Gabriel

 Florentino Ariza, who had never lost

 the timidity of a novice even in com-

 fortable circumstances, risked a super-

 ficial caress on her neck with the tips

 of his fingers, and she writhed and

 moaned like a spoiled child and did not

 stop crying. Then he kissed her on the

 same spot, just as softly, and he could

 not kiss her a second time because she

 turned toward him with all her monumen-

 tal body, eager and warm, and they roll-

 ed in an embrace on the floor. The cat

 on the sofa awoke with a screech and

 jumped on top of them. They groped like

 desperate virgins and found each other

 any way they could, wallowing in the

 torn albums, fully dressed, soaked with

 sweat, and more concerned with avoiding

 the furious claws of the cat than with 

 the disastrous love they were making.

  

  But beginning the fol-

  lowing night, their

  scratches still bleed-

  ing, they continued to

  make love for several

  years.

Gabriel Garcia Márquez

Love in the Time of Cholera

1985

Edith Grossman

  translation

Knopf, 1988©

ii Photograph Laurent

    Leica M-6, 50mm Summicron

    op. cit.