by Stan Morris
Every day that week, Lincoln and Yuie ran the track together. They made a point of not talking much. After running, they would walk separately to the Lodge, hoping that no one would be taking a shower at that time. Once, Lincoln forgot to take in a change of clothing, and he had to come out of the shower room wearing only a towel. Yuie, standing there waiting her turn, was moved by the beauty of the soldier’s hard body. But on his right side, she saw two puckered scars. They puzzled Yuie, until she realized that they were old bullet wounds.
June moved along. The residents of Petersburg were anticipating the coming election. Gabby did mock polls, and announced that neither candidate was likely to win. Eric made a speech and promised that if he was elected the shower would be converted into a mud bath. No one believed him, and Desi accused him of pandering to the boys.
“I thought about saying I would take down the wall and convert it into a girls’ mud wrestling contest arena, but I was afraid that I would get all the boys’ votes,” Eric confided to Hector.
Hector was in a state of uncertainty. Kathy seemed nervous around him all of a sudden, and he had no idea why. He gave her his usual nonchalant pat on her butt one day, and she squeaked like a mouse. He took some time to think about it, and something dawned on him. She was sixteen now. He thought about it some more, and when he finished thinking, he had a wicked grin on his face. The next afternoon, he asked her to help him survey a site for the sawmill. He took her along the river, down to the end of the meadow, where they were out of sight of the Lodge. They found a dry spot and sat on a patch of low grass.
They talked for a bit, and then Hector said to Kathy, “You are sixteen now, aren’t you, Kat?”
“Uh, yes,” she said, surprised at the change of subject.
“You’re old enough now, aren’t you, Kat?” Dropping his voice, he murmured the words.
“Um… I guess,” she replied cautiously.
“The rules don’t apply to you any longer, do they, Chica?” His voice became silky. He placed his hard hand firmly on the back of her neck.
“Um… well…”
“We’re free to do it now, aren’t we, Chica?” he murmured, his voice sensuous in her ear.
“Um…”
“We can make mad passionate love. Maybe, right here. This would be a good spot for our first time. Right now,” he said as his voice dropped to a whisper.
“Now?” she squeaked.
Hector put his hands under her bottom and lifted her. She stared into his eyes. Her heart was pounding, and her palms were sweaty as their lips met. Hector kissed her long and deep, and then he set her down.
“But,” he said while looking around, his voice back to normal. “It is cool today. And I think there are some mosquitoes buzzing around. We could wait a month or two, until it warms up and become dryer.”
“Oh. Yes,” Kathy replied, catching her breath. “We could wait a month or two.”
“It might be a cool summer. In that case, we could wait until next year.”
She stared at him for a moment, and then she understood. She flung herself into his arms, and he caught her easily.
“Hector,” was all she said, as she held him close.
Then after a time, Hector said, “Kat, just because you are now sixteen does not mean we must begin to be intimate. We have a lot of time, Kat. A lot of time. Stop worrying about it.” He felt her nod against his chest.
They stayed in the meadow for a while longer, and then they walked back to the Lodge together, hand in hand. Someday, I’ll look just like Desi does now, Hector, Kathy vowed silently. On their way, they passed Yuie, who was casting furtive glances toward Lieutenant Kennedy, and Kathy felt a pang of pity for the other girl.
Yuie and Kennedy were ignoring each other, except for the time that they spent running together. Howard was right, Kennedy thought. When we run together, we are comfortable together, and we don’t talk. Talking just gets in our way. The Lieutenant thought about some of the other things Howard had told him, including the Admin’s comment concerning gifts. I should give Yuie a gift. But what? He thought about the traditional gifts that a man could give a woman.
No florist shops around, he said to himself. On the other hand, there are plenty of wildflowers in the meadow. But how do I give them to her. What if she gets embarrassed, or what if she thinks that giving cheap wildflowers to a girl is stupid? Better give them to her in private.
