She Speaks in Tongues

"You need something, Maryann?"

"Could I have something for pain?" Her voice was small and hesitant.

"I'll check. If you can, I'll bring it and then let it take effect and then," Sharon Caswell, R.N., paused with a whimsical smile of her face, "we'll do your bath."

Maryann Hollander sort of laughed and then groaned, "Sharon don't make me laugh, it hurts."

"Okay, babe, sorry. I'll be right back."

Maryann Hollander lay back in her hospital bed and waited, hoping, praying, it was time for something for pain. She had been in a bad car accident and had spent the last eight weeks in the Intensive Care Unit.

The first week in the Unit she was unconscious for which she was very thankful. She missed the worst of the post-operative pain from having her spleen removed and her leg in traction. This was her first day on the Orthopedic floor with her leg out of traction but she was still in a fair amount of pain.

"Okay, babe, here you go." Sharon was back, holding out a medicine cup with two white pills and a smaller yellow one.

Maryann took the cup and looked inside while Sharon poured her a cup of water. "What's this?"

"Two oxycodone's and a Valium."

"What's the Valium for?"

"Muscle relaxation. You're going to be walking today with PT."

"Ohhhhhh," Maryann groaned, "no one told me."

"Yeah, fun with Physical Therapy begins today. Sorry."

Maryann popped the pills in her mouth and Sharon handed her the water. "I'm going to take your catheter out in a while, too."

Sharon pulled Maryann's covers up around her chin, lightly touched her forehead and said, "I'll be back in a while. You rest."

