Keep it under your hat, or I'll gladly loan one of mine, but I'm not quite broke. The same could not be said for the light on my ten-speed, with its exposed AA batteries. Somehow the operation to replace this, no burden to my assets otherwise, hadn't been undertaken, so at a red light on Kester a character I'd say was halfway between "Shorty" and "Ratzo" said. "Hey, bro, looks like your light is broken. Can I have the batteries?"

Well, why not. Just as I might need a little torque to remove the remains of the light, this fellow had trouble prying out the batteries. He certainly was cheerful and grateful enough and I wondered, based on experience, if the batteries had any tongue zap left. The fellow worked on the lights and the ossified springs with a comb; my heavy key set had items that would have worked but they were deep in my back pack.

Any second they would spring free, anyway, correct? Stubborn they remained and at one point he quipped, "Son of a----." Well, a homonym to another word with sad connotations.

The batteries did end up in his hands and as he thanked me he said, "Gotta listen to some talk radio." Well, I doubt this was the likes of KPCC or KPFK he meant. I suppose a station that justifies "war". But if a battery doesn't turn out to have life, what is it good for?