you. You must realize that your attitudes are a bit confusing at first.”
“Do you think so? I don’t see why,” she countered.
“Because they are different from those generally encountered in young ladies,” he told her.
“Well, I don’t know much about young ladies, and I don’t particularly pretend to be one. Anyhow, I’m not so young, either, when you come to that. I told you I’m twenty-eight.”
“I’m beginning to suspect that you may be infinitely older than that.”
“Oh?” She cocked her head, peering at him. “That’s supposed to mean something special, I think, but I don’t know what.”
“I mean you have a kind of ageless quality.”
“Is that bad?”
“On the contrary, it’s intriguing.”
“I suspect it’s a result of the way I grew up. Some things I never learned at all. Other things I was forced to learn almost from the beginning.”
“A remarkable combination of ignorance and incredible shrewdness.”
“I don’t think you should criticize me for being ignorant. It isn’t fair.” Her eyes clouded with annoyance.
“Excuse me. I didn’t mean it critically.”
“Oh, well, it’s true. I admit it. I don’t suppose someone like you would particularly care to become the friend of someone like me.”
“It would definitely have some attractive features.”
“What? Oh, yes. What we were just talking about.”
She began to laugh softly, the wicked little sound he remembered from before, her eyes shining at him over the rim of the glass which she had raised to her lips.
“Does it seem so ludicrous?” he asked.
“No, no. I was only thinking about last Saturday morning.”
“What about it? If it’s so amusing, I’d like to know.”
“Well, I was lying on the floor watching you on television, and I had just got out of bed and wasn’t wearing anything, and I suddenly thought how funny it would be if you could see me as clearly as I could see you.”
“It would have been distracting, to say the least.”
“That’s what I thought, and I kept wishing and wishing you could.”
“Next Saturday, I’ll look harder.”
“All right. If you care to wait.”
He finished his cheap, bad wine and set the empty glass on the floor beside his chair, where it looked natural in relation to the general litter.
Getting up, he walked over to the bed and sat down beside her. She immediately twisted around from the hips and put up her mouth to be kissed. After the kiss, which transcended the scent and flavor of the port, she stood up and elevated him quickly and deftly, with the hiss of a zipper and a whisper of cloth, to the status of friend. She was slim and taut and full of tricks, and the most remarkable thing of all was that there was never the slightest sense, before or during or after, of the familiar stale redundancy.
In the abatement of excitement, under his eyes and hands, she seemed to preen and project herself, not so much in brazenness as in childish pleasure in her body and complete assurance of its ability to sustain its charm even in the dulled and difficult aftermath of passion. It was a mute and rather arrogant expression of braggadocio, defying him to deny what was plainly true and inviting him to enjoy what was openly in evidence. With the tips of her fingers, in self-love, she traced the lines of her small alert breasts, her nipped waist, her lean and talented hips and flanks.
“Did I please you?” she said.
“Yes. Very much.”
“Have you ever known anyone half so good?”
“No, no. Not half.”
He kissed her throat, drawing his lips downward across silken skin.
It was surely an illusion induced by the character of subsequent events, and actually applied much later to the present instance, that there was all the while in the room an elusive and caustic scent of sulphur.
11
B UDDY WALKED UPSTAIRS to Maggie’s efficiency apartment, so-called, and knocked on the door. He had not seen her now for quite a long time, although he had tried, and
“Do you think so? I don’t see why,” she countered.
“Because they are different from those generally encountered in young ladies,” he told her.
“Well, I don’t know much about young ladies, and I don’t particularly pretend to be one. Anyhow, I’m not so young, either, when you come to that. I told you I’m twenty-eight.”
“I’m beginning to suspect that you may be infinitely older than that.”
“Oh?” She cocked her head, peering at him. “That’s supposed to mean something special, I think, but I don’t know what.”
“I mean you have a kind of ageless quality.”
“Is that bad?”
“On the contrary, it’s intriguing.”
“I suspect it’s a result of the way I grew up. Some things I never learned at all. Other things I was forced to learn almost from the beginning.”
“A remarkable combination of ignorance and incredible shrewdness.”
“I don’t think you should criticize me for being ignorant. It isn’t fair.” Her eyes clouded with annoyance.
“Excuse me. I didn’t mean it critically.”
“Oh, well, it’s true. I admit it. I don’t suppose someone like you would particularly care to become the friend of someone like me.”
“It would definitely have some attractive features.”
“What? Oh, yes. What we were just talking about.”
She began to laugh softly, the wicked little sound he remembered from before, her eyes shining at him over the rim of the glass which she had raised to her lips.
“Does it seem so ludicrous?” he asked.
“No, no. I was only thinking about last Saturday morning.”
“What about it? If it’s so amusing, I’d like to know.”
“Well, I was lying on the floor watching you on television, and I had just got out of bed and wasn’t wearing anything, and I suddenly thought how funny it would be if you could see me as clearly as I could see you.”
“It would have been distracting, to say the least.”
“That’s what I thought, and I kept wishing and wishing you could.”
“Next Saturday, I’ll look harder.”
“All right. If you care to wait.”
He finished his cheap, bad wine and set the empty glass on the floor beside his chair, where it looked natural in relation to the general litter.
Getting up, he walked over to the bed and sat down beside her. She immediately twisted around from the hips and put up her mouth to be kissed. After the kiss, which transcended the scent and flavor of the port, she stood up and elevated him quickly and deftly, with the hiss of a zipper and a whisper of cloth, to the status of friend. She was slim and taut and full of tricks, and the most remarkable thing of all was that there was never the slightest sense, before or during or after, of the familiar stale redundancy.
In the abatement of excitement, under his eyes and hands, she seemed to preen and project herself, not so much in brazenness as in childish pleasure in her body and complete assurance of its ability to sustain its charm even in the dulled and difficult aftermath of passion. It was a mute and rather arrogant expression of braggadocio, defying him to deny what was plainly true and inviting him to enjoy what was openly in evidence. With the tips of her fingers, in self-love, she traced the lines of her small alert breasts, her nipped waist, her lean and talented hips and flanks.
“Did I please you?” she said.
“Yes. Very much.”
“Have you ever known anyone half so good?”
“No, no. Not half.”
He kissed her throat, drawing his lips downward across silken skin.
It was surely an illusion induced by the character of subsequent events, and actually applied much later to the present instance, that there was all the while in the room an elusive and caustic scent of sulphur.
11
B UDDY WALKED UPSTAIRS to Maggie’s efficiency apartment, so-called, and knocked on the door. He had not seen her now for quite a long time, although he had tried, and
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