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From: Anoninsac <anoninsac@yahoo.com>
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Subject: {ASSM} Cousin Kara - 1 (MF rom cons slow) {Anoninsac}
Date: Tue,  5 Aug 2003 21:10:03 -0400
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Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is
copyright with all rights reserved by the author
unless explicitly waived. Non-commercial re-posts to
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The author relishes your comments at anoninsac (at)
yahoo (dot) com. If you like this story, see my other
stories at www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/anoninsac/www.

WARNINGS: This story depicts consensual sexual
activity between men and women. If you are too young
to read about sex please do not read this.

A big thanks to Varod for correcting my typing and
grammar. I like it when people think I is literate...
Any errors remaining are my fault for not listening.


                   Cousin Kara

                      Part 1

Somebody bumped my arm and half of my wine spilled
from the cheap plastic cup out onto the linoleum
floor.

"Sorry," someone I didn't recognize said.

"Not a problem," I responded. I wondered who the old
coot was.

I would have been devastated, spilling wine, except
that this was no great loss. It was Ohio wine, one
step down from Boones Farm, which tastes like Welch's
Grape Juice with alcohol added. The only thing to be
said is that it was better than the beer. I noticed
that a cousin, Russ, had snuck in his own beer in a
cooler which he had safely tucked between his feet. He
obviously knew what to expect.

I looked around the hall, now filled with people. They
were all my relatives. That was a scary thought. It
was a scene from Mayberry and I was related to them.
How did I ever let my Mom talk me into this?  She just
had to come back to the family reunion. My God, it had
been thirty years since she had been to a reunion. I
just had to meet the Ohio relatives, ad nauseam. So I
had relented and agreed to take her to Ohio. And not
just Ohio, it was the sticks, where fine dining was
Ethel and Joe's place. Just one more day to go.

Apparently on the Ohio side of the family birth
control hadn't been discovered. My four Aunts and
Uncles had managed to have fourteen kids who in turn
had managed to have a slew more kids. I couldn't count
that high without a supercomputer. And those were just
my first and second cousins. The third and fourths
were filling the local VFW meeting hall to
overflowing.  Now don't get me wrong. This really
wasn't Deliverance, at least they wore shoes and had
electricity and everything. I hadn't seen one banjo.
But there is a real difference in outlook and attitude
between San Francisco and outback Ohio. Things I take
for granted like quality restaurants in walking
distance and world class restaurants a cab ride away
are not even in the same universe with Ohio. Lake Erie
just isn't the same as the Golden Gate and the
Pacific. The great heartland is just too provincial
for me. So ok, I'm a snob. San Francisco is still one
of the great cities of the world and that is what I
was used to.

I found a table with several cousins my age. Their
kids were crowded around. My Mom came up and
introduced me around and made a special point of
introducing one of the cousin's kids, Kara. She was
cute enough, seventeen or so, glasses which gave her a
slightly studious look, but I was surprised by how Mom
introduced us. Then I remembered a conversation on the
flight back. Kara was the pride of the family. A
National Merit scholar, she had recently won some big
scholarship. She was in the process of picking which
university she wanted to attend from among a bunch who
wanted her. I was lucky to even get into college. I
was intrigued how this rose grew among the thorns in
my family.

I caught her eye and introduced myself, "Cousin Mike
from California."

"Yeah, I know," she said. 

I waited. Nothing. "What are you planning to major
in?"

She was bored by all of the small talk; remember when
Uncle Ferd had the operation... Now this was something
interesting to talk about. Her face lit up and she
leaned forward, "Theoretical physics. I want to go to
Harvard."

"Why Harvard?" I asked.

She looked surprised. "Harvard is the best school in
the country," she said with some vehemence.

"First, it's not. There is no `best' school in the
country. Do you know how the accrediting agencies rank
schools?" She shook her head. "This is what they did.
They took Harvard and decided that it was the ideal.
Then they rated all other schools based on how closely
they followed the Harvard model. For instance, Harvard
has the biggest library because they've been building
their library since the 1600's. So other schools are
rated on how big their library is compared to
Harvard's. The bigger the library the better the
school. Does that really make it a better college? Of
course Harvard is always going to come out first when
you pre-judge it the best," I said.

"I didn't know that," she said.

"Don't get me wrong, it is a fine school. And if you
wanted to study business or law or wanted to make
contacts with the East Coast old boy network to get
into politics or government it is the best school. But
it's not the best in everything. Yale, hands down, has
the best drama program in the country. Julliard is the
best music school. And Berkeley is the best physics
school. Berkeley has more physical science Nobel
Laureates than any other university in the world. If
you want to do physics, go to Berkeley," I finished.

Just then Mom tapped me on the shoulder, "I want you
to meet you cousin Delbert from Michigan."

I looked over at Kara and shrugged, "Excuse me. Duty
calls."

