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.