© 2023 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. This story or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary. If you see this story on any website other than Literotica.com, it has been copied without the author's permission.

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Ex Exorcism

Getting that damn witch out of his soul

"I don't do Halloween," said Phil.

"Oh, come on out and let's have some fun," said Wendy Gifford. "I'll make dinner, then we'll go to the VFW and have a few beers, then we'll head over to the RV park and throw some firecrackers and wake up every dog in the trailer park."

"That's Halloween?"

"It is in Wendy's world. Come on, it'll be fun."

"You make it sound so exciting."

"Come ooooonnnn," Wendy pleaded. "I miss my old buddy. I want my Phil back."

"You want to wake up every dog in your neighborhood?" There, thought Phil Beaudreau, I just called her trailer trash, now maybe she'll leave me alone.

"I can think of better ways to make 'em howl. Pleeeeeze? You don't have to wear a costume, we're scary enough."

"What time should I come git ya?" said Phil, giving in. He knew Wendy, she'd eventually wear him down into agreeing.

"Be here at six pm for our traditional Halloween feast!"

It's been ten months since Phil's wife May packed up her things, left a thumb drive full of explicit photos of herself and whoever she is screwing now, and disappeared. She even took his dog. It's a good thing she never figured out how to drive a stick, or she would have taken his mint 78 Ford pickup, too.

What a fucking fool he was.

Through middle school and high school, it was Phillip and Wendy. They were inseparable, two peas in a pod as the old timers would say when they saw them walking down the street. They spent every moment together, fishing on the river or practicing for the school play. When it came time to serve his country, she stood next to him when he took his oath of enlistment and she even wrote him every week when he was at sea in the Navy.

Then he met May.

He stepped off the sub that brought him back to home station and, as usual, there was a crowd to welcome the Gold Crew when they returned from their deployment. He scanned the crowd because Wendy was waiting for him, but... there she was... tall, slender, blond, beautiful. Phil didn't see anyone else, just May. It was as if the crowd disappeared and there was only one person he could see. He walked up to the blond goddess and said, "Hi, I'm Phil Beaudreau, who are you waiting for?"

She smiled and adjusted the collar on his shirt and said, "You," and they left together. She said he was the man for her. She said she was once a bikini model. She said she loved everything about him except the Navy, so he didn't reenlist. Six weeks later, they were married. Their honeymoon was blissful, everything he could have wanted. Then her mother showed up and dropped off her kids. "I'm sure I told you about them. Doncha just love 'em?"

She never said a word about them. The little girl was three, the boy was five, and they were brats. They trashed everything; they talked back to him, they got into all of his things. A year ago, he was a highly trained technician on an ICBM carrying sub. Suddenly he's scrubbing feces off of the bedroom wall next to the 3-year-old's bed with her mother defending her. "Just because it's on the wall beside her bed don't mean it's hers!" As his life descended into hell, he found he was babysitting the kids so she could go out on dates. Then he discovered that his hard earned paychecks were being injected into her veins. Luckily, she made her mind up to leave him by then.

It was a blessing when she left. He could start working on paying off the debt she ran up and run home with his tail between his legs like a man.

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Phil eventually got dressed up for Halloween. He wore a pair of black denim pants, a black t-shirt that said "BOO!" in big white letters, and a fake hockey goalie's mask. Phil stood at Wendy's door trying to work the courage up to knock. He was such a damn fool... indecision tore through him. He ran off with May without a word to Wendy. She could have talked him out of marrying that bitch, but something kept him away from her. Damn fool pride, that's what it was. Every time they came into home port, Wendy was there for him, then that last time they pulled into port, he didn't see Wendy. All he saw was May.

Inside, Wendy sat in the dark where she knew he couldn't see her and she watched the drama play out on the back porch. His inner turmoil played across his face as she silently said, "Come onnnn!" then he turned to leave. Ice cold sorrow coursed through her veins and she stared in wide-eyed disbelief as he turned, then turned back to the door. Relief flooded her veins, but she knew Phil. If he changes his mind again and turns away one more time, he's gone for good. She held her breath, then slowly he turned again. Her heart sank. She can't go running to him. This has to be his decision, and he was turning away. But as he turned, his elbow hit the wooden frame of the screen door with a muffled knock.

That counts! "Come in!"

"I... I didn't..."

"It's ok, come on in." Phil stood rooted at the back door in the dim glare of the bug light until Wendy's smile appeared through the screen.

"Sorry, I was in the living room, I almost didn't hear ya."

"I... I didn't..."

"I know, you don't do Halloween, but you got all dressed up for me." Her smile was contagious. "That means a lot to me. Come in!"

Feeling like a first class buffoon, Phil Beaudreau stepped into the kitchen that was illuminated by a couple of Jack-o'-lanterns, one smiling and one frowning. Comedy and tragedy. "Melpo and Thalia," muttered Phil.

"You remembered!" said Wendy.

"How could I forget with all the hours we spent in the drama club?" She was Laurey Williams, and he was Curly McLain in Oklahoma! and their love was called "A little too real" by the principal, Mr. Purvis.

"Tons of hours!"

"Far too many," said Phil with a sad half smile. Now is a good a time as any. "Wendy, I'm sor..."

Wendy silenced him with a finger to the lips. "No. Maybe later, but not now. This is our... Grand Reunion Dinner!"

In the dimly lit kitchen, she seated him at a table covered with a black tablecloth. White China and glassware were set out and Wendy poured Phil his favorite, an ice cold RC cola. The only light was from a white taper candle. "I just want to say that I feel powerful awful for the way I treated you and I want to apologize."

"Apologize for what?" demanded Wendy from the kitchen. "Treated me how? You didn't run out and cheat on me after we said, 'I do.' You didn't lie to me about two kids and make me baby-sit 'em. And you sure as hell didn't run off with my dog. Now enough about that. If we were going to spend this night apologizing, let's apologize for important things, like putting bullfrogs in lockers."

"I did not put a bullfrog in anyone's locker," said Phil.

