Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 08:44:45 +0200 From: Amy Redek Subject: Cronos. Part Twelve. This story is for persons of eighteen years or over. All comments, good or bad, are welcome and all will be answered. Part Twelve At breakfast next morning they began to discuss about transferring to the ranch. This brought up the problem of the Overlander. `We just can't abandon it. The camp stuff we can, but it would look suspicious if we left without the car,' Brendan said. `Sell it in La Copelina,' Audrey said. `Hah! Who's got enough money there to buy it. No, we'd have to take it to Bahia Blanca and even there we wouldn't get a good price for it,' Brendan said. `Well ship it home by air freight or whatever. We can then travel home in the sphere with whatever we can carry.' `We wouldn't have our exit stamped in our passports if we did that,' he replied. `Who cares! We can go wherever we want. We don't need visas or entry stamps.' `Audrey. It could cause us problems later and things could get out of hand. No, we've got to work out a way of getting our passports stamped to show as us leaving the country.' This gave them some thought to mull over as she saw to transferring what she wanted from the camp to the ship. `How about this,' Brendan said as they were having a coffee break. `We get our jet to come down to Bahia Blanca to pick us up. Now it's an airport on the lowest rung of the ladder as far as airports go. We land our ship inside the airport perimeter and get ourselves inside the terminal and present our passports to leave, get them stamped and then make our way to the ship. Here we phone the plane and tell him that we've changed our mind. He can then fly off and we'll be free to leave in the sphere.' `Oh great, yes. We just park up and stroll in without anyone seeing us,' Audrey laughed. `With our helmets on?' `Oh, yes, I see what you mean. Yes,' she said becoming more enthused now. `We can suss out a way into the terminal and then we can get back out the same way! Yes, it would work. What a clever husband I've got,' she said, leaning over the table to plant a kiss on his nose. For the sake of having nothing better to do, they took the trip to Bahia Blanca's airport and found where it would land within the perimeter and, with their helmets on with the visors up, roamed about to see the way the ground staff worked and more importantly, how to get into and out of the main terminal. It was agreed that he would drive the car and Audrey would find him when he stopped for the day on the route to Bahia Blanca. He would drive for twelve hours and then stop, a distance of roughly two hundred miles. The terrain was difficult and would take all of these hours. So next morning, they held each other tight as they kissed goodbye and he quickly got into the car and drove off. Audrey couldn't help but cry after the dust disappeared and sat down on the bed that she had come to love and be loved on to sob at this first parting. But the tears dried up when she became practical and told herself that it was only for ten hours and so dragged the bed out from the mess tent to spend the day sun bathing. In a way she wanted to be riding with him but knew that she would see him later and so lay back and enjoyed the sunshine. The sun was on the wane when she roused herself and made a pot roast that was ready when the sun went down and with care, she held it as it was still hot when she put her helmet on and went to the ship and once inside, was able to put it down to shift the ship to the expected grid they thought he would be at. They had calculated it well for she saw a fire about a quarter of a mile away. She'd already carried the pot of food out before lifting her visor, and so she walked towards the fire he had lit to guide her. She took her helmet off well before she reached where he had stopped so as not to startle him. `A sight for sore eyes,' he said standing up at hearing her approach and seeing her come into the light given off by the fire. She went into his arms for a kiss, being careful of the pot she was still holding. `As much as I love you,' he said letting her go, `that smells delicious and I'm ravenous.' She laughed and he quickly got two plates and forks out of the car and they sat and had dinner. She let him eat most of it for she could always get something next morning whereas he would be driving again. The pup tent was up and so she crawled into with him after he had eaten and found it rather cramped for two. Arms and elbows kept getting in the way as they tried to take what little clothes they were wearing and she had to laugh and stop them both trying to undress at the same time. She took her shirt off first and revealed her breasts for she'd given up wearing a bra in the heat. Brendan began to stroke them and got his hand slapped by her as she smiled, undoing the buttons of his shirt and helping him off with it. She felt silly sitting down in that small tent as she had to wriggle her bum about to get her shorts off as there wasn't enough room to stand. With the confined space, it was a problem to try and get them over her boots and so Brendan had to help her here. There was a fine sheen of sweat between her breasts and Brendan ran his fingertips across them and then sucked on his fingers. She smiled and tried to get his shorts off but couldn't and so took his boots off instead as he contorted himself to get them off himself. Twisting round and getting up onto his knees to pull down his shorts and as he moved forward, his bare bum was too much of a temptation to Audrey. She reached out and poked her finger between the cheeks of his bare arse and made him jump forward and fall on his face with a cry. Audrey laughed and saw his red face as he turned round to see her breasts bobbing up and down as she laughed and he couldn't help but laugh with her as he finally pulled them free from his ankles. Naked as she was, he