He borrowed a clear plastic bag from the kitchen. “Bring back the bag and the twist,” he was told. He went looking for flowers, and he gathered an assortment of red monkey flowers, yellow marigolds, blue gentians, and pink violets. He cut off the ends of the stems near the bottom, and then he stuck the stems in the bag along with a small amount of water and used a plastic twist to hold in the water. He gently wrapped the bouquet in one of his clean t-shirts and put it in his bag. He was ready. After their next run, as Yuie was about to return to the Lodge, Lincoln asked her to wait for a second. He pulled out the bouquet and gave it to her. She stared at the flowers.
“These are for me?” she asked.
“Uh, yes,” he replied.
“Oh. Thank you, Linc. I’m sorry. I meant to say, ‘Lincoln’,” Yuie said hastily.
“You’re welcome,” said Lincoln. “Yuie, you can call me Linc, but just when we’re alone together, okay?”
“Oh. Alright, Linc,” Yuie said.
For some reason, she liked having the permission he had given her to call him something that no one else could. Yuie left him and went straight to Desi, who was in her room lying on her bed. Yuie showed her friend the flowers Lincoln had given.
“They’re nice. Where did you pick them?” Desi asked.
“I didn’t pick them. Lincoln gave them to me,” Yuie said.
“Really?” Desi sat up. “He gave you flowers?” Her voice was suddenly excited.
“Yes. What do you think it means?” Yuie asked.
“Dummy, it means he likes you,” Desi exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
“Are you sure?” Yuie asked, giving her friend a look filled with doubt.
“Yes! Did you praise him? Did you touch him?” Desi asked.
“What?”
“Did you tell him that the flowers were beautiful, and that he has good taste? Did you touch him? Did you, like, put your hand on his arm or something? Like I told you,” Desi reminded Yuie.
“Oh. I forgot. He might not like to be touched.”
“You’ll never know unless you try, Yuie,” Desi said.
Lincoln and Desi made their usual run the next day, but afterwards Yuie did not walk away as she usually did. She lingered until she had gathered her courage.
“Linc,” she asked. “Can I touch you?”
Lincoln’s look was a puzzled inquiry. “Uh, sure. Right now?”
“Yes, if it’s alright with you.”
“Okay.”
Yuie raised her hand, and she placed it on Lincoln’s bare chest. She rubbed him.
“So hard,” she murmured.
Lincoln was trying desperately not to get hard. He was learning something. Sometimes a girl’s touch can be torture, and sometimes torture can be sweet. He broke out in a sweat that had nothing to do with his run. Yuie stepped back.
“Thank you,” she said.
She turned and ran away. Lincoln stopped holding his breath and expelled, wondering what had just happened. Yuie went to Desi, and she told her friend what had happened. Desi was puzzled by her account.
“You asked Lincoln if you could touch him?” Desi asked, trying to understand. Yuie nodded.
“And then you touched his chest.”
Yuie nodded again.
“How did he like it?”
Yuie frowned. “I don’t know. I wasn’t watching,” she confessed.” Desi sighed.
“Well, did you like it?” Desi asked.
“Yes, I liked it.”
“How much? Did you really like it?”
“Yes, I really liked it,” Yuie said.
Desi’s eyes narrowed in frustration. “Did you really, really like it?” she demanded through her gritted teeth.
“I loved it,” Yuie admitted.
“Yes!” Desi exclaimed, making her fist pump.
Lincoln had really, really liked Yuie touching him. I should give her another gift. He thought of the various things that he had heard girls liked. Then it came to him. Lincoln Kennedy had a dark secret. It was a secret that no one at the Army post knew about; not even Major Collins. It was a secret that no one here in Petersburg knew about; not even the Chief. He could share his dark secret with Yuie.
Yuie was surprised when Lincoln approached her after dinner. They usually avoided each other, except when they ran.
“Meet me behind the dining hall during Meeting,” Lincoln whispered.
Yuie was surprised. What’s this all about? She thought about ignoring his command, but she was much too curious. When Meeting started, she slipped away. He was standing apart from the dining hall, near the trees. When he saw her, he gestured to her, so she approached him, cautiously. He looked around to make sure no one else was watching.
