My sister Beth had phoned to say she was in the neighbourhood, and could she call in. In fact she had a few days and could I put her up. It had been ages since I had last seen her but of course she was very welcome.
I am Mat, 28 and recently separated from Kate. Beth is a year younger and as far as I knew was unattached. I was on my own and welcomed the prospect of her company. My split up with Kate had left me feeling a little insecure, and when we were kids Beth and I had been very close, so her making contact cheered me immediately.
'Hi Beth, great to see you! You're looking well.' And she was, her mid brown hair was cut fairly short, and that suited her. She has a broad face with big eyes and fine features, which the haircut emphasised. She was also looking trim and glowing with health.
'And you look better than I expected.'
'Oh yes, what were you expecting?'
'Well, Kate said you were a little down.'
'I didn't know you were in touch with her.'
'I gave her a call when I heard you were separating.'
'Okay, well it's good to see you whatever the reason. Come in, come in. The spare room is yours for as long as you want it.'
'Thanks.'
She brought in her bag and we hugged. I had a two bedroom flat, overlooking a park. There would be ample space for the two of us.
It was a Friday evening. I prepared a meal of a chicken salad, and I had some good South American white wine ready chilled. Then lest the main course was too austere and healthy, we could follow with chocolate fudge cake and ice cream. I put on a CD of some old twenties jazz, and the atmosphere was good.
We brought each other up to date on our various careers. I'd recently taken a teaching job at a local university. Beth was doing media work, as a director of photography. Jobs were a little infrequent, intensive periods of work with gaps between. She was in such a gap just now. It coincided with my having a few days so we could spend some time together. She took her digital SLR camera with her everywhere, and wanted to take some pics here, including some of me- she had not got many as we had lost contact. And Beth loved the chocolate fudge cake and ice-cream. We had indulged in secret midnight feasts when we were about twelve or so, eating by torchlight, dressed in our night clothes.
'Should we put on our nighties for this course?' Beth said with a smile. I smiled back.
'You're looking in good shape Mat. I'd better record that before you go to seed.' She looked at me mischievously. She'd obviously loosened up after several glasses of wine.
'And you are looking lovely, little sister. So I shall need some pics of you too.'
'I miss our special times together. I loved the drawings you used to do for me when we were kids. I've still got some of them. Do you remember Joey?'
'Gosh have you? That's nice. I think. Yes of course I remember Joey.' Would I be embarrassed by them now? Particularly those of Joey.
She yawned, and stretched languorously.
'Joey says she'd like a glass of brandy now, and a cup of Lady Grey tea in bed tomorrow.' Beth licked her lips and smiled lasciviously.
'We cannot refuse Joey.' I said getting up to pour two glasses of brandy.
I had better explain about Joey.
Joey was an imaginary figure, a kind of shared alter ego. We created her as part of our fantasy games, as the figure who could propose outrageous adventures. She was allowed to locate us in a Hollywood movie, or in a darkest jungle, or in hyper space. She suggested that we creep out of bed when our parents were out, or asleep. We could go to the kitchen and raid the freezer for exotic ice creams, and then watch unsuitable programmes on television. Or even grown-up videos, when there were any left around by adults. She was wicked and fun.
I drew pictures of her. Sometimes her instructions arrived in speech bubbles in the drawings. I would draw Joey, and Beth would provide the words. 'There's syrup and ice-cream, and sexy videos waiting for you' would appear in the bubble. Things we would otherwise be too shy to articulate. We weren't too sure how Joey should dress. She looked like Beth except she had developed breasts. Otherwise she was androgynous, or trans-sexual. Probably driven by the onset of hormones I ended up drawing her naked, as a slim figure with breasts. But Beth insisted that she had to have everything so she had a penis too. Not that she ever did anything sexual. And nor did we. It was all oddly both wicked and innocent.
Beth used to use Joey to issue instructions to me. And I did to her sometimes. I think she thought she was pushing her luck asking for tea in bed in the morning, so she used Joey to do it. And of course I was happy to comply.
The brandy left us both a little sozzled, and the evening was getting late. We decided to turn in. I showed Beth to the spare bedroom, and as we parted she gave me a big affectionate hug, and kissed me.
'Good night big brother. Joey says sleep well and no late night adventures tonight.'
'Good night Beth, it's good to have you here.'
The next morning I was out of bed early, shaved and showered before I put the kettle on to make tea- Lady Grey as requested, in a mug decorated with sunflowers. I knocked on the bedroom door and went in.
