Everything My Mother Taught Me

by Alice Hoffman

When men were interested, they had a faraway look, as if they were trying to figure out their attraction. Was it a dream, or was it real? Did they want a woman, body and soul, or was it only the body that appealed to them? Sometimes it took them a while to figure it out, sometimes only minutes.

You could grow to love something so strong and elemental, but you’d have to value the beauty of it more than you did your own life.