My father died when I was a small child and my mother subsequently married a widower with a single daughter, one the same age as me. This meant that my sister is really my step-sister, and not a blood relation.
As we matured we developed in different ways. I was more the intellectual type, an introvert with a love of mathematics and logic and computers. Suzy, on the other hand, was your classic extrovert, very much into athletics and sport, totally unable to understand why I'd want to spend time on a computer rather than out playing sport.
Despite our differences we all got along quite well. I set up an online company while still at school, developing it while continuing my studies. The company took up a lot of my spare time but I was making some money out of it and I could see it had potential to get bigger.
Fast forward a couple of years and the economy took a bit of a downturn. My father's company also took a bit of a hit and he was struggling to make ends meet. I, being a typical teenager (nineteen now) and totally wrapped up in my own interests, failed to notice this. As far as I was concerned everything was the way it had always been.
This obliviousness landed me right in it one fine Saturday morning. I'd wandered into the kitchen in search of breakfast in time to hear Suzy complaining about the state of her wardrobe. My mother was consoling her but not offering to replenish the wardrobe which I found mildly surprising. I looked at Suzy and grunted.
"Susy's got a point," I blithely observed. "That stuff she's wearing right now looks like crap and it's way too tight across her boobs. No way should she be going out like that. Definitely time to upgrade."
My mother blushed and Suzy went up like a rocket.
"If some nitwit had been listening properly instead of just eavesdropping on a private conversation and then sticking his nose in where it's not wanted he might have heard that we can't afford to get new clothes right now. If said nitwit had a paying job he might contribute to the household budget like other members of the household, rather than sitting behind a computer and playing games all hours of the day."
"I'm not playing," I said mildly. "I'm working. I do run an online company, you know."
"I said a paying job," Suzy snapped.
"My company earns money. I'm quite happy to contribute to the household budget. If anyone had bothered to suggest it I'd already be doing so."
"Do you mean that your company actually makes money?" asked my mother, sounding highly surprised.
"Well, sure. What's the use of a company that doesn't? Anyway, my expenses aren't very high so I'm able to bank most of what I make. I have some savings and some investments."
"Then I'm sure you'll be delighted to start paying board," Suzy put in quickly. "How about half the earnings from your company?"
"Bit steep," I told her. I turned to face my mother. "How about a hundred a week? I'll back date it for a year and pay last year's board and the next year's board right now. You can remind me in another year that more board is due. Let me have your bank details and I'll do a transfer right now."
My mother just looked stunned. Even Suzy had nothing to say.
"Mum, your bank account details?" I prompted.
"Oh, I don't know. Why don't you go and ask your father. He'll know them."
So I went and explained things to my father. Apparently he was also surprised to find that I actually made money online. He gave me his account details and I went to my computer and did the transfer. I gave him the nod to go and check it out and returned to my interrupted breakfast.
"Transfer done," I said. I pulled out my wallet and extracted a credit card and passed it over to my mother.
"Why don't you take Suzy down to the mall and the pair of you can replenish your wardrobes. It's on me as long as you don't exceed five thousand. That's between you. Not each."
"Martin, I can't do that," my mother protested, trying to return the card.
"I can," said Suzy, grabbing the card. "If he's silly enough to offer I'm not so silly as to say no."
"Are you sure that you can afford it? I'd hate for you to leave yourself short."
"Mum, I have over a hundred thou in that account. Five thou for some dresses or whatever won't kill me."
"What do you mean, that account?" asked Suzy. "Do you have other accounts?"
"Several others," I admitted. "Company and investment accounts mainly."
Shortly after Suzy headed down to the mall, dragging mother with her. My father was watching them go, smiling.
"Nothing like shopping to make a woman happy," he observed. "How much does your company make in a year?"
"Varies," I said. "This year has been pretty good so far. If the current trend continues I should clear about five million after taxes."
"What?" I asked, seeing he was just standing there looking at me. "I'm good at what I do and the proper App can bring in a mint. I'm thinking of selling the company. I've been offered a good price by a firm wanting to get a toe in the door of the App market. They think I'm ripe for a takeover and I think they're right. I've been thinking of switching to something that's more substantial in the way of products. If I sell I'll be in a position to start a new company and really put together some software I want to write."
My father just shook his head. Why do parents find it so hard to believe that a child might grow up and become successful? I decided to send a message to the prospective buyers expressing interest in their bid.
"Oh, dad, don't tell mum or Suzy about how well the company is doing. I like to keep a low profile. Just let them know it's successful."
Suzy of course wanted to grill me that evening about what my company did.
"We write specialised Apps and some generic games," was my general explanation. "The specialised Apps tend to be custom orders. The amount you get depends on how many copies that the firm expects to distribute. Take Uber, for example. They have around a hundred million people using their app. If the developer of that app only got a cent per copy that's a million dollars, and no, that's not one of my apps."
"Well what apps have you written and what do they do? How do they work?"
"That's commercially restricted information," I explained. "Some of my more successful apps use quite a bit of higher mathematics. It really boils down to should you know what I do and would you be able to understand it if you did? The answer is no in both cases."
I smiled benignly while Suzy fumed. Maths had been her poorest class. English she did well at but maths? She couldn't stand it.
The parents took advantage of their unexpected injection of cash to have an evening out. I had no intention of going out and Suzy was staying home to sort out her new wardrobe, gloating over the things she'd bought. I suspected that she got the lion's share of their wardrobe money, although mother had had a number of parcels.
I was dressed for bed and just lounging on it playing Bejeweled Blitz. (Don't look at me like that. I just happen to find the game relaxing. So sue me.) The door opened and Suzy came waltzing in and if I'd had false teeth I'd have swallowed them.
She was wearing part of her new wardrobe, to wit, a brand new nightie and negligee. The nightie was more there in concept than actual material. I bet she didn't show mum when she got it. The negligee had somewhat more material than the nightie, although this tended to be negated by the fact that it was see-through, and I could most definitely see through it to what lay underneath. I'm quite sure that a nightie like that would have come with a matching pair of panties, but Suzy seemed to have forgotten to put them on. I was able to observe that she hadn't forgotten to shave.
Something else that was evident was that part of the reason Suzy needed a new wardrobe was that her chest was somewhat larger than it used to be. With the amount of flesh she was showing I don't know why she even bothered to put the nightie and negligee on. Probably reluctant to walk into my room completely naked, although that might have been easier to take.
My reaction to Suzy dressed like that was instant erection. (Step-sister, remember. Not a blood relation.) That erection was so instant and so strong that I half expected it to rip my pyjamas open.
