This story contains sexually explicit material.
Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.
The pictures are copyright by their respective owners.

Technical note: A gasp is a rapid intake of breath. In this story, it also means a rapid expelling of breath, since it is close to the sound I mean. Sigh, grunt, groan, pant, and scream don't work.

Jamie and the Hominids

Through the Worm Hole

I was at the park with my older sister. She was supposed to be watching me, but she's fourteen and has breasts, so she was wearing a tight top and over with her friend watching the boys play basketball. I could hear them yelling from where I was on the grass with my golden book. She had told my other sister to watch me, but she's eleven and starting to grow breasts too, so she had on her sparkly top and was off somewhere with her friends. I sat in the sun and read Pussy Willow. The wind moved the new leaves on the trees. I'm four and had on my blue shirt with the dragonfly. I won't start kindergarten until next year so I'm not supposed to be able to read, but I can. I knew the letters and their sounds, and had been read the book so many times that I knew the words. I had figured out which was which. Once there was a little pussycat. See? It wasn't hard. I liked the pictures of the green leaves and the white footed mouse and the flying grasshopper. I didn't like that there was no one to take care of Pussy Willow. He was fluffy and gray with blue eyes.

Someone walked by on the path. I looked up and saw the back of a boy with a blue shirt like mine. He didn't seem to be all there. I can't describe it, but it was strange enough that I got up and followed him. I was curious. He sometimes seemed to have fur and a tail, even though he didn't. He walked through some trees and came out in a part of the park that wasn't there. I knew the whole park, it wasn't that big. There was a fountain splashing and glittering. Some kids were lying on towels. They were naked. Two were having sex. I couldn't see anything because the boy was on top. He was thrusting a lot slower than I had imagined. She had one leg higher than the other. Two girls and a boy near them were watching and playing with themselves. No one else seemed to notice what was going on. There was no one much older than me, but it looked like some of the kids had pubic hair. Some of the kids running around were in their shirts and underwear, or at least some sort of briefs.

The boy I was following turned around, came back, and said hello. I looked at him. After a moment I said hi. He was the same height as me. At first all I could see was his smile. Then I noticed his short brown hair and brown eyes. Everyone had short hair, even the girls. Some of the ones naked or in briefs were girls, so probably some of the others were too. How do you tell if they dress the same and don't have long hair? No one acted like a girl, if you didn't count the one making love.

He said his name was Ezra. I said I was Jamie. He asked if I wanted to sit down? I said yes, and we walked over to a grassy spot and did. He said he had seen me reading, not just looking at the pictures and pretending. I was surprised. No one else knew I could read. I hadn't told anyone and no one had noticed. I said I had taught myself and could read all of my picture books and comics. He was impressed. He could read but said he'd had help. Kids here taught each other and learned by age three, when they started school. I said that must be nice. I would like to learn stuff. He said I could stay here and go to some classes if I wanted. I said really? That would be great, but I had to go back before my sisters got worried. He said if I didn't stay more than a week he could take me back to the exact time I left, so no one would know I'd been gone. Maybe I should have asked how he could do that, but I didn't. I agreed and said thank you.

He said he chose this spot so we could see the kids fucking. We could sit somewhere else if I wanted. I asked if it was okay to watch them having sex? He said yes, people liked fucking outside in the sun and liked others to watch and mast. It made them feel connected to the Earth and to other people. People liked to feel connected here. I asked if people had sex everywhere? He said no. They did in parks and at the beach, but not at pools. And I didn't have to say having sex or sleeping together or something else. I could just say fuck. Here, it was just another word and described what people did. Genital sex. It had nothing to do with swearing. And people said mast instead of masturbate. It was easier. It meant having sex with yourself, self sex. Using your hand to have sex with someone else was called touching or manual sex.

I said that was good to know. I did want to watch them fuck, but weren't they awfully young? He said things were different here. I asked where we were? He said New Orleans. I said it looked different. He said it was. It was a different reality from mine. I asked what that meant? He said it had been one reality up until 1.2 million years ago. That number didn't mean anything to me, but I knew it was a long time. He said the world had split into at least two different realities. He said that sort of thing happened all the time, but usually no one noticed. There wasn't any easy way to tell. Each reality just kept going on its own. In his, the human race had failed to develop. Instead, there was a different race of hominids. They called themselves that, hominids, even though on my world the term was more general. He said human children got interested in sex at four then lost interest again until fourteen, a sort of false puberty. I said lots of kids over four were interested in sex. He said yes, but less interested than at four, and much less interested than later. I didn't know if I believed him but let it go. He said on this world, kids started puberty at four, were adults at five, and had their full growth at six or seven. They didn't grow nearly as tall. Not all the people around us were kids. I asked about him. He said that he was four, like me, but his body had started to change. He wouldn't change as much as people on my world did.

His reality had discovered mine and others 20 thousand years ago. They learned to cross over and learned our languages, used our products, and studied our technology. It was more advanced than theirs in lots of ways. He wasn't completely real when he visited my world. I asked if that was why he seemed like a cat? He said yes, he could imagine himself to be whatever he liked, and it changed him. I could do the same thing here. I asked how? He said just pretend I was different somehow. So I pretended I had cat ears and whiskers, then started to panic when I couldn't hear anything. He put his arms around me and held onto me. I calmed down and could hear again. He let go and told me people had much larger brains than cats. Ears on top of their head were too far away from their hearing organs. I could have cat ears for decoration but needed to keep my regular ears to hear with. I tried that and it worked. My whiskers stood out way too far so I shortened them. They were fun but seemed only partly there, like his fur and tail had, so I dropped them after a minute. He said another thing I could do with practice was teleport. I could go back to my reality, move somewhere else, and come back to just after I left. Time and distance were somewhat flexible across realities. Except it wouldn't feel like teleporting to me, and there were only certain places I could cross over. I asked where? He said through trees, groves, streams, pools, oceans, rocks, caves, corridors, trains, buses, and dreams. I said dreams? He said yeah, but it worked a bit differently. My real body would stay asleep on my world, and one that seemed just as real would appear here.

I remembered everything he said, which was surprising because I was wondering about something else. And I had been distracted by the kids fucking and masting in front of us, and their orgasms. I asked how all the people around us could look like kids if some were older, besides being short? Their faces looked young and the girls didn't have breasts. He said girls here didn't have breasts except when pregnant or nursing. Their nipples got bigger but didn't spread out. People grew pubic hair that was short and curly. Everyone had good skin with no wrinkles or scars. All injuries healed completely. People were graceful, wiry, fast, strong, had good balance, and climbed well. They couldn't gain excess weight. Everyone learned some gymnastics. The races had developed in the same places as on my world, and they tried to preserve racial characteristics and diversity. There was no cancer, heart disease or senility. People lived until their organs failed at 120 to 130. There was no need for hospitals or nurses. People had fewer diseases and better immune systems. They were intelligent and didn't forget what they saw and heard if they started using it. Kids looked like humans until they were four but learned numbers and other concepts earlier. People could sense lies and emotions, and recognize each other by scent and touch. Their senses were sharper than ours.

He said I should pick up some of their traits while I was in their reality. Eating something here would help, but I would lose most of the traits when I left. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. He asked if I was hungry and wanted to eat? We had been talking a long time, or he had, and it was getting late. I said yes. I didn't have much choice if I wanted to stay here. He led me through the streets to his dining hall. The buildings looked different, less modern and in better repair. There were tracks and streetcars. I saw some trucks but no cars. He said people mostly walked where they needed to go and had things delivered. They didn't have cars. There was less pollution and no parking problem. I asked about bicycles. He said only messengers used them. When we got to the dining hall and went inside I realized how much smaller the buildings were. It wasn't so noticeable from the outside. I'm three foot four, and everything was the right height for me. I could reach the food on the serving counters. The tray was the right size to carry. I could see over the seated people. My feet reached the floor when I sat down.

