Chapter 3

“Things around here have changed in the last few weeks. I really can’t say whether they’re good or bad changes yet, but change works that way. What’s not possible is unchanging things.” Leonard said from his ‘throne’ in the living room while he looked at Gail, his sister-in-law.

He was waiting for her to either agree with his assessment since Scarlet had shared with him what she and her sister had talked about that afternoon, or she could take his words as a personal attack. He wasn’t sure why, but it seemed to him that Gail thought everyone was against her, especially him. “Now, you’ve arrived, and we have to deal with more change”.

His sister-in-law glared back at him for a moment, then accepted what she considered to be his unvoiced challenge. “I’m here because I’m in a fix, okay, Leo? I don’t WANT to be here, but Scarlet insisted.”

“I’ve been focused on work, and my wife is barely doing three dates a day here at the house. You are family. You may not be my blood, but you are my wife’s blood, and if you want my help you will have it. I’ll bend backward for someone, but they must want to help themselves. I won’t abide freeloaders, Gail. I’ll give you some time to find a job. I won’t allow you to create drama or attack how I live. You won’t win that battle if you think you will change what works in my family.”

Gail sat on the couch between Alex, Leonard’s fourteen-year-old son, and her son Blaine. They weren’t very far apart in age, but Alex looked much more mature than Blaine. She could understand and accept her brother-in-law’s position. She could even respect it. She didn’t want to create drama and she regretted some of her earlier reaction to what she considered to be a vulgar spectacle designed to shock her son.

Erica, Leonard’s daughter, occupied the computer desk’s chair. Gail’s sister, Scarlet, leaned against the doorway to the kitchen. Leonard had called her in from cleaning up after the family meal so he could lead their usual weekly family meeting.

Scarlet had yet to put her clothes back on. No one else in the family seemed surprised that she was nude. Blaine couldn’t stop stealing glances at his curvaceous red-headed Aunt and that amused Scarlet. Leonard noticed his nephew wouldn’t stop looking at his wife. That amused him as well. He remembered when he was young and couldn’t see enough pussy.

Gail liked her nephew and niece. She favored her nephew Alex, who she thought was already a fine young man. He was big for his age, and she could clearly see he was going to be one of those guys who made the girls swoon if he wasn’t doing that already. Even just sitting next to him, she felt small in comparison. It was hard to think of her nephew as a geeky video game player, but he DID love his Xbox.

If he’d been twenty years older and not her nephew, she would already be very interested in him despite her vow to hate men. She was aware of the heat of his body and chastised herself for thinking the thoughts that she was.

In contrast, Gail couldn’t think much less of Alex’s male chauvinist father, and now she had been forced to accept her own sister’s inappropriate behavior, too. Behavior, which was the direct result of Leo being a control freak. Erica had no intention of ever calling her brother-in-law, Leonard. Instead, she made a dig at him every chance she got by calling him Leo.

If she could have afforded to refuse Scarlet’s offer to live with them, she would have. What was worse, she was sure Scarlet was in trouble with Leo for even making the offer. She just knew Leo couldn’t allow her to have an opinion on anything, no matter what Scarlet claimed. Why Scarlet put up with him, she was sure she’d never know.

“I know you don’t like me, Gail, but you are an adult and are entitled to your opinions. That doesn’t mean it’s okay to call me Leo when you know my name is Leonard. It’s rude, apart from anything else, and intentionally abbreviating my name in front of my family just because you know it irks me is childish! The thing is, I wasn’t even talking about just you when I said change. Your presence has simply put an additional wrinkle in plans I was developing to deal with the changes that came about last week. Changes in our immediate family.”

“Oh. Then I suppose I’m sorry, Leonard,” Gail apologized while making it clear there was no honesty involved in her apology or even what it was she was apologizing for. Blaine was genuinely curious WHAT changes his uncle was talking about.

Leonard did feel sorry for Gail, but he also knew she’d brought more than a little of this on herself. He could have pussyfooted around his sister for at least a few days, but nothing would have changed. She’d still feel sorry for herself, and it would only mean a delay in addressing the rot that had invaded his family. Rot that Gail would encourage if he didn’t attack it while his sister-in-law was most susceptible to the idea of a helping hand herself.

So, Leonard nodded at Gail’s comment anyway. “Actually, I think you being here is a good thing. You see me as an ogre. You really hate my guts. Yet I have a wife and two children who don’t seem to share your opinion, and I hope to convince you that the assumptions you’ve made about me are as childish as calling me Leo. I’ve known you for more than seventeen years, Gail. We’ve had opportunities to say maybe a dozen words to each other in all that time.”

