Chapter 6

“It can be. It depends on the partners and how they react at the moment. You were on a roll, and ignored my warning about my sperm. I did shoot it inside you.”

“You did? Oh, that was when you tensed up? I was busy at the time. Does that mean I am pregnant now?”

“Phemie, you must have been more aware than that of how the human body works. Are you claiming you didn’t know?” She said bashfully, “I didn’t pay too much attention at that time, I admit. I thought I was destined to be an old maid teacher, so it didn’t matter to me. I never thought I would find someone like you!”

“That aside, one sexual experience does not automatically mean pregnancy. It depends on the time of the month for you, and other factors. When was your last period?” “My period? Cheeky man! But oh, about a fortnight ago.” I sighed, “That raises the chances of you getting pregnant, Phemie. You might be best to get a ‘morning after’ pill if you want to be sure.”

“Want to be sure about what, Alec? If I get pregnant, I want the baby, if you are ready and willing to be its daddy in the future.”

“Damn!” I blurted out. “This is not what I expected. In fact, Phemie, you are not what I expected. I am a soldier, so I have to take risks with my life, and getting tied to a woman is never good for a soldier.” “Eh? Then why did you marry and have two sons?”

I came up short and faced my own argument. “I was much younger, too ensnared in sex and what I thought was love at the time. Since that sad and salutary experience, I have been avoiding involvement with women as far as possible. Saying farewell to my boys each time I visit is hard, Phemie.”

“Well, this woman has got herself involved with you, and doesn’t intend to let you go. I want more of this; a lot more. Put your hands back on my nipples, Alec. And if we have children, they will always be around for you to love.”

“You are so emphatic, Phemie, but that is in the throes of sex. Wait until you are back at work and think it over again.”

“What about you?” she demanded. “Don’t you feel anything toward me?” “I do, but past experience allows me to exert better control over my feelings.”

“That doesn’t answer my original question. Do you want to be the baby’s daddy, and help raise it, if I am pregnant?” “Hmmm. I have no objections to taking on that responsibility, if it comes. I always accept genuine responsibility and face up to it. The thing is, are you willing to take me on with the knowledge that I have to disappear from time to time, with no return date fixed?”

I was thinking to myself – here I am negotiating with a woman who is lying on top of me with my prick firmly embedded in her snatch; a surprising turn of events, but not unwelcome, for I think I could enjoy making love to her over and over again once she learns a few things about lovemaking techniques.

She replied, “A good start. Are you able and willing to have sex with me most days until I am confirmed as pregnant? You will notice I have not demanded marriage, as that should be decided at leisure in the future, if you have a mind to go that way.”

“As you say, it is a matter for the future, if we get on together on the longer term. You would benefit from the practice you suggested, once my back permits other positions to fuck you. You okay with the word ‘fuck’?”

“It is in the English dictionary, so if used in the correct manner and not as an expletive, I am fine with it. We are fucking now, right?” I hesitated before replying, “Today, yes, it is fucking. If we develop more feelings for each other, it could become making love.”

“Oh, I do love that thought!” then she noticed I had deflated and was slipping out of her. “Did I do something wrong here? You have stopped being hard and strong!” “No, it always happens to men after they have shot their load of sperm. The balls – testes – go into recovery mode, to start manufacturing another load for the next time.”

“Next time? You could shoot more sperm into me in a little while?” Phemie sounded aghast and hopeful at the same time.

“No, Phemie, the male body takes a fair while to make more, enough for more sexual activity anyway. You can relax, my dear. Take yourself to the bathroom and clear yourself up from anything leaking out of your sex.”

She started to move off the bed, then looked back down at me. “What about you, Alec? Can you get up, or will I bring a cloth to clean you up?” “Let me try, Phemie. If I can do things, I want to get moving. Exercise, however minimal, is good for the body, and helps recovery.”

I slowly and carefully turned onto my side, preparatory to sitting up to see what my back felt like now. Surprisingly, it was more twinges rather than full-on pain, so I was pleased about that. Walking to the bathroom to pee and clean up was more of a trial, as I was moving back muscles more and in a different way. I felt bloody stiff and sore, but a deal less than I might have expected. I checked the time, and it was still mid-afternoon.

“Phemie?” I queried. “How did you get on with your shopping?” She turned from fitting on her bra to say, “Give me a moment so I am decent, Alec, and I’ll tell you.” I moved my gaze over her body and remarked, “Hmm ... nice. You are decent enough in the nude, Phemie; good enough to be fucked again, if only I was able. In fact, you look great, Phemie!”

