All fictional characters are above the age of eighteen and therefore as legally qualified to commit illegal sexual acts as one can fictionally be. I know, smart-arse, aren't I?!
*****
1
"We kiss on the lips," I tell our wretched critics, those suddenly offended by my son and I. There's always that one village hag and her bitter little clique, outraged by the silliest things. Lord knows who these people are, or how they manage to make any friends at all. Somebody took exception to my friend's photograph, kissing her boy on the lips.
Yes, it happened over social media, the place of all places for glad-handing hypocrites with their skewed realities. They want equality for all races and religions and orientations, but god forbid that a mother define love by her own standards.
"I think it's sick," says Gaynor Mercer, who works at Full-Time Housewife UK. "It's wrong, it isn't motherly, you should be ashamed of yourselves," and then the echoes as her friends file into sheep formation.
Poor Anne doesn't deserve this, and she's clearly beside herself as she courageously charges to the fore to defend her innocence. "If you're so ashamed to love your children, then I pity them," she replies.
Now, Ann could leave it at that. Not that it will end at that. Nothing is ever so simple in the face of simple-minded angry timewasters. So I dig my trench to join the fight and watch from the edge of the fray as Anne switches from defensive to offensive position.
"In fact I can't imagine how sad your kids must be, if you have any. If you did they're probably scared of your fat angry purple face, ranting at everything you disagree with or don't understand. Fuck knows how you got into this conversation..."
'Yeah, you go, girl!' I think to myself, itching to jump down this bitch's throat, though I might not have to.
"Speaking of which, who the fuck are you anyway?" Anne lands another beauty.
I'm in hysterics, nearly crying, which I express with an emoji, or maybe a hundred or so. I call out to the strapping young man making tea in the kitchen, with my phone camera on at the ready. 'Michael, do us a favour. Come here a second,' I say as I spring up from the couch. My dinky five feet, I'm fifteen inches too short. So I climb to stand tall on the seat.
Arms wide and welcoming, 'giz a kiss,' I insist and pucker my lips. Seeing the camera he smiles uncertainly...
And then coyly, 'what's going on?'
'Just give us a kiss, and right on the lips, it's for argument's sake,' I explain all I have to. And here he comes, his arms around my waist, we kiss, we hold it for 3... 2... 1...
Perfect if I say so, but WAIT... not quite...
To fuck with our critics we could change a few details. 'Again,' I insist, 'and this time close your eyes; just trust me.' Eyes closed, we kiss for 3... 2... 1...
Licking my lips, I observe our portrait with an underlying mischievous satisfaction. Mother and son both enjoying a cheeky afternoon snog, can you think of a better way to spend the day?
Come to think of it, it does look a little risquΓ©. And I absolutely can't wait to see what happens.
2
"Oh my god, you're sick, that's so wrong," the tirade goes on and on and on. But Anne is loving it, and before long we've got ourselves a growing fan-base. Who'd have seen that coming?
"Oh Trish that's beautiful," comes the next reply. "Fuckin' too right," the guys are hollering. And as Gaynor gets twisted in her own granny knickers, there's another photo response the same.
Now Michael is crying with laughter from his own corner, because he's been wondering what all the fuss is about. Anne's friend Janine and her son also kiss on the lips, grinning sardonically and flipping the bird.
"Well all I see is inappropriate behaviour," one of Gaynor's sad friends argues lamely before falling back into obscurity, shot down by her own friend of all people. Another adds, "if not abuse," before she too fades away. Abuse...
Can you imagine? What rock do these people live under? But before long there's a hundred comments and about twenty of them are photos of mothers kissing their sons. 'What have we started?' I ask our Michael.
'What do you mean "we"? I merely obliged...
"Dirty fuckin bitches all over this thred. I bet there doin more den just kissin their kids," some total fucking moron adds. Michael and I scrunch up our faces and stick our tongues together. That photo goes up with the caption, "I suppose this would be Frenching!"
3
So yeah, so what, we kiss on the lips. We always have. There's nothing wrong. You can't fake your love with a kiss on the lips. Friends kiss on the cheek. TV personalities kiss on the cheek. The corporate world kisses on the arse. And politicians; well, there's no telling what!
