KALICO: 1 Hypnotized, Naked in Hope Springs, Texas

Kalico: Confronting Mom: An Argument Lost

Kalico: Tuesday evening, Johnson Farmhouse

Mom worked all day and Granny cooked supper. It didn't take Madison and me long to figure out our roles in the division of labor over tonight's supper. While Mom went upstairs to freshen herself for tonight's "meeting," whatever it might be, my sister and I cleared the table and scrubbed the dishes.

Actually, supper dishes for four wasn't all that difficult this time. Dump the chicken bones and scrape the burned-on stuff from the casserole dishes. The rest went fairly easy, especially compared with how things used to go in our previous apartments or rented houses before we moved in with Granny Johnson.

Granny had used an amazingly small number of dishes and utensils in preparing supper. She had already washed and put away the kitchen knives involved in the preparation. The skillet, the serving dish for the chicken, and the two casseroles which I already mentioned, were all that needed washing besides our individual plates, glasses and utensils.

Something else caught my attention. No leftovers. Somehow, Granny Johnson had estimated almost exactly how much food the four of us would need. No one went away hungry, but all the food was eaten.

Nobody likes to wash dishes after a meal, but with Madison and I working together on it, the chore went fast enough. The whole process from the start of clearing the table to putting away the last of the dried dishes couldn't have taken 17 minutes.

I was rather in a hurry to finish because I wanted to corner Mom before she took off for her evening out. I can't imagine how anyone could have a 'hot date' in Hope Springs so I decided to accept her word that it was some sort of school committee meeting. I also wanted to get on with my journal entries for Mr. Coltwright, but my main concern at the moment was to confront Mom.

Madison and Granny looked as if they were going to stay downstairs to talk, so I quietly went upstairs to find Mom in the last stages of getting ready.

Mom was getting decked out like she might be going to a party. Not that she was putting on a party dress, but it was a little nicer than what you might wear to a parent-teacher committee meeting. I arrived at her bedroom a minute before she pulled on the dress, so I got an eyeful of her preparation in the fundamentals department: Lacy panties, thigh-high nylon hose held up by a garter belt, and a cute bustier boosting up her cute bust.

She had also spent more than a couple of minutes with her makeup kit, not that she needs it much. Her lips were redder than usual and her cheeks had a good supply of rouge. "Mom! Your eyelashes look like they can flag down a train," I couldn't help teasing her. She's so cute. It's easy to tell what Daddy saw in her.

Mom's a naturally good looking woman. Actually, she doesn't look all that much older than me. I don't know how she's always managed to seem so young. With a little effort, such as tonight, she could easily pass for late 20s or 30 at the most. I've always been proud of Mom's good looks. She's never told me her exact age.

"Wow, Mom!" I exclaimed as she pulled the dress on. It's a respectable but very attractive button-up-the-front job, the type you can get into or out of without help.

Most of Mom's wardrobe is of the front closure type. It's because she's a single parent, she told me once. She can't always count on Madison or me to be there to hook up the back of her dress. I think it's Mom's way of coping with life without Daddy.

Tonight, the way Mom had her underwear on so perfectly, and her choice of a front-button dress, something made me suspect she's thinking of how easily she might get out of it, with someone watching. What an awful thought to cross my head! Especially when I'm trying to find a way to talk with her.