Mizspelred Tie Toe

He didn't feel very hungry which was a surprise. Then again, he had eaten quite a bit the night before and just feeling the gagging reflex didn't mean you actually puked.

As he was going to the shower he noticed that the house seemed empty. He was still unsure of what to make of all he'd been told. A part of him thought his mother was a liar. There was no way that story could be true. Incest babies weren't supposed to live past infancy or something like that. Right? And his mother having sex with both her father and her brother; ridiculous. His mom was just drunk or something.

After his shower he went to his computer to watch videos but one of the first ones on the front page was a video talking about incest in a popular tv show set in a medieval time period. Ok, no. No internet. No tv. Something else. He went to the dvd collection and as he looked at the titles he realized that his mother owned just about every film that had incest in it ever made. Oh, damn. He looked over at the bookshelf and while he hadn't read even a quarter of the titles on display he did know that a large number of those books also had incest in them.

Wait. Ok. He saw what was going on. His mother had like ... an incest fantasy. She hadn't really had sex with her father. His father and grandfather couldn't possibly be the same person. His mother just had a quirky sexual fantasy and she was drunk and she made up a story. That's all. Reggy would not believe that he was the product of incest. NO. That was not who he was. He was still the same Reggy he'd always been. Nothing had changed. He would not be that other person and his mother owed him an apology for making him doubt himself.

Then he thought about Laura. Maybe his mother was getting the wrong idea about how close Reggy and Laura were and she was trying to say that she'd be ok with it if they turned romantic. But that was stupid. He didn't feel that way about Laura. No. He didn't. Of course not. And she would never feel that way about Reggy even if ... whatever ... But of course he didn't feel that way about her in the first place so there.

Or ... what if his mother saw Laura as competition. What if is mother really had sexual feelings towards Reggy and she thought Laura was taking him away from her. Was that why she was always watching movies or reading books about incest? Was that why she was always dressing sexy when it was just them in the house? It seemed far fetched but if she had this incest fantasy then who's she going to act on it with if not Reggy.

If that were so, he'd have to be the strong one and for once be the one to tell her no. She was still a very attractive woman and she could easily get a date or a boyfriend or even finally get married if that's what she wanted. Even young guys would go for her if she were poor and the fact that she was getting to be rather rich would turn them on even more. She could have her pick of any man she wanted. Maybe all Reggy needed to do was let her know he'd be ok with her getting married and she be off on dates with men she was not related to in no time.

Reggy went over to the piano and started playing. He knew lots of songs and at first he was just playing something to help him mellow out and get his mind off of things. But then for some reason he found himself transitioning into the third movement of the Moonlight sonata. This was part of a game he played on others usually. He'd tell them that he knew the Moonlight sonata by heart, which he did, and they'd ask him to play it but instead of the solemn and sentimental first movement, he'd launch into the anger and frustration of the third. It wasn't Reggy's fault that they didn't know there were more parts to it. Many times he'd inevitably have to prove that what he was playing was actually part of the Moonlight and almost always they'd ask him to play the first movement and stop messing with them.

As he was coming to the end and his fingers started to hurt from pounding the keys much harder than he really should have been, somehow he found a way to transition to a piano version of Riders of Doom and then that carried him on to keep playing. Eventually he wasn't playing anything that he really recognized. The music was just streaming out of him in furious waves of anguish. All the injustice he knew of in the world he piped through his fingers and pushed down into the keys.

He couldn't exactly say he felt better when he finally really was finished but at least he didn't have the energy left to carry on being angry. He went to the kitchen and made himself some leftovers. He was looking at his phone, waiting for Laura to text him back, when his mother and sister came back into the house. They were talking and laughing about something. Reggy was too drained to really get into it with them when they found him.

"Feeling better, son?"

He just shrugged. "As well as can be expected."

Sue laughed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Whatever." He wasn't going to argue.

"I think you're being too hard on mom."

"I said whatever. Ok. I'm cool. Drop it."

"Reggy," Lori began, "we're going to play golf with Steven later today. Did you want to come or did you already have plans?"

"I had plans with Laura. Now I guess I don't."

