Conversations in the Bedroom

Nina saw immediately that he was close to snapping; saw that their marriage was in the balance but she had to say these things.

"Disappointed that you can't see outside of the usual frame."

He had no idea what she was talking about and just shook his head.

She continued.

"Your grasp of human sexuality doesn't extend very far, does it?"

This was the first time since all this happened that she made what might be termed an assertive move. There was now anger in her voice. He let her continue without speaking.

"Simple infidelity seems about as far as you can go. You must know, you must, that in the great panorama of sexual life there are some truly strange things, most of them not entirely pleasant."

Josh did not want this conversation but as she had to say it, so he knew he had to hear it.

"I think Mr Wilby's repressive attitudes to sex are preferable to our oh-so liberal 21st century ones. Because he knows that beyond the fun and frolicking there are some deadly secrets, things best kept secret. Sex is like laughter, you know. We laugh because of embarrassment, to soften tense situations, to divert attention and to keep us from the madhouse. It's a great thing to laugh but what are we trying to hide, do you think? That's how I see sex, like laughter, a great thing to do but deep down the roots in both cases go down into some pretty mucky earth. Some people have been able to escape these facts; alas, I have been unable to."

Epilogue

It was Sunday afternoon. Elizabeth was lying naked on the bed, Josh still undressing, his cock already hard.

"Be quick now," she teased, "we are supposed to be discussing my thesis."

She opened her legs and he entered her immediately. She clasped the bed head and matched his gentle rhythm with long, loud sighs. At the moment she came her beautiful black body caught a solitary ray of sun, shining through the shutters. All their days were like this now. This was pleasure; this was life!

Two miles away a small, devoted congregation gathered in a cold, shabby hall, surrounded by derelict buildings. In the front row a woman and her two teenage daughters fixed their eyes firmly on the face of a gnarled looking preacher bitterly admonishing the world for its sins. Behind them stood a young woman, her heart beating with desire.