Old Neighbors
By Gator




Mark had to go to Aletha's house to work on her plumbing. She had a stopped up drain, and Mark was pretty handy with tools, plus Aletha was his mom's best freind from work, so he was DRAFTED into it. "Maybe she'll make you cookies?" his mom encouraged. Mark just looked at her as if she were the stupidest thing in the galaxy. "When was the last time I ate cookies?!" he grouched. Debbie had to think.

"Well, she made you cookies for mowing her grass, you liked that..." she was thinking even harder now. The time was really passing her by, she was always preocupied with her work as a lawyer.

"I was 10 years old!" Mark threw some of his dad's tools into his book bag. It was work, and he didn't have to like it. His mom took her usual route "out" of the situation.

"You be NICE to her okay? And if you get the drain unclogged maybe I can get you that video game you wanted."

Mark gave up. "Okay, I guess since I have to do it anyway..." he trudged out the door and to the old woman's house across the street. Aletha didn't have it bad, but she definitely didn't seem to be living it up. She had an old four door Ford that was as old as he was, and her house wasn't kept up as much as it should have been. Mark dreaded having to do "chores" to help her out during the summer. It seemed like all the other kids were getting allowance, and Mark had to work for a living. He shrugged knocking on the door. He HOPED it would be a simple stopped up trap. But anything was possible with Aletha's ancient old house.

Aletha greeted him with a little hug as usual and lead him to the problem. It was in the basement bathroom. "I ususally wouldn't even ASK, but my sister is coming to visit, and I'd feel horrible if she had to go up and down the stairs to the bathroom..." Aletha offered.

"Yea, ya. I'll see if I can get it." Mark began pulling junk out from under the sink so that he could get to the trap. It smelled like 100 year old people in the bathroom, and universe knew what all the medicines and creams he was finding was for. Aletha kept talking.

"So, what have you been up to young man?" she sat on the closed toilet to watch over the work.

"Stuff." Mark didn't have time for details. He wanted in and out of the job so that he could get the promised video game out of the deal.

"Stuff. Deep subject. I suppose girls is included in stuff. Right?" she asked with a tilt to her voice. Seeing how she was older than dirt, he guessed she was trying to let him know she'd been around the block. But every time he saw her, all he could think about was his grandma. Bleck. "Yea." he began pulling the couplers off the old fassion sink. It actually had threaded rings on it! He was about to laugh about it, but Aletha pressed on.

"I never see any girls hanging around your house, how come?"

Mark thought a second. "I dunno. It's complicated..." he'd never be an ace with the women. A few years as a bench warmer on the football team insured that. Aletha didn't seem to take it as an answer and kept up her jabbering untill she asked him if he was going to his high school prom.

"Nope." he was almost done pulling everything appart. It was extra difficult getting the old plumbing appart that had rusted together. It was a good thing his dad had an ancient "pipe" wrench for just such cases. A regular spanner would never have done it. Aletha seemed a bit annoyed by his lack of compassion for the prom.

"Not going to your prom?! It's the only night of your life!" her voice had raised from the usual soothing murmur to an almost witch's cackle he'd never heard from her. What got into her?

"I've got better things to do..." he said defensively.

"Like what?! What could possibly make you miss your prom?!" she accused. Since it really was no secret, and the old lady wasn't in any positon to torment him (he could leave) he shrugged again.

"I can't get a date." he pulled out the offending piece of trap and found it full of nasty funk. It would definitly be coat hangar time on this one. He would let Aletha rattle off anything she wished, but she didn't seem to be angry anymore.

"You can't GET a date?" she finally asked with her ancient brow curled upward in the middle. Her expressive blue eyes seemed more troubled than before, but at least he wasn't the target anymore.

"I asked a bunch of girls, they don't like me very much though. I'm not captain of the football team." he quoted one of the more stuck up type girls that was all about being "ms. popular" no matter what it took.

Aletha seemed sorry for him now. It was just as well, he was cleaning some extra stinky trap goop into the garbage can with a clothes hangar that almost made his eyes water.

"That's hog wash! What has football got to do with anything!? You're a well formed young man, you should be able to... well..." she went upstairs quickly. He guessed she was ready to use the bathroom. For a while he'd have some peace and quiet. He looked around the bathroom again wondering why in the cosmos he'd ended up being who he was. Why not Ted Foster? Or Greg Lorrenger? Here he was cleaning the stink out of a trap to get a stinking video game when the other guys were out on dates and their parents were buying them cars. It just wasn't friggin fair!

