It was very uncomfortable sleeping on the sofa in the library, but Kay couldn't back down now. She had made a big issue of it, and for the past week and a half Jim had the bedroom to himself. Each day was more difficult than the last, and Kay hardly knew whether to cook dinner or not to cook dinner, for Jim's hours were so irregular. Sometimes she would decide not to make anything at all, and she would go to a movie; that would be the night her husband came straight home from the bank, hoping for a home cooked meal. What was difficult was that Kay had a very hard time looking at him… just looking at his face made her recall the night she had watched him through the window at 457 Turnabout Lane. Then she would start crying again, her tears uncontrollable as she fought back the urge to tell him that she knew everything, that indeed she had seen just about every horrid detail of his indiscretion.
When he came home late, she would get to wondering if he had been out with that girl again. She'd lie awake in the library, listening to the sound of his key in the lock, and then his footsteps as he went past her door into the bedroom that they used to share together. Some nights his steps were uneven and faltering, and Kay suspected that he'd been out drinking. On one such night he had stopped outside her door, and for a few moments her heart thudded in her chest at the thought that he might try to come in. She couldn't remember whether or not she had locked the door, and she held her breath until he finally moved on. She heaved a sigh of relief, but deep down inside something was disappointed. She tossed and turned on the lumpy studio couch. What if he had come in? What if he had tried to make love to her?
There was a strange longing for him in her loins that she could not really deny as she tried desperately to fall asleep. But she knew that her normal sexual desires were for Jim as the perfect lover… the man she'd thought she was getting before her marriage, and not the unfeeling beast she'd gotten! It was terrible to have such a thought… the feeling of still being in love with him, even though she knew that it was more than probable that their differences would never be straightened out now. Not after what he'd done! And yet she continued. Each day was a limbo during which she could visualize herself living alone one day, a sad and unhappy grass widow who would never marry again… never know the delights of a wonderful husband… never know the delight a wonderful romantic husband could offer.
It looked as though there would be no change at all, but then one afternoon Kay was preparing a special dinner – hoping Jim would come home and would perhaps discuss their differences – when the phone rang. Wiping her hands on her apron, she picked up the wall receiver that hung in the dining nook.
"Hi there… it's Jane. How are you, hon?"
Kay felt her whole body stiffening. She had not heard from either her brother or sister-in-law since the day she had mistakenly run to Jane for advice. The anger and embarrassment she had felt when she'd stumbled upon them in the kitchen still consumed her, especially at night before she went to sleep… when she would think back on the good times she and her brother had had as children, and contrast it with the odd way she felt toward him now that she had witnessed such an intimate act between him and his wife. She held it against both of them, but especially against Jane.
"Y… yes… Oh, I'm fine!" she replied, trying to hide the resentment in her voice.
"Listen, sweetie, I've been thinking about your problem, you know?"
"Listen Jane… believe me, I can make out OK without any…"
"No… you've got to hear me out. Trust me… I know just how to make that man of yours come to his senses. And it will only take a few short hours! Now, are you interested?"
Kay's hopes rose. Perhaps there was some salvation after all, and crude and awful as she was, her brother's wife might have the answer! In spite of a warning voice that cautioned her, she let her voice betray her hope.
When Jane heard this, she knew she would be able to persuade Kay to go to the party with her. It had been a wild idea, but it looked like it was going to work! Ed certainly couldn't object to her going out with his sister, and before the night was through she would have what she wanted… a little fun in a few other guys' arms, and Kay might just have what she wanted. Quickly she detailed her plan, not mentioning that it was going to be an out and out orgy. She emphasized that Jim would be there, as would some of Granger's better known citizens.
"I'm sure that Jim's going to be there," Jane continued hurriedly, "… and probably with that same chick, too, no doubt… the one you saw him with the last time. Now if you appear there, and Jim sees you, he'll think someone else invited you… and he will get so jealous and ashamed of himself that you two have just got to make up!"
"But what kind of a party is it, Jane… are you sure it's not one of those orgies!"
"Well, yeah…" Jane said, thinking fast, "A few people might disappear into a bedroom for a little fast loving before the night is out, but you and Jim will be walking out of there before that happens… walking out of there arm in arm… or at least you'll make up by the time you get home!"
"Well… I just don't know… Jane, I don't think I could face meeting those terrible people, and then seeing Jim… and that girl!!!"
"Do you want him back or not? You're not a little girl any more, honey… you've got to fight like a woman… otherwise… curtains!"
Kay felt a twitch in her face as Jane spit out her words, and as much as she was against the whole idea, she knew that she would do it. She had absolutely no idea what else to do about the mess her life was in.
She would be fighting "fire with fire". It was an expression her mother, when she was still alive, liked to use, and now, for the first time in her life, Kay was going to take her mother's advice. She hung up the phone and realized she was shivering with the thought about what she had agreed to, but as she roamed the empty, sterile house she felt that she had to take some positive step to end the limbo her life had become. It didn't even look as though she and Jim lived in the house… it looked like one of those model homes set up for a hypothetical family… and at the moment, that was exactly what Kay had, and she decided that even complete failure… divorce and shame were better than what she was going through at the moment.
As usual, she heard nothing from Jim about his plans for that evening. She didn't doubt for a moment that he would be going to that address again. He had probably been going there steadily since that first night she had spied on him. The thought sent the usual twisting knife through her insides, and she desperately tried to calm herself as she dumped the beginnings of a very special meal down the garbage disposal. She watched, almost mesmerized, as it was sucked down the drain and shredded by a hundred whirling little knife blades. When it was all gone and the roaring sound had subsided to a shrill whine, the young wife nodded vigorously and then, tight-lipped, raced upstairs, her small feet padding soundlessly on the carpeted stairs. She would have a lot to do before she was ready to attend that party of Turnabout Lane. It involved turning herself into a completely different person… a woman who was strong enough to face her husband and his teen-aged mistress, as well as the other loose moraled people he consorted with. There was also hopefully, the strong possibility that she would come in contact with the person who had been so hateful as to send her that anonymous letter.