She preened, “Oh, thank you, Alec. Your praise means a lot to me; makes me feel like a real woman.”

“Well, you are a real woman, Phemie; and a well-fucked woman, not a virgin any more. You look happy with it.”

Underclothing complete, she pulled her dress over her head and expertly shimmied it down her body and shook herself slightly to complete the fit, then picked up her wide belt and put it round her waist. Dressing finished, she turned to her dressing table to give her hair a brief brush to restore her curls, then grimaced as she inspected her face. She moaned, “My make-up is a mess! What did you do to it?”

“My dear girl, can I remind you of our recent antics in your bed? I probably collected some of your makeup on my shoulders or elsewhere, while you were being enthusiastic about sex.”

“Oh.” She was suddenly apologetic and came over to peer at my upper torso, looking for signs of lipstick, face powder, or whatever. “Nothing much to see. It may be smeared on the bedclothes. Do I need to change the bedclothes after our fucking, Alec?”

“Not necessarily. It depend on whether my cum went other than into your vagina. I don’t think you were very moist this time, but a girl can get a lot of moisture down there as lubrication when having sex.”

“Oh,” she said again, as she thought about what I had said. “So there is more that can happen when fucking?”

“A lot more, Phemie. A fair number of positions for a start, plus preliminaries before penetration. These can produce more lubrication to assist you to get to an orgasm. Want to work on that?”

“Hmmm ... Sounds interesting, but ... Want to see what clothes I got for you? “Oh, damn, yes. I forgot about that. Including underwear, I hope?”

“Including underwear, yes. The staff seem to regard it as normal for a woman to be buying her man’s underwear; didn’t bat an eyelid, just asked the size. I suppose it is that if I know your sizes, we must be together. I got three sets for you, on the assumption that you will stay a while.”

“I really need to, Phemie, both for recuperation and to stay out of sight of anyone that might recognise me as alive, so thanks. I’ll give you my card and its ID number, so you can get the cash out of a cash machine.”

“You’d trust me with your credit card?” “Phemie, currently I am trusting you with my life, so some cash is not a problem.”

“They were really trying to kill you? It had not got through to me it was that serious. I am not used to the idea of people trying to kill someone deliberately.”

“It happened because I pissed off a criminal so much that he saw me as a threat that had to be removed. My being here is partly so that he thinks he succeeded.”

“Oh, not just because I am important to you?” “That too, Phemie. Life’s decisions are often more complicated than a simple yes/no.” “I am aware of that, Alec, love. I just like to think that I am one of your more important considerations.”

“You have become that, Phemie. If I thought that coming here would lead my ‘killer’ to you, I wouldn’t have come, as I don’t want you to be put at risk.” “Awww, that’s sweet!”

“So have I got some clothes to wear?” I changed the subject. She rushed off and returned with three sets of clear plastic-wrapped men’s underwear, and proudly watched as I checked the size and gave her a thumbs up. I sniffed at myself and asked shyly, “Do you mind if I have another shower to get myself properly clean, Phemie?”

“Oh, my God! Of course you can, Alec. You need to be refreshed after that long sleep and that ... other exercise.” “Oh, but it was GOOD exercise, Phemie; very good exercise.”

That got me a passionate kiss from her, after which I jested, “So much for your lipstick, Phemie! It must be a mess again by now.” She replied with a toss of her hair, “I will remove my make-up well before bedtime tonight, Alec, I promise you.”

“Oh, a threat or a promise, eh?” “Both. I want to have you inside me every night you are with me and in my bed, Alec.”

“If my back improves, we can learn some extras in that line, Phemie. My ex-wife showed me what a woman likes in bed, so you can benefit from that knowledge.” “Oh, yes. She liked you enough to bear you two children, didn’t she?” “That is so, but I would prefer to forget her in future. If it was not for my boys, I would never see her again.”

The penny dropped with her, and she gasped out, “That means you daren’t go near her as long as you are presumed to be dead.”

“Exactly. At the moment she probably has no idea of whether I am alive or dead, just is not hearing from me. I want to keep it that way for a while. My boys are not old enough to be fully aware of me as their father, just a man known as Daddy, thank God!”

I had my shower, and put on my underwear, and was inspected by Phemie throughout the process as she was fascinated by how a naked man – her man - looked. At one point I said to her, “I am just a man, Phemie!”

“But a special man, Alec; you are MY man!” “Okay, I grant you that, but I don’t have to be peered at so intensely, love.” “You called me LOVE!” she gasped. “I love that.”

