My Sister, A Modern Rapunzel

Mom said, "Your glasses are fine. With you and Luke both being in college this fall, we don't have the money to buy you contacts."

I looked over at Dad. He was doing his best to be invisible. I opened the bag of bagels on top of the refrigerator and took one out.

Susanna said, "If I had a job this summer, I could pay for my own contacts. But you volunteered me to work at the church all summer."

Mom looked like she was about to erupt. "There aren't many jobs for people with no experience and no skills. You couldn't have found a decent job for the summer. Be glad that I found you something that you can put down on your resume." Mom swiveled to me. "And speaking of jobs, did you get your schedule changed so you'd have Sundays off."

Oh, God. I did not want to have this discussion with Mom already pissed. "No. I couldn't, Mom. I tried. No one wants to work on Sunday, so as the new guy I'm stuck with the day no one else wants to work." Actually, I was quite fine with working on Sunday to have an excuse to miss church.

"Why don't other people want to work on Sunday?" Mom asked. "Don't tell me all your co-workers go to church." The biting sarcasm of the last statement was almost physically painful.

I said as soothingly as I could, "Mom, we all get twelve dollars an hour plus a percentage of the day's sales. My co-workers don't want to work on Sunday as it is only a six-hour shift and it's a slow day. I'm not working Saturdays as it's the busy day of the week, and everyone wants to get the higher pay. I'm the low man, so I get the days no one else wants."

"Well, if that's the case, you can spend Saturday working with your dad. The fence needs to be re-stained."

"No, Mom!" I did not like this turn of events. "I busted my hiney all year at school, and I was looking forward to just chilling for a day."

Mom's face turned a brighter red. "You're staying for free at our house. We've been paying for your college. The very least you can do is help with projects around the house when your dad has free time."

"What about your Friends of the Library event Saturday?" I asked. Mom had taught me to always check the calendar on the refrigerator. "Don't you and Dad need to set that up?"

"That isn't until Saturday night. If you and your dad aren't done with the fence by the time I need to leave, your dad can join me later."

I knew it was pointless to argue. Things would just get worse if I did. "Okay, Mom."

* * * *

Saturday, May 21st
I was not in a good mood when Dad got me up at six the next morning. "The fence needs to dry for at least 24 hours after we clean it before I stain it."

Dad was great at researching, getting supplies, organizing, and supervising. He wasn't great at doing physical work. As a consequence, I did most of the physical labor. Cleaning a nine-foot-high fence with a plastic scrubbing brush was a major bear.

"Why don't we use a power washer, Dad?"

"It's easy to damage the wood with a power washer. A brush is a lot safer."

If you're not doing the work, being safe makes a lot of sense.

We were done by one. I had lunch, took a shower, and then spent the rest of the afternoon flopped on my bed playing a game on my phone. It was nice to chill without anything hanging over my head.

Around four, Mom and Dad left. Around five, I too started to head out the door. Susanna asked me, "Where are you going?"

"Out."

"When will you get back?"

"Late."

I felt a little sorry for my sister as I walked towards my car. She was trapped at home. She didn't have a car. She didn't even have a key to a car. She couldn't even walk to a friend's house or a store. As much as scrubbing the fence had sucked, at least I could go somewhere fun tonight.

* * * *

I went to the mall for dinner and walked around there for a while. I didn't shop; instead, I people-watched. When I saw someone going into the store, I liked to guess what they would look at in the store.

Around eight, I left the mall and went to a bar that was forty minutes away from my parents' house. Above the bar was a neon sign that said "Big Walters" and had the outline of a well-endowed woman. One of my co-workers had told me that they would have a bikini contest tonight. Outside the door was a list of events happening at the bar. It was mostly bands, none of which I had heard of. When I walked in, to my left was the stage area. There was a temporary elevated walkway that ran into the middle of the seating area. I went to the corner furthest from the stage, found one of those high, small tables, and put my notebook down on it. I started writing everything I could notice about the bar - the demographic of the participants, what food and drink they were having, how the tables in the bar were laid out, etc. The customers were mostly men, mostly white, mostly older than me. I planned on coming back on other nights and making similar notes. Possibly an interesting senior thesis.

