Pain is a swift and evolutionary teacher, Sim's preferred short-cut to enlightenment. 'Pleasure is overrated, man. You can never get enough. Now pain-that's a different animal. You know when you've had enough. It feels very good to stop.' In the darkest of all love letters, De Profundis, Oscar Wilde wrote: 'Pain, unlike Pleasure, doesn't wear a mask'. Love can't be found in the refection of a silver pond anymore than you can find the moon. Dirty Water, the third volume in the House of Pain trilogy, toys with the illusory nature of love. Can it rise from its reflection in the heart of another or does it manifest on its own? In Sim's continuing quest to enlighten the Universe or die trying, the futility of trying the 'push the river', to force solutions on problems, slaps him in square in the jaw. Love can't be taught; it must be caught. When the Karmic consequence of his polyamorous nature brings Sim to his knees, one of his hundred illegitimate children steps up to teach him a final love lesson: love is a far better teacher than pain. "