Message-ID: <52092asstr$1127765403@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
Return-Path: <ann_douglas@hotmail.com>
X-Original-To: ckought69@hotmail.com
Delivered-To: ckought69@hotmail.com
X-Original-Message-ID: <BAY101-F37D81B28EC1216750AEA60968B0@phx.gbl>
X-Originating-Email: [ann_douglas@hotmail.com]
From: "Ann Douglas" <ann_douglas@hotmail.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 26 Sep 2005 13:17:58.0762 (UTC) FILETIME=[B6CECCA0:01C5C29C]
X-ASSTR-Original-Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 13:17:58 +0000
Subject: {ASSM} AnnD"The Once And Future Queen" FF -  (1/1) 
Lines: 1241
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 16:10:03 -0400
Path: assm.asstr-mirror.org!not-for-mail
Approved: <assm@asstr-mirror.org>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories
Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d
X-Archived-At: <URL:http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/Year2005/52092>
X-Moderator-Contact: ASSTR ASSM moderation <story-ckought69@hotmail.com>
X-Story-Submission: <ckought69@hotmail.com>
X-Moderator-ID: newsman, dennyw

	The Once And Future Queen
		by Ann Douglas
           (ann_douglas@hotmail.com)

	"Are you having a good time?"  the young actress whose
name escaped Jane at the moment asked.

	"Oh I'm having a really wonderful time,"  Jane replied with a
broad smile.

	"I guess something like this is really old hat to you,"  the
actress went on as she gestured to the large crowd that filled the
even larger garden where the party was being held.  "You must've
attended hundreds of parties like this before.  This is my first."
she gushed.

	Jane just continued to smile.  Truth be told, this was the
first party like this she had ever attended as well.  Even in her
heyday in Hollywood, she had never been invited to an A-List party.
Especially not one in a setting like that around her.

	The large twenty-six-room mansion on the seacoast had
been built by one of the great actors of the nineteen twenties, one
of those people who had practically created the movie industry.
Its current owner and their host for the weekend, was one of the
new boy wonders of Hollywood.  With six blockbusters and two
Academy Awards behind him, the studio just couldn't say no to him
when he'd come to them with the idea for the project he was now
celebrating the completion of.

	"Mara, Queen of the Jungle"  was a multi-million dollar
remake of a early nineteen eighties television show that Jason
Flynn had been fixated on since his teen years.  A sort of female
version of the classic Tarzan story, it had been the thirty-six year
old's lifelong dream to remake it in his image and he was now in a
position to do just that.

	Back when the show had been on television, it had definitely
been low budget.  It lasted only a few seasons, despite achieving
almost cult-like status, especially among teen-age boys and was
soon consigned to what was expected to be the oblivion of
cancellation.

	But then, like a few other shows of the era, it went into
syndication and became a greater hit than it had ever been when it
was first run.  Even today, the seventy-two episodes could be found
running on one cable station or another.

	So, with an abundance of old television shows being made
into big budget films, the studio was willing to green light the
project and make Jason happy.  Even if the film was a bomb, they
reasoned, enough ticket buyers would go to see it based on Flynn's
reputation for them to at least break even.  At worst, if the film
tanked, it would take the maverick producer/director down a peg
or two and make him easier to deal with.

	But the studio bosses greatly underestimated Jason and the
lengths he was willing to go to insure his dream picture would
indeed be a hit.  This was a film he'd been thinking about for half
his life and he already had a long list of things to do and people to
see to make that happen.  At the top of that list had been Jane
Parker, who had retired from the motion picture business over a
decade before.  As soon as he got the commitment from the
studio, he sought out the former actress and offered her a role he
created especially for her.

	To anyone who had loved the show of course, and their
numbers had been legion, his action was both predictable and made
perfect sense.  Jane Parker had been the original Mara.  In the
new version, the now forty-six year old would play an explorer who
discovers the Jungle Girl and brings her back to civilization.

	When first approached with the offer, Jane had been a
little reluctant at first to take on the role.  But she had agreed to
see Jason later in the month when he was on the East Coast where
she'd relocated.  It had been years since she'd set foot in front of
a camera and she liked the idea of her fans remembering her as
she had been, not as she was now.

	Having spent more than half of her life in Hollywood, where
looks were everything, Jane was oftentimes much too critical of
herself.  The reality was, which others could see even if she
couldn't, that a dozen or so extra pounds and a few age lines had
done little to lessen her beauty.  In fact, many people thought she
was more attractive as a mature woman, standing out among her
peers in a way she never did back when she was just one of a
thousand pretty girls in a bikini making the rounds and looking for
their big break.

	After Queen of the Jungle went off the air, Jane had
appeared in a number of roles in the years that followed.  True,
most had been B or made for television movies with few starring
roles, but at least she'd been a working actress for most of her
career, something few of her contemporaries could say.

	When she made the decision to quit the business before it
quit on her, she also made the decision not to capitalize on her one
great role.  Oh she would answer the occasional fan mail that
managed to come her way, but she refused to appear at any of the
science fiction and fantasy conventions that sent her invitations.
She didn't want to become some old lady trying to remember her
glory days.

	It was only recently that some friends had finally convinced
her to attend one of those gatherings and she was overwhelmed to
finally realize that she had been the only one who saw herself that
way.  She hadn't even been a guest at the convention, but someone
had recognized her and word quickly spread.  In no time at all,
close to a thousand fans had abandoned the stars of current shows
on the ballroom dais to gather around her in an empty room and
engage in an impromptu question and answer session.

	So when Jason came to see her in person, he found her in a
much more receptive mood than she might've been only a few weeks
before.  Still, she only accepted the role when she was sure it was
going to be a real part, and not just some quick cameo that might
wind up on the cutting room floor.

	His proven talent aside, Jane found Jason to be pretty much
an adult version of the geeky teenage boys who had drooled over
her when the show was on the air.  In their chats over a two day
period, he'd even let it slip that he'd had his share of fantasies
about her character while growing up and had gone so far as to buy
one of her original costumes at an auction to put on display in his
new house.  Jane also got the impression that even though she was
a decade his senior, the filmmaker would be overjoyed to live out
some of those fantasies even now.

