Leading Ladies Anthology [FEATURED STORY]

@KatherineArlene - Don't Be Cruel

Excerpt from Chapter 9 - Don't Be Cruel

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August 1958

When Jess stepped off the path into the clearing, the cabin came into view and the door was already open. She smiled and quickened her pace. After not being able to see Marty the day before, she'd missed him. If he'd come early, maybe he'd been missing her too. She walked inside and saw him in the kitchen, seated at the little table drinking a mug of tea.

"Good morning!" she said.

When he saw her, his eyes lit up before he managed to hide it. "Hi," he said casually, and stood to wash his mug. He liked to keep up the facade that he didn't care whether she came to see him or not, but she didn't mind.

She set her basket of food on the counter next to his lunch sack. "Are we going fishing today?"

He shrugged. "I reckon," he said as if he didn't care.

"I'll go change," she said, and headed for the bedroom. They'd gone to the pond almost every day that summer. It was always under the pretense of fishing, but they'd ended up swimming instead. Once she had her bathing suit on under her sundress, she came out. "Ready to go?"

"Yep," he said, going to get the fishing pole.

When they arrived at the pond, Marty laid the pole against the fallen tree trunk at the water's edge. They put their lunches under the willow tree and while Marty began unlacing his boots, Jess pulled off her dress. She headed in the cool water, and soon Marty joined her. He immediately began chasing her while splashing her with wave after wave of water. She shrieked with laughter and did a shallow dive in an attempt to get away.

An hour later, they were lying on the grass under the willow tree, propped up on their elbows so they could look out at the pond.

"I didn't come yesterday because my cousin came home from France," Jess said, lifting her hair off her neck to cool it. She was growing it out so she could wear it in a ponytail and it had reached that annoying middle stage; too short for the ponytail but long enough to make her neck hot. "His name is Douglas."

Marty barked out a laugh. "I know who your cousin is, Jess."

"You know Douglas?" she said with shock, sitting up to face him.

"I don't know him, but I know who he is," he said easily, looking out at the water. "We go to the same school."

Jess found that even more shocking. She'd never imagined Marty going to school like other kids, but it made sense. Just because she only saw him in the woods of her property didn't mean he wasn't a regular boy with a life like everyone else.

She leaned back, resting on her elbows again. "I can't wait for school to start! It's going to be so much fun!" Marty snorted, and she looked at him. "What was that for?"

"School is never fun," he said, trying to catch a fly that had landed on his leg and missing.

"Sure it is!"

"Not for me. I hate school."

She was stunned. "Why do you hate school?"

"There's no point to it," he said with a shrug.

"But - you learn stuff."

He scoffed. "Useless stuff."

"It's not useless. You need to know those things if you want to go to college." He gave her a pointed look, and she realized what a stupid thing it was to say. "Even if you don't go to college, it's still better if you know those things," she said quietly.