Howard and Jacintha met in the optical lab to
conduct their interferometry experiment in the
darkness. Several slow minutes passed then she
placed her hands in his hair and they slid under
the lab bench. He had brought some rubbers but
to his aching frustration she repelled his overtures
for full sex once again. They then continued
with the interferometry experiment as if nothing
at all had taken place. He felt fear about discussing
anything except the curious behaviour of photons
as they flicked through the apparatus. As they
were leaving he drummed up the courage to ask
her to see him any time she wished. At his insistence
she wrote down his Napoleon Terrace telephone
number and address. He noticed how her calligraphy
was more flowery in her address book than in
her lab book yet it was exact rather than fanciful.
Her hand showed style rather than glee.
That evening Howard, lamenting his stubborn
virginity and unable to keep his frustrations
to himself any longer, took Karen down to the
King's Head with the intention of confiding
extremely vaguely. He intended to tell Karen
parts of the story so that the identity of Jacintha
would be hidden from her.
Once he had temporarily weaned Karen from her
habit of woefully discussing the deceitful Steve,
he began his confession.
'There's this lass. Anyway recently she and
I met and...'
Unfortunately by the third pint his tongue slipped
carelessly and Karen understood he was alluding
to Jacintha. His inhibitions lifted with each
sip of beer. Soon Karen knew everything about
his relationship with Jacintha.
'Actually that's totally really totally over
the top in the romantic stakes!' said Karen.
'But it gets worse, Karen.'
He proceeded to confess that he loved Gallie.
He asked Karen whether he should ask Jacintha
to be his girlfriend even though it was Gallie
he craved.
'But Howie dear, you
know Gallie is an
item with Dominic, and he'll be back from London
on Friday.'
She advised him to forget Gallie and pursue
Jacintha.
'Yes, yes Jacintha is gorgeous and yet it is
Gallie I
love.'
'Howard, what can I say?' she tutted before
launching into a ten-minute speech. During her
discourse she altered her mind several times:
one minute she suggested that he ask Jacintha
for a date, the next she implied that if he
really loved Gallie then it would be morally
wrong to date Jacintha, so he should abandon
both.
When the flow of her words broke for long enough
to allow an interruption he stopped her.
'Karen, I repeat that I tell you these things
in strict confidence. Do you swear not to tell
a soul a single word?'
'Like, you really absolutely don't need to say
that!'
'Do you
swear?'
'Ok ok!' she snapped.
Howard sighed with relief.
***
***
***
Howard awoke with a tingle of anticipation.
The afternoon held the prospect of the last
physics lab of the week. He attended a morning
lecture on the atmospheres of the gas giants
at eleven. Despite his fascination with planets
his mind oscillated between his fevered hunger
for Gallie and his nervous predilection for
Jacintha. Even the lecturer's discussion of
the methane clouds of Jupiter didn't wrest his
consciousness into the now. His keenness for
the two o'clock lab session to commence only
made fickle time drag and delay and he cursed
time's propensity to pass at the opposite speed
to that wished for. However the passing of time,
no matter how lengthy, is inevitable and eventually
time did keep its appointment with the afternoon
laboratory session as surely as time will keep
its appointment with death.
Howard arrived two minutes late so as not to
appear over-keen, approaching the laboratory
with the glad whistle of a rookie songbird confident
of mating. His pulse quickened. He felt he was
being watched and span round. The usual labcoated
students were present and oblivious to him.
He shrugged and entered the darkness of the
optics lab. Jacintha was adjusting the interferometer.
Without a word spoken they hugged and kissed
hyperactively. His blood eddied molten beneath
his skin. The blackness of the room magnified
the excitement of the caresses. She lay on top
of him in mad embrace; her neat hands gently
percussed his body and bowed his face. The fondling
grew frenzied. He fantasised about having a
threesome under that table with Jacintha and
Gallie: a thought so erotic it hurt. He begged
her to go the whole way.
She assented!
Heart racing, he fumbled, madly attempting to
roll the rubber in place. It slipped to the
left. He fiddled. It slid to the right. He persevered.
It was on! She lay on her back and he manoeuvred
himself on top of her and hesitated.
This was
it!
