I was eleven years old and digging worms so I could go fishing with my Uncle Frank the next day. Susie, fourteen, watched me from under the shade of a maple tree, her long bare legs folded with a book propped on her knee. I never would admit it but I liked her a lot.  

“Hey,” I called, stopping a safe distance away.

Susie looked up, a mischievous glint in her hazel eyes. “You, goin’ fishing?

“Yeah, my uncle’s taking me to Beck Lake tomorrow. Whatcha reading?”

“Oh, just something you wouldn’t understand,” Susie said in a teasing tone.

“Why not?” I shot back. “I know lots of stuff.”

Susie lowered her book, emblazoned on the cover were the words: “The Miracle of Life.” My eyes widened. I’d heard whispers about this stuff at school.

My voice, barely above a whisper, I asked, “Is that, like, about… you know?”

Susie grinned. “Bingo, kido. Want to learn about it?”

I felt my heart thumping, I think, because a girl was willing to tell me about it. I wondered how she knew this stuff. But, heck, I wanted to know. I took a deep breath and sat next to her under the shade of the tree. I pushed up against her shoulder. She didn’t move. Her voice dropped to a hushed level.

She said, “Of course, you know boys and girls are different down there.”

“Yeah,” I said. Then I felt a need to explain. “One time, I saw my mother when I went into the bathroom and I didn’t know she was in there.”

“Okay, so, you know that guys have this thing called a…” she hesitated, “well, a penis. The thing you hold when you pee.”

“Yeah, I know that.”

“Well, when you are old enough, it can also be used to make babies. It carries tiny, like tadpole things that swim called sperm.”

I found that out when I got wet at night and Jack, my friend, told me about wet dreams.

“Okay, then,” Susie said.

But such conversation was different when coming from a girl. I felt my cheeks turning warm and red.

But Susie kicked into teaching mode. She seemed unphased, using diagrams from the book to explain how bodies changed, about special eggs in girls and about how man and woman can fit together to make a baby.

By the time Susie finished, I had forgotten all about fishing. I had only on question, “Does it hurt the girl?

Susie mused for a time and said, “I don’t think so, not if you do it with someone you love. My mom said it is actually very special.”

“Hey Susie, thanks for telling me about babies. I will never forget you.”

Her eyes dancing, she said, “Sure thing. You are very welcome. I’ll lend you the book.”

And you know what, as I studied the book, there was no mention of birds or bees.