When John forgot to pick up the dry cleaning and I blamed him for it, he insisted that I give him credit for trying. It’s not my fault, he said, believing it totally.

By then I’d started responding, Nothing ever is.

John seethed at me until I apologized. For what? I didn’t know. He used my not knowing as evidence of the gravity of the offense. Then I figured it out: My offense was having failed to give him credit for picking up the cleaning after he’d failed to pick up the cleaning.