Chapter 4

The question in Karen Johnson's mind was whether she should confront her children, or not. She had first noticed a change in their interaction with each other the previous evening, but she didn't come to any definitive conclusions until after they had left for school that morning. Being alone allowed her to collect her thoughts and piece together what she believed was taking place.

Number one, she thought, something has happened that causes them to relate differently to each other. Two: the way Sherry looked at her brother this morning leaves no doubt she is in love with him, and not brother/sister love, either, but real honest-to-goodness, gut-wrenching, pussy-tweaking first love. Three: they're either fucking or soon will be. I know this as if I were able to read their minds, Karen thought. I know because I've been there. I know what Sherry is feeling. She sighed. My past is haunting me.

The question now was what should she do about this wrinkle in her family's status. She reviewed her options.

Confront them. Get them to admit their involvement and make them promise not to continue. Result: disaster. Oh, she could get them to make an admission. They're primarily good kids, she thought. They might start out lying, but ultimately they would come around to the truth. And, she continued, she could extract a promise to stop their incestuous relationship. But they won't; they can't. I would not have stopped fucking Joey. I loved him too much. Joey would have tried to resist more than me, but I would have broken his resolve. Promises aside, if the kids are in love, and all evidence points to that end, they won't stop loving each other, wanting each other, because I make them promise otherwise.

Do nothing. Result: disaster. First, Sherry will get pregnant. I did; so will she. At the very least I must take Sherry to a doctor and get her some birth control. Can I do this without confronting her? I think so; I'll merely tell her it was a promise I made to myself when she was born to protect her future. Embellish that with some motherly advice. Next. They're both feeling guilty - probably. The incest taboo is strong and unforgiving, and guilt is destructive. I don't want them to have serious mental difficulties now or in the future. I don't know how to deal with this unless I confront them. She hesitated. I'll figure that out later. I hope. She sighed and shook her head.

Consult with my husband. Result: disaster. No, mega-disaster. I can understand what the kids are feeling, how exciting and important their newfound relationship is to them, especially for Sherry. But Steve would become a raving maniac. He'd put a guilt trip on them they would never recover from. The problem with avoiding this option is that he's likely to discover what's happening anyway. If that happens, it happens. I'll deal with it then and hide my pre-knowledge. He can't know I knew about this and didn't discuss it with him.

Confront one of them. Result: disaster. If I confront one of them so I can openly help them and keep them from making mistakes that will create serious problems, the one I confront will just tell the other one. This option merely takes me back to the first option.

She reached for and dialed the phone. "Hello, I need to make an appointment for my daughter... No, she's not sick. I want to get her on birth control pills... Yes. Her name is Sherry Johnson. She had her first period over three years ago, but she hasn't seen Dr. Hanson since... What?... Oh, she's fifteen, nearly sixteen... I don't know... That's immaterial. Whether she's sexually active or not is beside the point. I promised myself when she was born I would help her when the time came. It's that time... No, that's not good enough. How about tomorrow?... Okay, five o'clock is fine."

They've been fucking, Karen decided. I can smell them. "Where's Adam?" she asked her daughter. She had just returned from grocery shopping. This was the first time she had seen either child since they had rushed away for school that morning.

"He came and left," Sherry replied. Boy oh boy, did he come, she thought. He came and came and came. She giggled silently. So did I.

"Where did he go?"

"I'm not sure. Something about a paper he's doing about the Juvenile Court."

"I'm glad we have a few minutes alone to..."

Mother and daughter talked. Sherry was delighted with her doctor's appointment the next day. The timing was propitious, and her mother's enlightened attitude thrilled her. At the end of their conversation, they hugged each other and promised to continue communicating with each other - a white lie from both participants.

Later when Adam entered her room, Sherry jumped up to kiss him, but backed away when she noted his pale expression.

"She knows," Adam said. "Mother knows about us."

"She can't! How..."

"Take my word for it; she knows. You had a mother/daughter talk today didn't you? What happened?"

"She made an appointment with Dr. Hanson for me. She's going... Damn it, you're right; she knows! She's putting me on the pill tomorrow. How did she find out? What are we going to do? Oh, Adam, this is terrible."

"Maybe not," Adam said. "Let's wait and see if she tells Dad. If she doesn't, we might have an ally."

"Oh God, if she tells Dad, he'll kill you; he kill us both!"

"Not likely, Dad isn't the violent type, but life around the Johnson household won't be pleasant if he finds out."

"Hold me, Adam," she said as she slipped into her brother's arms. "I'm frightened. I'm not frightened because she knows. I'm frightened because I might lose you."

"You can't lose me, Sherry. I love you. I'll always be here for you."

It was two stressful hours before Adam could be alone with his mother. He had decided an open discussion with her was the best option he had. If she wasn't going to be an ally, he needed to know now, not later. If she were on the fence, Adam wanted the opportunity to tip her in his and his sister's direction.

"Are you going to tell Dad?" Adam asked her bluntly.

'Damn. I swear that boy reads minds.' "Tell your Dad what?"

"Please, Mother. Let's not play games. Are you going to tell him or not?"

She hesitated, and then said softly, "No."

Adam's shoulders dropped with relief. "Good. Sherry and I love each other, you know. This isn't casual teen-age experimentation."

