Backstep
1st Level Red Feather
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- Feb 14, 2006
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Soon-to-be empty nester. Some grey hairs. Parents deceased. But turning 43 the month before, though, that was the biggie. Janice Cole was feeling old, and truth be told a little sorry for herself, too. Her husband Mark had even more reason to complain, he of the age of 46 and with a cancer scare in the rearview mirror. Still, she saw a few lines and just a bit of sag and hadn’t much wanted to celebrate anything, to say nothing of her daughter Marie heading off to Villanova.
The party was finally winding down now, only a few lingering friends and family members chatting and sipping beer and soda in the late summer evening. And it was a good thing to send Marie off properly; she wouldn’t begrudge the girl (woman, a small, shattered part of her cried out) the chance to be the center of attention before leaving on Wednesday. But she had ducked inside to use the restroom, and afterwards had inadvertently spent several minutes looking at herself in the mirror, an icy finger of mortality poking her in the back.
Janice took a deep breath to steady herself and made motion to re-tie her auburn hair (nickles starting to multiply among the pennies, dear) in a ponytail, but changed her mind. She straightened her tank top, put as pleasant a look on her face as she could manage, and exited into a surprisingly empty living room.
“Ah, there you are.” Her husband rubbed her shoulder from behind and kissed her on the temple. He was scratchy from not having shaved over the weekend and his breath had the noticeable whiff of Sam Adams. “You missed the mass exodus. Everyone is gone except Nicole and Beth.” They were Janice’s older sister and niece, who was less than a year away from graduating Penn State, assuming she wasn’t in danger of flunking out given her track record. “I saw everyone off, counted the silverware,” he joked, then saw the look on her face. “You okay?”
Janice sat down heavily on the single dark brown couch that took up an entire wall. “It’s… I’m going to miss her. But…” she said before Mark could say something comforting, “it’s not just that.” She squeezed his hand as he joined her. “I just hate getting older, I guess.”
“Oh.” He thought for a moment. “You know, when I was in treatment, we talked about-”
“I don’t want another baby,” she scoffed, kicking off her sandals. “I guess I want to live it all again.” She swung her legs onto the couch, and scooted down so that her head was in his lap.
“Don’t we all.” He looked down at his wife’s pale complexion. “This position reminds me of college.”
She poked his belly, causing a grunt. “Not so much this.”
He smoothed her hair. “Last beer until I drop 10 pounds, I promise.” He looked up. “Ah, the stragglers arrive at last.”
Marie and Beth came into the house, chatting animatedly despite never having been the closest of cousins, Nicole and their dog Dart following. Janice smiled at the memory of Mark calling the dog ‘half German Shepherd, half whatever-the-hell’ as Nicole unclipped it from its lead and it did a few zoomies around the dining room before settling in a corner.
Marie went to the restroom while Nicole sat by Janice’s knees. “Thanks for inviting me, sis, I needed an excuse to get out of the house.”
Janice found it funny to be called ‘sis’ despite her sister being 49 going on 50. “Of course. And you’re welcome to visit anytime once Beth goes back to PSU.” Nicole had gotten divorced several years before and didn’t currently have a boyfriend.
“Thanks, we’ll see how it goes.” She turned to Beth, who sat next to her. “You ready to head home in a minute?”
Beth drew her tongue along her teeth. “That depends on whether or not they’re out of wine. You don’t buy any last time I checked.”
Nicole frowned. “That’s because I’ll drink it. Same reason I don’t buy potato chips.”
“You’ll be 22 in November,” Janice chimed in, lacing her hands together under her head making sure not to elbow her husband, “you should buy your own.” She tapped her ankle gently against Beth’s back to emphasize the point.
“I’m a poor college student.” Beth ran her fingers along the bottom of Janice’s foot, eliciting a yelp and a flinch. “Oh, I wasn’t sure that would work. Mom hasn’t been ticklish for years, I stopped trying.”
Janice rolled her eyes. “You just caught me off guard.”
