hadn't been with him. "But let's get back to you. When
you're coming up out of the wave, you're just feeling
these new sensations and you're full of the same sort
of questions May had about herself, questions you
had, too. Understand? Think of that, concentrate on
it." He paused and glanced at me. "Your body is
developing. There are tingles, feelings, sensations in
places there never were before. You're standing in
front of the mirror, naked, and you're seeing things
that, as you said, surprise, frighten, and thrill you at
the same time. Okay?"
I nodded. The air was so warm around me. I did
feel as if I had slipped back in time. His words
worked magic. My body remembered itself, the first
tingles returned, the images--
The teakettle whistled, breaking my reverie. He
poured us each a cup and offered me a cracker. "How do you know so much about women?" I
asked, and he laughed.
"Me? I'm far from the expert on women. You're
confusing me with dear old Dad."
"Is that really why you and he don't get along
so well?"
"That's part of it," he said, taking a sip of tea.
"Parents shouldn't try to force their children to follow
in their footsteps, especially if their feet are made of
clay," he said.
He talked a little about how his father had pressured him to go to law school and then how he had
rebelled. I told him about Cary and his dream to leave
fishing and become a ship builder of custom boats. "I told him to tell his father."
"Did he do it?" he asked, his eyebrows raised in