A World without Men

The hammering had stopped. I looked to the roof and saw that its repair was underway. A workman with a complexion of polished black cherry was squatting on the incline, shirtless and beaded with sweat. He pointed to the Sisters with his hammer.

"That is a great tragedy, Mz."

"It's breaking my heart."

A metal pendant, dangling from his neck, flashed with sunlight.

"You know, they are not yet deceased. Do you speak to them, Mz?"

"Yes, I do. I love them."

Reva shaded her eyes, looking up, and said, "Hello. When did you arrive?"

"With the storm, Mz." He pointed to the object in her hands and said, "You have discovered treasure."

"We don't know what it is yet," Reva said, "treasure or junk, only that it's kind of artful, cast metal."

"How does the roof look?" I said.

"Manageable, Mz."

"I didn't expect Bill to send anyone."

"Who, Mz?"

"Bill Shirley."

"Ahhh. Mr. Shirley attends other work."

"It's still full of sand," Reva said." "I made a wish on it."

"And what was your wish?"

"To meet the genie."

"Well. And you, Mz?

"I haven't made it yet. I wish the Sisters could be saved."

"The Sisters?"

"The trees."

"And nothing for yourself?"

"The wish is for me."

He stood up. Barefoot, rolled cuffs, shirtless, he could've been a sailor from the days of frigates and clippers. "I will finish half by nightfall," he said, indicating the span of the roof, "but have it all watertight. Tomorrow, the other half."

"Good," I said. "Can I get you anything?"

"Thank you, Mz, I am fine."

Reva said, "When you get a chance, do you think you could help us get the lid off this?"

With a nod of his head and a roll of his hand, he invited her to set it on the ground.

/ / /

The moment we were inside, Reva grabbed me like a schoolgirl and said, "Where on Earth did Bill find him?"

"Bill said 'No way.'"

"What a specimen. And the accent!"

A few moments later, I heard a dull knocking from outside, a metallic tapping.

Reva went on. From the yard came ting ting ting.

"The minute he finishes your roof, he comes to my place," she said.

There were footsteps on the porch and we turned to see our sailor workman standing outside the screen door. He was holding our beach find.

Reva slipped ahead and pushed the door open. "How did you get down so fast like that?" she said. "Did you jump?"

He smiled. "I fly, Mz."

I followed Reva outside.

Up close, he was flawless of skin, stunning in his restrained vitality. Polite, without being deferential. Instantly trustworthy. The anomaly was the pendant, a suggestive, unidentifiable shape of polished silver. It kept drawing my eye.

"You got the top off?" Reva said.

He flashed a smile of perfect white pearls, then lifted the lid and showed us he had cleared it of sand. "It is bronze, I am sure. Very fine. There is residue."

"I'll rinse it all out," Reva said, extending her hands. I looked up from the pendant.

"A precious find, Mz."

"I'm sorry," I said. "We've been so rude."

I introduced Reva and myself and asked his name.

"Adè, Mz. I am Adè." He beamed. "At your service."

\ \ \

He took his leave to return to the roof.

Reva went into a second swoon. In the kitchen, she said, "My god, he's fucking gorgeous."

"Do you mind sandwiches?"

"That's perfect."

I said, "Did you get a look at his necklace, that shape?"

"Nooo. My gaze was lower. Did you see the sock on him?"

"He was barefoot."

"My god, it's like . . ." Her hands, spread before her hips, suggested an orb the size of a basketball. "Those pants were loose and you could still see it."

"Reva," I said, "really? Where does this horniness come from?"

"It's not horniness. Macy, everything is hypercharged for me right now. I'm alive." She smiled and said, "It's not horniness, it's lust."

"We're just another storm away from life changing catastrophe. How can sex be that important to you?"

"It isn't lust," she said. "It's life. It's love."

/ / /

The wind picked up. The sky grew cloudy and gray, ruining the twilight. Reva didn't get to parade in her thong, but she spoke with Adè briefly as he prepared to leave. I stepped out on the porch and said, "Thank you for all you've done today."

"High winds tonight, Mz. Not to fear," he said, flicking a finger toward the roof, "all secure."

"We're making sandwiches ..."

"Goodnight, Mz. Tomorrow, I finish." He turned the corner, gone until tomorrow's daylight.

Reva came up the steps with a sigh. The rinsed pot had left a snaking wet-trail.

"Is it real?" I said.

"The lamp or his - Whoa, I'm literally weak in the knees." On her way in, she kissed me on the bare shoulder and said, "Now I'm gonna see how much I can clean the outside of this thing."

