“You ready?”
“Go.”
They jiggled and scooted to make the sled inch forward. Kerry put his hands in the snow and pushed. They finally dropped over the edge and when gravity grabbed them Shannon squealed. The sled cut around a limestone outcropping and through a stand of gnarled black cherry trees. When they broke into the clearing at the bottom of the hill, they were airborne for a second. Freezing wind stung their eyes. They shot toward the creek in the bottom.
“Look out! Stop!” Shannon yelled.
Kerry dug the toes of his boots into the snow and cut a hard right to prevent them from sliding into the ice-edged water.
They flopped off the sled into the snow, laughing, their hearts throbbing.
“That was great!” Shannon said.
“Come on, let’s do it again.”
“Okay.”
Kerry pulled the sled up the hill. Shannon trudged behind. They stopped halfway up to catch their breath.
“The trees look like capillaries,” she said.
“What?”
“Capillaries.” The open sky tinted the rolling hills of snow a soft blue and she imagined it was the earth’s skin with pale veins snaking beneath the surface.
“You say the strangest things.”
“Go on,” she said, pointing up the hill.
When they reached the top they collapsed on the sled to rest. “That’s my papaw’s old place.” Kerry pointed to a crumbling structure in the distance. “We house tobacco there some now. Over there will be my land when I graduate. Think I’ll grow some soybeans and see what happens.”
“Lots of people are doing that. Crop rotation is supposed to be good for the soil.”
“What do you know about crop rotation?”
“I know about erosion and soil depletion and all kinds of stuff. I pay attention in class, unlike some people I know.”
“Boy, ain’t that the truth. I should pay more attention. Dad said if I wanted to go to UK and major in Ag that he’d pay.”
“You should take him up on it.”
“I’m tired of school.”
“Agriculture is turning big business.”
“Yeah, I know. You want to live on a farm?”
“I don’t know. I hadn’t planned on it. Guess it would depend on what kind of farm and where it was. I wouldn’t mind living on a horse farm in Lexington.”
“Shit. I guess not.”
She laughed. “You ready to go down again?”
“Wait a minute,” Kerry said. “I want to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“You’re my girl, right?”
“You know I am.”
“Well, everybody got class rings last week and I wasn’t going to get one.”
“I know. You told me. Waste of money.”
“But I thought about it and decided that maybe I needed one. I mean, one for you to wear.”
He pulled off a glove and reached into the pocket of his jeans. He held out a thick gold ring with a red crest and a tiny gold cardinal in the middle.
“Will you go with me?” he asked.
Shannon stared at him, then at the ring, then at a flock of birds that trailed across the sky. She had hoped that they would continue to date, but not make this commitment.
“Come on, Shannon. Don’t turn me down.” He looked truly hurt.
“I’m not turning you down. I was looking at it, silly.”
She tried the ring on, but it was too large for even her thumb.
“It doesn’t fit,” she said.
“That’s okay. We’ll find a way to make it work.”
Shannon unhooked her necklace. She strung the ring onto the chain and slid it down into her sweater.
“Oh, it’s cold.”
“Leave it out then.”
“Not yet. I don’t want to tell anybody just yet.”
Later that night, as they watched television in her basement, Shannon ran Kerry’s ring back and forth along the chain making a zipping sound. When she let the ring fall back to her chest she was aware of its weight. Eddie Van Halen’s guitar screeched, and lights flashed from the television. David Lee Roth whirled in the air and came down on the end note with a flourish. “That was the energetic chords of Van Halen with their 1978 hit single, ‘Runnin’ With the Devil’,” Don Kershner said in his monotone voice. “Next up on ‘Don Kershner’s Rock Concert’ is their number one hit, ‘You Really Got Me’ from last year’s self-titled album.”
“Those boys have some big hair,” Kerry said. They were slouched down on the couch, holding hands over a half-empty bowl of popcorn.
Shannon stretched like a kitten. “I like them. I’d like to go see them, but Momma would never let me go.”
“Didn’t Will go see the Stones last year?”
“Yeah, but she won’t let me, I bet.”
“I don’t blame her. Too many drugs and orgies in the parking lot.”
“How would you know, farm boy?”
Kerry moved the popcorn bowl and pushed Shannon back and kissed her. His hand crept under her blouse. “You’re so soft,” he said. She squirmed under his touch and her nipples grew hard.
“Shannon, I love you,” he whispered into her ear. She kissed him back; the bitter taste of beer and the sweetness of tobacco mingled in their mouths. He touched her stomach and she moaned. He ran his hand down between her legs.
“Kerry, stop it!” She pushed him away.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry, Shannon. I just thought—”
“You just thought what? You thought if you gave me a ring that I would do that?”
“No. I mean, yes, I was kind of hoping. Oh, shit, I’m sorry.” He stood up, walked away, turned back, shrugged. “I’m stupid. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it until you said you were ready.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “I just can’t do that. We talked about limits and that’s definitely it.”
“Okay. I understand.”
She touched the ring dangling from her necklace. “Do you want this back?”
“No. That’s not why I gave it to you.”
“You sure?”
“I read you wrong is all. I thought you wanted to.”
“I want to, but I can’t. You have to respect that. I just can’t.”
“Okay. You tell me when you’re ready. No pressure.”
“Okay.”
Kerry reached into his shirt pocket and found a cigarette. He smoked while he searched for something good to say. The picture on the television jerked sideways and he twisted the knob on the antenna box a click to the left and the picture became solid.
“Have you told your momma yet?” he asked.
“Not yet.”
“You