Chapter 6

Incredibly, the body blow Theresa and Vince had suffered from the news of Julie's pregnancy was followed by another just a few days later. Their son Terry's caseworker asked to come to their home for an appointment, and Vince left work to meet her there.

As overworked and cynical as many caseworkers are, most are able to be touched by certain of their charges, and that had happened with Terry. After a long, appraising look around the nicely appointed Menconi house, she fixed them both with looks of obvious disapproval.

When Terry had been picked up for drug use several months earlier, they had the option of seeing a counselor, together. That would have kept Terry from being sent away. Vince had vehemently refused. The caseworker had read the psychologist's reports on Terry, and knew why he had turned to drugs.

She had also pled with them to choose that alternative to incarceration in the state facility. Vince, however, declared that if the boy was going to mess with drugs, he could just live with the consequences. As forcefully as she dared, she tried to warn the parents about the hell-hole they were throwing their son into. She knew money was not the issue: they could easily have afforded one of the private facilities that the court would have accepted as an alternative.

Vince's strict code made drugs one of the worst of all offenses. As with all violations of his 'rules', he came down hard with his punishment. The caseworker was sure he did not realize just how hard. Even he would not have sent his son to that place if he had known, but she could not get through to him at all. Even Theresa seemed unsympathetic to what might happen to her son.

"Terry is going to be released in several weeks," she told the Menconis. Seeing the joyous response from Theresa, she hastened to add "But there is a problem."

At Theresa's alarmed and questioning expression, the caseworker explained. "Terry has asked to be kept at the center until he is eighteen." When Theresa gasped, she quickly went on. "That is impossible, as there is a severe shortage of space. Terry has declared that he will start using again and get arrested to avoid going home."

"Noooooo!" Theresa wailed. "I don't understand!"

"Your son is not an addict," the woman explained. "He took the drugs as an escape, but he shows no classic signs of addiction. He is just afraid to come home."

"But there is no reason for him to be afraid," Vince objected.

"To him, there is a very real reason, and I'm sure you know what it is," she answered. "The same reason he refused to see you when you tried to visit."

"What? Has he been telling some sob story about mistreatment or something?" Vince fired back.

"Look," the now-frustrated woman said, "I came here to try once more to get you to try counseling. Terry is a very nice young man, and I would like to see him get a chance at a decent life. If he gets into drugs once more, he WILL get addicted."

"We don't need some crackpot counselor to tell us how to raise our son," Vince declared, not backing down the slightest bit.

Theresa, who had been mostly quiet, spoke up now. "Vince, maybe we should see someone. I don't want Terry back there again."

"No! And that's final!" The caseworker's heart sank. A good kid who should have had everything going for him was going to be lost. There was nothing she could do about it, and she had learned the hard lessons of disinvolvement. She had already invested more emotional capital in the kid than she ever should have. Time to just move on.

Theresa had not seen her daughter for over two months, and her son had been incarcerated for almost six months. She was a controlling woman with a fierce, volatile temper, and their household had developed into a perverted battleground of wills. But she was still a mother.

The all-too-typical struggles between parents and teens had masked the seriousness of the Menconis' psychological problems. From their early courtship, Theresa and Vince had built their relationship around their battle of wills. To them it was right, natural, and essential that every issue and question be contested. Their fighting style became almost ritualized. Their sex life was triggered by their battles and dependent upon them for energy and excitement.

Since intense verbal warfare was their normal way of life, Theresa and Vince never thought of modifying their behavior when the children arrived. The kids would have to win their own places as their battle skills matured. Until then, they did as they were told.

Except for their extreme need to control, Theresa and Vince were not bad parents. That is, they provided well for their children, watched carefully over their welfare and behavior, and exhibited love in every way except for the granting of independent choice and action. As a matter of fact, they both considered their control of every minute aspect of their children's lives part of their sacred parental duty.

When the conflicts with the kids became more frequent and more intense as they encountered puberty, the parents assumed it was just normal for their age. The fact that Julie seemed to enter enthusiastically into their rituals kept them from developing the proper concern over the effect of their lifestyle on the children.

The Menconis' friends and relatives were mostly unaware of what went on at their house. The instinctive secrecy exercised by all the family members was proof that they knew they were different. The fact that the kids very quickly learned not to bring friends home was further evidence.

When one parent or the other ended up second best in one of their marital skirmishes, they could always assuage their bruised ego by dominating one of the kids. Julie appeared strong enough to be unaffected, and since they successfully defeated her in most of the battles, they saw no need to modify their behavior. They failed to notice her increasing avoidance behavior.

