Chapter 2

I went back every week for two months. I helped Hiram buy a television and VCR, but we didn't hook it up to an antenna. I didn't want routine television fare shocking them. Then, on a night when I didn't have any other interviews, I'd take a couple of movies over and the four of us would watch them.

I chose carefully.

There was 'Gone With The Wind', to introduce them to dramatic acting, with a little G rated sex thrown in, and even some bad words. I fed them some old John Wayne movies to acclimate them to violence that was at least rational in terms of why it was done. I got a tape of old "I Love Lucy" programs from a friend, to introduce them to innuendo and interplay between a husband and wife. And I got movies that had kissing in them - the old fashioned kind where there was a grip and a kiss, but no obvious tongue involved.

We now chatted about the movies afterward, and there was animation in their faces as they talked about this or that aspect of this or that scene. Some of them they thought were shameless, but they watched them anyway. They loved the comedies.

Then I got them 'Summer Of '41' and, for the first time, they saw a love scene. Not just a love scene, but a love scene between a boy and a woman about the age of the women watching it. At least close to their mental age.

It was dead quiet when I turned off the box. I just waited.

"Well I never..." said Mildred. "That was just shameless! They had SEX outside of marriage!"

Gertie sighed. "I thought it was beautiful," she said. "but it was sad too."

Hiram just sat, wide-eyed. He was breathing deeply.

"Let me ask you a question," I hazarded. "During the love scene, how did it make you feel?"

"It was just awful!" said Mildred.

That was tradition talking. I was sure of it. "What I mean is how did it make your body feel?"

Mildred looked so surprised that she didn't say anything at first. "I don't know," she said. "I don't remember."

Gertie took a breath, but then slumped. She decided not to say anything.

"Upset," said Hiram suddenly. "It made me upset."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"My stomach hurt," he said. "I shouldn't have seen that. It made me..." He looked away and wouldn't finish.

"Did you get an erection?" I asked.

Well you'd have thought I asked if he preferred his babies boiled or fried before he ate them. Once they vented their dismay at such frank talk I pushed even further.

"Look, a marriage is supposed to be a time when two people who love each other can experience things that are delightful and loving and that feel really good. I know they weren't married in the movie, but they felt strong emotions, and they explored those emotions, and that led them to make love. They didn't 'have sex'... they made love. Do you understand what I'm talking about? There is a BIG difference between having sex and making love."

"We don't do that!" said Mildred in a hushed voice. "Not like THAT!"

"That's my whole point. Let me play that part again. I want you to pay close attention to how it makes you feel inside. Your body will be telling you things. I want you to listen."

Well, first there was the objection that Gertrude didn't need to see it again. Gertie, of course, was adamant that she WAS going to see it again. I think Mildred was so nervous about seeing those visuals again that it affected her, and Hiram was just as bad, if not worse. He had never answered the question about the erection. He hadn't had to. They argued and I told them that replaying the scene was part of the counseling. They let themselves be convinced that it was for a good cause.

I rewound the tape and played the love scene again, from the initial attraction, to the moaning end.

When it was over I hit the pause button, leaving the naked couple on the screen, kissing.

Hiram's hands were covering his crotch. Mildred was a little glassy eyed. Gertrude was wiggling.

"There is no reason in the world why you and Hiram cannot experience that kind of emotion and love," I said quietly.

"What about me?" came a whisper in the darkened room that I knew was from Gertie.

"You too, some day," I said.

Not wanting to get into another discussion, I got up and told them I had to leave. I left the tape there.

I dropped by two days later, to pick up the tape and return it to the video store. A glance showed it was at the end. Somebody had watched it again, or let it run. I knew we were at a make-or-break point.

"Do you want more counseling?" I asked. Both Hiram and Mildred were standing, not quite side by side, but closer than I'd ever seen them standing before. Gertrude had greeted me and then retreated to a chair with a book, like she wasn't interested. But when I asked the question, the book sagged in her hands and she turned her head fractionally towards us.

They looked at each other, two sad, lonely people who had lived together a dozen years, doing what they thought they were supposed to do, and now having realized that there was so much more in the world that could have occupied their time, and made life much more ineresting.

"Yes," said Mildred. She looked at Hiram. He nodded and almost cracked a smile.

"There are other movies..." I started. "I'll call them marital aids. They are very very explicit, but they show how a husband and wife can... they're intended to help in the bedroom... with private things." I had to go easy here. I couldn't just tell them I wanted to screen porn in their little hideaway.

"They're about... sex?" asked Mildred in a hushed voice.'

I nodded. "They're just instructional... to show you how to do things that most married couples like to do together."

"Are they as bad as that one?" Mildred pointed at 'Summer Of '41'.

"Much MUCH worse," I admitted. "unless you remember that sex isn't a bad thing."

There came a glittery look in Mildred's eyes. Only that gave her away. Her face remained calm.

"And this is just for counseling," she said.

I nodded.

"What about Gertrude?" she asked.

I saw Gertie tense up in her chair.

"There is no reason Gertrude cannot be introduced to some nice young men. She is of marriageable age, and could go on to have a life as good as yours and Hiram's," I said reasonably.

"Better than ours," whispered Mildred.

I nodded again. "Do you wish you had known more about what would happen on your wedding night than you did?" I asked.

She looked shocked, but then nodded. "Bring these films," she said suddenly.

"Are you sure dear?" asked Hiram. It was the first time I'd ever heard him use a term of endearment toward his wife.

"May we speak with you privately?" asked Mildred.

