Dorsai - Eight is enough

Without waiting for Dawn to prompt her, Joanna continued "I know that sometimes Brit and Beth do things together. I mean, I've seen them, sometimes, kissing and touching and stuff when they didn't know I could see. And a couple of times, I've had to go into their room for one of them, and kind of smelled that girl smell. And that's what I remembered: that what was in their room was the same as what was in Jeremy's. I don't know what was happening, or what they were doing – Jeremy and whichever one of them, I mean – but I know that a girl only makes that smell when she's… doing things. You know, sex stuff."

Dawn didn't bother asking how Joanna could know that a girl only made that her unique scent when she was aroused; there wasn't any point to embarrassing her by forcing her to admit that she was starting to masturbate. A little bit of a "late bloomer", she was just starting to blossom: her breasts were barely the size of half-tennis balls, and the little bit of hair she had probably didn't extend over more than half her pubis; there still wasn't a lot of difference between her waist and hip measurements, either – but she'd apparently discovered that all-important little button at the top of her slit…

Trying to buy some time, Dawn asked "Why are you telling me all this? You said you didn't want to tell Mom and Dad; but what do you think I can do about it?"

Still obviously troubled, Joanna told her "I thought if you knew, then maybe you could talk to them – or at least, Beth or Brit! I don't think they're supposed to be doing stuff with guys, are they? And specially not with Jeremy!"

Dawn thought about all that Joanna had said – and not said – and decided to see if she couldn't distract the younger girl away from saying anything to anyone else until she had a chance to talk to Jeremy. It didn't take her long to come up with something that she figured would do the job…

"Joanna, you said that you've seen Brit and Beth doing things together, like kissing and touching and 'stuff'. What did you mean by that?"

Plainly embarrassed, it took several seconds before Joanna was able to answer by saying "B… Beth… Bethany had her mouth on one of Brit's boobs. Where her, um, nipple is. And… and I'm pretty sure she was, uh, sucking on it." A moment later, she added "When I saw them touching, they were touching each others boobs, too."

"When did you see them doing that stuff?"

"I've seen them kissing each other for a long time, but I didn't see them touching each other like that until over a month ago. It was maybe a week later, and I saw… the other part."

"You haven't said anything about it to Mom and Dad?" Dawn asked, though she figured she already knew the answer.

Joanna simply shook her head in the negative, so Dawn asked "Why not?"

"I didn't want them to get into trouble."

Something about her answer didn't seem to fit, and it took only a few seconds for Dawn to figure out what it was. "You said you didn't want them to get in trouble, but you're still talking like what they were doing is wrong, or bad."

"Isn't it?", the younger girl asked, plaintively.

Hearing that, Dawn knew that she could keep her sister from saying anything that would make trouble for her or Jeremy or the twins. But she didn't want to have to do anything like that if she didn't have to, and opted to continue with her original idea.

"Joanna, did you stop to think that what they were doing might not be bad or wrong?"

"What do you mean? Isn't it?"

"I didn't say it wasn't – but I haven't said that it is, either. I asked you if you had though that it might not be."

Confused, Joanna stammered "But… but… don't people talk bad about girls that kiss and touch each other like that? And do the other stuff I saw?"

"If those other people know when girls are doing things like that, yes, some of them talk REAL bad. But the people that talk that way usually aren't real smart, and can't or won't try to think of anything but their own ideas of what's right and wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, what if there were ways of thinking about it that showed that what they were doing wasn't so bad? What if somebody could show how them

kissing and touching each other wasn't as bad as everybody thought? If it wasn't bad, then maybe it could even be good?"

Well and truly baffled, Joanna demanded "How could it not be bad?"

With her sister's head securely in the noose of words that she'd created, Dawn calmly went about tightening it. "Okay, how about this, then: you've seen them kissing. Was either one of them hurting the other one to make it happen?"

"No. They were kissing each other, and holding hands."

"So neither one of them was doing anything to hurt the other one, then. Is it bad that they were doing it without hurting each other?"

It took a few moments before Joanna reluctantly answered "No, that part isn't bad."

"You just said that that part wasn't bad; so you think that them actually kissing was wrong?"

"Yes!"

"But if they were kissing, don't you figure they at least like, or maybe even love, each other? Is loving someone bad, then?"

It took even longer before Joanna could reply "No, loving someone isn't bad. But what about the touching?"

"What about it? They weren't letting someone else touch them, were they? Or touching someone else?"

"No, but…"

"But the only ones they were touching were each other", Dawn interrupted, before continuing "Haven't you already agreed that they were kissing because they love each other? So don't you think maybe touching each other like that just means that they love each other even more. Can you understand now that maybe it's even a good thing that they can love and even trust each other enough that they're both okay – remember, they aren't doing anything to PUSH each other – with the touching? That maybe it isn't as bad or wrong as you thought?"

Dawn could see that her sister was stunned at the possibility that the things she'd witnessed might not be what she'd first thought of them. All that was left was to get her to start thinking of possible alternative explanations and viewpoints on other things, too.

After a few moments, Dawn got her sisters attention again: "Joanna, maybe you need to think about the other things you've said you've noticed – about the twins, and Jeremy. See if there aren't other ways of looking at them, or maybe other reasons for it that are different. Instead of thinking that whatever they were doing was wrong, you should try to see if there was anything right going on, instead."

Joanna could only sit there, knowing full well that Dawn was right: that she did need to reconsider the things she'd told Dawn about, as well as the ones she hadn't mentioned. Feeling bad about how she'd come in and bothered Dawn without really knowing what she was worried about, Joanna quietly said "I will, Dawn. Honest."

"That's good, Jo. If you're sure that something is happening after you do that, don't be afraid to let me know, okay?"

Nodding her head, Joanna got up and silently headed for the door. A bit later and she was gone, leaving Dawn's door open again behind her.

Once she was alone, Dawn calmly let out a deep breath. The little 'lesson' she'd just given Joanna was little more than intellectual smoke and mirrors; she didn't doubt for a moment that the girl would be back in a matter of just a few days. Well, that gave her time to talk to Jeremy and see what he thought, and if he had any suggestions. If she had to, Dawn still had one more thing to try before threatening the youngster with waiting too long before "complaining" about any misdeeds she knew about.

Figuring that she could let Jeremy know in the morning that they needed to talk that afternoon, Dawn set it all aside so that she could keep her attention on her Trig homework.