Year 17 -- Loki: Rainbow Valley
By Ellen C. Lindow
Alex walked out of the Eagle and down the steps to the table set up near the tents.
"Shall we deal you in?" his Uncle Alan asked, shuffling the cards. Emma and Richard sat across the table from Alan waiting for him to deal.
Alex shook his head. "Where's Dad?"
"Alan's standing guard to make sure we don't follow," Emma said with a smirk. Twelve-year-old Richard snickered.
"You know, you guys were much easier to watch when you were little," Alan commented, dealing four hands and motioning for Alex to join them.
"I really don't mind them going off for some 'quality time'," fourteen year old Emma said, looking at her cards, "But why can't we stay at the beach instead of coming up here? There's nothing to do here."
"Your mum loves this place. And you guys always enjoy it too," Alan said.
"I like it here," Richard said.
Alex sighed. "Me too. There's always plenty of placed to climb and explore around here." He picked up his cards and glumly threw a chip in the center of the table. He glanced out into the darkness in the direction he knew his parents had gone and sighed again.
"What's eating you mate?" Alan asked, watching Emma carefully as she placed her bet. He could usually read Em like a book and had been coaching her to guard her expressions more closely.
"Dinah's mad at me," Alex said. "No thanks to you," he added looking at his sister.
"Me? What did I do?" Emma asked with surprise.
Richard tossed his chip on the table with no comment.
"Cards?' Alan asked.
"Two," Alex said distractedly. "You just had to tell her that Nora was down here, didn't you?"
"I haven't talked to her since we came up here!" Emma said indignantly. "I was working on the assignments Alan gave me all afternoon," She glanced at Alan, looking into his eyes but not giving anything away. "One, please."
Alan tossed her a card to her. "Richie?" he asked.
"She's gotta be bluffing," Richie said. "I need four, Uncle Alan." Both Emma and Alan had recently quit calling Alan Carter 'Uncle' but Richie wasn't too comfortable with that yet.
"Maybe," Alan smiled at the red-headed boy across the table from him.
"Well, someone sure told her about it."
Emma gave a short laugh. "It's not like I'm the only one who saw you two together. You must have had your tongue halfway down her throat, Alex."
"And your hands on her butt," Richie added with a giggle.
Even in the dim light of the camplight hanging above them Alan could see Alex go red.
"Look, Alex, I could have told Dinah, but I didn't. She's been mooning after you for ages now, and she'd only be mad at me if I told her. Your sex life is not a topic of conversation I'm interested in pursuing."
"If you didn't tell her, who did?"
"I don't know!"
The card game continued and Alan remained silent while the three kids talked. The kids generally simply treated him as one of the gang, using language and discussing topics they wouldn't dare bring up around their parents. Usually he was flattered to be included, but this conversation was going places he'd rather not be.
"Well, I was talking to Billy earlier," Richie said. He frequently tried to play peacemaker between his more volatile brother and sister. "I might have told him that I thought you scored with Nora the other night."
"Well, that would explain it," Emma said. "Billy would have told Maggie, who's going with Jorge right now. Jorge probably told Dave and he told Hilly and Hilly would have gone straight to Dinah."
It almost made Alan's head swim to listen to Emma's description of the adolescent grapevine, but she was probably being completely accurate.
"I'm sorry, Alex," Richie said sincerely. "Bu if you're kissing Nora, why are you upset that Dinah's mad?"
"Because he'd rather be kissing Dinah," Emma said with embarrassing accuracy.
Alex squirmed in the seat beside Alan.
Emma leaned toward her little brother and said. "I bet he closes his eyes and pretends it's Dinah when he does it."
Alex was at the limits of holding his temper. Alan set his cards down and put his hand on the teenager's shoulder. "That's enough Emma. Come on, Alex. Let's you and I go for a walk."
Alan stood and Alex did too, eager to get away from his sister's tormenting. Both could hear Emma's parting shot, "It's not like Nora cares. She'll go out with anyone."
They walked away from the Eagle and the pool of light where the table sat, but they went in the opposite direction from the little valley where John and Helena were.
The picked their way among waist high bushes that dotted the landscape. As their eyes adjusted to less light, they could see small mosses glowing by their feet and millions of stars overhead.
"I didn't know they glowed," Alan pointed out the tough moss.
"It's a bioluminescent lichen that attaches itself to that plant. Most of them cling to rocks instead of bushes," Alex explained, eager to talk about anything but Nora and Dinah.
