The house was strangely quiet when Christy came home. She set her pack down by the door and listened to the stillness. Faintly, she heard muffled sounds. A TV droned somewhere upstairs. Music faintly seeped up from the basement. She wasn't alone. Dad and Tina must be home, but the house still felt unnaturally empty.
Christy picked up her bag and went upstairs. She wasn't ready to see Dad just yet. Tina's door was open so she went in. Tina had Buffy the Vampire
Slayer playing on TV, but she was busily typing away at her computer. Christy recognized the screen as a chat room.
"What ya doing squirt?" Christy asked.
"Wha?" Tina said absently. "Chatting."
"Who with?" Christy asked.
"The Church Ladies," Tina said.
"Nuns with guns?" Christy asked thinking her sister must be kidding. She usually caught Tina chatting about boy bands or, lately, doing cyber.
"Nah," she said distractedly. "I'm talking to Mom's friends. Daddy's really bumming. Mom's gone off to the Gran's and I want to find out what's
going on." Tina turned from the screen and looked at Christy. "Whatever's going on, it isn't about your pierced titties."
"So you talked to Dad?" Christy asked.
Tina broke into a salacious grin, "Oh we talked," she cooed. "Daddy's got a silver tongue, ya know."
"No!" Christy exclaimed. "You didn't!"
"What?" Tina shot back. "Like you're the only one who gets to fuck Daddy?"
"You little slut!" Christy laughed.
"You bet!" Tina said. Her expression turned serious again. "Have you seen Daddy's little lair in the basement? He's got a lot of stuff from when he and Mom were younger. Punk albums, letters, naked pictures of Mom."
Tina was expecting Christy to be shocked by the revelation, but all she said was "He's got pictures. He told me they met on a nude beach."
"OK," Tina said a trifle miffed. "It so didn't fit with Mom. I mean, Mom makes the nuns look like Girls Gone Wild."
"She's not that bad," Christy laughed.
"Well, almost" Tina responded. "Anyway, I hacked her computer and looked at her files and stuff. Boring."
"And you expected?"
"Something," Tina said. "So I looked at her bookmarks and found this chat room she goes to. I've been talking to her Church Lady friends
pretending to be an old college friend."
"And..." Christy asked.
"And nothing," Tina signed typing a bye message to the chat room and logging off. "Momma is a saint. She's a pillar of the church. The one
thing I did get from them is she has a redemption fixation. They say she's always talking about atonement and earning forgiveness."
"Forgiveness for what?" Christy asked.
"No one knows." Tina said. "Or no one is telling. They're all tight asses ya know."
"Good work, Nancy Drew," Christy said as she mussed Tina's hair. "So what's Dad doing?"
"Moping, drinking, listening to the records Mom made him promise to destroy. Looking at the photos Mom told him to burn." Tina looked
profoundly sad. "Daddy's sad, lonely, horny and now he's feeling guilty because he fucked his daughters."
"Hey, I only blew him," Christy said, but the attempt at humor fell flat. She hadn't really thought that Dad would feel guilty about having sex with her.
"Yeah. That didn't get Monica off the hook either," Tina said. "Look, not to change the subject, but you got a package from Denmark."
"Really?" said Christy. "I don't know anyone in Denmark."
"Well, open it and find out what it is," Tina said tossing the package over to her.
Christy opened the mailer and slid out a blank DVD case with Carmen Sessions 78-79 handwritten on it. A letter fell out with it. Christy
opened the letter and read: This is Doc's friend Han. I got your address from Liz. It bothered me that you looked so familiar. When I got back to work, I realized you reminded me of a girl I worked with when I was just starting in the business. I'd just been mastering some of her old loops to DVD before my trip. I burned this compilation for you so you could check it
out. Let me know what you think."
"Who's Han?" Tina asked.
"A guy I fucked in Amsterdam," Christy said. "He makes pornos."
"You fucked a porn star?" Tina asked.