"It's 5 a.m.  Wake up Kathryn!"

     The alarm woke me from my sleep.  It was a rapid transition from deep, dreamless sleep to alert wakefulness, every nerve suddenly aware of my surroundings and analyzing each bit of information collected.  I've been at sea for six days now, but the silence can still be unnerving.  Nothing to hear but the sound of the sea lapping at the sides of my 25 foot yacht, Amihan.  It's a Tagalog word, which roughly translates to, the scent of the breeze.  An apt name for a sailboat.  The press certainly thought so.  A sizeable number of them showed up before I set sail to become the first Filipina to sail solo from Manila to New Zealand.

     It wasn't really much of a record to achieve, and many sailing enthusiasts would probably wonder why there was the smallest bit of excitement over the event.

     Well, maybe the fact that I happen to be blind must have stimulated their interest.

     I became blind at the tender age of 11 after a drunk driver hit the car my family was riding on.  I was the only survivor from the crash in which both my parents and two older brothers died instantly.  The drunk driver lost his own daughter as a result of his stupidity and I never hated another man as much as I hated that man from then on.  His losing his daughter should have quelled some of the anger in me, but it actually only added to my rage as she was another innocent soul this man had removed from this planet.

     My surviving the crash at all was already considered a miracle by the rescuers.  I was at the back between my elder brother and mother, and she automatically embraced me as soon as my father shouted.  That was the last thing I remembered before waking up two weeks later from the coma.  Not even my mother could prevent me from hitting the roof of the car as it somersaulted a few times after the collision.  That I woke up at all without suffering anything but blindness was the next miracle.  

     For the next five years, I had to learn how to live again in my new dark world.  I inherited a lot of money and properties from my father, plus the damages that the son of a bitch driver paid me.  All that helped a lot in my speedy recovery.  When I reached 18, I decided to pack everything up and come back to Manila.  Being in Los Angeles so close to the man who caused my misery and suffering was too much to bear on my own.  The desire for revenge was too strong.  I badly wanted to use all my financial resources to have that man killed.  LA was no place for me anymore.  I went back home.

     Manila proved to be an exciting place to be.  Just the fact that it wasn't friendly to physically challenged beings like me made it a real battle from day one.  But I enjoyed it.  Of course, the fact that my dollars were now worth 50 times more was a big consolation.  I got interested in computers, learned software development, and at the ripe old age of 25, I was already set for life.

     That's when I bought this boat as my friends introduced me to the wonderful life of sailing while we were in Subic about a year before.  Excited at the task of learning something new at 25, I got in touch with an Australian ex-pat, Andrew, who lived in his boat and got him to teach me how to sail, navigate, and survive the ocean’s moods.  After 6 months of intensive training, we started to go around the islands of the country until he told me that I was practically a sailor already.  So, I bought a brand new boat, and immediately had it refurbished with me in mind, complete with Braille charts, special sonar that gave out the data through sound, GPS, and the best computer and radio equipment I could get my hands on.  For 2 months, I navigated around with Andrew as support, and once, he let me sail alone in the boat while he was on his own boat following me on a four-day journey to Cebu Island. 

     For those four days, I was alone.  The longest I’ve ever been alone since my accident years ago.  Andrew and I agreed that we will not communicate with each other during the trip and that he would not interfere at all unless I was about to die.  With him in his boat were my friends, Paul and Becky.  We were supposed to all party when we got to Cebu.

     For the past two years, we would cast off at least once a month to faraway islands all over the country.  There are over 7,000 of them to choose from, and the only thing to worry about were thieves.  But we managed to be lucky every time and each trip was total fun and enjoyment.

     Being the captain of my boat, I made it a point to do most of the work myself, from steering to cooking.  Sometimes I'd let Paul steer the boat while I took some R and R with my other friends, Rene and Becky.  We'd spend about an hour making love to each other, and sometimes, even Paul would join us when he couldn't stand it anymore staying outside handling the boat.

     Who said that blind people didn't have a sex life?  I was once told by Becky that I was lucky in the sense that I could make love to anyone I wanted, as I couldn't see the real deal.  For me, making love was a totally mental and tactile experience.  Then again, it can be a bitch being blind.  Once, I kissed a man while we were dancing.  I remember his breath smelling of mint and gum.  After the kiss, Becky pulled me away to go to the toilet to tell me that the guy had dirty, yellow teeth!  I almost gagged at the thought that our tongues had even touched!

