Chapter 9

Incest disgusts most people. But there are tribes of natives in undeveloped parts of the world whose diet is rich in grubs and worms. That seems disgusting to lots of people too. But to those tribes, it’s just lunch. People think that incest is a special kind of lust that’s different from “regular” sexual lust. It’s not that at all. Incest is merely normal sex under abnormal conditions. And, just as the honeymoon couple eventually goes home and has sex less often, after a whole day of debauchery (and two nights), Bobby and Barbie finally got over the novelty of this new kind of relationship.

On this day, Bobby said he was going to hang with some friends and shoot hoops, and Barbie said she was going shopping for prom dresses with Andie Hopkins.

“Prom isn’t for almost a year,” said Bob, looking up from his morning paper.

“It’s just for fun,” said Barbie.

“Well, be careful what you tell her,” said Bob.

“Daddy, don’t be an idiot. You’re going to call the doctor today, right?”

“Right,” said Bob.

After her siblings left, Julie didn’t know what to do. Everybody was always eager for summer vacation to start, but when there was no school, there was also nothing to do. She decided to go for a run and, after breakfast, she dressed in running clothes, including a sports bra, to keep her breasts from bouncing and getting sore. Bob was in his home office again, this time typing away at something.

For no particular reason she ran to the car wash. There was only one in town and it was busy, even though it was only nine-thirty. She saw Jerry Pitts, wearing the company uniform, holding one of the special towels they used to dry a car off after it came out of the tube where it got washed. The car wash hired lots of high school kids during the summer. Jerry waved at her and she jogged over to him. As she approached, she saw his eyes slide up and down her body. She’d seen that hundreds of times, but this time she was more aware of what might be going through his mind. They’d been lab partners during Chemistry, but had never gone out.

“You look good,” he said.

“You look busy,” she replied.

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “You doing anything this summer?”

“I don’t have a job,” said Julie.

“You could work here,” he said.

“That doesn’t sound very special,” she said.

“You wanna go out sometime?” Jerry’s eyes slid do her chest.

“Maybe,” said Julie. “I’ll let you know. I am looking for a job, though, so I might not have time.”

None of that was true. She had no interest in going out with Jerry. She also wasn’t looking for a job.

“Cool,” he said.

She resumed her run, and her thoughts went to that night in the van, when she was making out with Danny. She’d liked kissing him. She’d liked having to push his hands away. She’d even liked it a teensy bit for the few seconds his hand was in her pants. Then Bobby had ruined everything. Except he hadn’t really ruined anything. Thinking about being on a date with Danny, or Jerry, or any other boy she knew, and kissing and groping in the dark just didn’t seem that interesting anymore. The boys seemed so ... juvenile. She thought about Bobby. At breakfast he’d seemed so completely normal, just Bobby wolfing down two Eggos and gulping a glass of milk, before going off to be with his friends. You couldn’t tell that, only hours before, he’d been pumping his teenage penis in and out of his little sister, shooting his sperm in her in amounts large enough to make a five inch stain on the bed between her legs, not to mention a million or two babies.

She couldn’t imagine Dennis, or Jerry or any boy she knew in that scenario. It was possible they had done that with some girl, but highly unlikely. Somehow, what she knew about her brother made her perceive him as older ... more mature.

She knew that was ridiculous. The only difference between Bobby and his peers was that Bobby got to have sex each night, and the others probably didn’t.

Her mind shifted to Barbie. She couldn’t assign the same kind of difference to Barbie and her peers. Barbie had grown up a lot in the last few days. It might have looked like she just became a slut overnight, but Julie knew that wasn’t true. Barbie was the smartest of the three of them. She got straight As and her science projects got blue ribbons. When she had decided to become sexually active, it might have been on impulse, initially, but she had chosen to continue her relationship with Bobby.

And now she might choose to expand her sexual horizons with Daddy.

She knew her dad would cave. Barbie had him wrapped around her little finger anyway. Barbie could always get ten or twenty dollars for shopping, even if she hadn’t done her chores that week.

She felt a streak of jealousy shoot through her and was startled when a horn honked right beside her. She’d started into an intersection without looking.

“Sorry!” she called as she waved and veered off in another direction. She started back towards home. She tried to imagine that Bobby hadn’t stopped Danny. Would he have put his finger in her? She felt a wave of something unhappy at that thought. It had been exciting at the time.

She wouldn’t admit it to her brother, but she was glad Bobby had opened that car door.

Bob was still in his office when she got home. He was printing something off on the printer.

“Why don’t you just use the same lesson plan every year?” she asked.

He looked up and she saw his eyes slide up and down her body. They didn’t bother her, like other men’s eyes did.

“You go for a run?”

She looked down and saw her shirt was wet with sweat in a swoop that went below her breasts.

“Yeah. I’m bored.”

“Go places. Do things. It’s summer vacation. Go have fun.” Bob smiled.

“Babs wants to have sex with you,” Julie blurted.

“What?” His eyes widened.

“I didn’t mean to say that,” she moaned.

“Then why did you?”

“She asked me if I’d give her my permission, this morning.”

“Your permission.” His face was impassive.

“She says you’re kind of ... mine.”

“I am, am I?”

“I didn’t tell her that,” said Julie in a rush. “In fact, I told her you weren’t my boyfriend, and she could do whatever she wanted.”

“Gee, it’s nice that you two are willing to share so much,” said Bob, with obvious sarcasm in his voice.

“I don’t know why I told you. I don’t feel like I own you or anything.”

“Let me guess. You felt jealous when she said that.”

“I guess so,” said Julie, miserably.

“C’mere,” said Bob, turning his chair and patting his knee.

Julie went and straddled his leg.

“This is all part of relational dynamics,” he said. “When you’re in a relationship it’s normal to form bonds that are possessive. It’s normal from an evolutionary perspective for the man to claim the woman as his property, or mate. Thousands of years ago, a man would try to have as many women as he could support. Meanwhile, the woman’s role is to pick the best candidate for producing strong, healthy babies. Civilization is what changed things, at least Western civilization. Civilization demands that the union be restricted to one man and one woman, at least in most cultures, but that goes against biological evolution. So there’s tension in normal, civilized relationships, because the man keeps looking at other women, and the woman keeps evaluating other potential sperm donors. Does that make sense to you?”

She nodded.

“Now add in the forbidden aspect of what’s going on in this family. You have added tension.”

“That shouldn’t be there, though,” said Julie. “Babs and I know you love us both, and that we both love you. We know you’d never choose one of us over the other. Not and kick one of us out, or anything like that.”

“Of course not, but we’re still dealing with natural dynamics. The fear of losing a chosen mate is real, even if the likelihood is not.”

“Are you my chosen mate?” asked Julie.

His hands had been on her waist. They moved, now, but only in nervous little jerks.

“I shouldn’t be,” he said. “I’m not a viable mate.”

“I don’t think I’m looking for a viable mate right now,” she said. “Neither is Babs.”

“That’s why this is so complicated.”

“Like you warned us about.”

“I was warning you about normal, complicated relationships with boys,” he said. “It never occurred to me that any of this could happen.”

“Yeah. I get that,” said Julie.

“Are you sorry?” His hands jerked again.

She leaned forward to deposit a gentle peck on his lips.

“You want to take a shower with me?”

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

“I’d like that very much,” he said.

Julie got undressed in her room, and walked to her father’s room naked. He had the biggest bathroom in the house, and the biggest shower. He was sitting on the bed, removing his socks when she got there. When he stood, his erection jutted obscenely from his pubic hair.

“I love that,” she said, staring at him. “It makes me feel like I’m beautiful, and have power over you.”