/lit/ - Literature

We began drinking and talking. The sky showed its deep purple colour over the horizon and the town was very quiet, save for the regular rumbling of the ocean not far from us. She told me that her father used to be a tanner before the northerners arrived, but now his job was more or less obsolete because of the imports from abroad. He persisted in his trade, despite the dwindling demand, motivated by pride and vanity more than anything else, and the community supported him out of pity. She asked me if I couldn’t find her a job in my father’s company.
“Well, it’s possible, but if you’re willing to move to the capital. Here we mainly deal with sorting of the imports so it’s mostly a hard-labour activity.”
“You think I can’t handle hard labour?” she asked, jokingly, with a gleam in her bright blue eyes.
“I think you’re built for more intelligent and fine work; in other words – yes, I think you’ll throw your back off on the first box you have to pick up” I said, and I watched with a smile as she pretended to take offence.
Then she pounced on me like a panther. She pushed my shoulders to the ground and we began rolling in the sand like wild animals, messy and careless under the careful watch of the early stars of the night. I let her get the best of me and pretended to be beaten, laying on my back, only to grab her waist and pin her on the ground again. We played this game until both of us were on the point of exhaustion, and then we lay still, side by side, breathing heavily, looking in each other’s eyes. The vodka was having its effect, too, I noticed Mila’s eyelids getting heavy and her eyes – distracted. On me it had the effect of returning me to good spirits and making me forget, if only for a night, all the arguments and discontent that I harboured. As a bonus, it made Mila more attractive, even her ugly teeth weren’t as repulsive as they had been during the sober day. She made a motion to kiss me, but I pulled back, only slightly and in a teasing, friendly way. When she came for it again, I raised my head and kissed her on the nose instead. That was our new game – every time she leaned for a kiss, I evaded and instead kissed a cheek, a chin, a forehead. Then finally I surrendered and allowed her lips to touch mine, feeling the warmth of her body, the youthful blood that we both shared. Finally, we got up, walked leaning on each other, our heads raised high, laughing joyfully at the whole world, and walked into my shack, disappearing behind the gentle shroud of the night.