A Valentine's Day Mess Pt. 02

"You might be right," Manny started, while he searched his memory for something more reassuring. "But you know that whatever happens we'll fight—you'll fight like you did today." He used his thumb to wipe a tear off Claudia's cheek then asked, "You remember Eugenia, Marisol's mom, don't you? They called her La Guerrera because when she was five she fought El Cucuy and won, or at least she thought she did."

"She swiped a cookie from a plate of cookies that her mother baked for their neighbor, and her mother caught her. Eduardo, her older brother, listened to their mom scold her, 'After dinner you'll help me clean up, then it's straight to bed for you. You'll be lucky if El Cucuy doesn't come for you tonight. He steals naughty little girls, you know.'

"Eduardo taunted her, 'El Cucuy is going to get you, and then there will be twice as much for me.' After dinner, while Eugenia helped her mother clean up, he wrapped himself in a blanket and hid in a dark corner by her bed.

"Eugenia took El Cucuy very seriously, so when her mom sent her to bed she took a broomstick with her. It was as long as she was tall, and she laid it in the bed next to her in case El Cucuy came.

"Eduardo was patient. He waited until his little sister was still and her breath was calm and even, then he slipped out of the shadows and held the blanket out like a cape so that he loomed over her bedside. In his deepest, cruelest voice he said, 'Little Eugenia, I've come to take you away.'

"Eugenia woke up with a squeal and pulled the sheet over her head. When her brother yanked the sheet off from her she sat up with the broomstick and poked him in the face. He yelped and backed away. Eugenia followed and beat him with the broomstick until he turned and ran.

"Their father heard the noise and came to see what was going on. Eduardo, with his arms over his head, yelled, 'Ow! Ow!' and charged into his father.

"He let Eduardo run and turned the light on to see if Eugenia was okay. She held the broomstick up to her father and said, 'I won. El Cucuy didn't get me.'"

Manny watched his sister while he told the story, then when he was done he touched her lips and told her, "You're going to be my Guerrera, and we're going to beat all the Cucuys."

"You're silly," Claudia laughed and pushed away from her brother, "Sweet and silly. Now I have to go take care of the animals, and I don't think you're going to help this time. I should call my dad too, and let him know about the fire. When I'm done, I'll get us something to eat. I'm not much of a cook but I make a mean PB and J."

She sniffed herself and then her brother and said, "We smell like smoke and sweat."

"And burned hair," Manny added.

Claudia laughed, "More you than me, but we both need a shower. There's a bench in the shower off the hall. After lunch I'll sit you there, and I'll wash you if you'll let me."

There was no doubt that Manny would let her. He dozed on the sofa while Claudia fed animals, cleaned pens, and led Concha to her pasture.

Manny didn't realize how hungry he was until Claudia settled down next to him with a plate of sandwiches. They only paused to wipe jelly off each other's chins and to laugh at their attempts to talk with peanut butter and bread stuck to the roof of their mouths.

When the plate was empty Manny asked, "What did your dad have to say?"

"They're in no hurry to come home," Claudia answered. "He said it sounded like things are under control," She shrugged and went on, "I didn't tell him everything.

"They're going to leave Vallecitos late then stop in Española for dinner. It will be close to dark before they get here. I talked to Pascual, too. He's having fun, so he doesn't want to come home until they're here. We still have all afternoon alone."

Claudia climbed over Manny and surprised him with a smothering kiss. Manny tried to laugh around his sister's tongue in his mouth, but then he gave in to the scent of peanut butter that lingered on her breath, to the sweet taste of jelly on her lips, and the warm press of her body against his. It was Claudia's turn to laugh through their kiss when Manny pushed his hand into her running shorts and her panties.

Claudia broke off their kiss but made no move to stop Manny's hand, which slowly found it's way to the intimate creases between her thighs. She said, "Let's go shower, then after that we can figure out how to do it without hurting all our burns and bruises and things."

Manny groaned aloud when Claudia pulled him off the couch. Had he been honest he would have admitted that it didn't hurt that much, but the attention he got from his sister made the deception worthwhile.

Claudia undressed her brother and sat him in the shower, then she peeled her running clothes off in front of him and closed the glass door behind her.