     So, Becky, my best friend and lover, would always tell me if the person in front of me was clean or not.  All she'd say was "I'm going to the toilet."  That meant, "Steer away, Kathryn."

     That's all I wanted her to do, actually.  Make sure the other person was clean and neat.  Other than that, I can rely on my own judgment whether I liked him or her.  Being blind, looks were not a priority.  It's the person inside that counts.  

     All four of us worked with computers.  That's how we met and the bond that formed between us cannot be broken.  They were actually disappointed that I wasn't taking them with me on this voyage, as they were worried about me.  But this was something I had to do by myself, if only to prove that I really have conquered my blindness.  After this voyage, I would be ready to totally forgive and forget my anger.

     I checked my GPS and noted with satisfaction that I was only 5 miles south of where I was supposed to be at that hour.  I made a slight correction to my heading, punched it into my computer and it reported back to me that I should be back on course in less than 3 hours.  Not bad.

     I made myself some coffee and took the mug with me topside.  It smelled like it was going to be a good day today.  Being alone and blind, I went back into my mind.

     I remembered the first time I met Becky at the trade convention years ago.  I was walking while holding on to the elbow of my assistant when I heard this beautiful girlish laugh in front of me.  I automatically stopped, as I was sure she was in front of me, but she still hit me anyway.

     "Oops!  Sorry.  I didn't see you."

     "That's okay.  Neither did I."

     There was a momentary silence from her, and being used to people getting embarrassed over my blindness, I was about to say that it was all right when she suddenly laughed.

     "That's a good one!  Hi, I'm Becky Santos, Program Analyst."

     "Kathryn Torres."

     "What company?"

     "Computers dot Com,” was my automatic reply.  I liked her voice.

     "Really?  You have computers that come?"

     She was quick, bright and totally unfazed by my blindness.  I liked her right away.  I asked my assistant to go ahead and listen to the seminar.  Becky and I had coffee.  We started talking about everything and anything under the sun and we became fast friends.  After about two hours of fun conversation, the topic veered more on sex, men and masturbation.  Soon, we were talking about kinky stuff and fantasies.

     I’ve never felt so comfortable with someone as I did that day with Becky.  We were jabbering away like we were the best of friends since childhood.  She didn’t even ask me why I was blind!  For the first time in years, I could be myself and relax and think of nothing except what we were talking about at that moment.  Laughter was spontaneous, words flowed smoothly from one topic to the next, and we were surprised by my assistant telling us that the seminar was over for the day.

     I didn’t want us to part company, so I told my assistant to take the rest of the day off and do whatever she wanted.  I assured her that I’ll be okay, and Becky quickly volunteered to be my “seeing-eye girl” for the evening.

     After my assistant left, I turned to Becky and said, “I was wondering when you’d get to that subject.”

     “Well, I knew you’d tell me what happened sooner or later, so why rush it?”

     “That’s what I like about you.  You’re so sure of yourself.”

     “Not always, Kat.  I used to have 300 vision from high school to my first two years working.  Because of that and the fact that I do have brains, I got the nickname Owl Bitch.”

     “Were you really a bitch?”

     “I can shift from compliments to sarcasm in less than a heartbeat.”

     “No wonder you caught on to my pun right away.  I usually have time to actually tell the person that I’m blind.  I was almost able to do that with you, as it took you about a second to respond with your laugh.”

     “Oh, I got the pun right away.  I was just surprised, that’s all.”

     “That I made a joke about my blindness?”

     “No, I needed a sec to realize that you couldn’t see that I was red in the face.”

     “What do you mean?”

     “Later.  So, you were about to tell me about an interesting story about a fulfilled fantasy you once had before your assistant interrupted us.”

     “Now, I’m the one with the red face.”

     “Let me assure you, you ARE red in the face.  That can only mean that it’ll be a great story.  Let me have it.”

     “Okay!”

     I took a deep breath to gather my thoughts and started to tell my story.

     “I was pitching in for my work mate to check out the computer of a client of ours.  It was late evening, about 9 p.m., and the manager left his notebook for me to fix a bug in his system.  It was just a matter of correcting the DNS settings, and it took longer for me to install my special software to make the notebook talk to me than to change the settings.  I was done in 15 minutes, and since I was feeling a little naughty that evening, I decided to use their system to log on and have some free use of the Internet.  Soon, I was visiting my favorite adult site, and started to listen to some stories.  One was particularly sexy and soon, I was feeling so horny that I decided to relieve myself.  I was wearing a skirt, so I took off my panties and stuffed it in my bag.  Listening to the story, I put my feet up on the desk and started caressing myself.”

