Chapter 10

Mina laid upon her pillow snuggled up in a handkerchief. Thanks to the doctor’s medicinal salves and Dancing Storm’s herbal concoction, she was beginning to feel like herself again. The burns on her body were healing faster than anyone had anticipated. A mere day later, they had almost disappeared. Whether due to her unique physiology or some sort of magic (or both), no one could say. But her much vaunted durability was working overtime.

Sapphire had not left her bedside. The redhead kept a vigil and dutifully applied the healing lotion to her tiny friend every couple of hours. As gently as possible, a long slender finger taller than Mina would slide over her miniature limbs and torso, rubbing the salve into her skin. Though it stung at first, as Mina healed she began to adjust to it. Soon it started to feel like a full body massage. Mina closed her eyes and moaned contentedly at the giant woman’s ministrations.

Overcome with affection, Sapphire leaned down to plant a kiss on Mina’s head. But the sight of those massive lips descending on her caused the tiny girl to flinch and pull away.

“Oh,” Sapphire said flatly, feeling mortified. “What was I thinkin’? I reckon ya won’t want to be anywhere near my mouth for a while. God, Mina, I’m so sorry! I still can hardly believe that I…did that to ya. Can ya ever forgive me?”

“I…I think so,” Mina answered. “I just need time, Saph.”

“Take all the time ya need, sweet pea,” the redhead said. “Geez, maybe I should give ya a different nickname. One that ain’t inspired by somethin’ edible.”

“No, it’s okay,” said Mina. “I like it when you call me that.”

“All right. Long as it don’t bring back…bad memories.”

To say that this incident had put a damper on their relationship was an understatement. Mina still had very strong feelings for Sapphire but the little maiden couldn’t help but see her differently now. When the redhead opened her mouth to speak or yawn, Mina stared into that cavernous maw with dread. If Sapphire’s stomach gurgled, Mina felt a chill run through her. It was a complicated mix of emotions when the woman you loved was synonymous with a giant monster that had consumed you alive. Mina didn’t know how to feel.

Other thoughts troubled her as well. As she convalesced, she thought about Dancing Storm’s words. The little Nunnehi, she had said, “knows where she comes from. Does she remember who is missing her there?” It had been weeks since Mina had seen her mother. Eulalia still had no idea where she was. Perhaps if life at the saloon had gotten too hazardous, she should consider going home.

But Mina knew she didn’t want that. On the farm, she’d always been underfoot and useless, nothing but a burden. Here at Goldie’s Mine, she had purpose. She had friends. She had admirers. And she had love. Though Sapphire could be dangerous and frightening, she was also sweet and kind and gentle. She made the tiny girl feel worthy, no matter how small she was. A part of Mina wanted to be with that towering red-haired goddess for the rest of their lives.

Her heart was being pulled in two different directions. Mina had much to think about.

* * * *

Goldie’s knuckles rapped hard against the door of Diamonda’s apartment. She pounded again and again until the blonde reluctantly opened it and looked out into the hall.

“You’re done, Di,” the elder woman stated. “I want you out of here.”

Diamonda’s mouth dropped open in shock. “You’re firing me? Me?! I made this place what it is, Goldie! I was the star!”

“’Was’ being the operative word,” said Goldie. “Mina’s the one drawing crowds now. Just couldn’t take the competition, could you? You almost killed my biggest source of revenu—I mean that defenseless little girl!”

“Oh, don’t pretend like you care about her!” Diamonda said. “All you see in Mina is a dollar sign.”

“She’s made me a very rich woman, yes. That’s why I can’t have you lousing it up,” Goldie told her. “Your employment at the Mine is terminated. You have until tomorrow to pack up your things and get.”

Without another word, Goldie turned and bustled down the corridor. Diamonda clenched her fists as she watched her go.

“You’re going to throw me out over a worthless insect?” the blonde shrieked. “You’ll regret this, Sweetwater! This isn’t over! I’ll squash that little roach yet!”

* * * *

“Are ya sure about this, honey?” Sapphire asked. “Goin’ back to work already?”

She peered down with concern at her miniature love. Mina was sitting cross-legged in the palm of her hand, decked out once again in her purple dress and feathery headband. The acid burns on her body were completely gone.

“I’m sure, Saph,” Mina said. “I feel fine. It looks like we ‘Nunnehi’ are fast healers. Whatever we are.”

“We’ll find Dancin’ Storm and get some answers about that soon, I promise,” Sapphire told her. “In the meantime, take it easy tonight, okay? No crazy stunts. Just a simple dance on the tabletop and call it a day, yeah?”