I stayed on the porch to watch the night come under thickening clouds. Her kiss on bare skin had made my lips tingle.

I watched the barometer drop. There were windows to close. In the deepening dark, the Sisters became a lumpen shadow on the promontory. The rising wind hissed through their branches. One undulating shape, the fur of a dying beast stirred by the air.

\ \ \

We battened the windows, lit candles and lanterns. I finished making our sandwiches, while Reva spread paper on the table and began to scrape the crusted surface of the lamp. I gave her a broken wood spoon and an old toothbrush as tools. She wanted to split a beer.

"It's all lukewarm."

"Pretend it's stout."

We ate and she worked on the lamp some more while I cleaned up. The beer proved a mistake. I felt sleepy and fatigued. A sense of despondency began to creep in. Reva saw me listening to the wind.

"It's done its worst, don't you think? Go, freshen up," she said. "Take your time. I'll make tea and build a fire."

I went upstairs to sponge off. While I was in the tub, the wind whistled and spoke inches above me. In gusts it flapped and snapped the plastic sheeting Adè had secured on the roof. It drove the chimes in front of the house insane.

Once bathed and combed, I dressed in a cotton nightgown and went downstairs to find that Reva had arranged a lush pallet in front of the fireplace. She had changed into pajamas, steeped tea and started the fire.

"Do you believe in magic?" Reva asked.

"I like the song." A dozy feeling had returned, a combination of relaxation and a residual effect of the beer.

She reached for a little bottle that had been warmed near the flames.

"I thought I'd give you a present for taking me in."

She squirted warm oil into her hands and rubbed her palms together.

"Massage?" I said.

"I'm pretty good, babe."

"We should've camped over sooner."

She shifted behind me.

"Shoulders?" I said.

"Whatever you'd like."

"How about I lay down?"

"Good idea."

I put my tea aside and pulled the nightgown over my head, then lay tummy down in my skivvies, crossing my arms for a headrest. Reva placed one warm hand on my shoulder and the other on my hip, then rocked me in my sleepiness, side to side, rocked me in my sleeping, gently rocking me.

/ / /

I fell asleep and dreamed instantly, a tactile and erotic dream. The skin of my belly and hips glowed from within, like a paper shade lit by a candle. The heat of the flame made me want to finger myself, but I was afraid the added heat would set the paper on fire. Waves of warm air rose, lifting me from the floor. Then, from high above scintillating water, I saw the flotsam-crammed landing and the masted schooner, resting at a list beneath the surface. As I drifted above the masts, looking down on a school of fish that flicked back and forth across the deck, the ship began to straighten and rise. Water poured through the side rails and stranded fish flapped on the wet planks. Something caught me like a saddle from below and jarred me upward - a spar between my legs. I felt ravenously lustful and started humping the varnished wood. The slack canvas rippled below, then billowed with wind and snapped taut, and I felt the pull, the first tug of orgasm, as the dripping hull cleared the water, hovered momentarily, and took sail.

\ \ \

Reva broke the dream, calling my name. The airy ship became my own prostrate weight. I was on my stomach, one side suffused with heat from the fire, damp with sweat. She called me again. I heard her trying not to laugh.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"Macy, are you . . . excited?"

"I fell asleep."

"Your hips were moving. You were humping."

I must have looked mortified. I rolled over, sat up and touched my skivvies to find them wet. I scrambled to my feet and pulled my nightgown on.

Reva kept her eyes on me. "It's all right," she said.

"My god, Reva, I don't know - I'm so sorry."

"You had an erotic dream. I have magical hands."

"I don't know where it came from."

"Hmmmm. Was I in it?"

"Nobody was. Me and a flying ship."

She patted the pallet. "Come sit."

I remained standing in an awkward silence. The pressure in my bladder suddenly felt urgent. "I've got to pee," I said.

"Me too. It's the tea and the beer, double diuretics." Reva got to her feet and took my hand. "Let's go outside."

I was too at odds with myself to resist. Reva drew me to the door. It flew open as she turned the knob, and an exhilarating wind filled the house.

We ventured out. Our hair and nightgowns whipped around us. The dark of the yard was as dense as anywhere on the sea. We walked halfway between the house and the Sisters, and neither was anymore visible than shadows within shadows.

Reva hitched up her shift and squatted with her feet planted wide. Her pee hissed into the grass. I felt droplets and circled upwind.

". . . etting my fee!" Reva said.

I shed my skivvies and pulled the nightgown over my head before squatting. All of my skin tightened in the damp wind. It ran swift and chill between my legs, a cold swipe of my inguinal self, anus and cun, that caused me to yip like a coyote.

