Chapter 10

The next day, Bud crouched in his tree house with Thorny. The boys passed postcard folios between them, often making rude comments about the size or shape of the posing girls. Thorny thumbed through the pictures over and over, shuffling them like baseball trading cards.

"Here's a new one," Thorny said and tossed a folio at Bud. "She looks fresher than most of the regulars."

Bud looked through photo series; it was a corny Greek mythology story. A girl dressed in a gauzy shift and a mask posed next to a very fake looking forest pond. She shed more and more of her clothing in each photo. Finally, she spread her knees and played with her pussy as the camera caught her every move.

"Not bad," Bud agreed. Arriving at the end of the folio, he flipped back to the beginning and ran through the pictures again. He stopped at one particular picture. The girl was bent over in a cheesecake pose, her leg and hand strategically placed to keep her private parts from view.

"Holy shit," he said, half to himself. His eyes zeroed in on a small mark, almost like a bruise, on her hip. He knew it because he'd run his hands across it before; run his hands across it as he caressed his girlfriend's body.

Bud made a quick excuse to Thorny and borrowed the postcards. Tucking the folio inside his shirt, he ran through the alley to Kelly's house. Kelly walked him through the house to the back porch, discreetly far enough away from her mother that they couldn't be overheard. Making sure that they were alone, Kelly went up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss.

Ignoring her embrace, he jerked his face away from hers and stood coldly. He seethed with anger as handed her the postcards. "Tell me about these," he said.

Kelly recognized the pictures immediately. She sank into the porch swing, her shoulders shaking as she started to sob quietly. Bud sat next to her, his voice tight.

"Why would you do this? I wanted you to be special, not spreading your legs like some whore. I'm so mad. It's like my head is going to explode."

Kelly didn't look up. Her voice muffled from her hands. "I'm pregnant."

Her answer stunned Bud to silence. He dropped the pictures onto the floor, where they laid ignored between his feet. "My God. I'm so sorry."

"I never thought it would happen so quickly. We only made love four or five times," she snuffled. "I posed so that I could earn money and leave Kingsport. I don't want anyone else to know. I'll go away from here and no one will suspect the truth."

"No. You can't leave." Bud's head swam as he tried to come to grips with what Kelly had just said. "I'll go with you. I've got some money and I can earn more this summer. And Dad said he'd let me work after school next year."

Her face was red and puffy from her tears. She gave him another kiss and patted his hand. "Bud, thank you, but this is all on a timetable." She spoke slowly, as if explaining something to a child. "I used some of my Home Economics notes to work out how much money I'd need," she said. "I need almost $500 before Labor Day and I figure that, if I leave before school starts up in September, I won't have started to show."

"But how would you run away?"

Kelly dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief. "I'd tell my parents that I was going to see Grandma. Buy a train ticket and disappear. With a four day head start, I could be halfway across the country before people started to look for me."

"I'm going with you," he stated flatly. "I'm not going to run out on you. What can I do to help?"

"You don't know what you're saying. You can't give up your life for me."

"Why not?" he checked himself, realizing that his voice had grown too loud. "Why not? I got you into this fix. I can't just turn my back and let you try to work your way out of it alone."

Kelly launched herself against him, hugging him so tight that he had trouble catching his breath. "I knew you loved me," she said. She rained kisses on his face and neck.