“Okay, I’ve had it. You’re being all nice to me to prove to everyone that I’m a bitch and you’re a saint. But LOOK, who’s stuck in the kitchen acting like a slave? Oh gosh, guess what? She’s NAKED too! Do you have any idea what that’s doing to Blaine? It’s scarring him for life!”

“Moooom! Jeez, so what if Aunt Scarlet’s naked? It’s HER house! I don’t mind, really!” Blaine had never spoken a truer word in his young wife. He’d even jumped in the seat with the best view of the kitchen as soon as his Aunt had announced she was going to start on dinner.

“Yeah, he looks really scarred,” Leonard found that thought amusing. He could see that Blaine was over-the-top happy at the moment.

It galled Gail that Blaine was once again defending Scarlet’s decision to be naked and free within the walls of her own home. Worse, her own son made it sound like SHE was the bad guy! She hated asking for help, and she didn’t WANT help. But she couldn’t see any other option but to accept Scarlet’s offer since Blaine had pretty much cleaned them out when he took those twenty dollars. And Leo really was being too nice about everything. She just knew he had to hate her as much as she hated him, and he STILL insisted she should stay. What an asshole! She wanted to tell Leonard to go to hell, but she had to think of Blaine. She clamped her mouth shut and balled her fists.

“We are going to have our regular family meeting. We have them all the time around here, and I figure that just because you guys are here, too, is no reason to put it off. This is where I talk, and everyone shuts up and listens. You all will get your turn to talk,” Leonard said. He stared at Gail, seeing her about to stand up and interrupt. His glare made her back down long enough to listen to him.

“Now sit your ass back down on that couch and stop fidgeting,” he said. Gail silently reviewed her situation and chose to comply - this time.

Leonard also called Alex and Erica into the room, and that’s how Alex had ended up sitting so close to her. Even though the couch was a three-seater, it was still a fairly snug fit for the three of them while giving Blaine plenty of room. Leonard had also made Scarlet stand for the meeting. “I don’t want you getting pussy stains on the couch,” he had laughed, making Gail blush furiously at his blasé attitude towards his own wife.

She wanted to remind him that if he hadn’t insisted Scarlet be naked, then sitting on the couch wouldn’t have been an issue. This time, though, she held her tongue even though Scarlet had been sitting on the couch just a few minutes earlier. There wasn’t a lot of furniture in the living room for everyone to have a seat in.

Still, Gail looked annoyed when Leonard had used coarse language to describe his wife’s pussy. Especially around Blaine’s innocent ears. She couldn’t help herself. She said something about his inappropriate choice of words.

“Understand this, Gail. “We don’t swear in this house,” Leonard explained. “You heard what you consider to be a cuss word, but to me, it’s not, and there’s a difference. A woman has a pussy or a ‘private area.’ Some call it a kitty or a vajayjay. They’re colloquialisms that are acceptable in our society, and all mean the same thing. However, if Alex called Blaine a pussy, I would probably feel it necessary to wash my son’s mouth out with soap,” he explained. He said he hoped that put the matter to rest.

Leonard stood up. He knew it forced everyone to look up at him. “This is where I normally talk about what everyone did right. What they screwed up. What they need to do more of, and what they could stop doing altogether,” Leonard started the meeting. Gail began to interrupt again, but Leonard told her to shut up.

“Since we have family visiting,” Leonard started but winced when he said family. They were his family by marriage. “We need to talk about Gail and Blaine coming to stay here. I can tell right now that I know you have nowhere else to go. If you did, you’d already have gone there. They must have said no. The only reason you set foot in my house is because we are your last choice. Is that right?” Leonard asked Gail.

She started to explain, and he said it was a simple yes or no question. “We’ll be here until my pecker falls off if you keep talking. I already know the answer is yes but go on and tell me who else you have on that list of yours that would put up with your opinionated, stubborn nature?” he asked.

Gail didn’t say anything. Leonard had effectively stopped her from whatever she was about to say.

Leonard was satisfied that he had established that he was in charge.

Leonard decided to take care of the obvious matter of Gail and Blaine’s presence and how they would fit in before he dove into his stated reasons for the meeting. To him, it was important to ensure everyone was on the same page before he began his assessment of his family’s conduct.

“Now, before we get into what the family’s been doing, I think that if you’re going to stay here, you both need to know some things. These are not negotiable things. We live a harmonious, happy life here. Number one, I work hard, and I play hard. I like to have a beer. I like to shoot my guns sometimes. I have a loudmouth. You have one, too, Gail. I should NOT have to shout around you just to be heard, and that will not happen again. You will not talk over me.”

Leonard waited for Gail to acknowledge his point. She did and felt a little embarrassed that she had been so rude. That wasn’t her intention. She was a guest, after all.

“You will hear us talk. We don’t bullshit. You’ll know exactly where you stand with us. We aren’t going to be polite to your face and stab you in the back like some in your family,” Leonard said. He implied he knew who those people were when he made that reference.

