Interlude: Jenny Binter

Jenny Binter sighed and looked up at the ceiling, as if searching there for answers.

She found none.

Despite the pain-killers, Jenny was feeling bloated and crampy due to her period. She was distressed and deflated by her recent, sudden and totally unexpected breakup with Bria. And she’d had a long day looking after her two younger siblings. To be fair, the day had been made more bearable due to the assistance from Jacinta. She loved her little siblings and normally enjoyed being with them. But spending extended time with them when she didn’t have much energy to spare had been draining.

And now, to make the situation worse, Jacinta’s abrupt flare up and exit had left the two kids devastated and confused, and had left Jenny a little more distressed and deflated.

Jenny was wearing a towel and seated in the middle of the couch in the front room of her uncle’s house. Her two younger siblings were each side of her and clutching her as if their life depended on it while they sobbed their little hearts out. Freddy was tucked into her right side, sniffling into her shoulder, while Tabby was sprawled out to her left with her head on Jenny’s lap. The towel Jenny wore was doing double duty. It was both protecting her modesty and soaking up the tears and the snot.

“I don’t understand.” Tabby’s voice was muffled because her face was pressed into Jenny’s thigh. “What did we do wrong?”

Jenny sighed again. She stroked her hand through her sister’s wet hair, and then down the skin of her back. Jenny ran her fingers in small circles around the little bumps formed by each vertebrae of Tabby’s spine.

“I don’t think we did anything wrong, sweetie,” Jenny said quietly to her sister. “I think Jacinta has some really deep issues going on. She got triggered and that brought everything up to the surface. She couldn’t handle what she was feeling so she left. I think maybe she wanted to sort herself out rather than taking it out on us.”

Freddy sat up and blotted his face with his own towel which had been draped loosely around his shoulders but was now clutched in his hands.

“She told us to get off of her,” said Freddy. “We thought she was only playing so we kept on climbing all over her and wrestling with her. She told us to get off and we didn’t. That’s what we did wrong.”

Tabby burst into a fresh set of tears and clutched herself more tightly into Jenny.

Internally, Jenny cursed Freddy for being so perceptive. She gave Freddy a sad look and nodded. She mouthed, “I think you’re right.” She was careful to convey her message silently so that Tabby wouldn’t hear her.

Jenny stroked Tabby’s hair again. “You had no way of knowing, sweetie. You couldn’t possibly know she was getting triggered by that. It’s still not your fault.”

Freddy re-arranged the towel around his hips and underneath his backside, then folded the ends across his lap. “Do you think she’ll come back?”

Jenny nodded. “I hope so. I did ask her to come back once she’d calmed down. She seemed like a really nice person once you got past that rough exterior.”

“I don’t think her home is that nice of a place,” said Freddy. “I don’t think she wants to go home, so there’s a good chance she’ll come back.”

He reached out and gently stroked Tabby’s naked shoulder.

Internally, Jenny appreciated Freddy for being so perceptive. She gave Freddy a grateful smile and a nod.

Tabby’s sobbing cut off. She lay still for a short moment. Then she sat up and wiped her face with her hands. “In that case, we should get ready. We should order dinner and make sure we look happy and welcoming when she comes back.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” said Jenny.

She stood up and hauled Tabby to her feet. “Look! You made the couch wet where you sat your naked bum on it. Let’s dry off the couch. We should grab a quick shower to rinse off the chlorine. Then we can be properly clean and dry and ready for the evening.”

Tabby looked shyly at the other two. “Can we shower together like we did before? That was nice.”

Jenny shrugged. “I don’t see why not. But we should keep it quick this time. After that, it will be time to sit down and decide what we want to order for dinner.”

“Okay,” said Freddy. “That sounds good. I’m getting hungry.”

Freddy unhooked the towel he had with him and started trying to dry the couch where they’d been sitting. The only towel Jenny had with her was the one she was wearing, so after a slight hesitation, she whipped it off and started helping Freddy dry off the couch. Tabby didn’t have a towel with her, so all she could do was stand and watch. Fortunately, the material of the couch had been treated so the dampness hadn’t soaked into the cloth. It only took a few wipes to get it mostly dry.

Once they were done, Jenny and Freddy slung the towels over their shoulders and they each reached out a hand for Tabby.

“Come on Tabs, let’s get started on that shower,” said Freddy. “Can I help you with your hair again?”

Together, they walked upstairs to the en suite bathroom and got in the shower. Each of them took turns to sit on the shower stool while their siblings rinsed out their hair and gave their scalp a quick massage. They washed each other’s backs before splitting up to wash the remainder of their own bodies. There was some chatting and giggling but the three of them were more subdued and more focused than they had been the first time they did this.

Jenny briefly wondered about the appropriateness of all this. But they’d been naked and playing together for most of the day, so maybe it was too late to worry about that now. Jenny noticed that both the kids were being respectful in terms of where they touched her and each other. She wondered if perhaps Jacinta had said something during one of the times when Jenny was either not around, or around but out of it. Or, maybe, it was just that they were both good kids who knew about respect.

As they were drying themselves off, Jenny said, “I do need you to put the shirts and undies back on so that you can help me bring my stuff in from the car. I’m not going to let you start streaking around the front yard. We can bring my stuff in after we’ve phoned in our order for dinner.”

Tabby sulked at having to get dressed but didn’t complain out loud.

A short time later, the three of them assembled around the kitchen table. Jenny called up a list of the local food places that would do delivery and they launched into a spirited discussion. Jenny immediately nixed the idea of Maccas. “Mum would kill me if she knew I fed you that. You need to eat properly after spending all day in the pool.”

“Mum’s still living in the 80s,” said Tabby. “They have salads and wraps and stuff like that so it’s not all junk food.”

“Regardless of when she’s living,” replied Jenny. “She’s still your mother, and you’re still a kid, so she gets a say in what you eat.”

To Jenny’s mild surprise, the kids ended up voting for Indian food. Freddy explained that they’d been to an Indian restaurant a couple of times with their parents and they’d found it really tasty, provided the curries were mild. One time, their dad had ordered a hot Vindaloo curry but it had been too spicy for both Tabby and Freddy. After some discussion, they wanted Samosas, a Chicken Korma, and a Lamb Masala, together with some steamed rice. Jenny added a mild Vegetable Curry to the mix, as well as some Naan (flat bread).

Jenny put the order through and then they spent the next fifteen minutes carrying things in from her car and up to one of the spare rooms. Jenny was going to sleep in the main bedroom while she was house-sitting but she thought she’d start off storing her piles of stuff in a spare room so she wouldn’t be tripping over it all the time. They left it all in piles, except for a few more necessary items, like her makeup and bathroom products and so on, which she took straight into the main bedroom.

Once that was done, they sat down together on the couch and talked about the day while they waited for dinner to be delivered. Both Tabby and Freddy were excited that they’d had so much time in the pool. They’d been expecting to be bored hanging around at their own house for the whole weekend. They were also happy to have had time with Jenny, and it had been wild getting to meet Jacinta. She was so different from the people they usually hung out with.