The Quest for Depth

[Onkel Neal]

Or, How to Make a Homemade Submarine.

"Nine-year-old boys are starting to contend with a lot of things about the adult world that they don't yet understand. Nine-year-olds start to become engrossed in designing and completing mazes, in making and solving puzzles, in figuring out how things work. And sure, there's usually a connection there to figuring out how sexuality works. Now, 9-year-olds can't have sex, so you think about plunging a submarine into the depths instead. It's a way of safely exploring the question 'Now how does this thing work?'"

I thought to myself, hmmm... I became interested in subs when I was around 8 or 9... but the most sex that I could conceive of then was a friendly hug from Barbara Eden.