Short stories

by Doris Lessing

*
A woman, starved for love, meets a man rather younger than herself, younger perhaps in emotional experience than in years, or perhaps in the depth of his emotional experience. She deludes herself about the nature of the man; for him, another love affair merely.

**
A man uses grown-up language, the language of emotionally grown people, to gain a woman. She slowly understands that this language comes from an idea in his head, it has nothing to do with his emotions in fact he is an adolescent boy emotionally. Yet, knowing this, she cannot prevent herself being moved and won by the language.

***
A healthy woman, in love with a man. She finds herself becoming ill, with symptoms she has never had in her life. She slowly understands that this illness is not hers, she understands that the man is ill. She understands the nature of the illness, not from him, how he acts or what he says, but from how his illness is reflected in herself.

****
A woman who has fallen in love, against her will. She is happy. And yet, in the middle of the night, she wakes. He starts up, as if in danger. He says: No, no, no. Then, Consciousness and control again, in silence. She wants to say: What are you saying No to? For she is filled with fear. She does not say it. She sinks back to sleep and weeps in her sleep. She wakes; he is still awake. She says, anxiously, Is that your heart beating? He, sullen: No, it’s yours.