ART writes--
Elaine and I had never been especially worried about Melly's
behavior with Adam. While she had always been erotically forward
and uninhibited, Adam had always seemed somewhat dense about his
own sexuality, as if he just didn't get it. Typical pre-pubescent
boy, no danger there.
But then they did become pubescent, shortly after they both became
teen-agers. It was at the lake that we saw the beginning of the
end of innocence for them.
We were on the dock, it was a nice warm Saturday so most of our
regular friends were also there, picnicking and sunbathing. Doug
was off in the rowboat, flirting with Marcia Evans. Elaine and I
were being social, lying on towels in the middle of the crowd and
the kids were over on the other side of the dock, being by
themselves.
Quite by themselves. Elaine nudged me, "Look, what is Adam doing?"
I looked. Melly was sitting on a towel and Adam was lying on the
dock beside her, his head resting on her thigh. That seemed
innocent enough, until Adam turned his head.
"Isn't he smelling her crotch?" Elaine asked.
"Naw, he's only...hmmm...he does seem to be enjoying himself. And
we know that his sense of smell is better than ours..."
Melly put her hands on his head, snuggled his nose in a little
closer to her lap. It looked like quite the tender moment. Then
he rolled over onto his side and pulled his leg up.
"I think our little boy has got a hard-on," Elaine whispered,
trying not to giggle.
Melly however, did giggle. Adam seemed flustered about something,
lying there, unable to move without everyone seeing his you-know-
what. Melly was sitting up, looking down on him trapped there.
Then she laid her upper body down over on him and took as much of
him in her embrace as she could, her little new bud of a breast
ending up in his mouth. They stayed that way a while. If they
weren't in love, nobody ever was.
It was a strange feeling, being parents of children on the brink
of eroticism, for what we had seen was so naughty and yet so holy
that we were incapable of judging it as good or bad.
When Adam had to crawl across the dock on his belly to get into
the water to hide his hard-on, we couldn't help snickering, hoping
they didn't hear us.
Back at the house, they spent a lot of time together in his or her
room. Melly would read comic books to him, or Stephen King. Or
they would play music. Or it would get very quiet. We began to
become suspicious about HOW QUIET about then.
That summer Melly was suddenly no longer a little girl. She was
sporting those cute little new-budded breasts and wider hips and
was becoming very sexy. She'd always been a beautiful child and
now was becoming a heartbreakingly beautiful young woman, as well
as a seriously tempting young morsel to horny males. I certainly
enjoyed looking at her and it was obvious that Adam did too.
Hell, everybody enjoyed looking at her, that kind of beauty is a
universal pleasure to see, like a thoroughbred or a flower.
In his own special way, Adam was also as perfect a thing of beauty
as Melly. And not just to us because we knew him, or Melly who
would probably have loved him no matter what he looked like; except
for the furry coat, his body was proportioned like a statue of some
Greek god. Somehow they even LOOKED like a couple who belonged
together.
But they had a problem: since they were little kids, Adam and
Melly had more or less innocently loved each other as brother and
sister, which had been appreciated by everyone, even Doug. But
all the while Doug had also adamantly let them know that he would
consider any actual romance between them as forbidden as incest
between real brothers and sisters.
Elaine and I had also discouraged any excessively erotic play when
they were younger--invariably on Melly's part--but we had never been
as negative about their potential relationship as Doug. Elaine
still didn't believe in it, but was open to it if that was what
they both wanted. Me, I was convinced that everything in all of
this had been preordained, that it was all a set-up, though I
could not know by whom or for what. None of this was just by
chance and certainly not that relationship between those two
kids. I was just there to help, not interfere.
So we had often talked with the kids about love and sex and what
the adult future could have in store for them when they grew up.
Also about the problems a sasquatch-human couple could expect,
although not as negatively as Doug had. But it was always
theoretic; we had never specifically addressed the problem of WHEN
those two were ready for sex with each other. And now when seemed
to have arrived.
The truth is, WE weren't ready for it: we had disagreed with Doug
about being so absolutely against their sexuality, but did not
really know what to say about it ourselves when the time came.
