A short while ago I learned how couples in rural Croatia used to manage their intimate affairs only a few generations ago. The same undoubtedly holds for the rest of the rocky Balkans. The husband would retire to the bedroom ahead of his wife. Before knocking at his door, she would take care of the many children in the other room, known as “the house.” The youngest among them needed nursing, too. “Did you call for me?” she would ask at a whisper. If he would grunt something or other, she would join him in their wedding bed. And if not a sound would be forthcoming from the bedroom, she would stay with the children. And these were the good manners between husbands and wives for untold generations.