Yesterday I went to turn off the hose that was watering the magnolia tree, you remember the magnolia tree,that replaced the magnolia tree that replaced the old magnolia tree that was here but dead when we moved in? Long, boring story but anyway I went to turn off the hose and saw, lying on his side, a small mouse, breathing rapidly in the shade of the house. He didn’t move when I came near and when I accidentally dropped the hose end on the slab of stone he lay on he twitched but didn’t go anywhere. So I knew he was dying, and I wondered what I was supposed to do about it. I thought I could kill him with a shovel, or I could move him with a shovel, or I could do nothing.

I chose, of course, to do nothing, and now he is there, dead, today. There are cats that come over from the neighbor’s houses, but I don’t know that they’ll eat him when he’s already dead. Will the possum whom we used to feed, generously, on chicken bones and other items from our garbage, prior to our discovery of the bungee cords that now fasten the tops of the garbage cans firmly to the bottoms, come back and do us this service? David said, Won’t the squirrels take care of it? and I said, You mean the squirrels that eat nuts? but I have to admit that it really does seem like something that the squirrels should do. What do they do around here, anyway, except quarrel with each other and jump from the trees to the roof?

Faucets. Think about them. Please? I do. David does. My mother, to whom I have sent a question-filled email, is drafting a significant work on the subject. We say no to Instant Hot, that’s easy, that’s very, very easy. That’s ridiculously easy. We say yes to spray, but pull-out spray or separate spray? Not so easy. Harder. David wants full spray force, though, and thinks we’ll only get that from a separate nozzle. Darlings, please pay attention. This is so important. This is about faucets. This is about water. This is about life. Separate spray then. We’re all agreed. So what about the actual little things you use to turn them on? Levers? Handles? Now it’s getting hard, it’s getting really, really hard.

Things get hard. Of course things get hard. That’s when you have to get specific, you have to get in there, you have to imagine yourself using the lever, using the handle, spraying the water, cleaning up. But imagination isn’t enough. You have to go to other people’s houses and do their dishes. Yes, you have to. Just knock on the door. Introduce yourself. Explain the situation. They may understand.