Missing

26. Comparisons

David sat at the end of the table in the dining room, organising his notes and compiling a list of the properties sorted by their categories. He leaned back and studied the page, looking for trends and identifying and circling anomalies. He was so absorbed that he hadn't heard Maria approach and was surprised by her hands on his shoulders.

"You've been very quiet in here for over an hour." She bent and kissed his neck. "Lunch will be ready in half an hour." Her hand moved across his chest, then farther down over his abdomen. "We could refresh. You could show me your rooms, and we could play soixante-neuf."

"Soixante-neuf? What's that?"

"It's what Mama calls that marvellous mutual mouth pleasuring."

He laughed as he rearranged his trouser front and stood. "I can see that. Does look like sixty-nine, doesn't it? Clever." He led her toward his rooms. "I mailed a postcard home from town."

"I was hoping you'd remember." She began unlacing her bodice as they walked along the hall. "So hungry for you."

"I'm always hungry for you."

"Yes, but Mama says a woman's passion always increases toward her fertile time – part of nature's design. I wondered why I always needed to play with myself so much more mid-cycle."

"You're making me so stiff I'm going to burst."

Twenty minutes later, as they lay cuddling. David said, "I talked with Opa about circumcision. He's so easy to talk with, and he was so relaxed with the idea." David laughed. "I understand the source of your curiosity. We showed ourselves to each other, and we compared and discussed. He seemed shocked to discover he's mutilated, and he's now even more intrigued with your essay."

"And you? What did you think when you saw his?"

"Revulsion at first, then sadness. Sadness that so many have been deprived of the great pleasure you and I share." He shook his head. "Opa said the pain and the rawness are part of the act, and the fulfilment is worth the suffering."

"That's so sad. But most are completely unaware of it."

"That's why you must write this essay as best as you can. Make it scream for attention."

"Doctor Nausdorf told me that the best three essays will be submitted for publication in the Baden-Württemberg Medical Journal."

"Then you must make it the best one submitted. It's an unusual topic, a controversial one, so that will help it." He laughed. "An idea ... What if I gave you an operator's manual for mine? Care, maintenance and use. Opa could give you one for his. They'd be so different from each other."

"Now, that's clever. They can be appendices." She ran her lips across his and gave him a little shake. "We should clean and dress for lunch. Wash your beard well. I still smell me on it."

The six of them sat around the circular table in the gazebo, enjoying slices from a large quiche with fresh greens from the garden and glasses of Weißburgunder. "This is a delicious quiche, Oma. It reminds me of my mother's."

"That's sweet of you to say, David. Rachel was telling me about your mother's noble origins in France and her love of cooking."

"Yes, near Toulouse in the Southwest. She went adventuring with two girlfriends after her studies, met my father, then stayed in Canada."

"Seems to run in your family, meeting lovers in foreign lands." Maria laughed. "You should follow her example and stay."

They remained silent in their thoughts as they continued eating. David finally broke the lull. "Opa, I need you to review the data I've compiled. There are several anomalies in the data that require explanations. I need to see the reasons behind their selling prices."

After their scones laden with fresh field strawberries and clotted cream, David and Jacob went inside and sat at the dining table. David explained his tabulated data, which related land area and total building size to sales prices. He pointed to the many inconsistencies and then selected one. "Why is this price ratio higher?"

"It has an electrical generator in the stream and a large bank of lead/acid cells for storage. The previous owner, Heinrich, had added many innovations, and his maintenance was impeccable."

"That explains the large price difference." David looked up. "The stream? Similar to the one tumbling down the ridge at Greta's?"

"Yes, but hers has a stronger flow. Franz had a small paddle wheel in it, but it was poorly conceived, and he never got much from it, so he let it fall idle."

"And this vineyard. Why's the price so low for its size?"

"Poor slope orientation, mostly eastward. The grapes on much of it struggle to ripen even in better years." Jacob ran his finger over the list. "This estate. They had a fire that gutted the house. Lost interest and sold."

They continued analysing the properties for another half hour or so as David added notes, then he laid his pen down. "I believe I've enough now to prepare a trial formula and test it." He looked at Jacob. "I told Maria of our circumcision discussion and displays. She needs to examine yours so she can proceed with her essay."

"We can do that now." He chuckled. "Though it's best you be there as a chaperone; she's not a nurse yet."

"We can do it in my bedroom. I'll go get her."

David found Maria in the kitchen watching Maddie prepare a large piece of beef rump for braising. "Let me get the camera."

She asked both David and Jacob to drop their trousers to the floor. She spent a few minutes carefully examining and comparing both penes, making sense of what had been removed from Jacob's. "I'm required to provide illustrations for the essay. I've already shot photographs of David's." She opened the small folder and showed Jacob the prints. "I need two of yours, one dangling and one erect."

Jacob looked at the photos and nodded. "These are well done. Covered and uncovered, up and down. This fifth one. That's to show the sensitive parts, isn't it? Then you need three of me; the third to show the scars I'm left with."

Maria set up the camera, posed Jacob against the beige wall and exposed a frame. "Now, I need you to turn it up to show the scar under the head. Turn it a bit more toward me. There." She advanced the film, composed the shot and released the shutter. "Now, I need you to rise."

"It's rather too sore to rub at the moment." He laughed. "We had a long, hot session this morning thinking of you and David."

"So, how do we get you up?"

"Maddie's perfume always gets it up quickly."

"Would mine work?" Maria turned her back, squatted, put her hand under the hem of her skirts and reached in. She saw him rising as she turned back toward him.

He looked down and chuckled. "Our minds are the primary sex organs. Just the thought of what you were doing ..."

"You still need this?" She extended her hand toward him.

He nodded as he breathed in her essence. "Oh, yes."

David had advanced the film and had the shot composed by this time. "Turn a bit to your left; give me a profile. Steady. Done."

Jacob shook his head. "I'm amazed at how clinical this is, how non-sexual. I think we humans have messed up so much around our physical beings. We confuse anatomy with sexuality. We add shame and guilt, and we construct taboos and rituals." He looked down. "Rituals like this horrid mutilation in the name of religion."

David had risen from the scent of Maria, and Jacob pointed to it. "May I again, David? I'd like to satisfy my curiosity. Like to feel what it would have been like."

David nodded and turned to face him, then he watched as Jacob rolled the skin off his head and covered it again, then looked up to catch David's eyes. "This would be so much simpler for self-gratification. No need for spit or olive oil. Very smooth action." He examined the folding and unfolding as he moved the skin up and down the shaft. "This is designed to excite the head in the same way as the cover over a woman's tickler. What the fuck have the rabbis done to us?" He looked up and blushed. "Pardon my foul tongue, Maria ... Not at all appropriate to –"

"I think it entirely appropriate, Opa, considering what's been done to you. I've not before had occasion to use the word, but the rabbi really did fuck up your penis." She smiled at him. "There, now we're even."