He savoured the joyous and imminent moment of
glory and triumph. Fortune be praised! He was
to be a man!
The risk that contributed to this climactic
ecstasy, the danger of being discovered, destroyed
it. Painful light invaded the room. Howard blinked
and shielded his eyes. A second later he squinted
at the open doorway that permitted the blinding
rays. A figure was silhouetted against the brightness.
Its elbows protruded. There was a white flash
and a clicking sound. The door slammed shut.
Blackness enveloped the lab once more. An amorphous
glowing patch caused by the dazzle of the flash
was all he could see. He felt her scramble away
from him.
'Shit! Who was that?' Jacintha's voice trembled
with panic.
Howard pulled up his trousers and fastened the
belt with flustered hands.
'Oh
bugger!'
'Oh my
God! That
person took a
photograph!'
This conjecture shocked him.
'No, I don't think so.'
'Oh my
God!'
'No! That couldn't have been a camera!'
'The flash! The shutter sound! It was a
camera!'
'Oh fuck.'
'This is
you're idea isn't! You
planned
this!' screamed Jacintha.
'
Shhhh!'
'Don't
shush me! You... you...!'
He heard her sobbing breathlessly. Wordlessly
she hurriedly restored her clothing and fled
the lab.
And he hadn't even penetrated her! Alone and
desolate he tortured himself with what might
have been. Why had he hesitated? A second's
delay had cost him dear. He literally kicked
himself.
'You sad, pathetic virgin, you missed an open
goal. you fucking
blew it!' he muttered.
Howard walked towards the door, opened it and
found the light switch. The optical lab looked
unfamiliar and tiny in the washed-out glare
of the fluorescent lighting. He gazed at the
interferometer and bowed his head. On the floor
beneath the lab desk he noticed a small brooch
lying face down. He picked it up and turned
it over in his hand. It was a delicate design
depicting a tropically coloured butterfly. It's
frail blue wings blazed translucently. He pocketed
the brooch and rushed from the scene.
He searched for Jacintha both on the campus
and at Donovan Hall of Residence. Bedraggled
and without success, he returned to Napoleon
Terrace. Karen saw him as he walked past the
kitchen. She winked at him with the knowing
smile of a confidant.
'Guess what Howie! Jacintha rang up asking to
speak you about an hour ago.'
'Shit! What did she say? Did she sound OK?'
'Hmmm. She did sound like a bit strange, actually.'
'Will she ring back?'
'She didn't, like, say. You two had a tiff?'
He watched her closely.
'Karen, did you tell anybody about our conversation
last night?'
'Oh no! Crikey, I mean I would never do that.
It's a bit much actually to accuse me of
that
you know!' she lambasted.
'No, no. Forget it.'
The phone rang. He sprang to it.
'Hello?'
'Hello, am I speaking to Howard?'
Not wishing to be overheard by Karen, he groped
for the lounge door and slammed it shut.
'Jacintha! I've been searching all round the
Wrekin!'
'I'm on a pay phone. Can't talk long. Someone
took a photograph of us today. A photograph
while we were,
you know... Do you know
how serious that is? I can't bear to think about
it.'
'Jacintha-'
'I'm really scared. I'll be publicly humiliated.
I don't want us to be seen together. We must
work apart in the lab, on different projects.
We must act like total
strangers.'
'No! Jacintha-'
'Yes! There's nothing between us. I couldn't
live with the shame. If I ever I find out
you
planned this...'
'Look,
listen to me Jacintha, I...'
The phone went dead. Mortified, he slammed it
down.
'Shit shit and double shit!'
Karen walked into the room.
'Is Jacintha alright? She has loads of problems
doesn't she? You've really upset her haven't
you? I know very well what bastards you men
can be, actually.'
He wasn't listening: his face was buckled with
raw bitterness.
'Yeah.'
 | | | | |
| From: |
MadPole | Subject: | 2002-01-17 02:35:19 |
| | | | |
| From: |
MadPole | Subject: | 2002-01-17 02:43:42 |
| | | | |
| From: |
isolani | Subject: | 2002-01-18 11:38:38 |
| | | | |
| From: |
MadPole | Subject: | 2002-01-18 11:54:14 |
| | | | |
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