entire nipple, areola, and breast swelling into her mouth and sucked. Petra felt the sensations all the way into her vagina. 

"Oh God. Oh God." Petra kept repeating softly. 

She felt the wetness between her legs running out of her and she didn't care. Jenny moved back up to Petra's face and kissed her with tongue. Petra returned the kiss, giving as good as she got. After a few of those kisses, Petra felt a need and answered that need, rolling Jenny onto her back and straddling her. She moved to Jenny's breast and took her half dollar sized areola and hard nipple into her mouth. She sucked and ran her tongue around the nipple. Jenny took her head in her hands and pressed it into her breast, saying, "Harder. Suck harder."

Petra prided herself on being good at following directions. 

Later, when they had both reached orgasms and were falling asleep, Petra thought of making love with Tom. Jenny thought about how long she had wanted to make love to Petra, and how she was looking forward to making love with Jerry, then she too fell asleep. The alarm woke them both before dawn. They were up, dressed and ready for the big day before seven. As they got in the van to go get the men, Petra asked, "What we did last night, was it wrong?"

"Did it feel wrong?"

"No. It felt wonderful. But all my life I've heard that homosexuality is wrong."

"You aren't homosexual. Neither am I. For most of my life I have believed that women are wired such that making love, having sex, and fucking were to be enjoyed, with men and with women. If it were just to be enjoyed with men, my clitoris and yours would be three inches inside our vaginas. Oh, I'm climbing up on my soap box. Stop me before I hurt someone."

"I don't know enough about making love or sex to say anything."

"Yet." Jenny smiled at her and off they went.

The Trip Begins ...

The loading went quickly and with lots of laughter, fun and a few dozen kisses thrown in for spice. The truck and car were loaded and on the road by eight-thirty in the morning. A little more than four hours later, they were sitting in a Mom'n-Pop restaurant in Ogallala, Nebraska, having lunch. The men had been in the truck and the women had been in Petra's car. The seating arrangements in the restaurant were more enjoyable, with Petra and Tom on one side and Jenny and Jerry on the other side. The banter was light, the looks profound and the leg-against-leg was full of portent and electricity.

On the way out of the restaurant Jenny said, "I've never ridden in a big truck like that. Do you think it would be OK if for the next part of the trip I rode with Jerry and maybe Tom rode with you?" Her voice sounded innocent, but the smiles on her face and Petra's gave them away.

Petra answered, in tones just as innocent, "I don't know. What do you think, guys?"

Amid the laughter, Jerry said, "Oh, I guess it'd be OK, since you've never ridden in a big truck like this one." 

He opened the door and helped Jenny up into the passenger side of the cab. Petra unlocked her Honda, then she and Tom got in. They followed the truck out of the parking lot and onto I-80 West. Shortly after leaving Ogallala, they hit the junction with I-25 and turned south, headed for Denver and then Santa Fe. The road was good, the weather better and the time and miles passed without effort. The conversation was about everything, except what was on everyone's mind. 

Petra had made reservations in Denver for their stay that night. She had checked to make sure that the motel/lodge would have no trouble having both her car and the truck in their lot all night. Jerry parked the truck by backing it against a brick wall. No one could open the rear door to the truck without moving the truck. Then he opened the hood and removed something. As he closed the hood, Jenny asked what he had taken. 

"Inside the engine compartment, there is a computer that runs the engine. With that out, this truck can't move. The engine won't start. Petra's stuff is as safe as if there were a guard out here all night."

Petra had gone inside to register and get keys. She completed the paperwork and was given two rooms and four keys. When she turned from the desk, Tom was standing there with his hand out and a big grin on his face.

"Do I need a key?" He asked.

"That depends. Are you rooming with me or with Jerry?"

"If it's my choice, I'm rooming with you."

"Then you don't need a key. I have yours right here. I'll give the other room to Jerry and Jenny, unless either of them objects."

