She got up, and with a familiarity borne of habit, she opened the fridge and pulled out a soda, setting it on the table. Then, going to a pantry cabinet, she got out a bag of his favorite cheese crunchies. She smiled, remembering that as kids, her children had had to eat those damned cheese things in the kitchen, and then wash their hands before going anywhere else in the house. She had learned that after finding yellow cheesy fingerprints on the living room couch.

"Hey!" J. J. came into the kitchen, his eyes lighting up at the sight of the cheese crunchies and soda. Pulling the bag open, he stuffed some in his mouth, then opened the can, drinking some of it down immediately.

"Hey," Nora said back at him. "Sit down. We have to talk."

"What's up, Ma?" he asked her.

"Rick came by earlier. I gave him a sandwich, and we talked. Daddy's lawyer is a tough guy, and it looks pretty bad right now, but Rick says it's just negotiating tactics."

"How bad? And Ma, remember I'm eighteen now. You don't have to soften it for me like you do with Jill," J. J. told his mother.

"You may not be able to go to college this year," Nora began. "Dad says he's through paying. He paid Jill's first year at Duke Law, but after that, she's got to get aid. He says he won't pay for your first year at State, and it's too late for us to go for aid. Grandma's already shelled out fifteen thousand dollars to help us. I just don't know if I can ask her for more, and you can't pitch a tent on campus."

"What happened to my college fund? The one he was always shoving in our faces every Christmas morning, and bragging about?" J. J. wondered.

"Those papers he asked you to sign a couple of months ago, right after your eighteenth birthday?"

"Yeah, something about taxes," J. J. said.

"That's where the money went," Nora said.

"You mean he stole our college funds?" J. J. was outraged.

"Well, honey, it was his money, after all," Nora began.

"Oh, crap, Ma! Don't defend him. Please don't defend him! Every efffing Christmas for as long as I can remember he was waving the year-end statement at us, and saying how we'd never have to leave college with a lot of debt. That his father did it for him, and he was doing it for us. What a scam! Where's the money gone?"

"I don't know," Nora lied. "Maybe it's just one of those legal negotiating tactics that Rick says we're going to see a lot of, honey."

"I'm going to lose my soccer scholarship if I don't go this year. They're not going to hold a sports scholarship until I can come."

"Well, he has paid your sister's first year at law school," Nora reminded her son.

"Yeah, he would. Jill was always his favorite," J. J. said almost bitterly. "And think of the bragging rights he's got. 'My daughter is at Duke Law.' He's probably yapped about it so much already that he couldn't not pay. He knows Jill will get the moneys she needs for her other two years. Besides, it actually isn't costing him any more than if she'd done her undergrad work in four years instead of three. He's always been a cheapskate, Ma, and you know it. Damn! What the hell am I going to do?"

"J. J., you wanted the truth, and I've told you the truth," Nora said. "We will find a way, I promise you. But there's more, honey. My car's lease is almost up, and I can't afford to buy it. It has to go back to the dealership. Your car is about to become the family car. I'm sorry. Daddy won't buy the car for me, and he won't pay for car insurance either. Rick is seeking insurance we can afford."

J. J. looked up at her. His face was that of the Jeff she had once known. "Ma, why is he doing this to you? To us? What did we do wrong?" His voice was strained.

"Honey, I don't know. You know there's another woman involved. I think your father wants everything to be perfect for them. The problem is he can't make it perfect without a lot of money. He wants to sell the house. He's taken the college funds for himself. He's jettisoning his old life to make a new life. He doesn't know what else to do, I'm afraid. But J. J., I don't want you to worry. I'll do the worrying for this family. You need to concentrate on your exams. I will not let your father sell this house from under us. It is my house. Our home. He's not going to get it. Okay?" She tipped his face up to hers, looking directly into his blue eyes. "Okay?" she repeated.

He gave her a weak smile. "Okay," he said. "But I think Dad's a real shit, Ma, and don't yell at me for using that language."

"Not this time," Nora told him. "I am forced to agree with your rather astute assessment, my son." She gave him a small smile.

J. J. grinned back. "I don't mind if I have to stay home. You need someone to look after you," he told her.

"You are going to college, young man," Nora said firmly. "And I'm going to learn how to operate a computer, and take a course in how to get a job so I can support myself, and you. It's an adventure, J. J., and I'm actually looking forward to it."

"You are the greatest, Ma," he replied. "I would have thought that you would have gone to pieces over this, but you haven't. You're real strong. You even seem happier, and you're even starting to look different. Prettier."

"Thanks, babe," she said. "Now go study, and I'll start dinner." His words surprised her. After he had disappeared from the kitchen, she walked into the hall and looked at herself in the mirror. Was she beginning to lose weight? And her face seemed to have lost those stress lines she had been wearing for months. Nothing like a whole lot of loving to make a woman feel better, Nora thought mischievously. She could hardly wait to get to The Channel. She returned to the kitchen and began getting the supper ready for the two of them.

Afterwards she curled up in the den with a magazine, waiting, waiting for her son to go to bed. Just before midnight he came down, got himself a glass of milk, and said, "I'm going to hit the sack now, Ma. You really should go to bed yourself."

"Good article," she told him, waving the magazine. "I'll be up eventually." She heard his footsteps retreating back upstairs. She waited another hour just to be certain. Then she crept upstairs, and peeped in his room. J. J. lay deep in sleep. Taking the empty milk glass, she slipped from the bedroom, closing the door softly behind her. Hurrying back downstairs, she put the glass in the dishwasher, and then almost ran into the den to turn on the television, her eager fingers punching in sixty-nine. And there was her apartment on the screen. Nora placed her hand flat against the screen, and to her vast relief was immediately in the living room.

