11 HELENA’S RECALL

Helena recalled their meeting at the end of July when she got the job at the athletic center. She had worked in a hospital in Budapest and didn't like what was going on. The nurses battled the administration and there was a permanent uproar over wages; the corruption was extensive. Nepotism and favouritism flourished, and patients had to foot the bills for doctors' mistakes and were expected to bribe them for proper treatment. Installations and equipment had to be begged for in every department and by the time they got them, they were obsolete. The budget was never enough, and she just could not stand the steady advances from the doctors who thought she was fair game because she was single. She dated three doctors from that hospital and found them so much in love with themselves, that there was no room for her. It was not what she wanted. She felt to be a sperm depository and wanted to meet someone with substance.

Her first sexual experience was at age fifteen with a boy from her school at a party and lasted less than fifteen minutes including foreplay, getting disrobed, and then dressed and clean up after. It wasn't the great experience she had heard about. At first, he was nice and gentle with her and she knew what he wanted, but he entered her before she was ready and it had caused some hurt. And then he just kept going, unaware or not caring for her discomfort. That foreign object penetrating her felt weird in the beginning, but then she felt pleasure rising and gave herself to the feeling. The disappointment was that he had his orgasm before she really enjoyed it. His face distorted and then she felt a pulsing, warm liquid filling her. That was the best of the entire encounter; the rest was a jumble of emotions, confusing and worrisome, as he seemed not to be paying much attention to her, but was very concerned about being discovered doing something immoral and a sin.

They spent a few months together and it was always the same with Csaba. He wanted sex as often as she did, but he came so fast, it was like a summer rain shower, gone before she got wet and she rarely had an orgasm. And those rare instances when she had a climax, it was nothing to brag about; she called them minis. Most of the time she had to finish what he started, sometimes with a sex-toy, but without a partner, it was not fulfilling.

Nevertheless, she did love him and even thought about being his wife one day, but it didn't work out. He found an older woman, and she let him go with love and remained friends with them until they moved to Austria. After he broke up, she didn’t have a boyfriend until she started working in the hospital. Studies took up most of her time, and then she got into yoga and Aikido. That helped her to control her hormones.

Then she met a doctor from Italy and thought to have found a good man, but he was insane with jealousy and hit her once at a party that they both attended. His mistake was to hold her by the arm with the other hand. His brief flight off the balcony ended seconds later with an attempt to do a hazardous headstand on the front lawn of the prestigious Turkish bath house with two-dozen people applauding his performance and calling out scores between 5.5, from a German tourist, and 5.9 from a Danish female figure skating champion. Six would have been the perfect score.

She had wondered briefly if she would not be better off with a woman lover like one of her classmates who swore by it, however, she enjoyed the feeling of a good and hard penetration, the twitching, pulsing member of a man in her mouth or vagina, especially when it ended with a climax for her, which rarely happened with any of the men she had met in the past. She had performed fellatio a few times with a forty-year-old African surgeon while doing her practicum on physiotherapy and fortune had it that he was a non-smoker and loved fruits as much as he loved her. His semen was almost sweet and she enjoyed sucking his cock and coupling with him, but when he told her he was Muslim and she would have to conform to their customs if she wanted to continue with him, she ended the affair. He thought she would go with him to be his second wife. It was a tempting offer because she cared for him dearly, but she found Islam too restrictive for a woman. She would never give up her self-sufficient and autonomous lifestyle for any man, especially for a relationship based on any faith. Respectfully, she declined his offer. After that, he had moved back to South Africa to his wife and family.

She met another man, a young doctor, and after a short courting season, she relented and had sex with him and after an uneventful romp in the sack, both lay in bed together, having a drink and then she listened to his snoring for the rest of the night. Examining her feelings, she realized it was her own desire for some intimacy and sex that made her give in to his pursuit. She hated herself for being shallow and tried to mobilize more empathy for him, but couldn’t.

