Up early to put Ali in a cab to the airport; and I thought James had a long ride to school. Left the house a little later without breakfast, without putting on a belt. James found a long green bug on the sidewalk, missing an antenna and a leg, and cottony wisps coming out from under its carapace on the wounded side. Science class so far is "mostly playing." A classmate and her brother were walking with their dad a few yards ahead when we climbed out of the subway. I left him in the room and walked across town to the Apple Store. Automatic-era R.E.M. on the store speakers, some scraggly geniuses hanging out in front of the iPod display. The new nanos don't come in gold. At Syms I forgot where to find belts.

I used to find this kind of show-don't-tell comic strip kind of writing maddening. Then I looked at it as a grown-up version of Games Magazine -- guess the mood á la Where's Waldo. Now I'm back to the position that if telling-more-than-showing is good enough for the Bible and Dostoevsky, well then.

I miss my friend. It's barely the beginning of the day.