“Where do I begin?” Charlene replied with no less a frazzled tone of voice and then she proceeded to lay out her morning and the subsequent results; how her son’s form had sent her into such a state that she was certain she was losing control of herself. Samantha listened dutifully with all the silent diligence of a true friend, allowing Charlene to rant and rave and spill what had undoubtedly become the grandest skeleton in her closet.
“Alright.” Samantha exhaled after Charlene had bared her soul. “Have you taken care of yourself yet?” She asked finally after a thoughtful pause.
“I’m sorry?” Charlene exclaimed.
“Char, try to stay with me here. It wasn’t a complicated question. Have you masturbated?” She clarified so plainly she may as well have been asking what Charlene had done to get a troublesome stain out of her favorite sweater.
“You’re not suggesting… not while thinking about, David?!” Charlene protested, clearly taken aback by Samantha’s suggestion.
“Why not?” Samantha replied with a slight glint of a chuckle in her voice. “Are you planning to hold it in all day? Clearly you need to address this. Besides, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it.”
“He’s my son!” Samantha nearly shouted into her phone as she flopped down into her sofa, nearly exhausted by the thoughts running through her mind.
“So what? He’s a young attractive boy and clearly he’s a blessed boy at that. I mean… well, that is to say you aren’t the first mother that this has happened to, believe me hon.” Samantha trailed off.
“You mean… you?” Charlene began.
“Sure.” Samantha exclaimed.
“You mean you and Ben…” Charlene tried to begin but the words stuck in her throat, not wanting to actually ask her lifelong friend if she and her son Benjamin had ever crossed such a line. Ben was about David’s age and one of her son’s best friends much as Samantha and Charlene had always been.
“No.” Samantha replied in what seemed like an almost depressed tone of voice. “I’m sorry to say that I’ve never been brave enough to ever try. But it’s crossed my mind of course. Actually, it’s been one of my favorite fantasies for years. I think it’s just one of those repressed things in everyone’s mind, you know? Something psychological and all that; who knows. Personally I’ve never bought into the modern concept that incest is such a horrible thing so long as all parties are consensual.”
Charlene could barely believe her ears. Samantha had been her closest friend since college. She had gone through most of her life believing that there was nothing about her she didn’t know. Samantha, to the public eye was a very proper woman. She was well mannered, annoyingly polite, actively involved in the Church that she and Charlene attended, a devoted mother and wife; certainly nothing about her would ever have suggested such perversions might linger in her mind. Charlene had always considered herself the wilder one between the two of them. Sexually, Samantha had always come across as reserved and private. To hear her condone incest, let alone say the word masturbation was new territory in their friendship.