Since his dad is never around, Guarang has to learn to tie his own neckties, and from first principles at that. He discovers the double Windsor and the Four-in-Hand by iteration; he has no way of knowing their significance. Indeed, among his more exotic variations (the clove hitch-granny, for instance, or the half-Stolypin), they don’t stand out.

Guarang tries not to think about the fact that he could just look these things up. Embedded in his superego is the idea that knowledge won supercedes knowledge taken. It doesn’t. Guarang feeds his silk tongue through slippery hands, going for the triple lutz.