Henry, Maude and Elsie, from “SEXUS”, by Henry Miller

Melanie flutters about like a demented albatross. “Dry your things!” she wails. A grand undressing, with gasps and shrieks and objurgations. I get into Maude’s dressing sack, the one with the marabou feathers. Look like a fairy about to give an impersonation of Loulou Hurluburlu. All flub and foozle now. I’m getting a hard-on, “a personal hard-on”, if you know what I mean.

Maude is upstairs putting the child to bed. I walk around in my bare feet, the dressing sack wide open. A lovely feeling. Melanie peeks in, just to see if I’m all right. She’s walking around in her drawers with the parrot perched on her wrist. Afraid of the lightning she is. I’m talking to her with my hands folded over my prick. Could be a scene out of the “Wizard of Oz” by Memling. Time: dreiviertel takt. Now and then the lightning strikes afresh. It leaves the taste of burning rubber in the mouth.

I’m standing in front of the big mirror admiring my quivering cock when Maude trips in. Se’s as frisky as a hare and all decked out in tulle and mousseline. She seems not at all frightened by what she sees in the mirror. She comes over and stands beside me. “Open it up!” I urge. “Are you hungry?” she says, undoing herself leisurely. I turn her around and press her to me. She raises a leg to let me get it in. We look at each other in the mirror. She’s fascinated. I pull the wrap up over her ass so that she can have a better look. I lift her up and she twines her legs around me. “Yes, do it,” she begs. “Fuck me! Fuck me!” Suddenly she untwines her legs, unhitches. She grabs the big arm chair and turns it around, resting her hands on the back of it. Her ass is stuck out invitingly. She doesn’t wait for me to put it in – she grabs it and places it herself, watching all the time through the mirror. I push it back and forth slowly, holding my skirts up like a bedraggled hussy. She likes to see it coming out – how far will it come before it falls out. She reaches under with one hand and plays with my balls. She’s completely unleashed now, as brazen as a pot. I withdraw as far as I can without letting it slip out and she rolls her ass around, sinking down on it now and then and clutching it with a feathery beak. Finally she’s had enough of that. She wants to lie down on the floor and put her legs around my neck. “Get it in all the way, “ she begs. “Don’t be afraid of hurting me… I want it. I want you to do everything.” I got it in so deep it felt as though I were buried in a bed of mussels. She was quivering and slithering in every ream. I bent over and sucked her breasts; the nipples were taut as nails. Suddenly she pulled my head down and began to bite me wildly – lips, ears, cheeks, neck. “You want it, don’t you?” she hissed. “You want it, you want it…” Her lips twisted obscenely. “You want it… you want it!” And she fairly lifted herself off the floor in her abandon. Then a groan, a spasm, a wild, tortured look as if her face were under a mirror pounded by a hammer. “Don’t take it out yet.” she grunted. She lay there, her legs still slung around my neck, and the little flag inside her began twitching and fluttering. “God,” she said, “I can’t stop it!” My prick was still firm. I hung obedient on her wet lips, as though receiving the sacrament from a lascivious angel. She came again, like an accordion collapsing in a bag of milk. I got hornier and hornier. I pulled her legs down and lay them flat alongside my own. “Now don’t move, damn you,” I said. “I’m going to give it you straight.” Slowly and furiously I moved in and out. “Ah, ah… Oh!” she hissed, sucking her breath in. I kept it like a Juggernaut. Moloch fucking a piece of bombazine. Organza Friganza. The bolero in straight jabs. Her eyes were going wild: she looked like an elephant walking the ball. All she needed was a trunk to trumpet with. It was a fuck to a standstill. I fell on top of her and chewed her lips to a frazzle.

Then suddenly I thought of the douche. “Get up! Get up!” I said, nudging her roughly.
“I don’t need to,” she said weakly, giving me a knowing smile.

“You mean…?” I looked at her in astonishment.

“Yes, there’s no need to worry… Are you all right? Don’t you want to wash?”

In the bathroom, she confessed that she had been to the doctor – another doctor.

There would be nothing to fear any more.

“So that’s it?” I whistled.

