The Old Brass Bed

She didn't dream about Geneva. She didn't dream about Ashford or the man in the subway. She didn't dream at all.

The next day Frankie was standing on the subway platform when the man appeared next to her. Again he looked into her eyes and smiled. As the train approached the crowd of anxious commuters stepped forward en masse and the man leaned toward the edge. Instinctively Frankie reached out and grabbed his arm and steadied him enough to not fall on the tracks. He turned to look at her and she saw an expression of relief. As he opened his mouth to say something the throng of people pushed forward and swept him into the car. She stood on the platform between cars as the doors closed. The train took off leaving Frankie standing on the platform watching him pass out of sight.

That evening Frankie waited outside the subway station for the man but he never came out. She walked home dejected. But she thought about him as she fell asleep, again with her hands rubbing between her legs.

********

As she watched the face of the man on top of her grimacing in agony she thought of Ashford. The man Geneva had her arms and legs wrapped around was not Ashford; she didn't know his name. He was the third in line that night to leave his seed inside her womb. But she didn't care. She didn't care that she just had sex with three men in ways a polite society woman didn't do. She didn't care that they might have made her pregnant, and if they did she would take care of it like she did before. She didn't care about anything any more. The love of her life had deserted her and married someone else and she didn't care about living. She just wanted the pain to go away, and by being with men who wanted her, who lusted after her, she exorcised Ashford's betrayal from her mind for a little while. She didn't want emotions anymore; she didn't want to feel love. She became dead when men were on top grunting and thrusting inside her. Sex was her cocaine and she was addicted.

********

Frankie awoke from her dream and sat bolt upright in bed. Fluid dripped down between her legs into a pool on the bed and the sheets were soaked with sweat. Again her breasts ached and her pussy was raw. She was tender to the touch everywhere. She jumped off the bed and flew into the shower where she stayed until the water washed away the tenderness.

On the way to work all she could think about was the faces of the men she, no Geneva, had sex with last night. She knew it was all a dream but she still felt their fingers on her breasts and their cocks inside her and smelled the odor of their bodies. She couldn't concentrate on anything and even took a wrong turn walking to her cubicle. She was getting less and less work done because of the dreams.

On her way home a young boy handed her a handbill that advertised a new optometrist in her neighborhood. There was a one-time offer for glasses at very good prices. So she stopped and looked at the glasses in the window. She saw in the window that hers were old and ugly. She did have the money so she steeled up her courage and went in. Two hours later she came out with new glasses. When she looked in the window again at her reflection she thought the glasses were pretty but nothing else was. But it had taken all her courage to get the glasses and she didn't have enough courage or money for anything else, so more would have to wait.

All the way home she looked for the man in the subway but he didn't appear.

********

"Come on Geneva, dance for us. Give us a little show." The man lying on the floor, half under the coffee table, with a bottle of booze in his hands, pleaded without ever moving.

The group sitting on chairs and couches around the apartment looked bored and indifferent to everything around them. A couple were even asleep in each other's arms in the corner. An excess of gin will do that to you.

"Geneva, please entertain us. Everyone's bored." He pleaded again.

"No! I don't feel like it," she said from under a pile of bodies on the largest couch in the room.

"Please, please, pretty please. I'll take you to Long Island next weekend and we can go to that new amusement park, the one with the lions and elephants."

"You're going to have to do better than that. I saw the lions last month."

"How about if I take you up in my airplane. You can see what your house looks like from the air. Please, just one little dance, darling."

"An airplane? You have an airplane? Can I fly it? I'll dance for you if you let me fly it."

"You want to fly it? I think I can do that. Deal?"

"Deal! Now what kind of dance would you like? French, Arabic, African, Jazz?"

"How about something from the Gayety Theater in New York? You know what I'm talking about."

"Why you rascal. I know exactly what you want. Make some room and wake everybody up. Nobody sleeps through Geneva's dance."

Everybody started moving around and pushing furniture to the walls leaving a large space in the middle of the room. One woman changed the record on the Victrola and another opened another bottle of gin and passed it around.