Theresa occasionally bemoaned the lack of Julie's friends visiting the house, but it never made the impact it should have. She was, of course, unaware of Julie's switching of clothes on the way to school. They were totally unequipped to notice the rising resentment in their daughter, and when it turned to panic over college, they were so satisfied with their wins that they missed the critical signals entirely.

With Terry, it had been different. Even as a child, he did not engage in the family battles, choosing instead to sulk and withdraw. More often than not, it was Julie who fought for and won the really essential rights that Terry needed for any kind of normalcy. As a typical second child, he was oriented toward appeasement rather than control.

Terry's silent rebellion never showed up as misbehavior or poor grades. That would have triggered more battles, and that was the last thing he wanted. His dedication to avoidance turned him into an outwardly perfect child. The enormous load of frustration and resentment never showed up in any recognizable way.

The first little pill that a wannabe girlfriend gave Terry brought him a blessed escape from the dark cloud that seemed to follow him everywhere. In typical Terry fashion, he was not devious enough to properly disguise his use, and he got caught.

To her own shame, Julie was too absorbed in her romance and her own struggles to pick up on Terry's new habit, and she was as stunned as her parents when he was arrested. Rather than the anger and outrage of her parents, though, she was filled with guilt and remorse. Recognizing his inability to fend for himself, she had committed to being his protector, but she had failed. During Terry's stay at the rehab center, Julie and Glen were the only visitors he would see.

Fierce, conniving bitch that she was, Theresa was suddenly faced with the prospect of permanent separation from her children. Worse yet, it was by their choice. Julie's departure from home had planted the seeds of doubt about the way they had handled her. The news of Terry's reluctance to come home brought her face to face with the probability that they had made serious parenting mistakes.

More than anything else, the news of Julie's pregnancy had turned Theresa's world upside down. It was every mother's ultimate fear for her daughter, and it had happened. Any remaining complacency about their parenting was totally wiped away.

Julie's threat to never see them again was taken very seriously by Theresa. She had seen the change in her daughter the last time she saw her. That Sunday morning as Julie sat naked in the kitchen, there was no doubt she was a different person. The unfortunate interlude in the kitchen had triggered the change, Theresa was sure. And she, Theresa, had started the role play, to her everlasting shame.

Actually, Theresa had seen Julie briefly after the blow-up with Glen, but only as she dashed to her room. Since then, there had been only some brief shouts through the locked bedroom door, and two disastrous phone calls.

Theresa was becoming desperate to see Julie, just to verify that that Sunday morning was not the last time. The thought of complete and permanent separation from her only daughter was keeping her awake at night. She began fantasizing about all the wonderful mother/daughter interactions that she would miss, until one night she sat up in bed sobbing loud enough to awaken Vince.

It had just hit her that she had never had the good times with her daughter that she feared she would miss out on. Julie had avoided all but the essential contact with her, especially since she started going with Glen. Even before that, Julie had stayed at school or at friends' homes as long as possible. The idea that she had driven her children from her was starting to take hold.

As desperate as she was to see Julie, Theresa's blood ran cold at Julie's insistence that she be naked. She was not even puzzled at Julie's reasons. She knew that the fatal tableau in the kitchen was her fault, and she even saw the punishment as appropriate. The problem was Glen. How could she expose herself to her daughter's lover? It was not right! She and Vince were free with their bodies in front of each other, but otherwise, she was a modest woman.

Over the next couple of days after her midnight epiphany, Theresa wrestled with competing sources of desperation. The longing for her daughter was becoming a physical need, but the fear of exposure to Glen almost made her nauseous. More times than she could count, she went to the phone to plead with Julie to reconsider. Just as many times, she backed away, certain that nothing would change the girl's mind.

In the middle of the second night, Theresa made her decision. She would meet them naked if that was what it took. She had come to the conclusion that she deserved it. The idea still terrified her, and she woke in a sweat several times to the vision of Glen staring at her bare body. She also knew it would be extremely hard to persuade Vince to do it. The idea of another man seeing his wife's nudity would be a severe blow to his ego.

Vince was blessed with unwavering certainty about the rightness of his own actions. Yet, as a talented sales professional, he was also very much attuned to bottom line results as the true indicator of success or failure. If he had listed the greatest disasters that could befall his children, pregnancy and drug addiction would certainly have been at the top of the list. Suddenly, both disasters had happened.

In that strange way that humans are capable of, Vince had always disassociated their domestic brawls from his own personal image of himself as a dedicated father. Family was an important element of the culture in which he was raised, and he took pride in his own family. Within the space of six months, any basis for that pride had been wiped out.

In typical Vince fashion, however, the blame fell on the children, not on him. Terry was a weakling - a genetic accident. Julie was an ingrate and careless. He had lost his family because of their defects, not any mistakes of his.

