Elly, Episode 6

 [Warning: this episode introduces very adult themes, including incest. Do not read if you are likely to be offended by this material.]

Helen picked Tommy up at the airport with Elly.  Tommy looked Elly over with interest; she had slimmed down, and really did look a sweet nineteen.  Elly scowled at Tommy for staring, and punched her on the arm.  Tommy only laughed.
Tom looked taller and bigger than she had looked that winter.
“Goodness, Tom, what do you eat out there?”
“Steak, mostly,” said Tommy, smiling.  She was beautiful, and had a sort of animal magnetism.  She wore shorts, and a loose shirt over a sport bra, and looked in the pink of health.
A few minutes after they were in the house, Tom and Elly were lying out—‘laying out,’ as they called it, in the sun.  They both had on the tiniest imaginable little bikinis, supposedly specially designed for tanning.  Helen spied on them from inside the house, and learned that Tommy had the wide shoulders and powerful legs of the Nordstrom clan, and the strong buttocks of her mother Elly.  Young Elly had the feminine lines of her grandmother, too, as well as her full, perky breasts.  Helen watched them fool around, but it was clear that though Elly was ready for serious fooling, Tommy only wanted to tease Elly.  It was heartbreaking to watch.  Helen was very fond of Elly, and felt very annoyed with Tommy.
The next day Tommy organized a trip down to Atlantic City, and took Elly with her in a rented car.  Maryssa was there when they set off, and she turned to Helen, wide-eyed.
“She’s really grown taller!”
“And heavier; she’s 195 pounds.  And an incredible sexual appetite.  She had sex with the entire wrestling team last year, I’m told!”
“Good heavens!”
Helen shrugged.  “She was a lovely girl until she left for college.”
“I guess college doesn’t suit everyone, then?”
Helen shrugged.  “These two are the exception.”
“Elly seems really sweet, and intelligent, and well-read, and thoughtful.”
Helen nodded agreement.  Elly had become a completely new person, and Penn State had had a wonderful influence on her.  Helen wondered what lay in store for Tommy.

Elly and Tom arrived back late the following day.  Elly was in tears, and shut herself up in her room, after ripping into Tom at dinner.  Apparently Tommy had been an insensitive pig.
Tom smiled and shrugged.  She was all tanned and golden, and looked good enough to eat, with faded blue jeans that hugged her legs like a second skin, and a loose shirt with several buttons opened, which showed off her bra-less chest.
She sat down, and slowly ate a large portion of chicken, and sat and talked until the others were done.  At least that was good.  Maryssa chatted to Tom throughout the meal, and Tom was very polite and courteous.  As usual Betsy offered to drop Maryssa off, and Tom raised her eyebrow at Helen.
Helen was annoyed with Tom, and simply ignored the unspoken question.  She got the kids ready for bed, tucked them in, while Tom followed her around, watching.
“Tommy, I’d like to have a long talk with you, girl.  I haven’t for a long time.  Except when I was in hospital!”
Tom laughed.  “Sure, sis,” she said, and put her arm round Helen.  They walked slowly to the sofa in the back, and sat down together.
Helen asked Tom about school, and then about the sex exploits, careful not to imply criticism.  Tom laughed and explained that it was all in fun.
“I train with them, you see, and we’re just all guys together.  One day, we decided to train in the nude, and pretty soon we were at it, right there.  Someone told Elly who was over in the pool, and she came to watch.  Once I got started, I was hard to stop!”
She paused and snuggled against Helen.  “I don’t know, sis,” she said, “sex is so much fun, but … it scares me sometimes.  It’s like, if I can have it, I don’t need air to breathe, or food to eat.  You know?”
“Yes … I was young once,” Helen said, but … it’s all gone.”
“Why, sis?”
“I don’t know, darling; it’s just gone.”
“I noticed you sent Maryssa away without a goodnight kiss, or a hug!  Aren’t you in love anymore?  Is it Amy?”
“No … Amy’s found someone else.”
“Then?  Is it some kind of dysfunctionality?”
Helen shrugged.  “After being hyper functional for 25 years, I guess I can take a break without being labeled, you know.”
There was a brief pause, and Tom said briskly, “Let’s go up to bed.”  Helen sighed.  There was so much more to talk about.
They closed up downstairs, and walked up the stairs, their arms about each other.  At Helen’s door, Tom asked softly, “May I come in?”
“Certainly,” said Helen, drawing her in.
Tommy held Helen by the arms.  “Sis … let me make love to you!”
Helen was astounded.  Still, not wanting to appear a prude, she remonstrated gently, “We’re sisters, Tommy; there are good reasons why this shouldn’t happen.”
“I don’t care.  We can help each other out!”
“I don’t need help!”
“But I do,” she whispered.

