Andrae - Chapter 2

I spit out a mouthful of sand and rubbed my eyes, trying to peer off into the darkness of the pit under the library into which I had inadvertently tumbled. As my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I began to make out the shapes of boxes, chests, and miscellaneous  broken items littered across the sandy stone floor.

Hurriedly I crawled back up the uneven stone steps and retrieved a candle. I could hardly believe my eyes when I began to open the sealed chests. There were a lot of books, just as I had suspected. Meg had told me about how the witches had discovered the chests on the balcony, and the many books they had contained.

But there were also sealed boxes full of other things - a couple of guitars, and piles of musty furs and pillows; and nestled in amongst the bedding, several sets of what I could only deduce were some sort of tools.

I picked up a book at random and began to page though it. It was unlike any of the books upstairs in the library - mainly it contained drawings and designs for making different types of objects, using random metal scraps. I grew more and more excited as I realized that I could use the tools from the chests, and the metal I had found on the beach to actually make stuff - that is if I could read the directions well enough to follow them. I set the book aside for now, determined to ask Meg to help me with it later.

Taking the candle in hand, I made my way to the far end of the cavern. There was some type of machine that I could not see a use for at all, and the remains of an ancient boat that would never float again. And back against the far wall, surrounded by tumbled rocks and geysers spraying up from gaps where the stone floor had broken away , was a well, almost identical to our family well deep beneath our home.

There didn't seem to be anything useful that had survived at the far end of the room. As I turned to go back the the chest area, I almost missed a strange wooden contraption almost hidden behind the stone stairway.

Intrigued, I stepped closer and gave one of the long horizontal poles a good whack. What could this possibly be for?

Imagine my surprise when the whole contraption spun rapidly around on its base and came back to hit me square on the chin! Enough of that! I'd have to check the boxes later to see if there was a book that had some sort of instructions. Rubbing my chin gently, I made my way up the stairs. Despite my curiosity, it was time to head for home, or I'd surely get it from Ma.

The next day seemed to drag on forever. But finally the sun began to set, and Meaghan appeared for our usual reading lesson.
"Don't go upstairs yet. I have something I want to show you."
I could barely contain my excitement as I led her over to the deserted corner where I had covered the entrance with branches and more sand the night before.

"Be careful. There's steps down over here."
I cleared a few of the branches away, and gently took her hand, and we slowly felt our way down the uneven stone steps together.

Instead of our usual reading lesson, I spent the next few hours showing her everything I had discovered the night before. Meg was just as thrilled as I had been, but her reaction was completely different. While my first instinct had been to hide my secret from the world, hers was the opposite.

"Oh Andrae! This stuff is amazing! We need to show everyone, right now!"

I didn't want to share. I wanted to keep it all for just the two of us, but how was I going to convince her of that?

Instead of answering immediately, I reached under the pile of bedding on the floor and retrieved a small box I had discovered in one of the chests. I swallowed hard as I handed it to her.

"Um.. here. I found this, and I thought you would like it. You wind it up and it plays music."

"Oh, Andrae! It's wonderful! Thank you for thinking of me."

And she smiled at me so beautifully I thought my heart would melt. 

"I'm always thinking of you, Meg." 

Argh. Why did I say that? But my disobedient tongue was not through yet.

"I.. I know we can't keep this a secret forever... but I was thinking... maybe just for a little while.. it could be our special place? For our.. um.. reading lessons?"

I was completely unprepared for what happened next.
Meaghan leaned in close and whispered, "You are very sweet, you know that? We can keep it secret for a little while if that's what you want. I have to go now, but I'll see you tomorrow."
Then she leaned in even further and planted a small kiss on my cheek. And before I could react, she was gone.

The next evening I brought out the design book, and with Meg helping me, it all became much clearer. Even so, I had  hard time concentrating on the subject at hand. My mind kept wandering back to that kiss. What did it mean? Was it a friendly kiss or .. the other kind? Did girls even kiss boys unless they were attracted to them? Was it possible she was actually attracted to me? How could that be? Alas, I didn't know the answers to any of those questions, and I had no one to ask.

