House Rules
The dinner table conversation is on the ribald side of the ledger. All know who my bed partners are tonight. Jecim thinks that she will be the loser as she does not have the same skills as the two tonight. Jelou is trying to figure out if it is best to have me alone or with one of these two.
Vieve suggests that she should always be there to assist the others on ‘their nights.’ She tells Jecim it will be OK as she will school her friend on all she needs to know. That causes a lot of laughing, hooting, teasing, and general uproar.
The only one not participating in the merriment is Myra. There’s nothing I can do about that now, and I’m equally unsure there is anything I can do about it later. Clearly she is unhappy and troubled. I don’t think it is with us. That is good for me, but does not make it easier for her.
She notices I am looking at her and gives me a faint smile, reaches out, grabs my hand and squeezes it gently. I give her a smile and a nod. We are OK with each other, but she is clearly jammed up.
After supper I settle in my easy chair, ready for a peaceful two hours of brandy, jazz, and a book. That is the plan. It is not what happens. Myra sits on my lap, making the drinking of the brandy impossible and the reading of a book a matter for another time.
Before, you say maybe my sister should be with Ermei’s husband. Remember?
Yes, but I was not serious. Considering his time with Jelou, he probably has a taste for young girls and we don’t know if he is a good guy or a bastard. And… now that I know more about Alida, if he is a good guy, considering what he has just gone through, sending Alida his way is beyond mean.
So no?
I think not. Besides, it is not for us to be match makers.
What I do? She want to come here.
What do you want? Knowing all you know about your sister and about how things work here, and what I said before about leaving her daughter with your mother, what do you really want?
Truth? You not get angry with me?
Yes, the truth. I will not get angry.
She comes here, but she has to be with Jelou and Vieve and Jecim. She must do them good. If she fail kick her out. Let her daughter know what happens. It up to my niece to make the choice. Sex or no sex. No one pressure her.
Myra, I really do not want to have sex with a girl that young. But if I kick Alida out, assuming I have no problems with your niece, the girl gets to decide independent of her mother, if she wants to stay with us, with you, or go with her mother.
I not think you will have sex with her. I not think she will want that.
You ‘do not think?’ or maybe you ‘hope she not?’
Both?
You know as soon as Alida is bossy I will throw her out, right?
You must tell her that first thing. She must say she understand that is the big rule.
That includes if one of you tells me she is plotting something, agreed?
Yes, but you make that clear to her too. First thing when she come.
You tell the others what you want and what I said. If they raise no other objections, she can come as soon as she wants. But, she has to know what she will have to do, all of it. And she has to accept all my rules before she comes. You must tell her. No exceptions.
She wiggles her ass against my dick, leans down, and kisses me before telling me, Yes, OK. Good, it will be her choice. You allow her, but she need to behave. Good.
Myra gets up in search of the girls and I can finally enjoy my brandy and my book. In truth, I think this is a dumb idea and I don’t want Alida here. I have given her sufficient stipulations that she ought to say, No. However, Alida is just hardheaded enough that I expect there is a good chance she will say, yes, and then fight the rules once she gets here.
I get about five pages read and little of the brandy consumed before all the girls are assembled before me.
Yes?
Roland, what if she agrees and comes?
Jecim, then you must make her your fuck toy.
She twice my age!
Yes, but you have my trust and authority to run this home. She has neither. You are the first one here. Have I ever told you that you are not important?
No. You not do that. You just get angry when I leave.
She does as you say, or she is gone.
She not do that! You know she not!
Yes, I am hoping that is true. It will make my job easy.
Oh! Then she is sent away?
Exactly.
Myra is smiling.
Jelou looks at Myra for a moment before opening her mouth.
She must obey me too? How that?
Yes Jelou, she must obey you. Her daughter must obey you.
The girls are laughing. Jelou’s eyes are big. She says, Oh my G! So I do her like I do Ermei?
Yes.
Same with daughter?
Only if the daughter wants it. You are not to require sex from the girl, and you are not to seduce her.
What if she wants?
Then do it.
Myra agree this?
Ask her. She is right next to you.
Myra? OK with your niece?
