Chapter 6

In the community of Cedar Grove, Iowa they were known as “The Sons of Thunder,” the infamous Cross twins, Jericho and Joshua, sons of Reverend Amos Cross, pastor of the Bethel Baptist Church.

Typical of pastor’s children, those of police chiefs and other men of authority in the community Jericho and Joshua Cross were rebels of the first magnitude always in trouble though never felonious. They weren’t identical twins, but the outside world had difficulty telling them apart. Technically Jericho was the eldest; he came out of the oven forty-three minutes before Joshua and was the more serious “elder” son. Other differences were Jerry’s blue eyes while Josh’s were lavender, something that would one day attract many women. Jerry was right-handed while Josh was left-handed. Sexually Jerry was not endowed as generously as was Josh but wasn’t small either.

The boys were always a handful for their mother Eve Cross and when they went to school, they often disrupted the class. As they grew into their teens, they, especially Joshua, became the “leaders of the pack.” Jericho always went along but more often followed Josh’s lead. They would do things like tipping cows, pantsing their friends in public, tipping over outhouses while they were occupied, and stealing watermelons out of the fields of local farmers. They introduced their friends to the best of pranks on Halloween like filling brown paper bags with poop, putting the bags on people’s porches, lighting the bag on fire, knocking on the door, and hollering “TRICK OR TREAT.” Then they would skulk nearby to see their victim come to the door, stamp out the fire, and splatter shit all over the front landing and shoes.

It was fortunate that automobiles had not yet become a way of life. As it was, they were well known to Tobias Harrington, Cedar Grove’s Chief of Police. But being the Cross’s next-door neighbor and a charter member of the Bethel Baptist Church Harrington treated them more as problem children rather than enemies of the law. His greater fear was that his daughter Eve, the same age as the boys, would be influenced by their immoral behavior and might even make one of them his son-in-law. Little did he suspect that Eve would become the instigator in that department. Just as the Cross boys were typical PKs (Pastor’s kids) Eve was a typical Police Chief’s daughter. She too was rebellious, in league with the Cross boys whenever she could be.

Since both of their mothers were stay-at-home moms there were few instances where Eve and the boys could get together alone. In the summertime, though there was a fabulous grove about half a mile over the hill where the creek ran through. While they were growing up, they would play in the grove, usually innocent games. But the day that Jericho decided he had to pee and took out his penis in Eve’s presence, it was like Eve of “Garden of Eden” fame, meeting the serpent for the first time.

She was amazed at the difference in what was between the boys’ legs. When she made such a big deal out of it Josh took the opportunity to pee and show his “snake” to Eve who was further overwhelmed when she saw that it was bigger than Jerry’s. This led to the games of “If you’ll show you yours, I’ll you show you mine.” Eve was a Tomboy who even played sandlot baseball with the Crosses and the other boys. But Jerry and Josh kept Eve along with their “ ... show you” games to themselves.

When the boys began approaching puberty Bobby Zdrowsky, a boy who was a year older than they were had his first wet dream. Once he shared this discovery with his friends the boys froze Eve out for a spell. For them, it was like during the growing season when corn shoots were popping out of the ground and had to be shown off. Had Bobby not been a year older he would have been the last to bloom. But within months of his first boner, all the boys were sporting erections of different sizes. It was at this point that their “circle jerks” began. At first, it was a competition to see who was the longest and the thickest: who was circumcised and uncircumcised, who could get hard first, then ejaculate first and recover, getting hard to ejaculate again.

Though Eve was disappointed in being frozen out by the boys she was having epiphanies of her own. She had begun having erotic dreams when “Show me” scenarios would pop up. Amid these dreams, she would often wake up feeling uncomfortably tingly. Her breasts were beginning to grow, and her nipples would often hurt in an itching kind of way.

One day when her mother was busy putting up peach preserves in the kitchen Eve lay down on the couch and dozed off to one of her erotic dreams. Shocked into wakefulness she became aware that her mother was sitting beside her. Kissing her daughter’s cheek as she said, “You are okay sweetie, I should have told you about this before, but you started becoming a woman.”

Helen Harrington had recognized years ago that her daughter was much like she was, a person with a hyperactive libido. Too many times she had seen Evie’s hand going between her legs and fondling herself. At the time she thought she should fast-track her little girl with “birds and the bees” knowledge. But, having forgotten her vow ‘til that time, her little girl was not only becoming a woman, like herself, but a time bomb was also ticking between her legs. Sex with Toby Harrington (the man/boy Eve’s mother would marry) had always been sweet until the mix turned bitter when she missed her period. Eve was born two months early.

