Richard Lord: Best of Asian Erotica, Volume 2

‘Let me ask you: do you really have any idea who Teiresias was?’

I laughed. ‘Not a clue.’

She gave a chugging laugh. ‘Teiresias was this guy in Greek mythology who had a good position; a top assistant to one of the gods. Anyone, one day he was walking along, saw these two snakes copulating, thrashed them with his walking stick, and was turned into a woman as a “punishment”.’

‘Ooo.’

‘Then, one day, Zeus and Hera—the king and queen of the gods?—they had this argument about who gets more pleasure in sex, a man or a woman.

So they asked Teiresias, because she knew both sides. Teiresias was certain: woman have much more pleasure in sex.’

‘I see. And would you agree with that?’

‘Who am I to argue with my role model?’ I laughed at that one.

We exchanged a few more rounds of banter, and then I had to go. She asked me to kiss her goodbye, which I did even though she remained lying on the couch with her blindfold on. I tried to lift it off for this last kiss, but she resisted strongly. ‘I don’t have to see you. I still see you, see you the way you were when we were one. That’s the best view, believe me.’ I relented.

I smoothened out the blindfold and leaned into her lightly. It was a warm and gentle kiss, one that promised future meetings.

But I never saw her again. For the next few days, I kept calling and getting a message to leave a message. I left about two dozen of them, some of the later ones rather angry or pitifully desperate. After the third day, when I called, I was told the number was no longer in operation.

I then drove out to where she lived. Because it was a condo, I couldn’t get past the guards. I tried to explain that I needed to see Teresa, to clarify something, but these guys weren’t very helpful. Well, to be fair, I wasn’t even sure of her apartment number or the building she was in. I thought I knew, but the guards, of course, wouldn’t let me go in and wander around to check.

I tried to describe her, but what could I say—that I was looking for a beautiful woman who used to be a man named David? I didn’t even know her last name. For that matter, was Teresa itself her real name? Was there anything about this person that was one hundred percent real?

I went to the club were he had met, went quite a few times in fact, but she never came back. At least not on the evenings I was there. It was as if she’d just disappeared.

Well, she did warn me more than once that evening that she was complex.

I guess I should always be grateful to her for letting me see that I myself was more complex than I’d ever imagined. In some ways, it was the most unforgettable night of my life. In other ways, it was a night I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to forget.