Damned!

Father McNalster and Giovanna

The sky had turned dark when the last of the villagers turned to go. Out of the shadows of the jungle trees, Giovanna spotted a loan figure, who would not have been distinguishable save for the small patch of white at the throat that gave the priest away.

"Ah, so you have come home to me at last."

Heinrich McNalster frowned with exasperation.

"You have not welcomed my greetings in the village and refused to speak to me in church. A man knows when he is not wanted."

Giovanna scoffed and lifted her chin as she came nearer to where he was standing.

"I take it you heard everything tonight. You came to eavesdrop?"

Truth be told, he had come to get a feel for the villagers' ideas and plans. He had not let them know that his heart and mind had changed. Listening in on the meeting from the shelter behind the trees, he had particularly not cared for the analogies so deftly stated by Giovanna between Catholicism and native religion. In his older age he had tired of the effort it took to condemn what he considered was the natives' idiocracy. He had begun to restate it as an innocent sin, that this population who had not seen the world as he had, most certainly would fall prey to. He knew another sermon on monotheistic beliefs would be in the works, but all in all, considering the speech was to save their homes, he had found Giovanna's prowess of influence to be admirable.

As the night had cooled, the smell of the jungle trees amplified in the air, the water was heard lapping at the shore, and his tired worn-out body had put him in a mood. He longed for the touch of his first woman in Medium Cruces, a touch that had been taught but then reciprocated at more than an apprentices' usual ability. Watching her stance, a figure that had changed as much as his own with the addition of years, he marveled again at how she could beguile him decades later.

As if reading into his thoughts, she reached out her hand and pulled him towards her. She turned leading him into the cleanliness of her bedroom with the open windows where one could hear the call of the midnight panther crying in the night for his mistress. Giovanna came to him, gently caressing him before grilling him on the whispered plans of the Gandan people- how much he had heard, what his thoughts were, how much time before the construction men were to come. The priest was only half listening as he stared intently at the curves, indentations, and markings on the body that he had known best throughout his tenure in Medium Cruces.

She spoke forcefully again, looking at him with fire in her eyes, watching how he stared intently into her body.

"Do you like the gift I give to you? Heinrich, I must let you know, because I am passionate about saving the river. My body will remain out of your bounds unless you swear to not tell any of our government acquaintances about our plans."

The naked priest smiled back in humor, turning over and mounting her again.

"I am with you and the Gandans," he said, leaning in to suck hard on her nipples and whispering, "How could I let anything so beautiful become destroyed?"