Sarah Manguso

21

We were in Europe because our school had sent us, but most of the time we schemed to get stoned and lie down together in various combinations. I never did lie down with Daniel and regretted it all my life.

Many years later my parents moved into a smaller house. While helping them pack I opened my boxes of papers and found the journal I'd written that summer in Germany when I'd wanted to lie down with Daniel. In the journal was a detailed description of how he had touched me, what we had said to each other, and how it had ended. It wasn't until I read the pages that I remembered it was true.

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