She smiled at the pained expression on my face, "I
know."

I followed Mom off to meet Cousin Who's It from
Michigan. The rest of the day was spent meeting and
greeting and drinking bad, really bad, wine. It did
keep me from over imbibing. 

Finally it was over. We stayed with Uncle Jake that
night and got an early start for the airport. When I
finally boarded the flight back to California I felt
like kissing the plane. This must be what it feels
like when hostages board the plane back to freedom, I
thought. Free at last, God Almighty, free at last.

*****

It was a lazy Saturday afternoon the following year
when the phone rang. "Hello?"

"Thanks a lot," said the disgusted voice on the phone.

Quickly sorting through voices which might be
disgusted with me, I came up blank. "Excuse me," I
answered.

"I said thanks a lot," the female voice said again.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"Cousin Lisbeth," she answered.

"Oh. Hi," I said. No wonder I didn't recognize the
voice. I had talked to her for five minutes exactly
once in my life. "What's this about?"

"You talked Kara into going to Berkeley and I don't
want her so far away," she said.

"I did what?" I asked.

"At the reunion," she said.

"Oh shit. All I said..." 

She cut me off, "Was Berkeley is the only school if
you want to study physics."

Laughing, "Sorry but that's not exactly what I said
but I suppose that could have been inferred from what
I said," I admitted.

"Well Kara inferred it. In fact, she's been accepted
at Berkeley."

"Tell her congratulations," I said.

"I don't want her out in the Land of Fruit and Nuts,"
said Lisbeth.

"Hey, some of us are normal," I countered. 

We talked for quite a while, me calming her fears
about the big bad city, her letting me know she was
holding me responsible for Kara being in Babylon by
the Bay. I suspected that much of the allure of
Berkeley for Kara was escaping from the very attitude
I was hearing on the phone.

I finally hung up and wondered what it was going to be
like having a cousin in the area. I'd find out in due
time.

*****

I picked up Lisbeth and Kara at SFO the week before
classes started. I had invited them to stay with me
while they got Kara settled into Berkeley. They had
accepted with alacrity. 

Kara wanted to head straight to Berkeley, Lisbeth
straight to Fisherman's Wharf. I compromised; I headed
to Union Square where they could go into all of the
fine stores. I don't know many women who can resist
the allure of all of the Tony shops on Union Square.
We had lunch on the square and then headed to
Fisherman's Wharf via cable car. We were lucky and the
tourists weren't crowded into every possible inch of
the car. 

Lisbeth and Kara both tried a bowl of the chowder on
the wharf. We toured Ghirardelli and they both had
chocolate. Kara looked pretty svelte but if she was
going to eat like this she'd blow up in no time. 

We rode the cable car back to Union Square and got my
car. I drove thru the Haight. They were disappointed
that there weren't any hippies. C'mon, that was thirty
years ago. I did drive through the Castro. Two pairs
of eyes bugged out at the couples, guys with guys and
girls with girls and some other couples whose genus
and species was an open question ambled down the
street. This wasn't Ohio anymore. I could see Lisbeth
getting worried again.

"Lisbeth it's not contagious you know," I said.

"What?" she asked.

"Gay. It's not contagious. Kara isn't going to catch
Gay," I chided her. Kara broke into peals of laughter
and Lisbeth huffed a little at being caught.

"I'm a mother. I'm allowed to worry," she said. 

"That's fine. Just worry about things that are real,
like Kara eating so much she weighs 200 by December,"
I said.

"Hey," Kara burst out slapping me on the shoulder.
"I'm not eating that much."

"Yeah. Just lunch, then chowder then chocolate..." I
said smiling.

"I'm on vacation," she protested.

"Well, it's not like Mom is setting a good example."

Lisbeth slapped my other shoulder, "Take that back.
I'm on vacation." They were both laughing now.

That evening I fixed them a light dinner and they hit
the sheets, tired from the trip, excitement and time
change.

The next day I drove them over to Berkeley. Kara
checked in and got her dorm room assignment. Lisbeth
and I helped her move her stuff into the room. Kara
looked excited by the idea of living on her own. Her
roommate hadn't arrived yet so she got her choice of
bed and dresser. 

I drove us all back to my place. We walked down to
Lombard Street to a small trattoria for dinner,
complete with straw covered bottles on the wall. After
dinner they were both fat and happy. On the way back
to my place I took them up the steepest street. Maybe
you've heard of the steep hills in San Francisco. But
if you haven't been there you don't know. The sidewalk
of this street was actually little steps because you
couldn't get traction on smooth concrete. It wasn't
quite like climbing a ladder but it sure seems that
way if you aren't used to the hills. Lisbeth and Kara
were both huffing and puffing by the time we made it
to the top of that block. 

