‘Are you still all mine, Arthur?’
If I wasn’t before I sure am now, he thought. Times have certainly changed since I was first dating. He felt a little awkward. He was still fully clothed and Tracey was barely so. He felt uncomfortable undressing in front of her and she was blocking the door to the bathroom.
Oh, what the hell. He stood up and began to undress. Slowly and carefully. He did not want to appear like a too eager teenager. He folded his clothes neatly and put them on the armchair on top of the clothes that were already there. He took his shoes and socks off and stood there in his boxer shorts, which he realised had pictures of Mickey Mouse all over them.
‘I hope there’s more than just Mickey in there.’
Arthur could feel himself blushing and at the same time could feel his erection slowly forming. He sat back down on the bed, patted the area next to him with his hand indicating that Tracey should join him, which she did. He was in uncharted territory. What the hell, he would wing it. His desire was now so strong he could clearly contain himself and he could feel and see the bulge in boxers growing. He turned, put one arm around her shoulders, and as Tracey turned towards him, he kissed her, fully, passionately. He could hear Tracey moan and he could feel her tongue dart into his mouth. From there on everything became a blur.
He had a vague recollection of a condom being handed to him, thankfully already out of its wrapper. He could recall thinking that he hoped he would not be too quick. His wife, Marie, had in the past incessantly complained about this. He had no idea how much time had passed but he was pretty sure that he was not too quick at all. Perhaps the condom was slowing him down. From the noises emanating from Tracey, noises which Arthur could in no way categorize, he felt he must have been doing something right. His last distinct memory was that of an intense orgasm. It brought back memories of his youth. Then, nothing. He was asleep.
He woke with a start. It took him a moment to realise where he was. His mouth was dry. He was naked. He looked down and could see the semen filled condom hanging half off his now flaccid penis. He sat up. Tracey was next to him, asleep, making soft snoring sounds. She was on her side facing him, partly covered by the doona, her right leg bare and bent towards him. The blinds in the room were drawn and Arthur could see daylight around the edges of the blind. What time was it? There was just enough light to see his watch. It was ten past ten. He hadn’t slept so late for ages.
Shit! It was after ten! He missed his shift. Great, he thought, Martin had to work on his own. He would really be impressed with him.
He slid out of bed slowly and quietly so as not to wake Tracey. He saw his mobile phone on the floor, picked it up and headed to the bathroom. He removed the condom which he threw into the toilet, emptied his bladder and flushed, hoping the noise would not wake Tracey. He dialled Martin’s number and when Martin answered he almost whispered into the phone. ‘Martin. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what happened. I slept in. Were you okay? I’m so sorry.’
Arthur heard Martin chuckle.
‘I hope she was worth it, Arthur. Stop apologizing, I forgive you. I managed fine. I’ve done it before, stop worrying. Enjoy yourself.’
Arthur felt relieved. He hung up, first thanking Martin for his understanding. He slid open the bathroom door and went back into the bedroom. Tracey was awake, sitting up, holding the doona up to her chest to cover herself.
‘Good morning sleepyhead,’ she said. ‘I heard you on the phone. Bragging about your exploits already?’
‘Not at all, Tracey. I had to call Martin. I missed work this morning.’
‘Is that the time?’ Tracey asked, looking at her watch.
‘We really did sleep in. Can we still get breakfast? I’m starving.’
What it was with this woman, Arthur thought. She was starving again. He could barely think of food. His head was aching, his mouth still very dry and a slight sensation of nausea had settled into the pit of stomach.
‘Don’s do an all-day breakfast,’ he volunteered.
‘I need to get home to shower and shave though.’
‘Don’t worry about shaving, your stubble looks very sexy. We can shower here and go to breakfast. Come on, hop into the shower with me.’
With that, Tracey threw off the doona, got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. Arthur gave her a couple of minutes. He assumed she needed to use the toilet, which she did and then followed her in. He was still naked and joined her in the shower.
