Chapter 3 Part 2

When the sun set, and twilight was upon the compound, Learth led his family to the commons hall for the evening meal. As they entered, Dylan saw that the hall, at least, was much the same as when he left, though it appeared not to be as big as he remembered it.

The Master Farmer, Talmus, was at the door greeting each of his people. It was by his orders that the fields were plowed, weeded, harvested. It was his decision as to which livestock was to be slaughtered, bred, or sold. He was the primary decision maker on the plantation. When Dylan entered, Talmus spied him and beamed proudly.

“Mister Dylan,” he greeted the young scholar. “Would you do us the honor of sharing the head table. After all, you’ll someday be sitting up there when your father steps down.”

Dylan accepted as his father had instructed him. And he was escorted by a member of the serving staff, mostly girls who were not old enough to be moving away and taking a husband.

As Dylan was led to the head table, he spotted Matt with the other farm hands. The other boy looked at him and a silly grin crossed his face. Then with no warning, he mouthed a message. “I love you.”

Dylan came to a dead stop. A curse, or a joke, or even a war cry was what he would have expected. But he definitely did not expect what he had seen.

“He’s silly isn’t he?”

Dylan turned. It was the girl leading him to the head table. “What?”

“He’s been telling me that every day for the last three months,” she giggled. Then she glanced back at Matt and winked.

Suddenly Dylan understood. So that was why Matt had not come by to visit. He realized that the message had been intended for the girl and not him. Dylan almost laughed in relief.

Dylan sat at the head of the table between his father and Talmus. After the blessing of the food, the members of the compound dined in excited silence. It was expected that Talmus would speak a few words about Dylan’s achievements and recognize him as the evening’s honored guest. Occasionally the guest was expected to say a few words, but more often than not they declined to do so. Dylan was sure that this would not be one of the rare occasions where the master farmer would ask the guest to speak.

The food was just as Dylan had remembered it. Though quite bland compared to what he had gotten used to at he Academy, it was still very hot and filling. On the farm, cooking was done towards nourishment, not pleasure.

When the majority of the meal was over, Talmus stood and banged his cup on the table twice. “My friends,” he began, “this year’s harvest has been very good. The Creator has smiled upon us every year since His return. But tonight we celebrate more than just another good day of harvesting. For one of the seeds planted eleven years ago by our head quartermaster, Learth,” Talmus stepped behind Dylan’s father and patted him on the shoulder, “has begun to bear fruit. Young Dylan left us to go to the Academy to learn to read and to write and to figure. He returned to us this afternoon for a brief visit before returning to the Academy. I’m told that the reason for this unprecedented vacation is that he’s far ahead of the learning schedule and his master decided to slow him down so the other students could catch up.” He turned to face Dylan. “All of Sandy Hollow are proud of you, son, and we’re certain that one day you’ll make a fine quartermaster. Keep up the good work.”

There was a brief round of applause and Dylan flushed red. He was not ahead of other students. Where did Talmus get that idea?

The main meal concluded soon after the speech and the desert for the night was lemon flavored pudding. Afterwards, there were a lot of people who stopped by to greet him and welcome him home. Eventually even Matt came by the head table.

“Well look at you,” he said with a mock bow. “All slicked up from the city. One wonders if you can still fight?”

Dylan knew that Matt was just pulling his leg. But they had both changed so much so he decided to have a little fun with his friend. “I no longer engage in fisticuffs,” he told Matt in his most lofty voice. “After hanging around with magicians for a year, I learned better ways of handling over-sized bullies.” Dylan put on his most sinister smile. “Do you have a taste for flies, Matt? You would look very handsome as a toad. That girl you have been flirting with might be able to change you back with a kiss, but I wouldn’t bet on it.”

Matt froze. He searched Dylan’s face for some sign that it was all a joke. When after a few long seconds, Dylan could keep it in no longer and he burst forth with a merry laugh.
Matt exhaled visibly. “Don’t joke about that kind of thing,” Matt pleaded. “Who knows what they’ve taught you in the Academy?”

Dylan was about to reply that he was not studying magic, but Matt’s attention was diverted as the same girl walked by. She accidentally brushed up against Matt and he immediately fell in step with her.