After Evie’s period started her mother spent the next hour and a half advising her daughter on the ins and outs of sex: its joys, thrills, and pitfalls. She feared giving her daughter this much knowledge. But given the trouble, she had gotten herself into she hoped that the knowledge might give the girl a chance to figure out what was best for her.

“So, Evie,” she said, “you understand that having sexual relations before marriage is wrong, don’t you?” Eve said that she did. “It’s a responsibility that I failed in myself, but my mother never talked with me like this.”

Helen knew that her daughter was almost joined at the hip with the Cross boys ... that she had a lifelong crush on Josh. She was painfully aware that Evie was already a girl with a nagging itch; repeatedly having seen her toying with her breasts and touching herself between her legs. Taking her daughter by the hand into her bedroom Helen opened her closet door, reached inside, and took down a white and red box that had the name Trojans printed on it (it was a gross of condoms).

Putting the box on the bed she sat on the mattress and had her daughter sit on the other side of the box. Opening it she took out a foil packet, tore the edge, and opened it, taking out the coin-like, rolled-up rubber. “This is a condom baby. It rolls over a boy’s penis like this (she held her index and middle fingers together and rolled the rubber over them. It’s to keep his sperm from being deposited in your vagina. This protection will keep your eggs from becoming fertilized and making you pregnant.”

Placing her open hand gently on her daughter’s cheek she admonished, “Never, never let a boy put his penis inside you without putting one of these on Evie ... never trust him to do it. You do it.”

Counting out ten condoms she placed them in Eve’s lap. “It breaks my heart to be doing this with you honey but you’re so much like me when I was your age. I was wild for boys and crazy about them having their hard penises inside me.” With tears in her eyes, she shook her head. “So, I am giving you ten of these to use.” She sighed. “Always carry at least one with you baby. If you need more come to me and I’ll give them to you,” Taking a deep breath she went on, “I won’t have to tell Daddy about this unless you use so many of these that he misses them.” She wished that she had carried condoms when she was young, but they weren’t even accessible at the time.

Though overwhelmed with her storehouse of sexual knowledge Evie was happy to have had this “woman to woman” talk with her mother. In her room, she thought about what she had just learned. Her two constant playmates, Josh and Jerry had forsaken her for male friends, but she wanted to be with them now. She remembered the first time she saw Jerry and Josh naked and how interesting their limp penises were. Jerry’s penis was stubby while Josh’s hung down and swung like a pendulum when she tapped the tip of it with her finger.

As she recalled her mother rolling the white rubber thing over her fingers, she tried to figure out how Jerry and especially Josh would be able to get their wormlike penises into her vagina. Her mother who must have assumed that she knew about erections didn’t discuss that with her. Looking at the ten foil packages that were spread over her quilt she decided to try what her mother had shown her. Not wanting to waste any of the ten condoms that her mother had almost commanded her to use when having sex with a boy she stole back into her mother’s bedroom and removed the unrolled rubber from the small trash can beside the bed.

When she got back into her room, she carefully rolled the rubber back into its “store-bought” position then rolled it over her index and middle finger like her mother had done. While trying to figure out how a limp “pecker” could fit inside her she wondered how the condom would stay on the boy’s limp penis. Bunching four fingers together she saw how the rubber stretched and wondered if somehow a penis would grow to fill this expandable sheath in the same way. While she was rolling the rubber over her fingers and off again, she started feeling strange sensations in her vagina.

Eventually, she dozed off. When her mother wakened, she felt that her hand was wet. Seeing the look of concern on her mother’s face she thought something weird was happening. Looking at her hand she feared that she might bleed to death. With tears in her eyes and a strange smile on her face, her mother took her in her arms as if she were a baby. Hugging her tightly she told Evie that she was becoming a woman. After she had taken a bath, her mother dried her and, with clean cotton panties in her hand showed her how to pin this strange “sanitary napkin” to her panties. When she put them on it felt like there was a huge wad of fabric in her panties that made her think, if this is what I must do as a woman I’m not much going to like being one.

After her mother left her, she spread an old towel on her quilt, took off her panties, and sat down on the towel. She thought that this whole mess between her legs was “icky” but, not knowing about the effects of menstruation, she felt that her vagina was extremely tingly and tender.

Putting the rubber back over her two fingers she tried putting them inside her vagina. She had been fondling herself for as long as she could remember, putting one finger inside her vagina most of the time. Eventually, she had found a button-like node which when she rubbed it became even more sensitive. When she continued rubbing it, she got more excited. If she rubbed it hard or fast enough it would make her body get all shivery—she loved the glowing feelings and how she relaxed after each time she had one. With her rubber-covered fingers, she finally worked both inside her slippery tunnel. At first, it was tight but as she continued moving her fingers her vagina felt much more pliable. Peckers get bigger, she thought, they must.