The manifestation of her full splendour, though, I had yet to await. For the next two or three days, she exposed her ears only intermittently, then hid those marvels of creation behind her hair again and returned to ordinariness. To her, it was as if she’d tried taking off her coat at the beginning of March. “I guess it’s still not time to show my ears,” she said. “I’m not entirely comfortable with them yet.” “Really, I don’t mind,” I said. Even with her ears covered she wasn’t bad. She’d show me her ears on occasion; mostly on sexual occasions. Sex with her with her ears exposed was an experience I’d never known. When it was raining, the smell of the rain came through crystal clear. When birds were singing, their song was a thing of sheer clarity. I’m at a loss for words, but that’s what it was like. “You don’t show your ears when you sleep with other men?” I once asked her. “Of course not,” she said. “They probably don’t even know I have ears.” “What’s sex like for you without your ears showing?” “A duty. Dry and tasteless, like chewing newsprint. But that’s okay. Nothing bad about fullling a duty, you know.” “But with your ears out it’s a thousand times better, isn’t it?” “Sure.” “Then you ought to show them,” I said. “No need to go out of your way to put up with such dull times.” Dead serious, she stared at me and said, “You don’t understand anything.” For sure, there were a lot of things I didn’t understand at all. For instance, the reason why she treated me special. I couldn’t for the life of me believe I might be any better or different in any way than anyone else. But when I told her that, she only laughed. “It’s really very simple,” she said. “You sought me out. That’s the biggest reason.” “And supposing somebody else had sought you out?” “At least for the present, it’s you who wants me. What’s more, you’re loads better than you think you are.” “So why is it I get to thinking that way?” I puzzled. “That’s because you’re only half-living,” she said briskly. The other half is still untapped somewhere.”