To top off everything, Theresa had announced that she was ready to bare herself to Julie and Glen. That had triggered a classic row, and it had been repeated at least once every day for the past week. In line with their new pattern, there was no sex following the fights. In fact, there had been nothing close to sex in the two weeks since Julie's announcement.

He could not tell if Theresa was withholding sex as a tactic, or if she was genuinely not interested. Whatever the reason, he was becoming extremely frustrated.

On top of the sexual frustration, Vince could not fix the pregnancy problem unless he could talk to Julie. He had the abortion all lined up, but she would not even let him speak of it on the phone. Just like Theresa, he was convinced Julie would stick to her conditions. With every passing week, the seriousness of the abortion increased.

Finally, Vince gave in, to Theresa's mixed disbelief and relief. In the midst of her own tossing and turning, she had heard his equal discomfort during the night. In the morning, she was just coming out of the bathroom when he told her "I give up. Tell them to come over."

Theresa was a woman with a large sexual appetite. Fueled by the stimulation of their fights, she and Vince had enjoyed a frequency well beyond the average for their age and years of marriage. In the current turmoil, she had not felt the urge. However, with Vince's capitulation, the accumulated need from her lengthy deprivation was released, and she was instantly and intensely horny.

Nor was it simply accumulated sexual need; it was far more complex than that. Theresa's sense of her own womanhood had always been secure. She knew she was sexy, and she knew she satisfied Vince, many times wearing him out completely. The wife and sex partner aspects she had no misgivings about. Until the disaster of Terry's arrest, she was always smugly complacent about the motherhood aspects, as well. Oh, she knew there were things that puzzled her, such as the minimal amount of time the kids spent at home, but overall, it was all good in her mind.

The lost battle of Julie's virginity insinuated the first small tendrils of doubt, but her supreme self-confidence was even able to overcome that. The recent, apparently permanent, loss of both children, however, had focused all of her attention and her emotions on the motherhood aspects of her womanhood. She felt that if she lost contact with Julie forever, it would brand her a failure as a woman. For once, the wife and sex partner roles were no longer dominant in her mind.

Vince's agreement to the naked meeting was a reprieve from the final condemnation of her failed womanhood. Along with Theresa's innate self-confidence came a natural optimism. Slim as the chance of any true reconciliation might be, there was a chance, and it was enough to lift her spirits and her libido tremendously. She was going to see her daughter! They would make things right.

Of course, the price was unbelievable: she would have to expose herself to Glen, and if she focused on that, it terrified her. Yet, in a way, it added to feelings that were coursing through her. As she felt her nipples harden, she thought of Glen seeing them popping out. It did not frighten her as much as she thought it should, and it certainly did not make them shrink. Nor did not staunch the oozing of fluid she felt between her legs.

All of those thoughts and feelings coursed through Theresa as she stood in the doorway of the master bath. Her reaction was impulsive and instantaneous. She threw off her nightgown and stepped out of the panties she had recently begun wearing to bed. Almost running, she fairly leaped onto the bed, first throwing back the covers. Her attempt to strip the shorts from her astonished husband would have been comical to an observer.

"Theresa, what... ?"

"What do you think? I need it!"

"But... but I have to go to work."

"You're going to be late today." This was said with a distinct flash of the old Theresa. Ordinarily, such a challenge would have required a combative response from him, even if only for show. Somehow, he would have to gain at least the symbolic upper hand in the encounter.

Such was Vince's level of combined need and frustration that he thought of nothing but a resounding 'Yes!' in his mind. He raised his butt off of the bed so she could finish exposing him, and by the time she tossed his sleeping shorts on the floor, he was already erect. He made no objection to her taking the superior position.

There was no kissing, and groping took the place of caresses. Both partners were compensating for a long drought. Predictably, Vince did not last long, blasting into her long before she was even close. She was undeterred, however. She wriggled subtly atop him and flexed her internal muscles as she reached behind herself to tickle his still-shuddering balls.

Vince's starved libido overruled his brain and only the sensation from her stimulation got through. In record time, he was stiffening again, never having gone soft enough to fall out of her. When she felt him firm enough, she uttered the first words since he entered her: "Roll over and do me right!"

For once, no thought of competition or supremacy entered his mind. He had missed this more than he could express, and nothing mattered but the wonderful sensations. Looking down at her face and at her breasts shaking back and forth from his thrusts, he let her beauty and sexuality carry him away. In a strange way, given the stress around them and between them, it was one of the purest and most straightforward encounters they had shared. Though he had regained his erection quickly, it took a long time for him to build to another climax, and she was able to peak twice in the meantime.

They both lay panting for a few minutes, still with no words, since neither knew what to say. He roused first, reminded of the need to get to work. As she listened to the sounds of the shower, the euphoria of the sex started to recede, and the reality of what she had committed to began to overwhelm her.

