When Saturday came by, the school kids and their families joined the faculty in the schoolyard for the annual picnic. It was a beautiful day, with nothing but blue skies and sunshine above them.

“Thanks so much for fixing the shower,” Miki said as she and Alan set up the tables on the back field of Drummond Elementary. “Feels nice to stand up when getting clean.”

Alan bobbed his head and propped up another table as Miki draped a red and white cross-patterned tablecloth over it. Mother Nature was working in the school’s favour today, casting a bright sun and warm breeze across their faculty-parent picnic.

“I was thinking you might want to do some roofing and insulation work on the place,” Alan remarked.

“Hmm? My roof?” Miki asked.

“I noticed some damp and cool spots in your ceiling when I was poking around.”

“Oh, you’re kidding,” she said exasperated. She sensed a money-pit opening beneath her feet.

Alan waved an easy hand at her. “I’ve got some leftover shingles and insulation supplies from other jobs. Shingles won’t match exactly with the colour of your roof, but it’s just some patchwork to be done before the colder months set in. I could be done in a day or two. Could start tomorrow.”

“Really?” Miki said. She didn’t want to constantly lean on him for all of her house repairs, but she couldn’t think of a better way. After only a moment’s hesitation and a quick discussion, she accepted his offer and Alan confirmed he’d start the next morning, Sunday.

Along with the other teachers and parents gathered around the table, they started laying out the buffet while the kids played in the school yard. Dean preferred to help at the table, and stayed close by Miki’s side.

“So what did you and your dad bring for us today?” she asked.

Dean removed the lid from one of two large foil trays he and his father had brought to the picnic and showed it to her. Dozens of inch-sized Italian meat balls stewed deliciously in a bath of rich tomato sauce in the container.

“You were expecting falafels?” Alan remarked.

Miki looked up at him from across the table. Did he actually just crack a joke? The man continued moving along down the tables laying down napkins.

She watched him for a moment then looked down at Dean and the tray of meatballs. “Must have been a lot of work.”

Dean nodded and smiled.

* * * * * * * * *

“Those were great, a real hit,” Miki remarked about the meatballs as she stretched her legs on the grass. “I think I could have measured each one with a ruler and they’d all have been the exact size.”

Alan, also sitting on the ground, looked at his shoes as he tied up his laces. He remarked, “My aunt would smack me around if I didn’t make them completely identical.”

“Does she live nearby?”

He nodded. “Yeah, about twenty minutes north.”

Miki stood up and started in on some twists. “Any other family close by?”

“No. I was an only kid myself. I was raised by my aunt,” Alan replied. He finished tying his shoes and rested on his seat, pausing for a momentary thought before adding, “I guess that’s why I stayed in the region here with Dean. No other place to go, really.”

Miki was surprised with how forthcoming Alan was with his answers. Still, he seemed to be giving her just enough while constantly raising more questions in her head. It surprised her just how genuinely interested she was in the guy. She didn’t want to press too much though, and said, “Well it’s a nice place to be, and maybe that’s why you and Dean seem so close: The two men having to rely on one another.”

Alan’s eyes drifted away across the school’s field. He offered a contemplative nod.

After lunch, the school community held the events part of the picnic: Races, soccer, dodge-ball. Dean preferred to wander in the nearby ravine by himself. The big event came last: The parent vs. faculty softball game.

Alan stood and walked towards the parents’ team.

“Oh, hey, wait!” Miki called to him, “Aren’t you going to be on our team?”

“I’m a parent,” Alan shrugged. “What kid wouldn’t want to watch his dad spank his teacher on the field?”

“Oh, really?” Miki got up grinning. Hands on her hips she said, “I’m pitching, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said walking away from her.

Miki’s lips curled wickedly as she wound her arm in the air, warming it up.

Alan was assigned lead off, and he walked up to the plate. The kids and parents sitting around the edge of the field cheered loudly as the umpire called for the game to start. He stepped into the box and adjusted his bat, as he glanced around the field. Dean was nowhere to be found, of course.

A few metres away, Miki worked the grapefruit-sized ball in her fingers. Even in her sports shirt and track pants, she looked way too delicate to get the ball across the plate with any kind of oomph.

She took a step back then forward, as she cranked her arm.

