Yes, it’s a Skaldthetical with a long OP. No, there won’t be a poll, though I may change my mind between now and hitting submit. Persons who don’t like these should leave now, as should anyone who is distressed by the fourth word in the thread title.
Today’s story stars **Gee **Chaucer, a literate, monogamous private investigator whose gender and sexual orientation you may pick yourself. Assume for the purposes of this tale that you are Gee’s longtime lover and confidante, and that, while the two of you have tons of raucous sex, witty conversations, and soulful counsel.
Recently Gee has been hired by a DataTech, an electronics firm, to look into a case of industrial espionage. Gee is immediately underwhelmed by DataTech’s security, in particular their vetting of high-level employees and their spouses. Of particular concern to Gee are Rob Berry, a high-ranking executive with the firm, and his wife Jodie, a freelance writer. Investigating the Berries’ finances, Gee finds that they have been making huge cash withdrawals once a month for the past year for no apparent purpose. Moreoever, as far as Gee can discern, there is nothing to indicate that Jodie existed before the early 90s. The Berries are both in their 40s; they have a son in college, whom Gee does not meet, and a daughter in middle school, whom Gee does.
As it turns out, the Berries are not the security leak. But that doesn’t mean Gee has nothing to be concerned about. You see, before finding hte true culprit, Gee looked further into the Berries’ affairs and discovered that they are being blackmailed. Jodie’s real name is Frannie, and she is not legally married to Rob; she cannot be, for she is his twin sister. From early infancy they had a stronger connection to one another than either had to anyone else, and when they reached adolescence their parents grew to fear this connection would become physical. Thus they separated the twins, sending them to boarding schools on the opposite sides of country. Neither sibling saw the other, or their parents, for years: not until their mother’s death from cancer in 1990, when both were college juniors. Reconnecting in the wake of their mother’s funeral, they nonetheless tried to resist their attraction, succeeding until their father’s death by heart attack a year later. Having no other family they felt free to do as they desired; but knowing it was illegal they were careful about it. Thus they moved away from anyone who knew their parents, and Frannie became Jodie.
For nearly twenty years everything was fine; presenting themselves as a married couple, Jodie & Rob let no one – most especially not their children-- suspect they were siblings. But then someone who knew their parents chanced to see them, notice Jodie’s resemblance to long-absent Frannie, and put 2 and 2 together. As the Berries are quite well-to-do, that person demands money to keep quiet.
After Gee discovers all this, the blackmailer grows violent, and being a sentimental action hero type, Gee dispatches the blackmailer pro bono, fatally, and in legally-justified self-defense. But doing so does not allay all concerns. Talking to you after the two cases are over with, Gee wonders if it’s right to keep quiet about the Berries. If nothing else, their secret makes Rob a continuing security risk to DataTech, Gee’s actual, paying client; in addition, Gee worries that the couple may have subtly perpetuated the notion that incest is acceptable to their children . On the other hand, Gee would like the Berries quite a bit if not for the knowledge of their taboo relatinoship. There’s no indication that they are anything other that an adoring, mutually loving couple, and they strongly deny doing anything to encourage their children (who do not know about the incest) to emulate them.
Gee asks your opinion. What do you say?
