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<\/a><\/p>\nAnnie and I were walking along the beach and we saw the body. At first we thought it was someone lying on the sand, sleeping. We weren\u2019t sure if it was a man or woman. This person had long stringy blond hair and wore baggy jeans. It looked like this person was wearing thick red lipstick. We changed our path to walk around the person. Annie said, Something isn\u2019t right. She said, Hank, something is wrong.
\nThe person was a man, and the man had lipstick smeared on his lips and make-up caked on his cheeks and forehead, like someone had tried to paint him up as a clown. His hands were handcuffed behind his back and his eyes stared upwards. He was not blinking. He was not moving.
\nIs he dead? Annie said.
\nI let go of her hand and stepped toward the man, my feet sinking into the sand.
\nAnnie said, Don\u2019t go near him!
\nI just need to look, I said.
\nPlease don\u2019t, she said.
\nI had to have a closer look. Flies swarmed around the body. The guy was not breathing. He appeared dead but I had never seen a dead body.
\nAnnie grabbed my hand and pulled me back. She said, Let\u2019s get out of here.
\nI think he\u2019s dead.
\nIt\u2019s none of our business, she said.
\nWhat should we do?
\nWe should get away from here, she said.
\nWe need to tell someone, I said.
\nWhy?
\nThe police, I said, we should call the police.
\nWhy? Someone else will see the body. Why does it have to be us?
\nWe have to, I said.
\nNo one has to do anything, Hank.
\nAnnie wanted to walk fast. She was pulling me with her.
\nWe found a lifeguard on a three-wheel ATV. I told him about the body. Annie was not happy. The lifeguard acted like he didn\u2019t believe us.
\nIt was in the news the next day, on TV and in the papers: two unnamed teenagers find a dead body on the beach. No mention of the make-up, lipstick and handcuffs. The man, said the news, was unidentified, said the police. A detective came by my parents\u2019 house asking a few questions. Annie was there in my room, we had been kissing and touching but she was distant. We were both still virgins. She was having nightmares about the dead body. The detective didn\u2019t ask much, just what time did we find the body, did we notice anyone suspicious, did we touch the body.
\nI wish we never took that walk, Annie said.
\nTwo days later, when we were alone, Annie and I lost our virginities to one another. She said it was time because she could die any day and she didn\u2019t want to die not knowing what sex was all about. It was quick, sticky and smelly. Annie cried after. She said, What if I\u2019m pregnant now?
\nShe was not pregnant, not that time or many times after. But eventually she was, and we went to get an abortion at a feminist clinic that didn\u2019t ask too many questions.
\nAnnie cried for the loss. We\u2019re murderers now, she said.
\nWe were one month away from graduating high school.
\nShe still had nightmares about the dead body. Annie said, His eyes\u2014I always see his eyes, and the handcuffs and lipstick.
\nThe body was identified. His name was Max Spiers, a resident of Colorado, many states away. He was a known associate of drug dealers. There were no leads in the case, no suspects.
\nWhat if those drug dealers come looking for us? Annie said.
\nWhy would they? I said.
\nBecause we found the body, she said.
\nWe didn\u2019t see anything, I said.
\nWe saw enough.
\nWe graduated and didn\u2019t know what to do with ourselves. Annie considered nursing school because the government offered grants. My parents were not happy that I didn\u2019t get a scholarship to a nice college. I didn\u2019t try, that was the problem.
\nAnnie wanted to go to church so we could be forgiven for our sins. We killed a baby, she said, and Jesus is not happy.
\nJesus, I said…<\/p>\n