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.

When Becky Came, Part 04

Mom wasn’t in any hurry to let poor Becky out of her corner. It was Sunday and on Sundays Mom and Dad had a routine that never changed and focused on doing as little as humanly possible without sprouting roots. That meant, Mom and Dad changed into their casual attire from their Sunday best and planted themselves on the couch in front of the television. Dad liked to watch these matinee programs that were black and white Japanese horror flicks. They usually featured a lizard the size of a skyscraper wreaking havoc while people the size of ants ran for their lives screaming and pointing at the giant lizard. The horror was the English language dubbing that featured total out of sync sound and lip movements.

I had no interest in the shows or sitting in front of the box and I can imagine it was even less interesting only hearing it from the corner behind the box. Mom probably forgot Becky was even there for a little bit cause she was so quiet. I felt pretty bad for my cousin, standing there in her underwear, red butt shining through her white panties and the whole of my family sitting on the couch with her in plain sight. Becky took it well though, not fidgeting, well not any more than you’d expect after standing through an entire one of Dad’s movies, commercials and all. It was during the credits, with the most awful music I’ve ever heard, that Mom finally dismissed Becky from the corner.

Mom put Becky through the usual post corner time wringer. As if anyone who just spent two hours in a corner with a sore bottom is going to come out of it saying anything other than exactly what Mom wanted to hear. Of course the lesson was learned, even if it wasn’t, and no it won’t happen again, until next time, and yes, foolish don’t even start to describe how I feel. Becky looked a lot more familiar in those few moments answering Mom’s absurd questions. I think it was the first time she looked really, truly vulnerable in my eyes. The embarrassed glow on her cheeks just made me feel guilty to boot.

I followed her down the hall, not right away, but about a minute or so later. I didn’t want Mom or Dad thinking I was trying to pester her. Her bedroom door was closed and I could hear sniffles on the other side. I guess she’d been too proud to really cry in front of me and my folks. The sound of it only hardened my resolve though. I raised up my hand and knocked on the door.

Becky shouted through the closed door. “Go away.”

I raised my voice so she could hear me through the door as well. “I feel bad.”

“You should,” she said. Her bed squeaked like she was twisting on the mattress.

“I’m sorry I walked in on you and I’m sorry you got spanked,” I said.

She said, “Being sorry don’t fix nothing.”

I nodded though she couldn’t see. “You’re right. I’ll knock next time, I swear. It really was an accident.”

“There isn’t going to be a next time,” she said.

I hoped she was right. The only thing left for me to do was to try to prove to her I was sincere and the best way to do that was to try and help her put the whole incident, spanking included, behind her. “I’m going to walk down to 7-Eleven and get a Slurpee. Want to come?”

For a moment I thought she wasn’t going to respond. All I could hear was the television and then her bed squeaked. She pulled open the door and I thought maybe I’d been wrong about her crying cause her eyes were clear and her cheeks were dry, but then I saw the box of tissues on her bed. She’d thrown on a summer dress and slipped into a pair of pink flip-flops since I’d last seen her and she was chewing on a fresh piece of grape gum.

“You paying?” she asked.

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be a perfect gentleman for the rest of the day.”

We managed to walk all three blocks to the store without talking about her spanking or my bad manners. She wasn’t much used to the humid air or our hot sun and she was ready to drop by the time we walked inside the air conditioned convenience shop. The place was popular on hot days, specially the Slurpee machine. It was located behind the counter in those days and an underpaid clerk filled the cups. He usually did a better job for the girls and twice as good for the cute ones. And Becky was without a doubt one of the cute ones.

She went with cherry and I had cola flavor. Becky and I walked out laughing and slurping on our overfilled cups. Her lips got extra red real quick as did her tongue and I was so enjoying hanging out with my cousin I almost didn’t notice Diana Lancaster sitting in her car in the parking lot. I stopped laughing and waved at her, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Diana pulled out of the parking lot so fast her tires squealed and a moment later she was gone.

“Who’s the belle?” Becky asked.

I shrugged not wanting to talk about such things with her. “Just somebody from school.”

Becky laughed and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “If she didn’t like you too, she wouldn’t have drove off like that for just seeing you with me.”

