The Origins of Incest Island

"We're really just here on vacation," Mary volunteered.

"The beaches are the best in the world." Aubrey spoke with an authoritarian tone that overshadowed Riley.

Though Riley was an incredibly outgoing and vocal person, the young girl now seemed demure, now dressed in a white blouse and a bright red skirt. In fact, most of the evening's conversation had been dominated by the two older women. "Older" was completely relative; Aubrey's bright blue eyes and clear, almost rosy, complexion cause Mary to believe she was the elder person at the table, at least by a few years. She felt certain that neither Aubrey nor Riley had children, especially given the biological impossibilities their matching genders presented.

"I haven't got to see the beaches yet, but I did get an eyeful earlier of something else beautiful." Mary's sheepish tone acknowledged the lameness of her joke.

But both her hosts laughed heartily, though Aubrey seemed to be going through the motions.

"I'm sorry about that," Riley said. "In all fairness, Doc didn't warn us."

"Oh, don't worry about it. This was kind of a last minute thing. I've been trying to get my husband on board with relocating here for a long time. Things have been a little tight lately and I thought a change of scenery might do us good."

"Where are you from?" Aubrey asked.

"Cherokee, Oklahoma," Mary answered. "Population 1,500."

"Well, that's quite the city compared to here," Aubrey said. "We might have a tenth of that, though it's hard to know. People here tend to come and go."

Mary nodded then asked a long-gestating question. "So is everyone here, well, you know..."

"A lesbian?" Aubrey asked aggressively. "You must think that because we're here, the island must only be for dykes, right?"

Mary lowered her eyes and blushed in embarrassment.

"Cut her some slack, babe. She didn't know what she was getting into. Besides, I think she's been a good sport so far," Riley chided.

"Well I certainly didn't mean to be such a bitch about it," Aubrey said.

"It's okay," Mary replied. "Riley's right, I'm just not used to this is all."

"No one is," Aubrey responded. "I'm from Waco, myself. Riley and I met at Baylor University."

"Another Southerner!" Mary exclaimed. "I thought you had a little bit of an accent."

"Shaved some off during my years as an academic, but it's still there," Aubrey said.

"Dr. Mayberry, the hottest professor I ever had," Riley said, beaming.

"I really don't want to talk about that," Aubrey said slowly.

"What did you teach?" Mary instantly wished she could withdraw her question.

"Philosophy," Aubrey said coolly.

"And now here we are, exiled on the Isle of Lesbos together," Riley said, trying to be upbeat.

Mary couldn't help herself. "Lesbos?"

"She exaggerates," Aubrey said. "Never mind that Lesbos is in Greece, we hardly represent a conclave of lesbians. That's not to say that we're the only lady loving ladies here. You'll definitely find more than a few like-minded exiles on this island, though most of us would rather not share our stories."

Again, Aubrey stared daggers at Riley.

"I understand," Mary said. She felt strongly that she should share some of her own experiences with these two women, and then the story got away from her. "My husband lost his job recently. He said something very foul to one of his students. He hasn't really been able to talk about it, or about anything really, since it happened. No one in my home town will talk to me now and I'm not even the one who did it. Add to that, Martin won't talk to me either. And there's no money and no place else to go. Honestly, I don't know how we're going to make it with the kids and everything-"

Without warning, Mary burst into tears. It was the sort of uncontrollable sobbing brought on by desperation and futility.

"Shhh, it's okay. Really, it's okay," Riley said with a comforting tone.

Only it wasn't. Mary wailed even louder, her eyes closing as she lost all touch with her usually upbeat demeanor. She knew she was embarrassing herself but she couldn't help it. A lifetime of work lost in one bad moment, and now everything seemed so terribly ruined.

Riley's hand reached out and touched Mary's thigh under the table. Mary found the girl's touch soothing. Her tears abated as Riley's hand stroked up and down, finally finding and then squeezing her hand. Before Mary knew what was happening, the much younger woman moved around the table to hold her. Riley cradled the Oklahoma housewife's head against her small breasts, stroking her hair as she sobbed into her chest.

"The same thing happened to us," Riley said.

"It wasn't the same thing," Aubrey said abruptly. "We didn't do anything wrong."

