An Ottawa Affair
an excerpt

I tell you this because after that conversation, I looked at her differently. Before, she had been a beautiful woman on a pedestal, out of reach. Through his off-hand remark, my friend had suddenly made her accessible – at least in my mind.

A similar thing happens when I mention other beautiful women to my wife. The discussion and my thoughts originally revolve around the woman as a piece of art, a masterpiece, and its appreciation. Then my wife says something like “I’ll kill you if you cheat on me with her,” or “watch yourself.” Once those jokingly innocuous words roll off her tongue my brain switches to hyperdrive. That woman is no longer a piece of nature’s art; she becomes a romantic target of dreams and desires.