the house and tell Mrs. Westington a bunch of lies?" After a moment, he unfolded his arms and
walked down to the dock. I got into the rowboat first.
He looked back at the house and then he got into it. "I'll row," I said. "I don't want you to strain
yourself."
He squeezed his forehead and narrowed his
eves as I set out, my eyes fixed firmly on him. "For your information, not that I care. I didn't
realize Echo understood half of what I told her about
boys and making babies. I was planning on writing
out most of it tonight. She's nearly fifteen years old
and she should know a great deal more about her own
body and sex and everything, only who is going to
teach it to her. Mrs. Westington? I doubt it. You? I
don't see any books on health education."
"That's not what I'm here for."
"Yeah," I said. smirking. "That's not what
you're here for. Oh. no."
"It isn't and I already told you. I thought she should be in an environment with other g-irls her own age. Not that you couldn't teach her about sex from
firsthand experiences. I'm sure."
"Oh, you're so damn smug. You think you
know everything about everybody."
He didn't respond. He turned away and looked
out over the pond.
"What are you trying to do, think of some
clever Chinese proverb?"
He started to swell with anger and then he just
shook his head.
I rowed hard and quickly, bringing us up beside
the rock. Then I reached out, stopped the rowboat, and
looked at him. "Here it is. Like you didn't know." He rose, wobbling a bit, and crossed to where I
had indicated on the rock. He studied it a moment and