Interlude

"It is so boring back home," said Ana, again. "No one is prepared to have a little fun."

I caught my daughter's eye and looked to the ceiling, we'd spent the last two days listening to Ana moaning about the state of her existence. According to her she wanted a little excitement in her life but no one was prepared to offer her the chance to live a little. All of her now ex-husbands had been boring, straight-laced and mundane without one iota of get up and go between them, to hear her talk even sex had become a chore.

"Remember when we used to do those stupid little dares. Hell they were more fun than I'm getting now," she continued her rant.

We were sitting in the kitchen having a coffee before we went shopping. Helen had called last night to let us know that she'd be picking up the costumes for tomorrow's dare and though I'd given her our sizes I'd have liked to be going with her but that wasn't possible with Ana here. It was going to be enough of a problem getting time away from her tomorrow as it was.

"Wouldn't it be fun to be young and play those sort of games again?" asked Ana, waving her arms around.

I froze as I was, the cup of steaming coffee inches from my lips and stared straight ahead, wide-eyed.

I couldn't!

My mind wouldn't let go of the idea. The thought of having Ana join in the games Kirsty and I were playing jumped up and down in front of my eyes, waving a huge flag to attract my attention. It was tempting, very tempting, and as I shook off the paralysis I looked across the table to Kirsty. I waited a moment until I was sure that I had her attention then I raised an eyebrow questioningly, hoping that she would understand what I was asking with the gesture.

She looked back puzzled, a frown disturbing the smoothness of her forehead so I glanced at Ana and back to her before mouthing the word, 'Sunday.'

Kirsty glanced at Ana and then her eyes went huge as realisation of what I was asking dawned on her. The smirk that crossed the young madam's face was all the answer I needed, she thought it was a good idea, or maybe it was the chance to put her Aunt in her place that appealed.

I placed the coffee cup back on the table and waited for Ana to run down. "Have you ever considered getting together with a group of your friends," I began cautiously, "you know, your closest girlfriends and then you could then have a go at playing games like that?"

When I asked the question I knew I was fishing and that I was just dangling the bait out there and waiting for a nibble before I struck.

I caught the expression on Kirsty's face as I asked the question and had to try very hard not to giggle. Considering the fact she hadn't wanted Kevin to meet Ana at all, she seemed to be enjoying the idea of getting her Aunt to join in with us when we carried out his dare, she really did have a wicked streak, I wonder where she got that from?

Ana shook her head, "I can't say that I have," she snorted derisively. "I doubt if any of them would consider it a good idea if I proposed it. They're nearly as bad as the men I know, so set in their ways and scared of upsetting the neighbours. You have no idea what it's like out there, if anyone thinks you're doing anything even the slightest bit risqué the gossips will rip you to shreds."

"You don't have to play in your own backyard," I said, shaking my head. "Weren't you the one that told me that you'd enjoyed running up and down that hotel corridor when you went to L.A...

Kirsty frowned and I added, "Topless," for her benefit.

Kirsty snorted in amusement and Ana gave her a quelling look; that revelation had been a long time ago and I'd never told Kirsty about it.

"That was three husbands ago and it wasn't for him that I did it," she declared and then smiled, "but you're right. It was fun. I got a hell of a buzz from doing it and the lucky bugger benefited from it that night, though he never knew why he'd got so lucky."

"So what's to stop you doing that sort of thing again?" asked Kirsty innocently.

Ana turned to look at my daughter and became serious, "Nothing, I suppose," she said and then sighed. "It just doesn't seem like it would be as much fun if you do it by yourself. I don't think it would be that much fun if a friend was setting the challenge," she said, "or a sister," she added giving me a smile.

Kirsty cocked her head to one side before answering, "So if I set a dare it wouldn't be any good?"

"Oh, I'm sure it would be fun but, well, you're another girl and that doesn't give you the buzz that having a man set the challenge does." Ana smiled. "You'll find out about that one day," she said condescendingly.