In the Park

[porphyry]

In the park today a young man who was obviously schizophrenic bicycled up to the picnic shelter. He asked my permission to set at a table, and seemed surprised I didn't turn him away--evidently he is usually run off when he meets anyone in the park. When he found out I was a writer he proceeded to give out the plots of various novels he claimed to have written written to amuse himself. They all turned out to be Harry Turtledove alternate history novels (i.e.the one where aliens attack the earth in the middle of WWII, the one where a commando unit from the near future is hurtled through time back to the middle ages). He offered to light my cigar for me, but with his little bic it would have been quite hopeless.