***

Aletha returned wearing a black and tan close fitting outfit. For the first time he could see that she had the body of a woman. He'd always seen her in robes and "grannie" dresses. She was now wearing a pair of riding boots that came up past her knee. He looked her over for a second and then went back to the trap cleaning. It must have been clogged a long time, the stuff was thick as tooth paste.

She presented a photo album. "There." she said as if commanding him to look at it.

He shrugged. "I.. really don't have time for baby pictures or whatever..." he kept digging in the trap.

"Oh, this ISN'T my family album." she assured.

"It isn't?" he wondered what other type of album there was. The ancient looking book looked harmless enough. If nothing else he'd just thumb through it and be done in 60 second. He put everything down to look in Aletha's secret photo album. The cover opened with a crackle of old vynel, but it had been looked though many times and held together. The first yellowing picture holder had a picture of a man in a blue and red jump suit. He was looking at the camera as if in pain with his hands on a piece of glass between him and the photographer.

"Who's this?" Mark asked seeing that there wasn't something quite right about the rest of the photograph either.

"That's my first husband William. He was my prom date for that magical night." she traced the man on the picture with her finger tip. It was a strange jesture. Since he wasn't around any more, Mark guessed that he was dead. His guess was quite accurate. He saw a strange outline of a glass frame or something around him.

"What's this?" he asked tracing the vertical lines on the page.

"Glass." she said with the all knowing tilt to her voice again.

"He's in a glass room?" he asked skeptically. A glass room would cost a fortune! And where was it? Some sort of vacation picture. Aletha seemed amply pleased at his confusion. She began twirling a bit of her silver hair on her finger.

"That's a bottle." she flipped the page for him and the next shot blew Mark's socks off. William was in a bottle that was half way inserted into a woman's vagina. The picture on the opposing page showed the bottle even further inserted into the vagina with William no longer visible. The bottle must have been a small one to begin with as the finger tip that was forcing it in looked huge compared to the cap. Mark gulped and looked at Aletha again. She was smiling at him and prompting him to turn pages. The next picture pair was of a young woman holding a cage that was FULL of tiny people. Mark's mouth was dry as his eyes tried to believe what he was seeing.

"Who's that?" he asked pointing at the woman. It COULDN'T be her.

"That's my sister..." Aletha touched the photo caringly and turned the page for him again. The girl on the next page had several men under her foot, and the opposing photo had her foot on the ground with a smear of red around the edges. The picture was very old, and very clearly not a fake. Mark gulped despite the dry throat.

"You?!" he asked. She actually hadnt' changed that much. Her blonde hair had turned silver, but he could see her facial features were the same with more lines. She acknowleged her "guilt" as being the one stomping several men under her shoe. Mark stared at the picture for long moments trying to conjure up a reaction. He didn't have one. Should he be scared of Aletha? Should he run and call the cops? Why was she showing HIM this?!

***

He reached the end of the book and was shaken, but somehow not afraid. That was all a very long time ago (to his perspective) Aletha wasn't threatening in anyway. Still just a lonely old woman. He finished pushing all the crud out of the trap and found a ring in it.

"Here... what' this?" he asked placing the cruddy ring on the sink top. Aletha took it as if it were the key to the universe.

"Joan's ring! You've found it!" she gave him a little peck on the cheek for his discovery and went back upstairs. Mark sighed relief. Finally he could sort through his thoughts with Aletha not breathing down his back! He slid the trap together and began tightening a ring when he saw the photo album out of the corner of his eye. He STILL could not believe that Aletha and her sister had been such... BITCHES with thier portasizer. That was back when few people had sizing technology anyway. She had assured him that she was finding "volunteers" but he couldn't believe anyone wanting to get killed under a fucking shoe! He guiltilly took the book again and began looking though it hoping that Aletha wasn't any good at sneaking down the stairs. One of the pictures had captured his attention, and he just had to see it again.

