Page 8 (1/2)

In a e seeine, if you will, that ere supposed to search in a coalfor the coal et excited about

I didn’t particularly et excited about Mornings, for instance, with the sun suddenly breaking above the eastern horizon, and the sure songs of birds in the thickets, early birds in swift pursuit of late wor in the distance, and rainstor the earth for twenty or forty un

Meals of sweet overripe any on the outside, salmon pink within Plump water birds that bobbed in a ly while one shied a stone at them Roasted over a wood fire they tasted rather like duck, which I suppose they were

The warmth, the space, the silence There were lions about, and hostile tribes, and things that went buht, and yet from the onset I felt completely at ease in that open country It was unpeopled and unpaved, and it let me rele had sed Sam Bowman, if the Retriever was lost and his treasure irretrievable, that was fine And if I never got back to civilization, that wasn’t so bad either

The weather had soood food, and the open spaces, and the friendship of the natives we ave rise to a very real pleasure But let’s be honest, huh? None of these pleasures quite corass with Miss Pelha, uh, love

Look, it wasn’t my idea

It really wasn’t, and left to my own devices I don’t think it would have happened I a it never would have occurred to s occur to a person, whether or not he has any intentions of doing anything about the, and I had noticed this It had come to mind that Plum would one day make someone or other very happy in some bed or other, but my own appreciation of this fact was quite iet out of a coffin and as now keeping me company on a Cook’s Tour of Modonoland But ht so, but she wouldn’t buy it

"You think I a in the wild "But I a to be sixteen years old"

"God willing"

"Pardon?"

"Everybody who is fifteen years old is well on the way to being sixteen," I said "It’s the natural order of things"

"You areirl e would be a child, but in Modonoland I aer than I are married"

"But not to irl of fifteen?"

"Yes"

"You have? Then it is e, and-"

"Twenty years ago, I slept with a girl as fifteen"

"Oh"

"But not since then, Plum"

"Perhaps you will be able to remember how it is done, Evan"

And another ti about this matter between us I do not think you have been honest withandanother"

"What do you mean, Plum?"

"It is certainly a common attitude here It is universal in Modonoland And I understand that the situation is very ht you were different, Evan, and it saddensabout?"

"That you do not want to make love to me because of my color," she said "That is obvious You pretend that it is e, but I cannot believe that You say it to spare me pain That is all"

"Plum, that’s ridiculous"

"It is a problem I will always face in this country Black irl who is partly white White irl who is partly black Perhaps in another country I will find a place for myself Or perhaps I will find a man who does not let color bother him"

"Damn it, Plum-"

"Please do not talk of it, Evan Not now Do you see that tree? I wonder if the fruit can be eaten"

And another tiht:

"Evan?"

"Can’t you sleep, Plum?"

"I am all tense My muscles are in knots"

"Try to relax"

"I cannot It is sexual tension, you understand"

"Oh, are we back on that topic again?"

"When a woman is accustomed to sex, it is a hardship to do without it You o to be a virgin?"

"You told me"

"Which makes your scruples so foolish, but I will not discuss that now But I ae to relax me…"

I squatted next to her and rubbed her little back Her skin army teeth

"I took off all my clothes," she said "I hope you do not ht Since I do not exist for you as a sex object, you are untouched by ht"

"Yes I enjoy the feeling of your hands on lad"