Terroir

I like to call her ‘Lilith’, and her name for me is ‘Nan Qui´ , after how we are known by others, though of course neither of us have names, or, if we ever did, it was long ago .Our kinds seldom meet, and even more rarely interact and yet she and I have bonded, in a way. On those occasions our paths cross we take a sojourn and go out to eat together, the only erotic thrills she and I can ever experience together. We share stories of our conquests, a form of pornography, really.

I let her talk first as we make plans for our meal. She tells of the places she has visited since last we met, and the characteristics of the men she has corrupted. Her taste in men I knew already. She did not like them too young, because these she told me have no depth, no body to appreciate, though will enter them and let them enter her if the mood is upon her. Nor does she like them too old, for by then they are too thin, too enfeebled, though has admitted to me from time to time the thrill she gets knowing that she might be the last erotic experience they will have before they die. No, she prefers them in their mid-years, between 20 and 60, where they have developed a depth, a complexity, and their ardor works hard to match her own.

She picks her targets carefully. Follows them. Sees with whom they interact and, the type of women they have mated with, or with whom they are having affairs. Watch what predilections they have in bed, what fantasies they want played out, what perversions. It is the same from country to country she has told me, the debaucheries remain the same though she has argued with me, in each place there is a terroir evident in the men. In Mexico for instance, the men, have an earthy aroma, steely to the taste, bold and assertive. These she likes to reduce to blubbery shells when she leaves them. The men of China, on the other hand, are more complex, more nuanced with a hint of cassis. The men of China she assures me are elegant, refined and opulent. These she beds for intellectual satisfaction as much as for erotic pleasure and these she leaves begging for her return. The men of Argentina are unctuous and fleshy; those of Australia are chewy and taste of charcoal, .and those of Norway are just too thin.

Just listening to her made my mouth water and I realized that I was very hungry. I recognized that in her listing she was giving me hints about what types of food she wished for this evening. Also, I can see the lust in her eyes telling me that it was my turn now to excite her before we went out for dinner. I start as I have in the past. Unlike her, my preferences are for the younger nubile woman. To me the lack of depth was not a disincentive but rather an aphrodisiac. I like the sense of vulnerability, the subtle emergent force of their sexuality. With the young what I found most appealing was not their perversions, because for most those have yet to emerge, but their purity and the sense that I will bring to them experiences they had not yet imagined. Middle aged women had their complexity it was true but livened too often with disappointments and betrayals. These I would seduce as a last resort, preferring those of that age resort who had been the betrayer and not the victim. And of the elderly I would choose only nuns and others who had forsaken the ways of the flesh as they had an unused reservoir worth savoring.

Unlike Lilith my approach was less systematic. It was much more opportunistic. My interests were peaked by the sensuality of the sway to a woman's walk, the aura of their incipient sensuality. When I see that I know I must possess her. I tell Lilith this, as I have in the past, because I see how it arouses her. “So”, she asks, “you find them all the same, regardless of place?”’ In truth I had not thought this through previously, had not categorizing my victims in the way that Lilith had clearly pondered long.

I survey my memories and, limiting myself to the places Lilith had mentioned because I knew those are the food choices of the evening. Differences that I had not intellectualized came to the fore. In Mexico the nubile women were spicy, juicy and left a long aftertaste on the palate. In China they were buttery, creamy with a hint of cherry. The women of Argentina were steely and toasty. I discounted both the woman of Australia and Norway because I had no interest in eating food from those locales this evening. Lilith was pleased with my efforts, “we will make a gastronome of you yet, Nan Gui!”

Having limited our choices we talked further and decided that Argentina’s delights we would leave for a further night. We plotted our outing well, looking for a feast that would satisfy both our preferences. If we decided on Chinese food, Lilith would wear her red robe, and I would dress like an emperor king. If we decided on Mexican food Lilith would wear virginial white and I would wear the dress of a bandito.

Going as a pair we would have to find a place that caters to both our preferences. In truth, either Mexico or China is ideal because in those places we could find many couples consisting of middle-aged men and their much younger wives, mistresses or concubines. I would leave it to Lilith to identify the ideal couple because she is much more skilled than I in picking victims carefully. Once she will make her choice we will enter silently, wait until they have both fallen asleep, penetrate their dreams and paralyze them. Then she on the man, and I on that beautiful creature besides him, will drink of their essence, until we are sated. They will awaken sexually frustrated, while Lilith and I watch if they will consummate physically the erotic dreams we had planted in the previous evening. 

I know that afterwards Lilith and I will part, meeting up again, sometime in the unpredictable future. But that is in the future. Tonight, we a decision to make. “So”, says Lilith, “Are you in the mood for Mexican or Chinese tonight.