Chapter 40

The subtle change in Othneal's behavior towards me was apparent throughout the rest of that evening and the next day. It was a rare day off from the Polish grocery store, and I found that Othneal wanted to be around me and wanted my opinion of things on his mind. At eleven A.M. he asked me to go with him to run some errands. We hadn't walked more than a couple of blocks when he said, "You know, I've given a lot of thought to what you said last evening."

We walked a little more before he continued. "This world is being completely destroyed by oil companies, military regimes, and people so caught up in reproducing they give no thought to how they will feed their offspring. If we don't get our arms around the problem on a global level, there will be no earth left before long."

I pretended to think that over and then said, "Look around, Othneal. Every corner of Baltimore is stuffed full of people doing nothing to improve their condition. The population is divided between working night and day to keep a roof over their heads and those who wait all day for the workers to take care of them. There's no end in sight, and nobody would raise their heads above the sand to see it if there was."

Othneal took that and ran. "What if – though – what if there was a way to dial back a couple of centuries and reset the population to a level far better suited for the raw materials and food production capacity? What if we could reverse the growth of man enough to give mother earth time to take a deep breath and fix herself?"

I had an answer ready for that. "There's no magic bullet, Othneal. If we look at the problems of the world with a microscope we see hungry neighbors, angry people, and the typical obsession with whatever is popular versus whatever is possible. If you look at the world from eighty-thousand feet, we see a bomb waiting to explode and kill us all.

"There's no middle. Maybe there never was, but there darn sure isn't any now." I mingled frustration and resignation into my answer to see how far he wanted to go with this.

Othneal walked on, deep in thought. I had just about decided that the conversation was over for the day, when he spun around and said, "I have one, you know?

"I have a magic bullet. We built it ... upstairs in The Outpost. The people living there aren't like you and me. They can't see the end of their noses, but a couple of them have serious skills, and we isolated a germ, built a replication chamber, and identified an airborne mechanism to distribute it through ventilation systems.

"As I understand the capacity of the germ, it can kill the host within a few days, but infect thousands of others as the host breathes, touches things, and interacts with people while in the incubation stages.

"Joe, we have the magic bomb you said we'd need to pull off a population reduction event like the world has never seen, and do it invisibly while avoiding any contagion ourselves."

I gave him my serious-as-a-heart-attack look, put both hands on his shoulders, stared hard into his eyes, and said, "If someone really did have what you say you have, it would save the planet and maybe – maybe - save it forever..."

Othneal was literally vibrating as we walked back to the tenement. He was jubilant that I caught his vision and expanded on it. We didn't speak almost all the way back, until he said almost eerily, "You realize your family will be just as involved as everyone else, right?"

I smiled at that. "They hate Amy and me. When they were turning their backs on us. It hurt her so bad that she cried for days. If you aren't blowing smoke up my butt, they'll have the same chance everyone else has."

That opened up another avenue of conversation for us. Now that we were 'comrades' in the struggle to save mother earth, Joe wanted to be buddies. "How did you two get started? I told you about my Aunt and me."

He wanted to know so bad, that I just had to make him suffer a little longer. "Tonight, Amy and I will tell you together. I promise, but she has her version of the truth, and I have mine. Just remember that the word rape has many alternative meanings and keep an open mind."

Neither of us appeared to notice the cold air as we walked up the stairs.

Angela was waiting for me, and I needed her alone, so I took her into the shower. Once we were surrounded by steamy water falling all around us and ruining the bug that had to be planted around us, I washed Angela from head to toe, using all of my intestinal fortitude to avoid a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am. As I lathered and washed her hair, I put my mouth right up to her ear and shared the news, as well as my plans for how to tie Othneal up in knots with our incest story.

Angela loved the idea of it all, and her acting skills kicked into overdrive as we strategized the best ways to drive him up the wall. Once we agreed on our plan, it took very little time to drive Angela over the edge and into a frenzy of orgasmic delight.

In other words ... I did good!

Our story had to have all the essential elements of truth to be checkable and all the titillating factors necessary to make Othneal squeal. With that in mind, we invited him into our bedroom and let him lay across the foot of the bed while we shared our love story.

"Joe was always my big, beautiful hero," Amy sounded ten years old when she said that, and Othneal's lips were already tight.

"He was forever helping me in the bathtub, picking out clothes, and dressing me. Mom said he was always available to change my diapers and give me baths. When she fed me, she said he would hold me while she transferred me from one breast to the other.

"I don't remember any of that, but I know he was always there. If I went outside to play, Joe would tag along and be nearby in case I got afraid, needed a hug, or wanted to play. His back became my magic carpet, and he carried me everywhere.

"Mom used to say they weren't sure if I had any legs, because Joe always picked me up and took me wherever I wanted to go. By the time I was four or five, I slept in Joe's bed. Mom would put me down for the night, turn out the light, and before she got to the end of the hall, I'd be on my way to Joe's bed for a snuggle and warmth.

Her face glowed with love, even as she talked about two complete strangers as far as reality was concerned. Joe was tight as a piano wire listening to her.

"I guess I was about twelve, and Joe was still bathing me in the big bath tub in my parent's room, when he accidentally touched my little button," Angela blushed like a child, trying to say big girl words. Othneal was vibrating with desire. I wanted to kill him and forget the whole thing.

"I had gotten dirty out in the yard, and somehow gotten dirt into my panties. Mom asked Joe if he would help me get it out, and when his fingers hit that magic button, I grabbed his hand and squeezed it against myself, moving it to where it would do the most good. Joe's eyes were the size of dinner plates, as I used him like a vibrator. When the feelings washed over me, I swooned, and Joe caught me before my head went under water. It was so intense, and I didn't know what had happened. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted it to happen again, but it was bath time, and mom would be along to chase us out, so I knew I had to wait."

There was never anything between us before that day. Mom just accepted the fact that Joe was just as much my parent as she was, and often had him help me with things that boys don't do for girls. After his fingers made me jump, that day in the tub, there was no going back for me. I knew we were destined for each other, and I wanted him like a woman wants a man, not like a child wants her big brother to look after her.