"No, of course you didn't. You don't like to touch frogs. I'm the one that put the bullfrog in Penny Reese's locker."

Phil Beaudreau's eyes finally showed the first signs of surprise. "YOU put the frog in Stuck Up Penny's locker? Why?"

"Because she treated my friend like crap! You asked her to the 8th grade dance, and she told you to fuck off, so I gave her a frog for her trouble." Wendy's grin was infectious.

"She blamed me for it," said Phil.

"Yeah, but everyone in Charleton County knows you hate to touch frogs, so everyone thinks she's lying."

Phil sat at the table chuckling, then without turning, said, "Thank you. I needed that." Her soft hand rested on Phil's shoulder and he patted her warm hand. "Thank you."

"Phillip Jay Beaudreau, you're sitting here with your back to me... I could stick a knife in your ribs or poison your food or maybe just sneak out on you!"

"You'd never do that to me; God knows you've earned the right."

"I could be naked, too."

May suddenly made retching sounds in Phil's head, but Phil continued on. "If you were naked, you'd be teasing me more."

"Get out!" May whispered in Phil's ear. Did he hear that? He looked around nervously and didn't see her, but he felt her.

"Stop moping," demanded Wendy. "We'll have plenty of time to do that after we get a few beers in us. Now... can you guess what is for dinner?" She shook a can that sounded like it was full of dried rice.

"Canned chicken chow mein."

"How did you guess?"

"It's what we always eat on Halloween."

Wendy put a plate of chow mein on crisp noodles in front of him, and as always she bumped it up with more chicken, a few dashes of herbs and spices, extra Chinese vegetables, a dash of chicken bouillon, and a splash of Texas Pete's hot sauce.

"It's poisoned," whispered May. Phil closed his eyes and wished he were dead; he knew this was a mistake. Even though she walked out on him, his ex is haunting him.

Wendy sat down across from him and the girl that was always at his side appeared in the candlelight. Mousy brown hair that seemed to go in all directions even after being combed and brushed into submission, large glasses that perfectly framed her hazel eyes, tiny nose and a huge happy smile with lips that are full and soft, lips that looked like they can't wait to get at your cock. Wendy has a long slender neck, broad shoulders for a girl and large, round breasts, a narrow waist and wide hips. She's everything Phil ever loved in a woman.

"She's fat," May hissed in his head.

Next to Wendy, May was a piece of lumber with two bee stings and she shows the same intellect as that lumber, but something in his gut told him that May was his woman. He tried to fight it, Wendy was the one he cared about, but May was there, poisoning his heart.

"Why are you shaking your head?"

"How stupid I can be sometimes." Before she got on his case for putting himself down, he quickly changed the subject. "What's going on with Bevin's old filling station?" He saw Ted Wheeler's pick up there and Ted had all his ladders and tools with him.

"They're remodeling it. Sally Ann McKendrick is going to open a crafts store there."

"And what is going on over at the Sadie Hawkins?"

Wendy smiled and said, "They're remodeling to make it look like it was 1935 in there and put in a proper soda fountain." The Sadie Hawkins is where Phil used to take Wendy for ice cream.

"Go back to the city," May demanded silently. "That's where I'm waiting for you."

As he neared the end of his plate of chow mein, Phil asked, "Did you ever wonder what we would be like if I didn't make a mess of everything?"

"I know exactly what life would be like," said Wendy. Her eyes were on fire when she said, "you'd be a petty officer on a boomer, and I'd be sitting in Kings Bay family housing with my legs crossed hoping you get home before the baby comes."

"No, really, what would life..." but he could see the fire in her eyes that said she believed every word she just said. "I'm sorry I took that from you."

"Stop," she said as she started picking up dishes. "Our story is not over yet." She poked Phil's forehead with an index finger and said, "we need to get that cunt out of your head. Now pick." She held a plastic coffee can in front of him and in it were a few individually wrapped fortune cookies. He played her little game and selected a cookie. Breaking open the cookie, he pulled out the slip of paper that said.

Roses are red, violets are blue,

She's going to fuck the hell out of you.

"Where did you get these fortune cookies?" asked Phil with a sudden shock.

"Amazon," said Wendy, whose fortune said; You have 20/20 foresight.

Phil's mouth was dry as he handed the fortune to Wendy. "Here, check this shit out."

"Don't show me!" said Wendy, holding her hand up. "It won't come true if you show me. Let's clean up and go trick or treating."

"Trick or treating?"

Wendy took eight red poker chips out of her pocket and showed them to Phil. Each chit was good for a beer at the VFW. "I got the treats. You got any tricks?"

After straightening up, Phil said, "Whose car are we going to take?"

"It's a nice night. Let's walk."

Inwardly, Phil breathed a sigh of relief. He was almost out of gas and payday wasn't until Thursday. Before they knew it, they were walking through St. Felix, Georgia; it wasn't late, about 7:00 PM, but it was dark and foggy, a perfect night for a haunting. The streetlights showed down from between the arms of heavy oak tree branches, illuminating pools of light, and Spanish moss swung lazily in the warm breeze. It wasn't a long walk to the VFW hall and before they knew it; they were at the door. The VFW was practically the focal point of life in St. Felix and the Halloween party was in full swing. It was crowded with ghosts and ghouls, even though there were parties going on in nearly every house in the tiny South Georgia town.

The main hall at the VFW was packed. As a Zombie sang "You Light Up My Life" in the "Karoke Kontest," Phil and Wendy made their way to the bar. Wendy helps bar tend a few nights a week, but this is a big night with big tips, so the bartenders with the most seniority worked that night. Wendy tossed a couple of chips on the bar and the bartender pulled her two Miller Lites and handed her the plastic cups. At the VFW bar tenders work for tips, and the guys are supposed to tip with cash, but they'll drop a beer chit in the tip jar if they don't have any cash. That is why Wendy usually has a dozen chits in her purse.

