LITERARY TARANTISM

Y.P.R. 1. What’s going on?

Andrew Sean Greer I am staring at a box of Safeway-brand Grape Nuts rip-off called “Nutty Nuggets” and wondering why I ate that instead of the other cereal I like better, a Safeway-brand Post cereal rip-off called “Cranberry Nut Morning,” maybe to save that other cereal for a later day when I “need” it more, as a treat, or maybe I wasn’t awake enough to decide properly, and also staring at a can of Diet Coke and wondering why I drank that instead of actual coffee this morning, maybe to get it out of the fridge, or as a quirky alternative in honor of my Carolina Grandfather, who always had a Coke for breakfast, but quirky isn’t what anybody needs in the morning, and anyway feeling like I’ve started out all wrong today and should really do it over, but you can’t ever quite do that, can you?

Mr. Greer is the author of the novels How It Was for Me, The Path of Minor Planets, and The Confessions of Max Tivoli. His Web site is andrewgreer.com.