Chapter 4

So, now I had real sexual opportunities. Alice had openly invited me into her sex life, Ms. Stein had vaguely implied she was interested, and I was certain that eventually Angelica would give in to my pleas -- and into the obvious desires of her own body. I was also pretty sure that Kim would succumb in time, although Opal seemed pretty well out of the picture. Well, for the immediate future. Without a doubt, as I became older and more experienced, there would also be others. The challenge was having the freedom to explore those opportunities.

Since he was not a ‘senior’ pilot yet, my dad was sometimes gone for up to two weeks at a time on extended international trips. Conversely, now that my mom had been promoted to Director of Marketing, she was spending a lot more evenings going to marketing events, having exec team meetings at the office, and even going off to industry conventions. So the windows for me to experience forbidden pleasures were widening.

Now that I was fifteen and in high school, my parents couldn’t expect me to put up with a babysitter whenever they were away. Hell, some of the girls my age babysat for other families. From a safety standpoint, I was confident I would be more than a match for the average burglar, if one could even get into the upscale community we lived in. So that left only a matter of food. Between calling for takeout and being able to make my own sandwiches, that was a non-issue. My final argument to my parents was trust: Wasn’t I a mature, responsible young adult whom they trusted to take care of myself and the house and not have any wild parties while they were gone? They had to agree with all of that. And so it was settled.

So there I was, smug and satisfied with myself for setting up such a beautiful path to teenage nirvana, when my life exploded. Literally.

Two representatives from my father’s airline arrived at our door early one evening to tell us that his plane had exploded in mid-air shortly after takeoff from an international airport. Although the plane had scattered far and wide, they had already recovered all of the bodies, as well as the black box. It was later confirmed that the blast on an electrical short circuit had found its way into the center wing fuel tank. In other words, bad maintenance. I won’t mention which airport as that might seem like I was prejudiced against that country or culture.

The reason didn’t really matter. All 230 people aboard had died, including my father.

Naturally, it hit my mom the hardest. She was totally devastated.

I had certainly known she loved Dad, but I had always thought of her as quite the independent woman. He was often away, yet she managed the house with no problems. She was always cheerful and positive. She had a very successful career of her own, of which she was very proud. She was also proud of me and what I did with my life (other than the things she didn’t know about). But, the minute she heard Dad was dead, she broke down like a little girl.

She didn’t leave the house for a week. When she wasn’t crying, she was staring vacantly into space. She wouldn’t go to bed at night, just sitting on the couch with the TV showing a fake Yule log with no sound. Whenever I got close, she hugged me like she would never let go and soaked my shirt with her tears. It was both weird and disturbing.

I didn’t go to school, and I was having a hard time sorting out my feelings. My father had been away so much that, in many ways, he was more like an uncle who drops in a lot. On the other hand, whenever he was home he spent a lot of time with me and Mom. Since I wasn’t interested in going to ball games with him, he would attend my tournaments whenever he could, and even visit the dojo to watch me practice. I suppose I looked at him more as a hero-figure than an actual parent, as it was always my mom who was around and supporting me in my daily activities.

People dropped by to give us their condolences and bring us food, but I had to greet them and be polite. Mom just sat there in her robe and stared into space. Ms. Stevens, Mom’s boss, dropped by once to assure her that she could take whatever time she needed to ‘heal up a bit’. In the meanwhile her marketing assistant, Lizzy Jones, would step up to keep things on track.

Mom didn’t even say a word. It was getting very depressing. Maybe that was why Ms. Stevens left in a hurry after briefly shaking my hand when I thanked her for her visit.

I was trying to be the man of the house now, but I had no clue what to do. Mom had been living in that robe and was beginning to stink badly, but she wouldn’t go take a shower. I wasn’t about to try to bathe my mother.

Then things got really complicated. Around eight o’clock one night I tried to get her to go upstairs to sleep in her own bed, thinking that might be the first step to restoring some normalcy for her.

