All tattoos and crooked teeth, he told her she was special with just his wink and his smile.
In his face she saw it, what she'd been looking for. No silly pudgy hometown boy, but a traveler who knew where he'd been.
They played the game. Chase, but not too hard. Run, but not too fast. "I'll be right here if you come back tomorrow." She shook her head no, and fled into the night.
Teddy bears and plump, plump pillows, her room closed in on her, a prison.
The night at her friend's house. The lie to her family surprised her, how easily it had floated. And how easily they believed.
Did they notice her preparing? The bathing, the primping, the hint of perfume?
Boots, belts, chain, a whip-hard body. She saw him just as he saw her. A word to his buddies, a laugh, and now he was coming. Was this a good idea? How handsome, how tough, now his hands in hers.
Daddy had always said she was special, but the words had seemed empty. Now finally she was told in a way she could measure. Money, attention, the thrilling forbidden.
"I can come again tomorrow. During the day?" She knew she had touched his heart the way he had touched hers. Tomorrow, then. Their plans were made.
Entering her house, everything seemed so normal yet so strangely distant. Couldn't they feel it? The difference? The feelings at last?
Tomorrow. Tomorrow. It wouldn't come fast enough. She ran to her meeting, when finally it came.
But the meadow was empty. There must be a mistake. But the meadow was empty, litter swirling in the breeze.