She knew that her hair and makeup were a mess from her sleeping, and her glasses were askew. “Thank you. But of course you are conditioned to find me so.”
“I am. But I am thinking beyond the physical. You held my hand. You answered my questions. You sang to me. You slept with me. I know that you did not want to do these things, but you did them. I am in good limbs with you. This is what appeals.”
Limbs? He meant hands. Again, what could she say? “You are welcome. They are only the beginning of what I will need to do for you. I will do my best.”
“That will surely suffice.”
“We left the others without much warning. We need to see to them.”
“Yes.” He sat up, at last releasing her hand.
“After we clean up. You—we will be living together as man and wife. Those roles require us to be open about private things. You are familiar with the process of—of elimination? That is, like urination?”
“I have learned how to do it in this host.”
“There is one toilet connected to this master bedroom. We will take turns using it. I will do my hair and face while you use it, then you will shape up your hair before the mirror while I use it. I have just one request.”
“Whatever you wish.”
“Leave the toilet seat down.”
He did not smile, missing the humor. “I will.”
So she explained it. “Men commonly urinate standing up, so they put the seat up so the way is clear. Women urinate sitting down, so they put the seat down. When they do it at night, in darkness, they don’t like to sit and discover that the seat is up, so they land in the bowl, maybe even the water. It can be a contentious thing.”
“I appreciate that. Is it permissible for me to urinate while sitting?”
“It is. At least while you are at home. In a public facility it will be another matter. You may have to use a urinal.”
“Thank you for clarifying that.”
“There are jokes about it. Naughty humor. If a man makes a remark, you should laugh.”
“This is something I must learn.”
“You don’t know how to laugh?”
“I don’t.”
She hesitated. “We’ll work on that too, in due course, then. For now, the bedroom routine will do.”
They went to the bathroom, taking their turns, as she had with Quincy. She felt guilty for glancing at him in the mirror when he took his pants down, but reminded herself that such views were nothing to a married couple. She wasn’t seeing anything she hadn’t seen a hundred times before. Still, it felt awkward.
When she sat, she knew that he could see her in the mirror, too, as she pulled up her skirt and drew down her panties. He was seeing something new. That couldn’t be helped. They had to maintain the forms of the marriage, or the whole thing could be given away prematurely. Gloaming needed to be comfortable as a human man before he “came out” as the alien envoy. It was her job to make him so.
He hesitated before they left the bathroom. “There is something I do not understand.”
She intercepted it. “When you saw me expose my bottom?”
“Yes. It stirred an interest. Something other than the function of urination.”
He really didn’t know. It was her job to teach him. “When a human man sees certain parts of a human woman, it can arouse his sexual interest in her, especially if he hasn’t seen them before. Your brain is your own, but there are reactions that originate outside it. Your human body saw my human body and wanted to have sex with it. But this is not the occasion for such an interaction, so that reaction is best suppressed for now.”
“What is the occasion for it?”
“At night, in bed together. When she is amenable.”
“How does he know when she is amenable?”
“She gives signals, or simply tells him.”
“You will teach me these signals?”
“Yes, when the time comes.”
“Thank you.”
Lida knew she would have to do it this first night. She could not legitimately postpone it. But the prospect no longer seemed as horrendous as it had only a few hours ago.
They went to the living room. Sam and Martha were there, playing chess. The others were gone.
“I fear we left you in the lurch,” Lida said. “Gloaming was tired, and I encouraged him to sleep.”
“That was exactly the right thing,” Sam said. “He was unable to sleep during the journey here. His body and brain are still integrating, so he is not at full strength.”
“The two of you were cute, lying there holding hands,” Martha said.
“You peeked?” Lida asked, annoyed.
“Clarification,” Sam said. “There is no privacy in this house, for security reasons. Every part is wired for sight and sound, and it is part of our job to constantly monitor whatever goes on, and to act immediately if we need to. You will have to get used to it, both of you, so we can protect you. After a while you should be able to tune it out. We will not be blabbing anything elsewhere.”
Martha held up her cell phone. There was a picture of the two of them lying on the bed, asleep.
Lida exchanged a glance with Gloaming, realizing that they both were taken aback by this revelation, though it was obvious when considered. They had thought their bathroom discussion was private. Obviously it wasn’t. “We will adapt,” she said tightly.
“We will,” Gloaming agreed, as tightly. Lida liked that; this was a human reaction, or at least one the two species shared.
“Now you should show Gloaming the neighborhood,” Martha said. “For this purpose you will be the wife introducing her husband to the things she has discovered, since she was here first. The immediate neighbors know, of course, but no one else. You will be Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, married a scant year, moved here because of his new job, which is classified.”
“We will be that,” Lida said.
“If you should need either of us while you are outside, simply murmur or whisper our names. We will appear promptly.”
“Come, dear, let me show you the neighborhood,” Lida said, taking his hand.
“I shall be glad to see it.”
