As I walked along the corridor to my bedroom, I heard my parents arguing again. I was eighteen and I knew what they were fighting over - it has been the same thing for over two years now. Mom's submissive nature.
Perhaps I should start with an introduction. My name is Lena, my mother's is Marybeth and my handsome Dad is called Hank. Mom had me when she was just sixteen, the result of a randy date with Dad, and it only served to speed up their marriage. Dad started a hardware store, and even without any degrees, made it into one of the most profitable stores in the city. Mom, my poor ambition-less Mom, stayed at home and looked after me. In spite of their arguments, I knew they loved each other dearly, and I loved them just as much. Their only contentious bone, as I mentioned, has been Mom's submissiveness.
I suppose a lot of men go for that in a woman, but if you live with it for over fourteen years, it tends to get a little boring. Mom had always had that submissive streak in her, but until a few years back, it had always been confined to sex alone. Now, however, it was part of her very outlook. Dad had liked the feeling of power in the beginning, but it seems that as the years wore on, he wanted a partner more than a slave. To Dad's credit, he never strayed despite the fact that Mom's fetish was irritating him a lot, and up until we got together, Mom had been the only woman he had slept with.
Poor Mom. She couldn't help herself. By the time she realized that she was reduced to a mere human doormat, it was too late for her to do anything about it. The situation was so bad that it had been two years since they last made love - everytime Dad got into foreplay, Mom would say something like, "What can I do for you, Master?" and that would ruin the mood for Dad. As I told you, Dad married Mom for love, and even though it was still there, on the sexual front, he felt like an aggressor.
I suppose that title would suit me more. I was still a virgin at eighteen, and thankfully free of any boyfriends. There are no regrets though, for somehow, I could never go beyond a date's faults. The same story was played over and over again - a date one night and the break-up the next. There is no hurt anywhere, for I've finally found my true place - in my father's arms. But that is getting ahead of the story, isn't it?
On this day, I had come across a rather disturbing truth - Dad was starting to turn me on. Nudity was never an issue around the house and with Mom too mellow to take any stand on my household attire, Dad and I often saw each other with little on. Of late, our pecks on the cheeks had turned to french kisses, and during Christmas, Dad had kissed me under the mistletoe. I suppose any other mother would have put her foot down on such open shows of affection, but Mom never even gave me a glare. She just smiled and went about doing her stuff.
I had been trying to see if there was anybody in my class I liked enough to go to the Prom with - and after an hour of analysis, I could come up with only one conclusion - Dad was the only one left on the list. I had unconsciously selected my Dad as the criterion for choosing my date, and ended up with every other name on the list crossed out. I dwelt on it, and before I knew it, I had admitted to myself that I was in love - with my father! Not only that, but he also seemed to me to be the hottest guy on the planet...
So here I was, trying to deliberate what I should do to get rid of my fixation on Dad, when fate handed me a door. I could hear Mom and Dad in their bedroom, and my mind immediately conjured up an image of how Dad would look naked. There went my resolution!
"Look, Hank, I am sorry but I can't help it. It's who I am - I still love you, but I know I have changed from the woman you once loved," Mom was saying.
"I still love you, Honey," Dad said, and the sincerity in the voice made me ... jealous. Somehow, I wanted to hear him say those same words to me. "Sex isn't everything in a marriage, and you know it. I love you even more than I did when I married you, if that is possible. It's just that when we start to make love, you - it frustrates me to think of you as a slave, darling. What I want is a partner who treats me like I treat her - like you used to. Sometimes, I feel I take advantage of you!"
"Oh. Hank! Don't feel so guilty." Mom was sobbing now. "Maybe you should just look outside -"
Dad cut her off. "We've already gone over that, Beth - there is no one I love - I can love - more than you and Lena, and a purely sexual relationship isn't worth the risks to our family life. I don't want Lena to ever think that I was cheating on you, that you weren't enough for me. So that leaves only you and Lena..."
"What about her, Hank? Why not Lena?" I froze. Mom was asking Dad about sleeping with me.
"Are you crazy?"
"Just concerned, my darling. Haven't you noticed that she has practically no social life? She loves you Hank, I can see that from her face. Maybe even she doesn't know it, but I bet she thinks of you everytime she goes out - and that probably explains why no one has ever got to first base with her. She adores you, Hank, and you know it. I can sense the love in the air when the two of you kiss, and so I know you love her just the SAME way you love me. Why don't you admit it, Hank, that you are in love with her?"
That was about as aggressive as Mom had been in recent years. Even though I was still surprised at that, my mind was focussing on Dad's reply. My heart sank when I heard him say, "That's sick, Marybeth."
"Why, Hank, why is it sick?" She was pleading now, begging him. "If you were raping her, that would be sick - this is love, Hank, isn't it? Not lust. Don't you want her? I am not asking you to compare the two of us - I know that I will lose out, but I don't mind. She would be the right woman for you, Hank, she is smart, cheerful, and she has your streak in her. She doesn't want to be stepped over like I do, she will be your equal in bed. And as for love not being in bed alone, don't you see that she loves you a lot deeper? Please, Hank, at least for my sake, admit that you love her. Please say that you want her as your lover."