Chapter 3

Three days later I became the reluctant temporary step parent of my neighbor's kids. For most of my adult life, I have not been burdened with family responsibilities. Orphaned at nine and raised thereafter by an already aging grandmother, I never experienced what one might describe as a contemporary parent. Undoubtedly, my youthful independence contributed to an unrealistic idea of what marriage was supposed to be, and to my divorce three years hence when it wasn't that way at all.

"Maybe we should have a meeting and just figure out what it is you expect of me, and what I can expect from you two," I said to them on the morning of the first day. They had been up early to see their mother off to her trip to Europe, but then returned to their beds, as kids do today, I guess, because "nobody in their right mind gets up before seven thirty, do they?"

It was nearly noon and with great effort, they had "struggle" across the street to my house, as if they were required to endure and overcome horrendous climate and meteorological disasters. By that time, I had bicycled twenty miles, ran five more and swam fifty laps in my pool before showering and then fixing a modest breakfast. Just because I don't have anything that I need to do all day doesn't mean that I do not do anything at all. This is my morning routine three mornings each week. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, weather permitting, I play eighteen holes of golf.

I considered voicing a mild concern about sleeping away youth and opportunity, but decided that would be a less than positive way to begin this adventure. "Good morning. It's nice to see your shining faces. We need to have a discussion about what is going to be happening while your mom is gone. What do you kids do all day since there isn't school yet?"

They responded as I expected. There were no scheduled activities. Joan did have some household responsibilities, and John mowed the yard once a week and they both had to do their own laundry periodically, but beyond those tasks, their days were wide open to anything and everything that might come along. For most things, they didn't need me to chauffeur them anywhere--it was just easier, and more comfortable for them to walk. We agreed that they could eat breakfast at my house if they so desired, have lunch wherever they found it and return for dinner at my house at an agreed upon time. They also felt that, with mom gone, it would be best if I stayed in town and was available to take phone calls should they need to reach me in an emergency. I also insisted that they would sleep at my house, and that decision would not be open for discussion.

Everything went great the first few days. I did my thing in the morning, they slept until who knows when and were typically up and gone by the time I returned from my workout or golf. It wasn't until the fourth day that Mother Nature decided to interject herself into the picture. Shortly before noon, the skies opened and the clouds emptied their contents on our city. Rain it did! On and on, all afternoon, the storm persisted with heavy rain and strong winds. I suggested that they pick out a movie to watch from my collection of thirty or so years.

"Fast Times at Ridgemont High", a teens coming of age movie from the '80s that was the first enduring film role for many of today's stars including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sean Penn, Phoebe Cates, Anthony Edwards and Nicolas Cage. It is a Southern California classic that will never win any awards or honors other than from the millions of boys who fantasize as Judge Reinhold watches from the bathroom window as Phoebe drops her top at the backyard pool.

The kids selected that movie and since I had not viewed it for years, I decided I would join them in watching it as well. As hard as it was raining outside, there was no need to do anything that couldn't wait until better weather. The movie itself was humorous both for the plot line as well as how well it parodied life as a teen in Southern California thirty years ago. I'll admit that I laughed and enjoyed it, especially at the irreverence of the students in school, and at the serious pursuit of sex by some of them. It wasn't too far into the film that I realized that my two young charges were thoroughly engrossed in it, reacting to the tender parts and becoming more animated to the references to sex. John had made several comments about how pretty Phoebe Cates is, or more accurately, how "hot" she is, and that caused Joan to respond.

"Why do you think she's so hot?"

"Just look at her. She's tall, slender, has a gorgeous face and a great body," John responded, in a tone that conveyed that he considered his sister's question absurd.

As the pool scene began, I saw that John was beginning to squirm around in his seat. It was pretty easy to see that his shorts were tenting, watching the girls in their bikinis swimming around in the pool. He was pretty uncomfortable sitting three feet from his sister and sporting an erection that didn't want to go away. I paused the movie, just before the critical scene with Phoebe, and asked John if he would be kind enough to get a can of soda for me from the kitchen refrigerator, since he was only a few steps away. This required him to walk in front of his sister, awkwardly, trying his best to hide the tent and failing miserably at doing that.

"John, what is the matter with you. You are walking all weird. What's the matter with ... Do you have an... ?" Joan stopped mid-sentence when she figured out what it was that she was seeing.

"Geez, Joan, can't you give a guy a break once in a while?" was the only thing he could think of to say. John returned quickly with sodas for all of us and slumped down in his chair.

