Belief in the God of his childhood had been abandoned in his pursuit of mundane knowledge. Howard had long since given up searching for the supermundane in his life. For Howard, that path led to madness. Only the here and now, the hard physical reality of life mattered to him. He looked back at Anita and realized that she didn’t perceive the world the way he did. Her God was a living being to her in much the same way she saw that the world was a living thing. It was all a matter of attitude and perception, Howard thought and sighed. He could never explain to her how he felt. He wasn’t altogether sure he knew how he felt himself. In the end, the world was defined by the events in space-time that became the fabric of history. Anything else was opinion based on half-wishes and desires rather than logical thought. What could he tell her of his empty days watching the mindless programming on TV? Nothing. He hadn’t done or accomplished a single thing that week. A week of his life had dribbled away without his making a single change in the world. He had existed and grown a little smaller, nothing else. He saw her looking deep into his eyes, trying to find a clue to his inner thoughts. Politeness required that he give her some kind of answer. He sighed again and said that there wasn’t much to tell her about.
Who Wears the Pants Scene 64