“Oh really?” Nicole had a mischievous look. “We’ll see about that.” Beth, picking up on what her mother had in mind, put her aunt’s feet in her lap while Nicole sat on Janice’s knees.
Janice raised her eyebrows, genuinely not knowing how she would react. She hadn’t intentionally been tickled in long enough that until Beth had done so, she wasn’t even positive that she was sensitive to it anymore. Rather than protest or panic, she decided to play it out. “You can try.”
“Try what?” Marie came out of the restroom.
“To see if your mom is still ticklish.” Beth moved a finger in gentle circles along her left arch, watching the toes flex. “Apparently, yes. Callouses aren’t too bad, either.”
Janice had a helpless smile, biting her lip. She shut her eyes and tried not to react.
Marie sat on the other side of her aunt. “Looks like it.”
“Try the right one,” Nicole suggested.
Beth switched and moved her fingers gently up and down the sole. “Looks like she’s cracking up a little.” She grinned.
Janice snickered and held her breath, eyes still closed.
“Let’s see.” Beth started playing with the toes. “Does this work?”
Janice gave a small giggle and cut it off with a snort.
Marie gave a wicked grin. “Dad, help us out?” Janice didn’t see Marie miming what she had in mind.
Mark raised an eyebrow, but didn’t protest. He slid out from under Janice’s head and swiftly pinned her arms over her head. “Okay.”
Janice squeaked. “Www-aait!”
Beth began to speed up, scrabbling her fingers. “Oh, coochie coo!”
Janice began giggling helplessly. “Oookke-ee! I-eeehee!”
“I seem to recall,” Marie said with relish, “being an only child, that you and dad would gang up on me. I consider this revenge.” She lifted the bottom of her mother’s tank top and ran her fingers across the belly.
Janice squealed. “Hee-o-okee, I-ee! I’m ticklish, st-seeehooop!”
“Oh, come now, sis,” Nicole said wickedly, “Let the kids have a bit of fun.” She reached over and grabbed a toe. “This little piggy went to market…”
“I don’t think I’ve ever done this to you.” Marie placed her mouth over the navel and blew a raspberry.
Janice squealed again, descending into cackles. “Ii---eeee, I’ll gg-et reeeehee!”
“Revenge?” Marie prompted, then pretended to think. “Worth it.” She started in on the ribs. “Dad, helping out here?”
“It’s even money I’m sleeping on the couch tonight as it is.” Mark weighed his options. “So no.” He smiled. “But her armpits were always the worst when we were younger.”
Janice’s eyes widened. “No! I-eeeaah! Ma-mariiieeeee!” Janice’s face flushed as Nicole got to the ‘wee wee wee’ bit.
“Consider this a going away present.” Marie scratched at the warm hollows. “Wow, dad. No kidding.”
Janice let out a screech and helplessly cackled. “Stthhaaa-aaa-hhaap! Pl-pleeeheeaaasee!”
Nicole used the tank top to wipe down the bit of saliva. “Wow, I haven’t done this since we were kids. I’m almost jealous that you’re still this sensitive.” She blew a long, wet raspbelly.
Beth worked over Janice’s flailing soles. “I hope my feet are this soft when I get older,” she mused, working her fingers around the wrinkles resulting from Janice’s reflexive toe scrunches.
Janice felt tears in her eyes. “H-honeeey!” Her head lolled from one side to another. “Laaaahaaa! L-leeet g-goohooo!”
“He will in a moment.” Nicole winked and blew again.
“My ex used to like feet.” Beth worked her fingers between the toes. “Used to drive me nuts at times.” She glanced up. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to suck on anyone’s toes.” She snickered. “Probably.”
“We go up, we go down, we go up, we go down,” Marie said in a sing song, going up and down the ribs.
Janice felt a tweak in her lower belly. “I-I’m g-goinggg t-to peeeheee!”
“Actually, you did just come out of the bathroom, dear,” Mark observed.
“We’re almost done, anyway,” Nicole said and went in for yet another raspberry.
