"You've gotta be kidding, Mom!" Becky gasped.
It was the following afternoon. Eunice's conscience had been giving her fits from the moment she'd opened her eyes that morning, and she'd just confessed to her sordid sins.
Eunice hung her head in shame, allowing that she wished to God she was kidding.
When Becky realized her mother was serious, she didn't know what to think. It stunned her speechless. She didn't know whether to laugh or to be outraged and wound up doing neither.
There was a long, strained silence between the guilt-stricken middle-aged woman and her grown daughter.
Finally Eunice mumbled: "I can't ask you. Forgive me and I won't offer any lame excuses. The truth of the matter is, I don't know what came over me any of those times. Maybe I'm losing my mind. I honestly don't know. One thing I do know; though, if you don't take Reed and move out of here, it's going to happen again. It's horrible of me but he's after me all the time and he's so darling that I simply can't resist him."
"He is a cute little fart, at that, isn't he?" Becky grinned.
"Don't make light of it," Eunice pleaded.
"Aw, hell, Mom, you're taking this too seriously. So you slipped. So what, you're human, aren't you?"
"That's no excuse," Eunice insisted.
"Horseshit. It's the only one you've got and you'd better take it before you blow a gasket. Otherwise, knowing you, I'm afraid you'll beat yourself over the head with this until you do go nuts."
"But he's your child! My grandson!" Eunice whined miserably.
"And you feel like you ought to be punished, is that it?"
"I ought to be horsewhipped!"
"All right, bring out Dad's old razor strap and I'll lay it on you if you think that'll make you feel better."
Eunice couldn't help smiling a little. "Be serious, will you?"
"Why, for crissake? The only times I ever got hurt was when I let myself get too serious about something or somebody. Life's too short to spend it moping, or feeling guilty about something that's over and done with. It isn't the end of the world just because you and Reed turned each other on."
"But it's incest, Becky!"
"Yeah, I grant you that. Hey, maybe this is a first! I wonder how many times it's happened between a little boy and his grandma?"
"Becky!"
Becky laughed. "But then you're not exactly the average grandmother. At your age, you could have a kid younger than mine. I mean, like, it's possible. But that's neither here nor there, is it? I'll bet you and Reed enjoyed your little fuckie-suckie, didn't you, Mom? Huh? Tell me the truth now."
"Damn you, Becky, if you must know, yes, we did!"
"So what are you worrying about? Who'd it hurt?"
"It hurt Reed! I corrupted that innocent boy! Not to mention my own sinful soul!"
"Show me a soul, Mom. I won't buy that sin bullshit until I see a soul. As far as corrupting Reed, what the hell difference does it really make whether he cuts his first piece of tail at eight or twelve or eighteen? It's bound to happen sooner or later, right? Chalk it up to experience and let it go at that."
What her daughter was saying made a little bit of sense to Eunice. After all, life did have to go on no matter what. "I thought you'd be furious, and here you are making excuses for me. Why?"
"Would it sound corny if I said I love you?"
Tears misted Eunice's eyes. "But it'll happen again. Reed's not going to leave me alone now. He's too young to realize how wrong and wicked it is. And he can be so persistent! I'm afraid he'll wear me down until I give in again."
"Tell you how to solve that little problem, Mom," Becky said matter-of-factly. "Slap his face the next time so he'll know you mean business. Then teach him to jackoff. That way you'll get him off your back and give him something to keep him happy at the same time."