They had been driving since noon. Soon enough the sun would set behind the towering mountains and the gathering dusk would envelope the narrow twisting road.
"How much longer? Driver-jee." Sheela was getting tired. They had got off the aircraft at Bagdogra almost four hours ago and had been driving to the Aroen Valley National Park which they should have reached in three and half hours. But then, keeping time on these roads was not easy.
"Another ten minutes, Mem-saab."
Sheela and her husband Subho, short for Shubhodeep, were sitting at the back of a powerful Toyota Fortuner, while their son Rudra was sitting up front next to the driver. Sheela was just a shade over forty but was dressed more like a teenager in ripped jeans and a loose sleeveless top that showed an occasional glimpse of a sports bra. She knew that Subho, who was almost twenty years older, viewed her as a trophy wife and it was important for her, for a variety of reasons, to play the part. Which was not difficult at all because of her sharply chiselled face, the flawlessly smooth, milk_&_cocoa skin and a headful of black and bouncy hair that could come down to her waist. But the clincher of course was her gym that had given her elegantly sculpted biceps and abs that had long forgotten about the child that she had once borne.
And it was against these abs that Subho was rubbing his palm in the cover of darkness of the back seat. Subho too was a handsome person but that was with the help of a lot of medical technology! As the CEO of a mid-size company it was necessary for him to fit into the young and hip Mumbai society. He was past sixty but a quick glance would have made you think that he was a good twenty years younger. His transplanted hair was dyed jet black, the crows feet around his eyes were regularly removed and frequent facials kept his cheeks taught. Then of course there were these vitality drugs including, on special occasions, the blue pill! After the long flight, he had initially fallen asleep in the car but now after a refreshing nap, he had slid his hands into Sheela's dress and was feeling the nub of her nipples! He had also tried to push his hands into her pants as well but his ardour had been damped when Sheela had given a sharp on his knuckles along with a wink-and-glance towards the front seat.
In the front, it was not as if Rudra was unaware of what his parents were up to but the sights and sounds of the mountain road were more interesting. They should have been on this trip on his eighteenth birthday but the dratted pandemic had delayed everything. In the meanwhile he had completed two years of his 5 year law program at the National Law School at Calcutta Living with his mother, he shared her fitness regime and had grown up as a tough young man. But his childlike face and an ever smiling demeanour hid a mind that was sharp-as-a-nail and an encyclopaedic memory that his teachers loved and admired. There was little that he missed and his curiosity took him very often to the dark and hidden corners of the world around him, but just about enough so that he could always come back without making a mess. His dream was a career in law enforcement. Not in the police but as a private investigator. So today, he was looking forward to his delayed, but long awaited birthday gift.
Shubho's office had booked an ancient hunting lodge once owned by the local zamindar. This had been refurbished and was now operated by a modern travel company. It was a small two storied house set deep inside the dense jungle. On the ground floor there was the lounge, or darbaar, the dining room and a few guest rooms while the upper floor was a large, single suite, formerly used only by the owner, but now available of course to any guest. Adjacent to the suite was a private terrace that, in the past, was used by lazy guests as a safe shooting platform to kill a few innocent animals that might have wandered into the grounds. The suite had two bedrooms, one large, one small, connected to a hall that opened out on the terrace. One end of the hall had a large bookcase while the other end was a bar, both of which were well stocked. Rudra and Subho were sitting on two large sofas in the middle. In front of them was a low glass topped table with an ornamental bottle of Rémy Martin XO and three half filled brandy snifters. The three of them had had their dinner and were now waiting for the brandy ... and more!
"Why is Ma taking so long?"
Rudra was getting impatient. Sheela had dropped hints but had not told him exactly what she had bought for him! Would it be a Glock? A Sig? Or a Walther? Whatever it was he was desperate to wrap his hands around it, and let off a few shots in the darkness of the terrace!
"Oh, she must be packing your gift in the best possible way." Subho smiled. Obviously he was in on the secret but wouldn't give it away.