Except for Hugh Hefner shooting pool against Bettie Page at the back table, there wasn't much going on in the poolroom, so Phil and Wendy got a table and started shooting 8 Ball just like they used to. They spent more time drinking beer and teasing and distracting each other than shooting pool. Wendy looked around and started wriggling around in her t-shirt, tugging at her bra straps, then suddenly she pulled her bra out of her shirt and tossed it to Phil as he lined up a shot.

"She's so gross," whispered May.

"Thank you darling," said Phil as the bra hung over his head. He missed his shot, then he neatly folded up her bra and put it in his pocket. From that moment on, pool became an unplayable game for Phil, actually for the both of them. As Phil tried to line up a shot, Wendy would lean over the table, the stretched out neckline of her t-shirt would hang open, exposing her large dangling breasts. As he looked, he felt that tug to consider May, slim and sexy, long blond hair... Phil hated this tug of war.

As Wendy tried to line up a shot, Phil would get close, close enough for Wendy to feel the warmth of his body and his breath on the back of her neck and he could feel May pulling him away.

"Gawd lady, you're killing me," he groaned as she brought two more Miller Lites from the bar.

She proudly arched her shoulders back showing her erect nipples pressing against the fabric of her shirt. "You're killing me too, sailor."

Phil came up and hugged her from behind, and it felt so good. Dreams of spending the night in his arms filled her head, then all too soon, he released her, returned to the pool table, and whiffed a shot. Her teasing and taunting got worse and worse. If she wasn't displaying her ample breasts, she was simulating fellatio with her cue stick. Phil would lean back against an adjacent table with his stick between his legs, chalking the tip extremely slowly, groaning as he turned the cube of chalk. For some reason, that got under Wendy's skin. She could picture Phil naked, slowly stroking his cock to taunt her. Finally the beer, the night, the warmth gave Phil either the courage or the anger to pull Wendy close and demand, "What do you want, pretty girl?"

"I know what I want," said Wendy, her lips inches from his. "Tell me what you want."

She saw pain in his eyes and he said, "I don't know, I think I want to lay down and die." The tug of war going on in his head with May was wearing him out.

Her breasts pressed against him and she gripped his upper arms tightly. "Let's reset to where we were three years ago," said Wendy, "You're still in the Navy and you just stepped off the USS Minnow..."

"Maryland," he corrected.

"Whatever. You step on shore and I was so wet for your that I thought I would die, but you walked right past me and walked away with May. Did you know her?"

"You were there?" Phil was in shock. "You wanted me?"

How could he not know? "Concentrate, you walked away with blondie, how long did you know her?"

"I... I didn't know her. I got off the boat, and she was all that I could see... it was the only face I could concentrate on. You were there?" confusion was obvious on Phil's face.

"Get away from her!" shrieked May in Phil's head.

"I was always there, every time you returned. Think!" demanded Wendy. "Did anyone give you something when you were getting on the boat?" There were always plenty of well-wishers. Boomer crews are big and the mission is demanding, so everything is done to make the guys feel good when they go on their underwater assignments.

"No, but..." Phil slowly took off the beaded neck chain that usually held his dog tags. This one held a small locket. He slowly opened the heart-shaped locket, and all that was inside of the locket was a small lock of blond hair. "This was mailed to me in a care package from an anonymous sender, one of those 'We're thinking of you sailor, thank you for protecting us' kind of things."

"She's grasping at straws," hissed May. "You're mine."

Wendy looked at the locket, and her blood ran cold. "Please answer me this," Wendy grasped both of his hands in hers and said, "Can we be happy like we were?"

Phil looked at her like she was crazy, "In high school you friend zoned me into the Antarctic."

"That ain't my fault, ya clueless goober. If you wanted me, why didn't you ever try something? Why d'ya make me wait?"

"I was afraid you'd..." He looked around for an exit, he wanted to be so far away from this situation. "I was told that you thought I was gay, and you were acting as my beard. You were just hanging out with me because we acted together in Drama Club."

"I never thought that! Who told you that?"

"Louisa Dunbarton."

"That fuckin' ho! I'm going to kick her ass." She took several deep breaths and repeated herself, "One more time, can you think of any conceivable world where we could be happy together?"

"NO!" May shouted in Phil's head.

"That's all I've dreamed about since seventh grade," said Phil softly. "You an' me together forever."

"That's the right answer... I need to think." She had two more beer chits, she walked up to the bar with Phil in tow and said, "Two more, please." She hopped up on the bar stool and pulled Phil close. She needs to find a witch, not one of these creepy guys dressed as witches line dancing to The Monster Mash over by the shuffleboard table. "Rhonda!" she shouted for the barmaid. "Who is that witch that cleared up your tomato blight?"

"That was Grandma Noah. She's west side of town, just off 121, right on the edge of the swamp."

"Thanks love."

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It was nearly ten o'clock and still warm by the time they reached the edge of the swamp. The walk through town revealed a few small groups that were going up and down the streets trick or treating. Helicopter parents were out in force watching the grade schoolers and carrying the younger kids. Small clusters of older kids roamed the streets looking to snag some Reece's Pieces. Jack-o'-lanterns glowed from stoops and porches; the smell of scorched pumpkin wafted in the air. A few houses had strings of orange and purple lights, two houses had twelve foot tall skeletons in the yard, everyone else had to settle for life size.

The sound of parties filled the air, and as the day cooled off, people moved outside. Several people rented inflatable water slides for their children's Halloween party and the sound of the kids whooping it up echoed off the pine forests south of town. Older folks were having parties too, many of them were being held out in the garages of St. Felix. Phil's firecrackers were barely noticed among the revelry, in fact they invited answering explosions from the other side of town.

Halloween night in the deep, deep south.

The moon was peeking above the horizon as they neared Grandma Noah's cabin. Now the chirp of the frogs and other swamp dwellers filled the air. "What are we doing out here?" asked Phil.

"I think May cast a spell on you, we need to find out."

"How? Are you going to throw me in the swamp and if I sink I'm ok?"

"We need a witch," said Wendy. "She can tell."

