He
reviewed all these facts in his mind again, sometimes looking at her beautiful
sleeping form to complement the growing awareness of the inner workings of her
mind, and at other times closing his eyes and recalling the gorgeous radiant
beauty of her relaxed expression on the hammock the day before, again with his
new understanding of her thought processes combined in his mind with that
image.
“It’s
not fair,” he suddenly realised, “She knew I couldn’t help but be lured by the
whole thing, and yet she never even considered me as being a long-term
boyfriend for her. She knew I was just a boy a few months ago. She dressed this
dinner arrangement up as the ultimate thrill, and it certainly is. But I’ve
grown up a lot in the last few months. I want more. I want some way to have
this thrill, and yet still survive to convince her to stay with me after the
thrill has been enjoyed. There’s no way I can think of to do that now, but I
have to delay our dinner date, until I can think of such a way.”
He
looked across at her sleeping form again.
Colleen
had planned all of this for many years, and dedicated years of scientific
research to making it possible.
She
would never give him what he wanted, even if it became possible somehow. For
her, a significant part of the encounter (in fact the same significant part
that aroused him for so long) was the inescapable nature of the dinner date
that she had prepared him for. The more he wanted to escape, the more she would
want him to be inside her stomach facing the fact that he would not be able to
avoid it.
He
knew what he was walking away from, knew it far more clearly than he had known
when he had walked out of the first interview. Yet he had to walk away. His
only chance was while she slept.
He
slid gently off the pillow, being sure not to wake her, and walked to the edge
of the bed. He looked down at the floor. The fall was nothing trivial.
He
stared down, trying to think of a way to get down without becoming a human
splat.
“Trying
to give reign to your second thoughts?” came her voice behind him.
He
spun around and saw her fingers approaching.
“Keep
back!” he said.
She
stopped advancing her hand, but did not withdraw it.
“There’s
no way down the side of the bed,” she said, “The sheets are tucked in tightly.
So is the blanket. I thought you’d begun to take in the full significance of
this, when you were so silent on the hammock for a while yesterday. I was sure,
when you asked me about going steady. There’s no resignation from this
employment, Patrick. You have the rest of the day to remain in anticipation of
the fact that you’re going to be my dinner.”
“Get
your hand back, or I’ll jump off!”
“And
hit the ground?” she laughed, “You won’t survive that.”