Timmy is a nine-year-old boy. His father died when he was young, and his mother remarried recently. He and his stepfather get along OK, but they’ve still got a lot of getting to know each other to do. One evening, he wakes up and wants to get himself some Oreos, so he goes over to his mom’s room to ask her if he can open them.

What should he see when he opens the door than his mother and his stepfather banging away. She yells loudly, and he looks back and - continuing to go about his business - grins, snickers a little, gives the kid a big thumbs-up, and tells him to shoo.

His stepfather and his mother laugh it off and keep going, and long story short, he wakes up the next morning feeling refreshed and happy, because good sex will do that for you. Thinking that (as he enjoys doing) he’ll make his wife breakfast before she comes to, he throws on his bathrobe and trots down the stairs.

When he rounds the corner, he sees Timmy with his grandmother spread-eagled on the table, banging the old gray mare. He screams like a little girl. ‘Jesus Christ, Timmy! Oh God - what in the hell is this? You need help!’

Timmy, grinning, laughs: ‘Not so funny when it’s your mom, is it.’

(My dad is really good at what he does - to wit, medicine, engineering, and plumbing the depths of human depravity. That is what you have to thank for today’s inspiring little parable.)