He thumbed through, and there... he found it. Near the back there was a photo of her sister Evilyn with a man SITTING on her nipple like it was a chair. He had been shrunk even more than the other guys, and the camera was so CLOSE to the shot, that the little wrinkles of Evilyn's nipple was standing out in contrast to the tiny man's body. He could only guess that Aletha had taken the picture, and they were playing with the man. He didn't look as afraid as her husband had in the bottle. This man looked merely awed. Evedently he was having a difficult time believing it as Mark was looking at the photo. Did that guy have a CLUE what could happen to somebody after shrunk with a portasizer? He shrugged. If the guy WAS still alive, he'd just be an old cogger by now anyway. He flipped to the next page and saw the one with a man standing on a big orange rug. He didn't get it before. The background was all blacked out. The lighting for the picture wasn't very good. He now saw that the orange carpet was wet. The opposing side was just a close up of Evilyn's face. Now he got the connection. The man had been standing on Evilyn's tongue... and the next shot her mouth was closed.

"Oh." he murmured aloud unbelieving. Had she really ATE the guy?! It was no worse than stepping, but it was the principle of the thing. Portasizers were so regulated now, something happening to a shurnken person was almost nill. There were safety procedures out the ass. But these were pictures of the "bad old days" before there was safety protocol. Did that guy know he was going to get eaten? The opposing side ot the photo looked as if the guy was WAVING at the camera!!! Mark simply didn't understand it at all. But between the guy sitting on Evilyn's protuding nipple, and the guy that FIT into Evilyn's mouth to be swallowed, Mark had grown his very own personal problem that was threatening to rip through his pants.

Aletha and Evilyn had been BAD girls. The next page was the one with a doll sized man stuck in Evilyn's ass cheeks. He must have been giving her anal sex when he was shrunk. Now her ass cheeks were holding his hips in place. Suddenly Aletha came in and found him in his aroused state looking in her book. She seemed not to care. "I called Joan and she's coming right over to thank you personally!" Aletha seemed to be bragging.

"Uh, okay." he guiltilly put down the book and began screwing the drain back together.

"You, ah... LIKE my picture book." she commented. It was an observation of his erection in his pants. He just tried to choke it all back and keep everything on a friendly basis.

"Yea, sure. It's very interesting." he hoped that was an adequate compliment. Evedently it was not.

"OH, how I wish we'd have taken pictures of EVERYTHING! But, most of my friends were camera shy." Aletha seemed to be bubbling with life all of the sudden. It was odd, her "package" was still old, but her attitude and her personaliy had just did a time travel back 50 years. "I'm not shy." she bragged with a wink. "I was knocking down the hearts when your grandma was in diapers!" she sat back on the closed toilet with her precious picture book on her lap. She leaned forward showing that her matching outfit had a plunging kneck line. For an old lady, she had curves in all the right places. "I'll bet I can get you a date to the prom." she assured.

"HUH? How?!" she may have been a "cool" old lady, but she was out of touch never the less. ESPECIALLY if she was suggesting he should go to the prom with her.

"Do you trust me?" she asked still playing with the long lost ring in her fingers. She'd been cleaning it an a towel as she talked.

"Trust? I suppose." he shrugged. What was not to trust? She was just a harmless old lady now. She put the book on the dirty clothes hamper and sat up straight.

"You first must have confidence. How many girls have you kissed?" she asked.

"Uh.. I dunno... maybe two?" it was more of a question than an anwer. She knew the answer must be zero. It didn't seem to matter.

"If you were going to kiss me, how would you do it?"

He gulped. "Uh, I dunno..."

"That's why you don't have a date! You don't know how to kiss. Now. Since we know each other this won't be hard. Lesson 1: if you want to KISS someone. Just do it!" she had her hands up in the air as if it had been the most obvious thing in the universe right in front of his face.

"Uh, if you say so." he didn't believe her.

"Hmm. Go ahead. Kiss me. Come on. Do it." she put her hands behind her back and put her lips out a bit. He didn't really want to. He crawled forward on his knees and put his lips to hers. It was a quick non intimate kiss. She slapped him.

"Oww!! What was that for?!" he couldn't believe such an elderly lady could pack a whollop like that. She smiled.

"That's the worst that can happen. Escpecially if you emabarass the girl you kiss. Now try again!" she put her hands behind her back and he tried again. This time he put his hands on her shoulders to make sure she didn't slap him. The whole thing worked. His cheek was burning so he didn't really feel any "funny" feeling about kissing. He just did it.

