The angry man

One summer day Cliff pulled his year-old power lawn mower out of the shed and rolled it onto his beautifully land- scaped back lawn. He attached the bagger, set the controls on "START," and pulled the cord. Nothing. He pulled again. The engine turned over a couple of times, coughed, then died. He pulled again, again, and again. With each vigorous pull of the cord the engine belched smoke and gas fumes but wouldn t start. Finally, after another hearty pull, the engine roared to life. Cliff straightened up and adjusted the throttle, but before he could take a step the engine died again. He stared at the mower and sighed deeply. Then he tried to restart it-once, twice, three times-but it wouldn t kick in. After glaring at the mower for several seconds Cliff turned and walked toward the house. Janice had noticed through the kitchen window that her husband was having trouble with the mower. "Is the mower broken?" she asked as Cliff walked in the back door and through the kitchen. He didn t answer her, didn t even ac- knowledge her presence. He just walked past her and down the hall to the den. In a couple of moments he came back