It was perplexing for me at dinner that night, though my parents had no idea what I was really thinking.
I sat at the table with them, their always obedient, always polite, always sweet-tempered little 7-year-old daughter, eating my fried chicken, mashed potatoes and black-eyed peas as if it was the only thing on my young mind.
“Did you get your reading done, sweetie?” my mother asked.
“Not all of it,” I said, smiling to her. “I'll finish it after dinner.”
But what I wasreallythinking was that my mother and my father were both only pretending to be normal parents, which they definitely werenot. Not in the least. If the DVD I was watching in my room continued to be as revealing as it had been, I'd soon be seeing both of them naked and having a lot of dirty sex, fucking, with a lot of other people.
Including little Noelle and her parents.
“Are you okay, Maureen?” my father asked, genuine concern in his voice. “Honey, you're being awful quiet.”
I just shrugged my narrow shoulders, confused and bothered by what I now knew, but somehow weirdly excited by what I also knew I'd soon be seeing. It was more than my little-girl brain could easily handle.
In fact, it was the single biggest shock I'd ever had.
I mean, my parents were having sex parties with other families in our small town, and even with my new little best friend, Noelle, who was only 8-years-old when the DVD was first made.
And who I'd apparently developed a girl-crush on.
If that's all it was. Even then, at the table, I couldn't stop thinking about her. About her mouth. About her body. About her pussy.
“I'm okay, Daddy,” I said to him. “I'm just a little tired.”
“You're not getting sick, are you?” he asked. “Sweetie, are you really okay?”
I smiled at him then, at his authentic concern for me.
If nothing else, regardless of how secretly wild and crazy my parents might be, I knew they genuinely loved me. Both of them. That warm thought alone helped me suddenly relax.
“I'm fine,” I said then, looking to each of them. “Really.”