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rop the clothes," he said. This time, voluntarily, I put my
arms at my sides, leaving myself uncovered. Suddenly the cold was
real. I was shivering violently, but forced myself to stand erect and
face him squarely, keeping my eyes on his. I had lost the sense of
benign detachment. There is nothing like physical discomfort to do
that for you. I was no longer a third party in the room, floating and
watching two strangers act out a scene in a play.
I was totally focused on keeping control of my shivering body. It
was stupid. I should have given in and told him I was too cold, but I
could see that he knew. I could have asked; he was probably waiting
for me to, but I wanted to prove something to him--I don't know what,
but something, and it meant standing there as long as I could. Silly.
Silly and stubborn. He smiled a little; his eyes left mine and trav-
elled slowly down my twitching body. My jaw was clenched to stop my
teeth from chattering, because they would have. My hands were fists at
my sides, arms and legs stiff, stomach muscles ten
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