Naked I Came

  Food Eaten in Secret

  The fifth anniversary celebration of the church proved to be very successful and many people attended the weekend meetings. The brochure was not only received as a very good piece of publication but also gave a great impetus to the church work. Justin attributed a lot of credit to Sushmita for working on the brochure though Pearl did not appreciate it and once at home, she was mildly vocal about it in front of him. Justin started to notice clear negative vibes that had started to build between Pearl and Sushmita, which concerned him. However, to his amazement, it also gave him a feeling of thrill that was amusing in itself. The more Pearl expressed her displeasure, the more Justin got attracted to Sushmita, which of course was absolutely no excuse for him to do what he was doing. On the contrary, he found himself defending his actions. Justin started contemplating the biblical character of King David and Bathsheba’s relationship in a different way to justify his own wayward steps.

  After the brochure work, Justin and Sushmita found it difficult to meet each other under any pretext, so they had to resort to talking over the phone. This was not easy because there were always chances that someone from the family may pick up the phone on the other side. They tried solving this by alerting each other by first, giving a short blank call and then making the actual call. One day, however, over casual talks, the two families exchanged notes of increase in prank calls to their respective places, making Sushmita and Justin uncomfortable because the coincidence was too much to be dismissed.

  By now, Mr. & Mrs. Goodwin and Brother Eric had also noted the extraordinary, though subtle, interaction that Justin and Sushmita displayed, and Mr. Goodwin had even commented indirectly on the subject in the hearing of the two.

  The preparations for the Agra convention were in full swing when suddenly Mrs. Goodwin fell sick. This was a problematic situation. Sushmita could only go to the convention if Mrs. Goodwin recovered well in time, because the Goodwins had requested Sushmita to stay back and look after her. Sushmita and Justin found themselves cornered as no argument against this humanitarian cause could be justified.

  A gloom descended upon the two as they realised that they would not be able to enjoy each other’s company during the days of the convention. Talking over the phone also would not be feasible as it would not be easy for Justin to leave the convention venue to go looking for the pay phone. Both were crestfallen but did not have a say in the matter for fear of being looked at suspiciously by all. On Tuesday evening, to the surprise of everyone, Sushmita and the Goodwins were present at the home fellowship meeting. Mrs. Goodwin, though still very weak from her sickness, seemed to be on the road to recovery.

  After the meeting, stealthily, Sushmita passed a note to Justin, which he quickly put away in his pocket. Then, excusing himself with the pretext of using the restroom, he hurried to the confines of this only place of ‘solitude’. Once inside, he quietly took out the note, and jumped with joy like a teenager when he read the words, ‘I am coming to the convention’. He took great care to tear up the small piece of paper and flush it down the toilet.

  Once outside, while mingling with the people, Justin made it a point to keep away from Sushmita, but at each glance that they exchanged, there was joy unspeakable in their eyes.

  The journey to Agra needed to start at dusk on that Friday so that they could reach the convention venue by late night. The meeting point was the church office where everyone was to assemble by seven in the evening.

  After taking leave from Pearl and the boys, Justin reached the church office much before everyone else. His heart was all excited about the prospect of being with Sushmita in those three days starting with the car journey, which itself would be more than four hours. Sushmita, along with the Goodwins, was the next to arrive, followed by Brother Eric. Lately, Justin observed that whenever he and Sushmita were in close vicinity, it attracted amused looks from Brother Eric, which both cautioned and irritated Justin at the same time. Nonetheless, putting aside all such thoughts, Sushmita and Justin continued to exchange glances beyond the customary greetings.

  There was a small convoy of three cars, which had fourteen people in all. Of them, three were to share the ride with Justin in his car. The permutation and combinations could have been numerous but, somehow, without raising any red flags, Justin managed to get Sushmita to travel in his car with two more church members who were in their mid-thirties. The car driven by Sushmita’s uncle had his wife, Brother Eric, and two others sharing the ride.

