   "Idol"
   by Pedro Vila


   "You two, stop fighting back there." my wife said from the passenger seat. Tammy and Joey quieted down but were still telling each other to stop it. Carol didn't turn around again. I glanced at the rear view mirror once then went back to my driving.
   We started to come up on another Chevy Tilly billboard. I was hoping my eight year old daughter wouldn't see it.
   "Oh! It's Chevy Tilly!" Tammy said. "She's so kewl!"
   Joey just looked and didn't say anything. He was a few years older and his hormones gave him conflicting messages. We were right on the billboard when Carol saw it too.
   "I can't believe a mother would let her daughter dress that way." Carol scowled. "I mean, look at her. She looks like a street walker."
   "She does not!" Tammy argued, even though I was pretty sure Tammy didn't know what a street walker was. Carol gave her a stern look and Tammy sulked.
   Chevy Tilly was prominent on the sign, all eleven years of her. She was getting to be a mega star with videos, CDs, and magazines, all featuring her tough attitude. The picture on the billboard showed her standing in a mini skirt, tiny spaghetti strap top showing a lot of midriff, and heels on bare and firm legs spread apart in a provocative pose. Her black strait hair cut in bangs in front and long in back.
   Half of the media was questioning weather she had any talent while the other half hawked her wares.
   "Discusting! Look at all that makeup on her." Carol continued. She turned around to look at Tammy again, thinking our kid might have suddenly sprouted similar face paint. Tammy looked at the billboard and didn't acknowledge her mothers stare.
   Chevy Tilly was the new generation's cultural icon, at a time when the news feeds seemed to be constantly reporting another child porn arrest every day. Since the star first broke out of a daily children's show a few years back with sparkling charisma, lately she seemed to be seen in only skimpy outfits.
   The sign had passed and everyone seemed to get back to normal for the rest of the ride. Soon we were at the mall and I parked the older model Toyota electric and used my credit card to key the space. The meter offered a charge for an additional fee and I closed the window without thought. Mall charging fees were ridiculous and they only led to more adverts on our account anyway.
   The kids seemed to want to enter without us but knew they would be held at the door until they either produced an adult pass or we showed up to key our pass. Still, they didn't seem to want to be a part of our group. I didn't worry. They'd be right there when they wanted us to buy them something useless.
   Carol went for the bed and bath and I stayed on the kids tail to keep an eye open. Malls were safer now then ever but old habits die hard. Joey split for the game arcade and it took him a whole five minutes to comeback and ask me to get him some tokens. He was going to blow ten dollars in less then ten minutes. He always did.
   "That's all your getting." I told his back. "Make it last!" Some adults frowned at me yelling at a child. God forbid I should scold him in public. Instant lawsuit.
   I followed Tammy and rolled my eyes went she found the Chevy Tilly store. Here we go again. I stayed on the benches outside with many other mom's and dad's. Some mothers would be in the store with there daughters but adult men inside were pretty much frowned upon. Watch out for the pervert police.
   I could hear Tammy talking with other girls her own age. It was tough talk like Chevy Tilly. Tough, I'll-kick-your-butt, I-can-act-and-dress-how-I-want talk just like from the super DVdroms. I waited over an hour. When Carol showed up, I could tell from her face she wasn't happy I let Tammy come here. I shrugged and she went in to retrieve our daughter.
   Tammy was doing the tough walk from one of the 'Lessons' from a Chevy Tilly show and didn't say a word when we went to eat. Joey went on about the new virtual game and I couldn't tell if it was a fighting game or a shoot-em-up. Carol talked about some of her friends for a while until she started to talk about the dress of kids again. I looked up and saw who she was staring at.
   In the mall walked a few young girls, barely budding out, wearing very little. One was just in tight hot pants and an oversized bra covering loosely not yet formed breasts. The other had on a thong bikini bottom with a translucent wrap which barely passed the dress standards for the mall. I could see no top on her undeveloped chest but rather strategically placed hair extensions which clipped to the top of the bottom wrap to keep them over where her forming nipples should be.
   I could see Carol getting worked up for more bitching and I started to get everybody up to move on when I saw two mall security split up. One woman went towards the girls to talk while the man went towards a seated man near us who was staring at the Chevy Tilly wanna-be's. The man was then escorted away for a background check while the girls were asked if he had approached them at all. The girls acted tough like he didn't even exists but having a pre teen myself, I could see the excitement at having gotten his attention.
