Temporarily Blind Mother

"The blindness will be temporary, I guarantee it. In six weeks you'll be seeing fine again."

It was a relief. Quite a contrast to a few short hours ago when Deb was nearly panic stricken, thinking she would be blind the rest of my life.

The entire day into the evening had been stormy, a torrential downpour with the occasional cluster of thunder and lightening. Deb didn't mind, as did her son. Both were content to go about their business, Deb working from home in her home office, Matt taking his remote college classes in his room. The flickering lights only briefly caused a little panic, considering how dependent both were on power and internet. But like storms in the past, they've always had decent luck when it came to the utilities.

As the storm raged on, they both broke from their day activities for dinner, chit-chatted with warm, friendly conversation as they have for many months now. Ever since having to stay home together nearly full-time, they became very close. Deb liked the company since she split up with her husband nearly a decade ago. Matt liked the company too, for his dating activities had been set aside in sake of studying. Together they found an unspoken companionship that was comforting and satisfying.

After dinner they cleaned up and went about their evening activities. Weekends they usually spent more time together in the evenings, usually watching a couple of movies together. This being a weeknight, they went about their usual evening activities. Matt retired to his bedroom to play video games. Deb as usual relaxed on the couch in her home office to read a book.

Just around bedtime Deb went to the dining room to make sure the patio door was locked. She paused for a moment, looking outside through the sliding glass doors, mesmerized by the heavy rain hitting the concrete patio lit by the patio lights.

Suddenly without notice there was a purple bright flash of a lightening bold striking the metal patio table just feet past the windows. Deb reeled, staggering back into the dining room chairs and table with such a force the table tipped completely over. A large centerpiece vase flew across the dining room, smashing on the hardwood floor.

Matt heard all this from upstairs, already startled by the sound and sight of such a close lightening strike. He jumped from his computer and ran to see what happened. Downstairs he found his mother crumpled in a ball moaning, holding her eyes.

Without hesitation Matt called 911 then checked on her condition. She moaned, telling him what had happened. He comforted her as best he could while they waited for the ambulance.

Luckily for Deb she was an experienced former ICU nurse. Her instincts kicked in: calm the patient (in this case herself for the first time), stay in the present moment, and assume everything will be fine. Calming down a bit, she recalled relevant bits and pieces of her medical training and experience, self-diagnosing as best she could. She knew in her gut that this would be temporary, and that thought held her together until the doctor later confirmed it.

Matt stuck with her the entire time, holding her hand for most of the trip to the hospital. When the doctor told them the good news, that this would indeed be temporarily, a wave of relief swept over both of them.

The doctor continued. "Yes, six weeks. But you'll have to keep these bandages on your eyes to give them a rest." Matt and Deb both nodded. "Matt, will you be around to help her out?"

Matt explained to the doctor how he was in school but learning remotely. He liked the idea of helping his mother's recovery.

Deb was pretty familiar with her work medical leave policy, and knew that she would have no problem taking the time to recover. In a strange way she was looking forward to a forced vacation, even if she wouldn't be able to see during it.

By the time they left the hospital and took an Uber home, they were both in positive spirits.

When they finally arrived home it was well past midnight. Matt helped guide his mother into the house, and even though the storm had finally stopped, he paid close attention to the walkway to make sure she didn't slip on the still-wet concrete. Once inside he helped her find her way to the bedroom without tripping over anything. In the bedroom she felt her way around, maneuvering mostly by muscle memory, placing her cellphone on the nightstand next to her, tossing her jacket on a chair, and collapsing on the bed in her clothes.

"Matt, do you mind plugging my phone in and deactivating the alarm? I'm going to need as much asleep as I can get."

"Sure mom," he said, hooking the phone and attempting to open the phone. It was set up to unlock with her face recognition. "Mom, what's your phone pin?" She told him, enabling him to disable the alarm. "Ok, all set."

"Thank you so much for everything tonight. You were wonderful." She reached up her arms towards where she assumed he was standing. Matt leaned down and hugged her for a long time, probably a few seconds longer than was appropriate, but considering all she had been through that evening, it was excusable. Within seconds of releasing the hug she fell asleep.

Matt was tired too, but before he went to bed, used the last bit of stamina to clean up the wreck in the dining room. He reflected on what had happened, thankful that nothing worse happened.

