I am deeply moved and very tired

We’re in New York. I’m standing in the arrivals hall at the airport and the first thing I see is her beautiful legs. She’s wearing tight grey jeans, light brown leather boots and gold earrings. Her long, black hair is pulled severely back and she is pulling her heavy suitcase along behind her. Something lights up in her eyes when she sees me. But she controls herself and glances away again. She walks on, past people of different skin-colours and shapes, her gait light and easy as always, another thirty metres, ten, five. She ducks under the barrier separating the people arriving from the people there to pick them up because apparently she’s too impatient to walk all the way to the end, she’s been travelling for long enough, and now at last she is standing before me. She laughs, we kiss, and I want to fuck her. I don’t tell her so right away, of course, instead we kiss some more and I ask, How was your flight?, and suddenly my field of vision narrows. I can see her dark eyes. I can see one of her bra straps. The collar of her T-shirt is broad and has slipped a little. I see a strand of hair above her ear that has come loose from her plait.

I see a vending machine.

Are you thirsty?

Yes.

Wait here, I’ll get you something.

I get water and a bottle of pink liquid, a new American drink that we’ve talked about at home occasionally. She always said she would be curious to see how it tasted and that when she was here, she’d like to try one. She gives me a grateful look as I hand her the bottle, and she can barely drink it because it’s so cold, and I really like the way she says, Ooh, cold.

We’re sitting side by side on the train. She smells faintly of sweat, but I don’t care. I know that smell, it’s just been a while. When I point out the Manhattan skyline beyond the empty harbour and industrial ruins of Newark she is very excited, and I think that from now on I can and will and must be there for her, and suddenly I am deeply moved by her belief that everything can work out for the best as long as you try, it’s hard work but it pays off. I am deeply moved and very tired. When we get back to my place we have sex and after the first orgasm I am happy because she is so excited when she looks out of the window and so happy to be here with me.