Foreword
Exploring a daring concept in documentarian style, this is the first of what may be a new series exploring the lives of blood relatives after incest becomes legalised, which happens in the near future of this fictional universe. I've tried my best to blur the lines between realism and fantasy, but most of all to have fun with it. I hope you do too!
1
HARD TIMES
PF -- Rhian (45) is a working single mother now living alone in a two-bedroom apartment. Her son Ryan (26) now works and lives in the next city over and still visits on his free weekends. He too is currently single. The two of them remain engaged in a casual sexual relationship, which began three years prior, some five years after Ryan's father filed for divorce and moved away.
If one didn't know that these two were mother and son, you might not think it to look at them. Rhian develops an air of shyness about her when her son introduces himself; which he does happily and with clear confidence and ease. And when he kisses her and puts his arm around her she folds into him and laughs somewhat defensively, though she folds into him without hesitation.
I tell her not to worry. The world won't know her face and name, but their story is too remarkable not to share. It's not so common that a mother/son relationship is so casual and amicable. I ask them where and how it all began...
Rhian -- (laughs) I think for Ryan it started around puberty...
Ryan -- I'm not even going to lie!
PF -- If I remember correctly the bill for blood relative marriage equality was passed around the time you were a teenager. I can't imagine what must have been running through your mind with all those hormones running rampant.
Ryan -- High school was savage. You couldn't talk about it unless you wanted to get the shit bullied out of you, but I think a lot of secrets were kept, if you know what I mean. But yeah, a few of my friends at the time envied that their mom wasn't my mom. I got a hard time just for that. They didn't need an excuse to accuse you of the things they came up with.
PF -- Did you actively seek to start the relationship with Rhian at any time before what happened?
Ryan -- No, I had a few girlfriends before then and I was happy enough. Dad quitting mom for a newer factory model when I was eighteen caused me to worry a lot...
Rhian -- Newer factory model? Thanks a lot...
Ryan -- What? She was a living breathing plastic fuck doll (at this point, Rhian tightens her smile and nudges Ryan in the ribs with a swift elbow); nothing to her but fake looks. Mom had every right to take it badly. It was a huge betrayal. But I think at that point we had a lot of pressure on us to just level out and get things done.
Rhian -- Ryan had college for two years and then he was in a steady job, earning and charming the girls. I never really left "damage control mode" after getting everything under control. Ryan saw it and mentioned it a few times but I just settled into being single and lonely. I was in shock for some time.
PF -- So when did it begin, or come about; what do you think put you two on that path to becoming a thing?
Ryan -- Before mom dishes the dirt, let me just state for the record that I have always loved her strongly and not just in the way that my high school friends suggested non-stop, day in and day out, for three years. I'd do anything for her...
Rhian -- I think I tried to compensate for Ryan's dad's absence with a lot more up-front affection; you know like hugs and kisses and just trying to be his friend when I felt I couldn't cope as a mother? He went through phases of being distant and aloof when things started going bad. So it was my priority to make sure he wasn't ruined by it all. Thankfully Ryan took quickly to becoming the man of the house and didn't have too many obstacles that were too big to cope with.
Ryan -- But I'd say that the biggest problem I had that I didn't know how to deal with, was how miserable mom became. I could see she was putting on a brave face. I didn't have the answers. I was naive enough to think that I did, that all it took was to care. So I gave as good as I got when it came to hugs and kisses and trying to be there as much as I could. It's funny that she mentions just trying to be my friend, because that's kind of what I was trying to be to compensate for what I couldn't help.
Rhian -- Yeah I did a lot of crying!
Ryan -- She really did. Like for a whole year. And even after the tears stopped she was spending a lot of time on her own. She took to lying around in bed a lot...
Rhian -- Still nothing wrong with that...
Ryan -- But you were miserable then and crap at hiding it. So me being the cheery one at the time, I'd jump on top of her and promise everything would be okay, and then we'd take a nap together.
2
LONELINESS
Rhian -- Ryan got with this girl. They were together for almost... two years? I couldn't put my finger on why I didn't like her but because he seemed so happy I pushed it down, but not without quietly making a mental note of Helen's behaviour. I shouldn't have.
Ryan -- She bled me dry and then moved onto the next guy. Let's leave it at that.
Rhian -- But she cost him his best friends too, and so all of a sudden everything flipped around the complete opposite way. Now it was him moping off to his bedroom and me trying to put a smile on his face. He was devastated.
Ryan -- Up until that point all I saw was the guy betraying the girl, because of dad. I thought that if I just treated her right that it was all good. I worshipped the ground she walked on because that's what a good guy does, right?
Rhian -- Door swings both ways!
Ryan -- But you can imagine how bummed I was that being a good boyfriend cost me so much.
Rhian -- So we're lying there cuddled up on the bed and everything is cosy and peaceful, and I just say; "Fuck it! If being miserable together is this good, I'm happy if you are!"
Ryan -- (laughs) I still love the irony of that. But yeah, we laughed, we cuddled and kissed, and just sorta looked at each other. You know those looks that last ten seconds too long and it becomes impossible to look away without it being more awkward than the look itself?
PF -- Rhian, I see you grinning all of a sudden. Was there something in that look that you think fuelled what was bound to happen?
Rhian -- Honestly, I just loved him that much. Like I said, I compensated at times and maybe over-compensated too, but I don't think so. He was all the love I needed and sometimes silence says what words can't...
Ryan -- Awkward words... I'm just kidding, mom. Anyway, some months go by and everything becomes less shitty and just this sort of adequate mediocrity where life is "okay-ish" but things could be better. Mom is getting hormonal and frustrated, which I overlook the best I can without being driven up the wall by her weird behaviour.
Rhian -- Like I was the only one!
Ryan -- No you weren't, but you were the only one not trying. I was like, "mom you have to have a social life," but of course her friends are all settled down and there's no such thing as a social life when someone her age suddenly becomes a grandparent.
Rhian -- Thanks for explaining that, son...
Ryan -- And she's becoming more and more restless, getting up in the night and moving around listlessly...
PF -- Were you two sleeping in the same bed?
