“What do you mean?” Courtney said uncertainly.
“Well…” Mike said, wanting to explain but not knowing how to do so. “Let’s put it this way. From what I did with the Navy, I’ve got some pretty high contacts who would be willing to pull strings to let my two coed… girlfriends, who obviously are American citizens, back into the country. But do you really want your names going across the desk of, say, an undersecretary of defense?” Not to mention Donald Brandeis’s, he thought.
“Oh,” Pam said, blanching.
“So, if you can screw up your courage, call your parents,” Mike said. “The sooner the better. If they can get the certificates out today, it would be best.”
Chapter Seven
“Hi, Mom?” Courtney said brightly.
“Hi, Courtney,” Abigail Trays said. “How are you enjoying the Keys?”
“Uhm… really enjoying them,” Courtney said. “In fact, Pam and I are going to stay down here for a while longer. If that’s okay.”
“You’re an adult now, Courtney,” her mother said sadly. “You can do whatever you want. Are you okay for money?”
“Yeah, we’re… fine,” Courtney said.
“What’s wrong?” Abigail asked. “And don’t say ‘nothing.’ ”
“I need a favor,” Courtney admitted. “And I don’t want you to freak. Or Dad. And I can really see Dad freaking.”
“What’s wrong?” her mother asked. “You are okay?”
“I’m fine,” Courtney said, shaking her head from side to side. “It’s just… I need a favor. Uhm… Pam and I met this really nice guy down here. And… we want to go to the Bahamas with him on his boat…” she said, pausing and wincing. “He really is a nice guy, Mom. And he’s really into making sure we feel safe about it. We went out fishing yesterday for dolphin, the fish not the other, mahi-mahi…”
“I know what dolphin is, dear,” her mother said tightly. “I’m just having a problem with my little baby meeting some guy with a boat… what kind of boat?”
“Well, more of a yacht,” Courtney said. “He’s a SEAL who’s retired and made money selling what he calls widgets to the military. Now he lives down on the boat. Honestly, Mom, he hardly even tried to pick us up. Just asked if we wanted to go fishing and said to give him a call. But… it’s a really nice boat and he’s a nice guy and I’ve never been to the Bahamas…”
“Courtney,” her mother said, sighing. “Yes, okay. But… yes, you’re a grown-up young lady and can make your own decisions but… how old is he?”
“Thirty something,” Courtney said tightly. “I know that’s kind of old, but he’s in…” She paused and sighed. “Really incredible shape, even with all his… anyway, he’s a really nice guy, Mom. And he told us we could stay as long as we liked, as long as we left on time to go back to school.”
“Sounds like he’s got the best of both worlds,” Abigail said. “He gets fun and then when the summer’s over…”
“I guess, maybe,” Courtney said. “But it doesn’t feel like that. I think he really cares, but he said he has some, complicated commitment issues, too. And I’ve learned that when he uses the word ‘complicated’ to be very careful where I tread.”
“That sounds ominous,” Abigail said. “Honey, are you sure about this?”
“Yes,” Courtney said definitely. “It’s not going to interfere with school and I’m having… lots of fun. I really want to do this. Some kids get to go to Europe for the summer. You know I couldn’t do that. I’d like to at least get to the Bahamas. Please, Mom?”
“I think you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” Abigail said carefully. “But you are an adult. But, honey… be careful, okay?” She paused for a time and Courtney wasn’t sure what she wanted to say.
“Mom,” Courtney said. “Mike’s all over about safety with us. He’s… he really wants to make sure we’re not only safe, we feel safe. And he’s…” She stopped and sighed. “There’s things I’d like to talk about, but you’re my mother. I don’t think you’d understand.”
“You might be surprised, dear,” Abigail said gently.
“If you do understand, I don’t want to know,” Courtney said, sighing, then paused. “Mom, have you ever heard the… term I guess: scene.”
There was a very long pause.
“Yes,” Abigail said calmly.
“Oh,” Courtney replied, her eyes widening.
“Is he a top or a bottom?” Abigail asked.
“A what?” Courtney asked.
“Is he a dominant or a submissive, then?” her mother asked.
“Mom!”
“Dear, do you know what a spreader bar is?”
“Mom!” Courtney gasped. “No. And I don’t want to know if you do!”
“You know those rosewood planter hangers in your father’s and my bedroom?”
“Mother!”
“Now I’m particularly worried, Courtney,” Abigail said firmly. “Because I know exactly how badly this can go. I don’t think you have any idea…”
“Mike… talked about that a little,” Courtney said. “About… only doing… that behind the bedroom door. But he also said something about… sometimes it’s a bit hard to figure out where the bedroom door is.”
“That’s simple,” Abigail said. “You simply don’t do anything in such a way as mundanes are aware. But he sounds like he kind of has his head on his shoulders. However, safety is important, I don’t think you realize how important. I’ve had a good friend die because her dom didn’t get a gag off in time. And… many people who get far into the scene never have a normal life. It’s a form of arrested development and I’m not sure if it’s a chicken or egg situation, whether they weren’t ever going to get beyond that stage or if getting too far into the scene caused it. I don’t want that happening to you, Courtney, you have too much potential. And what you’re doing, really, is called boat bunnying. Buying your way to a vacation on your back—”
“Mike invited us before we’d… done anything,” Courtney said. “He said he wouldn’t kick us out of bed but there were no strings. I don’t think there are any even now. I think I could say ‘I’d like to just go along for the ride’ and it would be fine. But… I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with my mother!”
“I don’t think you know what truly good is, dear,” Abigail said, trying to get through to her.
“I know Pam came at least three times last night,” Courtney said. “And I don’t know whether to count this morning as one, two or one continuous amazing climax, Mother, if you want me to be blunt.”
“Oh,” Abigail said. “Uhm… What was his name again?”
“Mother!”
“Well, your father and I do swing,” Abigail said.
“Mother!”
“And, I suppose I’m probably too old for him, but some guys do enjoy mother-daughter action…”
“Mother!”
“Sorry, dear, just teasing,” Abigail said, laughing. “You started this.”
“There are things you don’t want to know about your parents!” Courtney said, closing her eyes, tightly. “God!”
“This is a conversation, frankly, that I’ve both wanted to have and dreaded,” Abigail said sadly, “because things like this, I’ve noticed, tend to run in families. Now you know why I’ve tried to get you to act more like a lady. A woman should be a perfect lady in public and a whore when the bedroom door closes. And the bedroom door, dear, is anything that prevents the mundanes from knowing what is going on. I won’t tell you some of the things that I’ve done that would shock you. But they would shock you. And there is a group here, friends of ours. All the times your father and I went out to ‘dinner and a movie’ and left you with a sitter, we weren’t going out to a movie.”