Parting Gesture
In the June when Melanie Johnson was twenty, she moved from the little mining town in western Pennsylvania where she was born to Washington, D.C. xxx She had never thought of him that way, but she could have done worse. When they had washed clean, with only a few touches and fondlings to detour them, he took Melanie in his arms and held her close. She greeted him with a kiss — the first time she had ever kissed him — and Melanie said: “Frank, you’ve helped me a lot this past year. Then he leaned back against the wall, put his hands on her behind, and lifted her. This seems, well, too much like a business deal. I’d wonder about your self-respect. It was kind of strange and bare; what hadn’t been shipped




















