The Eternal Struggle: An Amorous Story

This story is a love encounter between James who is a thirty year old Guyanese and a hospital porter. He is an aspiring writer of literary fiction. He has recently grown tired of the role of a ladies man ("sweet boy" in Guyanese parlance) and he now wants to mend his ways by entering a faithful relationship with a woman who can arouse his intellect and affections. He has blamed himself and the women he met for being of the wrong kind. But most of the women he dated were no different from him in terms of their foremost desire for pleasure and self-gratification. Many of his girlfriends he met at discos, and he had given discos a rest. Until a friend persuaded him to visit a recently opened disco that offered terrific sounds. James was greatly fond of music, as though it were his second religion. He decides one Friday night to attend the new disco and, as if from habit, he finds himself striking up a friendship with a woman who is a thirty-three year old Swedish journalist, who works for a left-wing magazine. She is also a staunch feminist. The woman appears to be a no nonsense person, and it remains to be seen how well James will manage the friendship. This tale is set in the era of "Make Love, Not War" and "Free Love". Not the typical erotic tale, for the romance is mild and the love scenes discreet. The action of the tale rests upon the thoughts and behaviour of the characters.