Almost immediately, the table was cleared and then piled high with the family's treasures to share with the unexpected guests—delicious pickles, cheese, a meaty stew, levash bread and, of course, Armenian brandy.

He managed to wean himself off heroin.

The single line was slewed onto the disused up formation to make way for the future redoubling.

It was a little past ten that night when his nurse, Sylvia of the Bedpans, came tiptoeing in with sleeping pills on a little tray and told him that his friend, Detective Leary, had just been delivered to the emergency room in a meat wagon.