Everyone else is ready. I begin to feel incredibly nervous. My stomach is churning. It’s going to be my turn soon. Heather walks to the top of the c...urt with the basketball, and motions Mike and I to join her.‘Alright then,’ she says, trying to sound official, ‘this is going to be a 1-on-1 game of streetball; winner’s ball.’ ‘We are going to play to thirty,’ she continues in the same ridiculously officious voice, her face turning slightly red from silliness of it all. ‘The winner gets...’ she. He looked at her pleadingly: she found it almost impossible to refuse him anything, and she relented.'Well, then — just a kiss, ' she smiled weakly, and tightened her arm round him.Their lips touched — at first, they just sat there like that, but then Jamie slowly moved his mouth on his mother's, and despite herself she felt herself beginning to respond.Their mouths opened slightly, and his tongue found hers. The kiss became more insistent — soon, he was working his mouth on hers, sometimes. Then suddenly, Keerthi came to me. We both didn’t talk after the marriage was fixed. So, I thought she came to me for a small talk.Keerthi: Hey, Vijay.Me: Hi Keerthi, how are you?Keerthi: I am good. How are you, Vijay?Me: I’m fine. In fact, I am so excited today. From today onward, we’ll become husband and wife.Keerthi: You are right. I also have some fear in my heart. I don’t know whether it is fear or not. But my heartbeat keeps on rising.Me: Don’t worry. We will be happy in our married life.. It was a gloomy ride back to the motel. I just wanted to shut down. I was losing touch with the person I thought I was. The things Jean and I had done last night would have killed me if I were still a man. Now, they made me feel like singing. And I wanted to do them again, as often as Jean could manage.We wound up taking the offer Bob Herrero made last night. We needed cash, we needed political help and we needed some help establishing these bodies as long as we had to wear them.It turned out.