The Hunt

"Come on let's go." I say to my hunting partner. The best place is right over here.

"I'm coming. I'm coming. It's tough getting around this brush." He replies back to me.

"Just be ready to shoot when I tell you."

"I know. You don't have to remind me for the one hundredth time."

"Stop exaggerating." I command.

"Where are we? I've never been to this part of the woods." He asks.

"We're right behind the cemetery."

"What!" This stops him right in his tracks. He just stands there and stares at me.

"What's wrong?" I ask. "You afraid?" I get a blank look.

"No. I'm not afraid. I'm just... You know... A little..."

"You just said absolutely nothing." I giggle as I grab his hand and pull him along. "Is the mighty Rory Hawthorne afraid of a spooky cemetery? HA! HA! HA!"

"No I'm not afraid. But if you tell anybody Primrose Everdeen I'll kill you."

"Oh so now you're a big man. Come on I'l protect you." We slow down as I see them in the distance. "This way. I see them." We walk through the brush trying to keep as quiet as possible. "I see one right there." I point to it.

"You're right. It is beautiful."

"Just get ready to shoot."

"I am."

"Stay behind me." I walk closer and ready myself. It is now only a few feet away.

I raise my net and pull it down. "I got it" I scream. "See look in the net. Oh it's so beautiful."

"What's it called?" Rory asks me as he admires it's beautiful coloring.

"I don't know. I'll have to look it up when we get home. Look how deep the blue wings are. Are you ready to shoot."

"Yup." Rory lifts the camera up and aims. I open the net and the butterfly stays still for a second. Just enough time for him to click off a series of photos. The butterfly then flies away to join the others.

"Let's see." He turns the camera around so we can see the images on the rear of the camera. "They're great. So clear. How many did you get?"

"Six of him still and then I got three as he flew away."

"Oh they're perfect. They'll be a great addition to my collection."

"I thought you're supposed to catch them and mount them to have a butterfly collection Prim."

"That would be cruel. Kill them just to put them on a board with pins in their wings. Yuck."

"And if you tell anyone we were butterfly hunting I'll kill you for that also."

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. Besides you'll get to man up when deer season starts in a month."

"Thanks for helping me." I reach over a give Rory a peck on the cheek. I can see him blush. It's cute. "Come on. Let's eat."

"Good idea. I'm starving. Where?"

"The cemetery of course." He frowns. "Come on. In the past people always had picnics in cemeteries. There were no public parks in those days."

He takes a deep breath and sighs. "Okay."

We walk just a little further and enter the back end of the cemetery. "Wow. These tombstones are so old." He says.

"Yeah. This is the oldest part of the cemetery. Look at the dates. 1805, 1821, 1837. Oh over here 1795." I say.

I wander around looking at the tombstones. This one is a child's. "Emily Watson, Born 1815, Died 1817."

"I wonder why she died." Rory asks. I just nod and shrug my shoulders.

We find a nice grassy spot and we lay out the blanket. I pull out the wrapped sandwiches we made at home and pull out the bag of chips. "Here's yours." I hand Rory his roast beef sandwich.

"Thanks. Look at this tombstone. All six died in the same year."

I look at it. There is the dad, then mom, then four children listed. Aged two through ten."I wonder what happened?"

"Who knows. Maybe they got sick." Rory says. I think of a family. All of them sick in one house. All of their neighbors afraid to help them fearing they'll catch what they have. Leaving food for the family by the front door, knocking and then running away. What happened when they could no longer care for themselves. It gives me shivers just thinking about it.

"Or maybe it was a train accident."

"No. I don't think trains were around in 1825." I say.

"Yeah. You're right. Mid 1800's I think." He says. "Maybe a house fire. Back then when a building went on fire the best you could do is keep it from catching on to the next house. All you had were buckets of water to throw at it."

"Yeah, I think that's what happened." I go with that because dying in a fire is bad but the thought of a long lingering death by disease is worse. "Yeah, a house fire."

"How is your sandwich?" I ask to get off the subject.

"Good. You make a fine sandwich Primrose Everdeen. You're a good cook."

"I hardly think that making a sandw..." I'm stopped in mid sentence as Rory leans over and gives me a little kiss on the lips. "...ich qualifies as cooking." I finish my sentence and Rory goes back to finishing his roast beef sandwich. He kissed me. He kissed me on the lips. We've been friends for, for, forever. He's never kissed me on the lips. I've never been kissed on the lips. Except Aunt Berta once. Yuck. Shes tasted like cigarettes. Yuck.

I wonder why he kissed me. Does he like me like that? What should I do now? Kiss him back. He's just sitting there eating his sandwich like nothing happened. My first kiss and he went back to eating. Shoot, I wish I could tell someone. Damn, who? I'll text Katniss. She'll know what to do now.
I pull out my phone. "Who are you calling?" Rory asks as he has now moved on to the chips and he has opened both our Pepsis.

"Katniss. I want to tell her where we are."

Me... I'm with rory in the cemetery
Kat... Y
Me... Butterfly hunt
Kat... K
Me... He kissed me
Kat... What!
Me... He kissed me
Kat... What did u do
Me... Nothing
Kat... Do something
Me... Like what
Kat... I dunno kiss him back
Me... R u sure
Kat... Yup
Me... K
Kat... Good luck little duck
Me... :)

I don't know if that is good advice. Katniss has been all over the block with her emotions in the past year. It must be something that happens to you when you turn sixteen. Half the time she's giddy, then she's crying. She's in love with this guy then next week it's that guy. Oh boy. I need a score card just to keep track of her.

We finish our lunch and Rory looks up at the clouds. "What do you see?" I ask him.

"That one looks like a dragon." I look up and nod in agreement. He looks up again and describes the next one. I look at him. I never really looked that closely at his face. It's round. And he has freckles. I never thought about how he looked. I also never thought about kissing him. Justin Bieber yes, but not Rory Hawthorne.

He lays on the blanket and is still describing the clouds. I lean over and kiss him. Right on the lips. Both our eyes are still open. I think I surprised him and I'm not sure what to do with mine.

"Wow. What was that for?"

"No reason." I kiss him again. This time closing my eyes. I can feel my cheeks heat up. I'm sure I'm blushing brightly. His lips are soft and very wet.
I pull back and his eyes are still closed. "Come on. We better get home."

"No let's stay." He says.

"I thought cemeteries scared you?"

"Not anymore they don't."

We pack up our stuff in the small backpacks, take each other's hand and walk home.