Chapter 7

“Angela? Where are you, baby? Angela?” Her husband called, his voice getting closer and closer to Thad’s room.

“Oh, God! It’s your father! Quickly, Thad! Give me my negligee! It’s there on the floor! Hurry, darling! Get into bed, Thad!” she said, slipping into the filmy garment her son had nervously handed her.

“What am I supposed to do, Mom?” Randy asked in an anxious whisper. “Under the bed, Randy!” Angela urged.

“But ... my ... my pajamas,” the boy rasped, scurrying under his brother’s bed, still naked and feeling more frightened than he had ever felt before.

“Be very quiet, boys,” their mother said, kicking Randy’s pajamas under the bed.

Angela took a deep breath and tried to get hold of herself. When she had regained her composure somewhat, she silently opened the bedroom door and slipped out into the hall.

“Angela, I wondered where you were,” her husband said, rubbing his eyes and looking at her sleepily.

“I was ... well ... I was in Thad’s room,” Angela said in a matter-of-fact manner.

“What are you doing up at this hour? Is something wrong with Thad?” Mike asked.

“Oh, no, darling ... not really,” Angela muttered.

“Not really? Uh, what does that mean, darling?” Mike asked, a puzzled look on his face.

“Oh, nothing ... nothing really...” Angela stammered. “I thought I heard a noise in Thad’s room, that’s all.”

“You seem upset, Angela. Are you sure there’s nothing wrong? Maybe I’d better check the house for burglars. Maybe you really did hear something, dear. Better check just to be sure!” Mike said.

“Oh, no! No! Don’t! I ... I mean ... don’t bother,” Angela said, trying to stop his hand as it went for the doorknob.

“I think I’d better, Angela. You stay right here,” he said, brushing her hand away and entering the room.

Mike was a bit surprised to find the light on in Thad’s room. He was even more surprised to see Randy crawling out from beneath his brother’s bed. The boy was stark naked and when he saw his father standing there in the door, he froze, unable to move a muscle for a moment or two.

“Randy, what the hell are you doing?” Mike asked in amazement. “Uh ... I ... I was just huntin’ for something Dad,” the boy rasped, suddenly realizing that he was naked.

“Looking for something? Uh ... okay ... now what were you looking for at three o’clock in the morning?” Mike asked.

“I ... I was just lookin’ for my pocket knife, Dad. I just remembered that I left it in here when I showed it to Thad. You know, Dad, the knife you bought me last week. I ... I woke up in the middle of the night and remembered where I lost it,” Randy said, quickly getting to his feet and brushing by his father on the way out of the room.

Randy hoped that his father bought the story about the lost knife. He closed his eyes and prayed that he wouldn’t ask him to show him the knife. The boy kept his hand closed around the imaginary pocket knife and hurried out of the room.

Angela’s eyes caught Randy’s as the boy ran from the room. She could see that her son was afraid of being found out. She tried to reassure the boy with a sly smile. Underneath the calm exterior she was maintaining for Randy’s sake, she was just as afraid as he was.

Mike was about to flick off the light in Thad’s room when he saw something lying under Thad’s bed. He investigated further and discovered one of Angela’s slippers. He got on his knees and reached around under the bed until he found the other one. He couldn’t imagine what Angela’s slippers were doing in Thad’s room.

“I see you found my slippers, darling,” Angela said, trying to be brave. “I wonder what they were doing in here.”

“Oh, well, Barney must have hidden them there, Mike. You know how he likes to steal slippers,” Angela said, putting the blame on the family dog.

“I guess that must be it,” Mike said, following Angela out of the room.

Before turning off the light, Mike glanced back at Thad’s bed and wondered why Thad hadn’t awakened with all the talking and the lights being flicked on and off. It almost seemed that he was pretending to be asleep for some strange reason. Mike had the funny feeling that there was more here than met the eye. Angela seemed nervous about something, and Randy had darted out of the room as if he had been caught doing something pretty serious. And why had Randy been naked instead of wearing his pajamas? The boys didn’t usually make it a habit to run around the house buck naked like that.

Mike glanced around the room one more time and caught sight of what appeared to be a pair of pajamas lying on the floor. In fact, there were two pair of pajamas. Mike scratched his head sleepily and quietly closed the door behind him.

“Come to bed now, darling,” Angela said with a nervous smile. “I’m sorry I woke you up, Mike. I know you have to get to the office early tomorrow.”

“Doesn’t matter, Angela. You didn’t exactly wake me up. I just rolled over and didn’t feel you next to me,” Mike said.

“I’m surprised you noticed,” Angela sighed.

“What’s that supposed to mean, Angela?” Mike asked.

“Well, darling, you should know,” she said in a bored voice. “But I don’t know, Angela.”

“Let’s drop this discussion, darling. It’s awfully late,” she murmured, yawning.

“I don’t think we will drop it, Angela!” Mike bristled.

Angela knew that her attitude toward Mike and his lack of interest in her had changed since she had discovered how to get attention from younger men. She could already feel herself fighting the urge to ridicule him for his impotence. She was losing the battle to control herself. Mike’s near-discovery of her incestuous activities had put her on the defensive. But now that she thought of it, there was very little chance that he would realize what was actually going on. Angela herself found it hard to believe that she was fucking her sons so how could Mike ever catch on?