Wendi is the only character that's mine

"Some men I swear are thick as a fog," Karen said to one of her friends.

"Yeah and others are so shallow minded that you couldn't drown a baby in them if they were a pool," Sharona added

The guys laughed but Monk held up a hand.

"Did you ever think," he said, "that maybe we're not thick or shallow? Did you ever think there's a reason we act the way we do"

"I have got to hear this," Wendi, a friend of Karen's said

"Yeah me too. This should be interesting," Sharona commented.

"See women are different then men," Monk explained, "Our inner workings are not the same as yours."

"Oh GOD," Natalie joked, "here comes 'the talk'"

Sharona and Natalie laughed and the other girls joined in. Even Leland and Monk were laughing.

"See men are impulsive," Monk explained, "we are uncomfortable taking the time to figure things out and we just spurt out the first thing that comes to mind"

"Noooooooooooooooooooo," Sharona teased sarcastically making everyone else laugh

"Women on the other hand," Monk continued, "are easily in control of men"

All the girls knew that. Sharona could remember one argument she had with Monk when he said something that really upset her. She happened to have been in the bathroom and she refused to come out until he took back what he said and apologized. He held out all of 20 minutes until he had to go.

"Well maybe you can explain to me," Karen said, "why men give up"

"They don't," Monk explained, "You need to translate ENGLISH to men. When a man says 'give up' what he's actually saying is that he needs to take a little bit of time to reassess the situation and then he'll get back to it. Men don't do well when they're frustrated or scared. While some do… give up for a certain amount of time others never do," he said with a gentle smile.

"So what are men saying when they say to let go," Karen asked returning the grin.

"He's saying I'm afraid to keep going. Basically he's saying the water is getting too deep and I'm afraid we'll drown if I keep swimming."

"But if you keep swimming at least you-"

"If you stop swimming," Leland said quietly, "There's always the chance that a gentle way can carry you across the lake"

"Not if that 'lake' becomes polluted," Karen countered

"Hey I agree with that," Monk said, "It obviously is awful for the lake to become polluted"

"MONK she was talking metaphorically," Leland pointed out

"Yeah," Monk replied, "So am I"

"May I add something in," Leland asked.

Monk nodded

"Sometimes," Leland said swiping away a tear, "a guy knows something that a girl doesn't know. Sometimes he may seem to be acting like a stubborn ass but he's actually doing all he can to protect her from the crap that he's dealing with. Sometimes he just wants to keep chance alive"

Karen met his eyes.

"And that in a nutshell," Monk said, "are the male population"