I supposed Becky was right. Back then, I wasn’t too good at sorting my own feelings and trying to figure out those of a girl was way out of my capabilities. Seeing Diana take off like that left me thinking she’d never speak to me and even though we’d never had nothing of a relationship, my heart felt a bit heavy at the thought we never would. Lucky for me, things didn’t exactly work out like I expected.

When Becky Came, Part 03

Dad stepped into the living room. His stare locked on me like Becky wasn’t even in the room. When he spoke his voice was quiet and gruff. “What on Earth are you two doing?”

An evil smile rose on Becky’s lips for me as she tried to appear innocent for my folks’ benefit. I tried to ignore her and forced my eyes to look more in Dad’s direction than hers. I said, “I accidentally walked in on Becky in the bathroom and she didn’t take too kindly to it.”

Mom joined Dad, keeping a step behind him and said, “I should certainly think she wouldn’t.”

Becky glanced at my Mom and said, “Back home, my mother would beat his butt til he isn’t so accident prone.”

Dad hooked his thumbs into his belt and asked, “How does one accidentally open a locked door?”

“It wasn’t locked,” I said.

Dad turned to my cousin. “Becky?”

Her smile faded. In fact, her expression turned downright sour. “Well that’s still no excuse for him to go barging through closed doors.”

Mom looked Becky over from head to toe as if she had only just then realized Becky was less than fully dressed. “Didn’t your mother teach you modesty?”

“Of course,” Becky said, trying to shield herself from view with her arms, “but that’s not the point.”

“No, the point is you baited this situation,” Dad said, “and used the opportunity to flaunt yourself, chasing your cousin around the house wearing nothing but your underwear.”

Mom shook her head. “I don’t think either of your parents would approve of this behavior, do you?”

Becky pointed her hairbrush straight at me. “He walked in on me!”

“And if you hadn’t wanted it to happen you probably would have locked the door,” Dad said.

Mom nodded. “At the very least you’d have put some clothes on rather than run around the house in your whites.”

Dad held his hand out to Becky. “Give me that brush.”

I imagine Becky knew what was going to happen right about then. She took a step back from my Dad and hugged her hairbrush to her chest like it was a stuffed bear. Her head shook from side to side and her lips quivered with the protests undoubtedly raging through her thoughts. The really telling part though, was the red flush that decorated her cheeks.

Keeping his hand outstretched, Dad stepped forward. “I’m not going to tell you again, Rebecca Mae. Give me that brush.”

Becky must have figured out she was only going to make matters worse cause she stopped backing away. She put her brush in my Dad’s hand and chewed on her lower lip. Dad grabbed her by the arm and took her to the couch with him. He sat down and she got pulled over his lap. If there was a struggle between them it was only in Becky’s mind.

Dad brought the back of that hairbrush down to meet Becky’s panty covered bottom with about as much force as she’d used when swinging the thing at my head. That’s to say I know it stung about as good as a fire ant bite. My cheek and hand were still tingling with the aftereffects and that made me a bit more sympathetic than I otherwise might have been. The smack of that aqua blue acrylic bouncing off her butt had Mom and I blinking in tune with every spank.

Becky stayed pretty quiet considering. Her legs did some involuntary kicking and I could see her hands squeezed into tight fists that had her knuckles turning white. She let her wet hair fall over her face so I couldn’t much tell if she clenched her jaw or blamed me, but I’m guessing she did both.

It didn’t take long before her panties started to glow pink from below. Dad didn’t count his spanks and neither did I, but I reckon she got a good couple of dozen before he gave the brush a rest on her sore posterior. Becky was squirming real good on his lap and I think she didn’t know he’d stopped for at least a minute after he had. The sting can be like that sometimes.

Dad said, “Now I don’t expect we’ll be doing this often, but the only reason I’m not pulling your panties down this time is because Ritchie is right here watching and this lesson was as much about modesty as anything. That being the case I think it would be counter productive, but if you ever go running around my house in your underwear again, I’ll blister your bare butt in front of God and anyone else who happens to be around. Is that clear?”

Becky’s voice had the sound of suppressed tears. “Yes, sir.”

Dad patted her bottom lightly and helped her up off his lap. “Up you get,” he said and pointed her toward the corner behind the front door. “You can go stand in that corner now and think about what you’re going to do differently to avoid another trip over my knee until your Aunt tells you otherwise.”