Janice turned bright red, laughing with tormented abandon, struggling against her sister and husband to no avail. “Ahhhaaa! Ieee-aaah!”
“C’mon, dad!” Marie cajoled.
Mark sighed. “Oh, all right.” He shifted his weight and ran his thumbs along his wife’s armpits, joining in her torment.
Tickle, tickle!” Nicole teased, blowing again.
The tweak turned into a lurch and Janice bucked. “Nnnn-aaa, n-nooaaah!” She felt herself give a short squirt, expelling what little fluid there was.
“Oh, whoops!” Nicole noticed a wet spot the size of a quarter. “Girls, let’s stop, yeah?”
Mark let go and Beth gave a halfhearted rub to one foot. Marie let her hands drop, watching her mother wipe her eyes and try to catch her breath. “I… I shouldn’t have done that.” Marie swallowed.
Nicole bit her lip. “I’m so sorry, sis, I didn’t know you’d lose it. We should go.”
Janice sat up, still gasping. “Not yet.” She steadied herself with a hand against the sofa, her head spinning a little. “I’ll need your help to get revenge on my daughter.”
Marie’s face clashed between relieved and worried simultaneously. “I suppose I had that coming.”
Janice slid off the couch and grabbed a blanket from a drawer, her legs a bit unsteady. “Sweetheart,” she said to Mark, tossing it to him, “wrap her up in this, will you? I’ll be right back.”
Marie allowed her father to wrap her in the blanket neck to ankles with her arms at her side, knowing that her feet were about to be tickled. “You guys are just as guilty as far as I’m concerned.”
“Lucky I’m immune.” Nicole helped Mark ease Marie onto the couch. “I wonder why she needs our help, though?”
“Here we go.” They had expected Janice to get changed, but instead she had come back from the kitchen, still in the same clothes, holding a hand towel, a spoon, and a jar. “Like a cocoon before becoming a butterfly. Perfect metaphor for the college girl.” Janice sat back down, put the towel in her lap and then Marie’s ankles. She removed her daughter’s flip flops and the young woman’s toes reflexively spread out and scrunched.
Marie sighed. “Just get it over with.”
“Honey, I’ll need you to hold her down as well.” Mark sat on her knees and Janice opened the jar.
Nicole and Beth sat on the floor. “I’m glad you’re not too pissed off,” Beth said, but how can we help?”
“Oh, you can’t directly.” Janice took a spoonful of chicken gravy from the small, half-empty jar. “But Dart can.”
Marie’s eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen. “No! Oh mom, no!”
Janice smeared a cold dollop on the bottoms of Marie’s helpless bare feet before setting the jar aside. “Dart! Come!”
“No, please!” Marie wriggled.
Dart trotted into the room, gave a cursory sniff and headed for the couch. Janice held Marie’s big toes. “Now consider this my going away present in exchange. Ah, here we go.”
Dart gave a few hopeful sniffs and then began gently licking.
Marie squealed and began laughing helplessly. “Eeeee, aaaha! Ewww, augh!”
Beth petted Dart’s back. “Good boy.” Dart didn’t seem to notice her.
Nicole stood up. “Be right back.” She went to the kitchen.
“Mmaaa-haaaam!” Marie’s voice cracked.
“Yes, dear?” She directed Dart to focus more on the arch than the heel.
Marie’s head lolled in a way that was identical to her mother’s. “Iiee! St-saaahaaap hiiieem!”
Janice noticed Dart was losing interest and added another spoonful to the right sole. “I’m sure he’ll be bored soon.”
Marie’s cheeks turned pink. “Ohhaaa! J-Jesus, ahhaaa!”
“Hmph. If grandad was alive, he would lecture you about taking the Lord’s name in vain.” Beth scratched Dart behind an ear.
“Pllleeheease!” A tear dribbled down Marie’s cheek.
Janice let go of the toes. “Beth, I think Dart’s had his fill.”
Beth pulled him away and kissed him between the eyes. “Good doggo. Go lie down.” Dart did as he was told, looking a bit disappointed.
