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"THE FIRST SENSE" By Nadine Gordimer

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Touseef:
It was no longer assumed that she would go with him, as she always had, when he accepted invitations to receptions or private houses; the unspoken implication was that these were now strictly professional. He no longer suggested what had also been assumed—that when he was to give a recital in another city in their home country she would, of course, be there. He packed his overnight bag on their bed, took up the black-clad body of the cello, and kissed her goodbye. There were well-spaced acts of dutiful intercourse, as if it were as routine as a regular haircut. She began to want to avoid the approach in bed, and then grew fearful that she would send him to the other woman by suggesting that she did not desire him; at the same time, she wanted terribly to put her hands, her mouth on the body beside her, no matter the humiliation of the act, which he fulfilled like a medical procedure, prescribed to satisfy her. A bill to be paid.

She waited for him to speak. About what had happened. To trust the long confidence between them. He never did. She did not ask, because she was also afraid that what had happened, once admitted, would be irrevocably real.

One night, he got up in the dark, took the cello out of its bed, and played. She woke to the voice, saying something passionately angry in its deepest bass.

Then there came the time when—was it possible, in his magnificent, exquisite playing?—there was a disharmony, the low notes dragging as if the cello were refusing him. Nights, weeks, the same.

So. She knew that the affair was over. She felt a pull of sadness—for him. For herself, nothing. By never confronting him she had stunned herself.

Soon he came to her again. The three of them—he, she, and the cello against the wall—were together.

He made love better than ever remembered, caresses not known, more subtle, more anticipatory of what could be roused in her, what she was capable of feeling, needing. As if he’d had the experience of a different instrument to learn from. ♦

Touseef:
Source: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/12/18/the-first-sense

Touseef:
To read more free stories by Nadine Gordimer, you may visit:

http://www.openculture.com/2014/07/5-free-short-stories-by-nadine-gordimer.html

Afroza Akhter Tina:
Gordimer's 'July's People' has always been a favorite of mine...just love reading Gordimer.Thanks for sharing Sir.




Afroza Akhter Tina
Senior Lecturer
Department of English, DIU

Mahiuddin Ahmed:
Excellent, Sir.

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