Call us goofy, Steve and I like to name random objects in our life. For example, we named one of the hiking trails in Wildwood “Dinosaur Valley”, because the trail meanders along the crease of a valley and dotting the trail along was an abundance of “dinosaur trees”—I’m sure they are not called “dinosaur trees”; Steve and I gave the plant that name as Steve said its leaves and stems develop in such a binary way that it made him think of the primitiveness of the Dinosaur Age.

Another example: one winter, Steve and I bought a six-foot tall nutcracker from Michael’s as a Christmas decoration for our house. I liked the nutcracker so much that I started to fondly refer to him as “Mr. Stanley” (I know I am probably sounding like a nutcase now). The next year, we bought another nutcracker—a smaller one this time, about two foot tall–and that was “Stanley Junior”, of course.

Oh oh, and for those of you who have read 236 Leland, you remember the part in which I named the Dierbergs lottery machine “Helen”, guilty as charged, that part is one hundred percent real.

So last Halloween, Steve ordered a mannequin online and we named it “Mandy” (and he did place “Mandy” in our closet to totally startle me, just like Larry did to Michelle in the book). None of you are surprised, right?

“Mandy” is another example of how the ideas of my short stories oftentimes originate from real life. Luckily, our “Mandy” didn’t turn crazy; it is still standing in the utility room in our basement—as far as I know.