Jenny and Jerry walked through the door with Jerry carrying both bags and Jenny holding on to his arm. Petra walked over to them and said, "Tom has proposed that he would like to room with me tonight. How would you folks feel about rooming together tonight?"

Jenny took the offered packet with two keys in it and without saying anything; she guided Jerry down the hall towards their room. Tom and Petra followed as their room was on the other side of the hallway from where Jenny was headed. As they opened the doors, Petra asked Jenny, "How soon do you want to get together for dinner?"

Jenny looked at Jerry and then asked, "Give us an hour and a half would you? I need to clean up before dinner."

They stepped through their respective doors and dropped their bags just inside. Tom took Petra in his arms and they kissed. As their lips met, Petra remembered what she had been taught about Tom's nipples and she slowly reached up with her right hand and found his nipple. She grasped it between her thumb and first finger and squeezed. Tom's eyes popped open and he moaned. His tongue pushed forcefully into her mouth. Petra held on to his nipple. She couldn't remember how long Jenny had said to hold his nipple. An almost identical scene was playing right across the hall.

Petra had been wet all day long, and now she could feel that the fluid was making a trail down the inside of her leg. She broke the kiss, letting go of Tom's nipple at the same moment and said, "What do I need to do to get you to make love with me?"

Tom's voice was only a whisper, "You did it. You closed the door." 

He reached the clasps at her shoulders and released the straps of her bib overalls. The instant he released them her bibs fell to the floor. She stepped back and out of them, but only just. Tom's hands were on her shoulders. He grasped her t-shirt and started to pull upwards.

"Stop." Petra said, softly. 

He did.

Her hands went to the buttons on his shirt. As quickly as she could, she unbuttoned his shirt and then pulled the tails out of his pants. She pulled the shirt open and put her lips on the nipple she had been holding only a minute before.

Tom gasped and then held her head while she sucked his nipple. She felt it get hard and felt it poking out. She felt Tom pushing her backwards into the room. She put her arms around his chest and allowed him to move her backwards.

Tom stopped when Petra was about four inches from the bed. She released her lips from his nipple and looked at his face.

"Petra, are you ready to do this now? I'll wait if you want to, but if we're going to stop, we better do it now."

"I have waited all my life for you to make love to me, Tom. I don't want to wait another ten minutes." 

She put her face against his, thrust her tongue into his mouth and pressed all of herself against him. No one would ever know how long that kiss actually lasted. Tom guessed that it lasted three days.

After Petra broke the kiss, she pulled Tom's shorts and underwear down to the floor, freeing his erection for the first time in their lives together. He was fully hard and she marveled at how he looked. He was just a bit taller that her, and nicely muscled. He looked like he worked out. Jutting from the midst of a small, thin patch of pubic hair, his erection pointed right at her. She noticed that the head was slightly darker than the shaft and she noticed that it bent slightly to his right. 

"May I touch it?" 

Tom nodded.

She reached out and lightly grasped it in her hand. It twitched in her hand and she let go.

"No. Sweetheart, that didn't hurt. It twitched because it felt so very good."

Petra watched as she stroked him and his penis twitched and grew in her hand. After a very few strokes, she saw a shiny drop of liquid at the very end of his penis. She stopped.

"Did you ejaculate?" she asked.

"Not yet. That is my lubricant."

Using his strong hands, he pulled Petra to her feet and then he took the bottom edge of her t-shirt and slowly pulled it up over her head. During the long journey Petra kept thinking about what his reaction would be to her boyish body, her lack of breasts. When the shirt pulled free of her head, she closed her eyes, afraid to see the reaction on his face. She felt his hands on her face, holding her with such gentleness. Her eyes opened. She looked into his eyes and saw a tear as it left his eye and ran slowly down his cheek.

"You are beautiful." He whispered. 

She didn't believe him, but she could tell that he meant it. He kissed her face and neck and she held on to him, afraid she might collapse. After a few kisses, he gently pushed her back onto the bed. She started to scoot towards the middle, to make room for him but he stopped her. Without speaking, he turned her so that her legs draped over the edge of the bed. He gently and slowly reached for and grasped the elastic at the top of her panties and pulled them all the way off her in one long, slow pull. She knew he saw that they were wet, and she smiled because she now knew that meant she wanted to make love.

