Chapter 9

We had completely deep cleaned several rooms in the house and were in the hallway, between our room and the bathroom, with my brothers and mother. She explained that they’d need to search our rooms and make sure they were kept clean but that we had to clean them at night. “They aren’t allowed in here at ALL during the day, even to clean. If you find something, show me where you found it when I get home.”

“Shouldn’t we text you right away, Momma? What if it’s marijuana?” Ethan asked thoughtfully. I hoped that didn’t mean he was going to plant that next. I resolved to scour my room every chance I had.

“Your father told you when in doubt to text us both, but if it can wait until we get home, I want to know about it. I doubt you will find anything, but that’s one of your daily assignments, Ethan.”

My Mom apologized to the boys and said that this was their new normal because of our bad behavior; they’d have to adapt to supervising us. I expected Ethan to gloat, but instead, he stoically pretended that this was just a small sacrifice for the greater good. What a suck-up!

“Okay now, when can you give the girls their second bathroom break of the day?” Holly explained that she had given us one when we first woke up. She suggested they ask which of us had to use the bathroom the most before they sent us.

“Why can’t they go together?” Ethan suggested with a helpful but slightly naïve expression on his face.

Holly looked at him as if he were nuts.

“One could be brushing their teeth while the other is showering. They can switch off and save time,” Ethan suggested.

“That’s not a bad idea,” my mom accepted it and told us to go together. I didn’t want to watch my sister on the toilet!! I didn’t complain, though. We went to the bathroom, and I was about to close the door when Nick spoke up, and I froze -what next?

Were Nick and Ethan just going to pile on new rules after buttering up our Mother?

“Shouldn’t the bathroom door stay open?” he asked.

My Mom looked at him like he was completely crazy.

“You took the hinges off the door to their room to check on them anytime because they clearly can’t be trusted. Can’t they get up to any shenanigans they want to while they are in the bathroom?”

“Ladies have to do lady business in the bathroom that a boy your age shouldn’t see, Nick. These are things men that are even your Dad’s age probably never want to see,” Holly explained patiently.

“Or smell,” Ethan quipped.

Holly offered him a quick glare that let him know that she didn’t appreciate that, and he quickly stopped laughing—she was also a lady, after all.

“It just doesn’t seem consistent, Ma’am. If I were up to mischief, I’d never hide anything in my bedroom again. I’d hide it in the bathroom where I know I am guaranteed 15 minutes of privacy with my partner in crime,” Nick suggested. Nick was the youngest in the family, but he was far from dumb.

“I think given the nature of what they are expected to do in there in a limited amount of time, we can probably allow your sisters to be on the honor system, Nick. I appreciate the ideas, but your father and I are the ones making the rules.”

“You took Ethan’s idea but not mine,” Nick pouted.

This was good—perhaps a falling out among thieves! I was glad Nick reacted that way to rejection. Holly would never go for a tantrum.

“Nick, if you are trying to make a persuasive argument for your suggestion, telling me that since I took Ethan’s idea, I have to accept yours, is not the right one. How about rewinding that and trying it all over again?”

“I am sorry, Mom. I was trying to be helpful. It just didn’t make sense to me. If they can be on the honor system in the bathroom, why not in their bedroom?”

“Much better, tell you what. I will ask your father tonight, but I can tell you that I am not inclined to allow you boys to watch them tinkle if that’s what you are getting at?”

“No, no, no,” Nick assured her that was the furthest thing from his mind. “If the door is open and anyone could walk past, the girls wouldn’t dare take a chance to do something naughty. I am not talking about standing in the doorway and ogling them. They are my sisters!”

Holly was quiet for a moment and thought about it deeply, or she was waiting for Nick to say something else.

“I don’t mind,” Joy spoke meekly, offering to accept the rule. I couldn’t believe she just volunteered to have us both use the bathroom with the door open.

“What’s that?” Holly turned to my sister. We were standing behind our mother when she was talking to Nick and Ethan.

“I don’t mind, Ma’am,” My sister reiterated a little more boldly and enthusiastically. Her tits bounced slightly.

“No, I heard what you said,” she laughed. “Joy, I am asking you to explain.”

“It’s just that if you want the door open, I don’t have anything to hide. I totally understand. We aren’t allowed any privacy, and Nick, if you want to watch me by standing in the door while I brush my teeth, be my guest. I don’t think you’d want to smell us on the toilet.”

She added, “If it will prove you can trust us, we can leave the door open.”

“How do you feel about it, Mary?” Holly asked. I couldn’t believe that my mom was really considering this idea.

I was reluctant and said that I wouldn’t particularly enjoy that, but if she decided that was what we had to do, then I would do it. It really wasn’t up to me, at this point.

“Yes, you will do what you are told, and I’ll ask your father tonight. I appreciate you girls providing feedback, but none of this is up to you. Joy, you earn a reward for speaking up and making that offer proactively,” she decided. Then our Mom instructed Ethan to write that down so she didn’t forget it. Then she closed the bathroom door and let us use it in private.

