Jacinta Takes a Walk
Copyright© 2025 by BarBar
Chapter 13: Family Portrait
Jenny had reached around to hug Freddy and give him a kiss. The doona slipped when she moved, which left a tit hanging out in the open. Nobody said anything as she leaned back and closed her eyes.
“I need a shower,” she groaned, but she didn’t move.
I looked at Freddy. With all his wriggling around, his shirt had ridden up and he was pretty much exposed to the room. I decided to ignore it. Apparently, Tabby did too, because she didn’t say anything.
“I should check how that washing is going,” I said. What I could see of Freddy having prompted me to check on Freddy’s clothes.
Tabby spoke up. “Can I help?”
That was a surprise. I looked at her and then said, “Sure. But that will leave Freddy with the most important job.”
“What?” asked Freddy.
“Up you get. You’ll need to take Jenny’s hand and drag her upstairs and push her into the bathroom. I think the only way she’ll get a shower is if you drag her there, and she really needs a shower. It will help her feel better.”
I took the empty coffee mug out of Jenny’s hand and put it on a side-table. Then Freddy and I grabbed a hand each and hauled Jenny out of the chair. The doona stayed where it was. Jenny stood there blinking. She was still wearing her undies, but that was it. I was going to suggest finding a towel or something to wrap around her, but Freddy didn’t wait. He took her hand and started leading her down the hall and up the stairs.
I did a little internal shrug and looked at Tabby. “Come on, then.”
Tabby had questions, mostly about the part of the story where the guy puts his dick into the girl’s vag. Like many twelve year old girls, her entire knowledge of dicks was based on what she’d seen of Freddy and the gossip she’d heard from her friends. And those two things didn’t match. I answered as best as I could as we walked through to the laundry.
“Yes, they do get bigger. Boys’ dicks grow when they hit puberty. A bit like a girl’s tits grow.”
“They come in all sizes. Those big ones you’ve seen or heard about from porn are rare. Most of them are half that size, or less.”
“Yes, it will fit. A girl’s vag is designed to stretch enough to push out a baby’s head. Dicks aren’t nearly that big.”
“People say it can hurt a bit, but it’s not crazy painful.”
“I don’t remember. That was ages ago. It probably hurt a bit. I think Frodo looked after me.”
The washing machine had finished its cycle and was sitting there, doing nothing. I opened it and pulled out the first thing I touched, which turned out to be Freddy’s basketball shorts.
“Could we ... um...,” said Tabby.
I looked at her. “Could we what?”
“Could we put them back in for another cycle and say they weren’t clean yet?”
I understood immediately, but I wanted to make her say it. “Why would we do that?”
“It’s kind of fun, seeing him like that. I just don’t want him to get dressed and have it all be over.”
“Keep talking.”
“Well, ... during the entire time you were talking, I could see his thing, ... his penis ... his dick. It was just lying there like a ... like a...” Apparently, she couldn’t think of a way to finish that sentence.
I always think soft dicks look like slugs, but I didn’t say that.
She had an odd expression on her face. “It was ... interesting.”
I looked at her and kept my face expressionless.
I’d been happy to answer her questions, but now she’d ruined the mood for me.
“Tabitha, listen to me. I’ve talked with Freddy quite a bit between last night and this morning. He talked about you a lot. He only ever said nice things about you. One thing he said was that he missed how, when you were little, you would have baths together, and wash each other’s hair. He was really sad that you and he never got to wash each other’s hair anymore. That kid adores you.”
Tabby tried to look away, so I grabbed her chin and steered her back so I could look into her eyes.
“He never once mentioned you being rude to him, or bossing him around, or taking advantage of him, or ignoring him, or anything like that. But since you’ve been here, that’s nearly all that you’ve been doing. And now you want to lie to him so that you can stare at his dick some more?”
She blushed and tried to look down, but I wouldn’t let her.
“Is that really the type of person you are? Is that really the type of sister you are?”
I waited and I saw her eyes change and start to glisten as she thought about that.
“I’m an only child, Tabitha. I have no idea what it’s like to have a little brother hanging around all the time. I’m sure there are times when he’s a pain in the ass. I hear other girls say things like that about their brothers all the time, so it’s probably true for Freddy as well.”
I paused and made sure I had her attention. To make doubly sure, I changed my grip so that I had a hand on each side of her jaw, forcing her to look me in the eyes.
“But I’ll tell you this. He didn’t know if your tits had started to grow, and it wasn’t because he was ignoring you. He watches you all the time. The problem is that when he looks at you he sees you, the person. He doesn’t see the bits and pieces that join together to make you, he sees all of you. Or maybe he’s not even seeing your physical body at all, he’s seeing the you that you project. The inner you. Maybe I’m not saying this very well.”
But from the expression on her face, I thought maybe I was explaining it okay.
“Look, I remember a bit about what it was like being twelve. My body was changing and those emotions were going wild and everything was confusing. I was trying to figure out about boys and sex and periods and all of that. Maybe I knew more about sex back then than you do now, but what I knew didn’t fit with what I thought. I was trying to figure out who I was and how I fitted with the people around me. Nothing made sense. Also, I was angry at the world for everything that happened to me. I reacted by lashing out at everybody, or by hiding my inner self away, or trying to do both at the same time. I was crazed. I probably did a lot of things that kids that age shouldn’t do. I don’t remember most of it. I ended up with no friends, at all. I’m still living with the consequences of all of that, and I don’t see any way that’s going to change anytime soon.”
