Chapter 3

Back in the kitchen, Ruth washed, while Nadia stood beside him and rinsed and dried the dishes. Their shoulders touched as they worked.

"I like it here," said Nadia.

"I'm glad," said Ruth, who felt silly for being as glad as he was.

"There are still many things I don't understand. What did your mother mean when she told your father to put a leash on it?"

"Oh ... that," said Ruth. "She was just telling him to be patient and wait."

"No, she said to take if for a walk. What is it? Do you have a pet I haven't met yet?"

"No, she didn't mean a pet."

"What did she mean? Why did you lecture her for saying it?"

"I didn't lecture her," said Ruth, grinning. "Kids don't lecture adults in America."

"It sounded like a lecture to me," said Nadia. "It was a very short one, but it sounded like a lecture."

"He was trying to get her to go to the bedroom with him," said Ruth.

"Like now," she said.

Right on cue Molly's voice could be heard escaping the bedroom in a long moan. Nadia brightened.

"Oh! They are having sex again!"

"Yes," groaned Ruth.

"You must tell me what it all meant then," insisted Nadia.

Ruth started to feel his chest tighten, but then he reminded himself that she wasn't making fun of him, and she didn't find talking about things sexual disturbing or embarrassing. He marveled that she was so well adjusted, and that gave him the courage to try to be the same way.

"Okay," he said. "Whenever Dad says he needs to talk to her alone, in the bedroom, it means he wants to have sex."

"Yes," she said.

"And when she said to put a leash on it, she meant his ... um ... penis."

"His hui ... his how you say ... dick?"

"Yes."

"How can he take his dick for a walk? Does she mean to go away with it?"

"Well ... yeah, sort of. I mean she might have been telling him to go ... um ... do something about it." He realized immediately it was stupid to hint at things, since she had no clue as to such things. "There is this way of touching yourself that is a little bit like sex."

"Jacking off!" said Nadia proudly. It was one of the phrases she'd learned from a friend.

"Yes," said Ruth, who felt his own penis start stiffening after she said it.

"So to take his cock for a walk means he should go jack off."

"Or just wait until later."

"Like now," she said.

Ruth looked at the hallway to his parents' room. "Yeah."

"When I hear them in there, and I remember what we saw that first day ... it makes me want to take it for a walk," said Nadia as she dried the dish Ruth had just handed her. He almost dropped the one in his hands at that moment.

"Oh," he said.

"Do you like to jack off?" she asked. "I like it very much."

"Ummm, yeah, I guess I like it a lot too."

"Back home, the grandmas all say jacking off is terrible and will make horrible things happen, but I have done it many times, and nothing terrible has happened to me. Look at me now! I'm in America, and I have a new friend. Boyfriend, even! She grinned at him."

"We need to talk about that. You can't keep telling people I'm your boyfriend."

"Why not?"

"Because people will think we kiss and stuff."

"So if I call you my boyfriend, I have to kiss you?"

"Well, of course not. I'd never make you do anything you didn't want to do. But other people will expect you to hold my hand, and kiss me."

"I don't mind doing those things," she said.

His penis finished firming up, and notified him that it was time to strike and take the spoils of war. He tried to ignore it.

"I wouldn't mind doing them either," he said. "But people will also think we have sex."

"Like your parents," she said.

"Yes."

"Hmmmmm. I'd have to think about that. Like I said, I don't believe I'm ready for that yet."

"No, no, no, I don't mean we have to have sex. I'm saying that people will think we do."

"So who cares what they think, if it is not true?"

"They'll expect us to go out on dates."

"What is this date?"

He tried to explain it, and she said it sounded like fun.

"I don't think my parents would approve of the boyfriend idea," he sighed. "If they found out they'd ground me for a month."

"What is this ground?"

When he explained that, she laughed.

"When I came here, I expected Americans to frown and be mean. I've heard so many stories about Americans. But I think most of them were lies, because everyone I've met is so nice, and no one frowns. I do not believe your parents would punish you for taking me on a date, if that was something that was good for me, or useful to me."

"You have a lot to learn," he said.

"Of course I do. I just got here."

"Let's get finished and I'll get out a picture puzzle."

Then, of course, he had to explain what that was.

After a week, Bob and Molly finally fucked themselves out for a while and began to take a more active role in Nadia and Ruth's evenings. Television was interesting, because there was so much innuendo, slang and non-verbal communication going on. It was good that they had a DVR system, because they needed to stop and explain things to her often, replaying sequences as well. But she was a quick learner.

Part of that quick learning was identifying, through some arcane talent she had, which things to ask Bob and Molly about, or ask about in their presence, and which things to ask only Ruth about. Part of that talent was developed when, one night after the TV had been turned off, and shortly before bedtime, she asked a question to the room in general.

"Today, a boy named Todd talked to me. He called me a baby and said Ruth is a wimp. He said he could make me squeal if I let him. What did he mean?"

Bob looked up from his paper, alarmed. Molly held the book she was reading with one hand, and covered her mouth with the other. Ruth made a growling sound in his throat. "Todd Bunsen?" he said.

"I don't remember his last name. I didn't like him very much. He seemed icky."

"Icky?" asked Molly. "Where did you learn that word?"

"Melody Simpson taught it to me," said Nadia. "She says that sometimes there are icky men watching the games."

"Who's Melody Simpson?" asked Bob.

"Cheerleader," said Ruth, frowning.

"Ahhhh," said Bob. "Icky indeed."

"So what does this mean ... to make me squeal? I think this has something to do with sex, yes?"

That was when she learned that it was much easier to talk to Ruth alone about things sexual. While the parents indulged in sex frequently ... and loudly ... they didn't seem to be willing to talk about it as freely as Ruth was.

It was also how Bob and Molly found out Ruth was being characterized as Nadia's boyfriend. They blamed it on Ruth, of course. When she finally understood why they were yelling at him, she clapped her hands until she got silence.

"No, no. Ruth did not say this. I am the one who said this. I did not ask him first."

"Why would you say something like that?" asked Molly.

"Because of these icky boys, who try to hit on me," she said. "If I tell them I have a boyfriend, then they don't hit on me so much. And who could I say was this boyfriend? It had to be Ruth. It has been very helpful to me. Please do not be angry with him and ground him."

"Well I'll be damned," said Bob. "She's both gorgeous and smart as a whip." He put the paper down. "Dear? I think we need to discuss this privately, in the bedroom."

Nadia laughed, and then clapped her hand over her mouth and looked away. Both adults stared at her.