toilet  cistern,  and  he  hurriedly  replaced  the  book,  finding  beneath  the  bed  a  small  yellow 

Colman‘s mustard tin that he flipped open to confirm that, yes, it did contain condoms, along

with the small grey remains of a joint, like a mouse dropping. With the possibility of sex  and

drugs in a small yellow tin he felt hopeful again, and decided that he might stay a little longer 

at least.

In  the  bathroom,  Emma  Morley  wiped  the  crescents  of  toothpaste  from  the  corner  of  her 

mouth and wondered if this was all a terrible mistake. Here she was, after four romantically 

barren years, finally, finally in bed with someone she really liked, had liked since she‘d first 

seen him at a party in 1984, and in just a few hours he‘d be gone. Forever probably. He was 

hardly likely to ask her to go to China with him, and besides she was boycotting China. And 

he was alright, wasn‘t he? Dexter Mayhew. In truth she suspected he wasn‘t all that bright, 

and a little too pleased with himself, but he was popular and funny and – no point fighting it –

very handsome. So why was she being so stroppy and sarcastic? Why couldn‘t she just be 

self-confident and fun, like those scrubbed, bouncy girls he usually hung around with? She 

saw the dawn light at the tiny bathroom window. Sobriety. Scratching at her awful hair with 

her fingertips, she pulled a face, then yanked the chain of the ancient toilet cistern and headed 

back into the room.

 

From  the  bed,  Dexter  watched  her  appear  in  the  doorway,  wearing  the  gown  and  mortar 

board that they‘d been obliged to hire for the  graduation ceremony, her  leg hooked mockseductively around the doorframe, her rolled degree certificate in one hand. She peered over 

her spectacles and pulled the mortar board down low over one eye. ""What d‘you think?‘

Suits you. I like the jaunty angle. Now take it off and come back to bed.‘

No way. Thirty quid this cost me. I‘m going to get my money‘s worth.‘ She swirled the 

gown like a vampire‘s cape. Dexter grabbed at a corner but she swiped at him with the rolledup certificate before sitting on the edge of the bed, folding her spectacles and shrugging off 

her gown. He had one last glimpse of her naked back and the curve of her breast before they 

disappeared  beneath  a  black  t-shirt  that  demanded  unilateral  nuclear  disarmament now.