Red

March rains fell hard, as I stood in front of my church. Preacher Ned was waiting for me. Out of desperation, I had called him, telling him that I needed to talk. With his smooth cultured voice, he told me to come by his office at church sometime late afternoon.

The cold rain soaked me to the bone. I purposefully stood there, letting it pelt me. I had become a blue flame that sweltered with every breath, leaving ash and cinder in its wake. But the driving rain did naught to quell the heat. I wish that I could have blamed it on my southern fire and brimstone Baptist blood. My flame was fevered, but not in a reverend way.

I hesitated at the church door, wondering if a bolt of lightning would strike me if I entered. I felt a sharp stab of fear shoot throw me. What if I was beyond salvation, cursed by God to live in this eternal private hell? I suddenly remembered Mrs. Brown and Mr. Dickens. Both had been fornicating with each other for over 20 years. The whole community knew about it, yet both of them sat proudly in church despite the fact that a huge red "A" hung around their necks.

Stepping over the threshold, I shivered. Long brown strands of hair clung to my neck like ropes. My red silk dress clung like a second skin to my supple body. My erect nipples pointed the way to the Preacher's office. I knocked timidly on the door. His booming voice bade me to enter. Taking a deep breath I did.

"Heavens to Betsy! Veta, you are soaked." He towered over me, as I stood before him in painted on silk, red as stolen passion. I was shaking from being wet and from the fire that burned coldly inside me.

Preacher Ned disappeared into his private bathroom. I was looking out the window, when he returned. A bolt of lightning struck a tree, when he placed a hot hand on my arm. I felt the electricity clinging in the air.

"Veta, here's a towel. What brings you out in a storm like this, dear child?" My green eyes fumed with a secret. I didn't take the towel he offered. I preferred the cold, because I felt at home with in. Wasn't ice so cold it could burn you? I imagine hell to be like that.

"Forgive me, Preacher but I have sinned." I looked out the window, waiting for the lightning.

"Why...Veta...couldn't this have waited until the alter call on Sunday?" He leaned against his desk. My eyes caught the straining of fabric at his crotch.

"No, it couldn't wait Preacher. If I don't get some spiritual relief, I'm going to do it again." I never knew silk could be so clingy when it was wet.

"Well child, tell me what you did that was so sinful."

"I fucked my sister's fiancé this morning. He dropped by to see if she wanted to get breakfast, but she had to work and wasn't home. I answered the door in my red satin robe. Tell me Preacher, do you think the color red is sin incarnate?"

"Veta, I've never thought of it before. Red is just a color to me. Why did you have impure relations with your sister's chosen one?"

"Because, when he looked at me in my red robe I knew he could see the outline of my breasts. His eyes told me he wanted to suck my nipples through the fabric, to wrap his hands around my breasts...like this, Preacher." I cupped my breasts.

Preacher Ned pulled at his pants, adjusting the tension in his crotch. It was a subconscious move that I was very conscious of.

"Red makes me do crazy things, Preacher Ned. Once I fucked the mailman, right there at our mailbox. I leaned over it with my ass in the air and he took me behind. He squealed when he came. I was wearing a red tank to and a mini skirt that day. It was summer and so hot. I felt the sweat on his balls as he pumped in and out of me."

His voice was almost a whisper, as he said, "Veta!"

"Dean took me in the foyer. He opened his fly, pulled out his short fat cock and pushed me back onto the floor. He bit my nipple as he rammed it inside me. I bit my lip until it bled to keep from screaming as I came all over his cock. He pulled out and left his spunk on my thighs. It's still there, Preacher, unless the rain washed it away."

"My Lord, Veta! We need to pray, child. Salvation is yours. Ask and you will be forgiven. Our lord is merciful."

"It's not me, Preacher. It's Red...the color Red. Somehow it's become sin embodied. There's only one way that I can find redemption." I unzipped my red silk dress and let it fall to the floor. I was naked underneath. "Fuck me, Preacher. Banish the red sin that clings to me."

"I can't do that, Veta." He stood up. There was no hiding his hard cock. But instead of taking me, he turned his back to me. I knew I was doomed at that moment.

Quietly, I pulled my wet dress back on. When the sound of the zipper going up screamed in the silence of the room, he turned back to me. "Let's pray, Veta."

I smiled politely, "No Preacher. I'm beyond prayers. But thanks for the offer." I walked out of his office, ran out of the church and into the rain. I stood in the rain, waiting for the lightning bolt. It never came. But many did later.