time to leave was before he came home. She set off down the steps into their driveway with haste and tooled the Mustang out of the garage before she could have any hesitant thoughts. In another few minutes she was turning into the Franklins' drive to add her car to a considerable line of other automobiles already parked bumper to bumper. She parked quickly and then half-ran up the gravel path to the big house.
There seemed to be no one else about, but she could hear happy sounds of merrymaking from within. All the curtains had been drawn, but they were moved occasionally by the brushing of unseen hands and bodies, and beams of light flashed through.
Laura was surprised to be met at the door by a butler in full livery. Ordinarily the Franklins were not so ostentatious. But the house was quite crowded with women – and their dogs – so Cleonora had definitely needed the extra help.
And their dogs. Cleo had told her that the Park Palisades Women's League was composed largely of dog fanciers, but Laura hadn't quite expected that the women would be bringing their dogs to the meeting as well.
Further, all the dogs were German shepherds. And what fine animals they were, too. Their coats shone lustrously in the expert concealed lighting of the Franklin home, and they moved with powerful confidence among themselves and the women. Laura had never seen such splendid animals anywhere, and the collection of so many of them in a single place made the net effect all the more striking and impressive. She looked around to see if Rover were among them.
'Ah, there you are!' came a gushing voice at her side. She turned to find Cleonora approaching her from the study. 'Girls, this is the young lady I told you about!'
The commotion died down and a heavy silence fell over all the women. Laura felt very awkward under their examining gaze. 'I… I'm not late, am I?'
'No, dear, you're right on time. People just started arriving a little earlier than expected, that's all. We've been preparing for you. Come along.'
With this, Laura's beautiful brunette friend took her arm and led her towards the study.
Laura couldn't help but feel self-conscious. For the most part the women seemed older than she was, and their stares were so intent.
A strange scent wafted from the doors to the study as they approached it, and Laura wondered what it was. As they moved through the partly opened doors she saw further that the study's walls had been covered with red-and-violet drapes and the lighting had been greatly altered. There seemed to be more reddish glows all around, and dozens of large red pillows had been cast onto the deep-carpeted floor.
'Incense,' Cleonora whispered. 'That's what you're smelling.' She didn't add that there were also traces of hashish and marijuana in the sultry air.
'Oh.' Laura felt vaguely befuddled. Incense? At a meeting of the Park Palisades Women's League?
But hers was not to question. She had come to make friends, and she was going to do her darndest not to seem the farm-girl simpleton among all these worldly women. Although she did consider the dress of some of them to be just a trifle bizarre. There were some women and young wives wearing gold arm bracelets up to their elbows, and many of them with the cleavage of their tight dresses and jumpsuits cut altogether too low for Laura's taste, revealing much too much unbrassiered breast flesh. She even thought she spied the nipple of one woman bending over to have her cigarette lit by another. The woman didn't seem to be wearing any brassiere, and her full, well-shaped breasts reacted to gravity in the natural way by almost falling through the 'vee' in the top of her dress.
'Here's a nice place for you to sit, dear. Rover will keep you company.'
Laura was surprised to find Cleonora indicating one of the large pillows in the center of the room. She looked around self-consciously. Surely she wasn't expected to sit down on one of those things?
'I'll be with you in a minute. Go ahead. Sit down. I've brought your favorite drink.'
Laura looked down. There was a small bottle of sherry and a glass sitting next to the pillow. The sherry Cleonora had given her the previous evening had certainly made her feel nice, though she could probably blame it somewhat for the fiasco between herself and Ralph. If she hadn't been feeling so pleasant, she wouldn't have enticed her husband so brazenly, and maybe then he wouldn't have – well, that was neither here nor there.
With Cleonora's pressuring hands encouraging her, the uneasy young blonde slipped downward onto the large, fluffy red pillow, crossing her legs carefully and smoothing her skirt over her long tanned legs. Rover came up almost immediately and placed his snout in her lap. She cradled his warm head and glanced briefly into his large, adoring brown eyes, then stroked his ears gently as she looked up again and around the room.
Everywhere young wives and older women were settling down onto the large cushions with their German shepherds nuzzling and pushing at them in the most curious way. For the most part the women were stroking the dogs in a normal fashion, but in at least one instance Laura thought she detected some excess of familiarity. She peered across the dimly lit room trying to ascertain if she had seen correctly.
But of course she must have been mistaken. These were all respectable women, and they looked it. They all dressed so expensively, so that she felt almost shabby by comparison. Was it peculiar that as yet Cleonora hadn't introduced her to anyone? Perhaps not. Perhaps there would be a get-together after what was obviously going to be a formal meeting, and then she would get to know people.
Her eyes moved around the room at a leisurely pace, taking in everything. And then she noticed with some astonishment that a sort of dais had been set up at the far end of the room by the windows on which had been placed a motion picture screen.
Her fingers moved in Rover's soft fur. The nestling of his head in her lap made her feel nice, as she picked up the glass of sherry that Cleonora had poured for her and sipped it. The drink was just a bit stronger than the ones she had been persuaded to have the previous evening, but Laura had no difficulty getting it down tonight. The sherry spread a warm comfortable feeling throughout her stomach and she worked her buttocks down into the huge soft pillow as she waited for the meeting to begin.
Cleonora sat down on another cushion close to her and patted her younger friend's hand. Surreal music had started up and now seemed to be floating in from everywhere. As Laura's eyes became accustomed to the swiftly fading light, she thought glimpsed unusual pictures of beautiful women with handsome German shepherds around the walls of the big room. Strange, she thought, that she had never noticed them before, with all the many times she had visited with the Franklins in this very room. Maybe Cleonora only brought them out on special occasions.
Her hostess had lit two cigarettes and passed one to her. 'Go ahead, dear. It'll help you to relax,' she coaxed.
Laura was startled but she couldn't see how she could refuse. It was true that she had never smoked a cigarette before in her life, but then on the other hand she had never drunk a sherry before, either. Her personality wanted to expand, to find distraction, to alleviate the increasing dissatisfaction and discomfiture she was feeling with her marriage. And Cleonora seemed to know exactly what she needed. It wouldn't be nice to refuse at this point. Besides, the sherry was so nice and made her feel just a little more daring than usual… So she said nothing as the burning cigarette was placed between her sensually parted red lips. It seemed a curious shape for a cigarette, too slim and looking sort of hand-made. She wondered if Cleonora 'rolled her own'. But that was silly.
'Merely sip it, dear. The way you do the sherry,' Cleonora counseled. 'Let it fill your lungs, but don't take too much at once. Suck on it carefully.'
Laura put her fingers on the cigarette, only mildly aware that other women around her were watching her. She wanted to appear mature and worldly like the rest of them, but remembering her initial experience with the sherry, she knew that it was best to heed Cleonora's advice and take the cigarette very slowly.
After a few puffs Laura had the most irrepressible urge to giggle, and only barely managed to control herself. Her eyelids drooped and she smiled softly as a warm, sweetish feeling flooded her belly and loins. Cigarettes were certainly more remarkable than she had ever previously been led to believe. Did they make everyone feel this way? So nice and relaxed and ready for most anything. Or was it just her, because she had never had a cigarette before?
Cleonora was sitting closer to her now, gently stroking the side of her neck with the fingers of her right hand. Rover sniffed and moved his head in her lap as she caressed his powerful head.
'How do you like that, dear?' asked Cleonora. 'Is it as nice as the sherry?'
