Merle and Iva

Iva measured the time by the cycle of the moon. Almost two moons had passed, so Merle figured it had been around two months. A few days ago, he had carefully started putting weight on his leg. It was no longer wrapped in the wood and cloth. Some time ago, Iva had replaced that with a hard cast made from birchbark. She had waited until the swelling was down and the cuts had healed, then soaked the bark for a long time, wrapped it around his leg and simply let it dry. He had a large walking stick he could put some of his weight on, and now he seemed to be getting around just fine. Iva was happy and relieved to see her efforts had not been wasted. She had helped set bones before, but never done it by herself.

Three of the four goose eggs hatched, and the geese were now happily honking around the yard with the chickens and ducks. Iva had clipped their wings so they couldn't fly away. The boys were sitting at a table outside, cleaning the guns. They had the shotgun and two handguns. Iva was in the outdoor kitchen area, making cheese from goat's milk and watching them. That silly orange kitten was under the table, stalking back and forth between them rubbing itself against their legs. Iva had been thinking of a fruit farm she knew was only a few miles away, and how it was the right time of the year for ripe cherries. She walked over to the table where the boys were.

"Iva go," she said, "pick cherry today."

"Sounds good," Merle answered, trying not to smile, "when are WE going?" Toby started laughing a little and Merle gave him a swift kick under the table sending the cat streaking out of there. Iva stood there looking at him with her hand cocked up on her hip and her apron on. She had a mixed expression on her face. He could walk now, but not very fast. If more than a few kwade came, they would have to run and he might not be able to get away. On the other hand, he was taller than Toby and two picking would go faster than one. He could be a big help. Merle watched her face go from surprised to confused to worried, and then her eyes got all big and excited and she gave him a big beautiful smile.

"Merle go!", she exclaimed, " Merle ride horse." When he thought about it, really it was a good idea. He knew he wasn't moving too fast these days, but if he rode the horse he could get away fast if he needed to. Toby looked at the two of them, smiling at each other.

"Toby is staying here," he announced emphatically. There wasn't a fresh fruit in the world that was making him go cherry picking with the two of them. Lately they had been driving him crazy. All they did was walk around, making stupid moo moo eyes and staring at each other when the other one wasn't looking, and neither of them seemed to want to do anything about it. Stupid is what that was. If a girl as pretty as Iva ever looked at him like that, you best believe he wouldn't be mumbling all awkward and trying to get away from her. At first it had made him feel jealous, Iva had been his friend first and since there was no on else around he figured she could be his girlfriend when he got old enough. But as he got to know and like the older man, he started hoping the man would fall in love with Iva and want to stay there with them. Merle had mentioned a few times that when his leg was better he needed to go look for his brother, and that made Toby sad.

What Toby didn't know was that Merle had been struggling with many if the same conflicting feelings. He was happy his leg was getting better, but being better meant he needed to go look for Daryl and he didn't really want to leave. He liked it here, He had never lived somewhere he liked so much, even before the turn. For now, he had decided that he owed Iva and Toby quite a large debt. He was going to stay a while and help them out to repay them. Really it was just an excuse not to leave like he had originally planned.

Iva watched Merle gear up for the trip. She thought he was being a little over the top, they were just going to pick fruit, not start a war. He had both the handguns, the shotgun was being left there with Toby. He had that metal thing back on his arm and Toby had duct taped a knife to the end of it. Actually, Iva thought, that was kind of smart. He had another knife strapped to his leg.

"We go now?" Iva asked with a wicked smile, "or Merle need more knife?" She was wearing a pair of work coveralls and she had her bow and arrows on her back and a knife in a sheath on her thigh. Under the coveralls she wasn't wearing much, just a tubular piece of stretchy fabric she wore pulled up over her breasts to keep them from bouncing all over the place when she rode her horse. She had her hair bound up into a big sloppy bun on top of her head. She didnt need to carry much since she had the rest of what they needed packed up in side baskets that were attached to the horse.

"Better learn to watch your mouth woman," he joked, "or I will take you back inside and smack you around a little."

"Have to catch me first," she reminded him. He started to laugh. She was getting better at talking and understanding, which meant getting better at throwing some attitude back at him when he was giving her a hard time. It wasn't much fun to tease someone who couldn't talk back or understand you. Iva used the horse's mane and pulled herself up onto it's back in a gracefully fluid motion. Merle had seen her do this before and it still impressed him. Most girls he knew wouldn't even touch a horse. Didn't mean they were bad at taking rides though, he thought wickedly to himself.

He stood up on the wooden stairs of the deck and she led the horse over so he would have an easier time getting on. He grabbed ahold and tossed his bad leg over first and hauled himself up behind Iva, finding out quickly that getting onto a horse with only one good arm and one good leg was no easy task. Toby opened the gate for them and they were off.

Being out in the world felt invigorating after such a long stay inside the fences. What Merle hadn't planned for was being so close to Iva. After that day he touched her, he had made it a point to stay out of her personal space whenever humanly possible. Less temptation that way, he figured. And now she was pretty much sitting directly on his dick. Her back was pressed up against him and he had to wrap his arm around her to keep from falling off the damn horse. Not only that, but everytime the horse took a step, it was rubbing her backside against him. He started trying to think of every unappealing thing he could, old nasty crack whores with no teeth, football, prison sex, that time he had walked in on Daryl having sex. Actually, that had been pretty funny. Despite his best efforts, by the time they had traveled the few miles to the orchard, he had a raging hard on.

