Chapter 3

Friday night was always family night in our house. I know lots of my friends saw Friday as date night, but for us Friday was sitting down around the table for a more formal meal. The work and school weeks were over and everything moved at a more leisurely pace. Later, we would usually play a board game, or my current favorite, cutthroat spades.

I was in the kitchen, wearing an apron to protect my shirt and tie, helping Mom by cleaning up behind her, starting in on the washing the pots while she took the roast out of oven and set it to rest. "Mom, what do you think of Lilly?"

"Lilly?" Mom asked. "You mean Mrs. O'Brian?"

"Yes. She asked ... I mean, we thought it was silly for me to stay so formal with her."

"And how did you feel about that?" Mom asked.

I felt my face grow red. "I still feel a little awkward, but it's more awkward calling the person you're kissing 'Mrs. O'Brian.'"

Mom smiled. "I like her, David. I liked her when she was your teacher years ago, and if she hasn't changed too much, I'm sure that she is still a very nice person."

In Mom's scale of humanity, "very nice person" rated just below Albert Schweitzer and Gandhi, and on par with firemen who rescued kittens from trees. "By the way," she continued in an offhand way, "Do you know why she and her husband separated?"

I didn't. It embarrassed me that I had not even thought to ask this question. I resolved to find out before I let her get me alone again. I finished with pots, hung the dishtowel, and kissed Mom on the way out to the living room.

Dad caught me with his eyes as I sat down. "David, I am looking forward to tonight for many reasons, but I do have a few last-minute questions and a couple of words of a advice."

I nodded. Dad wasn't what you'd call real talkative, but it was always worth listening to him.

"David, why does Mrs. O'Brian think that she would be a good pick for you?"

"Dad, she says that she would be forever grateful."

Dad sighed. "Son, there are few things in this universe that have as short a half-life as gratitude, and even fewer have as toxic a residue." He shook his head. "I'm not impressed if someone says they are grateful for something you just did; I want to know if they live a life of gratitude. Are they grateful for life? Are they grateful for the people around them? Or are they 'takers' who are never satisfied?"

I nodded. I really didn't know how to respond. Dad had gotten all philosophical on me.

"Here is my advice, Son. You have to push her. Push her to give up more than she thinks she's ready to give, so that she knows that you are in charge, not her. Quite frankly, take all three of her holes tonight." I gaped. I know I was gaping. "And screw her daughter that wants to be taken as a concubine. She can't coast in on her mother's actions."

"And lastly," Dad smiled slyly, "In the bedside nightstand of the guest bedroom is some personal lubricant. It's what your mother and I use. It's good."

I was sitting there with my head spinning, when the doorbell rang and I jumped. Dad chuckled and said, "Go ahead and answer it David. I'm not expecting any of my friends this early."

I dashed to the front door and, pausing to take a deep breath, opened it. On the doorstep stood three beautiful redheads. "Ladies, won't you please come in?" I asked.

"Thank you David, yes." said Mrs. O'Brian. (Lilly! I reminded myself.) She and the girls crossed the threshold. I took their wraps and led them into the living room. My mother had hurried in at the sound of the doorbell and was waiting with my Dad.

"Mom, Dad, I'm sure that you remember Mrs. Lilly O'Brian, my fourth-grade teacher. And these are her daughters, Tina," here Tina nodded her head, "And Kathy." Kathy broke into a wide smile and dropped a curtsey as though she were being presented at court.

Mom and Dad chuckled with delight at Kathy's antic. Dad stood up and took Mrs. O'Brian's hand and led her to sit next to Mom on the couch. The girls arrayed themselves on chairs. "Mrs. O'Brian, may we call you Lilly?" Dad asked. Lilly nodded, and so he went on, "We wanted you to come tonight, Lilly, because, as a family, we want to keep up with what is going in David's life. With the changes that the world has gone through in the last year, we think that family is more important the ever."

"Oh, Frank, you will go on!" interrupted my mother. "We've just been dying to meet David's new interest! And when we found out it was you, Lilly, I was doubly fascinated. When David came home with a 6.9 score, I knew that he would have to pick two concubines, but I thought that they'd be girls his own age. We're just so glad to have time to get to know each other, and that he's not making his decision at the last moment in some airport lounge or McDonald's."

I could sense that Lilly was thawing, relaxing, in the presence of my parents. I watched my Dad and noticed that he had thoroughly checked out Lilly and her daughters, and he was not disapproving.

