50 in 50

"It's not that I'm angry," he said, standing and brushing the bits of frozen grass from the leg of his uniform. "Hurt maybe, depressed really. Struck by the woman I love." He gave the swing an indifferent shove.

"Please don't start that talk again, Frank. It's all over. You just say that because you want to do you-know-what with me. And you know I love someone else."

"Gwenn darling, face facts. You're not going to see Robert again, ever…"

"You can't be sure."

"Believe me, I'm sure. The whole world's blown up, bang, just like that, without warning, and everyone with it. We were in the spaceship on the other side of the moon or we would have blown up too. But Robert's gone with it. He was in Minneapolis and Minneapolis is gone."

"We don't know."

"We know. I don't think Minneapolis had any special dispensation. All we found with the search radar is this chunk of the world. This is the biggest piece that there is."

Gwenn frowned at the thought and put out her leg so the swing topped. "There might be a piece of Minneapolis too…"

"And if Robert is on it he is frozen just like that sheep."

"You're so cruel — you just want to hurt me!"

"No, please." He took her by the shoulders carefully, standing behind her. "I want anything but that. It's just that you must face up to the truth. There's just you and me now. And I love you. I mean that, sincerely."

While he spoke his hands gently caressed her shoulders and moved down her arms, out onto the sweet swell of her breasts. But Gwenn shrugged out of his embrace and jumped to her feet, walking quickly away from him. She looked down at the immobile sheep.

"I wonder if he felt anything?" she asked.

"Who — Robert or the sheep?"

"Oh, you are cruel!"

She stamped her foot in anger — then raised her hand as he moved towards her. Frank growled something indecipherable under his breath and dropped into the swing.

"Let's be realistic," he said. "Let's forget everything that happened on the ship. Forget I made a pass at you, forget that I tried to get you into the sack. Forget it. Let's start fresh. Face the situation that we're in. The two of us alone. I'm Adam and you're Eve…"

"Gwenn."

"I know your name is Gwenn. I mean we're like Adam and Eve and it is up to us to keep the human race going. Do you understand?"

"Yes. You're still trying to seduce me."

"God damn it, it doesn't matter what you think! It's our duty. We may have been spared by divine providence…"

"You told me that you were an atheist."

"Well you said that you go to church. I'm looking at it from your point of view."

"And I'm looking at it from yours. You're oversexed."

"Be happy that I am. We must be fruitful. We owe it to the human race.'"

Gwenn patted the sheep's head, deep in thought. "I don't know," she finally said. "It might be best to end it all right here. We blew up the world, didn't we? That's what you might call pollution on a really impressive scale."

"You can't mean that. We don't know what happened. It could have been an accident…"

"Some accident."

"Well, you know…" Frank jumped from the swing and came towards her. "Forget the human race then.” he pleaded. "Think of you and me. The two of us. The warmth of contact, the end of loneliness, the thrill of the kiss, touch of flesh…"

"If you come any closer I'll scream!"

"Scream away!" Frank shouted, angry and bitter, grabbing her, pulling her to him. "Who's going to hear? I love you. . want you. . need you…"

She pushed at him desperately, turning her face back and forth away from his but he was far stronger. He kissed her neck, her cheek — and she stopped struggling.

"Are you some kind of rapist?" she asked in a very low voice, looking him straight in the eyes. For a moment longer he held her. Then dropped his hands and stepped away.

"No. I'm not a rapist. Just a nice middle-class boy with a strong sex drive and plenty of guilt."

"That's better."

"It is not better — it's a lot worse! I mean what am I doing, the last man alive on Earth, feeling guilt? My bourgeois world is gone but I still carry it around with me. What do you think would happen to you if I were a real male chauvinist pig and just grabbed you and worked my will upon you?"

"Don't talk dirty."

"I'm not talking dirty — I'm just trying to knock some sense through your dumb blond head. It's you and I, get it? Just the two of us. We've got this chunk of the world and I've anchored our spaceship under it to give us gravity and air and the atomic pile will keep it this way for a thousand years. The food synthesizer will make all the food we need so we are all set, in a manner of speaking."

"All set for what?"

"That's what I'm asking you. Are we going to grow old gracefully, and separately, just good chums, you knitting and me watching old TV tapes? Do you want that?"

"I didn't think much of that dumb-blond remark."

"Don't change the subject. Is that the way you want it?"

"I haven't thought about…"

"Well think. We're here. Alone. For the rest of our lives."