Once finished he finally dragged himself to his bedroom, flopping down on the bed in his clothes just as his mother had, and passed out.

_____

The next morning Deb woke, a bit confused at first by the dark, but quickly recalling the events of the evening. She had no clue what time it was - it could've been 3 am or 3 pm. A slight panic at such a simple lack of knowledge swept through her, but moments later she had a solution. She reached over, held her finger on her smartphone's power button until she heard the familiar, friendly beep-beep. "what time is it?" she asked her phone. "Ten-forty-three a.m." First challenge completed she thought, suddenly feeling positive that she was going to be fine.

She got up and carefully made her way to her private ensuite bathroom, discarding her clothes and tossing them in a corner, making mental note to pick them up later. She sat on the toilet and did her business, then carefully fumbled for her robe that hung behind the door.

Out of habit she made her way to the kitchen, carefully of course, feeling her way, sweeping her extended foot like a radar before each step. In a weird way she was actually having fun, visualizing the layout of the house, appreciating the fact that both her and her son were relatively neat and tidy.

In the kitchen she started to make coffee, also by carefully feeling around and by muscle memory. Her arm brushed a mug off the counter and into the sink, luckily not breaking it, but making enough sound was enough to bring Matt out of his half sleep.

Racing downstairs Matt called out before even reaching the kitchen. "Are you alright mom?"

"Oh don't worry, I'm fine, just knocked something over."

Matt sprang into automatic pilot and helped her finish making coffee, splitting the tasks the way they habitually did each morning. In the meantime, he inquired into how she was doing.

"Surprisingly well. I don't know why, but I'm looking forward to this in a weird way. Oh and thank you so much for cleaning up the dining room. I could tell walking through you picked it all up." Like last night she reached out her arms in the direction of his voice. He went in for a hug and held her tight for a few moments before releasing.

They finished filling the coffee maker and started it. While Matt cleaned up the kitchen a little, making sure nothing sharp was out, Deb said "I'm going to take a shower while the coffee maker is doing its magic. Can I ask a huge favor? Can you go to my bathroom and make sure there's nothing dangerous around? I don't want to step on a leg razor or something," she laughed.

Matt nodded, "Of course, I'll be right back."

He bounded up the stairs to his mother's bedroom, and into her bathroom. He hadn't been here in at least a year, when the plumbing in the master bath was broken. He saw a few things that could pose a danger, like a glass jar of scrub on the side of the bathtub. He placed these in careful spots and noticed the pile of clothes his mother left earlier. Right on top staring him in the face were semi-transparent, black sheer panties sitting in the seat of her jeans. Oddly, given their close quarters, this was the first time he had ever actually seen her panties. Maybe not so oddly since she always did the laundry. Still, it made him pause in his tracks. They were actually sexy. He never thought of his mother wearing sexy lingerie.

He shrugged it off and headed back downstairs, where he offered to help his mother upstairs. She was grateful for his offer, but declined, telling him she might as well learn how to do this now. She made her own way upstairs while he busied himself making them both some breakfast - egg sandwich on a croissant.

Deb found it relatively easy to navigate the shower. Afterwards she wrapped a towel around her and went to her bedroom, literally blindly picking clothes to wear from dresser drawers, trying as best she could to guess which bra and panties she was picking, and what t-shirt and jeans to wear over them. She concluded logically that whatever she picked would eventually go together. Lucky for her most of her t-shirts had a print on the front so she could tell which way it went.

Back downstairs they enjoyed breakfast together, replaying the events of the evening, talking about all the things she would need help doing, like laundry, paying bills, grocery shopping. None of it was anything major, but it was a relief to know she had someone eager to help.

After breakfast Matt cleaned up without hesitation, while Deb sat there. They normally have a great division of labor, yet she really liked being pampered a little. She felt a little like she was at a resort spa.

"I'm going to get started on class, do you need anything?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm going to call people at work and tell them what happened, then after lunch listen to an audiobook... Oh, can you help me start one?"

Matt told her of course. They went to her office where she fumbled around her desk for her earbuds, plugged them in with muscle memory, and sat on the couch. they sat together, experimenting with the phone's voice system to figure out how to dial numbers, select audiobooks, start, and pause the audio. While he was doing this, he noted the first title in the audiobook playlist: "Stepmother In Heat." The title made no sense, so he made a mental note to google it later.

