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PARTISAN REVIEW
be breathing so heavily over so little but she realizes he is trying to convey
the passion of the moment.
"What are you thinking?" he whispers.
"Nothing," she says.
I'm thinking how funny it is that you are chasing after me. Because
back then I was grateful that you liked me, that you wanted to spend
even a little time with me, that you let me perform oral sex on you.
Thinking that
I
wish to God Ariel were here with me, in Jerusalem, on
this dark, starry night.
Marvin holds her tightly. The scent of his aftershave infiltrates her
nostrils along with the smell of pipe tobacco.
His mouth is steamy, no other way to describe it, on her neck. He is
breathing very hard, throwing in a gasp here and there. One of his hands
roams up her blouse and rubs her nipples. He moves back and forth
rhythmically against her torso, up and down, mouth open ecstatically, and
her long legs are cramped under the dashboard, but she is a good sport
and says nothing. When she hears his, "Ohh, baby! Ooh, honey! Oh,
God!" she rolls her eyes. His abdomen humps and bumps against her and
she wonders what the hell she is doing to make him so excited. She has
only touched his back and they both still have all their clothes on.
Maybe he's getting friction from the steering wheel, she thinks. He
begins to yelp as if he is in severe pain. Victoria worries that someone will
see them in the car and hear his screams and investigate, Marvin gasps,
"I
think I'm going to explode!"
"Y
ou want me to give you a hand job?" she asks.
No blow job for you, buddy, and you're only getting a hand job be-
cause I'm a good Samaritan.
"In here?" he whispers.
"Sure."
"Yes."
He unzips his pants and pulls down his underwear. Victoria picks up
his penis.
Limp. She's heard of women who £:1ke orgasms but she's never heard
of a man trying to fake a hard-on. She wishes she could ponder this for a
few minutes because she thinks there's a connection here, some common
theme running through the day, something about how the external
doesn't reveal what is contained within and you must open something up,
break it open before you can truly know the contents inside but no, she
can't think of this now. There is work to be done.
She pulls on Marvin's penis, it gets hard, she moves her hand up and
down professionally, he comes and that is that.
Marvin takes a napkin from the glove compartment and cleans him–
self, looking around furtively to see if anyone has seen them. It is a quiet,