She powdered my cock for me, stretched it like a glove-fitter, and then bent over and kissed it. “Oh God,” she said, flinging her arms around me, “if only…”

“If only what?”

“You know what I mean…”

I unglued myself and turning my head away, I said: “Yes, I guess I do. Anyway, you don’t hate me any more, do you?”

“I don’t hate any one,” she answered. “I’m sorry it’s turned out the way it has. Now I’ll have to share you… with her.”

“You must be hungry,” she added quickly. “Let me fix you something before you go.”

She powdered her face carefully first. rouged her lips, and did her hair up negligently but attractively. Her wraps was open from the waist up. She looked a thousand times better than I ever seen her look. She was like a bright voracious animal.

I walked around in the kitchen with my prick hanging out and helped her fix a cold snack. To my surprise she unearthed a bottle of home made wine – elderberry wine that a neighbour had given her. We closed the doors and kept the gas burning to keep warm. Jesus, it was quite wonderful. It was like getting to know one another all over abain. Now and then I got up and put my arms around her, kissed her passionately while my hand slid into her crack. She wasn’t at all shy or balky. On the contrary. When I pulled away, she held my hand, and then with a quick dive she fastened her mouth over my prick and sucked it in.

“You don’t have to go immediately, do you?” she asked, as I sat down and resumed eating.

“Not if you don’t want me to,” I said, in the most amiable state of acquiescence.

“Was it my fault,” she said, “that this never happened before? Was I such a squeamish creature?” She looked at me with such frankness and sincerity I hardly recognized the woman I had lived with all these years.

“I guess we were both to blame,” I said, drowning another glass of elderberry wine.
She went to the ice-box to ferret out some delicacy.

“You know what I fell like doing?” she said, coming to the table with arms laden. “I’d like to bring the gramophone down and dance. I have some very soft needles… Would you like that?”

“Sure,” I said, “it sounds fine.”

“And let’s get a bit drunk… would you mind? I feel so wonderful. I want to celebrate.”

“What about the wine?” I said. “Is that all you have?”

“I can get some from the girl upstairs,” she said. “Or maybe some cognac – would you like that?”
“I’ll drink something… if it will make you happy.”

She started to go at once. I jumped up and caught her by the waist. I raised her wrap and kissed her ass.

“Let me go.” she murmured. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

As she came back I heard her whispering to the girl from upstairs. She tapped lightly on the glass panel. “Put something on.” she cooed, “I’ve got Elsie with me.”

I went into the bathroom and wrapped a towel around my loins. Elsie went into a fit of laughter when she saw me. We hadn’t met since the day she found me lying in bed with Mona. She seemed in excellent good humor and not at all embarrassed by the turn of events. They had brought down another bottle, of wine and some cognac. And the gramophone and the records.

Elsie was in just the mood to share our little celebration. I had expected Maude to offer her a drink and then get rid of her more or less politely. But no, nothing of the kind. She wasn’t at all disturbed by Elsie’s presence. She did excuse herself for being half-naked, but with a good-natured laugh, as though it were just one of those things. We put a record on and I danced with Maude. The towel slipped off but neither of us made any attempt to pick it up. When we ungrappled I stood there with my prick standing out like a flag-pole and calmly reached for my glass. Elsie gave one startled look and then turned her head away. Maude handed me the towel, or rather slung it over my prick. “You don’t mind, do you, Elsie?” she said. Elsie was terribly quiet – you could hear her temples hammering. Presently she went over to the machine and turned the record over. Then she reached for her glass without looking at us and gulped it down.

“Why don’t you dance with her?” said Maude. “I won’t stop you. Go ahead, Elsie, dance with him.”

I went up to Elsie with the towel hanging from my prick. As she turned her back to Maude she pulled the towel off and grabbed it with a feverish hand. I felt her whole body quiver, as though a chill had come over her.

“I’m going to get some candles.” Said Maude. “It’s too bright in here.” She disappeared into the next room. Immediately Elsie stopped dancing, put her lips to mine and thrust her tong down my throat. I put my hand on her cunt and squeezed it. She was still holding my cock. The record stopped. Neither of us pulled away to shut the machine off. I heard Maude coming back. Still I remained locked in Elsie’s arms.
This is where the trouble starts, I thought to myself. But Maude seemed to pay no attention.

