Free The Blood-stained Belt by Brian H Jones Page A

settle with me?’
    I took another
deep breath and said, ‘You can call me amusing any time you want to
– but only you.’
    Dana took my
hand and laid it against her cheek. She said softly, ‘Thank you,
Jina.’
    Dana lay back
again with her arms behind her head, stretched, and gave a relaxed
sigh. I propped myself on an elbow and looked at her. She raised
her eyebrows and lazily returned my glance. I leaned forward and
kissed her tentatively. It was the first time that I had kissed a
woman and I didn’t know what to expect. Her lips were moist and
receptive and opened slightly to receive me. I pressed my lips
closer and a flush like lightning darted across my body. I withdrew
guiltily, embarrassed to think that Dana must have felt it too. But
she just lay there in the same relaxed position, smiled slowly, and
murmured, ‘That was nice.’
    I leaned over
to repeat the experience but she put up a restraining hand, saying,
‘Enough for now, Jina.’
    ‘I want –‘
    Dana raised her
hand again, closed her eyes, and murmured, ‘Take it slowly, Jina.
We have plenty of time.’
    As it turned
out, we didn’t have plenty of time. But we couldn’t know that,
creatures of the moment as we were, idling in the sun on a grassy
hillside.
    The lightning
was still darting through my body, igniting my senses. At the same
time, my mind was in a haze of confusion as if the concentration of
force in my senses had drained my other faculties. I flopped onto
my back, lying next to Dana, hands behind my head as well. I
exhaled, breathed in deeply, and exhaled again. The thumping in my
blood began to subside. I exhaled again.
    Dana said
gently, ‘Good things come to those who wait.’ I glanced at her. Her
dark eyes were enigmatic. I thought I caught a flicker of teasing
amusement but it was only a flash and I couldn’t be sure. Dana held
my gaze for a moment and then closed her eyes, inclining her head
to receive the full radiance of the sun.
    We lay there,
enveloped by warmth and by the silence of the valley. The quietness
lay across me like a blanket soothing my senses back towards
normality. I closed my eyes and began to doze. As I drifted between
waking and dozing, I thought how paradoxical it was that Dana could
fire my senses and at the same time lull me into a state of
relaxation.
    We must have
been lying there for about ten or fifteen minutes in silence when
Dana said something. I asked, ‘Hmm? What?’
    Dana said, ‘I
asked whether you ever felt that you could drift like the clouds.’
She stretched out and put her hand across mine, palm lying against
palm.
    ‘Drift? Like
the clouds?’
    ‘Yes, like the
clouds.’
    ‘No, I haven’t
ever felt that.’
    ‘I have. I
imagine that my body expands and diffuses –‘
    ‘Diffuses?
What’s that?’
    ‘It gets
thinner, less solid – oh, you know, it gets almost like a cloud, so
that it floats and drifts.’
    ‘Where does it
float and drift to?’
    Dana clicked
her tongue in exasperation, saying, ‘Don’t be so practical!’
    I hesitated,
pondering a suitable response. Once again, Dana had caught me off
guard, making me stumble over both my thoughts and my tongue. I
responded cautiously, ‘I’d like to be a cloud with you.’
    ‘Oh, Jina!
Really!’
    ‘I’m
serious.’
    ‘Are you?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘And if you
were like a cloud --?’
    Lying back with
my eyes closed, I said, ‘Imagine if we could leave the highlands.
Imagine if we could leave Keirine.’
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘Imagine if our
bodies weren’t so heavy with our feet always thumping back into the
earth! Imagine if we could float and drift instead of having our
weight always pulled down onto the earth. Imagine that!’
    Dana squeezed
my hand. ‘Yes?’
    ‘Well, I guess
that’s about it.’
    ‘No, Jina,
that’s only the beginning. Imagine if you were like a cloud --
where would you drift to?’
    I closed my
eyes and thought for a while before I replied, ‘I’d drift
eastwards. I’d drift over the