IV
318 Words
IVNOW, THOUGH NELLY WAS young, as has often been sung,
Her chosen profession was old.
Both instinct and habit advised her to “Grab it!”
Whenever she heard the word “gold.”
She broke the connection, her vivid complexion
More flushed, and with movements exotic
Returned to the glade in which Dougal had stayed,
Her inner emotions chaotic.
She studied MacNeer as she slowly drew near,
Appraising him in a new light.
Nell trusted her spy; he would not tell a lie—
But somehow it didn’t seem right!
MacNeer didn’t act like a man who had cracked
A cache of asteroid dough,
And yet—Venus Nell smiled tightly—Ah, well,
She’d know in a minute or so.
With a cute little shrug she curled on the rug
And smiled into Doug’s sober face.
“Go on!” she implored, “and tell me some more
About your adventures in Space.
Have you ever struck gold in the terrible cold?”
Her voice was a query and taunt.
Doug grinned at her there as he fondled her hair.
“I’ve found all the gold that I want!”
Nell’s eyes opened wide. “You have?” she replied,
And suddenly somewhere within her
A duel transpired ‘tween the Nell who admired
This miner and Nelly the sinner.
Which would have won out is a matter of doubt
But Dougal MacNeer, growing bolder,
At that moment tossed dice with Fate—and he lost!
—By placing a hand on her shoulder.
He bent to her ear, and, “Nelly, my dear,”
He whispered, “Come lift gravs with me
To the skyways above ... I’ll teach you to love ...
How wonderfully happy we’ll be....”
And—that was a story to Nell old and hoary;
Nell shrugged with a gesture resigned;
A lustful and bestial man, just like the rest
Of his sex....
And she made up her mind.
Averting her face, she escaped his embrace
And whispered, “Wait here for a minute—”
A prearranged sign brought a fresh jug of wine
To Doug—with a sleeping drug in it.
Dougal, gleaming of eye, the glass lifted high
And drank it down, swiftly and deep;
In no time at all, he lay there asprawl
In impotent, stertorous sleep.
- Writer
