No one could understand Candy Copeland's reasoning. Why in the hell was the Straight-A scholarship student, who could have chosen virtually any university or college she wanted to attend, anywhere in the world, going to the Memphis College of Art? After 18 years of being the dutiful daughter and doing whatever her parents wanted, Candy was going to use her own mind and follow her own dreams. She had earned a lot of money by playing with the all-girl cover band she had joined when she was 14. Candy knew she had talent. She could play 5 different instruments with the skill of a virtuoso. Her teachers had labeled her as such by the age of 10. She was also blessed with the voice of an angel, even if the looks weren't there at that age. By the time that the blonde girl was 14, the looks were catching up to the talent. Now she was as pretty as any music superstar, be they Britney Spears, Faith Hill or Taylor Swift. Candy had the talent to sing almost anything. She could sing a torch song as well as Julie London, which always made her father smile. How many 15-year olds knew who Julie London was? His daughter did. She could sing the girl-group tunes with her bandmates, be they the Ronettes, the Crystals or someone more contemporary like the GoGos or the Bangles. Candy had an ear that almost matched her proficiency with instruments. She only had to hear a song a few times and she had it down cold. Had she been born before Beyonce, she might well have eclipsed the Diva's career. Candy didn't care about being a huge star. She performed for the sheer passion of it. When she was singing a song she loved or playing something that inspired her, the young blonde could feel it welling up inside of her until it had to come out. She was an artist. "You're not meant to be an office grunt like me, baby," Steve Copeland would say to his daughter, giving her a daily hug. "You're meant for bigger and better things and I'll do anything in my power to help you along."
There was only one person in the whole world that Candy loved unreservedly and that was her Daddy. Candy was an only child; her mother couldn't have any more children. Steve Copeland considered his bright, energetic, effervescent child his blessing and he told her that every day. Candy wondered at times if her mother was jealous of her. From an early age, she could sense that more of her father's time was devoted to his daughter's well-being.
Candy loved her mom, but it wasn't easy, for Donna Copeland was a complex woman. She was a woman who was into Eastern philosophy and many esoteric things. She wasn't an artist like her daughter or a practical, management type like her husband. Donna was a woman who was constantly thinking and questioning and she seemed to chafe at times at the demands of a husband and daughter. Not only could Candy sing so well that the birds would be charmed from the trees, but by the time she was 12, she could cook and clean. Oft times, Donna would be found in their den with her nose in a book. She would have lost all track of time. Steve didn't fight with his wife because he did love her. They had just drifted in opposite directions. She didn't mean to be selfish, Donna could just be flighty. Sometimes, Candy and her daddy would just leave Donna alone with her thoughts and eat dinner together. Candy's mom would drift into the kitchen around 9 PM, hunger having got the better of her and found something already prepared, a note sitting beside it. These were the times that she was grateful her daughter had a good heart. She would have gone hungry and her marriage would surely have crumbled.
Some of their neighbors wondered what kept the Copeland marriage together. Sometimes it was the challenge. Steve wasn't an intellectual like his wife or an artist, like his daughter. What he had going for him was the athletic build that had served him through high school, when he first met the brunette cheerleader who would later become his wife. He had yet to let it slip, even now that he was edging towards 40. The Copelands were a very physical couple. Sex was a major factor in their marriage and they constantly had fun trying to wear each other out. If she had ever suggested it, Steve would have been very willing to give swinging a chance. He had remarkable stamina, yet his wife neared the sexual appetites of a nymphomaniac. Sometimes when he left for work in the morning, he felt as tired and sore as he had in his football playing days.
It puzzled Steve at times why his wife acted the way she did around their daughter. Candy was tall and beautiful and wore clothes well. She earned a lot more money than her friends did working in doughnut shops or as grocery store cashiers. She bought all of her own clothes and wasn't afraid to be sexy.
Donna Copeland had her reasons, irrational as they might seem to someone else. She did not want Candy flaunting her body and getting a reputation as a slut. Before meeting the man who turned her around, Donna herself had been a very wild child. Steve neither asked nor cared and it was not a future Donna wanted for their girl as she grew older and more vivacious.
Candy loved being a girl. Short skirts, elegant dresses, spa days and heels, she lived for luxury and girlish pleasures. In a few years, the girl would be a force to be reckoned with. She had an indomitable spirit and with Steven supporting their daughter, Donna knew she would be losing more and more battles until inevitably losing the war. Donna started worrying more than was healthy for her. No matter how many ways Steve would try to placate his wife, she feared Candy's showbiz aspirations would lead her down a path of ruination.
Steve and Candy would sigh together. Both could see that there was now enough drama in their household for a TV soap opera. Candy was breezing through school with terrific grades, lots of friends and she and her band were booked nearly every weekend. Candy's sensible father acted as her financial guru and as her manager. She and the band insisted on giving her daddy 10% and he didn't fight them on it. The 5-girl band charged up to a thousand dollars a performance and more if they had to play out of town. One two-day gig netted them a cool $2500.
Candy was chafing at the restrictive reins her mother was placing her under. Sooner or later, they were going to come to loggerheads. A summer visit from her cousin gave Candy the out she desperately needed.
"Y'all should come live with me in Memphis," Georgia told her cousin, her Southern drawl sounding loud and clear. "We have a good music school there and my apartment is huge. You'd be livin' with family and y'all could come and go as you pleased. I bet with your talent, you could get work as a session musician so you could support yourself."
That suggestion went over like a lead balloon with Donna. To Steve and his daughter, it seemed like the perfect solution. Candy would still be pursuing her education, but away from Donna and her constant negative opinions. Candy would be able to spread her wings and perhaps become the person she was meant to be. Candy herself had other reasons.
She adored her sweet and sexy cousin Georgia. She found the tall, leggy brunette to be what the poets would have called a "blithe spirit". She was a lovely young woman wore a perpetual smile and any negativity her uncle's wife threw in her direction was shrugged off like water on a duck's back. Georgia's mother and Donna were not close. At times, Candy almost thought it seemed like her aunt and her mom were in competition for her daddy's affections, which was ridiculous. Anyone with eyes could see that Steve loved his wife and daughter very much.
"I think I'd like that, Daddy," Candy said to her father. "Sooner or later, a bird has to fly from the nest. Besides, it might give you and mother a chance to put the spark back in your love life," she said, giving her daddy a playful nudge.
There was an underlying reason that Candy chose not to reveal to her family. In her room the previous evening, Georgia had told her what she could look forward to. "If y'all want to have a bit of fun while you're staying with me, I know a lot of sexy guys that would flip over a little bit of honey like you," she said to her cousin. "Or some pretty girls, if that's how y'all play the game."
"Girls?!"
Candy gasped. "I've never even thought about it; don't tell me that you have?"
"Darlin', I've more than
thought
about it," Georgia said, her smile coming as easily as her drawl. "I have a lot of fun and don't deny myself anything that feels good. Girls feel good and smell good and we're so creative in bed. Shugah, y'all can do whatever you want while you're livin' with me and these lips will stay sealed."
"What about Aunt Paige? Surely word must get back to her?" Candy asked.
"Don't y'all worry about Momma," Georgia smiled brightly as she got undressed and readied for bed. With the moonlight streaming in behind her, it was easy for Candy to see the slender beauty of her cousin's body.
She could have modeled for magazines