“Go away.”
It was several hours later.  Tommy had done the unimaginable, and seduced Helen.  Helen had always been reluctant to be firm with Tommy, ever since the younger girl had been born, and this night, too, she could not help being tender and loving towards Tommy.  It had been more than an hour before Tommy had realized that Helen was filled with self-loathing, despite her sweet participation in their lovemaking.  Tommy had begged to be forgiven, and Helen had forgiven her with a kiss, but the chemistry was gone, and Tommy retreated her heart like lead.  She had come to knock at Elly's door, forgetting that she had been mean to Elly the previous afternoon.  But Elly was all she had.
Elly was awake now, and angry.  Tommy’s eyes filled with tears.  She had to confess to someone, and it had to be Elly.  She began to sniff, and soon she was sniffing very loudly, wiping her nose on her shirt.
“Get off my bed, Tom.  I don’t want to talk to you!”  Elly gave her a vicious shove, and got her first clear look at Tom.  And a good whiff of her body odor.  “Whew, you smell like a whorehouse!  Jesus, what have you been in?”
“I just want to talk, Elly!” she whimpered.
Elly sat up in bed, tucking her legs under her.  She pulled up her sheet to cover her precious breasts.  You could tell you were in her bad books if she wouldn’t let you see her breasts.
“God, Tom, who did you spend the night with?  Were you driving around on the prowl again?  Who was it, Amanda?”
Elly couldn’t understand why Tom had come to her, if she had got lucky.  Something was wrong, and as usual, while she figured it out, her mouth was running away with her.
Tom sniffed loudly and said she had never left the house.  Elly continued to guess.  Indignantly she asked if it was Carol, “—the little slut!”  Tommy kept shaking her head, her face buried in her shirt, and suddenly Elly’s eyes grew wide.
“Oh my gosh, you didn’t!!  Please tell me you didn’t!”
Tommy nodded and wept vigorously, silent tears of shame.
“Oh Tom!” wailed Elly, her teeth clenched in frustration, shuddering with disgust, “How could you?  You know she’s too soft-hearted to throw you out!  She’d let you do anything to her!”
It was just barely getting light outside, but Elly turned her reading lamp on, a weak 40-watt bulb.
“Look at me, I’m talking to you!”  Tommy shook her head.  It was too, too awful.  “Okay then.  What happened?”
“She was feeling down … so I went in her room, I thought I was going to comfort her, and …”
“Shit!” Elly cursed softly, and Tommy curled into a ball of misery.  “You— fucked her all night?”  Tommy nodded, a tiny movement.  She didn’t look so big anymore, just a sorry girl who was feeling utterly miserable.
They heard the door to the bath close softly, and the shower come on.  “She’s washing herself,” Elly murmured, her soft heart purged of its anger against Tommy.  Tommy was sorry enough; it remained only to see if Helen was really hurt.  “That’s not a good sign … she must feel dirty, or something …”
Tommy looked up, and she saw her old friend’s face for the first time.  There was new misery in it, at the thought that Helen was disgusted with their act.
“I love her, Elly!” she said, brokenly.
“Of course you do, idiot!  So why did you do it?”
“You don’t understand … I felt … I felt … you know … after a while, I wasn’t just getting my rocks off, it was … we weren’t sisters anymore, Elly!”
“Yuck!” Elly said, grimacing.  She looked at Tommy, her fingers curled in disgust, but was unwilling to condemn her.  “It could happen … you didn’t grow up together!”
“It’s no excuse.”
“But you’re not sisters.  You only have two grandparents in common.  It’s like cousins.”
Hope lit up Tommy’s eyes.  “So it’s okay, then!”
“No, it isn’t.  She was in love with Maryssa, and you’ve sort of … raped her.”
“She wanted it, after a while!”
“That’s what every rapist says, Tom.  Get serious.”
There was a long, miserable silence.
“What shall I do?”
Elly felt great compassion for Tommy.  It helped that she had loved her for as long as she could remember.  She had loved other girls, but Tommy was truly the pole star of her night sky, the one unwavering love that had warmed her heart for all of her life.  What she wanted most was that Tom should become Tom again, not this egocentric, inconsiderate hedonist that she had become.
“I don’t know, Tom … you decide, and I’ll help.”
Tommy was shaking with the reaction.  Elly didn’t look as if she would touch her, though there was kindness in her voice.  Tommy was grateful for Elly’s quickness to forgive.  She would always love Elly, but her lust for Helen was something she could not understand, something different from the soft, warm, tenderness she felt for Elly, the love she had thought she could forgo for a semester or two.  But she had been wrong.
“Hold me!” she begged.
“Not until you have a bath,” Elly said, shaking her head in honest distaste.