	If that was the case, Jane thought, then Jason was going to
be greatly disappointed.  It was true, she'd slept with the
executive producer to get the role of Mara in the first place, and
in the later part of her career, a few blow jobs might've helped
pave the way to an audition or two, but those days were far behind
her.  Not knowing the reason for the little smile on the corner of
her mouth, Jason droned on about his plans for the new rendition
of Mara.  No longer really listening, Jane found herself
remembering how she'd gotten involved in the original version.

	The producers of the original Queen of the Jungle had been
looking for a fresh new face for their Jungle Girl and invited the
talent agencies to send around some of their unknowns to read for
the part.  Jane knew going in there that she had little more going
for her than a few small guest star roles, a couple of commercials
and a resume that held little more than a minor national beauty
title and a 38-26-38 figure.  The funny thing was that in the end,
it all pretty much came down to her being able to fill the costume.

	The problem was, Jane remembered, there was another,
younger actress, Juliet Newman, also fit the costume.  And,
despite only being in Hollywood a few years, Juliet had nearly twice
Jane's experience.  If it had been up to the studio, Juliet would've
won the leading role.

	But the decision wasn't up to the studio, however, and Jane
got a first hand lesson in how things were sometimes still done in
the business, at least on this level.  Rebecca Simon, who had spent
the better part of two decades establishing herself as a power to
be reckoned with, had signed on as executive producer as a favor
to an old friend.  After climbing her way to the top over every
obstacle they could put in front of her, the fifty-nine year old felt
entitled to the perks that came with it.

	That Rebecca was as gay as they came was no secret, or the
fact that the quickest way to a role in one of her productions was
through her bed.  Juliet, who despite having already done her
share of auditioning on her back, including securing a top agent by
letting him fuck her ass, inexplicably decided that such things
were now beneath her.  If they really wanted her for the part, and
in her mind they'd be foolish not to, then it was going to be on her
terms.

	"Who does that fat old dyke think she is that I'm going to
crawl down between her legs and get her off?"  Juliet had been
heard to say within earshot of several people who had been more
than happy to repeat it for the producer.

	Rebecca, who stood five foot one, weighed in at almost two
hundred pounds and couldn't be described as attractive by even her
closest friends, was understandably upset when she'd heard the
comment.  While the description might indeed be accurate, it had
been a good many years since anyone had dared voice it.  Especially
not someone as, despite her high opinion of herself, easily
replaceable as Juliet.

	The chance for the role was quickly offered to Jane, who it
turned out, had no problem with crawling into the older woman's
bed.  While it had been her first time with a woman, the
twenty-two year old didn't view rumpling the sheets with Rebecca
any differently than with a man under the same circumstances.
Looking back even now, Jane remembered the orgasm the very
talented woman had given her as being quite memorable indeed.

	The experience hadn't been repeated, at least not with
Rebecca, who it seemed had a distinct preference for Sapphic
virgins, and Jane was on her way.  It was such a small price to pay
for the rewards that followed, she always thought.  As for Juliet,
it was only a few years ago that Jane learned from a friend that
despite a later willingness to go that extra yard for a role, her
career had pretty much never gone anywhere.  She did however
gain some fame as the mother of a rising young star who had his
own hit TV show.

	"Oh my goodness, isn't that Cynthia Thomas?"  the young
actress who Jane finally remembered was named Debbie Ford
gushed as she spotted the legend on the other side of the buffet
table.  Her excited voice snapping Jane back to the present.

	Jane looked in that direction and nodded that indeed it was.
Now in her late sixties, the star of stage and screen was attended
by a young man four decades her junior.  May/December romances
were hardly unusual in Hollywood with the women now catching up
to the men.  But unlike, say in the case of Kate Douglas who Jane
had seen at the party earlier, Cynthia's companion was hardly the
boy-toy of the week.  As Jane understood it, the young man with
Cynthia had been her inseparable companion for almost ten years.

	Yes things certainly had changed in Hollywood since she'd
left, Jane reminded herself.  Two actresses, stars of a hit show
about a group of friends in New York that had just gone off the
air after a ten year run, had even shown up with each other as an
escort, making little effort to discourage the suggestion that they
were more than just friends.

	There had been a few other stars that Jane recognized
from her actress days, but few that remembered her.  In most
cases, that was understandable as she'd barely knew them then.
But in one case at least, the lapse seemed intentional.

	Barbara Seward was now an Academy Award winner and had
her choice of film roles to pick from.  Still, Jane found it hard to
believe that she had so easily forgotten co-starring with her in
The Lost Legion, one of those B movies that had been the staple of
both their careers a decade and a half ago.  Especially since the
two of them shared a trailer and Jane knew first hand how Babs
had worked her way through a number of the young students who
had been hired as extras on the film.

	Far away from the comforts of civilization, there hadn't
been much else to do on those long desert nights but play cards,
get drunk, or fuck.  Jane had hardly been an angel out on location
either, but at least she hadn't been running up a scorecard.

	Unwilling to take her snub graciously, Jane again engaged
Barbara in conversation, this time while she was surrounded by
adoring fans.  Using the excuse of introducing her to Debbie, Jane
again reminded her of their prior collaboration, this time not
accepting the brush off "you must be mistaken" comment that
Barbara had given before.

	A look of abject horror appeared on Barbara's face as Jane
alluded to those late night entertainments and for a moment the
Academy Award winner feared the details were about to follow.
Then Jane laughed, said that those were fun times and then just
took hold of Debbie and walked away.  She'd made her point and
was satisfied with that.

	As she picked up another drink from a passing waiter,  Jane
wondered if Barbara's admirers would've found it shocking that the
star used to enjoy, and perhaps still did, taking on teenage boys,
sometimes two or three at a time.

	After thinking about it a minute, Jane decided probably not.
This was Hollywood after all, and as long as the money kept rolling
in, little was shocking.

	Ten minutes later, Jane noticed the crowd had begun to
gravitate to the far end of the clearing where Jason was giving a
familiar speech about the film and how it was a dream come true.
Having heard it all before, and not being among the many who
needed to stay on the boy wonder's good side in the hope of future
roles, Jane decided to take the opportunity to explore the old
mansion.  She'd always been interested in Hollywood history and
this old building held enough of it to totally fascinate her.

	It wasn't like she was trespassing she told herself.  After
all, she and a few others on the film had been invited to spend the
weekend.  Jason himself had told her to look around when she had
a chance and now seemed as good a time as any.  Leaving Debbie to
go and listen to the speech, Jane walked into the house through
two large double patio doors.