As Sapphire and her tiny charge slipped onto the stage, the crowd cheered for Miss Minnie’s triumphant return. Cowboys and ranchers hooted and hollered, celebratory gunshots peppered the ceiling, and dozens of eyes were fixed on the duo of dancers. Sapphire made her way down the side stairs and into the audience, carrying Mina towards her adoring public.

“Special request from Table 2,” Opal called to them over the din. “Someone paid extra for a front row seat.”

“Then we’ll start the show there,” Sapphire said.

The redhead sidled up to a table near the front and lowered her hand, allowing Mina to disembark. The tiny woman walked to the center, swaying her little hips seductively. The cowboys got up from their chairs and tried to crowd around the table but Sapphire and Opal did their best to hold them back. 

Mina craned her head back to get a good look at the table’s occupant. But it wasn’t a burly cowhand, a dashing gunslinger, or a humble rancher who towered over her. It was a middle-aged woman in a gingham dress and a red kerchief.

“Mama!” Mina gasped.

“Wilhelmina! It IS you!” Eulalia said with joy.

The older woman reached down and snatched Mina from the table surface. She clasped her against her chest in a heartfelt embrace. Mina was half crushed against Eulalia’s bosom and squirmed about beneath her fingers. Sapphire could only stand nearby, dumbfounded. At last, Eulalia pulled her hand away and let Mina settle into her palm.

“How did you find me?” the tiny girl asked.

“The whole territory’s been buzzin’ about a dancer the size of a thumb,” Eulalia told her. “I may live out in the boonies but word gets around. Once I finally heard the story, I started checkin’ every saloon I could. Mina, why did ya run away? I’ve been worried sick! I didn’t know if ya were alive or dead!”

“I—I’m sorry, Mama,” said Mina. “I didn’t want to return empty-handed. I was trying to save up enough money to pay for the farm. And I knew if I told you where I was, you’d never approve.”

“You’re damn right, I wouldn’t!” Eulalia held up her hand, getting a better look at Mina. “Lordy, what are ya wearin’, young lady? I didn’t think it was possible for ya to wear less fabric than usual.”

“It’s—it’s my uniform, Mama.”

“For God’s sake, cover yourself, darlin’! Oh, when I think of the terrible things they’ve forced ya to do here—”

“They haven’t forced me to do anything. I wanted to. Mama, I love dancing here!”

“She’s good at it too!” Sapphire added.

Eulalia turned in surprise, as if noticing the redhead for the first time. She looked her up and down, scowling disdainfully at Sapphire’s skimpy attire and the enormous breasts spilling obscenely from her corset.

“I’m sorry, who are you?”

“Sapphire. I’m Mina’s, uh, well, ya see, I’m her—”

“My roommate!” Mina quickly interjected. “Sapphire takes care of me.”

Just then, Goldie forced her way through the crowd and stood at Sapphire’s side. She observed the scene with cold passivity.

“Is there a problem here?” she asked.

“Miss Goldie!” Mina called. “This is my mother, Eulalia Smallwood.”

“That’s right,” said Eulalia. “And I’m takin’ my daughter out of this den of sin!”

Goldie frowned. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that.”

“Excuse me?”

“Mina signed a contract,” Goldie explained. “She works for me now. And I won’t have anyone stealing my star away.”

“Tough shit,” Eulalia snarled. “I’ve been sick to death lookin’ for her. I’m never lettin’ her go again. Mina and I are goin’ home!”

With startling speed, Goldie reached out and plucked Mina from Eulalia’s hand. She held the tiny woman pinched tightly between her thumb and forefinger.

“No. You’re not.”

Eulalia tried to steal Mina back but Goldie lifted her hand higher, keeping it just out of the shorter woman’s reach. Mina’s head swam from the dizzying height. She clung to Goldie’s fingertips in terror, trying not to peer down the staggering length of her captor’s body.

Sapphire tried to intercede. “C’mon, Miss Goldie, be reasonable. She hasn’t seen her daughter in weeks. Besides, you’re scarin’ Mina!”

Eulalia made several impotent jumps, flailing her arms about and trying to grab Mina back. When she got too close, Goldie changed tactics. In one fluid motion, she lowered her hand to her bodice and dropped Mina down the front of her dress. Eulalia gasped.

“Ya brazen hussy!” she cried. 

Goldie stared Eulalia down and lightly patted her chest. “As I said, the little lady is staying with me.”

Eulalia’s eyes narrowed in anger. “Just because I’m a good Christian woman, don’t think I won’t go in after her!”

Meanwhile, Mina found herself sprawled atop the expansive shelf of Goldie’s bosom. The golden fabric of her gown formed a canopy above the tiny disoriented girl. In the dim light, Mina could see the rather intimidating chasm between those gargantuan breasts and she quickly crab-walked backwards away from it. When Goldie patted her chest, the ceiling seemed to collapse upon the minuscule maid. She grunted in pain as a mighty weight descended on her, slamming her into the surface of Goldie’s breast.