"And then what?"

"I don't know, but that bitch sank her claws into you and we need to see if they were poisoned." Wendy lead Phil deeper into the swamp, her small flashlight swept for a path and alligators.

Phil pulled Wendy to a stop and asked, "why are you doing this?"

She looked up into his eyes, her eyes were moist and glittering in the starlight. "I've had you to myself for most of my life. I intend to keep it that way."

"You're going to be stuck with me. You realize that don't you?"

"It's ok with me, you're housebroken. Come on."

She led Phil to a ramshackle cabin at the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp. The porch of the cabin was a museum of fishing equipment. There were rods and reels, oars, stringers, bobbers, crab traps, lobster pots, canoe paddles, flotation cushions, canoes, and a myriad of other things one might use to catch a fish all on display in the amber glow of a bug light.

"We got no treats here, little girl," came a voice from a deep shadow on the porch.

"Someone played a trick on us," said Wendy. "We are hoping you can help us."

Grandma Noah was sitting in the shadow in her rocking chair, watching the couple approach. Once they drew near, she leaned into the light. Grandma Noah was in her nineties and she looked it. Her white hair in a tight afro, dark skin clung to her frame as she eyed Wendy up and down. "Ah know you," said Grandma Noah, "Ah know your family. Is your Uncle Ned still in jail?"

"No," said Wendy, "He's behaving, we think. Last we heard of him; he went to Jacksonville looking for work."

"Probably workin' on marine engines," said Grandma Noah, chuckling to herself. There's clearly a joke there that Wendy wasn't aware of. Then the old woman's attention shifted swiftly. "And you," Grandma Noah said to Phil, "Your cousin Karole, how is she doing?"

'How did Grandma know about Karole?' wondered Phil. She's been gone for ages. "She's in Minnesota, we heard she got married."

"Good," smiled the ancient black woman, "As it should be. Probably found herself a fine hockey playin' man. Now what can I do for you two young'uns?"

Phil bristled at being called a young'un, but he failed to realize that to Grandma Noah, the world is full of nothing but young'uns. Wendy stepped into the light streaming from the screen door on her cabin and said, "I think Phil's soul has been caught by a witch, we... I want it back."

Grandma Noah laughed, then said, "Ah remember you two lovebirds in The Music Man, you were Harold Hill and Marian Paroo. Lordy y'all could sing!"

"If you help us, we'll come back and sing a duet," said Wendy, but the look on her face wasn't playful. She was pleading.

Grandma Noah nodded her head. "Fair 'nuff, I help you with your little problem and I get to hear 'Surrey With The Fringe On Top.' But I also want to hear about your uncle and your cousin, y' hear?" Her voice was as firm as the ruler in the hand of a nun teaching fifth grade math. "And I want your first-born son." Her voice was dark and stern and Wendy almost ran in terror.

"You want our kid?" asked Phil.

"Nah... babies are too much work. Just name him Noah."

"Yes, ma'am." Wendy and Phil both felt like they were five years old and reporting to their babysitting aunt.

Grandma Noah's voice softened as she asked Wendy, "Why do you think this man was bewitched, chil'?"

"It's always been Phil and Wendy, Wendy and Phil. We were a team; we were meant for each other... I knew it in my heart. Then he come home from sea and walked right past me and walked off with a woman he's never seen before and disappeared."

"Is that true young'un?" The gaze from her cloudy right eye fell on Phil.

"Run!" hissed May in Phil's mind. "Get out of there!"

"Yes ma'am, I stepped off of the ship and I couldn't focus on anyone. They were all a blur, then I saw May, she was the only one that was in focus and smiling at me. I walked over to her and..." He shook his head, "she was all I could see. I don't remember what happened, I just remember signing some papers, and I was out of the Navy... I was married... I was working at the Walmart tire center..."

Grandma Noah looked at Wendy, who was clutching Phil's arm and looking up at Phil as he struggled to hold it together. He told of May's children and May going out all night, not coming back until Phil had to leave for work, sometimes making him late. "Then one day she left, and it was like waking up from a horrible dream. I don't want her... but I don't want anyone or anything 'cept Wendy, but she's blocking that. If I'm with someone, I feel a tug on my soul telling me to find May. I hear her scoldin' me in my head."

"When did she leave you, honey chil'?" asked Grandma Noah.

"New Year's day," he said. "At least I got to watch the football games before they cut off the power."

"Chil! think," demanded Grandma Noah. "What makes you think she put a spell on you and this wasn't just youth and poor decisions?"

"She's in my head right now," said Phil. "She's yelling at me to get away from you."

"The locket," said Wendy. "Show her the locket."

Phil took the locket off and offered it to Grandma Noah, but the ancient black woman recoiled. "Jes' show me dear, Ah don't wanna touch it."

"I got this in a care package, it was an anonymous gift and I thought it was from a little girl." Phil held the locket up so Grandma Noah could inspect it, front and back.

"Uh huh, nothin' special. Go on and open it, young man." Phil opened the locket and Grandma Noah recoiled; she saw something in there that disturbed her greatly. She pulled a toothpick out of her hair and gently prodded the tiny lock of hair and frowned. She tossed the toothpick out toward the swamp and it burst into flame and was consumed before it hit the water. "It's not good," the ancient woman said. "Hang the locket on that nail and let me ponder this some."

Grandma got up slowly and Phil hung the locket on a rusty nail that protruded from the ancient pole that held up the porch roof, but it didn't hang straight down, it hung outwards a bit, hanging toward Phil. Both Wendy and Phil watched wide eyed because it continued to hang toward him as he moved around the porch like it was attracted by a magnet.

"Ah were afraid of that," said Grandma and she slowly went inside the cabin.

Except for the constant drone of insects and chirrup of frogs, it was quiet in the swamp. Once there was the belching roar of a gator followed by a splash, but that was far away. Possibly a poacher jacklighting gators. Finally, footsteps were heard and Grandma Noah returned to the porch and sat down in her chair.