There was a collective “ooh” from the gallery.

“Strike one!” bellowed the ump.

Alan, his bat still on his shoulder, glanced at the catcher and then back at Miki, looking very pleased with herself, as she received the ball. He was trying to figure out when exactly the ball had disappeared from her hand and ended up in the catcher’s mitt.

Miki cranked her arm again.

“Strike two!”

Alan was suddenly glad Dean was wandering around in the bushes. He took a couple more practice swings while remaining in the batter’s box. He could see Miki smirking back at him from her position as she received the ball. He offered his own tight-lipped smile as he narrowed his eyes on her. She wasn’t blinking, completely unintimidated by him. Their eyes locked, he squared his stance, watched her delivery and swung hard.

“Strike three!”

Alan, the parents, and the kids around the field fell silent, while the teachers clapped and whistled.

As he dragged himself away from the batter’s box, Alan continued to watch Miki.

She winked and called out, “Who got spanked?”

Alan looked away, shaking his head. He couldn’t help but snicker to himself.

* * * * * * * * *

It was either a long or a short 6-inning game, depending on which side of the field you were. Fortunately, the teachers were almost as ineffective as the parents, at bat. However, on the strength of Miki’s additionally skilled hitting, they managed to push three people across the plate, which was three more than the parents.

As the teachers made their way out onto the field for the final inning, Miki, feeling a bit giddy, skipped over to Alan in the batter’s box.

“Hey, no psyching out our players!” a parent called out from the side, followed by some laughter.

“When it comes to softball, you shouldn’t mess with a Taiwanese chick,” she teased. “You ready to concede before I send you down for a third time?”

Alan paused momentarily from his warm up swings, and pointed casually towards the outfield. “I’m going to hit that ball over the fence back there,” he said calmly.

Miki arched the fine lines of her brow. “Oh really, Babe Ruth?” she retorted, “Sounds like a challenge to me. Want to lay a wager? The loser of our little duel treats the winner to a drink at the faculty after-picnic party at Duffy’s tonight?”

“I don’t make bets for drinks,” he said, “But I’ll take the wager. I’ll just let you know later on what it is I want.”

“Presuming you can hit my ball out of the park. And if I win?”

“You won’t.” Alan took one last swing and then set himself up over the plate.

Miki, still grinning, walked out onto the field. She got into her stance, wound her arm and slung the ball towards the plate. There was a loud “thunk” as the bat made solid contact with the fast-moving orb, hurling it skyward over the field. Miki’s mouth slumped open as she watched the white orb drift over the chain-link fence in centerfield. She never heard the roar from the crowd as she watched Alan diligently circle the bases around her.

* * * * * * * *

The families and teachers walked towards the parking lot as the successful picnic came to an end in the late afternoon. An orange-red hue painted the straggling clouds above.

“That was some swing, Mr. Rosetti,” Miki said cheerfully as they packed away the softball gear.

“That’s some arm, Ms. Yi,” he acknowledged. “You’re really into the athletics.”

“It offsets my bad eating habits,” she conceded. “I usually just jog at night.”

Alan nodded. “I know of a few jogging paths in the forest,” he said.

Miki stood upright with her hands on her hips. “Yeah?”

“Yup. Wanna go out sometime, see if you can keep up?”

Miki smirked at the playful challenge but just let it go. “Sure. Why don’t we…”

A loud honk interrupted her. They both looked towards the parking lot. A man, Chinese, stood beside a deep-blue Accord, waving in their direction.

Miki, smiling warmly, waved back. “Edward! Hi!” she called out to him.

She immediately sprinted ahead of Alan. He continued to walk towards them as he watched her meet Edward halfway from the parking lot, greeting him with a warm, but noticeably quick, hug.

“Edward,” Miki said as Alan approached them, “This is Alan. He works at the school with me.”

“Hi. Edward Wu. It’s nice to meet you,” Edward said offering his hand. He had a deep, but kind of earnest voice. A tall man, the same height as Alan, his face still had a doughy boyishness to it.

“Alan Rosetti,” he said taking the other man’s hand. He could feel the sweat in Edward’s palms. Alan’s perceptive blue eyes watched as Edward’s slender gaze flitted anxiously towards Miki. She looked at both of them with her indomitable smile.

