In the ceaseless thunder of the falls.

Sean spread his handkerchief on a rock beside the path, sat down on it

and waited. Within five minutes he was fidgeting impatiently, within

half an hour he was grumbling aloud. I'll count to five hundred. . .

. If she hasn't come by then I'm not going to wait. He counted and

when he reached the promised figure he stopped and peered anxiously down

the path. There was no sign of Anna. I'm not going to sit here all

day, he announced and made no effort to stand up. A fat yellow

caterpillar caught his eye; it was on the trunk of a tree farther down

the slope. He picked up a pebble and threw it. It bounced off the tree

an inch above the caterpillar. Close, Sean -encouraged himself and

stooped for another stone. After a while he had exhausted the supply of

pebbles around his feet and the caterpillar was still moving leisurely

up the trunk. Sean was forced to go out on a foraging expedition for

more pebbles. He came back with both hands full and once more took up

his position on the rock. He piled the pebbles between his feet and

reopened the bombardment. He aimed each throw with the utmost

concentration and with his third pebble he hit squarely and the

caterpillar popped in a spurt of green her. You shouldn't say things

like that about your Pa.

You should respect him. And Anna had looked at him calmly and asked,

Why? which was a difficult question. But now she changed the subject.

Do you want to eat yet? No, said Sean and reached for her. She fought

back, shrieking demurely until Sean held her down and kissed her. Then

she lay quietly, answering his kisses. If you stop me now I'm going to

get mad, whispered Sean and deliberately unfastened the top, button of

her dress. She watched his face with solemn eyes and her hands stayed

on his shoulders until he had undone her blouse down to the waist and

then with her fingers she traced the bold black curves of his eyebrows.

No, Sean, I won't stop you. I want to as well, I want to as much as you

do. There was so much to discover and each thing was strange and

wonderful and they were the first to find it.

The way the muscles stood out down the side of his chest beneath his

arms and yet left a place where she could see the outline of his ribs.

The texture of her skin, smooth and white with the faint blue suggestion

of veins beneath.

The deep hollow down the centre of his back, pressing her fingers into

It she could feel his spine. The down on her cheeks, so pale and fine

he could see it only in the sunlight. The way their lips felt against

each other and the tiny flutter of tongues between. The smell of their

bodies, one milky warm and the other musky and vigorous. The hair that

covered his chest and grew thicker under his arms, and hers: startlingly

dark against white skin, a small silky nest of it. Each time there was

something new to find and greet with soft sounds of delight.

Now, kneeling before her as she lay with her head thrown back and her

-arms half-raised to receive him, Sean suddenly bowed his head and

touched her with his mouth. The taste of her was clean as the taste of

the sea.

Her eyes flew open. Sean, no, you mustn't, oh no, you mustn't. There

were lips within lips and a bud as softly resilient as a tiny green

grape. Sean found it with the tip of his tongue. Oh, Sean, you can't

do that. Please, please, please. And her hands were in the thick hair

at the back of his head holding him there. I can't stand it any more,

come over me . . . quickly, quickly, Sean. Filling. like a sail in a

hurricane, swollen and hard and tight, stretched beyond its limit until