It was the best shower he had ever had. Tracey offered to wash him, which she did with great enthusiasm. She seemed particularly interested to make sure that his penis was clean and after a few minutes of that he found himself ejaculating for the second time in twelve hours. It was then his turn to wash Tracey, which he did with equal enthusiasm and with a similar effect on her.
They dried off, went into the bedroom and collected their clothes, which were strewn all over the floor, got dressed and made it to Don’s just after 11am. The place was almost empty at that time and they had no trouble getting a table. Arthur was yet again amazed how much Tracey could eat. On the way to Don’s she confided in him that good sex makes her very hungry. It seemed to Arthur that just about everything had that effect on her. He was however, very happy to hear the ‘good sex’ part.
They ate breakfast, were just finishing their coffee when Tracey asked.
‘How old are you Arthur?’
‘I’m fifty four, Tracey,’ was his reply.
‘Arthur, don’t let this go to your head, but you’re better than men half your age. I should know, I‘ve had plenty of men half your age. I’m thirty nine, almost forty. Does that shock you? I like young men, usually, but you, Arthur, well you were okay last night. More than okay, really. It was great.’
Arthur could not help it. He beamed with pride. He did not mind if Tracey saw him smiling. He felt good, alive for the first time in a long time.
‘It was great for me too, Tracey. I think it may have been the best night of my life.’
‘What shall we do now?’ asked Tracey as they got up to leave. Arthur went to the counter, paid the bill and joined Tracey.
‘You said you are not interested in seeing Eden. You’ve seen all me that there is to see and while another roll in the hay sounds tempting, I don’t think that my fifty four year old physiology would take it. I know it looks sexy, but I would love to go home and shave and change my underwear and socks. You could meet Martin and Natalie. I know they would love to meet you.’
‘Okay, Arthur. Sounds like a good plan. Let’s go.’
Arthur felt that he had to explain a few things to Tracey before she met Martin and Natalie. First and foremost was his actual job. He told her that he was an accountant. Not exactly a lie but not currently true. On the way, he explained to her that while he was an accountant by profession, for reasons which were complex, and which he did not want to go into right now, he wasn’t employed as an accountant. Martin, while really being his friend was also his employer. Home was the Eden Dairy where Arthur worked as the assistant milkman, courtesy of the Centrelink Work for the Dole program. Tracey did not seem at all fazed by that information.
He explained that Natalie and Martin were recently married and then went on to explain Natalie’s anatomical situation. He warned Tracey that often Natalie did not bother putting on her artificial legs when she was at home and to be prepared for that. He reassured Tracey that she would like them both and reiterated to her that they were his closest friends.
Tracey seemed to take it all in her stride. And she was again striding quickly and Arthur had to jog to keep up.
He opened the door and they went in.
‘Anyone home?’ he called out. ‘Martin, Natalie, are you home? There is someone I would like you to meet.’
‘We’re in the lounge, Arthur’ that was Natalie calling back. ‘Come in, we’re decent.’
They went in and Arthur did the introductions. Thankfully Natalie had her legs on and walked over to Tracey, gave her
hug and peck on the left cheek. Martin shook her hand.
‘Martin, Natalie, could you look after Tracey for a bit? I need to shave and change. Won’t be long.’
‘Go ahead, Arthur,’ Natalie said. ‘No problem, Tracey will be safe with us. I promise.’
Arthur was back fifteen minutes later and found the three of them deep in conversation. It seemed a jolly conversation and all were smiling. I wonder if they were talking about me, he thought.
‘We’ve just been talking about you, Arthur,’ Tracey called out. ‘I’m learning a lot from these two. You did say they were your friends.’ Tracey had a mischievous smile on her face.
Arthur thought better than to ask any questions.
‘Tracey works for Channel Seven. They’ve done one story of Eden. And it has been on TV. We all missed it. They’ve just completed the interviews for a second story. It seems that there is quite a bit of interest in our project, Martin.’
