Chapter 5

“I think I’m going to take a nap,” Michael announced as they walked back into their house after coming home from church.

Lisa and Naomi waited as Michael crossed the house and walked up the stairs. The two sat at the kitchen table and waited for Michael to close the door.

“It happened right there?” Naomi asked, pointing at the kitchen island. Lisa nodded silently as she sighed.

“So, what do we do now? How do we serve Michael? How do we make sure he’s ‘satisfied’?” Lisa asked.

“We’re doing a better job of doing things like cooking and cleaning. Do you think that’s what Margaret meant by his needs?” Naomi wondered as she got up to start preparing dinner.

“I don’t think so. I just remember something about not being tempted by loose women.” Lisa had heard that phrase before but wasn’t sure what it meant.

“And what was Rachel doing? It seemed like she liked him,” Naomi said as Lisa joined her sister in the kitchen, getting out a knife and cutting board to chop the peppers.

“Why do you care?” Lisa probed. “If she likes him, she likes him.”

Naomi pursed her lips, unsure of how to put to words what she was feeling.

Lisa interrupted her thoughts. “What about his thing? Do you think his thing would feel good if I did something similar to him?”

Naomi paused her stirring and reflected on the question. “I remember when we were little, he liked it when I touched his thing. I know I felt a bit weird doing it but he seemed to have fun. I think if I knew what I was doing, maybe it wouldn’t be weird.” She turned the burner off and moved the pan off the stove. “I’m sure mom told you the same thing she told me.”

“That our flower is not for playing and only for cleaning and peeing? Yeah, I remember that.”

Lisa sat down at one end of the kitchen island, unsure of what to do. “I wonder if dad gave Michael a similar talk. If he did, then he’s probably feeling like I did yesterday.” She looked at her sister with a sneer. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten. You never answer my question by the way.”

“Which question?” Naomi said as she put her hair in a quick ponytail before returning to the stove.

“Whether you ever felt the way I felt. All agitated and feeling like your skin is on fire, but in a way that doesn’t go away.” Lisa looked for signs of deception from her sister, who was focused on cooking.

“I guess I have,” she replied with some hesitancy. “But it typically goes away after an hour or two. A cold shower helps.”

Lisa shivered at the thought. “I couldn’t exactly do that in the middle of the night.”

“You’re older than me,” Naomi shrugged. “Maybe you’re getting some hormones or something that I’m not.”

It bothered Lisa that Naomi wasn’t giving her full attention to the conversation, but at the same time she felt guilty for not helping. Within a few minutes, her sister had put the casserole dish in the oven and set the timer.

“What do you want to do?” Naomi said as she sat in front of her sister, sipping a cup of tea. The cup reminded Lisa of the cup her brother used to warm his hands. “I supposed we should follow the pastor’s sermon. We’re his sisters and God did place us in his life to serve him. Make things easier. You’re doing the laundry. Dinner is in the oven. What else is there?”

Lisa sighed as she looked around the kitchen absentmindedly. “I think I should talk to him. About last night and see if his thing is okay. Maybe I need to rub him like he rubbed me.” She paused for a moment to think about what she just said. She turned to her sister and asked, “When you two were younger, did he touch you too?”

Naomi blushed before replying, “Why?”

Lisa smirked, “It feels like I’m pulling teeth! I’m curious what you two did! I’m wondering if I missed something by not having a twin.”

Naomi blushed even more, but knew she couldn’t keep teasing Lisa for much longer. She began stroking her long brown hair in her hands as tried to bring the memory to her consciousness.

“After mom would put us to bed, I noticed that sometimes Michael’s thing got hard. Neither of us knew why. It just did. But I noticed that if I put my hand on it, it would sometimes kind of move. Kind of like a jump. He wanted to see what I looked like after I told him I didn’t have a thing. He’d look under the blanket because we didn’t want to turn on the lights.”

Naomi was savoring every word and saw Lisa listening intently. She looked into her sister’s eyes. “The first time he touched my flower, I felt what you described. It felt like I was hungry, but not for food. After a few minutes, we both got tired and went to sleep so it didn’t last long. But almost every night after that, we would take off our clothes and touch and feel.”