The notion came to Fred immediately upon waking up from a short nap after making love to Samantha. He decided to share it with her immediately before he lost his nerve and was tormented with thoughts of what might have been. She was awake, feeling thoughtful and satisfied.

                “Samantha… you know what I’d like? I’d like to sleep with you…” he paused for a moment. “Just after you’ve slept with someone else.”

She looked at him and smiled. She wasn’t humouring or mocking him. This was a smile that said ‘Whatever floats your boat. I’ll see what I can do.’

Fred and Samantha considered themselves perfectly free to have other partners. Theirs was a casual relationship, they’d both recently got out of more serious ones. Fred had gone out with Wendy for four years; Samantha had been married to Jim for five years. And now they were single again. They studied, went to work and slept with each other two or three times a week. Samantha also regularly saw Ron and occasionally others. He was more faithful, because he didn’t feel the need and because he didn’t often get the opportunity. Since he’d started dating Samantha a few months ago, he’d only slept a couple of times with an ex-girlfriend he’d known before Wendy.

Fred grew more and more excited by the idea. It turned him on. He rolled onto Samantha and penetrated her right away without any of their usual, teasing foreplay. They made love with animal passion. Samantha felt wanted and fulfilled.

When they were done, Fred asked ‘When?’ in a whisper.

                “When what?” Samantha answered quietly.

                “When shall we do it?”

                “Whenever you like, honey.”

                “Saturday.”

                “Fine.”

                “When can you see Ron?” Fred asked, making no effort to conceal his eagerness.

                “I usually see him in the afternoon, around three,” Samantha told him.

                “Tell him that you have to go to work, won’t you? That you have to leave at four.”

                “Sure,” she said. “Listen: I’ll call you at around twenty to four to let you know whether everything is going as planned.” She took a drag on her cigarette but then her expression changed, as though something had occurred to her. “No, let’s do this: you call me at twenty to four, I don’t want to be late. That will be my signal to screw him again. Then I’ll come right over. Call me at Ron’s, I’ll try to answer first and then hang up straight away with some excuse.”

                “Great,” said Fred.

On Saturday morning, Fred was buzzing with excitement. He cleaned the house, went shopping and invented chores to pass the time. He kept checking his watch. The hands refused to move any more quickly. He listened to music, The Dark Side of the Moon.

He sat impatiently between three and twenty to four. Then he made the call. She answered out of breath, as though she’d run to get to the phone first.

                “Hello?” Samantha paused, Fred didn’t say anything. “Oh no, no thank you, I’m not interested in a carpet cleaning.” And with that she hung up.

Fred got the message. At seven minutes past four he saw the taxi pull up. He opened the door before she could ring the buzzer. Samantha climbed the two flights of stairs to Fred’s flat. He let her in, feeling more nervous than the first time he’d made love. They walked to the bed entwined, running their hands over each other. They quickly got undressed before coupling like wild beasts over and over again. After every peak they got right back to it.

Fred was lying on his back, smoking a cigarette, relaxed and happy. Samantha lay next to him, completely sated.

The telephone rang, and Samantha was quick to answer.

                “Oh no, no thank you. I’m not interested in a carpet cleaning,” she said before hanging up.         

Copyright David Mibashan. Translated from Spanish by Kit Maude.