“It will do for now, until we can establish if it is a temporary love or a full-blown commitment to each other.”

She stopped short, and thought for a bit. “Okay, I can live with that, if you are going to stay around me for long enough to be sure about the longer term.” “I’ll do what I can in that way, Phemie; you can count on it.”

She produced the trousers, shirts and shoes she had found for me, and topped it with a Harris tweed jacket she got for twenty pounds and fitted me almost perfectly. That was a real bonus for me. This woman can shop for me any time!

We had another sex session before we slept that night, and I was amazed at how easily I got back into the pattern of waking up with a woman beside me, and not being surprised by it. Perhaps I was meant to be paired with a female life partner. Perhaps it is ingrained in me, for it felt right ... and normal.

Phemie went back to school the second day and I spent it relaxing, giving my back some mild exploratory movements to help it get back towards normal. My head was astonishingly less affected, just a dull ache for a long while that gradually, with medication, abated to nothing. The combination of large motorbike helmet and a steel lining was obviously worth the effort.

Phemie was most definitely keen on fucking, for each day she got home as fast as she could, and demanded that we have sex again. Each day her after-school sex was aimed at getting us off as soon as possible, but come bedtime she wanted to try some new way of doing it, so after some petting to start her arousal (not that she needed much) we tried a different position each night, so she could find what she liked and what she was not keen on. Most of them were fine by her, as long as she was able to orgasm as a result.

After a week of this, boredom set in for me during the daytime, due to pathetic daytime TV shows and a shortage of reading material. I was able to persuade Phemie to go with me to the public library, and we found a few books for me that she took out using her personal library card; me being officially non-existent. To my mind, the bookstock was a lot less than I expected, with shelves almost half empty; probably cutbacks on council funding. Andrew Carnegie would be horrified at such short-sightedness by councillors. He was keen on self-help through reading.

Phemie remarked that I needed a house key if I was going to be coming and going while she was at work. She only had one spare key, so I borrowed it and saw about getting another spare cut for her at the local market which had a shoe repairer that also cut keys.

After ten days, and no messages to Phemie from my ‘employer’ Smith, I decided I had better make a start on my retaliation. A message to Smith was first. I made my call, and introduced myself by the words, “This is Intelligence speaking.” My father gave me this line that he picked up from the old radio show, The Navy Lark, where the character sounds distinctly unintelligent, making the line humourous to the listener. The man who picked up my call was probably too young to have known the reference, for he said “Huh? What?” so I added, “Put me through to my old friend Smith.”

He nearly fluffed it by saying, “Oh, you mean...” stopped himself and continued, “ ... Mr ... Smith?” “Exactly. Is he available?” “I think so. Who shall I say ... oh, yes ... hang on a mo.”

Smith came on the line, and I said to him, “It is me, the bad penny that always returns.” He recognised my voice and said, “Oh, it’s you. How are you?”

“Almost back to normal, thanks to excellent feminine care and attention. Did you have any comeback about my demise?”

“Hmm ... I should say so! I had the spot watched for days after, and first there was a visitor who ambled along and took a gander all round the toilet block, paying careful attention to the recently power-washed pathway by the door; all the while pretending to be just innocently looking around. He left again, but I kept my watchers on the job, and a couple of hours later a man in military uniform strode to the door as if to use the facilities, but he was also examining the signs of a clean-up job. When he eventually walked away, he looked satisfied with himself.”

“Nothing since?” “Nothing there, but my sources say he has resumed his former tactics of making free with military supplies, like a boring Sergeant Bilko. Do you want him eliminated or do you have your own plans?”

“I have been pondering a few thoughts, but mostly not his death, merely exposure so that his links to other senior personnel show up and convict them also. Any way you can help with that proposal?”

“I would have to think about it for a day or two. He seems to be in the same post as before, so certainly he has enough clout to keep his job despite what you did to him. It does suggest a network rather than a single bad apple. That needs to be farther explored.”

“Ahh. Not so easy, then. I’ll ring your number in a few days, giving the code: ‘And now for something completely different... ‘

“I get you: Monty Python?”

“Spot on, sir. I hope to be fitter by then. Farewell for now.”

With that riposte, our conversation concluded and I left my worries with him to think about. He is the one getting paid to be clever, not me. Okay, he has to be a good manager of his staff, and he seems to be able to command a lot of respect as far as I could make out. Certainly his people are quick off the mark when asked.

I eventually rang him as promised, but he asked for more time to collect data, so I agreed. I was in no rush.