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 OUR PLACE

   I think I've finally made up my mind about what I want to do if and when
I grow up.  I'm a junior at the university now and I've been vacillating
between two majors since I came here but now it seems to be coming
together. I've always enjoyed writing and I've kept a journal since I was
about ten so it's fairly extensive.  Now I'm thinking about tackling a
book. It wouldn't be an autobiography, though.  I'm not interested in
sharing my whole life with the world at large but I think I've compiled
enough interesting events through my twenty years on this planet that they
could be the basis for a pretty interesting novel.  It might be a pipe
dream but, hey, how many writers get their first novel published anyway? 
Scanning through some of my older notebooks, I ran across some stuff that
evoked some memories of an important turning point in my life; and my
sister's life as well.  For reasons that will become obvious, the names are
made up but here's what happened:

   I guess you could say we were practically inseparable, my sister and I.
Oh, we had our fights and disagreements like all kids but for the most
part, we really only had each other to rely on so maybe we were closer than
most sibs.

   Living on a barely profitable ranch in the middle of Nevada didn't offer
many opportunities for social engagement.  Everything was so far apart and
we lived so far out of town that even something as simple as going to a
party with our friends at school was usually out of the question.  Dad
lived only for the ranch and he was about as fatherly as a robot.  As far
as he was concerned, raising children was the mother's job.  Mom was bored
out of her skull and spent a good deal of her energy trying to get into the
hired hand's jeans when she thought Dad wasn't looking.  It was a big joke
among the men and I'm pretty sure Dad knew about it but just didn't give a
damn.  You might add vacuous to the list of Mom's characteristics.

   We weren't physically abused or anything.  Well, at least not much.  We
had pretty much what all kids had except that our folks seemed like they
were counting the days until we were old enough to live on our own and they
could be seen to have fulfilled their parental responsibilities.  The time
I'm thinking about, we'd just turned fourteen - oh, by the way, we're twins
- so they were going to be saddled with us for three more years until they
could ship us off to some college; the further away the better.

   Do I sound like I'm whining and wallowing in self-pity?  I'm not. 
Alexandra and I - I call her Allie - had long since come to a consensus on
what we thought was the secret to surviving our family.  If we played it
cool and hung together we could do OK on our own and not be a `burden' to
our folks who clearly would rather be doing anything other than raising
kids.  Is it any wonder that we clung to each other?

   Our daily routine included after school chores.  Mine was looking after
our five horses and keeping the stable cleaned up.  That usually took about
two hours a day.  We use to have a lot of horses until my Dad discovered he
could do a lot more with ATVs for a lot less money than it cost to keep
horses fed, groomed and medicated.  Allie's duty was helping Mom with the
cooking and keeping the house reasonably clean.  I say helping but in
reality, she cleaned and cooked while Mom parked her derriere on the couch
and read romance novels.  We'd both taken a few 'whuppins' over the years,
as dad called them, mostly for not getting our work done to his
satisfaction.  He couldn't abide laziness.

   We made our little pact somewhere around the age of eleven and for the
most part, it worked.  We made sure we did our work, kept a low profile and
kept our mouths shut around the folks.  In other words, we tried to be as
invisible as possible.  If we could avoid it, we never went to them with
our problems, never asked questions, never asked for anything unless it was
a school requirement.  An outside observer probably would have thought we
were someone else's kids, there was so little interaction between us and
our parents.  We just kind of co-existed in the same house.

   If we weren't in school or doing chores, we were together, either in her
room or mine or out riding our horses somewhere on the ranch.  One of the
few gifts we ever got from Dad was pair of twin colts on our tenth
birthday. We fed them, cared for them and trained them.  When Allie and I
began our great adventure, they were four years old and in their prime;
beautiful matched geldings, gentle as lambs and devoted to my sister and I.
We named them Thunder and Lightning.  Hey, we were kids.

   During summer breaks or whenever school wasn't in session for some
reason, we'd ride for miles and miles exploring the ranch.  Eventually we
found a favorite place we liked to go that nobody else knew about.  It was
a cave on a rocky hillside about two miles from the house.  We discovered
it by accident one day when we stopped to let the horses rest after a
half-mile gallop.  Allie challenged me to a foot race to the top of the
hill and took off running with me in hot pursuit.  She had already started
her pubescent growth spurt and she was two inches taller than I was so she
had the advantage.  I was about to catcher her when she darted between two
boulders.  When I followed her through the narrow gap, we found ourselves
standing in a cave entrance, maybe seven feet high, five feet across and
disappearing into darkness.

   "Wow, Mark!  I never knew this was here, did you?"

