Back in the room, MJ was up and dressed and looking improbably flirty in a crocheted jumper. “Let's find a Tab so I can unbitch.” She flipped her hair around. “And speaking of bitches, sorry for being one last night.”

Altogether they located nearly two thousand living centenarians, some of whom were already well past 150 and on their way to becoming “bicentenarians.”

To see the wrongheadedness of the antimoney view, we need only ask, What would the poor like most? If given a choice, would they choose for everybody being poor, or would they choose for themselves to be rich?

A strange game at the table involves oranges and kitchen implements flying as one or two bored housemates read or slide fetally under the table.