Surfed upon this on an mp3 blog on a Sunday weekend:

*

Madeleine idly stared out the window of the oversized speedboat that acted as the ferry between Langkawi and Penang, old reclining airplane seats eight across the belly of the hull. Her husband, Jay, slept, mouth open, on her olive-toned shoulder.

They weren’t in love. She knew that.

They’d been married a year. Two years ago, at a New Year’s Eve party, she’d surprised herself by leaning up to kiss him on the mouth at midnight. When their drunken lips parted she said, “Oh,” and he said, “Well then.”

After a year of dating, when he couldn’t think of any substantial reason to dump her and saw no other recourse but to propose, she said yes because it had always been her secret dream to not have to work. She quit her job as a temp secretary and spent the days at the gym and picked up hobbies weekly and generally was content. He worked in insurance or something. She wasn’t quite sure in what capacity but the checks never bounced and her car had leather seats so she didn’t much care.

He snorted and shifted slightly in his sleep, and she felt the cool on her side where his heat had so recently been.

When, after a day laying out on the sugar-white sand, she rubbed aloe into his pink skin, giggling at his ginger misfortune, were her hands any less tender than those of any other wife?

Sometimes, like on this vacation to Langkawi, she saw single people, chirpy and chatty in new red bathing suits. Maybe there really were happy, going back to hostels to fuck each other and reveling in each independent decision. Maybe she was projecting how lonely and downright bored she’d felt while single. Either way, she didn’t envy them.

Madeleine and Jay’s relationship was comfortable, two worlds intersected by shared space and experience but without much regard or emotion toward the other, like siblings. Siblings who fucked sporadically; their marriage was loveless, not sexless.

She ran a finger down his freckled bicep, feeling the sun’s trapped heat emanate off his usually pale skin. With the corner of her mouth, she kissed the top of his head and she felt nothing.

*

One comment said: “This seems like the type of marriage that usually lasts.”

(from book “The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim” by Jonathan Coe)

Your manhood is under construction? Try the blue magic pill.
The vigor in your pants will be unbreakable.
When your tool is big, the rest of the world seems so little for you.
Your powerful uprise will excite women.
The things are really bad when your male friend is dead.
Rock hard erect monster!
The fastest way to success is to restore your manliness.
A fabulous instrument will give you a fabulous reputation.
Give yourself the edge over the other guys.
Push your banger inside lady.
The friend in your pants will be dancing like at a party.
Here to help you leave the pain of smallness.
Your gun stands to attention - everybody shocked!
Wind joystick round leg!
You can renew and restore your youth condition.
The truth behind 9 inches!
Never disappoint her again!
Make your stick voluminous.
You’ll call it Peter the Great.
Take part in a sexual marathon with our qualified help.
The hard friend in your pants will look up into the sky.
Upgrade your apparatus.
Get your rocket best fuel.
Life with a small tool is pathetic and miserable.
Tired of your little friend staring at the floor?
Tired of ending the night with just a kiss?
Fornicate like a macho!
Now you don’t have to turn off the lights when you take off your pants.
Women will give you stars from the sky to sleep with you.
Know her from the sexual side how is she inside completely.
Women want to be penetrated hard.
Only huge boners can reach g-spot.
You must be The Real Man with huge dignity.
Get the longest banana.
Help her find happiness! Rid her of pain!
Recapture a bit of your youth again.
What else do you need to be a perfect man?
Learn how to be really inside her.
Give her complete firmness.
Your rigid friend will keep his head straight up.
Women will be singing odes to the majestic monster in your pants.
Finally get the attention you deserve!
Forget the past and focus on the future - get bigger today.
No woman will dare turn her back on you.
Nobody can be blamed for your pitiful member but you can change it.
Flaccidity won’t be your rod’s trouble.
Enlarging your male tool means winning a war.
Size matters in this real world.

As we segregate our personal and professional lifestyles, Are we doing too much to differentiate otherwise what is one life to us? Or is it within the interest of one, or the people at large?

Actually, sometimes all I wanted was to be pushed by someone while I was sitting in a trolley.