Chapter 48

In spite of everything, we still managed to have a pretty good Christmas. Whatever my mother and father had agreed on seemed to satisfy both of them. Kate's punishment was that she could have no contact with Clara for one month. I think Kate was so relieved at not being sent back to Hungary, she forgot to protest about how unfair my parents were being to her. Christmas day, Agnes came over, and we all opened presents, had a big goose dinner, and then sat around in the living room, staring bleary eyed at the television screen. There wasn't much conversation, but what there was of it consisted of the adults talking amongst themselves, and Kate and I talking together.

At around five o'clock, Agnes decided she wanted to leave. My parents offered to give her a ride, but she said she'd rather walk, in order to work off some of the big dinner she had eaten. When my mother asked me to walk with Agnes, to make sure she got home all right, I went and got my coat out of the front closet. Agnes protested that it wasn't necessary, but she didn't protest too much. It was cold and windy out, and Agnes reached out and took my arm in both of hers. We walked together, with me sheltering her somewhat from the wind.

"Thank you for walking me home, Larry. Is everything okay with you at home?"

"That's okay. Sure, no problems with me. Mama's more worried about Kate right now."

"I've thought about what happened to us the other day, and I'm determined that it won't ever happen again. For me, it was a moment of weakness, one that should never be repeated."

"You didn't enjoy it? Was I too rough with you?"

"It isn't that. You are too young, and you are my sister's son. What we did wasn't something that I should have exposed you to."

"I don't want to quit it. I liked what we did. I've been thinking about you being bad again, and what I'm going to do to punish you when you are."

"No, Larry, please, no. I feel too guilty about what I already did with you. Any more, and I couldn't face your mama and papa again. Even today, it was trying for me. I kept waiting for one of them to bring it up, or to tell me that they had notified the police. That isn't how I choose to live my life. Can we not just agree to end it now? More would just make it more difficult for all of us."

"Whatever you want, Agnes. I don't want to make you feel bad or to have you worry about it. I'm sorry about your friend too. There will be other friends. Please try to be happy again."

"Thank you. You are more to me than my nephew. You are my confidante, someone I can confide in. What you told me the other day about Trudie, her interest in another girl, this was true? You know this for a fact?"

"She told me that she likes the way this other girl licks her. I've seen her do that with the other girl. They both seemed to enjoy it. You aren't going to get her in trouble, not because of what I told you, are you?"

"No, that isn't why I asked you. You know that I am different than most women, Larry? That I enjoy a different lifestyle than most?" I looked at her and nodded my head yes. "Except for two men, one when I was very young, and the other, the one that got me sent away from my home by your grandfather, I haven't experienced sex with males. I've confined myself to other females. You understand what I'm saying?"

"You like girls better than boys. Right?"

"I don't know. I've had far more experience with women. I've never had the chance to have a real relationship with a man. The reason I brought up Trudie is because she has made certain overtures to me, overtures I have no interest in pursuing with her. If it is a genuine interest on her part, I need to explain that it isn't something that interests me. I had hoped that these signals she was sending were unconscious on her part. From what you've told me, I must now believe they were deliberate overtures."

We had walked all the way to her apartment. At the bottom of the stairs, Agnes leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek and hugged me to her, wishing me again a Merry Christmas, and thanking me for escorting her home. I stood at the bottom of the stairs, and waited until she was safely inside her apartment. I left after I saw she was inside and had turned on her lights. On the walk home, I thought about what she had said to me. I knew, if I pressed her, that Agnes would let me do more things with her. She was sad and lonely, and I would be taking advantage of her at a time when she was very upset and vulnerable. I made a decision that I would go out of my way to make sure that no more situations occurred that would make it likely that another opportunity would arise. I would only be interested if I thought it was something she wanted me to do with her.

After the New Year, Kate started back at the junior high. I walked her to school every morning, and she walked over to the dance studio as soon as school let out. Clara had decided to go back and live with her father some more. My mother told me that Mrs. Townsend blamed me for Clara's decision. My mother worried because Mrs. Townsend was drinking more, and had called over to our house several times, while drunk, to speak with my mother about how bad everything seemed to her.

