yellow bucket in the barn. In the Grandparents’ Garden, there was a yellow lever, installed up high enough to be out of reach of small children. At Ugyen’s house it was a yellow-painted knob in the mudroom, presumably originally designed to hang hats and coats on to dry.
Shiloah glanced into all the treatment rooms as she passed but didn’t see Chevaunne. Oh well, both my friends are busy. I’ll go sit in the garden with the menfolk some more and think about the varieties of roses I plan to plant on the farm. So far, she and Orna had thought six rows of bushes, each row a different color, so the scents would blend as the plants grew, would be good.
“Hey, Shiloah!”
Shiloah turned with a smile. Kiri’s voice was unmistakable. She always seemed to be about to break into a giggle—assuming she wasn’t giggling already. Kiri was a tall, solid, physically strong woman, and definitely not the fluffy airhead casual observers assumed her to be due to the giggling. Kiri had been in love with George and Wang, who owned and operated the above-ground store in Green Ridge, and also acted as facilitators for the shipping of goods in and out of New Thimphu, for several years now. While George, the older brother, seemed to view her with appreciation, Wang was reserved and kept his distance. Both Shiloah and Chevaunne had wondered if it was because he’d never gotten close enough to her to understand the sharp and astute mind hidden behind the giggles. All the brothers had to agree on a bride before Father Yeshe would sanction an abduction and wedding, so a happy ending to her love seemed to be out of reach for Kiri.
“Hey, girlfriend. What’re you doing here down today?”
“Grandfather Lim’s new false teeth were ready so I thought I’d drop them in for him. Poor old man has been reduced to eating mashed food for a week since he broke his old set. I thought he’d like to have them in time for lunch so he could have a decent meal again.”
“That’s so like you, Kiri. You go out of your way to help people.”
Kiri blushed and giggled. “It’s no problem since I’ve got an electric cart. It makes running errands ten times faster than walking everywhere.”
“Maybe. I need to walk though, or my butt would be even bigger than it is now,” replied Shiloah. “Have you got time for a coffee? The men are busy talking crops again.”
“I’d love to.”
As they walked off toward the nearest café, Shiloah wondered if she and her friends could show Wang how intelligent and sweet Kiri was without actually interfering in his and George’s lives. Hmm, that’s tricky.
* * * *
Stan was excited about planting crops and watching them grow from bare brown soil, through tiny green shoots to sturdy plants and finally, waving fields of grain ready to harvest. But he was even more excited by being in a house with Shiloah where they could make her scream in ecstasy without the neighbors hearing. Where they could fuck her against a wall, pounding into her until the wall shook, without scaring everyone in the apartment block. Where they could take her on a table, or a sofa, or the floor. And Gods, he wanted a tub like the one Jim, Sam, and Paul had. What he could do with her in one of those. He got hard just picturing her there, her creamy body flushed pink from the heat and steam, her long hair trailing on the water as he fucked her leaning against the side of the tub or sitting on his lap with the water caressing her magnificent breasts, or—Gods! He’d come in his pants like a teenager if he didn’t stop thinking about it. But they needed to order a huge hot tub. It was definitely a top priority!
George and Wang, along with a couple of muscular young men, had helped them move the things they’d decided to take with them from their apartment into a large truck. The same young men had moved Shiloah and Orna’s things. Having lived in the community for so many years, they’d accumulated a lot more possessions than
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