Paulo Coelho, masturbates ?

Paulo Coelho is my all time favorite author, I have a full collection of his masterpieces,except the most recent one "The Winner Stays Alone" cos I finished reading it for free at the Borders after spending about 1 cup of Americano and a piece of cake.

One Sunday morning, Marvell came to ask me," Papa,what is the meaning of masturbates" I thought how come he did not understand the word "master bed"then i asked him to spell it out, slowly, letter by letter, he said,"m,a,s,t,u,r,b,a.t,e". It was jaw dropping, spine chilling and head spinning.

Trying to dodge his question, I said,"Darling papa is sweeping the floor now, I will tell you later ya." he nodded, I thought it was done with already.

When it came to the evening and just when I thought I was saved from being asked that question again,he came charging at me,"papa, this morning you promised me to tell me what masturbate is? so can tell me now?"

I then, sensing his insistence, Marvell would surely not letting me off the hook, so I said," Darling, where did you learn this word from" he then said," from Veronika decides to die "
You see,just the other day, while I was reading "Veronika decides to die" Marvell gladly asked me if he could read that book as well, you know, I thought I'd sure be a real proud dad if my 10 year old son could digest such a "heavy' stuff,therefore I conceded and now I have this "Duty" to answer him,or else I'd be guilty of not explaining to him.

So I said," Son, I can only tell you this at your age now,masturbate is having sex without a partner" Looking blank at me and me too thinking blank myself, I then said," masturbate is a medical term very hard to explain lah"

Seriously this time, I knew I flopped badly as far as me explaining sex to my son is concerned........and I am still thinking the best possible to answer him again the next time.

How would you answer your 10 year old the meaning of "masturbate"?

Thank God Marvell finally conceded that this book was "heavy " to him and now he is reading his mom's favorite author Cecelia Ahern of "If you could see me now" and I hope Marvell could ask my lovely wife some funny questions too from that book and I would love to know how she gonna explain to him,, kekekekkekekeke.

P/S : Paulo or Paulo, I wish Veronika is already dead..........