“Edward’s the friend from university I mentioned to you,” she said.

Alan nodded. “Yeah. I remember,” he said, “Teacher as well?”

Grinning, Edward replied, “No, no. Different program. I’m doing accounting now. How about yourself? You’re a teacher?”

“Custodian…janitor, if you want,” Alan remarked.

“Ah,” Edward offered. Then silence.

With the two men looking at one another, an obvious uncertainty in Edward’s eyes, and a long, palpable pause between them, Miki suddenly piped in, “Alan does a whole bunch of other jobs throughout the neigbourhoods. He’s like the regional handyman. He even fixed my bathroom.”

Edward looked at Miki then back towards Alan, whose gaze remained steady upon him. “Oh. Cool,” he offered, at a loss.

Alan remained quiet, observant.

Turning to Edward, Miki said, “We’re all going to go home and get changed, then meet up back at Duffy’s lounge for some dinner and drinks.”

“You’re coming, right?” Alan asked.

“Hmm? Oh yeah, sure,” Edward replied. “I’m here to see Miki anyway.”

“In anyway?” Alan slipped in.

An uncertain frown and crooked smile twitched onto Edward’s face. A forced chuckle followed.

“Alan…” Miki said, rolling her eyes and smiling easily.

Alan grinned and shrugged. “Just joshing with you, Eddie.”

The younger man shook his head quickly, and exhaled. He had been holding his breath. “Uh, yeah. And please…just Edward.”

This was one really anxious guy, Alan thought to himself.

“Ok great! Um, so I think the others said in about an hour or so?” Miki remarked, moving things along. “Edward will just come over to my place for a bit while I get showered and changed, then I’ll meet everyone there.”

Alan nodded. The couple waved back to him as they walked ahead back to the parking lot.

Dean finally showed up and stood beside his father as he watched Miki’s car pull out of the lot, followed closely by Edward. Alan looked down towards his son and said, “Fun day?”

The boy looked up and shrugged.

Alan saw the cars disappear around some houses.

“Should be a fun night,” he added as the sun finally settled below the horizon.

* * * * * * * * *

“How’re the people here?” Edward asked as he walked around the living room.

“What?” Miki called out from her bedroom. She had just finished drying her hair and was applying some make-up.

“The people,” Edward repeated. He grinned and added, “You know, the townies.”

“Oh, they’re good,” she answered. “Yes, actually they’re really friendly. I’ve had no problems at all getting acquainted with people here.”

Edward examined the picture frames on her fireplace mantle. “Really? No gawking or whispering about the strange Chinese girl moving into town?”

“You make it sound like they’re from another century,” Miki chuckled. “We’re not that far from the city and it’s not as if I’m the only minority around here. It’s a big town and region. It‘s not some backwoods hick-ville.”

“Sorry,” Edward said, “I guess I should get out of the city more.”

Miki appeared from the hallway. “Careful, Edward. In some places they still lynch people,” she joked.

“Okay! Okay!” he said rolling his eyes and waving his hands, “I get it. I’m sorry.”

Miki giggled as she adjusted her white tailored blouse cut just above her belt line, exposing a sliver of skin at her waist. It went well with her tight blue jeans and ankle boots.

“So, you don’t miss your friends and family?” Edward asked.

Miki squinted and smirked. “Not at all. You’re all in my distant past, now. Dead to me. Who are you, again?”

He shook his head and grinned. Nothing had changed in the years that he had known Miki. Supremely confident and ceaselessly playful, she always had a way of keeping him off balance.

Miki walked up to him. She reached up and pinched his cheek, saying, “Of course I miss you! I miss your teddy bear cheeks and I miss teasing you mercilessly. You’re so easy, Edward!”

Edward gently brushed away her hand and laughed softly, “Yeah, you can say that again.”

Miki put on her earrings as she walked over to the kitchen table to grab her purse. She continued, “I miss everyone, my family and my friends. But it was good for me to get outside the box a bit. It was good for my career, too. I have a great class in a good school.”

Edward nodded as he picked up her jacket from the rack by the door. “Sounds like you’ve really settled down here, already.”

