Chapter 27

Sunny thought she was being slick and clever. She casually mentioned to Val that, since Bob was going to be staying at Gidget's for a day or two, and since they were "practicing dating" it was too bad that Becca would be in the way, or ignored by the adults. Val did exactly as Sunny thought she would, and invited her cousin to come over to spend the night.

Sunny had been thinking more and more since the night before about how Gidget was acting. She remembered a day or two ago when, at work, one of the interns, a girl named Molly, was running around so perky that Sunny just wanted to strangle her.

"What in the world are you so excited about?" Sunny had asked her.

Molly had smiled a toothy smile. "I met a man!" she had said. "He's scrumptious!"

The more Sunny thought about it, the more she saw the same behavior and attitude in Gidget. It was almost like a woman acted when she had been well and truly laid! And that brought up the most troubling thoughts of all. Surely they weren't taking "dating practice" to its obvious and logical conclusion! They were related, for Pete's sake! It was just too strange to think about.

But think about it she did, and her plan was to spy on them. With Becca out of the house, the couple would be alone. If they were doing anything they'd just stay there and do ... whatever it was they were doing.

Sunny planned to "run get some milk" or something. She had a key to Gidget's house - they all had keys to each other's houses - and she planned to get to the bottom of whatever it was that was going on over there. She even dressed for the occasion, putting on black slacks and a dark maroon blouse before she sailed through the living room, where Val and Becca were watching a rental movie.

"Be back in a while - we need milk." she called out, her keys jangling in her hand.

"Pick me up some birth control pills while you're out." called Val, without looking up. Becca's gasp was clear even across the room.

Sunny's hand was in a claw, ready to open the door when it registered. She screeched to a halt and whirled.

"What did you say?" she rasped hoarsely.

Val looked over the back of the couch and smiled. "Have a cow, Mom, I was just kidding." Becca didn't seem to think it was that funny either. She was pounding on Val's arm with her fist.

Sunny was in no mood for it and she scowled at her daughter. "We're going to have a nice long talk when I get back." she said.

"We already had it Mom." sighed Val as she realized her joke had fallen exceptionally flat.

Sunny stormed out and slammed the door. She was driving recklessly when she realized she might draw attention to herself. She slowed down and decided to park several houses down the street from Gidget's house. She walked down the street like she knew where she was going, with a confident stride. Somebody had told her once that no one paid attention to people who walked like that. When she got to the property line she left the sidewalk and crept stealthily through the yard, catching the attention of Mrs. Henderson, the neighborhood busybody, who was looking out her windows like she did every night before she went to bed.

Mrs. Henderson immediately grabbed her binoculars and put them up to her eyes. She couldn't see the woman's face, but she looked familiar somehow. Still, the 'intruder', as Mrs. Henderson thought of it, was acting suspicious. She watched as the woman went to several windows of her neighbor's house and tried to peek in. Finally the intruder went to the kitchen window, which had a light on inside. There she stopped, ducking up and down and then finally up to stay, peering in the window.

When it became obvious that the intruder intended to stay there and peep, Mrs. Henderson knew what to do.

Sunny looked in the bedroom window first. It was dark, outside and in, and she couldn't see anything. She tried the living room next. She could see the light from the kitchen coming through the doorway, so that's where she went next. Bob and Gidget were sitting at the kitchen table, across from each other. They were holding hands. She could hear the mumble of their voices, and see their mouths moving, but she couldn't understand what they were saying. They looked like any normal man and woman sitting and talking.

"Circleton 911, what is your emergency please?" came a mellow voice on the phone.

"Cassy? Is that you?" Mrs. Henderson knew all the members of the police department by name. She knew their voices too. She called them, on average, about three times a week."

"Mrs. Henderson, how nice to hear from you again." sighed the voice. The sarcasm in it was lost on Mrs. Henderson.

"Cassy there's an intruder, one of those peeping Toms, and she's peeping into Gidget Winkle's house next door."

"She is peeping? Wouldn't that be a peeping Tomasina?" asked Cassy.

"Don't you sass me Cassy. This is serious. Who knows what that intruder will do over there. She may be planning on murder!"