Reva stood with her shift still gathered above her hips.

". . .aaaked! . . .rate!"

She stretched tall, lifting the fabric high to let the wind peel it from her arms.

"Wooo!" She turned in place and held the nightgown at the end of one sleeve. It flapped wildly until she let go and the cloth became a tumbling shadow that vanished in flight.

I stood and she faced me and stepped up close. We laughed and joined hands. She began to sway, a yogic rhythm that flowed from her body into mine. Our hair flailed about us.

"-ot are we do-?" I shouted.

"-ance of the godde-," she said.

We circled, picking up pace, then broke our handhold and spun on our own like witches in the wind.

As we slowed, Reva drew close behind me and placed her hands on my hips. She spread her fingers and slid them around my belly. We swayed again to one rhythm. She tucked her pelvis up against my bottom, pressed her chest to my back. Her skin and my skin, one skin, all tingly and alive.

Her hands slid up and cupped my chest. I turned in her arms to face her. We kissed, pecks at first, lips tentatively touching. Then tongues touching, tongues touching. We felt the wind in our mouths.

"-et's in-ide," she said. "Nip so cold, 're -alling off!"

/ / /

Inside, we grabbed towels and ran to the fireplace and wiped each others faces dry. We knelt side by side, shivering, extending our hands to the fire. Reva's nipples looked hard enough to pinch themselves.

When we were warm, she eyed me up and down, grinning. My heart was thumping.

"Are we going to kiss again?" she said.

We brushed lips. I breathed her exhalations. She slid her lips over my tongue and sucked, sucked sweetly, drawing me into her mouth. I lost my breath then, and pulled back.

I said, "we're only kissing, right?"

She burst into laughter.

"Macy, we're naked together. I'm as horny as hell, and you just had a wet dream. Fuck it, I want to come too."

"I don't know if I'm ready."

"You were masturbating in your sleep while my hands were on you," she said. "I'd say you're primed."

"I thought I was getting numb to sex."

"You know what I think it is?"

She stood up and trotted to the kitchen, her bottom bouncing. The slender flukes of her whale tail seemed to shine in the dark. She picked up the bronze lamp and returned with it. I loved the sway of her hips.

She set the lamp on the floor, in the firelight. "There's something sexy about it."

We knelt forward like children to examine it.

"See?" Reva said. Her finger traced over wavy lines, patterned with scales.

"Snakes," I said.

"Lots of them. They coil around."

We sidled together, touching thighs and feet, eyes on the lamp.

"Down here. You see waves? They're on the sea," I said.

"I think there's some writing too."

I spun the lamp 360° in place to follow the weave of snakes.

"Where do you see it?"

"These triangles and squares, these accents. I don't know. They line up somehow."

"Shazam," I said, as the image struck. "It's a raft of snakes!"

Reva's eyes glistened with the flames. "We've found a magical vessel."

"A thing of myth."

"Let's play Scheherazade."

Reva lifted the lid and covered her mouth with feigned astonishment.

"Oh, dear," she said, "he's out!"

I crossed my arms over my chest, elbows high, and said, "What is your desire, o mortal?"

Reva pecked me on the lips. Then she stood up, thighs open, and tilted her puss at me, pulling her labia back to show her puckered moist coral and the pearl above it.

She said, "I command you to eat me, genie. I need to come."

\ \ \

"Fuck, I can't stand it!" she said.

I loved keeping her on the cusp of coming. It came naturally to me.

Reva dropped to her knees on the pallet, then fell to all fours. "What position do you want me in?"

I gave her bottom two playful smacks, one on each cheek.

"Fuck, Macy, I didn't know you had that in you. Do you want to spank me?"

"Turn on your back. Pull your knees up."

She rolled and settled herself, then threw her legs up and hooked the backs of her knees with her hands.

"Now, is it your wish to climax, o mortal?"

"Have you been deaf, o genie? Do it! I think I'll squirt in your face."

She liked the broad flat of my tongue pressed at the base of her clit. I liked to deliver the most delicate flicks, the tiniest taps of wet tongue. Poking my tongue through the little gate of her vagina, too, that coral ring, waiting for it to relax before wriggling further in. Be creative, mix it up, I say.

Reva slapped the pallet and threw her heels down, raising her hips into a bridge pose and grinding her puss on my tongue. She had successive orgasms. I kept my lips in place while she spasmed, attached by a vacuum formed between her vagina and my mouth. Swallowing by reflex was enough to set her off again.

When she was spent, absolutely exhausted, we lay spooned under the comforter.