The next day at breakfast, it was clear that Helen had been crying.  Her eyes were red, though she smiled at the children cheerfully enough.  Tommy’s eyes were red, too, though she, too, smiled at the kids, and nodded at their plans for the day.  It was Easter Sunday, and they usually went to church, but it didn’t seem to be happening.
“Are we going to church?  Why don’t we get ready, while Aunt Helen and Betsy decide?” said Elly, cheerfully.
“Church?  Do we want to go?”  Helen looked lost.  Suddenly, from being the calm organizing force she had been for two months, Helen was tentative and unsure of herself.
“Yes, we’re going,” Elly said.
Since New Year’s, they had attended this little oddball church near the house, a mixed church with both black and white people.  It was never crowded, and the music was awful, but it was church.  Betsy shepherded Carol into their little suite and promised they would be ready.  Betsy was very religious, but kept her preferences completely in abeyance to Helen’s.
Helen looked around, and found everyone gone except Tommy.  She smiled briefly then slowly moved to the stairs, her eyes lowered.
“Sis?”
“Yes, Tommy.”
“Can I talk to you?”  The words were barely audible.
Helen nodded and waited, still turned away.  Tommy had never seen her so defensive; Helen had always called the shots, however lovingly.  Helen was afraid of her now.  Everything about her declared it.
Tommy stood and came close, without touching her.  “I want you to forgive me!”
“No, Tommy; I’m the one who should have known better!  Let’s forgive each other … and forget it.  We have to get past this!”
“If you’d be more comfortable going to church, I’ll stay home!” Tommy offered.
Helen turned to her and looked so miserable and uncertain that Tommy’s heart quailed inside her, and she took a step back.
“I don’t know whether I should go, Tommy!”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t know what’s right and what’s wrong anymore!”
The whole conversation had been conducted in an undertone.  Tommy heard someone emerge from Betsy and Carol’s side of the house, and she hurried up the stairs, past Helen, hoping she would follow.  Helen looked where Tommy had glanced, and followed Tommy, as if caught doing something suspicious.  She leaned against the door to her room, as though she was afraid Tom would force her way in.  Tom felt even worse than before.
“You should go, sis!!” she said, fervently, her voice quiet but full of conviction.  “God knows you’ve never done a hurtful thing in your life!”
At that, Helen burst into tears and went into her room and shut the door.

Tommy looked for Elly everywhere, and finally found her in Alison’s room, braiding her hair, while Carol was helping James tie his new shoes.
“Elly!” she whispered, from the shadows near the door, “Elly!”
Finally Elly looked up, and her eyes went wide as she saw tears running down Tommy’s face.  She dropped Allie’s braid and hurried to the door, looking a dream in her Easter dress.
“What now?” she demanded in a low voice.  “Did you talk to her?”
“Oh Elly, she just started bawling, and locked herself in her room!”
Elly was furious.  “Tom, get a grip on yourself, and go help the kids!  Wash your face first!  Jesus,” she muttered to herself, “what’s wrong with her?”
Tom went in the bathroom and cried for a few seconds, then washed her face, and hurried out to the room the girls had been dressing in.  There was plenty to do.  Where’s Elly, they wanted to know.  Tom just asked whether she could help, and Carol came to get her hair done.
“Oh, your hands feel so good!” Carol said, and Tom felt terrible.

Elly knocked, and finally just went in.  Helen was lying face down on her bed, and got up in fright.
“It’s just me, Aunt Helen!” Elly said softly.  Helen sagged back, wiping her eyes.  “Why are you crying?  Can I help?  Do you want to talk?”
“No, darling … I … I’m all confused, and …”
“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up, and into your clothes.  Here, wipe your eyes, sweetheart … oh … look how red your eyes are!”  While Elly talked, she bustled around, cleaning Helen up, distracting her, not giving her a chance to collapse and refuse to go.
Elly picked out a simple beige suit for Helen, with an off-white blouse; something unstructured and feminine, and presently Helen began to put on her hose and her bra, and Elly said a silent prayer of thanks.
“I know it’s Tommy,” Elly whispered.  Helen stopped dressing and turned her attention to Elly, ready to drop everything and talk.  But Elly kept fastening up the closures, and talking at the same time.  “She came crying to my room, and I couldn’t get any sense out of her!  After you’re ready, I’ll go see to her.”
“See to her, Elly!  I … I don’t know if I’ll go …”
“You know if you don’t, we’ll all stay …”
“No; if the girls are dressed, they should go.”
“Yeah; they’re all ready!”
“Then, you and Betsy …”
“You have to come!”
Helen looked just overwhelmed by it all.
“Aunt Helen, should I get Tommy to go, or should she stay behind?”
Helen looked at Elly, suddenly still.
“Did Tommy tell you that … last night, we—slept together?”
Elly was watching Helen carefully, expecting a long negotiation, and this direct question took her by surprise.  Helen’s face was expressionless, but her feelings were clear.  She was thoroughly unhappy, distressed and shocked.  She kept going purely on the force of Elly’s persuasion, and any moment she could simply give up.
Elly began to shake her head, then nodded slowly.
“I don’t think she was thinking, Aunt Helen!  I know you’re hurt, and she’s hurt, and I … I shouldn’t try to interfere, but I’m hurt, too!  I just feel … if we go to church together, we might feel less terrible!”
“I hope so, darling!” Helen said, barely audibly.

Elly got Tommy into a decent dress and hose, and a reasonable pair of shoes.  She refused to put on makeup, and they all looked rather like a funeral procession, except for Betsy and Carol, who looked wonderful.  Helen, Elly and Tommy sat together, Tommy with her head hanging low, Helen with her eyes downcast, and Elly looking thoughtful.
The children sang sweetly, recognizing some hymns, learning others as they went along.  There was the usual sermon about resurrection and sins and the usual themes.  Helen couldn’t resist stealing a glance at Tommy as they left church, and she caught Tommy glancing at her, and suppressed a blush.  The innocent love they had known was gone, and in its place was this uncomfortable feeling of intense curiosity, desire, lust.  Tommy’s spring dress was now too tight for her, and she kept trying to ease her shoulders.  Helen kept remembering how those arms had held her, how firm that young body had felt, and how those rosy lips had kept her prisoner.  It was wonderful, disturbing, exciting.
She had to get away to think.  With Elly feeling sorry for them both, it was impossible to think at home.  Helen had to get to Maryssa’s house and simply lie down and think.
They got home without incident, and Helen hurried to her room, picked up her phone and started to dial.  There was a knock at the door.  Elly came in.
“Knock and wait, Elly.  Wait until you’re called!”
“I’m sorry!”  Elly just stood there, looking upset.  “Tommy says hi, and she wants to know whether you’ve forgiven her, and what she can do to make it right!”
Helen took a deep breath and let it out.
“Come in and lock the door.”  Elly complied, looking frightened.
Helen put her arm around Elly, and Elly leaned into her, her fear finally relaxing.
“I just need to be alone, Elly!  I—I can’t deal with this, I just … can’t! ”
“You can!  I’m here, I’ll talk with you!  You’ve done so much for me, let me do this for you!”
Helen shook her head vigorously rejecting that idea.
“You have to help her.  Where else can she go?”

