However, he obediently sat down and shut his eyes. After a while he opened them and said, “I must have been able to 'unmagic' a crow just by being kind to it, and I was able to contact trees and things in the garden."

The unskilled man’s attempt at fixing his car engine was fruitless.

All kidding aside, Carlysle . . . Carla, I corrected him automatically. I'm too used to thinking of you as 'Carlysle' and male to change both at once . . . All kidding aside, it'd be better for you not to stay on here any longer than the storm.

Similes were not my cuppa, anyway. My classmates tended to overload their writing with them (all-time record: six in one paragraph) and they stuck out like violins in a rock tune.