With that he waded out and stood behind her. He reached around and held her hand that was holding the spear. “Like this,” he said. “Keep the tip of the spear in the water and move it only slowly, very slowly. When a fish comes close, then slowly move your spear into position over it. Don’t throw it, you hang on to the spear and just give a rapid push.”

David stepped back, but he had her smell in his nostrils. He watched as she made three more attempts with no results. She got one. She jumped up and down. She was excited. She wanted to tell her dad. Gee! This was fun and now she could fish, too.

David was sitting on shore clapping his hands and laughing. “Good for you!” he said.

They both sat on the bank of the pond for a while just appreciating the warmth of the sun, their success, the water, the clear blue sky.
The moment was too much for David. He rolled over and kissed Eloise.

“WHAT?” she gasped.

David had his hands all over her. “STOP!” she screamed. She was tossing and rolling. Gawd! He’s heavy, she thought. She reached out, her hand fell on a rock. She grabbed it. She swung hard. Thunk! She thought she heard a rib go. She swung again, harder.

“Oooh!” cried David. He groped for his ribs. The pain was terrible.

Eloise was mad. With two brothers at home who wrestled with her all the time she knew exactly what to do. She dropped the rock and with her fist she swung right at the groin.

“Oooh! cried David again, “Oooh,” as he rolled over all scrunched up into a ball. David was in excruciating pain. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t hear. He couldn’t move. All he could do was cry and moan, “Ooooh.”

In all his life David had not come up against this kind of behaviour before. Always people had succumbed at some point. This was completely new to him and he did not know how to handle someone who was apparently stronger than he. He whimpered and moaned like a baby.

Eloise was also in a state of shock. The flight or fight system in her body was in full force and she was shaking. A beautiful moment had been shattered. She wanted to cry for what this all meant, but she remained firm. Inside, she felt like kicking him again. No man, now or ever, treated her like that.

She walked away, around the edge of the pond. She just wanted to get away, to settle, to think. She knew the relationship had now changed, or had it really? There was no more equal. Oh, it might look like that on the surface, but psychologically Eloise was clearly “the boss” now and forever. She did not know if she wanted that role but she certainly was not going through anything like this again. Bastard! she thought under her breath and she kicked at a stone. “Ouch.”