STARSHINE, THE OCEAN AND THE UNICORN
Chapter Three                                                                                                      Part Ten



                      The sash window above the pub door squeaked and strained as it was opened and Annie leaned out.  She held back her wild tresses of red hair and looked down at Joe, peering through the darkness and the sleep that still filled her eyes.  Joe looked up at her like a little boy lost and shrugged his shoulders.  He saw her smile, she closed the window, it rattled and Joe waited for her to come downstairs.  The street that bustled in the day time was motionless and eerie at night, even the air was still and the hollow sounds of bolts being drawn and the ringing of chains being unchained echoed in the silence.  Then the door was opened, Annie drew him inside quickly and closed the door on the cold.
                       The bedroom was warm.  A small light shone from beside the bed and filled the room with soft shadows.  Annie's dressing gown fell to the floor.  Joe held her close to him, he ran his hands down her back, over her slender hips and the roundness of her arse. Her skin was like satin and Joe melted into the warmth that came from her.  They kissed deeply and heard the beating of each other's hearts.  Annie climbed into bed.  Joe got out of his clothes quickly, left them straggled over the carpet and followed her between the cream silk sheets.  Her red hair was spread over the pillow and her green eyes smiled at Joe in a way that made him know he was wanted.  She moved with a slow, sensuous delight as he kissed and  touched all of her.  He moved inside her.  Her sweetness flowed and closed around him. Like sea waves drawing from an ocean they filled and filled until they broke with the fever and the madness and the cries of love.
                      Afterwards as they lay wrapped in each other's arms, the lengths of their bodies touching, Joe told Annie that he had a lot of money coming his way and that when he had got it he would take her somewhere far away for a holiday.  Annie laughed, it was her own sweet, good natured laugh for a boy who dreams but Joe's memory could hear the strains of Jason's sick laughter in the massage parlour when Joe had said he could get the money to buy himself out.  Joe realised that his fortune was a secret only because he was someone who was not believed.  Annie kissed him lovingly on the forehead, but Joe was all empty of their love and a sadness was filling him.  He turned over to go to sleep where the sadness would not reach him. He slept deeply and dreamt of pearls floating on dark water like stars in the night sky.