Archive-name: Family/sibed02.txt Archive-author: Michael Kalen Smith Archive-title: Siblings - The Early Days - 2 From SIBLINGS -- a novel in progress ("The Early Days") [...from chapter 2...] I remember very clearly when I realized Alex was growing up, because it momentarily frightened me. I went into the bathroom one morning when I was thirteen and found several fresh drops of dark blood on the tile floor in front of the toilet, by the simple method of stepping in it. There was more blood in the bowl itself. I looked wildly at the backs of my arms and legs and checked quickly in the mirror to see if I had a nosebleed. There wasn't a mark on me. It had to be my sister, the only other person who ever used the Upstairs bathroom. So I hurried into her room. "Alex!" I said too loudly. "Are you all right? Where'd the blood come from?" She was sleeping on her stomach, but she awoke with a start, raised her head, and stared at me in alarm. "What blood?! Where?" "In the bathroom, on the floor! Did you hurt yourself?" She stared blankly at me for a moment before her eyes registered comprehension. She let her head fall back on the pillow. "No, Dummy. I just started my period during the night. Sorry I made a mess. I'll clean it up when I get up...." She began to drowse off again. Her period. Oh. Yes, that WAS pretty stupid of me. The boys' Health classes in school covered the physical development of both sexes, so I knew, in theory, what menstruation was. I just hadn't put my foot in it before now. I slipped out of my sister's room, embarrassed and sheepish. Then I returned to the bathroom and mopped up the blood, now smeared by my foot, and then went back to lie, wide awake, in my own bed for the two hours before we had to get up for school. When the alarm went off, I climbed out of bed again and wandered back to the bathroom. Alex was already there, in her ubiquitous sleeping tee-shirt, brushing her teeth. She turned when I came in, her mouth full of toothpaste. "I said I'd clean it up, Michael." "What? Oh. Well, I stepped in it and smeared it, and I didn't want it to dry there. Besides, I woke you up at five o'clock." I was still embarrassed, not because she had begun having periods but because she hadn't mentioned it to me. My sister could read my expressions as fluently as I could read hers. "Michael? I didn't mean to embarrass you; I was still asleep. I started having periods a couple months ago, and I'm just not used to it yet. It makes me feel pretty weird." She continued to look at me. I patted her on the back. "That's okay, Alex. You just caught me by surprise. I thought you had hurt yourself somehow. This is a new experience for me, too." Now I was succumbing to curiosity. "Uh, are you using a-- a Kotex, or what? I mean, I don't want to pry...." She replied with her tinkly, high amusement laugh. "No, they're too bulky, you can see the outline right through your slacks. I'm using a tampon." I must have looked blank this time. "Isn't that the same thing?" She laughed again and raised the front of her tee shirt above her panties. "No, it's not! I'm using one now and it doesn't show at all." She saw my puzzled expression. "In fact, I need to change it before we go to school. You can watch if you want to...." "May I? We didn't get this kind of detail in Health class. Obviously." I had no idea what this was going to involve but I suspected it might make me a little sick. Maybe I had better skip breakfast this morning. Alex motioned for me to sit on the closed toilet seat while she got down a cardboard box from the bathroom closet and dug from it a paper- wrapped cylinder. Then she pushed her panties down and put one foot up on the seat of the old wooden chair we kept in the bathroom. This was also something new. I noted with interest that she was developing a sizable patch of auburn pubic hair, almost exactly the same shade as the hair on her head,... and on my head, for that matter. Then I saw a white string dangling from her crotch. Holding a folded-over pad of toilet paper between her legs, she tugged on the string and extracted a bright red something the size and shape of a hot dog, which glistened wetly. She wrapped it up carefully in the toilet paper and dropped it in the wastebasket. There was a strange new aroma about her, very different but not exactly unpleasant. Just strange. She dabbed between her legs with another wad of toilet paper, moistened this time to clean off any blood that had trickled around the Tampax. Then she quickly unwrapped the fresh pack, revealing two telescoped cardboard tubes, like a large toy hypodermic. Spreading her labia with the fingers of one hand, she pushed the tube up into herself with the other, depressed the "plunger," and withdrew the tube, which was now tinged with red. A new string dangled from her crotch. "See?" she said calmly. "Nothing to worry about. And I just gave you a free shot at my pussy, too," she added with a grin. She pulled her panties up and turned back to the sink to wash her hands. I sat there another few seconds, thinking about what I had just seen. Neither of us was particularly body-conscious, so nudity was not a big thing. I had seen my sister naked a number of times and vice versa. But this was the first time I had actually been shown what lay hidden between her legs ... and she had volunteered it. Was she just teasing me? Or was there a message here I didn't yet understand? I was pretty sure none of my friends at school who had sisters had had such an experience, or we all would have heard about it. I, on the other hand, wouldn't tell them, or anyone else, a thing. And Alex knew it. Maybe that's why she did it, I thought. Starting her period means she's growing up and who else can she show that off to? And she knows she can trust me not to gossip about it at school. I reached over to my sister, now standing only a foot away at the sink, and moved my hand lightly down the back of her thigh and the inside of her knee. I knew she liked that caress, and she did indeed look over at me with a wide smile. "You have a very nice...," I began and then couldn't think of an appropriate word. "Pussy? I know. Thank you, Michael." Her smile was warm and candid. We were an odd couple, even at that age. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copyright 1993 by Michael K. Smith. Copies may be made and posted elsewhere for personal enjoyment, but all commercial rights are reserved. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~