Kissing Cusinz
Introduction:
I fell in love with my cousin
My cousin Phyllis (preferred to be called Phil) was a year younger than me. I went to a technical high, and she, the local HS.
We were in an old, established medium sized Northern town, with the majority of the folks being religious. Read: prudish! Sex was not discussed, even in locker rooms. Straight sex was the way, as a blow job or cunnilingus was something that gays and lesbians did. Most of what else was taboo. Women were not allowed to initiate sex. This was a trait of a “bad” girl which you did not want to marry, or so your dad and mom told you. Cowgirl position? No way. Sex ed was NOT taught in the school system. In those days, and around there, sex was only good for making babies, right?
We were closer to being brother and sister than cousins. Her brother, Mark, died at only 2 years old. The death and medical bills left her family broke. Moreover, dealing with the death of a family member when she was only 6 years old, kind of screwed her mind up. I had a sister who was a real bitch. I mean broom riding, card carrying bitch. Mother trained her into her own image. To both of them, playing pranks, calling names, picking on me was what they did. Although dad was physically strong, in the house he was a real pussy. I stayed away from them as much as possible, hence, hung around with my cousin. Many of my friends thought Phil was my real sister. Soul mates, even
Phil: about 5-1, 95#, almost flat chested and did not have round hips. Her face was nice and framed in thick, curly brunet hair, with muscular lags.(We did not have two cars in either family so we both walked wherever we went. However, out houses was only a half block away. Since her body was skinny, she wore long dresses or baggy jeans most of the time, trying to hide it.
Her thinness was the result of a medical problem and doctors tried to help her gain weight, but to no avail. She was thin like Twiggy, however, physically she was in good condition.
Me: 5-7, 127#, also thick black hair; thick glasses, on the skinny side myself, but not as bad as her. If there’s one word to describe me, it was: average. Being on the brainy side, I was a nerd. Big time. At an early age, I got into electronics, and repaired TVs, radios and record players for neighbors and relatives.
As you can imagine, neither of us dated a lot. At 19 I was still a virgin. And naïve, as I was kept from the “real” world.
My family was poor, but not bankrupt so. My grandpa could not afford a home. My dad’s burning desire was to own a home. They needed 20% down and squeaky clean credit. Both parents worked, and Dad worked two jobs just to own a home of his own. He bought his house when he was 35 yrs old. (They waited until 30 to have me) However, we had little else. Our neighborhood was of homes and families of our social status: money was hand-to-mouth , but not dirt poor. If there was a word to describe it: survival. Dad bought 3 yr old cars and ran them into the ground.
To celebrate Phil’s 18th birthday, I took her to a young adult type night club, (The drinking age then was 18). The band which was playing was one I did electronics work for, and I wired color lights for the bar, so I was treated like an employee there. We had some drinks. I limited myself because I was driving, but Phil was lost to the world, so we left there early. It was a combination of not ever having a drink before and overdoing it.
Her parents, like mine were not drinkers. Someone would give my dad a bottle for Christmas, and it would be only about half gone in June. Her dad was also not a drinker.
On the way she said “Can’t we go somewhere until some of this wears off? I don’t want my mom and dad to see me THIS bad.”
I said “OK. There’s an all night restaurant I know of and I’ll get some black coffee and we will get as much into you as we can.”
I went in and got 3 coffees to go. In their parking lot I got one cup into her and she said “Let’s go to the ‘Hill’ and sit in the car and talk”
The hill has a road which circles the top and is used at night for people “parking” (getting laid). So I said “Are you sure?”
She said “I feel funny here in front of a restaurant. At least there, we will have some privacy while I sober up a bit.”
To the hill we went. After the second cup she said she was nauseous. I got her out of the car. After she barfed, she got back in. She was perking up, and the third cup went down.
I said “Ready to go home, yet?’
She said “Lets stay here a while. I just want to be with you”
I figured she just wanted to talk, so I said “OK”, however…
She slid over on the seat to my side, and put her arms around me, with her head on my shoulder. She kissed me on the lips. This was something new, as she never did that before.
With my sense of humor, I said “Getting frisky?”
She said “Damn well horny”
This time, she planted another one on my lips and tongued me. I was enjoying this and played along, as I was very curious as to where this was leading to. As I said, I did not date much. I said “If we go any farther, our relationship is going to change. And if we do, NOBODY, I mean nobody else is to know. Our dads will literally kill us.” That’s a fact! With their bare hands. They were both big and worked manual labor jobs.