Once satisfied she was all set with her phone, Matt went upstairs to his room and started his school day, completely forgetting about the audiobook title for the time being. During the morning he heard his mother on the phone with people from work, recanting the story, making arrangements for her coworkers to take over her work for a month and a half.

At one point he remembered the audiobook, and googled it. It was surprisingly difficult to find - it didn't have an entry on Goodreads or Amazon. He eventually found it on a site with a lot of porn ads, and when he read the book's description, he understood why.

'Stepmother In Heat, by Beth Corning'

'Sharon is Mike's new mother. Unlike many stepmothers, she eased into the family without much friction. With Mike's father away on business for extended trips, Sharon and Mike get to know each other in ways neither expected...'

Puzzled, he had a hard time believing it was what he thought it was. He listened to a portion of the sample chapter, and sure enough, it was a semi-incestuous relationship between a stepmother and stepson. Matt was shocked. So taboo and hot at the same time. But more shocking was that this was on his mother's playlist. The thought was so bizarre he couldn't comprehend, and decided to shelve it for later.

_____

Around noontime Matt wandered to the kitchen to heat up dinner leftovers from the night before, which he normally did anyway. He brought the plates of food to her office. Usually they would both eat in their respective rooms while they worked, but instead they sat together and ate while chatting.

"I'm done with school for the day, do you need me to do anything?" Hi mother declined, saying she was just going to listen to more of her book and probably take a nap. Matt nodded and told her he was going to probably play video games the rest of the afternoon.

He cleaned up their lunch and went up to his room. The thought of the book crept back into his mind. He listened to the sample chapter again, this time in its entirety.

Judging by his erection by the end, it struck a chord. He was still in disbelief that his mother had actually listened to it. Maybe it was a different book, a different author. The curiosity was killing him. Then a thought crossed his mind: whatever she was listening to, in her condition, if he was quiet enough, he could check without her knowing.

He tip-toed downstairs, peeked into the office, and sure enough, his mother was laying on the couch with her earbuds in. He crept into the office a little and craning his neck, could see the title on the phone. Sure enough, it was "Stepmother in Heat by Beth Corning." His mind started to short-circuit. Then before he could tip-toe out of the room, he noticed her hand idly move up over the outside of her clothes, over her tummy, to her breast. Stunned, he watched his temporarily blind mother start to touch herself.

She continued, her hand lightly circling her breast, while her other hand, seemingly possessed, made its way to the top if her loose-waisted jeans. Before Matt knew it, her hand slipped inside and vanished. He almost gasped but caught himself. He knew she probably wouldn't have heard him anyway. It scared him that she might somehow catch him, so he backed out quietly and made his way up to his room.

There he laid on his bed contemplating what he just witnessed. In the context of the book it seemed even more incredible. The realization shouldn't have shocked him so much - he too enjoyed the occasional taboo story, and even a taboo video when he was in the mood. But he always thought he was the only one, and that there was something wrong with him. In a weird way this changed everything.

He suddenly wondered what part she was listening to. He did the math and came up with a rough estimate of how far she had gotten into the book. About 45 minutes. Out of perverse curiosity, he found the book site again, added the book to a cart, created an account, and paid with his Paypal.

Putting in his wireless earbuds, he fast-forwarded through the book to the 45 minute mark.

There he heard the narrator describing the stepmother laying out in a bikini on the back patio in the sun, while her stepson spied on her. Not thinking anyone was around, she took her top off and covered her eyes with a small cloth. The narrator went on to describe Mike watching her while masturbating.

Matt couldn't believe it. Was this what mom was listening to while she...? He kept listening, the narrator describing what her stepson saw, the description of her body. Matt's erection returned, this time extremely hard and impossible to ignore. He found his hand gravitating to the bulge in his crotch, initially to adjust himself, but he found he couldn't help it. In seconds he undid his pants and stated stroking himself.

The story went on, the stepmother had turned over onto her stomach and unfastened her bikini bottom, exposing her bare ass to the sky. The way the author described it (as well as Mike's voyeurism) sent Matt over the edge quicker than he was used to. He came so fast in fact he was lucky to have grabbed a nearby shirt and catch the flying stream of semen before causing a mess.

He laid there for a long time, reflecting all that just transpired. A small part of him felt shame, but he quickly rationalized it, understanding that no real harm was done.

Besides, how could he be ashamed of essentially doing what he saw his mother doing earlier.