   "No!  This is so cool.  I wonder how far back it goes." I looked around
the floor area covered with fine dirt and didn't see anything but coyote
and rodent tracks and some slither marks where snakes had passed.  I found
a good-sized rock and threw it into the darkness.  It went a good distance
before it bounced off a couple of rock walls.  It was deep.

   "I don't know but let's not go exploring until we have some light,"
warned my sister, always the practical and cautious one.

   "You're chicken!" I taunted.

   "No, just smarter than you.  Look, next time we ride out here we'll
bring a lantern and some stuff for a picnic.  Who knows?  This might be
some old bandit's hideout and there might be stolen money or gold
somewhere."

   "You wish!  It'd still be fun to explore, though.  We could come back
next Saturday if you want.  I can bring my .22 rifle in case there are
varmints."

   "That's a good idea.  Come on, it's getting late and we still have
chores to do.  We don't want to be catching any grief from the parental
units."

   We left the cave and headed back to the house with a feeling of
ownership.  This would be our place and nobody else's.

   The following Saturday, we got up early and made ourselves breakfast and
a few sandwiches to take with us to the cave before Mom was up.  Dad was
already out doing fence repair with one of the hired hands.  Nobody gets up
before he does.  Sometimes I think he doesn't sleep at all.  We got our
chores done early and saddled our horses for the ride out to the cave.  I
found an old oil lantern and a half-full bottle of oil in the tack room and
stuffed them into the saddlebag.  Allie carried the sandwiches and bottles
of water.

   A half hour later we were at the cave.  From the bottom of the hill the
two boulders looked like one.  The gap between them was invisible and too
narrow for the horses to squeeze through so we unsaddled them and let them
graze while we explored our new `special place'.

   The cave entrance faced east so there was a little sunlight coming in
between the rocks and lighting the place up about ten feet in.  It looked
like it widened but there was a lot of dark beyond the sunlit floor.  I
laid the saddlebags off to the side and lit the oil lamp.

   "You ready?" I asked.

   "Ready when you are, Bro.  Let's check it out."

   When we got past the sunlit part, the cave opened up into a chamber
about fifteen feet across.  Further on it looked like it narrowed again,
twisting and turning in the lamplight.  Of course the swinging lamp caused
all sorts of interesting shadows to move around us kicking our imaginations
into high gear.  I still couldn't see anything on the dusty floor but
animal tracks.  That reminded me that I'd forgotten my .22.

   "Dang!  I forgot my rifle."

   "What were you planning to shoot," she joked.  "A ghost?"

   "Har, har!  Very funny!  Come on, let's keep going."

   The floor slanted downward at a fairly steep grade.  We weren't more
than a hundred yards in when Millie squeaked and pushed me against the rock
wall making me bang my head.

   "Ouch!  Damn it, Allie, that hurt," I complained.

   "L-l-look!" she said, pointing into the darkness.

   At first I couldn't see anything but then I did.  Two bright yellow dots
in the darkness and they seemed to be moving toward us.  We stood as still
as stones, hardly breathing as the points of light got closer and closer. I
almost wet my pants when a coyote suddenly bolted past us like a bat out of
hell.  I don't know which of the three of us was the most frightened.

   I chuckled with my best attempt at bravado, "Just an old coyote.  He
probably won't come back since the smell of humans is in the cave now."

   "I hope not," gasped Allie.  "I know they try to stay away from people
but they still bite if they get cornered and he was almost cornered."

   "Yeah, I guess you're right.  Maybe we need to be more carful."

   There was one more surprise.  We found the end of the cave about another
fifty yards in.  Where the ceiling looked like it nosedived into the cave
floor, there was a little pool of water a few feet across that was fed by a
trickle coming out of a crack in the rock wall.  It reminded me of Bilbo's
first encounter with Gollum.  I scooped water up in my hand and smelled it,
then tasted it.  It was clean and cold.  That alone was quite a find in the
middle of Nevada.  It was no Mammoth Cave like I read about in geography
class but it was still pretty darned big.  And it was ours.

   We headed back to the entrance and ate some sandwiches.

   "This place is so cool, Allie.  You know what?  I want to start bringing
stuff out here to make it a special hideout.  You know, kind of like our
own secret place that nobody knows about.  I bet we could live here and
nobody would ever find us."

   "Why would you want to live here, Doofus?  There's nothing here but dirt
and rocks."

   "Boy!  For a kid, you sure don't have much imagination.  I don't mean
really live here.  I'm just saying that if we ever wanted to be really
alone, we could."

   "Yeah, I guess I see what you're saying." She giggled, "It is kinda fun,
isn't it?"



