Future of Porn

Karen put the phone down but still the smile played on her lips. She walked back into the lounge and ran her hands through Mark’s dark hair as he sat on the sofa, naked, reading the paper. Her hands slipped to his broad shoulders and she let her nails trace down his chest to circle his nipples.

He grinned and put the paper aside and kissed her on the inside of her left elbow, the soft touch of his mouth making her tingle. He looked up pushing his head back against the sofa. “Well this is a nice start to the weekend,” he murmured as she left her fingers massage his chest. She nodded at his upside down face and bent to kiss his lips. They kissed and giggled as their tongues played for a moment before he turned a little, reached around and grabbed her, pulling her over the back of the sofa. She squealed and laughed as she landed in a heap on his lap.

Sitting up a bit she propped her head on her hands and studied his sex from a few inches away before turning her face a little. “Thanks, much better view.” She watched, knowing what that did to him, knowing being seen was why he always remained naked in the house. She was pleased as she saw his cock stiffen without being touched. She uttered a contented “hmmm” and continued to watch his organ become aroused. With a gentle touch of her palm she got him to spread his legs so she could watch his balls tighten against him.

Slowly she sat up and ran her hand down his chest, exploring his nudity as she sat clothed beside him. She leaned close as her hand slid into his pubic hair and stroked. “That was Charlotte on the phone,” she said. “She’s coming round…we’ve a surprise for you.”

She felt him catch his breath as he remembered their friend and how she had organised the party the other week where the other women saw him naked, played with him.

“I think you’ll like it,” she murmured as her hands closed around the base of his shaft before trailing her nails up the skin and pulling back the foreskin to expose the purple glans to her eyes.

“I’m sure I will,” he said and ran his hand around her waist, pulling her close to kiss her mouth and feel the swell of her breasts against his chest through the cotton shirt she wore. She closed her hand tighter on his penis as she leaned in to kiss him. With a final stroke she let go of his cock and their lips parted, sticking together a little before she whispered, close to his face, “can’t have you coming now, that’s for later.” Her fingers traced circles on his inner thigh. “Are you going to let Charlie see you all hard when you open the door?”

He groaned and kissed her again his cock still throbbing as his hands snaked between her thighs under her skirt. She eagerly took his hand and pressed it higher between the heat of her legs, against the cotton panties. He teased her, stroking the outside of them outlining the feel of her pussy lips with his fingers, making her grind on his hand.

“Finger me,” she groaned and he smiled, pushing his fingers inside the damp underwear wondering how long they’d got before Charlotte arrived. He pulled the panties down a little and let his middle finger dip into her wetness. He felt her hips move as she slipped closer to him letting him feel her clothing against his naked skin, feel her need to be aroused quickly. Her pussy sought his finger and engulfed him as she put her arms around his torso and moved rythmically against his hand.

She was wet, very wet and his other finger slid in easily,stretching her tight pussy as she moved her leg over his getting close so she could press her crotch against his thigh. Steadily his hand fucked her while she ground against him, her clit against his thumb. She looked at his rock hard cock but didn’t touch him as she took her own pleasure, knowing his would come later on.

She moaned and looked in his eyes, her hair falling around her face, her mouth open as she mewled; he knew she was close, loved watching her climax, His fingers pumped her harder as the doorbell rang.

“Fuck,” she moaned, “don’t stop…please don’t…” she gasped and clutched him as he saw the wave of her orgasm wash over her face. “Uhhh,” she panted and he eased his fingers out of her greedily pulsing canal. Standing unsteadily she hitched up her panties. “Have to change those before we go out.” The doorbell rang again and Mark headed towards it, still hard.

Charlotte stood at the door and laughed when she saw him. “Ooooh! Glad I came round!” She eyed his jutting member eagerly and gave him a peck on the cheek as she walked in.

“Hiya Karen, what you been doing to Mark to get him so happy?”

Karen laughed and made Mark blush as she told her friend in some detail about what they had been doing. “And you nearly spoilt it ringing the bell at the crucial moment!” Charlie laughed. “So that’s why you kept me waiting!” The girls giggled and Karen looked over at Mark, whose cock was now just semi-rigid. “We’re going out?” he said, echoing Karen’s words of minutes before. The two women smiled at one another.

