WHILST–

–reading an orange book, I noticed a single brown hair on the second knuckle of my right hand and it was standing straight up, as though at attention. When I saw it, I said TEN HUT! out loud without even thinking and then hoped that there was no one nearby to hear it – it would be very difficult to explain and I wouldn’t want to at all.

Then I vacuumed the house, especially the kitchen.

I noticed that the hair was still standing straight up. I started to like this little hair. It reminded me of myself when I was seven years old, saying the Pledge of Allegiance, under a giant Banyan tree, looking very serious, and staring straight ahead at a really humongous American Flag.

Then I made my bed.

But it couldn’t be me! At seven, I had no hair on my hands. Even if I did, they were lightly blond, not brown, and at rest, not standing, on my right hand. They were not holding an orange book, and not worrying about anything. They were covering my left breast, feeling my heartbeat. They were wondering about liberty and justice for all, and other things.

Then I took out a magnifying glass.