   *********

   Little by little, through summer vacation, we carted more and more stuff
to the cave.  One day when Dad and Mom were in town for the day, we hooked
a little trailer to one of his ATVs and carted out a bale of hay, an old
three-drawer bureau and two sleeping bags with air mattresses.  I also
found an old Coleman cook stove that I know hadn't been used in years and
two unused bottles of propane.  We kept games and our personal stuff in the
bureau.

   Since Allie served as assistant chief cook and bottle washer at home,
she had access to a whole kitchen full of useful stuff.  Before long we had
a cast-iron skillet, a saucepan and a few cans of ravioli and spaghetti and
several varieties of soup.  Some days we'd make fried bologna and cheese
sandwiches and eat `til we were ready to pop.

   Winters can be pretty raw in central Nevada so we didn't get out to the
cave as often when it started getting colder.  That was the year I did my
own growth spurt and by the time the next spring and our fourteenth
birthday rolled around, I was two inches taller than Allie and had sprouted
hair in all the appropriate places.  I'd also discovered the joys of
masturbation and that took up a lot of my time and energy.

   Additional changes in the Alexandra department hadn't escaped my notice.
Seems like every day she looked more and more like a woman with very
attractive bumps and curves.  When she was bouncing around on the back of
her horse in tight jeans and a tank top, it was hard to keep my eyes off
her, hormones affecting male brains like they do.

   By April the weather was getting warm and we spent a lot of our free
time at the cave.  Hard as it was for us to believe, Mom actually took
notice and asked us where we were going that we spent so much time away
from home.  We told her we just liked riding around the ranch looking at
stuff.  "Well, don't be gettin' lazy 'bout doin' yer chores 'r yer dad'll
whup yer butt." That was pretty much the extent of her interest.

   The turning point in the lives of Alexandra and Mark Taylor and the
beginning of our big adventure was when we came home from school early one
day because of a gas leak in the school kitchen.  We walked into the living
room to find Mom splayed out on the couch getting banged by George Ortega,
one of the hired men.  Man, they were going at it so hard they didn't even
hear us until we were practically on top of them.  We were just standing
there staring when Mom finally opened her eyes and saw us.

   She gave a yelp and screamed, "Get the fuck out of here, you little
perverts!" At the same time, she pushed George off of her and onto the
floor.  He looked at us and then at her, then made a grab for his clothes
lying in a heap next to the couch.

   We were backing toward the stairway while George was scrambling to get
his pants on but we weren't moving fast enough for Mom.  Trying to get her
blouse buttoned, she screamed again, "I said get out!" That's when she
picked up a heavy glass dish off the coffee table and threw it at us.  I
ducked, Allie didn't.  The bowl caught her square in the middle of the
forehead and she went down like a pole-axed steer.  Blood started pouring
down her face.  Mom looked at her with eyes like saucers and took off out
the door behind George for parts unknown.  So much for maternal instinct.

   It took me a few seconds to get my own brain working.  She couldn't have
been out for more than a few seconds and as she started coming around, I
dashed into the downstairs bathroom and got a wet washcloth.  By the time I
got back to her, she was sitting up and trying to stop the bleeding with
the palm of her hand.  I moved her hand and wiped the blood away enough
that I could see it was only a small cut but it would be on a big knot.

   "Shit, Allie!  Are you OK?" I plastered the washcloth against the cut
and told her to put pressure on it.  That's all could remember of my Boy
Scout first aid training.  I was scared.

   "Don't say 'shit'!  And no, I'm not OK!  It hurts like hell!  Jeez,
Mark, look at my new top.  It's ruined!"

   I looked at her in exasperation.  "Only you could get cold-cocked by
your own mother and be worried about your damned shirt.  Let's get out of
here!  I think she's finally gone over the edge."

   "Where can we go?" Her tears were flowing now and that made me want to
cry myself.

   "Back to the cave!  Where do you think?"

   As I was helping her out to the stable, we saw George's pickup tearing
down the drive toward the highway but we couldn't see if Mom was with him.
We were in a hurry so we didn't even take time to saddle the horses; we
just jumped on and rode bareback to the cave.  We galloped all the way so
the horses were pretty spent by the time we got there.  Allie slid down off
Thunder's back and I helped her up the hill to the cave.  I hoped the
horses would wander back to the stable and not hang around giving away our
hiding place.

   Inside the cave, I guided her to one of the sleeping bags and got her to
lie down.  She was looking pretty pale but I didn't think it was from blood
loss.  It was probably from pain and the shock of what had just happened to
her.  I opened a bottle of water and gave it to her.  It was warm but it
was wet.

   "Thanks, Mark.  I think I'll be OK.  Does it look like I need stitches?"

