Chapter 22

She looked at me with piercing intensity. Her eyes were starting to tear up, and I could see waterworks coming on. "It wasn't like that! I'm trying to do stuff for YOU! Because you're so STUBBORN and MORAL, sometimes I have to use… alternative means. But I wasn't stabbing you in the back! You're so much MORE to me than just a great dad! I just wanna, wanna… love you! ALL of you!"

"And I love you too." I held my arms out to her, and she came to me. I held her as she cried.

However, I knew Michelle's tricks. Even though she was probably feeling genuinely distraught, she also was an expert at using emotional tools like crying to get her way.

At least she didn't try to get fresh with me during the hug. True, her big breasts pressed into my chest, and I could feel her stiff nipples digging into my skin. But I'd grown used to that. And at least she was wearing a top, even though it was skin-tight.

When she was cried out, I returned to a more distant chair, and said, "I'm sorry to upset you, but I can't

Have you sneaking around and plotting who knows what. That's not how things work in this house. You have to tell me what you were trying to do, and stop this childish behavior."

"Or?"

"Until you do, there will be no teasing, no touching, no scanty dressing. No tickle attacks. Your friends will not be allowed over, including Ruby, and you have to wear at least shorts down to your knees and short sleeve shirts with no cleavage, no belly showing. And bra and panties, of course."

"Dad, you're so mean! You might as well make me wear a frickin' burqa!"

"Well, hey, you don't have to wear that stuff at all if you cooperate. Just tell me, honestly, what you were trying to do."

"You wouldn't understand!"

"Have it your way. And remember, you DO have to work at the video shop tonight."

"Oh, great. Pile it on. You might as well just STAB me while you're at it!" She hated that job, but I made her do it. We weren't exactly poor, but I wanted her to learn the value of hard work.

And yes, my daughter is good at playing a drama queen.

I went back to my den to work after having to hear some more griping from her. But she wouldn't budge and tell me her secret.

A few minutes later, she knocked on my door and came in when called. She was dressed in the heaviest clothes she owned. Most notably, she was wearing a heavy winter parka, with a heavily-insulated hood pulled over her head. She was wearing heavy boots, ski pants, and even had ski gloves on her hands.

And yet, even with all those layers piled on, the swell of her massive breasts was still clearly visible. She was without her usual cheer, "Hi, Daddy! How's this? Is this what you want me to wear?"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't think you've made your point yet. Why don't you wear those clothes for a couple of hours in this heat, and then come back when your face is soaked in sweat."

She frowned. "Maybe I will!"

"Okay, I'll see you then." I turned back to my computer.

She stomped her feet. "Daddy! You're so mean! … Can't you see I love you? Can't you see I have special surprises in the works for you?"

"Yeah, well, I don't appreciate being manipulated like that. It's not a matter of disliking a surprise, it's a matter of objecting to your devious manipulations. I'm your father. The way you and Ruby 'hugged' me today has me very worried. I feel like you're out of control and plotting against me, and I have yet to hear any convincing evidence to the contrary from you."

"It's not like that!" She stomped her feet some more in aggravation. "So what were you doing then? Just tell me."

"I can't do that! Arrrggh! You're so aggravating!" She stomped back out of my room to her room in a huff.

A short time later, Mindy came home from visiting her sister Erica in Santa Barbara. Michelle had just left for her video shop job. She was still pissed off, and I felt pity for whoever would be her coworkers that evening, but at least she'd changed out of her Eskimo outfit into her work uniform.

As Mindy and I ate dinner together, I filled her in on the situation, the entire situation! I wasn't going to hold back anymore. I started from when Ruby came over, because that's when the trouble really began, clear through to Michelle leaving for her job. I might have neglected some of the more lewd details, especially from when a totally nude Ruby 'hugged' me, but I didn't leave out much.

Mindy sat poker-faced, just listening through the whole thing without any questions. I had no idea what she was thinking, but at least she wasn't up and yelling at me.

After I was done, I sighed in frustration. "Where did we go wrong, Sweetheart? I blame Shelle, since Ruby goes along with whatever she does. She's SO spoiled and willful. She doesn't listen to me."

Mindy spoke for the first time in a long time. "No, you're wrong. You're the only one she DOES listen to. You should see when I try to get her to do something, much less her teachers or her boss. She's a 'Daddy's girl,' and we all know it. You're the only one with any control over her whatsoever."

"That's not really much comfort," I complained. "Seriously, where did we go wrong? Look at Nicky and how well she's doing in college up in Berkeley. She's in the middle of finals week right now, and you just know she's going to ace all her classes. What did we do differently with her?"

Mindy thought carefully for a while before replying, "I don't think we did anything wrong. I blame society. And I know how that sounds, but it's really true. This society values beauty so highly, and let's face it, Michelle is a complete off-the-charts stunner, and she knows it. She gets anything she wants just by snapping her fingers. We try our best, but her friends, her teachers, everybody treats her like a princess, just because of the way she looks. We're lucky she's not even MORE spoiled, let alone vain, vapid, or foolish."

"You have a point," I conceded. "But still. Nicky's beautiful, and you're beautiful. Why is only Michelle so out of control?"

"Thanks, but there's a difference. For one thing, our busts." She looked down at her chest. "I've got these D-cups. Nicky's are similar. They get attention. I see men look at me every day, and I know they're thinking, 'Hey! She's got a rack! Nice broad!' But I cover up and dress professionally. I want my coworkers to judge me by my smarts, not my body, and I discourage guys fawning over me, getting me coffee, that kind of thing."

She continued, "Nicky's basically the same, and covers up even more than I do. Like me, she demurs and doesn't want lots of attention. She's in college mainly to study, not to party. But Michelle? Her chest is in a whole different league."

"But she's only two bra cup sizes larger than you," I pointed out.

"True, but that's a big difference. It's the difference between, 'Hey! She's got a nice rack!' and 'HOLY FUCKING MOTHER OF GOD! LOOK AT THOSE FUCKIN' HUGE GAZONGAS! Joe, Frank, Bill –

Come here and check out that BABE!' Pardon my French, but that's how it is. And then you have her sultry face with her 'come hither' eyes, and her gorgeous bubble butt, and all the rest, and the way she dresses provocatively on top of everything else. Our not-so-little girl soaks up all that attention like a sponge and then looks for more. Honestly, have you EVER met a woman in the flesh with more arresting looks than our Michelle?"

"Um, no, not really." Not only did I have to admit that, but just picturing her in my mind's eye was giving me a hard-on all of a sudden.

My wife said, "That includes me and I don't even mind you saying that, because it's a plain fact. And as if that's not enough, she's blonde!"

This didn't strike me as being a major problem. "So? You're blonde."

"I am, and believe me, I know just what that means." Min rolled her eyes, and this time she wasn't doing it for effect or to get a laugh. "Trust me, it makes a BIG difference, Honey. I still have trouble being taken seriously at work sometimes, mostly because of all these preconceived notions about blondes being bimbos and easy lays. And she's not only blonde, she's aggressively blonde. Her hair flows nearly down to her ass, and you know how her bangs hang down her shoulders in front. It's hard to miss."

Michelle did have a remarkable mane of hair. I couldn't deny that.

Mindy continued, "So you see, every time we try to impose some limits, we're completely undermined by the rest of society. For instance, we've forced her to take summer jobs since she turned 16 in order to teach her the value of work and money. But she doesn't do anything! Have you seen her in action at this video shop? She's got all her coworkers under her spell, male and female alike. She and Ruby basically just sit there and talk to each other while the others run around and do twice the work."