The first time we kissed was an accident I went down to talk to her and she rose up our lips met and after I knew. That kiss lasted over 20 minutes but didn’t see more like a second.
I got the house built by Michael, who is really a great contractor. I love spending time with Kathryn any time, any place we can be together. She’s easily the smartest person I know. Don’t tell her that.” I gave grandma a wink.
“In two weeks playing the stock market on $10 million she makes 25% profit. Not only she smart, she is very generous. When she was working for me her paychecks will usually go mostly to the family. Now that she’s my partner her income for the last two weeks she gave it away to her parents so they didn’t have to struggle. She’s a very special person my Kathryn, I’m very lucky that she agreed to be my wife.
Grandma calls it as she sees it, giggling she says. “From everything my son is told me about you. I know you’re not one to exaggerate. So I believe every word of the story but I also know you left a lot out, that is a short story.”
I’m sorry ma’am “I have the ability to remember everything I see or hear. If I told the long story it would take over nine years.”
Grandma giggles. “How did you end up back in high school here when you already have a high school diploma in California and three college degrees?”
“Coach told me that the local school doesn’t accredit home schooling from out of state. I was under 16 so had to attend school. I guess it was something to do that I hadn’t done before. I have a lot of classes with Kathryn, which is great gives us more time to spend together.”
Grandma says. “That makes sense.” She asks me. “Would you do me a favor by picking some berries a little ways up the mountainside?” I agreed and she told me just to wait a minute. In a minute or so she returned with Kathryn and a bucket for us to fill. Kathryn was almost embarrassed her hair a mess from sleep but I couldn’t take my eyes off her, she wore a thin white T-shirt her bra showed underneath her blue jeans that would just tight enough to show every curve of her body. Her grandma laughed, “Yeah you’re in love.”
Kathryn looking at me asks, “You think I look good like this?”
Still staring at her I say, “Yes, you always are beautiful to me.”
Kathryn stretched a little before taking my hand and led me to the berry bushes. Half hour after we start picking Kathryn’s sisters finally arrived to help us. Although that was a fun half-hour we didn’t pick many berries but I did get more than a few kisses from my fiancée.
Now it is my future sister-in-law’s time to hassle me about our relationship me and their baby sister. When it starts to become sexually suggestive I stopped them, anyway I needed to before Kathryn kicks their ass. “Now sisters here’s the thing I love Kathryn with all my heart. Nothing you can do would ever tempt me into messing that up.” Three of her sisters flash me their breasts, and teasing me by saying, “JJ you know you want to touch our tits you’re just human.”
“Sorry sisters those aren’t the breasts I am in love with.” Kathryn grins at me but gives her sisters and very angry look. She steps forward and places her hand over my heart and kisses me, when I say loud enough for her sisters to hear. “You know I belong to you and you alone.” She cuddles to me and I can almost hear her purr.
Her sisters’ screams alert me to the danger, a large black bear is charging through the brush less than 100 feet away from us. A black bear common in some parts of the Appalachians was actually rarer to see one this far east. Most, but not all, of the black bear populations are limited to the national forests and parks of the Appalachians. We’re more than 200 miles from the nearest national Park.
Kathryn’s sisters turn and run before I can tell them not to, a black bear can run faster than any human so running from a bear is a bad idea, it is an apex predator and its instinct tells it to kill anything that runs from it. I tell Kathryn to stay behind me as I stand as tall as I can with hands up and shouting at the top of my lungs I step between the bear and the fleeing girls. The bear is confused and stops to assess the threat. If it feels I am too much of a threat it will turn and run or move back until it decides whether it has the upper hand or not.
This is a large male not easily intimidated, but not as dangerous as a female protecting her cubs. The bear turns to me and stands on his hind legs, it is easily head and shoulders above me and I’m six foot one now. I call onto all my training and experience, I understand a little of its anatomy it like most mammals has several weak spots where a trained individual can do fatal damage. My body is hard and lean even though away hundred and ninety pounds I run and lift weights to prepare my body for football. I also perform my martial arts daily. As the bear strides forward in his attack posture I move forward a few steps towards the bear when he is in range I performed a kick to his throat as fast and hard as I possibly can. The sound of the bear’s neck breaking is one I’ll never forget, is the first thing other than an insect I’ve ever killed. I know I didn’t have a choice but I still feel badly.