The music started and Geneva stood up in the middle of the room with her arms above her head and slowly swayed. Her body moved and shimmied in beat to the music. Her arms swept all around and her hands caressed her body. She turned slowly giving the seated audience a good look of all sides. Her hands snaked down to her legs where she grasped the hem of her dress and slowly pulled upward, rocking her hips from side to side as she did. For the viewers it seemed like an eternity for her to pull the garment slowly up her body and over her head. With a peek-a-boo look she took the dress and threw it at a man sitting closest to her. She walked and paraded around the room in a short silk camisole running her fingers over each man and woman she passed. Occasionally she would lift up the short slip and show her silk underpants. With one hand she reached up and slipped the thin strap off her shoulder and stood facing one way looking over the bare shoulder at everybody. With the other hand she lowered the other strap and turned to that side blowing kisses. With both hands on her chest she slowly and seductively lowered the camisole over her breasts, down her waist and over her hips. She let it fall in a heap on her feet. Her pert breasts were now exposed for all to see and admire.

She danced and pranced around the room and bent over and kissed the head of one man. Standing in front of him she lifted up her leg and placed her foot on his thigh. Using both hands she started to roll one silk stocking down from her thigh, over her knee and past her calf. She pointed at her foot and the man reached up and pulled off her shoe and slid the stocking over her foot. Geneva sashayed over to another man and put her other foot up on his thigh. The man reached up and rolled her stocking down, took off her shoe and pulled the stocking over her foot. She twirled and spun and gyrated all around the room stopping in front of the women to shake her breasts at them and the men to bend over and kiss them on the forehead. She danced over to a coffee table and with one foot kicked the glasses off onto the floor. She hopped up on top and started gyrating her hips around in circles. Her hands flowed and moved all over her body rubbing and caressing her skin underneath. As they moved to the sides of her hips she stuck one finger under the fabric of her panties and slowly bent over and slid them down her legs to her feet. She stepped out with one foot and with the other kicked the garment across the room to land on the sleeping couple in the corner. Everybody laughed as the couple moved but kept on sleeping. She hopped off the table. Geneva was now completely naked and dancing around the room from person to person kissing each on the mouth as she passed.

As the music ended she stopped and pointed to the man that begged her to dance for them, the one that offered to let her fly his airplane. She crooked one finger and beckoned him to follow as she walked naked through the crowd and into the bedroom. The half-drunk fellow jumped up and started removing his shirt as he walked into the bedroom and closed the door.

********

As she stumbled into the shower Frankie could feel the excitement Geneva felt as she did the striptease for her audience. She felt in control. She felt lusted after. She felt beautiful. But as she looked at her reflection in the mirror she saw a frumpy young woman with no style whatsoever. Nobody would lust after her. Nobody would think she was beautiful.

She went to work feeling ugly.

As her train pulled out of the station she saw the man who smiled at her enter the platform and look around. He didn't see her. He disappeared as the train went into the tunnel.

Across from her work was a small shopping mall. Inside was a hair salon. It wasn't a fancy place but in the window were pictures of beautiful models with the latest hairstyles. At lunch time Frankie stood by herself looking at the models. They all looked so beautiful. She wondered how she would look with one of those fancy styles. As she was about to walk away one of the stylists on the other side of the glass tapped on the window and held up a picture of another model with a simple short cut, longer in the front and shorter on the sides and back. She smiled and pointed from the picture to Frankie and used one finger to say 'come on in.' Frankie hesitated for a moment but looked at the picture again and somehow found the courage to go in. When it was over Frankie went back to work looking so different that people hardly recognized her. People looked at her and she saw them look. Somewhere deep inside she was starting to think that maybe she could be attractive, but the thought died quickly when she got back to her paperwork.

At bedtime Frankie worried about the dreams. They were getting wilder and wilder. She, or Geneva, had sex with a different man every night. A couple nights ago she had sex with three different men at the same time. Frankie was worried that it was getting out of hand. She was worried that she may not get up for work on time. She was worried what she would dream about tonight. But she went to bed half anticipating the fantasy.

