low. I stood up and began waving at the same time, won-6
dering whether or not this late-night motorist was Bethany.
7
The car veered toward me and I felt a catch in my lungs, 8
fear that I was alone in the dark.
9
“Charles!” Bethany yelled out the window. “Charles!”
10
She applied the brakes, making the car squeal and slide 11
on the gravelly asphalt. It was right out of an old movie, 12
where the star-crossed lovers finally come together after 13
war and famine and other cruel twists of fate.
14
A short black dress with no hose, lips a deep red, and 15
every hair in place — that was Bethany.
16
“Baby,” she said. And then she took me in her arms.
17
“What’s wrong?”
18
“I don’t know,” I said and it wasn’t a lie. “I need to take 19
a bath.”
20
It only took ten minutes to get back to her place. She 21
kept asking what had happened, what was wrong, but I 22
said I couldn’t talk yet. My teeth were chattering and I 23
blamed the cold. She accepted my excuse. Maybe that 24
really was why I couldn’t talk.
25
“My roommate’s gone back to Baltimore for the week,”
26
she told me as she gave me a big towel.
S 27
I spent a long time under the shower. I washed com-R 28
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Walter Mosley
1
pletely, even brushed my teeth with a blue brush I found 2
on the sink.
3
When I came out, draped in the towel, I was ready to 4
talk but the time for talking was over for a while.
5
We kissed more than I had kissed in my whole life. Long 6
wet osculations with hungry little grunts punctuating our 7
pleasure. I kissed her breasts and her toes, the round crack 8
of her buttocks and spaces behind her thighs. I massaged 9
her shoulders while licking the back of her neck. When she 10