Not satisfied, she tried to revive him in the morning by giving him head and perhaps have him again and he did return from the dead, a testimony to her skill pleasing a man, but then he came too fast, and that's when she found out that smokers and coffee drinkers tasted awfully bitter. Almost everybody smoked and drank coffee in Hungary. It was hard to find a non-smoker those days and she spat out his semen and he had felt insulted. Expecting her to swallow, he felt rejected and she felt sorry, but couldn't suppress her revulsion over his foul door and the taste of his sperm.

Following that incident, she swore to never let a man come in her mouth if he smoked or consumed too much coffee. After that, he didn't get an erection and that was it. He lost interest in her and the rest of the day was spent in an uncomfortable silence and avoidance of close contact.

Although she had tried to explain to him that she cared for him, just not the flavour of his semen, he took it as a rejection of him. She had tried to generate some feelings for him but found he was more concerned with his performance and position in society than her needs, and that turned her off in a hurry. Her parents talked with her and advised her to lower her expectations if she ever wanted to get married, but after observing how married couples’ faces dropped after being together for some time, she saw marriage as being a trap. Her friend Zsuzsa married one of the doctors who adored her and she thought him to be the best, until she found out that she was not the only one he adored, but did not allow her to find out if there was a better one than the best. A two-sided blade will cut both ways said Helena, and she was not going to be married to become someone's prisoner or showpiece.

The following spring she met an older man who was happy with a younger woman and he was good to her but had a problem satisfying her. He had no imagination and once he had his orgasm, he fell asleep and nothing she did could keep him awake. When that happened in the middle of mutual oral sex, she decided to call it off. They separated as friends and saw each other only at conferences to say hello, how are you. She had two other men after him, but she dropped her expectations toward men.

A year later, she heard about this job opening at the National Athletic Centre and applied. She had the interview and a day later. Olmos called and said she had the job and would work with Dr. Fabien, a massage therapist, trained in acupressure and shiatsu. He also was a life-skills counsellor, non-smoker, and fruit-lover, according to the institution's profile on Dr. Fabien and that was something Helena considered a plus. Colleagues that knew Dr. Fabien had a good opinion of him but didn't know any details about him. Apparently, he kept to himself, but was friendly and a kind of a wise man with an enigmatic personality. He sounded interesting as a colleague and she felt good about working in a smoke-free environment, yet, burned several times by working with colleagues and being harassed as a woman, she had no intentions at all to date and wanted to forestall any advances. She thought she would test the waters and see what kind of a person Dr. Fabien was. A dependable, authentic, and trustworthy personality, someone with integrity would be nice, but people like that were hard to find.

Fraternizing between co-worker and employers was frowned upon on any job and she broke that rule regularly, but wouldn't allow a man or woman to throw their weight around because of their position. The "Politically correctness" idea, in her point of view, created falseness in behaviour, and she was secure enough to repel or divert any inappropriate advances. As a matter of fact, she took them as a compliment rather than an insult. When it came insistently in form of an offer to improve her position, she turned tables on the offending person and it had resulted in dire consequences for the other. Helena was not easily intimidated or afraid to speak her mind.

She was not opposed to dating a colleague, but it seemed men used the opportunity to get close to a woman. She loved to work together with people whose calling was to help and assist people to be at their best and figured a cordial relationship with staff members was contributing to that aim. Rules that limited that cordiality were counterproductive and were only in the interest of business. In her view, personal relationships were unstoppable and only produced tension and gossip among workers. Envy, rumours, jealousy, and backstabbing were the results of restricted interaction between humans when there was a suppressing factor.

However, to her, it appeared that many people had two sides to them. When they encountered a prospective partner, they played the dating game and once they succeeded with them their behaviour changed to something she called the "before and after face".

While they courted they were considered, funny, interesting, and respectful, and when they had the other for a little while, the other, much uglier face surfaced. In general, they presented their chocolate side to gain their affection, but working together that would soon wear off. The sweet side vanished and their true colors showed.

Over a short period, she discovered that Gábor was real. There was no hidden agenda and he didn't change with time. He was the most authentic person she had ever met and her instincts had proven to be right. When she met him that first time, she saw a man perhaps a hundred-seventy centimeters, (5’6”) tall, about thirty-five to forty years old in black outdoor type shorts with a white t-shirt and tennis shoes. He had dark hair that covered half of his ears, parted on the left, and combed back, touching the edge of his shirt. A necklace with a claw and another native North American necklace with Emerald, black and white stones, and some animal tubular bone hung around his strong neck. With broad shoulders and a slender waist, he looked athletic, yet not bulky.

