When Becky Came, Part 09

I led the early guests around back to the makeshift tables and variety of games we’d setup for the days activities. The swimming pool was the biggest attractor. It was one of those above ground sorts with five foot high walls made out of aluminum with a stick and peel laminate plated on top to give the appearance of wood. The logic escaped me as I could never figure how anyone would think a ring of wood fencing would hold water. I guess you weren’t supposed to think that much and I reckon most of my peers, neighbors and anyone else alive didn’t. All anyone cared about was jumping into the water and getting cooled off and it’s not like I didn’t have that same care. It was summer, just outside of Houston and that means hot enough to melt feet to cement and humid enough to feel like rain without a cloud in the sky.

Mom got the social side of things going with a punch bowl full of 7Up and raspberry sherbet. Nothing like a cold refreshment to loosen up tongues and a load of sugar to get people jumping around like idiots. I suppose I should’ve been happy it wasn’t Kool-Aid like it would have been a year or two earlier.

As more and more of the neighborhood showed up I kept looking for Diana, but despite a couple of girls who wore their hair the same, there wasn’t any sign of her. I’d spent most of the week since our shopping trip trying not to get my hopes up for her to show. It didn’t really matter though, cause she was the only one I wanted to see and no matter how much I told myself I didn’t care, the truth was I did.

By noon I gave up watching the gate and decided it was time to jump in the pool and cool off. It was packed with everyone under the age of twenty and I bet it was probably pushing its capacity as the water was slopping over the edges every time somebody moved. I picked a spot close to the edge and the ladder so I could see what was going on in the yard and could get out fast if Diana showed. It was around that time I realized Becky wasn’t around either.

Mom and Dad were hanging out on the patio with the next door neighbors. They were drinking beer and laughing way too loud about things that probably weren’t even funny, not that I was really listening. Dad was saying something about not understanding how a girl can take two hours to put on her clothes for the day when Becky stepped out of the house and let the screen door slam shut.

She was wearing much the same outfit as she was the day she arrived. The cutoffs were just as stringy and the tube top covered just as little and I don’t think there was a guy under twenty or over twenty who wasn’t staring while she traipsed out on the patio. Come to think of it, there were quite a few of the ladies staring too. In fact, it might have been a mirage on account of the heat, but I swear I saw steam coming out of Mom’s ears.

Dad spoke first while Becky was slopping punch into a cup and onto the patio. “Do we need to have another talk about slamming doors?”

I could see Becky rolling her eyes and shaking her head, but fortunately for her, her back was mostly to Dad. She stepped off the patio, heading toward the pool and said, “I’m pretty sure we covered it last time.”

Mom had apparently anticipated Becky’s course and stepped off the patio herself, grabbing hold of Becky’s arm and stopping her. “Don’t you walk away from your Uncle when he’s talking to you.”

“Geez,” Becky said, looking at the blue sky above us all, “I thought this was supposed to be a party.”

Mom ignored her. “And what the devil are you wearing? Where’s the bathing suit I bought you?”

Becky laughed. “At the bottom of a trash can. You know, where it belongs.”

“I certainly hope not for your sake,” Mom said, dragging Becky with her toward the door, “because if your not back out here wearing it in the next ten minutes, you won’t be sitting comfortable the rest of the summer.”

“It’s ugly and I’m not wearing it,” Becky said, standing her ground in front of the screen door.

Dad joined them. “Well you aren’t going to wear that top or those shorts either. So, you can either go inside and put on your swimsuit like your Aunt told you or you can run around naked with a red backside. The choice is yours.”

I’m sure there were some people hoping she’d do otherwise, but Becky decided to go inside. Of course, she threw some pretty nasty looks around first and I’m pretty sure she gave my parents the finger. Lucky for her, I think I’m the only one who noticed.

When Becky Came, Part 08

“What do you think?” Becky asked. She met Mom’s gaze with bold indifference laced with just a hint of smugness. “Don’t I just look fabulous?”

“Red is surely your color,” Mom said stepping past me.

