Dick lay on the sheepskin. He felt miserable. Serene must have had a rough day. The briefcase was probably the last straw. Perhaps she simply needed to get away for a little while. But Danny. Danny would be angry indeed. Not only had he messed up his briefcase, but he had upset the lady as well!

Dick pricked his ears when the sound of the shower stopped. Presently, Danny stepped out of the shower room. Dick pranced to and fro at his feet impatiently. He wanted Danny to talk to the car porch and pick up the folders and papers. He would be spanked. He would be chastised. He deserved it. But the important thing was to put things right and get Serene back.

He fretted as he waited for the man to perform his strange evening routines. All done so that his mouth would smell like mint and his body like lavender!

‘Serene?’ Danny called out to an empty house. ‘Where is she?’

‘Woof! Woof!’

‘The baby is gone too – and without telling me, either.’ Danny threw his pyjama top onto the dining chair. ‘Now, where could she have gone with the baby?’

‘Woof! Woof!’

Dick had been treading all over Danny’s feet to nudge him towards the car porch. Abandoning this tactic he hopped over to the door and stood there barking instead.

‘Quiet, Dicky!’ Danny raised his voice. ‘You’ve made enough noise already!’

‘Woof! Woof!’

‘What is it?’

Danny was puzzled at the incessant barking. He came over to the window. The car porch was dark. But he could see his folders and papers fluttering in the breeze.

‘Why, you naughty dog.’

He went out to pick up the briefcase and stared at the bills and photograph lying on the ground.

‘It was in the pocket…’ He stooped down to pick up the photograph. ‘Oh my God… Serene!’

He sank, half-kneeling, to the ground as he surveyed the mess.

Dick was relieved to see that Danny was not angry. He was delighted to be proven right. Yes, everything was going to be all right. He pranced about excitedly. Get up, you goof! Get on the telephone. Tell Serene not to be angry. Tell her to come back. Hey, what’s the matter? What’s wrong? Dick’s tail stopped wagging. He stared at Danny resting his head in his hands.

‘I’ve goofed up, haven’t I?’

‘Woof!’ Dick replied enthusiastically.

‘Do you know what I’ve done?’

So. Confession time? Dick shook his head vigorously to clear his ecclesiastical vision. Danny shook his to clear a troubled conscience.

‘I’ve had an affair with another woman.’

Dick froze for a second. He had to consider the implications of the revelation for a moment. The concept was, of course, alien to him. Coming from a specie that did not practise monogamy, Dick had to grapple with the concept.

‘I was not in Bangkok for business. I was in Phuket with a business acquaintance of mine.’

His doggy eyes blinked thoughtfully. All right, Danny had had an extramarital affair. Was Danny less of a man for the affair? Or less of a moral being? And why should the answer to one be different from the other? If the definitive qualities of a moral being differed from that of a man, was it the man who was basically immoral, or the morals which were basically inhuman?

‘I’ve never been involved in an affair before. It is a very strange experience,’ Danny continued. He looked up at the stars and his mind traveled to a different time and space. ‘You won’t understand how terrible I feel about it.’ Danny paused to reflect on his inner turmoil. ‘But at the same time, at the same time, I feel exhilarated by it.’ Danny had to struggle with his words. ‘I feel like I’m reborn. I don’t seem to be able to stop it.’

Dick pricked up his ears. What was this? A man without a free spirit? A recent manifestation of compulsive behaviour? Maybe it was the other woman’s scent. A special fragrance. Dick was sure he knew what the problem was: Serene’s sweet but sexless perfumes!

‘Yes, I know I’m not in love with this acquaintance. And I know Serene will be hurt by the affair.’ Danny was perplexed by his own actions. ‘I still care for Serene. So why do I do it?’

The man buried his face in hands in guilt and shame.

Why? Dick cocked his head to one side. Yes, why do men and women get married? Why do they believe in the ideal of monogamy? Why do they put a leash on the dog they love and chains on the people they cherish? Dick licked his lips and whined sympathetically.

‘So tell me why!’ Danny’s cry reverberated in canine ears.

The startled Dick jumped a foot away and barked irritably.

Why? Because she satisfies some low down sub-vertebral need, you bird-brain! The retort lingered on Dick’s tongue. So what was it that she did? Dick barked. Did she massage your ego? Or some other more physical asset? Dick barked at the man who was looking for some lofty complicated theory to explain away a simpler but less palatable answer. Dick barked at the Gordian knots that men tie in their own minds.

H