Sabine and the stranger

[Torn_stockings]

Sabine sat alone in her house listening to the dark crooning music of the Tindersticks. Her long black hair pulled back, she lit a cigarette and closed her large blue eyes, savoring the draft coming through one of the many rickety windows in her old new england farmhouse.

Dusk filtered through the dusty panes of the old glass, softly illuminating the darkening room. She opened her eyes and lithely moved to light some candles and sip her coffee.

A movement in her peripheral vision startled her, and as she turned toward the window she saw a tall figure walking toward her house across the otherwise blank snowcovered field.

She watched as he approached, slow deliberate steps...as he came closer she noticed his long black leather trenchcoat, a black backpack slung casually over his broad shoulders, and wild dirty blonde hair flying around his head escaping the confines of his black stetson hat.

Curious, she catlike stalked and crouched behind the door and side windows, grinding her cigarette out in a nearby ashtray. She never had visitors, and had few friends. This was how she liked it, and her pulse quickened a bit as the stranger approached the rusting scrollwork of the iron gate bordering her property.

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

The Stranger:

'Damn but it's cold and this wind cuts right through my coat like a knife.
'It's been awhile since I bothered with people, but it's gonna be a lot colder before sunup and I waited to long to try and find a place to shelter for the night and this damned sprained shoulder wouldn't have made it easy. I hope the people inside are hospitable and will give a stranger a place to sleep tonight even if it's just a shed or barn,' I think to myself as I open, then close the gate and step onto the porch.

I'm raising my hand to knock on the door when...

 

[Torn_stockings]

Sabine

Drawing her large bulky sweater tightly around her tall slim form, Sabine opened the door just as the Stranger raised his hand to knock.

The door was thick old wood and ornately carved. The red paint was scuffed and dented from the harsh weather over the years and badly needed repainting. This, and the way it creaked eerily when she opened it...again, was exactly how she liked it.

She stood face to face with the Stranger, locking eyes with him. She was never good at hiding her emotions, and surprised herself by nearly smiling...her entire face lit up upon seeing his handsome chiseled features, and there was something going on chemically in her triggered by him as well.

She pressed her lips together to keep from smiling at him as a gust of icy frozen air blew some snow drift into the front hall.

"You look like you could use a hot cup of coffee."

She stepped back and beckoned him to come in.

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

The Stranger:

Just as I was about to rap knuckles to door, it opened.

A woman in a heavy sweater stood silouetted by the rooms light, but I could still see her face and glowing eyes. For moments I just stood captured by feelings long unfelt. She wasn't beautiful, but she was arrestingly attractive and would have turned heads where ever she went.

Unconsciously I moved a bit so I blocked the majority of the wind to protect her from it's icy knife edge chill. I was about to ask if she had a shed or barn to let a stranger sleep in for the night out of the weather when she stepped back into the room and invited me in for a cup of coffee.

Another infestimal hesitation and I used the mud scraper next to the door to clear the bottoms of my boots, stamped my feet several time to get as much off the tops as I could and stepped inside. I took the door from her hand and firmly closed it as I shuddered involuntarily as being enveloped by the sudden warmth... and honestly as see her more clearly.

'She has magic. There's something about her... don't know what it is but it's draw is so powerful,' I think to myself as I smile my thanks and take off my battered stetson.

 

[Torn_stockings]

Sabine

Sabine slowly blinked but still could feel the struggle to smile warm her face.

The chill and fresh snow smell blended calmly in a quiet confrontation with the spices and comforting smells of coffee, fresh cooling bread and imported tobacco which seemed everywhere all of the sudden.

" Hang your coat wherever...If you'll make up a fire, stranger, I'll pay you with a meal of fresh hot bread and lamb stew."

Not waiting for an answer, Sabine moved across the oriental carpets thrown haphazardly over the rough-hewn worn hardwood floors, tossed an old faded box of wood matches at the floor in front of an ancient looking fireplace and silently made her way to the kitchen without looking back.

Something inside her chest jumped a little. Could this be adrenalin, or just the oddity of having another soul in her space...it was entertaining, and his looks were easy on the eyes.

She was suddenly aware of the herbal floral smell of her freshly washed hair, and the trace of lemon on her skin from scrubbing the cutting board earlier.

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

The Stranger:

Again that mysterious and magical pull and attraction and it grows.

I nod and smile again at the more than generous offer and exhange for minimal work for a good and hot meal. I can smell the coffee and bread and can imagine the stew.

'Lots better than out of a can over a small campfire,' I think to myself. 'and lots better scenery and company.'

As she turns and walks away I can't help but admire the sway of her firm rounded butt in those tight jeans while shrugging off my coat.

I hang it on a hook beside the door and lean back and shuck off my boots to leave there too.

Crossing to the fireplace and kneeling I slide the knife on my belt from it's sheath and begin to whittle off a pile of shavings. Once I have a respectible stack it's used to split off some kindling and lit the shavings.