“We’ve got an invite to a party,” Charlie said and he nodded. “Don’t worry, you can come too. In fact, we need you to.”

Mark grinned and the women chortled as his cock began to rise again in anticipation. Walking over Charlie reached out and gave his semi hard cock a squeeze. “Can’t he make his mind up whether he wants to be up or down?” Karen laughed watching her friend touch Mark. Once it would have been unthinkable for anyone to be with them in this way; now she was learning how it felt to have Mark not just as a boyfriend or lover as as a plaything. Sometimes when she thought about it she was shocked that she enjoyed it so much and wanted to explore more, sometimes - like today - it just made her horny.

“Why not get dressed Mark - for a change! No underwear?” the latter Charlie made a question for Karen to decide and she nodded. “No underwear - and I’ll go and change mine!”

Charlotte drove them to the restaurant on the edge of town. It was quite down at heel, French. A few cars were in the parking lot as they walked towards the door. In bold letters on the door it announced CLOSED FOR PRIVATE PARTY. Charlotte knocked and a few moments later the red white and blue bead curtain next to the glass was pushed a bit aside and a head appeared. The door was unlocked and Charlotte hugged the small woman in a black waitress’ uniform. They stepped into a small ane room with a bar and a few chairs where people could relax and order before their meal.

“Aileen, this is Karen and this is Mark.” The young woman grinned and flicked back her long black hair. “Yes, Charlotte mentioned you!” she grinned impishly at Mark. “Can I get you all some drinks?” They ordered some wine, “well, we’re going to a party after all,” said Karen as they sat at a table.

“Where is the party?” Mark asked as Aileen came back and placed three already full glasses of Shiraz before them and left the rest of the bottle.

“Here,” said Charlie, raising her glass and waiting for the others to do the same; they clinked glasses and sipped. “The restaurant is through there…” she inclined her head and Mark looked around at a closed wooden door. Karen put her hand on his thigh, “we’ll go through when you’re ready,” she said with a grin to Charlie, “since you’ll be working this afternoon.”

Mark blinked. “Working?”

Karen nodded, “a busy couple of hours naked waitering for the bachelorette party.”

Mark reddened and his eyes widened; this was much more than the little party for Julie. “I..I don’t know,” he said, feeling his balls tighten in nervousness and a frisson of anticipation. Karen and Charlotte came and sat close. “You know you want to…” giggled Karen. Charlotte as usual more forthright put her hand on his crotch. “He’s not got stage fright has he?” She massaged him through his pants feeling the soft cock.

Mark smiled nervously.

“You don’t have to worry about him performing, we’ve thought of that.” She looked in her purse and pulled out a box with a small pink pill inside. “This should keep him hard for a couple of hours, even if they make you cum.” She grinned and winked at Mark whose mouth had opened in shock. She giggled at a sudden thought, “so if you need to pee I’d go now!”

Mark drank half a glass of wine and put the glass down shakily. “I think I’d better.”

As Aileen showed him where the toilets were Karen grinned, “should we go and watch him?”

Charlie laughed and shook her head, “best not, he’s going to be a busy boy soon.”

Returning to the table Karen asked him to stand and remove his clothes, ready to put on his uniform. He swalowed. “Uniform?” he asked.

“You’ll see, now come on.” She hooked her leg under her on the seat and cradled her head on her hand to watch him strip. Aileen walked around from the bar and watched also as Mark pulled off the pale blue lambswool sweater and green tee shirt. He kicked off shoes and socks, pleased at least they were just letting him undress and not have to dance or anything for them. He undid his belt and unzipped, removing the dark pants and standing naked before them.

“What do you think Aileen, it’s your first viewing,” asked Charlie. The young waitress nodded happily, her eyes running across Mark’s naked body and not saying a word. Already Mark’s cock had filled out though he was not yet rigid. Charlotte held out the tablet to him and he took it with a sip of water Aileen brought.

Karen felt in her bag and produced two white cuffs for his wrists and a elasticated bow tie. The girls giggled and he smiled.

“Now, let Aileen see you nice and hard before you’re presented to the girls and hopefully you’ll stay that way for a nice long time.”

Mark blushed and turned a little towards the waitress as he stroked his cock for her. Slowly he filled out still more and they watched him becoming aroused.

“Mmmm nice,” said Aileen, “I’ll have to join the party!”

