After Catherine's breathing had settled, Lorne said, "Makes sense for me to pull out. Let you sleep."

"No way! It's such a heavenly sensation having you stretch me awake like that. Then the throbbing — my God! You sure do your nightly exercises with vigour."

"Guess I'm never awake for them." He laughed. "They come in deep sleep, REM sleep, I read. Three, four, five times a night, sometimes more."

"I'll gladly keep count for you. You've done three already. Stay in my cockpit." She laughed loudly. "I can catch-up on my sleep tomorrow in Tastevin's cockpit as we sail." She did a few Kegels.

"Oh, my God! God, you're strong." He rocked his hips. "That's quite the grip."

"Been doing Doctor Kegel's exercises for a long while. Five years, maybe six." She squeezed him again. "My yoga teacher told me it makes orgasms easier and more intense. By that time, Nathan had lost interest. Do you like it?" She did another and held it.

"Oh, my God! Yes! That's so exciting. You grabbing me like that."

"Nathan said it made him lose concentration."

"Christ! It jacks mine way up." Lorne kissed her neck and shoulder as he reached his hands down and grabbed her butt cheeks. "We're all made so differently. So amazingly differently. I love your differences — all of them."

He woke with the alarm. She was already awake enjoying his morning stiffness, so he moved to increase her enjoyment.

"Morning," Catherine said as she moved into synch with his gentle thrusts. "This is nine."

"Nine?" He tried to shake off his sleep. "What's nine?"

"Your count." She snickered. "And this in the old British measurements." She ground more vigorously.

"You get any sleep?"

"A bit. Between arisings. You're so much more interesting to exercise with than my kGoal."

"What's that?"

"An inserted device for exercising. It measures the strength of my squeezes and gives me feedback."

He tilted his head. "Really? How does it operate?"

She reached across and opened the bedside table drawer. "This links to an app on my phone, recording the progress." She gave him a series of squeezes, receiving his moans and grinds in response. "Each effective squeeze also sets off a brief vibration as a reward, both inside and on my clit."

He ground again. "Like this, but better?"

"No. Like that, but not as good."

Catherine squeezed a long series, each tighter than the last, and she chuckled at his moans and grinds. "Far better than the kGoal." 

"Fuck! You trained yourself, and he ignored you." He rolled onto his back, taking her with him. "Sit up, spin around, I've another twelve-hour load hanging down there in case none of last night's team made the swim."

They were a bit late to the boat, slipping at 0820. She brought espressos up as they passed Spruce Harbour, and they sipped them as they passed Granville Island. It was clear and nearly calm while Lorne pulled out the sails to ghost along in light airs past Kits Point. The sails were beginning to draw more steadily as Tastevin moved clear of the land and farther into English Bay.

Lorne pointed the bows across to West Bay to find early North Shore breezes while Catherine prepared a board of fresh fruit, nuts, cheeses, cold cuts and breads for their breakfast.

They sat in the cockpit nibbling and talking. "I love these Dutch breakfasts. I guess it's German and French and the rest. Healthier than North American." She laughed. "Dry cereal — funny, you never see corn flakes, rice crisps or frosted craps in Europe. Well, except in the tourist hotels which cater to Americans."

"Another crazy thing leftover from Doctor Kellogg."

"Is that the flaky reference you made? God, when was that? Our time measurement has melted into a meaningless lump. You mentioned Kellogg, but a doctor?"

"A sick doctor. A very sick one. Unfortunately, he was also very widely accepted."

"Where? When?"

He looked at her with a crooked smile and shook his head. "It's horridly sick. Twisted. Unbelievable, except it's true."

"Do you need to move it through? Part of your catharsis?"

"Guess so. Yeah." He nodded to her, paused and then shrugged. "Let's finish breakfast first. Let it settle."

At 1045, they passed close under the Point Atkinson lighthouse, using the wind drawing around the point and waving to the walkers, joggers and tourists in Lighthouse Park. Once clearly past, he relaxed from the helm and adjusted the Hydrovane to steer. She looked at him as he rejoined her on the starboard settee, a questioning expression on her face.