Marie gasped, catching her breath. “Okay… okay, you’ve gotten revenge.”
Nicole returned. “Right, now we just need to clean you up.” She had a cup of water, some soap, a towel and a pair of toothbrushes, used for grout cleaning.
Marie wriggled, panicked. “No, let me go first!”
“Oh, this will only take a few minutes,” Nicole tisked. “Don’t whine.” She undid the cap and squirted some liquid soap on the bottoms of her feet and handed Janice a brush. “Shall we?”
“Dad, don’t let them!” Marie pleaded.
Mark leaned over and patted her head. “You’re mother’s almost done.”
Janice and Nicole scrubbed vigorously, the bristles slipping and biting into the soft flesh, Bubbles formed as the brushes found their way to every crack and crevice they could find.
Marie was shrieking with helpless laughter, writhing inside the blanket. “Neeee-haa! St-staaahaaap!” Her face took on the faint glow of exertion.
“The worst spot seems to be just above the heel,” Nicole observed. “Do you agree?”
“Seems like it.” Janice worked the brush around the ball of the foot. “A shame I don’t have that water flosser anymore.”
Marie had another tear run and she threw her head back onto the soft cushion multiple times. “Noo-ahhh! I, ahhaaee, I-eeeee! Ahhaaa!”
Nicole pulled two toes apart and slipped the brush between them. “There we go. Hmm, tickly teenager toes.”
Janice paused for a brief moment. Marie was a teenager. Her 19th birthday would be May 17th, which meant she would be halfway through college before her 20’s and three quarters done before she could drink legally. It was obvious, but Janet had never thought about it that way.
“Hey, sis?” Nicole nodded her head towards what they were doing.
“Oh, yes. Sorry.” Janice started scrubbing again along the arch. “I’ll work on the good spot to make up for it.”
Just like her mother, she felt that same pulse in her lower belly and her eyes snapped open. “Yyyeeaahaa! Nooo, ieea-hhaa!”
Beth gave a mean-sounding giggle. “Oh, I think she’s going to pop, too.”
Marie let out an anguished yowl and felt the surge causing a very small squirt of her own. “I peeeeheeed!” she screamed.
“Well then.” Nicole and Janice stopped. “I think that will do.” Nicole dipped the towel in the water and wiped Marie’s feet down. “Let’s get her up.” They unravelled the blanket.
“That was horrible!” Marie exclaimed, standing up, wobbly.
“Really, you don’t say,” Janice said dryly, indicating the tiny damp spot on her shorts.
“Okay, okay.” Marie cleared her throat. “We’re even.”
“Fair enough.”
Nicole and Beth stood up. “We should get going.” She winked at Janice. “I’ll try to get revenge on Beth before she goes back to school.”
“Ha, yeah right.” Beth grabbed the leash and called Dart.
They said their goodbyes and within a few moments, they had departed, Dart heading at full speed towards the car, eager for his proper supper.
Marie grabbed her flip flops. “I’m taking a shower. I won’t take all the hot water, I promise.”
“Marie,” Janice called out.
Marie stopped at the base of the stairs. “Yes?”
She swallowed. “I’m going to miss you terribly, you know that.”
Marie’s face softened. “Me too.” She ran upstairs.
Mark rubbed Janice’s lower back. “So, am I in fact sleeping on the couch tonight?”
She gave a faint shake of her head. “No, when she’s done, I’m going to take a brief shower and then you’re going to make it up to me by showing off your foreign language skills.”
It took a few seconds. “Cunning linguist. Right.” He meant for it to sound sardonic, but a mild chuckle escaped anyway. “It will be my pleasure. And we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Memories bubbled up for Janice: Roughhousing with her father, pledging a sorority, bonding moments with her own child. And as she looked at Mark, he briefly turned from the middle-aged, pudgy, jovial account manager she loved so dearly, to the lean, hot-blooded college senior that had stolen her heart away.
