Priscilla said timidly, ‘Mama, you're not mad at us?'

‘Mad at you? Heavens, no! I'm worried about your welfare. But not angry. I love you, dear. Love you both.'

‘Oh. I'm glad you're not mad.' Then curiosity got her. ‘How did you catch us? I was very careful. I listened at your door, made sure you were asleep before I snuck in here and woke Donnie.'

‘I probably wouldn't have noticed anything if I hadn't been drinking lemonade before going to bed. I woke up, dear, and had to pee. That wall on Donald's side of the bed is a wall of my bathroom. Sound goes right through it. So I heard you.' I hugged her to me. ‘It sounded like a dandy!'

Brief silence - ‘It was.'

‘I believe you. There is nothing, just nothing, as good as a gut-wrenching orgasm when you really need one. And you seemed to need that one. I heard you thank Donald.'

‘Uh... he deserved thanks.'

‘And smart of you to tell him so. Priscilla, there is nothing a man likes more than to be appreciated for his lovemaking. So keep it up all your life; it will make both you and your love happy. Mark my words. Remember them.'

‘I'll remember.'

Donald apparently had trouble believing what he was hearing. ‘Mother? Do I have this straight? You don't mind what we were doing?'

‘Tell me what you were doing.'

‘Uh - We were screwing!' He said it defiantly.

‘"Screwing" is something dogs do. You were loving, you were making love to Priscilla. Or, if you like long medical words, you mo were copulated and engaging in coition to climax... which is like describing a gorgeous sunset in wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. You were loving her, dear, and Priscilla is lovable. She was a lovable baby and she is even more lovable as a grown woman.'

I decided that now was the time to grasp the nettle, so I went on, ‘Loving is sweet and good. Just the same, I'm extremely worried about you two. I suppose you both realise that the society around us strongly disapproves of what you were doing, has severe, cruel laws against it, and would punish you both horribly if they caught you. Priscilla, they would take you away from Donald and me, and put you in a home for delinquent girls, and you would hate every minute of it. Donald, if you were lucky, they might try you as a legal infant and do to you something like they would do to Priscilla - reform school until you are twenty-one, then registration and supervision as a sex offender. Or they might decide to try you as an adult - statutory rape and incest, and about twenty years at hard labour and then supervision the rest of your life. Do you know that, dear ones?'

Priscilla did not answer; she was crying. Donald said gruffly, ‘Yes, we know that.'

‘Well? What's the answer?'

‘But, Mother, we love each other. Priss loves me and I love Priss.'

‘I know you do and I respect your love. But you didn't answer me; you avoided answering. What is the answer to your problem?'

He took a deep breath, let it out in a long sigh. ‘I guess we've got to quit.'

I patted bis ribs. ‘Donald, you are a gallant knight and I'm proud of you. But now I must ask a frank question. When you started masturbating, did you ever swear off? Resolve never to do it again?'

‘Uh, yes.'

‘How long did you stay stopped?'

He answered sheepishly, ‘About a day and a half.'

‘How long are you going to leave Priscilla alone, when you happen on a perfect, utterly safe opportunity and she rubs up against you and tells you not to be a sissy, and she smells good and feels even better?'

‘Why, Mama, I wouldn't do that!'

Donald heaved a quiet sigh. ‘The hell you wouldn't, Slugger. You have, near enough. Mama, you've got me. What do you do? Nail me into a barrel? Or send me to Kemper?'

‘Kemper isn't far enough; it had better be the Citadel. Children, that's not the answer. Instead - I really meant it when I said I wasn't angry. Let's all engage in a conspiracy to keep you two from being hurt. First, what contraception are you using?'

I had addressed the question to both of them. There was an extended silence, as each (I think) waited for the other to answer.

At last Donald said, ‘We had some rubbers. But they're all gone and I don't have any money.'

(Oh, my God!) ‘A clear reason why you should include me in your plans. There are both rubbers and fishskins in this house, and you can always have all you want. Priscilla, when did you menstruate last? Starting date?'

‘On Monday the fourteenth, so -‘

No, it wasn't, Priss. The fourteenth was the day we went to Fort Worth: And we passed the French consulate -‘

‘Trade mission.'

‘Well, something French, and they had a lot of bunting and flags out because it was Bastille Day, and you certainly didn't start the curse that day because - well, you remember. So it must have been the following Monday. If it was a Monday:

I said, ‘Priscilla, don't you keep a calendar?'

‘Of course I do! Always.'

‘Will you run and get it, please? Lets turn on a light'

‘Uh - It's in Dallas.'

(Oh, damn!) ‘Well, I don't want to tall Marian this late at night. Perhaps you two can compare notes and be certain and we won't have to call. Priscilla, do you know why I want that date?'

‘Well, I think I do. You want to count up and tell if I'm fertile tonight'

‘Good. Now both of you listen carefully. Marching orders. Laws of the Medes and the Persians, chiselled in stone. Once we figure it out, Priscilla, you will sleep with me the day you ovulate and three days each side... and each month you will stay in my sight during your fertile week. All the time. Every minute. We aren't going to trust to good resolutions.'

I went on, ‘I'm not moralising; I'm just being practical. The other three weeks of each month I will not try to keep you two apart. But you will use fishskins, not rubbers, and you will use them every time... because there are thousands of Catholic mothers and quite a few non-Catholic ones who depended solely on "rhythm". You will not make love anywhere but in this house, with me in the house, with no one else in the house, and with all outside doors locked.

‘In public you will always behave like most brothers and sisters, friendly but a little bored with each other. You will never show jealousy over each other; jealousy, possessive behaviour, is a dead giveaway. However, Donald, you can always be your sister's gallant knight, empowered to poke anyone in the jaw or give him a karate chop if that's what it takes to protect her from some oaf. That's both a brother's duty and his proud privilege.'

‘That's what happened,' he said gruffly.

‘What, Donald?'

‘Gus had her down and was giving her a bad time. So I pulled him off and beat the tar out of him. And he lied about it and Aunt Marian believed him and didn't believe us and told Dad and Dad backed up Aunt Marian and - Anyhow we cut out that night. And didn't have money enough for the bus. So we hitchhiked and saved what money we had for eating. But -‘ Donald started to shake. ‘There were three of them and they took what money I had left and, and - But Priss got away!' I could hear him suppressing sobs that I pretended not to hear.

‘Donnie was wonderful,' Priscilla said solemnly. ‘It was last night as we were leaving Tulsa, Mama, on 44. They carne at us and Donnie yelled for me to run and he stood up to them while I ran down the street to a filling-station that was still open. I told the station owner and begged him to call the cops. He was doing so when Donnie showed up and the station owner helped us get a hitch into Joplin, and there we stayed in an all-night Laundromat till it got light, and then we carne straight here, in two hitches.'

(Dear Lord, if there is Anybody up there, why do You do this to children? Maureen Johnson speaking and You're going to have to answer to me.)

I squeezed his shoulder. I'm proud of you, Donald. It sounds like you took a licking and got robbed to keep your sister from being raped. Did they hurt you? Besides that bruise on your face?'