   "I don't think so.  The cut's only about half an inch long but you're
sure getting a big knot on your forehead.  You just stay down and rest, OK?
Are you hungry?  I could heat up some ravioli or something."

   "Maybe later, thanks.  I hope I don't have a concussion.  If I go to
sleep, I think you're supposed to wake me up every couple of hours to make
sure I'm not brain damaged.  I think that's what the doctor told Mom to do
when you banged your head falling off Lightning last year.  I guess if I
start getting dopey, you'd better ride back to the house and call an
ambulance."

   I tried to lighten her spirits.  "You're always dopey so how would I
know the difference?"

   "Go away, Bro and let me rest."

   I watched her sleep, checking to make sure she was breathing about every
two minutes.  You know how it is when you get something locked in your
head; you just keep going back to it over and over until it's been blown up
into something way bigger than reality.  Well, that's how it was watching
Allie sleep.  I kept imagining the worst and finally I couldn't stand it
any more and woke her up after about an hour to ask if she was OK.

   "Well, I was until you woke me up.  How long have I been sleeping?"

   "I don't know, maybe an hour.  Are you sure you're OK?  I thought your
breathing looked a little strange."

   "I'm fine, Mark!  Quit fussing over me, please!  Um, maybe you could
heat up some of that ravioli now."

   "Coming right up.  I took the bucket down to the pool and got some water
for you to soak your shirt.  Cold water's supposed to be good for getting
blood out, isn't it?"

   "Yeah, it is but I think you have to do it right away.  Besides, I don't
have anything else to put on."

   "Sure you do.  There's a couple of my old T-shirts in the bottom drawer
of the bureau.  Go ahead, I won't look."

   It took a lot of willpower not to peek.  I heard the drawer open and
then the rustle of cloth.  She leaned over my shoulder and smelled the
canned ravioli warming up.

   "I know this stuff isn't good for you but it sure smells good doesn't
it?"

   When I turned to look at her, the first things my eyes focused on were
her nipples making two points on the front of the T-shirt.  I guess blood
had dripped onto her bra as well.  I quickly looked away hoping I hadn't
stared long enough to be discovered.  I poured the warmed contents of the
pan into two bowls and handed one to her along with a spoon.

   "That's a lot!  What'd you do, open two cans?"

   "Well, yeah.  You don't believe that crap on the label about it serving
two, do you?"

   She just laughed and dug in.  It made me feel better knowing she had an
appetite.  When she was done she set her bowl down and asked, "What are we
going to do, Mark?  We can't stay here forever."

   "I don't want to go back while she's still around and I sure as hell
don't want to be the one to tell Dad what happened." I thought about it for
a while.  "You know what?  I think I'll sneak back and pick up some more
stuff for us.  Dad won't be back home yet and if Mom's there I'll just come
back.  She might have gone with George rather than face Dad.  From the look
on her face when she took off out the door, she probably thinks she killed
you."

   "I don't know if that's a good idea, Mark."

   "It'll be OK.  Tell me what you need.  I know we need some Steri-strips
for that cut on you forehead and maybe some aspirin or something for your
headache."

   "Well, I could use some clean clothes and underwear, I guess, and maybe
you should bring out some more food."

   "OK, you just stay out of sight and I'll be back as soon as I can.  I'll
think about what else we need on the way."

   Allie surprised me by reaching out and pulling me into a snug hug.  "Be
careful, Bro."

   Luck was with me in that the horses had only wandered off a few hundred
yards and came running when I whistled.  I climbed onto Lightning and
headed back to the house, Thunder following behind.  From the low hill
behind the house, I got off and crept closer looking for any signs of life.
Nothing.  I checked the garage and Mom's car was gone.  After stabling the
horses and giving them some oats and a bucket of water each, I eased in
through the back door, still not positive the place was empty.

   When I was satisfied it was, I went back to the garage and took my
backpack down form the hook and carried it into the kitchen where I filled
the bottom half of the pack with the kind of food you take on a hike; you
know, Mac-n-cheese, packets of oatmeal, crackers, that sort of thing.  I
threw in a half dozen oranges and a chunk of cheese out of the fridge. 
From there, I went to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and got a box of
bandage strips and some Tylenol.

   Looking at the contents of Allie's dresser drawer, I wished she'd been a
little more specific about what she wanted.  Finally, I just grabbed some
bras, panties, jeans, socks and tops and hoped it was what she wanted.  By
the time I'd stuffed my things on top, the backpack was full and probably
weighed in at fifty or sixty pounds.  I was a strong, healthy boy but I
knew I'd be breathing hard by the time I got back to the cave.  As an
afterthought, I took off my sneakers, tied the laces together and hung them
around my neck and put on my hiking boots.



