The Tates were a weird family. Ray sometimes wondered what he was letting himself in for by dating Laura.
"-I didn't expect to see you today," she said when she opened the door and saw him. She smiled but seemed unhappily surprised and something strange was going on with her eyes. She didn't open the door all the way but held it closed behind her as if she didn't want him to see something.
"Dad's in kind of a mood," she added, still trying to smile but looking anxious as well. "You should have called.."
Ray made himself smile but she'd caught him off balance, "Why, what's going on?"
A door slammed inside the house. He could hear her father's raised voice.
Laura shrugged, trying to appear casual, but her troubled expression didn't fit with the gesture, "-Oh, just... stuff."
She shook her head as if it was nothing. She was the prettiest and the oldest of the three Tate girls. Twenty, nineteen and eighteen. Until that moment Ray had thought she was the least strange member of the family as well but now he suddenly wasn't so sure.
"I have the afternoon off," he started to explain. "I thought we could catch a movie..."
She opened her mouth to say something but at that moment they both heard Laura's mother calling her.
"-I'm sorry, I can't," Laura whispered and cast an apprehensive glance over her shoulder.
Her mother's voice carried to the front door, "-Laura? Your father wants us all in the kitchen right away."
"I'm sorry. Really, but I have to go," Laura said.
Ray didn't get it at all. He was disappointed. He'd had it all figured out, first a movie, maybe a meal with the odds on chance of sex later.
"Laura, who is it? Close the door," her mother's voice was suddenly close. Ray thought she sounded anxious.
"I don't get it," he said, suddenly irritable. "What's going on?"
Laura seemed to have abandoned any hope of acting as if nothing was wrong. She looked embarassed and uncomfortable, "-I can't tell you now. Please, I have to go. It's Dad..."
She paused as the door was pulled fully open behind her. It was her mother, a slim, trim, good looking woman Ray had previously judged to be relatively level headed if a little put upon by her husband.
"Who are you talking to? Oh it's Ray... Hello Ray." Her smile was unconvincing. Whatever was troubling Laura Mrs Tate seemed to have it as well. She looked worried and unhappy and seeing him on her doorstep didn't seem to ease whatever burden she was labouring under.
"-He's just leaving," Laura told her, a little too quickly for Ray's liking.
He saw the awkward look the two of them exchanged. They looked equally embarassed. Whatever was going on it was clear it was a private Tate family thing.
Ray was starting to feel irritated by the whole charade. He was on the verge of turning away, he saw himself slamming his car door and flooring the accelerator on his way down the street, but Mr Tate suddenly shouted, breaking the awkward silence.
"-Do you think I want to wait all day? You're only making it worse for yourselves..." There was a warning in his tone and the sound of his voice rapidly grew closer and louder.
"How much longer do you intend to keep me waiting?" he demanded angrily.
Both women looked suddenly stricken when he appeared. He was a tall, well built, up tight, humourless and slightly intimidating individual. Ray was never quite sure how to take him.
Mr Tate paused, whatever else he had been about to say, put on hold as he first glared at the two women and then saw Ray.
There was a moment of silence and then everyone seemed to start talking at once.
Ray nodded and said, "Hello Mr Tate."
"He's just leaving," Laura hurried to explain.
"I just came out to see what was keeping Laura..." Mrs Tate said with a cautious glance at her husband.
Ray didn't know what the hell was going on. Mr Tate looked angry and bad tempered. He had one arm in a sling. Laura and her mother looked nervous and uncomfortable and Ray was already beginning to wish he'd stayed in work instead of wasting his time making plans. -Scratch the movie, scratch the meal, or the hope of anything else.
He saw Mr Tate draw a deep, impatient breath as the two women hurriedly tried to explain the delay. They seemed extremely anxious to placate him. At the same time there were footsteps in the hall and Ray guessed it was Laura's two younger sisters coming out to join the fun. He thought Mr Tate might explode but instead he raised his good hand to call for silence and both women immediately obeyed.
The front door was now wide open and all the Tates were gathered there. Ray decided the sooner he made his excuses and got into his car and got out of there the better. Mr Tate seemed to be studying him with a curiously thoughtful expression that he found a little unnerving. Laura still had the same apprehensive look in her eyes. Mrs Tate looked truly ill at ease. The two younger daughters showed their pale, worried faces behind their father.
"-Look, I'd probably better be going," Ray began. He saw relief and gratitude in Laura's eyes and hurried on. "I just stopped by on the off-chance..."
He paused as Mr Tate interrupted, "You know, actually, perhaps you should come inside Ray. You're almost family." He smiled unexpectedly, not a particularly attractive smile, but more the smile of a man who was warming to a new thought that had just occurred to him. He seemed not to hear the collective gasps of dismay or see the uncertain looks exchanged between his wife and daughters. "Yes, of course," he continued, looking abruptly exceptionally pleased with himself. "That's it. You must come inside. Of course you must. This is a family matter... but as I said, you're almost family..."