A waitress came by. She was my age, very tanned, wearing tight shorts and a white T-shirt with a deep scoop in the front. I ordered a beer. When she came back, she bent unnecessarily far forward to hand me the beer, giving me a decent look down her shirt. I gave her a good tip for the view of her above-average-sized tits.

At ten, a man came out on the stage carrying a microphone. "Good evening, everyone! It's time for Big Walters' monthly bikini contest. Five hundred dollars for the winning contestant. The way we do this is each girl will come on stage, strut her stuff down our walkway and back, and then go off stage. The judge has a decibel meter to help him determine how much applause each girl gets. Based on how loud you are, he'll pick four girls for the finals. Each finalist gets a hundred bucks. They'll show you again how great they look, and based on which of the four gets the loudest response, he'll pick the winner. We've got eight contestants tonight, all beauties. We are talking some very big Walters tonight. Be sure to let each one of them know that you really appreciate them participating tonight."

Walters? Was that a slang for tits that I hadn't heard before?

"Our first contestant is Melissa. Give her a big hand everyone." A blond woman wearing a skimpy white-and-red bikini walked on stage. She raised her hands in the air and wiggled her fingers to encourage the crowd to make noise. She was wearing white high heels and had a plastic disk with "1" on it attached to her bikini bottom to the right of her crotch.

"Melissa is five foot four. Her occupation is a nurse. Her measurements are 'curves in all the right places'."

Melissa was now onto the platform. She waved to the crowd with both hands as she slowly walked along, swinging her hips slightly as the crowd cheered. Her hair reached down almost to her waist and had lots of curls in the last foot like she had worked it hard with a curling iron.

"She's got dirty blond hair and hazel eyes. For fun, she likes watching movies that have great sex scenes." That brought out a burst of cheering. The emcee was quiet as she reached the end of the platform. When she turned around, I saw that the back of her bikini bottom was only three inches high at most, showing off almost all of her butt.

"The thing she looks for in a man is that he can make her laugh." Melissa wiggled her butt as she walked back. She had the air of someone who had shown off her body quite a few times. Perhaps a regular contestant?

Rather than watch Melissa walk all the way off stage, I pulled out my phone and researched Walters. It took a couple of tries, but I eventually found a breast. Usually used in the plural. Rhyming slang: "Walter Mitty" - "titty". I learned something new today.

I looked up to see the second contestant Hannah walking down the platform. She was getting more cheers, and I could see why - she was much curvier than Melissa and looked very good in her black-with-gold-highlights bikini. She was blond too and was wearing gold high heels. Her large hoop earrings caught my eye. She had a very nice smile and a definite stage presence. I enjoyed watching her the entire time she was on stage.

The next three girls weren't as attractive as Melissa or Hannah. Two of them had lots of tattoos, which I didn't care for. I looked around at the crowd and watched how different people were reacting. A few guys were standing as they watched the girls walk. A lot were holding up beer bottles. Probably half the guys were cutting up with their friends instead of cheering the girls.

As I was scanning the crowd, I heard the emcee say, "And number six is Cindy. Everyone give her a big hand." I heard a huge cheer go up, and then guys all over the place started standing up. I looked up to the stage and got a huge shock - there was Susanna walking slowly across the stage in the red bikini she had shown me in the catalog. My god, she had huge tits! Her top was like a bra with the top cut off a little above her nipples. The straps went up from the sides of the top, giving a spectacular view of the top half of her massive tits. My sister had worn a DD bra in eighth grade. How big was she now?

My sister was wearing red high heels, which she must have borrowed from Mom's closet. She wobbled a bit as she walked. She'd take three steps and then stop to wave and bounce up and down. As she bounced, her tits jiggled massively up and down. Oh my God! The crowd was loving it. Susanna had a huge smile on her face, as this was the most fun thing she had ever done.

"Cindy is a student. Her measurements are 'really, really big'." The crowd roared with laughter.

Susanna made her way onto the platform. I had no fear that she'd see me. Without her glasses, she couldn't make out anything five feet away from her. I noticed that whenever she stopped, she'd look down before taking the next set of steps. She couldn't see far enough ahead to walk any further.

"Her hair is blond, and her eyes are blue." Susanna was wearing a beret with her hair coming down to the middle of her back. She must have the rest of her hair pinned up inside of the beret. "For fun, she likes reading steamy novels."