  With her shoulder length hair flowing loosely, Sushmita was attired casually in jeans and a short top that exposed her midriff to the sight. She had a well-toned, flat belly with contours just at the right places. Sushmita did not have those rippling six-pack muscles, which in Justin’s opinion were a manly attribute but instead had a soft, well-toned belly. Her short top left her navel uncovered, which presented such a mysterious look; hidden behind its own formation from where her belly with its fleshy contours sprouted, as if it was the bud of a lily from where its petals spread out rising slightly above before flattening smoothly. When she walked towards Justin in the fading golden light of the setting sun, the contours of her abdomen moved very slightly in a rhythm of their own, as if giving rise to a sensual song. Mentally, Justin was taking care of a few last minute arrangements for the journey; however, his heart and his roving eyes were still stuck at the ‘nucleus’, the belly button of Sushmita that showed every now and then with each movement. Oh, how he wished to peek inside that nucleus and the secrets it held! It seemed he needed to go down on the knees to bring his eyes at the level of this newfound nucleus of ‘his’ universe, gently spreading the soft flesh around it with both his hands to behold the secrets of treasures hidden therein. How Justin wanted to liven up his fantasy right then but alas, it was not to be so! In fact, right at that time, some more people who were a part of the entourage arrived, thus, jolting him out of his silly musings. Justin realised how preoccupied he was with thoughts of Sushmita.

  Within the next quarter of an hour, everyone arrived and soon they hit the road. By the time, they were out of the city boundaries and onto the highway, darkness had spread its wings. Justin and the rest of the three were having lively conversation when Sushmita expressed her desire to stretch her legs and take a nap. To the delight of Justin and Sushmita, the two gentlemen seated on the rear seat suggested that she should stretch on the front seat itself and take a nap. Andhe ko kya chahiye, do ankhen, goes the saying in Hindi (what does a blind man need, two eyes). Sushmita immediately grabbed the idea and pulling up her shawl, curled up in the front seat of the car with her head nearly in Justin’s lap, who was driving. The two men sitting in the rear seat of the car softly continued their conversation on some topic of intellectual interest, whereas Justin remained preoccupied with the fantasy of the nucleus, the beauty of which he had seen in the glimmer of the fading sunlight.

  Suddenly, Justin realised that the owner of the precious jewel was in fact lying next to him in the car. Slowly and cautiously, he let his left hand slide towards the object of his desire. Once there, with great tenderness, his fingers touched it. The body lying next to him shivered and her hands slowly but firmly clutched him around the leg. At every touch, she would quiver and her whole body would become taut. For a long time he caressed her belly, with his fingers taking turns in stroking her navel, sometimes trying to spread it with two fingers and trying to pry in-between with the third.

  All of a sudden, in the dark interior of the car, which got illuminated occasionally by the lights of the passing vehicles, Justin felt Sushmita’s hands working up themselves around his lower midriff. He became taut because of the elements of fear and excitement that were working simultaneously upon him. Fear, because they could be chanced upon by the two gentlemen sitting just a few feet behind on the rear seat of the car and excitement, because Sushmita and him were indulging in the ‘forbidden’ right under the very nose of those two gentlemen.

  They were risking everything that t
hey had. Justin was particularly putting everything at stake, but still, the thrill of the forbidden had started to excite him every time he was close to Sushmita. That day also, was no different, it had become a game for them, a dangerous game, which they just could not resist to play.

  As their forays into the flesh progressed so did the speed of the car. Driving with one hand, braving the onslaught of the glare created by the oncoming vehicles with their high beams, Justin by then was driving between 80 and 90 kmph on that rough highway, which was hardly 20 to 25 feet wide and catered from bullock cart to the heavily laden trucks. The two church members sitting on the rear seat and oblivious of the happenings trusted Justin in every way, his biblical knowledge and his driving skills too. At last, all the three climaxed together, the car with its speed touching 90 kmph; and Sushmita and Justin in their pursuit of fleshly pleasures.

  ‘Brother, you are a very good driver’, said one of the men sitting in the rear seat.

  ‘Thank you’, said Justin.