"Really?" Alan asked, encouraging Alex to keep talking.
Alex warmed to this safe topic and described the lichen as they walked along. They came to a spot by the creek that wound away from the waterfalls upstream and sat on the rocks by the water.
Alex sat with his long legs tucked up and his arms around his knees. Alan made himself comfortable against another rock. Both sat in silence for a few minutes.
"So, how far have you and Nora gone?" Alan asked. He sure wished John were the one sitting out here with Alex, but he felt the situation wasn't one that would wait, and he certainly wasn't willing to disturb John and Helena right now. They got precious little time to themselves anyway.
"Not as far as Richie and Emma think," Alex said softly. "Alan, I know it's just biology. Mom says that having sex is one of those things we're just built to do." Alex hesitated. "I want to do it, and Nora is really willing, but it-- just-- it doesn't feel right."
"Why not?" He smiled, wondering what kind of clinical explanation a doctor would give her son, who was acutely interested in biology already.
"I guess I just don't like Nora much. I mean, I like kissing her all right. And when we're kissing, I'd really like to do more. Sometimes when Nora moves against me, I feel like I'm just going to explode! But id doesn't feel right. I guess Em's pretty much right too. It's not like Nora really likes me or anything. Not the way Dinah does. But Mom says having sex is okay as long as you follow the four C's."
"The four C's?"
"Communication, Cooperation, Contraception, and Consequences," Alex rattled off. "She says you have to communicate with your partner. The two of you have to cooperate together to make sure you're both wanting the same thing. You have to use contraception, and be willing to face the consequences of what you're doing."
Alan raised an eyebrow. It sounded reasonable to him. He kept quiet and waited for Alex to continue.
"I think I'm okay here with the first two C's. Nora certainly hasn't had any problem communicating what she wants, and she's sure cooperative!"
Alan was glad Alex couldn't see his grin in the dark. Nora Edelson's appetites had come to his attention before through various comments made by Emma and Dinah in his presence.
"The contraception thing is okay, I guess. I mean, Mom told me what I'm supposed to do with a condom, and Nora told me she had an implant already."
Alan shuddered at that statement, wondering what would happen if Nora weren't being completely truthful. Alex was a bright kid though, and had already come to this conclusion himself.
"It's that fourth C I guess I'm having a problem with. What if she gets pregnant anyway? Or what if Dinah finds out? Well, Dinah already thinks I've had sex with Nora now, but I've been trying to tell her I haven't, no thanks to Emma and Richie.
Alex hesitated, then continued. "Dinah's mom says it's bad to have sex and not be married. And Bill says she can't get married until she's eighteen. That's a long time from now!"
Alan had to agree. "That it is, mate." He didn't want to make any suggestions, but it seemed to help Alex to talk about it.
"I guess I'm just confused. How come my mom thinks it's okay, and Nora's mom I guess thinks it's okay, but Dinah's mom thinks it's bad?"
"I don't think I know, Alex. I think maybe confusion is a fifth C."
Alex laughed. "Yeah. I guess it is."
It was good to hear Alex laugh. "So what are you going to do?"
"Well, thanks to Richie, everyone is going to think I've done it with Nora. But I don't really want Nora. I want Dinah. We really were just kissing. Nora asked me to sneak out last night, but I didn't. Then this morning we came up here with you, so probably Nora and Dinah are mad at me."
"Think Dinah will forgive you?"
"Yeah. She knows I wouldn't lie to her. And we've talked about this stuff before. That first C you know."
"Right, communication."
"Being with Dinah is a lot more fun. Nora gets kind of tiresome after a while. Dinah always likes it when we talk-- about anything. She likes to listen to my music and sing along with me. And she doesn't mind just hanging around when I'm working on a project or something. Nora always wants me to just pay attention to her. And kissing Dinah, well, it's just better." Alex shrugged. "She just tastes better."
Alan had to laugh at the description. "Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on this, mate. Shall we go back and play poker now?"
"Yeah, sure. As long as Em doesn't keep going on about it," Alex hesitated, then jumped down, crouching next to Alan. "If she does, I'm going to tell who she likes."
"Well, she said she was staying out of your love life. Maybe you should do the same for her."
Alex watched Alan carefully in the dark for a moment. Then he stood. "Okay, let's go play poker."
The two headed back to the campsite together.
Ellen C. Lindow
October, 2000