moved towards her and pressed her down onto her back and covered her with his body and felt her legs open for him. She was hot, wet and ready for him and sucked him in until their stomachs came together and began to move her hips and made him gurgle. `Riding in me is much better than riding in the car, isn't it my sweet?' she asked with a smile and shining eyes, her body moving in time to his. `A ride that should go on forever,' he said, grunting for his cock was near to bursting and he began to move faster until with a big shudder, he came in short sharp stabs as Audrey held him tight. She had her orgasm the second time round. * There was still some of the roast left in the pot for him to eat cold in the morning as a breakfast and it wasn't long before they were saying goodbye again. He reached Bahia Blanca on the afternoon of the third day after very hard driving and that night, they slept in an hotel together. They were at the airport early the next morning where he first put in a call for the family jet to come and pick them up and was told that it would arrive at about six that evening which suited them admirably. The next job was to arrange for the car to be shipped to Dallas on the first available freight plane, which would not be for several days which he said would be no problem. He paid for this with his credit card and then they got a taxi back to town. `So far so good,' he said as they had a big lunch having missed breakfast. `Now we just have to wait till the plane lands before we make our move,' Brendan said. They rehearsed what they were going to do when the time came and discussed and thought through all the mishaps that might occur. When they ran out of ideas, they went to a cinema and sat through Star Wars but because it had been dubbed into Spanish, Audrey couldn't follow one word of it and so fell asleep. Brendan woke her up when it had ended and they went outside into the early evening. `Bit farfetched,' she said with a yawn when they were walking back to where the ship was parked. Brendan chuckled but didn't say anything as they found a quiet spot to put on their helmets to disappear and with the visors going down, went and found their own star wars craft to whisk them into the airport confines. Being such a small airport, they had found it easy to gain access and by waiting until somebody went into the toilets, were able to follow through and when left alone, take off their helmets to meet up again a few minutes later. Having ascertained that their plane was on the tarmac, they went through passport control and had theirs stamped as leaving the country and then had a sticky moment at the electronic booth they had to pass through. They went through alright but it was the helmets that went onto the small conveyor belt to be scanned. They themselves were on the other side and saw the x-ray machine that just showed the two helmets as solid objects. These were then handled, the two men with puzzled looks on their faces as they looked inside and asked Brendan about them. He just shrugged his shoulders and said in Spanish that they were just crash helmets for motor cycles, made in the U.S.A. which with another shrug of their shoulders, passed them over. So they were now into the departure area and declined the help of a hostess to show them to the aircraft saying that they would go when they were ready. It was hard for them to get lost in a crowd for there weren't that many people there in the terminal, but they managed to slip away and put their helmets on and become invisible to the present persons about. It was then just a matter of waiting until the right doors were opened by someone for them to slip through, actually moving through that person who had the door open at the time. Once they got outside it was just a matter of dropping their visors to find the ship and make their way towards it. Even so, Brendan crouched down to take his helmet off and use his mobile phone and eventually got patched through to the pilot of their private plane to say that they had changed their mind about leaving at that time, so he could leave whenever he wanted and apologised for putting him to the inconvenience of coming all that way for nothing. `Now what do we do?' Audrey asked Brendan when he had put his helmet back on and was visible to her. `We spend the night in an hotel in Dallas. We can't very well turn up at the ranch before the plane itself gets back there now can we?' `Okay, Dallas here we come,' she said as she dropped her visor and led the way to the waiting craft to whisk them off on a quicker journey than the plane that had come to collect them. That plane was still in sight of Bahia Blanca's airport when they took off their helmets in downtown Dallas where they had landed ten seconds later from taking off themselves. Brendan hailed a taxi and so they booked in to one of the best hotels and had a lovely room service meal delivered up to their suite after they'd had the luxury of a hot bath each. They had booked in without luggage but as his name was known to them, nothing was said or any thought given to this fact. Breakfast was had in their room and they left just before midday, the usual time for turfing people out without charging them for another days stay. But just before leaving, he phoned the ranch, the call being picked up by Sarah, and he said that they had just landed and would be up to the ranch within a couple of hours. It was short notice he explained to Audrey, but knew that Sarah would be on the ball and have everything ready for them. Their next stop was to hire a car with driver to be taken to the ranch for there was no need to rent one when there was a car already there in the garage at the ranch. They had no compunction at leaving the ship where it was for the time being for it would be better for them to arrive at the ranch the way they had planned. It could be collected at any time and then