Hidden Acres Ch. 08

All characters over the age of eighteen.

The town of Logan, locally known as Hidden Acres, is set apart from the world, not only by its remote location, but by traditions the outside world would call peculiar, at the very least. A significant portion of the town has been brought up and taught the tenets of the Jocaline Order.

This order, at its core, is concerned with love and compassion. The practices the outside world would find objectionable are that the Jocaline Order encourages and instructs its members to share their bodies with family members. Incest is illegal, even in Logan, but the traditions are passed down by those who believe strongly in the Jocaline Order.

Not all tales of Hidden Acres are happy ending fairy tales though. Even in Hidden Acres there are those who must be taught harsh lessons.

Fall 1978

Mary Rammage fretted. Her son Billy was not the kind of man she thought she would raise. She and her husband, George, had done their best to bring up a respectful, honest, hardworking son, but she had to admit to herself that they had failed. Billy was loud, demanding, unappreciative, and demeaning to both his mother and father.

Mary and George were soft spoken people, slow to anger, and deliberative with their words. They had never lashed out at their son in frustration, had always meted out fair and just punishments for his wrong doings, and praised him for his correct actions.

Somewhere along the line Billy learned that he could shout over and bully his parents. He became spoiled and entitled. Even when his father had used the belt, their reprieve only lasted a short while as Mary would cave to his verbal assault when his father wasn't around. This emboldened her son, escalating his behaviors.

Mary knew that the failure was hers, she should have listened to her husband. But she couldn't bear to see her son hurt, even when she knew it was for his own good. The punishments were harder on her than they were for Billy. She kept praying for a sweet young man to emerge, knowing in her heart he was there deep down inside of her son.

Billy's eighteenth birthday had passed three days ago and she knew that the Jocaline Order instructed that she should teach her son the ways of physical love. She was to be his guide into adulthood and mature relationships. It was a rite of passage all mothers in the order took very seriously.

It should have been a giddy moment for Mary, she'd thought of it often while she was pregnant and while Billy had grown up. Things had changed three years ago though, as she began to lose hope that Billy would behave more like a man, instead of an overgrown child. As his eighteenth birthday approached she considered not performing the rite, but that caused her just as much anguish.

"Maybe this is the way we can reach him," George had answered when she asked for his feelings on the matter. Mary could tell her husband was conflicted as well and at a loss for ways to mold their child into the kind of man they could be proud of.

George's mother had been a member of the Jocaline Order and he'd been a guest in her bed on more than a number of occasions. Mary knew that the love George showed her and the way he treated her as a woman, a wife and partner were all thanks to the lessons his mother had taught him. Mary felt it was her duty to perform the same for whatever woman Billy happened to marry.

"This isn't just about him," Mary had argued when George had suggested skipping the rite altogether. "It's for his wife, his future. It's important that he learn these lessons before it is too late." George had reluctantly agreed.

And so Mary Rammage fretted as she sat at the foot of her bed, dressed in a simple nightgown that fell to her ankles. It was not a particularly sexy garment, but she was certain that it wouldn't matter to her virgin son. She had combed her auburn hair until it shone brightly and applied a light lip gloss. Gathering her courage, she grabbed her husband's hand and squeezed. George gave her an encouraging hug before she got up and left their bedroom.

Tip toeing in the hallway, she knew that Billy was still awake by the loud music coming from his room. It was past eleven o'clock on a school night, his lights should have been out. Her stomach was a tight ball of nerves as she made her way slowly to his door. A thousand scenarios raced through her mind, but they all ended with her son learning the lessons she needed to impart.

"Billy?" Mary said as she knocked on his door and then opened it when he didn't answer. The music was so loud he couldn't have heard her over it. She saw him on the bed, propped up on his side as he leafed through a magazine. As Billy flipped it closed she caught the sight of a topless woman on the cover.

"What?" her son snapped. He looked at her with angry eyes. She'd seen the same look from him countless times before. Mary hoped that after tonight that she'd never see them again.

"Can we turn down the music, please?" she asked, stepping to the radio and spinning the knob. "There, that's better."

