A Bottle of Old Wine

In a near-future society where many retreat into immersive entertainments, a discontented husband purchases illegal telporter gear that lets his consciousness materialize elsewhere while his body remains inert at home. He balances a humdrum domestic life with furtive nights in a rented cabin and an exclusive club, pursuing sex, drink, and the intoxicating certainty of future revenge against a wife who controls their money. The story traces his mounting dependence on synthetic escapes, the corrosive effects of resentment and secrecy, and a central motif of deferred desire symbolized by a treasured bottle kept unopened until the moment he plans to savor it.