She was coming out of the bathroom. The real shock, though, was that she was naked. She stood there blankly for a moment, as though she, too, were somewhat startled, and without the slightest trace of moisture visible on her naked body. But then she began to pick up the scattered clothes one by one and slip them on. She did this quite calmly, not in the least flustered or embarrassed, as though getting dressed were merely something demanded by the situation, rather than something she herself felt to be necessary.

While she stood there getting dressed, calmly and methodically and without turning her back to him, he was of course aware that he should either avert his gaze or hurry outside. And yet he remained standing there, as if rooted to the spot. She wasn’t as gaunt as when she’d initially turned vegetarian. She’d gradually put on weight after being admitted to the hospital, and she’d eaten well when she’d been staying with him and his wife, thanks to which her breasts had now rounded out into softness. Her waist narrowed sharply, her body hair was fairly sparse, and the overall effect, aside from the line of her thigh, which he felt could have done with being a little rounder, was one of an enticing lack of superfluity. Rather than provoking lust, it was a body that made one want to rest one’s gaze quietly upon it. Once she’d finished sorting through the clothes and putting them on she came up to him, and it occurred to him that he hadn’t managed to get a look at her Mongolian mark.

“I’m sorry.” Belatedly he stammered his excuse. “What with the door being open, I thought you’d just popped out for something or other.”

“It’s okay.” Now, too, she spoke as though answering like this was the expected, necessary thing. “It’s just that I enjoy being like this when I’m on my own.”

So. He tried to collect his thoughts; his mind had gone blank. She’s saying that she always walks around with her clothes off in the house. He’d been fine just a moment ago when confronted with her naked body, but as soon as he grasped what she was saying he became flustered and felt his penis becoming engorged. He took off his baseball cap and squatted down awkwardly, trying to conceal his erection.

“I’ve nothing to offer you to eat…”

She walked over to the kitchen area and he took in the fact that her light gray tracksuit bottoms were grazing her bare skin, knowing from what he’d just seen that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath. Her buttocks were neither large nor particularly voluptuous. Nothing to account for why his mouth was suddenly so dry.

“I’m not really hungry,” he said, stalling for time in the hope he’d be able to suppress his arousal. “How about we just eat some of this fruit?”