Having set Elly the task of talking to Tommy, Helen escaped to the Brooks’s home, and Maryssa puzzled over Helen’s odd behavior for several hours, after which Matt dropped Helen off at her front door.  She still did not drive after the accident, and anyway the old Cherokee was no longer in service.

Helen went inside, to see the family seated round the table, playing Monopoly.  Tommy was winning, and everyone was arraigned against her.  Helen felt sorry for her sister, and went to stand near her and watch, silently lending her support to the beleaguered girl.  Every move she made was met with resistance, complaints, mean remarks!  She wasn’t allowed any of the breaks the others gave themselves, all illegal, anyway.
Elly grinned at Helen, trying to convert her to their side.  She loved Tommy, but this was war!  Betsy sat on a side, reading, an amused look on her face.  She had supported Tommy, too, but Tom had done so well with ruthless cunning and disregard for the feelings of others, and in everyone’s opinion —except Betsy’s and Helen’s— Tom deserved no support!
Elly finally realized that Helen was going to stand by Tommy, no matter how much the others protested.  All the others had been asking Helen to come help them.  She watched with amazement when Helen began to massage Tom’s shoulders affectionately.  After her crying fit that morning, this made no sense!
Elly looked away.  “Aww, Tommy has a friend!” chanted Carol.  Elly glanced quickly back, and saw both sisters flush.  Tom affectionately rested her cheek on Helen’s hand, acknowledging Helen’s support.
Elly found it harder to concentrate on the game.  Something was happening across from her on the other side of the table, and Tom was making mistakes, too.  Was Helen deliberately distracting Tom?
Suddenly Tom was hit by one of those strange quirks of the game, and was assessed for taxes, and had to sell a lot of property to pay them.  Helen stood by, her hand gently resting on Tom’s shoulder, saying nothing.
After a while, Tom invited Helen to share her seat, and the two sisters were seated together, and Elly began to understand the complexity of the situation.  And Tom landed on Elly’s property, which she had just developed to the maximum.  Suddenly she was richer than Tom.
The game wound on, and Tom was run into bankruptcy, and Elly had the most money.  They decided to stop playing, because they were so happy Tom was broke!
Helen stood and asked quietly, smiling round at them, who was going to help with supper.  It was going to be fish, and she was going out to get it.  Of course they all volunteered, but Helen chose Tom.
Elly sighed as she watched the two of them put on their sweaters for the trip out to the store.  It was a bitter-sweet feeling when she saw Helen look up at Tom through the corner of her eye.  She was behind them, so she had only a restricted view of it, but it was the kind of look a girl gives someone when she almost dares not look, but must look.  It was the kind of coquetry she never expected from Aunt Helen.  And she saw Tom’s neck redden, as she opened the door for her sister.
She herded Ruth to the bathroom for her bath, after which it would James’s turn.  They had been playing out in the yard and were rather grubby.  As she undressed Ruth, she wondered what Tom had set in motion.  She had never seen Helen so flustered.

