Readers of my narratives may have noticed that sexual liaisons are often initiated by travel. On holiday and during journeys. I have found a goodly number of one-time and longer-term lovers on buses and trains, and it is a recent railway encounter I will narrate.
My tutoring on an English language course in Bavaria had been enjoyable, but had not involved any sexual activity. I think there may have been a little bedroom-hopping, but none for me. I came away fearing that I was getting too old to be attractive, especially when younger partners were present and available.
Arrived back in the UK I boarded the train home determined to be philosophical about this new situation, and about the frustration I was feeling, having not had any sex for several weeks. I would shortly have to contact someone ready to alleviate this condition.
The Quiet Coach was A that day, and it was nearly empty. I made my way to the front two pairs of seats either side of the aisle. There were no facing seats, as opposite was the entry to the driver's compartment. The left pair was unoccupied and there was one passenger by the window in the right-hand pair. I turned left but the woman to the right gave me a dazzling smile and patted the seat next to her. It would have been churlish to refuse, and I enjoy conversations with fellow travellers.
The lady in question was not in the first flush of youth, physically, though she was, as I soon discovered, joyfully youthful in mind and spirit. She was a lesson that women's sexuality and desires do not, as is a popular misconception, necessarily abate with age, or physiological change. As should be plain from my accounts, my own capacity for sexual activity and enjoyment has not decreased, even if sometimes a little lubricant is required.
Her short hair was silver and her hawk-like face had a network of crow's-feet beside the eyes and lines from her aquiline nose to the corners of her wide, mauve-lipped mouth. Her cheeks were hollow, making the cheek-bones prominent. Her complexion was tanned, as if she had spent much time outdoors, or in tropical climes. Although her eyes were hooded by the droop of the lids they were large, dark and bright. They glistened with glee, I felt, and all the lines and wrinkles gathered into that melting smile.
She studied me closely as I put my case behind the seats. I was aware of her gaze raking my body. It transferred to my face as I sat down beside her. Without any shyness or embarrassment she stared into my eyes, clearly determined to learn my nature at once.
She offered a lean, tanned hand. 'Leonie.'
I gave my name and hand, which she grasped firmly and held. 'Yes,' she said, 'As if I had confirmed something. 'I think so, yes.'
I understood I shouldn't question this. I left my hand in hers and looked into her eyes in turn. They told me she was wise, passionate, trustworthy. Indeed, though tired from Portugal and the journey, I felt excited.
She said, 'Tell me of your life as woman in the world.'
No-one had said quite that to me before, and certainly not so soon after meeting, and I took a minute to compose a reply.
Then I said, 'I was a little late finding myself as woman, self-directed. In my early twenties I experienced myself, my body, my mind as all mine. Able to relate to, but not to be defined or controlled, by others.'
'That's a good answer,' she said, in her husky voice. 'Not many women can formulate such an answer, because that's also a way of life, isn't it?'
'Yes,' I said. 'It's a matter of how you negotiate with everything and everyone outside, and sometimes touching, your skin.'
'I was helped by medical training and practice,' she said. 'It demanded I take control of my actions and attitudes, bringing a new freedom with the responsibilities.'
'It meant you had to be careful of you independence and any relationships you might have. You had to work out your responses and attitudes.'
'You are a perceptive woman. You may have guessed it was women who were most beneficial to my development.'
'They didn't try to control or make demands on you.'
'Correct. Women were at that time finding close companionship, comfort, mutual support, and possibilities for expressing these things not available before.'
'I can imagine it,' I said. 'Leading to sex, and love.'
'Yes. Sometimes just the sex, though usually without exploitation or selfishness. Pleasurable and affectionate.'
'And it's continued like that for you ever since,' I said, 'When possible.'
'The same for you, I think, though I suspect like me you're not exclusively lesbian.'
I said, 'This conversation is a nice instance of how two women, strangers, can so
rapidly get on terms. You knew as soon as you saw me this was possible.'
She released my hand, and I suspected this was because she had a use for it.
'This being the case,' she said, 'We can bypass the pussyfooting and get to the pussyfeeling, can't we? Assuming you don't find me too ancient and scrawny.'
'Leonie,' I said, 'You give off a sexual charge which would stop a tank. So I'm already gushing into my gusset. What do you propose?'
'Of course, if you can, I want you to come home with me, but my immediate need is strong. When you arrived I was on the point of easing myself off. Because, as you have understood, I am in a permanent state of potential urgenism. '
'Good word -- urgent and orgasm combined.'
'I try to avoid the conventional terminology for sex, because I am a doctor and was using
vagina, vulva, clitoris, nipple, breast
and so on in my professional life. They were simply technical terms, lacking other connotations. I've developed my own vocabulary, varying the words. You'll follow it, and may find it amusing.'
'So,' I said, 'You were urgenismic, and when I turned up you hoped I could help with this. What would you like me to do, bearing in mind our situation?'
'I want you to put your hand down my back, slide down my crevarse into my crease, slip your thumb up my cranny and get a digit on my doris. I never wear kinkers nowadays so there's no hindrance. If I just lift my bottage, like this...Oh, yes, that's right. The juice doesn't flow like it used to but you can probably...yes, you can. I like to grip with my tunc when I peak. And my doris is a hair-tricker. Just a nudge or two. Yes, that's it. I'm the quickest peaker in the world. Here I go! Can you feel my tunc fibrillating?'