Becky didn’t argue. She walked to the corner and planted her nose against it without a backward glance. I guess not everything was as different in Los Angeles as she wanted me to believe. There weren’t no doubt in my mind she’d been in corners before and her bottom had likely been red and redder on occasion as well. That’s just the way things were and we all knew it, even if we didn’t always want to admit it.

When Becky Came, Part 02

A couple days later is when the real trouble began. My folks had gone off to church and I’d slept in until the rising summer heat made it too hot to stay in bed. Now I know it was mostly my fault and I ain’t making excuses, but I was still yawning and wiping sleep from the corners of my eyes when I left my bedroom. I wasn’t much used to sharing spaces having no siblings and I guess what part of me remembered Becky being around just assumed she’d gone off with Mom and Dad to church. The bathroom door wasn’t locked either and it swung right open for me. I stopped in my tracks only a half step inside and if I’d backed out right then and closed the door things might’ve stayed a bit calmer.

Becky stopped wiping a hole in the fog on the mirror and turned her head real slow like in my direction. I was blinking trying to figure out if I was still in bed asleep or if my bathroom really could produce that much steam. It was humid enough on the outside, but in that little room it was thunder storm weather. Becky must have thought I was blinking for different reasons though cause she let out a blood curdling scream that probably could have been heard on the moon.

I took one step back and said, “Sorry.”

She grabbed a towel and draped it in front of herself. It was only then, it’s the truth I swear, that I realized Becky wasn’t wearing anything except bra and panties. If it’d been my intention to catch her like that I’d have at least brought along my Polaroid to capture the moment. Course she didn’t see things quite the same.

“Pervert!” she screamed and grabbed her hairbrush off the counter to wave menacingly in my direction. She took a step toward me and lost her hold on her towel. It fell to the floor between us and she stared down at it looking betrayed while I gawked at her nearly non-existent tan lines. I wasn’t blinking no more until the back of her hairbrush smacked up against the side of my cheek.

“What the,” I said and took another step back, stopping myself short of actually cursing in front of a lady, “heck was that for?”

I’m guessing Becky didn’t have an answer. She raised up her hairbrush and swung it toward me again only I managed to get my hand in the way before it struck my face. The crack of it against the back of my hand echoed in the hallway and left me shaking my hand something fierce. When I saw her raising the brush again, I decided it was time to run. I could have taken it away from her, but I was taught not to raise a hand to a girl and though the situation suggested it might have been an exception to the rule, the wild look in her eyes scared me.

Had I stopped and thought about direction before running, I would have headed straight for my room and barricaded the door, but I was still half asleep and not thinking. I wound up in the living room and Becky stayed right on my heels. Somehow we ended up on opposite sides of the couch and it was just big enough to keep her from hitting me. She moved left, I went right and so on. It was safe enough except she showed no signs of giving up.

“Coward,” she said.

I bristled at the word, but stayed on my safe side of couch. “I said I was sorry.”

“Why don’t you come on over here and my brush will teach you about sorry,” Becky said.

The clock on the shelf behind her told me my folks would be home soon and I knew that wouldn’t be good if we were still in the living room, specially with Becky more undressed than dressed. I imagined Dad would more or less have expected me to have gone blind under the circumstances and try as I might I couldn’t help staring at my cousin.

“Maybe you should go get dressed?” I said.

“What’s the matter?” Becky asked. Her tone had the taunting ring of a playground bully. “Are you afraid your Mom and Dad might find out you’re a Peeping Tom?”

“It was an honest mistake,” I said.

She shook her head. “It’s only honest if you tell the truth.”

Our little dance might still be going on if it weren’t for Mom and Dad coming in the front door. The slam of the door had Becky and I both looking to them and they stopped pretty short on entering the house. Dad’s face got that dark look I knew was never a good sign and Mom couldn’t seem to keep her jaw from dropping. I imagine from their perspective, things had to look pretty bad.