I made a sour face.
“I know you feel weird. Your family seems nice. Try not to take that weirdness out on your friends, or your family, and especially not Freddy, or you might end up the same way as me.”
Suddenly, Tabby lunged forward and wrapped me up in a hug. Her head tucked in under my chin. She squeezed me tight and let out a sob.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she cried. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know why I’m doing those things to Freddy. We used to be so close.”
I held her close as she cried. I hadn’t expected that. Having people hold onto me and cry was a new thing for me. I wasn’t sure what to do. So, I held her close and let her cry. Her arms around me were squeezing me tightly. She’s way stronger than she looks. As I stood there, I started to feel nervous. I wasn’t sure why, but something seemed out of place.
I glanced up and saw Frodo watching. He didn’t seem concerned so I stopped worrying.
After a minute, she stepped away from me and tried to wipe the tears off her face. I picked up one of the used towels on the floor and handed it to her so that she could wipe away the tears and the snot. There was a wet patch on the shirt I was wearing, but I’ve had worse. The odd feeling I’d had faded away.
Without saying anything, Tabby turned and started moving the wet clothes from the washer to the dryer. At one point, she turned to me, holding up Freddy’s jocks with the trains on them.
“Is that where that stupid joke about the trains came from?”
I winked at her and grinned.
“Freddy likes trains,” I said.
She went back to loading the dryer. Once she was done, she set it going and turned to me.
“What now?”
I was feeling domestic. I was feeling like I was supposed to be in charge. What should I do? I spotted a couple of discarded towels sitting on the floor.
“There’s a bunch of used towels all over the place,” I said. “Jenny will need a clean towel or two when she finishes her shower.”
“I know where the clean towels are stored,” said Tabby. “There are some out in the back room and some in a cupboard upstairs.”
I’d seen that cupboard upstairs during one of my explorations. I smiled at her, trying to be encouraging.
“Just take a couple into the bathroom and hang them up ready for her. I think she’s past caring about whether or not you see her in the shower.”
Tabby nodded. “I’ll bring the used towels down here and we can run a load of towels.”
I told Tabby to check for used towels in the spare bedroom, where I’d slept the first night, and the other bathroom, where I’d showered, as well as in the main bedroom and the ensuite where Jenny was showering. She ran off and I heard her thumping up the stairs. I tossed the towels that were already in the laundry into the washing machine, then leaned back against the bench, waiting for Tabby to return.
Tabby reminded me a lot of me when I was twelve. It was hard to stay annoyed with her. On the other hand, she had so much going for her, that I never had. If she threw all of that away and ended up like me, then I’d be really annoyed.
She came trotting back into the laundry with an armful of towels that she dropped into the machine. She didn’t speak. I could see something was on her mind. I handed her the detergent and she measured out the appropriate amount then set the washer going. She returned the detergent to me, so I put it back on the shelf where I’d found it.
Tabby turned to look at me and blurted out, “Freddy was in the shower with Jenny. They were both naked. He was washing her back. She was just leaning against the wall and letting him wash her back.”
I wasn’t surprised, but I was curious.
“Did you say anything? What were you thinking?”
“I didn’t say anything. At first, I wanted to tell him to stop, but then I tried to think what was wrong with what he was doing, and I couldn’t think of any reason. Except, it’s just not normal for him to be in the shower with her like that. Freddy saw me and I did a little wave, and then he went back to washing her.”
I nodded. “Jenny’s had a rough couple of days. She’s in pain, both physically and emotionally. Freddy is doing everything he can to help his older sister feel better. It sounds pretty normal to me. He’s still a kid. He’s not as hung up on nudity as you seem to be.”
I decided not to mention all the times the night before when Freddy had tried to tell me about the rules. It sounded like he’d got over that.
Tabby looked at me for a moment. I could see the thoughts swirling behind her eyes.
“I get that. I guess that’s why I didn’t say anything.”
She was still thinking, so I waited.
“We haven’t been naked around Freddy for ages. Not since I stopped having baths with him, probably. Mum said it was better that way. And Jenny for much longer. Well, she’s so much older than us. But it’s like Freddy doesn’t care about that today. He just wants Jenny to feel better.”
I nodded to say that I agreed with her.
“Did you feel jealous of Jenny, that Freddy was looking after her like that?”
Tabby looked at me as she thought about that. “Maybe,” she said, surprised at herself.
“Or maybe you were jealous of Freddy, that he could help Jenny in a way that you couldn’t.”
Tabby frowned, as she thought about that. “Maybe,” she admitted.
I nodded and looked at her carefully.
“There was a shower stool in there, pushed to the side,” I said, thinking aloud. “If Freddy sees that, he could get her to sit on it so that he could wash her hair. That would help her feel better.”
“What if he doesn’t see the stool? Or if he doesn’t think of doing that?”
I shrugged. “She’s capable of washing her own hair. It will just take longer, that’s all. She’s doing everything at ten percent speed today.”
“Oh,” said Tabby. “Okay.”
She got a strange look on her face. Then she suddenly blushed as if she was thinking of something. She glanced sideways at me and then blushed some more. I didn’t think I’d said anything to embarrass her but I could guess where her mind was going. The look on her face changed again, but I couldn’t begin to describe what she was thinking. Then she walked out of the laundry. She didn’t say anything, she simply turned around and walked out. A moment later, I heard thumping as she ran up the stairs.