Editor's note: this story contains scenes of incest or incest content.
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My mother passed away a few weeks ago. Being the eldest, most of the responsibilities fell to me, and I did my best to manage everything. My brother and I had agreed the family home should be sold and we would split the profits. Again though, as the oldest, I somehow ended up being the one who had to travel cross country and spend three weeks on my own getting the house ready to sell. My wife and my two little girls were not thrilled about it, but I knew what my brother Gavin was like. Even if I somehow coerced him into helping, he'd find a way to get out of it.
I drove my car up the old familiar driveway with a weary sigh. My mother was a great lady, but since my father died ten years ago she had kept the house exactly as it was. Which meant there was a lot of crap to get rid of. I decided to start with the rooms I wouldn't be using- my mother's bedroom, my father's study, the garage, etc., and eventually I'd do the kitchen and my old room.
Mum's room took most of the first day, but after a bit of a rest and an afternoon coffee I decided to start on dad's study. I was multi-tasking, which I'm notoriously bad at, trying to move books and write notes while I was on the phone with the real estate agent. The piece of paper I was using slipped from my hand and fell behind the large book case I was clearing. If I hadn't dropped that piece of paper things may have played out very differently...
Swearing, I got off the phone and proceeded to move the book case. I mostly pivoted it on one corner so it swung away from the wall, which is when I saw it. Behind the book case was a recess in the wall, and it was stacked with photo albums. My old man had never really been the sentimental type, especially not for photographs, and the family albums were still in the living room as far as I knew. Curious, I read the spines. Each one read 'Boys Trip' followed by a year. In some cases the same year appeared twice, and then they had a subtitle like 'Snow' or 'Fishing'. I decided to open the earliest one I could find, dated 1979.
I knew the date from the spine, but it was still a shock to see my father looking so young. He was posed with my uncle and two other men I didn't recognised. All four were standing in front of a large truck filled with camping gear, giving big cheesy smiles and thumbs up for the camera. It was good to see him like that, to remember he was once young and full of energy. The next few photos showed him kissing my mother goodbye and the four men driving on a dirt road.
I turned the page and saw more camping shots. My uncle seemed to be the man in charge of the camera, as he was rarely in the photos. The next page was mostly hiking, setting up tents, things like that. The last picture was surprising though- the four men (presumably using a timer) had stripped to just their boots and were posed on top of the peak of the mountain, waving at the camera and flexing their muscles. I chuckled a little, but was also impressed by how they all looked. My dad and uncle had been enthusiastic sportsmen when they were younger, and it showed in the photos. I turned the page and that's when my jaw hit the floor.
The next page depicted my father and one of the other men- a blonde guy with a beard- sitting around a campfire. From the angle of the photo I again guessed my uncle was holding the camera and was sitting on the other side of the fire. Between them was the fourth man, who had a wild red mane tied in a ponytail. He was mooning the camera, which again made me laugh a little. Clearly these guys were comfortable being nude around each other and it also made sense that my father may not have wanted my mother to see these shots.