				-=-=-=-

	Looking around the eighty-year-old mansion, Jane couldn't
help but be impressed.  People certainly had a lot more style back
when it had been built, at least those who worked in Hollywood.
Rather than just demand the biggest and best, the original owner
had the house built to reflect his personality and, in an action that
increased his standing in her eyes, Jason had sought to accent
those original designs with his additions rather than obscure them.
Too often newly rich stars had tried to show how much style they
had by buying classic houses, then gutted them to the walls, to be
rebuilt in their own plebeian image.

	Walking from room to room, Jane found the little extras she
expected a man like Jason to have.  The audio-visual extravaganza
with the latest in stereos and high definition television, complete
with satellite hook-ups. The game room with a video arcade that
looked more like mission control than anything you'd find in the
best amusement parks.  There was a full sized Olympic pool in the
basement, put in by the original owner, which had also been
restored to pristine condition.

	Off to the side of the pool was what Jane knew was a party
room of another type, complete with large plush sofas, a bar and
adjustable lighting.  Even today, the stories of those old time
parties, one might even call them orgies, were legendary.  Who
exactly had taken part in them were secrets that for the most
part had been carried to the grave.  The whispered lists of
suspects had included some of the biggest stars of the screen in
the thirties right up to the nineteen fifties.  Jane idly wondered if
Jason used the room for the same thing or had merely restored it
to its former glory as a homage to what once was.

	Moving back to the higher floors, Jane found most of the
rooms to be more conventional, most not much different than her
own modest home except for their sheer number.  She didn't feel
envious or anything like that, she had long ago made peace with
what her life had been and the third tier level of stardom she'd
achieved.

	She'd had her fun, sowed her wild oats as they say.  A few
affairs and one-night stands, plus a  marriage that turned out to
be a major mistake and had quickly ended in divorce.  It hadn't
taken long for her to find that Edgar Rice, who at first seemed
every girl's dream, was more in love with the cards and horses than
any woman.  She really never fell in love until she was away from
Hollywood and despite losing her second husband in a car accident
two years ago, she wouldn't have traded their time together for an
Oscar.  Johnny had left her with a son, Clayton, who meant
everything in the world to her.

	Reaching the top floor, Jane discovered a large room that
took up half the landing.  Filled with oversized windows, she
surmised that at one time it had been intended to be a solarium.
Now it served as what Jason probably thought of as his own
private museum.  Scattered across the floor were dozens of glass
cases filled with movie memorabilia.  The movies and television
shows the artifacts represented ranged from the well known to
the obscure, many of them going back to the early days of film and
TV.

	"Oh my God!"  Jane blurted out loud as she spotted a case at
the far end of the room in a central place of honor.  "He really did
buy one of those damn costumes."

	Moving over to the display to get a better look, Jane was
captivated by an outfit she hadn't seen in twenty years.  Made of a
soft brown material designed to simulate lion fur, the costume, if
you could really call it that, had less material than most of the
bikinis of its time.  The network censors had rejected the original
and each succeeding version had literally grown inch by inch until
they finally, if reluctantly gave their approval.  As it was, there
had been more than a few what they now called wardrobe
malfunctions on the set, the films of which, Jane was thankful,
were long ago destroyed.  Today, pictures like that would most
likely find their way onto the Internet within hours.

	The costume was worn by a mannequin of which Jane had no
doubt, probably had the same dimensions as she had back then.
The features of the facsimile bore a certain resemblance to her,
right down to the long red hair she had in her twenties.  It was
almost like looking through a reflection into the past, she thought
as she walked around the case and compared the body she once had
to the one she looked at in the mirror this morning.

	"Still not too bad,"  she mused as she looked down her back
at an ass that was only slightly bigger than the mannequin's.
Despite their size, her boobs had held up pretty well too she told
herself, making those daily workout sessions worth the while.

	"I wonder if it would still fit,"  she contemplated as the
temptation to find out just that filled her.

	Thankfully that idea faded as she remembered how easily
those outfits seemed to rip.  So much so that they had to have
four always on hand.  All in all, seven were made during the series
with three of them ruined beyond repair.  It wouldn't do to damage
what had undoubtedly cost Jason a large amount of money to
whatever collector had previously owned it.

	"I wonder which one this is?"  Jane asked herself as she
took a closer and longer look at it.  The close examination answered
her own question.

	"I don't believe it,"  she said as she suddenly realized what
set this version of the costume apart from any of the others.  "It
has to be," she went on,  "I can see where I tore it and Julio had to
sew it back together."

	She wondered if Jason knew the history of this particular
costume, but then again how could he?  Only she, Julio, who was
the wardrobe seamstress, and one other person knew how it had
gotten torn.  It was unlikely that either of them had told anyone
else.

	"I wonder how Jason would react if I told him that this was
the costume that I wore the night I fucked `Big Bill' Watson in my
dressing room,"  Jane grinned as she thought back to that night
after a long day of shooting the second season finale.

	Twenty years older and black as the night, the veteran actor
had been a guest star on the episode.  He had agreed to play the
part of Chief Bokari of the hidden T'Lara tribe because his son by
his third ex-wife was a big fan of the show.

	It wasn't until he was out of costume that Jane really
understood why people called him `Big Bill' and it wasn't because of
his six foot two height.  Previous to that night, Jane had never
believed that myth about black men and size, but she quickly
learned that even myths sometimes have a basis in truth.  If he
hadn't become a serious actor, Bill Watson could have given Johnny
Holmes a run for his money in the porn industry.

	The episode had turned out to be one of the fan's favorites
and hers as well, but understandably not for the same reason.  The
late night encounter had left her sore for the last two days of
shooting and few members of the cast or crew weren't able to
guess the reason why.  Thankfully, no one ever said anything about
it but there had been a number of playful smiles from both men
and women on the set.

	"Why don't you try it on?"  a familiar voice unexpectedly said
from behind Jane. "I bet it still fits."

	Jane turned around quickly and found Dawn Russell, the
twenty-three year old star of Mara, Queen of the Jungle, standing
less than ten feet away.  When she had first heard someone behind
her, the older woman had been filled with a sudden dread that it
had been Jason and he had taken her interest in her old costume
as an indication that she might have changed her mind about
making his fantasies come true.