Iva swung her leg over and jumped gracefully to the ground. She always landed like a cat, making almost no noise at all. On the ride there, she had felt what was going on behind her, but she wasn't sure exactly what to do about it. Where she had grown up, women were expected to be submissive. A woman approaching a man for sex would not have been acceptable. She had her share of sex, some that was boring, some that hurt, and some that was mildly exciting, but never any that had been initiated by her.

Merle took of around behind the closest tree and whipped his dick out, giving himself a couple good pumps. It didn't even feel that good but at least it released the pressure. He hadn't had a case of blue balls since he was fucking thirteen years old.

"Gotta piss, young gotta piss, " he told Iva. She had the buckets out and her back was to him. He walked over to get a bucket, after all they had come all the way over here, might as well get the damn cherries. She turned and thrust it at him with significant force. Her eyes were full of water and she had big fat tears rolling down her face. Merle stood there for a minute, dumbfounded. Dealing with sobbing ass bitches wasn't exactly his specialty. And what was she crying about anyway. He had a feeling she knew what he had really been doing behind that tree, and he knew it was little disgusting, but there was no reason to start crying about it.

She turned back away from him, wiping the tears off with her arm and started picking cherries. They dropped into her bucket with little thud noises. Normally, Merle would ignore a crying girl. But this wasn't just any girl, it was Iva. And Iva was his friend; he liked her. He felt bad he had done something to make her that upset. There was something nagging at him about this situation too, like there was a piece of the puzzle missing and he didn't know which piece. Iva felt his hand come down gently on her back.

"Iva," he asked, "why are you crying?" She just shook her head, feeling a fresh burst of tears come into her eyes. What is he asking me that for, she thought. Its obvious what's wrong. She liked him, and he found her so disgusting, he would rather touch himself like a boy not ready for marriage yet than touch her. He was probably only asking so he could laugh at her some more. She was staring down at her feet, but she snuck a quick look at his face. He didn't look like he thought this was funny. Maybe she should just tell him what was wrong so he would leave her alone.

"Iva cry," she said, frustrated that she couldn't find the right words in english to explain herself, "because you no like Iva."

"What the hell do you mean Iva," he declared, "I like you just fine." Iva knew he liked her fine as a friend. That was the problem. She liked him different from that. She just didn't know how to explain herself. Throwing her hands up in irritation, she went to turn away again. He took hold of her arm and turned he back to him.

"What the hell is going on with you," he demanded to know.

"Iva stupid!," she said in a sad and disgruntled voice, "Iva no know right word to say."

"Try." She stammered a little and kicked at the grass. Then said a few words which Merle was pretty sure were cuss words in her language.

"Merle like Iva same as Toby," she explained and then took a long pause. She knew english people must have a name for someone they felt a special way about, she just didn't know what it was. Back when she was a child, Iva helped her father sell vegetables at the farmers market. That was the last time she heard a lot of english people. Her father knew english, but women in her community were forbidden from learning it. There had been a pretty young woman that used to come to their booth almost every weekend. Once she had spotted Iva staring at a beautiful scarf she was wearing and given it to her. She had shown up once with a handsome young man and had said, this is John, he is my husband. Husband, Iva thought that was the right word. She remembered how the girl had held onto the young man's arm and they had been looking at each other in a soft special way. Iva's people didnt believe in public displays of affection and she remembered thinking how much in love they must have been to be touching each other where everyone could see them.

"Merle like Iva for friend," she started again, more confident this time, "and Iva like Merle for husband." Husband, he thought, what in the hell was she talking about now. Its not like they could get married, they were in the middle of the damn woods. He thought it through some more, trying to understand what she was telling him. Suddenly it was like someone turned on a light bulb inside his head.

"Are you upset because you think I don't want to have sex with you?," he asked her. She looked down again and nodded. She wasn't for sure what sex meant in english but the way he said it gave her a good idea. Now Merle started laughing, really laughing. All the women he had been with and he couldn't tell the difference between a shy young woman being afraid to make an advance on him and getting the brush off. Iva did not think this was so funny. Here she had put all her feelings out there and now he was laughing at her, just like she had been afraid he would.

She shook his hand off her arm and went to turn away again, but he grabbed her and pulled her back. Before she knew what was happening she was pressed against him with his arms around her. He hugged her tightly. Her body tensed against him at first but then relaxed and he felt her arms go up around his neck. He pulled his head back and tipped her chin up with his hand so he could kiss her. Using uncharacteristic restraint, he pressed his lips to hers gently at first, giving her time to back off if she wanted to. She kissed him back, one of her hands stroking the back of his head and neck, pulling him closer. When he parted her lips with his tounge, he felt her body press against him and she moaned softly into his mouth. Merle would have liked to have his way with her right then and there, but they were in out in the open, unprotected. It would be better to wait until they got home. He backed away from her slowly.

"Merle?," she asked him softly, "mouth on mouth, what is english word for that?"

"A kiss," he answered, "you like that?"

"Yes," she answered, blushing.

"Well lets get these fucking cherries picked and I will take you back to camp and give you another one."