When her panties were on the floor, Tom used his hands to open her legs. Then he knelt between her knees and began kissing along the inside of her leg, beginning at the knee. His lips felt electric: sparks were entering her skin every place his lips touched. She realized suddenly that her hands were at her nipples and were pinching them both. She didn't stop.

When she felt his breath on the hairs near her vagina, she gasped. Her hands left her nipples and she put one on either side of Tom's head and drew him into her. He opened his mouth and gently ran his tongue along her lips, almost touching the hood of her clitoris. 

"Oh yes, Tom, yes!" She whispered. 

Again and again, his tongue made the journey from the bottom to the top of her slit and back again. She opened her legs wider, to open herself up fully to him and the feelings she was having.

Tom noticed that she was breathing differently, and that her lips were swelling as well as warming up. He pushed between her lips and touched her vaginal opening with his tongue. He felt the flood of liquid as it left her and he swallowed every drop. She tasted like heaven.

When his tongue reached the top of her slit this time, he touched her clitoris and ran the tip of his tongue around it as gently as he could manage.

"Oh Tom, that feels so good. I don't know what's happening to me. I'm quivering."

"Hmmmmm" he said, without stopping what he was doing.

A minute later she clenched her whole body, then shook so hard Tom thought he would lose contact with her pussy, but he didn't. He felt every contraction of her vagina. He felt the muscles of her lower abdomen as they contracted as well. When she relaxed a little, he released her clitoris and stood up.

Petra looked up at him and said, "Tom, be inside me. I want to feel you on top of me, inside me." 

He smiled and lifted her knees and spread them a bit while he lined up his penis to enter her. She reached down and assisted his penis to her opening. When it touched, Tom hesitated. Petra's eyes flared and she said, "Don't you tease me, Tom. Stick it in now!" 

He leaned forward and in one stroke entered Petra completely.

"Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!" Petra said as he felt Tom filling her. 

As pubic bone pressed hard against pubic bone, Tom's penis almost touched her cervix. He was exactly the right length to fill her completely. When he was fully in, he stopped. He waited a few seconds and then began to pull back.

Petra wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him back in. 

"Don't" She said. 

He smiled at her and lowered himself onto her until he could kiss her. His tongue entered her mouth and she met it with gusto. A few seconds later she realized that what she tasted in the kiss were her own juices. As they kissed, Tom moved his hips an inch and then back in. Then again. Each time making the stroke just a tiny bit longer. 

She watched his face and felt every pulse of his heart. She wanted something but didn't know what.

He hooked one arm behind her knee and with the other arm, he hooked her other knee. He sat up a little more and the he picked up the pace of the slide in and the retreat. Soon he was slamming into her pubic bone at the bottom of each stroke, and she was thrusting against him as he did so. They no longer spoke at all. The sounds they made were moans and gasps and slapping sounds. Tom felt himself go over the edge, and as he spurted inside her he could only moan loudly.

Petra's eyes grew wider as she felt Tom swelling even more, and then she felt a wave of warmth spreading from her center. She lost control and moaned very loudly, and pulled Tom down on top of her, pushing her hips up to meet him. Her muscles clenched and unclenched for many seconds and her vaginal muscles milked Tom of every drop of his sperm.

Even after her climax had subsided, she held him deep inside her. She could feel him relaxing and could feel his penis getting soft. She did not want this joy to ever end.

Jenny opened the door of her room and stepped across the hallway to the other door. She knocked. She heard laughter coming from inside. Then she heard Petra saying, "Give us a minute more."

Petra had just felt Tom's penis leave her pussy when the knock came. They laughed and jumped up from the bed. Petra went to the bathroom and used a washcloth to clean up. Tom threw on some clothes and kept laughing. Petra came out of the bathroom and whispered, "Are you hungry?"

