Chapter 6

Karen and Pete left around noon, largely because Kate was due back from Girl Scout Camp at mid-afternoon and there were things to be done. Before they left, I laid down some rules for Karen:

"From here on out, you're gonna be known as 'No Pants Moffat.' You wear what you have to for work, but you'll wear skirts -- short ones -- around me and otherwise in public. I wanna see your titties bounce, so you be braless for me -- get some halters or something else hot. If you have to wear a bra for some reason, I'd better see your bellybutton. Panties are as I direct -- and never in my presence if you're not on the rag. Don't try to bullshit, me, either, because if I don't see blood, I'm gonna punish your ass."

"Pete, here, is my deputy," I added, "He'll be watching to make sure you follow instructions. I recommend that you don't try wheedling him or giving him shit, because I'll take a strap to BOTH of you if I find out -- and I WILL find out!"

"Cletus, Honey, I can't afford..." Karen began -- and I cut her off.

"Don't wheedle me." I reached into my pocket and fished out two hundred dollars. "Don't spend it all in one place -- and I'd better be pleased with the results. Now, you say, 'Yes, Cletus, ' understand? It's 'Yes, Cletus, ' or 'No, Cletus' -- and if you have a REASON that my instructions are a problem, tell me straight out, but if you have an excuse, keep it to yourself."

"Yes, Cletus." Karen actually smiled, which confused the shit out of Pete.

"Now get your fanny off my porch," I told her. "Bring Pete around tomorrow when it's time to go to work and we'll find something to occupy our time -- Kate, too. We'll stick her in the pool and dunk her a few times or something. Bring street clothes to wear when you go home -- but nothing else, because you're gonna be naked once you cross the threshold. Questions?"

"No Cletus."

"Good. Get outta here. Pete, you make sure she toes the line. Hang on a minute." I went inside and scrawled my telephone number on a scrap of paper. "Call me if she gives you any shit." I waved them off.

Once they were gone, I spent two hours making sure my little empire was in one piece, then got in the Mercedes and headed out to get some things. It took a while -- adult video stores tended to be full of shit that LOOKED like bondage equipment, but wasn't. I didn't want anything decorative, I wanted functional. I had to hit three or four places to get a good start on things -- and a couple of pet stores.

About four o'clock, my cell phone rang -- I was in a store, picking over merchandise. The source number was Moffat's. "What's up, Pete?"

"Uh, Mr. Putnam, this is Kate."

"Oh. Hi, Honey. What's up?"

"Mom's acting funny and Pete's acting funny and I'm not understanding a thing that's going on, but your name keeps coming up."

"Oh." I thought about it. "Honey, I'd probably have an even harder time explaining over the phone. Your momma is going to bring you over when she goes to work tomorrow -- can you just go with the flow until then? I'll sit you down and explain it all then..."

"I dunno Mr. Putnam -- it's all kind of scary..."

"It'll all make sense -- I promise."

"If you say so. Petey..."

"Honey, you need to break yourself of that habit."

"What habit?"

"Calling your brother little kid names. It' not nice, and Pete has enough problems without having his sister making him look small in public."

"Oh." I could tell that there was an undercurrent of 'Where do you get off?' in there, but she absorbed the rebuke.

"Did your mom ask you to go shopping with her?"

"Well, no -- I think she's trying to explain something..."

"Give her the phone."

"Cletus?" Karen answered.

"Stop worrying Kate -- I'll handle things tomorrow. Take her shopping for your new clothes. Get her some similar stuff -- she'll appreciate it. I'll give you some more clothing allowance when you come over tomorrow."

"Cletus..."

"Don't worry," I told her, "you'll earn it."

"Yes, Cletus."

"Does Kate want to talk to me some more?"

"Hang on." After a moment, Karen came back. "I guess not."

"Don't confuse her -- I'll explain it all tomorrow. Let me talk to Pete."

"Yes, Cletus."

"Yes?" Pete came on the line.

"Are things under control?"

"Well, Kate's a little grumpy. Mom's been trying to talk around things..."

"She's to stop. I will handle Kate tomorrow. I told Kate to stop calling you Petey -- if she doesn't at least make an effort, I'll want to know about it tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Put your momma back on."

"Yes, Cletus?" Karen responded.

"I called Kate down for referring to Pete as 'Petey.' You back me up. I don't have to tell you what will happen if Pete tells me you went limp on this -- I'm looking at paddles as we speak."

