They waited briefly in the bushes, watching the back of the house, but there was only one man on a ladder there, and all his attention seemed to be on where some boards had been removed from the side of the house.
They made the dash to the steps and skipped steps getting down into the cellar. Without waiting to see if anyone raised the alarm, Robby jerked open the secret door and they ducked into the tunnel. Again, they had forgotten to bring a candle, but again, they both knew the tunnel so well they could negotiate it in the pitch black with no problem. Still, Robby went first, while Debbie held on to his waist.
Robby pulled gently at the door. They had used it so much that it opened easily now, though the hinges squeaked. They had never thought to oil them, since whenever they were there they were alone.
There was a little light in the secret passage, coming in from the peep holes. While it would have seemed dark to most people, after the pitch black of the tunnel it was a little like being outside in moonlight to the teens.
There were thumps that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once as they stepped gently up the staircase. They saw nothing at the first peepholes, and then a painter at the third. Going on up a level, where the bedrooms were, they went to the peephole that led into "their" bedroom. The room was empty. Their box of treasure was still sitting where they had left it before.
They struck pay dirt at the big bedroom, with the four poster bed.
The teens peered silently into the big bedroom where they had played dress up so many times.
Semen and their mother were in that room, along with one of the people who had gotten out of the Dry Cleaner's van. Ramona was standing along one wall while Semen instructed the man on what to pack into the box. The hangings from the four poster went into one, and the curtains from the windows went into another.
"And everything in those chests." He pointed to the cedar chests where the clothing Robby and Debbie had worn for years was packed. "But you can get those another day. Do you think these can be repaired and cleaned?" he said lifting up a drooping corner of cloth from inside one of the boxes.
"They're pretty old, but I'd say they're in fair shape. I have to tell you though, Mister Semen, this is going to be expensive. We'll have to re-weave a lot of the holes, and finding fabric - genuine period fabric - will be expensive too. It would be cheaper to just have new ones made."
"No!" barked Semen. "Only if something is too deteriorated to save. I want to save as much as possible. Expense is not an issue."
"Well, it's your money..." said the man, packing up the boxes. The other man came in and helped him carry the boxes out.
Debbie and Robby had to trade off using the peep hole. They whispered to each other as to what they were seeing. The voices were faint, through the wall, but there was only lath and plaster between them and the people in the room, and they could hear through that fairly well.
Debbie watched as Semen looked out of the bedroom door and then closed it. She heard the thunk of a latch being thrown.
"I told you they'd assign you to me if I wanted them to," he said to their mother.
"It was amazing!" said Ramona. "I got called into the president of the bank's office and he instructed me that I was to do anything you wanted me to."
Semen stood, looking at their mother. "Anything?" he leered.
"Bobby," said Ramona, "I'm here on business."
Bobby? thought Debbie. His name was Bobby?
"All work and no play makes ... Bobby a dull boy," he grinned.
"Do you have to keep that horrible thing on your face all the time?" asked Debbie's mother.
"Not when we're alone," said the man, and, to Debbie's astonishment he reached up and pulled off his hair.
Debbie gasped, stepped back and ran into the wall on the opposite side of the secret passageway with a thump.
Robby was at the peephole instantly, just in time to see the man throw a black, hairy mass on the bare mattress of the big bed. There was smooth brown hair on his head. Then he pulled at his beard and Robby saw sticky strings of something that had glued it to his face pull away. He tossed that on the bed too and stood, looking at Ramona.
"Is that better?" he asked.
Ramona was staring at the man, the briefcase hanging from her hand.
"You look so different," she said softly.
"It's been a long time Rami," he said.
"You're so handsome," she said.
"Not as handsome as you are beautiful," said the man who called himself Semen. He stepped toward Bobby's mother. "I missed you so much Rami."
Then, to Robby's astonishment, his mother rushed into the man's arms, into a kiss that was obviously voluntary and as heartfelt as when Robby kissed his sister.
Now it was Robby who staggered away from the peephole, running into his sister's soft body. She held his waist with her hands to stabilize them both.
"What's going on?" she whispered.
"He kissed her," gasped Robby.
"What?!" said Debbie, her voice like a shout in the confines of the narrow hallway.
"Shhhh," said Robby instinctively. "She kissed him," he corrected himself.
Debbie shoved him to one side and pressed her face to the holes.
"They kissed each other," whispered Robby.
That kiss was still going on as Debbie's eyes focused on the adults. That, and a whole lot more. The now brown-haired and clean shaven man - the same man she had seen before when she peeked the last time - had his hand cupping her mother's breast, and Ramona's arms were wrapped around his neck.
