4 April 2015

) 4 APRIL 2015 –

            As I was growing up in rural England during the "swingin' '60s", both of my older brothers were already matured and out of the house.  By the '70s, my teen-age sister Alice, two years older than me, was of an age where she considered me not yet a friend, but more of a pest. 

            Thus, for their own and various reasons , none of my siblings felt compelled to defy our Mother and tell me more about sex before I figured it out for myself.  As I explained last time, I had learned from our Mum at age 13 what sex was, but not why it was so ... um, entertaining ...

            Our Dad, Sir Edmund, had served with distinction during the War, earning both a Victoria Cross and a KG through gallantry during several years of combat.  After V-J Day, he had accepted a position with the Foreign Office, and was assigned to India at the end of the Raj.

            What has this got to do with sex ... ?  Dad was a great collector of books, and by the time I arrived, we had thousands.  The Manor House on our farm was possessed of a great and extensive library, and my siblings and I were encouraged to read from a very early age.

            I spent countless hours in that library.  Many rainy days were devoted to books.  And

when I was twelve, I discovered Dad's colourful copies of the Kama Sutra, brought from India.

            The text was strange to me, and the words.  Even as I deciphered them, they made no sense.  But there were pretty pictures, showing a woman and a man who seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely, all in ways involving various parts of his body being caressed by various parts of hers.  The looks on their faces showed they were very happy.  I began to wonder why ...

            It never occurred to me to question why my parents should have such books in the first place.  When I was a child, I thought as a child.  But over time, I reached puberty (and at first, I thought I was dying.)  My body began to change.  I developed curves, and a wiggle. 

            Soon, men were smiling at me.  I had no idea why.  I believe that was why Mum chose

then to give me "the talk".  (And just in time – by the time I was 17, men were openly flirting ...)

            After Mum's talk, I understood what sex was, and what it was for – to make babies – but not why I should care.  Apparently, it involved a male placing part of himself inside a female.  Ugh, I thought.  How revoltng.  Boys are so – crude.  None for me, thank you ...

            But then I remembered the Kama Sutra, and I wondered, not yet realising that there is a vast difference between boys and men.  Boys are annoying, at best.  Soon after my 18^th birthday, Alice got married, and just before the wedding, my sister's friends gave her a "hen party".

            I had come to know her fiancé, Tom, over time.  Naturally, he was a soldier.  Their displays of physical affection when the parents were not around intrigued me.  Tom was a real man, who treated by sister with respect and adoration. 

            At the party, all the women seemed to talk about was sex.  There was "sexy" lingerie and "sex toys".  And they all laughed.  I then began to suspect that sex was pretty all right ...