"
Silence.
"A boy in my class, Gerald Prang, says he is my beau."
"Silly fellow."
"Ethel Watts has one. They kiss."
"That's horrid."
"Is it horrid for me and Ethel to kiss?"
"No, Zoe, you know it isn't."
"Would it be horrid for me and Gerald--Gerald and I--to kiss?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Listen, Zoe, a new word. The most beautiful and the most horrible thing
in the world can be sex."
"Sex?"
"Yes, dear. We haven't used the term in our talks--yet."
"Isn't it nice?"
"That lies with you."
"Then what is sex?"
"Zoe, the world of human beings is divided into two great classes, isn't
it? Boys and girls."
"Oh, I know! It's me and Gerald."
"In a way, yes, but--"
"If me and Ethel kiss, it isn't sex, but if me and Gerald kiss, it is."
"If only you wouldn't keep your mind running ahead. I want to be so
sure you are going to understand. That's what our botany and physiology
study has been for. To prepare you to understand. Now take the kingdom
of flowers, a rose, for instance--"
"Begin with us, Lilly. I don't want to hear any botany."
"But, Zoe--"
"Storks cannot bring babies, can they?"
"No.
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