She told him nervously, "I've been wanting to try that ever since I read
it in a book."
He shivered. "What book?" he demanded in almost a quaver.
"A paperback of Tim's. Mother calls them, Tim's sex and slay stories."
Martha giggled again. "You jumped."
"Sure did. I was surprised. Do it again."
"I don't think so."
"Didn't you like it?"
"Did you?"
"I don't know. I didn't have time to find out."
"Oh."
He kissed her again and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally he moved
back an inch and said, "What's the matter?"
"I don't think we should. Maybe we ought to wait until we're older."
"Not fair," he complained. "You had all the warning."
"But--"
"Didn't you like it?" he asked.
"Well, it gave me the most tickly tingle."
"And all I got was a sort of mild electric shock. Come on."
"No."
"Well, then, I'll do it to you."
"All right. Just once."
Leaping to the end of this midnight research, there are three primary
ways of concluding, namely: 1, physical satisfaction; 2, physical
exhaustion; and 3, interruption. We need not go into sub-classifications
or argue the point. James and Martha were not emotionally ready to
conclude with mutual defloration. Ultimately they fell asleep on the
divan with their arms around each other. They weren't interrupted;
they awoke as the first flush of daylight brightened the sky, and with
one more rather chaste kiss, they parted to fall into the deep slumber of
complete physical and emotional exhaustion.