There were several other people at our table. Ezra introduced Ryan, Tank and Altair, part of his kids group, whatever that meant. I couldn't tell the girls from the boys, but I was getting used to that. I had taken the rice and beans and cornbread. So had some of the others. There wasn't any meat, and the only thing to drink was water. They laughed when I asked why everyone had the same haircut? Tank bent his or her head down and told me to look. I ran my hand through the hair and could only tell that it all seemed the same length, about an inch and a half. When I still didn't get it, he or she told me it grew like that. Nobody got their hair cut. I asked about the few people with longer hair? He or she said they were visitors like me. I asked why I had never heard of this place if so many people knew about it? Tank said nobody believed what kids said in my reality. And there used to be stories about fairyland. Now they were about alien abductions. I asked if they were going to perform experiments on me? He or she said not exactly.

I said I was getting too confused trying to think about them. How could I tell he from she? Tank said in the usual way. I said with their clothes on. When Tank saw how upset I was, Tank said Tank was sorry. Tank said since I was going to be part of their group for now, I should call them all she. I said even Ezra? She said yes. People I didn't know I should call he. I should use the proper term for friends whose gender I knew. For people who were working, it depended on their job. I could worry about that later. It didn't really matter. Everyone used the same bathroom. I said thank you. That made it a lot easier. After dinner we went back to the park and played some games and listened to people playing music.

After it got dark we went inside, and Ezra introduced the rest of our group, Ginkgo, Brook and Socks. Some of us were African and one was Asian. Our ages ranged from three to six. They had a room with two large beds, two windows and a few posters, one of a tree frog on a branch, and another room with shelves for clothes. Ezra gave me a locker for my book and clothes and said I could wear whatever I found on the shelves. They shared most of their clothes. She also gave me a toothbrush. The bathroom was down the hall. I didn't really need anything else. We sat on the beds and floor, and Ezra helped me with my reading. The beds were just mattresses on floor, but they were easy to get onto and didn't wobble or sink. I liked them. When it got late, she said hominids liked to sleep in groups. I could share a bed with Tank, Brook and her if I liked. But sometimes they moved from one bed to another at night, so I might wake up next to someone else. There were two sets of covers on each bed, each set big enough for three people. Some of them might have sex, but they would leave me alone the first night. I said okay. When everyone took off their clothes and climbed into bed, I did too. I saw that Tank was a girl, and Ezra really was a boy. Someone turned out the light. It was quiet, just breathing and a few sounds from outside. Before too long I fell asleep.

I woke up to the sound of two people fucking in the other bed. They weren't under the covers, and there was enough light to see what they were doing but not who they were. I thought Ezra was still next me. There was only one other person still in the bed, I couldn't tell who. They weren't making much noise, but they weren't being too quiet either. Their feet were toward me, and I thought I saw a penis going in, but I wasn't sure. I could see them thrusting and hear a slight squish and some breathing. Their scent was exciting. I felt warm and wanted to mast. I decided that if that was what people did here, then I would. I opened my legs, wet my fingers, and reached down under the covers. It felt as good as it always did, and the special effects added to it. I listened to them and sometimes lifted up my head to see what I could. I sort of hoped Ezra was awake. Not to do anything, just to be aware of me. They didn't seem to be getting anywhere. If some of them were as young as me, maybe they didn't have orgasms. I felt something off in the distance, but it didn't get any closer than it usually did. I must have fallen back to sleep eventually.

Kids in a Fountain

In the morning I learned everyones gender as we showered and got dressed. Thinking of Ezra as she was a little strange at first. It was still confusing, but at least I could figure it out if I wanted to. No one wore bathrobes to go down the hall. I thought Brook was beautiful. She was tall and light brown and had all her pubic hair. Maybe three foot eleven. I was embarrassed when she saw me staring, but she smiled and turned all the way around under the shower to give me a good look. I was thrilled. She was a girl. The toilets were smaller, which was nice, but they didn't have any stalls and other people in the building used the same bathroom. No one cared. After a moment I decided I didn't either. I had two sisters so it wasn't that different, except for the urinals. Both boys and girls had short hair on their head, light hair on their arms and legs, and pubic hair in front if they were old enough. That was all. Nobody shaved or dyed anything. The African kids head and pubic hair was curly, some not as much as others. People didn't have tan marks. Some of the kids must really have been older, because they had toddlers with them, who were normal sized but looked too big compared to their parent. Nobody here looked older than six or seven.

All the briefs in the clothes room could hold a penis, they were either low cut or had a fly. I chose some blue ones with a fly just to be different. I had them on my pants, why not my underwear? Plus a black top with buttons, some jeans and a windbreaker. The day hadn't warmed up yet. Tank helped me find stuff that fit. Ryan took me to classes with her. Ezra was in middle school, but Ryan was three and still in grade school. Both grade and middle school lasted one full year and had four terms. A person started school the first term after he turned three, so no one was a year behind. Grade school had languages, numbers, computers, anthropology, music, theater and religion. Middle school had algebra, accounting, science, history, literature, art and movement. That sounded hard, so I was happy to go with Ryan even though I was a year older. But I would have liked to study dance. Movement included tap dance, tango, judo and kick boxing, plus elements of tai chi. The teachers all looked like kids. They wore the same sort of uniform most people here seemed to. Everywhere, not just in school. A white, light blue or black shirt of some sort and dark blue, black or khaki pants. Except some wore briefs that could be any of those colors. The kids in deep red or brighter colors were a relief. Maybe they took turns.

These people kept their ability to learn languages, but it was still easier for kids. They were supposed to learn two languages each term. A term was twelve weeks. Ryan and I had Arabic and French. I didn't feel quite so proud of learning to read. There were six classes a day plus an hour for lunch, so the school day was the same length as the work day. We didn't have computers or theater this term. We sat around tables, and I learned a few words of Arabic. Shukran is thank you, bayt is house, and jamila is beautiful. Everybody else could remember words after hearing them only once, which seemed like a better way for the brain to work. In French class I learned that everything has a gender. Windows and seas are girls. Streetcars and teachers are boys. So are oceans and lakes. Maybe gender really was arbitrary.

We walked back to the dining hall for lunch, and to the park after school to meet Ezra and Tank. They never had homework or tests, but they could study on their own if they wanted to. They took me to the library and told me I could take out any book I wanted. It was free. I couldn't believe it. I was so happy I nearly cried. Ezra helped me look, and I chose three, one without many pictures. She helped me read it until the others were done. Then we went back to the park. The girl at the library gave me a book bag to use. Since librarians are girls in French, she was a she. Nobody ever said woman, and man meant one or all hominids. It never implied male or adult. I was learning.

At the park we took off our clothes and got in the fountain. There weren't any shorts or skirts or dresses or bathing suits. They wore pants or briefs, but not in the water. They either covered their legs or they didn't. Why bother with something that didn't keep you warm? Nobody except your girlfriend cared if you got an erection. The fountain was a wide ring twenty inches deep made of stone. Deep enough to lie down in. There were thin jets squirting up all the way around and a shallow wet surface inside that you could climb onto. There was a tall column in the middle, and there were lots of kids playing in the water. Some of them were probably older, but the term adult didn't seem right. Adults were people who towered over me and told me what to do. These people were having fun. Nobody was shoving or dunking or trying to do stunts. There was a lot of body contact and laughing but no sex play in the water. After a while we got out and dried off. There were towels available for that and to lie on. Which we did. The sun felt good. It warmed me up after the cold water. There were a lot of other naked bodies, some with erections. I saw a few people masting slowly in the sun and two kissing, but no one fucking at the moment. Music from a couple different groups drifted on the breeze. I closed my eyes again and dozed.