   *********

   By the time I got back to the cave about an hour later, it was starting
to get dark.  Allie helped me shed the backpack and get everything sorted
out and put away.

   "Did you see anyone?" she asked.

   "No.  It's getting dark so Dad should be in soon.  He probably won't
even notice anything `til his supper isn't on the table when it's supposed
to be.  If Mom has half the brains I give her credit for, she packed her
bags and took off.  I didn't check their bedroom but her car was gone."

   "Well I hope the bitch never comes back, " hissed Allie.  I raised my
eyebrows at that outburst because it was so unlike her.

   I cleaned the little cut on her head again and put a bandage over it. 
The temperature was starting to fall with the onset of darkness so I lit
the lantern and draped a blanket over her shoulders.  I heated some water
on the camp stove to make tea.

   "How about a game of scrabble?" I asked.

   "Sure.  I always enjoy shining a spotlight on your ignorance," she
laughed.  That was a little false bravado on her part because I had a thing
for words and pretty much always kicked her butt.

   We played scrabble and sipped tea for a couple of hours until she
finally conceded defeat and crawled into her sleeping bag to read for a
while.

   As I was rinsing out our cups, we heard thunder off in the distance. 
That was unusual so early in the season so I stepped outside between the
rocks to see if it was coming our way.  I could see the sky lighting up to
the south and it definitely looked like we were going to get rained on.  I
checked out the area in front of the cave entrance to see which way the
water was going to go if we got a heavy rain.  When I was satisfied any
runoff would be away from us, I took off my boots and crawled into my own
sleeping bag.  It wasn't all that late but a lot had happened that day and
I was feeling pooped.

   I closed my eyes and was vaguely aware of the storm coming closer as I
drifted off to sleep.  My eyes popped open with a particularly loud clap of
thunder and I heard the rain pouring down outside.  Allie had turned off
the lantern and was scrunched down in her sleeping bag.

   "Wow!  That was close, wasn't it?"

   "Too close for me," she answered.

   I snugged back into my sleeping bag listening to it come down.

   "Mark?"

   "Hmm?"

   "Um, could we zip the sleeping bags together?"

   "Why, are you afraid the boogey man is gonna get you?"

   She wasn't amused.  "OK, just forget it, creep!"

   Of course I felt like an ass.  After all, the girl had had a very bad
day.  "Sorry, Allie.  I think that's a good idea.  I could do with a little
physical contact about now and I'm sure you could too."

   We crawled out and unzipped them all around, then moved the air
mattresses together and made one double size sleeping bag.  "Do you mind if
I undress down to my underwear?" she asked.  "I really don't like sleeping
in my clothes."

   I'd be lying if I said the idea didn't cause my pulse rate to speed up.
"No, I don't mind if you don't.  I will too if you don't mind." I tried to
sound as nonchalant as possible, not feeling the least bit so.  Allie
crawled under the top sleeping bag in her panties and bra and I slid in
next to her in my boxers, turning on my side facing away from her so my
dick wouldn't make its presence obvious or poke her in the butt with
unintended consequences, i.e., getting a hard on.  I know it sounds
ridiculous but I suddenly remembered that I hadn't brushed my teeth and
crawled out of the bag to take care of that issue.

   "You're really a creature of habit, aren't you Mark?"

   "Yeah, I guess." I got snugged in again.

   She spooned up against my back and put her arm around my chest pressing
her boobs against me.  "G'night, Bro."

   "Night, Allie."

   I lay there feeling her against my body and trying to control my
breathing.  I was afraid she'd figure out I was getting turned on and think
I'd become some kind of a sexual deviant.  After a few minutes, I heard her
snoring quietly behind me and relaxed enough that I could finally sleep. 
The last thing I remember thinking before I drifted off was that I really
shouldn't be thinking about my sister the way I was.

   Sometime during the night, we'd reversed positions.  I was pushed up
against her back and my arm was resting across her side with my hand
practically cupping her breast.  It took a while for the position I was in
to penetrate my sleepy brain.  I started to wake up because her hair was
tickling my nose.  As I turned my head to move away from the source of
irritation, I discovered I had her boob in my hand.  I was completely awake
in an instant.  My lower belly was still against her butt and my dick, with
a mind of its own, began to grow and exert pressure against the warm soft
body only two layers of thin cloth away.  I carefully lifted my hand off
her bra and scooted my butt back a little way before turning onto my back.

   `Damn, that was close!' I thought to myself.

   That was when Allie turned over to face me and said, "I was enjoying
that, Mark.  How come you moved?"

   Shit!  She was awake the whole time!  I was at a loss for words.  My
brain was scrambling to think of something to say that wasn't rude, crude
or idiotic.  "I, uh, was starting to get kind of uncomfortable."

