Danea shook her head and he felt her tears smearing on his skin. “I’m committed to the mission,” she said in a muffled voice. “It’s what I believe in, Jim. I can’t forget all the vows I… Besides, I don’t think I could stand living in a place like Orangefield.”
“I’ve got news for you, Danea.” Bolts of white lightning cleaved the landscape of Nicklin’s mind. “I can’t stand living in Orangefield either.”
He felt her body go rigid. She raised her head and gave him several light kisses, dabbing his face with her tears.
“That’s very sweet of you,” she murmured. “I feel so very honoured that you would even consider leaving your home and everything you know and going out on the road with me. Is that what you meant, or am I… ?”
“That’s what I meant, and you know it.”
She gave him a tremulous smile and gently nuzzled her pubis against his hip. “You’re a lovely man, Jim, but there are things you don’t know about.”
“What sort of things?”
“Corey doesn’t permit people to come along for the ride. We’d be swamped with fellow-travellers—in both senses—if he allowed that. Everyone who joins us has to be totally committed, and that means…” She tried to lower her head again, but he placed his hand on her brow, forcing her to continue looking at him.
“Go on,” he said.
“It means selling everything you own… your home, your business, your insurance… everything… and donating all the proceeds to the mission.”
“Is that all you’re worried about?” Nicklin laughed with genuine relief. “Consider it done, little girl! Consider it done\”
All the heaviness disappeared from Danea’s eyes. “Do you mean it, Jim? Do you really mean it? We could have a little camper all to ourselves—and you don’t even have to marry me if you don’t want to.”
“I want to.”
“We’ve got all the time in the world to talk about that,” she said, raising herself to a sitting position, looking radiantly excited. She remained that way for a few seconds, then her expression became pensive.
Nicklin was more confident now, and no alarm bells rang for him. “What is it this time?”
“I’ve just thought of something.” Her eyes were speculative and oddly watchful as they searched his face. “I don’t know what the others, especially Corey, will think of me if I go back as bold as brass and tell them I’m moving in with a man I met only last night. That probably sounds silly to you, Jim. You’re probably used to a procession of women going in and out of your bed—and you don’t have to care one hoot what people say about it—but things are a bit different for me at the mission. It’s all a bit straight-laced. It’s all very old-fashioned, but I really value the respect of the people I work with there…”
Danea paused, looking self-conscious. “What a big speech! And I don’t even know if what I said makes any kind of sense to you.”
“I understand.” Nicklin felt some disappointment, but he was already possessive towards Danea and the disappointment was more than offset by his learning that Montane’s followers were not proponents of communal or even casual sex. “You’re saying we can’t start living together right off. I can handle that.”
“Thank you, Jim, thank you!” She hugged him, pressing in hard with her breasts. “We’ll only have to wait a little while after Corey accepts you. And we won’t be apart all the time, my lovely horny darling—every now and then we’ll be able to take ourselves for a little walk.”
The inflection Danea put on the last word, the assignment to it of a special secret meaning, made Nicklin’s throat close up painfully with sheer happiness. In future, when they were in the company of others, he or she would only have to suggest going for a “walk”, and nobody else present would know what was meant, but he and Danea would know, and it would be more of the kind of ecstatic love-making they had just experienced. The world was a wonderful place in which to live—and how could he ever have thought that Danea was not beautiful?
While they were dressing he found a damp patch near the bottom edge of his shirt which made him wince as he crammed it under his belt. Danea laughed and told him he had only himself to blame for being so virile. After they were clothed again they remained in the lee of the bandanna for a minute while he tried to explain, with some guesswork here and there, how he would go about disposing of all his assets in a very short time. Danea looked embarrassed and asked him not to talk about such things until he was with Corey Montane. Nicklin loved her all the more because she so obviously wanted to keep their personal relationship uncontaminated by financial matters.
As they were walking back to his place, his arm around her shoulder and hers around his waist, a new thought occurred to him “If we’re going to be married,” he said lightly, “I suppose it would be only proper if I got to know your second name.”
“You mean you took me into your love nest and you didn’t even know my…!” She pushed him away from her with a scandalised laugh. “Farthing! My name is Farthing—I told you that last night.”
“You didn’t! I swear to you by the Gaseous Vertebrate that you didn’t.” He tilted his head thoughtfully. “At least, I don’t think you did.”
“You see! You’re not even sure!” Danea came back to him and put her arms around his neck. “Tell me the truth, Jim—just how many women have you taken for a walk up here?”
“You’re the only one,” Nicklin protested, but was unable to resist allowing the claim to sound unconvincing. He was more flattered than he cared to admit by her repeated suggestions that he was a sexual conquistador. And if she happened to be impressed by men of wide experience there was no point in his going all out to change her opinion of him. Life was suddenly opening up in a big way. Now that he had been with Danea he could admit that the women of Orangefield, with their dismissive and condescending manner, had always given him a sense of sexual inadequacy. But the fault had been with them all along! They were small-towners, hidebound and limited by their Hicksville upbringing, whereas he was a natural cosmopolitan who could only be appreciated by other cosmopolitans.
As he walked in the sunlight with Danea’s hip gently nudging his, he thought for a moment about the fact that he was on the point of selling up everything he owned, for no other reason than his desire to be with her. But he felt no doubts, no qualms, no apprehensions. He was going to rid himself of his shackles and become free to begin his real life.
“Tell me something,” Danea said. “What is this Gaseous Vertebrate you keep mentioning? What do you mean?”
Nicklin was surprised. “I didn’t realise that I… It’s a name that somebody—one of the old German philosophers, I think—invented for God.”
“God? It sounds strange. Not very respectful.”
“It’s meant to be the opposite of respectful. It’s meant to express disbelief. The Bible claims that God made man in His own image. So, if we look like Him, He must look like us, and that means He has a backbone. But if He’s a spirit—by definition a creature who has no weight—why does He need a backbone to support His weight?”
“Please do me a favour,” Danea said, a barely noticeable wrinkle appearing between her eyebrows. “Don’t refer to God in that way when you’re with Corey—I’m sure it would hurt his feelings.”
Nicklin gave her a compliant nod, and—for no reason which could be isolated from the clamorous background of his thoughts-it came to him that there was something important, something very important, which he should have discussed with the woman he loved.