She lay energetically filing her nails, across the big, double bed that was now occupied by her husband on the nights when he returned home. The room itself was a mess since Kay had not entered it since Jim's departure for the bank that morning. But somehow she cherished the disorder of the room as some sign of life in the house.
"Tonight," she thought, "I'll be another woman… A woman who can take Jim away from that girl!" Her fists clenched tightly in determination, she dug her fingernails so hard into her palms that she almost drew blood.
Jane hung up the phone, and then jumped up and did a little dance around the room. She laughed and held onto her bouncing breasts to keep their weight from hurting as she swung around. Her halter top and tight pants looked as though they might give way at any moment under the stress of her motions, but they held until at last she sat back down again on the comfortable lounge chair. Out of breath, she reached forward and flicked on the color TV. There was a program coming on shortly: "The Doctors"… it was a soap opera that took place in a hospital, and she never missed a single day if possible. She found it was easy to do just about anything else she wanted to and still watch the program for the plot developed so slowly that it was almost impossible to miss an important moment. Now as the familiar faces of the actors appeared on the large screen, she thought once again about the party that night. Her husband, Ed, jealous as he was, would never question her if she was going out with his sister. That had been the main reason for setting it all up with Kay, her motivation being to have a good time for herself. It also pleased her that she was going to get her prissy sister-in-law to attend an out and out orgy. She doubted if Kay had any real idea of what could happen before Jim showed up… if he did show up!
Jane had gone to a lot of trouble to find out about the party… one of a series on Turnabout Lane. She had been forced to contact an old lover, an insurance broker who was always up on such things in and around Granger. Then she had to practically blackmail him into revealing the information to her. She found out that he had seen Jim at the last two parties, and that the handsome young banker was almost certain to attend the next one with his new girl-friend, l7 year-old Ginnie Reordon. The pair had been going at it hot and heavy for the past two weeks, and her broker friend doubted if the romance would have cooled off just yet, judging from the things he had seen.
Jane smiled to herself and let her hand drop casually between her spread legs, feeling the tight material of her pants stretched taut over her pronounced pubic mound. She felt a familiar sensation of longing down there up between her full, tightly encased thighs, and she was glad that she was going to get a little action that night. She knew it would have to last her for a while, since heaven knew when she would manage to get away from her husband's eagle eye again.
She decided to call Kay back and suggest that her young sister-in-law come to meet her at the house. That way they could leave together, supposedly for the movies, and good old Ed would never be the wiser!
Ed Anderson cautiously closed the door behind the two women, and continued to peer out from behind the curtain watching them walk down the driveway toward the rebuilt VW that Jane drove. He had worked hard on that little car for her, but every time she drove away in it, he had that awful feeling that she was going to meet somebody in it. He watched his wife getting into the driver's side and then his sister Kay got in the other side. There was something very strange about the whole thing! Jane was dressed casually in a sweater and skirt… but his blonde sister, Kay, was wearing a cocktail dress, and a very revealing one at that… the sexy kind of a thing that he had never seen her wear before, he'd noticed too, that she had hardly met his eye during the five or ten minutes that she had been in the house. He was really certain now that his sister had seen Jane sucking him off in the kitchen that night, although his wife had assured him that it was impossible, telling him that Kay had called later to say that she had left in a hurry because something was in the oven and she feared the house would catch on fire.
Just as the little VW sped away, Ed abruptly recalled that his sister had the automatic kind of oven that would turn itself off if ever anything like that had happened. When he'd first heard his wife's excuse for Kay's hasty departure, he had been glad to believe that his sensitive younger sister hadn't seen him indulging in something he knew she probably would consider a lewd act. "Well… maybe it is lewd," he thought, "but when your wife does it to you it's OK!"
Still, though, it really didn't explain why Kay could not even look at him. Christ! She'd looked as if she had done something – not him! And then there was the fact that Jane and Kay were going out to that movie… the one in Havers Falls… something called "A Woman's Story"… the sexy kind of thing that Jane might be interested in… but Ed hardly thought his sister would enjoy a Swedish movie about a bunch of horny broads. And, finally, the two women had never been friendly before, and Ed could understand why, what with Kay being so sophisticated and all, married to a banker, and Jane being… well, down to earth. Why were they suddenly so buddy, buddy? Goddammit! They were up to something!
Before he had even finished formulating these thoughts, Ed was running out the back door. His beat up Chevy was waiting in the drive, and Ed knew that if he hurried he would find them… not in Havers Falls, but right here in Granger. He had an image of Kay in that cocktail dress, her smooth, white breasts hanging out so far that Ed thought they might fall out if she bent over too far. He couldn't remember ever having seen his sister's breasts… unless it was that one time when they were kids… when he had surprised her in the shower. He'd done it on purpose really, but even at the time he hadn't admitted it to himself. He could still remember the shocked expression on Kay's face. She had been about 14 with perfectly formed little breasts… and the golden triangle of her pussy had been lightly covered with a silken down. Ed remembered his eyes locking with his sister's and each reading shock… and some other mysterious thing… in the depths of their dilated pupils.
The car started right away and the snow tires crunched upon the ice in the driveway.
"Christ!" Ed intoned out loud. "I know that I can't trust Jane as far as I can throw a stick… but my baby sister, Kay? What in the hell are they up to?" He raced to the corner just in time to see the red VW turning right at the next corner, and since Ed knew that definitely was not the road to Havers Falls, he speeded up considerably, at the same time being careful to keep his distance… so that his wife and sister would not see him!