In the store, Tommy saw some flowers, and contrived to buy them without Helen seeing.  She hid them in the car, and went back inside to join Helen, burning with excitement.
“Where have you been?” Helen asked, and Tom heard the pleasure in her voice at seeing her again.
“I was off looking at something,” Tommy said, vaguely.
“What?”
“Oh, you know, the, er, Swimsuit Issue!”
Helen blushed prettily.  “Jeeze, Tom, …” she glanced around, as if to check whether they had been overheard, “if you want it that bad, I’ll buy you it!”  She seemed amused.  “I thought you were beyond just looking! ”
Tommy chuckled.  “You can never stop looking,” she said.  Helen picked up the magazine, coloring a little, and put it in her cart.
As luck would have it, their checkout clerk seemed interested in them.  They had a pleasant time flirting with her, a pretty young thing with short hair and a charm in a cord around her neck.  “Have a good holiday!” she said, and they wished her the same.
After Helen had put the supplies in the car, she turned to find Tom silently holding out a dozen beautiful long-stemmed roses.  Her eyes were troubled but pleased as she accepted the offering, and held her face up for a kiss.  She had worn her glasses, and looked uncannily like Elly in her expression.  Tom felt trapped in the tender net Helen seemed to be weaving.  One part of her mind knew it was pure instinct, and Helen had no wish to harm Tom, or keep her for herself.  But another part of her mind felt Helen was an adult, able to deal with emotions effectively and correctly.
The feel of the soft lips on her own aroused Tom even more.  They awkwardly separated, and Helen nervously put the flowers away, murmuring soft words of gratitude and pleasure.  Helen got in, and waited for Tom to shut the door.
“It’s the first time, after the accident,” Helen said softly.
“First time what?”
“Oh, … driving,” Helen said.  “You should put your seatbelt on.  See, that’s how I’m alive, Tom.”  Tom obediently put on her seatbelt.
There was a silence, as the power of the feeling between them seemed to gather to an unbearable pitch.
“That was very sweet of you, Tom,” Helen said softly.  “You have no idea how … wonderful it feels!  Like …”  Helen broke off, sniffing emotionally.
“You get flowers all the time, at concerts and stuff,” Tommy said gruffly, clearing her throat.
“Yes—yes, I guess I do!”
They were home.  Tommy got out, and gathered most of the bags, and held the door open for Helen.
Ruth wandered in, dressed in her sleep clothes, and Helen put her in her high seat with a kiss, and gave her something to do.  No others bothered them; they were left alone, and they cooked, talking little, enjoying being sisters, enjoying how similar they were, how similar they looked, the secret things that only they knew.  Then Tom came behind Helen and put her arms round her, and rested her cheek against Helen’s, and subtly they weren’t sisters anymore, not exactly.
“Mmm!  That smells so good!”
Helen gently pushed Tom away and turned to smile at Carol, and the others trooping behind her.  The meal began, with Helen trying to fill the awkward silence with a question or two, and soon James was telling some long story.
After dinner, Tommy pulled Elly aside and told her that she had bought Helen flowers.  Elly looked upset, but only nodded.  “I left them in the car,” she said, “What shall I do?”
“You gave them to her, right?”
“Er, yes.”
“Let her do what she wants, Tom; maybe she doesn’t want people asking questions!”
Tom nodded, coloring a little.
Ruth was asleep in her little seat, the others were heading down to the TV room to watch a special episode of Galaxy.  Helen and Tom converged on Ruth at the same time.
“I’ll do it,” Tom said, earning a shy smile of gratitude from her sister.  It was incredible, as though she had discovered a woman she had never met before, a woman, moreover, who was incredible, whose company gave Tom a strange, wonderful pleasure.  There was the same need to be with her sister, now, as she had felt with Elly in their teens, when it was agony to be parted from her.

They watched the episode all seated together, and it was a super one.  Helen was the central character again, in the role of Athene’s advisor.  (In the Galaxy story, Athene was a clone of Helen’s character in the show, Cecilia.  Athene had been left with a team of settlers on an Earth-like planet they had discovered.  The Advisor was an implant in Athene’s brain, which was a distillation of Helen’s memories, which Athene referred to as she needed.)  Unfortunately, the planet was subtly hostile, and the settlers were having a terrible time.  Amanda, the actress who played Athene had been made up to look even more like Helen, and she looked almost exactly like Tom!  In the story, Athene had fallen in love with the leader of the team, a man much older than her, and was subtly influencing the success of the mission.  She had given birth to twins, two girls, and was an incredible worker, looking after the children, helping to guard the camp, taking her turn with the men in exploration and scientific work, fighting for her rights.
The two-hour episode was a wonderful study of the psychodynamics of a small group.  Because of the added resource of her implant, Athene assumes the burden of camp counselor, even to women who view her as a rival.  Finally she brings dance and art into the community, as they strive to become more than mere survivors.  The episode encompasses a year in the life of the expedition, and ends with their thanksgiving celebration on the anniversary of landfall.
“Whew!” exclaimed Betsy, as the credits drifted by, “if that doesn’t win an Emmy, nothing will!”
“Really?” asked Elly.
“Well, look at how much care has gone into it!  Look at the writing, for heaven’s sake!”
“Yes, it’s wonderful writing,” Helen agreed, feeling pride in her team.  She mumbled something about how comfortable the words had felt when she read them.
“Let’s put on the evangelist!” Elly said, mischievously.
“Yes,” said Tommy, “I want to hear this feller.”
“Carol, would you take James upstairs, please?”
“But I want to see the evangelist!”
“I’ll take him up, Helen,” Betsy said, smiling as always.  “Maybe you can tape the evangelist for me, for when I’m feeling dangerously happy!”  They chuckled while Elly found the spot.

“The Lord accepts even the most wretched sinner!  No murderer is too guilty, no deed too foul for the Lord to forgive.  If she repents, she will be forgiven!  It was not the Lord who smote her, no sir!  It was not the Lord who laid her low.  It was that evil thing whose servant she was!  He smote her.  He smote her!  It is a lesson to us all.  The devil is a treacherous friend, indeed!  He raises you up, then he casts you aside.  But the Lord saved her, he sent rescue.  If she repents, as surely she must, she will be saved.
“Some time ago she spoke to the media.  She claimed to not understand my words.  She used all her high learning, her big words, to twist my words, to make it appear as though I was a simpleton, uncertain of my thinking!  But God’s wisdom is the foolishness of men!  Man’s logic is a pitiful thing when compared to the wisdom of God.  God’s word has stood for ages.  His word will live centuries after her achievements are forgotten!  Tomorrow, if …”
“Good grief,” exclaimed Tommy, he’s talking about Sis, isn’t he?  Again? ”
Helen looked shocked.  She knew she shouldn’t, but it was so unbelievable that the man should talk about her even after two months!  Did he talk about her every night?
“He’s obsessed with her,” Elly murmured, staring at the screen, as the man talked on and on.  There was nothing to be learned there.  Why did people watch him?
Long after the others had lost interest and gone, Elly watched the program, searching for some insight into the meaning of the man, his obsession, and his message, if there was one.