“Not like that with everyone, it was too much. But just you, I’d appreciate it. Maybe we can use a safe word or something. It will be good for me.”
Mark was borderline shocked. “Really? How so?”
Janice smiled, and for just a moment her crow’s feet seemed to melt away. “Because I feel young.” She led Mark upstairs to the bedroom.
The party was finally winding down now, only a few lingering friends and family members chatting and sipping beer and soda in the late summer evening. And it was a good thing to send Marie off properly; she wouldn’t begrudge the girl (woman, a small, shattered part of her cried out) the chance to be the center of attention before leaving on Wednesday. But she had ducked inside to use the restroom, and afterwards had inadvertently spent several minutes looking at herself in the mirror, an icy finger of mortality poking her in the back.
Janice took a deep breath to steady herself and made motion to re-tie her auburn hair (nickles starting to multiply among the pennies, dear) in a ponytail, but changed her mind. She straightened her tank top, put as pleasant a look on her face as she could manage, and exited into a surprisingly empty living room.
“Ah, there you are.” Her husband rubbed her shoulder from behind and kissed her on the temple. He was scratchy from not having shaved over the weekend and his breath had the noticeable whiff of Sam Adams. “You missed the mass exodus. Everyone is gone except Nicole and Beth.” They were Janice’s older sister and niece, who was less than a year away from graduating Penn State, assuming she wasn’t in danger of flunking out given her track record. “I saw everyone off, counted the silverware,” he joked, then saw the look on her face. “You okay?”
Janice sat down heavily on the single dark brown couch that took up an entire wall. “It’s… I’m going to miss her. But…” she said before Mark could say something comforting, “it’s not just that.” She squeezed his hand as he joined her. “I just hate getting older, I guess.”
“Oh.” He thought for a moment. “You know, when I was in treatment, we talked about-”
“I don’t want another baby,” she scoffed, kicking off her sandals. “I guess I want to live it all again.” She swung her legs onto the couch, and scooted down so that her head was in his lap.
“Don’t we all.” He looked down at his wife’s pale complexion. “This position reminds me of college.”
She poked his belly, causing a grunt. “Not so much this.”
He smoothed her hair. “Last beer until I drop 10 pounds, I promise.” He looked up. “Ah, the stragglers arrive at last.”
Marie and Beth came into the house, chatting animatedly despite never having been the closest of cousins, Nicole and their dog Dart following. Janice smiled at the memory of Mark calling the dog ‘half German Shepherd, half whatever-the-hell’ as Nicole unclipped it from its lead and it did a few zoomies around the dining room before settling in a corner.
Marie went to the restroom while Nicole sat by Janice’s knees. “Thanks for inviting me, sis, I needed an excuse to get out of the house.”
Janice found it funny to be called ‘sis’ despite her sister being 49 going on 50. “Of course. And you’re welcome to visit anytime once Beth goes back to PSU.” Nicole had gotten divorced several years before and didn’t currently have a boyfriend.
“Thanks, we’ll see how it goes.” She turned to Beth, who sat next to her. “You ready to head home in a minute?”
Beth drew her tongue along her teeth. “That depends on whether or not they’re out of wine. You don’t buy any last time I checked.”
Nicole frowned. “That’s because I’ll drink it. Same reason I don’t buy potato chips.”
“You’ll be 22 in November,” Janice chimed in, lacing her hands together under her head making sure not to elbow her husband, “you should buy your own.” She tapped her ankle gently against Beth’s back to emphasize the point.
“I’m a poor college student.” Beth ran her fingers along the bottom of Janice’s foot, eliciting a yelp and a flinch. “Oh, I wasn’t sure that would work. Mom hasn’t been ticklish for years, I stopped trying.”
Janice rolled her eyes. “You just caught me off guard.”
“Oh really?” Nicole had a mischievous look. “We’ll see about that.” Beth, picking up on what her mother had in mind, put her aunt’s feet in her lap while Nicole sat on Janice’s knees.