Turning to face him, she could see the magazine clearly now and others on his bed in a pile. They were all nudie magazines and some of them quite graphic. She spied one where a woman was riding one man, his cock clearly visible going into her vagina, as another cock was approaching her open mouth.

"Baby, you shouldn't have these!" Mary rushed to his bed and tried to push the dirty magazines onto the floor.

"Why the fuck not? I'm eighteen now, I can look at whatever I want!" Billy snatched the magazine out of her hand and pulled the rest close to him protectively.

"Sweetie, that's not real. It's not healthy to look at such things."

"Not real? Ha!" His derisive laughter cut her deeply and she winced. "What the hell do you know? You're just some old fuddy duddy. I'm surprised you even had me. Guess dad got lucky only the one time." He laughed again, a cruel, bitter laugh.

"Baby, listen to me. I'm not a prude, whatever you may think, but those magazines don't explain anything, they don't teach you-"

"What's to explain? You get a hot girl, you get hard, you stick it in her. It's not rocket science, mom.."

"Billy there is so much more than that! There's love, there's commitment-"

"Yeah right," he snorted. "Mom you don't know how the world works anymore. Maybe that was the case when you were growing up, but things have changed. We can have sex before marriage now and the pill means we don't have to worry about pregnancy."

"Billy," she pleaded, her voice giving away that she was on the verge of tears. "Please, baby, let me show you!"

He paused, suddenly looking at her curiously. "Show me?"

Mary heard the skeptical edge in his question. A new, gnawing worry sprang to life on her already overloaded nerves. She had to tread carefully or all of this would go horribly wrong. Swallowing hard, she nodded.

Billy slowly picked up the magazines and set them on his desk that sat next to his bed. He lay back and studied her carefully. "Okay," he said at last.

Mary felt relief as she moved to sit on the edge of his bed, at least she had his attention. Her mind raced as she tried to gather her thoughts. This wasn't how she pictured this moment at all. Without seeing another option, she plunged forward with her rehearsed speech.

"For generations women in Hidden Acres have taught their sons and daughters the ways of intimacy." The words came out of her monotonously, as if she were reading them for the first time from a cue card. Mary knew it wasn't right, but it was all she could do to recite them, even if unfeelingly.

"Holy shit! You were serious? You're going to show me how to fuck?"

"Billy, don't be crude!"

"C'mon, mom! You need to get with the times."

Billy had sat up and leered at her menacingly. His hands reached out for her and Mary recoiled in fright. This was definitely not how she envisioned this night! She had pictured him in stunned awe as she revealed her body to him, his gentle, naive touch caressing a woman's body for the first time. Her son had taken her words and twisted them into something unseemly and perverted.

"Holy shit, I can't believe I get to fuck my mother. Wait til the guys hear this!"

His hands were upon her, groping and pinching her smallish breasts. Mary twisted away, trying to push him away, but he was eager and larger than her. Before she could think he'd pushed her back on the bed and now his rough hands were pushing up the nightgown, revealing her legs. Mary kicked and yelped, tears forming in her eyes.

Billy looked down upon her, not with love and wonder, but with mild disappointment. "Well, you're not as hot as the women in the magazines, but you'll do for the first time."

Her son leaned back, taking hold of the waistband on his shorts. As he pushed them down he lifted himself up. Something in Mary snapped as she realized her son was about to rape her and she mustered all her strength and anger and focused it into a punch right in his groin. Billy collapsed, falling to the side of her in a fetal position as he cried out.

The bedroom door burst open and Mary turned to see George in the light of the hallway. Her husband was poised ready to fight and his face was a mask of controlled rage. He pulled Mary off the bed and made sure she was all right.

"Go to our bedroom," George told Mary sternly.

Mary sobbed as she raced to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Climbing into bed, she pulled her knees up to her chest and rocked as she cried openly. She could hear the muted shouting from down the hall, but instead of trying to understand what was being said, she tried to block it out. 'You're a fool!" she choked out through the tears. Humiliation took hold of her and sank it's tentacles of doubt and shame into her soul.

At some point Mary realized that the house had become still. There was no more shouting and she wondered what her husband had said to their son. Would he make Billy realize what she had offered him? Could he even get through to Billy anymore? She cried again for the loss of the son she had dreamed of, finally giving up hope that Billy would ever be that person.