Scrunching her lips to the side and looking upwards and away, Miki thought for a moment then said, “I don’t know. It’s a nice place. A little quiet. I miss a lot of things about the city, the events, the clubs, museums… lots of things. But it is very calm here, not crazy-busy. And like I said, the people here are very friendly and easy-going.”

“So you’ve made a lot of friends?” Edward asked as he helped her with her jacket.

“I guess. Mostly other teachers and parents.”

“That guy Alan?”

Miki nodded. “Yeah,” she said, grinning. She looked down and away and her thoughts seemed to wander as well for just a second. She finally added, “Yeah, Alan’s an interesting one.”

Edward pulled in his lips and frowned, but he managed to soften his expression just as she looked up at him. “He seems like a rough and tumble sort of guy,” he said.

“No. Not really. He can be quiet and very deliberate with his words,” Miki replied. “I’d say he’s more mysterious, than anything else - keeps his cards close to his chest. But he’s not bad.”

Edward said nothing as they went out the front door and down the steps from her porch.

“You’ll get to meet him again tonight,” she continued as they walked to his car, “Talk to him. I think you two could get along.”

Edward wasn’t so sure about that.

*********

17 years ago…

Brad Murphy parted ways with his friends at the pathway at the bottom of the ravine trail. They had been hanging out by the creek, smoking and talking long past sundown. Now, with the moon above casting everything around them in a pale blue glow, they decided to head home.

He slipped on his earphones and made his way to town. The streets were quiet and dim, without the lights of the shops to augment the few and flickering street lamps.

He didn’t need to look up while walking home. The town had such a simple, boring layout, he could probably walk home blind-folded. All he had to focus on was his cigarette and his MP3 player, which thrummed grunge music into his head.

His usual route was through the alley beside the post office. Again, he didn’t even have to think as his feet turned on their own down the dark pathway.

It was only after a few steps into the shadows when he felt a sharp, almost electrifying, crack against the back of his thick neck.

“Umff!” He grunted and stumbled forward, his headphones flying off. Before the initial pain could register, he wheeled around and shouted, “What the fuck?”

A piece of plywood flashed in the air and slammed across his face, throwing him hard against the brick wall. He crumpled, but stayed on his feet long enough to taste the spunk of salty blood in his mouth and run his tongue across the jagged edges of his broken teeth. A solid boot to his stomach laid him out in a heap on the ground.

“Stop! What the… umph… stop!” he coughed and choked, his large body quaking and shaking as more boot kicks struck his stomach. He tried to look up at the looming shadow assailing him, but a hammer-like fist landed on his nose, shattering it. He curled into a ball, his only defence against the relentless assault.

Wheezing and whimpering, he cringed when he felt a hand grab his hair and yank his face up. He couldn’t focus his eyes. Everything was a blurry nightmare.

A harsh voice snarled at him, as if from the end of a long tunnel, “Still bored now?”

Brad passed out in the alley.

* * * * * * * * *

Duffy’s lounge was rather boisterous, that evening. Teachers really knew how to whoop it up after a long day. Alan sat on a stool watching the various members of the Drummond Elementary faculty drink, dance, and play billiards in the dark but spacious tavern. In his hands, he had spooled together two swizzle sticks with a small rubber-band, winding them up slowly.

He watched as Edward tried in vain to show Miki how to hold a pool cue. Unfortunately for the increasingly awkward man, the school teacher was doing just fine on her own and was quite oblivious of his overt attempts to hold her close. The way she leaned across the table, stretching her sweet and lithe frame, exposing a teasing hip bone as she worked the stick, was not helping the man at all, either.

Alan, and the rest of the lounge, could see how hard-up the guy was for her.

“Cute couple,” Sophia said, grinning as she slipped onto a barstool beside Alan. Her scent instantly wafted through his nose.

He looked at her.

“Wave to Turner,” she instructed, as she pointed with a glass in hand towards a booth at the end of the bar. Her smiling husband, a stout, round man, with a tomato-cheeked face, was seated with another couple. He threw Alan a wave and a thumbs-up.

He raised his hand.

“Think the school teacher is into some naughty private lessons with her pupil there?” Sophia asked. “You know, they say it’s the quiet ones who are always into the rulers and straps.”

Alan took a drink from his glass. “Is that what they say?” he remarked dryly.