parked up where they had landed the first time of their clandestine visit. They sat back for the hour and a half journey, Brendan pointing out points of interest that had no meaning for her being unaware of the history of Dallas except from the cowboy films and the fact that it was in this very city that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. They were soon out on the highway and it was just rolling fields and woods that could be seen and she became excited after the car had turned off onto a small road that then petered out to be the drive up to the ranch. The first thing that caught her eye were the oil pumps, the nodding massive pieces of iron that were moved by big iron rods that made them move up and down as they brought the oil to the surface where it was fed into pipes that disappeared under the ground to wherever the oil was being collected. Audrey counted eight of them before she asked exactly how many of them were on the property. `Twenty, or twenty one, I'm not quite sure, but it's what gives us the means to live as we wish,' he said. `At least they're out of sight of the ranch which is a good thing. Look, there's Thomas giving one of the horses a run.' Which he was indeed, crouched low over the horse's neck as it galloped across the field ahead of them. `Well tell Sam that I don't want to start on that one,' Audrey said, and that was all she could say for the ranch came into view and the sight of it from this different angle took her breath away. `It looks even better than it did a few days ago,' she said as the car drew up on the drive in front of the house. Audrey recognised Sam and the woman beside him must have been Sarah and the other man just had to be her husband Ruben for Thomas was out riding a horse. There were cries of greeting as Brendan got out of the car and then an intake of collective breaths. `Oh Lordy Lordy, it's Miz Fowler herself,' said Sarah, crossing herself, her black face showing a massive smile and pearl white teeth as she lifted her arms up to the heavens. Sam and Ruben too had big wide smiles on their faces to see Brendan's wife come visit them. `Welcome to Fowler's Reach Miz Fowler,' Sam said coming forward smiling and holding out his hand. This Audrey shook. `Doesn't she look a picture Sarah?' `Better than de wedding photos fer sure,' Sarah said coming up to shake her hand and to then clasp her to her big bosom. `My, our Mistah Brendan has sure got hisself a fine filly.' `Wedding photos?' Audrey couldn't help asking. `We haven't seen them ourselves yet,' she laughed, being released from the hug from Sarah. `Well get yourself into the house and I'll find what ones dey sent down to us. Ruben! See to de bags!' Sarah commanded as she led them into the house. Ruben standing there looking bewildered when the car driver shook his head about the lack of baggage. Audrey knew she was at home as soon as she went through the front door that opened directly into the main room of the house. It was low ceilinged and stretched from one side to the other. A massive brick and stone fireplace was opposite the door with three massive great leather couches, one in front and one either side. The wood floor was covered in rugs, the designs of the like she'd never seen before which she found out later were Navajo. A great big pair of cow horns were mounted above the fireplace and down each side were what she believed were Indian artefacts. There were solid dressers either side of the door, dark and smoky and the tops that she could see, glistened with many years patina of wax being applied to them. Many pictures in frames were artfully arranged on the tops. But one stood out proud and in the centre and it was of her and Brendan just after they had kissed and turned away from the priest that had married them. The smiles on both their faces showed just how happy they felt. `Oh Brendan, just look at this,' she sighed. He came over and put his arm round her shoulder as he looked at the picture. `Hm, handsome fella there,' he gave her shoulder a squeeze. `Wonder who the woman is?' `You beast,' she said with a smile, punching him lightly on the chest. `The happiest day of my life,' she said as she sighed again. `Mine too darling,' he said giving her another squeeze. `I hope the rest of the photos have come out as nice as this one,' Audrey said, resting her head on his shoulder. `Where's de bags Ruben?' they heard Sarah ask her husband. `Ain't none,' he replied. `That's alright Sarah,' Brendan said turning round. `They are following on later.' `Well I've aired out de master bedroom and put fresh linen on de bed.' `Thank you Sarah,' Brendan said. `Come Audrey and I'll show you our bedroom. Ruben, can you fix a fire for us.' `Yassir,' he said as Brendan took Audrey's hand and led her off to the left of the fireplace into an inside corridor and he stopped at the first door on the left and opened it for her. `Good Lord!' Audrey exclaimed when she saw the size of the bed. `It's huge!' `Everything's big in Texas,' he laughed, for it was nearly eight foot across and at least ten long. A dark massive solid headboard and an equally heavy scrolled tailend. Big embroided pillows and a thick patchwork quilt covered it. `We'd get lost in that,' she said. `All the better for a game of hide `n' seek,' he laughed. The room itself was big so the bed didn't overpower the senses. Chintz curtains were up at the two windows on either side of big French windows that had matching curtains that came to the floor. Two huge wardrobes filled the left hand wall opposite the bed and to the right against the corridor wall and opposite the windows was a big dressing table with a chintz covered stool in front of it. Mounted on top was a long oval mirror with two wall lamps at either end. The floor was as the lounge, highly polished wood with thick heavy rugs covering most of the free area. `I simply love it,' Audrey said turning to Brendan