Turning off the street to the long driveway that led to the house, Donna slowed down, then finally stopped the car. She shut off the engine and sat quite still for several minutes, realizing that she had been day-dreaming, driving automatically. Of late, when her thoughts had dwelt for too long on the opposite sex, she discovered that a warm moisture quite unexpectedly dampened the narrow crotchband of her panties, and as she got out of the car, she found that such was the case now. Self-consciously she walked up the path, her mind in search of the cause for the effect between her thighs. This state of affairs – her reminiscings of her long departed husband, her son, and her daughter's unseen, undescribed boyfriend – perplexed her, but when she finally had the front door open, the insistent ring of the telephone brought her back to reality.
"Hello?"
"Mom?"
"Yes, dear."
"You okay? You sound sort of funny."
"I… I'm fine. Just a little tired. I was finishing up some paper work at school and I just got home."
"Are you sure?"
"Sure."
"Okay. Everything's set here. Kevin will be here any minute. He's going to spend the night here at the apartment, and we'll be leaving about noon tomorrow. We'll meet you at the Ahwahnee as planned. Okay?"
There was no answer for a minute.
"Mom?"
"… Sheri… There's something I want to talk to you about."
"What's wrong, Mom?"
"It's… it's about… Ward."
"Oh, Mom! Don't be silly. He's really very nice. You'll like him."
"I…"
"We can talk about it tomorrow. I've got to go now. Kevin's due any second. See you tomorrow. Bye."
The line clicked dead with finality, but Donna Howell held the phone to her ear for several seconds longer. Finally, the unspoken questions still choking in her throat, she replaced the receiver in its cradle.
She stood quite still for a long minute, then finally with a shrug, she headed for her bedroom and the unfinished packing. Tomorrow, she thought. Tomorrow I've got to talk to her.
Kevin Howell gave the address to the taxi driver, then sank gratefully into the security of the cab's seat cushions. He looked upon the busy, late afternoon streets of San Diego with apprehension, his thoughts of that day more than a little bewildering; first the bus ride from Riverside that had seemed unending, then the arrival in this strange city, and now the cab ride itself.
At sixteen Kevin was nearing physical maturity, but having lived a rather cloistered life, he was not fully prepared to cope with adult decisions and adult anxieties in a suddenly adult world. His six-foot frame, still youthfully slender, was the only feature that did not bear a startling resemblance to his mother and seventeen year old sister; a resemblance that bore very little likeness to the man in the old and wrinkled photograph in his wallet. In the past there had been many times when Kevin removed that photograph and studied it intently, but of late this practice had all but disappeared. It was the only picture he possessed of a father he had never known, and along with the fragments of the past passed on by his mother, it had ceased to hold much sentimental value for him. Yet, he did not discard it. Nor did he fail to inquire on the rare occasions his mother mentioned his father. The fact that these occasions were rare was not a deliberate attempt on Donna Howell's part to suppress any knowledge about her long-dead husband, but stemmed more realistically from the absence of Kevin and his sister Sheri from their Pasadena home.
Kevin sat forward in the cab, his attention drawn suddenly to row after row of carefully sculptured lawns lining the residential street. At the last intersection the cab had swung onto a wide palm-lined avenue, and Kevin deduced that his sister's apartment building was only eight blocks away. The apprehension that had been dogging him all day abated somewhat with the realization that he would soon be there, and he began to take note of his surroundings.
The neat houses, row upon row, and identical except for color, appeared staid and lifeless, cold and unreal, colder even than the towering palms rustling in the winter breeze. This appearance reflected Kevin's own feelings. It seemed that of late even his free time away from school was becoming routine, dull, painfully boring. The activities that had once dominated his thoughts, had somehow lost their importance. Sports, movies, card games – all failed to fill the vacant hours with meaningful pleasure. Life had suddenly seemed to have become useless child's play.
He hadn't put it into conscious thought yet, but his boyhood was steadily and surely slipping away; he was becoming a man.
Six blocks to go; his sister would be waiting. He knew, she had told him so last night on the phone. But the apprehension would not end there – that he also knew. Irrefutably. At the apartment he would learn whether it was on or off. Sheri had tricked him into it, and now there was no escape. Deep down, though, he hoped it was on.
It had all started with his sister's kidding, had built up from there until there was no backing out, and he knew that he would soon be faced with it. It – was to be his first real date outside of the supervised dances at school, and he had pressed her for details, but all she would tell him on the phone was that the girl was "something else".
Four blocks to go. He wanted to lose his virginity, but such a happening had seemed to be such an impossible task in the restrictive private school environment that he found it hard to believe it was really going to happen now. He was certain he'd have been far more experienced with the opposite sex had he gone to public schools, but then, that just hadn't been possible. His mother had to devote too much time to supporting them, and he understood that. It wasn't her fault that co-educational boarding schools didn't exist.
Two blocks to go. As far as he was concerned, Sheri had it made. She could just about have her pick from thousands of boys at San Diego State and get laid anytime she wanted to. Hell, all girls could probably get screwed if they went out with the right guy, but his older sister was popular and sexy enough to have an even larger choice. He didn't know how much experience she had, maybe none, but he couldn't help feeling a bit envious of her position at times. She seemed so wise and experienced, like a free spirit able to get what she wanted, when she wanted, and he wished he could feel that way too. Yet, it was because of this feeling about her that he worried. He was constantly thinking she might get into a situation she didn't want, and then not be able to back away from it.
No blocks to go. He was paying the cab driver when the clicking of high heels reached his ears, and he turned to watch his sister coming quickly down the walk toward him. Even from a distance she looked sharp, her long blonde hair flowing in the breeze like a golden halo around her pretty face. She had become a young woman in such a seemingly short time that every time he saw her he was amazed. She was wearing a dress that accented her figure, and he couldn't help wondering how she would look naked. It was as if she was too sexy to believe; her breasts firm and full, her narrow waist accenting softly flared hips and long tapering legs, and her trim young buttocks – sexier than any young girl's had a right to be, rounding out like two firm ripe melons waiting for someone to come along and squeeze them. He'd be happy if his date looked half as good as his sister!
With a smile on her lips, Sheri watched her younger brother approach. He was handsome, and even more than that, physically appealing. Kevin had been the athletic type for some time, the kind interested in sports and nothing more, but she noticed with satisfaction that he was changing, and she liked what she saw. His character and motion had mellowed into a smooth appearance, and he exuded an intense physical sexuality that seemed to boil from within.