	"I don't think it would stand up to my trying it on,"  Jane
said, a touch of relief in her voice that it hadn't been Jason,  "I've
put on a few pounds since then and it was fragile enough back in
the day."

	"Nonsense,"  Dawn said as she moved closer and took her own
look at the costume in the case.  "I'd bet that you still look better
in that get up than I do in mine."

	That sentiment made Jane think of something she'd noticed
the first day on the set, at least the first day Dawn had appeared
in the Mara costume.  Despite the two-decade difference and the
current easier going attitude about nudity, or at least semi-nudity,
Dawn's version of the costume had twice as much material as her
own had .  There weren't going to be any costume malfunctions on
this film.

	Then again, Dawn was hardly an unknown actress getting her
first big break as Jane had been.  Since the age of ten, Dawn had
practically grown up on television.  First as one of the children on a
family oriented sitcom, then as a teen as part of an ensemble cast
on a musical variety show.  Finally, as a nineteen year old with her
own show that ended last year after a three year run.

	In that time, Dawn had developed a reputation as being a
sort of virginal all American princess.  So much so that one
columnist had gone so far as to label her a 90's version of Annette
Funicello.  Making a public declaration that you wouldn't have sex
with a man until your wedding night had become the in thing to do
among teen stars, and Dawn had been no exception.  But what was
exceptional was that in her case she actually seemed to mean it.
Unlike her peers, no hint of scandal had ever been connected with
her or her relationship with Ronnie Cunningham, the boy she'd met
on that variety show and had dated on and off in the years since.

	When Jane first learned that Dawn had been signed to star
in the film, she wasn't sure how she was going to get along with the
younger actress.  For all she knew, the girl might even be one of
those bible thumpers that look at anyone who has a little fun as
being on the express elevator to hell.

	So when Dawn showed up at a small, casual get-together
that Jason arranged to acquaint the principals with each other,
Jane almost burst out laughing when the new Mara walked up and
introduced herself.  It wasn't so much anything Dawn did or said as
much as what she was wearing.

	With long blonde haired tied in a ponytail and deeply tanned
skin, Miss Goodness-And-Everything-Wholesome was decked out in
low cut jeans and a light blue tank top that while not exactly see
through, was form fitting enough to show that she wasn't wearing a
bra and that it didn't have to be translucent to display exactly
what it supposed to be covering.  Additionally, the almost blouse
bore the legend "Good girls are just bad girls who haven't been
caught."

	In no time at all, despite the difference in their ages, the
two of them became friends.  At least friends enough to have no
problem working together.  Despite her star status, Dawn never
looked down at Jane, who many others looked at as a has been, if
not a never was.  Still, there was something in the way the younger
actress looked at her at times that Jane could never quite put her
finger on.  But she finally decided it was only her imagination
playing tricks on her.

	"I was looking for Heather, have you seen her?"  Dawn asked
Jane as if to explain what she was doing here.

	Heather Cox was one of the co-stars of the film.  Three
years older than Dawn, the dark skinned actress played Mara's
best friend and the daughter of Chief Bokari.  Having paid her
dues in the soaps and a few guest shots on network shows, she had
graduated to big screen after Jason had seen her in one of the
latter roles.  A chance that she had taken to heart and worked
harder than any two people to give the best performance possible.
She had also, Jane recalled, become close friends with Dawn, which
was understandable seeing they were of the same age.

	"I'm afraid I haven't seen her,"  Jane replied, "maybe she's
listening to Jason's `I had a vision' speech."

	"If that's the case then I feel sorry for her,"  Dawn laughed,
"I've heard that one too many times."

	"I guess attendance is sort of mandatory if you want to stay
in his good graces,"  Jane replied in kind.

	"Fortunately, you and I don't have that problem,"  Dawn
pointed out.  "In our cases, he needed us more then we needed
him."

	"That much is probably true,"  Jane agreed.

	"So what do you think of the way the film turned out?"
Dawn asked as she circled the display case containing the original
Mara costume.  "Do you think that the fans are going to accept me
as Mara?"

	"How could they not,"  Jane said.  "You're a terrific actress."

	"So were you.  After all, you created the role."

	"I don't see how you can compare the two versions,"  Jane
said in surprise.  "You're a real actress, I was just some beauty
queen who got lucky.  Would you believe the only reason I was even
considered for the role was that I had the boobs to fit into the
costume."

	Dawn's face filled with a funny look and Jane thought for a
moment that maybe she'd been offended by what she'd said.  Or at
least how she'd said it.  Quickly, she offered an apology.

	"I happen to think that you have great tits,"  Dawn
countered unexpectedly, brushing aside the apology.  "And at least
they're real, unlike ninety percent of the other actresses in this
town.  I wish mine were half as nice as yours."

	Jane was taken back by what Dawn said.  First that she had
said it in the first place, and then what she had said.  Thinking
back to that Annette Funicello analogy, the younger actress was
hardly lacking in that department.

	"Shocked that I referred to your breasts as tits?"  Dawn
laughed after Jane had been silent for a few seconds.  "Don't be.
In fact, I've been know to say things like `fuck' and `shit' when the
mood arises, but not of course in the hearing of some nosy
reporters or paparazzi.  Don't believe all the PR bull that my agent
puts out.  I'm far from the angel that they sometimes like to
portray me as."

	"I never really thought all of that was true,"  Jane
confessed, wondering not for the first time what was true and
what wasn't.

	"When you get to be the big star there are always people
around you making sure you don't do anything to upset the apple
cart,"  Dawn lamented,  "or more accurately, the gravy train.  God
forbid I should do something that doesn't fit in with my `I'll wear
virginal white on my wedding day' image.  You know that scene in
the movie where I take a shower in the waterfall?"

	Jane nodded that she remembered.

	"At first they insisted that I used a body double but I
refused,"  she explained.  "Then they made sure that I was only
shot from the back and the camera image ended above the crack
of my ass.  Finally, because I turned around so that people could
see that it was me and not some body double, those assholes went
over every frame of the scene with a magnifying glass to make sure
that there wasn't any part of my nipple showing.  Is that fucked up
or what?"

	Jane had to agree it was.  In a way, having only been a B
movie actress at best didn't seem so bad after all.  At least she
never had anyone telling her what she could or couldn't do.

	"I wish they had let me wear the same costume that you
did,"  Dawn said as she changed the subject back to the display
case.  "What's the point of working out everyday to have a kickass
body if you can't show it off."