"Mrs. Henderson, it's probably just another member of the press, trying to get something about Ms Winkle's father, or grandfather or whatever he is. I'm sure there's nothing wrong."

"You just get a squad car over here!" said Mrs. Henderson hotly. "If you don't you'll be hauling bodies out of there right and left, mark my words!"

"All right, I'll send somebody over," said Cassy.

In the kitchen Gidget was staring at the man who made her feel woozy inside.

"I think Sunny suspects something." she said.

"Why's that?"

"She was grilling me in the kitchen last night, wanting to know why I was acting goofy."

"You were acting goofy?" he smiled.

"When a woman has something like we had the other night, it means something to her," said Gidget sternly.

"It meant something to me too." he assured her.

"Well, women can tell," said Gidget.

"Tell what?" asked Bob.

"You can tell when a woman has had good sex," said Gidget.

"Oh really?" asked Bob laughing.

"Yes!" Gidget tried to pull her hands away, but he wouldn't let her. "She acts different. You told me about men. Let me tell you something about women. When a woman is happy ... deep down inside happy ... another woman can tell."

"And making love with me made you happy?" asked Bob. "I thought you resisted an awful lot."

"Of course I did." she said. "What we did was wrong ... unthinkable ... I had to resist."

"So that's not why I'm here tonight." he said.

Gidget blushed. "No, that's exactly why you're here. It was wonderful and I haven't felt that good in as long as I can remember."

"But it was wrong and unthinkable." Bob reminded her.

"I know that," she huffed. Then she sagged. "But that doesn't mean it wasn't wonderful, or that I don't ever want to do it again. I thought we agreed on that."

Bob knew he was in a no-win situation. "About Sunny?" he reminded her.

"Well, I think Sunny could see how happy I was. She's suspicious. She's asking a lot of questions."

"So tell her," said Bob.

"I can't do that," yipped Gidget. "We committed incest!"

"We didn't commit anything. We were two people who were attracted to each other and let that go where we both wanted it to go. We were practicing, for being with others as I recall."

"That's fine for you to say. I even want to agree with you, but Sunny won't see it that way. Don't you think it's kind of strange that Val suddenly called Becca to ask her over for the night? On the very first night you were going to stay with us?"

"From what I've seen, those girls are pretty close," said Bob.

"Well, maybe we shouldn't ... you know ... tonight," said Gidget.

"Okay, let's do something else. What would you like to do?"

Gidget leaned forward. "How do you do that?!" she practically gasped. "All I could think of all day long was what I was going to do with you tonight ... what I was going to get to feel again. How do you just turn it on and off like that?"

"I can't turn it on and off. I was looking forward to this too, but if it's not a good idea then that's more important than letting my lust control me." He smiled. "I'm hard right now just sitting across from you."

"Ohhh men!" said Gidget stridently, finally getting her hand free.

"So, what do you want to do?" asked Bob.

"I want you to make me scream," said Gidget standing up, a smoky look in her eyes.

"What about Sunny?" he asked.

"Screw Sunny," said Gidget. "That hardon is for me!"

Bob thought about teasing her about the term 'screw Sunny' but decided not to. He reached out his hand instead.

There was a repeated thumping on the back door. A muffled male voice came through it.

"POLICE" There was more thumping.

Gidget looked at Bob and went pale. She went to the door. As she opened it a woman's voice ... a familiar voice ... shouted "Let go of me!" The door opened and a disheveled Sunny stood there, her face smudged with dirt, her hair in disarray. Her elbow was in the grip of a tall man in a police uniform.

"Mrs. Winkle?" he addressed Gidget. "This woman claims to be your sister, is that true?"

Gidget's hand flew to her mouth and she nodded. "Yes, she is, what's going on?"

Sunny scowled and jerked her arm. The man's grip didn't slacken a bit.

"We got a prowler call, Ma'am, and I found ... your sister ... um ... peeking into that window over there." He pointed to the kitchen window in the north wall.

"He threw me on the ground!" wailed Sunny.

The cop didn't flinch. "She gave me a little trouble when I approached her. She tried to run. I had to tackle her."