"Yes, I know. I could see love in Sherry's face this morning. For what it's worth I'm glad you feel the same way. What do you plan to do to protect yourself? Sherry is going on the pill tomorrow, which will solve one problem, just one of many, unfortunately. If your father finds out what the two of you are doing, I can't predict his behavior, but I do know he won't be understanding or nice about it. And, that's just the beginning. What about your friends and Sherry's friends? This is not like a normal crush, a situation you can be open about. There are laws, Adam. Laws zealously guarded and exploited by supposedly well-meaning bureaucrats. I could lose the two of you to the systems enforcing those laws, and if it were determined I knew of your actions and did nothing to stop it, I could be liable. I could be prosecuted, even jailed. That's not likely; I don't mean to scare you, and I'm not telling you this to make you feel guilty about what you and Sherry are doing. But a good, large dose of reality is needed right now."

Adam gulped. He had not considered all the ramifications. "I understand now, Mom. We've let our passion for each other do the thinking for us." He smiled. "Love does that to people, I suspect. I'll talk with Sherry. We'll be careful, very careful. I love you, Mom. A lot." He hugged her close.

'They might be all right, ' she thought. 'With my help, they might make it.'

"How do you know these things, Adam," Erica Anderson asked. They sat together eating their lunches in the shade of a tree.

"I really don't understand how it works, but I guess I'm a little psychic. When I touched your diary, for some reason I knew what your parents were doing to you. Please, Erica. Don't tell anyone. Everyone already believes I'm weird. I don't want them to add crazier-than-a-bed-bug to their list of adjectives when they talk about me."

"No problem. By now, you know I can keep a secret. How's the project coming?"

Adam had named his plans to help the girl 'The Project'. Erica had picked up and now used the expression.

"Well, we know your dad is pedophile. I've been able to isolate two of his most recent conquests. And your parents belong to a loose group of like-minded perverts - sort of an S and M club. Erica, there's something I don't quite understand. You're really too old to attract a man who lusts after pre-pubescent girls, why..."

"My parents keep me around as a subject for their sadistic games, Adam. My father might prefer little girls, but his preference doesn't stop him from raping me when he gets the urge. And Mother is more sadistic than Dad. She's really the one who doesn't want to let me go; she enjoys the pain she inflicts on me. They also realize I know a lot about them and their sick activities. They maintain their control over me not only for their perverted pleasures but also to protect themselves and their phony reputations."

"That's about the way I had the situation pegged. To answer your question, I need a little more information, but I think we'll be able to kick off The Project next week."

"That soon! That's great, Adam!"

The boy was amazed at the transformation that had taken place in Erica over the past week. At first, she had been extremely timid, too frightened to discuss her situation. Her parents had conditioned her to maintain absolute silence regarding their activities, but when she realized Adam knew nearly everything her parents had done and were still doing to her, she opened up to him. She had rediscovered hope, could finally see a possible future without pain.

"I need you to do something for me," Adam said.

"If I can," she replied.

"Bring me two objects or possessions, objects like your diary, but held in importance by your parents - something personal from each parent."

"How long will you need them? Will I be able to return them?"

"Oh yes. I only want to touch the objects like I did your diary. I want to see if I can learn more about each of them like I did with you. You'll be able to return the objects right after I touch them."

The involuntary trip to the dark room and strobe-like images each time Adam touched someone's personal object had nearly driven Adam bonkers until he learned to take the trip only when he wanted to know something about the person involved.

Erica nodded. "Dad has a pipe collection. Would one of his pipes be all right?"

"I don't know; I'm new at this, but I think one of his pipes would be as good as anything."

"And mother wears gobs of costume jewelry. I don't think she would miss a necklace or something like that for a day. When do you want them?"

"Tomorrow."

"Okay."

As Adam gathered his lunch litter, he noticed Janet and Cindy strolling by on the sidewalk about forty feet from the tree. Janet waved to him. I smell trouble, Adam thought as he waved back. He wondered how long it would take for the gossip the two girls were certain to generate to get back to Sherry. He had not told his sister about The Project or his daily meetings with Erica.

The grape vine moved faster than expected. When Adam entered his home after school, Sherry's expression told the story. He didn't need to read her thoughts to know Janet had enjoyed gossiping to Sherry about his tryst with Erica.

"We need to talk," Sherry said coldly.

"Yes, but privately. Let's take a walk." Adam had picked up the thoughts of his parents emanating from the patio.

They strolled silently, finally entering a park about a mile from their home. During the walk, Adam listened in on Sherry's thoughts. The girl was struggling with jealousy and was frustrated because she didn't know whether she should even be jealous. Mostly she was hurt because Adam obviously had something going with Erica Anderson and had not mentioned anything to her. Because he had been silent about Erica, Sherry had conjured all kinds of lurid circumstances. In her imagination, Sherry envisioned Adam fucking Erica, and that frightened her. She didn't consider herself as worldly or as beautiful as Erica. She thought she might lose Adam to Erica's charms and was terrified of that possibility. Also, Sherry had no doubts Erica had been the girl Adam had told her about the day they became lovers.

'The slut stripped for him! She shoved her big tits in his face and then her pussy. If she tries to take my Adam from me, I'll give her a fight. She won't know what hit her. I'll pound sand into her nasty cunt. She'll need a rotor-rooter to clean herself out.'

Adam pulled Sherry into a thicket of trees. When they were hidden from nosy eyes, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Angry and hurt, Sherry initially remained stiff, tried not to yield to her loving nature. Finally she couldn't resist her brother's lips, and returned his kiss with passion.

"Damn you, Adam Johnson," She whispered between kisses.

Adam stepped back but held both her hands in his. He smiled. "Let's talk."