Re: In praise of Emily

The pub has wi fi, but this will be short-whilst the three of them shoot some pool and I use the tablet. Its a nice pub and not yet ankle deep in water. You got the snow in North America, we got the rain. As Mags didn’t have change of clothes she is in rock chick mode again and Em wears tan leather jodphurs beneath a pair of boots of her own. Poor James.

We walk down the lane, ahead of Mags and her son, us hand in hand having one of those dangling conversations. They’re reliving history, I can hear Mags referring to Andreas, her old flame. Back to us though.

‘I’m with you because you’re not an idiot. I like it that you use your brain Jezz.’
‘Nothing but compliments, you know how to spoil a guy uh?!’
‘I don’t want you to have harem, I wouldn’t put up with that.’
I haven’t raised the subject, but Em is guessing my concerns. I’m not an harem guy. Hell, it would get way too complicated and I’m not so mesmeric that I could hold all that attention. Know your limits.
‘But fucking Margaret is really nice. She adores you and she certainly doesn’t pretend to compete with me.’
‘I’m a good girl treat then?’
‘Don’t be so smart arsed Jezz. Yes I will say when, but its not like that. Don’t bloody tell me that fucking her was a chore last night.’
‘It certainly wasn’t. I wanted her.’
‘Good, you were meant to. She deserves some decent male attention. And don’t worry…her periods stopped five years back..you won’t give her a bun in the oven.’

We walk on a while and a cock pheasant bursts from the hedge and whirrs across the lane. Over here they’re bred to be shot at. Fed too much and the shits hardly get airborne.

‘Ben isn’t right for her. He didn’t once ask about her as a person, what she did, what she liked. Where did you find him?’
‘Some shit hole may be, sorry, I didn’t think he would be that bad. Anyway, you said last night that his greed was understandable.’
‘Alright..but he wasn’t good enough. There’s no rush on this. Let’s see what Mags wants. Perhaps she would like a devoted hubby who is ready to be cucked. Perhaps she doesn’t need an Andreas, but rather a man to do her bidding.’

The possibilities seem endless now. But I am struck by how savvy this girl is. Things work out. Things change. You don’t have to nail things down hard. Leave a little room for movement. Now I have part of it. Emotional intelligence, Em has it by the bucket load. Its why she is so captivating…that and her cute ass. Wish you could see her bending over the edge of that pool table.