Huckleberry Finn Grows Up

When it got real dark, and everbody else was dancing away, I hunted up Sarah Swimmer. She was wearing a real pretty white dress with little red dots all over it. I'd planned it all out . . . . I'd even picked out a fallen log for us to set on in a grove of trees not far off from where the dance was. I said, "Sarah, let's go over in them trees an' set a spell." She looked at me kind of sprised like but didn't say nothing. I said, "I got suthin' I'd like to say to you." She said, "All right, Huckleberry." So we went off into the grove and set on the log. I was on on end and she was on t'other; it was so dark we could scarcely see each other, but I didn't want to set close to her for fear she'd be skeered of me. But then it was hard for me to work up he spunk to say anything, so she had to start it by saying, "What is it, Huckleberry?" "Well," I said, "I know we're young an' all that, but I want you to know I like you a heap. I think yer a real nice gal, an' the purtiest gal in Tahlequah." "Why, thank you, Huckleberry," she said. "So what I want to know is, will you be engaged with me?" There! The words was out. She was quiet a long time, and I was skeered that I'd got her mad at me. My heart started thumping so hard that I thought she'd got to hear it. Then she said, "What does thet mean, Huckleberry?" Well, that was the last thing I expected. I said, "I don't rightly know, Sarah. My friend Tom Sawyer, back in Missoura, tole me about it one time, but I never got straight what it meant. I judged that sence you was so bright, and had been to school and all, you'd prob'ly know an' could tell me." "I've heard my mama talk 'bout it, but she never tole me whut she meant by it." Now it was my turn to be quiet cause I didn't know what to say. Finely I said, "I guess if neither one of us knows whut it means, we kin make it mean anythin' we want. What do you want it to mean?" "I don' know, Huckleberry. You're the one that wants to be engaged. What d'you want it to mean?" I took a while to put my thoughts together. "I reckon whut I want it to mean is thet I like you better'n any other gal, and you like me better'n any other boy. And when we're growed up --" I couldn't go on, cause I didn't rightly know what I wanted to say. "Yes, Huckleberry?" "Well, when we're growed up, we kin tell people we was engaged." She didn't say nothing. "Well, Sarah? Whut about it? Will you be engaged with me?" Very, very soft, she said, "Yes, I will." Oh, say, warn't I one happy feller! I felt like jumping up off the log and running around the grove. I clinched my fists and come near to letting out a big "Yip!" but held myself back in time. "Oh, Sarah!" was all I could say. And then said said, "Huckleberry, now we're engaged, I think we'd ought to do suthin' special to seal our engagement." "I don' mine," I said. "What d'you want to do?" She got up from the log and walked over toward me. Even in the dark I could see her white dress coming. I didn't know what she wanted to do. And then I felt her soft lips just barely touch my cheek. They was so soft it was almost like a butterfly had brushed by me. Then she was gone, running through the grove back to the stomp dance.