Miki leaned over the green fabric of the billiards table, lining up another shot. Her hair drifted over her eyesight again and she brushed it to the side, annoyed. As she did, she glimpsed Alan sitting at the bar alongside a decidedly seductive-looking, mature blonde woman, in a red halter-top and leather jeans that must have been stitched onto her long legs. They seemed to be having a pretty intimate conversation.

Barely concentrating on the game, she took her shot. Immediately there was a whoop from the people around her along with some high fives. It took her a moment to realize that she had sunk the 8-ball and won the game for her side. Edward gave her a squeeze on the shoulder, but it didn’t register.

After the elation died down, a group of female teachers led Miki to the dance floor. Edward decided to take a break and headed towards the bar.

“You’ll be able to come by and fix some holes at the house tomorrow?” Sophia asked as she stepped off the stool.

“You have some holes?” Alan asked.

“There are always holes to fill.”

“Busy tomorrow,” he said looking away.

Sophia pouted. “Oh, well, maybe during the week,” she said then walked back to her husband.

Her seat beside Alan was immediately filled by Edward, who spun around to face the bar. Alan did the same.

“Scotch. Neat,” Alan said to the bartender and then pushed the glass over to Edward. He said, “On me.”

Edward looked at the glass and then at Alan. He was already a bit tipsy, his face red and puffy, but he quickly picked up the glass. He held it up to Alan and said, “Thanks.”

He nodded and watched Edward take a stiff swig. Alan continued to wind up the swizzle sticks. Then he asked, “So you met each other in university, back in the city?”

“Yeah,” Edward replied, “Right at the beginning of second year undergrad. She was in my first class.”

“So that was like, five or six years ago?”

Edward dipped a bit in his seat and nodded.

“But you stayed in the city, and Miki came here?” Alan continued.

“I didn’t think she would go,” Edward replied dejectedly. “I thought if I said I was going to stay in the city, that she would, too.”

Alan watched him as Edward polished off his drink. The older man waved down the bartender and asked for another.

“That’s rough,” Alan said, nudging the glass towards Edward. “Two hours is a long way to go every time.”

Edward scratched and rubbed at his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut. He thought that Miki said that this guy wasn’t into talking much.

“Still,” Alan continued as he turned around in his seat, “She’s a nice warm body to come all this way for, isn’t she?”

Edward picked up the glass and pivoted in his seat. They both watched the slender, cheery woman dance on the floor with spirited shakes and twists of her body. Her blouse pulled high above her flat midriff every time she raised her arms and spun around on her toes.

“Yeah, well,” Edward said, raising the glass to his lips, “Not so warm for me.”

Alan turned to him and slapped his hand onto his shoulder. “You’re kidding, right?” he said. “It’s been over five years and you two…?”

Edward gave a glum shake of his head. “Well, I’ve never been sure if we were just friends, or what.”

“Edward,” Alan leaned in talking with a low, smooth voice, “She talks about you all the time. I don’t mean in a sweet, ‘hold my hand’ way either. She misses you… badly. You should have seen how excited she was when she was telling everyone that you were coming.”

Edward’s reddened eyes tried to focus on Alan and then swerved around in his head and gazed at Miki cutting up the dance floor.

“You know,” Alan talked as he leaned back against the bar rail, “Things can change quickly in a long distance relationship. Who knows when your next opportunity is going to be? The longer you wait, the more you become ‘just friends‘.”

The younger man’s mouth slipped open, all glossy just like the rest of his face. Alan twisted the swizzle sticks tighter and tighter.

“I don’t know,” Alan said looking down at his fingers and shaking his head, “Lots of bored young studs around here spewing crap about how much they’d like to take a crack at breaking her, if you know what I mean? And you know, Miki’s such a nice, welcoming girl.”

He could hear Edward’s teeth grind together.

“I mean, you’d think that after all this time, all that you’ve been through, even if you part ways eventually, she’d at least have owed you one,” Alan finished.

Edward stumbled off his seat, his legs almost crumpling from underneath him. Alan held him up by the arm.

“Uh, gotta go to the toilet,” Edward stammered and walked away unsteadily.

Alan turned in his stool. He placed the tightly wound up swizzle sticks on the bar and let them go, chattering and flailing against one another in violent frenzy.

