"Her house was just a block and a half off the route to mine. She invited me to come with her, promising to tell me more about this orgasm thing. An older girl was asking me to her house. That was very impressive and tempting. I knew I had to get home to do my chores at the nursery, but I went anyway.
"There was no one at home at her house. She was an only child and both her parents were at work. She took me to her room and started asking me more questions about my precocious puberty. Then she went to her closet and pulled a jewel- box out from under her shoe rack, unlocked it, and took out something she called a vibrator.'"
"Flora," Ian said, his voice full of warning. His face took on a crimson shade very quickly, too.
"Relax," Flora said, and turned back to me quickly. "When she described what she did with it, the whole idea was terrifying. She offered to demonstrate and did. A tow truck couldn't drag me out of that room after that."
"You don't have to go into the nifty-gritty details about it," Ian said.
Flora smiled at him. "Sure. I know you boys just love hearing such things."
"Not me," he said firmly.
I was beginning to get very annoyed. This whole conversation seemed to be more for them than for me and I still didn't understand where it was going or why Flora was even telling me about it. I began to think seriously about wetting up and running back to the cabin. I was a little unsure of the direction, so I hesitated.
"She talked me into trying it, coaxing and guiding me until I lay back on her bed and did what she instructed. At first I felt silly, of course, and still a little frightened, thinking I would hurt myself, but then--"
"Flora!" Ian practically shouted. She smiled at him and turned back to me as though she was going to leave him out of the rest of the story.
"I felt myself get wet and my pelvis tingled. There was a wave of excitement, a rippling between my legs that made me feel like my whole body had turned to jelly or something. I wanted to stop but I couldn't and she was doing more than urging me on. She had her hand on my hand. When I looked at her face. I saw she was enjoying it as much as I was or even more."
"That's enough.," Ian said.
"Okay, okay. Relax. Afterward, I practically ran all the way home. My parents were so busy they didn't notice how late I was, and of course. I never told anyone about it. Matter of fact," she said, pausing and nodding, "I haven't told anyone until now."
"We're flattered," Ian said dryly, and she laughed.
"Gwen tried to get me to come back to her house with her a few more times, but I wouldn't do it. That, my dear Jordan, was my introduction to sex."
Sex? I thought. That's sex? How can babies come from something like that?
"That's not going to happen to my sister," Ian said. He looked angry about it, but it still gave me a good feeling to hear him sound protective.
Flora laughed. "You never know what's going to happen to anyone," she said. "You're not with her all the time."
"It's not going to happen to her that way," Ian insisted.
I thought they might get into a real argument about it, but Flora simply shrugged and looked out at the berry patch. I still didn't know what it was all about or understand what exactly had happened to her in that older girl's bedroom. Her body turned to jelly? She was frightened, but couldn't stop? Gwen was enjoying it more than she was? Enjoying what? What was strange about it all was that even though I didn't understand, my heart was pounding.
I saw Ian staring at me in a strange way. His eyes shifted back to Flora. He still looked angry and upset. Then he turned completely to stare at the berry patch. Flora adjusted her camera. We were all very quiet. My mind was in turmoil, my body a
kaleidoscope of emotions and feelings. I really wanted to go back to the cabin and be near Mama. I thought I even whimpered, but neither of them looked at me. There was some rustling in a bush. Ian reached back to touch Flora and they both moved closer to the tree. I held my breath and then the black bear appeared.
When it paused and sniffed the air, both Flora and Ian suddenly froze and looked like they were holding their breath, too. The bear turned to the berries and squatted to pick and eat them. I was fascinated, but so frightened. I broke out in a cold sweat. The bear stopped and turned to look our way.
"He knows we're here,' Flora whispered. She chanced clicking a picture and then another. "Don't move," she warned me.
The bear decided not to bother with us and returned to its feast. It moved farther away in the berry patch.
"Beautiful," Ian said. "I've never been as close to one before except for the goo, of course."
"I think we should get going," Flora suggested. "Don't look a gift bear in the mouth."
Ian laughed and then they crawled back and we all stood up and moved quickly toward the path we had followed. My heart was still pounding so hard I thought I would lose my breath as I did when I ran and ran. Ian reached for my hand to pull me along with them and we eventually did break out into a jog until we reached the field and saw the campers.
"You'd bett
er be sure to keep this secret. Jordan," Ian warned me. "Mother finds out where I took you and I'm a goner."