Deciding to put off her shower to help him get underway, she was pulling on her robe, when she again thought of what would happen that evening. A shudder went through her and her knees felt weak. Pushing down the terror with the thought of her chance to right things with Julie, she hung the robe back up, and walked naked into the bathroom. To a quizzical look from Vince, who was by then drying himself, she sat on the toilet to drain as much of their effluent as possible, then quickly washed her crotch before heading for the kitchen, still naked.

Now that their shared need had been relieved, the gulf that had grown between became evident again. They said almost nothing, and when Vince found her still naked when he returned from work, a raised eyebrow was his only sign of acknowledgment. For her part, her naked 'practice' during the day had helped very little, and she was unable to eat any of the supper she had prepared.

As Julie had insisted, her parents were waiting naked inside their front door when she and Glen entered. Vince looked a little embarrassed but mostly angry. Probably in a show of bravado, clinging to some faint shreds of control and dignity, he stood straight, not trying to cover himself.

Theresa looked like she was about to collapse. Her face alternated between a deathly pallor and a fierce blush. She held one hand over her crotch and the other arm tried to conceal her breasts. Glen made a real effort to look only at her face, but a quick glance at an insufficiently covered nipple showed it to be protruding.

"Let's go into the family room," Julie said in a flat, emotionless tone. Both parents tried to step aside to let the young couple precede them, but Julie was having none of it. As Theresa walked unsteadily in front of them, they could see her ass cheeks clenching, as if she could hide herself that way. The alternating pallor and blush had moved over her whole backside. As quickly as possible, both parents seated themselves and crossed their legs. Theresa was now able to use both arms to cover her breasts. Once seated, they watched in puzzlement as Julie walked to a little built-in desk in the kitchen and returned with a ruler.

As Julie came back from the kitchen and sat down, Vince started right in. "Julie, we can fix this problem..."

"Dad, we're not ready for a discussion yet," Julie interrupted him.

"What do you mean? Why are we like this if we aren't going to talk?"

"Oh, we'll talk, but first, I want to discuss with Glen the genetic outlook for our future children. You two will be our subjects." Julie again spoke in a very flat, emotionless tone.

"Now, wait a minute. You are not going to parade your mother around naked like a piece of meat."

"Glen, Honey, I guess this was a bad idea. Let's go." Julie was on her feet holding her hand out to Glen before Theresa reacted.

"No! No! Don't leave! We'll do whatever you think we deserve. Just don't leave," Theresa begged.

"Now wait a minute, Theresa!" Vince interrupted. "We don't deserve to be humiliated."

"Maybe we do, maybe we don't," Theresa responded. "I don't care. I just don't want this to be the last time I see my daughter. Do you?"

"But that was one time, and she wasn't supposed to see that!" Vince's voice was rising.

"But we did it, and she did see it! Are you willing to say goodbye forever to avoid some humiliation we probably deserve?" Predictably, the fight took off from there. Glen watched in shock and disbelief as things escalated.

There were a couple of differences between this fight and the many others Julie had seen and fought in. First, Vince's penis flopping around as he grew more and more animated made the scene almost comical. Second, Theresa's huddled posture as she continued to hide herself made her seem less fierce and almost sympathetic.

After about ten minutes, Julie looked over at Glen and said "See! And this one is pretty tame in comparison." Somehow, both parents heard her, and froze into an eery silence. Vince glared daggers at the other three in turn and Theresa started to cry softly.

Heaving a sigh of resignation, Vince threw up his hands and told Julie. "I give up. Do what you want. If it makes you feel good to degrade your mother, go ahead."

"After the things you just called her, I can't imagine you care what I do to her," Julie said with a snort.

"That was just... that was just..." Vince tried to protest.

"I know what it was," Julie interrupted. "I've done it way too many times, and it almost ruined my life."

"What do you mean? It's ruined now, isn't it?" Vince shot back.

"That's it. Let's go, Glen," Julie said, once more holding out her hand to him.

"No, wait!, I shouldn't have said that." Vince shocked everyone with his near-apology. "What do you want us to do?"

Julie gave a long, dramatic pause before nodding her head slightly. Theresa let out her breath explosively when she saw the crisis pass.

"OK, Dad, since you're already standing, we'll start with you. Come over here and stand with your back to us. Good, now move your feet apart. Thank you."

"Glen, Honey, since we're going to be parents, I thought this would be a good chance to see what the physical prospects are for our children. In my AP Biology class, we had a neat unit on genetics. In most cases, a child's physical characteristics come from the parents, or from their parents. If we have a boy, I hope he looks just like you - that would be perfect. However, you're male, and there's no question your genes came mostly from you mother's side. If our son gets my genes, he could look like Dad."