First she took him to the neighborhood park. “I do my morning jog here,” she said. “Keeping myself in shape.”
“Ah, you exercise.”
“Shouldn’t I?”
“I feared you would not. I need to exercise, to maintain this body in proper health. Is it permissible to do it together?”
“More than permissible. It is preferred. We’ll do it tomorrow morning, when we are dressed for it.”
“Thank you.”
“You need to stop thanking me. Married couples take such things for granted.”
“I will stop,” he agreed. “Is there another way to safely express my appreciation?”
“Well, you could kiss me.” Had she just said that? How could she!
“I have been informed that this consists of pressing the mouths together. I am uncertain of its significance.”
“Like this.” She stopped him on the path, used her hands to tilt his head down, set his arms about her body, put her own arms about his body, and gently kissed him. She felt his amazement.
She broke the kiss after only a moment and gazed up at him. He was standing as if frozen.
“I thought you understood the mechanics of it,” she chided him.
“I do. What I don’t understand is the sensation.”
“As with the sight of body parts in the bathroom, certain things arouse human interest, which can be intense. Holding hands is one. A kiss is more potent. You have just shown your appreciation of my guiding you through the park in a manner anyone will understand.”
He hesitated. “May I kiss you again?”
“Once more. Briefly. Then we will continue our walk.”
He lowered his face to hers and kissed her again. This time he held her firmly, and the kiss was significantly more competent. He was a rapid learner.
?
??Oh, Lida,” he said. “I realize that this is a chore for you, but this experience is phenomenal for me. My human pulses are racing.”
“What you are feeling is passion. Your human body is reacting, as it is natural to do, and sending its signals to your brain. It can be the beginning of love.”
“I hope that in time I can stir a similar feeling in you. This is wonderfully new to me.”
“I can’t promise you that. Not because you are alien, but because I love Quincy and am simply not ready to love anyone else, even someone in Quincy’s body. It’s a human thing.” But there was a guilty stirring. It was Quincy’s body, and her senses were responding to it. Only her mind balked.
“I do not understand, but hope to in due course. You have already shown me things that are new to me.”
“It’s a whole new environment for you.”
“It is indeed.”
They completed the walk and returned to the house. Sam and Martha were there as if they had never left, but Lida knew they had been tracking the two of them throughout. Did they approve of the kiss? Did it matter?
“You’re doing well,” Martha murmured. “We shall leave you to it.” She and Sam faded out.
“Now I must make supper,” Lida said. “You can relax and watch TV like a normal man.”
Gloaming nodded. He sat down and turned on the TV. But she knew his mind wasn’t in it. She was aware of his suddenly intense interest in her, ever since the kiss. Had she overdone it? Yet how else could she have handled it? He needed to get into the role as quickly as possible.
She made a token lettuce, onion, and tomato salad, and heated frozen Eggplant Parmesan in the microwave oven. Soon she had the meal ready.
“Should I help?” Gloaming asked. It was an honest question; he simply did not know.
“You can wash the dishes.” She showed him how to use the dishwasher.
All too soon the amenities of the evening were over, and it was time to turn in. She knew what she had to do. “You are familiar with the mechanics of sex?”
“I have read of them, and seen pictures. But I think I do not properly understand them, any more that I understood the kiss.”
That was a good point. “Would you prefer me to take the initiative?”
“Yes,” he said, evidently relieved.
“Normally sex is a more involved interaction, but I think it is best to start simply. Remove your clothing and lie on your back.”
He did so. She saw that his penis was flaccid; again, he was truly unfamiliar with the details. She stripped, then sat on the bed beside him. She took his hand and lifted it to her bare breast, cupping it. “This should arouse you,” she said. It always did for Quincy, she didn’t add. Quincy had absolutely loved sex.
It did. His penis expanded. She massaged her breast with his hand. The penis rose off his belly. Then she tickled his scrotum. The penis became hard.
She set herself on his midsection, bestriding his groin. “Now we put it into my vagina.” She lifted her body up, took the rod with her hand, and fitted it to the slot. She settled slowly down on it, taking it in all the way. She caught both his hands and moved them to her breasts. She had always liked doing this with Quincy; it gave him so much pleasure. “Then we squeeze.” She clenched her internal muscles around the member, kneading it. Normally this was when Quincy could not hold back any longer, and jetted into her core.
Nothing happened. Surprised, she considered. Gloaming wasn’t thrusting, or even trying to. That was the problem. Again, he didn’t know.
Well, she could fix that. She removed his hands and leaned forward, down until her upper torso was on his. She flattened her breasts against his chest. Then she kissed him, and simultaneously slid her body back and forth on his so that the effect was similar to thrusting.
Now at last he came. She felt the heat of it, and the moisture surging within her. She had brought him off.
“And that is sex,” she informed him. “The man ejaculates into the woman. The act provides him with considerable pleasure.” What she didn’t say was that she had not climaxed herself. In this one small way she had remained true to Quincy.
