Author's Note: This is a fictional incest story of three consenting adults from West Bengal, India, namely, Koushik a young man, Ratna his cousin sister and Geeta their widowed sister-in-law. All the characters in the story are above the age of 18. I have taken the liberty of narrating the story from the lips of the main characters so as to depict each of their feelings and thoughts. The story is a little lengthy and I would request the readers to kindly bear with me on this issue.
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Koushik's narration
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I have been born and brought up at Kolkata, West Bengal. I am the only child of my working parents. After completing my graduation from veterinary college, I managed to get a job as a veterinary doctor under the Government of West Bengal and was posted to Malda Town.
I had been to Malda three or four times to visit my aunt, my mothers elder sister, who stays there. I along with my parents had gone there on vacations twice, when I was in school. We also visited them when their son, Subhash got married about three years back.
The last time we went there was two years back, to attend a double funeral.
My uncle, aunt and their son, that is my cousin brother Subhash, were returning to Malda from Asansol by bus. The roads were pathetic, filled with pot holes and the driver lost control, hit a tree by the side of a pond, overturned and plunged into the pond.
My uncle and my cousin brother succumbed to their injuries and expired. My aunt lost her legs, and only their daughter, Ratna, and their daughter-in-law, Geeta, were the only able bodied persons left in the family. They survived, because they stayed put at Asansol, the maternal house of my cousin brother's wife, Geeta.
After attending the funeral, I did not go to Malda as I was busy with my studies. Only my parents visited them meticulously once a month, on week ends. This continued for about a year, till the family settled down.
Personally, I was not very attached to my cousins that are my cousin brother, Subhash, who was four years elder to me, and also Ratna, my cousin sister, who is three years younger to me. In between the two cousins, I am told that my aunt did conceive twice, but gave birth to stillborns.
I was formally introduced to my sister-in-law that is Subhash's wife, Geeta, during their marriage, and had hardly talked to her. Actually, Subhash had gone to Asansol to study Engineering and met Geeta there, fell in love and eloped with her and married her in a temple when Geeta's parents were vehemently against their love affair.
My aunt and uncle accepted their marriage ultimately and after much persuasion succeeded in calming Geeta's parents. And that led to the whole family going to Asansol, ending in a tragic accident, where two family members lost their lives and crippled one for whole life.
Immediately after the tragic accident, Geeta's parents changed their mind and denounced their daughter, refusing to accept their daughter into their family. However, Ratna and Geeta clung to each other and stayed together and looked after my aunt, who was bed ridden. Ratna secured a job in a local school and with her earnings the family survived. They also judiciously invested the insurance money, and received a monthly annuity from the interest incurred. Though they were not well off, they were not in any financial problems.
When my parents came to know that I was posted to Malda, they were relieved that I would not have to look for accommodation and could stay at my aunt's place. Accordingly they informed my aunt. I was hesitant to stay with them because I did not want to be a burden on them, what with my aunt being a cripple and the two young girls striving hard to look after the ailing old woman. But my parents insisted, arguing that with a male member in their family, they would feel more secure and besides I could help them out in their daily chores as a family member.
I reached Malda on a Saturday afternoon, met my aunt and after two years saw Ratna and Geeta. Both the girls were nearly the same age. I knew Ratna was 22 yrs old, as she was 3 years younger to me. Geeta appeared to be around the same age of Ratna. They showed me my room on the first floor, which had a separate staircase and was independent of the other rooms.
Their house was a two storied house, with a hall, kitchen and a bed room with attached bath on the ground floor. A staircase from the hall led to the first floor where there were two more bed rooms, each with a small dressing room and attached bath. One of these bed rooms, along with the dressing room and attached bathroom was segregated from the main house and a separate staircase from outside was built, with an aim to rent out the room. However, a connecting door was there through which both the bed rooms on the first floor were connected. The door was kept locked normally. However on my arrival, they unlocked the door, and told me that I could use the door to go downstairs for my meals.
The room was quite spacious and airy. Being a bachelor, I did not have much luggage and I quickly unpacked and settled down. After a refreshing bath I lay down on the bed and soon went off to sleep as I was tired. I woke up when I heard a knock on the connecting door. On opening the door, Ratna and Geeta entered the room with tea and some light snacks. As there were no chairs in the room, the three of us settled down on the bed itself. I was still hesitant and did not know exactly what to say. Ratna broke the ice by directly addressing me,
"Koushik da, you and Geeta boudi hardly know each other." ('da' after a name is the short form of 'dada', means elder brother, and boudi means elder brother's wife.)
I replied, "I have hardly met her twice and had no chance to talk to her."
Geeta boudi also greeted me and said, "I have seen you also during our marriage reception and also at the time of the funeral. I have met your parents when they came here regularly, and heard about you from them."
"Yes, mom and dad speak very highly of both of you," I replied.
We chit-chatted a little and finished our tea.
I was addressing Geeta boudi as 'boudi' while talking to her.
Ratna said, "We call each other by our name and not boudi etc."
I enquired, looking at Geeta boudi, "And what should I call you?"
Geeta replied, "Just call me Geeta."
They enquired if I was comfortable and needed anything else, and I replied that every thing was fine.
I asked them, "Why have you segregated this wing? Last time I came here, it was not segregated and no staircase from outside was also there."
Ratna replied, "Actually we thought of leasing this room. But we have not been able to get any good tenant for this room. We were looking for a working couple."
I told her bluntly, "Well in that case, I will also pay rent for the room and if you don't agree, I will be forced to look for some other accommodation."
Both of them were shocked by my words, and Geeta replied, "Koushik, you are a family member, and we are very glad that you have chosen to stay with us. Please don't insult us by trying to pay rent for this room. Both Ratna and I are very lonely and when we heard you were coming here, we were overjoyed, so please don't break our hearts."
I tried to argue but they did not relent and also informed me that the plan to rent the room was taken initially when their finances were bad, but after Ratna got a job, they had no financial problems. I had nothing more to say. I learnt from them that both the girls wake up early in the morning and help perform all the chores of their mother, cleaning her, bathing her, etc. Ratna goes for her work at 8AM and returns home by 1PM. She works as a primary school teacher nearby. Geeta stays at home, cooks and looks after the house. In the evenings both the girls cook together and look after their mother.
My working place was about 5 km from their residence and I had to report for work at 10 AM every morning, till about 5 PM in the evening. It was a Government veterinary hospital. I used to have breakfast at home, lunch at a local hotel near the vet hospital and dinner at home. It was only during the dinner that my aunt accompanied us on the dinning table, sitting in a wheel chair. We used to chat freely with each other during the dinner and also after dinner.
By 10 PM, aunt was tucked into bed. The girls took turns in sleeping with my aunt in her room. One night Ratna used to sleep with her mother and the next night Geeta slept with her mother-in-law. This arrangement was done so that they could assist aunt in the middle of the night if required.
Either Ratna or Geeta, when they were not sleeping with aunt, used to sleep in the first floor bed room, adjacent to my room. Initially I tried to reach my bedroom before they tucked aunt to bed and bolted the connecting door so as not to embarrass the girls. But after about a week, I heard a knock on the connecting door. When I opened, I saw Geeta smiling at me.
