FIRST KISS

Reuben had just finished Grade 8, when he and his mom went to visit his grandparents for the summer. They lived on a small farm in Montana, so leaving the busyness of Seattle for the quietness of the country might be challenging, especially since there wasn’t any Internet. He couldn’t believe they would be gone for almost two months, almost two lifetimes in his mind.

One early afternoon, almost time for him and his mother to return to their home in Seattle, the weather was as hot as a grass fire ripping across the prairies and the ominous fast-approaching black clouds interspersed with flashes of lightning posed a distinct possibility that such a fire might ignite. Reuben was pretending to be Huckleberry Finn as he poled a makeshift raft around a shallow tea-colored pond partially filled with lounging lily pads and brooding bulrushes in search of frolicking frogs. He hadn’t been paying any attention to the distant storm but when he was startled by a loud clap of thunder almost directly overhead, he almost fell off the raft into the pond. The sudden noise had also frightened Daisy, a dapple-grey workhorse that Reuben had rode bareback to the pond. He thought she was going to run off but being used to thunderstorms, she immediately returned to nibbling at the sweet blades of grass growing near the edge of the pond.

Even a city-boy like Reuben knew it was time to hightail it back to the farmhouse; a torrential downpour was following the storm’s wake. However, since he wasn’t very tall and hardly a cowboy, he had to lead Daisy over to a Paige wire fence, so he was able to climb onto her back. She took very little encouragement to escape the impending storm’s fury and as she galloped away from the pond, Reuben bouncing up and down on her back like a sack of potatoes, the first huge droplets of rain began falling. They had almost reached the barn when a screeching chicken scurried out from behind a rain barrel right in front of the mare and she suddenly stopped in her tracks, her four hooves leaving skid marks in the dry earth as Reuben shot over her head, did a complete summersault in midair and landed on his back in a cloud of dust. Unfazed by his hard landing, he watched Daisy amble off into the barn as he slowly stood up. The mare was standing in her stall when he arrived and untied the rope that was dangling from her halter. He was about to leave but then remembering a nearby neighbor and her teenage daughter were visiting, most likely everyone yacking it up inside the house, he decided to wait out the storm in the barn. Not that he wasn’t interested in girls, Reuben was very shy.

The barn was almost 150 years old and although somewhat dilapidated, had housed a lot of livestock over the years, such as cows, pigs, goats, horses and even a couple of donkeys. Now, only Daisy, a milking cow and about a couple of dozen chickens were the main occupants besides the mice and an owl, which resided high up in the rafters. As Reuben climbed the ladder leading to the loft, the sounds of the cow chewing her cud and Daisy munching on some hay were drowned out by the pounding rain as it hit the cedar shake-roof. The loft was partially filled with bales of hay and straw and after making a bed in the loose straw, he laid down and watched the rain through the big door that was used to hoist the heavy bales into the loft. He loved the barn’s warm aroma and its peacefulness, the sound of heavy rain adding to the ambience. Although he had bellyached a great deal about leaving his friends for the summer, he had to admit he was enjoying his solitude at his grandparent’s farm.

Reuben felt warm and cozy lying in his bed of straw and as he listened to the sound of the mesmerizing rain and rumbling thunder as it passed overhead, he almost fell asleep. That is, until he thought he heard someone calling his name. Thinking it was perhaps a figment of his imagination due to all the sounds resonating throughout the barn, this time, he was certain that he was hearing a girl’s voice calling out, “Reuben? Are you in here Reuben?”

“What does she want? Maybe she will go away if she doesn’t see me,” he mumbled quietly to himself as he slowly crawled over to the edge of the loft and peered down.

He quickly turned his head away when he saw the neighbor's daughter Rebecca but not quick enough. “There you are,” she smiled and gaily said. “Do you mind if I come up?”

Although Rueben minded, he reluctantly but as pleasantly as possible answered, “Sure. Come on up.”