I woke up when Brook, Ginkgo and their friend Forth joined us with their banjo, flute and guitar. Ezra was with them, she had gone home for her hand drum. Their instruments were slightly smaller than ours and tuned a minor third higher. They could hear higher notes and their voices were all soprano or alto. Boys voices didn't change, so there weren't any tenors or basses. They used a cello as their bass instrument instead of a double bass. We got dressed and moved over under some trees where we had more space and sat back down on the ground. I didn't remember seeing any chairs here that weren't at tables. Cellists could play standing up because they were short and used an extra long spike. I liked the music the four of them played. Their songs were a mixture of jazz and bluegrass, plus some classical arrangements. Whatever they thought was interesting. Most people played an instrument, and they all played in groups. Small acoustic groups, where they could interact and improvise and set up anywhere. There were no large groups or orchestras. They said our realities shared a culture and a music. They studied us and our music, and many of our songs and innovations came from them. Where does inspiration come from? Some if it came from here, through dreams, reveries and forgotten visits. A fiddle, bassoon and African drum came over and joined the group. More people stopped to listen. We went on until after dark.

The dining halls never closed. We could always get something to eat, even though we had to walk a little to get there. I had the gumbo left over from yesterday and some bread and pie. The bread always tasted like bakery bread. The food here was good. After we got ready for bed, Brook asked me to sleep next to her. We cuddled together, and she held me in her arms all night. I had never felt so safe in my whole life. I tried to stay awake for a while to enjoy the sensation of her naked body against me. I saw Altair caressing Ginkgo in front of me and felt happy for them. If anybody fucked that night, it didn't wake me up this time.

Size Matters

In numbers class the next day with Ryan we studied decimals. It was something like dollars and cents, but I was mostly lost. The teacher said that was okay, I would learn about fractions later. He showed me some more addition and subtraction. It was starting to make sense. I learned a few more Arabic and French words.

A hominid child is born after seven months instead of nine. Newborns are much smaller, and healthy even though they look premature. A girl stays with her child and nurses it for at least the first year. She gets small breasts and wears a tank top for support instead of a bra. The child is out of diapers at three months since she starts to fuss when she needs to go and her mother helps her. There are some jobs reserved for mothers with infants, so they can work if they want to. After a year the toddler can go to daycare and the mother can go back to work or school. Children talk and use numbers sooner. A four year old hominid is about 3 foot 4 and around 35 pounds, just like a human. He starts puberty then and grows another 2 to 7 inches, to about the height of a human five year. They lose body fat and gain muscle, so they look more like six or seven year olds and weigh 40 to 50 pounds. A boy's voice doesn't change, and he has no adam's apple or adult body odor. Girls have hips like a boy and don't have skinny arms. Everyone gets enough exercise to have some muscle. A girl can control whether she ovulates and menstruates, and whether she implants after conception. A boy can ejaculate without emission so that his semen has no sperm, and can orgasm without ejaculation. They don't need to use birth control, and they have eliminated all social diseases. Sex is always safe. The boys have a small penis, but that's a good thing for the girls.

Most doctors were paid by the health department, and they all used traditional and modern medicine. Herbs, diet, exercise, massage, meditation, hygiene, antiseptics and antibiotics. They set broken bones, but there was no surgery. There were no hospitals or nurses. Doctors made house calls and people were cared for at home. Birth was easy and all midwives were doctors. People had fewer diseases and accidents, but catastrophic illnesses and injuries were often fatal. They were all able bodied. If they survived, doctors could lead them through meditation techniques to grow new limbs, teeth and nerves using precursors to egg and sperm cells, the only cells in the body that don't age. There was a genetic counseling service to help people decide whom to have children with. They lived for 120 to 130 years.

From my reality they had microscopes, telescopes, trucks, and narrow gauge railroads. The tracks were 2 feet 4 inches apart, which scaled up to human size would be 3 feet 6 inches. But at home they were 4 feet 8 and a half inches. Narrow gauge was easier and cheaper to build and did less damage to the environment, but could carry less stuff. They didn't use as much stuff and much of it was local, so it worked for them. Except for grains and beans, cities grew most of their own food. They had electricity for lights, streetcars, kitchens, laundries and factories, but their lights were much dimmer and they used more daylight. They used radio for news, weather, live music, plays, and storytelling, but a lot of people didn't bother having one. They went to performances of live music, plays, dance, gymnastics, poetry and storytelling. They felt no need for television. Their sports were mostly participatory. Gymnastics, kick boxing, judo, tai chi, running, swimming, basketball, volleyball and soccer.

They had a stable technology and remained mostly agricultural. There were far fewer people and no big cities. New Orleans was a lot smaller. Much of Europe was still covered with forests, and buffalo still roamed the American plains. They watched what worked for us and what didn't, and found their oil and minerals in the same places we did. They had no cars, highways or long distance trucking, and much less air travel. They could get places by ship and rail. They mostly avoided telephones and were still trying to decide how they wanted to use computers. They could remember stuff and were all lightning calculators, so they didn't have as much need for them. In telling you all this stuff I am not trying to sound smarter than I really am, I am just trying to repeat what I was told while I can still remember it.

It was raining that afternoon, so we went to the YMCA instead of the park. It was free. A lot of the same people were doing sports, playing music, talking story, and hanging out. There were no treadmills or exercise machines. They did have a pool. It wasn't really for young male Christians, they just called it that. I hadn't noticed any churches even though I had been going to religion class. We watched Tank, Brook and Altair play basketball with some other kids. I don't think they were keeping score. A lot of the kids playing basketball and other sports were naked. The rest wore briefs, and a some wore shirts. They wore sweatbands to tell who was on which team. They were all barefoot. The only sport people seemed to wear shoes for was soccer. There wasn't any fucking, kissing or masting. People didn't seem do sex in public indoors. I went with Ginkgo went she left for her tai chi class. I wanted to see what it was like.

The room was smaller but spacious. She introduced me to her instructor. He welcomed me and suggested I warm up with them and try to follow along through the form. I said thank you and stripped down to my briefs. There were a few other people who weren't naked. Then I decided I might as well take them off off too, so I did. Ginkgo smiled at me. I smiled back, in spite of the fact that she had pubic hair and I didn't. Everybody here learned some tai chi as part of movement class in middle school. I was old enough for middle school, but the instructor could see by my hair I was a visitor wouldn't know anything. I was a little nervous. We started with slight squats. I was supposed to keep my back straight. Then turning from side to side and arm movements. Nothing strenuous.

The form started with Beautiful Ladies Hands, raising and lowering your arms and just standing there. Then Ward Off, turning and raising your arm to both sides. Then Roll Away, turning and swinging your arms back. Then Press, a push forward. Then Push, which seemed like the same thing. Then Single Whip, which was more complicated. After that I got lost. I tried to sort of do what everybody else was doing and not get in the way. The instructor led us through the movements and kept up a running commentary the whole time. I liked some of the names. White Crane Spreads Wings, Needle at Sea Bottom, Wave Hands like Clouds, Snake Creeps Down, Strike Ears with Fists. After that we went over one of the movements in detail, Repulse Monkey, walking backwards while waving your arms. There was a lot more to it than that, but I thought it was fun even if it was a little silly.

That night Ryan asked me to sleep next to her. She was a boy, but I decided it didn't make any difference. After we were in bed I watched Ginkgo caressing Socks next to us. Then I turned to Ryan and started running my hands over her body. She felt good. After a while she said she liked me rubbing her skin, but she could teach me a little about massage if I wanted her to. It wasn't complicated. I said okay. She lay on her back and said to feel the muscles along the top of her upper arm. That was what muscles felt like. I should press on them like clay or bread dough, but maybe not so hard. If I found any lumps, I should work on them and try to loosen them. They were knots and blocked the blood. If I got the blood flowing, it would help loosen the muscle. I could also get at those muscles from the side. There were more muscles on the other side of the arm. I worked on both her arms and started to figure out what I was doing. It must have felt good because she got an erection. I could see her penis bouncing slightly.

She asked me to find the pulse in the side of her neck. I found it easily on both sides. She told me to never press along there. I could easily strangle someone without realizing it by cutting off the blood to the brain. Then she turned onto her stomach had me work on the back of her shoulders and inside her shoulder blades. Then down along both sides of her spine. Then start at the top of her buttocks and work all the way down both sides. There were a lot of big muscles there. Then she said that was enough. I could learn about the rest later. She had me lie on my side and massaged my neck and back and buttocks like Ginkgo had been doing to Socks, and Altair to Ginkgo last night. It felt really good, and I understood a lot more about what I had just been doing when I felt her doing it to me. I told her her hands felt big. She said hominid hands were only slightly bigger than human hands, proportionally, but they seemed bigger because none of them had small hands. I didn't know if that made sense.