As they burned I fed in the kindling and bit by bit more wood until a respectable fire was burning. I knelt there wondering about the attraction this woman had as I watched the flames and let the heat thaw me and melt the ice in my bones.

 

[Torn_stockings]

Sabine

Flicking at the golden crusts of the homemade bread, Sabine lowly purred in satisfaction. These loaves wouldn't be exiled to the freezer.

She brought her own black earthenware mug along and topped it off with a fresh hot blast of very strong turkish blend, and poured a mug for him as well.

She thought of the look in Beas' sad knowing eyes when Jax came to do the lamb last spring and whispered "Death is not the end..." to the quiet ewe, stroking her wool softly as the small fat offspring was gently led away. Sabine stirred the stew, inhaling the spices which steamed up like spirits.

Sabine padded into the room as the CD's last song ended, impressed with the growing fire the stranger had made. After setting the coffee down next to him, she sat down on a burgundy overstuffed sofa, curling up as her bulky sweater slid open, revealing a soft tight cashmere tank top.

"Nice Fire. What brings you 'round these desolate parts ?"

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

The Stranger:

I'd been lost in my thoughts and mesmerized by the dancing flames and flickering colors so didn't hear her return, very unusual for me. I'm rarely surprised by another.

I give a start and my head spins around. I takes me a second or to to come back from where I'd been then I smile and answer, "Oh just traveling from there to where ever. No real destination just now. Wandering and looking for where feels right I guess.
"I thank you for your more than gracious hospitality. I was just gonna ask if you had a shed or barn I could shelter from the weather in and get some sleep.
"Can't thank you enough ma'am."

I notice how the soft tank top is hugging what it covers and do my best not to stare, but it's tough. It's been a long, long dry spell between ladies I cared to share myself with.

 

[Torn_stockings]

Sabine

"Theres' a shed, and a barn. The barn would be warmer, with the sheep and cows, though the caretaker might wake you when he comes in to tend the animals at dawn. ( sips her coffee) I also have a few spare rooms with actual beds, or if you like, you can crash here in front of the fireplace. Barn, shed, house...whatever suits you."

She lets herself smile now, and it wholly transforms her face. It is as though they are old friends, she thinks, how oddly comfortable she feels around him.

Sabine doesn't grill him about his travels, as she finds questions like that to be a waste of breath. She figures he will share information on his own terms, when it suits him, as she herself does.

"oh, and I thank you as well for stopping by. I am not usually much for entertaining, though the occassional good company is nice to have. You looking for work, or just passing through?"

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

The Stranger:

My smile grows and lights up my blue eyes, "A real bed? Now ma'am who'd choose any where else to sleep, especially after a month of camping out and washing up at rest stops and in streams.
"Oh, as I'm gonna be sleeping in your home, you oughta know my name. It's Tom Horn and please to meet such a lovely and nice lady on a dark and icy night as this one is."

"Work? Yep I can do almost anything you have to do that needs to be done, except rope cattle that is. Can't do that," I say chuckling.

 

[Torn_stockings]

Sabine

A wry grin tilted the corner of her lips up as she thought about "things" that "needed to be done". Sabine bit back the impulse to inform him that she needed to be "done" quite badly, and took another sip of coffee.

"Sabine Jameson. A pleasure to meet you, Tom."

She locked her blue eyes with his, and laughed softly.

"Thanks for the compliment. "Nice isn't something I've been called in a long time, considering my lack of social life."

She felt her nipples harden involuntarily at the sound of his voice, and his proximity. He had a gentle sweet way about him that she felt comfortable with, and she liked his masculine dark style.

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

Tom Horn:

Turning away at the sight of your hard nipples poking out at the soft fabric of the top, "Ummm, ma'am, ahhh Sabine that is. Don't think I'm being forward, crude or fresh but I'd appreciate your covering up a bit.
"It's, well, it's been a very long time since I've been, well, as attracted to a lady as I am to you and, ummm, well, it's getting mighty hard to resist certain natural urges and impulses. If you know what I mean.
"Hope I wasn't insulting Sabine. None intended, but...
"Umm, of course I can just sit here like this and we can still chat. That'd work too if you'd rather Sabine."

You can see the flush up the back of his tanned neck as he's speaking and looking into the fire.

 

[Torn_stockings]

Sabine

Sabine looked down and bit her bottom lip. She was suddenly hungry for his firm large hands on her body rather than dinner inside it...

She stood and stretched a little, before wordlessly serving the hot meal. As she stood at the diningroom table slicing thick slices of bread, she glanced over at Tom still by the fire, impressed with his gentlemanly countenance.

"Some wine or water with your dinner?"

She buttoned the top button of her sweater and tucked a stray lock of her black silky hair behind one ear, and smiled.

 

[PhoenixPrime01]

Tom Horn:

"Either one is just fine Sabine.
"Hmmmmmm, smells delicious," I say as I get up and come to the table.

"Have a place I can wash up first?"