The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 68attraction rise between the two groups. He knew from long years of experience that apples were anextremely erotic fruit, and responded well to the kind of sexuality that he could now sense hanging inthe air. In a hurry to move this energy out into the trees while it was still young and fresh, the farmerpassed out his woven bushel-baskets as quickly as he could. He gave his simple instructions on applepicking-- bend the apple upward, try to keep the stem on, be gentle – and with that, the young men andwomen started to make their way in ones and twos and threes down the rows of pruned and twistedtrees.The chaperones who had escorted the young ladies from the nursing school, simultaneouslyaware of but immune to the smell of sex in the air, at first spent much energy making sure that soldiersand nurses in no way mixed as they went up and down through the orchard. This plan did not last long,as it was quickly evident to the pair that there was simply no physical way that the young men andwomen, who had scattered all over the orchard, could be kept segregated. They decided then that theironly course of action was to split up and patrol separately, each hoping silently that they woulddiscover some secret tryst under a tree so that the offenders could be punished. To that end they alsoenlisted the aid of the farmer, who had silent hopes of his own that any secret trysts would remainsecret, and who thus conducted his own patrol with his eyes as firmly closed as possible.Jose, as delighted as he was at the discovery of the women, had no intentions of trysting, secretor otherwise. Taking his bushel-basket, he set out for the furthest corner of the orchard with the ideathat the trees there might be fuller, and the picking more fruitful. The day was beautiful, and perfect forthinking of everything and nothing all at once. Jose became absorbed in the process, and the fruitseemed almost to fly into his basket with practically no effort whatsoever. He did not even hear thewoman behind him until she bit, as forcefully and as loudly as she could, into an apple of her own.Jose spun around at the sound. He was startled and unsure of what to expect, but the last thinghe would have expected was the young woman he found there, looking at him over the top of her apple