"Here you go chil.' Jes' make sure you're done before sunrise." She handed Wendy a piece of paper with the instructions for the exorcism and an old Yoo-Hoo bottle that was filled with a dark liquid and recapped. "Ah don't know what to call that woman, she ain't rightly a witch an' she ain't rightly a spirit. She drains you of your spirit so she could be a vampire, but you get saddled with her spawn while she goes out and feasts, so ah could call her a cuckoo. But since she does both and still haunts you, ah call her a pearsite."

"Parasite?"

"Zactly!" said Grandma Noah. "Like a tick on a hound dog. She got her fangs set in you. We can't take a pair o' pliers to her, so we'll have to make up our own exorcism. We'll convince her to go."

"Why did she pick Phil?" Wendy looked like she was going to cry. "He was gittin' ready to ask! We were going to be married!"

Grandma Noah's features softened, "she didn't pick Phil honey, she cast out a treble hook an' he got snagged. She sent that locket to a submarine full of lonely men that was heading home where she knew she could catch somebody. It could have been any man on that boat, let's be thankful it wasn't a married man with babies, that would have ruined several lives. Unfortunately for her, she caught a man whose woman knew enough to fight back agin' the evil in the world. Now git! Take your locket and go! Girl, you take that locket. Don't let him touch it no more. Go! Time's a wastin'."

As Wendy and Phil headed back to town from the swamp, they heard Grandma Noah call out, "Don't forget my fee!"

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"Come on, it's just this way," said Wendy as they hiked through the brush. Both Wendy and Phil were wearing a backpack, and each was carrying a sleeping bag under their arm. A quick cut through a thick tree line that sloped downhill and they emerged from the woods close to the banks of the St. Mary's River.

"I haven't been back here since we were kids," gasped Phil, looking around in the moonlight.

"This is where I would come fishing while I waited for you to come home," said Wendy as she unpacked her tent. It was a very lightweight dome tent and with Phil's help, they had it set up quickly and rolled out the sleeping bags. There was plenty of firewood around and soon they had a small fire burning and they sat on the soft sandy ground on either side of the fire, looking at each other.

"Did the instructions say to go camping?" asked Phil.

"No, they said make a home alone together. Both your folks are home, my mom, my sister and her baby are at my place. We need to be alone and we need a river, so this works."

"We haven't gone camping in ages," said Phil as Wendy unwrapped a sandwich and handed him half. She then took two paper cups and poured the concoction from the Yoo-Hoo bottle into each cup and handed Phil a cup. "Did the instructions call for snack time?"

"It said to drink the liquid with food that I made for us." The drink didn't taste very good, it reminded them of Jägermeister and iced tea. It was a bit on the thick side and, along with the beer they drank earlier, it gave them a considerable buzz. But best of all, it muffled May's commentary and threats.

Town wasn't far away; they could hear the splash parties for the kids and the hard rock music from the adult parties carried in the distance. In town it's pretty warm, but down here in the trees it's stifling, no breeze was coming in off the river. Soon the repetitive strains of Concrete Blonde's Vampire Song came drifting into their campsite and they started laughing just because it felt good to laugh. It was such a campy vampire song, perfect for Halloween, and hardly anyone plays it anymore.

"What do you think?" asked Wendy.

"Of what?"

"Us."

Phil froze, looking across the fire he saw Wendy, the girl he grew up with, his very first love, his only love. He drank the rest of the noxious concoction and looked at Wendy again, and the tug toward May was still there but it wasn't as strong, he didn't feel the guilt and self-loathing as much as he did earlier. It was still there, but now that the locket was gone, he feels freer. "I think that we have a chance."

Wendy was hoping for something more, something she could pin her hopes to. "A chance?"

Phil swallowed and tried; his feelings were not definite things that could easily be put into words. They were images, memories, and desires and centered around Wendy and all the time May was in there fucking everything up. "Years ago we went camping together, I think it was near here." Wendy nodded, and he went on. "I remember waking up and seeing you laying next to me, and I remember being so excited that you were there with me to start the day, you were so beautiful in the morning sun and I wanted to do that over and over and share my days with you, one by one as long as we have days to share."

"And?"

"I want to go back there, but this time man up, tell you I love you, and do it right."

Wendy's breath caught in her chest and she finally fought to say, "are you saying that you love me?"

He felt May in his head trying to convince him he's being tricked, it's Wendy that's the trickster. "Yes," he whispered, but the rest wouldn't come out. "She won't let me say it."

Wendy looked at the sheet that Grandma Noah gave her. The woman had impeccable handwriting, beautiful, fluid cursive.

"Baptize your union in the black water that runs through our blood."

After that, there was only one more step after that and she didn't fully understand it, but she couldn't wait.

"Burn the locket. He'll know how and you'll know when."

Right now, she had to take the lead. She burned the wax paper that she wrapped the sandwiches in and crawled over to Phil and knelt before him, smiling.

"What?"

"Baptism in the black water."

"What?"

"Come on, give me them shoes." She began untying Phil's sneakers and pulled them off, along with his socks. In return, she stuck her feet out and he began untying her tiny sneakers. Somewhere in the distance, May screamed and Phil didn't pay attention, he continued to take Wendy's shoes off. He never realized how small her feet were. "What size shoe do you wear?"

"Four... STOP. That tickles!"

"This little piggy went to market..." but instead of wiggling her toe, he suckled it. The sensation of his tongue tickling her big toe shot straight up her inner thigh.

"This little piggy went home..." now she was laughing more than she ever had with Phil in the past. She didn't realize that May was now threatening him, taunting him, demanding he stop, but this was Wendy who was so much more important to him, he fought off May's demands.

"This little piggy had roast beef..." he took her toe between his teeth and flickered his tongue around and around it. Now Wendy was trying to roll over, she didn't realize how sexually stimulating getting your toes sucked could be. She was begging him to stop, but if he did, she probably would have killed him. It was so good to have the playful Phil back. She didn't realize the fight that was going on.

