The Festival of Fertility

Chapter Six

Lin Ming felt her pulse quicken. This was it, she knew. This was the moment. If she had any doubts, if she wanted to turn back, this was her very last chance. If she got on that plane, she would have to walk among the Aiwaha fully nude, her body exposed for all to see. She would have to witness the Festival of Fertility and all that it entailed. For just a moment, for as long as the space between heartbeats, she considered turning back.

Her grip around the strap of her backpack tightened until her knuckles turned white. No. No. I must be brave. I cannot falter now. How could I face Dana, knowing I backed out at the last moment?

She stood with a swish of black hair and got in line to board, all but marching with her head held high to the seat number specified on her boarding pass. Brian sat next to her with a friendly smile. Lin hesitantly returned it. She even tried smiling at Richard too, but he seemed very distracted and didn't notice. He looks almost dazed. I wonder why.

Bonnie took a seat directly behind Lin, a smug smile on her face as she crossed her legs in front of her. Harwood sat with Richard and Isaiah, while Jeremy, Aisha, and Gabby sat in the following row. Krupa, the odd one out, sat by herself but didn't seem too put out about it. Lin fished a book out of her backpack and buried her head in it while she waited for the plane to take off. It was one of Dana's, but her friend let her borrow it. It was a racy, very steamy romance novel--precisely the sort of thing that would drive Lin's father to red-faced fury if he knew she was reading it. Lin felt her face heat up as she turned the page.

"Good book?" Brian asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Lin turned even redder. "Y-yes. It is...unlike the books I normally read."

"What's it about?"

The question made her blink in surprise. "I...it is about a man who works as a bounty hunter in the days of what Americans call the Old West. He is not a very nice man, yet he falls in love with a woman he meets while on one of his hunts."

"An anti-hero." Brian nodded. "Classic."

"Er...thank you."

Bonnie tapped her on the shoulder. "If it's one of those dirty romances, lend it to me when you're finished with it. I'd love to read it next."

"Don't you have a kindle?" Gabby asked.

"Yeah, but that book's not on it."

"I don't need anything to read." Aisha put a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. "I think I'll be able to entertain myself."

Lin sank into her seat. Such a public and open display of affection was all but taboo in her home country. The way Americans kissed and hugged in public was something she still wasn't used to. But I must become used to it, for the Aiwaha not only do such things in the open too, and more.

The intercom buzzed and the captain did his boilerplate welcome, followed by a flight attendant who showed how to use the in-flight oxygen masks the plane provided. No one paid her much attention, including Lin Ming. She was too engrossed in her book.

The plane lurched into motion, gathering speed as it hurtled down the runway. There was a jolting bounce when it left the ground and grew airborne. Lin stared out the window and watched all the buildings below rapidly grow tiny as they gained altitude.

"How long is the flight to Santa Cruz again, doctor?" Richard asked.

Harwood glanced up from her Ipad. "About 11 hours. Get comfy, everyone. It's going to be a long flight."

Lin turned back to her book, only to look up again when a flight attendant came by with a cart filled with snacks. She accepted a bag of peanuts gratefully and nibbled on them as she read. The blatant sexuality and lurid descriptions in the book both tantalized and scandalized her. She wondered, as she read of the male protagonist wrapping his big, strong arms around his beloved, if a man would ever touch her that way, and every time the two characters made love, Lin felt a strange heat coiling in her belly. She'd never seen sex described this way before. Did it really feel as good as the book described? Dana certainly seemed to enjoy doing it with her boyfriend, and Dana wasn't the kind of girl to do something she didn't like doing.