I loved my wife. Let me get that out front right now. I'd been with her since we were in Junior High. We were good friends back then, and she was my female best bud. We shared a lot together, and when we started to realize that we had feelings for each other, we acted on them.

We lost our virginities on her 18th birthday, and I am proud to say that I made her come several times that night. We had rented a motel room for the occasion, and thanks to her mom putting her on the pill a few months before in anticipation of that moment, we were as safe as possible.

It started off very awkward, but we managed to find a good rhythm by the second go-round. God Bless Internet Porn for giving me the pointers I needed on eating pussy (which I love, by the way), and other things. The Kama Sutra came in handy, too! One thing about Julee is that she has the smallest pussy I've ever heard of. I'm not a Superman down there, but she can't even take all of me inside her! She's also extremely tight, sometimes uncomfortably so for me when she clamps down on me when she comes.

Oh, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Cal Wilson. I'm 5'11" and weigh around 175 to 180 or so. I don't get on the scale every day. I'm in good shape at 32, and still run every day, going back to running Track & Field in High School and College. I have dark brown hair with some premature gray streaks, but my best feature, or so I've been told, is my emerald green eyes. I work as a Detective in the local police force. Our small little town doesn't have much crime, so my job is fairly easy.

My wife is Julee Wilson, formerly Julee Vickers. Yeah, her mom spelled her name with two E's on the end, just to be different, I guess. Not that it mattered. Me and Julee were the pair that everyone said was made for each other. God, she's gorgeous! Long auburn hair, bright sky blue eyes, and a body that can stop a war! 36C-23-37 measurements for the win, and standing 5'6". She's also 32.

So after college, we decided it was time to get hitched, and for 10 years, we had a great life! We did the Kama Sutra page by page, and our sex life never suffered! I wined her, dined her, and took her on romantic dates quite a few times during each year, and not just for holidays. She works as a paralegal at one of our town's two law firms.

Now, Jimmy Greene is the guy that was the Quarterback in High School. The guy whose bread would always fall butter-side up if he were to ever drop it. In other words, he was The Golden Boy ... until he got his knee busted beyond full repair while playing NCAA Football. When he got back to town, his father, the town Mayor, decided to give him a job in City Hall, which worked closely with the Sheriff's Office.

Jimmy always had a thing for Julee. He would find us on dates back when we were in High School, and even though he had a girlfriend, he would flirt with Julee openly in front of both me and his own girlfriend Cynthia. Julee, God Bless Her, never flirted back, though some of the stuff he said to her made her blush, and made me angry.

I told him in no uncertain terms that if he ever made a play for Julee, I would make him pay. He smiled and told me I had nothing to worry about, that it was all fun and games.

Jimmy and Cynthia got married right after she graduated College, and he had been working at City Hall for a year already.

How do they fit into my tale? Well, I will get to that in a bit.

About a year ago, Julee and I had plans one Friday night, when I got a call on my cell from Sheriff Barton. He told me that he hated to interrupt my day off, but I needed to get to come into work. I asked what was wrong, and he said that all patrol cars were tied up, and they got a call to a domestic disturbance close to where I lived. Since I was closest, he said that I could just go straight there. Sheriff Barton wouldn't take no for an answer, even though I was scheduled for tonight off.

And since I didn't want to make waves, I apologized to my wife, strapped on my belt with badge and .357 Magnum in my holster, and headed out to the address he'd given me.

Sure enough, when I got there, Sue Roberts had called it in that her husband Hunter had been hitting her again. He was drunk as usual, and had decided to take it out on her and their kids.

It took a while to talk him down, and drag him in for booking. Sue, as usual, declined to press charges. I, as usual, told her to get him some help, and she, also as usual, promised that she would, and that she would get rid of all alcohol in the house. I sighed in exasperation. Every month or two, we would get the same exact call about the same exact situation. Tonight, however, was a bit different.

I was tied up with paperwork at the office until around midnight, and when I got home, I saw Jimmy and Julee sitting on the couch. Julie looked like she had taken another shower since I got called away. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. What the hell was he doing here? I thought.

"What's going on, Jimmy? Honey?" I said, leaning down and giving her a kiss. "Sorry about earlier. Hunter has been booked again, and hopefully Sue will either leave him, or get him the help he needs this time."

