"Marcia's going to be a tough nut to crack," Bethany said, lying in Dale's arms one night. "She was really angry with me when I told her what I'd done with you. I think she's something of a man-haterâdon't know how that happened, but it's going to be hard to win her over."
"Bethany," Dale protested, "I don't want us to force her to do anything."
"Oh, I know that," Bethany said airily. "But she just needs to know what it is to be with a man. I mean, how can you decide whether you like it or not if you don't give it a try? It's just silly!"
"Maybe she had a bad experience," Dale said, remembering the horrible story that Bridget had toldâa story he was certain Bethany didn't know anything about.
"Maybe," Bethany said grudgingly, "but that doesn't mean you have to cut yourself off from men forever! I don't have patience with people who can't get over thingsâit just seems weak to me."
"I wouldn't be so quick to pass judgment," Dale said disapprovingly.
"Okay, okay, I get what you mean. But I have a plan. It may not work, but I have a feeling it just might."
*
It wasn't exactly the case that Marcia had had a bad experience with men. It was more a combination of a lack of experience with an unfortunate brainwashing that had happened in college.
During high school, Marciaâtall for a girl, at five foot sevenâfound herself not very popular with boys, since she was taller than a fair number of them and wasn't superficially appealing like other girls. As a result, she had shied away from getting involved with anyone, convinced that no one really liked her in that way. She had reluctantly gone to the prom with a boy who was almost as unpopular as she was, but they had only exchanged a token kiss before bidding each other goodnight.
When she got to college, she found that her freshman roommate was an open lesbian.
Nora Maberry was from upstate New York and had known of her inclinations since at least the age of fifteen. She was not only one of those girls who would sleep with just about any girl or woman who came along, but who developed a furious loathing of the male sex. It was never clear to Marcia whether Nora had herself had a bad experience: she was very tight-lipped about any involvements with guys and actually claimed that no man aside from her father had ever seen her naked or touched her anywhere on her body. Marcia didn't entirely believe that, but she could tell that Nora did not look kindly upon men.
"Guys are
soooooo
disgusting!" she had once said while they were sitting in the cafeteria having a quick breakfast before their first class. She was staring at a group of guys who were being a bit rowdy on the other side of the room, punching each other in the shoulder and generally making an obtrusive nuisance of themselves.
"Don't you think so?" Nora said almost accusingly.
"I don't know," Marcia said shyly. "I don't know guys very well."
Nora beamed at her. "Oh, does that mean that no guy hasâyou know . . .?"
Marcia colored. "No. I mean, yes, that's right. No guy ever has."
"Good," Nora said decisively. "Keep it that way. All they want to do is stick their things into youâthey don't care who it is, whether she's a raving beauty or a dog, or whether she's straight or lesbian. And they don't care
where
they stick it inâyour pussy, your mouth, even that other place."
"What other place?" Marcia asked naively.
Nora gave her a frustrated look. "You know where. Your bottom, your fundament, your posterior, your derrière. In short, your butt."
"But it can't go there!" Marcia said. She had literally thought there was no way it could fit in that tight spot.
"Of course it can!" Nora said derisively. "How do you think gay guys do it? They're the only ones, I guess, who are allowed to. But straight guys really want to do it to girlsâit's become something of a fashion."
"How awful," Marcia said with a shiver.
"Yeah, you're telling me. They'd have to tie me down to do that to
me.
Come to think of it, they'd probably like that even better!"
For the first few weeks, Nora hadn't made any passes at Marcia, although it was obvious she was pretty interested in her roommate. Marcia got to the point of being careful not to undress in front of her, so far as she could help it; but that wasn't always so easy. The room was pretty small, and as night came on Marcia had no choice but to disrobe quickly and put on a nightgown as fast as possible, knowing that Nora was devouring her with her eyes.
Up to this point, Marcia was confused about exactly what she felt as far as sex was concerned. She had always assumed she was heterosexual, but her singular lack of success with boys had made her wonder whether she'd ever have a boyfriend or ever get into bed with a guy. And now that Nora was so patently keen on her body, she had to give serious thought as to what her orientation really was.
It was late in October, when the weather was turning cold, that Nora made the first move.
Marcia was almost asleep one night when she sensed a presence approaching her narrow bed.
"Marcia, I'm cold," Nora said in something of a whine. Both girls' beds had exactly the same thin sheet and not particularly heavy blanket, so it wasn't clear to Marcia why Nora was any colder than she was.
But she politely made room for her roommate as the other girl slipped in next to her.
Marcia had to admit that Nora's warm, soft body did feel good next to hers. She was not entirely unsurprised when Nora snaked her arms around her neck and snuggled up next to herâafter all, if she was cold, she would want to get as much of Marcia's body heat as possible.