It's not inappropriate to kiss on the lips, unless to love your own family is inappropriate. What kind of world was Michael born to where love is inappropriate, or where it's wrong to love your own family?
If Her Royal Anus, Gaynor, wanted to debate, which she isn't capable of, I might have pointed out that a world where honesty is criminal would be a world where there's no telling the difference between ordinary people and abusers. But that thought might cause her an embolism.
So as the social media war rages on into dinner time, we ask ourselves what kind of life this Gaynor is living - and does she kiss the back of her hand when she's lonely at night? Does she draw a cartoon face between her thumb and forefinger?
What's his name and do they do tongue?
'We should have done proper tongue, mum, and just nommed each other's faces off,' he says, and maybe a little sarcastically judging by how his eyes shift so lazily. I giggle uncontrollably, like a squirrel in heat. Do squirrels giggle? I think about it while we eat.
Consciously I think a little too much of it, and not the squirrels, but about kissing my son on the lips, with tongue. Nobody ever "nommed" my face off!
4
The barrage of idiocy doesn't stop, though. Now it's getting to the level of harassment. Who'd have thought it? I'm lying in bed when my phone pings - that's the message tone!
"I think you're sick, what you do with your son. It's not funny. You shouldn't joke about abuse. Maybe I'll just report the evidence to the police and see what they have to say about it."
My heart actually sinks. Can she do that? I don't mean is she capable of communicating with authority in a formal capacity. I mean have I committed a crime?
This woman needs medication, and preferably two smoking brass pills fired from a 357. Magnum. I call out to Michael and explain the situation, uncertain not of whether she's for real, but worried that she can cause serious trouble. That thread did get pretty heated, but surely the police have actual crimes to attend to. I wouldn't want to be charged with wasting their time or something.
'Nah, fuck that shit,' Michael says so elegantly as he swaggers around in his briefs, his imagination ticking over. I can see by the bulge in the front of those tight briefs, which I can't quite ignore, that this same imagination was hard at play, or at least warming up, before he came through the door. I probably shouldn't, but I let him have my phone.
After some frantic typing, Michael does the unexpected and free-calls this woman, I imagine to save his fingers the effort. 'Hiya love, I'm Michael, Trish's son. Did you like our pictures?'
Even when he switches audio output so I can listen in, Gaynor's voice is confused, muffled, and too loud to be intelligible at all. Somehow Michael can hear her just fine. Either that or he's just winging it.
'Oh why what was wrong with them? We had a lot of fun making them just for you,' Michael swaggers and sneers. More gobbledegook follows. 'So, Gay, what about you, babe? Do you have any children? Are you allowed children?'
The shit hits the fan and Gaynor starts screaming. 'Fuckin' 'ell, Gay, control yourself, woman!' But she hangs up. Michael looks at me, feigning confusion and shrugs. 'I must have struck a nerve.'
And either Gaynor is a professional troll or this is her life, fighting everyone she can with the eagerness of a fat kid on an Easter egg hunt. Again, Michael types frantically, but I'm not prepared for what comes next.
Soon I am shrieking, eyes glued, but I'm laughing, as he whips off his undies and starts taking photos with reckless abandon of his junk, which swings free and proud.
"Me and my mum are both naked now, sexytimes commencing!" he types, letting me know only when he's actually sent it across. My cheeks are burning. He's going to ruin my life.
I can't help admire his gifted form, though. However I also notice how he's getting excited, down there; or maybe the correct term is cocksure. His dad's wasn't that nice. How the hell did he get it from me?
'She won't tell the police. She's clearly harassing,' is all I catch him saying. My mind was elsewhere all of a sudden. Come to think of it, it's been quite a while since I've seen...
'For god's sake, Michael, will you please cover yourself now?'
He jumps into the bed and snuggles up close, but arranges the duvet so that my chest is on show. And resting his head there, snuggling right up close and personal, he takes another photo with a cheeky smile.
"Oh my god, well the truth's out now..." and Michael is quick to mimic the deluded bitch for every clichΓ© she repeats. He's too good at it, even the facial expressions as he rubbernecks like one of the bobble-head dog toys you put on the dash of your car.
'She wants to see us kiss again, mum, but she wants to see frenching and groping.'
Why is it all of a sudden that I can feel my life ending?