George returned to the room, opening the door slowly. Mary looked up and saw that he was still furious and his body tense, ready for a fight. He blinked and then he saw his wife. He came to her and gently wrapped his arms around her. Mary nuzzled into his hairy chest, glad for his protective embrace. At some point she fell asleep.

Mary woke with a start. George was not in bed next to her and by the sunlight streaming through the window, she realized she had overslept. Dressing quickly, she crept into the hall, listening for any sign of her son or husband. Billy's door was open, but his room was unoccupied. Sighing in relief, she moved cautiously into the living room, peering around corners.

She found George in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. When he saw her he stood up and hugged her tightly.

"He's off to school," he said, answering her nervous look.

"Baby, I failed! I'm so sorry. I'm so stupid. So, so stupid."

"Shh," George whispered into her hair. "We did what we thought was right. We tried. That's all we can do."

Mary pushed back to look at her husband. "Yes, but now it's so much worse! He was going to-"

"I wasn't ever going to let that happen," George said quickly.

"What are we going to do now?" Mary asked worriedly. The gnawing in her stomach returned as she thought of Billy coming home from school.

"I don't know," her husband admitted. "I don't know."

--

George left for the office, promising to come home early and be at the house when Billy returned from school. Mary tried to do her normal chores, but everything seemed hollow. She could barely eat and she jumped at every unexpected noise.

Needing someone to talk to, Mary called her friend Lynn Tenant. Lynn was ten years older and her two sons were handsome, caring men. The kind of boy Mary had hoped for. Perhaps Lynn would be able to help.

"Oh lord," Lynn had gasped when Mary had told her of the night before. "Well sugar, I wished you had called me beforehand, I could have told you- Well, no matter now. What's done is done. I want you to sit tight, I'm on my way over. No way are we going to set this right over the phone and you're in such a state you shouldn't be alone anyway."

In short order Lynn had arrived and settled Mary on the couch with a blanket and a hot cup of tea. Mary marvelled at her friend, so sure of herself and never at a loss for what to do in a tough situation.

"Where did I go wrong?" Mary asked, staring into her cup.

"Oh sweetie, there's no point in beating yourself up. You did your best."

"No," Mary said, wiping her nose. "Seriously, I need to know."

Lynn, sitting next to her on the couch, took a hard look at Mary, measuring her words.

"You saw the good in him, but you were blinded by a mother's love. You forgave him his faults, but you didn't correct them."

Mary swallowed hard. It was not an easy thing to hear that your child was rotten and it was your own fault, but she'd asked and Lynn had not minced words.

"Is there nothing I can do?" Mary asked quietly.

"Well, maybe not you alone," Lynn said after a time. "I think this is larger than you and George now."

Lynn stayed over for the entire day and when George came home he thanked her. As they were talking the front door suddenly opened and there was Billy looking at them. His eyes were angry and after a long look at each of them he stomped towards his room.

"You come back here and say hello," Lynn said, her voice brooking no argument.

Billy stopped and then he came back, a cocky smile upon his face.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"William Rammage!" Mary shouted. Her son just turned to her and let out a snort.

"Oh look, it's my mom. Did she tell you she wanted to fuck me last night?"

"Get out of here. Now." George was staring daggers at his son, his clenched fists ready to let loose.

"Whatever," Billy said snidely and then went to his room.

"We'll take care of this," Lynn promised to Mary and George after they heard Billy's door close.

--

Billy got dressed for school the next day and once again found only his father in the kitchen. His mouse of a mom was too scared to be around him. Well that wasn't his fault. He wasn't the one who came crawling into her bed begging for a fuck. His dad must be truly pathetic if he'd allow his woman to sleep with anyone, let alone her own son. Maybe his dad got off on that. Maybe they'd done it before. That would explain a lot, he thought with a sneer.

He caught the bus and settled into his seat near the back. It was oddly quiet this morning. Normally there was lots of conversation, but today it seemed as if everyone was lost in their own world. That suited Billy fine, he was in a mood and listening to the stupid shit the other kids had to say would only make it worse.

