CALL ME SNAKE

As reported in these pages just three days ago, a friend recently told me that he was “happy–that things were really good.” That might not seem so remarkable were it not for the fact that I rarely hear people apply that word to themselves, especially blurting it out without any provocation. And then it happened again yesterday. Another friend, apropos of nothing, told me he was “really happy. I haven’t felt better for years.”

What’s going on, I wondered. And, more to the point, what are they putting in the water these days? For a second, I almost caught the bug too, thinking I’d had a pretty good couple of days: The Patriots won on Sunday and our family had gotten through a three-day weekend without too much strife. Was I happy too? Fortunately I came to my senses before making a fatuous proclamation like that. Still I was shaken up to the point where I am considering it…