'You'll see.' Ruth chuckled. 'Teachers in Los Angeles are a very different breed. My motto at these picnics is keep one eye on your breasts and the other on your crotch because before the afternoon's half over, somebody's going to reach for other. Oh there are all sorts of excuses later' Sweet apologetic telephone messages.' She mimicked the teachers who made such calls to her last year:
' 'Oh dear, Ruth, did I make a boo boo and poke my fingers under your shorts yesterday' Forgive me… ' I was smashed.' '
Ruth laughed. 'Ralph Mason was the funniest. He got so smashed that he got me in the water while we were swimming. He'd already had two or three martinis before I got there. He pulled down my bikini bottom and under the pretense that he was trying to find it, kept coming up between my legs and nipping at my pussy. Ordinarily the thought of it man trying to go down on me gives me the shudders. But Ralph was smashed and I was rather too. He kept running his tongue against my pubic area trying to slip it into my slit and of course the water made it terribly impractical.
'All the poor ass got was a mouthful of cunt hairs and water.' As Ruth giggled at the memory, Mara could not help thinking what an odd person her hostess was. In the office, the very embodiment of Mrs. Grundy. One almost expected her to wear physically the corset she wore mentally and verbally. But now, as Ruth Peter escorted her from the far end of the parking lot to the picnic area, she positively reveled in using sexy talk. It was as if by using words like 'cunt hair,' 'my slit' and 'pussy' she was reinforcing their sexual relationship, reminding the other girl that they were secret lovers.
'Anyway, darling,' Ruth repeated. 'You'll see what I'm talking about as soon as we get over the crest of that hill.'
A few minutes later Mara saw. The teachers, about thirty of them plus a few of their teen-aged children, were congregating around a row of tables laden with food, bottles of liquor, bowls of spiked punch and beautifully packaged gifts. The gifts were prizes for various raffles or games to be played later on.
Everyone was dressed casually or, it might be more accurate to say, they were undressed casually. The women wore the tiniest of swimsuits, the men just swim trunks. They were all lining up for more drinks and greeted the newcomers with wild cries of welcome.
'Where do we change to swim,' Mara asked. 'I don't see any bathhouses. Should I have put my swimsuit on under my shorts and blouse?'
'Goodness no,' Ruth told her. 'We just dive behind I some bushes and strip. Just look behind you to make sure one of these lecherous bastards isn't trying to pin you down on the grass the moment he sees the white of your fanny. Last year Annie McGinnis waited till she had three drinks to go swimming. She was too woozy to know she was being watched by one of the basketball coaches.
'The moment she had her shorts off, he came behind her and tried to ram his damned cock into her backside. She told me she thought she'd been attacked by a bear. I wish I could have seen the look on her face. Can you imagine what it must be like to have an unseen visitor come up between your buttocks, give you a big bear hug and then sudden feel a stiff penis working its way into your ass. Men are such awful beasts. Crude, crude, crude.
'I didn't mind old Ralphie. Because it was in the water and he nearly drowned trying to swallow the lake and my cunt at the same time. But this other bastard… ugh… Can you imagine what might have happened if that fool's wife had come on the scene and stared at her husband grunting like a nitwit as he pumped his cock into Annie's asshole?'
From the way Ruth's words were slurred and her somewhat uncertain gait as they neared the tables, Mara knew her boss had already had some drinks. Her language also reflected the fact that she was fast losing any inhibitions she might have had about protecting her so-called official image.
But it was obvious immediately to Mara that everyone was unconcerned about inhibitions or language. She had deliberately come late and everyone was way ahead of her on the liquor line.
Everyone Ruth introduced to her acted as if they had known her for years. J De Mills put an arm around her, drew her close as he gave her a double martini from a thermos jug and welcomed her to the party with a boozy kiss. Mara was so stunned at the paunchy, balding satyr's approach that she did not move her face away.