She looked at me, her eyes huge and wet. “I can’t sleep in that bed,” she whispered. She reached out and stroked my arm. “Maybe I could come sleep with you? Please, Mark? I’ll wash up first.”

I pulled back sharply. Sure, my mother needed comfort, but there was no way I was going to get into the same bed with her. I was a horny teenager, but I could not commit incest. Or even take the chance of something happening.

I needed to get some help in, but who could I ask?

My mom had been an only child. Her father had Alzheimer’s, so her mother had her hands full already. No other close relatives.

My father had a younger brother who lived in San Francisco with his boyfriend. Since his parents had disowned their gay son, my father had refused any contact with them, so no help there. I liked my uncle, but was certain he was not going to leave his boyfriend and job to come take care of my mom.

There didn’t seem to be much choice. I called Ms. Stevens, who had promised to give whatever help she could. She asked me a lot of questions about what was going on and told me to give her a couple of hours to arrange something. Two hours later got a call on my cell. I didn’t recognize the number, but since Ms. Stevens had promised some help, I answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hullo, luv. I’m just outside. You wanna let me in?”

I still couldn’t believe it when I let Alice in the door. She had on a very conservative dress and carried a night bag.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded.

“Yeah, lovely to see you again an’ all,” she smiled brightly.

“Well, of course I’m happy to see you, just shocked. Why you?”

“Let’s leave all that for a bit later, shall we? Right now, I’ve got things t’do, right? Where’s the guest bedroom?”

I led her up the stairs. My bedroom, the guest room and the bedroom my parents had converted into an office were all upstairs. The master bedroom was downstairs.

“It has a bathroom, so you won’t have to look for one,” I told her.

“Smashin’!” she assured me. She threw her overnight bag on the bed. “Well, let’s get to it, eh?”

We went back down to where my mom still sat nearly comatose on the sofa. Alice immediately took charge. Although they were about the same size, Alice cajoled and woman-handled Mom into her bedroom. About an hour later they emerged. Mom had clearly been bathed, her hair washed, and she was wearing a warm robe over a night gown, with fluffy slippers on her feet. Alice’s dress looked a little worse for wear and still damp in spots, but I thought she still looked fantastic. Mom smelled a lot better, but only looked a little more alert. Alice guided her to a chair, not the sofa.

“How about a nice cuppa, then?”

Mom blinked. “I drink coffee.”

Alice tisked. “That’ll keep you awake. You have any tea?” she asked me.

I showed her where we kept all kinds of coffee and teas for guests. She picked out a chamomile and used the micro to heat up a cup of water. She got my mother to drink the whole thing.

“Now to bed, right boss?”

Mom was like a rag doll, so I helped Alice carry her into her bedroom. We got the slippers and robe off and tucked her under the covers. Alice turned out the lights as we left Mom’s room.

“Do you think she’ll sleep much?” I asked, knowing what a silly question that was.

But Alice smiled knowingly. “I nipped a bit a’sleepin’ powder into the tea. She should get a nice, long rest. It’s clear she needs it.”

We sat down on the couch, close but not touching.

“Okay, please explain to me how Ms. Stevens got you to come help.”

“Easy peasy. I volunteered.”

“May I ask why?”

Alice sighed. “Long story short, about a year and half ago I followed my supposed boyfriend here from London. He’d been attached to a sister company for a couple of months to learn our market, and I was madly in love with him. Almost straightaway I learnt he had a fiance and a dolly on the side.”

“Ouch.”

I reached over and patted her knee. She shivered a tiny bit.

“Right. Anyhow, your mum had hired me on a temp basis ‘cause I’d done retail sales for cosmetics, even though I had few qualies as a secretary. When I dumped the louse an’ said I was headed home, Erica kindly told me she’d help me get my Green Card and train me up as a marketing assistant if I stayed. Well, she’d been so lovely about this bloke, givin’ me hugs an’ buying dinner a coupla times, I said yes. I really didn’t see much future for me back in London, so here I am.”