We retreated to the kitchen, where she quietly informed me that they had "tried" what was in the movie. They had tried kissing, and touching, and being in bed together without their night clothes on. I hadn't been aware that they had never been naked together. It made sense, when I thought about it. Living with your parents you don't chase each other around naked. That they had figured out how to have intercourse at all was something I thought was pretty impressive.

"It was very nice," said Mildred. "We wanted you to know... and to thank you."

Hiram shook my hand as I left. It was the first time since we met that he'd done so, and his grip was now firm.

I chickened out in one sense. I only took soft core porn the next time I went. Something along the lines of what they show on Cinemax these days. I was pretty sure that they'd end up seeing something triple X one of these days, but I didn't want to scare them either. Besides, it's pretty hard to find hard core porn that takes place between a husband and wife, and it had to pass as a "marriage enhancement" tape. They were behind the times, but they weren't stupid.

While they weren't stupid, they were also anticipating something so far outside their realm of experience that I think it already had them off balance. If I had rocked their world with Walt Disney, the aftershocks had kept the ground moving under their feet. The primary thing this did was to take up so much of their attention that, when the tape started, and Gertie slipped in and sat down on the love seat beside me, neither Hiram nor Mildred seemed to notice.

There wasn't any flesh on the screen yet, but their eyes were already glued to what was happening. I had picked this film carefully, and I was taking a big risk. It was called 'Sunset Obsession', but I fast forwarded through that. The plot line was pretty standard for a film like this. Husband and wife, both gloriously sexy, of course, lived in an upscale house in the country. The wife's younger sister lived with them, and was blind. The first half was about the wife and husband, and included plenty of sex, some of it role playing. The blind girl sat around looking soulful, feeling the sun on her skin and smelling flowers and things like that.

I picked this film for several reasons. I wanted them to see role playing. There was one scene where husband and wife ran out of the surf and coupled in the soft grass within sight of the blind girl. The wife objected, but hubby insisted that his sister-in-law was blind anyway and pressed on. Of course the blind girl heard what was going on and she masturbated to the sounds. That was something I wanted Gertie to see. The risky part was because the second half was about how the husband was led to seduce his sister-in-law, who had no real options with men, and they ended up as a threesome. That was pushing things, but in my own opinion, this family would probably never assimilate completely into society. If Gertie was stuck with Hiram and Mildred, then at least she ought to be able to have some pleasure. It wasn't that I was trying to get the three of them to play nice together. I didn't think that would actually happen. But at least she could be exposed to the idea that being alone in life didn't mean you were denied orgasms.

Of course I miscalculated. I was young. I didn't understand people nearly as well as I thought I did.

What I miscalculated on was that none of them had ever been allowed to go through the hurricane of passion that is adolescence. They had all gone from being young people with the chores of adults... to being adults. There was no in-between time to lie secretly with a member of the opposite sex and try kissing, and groping and feel all the feelings that go along with all those things. Mildred and Hiram had been able to do those things since then, but they were under the impression that it shouldn't be enjoyed.

I thought Mildred would just pass out on the spot when the hubby in the film stripped his wife and sucked at her nipples for a while before kissing his way over her abdomen to the obvious destination. Even though they didn't show what he was doing down there, it was obvious his face WAS... down there. It was also obvious that his wife was loving it. When the roles were reversed, and it was her head covering his groin, he made it clear that what she was doing met with his intense approval too.

For those of us who are familiar with triple X porn, soft core doesn't seem like much. But to a couple who had never thought about the fact that breasts can be used for much more than just feeding babies, not to mention the very concept of cunnilingus and fellatio... well to them, soft core porn is like looking at an alien race from outer space.

To put it bluntly, the term "masturbation" was no longer a word that would cause much embarrassment after they had seen this movie.

The other thing that happened was that Gertie reached out and clamped her hand over mine with more force than I thought she had in her. My hand had been just lying on the love seat between us. We weren't touching as we sat there, but her hand found mine and clutched at it like it was a life preserver and she was overboard. I dragged my attention away from Mildred, who was gasping for air, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, and realized that Gertie was gasping just as strongly, almost shaking as she sat.

Neither woman took her eyes from the screen.

I darted a quick glance at Hiram. His hand was squeezing the front of his pants, but I don't think he was aware of it.

I stopped the movie before the husband had sex with his blind sister-in-law. Wife and husband had already talked about how sad it was that the blind girl had no male attention in her life, and it was already clear, at least to me, where things were headed. Of course I had already seen the movie... several times, I admit... but the innuendo was there.

"The last half of the movie might be a little uncomfortable for you," I announced when I stopped it.

Hiram sat. It was his turn to be glassy-eyed.

Mildred slumped and then shuddered.

"I can't believe that," she said. I thought she was about to start a tirade about the immorality of what she'd just witnessed. But her second comment made me feel a little better. "I had no idea things could be... like that." Then she worried me again when she turned to her husband and barked "Hiram! Did you know about these things?"

Hiram's eyes cleared. Even I could hear the threat in her voice.

"Of course not!" he said heatedly. "How could I possibly know that people behave like that?!"

"Do people really do those things?" asked Gertie.

"What are YOU doing here?" came Mildred's horrified voice.

I held up the hand that wasn't being strangled by Gertie's hand. "Calm down everybody. Gertie's an adult and, like I said, she may get married some day. And yes, people really do behave in this way..."

I was about to say "when they're married" but I bit that off. I don't know why I did that, but Mildred, with that intuition that women have that astonishes men, somehow picked up on it.