"NOW THAT'S A KISS!" she cheered. Now she was smug again. "If you just keep that in mind, your whole life will change!"

They were interupted by footsteps coming down stairs.

"In here!" Aletha called out. She put the book behind the hamper and put her index finger to her lips to indicate Mark shouldn't say anything about it. A 35 year old woman with an expensive dress came in and looked down at Aletha and Mark as if they were turds on the floor.

"You have something to show me?!" the business woman was almost sneering at Aletha. The older woman presented the ring to the woman and it nearly knocked her on her ass. "What?!" her jaw dropped.

"Dear, dear, Joan. It's been in my sink the whole time! I TOLD you I'd never give it to Jennifer!" she seemed to be finishing an ancient battle. And she had won. The taller younger woman burst into tears and began hugging Aletha for all she was worth.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she appologized and soon she was ready to talk again. She slipped the ring back on her finger and seemed to glow from within. Evedently the ring was VERY important to her. "I remember now! NOW I REMEMBER! I'd washed and... it's ALL MY FAULT!" she was so emotional her hands were shaking a bit. She suddenly had nothing but love for everything and everyone. She looked at Mark with new eyes. "And who's this?"

"This is Mark. My guardian angel. Without him I'd be living in a cave!" Aletha helped Mark to his feet to meet that taller woman. She was blonde with looks to die for. Her cleavage proved to be attached to quite sizable assets as he stood to greet her. She gave HIM a hug now too.

"Thank you, thank you for taking care of my mom." she held his head to her shoulder so that he couldn't get away. He was stunned. Joan was Aletha's daugter?!!!

"Let's ALL have tea! Shall we?" Aletha was now glowing as she showed her guests up to her big dining room. Joan seemed to be breaking out of her shell now that she could love her mother again. Something about the ring must have broken them appart for years. Mark guessed it had been since Joan was a girl because when they had to "catch up" it included stuff about Joan's childhood.

"And what about your prom?!" Aletha finally asked. Joan grimaced.

"I didn't go to the prom..." it was a disappointment for them both.

"I thought as much. You hated me so badly you couldn't even go to your own prom."

"I'm SORRY! It's just that..."

"Never mind. What matters now is that you're here. I was mad too, bucause you didn't believe me." she place the tea cups around the regular cups off of an ornamental serving tray. Aletha had the strangest artifacts to use. "Now, I'm just glad you're here. I believe we have a new understanding." she poured tea.

"Yes." Joan knodded. She still wanted to cry. She'd been hating her mother MOST of her life.

"And where's Lyla?" Aletha asked with hope creeping into her voice.

"She's on Varnholm schooling." Joan assured. This seemed to crush Aletha's plan.

"Oh, me." she put her tea necessities together and then sat. "I was so HOPING to get a date for Mark here. His prom is this year you know?"

Joan looked at him, then back to her mother. "I'd LOVE to go to a prom... could we?" she asked Mark. He was dumbfounded. This woman may have been 35, but she didn't LOOK it. She looked more like Audra Hicher the super model. He gulped. What would it hurt?! It would be different, but who cared?

"Uh, okay..." he said as if accepting his death sentence. It brought a quick smile to Joan's face.

"You sure I'm not getting in the way of another girl?" she asked.

"No, I couldn't get a date..." he admitted. It was hard in front of such a good looking woman, but Alethat and Joan were now ganging up on him, he didn't really have any control.

Joan got up and went to give him a big kiss. He kissed her back, and it felt funny. Like kissing his best freind's mom whom he'd been lusting after for years! He found it to be more pleasurable than he'd anticipated. She left him a little breathless. Aletha seemed most pleased of all.

"I'm SO glad for you both! A prom is a MAGICAL night!" she dismissed the tea charade and put on some music on an ancient music box that used disks to produce music.

"What's that for?" Joan asked.

"I'm going to teach you BOTH how to dance!" Aletha boasted.

"Oh, no you don't! I get the first dance!" she took Mark's hands into her own and looked into his eyes to make sure they were synchronized.

"I dunno. I don't know how to dance..." he admitted freezing up. Joan just pushed him around like a puppet.

"It's like this. We'll practice here, that way we can dance at the prom. Now follow my feet, like this." she began showing him that dancing was no more than co-ordinated bouncing back and fourth with her. It was easy. He didn't want it to stop. Aletha was smiling like the Cheshire cat in the corner as she DJ'd several tunes that might get played. The SLOW dance came up, and he found his face thrust to Joan's shoulder. Her long arms came around him and he was pushed up against her thin supple body then ground back and fourth.