Reuben had barely returned to his bed in the straw and laid down when he saw Rebecca’s smiling face appear at the top of the ladder. Her long red hair was soaking wet and hung in ringlets past her shoulders and although her spectacles were speckled with raindrops, he couldn’t help noticing her lively green eyes. She was wearing a white blouse which was also drenched, and he tried to avert his eyes as she began crawling onto the loft because the way it clung to her ample breasts, there was little left to the imagination. Her blue jeans were also wet, and the rain had made them even tighter as they hugged her small waist, curvy hips and long legs. He had noticed how nice she had looked when he stole short glimpses of her as she sat on a couch in the house, but now, when she was so close he could reach out and touch her, he had a hard time breathing and felt embarrassed.

“I thought I might find you here,” and after getting settled next to Reuben on the straw she continued, “I got tired of listening to all the old people talking about the good old days. I didn’t especially want to be here today, but my mom didn’t want to come alone and insisted that I come along. She told me that you’re from Seattle. I’ve always lived here but would one day like to leave, maybe go to New York, San Francisco or some place like that. How old are you?”

“I’m fourteen,” and although his birthday had just been a couple of weeks earlier, quickly added, “But I’m almost fifteen.”

“I’m sixteen. Sweet sixteen,” she said and giggled. And then, looking at Reuben, one eyebrow cocked and a slight grin on her face she continued, “And never been kissed. Well, that’s a lie. I’ve kissed a few boys, but they always want more, and I’m not that interested in any of them. Have you?”

“Have I what?” Reuben replied, his face turning every red imaginable.

“Why, you’re blushing Reuben,” and she gently poked him in the shoulder saying, “Have you ever been kissed? Do you have a girlfriend back in Seattle?”

Nervously chewing on a blade of straw and trying to look cool he stammered, “No. I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“I’m surprised. With that mop of curly blonde hair, I would think the girls would be all over you.”

Although Reuben knew that Rebecca was teasing him, it wasn’t until they began talking about other things like the schools they were attending, their friends and what they would like to be when they grew up that he finally began to relax, even nudging her playfully with his elbow occasionally.

The storm was still raging, the lightning flashes casting dark shadows throughout the old barn when Rebecca quietly said, “This is nice isn’t it? Just two strangers getting to know one another. When I first met you today, I didn’t think too much about you and was actually glad when you left. But now, now that I’ve learned more about you, I’m really glad I came out to the barn.”

Not that they were touching but Reuben could feel her heat, the very essence of her being as he said, “Me too. I feel the same. I never would have thought.”

“You didn’t answer my question before.”

“What question was that?”

“Have you ever been kissed?”

Still chewing on the piece of straw, Reuben glanced at Rebecca and said, “No. Not really.”

“What do you mean by that? Not really.”

“I don’t suppose being kissed by my mom counts,” and they both laughed.

Gazing down towards her feet Rebecca softly asked, “Would you like to kiss a girl someday?”

“Of course. What guy doesn’t want to do that?”

Then, shifting her gaze, Rebecca looked directly into Reuben’s eyes saying, “Would you like to kiss me? I’d like to kiss you if you don’t mind.”

Reuben couldn’t believe this was happening. Here, in an old barn of all places and with a beautiful redheaded girl during the middle of a thunderstorm. And she wants me to kiss her. What could be more excellent than this! He was lost for words and simply nodded as she leaned her face towards his and softly touched his lips with hers. As the kiss lingered, they pressed their lips together a little harder and firmer. When they finally broke apart, they smiled at one another and she asked, “Your first kiss but not your last, I’m sure of that. Some lucky girl will latch on to you one day. Did you like it?”

“It was wonderful. Thank you.”

“So polite.” And she giggled.

“You know something Reuben. You may kiss a lot of girls afterwards, but you will always remember me and your first kiss. I like that…and…I like you Reuben. Maybe we should stay in touch after you return to Seattle.”

The years went by and Rebecca had been right. Although he had kissed other girls, he would always remember that first kiss in the old barn, while the thunder roared, and the lightning flashed. And so would Rebecca. They really hadn’t expected to stay in touch after he’d left but the Internet made it easy and as Reuben climbed the ladder into the loft of that old barn that he had inherited along with the rest of his grandparent’s farm, his wife Rebecca was lying in a bed of straw waiting for him.