Loud and Clear!

As we walked around the yard discussing the tasks that Aunt Judy was looking to have done, I saw that there was a blond girl around my age who I never saw before striding into the house next door. Aunt Judy noticed my looking at her and mentioned that the house next door was recently sold and new neighbors moved in at the end of June.

"You know she has a boyfriend."

"Not hard to believe, she seems confident and smart, plus she looks pretty, would be hard to ignore her in a room."

"How can you tell that without talking to or spending time with her?"

"I have had a knack for figuring out people and situations. I can glean a lot from first impressions and have rarely been wrong. My accuracy gets better with each passing day."

Funny how people look at me strangely after I say certain things. I also wonder why Aunt Judy pointed out the existence of a boyfriend. Is she trying to protect me? Nevertheless, I will be looking to talk to that girl next door and find out if she has a real boyfriend, amongst other things. Maybe I can wrangle one of those summertime romances while on my forced vacation?

We finish up the planning process and have a roadmap for the week of garden work. The trees and planting materials were already delivered. First thing was to mow the lawn on Monday, then start on planting prep. It was getting towards evening.

"Why don't we head in and get dinner going."

"I should take a shower before I mess up your furniture while eating dinner."

"Sounds good, you can use the kid's bathroom, I have you set up in Keith's old room. I will take a shower too."

"Thanks for setting up the room for me to use."

Aunt Judy and Uncle Horace had the typical boy and girl, who both left home. Keith was the last to graduate from college. So the house is empty most of the time, convenient for hosting visitors such as myself.

I lock doors whenever I use a bathroom, no matter where I am, even if I am alone. Of course I was rattled when I heard an attempt at the doorknob. What the heck? It must be obvious that I am in the shower. Was it someone other than Aunt Judy? Well, the doorknob was tried once again and then was left alone. Once I was satisfied that things were stable, I finished up in the bathroom as fast as I could.

I was alone downstairs for a bit after I got dressed. Aunt Judy finally showed up, and looked a bit flustered.

"Rodger, I needed to get something out of the bathroom while you were taking your shower and found the door locked."

"Yeah Aunt Judy, that is normally what one does when they go into the bathroom."

"That is not necessary in this house, Rodger. We normally do not lock doors except the exterior ones at night."

"Gee Aunt Judy, that is the first time I heard that rule. Then again, locking the door accomplished its purpose, as I was using the bathroom, and having the door locked prevented you from walking in on me while I was naked."

"I only needed to get a towel for myself, that is where I keep them. I would not have bothered you and I am sure I would not have seen anything I did not see before."

"Really? When was the last time you saw me naked? I do not recall any recent sightings?"

"You are right, I have not seen you naked since you were a young boy. But I have seen men naked before, so it would be no big deal to me."

This is getting weird again, how did we get to talk about naked men?

"Well, that may be fine for you and Uncle Horace, but I am not a nudist or a show-off, so please bear with me and leave me my modesty."

"Rodger, you need to lose some of your inhibitions. You are definitely uptight about yourself and interrelating with people. I see that even in your dealings with your own family."

"Alright Aunt Judy, this conversation is getting heavy. I thought I was on vacation. Want me to help you with dinner?"

So I help my aunt with getting dinner ready, which was her doing the cooking and my setting the table. After we ate, Aunt Judy got the cards out and we sat down to play Gin Rummy. We played many rounds of cards. As the evening progressed, I noticed that the amount of innuendo is slowly increasing and finds us back to the girlfriend topic.

". . . more than one girlfriend? No way, one at a time is enough for me. At the rate I am going, I will be lucky to find the one love of my life."

"There is nothing wrong with more than one girlfriend."

"Maybe for someone else, but that is not me. Hmmm, maybe I am as selfish as my mother, just in a different way?"

"Your mother is not selfish!"

"You should live with her, you might find out something else. Everything she does is aimed towards her own satisfaction. On the other hand, I do not see how I could interact with two women on equal time, nor meet one woman's needs while tending to another. That is a conflict of interest that I have no desire to enter into. In a sense, sticking to one woman is a requirement to maintain my sanity. Am I being selfish in 'denying' my companionship to other girls if I stick to just one girlfriend?

