Okay, Martin, since you asked:   we were attending my wife's high school reunion in the town in southeast Nebraska where she grew up. Small population. There used to be a fair number of stores of various kinds there, but not anymore. With few exceptions, just about anything one might need had to be bought at the Wal-Mart, a huge box to the east of town.

The item I was looking for was a pair of store-bought 1.25 diopter reading glasses. You will undoubtedly gloat mightily over this, but I find that, within recent years, anything much under 8 point type is a bit difficult to read (don't laugh too hard; you'll be there soon, if you aren't already). I had lost the pair I had and needed to replace them. These glasses are usually sold off a rack in drug stores and generally cost $12 to $18 a pair. I phoned around, and found that the only drug stores in town were strictly pharmacies:   they filled prescriptions and that was it. The stuff they used to sell, they couldn't afford to stock anymore because people could get it cheaper at Wal-Mart. And yes, Wal-Mart had them. They were, as I said, cheap and cheesy. About four days after I bought them, one of the lenses fell out. I had to hold it in place with a small piece of adhesive tape. Very chic! When I got back to Seattle, I tossed them and bought a decent pair.

Barbara and I had never been in a Wal-Mart before, so we looked around a bit. Great prices—but for sleazy products. So, in the long run, not great prices at all.

And by the way, Martin, the disability is with the legs, due to polio at an early age. All other bodily functions—including the brain—are just fine.

Having trouble prying that bed pan off your head, are you?

Don Firth