The Three Halves of Martyn Manning-Chapter Thirteen: Induction - Part Two

Meanwhile,
back at The Old Rectory, and clearly unknown to Martyn, at that very
moment another important conversation was taking place. After they’d
got the kids to bed Caroline and Elena went down to the kitchen.
Caroline was in Friday night mode, in a baggy pink track suit with
her hair clipped up, loose strands trailing her face. Elena was still
hesitant, yet to establish a routine, so still wearing her day
clothes of clean blue jeans and a heavy knitted sweater. Caroline
grabbed a bottle of Pinot Grigio from the fridge.

 

“Come
on girl, it’s Friday night, we’ve earned this. Let’s go to my
room and chill. We can watch something if you like or we can just
chat and chill.”

 

“OK.”
Elena wasn’t smiling but Caroline didn’t notice.

 

Up
in her room, Caroline lit several scented candles and the smell of
lavender began to fill the space. She poured the wine and. lay prone
on her bed flicking through the channels. At the foot of the bed
Elena sat stiffly upright.

 

“There’s
fuck all on the normal channels. I’ll try Netflix.”

 

More
flicking.

 

“How
about this? “The Lord of Laguna”? I’ve seen some great reviews
and Donny De Santis is hot AF.”

 

“That’s
fine, I’m happy with whatever.”

 

That
was a statement Elena later regretted. “The Lord of Laguna” was a
cliche-ridden against-the-odds Rich Boy/Poor Girl love story with
stereotyped characters and no plot to speak of. The Guardian reviewer
may have thought it was great but she certainly did not. And Donny De
Santis wasn’t even that hot. After a few minutes of giving it a
chance she hesitantly spoke:

 

“Caroline,
do you mind if we stop it for a few minutes?”

 

Caroline
pressed pause.

 

“Course.
No problem. What’s up?”

 

She
pulled herself up from prone and sat facing Elena with her back
against the headboard.

 

“I’ve
been meaning to ask you this but it’s taken me a while to pluck up
the courage.”

 

Caroline
smiled. “What? You don’t have to pluck up courage Elena, you know
you can ask me anything. What’s up?”

 

“Well
it’s a little personal. It’s intimate.”

 

Caroline
burst out laughing.

 

“Personal?
Intimate? Oh my God! I’m dying to hear this. Go on. No! Wait! No
don’t! Let me try and guess. Give me a minute to think.”

 

She
gazed into space and put on her concentration face. Elena grimaced
with embarrassment at what was to come, but she’d started now,
there was no going back.

 

“Ah!
I know!” Caroline looked back at Elena.

 

“Is
it anything to do with how the hell do you get male company in a
village like this? Oh no, wait a minute. Is it ‘Have I got a
vibrator’ and where do I hide it? Or is it where to buy a vibrator
and which one is best?”

 

She
got up from the bed and moved towards her chest of drawers.

 

“Of
course I’ve got one. Haven’t you? I’ve got two actually. One of
them’s a Rampant Rabbit. Do you want to see?”

 

“No
Caroline. No, no, no. It’s not that. Of course I have a vibrator.”

 

“OK,
I give up. Go on. What is it?”

 

“Well
it’s about Martyn. I’m a little nervous, I mean, what’s it
like? What’s he like?”

 

“What
do you mean ‘What’s he like?’. You’ve been here for a few
days. You’ve seen him. He’s a good bloke, he’s good to work
for. He’s not too strict or demanding. As long as you do a good job
and the kids are happy he generally just lets you get on with it. He
pays well as well. I know he can be a bit anal at times but his
heart’s in the right place. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

 

A
brief little smile flashed across Elena’s face.

 

“Yeah,
I’ve seen the anal. Jesus, I couldn’t believe it when he got all
uptight because all his food wasn’t in separate non-touching piles
on his plate! He should have one of those prison plates where all the
different types of food have they’re own little compartment. But
anyway, that’s no problem, it’s funny, I can live with that. But
that’s not really what I mean. I suppose I’m asking you what the
intimacy is like.”

 

Caroline
first looked confused, then grave.

 

“Intimacy?
Elena, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

“Intimacy.
You know, like when you make love. What’s he like?”

 

“OK
Elena. I’m totally lost. What exactly do you mean “When we make
love?”

 

“Yes.
Is he tender and loving? Is he rough? Is he quick or does he take a
long time? Do you enjoy it? What does he like?”

 

Mystification
tinged with the start of understanding slowly spread across
Caroline’s face.

 

“Elena,
I can categorically and one hundred per cent tell you with complete
certainty and with absolutely no fear of contradiction that I have
never ever and never ever will have sex with Martyn Manning. Not even
a cuddle. Christ, he’s old enough to be my father. And to be fair
to him he’s never even looked at me in that way. What on earth ever
made you think that? Have you ever seen me go to his room? Have you
heard me creeping about at night? I don’t think so.”

 

The
realisation of the enormity of her blunder crashed over Elena. She
could feel the heat radiating from her face.

 

“I’m
sorry...I just assumed…”

 

“You
assumed what Elena?”

 

But
what could she say? She’d sprung the trap of her own stupidity.
What an idiot she was! There was nothing she could say now, no
explanation she could give that wouldn’t reflect badly on her.
She’d already impugned Caroline’s morals, and probably deeply
offended her, yet if she went on to explain why she’d made her
disastrous assumption, then given what she now knew about Caroline
and however she tried to justify her position she could only be
perceived as an ‘easy’ woman. Or worse. She decided to tell her
everything. There was no other way.

