Chapter 3: Searching for Answers

The week passed and I still didn’t find anything interesting in the jobs section of the newspaper. My brother had to work on Saturday. Susie and I took advantage of the opportunity and walked to a nearby hardware store where, according to Harriet, she bought the flowers for her porch. The store wasn’t quite that nearby, but Susie and I enjoyed our walk. It gave us time to talk and discover things about each other. We talked about school and music and clothes and stuff. Nothing much. But it felt like we were telling each other secrets, full of other meanings.

“Uncle Charlie, some of my friends at school say there are a lot of gays in the military. Is that true?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. Among Marines, however, there is a special bond because we have to live, think and fight like a team. We take care of each other. That’s our creed. It’s important for our survival on and off the battlefield.”

“I hope I don’t offend you, but are you gay?”

“No.”

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

“For six long years, I did. It was my M16 rifle.”

“But you were never with a girl all that time?”

“When my buddies and I were on furlough, we would go to bars and have drinks with girls. Some of the guys would disappear and sleep with them. I enjoyed the girls’ company, but wanted nothing to do with that.”

“So does that mean you’re still a virgin?”

“Gosh, you really ask a lot of questions.”

“Well, are you?”

“As strange as this may sound, but, yes.”

We walked for about a minute without saying anything and then I remembered something I wanted to ask Susie.

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

“Dad would kill me even if he suspected I had one.”

“But are there any boys in your class that you like?”

“Not really. They’re all stupid. All they want to do is talk about football and make fun of the girls.”

“What about the girls? Do you have any friends?”

“I hang around with a couple of girls. We eat lunch together and do projects in school.”

“What about after school, do you sometimes invite them over to your house or go to their houses for parties?”

“Dad won’t let me bring anyone to our house and I stopped asking him to let me go to a sleepover.

“How come?”

“Well, the last time I asked him, a little over a year ago, he said no and that the place for me to sleep was in his house. My friends insisted and I asked him again. He banged his fist so hard on the table that it knocked over my glass of milk. He told me to go to my room without supper. When I started to cry he came after me, grabbed me by the back of my hair and asked me if I understood the meaning of no. I said I did and should have kept my mouth shut. Instead, I said ‘but Dad.’ He became very angry and pulled me by the hair to the couch. He held me down over the side, lifted my nightgown, pulled down my panties, made me spread my legs and spanked me several times. He released me, but told me to stay in that position until he said I could go to my room. I couldn’t see him, but he stood behind me for several minutes making a strange sound.”

The bastard, I thought to myself, jerking off while looking at his daughter’s pussy.

“Sorry to ask you this, but does he spank you often?”

“He started spanking me ever since Mom left us and only when I don’t do as he tells me, or when I cry. I think he enjoys it. He likes the control it gives him. He wants me to behave in a certain way, and if I don’t, he punishes me. That’s why I try to stay quiet and mostly in my room so that he can’t find an excuse to yell and hit me.”

My throat closed tight and I couldn’t stand hearing any more of the pain she had to endure. It reminded me of the torture sessions the Iraqi military performed on civilians. I quickly had to change the subject for the both of us. The fact that she hid in her room also explained why nothing got done around the house.

“I think we’re getting close to the store. What kind of flowers would you like to get?”

“Let’s first see what they have.”

We ended up buying three hanging baskets with Begonias for the porch, two pots with violets for the kitchen window and a flag to mount on one of the pillars of the porch. Susie looked so cheerful watering the plants. It reminded me when she was little and would overwater plants only because she didn’t know when to stop giving.

We also bought a new shower rod and shower curtain for the bathroom, plus a new door handle to lock from the inside. I let Susie pick out the color and design of the shower curtain and hooks. She was exuberant holding the tools for me and putting the hooks on the curtain. I held her by the waist to keep her steady while she stood on a stool to hang up the curtain. For the first time, I noticed that my pretty little niece was turning into a lovely young woman.

From what I could remember about her mother, she was shaped a lot like her with really nice legs and a cute, rounded little ass. Susie had the same pinched in waist, and although her boobs were just starting to swell on her chest, they still were a nice size.