They were deep in sleep when the phone rang, dragging them both into that foggy, suspicious hour where nothing good ever seems to happen. His wife answered, listened briefly, and dismissed the caller with a baffled, “How should I know, that’s 200 miles from here,” before hanging up. Her husband, now fully awake, demanded to know who it was. When she casually explained it was “some woman asking if the coast was clear,” his blood ran cold. In an instant, his mind filled with images of secret affairs and whispered rendezvous.

He leapt from the bed in a panic, furious that she had simply hung up. But she just rolled over, pulled the blanket to her chin, and dismissed the drama with sleepy logic. If the caller didn’t even know where she was, it wasn’t her problem. The absurdity finally broke him, and his jealousy dissolved into helpless laughter.