Ray was too surprised to answer. He was aware of the reaction caused by Mr Tate's unexpected invitation. Mrs Tate suddenly looked at him and blushed furiously. Laura looked as if she wished the ground would open and swallow her.
Ray started to decline but Mr Tate was suddenly enthusiastic and was already stepping aside to make room, giving orders, and gesturing with his good arm urging him inside.
"-Ray? Laura, don't stand in the way. Samantha, get Ray a cup of coffee please. Unless you'd prefer a beer, Ray?"
The next thing he knew they were all inside the Tate's hallway and everyone was moving towards the kitchen. Laura was trying to catch his eye and casting wary glances at her father. Mrs Tate led the way, hurrying. Her two younger daughters following close behind.
"-Coffee's fine, I'm driving," Ray answered absently, not entirely sure when he'd made the decision to actually step inside.
Mr Tate loomed beside him, suddenly his friend and confidante. "Do you know the secret of happy family life Ray?" He was looking ahead at his family. Mrs Tate had already stepped into the bright sunlit kitchen.
Ray saw a picture perfect bowl of fruit on the table and the gleam of sunlight on clean, polished chrome. As he listened to Mr Tate he realised that all the times he'd been there before he'd never once heard any of the Tates arguing or disagreeing about even the smallest thing. It struck him just how unusual that must be.
Mr Tate let Ray through into the kitchen before him and closed the door. Mrs Tate was waiting with a cup of coffee for both men. Their three daughters stood quietly in the background, all three attractive, all dressed in light feminine summer clothes Ray saw. Laura glanced at him and quickly looked away. Both of her sisters lowered their eyes. They all seemed to be waiting for their father to speak, even Mrs Tate, who smiled nervously then stepped back and smoothed her skirt when Ray took his coffee.
Mr Tate's smile seemed a little off centre as he looked at his family and Ray immediately became aware of the undercurrent of controlled nervous tension in the air. It came in pretty feminine waves from Mrs Tate and her daughters, all of them seemed oddly apprehensive and uncomfortable. He realised he was somehow adding to their discomfort. None of them, not even Laura, would meet his curious gaze. It seemed clear his unexpected arrival had thrown some kind of spanner in the works. He had the feeling he was interrupting something
"The secret to a happy family life is discipline," Mr Tate revealed. He sipped his coffee as he looked at Ray and now there was a new, almost feverish gleam in his eyes.
He set his coffee on the table and studied his assembled family with a warm paternal gaze. Ray noticed that Mrs Tate and her three daughters were all looking at Mr Tate with expressions that seemed a mixture of apprehension and starry eyed contentment.
Mr Tate seemed to dominate the large, bright kitchen, he had a presence, an air of authority Ray had never been aware of before. It was the watchful faces of his family that most struck him. Laura even smiled at her father, shyly, cautiously. Her eyes were shining and there were bright spots of colour on her cheeks.
Ray glanced at her sisters and then her mother and realised that all of them now wore the same doe eyed expressions of devotion.
"-Discipline Ray," Mr Tate said. "It needn't be something to fear." He smiled proudly, "Corrrection when it's warranted is a kindness, a demonstration of affection. I'm sure you agree?"
Ray nodded dumbly. He wasn't sure if he agreed or not. Something strange and unexpected was going on, that was the only thing he was sure of at that moment.
He glanced at Laura who met his troubled gaze and this time she didn't look away. She seemed less dismayed by his presence than when he'd first arrived. Now she drew herself up and raised her chin and held his gaze and he thought how beautiful and proud she looked.
Mr Tate continued, "I think, as you're almost family, you should be part of this as well."
Ray saw Laura's shy smile even as her blush deepened. Her sisters were also looking at him with curious, interested, slightly cautious expressions. Mrs Tate's expression was the warmest and most direct of all. Ray found himself staring at her, unable to look away.
"-Anne?" Mr Tate said and Ray watched as Laura's youngest sister blushed attractively and stepped forward. "It's a tradition that the youngest goes first," Mr Tate explained. Now he reached out and touched his daughter's hair with his good hand while she smiled and waited and never once took her eyes from her father's face.
It was very quiet in the kitchen. Ray could hear a clock ticking somewhere in another room. The outside world seemed a million miles away. There was a sense of anticipation in the air and everyone seemed to be holding their breath.
Mr Tate was thinking and now he appeared to reach a decision. His voice was soft and deep and not unkind when he said, "-The paddle, I think. Six for Anne..."
Ray saw how bright her eyes were. The ghost of a nervous smile touched her lips and she glanced quickly at Ray as if she was in some way pleased that he was there.