Ramona pushed him away. "We can't Bobby," she said. She didn't make him remove his hand, which stayed right where it had been, lifting the breast, and squeezing it.
Debbie's mouth was hanging open. Robby tried to move her but she pushed at him with one hand.
"Is there a man in your life sweet Rami?" asked the man.
"Of course not," said Ramona. "But there are all kinds of people around."
"I locked the door," he said.
"The drapes are gone from the windows," said Ramona.
Debbie couldn't quite get her mind wrapped around the conversation. It almost sounded like they were talking about ... sex. But that couldn't be!
"No one is working on that side of the house. I'm on fire for you Rami."
Debbie bit her lip. This man called her mother by a pet name. Rami was obviously short for Ramona. Who was he? Why had he come to their house wearing a fake beard and moustache.
"You left me," said her mother, her voice accusing. She looked at the briefcase in her hand as if she'd forgotten it and set it down. Debbie's unbelieving eyes saw her mother's fingers go to the buttons of her white blouse and begin unbuttoning them.
"I had to, my sweet," said the man. "I thought I could save the world. Only that could have taken me away from you."
Ramona unbuttoned her blouse, as if she were alone in her own bedroom.
"I cried for you Bobby," said Ramona, pulling the blouse apart and out of the waistband of her skirt. She bared her lacy white bra to this stranger.
Debbie stepped back again, her hand covering her mouth. What her mother was doing made no sense of any kind ... in any way. It was like watching a dream, that couldn't be true, but that you were having anyway, and you couldn't make it stop.
Debbie's place was immediately taken by Robby. He gasped and his two hands went to the wall, making a small sound. He saw his mother turn and look directly at him.
"What was that?" she asked.
Robby stared at her flat naked stomach, and the bulging bra cups, with their deep cleavage showing milky white skin. The man was staring at his mother's breasts too.
"This house makes many noises," said the man. "Seeing you again makes me want to make a little noise too."
Robby watched, his brow furrowing, as his mother laughed.
"I haven't had a man in a long long time Bobby," she said, removing her blouse and folding it neatly. She bent over and placed it on top of the briefcase. Then, as if it were the most normal thing for his mother to do in the whole world, she unclipped and unzipped her skirt and bent over, stepping out of it. It joined her blouse as she stood before the man in only panties and bra.
"Oh sweet baby, I've waited so long too," the man said, tearing at his clothes.
Robby watched in stark disbelief as his mother reached behind her and the bra fell down her arms to reveal her soft breasts. She had brown nipples Robby had never seen, or could never remember seeing. They were much bigger than Debbie's pink ones, thick, and they looked firm, sticking out from her slightly sagging breasts. For some crazy reason Robby found himself noticing that those nipples didn’t' point straight ahead, like Debbie’s did. Instead like eyes with something wrong with them, they looked in slightly different directions.
Robby's eyes went to the man, who had somehow become naked, his penis standing straight out from a fluff of brown hair that was as wild as the man's wig had been. That penis looked long, but bent. The man was uncut, like Robby himself, but he was so hard that the glans of his penis seemed to press forward, like it was trying to escape being confined by his foreskin.
"Shit" said Robby under his breath.
"What's happening now?" came Debbie's plaintive soft cry.
"They're naked," he whispered.
Debbie shoved him sideways, and he pushed off the wall to keep from snagging on one of the upright boards that the lath was nailed to.
"Hey!" he whispered loudly.
"I want to see!" she whispered back, pressing her face to the wall.
Technically, "they" weren't naked yet, since Ramona still had on her panties. But Debbie's eyes were drawn to that long fleshy lance that was pointing at her mother. The only other one she'd ever seen was Robby's, and they looked the same and vastly different at the same time. Her eyes flicked to her mother, whose clothes seemed to have magically vanished since Debbie last saw her. Debbie sucked in a breath as her mother bent over and slipped her panties off. She stood up, holding them hanging off of her index finger, and let them fall lightly on top of her folded clothes like she had practiced doing that for years.
"You're so beautiful," said the man, stepping toward her mother.
"It's been so long," replied her mother.
Then they embraced, and that long thick penis slid naturally between her mother's legs as the couple kissed what was obviously a kiss in the French way. Her mother leaned forward into the man's body, her hands pulling him against her. Debbie was numb from the shock of what she was seeing. Children never see their parents as sexual beings, particularly not with complete strangers who are somehow vastly too familiar to be strangers. It almost made her head hurt.
Still, the curious girl inside her body wanted to see what would happen next. That part of her mind held her steady, her eyes staring through the peep holes, while another part of her brain railed that this was wrong, that she must do something to stop what was happening, that the man was not only destroying her house, but he was destroying her mother at the same time.