Maybe we didn't even want to think about it. But when they got
quiet upstairs, that's all we could think about.
Maybe it sounds weak of us, but both Elaine and I had grown up
sexually liberated, 90's-00's you know, and we had by default
encouraged the kids to do the same. Of course, we'd warned them
about the dangers of pregnancy and diseases like herpes and AIDS,
suggested safe sex, preached a doctrine of honesty in any loving
relationship. But they also knew that none of those medical
problems applied to them as a couple: a sasquatch could neither
infect nor impregnate a human. So it was hard to suddenly say--
no wait, DON'T be liberated, NOT YOU TWO!
We could not honestly generate any prejudice against a sasquatch-
human relationship, once they were adults, because we'd raised
Adam to be human and that's how we thought of him. But since we
were actually taking care of Melly for Doug, we did have a certain
responsibility to protect his concerns--and he was quite against
any such development.
And they were still too young anyway, so we had to do something.
Elaine simply asked Melly: "We need to know, are you and Adam
having sex?"
Melly took that in stride, amused, not offended at all. She even
laughed. "Not copulating yet, if that's what you mean," she told
her, then with a kind of teasing smile, "had you worried?"
"Well, you two are getting extremely loving, puberty has set in...
and youthful passions can be heavy stuff."
"Oh, I guess, but mostly it's kinda fun. We're just playing
around, not actually doing it. We're still too young."
"Yes, you are," Elaine confirmed.
"Besides, real sex would be kinda scary, I think--especially with
Addy's big...uh, well, never mind."
Melly shut up, but rolled her eyes, actually managed to look shy
and innocent. Elaine couldn't help raising a questioning eyebrow.
"You know," Melly admitted, "his BIG THING. Addy's kind of sensitive
about it. But now, it's my turn to ask you an embarrassing question."
"Sure."
"What if we DO...do it? Not right now, but...someday? Is that
okay with you and Art?"
"Oh God, Melly, I...I don't even know! Can you understand that?"
"Sure I can. I know Dad would hemorrhage--and I can understand
that too. It's just that..."
Suddenly Melly's cocky self-assured voice began to crack and
tears escaped her eyes, surprising Elaine.
"...it's just that I love Addy so much that I want to..." Melly
suddenly started sobbing. "...I mean, is it NORMAL to DESIRE a
boy so much as I do? I mean, even if he WAS just a boy? Am I some
kind of...?"
What could Elaine say? She took Melly in her arms and comforted
her and said, "Oh Melly, nobody knows what normal is."
Doug was restless. He drank alcohol every day, smoked some pot,
although we never saw him get drunk in the time he stayed with us.
He was controlling himself for Melly's sake. But we could see that
he was yearning to get away from us all for awhile--and especially
Melly. They had arguments, but those were also quite controlled
since they were guests in our home.
The arguments were usually about her behavior with Adam. One day
he came to me with his problem.
"Look Art, I'm concerned about Melly and Adam. I think those two
are just about to get pornographic. I'm not sure I should let her
stay here in the same house with him."
"Well, they are getting kind of horny all right," I admitted, "but
what do you want to do about it--forbid them each other? You must
know how that would work out."
"Melly would go nuclear, I know--like she does whenever I bring it
up. Shit, I'm losing it as a responsible father..."
"Hey, we care for Melly as if she was ours too, you know. And
besides, she's an intelligent girl who doesn't do what she doesn't
want to. Trust her."
"Well, that's the problem--what she wants to do. Melly is
absolutely goofy about Adam, she'd do anything for him...even sex,
I know it. All he'd have to do is ask."
"I don't think asking her for sex has even occurred to Adam yet--
and I doubt that he'd ever do so while they are both so young.
Those two take care of each other, not advantage of."
"Yeah, well, I can't talk to Melly about it--she wouldn't listen
when I told her that she couldn't really marry Addy when she grows
up. In retrospect, that used to be cute-- now she says they'll
just be MATES when they're old enough and go wild in the forest.
Scares me, I think she means it."
"Well, you've got to admit they do have a special relationship.
Who knows?"
Doug gave me a sharp look. "You know I don't believe that mating
or marrying with a squatch would be socially or morally acceptable
in any way!"
