Speaking of grandfathers, I recommend checking out the Fiddler on the Roof component of The Jews of New York online for the brief moment at exactly 7.33 minutes into the segment in which Rabbi Haskel Besser sings a snippet of "If I Were a Rich Man."

Slim and I watched it Friday; he'd asked me to sit with him until the markets closed, as he was recovering from a case of brain fever. Because he'd been up for four days straight, he fell asleep about eight, and I followed not an hour later.

His roommates got home around two a.m. and proceeded to make a racket, clearly audible through the paper-thin walls. There was a shouted exchange in which they asserted that it was too cold to hang out downstairs; insults were exchanged; Slim then marched in and said something like "Sadie's very tired and she can't sleep! She has to work tomorrow!" which is as good a way as I know to make everyone hate you, but I wasn't wearing any pants, so I couldn't really correct the impression.

Truth is, I'd already been awoken by a phone call from GK4, who was in the process of walking out of a play during its second intermission, to his parents' displeasure. "I could tell a kid was about to be molested and this wise old Indian was about to show the extent of his powers, and I had to get out of there," he explained.