"No problem, sweetheart." She replied with a smile. "Cynthia went out of town with her folks, and Jimmy called shortly after you left to see if we were doing anything tonight."

"Yeah, man. Sorry about that. I didn't know it was your date night." Jimmy shrugged. "I guess it was lucky that you got that call, huh?" He had that cocky smile on his face, and I was once again reminded that this guy was a Grade-A Number One Douchebag.

Now the alarm bells in my head were going off. Jimmy has always been a snake that thinks his shit don't stink. I decided to be polite. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Jimmy. About Cynthia, I mean. But if you don't mind, I would like to take my wife to bed and try to make up for having to go into work tonight."

"Oh, sure, man. Sorry about that." He got up quickly and saw himself out. I locked the door behind him and went back over to Julee.

"Baby, I'm sorry about earlier." I said, taking her in my arms. "Next Friday, I'm telling him to get Bill or Dave instead of me, ok?"

Julee knew what it would sometimes be like, married to a cop. She smiled. "It's ok, sweetheart. Jimmy and I just talked for a while, catching up, you know?"

I smiled. "No problem, baby." I said, the alarm bells slowly clanging down. Nothing in her demeanor said that there was anything else going on, at least. I might not have been able to trust Jimmy, but I could trust Julee. Hell, I'd trusted Julee for over half my life!

We made love that night, long and slow. We both came multiple times, and at least the night had been salvaged!

That, however, was only the beginning. Over the next two months, we managed to get in TWO date nights when I wasn't being called to one thing or another. Julee was getting pissed off, and so was I. Unfortunately, while I was getting pissed off at my boss, she was getting pissed off at me. I was her husband, but I was putting The Job before her. That was her view on it, at least. Shit, I couldn't even blame her for thinking that way!

Cynthia kept having to go out of town more and more when her folks moved out to the big city. She would go for long weekends whenever they needed something. She came back early one Sunday, and the next thing I knew, I was getting a phone call from her.

"Detective Wilson." I said, answering my cell.

"C ... Cal! Thank God! You need to get over here NOW!" She said, damn near screaming into my ear. She was definitely upset, and I asked what was going on. "Just get over to my house!" She said. Not OUR house. MY house. Was there trouble with Jimmy?

I had been doing my shift at the Sheriff's office, and told Barton that I got a call from Cythia, and asked for the rest of the day off. He got a strange look on his face, but just nodded and went back to his crossword.

So I flashed on down to Jimmy and Cynthia's place, and was surprised to find Julee's car in the driveway, and the alarm bells had turned into a full blown klaxon in my head. Cynthia was pacing out front, and I saw tears her in eyes when she ran up to me as I got out of my car. My unmarked was actually my car with radio and sirens/lights put in. I love my Dodge Charger.

"Cal, thank God you're here! I don't know what to do!" She sobbed into my chest as she hugged me tight.

"Whoa, slow down, Cyn. What's going on?" I said in a calming voice.

She looked up at me, and I'm sure my confusion was registering on my face as I looked at Julee's car and then back to her.

Suddenly, her face paled, and she put her hands over her mouth. "Cyn, what's going on here? Why is my wife's car in your driveway?"

"You mean you don't know?!" Her eyes went as wide as saucers.

"Know WHAT? What the hell is going on here, Cyn?!" I was getting exasperated again, and the alarm klaxon was clanging double time in my brain. Then it hit me. "SONUVABITCH!" I shouted as I drew my weapon and headed for the door.

I opened the door and went back toward the bedroom. I kicked the door open and saw the tableau. I blinked twice at the frozen lovers. My heart fell out of my chest as I saw Julee, buck naked, kneeling astride Jimmy with his cock buried in her pussy to the hilt.

From the locker room back in high school, I KNEW he wasn't nearly as well hung as I am. I holstered my weapon and looked at Julee. I pulled out my cell and started snapping pics. I got four of them before they came to their senses and Julee jumped off his little condom covered dick.

"I can explain, sweetheart!" She said as I continued to snap pics with my cell. I ignored her, then turned to Cynthia, who had followed me in.

"Cyn, did you know about this?" I asked, ignoring my wife.

"Yes, Cal. I swear, I thought you did too. I wasn't happy about it, but I knew that Jimmy has needs when I'm out of town." She blushed, but met my gaze steadily.

