snap PeeT In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and – SNAP – the job’s a game! 120124 ... ovenbird They're together in the library looking out a huge floor to ceiling window at the last of the maple leaves. He's distant, angry about some unsolicited advice she gave earlier and she's trying so hard to smooth over the mistake. “The leaves are beautiful,” she says. “So many people miss the small details. If you're willing to keep your eyes open you'll never run out of inspiration.” She smiles at him and reaches out to touch his face, fingers following a line from temple to jaw. He nods, but doesn't say anything. She worries that she's damaged everything between them. She worries that she won't be able to call him back. Across from them a man slowly eats a whole iguana raw with a knife and fork, slicing delicately into the scaly orange skin mottled with black spots. He takes small bites, like he's at a sophisticated dinner party. In an open surgical theater a professor stands over a civet splayed upon a stainless steel table. He takes a sharpened yellow pencil and drives it into the back of the animal's neck, right where spine meets skull. The light leaves the creature’s eyes as if it has been unplugged, and its body goes limp. She sees all this and feels horror and ire rising up like fire into her esophagus. She turns to the man she loves and tries to express her grief. “You should get going if you want time to bike before dark,” he says. She wants more time to have the shape of him before her even though he's annoyed and withdrawn. The man eating the iguana has cleaned his plate. He sets his napkin on the table. She knows that she should leave but she hopes her love will kiss her once before life snaps her neck and leaves her at the mercy of cruel, unfeeling men. 251201 what's it to you? who go blather from