“B, I want to grab what I can, while I can”, is the defining statement that is uttered by Vera, the main character in the erotic short story “Vera” written by Caroline Covington. The main theme of the short story is one that resonates with us all, which is, ‘seize the moment and experience life to its fullest’.
Vera is an extremely realistical character, readers will feel her despair and reconcile with her yearning to attain the most out of life, even though lymphoma is sapping her vivacity and confidence. Vera’s hunger and thirst for a boyfriend, a baby and fulfilling sex establishes a place in reader’s hearts as it reflects certain wishes nearly everyone desires.
Music is a key component within “Vera” as it is ever present in the backdrop of her life. Through artists such as: k.d. lang, Carole Pope, Bryan Ferry, Ian Drury, The Beatles and Vera’s much-loved group, the Rolling Stones, her deep seated emotions are expressed. For as the tableau of Vera’s life unfolds the composition of the music changes to add profundity to each individual scene.
In “Vera” readers are introduced to the character Gavin whom I feel is an incredibly important person in the piece. Gavin is representative of a certain part of humanity. He is a loathsome member of society, a person who is attracted to and intrigued with death, not the realistical kind but the Hollywood’esque type. Hence, when he is confronted with Vera’s state he becomes confounded, for instance “…the more Vera recovered and returned to her former glory, the more he seemed dissatisfied with her.” I believe that his actions towards Vera cause her a lot of harm and this is reflected by her quest to embark upon a self-fulfilling journey. My sole contention is that Gavin’s emotional state is something that I wish the author had expanded upon. Maybe we might be in for a surprise and she might do so in her next short story.
One of the wishes Vera has is to have sex with a woman. Being Vera’s best friend, B grants her this wish. I believe that this is not merely a wish fulfilment on B’s part, but it is also a heartfelt gift. The smouldering sex scenes between B and Vera are profoundly intoxicating that the reader will wish that they were the person either bestowing this gift of sexual awakening unto Vera, or the receiver of such a gift.
The sex between the two main characters is not only about fucking, but it is a declaration of love and life. The sweet fucking between these two very dear friends is life affirming, as each orgasmic sexual encounter affirms and reaffirms Vera’s humanity. Each fuck says “Fuck You” to the disease that is slowly stealing Vera away and it asserts her existence.
The author does more than enough justice to every sexual coupling, each one is thoroughly descriptive, the colours, the smell and even the taste are vividly depicted. Likewise Vera and B also discover something new about each other during each sexual interlude. For instance B discovers that Vera’s nipples “were flat and… rose only when suckled or in the throes of orgasm”. She also discovers that Vera’s pussy is as exotic as her pussy with an intoxicating scent and a sweet taste, but with differences such as “black pubic hair”, “olive skin” and “nut brown labia” with “pink insides”. Again, due to the graphic element of the images, readers will wish that they too could reach out, sample and delight in this succulent “rare tropical flower”.
Overall “Vera” is an outstanding, poignant short story that gives hope to the erotic genre. It confirms that erotica can be more than just a pedantry endeavour. It can have deeper elements than a lot of licking, sucking and fucking. An erotic short story can possess wicked fucking with great dialogue and aesthetic qualities, but most of all it can have a lot of heart. Thus, I applaud Caroline Covington for taking this risk by adding a sense of humanity and substance to her erotic writing and for giving readers three-dimensional characters that are more than a sum of their individual genitalia.
Katherine H.
July 9th 2005
katherine_xyz123@yahoo.ca