Read Online Trouble by Fay Weldon - Free Book Online

that.’
    ‘Isn’t it?’
    ‘Good God no,’ said Spicer. ‘Is your seeing Dr Herman Marks coming between you and me? No. The opposite is true. Weren’t we together just now? You were wonderful. He’s already dispersed some of the frigidity.’
    ‘But I’ve never been frigid,’ said Annette. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Lilith is cold,’ said Spicer. ‘Lilith is the devourer of children, the hater of men. Lilith stops women coming. See Dr Herman as Saturn: only Saturn can deal with Lilith.’
    ‘What are you talking about, Spicer? You’re frightening me.’
    ‘You mustn’t be frightened,’ said Spicer. ‘I’m coming back into bed. We have to drive Lilith out. You were faking.’
    ‘I was not so, Spicer,’ said Annette. ‘I want to go to sleep. Please. I’m pregnant.’
    ‘Spoilsport. Talk to me.’
    ‘Very well,’ said Annette. ‘Is Dr Rhea young and attractive? Or is she the female equivalent of her husband?’
    ‘She’s kind of in the middle,’ said Spicer. ‘I do not have a sexual relationship with her. Okay? And I’ve never even met her husband. It seems such a waste for the baby to have your breasts.’
    ‘It won’t be for long,’ said Annette. ‘Then you can have them back. Do you see her in the house in Maresfield Gardens?’
    ‘Yes. But it’s on a lease from the AJA. They have to move out soon.’
    ‘The AJA?’ asked Annette.
    ‘The Association of Jungian Analysts,’ said Spicer. ‘Very reputable, very respectable. She was well recommended. I’m not a fool.’
    ‘If you go to the same house, how come you haven’t met her husband?’ asked Annette.
    ‘I like your knees,’ said Spicer. ‘I’ve always liked your knees. Part them just a little. If I haven’t met her husband it’s because anti-synchronicity is almost as strong a force in the universe as synchronicity.’
    ‘I must say,’ said Annette, ‘this is rather like being in bed with a stranger. I’ve never heard you talk like this.’
    ‘All the more exciting,’ said Spicer. ‘We have layer upon layer with which to encounter each other. You are so hot between your legs since you’ve been pregnant. It’s almost worth it.’
    ‘I suppose Dr Herman and Dr Rhea won’t get together to discuss our cases?’ asked Annette.
    ‘I wouldn’t think so,’ said Spicer. ‘It wouldn’t be ethical. Why, have you got something to hide?’
    ‘No,’ said Annette.
    ‘That’s just as well,’ said Spicer. ‘I’m coming in you now.’
    ‘Gilda?’
    ‘What is it, Annette? It’s very early to ring.’
    ‘I’m sorry,’ said Annette. ‘But I have to tell someone.’
    ‘Could it possibly wait, Annette? Because I’m having breakfast with Steve, and he doesn’t like me on the phone when he’s in the house.’
    ‘Oh very well,’ said Annette. ‘Don’t worry. It can wait. It’s probably better if I don’t tell you. Spicer’s coming out of the bathroom now, anyway, so I can’t talk either. If you and me were earning more than peanuts and Steve and Spicer were house-husbands would we be the way they are about using the phone?’
    ‘I don’t think so,’ said Gilda.
    ‘I don’t think so either,’ said Annette. ‘Bye.’
    ‘Is something the matter, Spicer?’ asked Annette.
    ‘For God’s sake, Annette,’ said Spicer. ‘I am sitting in my dressing gown, drinking orange juice and reading the morning paper like any other husband. What should be the matter?’
    ‘You don’t look at me, you don’t speak to me. You’re angry.’
    ‘I am not in the least angry. I will put down my paper. Speak to me, I will speak back.’
    ‘When you thought I was born in the evening, did I seem a nicer person?’ asked Annette.
    ‘Let us say you had fewer life problems,’ said Spicer. ‘And so did I. The evening sun was cuspate. But your morning sun remains firmly in Virgo; it hasn’t even begun to move over into Libra.’
    ‘I see,’ said Annette. ‘Is that bad?’
    ‘Nothing in astrology is bad in itself,’