A very pressing problem

*** This is from a weekday morning in October but remained in my journal till past its date and is now included here. ***

I was in my bathroom patting on makeup when Jessy came in, on the excuse of looking for some thing or another out of my cupboard. ''Hey,' she said, leaning past me and swiped up the eyeliner.

'You need to get your own of that stuff,' I said.

'When do I ever go out?' She stopped behind me in the doorway and seemed to watch me go on. I certainly wasn't watching what she was doing and for a short moment believed she had gone out. Then she asked, 'How was your night?'

I shrugged. 'How is any night?' This is how we tease each other, turning questions back on each other. It's half in fun and half to practise what Daddy calls 'practical sarcasm'.

'I don't know....' She seemed unsure of what to say next. 'Did I hear your bed moving last night?'

My first reaction, which I wish I had not had, was to blush. 'Did you?'

And of course she saw my blush. 'Janine....' She giggled. 'Was it really that--?'

'Oh, like I'm going to tell you that!' I turned and waved her away like a bug. 'You've never--?'

'Oh, all the time,' she said simply. 'But I didn't know your bed squeaked that much. You must have been--'

'GO,' I said strongly, and she giggled more and went out. I turned back to the mirror but by now was so red that I'd have to wait to apply more stuff. The bed is pretty strong-- nearly brand-new from the custom woodworking shop and though it's made traditionally, with joints that are not glued so they can come apart for the thing to be moved, I have a regular box-spring and mattress on the ropes. I always thought it was pretty solid and quiet. I can only imagine what Jessy was doing up at about 2.30 in the morning when I was solving a very pressing problem in the sanctuary of my own bed.

Should I now start sleeping with the gallery door closed? And what would be the point? We've never hid from each other the fact that we both do it. We've each even done it in front of the other before. It's natural and normal. I guess I just don't care for being evaluated on the intensity of my--

Oh, I'd better not finish that thought!

...