"Your bruises are getting worse," Manny said. He reached up to touch Claudia's arm while she adjusted the spray and watched the water course over the darkening hand prints.

"I think I'll be wearing long sleeves for a while," Claudia said. "At least until I come up with a good story about how I got the bruises."

While she talked, Manny put his hands on her hips and pulled her to stand between his legs. He kissed her flat belly and her breasts and let his hands slip down over her butt. Claudia first toyed with her brother's hair, then found the shampoo and started to wash it.

Claudia finished Manny's hair then worked her way down his body. She stayed quiet while she washed him, until Manny asked, "What's on your mind?"

"You and this shower got me thinking about Eugenia and Raoul, and the night he proposed to her," Claudia answered. She slipped to her knees in front of Manny so that she could wash his feet before she went on. "They met at the beach, you know? And Raoul took her back to the beach for their honeymoon. That's how Marisol got her name—it means sea and sun.

"Eugenia's padres were pretty suspicious of Raoul. They thought she should meet a good man at church, not at the beach. But La Guerrara had already scared off some promising men and they were starting to worry that she might end up living in their home as a spinster. They gave Raoul a chance, and he turned out to be respectful, and from a good family, and with a good job at the bank.

"Raoul courted her in a very traditional way: he took his time, he brought her gifts, and never saw her without a chaperon. Really, he was trying to save some money before he proposed to her, but Eugenia lost her patience, so one night when Raoul came to dinner she gave him a little nudge."

Claudia worked her way up Manny's legs with a soapy shower sponge. She soothed his sore knee and the scrapes on his leg, then she wrapped her fingers around his stiffening cock.

"She wore a cotton blouse, a long dress and low-heeled shoes," she said. "To her papa she looked all prim and proper, but he didn't know that she wasn't wearing anything underneath. Raoul did, because Eugenia brushed her body against him whenever she could get away with it.

"They had a habit of taking walks after dinner. Eugenia's padres walked ahead, and Raoul and Eugenia followed them. It was threatening to rain, so her papa brought umbrellas. Raoul couldn't think about anything but Eugenia, and Eugenia was busy making sure of that. They didn't think about umbrellas.

"Then the rain came. Her padres walked on to make their rounds before they went home, but Raoul pulled Eugenia into an alley to get out of the rain. The rain was warm—not as warm as this shower but warm enough that they didn't worry about it—and they were alone, unchaperoned, and excited."

Manny said, "Don't," and lifted his sister's hand off his cock. "Not yet, anyway. Come here," he pulled Claudia up, sat her next to him, and took her sponge away. He soaped it again and watched his little sister's face while he washed her; first her neck and her back, then her chest and her breasts. He continued Claudia's story while he worked, and she leaned back in the shower to enjoy the warm water and her brother's touch.

"Water from a rain gutter splashed in the alley, and the longer it rained the more it flowed. Eugenia grinned at Raoul like a girl with a plan. She stepped close to Raoul with her hand on his chest, then when he took a step back, Eugenia gave him a little push. That was all it took to get Raoul under the waterfall. It shocked him—it splashed off his head and soaked him through.

"He came out sputtering and shaking water out of his hair. Eugenia laughed until he gripped her arms and held her under the falling water.

"It soaked her cotton clothes, and when she came up coughing and laughing she found Raoul staring at her, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. The wet blouse clung to her tits; her dark nipples showed through and thrust out. Her dress was plastered to her belly and her hips. Raoul could see the soft curve of her butt and her small, dark muff. Eugenia may as well have been naked. Raoul had never seen a girl so beautiful—even with her hair drenched and her curls flattened to her cheeks."

Manny slipped off the bench and struggled to sit in front of his sister. "Manny don't. You'll hurt yourself," Claudia said, but he ignored her. He straightened his sore leg out and started washing her feet and her legs.

Manny went on, "Neither of them had ever been so excited before. Raoul pushed Eugenia against the wall. It still rained on them there, but they were away from the falling water. He couldn't take his eyes off her tits. They were round and firm, and when he cupped them in his hands he never wanted to let them go again.

"When Raoul finally looked up, he found Eugenia's mouth tipped up to him. He kissed her gently at first. It was the first time they'd done more than brush their lips together, and he didn't know how she would react. She held his hands to her breasts and rose to him like she was hungry for him, and he took her mouth.