Tom laughed again and said, "Yes! I'm starved for food and for you."

Two minutes later, Tom and Petra were out the door and on their way with Jenny and Jerry to dinner. Anyone watching the four would have been able at a glance to see that they were enjoying their affection for each other and were quite happy. By eight-thirty, both couples were back in their rooms. By midnight, all four were finally asleep.

Day two of the Trip ...

At breakfast the next morning, it was decided that since only short people could drive Petra's car, because of the blocks on the pedals, that Tom and Petra would stay in the Honda and Jerry and Jenny would herd the big truck to Santa Fe. Near the end of the meal, the women went off to the ladies room and Jerry and Tom had a chance to speak privately.

"Well, was last night great?"

"Great isn't a big enough word, my friend. I'm still not sure that I wasn't dreaming."

"Do us all a favor and stay on the road, my friend. I know we are going to be a bit distracted today."

"Look, it is a beautiful day, the road south from here is good and I don't see any reason to hurry. We have a good friend who lives just outside Raton. Last time I was there, he and his wife were fixing up the old bunk house on their place. Let me give them a call and see if we can stay there tonight. Then the next day it is about three hours to Santa Fe and a little after that, we're home."

"I like that idea. Go give him a call. I'll wait here for the ladies." 

Seconds later Jerry was outside the restaurant on the phone.

While he was gone the ladies returned. Tom explained where Jerry had gone and showed them the map, pointing out where Raton was located. Petra was concerned about imposing on Jerry's friends and barging in on them. Jenny thought it might be fun to see the area around Raton.

Jerry walked up to the table and said, "Our timing couldn't be better for them. They were planning a bar-b-que tonight for some of their friends who called about an hour ago to cancel. Now Alex and his wife have all the fixins for a great evening and no guests! I accepted their invitation on behalf of the four of us."




Petra the Small



"A bar-b-que!" Jenny exclaimed. "I love bar-b-que!" 

She jumped up and gave Jerry a hug and a kiss.

"Are you sure we aren't imposing?" 

Petra thought the story about their other guests canceling might be just that, a story.

"I'm sure. He invited us even before I had told him we were on a road trip. Relax Petra, this guy is family. You'll love his place and wait till you meet his wife. What a wonderful woman."

It seemed settled. They gathered all their maps and other carry-along stuff and went out to the truck and Honda. Jenny and Petra had spoken again about their car-to-truck signals and were ready to go when Tom said he had a present for them. He opened the trunk of the Honda and just inside was a bag with the logo of the Best Western on it. He handed the bag to Petra.

When she looked inside, she squealed in delight. She reached in and pulled out two portable two-way radios. Tom said, "This way you don't need signals. You can actually talk."

Both women hugged him. Another five minutes were spent getting batteries in the radios and testing them. Petra noticed that Tom thought ahead very well; he even bought two extra sets of batteries for each radio.

When the big truck pulled onto I-25 South, it was ten-sixteen in the morning. The Honda was right behind them. Jerry was driving the truck and Tom was driving the Honda. They were both wearing Levis and t-shirts with a long-sleeved shirt on just their left arms. Driving south all day would have had their left arm in the sun all day. Jenny was wearing blue shorts and a blue and white striped tank top. Petra had noticed at breakfast that she wasn't wearing a bra. The men had noticed before that.

When Petra and Jenny went to the restroom after breakfast, Petra asked Jenny about it.

Jenny smiled.

"I don't want anything to get in the way of Jerry being able to touch me. If I wouldn't get arrested, I wouldn't even wear the tank top."

"Sometimes you are so wicked!" Petra teased. 

On the way back to the table, Petra wondered if Tom wanted to touch her while they drove.

