Chapter 2

As they walked in, their father was smiling, sitting up and watched them all sit down. They were all looking around wondering what was about to happen.

“It appears that you may now understand better how my feelings developed for my sister - are you ready to hear my story?” James asked.

They all nodded their heads in compliance as the girls were fixing their hair and makeup.

“It was 1955, I was 13, and your mother was 12. There wasn’t much to do in those days. School and home were all we had; TV had only been around for half a dozen years. We weren’t well off enough to afford one of those carton sized TVs.”

“We read each other books and stories; Mom would let us go to the movies if we’d been good enough. After Sarah became 13, I took her to see ‘Rebel Without a Cause, ‘ which was pretty good. It had an 18-year-old Natalie Wood for us guys to drool over. James Dean was there for the girls.”

All of the children laughed at that moment, and Wendy looked into her brother John’s eyes. He looked back. They took each other’s hands.

“After the movie, I started talking to my sister about how pretty Natalie was, and Sarah turned to me and said, ‘What about me James, do you think I’m pretty?’”

There was something of a pause, as James asked Nurse Carol for some oxygen. She tried to get him to lay down, but he wouldn’t have any of that.

“So, Dad – at 13 years old you made the moves on your own sister?” Michael said, as Kathy slapped him on the shoulder, but giggled nonetheless, keeping her hand on his shoulder.

“Yes, kind of, after she’d asked me that question, I did the only thing that came to mind - I kissed her. On the lips – she pulled away and giggled, and took my hand and we walked home,” James said.

“She didn’t say anything, or slap you?” Kathy asked.

“Surprisingly, No! But things changed between the two of us. And mom and dad had noticed. When we read to one another, she was on my lap now. Giggling at my incessantly bad jokes.”

“What about Phyllis and Carol, Dad? Had they done anything to cause trouble for you and Sarah?” Wendy asked. “By the way, I’m sorry I slapped you earlier?”

Moving back into a laying position James said, “It’s OK, dear – I deserved it. I need to rest for a bit, can you all stick around for the next chapter of your father’s degradation into incest?”

They all agreed, and walked out of the room.

John called his wife, “Susan, it’s not life-threatening like we thought, but I need to stay here for another day or so. He’s telling stories from his youth, and they’re really interesting. Love you!” Wendy walked up to John and they held hands.

Kathy got on the phone to her husband of two years, “Darrell, Daddy isn’t on his deathbed, but I want to spend some time with him. His stories from when he was a 13-year-old are really funny, I’ll see you by tomorrow, probably.” Michael walked up to her and they kissed each other again, this time there was more to it.

“Has anybody got a hotel yet?” John said.

They all said that they were waiting to find out how serious things were before they’d done any of that.