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(Page 2 of 2) Man ... Woman by Dan Bieger
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She paused to let her agreement mislead the man just enough and then she added: "It protects you from your interest."
He barked his disbelief at her statement, the bark more astonishment than humor. "Now, that my dear lady, is ridiculous." The woman laughed with the man but her voice, too, had no humor when she continued.
"If I wear clothing that accentuates my femininity, then you can claim that I am purposely drawing attention to myself, that I am seeking your attention."
"Well, you would be."
"But if I wear clothing that does not accentuate my femininity, then you cannot claim I am seeking your attention. You must acknowledge that it is you who are seeking my attention, a circumstance I maintain is accurate in either case."
The man chose this opportunity to deflect the argument: "Are you saying you are not interested in men?"
A rueful smile crossed her lips, a smile the man could not see, the shimmercloth protecting her reaction.
"I am saying that I want some control of the interaction."
"The shimmer cloth gives you no control; we've already covered that."
"It fixes the responsibility that what you decide to do with your hormones is your problem, not mine. I am not the one inciting the riot in you; you are. Any responsibility for what you do or do not do is yours. If sexual desire comes in ten parts, then as many of the parts that are mine are yours and you must take responsibility for yours as I must for mine."
"Who said sexual desire comes in ten parts?"
"Fatima's husband."
"Who died and made him god?"
Now, the woman truly laughed. "Not god, friend, just the son-in-law of his prophet."
"Yeah, right." The man answered, his irritation growing by leaps and bounds though he could not decide precisely what he was irritated with.
"As I said, it works for me," came the woman's retreating voice, satisfaction informing the tones, music in her humor, she moving on, he standing befuddled.
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