Beth was awake, but looked like she had not been for long. She sat up in bed to accept the tea. I had not realised that she slept naked, and as she sat up her breasts were fully revealed. Her skin was a creamy light brown, slightly paler over her breasts. They were I suppose a fullish B-cup, of quite large diameter, but not pendulous. Her nipples were pink sticking up as if she were slightly turned on. They looked lovely. I could not help staring at them. She looked at me evenly and smiled with her mischievous expression.
'Thank you for the tea, it is delicious.'
'You are welcome. I have to drive into town to get some provisions. Do you want to come?'
'No, thanks. Can I stay here and use your PC to catch up on emails?'
'Yes, of course. There's a spare house key in the kitchen if you need to go out.'
While I was out I couldn't get the picture of Beth out of my mind. You are not supposed to be turned on by your sister! And I was being. Was that her intention? Or was she just being outrageous?
I returned with the shopping to discover that Beth was out. When I had unpacked I began my next chore. I had several boxes of Kate's stuff which I needed to move to the garage. I was just lugging the first of them out when I heard the door. It was Beth returned with some shopping of her own.
'Hi sis. Successful trip?'
'Yes, thanks. Got some more wine for later. I'll just put this other stuff away.'
She disappeared into her bedroom with a slightly distracted air, returning almost immediately.
'Coffee?'
'Good idea. Then I want to move out this stuff of Kate's. I thought I could store it in the garage.'
'Okay, I'll give you a hand. Be good to clear that room, and then I can use it to take my photis. If you don't mind that is.'
'No, that's fine.'
We settled for coffee.
'So, it's really over between you and Kate.'
'Afraid so.'
'She had some interesting things to say about your choices. She meant of her and the serious women friends you'd had before her.'
'Oh yes.'
'They all seemed to look the same.'
'How's that?.'
'Well, brown hair, medium height, neat features.'
'Yes, I suppose that's true.'
'She thought that they all looked like me.'
'What a conceit!'
'But is it true?'
'Yes.'
'Oh. Well I am flattered.'
'What about the blokes in your life. Do they look like me?'
'No, not at all.'
'No similarity then?'
'Oh yes, lots. They all tend to have a personality like yours, and similar characteristics.'
'Such as?'
'Fairly intelligent, visually creative, argumentative, bossy.'
'Good heavens, is that me? I thought that was you!'
'Oh, it is. That's why it never works out. Too similar.'
'So, do you think if we spend some time together we might be able to get over this sibling obsession?'
'Something like that. If that's what we want.'
'Hmm.'
We returned to moving the boxes of Kate's stuff from the spare room. There was quite a lot of it, and it was a warm humid day. Beth was wearing a tee shirt and jeans, as was I. It was quite hard work and soon we were hot and sweaty. But we stuck at it, and eventually the room was clear. Beth then took charge of moving things around so that there was sufficient blank wall to provide a back-drop for photography. She thought that the natural north-light from the window would provide sufficient illumination. Eventually she was satisfied.
'What I fancy now is a quick shower, and then a long cold glass of wine.'
That sounded good to me. As Beth was showering I got out the glasses and wine. As soon as she shouted that the shower was free, I headed for it. When I was through, I dried off and put on shorts and a tee shirt.
I joined Beth in the sitting room, where she was decanting wine. She handed me a glass, and said 'cheers'. She was wearing a purple pullover of mine, which was too big. It came down to mid thigh. As far as I could tell she was wearing nothing else.
'I borrowed your pullover, I hope you don't mind. I wanted something loose and comfortable. It smells of you.'
'What will you do if I object?'
'Remove it of course.'
'Well, that might be worth it to find out if you've got anything on underneath.'
'Oh yes?'
'Joey says you have to reveal what you have on.' I smiled.
'And Joey cannot be denied.'
'No.'
'Okay.'
She put down her glass of wine and stood up.
'Ready?'
'Yup.'
With that she pulled up the hem of the sweater to her chin, and wiggled her hips. She was naked underneath. So I got to see her breasts again, but this time the rest of her too.
'Turn round.'
She rotated slowly sticking out her bottom when it was pointed to me. Then when she had completed her turn, she let the pullover drop and sat down.
'Okay.'
'You have a nice body. It looks better like that than clothed.'
She took a long drink of wine, whilst I fixed the image of her body in my memory. She looked quite fit, slender but not thin. And her body was smooth, with only a little wisp of dark pubic hair. I thought she looked very sexy. I was feeling turned on by my sister. Did she know the affect she was having on me?
She looked at me seriously.
'You know what this means?'
'Gosh, lot's of things. I dunno.'
'It means the photography has to, well, include some things.'
'That's a bit vague.'
'Joey says the photographs have to include nude.'