Questions

The next day Ryan, Socks and I dropped off the laundry on our way to school. It would be delivered back to the house that afternoon. The house supplied clean sheets and towels, along with toothpaste, soap, and other stuff. Ezra said it was a more efficient system. I asked didn't people waste stuff? She said no, everyone was careful, just like with water, electricity and food. Since people couldn't lie or forget what they did, no one could say he wasn't wasting stuff if he was. Truth made a lot of things easier. I said I was beginning to see that.

Religion class started with a short group meditation. Almost everyone meditated somewhere between 10 minutes three times a week, and 30 minutes twice a day. Ezra and the others sat and meditated in the morning or the evening. I'd seen people meditating in the park. I learned that religion was meditation, awareness, focus, communication, ethics, responsibility, respect, connection, contribution, support, nature, music, art, dance, tai chi, yoga, gymnastics, massage, relaxation, sensuality and sex. Its practice included the Six Perfections. These were generosity, ethics, patience, enthusiasm, concentration and wisdom. The most common prayer was the Four Immeasurables.

May all beings know happiness and the causes of happiness.
May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all beings never be separated from the great happiness that is beyond all misery.
May all beings dwell in equanimity, unaffected by attraction and aversion.

It invoked love, compassion, joy and equanimity. Whether people prayed to God, the Universe, Spirit, themselves or nothing was a personal matter and considered unimportant. The need to have others believe the same thing you did indicated a lack of faith. Their scriptures included the Tao Te Ching, Chuang Tzu, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, Gilgamesh, Jeremiah, Sappho, John, Rumi, Donne, Blake and Thoreau.

Who are we? People had different ideas and beliefs, but no one could prove anything. People had tried, but that was the difference between science and religion. Religion was about things that could be experienced but not proved. They didn't have churches, but religious counselors, teachers and lay persons held talks, discussions and classes in theaters, storefronts and the Y at various times throughout the week, for those who wanted them. They also taught the religion class in grade school. Ginkgo's tai chi instructor was considered a religious teacher. So were many yoga, music, dance and sport instructors. Doctors, therapists and masseurs were religious counselors. Most people considered their work to be part of their religion. It was Taoist without gods or magic, and Buddhist without reincarnation or emptiness. It was flexible enough that everybody in the world could feel connected by religion rather than separated. It was the faith itself that was important, rather than what the faith was in.

They didn't have holidays or give presents. People took short vacations or might take a sabbatical, which was one year off out of every three or four. Their work day was shorter and they could take time off. There were festivals on Cross Quarter and Quarter days. These were may 1, aug 1, oct 31, feb 2, the solstices, and the equinoxes. Christianity and Islam hadn't spread even though the cultures associated with them had. And since everyone was smart and respected and got lots of sex, there were no disruptive students. People could get attention in other ways.

They ate mostly grains and vegetables. Hominids didn't need to eat protein, and I wouldn't be here long enough for it to matter. From the Americas they got corn, squash, beans, peppers, sunflower seeds, strawberries, black cherries, tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, avocados, peanuts and chocolate. From Europe they brought wheat, oats, peas, chick peas, lentils, garlic, onions, dates, olives, broccoli and carrots. From Asia they got rice, oranges and ginger. From cows and chickens they got cheese, butter and eggs. They used milk only for cooking. They ate small amounts of beef, chicken, fish and bivalves cooked with rice or noodles, or in soup. There were no steaks, burgers, sausages or filets.

The moon regulated one of their practices. For five days during the full moon, different people within a group had various kinds of sex off and on all night. It didn't always have to be to orgasm. Also for three days during the waxing and waning crescents. There was less sex for six or seven days during the new moon and at other times. It was common at the full moon for at least two girls and only one boy to visit another group for two or three nights. The same or different people might then visit a third group. At the waxing crescent it was the other way around, at least two boys and only one girl. At the waning crescent people stayed home. A group might exchange 20 to 30 visits with 2 to 8 different groups over the course of a year. It was a good way to build connections between groups, which might otherwise become isolated. It was much different from what I thought of as religion. A person could also visit at other times or change groups if he wanted.

After school I went with Tank and Altair to their gymnastics class at the Y. Everyone wore just briefs, the boys for support and the girls because they spread their legs. A loose shirt is a distraction when you're upside down. They only did the women's events because the men's events were stupid. After their stretches and warm ups I watched Altair work on a Valdez, which is a back walkover from a sitting position. She sat on the mat with one leg bent and the arm pointing forward over the knee, and the other leg straight and the arm behind her and the hand on the mat pointing back. She swung her arm back and pushed up with her leg into a bridge, swung her other leg up into a handstand with an upside down split, and landed with one leg behind the other and her arms up. It looked impressive. The instructor spotted her and told her to keep her leading leg straight first, and then her trailing leg.

At dinner that evening I said I hadn't seen any grocery stores. I asked if everyone ate in dining halls? Ezra said yes. It was a more efficient system. Nobody needed kitchens, dishes or tables. They didn't have to shop for food, prepare meals or clean up. I said wasn't it more expensive to have others do things for you than to do them yourself? She said not if everyone did it that way. Each dining hall served 200 to 500 people, who had to sign up. There was an economy of scale, and with more people working the tax rates could be lower. The extra time you had to spend at work was less than the time you would spend doing the things yourself. The work week was 30 hours, and no one had to work who didn't want to. People liked their jobs and didn't spent time sitting around doing nothing. The service corps that helped with some of the less interesting jobs was mandatory for all young people. It was better than military service or missionary work. I asked what sort of jobs they helped with? She said police, fire, office work, farm work, food work, cleaning up and trash collection. I said I hadn't signed up at the dining hall. She said she had signed me up as a short term guest. Except for snacks, you could only get food at dining halls and bistros. I said oh, thank you.

Outside afterward as we sat in the park and I listened to the fountain, I asked if there were any dogs? Ezra said only out on farms, not in the city. People had each other for companionship. Besides, dogs were pack animals, leaving one alone all day would be cruel. I said what about the suburbs? She said there weren't any suburbs, people lived in cities or on farms. But farms had lots of workers and people, and even more when the service corps came to help with the harvest. They were really villages. I said what about blind people? I had to explain about guide dogs. She said there weren't any blind people. They could grow new eyes, just like newts. She had to explain about salamanders. Then I asked about cats. She said some groups and buildings had cats for aesthetic or spiritual reasons. They made more sense in the city than dogs.

That night Ezra asked me to sleep next to her. After the lights were out she said three. I said what? She said it was a code. Had I heard other people saying numbers to each other at night? I said yes, but I didn't know what it meant. She said they were levels of sex. Two was assumed unless someone said something different. One was cuddling, holding someone or each other without moving the hands much or thrusting. Two was caressing, massaging someone and only touching the nipples or genitals in passing. Three was kissing, and included touching the nipples. Four was dry sex, humping against someone, possibly to orgasm, without using the hands on the other person's genitals. Five was manual sex, touching someone else's genitals, and included sucking the nipples. Six was oral sex, sucking or licking someones genitals. Seven was fucking, genital sex. Zero was masting, self sex, for when you didn't want to do anything with the other person. When someone said a number you said a number back. The lowest number won. Within any level you could be more specific about what you wanted or didn't want. No always meant no, you didn't ask why not.

