The Scent of Androgyny

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She licked her fingers, tore a Nubbin into bite-sized bits, fed one of the bits to Jimmy. Then she let him lick her fingers for her. he ran his tongue around the small ovals of her nails. This was the closest she could get to him without becoming food: she was in him, or part of her was in part of him. Sex was the other way around: while that was going on, he was in her.
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-- excerpt from Oryx and Crake
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A weekend at the beach gave me a slight tan, not too dark, not too light, perfect like a warm mocha latte. My hair's unruly and wavy now like the afternoon currents rolling over the white sands, my face with a delectable pinkishness like fresh watermelon. I haven't swum in open water for years and it felt splendid burning up under the summer sun.
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I've never eaten so much since I started tightening my belt. I couldn't help myself -- the chewiness of grilled squid, the moistness of grilled fish, icy sweet banana shakes, the aroma of cooked rice, the gentle sea breeze, a few satisfying cigarette puffs, the convivial atmosphere, the enticement of bare skin. I just had to indulge.
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Back in the office, I felt like putting on a new fragrance. I'm bored with my assortment of citrus-based scents and wondered why I had so many. The new one I bought is a mixture of fresh laundry scent and a bit of sugary musk. Smells good enough to eat. So while I had been walking around the office diffusing my commercial brand of synthetic pheromones and showing off my mocha latte complexion with wavy surfer dude black hair and goatee, I had no idea I'd be upstaged, for in one of the quieter moods that day, while I was busy sitting in my cubicle working, I never thought my nose would pick up something more fragrant than my own. It was coming from my seatmate who just arrived for work a good 2 and a half hours past my shift. The scent was fresh. It wasn't fruity. It was androgynous. And for those who know me, I bask in the celebration of the senses. I easily forget what I see but scent and speech I remember very well.
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So there I was, talking to people in distant lands but my desires were very much within arm's length. I was sitting next to the shore, my thoughts drowning in the waves of an indiscernible scent, my hearing closing in on a tender voice, I had wished, was calling out my name.
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