325: Herb ran the tips ...
Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 11 continues
Herb ran the tips of his fingers over May’s breasts. I shouldn’t do this. I shouldn’t do this. But I want to see her move, I want to see what she does. I want to see how she does it. But Lorna — what will I say to Lorna?
May pushed him, nudging him onto his back. “You just lie back,” she said. “I want to do something to you.” I knew it. He flopped onto his back, ready, eager. This is going to be great. Fascinating. May ran the tip of her tongue the length of his penis. Interesting. This is going to be very — she straddled him — very hard to tell Lorna.
“May?” She brought him to her and inserted him, just barely.
“Mmmm?”
“I want to go back, May.” She lowered herself, just a bit.
“Why?”
“Because I’m — scared.” Just a bit more.
“Of me?”
“Of you. Of me. I shouldn’t have followed you.”
She stopped. “Gee, mister, you got me all warmed up, and now you’re going to walk out on me? Just feel how fast my heart’s beating.” She took his hand and pressed it to her breast, and as she did so she let herself settle on him.
“May — ” Please let me go. Please don’t let me go.
“I see you smiling. You don’t want to go.”
“No, I don’t.” I do. I don’t. She began rocking, ever so slightly. “Stop. Hey, May. Stop that.” Don’t stop. Stop. “Please, May.”
“You mean it, don’t you?”
“Yeah. I do.”
“Oh, Herb, you’re sweet. You know that? Come on, we’ll go back.” She lifted herself up, so abruptly that they slurped in disengaging. She giggled.
“Thanks, May.”
“You’re sure now?”
“I’m sure — I think.”
“All right. We’ll go back. Where are my shoes?”
Garth took Lorna’s arm suddenly and held her back, before they returned to the firelight. “Lorna, wait a minute. I want to ask you something.”
“What?”
“It wasn’t me, was it?”
“Oh, no. It wasn’t you. It was me.”
“Do you think that, if things had been different, you would have — ”
“I’m sure I would have.”
“Thanks. I was afraid it was me.”
He threw his arm around her, and she threw hers around him, and they returned to the firelight laughing.
Herb took May’s arm and held her back, before they returned to the firelight.
“May,” said Herb, “before we go back, I want to — I want to tell you — ”
“You’re not changing your mind, are you? You want another chance?”
“No, no.”
“Oh, you don’t want another chance.”
“Oh, I do — ”
“You do want another chance. All right, let’s — ”
“That’s not what I meant. You’re teasing me. You know that wasn’t what I meant to say. I meant that — if things had been different — I — I would — I would have loved to — ”
“Oh, Herb, thank you! That’s very nice. I think that’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. I’ll remember that forever: ‘If things had been different — I — I would — gosh — oh, gee.’ ”
“Aw, May.”
She gave him a cuff on the ear. “Let’s get a drink,” she said, and she took his hand and ran off toward the fire, calling, “Let’s go down to the bar, everybody, and wake up old Nosy.” They came back into the circle of firelight just as Lorna and Garth did. Lorna and Garth walked into the firelight with their arms around each other, flushed, a little out of breath, laughing. When Herb saw them, they looked like lovers to him. Lorna saw Herb and May run into the light hand in hand, flushed, a little out of breath, laughing. They looked like lovers to her.
[to be continued on Friday, August 26, 2022]
In Topical Guide 325, Mark Dorset considers Lovers from this episode.
Have you missed an episode or two or several?
You can begin reading at the beginning or you can catch up by visiting the archive or consulting the index to the Topical Guide.
You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed.
You can ensure that you never miss a future issue by getting a free subscription. (You can help support the work by choosing a paid subscription instead.)
At Apple Books you can download free eBooks of “My Mother Takes a Tumble,” “Do Clams Bite?,” “Life on the Bolotomy,” “The Static of the Spheres,” “The Fox and the Clam,” “The Girl with the White Fur Muff,” “Take the Long Way Home,” “Call Me Larry,” and “The Young Tars,” the nine novellas in Little Follies, and Little Follies itself, which will give you all the novellas in one handy package.
You’ll find overviews of the entire work in An Introduction to The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observations of Peter Leroy (a pdf document) and at Encyclopedia.com.