Jan

always being right, and everyone else being wrong, they set themselves up for a lot of hardship. Courage isn't necessarily doing what you're afraid of, it's doing what you know is RIGHT. People that are willing to sacrifice a principle don't usually have much of a principle to sacrifice in the first place. That kind of thing.'

'What you said about religions getting in the way – what did you mean?'

'Did they teach you in school about the Inquisition?', I asked.

She shook her head 'no'.

'Okay, then let me ask you first what you think about Jews, in general.'

'Uh, they're okay, I suppose. Most of the talk I hear in school isn't very nice.'

'Okay, I want you to remember that.', I said, and went on to give her a brief history lesson before continuing 'Now, if I was Jewish, how do you suppose I'd feel about that?'

She looked at me, horrified, saying 'I guess you'd be pretty upset. But that happened hundreds of years ago!'

'So? The Jewish religion is thousands of years old – remember your Bible? And how it talks about Jews? They were a religion, even then. And I might point out that all Christian religions observe Easter, something that is supposed to have happened even longer ago than the Inquisition.'

She looked at me, and I had to explain to her 'Candice, I am not putting down your religion – I am only pointing out how it's actions have gotten in the way of how it deals with Jews as a people, even as it was giving you comfort and solace as an individual. From what I could read, most of the other major religions have had their own problems, as well.'

'Then what did you mean about the race or national group thing?'

'Know any black people?'

'Sure.'

'Any of them ever get so busy being Black that they forgot to be human?'

She just looked at me.

'Candice, do you treat black people any differently than others?'

'No. Well, except..' she started to say, then stopping.

'Except when they go off to do some 'black' thing.', I finished for her.

She nodded, realizing the circularity of it.

'I understand that they are black, and that the history of black people in this country – for good OR bad – isn't something to be dismissed. But as long as it's an issue, it WILL be an issue: as long as*anyone* insists on being treated differently for some reason or other, they WILL be treated differently, for that very reason. I was going into a store one time, and held the door for a woman that was a short distance behind me. When she got close, she proceeded to jump all over me about holding doors for women, and how it was sexist, and she could open her own damn doors, and all the rest of it. When she finally wound down, I simply told her 'I was holding the door for a fellow human being, as a courtesy from one person to another. I'd have done the same if you were male or female, black or white, old or young. But with that attitude, next time I'll just let it slam in your face so you can feel equal!'. She started to apologize, but I just told her that we'd already exchanged opinions, and that I had no further interest in speaking with her, and walked away to leave her standing there feeling like the fool she was.'

She nodded, and I went on 'If I give more compliments to women, it's because women do more to deserve them – I might see a woman with a new hairstyle, and tell her it looks nice, while ignoring the man she's with – who hasn't changed his hairstyle in twenty years. Ditto her new dress and his five-year-old suit, or the results of her health club membership and his eighty pounds of gut hanging over his belt. Otherwise, I try to treat people the same – man or woman, black or white, young or old, or any other difference you might come up with.'

She nodded, telling me 'I can vouch that you don't treat women any different than you do men – except in the ways that really matter!', she added with a grin, before moving closer to take me into her arms and kiss me. Hard. A lot.

When she came up for air, she grinned at me and said'I like it when you talk to me – us – but I like it even more when it's just you and me!'

'What did you have in mind?'

'Are you, uh, ready to make me a woman?'

'Not just yet, I think. Remember, I'm old, and decrepit – it takes me a little longer to recover than some young 18 year old stud.'

'Hmmph. Old? Maybe, but I don't think so. Decrepit? No, I think the proper word is depraved. Maybe you're not some young stud – but I want to find out if you're an 'old' stud!', she said with a grin, adding 'Okay, if you want a little more time, I'll be almost as happy to snuggle with you for a while.'

'Snuggling is good, too!', I agreed, getting a grin from her before she lay against me again, her head on my shoulder. I put my arms around her as she put her hands on my shoulders; we sat there like that for several minutes, content to simply be touching each other.

Finally, she couldn't resist it any longer, and kissed my neck -followed by a soft bite. Feeling perkier, I retaliated by nibbling softly at her shoulder before taking her neck muscle between my teeth and growling as I wiggled my head. A little tickled by it, she scrunched her shoulder up and giggled, before doing the same to me – and raising the stakes by pulling her body slightly away from mine and brushing my chest with her nipples. Ill-equipped for that kind of fight, I changed tactics: sliding my hands down her body and around to her buttocks, holding them in my hands for a few moments before giving them several firm squeezes and soft caresses.

She countered by pressing her chest into mine as she – Hello! – stuck her tongue in my ear; and felt my involuntary response under her.

I responded by tracing the curves of her ear with my tongue, then breathing into it – and feeling her shiver in my arms as her nipples hardened into my chest.

Still in the neighborhood, she nibbled my ear for a few moments, then my neck, as she began a slow rocking motion on my lap, making slight contact with my slowly erecting penis.

Moving my hands from her ass cheeks, I began to slowly caress her, from her knees to her hips, up her sides then around to her back. Down her back and across her firm, smooth ass, and back along the bottoms of her thighs to her knees – then starting the circuit all over again as I softly covered her shoulder in kisses.

Knowing that she was having the desired effect, she pulled herself away from me a bit, and lowered her head to begin applying wet, softly sucking kisses to my chest and shoulders.

The change in her position caused me to re-route my hands, so that rather than tracing a line down her back, I was detouring to her front caressing and squeezing her breasts and nipples before curving down to her butt, and allowing my fingertips to brush across her rectum, making her shudder slightly when I did.

The rocking of her hips was serving both to caress my penis, and spread her rapidly developing lubrication on it – even as she raised up and moved against me again to kiss me, I could feel her wet labia and hot entrance beginning to reach the head of my penis as it made firm contact with her mons.

As we kissed, she could feel the increasing pressure of my penis against her opening, and after a bit, raised herself up, so that my erection was free to swing up; when she felt that it was clear, she lowered herself again. Having never broken our kiss, she arched her back so that she could continue rubbing herself against my penis – only this time, along the bottom surface of it.

She knew that I was fully erect; when she was satisfied that I was well-lubricated with her oils, she pulled away from me again, panting, and asked 'Okay, now what? I know you're ready, and I sure as hell am!'

I was panting a little myself, and told her 'Let me slide down a little bit, so you have a little more room. Then when you're ready' – 'I am, dammit!' – 'You raise yourself up so that I'm in the right position to go in. Then you just kind of sit down on it; as slow as you need to or want to, so things don't happen to fast for you. When we get to your maidenhead, you take it as fast or slow as you want, and do whatever you want, until we can get past it without hurting you.'

'I, uh, don't think that's going to be a problem. When I was little, before I even had my first period, I was out in the yard trying to do some of the gymnastics I saw them doing on TV during the Olympics. I felt this tearing inside, and when I looked, I saw that I was bleeding a little. Scared the hell out of me, and I ran in to tell my mom. It embarrassed the hell out of her when she took me to the emergency room, and they told her that all I'd done was tear my hymen, that it wasn't a big deal and that I'd be okay.'

'Uh, sorry to hear that it happened that way, but it's good, I suppose, that it DID happen – it just means that it