********

Geneva woke up to the morning sun streaking through the doors leading to the balcony, the curtains on either side gently stirring in the breeze. She sat up in the bed and stretched like a cat. Looking around she saw her clothes strewn about the room; her dress lay draped over the settee, a stocking knotted around the lampshade, her shoes by the door, and her panties sat in a heap on the night table. She didn't remember too much about the night except there was a party and she drank a lot. After that everything was a blur.

When she leaned back and put her hands in back to prop herself up she felt a body -- a warm body. Turning she saw Emily lying on her stomach, her naked body covered by a sheet from her hips to her feet. Emily's usually beautiful chestnut brown hair fell over the pillow in a tangled and matted mess. Her arms hugged the pillow tightly. She was asleep with her mouth open making little snorting sounds as she breathed. She was beautiful. At least Geneva thought so.

Geneva leaned down and tenderly kissed the shoulder of the sleeping beauty. She looked up at Emily's eyes but saw no reaction - she continued to snore. Geneva extended her tongue and licked from Emily's shoulder down to her waist and back up to her neck. Even that didn't rouse her. Finally, a little frustrated, Geneva bit Emily's shoulder. "OW!" That got a reaction.

"Good morning sleepy head," Geneva purred as she kissed the spot she just nipped.

"Oh my God, what did we drink last night?" Emily snorted raising her head. "Please tell me we didn't do cocaine again."

"No, my saucy wench, it was just that barrel of gin Cooper brought from Canada on his boat. I don't think it was completely fermented or something. It had quite a kick."

"I'll say. I feel Sherman marching through Georgia in my head." She plopped back onto the pillow and moaned.

Geneva smiled and kissed Emily's shoulder again. "I think I remember everybody in the pool last night but I don't remember bathing suits. What do you remember?"

Emily groaned, turned slightly, and looked up through bloodshot eyes. "I distinctly remember a lot of naked people splashing around in the pool. I think you were floating on something and being pushed from person to person pouring gin into everybody's mouth. It was quite an orgy."

"But how did we get here?"

"I think it was after we won the kissing contest. We bet Brian and Grant that we could kiss longer than them under water. We won, but I think Brian almost drowned trying. After that you and I slipped away to the pool house and had our own little party. I distinctly remember you getting mad at the guys for peeking in and watching us. You yelled something to the effect that you wanted to 'eat in private.' After that happened five or six times we came up here."

"OK but if we were naked in the pool, how do you explain our clothes all around the room."

"Ha ha, that was funny. You insisted that I dress up in the new gown you got from Paris last week so you could have the pleasure of undressing me. It was quite a spectacle. There you were naked as the day you were born and I was standing there in a formal ball gown. You kissed every inch of me as you peeled my clothes off and threw them about the room. We danced naked around the room. We kissed and ran our hands over each other and explored every warm moist place. We rolled on the floor laughing and teasing, that's when you tripped over the settee and bruised your knee. You stood naked on the railing of the balcony and proclaimed to the heavens that you loved me. Sometime after I pulled you down from the railing we tumbled into bed and spent rest of the night making sweet love to one another. It was glorious, what I remember of it."

"Yeah, I don't remember too much of it either," she said with an evil glint in her eye. "I think we're just going to have to do it all again, this time sober."

Geneva leaned down and pressed her lips to Emily's. The kiss was tender and loving. But after a moment of tenderness the kiss turned demanding, their tongues dancing in each others mouth, deeply and passionately. Emily turned over onto her back and Geneva moved to position her breasts on Emily's, nipple grinding into nipple. The two women kissed each other powerfully and intimately as their bodies merged into one. Geneva's hands explored Emily's body. Shortly she found the downy mound between her legs and moved a finger between the lips. Emily moaned through their kiss but didn't stop working her tongue over and around her lover's. Two fingers found their way into the moist folds and started massaging the tender nub at the top. Geneva rubbed and kissed and teased Emily's nipples with her own making the supine beauty underneath groan with delight. Emily's back arched as the probing fingers brought her closer and closer to an exquisite explosion.