Tom watched through the window, unseen, as Helen went out to the car and brought in the bouquet of flowers, standing just outside the door to bury her face in them.  She brought them in, and Tom went silently down the stair to see what she would do.  She found empty bottles, and carefully trimmed the long stems, and arranged them in the bottles, looking at them with her head on one side, her face flushed with pleasure.  Tom went upstairs to her room, dressed for bed, and lay down, her head awhirl with wild, delicious, dangerous, salacious thoughts, thoughts that kept her awake, longing to hear her sister’s footsteps in the hall outside.

They drove Tommy out to the airport, and Helen and Elly watched as Tommy headed out through the gate, a tall, golden figure, so gloriously beautiful she seemed almost apart from the other passengers.  The almost colorless hair of her childhood had become a kind of sun-shot honey-blonde that was like a banner, floating high above the other heads of both men and women, telling them where Tommy was.
Once she disappeared from view, they turned away without a word and headed to the car.  Elly studied Helen surreptitiously, and saw the little signs of sadness she was expecting, the same disorientation some of which Elly was feeling herself.  But, miraculously, there was a light in her eyes, a sharpness that had been missing for months.  She wasn’t herself, the old Aunt Helen, not by a long shot.  But she was not the dull creature she had been before the break, content to putter around the house, who only really woke up when Maryssa was around.  That imagination was alive again!


Amy and David were married later that Spring.  Elly worked hard at school, and finished the semester in triumph.  She was the top in each of her courses, and all her classmates had learned to view her with respect.  She chose to spend the early part of the Summer with Helen in Philadelphia, and Tommy, again, chose to come join them right after school let out.
Tommy was bronzed and beautiful.  She had been swimming all semester, and she had tan lines in the shape of the sexy racing swimsuit she wore.  She had won two long-distance events in the intercollegiate meets, and had been feted as a possible swimming phenomenon.
Alone with Helen and Elly, she described how girls from her own school, who didn’t know her, and from schools to which they traveled for swim meets, all got crushes on her, and gave her little presents, and wrote her notes saying they liked her.  “People I don’t even know!  I mean, they haven’t really talked to me, or anything, right?  So one of them passes this little bag to me, and it’s a little Teddy bear key chain, and a note saying please write to me, and her email address, and a little picture of her!”  Tommy was a little red, with embarrassment and something that looked suspiciously like excitement.
“Let’s see the picture, girl,” said Elly, grinning, and Tom pulled out her wallet, and showed them four pictures.  “Oh jeeze, four! ” They were quite cute, too; some of them were in swimsuits.
“They’re so funny.  I’m adjusting my leg-band, and this girl is all eyes.  I ask, you like my legs?  She blushes and says, you look really strong!”  Tommy threw out her arms in mock helplessness.  “And afterwards, we go out to dinner, right?  And these girls, wearing next to nothing, right?  They all want to ride in the back of this one car with me!  Four chicks piled on top of me!”
“Bet you loved that!”
Tom laughed lightly.  She wore a dress with a tiny skirt, and bare legs.  Her legs were big, and she liked to sit with her legs thrown out wide, and her flared skirt tucked in between them in a slutty way.
“It gets better,” she said, looking nowhere in particular.  “One time, two of them slept with me.”
Helen and Elly expressed amazement.
Tom shrugged.  “It’s really a different culture.  They’re very simple and direct about sex, and they go to bed easily with a visiting team.  I was farmed out to the girls in the team, and they had decided I was going to sleep with these two, and we all got naked, and it was a sleep-over.  They got into bed with me, and we watched some dirty movies and petted a little, and then we get into bed and screwed around all night long!”

Helen was appalled, but she seemed to remember that at least a few of the girls in the swim team in Ohio had been very physical that way.  It didn’t seem appropriate to use the word promiscuous in connection with them, but over time, in some cases at least, it did seem to develop into the unfeeling and indiscriminate sex habits with which the term had come to be associated.
“Aunt Helen, since it’s just the three of us, couldn’t we get some adult videos and watch ’em?  Huh?”

It started innocently enough.  The girls got a couple of videos, and they watched them, all three of them the first night, and after that, Maryssa joined them.  They were fair, and Helen was surprised that some of the girls were really pretty, and some were very sweet, too.  Others were ugly, had ugly voices, were clumsy, or had badly done breast implants that made them look hideous.
“Jeeze,” Helen complained, what’s wrong with these people?  That was the worst thing I ever saw!  It was as believable as …”
“It isn’t meant to be believable, Sis, it’s just fantasy!”
Helen shook her head.  “There has to be some element of believability,” Helen insisted.  “Anyway, the next one has some of my favorite people in it!”
“Oh yeah?  Let’s see: Megan Miracle, Loretta Luscious, and Rohana …”
“Yeah,” sniggered Tom, “their names are usually the best part.”
“Rohana is just beautiful!”
They began to watch.

