Drawing on all his years of experience Dick also demonstrated some of the far more advanced positions, warning that these required considerable practice and a very high degree of suppleness; positions like the Piledriver, the Rampant Sloth, the Viennese Oyster, the T-Square, Deep Impact, the Flying Karamasovs, the Strap Hanger, the Two Headed Crab, the Incumbent President, the Scream Machine, the Angry Fireman, the Frothy Latte, the Pineapple Harvest, the Triple Lindy and the infamous Oprah Straddle.
Naturally, even after a few seconds of simulating the first position, Dick’s rocket was in full flight again. ‘Fuck it’, he thought, and just continued with the lesson. His students were engrossed watching the positions, making copious notes, and everyone seemed oblivious to what was happening in his trouser department. Everyone, that is, except Susan who reached orgasm at least five times with all the bumping, grinding and dry humping. Setting an exhausted, almost comatose, Susan down Dick received a standing ovation from his class. As the applause died down it was Taylor who, as the spokesperson for the group, thanked Dick profusely for educating them this evening without prior warning. It was also Taylor who then suggested that everyone paired-up and adjourn to the lounge and bedrooms for the next part of their studies; the practical.
Just over an hour later, the lounge and bedrooms resembled the aftermath of a gigantic orgy, mainly because that’s exactly what had taken place. Dick had sex with all the women in the group numerous times in many of the positions he’d just taught. To his pleasant surprise they were all incredibly quick learners (even the Oprah Straddle had posed fewer problems than he had anticipated) and although Dick was still ready, willing and able to continue, everyone else was incredibly weary and very sore from all the action. As he was getting dressed Dick pondered on the fact that all the people he’d met so far in the Resistance demonstrated an astonishing level of camaraderie. All of them except Taylor. Dick had come to this conclusion based on Taylor’s reluctance to share his girlfriend with anyone; the two of them disappeared into one of the bedrooms alone, locked the door and had their sex in private. Dick wasn’t sure if this was due to Alice being coy or Taylor having an embarrassingly small penis, but whatever the reason, Dick felt Taylor was being very selfish.
It was now late and one by one the Resistance members said their goodbyes, thanked Dick profusely and departed. Taylor gave Dick a very strong handshake and slapped him on the back.
‘Thanks for everything Dick’, he said, smiling.
Dick saw Alice buttoning up her dress through a small gap in the open bedroom door. ‘You’re welcome’, he replied through ever-so-slightly gritted teeth.
‘I’ve got something for you’, Taylor continued. ‘A present’.
He handed Dick a small wrapped package that looked and felt exactly like a fountain pen. Dick thanked him and unwrapped what was indeed a fountain pen.
‘But it’s a pen with a difference’, Edward explained, taking it from Dick’s hand. ‘Look’.
He unscrewed the barrel. Concealed under the ink reservoir were a small circuit board, some wiring and a miniature battery.
‘It’s a homing beacon’, Edward explained. ‘Taylor’s an electrical wizard. He’s just developed it’.
They’re not difficult to make, said Taylor modestly. ‘All our members have just been issued with them. They’re concealed in lipsticks for the women and in pens for the men’.
Dick took the pen back and examined it.
‘If you’re captured or in any form of danger, you can activate it by turning the clasp twice counter-clockwise and then once clockwise’. Taylor demonstrated and the pen emitted a barely audible bleep. He switched it off again. ‘It’s got a range of about four miles and will alert other resistance members to your exact location, give or take a few feet’.
Edward continued the explanation. ‘If there’s a member in the vicinity they can hopefully trace the signal and then come to your assistance’.
‘Hopefully?’ Dick enquired. He’d heard that word quite a few times in connection with Resistance activities and it didn’t, well, fill him with hope.
‘Well, yes’. Edward nodded. ‘If we’re able to help a colleague then we will’.
‘And if you can’t?’, Dick enquired.
‘Let’s not worry about that unless it ever happens’, interrupted Taylor. ‘After all, it’s not a problem until it’s a problem!’.
This comment was, Dick thought, as comments went, not a particularly helpful one.
‘The electronics are well concealed in the pen’, Taylor added, quickly changing the subject. ‘But on no account must you ever let this fall into the hands of the Party. As you can imagine, that would have disastrous consequences’.
Dick thanked Taylor again for the device and told him he’d be very, very careful with it. With that he placed it in his inside jacket pocket, shook Taylor’s hand again and said his final goodbyes. George looked particularly disappointed as he left.
Blindfolded once more, Dick was escorted out of the building, this time by Edward who dropped him off a few minutes’ walk from his home. The ride was uneventful; both men lost in their own private thoughts. Dick collapsed into bed and that night, slept the sleep of the dead. Or more accurately, the sleep of the blissfully shagged.
CHAPTER 14
The following two weeks saw Dick working in parallel on a new assignment at the Ministry; a publicity campaign in support of the forthcoming ‘National Hat Week’. When Vera first told him about this project Dick’s instinctive reaction was to exclaim, ‘What the fuck?!’ Fortunately, however, he managed to correct himself in time and what he actually said was, ‘What the fedora?!’. Of course, this didn’t make any sense at all but at least it was hat-related. Just from his observations so far Dick knew that everyone in this society loved hats. The women loved them because they were a fashion item that could be changed according to whim or the season. The men loved them because they could doff them to women and appear courteous. And everyone loved them because they kept them dry(ish) when the weather was inclement.
A small team in Dick’s department was responsible for creating a real buzz about National Hat Week, making it an exciting, stimulating and compelling event. Dick wasn’t sure that this was at all possible as he immersed himself in statistics about hat wearing, hat manufacturing, hat distribution, hat history, hat accessorising, hat care, hat pioneers — in fact anything and everything about hats. He found this a completely unstimulating exercise but threw himself into it like a loyal Party member.
Benjamin was part of this team so there was regular contact between the two of them. Although he hadn’t demonstrated any recent signs of resentment over Dick apparently being lined-up for promotion, Dick still didn’t trust him. He had the distinct feeling that everything he did or said was being scrutinised by his colleague. He wondered how long it would take before Benjamin discovered through his own sources that Dick didn’t actually have a close relative in the Party. And once he found this out, would he delve deeper into Dick’s past and discover that as far as this world went, he didn’t actually have one?