Summer on the Isle

Note: This is a rewrite and repost of a story I previously had taken down. I've change the story a bit to fit with some of the comments from before. If anyone remembers the story from before and objects to the inclusion of incest, please know that the story was always meant to have incest. Some of the people who've had the chance to read the story to the end complained that it seemed like the incest revelation came out of nowhere. They suggested that I let the audience know much earlier about the true nature of the relationship between all the characters.

*****

"I'm not going." John said forcefully.

"It's the last time. Don't you want to see everyone one last time?" His mother was very disappointed to hear his answer.

"No." John was floored by the question. "They don't want to see me and the feeling is mutual."

"That's not true. Last year everyone missed you."

"Don't you remember what Carol and Susan did to me?"

"I do and they're sorry. That was two years ago. Can't you forgive them?"

"NO! I'm not going. That's final."

"Johnny, this is the last time."

"Good. I'm glad. Next year you'll finally know to not even ask."

"The island looks so beautiful and we have some big news we want to tell everyone."

"So what."

"There has to be some way I can convince you."

John thought it over for a moment. This was a rare occasion to milk something out of his mother. "If I go then you have to pay for my girlfriend to go too."

"John, this is just supposed to be for us."

"Right, which is why we take these trips with three other moms."

"That's not fair. We've all been in this together from the beginning."

"Mom, these trips aren't for me or the other kids. They're for you and the rest of the moms. We're all grown now so I wouldn't be surprised if everyone else just didn't go. You and the moms should just go, have a good time, and leave us behind."

"You're 19. That's hardly grown up."

"It's grown up enough for me to be able to say I'm not going."

"You'll have a good time."

"Unless the island is the size of Australia I just don't see how it's going to be large enough for me and Susan."

"What about Carol?"

"Or Carol but especially not Susan."

"I'm sorry you feel that way."

"Well, somebody ought to be sorry about what happened."

"Last year they both apologized so many times for what they did."

"If they really want to apologize then they can do to each other what they did to me."

"That doesn't sound like a very constructive..."

"That would be great to see them running naked in the streets of Paris being chased by the cops."

"That's an image I can live without, son."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Does it bother you to hear? Must be so tough to listen to what I actually went through."

"I'm sorry..."

"Jail mom. I was in a French jail."

"I know, honey."

"For all I care Carol and Susan can go jump off the Eiffel tower."

There was a moment of silence as John's mom decided not to push him anymore. "I'll let everyone know."

"Good. And tell Susan I hope..."

"John, the day will come when you'll realized you should have forgiven them."

"That day is not today."

"I'll get you a ticket in case you change your mind."

"You want to waste money that's your business."

It was a strange feeling to actually win an argument with his mom. John was right. How could she ever expect him to go on one of their group vacations after Paris. Even if this was the last time and the usual two month vacation had been reduced down to three weeks, it didn't matter. John wasn't sure he'd be able to restrain himself from wanting to strangle Susan if he ever saw her again.

The girls had played pranks on John before but in Paris they crossed a line. John had been feeling like he didn't really belong in the group anymore even before Paris. The group consisted of four single moms and their kids. The moms had been best friends going all the way back and they devised these vacations as a way of letting the kids be friends as well. That plan worked pretty well for the other kids since they were all girls. There was of course Carol and Susan but there was also Penny, and Melissa who was Carol's twin sister. John was the only guy and as he became a teenager it was obvious that he didn't really want to do any of the other things they wanted to do.

...

The July 4th holiday came and John rode out to his girlfriend's house on his motorcycle. His girlfriends' father didn't like the thing and had strong feelings about motorcycles in general so John had to park it at a gas station and walk the rest of the way. John rang the doorbell and eventually Jill answered.

"What are you doing here?" she asked very concerned.

"What do you mean?"

"I thought you were going away with you mom. That's what she told me."

"No. She's going, I'm not. And even if I were going they aren't leaving for two more days."

"Oh. Ok."

"Nobody home? You have me all to yourself."

