A man has built an aviary in the desert for his wife, who is an owl. From the color of her eyes, he knows she’s been to see the genie in the cave that he can never find.
“The first thing is you want to tell a story to take some of the heat off yourself, and off of whether, according to the individuals in your region, you’re making the grade. If you tell the story — good story — you know from experience that all the rest disappears, slides and dissolves and you’re your own old self again – or if not that, then at least the individuals in your region are off the scent long enough for you to relax, match wits with the leaves and bottles, forgive yourself your forgivable laziness, fuss with the paper bags, mastermind nothing, peel the peach, and so on.”