When Becky Came, Part 01

When Becky came into my life on the 5:15 bus out of Houston, I presumed we’d be friends. She flew in from Los Angeles and I’d have picked her up proper from the airport except Dad didn’t want me wasting gas on account of the shortages. It was the early days of summer 1979 and I reckon bus travel wasn’t so bad back then anyhow. Truth to tell, most days I’d have rather taken the bus than drove Dad’s yellow station wagon anyway.

In those days it was good manners to be early and so I was there a waiting a good while before the bus showed. I parked across the street from the stop and got out to lean up against a telephone pole just far enough away from the Mustard Mobile to claim they weren’t my wheels should Diana Lancaster happen by me. It wasn’t as though we’d ever talked, but I was smitten with her just the same and there’d been a rumor running round the last days of school she’d taken to fancying me too.

My thoughts were all about Diana until Becky stepped off that bus. Now I hadn’t seen Becky since we were both barely out of diapers and other than a few pictures my Aunt sometimes slipped into Christmas cards, I didn’t have much of a memory of her. She had the family dark hair and the same nose I shared with my Dad too, so it wasn’t hard to recognize her. Course as she walked across the street toward me in platform white sneakers, I wasn’t looking at her nose or her hair. My eyes were glued to the frayed threads of her cutoff shorts bouncing against her perfectly tanned upper thighs and when they got tired of the threads, her long, bare legs were plenty captivating as well. In hindsight, it’s a good thing Diana wasn’t around that day.

Becky dropped her bag at my feet and strutted over to the passenger door. She blew a giant bubble of grape gum until it popped and then planted a single hand on her hip while fluttering her eyelashes in my direction. “I thought all you cowboys were supposed to be perfect gents?”

The sun blazed down on us from a cloudless blue sky and I was starting to feel faint on account of the heat. I’m sure it had nothing to do with my eyes feasting on the enormous amount of bare tan skin Becky was displaying or the bead of sweat that ran from somewhere beneath her tube top down to her bellybutton. My tongue got a little dry or a little twisted or a lot of both and when I opened my mouth the only thing that came close to coming out was drool.

Becky tossed her hair from side to side and said, “Lord, don’t tell me you’ve never seen a girl before.”

Her words shook me free of my stupor and elicited a touch of embarrassment that threatened to turn my cheeks pink. The feeling gave way to bravado when my muscles flexed to handle the heft of lifting her bag off the ground. Not looking at her, I said, “I’ve seen girls before, but I ain’t never seen one dressed like you.”

She  looked down at her self and then back at me. “What, this? All the girls back home dress this way.”

I shook my head and said, “I’ve got to take a trip to LA.”

Becky wasn’t much conversation on the ride home. She found Dad’s collection of 8 tracks and had the Eagles popped into the player before I could even buckle my seat belt. The windows were rolled down and I’m not sure if Don Henley or Becky was crooning louder while I drove. Either way, Dad was frowning when I pulled into the driveway.

Things might have gone wrong right then and there, but I guess Dad wanted to be fair as possible. After all,  Becky was going to be staying with us for a good long while, attending the University of Houston beginning in the Fall. I imagine she rightly deserved a warning or two before being introduced to our manner of discipline. It might just have been Mom had supper on the table though and was waiting for us inside.

Dad stopped me at the door with Becky already inside and out of earshot. “You best mind your manners and keep your eyes above her neck. She’s your cousin and I won’t have you leering at her no matter how badly she’s dressed. Am I understood?”

I swallowed hard and nodded cause there weren’t no doubt he meant business. “I was going to suggest she change before Mom sees her.”

“Never you mind,” Dad said, patting me on the back and guiding me inside. “Your Mom and I’ll have a chat with her after supper. You just ‘member what I told you.”

I said, “Yes, sir.” And we joined Mom and Becky at the table for dinner.

It weren’t no surprise when after dinner I was sent to put Becky’s bag in the spare room. I offered to unpack for her, but Becky wasn’t too keen on that. Setting her bag on the bed didn’t take much time and Mom had already taken care of the sheets and putting fresh towels in the bathroom so I just loitered around knowing I wasn’t wanted anywhere near the conversation they were having in the kitchen. When Becky finally came to her room, she popped a grape flavored bubble in my face and pushed me outside her door.

She looked at my feet and said, “That’s as close as you get to this room from now on.”

I shrugged. “If you need anything—

“I don’t,” she said and closed the door.