"Mom, where've you been?" April cried when Carolyn returned to her room. "You were gone for
ages!"
"It wasn't that long," Carolyn said defensively. "I guess I lost track of time."
"What were you talking about? You were away for, like, more than an hour!"
"Oh, just this and that. He's a very interesting man."
But while April was taking in what her stepmother was saying, she was also scrutinizing her as if looking at a perplexing slide in a microscope. Now she slowly walked over to Carolyn and said:
"Why are you all red?"
"I'm not red!" Carolyn exclaimed.
"You
are!
What happenedâdid you do some laps in the hallway, or what?"
"Oh, you're being silly, April."
April boldly went up to her stepmother and actually sniffed her face and neck. Carolyn drew back in alarm, but not fast enough.
"What theâ?" April said in ferocious puzzlement. "Mom, did youâdid you
sleep
with him?"
Carolyn flushed, turning even redder than she already was. "Thatâthat's ridiculous!"
"You
did!
Mom, you're so naughty!"
April was saying all this with a broad grin on her faceâand that, to Carolyn, was the only gratifying point in this whole mortifying conversation.
"Dear," she said, looking away, "you have no right to say that."
"Well, Mom, what I
will
say is, it's about time."
"What's
that
supposed to mean?"
"Oh, Mom, you know what I mean. You really didn't have to be celibate all this time after Daddy left."
"You shouldn't speak that way to me! Anyway, how do you know I was celibate?"
"It's pretty obvious. Did I ever see you bring a single man home in all these three years, or hear of you going out with anyone?"
"IâI just wasn't interested!"
"Mom, don't give me that. I know you were."
"Whatâwhat do you mean?"
April didn't elaborate, but perhaps she didn't need to. She wasn't quite so brazen as to admit to overhearing Carolyn make strange sounds at various times when she thought she was in the privacy of her own bedroom.
"Never mind about that," April said loftily. "How was it?"
"How was what?"
"You knowâwith Kumar."
"There's no way I'm going to tell you!"
"Why not? He probably told you about me." It was only now that April realized that she herself hadn't told Carolyn what had happened between herself and Kumar earlier in the afternoon. "Or did he?"
"I got it out of him," Carolyn muttered. "And on that point, young lady, I have a lot to say! Why did you lie to me about your vast experience with boys?"
"I didn't lie," April said uncomfortably. "I never said I'd gone all the way with a guy."
"Maybe not in so many words, but you certainly implied it. I thought you'd lost your virginity years ago! So what's up with that?"
April started walking agitatedly around the room. "Oh, Mom, it was a lot of things. I guess part it was I was just wanting to tease you. I mean, you seemed so uptight about sex and men and all that."
"I wasn't uptight!"
"Yes, you were. I know it must have been horrible when Daddy left, but you just seemed to retreat into yourself. God, I thought you were going to go off and join a convent!"
"Don't be silly, April. I had you to take care ofâand you were quite a handful!"
And still are.
"I know," April said ruefully. "And I'm sorry about that. Just teenage rebellion, I guess."
"Is that what you call it?"
"I suppose."
"So what did you do with all those guys you went out with?"
"I think you can guess."
"A lot of mouth action, would you say?"
"Mom, that's disgusting!"
"It's disgusting when I
talk
about it, but it's not disgusting when you
do
it?"
"Mom, I really don't want to talk about that. I want to know what you and Kumar did."
"Well," Carolyn said snidely, "I guess it was pretty much what you two did."
"Really?" April said, her eyes wide open. "You meanâfront and back?"
"Yup."
"Omigod, Mom! I can't believe he had the energy!"
"Well, he did."
"How'd you like it?"
"Like what?"
"You knowâthe back way."
"Um, not so much. It hurt."
"Yeah, it hurt me too. But heâmade it better."
"Yes, he did that to me too."
"Really? He made you come?"
"
Yes!
Do I have to spell it out for you?"
"He's quite something, isn't he?" April said dreamily.
"Yes, he is," Carolyn said quietly.
April looked pensively at her stepmother. "You really like him, don't you?"
"What a way to put it! You're not in high school anymore, and I'm certainly not!" Settling down, Carolyn went on: "I feel a lot for him. I think you do too."
"Yes, I do."
"So . . . it's a little complicated."
"I guess." But April brightened suddenly and said: "So are we going to alternate?"
"What on earth do you mean?"
"You knowâyou spend one night with him, and then I spend the next night, and so on until the vacation's over?"
Carolyn felt a little queasy over that idea but said: "Yes, I suppose."
"It'll be fun, Mom!" April said cheerily. "Maybe we could even . . ."
"What?"
"You know . . . the three of us . . .?"
"No!"