{"id":134,"date":"2008-12-19T23:33:27","date_gmt":"2008-12-20T05:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theproviso.com\/?page_id=134"},"modified":"2026-02-22T18:43:04","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T23:43:04","slug":"elder-kenard","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/extras\/vignettes-outtakes\/dirty-little-secrets\/elder-kenard\/","title":{"rendered":"Elder Kenard"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

JANUARY 1985<\/p>\n

Bryce: 19<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cGOOD LUCK, ELDER Kenard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, President,\u201d Bryce mumbled. He was a missionary now, off to the Missionary Training Center in Provo. He\u2019d been ordained and his father would be disappointed in him if he did something so worldly as calling him \u201cDad\u201d instead of \u201cPresident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryce was on the Lord\u2019s time now and part of that time would be spent in airports waiting on planes. Like today.<\/p>\n

He shook his father\u2019s hand, firm, and looked him in the eye as he\u2019d been taught. President Kenard\u2019s shock of bright orange hair was losing its battle against the white and Bryce vaguely wondered if it\u2019d be all white by the time he returned from his mission in eighteen months.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, if you want, I\u2019ll see about getting you an extension to two years, Elder,\u201d his father said. \u201cI don\u2019t much care for these eighteen-month missions. When I went on my<\/em> mission, it was almost three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWilliam,\u201d his mother said, tapping him on the arm. \u201cDon\u2019t scare the boy. Goodness, who wants to be out longer than they have to be?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thank you, Mom.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll think about it, Da\u2014 President.\u201d He had no intention of staying out one minute past his five-hundred-and-fortieth day. He wouldn\u2019t do this at all if he\u2019d had his \u2019druthers, but he\u2019d never had his \u2019druthers, so thinking about it was useless. He\u2019d go, he\u2019d do a good job, he\u2019d come home and get on with his life\u2014<\/p>\n

\u2014which would include finding a nice girl to marry in the temple, getting an education, having kids, finding a good job, and getting on the fast track to bishop, then stake president, like his dad.<\/p>\n

Oh, yes, his whole life had been scripted, and long before he was born.<\/p>\n

He caught sight of a woman, one he knew from San Diego Mesa where he\u2019d gone for summer and fall semesters after graduating from high school, a teacher, actually. He hadn\u2019t taken any of her classes, but he\u2019d noticed her.<\/p>\n

Oh, yes<\/em>, he\u2019d noticed her.<\/p>\n

It was hard not to considering she\u2019d twirled a ten-inch sacrificial knife in her fingers while strutting down the hall to her office in the anthropology department. Whistling.<\/p>\n

Short skirt, double-breasted suit jacket, high heels.<\/p>\n

Long straight black hair to her waist.<\/p>\n

A scent that teased his nose and made him breathe deeply.<\/p>\n

Half Japanese, half Chicana.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d sought him out a few days later and plopped herself down in a chair at the table in the library where he usually studied. She struck up a conversation with him, but it didn\u2019t take very long before he knew he had to get away from her.<\/p>\n

Fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cBryce!\u201d<\/p>\n

He suppressed a groan when she strutted toward him (she didn\u2019t walk any other way), a mischievous smile on her face that his body responded to oh, so very inappropriately.<\/p>\n

Please, no. Not this. Not now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHow are<\/em> you?\u201d she enthused and took his hand in both of hers, caressing his palm with a fingertip. He managed not to suck in a sharp breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fine, Ms. Yoshida. You?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s Elder Kenard now, Miss,\u201d his father interjected with a bland smile.<\/p>\n

Not in the least bit slow, she cocked an eyebrow at Bryce\u2019s father and said, \u201cAh, I see. Mormon missionary, very good. I get it. You must be Dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I am and we prefer the term Latter-day Saints,\u201d said President Kenard with a trace of disapproval and laying his hand over the knot comprised of her two hands and Bryce\u2019s one. The grip broke and Bryce felt the brush of cool air on his skin where hers had been and missed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d she returned. \u201cTomayto, tomahto.\u201d She turned back to Bryce, dismissing Bryce\u2019s father as if he were nothing more than a lazy student. Amazing. Bryce had never seen anyone simply dismiss him out of hand. \u201cWhereya headed?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cScotland,\u201d Bryce muttered.<\/p>\n

