‘Oh, darling, that feels wonderful!’ He was speaking in a fractured, panting sort of way, and was now lying right on top of her; his short, skinny, wiry body newly empowered, as it thrust and threshed and pounded, determined to take its chance before she changed her mind. But no change of mind occurred. In fact, her body seemed to be responding in some natural and instinctive way, as if, suddenly, amazingly, it had learned, of its own volition, how to match his frantic rhythm and thrust back fiercely against him, even copy his weird, half-strangled cries. At last, she had got out of her head, shut off all her worries about her parents discovering where she was, or her fear of falling pregnant, or him losing all respect for her. Instead, she had been transported to a new and freer world where nothing mattered except keeping time and pace with him, as they raced towards some destination she knew couldn’t help but happen and that would make her someone different ever after.
How could he go faster? Yet he did. How could so small a body – five foot four, at most – possess such sheer ferocity, not flag or tire, despite his laboured breathing?
Then, all at once, he seemed to explode – she with him – except they were no longer him and her, but one joined and coupled creature rising up, then slumping back in a sort of glorious agony she could never, ever describe, even if she were Shakespeare, Shelley, Keats, or any of the other poets they had ever studied at school.
‘Oh, darling… .’ His voice was a rag: harsh, breathless, indistinct.
She couldn’t speak at all, needed time to adjust, to come to terms with the extraordinary fact that her devout and straitlaced parents must have done this – once, at least; come to terms with the equally amazing fact that it hadn’t been difficult or painful or disgraceful, or all the things her mum had threatened. And her school-friends had been wrong, as well, with their giggly, petty accounts of two-minute wonders, soggy disappointments.
‘Was it all right for you?’ the voice said – a different voice, now – deeper, older, more refined.
‘Oh, yes,’ she breathed, still clinging to the other voice, to the younger, smaller, stupendous, awesome body. ‘It was just—’ She paused. There were no words, although she would have to find some, to let him know, formally and solemnly, that this had been a life changing experience and, because of it, she would love him for ever, never let him go. ‘… Just unbelievably wonderful.’
By the same author
Absinthe for Elevenses
Cuckoo
After Purple
Born of Woman
The Stillness The Dancing
Devils, for a Change
Fifty-Minute Hour
Bird Inside
Michael, Michael
Breaking and Entering
Coupling
Second Skin
Lying
Dreams, Demons and Desire
Tread Softly
Virgin in the Gym and Other Stories
Laughter Class and Other Stories
Little Marvel and Other Stories
The Queen’s Margarine
Broken Places
‘I’m on the Train!’ and Other Stories
An Enormous Yes
© Wendy Perriam
First published in Great Britain 2015
ISBN 978 0 7198 1709 0 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1710 6 (mobi)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1711 3 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7090 9386 2 (print)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of Wendy Perriam to be identified as
author of this work has been asserted by her
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988