Myra raises her eyebrows. Permission has been given.
Jezryl stomps her foot to get attention. Rolie, if she say things when you not here, bad things. What then?
Tell me that it has happened and she is gone.
Promise her go only and not us?
Don’t do what she wants, and I promise.
What if she say we lie?
I will not believe her. Your word is final. I turn to Myra, Agreed?
Yes. Agreed.
Anything else, girls?
I get shrugs and a couple of snickers. Myra walks out to the terrace, I suspect to call her sister. I once again return to the brandy and book. This time I am not interrupted. The brandy disappears and I get to the end of a chapter before putting the book down.
I have a bet with myself. Half of me thinks Alida will try to renegotiate with Myra on the phone and the other half thinks she will wait and try to do that face to face with me. None of me really thinks Alida will agree right away. I have no idea whether she will ever agree to my terms. In any case, it may get Alida off Myra’s back. That is the only thing I care about now.
My book has been down for a few minutes and I am listening to Thelonious Monk’s, Round Midnight. Many, many folks have recorded this, but Monk’s is special.
I am thinking of having a bit more brandy, but having not moved an inch, maybe I will allow the thought to just slide by. My eyes are closed as the music fills me.
Rolie, you awake?
Yes Myra, I am awake. What happened? Did she argue with you?
Yes.
She wants a change in the rules?
Yes.
You told her that it is not possible.
Yes! How you know?
Doesn’t matter. So how did it end?
She coming here.
Oh? To move in?
No. To talk to you.
I see. But you told her it would not matter?
Yes.
When is she coming? Tomorrow while you are working?
No. She comes now.
Oh! Huh. I didn’t expect that. Tell everyone to gather around when she comes. We will do this as a group.
OK.
Fifteen minutes later Alida is escorted under duress into the house by Myra. I gather Alida wanted to speak with me privately on the terrace. Myra told her it was ‘inside or go home.’ Good for Myra. That was the first control battle, but not the last.
Rolie, we talk alone. Not this way?
Why? You are asking to join this house. They are part of this. Why do you think they should not be allowed to hear what is said? Why do you think they should not voice their opinions?
I want you, not them!
That is not possible. You join us or you don’t join us. There is no ‘join me.’ Didn’t Myra tell this to you?
That Myra, that not you.
You are wrong. That was me.
I not want that.
Alida, I really don’t care. You want to be part of this house? Well, you have to follow the rules of the house. You do not make the rules here. All you can do is follow them. It’s follow the rules or go. There is no other option. I agreed to allow your sister to tell you that you can come and live here. But I gave her the rules you must agree to. These are the same rules that all the others here live with. Ask them if you do not believe me. Ask them.
Last time we talk you say I cannot come because of my daughter. Why you change your mind?
Because you have been making your sister’s life miserable by harassing her. I care about your sister and do not want her to be unhappy. We talk, all of us, and we decide what must be. The agreement is made between all of us. So I tell Myra to say, OK you can come but the child comes too. If your daughter has sex here, that’s your fault, not ours. So you can come, but you must follow our rules. You must not be bossy, ever, to anyone or you must leave.
You going to have sex with my daughter?
I don’t intend to. But if she asks to enter my bed, yes. That is the risk we both run. If you do not want to run that risk, stop badgering your sister and stay away from here. It is simple. No one is pushing for you to live here, except you. Anything that happens will be on you, not us. I don’t want you to join us, but more than that I need you to stop making your sister miserable. If that means accepting you, we will.
You make her have sex with the girls?
Jelou, you asked that very question. What did I tell you?
You say no sex with her unless she wants it.
Alida turns to Jelou and instructs the girl. You may not have sex with my daughter.
I not take orders from you. You take orders from me. I here first. I not listen to you!
You will! How dare you!
OK, that’s enough! Alida, get out. You are not welcome.
What?! Why?!
Myra, did you tell your sister that she is not allowed to boss anyone here?
Yes.
Alida didn’t I just get done telling you the same thing? Didn’t I say that if you are bossy you are out?
Yes.
And that, Alida, is why. You already broke the rules.
