The Second Intelligent Species: The Cyclical Earth Read Free

know?” I held the top bunk until the stars ceased.
    It was unbearably warm again this summer. Beth had been anticipating a vacation withthe camper, but the season was near an end and work schedules seldom afforded us time together and probably wouldn’t. Owning my own business meant never being far away just in case the church had another bat infestation. Neither the Pied Piper nor St. George were as welcome as the exterminator one hour before a wedding, and the new couple was willing to sign over their first born.
    I put down the couch/bed to give us more room. Normally it killed my back, but I didn’t expect to spend a long time in it. We weren’t as limber as we used to be.
    Beth closed all the shades, while I checked the fridge to see if there was any of my stash left from the party we had thrown last weekend. To my surprise there were two beers, the micro-brewery stuff, not our favorites, but cold. I opened up Beth’s and handed it to her.
    She plopped down onto the bed, nearly spilling it. “I really don’t have time for this you know. I have to hang up clothes. The kids might pop in any minute.” She always teased me into begging for it. She would lead me on, and then try to come up with an excuse why we couldn’t play. “You know Sally wants me to help her on her science project.” Sally is her granddaughter, named of course by her Ninny after Sally K. Ride, the first American woman in space.
    Her hair caught my attention as it fell on her shoulders and across her breast. Lying on her side generated a cleavage bonanza. The freckles on her breast always enticed me. She loved tanning, even though she knew better. I bitched at her about it, but selfishly liked the way it made her chest look. She put a sticker of a couple of cherries on her left breast; it was the only area on her body that wasn’t tanned. I couldn’t take my eyes off the unforbidden fruit.
    She tipped up the beer spilling some down her chin. I watched the beer trickle down her neck and into the vale of her cleavage.
    “They had another Down’s Syndrome baby born today down at the maternity ward: a little girl. The parents don’t know yet, the results aren’t in, and won’t be till tomorrow, but I’m sure. She looks like Sally… She wants to build a volcano for the science fair you know?” Beth’s favorite way to avoid sex is to start talking about her grandchildren.
    It was my turn to come up with the excuse this time. My lust for her was overpowered by other forces. Thirty years ago, I would never have admitted I was too anything to avoid sex, but for now I was stuffed and couldn’t if I wanted to.
    “I wonder who put that idea into her head.”
    “She’ll do the work; I’m just going to help her. Do we have any baking soda? We’re going to buildone that erupts and even spills out lava.” Her past skills as a science teacher gave all her grandchildren an advantage over other kids in their class. They were all bright like their grandmother and didn’t need the help, but Beth loved any chance to teach.
    “Do you want another beer?” She left the camper and ran up to the house to check for baking soda and vinegar for the volcano. She came back carrying a hamper full of wet laundry. We needed to buy some vinegar.
    “Where’s my beer?”
    “Oh, I’m sorry dear, I forgot it.”
    I wasn’t surprised. “That’s okay.” I watched Beth hang the clothes. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. The tan shorts clung to her cheeks. She stood on her tiptoes to reach the very top of the clothesline. Her red hair fell over her shoulders with all the natural curls that God gave her, though the color had been enhanced by man, or should I say the girl down at The Cut-n-Curl. Only when she dropped a sock or something and bent over, did the view improve. If I were a painter, there wouldn’t be enough red to paint both her hair and the sunset, thanks to the girl at The Cut-n-Curl. “I’m ready to go back into the camper now,” I said, as