Tarnished Gold (Landry 5)

"Naked?" Yvette said, her eyes widening. I nodded. They drew closer to me.

"What happened?" Evelyn asked breathlessly.

"One afternoon about a week ago, I was sunning myself at the pond and this handsome young man came poling along. I didn't hear him."

Yvette's mouth opened.

"You were naked when he appeared?" Evelyn asked. I nodded. They held their breaths.

"I opened my eyes and found him staring down at me and smiling. I was terribly embarrassed, of course, and reached for my dress. But he . ." "What?"

"Sat on it."

"No!"

"What did you do?" Evelyn asked.

"I said, please, monsieur, you have me at an unfair advantage. He agreed."

"And gave you your dress?"

"No. He took off his clothes so he would be naked, too."

"You're lying," Evelyn said.

"You asked me to tell you. You swore you would keep it a secret. I'm telling you and you're calling me a liar," I said. "I kept my part of the bargain." I started to turn away.

"I believe you," Yvette declared. "Tell us the rest." I hesitated.

"All right. I do believe you," Evelyn relented.

"Go on."

"He was very polite. We spoke softly. He had the deepest blue eyes I had ever seen. I think he hypnotized me with those eyes. In fact, I'm sure he did."

"What do you mean?"

"The next thing I knew, he was kissing me."

"And he touched you?"

"Everywhere," I said. "I couldn't resist." "And then?" Yvette said with impatience.

"I don't know. I just . . . woke up and he was gone."

"Gone?" Evelyn grimaced with disappointment. "You must have just dreamt it, fantasized," she added contemptuously.

"No, I know I didn't dream it. He had left a beautiful red rose at my side."

"A red rose? In the swamp?" Evelyn asked, smirking. "That's how I knew I hadn't dreamt it."

The two studied me a moment in silence.

"All right. So what did you do then?" Yvette asked.

"I was so frightened I got dressed and went home as fast as I could. I told my mother."

"You did? Everything?"