Chapter 6

After my adventure at the Library, I needed a break, so I stopped by Marvin’s Corner Grocery. I stuck my head in the door to make sure Susanne wasn’t working. She wasn’t, so I walked and got me a Coke

“Hiya Stevie, I haven’t seen you around much this summer how you been doing.”

“Been working hard, Mr. Cummings. Being the Man of the House is a lot more work than you’d think.”

He smiled. “Don’t I know it. Excited to start high school?”

“Not so’s you notice,” I said. “but thanks for reminding me and ruining my day.”

He about busted a gut laughing. Mr. Cummings was a good guy. Hard to believe he had raised such an evil daughter. I still couldn’t believe how I let myself get talked into asking her out.

I paid for my coke and crossed the street to the park and took a seat next to the statue of Colonel Elmer Wiggans, who according to plaque at the base had turned the tide at the Battle of Missionary Ridge.

I had some thinking to do. The events of the last couple of days were far outside of anything even my over-heated imagination could ever dream up. It was beginning to dawn on me that the things that had been happening to me was just not me being in the right place at the right time.

The obvious clues were the secrets. Women were sharing secret fantasies—over sharing with me. My favorite librarian telling how she humped poor Mr. Snuggles the family teddy bear came to mind immediately. Who knew that girls jacked off or was jilled off more correct? Probably. Anyway, who ever heard of sharing that fascinating factoid with some random kid who liked science fiction and had a nasty habit of staring down your dress at your boobs.

Boobs. Geez, what a stupid word. That made me think of Alice, I wondered if she would show me those big tits after all I had showed her my dick. My big dick.

I now knew Aunt Jean liked the tingles she got when her nipples were pinched hard. Also, she liked me looking her titties. Now, I wondered if she jilled off. I hadn’t noticed any stuffed animals on her bed, but who knew. Females are mysterious.

Then I wondered what Aunt Jean looked like completely naked. Then I wondered how to find out what she looked like naked. Then I wondered what would have happened next after me showing Miss Alice Elderkin my wiener—another stupid word.

Talk about your tingles.

I was so going to hell. The events of this summer had me leading a double life. Responsible kid working to take care of his stepmother and at the same time a pervert jacking off while thinking about her ass and titties. I had spent hours sneaking around in the dark of night peeping in windows trying to catch a forbidden glimpse of the women in my neighborhood. My efforts led to disappointingly few glimpses, turns out most people are careful to close their drapes, but I had seen enough to fire my hormones.

I looked at my watch. Dang it was getting late. I still had to get home and wake my stepmother and get a dinner on the table.

After Dad had given me the job of being the Man of The House, I had decided that the first thing I needed to do was to learn how to cook. My stepmother was working long shifts down at the hospital so I figured having a meal on the table would fit right into the job taking of care of her like Dad had asked me too. I could have taken home economics at school, but I had no desire to be laughed out of town by the entire male student body. Instead, I went to the library and began checking out cookbooks. Two years later and after more than a few failures, I had twenty meals I could make that were pretty good, so good in fact that even Aunt Jean thought they were tasty.

I got home just in time and went about my daily dinner routine. I put the coffee on for Mom when she woke up, then put the water on for spaghetti noodles, and popped the leftover chicken cacciatore in the oven to warm up. Most of the recipes I cooked were for four servings, so I made two days meals rather than do the math of reducing the ingredients.