She said “If you don’t want to, say so. If you do want to, let’s continue.”
I said I was not experienced, and moreover, there was no internet back then for sex ed 100. I did have some “girlie” magazines that an older friend gave me when he got drafted. So, needless to say, I played it by ear, eerrr, hand, eerrr, you know what I mean.
She put ,my hand on her chest, and I gave her tit a bit of a squeeze, and she moaned in ecstasy. I responded to that by going up her blouse. Her breast is small, but I found hard nipples there, and rolled them between my thumb and forefinger. She was moaning and in a trance like state. Then she slides her hand to my zipper and fingers me through my pants. I got hard fast.
I said “Have you done this before? I’ll admit I am still a virgin.”
She said “I am not a virgin, but only have done this twice before now. He said he loved me but took off after he got what he wanted.”
“In that case, you take charge”
She pulls down my zipper, and parts the snap at the top. Down go my pants and shorts. Being I was hard, it sprang out and nearly hit her in her mouth. She took hold of it and was stroking it. I took my hand out of her blouse and went up her dress. I moved the panties aside and felt hair. I fingered her. She again was moaning and in a trance state, and had gotten wet.
After a while she said “Do you have any condoms?”
I said “no.” (God help me if I ever got caught with one by my parents.)
She said “You will have to pull out before you squirt. I am not protected”
I said “I know SOME things about it.” And got a dirty look from her.
My car had reclining seats, so I put them as far down as I could. I got the dress up far enough and removed her panties. She opened her legs and said “I am wet enough. Do it gently.”
She moved my dick to her hairy entrance and said “Push it in me.”
She was warm, very tight and very wet. After getting it in all the way, I stopped to savior this new experience.
She said “You are supposed to move it in and out of me.”
I made a face like “I know” and did the moves which came naturally.(pun not intended ) I was doing her and it couldn’t have been 5 minutes when I felt my balls welling up and ready to come. I said “I’m ready.”
I pulled out. I had an old towel on the back seat, so I quickly whipped it up and it over my dick, and she was stroking it. I came more than I ever have before and she milked it dry. We cleaned ourselves up.
I said “We will have to do this again.”
She said “Well, when we don’t have someone else, we will have each other.” And she kissed me.
I said “This probably goes without saying, but nobody, and I mean nobody else is to know. When we are at our homes or ion public, we still must act as brother and sister. Besides being illegal, both our fathers have a temper…..”
She said “I know. Did you really thing I would want to kill a good thing?”
I said “I wish you wouldn’t us the word ‘kill'” And we both laughed.
A few weeks later, my parents and hers went out of town to a family wedding. She was still in school and I had a job so we stayed behind. We planned set ourselves up for the weekend. She called me and said “I want to spend the night and sleep with you. I said “OK, I’ll go and get some condoms.” I drove across town where I was not known and got some.
She arrived just after both parents left. We got a pizza and after eating, went up to my bedroom. We started kissing and fondling each other. I reached behind her and up went her blouse and over her head. She took off my shirt. Then we took off each others clothes and were naked, laying on the bed kissing.
I fingered her out and she was gently stroking my dick, which was rock hard. She got wet fast and I crawled up into position. I pulled out a condom and put it on. She guided me into her, and with one slow push, it was all the way in. Without being told, I started stoking her. She said : “You learned fast from last time.”
I said “I have a teacher I love.”
She was then moaning and started to flow love juice. Then, she lets out a muffled screech and the juice really ran. I stopped, not knowing what was happening. She said “I’m cumming. You did great! Keep going”
A bit later I let go into the condom while in her. I shot a few ropes, which was the most I ever have cum. Hey, this beats masturbation, right? I thought to myself “So, this is what I have been missing, eh?”
We did each other all night, and in between we held each other while sleeping (or trying to). I woke up and she was not in bed. I threw on a robe and went downstairs where she was making breakfast, naked. She said ” If we are going to pretend to be married, I’ll at least cook for you.”
I said “You can cook too?”
I threw off my robe and sat in a chair as she served b’fest.
