Read THE POLITICS OF PLEASURE for Free Online

difficult.'
    She pushed back the lid of her gold-plated lighter and lit another cigarette. 'I don't know I should probably give up on him. What do you think?' She turned toward him and fluttered her lashes as a trail of smoke curled past her querying face.
    He glanced at her and had an uncanny feeling she would figure prominently in his life. He looked back to the road, and the sudden insight, improbable as it seemed, made him uneasy. 'Well, unless you like being hit, you should stay away from him.'
    'It's the first time in our six years together he's done it.'
    Six years, he thought. How old is she? 'I don't know this, er, Terence, but it sounds like he's holding back on a few things. Maybe you should suggest seeing a counsellor or therapist.'
    'Ha. I've already tried that. You should have seen his response. First he cracked up laughing then he turned on me for suggesting it. No, he's impossible. It'd take nothing short of a miracle to get him to express his true feelings about anything ... let alone me.'
    Goldman saw a fluorescent Texaco sign flicker to life in the evening haze. 'Well,' he said, 'I just might have that miracle.'
    'What do you mean?' Her milky brow pinched with query. 'What have you got?' 
    'Listen, I have to get petrol.' He turned down the radio and signalled to exit. 'We'll talk when we get back on the road.' He stopped in a vacant bay of the service station and asked the gangling teenage attendant to fill the tank. He got out of the car, stretched his arms, then headed for the mens' room.
     
    Come on, let's move it. Michelle swung out of the car and threw on her leather jacket. She flicked her cigarette butt and yellowy-white sparks spewed across the sloping lawn in front of the gas station. She watched her breath cloud in the chill night air. She thought about Carmen. Was her friend home? She put her hands in her pockets and moved toward the service road that ran parallel with the expressway.
    ... damn, why doesn't C answer her phone? ... Terence thumps me and takes my Alfetta and I have to haul my sweet butt just to ...
    A blaring horn disrupted her chain of thought. An iridescent black Corvette passed with a menacing growl on the nearby service road. A wolf-whistle escaped from the driver's window.
    'Up yours!' She flipped a finger at the receding red tail-lights. No sooner had she than another horn sounded behind her. She spun round. Goldman was beckoning her back to his car. She skipped up the lawn, thinking this Scott guy was an okay dude. He wasn't bad looking, though didn't have much going for him in the personality department. Reticent, yet commanding. The strong silent type, she supposed. In any case she got a good vibe from him, and could only thank her lucky stars he'd picked her up from where the dithering old idiot in the rattly pickup had dropped her off.
    He slipped the car into gear as she climbed back in.
    'Sorry, I'm not myself today,' she apologized, light of breath.
    'No problem. Here's a, um, present.' He handed her a small packet and pulled away from the gas pumps with a faint squeal of tyres. He braked before the streaming traffic on 95, intent on a more orderly entrance than his previous. And this time he merged amongst the speeding cars and trucks without incident.
    Michelle held up the packet. Moving headlights played across its uneven surface. A dollar bill folded into a rectangle with George Washington's officious face on one side. 'That's truly neat packaging. What is it? Coke?'
    'No, it's not.' He smiled at her and shifted up a gear. 'It's something quite different. Open it up and have a look.'
    She eyed him decisively and twirled the bill. Shadow and light from passing traffic moved hypnotically across her face. He sensed she was weighing up the pros and cons of this new development in their short relationship. He half-expected her to hand back the bill with a polite but firm, “No, thanks”.
    Even so, he turned on the interior light. She deliberated before unfolding