“I guess I’d better get the bus,” he said.

“I can drive you home much faster than the bus,” said Miss Waters, “I’ll pick you up in North Street, around the block, to preserve the secrecy of our relationship.”

She stopped at a shop on the way and bought them both sorbet cups from the corner store, and then parked in a private spot, where they sat and ate them. He watched her tongue coming out of her mouth to receive spoonfuls of sorbet. She noticed his close attention.

“In a few weeks, you’ll be in the same situation as the sorbet,” she said.

“It’s a lot of fun playing this game with you, Miss Waters. I’ve swapped a suspension for a thrilling pretence.”

“Be warned about thinking it’s merely a game, Milo. You’ve agreed to this, because in your dreams, you’d like to be married to me. But you’ve given up the chance to grow up and marry anyone. I rather enjoy having the advantage of that experience over you.”

“Do you think I’m a handsome boy though?”

“Yes I do. It’s part of what made you look so delicious, even before I licked you.”

“Oh well, then you’d be better off to leave me uneaten, so you can still look at me in class next term.”

“Milo, I’d much rather eat you than look at you. I want you to take this seriously. The days of being a safe student in my classes are coming to an end for you. You struck a bargain with me, and you might doubt the likelihood of having to meet your end of it. The foolishness is yours, if you think that way, Milo. You’d better be ready to go through with your part. My hunger for you will increase exponentially from now on.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Waters. I didn’t mean for you to think I was laughing at you. You know I love you.”

“I understand, and you should love me. I’m the first, last and only woman you’ll ever have anything to do with, although not romantically. I’m going to make you all mine to gulp down, Milo. I’ll do everything I can to make you happy with my mouth, but that’s as far as it goes.”

He noticed she had been licking her lips a lot more after speaking each paragraph, and there didn’t seem to be any sorbet which needed licking. It was her thoughts of him which were generating the generous and varied views of her tongue’s movements. She saw him staring across at it again in the car seat.

“Take my word for it, Milo. I have invented the means to keep to our arrangement. The closer you come to being sure you can believe in my ability to do this, the more excited I feel inside, in my mouth, in my stomach, every part of me. I’m the first person to invent this. You hardly believe it yourself. So nobody else will have the slightest suspicion of what will have happened to you, let alone that I had anything to do with it. I do think you’ll be a little more worried about it, when you see the proof for yourself. You won’t still be asking questions or voicing doubts, when you’re lying on your back on a dinner plate, looking up at my full sized face, looking across at my stomach, knowing that there’s nothing you can do to avoid going into it. There’s already nothing you can do about it. I’m sorry.”