Free Monday Girl by Doris Davidson

and talking with some of her classmates, she bade them goodnight and turned to walk home alone, as no one else went in the same direction. It was very dark, and the street lights were fairly dim, so she didn’t see the figure standing in the shadow of the wall until she was almost abreast of him. When the man stepped out in front of her, she had a momentary stab of panic, until she realised that it was Fergus Cooper.
    ‘Oh,’ she gasped, quite taken aback. ‘What on earth are you doing here?’
    ‘Waiting for you.’ He walked alongside her, up the hill to Rosemount Place, across into Watson Street, and she was too tongue-tied by the shock of him being there to say anything, although his presence had sent thrills all through her.
    ‘This was the only way I could think of to get you on your own,’ he said, breaking the silence at last.
    ‘Oh,’ she said, again, but her heart was jumping madly.
    ‘You see, I’ve been dying to give you a proper kiss, and there’s no way I can do that in the house.’
    Not sure of how she should reply, Renee kept her head down.
    ‘Aren’t you going to tell me what you think of that?’ Fergus asked, pettishly. ‘Don’t you want me to kiss you?’
    ‘Yes, I do,’ she breathed, ‘but you said I wasn’t old enough.’ She wished he’d stop speaking about it, and just do it.
    ‘That was over a year ago, remember, and you’ve grown up quite a bit since then. Have you ever been kissed yet?’
    ‘No.’ Feeling that she shouldn’t have admitted that, she added, ‘I didn’t want anybody else to kiss me, just you.’
    ‘That’s more like it.’
    They had reached the foot of Watson Street, where the houses gave way to the railings of the Victoria Park, and, there being no one about, he led her through the gates, out of sight of the road, and put his arms round her.
    Renee ran her tongue over her dry lips, and waited expectantly, not knowing if she was expected to do anything or not.
    She hadn’t long to wait. Fergus bent his head and placed his lips on hers, gently and experimentally, but removed them quickly. She was very disappointed. She’d felt no great thrill, and began to suspect that kissing wasn’t all it was made out to be if this was the proper kiss Fergus had promised.
    His second kiss dispelled all her doubts, and she gasped for breath when it was over. Her heart was pounding, her legs were trembling, and, before she had recovered, he was kissing her again . . . and again. His body was pressed tightly against hers, and his hands were sliding up and down her spine.
    ‘Oh, Renee,’ he whispered. ‘You’re wonderful.’
    They stood there for just over ten minutes, then Fergus said, ‘Come on. We’d better stop, before I do something I shouldn’t.’
    She would willingly have stayed there for hours, although she shivered with cold when he removed his arms, but he took her hand and guided her back to the street. They walked hand in hand until they were almost home, then he stopped and turned her to face him.
    ‘I can’t come in with you, Renee,’ he said. ‘We don’t want your mother to know about this, do we? I’ll meet you next Monday.’
    ‘What about Wednesday?’ she asked, hopefully. ‘That’s my other night for the classes, Fergus.’
    ‘Sorry, but I play billiards with my pals every Wednesday
    . . . It’ll have to be Mondays, I’m afraid.’ He walked away from her then, without even kissing her again, and she stood for a minute, frustrated, and rather indignant that he preferred playing billiards on Wednesdays to meeting her.
    She let herself into the house, hung her coat on the hallstand and looked at herself in the mirror. Apart from being slightly flushed, she showed no sign of her experience in the park, but she went into the bathroom and splashed her face with cold water before she joined her mother.
    ‘You’re a wee bit later, tonight,’ Anne remarked.
    ‘The shorthand teacher was showing us some new shapes, and we’ve to