I was trying to prepare myself for the most horrible story anyone could ever tell a middle-aged mother of three grown kids. I had taken the precautionary step of adding some 80-proof sweetener to our drinks and taken a big gulp because I had been forewarned that the following tale would be a bitter pill to swallow. I made a mental note to control my blood pressure and watched intently as my nineteen-year-old daughter Christy first inhaled deeply and then haltingly began the crude narrative that would outline the future confusingly-intertwined history of our family sexual dynamic. A sordid and twisted story that no mother should ever have to hear from her daughter... or anyone else for that matter. It was just a surreal adventure into debauchery that I hoped I was strong enough to stomach.
And still, with my daughter's first utterance that began with, "We have all been sleeping together for about a year..." I shrieked and nearly dropped my coffee mug on the rug. It was a jolt to my senses and my morality. Both of which were under an unseemly attack. But really, if I had started my side of the conversation first, it might have been Christy who nearly spit her coffee out through her nostrils and gasped in horror. And wondered if morality was merely a quaint ideal in this "me-first generation."
Or maybe not. Since I now had a chilling reason to believe that both Christy and her older sister Linda, not only knew in advance about my own little incestuous affair with their brother Jason, but very possibly helped in the arrangements and were looking forward to an outcome that might provide even more sexual fireworks. As for Jason, what can I add? My first born and apparently the suave, sensuous irresistible type, had scored the super-rare trifecta of having bedded both of his sisters at one time and then added his mother's panties as the coup-de-gras. My brain was whirling with distasteful and forbidden scenes and a throbbing ache started behind my eyes that left me virtually incapacitated. Any normal response to this acrid discovery would be wholesale therapy sessions and family counseling. But then, I wouldn't have this ribald, incestuous tale to tell.
After this morning's blockbuster dual-confessions, I asked for a brief parting so that we could both collect our thoughts and resume this sordid chronicle with atleast an arm's-length distance from the crude tryst that we had all played a considerable part in. So, we separated to clear our thoughts and to be able to credibly explain to the other, why everything that happened was awful; but each one of our little parts in it, were forgivable because no one got hurt and the closeness was actually good for the family. It was these little diversions into Bovine Scatology that allowed us to accept what we couldn't change anyway and to hope that the dim light at the end of the tunnel was not just another oncoming train.
I took a long hot shower to wash away the lingering filth of my own role in this kink-fest and the nightgown that had once been a favorite before I was attacked and seduced while wearing it, had been relegated to the rag bag. Christy came back after a long walk looking refreshed but wary, she was about to deliver some extreme news and hoped that I respected the role of the "messenger" in this transference of disturbing information.
All three of my children lived with me in a large house that my deceased husband's insurance had provided, since he wasn't much good for anything else. The two girls had bedrooms on opposite ends of the first floor and Jason had the entire furnished basement. My room was on the second floor. I was thinking about those logistics while in the shower and could see how the sexual shenanigans could be perpetrated in secrecy. Every lewd detail known or imagined, brought vulgar images to my mind. Now it seemed, that the only thing we could do would be to make certain that these "indiscretions" could be kept in the family and the sexual urges and connections could be managed and contained. Am I going crazy or am I just searching for some "familial loophole" that will allow us all to tumble into bed with each other and to insert body part "A" into body cavity "B" with ample impunity.
We resumed our conversation after lunch when we were the only one's home, though why we needed the seclusion, I guess was only a matter of formality, since it seems that I was the only person not yet completely in on the secret. This is a situation that no parenting book quite covers. My daughter and I settled on the couch for an uncomfortable "tea-time" chat. The topic being how three seemingly mature women could all have had sex with the same guy, under the same roof, and knowing that the guy was either a brother or son. It started awkwardly and got worse from there.
She was attempting to appear mature beyond her years yet still remember that it was her mother, that she was about to open-up to, about the dark side of sex. Christy wanted to begin by asking me for more details about my previous night's debasement with my son. I was not quite ready to admit to my perversions until I understood the extent of this family compunction with incest. I interjected that she mentioned earlier that her story began by inadvertently catching her two elder siblings having sex.
I assured her that I was willing to listen- if not totally condone whatever more I was about to hear- so, taking one more big swig of my liquid confidence, I sat back and signaled my consent. Christy looked as if she were in a police interrogation room under a bright light. I could see the goose-flesh ripple her arms and watched her velvety tongue wet the lush pink lips as her hooded brown eyes darted between mine and her painted, pink toenails.
"Mom," she hesitantly began. "I can only tell you my side of all this, you should probably hear it from Linda or Jason, but because I've questioned them both trying to figure-out the logistics, I can give you the basic outline." I could see that she used the long walk to rehearse this small preamble, and the thing that captured my attention most, was that she wasn't exactly contrite but was merely trying to excuse or ameliorate her participation and subterfuge. If this is what I was going to get from my nineteen-year-old, then I'd imagine the older two would be preaching like sexual evangelists.
Ofcourse, I had to be careful about the amount of definitive, incriminating evidence she already had on me. It was evident that they all talked and I guessed that she was on her phone instantly to gather information. Nobody was pure here, there were only levels of debauchery and incest to be labeled. That might have been the source of her comparative boldness. So, I let her continue with her story, only interrupting with random inquiries about modesty and repentance, or when the sudden gasps of air brought-on by the stupefying catalog of carnal inhibitions nearly strangled me.
"Remember last summer when you visited Aunt Ruth and stayed until her baby was born, the three of us were on our own for about six weeks?" I smiled and nodded lovingly, thinking that this is the type of family memory we should be talking about, not what I now anticipate happened, while I was tending to the need of my younger sister. "When we were alone, the two of them got much closer." I understood what she was implying but I needed more clarification. If they wanted me to accept this narrative and to somehow grant my blessing to it, I would require more facts. She was ready with the answers, it was actually verbalizing the demeaning and derogatory terms that caused her anguish.
[This is how Christy's version of events began]
Apparently, they both came home from separate nights of partying and were more than a little drunk and not-at-all excited about their evenings. I had been in bed when I heard the racket and tip-toed to the edge of the basement steps, where I could see and hear them down in Jason's room. They were both sitting on his bed and from his small refrigerator, he produced a six-pack and a chilled bottle of something. Linda's stockings were torn, and she was bitching about having lost an earring, while tussling with a very handsy guy that she had been set-up with. Jason said his nice shirt had gotten a beer dumped down the back and he had a bad case of "blue balls" because a girl that he bought drinks for all night, left with someone else.
I could see in the darkened room that the television was on and for some reason, there was a porn movie playing. They weren't paying much attention to it and seemed mostly to just want to continue the drunkenness while laughingly complaining about their respective failures in the dating pool. I never saw two people drink so fast, especially since they had been out all evening. It wasn't long before Jason was wearing only his jeans and Linda was down to her halter-top and leather skirt. They were both bare-legged and swilling from the bottle and by now- only minutes after they'd arrived home, they were both laying back in his bed critiquing the porno and getting comfortable being half-dressed and in such close contact.