He returned home from the dinner party -where, as usual, he had managed to quarrel with each one of the guests- with mixed feelings of shame and pride; shame because he had spent the entire night struggling to contradict anything anyone had to say, and pride because he had pulled it off rather exquisitely! Burdened by heavy thoughts, he brushed his teeth, undressed and so retired. But soon the weight was lifted, soon the shame was washed away by the thought that, after all, it was this heretic nature of his that made him such a sought after guest. At the same time, the pride sank into the empty space beside him on the mattress…
Naked on his back and numb, he sprawled like as starfish on the ocean floor in order to occupy as much of the bed's surface as possible. With his limbs stretched out in the pose of the Vitruvian Man, he began to imagine the tips of his fingers and toes tracing an invisible circle around his navel, when sleep engulfed him.
The first light of the day found him curled up in the fetal position…