The angry man

One summer day

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