*********

“In you go,” Miki said as she led Edward into her house. The wobbly-legged man tripped on the step and stumbled into the dark foyer.

“Oh, Edward, be careful!” she said as she flipped on the lights, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” he nodded and walked into the living room. He inhaled deeply then exhaled.

Miki turned her head away from the smell of alcohol. “You, my friend, are soused,” she declared. Her arm around his waist to steady him, she patted him gently on his chest.

“Nah. I’m good. I’m just…” he paused and smiled, “Nah. I’m fine. I‘m happy. I‘m with you!”

“Aw! Sweet!“ Miki chuckled as she looked up at him. A waft of alcohol drifted across her face. “Whew! Just turn the other way when you breathe, okay?”

“Okay,” he agreed, then asked, “Now give me my car keys.”

“Uh, there’s no way you can drive at this hour in this condition,” Miki reprimanded. “You can just stay here with me for tonight.”

Edward looked at her with his glazed eyes. “Yeah?”

She pursed her lips and nodded curtly. “Yeah.”

“Aw, that’s great, Miki,” Edward said as he took her hand from his chest. “That’s so good to hear.”

He leaned down to give her a hug with his free arm. Miki smiled and patted him on the back. As she stepped back, Edward still didn’t let go of her wrist, holding it close to his chest.

Miki tilted her head, frowning and looking at her hand, “Uh, Edward? Hand?”

Still with a firm grip on her wrist, the tall man yanked her close again, his other hand pressing against her back, pushing her up against him. He leaned his face towards her.

“Edward! What are you…?” she turned her head away and his lips just caught the side of her mouth and her cheek with a wet, spongy kiss. She tried to laugh it off, “Now! Now! Let‘s… let‘s not do anything we‘ll forget about in the morning, okay?”

Amidst her protests and squirming in his arms, Edward continued to miss the target with his mouth as he clipped her hair, the side of her chin, the top of her ear, with blind kisses.

“Edward, stop! Stop it!” She hollered and managed to break free from his arm wrapped around her back. But his other hand still had a locked grip around her wrist, and he stepped backwards, pulling her along.

Miki leaned back on her heels as she was dragged roughly across the living room floor. “Where are you going?” She demanded.

“Bedroom,” Edward rasped, “Back there, right?”

She managed a foot hold and held her ground. As she wrenched her wrist trying to twist away from his grip, she pleaded in earnest, “I meant you can stay on the couch until you sober up! Edward! You’re hurting my wrist!”

“The couch?” He hollered. With a sharp tug that practically pulled her off her feet, Edward yanked her body against his and seized her around the waist again. Stunned by the force of his pull, Miki gasped. Her open mouth was quickly covered by Edward’s parted lips. She squeezed her eyes shut, crying muffled protests into his mouth, as she beat on his chest and shoulder with her free hand.

Edward broke away from the lustful kiss but grabbed the collar of her blouse at her neck. Her eyes fluttered nervously, fearfully, around his face looking for some sort of reprieve.

“You owe me this,” he growled. The words were like fire and ice up her spine and she felt her heart stop.

He leaned forward, his solid mass collapsing on her, shoving her onto the couch. He pressed the full weight of his body onto her smaller frame as he angled himself between her legs, pushing them apart. Miki was pinned down.

She couldn’t believe this. She smelled the alcohol on his breath and tongue as he covered her face and mouth with wet kisses and licks. She didn’t know who this person was anymore.

She was trying hard not to cry. She was just becoming angry and trying to focus that anger to get out from under Edward. Suddenly she felt his hand at her waist fumbling with the button on her jeans.

“No, wait! Edward, stop! Don‘t! Don‘t do this!” She gasped quickly.

The button popped open and with a sharp tug he parted the fly of her jeans. She tried to wriggle her waist out from under him but his weight just pressed down, spreading apart her thighs.

His other hand pushed and clutched desperately at the collar of her blouse, buttons popping off and onto the sofa and floor.

“Edward! Oh my God, don‘t! Please don’t do this!” She screamed, “Stop!”

Outside the house, parked on the street, Alan sat intently at the wheel of his truck listening carefully. A stern, cold expression on his face, he stepped out of the truck.