	Jane had to also agree with her there.  Back when she wore
the costume, she used to get an almost perverse pleasure knowing
everyone was looking at her in it when she walked across the set.

	"You think that the boy wonder sits in here and imagines you
wearing that costume?"  Dawn asked.

	"I think it's a pretty strong possibility,"  Jane offered as
she recalled his mentioning of the fantasies he'd had about Mara.

	"I bet you he sits here and jerks off while he looks at it,"
Dawn unexpectedly added.

	"That's not an image that I think I want to entertain,"  the
older actress laughed, thinking at the same time that it was
probably true.

	"Well I guess you can't blame him, he really is just a little
kid who never grew up, most of the really good directors are,"
Dawn pointed out,  "and after all, you and that costume got a lot of
boys through puberty."

	"I guess so,"  Jane said, not wanting to really admit that
having millions of teenage fans over the years jerk off to her
image had been a secret turn-on.

	"But you know, it wasn't only the boys who had fantasies
about you,"  Dawn said as she moved even closer to Jane.

	"Excuse me,"  Jane said, sure that she'd heard Dawn wrong.

	"You know, I really wasn't all that interested in making this
movie until Jason told me that you'd agreed to do it as well,"  Dawn
went on as she moved close enough to reach out and run her fingers
down Jane's arm.  "If he was your biggest fan, then I think I
might've been a close second, or at least in the top ten."

	"I'm not sure exactly how I should respond to that,"  Jane
replied, trying hard to ignore the tactile sensation of Dawn's
fingers against her skin and doing a lousy job of it.

	"Well I hope one of the options going through your mind isn't
running from the room in disgust,"  Dawn said as she reached out
with her other hand, a sense of vulnerability in her voice.

	"That,"  Jane answered after taking a deep breath, " could
never be a consideration, much less an option."

	"Good,"  Dawn smiled as she leaned in closer to Jane,  "I was
a little worried for a moment that you might not be interested.
This isn't a side of myself that I open up to many people."

	"It's just that it's been so long since I..."  Jane said as her
thoughts flashed back over a decade to the last time she'd been
this close to another woman,  "and I'm so much older than you."

	"Does that really make a difference?"  the blonde haired girl
said, cutting her off.

	"No, I guess it doesn't make any difference at all,"  Jane
smiled.

	Dawn closed the last few inches between them, her lips
brushing against Jane's.  When they made contact a second time,
the kiss was as soft and sweet as any Jane could remember.  A
third and fourth were even more desirable as Dawn brought her
hands behind Jane's head and pulled them even closer together.
Their bodies pressed against each other, their nipples growing
hard.  Jane felt a long absent wave of wetness between her legs,
one that, based on her own reaction, was mirrored in her younger
counterpart.

	It almost seemed like a dream, as if it was happening to
someone else and Jane was just an observer.  When Dawn
suggested that they take it to her bedroom where they could have
some privacy, the older redhead heard a voice that sounded just
like hers saying yes.

				-=-=-=-

	"What the hell am I doing?"  Jane asked herself as she
followed Dawn down the narrow wrought iron circular staircase to
the floor below where both of their guest rooms were.

	It had been well over ten years since she'd been with
another woman, much less one practically half her age.  In fact,
she hadn't even been with another man since Johnny died.  It was
one thing to reminisce about the naughty old days, she told
herself, it was quite another to relive them.  Yet, only a few short
minutes before, she had been playing tonsil hockey with the young
woman in front of her and without any hesitation, had agreed to go
back to her room.

	"I'm a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the PTA
for Christ's sake,"  Jane thought as Dawn looked back at her and
smiled warmly.  "What would Clayton think if he could see his
mother now?"

	"I'd say go for it, Mom,"  the voice of her teenage son
seemed to say in her mind.  "Look at her, how could you even think
of saying no?"

	Clayton had indeed been quite taken with Dawn when he had
flown out to the set with his grandmother during filming.  Even
before his father had died, mother and son had been as close as
could be.  They had few secrets from each other and he constantly
urged her to go out and have some fun.  That, both he and her
mother-in-law insisted, is what Johnny would've wanted.  If this
was the sort of fun they envisioned was another matter.

	"Well here we are,"  Dawn said as they reached the main
guest bedroom down the hall from Jane's.

	Dawn opened the door and stepped inside, turning on the
light to her left.  She took another step, then paused, realizing
that Jane was still standing outside.

	"Is something wrong?"  Dawn asked as she saw the look of
indecision on the older woman's face.

	"No, nothing's wrong,"  Jane replied as her look turned to one
of reassurance and she silently told herself she was being silly.
She was, after all, a single woman free to be with whoever she
wanted.

	As she followed Dawn into the room and closed the door
behind her, Jane could almost hear Clayton yelling out "all right!"
Then she put any thoughts of him and the world outside far from
her mind.

	"I've been thinking about this since the first day I met you,"
Dawn said as she tossed her arms around Jane's neck and gently
kissed her.

	Jane returned the kiss, her tongue brushing against the
younger actress's lips and any sense of hesitation began to slip
behind her.  A second kiss followed and this time Dawn opened her
mouth to pull her inside.

	"Would you like something to drink?"  Dawn asked as they
broke their embrace.

	"No, I'm fine,"  Jane said, thinking of the number of drinks
she'd had out in the garden.

	"I was hoping that you would say yes,"  Dawn replied, a small
look of disappointment on her face.  "They make sure I don't drink
at public functions because I tend to get very flirtatious when I
do, and I hate to drink alone."

	"In that case I'll have whatever you're having,"  Jane said,
changing her mind.

	"Great,"  Dawn grinned as she disappeared below a small
cabinet that quickly revealed itself to be a refrigerated bar,  "I
think there's still a bottle of white left, yes here it is,"  she added
as she came up with the chilled bottle of wine.

	Pouring the two of them a glass, Dawn handed Jane one of
them and raised her glass to make a toast.

	"What shall we drink to?"  she asked.

	"How about the end of a great movie?"  Jane suggested.

	"Nah, there was more than enough of that outside,"  Dawn
replied as she tried to think of something more appropriate.  "How
about we drink to beautiful women?"

	"To beautiful women then," Jane agreed as she raised her
own glass,  "in whose company you certainly belong."

	"No more than you do,"  Dawn offered as she took a large sip
of her wine.