"Beast!" howled Sunny.

"You can leave her here with us if that's all right," said Bob.

The policeman peered at him. "Are you Mr. Winkle? Bob Winkle?" he asked.

"Yes," said Bob.

The cop shoved Sunny into the room and let her go. He held out a hand to Bob. "Glad to meet you sir. You've caused quite a stir around here."

"Sorry," said Bob with irony in his voice. "All I did was wake up."

"Well, what with all the tickets we wrote all those news people and gawkers, you've kind of helped with the budget crunch we were going through." grinned the cop. "Do you suppose I could maybe get your autograph?"

Bob chuckled as Gidget ran to get paper and pen. Bob scrawled his name under the inscription "Thanks for your service." and handed it to the officer. He read it and beamed. He turned to Gidget.

"So, I assume you don't want to press charges." he said.

"If I did would you have to put her in a jail cell?" asked Gidget.

"Gidget!" squealed Sunny.

"Never mind," said Gidget. "We'll take it from here."

"Night folks," said the cop and he backed out of the door.

Sunny stood there, looking down at the floor. Things just hadn't quite gone the way she had anticipated.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" asked Gidget, her voice low and full of tension.

"Nothing's going on," said Sunny, her voice surly. "Can't a woman go out for a nice evening walk without being molested?"

Gidget looked at her watch. It was nine-thirty. "A nice evening walk." she said. "And you just happened to walk by my house, and instead of coming on in, like you always do, you peek in the windows?"

Sunny didn't say anything.

"She thought we were having sex," said Bob.

Both women's heads swiveled to look at him. Gidget's held controlled fear. Sunny's looked pale and panicky. She was so surprised at being caught, both by the cop and by Bob that she couldn't marshal her thoughts.

Gidget turned back to her sister. "What, you're so starved for sex that you have to watch other people having it?" Her voice was ugly.

Sunny's face flared red. "You know better than that!" she said indignantly.

"I thought I knew you better than I apparently do too," said Gidget. "Go home. Get out of my house." Her voice was flat, still ugly.

"Now hold on a minute," said Bob. "Getting mad and kicking at each other isn't going to solve anything. You two are like sisters. Sit down and talk."

"I don't want to talk to her," said Gidget, turning away. "She spied on me!"

"I had to!" barked Sunny. "You were acting so strange and you were acting like you were in love or something and I had to make sure he wasn't taking advantage of you!"

"And what if I am in love?" said Gidget, her voice rising. "Is that any of your business? Can't I find a little happiness without you trying to stop me?"

"With him?" Sunny's voice was incredulous.

"Why not with him?" shouted Gidget angrily. She calmed down, realizing she had admitted something she didn't want to. It was too late now, though. She went on the defensive. "He's sweet and caring and he loves me. I'm comfortable with him. He doesn't scare me. He doesn't force me. He lets me be who I want to be."

"He's your grandfather, Gidget!" said Sunny sternly.

"He's a stranger!" said Gidget just as sternly. "We never paid any attention to him. We don't know him. What color are his eyes Sunny? Do you know? What's his favorite breakfast? What colors does he like? Does he put his left shoe on first, or his right? What's his middle name Sunny?"

Sunny blinked and took a breath, but Gidget wasn't finished.

"If he'd have walked in off the street and we didn't know who he was we'd both be thrilled to spend time with him. Yes, he is my grandfather, but he's also a wonderful, interesting man who helped me understand some things about myself that were holding me back. I'm not trying to marry him, Sunny ... I'm just finding out who I am and who he is and I'm having the best time of my life doing it."

"But it's wrong." whined Sunny.

"Who says it's wrong?" asked Gidget. "A whole bunch of people who haven't ever done anything for us and never will. Strangers who don't care what our lives are like as long as we live them the same way they do. I thought it was wrong too. But what happened between us was not a bad thing Sunny. I feel more like a woman today than I think I ever felt like in my whole life! I can think more clearly. I'm not anxious or nervous. I trust a man ... trust a man Sunny! ... for the first time since I can remember. I know this very instant that if I say I don't want to do anything else with him that it will be fine. He won't take off and leave just because I stop doing things with him. What he is offering me isn't tied to sex or compliments or anything. All he wants is for me to be happy, and that makes me want to make him happy, and I am happy, and you want me to feel guilty about all that."