Karen took Mark’s hand and slowly drew it from his erection and walked towards the restaurant door. Charlotte preceeded them and there was a bit of a cheer and applause from the other side. Mark could hear as she said, “ladies, here’s your waiter for the day, Mark. He’s here to serve you.” Dirty laughter and squeals followed and Karen walked forward bringing her with him.

Inside around a long table were four women, dressed elegantly and they all looked over their waiter with some cat calling, a wolf whistle and a call of, “no flies on this waiter!”

Karen took Mark around the table and he noticed the range of ages in the room. “This is Livia,” she introduced a woman in her late forties, “she’s the mother of the bride to be - oh yes, they’ve been planning the wedding today by the way -” Karen’s eyes went to the next chair where a young dark haired woman, sat. “Nicole, Livia’s daughter.” She blushed and stifled a laugh as Mark was paraded around the table ending up with the bridesmaids, Liz, Nicole’s 18 year old sister and her friend Annette. They both blushed as he walked by and Annette covered her eyes. “I don’t believe this,” she giggled, “you never told me!” she looked at Liz and then around the table and the older women laughed again.Karen, Charlie and Aileen joined the rest around the table.

“Right, waiter, we all need to be fed!” called Livia, Charlie calling back, “I know what I want to eat!”

A further reponse, from Livia, met his ears, making him redden, “I bet it’s got cream in the middle!”

He walked to a table with covered bowls and picked one up bringing it to the table. The meal was a salad and he went around offering the contents of bowls and plates, his cock still hard as the tablet did its work. A few of the bolder ones stroked, slapped, or as Livia did, pinched his ass. He was surprised that it was Annette who was the first to caress his balls and cock as he stood by her.

They were finally all eating and he stood in their view waiting in case he was needed, his bum a bit sore with the slaps and pinches it had received.

“Waiter,” Nicole called and he walked over. She held a spoonful of coleslaw and grinned a boozy grin before reaching out and pulling back his foreskin and placing the morsel on his purply red glans. “Take that to Charlie and see if she likes it with sausage!” Everyone shrieked and Charlie herself turned red and nearly choaked on a mouthful of food. She recovered and sat up. “Ah waiter, thank you for bringing me this delightful dish.” She grinned up at him and licked her lips before holding the base of his cock and sliding her mouth over the head. He moaned as her tongue swirled on the head of his cock, licking off the salad. She pulled back slowly, the room suddenly quiet and let go of his now glistening head.

“Hmm…let’s see…”she dipped a spoon into a cheese dip and decorated him again. “Go and see if Livia likes salami and side salad.”

Everyone giggled as he walked carefully, embarrassed, to the head of the table, where Livia nodded formally to Charlotte. “Most kind of you,” she said and cupped his balls, gently squeezing them before her pink painted nails surrounded the base of his throbbing erection. She bent towards him and the tip of her pink tongue flicked into the hole at the end of his cock and he gasped. Her tongue ran around the tip of his head as slowly her lips engulfed his organ; once more he had the sensation of being sucked as she suckled the food from him. Her green eyes looked up and him and she didn’t let go straight away but with little motions of her mouth slid back and forth over his head.

“Don’t you dare make him come Liv, I want to see him shooting his load!” Charlie called and Livia slowly released his cock; Mark realised he had been standing on tip toe with the excitement and slumped back down with a moan, his cock twitching. Nicole reached out and out of curiousity pulled down his hardness until he drew in a breath sharply. She let it go and watched how it sprang back up, hitting his groin with a slap.

“Let the girls have a go,” said Karen, nodding at the bridesmaids who went red and giggled, “Oh my God!”

Mark walked around the table and stood as the two youngest guests looked at one another and grinned. Hesitantly Liz reached out and took Mark’s balls in her hand before running her fingers along his shaft and circling it with her fist, giving a few strokes. Once again it was Annette who was more brazen. She told Liz to keep stroking as she placed her red lips over the head, covering him for the third time. There was a smattering of applause from the other women and calls encouraging them. Mark moaned as the two girls attended to his cock and balls, his hips moving slightly thrusting his erection against hands and mouth.

“Oi! Don’t you two dare make him cum!” Nicole chastised and they slowed their ministrations, Annette giving a final few licks to the head of his cock as she released him from her warm mouth. Before he could move Karen knelt behind him and spread his ass cheeks, exposing his little star to her eyes. She kneaded his buttocks before sliding a hand through his legs to caress his dangling balls. With a slap to his ass she sat back at the table.

