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Chapter
1
My cousin Pamela and
I were close. We were close in age, we were close in physical appearance,
and we even lived close geographically. We developed a special bond
that was stronger than between sisters --perhaps even stronger than
between twins. We shared secrets and one would know what the other
was thinking without ever having to ask. Wherever one was, so was
the other. Whatever one did, so did the other.
Both of us had pain-in-the-neck
kid brothers (or at least they seemed so to us at our sophisticated
15 years of age), but we by and large got along with them. We had
an almost good-natured contest with them. They'd try to tattle on
us almost every opportunity they got, and we'd threaten to spank
them the next time we'd baby-sit for them. Not that it ever came
to that. I really had no interest in paddling the behind of my 10-year-old
brother, Thomas, or my cousin, Jason. Nonetheless, the boys seemed
genuinely concerned that we might actually carry out our threats
one day.
Our parents weren't
particularly strict, but they applied discipline when necessary.
I remember being sent home from Aunt Marilyn's so Pam or Jason could
be punished. I remember hearing the slaps from the other side of
the bedroom door when Tom got a spanking. I remember especially,
my own turns over my father's knee. So, none of us children were
strangers to corporal punishment, and I never thought of spanking
as something erotic until the event with Uncle Dan.
Uncle Dan was my mother's
brother, and a great deal younger than either my mom or my aunt.
He was also a great deal older than Pam or I -- 20. He was also
a hunk. I really had a crush on him, and I think Pam did too. Not
only was he good looking, but he always treated us girls nicely.
He'd take us for rides in his new car, drive us to the mall, treat
us to ice cream, and help us with our homework. He also treated
us with respect and made us feel grown up and womanly.
-=o=-
Pam laid on her stomach
on my bed and looked at me as I packed my clothes. "Jill, make sure
you pack all your bathing suits. They say the weather's really going
to be hot."
I looked back at her.
"Jeeze, Pam, our folks are only going to be away two weeks. Besides,
we can always come back and pick up whatever I need."
"This is going to be
so neat," my cousin continued, "a two-week long sleepover while
our folks are on a cruise to Alaska. Too bad we can't get rid of
our brothers that easily."
"Yeah, I know what you
mean. I think it would be fun to spend time with Uncle Dan on our
own."
"I nearly flipped when
my mom told me," Pam said. "I couldn't believe it. Two whole weeks!"
We went on to talk about
all the things we would do during the two weeks: shopping trips,
swimming and sunning by the pool, meeting boys at the mall, sharing
each other's clothes, and hardly sleeping a wink for the entire
336 hours.
We loved our parents
dearly, but we couldn't wait to see them go. It seemed like my mom
and my aunt were never going to stop giving Uncle Dan advice. "The
number for the doctor is on the refrigerator door ... Are you sure
you know where the gas shut-off is? ... I hope we left you enough
money, don't bother cooking, eat out or have pizza ..." The driver
of the airport limousine service was honking his horn. My mom was
reluctantly dragged out of the house by my dad. From the walkway
I heard her voice, "And don't let any of them give you any trouble.
Spank them if you have to!"
"Great!" I thought,
"now the whole neighborhood knows." I really felt embarrassed and
planned not to show my face outside for the rest of the day.
-=o=-
Whenever Pam or I were
by ourselves, we seemed to be able to behave. Whenever we got together,
there was always trouble. It just seemed that alone we were OK,
but together, we were nitro and glycerin. And so it proved to be
on this occasion.
"Look what I got," Pam
whispered to me in the privacy of her bedroom.
I watched as she retrieved
the item of interest out of her jewelry box. It looked somewhat
like a cigarette, but had tapered ends. I thought I knew what it
was. "WOW," was what I said, "where did you get that?"
"This girl I know at
school, she's one of Ginny's friends." She hesitated, "Do you want
to do it?"
I knew exactly what
"it" she was talking about. I would have never considered doing
this on my own, and I know that Pam wouldn't either, yet the both
of us each gave the other courage. "Yeah," was about all I could
manage to say.
Pam produced a lighter
from her jeans pocket. She looked at me. "Mom leaves them all over
the place. She's constantly asking me where she left them." She
put the joint in her lips and lit up.
Both of us tried cigarettes
a couple of years before. It was cool, but really wasn't worth it.
This was something entirely different.. Pam inhaled and held her
breath as she passed it over to me. I did the same. We looked at
each other. Pam was the first to break, she coughed and hacked on
the smoke. That was too much for me; I tried to stifle a laugh and
wound up choking myself.
We repeated the ritual,
sometimes coughing, sometimes not, until the joint was down to a
tiny stub. By this time I had a hard time concentrating and all
I could really remember is giggling uncontrollably. Pam was trying
to "shush" me, "Stop it! Uncle Dan will hear!," and then she broke
up laughing herself.
Uncle Dan did hear.
He knocked on the door. "What are you girls doing in there?" he
demanded. This, of course, caused a flurry of activity on our side
of the door. my uncle didn't wait any longer, he pushed the door
open and burst into the room.
Time stopped. I expected
an outburst from my uncle ... nothing ... then he calmly said. "Put
that thing out, and give it to me. Open up the window and let this
place air out. Go wash yourselves up. I'll see you downstairs."
