Kendra

by Jane Keehn

  Her blood warmed as Emily ’s warm tongue moved her to rise with pleasure.

  Emily – Kendra - Chapter 27

  Emily awoke to Leo’s short low growl and a slight shuffling sound on the floor boards.

  Jumping from the warmth of the bed she feared Kendra may have decided to leave for her own home, again.

  The house was still dark.

  She glanced at her watch; its dial glowed, showing just after eleven p.m.

  - Leo, be quiet. Kendra, are you still there?

  - I’m here.

  Kendra wore one of Emily’s shirts to keep out the night air.

  She sat at the table moving glass discs onto squares on a glass checker board.

  - I don’t know what to do next.

  Emily watched Kendra clinking the hand-made glass playing pieces over the squares.

  - Do you mean the checkers? Or … with me? Now?

  Kendra smiled at a memory of her body under Emily’s spell.

  - I should go home, but I don’t feel like ...

  - What?

  Emily padded across the floor boards to where Kendra sat.

  - ...being alone, I guess.

  - Kendra, you don’t have to be alone.

  You can stay here as long as you want. I’ll take tomorrow off work; I’ll work from home, on the figurehead.

  You really don’t have to leave.

  Emily stood behind Kendra’s chair and ran the tips of her fingers over the small hairs at the base of her neck, brushing a fine line of the twisted tattooed vine.

  - I’ve never done this before.

  Kendra pushed the glass board game towards Emily and placed a disc between two others.

  Emily grinned.

  - Well, I’m not an expert, so you better not take advice from me.

  All I know is, I want you to stay – as long as you like.

  She ran her hand down to Kendra’s shoulder and let it linger.

  - We can just stay up and talk – I don’t know much about you.

  - You know a little. You know enough.

  Emily took a seat beside Kendra.

  - How did your mothers meet?

  Do you want to talk about the figurehead – who in your family found it?

  - They made their living by fishing. They found the figurehead in the bay of caves while they were working.

  She’s just always been in our family, I guess.

  Emily shifted in her seat to face Kendra.

  - Did they find anything else?

  - No, nothing I should report to the Marine Authority, if that’s what you mean?

  - I didn’t mean it that way; I’m sorry.

  - No that’s fine, it’s part of your job, I understand. We – I – have always lived very simply – I find some old broken glass on the beach, I use it to make a wind-chime.

  I recycle and tidy up what I find out there.

  Emily gestured her outspread hands towards Kendra.

  - I’m not accusing you of stealing national treasures or anything like that.

  - I have to get by with what I find.

  - Or what you take?

  Emily waited for Kendra’s eyes to meet hers, but they fixed firmly on the checker board squares.

  Emily sat close.

  - I would understand if you were desperate enough to take something you thought someone had no use for.

  Kendra tugged at the neck of Emily's shirt.

  - You mean like clothes? Until my Mothers vanished during the oil explosion I didn’t need to find anything. They gave me everything I could possibly want.

  After they...were gone.... I had to take care of myself.

  Emily started to reach out to Kendra again, but something in Kendra’s eyes stopped her before they touched.

  - I’m sorry. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.

  Kendra rested her hand on Emily’s knee.

  - Can’t all this, pouring out my family history, wait?

  Emily stood from the table and gestured for Kendra to follow her.

  - Of course. Let’s wait together, over here.

  Leo raised his head ever so slightly from his canvas bedding but decided on more of his much-loved sleep; resting his chin on his blanket, he ignored them.

  Emily tucked her legs up on the couch and lent back into a cushion.

  She thought about the last time Melanie had visited; she didn’t want that same burn out with Kendra.

  - Kendra, I used to think I knew how my life was going to go along - I thought my parents would always be there for me. I thought I’d work in the same industry. Your work isn’t supposed to kill you. It isn’t supposed to kill your parents. My Grandmother was devastated but she always said that you never know what’s around the corner so you better live each day as if it’s your last.

  Kendra’s knee touched Emily’s.

  - Is that what you do? Is that how you live?

  Emily smiled and longed for another of Kendra’s sweet, inexperienced kisses.

  - Since my grandmother died I started to take what she said seriously. I wish I’d asked her more about her life – I thought there would always be more time to find out about her story, but when I was younger I was always focussed on mine.

  Kendra imagined grandmother Meg – of “Meg’s Cove”– she wondered if Emily believed the legend or if she knew more.

  There was so much she wanted to know about Emily – the other women she had loved, but she didn’t have the words to ask.

  - So, you’ve been all alone, since Meg died?