Janice raised her eyebrows, genuinely not knowing how she would react. She hadn’t intentionally been tickled in long enough that until Beth had done so, she wasn’t even positive that she was sensitive to it anymore. Rather than protest or panic, she decided to play it out. “You can try.”
“Try what?” Marie came out of the restroom.
“To see if your mom is still ticklish.” Beth moved a finger in gentle circles along her left arch, watching the toes flex. “Apparently, yes. Callouses aren’t too bad, either.”
Janice had a helpless smile, biting her lip. She shut her eyes and tried not to react.
Marie sat on the other side of her aunt. “Looks like it.”
“Try the right one,” Nicole suggested.
Beth switched and moved her fingers gently up and down the sole. “Looks like she’s cracking up a little.” She grinned.
Janice snickered and held her breath, eyes still closed.
“Let’s see.” Beth started playing with the toes. “Does this work?”
Janice gave a small giggle and cut it off with a snort.
Marie gave a wicked grin. “Dad, help us out?” Janice didn’t see Marie miming what she had in mind.
Mark raised an eyebrow, but didn’t protest. He slid out from under Janice’s head and swiftly pinned her arms over her head. “Okay.”
Janice squeaked. “Www-aait!”
Beth began to speed up, scrabbling her fingers. “Oh, coochie coo!”
Janice began giggling helplessly. “Oookke-ee! I-eeehee!”
“I seem to recall,” Marie said with relish, “being an only child, that you and dad would gang up on me. I consider this revenge.” She lifted the bottom of her mother’s tank top and ran her fingers across the belly.
Janice squealed. “Hee-o-okee, I-ee! I’m ticklish, st-seeehooop!”
“Oh, come now, sis,” Nicole said wickedly, “Let the kids have a bit of fun.” She reached over and grabbed a toe. “This little piggy went to market…”
“I don’t think I’ve ever done this to you.” Marie placed her mouth over the navel and blew a raspberry.
Janice squealed again, descending into cackles. “Ii---eeee, I’ll gg-et reeeehee!”
“Revenge?” Marie prompted, then pretended to think. “Worth it.” She started in on the ribs. “Dad, helping out here?”
“It’s even money I’m sleeping on the couch tonight as it is.” Mark weighed his options. “So no.” He smiled. “But her armpits were always the worst when we were younger.”
Janice’s eyes widened. “No! I-eeeaah! Ma-mariiieeeee!” Janice’s face flushed as Nicole got to the ‘wee wee wee’ bit.
“Consider this a going away present.” Marie scratched at the warm hollows. “Wow, dad. No kidding.”
Janice let out a screech and helplessly cackled. “Stthhaaa-aaa-hhaap! Pl-pleeeheeaaasee!”
Nicole used the tank top to wipe down the bit of saliva. “Wow, I haven’t done this since we were kids. I’m almost jealous that you’re still this sensitive.” She blew a long, wet raspbelly.
Beth worked over Janice’s flailing soles. “I hope my feet are this soft when I get older,” she mused, working her fingers around the wrinkles resulting from Janice’s reflexive toe scrunches.
Janice felt tears in her eyes. “H-honeeey!” Her head lolled from one side to another. “Laaaahaaa! L-leeet g-goohooo!”
“He will in a moment.” Nicole winked and blew again.
“My ex used to like feet.” Beth worked her fingers between the toes. “Used to drive me nuts at times.” She glanced up. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to suck on anyone’s toes.” She snickered. “Probably.”
“We go up, we go down, we go up, we go down,” Marie said in a sing song, going up and down the ribs.
Janice felt a tweak in her lower belly. “I-I’m g-goinggg t-to peeeheee!”
“Actually, you did just come out of the bathroom, dear,” Mark observed.
“We’re almost done, anyway,” Nicole said and went in for yet another raspberry.
Janice turned bright red, laughing with tormented abandon, struggling against her sister and husband to no avail. “Ahhhaaa! Ieee-aaah!”
“C’mon, dad!” Marie cajoled.
Mark sighed. “Oh, all right.” He shifted his weight and ran his thumbs along his wife’s armpits, joining in her torment.
