[Michael Johnson]

to her. 'The human sound-
track' he nicknamed her in his own mind. Yet he could have endured living
with her if it had not been for just one thing -- sex.
As soon as he touched her she seemed to wince and stiffen. To embrace
her was like embracing a jointed wooden image. And what was strange was
that even when she was clasping him against her he had the feeling that she
was simultaneously pushing him away with all her strength. The rigidlty of
her muscles managed to convey that impression. She would lie there with
shut eyes, neither resisting nor co-operating but submitting. It was
extraordinarily embarrassing, and, after a while, horrible. But even then
he could have borne living with her if it had been agreed that they should
remain celibate. But curiously enough it was Katharine who refused this.
They must, she said, produce a child if they could. So the performance
continued to happen, once a week quite regulariy, whenever it was not
impossible. She even used to remind him of it in the morning, as something
which had to be done that evening and which must not be forgotten. She had
two names for it. One was 'making a baby', and the other was 'our duty to
the Party' (yes, she had actually used that phrase). Quite soon he grew to
have a feeling of positive dread when the appointed day came round. But
luckily no child appeared, and in the end she agreed to give up trying, and
soon afterwards they parted.
Winston sighed inaudibly. He picked up his pen again and wrote:

She threw herself down on the bed, and at once, without any kind of
preliminary in the most coarse, horrible way you can imagine, pulled up her
skirt. I--

He saw himself standing there in th