LIFE LESSON SIX…

Madison stared at herself in the mirror and marveled that she didn't look any different after her first kiss. She felt different, more mature and a lot wicked. Shouldn't she look different?

Running the pads of her fingers across her lips, she fantasized that she could still feel Jack Moore's lips on hers. And the touch of his tongue against hers…odd sensation, but definitely something she thought she could grow to passably like. She liked Jack Moore, so she could learn to like it for him.

A brief knock sounded on her door. As she turned toward it, Momma sashayed into the room. Momma halted a mere foot from her, too much into her personal space. Madison resisted the compulsion to lean away and take back her domain.

"Who were you with today?" Momma demanded, her cheeks rosy as if she'd just entered from a long brisk walk in a deep freeze. Their current typical southern October weather still hovered in the low-seventies, so the temperature couldn't account for her flush.

"W-what?" Dear God, she couldn't possibly know! Daddy'd kill her if he found out.

"Don't pretend ignorance with me, honey." Momma tapped her heavily manicured fingernails against her hips. "Who were you with?"

Unable to formulate a denial or the truth, she stared at Momma, mind-boggled that she could possibly know about Jack Moore.

Momma sniffed and released a frustrated sigh. "You let a no-named, no-account boy kiss you."

Not a question, but a statement that sent Madison's confusion spiraling into new territory. Madison's eyes rounded and she whispered, "How'd you find out?"

What she wanted to scream was that Jack Moore was so much more than a 'no-named, no-account boy' but feared Momma's reaction if she did. Horror upon horror compounded upon itself at the likelihood Momma would tell Daddy.

Momma executed a scowl. "He'll make the boy pay for this transgression."

Madison launched to her feet and clasped her hands together between her breasts in prayer-like fasion. "Please, Momma, don't tell Daddy!"

Momma brushed her knuckles across her cheekbone. "Honey, it's out of my hands."

"Daddy doesn't have to know!" she pleaded, humiliated by the desperation she heard in her voice. "I won't see him again. I swear!" As an afterthought she hurriedly added, "I swear on the Bible!"

"This goes higher up than your Daddy, honey."

Who could be higher up than Daddy? Nothing and no one frightened her more than him.

Momma clarified with, "Our creator will pass judgment on this boy," and with that cryptic remark, she walked out of the room without a backward glance.

If she was as damned as Daddy said, then what'd God care if Jack Moore kissed her? Why would he watch anyway? Sounded like God might be a pervert too if he watched her.

Madison flung herself across the bed and wept into her pillow, fear for the punishment Daddy would dole out and for lost experiences.

A day of blissful rebellion…too bad it ended on a sour note.