ages of man, atlanta, attraction, babysitting, boring old poetry, central asia institute, children's non sequitur, cruise, dogs, fathers and sons, fiction, flowers, funny, george w. bush, green bowler, grief, jean-paul belmondo, katrina, kentucky women, le bec-fin, lost opportunity, mademoiselle o, marriage, materialism, missing, nutcracker, pageant, parents' basement, picaresque, quad cities fund, regret, sea, self-mutilation, socks, teakwood salad-bowl wedding gift, tie salesman, time passing, twins, venereal disease, young man's death