Tickle, tickle!” Nicole teased, blowing again.
The tweak turned into a lurch and Janice bucked. “Nnnn-aaa, n-nooaaah!” She felt herself give a short squirt, expelling what little fluid there was.
“Oh, whoops!” Nicole noticed a wet spot the size of a quarter. “Girls, let’s stop, yeah?”
Mark let go and Beth gave a halfhearted rub to one foot. Marie let her hands drop, watching her mother wipe her eyes and try to catch her breath. “I… I shouldn’t have done that.” Marie swallowed.
Nicole bit her lip. “I’m so sorry, sis, I didn’t know you’d lose it. We should go.”
Janice sat up, still gasping. “Not yet.” She steadied herself with a hand against the sofa, her head spinning a little. “I’ll need your help to get revenge on my daughter.”
Marie’s face clashed between relieved and worried simultaneously. “I suppose I had that coming.”
Janice slid off the couch and grabbed a blanket from a drawer, her legs a bit unsteady. “Sweetheart,” she said to Mark, tossing it to him, “wrap her up in this, will you? I’ll be right back.”
Marie allowed her father to wrap her in the blanket neck to ankles with her arms at her side, knowing that her feet were about to be tickled. “You guys are just as guilty as far as I’m concerned.”
“Lucky I’m immune.” Nicole helped Mark ease Marie onto the couch. “I wonder why she needs our help, though?”
“Here we go.” They had expected Janice to get changed, but instead she had come back from the kitchen, still in the same clothes, holding a hand towel, a spoon, and a jar. “Like a cocoon before becoming a butterfly. Perfect metaphor for the college girl.” Janice sat back down, put the towel in her lap and then Marie’s ankles. She removed her daughter’s flip flops and the young woman’s toes reflexively spread out and scrunched.
Marie sighed. “Just get it over with.”
“Honey, I’ll need you to hold her down as well.” Mark sat on her knees and Janice opened the jar.
Nicole and Beth sat on the floor. “I’m glad you’re not too pissed off,” Beth said, but how can we help?”
“Oh, you can’t directly.” Janice took a spoonful of chicken gravy from the small, half-empty jar. “But Dart can.”
Marie’s eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen. “No! Oh mom, no!”
Janice smeared a cold dollop on the bottoms of Marie’s helpless bare feet before setting the jar aside. “Dart! Come!”
“No, please!” Marie wriggled.
Dart trotted into the room, gave a cursory sniff and headed for the couch. Janice held Marie’s big toes. “Now consider this my going away present in exchange. Ah, here we go.”
Dart gave a few hopeful sniffs and then began gently licking.
Marie squealed and began laughing helplessly. “Eeeee, aaaha! Ewww, augh!”
Beth petted Dart’s back. “Good boy.” Dart didn’t seem to notice her.
Nicole stood up. “Be right back.” She went to the kitchen.
“Mmaaa-haaaam!” Marie’s voice cracked.
“Yes, dear?” She directed Dart to focus more on the arch than the heel.
Marie’s head lolled in a way that was identical to her mother’s. “Iiee! St-saaahaaap hiiieem!”
Janice noticed Dart was losing interest and added another spoonful to the right sole. “I’m sure he’ll be bored soon.”
Marie’s cheeks turned pink. “Ohhaaa! J-Jesus, ahhaaa!”
“Hmph. If grandad was alive, he would lecture you about taking the Lord’s name in vain.” Beth scratched Dart behind an ear.
“Pllleeheease!” A tear dribbled down Marie’s cheek.
Janice let go of the toes. “Beth, I think Dart’s had his fill.”
Beth pulled him away and kissed him between the eyes. “Good doggo. Go lie down.” Dart did as he was told, looking a bit disappointed.
Marie gasped, catching her breath. “Okay… okay, you’ve gotten revenge.”
Nicole returned. “Right, now we just need to clean you up.” She had a cup of water, some soap, a towel and a pair of toothbrushes, used for grout cleaning.