"Raoul's cock was so hard that it ached and Eugenia had an urge she couldn't resist. She touched the front of Raoul's pants and found his hard bulge. Raoul broke off their kiss and let go of Eugenia's tits long enough to open his pants and guide her fingers around his shaft, then he pulled Eugenia's long skirt up. He pushed her thighs apart and touched her, then he reached both hands between her legs and lifted her against the wall."

Manny's soapy fingers slipped up his sister's thighs and through her dark muff. He touched the soft folds between her legs and kept his story going. "Raoul found his way into Eugenia like he had always belonged in her. Each time he thrust into her he lifted her against the wall, and when she settled down again he was deeper inside her.

"Eugenia wrapped her arms around Raoul's neck and buried her face against his neck. The sounds she made told Raoul how excited she was, and the harder he pushed his body up against her, the more excited she got.

"Raoul never thought to pull his cock out of Eugenia before he came. He let go inside her, then he held her and thrust into her until his climax was finally over.

"When he could think again, Raoul whispered in Eugenia's ear, 'Guerrera, you have to marry me now, because now I could never want another woman.'"

Claudia pushed Manny's hands away. When he looked up she slipped her fingers behind his neck and kissed him. Her wet hair fell down around his face; she bit his lower lip and then dragged it between her teeth. She slipped her tongue into his mouth while the warm water flowed over them and his tongue reached to caress hers. There was a confused instant when Manny didn't know whether it was his sister's mouth or Eugenia's mouth that he tasted, but when that instant passed he knew that it was both of them.

Claudia pulled back just enough to break their kiss. "Are you going to finish the story?" she asked, with her lips still so close that they brushed his.

Manny said, "They were each still a mess when Raoul got Eugenia back to her parents' house. Her mother pulled Eugenia away and left Raoul to face her father. Poor Raoul thought her father was going to kill him. He couldn't beg fast enough, 'Señor, porfavor. Listen to me. I know this looks bad, but I want to marry Eugenia. I'll keep her and care for her. I'll give her a home and children, and she will always be happy.'

"Our great-granddad laughed, and his angry face relaxed. 'Mi hijo,' he said, 'you will have your hands full with La Guerrera.'"

Claudia sat back with her eyes closed when Manny was done. She rested for a moment then said, "I still need to wash my hair, and you need to shave. There's a razor and a new toothbrush in my bathroom. There's a knee brace in the cabinet, too. If your knee isn't swelling then you can use that and we won't need to keep it iced."

Manny finished first and waited on the sofa. He set his foot up on the ottoman and laid his head back to listen. He heard the wind rattle the doors and the water shut off when Claudia finished her shower. He was still staring at the ceiling when Claudia—wearing just a robe—dropped onto the couch next to him.

"It's another awful afternoon," Claudia said. She pressed her body against him and her breath tickled his ear. "Tell me about La Doña," she said.

Manny opened his sister's robe to look at her body, then held her warm and close while he gathered his thoughts. He said, "Her name was Maria, but she was called La Doña. She was our great-grandmother, and Manuel believed that she was a great woman.

"She was young when she moved to the city. She brought her child and Mateo—her Spanish husband—and everything they could glean from her village. Life in the city was hard, and at first they lived with the help of the Bolsheviks.

"Maria set up a business trading in her people's hand-woven cloth. The business was barely working when Mateo learned of the war in Spain. He left Maria and their three-year-old son to fight Franco. Maria had one letter from him, and then nothing. She never knew, but she felt in her heart that Mateo died fighting for his beliefs.

"Maria's trade didn't make her wealthy, but it got her what they needed, and she gave the weavers an opportunity that they couldn't get from anyone else. She also got them better cotton, better dyes and better looms to work with so that their cloth was easier to make and to sell. It was the weavers who gave her the name 'La Doña.'

"Even after her business became successful Maria didn't forget the politics that Mateo taught her. Her legacy—hers and Mateo's—was a belief that she taught to her son and to our father; justice for the poor is a cause worth dying for. It was the cause that our father died for."

Claudia stiffened in Manny's arm and pushed away. She tied her robe closed and said, "Enough about dying. Come to bed with me and I'll tell you about surviving."