His strong face was old Hungarian stock, she thought. High cheekbones, almond shaped laughing eyes that seemed to have seen everything. There seemed to be a light dancing in his calm, hazel brown eyes. He had fine, sensual lips that seemed to be smiling as if something constantly amused him. He looked trustworthy and friendly and she felt an instant attraction to him. This was a man she could love.

As she got closer, a welcoming smile played on his lips and she almost hugged him. Dr. Fabien captured Helena like a moth to the light. Witty and original, she loved the way he played with words, a sign of intelligence; his jokes were off the wall, but funny. Intentions to keep her distance blew up in her face.

When Mr. Olmos came onto the field to introduce them to each other, Helena felt as if she'd known Gábor for a long time already. They had flirted shamelessly in the office, bantered, and jostled until Mr. Longface Olmos interrupted them to sign her contract.

After their meeting, Gábor left for a few days and Helena could barely wait to see him again. When she did, it was as if the sun had risen after a long dark night. They'd spent a day at the citadel and she invited him to her place to show him her collection of Native American art and hoped something would come out of it, but he was a gentleman; too much of a gentleman, she figured, and wondered how he was with other women.

Despite her vows to be cautious, she went ahead and flirted with him full steam, trusting her intuition. Did he date anyone at all? She didn't think so. Was he good in bed? They had discovered how much they were alike in mentality and their interest in life's fundamental questions, and she felt as if she could talk with him forever, but he remained reserved and nothing happened beyond flirting. She wondered if he perhaps didn't have any other interest in her than just flirting. Could it be that he was gay? She would have loved and welcomed his advances, but he had this invisible wall around him that made it difficult to get close to him on a more intimate and personal level.

That weekend she went to the pool with him and they had a good time talking and swimming. She noticed the outline of his good-sized package in his tight swimwear and his broad hairy chest and the spark to get to know him physically intensified. He was a strong swimmer and she asked him to show her how to breathe while doing the freestyle stroke. He did explain, but realized she didn't get it. Swimming past her a few rounds, slowly to let her see how he did it didn't do it. She still didn't get it.

"This will never do. May I hold on to you while you do the stroke and I'll assist you with your head position?”

"Please do. I want to get this." He put his hand on her belly and she felt a jolt of electricity buzzing through her body. Gasping she swallowed some water and coughed.

"Are you okay?" he asked. He felt her body's sudden jump and his penis twitch when he touched her.

"Just a wave, that's all," she had said. "Your touch startled me."

However, that was a big lie. She wanted to feel his hands on her forever. He put his hand again under her and she sank down onto it. Feeling his hand on her body heated her up and she tried to ignore it.

For a little while it worked. With his free hand, he turned her head to the side and tucked it in as she did the stroke, instead of letting her lift her head out of the water as she had done before. She got the idea pretty fast, but now she became aware of his hand on her belly button and her sex. If he just would move his hand lower… The thought caught on, but then he let her go. Her pulse had accelerated and her nipples hardened. When she covertly adjusted her bikini bottom, she felt she had become slippery between her legs. This was crazy. They were in a public pool and she felt everybody would see her state. Putting her feet down she remained up to her neck in the water, thanking him for the lesson. He was happy to stay in the water also. His penis had a mind of its own. Feeling her softly curved abdomen in his hand and so close to her sex, it wanted to jump out of his swimwear.

"Hm-um." He cleared his throat. "You learn fast."

"I felt safe in your hands, and you're a good coach."

"I was just supporting you."

"Is that not a woman's dream?" she said playfully.

"Is it yours too?"

"I have dreams, but I don't need another to feel good or to be supported if I can support myself, but it still feels nice."

"Very noble and wise. What are your dreams, may I ask?"

