She Thought She was Normal

My first submission. Remember, it's fiction! No slight is meant to the fine people of the Blue Ridge Mountains. All names are fictious. Please rate and/or comment as you desire, however cheap shots will be considered just that. Thanks to Jayne Viant for her wiliness to edit the story.

She Thought She Was Normal

My marriage was planned, but now, nothing. I called it off. I had to! Let me explain. I am John Elliott. I am 27 years old. I have a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. which I earned from the University of Tennessee. I worked on it during my four years with the United States Marines. I am in good shape, 5' 11" and 180 pounds.

My former fiancé, Nancy Briner, works at a major department store in the cosmetics department. She did not attend college. She is three years younger than me, stands 5' 4", weighing in at 130 pounds. She is pleasant looking, but not a raving beauty. She has a tic in her right eye and a funny way of jerking her head to the left when she's nervous. I often wondered if it was a birth defect.

We dated for three months before we became intimate; she was most comfortable at the outset. Not only that, but she seemed to have a routine to her love making. I attributed my observations to an overactive imagination.

Nevertheless, our relationship grew to the extent that I finally proposed marriage to her. She said, "Yes." I thought it was time to meet her family. They lived back in a hollow in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was an arduous trip into the mountains considering the country roads with twists and turns as if the planner followed the trail of a drunken snake.

We arrived at her home on a Saturday morning. Her eye tic by that point was going wild, bouncing like a well dribbled basketball. She introduced me to her father, George Briner. It was strange the way he took his daughter in his arms and kissed her on the lips while his hands made to her buttocks. Did I imagine he fondled her? Her mother came to the door. She was introduced as Mary Anderson. I wondered about the difference in last names. She gave Nancy a similar greeting which left me in sort of a state of bewilderment.

Then her mother looked at me as though I was a freshly baked meatloaf. She came to me with outstretched arms, plastering herself to me in something more than what one would consider an initial meeting. She said: "Nancy, he will do just fine! Good job!"

The whole thing fell apart when her sister, Jane Brown, 18, came to me with a similar greeting then turned to Nancy. "Dibs, sissy! I get him first!"

Now I jumped back, taking Nancy by the hand and told her we had to talk. We walked a hundred feet or so from her staring family.

I asked her what was going on. She hesitated then told me her family was one of free love and I would enjoy it once we got through the weekend. I asked her what she meant. She said it was a family reunion this weekend. I looked back to the house seeing a crowd of people there, and some were nude!!! Was her sister fondling her father? Her mother was actually leering at me with a lascivious expression! I concluded this was not for me, so I reached over and took the engagement ring off her finger. "Sorry," I said. "This is not my way!" I headed for my car.

Nancy said, "It doesn't have to be this way!"

"Of course it does! We agreed to be exclusive!" I asserted.

"Yes, but family is not part of that!" she rejoined.

Now I was flummoxed. How could she believe that? Exclusive is exclusive! "Define family, please."

She responded: "That would be Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, first and second cousins."

"No third cousins?" I asked.

"I don't have any of those, but if I did, I would include them."

"There are more than 50 people over there. Does that sound right?"

"Yes, that sounds right," was her response.

"That means you can have sex with all of them even after we are married and that would be OK?"

"Yes," she replied. "Love holds a family together. At family reunions, the rule is free use! Anybody can do anybody!"

"How often do you have family reunions?" was my next question.

"Full reunions are once a month, but mini-reunions happen every day."

"What's a mini-reunion?"

She told me that she and her mother might go to see Uncle Jim and his three sons. I just starred at her. "How about birth control?"

"None, except for those in a committed relationship."

I just starred at her. "How do you know who the parents of the children are?"

She looked at me as if I was crazy. "Who cares? Family is family."

"But that type of inbreeding can cause some strange things to happen."

She just looked at me, eyebrow alive as a caterpillar on a hot pavement and head jerking like a bobblehead toy. "Why, do any of us seem strange to you?"

I got in my car and drove away, happy that I did not stay for the reunion.