"I'm sorry, honey. But she's a grown woman and she's going to have to decide for herself whether or not ..."

"How can she decide anything if she doesn't know what's really going on?"

"She doesn't need to know and she's not apart of ..."

"Sue is her sister. Ok. And I'm like her ... Um ... whatchacallit."

"You're her cousin. And yes on some level Sue is her sister but more than that, they're cousins. And sure, technically, you could argue that you're my brother but really, you're my son. I gave birth to you. That trumps everything else. That's how we've come to know each other. And Sue is your sister, not your niece because I know when you look at her you see your sister. There's no need to do word soup with trying to relabel relationships. We are still who we always were."

"She won't answer my calls. She won't ..."

"That's her choice. If she wanted to choose us over her father then she's welcome here. If her father wants to be part of our lives, then he's welcome too. But if not, then they're free to leave."

"It's not right. I ... I ..."

"What?" asked Sue.

"I just, you know, ... we had plans."

"What plans?"

"Just going to the movies and stuff. Nothing big but we ... had plans. And no, not like that. Nothing like that. Just, ... how can she just go away?"

"Let me talk to your uncle." Lori said. "He's had the night to think things over. Maybe I can reach him now."

"He's not my uncle. He's my ..."

"He's your uncle. He will always be your uncle."

"Actually, I kind of don't want you to ... talk to him."

"Why not?" his mother asked with a tilted eyebrow.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't ... um ... be alone with ..."

"Reggy, get your head out of your ass and be an adult. I only told you about all of that because I thought you were old enough to handle the truth."

"I am. I just don't think ..."

"There's nothing going on with Clark. There hasn't been for years now. And even if there were, so what?"

"He's ... married is what. He's Laura's father is what."

"Relax, son. You're letting your imagination run too fast."

Everyone was silent for a moment and the only sound that could be heard was faint wheezing. Then Reggy spoke in a quiet tone. "Fix it. This is bullshit and we all know it. We were happy. Fix it."

"I'll do what I can but sometimes in life, things change." Lori left it at that and walked away. Sue looked over at her mother and wondered if she should follow but then looked back over at Reggy.

"Hey." she whispered. "You know, we don't need them.

"What?" Reggy said loudly.

Whispering again, Sue replied "They don't like us. They never have."

Reggy stood there thinking for a moment, unsure what she was talking about. "They're family." he finally said.

"You were right. You were always right. Uncle Clark was just after mom's money. He didn't want anything to do with us unless he could get paid for it."

"But that's not Laura's fault."

Sue reached for Reggy's hand and then kissed it. "Come and play golf with us. You can do that. And Steven's daughter Cindy is coming to play with us. She's very nice. She has blond hair and ..."

"I've met her."

"Well, she's not seeing anyone and maybe you two could hit it off."

"What do you mean?"

"Just what I said. You need to get your mind off of all this and maybe a nice romance would be just the thing ... "

"No."

"What? Why not?"

"No. Just No. No way."

"You don't like her?"

Reggy didn't answer. He shook his head and walked away.

An hour went by and then Lori started calling for her children to get ready for golf. The plan was to have lunch at the club with one of their mother's business associates and his family. However, it started to look like Lori was going to have to go alone. Reggy wouldn't go and Sue said she wanted to stay with him, just in case.

"Let him stew if he wants to." Lori said. "It's not going to change anything. He needs to get out of the house more often."

"Mom, you know he doesn't like it when we go places and you make him rest while the rest of us participate."

"He can ride the golf cart if he gets too tired to walk."

"He doesn't want people to see him that way. You know that."

"The male ego is so self destructive."

"I'll stay and keep him company. You go and have a good time."

"Steven is bringing his family. I need someone there with me."

Sue bent to her mother and decided to go.

"You were originally supposed to go with Uncle Clark, I take it." Sue said as she got into her mom's car.

"Well, he's not here and we have to make due. Keep your ears open while we talk and you might learn a few things."

...

Reggy watched as the car left and then he grabbed his own keys and left the house. He drove out to the river and then followed the road down a little ways past the bridge. He was still pretty good friends with his ex-girlfriend's brother. He figured he'd find Donny in the garage and sure enough, there he was with a guitar hanging from his shoulders and his ridiculously big headphones on.