But this girl is fourteen! You expect me to take orders from her?
To the extent that you can’t tell her what to do, yes. Your age doesn’t entitle you to special treatment. Jelou is a part of us. She is to be respected. Vieve is older than Jelou. Vieve, does it bother you that you can’t order Jelou around?
No!
Myra, Jecim and Jezryl were here before you. Did I give you permission to boss them?
No. I not allowed. I try once. It big mistake. I never will do that again.
Are you sure you explained this to your sister?
Yes. I tell her.
OK, then. We are done here. Myra, walk your sister to the gate. And Alida, stop badgering your sister. All you are doing is pissing me off. If you persist, I will instruct your sister to stop talking to you.
Alida is angry and crying all at the same time. Why you do this to me?
I am not doing anything but telling you that you are not special. This house has rules and all who live here follow the rules. You don’t want to follow the rules. That isn’t going to work.
It OK if I think about it for a day? Maybe I am wrong.
OK, but if you badger your sister in any way, from this moment on, then the answer is no. Are we clear?
Yes, yes, we clear. I go now.
And go she does, without the help of her sister.
The girls are still grouped around me, but they are hugging Myra, who is crying.
There is no way to enjoy the raucous jazz that is playing right now. It is just a mess of sound as it mixes with the sounds of the girls. I would get up and go upstairs but it would be taken as a sign of disapproval and that is not something I want them to feel right now.
Additionally, I have no idea why Myra is crying. So I sit there, chin resting on the heel of a hand, waiting and clueless, just looking at them.
Jecim notices me and starts to laugh. The others one by one look my way and the crying stops as Myra looks at me and laughs as well.
I can’t figure out what is happening. Well?
Rolie, why you look like that?
Like what, Myra?
Like that! Pointing to me.
Why were you crying?
I happy! You protect me. You respect me. You tell my sister she make you angry when she mean to me.
And that is a reason to cry?
Of course!
And the rest of you… you know this? You know why she is crying?
Jecim, who has finally gained a modicum of composure, smiles and assures me that they did understand why Myra was crying. It’s a clear case of Mars and Venus.
OK, now… if the crying is complete… Will someone tell me if she is going to come back? I don’t have a clue about what she will do next.
It seems that no one has any idea what the final result will be. Myra tells us that no one has ever treated her sister like this before. I can see that all, me included, tried to ‘be reasonable’ with her before. But that doesn’t work. She just takes your reasonableness as a way to argue a point in another way.
She is not used to hitting the wall as completely as she did tonight. The biggest wall was when I put Jelou above her. That just was something that she couldn’t fathom. I don’t think it would have occurred to me to make that point if Myra had not pulled age/rank on Jecim in the beginning. Once was enough. And Myra was not the danger that Alida seems to be now.
Myra was very wrong back when I threw her out, but she did learn the lesson fast enough. I have a sense that would not be the case with Alida. It is quite possible that Myra was emulating her older sister, when she did what she tried, back then. Only to find it didn’t work. She was brought up short, by the immediate blowback. Myra learned the lesson straight away and there has not been one more occurrence.
I am completely unsure if Alida can learn that lesson. In any case, Myra didn’t come with a daughter. I wouldn’t have expected any mother to want to bring her daughter into this house.
Alida sees herself in that mother role, and it is completely reasonable. That is what she is. There is no faulting her for that. The fact that she even considers entering this house, and bringing her daughter here, is a little amazing and it unmasks her selfishness.
I just learned last night, from Myra, before Alida’s visit, that there is no problem with Alida living with their mother other than Alida doesn’t want to take orders. It was at Alida’s insistence that Myra agreed to move out of the family home and rent an apartment the two sisters shared.
Alida desperately needs to be in control. It is why using Jelou as the wall is so difficult for Alida. It is the most extreme example of the way things will have to be, and a message to not mess with Jelou or anyone else here, and screw things up. Just because Alida might think she can or thinks she is entitled to do so based on her position as ‘mother’ simply isn’t acceptable.