   Carol started with commentary on the man who just had been escorted off. "Serves him right." She snapped. "Probably came here to satisfy his sick fantasies. He should be castrated."
   "Maybe he was just as surprised at the way they were dressed as we were." I mentioned.
   "Oh, pu-lease! I single man here? Where's his family. Huh? He probably was going to masturbate in the bathroom."
   Joey suddenly blushed at the word 'masturbate'. Carol didn't see it but I did. I smiled inwardly. All a apart of growing up I figured.
   Tammy watched the girls walk off and I could tell she was trying to decide if she was tough too. She didn't really understand the thing with the guy and the mall cops.
   "Come on kids, lets go." Carol told us. After the incident, we stuck together at Carol's request. The kids didn't like it but they stayed with us.
   Later, when we were walking close to the Chevy Tilly shop, Tammy started to whine about needing a new PeeChee for school. It had to be a Chevy Tilly one, no bones about it. She knew I wasn't really that concerned so she worked on mom for ten minutes before Carol relented.
   She sent me in to buy it for her though. No way carol was going near that shop.
   "Buy the one with the most clothes on it." Carol commanded.
   Great. I had to go in with her. I wasn't looking forward to the dirty looks I was going to get. I told Tammy, "You stay right by my side the whole time, okay?"
   "Okay, daddy." she said, all smiles. Nothing tough about her now. Just pure child like pleasure at getting what she wants.
   As I passed the front counter, I told the lady that I was on a mission to make sure my kid didn't get something inappropriate. The teen with Chevy Tilly hair just looked at me like I crawled out from under a rock, and she just chewed her gum in reply.
   We went to the school supplies section and Tammy went right to the folder that she had picked out before. It was the same picture from the billboard. I made like I was going to haggle about it. Can't let them win too easily, but I knew it wasn't going to be a problem for me. It was tamer then some of the other pictures here. Come to think of it, a lot of what was here wouldn't be allowed in any school.
   I certain one caught my eye. My jaw almost dropped. It showed Chevy Tilly kissing an adult woman on the mouth. The lips were closed and on the surface it looked passable with the censors, but there was something about Chevy's eyes. Hard and forceful, like she was initiating the contact. And something else I could quite put my finger on.
   It seemed very sexual, though it had every pretense of being a sisterly kiss.
   It was erotic.
   I turned away quickly before Tammy saw it and we made our way back to the counter to pay for it. The girl smacked her gum and asked the standard questions. "Your this girls father, right?"
   "Yes."
   "I have to see both your ID's" I gave them to her. She checked my picture and then ran my card. She then handed me the receipt without another word and bagged the PeeChee for us. A plain white sack with the CT logo on it. A mall cop watched us leave the store and only turned when we approached Carol and Joey.
   In the car, I thought carol would have the usual fit but she just tossed it back to Tammy and didn't say a word the whole way home. I guess she knew it could have been worse.
   Back home, we keyed the alarm and told the kids they could watch the video feeds for a while. Tammy complained about us putting the adult restriction on but we didn't budge. Joey ended up challenging Tammy to a video game and they agreed on a racer program.
   I sat with carol and we talked over coffee. Well, she bitched actually and I just listened like always.
   "I don't know what's happening to the world lately." She pointed to news printout from this morning. Another local man was arrested for sexual child abuse. "It's like everybody's going crazy. Look!" I looked at the picture. The man was trying to hide his face. In the background, I could see his kids. The girl was maybe twelve and she was wearing the CT logo on her shirt. Her hair was cut the same way too. Carol didn't see it though.
   "It could be worse." I said, trying to sound calm. "Remember a few years back when we were at war? People getting bombed and poisoned? We could still be going through that."
   Carol didn't seemed to be phased though. "I think the whole world's going to hell lately. What's next? Roving gangs of perverts preying on our little girls in the streets? At least back then, we all stayed inside."
   I started to tune her out then. She wasn't listening to me anyway. I sat there and just let my mind wander. I ended up thinking about that picture of the Chevy Tilly kiss. I couldn't seem to grasp why it was etched in my mind.
   After a while, Carol tired of bitching and said she was going to bed early. I was left with the kids bed time again.
   I went in to give the ten minute warning for the video feed. I stopped. Both Joey and Tammy were glued to the current advert.
