DATE WITH THE GODS

264 DATE WITH THE GODS

her brothers sooner was because she sensed a lack of
trust on my part. If she had done it sooner, I probably
would have gone into shock. She promised to take me to
them again, but only when I was calm and unafraid. She
said while I was fearful and jumpy I would gain no
benefits of what their minds could tell.
"Yes, I replied. "I know what you're saying. But you
must realize how extraordinary this is for me. This
frightens me."
"Do you remember when we first met?"
��Yes."
"You were so curious and intrigued about where I
came from, and my activities, that you said nothing
could shock you, because you were a tough character."
"Yes, and you kept stalling me deliberately."
"I had to, because I knew you were the kind of person
who could handle my being from another world, but not
quite as soon as we met. You needed time to reason out
the whole affair intellectually."
"I think your friends are definitely from some other
world, but you, I'm not so sure. Maybe in order to
unburden my feelings I'm kind of expecting you to come
out and say you made this whole thing up because you
wanted to get your kicks out of it."
"You'll never get that out of me, because it isn't true.
I've been very honest with you from the beginning, but I
had to put up with a lot from you.
This afternoon, when you saw my brothers taking off,
your curiosity was greater than your fear, wasn't it?"
"That's right; it was."
"Then why don't you make an effort to overcome your
fear? You already know that some of the greatest
civilizations that have existed on this planet were
founded by people from other parts of the universe."
'Til try, but you have to understand that this sort of
conditioning has been deeply imprinted in me by the
society I live in."