“Giidday, gidday, welcome aboard, one and all!” There he stands, grinning, larger than life, a nutbrown teddy bear in a black G-string and a cowboy hat, champagne cocktail in one hand, the other held out to hoist us aboard.

Hurry up and get in the car!

'[T]is wonderful where or when we ever got anything of this which we call wisdom, poetry, virtue. We never got it on any dated calendar day. Some heavenly days must have been intercalated somewhere.

'Cause the owls only call out when something happens the rest of us can't understand. When they shrill, it's something terrible, …