"Just two more blocks," I said cheerily. I saw pain on
those faces. I smirked back. Ok, it was rotten thing
to do to my own cousins. But they are my cousins and
one shouldn't pull a dirty trick like that on
strangers.

After we got back to my place and the three flights of
stairs to my condo, we sat out on a small balcony
looking over the bay with some nice Sonoma chardonnay
from Kistler. Lisbeth was looking a little down and
Kara was looking a little melancholy. Pretty soon
tears were flowing and they were hugging and crying. I
left them alone, Lisbeth with her first bird to leave
the nest and Kara to confront that she really was
about to become an adult. I don't know how long they
stayed up talking but it was long after I crawled into
bed.

The next morning we piled into my car and I took
Lisbeth to SFO. More tears and admonitions to be good
and call home and study and don't get in trouble and...
With the security arrangements I knew we couldn't get
in to the terminal so we had to drop Lisbeth at the
curb. I could see her waving until we rounded the last
curve and disappeared from her view.  I took Kara to
Berkeley and dropped her off. I told her I would call
in a couple weeks and we'd get together for lunch.

*****

Three weeks passed before I decided to do my Cousin
duty and called Kara to set up lunch. We decided to
meet the next day at a Thai place on Shattuck just
down the street from Chez Panisse. 

I found her already there when I arrived fifteen
minutes early. A quick hug and we went in. She was
already sporting the bare belly look so common among
the young women especially young women who shouldn't
be showing their pudgy bellies to the world. Kara was
one of the young women who could be showing her belly,
trim and toned. She was also sporting a belly ring. 

After we were seated I asked, "So, does mom know about
the jewelry?"

She looked down and said, "God no. She'd kill me."

"I take it part of the reason for choosing Berkeley
was to have some distance," I said.

Kara paused. I could see in her eyes she was sizing up
how truthful she could be with a cousin. I must have
passed the cool test, "Yeah. No way did I want to go
to OSU. We live twenty miles from Columbus. Mom woulda
still been trying to run my life. I had to get away
from Ohio."

I laughed, "I understand completely." 

She joined in then said "I just wish I knew how awful
dorms were going to be."

"Really?" I asked.

"Totally sucks. I have this roommate who just slobs
the places up. Then she brings her `boyfriend' who she
just met at a frat party back and does him in the room
with me trying to sleep," she said.

"Is she a screamer and that keeps you awake," I asked
innocently.

Kara started to bristle and then realized I was
teasing her. "No, she's a moaner. Who can sleep while
someone is moaning the Appassionata Sonata? Seriously,
I hate the dorms. Noise all night long. I can't study
most of the time. People having sex all the time."

"The study and quiet issues I understand. But I don't
really believe your roommate is having sex all of the
time. Why the emphasis on sex?" I asked. Kara hemmed a
little and I continued, "Kara, I'm not your parents
and I don't talk to them. I think I have more in
common with you than with them. You can talk to me."

"I know," she said, sitting up in the chair and
composing her face. "You see, I never really dated in
high school. I was always a nerd, you know, quiet and
studious all the time. And I was smart and didn't hide
it like some of my friends and all the boys were
intimidated. I had exactly one real date in high
school. It sucked."

"Ah," I said. "So the emphasis might just be a little
curiosity and maybe just a touch of envy?"

Again she started to bristle but I calmly held her
eye. She deflated and said, "Yeah, I suppose." 

"Whoa," I smiled. "Don't get so serious. Believe me,
sex isn't something to get serious about."

"Easy for you to say," she said vehemently but
smiling.

"Yeah, I suppose. It reminds me of all those people
who preach abstinence so strongly don't really
practice it themselves. It's always easy to preach
abstinence when you are going to spend the night in
bed with someone," I said.

"Exactly," she said.

"So is that what makes dorm life so bad?" I asked.

"No, not really," Kara responded quietly.  "I can't
talk to my roommate. I don't know how she got into
Berkeley. She's going to major in liberal arts or
something." 

I laughed. "You know the old joke. Science majors
learn to ask, why does it work? Engineering majors
learn to ask, how does it work? Business majors learn
to ask, how much will it cost? Liberal arts majors
learn to ask, do you want fries with that order?"

Kara broke up. When she wound down she continued, "All
she wants to do is go to raves and get laid.  I bet
she's had three different `boyfriends' in our room
since I got there. Besides the noise and the
inconsiderate people I guess what's bad is, I don't
know anyone."

Loneliness, I said to myself. I was surprised that
right then I felt a responsive chord struck in me. I
was lonely in much the same way. Maybe if Kara moved
in with me... Berkeley was just a hop over the bridge...
What? AM I nuts? What if I wanted to get laid? How am
I going to bring home some `girlfriend' with a
teenager in the house? Then I looked at Kara again.
Our eyes met and there was a simpatico, we felt each
other's loneliness. We both smiled.

