In case you don't know, cherchez la femme literally means 'look for the woman.' The implication is that if a man acts totally out of character, he's probably having an affair or there is an illicit woman involved somewhere. In some cases we could say cherchez les toys.

Several years ago, we were in a bowling league with a family who owned an ostrich ranch out in the country southeast of Denver. One day, Mr. Troutbend, who knew their son from another bowling league, was telling me that the mother of the family had mysteriously disappeared.

They couldn't understand it: she apparently just took off on foot, leaving her purse and insulin supplies. The last time her husband saw her there at home, she was waiting for a guy to come look at the speedboat they had for sale.

The police tracked him down and asked him about it. He said yes, he went there, paid her cash for the boat, and she was fine when he left. He speculated that she'd taken the money and left town.

Three days later, the truth came out:

The boat purchaser had his own landscaping business and lived in a nice neighborhood. He wasn't making money fast enough, couldn't buy all the toys his neighbors seemed to have, so he decided to buy the speedboat to impress his family and everyone else.

He drove out there to the ostrich farm to look at it, and the woman was there alone. He didn't have enough money to pay for it, so he decided to just take the boat. She tried to stop him, and in the struggle, he knocker her on the head and she died.

He hooked up the boat to his station wagon and put the body in the back. Then, he drove it around for several days trying to think what to do and eventually put it in a ditch somewhere. A day or so later, his wife found out why he was acting so oddly and turned him in to the police.

There was a trial and the man is in prison for many years.

The reason this story came to mind was that roofer who was here the other day. He was so taken by my home here on the river, made such a fuss, and even before I figured out I knew him, I had a feeling that this was the kind of guy who covets what other people have, and pictures himself owning it, without thinking through all the consequences. He even mentioned how creepy it must feel to be alone down here away from civilization, so it crossed his mind that I'm vulnerable down here.

Even when I realized that I know his family, I could still see it, because he would do anything to gain the respect of his rich, snooty college professor in-laws. Fortunately, they provide for his family: roof over their heads, cars, school tuition for the kid, and expensive vacations, so he's not on the hungry edge of obvious failure.

By the time he starts to work on the roof Mr. Troutbend will be here, so that will make things better. But even so, if something happens to us, cherchez le Larry the Roofer.