Free Perfect Freedom by Gordon Merrick Page B

top of her. Robbie thought maybe they were going to wrestle but Michel began to pump his bare bottom up and down over her. It was ridiculous-looking. He would never want to be so silly. He was aware that the odd thing was happening to him again down there. It was amazing how big it could get and stand up by itself. The tingling sensation was very pleasant. You were apparently supposed to rub it when it got like that. He did so and had the spasm and it shrank back to normal again. It was better when Michel did it. They could do it together without the girl. It was having the girl with them that made it so bad. Boys could do things together but girls weren’t supposed to see them with no clothes on. She was a bad little girl.
    When Michel stood, she was still lying with her legs pressed together and her air of complacent expectancy. Robbie felt a little shiver of revulsion at the thought of touching her—what would she want of him?—but Michel didn’t insist on his lying on top of her.
    â€œÃ‡a va,” he said when Robbie told him he was too hot to stay in the dusty little room any longer. “Maintenant tu sais baiser.”
    His father’s explanation that the word was used in many ways should have cleared up his confusion but it hadn’t. Making love was something grown-ups did before they got married. His parents may have made love long ago before he was born but he was sure they’d never done the things he’d seen this afternoon. He couldn’t imagine either of them with their pipis sticking out. From now on he must try to avoid looking at his father when he was naked. His big body suggested mysteries he wasn’t ready to face. He should probably stop asking him so many questions, too. He was safer with his mother; she would never say anything that would remind him of the things he should feel ashamed or guilty about. He wanted to be as good as she thought he was. She could be very sharp to him when he wasn’t. But the image remained of plump legs pressed together and of a bare bottom pumping up and down above them. What had they been doing?
    After dinner, he didn’t mind being told that it was his bedtime. He wanted to go to his room and find out if he could make it big and hard by himself.…
    Having the money in the bank turned the property and M. Giraudon into an obsession for Stuart. He asked everybody at the Saturday evening gathering if they’d seen the old lunatic. He had mentioned to Odette that they were planning to settle here but now he told her about the deal in detail, including the disputed boundary. It was supposed to be bad luck to talk about something you wanted until you had it, yet there was nothing to be secretive about and he couldn’t resist describing the beauties of the place. Having it to talk about relieved some of the sexual tensions between them. It was difficult to suppress all trace of intimacy with a girl you’d had, but since Helene’s little outburst he’d been especially determined that his transgression should have no repercussions. The girl was obviously eager for further developments. Whether there would be any depended on chance and circumstances.
    She listened to him, enthralled. During the week she had gone to the Gypsy to have her fortune told and the old crone had seen a man in her future and a business transaction involving great property. Since Stuart was the only man she was ever likely to know who might have great property, she had asked if the man was her lover. The Gypsy had muttered and made strange signs over her palm and said that she saw a lover and a husband. She could tell her no more. Now Stuart was talking about vast property—two hundred hectares, even if some of it wouldn’t be his. She was sure that she was destined to play an important part in his life. She thought of her friend at the brothel. She often learned, things that nobody else knew.
    â€œI think I might be able to find