Learning the rules of life can take time. But sometimes, things change in a single night...

By Rajan Rasaiah

For some people, learning the rules of life can take a long time. For the very same people, though, sometimes things can change in a single night...

For just the second time in his life, he looked a check-out girl directly in the eye when she handed back his change.

The first time, 15 years earlier, the cashier had dropped the coins. He never found out why. This time, the young woman smiled at him.

“Do you like dodgems?”

“Yes.”

Later that evening they went to a Funfair.

He told her that the reason he liked dodgems was the chance to use his concentration and reflexes to try and avoid the other vehicles.

She laughed. “I like ramming into other people. That’s the fun of it.”

And so it began.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

She put both her hands underneath his T-shirt and leaned towards him, letting her palms run up his body until her forearms lay flat against his chest.

“Listen. I am going to tell you the rules. The only thing you are allowed to say after each one is either no, or okay. Okay?”

“Okay.”

She kissed him on the lips, and rested her left cheek against his.

“First rule. You don’t say anything once we get into the room. Nothing. Okay?”

“Okay.” She bit his earlobe, very gently. 

“Second rule. You try not to think too much. I know that’s going to be hard for you, but just do what feels right. Switch off. Just listen to your body. My body. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Last rule.” The tips of her fingers lightly pressed along his collarbones. “You don’t ask me to marry you in the morning. Not unless you really mean it.”

He laughed, and she moved her hands across and down his chest to his sides, squeezing his ribs until he squirmed against her.

“Okay?”

“Okay.”

She kissed him on the nose, and turned around. As she opened the door with her key he rested his forehead on her shoulder. They stood there for a moment. 

“Trust me.”

She pushed the door open with one hand. She reached behind her with the other, and squeezed his thigh. 

“Okay?”

“Okay.”
……………………………………………………………………………………………

When he opened his eyes she was lying on her side, facing him, one arm tucked beneath her pillow, the other across his stomach.

She smiled. “Hello.”

He opened his mouth. She reached up and placed her index finger on his lips.

He looked at her, her face framed by tousled hair. After a few seconds she stopped smiling.

She widened her eyes, and slipped the tip of her finger between his lips. She rolled towards him, moving so that she could press her right thigh between his legs.

“Okay.”
……………………………………………………………………………………………

Standing on the pavement outside her house, he realised he could feel the morning sun on his face. Really feel it. He could feel the ground beneath his feet; he could feel the air travelling in and out of his nose and mouth; he could feel the clothes he wore against his body. 

After all these years. At last something that these elements, these materials, these forces of nature could relate to. No longer him against the world.

Him. And the world.

He looked over his shoulder, and up towards her window. He could see her in a dressing gown, the palm of one hand pressed against the glass. The slightest smile.

He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw her lips move. She raised her hand from the glass, and traced with her finger four shapes in the condensation on the pane:

O.K.
…………………………………………………………………………………………...

They stood facing each other, immobile. Silent. She looked him in the eyes. Time passed. His right hand gripped her left firmly, perhaps too firmly. Gradually, almost imperceptibly at first, her features began to reflect the unexpected fear that was growing inside her.

He closed his eyes and breathed in. He knew that whatever happened in the next few moments would change the course of their lives profoundly. There would be no going back, and nothing would ever be the same again. It was time to finish this.

You are not getting away from me. I’m not ever going to let you get away from me.

He breathed out, opened his eyes and smiled at her.

“Okay.”

The Vicar gently cleared his throat and nodded reassuringly.

“Sorry. I mean I do.”

………………………………………………………………………………………….

He liked standing there with her. Held suspended in the warmth of all those gazes.

He knew why he was there, and he did not have to explain anything to anyone.

They all knew too.

“By the powers invested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

So he did.

………………………………………………………………………………………….

Years later, they sat on a bench as their children drove a small, brightly painted car around the crowded rink. He looked at her.

“Hang on. Why did you call them dodgems? Why not bumper cars?”

She looked puzzled for a moment, and then her face softened.

“If I had called them that, I figured that you might have said no.”

He squeezed her hand.

“I love you.”

“I know.”