"Joy in life. A person I can love and who loves me for who I am and lets me be me. I need to feel that I'm valued for who I am. There is more, but I need to powder my nose. Would you please order some tea for us?"

She left to go to the washrooms and he went to get their tea, feeling an emotion rising in him that made him want to sing. He was falling in love moment by moment.

Helena was happy they had had this little talk. It dispersed her excitement and gave her a moment to examine her emotions. Gábor wasn't just a fancy. Deep inside she felt an attraction that had its roots in the depths of her soul. It was as if they had known each other for ages, but why was he so reserved? Didn't he like her? She was nervous and cold. Additionally, she needed to pee. When she returned, Gábor held two teacups in hands. She took one and they sipped it slowly, looking at each other.

"What plans do you have after we get out of here?" he asked.

"None. Why? Do you have any ideas?"

"How would you feel about dancing? Do you dance?"

"What, with a body like this?"

"What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, besides cold."

Seeing her nipples clearly protruding through the material of her bikini top provoked thoughts of having them in his mouth.

"It will warm up again."

"If you'd get close to me," she flirted. "You look hot." Her glance involuntarily looked at his pants. The package seemed to have shrunk a little.

"I'll do my best to make you glow," he promised.

"And I'll hope so and look forward to it."

It was a magical night. They danced a lot and both danced well.

She was dressed in a loose skirt and a fitted shirt, no bra, and her satin white panties flashed when she twirled, exposing her stunning thighs. Gábor moved smoothly and was flexible, and she moved, according to him, like a willow.

When a slow dance came up, she asked him for a dance and they went. Dancing with him closely and touching him gave her the same response she had felt earlier in the pool. The heat radiated through her entire body, liquefied her pelvis and made her heart beat like a drum. His hands burned on her skin. His chest in tight contact with her breasts aroused her and when his thigh brushed against hers, she maneuverer her body so his thigh could wedge between her legs. Close dancing with her had him hard like some crossword puzzles and she made sure his rigid shaft remained nested between her legs in tight contact with her sex and pubes as much as possible. She nearly climaxed with her clothes on and he knew. Her body language, her hip movements, and shuddering in his arms spoke loud and clear. She started to lose control; she knew it, but couldn't stop. They shared the floor with only three other couples for a tango, vertical sex she called it, and they seemed to notice her condition and smiled. Helena was in a flirty mood and innuendoes flew from her lips. She pressed her body against Gábor's, her face flushed, her eyes sultry. His penis ached for release, and when he dipped her, his leg between hers in her crotch, he felt the heat and moisture of her sex and knew he would have to have her or go crazy.

She wanted him badly too and knew she would have to make the first move. Tempting him to make his move she looked at him seductively when they went back to their table and with a sultry voice, she suggested.

"I think I'm heated up enough. Let's go to your place and get into something fresh. I'm sweating and wet, and my place has too many ears."

Her message was clear. She wanted to be alone with him. His hopes to have this date end at his place, and perhaps she would stay with him, seemed to take shape, but his insecurities persisted. What if this turned out to be just a fling? This woman could have any man she wanted. Why him?

"You're in charge," and a rush of hope mixed with fear of possible rejection rose in him. A taxi took them to Gábor's house in Buda, where a few lilac bushes fringed the short path leading to his door. The scent of the flowers intoxicating in her nostrils, crickets chirping, and the frogs croaking on a nearby pond supplied the mood for romance. The night still pulsing strong in her body, she figured it was the right time to make her move. When he fished for the keys, she stepped in between the door and him and kissed him, and to her delight he kissed her back. Her mouth felt soft on his lips and he played with his tongue on them while trying to insert the key into the lock behind her back. When he attempted to look over her shoulder she didn't let him and kissed him again and again.

"Hey, I'll never get this key in the lock if you insist on kissing me," he managed between kisses.

"Why? Can't find the keyhole?"

"I can't see it."

"Feel for the keyhole then. You could feel it. Or would you like to try another keyhole perhaps? I'm sure you have a key for that, and it would be easier to find and fit."

