The rainy weather broke momentarily on New Years Day, and though it was breezy, Mrs. Anthony and I grabbed the dogs and went for a walk. The wind was still blowing hard, the tree tops doing aerobics and the detritrus of fallen tree branches on the trail could have been excess weight gladly shed by the big firs and alders along the way. Lest we became victimized by a hefty widowmaker, we stepped up our walk, eyes up and wary, the dogs half-trotting in appreciation. When we walk, we talk and while the movement and cycling of our breaths benefits our bodies, the fresh air helps to clear the head and we trade jokes and memories, anecdotes and philosophies. The dogs were tugging to the limit of their leashes, I was lost in mental reverie and Mrs. Anthony turned and said, "If I died, would you remarry?" If the late night of New Year's Eve had left me a little groggy, I was paying attention now. What? Why? Who?

In spite of only being married for a paltry seventeen years, I have learned that this is one of the top five, most feared questions that men are asked by their significant others. My mind raced and sputtered. How do you do this? To begin with, trying to be honest and simply saying yes or no is a sure-fire mistake. 'Yes' means that (1.) You are not really being honest, but are a cad and a churl are just waiting patiently for her to kick off so you can buy a speedboat and move to Alki, and (2.) You do not desire her and maybe you should just get a divorce now, why wait?, and (3.) Repeat numbers 1 and 2 ad infinitum.

If you choose the higher road and say, "No WAY, honey, I'd shrivel up and become a hermit and never look at another woman again, cross my heart, stick a needle in my eye," she will say, " You would too!" and you still end up with the silent treatment for the next hour and cold soup for dinner. No win questions like this are the curse and bane of all men who have wives.

Other, run-of-the-mill marriage questions are easier to handle.

'Do I look fat in this?' Correct answer, an emphatic 'NO!'

'Is my hair alright?' Easy, 'Perfect baby!'

'Do you love me?' No sweat, 'More every day, sweetheart.'

A somewhat stickier query is the seemingly innocent, 'What are you thinking about?'

Only the best prepared raconteur can answer this one quickly. The rest of us can only wrinkle our foreheads, bite our lips and make something up. Everybody knows that men normally only think about one or two things. (And honey, if you're reading this, those two things would be 'football and beer') But the all-time worst, most feared, no-win clunker, I submit, is 'Would you remarry'.

So, in order to save myself, I did what any self-respecting waffler of hard questions might do. I turned it around. "Would you?" It was a good thing the football game was on when we got back home. Beer goes pretty good with cold soup.