you recall when this first happened to you?" "Yes, I guess so."
"What was it like?"
"Scary and wonderful," I said. He nodded,
obviously encouraging me to continue. I thought about it. "There were new feelings in old places." He
smiled.
"Yes," he said. "Exactly."
"When May told me about her first kiss, I
thought about mine and how I had run all the way
home and gone into my room to be alone with my
excitement. I wrote the boy's name about two million
times and dreamed about more kisses, longer kisses." "Did you tell your mother about it?"
"After a while."
"And?" he asked, very interested in what she
had said.
"She laughed and told me not to believe in
kisses or any promises made while kissing. She said
to make them pay, that they're never too young to pay.
I didn't understand at the time," I said, waiting to see
what he would offer as an explanation for Mommy's
bitter attitude about men.
"She ruined the moment with that kind of talk.
You have to believe in the magic first. Haille didn't
stop for magic. That was her problem," he said. "I
don't think she enjoyed growing up, or gave herself
enough time for innocence, understand?"
"Sort of. You mean she grew up too fast?"
"Worse. She gave herself away too young," he said.
My breath caught.
"How do you know that?"
"She told me," he said, and I understood it