Then, we cleaned up and headed back upstairs. Had a couple of more times in the sack. We also took down the bedding which went into the washer and dryer to remove, ahem “evidence”. I told her “I could get used to this on a permanent basis, If only we were not cousins…”
She said “I feel the same way.”
We did this secretly for a year. One day she called me and I met her for lunch. She said “I have a steady guy I am going with. We will have to quit doing each other. Thank you for the practice sessions. We can still be close friends”
I said “That’s fine with me. I hope he’s is what you want.”
She said “It seems so. He treats me right.”
We remained friends. Every once and a while a phone call, holiday and birthday cards. etc
*****
My career took off. I went to night school and completed my degree, which was paid for by the company. I received a good promotion right afterward, and transferred to a satellite operation of the company, out of town. I bought a home of my own, in the outskirts of a small town.
I was in 3 relationships with “nice” women. However, something was missing which I couldn’t put a finger on. When I tried to discuss this with them they stormed off. In the late 60s/early 70s, relationships were short and usually based around sex. This was not about sex; this was about my feelings toward them because I thought they had the same feelings for me. The sex was fine. All else was screwed up.
A couple of years went by since Phil married. We lived in different towns. I was about 3 hours away from my parents and she was 2 hours away from me by car, the other direction. We phoned each other every month. I went there a couple of times and visited.
In one of my calls with Phil, her husband and she had another fight. He stormed off to a bar. She was there alone, and confessed their marriage was on the rocks. She said when they had sex; he would get his rocks off quickly and not satisfy her. She mentioned it to him a month back and that’s when the fights started. She said divorce proceedings were already started, and was mutual. Kind of a no-fault divorce. I asked her what she was going to do.
She said “We are renting this apartment; we have no money to speak of, and 2 older cars. He gets one, I get the other; and a few pieces of furniture are it.”
I said “I have a house, with 3 beds and 2 baths. If you want to come here until you decide your future, you know that you are welcome. However, contact your attorney and make sure the paperwork is done right.”
She said “I’ll do it. We always got along like brother and sister. I’ll call you when I make final plans.”
“Please do.”
**
A couple of weeks later, she called and said she was ready. I rented a u-haul trailer and went there to get her stuff. Her “ex” was there. He made some remarks and I told him “Unless you want some legal problems you can’t handle, back off.” He left in a hurry.
We packed up her stuff and some furniture and set off for my place. When we arrived I said “There is a storage shed in the back for your furniture and your personal stuff. Your clothes and stuff will go into the bedroom at the end of the hall. This house is a split plan, and my BR is at the other end. The kitchen, great room and dining area is in the middle.”
She looked at the house and said “You came up a few notches since we last were together. Got a girlfriend?”
I said “Not in a relationship now. But we can talk later.”
We put her stuff away. This was getting dinner time, and we were tired so I ordered in a pizza. After dinner, I got a couple of glasses of wine and said “Let’s talk”
She told me the story of her marriage and its down fall. She suspected he was with other women, but could not prove it. When any reference was made toward this, he flew off the handle. She could not handle the stress anymore and got an attorney.
I said “I thought about this on the way to get you. I think that you should sleep in the other bedroom for a while until you get your head on straight. This also looks a lot better in case of our parents or other family visiting. We will not take up where we left off until we both can handle it, legally and mentally. I have some money and can afford you. While living here you have no problems to worry about. Understand?”
She said “OK. When I get straight, I may want to stay here, get a job, and carry my weight. Would you be OK with that?”
I said “I will say yes, for now. Later we will make more definite plans.” I then discussed my working environment, and the security clearances, so doing things thru an attorney is necessary to keep my job (and stay out of jail).
She said “One thing I would like, if you can be so kind. If you find a girl, and have a sexual relationship with her, let me know and I will stay away while you two are here. In short, I don’t want someone else doing it with you while I can hear it.”
I said “Sounds reasonable, and if you want to do an all night-er with some guy, just do it at his place. If anything goes wrong, you call me to help.”
She said “As usual, cuz, we are on the same page.”
We acted platonic for months. She cooked dinner most of the time, and kept the house clean, and cooked. She was actually happy there. Mind you, my home was a lot nicer than what we both had growing up. Remember, our parents were poor. We went to restaurants here and there, and enjoyed just being with each other.
***
After her divorce became final, her “ex” moved to California. She never heard from him again. Shortly afterward, one evening, after dinner she said “I think I have my head on straight, thanks to you. We got to talk about our future. Let’s go into the family room.”
