Read Online Eldorado by Jay Allan Storey - Free Book Online

flailed with his free hand against the muddy slope. Slowly, inch by inch, he approached the safety of the plateau, until finally she hauled him up onto the ground at her feet.
    Again fear consumed her. She had freed him from the river, but she was standing there half naked – what would he do? To her immense relief, the moment he reached safety, the boy collapsed into unconsciousness.
    She rigged a crude stretcher out of some branches and a blanket, and dragged the still unconscious boy from the riverbank back to her shack. She laid him inside, took off his torn and wet clothes, dried him, and covered him with blankets and furs. He showed no sign of life, but she could detect a pulse. Though she had no idea whether he would live or die, she was glad she’d taken a chance and stepped in to rescue him. In a world dominated by hardship and cruelty, it felt good to perform a selfless act, for no other reason than to help another human being.
    The boy drifted in and out of consciousness for two days and nights. He would sleep for hours on end, then suddenly open his eyes and even lift up his head. Sometimes he would cry out in his sleep, as if he were having a nightmare. Lacy often sat and watched over him where he lay. His blond hair and fine features were beautiful. Bathed in the dim candlelight, his face was like the face of an angel.
    She was surprised and disturbed by the feelings his arrival had awakened in her. For as long as she could remember her life had revolved around finding food and defending herself. Now, unexpectedly, she was awash in emotions she had never experienced before – emotions that frightened her. Her world had sometimes been brutal and cruel, and sometimes beyond her control, but she had always been in control of herself.
    Now she was being swept along by mysterious and overpowering urges and arousal. This time it wasn’t physical danger that she feared, it was the danger of losing herself to the new forces welling up inside her.
    Finally, on the morning of the third day, the boy drifted more frequently into consciousness, occasionally mumbling to himself. That evening he finally opened his eyes. She prepared him a bowl of the stew of wild vegetables and game meat that was her regular meal.
    “I'm Danny,” he whispered, smiling weakly as she spoon fed him the stew, and Lacy's unease at her loss of control took a huge jump. She tried to speak but was so nervous that nothing came out.
    Finally Danny said, “Can you talk?”
    Oh, God! Lacy thought. He thinks I’m retarded or something.
    She fought to calm herself, and managed to say, “I…I'm Lacy.”
    “Thanks for the food,” Danny said. “I'm totally starving.”
    She ladled an additional portion of her precious stew into the bowl. Auntie Becky had never thought to explain to her how to deal socially with other people in general, and with boys in particular.
    “Where am I?” he said.
    “You’re in my house,” said Lacy, trying hard not to blush. “I found you in the river.” To her great relief, he seemed to remember nothing of their first meeting.
    “You carried me all the way back here?”
    “Dragged is more like it,” she laughed, a bit more relaxed. “It isn't far.”
    “You live here all by yourself?”
    Lacy drew back. She was all alone here with this boy who, though he was weak, might still overpower her.
    He noticed her fear. “Don't worry,” he smiled again, and again her control began to slip away. “I'm not going to attack you or anything.”
    Lacy smiled back at him.
    “We used to live in Vancouver,” she said, “but that was a long time ago – I don’t remember much about it. I’ve been here for a long time, now – I think something like seven years.”
    “Seven years – wow! And all that time by yourself?”
    “I used to live with my Auntie Becky, but she's gone now.”
    “What happened to her?”
    Lacy turned away. “I'd rather not talk about it.”
    “Sorry,” he said. “I didn't mean to upset