‘Your project, Arthur? What do you mean? When I asked you about it you fobbed me off. You said you had no opinion and it didn’t affect you anyway. Now it’s your project? What’s going on, Arthur?’
Tracey sounded a bit annoyed.
Martin was the one to reply. ‘Let me explain, Tracey. Until this moment, only Arthur, Natalie and I and of course our lawyers knew what I’m about to tell you. Arthur fobbed you off, as you say, because he was not able to tell you anything then. Arthur referred to our project that was not strictly correct, it is my project. Arthur, however has been an integral part of it, and without his involvement we would not be where we are now.’
Tracey said nothing. Clearly there was more to come.
‘Natalie, why don’t you and Arthur go into the dining room? Have one of those single malts that you are both so obsessed with. And close the door behind you. I’ve got a story to tell Tracey.’
Arthur and Natalie did as they were asked. With the door closed they could hear Martin’s voice, but could not hear what he was saying. Martin seemed to speak for a very long time, although it was no more than fifteen minutes. They did have a single malt, this time it was the sixteen year old, Lagavulan, that wonderful peaty Scotch from the isle of Isla. They had finished the Scotch when they could hear Martin, louder this time and calling out ‘You can come back now.’
They found Tracey sitting down, a serious look on her face. She was obviously digesting everything Martin had told her. Martin had an exhausted look about him. He had spoken for fifteen minutes, hardly stopping to take a breath.
‘What do you think, Tracey? Quite a story,’ said Arthur.
‘It sure is,’ she replied. ‘Can I ask, why tell me? You’ve kept it a close secret until now. I hardly know you, any of you. Well you perhaps a little better, Arthur.’
Arthur responded. ‘Martin has decided he wants to come out, as he calls it. He wants everyone to know that he is behind the Eden Foundation, and that the project, the social experiment is his idea.’
Tracey interrupted. ‘And I’m with channel seven and we are already doing a story on Eden, so who better to tell the story than me? So this is what the last twenty four hours has been about, Arthur? You’ve been using me so I would help you get Martin’s story out.’
Arthur was shocked. ‘I can’t believe you just said that, Tracey. Nothing could be further from the truth. Me, using you? You’re the one that came onto me, remember?’ Arthur’s voice was shaking, he was so upset.
‘Arthur, calm down. I was joking. And even if you were using me, I’m not complaining. I had a great time.’
Arthur smiled, he was relieved. Martin and Natalie stayed silent.
‘So, the idea is for Martin to offer your program an interview to tell his story. And you’ll like this, Tracey, he will only give the interview to you.’
Martin looked up at Arthur. This was news to him. That had not been discussed, but he smiled and nodded in agreement. He was a smooth operator that Arthur, he thought.
‘What do you think, Tracey? Will they go for it?’
‘They will go for it alright, Arthur. This is a great story. I’m not so sure they’ll go for me fronting it. But if that’s the only way you’ll do it, Martin, what choice do they have?’
Tracey got up, walked over to Arthur, put her arms around him and kissed him full on the mouth.
‘Thanks, Arthur,’ she whispered in his ear, ‘feel free to use me all you all you want.’
The segment aired on TV three weeks later. Overall, the ratings were not impressive, but in Eden, were virtually of all the seven hundred and ninety four TV sets were tuned into channel seven, it would have rated through the roof. But TV ratings were never taken in Eden.
At 6.30pm, after the opening credits, the host of the show, Garry Green welcomed the audience to another episode of Today, Now.
‘Several weeks ago we did a story about a small town in Central Victoria, Eden. It concerned a social experiment that the town was conducting, the first of its kind we believe. For those who missed it, we will show you a few snippets from that program in a moment. Tonight, we have a follow up report and it gives me great pleasure to introduce for the first time in front of the camera, Tracey Turnbull, who uncovered this story and will present it to you.’
Next were thirty seconds of the first story. Snippets of the Mayor answering some questions, and one or two towns people commenting.
