No Future Ch. 74

LXXIV
Promised Land
Alex
2035

"My people will never be held ransom by its neighbours," said Tabitha as she sprawled beside Alex on his roomy double bed.

Alex glanced towards the television that was burbling on in the background as it had been for the whole time that he and his fellow senior executive director were enjoying the pleasures of one another's luxuriant flesh and stomach bulges that was the inevitable penalty of too many business lunches. The news story was about the stand-off in the Korean peninsula between the belligerent North and the ever conciliatory South.

"Your people?" asked Alex, who was somewhat puzzled by Tabitha's statement. What had this to with the staff in the Strategy Division of which she was director?

"Israel," said Tabitha.

"Israel?" wondered Alex. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Fuck sake, Alex," said Tabitha with obvious irritation. "It's got everything to do with almost everything you can think of." She returned Alex's bewildered expression with something that approximated to understanding pity. "You really don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?"

"Did you even know I was an Israeli citizen?" she asked.

"No, I didn't," said Alex who'd never once thought about it.

"Well, that figures," said Tabitha. "You really don't pay any attention, do you? I'd have thought it was obvious."

"I never think about people's nationalities," said Alex. Although this wasn't always absolutely true, it was certainly so with regards to Tabitha. In fact, until very recently Alex hadn't thought much about Tabitha at all.

She was a relatively new member of Talpha Apps' executive board and Alex was taken as much unawares as everyone else by her rapid rise in status in the organisation. Within a few months of not having achieved much of demonstrable value she now boasted a salary that wasn't far short of Alex's and had gained the respect of the rest of the board; although this was more for her decisiveness and energy than her professional expertise. She'd recognised that Alex as a potential kindred spirit and without doubt as a man who couldn't resist the tempting offer of a fuck when it came his way.

Tabitha was almost certainly the oldest woman Alex had ever had sex with although, depressingly, she wasn't actually very much older than him. Nonetheless, of the two of them she was the one who'd made the better job at concealing the ravages of the passing years. While Alex's paunch was now too obvious to hide under a belt hoisted up high and the bald spot on his crown was too large to be hidden under a discreet comb-over, Tabitha had compensated for the increasing kilograms of flesh with expensive pedicures, sympathetic skin therapy and a subtle and intelligent use of make-up. She was now encouraging Alex to take that long-resisted step of taking advantage of his executive gym membership. After all, it cost the company a fortune just to keep renewing it for him.

"I was born an Israeli citizen," said Tabitha. "I did my military service after graduating. I'm proud to hold an Israeli passport. And I can tell you that if we were pushed around by the Syrians, the Jordanians, the Lebanese, or—God help us all—the Palestinians in anything like the way the North Koreans do their southern neighbours there'd be a smell of burning flesh from one end of the Middle East to the other. It's because Israel never compromises, never stands down, never shows weakness, that we remain strong and why we shall never be in the same sorry state as South Korea."

Alex wasn't the sort of man who'd expend effort on an argument he knew he could never win. It was obvious that Tabitha would countenance no difference of opinion, although Alex had known many people, most of them women, who expressed rather more sympathy for the Palestinians whose houses were bulldozered and whose cities were bombed than for an Israel bristling with nukes. However, he couldn't resist mentioning how much the military support from the United States was critical to Israel's survival.

"That is a typical Anglo-Saxon opinion," Tabitha almost spat out in defiance. "It's the opinion that the guilt and shame of allowing the Holocaust to happen was the sole reason for the foundation of the State of Israel. It's an opinion that belittles the achievements of a proud nation united by race and religion on the pretence that it's secured entirely by American money and American votes. Even when America falls, Israel will stand tall. It is our destiny. It can never be otherwise."

Alex still wasn't sure how much or whether at all he would benefit from having a relationship with a work colleague, especially one as senior as Tabitha. It was less difficult to see how Tabitha might benefit from a relationship with him. It did her no harm at all to embed herself in a position with regards to the rest of the Executive Board from which it would be impossible to dislodge her. It would also benefit her if her relationship resulted in marriage. It would double her disposable wealth more or less at a stroke. And it would be even more to her benefit if she later became the wronged partner in a subsequent divorce. But despite knowing this, Alex wasn't a man who could easily turn down an opportunity for sex even with a lover as formidable as Tabitha.

Alex was drawn to the very thing that also most troubled him about having a relationship with a woman who was his social equal on so many levels. His relationships in the last couple of years had been a series of short liaisons with much younger women who were totally unsuitable as long-term partners. In most cases these relationships were predicated pretty much on exchanging sex for money and status, so they weren't too unlike using the services of prostitutes that since Alex no longer had any difficulty in affording he was also more often tempted by. At least a relationship with Tabitha wasn't compromised by disparities of age and income that were too obvious.

