His first infidelity was a mistake, but not as big br As her false pregnancy. Later, the boy found out br br He was born three months earlier than the date br On his birth certificate, which had turned into br A marriage license in his hands. Had he been trapped br In a net, like a moth mistaken for a butterfly? br And why did she--what was in it for her? br It took him all this time to figure it out. br The barroom boast, "I never had to pay for it," br Is bogus if marriage is a religious institution br On the operating model of a nineteenth-century factory. br On the other hand, women's lot was no worse then br Than it is now. The division of labor made sense br In theories developed by college boys in jeans br Who grasped the logic their fathers had used br To seduce women and deceive themselves. br The pattern repeats itself, the same events br In a different order obeying the conventions of br A popular genre. Winter on a desolate beach. Spring br While there's snow still on the balcony and, br In the window, a plane flies over the warehouse. br br The panic is gone. But the pain remains. And the apple, br The knife, and the honey are months away.