This was more than insinuation. It was brazen and strong, her seductive smile full of mischief. Whenever he wanted to look where the lock was, she kissed him again and laughed. In between her playful kisses, he finally managed to open the door and on the doorstep, he kissed her hard and with urgency. That was what she wanted. Pulling her strongly to him, his hands on her rump, he pressed her body to his loins. Helena felt his shaft on her sex and lifted her thigh, wrapped her leg around his buttocks, and felt his hard bulge in her cleft and moaned. He would feel good in her. She wanted him in her, now or never. Kissing him wasn't enough anymore.

Gábor noticed her skirt had slipped and hiked up around her waist and feeling her naked thighs, her soft pubes hot through the fabric of his slacks against his straining manhood excited him more than he thought possible. This woman was a wildcat and he loved her assertiveness. Her lips tight on his, her tongue against his, created a seal; she sucked on his tongue, while her pelvis slowly rolled against him, letting him know what she wanted.

Feeling her loins undulating against his hard-on wouldn't give him any other option than making love to her. Obviously, she wanted it as much as he. He had an erection like an obelisk and just as hard. Moaning, his hands on her buttocks, he pressed his pelvis with the hard rod onto the cleft of her sex and the only thing between them was the flimsy fabric of their clothing.

It was agonizing. Helena whimpered as her sex turned liquid. She felt the moisture gathering in her groin, a spasm deep in her abdomen and then she shuddered, having a mini orgasm on his doorsteps. It wasn't enough. She needed him, all of him. It was time to get real.

"I want you," she whispered. Her playfulness had turned into scalding passion and desire; their kiss became ravenous and demanding. His fresh taste was like spring water, and she opened her mouth wider and he kissed her back, then suddenly he let her go and said: "Let's go inside. I want you to stay tonight,"

Breathless she replied, "I had hoped you would say that or I would have had to kill you."

That night they had sex that shook her to the core. Not because of the games they played or the techniques he used on her, but because he was fun, virile, gentle, hard, passionate, loving, soft, and caring, all together. He paid attention to her needs and her passion ignited his over and over.

They possessed each other in conventional, unconventional, and even some kinky ways. Tied to the bedpost, she had experienced orgasms as intense as never before, and reversing roles had him at her mercy. She had experienced multiple orgasms on his fingers, his mouth, his tongue, and penis. She had lost count, and it was so intense, she was unable to rest. It was also the first time she took a penis down her throat and didn't gag. The flavour of his semen pleased her and she craved for more. The salty almond taste suited her palate and she swallowed. It had become a treat for both. Using edible things, whipped cream and fruits drove her insane as well as silk scarves and feathers of a pheasant.

They didn't sleep at all until the sun came up in the East over the Danube and the splendid skyline over Pest enthralled them for a minute, but then they continued playing with each other. He called in to work and told Ferri something came up and that they wouldn't be able to come until the next day. The division manager wanted to know if "they" meant Helena as well, although everybody knew how close Helena and Gábor were. He replied that Helena had something stuck between her teeth that needed to be taken care off. At that time, she performed fellatio on him and his cheeky wording earned him a sharp slap on his butt. Then both had laughed at the double talk, and stayed in bed all day.

After he cooked something to eat, they made love again and spent the whole day "doing it" in the bedroom, the kitchen, the living room, in the shower, in the hallway or wherever the mood struck them. They spared no place, and nothing was off limits.

They couldn't get enough of each other and at one point she thought she would go crazy if he ever stopped. She again had again several multiple orgasms including twice the squirting kind she heard about but thought were just exaggerations. She was in a perpetual state of bliss and became only aware of his ejaculations because they were more obvious.

He climaxed fifteen times in those three days. Gábor was like a teenager in his puberty, at his peak, the proverbial rooster. They finally spooned and went to sleep, completely drained. He held her with one arm under her neck and shoulders, the other over her breasts and with his body aligned against hers, and his semi-erect penis inside her. She felt no harm could ever befall her as long as he was around. Just as she drifted into an exhausted sleep, she heard him whisper.

"I'm home with you. I love you, Lena." She smiled happily and murmured.

"I know. I love you too. I'm home where you are." And they went to sleep with him still inside her. For two days and three nights, the world had ceased to exist for them.

