Timber! I asked Guido, who is here in the driveway waxing his car, and he believes that Steve has deep-seated frontiersman aspirations. Steve secretly wishes to build a log cabin. He may even have a Una-bomber predisposition, seeking to live in a small hut in Montana, planning the destruction of blog-hosting computers everyhwhere. Had they been four-by-six, it would undoubtedy mean he wished to live in a tree- house, reading dirty magazines and smoking cheap cigars.

I, however, think the the dream is more rooted in the past. I believe that Steve is re-living his Brooklyn upbringing. The two-by-fours were undoutedly supplied by Kings Material -- the contruction supply company that threw off innumerable scraps of plasterboard strips -- useful if you were trying to keep score of your stickball game and didn't have chalk handy (also useful for drawing a makeshift scully board on the blacktop of 38th Street).

I type this while sitting by my back door -- drinking red vermouth, watching Guido work while the boys squirt each other with water guns. I wonder if they recently dreamed of moving their bowels? And would they tell us if they did?