Chapter 7

They were slowly walking home. Bobby had looked at Barbie and said he wished he could kiss her.

“Not in public,” she replied. “When we get home I’ll take off my clothes and you can kiss me, then.”

It was for that reason that Julie put herself between them as they walked. She was worried that Bobby would do something ... like reach to hold Barbie’s hand or some such. She was therefore unprepared when his arm went behind her and his hand landed on her shoulder. He pulled her against him as if she weighed nothing.

“I have such great sisters,” he said.

“Let go of me you oaf!” she said.

“I don’t think so,” he replied, hugging her tighter. “You’re my sister. I love you. I’ll always love you. I didn’t realize how important that was until last night and this morning.”

“You and I didn’t do anything,” she argued.

“We were there, together,” he said. “We all shared something amazing last night. The way I think about you changed. I’ve been a jerk to both of you lots of times. That won’t happen anymore.”

“Oh, like making us end our dates and then dragging us home and ratting on us to Daddy?” Julie altered her steps so she was in time with his legs and things became more fluid.

“I won’t drag you home like that again, but I don’t want to see some guy’s hand in your pants again. Dad’s rules about not going too far still stand.” He let her go and moved around her so he could put an arm around each of his sisters. “Kissing is okay, but nothing more than that.”

“Does that go for you and Barbie at home, too?” asked Julie, archly.

“Of course not. That’s different. Those are the rules for dating. The rules for us at home are different.”

“Oh, and what are the rules there? Like do you have to get some condoms before you try to get Barbie pregnant again?” Julie didn’t understand why she was being so bitchy about it. She had heard the passion and love in both her sibling’s voices as they described how they felt about each other, now. She’d felt something very similar for her father. She wanted things to be relaxed with Daddy. She wanted to sleep with him again, every night, in fact.

“If that becomes a rule, then I’ll do it,” said Bobby. “I don’t want to hurt either of you. That’s not what this is about.”

“What do you mean either of us?” asked Julie.

Barbie leaned forward and looked past Bobby.

“He wants to make love to you, too, you Dodo.”

“Me?” She jerked, but again his hand was like iron on her shoulder. “I thought he was teasing me about that. Why me?”

“Because I love you,” said Bobby. “And you’re beautiful. I’ve thought you were beautiful for a long time, but I was still a jerk. I want to make that up to you.”

“By shoving your man-sausage up inside me? Gee, thanks, Bobby. I didn’t want to keep my virginity anyway. I mean it meant a lot to me before, but now it’s a pain in the ass.”

Barbie leaned forward again.

“A pain in the cooch,” she said, sweetly. “And just so you know, I don’t miss mine.”

“You guys!” groaned Julie. “Barbie, you’re gonna have his baby for sure, and it will probably come out with three arms or one eye.”

“I’m not having any babies until I get out of high school,” said Barbie with the confidence of ignorant youth. “I’m going to get a prescription for birth control pills.”

“Well I’m not. And I’m not going to do that stuff you guys want so desperately to do, either. I’m waiting.”

“I thought you wanted to sleep with Daddy,” said Barbie.

“I do, but that doesn’t mean we’ll have sex.”

“I think you’re wrong,” said Bobby. “If he lets you sleep with him, you’re going to have sex sooner or later.”

“No we won’t. If he gets horny I’ll suck him and make him feel good. And maybe he’ll put his finger in me again and suck me, too, and I’ll feel good.”

“That’s what I thought until I wanted more,” said Barbie.

“Didn’t you learn anything at all last night?” asked Bobby.

“I’m not the one who got shot full of sperm!” objected Julie.

Bobby’s hand pulled her against him, and then relaxed.

“I’m betting that was because Dad didn’t want to, and not because you stopped him.”

“I didn’t have to stop him,” argued Julie.

“Well, trust me. If he likes doing that anywhere near as much as I do, if you keep sleeping with him, you will have to stop him,” said Bobby.

“Or stop yourself,” said Barbie. “Except my opinion is that you shouldn’t. You’ll love it, Julie. I promise. You should let Bobby show you. I know he’d be gentle with you and make it extra good.”

“I am not letting my brother fuck me,” said Julie.

But she didn’t break free of his embrace.