“Let’s have some dessert, waiter - plenty of cream please!” Livia giggled. Mark hurried to the nearby table where a fruit salad was prepared and there was indeed plenty of cream. As the women helped Aileen clear to the table he laid out the bowls of fresh fruit in their places.

Soon they were back and ready to play again. Livia decorated his erection with a dribble of cream and a strawberry; she told him to hold it in place and deliver it for Nicole to eat from his cock. She lapped up the cream that had run down the prominent vein under his cock and her lips sucked the head and engulfed him and the strawberry just as he released it. There was a cheer from the other girls as they watched her suck him clean then decorate him herself for her neighbour. He was passed in this way all around the table until he again reached Livia and Liz decorated him with a slice of peach and cream.

“Mmmm! such a long slice…how will I manage that?” she gave a dirty chuckle as she watched Mark swallow and saw his cock twitch as he held the slice of fruit with creamy fingers along the length of his manhood. She reached around him her hands caressing his ass as she opened her mouth around his erection and slowly pulled more and more of his cock into her mouth and throat. She sucked hard her tongue swirling and Mark moaned loudly as she slowly pulled her mouth of him, leaving him clean and wet. She grinned as whistles and cheers went round the table and noticed a drop of precum ooze from him and returned her tongue to flick against the hole in his penis, lapping up his juice. He gasped and his cock twitched before her face.

“I think it’s time he put on a show for us now,” said Charlie, impatient to see him climax. More wine was drunk and he was instructed to walk around the table while stroking his hard-on.

“Don’t you dare cum on any of our clothes though, or I’ll slap that cock” Liz blurted out and turned red as the other women laughed.

“Stop and look at everyone as you go past.”

Mark moaned and touched his cock; the attention it had had recently made him unsure how far he would get around before he shot his load onto one of the women. He swallowed and began with Livia who met his gaze and then looked down at his hand slowly pumping his erection. She flicked her tongue out and grinned, indicating he should move on to her daughter. Nicole leaned forward and breathed a warm breath onto him as he stroked, his hips moving a little now too. Slowly he made his way around the table and by the end a drop of precum, like a small diamond, decorated his cock.

“Right,” said Karen, “help me clear these things.” The women moved plates and bowls quickly so a space was made on the table and Mark was told to lie down. They gathered their chairs close.

“Now, cum for us Mark,” said Charlotte, studying him closely.

He swallowed and began to stroke his cock harder, knowing he was so aroused he wouldn’t last long. First Livia stood, then Nichole, one by one they all rose to watch him masturbate.

He moaned, and pumped his cock, groaning, “I’m coming…” as his creamy seed spurted hard from his cock, landing on his chest. The second shot hit his belly before the rest oozed from his still throbbing erection over his fingers.

He panted, hearing satisfied sighs and a mock cheer. He felt a small hand play in the warm pool of cum and Annette brought her wet fingertips to her lips and tasted him. “Mmmm not bad, nice dessert!” Others laughed and several also took a taste from the seed on his body. Livia wet her fingertips and held them to Mark’s lips. He lapped his own cum from them and then Liz scooped up a generous amount and fed it to him. In this way his body was cleaned until only a damp stain of his semen remained.

“Seems the tablets do what they say,” said Charlotte with a giggle, eyeing his still erect penis.

“Yes, we can’t let that go to waste, can we girls?” said Livia with a dirty chuckle. She held out a hand to Mark and he took the invitation to leave the table before she laid him on the floor. She knelt beside him and her hands surrounded his cock and ran up its length. He screwed up his eyes and moaned as he was very sensitive after coming.

“Mmmm…” she made a satisfied sound and slipped off her panties, leaving her clothes on otherwise and slid up over his body as he looked wide eyed at the mother of the bride about to impale herself on his emptied cock. She reached under her skirt and the other women cat called and laughed as they watched, knowing when he squealed she held him again. She played with his cock at the entrance to her pussy and he writhed and moaned.

“I’m fed up with your moaning,” she said and stuffed her panties in his mouth; he went bright red as if this was the ultimate indignity. They stifled the long moan he made as she sank down on him, taking his rigid member fully into her pussy. The others laughed and drank and called out, “my turn next!”

