Status Updates From The Play Room

She danced wildly, feeling that here, in this classless, uncritical society, she had found some sort of escape. She was so excited that she laughed all the time and her partner, excited by her excitement. flung himself about in a physical fury, at times taking leaps into the air as though the dance itself were not enough to consume his energy.

Laura nodded but now their moods had been exchanged. She was apathetic while Vicky, a-shimmer with anticipation, was eager for Laura to share her eagerness. ‘You'll see, we'll have a fabulous time. It'll be mad. I'll make Clarrie introduce you to everyone. If you don't dance, I won't dance either’

Laura, discouraged, dropped down on the rug and shutting her eyes, saw herself walking in night-time Soho through a street a-dazzle with lights, where nobody slept. There were discotheques and dance clubs and cafés and coffee bars and young men by the dozen: young men beyond dreams, with lean pliable bodies and hair curling on their shoulders, as beautiful as archangels, in clothes all colours.

The holiday was almost over. They had known for a short time the simplicity of independence. Tomorrow they must face again the emotional confusion of home.