Again his raging hard on was treatening to blow up the whole house. He'd never felt so charged and ready to go. Joan didn't seem to mind his erection digging into her thigh. She kept him held close and leaned her head over on top of his. If she hadn't been wearing heels, she still would have been taller than him. It made his cheeks burn. She smelled soooooooooo good.

The song ended and Mark was too embarassed not to immediately sit down and try to hide his tent. Joan sat with him and smiled. "That was nice." she said suggestively. He couldn't believe she might like him.

"What do you say we all get more comfortable. It's NICE to have the house back in business!" Aletha kicked off her shoes and so did Joan. Aletha then took out a device from under her music box that Mark knew all too well. "Now, I don't want you two SPOILING it before the prom, but I do want you to get closer. Would you like to be Joan's little surprise?" she asked Mark suggestively. He remembered the photo's in the album and gulped. Under his breath he turned pale.

"I don't want to die..." he admitted.

"OH! Nonsense! I'd never suggest that! You have a prom to go to! But my daughter here had a little problem I think you can help her with. Would you like to?" he looked into Joan's beautifull eyes again and just knodded. Aletha's expert skill had him the size of a mouse within seconds.

He went from sitting on a chair, to sitting on a football field made of velvet cusion. In the sky he could see Joan's massive form. She looked at him as if he were the most precious thing in the universe and her hand came down from above to pick him up.

He rode on her fingers like a magic carpet. Joan's lips were coming nearer and with a whimper he thought she was going to eat him, but kissed him instead.

In the distance, Aletha's now gigantic form stood and put the portasizer back. She patted her taller daughter on the head as if she were a kid again and told her that she should go be alone for a while in her room.

***

Joan's room must not have been changed a BIT since she left. There were Barbies and teddy bears all over the room. The little bed in the middle didn't even fit the woman that sat on it. Joan seemed shaken by the idea that her mom had kept up her room in it's original state for all of those years, but now she also had a tiny three inch boy in her palm. Just what she'd always wanted.

"Just tell me if you want me to stop." Joan snaked her tongue out and licked him. It got his shirt and pants wet at the same time. She smiled and licked him again darting the tip of her tongue back and fourth as he blocked her from getting his face with his hands. The tip of her tonge was like being mauled by a greased bean bag chair. "Here..." she began pulling at his clothes to get them off. He was so embarassed he just froze and let her do what she wanted. When his dick was finally exposed he couldn't BELIEVE she was flicking her tongue up and down on it untill he was ready to burst.

"Oh! That's! Oh!" he grunted as her tongue jacked him off. It's wetness absorbed his cum as it came out. He was covered in hot saliva from this gargantuan woman as she pleasured him. His cum kept spurting as she darted her tongue side to side. His whole body was assualted by her hot powerfull breath as his orgasm rolled through him like an avalanche. Her lips then puckered and began kissing him again. He was soaked with her as she kept him wet. He didn't even notice what her other hand was doing untill he was placed into her opened panties. When he slid into the opening he was surprised at the vagina before him. Never had he seen one in real life, now there was one LARGER than life in front of him. His feet slid down to wedge between the panties and folds of labia beneath him. Helpfull fingers spread open the titanic lips before him.

"Suck it, come on." she prompted him to touch her clit. He was so happy she wasn't going to hurt him, and all of his fantasies about sex could be with this woman, that he was willing to do anything. He dove forward and began making "love" to everything he could get his hands on. All time and space had stopped. Now there was nothing but huge folds of pink and wet pussy for him. All for him. He licked and sucked the beach ball sized parts of the pussy before him. He'd never sweated so much in his life. His hands and feet were waterlogged from all the wetness and lubrication around him. Joan was groaning her approval.

Suddenly two fingers took his arm. He looked at the huge fingertips. The nails were the size of Aletha's serving trays. His forearm looked like a tooth pick compared to the finger tips that took his arm. Now he was being lifted up. His feet dislodged from their resting place and he began to go up Joan's body. He could see Joan still holding her lips appart with one hand, and holding her panties open with the other.

That meant...

