Chapter 4: The "Talk"

Julianne wasn’t upset by David and Ruth’s story of their naked bathroom encounter. In fact, she though it was hilarious and cracked up laughing, holding herself up by the kitchen counter. She pointed out that David was the closest thing to a father the girls had for several years, given that he had tucked them in bed countless nights, bathed them, stayed with them when they were sick, or Julianne had to work late, and taught them all to swim, and they treated his home as an extension of their own.

“I know it’s been a long time since you’ve seen them naked or they’ve seen you but given that they go barging into your house at all hours without ever knocking or ringing a bell, it was inevitable that they encounter you naked at some point. Besides I’ve seen you naked too, remember?”

David was taken aback. “When have you ever seen me naked?”, he demanded.

“Who do you think cleans you up and puts you to bed when you get falling-down drunk on your wedding anniversary or on one of your girls’ birthdays?” Julieann responded.

“I’d always assumed that I somehow got into bed by myself”, David said quietly.

“I have gotten you out of the hot tub, or off your floor or couch, given you a shower, and put you to bed more than half-a-dozen times, David. I have seen and washed every inch of your body when you made a mess from throwing up all over yourself.”

“MOM!”, Ruth exclaimed.

Julianne looked sideways at David and spoke very softly. “David, there were times when I was hurting, too, and the reason I didn’t take advantage of you is that you would never have remembered, and probably weren’t capable of making love when you were that drunk”.

While David turned red, Ruth’s eyebrows were trying to merge with her hairline. “You touched his ... his ... you know, his penis!” She whispered that last word very loudly.

“Mom touched whose penis?” eleven-year-old Jenny asked nonchalantly as she came around the corner into the kitchen.

“Uncle David’s!” Ruth said.

“Oh. That’s cool! Why’d you that, Mom? And, what was it like anyway?” Jenny continued.

Julianne explained, “Uncle David wasn’t feeling well, so I helped him take a bath and go to bed a few times years ago.”

Jenny looked at her older sister. “What’s the big deal about that?”

Ruth was still whispering in a loud stage-whisper. “She touched his boner!”

“No, I didn’t”, Julianne interjected. “While I did wash his ... er, penis, it wasn’t erect, so it wasn’t his ‘boner’”.

“Oh. I thought they were the same thing”. Ruth looked faintly puzzled.

Julianne told both the girls to sit down at the breakfast table in the kitchen. “David,” she said nervously, “will you please stay and help me with this. I think it’s time for these girls to get ‘The Talk’”.

David cautiously assented, even though it looked like he’d rather be somewhere ... anywhere ... else.

“Jenny, this conversation all started when your sister decided today that, after swimming, she would take a shower in Uncle David’s private bathroom, because the other two showers were already being used by others who had gotten out of the pool before she did. While she was showering, not knowing she was in there, Uncle David got undressed and walked into his bathroom expecting to take a shower himself, and found Ruth was already in it. Neither one of them had on any clothes, so they each saw the other one naked”.

“Okay”, Jenny said, chewing on a carrot she had taken from the vegetable crisper. “So, what’s the big deal about that?”

David answered that one. “Honey, many people think it’s wrong for people who aren’t related to see each other naked, especially when one of them is an adult man, and the other one is a girl who isn’t quite fully grown up yet. They think it might somehow traumatize the young woman to see a naked man, or that the man might be too tempted to force her to do sexual things she may not want to do”.