Abe was a powerful and persistent man. And now it was his kid who, once again, had insulted propriety and (Mark D. Chapmanlike) offended all. So we schlepped back, all four of us toward the Place of Pho. We returned the jar to its original table and, demurely, the girls apologized to a dumbly astounded waiter. Well, Jessie seemed truly penitent, but Gretel was clearly overacting, the idea of “penance” to her being quite exotic, romantic, and (who knows?) maybe somewhat incipiently venereal.

And poor old Abey, who really did mostly do the best he could, might have made a damn good pope too–except for being a Jewish atheist pagan turtle worshiper, I mean.