MONICA'S APPLES

Monica believed Jesus was in the orchard because she bit an apple and it made her stop feeling there was a snake striking at her ankles. She liked to get home early from school and watch Alfredo because of the way he walked, sauntering and happy. She gave him a note in the hall, asking, "Do you like me?"He did not answer but the next day smiled.

She went into the orchard that night and Alfredo stepped from behind a tree and said, "Yes, I like you."

She knew little of love and tentatively reached out and entwined his fingers with hers. It was cool and a light breeze made her legs cold under her dress. Alfredo did not try to kiss her and she did not know how to get him to; so they sat by a tree and he took off his jacket and put it around her shoulders.

"I watched you walking," she said.

He was excited because she was pretty and he had never talked to her before. "From your house?""From in there, yeah. You seem happy."

"Are you?"

"I"m afraid.""Of what?"

"The devil. I have bad dreams.""Did you tell the priest?"

"No, but I prayed and Jesus told me to eat an apple. I did and I felt better.""Is that why you came here, to get an apple?"

"Not tonight. I just wanted to. Why did you?"Alfredo had been going to look into her window but of course did not want to say so.

"I don"t know."

"Did you come here before?""No.""Have you ever been in trouble?"

"No."He was on probation for stealing CD"s from a music store and had been caught vandalizing a teacher"s car.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

"I don"t know. Do you want to be my boyfriend?"

"Will you give me a kiss?""You can kiss me," she said, closing her eyes and puckering her lips. His jacket was getting her warm and she felt better, sitting there a short way into the orchard of one hundred trees. There were some birds fluttering around and a yellow cat nearby, looking up at them.

Alfredo and Monica started meeting every third night. His single mother let him roam, but her parents were more vigilant with her and her brother and sister. She had been going there for twenty or thirty minutes at a time before meeting Alfredo and their trysts were shorter at first as they began, then longer. They would embrace and kiss, but she would not let him do more and they mostly talked between their meetings and partings.

Honor was important to both of them and besides, she was a virgin. Alfredo told her he was, but he wasn"t. His street gang he had set him up with a girl who hung out with the gang and smoked pot with them. He had been thinking he might end up going to prison and to avoid that, he was going to join the Army.

"Aren"t you scared you might get killed?"

"No, not really."He was a little, considering the prospect of oblivion, but it was more important to be brave. That was more important than anything.

"What if I love you, Alfredo?"

"I guess you could wait for me."

"Would you marry me first?"

"Sure, I"d marry you."Monica was good and he had been thinking he loved her. They were going to let their parents and everyone at school know she was his girlfriend. He was sixteen and she was fifteen. They could get married just before he went into the Army, he thought. He had seen boys from Victory come back bigger and stronger with their dark green dress uniforms on and manly pride in their eyes.

"Jesus told me that If we eat an apple together, He will come into your soul and you"ll never be bad again, "she said.

"Okay, let"s eat one then," he said, getting up from beside a tree with a thick trunk.

It was summertime in the Texas Panhandle and the apples were sweet. She picked one, rubbed it with the hem of her dress and bit into it. "It"s good," she said.

It was indeed the best apple he had ever tasted. They took turns eating it until only the core was left and then they kissed in the soft shadows of the moonlight. Love poured into Alfredo"s heart and for the first time in his life, he felt pure joy.

James Robert Campbell

Email: James Robert Campbell

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