	Jane followed suit but the expression on her face said that
she didn't totally agree with the statement.  Dawn took note of it
at once and wasn't going to let it pass without comment.

	"Do you know why women are so beautiful?"  she asked after
taking a second sip,  "It's because they, like this wine, grow more
attractive with time.  Whereas men for the most part only grow
older."

	"So do you prefer a more vintage wine?"  Jane asked out of
curiosity as she took more of her drink.

	"I wouldn't say it's a preference really,"  Dawn said as she
finished her own and put in down,  "as much as just an appreciation
of all the variety different vintages might offer."

	As she spoke, Dawn had brought her hands to the top button
of her blouse and began to undo it and those beneath it.  The
expanse that had already provided an ample view of her not
unimpressive chest grew ever wider as Jane found her eyes fixed
on the sight.

	Unlike many stars of her generation, Dawn had never
appeared or been photographed nude.  Her shower scene in "Mara"
would be the most revealing that she'd ever done.  Various tabloids
and men's magazines had offered large sums for even a nipple slip
or an embarrassing upskirt photo, but all anyone could ever come up
with were the obvious fakes that circulated around the Internet.
It was one of Dawn's little secrets that she collected all of those
fakes and had even once doctored a photograph of herself with
"fake tits" and posted it online.  It was so obviously a fake that
most people just laughed at it.  Dawn had the biggest laugh of all
because she'd used another photo of her own breasts to make the
composite.  So in a way, it really was a genuine nude of her but no
one realized it.

	Dawn's orange skirt followed her white blouse and her
matching shoes a moment later.  Standing in the center of the
room in only a lacy bra that looked too fragile to contain the bust
within and a even skimpier white thong, the actress turned to the
right and then left to give Jane a full look at her body.  It was a
sight that half a million young and not so young fans would've given
most anything to see.

	A sight that grew even more spectacular as Dawn undid the
clasp of her bra and slid it down her arms, letting it drop to the
floor next to her other clothes.  Jane felt no better than one of
those teenage boys who used to ogle her, starring at the dark,
erect nipples that capped the most beautiful breasts she had ever
seen.  And in two and a half decades in the business, she'd seen
more sets of boobs than she could count.

	"I take back what I said about you being beautiful,"  Jane
said,  "you're ... you're ... I can't even think of a word to describe
how spectacular you are."

	Dawn's only response to the praise was a small smile at the
corner of her mouth.  Instead, she sat on the edge of the large
four-post bed and motioned for Jane to also get comfortable.

	"I want to see you too,"  she offered, her voice containing
almost the same sense of excitement that one of those teenage
fans might've held.

	Even having come to terms with the idea that she was still
an attractive woman, Jane knew full well that she could never
compare to the younger woman.  Not even when she'd worn that
costume in the trophy room upstairs.  Then, after a few moments
hesitation, she reached behind her and unzipped the flowered
sundress she'd worn to the party.  She hoped Dawn wouldn't be too
disappointed.

	It had been a long time since she'd stripped for someone
else's pleasure and Jane knew she was going much too fast.  Still,
Dawn didn't seem to mind.  In no time at all, Jane was down to just
her panties, which was as far from Dawn's thong as you could get,
having come from a local department store back home.  Mimicking
the younger actress's motions from before, Jane turned to each
side to give Dawn a good look.

	"I think if Jason ever saw you like this, he'd have a heart
attack on the spot,"  Dawn smiled as she jumped off the bed and
stepped over to Jane.  "You ... are a goddess!"

	Jane didn't believe that for a moment, but still it was nice to
hear someone say something like that.

	Dawn took Jane by the hand and started to lead her back to
the bed.  She took two steps and paused, turning back to the older
woman.

	"Are you nervous?"  she asked, having felt the subtle
tremble in her hand.

	"A little I guess,"  Jane admitted, not wanting to admit how
awed she was by the younger actress.  "It had been a very long
time since I've done anything like this."

	"Would you rather we didn't?"  Dawn asked, her tone saying
that while she would've been disappointed she also would've
understood.

	"No, I'm just afraid that I might not remember how or ..."
Jane started to say but was cut off by the press of Dawn's finger
against her lips.

	"You just relax and let me take care of everything,"  Dawn
said as she guided Jane onto the bed.  "If you want to stop at any
time, just say so.  If not, just enjoy it."

	Sitting on the side of the bed, Dawn ran her hand along
Jane's legs, rubbing the smooth skin to put her even more at ease.
Her other hand took hold of Jane's, lifting it to her own breast and
inviting the older woman to feel its softness.

	A softness that instantly put to rest any of the rumors that
had been circulating for years about Dawn having had a boob job.
Jane ran her fingers across the supple flesh, playing with the thick
nipple, squeezing it between her fingers.

	Leaning in to kiss her, Dawn slipped her hand down between
Jane's legs, lightly stroking the cloth-covered mound between
them.  Her tongue sought out Jane's, even as her fingers danced
across her already moist panties.

	After a few minutes of caressing and kissing, Jane felt a lot
more comfortable.  Shifting her body, she replaced the hand on
Dawn's breast with her mouth, wasting no time in closing her lips
around the areola and running her tongue against her nipple.

	"Mmmm,"  Dawn purred, thinking that it might indeed have
been some time since Jane had been with a woman but it certainly
was all coming back to her.

	Jane was thinking much the same thing as she savored the
sweet flesh in her mouth.  She had almost forgotten how exciting
it could be with another woman, but it was indeed coming back to
her with a vengeance.  It wasn't that she hadn't had a satisfying
sex life with Johnny, the man was practically a jungle savage in his
own right in the  bedroom.  Sex with a woman was different, in a
way that only those who had partaken in it could ever really
understand.

	Dawn was doubly pleased, both with the soothing waves of
delight that Jane was sending through her as she moved from
breast to breast, and with the fact that she had obviously put
behind her the last of her hesitations.  With that concern out of
the way, she could now concentrate on having real fun.

	She slipped her hand down past the waistband of Jane's
panties and found the thick bush that covered her womanhood.
Working her fingers through the tangle, she found the prize
beneath and pressed first one, then two fingers deep inside the
redhead.

	"Ooooooo,"  Jane moaned into Dawn's breasts as she felt the
tips of her fingers caress her sugar walls.