She lit the candles and then turned the electric light off. I was pulling away from Elsie when I felt her standing beside us. “It’s all right,” she said. “I don’t mind. Let me join in.” And with that she put her arms around the two of us and we all three began kissing one another.

“Whew! it’s hot!” said Elsie, breaking away at last.

“Take your dress off, if you like, “said Maude. “I’m taking this off,” and suiting action to word she slipped out of the wrap and stood naked before us.

The next moment we were all stark naked.

I sat down with Maude on my lap. Her cunt was wet again. Elsie stood beside us with her arm around Maude’s neck. She was a little taller than Maude and well built. I rubbed my hand over her belly and twined my fingers in the bush that was almost on a level with my mouth. Maude looked on with a pleasant smile of satisfaction. I leaned forward and kissed Elsie’s cunt.

“It’s wonderful not to be jealous any more,” said Maude very simply.

Elsie’s face was scarlet. She didn’t quite know what her role was, how far she dared go. She studied Maude intently, as though non altogether of her sincerity. Now I was kissing Maude passionately, my fingers in Elsie’s cunt the while. I felt Elsie pressing closer, moving herself. The juice was pouring over my fingers. At the same time Maude raised herself and, shifting her bottom, adroitly managed to sink down again with my prick neatly fitted inside her. She was facing forward now, her face pressed against Elsie’s breasts. She raised her head and tool the nipple in her mouth. Elsie gave a shudder and her cunt began to quiver with silken spasms. Now Maude’s hand, which has been resting on Elsie’s waist, slid down and caressed the smooth cheeks. In another moment it had slipped farther down and encountered mine. I drew my hand away instinctively. Elsie shifted a little and then Maude leaned forward and placed her mouth on Elsie’s cunt. At the same time Elsie bent forward, over Maude, and put her lips to mine. The three of us were now quivering as if we had the ague.

As I felt Maude coming I held myself in, determined to save it for Elsie. My prick still taut. I gently raised Maude from my lap and reached for Elsie. She straddled me face forward and with uncontrollable passion she flung her arms around me, glued her lips to mine, and fucked away for dear life. Maude had discreetly gone to the bathroom. When she returned Else was sitting in my lap, her arm around my neck, her face on fire. Then Elsie got up and went to the bathroom. I went to the sink and washed myself there.

“I’ve never been so happy,” said Maude, going to the machine and putting another record. “Give me your glass,” she said, and as she filled it, she murmured: “What will you say when you get home?” I said nothing. Then she added under her breath: “You could say one of us was taken ill.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “I’ll think of something.”

“You won’t be angry with me?”

“Angry? What for?”

“For keeping you so long.”

“Nonsense.” I said.

She put her arms around me and kissed me tenderly. And with arms around each other’s waist we reached for the glasses and gulped down a silent toast. At this moment Elsie returned. We stood there, naked as hat racks, our arms entwined, and drank to one another.

We began to dance again, with the candles guttering. In knew that in a few moments they would be extinguished and no one would make a move to get fresh ones. We changed off at rapid intervals, to avoid giving one another the embarrassment of standing apart and watching. Sometimes Maude and Elsie danced together, rubbing their cunts together obscenely, then pulling apart laughingly, and one or the other making a grab for me. There was such a feeling of freedom and intimacy that any gesture, any act, became permissible. We began to laugh and joke more and more. When finally the candles guttered out, first one, then the other, and only a pale shaft of moonlight streamed through the windows, all pretence at restraint or decency vanished.

It was Maude who had the idea of clearing the table. Elsie assisted uncomprehendingly, like some one who had been mesmerized. Quickly the things were whisked to the tubs. There was a quick dash to the next room for a soft blanket which was stretched over the table. Even a pillow. Elsie was beginning to get the drift. She looked on goggle-eyed.

