Finding Emilie by Laurel Corona

“Want to see something I found in the library?” She got up and retrieved a book from under her mattress, waving it in front of Delphine. “Thérèse Philosophe,” she said. “I picked it off the shelf because I thought it would be about a lady philosopher, but guess what?” She leafed through the book until she found the first picture and held it up for Delphine to see.
    Delphine’s eyes grew wide and she grabbed the book from Lili. “What is she doing?”
    The center of the drawing was taken up with the huge exposed buttocks of a woman whose face could barely be seen at the far edge of the plate. A priest was on his knees behind her, his massive erection disappearing into her body. In the background was the figure of a maid spying on them through a keyhole, bent over from the waist, with her skirts up, while another man dressed in the clothes of a nobleman was doing the same to her.
    The two girls wiggled down next to each other on a small fauteuil meant for one. They laid out the book between their laps, gaping at illustration after illustration of men and women in different positions.
    “Mon Dieu/” Delphine gasped, putting her hand over her mouth. “Those men’s things are huge. Where does it all go?”
    “I can’t imagine,” Lili said. “The priest tells Eradice—she’s an older lady who’s a friend of Thérèse—that he’s helping her experience a mystical vision of God. She sees his—his thing—and thinks it’s the serpent from the Garden of Eden, but he tells her that isn’t what he’s going to put in her when she turns around. It’s going to be a holy relic, a hardened piece of the cord St. Francis wore around his waist, and she believes him. Thérèse is watching from behind a curtain while he’s—well, you see.”
    “Have you read the whole thing?” Delphine asked, wide-eyed.
    Lili nodded sheepishly. “I found it a few days ago.”
    “You wicked girl!” Delphine giggled. “Read more!”
    “‘I feel my mind detaching itself from matter and going straight to God. Onward! Upward! Harder! Harder! I’m seeing angels! Don’t stop now. Don’t deny me true bliss. Oh! Oh!’”
    They looked at each other, perplexed. “That doesn’t make sense,” Delphine said. “It seems as if she’d be saying ‘ouch,’ and telling him to stop.”
    “Or getting up and running out of there.” Lili shook her head, reading on.
    “‘With each backward move of the priest’s behind, his member withdrew and as its head appeared, the lips of Eradice pulled open, revealing a wondrous crimson hue. As he pressed forward, the color disappeared, leaving visible only short black hairs that seemed to grasp his member as tightly as if it were being swallowed whole.’”
    Delphine gasped, looking at Lili with huge eyes. “I don’t think I want to hear any more,” she whispered, covering her mouth.
    “Me neither. I feel sick just looking at it. I tell myself to take it back to the library, but something always makes me keep it a little longer.”
    Delphine traced the cover with her fingers as she thought. “It’s awful,” she said, “but shouldn’t we know these things, now that we’re not little girls anymore?” She thought for a moment before dissolving into giggles. “I know! Let’s ask Baronne Lomont! ‘What are these hairs and crimson hue we’ve heard about? Please, do tell!’”
    Lili ignored her. “I don’t even want to ask Maman,” she murmured.
    Delphine stopped laughing. “I know. It’s just too horrible to imagine,” she said in a somber voice. “We need to get ready for supper now.” She took the volume from Lili’s hands and put it back under the mattress.
    *   *   *
    THE AIR REMAINED warm long after dark, creating a shroud of mist over the moonlit lawns of Vaux-le-Vicomte. Later that night, Lili awakened to loud claps of thunder, and spent an hour at the window watching lightning scratch the distant sky.
    Her thoughts were elsewhere, with Delphine. How long has