Are You Lonesome Tonight?

You arrive back at the Benson household in plenty of time for the large and succulent looking turkey roast Betsy is serving up for dinner.

It smells divine.

And holy shit, if you thought her breakfast was delicious then this meal takes things to a whole new culinary level. Of course your memory is more than a little fuzzy, but you swear you don't remember food ever tasting this good.

"So which of the local girls did you meet on your travels today?" John asks you quite matter-of-factly, right in front of everyone "And who have you got your eye on?"

"DADDY!" Mary Lou protests "I swear you only do this kind of thing to make me mad!"

"There's no need to be so sensitive, honey. This is just man talk, you don't have to listen if you don't like it."

Mary Lou folds her arms aggressively but is clearly too invested in your response to put her fingers in her ears.

"Everyone I ran into was nice and friendly, both male and female" you answer as diplomatically as you can manage "But I guess the person who intrigued me the most was Michelle. Long dark hair, glasses, bookish."

"Michelle?" John leans back, places his hands behind his head and looks almost lost in thought for a moment as he considers your answer "Wouldn't have been my first guess for you, but yeah, I can see that."

"Michelle?" Mary Lou narrows her eyes and practically spits out the name "She's weird. And miserable. And she thinks she's too good for everyone. She doesn't even want to live in Greenvale."

"I didn't exactly get that impression from her" you shrug "More that she wanted to spread her wings a little. Maybe do some travelling."

"But why?" John asks, with an expression to suggest that was the most illogical desire he had ever heard of "Greenvale has everything anyone could possibly want and it's all right on our doorstep."

"Oh, don't get me wrong I really like it here" you caveat quickly, knowing just how fiercely proud most local folk are of their home town "It's just that there's a whole big world out there to explore."

"You see, I've never been too concerned about that myself, Sport" John muses "Seems to me it's normally when folk go wandering off where they aren't supposed to be that they run into trouble."

Was there the merest hint of a threat in that statement? Nah, probably just you being paranoid. Michelle aside, these people do all seem to be strangely married to Greenvale though.

"Let her go, I say" Mary Lou declares in conclusion, clearly wishing to bring that part of the conversation to an end, before turning to you with the sweetest of smiles "Chuckie, while you were out I had an idea!"

This idea is going to involve your sex life with her and it's going to be discussed in front of her parents at the dinner table. You can sense it already.

"I'm not sure the bed in the spare room is big enough for me to come and sleep with you whenever I get nightmares" she reasons "So I'm thinking you should just move into my bedroom with me. I have the nicest, cosiest bed and it's plenty big enough for us to share. I know my room is a bit girly right now, but we can find some more boyish things to put in there for you easily enough. It only makes sense since you're going to be living here with us, and I do have a lot of bad dreams."

How the fuck are you supposed to respond to that? John is just looking at you waiting to hear your answer.

"Uh, Mr Benson, are you okay with this?"

He'll definitely be weirdly okay with this.

"That's John to you please, Chuck. And I think it's a fantastic idea. It frees up the spare room up for me to use as a study again, plus Mary Louise's room is at the far end of the corridor from mine and Betsy's, so there's less chance of us getting woken up in the night whenever you kids get up to anything noisy with each other."

"It's once less bed for me to make" Betsy adds.

Well that settles it then. If everyone in this family is so intent on you fucking the hot daughter every night you certainly aren't going to be the one to throw up any road blocks.

"That's a very generous offer Mary Lou, I'd be delighted to accept."

"Yay! I'll make sure you don't regret it Chuckie!" she promises you with a wink as she places her hand on top of yours "Gee, every girl in town is going to be so jealous when they find out you've moved into my room"

"Including the other, bigger girl in this household"

John nudges you in the ribs while gesturing over at Betsy with a mischievous smile. This guy is seriously not going to be satisfied until you have fucked his wife.

Once a slice of truly delectable pecan pie dessert has been polished off, a still ecstatic Mary Lou helps Betsy clean up while you settle down in the living room with John. He passes you a cigar and pours you a tumbler of whisky.

You still aren't quite sure what to make of John Benson. On the surface he seems a thoroughly decent guy who has done nothing but shown you almost superhuman kindness. And yet there is something undeniably odd about him. His conservative, straight laced family guy demeanour doesn't seem to fit with his incredibly liberal attitude towards your sexual activity with his daughter, and his constant cracks about his wife having a crush on you make you deeply uncomfortable. You also get the impression he wants you to live in his house with his family forever and ever despite knowing basically nothing about you.

But why?

Is there something you are missing? Could it have been him who knocked you out and brought you here? Probably not, but you can't rule anything out at this point and need to keep your guard up with the guy.

"I meant to ask you Sport, how did you get on with Dr Jensen earlier? He give you the all clear?"

Obviously, you skip right over the part with Nurse Jones. But there is one thing you are curious to know more about.

"He said I was fine, beyond being a little shaken up. He gave me a big bag of yellow pills.. He said the people round here all take them and call them happy pills but he wouldn't tell me what they actually are"

"Oh yeah, that's the good stuff" John assures you "Been on them myself for as long as I can remember. Never done me any harm, just keep me feeling chipper. Anyway, if the doc thinks you should take 'em you probably should. That guy sure knows his stuff."

He then lowers his glass and voice as he looks at you conspiratorially.

"So what do you think of that Nurse Jones, huh?"

"She's, er..." how do you put this "She certainly knows how to make you feel at ease"

"That's one way of putting it! I tell you Chuck, if I was ten years younger and wasn't already a happily married man!" he chuckles and puffs on his cigar "Anyway, you've had a chance to explore the neighbourhood now and the doc says you're good to go, so I'm hoping you'll accompany me to my work tomorrow."

"Sure"

You still don't know what he actually does, but don't see how you can reasonably refuse under the circumstances.

"I'm relying on you being discrete about the nature of our profession Chuck, particularly around my family. The reasons for that should quickly become apparent to you anyway, but I felt it wouldn't hurt to be clear."

What is he involving you in here? Organised crime? He'll let you fuck his wife and daughter in exchange for whacking one of his rivals?

"As for the work itself, I'll let that be a surprise for tomorrow. I will say I'm confident you'll enjoy it, though. The job I have in mind for you is pretty straightforward stuff, but it's a real man's task and an awful lot of fun. It ought to really get the old adrenaline pumping, that's for sure. I wouldn't mind watching you do it, actually"

If this guy really is some kind of hit man then he's a fucking psycho. But you're sure that can't be it - he just seems too harmless, too placid - though you have no clue what he could possibly be talking about. Before you get to ask any questions, the door swings open to reveal Mary Lou, who is already in her nightie. It's barely 8 pm.

"Chuckie, will you come to bed now please? I don't want you drinking all night with Daddy then coming to me drunk when I'm already asleep and you're too tired to do anything fun anyway."

"I think that's your cue to head upstairs, Sport. You don't want to keep the little lady waiting. Take it from someone who knows!"

He stubs out his cigar and pats you on the shoulder as he leaves the room.

"Chuckie?" she raises her eyebrow at you impatiently.

"Sure, just coming Mary Lou"

"Good, we should go up now. I still have so much energy in my body from all the excitement of you moving in, and I need you to help me work it all out of there so I can sleep!"

As you walk up the stairs behind Mary Lou. and she cheekily lifts the back of her night dress up to tease you with a brief glimpse of her bare butt cheeks, you have no doubt she will get just as much sleep she wants tonight. You are a lot less sure that you will.