She brought in some wine and finger foods. She said “I thought about this a lot lately. We had a good thing going when we were home. I don’t mean only the sex, as we both were new at that. I mean we think the same. We like the same music. We watched the same TV shows. When my brother died, your family comforted my family. We would have gone off the deep end without you all. Granted, neither family had money, but we made do with what we had. That night in the car on my birthday, it was not the drinks which made me come on to you. I loved and wanted you all my life. I had fantasized us being married, or living together. Please don’t put me down for feeling this.”
I took a long sip of the wine. I said “I had three women in longer relationships in the last two years. The relationships went south. I did not realize why. The sex was OK. There just seemed to be something missing. I believe I just figured it out. You and I were lovers, and soul mates. We were closer than many married people are, especially in today’s time. I was not soul mates with them. I will not put you down because I just realized I feel the same way, however, I did not why before this. I would be happy to be your soul mate. As far as marriage, let me contact my attorney. He did some patent work for me, and I want a legal take on this. That’s for either scenario.”
She comes over and sits in my lap. She starts kissing me, and tilts her head toward my bedroom. She says “Hey Cuz; want to shower together like we did?”
I said “Hey, if we are going to live together, most likely in sin, I think we had better use our names instead of cuz. Even if it’s legal, the area around here is a bit prudish. I have a good job and don’t want to loose it, Phil”
Calling me by my real name she said “OK. Find out if there’s any opening at your plant for me, or if anyone hears of a job. I have experience as an administrative aid.”
I said OK. She took my hand and pulled me to the shower. The home was owned by an older couple, and they converted a bathtub into a large shower stall in the master, and a tub in the other end of the house. This was so they could keep each other from falling. We were like teenagers on the first time their parents were out of town. We almost ripped each others clothes off, kissing, fondling, and sucking on each others body parts. I commented that she now had shaved her bush.
She said “It is more comfortable this way for me.”
We both remembered how we loved to wash each other, and did so. We also dried each other off.
I commented that she put on some weight and looked better. She said “The doctor said when I aged a bit, I will fill out. The fast metabolism is going away.”
Then she motioned her head toward the bed, and said “Learn any new tricks while I was away?”
I said “I had this woman who was very sexually aggressive. She taught me more ways to please a woman in bed. She taught me that if the woman is pleased, she will be yours forever. And the man will pleased in knowing he did so.
She said “Show me”
I took her to the bed and pushed her down, face up. I crawled up to her and was approaching her. She said “We have already done the missionary position. We did that back when.”
I stopped with my face at her now shaved pussy, and started kissing her legs and area around the pussy. She moaned and tilted her head up just as I put my tongue into her slit. Then, I ran my tongue up and down. She shrieked and said “What the hell are you doing? I like that”
I then put my tongue onto her clit and licked up and down it. It immediately responded and enlarged as her pussy flowed out her love juices. She shrieked and said “Holy shit, who the hell taught you that?”
I said “Hey, Phil. Remember—I don’t kiss and tell.”
She said “My ex bastard, never did anything except missionary, shoot his load, and roll over and sleep. Most of the time, prematurely, so I did not have a chance to orgasm.”
She puts her head back down. After a few minutes she shrieked again, and I was rewarded with a gush of fluid on my tongue and face. She took a few moments to come down from that. She said “You were always the smart, studious one. Glad you learned that. I’ll bet you are going to teach me some more new stuff also?”
I said “Yes. I have some business in the big city. I’ll stop in an “adult” bookstore and get some sex books. Here are the rules: If one of us sees something in the book and wants to try it, the other should keep and open mind and at least try it. If it turns you off, say so and we will not do that again. OK?”
She said “I trust you. I agree because I also trust your judgment and you would not do anything which can hurt another, either physical or mentally.”
I said “OK Lets finish what we started.”
She said ”I want to please you, too. Can you teach me the girl counterpart of what you did to me. Can’t be that bad”
I said “OK, its call a “blow job” in street language.” And I proceeded to tell her about how to do it, and the final outcome (pun intended). She could swallow, spit, or finish with a hand job. It could be used as a warm up for traditional sex or instead of. Also could be done at the same time the man is eating pussy, called 69.
