otherwise.  Is  it  all  for  me  or  part for someone else? If
only  half  is  for  me  then  my  containers  are  too  large.
(B.D., Berkeley, California)

     I am in a room with some people.  My own room opens
off it. In a spirit of independence, as if to say  I don't need
them and  I can manage by myself,  I go into my room and
close the door.  It is cold in my room as the source of heat
is  in  the  room  with  the  people.  I  try  to  start  my own
makeshift  fire,   but   it  is  still  cold.   I  am  worried  that
children  might  be  burned  when  I am not there to watch;
so  I  unplug  the  thing  in  which  I  have  built the fire  [it
looked like a bathinette with  no cover or top]  and push it
behind  the  other  furniture  so that no one will trip on the
cord.  I tell someone that it is there so they might watch if
children  are  near  it.   This   one   room  now  becomes  a
succession  of  rooms,  with  a  draft  which  I  think  might
blow on the fire,  so  I  go  to  shut  the window in the front
room.  But a pair of tanned hands are just letting go of the
window,  as if they had just opened it,  so  I  dare not close
it.   The   window   in   the   back  room  is  closed.  It  is  a
kitchen-sized   window   set  high  in  the  wall  and  full  of
plants.  One  plant  is  a vine and  it is climbing around the
other plants to get to the light. (W.M., Eliot, Maine)

     ... I  leave my Cadillac to be washed at an old car wash
that  looks   like   an   abandoned  machine  or  auto  shop.
There  is  no asphalt or cement,  only open ground.  There
is  a  shed  with unfinished  wooden  shelves  and some old
equipment lying around.  There is no one there so  I leave
a $5 bill with the car.  I call my husband to pick me up and
later he drives me back to get the car.  The proprietor has
left change attached  to  a  block of wood.  Someone else's
change  is  attached   to  another  block  of  wood.  Then  I
notice on the top  shelf  several  old  wallets  where people
have  left  money  for  car  washes.  I  decide these people
really trust the proprietor.  They've  left  the  whole wallet
and  valuable  identification  papers  instead  of  just cash.
(S.S., Chatsworth, California)

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