Just what kind of sin is involved

…they stop singing and interrupt each other playfully: 'It's going to be a hot, muggy day, with possible thunderstorms,' says the first, and the second chimes in, flirtatiously: 'Really?' And the first voice answers, equally flirtatiously: 'Mais oui. Pardon me, Bernard. But that's the way it is. We'll just have to put up with it.' Bernard laughs loudly and says: 'We are being punished for our sins.' And the first voice: 'Bernard, why should I have to suffer for your sins?' At that point Bernard laughs even harder, in order to make it clear to all listeners just what kind of sin is involved, and I understand him: this is the one deep yearning of our lives: to let everybody consider us great sinners! Let our vices be compared to thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes! When Frenchmen open their umbrellas later in the day, let them remember Bernard's ambiguous laugh with envy.

Milan Kundera - Immortality, 5