At the Centre, the staff was more than surprised at the speed they proceeded. Gábor met with Helena's parents in Sopron and they were happy to hear that their daughter had finally found someone to love. Her father Attila was a quiet man, handsome, and he liked Gábor. Katrina, her mother, was from the Czech Republic, a very good looking, but a conservative woman with old-fashioned views. Gábor could see from where Helena received her beauty.

Katrina wanted them to meet her brother to share the good news, but Helena declined. They did not get along well. He was a politically oriented person and had married a woman eleven years his senior for money and power.

"The woman is a judge and thinks the law is immutable and he is an upstart," she told Gábor. When they left Sopron, Helena let out a sigh.

"That was a social call I'm glad to have behind me. Anyu and Apu are okay as long as they don't give me advice on how to live my life. My brother and his wife, both are righteous SOB's, Standard Obnoxious Brother, she a Standard Obnoxious Bitch. I can do very well without seeing them. Peter used to be okay before he met her, but now he is unbearable."

The next trip was a visit to Debrecen where Gábor's father lived and worked as a horse trainer for dressage. Helena loved watching him work. Gábor's mother died when he was fourteen. His younger sister had moved to Vienna three years ago. Miklós by name was a man of the old school, stocky, and strong. A handlebar moustache of some proportion beautified his face. He had trained horses for many years and taught young men the trade, and now he had retired and tended to horses as a vet without a license, and he'd put on weight. She could see where Gábor got his mannerism. The old man was collected and did not talk much, but she noticed how he looked her over and there was an appreciative look in his eyes. He asked Gábor if he intended to marry her and Gábor looked at him and replied in a low voice. "She laughs at my jokes, Bajusz (Moustache)." Gábor used his father's nickname, an endearing term to the older man.

"Marry her. I'm sure that will cure her," he muttered under his moustache. They got married three weeks later, not because they wanted to be husband and wife, or "legalize" their union, but to avoid legal hassles once they had children or when travelling abroad. They were inseparable and she still laughed when he told jokes, even at those she had heard a dozen times. Helena loved him.

The marriage didn't cure her. They moved into Gábor's place because it had the better view and had two large rooms and far more privacy than Helena's studio. Miklós visited twice and both times the three people had the best of times. The old man took to Helena like a duck to water and once they had even met Péter, Helena's brother and the meeting had been friendly enough, but Gábor was glad when the man had left. His house wasn't big enough for the three of them together.

During the later stages of Helena's pregnancy Gábor did the household chores; he cooked, cleaned the house and took out the trash and it made an impression on their co-workers how he treated her. He joked about her large belly and she resented his doting on her. "I'm pregnant, not crippled," she pointed out many times when he held open doors or carried the shopping bags for her even if it was one item only. His argument was that she carried the biggest load. The pregnancy beautified Helena. Her skin seemed to glow and her sex-drive remained strong into the seventh month. Even then she insisted on their martial arts practice, but Gábor refused to give in to her insistence.

"You are getting too wild when you work with the sword. Sure, they are only wooden, but could hurt you nevertheless."

"You could limit yourself to yodan (head) and kote (wrist) attacks. In that way you can't hurt the baby," she tried to reason.

Following that conversation, the next session they had, she dodged into his descending strike while he was in the middle of a turn. He didn't anticipate her forward lounge and the wooden sword landed with a resounding "tock" on her forehead just below the hairline and broke the skin. She needed six stitches to close the gap and that was the last day of practice. The remaining days until her delivery he worked only four hours a day and rushed home to look after her and the chores around the house. His concerns for her and the baby were those of a first-time father, and Helena reminded him occasionally that she wasn't a beached whale or handicapped.

After Leo's birth, Helena's recovery surprised everybody. Her body normalized at a rate that alarmed her doctors and they subjected her to an array of tests and found nothing of the symptoms associated with childbirth. She healed with a speed that astonished postnatal experts and they wanted to know what diet she followed or what kinds of exercise she performed, and after an exhausting interview with a bunch of them she had enough and refused to see them. And so the stream of doctors ebbed away, but she became known as an anomaly.