Soon Maryann felt the pain begin to melt away and she felt like she was floating.

~~~~~~~~~~

Maryann heard the curtain go around her bed and then felt her covers come back and her hospital gown come up around her waist but she didn't open her eyes. She was still floating, very pleasantly.

"Hey Mary, wake up." Sharon said gently.

Maryann opened her eyes and then involuntarily shivered. "I'm cold," she complained.

"Here, I anticipated." Sharon laid a blanket from the warmer over Maryann's upper body and then another over her legs leaving her upper thighs and hips uncovered. "Time to take the cath out."

"Will it hurt?"

"Nah, might feel a bit funny for a few seconds but it'll be over before you know it."

Sharon reached for the valve on the catheter and stuck a syringe in it.

"I itch down there," Maryann said, half embarrassed.

"They shaved you. I think they thought they might have to so some surgery in your pelvic area. I'll put some lotion and powder on it when we bathe."

Sharon pulled the water out of the balloon that kept the catheter inside Maryann with the syringe and then looked at Maryann, "Okay, here we go."

Sharon pulled the catheter out and Maryann involuntarily tried to close her thighs as the catheter passed by the sensitive area of her urethral opening and she felt the urgent need to pee.

"There. Not so bad, was it?"

Maryann smiled a small smile, "No. Not so bad."

Sharon moved the bedside table over the bed and pushed the button on the bed rail to raise the head of Maryann's bed so she was almost in a sitting position. There was a plastic basin with water and several washcloths on the table.

"You want to do your front and then call me and I'll do your back?"

"Uh, Sharon, do you, uh, have the time to do it all?" Maryann was hesitant.

"What's the problem, Maryann?" Sharon looked at her patient with concern.

"Uh, I...no problem. Really." Maryann stuttered in her small voice and pulled an arm out from under the warm blanket and slowly reached for a washcloth.

Sharon pulled the washcloths back just out of Maryann's reach. "Funny, it sounds as if there's a problem."

Maryann blushed. "I...uh, well, I..."

Sharon looked down at the floor and quietly said, with a hint of question in her voice, "You don't want to waste your high, you're a little lonely and you like the way it feels when someone else bathes you? Those ICU nurses spoiled you, didn't they?"

"I'm sorry. I know it's wrong to feel this way. I'll do it."

"Whoa! What do you mean it's wrong?"

"Being high, wanting someone to touch my body...being naked for you...isn't that all a sin?"

Sharon looked at her patient for a moment then she pulled her chart off the end of the bed and looked at Maryann's admitting sheet.

"Ah. I think I understand," Sharon said gently, "I'll be right back."

Sharon was back in a minute with another nurse who looked slightly older than Maryann and who had long, black hair down to her butt. "Maryann, this is Jeannie. She's going to have you in a day or two when I'm off. She used to go to the Apostolic Church. I wanted her to talk to you about bath time. Okay?"

Jeannie stepped up near the head of the bed and casually pulled the covers up so they covered Maryann's naked pelvic area. "Hi, Maryann. Sharon tells me the ICU nurses spoiled you and now you're having a little problem with your conscience."

"Ummmm, well, uh, this is wrong, isn't it?"

"Listen Maryann, my daddy was a Pentecostal preacher and watching TV and going to movies and listening to rock music was all a sin. Sound familiar?"

"Uh, yeah." Maryann looked away.

"Anything that might make you happy was generally bad, right?"

"My daddy's a preacher too. Yeah, he tells us those things are bad."

"Where is your daddy?"

"Mom and Daddy have kinda shunned me since I moved here. They were here for a while when I was in ICU but they went back home. It really upset them to find out why I was in the wreck."

"And why was that, hon?"

"I was riding with one of the few friends I've made since moving here. She was drunk. I, uh, was a little drunk, too."

"Hmmmm," Jeannie bent down close to Maryann's face, "Now listen to me honey, okay? You've been through a lot and you've still got a lot to go before you're completely well. You've got a lot on your mind right now too. So you need to kind of set your conscience aside and let us take care of you and let your body feel good. Will you do that? No one here is going to judge you."

"I'll, uh, try." There was a glimmer of relief in her voice now.

"Good. Now, I've got to talk to Sharon for a minute and then she'll be back to give you a bath, okay? You still in pain?"

Maryann crinkled her face and wrestled with her conscience, "Uh...no..."

"Maryann," Jeannie said sternly, her voice rising in pitch.

"Yeah, I still hurt a little," she lied.

"Okay, tell you what. We'll see if you can't have a little something in your IV. How's that sound?"

"Uh, good." Maryann smiled.

Jeannie and Sharon left the room together. "Jesus, what a trip she's had laid on her!" Sharon was disgusted.

Jeannie was a little more forgiving, "Yeah, but as long as she was inside her church family she was okay. Now, she's seeing what the world has to offer and she's feeling the tug and then her conscience is beating the holy shit out of her.

"I've been through it. It's not fun."

They stopped at the med station and Jeannie checked Maryann's med record. She could have a shot of Morphine. Jeannie pulled out the Morphine tubex and squirted 8 mg's of Morphine in the air, leaving 2 mg's in the tubex. "2 mg's, wasting 8," Jeannie said and Sharon verified.

Sharon took the tubex. "Thanks."

"Sharon, uh, be careful with her, you know?"

Sharon paused and looked at Jeannie. "Uh, want to be more specific?" There was a little guardedness in Sharon's voice.

Jeannie looked down at the floor. "I know you're new in town so you haven't quite got the feeling for the scene yet." Jeannie hesitated for a moment, "I saw you at Buddies the other night."

Sharon starred at her for a second and then blinked.

"You mean you saw me going in?" Sharon was thinking fast for a believable excuse for going into a lesbian bar.

Jeannie pulled on the front of Sharon's scrub jacket, pulling Sharon against her body. Jeannie face was at Sharon's shoulder level. She took a deep breath of Sharon's scent, closed her eyes a moment then tilted her head up to half whisper in Sharon's ear, "I mean, you fucking dyke, I saw you at the bar hittin' on all the fems and I saw you leave with a pretty little volley ball jock from the college."

"Jeannie," Sharon stuttered, "I, uh, never imagined!"

Jeannie let her hand slide down the inside of Sharon's jacket, running the back of her hand over Sharon's breast and then gave Sharon a friendly smirk, "Was she good?"

Sharon was momentarily disoriented from finding out that not only was Jeannie gay but that Sharon had been found out, "What?"

"The volley ball jock. The only reason I noticed you is that I had my eye on that sweet little bitch and then you snapped her up. Was she good?"

Sharon got her wits back and eyed Jeannie with a new appreciation. "She was sweet. Very, very sweet."

Jeannie smiled, "Well, be careful with Maryann. She's carrying a lot of emotional baggage. It would be unethical if you tried to turn her on, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Sharon was indignant, "Christ! I'm a professional!"

Jeannie smirked again from getting a rise from Sharon, whispered, "So am I but taking care of her is going to be hard, if you know what I mean," and then Jeannie winked at her new "sister" and moved on down the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sharon swabbed the IV lock in Maryann's arm and then plunged the needle in. "Okay, Mary, just relax as you feel the medicine." And Sharon slowly pushed the plunger of the syringe.

Maryann's eyelids fluttered and she sighed as the Morphine hit her blood.

"I'm gonna get some more hot water and some more warm blankets. Don't go anywhere."

"Hmmmmm," was Maryann's reply through a sleepy smile.

Soon Sharon was back with the water and blankets. Sharon took a washcloth, dipped it in the basin, wrung it out and gently touched Maryann's face. Maryann pressed her cheek into the washcloth and smiled with her eyes closed. God, this felt so good, Maryann thought.

Sharon worked quickly but gently bathing Maryann.

