Long Ago and Far AwayHe wasn't sure whether the noise he could hear was his heart pounding or his knees knocking.  Even the moon's brightness didn't penetrate enough to show the faces of the black-skinned troops who were confronting the pair in the African Bush.  He thought if only he had listened to the others and had a European girlfriend all would have been well.  But the tall African girl at his side was now a big problem.  She spoke rapidly in Hausa to the sergeant, who seemed less than happy - she had told Sven to play dumb - "don't open your mouth - it will only make it worse!" had been her exact words.  He believed her.  He wondered whether, like an animal, the soldiers could sense or smell his fear.  He wondered if it would hurt, or whether there would just be a blinding light and nothing. Would he hear the noise of the shot?  He knew the rifles were cocked and loaded, ready to fire.  They were too efficient for it to be otherwise; their eyes didn't blink or flicker in the moonlight.Suddenly the talking was over.  Julia still stood, half in front of him, her right arm across his chest.  The sergeant spat noisily, the betel nut he had been chewing now finished.  "Piss off, just piss off, both of you.  I don't want to see you round here again - and if you know what's good for you you'll find a nice black man - if your father finds out..." Then he turned and walked into the moonlit darkness.  One of the other members of the patrol spat in the dirt, insolently, as they turned to follow; then they were gone as quietly as they had arrived.Julia turned to Sven - Sven the younger, perhaps? - and held him tight. They were both shaking, frightened witless by the experience.  Neither needed to tell the other that it had been a close call.  This was Ni- geria during the '66 Civil War; if Julia had been of the wrong tribe, they would both have been beaten, he killed, she raped, then both thrown to the crocodiles in the local river.  She was a Chieftain's daughter, and he did know; that was why they were here, a few miles out in the bush, hoping for a last quiet meeting.  Both knew the affair had to end. The young white man knew now what racial discrimination was like.o - O - oJulia's family had been very civilised about the matter.  The letter, an invitation, was not to be ignored - best 'bib & tucker' and then drive to the house in the compound to the north of the city.  It was an evening and a meal that would be imprinted on his mind for ever.  Civil, yes; welcome, hardly.  Sven felt that Julia's two brothers had been told to behave.  This was a wealthy family - all English University education, Julia as well, unusual in the '60's for a woman in an African family. Yes, they were progressive, but to welcome a white man as a prospective husband did not enter the agenda.  Sven suspected that Julia's mother knew that they had been sleeping together; her father preferred to believe his youngest child, his only daughter, the apple of his eye, even at twenty-three, was still pure.  Sven had grinned inwardly at that.The meal was good, the wine pleasant, the company punctilious, the message uncompromising.  "I am not totally without feeling," he had said. "You may see my daughter one more time and say your farewells; then if you try to contact her again I will have you killed!"He said it in the same way that he had just asked for his wineglass to be filled.  It was so matter of fact that it was obvious that it was no idle threat.  If they disobeyed, Sven knew he was dead.  So this had been the last meeting.  They had not known what to do or where to go, and now they had almost been killed anyway.  They leaned back on the wing of the little MG Midget, and she clung to him, sobbing gently, the shock of what had happened overwhelming her briefly. He held her close, his hand rubbing her back gently.  In the distance was the noise of the army Landrover starting, then driving off.  They were left alone again.  Totally alone amongst the gentle noises of the bush at night.He gently eased the djellabah back off her shoulders, exposing her skin to the cool night air.  She shivered a little and clung closer.  Sven kissed her again, gently, and this time she responded, moving against him, her hands around his waist pulling, holding.  He kissed her neck and shoulders, tasting her, savouring the flavour of her body.  She tilted her head back to allow better access and then held his head and guided him down to her breasts.  Gently he suckled, teasing the nipples as they came alive and her breathing quickened.  The djellabah fluttered softly to the ground and she stood naked before him, as, on his knees now, he traced his kisses on down across her stomach.  He kneaded her buttocks gently as his kisses led him down to the wiry bush of her pubic hair.  He could smell her arousal, that wonderful odour of woman and musk and sweat.  She leaned back and, half-sitting on the wing of the MG, placed a leg over his left shoulder and uncovered her centre for him, laying open her very soul as she gave herself without reserve.  His kisses homed in on her open vulva and he toyed with her, sucking, biting, licking and kissing as her fingers twined in his hair, holding him tight to her as she hovered on the edge of nirvana.  As her orgasm finally rolled in and took over completely, her moans turned to a soft high- pitched keening, and she would have fallen had he not held her.Still fully clothed he became aware that his own arousal was now less than comfortable.  He half-stumbled as he got up, and she quickly, in turn, held him, her legs coming into contact with his erection.  She said nothing as she unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hands on his chest. Discovering his nipples as erect as her own, she in turn nibbled them, her hands still busy, now undoing his shorts.  She knelt on her cloak as she slipped his garments off, and he gasped as his penis became free, only to be gathered in, into her own mouth.  The sensations of her lips and tongue blotted out everything that had happened that evening; Sven only lived for that moment - nothing else mattered.Julia let go and, crouching over his prone form, held him briefly, and then slipped his penis into her, using her muscles to pull Sven deep inside.  Leaning forward she kissed him, swirling her tongue around his, and they tasted each other's juices as they mingled in their mouths. Without moving she contracted her uterus, and the sensation made Sven gasp as he tried desperately to slow the inevitable as long as possible. He flexed his hips and moved with her, but such was the depth of their arousal that in just two quick strokes the dam broke and they clung shuddering into each other as time stood still.Slowly they gathered their wits together as they slipped apart, Julia rolling off and snuggling into his side.  They lay without speaking on the rocky hillside beside the car as the moon began to set.  No words were spoken as they reluctantly got dressed in the chill of the late night with dawn fast approaching.  Silently they drove back to where she had left her car, and they kissed once, gently, without the passion of the previous hours.  Julia's hand brushed his cheek, and then she was gone, driving swiftly off as the light quickly grew.As the sun rose Sven the younger drove home, heart broken.o - O - oSven never saw Julia again, but still wonders now, as Sven the elder, on what might have been.  Looking back over thirty years and rereading the episode, it is still fresh, as the mind conjures up the sounds, tastes and smells of the event.  The sweat of the soldiers, the sounds of love-making.Is it a true story?  Of course, except for the bits that got made up.  <grin>© Sven the Elder - Nov '97