  - It feels like it. She said that I was okay by her – who I am - because she had things about herself that she told no one. People always had their secret selves and it was okay for some people never to find out. I’ve been lucky; I got to stay in this house and Meg had saved for my studies.

  Kendra edged back on the chair.

  - And your Grandfather?

  - I only just remember him. Meg kept a few of his things when he died. I was only about nine, but I remember watching his hands as he cast out a fishing rod; teaching me to kayak and doubling me on his bicycle down the jetty.

  Emily gestured outside the veranda to the beachfront.

  - Would you like to go upstairs on the platform? We can sit outside and watch the Moon over the jetty?

  Kendra held her legs.

  - I don’t think my legs would make it up the ladder.

  - Do they hurt? All the time?

  Kendra shuffled on the chair.

  - No, just sometimes in the cold. They ache when it’s going to rain.

  She softly giggled at the absurdity of it.

  - You somehow make the ache go away.

  Emily curved her face nearer to Kendra’s; their lips nearly touched.

  - It’s a skill that few people have.

  She took Kendra’s lips against her own, generating a rush of warm blood through Kendra’s body, down to her arching toes.

  They grabbed at each other’s body tighter and tighter while they kissed. Kendra came up for a breath of air.

  - Emily, you have to be sure of this.

  Kendra’s eyes pierced into Emily’s consciousness.

  - I'm pretty sure.

  Kendra’s lips moved down Emily’s neck.

  - My Mothers mated for life - do you think it might be genetic?

  Emily answered her the only way she knew how – with her lips and with her body crushing onto Kendra’s hips.

  Kendra turned around so that Emily embraced her from behind, passing her hands upwards under Kendra’s breasts.

  Emily scooped up her old shirt, rising it to Kendra's shoulders and traced her fingers along the ink drawing, down Kendra’s spine to the soft crack of flesh.

  - What’s this mean?

  She ran her finger around the edges of a small pattern of dots connected with dashes, as she kissed Kendra’s neckline.

  - The vine? It’s a family tradition.

  Emily traced the lines.

  - No, the othe
r drawing. It’s similar to the one on your pendant.

  - I don’t know. My Mothers put it there; it’s traditional.

  - They never told you what it means?

  - No. I guess they would have...if they were still here.

  - Strange that there’s things you don’t know about your own body.

  Emily positioned herself in front of Kendra’s arms so she could swing them over her shoulder.

  With Kendra balanced on her back, Emily took her outside to the scaffolding.

  - If you hold on around my shoulders, I could carry you up the ladder?

  Kendra wanted to see the world through Emily's eyes so she gave in to her trust. She jutted her body over the top of Emily’s as she slowly and skilfully climbed each step.

  At the top, Emily lifted Kendra over the final rung so that she was sitting safely on the decking before hoisting her own body over the top. They held on to the hand rail to steady themselves and take in the view over “Meg’s Cove”.

  The fresh sea air scattered Kendra’s pale hair to all angles.

  Trucks blinked red lights along the Esplanade as the Fun Fair packed up, preparing to move to the next town.

  Emily pointed to slow flashing light to the West.

  - That's the site of the rig explosion. There's still pylons and pipes under the surface. I wanted to look more closely but there's no diving allowed.

  - What would you expect to find amongst all the oil slicks?

  Emily folded her arms.

  - Nothing, now. It just seems so far away.

  Kendra looked out to the lights.

  She whispered.

  - Did they find your parents?

  - No. I don't think there was anything to find.

  Their fingers touched on the railing and they intertwined for an instant.

  - What about the Mandalay wreck? Do you go diving there, for work?

  - I’ve been a few times. There's not much to see. She splintered apart on the reef and there was just coal and people on board. Have you ever dived there?

  Kendra thought it best to lie.

  - Didn't I tell you? I don't swim.

  - But didn't you pull me from the catacomb caves that day?

  - No, I told you, I just found you - it was Leo who deserves the bravery medal.

  - Well, thank god you found me.

  Emily reached over to run her hand through Kendra’s wild hair and took her into her arms. It was a slow, lingering kiss that lasted while they both laughed slightly, self-conscious of the seriousness of their mood.

  - How do you know how to do that?

  Kendra took a quick breath.

  - What?

  Emily smiled.

  - Make me feel like that? Like this?

  Kendra pressed her thin legs against Emily’s jeans and held her arms around Emily’s waist, tightly.

  She could feel Emily’s breast against hers, cool under Emily's old shirt and didn’t want to move.

  Kendra - Emily - Chapter 28

  Kendra’s hair exploded in the wind as she stuck her head out of the van’s window.

  Emily swerved the steering wheel to the left, ploughing into a sand dune then skidding down its side.

