When Ryan got home from his doctor's appointment, he ran in the house, found his mother shelling butterbeans and without thinking said, "I got a job today at Dr. Larkin's office." And then on to the next subject, "Mom, what are you cooking tonight...I'm hungry."
She laughed and said, "That's great; tell me about the new job."
"I will later," He said.
"OK then, can't you see that I'm shelling beans. Your father picked this pan full and I'm going to cook us a mess tonight. He loves them. I've got some potatoes boiling too. By the way, you haven't told me about this new job. Don't you have enough to do around here?"
"Oh, it won't take too much time and I'll get some extra spending money. I'll be delivering prescriptions right after school," Ryan replied. "Are you cooking any ham with the beans?"
"I can fry you two a slice of country ham if you want."
"Sounds good to me, where's Dad?"
He's out in the shelter hooking up the plows to the tractor. He's going to break land in the morning. Why don't you go out there and see if you can help him before supper.
Oh! Before you go, take that shirt and those pants off, so I can wash them. Get a T-shirt and a pair of old jeans out of your clean-clothes drawer."
"Ok, mom," Ryan said, as he reached behind his head and grabbed the T-shirt and pulled it off.
Without paying any attention to Ryan's comment, his mother quickly turned and noticed that his shorts had slipped just below his belly button. Every time she saw that little mole sweet memories were played over and over in her mind. She couldn't help but smile.
*********
As they often studied together Ricki and Ryan gathered in her basement room.
Ryan paused for a few minutes and said to Ricki, "I want you to come with me tomorrow. I know it sounds silly and I know you don't like the woods, but I want to show you something. In fact, I want to show you something before Doc sees it. You can tell me what you think. We can talk about our plans after we leave this place."
"What should I wear?"
"Wear some jeans and a sweat shirt. Make sure it's long sleeves. And that sexy pair of tight jeans looks good on you and makes something in my pants swell. I don't want you getting into poison ivy. Gym shoes should be ok for your feet."
"You pervert, anything else," Ricki asked smiling and reading his thoughts?
"Oh yes! You can bring that book if you want too."
Ryan met Ricki at 7 am the next morning. He had dressed in a pair of camouflage pants and an olive-green T-shirt that he had bought at the downtown Army-Navy store. A fatigue hat and old work brogans completed his attire.
Ricki bounced out of her house with a book bag draped across her shoulder.
Ryan asked, "What have you got in there?"
She answered, "Mom made us some sandwiches."
"What else," Ryan asked expressing additional curiosity?
"I'll show you later, but for now, you'll have to wait."
"Did you bring that book?"
Ricki laughed at Ryan's poor attempt at hiding his interest in her sex book. "I told you that you'll just have to wait and find out. By the way, aren't we past what that book can teach us?"
As they walked down the tractor path past the corn field, Ryan pointed out the ruts that had washed into the route. "Be careful and watch where you walk," he cautioned, and then asked, "Do you want to taste some cool well-water?" They stopped at the well at the bottom of the hill...she cupped her hands below the spout as he primed the old pitcher pump and drew them a cool drink of clean well-water. When she got to the bridge across the ditch he showed her the two loose boards to avoid when crossing.
She warmed to his caring. With his face badly scared, she knew he was self conscious about his looks. But in her mind, he was one of the most warm-hearted people she knew. He looked good when he wore the patch that she had made. It made him look rugged and manly. Somehow, she felt that things would be different in a good way sometime in the future. One thing she could be sure of was that both were ready and ripe for change. She eagerly anticipated being alone with Ryan as they made their way to his secluded spot in the woods.
They laughed, they joked, she punched him in the ribs and he reached out and pinched her ass as they walked up the hill. Ryan lifted a wire in the barbed wire fence to let Ricki crawl through. "Be careful and don't let this wire scratch you," he said.
Ricki picked several honeysuckle flowers, pulled the pistil from the center and placed those sweet smelling petals to her nose. "Oh, that smells good," she said.
"Yes, and those vines make good string," said Ryan.
Ricki looked at Ryan like he was crazy and asked, "What in the world are you talking about?"
"You will see."
They had walked about a half mile before they reached the woods. Through an opening in the dense overgrowth of weeds and vines they walked into a clearing beneath a cluster of several large pine trees. On the ground lay a thick mat of pine straw that left an open space, free of underbrush. Ryan directed Ricki to a fallen log and said, "Let's sit and rest a minute and then I want to show you my back yard."
Ricki, with a questioned look on her face said, "I know you like this place, but I don't get it. It's nice and quite but I don't see anything."
"Give it time. You will...you will, trust me."
Ryan went on to describe the area more. "There's a creek that runs behind those trees just down that hill. The water is cool and flows over a bed of creek rock all along the back of this patch of woods. See that huge pine tree back against the stream and there is a large rock about one hundred yards upstream? Then out there by the edge of the woods is a beautiful wild dogwood tree and then there's the opening we just came through. That space represents 'my new backyard'. I can cover that opening if I want to hide in here."
Ryan carefully pulled a series of vines over the entrance and said, "This is my secret hiding place. I know every plant. I know those that can be eaten, and I know those that are dangerous. I know their strengths and weaknesses. I coexist with them in perfect harmony and use only those that are necessary to live on. I take and I put back.
In amazement Ricki began to understand a little. "I can't believe you, this is unbelievable; what else," she asked?
"In the same way as I have told you about the plants, the same thing is true for the animals."
"Uh...Oh, you mean there are animals in here, what kind," Ricki asked with some concern on her face?
Ryan laughed knowing he had a moment to tease Ricki a little said, "There's snakes, muskrats, raccoons, possum, squirrels, rabbits, and I've seen deer track in here. They come and go. This is and was their home before I ever came. I have even named most of them. I've got it written down in my log book.
"Aren't you afraid?"
"Nope...not now...The first time I spent the night out here, I was a little. When I'm here on the weekends, I don't bring any food. I live on this environment." Sometimes I won't eat for a couple of days before I get here. Then I'll trap a rabbit or squirrel and eat it."
"Yuk...how can you do that," Ricki said with a disgusted barfing motion?
"Don't worry I don't eat it raw...I skin it, cook it and with a few herbs I pick around here it's not too bad."
"Where did you learn all this," Ricki asked?
"Doc taught me a lot of it and he gave me a few 'Survival' magazines to read. It's very interesting. I know he doesn't want me to talk about it...only to friends that I can trust. Ricki you are the only person that I can tell anything too. But you still have to promise not to tell anybody."
With a tear in her eye, Ricki approached Ryan and placed her arms around his broad shoulders and said, "I won't let you down. It's nice to have to have someone I can trust. She smiled and pulled his chest firmly into hers. "Do you think they've grown any? I wish there was a place we could hide even further."
Ryan's eyes brightened as he looked down into Ricki's face and said, "I like them just the way they are. They just fit my hands; any more would be wasted. But, let me show you my shelter. It's right over there."