Kerry took a breath, then started forward, breaking into a trot and catching up with Dar. They continued walking in silence for a little stretch.

”That is strange,” Kerry finally said. ”I mean, it’s kind of a shock to hear that, it’s something I...” she hesitated. ”I know I don’t have to worry about that anymore, unless I want to...um...you know.” She looked up at Dar’s face, seeing the odd hints of tension around her eyes.

”Uh, have you...I mean, do you want...um...”

”No, no.” Dar lifted her hands and let them fall. ”Kids and me, they don’t mix well,” she stated firmly, then hesitated. ”I mean, well, I um...I mean, if you wanted...someday...I think...um...” She fell silent, then peered at Kerry. ”You know?”

Kerry’s face wrinkled up into a confused grin. ”I think so, but it’s not in my plans anytime soon, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

”I wasn’t worried,” Dar replied instantly. ”Not at all. I was just saying that...um...it’s possible to get used to anything, if you know what I mean.”


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Now, Kerry smiled. ”I know what you mean,” she reassured her boss. ”But that’s a strange image, for a dream.”

”Well, what about me in armor?” Dar asked, glad to change the subject. ”Maybe it was those sandwiches we had last night. I’m still not sure of what they were.”

”Maybe,” Kerry agreed softly. ”Jesus, I haven’t thought about being pregnant for...” A pause. ”A while.”

A gust of wind blew past them, lifting up dark and pale hair and whipping it around both their faces. They’d let the group get a short distance in front of them and the winding path had isolated the two of them briefly.

Dar glanced over and saw the look of quiet, grim introspection on her lover’s face and she debated with herself, whether or not to push Kerry on the subject. Finally she sighed, and flexed her shoulders. ”You, um,” a light shrug, ”Want to talk about it?”

Kerry regarded the passing trees thoughtfully. ”Not really much to talk about. It was just mostly stupidity on my part, when I was home last year,” she related, in a quiet tone. ”They were giving me a hard time. I felt lousy,” A slight pause. ”I felt ugly,” Kerry wryly corrected herself. ”And I went to a party with some old friends from college, got drunk until I didn’t know half of what I was doing, and ended up in bed with some guy I hadn’t seen for five years.”

She studied her boots, remembering just how disgusted she’d felt when she woke up. ”I wasn’t on the pill, of course,” she snorted softly.

”I got lucky, nothing happened.”

Dar snuck a look ahead of them, then settled an arm around her companion’s shoulders, pulling her close. ”That’s lousy. Sorry you had to go through it,” Dar stated gently. ”I can’t tell you how mad that makes me.”

”That I’d do something that stupid?” Kerry asked bitterly. ”Yeah, well, I was pretty mad at myself too.”

”No.” Dar kissed her head. ”That your parents made you feel that bad about yourself.”

”Don’t put the blame on them, Dar.” Her lover shook her head.

”They didn’t make me go to that party, or get plastered, or jump in bed with that guy.”

”I know,” the executive agreed, with a sigh. ”But I think you did that as a reaction to how you were feeling. When that guy came on to you, it made you feel better about yourself, didn’t it?” She felt Kerry’s shoulders move a little in a shrug. ”Didn’t it? I bet he was good looking.”

A hazy memory surfaced and Kerry’s nostrils flared. ”Yeah,” she admitted wryly. ”He looked like that guy from Dune,” she admitted.

”He was really cute and he told me he thought I was cute, and I...” A long sigh. ”I guess I really needed to hear that then.”

She glanced up at Dar, who was still walking along with her arm 76

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around Kerry’s shoulders. ”He was a nice guy, too. He called me the next day, all panicky because he hadn’t had protection on, and telling me he was healthy, and saying he’d ‘do the right thing’ if it turned out I was pregnant.” She had to laugh. ”It was surreal.”

Dar laughed gently. ”Well, you’ll never have to get me drunk to make me tell you how cute you are, okay?” She hugged Kerry.

The blonde woman rested her head against Dar’s arm. ”You make me feel so wonderful, did you know that?” she replied simply. ”It’s such a pleasure to be in love with you.”

Dar blinked, speechless for a few heartbeats. ”Likewise,” she finally managed to say, faintly.

They walked along in silence for a few steps. “Boy, that was like a burst of compressed love packets, wasn’t it,” Kerry finally said, with a little laugh. “Did I blow it with the milk? I thought I was doing so good till then.”