  - Hold on to your hat! Here we go!

  Kendra couldn’t stop laughing. The speed of the ute, the sudden swerving and diving over the dunes made her vision vibrate as though she was swimming in the air and wind.

  The sensation of the ocean air sweeping her face and brushing her eyes was like nothing she’d felt before. It tickled!

  Not in the way that Emily’s hair tickled her scarred thighs when she kissed them, but in a different, thrilling way.

  - But, I don’t have a hat!

  Kendra yelled against the airstream.

  Her hand came up to her chest to steady the scrimshaw pendant beating against her neck and her chin with the twists and turns of Emily’s driving.

  Leo’s paws scratched on the back of the van as he balanced and ran from side to side to bark at circling seagulls.

  Emily ramped up the speed when the sand flattened out in front of them, leading to the boat dock on the far South-Western end of Mandalay Bay.

  She looked at the rear vision mirror to check on Leo then burst out her pebble-wind-chime laugh at Kendra’s delirious face still leaning out of the passenger seat window.

  - You’ll get addicted to the fast life!

  Emily teased her.

  - We can’t go further round to the right because there’s families of Terns nesting there. Let’s just park and walk over the rocks. See if the wreck’s masts are showing yet.

  The ute’s tyres crackled over a curved, cobbled road that led to the boat ramp and a small jetty.

  Leo jumped to the cool sand as Emily slammed her door shut and moved around the front of the van to help Kendra getting her footing.

  They held hands as they walked over the succulent green pig-face leaves, crushing the tiny pink petals under their steps.

  Leo sniffed around growth near the beginning of the rock pools.

  Emily called him back with a deep command.

  - Leo! Leave it! Snakes!

  But the day was cooling down with a certain greyness to the air, so she wasn’t truly worried about snakes sunning themselves near the rocks.

  Kendra liked seeing the coastline from Emily’s point of view.

  Because she’d been working from home on the Mandalay Mermaid restoration, they’d decided to take advantage of the weekday quietness and have a lunch break at the wreck lookout.

  Across the Bay to their left were a handful of surfers and rock fishermen but the Mandalay Wreck Restoration picnic tables were empty at the lookout.

  They sat close together on the wrought iron benches looking for the tips of the black skeletal remains of the Mandalay’s masts just under the water’s surface.

  Leo’s thick, brown tail swept away flies under the table while he stretched out in the shade.

  Emily put her hands behind her head and leaned back in the chair.

  - She’ll be ready for the Anniversary Opening night at the Centre. I’ll put both mermaids side by side – my replica and your original.

  Kendra’s eyes opened wide.

  - What did you tell the museum staff? About where you found her?

  - I just told them the storm must have dislodged her from one of the “catacombs”, that I’d been out in my kayak and there she was – right under my nose all along!

  Kendra’s eyes flickered along the waves, zooming in until she saw a flagstaff break through the surface.

  - I can see it! The Mandalay!

  She pointed but Emily struggled to see.

  - Why don’t we walk around on the rock pool a bit? It’ll take us closer. Next week when she’s fully exposed, we’ll kayak out to her and look around.

  Kendra wasn’t sure about next week. She’d never been in a kayak but she was sure, after observing Emily, that it was too easy to fall out of one.

  - Maybe…

  They took hold of each other’s hands again, with Emily helping Kendra balance over the small rock pools etched into the limestone shore.

  Watching her next step and clutching onto Emily’s elbow, Kendra saw the greyness gathering on the horizon.

  - We better not go too far over.

  Emily found a flat, secure rock top for their next step and turned to face Kendra.

  - What’s wrong?

  Emily looked into Kendra’s troubled eyes.

  - Nothing. It just looks like rain. Are you sure you want to go all the way around?

  Emily looked skyward into the clouds. The overhanging rock at the far corner of the Bay started to look cosy.

  - Sure. What’s a little rain? We can always take shelter under the cliff.

  Emily took Kendra’s hand in hers. Kendra looked to the sky and swallowed hard.

  The rain had started to gather into fast-forming clouds that appeared to be heavy enough to fall apart over the beach.

  A smal
l drop of rain fell on her cheek. She stopped walking.

  Distantly, the faint tap of a light shower fell on the sandy trail near the old jetty.

  A sporadic mist of fine spray blew towards them from the ocean. Kendra wiped her forehead and started to breathe deeply.

  If the rain didn’t get any heavier and they made it down to the cliff face, she could stay under the overhang and protect her body.

  Small amounts of moisture were not enough to change the chemistry of her skin.

  However, when small spots of raindrops wet the sand, their imprints bleeding into the ground, her face flushed and a panic pushed at her lungs.