	With her free hand, Dawn took hold of the back of Jane's
head and pressed it deeper into the valley between her breasts. A
soft patch of skin that Jane continued to cover with her kisses.

	Then, with her fingers still inside Jane, Dawn rolled the
larger woman onto her back and lowered her head level with the
redhead's breasts.  With a technique that showed she'd had more
than her share of practice, Dawn brought Jane her own version of
the delights she had given her.

	Now fully aroused and just as eager to return as good as she
got, Jane slipped her own hand into Dawn's thong and into her deep
passage.  Skillful fingers traveled a familiar, if abstract, path,
sending cries of satisfaction spilling from Dawn's lips.  Lips that
were soon pressed again Jane's once more as her attention shifted
from her wonderful mounds to her even more wonderful mouth.

	The motions of their hands equaled that of their tongues,
each darting in and out of the other.  Passions burned hot as both
women climbed the mountain to a much sought after summit.  Their
bodies rocked back and forth on the bed, sweat running down their
backs and forming a thin film over the rest of their bodies.  It
quickly became raw, animalistic, and oh so much fun.

	"I ...  I ... "  Jane stammered between kisses, and Dawn
paused just long enough to agree.

	It was hard to tell who reached the summit first, but each
planted their flag with incendiary vigor.  Their cries of orgasm
were lost in the depths of each other's mouth even as the
thunderous ripples of their dual climax ravaged their quaking
forms.

				-=-=-=-

	"That, was totally awesome,"  Dawn said as she rolled onto
her back and lay next to Jane.

	"Yes, it was,"  Jane agreed as she tried to catch her breath.

	"You don't regret what happened, do you?"  Dawn asked,
smiling at the look of bliss that filled her lover's face.

	"Not at all,"  Jane smiled as well.  "I really had forgotten
how intense that could be."

	"Tired?"  Dawn asked, hopeful that she heard the answer
she wanted to hear.

	"I probably should be,"  Jane replied as she sat up in the
bed, "but I'm not. In fact, I feel exhilarated."

	"That's great, cause so do I,"  Dawn said excitedly as she
also sat up.

	It took a second for Jane to realize what she meant, then
another to frame a reply.

	"Are you sure we shouldn't get back to the party,"  Jane said
hesitantly,  "someone might be looking for us."

	"Screw the party,"  Dawn laughed,  "although I'd much
rather fuck you.  Besides, if I know Jason, he's probably still going
on about how Mara has been his great dream and all those
lemmings out there are too afraid to leave before he's done on the
chance that he might see them go."

	"I guess,"  Jane said noncommittally.

	"Unless you'd rather we stop,"  Dawn said, shifting gears as
she took the older woman's hesitation as a possible desire to do
just that.

	"No, I very much want to go on,"  Jane assured her,  "I was
just worried about you, that's all.  If someone were to find out it
could damage your career.  I'd never want to be the cause of that."

	"Honey, don't you ever worry about that,"  Dawn smiled
reassuringly.  "I'm not Angela Foster.  The studios have too much
invested in me with three other movies waiting to be released to
let anything like this get out.  Even if we did get caught, which we
won't. Trust me."

	A few years back, Angela Foster, star of the canceled and
best-forgotten television show "Highway Patrol" had showed up at
an awards dinner with a heavy set Hispanic woman.  Who turned out
to be, of all things, part of the actual California Highway Patrol.
The story Angela was passing around was that she had brought her
to the dinner as a thank you for some professional advice about her
role.  That hadn't held up too well when later in the evening, the
two of them had been found in a state of undress in one of the
restrooms.  They had been locked in, at the time of their
discovery, a very graphic display of Sapphic love.

	"Besides, unless I was in here with some underage groupie,
who's going to really care,"  Dawn added.

	Jane didn't really agree with the younger woman's logic,
since even if she was far from underage, this was exactly the kind
of thing editors at the trashiest tabloids lived for.  Still, her
mention of underage groupies made her think of Barbara Seward
and her past, and possible still current, proclivity in that area.  If
the studios kept that under wraps, would this be any different.

	"I'm just being paranoid,"  Jane finally chided herself.  "Here
I am having the best time I've had in months and I'm looking for a
way to ruin it."

	"I guess I'm just being silly,"  she said out loud as she
banished the worries from her mind.

	"Silly can be fun at times too,"  Dawn beamed as she climbed
on top of Jane, and kissed her deeply.

	A second kiss followed and Dawn began to work her way
down Jane's body, stopping at her inviting mounds and taking the
time to suck at each of them for a few minutes.  A pause that once
more brought a broad smile to Jane's face.  Then it was once more
on to the prize as Dawn reached down and pulled off the older
woman's panties, dropping them over the side of the bed.

	"God, you have such a beautiful pussy,"  Dawn exclaimed as
she spread Jane's legs wide to give herself a clearer view.

	The thick red bush, only slightly tinged with age, fascinated
the young blonde as she ran her fingers through it.  She had never
personally seen such a hairy mound and found it quite sexy.  The
area between her own legs was carefully trimmed, a necessity for
some of the costumes she was sometimes called on to wear, to say
nothing of the more daring swimsuits she favored.

	Her fingers played with the still damp mound a little more as
she leaned up and gave Jane's left breast once last kiss.  Then she
pulled the older woman's legs even wider, moving down between
them as she did.

	Parting the folds of Jane's sex with her outstretched hands,
Jane pressed her mouth hard against it, kissing it softly.  Her
tongue pressed deep inside, savoring the still sweet aftertaste of
Jane's earlier orgasm.  The gentle touch of Dawn's tongue against
her clit sent an erotic shiver through Jane, a teasing taste of the
delights to come.

	It didn't take long for that gentle caress to become a fierce
thrust as Dawn explored every inch of Jane's womanhood.  The soft
ripples that lightly washed over her soon gave way to escalating
tremors as the young starlet exhibited a not inconsiderable skill at
cunnilingus.

	"Oh yes,"  Jane moaned loudly as she arched back and lifted
her legs even higher, her hands taking hold of her breasts and
squeezing them hard.  "Oh baby, yes, that feels so great!"

	During her marriage, Jane's husband had been one of those
men who loved to please a woman orally and spent a considerable
amount of their lovemaking time doing just that.  Still, with billows
of joy washing over her with ever increasing force, Jane was
reminded of the saying that only a woman really knew how to give
another woman great head.  It had been true that first time with
the executive producer, and it was even truer now.  In some ways,
Dawn almost made Rebecca seem like an amateur.

