Oberlin College - Hi-O-Hi Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

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home he had never even seen his JMnriils ki.ss eadi oilier, not ci ' en at home. He had traveled quite exten.sively in the Orient and yet the first time in his life he had seen two adults kiss in public was at Don ' s Flare in Oberlin. Why kissing, you never even saw grown-uf) boys and girls holding hands in the East. Yes, there could be no doubt about it tlnil Ihc Orient u as over-inhibiird when it came to ex- pressing oneself in terms of simple physical gestures, at least in public . . . Didn ' t he talk about this to someone before? Oh, yes, that evening after supper. He had ■mentioned it to her by way of conversation . . . How very long ago it all seemed to have happened. After supper they were sitting on a sofa in the lounge. In the opposite corner of the room a group of four sat on the carpet playing bridge cibsorbedly. As usual he was talking too much. After a discussion of Oriental in- hibition the conversation shifted somehow to the modern man. The trouble n ' lth the modern man, he announced with mock seriousne.ss as he lit a cigarette, is that he hasn ' t the faintest notion of what he really wants. What do you rvant? she asked, and then added as an afterthought, from me? What do I ivant from you? Let me see . . . A little praise, and a little human warmth. Indeed? she said. Well. I ' m afraid I can ' t see anything about you that I can praise. You ' ve seen so little of me. he murmured as he moved closer and put his arm round her waist, which, surprisingly enough, seemed much narrower than he would have guessed. And as for human warmth, she said hurriedly, tiying to xuriggle out of his arm, how can I give you any? You said the other day that I was a cold sort of person. That ' s all right, he said, gently fighting down her efforts to release herself, cold people can be warmed up! Now, just a minute. This is complicating things. And I thought we had de- cided to keep ei ' eiything between us unbelievably simple. Oh, he said, put out. But he brightened again the next moment and u ' eut on: That ' s all right, from now on everything is going to be simply unbelievable! They talked nonsense in this fashion for a feic more minutes, and then sud- denly the lights went out. Something had gone lorong with the power house re- cently that hadn ' t been fully repaired yet. The bridge players had reached too critical a stage in their game to stop. They fished out some candles from some- where and. ligliting these, continued with their game. The insufficient candle light seemed to have brought in another world: a world of haphazard shadows stretched out on the floor and walls and across the ceiling, swaying slightly now and then as the flames flickered. And it was queer how the furniture had lost their sharp inanimate edges and seemed like hazy shapes in the semi-darkness, alive and waiting. And it might or might not have been this semi-darkness luhich affected them, but before long they were telling each other how much they cared for each other. He was especially awkward about it, and his words kept getting stuck in his throat. Strange, he thought, liow his speech had never fumbled before when in jest he had said far more risque things to her. It -was probably the seriousness that made all the difference . . . The next da , however, she seemed 17

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Thanks, Debbie, Paul said as he bent forward and kissed her liiyhtly in playful gratitude. I think I ' ll go get another ruf) of coffee. ' ' So will . Debbie said. As they rose, Paul asked him if he wanted another cup. No. thanks. he said. As he xcatched then yetrratnig figures he wondered iil the ease and naluraliiess with ii ' hich IVeslerners could express tlieniseh ' es in terms of physical gestures. o Easterner {unless he had been westernized) would exier be able to kiss a girl publicly, ei ' en in jest, -with such naturalness, without feeling self-conscious. Actualt . in the Orient there -wasn ' t an sudi thing as public kissing at all. Back A dny long reinemlu 16

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I ' o dmice or to talk. .ihrays for coffee. Classtime iiiiil siiucktiine — as one begins, the oilier has not quite ended. 18