Joan continued, although I'm not sure if she was offended, puzzled, or simply teasing her brother. "I can't believe that happened watching a movie."

About that time, I restarted the presentation and within minutes, Phoebe emerges from the pool in her red bikini, takes a few steps towards the house and removes her top, baring her beautiful breasts. It is a classic scene among teen movies of that era for obvious reasons, and it had exactly the same effect on fifteen year old John Larson.

"Oh my God, she is beautiful," he moaned.

"John!"

John was having a hard time even speaking, so I came to his defense. "Joan, you have to admit that she is a very beautiful girl, and that it is a pretty sexy thing to do. I think it is perfectly natural to expect that it would have that kind of effect on your brother. It's a little different scenario than the textbook sex-ed that you had in school about becoming an adult."

"Well, yeah, but I didn't think it would bother him like this. He can't even sit still!"

"Joanie, my dear, you need to understand the power and impact that the image of a female body has on a man. Whether you want to admit it or not, you are both becoming adults, at least in your bodies, and your actions toward the opposite sex can make a difference. Young men of your brother's age have hormones that race around almost uncontrollably and need very little to get really going."

"Well, you'd think he'd never seen a girl's breasts before! And does he have to do that sitting right next to me?"

I couldn't tell if she was angry or embarrassed or what. "Maybe he hasn't. Even for someone my age, teen age girls can have a tremendous effect. You have no idea how attractive you can be."

"Yeah, right! That's me, Miss Movie Star in a red bikini," she responded sarcastically, not wanting to admit to us or to herself that she might be the slightest bit attractive in her own right.

Finally John spoke up again. "You're right, Joanie, I don't think you're built anything like she is. Someday, maybe you will have boobs too, but there's not a guy in this world that wouldn't think that she is hot, believe me."

That wasn't the response that Joan wanted to hear. Maybe she was embarrassed by her brother's erection, but she certainly didn't want to have someone tell her that she was not sexy enough to get a reaction from a boy.

I could see the expression on her face that she was trying to decide how to react. Obviously hurt by the implication, Joan stood up and left the room without saying a word. I didn't know if she had gone to her room to pout, or if she was mad at her brother for what he said, or if she was simply embarrassed that she had seen him get an erection from watching a movie. John was concentrating more on the movie than on his conversation with his sister and thus he missed out completely on her reaction to his last comment.

A good ten minutes passed with just the two of us in the room watching the movie. Joan was absent, John was oblivious to that, and I felt badly that our pretend family activity had apparently failed. The movie had progressed away from swimming pool and bikini scenes and had actually morphed into a semi-serious issue between the characters. Neither one of us noticed when Joan reentered the room.

Walking slowly, mimicking the actions of Phoebe Cates on the screen, Joan moved to stand directly in front of us. She had changed from her shorts and tee shirt and now wore a very brief white two piece swimsuit.

Reaching behind her back, she unclasped the strap while asking in as sexy a voice as she could muster, "Don't you think I have a sexy body too?" She stood, bare chested, breasts exposed, five feet in front of her brother.

"Jeez, Joan, what are you doing?" John reacted in complete surprise.

"You said I wasn't sexy enough to get anybody excited. I might not have her body yet, but am I that bad?"

Standing in front of us was a fourteen year old girl, possibly five feet five inches tall and certainly no more than one hundred five pounds, with a very cute face. Her chestnut colored hair was cut in such a way that it reminded me of the old "flip" style from the seventies, coming just to the tops of her shoulders. Her brother had been wrong about her being flat chested. Staring straight out at us were two of the perkiest breasts that I had seen in years. No bigger than half an apple, or possibly what some people refer to as "cupcake" size, her breasts actually turned up on the ends. Her nipples and the colored part around them were a bright red, just over an inch in total size and quite appropriate for her developing breasts. Even I let out a groan.

Joan looked down at her brother who was squirming uncomfortably in his seat. She could see his shorts tenting again. Just to make sure, she offered, "Mine are all real, John. Would you like to feel them?" She bent forward, lowering her chest to his eye level.

Without thinking about just whose breasts he had just been offered, he reached forward with both hands and lightly cupped her tiny breasts.

"Wow, your nipples are really hard. Are they always this way?"

"No, just when I stand in front of my brother half naked." Joan squirmed a little as he massaged her breasts. "So, do you like them?"

"God yes, I like them. They are beautiful."

"Did they make you hard again?"