"You could move in with me," I said and then quickly
followed with, "If your folks say it's ok." It's
amazing how our social conditioning so often overrides
are real desires. I knew I would love to have company
but still the social conditioning made the offer
conditional.

"Why would my folks have to approve?" she asked.

"I suppose technically they don't but no way am I
getting that entire half of the family mad at me," I
said.

"Why would they be mad?' she asked.

"Kara, boy-girl. You know," I said.

"But you're my cousin," she said perplexed.

"Yeah, but we're kissing cousins," I said.

"Huh? We've never kissed," she said.

"It's just a saying. It means cousins who can marry,"
I said.

"That's creepy," she said.

"Kara, please. I thought you were trying to get out of
the back woods of Ohio and into the modern world," I
said.

She looked contrite. "Ok, but I thought cousins
couldn't marry."

"Depends. It's all based on consanguinity, the degree
of genetic relation of the people involved. Ancients
noticed that sexual union between close relations had
a higher chance of birth defects. So they outlawed as
incest close sexual relations. But the Bible is full
of cousins who married, many `commanded' by God. Over
the years, at least in this country, cousins started
to be included in the ban of incest relations, maybe
because of incomplete understanding of genetics.
Modern research has shown maybe a one percent increase
in birth defect risk of offspring of first cousins.
Statistically insignificant. So twenty-six states now
allow first cousins to marry, that's the third degree
of consanguinity. California allows first cousins to
marry. We're fourth degree, like second cousins. There
would be no increased risk for us. Most states allow
second cousins to marry. Ohio says we could marry. A
few backwards states have even more restrictions like
Utah which requires the fifth degree of consanguinity
to marry while below the age of sixty-five, third
cousins. First and second cousins can only marry if
they are too old to have kids even though there is no
evidence that there is an increased risk of birth
defects. Long story, but we could be a couple, except
for the age difference I mean. Because of that I
wouldn't want the relatives thinking that `something'
is going on."

"I didn't know any of that. Why are the laws so crazy?
Every state is different. That's nuts," she said.

"When it comes to sex every state has crazy laws and
every state is different. I think it's safe to say
that when it comes to laws about sex our country is
insane. Back to the question. Would you like to move
out of the dorm? I have two cars so you could get back
and forth to campus. Rent would be cheap, you do the
dishes. That would be worth it to me right there." She
laughed as I continued, "I know you wanted to get away
from family and pressure but I don't have any need to
run your life."

Kara smiled, "Yeah, I really did want to get away and
be my own person. But it's lonely. I didn't think it
would be this hard to be on my own. I think I'd like
to try living with you, if my parents approve," she
said with a note of irony in her voice.

We finished lunch and Kara went off to her next class
and I drove back across the Bay Bridge and into the
city.

*****

It was eight that night when my phone rang. "Hello."

"Mike, this is Lisbeth," she said over the line.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked. It's gotta be eleven her
time. Heck of a time to call.

"It's Kara. She's so unhappy," Lisbeth was practically
burbling into the phone. 

So unhappy, I wondered. I just talked to her that
afternoon and while she didn't like her roommate I
didn't get the impression that she was suicidal. Then
it clicked. She had worked Mom on the call home.
"Really," I said.

"Yes. And the things going on. I can't even believe
it," Lisbeth said.

Yep, I said to myself. She really worked Mom. "Do
tell," I said.

"Mike, her roommate is having SEX in the same room
while Kara is trying to sleep," she said.

"That is rude," I agreed.

"Rude! It's disgusting. I knew she shouldn't go to
Berkeley," she blubbered near tears.

"Lisbeth, calm down. It's not just Berkeley. It's any
college, even at Ohio State or Oral Roberts kids are
having sex," I said. "Is Kara doing ok?"

"Oh yes, that's why I called. Kara said you had
offered to let her stay with you," Lisbeth said.

"Would that make you feel better?" I asked.

"Oh yes. Would that be alright? I mean, I don't want
you too feel like you have to," she continued.

"I wouldn't have offered if it wasn't ok. It will be
good for me too. Make me keep regular hours and even
clean the place more often. Bachelorhood isn't good
for me," I said.

"And you'll watch out for her," Lisbeth asked.

"Of course. We'll be fine," I answered.

Calming down, "Oh Mike, thank you. When Kara called me
I just knew it was bad. I just knew something was
going to happen," she said.

"Lisbeth, nothing happened. And nothing is going to.
I'll see to that," I said.

Lisbeth wanted to pay me rent. I said no but she
insisted. We compromised on half of what she was
paying Berkeley for room and board. I said she could
pay me board but not for the room. I was paying rent
on the place whether Kara lived here or not. I
intended to give it to Kara as spending money anyway.
It would be plenty for an eighteen-year-old in the big
city.

(Continued in Part 2)


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