Susanna took her three steps and then turned to face my side of the crowd. She waved frantically while showing her perfect teeth in a massive grin. As the crowd cheered wildly, she bounced up and down, driving the crowd to cheer even more loudly.

"The thing she looks for in a man is a good time."

Susanna took three steps down the platform and then turned to face the other side of the crowd. Like the other girls, her bikini bottom showed almost all of her ass. When she turned and came to a stop, her slightly-plump ass wobbled back and forth. When she bounced up and down, her ass bounced too. Jesus! What a show!

When she got to the end of the platform, Susanna waved in my general direction. Again, I knew she couldn't see me. I assessed her general looks. She was pretty in a very wholesome way. I could tell she was wearing makeup - I had never seen her in makeup before - but not a lot. Pink lipstick that made her lips look very kissable but didn't scream "I'm wearing lipstick!" Blush on her cheeks and something to make her eyelashes much bigger. But what was most appealing about her was her air of innocence, of having a great time, of wanting to make friends with everyone in the audience.

"Move along, Cindy," said the emcee. "We've got two more girls who are waiting their turns."

Susanna made her stops shorter as she worked her way back down the platform and eventually off the stage. To me, she got by far the loudest cheers of the night.

The next girl was so-so, but the final girl was knockout, a redhead who used the name "Cinnamon". When Cinnamon had finished, the emcee talked for a while about the bands that would be playing over the next month and other events that'd be happening at the bar. Another man came out and handed the emcee a piece of paper, which he put on his clipboard.

"Okay, time for the finals! First, we have Melissa!"

Melissa came out, and then Hannah, and then Cinnamon. I guessed the girls came out in opposite order of how they had done in the prelims. And then "Cindy" came out, and the crowd went wild again. Susanna took four steps this time instead of three and walked faster. At one point, she almost fell as she slightly twisted her ankle. She shouted, "I've never worn heels before." That drove the crowd into a frenzy.

All the other contestants came out onto the stage. The other three finalists formed a line with Susanna in the middle, and a pair of the non-finalists stood on each side of them. The other finalists had to physically guide Susanna to where to stand.

The emcee turned partially to look at the contestants. "I'd like to thank each and every contestant who participated tonight. If you didn't win, we'd be more than happy to have you compete again." He turned back towards the crowd. "Let's have a big round of applause for all of our contestants!" The emcee raised his hand several times to encourage people to cheer. "And the winner is..." A drum roll played in the background. "...Cindy!"

Susanna bounced up and down with a huge smile on her face. She then took a few steps towards the emcee, almost fell again, but finally made it up to him.

"Cindy! Our big winner tonight, folks!"

The crowd cheered enthusiastically as Susanna gave them an infectious smile and waved vigorously. At one point, she kissed the emcee on the cheek. After a couple of minutes, the applause ended, and the emcee guided Susanna off the stage.

* * * *

A few minutes later, Susanna reappeared on the edge of the crowd area, still wearing her beret and bikini. In one hand, she had her phone, and, in the other, she had something shiny that I didn't recognize. The emcee was talking with her and then walked away. Guys close to her stood up and turned to offer her their congratulations. Susanna greeted them warmly. She started working through the tables, talking with everyone who talked to her. She gave out lots of hugs and many kisses on the cheek. I had no idea that my sister was that physically affectionate with total strangers. But then again, she never had a chance to meet a bunch of male strangers. She seemed to still be floating on a cloud from her win.

At some point, some guy convinced Susanna to sit down at his table with two other guys. I moved close enough to hear what they were saying. I saw what the shiny thing was - a silver plastic tiara that had "Big Walters Winner" written in pink on it. I guessed that Susanna should have been crowned with it after she won the bikini contest, but the emcee hadn't been able to put it on her because of the beret.

Susanna quickly drank something. "I'm so thirsty!"

"Another rum and coke!" called the guy who had managed to get her to sit down.

I watched Susanna down several more rum and cokes. I guess she had no idea how much alcohol each had and was drinking them like they were a normal coke.

Mom and Dad would be home around midnight. If Susanna was going to get home before them, she should leave by eleven. How was she going to get home? How did she get here? Someone had turned a blind eye to her lack of ID.

