Carrie

He lay down on his back and looked up at the stars, there were thousands upon thousands of them filling the vast bowl of the desert sky, immersing him in wonder and a sense of scale. How small and insignificant we are, he thought. There is nothing like being reminded of that when your troubles seem so large!

The dune behind him was a dim area of more solid black and its bulk cut out the lights of the camp and the nearby village. This must have been how the night sky has looked for millions of years, with no human light to detract from it.

The sand under his back still held an echo of the heat of the day in the desert and for while he thought of nothing at all.

But after a while his thoughts returned to the here and now, specifically to this evening when the bittersweet pleasure of a great evening with the woman he loved so much, but who would never be his, ran though his mind.

Timing he mused, the whole universe up there works like a vast clock, but down here we cannot get anything right. He had met this girl and fallen in love, he knew she could have been the one for him and the greatest love of his life; but the timing was wrong, he was with someone else when they met, and by the time he was not, she was!

It must happen all the time he thought, and we all follow the conventions of our tribe, our society or our religion to prevent us pursuing happiness by following our hearts.

He sighed. He was not a stupid man, he knew that you need rules and conventions for society to work, for children to have security, and for civilization to exist.

But on a night like this, where it is just you and the universe, it seemed a bloody shame that love could not be the only consideration, just for once.

That evening he had watched Carrie chatting to the local villagers. She was everything he would like to be, sociable, with a gift of being able to talk to strangers and make friends easily, and transparently honest and interested in others. For someone like him, awkward and a bit reserved it was revelation, and drew him like a magnet, in her company he too felt more at ease with others, and with himself.

Of course when the dancing started she was in the thick of it, and soon he was too. Letting go completely for once in his life. He managed to forget for a while that tomorrow they would be returning to their everyday lives.

When the local women, all smiles and laughter had dragged her off somewhere, he had continued to bask in the wonderful atmosphere of the place, the flickering fires and smoking candles and torches. The warm colours of the tent fabrics moving in the breeze, and rich carpets on the ground with the shadowed corners, and exotic scents of cinnamon and spices on the night breeze. The desert had its own smell, and his tiled kitchen with its fluorescent strip lights, frozen food, and television, seemed a lifetime ago and a universe away.

The music began again and Carrie reappeared with two other women, to his delight she was wearing a diaphanous outfit composed of many pieces of some floaty fabric that followed her movements as she danced, her belly was bare with a large jewel of some kind fixed to her belly button, and she was laughing to him as she tried to imitate the sensuous rhythms of the local dancers, a kind of shawl of small silver coins and trinkets circled her hips and flashed in the candle light as she swayed. Her outfit was red, gold, green and violet, a chaotic mix of warm colours that wove around each other and highlighted her white skin and teeth as she laughed and laughed.

Her belly dancing was, frankly, rubbish, but his eyes were glued to her, and he thought he had never seen anything so beautiful or full of life.

She smiled straight at him as she tried to copy a sort of grinding squatting motion that would have got her thrown out of polite society, and she added a bottom wiggle with an over the shoulder wink that soon had the others trying to copy her. His heart and trousers were both under considerable strain by now and it was almost a relief when the music ended, and the three ladies took a bow. The place was in uproar and he reckoned she had done more for international relations in half an hour than the UN had managed in ten years here.

Carrie dropped onto the huge cushions in a sprawl, "I am knackered" she said that belly stuff must be good for your waistline, I am glowing!"

"Yes like a pig", he said, "I love the outfit though, very you"

"Pretty damn sexy eh?, I wonder how this would go down in the old home town! I kept thinking my boobs were going to jump right out, its' more like a shelf than a bra!"

" You love it! and I love do too" he said almost tripping over his tongue, he had almost said "and I love you too" but although his heart was saying just that, he knew it would bring problems and he just wanted to live the moment.

Carries' eyes betrayed that she had caught him, not much got past her when it came to feelings and nuances of meaning. She smiled, more gently ( wistfully?) this time, and said " I must pop to the loo, I will see you in a bit."

He saw here chatting with her new dancing friends as she left the big tent.

Suddenly he felt like being alone, and where better than the North African desert for a quiet walk .

That is how he came to be staring at the stars.

" Just bad timing" he sighed to himself.

" Is it a bad time for you"? She said

" Bloody hell, I never heard you coming!" he jumped up, "how the hell did you find me out here?"

" I have special powers!, and the moon is just coming up, look". A faint sliver of moonlight traced the twin trail of dark imprints left by their feet. It was like a magic path leading away over the sand dune and as they watched the moon rose another degree, and the footprints vanished again into the black backround.

" You must have magical powers" he said, "what are the chances against that happening?, the angle of the sand, the moon, you looking the right way... hell it's impossible, its magic, his voice dropped and he paused; it's fate"

He looked at her for the first time, she was in shadow, but he could make out the gleam in her eyes. " fate" he said again stupidly.

And he kissed her. Her kiss was cool and soft, her lips seemed to touch something inside him, after a few moments he broke away, " sorry" he said "I..."

"Never say sorry for kissing a woman" she interrupted.

" I will remember that piece of advice" he smiled. "And while I am doing things I should not do, I have one more to add, I love you, I know I should not, but here and now the rest of the world does not exist for me, only you"

He stood there uncertain for a moment, the moment stretched out, till he looked up into her eyes.

" Me too" she said, " fancy a shag"?

" Sure, who with"?

She jumped at him then and they kissed frantically as she wrapped her legs around his waist, she was so light he easily held her with one arm as he pulled aside her wispy knickers , dragged down his trousers, probably tearing the zipper, as he kicked them off, and pushed into her, without breaking the kiss.

After a few thrusts he fell to his knees and laid her down on the sand, never breaking contact with her, or stopping the kisses, but as they gasped for air, and he reared up her top fell open showing her moonlit breasts, joggling and swaying as he moved. He seemed to go on and on, with his body taking control of his mind for once. It was not subtle and did not last very long, but it was a heart stopping moment, when his whole soul seemed to leave his body and flow into hers.

" You witch, you've stolen my soul " he gasped.

" Oh, no!, Well I know lets' try again and see if it comes back, she said, " I will be on top this time"

" I don't think I am quite ready yet" he laughed "give me a minute"

" I will have you ready in 30 seconds" she said. And squatted over him, knickers pulled to the side, she started the bump and grind routine from the dance but this time with added finger actions, " come on come on, I am starting without you" - he could smell and hear her squelchy arousal and sure enough in 30 seconds he was as hard as a rock, and she was lowering herself down onto him in the most delicious sensation in the world.

As her rounded bottom squashed down flattened against him, she wriggled the last few millimeters. " Ah a perfect fit I think" she said contentedly.

" How did that dance go again" he asked innocently, and she growled as she began to bounce up and down on him.

Reaching round to cup her soft bottom cheeks in his hands he glanced up at the starry sky with her face farmed by her hair, and the tiny point of her tongue just peeping out between her lips. He knew that this was a moment that would be burned on his memory forever.

But he had no more time for deep thought, as he gave into the urge to buck his hips and slap up against her as she met his thrusts. They made love for hours as the stars swung above them and in both their hearts they knew this moment would never be repeated.

They would never have arguments over trivial things or grow tired of each other, but they would have just this one perfect night to keep with them wherever they went, and however old they became. Whatever happened tomorrow.