"Can I get you something to drink, Lilly?" My Dad asked as he stood up.

Lilly hesitated. "Do you have the makings of an Old Fashioned?"

Dad smiled, "Yes, indeed. And for you, Joan?"

Mom said, "My usual, a dirty Martini, with two olives."

"David?" Dad asked me. I was surprised, but not shocked.

"I'll get myself a soft drink, thanks." I turned to Tina and Kathy. "Can I get one for you girls?" Mom nodded and I could feel Dad radiating approval. I fetched cokes from the kitchen for myself and the girls, while Dad mixed up the drinks at the little drink cart that only came out for company.

Dinner was enjoyable. My parents believed that hospitality was practically sacred, and would never make a guest uncomfortable. The O'Brians fell into the rhythm of easy courtesy and graciousness without a misstep.

After dinner I helped Mom clear the table and we stepped into the living room for coffee and dessert. After enjoying coffee and Mom's cherry pie, Dad steered the conversation to the topic of sponsors and extractions.

Coffee cups sat forgotten and growing cold on the low table between us. Kathy was in the Den, watching television while the grownups talked. Topic 'A' was how Lilly and Tina could qualify as my selections. It was like watching two card players.

"Lilly, I understand that you are proposing yourself and your daughter Tina as concubines for David."

Lilly nodded, looking determined not to be intimidated by Dad.

"And you have been offering him limited access to your charms, and, I imagine, those of your daughter as incentive for him to select you." Dad came out strong.

Lilly blushed. "He is now legally an adult, Tom." She played a face card. "He told me about how you have been spying on him. I find that sad and shameful."

Dad laughed. "What I was 'spying' on, Lilly, was my living room. That you seduced David in that room was not what the camera was there for." Her face card was countered, and now Dad played a joker.

"I'm not trying to be rude, Lilly, and I don't disapprove of your actions, but may I ask why you and your husband separated?"

Lilly's face went white. In a dangerously quiet voice she said, "Liam had a 7.0 CAP score. He was coaching a school swim meet, when the Confederacy staged an extraction. From what I've been able to piece together from the people who weren't selected, he chose four 15-year-old girls from his and another school's swimming team." She was silent for a moment and looked sadly at Kathy. "He didn't opt to have his daughters picked up."

Dad's face darkened. "Then you are well rid of him, Lilly. Being a concubine for such a man would have been a particular kind of hell. And from my contacts, his declining to retrieve two female dependents will be very strongly frowned upon by his new superiors."

Dad took a deep breath, as though to blow the topic of Lilly's former husband away. "Regardless, Lilly, David is not buying a pig in a poke." Lilly flushed red at the crude metaphor. "David is his own man, but I have recommended that he not commit either to you, nor to your daughter, unless he has had a chance to test drive the both of you."

My ears were ringing. Dad said it?

"Doesn't that seem rather crude? "Lilly struggled to keep her voice under control. "David has been a perfect gentleman in all our encounters. He seems happy to proceed at the pace we both feel comfortable with. Besides, it is his choice, not yours."

My Dad leaned back in his chair. "I don't run David's life, but I do advise him." His eyes narrowed. "What causes my concern is his taking into his household a woman with thirty more years of 'life experience.' I don't care what the Confederacy says; he hasn't matured enough to make the best decisions on such life-changing choices."

Lilly looked at me, pleading silently. "Sorry, Lilly." I said, "I am falling for you pretty hard, but I agree with my Dad. I am still a kid."

Dad leaned back. "How about this," he asked, "David takes Tina and I take you."

Lilly's face flushed red, but I could see that she hadn't anticipated the scenario. I caught the expression on Mom's face. She wasn't upset or surprised, merely curious. Dad and she must have talked about this before tonight. I saw my Mom looking up and down at Lilly's figure. Mom?

Mom spoke up. "Frank's 7.2 CAP score has meant that when he got extracted, I was not going to be his only woman. Now, Frank gets final say, but he always listens to his best friend." She smiled. "Lilly, we don't want you and the girls to be left behind. We don't want to split up you and David. We just want to talk about all our concerns and arrive at the best decision."

My Dad spoke again, "There's another aspect of this that hasn't been addressed. Lilly, how do you feel about sex with other women?"

"Well," Lilly said, looking uncomfortably at her daughter, "There were a couple of girls back in college..." She let the sentence trail off.