hidden spaces, black areas, where they could lie in wait; ever ready to appear at the slightest provocation.
Kaila pressed her hand to the hollow of Norm’s stomach. She noticed how very large her hand looked against his skinny frame. Norm relaxed against her touch, pushing slightly against her in the closest act to physically touching her that he could manage. Oddly it did nothing to agitate the spiders and Kaila responded to his move, kneading his flesh with the palm of her hand, feeling his bones, muscles and all the parts that made him human. Kaila slid her hand up to the hollow between his breastbones, and there she felt it for the first time in her life, another beings heartbeat. She instinctively placed her ear against his chest, pressed her cheek to his warm flesh that spoke of life and what it was to be alive.
“Your body is beautiful,” she whispered.
Kaila was in awe that she had said the words, because before then there had been no beauty in Norm’s body. Brightly colored flowers, meadows, and crystal clear streams, vast oceans, the rain forest in emerald green, all the pictures that she had studied and committed to memory were beautiful, not this scrawny man. There couldn’t be beauty in this man who had hair in odd places, and who was by all accounts not attractive, yet there was. And she didn’t find Norm’s beauty in the places she had imagined, instead of his exterior there was so much to appreciate inside him, in the humanness that made his heart beat exactly as it was needed, speeding and slowing without his volition.
She felt Norm’s heart quicken against her face, the ticking of his tapping heart on her skin, like the beat of a hummingbirds wings. Kaila knew the workings of the human body, had studied every function, the digestive, nervous, circulatory, respiratory and every other system of the body. She knew the organs and the tasks they performed, but not until she had felt the beat of Norm’s heart did she really know what a miracle the body was. More than that was a new revelation, one that she had always known but had failed to acknowledge, that all humans were the same. Every person on the earth had a heart that beat blood through all the veins and arteries in a body, they had brains that had thoughts and though all brains were different they were identical in their function, a right and left lobe, a parietal lobe, a cerebellum and…
“We are all one,” she murmured against Norm’s chest.
Before Norm could respond Kaila wrapped her long arms around his torso, drawing him into an embrace. Norm remained stiff; fearful that if he responded to her touch that he might set her off.
“We are all one,” Kaila repeated.
She gazed down at Norm, made small by her tall frame. All she could think was how she wanted to hold him forever because in that very moment the spiders were nowhere to be found. In fact they were so conspicuously absent that she was terrified to even send a thought toward them at all, in the event that she disturbed them in the hovels that they nested in.
“What the hell is going on here?”
Norm startled and pulled out of her grasp. Kaila reached for him again; unable to accept the disconnection of their bodies, she wanted to hold him endlessly, never let him go. Somehow their embrace had awakened something in her, something that she hadn’t known had been asleep. She cupped his head in her hands, threading her fingers through the tangle of his hair, pushing him to her bare chest until she felt the almost non-existent stubble of his beard prickle against her breasts.
“We are one, we are one, we are one,” she murmured, her face buried in his hair.
“Break it up you two.”
The voice that she knew well was like an irritating fly buzzing around her head. She wanted the voice and the interloper gone because she couldn’t draw herself away from the moment; she wondered if what she was feeling was love.
Norm struggled to be free of her. The
Kaila pressed her hand to the hollow of Norm’s stomach. She noticed how very large her hand looked against his skinny frame. Norm relaxed against her touch, pushing slightly against her in the closest act to physically touching her that he could manage. Oddly it did nothing to agitate the spiders and Kaila responded to his move, kneading his flesh with the palm of her hand, feeling his bones, muscles and all the parts that made him human. Kaila slid her hand up to the hollow between his breastbones, and there she felt it for the first time in her life, another beings heartbeat. She instinctively placed her ear against his chest, pressed her cheek to his warm flesh that spoke of life and what it was to be alive.
“Your body is beautiful,” she whispered.
Kaila was in awe that she had said the words, because before then there had been no beauty in Norm’s body. Brightly colored flowers, meadows, and crystal clear streams, vast oceans, the rain forest in emerald green, all the pictures that she had studied and committed to memory were beautiful, not this scrawny man. There couldn’t be beauty in this man who had hair in odd places, and who was by all accounts not attractive, yet there was. And she didn’t find Norm’s beauty in the places she had imagined, instead of his exterior there was so much to appreciate inside him, in the humanness that made his heart beat exactly as it was needed, speeding and slowing without his volition.
She felt Norm’s heart quicken against her face, the ticking of his tapping heart on her skin, like the beat of a hummingbirds wings. Kaila knew the workings of the human body, had studied every function, the digestive, nervous, circulatory, respiratory and every other system of the body. She knew the organs and the tasks they performed, but not until she had felt the beat of Norm’s heart did she really know what a miracle the body was. More than that was a new revelation, one that she had always known but had failed to acknowledge, that all humans were the same. Every person on the earth had a heart that beat blood through all the veins and arteries in a body, they had brains that had thoughts and though all brains were different they were identical in their function, a right and left lobe, a parietal lobe, a cerebellum and…
“We are all one,” she murmured against Norm’s chest.
Before Norm could respond Kaila wrapped her long arms around his torso, drawing him into an embrace. Norm remained stiff; fearful that if he responded to her touch that he might set her off.
“We are all one,” Kaila repeated.
She gazed down at Norm, made small by her tall frame. All she could think was how she wanted to hold him forever because in that very moment the spiders were nowhere to be found. In fact they were so conspicuously absent that she was terrified to even send a thought toward them at all, in the event that she disturbed them in the hovels that they nested in.
“What the hell is going on here?”
Norm startled and pulled out of her grasp. Kaila reached for him again; unable to accept the disconnection of their bodies, she wanted to hold him endlessly, never let him go. Somehow their embrace had awakened something in her, something that she hadn’t known had been asleep. She cupped his head in her hands, threading her fingers through the tangle of his hair, pushing him to her bare chest until she felt the almost non-existent stubble of his beard prickle against her breasts.
“We are one, we are one, we are one,” she murmured, her face buried in his hair.
“Break it up you two.”
The voice that she knew well was like an irritating fly buzzing around her head. She wanted the voice and the interloper gone because she couldn’t draw herself away from the moment; she wondered if what she was feeling was love.
Norm struggled to be free of her. The
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