Ethan was all too happy to act as a scribe and write in the notebook reserved for tracking how many times we did something wrong or right.

Holly opened the door without knocking and stuck her head a few minutes later. “The door stays UNLOCKED, and I will smell you both after you have been in the shower for soap. I do NOT want the boys watching you poop and pee or shave, change your tampons, and so on. I am strict, but I am not going to give them a deep education into how all of our lady parts work and what we do in private.”

We nodded, I was genuinely thankful for that, and then Mom left us alone.

“Why were you so eager to let them watch us in the bathroom?” I asked as I started brushing my teeth. My sister sat down to pee.

“I really don’t care if they want to watch me. I doubt Nick would get off on me sitting on the toilet and you brushing your teeth, and we may as well say we don’t mind because Mom and Dad won’t give us a choice anyway. The sooner we gain trust, the sooner I can have my makeup back, and closing the door gives them a chance to say we did something naughty.”

I heard my sister tinkling in the bowl—it sounded like a heavy faucet of running water. It’s so weird to listen to someone else pee.

“You know the boys are just going to plant something in the bathroom now and say we hid it here, right? Nick basically gave it away, when he told us what he thought criminals like us might do?”

My sister held her mouth open awkwardly for a minute and then said she hadn’t thought about that. “Why don’t we tell Mom to search us in the morning, so that if the boys say they found something and we never left the house, we’ll be in the clear?”

“They may say we had a stash hidden in the yard or something; Ethan is very clever. I wonder if he’s done something like this to other girls before?”

“I still don’t understand what they would get out of it. Getting us into further trouble won’t help them. What else can they take away from us?” She lifted her floppy boobs and let them hang on her chest.

I quickly got used to sharing the bathroom with my sister as we alternated stations and tolerated the sound of each other using the toilet. It was deeply humiliating to know she could hear me use the bathroom, but I reminded myself that happened in public toilets. It’s different, though, when the other person can turn around and make a shocked face at you because you let out a stinky.

My sister braided my hair into pigtails with the few minutes we had remaining. She managed to braid in some festive ribbon. I thought it was a little silly considering the situation we were in. We returned to the living room before the time was up.

“Very good, girls,” Holly was watching her phone to time us and talking to the guys about their own expectations. “I like the ribbon, it’s very Christmas-themed!” Holly was delighted by that.

Joy blushed and preened a little, showing off.

“I was just running the boys through some what-if examples of what can or cannot be considered back-talk; they did very well. I am growing confident that they can run the show from here, so I am going to take a backseat while you prepare our lunch and just observe.”

We asked the boys what they wanted for lunch, but my mom stopped us.

Mom told us to make the same thing for everyone. She didn’t run a custom restaurant at night, so we aren’t taking special requests for lunch and breakfast either. We usually make our own lunches when our parents aren’t home—but now we’d be preparing food for everyone at every meal.

“If I am going to have to deal with your naked butts on restriction, I may as well get a little break,” she joked. “If you can learn how to cook like I do, I may just keep you on restriction a little longer after the holiday,” she winked and joked.

She gave us some additional details that really weren’t all that bad. As terrible as it sounds to be on restriction naked, the expectations weren’t cruel. “It’s one thing if someone doesn’t want a pickle, and the boys can put on their condiments, but if you start getting into custom orders it can be a madhouse. Cookers cook, and eaters eat,” my mother declared.

She taught us to make extra buttery grilled cheese for lunch, and we also made tomato soup. We had to set the table. We never set the table when our parents weren’t there, so that was new. I never noticed that Holly set the table either. I think this was something that Holly felt she wanted and just decided we’d do it from now on.

“Mom, can I ask a question?” Ethan asked as we served him his food.

“Why does Mary have no lady hair at all? Is that to humble her because she was so proud of her thick mane of fur?”

Holly blushed and found it hard to answer the question.

“Mom told me to trim myself, and I thought she meant shave it all off,” I answered to take my mother off the hook. “If you want to laugh at it, it won’t bother me,” I explained abruptly. It would definitely bother me, but I wasn’t going to give Ethan the satisfaction of admitting that. I was taking a page from Joy’s strategy and just being proactive about my so-called rehabilitation through humiliation.

“Who said anything about laughing? I have just never seen a shaved lady part before, and wondered if that was a punishment or something she did to show it off a little more and make it stand out?” Ethan was still asking his mother and not me.

“It was an accident and a miscommunication, Ethan,” Holly answered him seriously as she sat down and suggested they say grace. “You girls, come stand by the table, bow your heads with us, and hold hands. You can stand behind the table after we are done.”

We joined in saying grace, and I had to hold Ethan’s hand. I wanted to squeeze it and dig my fingernails into his skin, but I left my grip loose. I didn’t even want to hold hands with that snake. Once that was over, we stood behind the boys with our hands behind our heads like we were expected to do—waiting if someone needed a refill of their drink, or silverware.