She took a step toward her sister. "Well I'm not going to feel guilty Sunny. I love you, you know that, and I'd never do anything to hurt you, but don't make me choose between being who I want to be ... need to be ... and living my life by your rules. I've done that for the last twenty years and I was miserable. I'm tired of being miserable." She slumped. Then she looked nervous. Then she went and sat down at the table. She looked at Bob and then at Sunny, who was staring at her.

Sunny looked nervous too. Bob just stood there, waiting to see what would happen next. The silence was, as usual, so uncomfortable that Sunny finally filled it.

"I've never heard you talk that way." she said.

"I don't think I'm the same woman you knew last week," said Gidget.

"That's for sure!" said Sunny.

"I'm not sorry about this Sunny." insisted Gidget.

"You have made that abundantly clear," said Sunny, relaxing. "Can I sit down?"

"Of course," said Gidget.

"Can I ask questions?" she glanced at Bob and then back to Gidget.

Gidget waved a hand. "As long as you're interested in a frank and open discussion, where nobody has to win and nobody has to lose ... go ahead."

"How did this happen?"

Gidget laughed. "I wish I could tell you. If I could bottle what happened I'd have more money than he does." She sat for a minute. "The more I think about it, the more I think it was because he was truthful with me."

"What do you mean?" asked Sunny.

"We were trying to dance ... you know, like you might on a date. We tried rock first, but we didn't have any common experience. So we changed to slow dancing and I felt him ... you know ... pressing against me."

Sunny shot a look at Bob.

"All men do it Sunny!" said Gidget. "Just because he's our grandfather doesn't mean he stops being a man."

Sunny turned to Bob. "But why did you react that way towards her?" she asked.

Bob didn't' mind answering. "Because she's a beautiful and interesting woman. My body reacted to a beautiful woman, and my mind reacted to the fact that she was interesting." He expanded on that, much like he had with Gidget, explaining that men didn't always think about everything, and that their bodies reacted automatically.

"But you should have controlled your urges." insisted Sunny.

Bob nodded. "That's fine if you do it for the right reasons. Let me ask you a question."

Sunny nodded.

"Has there ever been a time, say in the last five or ten years, when you saw a sixteen or seventeen year old boy you were attracted to?"

The first thing that leapt into Sunny's mind was her paper boy. He was about that age now, and he had huge brown eyes, and a forelock that lay just so on his forehead, and his smile was wide and open. Her panties got damp every time she saw him. She shook her head, though. "No." she said.

"Come on Sunny," said Gidget. "We've been like sisters. I know you well enough to see that you're lying through your teeth. If we're going to have a conversation that means anything, at least tell the truth."

"It would be wrong to lust after a boy that young," said Sunny.

"That's the point I want to make," said Bob. "Why is it wrong?"

"Because he's too young," said Sunny.

"Too young for what?" asked Bob.

"Too young for anything!" said Sunny. "He's just a boy."

"When I was growing up," said Bob, "a sixteen year old ... boy ... got a job, or did that for a year and joined the service. A few of them went to college. A boy that age got married, had kids and made a family. He was a man back then ... if he wanted to be."

"But things have changed," said Sunny. "The world is different. It's not appropriate for an older woman to be with a boy that young."

"Things haven't changed biologically," said Bob. "At sixteen, every male alive is biologically ready to become a father. He reacts to women exactly the same way he would have fifty, or seventy, or a thousand years ago. And women react to him the same way too. Your attraction to a young man is as normal as it is possible to be. Your attraction to any man is normal. There is something in your brain that identifies potential sexual partners. There is something else in your brain that tells you whether or not it is "proper" to pursue that attraction. Can we agree on that?"

Sunny nodded hesitantly.

"So, who is the young man you thought about when I asked the question?"

Sunny looked uncomfortable. "I feel weird." she said.

"Remember, we're just talking about a normal attraction. You have nothing to be ashamed of for being normal."