Becky’s eyelashes fluttered with what she thought was a compliment. Having known my Mom longer, like all my life, I was painfully aware of the deeper meaning in Mom’s words. I took a step backward and looked for a place to hide because the last thing I wanted was for Diana to catch me watching my cousin get her tail tanned. Unfortunately, Mom had other plans.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Mom asked. The glint in her eyes held the answer for me.

“Nowhere.” I shrugged and stopped in my tracks. The wall looked like a good place to stand, but I waited to lean up against it until Mom turned her head back to Becky.

“So I should get this one?” Becky asked. Apparently, she was too busy checking herself out in the mirror at the end of the alcove to notice the subtleties going on with Mom.

I shook my head, but Becky still wasn’t getting the message.

Mom planted her hands on her hips, making the shopping bag hung on her wrist slap against her skirt. “What would your Mother say?”

Becky gazed lovingly at her own reflection. “She’d probably want to know if it came in her size. Red is her color too.”

Mom shook her head and sighed. “Well maybe that’s what they’re wearing on the beaches in California, but it’s completely inappropriate for a neighborhood pool party.”

Becky stopped gazing into the mirror and fixed her eyes on Mom. “What?”

Mom said, “We need to find you something more suitable.”

“I’m just fine with this,” Becky said.

Mom said, “I’m not.”

Becky smiled, but her look was decidedly more evil than happy. “That sounds like a personal problem cause I don’t need your permission.”

I leaned extra hard against the wall, hoping to disappear into it for Becky’s sake. The dark color rising in Mom’s cheeks told me a storm was brewing and experience had taught me that it was best not to be in the vicinity. Too bad I had no place to go.

Mom asked, “Do you want a spanking?”

Becky blinked and stammered. “No.”

“Then I suggest you drop the attitude, change out of that ridiculous bikini and pick out a respectable bathing suit for Saturday,” Mom said.

Maybe Becky really did want a spanking. Or maybe she just didn’t know when to quit. She said, “But this is the one I want.”

“I’m not going to warn you again,” Mom said.

Becky stamped her foot, reminding me of a little kid throwing a temper tantrum. “This is so unfair.”

Mom huffed. Her patience had run out. She stepped forward and grabbed Becky by the arm, pulling her toward the changing room. Becky broke free of Mom’s grip causing Mom to stumble backward into the changing room. I imagine Becky would have outright bolted, but I was in the way. An instant later Mom emerged from behind the half drawn curtain holding the number seven placard and waving it in Becky’s direction.

Becky backed away from Mom until she was standing on top of my shoes. “I’m sorry,” she said.

Mom didn’t answer. She grabbed Becky’s arm and pulled her off me. Mom let fly with that wooden placard on Becky’s behind making her hop in place. When Mom figured she had Becky’s attention, she stopped swatting and twisted things around until Becky was trapped between Mom and the alcove mirror.

Pointing the placard at Becky’s bottoms, Mom said, “Get ‘em down and touch your toes.”

Becky looked a touch pathetic trying to avoid meeting Mom’s gaze. “But we’re in a store.”

Mom glanced over her shoulder at the larger store. “Actually we’re in the changing rooms, but we can move this out there if you prefer.”

“No,” Becky said, sounding about half her age.

Mom shook the placard. There wasn’t any need for her to repeat herself. Becky kept her eyes low and chewed on her lip while hooking her thumbs into the red waistline. She turned her back to Mom and me, lowering her bottoms quickly. Her fingers were brushing her painted toenails an instant later.

I looked nervously out into the store. Fortunately, Diana was busy with other customers and not paying any attention to us. The sound of the placard bouncing off Becky’s bottom echoed in the small alcove as Mom did her best to drive her point home to Becky. It wasn’t long and Becky’s white butt had turned a glistening red with the faint impression of the number 7 showing up all over her jutted cheeks. I’m guessing she wouldn’t say it was her lucky number.

Satisfied with the results of the spanking, Mom let Becky stand up, but made her keep the bottoms down while standing with her nose against the mirror. I was left to make sure Becky didn’t move too much, or really at all, while Mom searched the store racks for something she considered acceptable for Becky to wear on Saturday. Mom came up with a yellow one-piece with brown stripes down the left side. It made me think of a rotting banana and I reckon Becky would have agreed. Unfortunately for her, Mom wasn’t asking, she was telling.