The two giant women began to grapple with each other while Sapphire tried in vain to break them up. As Goldie fended off Eulalia’s attacks, her body shifted below her miniature prisoner. The massive hillocks quivered and jiggled, bouncing the little woman upon them. Mina ricocheted between the soft pliant surface and the ceiling of fabric.

A sudden lurch sent her tumbling backward onto Goldie’s décolletage. Mina laid there for a moment with her bottom wedged in the deep depression and her arms and legs flailing above it. Another sudden motion caused the colossal breasts to slide apart and Mina felt herself slipping into the widening gap. With a high-pitched shriek, she sank completely into the valley below.

Mina slid into the tunnel of Goldie’s capacious cleavage, finally coming to rest about halfway down where the two fleshy walls met. Now each of Goldie’s movements was torture for the little woman as the curvaceous mountains heaved and collided around her. Mina gasped as the walls squeezed inward, knocking the wind out of her.

Goldie smiled as she felt Mina’s ticklish presence within her bosom. Eulalia had finally managed to thrust a hand into Goldie’s dress and was frantically feeling about for her vanished daughter. But she was nowhere to be found.

“Mina, where are ya?” Eulalia cried. “I’ll save ya, darlin’!”

“Watch the hands, madam,” Goldie told her with a smirk. “Or at least buy me a drink first.”

“C’mon, Miss Goldie, that’s enough,” said Sapphire. “Let her out.”

“A contract is a contract,” Goldie insisted. She pulled Eulalia’s arm out of her bodice and shoved the woman roughly aside. “Mina belongs to me now.”

Deep in the recesses of Goldie’s prodigious chest, Mina was still fighting. She was hot and sweaty and her ribs ached from being repeatedly squashed and jostled. She began to wriggle her way upward, pushing against the soft pink walls with her hands and feet. It took some effort but she managed to squirm her way back to the top of the fleshy crevasse. Mina poked her tiny head and shoulders out and took a breath of fresh air.

“Please,” she cried out. “There’s no need to fight!”

In response, Goldie simply placed a fingertip atop Mina’s head and pushed down until the tiny girl was swallowed up once again by her cleavage. But Mina was not about to admit defeat. As the finger retracted, the little woman wrapped her arms about it and clung tightly. Goldie tried to shake her loose but Mina held fast. When the hand was pulled upward at last, Mina was still wrapped around Goldie’s index finger like a human ring.

“Mina!” Eulalia exclaimed as she made another lunge for her. 

Goldie was getting desperate now. Running out of options, she thrust the finger into her mouth and closed her lips around it. As Eulalia gasped, Goldie slid the finger back out, sans passenger.

“Get back,” she mumbled through her squirming mouthful. When Goldie spoke, those standing closest could see a startled Mina flopping about upon her tongue. “If you come any closer, I—I’ll swallow her!”

Now the entire audience gasped. Several cowboys inched closer, ready to come to the Miss Minnie’s rescue, but Goldie cautioned them back with an accusatory finger.

“Now, let’s not do anythin’ hasty, Miss Goldie,” a tall man in a Stetson hat cautioned.

“Stay back or she’s going down the hatch!” insisted Goldie.

Eulalia was aghast. “You wouldn’t dare!”

“She’d survive,” Goldie said. “She’s done it before.”

“She’s what?!” Eulalia shrieked.

Sapphire blushed crimson and hung her head. “It…it was an accident.”

Eulalia stared at her with horrified eyes. “You people are sick! Give me back my daughter!”

Inside Goldie’s jaws, Mina found herself once again bouncing and sliding upon an enormous, rippling tongue. Every word the giant woman spoke reverberated loudly through the dark cave and caused the floor to bob up and down. The little maid’s hair and clothes were soaked in moments. Whenever the huge lips parted, Mina saw a flash of light and a fleeting glimpse of her mother’s face outside. Goldie suddenly tilted her head and Mina began to slide backwards down the slick surface, approaching the chasm of her throat.

“No!” she exclaimed. “Not again!”

Mina decided that she had had just about enough. She was tired of feeling helpless, tired of being at the mercy of these giant beings and their immense and dangerous bodies. With a fire of determination, she scrambled up the slippery tongue, grabbed hold of a row of porcelain teeth, and pulled herself upward, forcing her way through the gap. Her torso emerged from Goldie’s lips like a turtle poking out of its shell. Mina grabbed hold of the wrinkly lower lip and tried to pull herself the rest of the way out. But her labors were in vain. With barely any effort, Goldie pursed her lips and sucked inward. Mina disappeared once more, slurped up like a strand of spaghetti.

“Dammit, Goldie,” Sapphire said. “You’re as bad as Diamonda. Spit her out this instant!”

