Friday, September 17, 2004

If so, unwind me

"A man once showed a so-called indestructible watch to Bob Benchley and Dorothy Parker at Tony's. They whammed it against a table top, then put it on the floor and stamped on it. The dismayed owner picked it up and put it to his ear. "It has stopped," he said incredulously. "Maybe you wound it too tight," said Benchley and Parker together.

"Maybe I wound myself too tight. If so, unwind me."

That's taken from Thurber and entirely out of context. I'm re-reading his selected letters, which Minz gave me (or I stole it, like all the other books I stole from her - darling, I still have your Borges, do you want it with you?) and am almost inspired enough to put pen to paper. Almost. But write me and I'll write back.