“Who cares?” Dar shrugged her shoulders. “Half the building knows I’m a MacArthur Dairy commercial. Don’t worry about it.”

A yell up ahead distracted them. ”Oh hell.” Dar’s face took on an annoyed look. ”Damn, for ten cents I’d just lose this place.”

Kerry patted her companion’s belly. ”All of us have to get through, remember? C’mon, let’s see what they found.” She disentangled herself from Dar’s grip lengthened her stride, climbing up the tiny, root encrusted rise and peeking down the path.

The rest of the group was standing on the edge of a slice across the path, into which a creek had carved itself deeply, causing a chasm about fifty feet across.

A single, braced rope bridge went over it, consisting of a simple strand, with two others running alongside.

The entire thing was

suspended over the water about twenty feet, providing an annoying, but not lethal drop if one got dumped off the bridge.

The object, obviously, was to get to the other side. If one walked carefully it seemed achievable enough.

The problem was the fifteen foot python wrapped around the rope, sunning itself. ”Oh boy,” Dar muttered, coming up behind her. ”This could get ugly.”

”Now what?” José turned and put his hands on his hips. He was wearing a pair of coach’s shorts and a polo shirt with the name

”Marelito Bowling League” on it, with black socks and sneakers. ”We go back, si?”

”Hell yes,” Steven agreed. ”That’s it.

No way, no how am I

messing around with a goddamned snake.”

Eleanor was seated on a nearby log, fanning herself, and the rest of them were peering at the snake uncomfortably. They turned to look at Dar when she edged closer. ”To hell with them.” José decided. ”We don’t have to put up with this.”

The tall, dark haired executive put a hand on either rope and her Hurricane Watch

77

hiking boots on the very edge of the bridge. ”Well, hold on,” she murmured, taking a step forward and letting the rope take her weight.

”Dar.” Kerry’s voice objected instinctively.

”Hey, crazy woman, get the hell back here!” José yelped.

”Ah, my friend,” Duks went to the edge of the bridge, ”you don’t need to go over there.”

”Shit,” Mark cursed.

”Shh.” Dar turned her head and glared at them. ”Just, let me check the situation out, all right?”

”You’re going to end up with your ass in that creek and I’m going to laugh my head off,” Steven sniped.

Dar ignored him and continued slowly moving forward, holding the two ropes on either side of her as she approached the snake. She felt the rope bridge sway under her movement and the wind. The creek chuckled by below her and she could hear the ominous creaking of the hemp fibers, which seemed impossibly loud to her.

A bird called out overhead, almost making her jump, and she glared up at it before she continued forward a few more steps. She was almost to where the snake was now, and she could feel her heart starting to pound and her knees shake under the strain of keeping level.

”Nice snaky,” she murmured, ”easy now.”

Snakes were deaf. She knew that, but it made her feel better to say it anyway. Ten feet away and she could see the soft, glistening surface of the animal as it rested contentedly in the sun, its large, square head spread out on the top rope.

Dar took another step forward, then held on as a breeze made the entire bridge sway, causing the snake to shift a little. Dar ducked her head forward, then took two more steps which brought her even with the large creature’s head.

She reached out, hearing a collective gasp from the other shore and picked the head up, examining it curiously. With an utterly cool expression, she turned her head and regarded her co workers.

They stared at her in awe.

”Made in China.” Dar held the head up. ”It’s rubber.”

A moment of shock, then everyone started moving again. ”Son of a bitch!” Mark breathed, shaking his head. ”These people are effing nuts!”

Dar set the rubber head back down and patted the snake, then she regarded the rest of the bridge. ”I’m going on across. It’s not that hard, just take it slow, and hold on,” she advised the group as she continued on her way. She placed her feet carefully one after the other until she reached the other side and hopped down. There was a small machine that looked like a timecard stamper there. She pulled out her little card and stuck it in the slot.

It made a very satisfying clunking noise and stamped a tiny cobra on her card in the number one slot. She put the card away and glanced 78

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back across the creek, not surprised to see Kerry making her way across the bridge, a determined look of concentration on the smaller woman’s face.Steven was standing impatiently on the edge, waiting his turn.

Everyone else was trying to convince Eleanor to give it a go and Dar was exceedingly glad she was on this side of the bridge and not the other.Part of her felt quite satisfied, having removed an obstacle from the group’s path, but the other part was still annoyed that they were doing this at all. She watched Kerry stop at the snake and look at it, examining the head thoughtfully before she edged past, gripping the ropes tightly on either side.