"Yes Cletus!"

"See you tomorrow."

Needless to say, the Cantrells -- that's Jean's brood, did I mention that? -- stayed away. I wasn't terribly worried; I had my hands full, and I knew that Jean was going to be uptight after having been caught peeking.

Thursday, I busied myself with this and that, collecting a few things in the cellar and making like a handyman after going over a deal one of my brokers sent me. This guy was new and apparently thought I was an idiot, since the numbers clearly didn't work. I called him up and thanked him for thinking of me, then poked holes in the deal until it looked like aged Swiss cheese; he got the point.

Still no Cantrells. Michael was home and I caught him walking the floors at his house a couple of times and looking out the window, but he didn't come over. I figured that I should gather some intelligence, so I went over and hammered on the door about two o'clock, knowing that only Michael was home. "What's up, Sport?"

"Mama's on the rag again," he related, watching me to see if I'd rebuke him, "probably because of what you did to Mrs. Moffat. Or maybe because you caught her peeking." He smiled slyly.

"I caught YOU, too!" I laughed, "but you're welcome to watch. In fact, I don't have to tell you what this does for your chances of getting pussy off Mrs. Moffat, do I?"

"Nope!" Michael grinned from ear to ear.

"How long will this one last, do you figure?" I asked.

"I don't know," Michael mused. "Mom's pretty agitated. She spent an hour and a half in the bathroom yesterday."

"Can you see?" I asked. "What's her favorite method of getting herself off?"

"It's tough when Heather's around," Michael replied, confirming my suspicions. "I think she likes the hand sprayer best." He looked a little distant. "Sometimes I wonder if..."

I cocked my head -- this might be important... "If what?"

"If she wants me to see," he related.

"How do you do it?"

"I open the door a crack -- real quiet. She usually has the water running."

"That's REAL dangerous, Son," I chuckled, "in the unlikely event she doesn't know. But I bet you're right -- she's getting off on giving you a show." I rubbed my chin. "What do you think it's gonna take to break her? Does she need to see more sex on the patio?"

"That might help, but letting you know you've seen her -- that won't cut it," Michael opined.

"What about Heather?"

"She had that fight with Amy -- but I think she wants to make up. I don't know how into you she is, but I know Amy is."

"Do you have any idea whether Heather does girls or not?" I asked.

"Nope. Heather is secretive -- no way she would let me know something like that."

I nodded. "This thing between her and Amy has cut communications between Amy and me. If they aren't totally on the outs, Amy may try to soften Heather up with some girl-girl stuff. If that seems to be happening, stay out of sight and let Amy handle it -- you'll win by it."

"Okay."

"I'll try to arrange a show for tonight," I informed Michael. "Let me know tomorrow what effect it has."

"Okay, no sweat."

"Later."

"Later."

The Moffats showed up at five; Karen called and asked if they could come early so they could show off the wardrobe, and I said yes. In general, Karen did a good job -- a jean skirt and a tube skirt, both short enough to be pleasing. Women were undoubtedly going to tell her that a woman with her hips and butt shouldn't be in short skirts -- but I didn't give two shits what the hung-up thought about it. Karen got a couple of halters, too, showing good sense and picking up some with a sling on the inside that helped hold up her jugs while letting her nipples pop. Kate was gushy over the tube tops she'd gotten, along with a jean skirt matching her momma's and a couple of spaghetti-strap tops that were plenty thin enough to show off her jigglies even two layers deep.

Karen changed into her work uniform and got ready to go. Turning to me at the door, she said, "Cletus..." watching me with troubled eyes.

"Don't say it," I warned her. "If you do, it's a done deal -- just because you tried to forbid it. I do the forbidding around here, remember?"

"Yes, Cletus."

"Don't get that crap on the way home," I told her. "We'll have something ready here."

"Yes, Cletus."

I eyed Kate and decided not to make her mother do anything too wild yet. "Hurry back."

"Yes, Cletus. Bye!" She included the kids -- and appeared obviously reluctant -- but she got in her car and left.

"Pete, Buddy, why don't you stick yourself in the pool while I explain things to your sister."

"Sure." Pete was more than happy to get out of there.

I took Kate into the TV room. "Sit." I waved at the couch.

"What's going on?"

"Honey, have you ever seen your momma with a guy?" I asked.

