CHAPTER 10 - Julia and Serena - Part 1: Julia

 

Julia's first memories were of her grandfather, whom she feared and her father, whom she had disappointed. Nonno, Don Carlo, was an important man, possibly the most important man in the whole of Sicily, if not the world. Certainly when they were out for a walk together everyone made way for them. Men doffed their caps or bowed and women cast their eyes downwards. Occasionally Nonno would bounce her on his knee or take her out into the garden to the swing and push her, but he never smiled, let alone laughed.

Men stood around the garden even in those intimate family moments, men in suits and carrying guns. Sometimes local men were allowed in to beg a favour or to ask Don Carlo to arbitrate a dispute. Julia saw the respect in their faces but also the fear in their eyes.

She knew that she had disappointed her father, simply by being a girl. He desperately wanted a boy to keep the family name and honour secure into the future. She had two uncles. Zio Eduardo had emigrated to the USA, when only a young man and she had never met him. She knew that he had two sons, called Sergio and Enrico, but she had never met them either. Her other Uncle, Zio Giovanni, was a kindly man. He had shown her the pictures in his books and took time to play with her.

When she was nearly five, Mama told her that she would have a new baby brother to play with. After what seemed a lifetime the new baby was born but to the obvious disappointment of the family, it was another girl. Papa and Mama seemed to think that it should have been a boy. She overheard them talking before her baby sister arrived and Mama said that the way it kicked she was sure it was a boy.

Papa and Mama told her that the baby girl would be called 'Serena' because she was a peaceful baby. That sounded odd when she thought back to the 'kicking'. But she couldn't understand how they knew Serena would kick hard anyway.

Though she did not know it at the time, her mother's pregnancy had been difficult and the birth even more so. The doctors had feared for her life but in the end she survived. They had told her father that she would never give birth again. Her father became even more distant and Julia was left with her mother or Uncle Giovanni, rarely seeing her father at all.

Nonno died when she was ten. The funeral was a grand affair and many townspeople came out to watch. Famous people came from other families and even Zio Eduardo came from America. Zio Giovanni as the eldest son led the procession after the coffin. She thought he looked so grand and she looked forward to him teaching her even more and buying her even more books.

Three days after the funeral and after Zio Eduardo had returned to America, Zio Giovanni disappeared. Papa organised a search for him but he was not found. Two weeks later some villagers found his body hanging from a tree. It was said that he had hanged himself through grief but Julia did not believe that. Zio Giovanni had promised to take her to the Museum at Palermo and he never broke his promises to her. Now the only two people that she loved had left her. Her mother, although still living in the same house, was a shadow of her former self. She had failed to produce a male heir and she now lived on sufferance. Zio Giovanni who had replaced the light of her mother was now dead. Only darkness remained.

Her father, Luigi, became the new head of the family. She feared him even more than Nonno because of his temper and the sound of him beating her mother. She kept at her school work and retreated into a world of her own. She was naturally shy and timid and keeping herself to herself allowed her to cope.

Her world did change. One day, when she was 13, she heard noises coming from the old barn. She quietly sneaked in to find out what was going on. She saw a young woman, her hands tied behind her, kneeling in front of Papa. She had his thingy in her mouth and was sucking it. Julia thought she looked very beautiful and part of her wanted to be that woman but she knew it was wrong to suck your father's thingy. She kept out of sight and watched. She felt her knickers getting wet and had an odd but pleasant feeling.

Her father pulled his thingy out of the woman's mouth, which he then stuffed with her own panties. These he tied in place with one of her stockings and then he pushed his thingy into her private parts. Julia watched in awe. She felt something building inside her. The woman lay there, not trying to fight her father, simply letting him do it to her. Her father seemed excited and so was Julia. He was squeezing the woman's breasts as he thrust into her. Julia felt her own nascent breasts and her nipples harden against her blouse. She had to bite the side of her hand to prevent herself making any noise. Then something wonderful happened. She felt transported as a wave of pure pleasure rippled through her own private parts.

The next time she came across them was a few months later, just before her fourteenth birthday. This time her father had bound the woman to one of the wooden supports for the loft in the barn. She watched with awe as he picked up a whip and whipped the woman's bare breasts. Red weals began to appear. The woman struggled, trying to avoid the whip but her ankles were also tied to the support. She squirmed but could not avoid the lash. Again Julia felt a great pleasure. The woman looked so wonderful tied to the wooden post and the sound of the whip and the way that the woman struggled in her bonds excited Julia. She wanted to feel the whip and have it caress her as it caressed the woman.