‘Let’s take a boat down the river,’ Judy suggested tentatively sensing Harris’ disappointment. But the river itself was swarming with punts, canoes and row-boats.
‘Let’s have a drink.’ Harris turned towards the nearest pub, passing windows full of people devouringmeatpies and sausage, egg and chips. They entered a dark bar, all wood and stone floors. The barmaids were wearing period costumes and smiling cheerfully as they coped with the crowds.
This is more like it, he thought, ordering a pint of Brown, a red wine and two ham and tomato sandwiches, and took the wine over to Judy who was sitting on a bench seat at an old round oak table and returned for the beer. Sitting next to her, he squeezed her hand to show her his mood was no reflection on her.
‘This isn’t so bad, is it?’ He turned to study a large square timber coming from the floor and supporting the low ceiling.
He reached out to let his fingers run along the deep grain.
Plastic. ‘Shit?
As they left the pub, it began to drizzle with rain. Although it was a fairly light shower, shop doorways became crowded with people. Plastic macs appeared and were draped over heads andshoulders, Harris and Judy were bumped by tourists running for cover.
‘Let’s go, Jude,’ said Harris, taking her arm firmly and leading her into the road. They quickly walked back to the car, both fighting the feeling of claustrophobia. They sat in the car and caught their breath.
Harris was halfway through a cigarette when the sun came out and the rain stopped.
People emerged from their shelters, laughing and calling to one another. A coach pulled up on the opposite side of the road and unloaded a stream of sightseers, all stretching and yawning, and looking for the toilets.
‘Look at those women,’ the teacher said in amazement.
‘They all look the same. They’re all fat, and they’re all wearing glasses. I don’t believe it!’
Judy burst into laughter. He was right. They did all look alike. For some reason, he felt better. At least he saw the joke of his shattered illusion of Shakespeare’s birth-place.
He drove out of the crowded town, heading into the country.
As they left the town behind he felt a deep sense of relief.
He could breathe again. He didn’t fully understand why the crowds had affected him so much. He’d had a feeling of revulsion towards the people, not as individuals, but en-masse. Strangely enough, it had been slightly akin to the revulsion he’d felt towards the rats. As though they were a threat.
‘Jude, I’m not becoming a head-case am I?’
‘No, darling. You just came into contact with too many people at the wrong time and in the wrong place.
The point of coming here was to get away from it all and we ran slam-bang right into the middle of it again.’
The quieter the roads became, the freer he felt. Ahead they spotted a high-curving hill the top crowned with trees and cultivated fields below, its shades ranging from the brightest yellow to the deepest green.
Sheep grazed on the wilder middle slopes.
‘Fancy a climb? Harris’ asked Judy.
‘Okay.’
He pulled over on to a grassy verge and locked the car.
They climbed a fence and skirted around the edges of the field, Judy explaining the difference between wheat, corn and barley, Harris enjoying his ignorance.
Watched by the sheep they climbed over a gate, the hill now becoming much steeper. As they got nearer the top, the exertion began to tell and they laughingly clung to each other, occasionally pulling the other down. Finally they reached the trees and found a path leading through them to the summit. Here was a plateau of still more fields, stretching across to the downward slopes and shading into woods again.
Lying back on the grassy slope, they rested, taking in the surrounding hills, the tiny houses, the grey lines that were roads. A slight breeze stirred the otherwise warm air.
‘Better now?’ Judy asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Deep breaths.’
He reached for her. ‘It’s so quiet. No people. It somehow puts everything into its right perspective.’
A sheep, lost from its flock scampered past them. Once past, it turned and bleated at them, then ran off.
‘And you,’ shouted Harris. He turned to Judy and kissed her, first softly, small tender kisses, just touching her lips - then hard, urgent. His hand crept to her small, round breast beneath the jumper.
‘Harris, someone might come,’ she warned.
‘Up here,’ he scoffed. ‘You’re joking. Who’d be silly enough to climb all the way up here?’
He pulled at the zipper of her trousers. She kissed his face, his neck, her love for him stirring her desire, pushing her body towards him in rhythmic motion. He tugged at thetrousers, her body lifting to help him, then ran his fingers lightly over her smooth thighs. He bowed down to kiss them, his tongue creating thin moist trails along each limb. His hand began to stroke the fine material of her panties – then between her thighs.
She moaned with pleasure and reached for him, loosening his clothes, setting him free. His hand crept slowly between her flimsy panties and soft skin, finding her private silky hair, then down, between her thighs, his fingers becoming wet from her. He pulled the panties gently down her long legs and lay them to one side with her now discarded trousers. He half-sat, gazing down at her, taking pleasure from the sight of her naked thighs against the rich green grass.
She pulled him down to her. ‘Darling,’ she whispered, not really caring, ‘someone might see us.’
‘Not up here. Nobody can see us up here.’
He moved into her, very gently, and very slowly. Then they clung to each other, her legs slightly bent, feet flat against the slope. He began to move back and forth inside her, their passion, as so often, equally matched. She thrust up at him, both now losingthemselves in the sweetness of physical love.
But as then’ motions became more frantic, so his toes and knees began to lose their grip on the grassy slope. He began to slip down. He wriggled forward again grabbing tufts of grass to pull himself up. But as soon as they resumed he began to slip down again, this time losing her. He wasn’t amused as she was.
‘We’ll have to turn around,’ he said, struggling back inside her. They carefully inched their way round, anticlockwise, desperately trying to keep together, now both laughing at the ridiculous spectacle they must have made.
‘I can feel the blood rushing to my head,’ she giggled.
‘I won’t tell you where it’s rushing to in me,’ he groaned, trying hard not to topple forward over her body. He held on to the grass, pushing against it now, the strain on his arms becoming more intense as their bodies sped towards their crescendos. She writhed under him, a couple of times nearly sending him over her and rolling down the hill. They reached their climax, Harris almost with relief, and, still together, let themselves slide languidly down a few feet, bodies turning.
They rested for a few minutes, their bodies relishing the warm sun, enjoying the light breeze on their nakedness.
‘I love you, darling,’ Judy said.
‘Good, because I love you.’
Reluctantly, they dressed, and Harris lit a cigarette, Judy settled back against him and they both studied the cobalt sky.
A voice broke through their tranquil thoughts.
‘Susan, don’t go too far, poppet!’
They both sat up and turned their heads towards the sound. A young girl of about seven came skipping over the brow of the hill, closely followed by a man and a woman who wondered why the young couple sitting on the hillside had burst into laughter.
Chapter Nine
Dave Moodie lounged against the wall of the dingy Underground platform, occasionally tilting his head back and drinking from a carton of milk. I’m pissed off with this lark, he told himself, peering into the gloom of the