"No."

"Ever wonder why?"

"Well, no."

"What about you -- do you like guys? What about girls?"

"What? Ewww! I like guys!"

"How much, Honey? A lot?"

"Uhh, Mr. Putnam..."

"Call me Cletus -- everyone else in your family does. I'm asking the question for a reason -- and it has little to do with you."

"Well, yeah, I guess. There are guys..."

"Guys you'd like to try out?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. What do you think of my pool rules?"

"They're cool. I can't understand why Heather and her mom get all paranoid. I wouldn't mind going naked at all if it meant I could swim."

"Are you worried that I have long fangs and an even longer dick?"

"Well, not terribly."

I sat back. "Given how you feel about guys and sex, why would you expect your mother to feel differently?"

Kate pondered this. "I don't know, really -- she just does, apparently."

"So she does without -- but she didn't teach you to be uptight like Mrs. Cantrell has taught Heather. Do you think that's odd?"

"Maybe," Kate said cautiously.

"Let's talk about addiction," I said, apparently changing the subject. "You understand how it is with alcoholics and junkies, right? Either they're using, or they're on the wagon?"

"Yes..." Kate clearly didn't understand yet.

"For some people, sex is addictive," I told her. "I'm certainly addicted -- most males are. Women seem to be able to turn it off and on -- and a lot of times, it's linked to motherhood. Obviously, some girls like sex and some girls LOVE sex -- and some girls just do it because it's expected of them. But some women are addicts..."

Kate frowned. "What are you saying?"

"Your mother went cold turkey after Pete was born and your dad left -- but she's a sexoholic. And she has special needs, many of which make her a wild thing." I sighed. "Thanks to me, she's fallen of the wagon."

"Oh." Kate sat there, blinking, while she processed this.

"It's not that simple, I'm sure, Honey, but that's the way it is. It's probably why your daddy left her -- it takes a special kind of person to understand where her head is at. You see, she wants to be owned."

"Owned?"

"Owned." I nodded. "She wants to do wild shit -- but not be responsible for her actions. She wants someone to tell her it's okay to do stuff that identifies her as a slut. So she needs a keeper -- someone to boss her around and take responsibility for her actions. Fortunately, I have some experience in this area."

"I don't believe you."

"Okay. Ask Pete. He's seen it already. Your mother and I have had sex four or five times already -- once in front of him. She got off on it -- it was kinky."

Kate squirmed in her chair. "Omigawd."

"I see you're a chip off the old block," I murmured. "Are you still a virgin?"

Her eyes flicked to mine. "Just barely."

"What have you done?"

"I've given head a couple of times."

"Are you any good?"

"I don't know."

I dropped it. "I give your mother a lot of credit; she went cold turkey so you kids would have a decent life growing up, instead of turning tricks out of a trailer or something, or living with a series of abusive guys. That took tremendous fortitude on her part. It's over, though; she's going to go through a wild period now. You need to understand this."

"What's going to happen?"

"I'm going to moderate things -- although it may not appear to you that's what I'm doing. I'm going to try to limit her and protect her -- but in the process, I have to give her some of what she's been missing, or she'll go outside and go totally wild. That means she'll be doing a lot of wild shit under my supervision. You need to know that while it may look like I'm just getting my jollies at her expense, I'm really trying to keep things from going off the scale."

"Have you done this before?"

"A couple of times. I'm no expert, but I have some experience. I need to backtrack some; in order to get us past the first few hurdles, I presented this as a disease your mother has -- and it isn't. She just doesn't respond to sex in what many people consider a normal fashion. You understand bell curves, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Your momma is way over on the left. She's been pretending to be on the right end, but things have slipped -- and you know how it is when a pendulum takes off, right?"

"Yeah -- it swings all the way over..."

"Exactly. There are a number of people who consider Dominance and Submission a lifestyle; generally, the mainstream group doesn't understand and gives them crap about it, so you don't see it much -- but it's there. Your average Goth chick is looking for something on the edge -- maybe not the same thing, but they're advertizing themselves as being on the fringes, you know?"

"Sure. Uh huh." Kate nodded.

"Your mother has submitted to me. She's put herself in my hands. She obeys me -- willingly. She can leave at any time -- but she can't come back. That might seem mean, but it's something she wants, actually -- nothing that is totally free is going to seem worth it to her. Do you understand?"