Otoniel had trouble speaking at first, losing his concentration due to the scene in front of him. But he coughed, regained his composure, and found Summer’s eyes.

“Dr. Newcomb has stabilized,” the translator reported. “I didn’t get to talk to Dr. Szalinsky myself, because they have made better than they expected. But Dr. Szalinksy left a message with Senor Castillo at the post office.”

As Otoniel made his report, Apotequil waded into the water, towards the blonde girl. Summer paid him little attention, even has he bent down behind her and began to remove the belly-chain once again. It was odd, she thought to herself, that he keeps putting it on me, and then taking it off. But she didn’t bother fixating on it, more concerned with what the translator had to say. “What else did he say?”

“Not much,” Otoniel continued as Apotequil sloshed away from them with the pendant in his hand. “Punchau and he have been applying more of that salve to the bite, and Doctor Newcomb is in better condition than they could have hoped for. Anqas is speeding like a maniac towards Guayaramerin. And the hospital there has been alerted to the fact that they are coming in sometime soon.”

“They should already be there by now,” Summer added. She wasn’t wearing a watch - she wasn’t wearing anything - but the sun had just set, and therefore she guessed it to be sometime around seven.

Otoniel nodded. “The message was from seven o’clock this morning.”

Twelve hours ago.

If Russ turned around as soon as Walter was safely in the care of the people in the hospital, he could be back in Hanan Pacha by late afternoon the following day. She might only have to suffer this humiliation for another twenty-plus hours. The thought of Russ returning to Hanan Pacha, and finding Summer naked and chained up wasn’t terribly appealing, but the thought of remaining naked and chained up for much longer was even less so.

“Anything about me?”

Otoniel nodded again. “Doctor Szalinski expressed his sympathy for having to leave you behind, and said that he hoped Pachacamac was treating you well.”

“Fat chance of that,” the biologist quipped as she fingered the chain around her leg.

“He said that he thinks they should be back for you by Thursday morning.”

Summer’s heart sank. Not tomorrow. But the next day. Two more nights of her naked body on exhibit for the Huaca.

“Well,” she stated glumly, “I guess that means I get another full day to work on my tan.”

Otoniel ventured a weak smile, but he knew how disappointed the American girl was. Still, Summer told herself, at least Walter was doing better. His life and death situation was more important for Russ than Summer’s uncomfortable captivity in Hanan Pacha. She took a deep breath, sighed, and decided to not let the frustration show.

Otoniel had picked up a varied assemblage of clothes, equipment, and other items from the Ambrosia camp that day, carrying it back with him in a newly repaired jeep. Summer wasn’t going to get her shirt back from Kulli, but Otoniel made sure that she wasn’t going to leave Hanan Pacha in just her bra. As Otoniel described the clothes that he had brought for her, Summer couldn’t help but wish for this ordeal to be over, for the opportunity to put clothes back on.

Otoniel had also brought equipment to trade with, expendable items like extra flashlights and gas-lamps. He was planning to sleep in the jeep that night, but he made sure that there were enough items to secure something from the Huaca if he needed to. And though the mestizo didn’t tell Summer, there was a twenty-two-caliber pistol in the glove compartment, an insurance policy against things taking a bad turn for the outsiders here in Hanan Pacha.

But Otoniel had brought two things that interested Summer the most. The first was a hair elastic, and the biologist immediately pulled her wet hair back into a ponytail. The second was a bottle of chicha, a Bolivian liquor made from corn. Summer and Walter, together, had discovered the joys of chicha in La Paz - before Hanan Pacha, before Valle de los Reyes, before the trek out to the Oriente. It was strong, and Otoniel figured that, given the way Summer had imbibed aqha the previous night, she’d want to again get a little buzzed, and allow herself to be little less self-conscious. He figured correctly.

Summer took a shot of chicha right away, eliciting smiles and laughter from two old men smoking their pipes not far from where Summer and Otoniel were sitting. Obviously, they’d never seen a woman drink that way before, swallowing down hard alcohol straight from the bottle. And, given that the woman was a young, pale-skinned, naked American blonde, Summer was sure the sight was only that much funnier.