Placing Jelou as a protected actor, creates a double bind for her. She wants to protect her daughter from ‘evil’ and she wants to mother others such as Jelou. But she is being denied both while, in fact, Jelou is the most immediate danger to her child. She does not want to see children as evil. But to allow Jelou to act, she would see evil. She may want to ‘correct’ Jelou. To guide her to the ‘right’ path. That would be a fucking disaster.
I do not have any idea what she will do, but I have made her option to enter this house as unpalatable as is possible, and not without reason.
For now, she is gone and we need to settle down.
We have had enough craziness around here. Everyone but Jezryl and Vieve are on your own. You two, finish up what you are doing. It’s time to go upstairs.
Jecim and Jelou pull Myra along with them. My companions for the night evidently are ready and each grab one of my arms in an effort to get me moving faster than I might have otherwise moved. As we ascend the stairs I am getting a fairly colorful account of all the things they are going to do to me, and with me, tonight.
I guess if I was a bible thumper I might be shocked. As it is, I just think it is funny and start laughing. Well, that gets them a little offended! How dare I laugh at them when they are trying to give me a night to remember!
Do you remember how old I am? Good lord girls. Have a little compassion! There is no way we are going to do what you have planned. But no matter what, I am glad to be with the two of you.
Once in the bedroom I am getting moved around like a piece of furniture, and I start resisting a bit. That gets another complaint.
Rolie, we know we not prostitutes now, but tonight, just once, be our guy like that. Me and Vieve, we do this together like when we do this before. We want you allow this. We make you feel good. We give you show. … Please?
I don’t want you as prostitutes. I want you as my life long girls.
We know this. Truly, we do. It make us both very happy. But we want do this tonight. It a present to you. Just this once!
No! Vieve is upset. Jezryl! I do something with Jelou and Rolie another time. Jelou need to do this too, but not with you! Not with her sister. Rolie, you know Jelou, she love you, you know?
Vieve, first, no to both now and with Jelou. Second, I know she is attached to me. But calling it love... is just silly. It may be a lot of meaningful and serious things. But love? No, not love.
You wrong, Rolie. You wrong.
Are you going to tell me you love me too?
You not know this?
Really? You think what you feel is love?
Yes! Maybe not at beginning. Yes it true.
OK, Vieve. OK. I am very glad you and Jelou love me. I will try to always earn it and do good by both of you. But since you love me, I ask you to leave the prostitute days behind. I know you have skills from those days. It is not possible to unlearn what you have learned, but leave the rest of it in the past.
Rolie? Jezryl looks troubled.
What?
Why you think Myra cry?
I thought you all told me, before.
How you so stupid?! She love you. She say to us, ‘See? He love us, all us. Why he protect us, even Jelou, if he not?’ She right. We know you love us. We love you. We protect you. Jelou die for you if that needed. We your girls. Not Alida. Alida for Alida, no one else. But you for us. We for you! This love. We know Charline not love you and hurt your heart. Yes, we know this. We know you think, love not real. Rolie, you wrong.
I am not wrong, but there is no way I am going to talk them out of this. There are times when all you can do is dig a deeper hole and that is not in anyone’s interest here.
But think about it. How in the name of anything that is sane in the world, even if there is such a thing as love, how can these two sixteen-year-olds really be in love with a sixty-seven-year-old man?
It is just beyond nonsense. Yes, I have pulled them out of a scary world and given them a safe place. A place to care for, and about, others, and to be cared for by others while at the same time assuring them free agency as they move through the world. The only real restrictions on them are to protect the others in this home and to make sure I am OK. Expectations much as any real family might have.
I have given them a ‘home.’ That is no small thing. It gives an anchor for their hearts. They are safe, and their future is safe. Somehow, they morph safety into love. Is it because there is no option to ‘love’ anyone else without losing what is here? That is coercion, is it not? Can love spring from coercion? I guess I will have to think about that.
And then again, what is marriage if not a form of coercion? Oh, you may enter it innocently, but leaving it can be very painful. Government and society makes it unpalatable to walk away. Here they make it nigh on impossible. So, if marriage is coercion, then how can this be as bad? They can walk away at any time without penalty. They leave, if they should, with what they came with and possibly much more.