Then she said that she'd said three. It meant she wanted to kiss me. I said oh, um, three. So she did. It started out like a kiss I gave my mother, but it kept going, like the ones in the movies, except really on the lips instead of just pretending. My lips felt sort of dry. She sucked on the top one and nibbled it a little. It felt incredible. Her tongue moistened them and the kiss worked better. I sucked back. Her hand moved over my chest and brushed my nipple. My nipple was sensitive and it didn't feel good. She rolled more on top of me. I liked that and put my arm around her. I felt her erection pressed against my leg. I brushed her lips with my tongue, and she brushed my tongue with hers. We kept going. Later I heard Tank say six and Brook say six back, then Tank asked Brook to do her. I looked over when I had a chance and saw them kissing. When Ezra and I stopped to rest, Brook was lying on her stomach with her head between Tank's legs. I understood why the beds were oversized. Even so, her feet were sticking off the end. Tank was sucking her lip, and Brook seemed to be enjoying herself as she held on to Tank. After a minute Ezra and I looked back at each other and decided we'd rested enough. I liked it when she caressed my buttock. I could tell without looking when Tank was in fact done.

Madness

I joined Ryan and Socks for their meditation the next morning. We did some stretching then sat on the floor with a timer. It was cool enough outside the covers for a shirt and briefs. The hardest part was keeping my back straight. I kept slouching. I would occasionally remember I was supposed be meditating and straighten up and look at my breathing again. It was like in class, and easier than trying to fall asleep since I knew it was only ten minutes. I just sat there and then it was over. I took off my clothes again before grabbing my towel and heading down the hall so I wouldn't have to keep track of them while I was in the shower.

In the year of grade school there were eight terms of languages, four of music and numbers, and two of theater, religion, anthropology and computers. The options for music were violin, ukulele, flute, hand drum, theory, voice and group. You could try different types of instruments, or if you knew what you wanted to play you could take theory, voice and group. People studied informally, on their own, or took classes outside of school after that. Almost everyone either played something or studied voice. I took uke. It's like a small guitar with four strings. Kids learned to play scales, tunes and chords, and took turns playing melody, counterpoint and accompaniment. I started on scales. I liked them. I was pleased that I could play anything that sounded like something. Other kids practiced scales with me, and I got to pretend my scale was a song while other kids played counterpoint around it. It was fun. They had many of the same instruments we did, but they didn't have keyboards, drum sets, or orchestras. Keyboards were mostly for playing alone, and they were all cumbersome and unnecessary. They thought brass instruments were too loud for small groups and didn't have those either.

After school Socks and I met Ezra, Tank and Altair at the Park. Also Forth, Fifth and Tau. Tau was a boy and served as a sort of chaperone or witness for the two girls. Neither term really applied in this case, but the role was traditional. It was the start of the full moon observance, and they would be staying with us for two nights. Brook, Ginkgo and Ryan were off visiting their group. Forth and Fifth were introduced as twins. I asked how that could be since one of them was European? Forth said twins were kids born in the same group within two months of each other. There were rarely more than two, but they were defined as transitive. I asked what that meant? She said if A and B were twins, and B and C were twins, then A and C were twins even if A was three months older. And no, they didn't have three older twins, their mothers just named them that way. I looked around and saw a few people fucking on the grass. We joined in some games and sat around, then headed off for a bistro.

The bistro was crowded and not too big, but Altair had reservations. Lots of people went out during the full moon and waxing crescent. We ordered at the counter, got our water and settings, and sat down. They had terry cloth napkins. A band was setting up on the small stage. There was no sound system so it didn't take long. There was guitar, drum, and a lead singer on uke. They introduced themselves as Thud and started with Get Back, followed by Somebody to Love, Maggie May, Layla, and Stark Raven, which was about madness as the chaos before creation. The waiter brought our food. We were having a chocolate cake. It was moist but denser and less sweet than I was used to. It had dark chocolate frosting and whipped cream and was really good. I asked Ezra how we could eat chocolate cake for dinner? It seemed like they always ate healthy food. She said they did. It was fresh and local and didn't have a lot of chemicals. Their bodies could make any amino acid or vitamin they required, so all they needed were calories and a few minerals. They didn't get hungry for more than they could use. I asked how that was possible? She said selective breeding.

Back when agriculture started, the population increased. People knew this wouldn't work in the long run. They knew how to breed animals, so they did the same thing to themselves. Females developed the ability to control their own fertility, and the population decreased. Not to be outdone, males developed the same ability. They went on to make their lives healthier and longer. There was disagreement about what to do next. They realized the breeding program couldn't continue if people didn't trust each other, so they bred out the ability to tell lies. This turned out to have a lot of other benefits, and their civilization flourished. Other cultures joined them. Those that didn't were outcompeted. Hominids have always been a peaceful species.

People with genetic deformities were not allowed to have children. Normal people were allowed to have one child to maintain the diversity necessary for program to work, and so that they would support the program. They could also adopt other children. Some chose not to have a child. People were more concerned with improving the race than with having lots of kids, and all genetic records were public. People with desirable traits could to have three or more children, depending on their rating. If there was too much disagreement about whether a trait was desirable, they would try it out and see. Hominid generations were short. Girls usually had children between ages 7 and 24, so a gifted female might have nine. It was easier for boys to have more children, so the standards were higher for them. Many people used the genetic counseling service to find a compatible person to have a child with or to screen possibilities.

I said there must be more to it than that. People couldn't breed animals to do the things hominids could do. She said I was right. There were a small number of people with special abilities. They could sense plants, animals, molecules, thoughts, music, time, gods and realities in some way that no one understood. They could know anything. Some said they could walk through walls and control fire with their minds. Those were the ones who had developed the breeding program. No one knew how many there were, or if they still existed. No one wanted to know. It was the only secret in their reality. Most believed they were still helping them. I didn't know if I should believe her.

Thud had finished their first set. When they came back, Sand, the lead vocalist, said he needed some help with the next song. Would we please welcome to the stage his good friends, Forth and Fifth. Everyone applauded and cheered. I stared. They were standing up and waving and seemed to be well known. I had heard Forth sing when she played her guitar in the park the other day and knew she was good, but I'd had no idea. When they were ready the guitar played the intro, then they broke into the three part harmony of Heartless Hoping. It was different from the version I was used to but just as good. I was amazed and wanted another song. So did everyone else. I had thought the room was quiet, but I was wrong. After a soft collective gasp when the uke and guitar started their intro, everything stopped moving and all other sound vanished. When they got to the lyrics I understood why. It was Guinnevere, and they were even better than the original. It was as if the song had been written for their higher voices. It flowed gently over us. I was even more amazed. When they finished there was no reaction. Then a soft applause started, as if people didn't want to disturb what had just happened. There was no way they could top that. The two of them made their way back to the table and sat down.

I said thank you, and asked them about the first song. Why had they sung a song from my reality that had so little relevance to theirs? Fifth said she wasn't sure why she liked it. Maybe as a warning. Maybe because it had numbers in it. Maybe it was hopeful. The two people in the song were trying to love each other even though they didn't know how. I asked her about the second song. She said it did come from here. Forth had written it, and it had crossed over to my reality as an inspiration. All the best songs were in both our realities. I asked if they had their own band? She said no. Sometimes they sang with just guitar or with Thud, sometimes with others. They liked singing with different people. Since the band was named after the drummer and the guitarist was Urth, together they were Urth, Sand, Thud, Forth and Fifth. She pronounced Sand with two syllables, sa-nd, and after an instant I got the joke.

We got up and started dancing when everyone else did. The music wasn't loud. The lights were dim except for spots on the dance floor and stage. People took off their clothes when they got warm. A staff person wearing a white shirt and briefs danced around the wooden floor with a mop. Everyone else knew how to dance but no one cared that I didn't. We sat down and rested a couple times but finally dried each other off and caught a streetcar home. It was free. Ezra said they ran all night even if empty so people could always get home, there just weren't as many. I looked out the window and watched the nearly full moon glide over the buildings. I put on my windbreaker after I cooled down. When we got home we left the blinds up. After I got ready for bed I crawled in next to Tank and watched Ezra fuck Fifth for a while. There was enough moonlight to see everything clearly.