Mark gulped as he looked and saw the owner of the finger tips. His mom! Aletha was standing in the doorway. "I'm sorry, Debbie. This is all my fault." she said with a twinge of guilt. Mark gulped and saw how HUGE his mom was. Evedently she'd come over to find out what was taking so long.

"Mom?!" he gasped seeing that she was looking at him. She then looked at Joan.

"Joanie?"

"Debbie?"

The two women hugged each other. Evedently they'd been friends a long time ago. Funny how he'd HEARD his mother mention Joanie before, but he'd never made the connection. His mom had bundled him up in her fist now and was hugging the other giantess as Aletha watched. Evedently his mom couldn't have been TOO mad at her for catching her son in her panties. He was hoping she wouldn't sqeeze any harder and squish him like a bug in her grip.

Suddenly the hug was over and his mom's fingers opened up like a flower. He was looking up at her from her palm. "Mom?" he asked again.

She wrinkled her nose grinning at him. "Look at you! I can't believe it! I always thought you'd turn out like your father, but you didn't!" she blew him a kiss, and put him BACK IN JOAN'S PANTIES! He wasn't helped anymore, he was stuck to the immense pussy lips by the tight silk fabric pressing him to it. Joan followed the other two women back to the dining room as Mark tried to squirm for a better position. Joan's panties were better than any seat belt ever designed for keeping someone in place. He could barely move his hands!

And the women were talking, they were talking about having men over for pleasure and games again now that Joan was back. And his mom WAS AGREEING with the idea. He was shocked, but doubted he would tell the secret to his dad or younger brother Rick. He'd NEVER be able to tell any of his freinds!

He was almost suffocating with the small amount of air let into the panties, but he didn't stay long. He was took out and placed on the table next to the tea serving set. He could see his own funny reflection in the solid silver wares. In the sky was three enourmous female faces. He suddenly felt cold. Aletha's fingers crept forward to take him. "I'll clean him up..." she offered. "Shall I?" she asked him. He looked up and saw that Aletha was god sized and also all powerfull, yet she still wanted his approval. He felt even colder.

"Yea... yes please!" he told the elderly giantess. She took him in her fingers and went to another bathroom in the house. He was treated gently as a new born kitten and cleaned up by Aletha who smiled at him like a benevolent angel the whole time.

"My, my. You got all tired out." she noted his posture wasn't as straight and bold as usual.

"I guess it's a good thing I go to so much football practice. I don't know what to think!" he admitted.

"I'll tell you what to think. You should think this is a wonderfull thing. You've helped me get my daughter back, and your mother.. let's just say that we go WAAYYYY back. I had a feeling about you, and it looks like I'm right."

"We're going to town." Joan said from the other room.

"Allright darling. I'll make supper."

"Okay, love you mom!" Joan and his mom left!

"Where did my mom go?!" Mark asked wanting to get up and run after her, but in no postion to do any such thing.

"Shhh, shhh. Easy now. They're going to town. We'll be ready for them when they get back. Now.." she was prodding him dry with a cotton ball. He wasn't completly dry, but alot cleaner than he'd started. Aletha's massive palm was beneath him as he looked up at her. "You'll need to rest for a while while I get dinner started."

"Rest?" he asked. But before he could protest, her palm was dipping forward and her other hand was opening her top. The form fitting top had the cups built into it and therefore she wasn't wearing a bra. His eyes were wide as saucers as he lost his footing and slid off of her palm into the dark chasm of her top's "cup". Aletha's breast flesh was soft even to his touch, and he slid down to the nipple whether he wanted to or not. He found the cup less restricting than the panties and more light was coming through the woven garment. He could see feing blue veins in the sallow white flesh before him. Several strech and sag marks were as wide as curtain rods to him now. He wiggled to get his hands in front of his chest so he could look down. His butt was now resting on the tip of her nipple and his belly button was pressed to her areola. He'd stradled Aleatha's wrinkled little nipple. Mark let his face press to the flesh as he spread his arms back out to hug the immense boob. It smelled nice and was completely comfortable. The curviture of her boob was almost the same as his back when he was slumped forward. The light and air coming through the fabric was enought to keep him comfortble, but the warmth was all penetrating, and the booming of Aletha's heart was putting him to sleep. Such a sublte wave, each *boomp boomp* *boomp boomp* of her heart was putting him to sleep. He felt too weak to resist the urge.