UPON LEARNING (April 3, 2000)
I recently learned that two of my colleagues—one British and another Croatian, one male and another female—have had a long-standing love affair. Another colleague of mine—also British and someone I can trust—told me that he had had the bad fortune of staying in a hotel room next to theirs at a conference many years ago. By the way, I was at that conference, too. They made so much noise at night that he had been embarrassed whenever he would meet either of them ever since. Two sentiments flooded over me as soon as I heard this story. On the one hand, I was a bit disappointed and even angry with myself because of my blindness. Although I have suspected that something was going on between the two, I have always dismissed my suspicion as unwarranted. On the other hand, I was truly happy for the amorous couple. I know both of them rather well, and I have not suspected they could make so much noise when making love as to embarrass their next-door neighbor. My estimation of both of them only grew upon learning about their illicit affair.