What Sheba Did Wrong

The other night, over dinner, Sheba was talking about the first time that she and the Connolly boy kissed. I’ve heard about it before, of course—there being few aspects of the Connolly business that Sheba has not described to me several times over. But this time round, something new came up. I happened to ask her if anything about the first embrace had surprised her and she laughed. Yes, she said. The smell of the whole thing had been surprising. She hadn’t anticipated his personal odour, and if she had, she would probably have guessed at something teenagey: bubblegum; cola; feet.