Her eyebrows shot up. \u201cOh, really! I\u2019d spend more time there but shit<\/em>, it\u2019s cold and wet, especially up there in the highlands. No place for a San Diegan\u2014at least not without a naked body to snuggle up with at night. Can you request a reassignment?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, no.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father cleared his throat, which prompted her to glance back at him. The corner of her mouth tucked in and up when she saw the lowering of the bushy orange-and-white eyebrows. She looked back at Bryce, reached out and took him by the lapels, straightened them a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t forget what we talked about, \u2019kay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryce gulped and she laughed before vanishing in a whirl of energy. He tracked her until she was out of sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did you talk about with her, Elder?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAn English lit assignment,\u201d he replied vaguely, feeling both his parents watch him carefully. Feeling guilty because he\u2019d lied. And why.<\/p>\n

President Kenard harrumphed his disbelief, but said nothing more about it, for which Bryce was eternally grateful. Finally his boarding time was called. His mother hugged him and his father shook his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember to call on Mother\u2019s Day, Bryce,\u201d she called after him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will, Mom,\u201d he called back, surprised at his sudden melancholy at leaving his mother, who never seemed to be disappointed in him at all. He\u2019d never noticed that until right that moment.<\/p>\n

Once he settled in his seat at the window, his brain began to whirl.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, Son, don\u2019t be upset, but your mother and I won\u2019t be taking you to the MTC ourselves. We think it\u2019s best you go alone and begin to lean on the Lord for your strength.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I think I\u2019ll be all right, Dad.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes, more than all right, thanks.<\/p>\n

\u201cBryce, I saw the way you looked at me the other day. You\u2019re not my student and you aren\u2019t likely to be, so why don\u2019t you and I have dinner together?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Yoshida, I really don\u2019t think that would be a good idea.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re right and I agree. Let\u2019s skip dinner and get straight to the fucking. Here\u2019s my address and bring condoms. You\u2019re twice as big as I am, and you are a beautiful, beautiful man. I can only imagine what you could do to me in bed.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Bryce couldn\u2019t breathe. \u201cI\u2019m only eighteen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, even better! I\u2019m thirty.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Yoshida, I\u2019m LDS. I don\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, a Mormon! Can I translate that to virgin? Please say yes.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cUhm, well\u2014\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, hallelujah and glory be. Initiation of a virgin. Don\u2019t tell me you\u2019re saving yourself for some little twit who didn\u2019t have the good sense to go get laid before saying I do\u2014\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Bryce remained silent.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAh, okay. Huh. Interesting.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, Ms. Yoshida.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

You have no idea how sorry.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIs there nothing I can say to get you to my house tonight? Or any night? Or day? Or my office?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He paused. \u201cErm, no.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, shit.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He flinched.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI apologize. You don\u2019t like cursing, do you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOooh, I just want to take you home and eat you up. Okay, Bryce. You win.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He could smell her perfume when she arose from her chair, then swung one elegant hip around the corner of the table. Two steps and she was at his side, one hand on the back of his chair, one braced on the tabletop, her mouth brushing his ear.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got a raging hard-on, Bryce,\u201d she whispered. \u201cYou want to fuck me so badly you can feel it and I do mean fuck. Like, hard. Up against a wall. Rocking the bed. I hope your god can give you whatever it is you\u2019re looking for and fast, so you can get on with what you were made to do. It\u2019d be a damn shame for you to wake up one day and realize you\u2019d spent your best years chasing a myth.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He sucked in a deep breath, drowning in a strange combination of lust and guilt. She pushed away from him, chuckling, then strutted back out of the library.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cGet thee behind me, Satan,\u201d he whispered halfheartedly as he watched the elegant sway of her hips.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cGet thee behind me, Satan,\u201d he whispered wholeheartedly, willing himself to put it out of his mind with the same discipline he\u2019d practiced since before he knew what that was.<\/p>\n

★<\/p>\n

20260222<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JANUARY 1985 Bryce: 19 \u201cGOOD LUCK, ELDER Kenard.\u201d \u201cThank you, President,\u201d Bryce mumbled. He was a missionary now, off to the Missionary Training Center in Provo. He\u2019d been ordained and his father would be disappointed in him if he did something so worldly as calling him \u201cDad\u201d instead of \u201cPresident.\u201d Bryce was on the Lord\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":39,"menu_order":4111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-134","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23467,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134\/revisions\/23467"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moriahjovan.com\/talesofdunham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}