024: With the Monkey

"Come on, come on." He said then and helped her up.

Without warning, he stood up and grabbed her arm to pull her along as well. He had her hand in that same firm grip he had always used when hauling her around, but Maille wasn't so sure she wanted to be hauled around. She dug in her heels. Kell looked down and then paused to survey her feet.

He retrieved the bag and got out the sneakers he'd bought her. He knelt and held out the first one and she placed a hand on his shoulder while he laced the shoe onto her foot. Feeling rather childish for having her shoes put on her, Maille nevertheless submitted as usual to his gentle eccentricities and when he led her out to his red sports car, she came willingly, noting the monkey in a cage in the back seat.

Enchanted, having never been as close to a monkey as she had been in the last two days, Maille greeted the little rascal, it's black eyes shining with curiosity and intrigue. Kell watched her play with Kiyah's fingers in contentment. He pulled onto the freeway, took her free hand and placed it over the gear shift while they drove. He covered it with his own, loving the feel of her hand, so small, so warm within his own. It was the smallest intimacy he could permit.

Her hand. His hand.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"To a park." He said and they did go to a park. He drove to the side of the park and got out while Maille observed the beautiful shade trees and the lush grass. There was another couple not far away, and that was it. No one else was in the park today.

Kell had Kiyah on a leash and a Frisbee in his other hand. He let Kiyah go and then threw the Frisbee for him to catch. It wasn't long before they were playing a three-way game of catch, and Maille was delightedly feeling her lack of inhibition again. She loved the monkey. She rather thought she might also love Kell.

Kell had packed a picnic lunch of sandwiches and chips for them and they ate quietly, feeding Kiyah little tidbits and discussing his characteristics. Then Kell lay back in the grass and tugged at Maille's hair.

She lay back as well, her head touching his. She could feel the heat of it. His fingers raised and one hand reached for hers again, and the other blindly felt for her braids, and then traveled easily over her features, gently tickling her brow and her eyes until they closed, and her smiling lips. It bothered unbearably, but Kell was insistent.

"Kell, what are you doing?"

"Memorizing you upside down."

"Why?"

"I 'll be going on location soon and I want to remember you."

Maille smiled, feeling warmth and gladness swell within her, but there was some bemusement as well.

They laid on the grass calmly talking about nothing and everything. Kell was very open for the first time, and Maille asked about movies and performing and hopes and aspirations. Kell told her some of his main concerns and then spoke about how he was being forced to do projects that would require sex scenes and nudity in order to further his career.

"They want you to perform without clothes? In what movie? Not in this movie!" Maille was shocked.

"No, not in this movie with the fabulous Steve McQueen." Kell said. 'Thank God."

Maille smiled. "Yeah, Stevie would never do a movie that required him to perform nude."

"How does he get away with that and still command the big bucks?" Kell asked.

Maille shrugged. "They know he won't do it, so they don't ask him to."

"But it's not that simple. There is a lot of stiff competition out there in the realm of young muscular bright males with talent. Either I get onto one role and become stereotyped that way, or I do these shots and pay my dues."

"I don't believe that," Maille said. "My parents never buckled under, and they are in the big star category."

"Your parents are legends in their own right, and your dad did do sex scenes before he became a big star. He paid his dues."

"That was before." Maille said confidently. "Now he wouldn't think of it, and neither would Ryan, or Steve, or Matthew. They don't have to. They have strong enough convictions working for them and power enough in the respect they demand to get their way."

"Power." Kell repeated. "Yes. Power."

Maille was silent thinking about that power and where her brother-in-law's got that power. She knew Kell was about to ask her and she wasn't sure she knew what to say. No one had ever asked her about the church before. She hadn't placed herself in a position to explain her beliefs ever. In this case, it was bound to come up, but she'd taken it for granted over the last few days that he already knew. How he knew, she didn't know, but she assumed that did.

"Do I have to become a member of your church to grasp this power?"

"A member?"

"Yes, yes. Yes. Tell me. You know I can hear it from Steve any minute I want to, he's a returned missionary, isn't he?"

"But you want me to tell you about the church?"

''Not just the church, but how to get the power to resist and still be respected, and get the good roles.

"Maille's head was whirling. Was this for real? Was he asking her questions about the church as if that were the sole reason he had sought her out to begin with?

"I'm not sure where to start..." Maille said to cover her confusion. The past three days he had tried very hard to set her at ease. Was that so she would reveal secrets about her church to him?

"Temples." Kell said promptly.

"Temples." Maille repeated like a talking parakeet.

"It is where you are instructed, no? Where you get fortified with this power?"

"I've never been in the Temple except for the youth ordinances. You'll have to ask..."

"Steve and Megan ... yes, I know, but I 'd rather hear it from you."

"Well, it is sacred, Kell. Special. Dealing with eternity. You can't just start learning the gospel by learning about the temple. You have to understand about Jesus Christ. Do you believe in Jesus Christ?"

"Of course, of course, I am saved, I am a Christian."

"And you believe that Jesus can save you?"

"Yes, Yes, I believe that. But that's not where this power is." he was impatient.

"Well ..."Maille stopped and took a deep breath, having never borne her testimony for a friend in private before, and not sure that it was what Kell needed anyway. "I don't believe it, I know it."

Kell stopped in mid-sentence and then looked over at her skeptically. "Pure knowledge?" he said. Maille nodded.

Kell did something then that he shouldn't have, but her answer had surprised him quite a bit. He snorted.

It was the wrong thing to do and he knew it instantly. Maille's stricken eyes and suddenly closed features made him cringe inwardly. He watched her get up and walk away and he didn't follow her. This time he knew he needed to let her go.

He followed her slim, straight-backed figure with brooding eyes and finally decided he needed to recapture their former rapport. He stood and shook out the tie-dye pants. Maille glanced at him, she hadn't gone far.

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