The locket was hanging from a tent pole and was leaning toward Phil at a forty-five degree angle as May screamed and threatened Phil. The concoction had its effect on him and May's taunts and whispers were subdued, her shouts were still there but their power was diminished. He got Wendy's other shoe and sock off and licked the underside of her foot from heel to toes and she shrieked, unable to tell if this was ticklish or sexy. Either way, it was damn hot, and she never knew that she had the capacity for such feelings.

Wendy lay back on the sand, her feet in Phil's hands as he began a foot massage on her tiny feet, which felt so good and relaxing after all that walking. "Are you going to do this for me when I'm pregnant with Noah and can't even get out of the bathtub?"

"If I can fit in the bathtub with you."

"She's never going to have your child!" shrieked May.

Wendy rocked up onto her knees and tugged Phil's T-shirt. "Come on you," and she pulled Phil's T-shirt over his head and smiled. He was getting buff! Hoisting tires all day long agrees with his figure. She unconsciously reached out and touched his chest and a thrill ran through her, she's finally going to have her Phil!

"PUSH HER AWAY!" shouted May, her hold on Phil was tightening with her desperation.

He took Wendy's hand and kissed her fingers then got up on his knees and pulled her t-shirt up revealing her slightly, softly rounded tummy then up higher revealing her ribcage, then a few more inches and her beautiful round breasts sprung free and bounced into place. He held her T-shirt up over her head, trapping her hands and blinding her, and admired the view.

Her breasts were big and bouncy, almost perfectly round, with large nipples and small areola. Her nipples were crinkly from exposure to the night and her knowing that he's staring. She tried to fight back; she struggled to get an arm free, but suddenly a mouth closed over one nipple and began sucking. The thrill was exquisite and the sense of helplessness magnified the intensity of his suckling. His tongue wrang pleasure from her nipple before moving on to the other tit.

Wendy's whimpers of pleasure clearly angered May. Phil could feel her anger in the back of his mind. May wasn't gone, she was still there, he could feel May's anger. He lifted Wendy's T-shirt off her and they smiled at each other, then slowly came together for a long, long overdue kiss. Lips parted and tongues sought each other out as bare flesh met bare flesh for the first time. Their kiss became electric, they couldn't hold each other close enough, their hands roamed over each other's bare back.

"NOOO!" shrieked May in Phil's mind.

Wendy broke the kiss quickly and looked at Phil in shock. "Was that her?"

"You heard her?" Phil looked at Wendy oddly.

"When we kissed, I heard a woman screaming 'No!' She was really shrill," said Wendy.

"Oh god, she's in your head too?"

"That was her? That's what you have to put up with?" asked Wendy with genuine concern in her voice. Maybe Grandma Noah wasn't the right witch for this job.

Phil nodded, "she's loudest with you," said Phil sadly. "Can you hear her now?"

"Nnnno."

"How about now?" and suddenly his lips were seeking hers, seeking another dream-kiss and as she entered that dizzy, dreamy passion she heard it again, "YOU TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF THAT BITCH!" May was truly angry.

"Oh, God! I'm so sorry!" gasped Wendy. She glanced over at the tent and the locket was hanging straight out, pointing at them. "She wants you that much?"

"She doesn't want me; she doesn't want you to have me."

Anger was building in Wendy's heart. "That fucking witch," she growled. "We gotta get rid of her."

"What's the next step?" asked Phil.

"Baptism in the black water," said Wendy. "Are you ready?"

"What?"

"I thought you were a redneck," she teased. "This is part of our heritage, come on." She stood and unbuttoned her jeans, but Phil stopped her.

"Let me." Kneeling in front of her, he unbuttoned the jeans and slowly lowered them over her hips and round ass, his hands running over her smooth skin, kissing her belly, ignoring the screaming in his head. She stepped out of the cutoff blue jeans and shivered as Phil started sliding her flowered panties down her legs, revealing her clean, shaved pussy. He leaned in and kissed her bare skin, so smooth. "Good shave," he muttered as he began planting kisses on her mound.

"I was expectin' to get lucky tonight," she said with an expectant smile. Then, as she stepped out of her panties, she urged him to stand. His belt buckle popped open under her urging, but the waist button of his jeans was tight. She finally opened the button and eased down the zipper. "Boxers?"

"I don't do tighty whities."

"Just teasing." She pulled down his shorts and his cock sprang out, surprising her. It was long, thick and just what she wanted on a Halloween night, but as she touched it, it went soft. "Are you ok?" she asked as she looked in his eyes and saw that he was wincing. "What's she's doing?"

To answer, Phil pulled Wendy close for their first naked kiss. It should have been a sweet tender moment, two young lovers in the light of a campfire, their fiery bodies pressing close, but when his lips met hers, Wendy's head filled with the shrieks and screams of May, the parasite witch. They broke their kiss and Wendy led Phil to the edge of the river.

"Grandma Noah says black water flows in our blood, so it must be powerful magic." The water in this back eddy of the Saint Mary river was as black as tea, black as the water of the Okefenokee swamp where Wendy and Phil romped as children and grew up. You "weren't nuttin" if you couldn't pole a Jon boat through the swamp to empty your crawfish traps when you were ten.

As Phil and Wendy entered the warm, black water, Phil could feel the shrieks of May grow farther and farther away. By the time the water was up to his ribcage, he could completely shake the howling. It was there but far off, like the crowd noise from the baseball diamond blocks away at the middle school. You could hear it, but you couldn't tell who was playing.

Wendy melted into Phil's arms and this time their kiss was so much more pleasant. Their tongues swam together, their hearts beat in rhythm and their bodies ached for each other. May howled and swore oaths, but her power was waning and, when that happened, Phil was surging. Wendy reached down and grasped his hard cock and smiled, "You're back! Let's hope we don't have to worry about that again for another 45, 50 years."

"I don't know about you, but for baptisms, my church is full dunker," Phil whispered in her ear. "Hold your nose with your left hand, now grab your wrist with your right hand. Three seconds ok? Are you ready?"