~~~~~~~~~~

Maryann was 23 years old, 5'9", long chestnut brown hair and a lean, lanky, athletic body with small, firm breasts, a toned belly and slim, sleek thighs.

She had moved from a small town in central Arkansas to the "big city" of Joplin, Missouri, ostensibly to go to the state college there. Instead, unbeknownst to her parents, she had gotten a job waiting tables in a restaurant along the Interstate. And from there, the temptations and wonders of the world opened up to her.

Until the car accident she was doing well. She'd made a few friends. Had her first beer. Smoked her first cigarette. Watched cable TV and even went to a movie.

She was enjoying herself. But then the car accident stopped everything cold. And as she laid in the ICU she had plenty of time to consider that the accident may have been God punishing her for her wickedness.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sharon gently pulled Maryann's gown off her shoulders and out from under the blankets and then she barred Maryann's belly and breasts.

The warm, soapy washcloth gently sliding over her breasts and ribs felt divine. When Sharon moved the washcloth to Maryann's belly Maryann felt lightheaded and she also felt her private area flush with blood.

Sharon was silent as she bathed Maryann but Jeannie was right, being professional with this girl was going to be tough. Sharon felt her nipples hardened and her sex fill with blood as she rinsed Maryann's lithe torso.

Sharon pulled the blankets up around Maryann's chin. "How you doin' babe?"

Maryann opened her eyes and looked at Sharon, smiling, "This is so nice, thank you."

Sharon smiled but didn't comment. She pulled the blankets back that covered Maryann's legs and washed Maryann's legs quickly, taking extra care with her broken leg.

Sharon pulled the covers back over Maryann's legs and then silently took a deep breath as she pulled the blankets down from Maryann's waist to slightly above the middle of Maryann's thighs.

Maryann flexed her good leg, opening the area around her sex more. Sharon started with the inner thigh on Maryann's good leg, working the washcloth in small circles, not coming close to Maryann's sex.

Sharon starred at the sight before her. The Trauma team, thinking that they might have to work on Maryann's pelvis, had shaved her mound. Someone in ICU had kept her shaved until the last few days. Now there was a tiny bit of fuzzy stubble covering her mound and Maryann was complaining of the itch.

Maryann was obviously turned on. Her inner labia were well swollen and dewy and her clit was peeking out clearly from its hood.

"You're a professional Sharon!" Sharon furiously thought to herself, "Start acting like it!"

"Okay, Mary, I'm going to clean your genitals. Is that all right?"

Maryann appeared to be sleeping lightly under the narcotics, "Hmmmmm."

Sharon ventured, "You know, I could shave you down there after I clean you. It would help with the itching."

"Sure."

Sharon got a fresh washcloth, dipped it in the warm, soapy water, wrung it out and started again at Maryann's inner thigh. She worked the washcloth to Maryann's perineum and slowly moved the cloth up between Maryann's swollen lips to the top of her mound.

Suddenly Maryann arched her back off the bed and began loudly speaking gibberish.

Sharon, raised as an agnostic and wanting nothing to do with organized religion, had no idea what was happening. It flashed through her mind that maybe Maryann had gone into cardiac arrest and she started to reach for the phone to call a Code Blue. Maryann did have a long bone fracture and it wasn't unusual at this point in recovery to throw a fat embolus and cause an arrest. But she wasn't arresting.

Then she wondered if Maryann was having some sort of seizure. She hit the nurse emergency light and then took Maryann by the arms and gently but firmly called her name.

Maryann was still babbling though the volume was going down and the words were starting to be replaced by gasps of breath.

Jeannie was the first nurse to respond to the emergency light. She quickly stepped to the head of the bed, reached down and pulled Maryann's blankets up covering Maryann's bare lower belly and sex and put her hand on Maryann's forehead.

"Maryann," Jeannie said firmly, "you need to calm down. Come on, baby, it's okay."

Other unit staff and a doctor were now in the room. Jeannie quickly turned to them, "It's okay, she's Charismatic and she's just doing a little talking in the Spirit. We just gave her some Morphine and tried to change her position in bed and made her hurt a bit."

The staff nodded their understanding. The charge nurse turned for the door, holding up her arms, "Okay folks, show's over. Everyone back to work."