"Neither did she!" Riley snapped back. "It sure sounds familiar to me. No one talking to you, everyone whispering behind your back, not knowing how you're going to make a living or who in their right mind would hire you."

Aubrey started to say something but Riley cut her off.

"And I know you don't want to talk about it, but it happened to me too," Riley said with a quiet strength. "You can leave and go into our bedroom if you want to be a baby about it."

"I'm sorry. Oh God, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to," Mary stammered.

"It's okay," Aubrey managed. "We can be a little... hostile around heterosexuals."

"We know what you're going through, or at least part of it," Riley said. "I'm only sorry we've been such poor hosts."

Just then, Riley shot Aubrey a look that seemed to say "shut up for the rest of the conversation." Then she turned to Mary and smiled kindly at her.

"Aubrey and I started dating, well sneaking around, to have sex after I started coming by during her office hours for tutoring. I was pretty open to it. Truth be told, I initiated everything. I had a friend in high school and we did a lot of stuff together. Aubrey was really reluctant. I had to charm her. Wile her, ya know?"

"And get me drunk," Aubrey said.

"And get her drunk," Riley smiled. "But only the first time. After that, we couldn't spend enough time together." Riley looked at her lover. "I know you miss teaching. I know how embarrassing it was for you when they finally caught us, but at least we're here now living openly. Aren't you glad we're here?"

"It's really is a beautiful island," Aubrey said quietly.

"I just don't know how I'm going to do it with the kids," Mary managed through the tears. "I can't imagine my son, Brian, seeing you topless. He would lose his mind."

"Well, it's not like he'd get anything more than a look," Riley smiled.

"You get used to it after a while," Aubrey said. "Besides, there are segregated areas for people with children."

"The twins are 18," Mary said.

"Then they won't see anything they wouldn't see at college. Trust me on that," Riley said.

"Oh my God, how are they going to go to college?"

The thought made Mary start crying again.

"There's actually a series of courses Liam Bloom arranged through his connections with professors at the University of Tokyo," Aubrey said. "It's a correspondence course, but there are several teachers on the island."

Mary nodded then changed course. "So, is everyone on the island homosexual?"

"It's a fairly diverse population," Aubrey said. "I would say there are more gay and lesbian couples than anything else, but there's also quite a few swingers and other alternative families sprinkled into the mix."

"Alternative families?" Mary asked.

"Polyamorous relationships," Aubrey said.

Riley sensed their guest required more of an explanation.

"Our closest friends here, Justin, Alice, and Becca, are in one - a polyamorous relationship that is," she said. "It's kind of like a tricycle I guess. When Becca lost her husband in Vietnam, Justin and Alice let her and her kids stay with them, and then something more just sorta happened."

"That was really kind of them, to take them in," Mary said.

"Well," Aubrey said. "It's not like Justin's not having his fair share of fun."

"So they have like, a biblical marriage? Kind of like Rachel, Leah, and Jacob? "

"Sort of, I guess," Riley said. "I don't know, I'm not religious."

"I don't want to classify them with anything that patriarchal," Aubrey said. "Justin and Alice love each other and Becca's also in love with both of them. They both love her, too"

"That must really complicate family reunions," Mary said.

Everyone laughed and Mary got the sense that, despite feeling like a sore thumb, these people were no different from anyone else. So what if these women wanted to live with each other or as a triad? What did it matter to anyone but them? It wasn't like anyone back home would miss Sunday school just because there was an island in the Pacific that happened to be populated by lesbians and sexual deviants. Besides, Mary had known plenty of religious men growing up who had no problems with premarital sex, just as long as they were the ones who got to have it.

"So, be honest," Riley asked. "You've never had any thoughts about being with a woman? You're really just here because of Liam and your husband losing his job?"

"Is that weird?" Mary asked. "I mean, I've never really thought about being with a woman in a relationship."

She didn't know why she omitted her one dalliance. After a lifetime of hiding it, it seemed only natural to keep living the lie. Besides, the encounter was so brief, so incomplete, it seemed impossible to conclude anything definitive enough to share.

"Never? Not even in the shower at school?" Aubrey asked. "You never had any really good friends you experimented with growing up?"

"Don't pressure her," Riley said, then turned to Mary. "I'm sorry, we don't get many people out here who aren't like us, so it's a little unusual. And with everything that we've been through, let's just say it can put some people on the edge."