"I'm not sure," said Alex a few days later when Tabitha remarked that they should formalise their relationship by making it public knowledge. "Isn't there something a bit wrong about someone who's not at all Jewish marrying someone who is? Aren't there restrictions on that sort of thing?"

"It would have to be a proper Jewish wedding," speculated Tabitha more to herself than anyone else. "If it got that far, of course. And you'd have to get circumcised."

"You're kidding right?" said an alarmed Alex.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" asked Tabitha whose face betrayed no trace of humour whatsoever. She pulled at the foreskin of Alex's limp penis as it trailed over his thigh. "This thing is absolutely disgusting! If we were to stay together, I'd have to insist you did something about it. And it's not a religious thing, either. It's just commonsense hygiene."

"Is it?" asked Alex, who nevertheless wondered why, if that was so, that no one had ever mentioned it to him before.

Although Alex didn't know it at the time, this exchange was to be the highpoint of his relationship with Tabitha. Over the subsequent weeks, he became increasingly aware that Tabitha's attitude towards him had begun to cool. It was no longer Tabitha who would make arrangements for them to meet at a restaurant, wine bar or West End show, but Alex who would remind her that they should do so.

At the same time, Alex became aware that he was no longer the only man on the Executive Board who attracted Tabitha's wandering gaze.

Tom wasn't divorced, separated or single. As far as Alex could see, he'd been happily married for many years now. He was also no more Jewish than Alex. Furthermore, he was some ten years older than Alex and the years had taken a visible toll. He was almost entirely bald, his stomach strained at shirt buttons that were often too tight and the bags under his eyes had become a permanent feature. No one could say that Tom was a better physical catch than Alex, but Tabitha had quite clearly fixed her attention on him.

Alex could see why Tom might be an attractive proposition for Tabitha, despite being non-Jewish, middle-aged and already married. He'd been on the Executive Board for rather longer than anyone else and he actually knew something about the products that Talpha Apps sold to the world. He was one of the few executives whose opinion the company's technical and professional staff paid any attention to, although he was visibly more at ease in the company of those who knew better how to regurgitate clichés and buzz words than express anything of insight or meaning. He was demonstrably more senior than Alex in status, competence and usefulness to the company although his salary was pretty much the same. Alex could see that if Tabitha could prise him away from his wife, he might well be a better stepping stone for her than Alex could ever be.

The inevitable break-up with Alex didn't come without pain. It was one of the facts of life to which Alex had become well accustomed over the years that the more someone drew away from you the more desperately you wanted things to stay much the same. Tabitha's visits to Alex's bed became less frequent whilst Alex was no longer invited back to Tabitha's Docklands apartment with its delightful view of the newly reinforced flood barriers. In contrast, the sex they had together was becoming more fervent and passionate. This was also a familiar pattern known to Alex.

"What about Mrs Turner?" asked Alex as if it mattered to Tabitha when she at last broke the news that her relationship with Tom had reached the stage where it was no longer appropriate that she should continue to have sex with Alex (not that her passion in the last hour or so had noticeably declined).

"It's Tom's decision what he does with his life," said Tabitha baldly. "If he wants to move on, that's his choice. His wife will just have to accept that society's movers and the shakers sometimes just have to move on to greener pastures. Tom isn't a man who's content to stand still. He has a passion to succeed and get ahead."

It was difficult for Alex to reconcile his image of Tom with Tabitha's depiction of him as a dynamic manager. Alex knew him as a man who he'd only ever seen get agitated when a waiter in the restaurant was slow in serving him or when a taxi was late to arrive. Generally, he was avuncular, unhurried and imperturbable. His value in Executive Board meetings was mostly on those few occasions when it was necessary that someone who understood the business should venture an opinion. On such rare occasions, he manifestly enjoyed milking the other executives' anticipation while he slowly elaborated why something might or might not be a good decision (although he never once ruled against the expert opinion of his technical advisors).

And so Alex was left on the shelf. His relationship with Tabitha had never been made public knowledge, unlike hers with Tom. She soon consolidated her status as his new fiancée while also expecting and receiving the congratulations and good wishes of the other board members.

It was Alex who was now in the more junior position. His longer sojourn on the board counted for nothing in comparison with the charisma of a woman of drive and ambition. It was obvious she was now a very likely candidate for the position of Chief Executive Officer if the current one should move on.

Alex's main hope now was that his past relationship would remain an asset and never become a liability. But that could only happen if he maintained a very high level of discretion.

And so this was one relationship that neither he nor Tabitha could ever acknowledge had ever happened.