The phone rang, it was my mother, Lynette, I sensed there was something bothering, there was no hello, she just blurted out the news.
'Gary, your dad had a minor accident on his head three months ago.'
'Yes, three months ago, you sound as though it's urgent.'
'Well, it's turned into something major, it's like he's got a form of dementia, not Alzheimer's but something similar, his new wife can't cope with him, and I've had to take him in, can you spare some time to help me, about two or three weeks?'
I assured her I would, and I'd be there in four hours, packed a bag and drove at speed to her house. We had a standing joke about my dad, he'd married Lilith when they were both twenty, they divorced twenty years later, and he married my mom and divorced her twenty years later. We expected that he'd divorce again when he was eighty, but she was getting rid of him with ten years to go.
But at seventy he was seriously ill.
She met me in the drive, 'he saw a photo of us both at Gerry's wedding', Gerry (Junior) was my half-brother, Lilith's only child, just as I was the only offspring of his second marriage, she spoke rapidly, 'he thinks we are married; he doesn't recognise you, his own son,' credulity in her voice.
'So, what do we do, go along with it?'
'If it's okay with you?'
'Yeah, let's keep him calm, okay?'
She reached up and kissed me, 'thanks.'
I was introduced to Gerry, my father, 'Gary's my husband,' she announced, it sounded strange coming from my mother.
We spoke, out of politeness more than interest, we livened things up by having a takeaway and went to bed, it was only a two-bedroom house, so Gerry had my room, and we went to Lynette's room. 'I'll wait for him to fall asleep and go use the couch, if anything's said we'll tell him my snoring keeps you awake.'
Mother protested, 'we can easy sleep in the double bed, you'll be uncomfortable as hell on the couch.' But I insisted, and she was right, I was as uncomfortable as hell so on the second night I slept in her bed and had no trouble sleeping, mother came to bed after me when I was fast asleep, and she was up before I woke.
My mother being up early had made breakfast, she was about to refill the kettle when she announced, somewhat astonished, 'there's no water,' she looked out of the window, 'look there's people standing in the street.'
Gerry was reading the news on his phone, then spluttering over his tea, he yelled, 'our water's infected, don't drink anything,' pouring his unfinished tea down the sink.
He urged me to look at his phone, the entire Southern Region was told not to drink the tap water, bottled water would be provided free of charge.
My father's anger reminded me of his younger days, it spurred him on, 'harumph, I know what we'll do, the caravan,' and so staying stood up, let's get packed, we can be there just after lunch.
I hadn't seen the caravan for over ten years, it was a "state of the art" static home, two bedrooms and two bathrooms, it was the best home on the park overlooking the sea thirty feet below.
The park had been closed over the covid years and had only just re-opened under new management as a nudist colony, whether it was that or being late September but there was no-one around.
We drove into town, not much more than a village, bought groceries and a second-hand copy of the "Puppet Masters" by Robert Heinlein. I considered it a masterpiece when I first read it over fifteen years ago, in fact it was at this very same holiday camp when Mom and Dad were still happily married, I shrugged my shoulders, now we were back with me as a "pretend husband".
It was too early for dinner, so we went for a walk, first around the camp and then to the secluded beach, we were all naked, I wondered if seeing his ex-wife naked might do something to his memory but to no avail. I pretended I was used to my "wife's" body and tried not to look, not easy, firm breasts and nipples like acorns, standing out with the cold
We walked back to our place, cold, 'can we get dressed now or do we have to stay naked,' Lynette asked? She felt the cold, her nipples were still erect, I looked away.
'I'll do us a meal,' I offered, trying to divert attention from the cold, naked walk. Everyone was happy with this and dressed for dinner, so I rustled up a meal and two bottles of wine, it went down well, it had been a long day and dad, being seventy was particularly tired. We waited for him to go to bed then retired ourselves.
'Okay, what is the long-term plan?'
Lynette sat on the bed looked up, 'carry on until we can think of something,' was her simple answer, 'as for now I'm just going to bed,' and undressed.
'Shouldn't we undress in the bathroom?'
'Why, we've just had a three mile walk totally naked, it's no good getting modest now, anyway, I'm cold, and with that began to strip off.
'Er...., a problem, I've no pyjamas,' I explained.
'Neither have I, I sleep naked,' she replied, and turned in, pulling the blankets up to her neck.
One thing about Lynette, I'd trained myself to think of her as Lynette rather than mother, she had a fantastic body, when I was younger my friends would come round in summer to use the pool, but mainly to ogle her. It gave me a lot of kudos.
I slid into bed, 'there's not enough blankets,' she said almost immediately. 'That's because we've started off cold, here,' I said, 'I can throw more of mine over you, just get a bit closer.'
She accepted my offer and shuffled over towards me, her back touched mine, 'you're cold,' I said. 'It's my feet, they'll never warm up,' and so saying placed her feet on top of mine, I was facing her back, one last shuffle from Lynette and we were in full contact, my front to her back.
I enfolded her in my arms, hoping to stop her shivering, her movement was causing me some concern, my penis flickered ever so slightly. 'How long do you think we can carry on this charade,' I asked?
'I'm enjoying it, as cold as I am.'
'Yes, but that didn't answer my question.'
'I like the idea of being married again, having a husband,' she turned to look at my face in the dim light. That's not what I wanted to hear; I figured it was unwise to take this too seriously, also I felt another small flicker of interest from my cock, I pulled back slightly.
I had to think quick, the embarrassment of an erection was something I would never live down.
'Why have you never remarried I asked, I don't even remember you having a boyfriend, was one marriage enough?'
'No, the divorce settlement was very generous, but if I'd remarried or any sort of partner it would have reduced significantly, it was out of my hands, anyway I wanted to give you the best of everything, you know with your dad not being around.'
'You always seemed happy enough, I never noticed you were unhappy in any way.'
As we warmed up, we snuggled together even more.
'I didn't do without sex, if that's what you're asking?'
'No, never, sorry if I gave the wrong message, your sex life never entered my head.'