"I'm sorry, too," Aubrey said, though not quite as sincerely. "I didn't mean to offend you or anyone else by existing."

"There you go again," Riley said. "You been like this ever since we came out. Just because someone's not gay doesn't mean they're the enemy."

Aubrey's eyes narrowed. "You don't understand what it was like 20 years ago, you're too young. You've listened to too much Harvey Milk and all his idyllic recruitment speeches to know how it really was. All you flower children never had to live with the random arrests, the raids, the hiding, and lying. It's not that different now. You might think things changed overnight, but they didn't. There are a lot of people out there who would still love to string us up or burn us like witches."

"Please. Riley replied. "We're way past that now. And just because some fat-ass Christian lady in an unhappy marriage fired you doesn't mean you get to be rude to every straight married woman you meet. We've been over this before. If it wasn't for you explaining things to me, I would've never even known who I was. What we need to be doing is explaining ourselves instead of hiding or attacking people who might ask an impolite question out of ignorance."

An awkward silence enveloped the room and Aubrey stared down at the floor. Mary could sense this fight was choreographed, a well-rehearsed argument that had always existed in their relationship. She might've considered it distasteful for a couple to so publicly air what was clearly a private feud, except she'd witnessed so many of her straight friends back in Oklahoma do the exact same thing. If anything, it was endearing to see the two women draw parallels to her relationship with Martin.

Now that the air was cleared, dozens of questions raced through Mary's head and she tried in vain to filter them in search of one that wasn't offensive. Still, she wasn't sure that the invitation was genuine until she heard Aubrey say it plainly.

"Go ahead," Aubrey said eagerly. "Ask us anything."

"Well, I know how you met, but where was the first date?"

Both women looked pleasantly surprised. Aubrey clearly expected some insensitive or demeaning questions like, who was the man? Or who cooked dinner?

"I don't know if it was really a date so much as a hookup," Aubrey said.

"It was a date," Riley said.

"She came by for help with a reading assignment. I realized pretty quick that she didn't need help with Nietzsche since she clearly already knew all the main points I was trying to make. It was around seven at night and I asked her how she planned to get home..."

"I told her I had to walk," Riley said.

"So I said something like, 'a pretty thing like you, no way I'm going to let you walk home at night" Aubrey smiled. "She failed to mention that she lived less than a mile away. Anyways, the next thing I know, someone suggests we go have a drink at the bar."

"Um, no!" Riley interrupted with a wicked smile. "You were the one who suggested we have a drink at the bar. I was just an innocent young student trying to get an education. And then, like the lecherous professor you are, you just had to take advantage of my nativity to get at my nubile young body."

"How did you bring it up?" Mary asked. "I mean, weren't you worried about getting in trouble?" She quickly continued. "Not that I'm judging. It's just, sleeping with a student is usually a little out of bounds. Then again, my husband taught high school, so it's kind of apples and oranges."

"It's frowned upon." Riley cut in. "Unless of course, you're fucking the hottest professor on campus."

Aubrey blushed then added, "Or if you're a tenured male professor taking advantage of a young coed. But even so, yes. It was definitely hard to bring up."

Riley continued the story. "I guess we're lucky that you're not capable of subtlety. I mean, really! You went on and on about how the ancient Greeks loved sex and the beauty of sexual relationships between teachers and students. Your hints were dropping like a sack of bricks."

"Anyway," Aubrey continued. "After that, after we realized there was something between us, we started making plans to see each other, all on the down low of course. She'd come and stay a weekend with me out of town and every now and then, there'd be a secret tutoring session underneath my desk."

"Underneath your desk?"

"Oh, you know, oral" Riley said.

"You mean with your mouth?" Mary exclaimed. "Gross!"

"I told you she wouldn't get us!" Aubrey was fuming, almost unable to control her anger. Her whole body was shaking with rage in response to the audacity of this middle-aged housewife from the sticks who'd never even considered using her mouth to give a girl pleasure.

"I'm sorry," Mary tripped over herself apologizing. "I didn't... I mean I don't really think that. I guess I'm just a little shocked to hear it."

"Wait..." Riley said as a knowing look spread across her face. "Has your husband never gone down on you?"