     “What’s the story about?”

     “A girl using a butterfly vibrator while riding the train.  I could just feel how it must have felt, and I was all wet just seeing her on that train with over a hundred people around her not knowing how close to an orgasm she was.  I was close to an orgasm myself, when I suddenly smelled faint perfume.  I stopped, put my feet down and sat up straight on the chair.  ‘Who’s there,’ I asked out loud, my finger automatically finding the escape button to turn off the computer's sound.  There was no answer.  But I felt some movement from the door, so I was sure there was someone there.  I started to pack up my things, when the outer door closed.  Then a girl’s voice asked, ‘Hello!  Someone in here?’”

     “’Just me, the computer tech!  I’m in the office!’”

     “’Oh, right!  You’re supposed to fix the head honcho’s notebook,’ and I heard her enter the office.  ‘Hi, I’m Susan, his secretary.’”

     “’Hi, my name’s Kat.  I’ve fixed the notebook.’”

     “’That was quick.  Good work!  Mind if I take a look?’”

     “’Not at all,’ I replied and made way for her to look at the notebook.  As she passed by, I smelled her.  It was the same perfume!  She must have seen me masturbating and to avoid embarrassing me, pretended that she’d just entered the office.”

     “’You alone?  I thought I heard voices,’ she asked me.”

     “’Yes, it was the software I installed so that I can listen to the computer.  I’m blind.’”

     “’Yes, you must be, as you didn’t turn on a single light in the room.’”

     “’Well, I’ve been here a few times.  We installed your system.  Which reminds me, I still have to uninstall my software from the notebook.  He won’t be needing it.’”

     “’After what I’ve just seen, maybe he should use it, or maybe you’d like to install it in my computer,’ she replied, and I felt her move closer to me.  Before I could reply, I felt a light kiss on the back of my neck and her arms moved to my front in a sensual embrace.”

     “’You’re so pretty.  I saw you.  Wouldn’t you like to finish what you started?’”

     “I couldn’t speak.  I was torn between fright and lust.  I’ve never made love to a woman before.  Never had the guts to try.  And here was a woman who’d just lifted her hand to cup my breasts.  I wasn’t wearing a bra as my breasts weren’t big enough to need one, and my nipples betrayed my feelings by rising up to meet her palms through the cotton shirt I was wearing.  I turned my head around to tell her something, as to what I can’t remember anymore, except that I knew it was happening too fast, but as soon as my head turned, she kissed me.  It was a soft, sensual kiss.  I smelled her lipstick then I felt her tongue touch my lips.  My lips automatically parted and her tongue entered my mouth, through my teeth and touched my tongue.  It was so erotic that my tongue suddenly had a life of its own and groped out to taste her mouth too.”

     “It was a long, deep kiss and I found myself turning to her to embrace her and caress her back and ass.  It was a firm ass and nicely rounded.  I knew that she was wearing a thong underneath her skirt.  She gently pushed me to the table and ended the kiss to ask, ‘Is this your first time with a girl?’”

     “I nodded.  She then said, ‘Good.  You’re going to love this as much as I’m going to,’ then she slowly knelt before me while lifting up my skirt.  I had to lean back on the table as I felt totally consumed by desire as I felt her lips touch my pussy.  I’m blessed with sparse, soft pubic hair that I love to touch often, and, hearing Susan moan, she must have had the same pleasure as she ate my cunt.  After licking the lips, she then took my clit in her mouth and gently sucked on them and lightly and slowly flicked her tongue.  It felt so good.  I didn’t realize how close I was to coming that my orgasm came over me like a tsunami and threatened to make me pass out.  Just as I thought I couldn’t take any more pleasure, she inserted two fingers in my pussy.  A stronger wave of pleasure washed over me as my orgasm started all over again and I screamed and moaned.  As the second orgasm passed its peak, I felt her tongue flatten against my cunt and licked me from lips to clit.  This brought me over the edge again and tears started to roll down to my ears.  I was totally engulfed by sheer pleasure and realized for the first time why some people with weak hearts died during lovemaking.  I kept on coming a few more times until I collapsed on the table, exhausted.”

     I could hear Becky was breathing hard from across the table and knew that my story excited her.  I was also wet myself and was afraid I was going to leave a mark on my skirt.  But my story was only halfway over and I could feel Becky was anxious to hear the rest.

 Continued. . .       Chapter 2