"You weren't happy about it, huh? And you thought I knew?" I asked, keeping my voice even.

"Yeah. Julee told me that she had talked with you about it, and since you work Sundays most of the time, she was sometimes going to be here." Cynthia was in tears again. "I ... I didn't realize how bad it was until I saw them together!"

"Cynthia, your pussy is just too loose for me!" Jimmy said.

"And your cock is too big for me!" Julee supplied, addressing me. I turned to look at her in complete shock.

"Too big? You never complained before!" I said incredulously. Then the Idea struck me. "Ok, how about this? If you two are going at it like wild monkeys, I'm going to take Cyn here back to my house and fuck her brains out. Does that work for you, Cyn?" I asked her.

"HELL NO! YOU WON'T TOUCH HER!" It seemed as if Julee and Jimmy shouted that in unison.

Cynthia looked at them in disgust, then turned to me. "You know what, Cal? I want you to take me back to your place and fuck my brains out." She gave me a saucy wink.

"OH FUCK NO!" Jimmy shouted as he jumped out of bed and stepped towards me. I drew my weapon and pointed it dead at him.

"Jimmy, don't be stupid. What's good for the goose is good for the gander." He stopped dead in his tracks and raised his hands as my Colt Python centered directly on his heart. "How long have you been fucking my wife?"

"T ... Two months." He said, his face twisted in a combination of fear and rage.

"Since the night I was called to Hunter and Sue's place." I said, and he nodded. "And did you use a condom every time?"

"Yes." He said. I believed him, but I also wanted to hear it from Julee.

"And Julee? Is that true? Did he use a condom every time he fucked you?" I asked, glancing at her, but my weapon never wavering from Jimmy's chest.

"Yes it's true, now stop this! I'm still yours, Cal!" Julee said. "I still love you, but I just need a smaller dick sometimes, and Jimmy here fits the bill!" Julee pleaded with me.

"What? So you can get some on the side, but I can't?" I looked at her like she'd just fallen off another planet. I looked at Cynthia's raven black tresses and eyes as green as mine. God, she was gorgeous too! My love for Julee had pretty much blinded me to other women, but now that I saw how things were, I was also seeing Cyn in a different light. I looked back at Julee. "You hate double standards, right? Well, THIS is a double standard. If you're going to cuckold me with Jimmy, I'm going to cuckold Jimmy with Cyn. Fair is fair, after all." I shrugged, still pointing the revolver at Jimmy's chest.

"I can't believe you were fucking her in OUR BED!" Cynthia screamed at Jimmy.

"Sweetypie, it's not what you think." Jimmy said. "You know your cunt is too loose for me! I told you that, and you agreed to let me fuck Julee as long as Cal knew about it. It's just sex."

"But I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT IT!" I shouted back. "You knew that I would never share her, ESPECIALLY with a cockroach like you, but you thought it would be ok, right?" Oh, hell, I was pissed off now, and if I could have gotten away with it, I would have gunned both of them down right then and there. I looked at Cyn. "Babe, grab what you need for a few days." I said, and Cyn nodded, going to her dresser and grabbing some essentials.

I then looked back at Julee. "What's the real reason, Julee?"

"Your JOB, you asshole!" She shouted, going on the attack. Her face twisted in rage. "You're ALL THE TIME working on our date nights, and at least Jimmy is there for me!"

"Did you fuck him in our bed?" I asked evenly.

The question took her aback. She stopped before she started, and the look of rage turned to one of shame. I had my answer even before she said it. "Yes." She said in a small voice.

"It'll make a nice start for a bonfire, then." I nodded simply. "When were you planning to tell me, Julee? When you filed for divorce?"

"Cal, dammit it's not like that! I love you, but I just need a smaller cock once in a while, and with you working all the time, Jimmy is the size I really need. I love YOU, though!" Julee was again going on the offensive, as if cuckolding me but still loving me made it ok.

"No, Julee. You don't love me, or you wouldn't be cuckolding me. Especially with HIM." I shot back, and she really had no answer for that. "At least he was using a condom, but now I'm still going to have to get checked for STDs. Cyn, does he use condoms with you?"

"Ever since they came to me a couple months back and told me they were gonna fuck each other while I was out of town, I MAKE him use condoms with me!" She said as she came back over to my side. As we'd been talking Cynthia had a suitcase packed with her toiletries and clothes.

