All people are over the age of 18.
Please vote at the end, using the stars. Any comments are welcome as well. Thanks and enjoy.
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Arkansas, Carol
I woke early Saturday morning to the sound of my father sticking his head in the room saying, "Come on boy, let's go for a run."
I clambered out of bed, dressed, then met Dad out front. He was out front stretching lightly as I let the screen door bang shut. For a 42 year old man he was in great shape. Maybe being in the army had something to do with that. Waving toward the porch, "Good job on this yesterday, Grandma and Grandpa are happy with the way it turned out."
I looked over my shoulder at the porch, "Thanks, but I think next time we should replace the roof. Looks like there is some damage up there."
Dad nodded after glancing up and muttered, "Let's hit it."
We took off at what he called an 'easy' pace or about 8 minute miles. A clear sign that he had something to talk about.
It was already 80° and sweat began to pour down my back. "Out with it dad, what's up?"
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye and said, "You came home pretty late last night, or more properly this morning."
I nodded, "Yeah, I was at Aunt Mary's until around midnight then jogged back to Grandma's."
Images of fucking Donna floated through my mind along with the couple hours in the back yard with Terry on one side of me, and Donna on the other.
He muttered something like, "Okay," and we kept going. After another half mile or so I asked, "Dad, if I wanted to do something that might upset a lot of the family, do you think I should?"
He looked over at me and shrugged, "If you are talking about fucking Terry I would suggest you not. But if you do, or have, use condoms and make sure she is on the pill."
I am sure I blushed furiously, because I could feel the heat on my face. "No, I don't want to fuck Terry. I want to marry her."
Dad stumbled a few steps before stopping. Looking at me he replied, "I... I think that would not go over well with anyone in the family." He looked at me and continued, "You know the whole incest taboo thing and all."
I looked down at my feet dejected. "You know that isn't a biblical stance, and as far as I know mostly an American one."
There was a sadness in his voice, "Yes, I know both of those. But you understand that the entire family lives within twenty miles of where we are standing, right?"
"Yeah, I know."
We started running again, back towards Grandma's house and about half way he said, "I recommend one of two things. The first is just move on as much as you can. Painful but productive I think."
I grunted and he continued with, "The other is to seduce her, fuck her and get it out of your system. Hopefully she would be a terrible fuck."
At that I laughed, "Terry terrible at anything? I can't imagine how that would be possible."
Dad chortled and said, "There is a lot of truth to that."
Terry already had three full ride offers and while she hadn't decided on which one to accept, I knew, we all did, that she was an overachiever in every single thing she did, and was going to change the world. Her motto seemed to be "If it's worth doing, it is worth doing perfectly."
When we arrived at the house, Uncle Ash was sitting on the porch with a Dr Pepper (and Crown Royal?) in one hand, his feet up on the rail. "Hi," he greeted as we stopped.
Dad looked at me and said, "Go pack boy, we are headed home."
I looked at him and asked, "I thought we were going to leave tomorrow morning?"
Uncle Ash, short for Asher, said, "Hold on now Caleb. What's the rush, tonight is river night, and I wanted to take Dave with me."
Dad's face settled into a Stony mask which was a good sign it was time to shut up and obey. He responded to Uncle Ash, "You are too damn old for that, Ash."
I didn't know what river night was until Donna and Terry talked about it last night, and I certainly wanted to go. A bonfire on the river bank with beer and babes? Hell yeah I was in.
Uncle Ash replied, "Someone has to babysit the kids with all that fire and what knot that goes on."
Dad shook his head and said, "No, you are nearly 30, time to grow up and let the kids be."
Ash laughed and said, "Well if you are gone, who is gonna stop me?"
Dad's face changed to something I could only describe as rage as he hissed, "I will break you Ash."
My jaw dropped as I stared at my father, and Ash, dumber than I thought, quipped, "Now, now, that's no way to talk to your brother."
Dad looked at him and growled, "Don't push me, Ash. I can and will if I have to."
I heard a car pull up and glanced back to see Terry's blue pinto pull up. She hopped out of it and walked over, and I stared openly at her. She wore a tight black cropped tank top over a bikini top and Daisy Dukes. Her tanned skin glowing in the morning sun. She gave dad a hug then wrapped her arms around my waist. I returned the gesture and we stood side by side.
She looked up at me and asked, "Are you ready?"
I shook my head and replied, "I have to pack, dad wants to go home today."
She looked at Dad, "Uncle Caleb, we were going to River Night!"
He nodded, his eyes shifting back and forth between us and Uncle Ash, who was staring at Terry as if he owned her shit and she was being bad. It confused me and made me uncomfortable. Dad noticed it and hissed in a deep breath.
"Fine, we will stay. But you two are coming with me for a while before heading out on your own. We have stuff to do."
Terry shoved me towards the front porch and said, "Go shower, you stink."
As I headed into the house I heard her thanking and praising dad. A few minutes later I came back outside to see the three of them still in the same places.
"My turn," dad said. He stopped me as he was passing and whispered, "If he touches her at all, break the offending appendage."
I looked at him and saw his steady calmness and nodded, "Yes sir."
I walked over to Terry with a quizzical look, "What did I miss?"
She gave me a peck on the cheek and said, "Nothing uncle Caleb couldn't handle."
I nodded and asked, "What does dad plan on doing? Until you showed up he seemed hell bent on going home today."
She was looking past my shoulder up at the porch, "I don't know really. But I do know this will be the only time you and I can go to River Night together."
I shrugged and replied, "So? We have our lives ahead of us to make memories, one night should pale in comparison to that."
She shook her head and patted my chest, "No hero, tonight is the night."
As a flash I remembered how she finished me the night before, "Hey, that thing you did last night? You know the finger?"
She gave me a half smile and asked, "What about it?"
"How did you learn about it?"
Her eyes shifted back to Uncle Ash as she blushed and muttered, "It doesn't matter does it?"
It clicked suddenly. I knew. "That motherfucker..."
Terry grabbed me by the arms, her nails digging into my flesh. "Shut up hero! Now is not the time to discuss this. Let's go and talk later."
Uncle Ash took that particular moment to pipe in, "Whatchall whispering about?"
I was about to turn around when Terry shouted, "Nothin. Hero was just telling me about how excited he was to go to River Night."
I growled, "I hate that fucking name Terry."
She smiled up at me and replied, "Then stop acting like one. Jeez, Hero, even grandma and grandpa call you that now."
The screen door squeaked open then banged shut as I cursed under my breath. "Come on boy, you too Terry."
We jumped into our Cutlass and drove into Newport. We spent the day doing stupid shit, well it was important, getting things for Grandma and Grandpa. But it was not what I wanted to do. I needed to talk to Terry but it seemed dad was having none of that. Every time we started talking he showed up like mystical nuisance to stop the conversation.
When we got back to the house, all of the cousins were gathered, at least the ones 17 and older. "Holy shit," I muttered.
Dad said, "Yeah it is kind of a thing here. All the 17 year olds to mid twenties go to the river for bonfires, beer, and whatever else. The younger kids on this side of the river and the older on the other side."
He looked around and cursed, "We should have come back earlier."
I looked at him quizzically and Terry filled in the blank, "Uncle Ash is gone."
I looked at her and mumbled, "Sorry," and walked off.
I heard Terry ask Dad something, but not what not his answer.
Dinner was, grandma out did herself and passed like a cacophonous whirlwind of laughter and joy. As the sun set, cousins started trickling away, toward the river. Terry came up and took my hand, her fingers interlaced with mine. "Ready?"