..." "What?" he asked sharply. "What? Old?" He laughed. "Rough?" He laughed again. "On the 'rough' part, you know better than that." He took a deep breath again and said, "As for 'old,' well... It's something of a mistake to assume that children are the best teachers about sex, but we make that assumption anyway.. It's a question you've often asked in the past, Ken, when confronted with this question. Why is sex such a 'Big Thing?'" He grinned. "Alexi and Elizabeth went out into the world with a lot of book learning about sex, thanks to having a botanist, a geneticist and a physician as parents. But who did they learn about sex from? Rings Ken, Alexi learned about entalie' from you and me. Sixteen years old when you and I first made love with him. And what about Liz? We don't even know. We trusted her to make that decision. Or did you forget that we gave her TNPIF when she was twelve years old?" I grinned wryly. "I didn't forget." "I didn't think so," he said. "We have had literally hundreds of kids in this house in the past two hundred years. Have you or I ever acted inappropriately? They're all over you at every age, Ken, but it's not until they're sixteen, or almost sixteen, when you start pick up on the signals. It's like your brain is wired not to believe, no matter how much you talk, that kids can be sexual." He collected his thoughts for a moment, then turned to look straight at me. "I read your version of our night with Alexi. That bit about 'burned blood' was pretty good, but you're wrong if you think you've gotten completely free of Terra. |