The several days of total absorption in watching pornography had begun to make Helen nervous.  She was, on principle, determined not to object to it as such, but she could see that the summer was about to be frittered away with little to show for it.  All four of them, what was worse, loved to watch the things, even if they were appallingly bad.
Perhaps not so surprisingly, Elly was the one who called for a slowdown.  Helen had given her a generous allowance, and then Helen got an old-fashioned letter from Janet, thanking her for helping to turn Elly around in her schoolwork, with money for Helen’s expenses enclosed.  Helen gave it all to Elly, privately, exhorting her to spend it sparingly.
“I’d like to send it back,” she had said, not bothering to hide her troubled feelings, “but I guess Jan needs to feel that she’s still your mother, Elly!  You know I love having you here!  You made this Winter and Spring so much more bearable than I had any right to expect it to be.”
Elly had taken the money reluctantly, not meeting Helen’s eyes.  “Tommy will want to get pornos with it,” she murmured.  “I’ve still got a lot of the money you gave me, Helen.”  She had taken to calling Helen that under the influence of Tommy and Maryssa.
“Well, let her do the buying, for a change!”
“Oh, she’s spent all her money already!”
Just then Tommy was heard coming in the door, and the little conversation had to be ended; Tommy came looking for Elly.
“What’s up?” she asked, seeing them talking.  It was a casual enough question, but the other two knew that she hated to be left in the dark about anything.  Elly quickly said that her mother had written to Helen, and sent some money.  “She’ll want some idea about how I spent it,” Elly said, “so I’m not going to blow it all on pornos.”
“Fine!” said Tommy, grinning.  “We’ll get summer jobs!”

The two girls set out separately to find work that very afternoon.  Finally, Elly came back, exhausted.  Helen was just finished cleaning the kitchen when Elly dragged herself in.
“How did you make out?” she asked, not too eagerly.  She like having Elly around the house, and secretly hoped she’d find a little work that would allow her to stay home most of the time.
“All the good jobs are gone!” Elly lamented.  “Taken, taken, nothing left.”  She collapsed on a chair.  She had dressed in a businesslike way, in a skirt and light sweater, her hair neatly braided, and wore a purse on her shoulder, instead of the little backpack she normally carried around.  “But I got something; waitressing.”  It was a children’s theme restaurant, one that they had often laughed at.  But it was now becoming a place where teenagers got together, just for laughs.  “Where’s Tommy?”

Helen said that her sister had left a little after Elly.
The door opened, and there was Tom, looking smug.  She wore a brightly-colored summer dress with bare legs and sneakers, and Helen could see Elly’s eyes moving over her with mixed approval and envy.
“Hi, everybody!” she called, and swaggered over.  She had the greatest swagger, Helen thought.  She eased into a chair, her legs spread carelessly wide.  Helen frowned, and she grinned and crossed her legs demurely.
Elly said that she had a job starting that evening.  “How did you do?”
“Oh, working mornings at BNB!”
BNB, as it happened, was an enormously successful bookstore and music chain of which Helen was the principal shareholder.  Acquiring the majority shares had completely wiped out Helen's corporate savings two years ago, but the chain had prospered under Helen's ownership.
“BNB!  I never thought of them!  Which one?”  Tom described which store it was.  It was one of the nicest BNB stores they had seen, with the toniest restaurant attached, near the richest residential area in their vicinity.
“Hell, Sis owns them, so I figured, why not?”
“I don’t own them, kid, just a majority share.”
“What’s the difference?  Anyway, I didn’t mention you at all!”
“Shit; you work days, I work nights, … this is terrible!” moaned Elly.
“Aww, you can get a night off, now and then!”
As they walked off arguing, Helen shook her head.  Elly was a real beauty, and there wasn’t a man alive who would have denied her a job if he had one to give.  But this was Elly: she was in one of her phases where she wouldn’t use her feminine wiles to get a job even as a last resort.  Tommy, in contrast, had rather a plain face.  Her body, too, was not pretty in a traditional way; her muscular upper-body was rather too masculine, but her sleek legs did catch the eye.  She had dressed deliberately to draw attention to her legs, with the short, short dress, and had made up her face with just a touch of color here and there that made it look more interesting without her appearing to be dolled-up.  Finally she had put on a bracelet, which softened the look of her arms, and evidently it had been all she needed.  She looked effortlessly upper middle class, lightly tanned, a rich girl out to get summer employment for a lark, and that was what the stores were looking for.  When she wanted to, Tommy could be as classy as anyone, and the problem was that she didn’t want to most of the time.
“When do you start?”
“Tomorrow, of course.”
Elly chewed her lip.  “Do they have more openings?”
“Oh … I’m sure they do,” Tommy said, gesturing airily.  “Wanna come along and ask?”
“Why don’t you ask, for me?”
“Me?”  Tommy looked doubtful.  “I don’t think that would be so good.”  Helen agreed that often stores wouldn’t hire friends, for fear of too much visiting.