"Subho, I am ready ..." Sheela called out from the bedroom and on cue, Subho got up and switched off the lights, plunging the room in pitch darkness. Rudra saw the shadowy figure of his mother emerging from the bedroom and just as she was in the centre, the lights came back on .... And what a sight it was!
Sheela was standing in the middle of the room with a tray in her hand. On the tray was a Glock 26 9x19Parabellum sub-compact pistol -- something that he had been dreaming about ever since he had got a gun license on his eighteenth birthday. Normally, he would have jumped on it but for the fact it was being carried by his mother, Sheela who was totally nude!
Yes, his mother did not have a stitch of clothing or any makeup on her. Smiling coyly at him was his mother Sheela who was totally nude from head to toe, except for that lustrous cascade of her tresses that barely covered the nipples of her left breast. Plus of course that dense mat of her pubic bush, wild, wanton and unshaved, through which he could clearly see her luscious lips.
Rudra was so totally taken aback by the suddenness of the situation that he could barely speak, and it was his father who broke the ice.
"Hey Rudra, what are you going to do with your gun and the girl?"
But Rudra was still tongue tied. There were a million things that were firing inside his head but this was not the first time that he was seeing his mother naked.
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Growing up in their flat in Calcutta, Rudra had always been closer to his mother, simply because more often than not his father was not there. What helped bring them even closer whas their shared interest in online games like Call of Duty and CounterStrike that they would play from their own computers. Subho was already running a big company when he got married, rather late in life, to Sheela in what was possibly a shotgun marriage. Sheela was barely eighteen at that time and suddenly she had found herself being married off almost against her will by her father who had business relations with Subho's father. There had been rumours of some deal going sour but all this had been quickly shoved under the carpet. What had mattered more to her was that since most of Shubho's plants and customers were around Bombay, he spent most of his time there. Sheela had wanted to move to Bombay with him but for reasons that had become obvious later, he was never keen about that. Except of course when there would be an important public event where there would be press coverage and he could show off his stunning wife for the benefit of his Page 3 image.
Rudra had his own bedroom but when he was small, really small, he would sleep with his mother except of course when Subho was in town. Then, Sheela would lull him to sleep in his own room and then quietly go to where Subho would be waiting impatiently. When Rudra grew older, it did not take him too long to figure out the reason for his mother's nocturnal disappearance. An AC duct that connects the two rooms helped him by giving full access to the coital opera that would play out whenever his father was there! Night after night he would hear his father's grunts, his mother's squeals and even some shrieks that he could not really figure out. Then there was the metronymic thud of the bed against the wall. What was a little puzzling was that on the morning after a particularly noisy night, Sheela would be rather quiet and one day, Rudra had, in all innocence, asked her.
"Ma, why were you and Baba making such a noise last night?"
Sheela was taken aback by the question, because she had no idea whatsoever that Rudra could hear them. But she thought that she would ride out the sudden storm
"What noise dear?"
"You were screaming, 'It hurts', 'It hurts' and then 'Please not in the back, please'"
For a moment Sheela was stunned. Subho had taken her in the anus last night and that too without an ounce of tenderness. It was no less than a rape and it had hurt like hell and now it had been heard as well. For a moment, Sheela thought that she could divert the topic into safer channels but then all of a sudden she felt a stiffening in her spine. Rudra was not so small anymore and thanks to school and the internet it was more likely than not that he would be aware of the mechanics of sex. It would stupid and futile to dodge him.
"Rudra, my dear, I know that you are old enough to understand that there are certain things that adult couples do that cannot be discussed very easily with children."
"Were you having sex?"
"I see that you have already figured that out yourself." Sheela smiled. "Yes, your father was making love to me as all husbands do to their wives."
"But Ma, when you love me I do not get hurt! I do not scream like that."
"This is different, sweetheart," Sheela was breaking out in cold sweat. "But come, finish your breakfast. You have to go to school. We will discuss this some other time."
