Whither Now?

David Dunlop has left his wife of twenty-nine years. Life had become dull, so he moved into a small apartment with a young woman from the office. But that arrangement has become dull as well. He draws up a chair before the dying fire and relives the women in his life, how they had excited him, how they had stirred the fire in his chest. He remembers Annie, the girl whose hand he almost got to hold, back when he was twelve. And then, much later, his first steady girlfriend, Wendy, almost platonic. Carol came next, teaching him confidence He recalls the ecstasy as love and sex had become interwoven. And then there was Gina, and he had never been more fulfilled. But Gina had also brought him heartache. In between and afterwards there had been chubby Cynthia, and Grace, who believed he would marry her, and Paula, already married, who only wanted sex. And lastly, Jenny, his wife. But Jenny won’t have him back, not now. He feels the pain, the misery, and the utter loneliness which sex and love has brought to him and wonders where it might take him, or even whether there is anywhere left for him to go