Wendy took a deep breath and nodded. Phil placed a hand on her crossed wrists and a hand on her back, then pushed her back into the water. The black water, the lifeblood of their area closed around her and she counted "One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand..." and as she hit three one thousand Phil lifted her up from the water and she coughed and brushed the hair out of her face.

"You ok?" a smiling Phil asked.

Wendy just nodded and coughed again, then wrapped her arm around Phil's neck and kissed him feverishly, her fingernails digging into his back, her leg curling around his, her groin mashing into his. When their kiss broke, she broke into a broad grin. May screamed her hatred at Phil through the kiss, but Wendy said happily, "I can't hear that bitch!"

"All right!" sighed Phil as he scooped up Wendy and swung her around in the water, causing May to scream and shout more oaths and curses.

"Let's move out into the deeper water," said Wendy and they waded further out until the water was up to Wendy's chin. Seaweed tangled their legs and caught between their toes as she placed her hand on Phil's head. He held his nose, took a deep breath and ducked with Wendy gently pushing him under. Phil held his breath as long as she could. If three seconds under the black water silenced May for Wendy, he was May's target, he was going to need longer.

Wendy practically had to haul Phil up, and he opened his eyes to silence. "I can't hear her!" For the first time in three years, May wasn't in his head, controlling everything he thought or said. Phil led Wendy halfway to their little beach, and they stopped and kissed long and hard, reveling in the silence. "She's gone," said Wendy with a weary smile.

Phil placed his hands on Wendy's cheeks and said, "I love you Wendy Griffin." She looked like she was going to explode with joy, but a sound caught their attention. When they looked at their little campsite, they saw the tent shuddering and shaking. "I don't think she's that easy to get rid of."

"What... what do you mean?"

Phil led her ashore, being careful not to stub their toes on the cypress "knees." Cypress trees have little bends in the roots that stick up in the air like a knee. When they got to the tent, the whole tent was shaking and shuddering, the locket was jerking at its chain, trying to get at Phil. "Tics aren't so easy to get out of a dog," said Phil. "They get under the skin so you have to make sure that the head comes out too." He took a stick and stuck it in the neck chain that was stretched out from the tent and wrapped it round and around so the locket was wrapped to the stick, then he released the chain from the tent and held the stick so the locket didn't touch him.

"I always to use heat to get rid of the tick so you know you got them," said Wendy. "Burn it now."

He jammed the stick deep into the fire and held the locket deep in the glowing embers. The stick caught fire, and the chain burned away, but he didn't move until they could hear a pop and a hissing noise. "Just like a tic," he said as a sudden feeling of lightness came over him.

<><><><><><Ѽ><><><><><>

Phil felt the ocean breeze on his face and found himself back on the USS Maryland, SSBN 738, as it tied up at the replenishment dock at Kings Bay Naval Station in Kings Bay, GA. The Welcome Home crowd was there waiting for them and the crowd was big, there were 155 men on that boat and it looked like there was one woman and three children waiting for each man. Balloons and flowers filled women's arms, ready to welcome their sailor to return from the sea. Phil knew Wendy was waiting there for him.

Standing on the deck enjoying the first sunlight and fresh air in six months, Phil scanned the crowd and this time he could see faces, but three were highlighted: Wendy, May, and Grandma Noah, who stood right at the end of the gangway. The band played a welcome medley as the men stepped off the boat into familiar, loving arms. Finally, it was it was Phil's turn, and he marched down the gangway, trying to determine what Grandma Noah was here for. As he stepped up to her, everything stopped. The band went silent; the crowd was motionless, only Grandma Noah was moving.

"You did it, didn't you young'un! You exorcized that parasite right outta your life." The ancient woman was smiling and nodding.

"Yes ma'am, we did. Thank you so much, do you want your song right away or will you wait for the baby?"

"Whenever you want, young'un. Ah sho love your singing. And now ah suppose you're wondering why this ol' swamp witch is here. Well, you are at a decision point. You can head on over to m' left and your lady awaits you and you can have these last three years back and start all over again, neither one of you will remember this night, or you can head over to m' right where you see your parasite and go back to the last moment you had."

"If I go to May, do I have to do this whole thing all over?"

"No, suh, you are done. You go back to your campsite, where your lady is waiting for you. Your choice."

"If I go to Wendy right now, I get back those three years?"

"You'll never know this happened," said Grandma Noah. "It's a do-over, as you would say."

Phil smiled and gently shook Grandma Noah's hand. "Thank you so much, ma'am. I think this whole thing has brought Wendy and me closer together than we ever were before. We really understand each other now. I think I want to go back to that campsite."

"That is a truly wise choice, young suh, and don't forget what is in your pocket."

<><><><><><Ѽ><><><><><>

"You got it burned? Is it gone?" asked Wendy. She peered over Phil's shoulder, and he could feel her breasts rubbing lightly against his back.

"She's gone," said Phil, as he sagged back to his heels. He felt like he had just dropped an enormous weight that he had been carrying for three long years. Suddenly Wendy clamped a tiny hand over his mouth. "???"

"Stop. I know you Phillip Beaudreau. You're gonna start apologizing and telling me you're sorry 'n shit and I'm tired of it. I've been waiting on you since seventh grade an' I'm done with it, I'm gonna pack up, you can keep my tent and..."

Phil whirled around and had the tiny woman pinned to the sandy ground next to the fire, his hands holding her wrists pinned to the ground above her head. "You let me go Phillip Beaudreau, I'm going home and you can't stop me."

"You waiting is over Wendy Gifford. I love you. I'm never going to let you go again, girl; your home is with me wherever I go."

"Like hell it is," she started twisting and kicking, but that merely let Phil get between her legs. When she realized what had happened, she fought hard and somehow twisted around under him until she was lying on her side, but he still had her hands in his grasp.

"I still got you, you're not going anywhere," said Phil. "I'm gonna keep you." But Wendy set her jaw and fought hard and suddenly Phil found himself on his back with Wendy pinning his wrists to the ground above his head.