Petra sat in the passenger side of her Honda for the first time since the day her Dad had to drive it home from the dealership. She watched Tom drive. He had moved the seat back just a bit to compensate for being just a bit taller than Petra, and for the blocks on the pedals. Every so often, he would look over at her and smile. After they were clear of the city and the traffic had eased up quite a bit, he relaxed and took his right hand off the wheel and put it on Petra's left thigh. Since she was wearing a tube top beneath bib overall shorts, what he found was warm, smooth skin. She almost jumped when he put his hand on her leg. She would have jumped but she saw it coming and forced herself not to jump. She liked the feel of it.

Lost in her thoughts, Petra was surprised and did jump when the radio in her lap suddenly spoke.

"Should we do lunch in Colorado Springs or Pueblo?" Jenny's voice asked.

Petra pushed the "talk" button and said, "Give us a minute. We'll talk it over." 

Then she forgot to release the button and asked Tom, "Well?"

"I think I'd rather stop in Colorado Springs, then the space between lunch and dinner will be bigger and I'll be even hungrier."

"You're already hungry? Petra said. "We just finished breakfast."

"I'm hungry for you. A nibble here. A nibble there." 

They both laughed. Petra put the radio up near her mouth and said, "We vote for Colorado Springs." 

Then she released the button. She heard Jenny and Jerry laughing.

Jenny spoke thru her laughter, "Do you want us to stop at a restaurant or a motel?"

Tom and Petra both blushed realizing that their friends had heard every word. When they finally stopped laughing Tom took the radio and said, "A restaurant will do for now." 

He made a big deal of releasing the "talk" button. 

Petra started to apologize, "Tom, I'm really sorr..."

"Stop it. If you do something that gets someone injured physically, then apologize. If you start a war, apologize. If you are the cause of the government raising taxes, apologize. Other than that, don't apologize. I've been embarrassed before, and for much worse reasons. Don't apologize for having our friends, our family, know that we love each other. I have it in my head that up in the cab of the big truck just ahead there is a man fondling a woman as they both smile and drive down the road.

Petra smiled and again picked up the radio. "Jenny, can I check something out with you?" 

She released the button. Jenny's voice came back, "Sure. What is it?"

"Is Jerry fondling you as we drive down the road?" Click.

"Look out the window." Jenny answered, laughing.

Petra looked up and saw Jenny's arm out the passenger window waving her tank top. Petra started laughing. Tom asked what was so funny. Petra told him and they both laughed.

Less than a minute later Petra had a wild thought. Before she thought about it too much she acted on it. She unhooked the straps of the bib overalls and peeled the tube top up over her head and off. 

She held the radio up and said, "Can you see us in the mirror?"

She rolled the window down and stuck the tube top out the window. Two seconds later, a gust of wind took it from her hand.

Petra twisted around quick enough to see it float over the edge of the road and down into a canyon. The sounds of laughing came from the radio. Petra looked at Tom and asked, "What will I do? My clothes are in the truck."

Tom picked up the radio and spoke quietly, "We will now have a period of radio silence until the city limits of Colorado Springs." Click. 

He put the radio in a depression in the dash and reached over with his right hand until he found Petra's nipple. His hand covered her nipple and rubbed lightly across it. Petra looked around again to see if there were any cars or trucks nearby. There weren't. She started to pull the bib up and Tom stopped her with his hand, then put his hand on her other nipple. She moaned. She also looked down and saw that from the waist up to her chin the direct sunlight covered her. Tom stopped rubbing her with the palm of his hand and gently pinched her nipple between his thumb and first finger. Petra pushed against his fingers and let out a tiny moan. Tom kept his eyes on the road and saw a sign that said, "Colorado Springs 2 Miles." He pulled his hand away from Petra's chest.

She looked over at him and asked, "Is something wrong?" 

"Not wrong. Just urgent. I want you to steer the car." Petra took hold of the wheel and when she had control she said, "OK. I've got it." 

Tom fully released the wheel and took off the long sleeved shirt and then the t-shirt. He put the long sleeved shirt back on, giving the t-shirt to Petra. Then he took the wheel back from her. 

"We are less than two miles from the Colorado Springs city limits. Pull on my t-shirt and fix the straps on your bibs and no one except the two in front of us will ever know."