She said “Lets take it slow. I first have to get into the mindset of putting that (pointing) in my mouth. Then I will work from there. Guide me.”
I said “The girl who taught me that, said to NOT take in the whole thing fast. You will gag. Take in a small portion, and when you are good with that take a little more until you just plain can’t take in any more. Your hand should be just below your mouth on it, and following it while bobbing your head on it. Got that?”
She said “Let’s do it.”
I lay there and she takes it in her hand and gets it hard. She then puts her mouth over the head. She sucked it for a while then goes down farther and stays there for a few moments. In time she had almost the whole thing in her mouth and bobbing on it. Remember shes small and thin. I am not am 8” super hung guy. I am 5-7 and 5 1/2” in that department. Now its my turn to moan.
As it was coming nearer to a climax, I said “Phil, I’m coming now.”
She backed off, and finished with hand job. I had forgotten to tell her that it may come out in squirts. It squirted onto her face, mouth and ram down her chin. She slowly backed a way and I saw her take two fingers and scoop up some cum and put it in her mouth. After a few seconds she swallowed. She said “Tastes a bit salty but not bad. Hey, how do I taste?”
I said “Salty with a seafood smell and taste. Not bad; just different.”
Then I said “I have work tomorrow. Let’s clean up and you can sleep here with me if you want.”
She tilted her head toward the shower and said “join me there again?”
After we showered, fondled, and kissed a bit. We changed the linens, and went to bed. I said “Phil, while we were in bed, doing what we did, I felt I was tuned to you and you were to me. Soul mates. That is what I missed with other women. I think this going to work out. I think you had better get some birth control from a doctor.”
She said “I am on birth control pills. I have been for 2 years. The doc said I had a hormone imbalance and the pills corrected it. That’s when I put on 10 pounds. You see, I’m safe”
I said “Cool. I’ll see my lawyer this week.”
Then we put our arms around each other and went to sleep.
***
The lawyer said “In this state as well as the others, marriage of a blood sister, mother, 1st cousin, etc is illegal. They do have incest laws too. My advice is for her to keep her married name. The only real fear is someone who knows you are cousins starting a ruckus. In other words what they don’t know won’t hurt you. Meanwhile, I will work on you two’s legal statement. You work in government electronics where security clearances are necessary, and in this age of the cold war, they don’t miss much. I call when I think of something.”
“Thanks. I owe you.”
He said “Don’t worry about it. Your company pays me well.”
When I got home I told her what he said and she said “whatever keeps us together, and legal I would go for.
We could live in the same house, but not marry. He drew up papers saying we were just sharing the house and expenses, etc
I got a “marriage manual” from the “smut” bookstore. We had one hell of a time trying out those different positions, but some of those, like anal sex, were too painful or disgusting, so we did what we both liked. And a lot of it.
We maintained separate bedrooms. This was in case we had company from the family and needed it to look “right”. I bought two new king beds and we could have our play time in either one. I also bought a home gym and a treadmill, and we both bulked up a little. Being we both wore glasses, with mine being very thick, I bought contact lenses for both of us. With both of us putting on weight in the right places, and no “goggles” we looked quite good.
As far as family, her mom and dad came there a few times for the day only. My dad passed on and the two bitches did not want anything to do with me. I said “Thank you.”
Every so often, we went on dates with others so the neighbors would not get suspicious. However, we both were “ruined” by each other and nothing came out of the dates.
***
About a year later, one night while having “cowgirl” sex, she had an orgasm and then said loud “Oh, no” Then gets off the bed and went into the bathroom and threw up. I went in there and after she calmed down she told me she was having stomach aches for about a week.
The next day I took her into my doctor and he did an examination. Afterwards, he said: “Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Smith, she is pregnant.”
“Doctor, she was on the pill for the last 4 years. What happened?”
He said “It has a 99.9 % reliability rating. She is the .1%”
I thanked him and as we went home.
I said “We better talk this over when we get home. Tomorrow I will visit the attorney.”
When we got home she cried and said “I really want to keep it. It is ours…. How do you feel about this?”
I said “Money wise, no problem. But are you sure?”
She said “When our child is old enough I will get a job and pay my way. What do we tell the relatives, especially our parents?”