Dinner came a short while later, though it was much more formal than it had been the night before. Pachacamac sat with Apotequil, Mancocapac, Otoniel, and a good-looking young man introduced as Pariacaca, while Summer was seated with a handful of women twenty feet away. Judging by the looks shared between Pariacaca and Yana, Summer guess that the man was Yana’s boyfriend, or suitor, or fiancé, or whatever the Huaca equivalent was.

Kulli, still wearing Summer’s polo shirt, was seated to the blonde’s right, and she was joined by Chasca, Yana, and others. A girl named Puka, probably Yana’s age, couldn’t keep her eyes off of Summer’s body, and Summer began to wonder if Puka might be gay. Summer heard three words repeated throughout dinner: calato, sumaq, and yuraq. She made a note to ask Otoniel what they meant after dinner. Yuraq seemed to cause the most laughs whenever it was spoken, and Summer was sure that they were laughing at her. She combated her sense of awkwardness, however, by taking a few more gulps of chicha. The warm feeling brought forth by the alcohol helped fight the fact that she actually felt somewhat chilly, given her wet hair and still damp skin.

Dinner was a fish, called surubi, served with potatoes, or choqllo. Not nearly as spicy as the tacu tacu had been the night before, Summer was able to eat without fear of burning her tongue. She smiled and laughed along with the women around her, not having the slightest idea of what they were talking about. Her limited vocabulary allowed her to understand certain words, like “yaku” for “water,” but she had no clue as to what the context was, or why the Huaca women were discussing water.

As it had the night before, dinner ended with Summer a bit tipsier than she had intended. Pachacamac’s dinner guests began to depart, Mancocapac soaking up as much of Summer’s body as he could before leaving. As Chasca and Yana cleaned and put the food away, Summer got up and walked towards Otoniel and the chief, cringing as she heard the chain dragging in the dirt behind her.

Summer sat down on the dirt Indian-style, without even thinking about how visible that made her pussy. She quickly changed her position, stretching her legs and crossing them out in front of her. But Otoniel had noticed Summer’s new haircut in that time, and was obviously shocked by it. He locked eyes with Summer, desperately trying to hide both his stupefaction and his lust. His nervousness and obvious attempts at self-control again got under Summer’s skin, and she felt better looking at the chief than her translator.

It wasn’t that Pachacamac didn’t look at Summer’s body. He eyes ran over her legs, her stomach, and her tits even as they were sitting there. But he did so in such a casual manner that it made Summer feel like nothing was odd. Pachacamac would have looked at her like this if she were wearing clothes or if she wasn’t. While Summer certainly appreciated this (especially in contrast to the edgy mestizo across from her), deep down, Summer wanted Pachacamac to be turned on. She wanted him to be excited. She didn’t want him to look at her and treat her as if her lack of clothing was a mundane thing.

Despite the conflicting emotions, Summer felt comfortable around Pachacamac, the same way that she did around Apotequil. Even with all that the chief had put her through, he still generated a feeling of safety, and Summer knew that he would never do anything to hurt her. Humiliate her, maybe, but nothing that would cause her harm.

Fire flickering a few feet away, Otoniel shared a conversation with Summer and Pachacamac, allowing Summer to ask the questions that had been building up in her mind all day.

“They’re waiting for the curse to be lifted,” Otoniel translated, after Summer had inquired about Yana and Pariacaca. “Marriage for the Huaca is about more than just the man and woman - it’s viewed as the seed from which families grow. Until they believe that Sipusiki’s curse has been lifted, they will hold on their marriage.”

“So they haven’t even tried to have children?” Summer asked. “Whatever is causing the infertility in these people might not be afflicting Yana or Pariacaca. I mean, what about that little boy, Oqe? Surely there must be exceptions?”

Summer waited for Otoniel as the translator communicated the question to Pachacamac. Behind Otoniel, fireflies were blinking against the dark black backdrop of the jungle.

“You are right,” Otoniel translated once the chief stopped talking. “Oqe is an exception. Pachacamac believes that these cases are rare, however. Years ago, the village was overrunning with children. But today, Oqe is one of a very few. Married couples, without children, are viewed with a stigma in the Huaca culture.”

“So they’re just going to hold off, without even trying?” Summer shook her head in disbelief. Whatever it was in the Huaca environment that was causing the impotency in the first place, there was no way to be sure that it was affecting Pariacaca or Yana, not without trying. “How many other couples are holding off marriage?”