At home, Bob had undergone something similar to grief, after the death of a loved one. The classic stages of grief are reported to be: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

A person hadn’t died, but a well-adjusted family situation had, in a sense. He was aware that his own drunken behavior was the knife that had killed the well-adjusted part of their family. He had passed through denial when, as he masturbated, he couldn’t decide whether he wished he was having sex with Julie or Barbie. His anger at himself had been short, because what was done was done and he couldn’t change that. He did some bargaining (and brought back a bit of denial), trying to convince himself that he could make rules and enforce rules and everything would go back to normal. The depression stage of things hit when he realized he had no real control over what his children did while he wasn’t there to watch them. Or molest them.

His hangover was almost gone and he was dickering with “acceptance” when the kids showed back up after going off somewhere. They’d told him they were going, but he couldn’t remember why. When they came in, they were chattering like normal, having an argument of some kind, but not a heated one. He realized he was still sitting in his shorts, and wondered if they’d think he was a lazy bum.

As soon as Barbie got into the room she ran to make him move back from the table and sat sideways on his lap.

“I love you, Daddy,” she said, hugging his neck.

He felt much better, but only gave her a desultory hug in return.

“We know you’re freaked out,” said Bobby, standing nearby. “We just want you to know we’re not freaked out. Well, Julie is a little bit, but it’s not serious.”

“Don’t go deciding things for me,” complained Julie. She went to her father and hugged him from behind.

“I love you too, Daddy,” she said into his ear. “And I’m not freaked out. I just think about things differently than they do.”

Bob drew in a breath. It was time. He’d started this. He needed to finish it, somehow.

“We need to talk about it as a family,” he said.

“We know,” said Barbie. “That’s why we’re here.”

The girls let him up, but hovered around him. They ended up in the living room, because it wasn’t a bedroom. It wasn’t until Bob saw his recliner and remembered his hands on Julie’s bare breasts as he sat in it that he realized nowhere in the house was “safe”. He sat on the couch, instead of in his recliner, and was immediately flanked by his daughters, who put his arms around them. Bobby stood, at first, and then went to his dad’s chair and sat in it. He did not recline.

Barbie didn’t let Bob go first. She jumped right in.

“We know what happened isn’t acceptable to anybody outside this family. We get that. But we are a family, and we will always be a family, and what we do inside our family is our own business. Bobby and I realized some things that have made us a lot closer than we were. Julie did the same thing, but she’s being stubborn about admitting it. What we’re all worried about the most is you. We don’t want you to be freaked out, Daddy, because none of us got hurt last night. We’re not warped or anything like that. If anything, we love each other more than we did.”

She stopped. Her mouth opened, and then closed.

“I can’t think of anything else to say,” she said.

“I have a question,” said Julie.

Bob sat there.

“Can I ask it?”

“Uh ... sure,” he said.

“Okay. So here’s the deal. Bobby and Barbie want to keep doing what they did last night. They both think it’s the best thing that ever happened to them. And I believe that they believe that, even if I think it’s a mistake. Unless Barbie gets on the pill or something. Anyway, what I want to do is keep sleeping with you, because I really loved doing that and I am the oldest girl in the house, and I do more of the housework, so I could be like the lady of the house, sleeping with the man of the house. But sleeping is all I want to do, except for what we did last night, except they both insist that you’ll try to have sex with me, even though I want to stay a virgin. Is that true?”

Bob closed his eyes. He’d learned a lot from Julie’s run-on run-up to her question. Things said at breakfast had made it clear the kids wanted things to proceed unabated. That was part of what he wrestled with while they were gone. He hadn’t really decided how to proceed by the time they got back. Now, on impulse, he decided honesty was the key to their survival. Honesty and clear communication.

“They’re right,” he said.

“What? But I don’t want to do that, Daddy,” she whined.

“Okay, look,” he said. “I’ve tried to prepare you for this stage of your lives but I don’t think I did a good job of it. So let me explain it a different way. I’ve always told you that things can go too far and too fast if you’re not careful. But it’s more complicated than that. When you go on a date, it’s with somebody you like. And Mother Nature’s rules are that if you like someone, then they become a candidate for mating with. It doesn’t matter what your intent is, if you like somebody and you keep being with them, sooner or later Mother Nature will win out. Or you’ll break up. That’s where your own intent comes into play.