Also in the garage were Ben and his girlfriend Jamie. Those two were playing checkers at the little round table by the wall.

When Reggy pulled up and parked, Donny jumped with excitement and quickly got rid of his guitar and all so he could come to the car before Reggy was even out.

"Dude, big news." Donny said.

"Hey, don't go repeating that filth." Jamie yelled out to him.

"Dude, you're never going to believe this." Donny giggled.

"What?" Reggy asked.

"Come on, man. We said we weren't going to talk about it." Ben added.

"You two decided you didn't want to talk about it. I think it's fricken awesome."

"Awesome?" Reggy was incredulous as they went back under the shade of the garage.

"Yeah man. Sandy was saying that she saw ..."

"Seriously, don't go telling that story." Jamie warned. "She's probably just lying because he broke up with her. Pics or it didn't happen."

"True enough." Ben added.

"Oh, come on. Let me tell him and see if Reggy thinks it's a lie or not."

"Tell me what?"

"Sandy saw Tim having sex with his sister." Donny relayed with a happy glee in his eyes.

Reggy looked at him for a moment and then looked over at the other two. "Tim?'

"Premature ejaculation guy."

"Oh. Well, nah, she's lying."

"What do you mean? She says ..."

"She went and told everyone that he had a problem keeping it up but now allegedly he's doing that? No. It's a lie."

"See. He agrees with us. The story is just too wild to be believed." Jamie said.

"Come on, Reg. If anyone is going to believe it, it's you."

Reggy was put on guard. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Samantha says you and your cousin are really close."

"Not like that we're not."

"Not cool, man." Ben said.

"Just think about it." Donny pressed. "Have you ever known some fucked up thing like that to happen in real life?"

The other three all looked away from him and no one offered an answer to the question.

"You guys are prudes." Donny said.

"Don, how would you like it if someone was talking about you and your sister like that?" Jamie demanded.

"What? I didn't ..."

"Everyone who knows Tim will tell you the same thing." Ben said. "He's not the kind of guy to do that. And besides, even if there was any truth to what Sandy said, we ought to at least respect their privacy."

"I can't just not talk about it." Donny said. "I mean, come on. This is the most exciting thing since Tony broke his leg."

"How can you call someone getting hurt exciting?" Reggy asked.

"He was sneaking out of ..."

Jamie was shaking her head. "Jill is on vacation with John right now."

"Guys, can we talk about something else please?" Reggy asked.

"Like what? This summer has been so boring."

Just then, Samantha opened the door into the house. Reggy looked away from her as she offered the others drinks. When she offered the same to Reggy, he politely declined while still keeping his eyes in another direction.

He continued to look away when she came over and presented him with the drink and let the cold glass touch his arms that were folded over his chest.

"I made it just the way you like." she said.

Reggy looked down at it and then nodded. He accepted the drink and she smiled at him. In that smile he remembered again why they'd broken up. It seemed so long ago now. It seemed like it shouldn't really bother Reggy anymore. And in truth it didn't. But they were still broken up. Her smile couldn't change that. Whatever they had had was over. He'd told her that he wouldn't let her change her mind later. He wasn't going to suffer that kind of insult and then just let her take it back easily. She'd said the words and he was going to hold her to them.

"No regrets." he'd told her at the time and she had agreed with anger in her voice. There was no anger in his heart or in her voice now but even the passing of years did not negate the insult she'd served him.

After Samantha had left, the four in the garage started to talk about the new soccer stadium that was supposed to be being built. The theme of the conversation seemed to be that none of them thought anyone would ever pay to watch a soccer game. However, Donny blindsided them again.

"Hey, Reg, I'll make a deal with you."

"What deal?"

"I can get you back together with my sister if you hook me up with your mom."

Donny probably thought he was being funny. No one was laughing but him.

...

Lori was calm and collected as she drove down the highway to her exit.

"Does that kind of think happen to you a lot?" Sue asked.

"It's just part of doing business."

"Well, it shouldn't be. Do men do that kind of thing a lot?"

