An Evil Streak by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781911420385
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2017-11-14T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

When I got home I was amazed and rewarded for my fortitude: David was still there. Still in fact wearing the new silk dressing-gown, which turned out to be a rather strange colour that looked expensive rather than attractive and was probably called aubergine. He was sitting on the dishevelled bed of the spare room with a dazed expression on his face. I asked if he should not be at home by now, but he said he had told Cathy he was having drinks with a casting director.

‘Happy Christmas,’ I said. To tell the truth, though pleased to see him, I was almost embarrassed at my nearness to their love-making. Gemma’s scent was everywhere in the room. Alone, I could have enjoyed it properly; with David there I was wrong-footed.

‘The food was terrific,’ he said. ‘You did us proud.’

His last words echoed because Catherine had used them. It must be a family expression; I had noticed before how married people often talked alike. To get away from the tantalising smell of sex, I wandered into the dining-room.

He called after me, ‘It’s all right, I’ve cleared up in there,’ and so he had, as if the feast had never been. I went back to the spare room and found him getting dressed: his body was covered with dark curly hair and he was circumcised. Suddenly I felt ill with envy; but which of them I envied most I could not have told you. An extraordinary feeling, so intense as to leave me physically weak: I had to hold on to the door for a moment. But it passed, as all feelings pass.

‘Look what she gave me,’ he said, hanging the dressing-gown on the back of the door. ‘It must have cost the earth.’

‘She’s very generous,’ I said. He was like a child, enchanted by a present. Or did he think mere expense made him more worthy?

‘She stayed till four,’ he said. There was something odd about his voice: a stunned quality. As if he was telling me that she was generous with time as well as money and he was surprised.

I said, ‘D’you want a drink?’ It was after six and I needed one badly.

He shook his head. ‘No, I don’t think so. We had rather a lot – she brought champagne and so did I.’

He was dressed by now. He surveyed the room. ‘I just didn’t want to clear this up too soon.’

‘Shall I help you?’ I moved forward slightly. My sick feeling had passed; already I was able to enjoy seeing the lipstick marks on the pillow, the semen stains on the sheets.

‘No, don’t help me, I’d rather do it.’ He began to do it in a reluctant desultory style, not at all the way he dealt with the rest of the flat. He said, ‘You’re going there at Christmas, aren’t you? To her home?’

‘Yes, I always do.’

‘Then give her this and pretend it’s from you. I mean she’ll know it’s from me but let the others think it’s from you.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.