"I wouldn't start worrying about that now," I said, "they're not
even in high school yet. But in the end it's going to have to be
up to themselves, as consenting adults of course, isn't it?"
Doug only shrugged, shook his head. He'd always been more or less
against that eventuality, while Sally had been extremely tolerant
of the young lovers. Sally had mellowed Doug's attitude up to now,
but now she was gone and he was brooding about a lot of things.
"You know Doug, when younger you were the staunchest supporter and
defender of Adam's human-ness. Why do you deny it now?"
"In principle I do still feel that Adam is human, mentally and
culturally at least, even though his body is obviously not. But
principles are fine in theory, in reality...wanting a Sasquatch
to fuck my daughter? What do you expect?"
Finally, Doug decided to quit his job and find something new.
Something far away, exotic, challenging, a new life. He was
looking for jobs on the Internet. He found a position for a
computer systems expert in Jakarta, Indonesia, applied for it, got
it and within a month was on his way around the world to get away
from Sally's ghost. After some careful deliberation, Doug agreed
that Melly would stay with us until he got established, then he
would send for her.
"Look, this isn't good-bye forever," he said, "I'm not planning on
living the rest of my life as an ex-pat in a place like Jakarta--
I don't want to do that to Melly. This is an adventure, a shock
to the system to get me up again. So I'm not selling the house,
not yet anyway. I figure we'll be back in a year or so."
He stayed with us for two weeks before leaving, so that he could
rent his house out, tie up loose ends between jobs. We moved
most of their possessions over to us, put some in the attic, some
in the barn. Melly already had her own room since she'd stayed
with us so often, Doug had one of the guest rooms.
A week before Doug was scheduled to take off for Indonesia, we all
had dinner together and afterward we gathered in the living room
for a cozy evening, enjoying a blazing fireplace, popcorn and hot
apple cider.
The kids were downstairs with us for a change, playing with
Potatochip by the fire, ostensibly both petting the dog, their
hands brushing together every so often. Innocent love, but I
noticed that Doug was watching them intently.
Then Elaine said, "Doug, you wanted to talk to the kids about sex
before you left the country, didn't you?"
It was an attention getter. The kids looked up at Elaine, then
over at Doug. Adam looked defensive, Melly indignant. Doug gave
Elaine a nasty look. I know he'd been planning a man-to-man talk
with Adam, not a family forum.
"Uh...not now, Elaine..." Doug tried to back out of it, "I'd
rather talk to them in private."
"No, let's talk it out here and now, Dad," Melly insisted, "we two
don't get anywhere talking it out between ourselves!" She
obviously knew what was on Doug's mind and was ready to hash it
out here and now. "Dad thinks I'm going to screw Addy the minute
he leaves the country."
Adam cowered down, mortified, "Jeez, Mel!"
"Well, aren't you?" Doug challenged her.
"Not planning to!" she shouted at him, a deliberately ambiguous
answer. This was evidently something they had argued about before.
"Not yet anyway, I'm too young right now. And when I'm older, it
will be my own moral decision, not yours, all right?"
Doug looked over at us, shrugged, "Rebellious youth," he said, as
if excusing that Melly's rude behavior was spoiling the sacred
coziness of the evening, "I used to be like that."
"Yeah, you did, Dad," Melly challenged him, "you were cool then.
Whatever happened to you?"
"I became the father of a wanton slut." Doug said it like a joke.
For the sake of peace, Melly shrugged, calmed down, kidded back,
"Hey, I ain't no slut--just wantin'."
The conversation might have ended there if Elaine hadn't pushed
it, "Doug has a right to be worried, Melly, you are extremely
erotic with Addy, we all know that. Can't you reassure him that
you won't do something rash?"
Adam looked as if he was going to die of embarrassment, certainly
not saying much. But Melly had no shame, the logical result of
being raised by free-thinking parents like Doug and Sally Wielson:
what you free is what you get.
"Okay, maybe I am a little bit sexy with Addy, but so what? We're
almost teen-agers and we have the right to our own innermost
feelings, just as you've all had in your day. After all, we're
not COPULATING or anything!"
