757dfe7a6b8645f10db57d4995b1086b by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Format: epub
Published: 2017-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

SIXTEEN

It was one morning when Tom and Avery were theoretically on a hunting expedition inland—though, in fact, Camp Two was already well supplied with meat—that Tom raised a problem that had evidently been troubling him for some time. They were sitting on a fallen tree, taking a breather; and Avery was idly cutting a design on the haft of his favourite tomahawk.

‘I hope, old man, that we know each other well enough by now for you not to take offence at anything I say,’ began Tom.

Avery looked at him curiously. These days, Tom never said ‘old man’ unless he was particularly nervous.

‘We also know each other well enough not to beat about the bush,’ remarked Avery. ‘What’s the problem?’ ‘Impotence,’ said Tom quickly.

‘I beg your pardon.’

‘I said impotence.... With Mary.’

‘Oh, sorry. It didn’t register for a moment.’ Avery was thinking: Here, ladies and gentlemen we have the Garden of Eden—only neuroses are more plentiful than apples.

Tom was baffled by the ensuing silence. He had expected something more than a non-committal response.

‘A further relevant matter,’ he went on desperately, ‘is whether you and Barbara have made love.... At least, I ' think it’s relevant.’

‘Possibly. But I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you. We haven’t.... Well, not in that sense.’

‘Why not?’ Tom was surprised. ‘Don’t you like her enough?’

‘I like her a great deal,’ snapped Avery. ‘Maybe that’s part of the reason You aren’t the only nut case, you know.’

‘You haven’t made love to her?’ echoed Tom stupidly. The knowledge seemed to shatter foundations on which he was trying to build.

‘I haven’t made love to her,’ explained Avery, ‘not because I can’t, not because I don’t want to, but because I’ve got a damn silly problem of loyalties. There was a girl called Christine, and she died a long time ago—but I got into the peculiar habit of not letting her die, if you see what I mean.’

‘You’ll have to get over it some time,’ Tom pointed out. ‘Otherwise you’ll both go dotty.... Anyway, what do you do about the dear old demon sex?’

‘I kiss Barbara good night,’ said Avery angrily, ‘and go to sleep thinking about Christine—and if I’m lucky, I wake up in the morning with the problem solved until next time.... Does that answer your question?’

Tom shrugged. ‘Poor Barbara.’

‘Poor Barbara, indeed.’ Then he added brutally: ‘But impotence was the original topic, I believe. Your impotence.’

‘Let’s forget the whole matter, old man,’ said Tom distantly. ‘I didn’t know it was going to upset you.’

Suddenly, the tension drained out of Avery. He knew that he was being unreasonable and bloody-minded. He wanted to make amends.

‘Sorry, Tom. Fat lot of help I am.... Any idea what causes the impotence, or is it all a damned annoying mystery?’

‘I think it’s tenderness,’ said Tom with an almost comic expression. ‘Tenderness—and a history of pornography.’ It was the first reference he had made to his private collection for a long, long time.

Avery put a hand on his shoulder. ‘You’ll have to elaborate further, my old one.

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