Editor's note: this fictional work contains scenes of fictional incest or fictional incest content.
THE NATURE OF FAERIES
Jack's cousin was smart. Crazy smart.
Incestuous content. All characters are above the age of eighteen
Please read the Standard Disclaimer on Alextasy's biography page
~~ 1 ~~ THE KISS ~~~~
"Lord, a'mighty, Margaret! What have you been feedin' this boy?" Gramma asked Momma. "Little Jack's sproutin' up tall as a tulip poplar."
I just grinned and took Momma's suitcase to the side room. I was easily a foot taller than her, but I was still her 'Little Jack'.
Gramma didn't wait for us to get settled before she lobbed her first shot.
"If you and your sister had a man around the house, maybe he could teach Jack how to shave."
Momma groaned. "Drop it, Ma."
Nobody could nag like Gramma.
"Just sayin' honey. If Little Jack would stop hidin' that handsome face behind them whiskers, you'd have to shoo the women away with a broomstick. I ain't gonna' be around forever and I'm hopin' to see some great-grandchillen afore I go meet St. Peter."
"Stop talkin' like that," Aunt Carol said.
She wasn't upset. Gramma had played the St. Peter card so many times, no one hardly paid attention any more.
"Yeah, Gramma, you're not going anywhere," I chimed in, kissing her bony cheek. "If anything happened to you, the whole world would turn upside down." I grabbed her in a loving bear hug, like always, but this time she yelped in pain.
Aunt Carol screamed at me, "Jack! Stop it!"
Gramma stumbled backward when I let her go. I was stunned. Aunt Carol and Momma ran to her and helped her to a chair. As soon as she sat down, she slapped them away.
"Go on, leave me alone," she said. "I'm fine. The boy just squeezed a little wind out of me."
Momma and Aunt Carol both gave her an irritated look, shaking their heads. If I'd paid a little more attention, I would have been more careful. They were right to be concerned. Gramma looked much older than the last time I saw her. That was three years ago. Our wiry matriarch was thin and frail, like dried leaves in December. Her skin was tinged a filmy gray, and her eyes were deep-set and sallow.
"Where's Clara?" I said. I was looking for any reason to beat a retreat.
"Your cousin's probably down t' the pond," Gramma replied, wheezing. "That's where she stays most days. You run along, now."
She waved me away with the back of her gaunt hand and began fussing at Momma, who'd brought her a glass of water and some pills.
I bounded up the stairs to my old room and tossed my pack on the bed. Then I barreled back down three steps at time, out the screen door and down the steep, rocky path like I was a kid again, surrendering myself to gravity, flailing my arms and covering six feet at a leap. The path leveled out at the bottom of the hill, and I slowed to a jog. The sun was setting up at the house, and it was even darker down here in the hollow.
Sure enough, there was Clara, perched on the end of the old dock. Her thick mass of curly black hair was silhouetted against the fading light.
"Hey there, Easy!" I hollered.
Somewhere around eleven or twelve, some book she read convinced her that she wanted to be a Clara instead of Clarice, but my childhood diminutive for 'Clarice' became a particularly delightful way to annoy her during our adolescent summers together.
She turned halfway around with a finger to her lips. "Shhh..."
I plopped beside her on the rotted planks. Even though it was the 1980s she still wore those same layers of drab, ankle-length cotton dresses that evoked another century, hiding any hint of femininity and giving her a matronly appearance despite her age. I was sure it didn't matter to her that those rectangular black horn-rims were coming back in style, either.
She stared intently across the glassy surface of the pond. I followed her gaze, squinted, but couldn't see anything of importance.
I whispered, "What'cha doin', Easy?"
"Watching for faeries, Jack-off," she whispered, using her classic comeback. She'd caught me many years ago. More than once.
I chuckled. "You don't believe in faeries."
With her most forbearing look and a subdued voice, she said, "It doesn't matter whether I believe in them or not. Either they exist, or they don't. If I believe in them, and they're not real, then I'm just wrong. But if I don't believe in them, and they are out there somewhere, I am ignorant, and I might just miss out on something magical. Just because I haven't seen one yet, doesn't mean I won't someday."
I knew better than to argue with her twisted logic. Clara was smart—crazy smart. Though she was a year younger, she'd completed a community college degree before I ever graduated from high school. Aunt Carol was too poor to send her any further—that's why they still lived with Gramma. She read everything she could lay hands on, whether it was in English, or French, or Swahili, and she retained all of it. I'd even gotten tutoring in senior calculus from her. When we were little, she said she wanted to be a doctor so she could cure everybody. I had no doubt that she could do it.
She swung an idle arm around my waist, and I hung mine comfortably across her shoulders. We both resumed our search for the elusive faeries.
Soon a full moon was peeking over Cowan's Mountain. The midsummer night air was heavy and still, and from every direction a symphony of bullfrogs and cicadas serenaded us. I'd forgotten how peaceful this place could be. As children, we swam naked in these waters, then dried ourselves in the afternoon sun. Of course, that had all changed when we became aware of the changes in our bodies.
In hushed tones, Clara said, "You doing good in school?"
"Okay," I said. "Made dean's list last semester. I've gotta' take philosophy next year, though, and I don't get that stuff. I'm afraid it's going to screw up my average."
She turned and looked up at me again. "Don't ever be afraid, Jack."