* * * * * * * * *

17 years ago

Alan sat in the classroom by himself waiting. He hated feeling anxious but he was just that. Only for her, though. He’d never feel that way for anybody else, he determined.

Ms. Jennings entered the classroom, smiling warmly. She didn’t go behind her desk, but instead took a seat beside Alan.

She looked at him like she was contemplating a cloud, gently and wistfully. Clasping her hands together on her lap, she leaned forward and said, “Alan? I’m a little concerned. You seem a bit distracted in class.”

Alan’s eyes shifted around her face. Her wavy, light brunette hair glowed from the afternoon sunlight as it settled around her shoulders.

“I know you’re very smart,” the teacher continued, “You’re extremely creative. Someone that good with his hands is just flowing with talent and intelligence. You‘re just not focused.”

His eyes drifted below her chin to her neck.

“Alan? The poetry and the wonderful drawings that you do,” she said carefully, “I want to thank you for them.”

They were stupid, Alan thought. Overtly blunt and clumsy attempts to express himself to this woman. There was no depth to them, no sense of how desperate he was for her. They were stunted displays that couldn’t begin to demonstrate to what lengths he would go for her.

“But I can’t accept them,” Ms. Jennings said.

Of course she wouldn’t. What kind of woman would accept gifts like that? It made his chest hurt knowing how imbecilic he was behaving. He bit his inner lip until he drew blood.

“That looks really nice,” he said with a slight upward nod of his chin, his voice belaying little of the wretched turmoil within.

“What?” Ms. Jennings blinked. She followed his lowered gaze to the top of her chest. She picked up a locket-pendant hanging around her neck, silver engraved with her initials: ‘S’ and ‘J’ for Shirley Jennings. The letters were separated in the middle by a treble clef. Ms. Jennings loved classical music. “Thank you. It was a gift,” she said.

Alan looked back up and into her eyes. His gaze was suddenly unwavering.

“It’s not because I don’t like your poetry or drawings, Alan,” she continued, “It’s because you don’t need to give them to me. I think you’re so special already. As my student, you and everyone else in this class are special to me.”

Alan rose from his chair. He looked out the window, the western sun casting an orange glow on his face. “So that means none of us is special,” he said.

“No, no. That’s not what I mean,” she exclaimed.

“I know that there’s someone more special to you,“ he said, choking out the words. Then he turned and walked out of the classroom.

Ms. Jennings called out to him in a soft, pleading voice, but he continued to walk away from her. Every step stabbed at his heart like a knife.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alan worked on the outside of the shack Sunday morning after the school picnic and the night at Duffy’s. He was there at the crack of dawn, putting up siding on the outer walls and tarp on the roof.

He was supposed to go over to Miki’s house at some point and work on her roof, but he figured he would give her a late morning start after the night she had with Edward. He paused to think about that, how things turned out, about his slight miscalculation with Edward. In a way, he had underestimated the guy. Still, it worked out okay. He never entered the house, never showed his face. There was no need.

He went back to working on the shack. There was a thought nagging him at the back of his mind as to why he needed to fix up the little shack so much. A few two-by-fours and some nails would have been enough. Maybe it was just a distracting project for him to restore it a bit, make it presentable… usable.

He made his way around to the side and examined one of the windows he had installed earlier. He peeked in. Standing still, his eyes relaxed. In his mind’s eye, the shack wasn’t empty. There were shifting images inside. His gaze became blurred but his mind filled in the blanks all too clearly. A stark vision flashed through his mind: Bodies in a desperate, illicit embrace. He could hear their swollen passion.

Alan suddenly stepped back away from the window, breathing deeply. He looked around in a mild daze before bending over his knees and taking slow, deep breaths.

He had to get away from the shack.

* * * * * * * * *

Miki was up early that morning, which was a bit surprising to her. With the glowing sunlight spilling through the windows, she shuffled around her house in her robe, forcing herself to go through in her mind the bewildering events from the previous night.

In the living room, she sat down on the couch and breathed deeply. She massaged her sore wrist.

She remembered how Edward had shifted his weight off of her for one brief moment to yank off his shirt and fumble with his belt buckle. In that moment, she was able to get enough space and drive her knee hard into his crotch.

