Bentley Little: The Store

But it was too late now. The damage was done.

The front of the house was dark when he arrived home. He let himself in, checked on the girls. Sam was in her room, studying. Shannon was on the phone.

He told them both to go to sleep early, it was a school night, then walked back to the master bedroom where Ginny was riding the exercise bike and watching TV.

"How'd it go?" she asked. "Did you stop construction and get The Store to rebuild the hillside and replant the trees?"

He sat down on the side of the bed, took off his shoes. "There's no reason to be sarcastic."

"Sorry." She stopped pedaling. "So what happened?"

"What do you think? Nothing. The council's bending and spreading 'em for The Store." He shook his head. "They're so shortsighted. They're willing to ruin a way of life for short-term economic gain."

"Then why don't you run for council?" Ginny said. "Why don't you stop complaining to me and get out and do something about it?"

"I might do just that."

Ginny got off the bike, walked over to the bed, and sat down next to him.

"It's not the end of the world, you know. Don't you think you're overreacting just a little bit?"

He smiled wryly. "That's just what our fair mayor said."

"Things change. Yes, The Store tore down trees and everything -- and they shouldn't have done it -- but I heard that they also bought that vacant lot next to the old Checker Auto and they're going to make it into a baseball diamond.

They're trying to do something for the town."

"You're missing the point."

"What is the point?"

"Never mind."

"Never mind? You want to --"

"I'm all talked out," he said. "I've been talking all night. I just want to go to bed." He stood, took off his pants.

She watched him for a moment. "Fine," she said, and there was an angry tightness in her voice. "That's just fine."

They slept apart, not touching, on opposite sides of the bed.

He fell sleep almost instantly.

He dreamed of dead animals and dead bodies and the unending construction of a black building that reached miles into a polluted sky.

FOUR

1

Shannon sat at one of the tables outside George's Hamburgers, nursing a Coke and trying to read her history textbook. Jake was supposed to have met her here after school, but it had already been a half hour and he hadn't shown and she was starting to get restless.

She finally closed her book, giving up all pretext of studying. She stared across the street at the grassy lawn of the park and the dark pines of the forest beyond. Above the trees, the mountains were capped with irregular slices of white. The snow had not yet dropped below the timberline, but despite the sunny days of the past week, it had not melted off the peaks, and it was only a matter of time before winter arrived in full force.

The snow on the mountains reminded her of the Alps, and the Alps reminded her of _The Sound of Music_, and she found herself thinking of the oldest daughter and her boyfriend in the movie. The boyfriend was a mailman or something and he would pretend to deliver letters in order to secretly meet with the girl. Shannon had always found that relationship very romantic and very sexy. Especially when the daughter sang "Sixteen, Going On Seventeen." There was something sensual in the way she danced in the gazebo, in the sly expression on her face as she twirled for the boy, letting her dress fly up, letting him see her underwear. She seemed so much older than he did at that moment, so much more experienced.

She liked that.

She liked to think that was the sort of relationship she and Jake had, but she knew that wasn't the case. Jake had had several girlfriends before her, whereas he was the first boy she'd ever held hands with, ever kissed, ever . . . done anything with.

It worried her a little that he'd had other girlfriends. He'd assured her that nothing had gone beyond the hand-holding stage -- and she chose to believe him about that -- but he had no doubt told each of them that he loved them and that they'd be together forever.

The same things he told her.

Which meant that he could leave her the same way he'd left them.

If he found someone better.

That scared her. She'd seen him looking at her sister when he thought she wasn't watching, and though she told herself it didn't mean anything, was just a natural response, it still hurt. She knew that if he had been allowed to choose between the two of them, he would probably have taken Sam. Of course, who wouldn't prefer Sam? Her sister was prettier than she was, smarter. She'd be any boy's first choice.

She didn't blame Sam, though. If anything, she blamed Jake, although that was not something she'd ever admit to or bring up with him. But Shannon did not hate her sister. Sure, she was jealous sometimes, but she admired her sister more than resented her. She wished she herself was more like Sam, but she didn't blame her sister for that.

Some people just got lucky.

Some people didn't.

She herself had gotten a little bit lucky this time. She wasn't pregnant.

Her period had come today during Algebra, and she'd never felt as relieved as she did when the cramps started.

Which was why she was so anxious for Jake to show up.

Where was he?

She glanced up and down the block, saw him come out of the grocery store across the street, eating a candy bar. He saw her, waved, but made no effort to hurry across the parking lot. She wanted to run over to him, tell him the good news, but something about his unhurried, nonchalant attitude annoyed her, and she remained at her table, sipping her Coke, until he arrived.

"So?" he said, sitting down on the rounded plastic bench across from her.

"Any news?"

"I'm not pregnant."

"Thank God." He exhaled deeply, then took her hand across the table and smiled. "You had me going there for a while. I was trying to think if you should have the baby and we should get married, or find a place to get an abortion, and if we'd have to quit school, and where we'd get the money. We really lucked out on this one."

"We have to do something, though. Before we make love again. I don't want to go through all this every time."

His smile faded. "I'm not going to wear a rubber."

"Then I'll . . . get something."

"What?" he asked. "And where? And how?"

She looked at him. Was he stupid? Hadn't he learned anything from the close call they'd just had? It sounded like he was arguing against using any form of birth control, like he wanted her to have sex with him and just take her chances.

"Fine," she said. "We'll wait till we're married, then."

"You can't get pregnant with oral sex."

She stared at him in shock.

He nodded enthusiastically. "You could just suck me instead, and then we wouldn't have to worry about it."

She didn't know what to say or how to respond. They had never performed that act before, had never even talked about it, and though she knew about oral sex, she'd always planned on avoiding it. The idea of having sperm in her mouth disgusted her, especially after she'd seen how thick and sticky and snotlike it was, and she figured that if Jake really loved her, he would never ask her to do that.

"That way," he said, "we could still have sex, we wouldn't have to worry about a junior coming along, and I wouldn't have to wear a rubber."

"What's wrong with a condom?"

"I don't want to have anything between us."

So you'd rather just use my mouth as a sperm receptacle? she thought. You don't care about my feelings at all? A condom's uncomfortable, so you want me to give up having my orgasm and be grateful that I get to make you have one?

But she said nothing.

He squeezed her hand. "I think it's more romantic if there's nothing between us."