   It was the new Chevy Tilly movie and there on the screen was the same adult woman that was in the kiss picture. The last scene showed Chevy looking at the woman with mischief and leaning in for what I was sure was an adult kiss. There was nothing sisterly about it. The scene changed for theater and direct home listings for our area.
   Tammy was up immediately. "Daddy! I have to see it! I have to!" Joey was still staring at the screen and seemed to be breathing a little hard.
   I thought I'd deflect the issue by my usual fairness rule. "If we see it, Joey has to go too." I figured Joey would make a fuss and I could sidetrack the issue.
   Instead, Joey said, "I don't mind. I'll sit through it if I have to." That caught me off guard. My son was a little more than tolerant about seeing the new movie. I had committed myself before I knew the way out. Carol is going to chew my head off over this.
   "Um, I'll think about it if you promise not to tell your mother, okay?" I said. Smiles all around. The kids knew they had just won a battle.
   I was stuck now, though I could just tell their mother and it would be over. But something inside of me wanted to see more of that scene. What the hell was wrong with me?
   I wasn't going to download it where Carol would know so we all said we were going to the movies on Saturday and agreed on a cover movie so Carol wouldn't stop us.
   There was a big line at the digitheater complex and mostly dads with their little girls. The dads looked down allot and didn't make much eye contact with each other. The daughters were dressed pretty skimpy and there were security guards everywhere, looking shiftily around at everybody.
   It was not too long of a wait since most of the screening rooms were dedicated to Chevy Tilly for this day.
   We got candy and drinks and I ran the card while the kids were both chomping at the bit to go in. I made them wait for me. No way I was walking in to the theater alone!
   On the way there, was the waiting room with most of the parents sitting and reading. They all looked at me like I was from outer space or something.
   Too late, I realized that only the kids were going into the theater and I would be the only adult. A woman shook her head at me as we walked into the dark doors.
   I thought about ditching the kids into a seat and coming out again but the movie started all of a sudden and right away we were treated to Chevy Tilly's firm legs straddling the camera with her butt just above sight. I was mesmerized.
   I sat absent mindedly and couldn't believe what I was seeing. This was as adult as movies got with clothes still on. The language was harsh and the wardrobe blatantly sexual. I couldn't take me eyes off of the screen.
   Half of me was repulsed and half of me was hooked. It was like watching an accident. The kids around me cheered with every rebellious scene and some of them kept looking back at me like I wasn't supposed to be there.
   The movie went quickly and I didn't realize that it was almost over until the kiss scene came up. You couldn't see any tongue action, but it was obvious to any adult that it was happening.
   I sat in a daze. Joey sat still with me.
   Tammy had gotten up and was saying, "Come on you guys. Are you stupid or something?" She was in tough mode and posing like Chevy Tilly more than I'd ever seen her before. Carol would figure it out in a second.
   We got up to leave. We were the last ones. I still was reeling from what I'd just saw.
   Outside the door was a woman in a uniform standing there with a security guard. She said, "Can I see some ID please?" I numbly handed it to her. "Are these your kids? Let's see their's too." Tammy seemed to be standing on the woman's side like she was with her. Joey looked guilty as all hell.
   "I'm afraid your going to have to come with me." she said and as she led us to her office, it started to sink in just what was going on. The kids were led someplace else and I was talked to like I had just been caught shop lifting.
   We were there for over an hour before I was able to convince them I had no idea what the movie would be like. I really hadn't. They scolded me like I was brain dead then. How could I not know what a Checy Tilly movie would be like?
   I collected the kids, who now seemed to not want to know me, and drove them home.
   "Well, that was different." I said, trying to make light of it all.
   Joey said, "Why did you make me go to that? I hate you."
   I couldn't reply and he wouldn't tell me what he was asked while I was being questioned. I thought of the man at the mall the other day and was suddenly very sympathetic to him. We rode in silence.
   I thought I heard Tammy mutter to me, "You can't touch me." from the back seat. She was still a tough Chevy Tilly girl. I could picture her kissing somebody just like in the movie now.
   As we pulled up to the house, we saw a police car waiting and Carol was standing out in the front yard.
   The kids jumped right out and went in. Nobody talked to them as they walked past.
   I sat there and didn't move to get out. I knew I was now going to be investigated.
   The cop came up and rapped on my window. I looked down and saw a stain in my pant leg. The cop saw it too and I closed my eyes in shame.
   I had ejaculated in the movie.

   <END>