(MY turn to blush. Yes, I still can.) "No, Jan, I don't think so. I expect that what you were feeling was 'just' arousal, or stimulation. I don't think there would have been any doubts if you had ever had an orgasm."

"Oh. Then what does an orgasm feel like?"

(Shit.)

Nothing to do but continue "Well, it's different for men and women, for obvious reasons. For men, climax is when they are stimulated enough to ejaculate their sperm into the woman. I have no idea of what it feels like for women, except to use a description I read that is supposedly from the French – they call it 'the little death'."

"Oh. Well, you're a man; have you ever climaxed?"

(Is it me, or is it getting warm in here?) "Yes, I've had climaxes before. Remember, I was married before, and my wife and I had sex many times." (no need to bring up the Navy days) "What is it like?"

(Whose bright idea was this, anyway? Bastard should be shot!) "I don't know that it's anything that I could really describe to you.

It's not that I'm not willing" – like hell! -"it's just that there simply aren't the words. Remember that definition I told you? That's about as close as I could get, without taking several hours and a whole lot of words."

"Okay, I guess."

"Trust me, Jan – I don't think that it's going to be too long before you know for yourself what it's like. And when you do, you'll understand why it's so hard for me to describe. Okay?"

"Yeah, I suppose. You said that it was one thing, physically, and something else, emotionally. You can't tell me what it is physically, so can you tell me what it's like emotionally?"

"Well, I can tell you what*I* think it's about. If you check around, you can probably find some more answers, too."

"I will, but I'd like to know what you think."

"For starters, I think of the sex act as being something different from the act of making love."