"John, listen. I'm sorry. We're all going to see the fireworks and we don't have room."

John looked over at the driveway and her dad's car wasn't there. It was a bit late for them to just now be picking Jill up. Jill was acting suspicious. But John wasn't about to accuse her of anything unless there was something a bit more solid than being surprised to see him.

"Ok. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Right. See you..." as the words were coming out of her mouth someone fell from the roof onto the grass on the side of the house. John didn't listen to whatever Jill was saying. He dashed to the corner to see what had happened and Tony was on his back in pain.

"Tony."

"Ow."

John looked back to Jill who had a very guilty look on her face. She hadn't realized that Tony was hurt yet. John ran over to Tony to try to help him up but Tony yelled out in pain.

"Where does it hurt?"

"My leg. I'm sorry man I was just trying to..."

"Save it." said John as he got out his phone to call for an ambulance.

"I thought I could make it."

"That Tony." said Jill as she came over to them. "Always falling off random houses."

John gave her a look that he hoped would communicate that he was not an idiot and knew full well what was going on. But as angry was he was, Tony was hurt and that took priority.

At the hospital Tony went into surgery and John waited to see how he'd turn out. He got a text from Jill but he didn't' read it. She couldn't even be bothered to leave the house. He heard the fireworks going off outside but he wasn't in the mood to look.

It was some time but they eventually let John go back to see Tony. His leg was in a cast. He'd hurt himself a lot more than he expected to.

"What's up?" John said.

"Ay, man."

"Well, now we know not to jump off buildings."

"I'll say."

John sat down at his bed side and waited. The two guys avoided eye contact for a bit and then there were a few efforts to clear their throats.

"I'm sorry, man." said Tony.

"Do you love her?"

"Um..."

"Yes or no."

"Yeah. I think I do. I really think I do. I love her. I love her a lot."

"Does she love you?"

"I don't know. I hope so."

"And neither one of you thought to run this by me."

"I'm sorry, man. I'm really sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. Just, you know, she was there and ..."

"I don't need to hear."

"Sorry. I'm just so ..."

"I called your parents but they're still out of town."

"Dude. You're one of my best friends. I'd never..."

"Stop. Stop talking. You're making it worse."

"You probably want to punch me."

"It occurred to me."

"Go ahead. I deserve it."

"I'm not punching you while you're in a hospital bed and can't even get away."

"Seriously. Punch me. I can take it."

"Don't worry about it."

"No. I want you to punch me. Go ahead. Punch me. If it'll make you forgive me then you can punch me everyday."

"I'm not going to punch you. If I let you off the hook like that then I'd have to punch Jill and that just wouldn't be right when her new boyfriend is laid up in the hospital."

A nurse came and told them that the doctor wanted Tony to get some rest so John got up to leave. He paused at the door and turned around.

"I'm not going to punch you but I will forgive you. If you love Jill and she loves you, I won't get between you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You should have told me first but it is what it is. Besides, it's not like I'd want to date her after this."

"Wow, I'm going to go down in the world record book."

"For what?"

"First person ever forgiven by John Basilo."

"What are you talking about? I forgive."

"When? Dude, you have a shit list so long I can't see how you keep track of it."

"That's not ..."

"You refuse to buy or even use a pen just because the company that made it sold you a faulty pen once way back in 5th grade."

"They should go out of business."

"You began every conversation with Mrs. Collins by calling her a liar."

"She WAS a liar."

"Listen to yourself. You never forgive."

"I just forgave you."

"I know. Thanks man. It means a lot to me."

"I do forgive sometimes."

"Name one other person you've ever forgiven besides me."

"Jill, obviously."

"Right."

"I do forgive. I forgive a lot of people."

"You know I think there's one of those pens in the drawer here."

"I've forgiven so many people, you just don't even know."

"Ok. I believe you. But none of them appreciate it as much as me."

"Well, you better appreciate it."

"So, we ok man?"

"Yeah. We're ok. Well, you're not exactly ok. You have to spend the rest of your summer in the hospital."