and kissing him, `and this bed is wonderful,' running her hand down the smooth tail end. `It looks very old, is it?' `Hand carved out of solid wood by my Great Grandfather,' he said with a touch of pride, `as much as quite a lot of the furniture, except for the leather couches in the lounge, they're fairly new.' `New?' `Well they're not quite eighty years old yet,' he laughed, `but you'll never find any as comfortable as them. I've quite often fallen asleep on them and been reluctant to get off to go to bed.' `I take it that leads to the bathroom?' she asked indicating a doorway between the left hand side bed cabinet and the wall with the windows. `Yes. All mod cons here,' he replied. `So I've got to go the long way round or climb across you,' she smiled. `Yes, he grinned, `for if I had to climb over you I would never get to it.' She laughed and went and inspected the big bathroom which was half the length of the bedroom and half as wide again. The bath was big enough for two people whereas the shower could have held four at a pinch. Toilet, bidet and two wash basins with mirrors and lights. Thick carpet on the floor and the walls tiled except for a large space directly opposite the shower which was a full length mirror. `This is bigger than my old sitting room back in England,' Audrey said. `Come on and see the rest of the house, a bathroom is after all only a bathroom. `But what a room,' she whispered to herself as she followed her husband out back through the bedroom and out into the lounge and round to the other side where, instead of a corridor. There was an open arch that led into what was obviously the dining room for there was a long table that easily could sit twelve. Solid wood and highly polished as the rest of the house furniture. Big heavy sideboards on either side, high with glass fronted windows protecting different arrays of china and glasses. At the far end was a low sideboard that held cutlery, condiments and a variety of different sized plates. `This way,' he said, ignoring the dining room altogether and went through a swing door. Not the bat wing door like those to a saloon that is always depicted in westerns. This was a double hinged type that could be pushed open from either side, handy when you're hands are full with plates or whatever. The kitchen itself was as big as the bedroom, a big range on the far wall surrounded by more pans than she could count in one glance. To her right beneath a large window were two big stainless steel sinks with plenty of draining space on either side. To the left was one of the biggest fridge freezers she'd ever seen. Two big doors and it even had an ice cube machine in one door. The centre of the kitchen was taken up by a large well scrubbed wooden preparation table and a massive chopping block at one end. Sarah had pots on the range and was busy chopping up vegetables on the wooden block. `Sarah here runs the kitchen,' Brendan said. `That's right Miz Audrey. Yous the lady of de house, I's the mistress of de kitchen,' she said, her knife up in the air. Though she had a big smile on her face, it was clear to Audrey that Sarah was saying exactly that and would brook no interference in what was her domain. `And long may you be so Sarah,' Audrey responded with just as nice a smile, `as long as Mistah Brendan is fed well on his chittlin `n' greens.' The last was said in the best she could in a Southern States accent. `Ho you gotten yourself a fine feisty filly there Massa Brendan, dat's for sure,' Sarah laughed, but it put both of the two women in their places in the tacit unspoken agreement that Sarah was boss of the kitchen while Audrey was boss of the rest of the house. Brendan and Audrey went through the kitchen door into the yard, leaving Sarah cooking the dinner, and went across to the stables. Three horses were impatiently stamping their hoofed feet knowing it was close to their feeding time. Thomas was currying the horse he had been riding when they arrived and Sam was in the process of checking one of its hooves. `Hello Thomas, what's this one's name for I don't recognize her?' Brendan asked. `Vixen Mistah Brendan,' he replied. `Of course,' he laughed. `I should have guessed. For there's Comet, Blitzen and Dancer.' `Santa Claus' reindeer!' exclaimed Audrey, clapping her hands. `How wonderful. Where's Donner and Prancer?' `I'm afraid they've gone Miz Audrey,' Sam said. `Tell me,' she said to him, `what the names of the horses that you had when Brendan began to ride. Which was his favourite?' Sam looked at Brendan before he answered the question. `Nana,' he said. `That was the first one he learned on. Then he rode Pan and...' `Don't tell me,' she squealed. `Peter and Wendy!' Both of them roared out with laughter at her guessing the other two horse's names. `So which horse are you going to teach our Miz Audrey to ride Sam? She tells me she's only ever walked a horse before and I said to be a true Texan, she's got to be able to ride.' `Tha's right, and de best one for dat is Dancer! Nice an' quiet.' And so it was settled that that was the horse she was going to learn to ride, starting the very next day. They went back into the house where the dining table had been laid and after having a wash, sat down to a ranch style dinner that floored Audrey, it being so much that she had to apologise to Sarah that, as wonderful the dinner was, it was just far too much for her to eat. Sarah went off muttering under her breath, the odd words of skin and bone, needs fattening up were the only words they caught. `Don't let her bother you,' Brendan laughed. `What we don't eat, they will. She's always over cooked, ever since I've known her. Don't take it to heart for I've always been skin and bones to her. God help the horse if I was to get to her size!' Which made Audrey laugh and so came to accept the huge meals that were produced and the mutterings afterwards of Sarah feeding sparrows. *