While Mom was paying for the swimsuits, Diana came by the alcove. I blushed on account of Becky still standing at the mirror with a bare red bottom, but Diana didn’t say anything to me. She paused next to Becky though and said, “I guess you know what I meant by a whipping now, huh?”

Diana didn’t stay around for a response. She opened a door I hadn’t noticed before and turned to me. She flashed a smile at me and disappeared behind the door before I could react. It was probably for the best because all I could think at that moment was just how much I wanted to kiss Diana.

When Becky Came, Part 07

I waited leaned up against a sidewall rather than trying to thread through the store’s crowded racks trailing Becky and Diana. It took them around fifteen minutes to sort through the men’s racks and find a pair of trunks they could agree would look good on me. They were brown with yellow trim, a look I think belonged more on a house than me, but I didn’t much care so long as they weren’t skin tight briefs.

Becky held them up and wiggled them in the air in my general direction while her eyebrows did an up and down dance that was probably supposed to translate into a question I should answer. Not knowing the language, I just shrugged and she laughed at me before throwing the trunk like a softball at my head. I snatched the brown blur out of the air and had just enough time to raise a questioning eyebrow before Diana tossed me a wood placard with the number one etched into its face.

“Don’t be shy,” Becky said with a smile eerily reminiscent of a neighborhood cat I never quite trusted, “put them on.”

The look on my face must have been communicating the lack of trust swirling in my brain as something more like confusion or shyness because Diana pointed to the alcove recessed in the wall. She said, “In there, unless you plan on giving us a nice show.”

Her smile twinkled with a mischievousness that made me feel relaxed and self conscious all at once. I probably stared at her shining face longer than was polite, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her delectably red lips or the playful blush coloring the soft rounds of her cheeks. My imagination turned the store into a private room with just the two of us and in that privacy I was brave enough to give offer her a show and she was interested enough to accept. Unfortunately, my cousin was too impatient to wait for me to shake myself out of the fantasy.

“Move it, Ritchie,” Becky said, planting her hands on her jutting hips. “I still have to find something cute for me.”

I stumbled into the changing room and pulled the curtain closed. It took me less than two minutes to shed my clothes and pull on the new trunks. A quick glance in the mirror reassured me they did their job, nothing was showing that wasn’t supposed to be showing. I stepped back into the little hallway, revealing myself to Becky.

“Satisfied?” I asked.

Becky looked me up and down for a long minute and nodded. “You’ll do. Now hurry up and help me find something.”

The process worked equally fast in reverse and I was back out in the store wearing my regular clothes in about two minutes. Becky was still holding onto the shameless strings that no mother or boyfriend would approve of for public attire. I probably should have said something, but I’m also pretty sure Becky wouldn’t of listened. She threaded through the racks and picked up another half dozen swimsuits, none of which seemed of the sort my Mom would call sensible.

We ended up at the counter where Diana was cashing out another customer. Becky held up her collection and smiled. I’m not sure why, but I had the distinct feeling Becky was playing some sort of game with Diana. It was almost like she was taunting her with the selection, like a nonverbal, ‘I can wear these and you can’t’.

Diana held out a placard with the number seven engraved into it. “It’s your skin, but I doubt your Aunt is going to let you wear any of those.”

Becky laughed and took the placard. “That’s the difference between us. I don’t need no one’s permission.”

I waited at the edge of the alcove while Becky disappeared into one of the changing rooms. Diana joined me a minute or so later when her customer left the store. We exchanged a look that told me we both knew Becky was pushing limits that shouldn’t be pushed.

Diana said, “Your Mom isn’t going to let her get those.”

I shook my head and shrugged. “I think she’s just trying to get a reaction out of me.”

Becky stepped out. She was naked except for three strategically located red patches. My eyes popped out of my head and then my head exploded. Diana walked away and I wished I could have gone with her. Becky twirled around, showing me far more of her bare skin than any cousin should ever see.

“What do you think?” Becky asked.

I swallowed the impolite thoughts invading my head and said, “I think you better get out of that before my Mom sees you.”

