Duncan Fox: Daddy_s darling daughter

Bubbling over with good spirits, Judy dashed down the hall from her room, her feet thundering along the floor. Skipping every third stair, she managed to avoid sliding down the banister, remembering her father's latest explosion when she had done so and scratched the highly polished rail. At the bottom of the stairs, Judy slowed her headlong rush and tried to assume a dignity more in keeping with her nearly thirteen years-well, anyway, almost twelve and a half years. She was becoming a grown-up woman now, she reminded herself, and giggled. After all, hadn't she gotten her first bra over a month ago now? As she went toward the kitchen, Judy glanced down with pride at the developing mounds on her chest. She became aware of the soft touch of air over her trim, tanned belly, below the short top she wore. The frayed fringe of the chopped-off Levi's she wore tickled her slender legs as she walked.

"Good morning, Judy," her mother greeted her. "Your eggs will be ready in a few minutes."

"Thanks, Mom," Judy replied, giving her mother a quick peck on the cheek.

"Good morning, Sugar," Judy's father greeted her, looking up from his paper and giving her a smile.

"Good morning, Daddy," Judy replied, giving him a kiss on the cheek. As usual, he smelled faintly of after-shave lotion, and even though he had just shaved, his whiskers scraped Judy's sensitive cheek.

Judy sat in her usual chair, made her usual face and drank her usual orange juice. As she did so, she cast a quick, sideways glance at her father. His hair was just beginning to become peppered with flecks of silver, especially at his sideburns. Judy decided it was going to be terribly distinguished and hoped he wouldn't ever think of coloring it or anything. Carol's daddy had done that, and it looked really weird.

"What's on your agenda for today?" Judy's mother asked, bringing the eggs over from the stove.

"I dunno," Judy answered. "Nothing, I guess."

"Well, I'm not going to be home all day. I've got a shopping trip this morning, and garden club this afternoon. You'll have to fend for yourself."

"Okay, Mom," Judy replied around a mouthful of eggs.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," her mother corrected her automatically. "And I don't want you swimming while we're not here. Agreed?"

"Yes, Mother," Judy sighed. "I know the rules."

"Well, I just want to make sure you remember them," her mother answered. "It's not safe to swim alone. Something could happen and you might drown."

"Yes, Mother," Judy sighed again.

"Now, Mildred, I'm sure Judy knows the rules and understands them," Judy's father said. "She's getting to be a big girl now, remember."

Judy flushed with pleasure at the remark and again glanced down at her developing breasts. She took a deep breath to stick them out farther. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her father looking at her, a strange light in his eyes and a smile on his lips. His look made Judy feel even better. "Gosh, it's a nice day. Too bad you have to go to work, Daddy."

Judy's father looked out the window. "I know what you mean, Sugar. I'll try to get home early. If you're around, we can get in some swimming."

"That'd be great, Daddy," Judy bubbled.

Breakfast finished, Judy excused herself from the table and dashed outside into the bright summer sunshine. It was warm already, and the sun was hot on Judy's bare arms and legs, burning through the thin cotton of her top onto her shoulders. The water of the swimming pool was dead calm, an inviting pool of blue. Judy thought of how the cool water would feel washing over her slender body, how it would make the nipples of her little breasts peak and harden into little knots. She remembered how it had felt one time, when, in violation of her parents rules, she had gone swimming when no one was at home. She'd gone swimming in the nude, and the cool water had rushed over her body like a million tiny fingers. It had pried into places it didn't normally reach when she wore a suit and had excited her and left her feeling warm and strange down inside.

Walking past the pool, Judy heard her father's car start up and back out of the garage. Reaching the back fence, Judy climbed the stack of boxes piled there, rather than struggling with the latch on the gate. Dropping down on the other side of the fence, Judy went almost to her knees before recovering her balance.

Behind the house was a large tract of wilderness. Kicking through the dry leaves, she wandered down a familiar path. The shadow and light of the sun through the trees made her blink: The woods were deep and shadowed, dappled with sun. A flash of color caught her eye, and she bent down to pick a flower.

Twirling it between her fingers turned it into a pinwheel of color. She wondered if she could hypnotize herself by staring and spinning the blossom, then quickly stopped, afraid she might succeed and then not be able to wake herself.

Something rustled in the underbrush, making Judy jump and turn. All she could see was the tail of a large dog loping off through the trees. She whistled and called to it, but it kept moving away from her.

Taking a generally downhill course, Judy strolled down familiar paths toward the stream at the bottom of the hill. She'd lived here all her life, and ever since she'd been old enough to open the gate by herself, she had roamed these same paths. She could let her mind wander while her feet selected their own way down the hillside. Judy found herself thinking of the changes that were slowly taking place in her body and around her. The burgeoning of her breasts into snowy-white mounds was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her, she decided. Now boys would have something to be interested in. Her father seemed more interested in her, too, though he kept it hidden from her mother.

Judy had caught his eyes lingering on her just the night before while she had been watching television. He thought she wouldn't notice, keeping his face buried in a magazine, but Judy had seen how his eyes flickered over to her whenever he thought she wasn't looking. Noticing his attention, Judy had carefully leaned back on her arms and arched her spine slightly as she sat on the floor, posing the way she had seen a girl in a bikini bathing suit posing one time in a picture.

Later on, after she had put on her pajamas, Judy had come downstairs to kiss her parents good night. Her mother had been knitting and had hardly noticed when Judy had kissed her on the cheek. Her father, however, had carefully set his book aside and taken Judy in his arms. As he had kissed her on the cheek, his hands had wandered over Judy's back for a few exciting seconds. She had become aware of a strange bulge growing in his lap; then, her heart pounding, she had gotten up and moved away, suddenly conscious of her naked body under the flimsy shorty pajamas. Her heart beating fast, she had hurried upstairs and gotten into bed. A strange itching in her crotch kept her from sleeping for a long time.

Judy suddenly took stock of where she had emerged from the woods. At her feet, a shallow stream a few feet wide gurgled and chuckled in its bed, rippling over the stones. The sunlight flashed back at Judy from the surface of the clear water, and here and there a water-strider's feet made dimples in the surface as it skated over the water. In a little pool a crayfish staggered and lurched over the pebbles, its claws reaching in search of some breakfast, pulling invisible bits of moss from the stones.

Judy kicked off, her worn sneakers and lay on her back, her feet trailing in the icy water. As she lay there, she looked up through the leaves of the trees.