“All of them,” Otoniel translated after asking the chief. “There hasn’t been a single wedding ceremony in Hanan Pacha for years now.”

“So what you’re saying,” Summer began to say, putting the pieces together in her head, “is that no one, in the past however many years, has even tried to have a child? What about all the couples that were married before the curse began? Haven’t they been able to have children?”

“That’s where the exceptions like Oqe have sprung from. Pachacamac believes that while the curse is cast over the Huaca people as a whole, but it is especially potent over young couples. Sipusiki is angry with Hanan Pacha, Ch’umpi, Sumaq Wasi, Uca Pacha, and other Huaca tribes in the valley.”

The water was fine, because Summer and her colleagues would have caught abnormalities during their research. The diets were fine, almost identical to the diets of the Quechua in San Eduardo. It seemed that the only thing keeping children from being born to the Huaca was the Huaca culture itself. They weren’t having children because they weren’t trying, and they weren’t trying because they didn’t think they could have children. It was idiotic. It was insane.

“Do you realize how crazy that is?” Summer asked Pachacamac directly. “Just how preposterous the whole thing is?”

Otoniel translated, but the chief just laughed.

“It’s not funny! If you’d just let Yana and Pariacaca get married, they could have children! The only thing standing in their way is the fact that they’re not having sex with each other!”

Otoniel translated again, though he toned down the exasperation in Summer’s pleas.

“Otoniel,” the biologist said, turning to the translator, “They’re going to wipe themselves out, simply by believing in some backwards curse that probably doesn’t even exist!”

Pachacamac stood as he responded to Otoniel, brushing dirt off his pants. He walked away from the two outsiders when he had finished talking, leaving the mestizo to tell Summer what he had said.

“You are an American. And you think like an American. You are a scientist. And you think like a scientist. But the world is more complex than American science can explain. This is a Huaca curse, affecting the Huaca people, because of the displeasure of a Huaca deity. Children will come when Sipusiki forgives the Huaca, when Sipusiki has been appeased.”

Hanan Pacha got quiet after dinner. Given that most of the villagers got up with or before the sun, it wasn’t all that surprising. But the silence of the small village stood in stark contrast with the squawks, buzzes, and chattering that emanated from the jungle. The previous night, Summer had simply passed out in the dirt outside of Pachacamac’s home. Though she had certainly gotten inebriated, she wasn’t as drunk as she’d been the previous night, and found herself struggling to fall asleep.

The blonde girl, still as naked as she’d been all day, lay on her back in the dirt, her hair tucked into a ponytail under her and her knees in the air. Her naked slit, now nearly devoid of the hair that had helped cover it yesterday, was pointed away from the chief’s hut, directed into the shadowy jungle that lay beyond. Water falling from the cliff above and into the pool helped drown out some of the more frightening sounds of the Bolivian jungle, but Summer was nonetheless unnerved by the occasional growl far off in the night.

They were the same sounds that she’d been hearing for months in Valle de los Reyes, Summer told herself. Nothing had ever tried to get her in her tent back at the Ambrosia camp. There wasn’t any difference now. Even if she was outside. And naked. And chained to the ground.

Summer thought about her daydreams that afternoon in the pool, about masturbating herself to release and relaxation. She wasn’t quite sure what had come over her, but part of it remained. Could she get away with that out here? No one was walking around town. Everyone was in his or her home. And it was dark enough that even if someone were out, they probably wouldn’t know what Summer was doing.

She shook the thought from her mind. She may have been paraded through Hanan Pacha without her clothes, and kept on display at the chief’s house for the village to come and stare at, but she wasn’t a whore. She wasn’t some slut, getting off on the thought of all these people, all these men, all these women, looking at her body.

Was she?

Masturbation fantasies were pushed aside. The stars gave off too much light. It was still too early in the night. And no matter how much she might have wanted to, she simply couldn’t bring herself to do so in such a public place.

And so, Summer returned her thoughts to the stars overhead and to the hopes of falling asleep. Like the night before, it was still warm, even with the sun down. Though she had been a bit chilly as the water dissipated off her body at dinnertime, Summer again found herself surprisingly comfortable, dressed in nothing and outside. If anything, it was still a bit warm for her to sleep, though not as bad as it usually was in her tent, dressed in the shorts and tank top that she wore as pajamas. Maybe I need to start sleeping naked when I get back, Summer told herself. That would be a few degrees cooler, in any case.