Gail knew, too. She had many family members who said nice things and made lovely promises but never followed through.

“Number two, my wife has been walking around this house naked since before these kids were born. She suckled them on those fat titties. She doesn’t wear clothes around the house. You’ll have to grow a set and get over it or make other living arrangements. I may flop my balls out now and then, too, but they’re just balls. You will likely see all sorts of boobs and butts if you live here. If you can’t deal with that, then get out of this house and stop making threats about living in your goddamned truck. If you intended to live in your truck, you would never have come here in the first place. I really don’t want you to live in your truck. I also won’t change how I live for you in my own house. We have things working on a system here, and the system works,” Leonard insisted.

Gail seemed to be flabbergasted into silence.

“Number three, everyone in the house has to pull their weight. Gas, Grass, or ass – nobody rides for free. Have you ever seen that written anywhere, Blaine?” he asked his nephew. At first, Blaine was surprised that his uncle had addressed him directly. He was more used to being told to shut up and listen without making comments. Being asked a question directly was kind of cool, even though Blaine had to admit he hadn’t seen that popular slogan from the 1970s.

“Well, I have, and it was tattooed on a woman’s ass. She rides for free,” he laughed. “Look, all I’m saying is the kids have to clean and do chores. Blaine and you will do your share around here,” he said, once more addressing Gail. “I expect you to think about ways to earn and contribute while you’re here,” Leonard said.

Gail agreed that was reasonable. One thing she’d learned to hate was a mooch. Her ex was one, and she hadn’t realized before that it was one of her biggest complaints about him.

“Now, the elephant in the room. If you don’t know already, then now you know. Scarlet turns tricks. She is an escort. She has a Twitter page and an account on backdoor dot com. We have men come over a few times a day. You don’t have to say jack shit to them. In fact, I hope you don’t. They’ve come to see HER, and she will take them to our bedroom. They will leave happy, and if you don’t mess with them, they won’t mess with you. It’s a business transaction. In twenty years, we haven’t ever been robbed, molested, or bothered. We’ve never had a problem. All her regulars know the deal, and I check out any new business. I am sure that she told you she sells her ass. I don’t know if Blaine knows, but that cat is out of the bag and it’s not getting back in.”

Leonard waited for that to sink in before continuing.

“I don’t want to hear you preach to her or try to convince her that she is wrong. Scarlet knows who she belongs to at the end of the day. She isn’t sniffing around other men for companionship. It is just business,” Leonard stated with complete conviction.

Gail wanted to argue. She hadn’t told Blaine any of this. She wished Leo had been more tactful, but of course, he was, as usual, as subtle as a sledgehammer. A small part of her respected his straightforward attitude about how they lived, but outing her sister to Blaine as a prostitute without asking her if she was okay with it was just wrong on so many levels. Still, what was done was done. As Leo had said, you can’t un-change what’s been said. Gail felt stuck, but this time, she chose not to argue so the two of them could just get through this meeting.

Leonard nodded his approval when she stayed silent. “I believe in corporal punishment. That means pull the britches down, bend over, and get an old-fashioned whooping if you screw up. In this house, I am the king of the castle, and what I say goes. If you break my rules, then I break your ass. If you get too big for your britches, then they come down and I take you down a peg. That includes calling me Leo. I’d rather you call me a Sunavabitch than call me Leo, so don’t do that again, and we won’t have a problem,” he assured Gail.

He asked Gail if what he said was fully understood because he didn’t want to repeat it later. “Yes,” She begrudgingly agreed. “Your name is Leonard, and I’ll call you that, but you’d better get the idea that you think you can spank me out of your head, buster! I’m a grown woman, and I demand respect for myself.”

“What part of ‘these rules are for everyone’ don’t you understand? I heard you say, ‘yes’. Think before you speak, follow the rules, and your ass will be safe from my hand or the paddle. If you can’t accept my rules, you have another option.”

Leonard pointed to his front door.

“Fine! I said yes, and I meant it.” In a way, Gail was relieved. She was to be treated the same as everyone else in the household. She did wonder who spanked Leo when he screwed up, though. She also knew now wasn’t the time to ask that question.

“Good, then Alex, Erica, and Scarlet get outside and bring their shit in. They’re going to stay in your room, Erica,” Leonard instructed his wife and daughter to collect Gail and Blaine’s luggage.

“My room?” Erica whined. “Why my room? I might need it,” she insisted, hoping her dad would understand what she meant.

“Oh, right. You need me to build an extra bedroom tonight!” he joked.

“No, Daddy,” Erica mumbled, rolling her eyes.

