“Of course, I know. She’s not here to bond with her son. Her invitation was for your mother.”
“My mom? They haven’t been friends for years.”
“I know, but I’m also aware they were competitive when growing up. Your mother will want to remain in the contest to best her older sister. Lexi is an incentive to keep your Mom interested.”
I had to hand it to her. Ethel was a devious old coot.
The fifth couple who suddenly disappeared gnawed at me. “What happened to the missing mother and son?”
“I dismissed them. From the way they hugged, I knew they were already fucking. I gave them a thousand dollar gift card and a room-key for the presidential suite at the Hyatt. They couldn’t wait to leave to enjoy their incestuous weekend.”
“They forfeited their two thousand?”
She laughed. “Remember the waiver? I give it to everyone. No one pays a cent. It keeps the losing couples much happier.”
Mike held his arm up and correctly identified his mother.
Before Ethel left, she stated, “As soon as I escort Lexi and Mike out, I’m going to the room where your Mom and the other son are working. I’ll escort the son out and put him in a room in the back. I want you in the bed, ready for your Mom to take a guess. Hopefully, she’ll assume it’s the son who was in the room with her and make the wrong decision.”
She exited before I could ask her why she wanted Mom to fail. Making my way to the other room, I put on my blindfold, removed my pants, and moved into position. Ethel led Mom in and gave her the instructions before retreating to the observation room.
Once Ethel gave the go-ahead, Mom reached out and touched my foot. Moving up, she ran her fingers through my hairy, lower leg. She looked puzzled as if she was second-guessing herself. When the two minutes were up, she raised her left arm. Ethel was right. She was fooled and incorrectly guessed.
Escorting Mom back to the main room, she returned and told me to get dressed as she was going to wrap up today’s trials.
After the other three couples were out the door, Ethel kept Mom and me to the rear. With a look of concern, she said, “You two were almost eliminated. One couple already failed so you barely made it for another day. It looks like you might not know each other as well as you think. There’s always tomorrow, though. Good Luck.”
Mom looked distressed as she knew she made the incorrect guess. She replied, “It might be for the best. I have a big project and will need to work on it all day. Thanks for inviting us. It was interesting.”
Ethel didn’t look as disappointed as I thought she should be. “You have to do what’s best for you. If you show up, you can still participate; otherwise, I’ll see both of you in a few days.”
Ethel’s upbeat attitude surprised me, but her track record was spot-on. On the way home, Mom’s phone chirped with a text message. After reading it, she turned to me with a wide smile. “I can’t believe it. That call was from my workplace. Due to an unfortunate turn of events, my project has been postponed for a month. My boss felt so bad that I had put so much effort into it, she gave me next week off with pay.”
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