Still, it had been extremely exciting. The spontaneity of it and the risk of getting caught had been part of the thrill, making that little tryst the most amazing thing I’d ever been a part of. As I washed my face and prepared to rejoin the party, I could still hear the echoes of my mother’s little moans in my ear…
I went back to the table and attacked the plate of sausages that was still there, largely untouched. Maybe it was the sex that made me feel this way, but I suddenly had a voracious appetite, as if I hadn’t eaten anything all evening. Mom was not in her seat, so I figured she was probably wandering around somewhere, mingling. I finished eating and started talking to Roy and Ellie again. I didn’t see mom until about half an hour later.
She suddenly sat down next to me and immediately grabbed the empty glass in front of her, holding it out to a passing waiter with a smile.
“Thank you!” she said as it was filled with champagne. “Mmm, this wine is so lovely.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Ellie jumped in from across the table. “It’s from a vineyard not too far from here, where they…”
For the next ten minutes, the conversation was mostly about wine. A subject I knew little about. I sat quietly and drank my soda.
As I looked at mom, I noticed the stains on her dress. And the sticky remains of something on her skin. Her hands, forearms, neck… If you didn’t know it was there, you probably wouldn’t notice. I knew, though. I knew what it was and how it got there. My mother was sitting at the dinner table, wearing her son’s semen on her skin. I swallowed nervously, hoping I was right that it was hard to notice, but also dreading the moment when somebody asked her: “What’s that smear on your face?”
Eventually, I stood up. I needed some fresh air. I walked over to the French windows leading out to the terrace and headed outside. It was a bit chilly, but that was all right. I took a deep breath and tried not to let that nervous tingling in my stomach get to me. Then I went back inside. After all, there was no real cause for concern, right? We’d gotten away with it. Nobody had noticed us. There were so many people around that nobody really paid any attention to anyone specific.
I walked around the house for a while. Stayed out of the kitchen, where the caterers were hard at work. Instead, I took a look at some of the paintings on the walls, the chandeliers in the ceiling, the fancy furniture… Suddenly, somebody took my arm.
“Come.”
“Hm?” I turned and saw my mother as she started leading me away.
“More.”
“What…”
“More!” she repeated, looking intently at me.
“Uh… oh! Uuh… now?”
“Now.”
“But… uh… where… what… wh-where..?”
“Come.”
She didn’t say anything else, she just led me by the arm towards the stairs. In her left hand, she had another half-empty wine glass, which was empty by the time we reached the stairway. She put it down on the bottom step and kept walking me upstairs. As we reached the top, we walked down a long corridor. Nobody seemed to be up here.
“Where are we…” I started.