Every parent has some degree of fear when it becomes time to reveal to a child that they were adopted.

There should never be a stigma attached to such a truth, but it's not an easy subject to dissect.

1. Why tell the child now?

2. Why ever tell the child?

3. Why not tell them sooner?

4. Why not later?

And then there's:

1. What happened to my real parents?

2. Where are they?

3. Why won't they see me?

Psychologists will expand on any or all of these subjects if you have the time and money.

Sophie (born Sofia by a single mother who died in childbirth) could have been told the truth the moment she was old enough to understand; but by then, miracle of miracles, her new parents finally - accidentally - conceived another child, even though doctors told them there was virtually no chance that could happen!

Well it DID happen, and Sophie got a baby brother when she was just over thirteen months old.

Because there's a unity about females that doesn't exist with males, Sophie wasn't victimized by favoritism, her adoptive mother welcoming her to her bosom without reservation.

But whereas dad now had a male child, it made no difference whether or not Sophie was adopted - he bonded with the boy.

Having features congruous to the adoptive child made it easy for the parents not to have to tell young Sophie of her origin. Now they had another good reason: they avoided some fraternal clashes that might arise. When the children grew to puberty, continuing the charade should have made them observe normal male female (incest) barriers. With Sophie's father unknown and birth mother deceased, there was no hurry revealing the truth because there was no one for Sophie to meet.

But not everything can be pre-planned to perfection. Sophie was mentally ahead of the curve - way ahead. Her brother (Luke) was not gifted at all!

By high school, the tempation to say to their son, "Why can't you be more like Sophie?" was avoided like the plague, and Luke's study habits were nonexistent.

Having grown physically larger than his older sister, Luke took certain advantages, like making Sophie help him with his homework, sometimes making her actually do his homework!

By sixteen, Sophie had missed out more than a few activities by Luke's domineering, but she met a boy that really liked her, and they started dating, although it was platonic.

Luke never looked upon his sister as a sexual object until she began to date. He was content with his own cadre of delinquents, losing his cherry at fourteen to the sister of his "best" friend.

It was experimentation gone wild as they watched her father's copy of the soft core "Teenagers Gone Wild".

Harmless porn?

For a lunkhead, Luke had no problem listening to his lover's instruction about where to put his tongue, and he became quite adept at foreplay.

By his fifteenth birthday, Luke had had his share of female companions, but he had no feelings whatsoever for the girls he pleasured.

The only girl he remotely had any feelings for, the girl who did his homework, the girl who was now going out with some geek in the twelfth grade, was off limits to him!

Perhaps had not Eve offered Adam the proverbial forbidden fruit, Adam would have discovered it on his own.

And perhaps it was the forbidden nature of it that got Luke suddenly interested in Sophie.

At first, Luke's comments were of the sarcastic nature: "He's queer!" or "He couldn't tell a nipple from a pimple!"

Later, Luke got physical with his immaturity.

One night, just before Sophie was to leave for her date, Luke came up to her, eyeing her up and down.

He handed her her jacket, feeling the material, asking, "Is this suede?". Next, he handed her the gloves, asking, "Are these leather?"

Having distracted her long enough, Luke placed both hands on her breasts on the outside of her sweater, and he could feel her nipples stiffen, even through her bra as he asked, "Is this felt?"

As luck would have it, Luke's crude joke had been the most exciting part of Sophie's evening. Her boyfriend was too platonic, using her simply as a trophy, on dates. Sophie didn't have the heart to dump him because he had been the only guy to show any interest, until earlier that evening! On Sophie's next date, she purposely crossed her brother's path again, secretly hoping he'd have some game to play on her.

Her night began with disappointment when Luke seemed indifferent.

That night, Sophie found herself in a new position. She played with herself while thinking about Luke, instead of her boyfriend.

If Luke had one talent, it was his awareness of girls' needs, and he overheard his sister's low moans, coming from her bed.

For the first time, Luke felt that certain tightness as his maleness responded to Sophie's moans.

He snuck up to investgate.

With the lights out and Sophie moaning so much, Luke found himself standing next to her bed, undetected, watching her form as she writhed in self fulfillment.