Brad came upon an oasis. Imagining it was a hallucination he refused to eat of its fruit and drink of its water, a solipsism that also prevented him from acknowledging Slim who lurked there in the hope of enlisting a desperate sojourner for his unwholesome projects.

Some nights, during Brad’s long walk to Quanahuac, Mr. Love would pass above him.

Rather than e-mail, Brad began the long walk towards Quanahuac to apply in person.

Slow to find a vocation, as graduates in dog psychology often are, Brad came upon an advertisement for a job in a Quanahuac movie theatre, disinfecting seats with hand sanitizer. The successful candidate would be welcome to spend nights there.

As Pim and Bim had just launched their own tango school they were taking the same marketing course as Ukifune. The instructor had drawn a demand curve on the chalkboard and was providing an exhaustive analysis.

To boost cookie sales Ukifune enrolled in a marketing course in lower Manhattan. Hotels being expensive and resourceful girl guide that she was, she pitched a tent on a Canal Street rooftop from which, nightly, she observed a winged figure perched across the alley.

Pim and Bim have stepped aside from their publishing concern and resumed their tango lessons. Of an evening it is common for them to spot Mr. Love circling the darkness on, as yet, uncertain wings.

Centuries hence, on the dusty shelf of a darkened alcove in the Château Michel de Montaigne, a bibliophile will come upon a tome whose spine and title page are naked but for the cryptic logo of a forgotten publisher.

Despite the fact that Pim and Bim neglected to invite anyone to the book launch, a reasonable number showed up by accident.

The Well-Dressed Albatross hadn’t titled his work, and Pim and Bim didn’t know the Well-Dressed Albatross’s name, so the book came out with nothing on the cover to identify it. For reasons I honestly can’t explain, it didn’t occur to Pim and Bim to print more than one copy.