Kathryn is at my shoulder her hands wrapped around my arm as we both look at the dead bear. She looks up at me to see my sadness. She says. “My love you didn’t have a choice if you had not stopped the bear one of my sisters would have been its breakfast.”
I turn to pull Kathryn close to me. Holding her I say. “There’s no way I would ever let anything hurt you or my family.”
Kathryn grins at me devilishly. “So my sisters are our family, you said my not your.”
After giving her a quick kiss I say. “Help me pick up the buckets and take the berries back down to grandma before she has a heart attack thinking we’ve been eaten by a bear.”
On the way down we are met by her three brothers caring rifles headed to where we were at. Their shocked expressions will always something me and Kathryn can look back on and laugh. Their mouth hanging open as Kathryn and I strolled pass them hand-in-hand carrying two buckets of berries.
Kathryn’s smile confused her brothers as they looked I can forth between each other. Finally Michael Junior asks. “JJ ran the bear off?”
Kathryn replies “It’s still up there right where JJ left it.” Looking up at me she adds. “JJ did what was necessary to protect his family.”
Mark asks. “What happened to the bear?”
Kathryn response before I could say anything, teasing her brothers she says. “He tried to, but the bear was as dumb as my brothers.”
The three still confused asks. “So what happened to the bear?”
Kathryn still teasing her brothers says. “I’ll say this slowly, JJ, kicked, the, bear, once, and, only, once. The, bear, is, dead. JJ did what he needed to do to protect us.”
I say to Kathryn. “Come on Love let’s go stop your grandma from worrying.” In another couple minutes we walk onto her back porch and in through her back door into the kitchen. Setting the buckets down on the table her grandmother rushes into the room right up to Kathryn and throws her into a hug so tightly that Kathryn groans.
Michelle screams into the phone. “THEY’RE OKAY.” I’m not sure who she’s talking to her father or someone she is trying to get help from, but from as loud as she was they have to be holding their ear right now. I chuckle to myself seeing the reactions. Maria, Kara and Krystal all come running hugging their sister then beginning to say thank you to me.
After a minute or so everything calms back down. Michelle says. “The last thing I saw was JJ stepping between the bear and us as it charged. What happened after that?”
Kathryn finally released from her grandmother’s hug begins the story from there. “JJ stops the bear from charging after them or they would’ve been its breakfast. When the bear stood up on its hind feet it was taller than JJ it looked so big. JJ held his ground standing there hollering at the bear with his arms above his head. He was trying to scare the bear off. But the bear was as stupid, as my brothers and wouldn’t back down. As it came forward JJ walked up to where he could kick it. With one kick and only one kick he killed the bear. And sisters he said, There’s no way I would ever let anything hurt you or my family. My family not your family so stop trying to mess up what we have.”
Her grandmother hearing the last sentence scolded her other granddaughters running them from the room. Grandma begins cooking breakfast for us of country gravy, biscuits, bacon and eggs. Several vehicles pull up at the front of the house, two Sheriffs and a Ranger step from their vehicles.
Kathryn tells the story to the three, who asks several times. “Just one kick?” I hand them my martial arts card, they each look at it then handed back. Kathryn’s brothers are back and they confirm the bear is dead with no weapon damage. Eddie is grinning as he tells the officers. “JJ here is also the martial arts instructor at our high school. He will be marrying my baby sister.”
Eddie takes the officers to see the bear after the vehicle pulling an ATV arrives. They take ATV to bring back the dead bear. The bear corpse lies at the base of a large oak tree; one of the brothers has carved into the bark of the oak, an Appalachian thing. “Under this here tree JJ killed a bear.” Loaded onto the ATV they remark, “That has to be the largest black bear we seen in a while.”
A week later I get a phone call asking if I like to have the bear skin I agree to take it although there is a charge for having it prepared.
Summer again passes too quickly, too soon as August and football practice. September and we begin our junior year.
Our life slips into a routine, of school, trade stocks, homework and dating. Of course we try to spend as much time with family as possible, that helps me to withstand the temptations I feel from Kathryn. Time moved by in December again this Christmas Kathryn bought me a really cool watch. I got her another necklace with matching earrings and I bought stocking stuffers for the entire family $100 music cards for the kids plus one major gift for each with the approval of my future in-laws, of course I put from Santa on all the major gifts I bought.
Leave a Reply