“When I come home, flush with all this new semi-insider gossip, my wife, Laurie, startles me by saying that during the first couple of months of my sabbatical, when I was home all the time, there had been 'no energy in the house' and how grateful she is that I’m finally doing something 'purposeful' in public. One can forget this or disguise it or pretend it isn’t so, but really the sexiest thing a husband can do is go out and return with news of the world.”