The guy who had gotten Susanna to sit down was named Travis. He kept the rum and cokes coming. By this time, I had moved to a table about fifteen away from Susanna so I could keep an eye on her. The alcohol was affecting Susanna enough that her drink swerved a bit as she lifted it to her mouth. Based on her body language, she was getting more and more uncomfortable with Travis, almost fearful. She tried getting up a couple of times, but Travis always pulled her back down. When Travis put his arm around Susanna's shoulder, she started looking around frantically. "Where's my check for winning?" I heard her say. "Roger said that he'd give it to me in a few minutes. My ride will be arriving soon." She started to stand up, but couldn't do so because of Travis' arm.

Travis then stood up, lifting Susanna by the arm as he did. "I'll be your ride home. We can leave now."

I didn't like this at all. I moved quickly out of my seat and strode over to the table. "You don't need to do that," I said to Travis. "I'll take her home. I'm her brother."

Susanna's jaw dropped. "Luke!"

"Let's get your check and get out of here," I said to Susanna. "Did you bring a bag or anything?"

"A bag," said Susanna in a small, frightened voice.

"I'm taking her home," said Travis in a threatening tone as he firmly gripped Susanna's arm. Late twenties or early thirties. Three or four inches shorter than my six feet.

I straightened to my full height. "No, you're not. Let go of my sister."

Travis tried pulling my sister towards the door. I moved in front of him so he bumped into me. He said, "Get out of my way, Chump."

"Let go of my sister. I'm going to help her get her check, and then I'll take her home."

Travis' friends pushed their chairs back and stood up. Travis and I stared intently at each other. I didn't want to fight Travis, but I was willing to if it meant keeping my sister out of his clutches.

"What's going on here, gentlemen?" said a deep voice to my left. I kept my eyes on Travis.

I said, "This gentleman has been nice enough to buy drinks for my sister while she waited for her check for winning the bikini contest. But she needs to leave now, and I'll be taking her home."

The bouncer used his hands to separate Travis and me. He said to Susanna, "Is this your brother?"

"Yes," Susanna sounded still fearful.

"And you want to go home with him?"

"Yes."

By this time, the emcee arrived on the scene. "Troubles, Talbot?"

"I think I have it under control."

I turned on the emcee. "Where the hell is her check?" I said very loudly. By this time, I was sure almost every eye on the bar was on us. "Is this how you treat all your winners? Throw them out to wolves so you don't have to pay them?"

The emcee nodded his head nervously. "I'll go get it."

"And her bag." I turned to Susanna. "You had a bag, right?"

"Right. A pink one with a big smiley face on it."

"Okay," said the emcee. "I'll get them right away."

I took Susanna's arm and gently guided her away from Travis' table. He and his friends had sat back down. Travis stared daggers at me and then resumed talking with his friends. Talbot hovered close by.

"How did you get here?" I asked Susanna.

"Taylor." One of Susanna's friends from school. "She's supposed to pick me up at eleven."

"Call her and tell her I'm taking you home."

"You're not going to tell Mom or Dad?"

"One thing at a time," I said sternly. "Call Taylor."

Of course, I wasn't going to tell Mom or Dad. But after Susanna had blackmailed me for the money for the bikini, I wasn't in a hurry to calm her worries.

After Susanna was done talking with Taylor, the emcee arrived with the check. "Here you go," he said as he handed it to Susanna.

"Cash it," I said as I took the check from Susanna and handed it back to the emcee. "I don't trust that the check is good after how you treated her."

The emcee puffed angrily for a moment and then deflated. "She'll have to sign it over."

I produced my notebook and pen and then grabbed the check. I wrote Pay to the order of Big Walters on the back and gave the pen to Susanna. "Sign it." She did, I handed the check over to the emcee, and he went to the bar. While he was gone, I put the tiara into her bag. The emcee returned with a wad of bills. I counted them quickly, put them into my pocket, and said to Susanna, "Let's go."

I took hold of Susanna's arm with one hand while carrying her bag in the other. We started towards the door, and Susanna immediately twisted her ankle and would have fallen if I didn't catch her. She was in no condition to walk in high heels. "Do you have other shoes?"