Free Bless Us Father by Kathy Pratt Page B

boys really like sex and want it all the time, but it’s different for girls.”
    “What do you mean, different?”
    “You know, girls are the ones that can get pregnant, and then there’s that other thing.”
    “What other thing?”
    “Okay. I can’t tell you who it was that told my sister, so I’ll just say it was a public school girl. When she had sex for the first time it hurt really really bad, and she bled a lot.”
    Mary Margaret clasped her hand over her mouth. “Did she have to go to the hospital?”
    “No, you ding dong. It wasn’t that much blood. It was more like the first day of her period. Anyway, it hurt a lot and she decided she wasn’t going to do it again until she got married and had to.”
    “Did she get over being afraid? Did she ever get married?”
    Linda leaned in close again and said, “Oh, she didn’t wait until she got married. She did it again a couple of months later and found out she liked it a lot. She got pregnant, though, and her family sent her out of state to have the baby.”
    “Oh my gosh! Now I know who that is. It has to be your sister’s friend Karen. She hasn’t been around for months.”
    Linda grabbed Mary Margaret’s arm. “Don’t you dare tell anyone. Promise?” she asked, squeezing hard.
    “Ow! You’re hurting me. I promise I won’t tell.”
    “Why are you interested in this stuff all of a sudden?” Linda asked. “You can’t even date, let alone think about sex.”
    “Oh, I know, but there’s this other thing I’ve been wondering about.”
    Linda rolled her eyes. “What now?”
    “This is really embarrassing, but I need to know. Sometimes when I’m looking at a really cute guy, I get this warm feeling in my stomach and in my...well, you know.”
    “No, I don’t know what you mean. I’ve never had anything like that and I also know I’m not supposed to right now.”
    Mary Margaret glanced over at the statue of Our Lady who seemed to be looking right at her with a very disapproving look on her face. Mary Margaret turned quickly away.
    “Come on, Linda. How about when you and Bobby kissed that night at the eighth grade dance? You were snuggling pretty close. Didn’t you feel something?”
    “Only on my lips. He opened his mouth and pressed it really hard against mine, and his braces were cutting into my lips. Pain was all I felt, and it wasn’t down there, either.”
    Mary Margaret laughed out loud at the mental picture of Bobby’s braces grinding into Linda’s lips.
    Linda was looking closely at Mary Margaret. “You’ve never dated and you’ve never danced a close dance with anyone, and you’ve never kissed a guy that I know of, either. It seems kind of odd that all of a sudden you’re wondering about this stuff and getting warmies down there.”
    “Forget I even brought it up. It’s only happened once and I was just wondering why, that’s all. You’re supposed to be my best friend. I can’t talk to anyone else in the world about it.”
    “I am your best friend, Mary Margaret. You can always talk to me. I’m sorry I even questioned you.”
    “It’s okay, Linda. I asked you because I knew you’d probably overheard your older brothers and sisters, no other reason.”
    “And I did know, didn’t I?” Linda smiled smugly. “Listen, I just had an idea.”
    “What’s your idea?”
    “We have to make a pact right now, this very minute that we’ll talk to each other when we start dating boys and this sex stuff starts coming up. Let’s promise that we won’t do anything with a boy until we talk to each other, okay?”
    Mary Margaret paused before answering and looked at the statue of Our Lady who was still staring intently back at her. “Good idea, Linda. I promise I’ll talk to you first before I do anything with any of the boys I date.”
    “And I’ll talk to you first, too. I won’t let any boy get to first base without talking it over first.”
    “That’s right. No boy is going to get to first base with either of