"Some are more subtle about it than others."

What had been a plan for lunch and afternoon golf it seemed had really been a plan for Steven to get Lori alone and turn it into a date. Sue had been puzzled when his wife and daughter had not accompanied him. Then she saw the annoyance on his face when Sue was going to be joining them for their afternoon together. Sue didn't pick up on it at first but eventually she figured out that Steven had come not to talk business or even golf. He'd come hoping to get a chance to cheat on his wife.

"Well, I hope this one knows better for next time." Sue said.

Lori just shook her head. "No. He'll try to make his hint even bigger next time."

"And that's what my uncle's job used to be? Keeping you safe."

"Not really. I usually handle these kinds of things alone. When I did bring your uncle it was for the same reason I brought you."

"To learn?"

"I discovered that being a business owner is not much different than any other job. There are a set of skills you have to learn and practice. It's a distinct and vital job in the company just the same as a chef has to study how to cook and an engineer has to study how to do ... whatever it is they do."

They drove on to the house and spotted Reggy getting out of his car and going into the house. "I wonder where he's been." Sue said.

"I just hope he had fun." Lori said as she pulled the car up to the driveway but didn't pull in.

Sue looked just a bit confused but then her mother let her know she had one more meeting to go to that day.

"Did you want me to come along?" Sue inquired.

"Not this one. This guy is kind of funny and I haven't figured out what his angle is yet."

"What if he doesn't have one?"

"We all have one. If I'm going to go into business with him I need to know what it is he really wants. If I don't know then I can't know how to help him."

"Help him?"

"Business is all about helping people. You find out what they need and you supply it to them. If they need food you open a restaurant. If they need advice you open a consulting firm. If a man needs something, he'll happily give you his money in exchange for it. If we take his money without giving him what he needs, than we're nothing but thieves."

"Do you have any guesses what he wants?"

"For Nemo Holdings. Not a one. The company is so diversified. Usually someone will have their own area of expertise. That isn't to say they won't dabble in other kinds of ventures but for the most part 90% of their income will come from one sector of the economy. Not Nemo. It's unlike any other animal I've ever seen. He's got his hands in everything and there doesn't seem to be any logic or planning behind it."

"Maybe he's just a rich guy wasting his money."

"Oh, he's rich but he's not wasting money. My first impression was that this was money laundering but the more I look for the true source of his income the more it eludes me."

"Then why go meet with him? He sounds dangerous."

"There's money to be made. Granted, if I find out there's anything illegal I'll pull out of course but if it's legit then there is a lot of money to be made."

"Now I'm really curious. Can I go with you?"

"No. I need him to myself just now. I'll be home later."

Sue was still thinking about the mystery man her mother was going to see and secretly she also wondered if that was all just a story to disguise a date.

When Sue went into the house she saw Reggy sitting in the living room. Instead of watching the tv, he had his phone on a little stand on the coffee table and he was watching a video on the much smaller screen. She laughed. He knew perfectly well that the phone could connect to the tv through the wifi so he wouldn't have to watch whatever that was on such a small screen. In fact, he was the one to first show the rest of them. But he almost always seemed to forget to actually use it.

She sat adjacent to him on the other sofa and he silently waved to her. She found herself looking at him. They had both always assumed that they had the same father. It was strange to now know that not to be true. But in a lot of ways it did makes sense. They were so different from each other. They both had black hair but while hers had body and a hint of curl, his was flat to his head. The four or five white hairs he had were impossible to miss that way. While Sue was always full of energy, her brother was always tired. She'd get annoyed after just a few pages from any story but he could spend all day looking at a book.

While she was looking over at him she noticed that the seam of his pants was starting to tear in the crotch area. It figured. He'd owned those pants for forever. He never wanted to buy anything new. He insisted on having their mother mend his clothes long after they should have been thrown out. It didn't matter that they had money now. He wouldn't part with his things. When he did ride a bicycle, it was still the same one from when he was 12 that he meticulously cared for. Unlike Sue, who had been overjoyed to get an expensive new car as a graduation gift, Reggy had asked for a used car to save money. It, like his bike, was some kind of passion project of maintenance.