The New Life

by Tom Crewe

And so it had begun, again. But what was it, this once-got-into-never-got-out-of habit? Of eating together, walking together, sitting together, writing to one another, exchanging every thought, every thought being redeemed in the exchange?

Edith’s first question hadn’t been about the journey or the landscape or the people or how he’d managed and wasn’t he lonely; instead—he could still see her face, looking calmly over the top of a glistering green candle—she had simply asked, “What did you read?” Which was the only really important question, and the only one he felt properly equipped to answer.

If sex is considered as a pleasure, why would you not make it safe from consequences in every kind of case? It follows logically.”