One Thing My Mother Explains

At twelve, Elizabeth asked my mother about sex. Being a practical woman, she thought it best to kill two birds with one stone and so included me in the explanation. I was eight. My mother called us into her bedroom. Propped up against the pillows, with Elizabeth on one side and I on the other, she began, The penis of the man goes into the vagina of the woman, then the sperm fertilizes the egg. Silence. She was clearly in over her head. Elizabeth looked horrified as my mother explained the procedure several times, as if by repetition we would understand. Finally I broke the cycle and asked, How does the semen get out, does the man pee in her or something? My mother laughed, No, no, but she wouldn’t say how. She just smiled, not knowing how to continue. After a very long pause Elizabeth and I both grew up to be lesbians.