"Good. That lowers the risks of contamination from them." I nodded. I knew Julee was still on the pill, but even with this, I KNEW how Jimmy had been back in High School. He'd been a pussy hound back then, and obviously still was today. However, as far as I knew, Julee had been his first extramarital affair.

She looked at Jimmy. "I'm going to be staying with Cal. If you want to stay married to me, stay away until I come back. I can't believe you two!" She screamed at them. She left first, and I backed out, keeping my weapon trained on Jimmy to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

We managed to get out to my car without incident, but my cell was ringing on the way home. I Ignored the ones from Julee, but took one from the Sheriff.

"Hey, Cal. What's going on? Jimmy just called." Sheriff Barton is Jimmy's uncle on his mom's side.

"Sir, your nephew has been fucking my wife for the past two months, and Cynthia found out that I didn't know about it. She wasn't too happy with the situation either, as it turns out. She and I are on my way to my place right now, and I'm taking the rest of the day off, and tomorrow too." I gave him the dirt.

"Oh boy." He sighed. "I was afraid of something like this happening."

"Wait ... YOU KNEW?!" I shouted into the phone.

"I'm sorry, son." He started.

"Save it, asshole." I gritted back. I Ended the call before he could say anything else. I then looked at Cynthia. "Did you know he knew?" I asked.

"God no!" She said, her face full of surprise. "I can't believe this shit!" She was mad as hell now too. "Ok, Cal. When we get back to your place, we need to do some serious fucking!" The rage in her voice was actually turning me on.

"You're damn right we do!" I grinned at her. It was as if I was seeing her for the first time as a woman, not just as a friend. "But first, I need to make some calls and get some shit done at the house. THEN I'm all yours." I promised her.

Julee called again just as I got Cyn home. "What?" I said sharply.

"Don't you dare fuck her, Calvin Wilson!" She shouted at me over the phone.

"It's either I fuck her, or I divorce you. Which is it going to be? I have pictures, remember?" I said. In our state, proof of Infidelity on the wife's part disqualified her from a lot in the division of property in a Divorce.

Julee was so quiet, I thought she'd hung up at first. Then she said "Fine." just before Ending the call.

I sent her a text telling her not to come home tonight, then called the Locksmith. The locksmith was my cousin Dennis, and I knew I could trust him. He gave Cynthia a questioning look when he got there. Cyn and I were just having a couple beers when he arrived and let himself in.

"Hey, Den." I said as he came in.

"What's going on, man?" He asked.

I gave him the short version, and asked him to change the locks and give me three sets of keys. I also asked him NOT to give a set to Julee if she should drop by to ask for one. He agreed readily.

"Blood is thicker than water, Cal." He agreed, and we shook on it. Dennis is one of the good guys, and I know I can depend on him through thick and thin.

I then called the furniture store, and ordered a new kingsized bed to replace the defiled queensize that Julee and I had shared.

Cyn waited patiently for all this, and the movers got there shortly. They disassembled the old bed and threw it in the back yard in a pile, as I instructed, then assembled the new bed per my request. It wasn't cheap, but it would be well worth it when I was done.

You see, I had a plan. Actually, I had several plans. I was just hoping that the least violent plan would be the one that I could use.

Dennis got done changing the locks, and gave me three sets of keys, as ordered. I gave one set to Cyn, winking at her. She grinned back. The furniture guys finished the bed, and I paid them with my credit card. I then called my sister Olivia, the bank manager in our town, and told her to open me a new account first thing Monday morning. After explaining the situation, I asked her to transfer 75% of the Savings and Checking accounts into the new account, and thanked her. She was only too happy to help, since she'd never liked Julee in the first place. It turned out that Liv is a VERY good judge of character.

Once everyone who didn't live there or was staying as my guest had left, it was just me and Cynthia. Instead of taking her straight to bed, I led her to the living room and we sat on the couch after I locked up the house.

"Cyn, what we are about to do is petty revenge, you know that, right?" I asked, gazing into her green eyes with mine.

"Yeah, I know, Cal. You know, I've actually heard Julee complaining about how big you are. How big ARE you, anyway?" She asked, her hand going to the growing bulge in my jeans. She stroked me through my pants for a minute. "Oh my God, baby!" She said, her eyes going wide. "You have to be at least seven inches!"

