Chapter 8

Lani was an early riser. She liked to get her exercise routine and shower done before anyone else was up. Now it was time to get dressed for the day but the woman faced a dilemma. Her usual attire was slacks or jeans with a blouse or pullover top but Danny, her own son, had demanded that she start wearing dresses for no other reason than to please him. The boy sure had a lot of gall. Lani thought about dressing in her usual attire then defying him to do anything about it. They would finally have it out and Lani would show him who was boss. If Danny didn't like it he could pack his belongings and move out.

"You've been standing in front of that closet for the past five minutes," said Patrick. Patrick was an early riser also but not as early as his wife. He had been watching her from the bed. "Can't decide what to wear?"

"If you must know, Danny has decided that I should be dressed in feminine attire from now on. No jeans or slacks allowed."

"Whoa," said Patrick with a chuckle. "Are you going to put up with that?"

"Of course not," Lani snapped. "I'm not going allow a snot-nosed teenager push me around in my own home. I just wish I had the support of my husband."

"Hey, I talked to him right after you asked me to. Do you want me to talk to him again?" Patrick shrugged his shoulders as if to say he did his best.

"At this point I want you to try anything that might work," Lani declared, her temper rising. "Do you know he actually threatened me?"

"Really?"

"Yes, your son threatened to spank me if I didn't start wearing dresses."

"Well, this is serious," said Patrick trying to hide a smirk.

"You don't suppose he'd really try doing something like spanking a woman and especially his own mother, do you?"

"I can only go by what I saw on Sunday while you and Heather were both gone." Patrick was silent for a while and let the tension build up.

"For goodness sake, stop being mysterious and tell me what you saw." This was so aggravating.

"I came home early from playing golf and found Danny whaling on Margaret's bare ass." Patrick burst into laughter and laughed so hard tears were streaming from his face.

"Margaret? Margaret McCormick?" Patrick could only nod his head and continue laughing. "I fail to see what you find so amusing, Patrick Dwyer. Did you stop Danny from assaulting Margaret?"

Patrick stopped laughing long enough to catch his breath and said, "No." He then burst into more laughter.

"So Danny could be arrested for assaulting our neighbor and we could be sued for allowing the assault to take place in our home. Is that what you're saying? Yes, I think I see your point now, Patrick. Very amusing, indeed. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

"I don't think Margaret was being assaulted, honey," said Patrick whose laughter had run its course. "It looked completely consensual and they were just having fun. Margaret even gave him a kiss before she dressed and left." He didn't dare tell her about the fucking that took place after the spanking.

"Well, I'm not about to consent to anything and I'm not having fun. I think the whole sordid incident is totally disgusting and you're just as bad as Danny and Margaret for failing to stop them, Patrick Dwyer. I'm also beginning to think you were right about Danny."

"You mean about getting him committed?"

"Well, no," said Lani. "I wouldn't take that kind of drastic action yet but I do think we should consider getting him a psychological evaluation. What Danny is doing just isn't right."

"I'll talk to him again and then we'll see what happens. Oh, gosh! Look at the time. I better get moving or I'll be stuck in traffic on the freeway." He jumped out of the bed and headed for the bathroom. As the shower started Lani could hear her husband burst into laughter again.

"I won't be intimidated by my own son," declared Lani aloud. She laid out her favorite pair of slacks.

"That's a nice skirt you're wearing, Mom. I always like to see it on you," said Heather.

"It's just a skirt," said her red-faced mother. At the very last moment Lani had decided against defying Danny. Heather bringing up the skirt she now wore seemed to accentuate the cowardice Lani exhibited.

"But it shows off your legs very nicely."

"Eat your breakfast, Heather Ann," said Lani trying to cut off that line of conversation. She looked over at Danny. His face was hidden behind the newspaper. Was he laughing at her? Lani wasn't sure but she felt humiliated just with the thought that he might be doing just that.

Danny wasn't laughing. In fact, he was controlling himself quite well. Still, the teenager knew he'd have to cool it for a couple of days. His dad had called his cell phone number and given him a summary of that morning's conversation. At first, Danny was irritated that Patrick had told Lani about his spanking episode with Margaret but now he realized it was working to his advantage. His mother was probably too intimidated to defy him on the issue of wearing a dress.

The young man decided to wait and see how his mother took to the new dress code before making other moves. The shopping excursion to the mall would be another step in his mother's training. In the meantime Heather could help out in their mother's indoctrination. He hadn't coached his sister on what to say to Lani but he couldn't think of anything that topped what she did say. Lani's legs were shown off very well with that skirt. Danny sighed with satisfaction. It was nice to have spies and secret allies in the opposing camp.

Heather changed out of her school clothes and into the same outfit she wore the previous day when she got home. "Are there any more cookies left?" she asked her mom as she walked into the kitchen.

"I hid some especially for you. The men in this family are Cookie Monster wannabes. Don't you think you should retire that dress?"

"Thanks, Mom," said Heather as she took a bite out of one of her cookies. "I will if I can find some nice outfits when we go shopping this weekend. I dunno. All of a sudden I got the urge to dress sexier and more feminine. It looks like you got the same urge. You're so pretty when you dress up, Mom."

"Thank you, dear," Lani said. She was clearly embarrassed by her daughter's compliment. After all, the girl's mother was dressed that way only because of Danny's threat to spank her. Yet the older woman was clearly pleased at the same time. Lani would have denied ever having a vain streak but she loved being flattered. "I think you influenced me to dress this way."

"With a slinky blouse you could be the neighborhood seductress," said Heather smiling impishly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Heather Ann," said her mother even though she was trying hard not to smile. "My seducing days are over. You seem to forget I'm a married woman."

"That's all the more reason to be a seductress, Mom. When I get married I'm going to seduce my husband each and every night like I was a sex slave and that was my only reason for existence. In that way, he'll never get bored with me."

"Well, he'll be a very lucky husband indeed if you do that," Lani assured her. Heather's statement made the woman think. Was that one of the reasons her and Patrick's sex life was practically dead? They certainly had taken each other for granted for most of their married life. The last time they had sex, she couldn't call it making love any more, was Sunday morning and it was a pure fiasco. Lani felt so used when Patrick...