"You think Jill'll come up and see me?"

John just gave him a look.

"Too soon?" asked Tony.

"Yeah, way too soon."

...

John had a lot on his mind. He got a call from Jill but he didn't answer it. He'd let Tony tell her she was ... for.giv.en.

Tony must have just been messing with him because John forgave people. He forgave a lot of people. He forgave ... He distinctly remembered forgiving ... Ok, now that he thought about it there weren't a lot of examples of him forgiving people. But that was only because he was so easy going he rarely took offense to anything. People would say sorry for little things they had no business being sorry about. You don't have to say sorry for accidentally bumping someone's chair. Wave it off and make sure the person never walks near you again. Someone rips a page in a book you lent them, it's ok. They don't have to say they're sorry. You just never lend books to them again and there's no problem. Sure, on some level he wanted that pen company to go out of business but that was only because it was illegal to stab their CEO in the neck with one of his defective products.

John looked at himself in the mirror and came to the realization that apparently he really did have a problem with forgiving people. But he couldn't just forgive everyone. That would be madness. You have to hold a grudge about some things. Right? Right?

John got out his travel bag and started packing. He called up the email for the ticket his mom had bought him and looked at the itinerary. He wasn't supposed to go for another two days but he really didn't want to stay home with the mood he had. He double checked he had everything he needed in his pack. He grabbed his passport and called a taxi to take him to the airport.

It was a complicated mess but John was eventually able to exchange is first class ticket for two days in the future for an economy ticket on a plane that left that day and had an 11 hour layover in Hawaii.

...

The island really was beautiful. It had a volcanic center but it was encircled by coral islands creating a beautiful lagoon. John was there an entire day early but the hotel staff agreed to let him check into his room.

Being on the island alone was actually extremely fun. He went to the beach of course but he wasn't just some lonely guy a the beach. He got to talking with some of the locals and they invited him to a party that night. The party was smaller and less rowdy than John was used to but there were some interesting people and he even got one girl's phone number. It didn't really do him any good since his phone didn't work in this country but it was a confidence boost to know he could get it.

On his way home from the party another group of older locals invited him to go night fishing with them. John shrugged his shoulder 'why not' and got into the truck. After all, when you're having a great day why let it end just because the sun goes down. They went out to the dock and got in a boat and stayed out for about three hours. It seemed to be more about getting away from their wives than actually fishing but it was cool.

Things took a turn when one of the guys named Denki offered for his daughter to marry John. John said he wasn't interested but the guy seemed to really want his daughter to marry the rich American who was on vacation. He showed John a picture of her and John had to admit, she was pretty hot. He didn't agree to marry her but also said he wouldn't be opposed to meeting her in person.

John went back to the hotel feeling like he was the most desirable man on the planet.

...

After such a long night John slept in the next day. It was 11 when he finally opened his eyes and staggered out of bed and down to the lobby to get breakfast. The food choices had already been switched over to the lunch menu but it was still free and John was hungry. He sat with a smile on his face and being very pleased with himself for going. This really was a nice place.

He was still sitting there taking in the amazing view when he saw several taxis pull up to the front door and the group with his mom get out. There was some confusion at the front counter as the staff tried to tell them that John was already there and the rest of the group was incredulous. John heard Martha, one of the moms, say that the staff must not understand English very well but John knew they spoke English just fine.

John debated with himself as to if he should stick around or leave but he figured he would at least say hi before he ditched them. John heard the elevator go up and then a couple of minutes later it came back down and he heard his mom calling his name.

"Right here mom."

She ran up to him and hugged him. "I'm so glad you changed your mind."

"Yeah, well I would have been bored at home anyway."

"Wait right here. I have to work some things out at the front desk."

"I'll be right here."

"I love you son. Thank you."

His mom ran off to do whatever she had to do and John turned to the other tourist who was mentally undressing John's mom as she walked away. .

"That's my mom you're checking out dude."

