Ian had Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) and he’d had several blocks of chemotherapy over the past two weeks. At first it seemed to be working, but then he’d become so weak that his doctors were talking about switching him to to a non-intensive version. He had been a strong boy but it was as if the fight had just gone out of him.

I spent three hours with him this afternoon, which corresponded to about ten minutes of conversation; the rest of the time he was asleep. Eventually he said he wouldn’t tell me what the problem was, but he would tell Tracy, his big sister.

I arranged for her to visit him and I had a very uncomfortable talk with her afterwards, the upshot of which was that Ian was convinced that he’s going to die a virgin and the thought had depressed the hell out of him.

I didn’t have to think too long before I decided that, if this is what it would take to give him a reason to fight to live, it was one I could deal with.

I got a lot of funny looks as I cruised around the red-light district but I eventually found a girl who didn’t look too awful.

I stopped and she had a puzzled look on her face as she approached my car. “Can I help you ma’am?” she asked.

“I have an ... unusual request.” I began.

“I doubt it’s nothing I haven’t heard before.” she said with a faint smile. I swallowed hard.

“I want you to ... sleep with my son.”

“Unusual I’ll admit,” she said. “but not the first.”

“He’s sick and he’s in the hospital.”

“OK, you’ve got me there.” she said, but looked sympathetic. “I’m thinking you don’t want me going there dressed like this?”

“It would be nice if you could change.” I admitted. She climbed into the passenger seat.

“My name’s Bonnie by the way.” she said. “My place is just around the corner.”It’ll be one hundred dollars for half and half. Is that OK?” she said on the way.

“Half and half?” I asked.

“Half oral and half intercourse.”

“That’s fine.” I told her, and she smiled as I found myself blushing at her directness.

I waited in the car while she changed, and when she came out I didn’t recognise her at first. She now looked like a pretty, but unremarkable girl in her mid twenties.

She followed me up to his room and I sat on a chair outside as she went in. Thirty minutes later she came out again.

“He wants you.” she told me. I went in but he was fast asleep, so I came straight back out again.

“He’s asleep.”

“Yes I know, he’s been asleep for a quarter of an hour, but before that he said he didn’t want me, he wanted you.”

“But ... you must be mistaken ... he can’t...” My mind was in absolute turmoil, I couldn’t think straight, let alone put a sentence together.

“No mistake Ma’am. He’s a little hard to understand, being so weak, but he made himself quite clear. You’re the only woman he’s ever wanted, ever since he was fourteen. He knows it’s hopeless and that’s why he doesn’t see the point of fighting this thing any longer.”

I looked at her as if she was speaking a foreign language. Then I rummaged in my purse for her money. She put her hand over mine.

“No need for that Ma’am,” she said quietly. “all I did was talk. He’s a nice kid, you should think on what he said.” She stroked my arm in a consoling manner and then walked away.

I went back into Ian’s room and sat on the guest chair, my mind all over the place.

I was his mother. I loved him absolutely unconditionally. I’d always have done anything for him, anything at all. At that moment I would gladly have given up my life to save his. But this ... this was crazy, this was madness. But ... if it really could give him a reason to think life was worth fighting for...

I couldn’t think straight while I was in the same room with him, so I went home - I desperately needed a shower and a change of clothes anyway.

I stripped in my bathroom and looked at myself in the full-length mirror and wondered if a sixteen year-old boy could really find me attractive. My breasts weren’t at firm as they once had been but not by too much. They were still full and heavy. I checked my ass out and was pleased to see that there were only a few dimples of cellulite. I had an unruly bush of pubic hair which I trimmed down short with a pair of scissors. That was better but it was very scratchy.

I took a fresh razor and had a shower and then shaved myself. Back in front of the mirror that looked a lot nicer.

I imagined being naked in front of Ian and felt a little tingle of arousal but it was instantly swamped by feelings of embarrassment and shame.

I strengthened my resolve, put on my prettiest underwear, and finished dressing. I still wasn’t one hundred percent sure I could go through with it, but at least now I looked and felt ready.

Back in his hospital room he was still fast asleep and I sat at his bedside and watched him, my mind working overtime.

It was three o’clock in the morning when he opened his eyes. I sat on the bed, held his hand in mine and smiled down at him. The tiny, weak smile he gave me back almost broke my heart.

“You spoke to Bonnie earlier.” I said quietly to him, and he nodded. “What you said to her, is it true?” His eyes opened a little wider and he nodded again. “If--” I started to say but my voice betrayed me. I swallowed hard a few times. “If I were to do this...” I paused and, for the first time in days I saw a little brightness in his eyes.

Before I could change my mind I rolled back the covers and slipped my hand into the fly of his pyjamas. Inside his penis was soft but I stroked it in all the ways I’d learnt over the years that men like.

I was beginning to think that the tiny spark of hope that I’d let into my heart was to be dashed, but then, slowly, he started to respond. I smiled encouragingly at him and he raised his hands to his lips.

I leaned over and kissed him and straight away I felt his tongue on my lips, seeking entrance. If anything it was more intimate than my hand, which was still caressing his cock. It seemed the most natural thing in the world to open my mouth and welcome his tongue inside.

After a while he broke the kiss and whispered something that I couldn’t quite hear. I moved my ear close to his lips and then I heard him.

“Will you show me?”

I got up and wedged the chair under the handle of the door. Then I stood in front of the bed trembling as I unzipped my skirt and let it fall to the floor. I thought his eyes opened a little wider as he saw my panties and his penis twitched a little.

I undid my blouse and let that join the skirt. I watched as his eyes moved up and down my body then he mouthed the single word: “More.”