"Seven and a half, and thick with a circumcised head." I winked at her, and her grin got wider as she undid my button fly. I reached for her, pulling her into a kiss. Our lips met and parted for each other, as our tongues danced together slowly. I broke the kiss after several long moments. God, Cyn was a better kisser than Julee!

"Before we go beyond the point of no return, I have to ask you something." I took her hand. "Cyn, you deserve better than Jimmy, and always have. What I don't get is why you would put up with his shit."

Cynthia blushed fiercely. "He keeps control of the bank accounts completely. He said that if I left him, I would have nothing. He said that he knew all the lawyers in town, and none of them would take my case."

"He's bullshitting you, sweetheart." I said, kissing her fingers. "Listen to me. Do you want to leave him? Don't worry about getting a lawyer. Just answer yes or no. Do you want to leave that cheating sonuvabitch?"

"Yes, but not just because of the cheating. He..." She broke down crying, then pulled up the sleeve of her blouse to show me the grip bruise on her upper arm.

I closed my eyes and sighed. "Shit." I said, shaking my head. That put a whole new kink in my plan. With the Good Ol' Boys club in Law Enforcement here, Sheriff Barton and the DA would be very reluctant to prosecute Golden Boy unless he actually killed her. He would get away with the years of abuse that Cyn had suffered. However, I now had dirt on the Sheriff that he had not only known about the affair, but had enabled it by keeping me On The Job so they could fuck like bunnies for two fuckin' months.

"Sweetheart, listen to me. I'm POL Certified in this entire state. Tomorrow, I'm going to call a divorce attorney from my wife's firm's rivals. We're going to get representation. Sheriff Barton can't fire me, and he fuckin' knows it." I took a deep breath. "I like you a lot, Cyn. I always have. You've been one of my best friends since we were kids. And I'll be damned if I let that asshole husband of yours hurt you again. With the pics on my sim card, you will have an airtight case against him, and you will get everything."

Her eyes lit up at that. "Cal, you would help me like that, even though I knew about the mess?"

"Yes, I would, because you didn't know that I didn't know, and you didn't know how deep it runs. Now that we do, we're going to have to be careful. I know Sheriff Barton, and I know that he was probably coerced into this whole mess somehow. I'm going to talk to him tomorrow morning, and let him know that I AM taking the day off." I said. "After we get our lawyer hired, we're going to the station together and, if you want, you can press charges against Jimmy for those bruises."

"But will he even... ?" She started to ask.

"Yeah, he will, after I show him the pics. You see, until we actually have them served with Divorce papers, we're going to keep the threat of Divorce over their heads. This is my plan. We basically blackmail them into a corner, then set off the trap." I smiled as I laid out the plan for her. "That includes blackmailing their relatives too, and sending the pics to Julee's parents as well. By the time we get done with them, they won't have a pot to piss in." I winked.

Cynthia laughed musically. "I love the way you think, and remind me never to piss you off!" She said it warmly, then captured my lips with her own as our tongues caressed each other. After another long moment of tonsil tag, she broke the kiss and looked deep into my eyes. "Cal, forget fucking tonight. I want you to make love to me." Her voice was so sultry, I was throbbing with desire for her.

This was still new to me, desiring a woman who wasn't Julee. But Julee had made her choice. She knew how I felt about cheating, but she went ahead and did it anyway.

Yet here I was, about to get some petty revenge before the real vengeance started. No, this wasn't petty revenge anymore. I had talked with Cynthia a lot over the years, and we did have quite a bit in common. From our love of Country and Jazz to similar tastes in movies that even Julee and I didn't share.

"You know, Cal, if Julee hadn't owned your heart back then, I would have made a play for you in High School." She admitted, blushing deeply.

"If Julee hadn't existed, I would have been all over you, Cynthia Smithson." I replied, using her maiden name.

Just then, my phone buzzed. I'd set it to vibrate, and when I looked, it was Julee's number. I smirked as I answered it. "What now, Julee?" I asked in an exasperated tone.

"Cal, it isn't too late for us. We can talk about this." She said in her whiney voice that I hated.

"Can we? Are you going to stop fucking Jimmy?" I asked.

"Umm..." She started, but I Ended the call and turned my phone off before she could call back.

