This chapter is a love chapter between the main character Keron and his childhood sweetheart. No obscene material whatsoever!
CHAPTER V
The ACE examination test date approached me rapidly. On the test day, I remember my father telling me that he had something important that must be done and would therefore be gone for the rest of the day. I jogged to Mr. Strauss’ house and saw Kathryn walking back and forth in synchronized steps. Mr. Strauss soon came out to greet me. He asked me to take Kathryn home for he was going somewhere important. Kathryn and I walking hand-in-hand into the testing center. Our test room had only six test takers. One of them was Khepthu Ca’jet, a Vasudan who lived in the NTF-established ghettos of the southern district of Meridian. He was a few years older than I was. (Four years older as I would find out later.) Despite our age difference, he would be my lifelong friend and peer mentor throughout my future career.
We answered the test by fervently pushing the keys on the screen of our touchpads. The test went as smooth as butter. I was quite confident that I got every question correct. But it was probably one task that sealed my questionable future. With this test I may had well as gone to an NTF-sponsored university in Polaris, but a mysterious force intervened multiple times to prevent that.
Khepthu was the first person to submit his answer database. Kathryn and I decided to submit ours together, even though she had finished the test before I did. I asked her ifshe had any questions to ask me, but she just looked down at her feet and shook her head. I let out a deep sign. We slowly walked out of the testing center still hand-in-hand. She held my hand tightly but had remained taciturn throughout our journey home. When I asked her whether something was bothering her, her beautiful brown hair waved back and forth as she slowly shook her head. A light ray touched the side of her hair; it had created a halo, which seemed to me to portray her as an innocent girl forced to bud into adulthood.
When we reached Mr. Strauss’ front door, Kathryn turned around and kissed my right cheek. I turned to embrace my little angel and slowly kissed her, savoring the moment. We had kissed for several seconds when I loosened by embrace. She blushed like a rose in full bloom. She opened the door to her house and held my hand to lead me inside.
Still with holding my hand, Kathryn sat down in the chair next to her study table. I knelt down on my left knee looking up at where she sat. She then asked me to write a poem for her and she for me. I slowly stood up and fished out my touchpad. It took me little effort to forge a poem that would have lasting effects on me:
Pretty damsel, where art thou?
Pretty damsel, seeketh not thy knight.
Pretty damsel, he rideth in the day,
Rideth in the night.
Pretty damsel, he battleth his enemies who keepeth him at bay,
Yes he doth slew them with the edge of his sword.
Pretty damsel, he cometh quick on his mighty steed to thy rescue,
And sweeps you off thy feet.
Pretty damsel, pray touch his lips with thy gentle kiss,
And be delivered through everlasting bliss.
I pressed the transfer option on by touchpad’s screen and looked up at Kathryn. Her touchpad beeped to indicate her of an incoming message. Her eyes kept focus on her touchpad. I saw her breathe a deep breath and looked up to face me. My heart melted as she smiled and pounced on me and knocked me off balance. Her lips touched mine in a deep kiss as I held her waist in a gentle embrace. Her brown hair drooped onto my face as she dips her head to kiss me again. My back felt the warmth of the gentle carpet beneath me as we rolled over and over in a trance of love, a trance that Don Quixote could only dream of with his beloved Dulcinea. I allowed the trance to overwhelm me; a moment that I had hoped would never end.
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CRITICISM?
