The Two Eunices

Sitting by the lake and watching the sunset, she looked at me and said. . .

said. . .

said. . .

I sighed. The cursor on my word processor blinked back and forth daring me to figure out what the character said next and my mind was blank.

My phone rang. I could've let it go to voice mail, but an excuse to do something other then work on this book was too good to pass up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Al. It's Sheila." Sheila Nivens. My publisher. Just my luck. I found an excuse to not work on my book for a while and it turned out to be someone who probably wanted to complain that I wasn't working on my book. Sure enough, Sheila plunged right in with, "Honestly, Al, I need those chapters as soon as possible."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just having trouble hanging the plot together."

"Oh for heaven's sake, Al! You're writing a book by Eunice Lemense. You want my advice, just forget the plot and make the characters have sex. . .and do it fast because we've got deadlines to meet here."

"Thanks for the advice. I'll try."

"Oh, but one other thing. . .You know more and more journalists are speculating about Eunice Lemense's identity. Some of the higher ups at this company are thinking that it might be a good time to go public."

"Absolutely not.":

"Oh come on. Think of the publicity when people find out that Eunice Lemense is a pen name for Al Lincoln. I'll bet it would boost publicity for Eunice, the Unicorn books too."

I sighed again. "It would probably make some people throw Eunice, the Unicorn books in a fire."

"And that would be bad for sales because. . .?"

"Forget it," I said, "Anyway, I should get back to work on the book."

"Well, have it your way, bye."

After she hung up, I stared at my computer screen for a while until the doorbell rang. And when I answered the door, there was my niece, Meghan.

"Uncle Al," she said throwing her arms around my neck in a hug. "Did you forget that we were going to go down to the lake tonight."

Actually, it had slipped my mind what with this deadline, but if talking to Sheila was an excuse to not work on my book, then walking by the lake with Meghan was something that I would choose over writing any day. So I smiled and said, "Of course not."

Ten minutes later, we were walking towards the lake, and I reflected that Meghan was growing up rather fast. In the past year, her legs had grown rather long--a fact that I could see clearly because she was wearing shorts that stopped a good six inches above her knees. I could also see that beneath her green t-shirt, she was growing a "woman's chest". But she still wore her hair braided in a pair of blonde pigtails, and she still had that adorable cream-colored face.

"You know," I said, "Don't get me wrong. I love spending this time with you, but I'm surprised that you still enjoy it."

"Uncle Al!"

"No, really. You're turning into a young woman. I'm surprised you wouldn't rather hang out with boys your own age."

"Now, you sound like my mother."

"Oh? Your mother's been giving you grief about that?"

"And everything else. She also tells me that I need to start wearing bras, but they're so uncomfortable."

I didn't say anything else to this. When we got to the lake, I couldn't resist saying, "Are your feet going to stay dry this time?"

"Of course not." She kicked off the sandals that she had been wearing and dipped her bare feet in the lake. "Ahh," she said, "it's freezing, but it feels great!"

I smiled and glanced at one of her cast aside sandals. "You still have Eunice, the Unicorn sandals? That's flattering, but aren't you a little bit big for it?"

She shrugged. "You're twice my age and you're the one who created Eunice, the Unicorn in the first place."

"That's different. It's what I do for a living."

I guess she didn't have an answer for that because she got quiet.

For a while, we just sat by the lake then sitting by the lake and watching the sunset, she turned to me and said, "Uncle Al, can I talk to you about something?"

"What else would you talk about?"

She smiled a little at my joke. The other day, I read a book. It was by this woman, Eunice Lemense."

My eyebrows shot up. "I guess you are growing up."

"Yeah. Well. It was about these two girls who were in love with each other and they spent a lot of time lying in bed together and showering together."

I had an idea which book she was talking about. "Do your parents know you've been reading books like that."

"No!" she said with alarm. "I mean Mom is always talking about how when people fall in love with members of the same sex, it's a disgusting abomination, and I thought I agreed with her. But. . .it didn't seem that way in the book. Those two women cared about each other so much. Lemense made it sound sweet."

Was that a compliment to my writing? If it was, I couldn't say so.

"Well," Meghan went on, "since I read that book, I've been thinking about things."

"What kind of things?"

"Well. . .there's this girl in my grade named Jenn. Jenn's real nice. She's tall and pretty and she's always smiling and laughing. We have gym class together and sometimes after gym class, I'll see her in the locker room and I think I want to. . ."

There was silence because she wasn't sure what to say next. I decided to see if I could finish for her. "You want to take off all your gym clothes, and get into the shower with her. Then, you want to stand next to her under the hot water and gently take some soap and rub it in over her luscious wet skin while she rubs soap over your skin. And then, when your both covered with hot suds, you want to plant a long kiss on her mouth while water comes down."

For one long awkward minute, she looked at me with shock. Then, she let out a laugh. "Uncle Al," she said hugging me and putting her head on my shoulder. "That's why I love you so much. I mean if anyone else said something that to a girl, he'd probably get locked up or labelled a sex offender, but from you it sounds sweet.

"Still," she went on, " what am I going to do? Do you think I might be a lesbian?"

"Maybe," I said. "It could also be that you and Jenn are maturing a little bit faster then the boys in your grade. Sometimes that makes girls your age feel the way you've been feeling."

"But what if I am a lesbian?"

I shrugged. "Then we'll just have to educate your parents somehow, but I don't think we should spring it on them just yet."

That seemed to satisfy her.

A little while later, we said good-bye and she went home for the night.

I went back to my cabin and decided I'd best get back to my book.

Sitting by the lake and watching the sunset, she turned to me and said, "My best friend Jenn and I want to take off our clothes and shower with you."