Free Sweetie's Diamonds by Raymond Benson Page B

carefully opened his bedroom door.   The hallway was dark.   He peeked out and saw the sliver of light underneath the closed door of his father’s bedroom.   Billy silently stepped into the hall and moved quickly around the corner.   Once he was in the living room, he stopped and listened.   The illuminated clock on the mantle read “10:30” but he could still faintly hear his father’s television.   He held his breath and waited until finally he heard the sound of a toilet flushing and then the news snapped off.  
    Billy crept to the television and turned it on with the remote.   He rammed his thumb down on the volume control so that the sound wouldn’t blare out when the picture appeared.   When it did, the room was bathed in a silver flicker that cast Billy’s shadow over the walls and ceiling behind him.  
    He turned on the VCR and pushed the cassette into the slot.   A few seconds later, the television picture changed to the tape’s leader.   Billy inched up the volume so that he could hear just a little of the soundtrack.  
    The main credits began.   This one was called Babysitter Brothel and had virtually the same cast as the other one.   Billy watched with anticipation as the credits ended and the movie began.   The story opened on a large country mansion where a rich couple was preparing to go out for the evening.   The man wonders where the babysitter is.   The wife replies that she is on the way.  
    The bell rings and the man opens the door to reveal the same actress that Billy and David saw in the first film—David’s mother.   This time she is dressed in a schoolgirl’s uniform—plaid skirt, knee socks, white blouse, and her hair is done in pigtails.   The man’s expression indicates that he is extremely pleased with the babysitter’s appearance.  
    The couple introduces the babysitter to their child, a young boy, and then goes out.   The man, however, rubs his hand on the babysitter’s bottom before leaving.   Instead of being offended, the babysitter winks at him and registers that his advances are welcome.
    The scene shifts in time.   The babysitter has put the child to bed and is now alone in the huge living room, in front of a fireplace.   Once again, she starts the action by focusing on giving herself pleasure.  
    â€œWhat the hell are you doing?”
    Billy jumped and almost screamed.   He quickly punched the remote and turned off the tape.   The picture on the television switched to The Tonight Show .  
    Billy stammered, “Uh, I couldn’t, uhm, sleep, so I thought I’d watch television.”
    â€œWhat the hell were you watching?” his father asked.   He stood in the archway between the living room and the hallway, dressed in boxer shorts and an undershirt.  
    â€œNothing.   Some movie on cable.”
    â€œThe hell it was.   Give me the remote.”
    Billy was busted.   There was no way out of it.   He meekly handed the remote to his father.   Peter Davis aimed it at the television and pressed “play.”  
    Babysitter Brothel reappeared on the screen.   Davis watched for a few seconds, taking in exactly what it was his son had been watching.   Then he switched it off.
    â€œWhere did you get this?”
    Billy stared at the floor, ashamed and humiliated.  
    â€œAnswer me!”
    â€œDavid found it,” Billy lied.
    â€œDavid?   David Boston?”
    Billy nodded.
    â€œWhere did he find it?”
    â€œI don’t know.   It’s his mother’s.”
    Peter Davis blinked.   “His mother’s?”
    Billy nodded again.   He prayed that his father wouldn’t recognize it as being one of his.
    Davis almost laughed but didn’t.   “What makes you think it’s his mother’s?”
    Billy shrugged.   “David said he found a box of tapes when