Leonard missed the eye roll, or he would have paused the meeting right there. Instead, he explained his reasoning. “There will be two of them in one bed. You still have options. You can double up with Alex, me, and your mom. You can drop your fat ass on the couch, or you can put a pup tent out in the backyard if you prefer. You can toast marshmallows and tell ghost stories for all I care. I’m not going to have a teenager who sleeps in a bed while an adult sleeps on the couch,” Leonard insisted pragmatically.

Gail wished it didn’t have to be that way, and she felt bad for Erica. She apologized to Erica, but Erica understood. “I can give them my room if you want?” Alex offered.

“That’s nice of you, Alex, but your room is smaller than the bathroom. There’s barely room for a mattress in there. Then again, Erica has been messing up lately. We’ll address that shortly, but there is a reason I gave them her room over yours,” Leonard said, shutting down further arguments or suggestions. He pointed to the door, and his family got up to unload their Aunt’s luggage.

“Are you going to go outside completely naked, Aunt Scarlet?” Blaine asked in disbelief as his Aunt started for the front door with Erica. Erica was wearing a pink half-shirt and tight fitting jeans.

Scarlet was almost to the screen door, and it looked like she was preparing to walk out into her front yard naked.

“No, Blaine. I have a sarong hanging next to the door,” Scarlet chuckled. She realized Blaine was worried someone might see her naked, and she was touched. “I’m beginning to think the neighbors all think I am a nudist anyway,” she giggled as she reached for the gauzy material of the sarong and wrapped it around herself with hardly a pause in her step.

Close inspection would have revealed how naked she was under the translucent cloth, but she was so used to the garment that she hardly paused before following her son and daughter outside, letting the screen door slam behind her as she fiddled with the knot on the sarong. She walked out into the yard in just the flimsy sarong and heels to help her kids bring in their stuff.

Gail wanted Blaine to go help, too.

“No, I wanted you two to stay here,” Leonard said. “There are things the others already know that maybe you don’t. I don’t need to wear out their ears when there are things that need to be done. I have this house running like a well-oiled machine, guys. Family or no family, I want you to understand that if either of you mess with my livelihood, you have to hit the bricks. We don’t tolerate drugs in this house. You don’t look like you do drugs but don’t say I didn’t tell you. I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding with either of you. Whether Scarlet wants it or not, if you cross me enough, your ass will be out the door. I will bend over backward for you both, and I hope you’ll learn to reciprocate. I will give you the shirt off my back if you need it. I just demand loyalty. If I can’t trust you to make an effort to live by my rules, then you’re like bad drugs. You’ll be gone,” he explained firmly.

Gail understood and strangely now wanted to live here more than ever. She said she was just still worried about the prostitution. She figured since Leo had already made it clear to Blaine, it was too late to pretend it wasn’t part of their lives now. She voiced her concerns to Leonard even though Blaine was right there.

“Scarlet has been doing this for years. She has never been arrested. A few of her regulars are cops. She collects donations, and the money never changes hands. You don’t have to talk to them. You don’t have to look at them. As you know, they are all old friends of ours. They keep it in the bedroom anyway,” he assured them both.

Gail thought about his reassurances and decided she could live with them.

“You should also know that we lead a consensual S&M relationship. I am the Master of the house. That means, at times, I punish Scarlet just like I would the kids. We keep that mostly in our bedroom, but if you ever have questions about a bruise on her butt or something she says to me, I want you to ask ME. I don’t want you to think that it’s abuse. I heard what you said earlier and I won’t dignify it. We love each other, and that’s obvious to anyone with half a brain between their ears and eyes in their head. My wife respects my authority and accepts my judgments. There is nothing about how I punish any of my kids or my wife that doesn’t come from a place of love and a desire to see them make something out of their lives,” he said.

Gail had a difficult time arguing about that, but his words stirred something inside her. “I accept you put your family first, but I’m an adult. That means I haven’t answered to anyone else in years, and I’m not about to begin answering to Scarlet, Erica, or even Alex. You’ve made it clear that you’re the king of your castle, but you’re making it sound like there’s a pecking order here. I am Blaine’s mother, and I will make his decisions for him until he is capable of making his own.”

“How you raise Blaine is your business, but if I ask him to do something, I don’t want him confused. If you don’t like what I’ve asked him to do, you will come to me, not countermand my instructions. There IS a hierarchy here and I do not have a problem with you filling the second-in-command spot once I know I can trust you with it. In other words, you have to earn it. I don’t want your answer to that right now. Think about it and let me know if you make the adjustments you need to. I want you to be comfortable with your stay here, but I also understand your ideas and mine are very different. I’ll help you get back on your feet and find your own place where you can be queen of your own castle. I’m just not going to allow you to micromanage anyone else’s life while you’re here when there’s no need. Everyone makes mistakes. In this house, we learn from them.”