The Reunion and a Lesson About the Mechanics of Sex

So, Leo said that at dinner he'd tell us the story of how Melissa Shook introduced him to sex. But he couldn't wait. It was late afternoon, we were sitting in the sun, a slight chill, out on the porch (it was painfully apparent that we were in, near, around, later than our seventies, my god, why was I there?) and so he decided to tell the story then, not wait.

It took place in 3rd or 4th grade when he was in love with the beautiful Melissa Shook who he tried to visit as often as possible. When he got home one time, he asked his mother to explain how to have babies. She said, "If you stand very close to the one you love, the seed will pass." And so, he said, he followed me down the hall at Main Street School endlessly, but nothing happened.

I actually remember Leo coming over to my house which is quite amazing because I don't remember my mother or father from those years. But Leo came over and he broke his glasses and I felt really, really terrible. I remember feeling terrible. That this happened. I've always remembered this, counted it as one of the solid memories from those years I've forgotten before my mother died when I was twelve.

Leo doesn't remember breaking his glasses.

I have to say that being beautiful, if I was, was a hideous curse. It would have been far better to be plain, ignorable, and allowed to proceed on to learn something.