"It's also because they might put you in jail," I said. "And that's all."

"No," he said firmly.

"Yes," I said with a smile. "That's exactly the reason. You're a normal, healthy man, with all the right reactions. But there's a law, so you prefer not to attack girls, but court them first."

"Witch…" the driver muttered with a crooked smile. He stepped hard on the gas.

"Witch," I confirmed. "Because I tell the truth and don't play the hypocrite. After all, everyone wants to be free to live his or her life. To do what they want. Not everything works out-everyone has their own desires-but everyone has the same aspirations. And it's the clash of these that gives rise to freedom! A harmonious society in which everybody wants to have everything, although they have to come to terms with other people's desires."

"But what about morality?"

"What morality?"

"Universal human morality."

"What's that?"

There's nothing better than forcing someone into a dead end and making him formulate his question properly. People don't usually think about the meaning of the words they say. It seems to them that words convey truth. That when someone hears the word "red" he will think of a ripe raspberry and not a pool of blood. That the word "love" will evoke Shakespeare's sonnets and not the erotic films of Playboy. And they find themselves baffled when the word they've spoken doesn't evoke the right response.

"There are basic principles," said the driver. "Dogmas. Taboos. Those… what do they caff them… commandments."

"Well?" I said encouragingly.

"Thou shalt not steal."

I laughed, and the driver smiled too.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife." His smile was really broad now.

"And do you manage it?"

"Sometimes."

"And you even manage not to 'covet'? You control your instincts that well?"