This was something John had to warn a lot of people about. John's mom was only 33 and had a healthy body that made a lot of people think she was even younger. It was weird but all the moms were like that. John didn't think about why or how it had come to be. It just always was like that. When John was ten and finally asked about it; his mom who was only 24 just flat out refused to answer but promised to one day explain. The topic was dropped and never came back up; not even after watching the famous "are you my mommy" episode of Dr. Hugh.

John sat back down at his chair and then was almost knocked out of his chair when Penny ran up and jumped on him.

"John, John, John, John, John."

"Ok, ok, ok, ok, get off me."

Penny had a slim figure, olive skin with dark hair and she wore glasses. She was the meek one among the girls.

"I missed you, John." she said as John stood up and then pried her off of him and set her down.

John looked past her and there was the gang all there.

"You too Penny. Hi Melissa, ... Aunt Martha ... Aunt Sophia ... Aunt Amy."

They all said hello but Carol and Susan's faces turned pensive as they realized he didn't mention them.

"So is everyone ready to go to the beach?" asked John's mom as she returned. There was a lot of agreement all around but then John added his opinion.

"I went to the beach yesterday. I was hoping to do something else today."

"John!"

"I sort of have plans already. But look we have three weeks so I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to do things together."

"I want to stay and do what John's doing." added Penny.

His mom obviously wasn't happy about it but she held it in and said she was happy to see him again and then the rest of the group went off to the beach dragging Penny with them.

...

Martha waited until everyone else was out of earshot. She went over to her friend Emily and took her hand as she leaned in to say something private.

"I'm glad you were able to talk John into coming."

"I thought he wasn't actually. He's still really mad about Paris."

"For the last two months Penny has asked me nearly everyday, is John coming, is John coming. But now that he's here everything will be perfect."

"I'm still really nervous about telling them. I mean, this is a good thing, right?"

"Of course. They need to know."

"They're going to ask why we didn't tell them sooner."

"We'll tell them the truth. They all needed to be adults before they heard the story."

"I know that. But I know John. He'll turn this around and make it something to be angry about."

"It's going to be rough on all of us."

"You got so lucky with Penny."

"Hardly. I told you she went through a phase where she was in love with your boy. I nearly broke down and told her. I never felt so incompetent as a parent. She saw right through all my bullshit."

"Yeah, what ever happened with that?"

"I just had to be a mean witch and tell her John was off limits because I didn't like him."

"Really?"

"I know it was probably not the right thing to say but I panicked. I couldn't let the girl fall in love with her brother."

"Quiet." Emily said as she looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropping on them.

"Poor girl. She cried and cried when I made her take down all of John's pictures."

"Well, in a few more days, after everyone is settled in, we'll have the big meeting and let them all know. Then Penny will understand. After that we can go hands off and let the kids all work it out amongst themselves. They're all old enough now to decide if they want to be part of each other's lives or not."

"It seems like this should bring some kind of closure, doesn't it?"

"Some kind of closure. A little bit. One thing gets closure, I guess. From John's point of view this isn't closure at all. It's opening up a huge can of chaos. He's going to find out that Susan and Carol are his sisters. He's not going to like that."

"They're going to have so many questions about their father. It won't be easy talking about him."

"It's in the past. He can't hurt you anymore."

Martha might have responded but her emotions were taking her and she had to walk away to be by herself for a bit.

...

John really didn't have any plans beside making a vane attempt to find that girl he met the night before or that guy's daughter. He could make calls from his room and he had their numbers. But instead he wondered around the lobby of the hotel not making much headway on either goal. There was a game room in the hotel with lots of machines in it but it didn't interest John. He passed the theater and went in for a moment to see some sort of acrobatic stage show going on but he didn't feel like watching the rest of it. He walked by an aquarium and then out of sheer boredom decided to try his hand at the golf course behind the hotel. He rented some clubs and bought some balls and then went out on the green.

He had no idea what he was doing. He did what he thought was right from watching people play golf in the movies. He swung the club and completely missed the ball. It didn't matter. It was a laugh. He swung again and again he missed. That was when he heard clapping behind him.