"What did she say?" Cynthia asked.

"She said 'Umm... ' and that was all the answer I needed." I shrugged. Then I pulled her back into my arms and kissed Cynthia lovingly. "But enough about her. God, you're beautiful." I exclaimed softly after breaking the kiss. I stood up from the couch and took her hand, leading her to the bedroom. The new bed, sheets already put on and pillows cased, looked very inviting. "Cynthia, when this is all over, I want to try with you, if that's what you want." I said as we undressed each other.

"I want that too, Cal. Jimmy was never my first choice of husbands." She gave me an impish smile. I like you a lot ... no, that's an understatement. I've been in love with you since we were kids." She blushed even redder.

"Cynthia, why did it take us this long?" I asked as she pressed her naked body against mine. Her arms encircled my neck and her pretty shaven pussy pressed against my rock hard cock. Cynthia is tall, at 5'10", and hotter than a 2 dollar pistol! She was Head Cheerleader in High School, which was the main reason she'd dated ol' Jimmy. I didn't know her measurements at the time, but she was perfection incarnate.

"Shit with our soon-to-be exes." She replied in a whisper. "But now it's our time, Cal."

"Damn right it is." I replied before devouring her lips in a passionate kiss. Our kisses took on an urgency, as if at any moment our lives would be interrupted. Cynthia, however, had taken a cue from me and turned off her cellphone. I had then unplugged the landline from the wall, so nobody could contact us through the home phone.

When I felt Cyn's hand on my cock, stroking me back and forth, she moaned into my mouth, then pulled back from the kiss to look lustily into my eyes. "God, you're so much bigger than Jimmy the Needle." She whispered in a low tone. Jimmy the Needle! In spite of the sexy woman in front of me, and in spite of the fact that she was stroking my cock, I nearly started laughing at the nickname, and filed it away for future use.

I recovered from that quickly, however, when my roaming hands found her beautiful perfect D cup breasts. Her nipples were taut and hard as bullets, and the scent of her arousal reached my nostrils. She smelled much sweeter than Julee, and I was determined to taste her. "Lay down, baby. I'm going to eat that sweet pussy of yours." I said, and her eyes went wide.

"Jimmy never ate my pussy, and now he never will." She smiled a sultry grin and laid down on the bed. Her knees came up and she spread her thighs for me, giving me a great view of her completely bald mound. "He always wanted me clean down there." She blushed.

"I have to agree with him on that." I smirked and shrugged as I climbed onto the bed and between her silky thighs. Her Greek heritage on her mom's side was reflected in her dusky complexion, and She smelled of olive oil and jasmine. Her pussy, on the other hand, was indescribable as I inhaled her feminine scent. I spread her pink pussy lips with my fingers, and slowly licked up from the base to her throbbing clit. Her juices were flowing freely, and she tasted divine. "You taste like Heaven, baby." I whispered as I tasted her again and again. I stiffened my tongue and slipped it inside her cunt. Her moans became screams as she came closer and closer as I tongue fucked her while my fingers rubbed her sensitive nub.

Her fingers entwined themselves in my hair and she screamed. "I'M GONNA COME!" Her hips bucked, and she shoved my face into her pussy as she screamed my name over and over. Her juices coated my face and I drank as much of her sweet nectar as possible. God, she tasted so much better than Julee!

As her orgasm subsided, I moved up over her, and she grabbed me and kissed me passionately, licking all of her cum and pussy juices off my face. "God, that was amazing, baby!" She gasped as her eyes were alit with lust. "Now, put that big dick in me and show me what a real man feels like!"

"Will do, ma'am." I replied in my professional cop voice as I slid my hard cock into her for the first time.

Now, Julee hadn't been lying about having a small cunt. Shit, she was so tight that I could barely fit most of my shaft inside her. Even so, it was a wonder that she felt anything with Jimmy.

Cyn, on the other hand, was by no means loose, but I found it hard to believe that Jimmy's pencil cock could even get her off. The way she groaned when my cock finally bottomed out at her cervix told me that my presumption had been correct. Then she gave voice to my thoughts.

"Oh God yes!" She declared. "You're a perfect fit, baby!" She opened her eyes and gazed at me, not with lust, but with pure love. That was when she had me completely. Decades as friends, and now lovers because of our spouses' stupidity.