'Christ it's about time we had a good-looking dame in the English department, right Tom?' Joe bellowed at the nearby Leonard. Suddenly aware of Ruth Peter's stem expression, he grinned and bowed. 'Present company excepted naturally.' Ruth gave him a chilly smile. Mara saw Tom, a tall, thin-faced man who did indeed look like Paul Newman, offer a smile that was more than half leer.
'You're the most beautiful thing I've seen teaching anything in a decade at least,' Tom Leonard said, squeezing her hand meaningfully. 'You remind me of Mata Han,' he added teasingly. 'Do you by chance happen to be a dancer like her?'
'Mata Hari was half Dutch, half Indonesian or what passed for Indonesian,' a thin piping voice behind him said. 'But this one is much prettier. I've seen pictures of Mata Hari. She wasn't half as lovely.'
Mara turned to smile at Ralph O'Hare, a tall, Lincoln-esque figure who was standing behind her with his redheaded teen-aged daughter, Patty. The attractive, lanky girl eyed Mara with intense curiosity.
He pushed Patty forward. 'Oh this is my daughter, Patty, Patty O'Hare and Ralph's my name. Chemistry department. Patty wanted so much to meet you. She'll be in one of your classes I understand.' He moved aside to make room for Mildred Trent, the elderly principal of the high school. Mara was suddenly aware of numerous faces turned curiously in her direction. Partly, she realized, it was because she was a newcomer. But the short shorts she wore and the tight halter that framed her full breasts also had a lot to do with it. She had seen people, both men and women, stare at her with awe when she appeared in shorts or a swimsuit. It was the combination of her curves, the high cheekbones, the almond eyes and the tawny color of her skin. It tantalized the people when they first saw her.
But what troubled her most now was the unabashed hunger, even lust in the eyes of many of the men. Tom Leonard, Joe Mills and several others could not keep their eyes off her figure. Whenever she moved, their eyes moved as if they were following a tennis match. And curiously too, even the teen-ager Patty O'Hare seemed fascinated. Her eyes kept staring at her as if she were a vision. But it was Mills that bothered her most. The paunchy English teacher kept wetting his lips as his eyes remained fixed on her breasts and her long, smooth skinned thighs.
The idiot, she thought irritably. He should try to control himself. He acts as if he'd like to go down on me in front of everyone here, right here. She had the nervous, twitchy feeling that another drink would make him do something stupid like reach for her breasts.
Ruth, annoyed by the men's reactions, took her quickly to the end of the row of tables and fixed her another drink.
'The bastard Mills is too much,' she rasped. 'If you look at his bathing suit, you can see he's got a hard-on as big as a whale. Keep away from him. He's got rape in his eyes. '
Mara nodded quickly. The way they were all looking at her made her feel queasy, even the teen-aged girl, Patty O'Hare. The tall, thin stripling came close to her and continued to stare at her as if she were a visitor from Mars. As she drank her drink, Mara tried to be friendly with her.'
'I understand you'll be in one of my classes, Patty, she began. The girl's reaction startled her. She flushed a deep red and then nodded quickly.
'What's your main interest in English, writing, poetry, the novel?' Mara went on. The girl's fixed stare was beginning to unnerve her.
'Aren't you going to say anything to me, Patty?' Mara said smiling.
The girl shook her head, then suddenly blurted out: 'You're the most gorgeous woman I've ever seen.'
Now it was Mara's turn to blush. It was not a compliment she expected from Patty. From any student.
'Thank you, Patty,' she said uncertainly. 'I think you're very pretty, too. Quite lovely. I'll bet the boys at school try to monopolize your phone. Bet you have a lot of dates.'
'Don't,' Patty snapped. 'I hate boys.' She swooped down on Mara's bare arm and sniffed it hungrily. 'You're not only beautiful, you smell divinely!' The girl paused, 'You smell good enough to eat.'
Mara stared at the girl. She was deeply embarrassed. Was the girl a lesbian? Was that why she talked like that? Was that why she had sniffed at her skin. She shook her head. It was too incredible. She was simply imagining things. American teenagers often acted impulsively. And yet what about that look in her eyes as her face focused on her breasts and legs? The gaze was so strong it was like a hot breath. Mara had a sixth sense of these