Then there was Tracey. She was sitting back in her chair, legs crossed, and a folder on her lap. She was smiling, her red lips parted to reveal a row of perfect white teeth. She looked relaxed, the consummate professional. It would have been impossible to tell that this was her first time before the camera. Opposite her, leaning forwards in his chair and clasping and unclasping his hands was Martin. He looked petrified thought Arthur, and Natalie actually said, ‘he looks shit scared, Arthur. I hope he will be okay.’
Martin was trying to smile but it was not working. All around Eden there were confused looks of people’s faces, many saying to each other, and ‘what the hell is our milkman doing on TV?’
Tracey began, her voice confident.
‘Welcome Martin. Ladies and gentleman,’ she addressed the audience, ‘I would like to introduce you to Martin Brophy. Those of you watching in Eden will know who Martin is. For the rest of the audience, Martin is the milkman in the town of Eden. He has been for over ten years. Martin has a story to tell you and as you will see it clarifies a lot of what was presented in our first story. This interview is an exclusive for Today, Now. Martin has made it clear that this is the one and only interview he will be giving. And now, over to you, Martin.’
A pause, Martin looked into the camera, he licked his dry lips, blinked a few times and began. His first few words were soft and almost unintelligible, but he quickly found his voice and looking into the camera told his story. It was an abridged version. He had been told that he had three minutes. After he had finished, Tracey asked him two or three more questions, which he answered confidently. And then ‘back to you, Garry’ from Tracey, and it was over.
Arthur and Natalie raised their glasses of single malt. This time it was a Bowmore.
‘Well done,’ Natalie exclaimed. ‘A bit of a nervous start, but Martin was great wasn’t he, Arthur?’
‘He sure was, Natalie. I bet he is relieved now that it’s over.’
And Tracey looks stunning again he thought, but did not say it.
‘Tracey was very professional. Is it really her first time in front of the camera?’
‘As far as I know, it is,’ said Arthur. ‘But I bet it won’t be her last. She looks great on camera.’
Just then, Natalie’s mobile phone rang. Arthur heard her say, you were terrific, Martin.’ Pause. ‘No, it was just the first few seconds, then you were fine. Well done. See you soon.’
Arthur’s phone did not ring. He assumed Tracey would be busy still, too busy to call.
‘He’s driving back tonight. Should be here in a couple of hours,’ Natalie said.
The interview was sh
ot in a Melbourne studio, live.
‘Should we go out for a quick bite, Natalie? I’m hungry.’
‘I don’t think that such a good idea. I’m sure everyone in town watched it. I can’t be bothered answering questions, can you? I’ve got food here I can prepare. Pour another Bowmore, Arthur, I could use it.’
Natalie went into the kitchen. Arthur did as he was asked. He poured one for himself too, and followed here into the kitchen and set Natalie’s glass down on the bench. Arthur sat at the kitchen table while Natalie was preparing the meal. She was making enough for Martin too. He would no doubt be hungry when he got home. It was very unlikely that he had eaten before the show and he had had little for lunch.
Soon, a mouth-watering aroma filled the kitchen. The Bowmore further sharpened Arthur’s appetite and he waited impatiently for the food to be ready.
Natalie had prepared a casserole, although she gave it some fancy French name that Arthur could not recall. There were tender chunks of beef in an array of vegetables and a spicy sauce, which tied it all wonderfully. The casserole was served with steamed brown rice and Arthur had decanted a bottle of Victorian Shiraz to go with the meal.
They both ate heartily and drank the wine, being conscious to leave sufficient of both food and wine for the soon to return Martin.
They both finished and were sitting at the table and chatting about nothing in particular when they heard the front door slam and a loud hello coming from the front. Martin was home. He was pumped. Arthur had never seen Martin quite like that. He said he was too excited to eat straight away, but did accept the glass of wine. He then sat down to watch the segment, which Natalie had recorded.
‘Jesus, I look nervous,’ Martin said as he began to watch. He was silent for the rest of the segment and when it was over he smiled and said to them both. ‘I was okay in the end, wasn’t I?’
The Eden Effect Page 11