   She giggled, "You were not.  You were starting to get a hard on."

   The little smartass had no intention of letting me off the hook.  "So? I
couldn't help it.  That's why I moved.  A guy shouldn't get like that with
his sister."

   "Says who?"

   "Says everybody, that's who!  It's just not supposed to happen."

   "Come on, Mark.  That's a load of crap and you know it.  You think two
people are supposed to be immune to every biological instinct because they
happen to have the same parents?  What's so wrong about two people making
each other feel good?  Don't you think I'm desirable?"

   "I think you're beautiful, Allie but that kind of stuff is probably
against the law and I know it's against religion.  On top of that, what if
you got pregnant and had a deformed idiot?"

   Allie laughed again and it was starting to piss me off.  "OK, Bro,
listen to yourself.  For starters, I'm pretty sure it isn't against the law
and you're about as religious as the Chinese Prime Minister.  Somehow we
jumped from making someone feel good to fucking and pregnancy."

   I wasn't ready for that, either.  "What's gotten into you, Allie?  You
never talked like that before."

   "I certainly have.  You just never heard me, that's all.  Does the word
'fuck' offend you?  Haven't you ever said it before?"

   "Well, yeah, but not around a girl.  It's rude."

   "You're too much, Mark!" she sighed as she turned over onto her other
side.  "Wake me when you're all grown and we'll try this conversation
again."

   I lay there thinking for a long time.  The more I thought about that
short conversation, the more I was convinced I'd come off like a moron. 
Allie was obviously a lot more honest and mature than I was.  Here I'd been
having secret fantasies about her for ages and then flatly denied my own
feelings when she openly offered to make them come true.  What was wrong
with my brain?  The truth of it was that I wanted to be all over her.  So
why was I being such wuss about it?

   "Allie?"

   "Hmm?"

   "Do your really think it's OK?"

   "I really think it's OK."

   I turned onto my side and spooned against her again putting my hand
tentatively on her shoulder.  "Could I have another chance?"

   Her answer was to reach up and take my hand and place it squarely on her
boob.  She wiggled her butt and pushed back against my rapidly growing
erection, wedging it between her butt cheeks.

   We lay like that for a long time, experiencing each other in a way that
was totally new to both of us.  I remember sniffing the aroma of her hair
and feeling that I'd never loved anyone or anything so much in my life.

   "Thanks for taking care of me today, Mark."

   "We have to take care of each other, don't we?  It's for sure nobody
else is going to and besides, you're the only sister I've got.  I was
really lucky to get such a nice one."

   She turned to face me and kissed me so softly on the lips.  "And I was
lucky to get such a nice brother.  We know our parents did at least one
thing right, don't we."

   I kissed her back.  The storm had passed and there was just enough
moonlight coming into the cave that I could see her eyes were open and
looking at me.  "Could we take off our underwear, Allie?"

   She smiled and sat up, reaching behind her to unhook her bra and letting
it drop off her shoulders exposing her pretty breasts to my adoring eyes.
She lay back down and we both pushed our underwear down our legs at the
same time.  My breath caught when she slid her hand down my chest and belly
to take my dick in her hand and slowly move up and down its length.

   "I've never touched a guy's penis before but I bet yours is one of the
nicer ones." She let go for a moment to take my hand and place it on her
breast.  "Rub my nipples, Mark."

   I started rubbing with my fingertips, probably a little too hard because
she grabbed my wrist and said, "Gently!"

   I rubbed, moving from one nipple to the other.  She stroked my dick and
ran her thumb over the glans smearing the slippery fluid seeping out the
end.  We kissed.  I leaned down to take one of her nipples in my mouth
making her arch her back to push her chest upward, at the same time guiding
my free hand through a dense patch of hair to the slick, wet folds between
her legs.  As I moved my trembling fingers up and down the wet slit, I was
getting so excited that I knew I couldn't hold off shooting for very much
longer.

   "I feel like I'm about to shoot, Allie!"

   She threw the top sleeping bag off of us and bent down to take the head
of my dick into her mouth and started licking it and sucking on it.  That
sent me right over the top and I blasted streams of stuff into her mouth
and all over her face.

   I lay there trying to catch my breath, "Oh my god, Allie!  That was the
most amazing thing ever."

   She grinned as she wiped my semen off of her face with her panties. 
"Glad you liked it 'cause I sure did.  You know you have to pay me back
now, don't you?"