-=o=-
My stomach was turning
flip-flops. I don't know if it was from the dizziness of the drug
or from the anticipation of the unknown. All I knew is that I was
in a highly excited state. I almost felt like I had to pee, yet
didn't have that full-bladder sensation.
Pam and I both swallowed
hard as we left her room and marched down the steps to meet our
doom. Uncle Dan was sitting in the easy chair. My brother and other
cousin were on the couch looking scared. There were two straight-backed
chairs in the center of the room. Dan motioned to them.
"Sit there," he commanded.
Gone was the gentle and friendly tone in his voice. "You girls are
in a lot of trouble. Do you have any idea of how what you did could
get us all in trouble?" He asked rhetorically.
His voice grew sterner
and louder as he fell into a sonorous, lecturing pace.
"First, it's illegal.
You could have gotten us all arrested. I don't know about you, but
I don't like the idea of spending time in jail."
I remember thinking,
"They don't throw people in jail just for smoking pot ... do they?"
"Next, what are your
parents going to think?" Shaking a finger at me, he continued, "You
know how upset your mom gets when your dad gets drink. He's of age.
Alcohol is legal. You're playing with some very dangerous stuff
here, and you don't know what it's going to do to you. You're going
to be grounded well into the next century."
"And why did you do
this to ME? Your folks put me in charge of you because they trust
me. Now you go and pull at stunt like THIS! I thought you liked
me. I thought you had respect for me."
This one really did
hit home. I loved Uncle Dan. Both of us did. We didn't want to get
him in trouble. I felt so ashamed of myself.
"How could such smart
girls do something so stupid? Didn't you think you'd get caught?
That smell hangs around for hours."
"Finally, what kind
of example are you setting for the boys? You're their older sisters.
They look up to you. They are going to want to do what you've done.
I can't let that happen. What you have done was not only wrong --
and you know it was wrong -- it was irresponsible. You know that
you're going to have to be punished for this."
He looked at us in silence
and let those last words sink in. The air conditioning in the room
was working perfectly, yet I could feel the sweat trickling down
my back.
"You girls have got
to be taught a lesson. Not just for yourselves, but also for the
sake of your brothers. They have to learn too, that every bad act
has its consequences."
He looked over to Tom
and Jason and pointed an unwavering finger at them. "And you," he
continued sternly, "are to watch and learn. This lesson is strictly
between the five of us. Not a word to anyone. Not even your parents.
One word in the wrong place, and you'll get the same. Do I make
myself clear?"
I could catch our kid
brothers in the corner of my eye. They both wore a scared expression,
and couldn't even respond verbally. All they could do is nod. I
didn't blame them. I never saw Uncle Dan like this before.
-=o=-
Uncle Dan turned his
anger towards Pam and me. He got up and paced around our chairs.
"First of all, I want an apology for getting us all in trouble."
Both of us remained silent in our fear. Dan continued his pacing.
He stopped suddenly in front of Pam and bent over and put his face
about an inch in front of hers. He let out a breath with a scowl
but didn't say a word. Pam burst into tears.
That was enough for
me. I started crying too. I felt like I had something the size of
my fist bobbing up and down in my throat. I wanted to run away and
hide. I wanted to be anywhere else, but not there. Yet I felt like
a bird facing an approaching snake. My heart was racing with fear,
but I could feel that my limbs were unable to move.
Uncle Dan moved his
glare from Pam to me. I felt my stomach turn, and thought I was
going to be sick. I tried to look at his face. I always thought
it was a handsome face, but today, at this moment, it was the face
of someone determined to bring me to judgment. I turned my head
away.
He grabbed my chin,
and gently but firmly, turned my head to face him. "I'm waiting,"
he said calmly but menacingly.
"Oh! Uncle Dan, I'm
s-sorry." I gushed and sobbed. I wanted to reach out and hug him,
but I was afraid that it wasn't appropriate. "I promise I won't
do it again."
"You're absolutely right,
you won't. I'll see to that. You may also never sit down again either.
At least you won't sit down ever again and not think about what's
going to happen here."
Uncle Dan turned back
to Pam and got the same sobbing confession out of her.
He stood before us,
hands on hips, looking down on us. "I want to make absolutely sure
you understand why you are being punished. Pam, suppose you tell
us all what you did wrong."
Pam began haltingly,
"We smoked some pot."
"And why is that wrong?"
"It's against the law?"
she ventured
"True, and what else?"
"We got you in trouble."
"True again. And do
you like the idea of getting me in trouble."
"Oh, no!" she offered
eagerly.
"Then how do you fell
about getting me in trouble."
"I don't know uncle.
I didn't want to get you in trouble. I just wasn't thinking."
"So, should we add stupidity
to the list of your crimes?"
Pam just bowed her head
and couldn't answer.
"And you." he said,
spinning to me. I've heard of the third degree before. I wondered
if it was like this.
"What else? What else
did you girls do that was wrong.?"
"We set a bad example
for the boys."
"That's right. And how
do you feel about that?"
"I don't know."
He burst out in a rare
outbreak, raising his voice, waving his arms, and pointing accusingly.
"You don't know, and she wasn't thinking! What a fine pair you make."
He turned to his audience. "And you look up to THEM? Do you want
to wind up like this?"
Again the scared shaking
of the heads from the kid brothers.
"Good," he exclaimed,
"and now I'll give you another reason why you shouldn't."
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