Auntie was always a little different. She has always been fiery, yet sweet. That is unless she takes issue with something you did. She could wear her emotions on her sleeve at times.
Confirming she couldn't bear children with my uncle seemed to make her more emotional. They tried every natural remedy from fucking upside down to herbal teas, special diets, testicular massages, magnetic field cock rings, to simply timing her ovulation.
Adopting four beautiful children gave her a different outlook on life, as if she wasn't going to miss any more of life's opportunities. She certainly wasn't going to let a thing like social norms get in the way.
We sat around her Spanish-style house in the desert suburbs butting up against the mountains of southern California. After a couple weeks of swimming, tanning and catching up, Auntie, cousin Eleanor and I were the only occupants on another sweltering late-July day. My shorts were riding up well beyond tan lines, but it was too hot to care. The AC chugged and whirred in the struggle to keep us cool.
Auntie flopped hard onto the cushion beside me, bouncing my attention in her direction. Her hand landed on my exposed thigh and rubbed as she cooed, "God, another scorcher today, courtesy of the Mojave!"
Returning a smile, putting an arm around her to squeeze her into me while rubbing her pale arm I thought, 'how does she not tan living in the desert!'
"You look sweltering. Why don't we get this off?" she asked rhetorically, as she peeled my t-shirt over my head, ran a hand along and admired my furry chest. I thought back on the first few awkward days we spent together. I hadn't seen or heard from this branch of family since my aunt and uncle had a falling out with my mom when I was a boy. That drama had prevented me from meeting my gorgeous cousins for years before I got the surprise invitation to spend the summer with them. Now we were in a crash-course bonding session, brought to you by Auntie.
My gaze combed her body. Being the first redhead in my life, I had often fantasized about what shade of red her pubes are and how extensive her freckles are. Adolescent hormones sure arouse you over the most basic anatomy thoughts during those times. Auntie never was supermodel, drop dead gorgeous, but she took care of herself. Running after four growing teens kept her highly active all these years later. Her reddish hair dulled since first coming into my life.
Curly strawberry blonde locks draped my shoulder as she rested there. A stirring began in my loins. It had been two weeks since I'd done more than touch myself and that was only to wash. Auntie kept us busy, not wasting any time to bond between cousins. Sharing a room with my little cousin left no privacy.
Eleanor came around the corner to join us, occupying the chair to my right. Her tanned volleyball thighs tantalizingly out of reach were more than I could take, bringing me unmistakably to full mast. Checking the status of my little friend, my eyes caught on Auntie's freckled cleavage. I knew she could see my shorts lifting, probably make out the ridge of my pulsing corona.
"Me and El were talking and I was explaining to her about circumcision," Auntie sounded without lifting her head. "You're cut, aren't you?"
The words stunned me. Was it a lucky guess, a matter of running the odds, or did she learn this fact from my parents? Or, and this thought excited me, did she spy on me when I was in some state of undress? I turned to Eleanor as if to validate both the content of the conversation and her curiosity.
"It's just that, well, she's never seen one to even know the difference," Auntie continued.
"El?" I asked the source directly.
She looked straight into my eyes with those warm, brown eyes and said, "Yeah, well, I've been so busy, it's not like I really have time for boys!"
"You're eighteen," I reminded her.
"Yeah? So?" Her personality mirrored her mother's regardless of their looks differing substantially.
"Ehm," I cleared my throat. "Eighteen and you've never so much as stumbled across one?"
"It's not that I don't want to! The opportunity just hasn't come up."
"I'm sorry, it's just that most kids your age have at least Googled it."
She sat silently for a few moments. Gauging her honesty was difficult. Has she really never seen one in health class or sex ed, never searched the internet or accidentally clicked onto an adult site? Her innocence only added to her mystery.