Dylan watched them go. It occurred to him that the hall was mostly empty. As the guest of honor, he had been obligated to stay until the end of the meal, but as people were beginning to file out of the building and the staff personnel were clearing the tables, Dylan finished his water and left the building.

Off in the distance, he saw Matt and the girl walking around behind the stables. He assumed that they were going to find a quiet place to kiss or something. He reasoned that this would not be a good time to try to catch up on old times with Matt.

“Hello Dylan.”

Dylan turned around. It was a girl, and at first he thought it was Cindy as she emerged from the half light spilling through the windows of the dining hall. He almost blurted out Cindy’s name, but as the girl came closer, Dylan could see the differences. The build and height were the same, but this girl had bright red hair and pale skin. It was too dark to tell what color her eyes were.

“Hello,” Dylan remembered his manners. “I’m sorry, but I don’t recall your name.”

“We’ve never met,” the girl said as she stopped less that two feet away. “My name is Sharon. I just moved here two months ago. My mother married the blacksmith here after my father died at Briar Creek.”

Dylan nodded, then hesitantly he stuck out his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he offered. “I’m sorry about your father.”

“My, how formal you are,” she teased.

“I don’t mean to be,” he apologized. “It’s just that at the Academy everyone’s expected to behave so proper.”

“I see,” Sharon said as she looked towards the stables where Matt and his sweetheart went. “Would you like to go for a walk with me?” she asked. “We can go and see if we can find Matt and Carrie.”

“I get the feeling that they don’t want to be found,” Dylan told her.

“Oh, how wrong you are,” Sharon disagreed. “They just don’t want to be found by any of the grown ups. Now if you and I were to find them together, they may like that very much.” Dylan didn’t understand what she meant, but he agreed to walk with her anyway. Besides, he hadn’t had a chance to look around the compound since he had arrived.

Dylan walked beside Sharon as the two of them went searching for their friends. As they rounded the edge of the stable fence and were hidden from view, Sharon slipped her hand into Dylan’s. The motion startled him at first, but the feeling was not unpleasant, so he declined to detach himself.

They walked through the sty that led to the corral, and out into a pasture. There, in addition to a variety of cattle, all wordlessly grazing and paying the young passers by little heed, were a number of hay stacks.

Sharon squeezed Dylan’s hand to get his attention. When he looked at her, she held a finger up indicating the need for silence. Then she began to sneak from haystack to haystack with Dylan in tow.

Abruptly it dawned on Dylan that he could make out soft voices and giggling coming from a short distance ahead. Sharon apparently knew where the noise was coming from as she led them closer and closer.

Dylan recognized the deeper voice as Matt’s. The other he assumed was the girl that had seated him at the head table.

“Slow down snuggy,” the girl snickered. “No, wait, let me do undo it. The last time you pulled the wrong string and I like to have never gotten it untied.”

Sharon placed her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. Dylan found to his astonishment that he too was grinning broadly.

Dylan and Sharon sat at the foot of the haystack listening to the ritual of adolescent courtship going on behind the structure’s hidden side.

“There,” the girl, Carrie, said at last. “Now don’t squeeze so hard this time, it hurts when you do that.”

The sounds that followed were that of heavy breathing and the occasional smacking of kisses. Dylan noted that Sharon had stopped laughing and was instead leaning back and listening intently. Her breathing had also quickened and her hand had gotten warm and damp. Dylan, himself, felt very odd as he too lay back in the straw.

The sounds coming from the other side of the haystack became more pronounced as Matt and Carrie became entirely absorbed in each other. Dylan felt Sharon snuggle up closer to him and without realizing it, he placed his arm around her shoulders and drew her face within inches of his own. That was all the encouragement she needed. Without warning, Sharon threw an arm about Dylan’s neck and planted a kiss full on his mouth. The kiss lingered for almost half a minute before she relaxed her grip and Dylan leaned back in surprise. Then to Sharon’s delight, he smiled. It had been his first real passionate kiss.

Dylan felt very strange. Without realizing it, he had laid back and pulled Sharon on top of him so that her head lay against his chest. He was absently running his fingers through her hair and enjoying the mixed scent of fresh cut hay and that of wildflowers.

