Part 8 (2/2)
”I guess so.”
”So I will try to make you want me to.”
”You don't have to-”
”Beginning with this,” she said, setting a sculptured salad down on the dining-room table. She had somehow fas.h.i.+oned it from lettuce and tomato aspic and carrots and beans. It was beautiful.
He sat at the table, then realized that it was a one-person salad, and the only one. ”But you-”
”I ate before. Now it's your turn. What would you like to drink? We have milk and orange juice.”
”Juice. But-”
”Coming up. Dig in while I prepare the next course.”
”But you don't have to-”
”Yes, I do. Now settle down and let me play my part.” She really did want to do this, he realized. So he started eating, and let her do it her way.
It seemed that only a moment had pa.s.sed when he finished what turned out to be a very nice meal concocted of simple ingredients. none was sitting opposite, watching him. She had washed his dishes and put them away as he finished them.
”Do I talk too much?” she asked abruptly.
”I like to listen.”
”May I be candid again?”
Geode had not known what to expect, and his fancies had been fragmentary. The reality was infinitely more detailed and fulfilling. Whatever she wanted to say he would hear. ”Yes.”
”I do not want to sleep alone. May I sleep with you?”
He stared at her. Again, he couldn't answer.
”I realize I'm not much,” she said. ”But whatever I am I will offer you, only for your company this night. Do I affront you?”
”I-I don't know what you mean.”
”I want so much not to be alone that I have no scruples about it, no inhibitions. If you want me as a companion, I will be that. If you want me as a s.e.x object, I will be that. Only let me be with you, and I will do for you whatever you ask, to the extent of my power to do it.”
”But I can't-”
”If I could make myself beautiful for you, I would. I will certainly try. I realize I am not eighteen, but neither am I sixty. Perhaps in the dark-”
”I'm impotent!” he said, hating the word.
She was not fazed. ”Would you let me try to make you potent?”
He was amazed. ”You would do that?”
”I would.”
He knew this was crazy, but the dream of becoming normal took hold of him. ”Yes.”
”Let me change, and I will join you in a moment.”
She had spoken most plainly, but this was hard to believe. He nodded.
She left the dining room and went quickly upstairs. In a surprisingly brief time she was back, clad in a negligee.
Geode stared. She had been, as Tishner had said, mousy. She had been transformed. She had let her hair loose and fluffed it out, and put on some makeup, and the negligee made of her body a hazy, floating form showing a bit of cleavage. The lines of her face had faded, and her eyes were no longer pocketed but shadowed.
”You're beautiful!” he exclaimed. It was an exaggeration, but not much of one. ”Pretty” would have been a better word. Yet the change was so great that a stronger word was required to satisfy it.
”You are kind,” she said.
He just looked at her, taking in the change. Perhaps she remained a mouse, but now she was sleek and soft and interesting.
”How would you like me?” she asked.
He just shook his head. His belief simply could not make the jump.
”Would you like to dance with me?”
”I can't dance.”
”I don't do it well, but I could show you the steps.”
”I-I don't know what to do.”
”Then stand,” she said.
He stood. This was surely a dream!
”Put your arms around me.”
He did so, clumsily. In a moment she might burst out laughing, but until then the dream remained.
She embraced him. ”Kiss me,” she said, lifting her face.
”I don't know how.”
”Purse your lips, close your eyes, and bend your head forward.”
He followed instructions. Then he felt her lips against his. She was kissing him on the mouth! He was so amazed he lost his balance. He pulled her with him, involuntarily, and the two of them fell against the wall.
Appalled, ashamed, he opened his eyes and tried to pull away. But she clung to him. ”The first time is never perfect,” she said. ”All things must be learned. But perhaps we should practice lying down.”
<script>