Among birds, they tweet, among cows, they moo, and among dogs, they bark. To find what a man truly is, make the truth a penalty. ‘I propose you issu... a proclamation. All those who dress as worshippers of the old gods, but do not truly worship them and know the religion will be executed. Those who remain are the devout.’ The duke laughed at the cunning of the philosopher. ‘Let it be done!’ He issued the proclamation to the duchy. Messengers went from town to town, proclaiming what the duke had. The other thing, the more important thing, was I stopped trying and so did she. When we got married,I told myself I was lucky and I meant it. She’s amazing. But when I allow myself to be honest, I haven’t looked at her thatway for some time. And I didn’t want to any longer. These one-night affairs I had on the road taught me a couple of things about myself. Or rather, those hours on the airplane flying home from some strange city allowed me to stop rationalizing what I was doing and admit to. With August driving, his flame for the night slid quickly into the front seat. Martin and Hilde – she was merry and giggling in unvoiced expectation – struggled onto the backbench of the Volkswagen. As soon as they were seated, Hilde wedged her shapely bottom as close onto Martin as she could get. Then, her arm snuck across Martin’s neck, and she pulled him into a much promising kiss even before August could start the engine. By the time the VW pulled away from the kerb, Martin was hers.Hilde. I went to the bathroom and scrubbed it off my skin, and stashed the number into the pocket of my jeans before throwing them back on the floor and climbing into bed. The following evening after work, I remembered the number was there. I fished it out, and looked at it for a while. What if he didn’t answer? What if it was the wrong number? Well, no use in being anxious. I dialed as quickly as possible so that I didn’t think about it. He answered on the first ring. ‘Hello?’ Had he been waiting for.