Escenas y Diálogos (34): Not a Drop to Drink

Sección que creó el blog Paradise Of Words, que consiste en escribir las escenas y diálogos que te gustaron de un libro que leíste.      
 * Esta sección puede tener spoilers *

 “Things have changed,” Mother answered, her gaze drawn to the southern horizon. “So we change with them.”

 Men. Mother always spoke that word with malevolence that Lynn could not imagine what they must be like. The dangers they posed to her survival she was aware of. Other threats, only hinted at by Mother, remained a mystery.

 “You don't have to hide it,” Lynn said. “Pain is nothing to be ashamed of.”

 “I know it's important. All the secrets are.”
 “Jeez, little girl, how many do you have?”
 “A lot!” Lucy's voice cracked, and she started to cry. “I've got a lot of secrets.”

 “Flirt?”
 “Yeah, it's how a boy shows a girl that he likes her. Or vice versa,” he said pointedly.

 “Looks like maybe there's a thing or two I can teach you after all.”
 “Yes, flirting. A necessary part of survival.”

 “No, I guess you don't know. What I used to do with my day probably seems silly to you.”
 “No,” Lynn said slowly, thinkings over every word as she spoke. “It seems like it'd be kind of nice not spending every living minute working against dying.”

 “Plus I would've sniped your ass.”
 “That too.”
 “I guess maybe I'm glad I didn't,” Lynn admitted.
 “I'll take that as flirting, country girl.”

 “I came to see you too, you know.”
 “Well, I'm here,” Lynn said, not able to find any other words.

 Eli broke the silence. “So... I'm not used to asking for permission, but I don't want to get shot either.”
 “Permission for what?”
 “A kiss.”

 “I'm not killing people for spite. This is about living.”

 He took her hand, guiding her over to the cot. “There's better ways to spend our time. I'm not standing out in the coldand the dark shooting a gun when I could be warm in here with you.”

 “I don't want anything more than to hold you, Lynn.”
 His arms encircled her and she felt the calm that always came with him welling up from a place she'd thought only Mother could touch.

 In a few hours, Lynn would climba tree miles from her pond to fire bullets she couldn't spare so that Eli, Lucy, and countless strangers downstream could have a drop to drink.

 “It is what it is. I got other worries right now,” she said as she walked away from him, her hammering heart screaming at the lie in her words.