Chapter 7: Jennifer Chancelor, Friday Evening

I couldn’t believe what was happening. It was incredible. It was outrageous.

Little Bonnie, her face tight with rage, was taping Estelle’s mouth closed – gagging her and binding her to the chair. It was all happening right in front of me and I didn’t do a thing to stop her. Not only that, but I helped.

I expected Dad to put a stop to it at any second. He’s such a gentle man. There was no way he would tolerate such a violent, physical attack on his wife – even if it was his children doing the attacking.

Perhaps it was a measure of how completely lost he was feeling that he didn’t stop us. Not only that but when Bonnie ordered him to hold Estelle’s hands to stop her from fighting back, he complied.

Once she had our mother’s enforced silence and her full attention, Bonnie proceeded to lay out why she was upset. I was impressed that she managed to do it relatively calmly. Bonnie isn’t known for her ability to stay calm. I took my cue from her and kept my contribution calm, despite the bizarre situation we’d created. Dad stayed calm too.

I was astonished that we were sitting around and discussing our issues with her gagged and immobilized. I was even more astonished that we ended up effectively restructuring the family by stripping her of her titles; wife and mother, and moving her out of any position of authority. I wasn’t expecting that. Even though I contributed to the decision, I didn’t expect it. I mean, I was mad at her, really mad, but this was total lunacy.

While we were sitting there talking, I expected that we would make Estelle listen to our complaints, she would promise to do better and then we would untie her and everything would go back to normal. What we ended up with was a long way away from normal.

Some people think Dad’s a big softy and I can see why they think that. He’s not a confrontational man and he always looks for ways to smooth things out when things get emotional. He’s the peacemaker and the cool head. Unless he gets pushed too hard on something he thinks is important. Then he gets stubborn. And once he’s dug in over something, it’s practically impossible to shift him.

I guess we must have woken up his stubborn streak because instead of brokering a peace between us and Estelle, he laid down the law and told her to live with it or leave. He must’ve been confident she wouldn’t leave because Dad said over and over he didn’t want a divorce.

I think Dad was originally upset because he’d been forced to hurt me last night. The ironic thing is that I wasn’t that badly hurt. I mean, I know I was embarrassed and everything and I cried when it happened but I was getting over it. I was mad at her for sucking me into her crazy scheme and I was mad at me for being sucked in. I even started calling her Estelle instead of Mum as a kind of joke but then I discovered it made me feel powerful to call her Estelle and order her around so I kept doing it. I was mad at her. I wasn’t doing it for laughs or anything. But I wasn’t so mad that I’d started hating her or anything.

Then Dad showed me that paper on what was in my pills. That was scary. The idea that Mum would do that to me completely freaked me out. But then I looked over at Mum sitting there with all of that tape on her and I still couldn’t hate her. Dad was obviously furious about that, as well. Dad doesn’t get angry much but someone messing with me or Bon will do it. But this was his wife messing with me. I don’t think he knew how to handle that.

Then Bonny bullied Dad into giving Estelle the same treatment she always demanded we get for swearing. It’s been a few years for me but I felt that hand on my backside a time or two when I was little. Dad never hit me really hard, of course – just hard enough to sting. But it took seeing a report about someone who really had been beaten and a description of all the bruising before I realised that he was going easy on me. Then I learned not to swear in front of my parents or doing any of the other things that tripped Estelle’s buttons and it stopped being an issue. So I was never too concerned when it all started again with Bonnie. That’s how I ended up watching Dad’s face when he had to smack Bon and that’s how I learned how much he hated doing it.

It was no surprise to me that he hated smacking Estelle just as much, perhaps even more. What was a surprise was how meekly she submitted to it. It was as if all this business and especially Dad laying down the law had triggered some sort of zone in her mind where she obeyed authority without complaining. She even went and stood against the wall without having to be told. And she let Bonnie lead her back to her room by the hand.

I decided that if Estelle was going to be the little sister and I was going to be in charge, then I better make that clear from the start. So I went to Estelle’s closet and selected some clothes for her to wear to my party. I deliberately picked something that would make her look nice in a mature sort of way, so that she couldn’t complain about what I’d chosen.

I took the clothes into the spare room, which was now Estelle’s room and hung them up for her. I explained they were for her to wear and made it clear that I was in charge now. She didn’t really argue. Bonnie was doing a good job of putting on the cream so I left her to it. I sat down next to Estelle’s head and asked her how she was feeling. She was pretty confused about everything which seemed strange to me since I thought we’d explained the problem pretty clearly. And she was still talking like she accepted that she was going to be taking orders from me and Bonnie.

I sent Bonnie off to get a shower and then I sat in Bonnie’s room and we talked about what outfit she should wear. I was pretty impressed with what Bonnie had chosen. My little sis has a good sense of what clothes suit her. Then I did Bon’s hair for her. I enjoyed spending time with her on such a normal thing.

Also it gave me a chance to get an idea of how Bonnie was coping with the whole situation. She seemed to be coping okay. She’d been so angry in the kitchen. But then in the bedroom with Estelle, she’d been really gentle and sweet. I think she even tried to give Estelle some advice on how to cope with being a little sister which might not have been much use but the fact that she tried was awesome. And now in her own room, after a shower, Bon seemed to have bounced right back to her normal happy self.

Bonnie made the comment that now I was in charge, did that mean I was going to sleep in Dad’s bed? I hadn’t thought of that. I mean, that is kind of how this whole thing started. I knew now that Dad wasn’t going to have sex with me, but he did make me stay in his bed last night and I’d really liked that. I mean, not at first but after I’d gotten over being upset, I’d liked being in his bed. And I’d loved waking up next to him in the morning. That had been a really special moment for me. I desperately wanted to do that again. I wanted to spend the whole night cuddled up to him and sleeping with his strong arms around me. I wanted to enjoy the experience without starting off the night being upset. That would be brilliant.

Mind you, sleeping with Dad wasn’t going to do anything about how horny I was feeling. It turns out some of that was because of Mum’s pills that she gave me but knowing that didn’t stop me feeling horny all the time. I’ve been spending most of my time for the last few weeks pretty much roiling inside that calm front I manage to somehow present to the world. I’ve gone through a fair few batteries each night in my room as I gave my little vibrator a work out. I thought it was because I was horny for Dad. I thought I was horny because all teenagers are horny. It turns out I was extra horny because of the drugs. I think I still have this desire to do it with Dad. After all, I’ve wanted to do that since way before Mum gave me the special pills. Those pills only made things worse – way worse.

Putting all that aside, provided I could manage my horniness, I figured sharing a bed with Dad would be as close to my dream come true as I was going to manage.

I told Bonnie I was going to do it and she seemed pleased with that.

But then Bonnie asked about the pills. I guess it was too much to hope for that she wouldn’t have noticed. I had to explain all about that. I was half expecting Bonnie to start into her own little rant but she didn’t. I tried to play down how significant those pills were but I’m not sure that I succeeded.

Once I’d finished with Bonnie’s hair, I left her to get dressed while I had my own shower and got dressed myself. Then I went downstairs and did a few of the last minute things to get ready.

The party went really well. Everyone seemed to have a good time. There was no alcohol because half the people there weren’t old enough and so Dad had refused to allow anyone to have it. He said that if they didn’t like the rules, they didn’t have to come. Nobody complained about that, probably because most of my friends are pretty square so we don’t really drink that much anyway.

Dad was being cheerful and joking with everyone. I thought he was pretending to be in a better mood than he really was and I appreciated the effort he was making. Bon had the time of her life. I swear some of my friends wanted to steal her and take her home to be their own little sister.