“Yuie,” he whispered. “Will you trust me for one minute? One minute. That’s all I ask. I promise you won’t regret it.”
Yuie stared at him. No Yuie, her mind screamed. Don’t trust him.
“Alright,” she heard herself say.
“Close your eyes,” he said, and after hesitating another second, she did so, but she was even more nervous, now.
“Open your mouth.”
Trust him. She opened her mouth, and then felt the intimacy of his fingers as he placed something in her mouth. She closed her mouth. It was too dark to see her expression, but Lincoln could feel her amazement.
“Don’t chew,” he warned her. “Suck on it.”
Yuie sucked until she couldn’t stand it any longer, and then she bit down. It was heaven. It was absolute heaven. Too soon, it was over.
“Lincoln,” she said, breathing out the word softly, amazed that he would give this to her.
“Don’t tell anybody about this, Yuie,” Lincoln warned her. “It’s our secret.”
“All right,” she said, and then she went straight to Desi.
Desi knew immediately that something was up. “What?”
Yuie shook her head. “I can’t tell you.”
“Is it about Lincoln?”
“Yes.”
“Did you have sex with him?”
“No!” Yuie exclaimed.
“Hmmm… did he give you something?”
“Yes.”
Desi frowned. “Hmmm… he already gave you flowers. What else? Maybe something to eat. But where would he get it? Oh, your head is bleeding.”
“It is? Where?” Yuie put her hand on her head, feeling for the wetness of blood.
“Here, let me look at it,” Desi said.
She leaned close to Yuie’s head, and then she sniffed Yuie’s breath. Shocked, she sat back on her bed, her eyes wide.
“Chocolate,” she whispered. “You ate chocolate. Lincoln Kennedy gave you chocolate. I hate you.”
“And it was good,” Yuie said smugly. “It was really, really good.”
The next day, Gabby said to Tyler, “Did you hear? Lieutenant Kennedy gave Yuie a piece of chocolate.” Soon the whole village was abuzz.
“I’m so sorry, Linc,” Yuie wailed. “She tricked me. She got close, and she smelled my breath.”
The Lieutenant clapped his hand to his forehead. “Damn. I should have warned you. You have to drink some water afterwards to get it off your breath.”
He gave her another piece. She hoarded her chocolate. She kept it close. Someone searched her bag. Finally, one day, she decided to eat her precious piece. She went to Chief’s Headquarters.
“Hi, Chief.”
“Hi, Yuie.”
“Uh, Chief, I’m tired and the Lodge is noisy. Can I take a nap in your loft?”
“You want to take a nap in my loft?”
“Uh huh.”
“Where you’ll be all alone?”
“Uh, huh.”
Mike scowled. “Just eat your damn chocolate, Yuie,” he barked enviously.
Chapter Fifteen
THE LODGE AND THE RETREAT
The election for Mayor was just a few days away. It was July, and the grain was tall in the meadow. Their valley had received rain and a light snow at the right times. The flow of water in the river had decreased, but not enough to prevent the showers from flowing.
Hector and Kathy made a trip to Davis Brown Farm and came back to report that the new barn was finished. He and Ralph were designing a remodel of the solar barn which was being converted into studio apartments. They were trying to decide how many people the new apartment building could hold.
“Digging the outhouses will be the hardest chore,” Hector said.
“No, cleaning them will be the hardest chore,” muttered a girl who had broken one of the rules.
Two days before the election, in the late afternoon, a guard came running down from the guard post at the top of the hill.
“Someone’s coming,” she gasped.
Minutes later, four bicyclists rode over the rise, and a stir went up in the village. The bicyclists coasted down the hill to the parking lot, where they were met by a small crowd that included Lieutenant Kennedy. By the time Mike arrived, the Lieutenant was conversing with the new arrivals. Kennedy introduced Mike to one of the bicyclists.