Maryann looked dazed. She turned to Jeannie's voice and opened her eyes. She was panting now more than babbling.

"Maryann, settle down." Jeannie's voice was firm but kind.

Maryann moved her gaze to the other side of the bed. Sharon was gently rubbing Maryann's upper arm. "I'm...I'm sorry...I didn't mean..."

Sharon reassured her, "It's okay. Nothing to be sorry about."

Jeannie addressed Maryann again, "You okay now, Mary?"

"Yes, yes, I think so."

"Okay, Sharon and I are going to go talk a minute. We'll be right outside the room. You call if you need us. We'll be right back. Okay?"

"Okay..."

"Sharon," Jeannie said sternly, "in the hall a minute."

Sharon was in shock. She'd been a nurse for almost fifteen years and she'd seen a lot but she'd never seen anything like what she'd just witnessed. Plus, she couldn't help but feel guilty, as if touching the girl's genitals had triggered the episode.

"What in the Hell did you do to her?" Jeannie hissed angrily.

Sharon was speechless. She looked blankly at Jeannie and shrugged her shoulders.

Jeannie realized Sharon didn't have a clue as to what happened. She couldn't keep up the angry act and broke into laughter.

What?!" Sharon demanded, feeling as if she'd just been had.

Jeannie started to talk and then broke into laughter again. When Sharon saw tears lining Jeannie's eyes she knew she'd been had and didn't like the feeling.

"What?!"

"You've been a big city nurse all your life, haven't you?" Jeannie asked wiping her eyes with the sleeves of her scrub jacket.

"Yeah? What of it?"

"And you're not religious are you?"

"No."

"You were cleaning her labia when this started, right?"

"Well...yeah. But I swear to you I wasn't doing anything to her!"

Jeannie hugged Sharon, who was still mystified as to what just happened.

"Oh, God, Sharon," Jeannie started to laugh again and then suppressed it, "I think you probably gave the girl her first orgasm and she responded by speaking in tongues."

"And what the hell is 'speaking in tongues'?"

"She was raised in an Apostolic Pentecostal church. You might know them as 'holy rollers.' Part of their faith revolves around speaking in tongues - the Holy Spirit speaks through them. Sometimes we call what she was doing 'ecstatic utterances.' Her joy was so overwhelming to her from what was doubtless a new experience that she spoke in tongues."

"Oh, come on, she's 23. You're telling me she's never frigged herself before?"

"Yeah. I doubt whether she's touched herself down there with anything except toilet paper or a wash rag and she's never been aroused - at least not that she's known.

"I'll bet you drinks tonight at Buddies that Maryann has no idea of what just happened to her. She probably doesn't even know what an orgasm is."

Sharon looked at Jeannie incredulously and thought this was a sucker bet, "Okay, you're crazy but you're on."

The two nurses went back in the room. Maryann was once again dozing blissfully.

"Mary, hon," Jeannie touched Maryann's forehead.

Maryann opened her eyes and smiled sleepily.

"We're going to finish your bath and let you sleep some more before PT gets you up, okay?"

Maryann nodded happily and looked over at Sharon, "I'm sorry for causing such a fuss. Sometimes the Spirit just moves me."

Sharon smiled, "No problem."

"Maryann, can I ask you a personal question? You don't have to answer," Jeannie asked.

"Sure."

"Do you, uh, know what masturbation is?"

Maryann blushed and furrowed her brow as if in deep thought. "Uh, well, I know it's a sin but I don't really know what it is. Is it something a person does sexually?"

"Yes," Jeannie smiled down at Maryann thinking she looked like an angel, "Do you know what an orgasm is?"

"Well," Maryann blushed deeper. These were personal questions but she was eager to please the nurses who were being so kind to her this morning. "Uh, not really but I think it's a sin too."

Sharon couldn't believe what she was hearing. She started masturbating right after her first period and though it was a while before she got all the "terminology" down she sure as hell knew what an orgasm was.

"One last question. Have your privates ever felt like they felt right before Sharon started cleaning you up down there?"

This was a very personal question but she averted her eyes from her nurses, took the end of a bunch of her long hair and began nervously curling it with her fingers. "Only a couple of times since I've moved here. I thought maybe I ought to see a doctor but, uh," Maryann giggled and nervously shrugged her shoulders, "I wouldn't want a man to see me down there, you know?"

Jeannie touched Maryann's forehead again to get her gaze back. "It's okay, you don't need to see a doctor about that. It's normal. Okay then, let's finish your bath. We're going to clean and lotion your back."

"Okay," Maryann said happily.