The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

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The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 80for all that he felt a little wicked about his thoughts of Eudora, but he did not want to be contrary andimpolite and decided that he would nod along anyway. At the very least perhaps it would impress or atleast please Eudora, who herself was among the nodders.At last the lecture drew to a close. The congregation stood, and the priest invited everyone whoknew that they were bad people to come up front while another song was sung. Jose glanced quicklyaround; no one was going to the front, and the nodders were now almost uniformly busy staring at thefloor as they sang. Since he was sure that he was not any more bad than anyone else Jose joined themin staring, at least as much as he could between glances at the hymnal to try and follow along with thewords. When the song ended the mood once again visibly rose, along with the rapid up-and-down buzzof everyone suddenly talking at once.Eudora took Jose's arm and guided him out of the pew and down the aisle. Men everywherewere shaking hands and slapping each other on the shoulder, doubtless congratulating themselves onhaving made it through the service. At the exit, Jose could see the priest shaking hands with everyoneas they left. He did not seem to be accusing anyone of being bad, and Jose was happy to discover whenhe reached the doors that the man was only greeting people and thanking them for coming. Jose smiledand shook his hand warmly. Would he be back? He thought so.When all the soldiers and nursing students had piled back into the automobiles, Jose wassurprised to notice that they were not driving back the same way that they had come. It didn't botherhim, since with Eudora squeezed tightly next to him he actually wanted the trip to take as long aspossible so that he could savor each bounce and rub of her body against his. The cars were bouncingtheir occupants south following the Scioto River, and Eudora informed Jose that the group was goingon a picnic. This pleased Jose. Even though he was not anxious for the bouncing and rubbing to cometo an end, he immediately started to construct fantasies about lunchtime along the river. Eudorasqueezed his hand and smiled.
The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya 81The cars pulled off of the main road and into a stand of trees. It was a beautiful late Octoberday, and there were enough leaves remaining on the trees to give the picnickers the impression of beingin a multicolored cathedral. Picnic baskets and blankets appeared, although Jose had no idea wherethey came from. Jose was a familiar face to several of the soldiers who had trained on the rifle range,although none of the men looked familiar to him; he saw so many soldiers on an almost daily basis thatthey turned into a faceless drab smear in his mind the moment they left the range. Eudora announcedloudly to the group that Jose was an actual war hero, which forced him into once again reciting thedetails of the attack on his caravan. It was an exciting tale for the soldiers, some few of whom wouldbe facelessly scrambled into pieces and churned into red mud in France in the coming year, the victimsof a German artillery shell.After what Jose considered a fine lunch of cold chicken and potatoes, and after all stories hadbeen told, the happy picnickers drifted off in all directions. Eudora pulled Jose to his feet from thecomfort of a blanket and the two set off through the trees. They followed the river downstream untilthe trees began to thin out and they found themselves standing on a long, low hill on the edge of a fieldwith row after row of the evidence of an abundant corn harvest in months past. Just as she had pulledhim up from the picnic blanket, Eudora now pulled Jose down to sit next to her on the top of themound. Jose sat down with a thump, surprised not only at the firmness with which Eudora had pulledbut also at the fact that the spirit of the Indian, Juan Paulo, was also suddenly sitting on the mound withthem.Jose felt this was an important moment, and was subtly trying to shoo Juan Paulo away whenEudora delivered her next surprise. Turning and swinging her far leg across Jose so that she wasstraddling him, Eudora grabbed his face in between her hands and kissed him. The suddenness andviolence of the kiss forced Jose down onto his back, and Eudora followed. She was every bit asravenous as she had been in his dream, and Jose was momentarily startled to find her tongue in his
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The Long and Storied Life of Jose Montoya

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