Before getting down to actualities, however, Maude had another inspiration – to make eggnogs. We had to switch the light on for that. The two of them worked swiftly, almost frantically. They poured a liberal dose of cognac into the concoction. As I felt it slipping down my gullet I felt if going straight into my pecker, into my balls. As I was drinking, my head thrown back, Elsie cupped her hand around my balls. “One of them’s bigger than the other,” she said laughingly. Then. after a slight hesitation: “Couldn’t we all do something together?” She looked at Maude. Maude grinned, as if to say – why not? “Let’s put the top light out,” said Elsie, “we don’t need that any more, do we?” She sat down on the chair beside the table. “I want to watch you,” she said, patting the blanket with her hand. She got hold of Maude and lifted her up and on to the table. “This is a new one to me.” she said. “Wait a minute?” She took my hand and drew me to her. Then, looking at Maude… “May I?” And without waiting for an answer she bent forward and reaching for my cock, placed it in her mouth. After a few moments she withdrew her mouth. “Now… let me watch!” She gave me a little push, as if to hurry me on. Maude stretched out like a cat, her ass hanging over the edge of the table, the pillow under her head. She twined her legs around my waist. Then, suddenly, she untwined them and slung them over my shoulders. Elsie was standing beside me, her head down, watching with breathless absorption. “Put it out a little,” she said in a horse whisper, “I want to see it go in again.” Then swiftly she ran to the window and raised the shades. “Do it!” she said. “Go on, fuck her!” As I plunged it in I felt Elsie slipping down beside me. The next moment I felt her tongue on my balls, lapping them vigorously.

Suddenly, utterly astounded, I heard Maude say: “Don’t come yet. Wait… Give Elsie a chance.”

I pulled out, pushing my ass in Elsie’s face in doing so, and tumbling her backwards on the floor. She gave a squeal of delight and quickly sprang to her feet. Maude climbed down from the table and Elsie nimbly placed herself in position. “Couldn’t you do something to?” she said to Maude, sitting bolt upright. “I have an idea… “ and she sprang off the table and threw the blanket on the floor and the pillow after it. It didn’t take long to figure out an interesting configuration.

Maude was stretched out on her back, Elsie squatting over her on bent knees, her head facing Maude’s feet but her mouth glued to Maude’s crack. I was on my knees, giving it to Elsie from behind. Maude was playing with my balls, a light delicate manipulation with the finger-tips. I could feel Maude squirming around as Elsie licked her furiously and avidly. There was a weird pale light playing over the room and the taste of cunt in my mouth. I had one of those final erections which threaten never to break. Now and then I took it out and, pushing Elsie forward, I sank down farther and offered it to Maude’s nimble tongue. Then I would sink it in again and Elsie would squirm like mad and bury her nozzle in Maude’s crotch shaking her head like a terrier. Finally I pulled out and pushing Elsie aside I fell on Maude and buried it in her with a vengeance. “Do it, do it!” she begged, as if she were waiting for the axe. Again I felt Elsie’s tongue on my balls. Then Maude came, like a star bursting, with a volley of half-finished words and phrases rippling off her tongue. I pulled away. still stiff as a poker, fearful now that I would never come again, and groped for Elsie. She was terribly gooey, and her mouth was just like a cunt now. “Do you want it?” I said, shoving it around inside her like a drunken friend. “Go on, fuck, fuck!” she cried slinging her legs up over my shoulders and dragging her bottom closer. “Give it to me, give it to me, you bugger!” She was almost yelling now. “Yes, I’ll fuck you… I’ll fuck you!” and she squirmed and writhed and twisted and bit and clawed me.

“Oh, oh! Don’t. Please don’t. It hurts!” she yelled.

“Shut up, you bitch you!” I said. “It hurts, does it? You wanted it, didn’t you?” I held her tightly, raised myself a little higher to get it in to the hilt, and pushed until I thought her womb would give away. Then I came – right into that snail-like mouth which was wide open. She went into a convulsion, delirious with joy and pain.

Then her legs slid off my shoulders and fell to the floor with a thud. She lay there like a dead one, completely fucked up.

“Jesus,” I said, standing astraddle over her, and the sperm still coming out, dropping on her breast, her face, her hair, “Jesus Christ, I’m exhausted. I’m fucked out, do you know that?” I addressed myself to the room.

Maude was lighting a candle. “It’s getting late,” she said.

“I’m not going home,” I said. “I’m going to sleep here.”

