Author's Note
This story contains themes of incest. It is loosely based on events I experienced in the 1980s - things which I continue to benefit from today [and probably explains my sexually twisted nature]. Naturally, the names and some of the circumstances have been changed or altered for the sake of creativity and a sense of anonymity, while the Dallas area and businesses in that vicinity are factual. I hope you enjoy as we go back to a time of Ronald Reagan and the Cold War, Michael Jackson as the King of Pop, Yuppies, AIDS, and MTV! But first...
Prologue
A long, immaculate black hearse pulled out of the United Methodist Church in Dallas onto Mockingbird Lane, beginning the procession of cars through Highland Park on its way to the Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery.
In the leadoff spot, just behind the hearse, was a bright red Honda CR-V carrying three siblings to their mother's graveside service and interment. Behind them, an assortment of vehicles containing many people - some familiar and others not - who had just attended the memorial service which, for the children, was now mercifully over.
Driving the Honda was Sarah, who at 55-years-old looked ravishingly beautiful. She always had, and was able to maintain that beauty as she aged. Her hair was the same chestnut brown it had always been, and matched her eyes, although now it also contained some faint streaks of silver. A trim figure and fair complexion only added to her sexy allure. She resided close by, about fifteen miles or so north of Dallas in Plano, with her husband Brad and two kids from his previous marriage.
Together in the back seat was her younger sister Ella, 51-years-old and a successful senior project manager down in Austin where she lived with her partner Chrissy and their two dogs. She was also slim, about five feet-seven inches in height - making her the shortest in the group - with cropped hair the shade of caramel that conveniently hid any gray and piercing green eyes that never failed to captivate.
She was seated next to their stepbrother Bobby, who was the oldest of the trio beating Sarah by a mere two months in age. A senior IT manager in charge of security at DFW airport, Bobby lived in Flower Mound, northwest of Dallas, with his wife of nearly thirty years. It was more a marriage of convenience at this point as neither he nor his wife seemed the least bit inclined to change things regardless a nonexistent sex life.
Despite all of them being in long-standing relationships, none of their respective partners had come to the funeral. Their mother had been...difficult, never the most accepting or tolerant person. In fact, she had been the least tolerant with her own family. While the neighbors and the Highland Park community saw their mother as a kind and generous woman, those qualities had been in scarce supply inside the Peterson household.
Things had been different with their father, Bobby's dad. He had grown more compassionate with age, doting on his children and freely participating in their lives. Their mother...not so much. Bobby once asked his dad why she was like this. His father then described his wife as a "home devil and a street saint" and said that was pretty much how she had always been. Anyone outside the family thought she was wonderful, while inside the family she was antagonistic at best.
Remembering the constant fights between his parents, Bobby then prodded his father as to why he had ever married the woman in the first place - something Bobby had speculated on often through the years. His father reacted by simply looking at him, smiling in an understanding way and said, "I don't know. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time."
Remarkably, that was an answer Bobby could appreciate as it needed no further explanation. It was something he could relate to perfectly as it applied to his marriage as well. In fact, it just about applied to every situation in Bobby's life.
The ride to the gravesite seemed interminable as they slowly made their way up Hillcrest Avenue to Northwest Highway and finally through the entrance to the cemetery. They took a long and winding casual drive through the memorial park before coming upon what would be their mother's final resting place.
Up ahead a short distance to their right they could see a white canopy where the graveside service would commence. Now, they just had to wait for all the other cars to arrive and line up behind them.
"Ugh..." Bobby sighed. "I don't know how much more of this shit I can stand."
"Just this and the reception afterwards and we're done," Sarah replied. She looked in the rearview mirror and spied her siblings in the back seat cuddling together. Bobby had his arm wrapped around Ella while she rested her head on his shoulder. A slight pang of jealousy swept through Sarah, and for a moment she wished it was her back there in his arms. But, that would come later. She was certain of it.
The three of them had been forced to into a family when they were children, after the girls' mother and Bobby's father married. At first, things had been difficult at best and made even worse by their parents' incessant fighting that was practically a nightly ritual. Ironically, however, it was because of the fighting that the three of them had become close. It was the glue that bonded them in ways completely surprising and unimaginable at the time.
Now, despite living separate lives where they didn't see each other often - maybe a couple times a year - they were still extremely close. Their shared experiences when they were young bonded them then and continued to hold them close all these years later like an invisible salve that comforted and protected them.
"I hope people don't stay too long at the reception," Ella said softly from the back. "All these people, and most of them I don't even know. I'm glad they're here, for mom's sake, but I'm ready to be done with all of this." Leave it to Ella, the compassionate one of the bunch, to think positively about their mother.
And yet, that was almost the most she had spoken to them over the last few days, aside from a dinner they had shared the night before. Although, in addition to being sensitive and compassionate, Ella had always been the quiet and reserved one, much more comfortable with herself and with her own thoughts than with others.
Sarah looked out across the cemetery. "Well...the reception is scheduled for a couple hours and I'm prepared to leave at the end. I'm glad we decided not to have everyone over to the house. I don't think I could bare that. Having it here...we can just leave when it's over like everyone else."
"Yes we can, and with nothing to clean up afterwards" Bobby chimed in. "And I don't think people would say anything even if we left a little early. We're in mourning. I'm sure they would understand."
There was silence for a few moments before Sarah continued. "Jesus - we sound heartless. But, strictly speaking for myself, I can't help it. I know somewhere mom is shaking her head, disappointed in us once again for not doing things exactly as she would have wanted."
