"Huh! Not likely!" Damian replied.
"Well, I’m makin' a short story long for a reason, maybe…" Louise sighed. "Anyway, we got into this relatively small group — a couple pf players who were doing the more than one woman thing — your Pa was providing extra dick to keep the women in line, but obligations came with it. One of the players took to wanting to have me basically to himself on party nights — your Pa noticed, but the other guy didn’t — or pretended he didn’t, anyway — so he let it go; like I said, there were obligations." She sighed. "Well, the guy started getting serious, to the point that I couldn’t ignore it and his women couldn’t ignore it — and that tore things up, we got out of the group. But somewhere in there, my birth control failed…" Louise shut up, suddenly, and sat back, waiting…
Damian wasn’t stupid. It took about three seconds, before he grunted, "Fuck…"
Louise sighed. "Of course, we didn’t know it right away. And we didn’t know it when you were born. Shit, we don’t KNOW it for sure now — nobody’s done a test … But you never did look like your Pa, and as you got older, the differences got bigger and bigger…" She shook her head. "Your Pa would never deny you — and he’s always done right by you — but I’m sure you’ve noticed the difference. You remind him of mistakes he made, and mistakes I made — and last year, that thing just reminded him too much of that other guy…"
Damian nodded solemnly. Louise opened her mouth to continue, but at that moment Terence, blithely unaware of the seriousness of the conversation, stuck his head in the door. "I’m gonna shower now, okay?"
"Yeah, go get ready," Damian grunted, his voice rough. "Save me some hot water."
"Sure…" Terence ducked out and the interruption was over.
"When was you gonna tell me?" Damian asked.
Louise looked her younger son in the eye and replied, "Never. Not if I didn’t have to."
"So I was a mistake…"
"Well, Terence was, too, if you look at it THAT way," Louise replied. "Most kids are, these days. Your Pa considers that I turned up pregnant by somebody else a mistake of mine — but I wouldn’t have been there in the first place, except…" She shrugged. "As far as I’m concerned, it was one of the breaks of the game. I’m happy with the result. But your Pa lets things eat on him, and, well, last year was just too much. I’m thinking that’s a big reason why things are so bad, now…" She sighed. "MY mistake was letting your Pa talk me into playing again in the first place. You have to be big about things — big in ways that don’t come easy to your Pa. He was always a little too worried about what other folk thought…"
Damian was well aware of this — and he saw it reflected in his big brother. He nodded; some of what his mother had told him was going to take some thought in the future — but for now… "So why are you doin' this now, if it’s a mistake?"
Louise shrugged. "Swinging isn’t a mistake — and it wasn’t then. It’s who you swing WITH. It’s sort of like hanging out — if you hang out with the gangs, that can be a fuck-up…" She grinned. "Swinging was a lot of fun, sometimes — it depended on the group. I did a lot of shit I remember fondly…"
"So, was it all straight sex? One on one?" Damian asked.
"Lord, no!" Louise chuckled. "Well, it depended on the group — some groups, you just kinda paired up and went off — just wife-swapping. Others were orgy stuff — you got there and found a pile and stuck yourself in it — and went with the flow…"
"Girl-girl stuff?" Damian asked. "What about Pa? Any guy-guy stuff?"
"I’ve done gals," Louise admitted. "If guys do it, what’s the big deal? As for your Pa, well, the worrying about what other people thought thing always got in his way. He liked blowjobs — and I think he liked 'em from guys better. But when it was time to give something back, he was always slow to do anything and looking around to see who was watching."
"So did he blow any guys?"
Louise thought about it. "Usually, he’d duck off with a hand job, lookin' around and acting guilty. I never saw him blow a guy, but I remember we were in one group that went to a club with a sauna. This guy blew him, and he enjoyed it a lot; later, I looked up and him and the guy were gone — and a bit later, he came back, said he’d been in the sauna. But he acted weird … I remember we went to that group for a couple of months, and he’d disappear every time and go to the sauna — and every time, he’d act all weird and guilty when he came back. I figure he blew some guys, at least — maybe did more than that…"
"More? Like what?"
"Your Pa likes to have his prostate massaged while he gets his dick sucked. You know what that is?" Louise eyed her son.
"Stick a finger up…" Damian supplied.
"Uh huh," Louise nodded. "I think that once — maybe twice — he got more than a finger in the sauna … I think that’s why we quit going there — he was afraid someone would try to do something somewhere public and bitch at him when he tried to pretend it wasn’t his thing…"
"What do you think of that kind of thing?" Damian asked.
Louise cocked her head. "It’s just sex, Boy — unless you’re swappin' spit and getting' all emotional about it. Of course, guys your age can’t be doing that — it gets you dumped on — but it’s probably no worse than anything else … I imagine we’re gonna do some interesting stuff today — but I bet you won’t get into THAT! You and those other boys would have to get REAL comfortable with each other before any of you will be doing that kind of thing — and besides, SOMEBODY has to start it … No, it’ll be months before you guys break THOSE barriers, if ever — and at this point, we don’t know how long this is gonna last…" She simpered. "Too bad, too — it’s kinda fun to watch, sometimes…"
"Mama!"
"What? I’m serious!"
"Serious?" Terence stuck his head through the door. "About what?"
"Nothing, Bro," Damian chuckled. "Done already?"
"You SAID to save you some hot water…" Terence replied.
"Cool. But you still don’t want to stink…"
"HEY! I don’t stink!" Terence argued.
"You do after a football game!" Damian laughed.
"Ain’t played ball in a week or two…" Terence grinned.
"Well you have to shower, anyway…" Damian chided him.
"Hey, I’m done and YOU ain’t! Why don’t you hit the shower and let Mama dress?" Terence shot back.