“You are?” said Maude, and irrepressible thrill creeping into her voice.

“Yes, I can’t go back in this condition, can I? Jesus, I’m groggy and boozy and woozy.” I flopped on to a chair. “Give me a drop of that cognac, will you, I need a bracer.”

She poured out a good stiff one and held it to my lips, as if she were given me a medicine. Elsie had risen to her feet, a bit wobbly and lurchy. “Give me one too”, she begged “What a night! We ought to do this again some time.”

“Yeah, to-morrow,” I said.

“It was a wonderful performance,” she said, stroking my dome. “I never thought you were like that… You almost killed me, do you know it?”

“You’d better take a douche” – said Maude.

“I guess so,” Elsie sighed. “I don’t seem to give a damn. If I’m caught I’m caught.”

“Go on in there, Elsie,” I said. “Don’t be a damned fool.”

“I’m too tired,” said Elsie.

Wait a minute, “said I. “I want to have a look at you before you go in there.” I made her climb up on the table and open her legs wide. With the glass in one hand I pried her cunt open with the thumb and forefinger of my other hand. The sperm was still oozing out.

“It’s a beautiful cunt, Elsie.”

Maude took a good look at it too. “Kiss it,” I said, gently pushing her nose into Elsie’s bush.

I sat there, watching Maude nibble away at Elsie’s cunt. “It feels good,” Elsie was saying. “Awfully good.” She moved like a belly dancer tied to the floor. Maude’s ass was sticking out temptingly. In spite of the fatigue my prick began to swell again.
It stiffened like a blood-pudding. I got behind Maude and slipped it in. She spun her ass around and around, with just the tip of it in. Elsie was now contorting herself with pleasure; she had her finger in her mouth, and was biting the knuckle. We went on like this for several minutes, until Elsie had an orgasm. Then we disengaged ourselves and looked at one another as though we had never seen each other before. We were dazed.

“I’m going to bed,” I said, determined to make an end of it. I started for the next room, thinking to lie on the couch.

“You can stay with me,” said Maude, holding me by the arm. “Why not?” she said, seeing the surprised look in my eyes.

“Yes,” said Elsie, “why not? Maybe I’ll go to bed with you too. Would you let me?” she asked Maude point blank. “I won’t bother you, she added. “I just hate to leave you now.”

“But what will your folks say?” said Maude.

“They won’t know that Henry stayed, will they?”

“No, of course not!” said Maude, a little frightened at the thought.

“And Melanie?”, I said.

“Oh, she leaves early in the morning. She has a job now.”

Suddenly I wondered what the devil I would say to Mona. I was almost panic-stricken.

“I think I ought to phone home,” I said.

“Oh, not now,” said Elsie coaxingly. “It’s so late.. Wait.”

We hid the bottles away, piled the dishes up in the sink, and took the phonograph upstairs with us. It was just as well that Melanie shouldn’t suspect too much. We tip-toed through the hall and up the stairs, our arms loaded.

I lay between the two of them, a hand on either cunt. They lay quietly for a long while, sound asleep I thought. I was too tired to sleep. I lay with eyes wide open, staring up into the darkness. Finally I turned over on my side. Towards Maude.

Instantly she turned towards me, putting her arms around me and glueing her lips to mine. Then she removed them and placed them to my ear. “I love you,” she whispered faintly. I made no answer. “Did you hear?” she whispered. “I love you!” I pressed her close and put my hand between her legs. Just then I felt Elsie turning round, cuddling up to me spoon fashion. I felt her hand crawling between my legs, squeezing my balls. She had her lips against my neck and was kissing me softly, warmly, with wet, cool lips.

After a time I turned back to a prone position. Elsie did the same. I closed my eyes, tried to summon sleep. It was impossible. The bed felt deliciously soft, the bodies beside me were soft and clinging, and the odor of hair and sex was in my nostrils. From the garden came the heavy fragrance of rain-soaked earth. It was strange, soothingly strange, to be back in this big bed, the marital bed, with a third person beside us, and the three of us enveloped in frank, sensual lust. It was too good to be true. I expected the door to be flung open any moment and an accusing voice scream: “Get out of there, you brazen creatures!” But there was only the silence of the night, the blackness, the heavy, sensual odors of earth and sex.
When I shifted again it was towards Elsie. She was waiting for me, eager to press her cunt against me, slip her thick, taut tong down my throat.