Elly dressed carefully for work.  She was supposed to wear all black, and black hose.  She could wear a moderate heel, and after a week, she could ask to wear platforms.  “I’d rather not,” she muttered.  Helen had trimmed her hair neatly, and braided it.  It shone, sleek and neat.  Elly had a thick head of silky hair, and looked very elegant with her long braid.  Her head was just a tad large for her body, but her lovely eyes and long eyelashes distracted from it.  Her full figure was nicely proportioned, and she wore a firm supporting bra.  Helen knew her to be a flirtatious girl who liked fun as much as anyone, but when she dressed for work, it seemed that she dressed seriously.
Elly insisted that Helen should take her to work the first day.
“Why, darling?  Tommy would love to do it!”
Tommy nodded, grinning.  But Elly wanted Helen.
“You don’t have to get out of the car, or anything!” he said, pleadingly.
“How about both of us?”
“Fine, but you must come!”
There was a slight drizzle of rain as they headed out, and it was a little overcast.  Elly was nervous and talked all the time, until they were on the street of the restaurant, when she went completely silent.
They reached the restaurant, and Elly asked them to stop some distance from the entrance.  “Wait until I come out and wave, okay?”
“Why?”
“I don’t know … what if they decided they didn’t want me, after all?”
“Hah,” said Tommy, “they’ll want you, all right, looking like that!”
“Tom! ” Elly was indignant.  “I dressed as modestly as I knew how, you pig!”  She punched Tom on her arm.  Tom only laughed.
Elly got out cautiously, and stood, looking at the restaurant, and the people going in.  Then she saw another girl walking in the back door, obviously another worker.  She got out and quickly walked out to the restaurant.
“She has worked before, hasn’t she?”
“Oh sure,” Tommy said.  “Not waitressing, though!”
“Oh dear.  They’re throwing her in the deep end, aren’t they?”
“I don’t know,” Tom said, shrugging in the dark.  “Maybe it’s not such a busy night, or something.”
Elly’s upper body leaned out, and she waved to them.  Helen waved back, and drove slowly away.  She would call when she was done.

Back in the restaurant, Elly was greeted pleasantly, and given her uniform apron, and the pieces of equipment she was to use.  The lady in charge, a vivacious Italian woman of about forty, looked her up and down, and nodded with approval.
“You dress very nicely, Elly!”
Elly blushed and nodded.  The woman explained that there was a back room where the family ate, and she would practice on them first.  “They like to have fun, so watch out!”  Elly grinned.
It was informal to begin with.  The men joked around and gave her a hard time, but the older lady, presumably one of the matriarchs of the family, spoke slowly and carefully, ordering something fairly complicated.  Elly’s coach, the woman, stood at her shoulder, watching and encouraging her, and to Elly’s delight, it went perfectly.
Then she had to help carry an item out to the main floor, lay a table that had just been cleared, and then it was waiting until the family order was ready.
“Relax, Elly, you’re so tight!” the woman said, patting Elly’s back.  She rattled off something in Italian to Elly, and watched closely.  “Don’t speak Italian?”
Elly shook her head, wide-eyed.
“Not Italian?  There has to be some Italian in you, dear!”
Elly shook her head again and smiled apologetically.  “I’m all German, ’sfar’s I know,” she said, shrugging.
The woman grinned and nodded slowly.  “Well, Germans are all right,” she said, her eyes twinkling.  “So long as you don’t eat their food!”
The meal was ready, and she had to serve it.
She only spilled the water in her excitement.  Some children had been brought in, and it was getting tight around the table.  Everybody helped, and soon Elly was feeling better.  “Water—no problem,” they insisted.  “Marinara sauce, now—oh, that’s bad!”

The phone rang around 1 in the morning.  Elly sounded happy and excited.  Helen said she would be there in 10 minutes.
She knocked on Tommy’s door, and heard a mumbled reply.  She went in, and stood transfixed.  Tommy was naked, busily masturbating with an enormous dildo.
Not pausing an instant, she gasped for Helen to shut the door.  Helen obeyed, and stood watching like an idiot.  Tommy was almost home, and her arm moved like a sewing-machine, and the fury of her movement made Helen wince with pain.
Disgusting as it was, it was also beautiful.  Tommy’s eyes were closed, and her body so tense, there was a strange grace in it.  Then she began to slow, and gradually stopped pounding herself, concentrating on crushing her breast with her right hand.  She was a left-hander.
“Elly’s ready to come home,” Helen said, stupidly.
Tommy panted, eyes still closed.
“Need little time … must get dressed …”
“Do you mind, Sis?” Helen asked, meekly.
“Nah … just need to wash up a bit …”
She suddenly sat up in bed, and threw the dildo at the foot of the bed.  Then she sprang out of bed and strode around, trying to calm down.  Helen marveled at her.  How little she knew her sister!  Suddenly Tommy headed straight for Helen.  She grinned and lifted her bodily and set her aside, as she headed for the bathroom.

Elly was radiant but tired when they picked her up.  It was still raining, but the rain seemed to evaporate as it touched her.
“It went well, I take it?” Helen asked, smiling, as she drove off.
“Oh man!” said Elly, crushed against Tommy on the front seat.  “It was so busy!”
Tommy’s hand settled round Elly’s breast, and she sighed and batted against Tom’s face.  “Stop that,” she chided gently, “wait till we’re home!”
“I can’t; you’re so cute,” Tommy said.  She was.  It was almost frightening.

[K]