"That is a self protection argument, but is to be expected as everyone starts off self-centered, in that self protection is innate to every person. What you are missing out on is sharing. That seems to be something that is learned and you still need to."

"Did we just fall into a discussion of altruism? We start off our lives as selfish egotistical people and then acquire the ability to care about others and obtain empathy? At least I think I consider others when I act. Others have recognized when I offer a helping hand and do things for other people, sometimes as a sacrifice to myself. That does not sound selfish. And I do not see my mom acting that way, least of all providing any sacrifices."

"Sounds like you are talking about Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs'?"

"So this philosophy has a name?"

"I think they all have a name. But aren't you just confusing altruism with naivety? Yes, you do like to share and help others, but some of your altruistic-seeming traits are based on your naivety. For some reason you do not recognize people's intentions. You react to things inappropriately or unexpectedly. Often that makes you come off as being a nice guy."

"But I thought I was a nice guy?"

"Yes, Rodger, you are definitely nicer than a lot of other boys, more mature for your age. Still, you need to be aware of the times when you are not sensing a situation properly. I think people take advantage of your naivety when they can."

That does not compute! Here I think I see things others do not and my Aunt tells me there are things I am not aware of!

"You are an open book, everyone can see what is in your mind."

"That's plausible, as I do not like to do things where I purposely hide the facts, such as playing poker. I also do not like people that hide things for personal gain. I dump hypocrites in the same pile."

"Being judgmental, are we?"

"When was I not? Still, does that say I cannot hide things, that I cannot play poker? I am doing that out of choice. I elected not to train myself to be sneaky and hide things, based on what I saw happen between others, my parents being the biggest example. So, no, I see no need to sneak and hide and have avoided it so far. Successfully I might add."

"Still does not explain why you do not share."

"I am having a hard time with that. I feel that I do share. However, I also feel there are matters that are personal and not to be shared."

"Sounds to me like you are hiding after all?"

"Oh, you got me there, I have to think that one through. ... Could it be that some people share better than others, maybe they learned to share better? But does that mean we are required to share, to share everything, in order to get to Maslow's top level? If Maslow was about happiness, then if sharing makes me unhappy, then it cannot be possible that I must share everything. So that should permit me to keep personal matters to myself - no need to share everything, even if you think otherwise!"

"Now you are getting stubborn."

"Only if you feel so, but I think you need to think that through, nothing to do with stubbornness. This conversation has tired me out, I am heading off to bed."

----------------

I was tired and happily slept the night away without any interruption. Noises outside the doorway altered me to the fact that it was morning. After a pit stop I made my way down to the kitchen where breakfast preparations were underway.

Aunt Judy was moving about, and I noticed that her robe was not closed. I could see her flat tits as plain as day, hanging like plumb bobs.

At least I do not drop anything this time, but use her hint from yesterday's garage experience.

"Aunt Judy, you did it again! You know your robe is not closed all the way, you are showing!"

"Sorry Rodger, it unraveled as I was cooking. Did not think it was a problem."

"It is distracting, rather best to keep it closed."

"If you say so. I wonder, if the girl next door were standing here with her robe undone, would you ask her to close it?"

"Depends. I would take a good look before saying anything. Then, depending on the situation, I might ask her to close it, or maybe even take it off all the way."

"So why do you not ask me to take mine off all the way?"

I take a good look at my aunt, but I am looking straight into her eyes.

"You are not the girl next door, you are my aunt!" You should not be walking around like a hussy! What is going on here?"

"Rodger! I am not a hussy! I told you before that you are not a child anymore, but I guess you still want to be treated like one!"

With that Aunt Judy tied up her robe and went back to cooking.

"Sorry I do not come across as an adult. No one left me an instruction guide on what to do when you hit 18 years old, so obviously I am missing out on a few steps.

With that I walked out of the kitchen and went outside for a breather.

----------------

Aunt Judy says she needs to go into town to do some shopping. I get started on the mowing while it was not too hot. Not too hard to figure out the mower and how to work it, so off I go and cut down the grass.

