The fall of 1992, my Doctorate from Harvard in hand, I returned to Burlington and the University as an Associate Professor in the Department of Econom...cs, a specialist in world trade patterns and the North American Free Trade Agreement. It was great to be back home, to be able to spend time with Sis and Isabel, to see Izzy and Gayle playing together, and to help Mom and Dad who were finally showing their age.But it was when we went back to Burlington that Monica's and my troubles really began.. ‘I’m so sleepy, ‘ you whisper.It’s at least a minute before I realise you’re asleep. I walk to the door and slowly open it, concerned it will wake you. Down the hall, my bedroom door is closed. I listen outside, but hear nothing, so assume Fay’s ok. I return, close the door, sit on the bed and wonder what I should do.Five minutes later, nothing has changed, except now, you’re gently snoring, so I turn off the lights, except the one in the en-suite. There’s enough light to see. I decide I may as. She had turned fourteen in the first part of May and was looking forward to mid-June. That was when she would attend her first summer camp. She couldn’t wait to get away from her parents for the first time. Because there were no other girls that lived nearby, she had never spent the night away from home with the one exception of spending a week with her grandmother. Her grandmother had died seven months later. She had no other living relatives. Her mother had been an orphan and her father’s. The calming sounds of the ocean and the brisk freshness of a ocean breeze. She forgot how simple gestures like a warm hand or a hot tongue could set the body on fire. I wondered how long had she walked through life without passion."How long has it been?" Gosh... How long has it been since I've been kissed or how long has it been since I've been with a man?" How long has it been?"She paused to give thought about the question I just asked her. I grabbed her in my arms and buried my tongue inside.