"Seems you're ready for a flaky Kellogg story."

"Are you?"

"Yeah. Get your computer, it'll be easier there."

She was back a minute later, her MackBook flashed and ready.

"See my wifi?"

"Tastevin, yes."

"Password's Nuits, as in Nuits-Saint-Georges. Uppercase N."

A few seconds later, "I'm in."

"Google doctor kellogg plain facts."

"Got it. Plain Facts for Old and Young. Excerpt: pp. 106-7."

"Read it. Better, read it aloud to refresh my memory. See how it is with me now. Now I'm rid of Connolly."

She started reading:

Masturbation — In younger children, with whom moral considerations will have no particular weight, other devices may be used. Bandaging the parts has been practised with success. Tying the hands is also successful in some cases; but this will not always succeed, for they will often contrive to continue the habit in other ways, as by working the limbs, or lying upon the abdomen. Covering the organs with a cage has been practised with entire success. A remedy which is almost always successful in small boys is circumcision, especially when there is any degree of phimosis. The operation should be performed without administering an anaesthetic, as the brief pain attending the operation will have a salutary effect upon the mind, especially if it be connected with the idea of punishment, as it may well be in some cases. The soreness which continues for several weeks interrupts the practice, and if it had not previously become too firmly fixed, it may be forgotten and not resumed. ...

"Who is this sick person?"

"Doctor Kellogg. The man who brought us Kellogg's Corn Flakes. There's an urban legend they were invented by him to put in the boys' beds to make noise when they moved while masturbating. In reality, they were part of a diet to kill sex drive. Whichever you believe, USAians breakfast on anti-wank flakes." He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "It gets worse — do you want to stop?"

She looked up from the screen and offered a wrinkled face. "No, let's press on." She scrolled down the page:

Infibulation — Through the courtesy of Dr Archibald, Superintendent of the Iowa Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children, we have become acquainted with a method of treatment of this disorder which is applicable in refractory cases, and we have employed it with entire satisfaction. It consists in the application of one or more silver sutures in such a away as to prevent erection. The prepuce, or foreskin, is drawn forward over the glans, and the needle to which the wire is attached is passed through from one side to the other. After drawing the wire through, the ends are twisted together, and cut off close. It is now impossible for an erection to occur, and the slight irritation thus produced acts as a most powerful means of overcoming the disposition to resort to the practice.

"This is real? When was this?"

"Published in 1877 in the US Mid-West. You want to stop?"

"This is unbelievable. Horridly cruel punishment for something so natural, so necessary to health."

"Do you want to keep going? The next part is women."

"It can't get worse, can it?"

"Yes." He put a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up and grimaced. "Fuck! Okay."

Treatment of females — In females, the author has found the application of pure carbolic acid to the clitoris an excellent means of allaying...

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. What a sick man. This can't be real."

"Unfortunately, it is."

She continued, her hand to her mouth.

... pure carbolic acid to the clitoris an excellent means of allaying the abnormal excitement, and preventing the recurrence of the practice in those whose will power has become so weakened that the patient is unable to exercise entire self-control.

The worst cases among young women are those in which the disease has advanced so far that erotic thoughts are attended by the same voluptuous sensations which accompany the practice. The author has met many cases of this sort in young women, who acknowledged that the sexual orgasm was thus produced, often several times daily. The application of carbolic acid in the manner described is also useful in these cases in allaying the abnormal excitement, which is a frequent provocation of the practice of this form of mental masturbation.

"Why didn't anyone do anything?"

"They did. They adopted Kellogg's ideas as the way to proceed. Other medical authorities soon jumped aboard this insanity. The US quickly became the largest non-religious circumciser on the planet. By the 1950s, over ninety percent of the boys had their penises cut, mutilated, ruined. This aberration spread to other countries. Fortunately, many there began questioning."

"The girls? The carbolic acid? My God."

"I've never found much further about it. I've always hoped it was squashed early."

"Fucking sick."

"Yeah."