"Don't you want to come?" she said.

"The pleasure was in giving pleasure," I said.

"Receiving's better."

The fire had burned to red embers. A candle went pfft with the last of its wax.

The windstorm had eased.

As she was falling asleep, Reva mumbled, "I think I found the best fuck buddy in the world."

/ / /

Sometime after 4 AM, I woke up from a second dream, as vivid as the first. I was walking through tall grass and came upon a large snake. Its head raised nearly to eye level. It flicked its tongue and studied me, then turned and raced away with a strong S motion. I grew very tall. Reva was standing knee high in a field about a league away, opening her arms for the snake as it raced toward her.

\ \ \

I woke up alone on the pallet, with the sun just above the horizon. Its light soon washed the room. The winds of last night had left the sky clear and serene.

Reva'd placed a note on the table. Checking on the house.

I washed and brushed and dressed, then ground beans and brewed strong coffee for both of us. I took my mug outside, to be with the Sisters.

They were damp and fragrant.

"I was wrong to say that you were dead," I told them. "I won't despair."

The breeze still had a night chill. It was a perfect cup of coffee.

/ / /

Reva was away throughout the morning. I considered leaving the pallet in place, as an invitation for us to resume occupancy when she returned, but the morning wore on.

Adè was late, too.

I took up where I left off yesterday, clearing the yard. The work kept thoughts of Reva's absence at bay.

The ferry whistle blew, a mile off. Earlier than expected. Supplies had arrived.

I left a note for Reva, Gone to arrange delivery, and headed for the landing with an empty backpack.

I had to bring it back empty. The first mate was a friend, and he said, "Sorry, Macy. We're making two runs today and I don't think we'll get to yours till tomorrow. We got some heavy backlog."

Since telecoms were still out, I asked him as a favor to place an order for lumber. He took the list. I thanked him and hiked home.

\ \ \

Reva hadn't come back yet. The pallet now looked as if it had been left out of laziness. I gathered the bedding from the floor and carried it in two trips upstairs to give it all an airing on the deck. I was in the spare bedroom, making up a proper bed for Reva, when she came into the yard, laughing, talking to someone. A heavier tread followed hers as they crossed to the front. She was animated.

"I'll break it to her, okay? She must be inside."

Two pairs of footsteps mounted the porch. The screen door creaked open.

"Come in, Adè," Reva said, then let the door close. At the mention of his name, I was fixed in place.

"There's a note. She's at the landing. Have a seat. Get you something?"

"Nothing, Mz," Adè said.

A chair scraped across the floor. His weight sagged the couch.

"Tell me about that pendant. It gives Macy the willies. I'm fascinated."

"Ah, the cobra."

"Can I see it?"

Adè laughed. "The cobra is real, Mz. This is what the pendant proclaims."

"What do you mean, real?"

A wave crashed with a heavy thud and rolled up the beach. Another broke before I could hear Adè again. Reva sounded breathless with awe.

"Do you still wish to see it, Mz?"

"If that's the real cobra, yes."

My ears burned. I felt horribly trapped.

"Can I take it out?" Reva said.

"First let me tell you this," Adè said. "Most time, the human gets to charm the snake, but this snake, it will charm you."

His belt was being unbuckled.

"I'm far beyond charmed already," Reva said.

"Do not pull, please." The couch groaned with shifting weight. "Take them," he said, and I heard the slide of pants.

"These too," Reva said with a snap of elastic.

She must've inched his underwear off slowly, the tramp. "Oh, yeah . . . man . . .still comin' . . .still comin' . . . wow . . . ready now? Gonna spring . . . "

"Ahh," Adè grunted.

"Oh! Holy moly, look at that! Whoa!"

"The cobra, Mz."

"My god. It won't bite me, will it?"

"It will bite, Mz, as I told you. Stroke the cobra to keep it appeased."

"Can I? Jeez, you're still spongy. Feels like a gooseneck. What happens when you get really hard? How long is this thing?"

"That is what the pendant tells you." He chuckled and sighed. The floor creaked.

"Do you like this?" Reva said.

"Hmmm. Now faster, Mz."

There were wet piston sounds. Reva's breathing tightened. Then, a cry of surprise.

"Oh, my god, it moves!"

"Watch the cobra's head."

"The cobra's head . . . That's fantastic! You control it? You can make it dance?"

"I warn you it charm, Mz."

"Unbelievable."

"Stroke, Mz."

Creaking again.

"Now the cobra calls you to kiss him as he dances, Mz."

"Can we fuck?"

"A later time."