I didn't know what woke me up, but there was still stuff going on. She didn't seem to be asleep, so I said three to Tank. She looked over at me and said four. I said four back without waiting. I didn't know why I said it but was glad I did. And I kissed her anyway. I had a little better idea what I was doing this time. She responded well. I ran my hand over her front. She had big grown up nipples on a little girl chest, but she was an adult here. I brushed her nipple softly to see what would happen. She seemed to like it, so I did it again. Then I felt it with my fingers and squeezed it very gently. She broke off our kiss to say harder. So I squeezed it harder, and harder, until she started kissing me again. I climbed halfway onto her so I wouldn't have to twist my neck so much. I couldn't keep up with her tongue, so I didn't try. I just let her know that mine was still there. I griped her thigh more firmly with my legs and started humping her. It felt good but different from humping my fingers. The motion did something to my breathing. It interfered with it until I started breathing from my chest and belly at the same time. Then all that air turned out to be exciting.

When I pulled my attention away from her lips again, I noticed I was breathing mostly from my belly. My body knew what to do even if I didn't. And there was something stirring inside my belly. Tank was humping me too now, so I pressed my hip more firmly into her crotch. I could hear her pubic hair grinding against me. I had never been this close before and was feeling very pleased with myself. I wondered if Tank was going to come. She seemed excited enough. The idea of making her come increased my own excitement, and I felt it rise up and come crashing down on me in my first orgasm ever. I was thrusting and gasping and thought I was exploding all over the bed, but it was a great way to die. I was just sorry they would have to clean up all the little red bits of me. Then I heard Tank whispering to me and guiding me back and discovered I was still alive. That was the third thing I didn't believe that night.

The next time I woke up I saw Forth sucking Altair over on the other bed. She seemed to be more excited than Altair was. She was bending over her and moving her head around on her penis. Her hand was pumping up and down on the shaft. Her other hand was between her own legs. I wondered if Altair was thrusting at her in her sleep. After Forth came, Altair seemed to livened up a little and I heard a couple grunts. Forth seemed satisfied and slowed down. I didn't stay awake long enough to see if she actually let go.

Twins and Queens

I walked to school with Socks the next morning, but Ryan was in class when I got there. We each had the same classes every day. In anthropology class we were learning about cities and governments. The Europeans had negotiated permission and built port and river cities in the Americas. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Boston, Baltimore, Jacksonville, Tampa, New Orleans, Memphis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Havana, Santo Domingo, Caracas, Panama, Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro. The Iroquois, Navaho and other tribes lived in the rest of both continents. They built Denver, San Diego and a bunch of other cities. The Europeans did most of the manufacturing and finance. The Americans did most of the agriculture and transport. Both did business, construction and mining. Africans came as agricultural workers, like the Asians in Hawaii. They hadn't been paid much beyond room and board, but soon set up their own neighborhoods and businesses within the European community.

There were around 800 cities in the world, none with more than 120 thousand people, plus another 6 thousand in the surrounding villages to help provide food. There were no nations or states. Cities governed themselves and their villages. Other villages and rural areas could associate with a city if they wanted to. It was convenient for a hominid city to be across from a major human city since we shared a culture. Johannesburg, Cape Town and Lagos were the only European cities in Africa. Australia had Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. There were no European cities in Asia or the Pacific. The global population was estimated to be 62 million. There was much less trade between hominid cities than between ours.

People did not accumulate wealth beyond a certain point. They cared much less about stuff. There were no absentee landlords or publicly traded corporations. People saved up and pooled their resources to start a business. The tax structure was much simpler. There were ten income tax brackets based on deciles of taxable income. They were adjusted annually. A decile is like a percentile only bigger. The part of a person's income in the first bracket was not taxed. The part in the second bracket was taxed at 10%, up to the part in the tenth bracket taxed at 90%. There was a large standard deduction that was the same for everyone. There were no other deductions or joint returns. The tax rate was adjusted as needed by changing the standard deduction. Since the tax system was so simple, employees did not have to pay any income tax. Their employer paid it instead. This was just a bookkeeping device, since all employee income tax ultimately came from the employer anyway. If you had more than one job, you reported your incomes to your other employers and let them worry about it. Taxes were based on pay periods instead of years. People who had other non trivial income or worked for themselves did some or all of their own taxes. There was no sales tax or property tax. Your money was only taxed when you received it or you died. You couldn't give away significant amounts of money without whoever got it being taxed.

Nobody had to work. The city provided adequate food and housing subsidies to all its citizens regardless of need, plus a small living allowance. Water, electricity, healthcare, and some other services were free. People liked to work, and liked nicer rooms and dining halls, but companies had to make their jobs attractive and treat people well. A company could not pay anyone more than ten times as much as anyone else. What wealth people had was stored as property and credit. Metals had no value as a medium of exchange except when made into coins, like paper money. People had only been interested in the gold of Central America as art and history. All debt expired after seven years, even between cities. You got a much different government when people couldn't lie.

After school Socks and I joined our group and guests by the public baths. They were free. It was a large ornate building, and of course everyone used the same changing room. We went in, got undressed, picked up a towel, showered, and walked over to the main bath. It was some combination of Roman, Harem and Japanese baths. Showers were nice, but baths with other people were nice too. They were a social event. You ran into people or met people and could talk while sitting or floating around, without anything else going on to distract you. Or not. I admired the big marble arches and high windows.

I asked Tank what high school was like. She said it was like college for kids who were 5 and 6. The schedule was the same as middle and grade school, but the classes were calculus, statistics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology and economics. Everyone studied the same things. Literature and history had been covered in middle school, and languages in grade school. It was two years, so they took more terms of each course and studied different branches of each subject. By this time the students could mostly teach themselves by reading, studying and talking to each other, so they did, with guidance from the teachers and guests. It was intense, but instead of spending 25% of their lives as children and students, people only spent 5%.

Afterward people worked or did their service requirement for two or three years. Then they could specialize during grad school in medicine, law, engineering, architecture, education, or something. Music and the arts didn't require more formal training, people learned those in other ways. Then we talked about sex for a while. It was mostly the same in spite of our species and attitudes being different. All kids were sensualists until they were taught not to be. I said I wanted to try the massage room, and she went with me. I learned an awful lot while lying on the floor with my eyes closed. Ryan was good, but this was an experienced professional. It wasn't the most fun you could have with your clothes off, but I thought maybe I had found what I wanted to be when I grew up.

It was late when we got to the dining hall, and then it was time for sex. I wanted to read some first, so I got my books and went into the common room. Some other people had the same idea. There weren't any chairs, we just sat on the carpet. I'd gotten slightly harder books from the library on religion and other things I was interested in. The longer I stayed here, the better my brain worked. Ezra had said I would pick up their traits in this reality and lose them when I went home. She said I could learn stuff, and she was right. Visiting here was a lot different from going across the street. I didn't wake anyone up when I went back for my towel and toothbrush. I would miss being able to walk down the hall naked. I couldn't do that even at home. When I got back to the room again, Ezra was fucking Forth and the others seemed to be resting between bouts. I crawled in beside Fifth.

A five person bed like ours was a queen, 80 by 60 inches. A twin bed was 50 by 60, for sleeping with twins. It's the smallest. There were also seven and nine person beds. A full was 110 by 60, for a full house, and a king was 140 by 60. The covers were all the same size, you just used more of them. There was a difference of opinion about whether three sets of covers were enough for nine people, but most beds were for five or seven.

Uh, hurm, huh? Oh, sister. I seemed to have more of them now, but it was nice, like it used to be. I snuggled into her softness and warmth. I felt so safe. Fifth said five, a voice I would never forget. I said five, it was a nice name. I opened my legs, remembered to wet my lips, and felt an arm reach down under the covers. I seemed to have an extra hand. Yes, that was nice. It wasn't quite the way I usually did it, but I liked it. I would have to remember this. I drifted off to the place I went. There were others there now. It was different. There was Socks next to me, sucking Tau, who looked as young as she did. Good for them, I was glad. I had always liked socks. I felt something out there. Hello, you're more friendly now. Yes, that's it, I won't hurt you. Mmm. Ah. Uh. Oh, oh, oh, ah, mmm. Yes, that's good. I love you.

When I woke up later Fifth wasn't there. I seemed to have switched beds somehow. Tank was kissing Altair next to me. Hands were moving. I felt joy at their great happiness and went back to sleep.

