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Hayloft Kids

17: A Talk

Johnny was pressed tight against me. I liked it. He was warm and he breathed on me, his chest rising and falling. It was quiet.

"Maggie," he said gently.

"Yes?" I said.

"Do you know something?" he asked.

He looked down at me with the nicest, most handsome face I'd ever seen.

"What is it?" I asked in a voice as tiny as an atom.

"I love you very, very, much, Maggie," he said softly. My breath caught in my throat.

"I've loved you since the day you took off your helmet and told me you weren't impressed. I really, really like you, but I love you too. I think you're very smart and pretty and brave and sweet and hot, not the way Cricket thinks it means, but in a way that says you're great, not just because you're sexy and sassy and all the other stuff you are. And I don't care if Cricket is more girly than you. You should like people for who they are, not by the standards of their sex. I think you're awesome, and perfect, and I think your suit looks good on you, too. And I think that your hair is nice. It smells nice. I love it when you're fierce and talkative and funny, but I like you this way, too. I think you should be very, very proud of being a pro Pilot and even more, a Metajets. I know you get sick of it sometimes, but imagine if life was perfect and you'd go crazy lookin for something to get tired of. And you're young; you still have lots to find out. But I don't mind telling you a little in advance. You're an awesome person, Maggie Strong." Then he was silent.

The big knot in my throat came undone as he told me all of this.

It broke free and a flood of tears came rushing into my eyes. I hugged him back and rested my forehead on his chest and took a deep breath.

She looked up at me, with tears in her eyes. They were stuck there, and they made her pupils illuminated. I could see myself reflected in hem. Then she opened her mouth and said, "I really like you, too Johnny. Actually I really love you. But the decision? Have you made it yet?"

After the shock of the first two sentences, I heard the other two. I set my mouth in a grim line. "I don't know."

She slid a hand over his chest, right where my heart was. "Follow your heart," Maggie whispered.

"I really love flying," I said.

She nodded. "But - ?"

"But my Aunt Louise!"

"Is that what it is, Johnny? Because we could always work something out."

"What about you, Mag?" I asked her. "What if I choose - ?" My voice hung in the air.

She averted her eyes. When she looked back, there were more fresh tears on her cheeks. "I know you'll make the wiser decision, Johnny. You know which one I'd prefer, but I'll be with you which ever one you choose."

I gulped. Now I felt like crying, too. Actually, I'd felt like crying the whole time I'd been on leave.

"Thanks, Mag," I said.

She rolled her head on my chest, breathing hard. Her nose was red, the moonlight shone on her, and I was reminded of a brave warrior, small but strong, weakening on the battlefield but still having perseverance. She looked like an angel - an angel from the force of the Metajets.

"Man, the guy who gets you in the end is one lucky dude," I murmured without thinking. She smiled with her eyes closed and pressed even tighter. That was when I realized it: Maggie had no intention of letting go. In fact, she didn't have any plan of leaving me till she died.

I fell asleep feeling like a helium balloon: drifting up, up, up…