"Then that swift tongue-flicking thing with the banality behind its suggestion of down-going: what sort of a way is that to behave during the first kiss? I suppose the inadequacy of her lips has made it necessary for her to make a more sudden leap to importunate tongue than better kissers make—still; or on the other hand, she may have no idea.

"I would like to mention as well the strange thing she did with her palm on my sternum. This was later, as we stood in her apartment kissing, and again there was a leap, this time into groping, which felt like overcompensation. Suddenly she stood back a little and with a very serious expression on her face placed her right hand over my breastbone, drew me closer with her left arm around my back, and pressed down hard. It felt, not bad, but unexciting—it felt like some kind of procedure related to alternative medicine.

"We kissed and groped some more and then she did it again. This time I didn't like it at all. She asked, What does that feel like to you? I said, It's interesting, I guess, sort of new. She said, When someone does that to me, I cry. I immediately determined never ever to do that to her, and said nothing."


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