Marie wriggled, panicked. “No, let me go first!”
“Oh, this will only take a few minutes,” Nicole tisked. “Don’t whine.” She undid the cap and squirted some liquid soap on the bottoms of her feet and handed Janice a brush. “Shall we?”
“Dad, don’t let them!” Marie pleaded.
Mark leaned over and patted her head. “You’re mother’s almost done.”
Janice and Nicole scrubbed vigorously, the bristles slipping and biting into the soft flesh, Bubbles formed as the brushes found their way to every crack and crevice they could find.
Marie was shrieking with helpless laughter, writhing inside the blanket. “Neeee-haa! St-staaahaaap!” Her face took on the faint glow of exertion.
“The worst spot seems to be just above the heel,” Nicole observed. “Do you agree?”
“Seems like it.” Janice worked the brush around the ball of the foot. “A shame I don’t have that water flosser anymore.”
Marie had another tear run and she threw her head back onto the soft cushion multiple times. “Noo-ahhh! I, ahhaaee, I-eeeee! Ahhaaa!”
Nicole pulled two toes apart and slipped the brush between them. “There we go. Hmm, tickly teenager toes.”
Janice paused for a brief moment. Marie was a teenager. Her 19th birthday would be May 17th, which meant she would be halfway through college before her 20’s and three quarters done before she could drink legally. It was obvious, but Janet had never thought about it that way.
“Hey, sis?” Nicole nodded her head towards what they were doing.
“Oh, yes. Sorry.” Janice started scrubbing again along the arch. “I’ll work on the good spot to make up for it.”
Just like her mother, she felt that same pulse in her lower belly and her eyes snapped open. “Yyyeeaahaa! Nooo, ieea-hhaa!”
Beth gave a mean-sounding giggle. “Oh, I think she’s going to pop, too.”
Marie let out an anguished yowl and felt the surge causing a very small squirt of her own. “I peeeeheeed!” she screamed.
“Well then.” Nicole and Janice stopped. “I think that will do.” Nicole dipped the towel in the water and wiped Marie’s feet down. “Let’s get her up.” They unravelled the blanket.
“That was horrible!” Marie exclaimed, standing up, wobbly.
“Really, you don’t say,” Janice said dryly, indicating the tiny damp spot on her shorts.
“Okay, okay.” Marie cleared her throat. “We’re even.”
“Fair enough.”
Nicole and Beth stood up. “We should get going.” She winked at Janice. “I’ll try to get revenge on Beth before she goes back to school.”
“Ha, yeah right.” Beth grabbed the leash and called Dart.
They said their goodbyes and within a few moments, they had departed, Dart heading at full speed towards the car, eager for his proper supper.
Marie grabbed her flip flops. “I’m taking a shower. I won’t take all the hot water, I promise.”
“Marie,” Janice called out.
Marie stopped at the base of the stairs. “Yes?”
She swallowed. “I’m going to miss you terribly, you know that.”
Marie’s face softened. “Me too.” She ran upstairs.
Mark rubbed Janice’s lower back. “So, am I in fact sleeping on the couch tonight?”
She gave a faint shake of her head. “No, when she’s done, I’m going to take a brief shower and then you’re going to make it up to me by showing off your foreign language skills.”
It took a few seconds. “Cunning linguist. Right.” He meant for it to sound sardonic, but a mild chuckle escaped anyway. “It will be my pleasure. And we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Memories bubbled up for Janice: Roughhousing with her father, pledging a sorority, bonding moments with her own child. And as she looked at Mark, he briefly turned from the middle-aged, pudgy, jovial account manager she loved so dearly, to the lean, hot-blooded college senior that had stolen her heart away.
“Not like that with everyone, it was too much. But just you, I’d appreciate it. Maybe we can use a safe word or something. It will be good for me.”
Mark was borderline shocked. “Really? How so?”
Janice smiled, and for just a moment her crow’s feet seemed to melt away. “Because I feel young.” She led Mark upstairs to the bedroom.