Petra pulled Tom's t-shirt on and noticed his smell on it. She also noticed that her nipples liked the feeling of his shirt rubbing gently across them. She fixed the straps on her bibs and tucked the shirt into the overalls. The shirt was big on her, but not too bad.

Tom looked over and smiled. Petra smiled back, climbed up on her knees and leaned over, kissing him on the neck. As she kissed him he noticed the sign saying, "City Limits Colorado Springs." The truck ahead signaled as the radio announced they were pulling off for lunch.

Petra sat back down and kept smiling as they followed the truck into a truck stop parking area. Tom parked the Honda right up close to the back of the truck, and then he and Petra got out. They joined Jenny and Jerry as they walked to the restaurant entrance. Jerry opened the door for everyone and as Petra passed him he said, "Nice shirt." Petra gently hit him on the shoulder.

Colorado Springs and south ...

After lunch, they filled both vehicles with fuel and got back on I-25 South. Petra asked Tom again about this group of friends that he had and that now she was welcomed into. She asked, "How did this group start?"

"It started when Jerry was writing some fiction a few years ago. He was creating a world in his book and it came to him that it didn't need to be like the world he was living in. So he created a world where people loved each other. He wrote for about a year about every aspect of their lives, how they worked together, played together, supported each other emotionally, physically, spiritually, and how their love expressed itself in the world around them. By the time he was finished writing the first draft of the book, he had started talking to the people he knew about his vision for that world. One night three years ago, I was invited to dinner at Harvey's place and met Jerry there. After a great dinner, we sat out in Harvey's backyard and talked, with Jerry doing the most talking. By midnight I was converted. What he was talking about was what had been missing from my life all my life."

"What happened next?"

"I went home and couldn't sleep. I thought all night about some of the things Jerry had said. They made sense but I didn't see how they could work."

"Things like what?"

"Well, Jerry said that in order to have this work for each of us we would each need to decide that life the way we held it didn't work."

"Life the way we held it?"

"We have expectations about the way life is supposed to be, and it isn't that way. Most everyone I know believes that love is something that happens to you. They believe that God or the tooth-fairy brings the perfect someone to you and lightning strikes so you'll know they are the one. If that belief worked, most of us wouldn't know anyone who had been thru a break-up or a divorce."

"So, if we hold a belief that doesn't work, we need to let that belief go?"

"Could someone believe that if you love me, you should know what I want without my telling you what I want?"

"I don't believe that."

"I didn't say you believed it. I asked if you thought anyone could believe that."

"Yes. I think my high school English teacher believed something like that."

"Is that a belief that would work for her?"

"No. No one is going to be able to read her mind."

"So what Jerry was saying is that for his world to exist, we would have to look at what we believe and toss everything that didn't work for us. I started looking at that."

"And what did you find?"

"That there are lots of beliefs that I had that just don't work. I believed that love was an accident. I believed that God would lead me to the right place to live, the right college to go to, and the right house to buy. After college I had three job offers and I believed that God would lead me to pick the right one. The job I took lasted six months. The owner stopped paying the employees after the fourth month, and he was arrested and the company died two months later. I believed that God would give me a sign about what I should do next. None of those beliefs worked for me."

"So you tossed out believing in God?" 

Petra wondered about who this man was. He no longer seemed to be the man she shared a bed with the night before.

"No. I believe in God. In fact I have a better relationship to God now than I ever had before. The God I know and love now is much simpler that the one I used to believe in. I could believe in a God that needed me to beg him for the things I need in my life or I could believe in a God that wants the best for everyone. Which one would you believe in?"

"If I could choose? I don't get a choice."

"Sure you do. You could be a Jew, a Methodist, a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Mormon, a Baptist, or a Catholic. Whichever one you pick, you are choosing to believe in the God they describe."

"And that has me so confused that I don't choose."

"It had me confused, too. So I met with Jerry a few more times and did lots of thinking about God and me. I even sat down over a month or two and read the Bible and other scriptures, too. I think I called Jerry almost every day during that period. He almost never answered my questions directly. He pointed me down different paths of thinking and had me explore what I thought, what worked for me."