Edward’s face had instantly gone red and purple as his eyes rolled up into his head and he tumbled over the side of the couch like a felled tree, groaning in agony and cupping his crotch. He coughed, tears streaming down his face as he squeezed his eyes tight.

As he writhed on the floor, Miki was able to keep it together long enough to grab a sweater to cover herself and button up her pants. Then she pulled Edward to his feet. The man was deflated mentally and physically, and he had offered as much resistance as a feather in the wind as she guided him to the door.

“Sorry. I’m sorry, Miki,” he croaked, still unable to regain his breath, as he stumbled ahead doubled-over.

“Shut up. Shut up,” she just muttered over and over, trying to block him out of her head.

Both of them just repeated their abbreviated lines as she led him to his car and dumped him in. Then she went back into the house without looking back and slammed the door shut.

Eventually she had heard his car pull away and she went to her bed and hid under her covers, trying in vain to either go to sleep, or to wake up from this horrible nightmare.

Now in the morning, sitting there quietly, she could see several of her buttons from her blouse scattered on the rug. She slipped off from her seat on the couch and knelt on the floor to pick them up. Looking at them in her hand, she felt like crying, but wouldn’t allow it. She hadn’t done so at all since the incident.

“Stupid!” she spat as she flung the buttons across the room. Why did he have to go and do that? “Stupid! Stupid!”

After a while, she climbed to her feet and shuffled into the kitchen. There was a message on the answering machine.

“Hi Miki,” a ragged voice eked softly. ”It’s Edward. I, uh, made it home last night…”

She hit the ‘stop’ button then ‘erase’. As far as she was concerned, the only thing she needed to hear was that he didn’t splatter himself all over the highway after she had sent him home in that condition.

Anything else he had to say, he could say it from Hell.

Turning to her fridge, she suddenly stopped when she heard an engine pull up on her driveway. She went to the living room window and looked outside.

Alan was unloading his gear from the back of his truck, when he noticed Miki step out onto her porch. He was surprised to see her up, already.

“Good morning Alan,” she said softly.

“Morning,” he replied, “Going to do the roof.”

Miki nodded once.

“Not a good time? Should I come back?”

She gazed at him quietly, not quite sure what she wanted. She managed to shake her head slightly.

Alan picked up some of his tools, walked up the steps, and joined her on the porch. “Everything okay?” he asked.

That was the first time he had ever asked her how she was feeling. The moment he spoke, she suddenly felt like crying and reaching out to him, barely stopping herself. She curled in her lips and nodded quickly.

Alan held out a plastic bag.

Miki felt like she was moving in slow motion, as she took it from his hand. “What’s this?” she asked.

“Meatballs and some tomato sauce and spaghetti - all homemade,” he replied, “I keep my fridge stocked with this stuff. Just warm it up and throw it together.”

Miki stared blankly. “For me?”

“Just like a five star restaurant,” he said then walked into the house leaving Miki on the porch, gazing at the bag.

* * * * * * * *

It was a hot day. Indian summer had really kicked in. The warm air and a bright sun helped to build up a good sweat, covering Alan as he worked on the roof of the house. He took off his shirt and wrapped it around his waist, a shiny gleam of perspiration on his well-defined, ripped muscles.

It took him a moment while he was hammering to hear Miki calling him from the backyard. He stopped and peered over the edge towards her.

“Alan?” she said looking up, her hands blocking the sun. “I’m going for a run. I left some ice water on the patio here.”

Alan wiped down the handle of his hammer. “I’ll show you those forest paths sometime.”

“Sure.” Miki started to step towards the house but paused. She looked up again and said, “Oh, and Alan? Thanks for the food. I really appreciated it.”

He nodded his head, then he said, “I didn’t see Edward this morning. He must have left early?”

The woman stopped and said nothing for a moment. The she replied, “He went home after he dropped me off.”

“Too bad,” Alan replied, moving some shingles around. “I didn’t get to properly say good-bye. Seemed like a good guy.”

Miki looked down chewing her bottom lip. “Yeah. Yeah he did,” she said softly as she walked into the house.

Alan felt the satisfying weight of the hammer in his hands as he swung it up and down quickly despite the heat from the sun.

To be continued...