Alien Nation #3 - Body and Soul Read Online Free PDF Page A

she suddenly turned toward the videotapes that were stacked up on the cabinet. “Are you interested in watching something?”
    “Uh . . . yeah. Sure.” Watching TV was a convenient out. It helped to put a tape into the machine when conversation was moving in a direction that made either Sikes or Cathy uncomfortable. He was beginning to sense that there was a lot that made them uncomfortable, because there was a lot that each wanted to say or do, and neither was ready for those things to be said or done.
    She took down a tape that was in a blue and white plastic case. “That nice Mr. Chafin, the manager over at Blockbuster, said that this was a good one. I told him I wanted something about football.”
    “Football?” He tried not to laugh. “Since when are you interested in football?”
    “Well, it seems to preoccupy you a great deal. And I thought that . . . well, I thought maybe that I should try and see what you find so interesting about it.”
    “Baby, you’re the greatest.”
    She pointed in recognition. “ ‘The Honeymooners,’ right?”
    “There’s hope for you, Cathy. There’s real hope.”
    She smiled gratefully and bobbed her head slightly in appreciation as she popped the tape into the player. She pressed the Play button, and then dropped down next to Matt on the couch. Matt took notice of the sleeveless blue dress she was wearing and the sleek curve of her shoulders.
    This business about thinking of her only as a friend didn’t seem to be working out, especially as he became more acutely aware of her presence as a female. Not an alien. Not a nonhuman. But a female, with the allure that just seemed to come with the territory.
    He forced his attention back to the screen.
    The title came on, and his jaw dropped.
    “The Cheeky Cheerleader?”
    “Yes,” she said. “The description on the box made it sound like a great deal of fun. Romping and excitement and such. There weren’t all those technical terms that you’re always tossing around.”
    “Yeah, but Cathy . . .”
    But Cathy was no longer paying attention to him. She was staring at the screen.
    And staring.
    And staring.
    The intrepid cheerleader on the screen had crawled between the legs of the small circle of football players on the field and was in the process of performing some acts that were causing the players to shake in their cleats.
    Sikes cleared his throat. “Uh, Cath . . .”
    She looked at Matt. “Is this what normally goes on in the huddle?”
    “No. No, not really. I mean . . . y’know, if it did, I doubt they’d do anything but huddle. It’d be a . . . well, a very different game.”
    “I should say.” She looked back at the screen. “No wonder so many people like the sport better than baseball.”
    Sikes held his face in his hands, embarrassed on behalf of his entire species.
    When he dared to look up, the scene had shifted to a bedroom. The intrepid cheerleader was now on a bed with a single football player, which was the closest thing to restraint the film had, apparently. The lights were low, much like the lighting in Cathy’s living room, Sikes realized.
    He watched her carefully, waiting for some indication that she was repelled by what she was seeing on the screen. Repelled, or maybe amused.
    But no. She was staring at the film, apparently fascinated by what she was seeing. Sikes couldn’t believe it. As he had learned the details of various Tenctonese mating and reproduction patterns (particularly during the conception and birth of George Francisco’s youngest child) he had had to fight down his initial shock and/or repulsion in every instance. Cathy, on the other hand, seemed eminently fascinated. Maybe it was because she was a doctor.
    The cheerleader was kissing the football player passionately, having worked his shirt up and over his head. Her hands played across the well-formed pectorals.
    Cathy was enthralled.
    And it was at that point that all of Sikes’s meticulously formed rationale over how they