Kate did have a difficult time the first month after she returned to school, but then she was befriended by two sisters, Lisa and Rita Ross. Lisa was an eighth grader like Kate, and Rita was a year younger, and in seventh grade. The Ross's had moved to our town from Washington state, and, either didn't know, or didn't care, about the rumors surrounding Kate. Rita was on the short side, and was plump, while Lisa was taller, but thin and gangly looking. The first time I saw Lisa, she reminded me of Clara when Clara was about eleven years old. Lisa was fourteen, and Rita was almost thirteen years old. My mother started letting Kate go to the Ross's house twice a week, after school, but only for the hour until I got out of school and came home. The Ross's could come over to visit, but they couldn't be in Kate's room unless I was there, and the door always had to be open.

I liked both of the Ross girls, especially Lisa. The three girls usually sat on the floor in the living room, talking and doing their homework while they watched American Bandstand on the television. I liked to listen to them as they talked about some of the regular kids on the program. There was this one boy, Norman was his name, and all three of the girls thought he was so cute. There were a couple of girls I liked to look at too, but they were a long ways away, in Philadelphia, too far to build up a real head of steam over. We all liked to look at the new dance steps that the kids were doing on television. I learned quite a bit by watching them. After a couple of weeks, the girls got me to try out some of the new dance steps with them.

Kate was a lot better dancer than either Lisa or Rita, and she could pick up the new steps after only seeing them once or twice on the screen. I was the same way. Every time I danced with Rita, she would get all embarrassed and start this really high, nervous, giggle. Kate and Lisa used to always tease her about it. Usually, I'd show Rita, and Kate would teach Lisa. After Bandstand was over, we'd all go back to studying until my mom got home. I always kept Kate in sight, and she didn't try to pull any tricks on me.

When March came, I went and asked Jane for a date on the Friday night after her birthday. She said she'd like that and went to ask her mother if she could accept. Her mom came out into the living room and asked me if she and I still had that same understanding as when we had talked before. I told her that we did. She gave Jane permission, and then went back into the kitchen. Jane came over and sat next to me on the sofa. She had a lot of questions about what her mother had meant, and I told her that I had promised her mother not to screw her unless she got her mom's permission first.

"You didn't really talk about that? Why did you say anything to her about us doing that? I'm surprised she said I can go out with her if you told her you were going to ask me to do it with you."

"You should be happy. It means that you don't have to feel any pressure to do it with me."

"I'd never ask her for that. I wouldn't want her to know if we did do it."

"Then we won't ever do it. I told her that we might do other things, but never that, unless she says it's okay."

"Did you tell her what other things?"

"I told her anything else but that."

"She said it was okay?"

"No, she said she wanted me to keep my end of the bargain about not doing it with you. She said she'd never give you permission to do it with me."

"Suppose I really wanted to, Larry? Now, we couldn't."

"Not without her permission. We're a long way from needing her permission anyway." I reached over and took her hand and put it on my boner. I pulled her closer to me, and then kissed her. She took her hand off my dick when I started kissing her, but put it right back when I started playing with her boob. We made out for about fifteen minutes before I had to go home. Kate was at the dance studio, but I still needed to be home before five o'clock.

Friday, right after school, I got cleaned up and went over to Bill's house. I had gotten Jane a nice gold colored locket for her birthday. It was heart shaped, and my mother had cut up a small picture of my face, from one of the pictures we kept around the house, and placed it inside the locket. It felt funny giving a girl a present with a picture of me in it, but my mother said it would make it better for Jane. She told me that Jane could pull it out and throw it away if she wanted to. When I got to Bill's, I handed Jane her present, and after she opened it, I told her what my mother had said about her throwing the picture away. She didn't act like that was what she wanted to do. Bill was there, and he tried to give me some static about dating Jane, but his mom told him that he better shut up and worry about his own business. Bill could recognize that his mother wasn't kidding him when she said it.