The sounds behind them continued. Dylan found that he once again had the urge to kiss Sharon and when he looked down at her he found her returning his gaze.

An hour passed and Dylan and Sharon lay together on the clean straw. When Carrie and Matt emerged from around the haystack and headed for the main compound. Because Dylan and Sharon were in the shadows, the other two completely missed them. “Did I tie my blouse on straight?” Carrie was heard to ask as they receded.

When they were far enough away, Dylan broke the silence. “What was she doing with her shirt off?”

Sharon yawned. “What do your think?”

“Do you mean that they were, umm, er, that is....” Dylan didn’t quite know how to say it.

“Oh, no!” Sharon assured him. “Matt would probably like to, but Carrie won’t let him do that. She just lets him touch her boobs.”

“Oh,” Dylan replied quietly.

Sharon rolled over and sat next to Dylan. “Haven’t you ever touched a girl’s boobs before?”

“Well, umm, actually, no.”

Sharon giggled as she toyed with Dylan’s hand. “Would you like to?” Dylan felt himself getting cornered. He knew better than to refuse. That would really get the girl mad at him. But he really wasn’t ready for what she had in mind.

“I would,” he told her hesitantly, “but not tonight,” he added. “It’s already getting late and everyone’s going to wonder where I am. Maybe another night when we have lots of time?”

Sharon smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at him. “Tomorrow?”

Dylan sighed. “Tomorrow,” he agreed. That gave him a whole day to get out of it if he decided not to go through with it.

Dylan’s mother made a brief inquiry as to where he had been all evening. His reply had been that he was looking for Matt. She had accepted this explanation, but his father only smiled. “Did you find him?” he asked.

Dylan shrugged. “Not really,” he answered vaguely. He didn’t want to lie to his father, but neither did he want to give Matt’s evening adventures away.

“You’d have had better luck looking around the haystacks,” his father whispered with a wink. Dylan suppressed a smile. So his father was aware of Matt and Carrie. He momentarily wondered just who all did know.

“Young Matt fancies that girl of Harley’s,” Learth observed. “I hope he doesn’t become too attached though. Harley has already been talking about sending her to Cryton Manor to marry the new stable master there.”

Learth eyed his son critically. “We need to start looking for a nice young wife for our budding scholar here too,” he told his wife as he fondly ruffled Dylan’s hair.

The woman assumed a frigid posture. “There’ll be none of that until I have decided that he’s old enough to marry,” she declared.

“The boy’s already a commodity to Sandy Hollow,” Learth countered. “By this time next week, I expect that wagons from other plantations will be coming to do business, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the men brought daughters with them. It’s that time of year, and though he isn’t ready for taking on a wife and family, there’ll be a lot of interest in him. Many of the girls that are traveling with their fathers these days are only out looking for future husbands.”

“Well they can look all they want to, but Dylan is still at least five years from marrying age,” Gayla decided

“In five years, your son may very well be the most sought after young man in all the Teverak Plantation Region.” Learth leaned back and then decided that an additional warning was due.

“Dylan,” Learth seriously and sincerely advised, “be very careful with the young women on the plantation.” He leaned closely so that Gayla could not hear. “I know that soon you’ll be getting urges, but you must be cautious. You’ll command an excellent dowry and will be offered the hand of the most beautiful maiden within a hundred leagues. Just as I was.”

He said the last sentence loudly enough for Gayla to hear it. She beamed at the praise. But Learth was both romantic and a man of humor. He could not resist adding: “Instead, I married your mother.”

Gayla whirled about and smacked her husband across the back of the skull with her hand. “I hate you!” Though she said it loudly, she did so with a smile. Gayla knew Learth’s sense of humor. She knew her husband well enough to know that he really believed that he had married the most beautiful maiden.

Dylan laughed at the outburst. The scene had been played out countless times before. His parents were deeply in love with each other and he and his sister were the product of that love. Though over the years the passion had only faded slightly and had transformed itself into the even stronger ties of deep friendship.

When the night became late, Dylan bade his parents goodnight and climbed into the loft. He crawled into the bed and stole the blanket from Mari. Then he lay back and let his mind relax as the long missed sensations of peace and tranquility settled upon him.
The only thing that troubled him at all was what to do about Sharon and her boobs.