"Maybe you two aren't actually copulating YET," Doug attacked, "but
you're certainly warming up to it. And you haven't been especially
discreet about it: we've all seen Melly riding naked on Adam's
back and she gets to grinding until he gets a goddamn wet spot
there afterwards!"
"Gol, Dad, you're going to embarrass Addy!" Herself totally
unabashed, or seeming to be.
Doug continued his accusations, "And just yesterday-- you and Adam
were taking a shower together!"
"I was just shampooing Addy's back, no big deal."
"And then I suppose, he soaped up your front?"
Melly shrugged, "Seemed only fair...hey, Dad, aren't you gonna ask
if I gave him a blow job?"
Adam moaned, "Jeez, Mel!" Melly was still unashamed, now Adam
looked as if he wanted to melt into the floor.
"I don't want to know," Doug said, rolling his eyes up, "the point
is that you two spend a lot of time together naked! I think it's
obvious that you ARE about to start experimenting with sex."
"Gol, Dad, you've been going on about this for YEARS now and it
still hasn't happened! And anyway, we've been going to Naked Lake
all our lives--and you have too. Up to now nudity has always been
considered natural and innocent--you really think we'll suddenly
flip out about it?"
Melly was just getting up to speed: "And you keep assuming that we
really WANT to get laid! I don't want to have sex with ANY guy
right now--yuk no! (sorry, Addy) Gol, I'm not even in high school
yet! Maybe when I'm 16-- I think I'd like to do it then --that's
even the LEGAL AGE, you know. But not yet, all right?"
Doug sighed, turned to Adam, "What do YOU say, Addy? Are you so
innocent as well?"
Adam fidgeted, he obviously did not want to be involved in this
conversation at all, but finally he said "Jeez, what makes this
everybody's business? I think this is all kind of embarrassing!"
"I'm sure it is, Addy," Elaine sympathized, "but we're all
involved here. If you want Melly to stay with us as much as we do,
you're going to have to help us convince Doug that his daughter is
in good hands."
"Yeah, all right," he said reluctantly, "but Jeez, I'm just barely
a teen-ager, what am I supposed to know about...sex? Do you think
I have a plan? Or that Melly and I have REALLY decided to...to have
sex when you leave? Or that I'm that even sure if Melly will EVER
really WANT to have sex with...with a squatch like me?"
Melly looked at Adam as if surprised. They had evidently never
seriously discussed this. She ruffled his hair. "Hey, I LOVE that
you're a squatch, you know that."
Adam shrugged, insecure, "Yeah sure, Big Twin Brother..."
Melly nudged up against Adam, "Well sailor, look me up when I'm
16."
"Don't even JOKE about that, you little bitch!" Doug snapped.
Elaine interfered, "That was a pretty nasty reaction to such an
innocent flirt, Doug."
"I want her to take this seriously, not to make a joke of it."
"Dad, I AM taking it seriously. Look, I understand that you don't
want me screwing guys when I'm 13--totally reasonable, I agree,
fine, you're being a good Dad. But that's not really what this is
all about!"
Melly addressed us all, "Dad's not worried about me being too
YOUNG, he's just worried that I would EVER be lovers with Addy!"
Doug shrugged and nodded righteously, "Okay, that's true. I don't
think that it should happen. They're not even the same species...
it's not right."
This was old news, we all knew his arguments: Adam would be too
big, too heavy, too strong, too weird, the species mismatch, etc.
"You're being a racist pig, Dad!" Melly accused him.
"No, I'm not. I'm being a responsible father..."
"Hah! The truth is that you just won't have your daughter's sweet
lily-white pussy SOILED by a dirty squatch!"
"Melody Anne!" And on they argued.
I looked at Adam, who was hanging his head in shame for being the
dirty squatch causing all the trouble. It didn't help that Melly
was becoming more belligerent in her accusations of her father and
that everyone was getting excited and shouting.
"...and Dad has tried to convince me that sex with Addy would be
SODOMY!"
Elaine couldn't help it, she bristled at that and had to join in.
"Sodomy? Is that SO, Doug?"