When Goldie refused, Sapphire advanced on her. “Fine. Then we’ll do this the hard way.”

The redhead cupped her hand around the back of Goldie’s head and pulled her forward into a sudden kiss. Goldie was too shocked to respond with more than wide-eyed surprise. 

Several men in the audience cheered and catcalled excitedly and Eulalia’s jaw dropped in scandalized horror. Sapphire meanwhile had thrust her tongue into Goldie’s mouth and was doing her best to locate Mina. When she found the little squirming figure, she tried to curl her tongue around her and draw her out. 

Goldie finally caught on to what was happening and began to fight back. She attempted to yank her head away but Sapphire only pulled her closer. Mina found herself battered about by a pair of writhing, gigantic tongues, each battling for supremacy inside the cavernous mouth. She was tossed roughly back and forth by the powerful muscles, an unwilling participant in a French kiss. The tongues lapped and curled around her body, coating her in such a mess of spittle, she feared she would drown. 

In a final desperate salvo, Sapphire began to inhale. Mina’s ears popped from the change of pressure and she felt a powerful suction pull her forward. With a loud slurp, she slid through one pair of lips and then another, shooting forward into Sapphire’s mouth.

The dancer’s crazy plan had succeeded—perhaps a little too well. She had inhaled so deeply that Mina went hurtling all the way to the back of her mouth. The tiny girl hit the slick wall of her throat and tumbled headfirst into Sapphire’s gullet. The redhead began to gag, trying with all her might not to swallow her miniature lover a second time. Sapphire hacked and coughed, trying to dislodge her. An involuntary wheeze sucked Mina further down and Sapphire’s eyes shot open in panic.

“Spit her out, ya painted Jezebel!” Eulalia screamed. 

She scrambled around behind Sapphire and slapped her hard on the back. She repeated this several times until Mina went flying out of the woman’s mouth. The little lady shot several feet across the room, over the heads of the crowd, and finally landed with a plop in an audience member’s mug of beer. Opal forced her way through the crowd and quickly grabbed the mug before some oblivious cowhand could take a sip.

“Gotcha, kid!” the brunette said, peering down at where the dazed Mina was floating.

Goldie, Sapphire, and Eulalia all turned and tried to push past each other. As they vied for position, Mina leaped upward and grabbed the rim of the metal cup. She hoisted herself up, leaned over the side, and bellowed with all her might.

“Stop it! All of you! If you keep fighting over me like this, you’re going to kill me!”

The women froze, unsure how to proceed. They huddled closer and stared at the tiny furious figure clinging to the edge of the tankard.

“Goldie,” Mina called to the mistress of the club. “If you had let me speak, I would have told you that I don’t actually want to leave.”

“Heartening to hear,” said Goldie.

“Ya want to stay in this awful place, Mina?” Eulalia asked. “These women just tried to eat ya!”

“In my defense, I was tryin’ to save her,” said Sapphire.

“Save her for dessert ya mean, ya carnivorous harlot!”

“Yes, Mama, I want to stay,” Mina said. “I like it here. Dancing gives me a sense of purpose. And I’ve made so many friends and…relationships here. Besides, I know Goldie’s a good person at heart. She just got a little carried away.”

“I did get a trifle overzealous,” admitted Goldie, lowering her head in shame. “Please accept my apologies, Mina. I was way out of line. But your contributions to the Mine are invaluable and I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t. But if I’m going to stay, you must treat me like a person, not your slave or your toy. You don’t own me, Miss Goldie. No one does. I dance here because I want to.”

“Please, Wilhelmina, don’t stay with these people!” Eulalia begged. “You’re makin’ a mistake!”

“I did make a mistake, Mama,” the tiny girl continued. “I should have let you know where I was weeks ago instead of making you worry so. I’ve been selfish. I hope you can forgive me. Tell you what— tomorrow’s our next payday. I’ll gather up my savings and come home. To visit, if not to stay. I’ve built a life for myself here and I’m not prepared to give it up. Please try to understand.”

“I…I do understand, darlin’,” said Eulalia. “Mind ya, I still don’t approve one bit. But all I want is for ya to be happy, Mina. If dancin’ does that for ya…I guess I can learn to live with that.”

“I am happy here, Mama,” Mina said, exchanging a knowing glance with Sapphire. “Very happy. Thanks for the assist, by the way, Saph. But do try to be more careful. One tour of your inner plumbing is enough for a lifetime.”

“You got it, sweet pea,” the redhead responded with a smile.

Eulalia watched this exchange suspiciously, frowning with concern. Mina knew that was a conversation best left for another day. But for now, she breathed a big sigh of relief. She sank back into the beer and floated on her back for a moment, glad the ordeal was over. At least, for now.

To be continued...