   I pulled her back down onto her back and scrunched down between her
legs. First I took a deep sniff of her wonderful aroma then began lapping
up her juices like I was trying to save a melting ice cream cone.  I didn't
want a single drop to get away from me.  I knew she was liking it because
she was groaning and moaning and pulling my head into her crotch.  Within a
few minutes, she began to shake all over and clamped onto my head with her
legs.  A prolonged moan came out of her mouth and then she just relaxed all
over, breathing like she'd just run a mile.

   "I've never been able to give myself an orgasm like that, Bro," she
panted.  "I can tell you're going to make a lot of girls very happy."

   "Thanks.  It must be a natural talent because I've never taken lessons.
That's not to say that I shouldn't practice as often as possible.  You just
let me know when you're available to tutor me."

   "Name the time and place." She looked down at my recharged dick and
purred, "Ooh, look at you, ready for more!"

   Even I could hear the trepidation in my voice as I asked, "Could I put
it in you, Allie?"

   She reached up and stroked my face.  "We have to loose our virginity to
someone don't we?  I can't think of anyone I'd rather do it with than you.
Just be careful not to cum in me, and go slow because it might hurt me a
little bit.  I think if you lie on your back and let me be on top, I'll be
able to control it better."

   I assumed the position with my dick standing up proudly like a flagpole.
My sister placed a knee on either side of my waist and reached between her
legs to grasp it and guide it to the right place.  The glans was already
slick with my own lube but she moved it up and down her slit a few times to
get it really covered in her juices before guiding it into her vagina and
slowly letting her weight stretch the walls over my dick and take me
inside. She moved up and down its length, taking in a little more each time
until I was all the way in and pushing against the end.

   "Jeez, Mark, that didn't hurt at all.  In fact, it feels wonderful!"

   "Me too!  I'd like to stay like this for the rest of my life."

   She leaned forward putting her hands on my chest and began to slowly
ride up and down the full length of my dick.  We grunted with pleasure each
time I thrust upward to meet her downward slide.  I couldn't imagine that
sex would ever be better than what I was feeling at that moment.  I felt my
belly tighten and my balls pull up against my groin telling me I was about
to blow.

   "Stop!  Let me ease up a bit, `cause I'm getting too close" I gasped.  I
thought if she just sat still, we'd be able to stretch it out for a long
time.  I was wrong.  As she sat impaled, her vaginal muscles squeezed
rhythmically on a dick that was already on the edge.  At the very last
second, I shoved my hands under her butt and lifted her up and off as
streams of semen shot out over my chest and belly.  Allie moved back and
forth letting the length of my dick slide between the lips of her pussy
until she shuddered and climaxed, falling forward and smearing my semen
between our bodies.  We lay there for several minutes in our own special
world of bliss.

   This time she used my boxers to wipe us off.  She lay facing me and
pulled the top sleeping bag over us against the chill of the night.  "Know
what, Bro?  I don't think we could ever have hoped for a better first time,
do you?"

   I was all grins from ear to ear.  "It was way better than I ever dreamed
it would be, Allie.  We should celebrate this every year with a party."

   We fell asleep holding hands.



   **********

   I got up first and made breakfast.  While we had our oatmeal with
raisins and an orange, I had a bucket of water warming on the cook stove to
wash up with.  I'd forgotten to bring soap so we just wiped ourselves down
with damp washcloths.  I got a boner watching her washing off her boobs and
between her legs.

   We got dressed and stepped outside.  The overnight rain had sharpened
the smell of earth and sagebrush.  The morning air was fresh and cool; it
was my favorite time of day.

   I put my arm around her waist and she leaned her head on my shoulder. 
"What are we going to do, Mark?  We can't just stay here.  Besides, we
didn't do anything wrong.  It's Mom who should be hiding somewhere."

   ""I know but when things start going to hell in a hand basket, this is
where I feel safe.  You're right though; I guess we should find Dad and
tell him what happened.  I just dread being nearby when he explodes.  Do
you know where he's working today?"

   "Well, cattle have been getting out down at the arroyo.  I think they're
putting in all new fence.  We could sneak into the stable and take Thunder
and Lightning to find him."

   "I don't have a better plan.  Let's get everything cleaned up and stowed
away."

   When we topped the low hill behind the house, we saw Dad's pickup parked
in front and beside it was the Sheriff's Suburban.

   "Oh shit!" I whispered.  "We're in it now."

   "Maybe, maybe not.  Come on, let's get it over with."

   When we stepped through the front door, we expected all hell to break
loose, but it didn't.  Dad and Sheriff Wilson were sitting across the
coffee table from each other drinking coffee.

   Dad didn't even raise his voice when he asked, "Where you kids been
hidin' out?"

   Allie took the lead.  "Under that rock overhang to the north.  We
would've come back last night but it started to rain real hard.  We fell
asleep."