“If you aren’t here, Mom, shouldn’t the girls be facing us?” Ethan asked as he took a bite and chewed. “That way, we can see if they are making faces at us behind our backs?”

“The girls aren’t going to make faces, and if you can’t see them, then it’s fine. You won’t know anyway, but you can always turn your head and glance at them. I don’t want you to have to stare at bald lady parts while you are eating, Ethan.”

“See, Nick? Mom doesn’t always take my ideas,” Ethan turned to his stepbrother and smiled graciously.

I felt like every move Ethan made was calculated and manipulative. It was almost like he asked an outrageous question he knew Holly wouldn’t go for. Even though my mom wanted to impose tough love, she continued to prove that she wasn’t unreasonable, nor was she trying to involve Nick and Ethan more than necessary in our rehabilitation or whatever this restriction was supposed to actually do.

I still hadn’t completely worked that out. I felt like it was a hodge podge of mixed messages. They wanted us to be humiliated for being naked, but they kept us naked. They wanted us to regret what we did, but they didn’t make things that difficult.

I understood my father’s point that he believed yesterday we my sister and I were running around naked on our own volition. He wanted to take away certain privileges and freedoms we took for granted, but we weren’t the naughty girls he thought we were. At least, I was learning to make yummy food and properly clean. I took solace in getting extra time with my mom as well.

It felt like we were bonding over this experience even more than the spanking had done.

“I suppose one good thing about it now is that if we start finding lady hairs in our food, we’ll know which of the girls it came from,” Ethan smiled and made it sound like he was joking after taking a big bite of the cheesy sandwich I just made for him.

I assumed he intended to accuse my sister of dropping pubes in his lunches to get us in more trouble. It wouldn’t make sense though, because we had already sunk as we could go in the family hierarchy as far as I could tell.

“That’s a good what-if, Ethan. If you found a hair in your food after your sisters prepared it, what would you do about it?” Holly didn’t laugh; she used the crude joke as a learning opportunity.

If I had the chance, he’d find my spit in his food, but the kitchen is far too small for anything like that.

Ethan seemed intrigued by the question and contemplated before responding.

“I guess I would do the same thing I would do if I found it when you cooked it. I’d pick it out and just eat.”

“That’s a good answer. You can tell us if it becomes a pattern, but that’s an accident and not something to punish them for. And remember, the strap is locked up. You can ONLY give them corner time. I don’t want you making up any punishments or giving them a punishment you watch me or your father give the girls. It might also be hair from your sister’s head, so give the girls the benefit of the doubt. You don’t know if it came from a lady’s part, so get your mind out of the gutter.”

“If it’s black and not blonde, I’ll have a good idea where it came from, and It’s kind of hard to get my mind out of the gutter when I see bare bottoms and boobs, Mom.”

“Is it going to be a problem for you to adjust, Ethan?” Holly was very concerned when Ethan said that.

“I am already adjusting. I am just being honest; it’s not something I am used to seeing.”

“We have to work. If it were possible, I’d just separate the four of you all day and not expose you to any of this. Your father and I understand that, and that’s why I’ll tolerate a LITTLE vulgarity from now on. We don’t have a lot of choice”

“Why are you so open-minded about vulgarity all of a sudden?” Ethan narrowed his brow, looked down at his plate, and ate. I don’t think he expected that response. I didn’t either.

“I am not sure how open-minded I need to be. I just realized that sometimes you need to evaluate and update your understanding of how to be a parent. This unexpected situation requires us to think outside the box. I need to discuss it with your father, but it occurs to me that you kids are getting older. While I’d like to retain a respectful household and teach you all to be proper in school and church, the reality is that you will hear and probably use vulgarity in certain situations.

“It is a matter of learning where to do it. If you can’t say it here, you may say it in school because you have no other outlet. I think saying bottom hole may be an appropriate word for much younger kids, but you all know what a butthole is. It’s probably silly to insist on using such an outdated term at home. If we are around company or out of the house, I’d prefer to can any foul language, and all four of you act properly. You’ll have no reason to be talking about butt holes at Church, but here I suppose you may see one a time or two.”

‘So, keep it PG at home, right?” Ethan gave his mother a big smile, turned his head toward me with a mouth full of food, and offered me a huge shit-eating grin because he had just stolen my line about how we should have played truth or dare in the first place.

“Yes, exactly, G-rated everywhere else. I am not going to publish a list of acceptable words. I am comfortable with butt hole and vagina, even boobs, for now. Your father is a little less conservative about the foul language than I am. That’s all I am comfortable with for now, and those are the only words I think you may need to use to tell us what the girls did during the day. We’ll talk about it together, but even those words, I don’t want it to be open season on using them. I figure if you actually SEE these parts on girls, then you should be able to SAY them. It’s not ideal, but I am willing to be flexible.”