Emily turned her head to the side and broke their kiss. She gasped, "Don't stop. Please don't stop. I'm so close. I'm so... I'm going to... Now... I'm... I'm..." Her body tensed and she let out a scream of heavenly delight. Geneva continued massaging between her now tense, stiff legs. As she slowly came down from heaven she looked up into Geneva's eyes and proclaimed, "I love you Geneva darling. I love you. I love you. I love you." Their lips met again and their tongues intertwined.

It was only minutes later, but it seemed like an eternity, that the two ended their kiss. Geneva moved off of Emily and lay down beside her, tugging her hand as she reclined. Emily got the message and moved on top of Geneva and started kissing her chin and neck. The tender kisses made Geneva's skin tingle. A vibration flowed all through her body ending up in her toes. Emily kissed lower and found an erect nipple and took it into her mouth. The other breast she massaged, rolling the nipple between her thumb and forefinger. She used her tongue on the Geneva's tender tip like she had just done in her mouth, twirling and probing. A moan escaped Geneva's quivering lips. When the first breast was completely sated Emily moved to the other and started on that nipple, all the time kneading the first between her fingers. Geneva's head thrust backwards and her toes curled. She was in heaven.

Emily lifted her mouth off of the now tender nipple and moved lower to kiss Geneva's belly. Her tongue darted in and out of Geneva's belly button teasing the half crazed woman. She continued licking lower and lower following the tiny trail of hair from her navel to the mound below. Her face rested inches away from Geneva's inviting pussy as she blew a stream of cold air into the hot folds. Geneva's whole body shuddered as she begged, "Eat me." Geneva didn't see the smile on Emily's face as she lowered her lips to Geneva's hot moist pussy and kissed the beauty again in the same manner as on her mouth, using her tongue to explore and probe. Her tongue flicked over and around Geneva's clit creating a series of delightful head to toe shudders. Emily shifted her body slightly and brought her hand up between Geneva's legs. She used her fingers to caress and taunt the entrance to her pussy. Slowly she inserted two fingers inside Geneva all the while tonguing the hot little nub above. Her speed quickened and her intensity increased as she tongued and probed Geneva's hot, swollen pussy.

"Lick me! Eat me! Don't stop!" Geneva mumbled as her body tensed. "I'm yours. Do what you want. I'm going to..." And with a mighty body wracking seizure Geneva jammed Emily's face deeper between her legs and let loose a mighty shriek of ecstasy.

The two women remained stuck together panting for air for a long time. Eventually Geneva's world returned to normal and she lifted Emily's face out from between her thighs and they smiled at each other. Emily scooted up to lay on Geneva and kissed her lips tenderly. It was Geneva that broke the kiss this time as she said, "I love you too Emily."

As they relaxed, lying in each other's arms, Geneva thought of Ashford. She turned and kissed Emily on the forehead as the two lovers drifted back to sleep.

********

Frankie rolled over and fell out of bed landing on the bed covers piled up on the floor below. Sitting up she looked around startled. It took a few seconds to get her wits about her. When she did she moved to lean against the side of the bed. She ran her hand through her hair: it was a tangled mess. She felt between her legs and found everything to be tender, swollen and wet. She found her pajamas strewn about the room.

"And I thought things couldn't get any more weird," she said as she rose and headed to the shower.

Frankie's commute to work was routine. She looked but didn't see the man that smiled at her. At lunch time she went to the little mall across the street again, this time to look for something new to wear. She bought a nice dress even though she was sure that she would never wear it in public. It looked a little like the gown Geneva made Emily wear in her dream last night; at least it was the same color. She also bought something comfortable and a bit more stylish to wear to work. She stopped for coffee at Starbucks before returning. The man in front of her took a lot of time with his order and she was ready to just leave when he turned around. It was the man from the subway. He looked at her and smiled.

"Hello," he said smiling at Frankie. "I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life the other day. I've been looking for you everywhere. Would you like to join me for a few minutes?"

Frankie's cheeks turned a dark crimson. She looked down at her feet. She was frozen and couldn't think or speak. All she could do was stand there like a statue.