"If that means 'old fashioned', I agree. They're both acting like they're trying to relive the days when you sat in the parlor with family all around and a touch of the hand was exciting. I think it's sweet."
"That's pretty much what they're doing. They apparently found out they were attracted to each other when they were in bed together. Now, they feel that they skipped over a lot and they want to go back and enjoy all the things they missed out on. It's so terribly romantic. Would you believe Jim thought of this?" she asked.
"No! Well, I guess I would. I wouldn't think Neeka would come up with it, but if Jim did, she'd be all for it."
"I don't know how long they plan to keep this up, but please, both of you, don't do anything to spoil the mood for them."
"Oh no! Never in a million years," I said. "This is very special. They know where it's going and they can take all the time they want getting there." We ate in silence for a few minutes, while I thought about Jim discussing his love life with his mother. I decided this was as good a time as any to share.
"Bud, do you want to go first, or should I."
"I will." He said that so quickly that I knew he had been thinking the same thing I had. "Mom, Sam introduced me to a really nice girl."
He went on to explain how much he liked Jolene and how she had a problem that he was helping her with and how I had advised him to be patient and take it slow. Basically, he left out all the interesting details. From the way Bambi listened, I thought this might have been the first time he had ever discussed anything like this with her.
When he got to the part about them watching baseball practice, he ended with, "... and then Sam and Steve joined us and she relaxed enough for us to... ah, get closer."
"Steve?" Bambi looked at me like she knew there was another story to come.
I told her that I met Steve at school and that had we hit it off and how he wanted to date me. In deference to Bud, I left out all the interesting details from my story, too. I went on to tell her about how Steve had this attitude that girls were weak and how I was going to try to get him to see things differently. When I finished, she looked at both of us like she wanted some more information, but since this was more than she probably had ever got before from Bud, she didn't dare press. She did find a way to ask a leading question, though.
"So, is this the same Jolene who's coming over Saturday?"
"One and the same. Oh, I just got off the phone with Connie. She's coming, too. Just in case Bud steals Jolene away from me, we'll still have a foursome."
"Can I at least visit a little?" Bud asked.
"Of course you can," I told him. "If you and Jolene want to run off by yourselves, that's great. But I think you will do better if you let her stay with the group most of the time. She'll feel more at ease and have a better time.
"That's the nice thing about making it an all-night party. There is time enough for everyone to get to visit with everyone else and for everyone to get to do what they like. No one gets left out."
"That works for me," he said. "I like your idea of having sleep-overs. At first I thought it was kid-stuff, but I see your point about having time enough to get to know people. A lot of the parties I've been to sucked, either because they were too rushed or too dependent on everyone liking the same thing. I remember Jeff's bowling party. Jeff and a couple of other guys could bowl, but for the rest of us who stank at it, it was terrible. And we were stuck with it, because they had rented the lanes for the evening."
"Exactly. I don't expect everyone to like to do the same thing. Some of the most fun things are stuff you make up as you go along. Like Mom letting us play dress-up in her clothes. Everyone liked that a lot!"
"I must have slept through that part," Bud said. "If you do that again, wake me up."
"Oh, you like dressing in women's clothing?" I said.
"No, but I like seeing women dressed in sexy clothes. And Mom's are the sexiest."
"Bud! That's the first time you have complimented my wardrobe!" Bambi said.
Bud looked embarrassed for a second, but he looked at me and then back at Mom. He took a deep breath and said, "For the record, I think you and Sam are the sexiest girls I have ever seen. And that includes TV, movies, and those magazines under my mattress. Why do you think I have those things, anyway? If I didn't whack off now and then, I'd be walking around here with a hard-on most of the time."
Bambi and I just looked at each other with our mouths hanging open. It was one of those compliments that are just so sincere and so unexpected that you can't think of anything at all to say. Bud took our silence as an opportunity to get stuff off his chest.
"When we got home, I said you two were more like sisters than real sisters. I've been thinking about that and I think it's the truth. It also makes it easier to talk to both of you if I think of you both as sisters. Mom, you just don't look or act old enough to be a Mom. That's been a big problem for both Jim and me. We've been trying to deal with being turned-on sexually by our mother and that's not an easy thing to live with."
"Bud, would you rather I dressed more conservatively?" Bambi said. She looked a little dazed by what Bud had said, but she wasn't about to abandon the dialog.
"It wouldn't do any good. You'd be just as beautiful and sexy, but overdressed. Anyway, it wouldn't be you. You can't stop being who you are, and we shouldn't ask you to try. Anyway, I was just saying how I had found a way to deal with it that I think will work for me. Unless you have a problem with that?"
"Nooooo! Bud, I'm incredibly flattered that you think I'm beautiful and sexy and you are turned on my looking at me and that you think I look and act young enough to be your sister instead of your mother. It makes me feel wonderful to hear you say that. If you are more comfortable relating to me that way, then that's great. I'm happy that you feel comfortable enough to talk to me like this. What brought this on?"
Bud glanced at me before answering. Bambi followed his gaze. I felt like a third wheel.
"Sam and I were talking on the way home. I feel very comfortable talking to her. She tells me stuff straight out without making me guess what she's thinking. If I say something to piss her off, she says so right then and we work it out right then so nobody goes off mad or anything. She's a great sister and I'm very glad she's a member of this family. She told me what you would think and how you would react when we got here. Then the two of you pulled that routine on me and I realized how alike you are. So if she's a great sister, then maybe you are too, and I've had the wrong attitude all this time."
His chain of logic was so filled with compliments that I had no interest in arguing with it. If Bambi was fixated on his admission that he thought she was beautiful and sexy, then I was equally stuck on his calling me a member of the family. He had struck a chord in both of us that resonated with our fondest dreams.
After supper, we were cleaning up so we could go downstairs and relax in front of the Tube, when the phone rang. Bambi answered it with an expression that said if it were a telemarketer, they would be getting an earful. Her scowl turned into a smile a few seconds later and she held out the phone to me with her hand over the mouthpiece.
"It's Joey Valdes," she said. "He said you were expecting him to call."
I nodded and took the phone and waited while Bambi and Bud left the room. I pulled over a stool and sat down to talk.
"Hi, Joey! How are you?"
"Hi, uh, Sam. I'm OK. Did Bud tell you I would call?"
"He sure did."
"Well, he said it was OK. He said you were someone I could talk to. Someone I could trust."
"Joey, anything you tell me stays between us. I swear. If you want help, I promise to help. If you want advice, I will give you the best advice I can. If you just need someone to talk to, I will just listen, OK?"