This town had been pretty good to him, all things considered. In the past week, he’d been seeing a girl named Francine Ray. Three out of four nights so far.
She was something else. She seemed too good to be true. Average height, broad shoulders, big chest, eyes as blue as swimming pools. A natural beauty, she wore no makeup, no jewelry. Didn’t even have pierced ears.
He couldn’t help worrying that she might be lying about her age.
“You sure you’re twenty-one?” he asked her.
She kissed him hard. “Yeah, baby. Don’t I seem sufficiently experienced?”
“Oh, yeah. You do and then some, baby.”
And then he’d look at her ID again. ID’s were easy to fake these days, but he believed her.
She knew he was leaving town any day now and she was OK with that. She said that whenever he came back this way again, she’d be available if he wanted her. If not, well, they were adults, right?
Not many women you met these days were like that. Even now at the end of the world, everything breaking down, going haywire, nature dying out, women were still in the habit of making severe demands on their men.
She was a rare bird and he loved to watch her fly.
I never lived till I loved you, baby
I just wasn’t alive
I never lived till I kissed your lips
You taught me to smile…