	Faster and faster her tongue moved, making contact with all
the right spots.  Simultaneously, Dawn used her fingers to their
fullest advantage, nearly doubling the pleasures ravishing Jane.  In
much less time that it had taken before, she was once more on the
teetering edge of an orgasm.  An edge that Dawn sent her spiraling
over as one last good thrust tripped the magic switch, rocking
Jane's body with climactic ecstasy.

	"Damn, that was even better than before,"  Jane said long
minutes later as Dawn reached up and slid her hands under Jane's
to playfully caress her hard nipples.  "I can't remember the last
time I came so hard."  she added as she lifted her hands away from
Dawn's and stroked the top of her head.

	Using a gentle pressure to encourage her, Jane lifted Dawn
from between her legs and brought her up far enough to kiss her
repeatedly.  The taste of her orgasm on the younger woman's lips
was intoxicating, filling her with a desire for just one thing.

	"I want to taste you,"  she whispered between kisses,  "I
want to fuck you with my tongue."

	Nothing could've made Dawn happier than those words, the
essence of a hundred night's fantasies when she'd been a teenager.
Dawn and Jane reversed their positions of a few minutes before,
this time with Jane between the blonde's legs.

	With tiny clasps on the sides, it took little effort to remove
the last barrier to Dawn's sex.  Jane looked down with both
appreciation and anticipation at a pussy almost totally bare save
for a tiny wisp of blonde hair at the top.  Then, without any
hesitation, she dove right in.

	The last time Jane had gone down on a woman, the woman
beneath her had still been in grade school.  But as with so many
other things this afternoon, it all quickly came back to her.  She'd
never had the skill that Dawn had exhibited, but she did have an
unbridled enthusiasm.

	Enthusiasm that steadily, if slowly, lifted Dawn to a plateau
of bliss that was more than pleasing.  One that went on for almost
a half hour as she drifted in and out of Elysium until finally, she
once again reached the zenith and exploded with volcanic eruption.

	Nectar, not lava erupted from this volcano and Jane was
rewarded with an ambrosia she hadn't forgotten the sweetness of.
Eagerly she drank every drop, savoring every morsel.  It was her
most exciting moment of a most exciting afternoon.

				-=-=-=-

	Now finally exhausted, Dawn and Jane spent the rest of the
afternoon sleeping naked in each other's arms.  Every once and a
while, one of them would awaken to stroke and kiss the other, then
fall back into the slumber of the contented.  For all it mattered
right now, the world beyond those walls might not have existed.
But exist it did and it was only a matter of time before it intruded
into the private world of the new lovers.

	Jane had always been a light sleeper and as she woke, she
was certain that they were no longer alone in the room.  Shaking
her companion awake, she whispered her concern.  Never one of
faint heart, Dawn jumped up, ready to face whoever might be
there.

	"Oh my, what do we have here,"  the short haired woman in a
red tank top and white shorts laughed as she looked at the two
naked women on the bed,  "the once and future queen having a royal
rendezvous?"

	"Damn, Heather, you scared the hell out of me,"  Dawn said,
the relief in her voice quite evident.  "I thought for sure it was
Jason come looking for us,"

	"It almost was,"  the young actress laughed.  "The party's
been over for more than an hour and he was becoming quite
concerned as to where you and his other guest of honor had gone.
Luckily, I volunteered to go look for you."

	Dawn's lack of concern over having been found in such a
compromising position made Jane think that her co-star's lesbian
tendencies were hardly a surprise to Heather.  In fact, she had a
sneaking suspicion that the friendship that had formed between
the two actresses might have been a lot closer than anyone else
suspected.

	"I guess we should get cleaned up and dressed before he
comes after you then,"  Dawn said as she shifted her attention
from Heather back to Jane.

	"Oh you don't have to worry about that,"  Heather grinned as
she shifted position to get a better look at Jane in the bed.  "He
had a sudden emergency to attend to at the studio and said he
won't be back until late tonight"

	"Then there's no need for us to rush, is there?"  Dawn
pondered out loud, leaving Jane to wonder if she was speaking to
her or Heather.

	"None that I can see,"  Heather replied, giving Jane the
answer to her question.

	The two younger women shared a look between them, then
both turned to Jane.  The question was unspoken and didn't need to
be.  She could see it in both of their eyes.

	Jane's answer was equally unspoken as the brightest of
smiles filled the older woman's face and she nodded her head yes.

	"Well then,"  Heather said as she took hold of the bottom of
her tank top,  "it seems that one of us is vastly overdressed."

	A quick motion helped alleviate half of that problem as
Heather unveiled a pair of dark rounded breasts easily the equal of
the other two women.  Then, just as quickly, the rest of her
clothing followed.

	Heather climbed onto the bed between the two women and
softly kissed first Dawn, then Jane.  Her hand brushed across the
older woman's breasts, then down across her stomach, coming to
rest between her legs.  Dawn leaned over and put her own hands
around the twenty-six year old, kissing her back while her fingers
found the tips of her breasts.

	"It's a shame,"  Jane laughed as the three of them
effortlessly drew reach other into their menage a trois,  "that
Jason couldn't add this little performance into his film.  I think
we'd definitely be talking a best picture Oscar for sure."

	"Oscar isn't the O word I'm thinking of right now,"  Dawn
laughed as Heather tilted her head back over her shoulder and
kissed her,  "but I think you're right."

	With that, they all devoted their energies in search of
Dawn's O word, finding it several times in the hours to come.

END

Comments are the life blood of any amateur writer,
the currency in which they are paid.  It only takes a few
minutes to send off a few lines, which is little to ask for
in exchange for hours spent creating a story.  So be sure to
take those few minutes, it can only result in more and
better stories in the future.

ASSTR Donation Page

http://www.asstr-mirror.org/donations.html

Ann Douglas Web Page

http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/Ann_Douglas/www/

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| alt.sex.stories.moderated ------ send stories to: <ckought69@hotmail.com>|
| FAQ: <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org/faq.html> Moderators: <story-ckought69@hotmail.com> |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|ASSM Archive at <http://assm.asstr-mirror.org>   Hosted by <http://www.asstr-mirror.org> |
|Discuss this story and others in alt.sex.stories.d; look for subject {ASSD}|
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+