“Ah…” Mike smiled sheepishly, “so there we are. Which is real and which is fake? Well if I’m honest they are all something of half-truths. Even the bonus fact, ja?”<br/><br/>“So I grew up in a village outside Copenhagen, and my mother still lives in the same home she raised her family in, my father and brothers, all of us sailors,” he smiled. “In truth, I’ve never lived anywhere else permanently, and being here will actually be the longest I’ve ever been away from my mother. She’s almost five and sixty, so that part of being here will be hard for me.<br/><br/>“And yes, I’ve spent twenty five years at sea. I’ve been around the world ten times. What the crazy part is is that I’ve been across the equator so many times, and don’t have a tattoo to show for it. It is mariner’s tradition to get a tattoo when you sail across the equator, but I never got one. I couldn’t take the needles.<br/><br/>“The other is also true: I have had sex on all six continents. However, it was with the same woman each time. I was with a woman named Frederica, and my Captain let her come on a few voyages. It didn’t work out, but I’ve never been the kind of typical sailor that finds some woman to claim at every port of call. I was a professional with a job to do. I’ve been with a lot of women in my life, but I’ve never had a conquest or a one night stand. Although it’s considered bad luck for a sailor not to carry a condom while ashore, and all sailors are superstitious,” he laughed.<br/><br/>“And as for the last, the bonus,” he turned his attention mostly to Sean. “Well I don’t really like to steal men’s clothes and wear them, but you seemed so worried about being overdressed that I thought I would put it on so you wouldn’t feel so bad,” Mike joked with him. “But it’s also rather appropriate for tonight, and this is why. There’s an old saying in Denmark,<em>‘Du kan ikke kende en mand, indtil du bære hans skjorte.’</em>It translates into English as ‘you can’t really know a man until you wear his shirt.’ So, Sean, we are now officially<em>venner</em>,” he clasped his hands together. “Friends, at least in Denmark.”