The Dance

We all went to breakfast late the next morning. It was saturday. I had eggs and grits, and took a bun for later. Some of the others had pancakes. I decided I didn't need juice in the morning. Water was okay. It didn't hurt my throat. Forth, Fifth and Tau left after breakfast with much hugging and kissing, and we went back to the room to wait for Ginkgo, Brook and Ryan. This was my last day here, and I was scared. We greeted each other warmly when they came in. It was good to have them back, but no one jumped right into bed. Ginkgo and Altair did decide a short nap would be nice, so we left them cuddling under the covers. Outside, I said I'd like to walk around the city and see more of it. Ezra and Tank said they'd come with me.

We took a streetcar to the French Quarter. The city wasn't nearly as spread out, and there were more streets between the ones I knew since all the buildings were smaller. I saw one ship on the river. I had learned there was shipping and travel but not nearly as much. Jackson Square was there, and the St Louis Bath House. We walked up to Bourbon Street. There were no cars, but streetcars went by fairly often. Lots of people were out walking around, and we wove our way through them. Since I was nearly as big as everyone else, there was less danger of my being trampled. There were no tourists and no stores selling postcards and junk. There were a lot of Indians, whom they called Americans. I asked what the rest of the people were called? Ezra said citizens, which meant city dweller and included those in the surrounding villages. They might also be Creole, African, French, Spanish, Irish, German, Italian, Greek, Asian or European. People came here from a lot of different places. There were no nations, but it was easier to refer to regions than to cities. Europe included North Africa and the Middle East. Australians didn't travel much. The generic term for someone from a different continent was barbarian.

I didn't see any bars, and there would be no point to strip clubs. I asked if anyone drank anything besides water? Tank said some bistros served herb tea. There was no alcohol or coffee. People ate fruit without squeezing it. I saw lots of bistros and could hear jazz coming from some of them. There were massage parlors, but they actually did massage. There were more parks, with people running around or relaxing in the shade. I asked if they had Mardi Gras? They both said no. Ezra said people went out every full moon and waxing crescent, and for the cross and quarter festivals. Other people avoided the crowds and went out other times.

We stopped in front of a clothing store. Ezra said he had wanted to buy me a coat but I had seemed happy with my windbreaker. I asked why? She said people here had their own coats. They had very few things to call their own, just their shoes, coat, musical instrument, maybe a poster, and a few small items they kept in their locker. Even toothbrushes were often shared. But they liked to have something. I said I wouldn't have wanted her to spend money on me. She said part of the reason people had so few things was so that everyone could have what they needed, and a little extra, without working more than they wanted to. People here cared for each other. They didn't buy food. Their clothes lasted a long time. They got most of their books from the library and remembered what they read. They didn't have the room or desire for much stuff, so shopping was unusual. We went inside. A lot of the clothes were used since people traded theirs in, especially childrens clothes. Most of the clothes looked pretty much alike, which I guess I should have expected. It was like shopping for underwear. Only a few things were sparkly or bright colors. I didn't see anything I would have wanted but was pleased Ezra had thought of me.

We sat down under a live oak in Washington Square, and I shared my bun with them. Tank shared some chocolate cookies she had brought. I asked if they had court houses? Tank said yes, but trials were short. They just asked the person if he had done it and considered the circumstances. People paid compensation and did service work. There wasn't much crime. There was no poverty, and there weren't laws against things people wanted to do. If there was something, then the law was changed. I thought that made sense. Why have speed limits that everyone ignored? She also said there were no tall buildings or elevators.

Then we headed up Frenchmen Street. It wasn't as crowded. There were music studios and art studios, but no record stores and of course no barber shops or hair salons. I stopped under a theater marquee. There were lots of plays and shows listed, including Agamemnon, Macbeth, Cosi fan tutti, Don Juan in Hell, Sweeney and Doris, Talk of the Town, The Cyclical Night, The Monster that Devoured Cleveland, and Isis Unchained. Tank said people went to plays for the story and the poetry, not for spectacle. There were no elaborate costumes or sets. The actors had no trouble remembering lines. A theater could keep as many shows in repertory as people wanted to see and change them with little trouble or expense. We went on and I stopped to look in the window of a jewelry store. There were rings, chains and ear studs, but no necklaces, pendants, broaches, bracelets or other earrings. When we decided we had walked enough we took a streetcar home.

We found Ginkgo, Altair and Ryan at the park when we got back. They were lying in the sun, so I took off my clothes and joined them. There were several people fucking. I closed my eyes for a while. When I opened them I looked at Altair. She was a little quieter than the others and I didn't know her as well, but she was nice. I was curious. When she looked at me I said six. She seemed surprised but said six back. I wanted to touch her penis while it was still soft, so I did that first. It felt about like it looked but didn't stay that way long. I felt it growing and pulsing in my fingers. It was strange. Her erect penis still looked a little soft, but that was only a thin layer on the outside. Underneath it really did feel like something hard, with very little give. Even erect the skin was still loose and slid around easily. I didn't want anything to happen yet, so I stopped moving my hand and kissed her. It was just as nice as with Ezra and Tank.

After a while I started moving my hand again and worked my way down her body until I was staring at her penis. I ran my fingers through her pubic hair. It had a different texture from her head hair. It was kinky and longer and went all directions. It felt coarser. I looked back up and put my tongue out to catch the drop glistening at the top of her penis. I tasted the rest of the tip and put my mouth around it. It wasn't like a tongue, but I liked this sort of kissing too. I went down a little farther to get my tongue where I wanted it. I kept moving my hand up and down and heard her appreciation. Her hips starting moving slightly. I kept going and looked around. There was one person watching us and masting. We caught each others eyes and he smiled a little. I blushed happily and looked back at what I was doing. I kept going and waited to see what would happen. When her breathing deepened a little I sucked harder and gripped more tightly. She thrust harder and then grunted a couple times, and I felt her cum in my mouth. It tasted slippery and was easy to swallow since it was already in back. Sort of like when I had a cold. I slowed down, waited for some more dribbles, and let go. Then I moved up beside her and closed my eyes.

A kids group was made up of people from three to six years old. It was fluid and persistent, with people joining and leaving, but might split in two or combine with another kids group. Kids who had recently finished puberty helped those going through or getting ready for it. When someone left, she joined a peer group, which might remain fluid or evolve into a family group. A family group was less fluid and might or might not have a limited age range, since adult hominids don't age much. A child born or adopted into a family group got a locker and slept with everyone else. She usually engaged in sex only to level two, although kids often touched each other and had pretend sex. A mother was responsible for her child, but the other group members were also parents. There might be a designated or actual father to share responsibility. Parents helped a child choose a kids group to join when she turned three. Infants and toddlers were she.

That night Socks asked me to sleep next to her and hold her. She seemed sad, which was unusual for someone here. After we were snuggled together I asked if something was wrong? She said she was three and had just joined the group at the beginning of the term. She liked touching and cuddling, and everyone was really nice, but she didn't fuck and had never had an orgasm. Sometimes she felt left out. I said I was sorry and hugged her more tightly for a moment. I asked if she wanted to know a secret? She said people didn't have secrets. I said well, it wasn't really a secret. It was just something I hadn't told anybody yet. She would be the first. She said what? I said I never had an orgasm until two days ago. She said really? I said yup, my first one was with Tank. And I never went to school until I came here. I was a year older than her but felt like a baby compared to everyone else. I held her and rocked her until I felt her relaxing in my arms. She said her mother used to do that. I asked where her mother was now? She said down the hall. Her family group had moved here with her when she started school. I thought about that. Sometimes it felt like my family forgot about me. I asked how many were in her family? She said eleven, all of them her parents. She was the last kid to move out. I thought about that too. I asked if she wanted me to touch her? She said five.