"You never could wrestle worth a shit," said Wendy with a sneer. "Now here are the rules; I won fair and square. That ho witch is gone and I get the prize. So for the cost of three years of my life, this is what I want. Are you ready?"

Phil tried fighting back, but chose to listen. "Yes, ma'am."

"One. Tomorrow morning we go tell Pastor Wilson that we're plannin' to get hitched, he can do it, or we'll go to the courthouse." As Phil was about to respond, Wendy shifted her hips, bringing her pussy in contact with his cock.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Two, tomorrow afternoon we go down to the recruitin' office and tell them you fucked up and you want your job back. Tell them that if they don't want you, we'll go to the Air Force."

"Air Force?"

"Navy won't let you go to the Air Force, trust me. You're much better when you have a job you're proud of."

"Yes ma'am, and three?"

Wendy twisted and turned until she was on her back, and Phil was looking down at her. "We owe a debt to Grandma Noah; we need to start workin' it off."

"Yes, ma'am!" Phil grinned as Wendy reached down and lined his cock up with her pussy.

"Easy... ok, just a little more" Phil eased his cock forward and felt the head of his cock touch her pussy lips. She was hot and extremely wet; she rubbed the head of his cock over her pussy, getting him wet and just as ready as she was. "Ok, let's be us..." Her eyes rolled back as her best friend, the man she loved for years finally entered her moist, ready sex.

Phil eased his nervous cock into her pussy and groaned with pleasure as her warm, moist walls closed around him. She looked as nervous as he felt, so he stopped and started kissing her lips and cheeks. "I love you Wendy darling," he whispered and she smiled and started giggling. "What's so funny?"

She reached down and squeezed his ass cheeks and urged him in deeper. "I win," she said with a huge grin. "We beat that witch and I win!"

He moved his cock in and out in little strokes, letting her get used to his being inside of her. Soon she was urging him on with her hands, groaning in harmony with him. "More," she gasped, and he began fucking harder, faster. Neither 'young 'un' was prepared for the emotions they stirred up. Before long, they were clutching at each other, weeping with joy and crying out in pleasure as their bodies came together over and over.

Phil was insatiable. He stroked his cock into her over and over, fucking like he was angry at her, but if he was angry at anyone, it was May. She kept him from Wendy, this beautiful, smart, loving southern girl, the woman he was fucking like a madman.

Wendy loved having Phil inside of her finally, after all this time. The pleasure was unbearable as she clawed at his back, trying to pull him in deeper. Over and over, his cock slid into his pussy, their groins slapping together in the cooling night air. She arched her back and came singing out her passion. Her cries carried over the river and spurred Phil on. He fucked her hard and fast as her arms and legs wrapped around him, begging him to cum in her. A second mind-numbing orgasm was crashing over Wendy when Phil came, shuddering and crying out, thrusting into her, spurting over and over, fucking the horror of May out of their hearts.

A tired Phil woke up from a dream that May was giving him a blowjob that she routinely promised, but when he opened his eyes it was Wendy sucking and swallowing on his hard cock. "Dear Gawds you're incredible!" he nearly shouted. She looked up at him, his cock stretching her mouth wide, and she winked! Her blowjob went on and on taking Phil right up to the edge of orgasm then backing down. She sucked, she slurped, and she moaned every time she swallowed his cock. Finally the pleasure was too much, he had to cum. He held her head tightly and fucked her mouth until he came. He released his hold on her and she eagerly swallowed every drop.

As he lay shuddering from the power of his release, she crawled up and kissed him, and he didn't pull away. "Better than May?" she asked with a grin.

"MUCH better," he sighed.

"Hope you got some left in ya, cause I want more," said Wendy with a grin.

Later, as they lay in the tent after making love again, shuddering, panting, and occasionally kissing, Phil remembered what he had in his pocket. He pulled out a small jewelry box and handed it to Wendy. "This is my grandmothers, and now it goes to you." Wendy opened up the box to find a tiny diamond ring, a beautiful yet modest piece of jewelry. "I've been carrying it for you."

"How long have you been carrying this?" asked Wendy as she studied the tiny diamond in the beam of a flashlight.

"I wanted to give it to you when I got off the Maryland." He slipped it on her finger and it fit. His grandma must have had tiny hands, too. Exhausted from the events of the evening, they kissed softly in their love nest. "Sorry to make you wait for that," whispered Phil.

"You will make up it up to me," said Wendy as she lay her head on his shoulder, and Phil knew he would.

<><><><><><Ѽ><><><><><>

The sun had just set on the Okefenokee and several lanterns were glowing on the porch of an old shack at the edge of the vast swamp. Spanish moss hung from every branch on every live oak that grew in the area, and singing could be heard. Grandma Noah laughed and clapped in time as the kids sang.

We know we belong to the land

And the land we belong to is grand!

And when we say Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!

We're only sayin' You're doin' fine, Oklahoma!

Oklahoma O.K. L - A - H - O - M - A

OKLAHOMA! Yeeow*

Five-year-old Katy Beaudreau danced next to Grandma Noah's rocking chair until the song was done. "They sing all the time, grandma" said Katy.

"That sure is some fine singing," said Grandma Noah. To Wendy and Phil, she didn't look a day older than she looked on that night seven years ago. "How is your Uncle Ned doing?"

"He is running his own shrimp boat out of Mayport," said Wendy, "The Sadie H. And he says he's going to buy another and name it after out Katy, the Katy B."

"And Phil, how is your cousin Karole?"

"She owns a farm and is married to a college professor," said Phil as he put three-month-old Noah Beaudreau in Grandma Moses' arms.

"That's a beautiful baby," said Granma Noah as she cuddled her namesake. "But that don't look like no Navy uniform you're wearing."

"Well, the recruiter called my bluff, but the Air Force was hiring. We're heading out to Germany next week," said Phil. "We thought we'd stop by with one more song for you."

____________________

* © 1943 Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II