When she got back. Would they even continue with their research back at the camp? Walter was seriously sick, and in danger of dying. Would Ambrosia keep Russ and her there, even if Walter died? Would they pull them out, even if Walter lived? Though studying the Bolivian tree frogs hadn’t been exactly what Summer wanted to do with her doctorate, the thought of leaving the research unfinished was disheartening. Now that she was in Valle de los Reyes, now that she’d seen the astonishing growth patterns of the amphibians, she was genuinely interested.

Summer began to drift in and out of consciousness as her mind hovered over frogs, her colleagues, and her own naked body.

And then, she felt something against her neck. Summer groggily opened her eyes, and found herself staring into the eyes of a big, black cat. A jaguar.

Any drowsiness that Summer had been feeling disappeared instantly. She was suddenly awake with absolute terror, unsure of what to do or how to act. The warmth that she’d been feeling from the balmy Bolivian night vanished, and her blood felt like ice in her veins.

The biologist was still lying on her back, staring up towards the sky. But now a jagaur was straddling her body, standing directly above her and sniffing the necklace that she wore. The necklace of jaguar’s teeth.

The cat pulled away from her again, once more locking eyes with the naked blonde. Summer was frozen with fear, locked in her sleeping position, and feeling the jaguar stare her down. This was a female, Summer told herself. She was unsure of how she knew, but she somehow just sensed it.

Seemingly satisfied with Summer, the jaguar gave her one last, brief sniff and then turned towards the jungle. She trotted away, leaving behind a blonde girl that couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, and could barely breathe.

Summer lay in the dirt, running through what had just transpired. She was sweating profusely, even if her body felt frigid up and down her spine. She wanted to call out, but she wasn’t sure for what, or for whom. Instead, she managed to roll onto her stomach, pushed herself off the ground, and crawled on her hands and knees to the water’s edge.

Her reflection, as she stared down into the water, was barely visible in the dark. But if she had been able to make herself out better, Summer was sure that she would have been pale white. She let her blonde hair down, pulling out the hair elastic, and splashed some of the water from the pool on her face. Her heart rate began to slow, and the shivering stopped.

Though she was justifiably unnerved by her experience with the jaguar, Summer knew she had to calm down. In order to do so, she kept crawling forward, down off the dirt and into the pool. She crawled until the water was deep enough to swim in, and then paddled herself towards the waterfall. Steadying herself against the cliff wall, Summer stood up from the pool and into the downrush of water from above.

***

Summer awoke the following morning with a tug on the chain around her left ankle. The sun was up, and the village had begun to bustle, but Summer had somehow slept through it all from the mud puddle she called a bed. She was lying only a few feet from where Catequil had driven the spike into the ground, and she was caked in dried mud. Sopping wet and exhausted, Summer had come to shore the previous night and just dropped herself onto the ground. The water from her body and the earth beneath her combined into a nice layer of mud on the naked blonde, finding its way onto her face, into her hair, and even inside her right ear.

But what woke her was Oqe, jerking roughly on the chain that bound her in place. Summer repeatedly blinked her eyes as she awoke, catching glimpses of Otoniel chasing the little boy away.

Summer sat up, brushing away some of the dirt from her besoiled face, and smiled up at her translator.

Otoniel gave the girl a once-over, but then made sure to maintain eye contact. Still, he couldn’t help observing on her state of uncleanliness. “You know, you probably should have dried off before you laid down and went to sleep.”

“I was going to,” the girl replied, “but I left my towel in the pool house.”

Otoniel chuckled.

“So what’s it say on the day-planner for today?” Summer asked as she stood up. As she waited for a reply, she bushed the dried earth from her body.

“Same as yesterday, I guess.”

“Well, then,” Summer began, “I can see that we are going to have a very special day. I’ve already had my mud bath, apparently, so perhaps I’ll clean myself off in this state-of-the-art tropical pool. After my morning shower in this luscious rainforest waterfall, I think I will have breakfast brought to me - the finest breakfast this side of the Rio Clemente, complete with the finest fruits and breads of Bolivia’s enchanted Far East, the Oriente. Afterwards, I’ll spend your day tanning myself in the nude, all while commanding the attention of few dozen indigenous villagers.”