“Hello, Sir,” the cyclist said as he extended his hand. “I’m Corporal Cody Carson, Ranger, United States Army. Major Collins extends his greetings. We’re here to form a regular Army guard unit. I know you and your Spears have done a great job, Sir. We are not here to replace them, just to supplement them.”
Corporal Cody introduced the other two members of his squad, and then the fourth cyclist came forward. He was wearing a black suit, a white shirt, and a black tie.
“Hi,” the man said. “I’m Don.”
“Mormon?” Mike asked.
“Methodist, actually. Good guess, though. I am a minister. I hope you won’t mind my visiting. I’ve heard so much about Petersburg that my curiosity was killing me, so I begged Major Collins to let me go with Corporal Cody. The Major told me to tell you that if you don’t want me here, then you should send me right back.”
“It’s cool for you to come here, Don,” Mike said.
“Where did you get the bikes, Corporal?” Kennedy asked.
“We found them in one of the trucks on Evil Hill,” Cody replied. “After you and the Major left, Sergeant Jenkins sent a detail to scrounge everything we could find. I led the detail. We found these four mountain bikes unassembled in one of the campers. We put them together and presto! You can tell they have a lot of miles on them, but they’re still in great shape.”
“I bet Major Collins was happy to see these,” Kennedy said.
“Yes and no,” Cody replied. “He was happy to see them, but he was pissed that we hadn’t found them before you and he left. We used them to establish an outpost at the junction to Evil Hill road. Major Collins said to tell you that he wants two of them back.”
“How long did it take you to cycle from your post to the Brown Farm?” Mike asked.
“Seven days,” Cody answered. “This morning, we stopped at the Brown Farm for breakfast and then came on. We were only going to stop for a quick ten, but Mrs. Brown can be very persuasive. Then we left and came here.”
Mike and Kennedy exchanged glances. “Seven days,” Mike murmured.
“Seven days?” Eric exclaimed. “Chief, we have to make some bikes.”
“Yes,” Mike agreed. “See what you can do, Eric. How were the tires, Corporal?”
“They’re solid foam. No tubes, no flats. They did fine.”
Mike saw John talking to Don; both of their faces very serious. It dawned on him why.
“Eric, find Lily,” he said. “Tell her to get a shingle from Hector and start working on a marriage lic
ense for John and Desi.”
“Huh?”
“Go.”
After talking to John, and after seeing Desi’s condition, Don agreed to perform a wedding. A little stiffly, Don explained that he usually required the couple to undergo some counseling before he would agree to perform a wedding, but in this case it was obviously too late. Lily hastily designed and drew an elegant marriage license on the best of Hector’s shingles. The marriage took place the following afternoon, and it was held on the grassy area below the Lodge. Almost every inhabitant of Petersburg attended. Yuie was the maid of honor, and Eric, not Mike, was the best man, because at Desi’s insistence, Mike gave her away.
“You sure can hold a grudge, Desi,” Mike groused, but Desi just laughed.
Afterwards, Mike and Howard insisted that the couple take over Chief’s Headquarters for a few days. When John pointed out that it was a little late for a honeymoon, Howard smacked him on the head.
Corporal Carson had a present for Mike from Major Collins. As soon as Mike took the soft present, which was wrapped in an expensive linen bag, Mike knew what it contained, but he peeked inside to be sure. The day came for the election. The vote was held at Meeting, and the votes were counted immediately after. Howard received thirty votes. Eric received sixteen votes. Mike declared that Howard was the winner, and that at midnight, Howard would be the new Mayor of Petersburg.
As midnight approached, Mike asked the excited audience for silence. When it was completely quiet, he and Howard opened the package that Major Collins had sent to him. Carefully, they unfolded the cloth. Using push pins, they tacked it to the wallboard behind the podium as the silent crowd watched. When they were finished, Mike and Howard stepped away from the wall but faced it. Mike cleared his throat, and then he placed his right hand over his heart. The soldiers surged to their feet, salutes in place, and most all of the residents of Petersburg rose also. Kathy removed Hectors hat from her head and held it over her heart. Mike began to speak.