 

“I...I
thought that you were employed in the same way as me.”

 

“Same
way? What same way?”

 

Caroline
sat stony faced as Elena explained, about sleeping in the same bed,
the twice a week sex, the money, and hence why she assumed Caroline
had the same deal. When she tried to justify herself the reasons just
came across as hollow and weak. She apologised again, and they sat in
silence.

 

“That’s
a lot of money” said Caroline, without looking up.

 

“Yes,
it is. For me it’s a fairy-tale, a dream.”

 

“Is
it even legal?”

 

More
silence. Elena raised her eyes to look Caroline in the face.

 

“I
thought you weren’t going to his room because I was here and it
would be embarrassing.”

 

“Well
now you know.”

 

“Yes.”

 

She
looked down again.

 

“You
must have a very low opinion of me.”

 

“No,
actually I don’t. I can sort of understand your rationalisations
even if I don’t agree with them, and I don’t do judgmental. And
you come from a relatively poor country, I can see it must be a huge
amount of money to you. It’s a pretty big amount of money to me! No
Elena, it’s not you I have a low opinion of, it’s Martyn.”

 

“He’s
a man.”

 

“He’s
a man? What the hell is that supposed to mean? He’s a man? Being a
man doesn’t give him automatic shagging rights to a female
employee’s body, however much he’s paying! I’m really
disappointed, I really thought he was better than that.”

 

“He’s
a man. Men aren’t like us, most of us anyway. You know men. They
can have sex without intimacy, or some of them can. Without feeling,
without commitment. To them it’s just transactional.”

 

“I’m
not even sure that’s true. OK, some men maybe. But go on.”

 

“He
explained it to me. You know how he’s always saying how logical he
is? As he said, he needs a nanny and he needs sex. He pays the money
and problem solved. Easy. At least for him.” As she spoke she was
desperately trying to push the word ‘prostitute’ out of her head.

 

“But
how about you? How do you feel about being ‘transacted’?”

 

“Well
that’s exactly it. As long as he treats me with dignity and respect
I think I can cope with it.”

 

“I
hope you can. Rather you than me.”

 

Caroline
finished her glass of wine, refilled it, and topped up Elena’s. She
spoke more calmly now, as if to indicate to Elena that that part of
the conversation was over and they could move on, still friends.

 

“At
least you’ll be getting it regularly, I haven’t had sex for
months.”

 

“Haven’t
you had any adventures while you’ve been here?”

 

“Not
really. Well, not many. I sometimes go into town on a Saturday with
Holly, she’s a single mum in the village, and we get chatted up.
I’ve even gone back with a couple of blokes but sometimes I think
what’s the point? I can’t bring them back here and I only get two
nights off a week, it just doesn’t seem worth the effort.”

 

“Are
there no decent men in the village?”

 

Caroline
paused to consider, but only briefly.

 

“You
must be joking. Well, I say that. There’s Tom. He lives on Yew Tree
Avenue. He goes down The Feathers sometimes. He’s a farm labourer,
great body and quite good looking in a tall blonde Nordic sort of
way, but he’s thick as mince and still lives with his mum. Might be
OK for a one-off shag I suppose if you’re desperate. But I don’t
know what you like. I’ll guarantee you that Billy will come calling
as soon as I’m out of the way. He tried it on with me the first
week I started but he’s not my type so I told him to get lost. But
you know, whatever floats your boat, you might think he’s the dog’s
bollocks. Actually, from what I know about Billy he might really have
a dog’s bollocks.”

 

“Ha-ha!
He sounds interesting! So who’s Billy? Tell me more. What’s wrong
with him?”

 

“He’s
the village garage mechanic. You’ll soon meet him at the garage or
The Feathers even if he doesn’t show his face round here. He’s
what you might call a rough diamond and he’s always on the lookout
for fresh meat. I couldn’t tell you where he lives, he seems to be
shacked up with a different woman from one month to the next. Still,
like I say, it’s up to you, make your own mind up, but personally I
wouldn’t touch him with my worst enemy’s bargepole.”

 

She
paused when she heard the muffled sound of keys in the front door.

 

“That’s
Martyn, back from the pub.” She took another gulp of wine.

 

“Should
we go down?”asked Elena.

 

“No.
Well I usually don’t. He’s had a few beers and he’ll be mellow.
He’ll get in his rocking chair with his whisky and cigar and be as
happy as a pig in shit.”

 

“OK.
Fine.”

 

There
was a few seconds silence as they both considered the evening’s
revelations. Eventually Caroline spoke.

 

“You
bugger, you’ve got me thinking now. I wonder what he’s like in
bed. I wonder if he’s as OCD about sex as he is about everything
else. That would be so funny. Oh my God, can you imagine? I wonder if
he’ll insist on you sanitising your growler before he goes in? I
wonder if he’s got a big cock? Ha ha ha! I’m sorry Elena, I
shouldn’t be winding you up. I’m sure it will all be fine and
he’ll be quite normal. Well, fairly normal!”

 

“OK
Caroline, you can stop now.”

 

“Ha
ha ha ha! Hmmm, actually I’m getting quite horny now.”

 

“Friday
night is Rabbit nite?”

 

“Maybe…..”