“There is a great deal of pleasure,” he agreed.
“That’s why men like sex so much.”
“What do we do now?”
“We clean up, then sleep. You surely need more than what you got before. For one thing, you have new experiences to assimilate.”
“Yes.”
They went to the bathroom and cleaned up, then returned to the bed. She lay beside him and took his hand. “Now sleep.”
“May I kiss you once more?”
Lida was privately pleased. “Yes.” She brought her face to his and kissed him with more passion than she had before. He responded similarly. It was clear that he liked kissing as much as he liked sex. Then she lay back. “If I lose your hand in the night, you can find mine again, or simply put your hand on some part of my body. Contact can be maintained more than one way.”
“Thank you.” And that quickly he was asleep again.
Well, she had done it. She had had sex with the alien male. The rest should be downhill.
She half expected him to wake in the night and want more sex, as Quincy often had, in which case she would accommodate him as before, having no orgasm herself. It should be easy enough, now that she had broken her own emotional ice and done it the first time. But Gloaming slept through. She couldn’t claim to be disappointed; sex was just one of the things she had to teach him about the human condition. Yet, somehow, she was disappointed. She had made him climax, but it had been like masturbating him; he had not caught fire and virtually ravished her. She had not excited him enough. Well, there would be other times.
The next day they met the neighbors Lida had met before. She had the impression that they were secretly pleased to be part of the project, at least to that extent. They did their part, treating Gloaming like a neighbor, acclimatizing him to normal human interaction. She also took him shopping, knowing that even mundane things like a drive through town and a supermarket were novelties to him.
Sam and Martha were always present, but stayed mainly in the background, doing their job. Aliena was always present too, in her fashion, always answering immediately when Lida spoke to her. She was an understanding friend.
And at night she had sex with Gloaming again, though he did not initiate it. This time she directed him, taking it through the missionary position, and his thrusting got him there faster than before. He was turned on by her breasts and did like the pleasure of the orgasm. But still he did not seek sex with her; he merely accommodated her when she set it up. He actually seemed to prefer the kissing. On other nights they did it in other positions, but she was always the driving force. She would have given it up, but something in her thought it would not be complete until he started initiating. She wanted to find the way to turn him on that far.
They developed the newspaper habit. Gloaming turned out to be an excellent speed-reader, and devoured the whole of each day’s paper in short order. He retained the information, too; he was a literal genius. Lida, of course, was of normal human intelligence; what she had to offer was of another nature.
Lida spied an item that interested her. “A local group is going to put on Phantom of the Opera,” she said. “I want to be a part of that.”
“I saw the note,” he said. “I did not realize it would interest you.”
“Well, I’m a violinist, or at least I was in college. I can play well enough, but drifted away from it when I got married. I’d like to get my hand back in.” She lifted her voice, addressing the unseen guards. “Can I do that? Will it interfere with my job here?”
Sam and Martha appeared. “If the violin was part of your life before, it makes sense for it to be part now,” Sam said. “Your husband can take you to rehearsals.”
“Oh, goody!” She actually clapped her hands, little girl style.
She brought out her violin, practicing. Gloaming was intrigued. “Th
is is music!”
And he was musical. “Would you like to try it?”
“Yes.” He took her violin, put it to his chin, and played. Perfectly. The first time.
Lida stared. It had taken her years to slowly build up proficiency. “You’ve had practice!”
“No, this is my first time. Musical instruments come naturally to me.”
So it seemed. He truly was a musical genius.
She tried out for the position, and qualified. The local group did not have many really competent violinists, but she would have qualified anyway; she knew her craft. Gloaming watched and listened, clearly pleased with her success. She liked that.
That night he almost initiated sex. “If you are interested,” he said cautiously.
“Of course I am,” she said warmly. She was pleased by her qualification for the position, and by the way it seemed to turn him on. He had become a challenge, apart from the larger situation. Maybe it was that her musical competence in some small way echoed his, so he liked that. At any rate, he kissed her and clasped her and thrust into her in a manner he had not before. He was getting there.
She participated in the rehearsals, and Gloaming sat in the sparse audience and watched. “But it must be boring for you,” she told him at home. “It’s just the same thing each time, and you already know it.”
“I am appreciating you.”
She paused. “I am the same person as always. You already know me well enough.”
“I receive pleasure from watching you perform. More each time. You are pretty and competent and animated. This feeling is new to me.”
“Gloaming! Are you falling in love with me?”
“I would if you allowed it.”
“What a thing to say! Of course I allow it. We are supposed to be a couple.”
He hesitated, which was unusual for him, and she realized that he was trying to find a way to express himself without offending her. “You follow the forms, and you teach me well. But hostility remains. I can’t love you until you wish it.”
“I still love Quincy,” she said, recognizing the justice of his perception. “I am playing a role, and you know it. Oh, Gloaming, I’m sorry! It’s not your fault.”
“I am not yet worthy of you. But I will try.”