‘Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her anything personal. I only said that you like to self-punish yourself sometimes. She looked concerned but I don�...t think you’ll have anything to worry about.’ Keith sighs and lets Andy into the apartment. ‘There are somedays I just want to sew my mouth shut so I don’t say anything stupid like I did last night.’ He closes the door and both sit on the couch of the small apartment. ‘Let me guess, you did the over-analyzing thing and went too deep into what you say.’. Even though I was almost totally soft I didn’t want to pull out. The connection, the bond between us, was just too great to break. ‘I went to sleep on you, didn’t I? I’m sorry. Did you come?’ I shook my head ‘No,’ and quickly put a hand to her lips as she started to apologize. ‘I didn’t need to, my dear. This was about you, not about me. I wanted to show you the difference between having sex and making love.’ I nearly got the wind knocked out of me when Darlene let go with her arms. She dropped. I do not wish to boast, but I can recall no partner in these communions who found fault with my performance, and my uncle looked upon that as the only meaningful benchmark.Uncle Malcolm also taught me that the most important value to hold concerning women was discretion. One simply did not indulge in braggadocio among our peers. For gentlemen such as us, it was simply not done. To him, it was the selection, the hunt, the seduction, and finally the conquest that made the game so enticing. He. “What?......who?...”, I stopped, as the unreality of this suddenly gripped me with apprehension. “I’m Xchppishk”, the animal said, “I am your companion now, and will help you to understand everything abut us”. “What are you, and where am I?”, my voice had recovered enough to ask. “Let me answer your first question – we are on my world of ….Earth…is the nearest word, I suppose, as our word would mean little to you. And I am a member of the Xanth, which is one of the two intelligent races on.