   I never knew she was such an adept liar.

   Sheriff Wilson motioned for us to sit on the couch.  "Kids, we have a
pretty good idea what happened.  One of my deputies stopped George Ortega
out on the highway driving about a hundred miles and hour.  He was
obviously scared to death about something and he finally broke down and
told us what went on.  I'd like to hear your version before we decide what
to do so, let's hear it."

   Between the two of us we got out the whole story except for the cave
part.  I even told them about sneaking back to the house to get some food
and bandages.

   When we were done, Sheriff Wilson said, "You know there's liable to be
criminal charges filed against Sharon for child battering so we need to
have that knot on your head seen by the ER doc for the record.  Why don't
you come with me, Alexandra and we'll get that taken care of right now. 
That OK with you Sam?"

   "Well, I'd like to have her seen but I don't know about filing criminal
charges.  Do you kids want me to do that?"

   Allie and I looked at each other and then back to the Sheriff shaking
our heads in the negative.

   "It might not be up to you.  The law can take custody in the case of
child abuse.  What would you kids like me to do?"

   "Could Allie and I talk in private for a minute?"

   "Sure.  Go on in the kitchen." Dad suggested.

   When the kitchen door closed behind us, Allie drew me into a hug.  "What
should we do, Mark?  I don't want her around but I don't want her to go to
jail, either."

   "I'm with you.  Why don't we just say that?  I really don't think Dad
wants her around either."

   She leaned back looking at me and nodded her head in agreement.  She
kissed me and took my hand leading me back into the living room.

   "What did you decide?" Dad asked.

   This time I answered.  "We think she should live somewhere else.  We
don't need her here to take care of us but we don't want to see her go to
jail.  Can't she just move out?"

   "She's already moved out and staying with her sister.  If you're all
agreed, I'll hold off on the arrest warrant but I'm going to ask the judge
for a restraining order so she can't get anywhere near you kids.  Sam, you
take Allie to the hospital to get her checked out and I'll let everything
rest for the time being." He got up and shook Dad's hand.  "Y'all take care
now."

   On the way to the hospital, Dad looked at Allie and me and asked how
we'd feel about our Aunt Janice coming to live with us.  Janice is Dad's
sister and one cool lady so we both loved the idea.

   "Good!  I've already talked to her and she said she'd love to be your
live-in nanny.  I'll call her and tell her to come on out."



   **********

   It was surprising how quickly we got back to our old routine.  Dad was
up and gone at the crack of dawn, Allie and I made our own breakfast as
usual and we still had our chores after school.

   One thing that did change was Dad.  He seemed to take a whole new
interest in us, asking questions about school and even asking us if we
needed anything when we drove into town.  I was practically floored one
evening at supper when he complimented me on how well I was doing caring
for the horses.  Then he floored Allie by actually kissing her on the cheek
when she said "Goodnight".

   When Aunt Janice moved in, the whole world seemed to smooth out.  She
was all smiles, kisses and hugs and just made everybody feel more relaxed
and comfortable.  As we got used to not having to walk on eggshells, it
became increasingly clear how much of a drain Mom was on our lives.

   The day after school let out for the summer, Allie and I were at the
cave making love again.  She had her butt in the air with her head resting
on her arms as I slid my dick slowly in and out from behind.  Sex had
become very comfortable for us as each of us learned what pleased the
other. We could actually fuck for a good half hour with me holding off
while she had two or three orgasms.  We were both becoming very adept at
oral sex as well.

   I felt myself getting close and asked Allie if she was ready.

   "Let 'r rip, Bro!" I started pounding into her at a furious rate,
bringing us to the brink, then pulling her hips hard against me as I fill
the end of the condom.  She rose up onto her hands and I leaned forward to
kiss her shoulders and fondle her boobs.

   "That was one of the best yet!" I panted.

   I slipped out of her and she lay on her back with her arms out in
invitation to a hug.  "I'm sure glad you scored those condoms, Mark.  It
makes it a lot more fun for me not having to worry about accidents.  I like
the feeling of your dick throbbing inside me when you cum."

   "I like that too.  Have you asked Aunt Janice about you getting on the
pill yet?"

   "Yes I have.  She thinks it's a good idea, kids being more sexually
precocious now days.  She said she didn't think there was any reason to
bother Dad with woman problems.  Don't worry though.  She doesn't know
about us and she never will.  We'll always be each other's best kept
secret."

   And so we have been since that first time.  We don't get together very
often anymore because we have our own social lives to take up our time.  We
both date a lot but neither of us has found that very special person yet.
This coming Saturday we meet at the cave for our annual celebration and I
can hardly wait.  Nobody has found it yet so it's still Our Place.

   END