... or make love to you." I gave her a quick squeeze about the shoulders. "It took me a while to adjust, too." "But you still did things," she said. "You were still going out, making friends." "Yeah, but I didn't really understand why, M'ress. I feel a little guilty because sometimes I feel like I mistreated a few people along the way." "Did you?" "They don't think so. But that doesn't change the way I feel about my treatment of them." "Your standards change, Ken." "No, that's not it," I sighed. "We've walked pretty far... do you want to head back?" "Let's sit," she replied. "You want to talk and I want to listen." We sat in the sand, she by my side. "No, Ress, I backslid." She waited. "I think I've always had these standards. I just didn't know how to express them. And because I couldn't express them properly, maybe I misinterpreted them sometimes, or ignored them. I think that's called maturity." She smiled, her slitted eyes dazzling in the starlight. "I don't think it matters," she replied, purring. "You never treated anyone I knew with anything less than the utmost of respect." "Did I?" I said, wondering. "I hope so." "You've managed quite a lot in your last century, Ken. |