🎧 324: Lorna had seen . . .

     Lorna had seen May walk off into the darkness. She had seen Herb watch May go. From the way he watched her go, Lorna thought she could tell what he was thinking. When, just a while later, she saw him walk off, as if he had no other object than to see what the sky looked like from outside the circle of firelight, Lorna was sure she knew what he was up to. He was a little drunk, she knew, and might have forgotten his fetters. She felt a jab of jealousy and fear, and something that surprised her: curiosity. She had for years been exercising a professional sexual curiosity. Nearly every man she saw had been its object, some the objects of fleeting guesses, others of protracted speculation. Garth had been on her mind for quite a while. She acted on impulse. She walked to a group where Garth was telling an anecdote. She stood close and listened to him talk. She brushed against him, jostled him, as if accidentally, but she didn’t move away. She pressed her hip against him, and then her breast, still so lightly that it might be unintentional. When Garth finished, and the laughter was done, and someone else began another story, Lorna said, “I’m going to look at the stars,” and walked away.
     Garth wondered whether that was an invitation. From Lorna? It didn’t seem likely. Still, there was a possibility. He waited a bit, and then said, to no one in particular, “I think I’ll fix myself another drink,” and walked off, out into the dark, toward the water. He found Lorna looking out to sea, letting the water wash over her feet. “Hello,” he said.
     “Hello,” she said. She held her hand out to him. “Let’s walk a little.”
     They walked along in the direction opposite to the one May and Herb had taken, holding hands and talking about the luminous sea. Garth put his arm around Lorna’s waist. She put hers around his. They walked slowly, attentive to the pleasure of feeling their bodies touch. Then Garth stopped, turned Lorna toward him, and kissed her. It was much as she had imagined. They embraced, and Lorna ran her hands along the long muscles in Garth’s back, making mental notes. He pushed himself against her, Lorna noted his tumescence, and a very specific problem arose: Lorna was enjoying herself.
     May put her head on Herb’s shoulder. “I wondered what you were up to,” she said. “I saw you walking along the edge of the water and I said to myself, ‘He wanted to be alone for a while, like me,’ and then I said, ‘Maybe he came to look for me.’ ”
     “Do you want me to leave you alone?”
     May looked into his face and grinned. “No,” she said. “I want you to stay here.” She kissed him. She likes to lead, he thought. She likes a man who follows her lead. If I were animating her, I’d put her on top. And I’d make her very lively. And clever. Clever? Maybe not. But daring. I’ve always thought she would be daring. I wonder —  The opportunity to test a hypothetical animation was at hand. Herb was thrilled, thrilled twofold, intellectually and sexually. The sexual thrill made him feel guilty, made him feel that he ought to go. The intellectual thrill made him want to stay. May began unbuttoning his shirt.
     Garth heard the nervousness in Lorna’s laugh. “Second thoughts?” he asked.
     “Oh, yes,” said Lorna. “Many.”
     “You’re lovely in the moonlight,” he said. As luck would have it, this dangerous moment was one of those when the moonlight brought out Lorna’s astonishing beauty. She was in water up to her waist; Garth was nearer shore, the wavelets rhythmically hid and exposed him, his penis bobbing in the moonlight. Lorna hugged herself to hide her breasts.
     “Oh, Garth, stop.” She noted his bobbing penis. Like a little fish, she thought, swimming in front of him.
     “Well, you are,” said Garth. “Put your arms down — I want to see you.”
    “No. Let’s get dressed, I — ”
     Garth put his finger to his lips and shushed her. He waded toward her, slowly, slowly, and she let her lips part and her arms fall. Closer, closer. He reached out for her, embraced her, drew her toward him. Something poked at her underwater. A fish? No, silly, it’s Garth. She brushed at it and touched it. Garth’s penis. But the fish idea wouldn’t leave. She grabbed it, underwater, and palpated it, running her hand the length of it, investigating with her fingers, noting details.
     “Oh, Lorna, Lorna,” said Garth.
     He surprised her. For a moment she had been aware of only part of him. “It’s like a fish,” she said, without thinking.
     “What?”
     She let go of it, and laughed. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just — ” She put her hand over her mouth, still laughing. “Just for a second, I thought it was a fish.”
     “Lorna — ” said Garth.
     “Garth, would you — ” She thought, Would you be willing to — just stand still — on the sand, where I can see you — and let me see you — and touch you? I’m just — curious. Just curious.
     “Yes?”
     “Would you — .”
     “Do you want to do something unusual? Don’t be embarrassed. We can do it any way you want. Do you want to do it here, in the water? I’ll be Neptune, and you can be a mermaid. How do mermaids make love, do you think?”
    Make love? Oh, Garth, I don’t want to make love. I just want to —  “Oh, Garth, could we just get dressed and go back? This is — foolish. Really. Isn’t it?”
    “Thank you, my dear.”
    “Oh, Garth, I don’t mean you. I mean me. I feel foolish — silly — and I wish you’d help me out of this — this spot I’ve gotten into.”
     “Well — ”
     “Please, Garth. Please.”
     “All right,” said Garth. He waded toward shore. Over his shoulder, he said, “Don’t look, now.”
     “Oh, I intend to look very closely,” said Lorna.
     “Ahhh — ” Garth turned toward Lorna again.
     “But that’s all,” said Lorna. Unless you’d be willing to let me just — poke around a little.
     Garth walked back to his pile of clothes and began dressing. Lorna watched.

In Topical Guide 324, Mark Dorset considers Moonlight: Effects of from this episode.

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