"So, tell me about the God you believe in, please."

"OK. But I need you to understand that the way I will word it is what makes sense to me, what works for me. I'm sure that the family is willing to help you look at things yourself and to figure out what works for you."

"OK." 

Petra turned sideways in her seat, put a pillow behind her back, and watched Tom's face intently.

"For me, there are words that mean the same as the word God. Every time we see the word God written, it is capitalized. I think the words that mean the same as God would better remind us of that if they were capitalized as well. Those words are Life and Love. When I read the Bible, I discovered that anywhere it spoke of God, you could change that word to Life or Love and the meaning became clearer. In fact, it enabled me to see where men had mucked around in writing the books because there are places where it became obvious that God/Love/Life wasn't what was being talked about. In those spots, some person was using God to justify doing things that neither Life or Love would do." 

"OK. I'll stipulate that some of the Bible isn't about Love. Tell me more."

"Well, when I accepted that Life and Love are God, it enabled me to look at my relationship to God. I discovered that what I believe is that all of us are God. That is I believe that everything is alive and that everything is Love. That means that everything is God. Praying to God has us believe that God is somewhere else and we are calling on the prayer line. Believing that you are God has me treat you with Love and to honor you as someone who is divine. It also has me treat the environment carefully because everything is God. Everything is connected."

"Connected?"

"Yes. I've been reading lots of scientific stuff lately that says that research is showing that even tho it looks like you are over there and I am over here, science is able to show that the boundaries between us aren't there. The energy and the atoms that are you are in constant motion and interacting with my energy and my atoms; so much so that there really aren't any my atoms or your atoms. There are only atoms."

"So, you think God is Love and I am Love and I am God?"

"And Jenny is Love, and Jerry, and Mike and even the people I don't like."

"Well, if we are all connected and we are all Love, why do you want to be with me?"

"Have you ever been to Baskin-Robins?"

"Of course."

"They have lots of flavors, don't they?"

"Yes."

"Do you have a favorite?"

"Yes, chocolate fudge swirl."

"Are there other flavors you love as well?"

"Yes, but not as much as I love that one."

"I love you more than any other flavor on the planet. Not a little more, but more by an order of magnitude. I love you the most."

"How could you? We haven't known each other a month!"

"Where is it written that it takes a month, or six months, or even a year to be in love with someone?"

"I don't know."

"And if there is a book somewhere that says it takes five hundred hours of being together before you can be in love, would you believe the book?"

"No, I don't think so."

"I decided before your plane landed in New Mexico that I was in love with you. Meeting you was more about how to love you than about if."

"How can you decide you are in love with someone before you meet?"

"Have you ever met God, face to face, hung out together?"

"No, but that's different."

"Because you already have stuff made up about who God is, and how you can be in relationship with God. I can decide right now that when we meet Jerry's friends in Raton that I'm really going to like them. I can decide that I'm going to have them for my brother and my sister. I love them both, and I've never met them. Everyone at the party that was held at Jenny's place when you came to visit had already decided to love you and accept you into the family before your plane landed."

"They all treated me like I belonged. I really did feel welcome and not like a stranger."

"That was our intention. People who come and hang with us have one of two reactions to us. They discover they are part of our family or they get scared and run."

"How could someone run? I never felt as good around people as I felt that night."

"They could run because they realized at some level that in order to accept our love, they would need to give up their cherished beliefs about who they are and what they deserve."

"Oh." 

Petra looked out the window and saw nothing. She thought about this family. They passed a sign and Petra came back to present long enough to read "Raton, 3 miles". She picked up the radio and said, "I just saw a sign for Raton, three miles."

"We saw it, too. Thanks." Jenny said. 

A couple seconds later, Jerry's voice came over the radio. 

"When we get off, we will head west about four miles. I won't be going over forty." They followed Jerry off I-25 and into Raton.