At school he made his way to his locker and opened it up. As he changed out books he saw Derrek Engle, his best friend, coming down the hall. Closing up his locker, Billy started walking towards him. Their eyes met and then something happened. Derrek looked past him, as if he hadn't seen him, but Billy knew that wasn't the case.

"What's up Der?" Billy asked as the other boy came up. Derrek didn't stop to talk though, he just kept walking like he hadn't heard Billy.

"What the fuck?" Billy said under his breath. "Are you suddenly too good for me Derrek?" He stared after his friend, but Derrek never turned around. "Whatever, asshole!"

His first class was a continuation of the silent treatment. Some students gave him icy glares, others noticed the odd treatment, but didn't say anything. Abigail Smith began to ask him a question, but Jenny Gerhardt touched Abby's arm and shook her head. Abby shrugged and asked Jenny instead.

At lunch his friends on the football team iced him out, refusing to let him sit at their table.

"What the fuck is going on?" he demanded, slamming his tray down.

"Coach," Larry Orr, the quarterback said. "You need to talk to him."

Billy stormed off for the locker room and found the coach in his office. "Mind telling me why I'm being treated like I'm a ghost? No one will talk to me and they all act like I've got the plague."

"You're off the team," Coach Ellison said. Ellison was a stocky man of medium height with a bushy, dark mustache and a shaved head. His steely grey eyes and craggy face made him a daunting figure when he was in a good mood. Now the man looked up from his papers with contempt in his eyes and it made Billy step back in fear.

"What do you mean, 'off the team'? You can't do that, I'm the star safety."

A smile crept across the coach's face. "I mean, you are not on the football team anymore. Period. I can do that. And you are not any kind of 'star'. You are a mediocre safety at best and anyone who tells you different is blowing smoke up your ass."

"Okay," Billy swallowed, stepping back as Ellison had stood up and leaned forward. "Can someone tell me why?"

"Maybe because you're a piece of shit who doesn't treat his mother right," Ellison said retaking his seat. "But, that's just my guess."

Billy stared in disbelief and when Ellison went back to his papers, he slunk out of the office. The rest of the day Billy fumed impotently. None of his friends would talk to him. Some of the kids in the school looked at him like they were ready to kick his ass. If it had just been one Billy might have liked a fist fight, but everywhere he looked he saw guys staring at him, waiting.

"Piece of shit who doesn't treat his mother right," rang in his ears throughout the day. He couldn't think of anything else in his classes. When his physics teacher had called upon him to answer a question, he stumbled and everyone laughed at him. Rage built inside of him and when the final bell rang, he ran home.

He flung the front door open and found his mother in the kitchen. She cowered in fear as he stormed up to her, grabbing her by the arms.

"You did this to me! I'm off the fucking team because of you!" He pulled his hand back and slapped her with fury. She crumpled to the linoleum floor, crying and curling up to protect herself.

Billy couldn't hear anything, there was only the rush in his ears and the angry voice in his head. 'Fucking bitch thinks she can ruin my life?'

"I should make you pay for this, but you're worthless." He left his mother crying on the floor and left the house.

He wandered without giving thought to where he was going. All he could see were the faces of his friends, his ex-friends, he corrected, and their accusing looks. His mother had caused all of this. She did this to him because he had rejected her.

Returning home after dark, he made himself a sandwich and shut himself in his room. In the morning he was up early and out of the house before his parents woke up. School was pretty much the same and he stewed in his isolation. He gave up trying to talk to anyone.

On Friday, as the school gathered in the gym for a pep rally, Billy sat outside, his back against a pine tree. His anger soured his face and he looked at the students rushing along with disdain. As he tore up the grass and tossed the clumps he looked up to see Beverly Tenant standing before him.

Beverly was a preppy kind of girl, always wearing sweaters and full skirts. She was beautiful, in that All American Girl kind of way: blonde hair, blue eyes and a trim figure, owing to her being a gymnast. Billy had eyed her from afar for years, the kind of girl he knew he deserved.

"What?" he snapped.

"I've seen the way you've been treated this week, and I just want to say I think it's wrong." Beverly held her books in front of her and she shrugged as she talked, causing her chest to jiggle.