I guess Meg could tell how distracted I was, because eventually she set the book aside and looked me in the eye.
"Andrae, we need to talk."
Uh oh. The dreaded words. They were never I good sign when coming from Ma or Pa. I put on a brave smile and replied.
"Uh.. okay. What.. ah.. did you want to talk about?"
"Do you like me?"
Arghh. What kind of question was that? What did it even mean? Of course I liked her. Did she mean friend-like or romantic-like? Decisions, decisions. I decided to play it safe.
"Of course I like you. You're my best friend."
"I mean, more than a friend? Because I really like you...."
I didn't want to ask, but I felt I had to get it all out in the open.
"But.. what about the witch boy.. Val. I thought you and he...."
"What? No way! That boy is evil! I only go to the witches' house because Oakheart has his reading classes there! I promised Val that if he ever touches me I'll punch him in the face. And I will, too!"

Then she took me by the hands, pulled me to my feet, and smiled into my eyes so as to almost blind me.
"Do you remember the book I was reading the night we met? Beauty and the Beast?"
I nodded incoherently, mesmerized by her smile.
"I finished it. Do you want to know how it ended?"
I nodded again, still speechless.
"The beast is so good and kind to the girl, that she gets over her fear. And then... she falls in love with him...

And then, Meg did something totally unexpected yet again...
At first I was so surprised I didn't know what to do. But then, as her warm lips stayed glued to mine, my arms wound around her and pulled her close, still overwhelmed at the wonder of it all.

I didn't want it to ever end, but at last we broke apart and just stood there gazing into each other's eyes, for how long I couldn't say. Then Meg slowly lifted her hands up to her shoulders, all the while keeping her gaze on mine, and slowly pulled the straps of her little dress down onto her arms...

... and the little dress fluttered gently to the floor just as it had in my dreams. I couldn't take my eyes off from her, but I had to be sure.
"Are you sure about this, Meg?" I whispered hoarsely.
"Never been more sure about anything, Andrae.."
"What if.. what if you get pregnant?"
"Don't worry, I won't.. today is a safe day."
"Safe day?"
"Yes I read about it in a book. Now hush."

So I hushed, and Meaghan took my hands in hers and wrapped my arms around her...

...and pushed me down into the pile of musty furs. Her hands and fingers and body seemed to know just what to do, but it was over way too soon. Embarrassingly too soon, in fact.

"Sorry.. sorry. I'm so sorry Meg."
 It was all I could say. I felt so terrible. But she stopped me with a finger over my lips, then took my face in her hands.
"Hush. Stop it. It's okay. We have lots of time. We'll do it again in a little while, okay? Now kiss me."

So I kissed her. And she was right. The second time was everything I could have asked for. But one small detail continued to eat at me. How was she so sure of herself and how did she know exactly what to do? I knew it was her first time, just like me. So of course I had to ask. And of course I should not have been surprised at the answer.
"I read it in a book..."

She let me borrow the book, and while I couldn't read every word, I definitely got the gist of it. I thought it would be a how-to book, but it wasn't. It was a - rather graphic - love story, and I couldn't put it down.

In the days and weeks that followed, the book was our guide as we explored each other's bodies each night in our secret hideout, always careful to take advantage of the 'safe days.'

We even did it standing up in the water jets at the far end of the cavern. We knew the time was coming when we'd have to give up our secret, but for now, we took full advantage.

All too soon, my birthday arrived. I'd never celebrated a birthday before, it just wasn't done in our family. But Meg brought one of the witches' silly birthday horns and blew it for me, and it made the day seem somehow special.
It would be her birthday soon, but sadly I would have to miss that occasion. The witches were throwing her a party at the playground, but I knew it wouldn't be safe for me to show up there.

Instead, I spent the evening of her party in our secret place. She had promised to slip away and see me, if she possibly could, and so I found something to keep myself occupied while I waited. I brought some of the metal scraps with me, that I had hidden in my little bookshelf at home, and tried to make sense of one of the designs I had read about. I pounded away with my tools for a while, but it was way more difficult that in looked.

Eventually I gave up, and pulled the wooden pole contraption out into the middle of the room. I had found a few pictures in one my books of how it was supposed to be used. Now was as good a time as any to try it out.

I was concentrating so hard on my moves, I didn't notice at first that Meaghan had arrived from her party. I was startled to glance up and see her standing there, all grown up and more beautiful than ever.

"Andrae! Hellooooo! Anybody home? What is that thing? What are you doing?"

"I wanna learn how to do that! Can you teach me? I'll punch Val right in the nose!"
She was just so adorable, fists all balled up like that.
"Of course, after I figure it out myself," I laughed.
"But first, come 'ere and give me a birthday kiss!"
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close.

We were so lost in our passionate embrace that we didn't hear the footsteps on the stairs...