After a couple of laps the girl next door appears. When I swing by on the next loop I wave to her and she walks up to the wood fence between the properties. I stop the mower and say:

"Hello! My name is Rodger."

"Hi! My name is Cathy. I saw you yesterday."

"I saw you too, but my aunt had me tied up, I could not even step away to say hi. My aunt did tell me later that you recently moved in."

"So you are related to her?"

"Not really. Aunt Judy and her husband are close friends of my parents, and I have called them Aunt & Uncle all my life. They are not related to me, but they are the only relatives I have. I have been visiting this house as long as I can remember, but only get to visit every so often. At least once in the summer I will stay for a week or so."

"So what brought you to move in next to my aunt?"

"My parents wanted to get a ranch house in a development. They liked this one the best and we moved in at the end of last month."

"Are you still in school?"

"Yep, will be a senior next semester."

"Wow, your parents moved you right before you graduate high school?"

"Same school, silly! We already live in Glen Cove, just in town. They wanted to have a house with a yard to mow."

"I dunno about that. Mowing looks like work with small benefit. I feel like a farmer harvesting a crop. Yet if you do not harvest it every week, then your property looks like crap, so you have to harvest all growing season long, or find someone to do it for you. Like me. Worst thing is, this harvest has no value. The benefits are solely aesthetic."

Oh oh, Cathy gives me the look, hope I did not lose her already. What is this, I say something and people look at me like I'm from another planet?

"Something tells me you do not live around here?"

"Nope, I live in Queens, in an apartment surrounded mostly by concrete, and the super mows what little green there is. Us tenants do not get involved in that."

"Does your aunt have you work every time you visit?"

"I never did any planned work here before, so this year is different. I was not even planning to be here at all this summer. I started a new job after graduation and wanted to put in as many hours as I could before I start college this fall. But my mom did not pay attention and set up the annual vacation for me this year. And not even a nice, relaxing vacation, rather a working vacation. They have me doing yard work this year. My aunt wants some trees planted this year and I was picked to do it. I had to ask off from my new job to be here this week. How about you, do you have a summer job?"

"Yes I do. It's not much, but I work at the grocery store in the evenings, filling in when the mothers need to head home."

Cathy ponders for a few moments, looks like she is hesitating, so I wait for her to continue.

"You know, when I saw you yesterday, I thought you were just another one of her visitors. You are the first guy I have seen here to do more than just walk in and out of her house. The others just come and go, so I have never met any of them."

"I have no idea about my aunt getting lots of visitors?"

"They are teenage boys much like yourself. I have seen at least three different guys. But we have heard more than that, so we probably have not seen them all."

"Heard?"

"Yeah, your aunt does not always close her windows. Then she is very noisy in bed!"

"Noisy in bed? And you hear this?"

"Yeah, she is very loud and you can tell she is screwing around with the boys!"

"You're kidding!?! You're telling me she has different boys come visit her, and she is cheating on her husband with them, and she is not hiding this from the neighbors!?!"

"That's pretty much it. Except I do not think it is cheating?"

"Why would you say that? She is married, so if she is in bed with these guys, that sounds like she is cheating on my Uncle Horace."

"Only during the day is she by herself with the boys. Sounds like when the guys stay overnight, your uncle is in there with them."

"Oh man! You gotta be pulling my leg! My uncle would let my aunt screw around with other guys. Plus be in the room at the same time with them?"

"Sounds like he is an active participant."

"He is noisy too?"

"Your aunt uses his name, along with the other boys, not that they are quiet themselves."

"Uncle Horace does this at the same time with the guys?"

"Yeah, like a menage a trois."

"What's that?"

"I see you do not get around much. That is when a woman is having sex with two men at the same time. That would be in your Aunt's case. Same phrase works for sex between one man and two women also."

"Simultaneously?"

"Yes!" Cathy chuckles at that one.

"This is too much to take."

"Plus I think your uncle likes the guys too!"

"No way!!! My uncle is a faggot?"

"Whoa! That was vicious! I gather you are not a fan of gay men?"