Doug hesitated before her scorn, then nodded, shrugged, "What else
could you call it?"
I couldn't hold back either, "Sodomy is with animals. You're
saying that Adam is just an animal?"
"Aw come on folks, admit the Truth: Adam's not just a normal human
boy! If anything, he's Superhuman-- it could just as well be US
who are the animals. Sodomy is any unnatural sex, like... like
homosexuality."
Elaine was shaking her head, "Where have you been living, the 19th
Century? You know that Homosexuality isn't illegal anymore."
"I'm not talking about legality, I'm talking about MORALITY!"
"Holy shit, Doug," I erupted, "after all your life being an outlaw
radical free-thinker you're going to cop out and use that kind of
feeble rhetoric? WHOSE morality, Society's? Or just Your Private
Version?"
"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Adam's voice was by far the most powerful in
that room and when a sasquatch says shut up, everybody does.
"How about OUR morality?" Adam spoke up, eloquent at last, "Melly
already said it: when we're older, it'll be our own moral decision,
not yours. And now I'll say it: we are just as moral as you are,
Doug. Trust us."
"Trust you to do what?" Doug challenged, "I'd like a definition."
Adam hesitated, always careful with words and promises.
Doug made his move: "Will you promise not to have sex with Melly?"
"No, Addy! Don't promise that!" Melly cried out in panic.
If she hadn’t Elaine and I would have, we all knew what such a
worded promise meant: forever.
But Adam actually laughed, ahead of us all. "No, no, that's too
ambiguous and all-inclusive. You taught me not to make stupid
promises, Doug: think like a lawyer, remember?"
"Well then?"
"I could promise... my chastity, I guess... while Melly is here
waiting for you to send for her."
"Unless he takes too long to send for me," Melly stipulated, "like
a year or something....no, wait--six months!" She too could think
like a lawyer.
"Holy shit, that's practically a promise that you two WILL COPULATE
in six months!" Doug protested.
"You're the one who wanted definitions, Dad!"
"And you did try to trick Adam into promising NEVER, didn't you?"
Elaine pointed out to Doug, with some umbrage.
"Why don't you just trust them both, Doug," I asked, "WITHOUT some
soul-binding Satanic Contract that we all might regret later on
anyway? We all know how dangerous Adam's promises are."
But Adam spoke out anyway: "I won't do anything to harm Melly,
Doug, I can promise you that, without condition or limitation."
"My hero," Melly said and touched him. He took her hand and
there they were, a beautiful young couple against the world. My
eyes misted over at seeing them like that. How could Doug possibly
be against them?
Doug seemed to see that too, sighed and sank back into the sofa.
"Yeah, okay. Maybe you're all right and I'm just an unreasonable
old fart. So--let's just trust them not to hurt each other."
Melly got up from beside Adam and went over to her father and
kissed him on the mouth. It was a nice kiss, perhaps the first in
a while because Doug was obviously surprised and touched by it,
now it was his eyes misting over.
"Maybe I'm just jealous that you could love any guy more than
Daddy," he said, hugging her around the hips.
"I don't, you old fart," she said.
Doug laughed his good old laugh and for a moment he was that free
thinking wild and crazy guy we had known and loved, before Sally's
death had changed him. He had been hard to take since then, but
maybe he actually could get better.
After all the boiling passions and ranting and raving, that nice
coziness returned to the room and for a moment there was only the
sound of the crackling fireplace and Potatochip's tail thump thump
thumping on the floor again.
Finally Doug said, "Well, I'd better get back to my almost dead
house and finish packing that container, it's sailing off to
Indonesia this weekend."
"Oh and I have to go to Seattle tomorrow," Melly said, "so I
can't help. Sorry, Dad."
"I could come by and give you a hand after my last class
tomorrow," I offered.
"Naw, that's okay, there's not so much left now. Although, there
IS Melly's piano--which weighs 500 pounds--Adam, you said you
could give me a hand with that?"
"Sure, Doug, be glad to." All was forgiven, we were all friends
again.
"One hand is all it will take Addy to lift a measly little 500
pounds!" Melly said, with obvious pride and love simply shining
out of her eyes.
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