A waft of cold air tickled the back of my neck. “That’s good advice, but it’s a little too late,” Mom said from right behind me.

When Becky Came, Part 06

Diana’s attention was focused on a customer at the register and I took the opportunity to stare. Becky had the bad manners to notice and the good manners not to say. I looked away when Diana looked up and spotted me amongst the racks. Becky lifted up a hanger with a couple of red colored threads on it and held it to her chest. She sidestepped to stand in the line of sight between Diana and myself.

Becky shook the hanger causing the threads to flutter in the artificial breeze. “You’re a guy,” she said, “would you like to see me wearing this?”

I blinked trying to refocus my eyes away from Diana’s smiling face just beyond the locks of Becky’s hair. “If you weren’t my cousin,” I said.

Becky cocked her head toward Diana. “Maybe I could get her to try it on for you.”

My face felt a little hotter than normal, but I went ahead with a shrug like I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “Who?”

“You’re shy!” Becky laughed. “That’s so cute.”

I’m not sure which label sounded worse to me. Shy or cute, either way, it was the kiss of death when it came to girls. Fortunately, Becky and not Diana was the one saying it and I had no designs on Becky being anything more than my cousin. If we could be friends that was good and if we were just going to be relatives living together, well I could live with that too. I just didn’t want Diana getting any ideas from Becky’s big mouth.

“I’m just embarrassed for you,” I said. “My Mom ain’t never gonna let you buy that.”

Becky rolled her eyes to the lights above and shook her head. “I got my own money and unlike you, I don’t need Mommy’s permission.”

“Hey Ritchie,” Diana said and I nearly jumped out of my boots having not seen or heard her approach.

I recovered quick enough to nod my head. “Hi,” I said and lowered my gaze from her eyes. It took me a moment to realize I’d lowered my eyes a little too far and was staring where I shouldn’t. My face had the audacity to run a little hot again. I tried to hide it, turning my attention more toward Becky. “You ain’t met my cousin, Becky, have you?”

Diana turned away from me after a lingering look at the side of my face and held a hand out to Becky. “I’m Diana.”

Becky nodded. “So tell me, Ritchie is rather noncommittal, is this going to be a good look for me.” She turned flat toward Diana and waved the red strings in front of herself.

Diana looked her up and down for a moment. “Well, you’ve got the curves to pull it off, but if you’re planning on wearing it locally, you aren’t going to be making many friends.”

Becky shook her head. “You mean the guys will look, but their mothers all got them on short choke chains.”

Diana laughed. “We call that manners, locally.”

Becky rolled her eyes. “In California, we call that whipped.”

Diana laughed a little harder. “If my mother even caught me looking at that, whipped is exactly what I’d be. I guess things are different in California.”

“You could say that,” Becky said. “It’s almost like I’ve traveled back in time to the middle ages.”

Diana nodded. “Except we don’t burn witches anymore.”

Becky smiled at Diana and then turned to me and pointed her finger at my bluejeans. I had a sudden urge to cover my crotch with my hands, but I fought it off and stared at the offending finger instead.

“He’s the real trouble anyway,” Becky said.

“Oh?” Diana asked looking at me.

I shrugged.

“Yeah,” Becky said, “he needs swim trunks for a pool party his mother’s throwing this weekend.”

Diana looked back to Becky. “What’s the occasion?”

Becky modeled herself like a superstar. “Why me of course.”

I said, “My mom wants to introduce her to the neighborhood.”

Becky turned to Diana. “You’ll be there right?”

Diana glanced in my direction. “Well I wasn’t invited, I don’t think.”

“Of course you were,” Becky said, “and if you weren’t by some insane oversight, I’m inviting you now.”

“I don’t want to intrude,” Diana said.

“You won’t be,” Becky said. “You’ll be the only person there that I know other than my dorky cousin.”

I frowned at Becky, but as I fancied the idea of Diana being around, I looked at her and said, “I’m absolutely certain my mother would be delighted if you and your family would come by.”

Becky shook her head at me and stepped next to me, laying her hand on my shoulder. “Yes, I’m sure it’s only your mother who’ll be delighted.”