I wet my fingers and reached down under the covers. I had only done this to myself before. She opened her legs, and sighed when I made contact. I tried to remember if I had done this differently a year ago. I tried to be firm but gentle. After a few moments she started purring. It wasn't like a cat, but I don't know how else to describe it. She went off someplace. Maybe it was the same place I went. I seemed to remember seeing her there. After a while I couldn't tell if she was awake, but her body was still responding so I didn't stop. She felt about the same as I did, only smaller. I felt her stir and her breathing change. I pressed a tiny bit harder and kept doing what I was doing. Then I felt her tense up and hold it for a moment, and then another, until finally a shudder when through her body and she relaxed again with a sigh. She murmured thank you and drifted off. I wondered if she would remember when she woke up?

House of Cards

The next morning Ezra said seven to me. I wasn't too surprised, but I still said I needed a few minutes to figure out what I wanted. She said okay and closed her eyes. Most of the others must have known what was going on. They gave us our privacy. The room wasn't that big and there were eight naked people in two beds, some engaged in various levels of sex, but they did. It wasn't hard for me to forget other people were there if they didn't talk to me. I looked at Ezra. She was growing pubic hair and already had an erection. I really did want to fuck her. It was just. I don't know. It seemed wrong. Even though the other stuff was sort of okay. I thought about it and realized two things. That I wasn't ever going to be able to decide what I should do. And that I would end up saying yes eventually, I was just putting it off. So I said seven.

She reached out and put her hand on the middle of my chest. I could feel my heart beating. We looked at each other. After we kissed for a while she put some stuff on to make us slippery. I opened my legs, and she reached down and put her penis in me. It didn't hurt. It didn't feel much different. It did feel good. She seemed to have three hands. We moved together like we were made for this. I drifted off to the place I went. She came with me. So did the everyone else. I was glad they were watching us and sharing this. It made me feel safe. I might not be completely real, but I knew this was. I felt something friendly nearby. I said welcome and exploded into a series of gasps with Ezra's thrusts participating in each one. This time I stayed there and waited for Ezra. Maybe I had another orgasm or two, I couldn't tell. Then she gasped, and I felt her coming inside of me. It was weird. Maybe Altair was my first time, but this was good too. She slowed down a little when she was done, then stopped and stayed where she was. Brook said blessed be. Then so did everyone else, so I did too.

We all showered together and went to breakfast. Everyone had pancakes. I was leaving but wasn't able to be sad yet. I asked if other places were different? Tank said not too much. They lived in groups and went to dining halls. Greek and Italian hilltop architecture with stairs, passageways and overhead corridors worked well for groups and was found all along the Mediterranean and in California. Habitats of large concrete modules stacked together were popular in Montreal and the northeast. Other northern cities had skyways like Minneapolis that connected buildings. A few different groups might live together in a Victorian house or a brownstone. Larger groups had two or three connected rooms, or sometimes rooms in different locations. Lots of things worked as long as they had big enough bathrooms. There were no cars or highways, no subways or elevateds, only streetcars and sometimes buses. There were no bathing suits.

We went and played in the fountain again. Afterward I lay down next to Ginkgo. She had a beautiful bottom. I looked at it for a minute and said two. She said two back. I tried to use what I had learned. Later I looked around at the people cuddling, caressing, kissing, humping, touching, sucking, fucking and masting. It looked right. It was what people did. And yet there was no casual sex. It would be with your group, guests and hosts. You called someone with whom you'd been intimate she. Usually after level three or four, always after five, sometimes after one or two if you felt close. It didn't need to be reciprocal. Ezra came over and asked me to walk with her. I said not yet. She said no, not yet. Just walk with her. So I put my towel in the basket and we wandered off.

She said they had no war, no conquest, no slaves, no poverty, no prisons, no armies. Fewer people, smaller cities, and their religious training made them difficult or unnecessary. People got along because they couldn't fool each other or themselves. There were similar races in mostly the same locations as on my world due to immigration rather than invasion. There were no temples, churches or mosques. Everyone lived together peacefully in Jerusalem. There was no Egyptian captivity, conquest of Canaan, Babylonian captivity, Roman occupation, forced Diaspora, Crusades, pogroms, Holocaust or conquest of Palestine. We shared our technology with them, and they shared their humanism with us. They had inspired Moses, Buddha, Socrates, Lao Tzu, Jesus, Hafez, Leonardo, Shakespeare, Rembrandt, Bach and Mozart. They had inspired just as many women but Sappho was the only one we remembered.

They lived within their resources. The Americans had set aside Oklahoma and Kansas as a prairie reserve for bison, prairie dogs and coyotes. They set aside Idaho, Montana and most of Wyoming as a mountain and high plain reserve for elk, bighorn, bison and wolves. No railroads or ranching were allowed. Parts of Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah were a desert and mountain reserve for pronghorn, bighorn and cougars. The Appalachians through Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina were a forest reserve for poplar, chestnut, elk, black bear, red wolves and salamanders. South Florida and the Gulf Coast bayous were bird and alligator refuges. There were redwood, butterfly and marine sanctuaries. There were no huge dams or strip mines. For energy they used small hydro projects, windmills, solar heat, oil and gas. They did use some coal. They didn't build on flood plains. Their world was a little like a third world country except not exploited or overcrowded.

They had ambulances that were staffed by doctors, but there were no hospitals to take people to. There were clinics, but people rarely stayed there overnight. People were cared for at home. Everyone had friends and family, and everyone learned basic care. If they needed extra help there was the service corps. They had visiting doctors instead of visiting nurses. Giving birth was easy for hominids. It was done at home often without a midwife. It might not take long enough for her to get there. It was no more dangerous than lots of other things. If there was a problem it was dealt with. People did what they could and let go if they had to. Doctors never took extraordinary measures. It was harsh but necessary for their way of life.

People who had too many children or were able to lie could easily destroy their world. They couldn't be tolerated. I asked what happened to them? She said some of them were banished to my reality. Their differences were not noticed and soon disappeared. They were changelings and prodigies. I said what about the rest? She wouldn't say. I said I thought people here didn't have secrets? She said they didn't. That was why she was telling me about it. It was something they didn't like to think about. I said I could lie. She said she could always tell when I did. It would only matter if she couldn't. I said I didn't believe her. She said yes, I did. I wasn't sure I wanted to think about that.

We walked around and didn't say much for a while. I held her hand. Their perfect world wasn't so perfect after all. After a while we went to lunch. I asked what she had been doing on my world? She said it was part of her science class, basic reality. I asked if strays often followed them home? She said no, most people who tried to follow them couldn't, and no one over eight could. No giants were allowed. They were big and clumsy and never understood what people were talking about. But there were enough visitors that people were used to seeing them. I asked if they ever stayed here? She said there were some lost kids who became part of this reality. I was afraid to ask the next question. I waited for her to go on. She just sat there and looked at me. I asked if I could stay? She said she hoped so. I was young enough but would be a little behind. I would have wait a year and a day, but the week I'd been here counted. Otherwise I would softly fade away to an intermittent memory. I would have to find my own way back once a month to keep learning and to acclimate. And I would have to remember them. That would be the hardest part.

Then it was time for me to go. If we waited any longer she couldn't get me back to the right time. We went back to the room, and I changed into my dragonfly shirt and other clothes and got my book. We walked back to the park and over to the trees. I said I wanted to say goodbye to the others. She said people didn't do that here. They only said hello. She said to wait a moment and then follow her. I did. I was dizzy for a moment when I thought I passed someone going the other way. Then we were standing in the sun in the part of park I knew. The trees and other natural objects were the same size, but everything else looked bigger and out of scale. She kissed me before she turned around and vanished. I said hello Ezra.

I went over and sat back down on the grass. I could hear the boys playing basketball. I opened my book and read about Pussy Willow again. I liked the pictures of the little cat and all the creatures he met. The wind moved the new leaves on the trees. My big sister came and stood over me. I squinted up at her and thought she looked strange with her breasts sticking out. No other creatures had breasts, not even cows, goats or coconuts. She asked who that boy was I was kissing? I said what boy? She seemed confused.

But I did. I remembered strange dreams. I remembered a furred tail upon nothingness. I remembered a little girl with a penis who went back to the realms of the unreal. I remembered what I had to do.

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