Human Sister

explained about biking to a hedgerow near Schiphol and forming the aluminum foil dome over the notepad, even about taking off our shirts because of concern about possible monitoring devices in our collars. Then I narrated everything Elio and I had written, and I explained how I’d burned our writings and scattered the ashes in the wind.
    When I finished, Grandpa sat impassively. Michael broke the silence. “I’m extremely happy that Elio is coming to live with us. I’ve examined him in Sara’s memories and agree that he won’t do anything to harm us, especially if you teach him what to say and do.”
    Grandpa breathed in deeply and sighed. “It would appear that we have no choice other than to try to make the best of the situation—more proof, as if we needed it, of how close erection is to insurrection.”
    Michael hugged me. I could feel him bouncing up and down with glee. Then he turned to Grandpa. “You asked how my day was. It was wonderful!” Michael proceeded enthusiastically to describe in graphic detail how he’d experienced my masturbation while we’d been brainjoined. And he again stated how excited he was about meeting Elio.
    While calmly listening to Michael, Grandpa glanced at me several times with eyes that were not full of enthusiasm. When Michael finished, Grandpa cleared his throat—perhaps more of a growl than a clearing of the throat—and peered at me.
    “I hadn’t anticipated coming home and finding that Michael had become an eager sex expert,” I said, trying to defend myself from the silent stare.
    Grandpa pursed his lips, apparently thinking, then said, “Yes, well, this brings up a serious matter. All of Elio’s experiences have taken place outside of these rooms, under circumstances quite different from those that obtain here. Unlike either of you, he’s gone to schools where his ideas and values undoubtedly have been challenged by people who didn’t love him. Unlike either of you, he’s undoubtedly played at school and in the streets of New York and Amsterdam with children, some of whom were unkind to him, swore at him, fought with him. And in response to such personal attacks, he’s undoubtedly developed both aggressive and defensive traits quite different from yours.
    “What I’m getting at is that Elio is not a buffet. We can’t pick and choose what we like. When he walks through Gatekeeper’s door, we can’t say, ‘Oh, Elio! You’re so handsome, charming, intelligent, and playful. Come in! Ah, but check all those other things, all that silly aggressiveness and defensiveness, all those crazy ideas and desires of the outside world, at the door.’ Elio is a whole person, a whole, unfathomably complicated and wonderful person, and we must love him and respect him as such.”
    “I will,” Michael said.
    “Let me give you an example of what I’m getting at, Michael,” Grandpa continued. “You should have picked up from what you’ve read, if not from Sara”—he shot a sour glance my way—“that most people in our culture have a highly developed sense of privacy regarding the workings of their genitals. Now, suppose that shortly after you meet Elio, you tell him you’d like to watch him masturbate. I can tell you with near certainty that most young men would not react well to that request. They would think it quite impertinent. They might even strike you angrily with their fist.”
    “No!” Michael’s hands swept up and covered his face. This was how he hid from us whenever he didn’t like what we were doing or saying. We always honored Michael’s ability to suspend reality in this manner for as much time as he needed to deal with it again. He couldn’t, after all, run outside and hide with Lily in her house, as I occasionally had as a child when the going got tough.
    After a few seconds, two of Michael’s fingers parted, and an eye peeked through.
    “I’m not saying that’s how Elio would respond,” Grandpa then said, “but it would be terribly unfortunate, Michael, if you inadvertently hurt Elio’s feelings and he ended up disliking you. Don’t you agree?”
    “Yes! I don’t want that to happen. I promise I’ll never do anything to hurt Elio’s feelings. I want us to be full of love and happiness together.”
    “Good. And one more thing: Sara, please try to teach Michael to refrain from touching Elio as much as he touches us. Elio, I believe, would have a word for it: weird.”
    Grandpa was referring to Michael’s joy in touching