When Becky Came, Part 05

Come Wednesday, Mom rounded Becky and me up and took us to the mall. Mom had made plans for Saturday and they were the kind of plans that required new bathing suits for the three of us. Apparently, I wasn’t doing a good enough job introducing Becky to the neighbors so Mom was going to do it all at once with a big party in the backyard. Personally, I was just fine with my existing swim trunks, but Mom wasn’t about to have me wearing year old fashion in the pool. She was ashamed enough I still wore jeans from the last summer.

Becky wasn’t too impressed with our local mall. I guess Sears and Montgomery Ward didn’t qualify as department stores in her book, though I still have no idea why. Mom shopped at Sears for everything. I reckon most things in our house came from the shelves of Sears and the few things that didn’t probably came from my grandparents. Now I was smart enough not to ever utter such thoughts in the presence of my Mom. Becky, on the other hand, well she hadn’t been around us long enough right then.

I was in the changing room when the fireworks started. Mom had picked out a pair of trunks for me that must have been something awful by the look on Becky’s face and the single finger she kept inserting into her mouth. Having been around my folks long enough, all my life to that point, I was well aware that if there was going to be an argument the only safe place was on Mom’s side. That’s to say one look from Mom was all it took to get me speeding on my way into the changing room to try the trunks on. Course I could still hear every word between Becky and Mom who argued right outside.

Becky chomped her gum extra loud while she talked. “Do you want him to get beat up?”

“There is nothing wrong with those trunks. They’re cute,” Mom said.

“If you’re sixty,” Becky said. “Powder blue isn’t a man’s color.”

“You’re uncle has a very nice suit in that color,” Mom said.

Becky said, “Yeah and I bet he hasn’t worn it anytime in the last decade.”

“It’s not as if I’m asking you to wear them,” Mom said.

Becky said, “No, you just want me to be seen with my cousin wearing them.”

“Well I didn’t see you picking out anything better,” Mom said.

“We’re in Sears,” Becky said. I could practically see her arms flailing around at the surroundings. “The choices are like catastrophe, disaster, or holocaust. There is no  better in here.”

“I’m sorry our shopping mall doesn’t live up to your California standards,” Mom said and even I could tell she wasn’t sorry in the slightest, “but you’re just going to have to make do.”

Becky said, “You’re not seriously expecting me to find something in here?”

“You’re going to need a swimsuit unless you brought one with you,” Mom said.

“I’d go swimming in my underwear before I’d be caught dead putting on one of those granny suits,” Becky said.

“I own several of those ‘granny’ suits young lady,” Mom said.

“Auntie, let me help you,” Becky said. Her tone was so patronizing, I’m surprised the next sound wasn’t that of Mom’s palm against her cheek. “There must be a real shop in the mall somewhere. I’m certain we can do better.”

I don’t know why, but I chose that moment to step out of the changing room and show off my swim trunks. They did the job, covering my butt and junk, and that’s about as far as I went in caring. Mom however, well I gather she suddenly got Becky’s point cause she started some finger pointing of her own. Only with Mom it wasn’t toward the back of her throat but rather toward the changing room.

“You’re not getting those,” Mom said.

I said, “Okay.”

Becky said, “Thank God.”

I changed back into my clothes and we left Sears for the greater mall. It might have been my first time as all I’d ever shopped in before was the Montgomery Ward and Sears and I’d been to movie theater a time or two as well. There were so many little shops I was pretty much lost within five minutes and without Mom and Becky, I’d probably have ended up at a lost child booth paging them to come get me. Well, maybe not, but it was more than a little dizzying running from shop to shop with two women tugging me along.

Becky finally found the perfect place. It was all about swimwear from the looks of it. The front displays were eerily gold flecked mannequins wearing bikinis and Speedo’s. Mom wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as Becky and I didn’t fancy myself wearing briefs to the pool, but we followed my cousin inside and let her guide us around the racks, until Mom decided she was going to look elsewhere for herself and left us to find what we could find. I had a sneaking feeling I should have left with Mom, but as things turned out, I’m kind of glad I didn’t. Diana Lancaster just happened to work in that store.