"Gone down on me? Do you mean with his mouth? God no!" Mary responded.

"And you've never done it to him?"

"Only a few times. That's it."

The lesbian couple gawked at Mary in stunned silence. Mary suddenly felt like the only kid on the block who hadn't been given a copy of Everything You Need To Know About Sex But Were Too Afraid to Ask. It wasn't like she was a complete innocent. Every now and then, Martin would get it in his head that they should spice up their sex life with a blow job, but Mary was always reluctant to engage in an act that she didn't enjoy. Martin was so mechanically inhibited during sex; so quietly focused and straight to the point that Mary felt lost and isolated. It wasn't that she didn't want more from sex, she just wasn't sure what she needed.

"Oh, honey! You don't know what you're missing out on," Aubrey said, a sincere sympathy flowing through her voice.

"How does it feel?"

"It's an orgasm unlike any you've ever had before. It's a pleasurable, tingling sensation that rolls its way up and down your entire body, overcoming every one of your senses, making you forget where you are and all your worries in one single, transcendent moment," Aubrey said.

"Thanks for the compliment!" Riley interjected.

Aubrey kicked her under the table.

"I don't think I've ever felt anything like that..."

"Oh my God!" Riley exclaimed. "Her husband's never given her an orgasm!"

Mary turned a pale white.

"Never?" Aubrey asked in disbelief. "Not even once?"

"I mean, I'm sure he has. I'm sure it happens every now and then," Mary said timidly.

"If he had," Aubrey said. "You would know."

"Honey, I know our usual rules about this, but this has got to be an exception, right?" Riley asked her lover "I mean, a life without orgasm? She needs this! Plus, she's really hot!"

"I know," Aubrey replied. "But it's got to be Mary's decision. Neither one of us wants to pressure you into doing anything you might regret."

Mary swallowed the rest of her wine in a single gulp, inspecting the empty glass as though it might refill itself in her moment of need. She wasn't quite sure where this evening was going or if she was on board with everything. But part of her yearned to discover what she'd been missing out on.

"What do you mean?" Mary asked.

"Okay," Aubrey said cautiously. "So, we don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position but there's something we talk about a lot... Riley, she's always been curious about other women. And let me say, for the record, we're not some gang of dykes who hit on any woman off the street. We're happily, monogamously partnered."

"Partnered? Why don't you just say married?" Mary asked.

Riley beamed at her. "I knew I liked you."

"Because married is a legal distinction that we're not allowed," Aubrey responded before looking at Riley."And as much as I love this girl, I want the same rights that go along with it. We can't do that if we go around calling each other wife without it really being true."

The look of dejection on Riley's face was painful.

Aubrey continued talking to her lover. "You know I love you, and only you, Riley. I just want the rest of the world to acknowledge and accept that you're my wife. It's an unfair distinction that doesn't change how we feel about each other."

Riley's sad expression evaporated as suddenly as it appeared.

"We're not like the other hippies on this island, experimenting with each other's bodies, stirring up drama about who's sleeping with who. We keep our sex lives to ourselves."

"Oh, they aren't all that bad. Besides, some of the things they get up to seem like fun." Riley grinned.

"We've talked about opening up a little bit, sharing our bedroom," Aubrey continued. "It comes up every now and then. But it's not a priority for us. We're in love with each other and that's enough. I know that Riley's never been with a woman other than myself. It makes me a little insecure to think about her falling for someone else, even though I can appreciate a woman's body enough to know that there's a large spectrum of beauty and body types that Riley never got to enjoy, partly due to me."

"You're worth it," Riley said.

"I love you for saying that," Aubrey responded. "But I also know you like being the center of attention, which is another thing I love about you. I love that you like to sunbathe nude in the front yard and show off your body to the entire neighborhood. I love it because I'm the person you come home. I'm the person everyone else on the island is jealous of."

"I've never thought of it that way, but that's really beautiful," Mary said. "Nudity and sex have always been deeply shameful to me. Having the most embarrassing parts of my body on display. I can't imagine getting naked in front of someone I didn't trust completely."

"Well, no one's asking you to get naked just yet," Aubrey said. "As far as that goes, if you want to dip your toes in the water, I recommend you experiment with a little nude sunbathing or swimming. You know, start small."