“Is she asleep?” she whispered. “do it once more,” she begged.

I lay motionless, my cock limp, my arm drooping over her waist.

“Not now,” I whispered. “In the morning maybe.”

“No, now! she begged. My prick was curled up in her hand like a dead snail. “Please, please,” she whispered, “I want it. Just one more fuck, Henry.”

“Let him sleep,” said Maude, snuggling up. Her voice sounded as if she were drugged.

“All right” said Elsie, patting Maude’s arm. Then, after a few moments of silence, her lips pressed against my ear, she whispered slowly, allowing a pause between each word: “When she falls asleep, yes?” I nodded. Suddenly I felt that I was dropping off. “Thank god,” I said to myself.

There was a blank, a long blank, it seemed to me, during which I was completely out.

I awakened gradually, dimly conscious that my prick was in Elsie’s mouth. I ran my hand over her head and stroked her back. She put her hand up and placed her fingers over my mouth, as if to warn me not to protest. A useless warning because, curiously enough, I has awakened with a full knowledge of what was coming. My prick was already responding to Elsie’s labial caresses. It was a new prick: it seemed thinner, longer, pointed – a dog-like prick. And it had life in it, as though it had refreshed itself independently, as though it had taken a nap all by itself.

Gently, slowly, stealthily – why had we become furtive now? I wondered – I pulled Elsie up and over me. Her cunt was different than Maude’s longer, narrower, like the finger of a glove slipping over my prick. I made comparisons as I cautiously jogged her up and down. I ran my fingers along the edge and grabbed her bush and tugged it gently. Not a whisper passed our lips. Her teeth were fastened in to the dump of my shoulder. She was arched so that only the tip of it was in her and around that she was slowly, skilfully, torturingly twirling her cunt. Now and then she sank down on it and dug away like an animal.

“God, I love it!” she finally whispered. “I’d like to fuck you every night.”
We rolled over on our sides and lay there glued together, making no movement, no sound. With extraordinary muscular contractions her cunt played with my prick as if it had a life and will of its own.

“Where do you live?” she whispered. “Where can I see you… alone? Write me to-morrow… tell me where to meet you. I want a fuck every day… do you hear? Don’t come yet, please. I want it to last forever.”

Silence. Just the beating of her pulse between the legs. I never felt such a tight fit, such a long, smooth, silky, clean, fresh tight fit. She couldn’t have been fucked more than a dozen times. And the roots of her hair, so strong and fragrant. And her breasts, firm and smooth, almost like apples. The fingers too, strong, supple, greedy. always wandering, clutching, caressing, tickling. How she loved to grab my balls, to cup them, weigh them, then ring the scrotum with two fingers, as of she were going to milk me. And her tongue always active, her teeth biting, pinching, nipping…

She’s very quiet now, not a muscle stirring. Whispers again.

“Am I doing all right? You’ll teach me, won’t you? I’m rooty. I could fuck forever…

You’re not tired any more, are you? Just leave it like that… don’t move. If I come don’t take it out… you won’t, will you? God, this is heaven…”

Quiet again. I have the feeling I could lie this way indefinitely. I want to hear more.

“I’ve got a friend,” she whispers. “We could meet there… she wouldn’t say anything. Jesus, Henry, I never thought it could be like this. Can you fuck like this every night?”

I smiled in the dark.

“What’s the matter?” she whispered.

“Not every night,” I whispered, almost breaking into a giggle.

“Henry, fuck! Quick, fuck me… I’m coming.”

We came off simultaneously, a prolonged orgasm which made me wonder where the damned juice came from.

“You did it!” she whispered. Then: “It’s all right… it was marvellous.”
Maude turned over heavily in her sleep.

“Good-night,” I whispered. “I’m going to sleep – I’m dead.”

“Write me to-morrow,” she whispered, kissing my cheek. “Or phone me… promises I grunted. She cuddled up to me, her arm around my waist. We fell into a trance.