"Kyle!" she called. "Are you here?"

He came through the open bedroom door, and Nora flew into his arms. He kissed her hungrily. "God, Nora, I missed you! You said you'd come last night."

"I couldn't. J. J. is home at night now. Kyle, if he came into the den now, what would he see?" she asked.

"I guess what's here," he told her. "I don't really know."

"Then I can't stay," Nora said. "I can't take the chance of his seeing this."

"Don't go," he begged her. "I need you, baby."

She could see the thick ridge beneath his black silk boxers. "I need you too," she said. "But it's too dangerous, Kyle."

"Look," he began reasonably, "from the other side you can just see the living room. If we went into the bedroom and closed the door, if anyone came into your den, all they would see is the living room. And if the kid's asleep, Nora, we have time. Is he a sound sleeper? Does he wake up in the night?"

"J. J.?" She laughed. "No. When he socks, he's good for at least six hours."

"Then we can take an hour for ourselves, can't we?" he tempted. "I've got some very nice champagne on ice in the bedroom, and I've been eating raw oysters all evening waiting for you." He pulled the sash of her robe open, and began to play with her breasts. "It would be a shame to let this go to waste," he told her, pulling his penis from his shorts. "I want to do you, Nora. I need it. You need it too."

She swallowed hard. She did need it. All afternoon she had been thinking about screwing him. "You're certain if we close the bedroom door, we'll be safe?"

"Pretty certain," he told her, pushing her through the bedroom door, and kicking it shut behind him. He took her head between his hands and kissed her again. "Just an hour, Nora. Then I will let you go."

She shrugged the silk robe off and reached down to fondle him with both hands. Reaching beneath, she cuddled his balls in her palm. They were cool to the touch. She tickled them lightly with her fingers.

He slid to his knees, and began to kiss and suckle on her breasts. He blew soft little puffs of air onto her flesh. His tongue lapped at her torso. Then his hands slipped around to hold her firmly by her thighs. His tongue poked between her nether lips, seeking her clit, and when he found it he began to tease at it with quick jabs.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Nora said breathlessly, feeling the heat begin to rise up within her. "Oh, Kyle, that's so nice, but I really need to be fucked, darling. I've been dreaming about it all day."

He stopped and stood up. "A little more foreplay, Nora. It's nice, and it will make what comes even better."

He lay atop her on the bed for several long minutes, kissing her face, his arms wrapped around her. His body against hers was wonderful. Then at a whispered command Nora drew her left leg up and Kyle pushed his penis into her wet vagina. He fucked her slowly, stroke after stroke after stroke, until she was almost ready to scream. He stopped and murmured another command in her ear, and his tongue licked it for emphasis. Nora raised her right leg, but she did not wrap her limbs about him. She just brought them up. He remained buried within her, and then he began to slowly move on her once more, bringing her almost to the point of orgasm, but stopping again. He whispered again into her ear. Nora raised her legs up farther, rolling backward to raise her hips, allowing him the deepest penetration yet.

She could feel him inside of her. Hard. Oh, God, so hard. She squeezed him with her vaginal muscles, making him moan. Then he began to pump her, and Nora's head began to spin with the pure, hot pleasure he was giving her. She screamed as her own lust burgeoned and then burst in a mutual orgasm, Kyle coming in fierce hot spurts, and her own juices drenching his penis. "Oh, God, that was perfect!" she gasped.

"You think?" he groaned, falling back.

Nora was immediately atop him. "Yes!" she said. "I wish I'd known sex was so good before this. Think of all the fun I've missed. I'll bet Jeff never had it this good. He sure didn't give it to me like you do, Mr. Gorgeous."

He grinned up at her. "Remember, I'm everything you ever wanted, Nora. That's the way it works here in The Channel."

"I wish I could stay here," she said. "Oh, not forever. Just for a little while to get away from everything unpleasant that's going on in my life right now."

Kyle looked thoughtful. "I never heard of anyone taking their vacation here, but I suppose you could ask the administrator, Mr. Nicholas."

Nora rolled off of her lover and, propping herself up on an elbow, looked down at him. "The administrator? You have an administrator? What does he do?" She was surprised. There was someone who ran The Channel? Of course there had to be someone in charge. Was he here, or was he there?

"Mr. Nicholas is in charge of The Channel," Kyle said. "I really don't know what he does, but I suppose someone had to create all of this, and all of us."

"And I can see him?" Fascinating, Nora thought.

"Sure! I can make you an appointment, but let's make it when you don't have to worry about your kid. You don't want to rush an appointment with Mr. Nicholas," Kyle told her.

"Have you ever met him?" Nora asked her lover.

He nodded. "You'd like him. Everyone does."

"Other people from my reality have talked to him?"

"Yeah. Some people who visit The Channel are content to just enjoy their fantasies, like your girlfriends Carla and Tiffany. Others are curious, and want to know how it all works, so they go to see Mr. Nicholas."

"You know Carla and Tiffany?" Interesting.

'I know of them, but no," Kyle told her. "I don't know them. I don't fit into their fantasies like I fit into yours, Nora."

"How do you know of them?" Curiouser and curiouser.

"Because I know everything about you, darling. Remember, I'm a part of you," Kyle told her, and then he pulled her down and kissed her.

Nora sighed. "I have to go," she said softly. "I'm so afraid that J. J. will wake up and come looking for me, and find his mother starring in a porn movie." She drew away from Kyle. "Tell me, what should I wear to see Mr. Nicholas?"