"No way - a disgusting thought to me! Uncle Horace never came across as gay. At least he never bothered me, plus I never saw him act like Liberace. The only guy I ever saw him be pals with is my dad."

Oh God, that hit hard! Cathy sees my face change, as I put two and two together.

"I am so sorry to have brought this up. We are very curious as to your aunt's behavior and since she was so open about her activities, I thought they were common knowledge. I see now that this is news to you, even appalling news. I wish I never told you!"

"I am glad you told me. My parents, along with Aunt Judy, have been acting really weird around me of late. Your story sheds light on some of that behavior. You gave me plenty to think about, and I am grateful you did tell me."

A noise in the driveway alerted to us that my aunt returned from shopping.

"Well, my aunt is back now. And I only have two loops of mowing to show for the time she was away. Guess 'Farmer Rodger' better get back to work, else he will get fired."

I winked after that last line.

"OK, see you around. Maybe we can talk again sometime."

"Will see, my aunt acted funny yesterday when I asked about you. And here she comes now. Bye!"

"Well Rodger, I do not see much progress in the mowing department."

"Cathy came out while I was mowing, and we got to talking. I will finish up now."

"Nice that you had a chance to talk to her. I will go put the groceries away and let you finish up. I would not wait much longer. The sun will be higher and make it hotter for you to get the job done."

She had a strange look on her face when she spoke, could not make that one out. Did not sound like she really liked it that I spoke to Cathy. Well, here I had a chance to talk to Cathy, but instead of me getting to know her better, she ended up using me to get the latest gossip. I did not even get to find out if she really had a boyfriend or not.

I had to agree that it was getting hotter. Even so, I took my time mowing, as it gave me time to digest what Cathy told me about my aunt and uncle. I am not even here for 24 hours and I have had more talk about sex and adult themes than I have had in the past ten years. My aunt acting like a cheater, but my uncle was in on it? That made no sense. Then my uncle could be gay, and now I have to wonder about my dad? Bad enough my aunt and uncle were sexually crazy, but my parents too? If that was the case, they did a great job of hiding it. Then why is Aunt Judy no longer hiding it, not only from her neighbors, but also not from me?

My aunt was looking at me through the living room window every once in awhile, so I went back to normal speed, got the job done and put the mower away.

So now what? Well I am sweating like a pig, so I ask Aunt Judy what is next to be done.

"It is too hot for us to work outside until this afternoon when the sun is behind the house. I will get lunch ready while you get a shower.

"OK, sounds good to me."

So I head off to clean myself. No way I will leave any door unlocked in Aunt Judy's house, not after that talk with Cathy. Wouldn't you know it, once I am in the shower, the doorknob is tried again. My aunt has got to be kidding me. But this time she uses a screwdriver to open door while I am in shower. Oh boy, no pretenses, she walks in naked.

I freak out.

"What are you doing here!?! Leave me alone!"

"Why are you acting like that? After shopping I needed a shower too. I thought we could do it together to save hot water and I can wash your back for you."

"I take my showers alone - no witnesses allowed!"

"You need to grow up Rodger."

"You need to leave! I do not want you here, and if you do not leave, I wall throw you out myself!"

I was getting angrier with each passing second she stayed in the bathroom. I think that my aunt could finally sense that she ticked me off big time. So she stood for a few more seconds and then left the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Well, that was it for me. I did not feel safe in my aunt's house anymore, so I made up my mind to leave for home. I would pack my things up right after my shower, no reason to stay any longer.

I am in the Keith's room collecting my things and stuffing them into my backpack. My aunt enters the room and sees me packing. Maybe she got the message as she is dressed in street clothes now.

"Going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I have had enough, it is time for me to head back home!"

"What about the trees?"

"Have your husband pay a landscape company to plant them, no need for me to do it. Or you can do it yourself. Then again, you seem to have plenty of visitors coming by that could do it for you?"

She looked at me and realized I found something out.

"So your girlfriend told you some stories?"

"Not my girlfriend, you already told me she had a boyfriend."

"I have no idea, I never spoke to her."