Chapter 1

On Tuesdays, the neighbor from two houses down the block would visit Mom. Janice was older than Mom by a couple years, and more advanced in other things.

“Little pitchers have big ears.” Mom cautioned her friend one day. Janice had started the conversation with a mention of cheating on her husband. Only she had called it, “A little cock on the side.”

“Mom, I’m fourteen.” That I metaphorically, still clung to my mother’s skirt wasn’t due to introversion. I was drawn to Mom out of sexual confusion. Puberty had hit me hard, hard up and hard in the pants. Kids are programmed to find their parents and siblings a total turn-off, but puberty must have skipped over my instinct to avoid incest.

Mom was doing her best to ignore me, but Janice gave me a big grin after being cautioned. “Only it wasn’t at all little, Eddie. This guy’s was long enough to connect your ears!”

Puzzled, I tilted my head.

“Janice, please!” Mom frowned, her cheeks burning. “Eddie is at a delicate stage, closing on adulthood but off-balance from his changing body. Ralph and I don’t force information on him but answer whatever question he asks. He hasn’t asked many. I doubt he knows what you’re talking about. I’ll send him to his room if you keep using that kind of language. You’re confusing him.”

“No, Momma!” I liked Janice, exciting and daring. Mom was shy. I loved to be present when she shrank from Janice’s sexy stories. Not that Mom would ever kick out her friend for saying bad words. Janice was one of her few friends outside of my dad’s circle. To prove my interest, I asked, “What’s a cock?”

Janice’s grin wrinkled from a chortle. “He asked an honest question, Sue.”

Mom grimaced in frustration. Janice was usually sweet as sweet potato pie, but our guest’s tales had an edge which my mother accepted, regardless of how they embarrassed her. Mom’s grimace slacked. She turned a controlled, neutral expression at me. It made me think I was in trouble.

I waited, hoping I could stay. Then she sighed. “It’s another word for penis, Eddie. But a lot of people don’t like to hear that word.” Her face pouted as it turned to Janice. “I don’t like to hear it.”

I frowned at Janice. Solidarity with Mom.

“Then you probably don’t want to hear how good it felt where the guy put it.”

Mom rolled her eyes, but she didn’t rebuke her friend further.

Janice left her tale dangling and began talking about how her husband, Dan, wanted to dig up the grass in their backyard and smother the ground in cedar bark.

I yawned and walked out of the kitchen.

The following Tuesday, Janice brought over a batch of home-made, butter cookies. Mom thanked her and let me eat one. Mom was pretty strict about junk food, but I noticed her absentmindedly nibbling one after another, listening to Janice’s update about her ‘boyfriend.’

“It was great at first, the sex.” Janice nattered. Mom’s cheeks tinged light pink. “But then the guy got clingy, and Dan started sniffing around - literally. He told me I smelled funny.” Janice’s exciting grin returned. “So I clapped his ears and told him he had rug duty that night, to punish him.”

I didn’t like picking up my stuff from floors or rugs. I nodded and grunted approval.

Janice beamed at me. “What Dan didn’t know was, he ended up licking adulterous cum!”

“Janice, please!” Mom didn’t want to hash out each and every one of Janice’s verbal transgressions in my presence. That many rebukes would have drained all the fun. She flashed a sad face at me and shook her head. “Eddie, save your questions for later. Better yet, go watch TV.”

Janice told Mom, “I could have said, sperm, but I doubt you taught him that word either.” Janice softened her voice. “But I’ll bet ten dollars that he’s already encountered what he can’t label.”

My parents had told me the word, sperm, and I knew it referred to what came out of my penis when I played with it. But I abruptly fell in love with the word, cum.

Janice switched to less exciting news. “Fresh cedar bark, now that has a nice smell...”

Janice seemed to know Mom’s limits, and her ribald tales pushed just enough to bend them. Each Tuesday afternoon, Mom’s blush got a little darker. I was too absorbed in the older woman’s amazing stories to notice. Each week, Mom would listen a little longer before challenging her friend about naughty things spoken in front of me.

“Is this the same boyfriend?” Mother sounded confused when the guy’s hair had changed from blonde to black curls.

“Nah. I dumped that guy two weeks ago. He started out plenty cocky but steadily melted into a clingy lump nearly as wimpy as Dan.” Her husband. “If this new, ‘side order’ of man starts begging for it, I’ll kick him to the curb too.”

Janice got excited again. “I doubt he will, though. I didn’t even know Chaz’s name before he made me suck his cock.” Janice’s eyes narrowed. “Sue, you won’t believe how hot it feels to have a hard cock forced into your mouth.”

“Janice!” Mom waved at me behind her back. It was her signal for me to leave the room.

Her friend saw and instantly figured it out. “Oh, let the boy stay. He’s just curious. He’s surprisingly innocent and sweet for his age.”

Mom mumbled, “Less innocent after hearing about Chaz.”

“Sue, you worry too much. Eddie adores you! That’s why he’s always by your side.”

Don’t get the wrong idea. I wasn’t a mommy’s boy. Her meek presence invigorated me instead of making me feel safe. I had friends that I played with most days outside of Tuesdays, younger boys and girls. I even hung out with adults when Dad’s friends visited, but I didn’t really care for them. They were boring compared to Janice.

Mom relented by staring at her coffee. “I guess I have been remiss to teach him common street language. But don’t you think a child should enjoy a few innocent years?”

“Of course. That’s why I’ll save what happened after Chaz came down my throat.” Janice winked at me. She switched to describing how Dan had planted a couple fruit trees in their backyard, mango and kiwi.

“What happened with Chaz, Janice?” I asked, not wanting to listen to more of her husband’s gardening efforts. “After he went down your throat?” I was imagining something important, like a thermometer.

Our adulterous friend tightened her smile and looked at Mom. Mom bit her lip and examined her hands on the kitchen table. “Oh, go on. Just don’t elaborate.”

Mom was as curious as I.

Janice complied. “After I had, um, pleasured Chaz, he told me to take down my pants and underwear. Then he spanked me!”

“Oh, my!” I blurted. I was pretty sure that having a boyfriend when you already had a husband was bad. But it shocked me to hear that the boyfriend would punish her. I was learning so much!

A soft moan drew my attention to Mom. She looked redder than ever. I worried about it. “Don’t hold your breath so long, Mom.”

“She’ll be fine, Billy.” Janice patted my shoulder. Her hand was really warm! “I shouldn’t tease your mother so much.”

“What did you do wrong to get spanked?” I had to ask.

“Well-” Janice looked to Mom, confident of more capitulation. Mom’s nod was brief, but her eyes darted away. “Chaz guessed that it would turn me on, Donny, because when he forced me to go down on him a second time, I responded eagerly.”

I didn’t understand, but I put up a tough facade. “Oh.”

“Sue,” Janice confronted Mom. “I have never been more wet before some guy fucked my brains out.” It was as if Mom’s friend was daring her. “You wouldn’t believe how incredible it feels when a guy is giving it to you with everything he’s got.”

Mom’s body jiggled suddenly, as if there’d been an earthquake right under her chair. She gasped. “That’s quite enough.”