Chapter Four: The Crow's Nest
~ Chapter Four~
Marcus spent the next three weeks in the yard cutting and hammering and otherwise erecting his clubhouse. He was unable to get any assistance from Mr. Gerald, the shop teacher, for reasons left unexplained, so his first attempt was on his own, faltering and flawed, more appropriate as the fuel for a bonfire than as a hangout for him and his friends. So he had his mother ask around, and ended up working with George, the thirty-four year old arctic wolf father of Naomi, Modest's best friend. He was an architectural engineer and was glad to help.
They spent weeks after he got off work drawing and designing and cutting and building, and between the two of them the club house was built. It turned out rather solid. It was sixteen feet by sixteen feet and had two stories. The ground floor was only one room; it contained a large table, a chest of drawers, and a number of chairs; it had a solid, locking door. The north wall across from the door held a ladder that led to the second story. The second story had two rooms, east and west, and the ladder well was enclosed with a door on each side leading into the rooms. The east room had beanbag chairs and a video game system, the clubhouse having been hooked up for power. The west room, unlike the rest of the clubhouse, had not hardwood floors but thick, lush, blue carpet. It also had two chests containing sleeping bags and pillows.
The ladder also continued up to a trapdoor that leads to the roof, which was railed on all four sides. Marcus liked this sixteen foot high perch best of all: it gave him a lovely view of the entire back yard and even parts of the river.
Over the front door of the clubhouse was a plaque engraved with the building's name: the Fox's Den.
The night it was finished, Marc and three of his friends slept in there and had a great time. This was a Friday, so they stayed up late being loud and rough housing. Marcus thoroughly enjoyed this.
But the next afternoon, Marcus got annoyed. He had just returned from walking Jimmy home when he saw Naomi sitting on the front porch. With Modest home, this could only mean she wanted to see Marcus. He groaned internally, having never cared for interacting with Modest's friends. As he approached the house, Namoi stood up, hands clasped before her.
"Hey Marc," she said. He grunted a reply and stood at the bottom of the steps that led up to the porch.
"So," she continued, not dissuaded, "you have been taking my daddy away from me for a few weeks." Marcus nodded, unapologetic. It was Mr. George's choice, after all.
"I wanted to see what had him so willing," she continued even further, "to not spend time with his favorite daughter."
"You're his only daughter," Marcus said before he could stop himself, rolling his eyes. She smacked his arm.
"Show me," she demanded. And so he did.
Marcus took her around to the back yard, where the unpainted oak building stood proudly, the railings in the top, what Marcus called the Crow's Nest, prominent in the early afternoon sunlight. Entering, he gestured around.
"This is the first floor," he said. "Table for board games and food, chairs for sitting. We hang out here." He led her up the ladder and into the game room.
"Game room," he said. "For video games. There's an Xbox and and a PS3, and a good selection of games." Then to the carpeted room.
"Sleep room," he succinctly explained. "We crash here. Pillows and sleeping bags in the chests." He hesitated to bring her up top, but decided to at the last second. When they had reached the roof, he sighed. He had noticed that despite all the ladder climbing, Naomi didn't complain and he was a bit impressed, despite himself. She was a girl after all...girls hated climbing, right?
He gazed out over his domain, a calm and peaceful expression on his face, and his shoulders were set, square but relaxed. His hands were in his pockets and when he spoke he sounded older somehow.
"The first time I stood up here," he said, "and I looked over across my yard and my river and the woods, I knew that...this is mine. The Fox's Den may be for my friends as well, but the yard, the house, the river...it's all mine. And I watch it from here, from my Crow's Nest, observing it all." There was a moment of silence, and then Naomi stepped close to Marcus and interlocked her arm around his, as if they were at a dance, and laid her head on his shoulder.
Immediately, his heart began beating very fast. He had never been this close or in this position with a girl before, and wasn't sure what to do, so he did nothing.
"You know," Naomi said softly, "I've always liked you. Ever since we were in kindergarten and you beat up Billy Winters for spitting on Modest, I've liked you. It's part of why I became friends with her." She turned him to face her. She was the same age as him, but a full three inches shorter, so he was looking down a bit at her golden eyes. She stood higher on her toes, putting her hands on his shoulders, and before Marcus could fully grasp what was happening they were kissing.
It was different than he always thought it would be. Her lips, obviously inexperienced, were on his, hot and moist, and he responded in kind, adding pressure, putting a hand at her lower back. He felt her tongue brush against his lip; she felt his on hers. His first kiss was not long, ending far too soon and not soon enough, but it was one they both would remember for the rest of their lives.
When they pulled apart, he was breathless, and Naomi turned, blushing, and fled, climbing down and running inside. She left not long after, but Marcus stayed in the Crow's Nest, sitting cross-legged, and thought. He was there all afternoon and only noticed it because Modest had come.
"Marc," she said softly, peeking her head out of the trapdoor, "it's dinner time."
After dinner, which he barely tasted, Modest came to him in his room, looking concerned and angry at the same time.
"Naomi left here crying," she said. "What happened? What did you do?" Marcus shrugged and sighed.
"I don't know why she was crying," he said honestly. "She told me a secret," he continued, beating her next question, "and it's been...I've had to think about it a lot." Modest sat next to him and put her head on his shoulder, a common gesture of comfort between them. When Marcus moved away, however, uncomfortable, her eyes grew sad and flinty, and she left without a word..
~~ To Be Continued ~~