Fancy, but thinking it and doing it were a long ways apart, which made what came out of my mouth seem crazy. âIf you want to.â
We faced each other, our noses almost touching. âYou ever kissed a girl before?â
My knee started to bounce. âNo.â Her breath smelled like sweet potatoes. âBut Iâm willing to start.â
She laid her hand on my leg to quiet it. âWe could try it if you want to, and see what happens.â
I got a vision of Roy walking up while we had our lips stuck together. Maybe it would be worth the pain of an ass beating. âOkay.â
Fancy edged closer. âAll right, you ready?â She seemed way too calm.
My brain was screaming, Stop! but my mouth wouldnât listen. âIf you are.â An owl hooted. I considered running like hell.
Fancy folded her arms around my neck, and then pulled mine up to do the same on her. âNow close your eyes.â
The soft touch of her mouth startled me.
She pulled back. âYou all right?â
âSorry, couldnât see it coming.â
Fancy unzipped our coats and we stuck our arms inside each otherâs jackets. âThis time youâll know what to expect.â
Our lips lay stiff as a day-old biscuit at first, but then we began to move them around. I pulled my head back. âAre you sticking your tongue out?â
âLightning told me thatâs the way youâre supposed to kiss. Come on, letâs try it.â The feeling of our tongues mixing together was weird at first, but got warm in a hurry. We explored, hands squeezing and moving inside each otherâs jackets, legs stretching and sliding until we almost fell off the stump. My God, could Christmas get any better?
Finally, we pulled apart and zipped up our jackets.
âWell?â Fancy asked.
I sucked in the cold air, wore slam-out from holding my breath. âWell, what?â
âDid you like it?â
âDid you?â If she said no, I would go straight to the woodshed and kill myself with an ax.
âI think we could get real good at it with a little practice.â
I was thinking home run and she acted like it was only a single. But I was all for a little more practice.
âItâs getting late. You going to walk with me?â Fancy took my hand and we started slowly toward her house. âI might come visit you tomorrow on my bicycle, if it would be all right with your grandma.â
Despite the cold, beads of sweat rolled down my neck. âCanât think why it wouldnât be.â I was pretty sure what we did was sinful; Iâd heard the preacher say mixing races was a road straight to hell. And I knew without a doubt it was dangerous; there wouldnât be forgiveness if anybody, black or white, found out.
When we got to the edge of the woods, Fancy pecked me on the lips. I watched until she made it across.
Walking back through the woods, I tried to pee. The last drops drained and I had a familiar urge. In a minute, jisim shot out, and my knees wanted to buckle. I used to practice behind the barn a lot, but fear made me quit. Lightning told me heâd heard a man could go blind doing it.
In the quiet of my bedroom I worried Iâd wake up not able to see shit, having to walk around with a cane and dark glasses the rest of my life. I repeated the Lordâs Prayer until I fell asleep.
Daylight came, and I thanked God I could see the ceiling. I put on the new jeans, flannel shirt, and brogans, anxious to get to church and do some praying.
C HAPTER 10
T hat ring around the moon thing must have been true. Six inches of snow fell right after New Yearâs. A few days after the ice melted, Grandma said, âWe need to get to killing hogs, Junebug. Iâll go up tomorrow and ask Clyde Wilson about helping us. You need to get the scalding-vat from the barn.â
That night I fed the two pigs one last time, and scratched their ears while they grunted and slurped from