“Let me work on it”
I called my attorney. He said “Congratulations. Now, legally, you can leave the fathers name blank, or put your name on it. Your story is: she was dating a guy. When she told him about being pregnant, he split and could not be found. So you put your name in for the father so the child can be on your medical policy. I’ll draw up papers to name you as legally adopting it.”
The next day I bought him Chivas Regal Scotch…..
I told Phil what he said and then she said “Its just like we are married, and that story will work for our parents. And we even have paperwork to show. That’s beautiful.”
A couple of days later, my Doctor called. He said “You said a while back that she is your cousin. Don’t worry about that, because I am your doctor and medical info is kept very secure. However, I compared your blood readout with hers. There is no way you are blood related. Maybe you should look into this.”.
I said. “I will, and doc, I owe you.”
“Let me know how this turns out. Professional curiosity, you know.”
Phil’s mom passed away a few years ago. We went to the funeral. I said “When we went to your moms funeral, your dad gave me the impression he had something to tell us but just did not want to. I thought it was due to the stress of loosing mom.”
“Yes I got the same vibes.”
Her dad lived alone and was OK. We called him and explained the situation of the blood test. He said “I think both of you better come here this Saturday and I have a lot to tell you. You both can stay here overnight if you want.”
We arrived there Sat morning. He brought us into the living room and said “You both better sit down. This gets a bit weird. Your mom was pregnant when I was overseas in the service . We went into the base hospital for the delivery, but our child was stillborn. They shot mom with a strong sedative before she knew what happened, because she was small and they did not think she would have been able to handle it. She never knew.”
Continuing on: “While I was waiting, the doctors approached me with an idea: A high ranking officer knocked up a local girl, and they want to quietly put it up for adoption to avoid a scandal. We suggested that they give the baby to you and your wife. The officer will take care of all the funeral and hospital expenses, and the base lawyer will do the all the paperwork, so this will be legal back home. We will do this and not tell your wife. You can tell her if you want. Your call. After talking it over with the doctors, I chose not to tell mom, and acted like nothing went wrong for all these years. I thought about telling you just after she passed away, but was afraid you would think I was a real bastard for not telling her.”
We looked at each other, and Phil said “I think you should get father of the year. I know mom would have had a heart attack if she knew the baby died. As far as I am concerned you and mom ARE my father and mother.’
I said: “I fully agree, and we will continue to treat and call you as dad”
Her dad: “I never met your birth father or mother. That was agreed to beforehand, and their names were stricken from the documents. To the military hospital, I had a beautiful daughter, and the officer lost his during birth. However, I was assured you were in good health.
“Dad, where were you stationed when this happened?”
“France”
I said “No wonder she’s horny most of the time.” We all laughed.
Then, dad said: “Now, what all that out of the way, let me make an educated guess: the child you expecting is both of yours?”
We shook our heads yes. He continued on “I suspected that you two we getting it on. The night she came home from her 18th birthday outing, she smelled of sex and booze. I said nothing because you two are so right for each other. I knew you two were smart enough to use birth control. I never told mom, as this would have killed her. Follow me in there”
He led us to the dining room table where all the documentation was spread out. We read it through and I said “I will need all this paperwork you have. Because I have security clearances, and would be investigated, this is a get-out-of-jail-free card. My attorney is going to shit his pants. ”
I winked at Phil, and she smiled, knowing what I was about to do. I dropped to my knee and pulled off my class ring and held it out to her. I turned to her dad, and said “Sir, do I have your permission to marry your daughter?” He shook his head yes, because he was laughing so hard, as was Phil.
Her dad then said “Wait, I have your mom’s engagement and wedding rings. I would like you to have and wear them. I want to provide a small wedding, and give away the bride. I have some money and want to do this. Your mom would have liked that.”
We both said “We would consider it an honor.”
I turned to Phil, and said “Will you ,marry me?”
She said ” Up to now,I really thought you would NEVER ask. Damn straight, yes.”
I slipped on her family’s ring.
***
My attorney said “I have run the paperwork and its for real. The Army base in France concealed the parents names very well. Excuse me, I was curious. I can marry you right now if you want. I am an officer of the court.”
We explained her dads wish and told him he’s invited.
Joseph was born later and was a healthy child (thank God). He was named after the brother she lost. A year later, we had another child, Mary, named after Phil’s mom. Then Phil had her tubes tied. We bought a larger home.
22 years later, we have 4 grandchildren and still love and enjoy each other.