Manny let his sister pull him to bed. She arranged pink sheets and pillows around him, made sure he was comfortable, and his braced leg was up.

Claudia started with, "Maria was Pipil, you know—an Indian. She was born in a little village in the west. The only record of her birth was in the memories of her family, and that was all lost in La Matanza."

Manny knew, of course, but the sound of his sister's voice soothed him, and as she leaned over him he inhaled her scent—warm and enticing beneath the perfumes of soaps and shampoos and lotions.

"It's odd," Claudia said. "Here a matanza is a big family party where they butcher a hog and feast on the chicharrón, and then late at night people go home with fresh meat."

Claudia traced her finger on Manny's chest then looked up at his face before she went on. "Matanza means 'slaughter', and in El Salvador La Matanza was the time when a few Indians revolted and the army slaughtered them—the fighters and the ones who knew nothing about it. They killed them by the thousands—at least 10,000 Pipil—just because they were Indians.

"Maria was just married when she saw her husband forced to his knees, bent over, and shot. She ran for the hills and hid with nothing to eat except what she could get from the forest, and nothing to drink but rain water off the leaves.

"When the gunfire stopped and she went back to her village, there was hardly anyone to go home to. The soldiers killed everyone who looked like a Pipil, or dressed like a Pipil, or talked like a Pipil. There were more dead than there were people left to bury them. She stuck to the trails above the village and lived like a cat; she bolted into the trees at any sound and any movement.

"He was barely alive when she found him. He wasn't Pipil, so she didn't know what to think at first. He was hidden in a thicket, and his clothes and the ground were caked with dried blood. The blood came from two gunshots—one in his leg and one in his shoulder.

"She realized that he had to be one of the Comunistas—the men who came from outside and told people that their lives could be better. First she hated him and was about to leave him to die, then she thought that there had already been too much death. Maria was a small woman but she managed to roll him onto a litter and drag him to an empty house on the hillside, out of the stench that filled the valley.

"She took care of him as well as she could. There was no shortage of food. The empty houses all had stores of lard and corn flour. Chickens were everywhere with no-one to gather their eggs. There where crops in the fields with no-one to harvest them.

"Maria learned that his name was Mateo and that he was from Madrid. Maria saved his life, but Mateo saved Maria's life, too. Being Pipil and acting Pipil was a death sentence. He taught her to speak Spanish, and to dress and act like the mestizo women.

"They had each other while Mateo convalesced in that little house, and little else. Maria cared for him and they passed time talking and playing games." Claudia laughed with her lips close under Manny's jaw and sent a shiver through him. "Maria liked sex and she liked Mateo. At first he was too sick for sex, but she knew he was getting better the day when she was washing him and his cock stood straight up for her."

Claudia worked her hand between them and found Manny's cock as hard as Mateo's had been. "Manny!" Claudia giggled, "You remember what happened that day, don't you?"

"I remember what happened, " He admitted. Manny pushed his knees out to give Claudia's hand more room. He wasn't sure if he was more excited by Mateo's memories of Maria, or by his sister's sweet voice, her breath on his neck, and her warm body beside him.

Claudia shifted to squeeze herself against Manny and tightened her grip on his hard shaft. "I don't want to tell that story," she said. She kissed her brother's ear and breathed, "I want to do it like Maria and Mateo did it."

Claudia tugged Manny's shorts down over the knee brace and took a condom from his pocket, then she straddled his legs with his cock standing up in front of her. "I think you have a beautiful cock," Claudia said, as she fit the condom to her brother. "It's straight and strong, and it pleases me like Mateo's cock pleased Maria."

She opened her robe and spread it around them, just like Maria opened her blouse and spread her new, long dress around her when she mounted Mateo. She pulled Manny's shirt off over his head, then dragged his hands to her breasts.

Manny caressed his sister's breasts and rolled her nipples between his fingers while she talked. "When Maria still lived in the Pipil way, her breasts were uncovered for everyone to see. She had beautiful breasts, but now they were only for Mateo, and she wanted her lover to enjoy them."

Claudia leaned forward and offered her nipples to her brother like Maria offered herself to Mateo. He sucked a mouth full of his sister and felt the thrills running through her body. He kissed her soft flesh and pulled her hardened nipples through his teeth until Claudia pushed away.